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October 2015 Volume 5, Number 10
contents
from the vault

8
Strat Masters
We talk about the tunes, tones, and techniques
of the greatest players ever to sling a Stratocaster, including Jimi, SRV, Clapton, and more
(from the July 1999 issue of Guitar Player).
30
Ben Harper
Sliding around with the savior of the lap-steel

(from the December 1999 cover story).
Gear
38
New Gear
From the November 2015 issue of Guitar Player.
oN the NewsstaNd
40
GP November 2015 Table of Contents
lessoNs
42

Arlen Roth on blues, a special harmonics lesson,

and Paul Gilbert on shred
(from the March 1991 issue of Guitar Player).
sessioNs
46
The ever-popular TrueFire Lessons
ph o t o : S t ev e J e nn in g S
traNscriptioNs
48
56
58
Hey You Pink Floyd

Where Were You Jeff Beck
For What Its Worth Buffalo Springfield
Jeff Beck - Page 8
GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | October 2015 | 7
classic interview
The hands of God: Eric Clapton curls his legendary fingers atop Blackie,
the famous Strat he constructed from the pieces of several Strats purchased
in 1970 at Nashvilles Sho-Bud music store.
july 1999
23 G u i t a r i s t s W h o
Define the strat sounD
It
still works, commented Leo Fender, after inspecting a 55 Stratocaster some 32 years after it had left his shop. It was a simple
statement about a remarkable achievement. Today, 45 years since
its introduction, the Strat remains a marvel of ergonomics, vibe, and
tone. Its an American classic that encapsulates the quirky modernism
of the post-war era, while simultaneously transcending its roots. How else could this same
guitar captivate rocks pioneers, embrace the sensual roar of psychedelic cowboys and
electric bluesmen, and inspire metalheads and shredders? Throughout its evolution, the
Strat has quietly invited reverenceevoking both the sophisticated class of Cary Grant
and the timeless cool of James Dean. An old fogey guitar it aint.
BY THE STAFF OF GUITAR PLAYER
P HOT O: L UCIA NO V IT I/ R E TN A
classic interview
Of course, creating a legend

probably wasnt on the minds of
Fender, George Fullerton (who
had assisted with the design of
the Telecaster), and lab assistant
Freddie Tavares when they began
designing the next generation of
the Fender guitar concept. In
fact, the process was allegedly
kicked off by someone who was
less than enamored of Fenders
ground-breaking Telecaster.
Leo and I became friends
around 1951, remembered
Bill Carson, a Fender crony and
western-swing musician who is
generally credited as the Strats
main consultant, and I started
telling him what was wrong with
his damn old Telecaster!
Carson didnt like the Teles

square body (It dug into my
ribs) and wanted four or five
pickups for more tonal variation, separate bridge saddles
that could be intonated to keep
the guitar in tune, and a vibrato
arm (So I could play pedal-steel
glisses and get double scale on
recording sessions). Carson was
also quite vocal in his admiration
of the headstock on the guitars
Paul Bigsby had built for Merle
Travisreportedly telling Fender
that the skinny Telecaster headstock has no beauty; it looks like
a pretty girl with bad clothes
onand some controversy was
generated when the Strats headstock resembled the Bigsbys.
(Fender maintained that the
design came from wanting to
preserve straight string pulland
it goes back to instruments from
Croatia.)
The Strat debuted in 1954,
with a sunburst finish, an ash
body, a one-piece maple neck,
three single-coil pickups with
staggered polepieces, a three-way
My heart
and soul
are in the
Stratocaster,
says Adrian
Belew.
pickup selector switch, a chrome

output jack, and a plastic pickguard. (Early prototypes had gold
anodized-aluminum pickguards
that turned players hands black,
and some had clear Lucite pickguards backed with gold paint.)
The final version of the guitar
was the result of all the different
things we triedit was a trialand-error kind of thing, said
Fullerton. But, regardless of who
had the initial idea, Leo always
had the last word in design.
Fender may have had the last
word in design, but his Stratocaster is still speaking volumes
thanks, in part, to the extraordinary talents who have used
the guitar to forge distinctive
tonal styles. Our gallery of masters profiles 19 Stratophiles, and
weve also chosen four Grand
MastersJeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray
Vaughanwhose sound and fury
are indelibly linked to Fenders
three-pickup marvel.
MICHaEL MOLEnda
AdriAn
Belew
Sonic mutilator, pop-tunesmith, and sideman par excellence, adrian Belew has loaned
his Strat-sickness to such heavyweights as Talking Heads, david
Bowie, Frank Zappa, and nine
Inch nailsas well as being a
member of King Crimson and
releasing numerous solo albums.
Praising its balance, beauty,
feel, and sound, Belew has said
that the Strat is the ultimate guitar
for his style of playing. That style
consists of bending the guitars
neck like a rogue chiropractor,
strumming behind the nut, and
using tremolo bar techniques that
evoke sounds of safari wildlife.
Belews logic is simple: I just try
to use everything on the guitar
that you can use.
although he believes the
original design of the Strat to

be timeless and perfecthis
main Strat for years was a wellworn 57 Belew now relies on
Fender Custom Shop Strats outfitted with Sperzel locking tuners,
Kahler tremolos, and a Roland
GK2 guitar-synth pickup.
Much of Belews Strat-abuse
was complimented by a bevy
of stompboxes. He would often
call upon a Foxx Tone Machine
fuzz/ octave, an ada Flanger, an
MXR dyna Comp, and numerous
Electro-Harmonix units (such as
a Graphic Fuzz, Polychorus, Big
Muff, and 16-Second delay) for
his sonic explosions. His amp of
choice in the late 70s and 80s
was a Roland JC-120, but more
recently he has opted for a digiTech Johnson Millennium.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Twang
Bar King, The Momur, Desire
of the Rhino King; Standing in
the Shadow, Member of the
Tribe, Inner Revolution; Of Bow
and drum, I Remember How
to Forget, High Wire Guitar,
Op Zop Too Wah; with Talking
Heads: The Great Curve, Remain in Light; with King Crimson:
Elephant Talk, Thela Hun Ginjeet, Matte Kudasai, Frame by
Frame, Discipline. daRRIn FOX
ritchie
Blackmore
With deep Purple and Rainbow, Ritchie Blackmore was one
of the first guitarists to fuse classical influences with heavy rock. His
fast, alternate-picking technique
produced long, stunning runs that
incorporated harmonic-minor
scales and arpeggios. When he
joined deep Purple, however, he
played a Gibson ES-335 through
a Vox aC30. It wasnt until the
bands third album, Deep Purple
in Concert, that Blackmore picked
up a Strat.
The Strat I used belonged
to Eric Clapton, he told GP in
P H O T O S : B ELEW R a y O LS O n; B L a C KM O R E EB ET R O B ER T S ; d a LE M IC H a EL OCHS a RCHI V E S
july 1999
Shown prancing with Rainbow
in 1982, Ritchie
Blackmore became
enamored of the
Strat after playing
one that belonged
to Eric Clapton.
seems to calm the sound down

and get more midrange. I find it
difficult to play without it.
Blackmores new record,
Shadow of the Moon, is a departure from his Strat-wielding
days. His new band, Blackmores
Night, is an acoustic group influenced by 15th-Century Renaissance music.
Stellar Strat Tracks. With
Deep Purple: Highway Star,
Smoke on the Water, Machine
Head; Woman from Tokyo, Who
Do We Think We Are?; Burn,
Burn; with Rainbow: Man on
the Silver Mountain, Blackmores
Rainbow; Gates of Babylon,
Long Live Rock N Roll; Since
You Been Gone, Down to Earth.
LISA SHARkeN
Dick Dale
Dick Dales high-energy

shows in the late 50s were the
stuff of legends. A lefty who plays
his guitar strung right-handed,
the southern California madman
entertained beach bums with his
double-picked low-string melodies and reckless abandon, capturing the spirit of the surf culture
with one of the most recognizable
styles in American music.
Dales sound was pure Stratocaster. Mixing high-volume,
drippy reverb, and a serious dose
of attitude, he pioneered what
many consider the quintessential
surf sound. In the September 96
GP, Dale was asked if a Fender
was necessary to play surf guitar. His answer left no doubts:
If you want punch, power, and
the driving force of true rock
and roll, then youve got to play
a Stratocaster.
Dale has gone even further,
stating that the Strat is the guitarthe only guitarbecause
it can be utilized to make any
kind of sound you want. Currently, Dale plugs his signature
Stratocaster into a Fender Dual
Showman (pushing 15 JBL D130F speakers) and a Fender
reverb unit.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Lets Go
Trippin, Surf Beat, Misirlou,
You guys need to
remember that Dick Dale
is the father of loud, asserts Dick Dale, shown in
a an early publicity shot.
September 78. I liked the sound

of it. It had a great sound for a
wah-wah pedal because it was
so sharp, but the transition from
Gibson to Fender was really hard.
I found great difficulty in using it
the first two years. With a Gibson
you just race up and down, but
with a Fender you have to make
every note countyou have to
make the note sing or otherwise
it wont work. Its more rewarding
because with a Gibson, nobody
has an identity.
A fan of Hendrixs Strat and
Marshall tone, Blackmore traded
his AC30 for a 200-watt Marshall
Major, modified with an extra out-
put stage and tweaked for more

treble. He typically set all the controls full upexcept the volume,
which he set on 5and played
through two Marshall 4x12 cabinets. Blackmore never used the
middle pickup on his guitars, opting for the bridge or neck positions.
A key ingredient of Blackmores soundand an integral
part of his rig since 1970is a
modified Aiwa reel-to-reel tape
recorder. Inserted between his
guitar and amp, the footpedalcontrolled deck is used as an echo
unit and preamp. If I dont use
it, the sound is too shrill, Blackmore told GP in December 96. It
I use a Strat because Im comfy on it. David Gilmour, Nov. 84 GP
classic interview
The Wedge, King of the Surf

Guitar, Hava Nagila, Shake
N Stomp, The Victor, King
of the Surf Guitar: The Best
of Dick Dale & His Del-Tones.
DF
RoRy
GallaGher
If Jimi Hendrix continued
to play the Strat he burned at
Monterey Pop, it couldnt have
looked much worse than the
battered and bruised 61 model
that never left Rory Gallaghers
hands. Its super-glued together, joked the late Irish bluesrocker in a June 91 GP interview.
Gallaghers devotion to the blues
was just as deep as his commitment to that scrap-heap Strat.
His impassioned playing and
singing was uncorrupted by fads,
effects (I like naked guitar),
or fame (he turned down the
offer to replace Mick Taylor in
the Rolling Stones). He could
wow audiences with fretboard
gymnastics, or hit a single, perfect note that would absolutely
freeze time.
I try to split the difference
between being fairly clever and
technical and still primitive,
he said. As a rule, I try to keep a
grip on technology so it doesnt
take the human factor out of it.
Tech-wise, there wasnt
much to worry over, as Gallagher
typically restricted his setup to a
guitar and one or two amps. His
infamous Stratreportedly the
first one in Irelandwas stock,
except that the middle pickups
tone knob was rewired into a

volume control.
I like electronics, sure, but
Im into the guitar, he said in
the July 74 GP. I try and get a
volume where the guitar still has
almost an acoustic nature. You
know, if you hit it a little harder,
you get a hard note, and if you
hit quite soft, you can get a soft
sound.
To achieve his signature sound
(clangy and stinging without being too trebly), Gallagher often
relied on an alliance between
Fullerton and London. For me,
its a battle between the Vox AC30
and the 4x10 Fender Bassman, he
said. The warmth of the Fenders
and the character of the Voxes are
pretty hard to beat.
Im obviously so much a
Fender musician, he continued. The Strat is comfortable,
the scale seems right, and I like
having the machine heads on
one side. Im not a great fan of
humbucking pickups, and I dont
think the sound of the Gibson
travels as far. A Fender will hit
the back wall. Even playing in a
huge band with brass, a Fender
might not be loud enough, but
it always cuts through. Also, I
still prefer to get a wah effect by
working the guitars tone control
manually, and the Strat is ideal
because you can easily reach the
volume and tone controls to get
that crying sound.
It wasnt all about tone and
ergonomics, however. Gallagher
readily admitted to falling for the
Strats physical charms: Buddy
Holly had a Strat, and as a child,
you go after the appearance of a
guitar. I dont care what anyone
saysyou look at the shape of
the thing, and thats it.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Used
to Be, Crest of a Wave, Deuce;
Walk on Hot Coals, A Million
Miles Away, Irish Tour 74; I
Aint No Saint, Calling Card,
Off the Handle, A Blue Day for
the Blues.
MM
The Strat has a lot

of clarity, so you
cant get away with
too much, warned
Rory Gallagher.
DaviD
Gilmour
David Gilmours guitar textures and soaring, blues-based
solos are a mainstay of the Pink
Floyd sound. Gilmour joined Pink
Floyd in February 68 to compensate for the sporadic guitar
playing of the bands mad genius,
Syd Barrett. Two months later,
Barrett surrendered to his demons, leaving Gilmour as Floyds
sole guitarist. Making his first
appearance on the groups second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, Gilmours rig consisted of a
Fender Telecaster played through
a Selmer 50-watt amp and Binson
echo unit. After the Telecaster
was stolen, he replaced it with a
Strat, and traded in the Selmer
for a Hiwatt amp and WEM 4x12
cabinets.
Eventually, more effects started making their way into Gilmours setupincluding MXRs
Phase 90, Electro-Harmonixs

Electric Mistress and Big Muff,
Oranges Treble/ Bass Booster,
Dallas-Arbiters Fuzz Face, and
Maestros Rover (rotary speaker)and by the late 70s, he had
a high-tech switching system to
control the massive array. In addition, he began using an Alembic
F2-B bass preamp that has since
become an essential part of his
powerful clean tone.
Gilmours current system includes a mixture of analog stompboxes (Boss Metalizer, Chorus,
Graphic EQ, and Compressor; a
Chandler Tube Driver; a Pro Co
Rat; a Sovtek Big Muff; and other
toys) and rackmount digital gear
(such as Lexicons PCM70 and
t.c. electronics 2290). He has
used various Fender, Marshall,
and Mesa/ Boogie amps over the
years, but he now uses five 100watt Hiwatt heads with two WEM
and two Marshall 4x12 cabinets.
His live rig includes three custom-
P H O T O S : G A LLA G H ER NEIL z LO z O W ER ; G ILM O U R M IC H A EL P U T LA ND / R ET N A ; GUY J OE SI A
july 1999
David Gilmour,
onstage with Pink
Floyd in the 70s,
often relies on a
massive pedalboard and an
Alembic bass
preamp to produce his soaring
Strat tones.
made rotary-speaker units.

A major part of Gilmours
technique revolves around the
tremolo barwhich was his
main reason for choosing a Strat.
He favors a short bar so he can
hold it while picking, and has
the tremolo system set up with
three (for light-gauge strings) or
four (for heavy-gauge strings)
springs and adjusted for a bit of
upward pull.
Currently, Gilmours main
guitar is an 84 candy apple red
57 Vintage Reissue Strat loaded
with EMG-SA single-coils, an
EMG-SPC midrange controller,
and an EMG-EXG expander to
boost treble and bass. His previous main axe was a black 79
Strat with a 62 neck, a rosewood
fingerboard, and custom-wired
DiMarzio pickups. I use the treble pickup virtually all the time,
he told GP in November 84.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Time,
Dark Side of the Moon; Shine on
Bassman, and cut his first sessions on the Cobra and Chess
labels in the late 50s. Closely associated with the Strat throughout his career, he was one of the
first players to use in-between
pickup soundslong before the
advent of the 5-way switch. The
switch got caught between there,
and I said, Hey, this is a different sound, remembered Guy.
After a while, I guess it just wore
in.
Guy became so synonymous
with the Stratocaster that, in
1995, Fender honored him with
a signature model. He still tours
relentlessly, and has not stopped
recording, winning Grammy
awards for Damn Right, Ive Got
the Blues (1991) and Feels Like
Rain (1993). In 1998, Guy hit the
charts again with Heavy Love.
Stellar Strat Tracks. First
Time I Met the Blues, Stone
Crazy, When My Left Eye
Jumps, The Very Best of Buddy
Guy; Damn Right, Ive Got the

Blues, Rememberin Stevie,
Damn Right, Ive Got the Blues.
MATT BLACkETT
Buddy Holly
Before Buddy Holly burst on

the scene in 1957, the Fender
Stratocaster wasnt known as
a rock and roll guitar. Several
prominent country players were
using them, but it was Holly who
introduced the Strat to rock fans
worldwide. Born Charles Hardin
Holley on September 7, 1936 (he
changed the spelling of his last
name following a typo on his
first recording contract), in Lubbock, Texas, Holly would go on
to write and record a string of
hits before his untimely death in
1959. Crucial to Hollys groundbreaking sound was his trusty 57
Stratocaster.
Yeah, Buddy did love that
Strat, reminisced Joe B. Mauldin,
You Crazy Diamond, Parts I-V,

Wish You Were Here; Comfortably Numb, The Wall.
LS
Buddy Guy
The Buddy Guy story has been

told so many times it has attained
folkloric status. It goes like this:
Hendrix sat at his feet and stole
licks, Clapton called him the
best guitar player alive, and Beck
described a jam he did with Guy
and SRV as as close as you can
come to the heart of the blues.
A bluesmans bluesman, Guy
combines killer showmanship, a
soulful voice, and brutal, stinging
licks to earn such praise.
I started with a Strat, Guy
told GP in April 1990. The first
time I ever saw one was with
Guitar Slim. He was tearing em
up every time I saw him, and that
guitar was built to take it.
Guy soon got a Stratocaster of
his own, plugged into a Fender
Buddy Guy etches

some deep blues at
the 1970 Ann Arbor
Blues & Jazz Festival.
Other than the Strats, I dont use the electrics that much. Nils Lofgren, referring to his vast guitar collection, Dec. 85 GP
classic interview
Hollys amp, and positioning a
Telefunken 250 near the Strats
strings to capture Hollys signature tone.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Thatll
Be the Day, Not Fade Away,
Words of Love, Ting-a-Ling,
Im Gonna Love You Too, Its
So Easy, Rock Me My Baby,
The Buddy Holly Collection. MB
Hollys bass player in the Crickets.
He liked the neck on it and the
action. It was easy for him to
work with.
Easy, indeed. In a six-month
period between 1957 and 1958,
Holly racked up four top-20
singles: Peggy Sue, Oh Boy,
Maybe Baby, and the numberone hit Thatll Be the Day. All
of these cuts feature Hollys 57
Strat (strung with Black Diamond
flatwounds) through a Fender
Pro amp, and showcase his great
rhythm style. This style would
profoundly influence a generation of guitarists, including Keith
Richards and Albert Lee. Engineer
Norman Petty remembered using
an Electro-Voice EV 635 mic on
Eric
Johnson
When guitarists talk about
tone freaks, the name Eric Johnson is always at the top of the
list. This is the guy who hears the
differences between cables, batteries, 1/4 plugs, and even fuses
and electrical wires. The fact that
Johnson relies almost exclusively
on Stratocasters to produce his
huge assortment of sounds is
one of the best endorsements a
guitar could have.
Although Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Steve Morse, and others raved
about Johnsons monster tech-
Clutching his
65 Strat with
rosewood
fretboard,
Eric Johnson
gets tasty at a
1991 concert.
nique and gorgeous tones for

years, it wasnt until the release of
Tones in 1986 that the guitar-playing world believed them. With his
sweet, singing sustain, bell-like
clean tones, and Hendrix-meetsWes-meets-Tal Farlow tastiness,
Johnson proved he was no myth.
Every Strat definitely sounds
different, said Johnson. For the
Tones sessions, all the rhythm
stuff and 30% of the leads were
done with my 58 Strat. Most
of the other solos were my 54
Strat. Both have a maple fretboard, which produces a tighter,
punchier tone.
Although he favors maple
necks, Johnson found a 65 Strat
with a rosewood fretboard that he
liked, and used it while making
Venus Isle. (He had also dropped
his 54, and maintained that it
didnt sound as good since the
Buddy Hollywith prized

57 Strat looking like a
very proper rocker at a
late-50s performance on
The Ed Sullivan Show.
accident.) Whichever Strat he

chooses, its always plugged into
his massive, multi-amp setup.
Over the years, this rig has consisted of a pair of Fender Twin
Reverbs or Vibroverbs for a clean
sound, a Manzamp preamp or
Dumble Steel String Singer for
distorted rhythms, and Marshall
50- or 100-watt heads or a Dumble Overdrive Special for lead
tones. His effects chain (more like
a DNA strand) includes an assortment of Tube Screamers, Fuzz
Faces, Echoplexes, a t.c. electronics chorus, a CryBaby wah, and an
MXR delayas well as a host of
other fuzzes and delays.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Soulful Terrain, Trail of Tears,
Tones; High Landrons, Desert Rose, Ah Via Musicom; All
About You, Camels Night
Out, SRV, Venus Isle.
MB
PHOTO S: JO HN SO N R AN D I A NG LIN ; H O LLY M IC H A EL O C H S A R C H IVES ; KNO P F LER EB ET R O B ER T S ; V A N H ALE N RA Y OLSON
july 1999
eddie Van Halen
The FaTher oF The Super STraT
Van Halen in
1978 with the
homemade
monster that
launched
thousands
of imitations.
The Strat woke
me up, said
Mark Knopfler
(shown in 1985),
who tailored
release of Van Halen in 1978 forever changed
The
Sultans of
Swing to the
Strats distinctive timbre.
the world of guitar. Like the day after the Beatles

appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show suddenly
everyone wanted to play guitar. And not just any
guitara black-and-white-striped, Strat-style, singlehumbucker, one-knob weapon like the one pictured
on Van Halens debut album.

I wanted a Gibson type of sound, but with a Strat vibrato, Van Halen told GP in July 1978. I bought a body from Charvel for 50 bucks and
a neck for 80 bucks. I slapped it together, put an old Gibson PAF in it,
Mark
Knopfler
Two things happened when
Sultans of Swing hit the airwaves in 78 and became a
worldwide smash for Dire Straits.
First, Mark Knopflers sweet,
fingerpicked arpeggios, snarky
double-stops, and ringing sixths
established him as one of those
rare players with an immediately identifiable sound. Second,
guitarists who wanted to sound
contemporary suddenly needed
to add the Strats phasoid dualpickup timbres to their sonic
palette. You can make a case
that Sultans of Swing featured
more clean, wall-to-wall Strat
than any chart-topping song
before or since.
Though Knopfler wasnt the
first to explore the Strats clucky
and painted it up with the stripes.
side (years earlier, Buddy Guy

and Eric Clapton had each made
their mark with positions 2 and
4), the 28-year-old Scot exploited
this timbre so skillfully on his
bands debut album that many
players still refer to it as the
Knopfler Sound.
A Strat was a thing of wonder, Knopfler told GP. When I
was 14 or 15, the Shadows were
a big influence, and they had the
first Strats that came to England.
I like to play all kinds of guitars,
but I wasnt getting the sound I
really wanted until I got a Stratocaster. I originally wrote Sultans
of Swing on a steel-bodied National guitar, open tuned. Same
lyrics, but a different tunecompletely unremarkable. But when
I got the Strat and plugged it into
an old Fender Vibrolux, that song
became something else.
By the second album, Van Halen was playing a black-and-yellowstriped instrument with a Boogie Bodies neck and body, a Gibson PAF,
and a tremolo system designed by an unknown guitarist named Floyd
Rose. (Van Halen was instrumental in the design of the Floyd Rose Tremolo, recommending the addition of fine-tuners to the double locking system.)
To say that Van Halens playing was influential is an almost-laughable
understatement. Its easy to forget, however, how much he changed the
guitar-making industry. Almost overnight, music stores were filled with single-humbucker, Strat-shaped guitars, many of which sported outrageous
graphics. Almost all of these super-Strats featured larger frets, as well as
double-locking trem systems for VH-approved divebombs.
The guitar Van Halen was seen with most often in the 80sthe red
Strat-style body with black-and-white stripes, no pickguard, and a humsing-sing pickup configurationis actually the same instrument he used on
the bands first album. I went to town painting it, he explained, and I
put three pickups back in. But they dont workonly the rear one works.
When asked about the attraction of the Stratocaster-style body, Van
Halen responded, It just feels good on me. It fits me because Im small.
He was equally straightforward about his impact on guitar design: I was
just a punk kid, trying to get a sound out of a guitar that I couldnt get off
the rack, so I built one myself.
To hear what Van Halen sounds like on a real Strat, check out Cathedral on Diver Downa rare instance of VH on a 61 Fender.
MATT BLACkeTT
I think white Stratocasters are the most beautiful guitarsthey look famous. Jimmie Vaughan, July 80 GP
classic interview
belong in every Strat freaks collection.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Down
to the Waterline, Six Blade
Knife, Sultans of Swing, In
the Gallery, Dire Straits; Once
Upon a Time in the West,
News, Single-Handed Sailor,
Communiqu.
ANDy ELLIS
Over the years Knopfler
moved away from Fender instruments, opting for Strat-style
guitars built by Schecter and
Pensa-Suhr. He even embraced
a Les Paul for the fat, squawky
Money for Nothing riff (on
Brothers in Arms) and stroked a
1953 Gibson Super 400 on Fade
to Black (from On Every Street).
Still, many guitar aficionados
point to Dire Straits and Communiqu, the bands first two
records, as containing Knopflers finest playingas well as
some of the best Strat tones ever
recorded. These two albums
Nils
Lofgren
Since the early 70s, Nils Lofgren
has maintained cult-hero status
via incendiary live performances
that often incorporated acrobatic
antics such as 360 flips, rolls, and
trampoline leaps. Lofgren forged
a unique watery tone (thanks
to a Rotovibe rotating-speaker
simulator) and an aggressive,
bluesy style that can be heard
in full glory on a bevy of solo
records made before he joined
Bruce Springsteen for the Tunnel
of Love and Live/1975-85 albums.
Springsteen wasnt the only star

to take advantage of Lofgrens
prodigious talents. Add to the list
Stephen Stills, Ringo Starr, and
Neil young.
A long-time Stratophile,
Lofgren has spent the majority
of his onstage time swinging a
pair of natural-finished 61 Strats,
both equipped with Bill Lawrence
450 pickups and strung with Dean
Markleys, gauged .010 to .050. His
signature tone results from using
the middle-plus-bridge pickup
position, a stiff thumbpick (which
Lofgren says he prefers for its
percussiveness and bouncing
harmonics), and his trademark
Rotovibe.
The Rotovibes slow setting
is so subtle, you can hardly hear
itit just adds like a coat of glass
over the strings, he reported.
On fast, it gives me an underwater, bubbly-type sound. Lofgren traditionally played through
Fender Super Reverbs, but he also
plugged into vintage and reissue Fender Bassmans, 100-watt

Marshalls, Mesa/Boogie Mark
IIIs, and Music Mans.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Like
Rain, Beggars Day (Eulogy to
Danny Whitten), Back It Up,
Keith Dont Go, I Came to
Dance, Soft Fun, Tough Tears
1971-1979; Cry Tough, Secrets in the Street, Across the
Tracks, Delivery Night, Code
of the Road, Moontears, Code
of the Road/Greatest Hits Live.
ART THOMPSON
YNgwie
MaLMsteen
The only thing I ever really
wanted was a Strat, says yngwie
Malmsteen, whose career was
ignited after he appeared in Mike
Varneys Spotlight column in the
February 83 GP. I started playing guitar after seeing Jimi Hendrix on TV the day he died. Then,
Hey, quit crowding me with that Esquire!

Nils Lofgren rocks out with the Boss.
P H O T O S : LO F G R EN P A UL N A T KI N
july 1999
Yngwie Malmsteens
lightning fingers,
walls of Marshalls, and
Strat-powered tones
wowed shredheads in
the mid 80s.
for my ninth birthday, I got Deep

Purples Fireball album, which
was also a big influence.
Malmsteens first electric was
a Clearsound Strat copy, but he
finally got his Fender Strat in
74 or 75a late-60s model.
In terms of feel, sound, and
looks, theres nothing like a
Strat, Malmsteen asserts. Its
so beautiful. I have a collection
of more than 200 of them that
includes Strats from every year
since March 1954the first
month the Strat was made.
Malmsteens main guitars
are heavily modified, 1968 to
72 Strats with deeply-scalloped
maple fingerboards, Dunlop
6000 jumbo frets, and DiMarzio
YJM pickups in the neck and
bridge positions. (Like Ritchie
Blackmore, Malmsteen doesnt
use the middle pickup.) Additionally, the tone controls have
been disconnected. His guitars
are set up with high action,
.008.048 gauge Fender Super

Bullets, and tremolos armed with
four or five springs and adjusted
for both downward and upward
movement.
His backline includes several
early-70s 50-watt Marshall Mark II
heads and late-60s Marshall 4x12
cabinets. Live, Malmsteen uses a
CryBaby wah, a Boss chorus and
flanger, and a Korg SDD-1000
stereo digital delay. He places
stacks on both sides of the stage
and uses the stereo delay to play
counterpoint parts.
Through the mid- to late80s, Malmsteens influence
was so pervasive that many
players emulated (or attempted
to emulate) his flawless, lightning-fast runs based around
harmonic- and melodic-minor
scales, diminished scales, and
the Phrygian mode. Malmsteens fretboard wizardry and
showmanship dazzled audiences
worldwide, making him not only
a Strat master, but also a shredguitar legend.

Alcatrazz: Kree Nakoorie,
Hiroshima Mon Amour, No
Parole from Rock N Roll; with
Rising Force: Black Star, Yngwie
Malmsteens Rising Force.
LS
Hank
Marvin
Though relatively unknown in
the States, Hank Marvin inspired
a generation of 60s British greats
to form bands and play electric
guitar. Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck
are among those who list Marvin
as a primary influence. As the
lead guitarist for the Shadows,
an instrumental quartet that
also backed up English pop-star
Cliff Richard, Marvin introduced
scores of nascent rockers to the
joys of twang. Artfully blending
reverb, echo, tremolo, and quivering wang-bar vibrato, he drew
wiry, haunting sounds from his

Stratocaster and Vox amp, and
pointed the way to 90s-style ambient textures. Best known for
Apache, which spent 21 weeks
on the UK charts in the summer
of 1960, the Shadows racked up
more than 30 hits in the UK and
Europenot counting dozens of
others with Cliff Richard.
Marvin was the first to strum
a Strat in England. We wanted
solidbody Fenders, but couldnt
get hold of them, he told GP,
because there was some kind of
ban on importing new American
instruments. In 1959, Cliff wrote
directly to the Fender factory and
bought a new Stratocaster with a
birds-eye maple neck. I used it
from 59 to 61. Then Vox became
the agent for Fender guitars, and I
got a Strat with a rosewood neck
and gave Cliff his guitar back.
There were several reasons
Marvin gravitated to the Strat
early in his career. I do a lot of
PH oTo : MA L MST EEN NEIL z Loz o W E R
classic interview july
1999
The Fender amplifier sounded a

little too smooth with a Strat, and
I seemed to get more guts out of
a Vox. You can wind it up right,
and it will overload just enough to
make things interesting.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Apache,
FBI, Sleepwalk, Guitar Tango, Shindig, The Shadows All
Time 30 Greatest Hits.
AE
moving onstagethrowing the
guitar around a bitand I found
Gibsons too heavy for that, he
said. With a Strat, you can swing
it in the air and get in strange
positions. From a practical side,
its very easy to operate. Youve
got one volume control and one
switch to flick for whatever pickup you want. I also like the Strats
tremolo arm.
The AC30an amp Vox developed for the Shadowsplayed a
crucial role in Marvins signature
tone. I tried Fender amps first, but
preferred the Vox because it had
more of a raw sound, he related.
Curtis
Mayfield
As a founding member of
the Impressions, Curtis Mayfield
stood out from his R&B contemporaries by writing most of his
own material and developing a
highly innovative guitar style. His
syncopated chordal stabs on early-60s gems such as Its All Right
and People Get Ready laid the
groundwork for reggae skanking.
He put a smooth twist on funk guitar in the 70s. He even influenced
Jimi Hendrix, who took Mayfields
Looking very Holly-esque,

Hank Marvin and Stratocaster grace the cover of
a British fanzine.
Chord-melody master:
Curtis Mayfield reengineered 70s funk
with soulful tunes and
smooth, graceful Strat
tones.
fluid chord/melody style to new

heights on Little Wing, The
Wind Cries Mary, and Castles
Made of Sand. Mayfields influence on pop music is immense.
Born in Chicago on June 3,
1942, Mayfield grew up steeped in
gospel musichis grandmother
was a pastor in the Traveling
Souls Spiritual Church. I always
had a different guitar style, he
once said. I tuned it to the key
of F#, which is a Spanish tuning.
I found later it was all the black
keys on the piano. (From low to
high, Mayfields tuning is F#, A#,
C#, F#, A#, F#.)
Mayfield originally played a
Silvertone guitar and amp, but
switched to a Strat and a Fender
amp when his career began to
take off. I used to sleep with
that ax, he recalled. Thats how
much I loved it. Preferring a mellower sound, Mayfield plucked
his medium-gauge flatwounds
softly with his fingers and favored
the Strats middle pickup. In 1989,

less than a year before he was paralyzed after being struck onstage
by a falling scaffold, Curtis Mayfield said this about his guitar:
Im touring with the Stratocaster
because it feels goodI guess Ive
grown accustomed to it. The way
I tune adds more tension, but
Ive never had a neck warp, and
my guitar almost always stays in
tune. Ive just always related to
the Fender.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Its All
Right, Talking About My Baby,
People Get Ready, Keep on
Pushing, Womans Got Soul,
Were Rolling on (Part One),
The Impressions/The Greatest Hits;
Superfly, Freddies Dead,
Pusherman, Junkie Chase,
Superfly Deluxe 25th Anniversary;
(Dont Worry) If Theres a Hell
Below Were All Going to Go,
Move on Up, Very Best of Curtis
Mayfield. AT
continued on page 24
PH OTO S : M A RVI n PH OTO CO U RT ES Y O U T R ID ER , M nG . ; M AY F IELD M IC H A EL OC HS A RCHI V E S
WEVE TAKEN
DIGITAL WIRELESS
TO THE NEXT LEVEL . . .
THE FLOOR
SYSTEM
STOMPBOX
DIGITAL 2.4 GHz HIGH-F IDELITY WIRELESS

Combining advanced 24-bit, field-proven performance, easy setup and clear, natural sound quality, our System 10 Stompbox
delivers the ultimate wireless experience. With the tap of a foot on the rugged, metal Stompbox receiver, guitarists can
toggle between dual " balanced outputs or mute one output without affecting the other. And, since the System operates
in the 2.4 GHz range, its free from TV and DTV interference. You can also pair multiple UniPak body-pack transmitters with
a single receiver to easily change guitars. So go ahead, give it a try we think youll be floored.
classic interview
Eric clapton
When I was in Nashville

in 1970 with Derek and
the Dominoes, I went into
this shop and they had a
rack of Strats and Teles
all going for $100 each.
I bought a handful, and
made Blackie out of the
body from one, the neck
from another, and so on.
the various parts are, so
its not a good collectors guitar at all. Well, it
is now. Eric Clapton,
shown channeling the
blues in the early 70s.
PH OT O: n e il zl OzO w e r
I have no idea what year
july 1999
Id like to get something

togetherlike a Handel,
Bach, Muddy Waters,
flamenco type of thing. If I
could get that sound, Id be
happy. Jimi Hendrix,
tearing up San Franciscos
P HOT O: j i m ma rs Ha l l
Winterland in 1968.
jimi hendrix
classic interview
stevie ray vaughan
I figured out how to get

the guitar to rumble
[for live performances
of Third Stone from the
Sun]. I put it on the
middle pickup, turn the
it by the wang bar, and
just shake it on the floor.
A Stratocaster is pretty
toughI wouldnt recommend that anybody do that
with their ES-335!
Stevie Ray Vaughan
P HOT O: c O rey m i Ha i liu k
tone knob down, grab
july 1999
The Strat covers the complete spectrum of human

emotion. The tremolo enables you to do anything
you can hit any note
known to mankind. Jeff
Beck in 1989, playing his
signature Strat (which was
jeff beck
P HOT O: s T e v e j en n in gs
signed by Little Richard).
classic interview
continued from page 18
Bonnie
Raitt
I have to make the styles
from older blues players into my
own, remarked Bonnie Raitt in
her May 77 GP cover feature.
This is a new kind of music
part soul, part blues. Its a hybrid.
I dont play exactly like a black
person or a white or a boy or a
girl. And I dont think the blues
has to lose its originality as it

draws from other sources. Many
people are taking the blues form
and moving it ahead so its not
so limitedand I want to do
that, too.
Twenty-two years down the
road, Raitt hasnt lost her adventurers spirit. After scoring
big-time hits in the early 90s, she
embraced world-beat influences
and a rough-and-tumble, lo-fi
sound (courtesy of co-producers
Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake)
for last years Fundamental. One
constant throughout Raitts career, however, has been Old
Brownher trusty 65 Strat.
Ive played it on every gig
since 1969, she said. Up until
that time, I was still kind of a folk
musician and playing acoustics.
But all the people whose playing I
love use StratsJohn Hall, Lowell

George, and Ry Cooderso I figured it was a good place to start.
Although she has played a
Gibson ES-175 and other electrics, she hasnt strayed far from
where she startedher latest
setup includes Old Brown, a 64
sunburst Strat, and her signature
Strat (typically played through a
Vox AC30, a Fender Pro Junior,
or a Demeter TGA-3). Effects are
limited to a Boss chorus, a Boss
compressor, and a Stamps DriveO-Matic.
There would be no rock and
roll or rhythm and blues without
Leo Fenders contribution, Raitt
said, referring to the scores of
seminal artists who have played
Strats (and Teles). The tone is
everything.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Love
Letter, Thing Called Love, Nick
of Time; Love Has No Pride,
Give It Up; Angel from Montgomery, Streetlights; I Thank
You, The Glow; Spit of Love,
Fundamental.
MM
nile
RodgeRs
Theres something
about the Strats
shape that is at
once masculine
and feminine,
said Bonnie Raitt
(sliding down
Old Brown in
1978). It fits
everybodys body.
With Chic, Nile Rodgers virtually defined the 70s funk/disco

guitar sound. The bright, chimey
Strat tones on tunes such as Le
Freak and Good Times were an
inescapable influence on dance
music. I recorded those tunes
with my 59 hardtail Strat, Rodgers recalls. I call that guitar the
Hitmaker. Whenever I needed
a hit, I used that guitar. I played
through a Fender Vibrolux, but I
also went direct into a Neve 8068
mixing board. The direct sound
was the most important component of the tone.
It wasnt just Rodgers tone
that people were chasing after.
His hammer-on/pull-off based
rhythm partswhich had as
much in common with 40s-era
horn sections as they did with
James Brown-style funkgave

rise to hundreds of knock-offs.
For my style of playing, he explains, the Stratocaster gives me
the clarity and brightness I need
to play precise rhythm. But it also
has enough warmth so I can be
bright without being brittle.
In addition to his work with
Chic, Rodgers has played with
or produced such notables as
David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Madonna,
Duran Duran, and the Vaughan
Brothers. On the Lets Dance sessions, where he played alongside
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rodgers recalls using his Hitmaker for everything except China Girl, which
featured an early-50s black Strat
with gold hardware. I wanted
an even brighter sound for that
song, he says.
Rodgers recently released
Chics Live at the Budokan on
his Sumthing Else label, and is
putting the finishing touches on
three film scores.
Chic: Dance, Dance, Dance,
Chic; Good Times, Risqu; Le
Freak, Cest Chic; with David
Bowie: China Girl, Modern
Love, Lets Dance.
MB
eldon
shamblin
In the 30s and 40s, country
musicians played acoustic instruments and were generally
disdainful of amplification. It
was the western swing bands of
the day with their jazz-infused
dance numbersthat began to
incorporate electric steel and
amplified archtop guitar into their
songs. At the center of this burgeoning movement was Bob Wills
and His Texas Playboys. The late
Eldon Shamblin powered many of
Wills classic tunes, such as San
Antonio Rose and Faded Love.
Shamblins deft use of passing
chords, inversions, and moving
bass lines earned him a reputaP H O T O S : R A IT T N E I L z LOz OW E R
july 1999
The Hitmaker stayed home:
Substituting a transparent
copy for his treasured 59
hardtail Strat, Nile Rodgers
gets down with Chic in
Holland, circa 1978.
tion as one of swings greatest

rhythm aces.
Shamblin also helped fellow
Playboy Leon McAuliffe develop
the sophisticated tunings that
came to characterize swing steel.
We worked them out so he could
play four-way harmony, Shamblin
told GP. Together they forged a
twin steel/guitar sound that thrilled
audiences from coast to coast and
seeped into country music, forever
changing that genre.
After joining Wills in the late
30s, Shamblin became the first
western-swing picker to perform
on electric guitara Rickenbacker
Electro. Shaped like a steel, the
small-bodied guitar didnt impress Wills, who felt his audiences
wouldnt recognize the Electro as
a guitar, so Shamblin switched
to an acoustic Gibson Super 400
archtop. I used it for all those
40s things, like San Antonio
Rose, he explained.
A Playboys session in April
1940 marked a musical turning point for Shamblin. When
we recorded Take Me Back to
Tulsa, he recalled, that was

the only time Bob ever said anything to me about how to play.
He said, I want you to put a lot
of runs in it. So from then on, I
did. Big Beaver, another outstanding song from this session,
illustrates the power of Shamb-
lins acoustic rhythm work. Soon

after, Shamblin went electric
again, running a Gibson ES-150
through a volume pedal and
matching Gibson amp.
It wasnt until 1954, well after
Wills recorded his ground-breaking hits, that Shamblin acquired
a Stratocaster from Leo Fender

himself. Leo said, Hey, were
coming out with something,
Shamblin reminisced. Why
dont you take this and try it? If
you dont like it, you can bring it
back. Shamblin never did return
the metallic-gold Strat the only
guitar he used for the rest of his
life. I threw away the vibrato
and blocked the springs with a
piece of wood so it would stay in
tune, he said. The Fender has
ruined me. Its so comfortable to
play. I cant play them big guitars
because its too hard work.
For his powerful Strat comping, Shamblin used Ernie Ball
strings, gauged .012-.052, and
Fender Nick Lucas picks. The
best amp for Strats, he insisted,
is an old Fender. Thats what
you have to have.
Shamblins swinging Strat is
most evident in For the Last Time,
a 24-song CD that a reunited
Playboys recorded in December
73 40 years after Wills formed
the original band.
Stellar Strat Tracks. With Bob
Wills and His Texas Playboys:
Twin Guitar Boogie, San Antonio Rose, Milk Cow Blues,
For the Last Time.
AE
Onstage with the Texas Playboys in the mid-50s: Eldon Shamblin

cradles the metallic-gold Strat that Leo Fender gave him in 1954.
P HOTO S: ROD GERS BARR y SC H u L T z / R E TN A ; SHAMB L I N c . B MI PH O T O A R C H Iv ES/ M IC H A EL O C H S A R C H IvES
classic interview
Robin
Trower
Robin Trower devised a highly
identifiable soundand became
one of the more sonically adventurous guitar heroes of the 70s
only to have that achievement
sullied somewhat by accusations
that he was a mere Hendrix imitator. (It certainly didnt help that,
as a member of Procol Harum,
he recorded an ode to Hendrix
entitled Song for a Dreamer.)
Yet Trowers near-cinematic undulations of heavily effected Strat
riffs were even dreamier than
Hendrixs, and his milkshakethick tone etched a signature that
was his alone. But, whatever your
take on the stylistic connection,
Trowers attraction to the Strat
itself had nothing to do with Hendrix. During an early-70s tour
supporting Jethro Tull, he picked
up Martin Barres Stratocaster
which the Tull guitarist used for
slideplugged it in, and reportedly yelled, This is it!
Up to then, I had been playing Les Pauls, Trower said in
the April 74 GP. But I always
felt there was something missing on them. They had a good,
fat sound, but they never had
that musical sound. The Strat,
however, is the most expressive
of all the electric guitarsits the
nearest to the human voice you
can get.
Trowers arsenal included 62,
74, and 66 Strats (all stock, save
for blocked tremolos), and Marshall Mark II 100-watt heads with
Marshall 4x12 cabinets. His early
I always bought
new Strats because
I didnt want an
instrument that was
irreplaceable,
said Robin Trower
(bending hard into
a sunburst Strat in
75). Then someone
handed me a 56,
and the sound was
so much better that I
got hooked on older
models.
effects were a Univox Univibe and

an Arbiter Fuzz Face, but he later
adopted a pedalboard armed with
a custom-built preamp, a Dan
Armstrong Red Ranger, a Tycobrahe wah, a Fender Blender, a
Mu-Tron II, and an Electric Mistress. He used Ernie Ball strings,
gauged .011, .015, .016, .024, .034,
and .046, and tuned down to Eb
to facilitate bending.
The middle pickup is the
mainstay of my soundthats
the one most of the rock and

roll things are done on, said
Trower. And I use as high an
action as possible on the Stratocasterthats the only way
to get a good sound out of the
instrument. Youve got to learn
to work with it because it helps
you get your fingers behind the
strings and bend.
Taking on his detractors in
the July 80 GP, Trower declared:
Hendrix rewrote the language
of the electric guitar. There was

no way you could move forward
without absorbing at least part
of what he created.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Daydream, Twice Removed from
Yesterday; Bridge of Sighs, Too
Rolling Stoned, Bridge of Sighs;
Shame the Devil, Gonna Be
More Suspicious, For Earth Below; Long Misty Days, Pride,
Long Misty Days; Bluebird, In
City Dreams.
MM
PH OTO : T ROwER J IM M A R S H A LL; T UR n E RJ OE SI A
july 1999
Ike
Turner
Ike Turner first gained prominence in 1951, as a 20-year-old
pianist on what some say was the
first rock and roll single, Rocket
88. His aggressive Strat attack,
speed-picked pentatonic riffs,
and whammy-bar workouts (in
the early 50s) make him the forgotten Strat-master.
In the November 97 GP,
Turner reminisced about why he
got his first Strat: I was having
troubles with my guitar players,
so I went to Memphis and bought
a new 54 Fender Stratocaster.
The change of guitar (and,
one assumes, a few band members) must have triggered something, as Turner proceeded to
write the book on funky, tight,
and downright nasty solos.
And his rhythm chops were as

stunning as his lead workhe
could handle drop-dead funk
and tender blues comping with
taste and flair. His tone was as
Stratty as it comes. He favored
the in-between middle-bridge
pickup setting for maximum funk
cut, and would often jump to
the neck pickup for fatter, more
bluesy rhythms. Turner has used
a lot of different amps throughout his career, but some of the
tones on his late 60s sides with
then-wife Tina are absolutely
howlingand sound suspiciously like a dimed Twin Reverb.
My current Strat is an American Standard loaded with Seymour Duncan pickups, says
Turner. Ive tried other guitars,
but for the way I play, the Stratocaster just works better.
Rollin on the river:

Ike and Tina at the
Fillmore East in 1969.
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classic interview
Tina Turner: Bold Soul Sister, 3 OClock in the Morning

Blues, Reconsider Baby, You
Dont Love Me (Yes I Know), I
Smell Trouble, The Hunter,
Bold Soul Sister.
DF
Jimmie
Vaughan
Ive narrowed it down to what
works and what doesnt work,
and what works is getting that fat
tone on a Fender guitarwhich is
not necessarily known for that.
So goes the gospel of Jimmie
Vaughan, who, throughout the
late 70s and 80s, turned streamlined licks into an art form with
the Fabulous Thunderbirdsone
of the eras few truly believable
white blues bands. Vaughans
bare-bones style flew squarely in
the face of the super-shred mania
that was emerging at the time.
But after brother Stevie Ray rocketed to stardom, people became
mighty interested in what Jimmie
was doing with his Strat.
Vaughan tips a stylistic hat
to such Gulf Coast 6-stringers as
Gatemouth Brown, Guitar Slim,
and Johnny Guitar Watson,
but his recipe for whipping out
explosively savage lines on his
battered 62 Strat (or new Fender
Tex Mex models) is quite original.
For starters, Vaughan favors the
open-E position, and uses a capo
to preserve those open-string fingerings regardless of the key. He
also eschews classic neck-pickup
wail for bridge pickup bite. Why?
Because it has a pure tone
without a lot of overtones,
Vaughan maintains. It almost
sounds like a steel guitar.

Vaughan uses his forefinger to
claw tones from medium-gauge
strings, sets his action fairly high,
and lowers the bass side of his
pickups in relation to the treble
(It just seems more balanced that
way). His guitar work attains critical mass through a variety of amps,
including Fender Bassmans, Kendrick Black Gold 35s and 50-watt
Austin Gushers, and Matchless
Chieftains and C-30s.
Stellar Strat Tracks. Like
a King, Cant Say No, The
Ironic Twist, Out There; with the
Fabulous Thunderbirds: Wait
on Time, Shes Tuff, Walkin
to My Baby, Full-Time Lover, Pocket Rocket, Scratch
My Back, Rich Woman, The
Crawl, Fabulous Thunderbirds/
Whats T.
AT g
SRV killing it at El MocaMbo.
Whats in a name?
Don Randall, head of the Fender Sales Organization (who later became President of CBS Musical Instruments, and,
in 1969, the founder of Randall Electric Instruments) is credited with naming both the Telecaster and the Stratocaster.
People were talking about going to the moon and shooting rockets off into the stratosphere, so we came up with
Stratocaster, he said.
An interesting note is that Harmony chose the name Stratotone for its first solidbody in 1952. Does anyone
remember that guitar? MM
I didnt get a Strat

until I heard Buddy
Guy on Folk Festival

of the Blues, said
Jimmie Vaughan.
It sounded like
Buddy had a brand
new 57 Stratocaster
and a Bassman amp,
and it just had this
incredible sound.
P H O T O S : VAu G H A N J I M STe I N F e LD T
july 1999
CLASSIC INTERVIEW
Jeff Becks amazing angel footsteps.
from the July 1999 issue

of Guitar Player magazine
classic interview
Lap slide is very different from
bottleneck, and its otherworldly
compared to regular guitar.

Ben Harper with his custom
Asher at the Folk Music Center in
Claremont, California.
december 1999
ake no mistake about it, says Ben

Harper, making a good record is
pure, unadulterated pain. If you fall
and break your legthats pain. But
Im telling you, the phase between
pain and death? Thats making a
good record. Its extreme. n Best
known for his powerful songwriting
and fiery slide licksplayed on an
amplified, acoustic Weissenborn lap

guitarHarper does not take musicmaking lightly. Starting with 1994s
Welcome to the Cruel World, he has
gradually built a reputation for playing intense, uncompromising music.
Mixing incisive, socially conscious
lyrics with rootsy riffs, he manages
to pay homage to such tradional
classic interview
Ben Harper on MP3
and Evil Record Labels
veryone has a different take on what the MP3 situation means, says
Harper. People who have already made millions from record sales are
totally down for MP3. Bring it onwhy not? But I know people who are
in the position of trying to recoup recording money and are completely
opposed to it: Hey look, Im trying to repay this debt here, and even make a little monbluesmen as Mississippi John Hurt and Blind
Willie Johnson, while simultaneously forging
new directions in lap-slide guitar.
Harpers albums are remarkably eclectic.
Over the course of a few songs, hell meld
introspective fingerpicking, trippy backwards
slide, string quartet counterpoint, old timey
mandolin, and blistering feedback. And the
California native isnt afraid to sing about
social issues most rockers wouldnt touch
with a ten-foot pole: racism (Oppression),
homelessness (Homeless Child), and wife
abuse (Widow of a Living Man). Death,
redemption, and spirituality are key themes
in each of his albums. While many contemporary bands strive to recreate the sounds
of 60s music, they seldom have the courage
or perception to revive the genres social
consciousness. In his late twenties, Harper
is one of the few young musicians willing to
carry the torch of 60s protest music into the
next millennium.
In many ways, Harper redefines the meaning of guitar hero. Although he plays skillfully,
he values vibe more than technique. He also
knows the instruments history, yet isnt
afraid to push tradition. He sees the beauty
in stylistic diversity, yet understands the
importance of finding a unique voice. And
he loves to collect guitars, but knows its the
songsnot the toolsthat matter.
Our interview occurred over the course of
two days. We spoke at Harpers Los Angeles
home, in restaurants, and while zipping
along L.A.s notorious freeways. Though
bombarded by a steady stream of phone
calls from his manager, booking agent, and
record label, Harper never lost his energy
and enthusiasm for discussing guitar players, equipment (Im a total gear freak),
songwriting, and his new recordBurn to
Shine [Virgin]. He even shared his lap slide
tunings and techniques.

ey, and people are getting the music for free. Whats up with that?
Then there are bands who are having a hard time getting signed, and are hoping
that MP3 offers a chance for wider exposure without major-label support. But I know
people who have signed with online labels and they arent selling the number of records
theyd like. The reality still is that you sell records by playing good music, exposing it to
people yourself, and motivating them to go get it.
And yet some people are saying, MP3! Down with the record companies! How
stupid can you be? If it werent for big record companies, do you think Nirvana would
have had the means to hook up with Butch Vig, spend four grand a day in the studio,
and make a record like Nevermind? Hell no. It takes major-label support to know a
groups chemistry, get them into a studio with a producer, and give them access to the
expensive gear that facilitates making good-sounding records. And dont forget that labels also put the money out to get music to peoples ears, because it doesnt just appear
on their doorsteps. Record companies invest a lot of money in an artists career and are
a conduit for some of the greatest music everthink of the old Verve or Stax records.
Labels take the bears share of the percentage, because they take the bears share of the
risk. Period.
But everybody needs a bad guy, and Im not here to defend the giant corporate labels because some of them are screwed up. But you know what? Youve got to see both
sides of itthe good and the bad. Stuff does fall through the cracks, and you might not
get signed if your music doesnt have that instantaneous hit factor, but the bottom line is,
if youve got the songs, you will get heard.
About six years ago, I remember seeing you

play with Taj Mahal on Austin City Limits
and wondering, Who is that guy with braids
playing blues on a Weissenborn?
It seems like six minutes ago! Taj gave me
my first professional gig, but I was at a musical crossroads. I loved Jimis Strat tone and I
loved the acoustic honesty of John Hurt and
Blind Willie, and I wanted to get both sounds
at the same time. I showed up at the Austin
City Limits studio with an amp and pedals.
We set up for soundcheck, I hit my first note,
and the whole band turned theirs heads and
went, What are you doing? So I scaled back
and went with the clean acoustic sound for
the show, but I realized right then that there
were going to be some growing pains.
You were raised in a musical family

both your grandmother and mother played
guitar, right?
Yes. In 1958, my grandparents started the
Folk Music Center in Claremont, California.
Its a music store and acoustic musical instrument museum, and it has now been certified
as a historic landmark. My grandmother
taught guitar there, and my grandfather
a poet and philosopherstill works there
alongside his grandchildren. I was raised in
the store, surrounded by acoustic instruments
from all over the world.
My mom plays folk, country, and soul, and
sings like Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton.
Thats where I come fromfolk and acoustic
blues. But as a kid, I listened to Stevie Wonder,
december 1999
Your instrument and sound reflect

your personality. If they dont,
youre not reaching deep enough.
Otis Redding, and Led Zeppelin because they
were part of my parents record collection.
The Allman Brothers Idlewild South, Little
Feats Dixie Chicken, Bob Marleys Natty
Dread, and Jimi Hendrixs Smash Hits were
constantly playing in my house. On Saturday,
my dad would sit down with his congas in
front of the TV and jam to Soul Trainthat
was when Soul Train had James Brown.
The musical diversity of your youth still
seems to drive you creatively, as Burn to Shine
is a sonic departure from your first three
albums. For instance, your feedback-laced,
Weissenborn-through-Marshall riffs have
given way to an even heavier distortion.
Youre hearing my Asher guitar. On the
previous record, Will to Live, I think I pushed
an acoustic lap guitar as loud as it could go
with the crunch stuff on Faded and Will to

Live. Those old Weissenborns are only held
together with hide glue, and I could feel them
vibrating in a dangerous way. The volume
level was rattling the ribs loose. Because the
neck is hollow, the entire guitar is a chamber.
The resonance was coming up out of the
soundhole and not going into the pickup, and
the feedback was taking off in directions that
were unusable. Feedback is goodits nice to
be a little of out of control but I need to be
able to contain it in a musical way. I also bat
guitars around, and my slapping and pounding didnt help.
So I went to [luthier] Billy Asher and said,
How can we translate acoustic lap guitar
into something thats a cross between a Weissenborn and a Les Paul? He came up with
the instrument I played on Burn to Shine.

Its built of Honduras mahoganylike an
old Les Paulbut its a neck-through-body
design. The wings are honeycombed with nine
hollow chambers and covered with a koa top.
Billy also hollows out the neck and fills it with
graphite. He built several prototypeswith
and without the graphitebut somehow
the graphite connects the resonance to the
rest of the body, so we settled on that. The
Asher also has a brass saddle, which seems
to enhance sustain.
I was excited when Billy built this guitar
it gets such a mad tone. Finally I could get
solidbody volume and sustain, control feedback, and still have some hollow resonance
that filters up through the pickups instead of
through the open hole.
What about the two pickups? They resemble P-90s.
Tom Anderson winds the magnetic pickups, and theres also an L.R. Baggs pickup in
the bridge.
The Asher sounds very different from a
traditional lap steel, and it obviously led you
down a new sonic road.
One reason the Asher sounds different is
because it has a full, 25 scale lengthlike
the Weissenborn. Typical lap steels have a
22.75 scale.
But my songs have been growing in this
direction all along. Ive been into exploring
resonance and letting notes ringpushing them to the edge before they go into
feedback.
What about your tone bar?
For years I used a Stevens bar, but once
I had tried a Sheerhorn bar, there was no
going back. Its the perfect weight, and its
easy to grip. I also use an aluminum Ernie
Ball volume pedal. Theyre smooth, and I
like the action.
I see youre using bronze strings on the
Asher thats unusual with magnetic pickups.
Bronze does something nice to the overall
toneyou can give it a little more volume
and not lose warmth. Bronze wound strings
dont get picked up by the magnetic field as
strongly as nickel wounds, but I just dig in
that much harder on the bass strings, so its
not a problem.
Do you use custom string gauges for your
Weissenborns?
I used to, but now for simplicity I use stock
DAddario strings. On the slide guitars, I dont
go lighter than a .012 set. If Im tuned to D or
classic interview
E, I use light phosphor bronze DAddarios. If

Im in C or B, I use mediums. Below B, youve
got to use heavy gauge, so it wont feel like
spaghetti. I even have one guitar strung with
a .014 set.
What other guitars and amps did you use
on Burn to Shine?
All the crunch slide is the Asher. My main
amp was a 100-watt, 3-channel Demeter head
running through a Marshall 4x10 cabinet with
Celestion speakers. The Demeters red channel the nasty onehad plenty of crunch,
but occasionally Id add an Ibanez TS-808
Tube Screamer to send it over the top. Mark
Ford, who used to be in the Black Crowes,
recommended that pedal to me. Hes an
insane player.
I also used a pink-face, 3-channel Soldano
tube preamp through a solid-state Crown
ampthat setup produced a beautiful, sparkly
clean sound. My other amps were a Vox AC30,
a 57 Fender Twin, and a mid- to late-50s 4x10
Bassman. All our tweed amps have the original
Jensen speakers.
Did you layer amp tones?
Quite a bit. In Less, for example, the outro
has the Demeter, the Vox, and the Soldanoall
piled on top of one another to get different
frequency ranges of crunch. But Id also switch
amps for different sections in a song.
Did you record each section separately?
No, I just switched between amps using
an A/B box. Like in The Woman in You, the
verse is relatively clean, but the chorus has a
little more grind. I used the Twin for the verses
and the Bassman for the choruses.
Thats like having a cosmic stompboxa
different circuit, a different transformer, and
different tubes and speakers.
Its great. We did layer crunch sounds in
the bridgethe screaming section with the
harder guitars. Its a matter of mixing and
matching amps until you get the perfect bed.
Did you demo your songs before going
into the studio?
A man of many strings: Harper returns a few of his instruments to storage.
I record each song live on cassette and give

it to our producer, JP Plunier, so he can get
his wheels turning. Then the band goes into a
rehearsal space, and we work out the music.
We dont learn the songs, we just sketch maps.
We know where the chords go, yet we leave
room for improvisation and surprise.
So a lot of the arranging happens at the
actual recording sessions?
Yeah. Separating the good from the bad
is a job unto itself. Its crucial to know when
something is rough but good, compared to
rough but bad. It takes a lifetime just to learn
how to sing or play guitar or write songs. To
juggle all three and make production decisions is asking a lot, so I trust JP to evaluate
the performances. Our relationship goes back
20 yearswere from the same hometown.
My definition of a producer is someone
who can come into the studio and make you
sound better than you can by yourselfand
JP does that.
Do you track as a band?
We record as much live as humanly possible. On a good day, well get bass, drums,
guitar, and a vocal.
You cut the vocal with the instruments?
Yes, but not all the time. All the acoustic
stuff is done at onceguitar and vocal.
Where did you record?
At Alpha Studio in North Hollywood with
its wood rooms and big cement spaces. We
used old Neve preamps, a Trident board, and
tube mics.
What drew you to lap slide?

People often ask me that, and I dont have
an answer. Why did Miles play trumpet? Why
does anyone in this world decide to play
trombone?
Or the tuba.
God forbid! But they do, because its what
calls them. Its mystical how you come to the
sound that defines you. Your instrument and
sound reflect your personality. If they dont,
youre not reaching deep enough.
Another mystical thing is that one guitarist can play a G chord and stand the hairs up
on your neck, while another will hit a G and
you go, Well, its a G. Why is that? How can
Bob Marley, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, Neil
Youngor Richard Ashcroft from the Verve,
for that matterget so much soul out of a
G chord? Or how can one guitarist burn up
and down the fretboard and leave your jaw
dragging on the floor, while another does the
same thing and puts you to sleep?
What puts your jaw on the floor?
I heard a Mississippi John Hurt record at
a very important time in my liferight after
high school. This was at the music store. I
recognized the songStagoleefrom my
childhood, but this time when I heard it, I
stood there transfixed. It was at that very moment that I knew Id be playing guitar for the
rest of my lifeno matter what. He does this
double-thumb picking that I felt compelled
to learn. That night, I locked up the shop
and swore I was not going to leave until Id
december 1999
I loved
Jimis Strat
tone, and
I loved the
acoustic
honesty of
John Hurt,
and I wanted to get
both sounds
at the same
time.
worked it out. I left at 5 a.m. the next morning, able to fingerpick the song.
As far as lap slide, David Lindley is my
strongest influence, hands down. For me,
hes the greatest living slide player. We were
neighbors, and I grew up listening to him and
watching him closely. His daughter Roseanne
and I are the same age, and we grew up the
best of friends. Our families would go to his
concerts all over the place.
In terms of records? Jimi Hendrix, David
Lindley, Blind Willie Johnson, Mississippi
John Hurt, and Warren Haynes from Govt
MuleI need them all in my life at least
weekly.
Did you start with regular roundneck
bottleneck guitar before making the transition
to squareneck lap slide?
I went from folk fingerpickingMississippi John Hurt meets Leo Kottketo playing
bottleneck. I listened to Blind Willie Johnson,
Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson, and
Bukka White, and got my hands on every
video and CD I could find. I got into lap
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classic interview december
slide through Mike McLellanan amazing

musician who plays fiddle, lap slide, banjo,
dulcimer, and autoharp. Hes the one who
inspired Lindley to play.
Mike heard me playing bottleneck and
said, What youre doing would translate
really well to lap slide, and then loaned me
his National Tricone. I was listening to a lot of
Blind Willie Johnson at the time, and I think
he was playing some songs on his lap. I know
theres no proof of that, but when I started
translating the Blind Willie songs I was working onGod Dont Never Change, Praise
God Im Satisfied, and Nobodys Fault but
Mineto lap guitar, I was able to get closer
to what he was doing.
I could never get to my own voice playing
bottleneck, but when I started playing lap
slide, I finally found it. At that point, there
was no turning back. I was about 19, and I
spent the next few years woodshedding my
ass offhours and hours and hours.
What led you from a Tricone resonator to
an all-wood Weissenborn?
I love Nationals and Dobros, but they only
sound like Nationals and Dobros. I had so
many other sounds in my head and my heart,
that I had to go to them. The Weissenborn
offered me a fuller range of acoustic sounds
and it was the most musically fulfilling instrument Id ever held in my hands. Not only does
a Weissenborn give you wooden tones, but if
you sting it right, it yields a National or Dobro flavor. Once I got to the Weissenborn by
way of the National, all of a sudden I started
writing music.
Speaking of songs, in five years youve
recorded four albums containing mostly
original music. Given your active touring
schedule, when do you write?
During soundchecks, in hotel rooms on
the road, or late nights at home. As my wife
will attest, pretty much four nights a week I
dont go to bed until the sun comes up. And
now with kids, I have to wake up only a few
hours later. I dont have a choiceI get nervous when days go by, and I dont work on a
song. Songwriting is what keeps me sane. Its
what excites me about life and brings me the
greatest joyoutside of my family and dearest
friends. I dont have a lot of outside interests.
My hobbies are guitar, writing songs, and
looking at life in a way that can reflect into
my songwriting.
Your lyrics have a 60s sensibilitysocial
issues figure in many of your songs.
People say you are what you eat, but
for musicians, you are what you hear. My
grandfather was friends with Pete Seeger,
and I heard a lot of Bob Dylan and Tim Hardin when I was young. We were raised with
that hardcore social consciousnessclearly
defined social rights and wrongs. We were
taught to not be cynical, but to be critical
and to distinguish between the twoand to
do what you can to make where you are a
better place for you and those around you.
Do you keep a song in your head while
youre working on it, or do record your ideas
as they develop?
I use a little tape recorderthats my
home studio. Theres an acoustic version
of every song Ive written somewhere on
cassette.
Do you have any advice for guitarists?
Write songs! Sit down and dig deep inside
1999
CLASSIC INTERVIEW
from the December 1999 issue
of Guitar Player magazine
the scariest and most enlightened part of
your soul, and dont ever allow yourself to be
limited by yourself. Dont accept boundaries.
Listen to music thats outside your area of interest, and write in as many different styles as
possible, because the world never has enough
good songs.
g
Ben Harper sliding His way tHrougH Voodoo CHild.
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current issue
November 2015 Volume 49, Number 11
Heres whats in the November 2015 issue of Guitar Player, on Newsstands Now!
Master Blasters
RIFFS
Our 2015 Hall of Fame Awards, a tale of gear history from Joe Bonamassa, and another excerpt from Jim
and Dara Crocketts GP book!
l life of
Five Finger Death Punchs

Zoltan Bathory anD Jason hook
PerFect the art oF MelDeD
Metal
COVER STORY
By JuDe golD
Five Finger Death Punch
If theres a 50/50 chance of survIval, Im in,
says Zoltan Bathory.

Its a fitting qualifier, because of Bathorys many passions in life, playing raucous rock shows with Five Finger
Death Punch is probably the least dangerous. Bathory is also
a professional monster truck driver, he competes in martial
arts championships, hes an Army-approved Modern Army
Combatives instructor, and he pilots fighter jets. Add to all
that Bathorys regular charity work helping veterans suffering from PTSD, and its hard for him to say which pursuit he is most passionate about.
52
G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5
8/27/15 1:35 PM
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Zoltan Bathory and Jason Hook explain how they divvy up their heavy-as-hell parts, how to
tune down the right way, and how FFDP got to the top of the metal heap. Bonus! More metal
with the Black Dahlia Murder, Disturbed, Lamb of God, the Scorpions, Soilwork, and more!
FEATURES
excluSive!
Scott Holiday Tony MacAlpine Scott Henderson Michael Shaw and

Eli Nelson
reviewed!
NEW! FRETS ACOUSTIC SECTION
A Guitar Player SpeciAl AcouStic Section
Fenders Brand
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Fender Acoustic Pro and Acoustic SFX amps

Review Finhol Kick Box & Auto Stomp Player
Review Finhol Kick Box & Auto Stomp Player
Vintage Excerpt Scruggs Style Banjo (from the May 1983 issue of Frets)
pluS!
Stomp
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with the
Finhol
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N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M
gpr1115_frets_cover_ph1.indd 79
79
8/27/15 1:27 PM
Under Investigation A thorough examination of a particular style or player.
Gear
This month: John Lennons fingerstyle technique.
You might think you know how to play classic riffs like the
B.B.King Dee-Dah lick. Heres the absolute real deal.
Youre Playing It Wrong
Roun du p
A Guide to Metal Mayhem

If youRe playIng metal, you need
weapons of mass tonal destruction. But theres
support from metal players weve interviewed.
Signal processors are usually part of the mojo
On the guitar front, many noted metal guitar-
of all types of music, as exploring new sounds is
also more to the ideal armament than shred-
ists wield Vs, Dimes, and evil, edgy shapes of all
always entertaining and instructive. However, a
ready guitars with blazing fast necks and super-
types, but others like more conventional-looking
fair amount of metal stars dont use many pedals
saturated amps. For example, if youre performing
instruments. Some younger players even swear
at allwhich means you should make sure you
tight, stutter-like rhythmic punches, you need an
by what you might call their dads or grandpas
have the right guitar and amp if youre planning
amp that can react to your attacks with lightning
guitars, such as Strats and Les Pauls. Ergonom-
to go the no effects route. In other words, your
speed. Solid-state amps can typically charge
ics, feel, and playing ease are important no matter
naked tone should be absolutely awe inspiring.
mercilessly ahead without the slight latency
what style of music you play, but energetic metal
Obviously, in all cases, guitarists need to
of tube amps, but, then again, not many metal
artists who bounce around stages like enraged
check out available gear options and discover
maniacs go for non-tube options (although some
demons should also consider the weight of the
what feels and sounds right to them. But we
players do love solid-state amps). In addition,
guitar, as a heavy plank and a hour (or more) of
thought wed have some fun and make a few
modeling amps such as the Kemper Profiler and
intense physical activity can produce significant
suggestions to get you started on your own
the Fractal Audio Axe-FX have gained a lot of
discomfort during or after the show.
metal armory.
affordable Shred
The gJ2 Inspiration Series guitars by the legendary grover Jackson strut something even hotter than
their mean, angular lookstheyre also nicely affordable. The hardtail version goes for $799 street,
and the Floyd Rose version costs just $899 streethard case included! gj2guitars.com
G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5
8/28/15 12:55 PM
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transcription
Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC.
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4 | October 2015 | GUITAR PLAYER VAULT

Slick, GFS,, XGP, and Xaviere, are sold exclusively at

Detailed V ideo Lessons

TNT 2 Sof tware

Sound-alike and play-along MP3s are included, as well as

October 2015 Volume 5, Number 10

from the vault

Sliding around with the savior of the lap-steel

GP November 2015 Table of Contents

Arlen Roth on blues, a special harmonics lesson,

The ever-popular TrueFire Lessons

Hey You Pink Floyd

Jeff Beck - Page 8

GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | October 2015 | 7

8 | October 2015 | GUITAR PLAYER VAULT

BY THE STAFF OF GUITAR PLAYER

GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | October 2015 | 9

Of course, creating a legend

Carson didnt like the Teles

pickup selector switch, a chrome

original design of the Strat to

P H O T O S : B ELEW R a y O LS O n; B L a C KM O R E EB ET R O B ER T S ; d a LE M IC H a EL OCHS a RCHI V E S

10 | October 2015 | GUITAR PLAYER VAULT

seems to calm the sound down

Dick Dales high-energy

September 78. I liked the sound

put stage and tweaked for more

I use a Strat because Im comfy on it. David Gilmour, Nov. 84 GP

GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | October 2015 | 11

The Wedge, King of the Surf

tone knob was rewired into a

The Strat has a lot

Phase 90, Electro-Harmonixs

P H O T O S : G A LLA G H ER NEIL z LO z O W ER ; G ILM O U R M IC H A EL P U T LA ND / R ET N A ; GUY J OE SI A

12 | October 2015 | GUITAR PLAYER VAULT

made rotary-speaker units.

Guy; Damn Right, Ive Got the

Before Buddy Holly burst on