Aerosmith Walk This Way
AC/DC
Thunderstruck
Rag’n’Bone Man Human
w
Digitech FreqOut
Natural feedback at any volume L e a r n t o P l ay
pearl jam alive (riff)
w
Take The
Lead!
Get rhythm!
Better picking & strumming in 20 minutes…
Start soloing now with our guide
Play lead in different styles Nail essential lead techniques Choose the right scales for your song
t h e t g t e s t:
lunchbox heads Interviews
Plini Sum 41 Darrel Higham Andy Summers
Low power. Two-channel. Huge tone!
editor’s letter Future Publishing Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Tel 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 822763 Email totalguitar@futurenet.com Website: www.totalguitar.co.uk
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Welcome… We’ve all been in a situation where, we know what’s coming up, but our minds go blank. This applies to soloing above many other musical situations, so this month we’re turning our attention to lead playing. If that sounds intimidating, don’t let it. This isn’t an out-and-out shredfest. Instead, we want to give you the catalyst you need to approach taking a solo in different styles with confidence. We’re also looking outside of the traditional guitar solo at some cool textural and melodic ideas. As usual, we’ve got plenty of the best tab and audio out there! This issue, there’s a rock classic with Aerosmith’s Walk This Way tabbed in full, AC/DC’s legendary Thunderstruck riff, an acoustic arrangement of Clapton’s Tears In Heaven and Rag’n’Bone Man’s Human. Elsewhere, we catch up with The Police legend, Andy Summers, take a tour around Sum 41’s live rig and Brit rockabilly hero Darrel Higham gives you his advice on getting started with the genre. All of that, plus our usual how-to guides and gear reviews of the best new affordable kit!
Next issue on sale 9 June 2017
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Stuart Williams Editor
making this month’s mag
Chris Bird
michael astley-brown
Rob Laing
Chris and longtime TG contributor Richard Barrett have racked their brains to bring you all the lead playing tips you could need to take your solos to the next level. With 30 audio files to jam along to, it’s fair to say they’ve cut no corners. Get started on p49.
Mike has trawled the cavernous floors of Musikmesse in Frankfurt this month, lining up killer gear for upcoming issues and consuming copious amounts of currywurst. He also reunited with his great love from January’s NAMM, DigiTech’s feedback-enabling FreqOut. See if he’s still head over heels on p104.
Rob’s inspired by the features in this issue… “Darrel Higham (p40) proves the rockabilly sound is just as exciting 60 years on; Plini (p36) is a young instrumental player showing how bright the future is; and Andy Summer’s approach to modelling (p44) is proof that true tonehounds keep an open mind.” june 2017 Total Guitar
03
#293 the gas Contents station Monitor
Cover photography: JoJoe Branston Photography: Olly Curtis Getty Images Neil Godwin Adam Gasson Shutterstock
04
049 take the lead!
Fancy yourself as the next Van Halen? Or maybe Albert Lee is more your style? Take your solos to another level with our essential guide to playing lead in different styles
Total Guitar june 2017
Subscribe! Subscribe to Total Guitar and save a whopping 30% on the regular cover price – turn to p110 for full details.
contents
032
Rig Tour: SUM 41
Monitor 006 First Look 008 Scene 010 Five Minutes Alone: Doyle Bramhall II 012 On The Up 014 Me & My Guitar: Jeremy Widerman 016 Album Reviews 018 Back Track: Pearl Jam
How To 022 2 0 Minutes To… Better Strumming And Picking 024 Riff Of The Month: AC/DC – Thunderstruck 026 Getting Started With… Chord Changes 028 The TG Guide To Effects: Pitch Shifter 030 What The F? Relative Scales
Features 032 Rig Tour: Sum 41 036 Plini 040 Darrel Higham 044 Andy Summers 049 Take the Lead!
05
Learn To Play 060 Jam Track: Early funk 062 Classic Track: Aerosmith – Walk This Way 070 O pen-mic Songbook: Rag’N’Bone Man – Human 072 The Turnaround: Buddy Guy
TG Unplugged
088
080 Fink 082 Rockschool: Eric Clapton – Tears In Heaven
cORT/mANSON m-jET
The GAS Station
096
aEROSMITH wALK tHIS WAY
086 Start Me Up 088 Cort/Manson Stage Series M-Jet 092 Squier Bullet Mustang HH 094 Gretsch G9521 Style 2 Triple-0 Auditorium 096 The TG Test: Multi-Channel Lunchbox Heads 102 Group Test: Tremolo Pedals 104 DigiTech FreqOut 106 Fix Your Guitar 114 The Playlist: Mark Heylmun june 2017 Total Guitar
Monitor people ✪ news ✪ noise
perfect 10
001 Gas Station Based on the Diezel Hagen
Mooer releases 10 amp-emulating mini preamp pedals
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009 Blacknight 007 Regal Tone
Based on the Engl Blackmore
Based on the Tone King Falcon
f you’ve been yearning for a high-end amp-matching modeller but can’t stump up the cash, Mooer has the answer: 10 mini pedals, which digitally recreate the preamp sounds of classic valve amps for £94.99 apiece. As you’d expect, each one packs treble, mid, bass, volume and gain controls, but the Chinese company has crammed even – yes – Mooer into their tiny chassis. All models feature two channels, each with independent EQs, and the pedals’ footswitches can be assigned to toggle between the two channels or switch the effect on or off. There’s even a speaker cabinet simulation included! To tide you over until the reviews, here’s an introduction to each of the cheekily named effects and the amps they emulate…
I
Total Guitar june 2017
010 Two Stone Based on the Two-Rock Coral
FIRSt LooK people ✪ news ✪ noise
Mooer’s new mini preamp pedals recreate the sounds of 10 classic valve amps for under £100 each
006 Classic Deluxe Based on the Fender Blues Deluxe
002 UK Gold 900
003 Power-Zone Based on the Koch Powertone
Based on the Marshall JCM900
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008 Cali-MK 3 Based on the Mesa Boogie Mark III
004 Day Tripper Based on the Vox AC30
Up close 1 Fully featured 005 Fifty-Fifty 3 Based on the EVH 5150
The pedals may be tiny, but they’re packing full three-band EQs, plus two channels apiece. Add in cab simulation, and these beauties will cover just about any situation.
2 Footswitch You can use the footswitches to turn the pedal on or off, or to switch between the preamp’s channels, if you’d rather maintain a consistent amp feel.
june 2017 Total Guitar
MONITOR PEOPLE ✪ NEWS ✪ NOISE
SCeNe GeAR
YOUR MONTH IN GUITARS
horse play
08
Fender has unveiled the latest generation of its Mustang modelling amps. The GT 40, 100 and 200 combos have wireless functionality and can be controlled by Fender’s new Tone app, with the software allowing players access to an updated library of presets. Bluetooth LE functionality also allows you to play music wirelessly to the amp and jam along. Or use the onboard looper to play along with your own ideas. When Now
GeAR
top Gear?
Another amp with GT in the title. But anything that gives us all more reasons to play our guitars in the house must be a good thing. But with the mini amp game being raised by Blackstar’s Fly 3 Bluetooth, Joyo’s got its work cut out to muscle into the market with its new TOP-GT. Bluetooth 4.0 functionality, a built-in rechargeable lithium battery and connectivity with an app running amp and effects modelling will certainly help its cause. When June
total GUitar JUNE 2017
AlBUM
stone soUr retUrn fter hearing Stone Sour’s comeback record, Hydrograd, it sounds to us like the band are having a blast with old-school tones. Guitarist Josh Rand agrees; “I’d listened to a lot of newer metal records,” says Josh, “and Christian [Martucci, guitar] and I wanted to hear tubes and air being pushed instead of the digital
A
world.” Rolling back the gain on amps, including Josh’s new MKIII Hughes & Kettner Tri-Amp and frontman Corey Taylor’s modded 5150, became central to that. It all represents a positive chapter for the band; “Making this record was like jamming in a basement as a kid,” adds Josh. “We did a lot of laughing.” When 30 June
Paul Natkin/WireImage
RIP
allan holdsworth passes away ritish jazz fusion virtuoso Allan Holdsworth passed away suddenly last month, aged 70. One of the true innovators of the instrument, Holdsworth’s advanced use of technique, including altered scales, is cited as an influence on a wide range of
B
players, including Eddie Van Halen, John Petrucci, Alex Lifeson and Meshuggah’s Fredrik Thordendal. During his career he released 12 studio albums, as well as releases with Soft Machine and I.O.U. Following his death, fans have raised over $114,000 for a memorial fund.
MIKEY DEMUS SKINDRED ROTOSOUND PLAYER
live
download festival onington Park will once again play host to a feast of rock and metal next month with Aerosmith (Messrs Tyler and Perry pictured) teasing their set closing the three-day event as being part of a farewell ‘Aero-Vederci Baby!’ tour. But the younger bucks have a strong showing too, with Biffy Clyro stepping up to headline on Saturday and AFI, SUM 41, Opeth, Mastodon, Clutch, Alter Bridge, Sikth, Slayer and The Dillinger Escape Plan guaranteeing guitar goodness. When 9 - 11 June
D
STRINGS PLAYED BY LEGENDS SINCE 1958 WWW.ROTOSOUND.COM
Monitor people ✪ news ✪ noise
Take a chance on me… Doyle is known for his distinctive upside-down playing style
“Eric Clapton instilled in me a confidence I didn’t have before. I grew up listening to Eric, from John Mayall, to Cream, to his solo records. But cut to a million years later, when I get asked to play in his band, I didn’t think, ‘Holy shit, I’m playing with Clapton’. That might have been a survival thing. But it was also because he made me feel so comfortable, like I was a peer, even if I wasn’t. I just felt like, ‘I’m playing with my buddy’. I never felt intimidated. He was so gracious with his compliments. So that made me feel like I could do anything.”
The show must go on… “When I was 15, I played this party for some Hells Angels in California. And they paid me by giving me speed. We started playing, and after four hours, they told us to keep going. They forced more speed on us. We played for another three hours. And when we finished, they said, ‘Keep going’. We couldn’t get off, because they were threatening us, saying they were gonna take care of us. So they kept putting speed up our noses and making us play all night.”
Turn it upside down…
10
five minutes alone
Doyle Bramhall II The Texas bluesman on psycho bikers, playing on speed and his mutual respect with Slowhand
“I play guitar upside down because it felt comfortable that way. By the time somebody said, ‘Hey, you’re playing wrong’, I was like, ‘Well, I know 200 songs, so I’m gonna keep going’. Eric sometimes can’t work out what I’m doing. And I’m the same way. I grew up watching right-handed players, so when I’d go see upsidedown players like Albert King and Otis Rush, I was completely lost. I couldn’t even compute what they were doing. So I definitely know what people are going through when they watch me.”
I am the one and only… It’s not about the money, money, money…
“I grew up in a band house in Texas. Musicians coming in and out all the time – Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, my dad and uncles. It was just music all the time. Music and drugs. I guess it was in my DNA that I would be a musician. For my 14th birthday, my father gave me a ’63 Harmony Rocket that he had gotten from Marc Benno, who had gotten it from Lightnin’ Hopkins. So I started out on Lightnin’ Hopkins’ guitar. It was a light cherry sunburst.”
“I used to do a lot of work as a session guitarist here in Los Angeles. But in the last five years, I’ve stopped charging. If I believe in the music, I don’t charge. I feel like it takes away from the process. I know people have to survive. But it’s like [US jazzman] Sun Ra said, ‘If you get paid to play music, you are not an artist’. It’s pretty hardcore, but over the years, I’ve just started doing that. I play music. That’s what I do. Just experiencing music itself, y’know?”
“Eric Clapton made me feel so comfortable. I just felt like, ‘I’m playing with my buddy’” Total Guitar june 2017
“I’ve always been interested in diverse music. A year after I started playing guitar, I was listening to Egyptian music, and I’ve always been attracted to music from the Middle East, Africa, India. As a guitarist, I’ve studied so much music, and I’ve travelled the world so much, and also performed with the likes of Eric, Roger Waters and Sheryl Crow. Whatever you’re listening to, it influences what you’re doing, then it becomes your thing. You can hear my personality in my guitar playing. Like it or not. Jagged edges and all…”
Doyle opens for Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall on 22/24/25 May. His latest solo album, Rich Man, is out now on Concord
Words: Henry Yates Photography: Danny Clinch
I got my first real six-string…
Monitor people ✪ news ✪ noise
12
O N T H E U P
Quinn Sullivan Buddy’s bud steps away from blues and into his own shoes hen he was just three years old, Quinn Sullivan was obsessed with The Beatles and picked up the guitar. “I think it was just the sound,” says Quinn, now 17. “I didn’t know what they were talking about but I had a photographic memory when it came to that music. I could sing the songs and play them back on guitar. That was my love.” Even considering this early talent, Sullivan’s trajectory was somewhat insane. Three years on he was melting faces with an appearance on Ellen, who gave him a Gibson
W
Chuck Lanza
Total Guitar june 2017
ES-335. Then at eight he met his hero Buddy Guy, who signed his Strat, summoned him onstage to jam and who, ever since, has been Quinn’s mentor and greatest champion. “It was the biggest moment of my life because that really started a journey that I’ve been on for 10 years with him,” says Quinn. “I’ve gotten to spend so much time with him and you learn something new every night. What I’ve taken from him is
just not to hold back. He says, ‘Play loud. Don’t be afraid to open up.’” Quinn’s debut album came in 2011, but it’s his recent third record Midnight Highway that he feels is his boldest step: moving away from pure blues and incorporating pop, rock and a cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. “Most people portray me as just a blues guy – and that will
always be my home – but I couldn’t hold back on this album,” reflects Quinn. “I’m really not sure how people will respond. People will say, ‘This kid will only do so much’, but it’s always the people that were told that stuff that made it. I’ll keep at it, but the cool thing is that I’ve got years to learn and develop and create more music. Time isn’t really an issue right now!”
FOR FANS OF Jared James Nicholls Gear Fender American Std Strat
“I’ve got years to learn and develop and make more music. Time isn’t an issue right now!”