Vault Vol.4 No7 July 2014

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J U L Y 2 0 1 4

BRADPAISLEY

N THIS GP COVERSTORY FROMDECEMBER 2007,PAISLEY TALKS ABOUTTONE, TECHNIQUE,GEAR, AND PUSHINGHOT-ROD COUNTRYPLAYING INTO THESTRATOSPHERE.

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GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | July 2014 | 7

nnJuly 2014 · Volume 4, Number 7

from the vault

08 Brad PaisleyIn the cover story from December 2007, Paisley

talks about tone, technique, gear, and pushing

hot-rod country playing into the stratosphere.

(from the December 2007 issue of Guitar Player ).

24 Tom Morello(from the January 2009 issue of Guitar Player ).

Gear

28 New Gear From the July 2014 issues of Guitar Player .

oN the NewsstaNd

30 GP July 2014 Table of Contents

lessoNs

32 Steve Morse on Lowdown Melodies From the November 2004 issue of Guitar Player .

34 Lee Ritenour on Establishing YourIdentityFrom the November 2004 issue of Guitar Player .

sessioNs

36 The ever-popular TrueFire Lessons

traNscriptioNs

38 “BU2B” Rush

54 “Wither” Dream Theater

66 “California” Semisonic

Brad Paisley - page 8




classic interview

PHOTO: DAVID BEAN



december 2007


Country superstar Brad Paisley is a

Tele-toting connoisseur of boutique

amps, and a blazing picker who’s pushing

the boundaries of twangy guitar.

T H E S L E E K T O U R B U S I D L E S A F E W F E E T B E H I N D T H E S T A G E

at the fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York, as Brad Paisley and his longtime

band pound out an uptempo version of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”

BY ANDY ELLIS




Above the churning drums and whining

pedal steel, Paisley’s Tele snarls, stutters,

and wails, spewing a high-velocity mix ofBakersfield honky tonk and Memphis grit

through custom EL84 heads and shudder-

ing open-back 2x12 cabs. At either side

of the stage, huge video displays capture

the lean guitarist’s every move, while a

black-and-white film starring Paisley and

his bandmates as gunslingers flickers on

a massive screen above their heads. The

crowd goes nuts.

Even as the song’s last notes rico-

chet through the amphitheater, the bus

doors open with a quiet sigh and Paisley

bounds onboard. His fans are still holler-

ing their appreciation as the driver accel-erates through the fairground gates with

the flashing blue lights of a police escort

guiding the way to a nearby private air-

port. There, Paisley and members of his

band will fly his personal jet back home to

Nashville to spend the Labor Day week-

end with family and friends before resum-

ing his Bonfires & Amplifiers tour. Hurtling

down the highway at 80-plus miles an

hour, Paisley is unfazed by the evening’s

excitement, and shows no signs of having

just performed a long, physically intense

show. He peers into several pizza boxes

stacked on the bar counter. “Hmm, pep-peroni,” he says dubiously. “What else

have we got?”

A slice of pizza later, Paisley and crew

file onto his Lear 45. As it taxis down the

runway, Paisley eases into a leather seat,

accepts a drink, and chats about the gig

with his musicians. By any standard, he

is soaring at the top of the entertainment

world—his latest album, 5th Gear [Aris-

ta], debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top

Country Albums chart—but it has been a

classic interview december 2007

On the Bonfires & Amplifiers tour, Paisley’s stage amps include a Tony

Bruno-modified Vox AC30 head, a pair of Dr. Z 30-watt Z-Wreck heads,

and a Bruno Underground 30 head driving a trio of 2x12 Dr. Z cabs.

Hidden from view is a blonde Fender Vibro-King 3x10 combo, which

adds occasional twang to Paisley’s Vox-leaning tones. The elaborate

stage set includes 56 video screens mounted in what appear to be as

many Dr. Z 1x12 combos, but are in fact, simply shells.

PHOTOS: ANDY ELLI



long, slow climb since the 34-year-old lefthis home in Glen Dale, West Virginia, to

accept an ASCAP scholarship, and earn aMusic Business degree from Nashville’sBelmont University.

“I’ve spent many years with my bandplaying little fairs on flatbed trailers,” herecalls. “We’d show up, and no one knewwho we were, so we’d work the whole timeto try to convince people not to leave.”

Now a multi-platinum recording artist—

one who many credit for bringing twangy Tele sounds back into modern country—Paisley is still more inclined to crank bou-

tique amps than bask in accolades.

Yet the accolades continue. A day be-

fore the Syracuse show, the Country Music Association announced this year’s awardnominees, and Paisley nabbed five nomina-tions—Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Album(5th Gear), Video (“Online”), and Single(“Ticks”) of the Year. None of this seemsto matter much to Paisley, who would rath-er talk about his Trainwreck Liverpool 30,custom Dr. Z heads, and Bill Crook guitars,than the gold and platinum records thatfund his tone lust.

“Yeah, I’m a nut case,” he laughs. “I

really love gear.”

Tell us about your stage rig and the different

amps you’re using on this tour. The setup changes over time, but right

now I’m using a handwired Vox AC30head, a Tony Bruno Underground 30 head,a custom Dr. Z head we call the “Z-Wreck,”and a Fender Vibro-King. I run the headsthrough Dr. Z 2x12 cabs loaded with Ce-lestion Blue 25-watt speakers, or the newCelestion Gold 50-watt speakers. I love thesound of the Blues—they bring out thatclassic Vox chime—but I play really loud,and, sometimes, the 25-watt speakers just



Beyond groovy—Paisley’s stage guitars line up for a show. Leading the pack is “old pink,” his ’68 Fender Tele.

Lurking in the shadows is a soulful ’63 Gibson J-45.

Guitar tech Chad Weaver does most

of Paisley’s amp and pedal switching

remotely, using a Voodoo Labs Ground

Control Pro MIDI foot controller and

GCX Guitar Audio Switcher. Paisley’s

primary pedals are a Way Huge Aqua-

Puss analog delay and Hermida Audio

Technology Zendrive distortion pedal.

“The Aqua-Puss is the most used

pedal we have,” says Weaver, “and the

Zendrive is the coolest overdrive I’ve

heard.” The pedalboard also includes a

Maxon AD999 analog delay, a Boss DD-2

delay, and Robert Keeley-modified

Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer and Boss

DD-3 delay pedals.





start to give up. The Golds still have that

alnico tone, but they can handle highervolumes. We’ve got one of the cabs loaded

with a Blue and a Gold. That combination

sounds pretty cool.

What do you like about multi-amp setups?

The harmonics from one amp fills up

certain frequencies [opens his fingers on

one hand]. When you use two different

amps, they couple [laces the fingers of both

hands], filling up the mix, and rounding

out the sound. I always play through two

amps onstage for that reason.

For example, on “Mud on the Tires,”

“Celebrity,” and “Throttleneck,” I com-

bine the Z-Wreck with the Underground30 that Tony has tweaked for me. For

punch and twang—like in “Wrapped

Around” or “Mr. Policeman”—I’ll pair the

Vibro-King with the Z-Wreck, which has

a more Vox-like sparkle. I use that combi-

nation in the beginning of “Folsom Prison

Blues.” Then for the second half of “Fol-

som,” when I really start to dig in, I kick

in the Bruno, which is a little more com-

pressed and angry. I like being angry on

guitar, and Vox amps—and amps inspired

by the AC30—sound angry at all times.

Most country players dwell in the blackfaceFender realm. How did you discover the

world of the AC30 and EL84 power tubes?

In high school, I saw the Desert Rose

Band, and they changed my life. I was

heavily influenced by John Jorgenson, and

what he played with the group in the ’80s.

That’s some of the greatest country guitar

tone ever, and that was at a time when

everybody else’s tone completely sucked.

Nashville guitarists were all playing Strats

through racks and using multi-effects units

to coat everything with chorus, compres-

sion, and delay. Here’s John using Boss

pedals, ’60s Vox amps, and a G&L ASAT,and it was wonderful. That was my main

tone influence early on, and it still is to this

day. If I hook up a guitar rig and play “Hel-

lo Trouble” [a Desert Rose remake of the

Buck Owens classic, from 1988’s Running],

and it sounds right, then I’m happy. John

gave me one of his ASATs, and I believe it

was the one he used on that cut.

I ordered my first AC30s from a mu-

sic store in England called Music Ground.

This was before the big Vox boom, and I

bought two amps—a Top Boost and a non-

Top Boost—for around $2,000. They wereokay—not great, but that got me started.

Then I found a ’62 AC30 with perfect old

Woden transformers at the Arlington Gui-

tar Show in Dallas. That’s my favorite amp

of all time in some ways, and I’ve record-

ed every album with it. It’s a really rare

model—a black panel with a factory Top

Boost that was recovered in red. It has a

wonderfully thick midrange, and was my

first great amp.

Does this ’62 AC30 serve as a tonal refer-

ence for your newer custom amps?

It does. Take the new handwired AC30

head I use onstage. I went to Tony Bruno,and I said, “This amp already sounds great,

but how would you tweak it?” He asked me

to send him pictures of the inside of my

’62 Vox, so he could see what makes it so

special. Then he ordered the exact resistors

and rare Belgian capacitors, and he went to

town on my new AC30. He had it for the

last two months, and I just got it back.

Can you hear a difference?

Oh yeah, it’s unbelievable—like a great

old ’60s AC30. He gave it three different

“In high school, I saw the

Desert Rose Band, and it

changed my life.”

PHOTO: PINKY GONZALE



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classic interview december 2007channels, including an EF86 channel like

the original 4-input model. An amp is an

instrument—it’s actually more important

than the guitar. I love these little tweak

things you can do to an amp to fine-tune it

to your playing style, and what you hear inyour head. Dr. Z [a.k.a. Mike Zaite] and I

have done this for years now.

What is t he Z-Wreck?

It’s the result of a collaboration between

the late, legendary Ken Fischer—who built

Trainwreck amps—and Dr. Z. It started

with Z building an amp inspired by the

Rocket, one of Ken’s creations. After Z

finished, he gave it to Ken and asked him

to put his fairy dust on it. Ken worked on

it, doing the weird stuff he’s known for,

like moving the transformer, relocating

wires, and changing some resistors and

tubes. It’s probably the last amp Ken ac-

tually worked on. When Z and I played it,

we couldn’t believe how great it sounds.

Dr. Z built three copies of the original

Z-Wreck, which I keep at home. Z has one

of the clones, and I take two out on the road.

Basically, it’s a really harmonic, maxed-out AC30 with a big, aggressive midrange. It

sounds very robust for a 30-watt amp.

For me, a fine amp is a work of art, and

you really see this in Ken Fischer’s heads.

They’re all a little different, and he named

each one. I have a Trainwreck Liverpool 30

named Hattie Mae.

Do you take it on the road?

I’ll play it on TV, or sometimes take

it out on a weekend to show some bud-

dies who may not have seen a Trainwreck.

Hattie Mae—Paisley’s

rare Trainwreck Liverpool

30—was built and named

by Ken Fischer, who, a few

months before his death,

estimated there were

about 100 Trainwrecks in

existence.

Stashed behind the Dr. Z

Mazerati GT and Z-Wreck

heads is the red ’62 Vox

AC30 that serves as Pais-

ley’s tonal touchstone.

Z-Wreck and Trainwreck

heads prepare for a

shootout in Paisley’s

living room.

“An amp is an

instrument—it’s

actually more

important thanthe guitar.”

PHOTO: ANDY ELLI



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When it travels, it gets its own bunk on thebus—just like a person. For many, a Train-

wreck represents the holy grail of amps.

Do you also use multiple amps in the studio?

Yeah. I usually use a couple of amps. On

5th Gear, for instance, one of the combina-

tions was the ’62 AC30 and the original Z-

Wreck driving a cab with a pair of Blues

or Golds—which we miked with a ’60s

Neumann U67. I also used a Dr. Z Stang

Ray and an 80-watt Victoria 80212 Tweed

Twin. We put a ribbon mic on the Victo-

ria to create a big thump. I didn’t have the

Trainwreck at that point, so it’s not on an

album yet.Describe your main guitars.

My ’68 pink paisley Fender Tele is my

main guitar. I bought it in ’93, and it was

my first high-priced Tele. I always wanted

a Paisley guitar—that’s my real name—

and this is a really good one. It had the

original bridge pickup for the first four

songs on the first album [1999’s Who

Needs Pictures], but then the pickup died

in the middle of the sessions. So I bought

a bunch of pickups to try out, and that’s

when I discovered Lindy Fralin. Fralins

sound very ’60s—they’re the closest you

can get to that highly harmonic, Don Richsound. Lindy’s pickups have a little fairy

dust on them. The ’68 has a Fralin Blues

Special in the bridge, and a Duncan Hot

Rhythm neck pickup.

I have a vintage Fender Tele with a

Hamel bridge pickup, which has that

thick, spanky, early-’50s Broadcaster tone.

That guitar has a ’52 body and a ’57 neck. I

play it on “Folsom Prison Blues” at the end

of the show. Bill Crook makes my paisley

Tele-style guitars. They’re superb instru-

ments that look as great as they play and

sound. I bring two acoustics on the road—

a McPherson cutaway and a ’63 Gibson J-45—which I use for the solo-acoustic

section in the middle of the show.

You have seven electrics onstage. How do

you choose which guitar to play on a particu-

lar song?

Some songs need a little more girth.

For example, on “Ticks,” I play a paisley

Crook Esquire with a Voodoo flatpole al-

nico Broadcaster-style pickup—which is

also the guitar I used to record it. It sounds

thicker than a Tele. The lead guitar sup-

Two Crook Esquire-style electrics hang over a 1961

Vox AC30 head in Paisley’s music lounge. Both gui-

tars play a key role in his live and recorded sound.

That’s James Burton’s signature on the blue Crook.

PAISLEY’S PAISLEY CROOKSPaisley’s custom Telecaster-style guitars are all built by his longtime friend, Bill Crook,

who has his workshop in West Virginia.

“I’ve known Brad since he was eight,” says Crook, “and he has always had a fascination

with gear.” Crook chooses alder or light swamp ash for his guitar bodies, and has the necks

for Paisley’s instruments built by USA Custom Guitars in Tacoma, Washington.

“The fretboards have a compound radius,” he says. “They begin with a vintage 7.25” curve at the nut,

and flatten to 9.5”—starting at around the 9th fret. The fretwire is Dunlop 6105, which is considered tall

and narrow. I use a narrow fret because the intonation is more accurate than with jumbo frets.”

Crook installs strap-activated G-string benders made by Charlie McVay in all Paisley’s guitars. “Char-

lie is an ace machinist whose background is in building and repairing pedal steels,” Crook explains. “The

McVay bender is light, minimally invasive, beautifully crafted, and very toneful. Charlie makes both B- and

G-bender systems, but Brad uses a G-bender exclusively.”

The neck on a Crook guitar attaches to the body with machine bolts and threaded metal bushings,

rather than traditional wood screws. “The player is always pulling on the neck of a bender-equipped gui-

tar,” Crook details, “and machine bolts can stand up to this repeated movement. They also create a very

tight, precise neck-body coupling, which enhances sustain and tone.”

On Paisley’s guitars, which all sport traditional 3-saddle Tele-style bridges, Crook often uses differ-

ent materials for the bass and treble saddles. “It can be tricky to balance the tone between the low and

high strings on a Tele,” he says. “You want snap on the bass notes, but not that ice-pick-in-the-ear sound

on the high ones. I find an aluminum saddle gives the low E and A strings a clear twang, while a brass

saddle adds some sweetness to theB and high E strings.”

The McVay G-bender replaces the Tele’s center saddle with a high-tech, locking G saddle attached

to an adjustable pull mechanism, and an offset D saddle that’s similar to those found on modern 6-sad-

dle Fender Teles. McVay uses stainless steel and aircraft aluminum for his bender hardware.

“Brad and his guitar tech change pickups like most people change their underwear,” laughs Crook,

“so there’s no telling what he’ll have in any given guitar. However, my favorite neck pickup is the AdderPlus T300, which is in many of Brad’s instruments. To my ears, traditional Tele neck pickups sound

muffled, but the Adder Plus has nice high-end clarity, excellent string-to-string definition, and a strong

output.”

At various times, Paisley’s Crook guitars sport bridge pickups from Lindy Fralin, Alan Hamel, Peter

Florance, and Chris Kinman. Crook wires Paisley’s guitars with a Fender No Load tone control that re-

moves both the capacitor and pot from the circuit when rotated fully clockwise.

“Bypassing the tone control adds a bit of brightness to the signal,” says Crook, “similar to the third

switch position on an original Fender Esquire.”

It’s a safe bet that Crook is the world’s leading expert on paisley guitar finishes, which

he offers in a eye-popping array of colors, including burgundy, surf green, red-silver,

tangerine, blue, and, of course, pink.—AE

PHOTO: ANDY ELLI




ports the whole intro, so it needs to growl,

rather than sound twangy. By comparison,

on a song like “Mr. Policeman”—which

has an intro based on fast licks—you can

get away with a twangy Tele sound that

doesn’t punch as hard. I like Esquires be-cause they have a lot more harmonics than

a Tele.

Why is that?

The strings vibrate more on an Esquire

because there’s not that neck pickup suck-

ing their life away. You can totally hear

the difference between an Esquire and a

Tele—at least I can. Esquires sound nas-

tier. Another reason for this is they have

a pickup selector position that disables the

tone control and gives you a little more

high end. All my Crook guitars have a

special tone pot that does the same thing.

You turn it all the way open, and then goa little further to get a click. At that point,

the tone control is out of the circuit, which

brightens and opens up the sound. Your

lows and highs sparkle a little more. When

I’m playing a lead on the Tele it’s usually—

click—all the way up.

Did you always play a Tele, or did you migrate

to it as you developed your style?

It took a while. My first guitar was a

Silvertone, given to me by my grandfather

when I was eight. Before long, I begged for

and got a Hondo Strat copy. My next guitar

was a nice Strat-style Tokai, which I still

have. In the ’80s, country guitarists wereplaying Strats—Steve Wariner and Reg-

gie Young, for example. Even Albert Lee,

with his signature Music Man, was in that

realm. I have a couple of those guitars, by

the way, and they’re great. These guys were

huge influences on me as a budding guitar-

ist, but once I connected with the Tele—

which I associated with Don Rich and Roy

Nichols—there was no turning back.

Tell us about your string benders.

I have a couple of B-bender guitars, but

I never use them. Instead, I like G-benders.

Charlie McVay build me my first G-bender

when I was in college, and it stuck with me.I like the G-bender because you’re working

a lower string, and this sounds more like

steel guitar to me. It’s beefier, yet musi-

cally more subtle. A B-bender can be very

obvious—although Albert Lee sounds fan-

tastic when he plays one.

Do you have your bender set to raise the

third string a whole-step?

Yes. It lets me take an A7 shape, and

bend up to a major chord, for example, or

bend the root in a G major chord up to a


Bill Crook, who built this Esquire-style guitar for Paisley, often sweetens the tone of the top two strings with

a brass saddle. Adjacent to it is the McVayG-bender saddle.

Most of Paisley’s guitars have McVayG-bender systems—its strap-activated pull-lever is visible here on the

blue- and red-paisley Crook guitars. However, his two Fenders (the ’ 68 pink paisley, far left, and the butter-

scotch ’52 body with a ’57 neck) sport GlaserG-benders.

PHOTOS: ANDY ELLIS; PAISLEY-PINKY GONZALE




2, and then drop it back. Another move I

like is to play a G chord, fret the 2 [ A] on

the G string, and then bend that up to the

3 with the bender. In the studio, I have a

lot of fun with it. I’ll come up to the solo,

and just pull down and start playing to seewhat happens.

Your recorded fills and solos sound sponta-

neous. How do you approach tracking them?

The first step is to get the bass, drums,

and my acoustic guitar to sit right in

the rhythm track. We’ll explore several

songs—sometimes with keyboards, but

mostly just as a trio—and work out their

arrangements and structure. We’ll do a

few takes of each one—including a rough

vocal—and then give the tracks to our

editor and overdub engineer, Brian Willis,

who uses Pro Tools to compile skeleton

tracks from the best parts of each song.Brian is a drummer, which makes him very

good at matching sections, and choosing

the best ensemble parts. If something is

close, he’ll fix it without sucking the soul

out of it. The beauty of Pro Tools is that

you play freely knowing you can keep the

parts that come out really great.

So it’s liberating.

Totally. When he brings these tracks

back, I’ll record vocals in the morning, and

then spend the rest of the day on guitar

parts—intros, fills, and solos. A lot of the

guitar sounds on 5th Gear were recorded

by a fantastic engineer named Neal Cap-pellino. It’s really a matter of my producer,

Frank Rogers, and the engineer working

with me to capture some inspiration. My

guitar tech, Chad Weaver, is there string-

ing up guitars and making sure nothing is

buzzing with the amps. It can be tough.

Why?

I don’t want to repeat myself. This is

my fifth album, and I’ve recorded more

than 70 songs. That’s a lot of guitar intros

[laughs]. So I play, and Frank listens. We

record dozens of ideas, but the minute I

nail something that works, that’s what

you hear on the record. So the parts arespontaneous, even though the process is

laborious. We don’t stop until we’re happy

with the solos, and I feel the guitar parts

are unique for each song. It’s funny, Frank

will hear something, and he’ll say, “Great

let’s use that.” Then I have to hear it back

to learn it, so I can do it again in another

section if the song requires it.

So no cutting and pasting parts?

No. Not that I haven’t tried—especially

with vocals. I’ll say, “Why do you need it

again? Just paste it into the next section.”

But Frank is a real purist—he won’t let me

get away with playing a hot intro, and thenpasting it into the refrain. He’ll say, “Do it

again. I want people to hear something a

little different each time they hear the cho-

rus.” And he’s right—you never play any-

thing exactly the same way twice.

How involved do you get with miking your

amps?

I have a Pro Tools rig at home, but, in

the studio, I don’t touch the mics. But I’ll

tell the engineer if we’re not getting what

I’m hearing from my amps. For me, that’s

the most frustrating thing about making

records. I wish everybody could walk into

the studio, and hear those amps, becauseyou can never get that on tape. No matter

how good it sounds on a record, man, you

need to have been there in the room. You

can’t get an AC30, Trainwreck, or Dr. Z

squeezed into iPod earbuds, or even ste-

reo speakers.

How has your guitar playing evolved over the

course of these five albums?

I’ve gotten to where I’m not afraid to go

places I used to avoid musically. I learned

a lot of different styles as a kid—from Tal

Farlow to Clapton and Van Halen—and on

my first couple of records, I really shied

away from showing those influences.Shades of Tal Farlow or Joe Pass might slip

in, but I was leery of showing how Clapton

or Eric Johnson affected my playing.

But country music has changed a lot in

recent years, and so have I. I’ve realized I

can still be a very country artist, and use

a Trainwreck amp. It’s okay to blow out a

distorted guitar solo with a wah pedal in

the middle of something like “Better Than

This,” and then roll the volume back, and

play clean, spanky lines. “Better Than

This” is a song about camping, and wish-

ing that Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson

would show up with a busload of women,pizza, and beer. What’s more country than

that? Because of the subject matter, I can

get away with a wah guitar solo.

Tell us about your picking technique.

When I want to dig in, I play everything

with a flatpick. For riffs and chordal comp-

ing, I’ll also use my middle and ring fingers

along with a pick.

Do you treat your nails or have acrylic caps?

No, I just let those two nails grow out


A close-up of Paisley’s two Z-Wreck heads,

co-designed by Dr. Z and amp guru Ken Fischer.

This handwired Vox AC30 head has been

tweaked by Tony Bruno. Note the mix of Celes-

tion 25-watt Blue and 50-watt Gold alnico 12s

in the cab.

PHOTOS: ANDY ELLIS; STEVE TRAGER FRANK WHITE PHOTO AGENCY




a little. When one breaks, or I trim it too

close, it’s a long night onstage. I can still

do my hybrid picking, but it doesn’t sound

the same.

Occasionally, I’ll palm the pick and play

everything fingerstyle, but I can’t play fast

that way. For example, that’s how I record-

ed some of the some delicate parts on the

verses and choruses for “She’s Everything”

[from Time Well Wasted, Paisley’s fourth

album]. I was going for a Mark Knopfler

sound, like on his Shangri-La album, which

takes us back to Ken Fischer, ironically.

Mark was buddies with Ken, and used a

[Fischer designed] Komet amp on much of

that album.

What strings and picks do you use?

Ernie Ball medium flatpicks—we go

through millions of them, because I throwso many into the audience—and Ernie

Ball nickel strings, gauged .010-.046. For

a dropped- D song—like the instrumental

“Throttleneck”—I’ll use a .052 sixth string

to get a beefier tone.

Did you have to work hard to get your speed,

or did it just come naturally?

It definitely didn’t happen naturally. I

think you only get comfortable with speed

by holding the guitar in your hands for a

long, long time. When I was a teenager,

I worked on scales and modes—though I

can’t remember half of it now. I’ve always

felt that learning jazz really helps your

country playing. Sometimes, I think coun-

try is just jazz on the back pickup.

Can you elaborate? A swing lick on an acoustic will sound

like Django, but plug in a Tele, and play the

same phrase, and you get something closer

to Redd Volkaert. I was exposed to this

as a kid, thanks to some great guitarists

in West Virginia. One is Hank Goddard,

who was my hometown hero and guitar

teacher. His real name is Clarence, but ev-

eryone calls him “Hank,” because he plays

like Hank Garland. When I was 13, Hank

played in my band, and he taught me about

swing and syncopated Merle Travis finger-

picking. Standing next to him on every gig

was inspiring. Another guitar god in my hometown

was Roger Hoard. He’s one of the best

unknown guitarists you’ll ever hear—sim-

ply awesome. He and Hank would both

alternate between flatpicking and playing

fingerstyle with a thumbpick. Where I’m

from, that was how you played. In fact,

there are early photos of me with a thumb-

pick hanging off the sixth string behind the

nut. Eventually, I decided to streamline my

technique, and not switch back and forth

between a thumbpick and flatpick, but

learning that Chet Atkins and Merle Travis

style was very important to my develop-ment, and it’s something most young gui-

tarists don’t learn these days. It’s a shame,

because that’s some of the greatest guitar

music ever made.

You use a lot of chromatic passing tones in

your leads.

That’s some of the jazz stuff I learned in

junior high and high school. I talked them

into letting me play guitar in the jazz band

[laughs]. I had an import ES-335 copy, and

I played jazz charts. Because the audience

liked hearing guitar, I was encouraged to

solo—which meant I had to learn how to

play over changes. It would go over greatin our recitals and concerts. Playing stan-

dards was a big deal for me, and I never

felt like a real guitar player until I could

pull it off. Looking back, I can’t remem-

ber half of them, but you can hear the in-

fluence in a song like “Make a Mistake”

[from 2003’s Mud on the Tires]. It starts

off with a Chet feel, and then moves into

Western swing. Next year, I plan to re-

lease an instrumental album, and that will

allow me to explore some of these areas in

more depth.

Your stage show is very physical and tech-

nologically advanced, with video, lights,wireless rigs, and stage ramps.

When you get to the point where you’re

selling as many tickets as we are, and peo-

ple are charged $40 or $50, man, I want

them to have a good time. The worst night-

mare for me would be somebody going,

“Well, that was not worth $50.” I really

don’t think people leave our shows saying

that. I hope not. For the most part, they tell

me they’d have paid more. That’s what you

want to hear.

I’ve never liked performers who don’t

give back—in one way or another—as much

as the crowd is giving them. You see, someguys play, and it’s like, man, they phoned

it in. The only time that happens with us

is when we have such technical difficulties

that it’s horrible. Like if there’s wireless

interference we just can’t get around, and

no matter what you do there are dropouts.

Those are the nights where you’re just

struggling to get to the last song. But, every


“I’ve never liked performers who don’t

give back—in one way or another—as

much as the crowd is giving them.”

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show, I consciously try to give the audienceeverything we’ve got.

You’ve come a long way from playing on a

flatbed truck. Is there anything you miss from

the old days?

I don’t miss the bars I used to play in,

and I don’t miss playing for people who

leave because they don’t know who you

are. If I miss anything, it might be the

hunger I felt then. But we have a differ-

ent hunger now. I feel this need to go out

there, and go, “See? I can play!” When you

get popular, you run the risk of people go-ing, “Well, he must not be any good.” That

crosses my mind, because I’ve always had

the theory that if you’re really doing the

best music of your time, you’re probably

not on the radio. I’m definitely not doing

the best music of my generation, but I still

go out there every night thinking, “Even

though we’re having success, it’s not that

bad—I promise.”

This is a band—the newest guy has

been with me eight years—and others have

played with me for 12 or 15 years. We’veall come so far together, from having no

one in the audience, and not having things

go our way, to this. So there isn’t a single

night when we walk out there and hate our

job. I am so thankful we’ve gotten to this

level. It’s ridiculous we get paid for this.

Not only that, but we get to play with big

toys—like lights and ramps—that make it

even more fun. It still blows my mind. g

Special thanks to Chad Weaver for histechnical help with this story.

For his 2007 tour, Paisley hits the road with eight semi-

trucks, eight tour buses, and a 48-member posse of

musicians, crewmembers, drivers, and managers.

BRAD PAISLEY PLAYS SLIDE WITH A FAN’S GOPRO CAM

CLASSIC INTERVIEW

from the December 2007 issue

of Guitar Player magazine


PHOTO: ANDY ELLI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9BY6ZyQvA



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classic interview

PHOTO: TRAVIS SHIN/RETN



january 2009


Tom MorelloBY MATT BLACKETT

YOU MIGHT THINK THAT BEING A POLITICALLY SAVVY,

half-Kenyan, Harvard-educated dude from Illinois would

have Tom Morello thinking about a run for the presidency.

You’d be wrong, but not because he’d have to take a massive

pay cut. “If you are committed to fighting for human rights

and real progressive change,” Morello explains, “that does

not come from within the system. I’ve always felt much

more comfortable outside that barbed-wire fence, throw-

ing musical Molotov cocktails in.” And that’s just what he’s

done as the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and with

his protest singer alter ego, the Nightwatchman. Despitethe similar political bents of the two projects, however,

Morello initially kept those two characters very separate,

not attaching his name or any of his RATM bombast to his

dark and brooding acoustic doppelganger. But his latest re-

lease, The Fabled City [Red Ink], is actually credited to Tom

Morello The Nightwatchman and it does find the reluctant

guitar hero blending his two personae, at least a little. The

tour for the album will blur those lines even more, as he

details: “Half of the show will be the stark Nightwatchman

with his reaper at the ready and the other half will hopefully

feature even more expansive playing than either my Rage or

my Audioslave work.”

Woody Guthrie’s acoustic kills fascists. What does your nylon-

string do?

My nylon-string does whatever it takes, as is embla-

zoned on the front of the guitar. I figure that’s a fine

moniker to bring into battle when you’re playing music to

combat injustice.

Why did you decide to attach your name to this record?

One of the things I felt much more comfortable doing

on this record was expanding the musicality of it, incor-

porating some of my riff rock and some left-of-center so-

loing. That’s predominately why the record is under the

name Tom Morello The Nightwatchman. On the first

Nightwatchman record I was hesitant to use my given

name because people might expect a metal-fusion opus.

The Fabled City is not a metal-fusion opus, but it does

contain elements of my Rage world. That doesn’t have

so much to do with effects, but more that the songs are

given a broader rock treatment. From “St. Isabelle” to

“The Lights Are On in Spidertown,” there’s a broader

musical palette.

The tune “Whatever It Takes” does have a lot of effects on it,

though.

True. That’s still a nylon-string guitar, but it’s run

through some of my electric guitar effects. There’s an

octave divider and an MXR Distortion+ that was sittingaround the studio.

Talk about the tremolo-picking solo in that song. Did you play

that in real time or is there some kind of gate on it that makes it

spit out those machine-gun blasts?

I played it in real time but it’s multitracked, with four

or five guitars playing almost random harmonies of the

melody in those little bursts.

How did you view Brendan O’Brien’s role as the producer?

He really fills in the gaps for me. I’ve been very com-

fortable and confident writing and recording rock riffs, but

when it comes to getting the best out of me as a singer,

making sure the songs are in the right key, and working

the arrangements to help the lyrics have the most impact,

he’s great at that. The engineering process is very fast andfurious because Brendan realizes that the magic is in the

take, not in the mic. He knows that creating an atmosphere

that’s as comfortable as possible is the key to getting the

right take. We used some mics just because they happened

to be nearby. The “Spidertown” solo might have been a

Shure SM57 or 58 right up on the guitar. That’s another

great thing about working with Brendan: I don’t have to

think about any of that. I have to come up with songs and

performances but I don’t have to concern myself with the

sonics. I was a huge fan of Brendan’s work with Pearl Jam

before I worked with him in Rage and Audioslave. I’ve



never had a better time in the studio than

I had making these two Nightwatchman

records.

Speaking of the “Spidertown” solo, did you

cut that on the basics or was it an overdub?

It’s an overdub, but I will absolutelytrack solos on the basics. I’ve done that

many times in the past. On this record

there are some live harmonica solos but

I don’t think there are any live guitar

solos. For this one, I did two takes and

kept the good one. I don’t think Brendan

was there. Nick DiDia, the engineer, and

I were doing some work and I thought

I would go for almost an Elegant Gypsy-

era Al Di Meola feel. I like the way that

turned out. The Di Meola in me is com-

ing out a little bit, and it’ll come out even

more on the tour. I’ve started to feel very

comfortable with that. My chops are up!Did you play the arpeggios on “Lazarus on

Down” fingerstyle or with a pick?

That’s fingerpicking, although I have

no nails. I chew them down to nubs. That

song called for something both delicate

and frightening, and I think the arpeggios

set the tone for the song. I’ve always fin-

gerpicked, al-though I haven’t put it on

record very often. My main practice gui-

tar since I was 20 has been an acoustic.

Over the last ten years, the one guitar

that’s always in my house that I wrote

all my rock riffs and my Nightwatchman

songs on is a nylon-string. Fingerpickingon that is a big part of my practice regi-

men and my campfire playing.

How did you come to play mandolin on “Gone

Like Rain”? How are your mandolin chops?

About three years ago I did a tour with

Steve Earle, who is a fantastic mandolin

player. A hundred years ago, as a teen-

ager, I worked at a Renaissance Faire

playing mandolin, so somewhere in the

recesses of my brain there was a little bit

of that. I had to buck up for this record

and do some practicing, because it’s an

instrument that’s kind of counterintui-

tive to me, but I got it together for a fewsongs. I love the tone of it and how it

mixes with the nylon-string. I’ll see how

brave I am on tour, but I hope to play a

song or two on mandolin.

Who are your favorite players for combin-

ing great guitar work and a heartfelt message?

In terms of heartfelt message, that’s

pretty broad and there are many. As far

as real guitar players who bring that sort

of message, there are very few. I admire

the guitar work of Jack White and Bruce

Springsteen, and Leadbelly and Woody

Guthrie. They’re not shredders, but I do

admire their playing. In the pantheon ofwhat might be described as protest mu-

sic, I don’t know if there’s ever been a

singer-songwriter who was fighting in-

justice with music and also shredding his

or her ass off.

What about Hendrix?

Hendrix obviously gets a 10 for guitar

and, within his catalog, there are songs

that get to the core of the protests of the

era, although that message wasn’t usually

at the fore. Hendrix did do a very unique

thing that I also try to do. It’s summed

up by the Chuck D lyric, “The rhythm,

the rebel.” It’s the idea that the music canbe just as revolutionary as the lyric. Mak-

ing a dramatic, radical, and unexpected

change for the sake of the art and for the

sake of the message is a political act and

Hendrix got that. He hit the nail on the

head. I try to capture that in my electric

and my acoustic playing. Maybe that’s my

calling.g

classic interview january 2009

TOM MORELLO AND BEN HARPER PERFORM “SAVE THE HAMMER FOR THE MAN”

CLASSIC INTERVIEW

from the January 2009 issue

of Guitar Player magazine


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5wm1DyVTdE



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current issueHere’s what’s in the July 2014 issue of Guitar Player , on Newsstands Now!

RIFFS

The Dallas Guitar Show, what it’s like backing a superstar, Editors’ Faves, and more!

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ARTISTS

Dewa Budjana · The Hold Steady · Marty Friedman · Andy Summers

LESSONS

Under Investigation

A thorough examination of a particular style or player. This month: Je Buckley’s Grace.

John Scofield Lesson

Sco’s solo on “House of the Rising Sun” dissected.

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“IF YOU JOIN JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE’S BAND, YOU’D BETTER

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Formerly with Prince, Rihanna, and other pop stars, Scotthas joined forces with Elliott Ives to deliver a twin-guitar attack at Timberlakeshowsworldwide.Here,therock/funktagteamshareswhatit’s likeplayingguitar for oneof theworld’s biggeststars.

Ives:Whileitmay sound obvious, thefirstthingto do ifyou join agroup likethis is just payattention. You’reon stagewith 15other people, including keyboardists, singers, and horn players,as wellas another guitarist. Plus, therearePro Tools tracks flyingin—coolTimbalandtexturesthatcan’treallybecreatedbynormalinstruments. Thereis aton of stuffgoingon.

Scott: Joiningthisbandislikemergingintotrafficatrushhour.You’vegotto find your lane. You can’tjustpull in at100 mph.

Ives: Thefun partis thatthereareplenty ofguitar parts fromthealbums Justin wants heavier on stage. He’llsay, “Getitdirt-ier. Bloody thatthingup!” When you’rein a band with allthesecrystal-clearsoundsgoingon,it’stheguitarists’jobtotakethingsover thetop with overdriveand feedback, and to do alltheotherfun stuffguitar players areknown for.

Scott:[Timberlakeproducers]JeromeHarmonandTimbalandcametoashowrecently,andtherewassomuch heavyguitar,theywerelike, “Whatis this, Mötley Crüe?” [ Laughs.]

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Features

ANY BAND THAT CAN INTERTWINE LYRICAL THEMES SUCH

as the 1972 suicide of poet John Berryman with musings onthevacuity ofcontemporary Minneapolis youth culture(“StuckBetween Stations”), or craftarousingsing-alongoutofa week-end-gone-wrongtaletoldfromapoliceinterviewroom(“Seques-tered In Memphis”)—and setitall to someoftheworld’s mostinfectious garage-rockanthems—has gota good thinggoingon.

TheHold Steady has allthatand then some.Onthebacksoftheirstand-outtracks—bolsteredbymultiple

late-night TV appearances and seemingly endless touring—the

Hold Steady forged a reputation that found them acclaimed byseveralcritics and countless fans as “thebestrockband in Amer-ica.” Then, in 2010, duringtherecordingofthe Brooklyn-basedband’sfourthstudioalbum, HeavenIsWhenever,italllurchedside-ways a little with the departure of charismatic keyboard playerand backingvocalistFranzNicolay. Aregroupingwas in order.

In hiringasecond guitaristto repopulatethetouringensem-ble(or a third, ifyou countsinger CraigFinn’s coupla’-chords-and-doneantics), Hold Steady lead-guitaristand co-founder TadKubler didn’tgo theroutethatmostmighthave taken—signing

Baring TeethTHE HOLD STEADY’STAD KUBLER ANDSTEVE SELVIDGE DECODETHEIR AGGRESSIVETWIN-GUITAR ATTACKBY DAVE H U N TER

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120STOMPBOXES REVIEWED BYTHE

GUITAR PLAYER STAFF

GATHERING 120 STOMPBOXES AND REVIEWIN G ’EM ALL DURING ONE OF

our typically short production cycles tends to have a mind-cratering effect on all involved,

but wow,what a waytoloseit whenyou’rekneedeepin cool-sounding pedals! Seriously,we

simply haven’t seen such a high degree of excellent effects boxes in any of the large-scale

pedal roundups we’vedoneovertheyears.Nodoubt we’reliving ina golden era of stompbox

craft,andit’s easytostandbythat assessment whenyou’replaying thoughdistortionpedals

thatcandelivertherich,complextonesof arighteousAC30,MarshallJCM800,orMesa Recto;

or you’re getting an inspirational buzz via the mesmerizing sonic space that the Strymon

BigSkyreverbcreates.Andthink you’veheardit all from modulationboxes? Wedidtoountil

weencounteredpedals liketheMXR Phase99,RedWitchSynthotron, andZ.Vex Sonar.Wow!

Thepoint is that a lot of cool surprises await anyonewhois inthemarket forsomething

new to stick on their pedalboard,so get out there and try ’em,and h elp support the people

whoareputting somuchR &Dintomaking great effects.

Testers onthis missionincludedthe GuitarPlayer staff,along withfreelancewriters Dave

Hunter, Michael Ross, Teja Gerken, and Sam Haun. We used a variety of guitars: a Fender

Telecaster, Gibson Historic Les Paul, Gibson Memphis 1963 ES-335 TDC and ES-330 reis-

sues,MAPGuitars Nomad,D’AngelicoEX-DC,EpiphoneDot,a Buzz FeitenT-Pro,anda PRS

Modern Eagle II.Test amps included a Vox AC30,Mesa/Boogie Stiletto,Marshal l JCM900,

FenderBlues DeVille,Fender’65 DeluxeReverbreissue,Rivera Venus 3,Victoria 5112,Fractal

AudioAxe-Fx II,anda custom hand-wiredreissueFender’65 DeluxeReverbbyGeorgeAles-

sandro,whichwas fittedwith his newEminence-madeGA-SC64 speaker.— ART T H O M P S O N

Pedalmania!

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July 2014 · Volume 48, Number 7



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Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC




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Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC.




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Vault Vol.4 No7 July 2014

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