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The (now former) red hoT Chili
PePPers’ guiTarisT disCusses
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and sTomPboxes To CreaTe
layers of aural delighT on
Stadium arcadium in This
november 2006 Cover sTory!
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GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | January 2014 | 7
contents
January 2014 · Volume 4, Number 1
from the vault
8
Classic John Frusciante Interview
The (now former) Red Hot Chili Peppers’
guitarist discusses using Stratocasters, synths,
and stompboxes to create layers of aural delight
on the hit album Stadium Arcadium in this
November 2006 cover story.
22
Ralph Towner
The jazz/classical guitarist best known for his
work in the innovative world-fusion group
Oregon goes deep on his singular 12-string
acoustic and nylon-string guitar work, composi-
tion, improvisation, and more in this feature
from the December 1975 issue.
Gear
26
New Gear
(from the January 2014 issue of Guitar Player).
oN the NewsstaNd
28
GP January 2014 Table of Contents
lessoNs
30
Howard Roberts
Twelve Pentatonic Trials
(from the December 1976 issue of Guitar Player).
32
Larry Coryell
Fusion Soloing
(from the June 1986 issue of Guitar Player).
sessioNs
34
The ever-popular
TrueFire Lessons
traNscriptioNs
36
“9 Crimes”
Damien Rice
40
“Put a Little Love In Your Heart”
Various Artists
42
“Chuck E.’s In Love”
Rickie Lee Jones
GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | January 2014 | 9
november
2006
John Frusciante
Puts His Stamp on
Stadium Arcadium
Those given To cosmic speculaTion mighT easily conclude ThaT John
Frusciante wasborn to play guitar in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Having followed the band from its inception, and having mastered all the songs in the Peppers’ repertoire, Frusciante was a de facto under-study for guitarist Hillel Slovak, and the natural choice for Slovak’s successor when he succumbed to heroin addiction in 1988. Following the runaway success of 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Frusciante became disillusioned with the rock star life, leading to a six-year hiatus from the band—but he returned just prior to the new millennium, and his guitar playing and songwriting are currently more inspired and compelling than ever.
Frusciante has a voracious musical appetite. One moment he’s spinning vintage vinyl by John Lee Hooker and Cecil Taylor, the next he’s extolling the virtues of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, and the next he’s name checking artists as diverse as Funkadelic, Black Sabbath, Brian Eno, John McLaughlin, and Squarepusher—not to mention perennial favor-ites such as Hendrix, Clapton, and Beck. His living room walls and much of its floor are home to thousands of CDs and LPs.
Complementing Frusciante’s passion for music are his love of recording and his fas-cination with pure sound. “As a person whose job it is to make sounds, it’s important for me not to overlook any of the various properties that sound possesses,” he explains. “Studying modular synthesis has taught me how to approach music in a completely dif-ferent way, and now I think in terms of giving sound width and dimension, rather than just in terms of what my fingers are doing. You don’t have a chance to think that way when you’re caught up in the actual playing. It’s only in the studio that you can really explore that.”
Although showcasing the vocal was producer Rick Rubin and the band’s prime direc-tive when recording and mixing the Chili Peppers’ new double-disc, Stadium Arcadium [Warner Bros.], Frusciante’s sonic watermark is evident throughout. “A big part of my concept for the record was to have the music be constantly revealing itself from the beginning to the end of the song,” he explains. “Some songs build more than others, but they all have various elements that get added as the track goes on.” Here, Frusciante reveals those elements in exhaustive detail.
Why did you call the two discs on Stadium Arcadium
Jupiter and Mars?
As we wrote more and more songs, we started toying with the idea of doing two separately released albums, but we ended up putting everything that we felt super good about on a double CD. Then it just seemed like a good idea to give each disc a name, so that people would think of the 28 songs as two 14-song albums, each with its own vibe, and not get over-whelmed. As far as Jupiter and Mars, we liked the idea of the planet of creative intelligence, Jupiter, having the force and the drive of Mars, the warrior, which is the planet of manifestation of what you feel is right from inside. Any creative person has to struggle against all the forces in the world, and inside themselves, especially,
that are working against them. You’ve got to be kind of a warrior to be an artist, and to stand up and be the best you can be in the face of criticism and adversity.
Where and how was the album recorded?
The album was recorded at The Mansion in Laurel Canyon, though a few overdubs were done at the band members’ home stu-dios, and at Rick Rubin’s studio. We recorded to three synchronized 2-inch, 24-track machines, running at 30ips, and mixed to analog tape as well. [Engineer Ryan Hewitt
notes that the console was a Neve 8068 with 31102 mic preamps, and that Neve 1057 and 1073 mic preamps were also used for some tracks.] The basic tracks, including most
solos, were cut “live” in the studio, with everyone playing together in the same room. For a lot of it we even had our amps
in the same room with the drums, and we allowed for bleed, as I was really into try-ing to capture some of the atmosphere of ’60s recordings, and also have that extra push you get when you know you’ve got to nail the take because you’re all in the same room.
What’s your philosophy regarding perfection vs. imperfection when recording?
There’s a fine line between good imper-fections and bad imperimper-fections. You might have played on the wrong fret, or played an open string you didn’t mean to play, and if you’re a really self-critical person, you might immediately want to fix that. But, it’s important to listen to those things a second time, and get other people’s opin-ions. For example, during the solo on “She’s Only 18,” I was on the wrong fret
classic interview
november
2006
Frusciante in his home studio. His API 3288 console is in the foreground, and the Doepfer modular synth—used for processing many of the tracks on Stadium Arcadium—is behind him. Two Studer A800 Mk I 2-inch, 24-track machines are located in another room. Telefunken V72 and V78 mic pres were used to record his electric guitar overdubs, and a Universal Audio 610 mic pre was used for acoustics.
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for a second, but I just kept the flow going, and the solo was awesome. Once you stop fighting with mistakes, you actually roll with them, wait for them, and welcome them. They’re one of those things that the spirit of music likes. If there are no mis-takes, a record has no vibe.
What microphones did you use to record your guitars?
I use a Shure SM57 positioned on axis a couple of inches from the cone. On some tracks the engineer, Ryan Hewitt, added a Royer R-121 ribbon mic, posi-tioned about 15 feet away, in order to capture some of the room sound. We used a Telefunken Ela M 250 tube condenser mic on the acoustic guitars.
Take us through the album track by track.
“ D a n i C a l i f o r n i a ”
I used a straight Strat tone on the first section of the first verse, and on the second section the guitar signal is split and panned in stereo, with the original part on the left, and a part processed using my Doepfer modular synth on the right. Basically, thesignal from the tape is used to trigger an envelope generator (or ADSR), which responds to playing dynamics, and uses that information to dynamically control a low-pass filter. Unlike a typical envelope filter pedal, this setup allows me to create m a n y m o r e s o u n d s t h a n m e r e wah effects. Then, those two sections are repeated, and as I’m hanging on the sustained chord which transitions into the chorus, a Mellotron string part slowly rises behind the guitar. You can hardly hear the Mellotron, but it’s what makes it feel like something really big is about to happen. On the chorus, I doubled the guitar parts, which were played using a Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion pedal.
The second verse begins with a couple of guitars playing in harmony. After they were recorded, I ran them through a Moog MF-105 MuRF (Multiple Resonance Filter Array) pedal six times, and recorded the results on individual tracks. The MuRF is very unpredictable, and sounded different on each pass. I kept going until I got a
classic interview
november
2006
frusciante relaxing with friends in his living room.
frusCianTe’s
sTaDium Pals
G u i T a r s ’55 and ’62 fender
stratocasters; ’69 les Paul Custom; martin 0-15.
a m P s marshall major and silver Jubilee
heads. marshall 4x12 cabinets with stock Celestions.
e f f e C T s Boss Ce-1 Chorus ensemble, Ds-1
Distortion, Ds-2 Turbo Distortion; electro-Harmonix english muff’n fuzz, Holy Grail reverb, Big muff Pi fuzz, PoG Polyphonic octave Generator, electric mistress flanger; DoD 680 analog Delay; moog mf-105 murf, mf-105B Bass murf, mf-101 low-Pass filter, mf-103 Phaser; ibanez WH-10 Wah; Dunlop DB-02 Dime Custom CryBaby.
classic interview
november
2006
Frusciante on taking stadium arcadium Live
“When we started rehearsing the songs for live performance it was a real bummer, because everything sounded so empty without the modular synth and other treatments we used on the album. But i found a way to approximate many of the sounds using an array of moogerfooger pedals controlled with a couple of cP-51 control Processors.
“i have both the regular and the bass murF pedals on my pedalboard—which not only produce sounds like those on the record, they are also good for adding an element of accident, because you never know what to expect from them. For example, one night, i was playing some open chords with distortion or something, and when i kicked in the murF, it started playing one of the baddest ‘drum’ beats i’ve ever heard. the next night, i tried to do the same thing, but i couldn’t even come close. You’ve just got to let the pedal take you wherever it’s going to take you.
“i also have three moogerfooger mF-101 Low-Pass Filter pedals. one of them is set to make a sort of wa-wa-wa-wa, or futuristic Leslie sound, by modulating the filter’s envelope with the LFo in the cP-51. i use that to simulate the modular synth filter sounds on “dani california,” and a few other pieces. another filter pedal is set to produce that super-fast filter “martian” sound that i use on “death of a martian,” and the verses of “tell me Baby.” the third one is used to cover any other sort of envelope filter sound i may want to make. Finally, i have an mF-103 12-stage Phaser for emulating the analogue systems phasing effects, and an mF-102 ring modulator.
“What i came to realize, however, is it’s really a matter of shifting the energy, and, some nights, i might just as easily create the same effect by jumping around like a maniac at the point in a song where, on the album, i turned on some treatments. or maybe chad [smith, drummer] will just pump up the drums at those points—as long as there is some sort of movement. the band has got such a new energy since we’ve started getting along better, and we’re just flying on stage now. You can put me up there with no effects and a tiny combo amp and i would still feel great—as long as we have that feeling between us.”
Frusciante’s live pedalboard. the three moogerfooger mF-101 Low-Pass Filters, the mF-105 murF, the mF-105B Bass murF, and a mF-102 ring modulator are arrayed along the upper right. two moog expression Pedals—used for realtime parameter control—are located just below them on the right. a third expression Pedal, an mF-103 12-stage Phaser, and the two cP-251 control Processors are located on the left side of the bottom tier.
take that I really liked, though we actually wound up using all six takes in combina-tion. Otherwise, the processing is the same as on the first verse.
For the bridge, the rhythm guitar is pro-cessed with the Doepfer’s LFO (Low- Frequency Oscillator) controlling its high-pass filter, so that the filter opens and closes rhythmically. The drums are also filtered, so that they are small and panned to one side
at the beginning, then gradually get bigger and pan out across the full stereo spectrum, which lets you hear the guitar treatment more clearly.
On the third verse I overdubbed an additional rhythm guitar track. Then, on the buildup to the chorus, I added some diminished chords along with several har-mony parts. To get the highest harmonies, we slowed the tape down and recorded
them at a slower speed, so that they would be pitched above the range of the guitar when the tape was sped back up.
There are lots of additional harmony guitar parts on the second half of the third chorus, positioned in two groups panned to either side. Also, Eddie Kramer came in and showed our engineer how to do ’60s-style tape phasing, which we used on an early mix, and we wound up splicing a section of that mix into the part transition-ing out of the chorus.
I played the original solo when we recorded the basic tracks, and then dou-bled it later, except for the super-fast wah part at the end, which was too difficult to double perfectly, so I put that section through a Delta Labs Effectron II digital delay set to a quick delay with just a touch of slow modulation.
“ S n o w ( H e y o H ) ”
During theoutro section I used an Electro-Harmonix POG, which adds multiple octaves and makes the guitar sound like an organ. Towards the very end of the song I created an articulated arpeggio using three dis-torted guitar parts, each playing one note of the arpeggio recorded onto a separate track. Normally if you tried to play that sort of line with a distortion pedal, you’d get frequency beating and the notes would be indistinct. But this way each note is clear, while giving the impression of being a single guitar. I also played the same parts on a synthesizer, tucked so low in the mix that you can’t really hear them, but you can hear them, and it sounds really differ-ent without them there.
“ C H a r l i e ”
The lead guitars are onthe left with a slap-back delay on the right.
“ S t a d i u m a r C a d i u m ”
On thesolo, we flipped the tape over and ran the sound through a vintage EMT 250 digital reverb, recording the reverb onto a sepa-rate track, so that when the tape was flipped back over the reverb would be reversed and begin just ahead of the gui-tar. Then, we ran the reverb sound through a low-pass filter—which lets you nail any sound down to the tiniest little sliver of a frequency—so that you not only hear the notes coming up ahead of the unprocessed guitar, they are swirl-ing around, and the sound seemswirl-ingly comes out of nothingness. Also, on the second verse, we slowed down the tape
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classic interview
november
2006
and I picked some triads really fast, then we ran that sound through the EMT 250, which made them sound like futuristic mandolins from outer space.
“ H u m p d e B u m p ”
There were nooverdubs.
“ S H e ’ S O n ly 18 ”
The delay effect on the verses and solo were inspired by Hendrix’s “If 6 Were 9.” They were pro-cessed with the Effectron II, set to a quickdelay with a little bit of modulation to provide movement. The engineer also cre-ated a really good backwards reverb for the vocals on the choruses.
“ S l O w C H e e t a H ”
On the instru-mental bridge section, I created swells with the guitar’s volume control, which we ran through the EMT 250 set on its largest and longest setting, creating a sound like stars shooting through space.“ tO r t u r e m e ”
A few harmony partswere overdubbed.
“ S t r i p m y m i n d ”
The melodies in the second verse are two guitars playing in harmony, processed through an Ana-logue Systems Phase Shifter, which unlike a typical phase shifter has a really wide range, as well as a Resonance control. When you run two or more harmony lines through it, and adjust the resonance really slowly by hand, at one frequency it will favor one note and its harmonics, and at another frequency it will favor another, with the whole thing moving in a circular fashion. And, sometimes when three notes are playing together, a fourth “note” is cre-ated out of the combined frequencies and harmonics. I did the same thing on “She Looks to Me,” but there it was with chords rather than single notes. On the solo I used Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi fuzz and Holy Grail reverb pedals. Rick Rubin really cranked the first note of the solo to give it a thunderous quality when it comes in.“ e S p e C i a l ly i n m i C H i g a n ”
Forthe harmony guitars that come in halfway through the second chorus, I used an Electro-Harmonix English Muff’n distor-tion pedal, which I really love. It has an incredible amount of upper midrange and highs, and it can be obnoxiously bright, so I turned my tone knob all the way down and used the middle pickup to have the deadest and blandest sound possible coming out of the guitar, which produced a sweet, Cream-era Clapton-like sound. It’s one of my favorite tones that I’ve ever gotten. Omar Rodriguez from the Mars Volta played the solo. [Frusciante appears
on the new album by the Mars Volta as well.]
“ w a r l O C k S ”
There’s a cycle of twobars at the top of the second verse where I used a technique inspired by David Byrne and Brian Eno. You put notes in little spaces where you think, rhythmi-cally, that there’s a hole for a note, on four or five separate tracks. And though there is no conscious intent, all the notes taken together create a pattern. Then, I ran those parts through the MuRF, which randomly emphasized certain notes, mak-ing them sound as if they are just breath-ing out, and not bebreath-ing picked. I really love that moment.
“ C ’ m O n g i r l”
I used basically the same English Muff’n sound as on“Espe-FAIR USE IS “Espe-FAIR PLAY
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cially in Michigan,” and the same reverse reverb/filter effect as on “Stadium Arca-dium.” The solo at the end was cut live.
“ W e t S a n d ”
I played through a Leslie in the A section. The engineer also used a technique, having to do with putting the signal slightly out of phase with itself, to make the guitars seem to project out in front of the speakers. At the end of the song there’s an arpeggiated guitar part created by slowing the tape down and playing har-monies a third up, on the treble pickup, which made it sound exactly like a harpsi-chord. I’m convinced that’s what Hendrixdid on “Burning of the Midnight Lamp.”
“ H e y ”
No overdubs. I probably had the Holy Grail reverb pedal on throughout the song.“ d e S e c r at i o n S m i l e ”
The har-mony guitars are treated with the same phasing effect used on “Strip My Mind.”“ t e ll m e B a B y ”
Although there’sonly a single rhythm guitar part, the pro-cessing varies continually throughout the song, which changes the over-all atmo-sphere and provides development. For example, on the first verse there’s a super-fast, light filter thing going on that makes
the guitar sound kind of outer-spacey. Later, there’s a slap-back echo, then a reverb where there wasn’t one before, etc. The solo was run through the MuRF.
“ H a r d t o c o n c e n t r a t e ”
Thebasic guitar part uses simple volume swells, but there are high harmony parts outside the range of the guitar created by slowing the tape down when recording, and then speeding it back up. I used an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger on the bridge.
“ 21 S t c e n t u r y ”
The solos were overdubbed, with a main solo and two harmony parts on the outro.“ S H e lo o k S to m e ”
The threehar-mony guitars at the end were done using the English Muff’n, and then run through the Analogue Systems phaser and mixed to two tracks panned hard right and left. Normally when sounds are moving from speaker to speaker you hear exactly where they are at any given moment, but with this process certain notes come out on the left that might or might not come out on the right. Because the frequency of the phasing is moving so slowly, it creates a calming effect. Also, the two-note phrases on the verses were done by recording each note on its own track, then flipping the tape and adding reversed reverb to just the
first note of each phrase. There’s also an
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organ-like sound on the second chorus that’s done with the POG.
“ R e a d y m a d e ”
The harmony guitar parts were overdubbed, with layered feed-back at some points. I also treated Chad’s drums with a comb filter during the bridge, and placed reverb on certain snare hits, which made them sound like gunshots.“ I f ”
Flea’s bass line was sufficient and really didn’t need a guitar, so I just added a simple slide part.“ m a k e y o u f e e l B e t t e R ”
Theoverdubs on the final verse and chorus
were played on a Les Paul, with the origi-nal panned left and a slightly out-of-time echo on the right. This was one of the last overdubs on the record, but I felt that it took the ending up to another level.
“a nIm a l B a R ”
The main part is done with volume-knob swells, a wah, and a cho-rus pedal—but I used the wah pedal exactly the opposite of how it’s normally used. I raise the volume while the wah is in the full treble position, and then close the wah to its full bass position. Then I lower the vol-ume and repeat the move on the next chord. It’s unusual for a guitarist to use a wah that way, but it is the way a synthesist would think. The chorus effect is maxed at some points, as is the Holy Grail, which is set to the Spring sound. The solo is pro-cessed with the stereo phasing effect from the Analogue Systems Phaser.“ S o m u c h I ”
The harmony guitarswere overdubbed.
“ S to R m I n a t e a c u p ”
We used thesame envelope-filtering effect as on “Dani California” for the rhythm parts.
“ W e Be lIe v e ”
We used the Doepfer’sLFO controlling its filter on the main guitar part, and there are also some harmony feed-back tracks run through the MuRF on the opening to the second verse. I doubled Flea’s bass line at the end with a Les Paul. The solo at the end was done using the English Muff ’n, and treated afterwards with a DOD Analog Delay, the feedback
knob of which I turned manually to get a controlled echo feedback thing.
“ t u R n I t a g a I n ”
I recorded a lot of guitar tracks towards the end and mixed them all myself. I just creatively organized them in my brain and mixed them, having one guitar come in here and another guitar come in over there.“ d e a t h o f a m a R t I a n ”
We were rehearsing at the studio for about a week before we actually started recording, but they were just letting tape roll, and we wound up using a few of those takes, including this one, and they have a more relaxed feeling to them than the other songs. The main guitar part was played through a Leslie, and the “Martian” sounds were made with a filter that was modulated super-fast. There are three lead guitars on the outro, but they are mixed very quietly. On early Funkadelic albums, George Clinton would mess around with the volume of things, and not just have the parts fit into a perfectly balanced unity the way most producers do. On one track there would be really loud lead guitars, and on another super-loud bass, or quiet lead vocals, etc. The band and our producer were not into that as a general direction for the album, but this is one of the few spots where I’m doing that sort of thing. Of course, they sent the mix back, saying, “The guitars are too soft”—but that’s what I was going for!gclassic interview
november
2006
“In high school, I often
used to stay up and
practice all night until I
had to go to school the
next day.”
Dig this collection of frusciante solos from 2002-2007.
CLASSIC INTERVIEW
from the November 2006 issue
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GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | January 2014 | 23
classic interview
december
1975
watch towner play “green and golden”
CLASSIC INTERVIEW
from the December 1975 issue
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GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | January 2014 | 27
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current issue
Here’s what’s in the January 2014 issue of Guitar Player, on Newsstands Now!
RIFFS
Bill Lawrence remembered, Climax Blues Band’s Pete Haycock eulogized, Steve Hunter on
Lou Reed, John Scofield decodes Uberjam, Alex Machacek and Gary Husband deftly defy convention, and more!
COVER STORY
Carlos Santana, Randall Smith, and the Mark I “Budokan” Amplifier
When Carlos first plugged into a Mesa/Boogie, guitar tone as we know it was changed forever. Here is the story of that magical amp and the new Boogie King Snake that it inspired.
ARTISTS
Scott Holiday · Luther Dickinson · Tomatito · Adam Miller
LESSONS
Under Investigation
A thorough examination of a particular style or player. This month: Steve Cropper.
Twisted Blues
A look at Oz Noy’s 12-bar approach.
Rhythm Workshop
Bending in rhythm.
Fretboard Recipes
Sharp Keys vs. Flat Keys.
GEAR
New Gear
Roundup! Takamine P1D, P3MC, P4DC, P6JC, and P7DC
Roundup! BBE Windowpane, El Rey Fuzz, Hallmark Nu-Fuzz, Maxon Fuzz Element series,
Skreddy Fuzz, and TSVG Dying Batt fuzz pedals
Red Rocket Commander Custom Hughes & Kettner GrandMeister 36 Studio Tools Zoom H6 Handy Recorder
Studio Tools JBL LSR308 Powered Studio Monitors Stompbox Fever EarthQuaker Devices The Depths Whack Job 1965 Tele-Star 4T
Fable Fighters What’s the Big Deal About Germanium Transistors?
ChATTER
Craig Anderton on Technology Gary Brawer on Maintenance Scott Mathews on Recording Carl Verheyen on Performing
A N e w B A y M e d i A P u B l i c A t i o N g uit A r P l A yer. c o M ®
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Rival SonS • lutheR DickinSon toMatito • John ScofielD lou ReeD ReMeMBeReD oZ noY’S
twiSteD BlueS! Steve C ropper ’S Grea teSt LiCkS De CoDeD caRloS
Santana
&RanDallSMith
anD the “Magic” Boogie that changeD guitaR tone foReveR 22 G U I TA R P L AY E R . C O M /J A n U A R Y 2 0 1 4World-renoWned guitarist and
designer Bill Lawrence passed away on November 2, in California. He was a pop-ular post-war jazz musician, a true revo-lutionary, and his pioneering work helped shape the modern guitar as we know it today. I first met Bill in 1972, while he was working for Gibson in Kalamazoo, Michi-gan, developing pickups and designs that resulted in the L6S and S-1 guitars, the Ripper Bass, and the Super Humbucker. Bill had no problem sharing his ideas or talking about new products—which was
delightful—and Carlos Santana’s use of the L6S convinced me that Bill was on target. Much later on, his Los Angeles shop on Sunset Blvd. was near my gallery at SIR, and Bill graciously shared some Broad-caster-inspired Strat and Tele pickups. He lovingly described them as having “juicy” tones. Bill’s furtive mind continued to pro-pound brilliance every time we connected. Bill was born as Willi Lorenz Stich near Cologne, Germany on March 24, 1931, to a musical family. He began his music train-ing at age eight on violin, and listentrain-ing to
Barney Kessel, Les Paul, and Oscar Moore on the radio shaped his early awareness of the guitar. By 1952, Bill had developed such a unique style as a guitarist—and had became so well-known as “Billy Lorento”— that the German instrument maker Framus rewarded him with his own signature-model jazz guitar.
In 1966, Bill met the luthier Dan Arm-strong in New York, and they collaborated with Bill’s removable pickups for Ampeg’s plexiglass guitar line. Bill started his com-pany—Lawrence Sound Research—in
R
ffs
i
Robb Lawrence on the
Genius of BiLL LawRence
gpr0114_riffs_ln3.indd 22 11/21/13 9:44 AM
54 G U I TA R P L AY E R . C O M /J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4
Features
gpr0114_art_miller_ko2.indd 54 11/15/13 11:38 AM
136 G U I TA R P L AY E R . C O M /j A n U A R Y 2 0 1 4
The Tele-STar brand iS SomeThing of an enigma. WaS iT a
nameplate used by Kawai or Teisco, or was it an independent Japanese guitar man-ufacturer? Tele-Star guitars came into the U.S. in the mid 1960s through a whole-saler out of New York, and many think these instruments were made by Kawai. But as Kawai and Teisco were merging just then, this guitar could be one of their ugly “Dr. Moreau” offspring. Nobody knows for sure, because during the guitar boom of the ’60s—when so many makers fought it out to reach the massive number of young people who were suddenly hungry to start bands—it was often difficult to track who was making what for whom. Weirdo Factor
A lot of my favorite ’60s guitars from Goya, Teisco, Kent, EKO, Hagstrom, and other manufacturers had four pickups, but it’s a rather weird setup for today’s players. Then, there are the 4T’s organ-style toggle buttons (the on/off switches for each pickup), a boost switch that goes from R (rhythm) to S (solo), and that unique and lovely greenburst finish. And get a load of that huge headstock—it’s almost as long as the plywood body. Fascinating stuff for us “guit-archaeologists.” Playability & Sound The 4T’s clean tone is nondescript, but add some overdrive, and you can get a pretty convincing ’70s-era Keith Richards vibe. The guitar sounds slightly better than it plays, but, sadly, it plays lousy. (Even Tele-Star’s better guitars—known as “Spar-kles”—never had a hope of being much more than beginner models.) The 20-fret, mahogany steel-reinforced neck starts out bulky—almost like a classical guitar— and then gradually squares off as if it were trying to become a lap-steel, making it rather unfriendly in the upper range. The tremolo is remarkably smooth, but due to a non-adjustable saddle, as well as friction points caused by the “towel rack” string retainer on the headstock and the plastic nut, the guitar doesn’t stay in tune. Value
Most European and Japanese guitars with four pickups are worth more than their two- or three-pickup counterparts, and the 4T’s market value is somewhere between $250 and $500. Now, you might think it would be crazy to spend good money on a guitar that plays like crap. But while you’d never want to gig with the 4T, I’ve found it’s actually a cool little number to pull out in a studio situation when you want a trashy, garage-rock sound. For short overdub parts, I can wrangle the intonation enough to make everything work. Why it ruleS
You don’t always rate a guitar for how it sounds or how it plays, right? And, in the case of the Tele-Star 4T, the best thing it does is hang in my studio and look gnarly, green, and gorgeous! g
Gear
1965 Tele-Star
4T
by Terry CarleTon WhaCk Job
gpr0114_Gear_whack_ph3.indd 136 11/19/13 11:23 AM
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GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | January 2014 | 31
december
1976
See robertS play “Star eyeS” live in the 1980S.
june
1986
Watch coryell perform “meeting of the spirits With john mclaughlin and paco de lucia
GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | January 2014 | 35
GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | January 2014 | 37
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transcriptions
rickie lee jones
GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | January 2014 | 45
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