black sabbath simon & garfunkel arctic monkeys war pigs
mrs robinson
do i wanna know?
#244 september 2013 £5.50
vocals!
Tg’s guide to singing & playing
The budget signature guitars you need to play
SpeedeUp s d a L r Youo faster in
Eddie Van Halen Kurt Cobain James Hetfield & loads more
Sol onth! am
LEARN tO PLAY black sabbath
War Pigs
Simon & garfunkel Mrs Robinson (intro)
arctic monkeys
Do I Wanna Know? (video riff)
Round-up Is your CD missing? Ask your newsagent about a replacement!
self-tuning guitars
september 2013
PRINTED IN THE UK
£5.50
Contents
ISSUE 244 SEPTEMBER 2013
WORKOUT: SPEED UP YOUR LEADS
COVER STORY
58
36 FEATURES
GEAR
REGULARS
30 Basics: Singing & Playing
90 Fender Classic Series ’60s
10 First Look
32
94 95
11 13 14 16 18
36
Our no-fear guide to handling both the mic and your guitar Jimmy Eat World Guitarists Jim Adkins and Tom Linton discuss melodic guitars, songwriting and new album, Damage Sign Here! Budget Signature Guitars You Need To Play TG presents the cream of the current crop of iconic budget signature guitars. You might just find an unexpected new companion!
54 Karnivool
62
8
JIMMY EAT WORLD
The Aussie maestros reveal how they’ve evolved their style to create prog-rock for the 21st century City And Colour How Dallas Green’s solo acoustic project took over from Alexisonfire
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101 102 104 106 107 108
Stratocaster Lacquer Electro-Harmonix Epitome Danelectro ’67 Heaven Hawk Round-up: Self-tuning guitars – Peavey AT-200, Gibson SG ’60s Tribute with Min-ETune, LTD MH-1000ET with EverTune bridge Peavey Vypyr VIP 1 Larrivée P-03 Yamaha Pacifica 012 EW MXR M69 Prime Distortion & TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster Accessories Ed’s Shed
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Music Man Armada Quick Chords Bittersweet chords On The Road Alter Bridge In The Studio Korn On The Up Competition Win a star-signed Peavey AT-200! In Praise Of… Gibson ES-335 Albums Next month Feedback The Final Countdown
Cover photography: Eric Fairchild Rex Features
COVER STORY
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Sign here! Budget signatures you need to play
SEPTEMBER 2013
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3
THINGS TO LEARN ALL THESE THINGS
74
IN THIS ISSUE
MRS ROBINSON SIMON & GARFUNKEL
76
Photography: CBS via Getty Images Anders Bryngel Chris Walter/WireImage Neil Godwin Adam Gasson
WAR PIGS BLACK SABBATH
68
GUEST LESSON MATTIAS EKLUNDH LESSONS 58 Guitar Workout
I2 Do I W na K w? c c MĐžkeys ( o ff) 68 Gu t L sĐž M ias IA Ek ndh nk (int ) G & n Si g Đž m 74 St h 76 W Pigs B Sabb@
72 73 86
Fast Scale Runs Get Your Grades! Rockschool Grade Two RGT Grade Four Tab Guide
SUBSCRIBE TO TOTAL GUITAR SEE PAGE 28 SEPTEMBER 2013
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PEOPLE
NEWS
NOISE
FIRST LOOK
GUITARMADA
Music Man readies the almighty Armada to hit UK shores
WHATEVER
you think of Music Man’s latest creation, there’s no denying that the Armada commands attention. And so it should: its mahogany body is topped with a V-shaped bookmatched and flame maple (or quilt maple, depending on finish) top, giving the guitar a look quite unlike any other. As suggested by the mahogany body, the Armada has its cannons aimed squarely at the hearts of Les Paul players, and a 629mm (24.75-inch) rosewood fingerboard and through-neck design supports this plan of attack. Elsewhere, the hardware is all shipshape: Schaller M6-IND locking tuners, tune-o-matic bridge with Graph Tech tailpiece and two Music Man humbucking pickups. To capitalise on the bold look, Music Man has set sail with seven different finish options: Black/Gold Opaque (shown here), Flame Natural Trans Red, Flame Sunburst, Flame Black Trans, Quilt Natural Trans Red, Quilt Sunburst and Quilt Black Trans. Phew! That striking appearance comes at a price: an Armada will cost you a mighty £2,899 – probably not far off what an actual Spanish naval fleet would have set you back in the late 1500s. Still, you won’t have to wait for it to dock: the Armada is available from UK ports, sorry, retailers, now.
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10 minutes to improve your…
Bittersweet chords
THIS ISSUE’S collection of chords is titled ‘bittersweet’ because each contains clashing, dissonant intervals, yet still retains a kind of sweetness to the overall sound. Substitute some of these colourful chords for basic major or minor shapes, and even your simplest progressions will sound sweeter.
Major 7 chords x x o
x
o 1
1 1 1
2
3 4
Dmaj7
Bmaj7
The root and major 7th form a dissonant interval, but you can’t hear any clash in these lush major 7s.
Add 11 chords x
x
o
o
1 1 2 3
1 2 4
3
Cadd11
Dadd11
The major 3rds clash with the 11th intervals, but the overall effect is a bright, zingy sound.
Minor 9 chords x o
x o
o 1
6
1
5 3 3
Bm9
Amadd9
Minor 3rds and major 9ths create discord here, but these moody chords beg to be left ringing out.
Photography: Sander Koning/epa/Corbis
2
oo
LISTEN TO BEN HOWARD In Old Pine, Ben Howard mixes up a run of major and minor chords with a Dm9 chord, an approach taken by many fingerpickers.
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PEOPLE
NEWS
VIDEO LESSON
NOISE
RIFF OF THE MONTH
www.bit.ly/tg244rotm
There’s a vintage flavour to this riff
WINTER IS COMING Seymour Duncan unleashes the extreme Black Winter pickup
ARCTIC MONKEYS DO I WANNA KNOW? INTRO/VERSE 0:05 TO PLAY the riff from the second single of Arctic Monkeys’ fifth studio album, AM (due for release in September), make sure your guitar is in standard tuning (EADGBE). After a bar and a half of pulsating bass drum and snare, the guitars kick in with this riff, which forms most of the song. Pay close attention to the straight, regimented feel and aim to stay completely in time with the drums. Two guitars, bass and vocals are in unison here so timing is crucial. If you
play with too much enthusiasm, you’ll find yourself ahead of the beat, making the riff sound rushed; if you’re behind the beat it will sound too laid back. Timing control comes mainly from your pick hand here, but your legato technique also needs to be sorted, too, so hammer-ons, slides and picked notes alike are all roughly the same volume level. (JH)
MEET the blackest of black metal pickups, the Seymour Duncan Black Winter humbucker. It was initially developed for Scandinavia’s extreme metal guitarists, but due to demand Seymour Duncan has released the pickups to all, and notable users already include Ola Englund and Keith Merrow. The pickups provide “the right balance of mids, treble and bass to instantly go from annihilating riffs to articulately
cutting solos”, says Seymour Duncan, using three ceramic magnets and a special wind to produce crushing tones when paired with distortion. Lookswise, almost everything’s black, from the bottom plate to the pole pieces and screws. The pickups are available for six-strings in bridge and neck configurations; a Trembucker version offers maximum balance for vibrato-equipped axes. One pickup is £99.95, and a calibrated set costs £199.95.
Get the sound 4
THIS basic guitar tone comes from a lightly overdriven amp and just enough spring reverb to get a vintage vibe. Set your amp’s gain level high enough that your tone has bite and sustain, but stop short of a high-gain rock tone. At their recent Glastonbury show, Alex Turner and Jamie Cook used Vox ‘Teardrop’ and Gibson SG guitars respectively – the ideal setup for two guitarists is a mix of single-coil and humbucker pickups. Playing alone? Try using a fixed bridge humbucker-equipped guitar.
Video Lesson All our Video Lessons are online at totalguitar.co.uk/ video. To go to this lesson, type www.bit.ly/tg244rotm into your browser.
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CHANNEL OVERDRIVE
POWER TRIO
PRS lifts the lid on three cutprice USA-made S2 models ONCE the preserve of guitarists with very deep pockets, PRS has launched three new S2 solidbodies that bring the price of its USA-built guitars down to around £1,000. The S2 Mira (from £1,095), S2 Starla (from £1,095) and S2 Custom 24 (£1,375) are built in the same factory as PRS’s core-line instruments, and the company says the models have been designed to be cheaper to manufacture without sacrificing tone or build quality.
Whether it’s the classic Custom, vintage rocker Mira or Bigsby-equipped Starla, the S2 models can already be found in the hands of players as diverse as Minus The Bear’s Dave Knudson, Sleeping With Sirens’ Jesse Lawson and Chris Robertson from Black Stone Cherry – and at these price points, they’re likely to find favour with a few of you lot, too. Keep your eyes pointed TG-side for a full review of the PRS S2 Starla next issue.
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MONITOR PEOPLE
NEWS
NOISE
Mark’s chops are sure as ever and he’s been working on his singing skills, too
ON THE ROAD
ALTER BRIDGE
Tremonti and Kennedy make their long-awaited live return with new material, plus Shinedown and Halestorm in tow…
Photography: Joby Sessions Harry Reese
9000
WE
feel guilty about disturbing Mark Tremonti right now; we might be holding up the new Alter Bridge album. Mark’s in the process of mixing a song as we speak to him and debating whether to use his Dumble (yes, he has a Dumble) for re-amping on this track. But it turns out that playing live again hasn’t been far from the band’s minds… “We actually talked about that a lot on this record,” he reveals. “We talked about how these songs would translate live and we reminded ourselves that whatever we put on the record, we have to play. So we’ve got to make this fun, and if you have an album that’s full of ballads you’re going to be putting yourself to sleep every day. So this record is a very high-energy record, fun to play and I think it will translate very well live.” You can expect to hear new songs when the band hit arenas
across the UK and Europe this autumn, but Alter Bridge’s touring companions, Shinedown and Halestorm, have plenty of anthems of their own with the common ground of constantly growing and loyal UK fanbases. We’re glad to hear the three bands have already built up some camaraderie ahead of the tour, too.
after playing with a streamlined setup for his role as frontman in his solo band. In fact, he’s getting two. “For the first time ever I’ve duplicated my rig for Europe and the US. I used to fly my rig all over the place. Now I have an A rig and a B rig, which sound pretty close
“Whatever we put on the record has to translate live” “Halestorm actually crashed at my house one night when they were passing through town,” says Mark, “and we’ve done a bunch of shows with the Shinedown guys over the years. I’m really looking forward to this tour.” Something else Mark is looking forward to is getting his full rig back
to one another. They both sound great but I have a few different amps: in one I have my Bogner Uberschall and in the other rig I have a Voodoo V-Rock. For my lead tone in the other I have a Bludotone [Bludo-drive] in one and then another Uberschall that has the Purple Haze mode on it.
Alter Bridge will be joined by Shinedown and Halestorm on tour
It gets too expensive to keep on buying Bludotones, so if I have another amp sitting around I’ll just use the next best thing I have.” He’s back up to the full quota on the backline, but we want to know what the new and improved Tremonti is sounding like with all this singing experience under his belt now… “Getting out there and singing live, you learn how to do things differently and I’ve picked up a few tricks along the way. Hopefully, it will help me, vocally, with what I’m doing in Alter Bridge.” (RL) Alter Bridge’s European tour begins on 16 October at Nottingham Arena. SEPTEMBER 2013
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