DAN PATLANSKY

Join David Gerrish as he explores

hand. Moreover, any of Dan’s studio recordings or live shows demonstrate a powerful, muscular sound that is perfectly partnered with his fiery, ferocious chops. Rolling back the volume slightly, he creates a sweet, clean chime with an airy, glassy quality, and it is here that we see the softer side of Patlansky. His live shows will often include a segment that sees Dan bring the volume down to almost inaudible levels, forcing the audience to really lean in to hear his notes at pin drop volume. This ability to strip back the frills and deliver delicate, controlled, often highly emotive guitar playing, demonstrates a well-rounded, mature musician who clearly has a lot to say with his music.

Dan’s sound is emotive and visceral and he draws the listener in with the intensity of

South Africa may not be a place tht one most associates with producing blues guitar virtuosi, but this month’s featured artist provides us with an incredible exception to the rule.

Hailing from Johannesburg, Dan Patlansky has carved a career path in a world that must have seemed out of reach as a young budding musician hooked on the blues. Dan himself describes how his music taste made him a bit of an outlier growing up, as the only teenager for miles with a burning passion for the music that made up his parents record collection. He wasn’t to let this deter him though, and his ambition saw him forming bands in his teenage years, eventually leading him to release his debut album in 2000. Since then he has been working tirelessly, recording albums and touring all over the world.

Dan clearly has done his homework, so is well versed in the language of the blues. He takes influence from artists such as SRV, Hendrix and David Gilmour, so it’s no surprise that he would adopt the Fender Stratocaster as his exclusive axe of choice. He unashamedly professes his love of the Strat’s sound and advocates for the approach of sticking to one guitar in order to have a deeper understanding of every nuance, every unique characteristic, thus allowing him to coax every imaginable sound from the instrument. What is obvious is that tone is an incredibly important part of his music, made evident by his tattoo of the word printed across the fingers of his picking his performance. There’s always a rootsy edge to his approach, whether that’s during a slow ballad or a heavier rock influenced riff laced with plenty of fuzz. His lead playing is extremely expressive and he is comfortable taking his time with ideas. You will notice him really digging to strings bends, wrestling with the guitar to produce a strong, singing vibrato, milking every ounce of emotion from a single note before dazzling you with a flurry of speed. Above all, he takes a melodic approach with solos in order that their prime role is to serve the song. Enjoy!

Dan’s immense tone is achieved with the use of Fender Stratocasters paired with a Fender style amp set to the edge of breakup. We’re going for a clear, strong tone that has enough gain to sustain strings bends but without becoming too saturated. Dan is also not afraid of reverb, often using his amp’s built-in spring reverb paired with a digital pedal for extra shimmer.

Silence Thieves, which was voted the #1 Blues Rock Album in the world by Blues Rock Review in 2014. His new album Shelter Of Bones includes some killer blues playing as well as showcasing his not insubstantial talents as a songwriter.

Play Backing

STUDY 1 BLUES-ROCK SOLO

This track looks at the blues-rock side of Dan’s style and showcases his melodic playing. His approach is often Pentatonic based, but Dan will add colour with the extensions such as the 9th and an occasional 6th. Pay close attention to intonation when it comes to the string bending idea in bar 6 as this can be tricky.

PLAY BACKING

STUDY 2 12-BAR SHUFFLE SOLO

Our second study shows Dan’s approach to a more typical 12-bar shuffle. The focus here is on capturing the ferocious nature of Dan’s playing as the licks themselves aren’t too complicated. Focus on your vibrato and don’t be afraid to allow for a little handling noise as it’s easy to lose authenticity if the execution is too clean.