WIN! A set of E-HX pedals worth £571 P.42 Issue 429
February 2018
(in just five minutes) 27 pages of pro advice Tone Tweaks • Smarter Pr actice S e t u p & M a i n t e n a n c e buying & selling Technique Shortcuts • g e a r m o d s gig Savers • peda lboa r d secr ets • strings • & m o r e ! i n terviews
John
mayall Mayall Mike
Killer
Stern Phil X
chord workout reprogram your fingers for faster fretting! p.146
Reviews
Fender Ed O’brien St rat ocast er • Session BB45 Combo • BOSS ANGRY DRIVER Pigtronix mothership 2 • swope geronimo • Fidelit y electrics & much more
Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk
Never Say Die This month’s mother lode of tips on how to sound and play better (see page 58) got me thinking about which ideas have been the most valuable to me over the years, when it comes to guitar. Perhaps the best, as simple as it sounds, is don’t give up. I was talking with someone recently who revealed they’d got to a very high standard on classical guitar in their teens and eventually won a place at a prestigious music college. What happened, I asked? Well, they explained, once they got there they met other students who could play not just the guitar but piano, flute, what have you, as well. Dispirited and feeling less talented than the others, they’d left the course – and regretted the decision to this day. We probably all feel, at one time or another, that we haven’t made enough progress on guitar as perhaps we should. And once those reflections begin it’s easy to start envying other players who are ‘so much better’. Some of the best players I know, including some very well-known ones, have struggled with such self-doubt. It’s probably the dark side of an essentially healthy instinct to be as good as you can be on guitar. However, to start thinking like that is doing yourself an injustice – most players are inclined to underrate themselves, possibly because it’s so easy to get bored with your own playing style (you hear it all the time, after all). Doesn’t mean that others don’t respect what you can do – and some of them probably envy you. That said, though, nothing feels as good as expanding your horizons on guitar and sometimes it’s just a case of breaking off a corner and taking a little-and-often approach. If you want an excellent place to start, why not try Phil Hilborne’s tuition column this month (page 146) in which he shows you how to reprogram your left hand to play chords more swiftly and seamlessly than ever. And, if you’re one of the many fans of Richard Barrett’s Blues Headlines column, don’t despair – he returns next month after a spell on tour. What, actually out playing guitar? How dare he! Enjoy the issue and here’s to happy times on guitar in 2018.
Jamie Dickson Editor
Editor’s Highlights Phil X
Bon Jovi’s irrepressible guitarist explains why you should never let a difficult lick get the best of you – and why modded Marshall tone is the way to go p52
A Heavy Session
Award-Session’s current amps make transistors seem like a very serious rival to valves for tone. Yes, really. Check out Nick Guppy’s review on p20
Alright, Esquire?
Don’t dismiss the Esquire as a ‘Tele with only one pickup’. These ballsy vintage beauties have a growl and grit that is absolutely unique, like the ’56 on p140
FEBruary 2018 Guitarist
3
Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk
Editorial Editor-In-Chief
Jamie Dickson
Art Editor
Reviews Editor
jamie.dickson@futurenet.com
Darren Phillips
Dave Burrluck
darren.phillips@futurenet.com
Deputy Editor
Managing Editor
david.mead@futurenet.com
Senior Music Editor
Group Editor-In-Chief
jason.sidwell@futurenet.com
dave@daveburrluck.com
David Mead
Lucy Rice lucy.rice@futurenet.com
Jason Sidwell
Daniel Griffiths daniel.griffiths@futurenet.com
Contributors Richard Barrett, Rod Brakes, Adrian Clark, Trevor Curwen, Chris Francis, Adam Goldsmith, Nick Guppy, Phil Hilborne, Martin Holmes, Richard Hood, Rob Laing, Bernie Marsden, Neville Marten, Guy Meredith, Ed Mitchell, Roger Newell, Julian Piper, Nigel Pulsford, Adam Rees, Davina Rungasamy, Mick Taylor In-House Photography Joseph Branston, Olly Curtis, Adam Gasson, Neil Godwin, Joby Sessions Advertising commercial sales director Clare Dove clare.dove@futurenet.com advertising sales director Lara Jaggon lara.jaggon@futurenet.com account sales director Alison Watson
alison.watson@futurenet.com steve.pyatt@futurenet.com account sales director Guy Meredith guy.meredith@futurenet.com account sales director Steven Pyatt
Marketing sharon.todd@futurenet.com subscriptions marketing manager Will Hardy william.hardy@futurenet.com head of marketing Sharon Todd
Print & Production mark.constance@futurenet.com production controller Frances Twentyman frances.twentyman@futurenet.com senior ad production coordinator Gemma O’Riordan gemma.oriordan@futurenet.com head of production uk & us Mark Constance
head of licensing
Licensing Matt Ellis matt.ellis@futurenet.com Circulation
trade marketing manager Michelle Brock
0203 787 9021
Future Publishing Limited graham.dalzell@futurenet.com art & design director Ross Andrews ross.andrews@futurenet.com managing director Aaron Asadi aaron.asadi@futurenet.com chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne zillah.byngthorne@futurenet.com editorial director Paul Newman paul.newman@futurenet.com head of art & design Rodney Dive rodney.dive@futurenet.com commercial finance director Dan Jotcham dan.jotcham@futurenet.com Future Media Store online www.futuremediastore.com email mediastore@futurenet.com group art director Graham Dalzell
telephone
Subscriptions & Back Issues 0844 848 2852 online www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk
Printed in the UK by William Gibbons. Distributed by Marketforce, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU
Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR) www.futureplc.com
Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244
© Future Publishing Limited 2018. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. The registered office of Future Publishing Limited is at Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA. All information contained in this magazine is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this magazine. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Future a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digital format throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. Full Competition Terms & Conditions can be found at: h t t p : // w w w . f u t u r e p l c . c o m /c o m p e t i t i o n - r u l e s /
Contents
6
Guitarist February 2018
Contents ISSUE 429 February 2018
Regulars cover feature
be a better guitarist
58
100 professional tips guaranteed to take your playing to the next level
003.......... Editor’s Welcome 024.......... TheWishlist 027.......... The Lineup 030.......... The Mod Squad 032.......... Opinion 036 . ........ Substitute: The Final Bow 038.......... Perfect 10 040.......... Readers’ Letters 042.......... Win a bundle of Electro-Harmonix pedals 044.......... New Music 046.......... One For The Road 048.......... Backtracking 110.......... Subscribe 118.......... Board Games 132.......... Longterm Test 137.......... Gear Q&A 140.......... Classic Gear 143.......... Next Month 144.......... Old Gold 152.......... Reader Ads
Cover FEATURE cover photography by
Olly Curtis
058 . ........ 100 Ways To Be A Better Guitarist From setup to technique, presenting expert advice to improve your playing
FEATURES 052.......... Phil X 090.......... Walter Trout 096.......... John Mayall 117.......... Tonemakers: Jamie Stillman 124.......... Workshop: Joseph Kaye Guitars
New Gear 010 014 020 102 112 114
. ........ Fender EOB Sustainer Stratocaster . ........ Fidelity Guitars Double Standard & JB . ........ Award-Session BluesBaby BB45 Combo . ........ Taylor 214ce-CF DLX & Martin DCRSG . ........ Pigtronix Mothership 2 . ........ Danelectro Billion Dollar Boost, Filthy Rich Tremolo & Big Spender Spinning Speaker 116 . ........ Boss JB-2 Angry Driver 120........... PRS SE Chris Robertson Signature 122 . ........ Danelectro Battery Billionaire
TECHNIQUES 146 . ........ Left-hand chord fingering with Phil Hilborne
VIDEO & AUDIO To enjoy all of the video and audio content in this issue, type the following link into your browser and follow the instructions in the post entitled ‘Guitarist video and audio’: http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
February 2018 Guitarist
7
f i r st p l ay
Fender EOB Sustainer Stratocaster £979 What Is It? A low-key signature model from Radiohead’s modest Ed O’Brien
To Infinity And Beyond
If you think signature models are just vanity projects with a scrawl on the headstock, meet an eminently playable artist-spec’d guitar with infinite appeal... Words Ed Mitchell Photograph Olly Curtis
I
t’s entirely possible that you could encounter and fall in love with the new Fender EOB Sustainer Stratocaster without realising it is, in fact, an artist signature model. The face behind the initials is Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien and his new guitar is the best Fender signature project since Johnny Marr set about redesigning the Jaguar. Made at Fender’s Ensenada plant in Mexico, the EOB features an alder body playing host to a flawless Olympic White polyurethane finish, three-ply white/ black/white scratchplate and that classic ‘synchronized’ vibrato. The bolt-on 10/56V maple neck features a flatter-than-vintage 241mm (9.5") radius maple ’board, 21 ‘narrow tall’ frets and a, mostly, satin urethane finish. Only the headstock face is glossy. One of the most popular neck profiles requested on Fender Custom Shop models, the 10/56V is nowhere near as porky as the U profile featured on ’54/’55 models, yet it carries more heft than the slim C necks found on late 50s and 60s Strats and Teles. Back at the body end, you may have noticed that the classic recessed jack socket is missing. Back in 1983 Fender
10
Guitarist February 2018
Video Demo http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
FENDER EOB SUSTAINER Stratocaster
first play
February 2018 Guitarist
11
first play
FENDER EOB SUSTAINER Stratocaster
1
2
3
1. There’s no signature on this guitar but Ed O’Brien has included a ‘Flower of Life’ design on the neck plate. The distances between the spheres represents that between whole and semi-tones, apparently 2. The Sustainer might be the headline act but there’s plenty of oomph from the Seymour Duncan JB JR ’bucker 3. This Strat was born at Fender’s plant in Mexico. The build quality is as high as we expect from the home of affordable modern classics like the Custom Shop designed Baja Telecaster
Hit a long string slide, let it sustain in Natural mode, then flick to Harmonic and listen to it slowly begin to squeal
launched a Strat model sans the recessed jack and one of the tone controls; on that occasion the tweaks were intended to cut costs. Here, the jackplate has been relocated to free up some valuable real estate on the EOB’s body for the chunk of circuitry that powers the onboard Fernandes Sustainer system. Yep, the EOB offers the prospect of infinite sustain from its Fernandes-branded neck pickup. It’s joined by a Seymour Duncan JB Jr single coil-sized humbucker at the bridge and a slightly overwound Fender Texas Special in the middle slot. So, this is a high spec guitar, but the only thing it doesn’t come with is a load of rock star ego. Even Ed O’Brien’s John Hancock doesn’t appear anywhere on his guitar.
Feel & Sounds
Ed O’Brien has used a black Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster, retro-fitted
12
Guitarist February 2018
with a Fernandes Sustainer, since 1996. That guitar has a V-profile neck making his choice of the 10/56V shape for his EOB model a no-brainer. The V profile is actually quite subtle and it morphs into a C shape as you approach the 12th fret making it supremely comfortable to navigate. We like Strats with fuller necks as it seems to offset the lack of grunt from the bridge pickup. Of course, the EOB has a humbucking JB Jr in the bridge position so there’s more weight in the tone here anyway. The JB Jr is bright and punchy when played clean and grows bolder when you expose it to some overdrive. It’s fuller bodied than a regular Strat bridge pickup and that girth is also present in the mid-position Texas Special and the Fernandes unit which acts as a regular neck humbucker when not in sustain mode. All the classic Strat sounds are
SPECIALS & GUIDES
myfavouritemagazines has over 100 one-off guides and specials which celebrate your favourite subjects. There’s something for everyone treat yourself or give gift.
DELIVERY INCLUDED
https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/guides
Or call now – UK: 0344 848 2852 Overseas: +44 344 848 2852 MyFavouriteMagazines is the official magazine subscription store of Future. You can save up to 74% on a huge range of popular magazine titles. Every magazine subscription will be delivered direct to your door, and includes free UK delivery; guaranteeing you don’t miss a copy of your favourite magazine.