vault vol.4 no3 march 2014

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M A R C H 2 0 1 4

CLASSIC

STEVIE RAY

VAUGHANFEATURETHE EPIC TALE OF HOW SRV WENTFROM LOCAL BOY TO THE GREATEST

BLUES PLAYER IN THE WORLD.

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GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | March 2014 | 7

nnMarch 2014 · Volume 4, Number 3

from the vault

8 Stevie Ray VaughanThe epic tale of how SRV went from

local boy to the greatest blues playerin the world in this classic interviewfrom the February 2002 issue of GP .

18 Black Crowes Rich Robinson talks about crafting

hard-rocking boogie in this featurefrom the January 1995 issue of GP .

Gear

32 New Gear (from the March 2014 issue of Guitar Player ).

oN the NewsstaNd

34 GP March 2014 Table of Contents

lessoNs

36 An Introduction to Walking Bass Lines (from the August 2000 issue of Guitar Player ).

44 An Encyclopedia of Blues Turnarounds (from the December 1991 issue of Guitar Player ).

sessioNs

52 The ever-popular TrueFire Lessons

traNscriptioNs

54 “Over the Rainbow”Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole

58 “Come Go With Me” The Del Vikings

64 “L.A. Woman” The DoorsStevie Ray Vaughan - Page 8

P H O T O : D A R R Y L P

I T T



classic interview SRV kicks back

at the Keystone Berkeley

in 1983, playing “Lenny”

on the guitar of the

same name.


P H O T O : C L A Y T O N C

A L L



february 2002

was into that guy before anyone .” That’s a common refrain among guitarists. Recog-

nizing a great player before it’s fashionable to do so is a point of pride in the guitar

playing community. After all, no one wants to look like some fair-weather, bandwagon-

jumping fan. n The thing is, there was no such thing as a blues bandwagon for

anyone to jump on in the early ’80s.




New Wave bands like the Go-Gos and Men at

Work shared the airwaves with pop rockers

such as Journey and Foreigner. The closest

thing to a blues-based guitar hero was Eddie

Van Halen, and a I-IV-V shuffle was about as

uncool as you could get. That all changed

overnight when a guitar slinger from Austin,

Texas, named Stevie Ray Vaughan exploded

on the scene in 1983.

It’s difficult now for most guitarists to

remember a time before SRV. His tone, style,

and stage show have all become popular-

music benchmarks. But that was not the case

when Vaughan first set the world of guitar on

fire. Most guitarists went from never having

heard of the guy to not being able to get away

from him. Turn on rock radio and you’d

hear a track off Vaughan’s slamming debutalbum. Switch to a pop station and there he

was again on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance . It

seemed to happen so suddenly that it was

easy for some to think that Vaughan hadn’t

paid his dues.

The fact is, Vaughan and his band, Double

Trouble, did their time playing dive bars and

lousy gigs as much as anyone. When things

did start to click for SRV, each new break was

plagued with difficulty. And when the red

carpet was finally rolled out, Vaughan paid

dues with every step he took on it.

Nowhere was this “best of times, worst of

times” dichotomy more obvious than at the

1982 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

Without a doubt the biggest gig of Vaughan’s

career, the festival would hopefully be his

ticket out of the dives and into the big time.

It proved to be exactly that, but not before

SRV would go through yet another trial by

fire, which is immortalized on the new,

two-CD Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double

Trouble—Live in Montreux 1982 and 1985

[Sony]. Montreux would also lead to Vaughan

guesting on the huge pop record that would

further his legend and reputation, but even

that break would turn into a brutal rite of

passage.

By the time SRV returned to Montreux

in 1985, he was at the top of the blues guitar

heap, and it was just another gig where every-

one loved him. The following recollections,

however, are from the people who worked

with Vaughan before he became famous. As

his bandmates, guitar tech, producer, and

admirers, they recognized his genius before

anyone else, and they are best able to paint

the picture of SRV on the verge of becoming

a superstar.

classic interview february 2002

Paul Ray and the Cobras in 1976. The Cobra at the far right is a young Stevie Vaughan.


P H OT O : WA T T C A S E Y , J R .



THE ROAD

TO MONTREUX“I first saw Stevie play in early 1977,” re-

calls Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton.

“I was awestruck.”“When I saw Stevie, it was like a rev-

elation,” adds bassist Tommy Shannon.

“That’s where I wanted to be. When they

called me, that was one of the happiest

days of my life.”

The band started working the Austin/

Lubbock/Houston/Dallas circuit, but was

unable to take things to the next level. “Be-

fore the Montreux show, we were mostly

doing club gigs in Texas,” says Layton. “We’d

gone to the East Coast twice and the West

Coast once—all low-dollar gigs.”

“We were traveling around in a milk

truck,” elaborates Shannon, “with a bed

rigged up on top, a couch for a back seat,

and all of our gear crammed in there. We

were living lean.”

Despite all the struggles, Vaughan’s repu-

tation was growing, and the band’s slam-

ming live shows were impressing audiences,

regardless of size. “We always played with

enthusiasm and excitement,” says Layton,

“even if we were only playing to five people.

And we never got a bad reception.”

For the most part that seems true, but

Shannon does remember a particularly rug-

ged gig. “We opened for the Clash in Austin,”he says, “and people were yelling and throw-

ing stuff and telling us we sucked. We were

supposed to do two shows, but we told them

we weren’t doing the second night. For some

reason, I don’t remember that hurting our

feelings too much, though.”

SWISS BANK While Vaughan and company were slug-

ging it out in the clubs, they crossed paths

with veteran R&B producer Jerry Wexler, who

was so taken with the band that he arrangedto get them on a really prestigious gig—

blues night at the Montreux Jazz Festival

in Switzerland. “I had played the Montreux

Festival with Johnny Winter in 1969 and we

went over great,” says Shannon. “I told the

guys how beautiful it was. I had nothing but

good memories.”

Layton recalls feeling a nervous excite-

ment about the gig. “Stevie and I had never

been to Europe, and we were excited by the

prospect,” he says. “But it was going to cost


BY 1982, NILE RODGERS WAS ALREADY A

world-renowned guitarist and producer with

platinum albums to his credit . He was doing pre-

production for what would become David Bowie’s

landmark Let’s Dance when Bowie excited ly

informed him that he wanted to use an unknown

guitarist from Texas named Stevie Ray Vaughan

on the upcoming sessions. —MB

Were you in Switzerland during the

Montreux Festival?

Yes, but I didn’t go to the show. David did, and

he said, “Man, I heard a fantastic guitar player last

night!” He had never heard of him before, and Ste-

vie’s playing just blew him away.

Were you okay with the idea of using him on

the record?

If David Bowie makes a suggestion, you’ve got

to listen to it. I was curious, but because I hadn’t

seen the gig, I had no idea what Stevie would add.

I didn’t even know he was a blues player. David just told me, “I know this is going to be

cool.” David has an incredible history of finding unique guitar players, so I was expect-

ing something amazing, but I didn’t know what.

What did you think when Vaughan showed up?

My first impression was that Stevie was a really, really nice guy. When I finally heard

him play, I’ll be honest—I didn’t get it. I thought he sounded so much like Albert King

that I was offended. I thought, “David, if you want this trip, why don’t we just call Albert

King? At least people have heard of him!”

So, you didn’t think it would work?

The concept was very weird at first. I mean, try to get into my frame of mind as a

producer who is trying to make David Bowie hip and new and interesting. Today it’s

totally accepted to have a blues element on any kind of record, but in 1982, no one was

claiming to be a blues fan. But it only took a matter of hours before I not only got it, but

I was digging it and having more fun than you can imagine.

Did Vaughan track loud?

Oh, yes! He stood in the control room with us, and his amps were just blasting. It

was the loudest thing I’d ever heard in my life. I was fine with it, though, because Ste-

vie’s sound was very soothing. It didn’t make you cringe like some loud tones can.

How much direction did you give him?

Not much. We just turned the tape on and let him rip. He would find the key and

just go off.

Were you looking for complete performances, or would you punch in sections?

Almost all of my work with Stevie over the years was about complete perfor-

mances—there was very little punching. I didn’t comp any tracks for the Let’s Dance

sessions, but for the Vaughan Brothers’ Family Style I used a Synclavier to move

performances around and Stevie loved that. He’d go out there and use the Synclavier

himself, and I thought, “Oh god—what have I done?”

How do you view his place in history?

He’s right up there with the best of them. No question. To come along at a time

when nobody was digging the blues, and to not only make it a credible art form, but

also to pave the way for so many after him—that’s incredible. But even if you forget

about all that and just listen to his playing, it’s magical. I really miss him, man. I think

about him a lot. He was a virtuoso—right up there with greats like John McLaughlin,

Wes Montgomery, and Julian Bream. Stevie had the gift.

“Stevie’s sound turned every

listener into a blues fan,”

says Rodgers.”

NILE RODGERS

ON LET’S DANCE


P H OT O : C O UR T E S Y

NI L E

R OD GE R S



us over $15,000 to go, and we had to get a loan

from our management group. Even though it

seemed risky, Stevie thought we should give

it a shot because we were doing the same

clubs over and over. People loved us, but we

wondered where we were going with it.”

So off they went to Switzerland with the

intention of taking the country by storm. Sit-

ting backstage before going on only served to

heighten the excitement for the band. “Larry

Graham came up to us backstage and told

Stevie, ‘I’ve heard about you. I know you’re

a badass guitar player,’” remembers Layton.

“That was way cool, because we were huge

fans of Sly & the Family Stone.”

Shannon was particularly jazzed to meet

one of his bass heroes. “Graham is one of

my favorite bass players,” he says. “He’s so

innovative. He asked if he could jam with

us during our encore on ‘Johnny B. Goode.’

Stevie was really pumped up then—not just

about the gig, but also about the chance to

jam with Larry Graham.”

Certain factors, however, would prevent

the set from being all that SRV had hoped it

would be. “I noticed that there hadn’t been

any other electric bands up until we went

on,” says Layton. “It occurred to me that we

were going to be quite a contrast—Stevie had

a couple of amps up there, and we always

played loud. But it never entered our minds

that we might not go over.”

“It was all acoustic acts,” adds Shannon.

“We shouldn’t have been playing that night.

We came out blasting, but we didn’t think

anything of it. People were always telling

Stevie he was too loud, so nothing seemed

out of the ordinary.”

What was out of the ordinary was the

crowd’s response. Almost instantly people

started booing, and the boos would persist

for SRV’s entire performance. Roots legend

John Hammond, Jr. opened the show that

night and vividly recalls the events. “When

I did my set, the crowd response was amaz-

ing,” he says. “It was one of those magical

nights. I had heard Stevie before that night,

because he was already legendary as a guitar

wizard in blues circles. And he was always

very respectful to the blues. The only radi-

cal thing was the volume, and that was his

undoing at Montreux. He was so loud it was

overwhelming. He was playing his ass off,

but he lost the crowd by his second song.

People weren’t hearing the music because

of the volume.”

Darryl Pitt was the staff photographer

at Montreux for nine years, and he worked

the ’82 show. Despite having heard count-

less amazing musicians over the years, Pitt

knew instantly that he was witnessing a

unique talent. “This guy I had never heard

of came out and started playing and stalk-

ing the stage and I was shaking ,” he recalls.

“I was a blues fan, but I was not a fan of the

schmaltzy blues revues that were success-

fully touring Europe at the time. There was

nothing schmaltzy about Stevie—he was

the real deal. I couldn’t believe the crowd

didn’t get that. Then the boos started, and

from where I was in the front row, the boos

were a lot louder than what you hear on the

recording. You could see it on Stevie’s face

later in the set—it got to him.”

Pitt has a different take on why Vaughan

wasn’t better received that night . “In my

opinion,” he says, “it wasn’t about acoustic

versus electric. I think it was racist. I think the

crowd turned on this white guy in the cowboyhat who they viewed as kind of a caricature.

I believe Albert King would have gone over

playing the exact same stuff.”

While Pitt and Hammond were watching

the drama unfold, Vaughan and his band-

mates were living it, cranking out rocking

versions of future classics such as “Pride and

Joy,” “Texas Flood,” and “Love Struck Baby,”

despite the hostile crowd reaction. “I realized

after the first song that we weren’t getting to

them,” says Shannon. “You could look out

there and see people frowning, and we could

hear them booing. It hurt Stevie bad, but hedidn’t let up. He just kept doing what he does.

He didn’t panic or withdraw.”

“Because I know Stevie so well,” says Lay-

ton, “I could tell it was affecting him onstage.

But he didn’t change his approach. He wasn’t

arrogant about it, but his attitude was, ‘If you

don’t like us, we’re sorry, but we’re going to

keep on, because that’s all we know how to

do.’ It was heartbreaking, though—especially

for Stevie. When we finally got off stage he

was like, ‘Oh man, what just happened?’”


“When we went back to

Montreux in ’85,” says

Chris Layton, “we didn’t

go with anything to prove.

Every time Stevie put a

guitar in his hands he

wanted to be the best

he could be. I know he

wanted the ’85 gig to be

great, but no more than

any other gig.”

P H OT O

: DA R R Y L P I T T





MONTREUX

POST MORTEM

As SRV was reeling from the shock of his

performance, Pitt took it upon himself to findthe unknown guitarist and apologize for the

crowd. “I went backstage,” he recalls, “and

I saw Stevie slumped on a roadcase with a

bare light bulb hanging over him. It’s one of

the bleakest things I’ve ever seen. As the staff

photographer, I should have snapped that

picture, because it perfectly encapsulated

what had just happened. But all I could think

to do was tell him how great I thought he

was, and that the crowd was totally wrong.

He smiled and thanked me. Even though

he’d been through this ordeal he was really

warm and friendly.”

Hammond also spoke with SRV after his

set, and tried to reassure his fellow bluesman

that this was a fluke. “He came off the stage

in tears,” says Hammond. “He was really

vulnerable—there was no attitude. He just

said, ‘Aw man, we wanted to go over so big .’

I told him that it was just one of those crowds

and that he played great. Anyone who really

listened knew he was great.”

Unfortunately, the hostile crowd reac-

tion wasn’t the last indignity that Vaughan

and Double Trouble would suffer that night.

Being booed off the stage obviously meant

no encore, which also meant no jam withGraham. “We walked off stage,” says Layton,

“and we walked by some other band’s dress-

ing room, and there’s Larry Graham going

over ‘Johnny B. Goode’ with them! It added

insult to injury.”

DON OPPERMAN WAS STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN’S

tech at the time of the Montreux festival in 1982.

Here he recalls the gear, tricks, and psychology he

used to help SRV do his thing. —MB

“I first met Stevie in the late ’70s,” says Opper-

man. “I was working with Joe Walsh at the time, and

I had no interest in working with a blues band. I didn’t

actually hear Stevie play until 1981, when he opened

for George Thorogood in Albuquerque. I walked into

the show, and it felt like seeing Hendrix for the first

time. I was just awestruck at how well this kid could

play. I started teching for him shortly after that.“I was at the Montreux gig in ’82. Stevie

brought guitars and his pedalboard—he didn’t

bring his amps. For guitars, he had #1, his famous

’59 Strat. That was the only one that would really

stay in tune when he threw it on the ground. He

also brought Lenny, which is a ’62 or a ’63 wood-

grain brown Strat, and a Strat called Butter—a gui-

tar originally owned by the guy from Vanilla Fudge. Butter was routed for four humbuck-

ers at one point, but Stevie just had a DiMarzio single-coil in the neck position. The only

other guitar was a 3-color sunburst Tokai. As I recall, he played all of those that day.

“I would string Stevie’s guitars with whatever gauges we had in the string box. I’d

start with .011s, and when those ran out we’d go to .012s or .013s. The low strings

were GHS semi-flats—a roundwound string pressed into a flatter shape—because he

liked their low-end response. In fact, that’s how we would set up his amps—he’d pop

the open low-E with his finger and tweak the amp until that one note sounded right to

him. His action was incredibly high—about 1 /4” off the fretboard. I couldn’t believe he

could bend the strings, but he did. The guy had amazing strength in his hands. He usedheavy picks, but not the pointed end—he would use the butt end. He would also rub the

pointed end on the carpet to round it off.

“Stevie’s pedalboard was really simple—just an MXR loop selector, an Ibanez Tube

Screamer, and a Vox wah. Before I built the pedalboard, [SRV’s manager] Cutter Bran-

denburg used to run out onstage with a wah pedal and unplug Stevie’s cord from the amp

and plug the wah in! The loop selector sent his signal either directly to his amps or through

the effects. When it went to the effects, it would hit the Tube Screamer first, and then the

wah—which is the opposite of how most guys do it. It’s a Joe Walsh trick that I passed on

to Stevie. He liked the way the wah sounded better when it came after the Tube Scream-

er—he got a little more tone out of it. I would also tweak Stevie’s wahs to tune them. I’d

open up the wah, and with the pedal in the toe position, I’d rotate the pot until it was at

the frequency Stevie wanted. He knew how much treble he needed out of it.

“When I worked with Stevie, he was using two Fender Vibroverbs for his dirty sound

and he got his clean sound from a Marshall Club and Country 2x12 combo. He didn’t

have his amps for the Montreux gig, so he played through two blackface Twins. We

spent a lot of time working with them, mostly messing with the EQ, and we had a lot of

problems with the volume that day. Stevie was used to people telling him he was tooloud, but he wouldn’t turn down. The sound that he’s so famous for is based on volume.

He did make some concessions because they were recording that day, so he let me tip

the amps back on their legs, and I put towels over them to try to reduce the volume a

little. But Stevie had never played Montreux before, and he was going to give it all he

had. He couldn’t get the Twins to break up like his Vibroverbs, though, and his sound

was a little brighter and cleaner than normal.

“I didn’t see much reaction on Stevie’s face until after the gig, and he was really

bummed at the crowd’s response. But he played great that night. I had no idea that all

the connections would come from the Montreux show, but I definitely felt like Stevie was

on the verge of being a big star.”

SRV onstage in 1981. His man-

ager, Cutter Brandenburg, lurks

behind two Fender Vibroverbs

and a Marshall 2x12.

TEXAS TECH SUPPORT

Swiss Miscreants (left to right):

Layton, Vaughan, and Shannon touch down in

Switzerland.


P H OT O : WA T T C A S E Y

, J R .

P H O T O : D O N

O P P E R M A N




SWISS CHEESEHowever, two members of the audience

were very impressed with Vaughan’s playing

that night. Meeting them would prove to be

not only the turning point of the Switzer-

land trip, but arguably the most important

contacts of Vaughan’s entire career. The

first was David Bowie: “Claude Nobs had

run the Montreux Festival for many years,”

he recalls. “He knew I was a big R&B fan,

and he thought I might enjoy this new kid.

Come the show, blasting through a short

but riveting set, SRV completely floored me.

I probably hadn’t been so gung-ho about a

guitar player since seeing Jeff Beck with his

band the Tridents.”

Bowie and Vaughan talked after the

show, and those discussions led to Vaughan

playing on Bowie’s huge Let’s Dance album.

SRV described the meeting in the August ’83

issue of Guitar Player : “From what I under-

stand, Bowie was looking for somebody whoplayed this style anyway, and I was the one

he picked. I didn’t really know how it would

fit in, since I hadn’t heard the material and

I didn’t have any idea what the songs would

sound like. I did know what kind of rhythm

and blues David liked, because we talked

about that.”

The other fortuitous meeting that night

involved Jackson Browne, who was so moved

by Vaughan’s playing that he offered to let

him record for free in his studio in Cali-

fornia. Those sessions would produce the

master that became SRV’s debut album,Texas Flood .

For Layton and Shannon, the words of

praise from Bowie and Browne were a wel-

come relief from the catcalls during their

set. “It didn’t surprise me at all that Bowie

and Jackson Browne loved Stevie’s playing,”

says Layton. “Stevie appreciated it, but he

didn’t trip on it. Any time a big star told him

they liked his work, he would smile and say

thanks, but in his head he was thinking,

‘Wow, you like me just like that guy over

there who’s an auto mechanic.’ Everybody

who liked his playing was just as important

as the next person. He was a real statesman

that way.”

Vaughan and Double Trouble discovered

after their set that no one was scheduled to

play in the basement bar at Montreux, and

they jumped at the chance to get back on

the horse that threw them. “We thought,

‘We came to play, so let’s play,’” says Layton.

“Jackson Browne and his band stopped by

and asked if they could jam.”

“We felt a lot better by that point,” adds

Shannon, “and we played all night. When

we left, I remember the sun coming up. It

was a great jam.”

HOME AGAIN What had started out so great and then

turned horrible, was now looking up again.

SRV and company came home, filled once

again with a mixture of

nervous excitement.

“There was a bunch of

stuff out there on the ho-

rizon and it was really in-

teresting,” recalls Layton.

“At the same time it was a

little scary, because Bowie

had asked Stevie to play

on this much-anticipatedalbum of his, and there

was talk of Stevie doing his

tour. Tommy and I were

worried that maybe our

band was breaking up.”

Over the Thanks-

g i v i n g w e e k e n d i n

1982, Vaughan, Layton,

and Shannon went to

Browne’s studio in Cali-

fornia to lay down tracks.

The next month, SRV

went to New York to re-cord Let’s Dance . “Stevie

strolled into the Power

Station and proceeded

to rip up everything one

thought about dance re-

cords,” says Bowie. “He

knocked down solo upon

solo, and pulled notes

out of the air that no

one could have dreamed

wo ul d wo rk wi th my

songs. In a ridiculously short time, he had

become midwife to the sound that had been

ringing in my ears all year.”

Shortly thereafter, Vaughan began re-

hearsing for the biggest Bowie tour of all

time. He never ended up doing the tour, and

the reasons behind that decision remain un-

clear to this day. Layton recalls the conflict-

ing emotions that SRV was wrestling with at

the time: “The Bowie tour seemed like a great

break for Stevie,” he says. “But there were a

number of restrictions placed on him, such

as having his press interviews approved and

orchestrated through Bowie’s people. Stevie

was kind of a wild stallion, and he didn’t like

people trying to fence him in.

“Then there was the money issue. Stevie

was getting paid on a weekly basis, with the

understanding that they would do a couple

of shows, then have a couple of days off.

Well, Bowie’s people kept adding shows,

which made Stevie’s weekly pay less mean-

P H OT O : E B E T

R OB E R T S

SRV tearing it up on

his #1 Strat in 1983.




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ingful. The money got played up as the big

reason why he quit, but I think it was less

important than the fact that we were on the

verge of having our record come out, and

Stevie wanted to be able to give it his all.

That was what he had always wanted, and

he didn’t want to wait for a year to push his

own record.”

“Stevie was really unhappy at that point,”

remembers Shannon. “He told me about the

rehearsals where they wanted him to come

down this ramp making all these rock-star

moves. He could never do it—he just walked

down the ramp. The guy was so dedicated to

his vision that he couldn’t be false, and he

wouldn’t bend that rule for anyone.”

Vaughan was also dedicated to his band-

mates, and he offered to pay them his Bowie

salary in order to keep the band together in

his absence. When he quit the Bowie tour,

the news was greeted with relief and admira-tion from Double Trouble.

“All he said to me was, ‘Man, I just

couldn’t do it,’” says Shannon. “I was really

touched by his decision. I mean, the fact

that in the midst of riding in limos and jets

he could be happy to go back with us in our

milk truck—that meant a lot.”

SRV never said much about his split with

the Bowie camp. He summed it up to GP in

’83 by saying, “I learned a lot working with

David Bowie, but I’m glad to be back with my

own band again. That was always my main

concern, right from the start.”

What seemed like a public relations disas-

ter—quitting a world tour that would expose

him to thousands of new fans—was once

again transformed into a music-biz coup.

News of Vaughan’s ballsy choice to remain

true to his bluesman vision spread through

the guitar community and garnered him an

incalculable amount of street cred.

“We had a great publicist named Charles

Comer,” explains Layton, “and he spun the

news like, ‘This skinny little white blues

guitarist from Texas is not doing the biggest

tour of a real star. Where does this nobody

get off refusing this total somebody? He must

have a lot of guts.’ As this story’s getting

played up, our record and Bowie’s are out at

the same time and everyone’s talking about

how it’s the same guitarist. You couldn’t

have planned it any better than it worked

out on its own.”

“About a month later,” continues Shan-

non, “we were touring California in our

milk truck, and we pulled up to a club and

there was a line stretching around the block.

We’d played there before and the place was

less than half full. We saw this crowd and

wondered if we had the right club! Then

the record started selling like crazy, and we

were on our way. It was an exciting time, but

in a lot of ways I wasn’t surprised. I always

knew Stevie was that great—long before he

was discovered.” g


WATCH STEVIE AND DOUBLE TROUBLE TEAR IT UP AT MONTREUX.

CLASSIC INTERVIEW

from the February 2002 issue

of Guitar Player magazine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEl0yXTsCrA



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classic interview

Crowe-nies: Rich

Robinson (left, with

vintage Firebird) and

Marc Ford (with Les

Paul Pro) keep it all

in the family.




january 2005

here’ve been many tears making this record, just

sitting behind the board listening and weeping,

going ‘Goddamn, that’s beautiful.’” Marc Ford’s

usual impish grin and twinkling eyes dim for a moment. Dragging

on a Marlboro and taking a swig of Bud, the 28-year-old lead guitar-

ist suggests that the emotional nature of the Black Crowes’ music and

lifestyle is partly a result of the band being “very family-oriented.” That

might refer to the blood tie between singer Chris Robinson and his brother,

guitarist Rich, or the way the band moves through the world a self-supporting,

idea-generating entity unto itself. Like all families, that closeness can bring shared

pleasure or agonizing dysfunction. The Crowes have dealt with both.



classic interview january 2005


The 11 songs on their new American

release Amorica , recorded by Jack Joseph

Puig of Jellyfish fame, feature lush textures

of open-tuned electric, Dobro, mandolin,

pedal steel, and Latin percussion supporting

songs that lash out at outsiders and point at

bubbling inward troubles. It’s heady stuff, but

will anyone notice? Since the band debuted

in 1990 with Shake Your Money Maker , which yielded the hits “Jealous Again,” “Hard To

Handle,” and “She Talks To Angels,” critics

have overlooked the band’s soulfulness,

poetry, and rhythmic edge, harping instead

on their sonic resemblance to ’70s hard

rock outfits like the Faces, Humble Pie, and

Free. They’ve been criticized for supporting

marijuana legalization, attacked for their

combative stance in the press, kicked off a

tour for criticizing corporate sponsorship,

and largely shunned by so-called “alterna-

tive” radio. Their considerable playing ability

and musical background haven’t been highly

touted either.Joining the band to replace Jeff Cease just

before the recording of 1992’s The Southern

Harmony And Musical Companion, former

Burning Tree frontman Ford is among the

handful of truly convincing young blues-

based rock guitarists. His lead work on South-

ern Harmony ’s “Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye”

established his heartfelt single-note lyricism,C B lack

rowes

and Firebirds and Firebirds SStudio Rats tudio Rats S H A K E Y O U R M U S I C M A K E R

arc Ford is ambivalent

about gear mania: “B.B.

King once said, ‘Give me any

guitar and amp, and I will get

my sound, because my sound is

me and not the instrument.’ That’s

totally right-on. Give me a Hondo II,

and I’ll make some nice sounds with it. The guitar is just wood and some

electric bits. Get over it.”

Of course, Marc doesn’t use a Hondo II. His main roadhog is a

stripped-to-the-wood ’71 Gibson Les Paul Standard, a Christmas gift fromChris Robinson. “I had never played Gibsons before,” says Ford. “I was al-

ways a Stratocaster man, because you can throw them on the ground, step

on ’em, drag ’em behind your car, and they still work. Gibsons always

seemed too precious. A Gibson is like a Cadillac; it almost plays itself.

With Fenders you’ve got to really dig in to get it out of there.”

Along with a red Gibson ES-330 he borrows from Chris, Marc lays

into two mid-’70s Strats, two early-’60s Epiphone Casinos, and a black

early-’70s Les Paul Professional. He keeps a Guild D-25 acoustic at home.

He likes brass, titanium, and ceramic slides, uses Gibson strings—either

.010s or .011s on top—and totes .71mm Dunlop Delrin picks that say

“Shit Brown” on the flipside. His few effects include a reissue Vox wah, the

Dunlop Roto-Vibe heard on “High Head Blues,” a Dunlop/Heil Talk Box,

and a prototype tube-loaded Dunlop Fuzz Face. Marc played a Coral

Electric Sitar on “Ballad Of Urgency” and used an EBow for the very first

time on “Gone,” nailing it on the first take. “I know the guitar,” growls

Marc, “and some little gadget isn’t going to be that scary. Your first in-

stinct is always your best.”

Rich Robinson has over 30 guitars, his signature ax being the natural-

finish ’68 Fender Telecaster he’s played for years. The Fender Custom

Shop also made him a ’69 reissue rosewood Tele and a B-bender-

equipped Tele. “I’ve gotten into Firebirds lately,” says Rich, pulling out agorgeous mid ’60s model. Rich also digs Les Paul Juniors and Specials.

He calls his limed mahogany-finish ’73 Special “Bob Marley,” because

he saw a film of Marley playing a similar one. He also has two ’63 TV Ju-

niors. A few years ago Rich had Tony Zemaitis build him a custom ax with

three Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups. He also owns a black ’61

Gretsch Duo-Jet and a Gretsch White Falcon, a Travis Bean 5-string, a

1928 National Resonator that he plays on “Downtown Money Waster,” a

’50s Les Paul gold-top with a Bigsby tailpiece, a ’61 Gibson ES-335, and

an ancient Supro given to him by Motley Crüe’s Mick Mars. His acoustics

are two older Martin D-28s and a D-45.

M M





and he comes of age as a powerful Duane

Allman-inspired slide guitarist and stunning

soloist on new songs like “Cursed Diamond”

and “P-25 London.” Rich Robinson, who

writes most of the group’s music, is a driving

boogie-rhythm player and a strong arranger.His ambitious pieces balance drummer Steve

Gorman’s hard grooves with potent chord

changes fleshed out by Eddie Hawrysch’s pi-

ano, Farfisa, and Hammond B-3. Rich played

“Gone,” “Cursed Diamond,” “She Gave Good

Sunflower,” “Ballad Of Urgency,” and “Wiser

Time” in his customary open-G tuning, while

“A Conspiracy” and “High Head Blues” (which

recalls War’s classic “Spill The Wine”) are in

standard. For the airy parts in “Non-Fiction,”

he used a pretty B b tuning, F , B b, F , B b, D , F .

Their musical chemistry may be a winning

formula, but the Crowes’ personal relation-

ships remain volatile. Amorica was not made without ruffled feathers. The group originally

recorded 17 songs before scrapping the proj-

ect and starting again. “Sometimes you have

to go through a bunch of shit to get it right,

and you fight with band members,” shrugs

Rich, who attributes group squabbles to the

pressure cooker of long tours and the psy-

chological vacuum that follows them. “Some-

times Chris and I won’t talk to each other for

three months.” After intense meetings that

Ford describes as “therapy sessions,” the

band reconvened in a different studio, and

the sessions went off without a hitch. “The

band was getting along much better,” saysFord, “and you can hear it.”

Outwardly, Rich and Marc seem worlds

apart. Marc walks with a cool-guy lilt, wears a

mischievous grin, and is open about his heavy

partying, describing chemical-free, earnest,

composed Rich as a “rather sober fellow.”

But both see themselves as musical lifers. “I

really love the guitar,” says Ford. “I just have

Rich uses Gibson Brightwire strings with .010s on top; his

slides are made of brass, and he digs in with yellow .73mm

Dunlop Tortex picks. As Rich stated in our July ’92 issue, “I

have never used an effect.”

In the studio, Rich and Marc used an assortment of 50-

and 100-watt Marshalls, blackface Showmans, a ’60s blonde

Fender Tremolux, a blackface Bassman, a ’50s Vibrolux, Vox

AC30s, and Matchless Clubman 35s. For their first few tours,

the Crowes’ entire backline was Marshall: Marc relied on his

“baby,” a ’60s 50-watt Mark II, and a 100-watt Plexi head,

while Rich preferred Silver Jubilees. On this year’s outing, the

band is going with custom prototype heads by Mark Samson

of Matchless. Each houses two amplifiers: a 35-watt and a

120-watt, with separate controls and outputs. When the amps

are on, the scriptive nameplates that normally read “Clubman”

light up with “The Doomer” and “The Deptford,” in referenceto Marc and Rich’s respective guitar techs. Matchless is also

making the band two 8x12 cabinets with 30-watt speakers

made from reconed Celestion frames. The cabinets’ top halves

are open-backed, the bottoms closed; each side has a sepa-

rate input jack. Robinson is optimistic but concedes, “I’m going

to bring the Showman on tour, just in case.” Rich recently

purchased a home studio, as well as a mobile studio to record

shows and those magical soundcheck jams.

Special thanks to Black Crowes guitar and bass tech Paul

“The Doomer” Bloom for his help in preparing this piece.

Rich slams a power chord on

a ’65 Fender 12-string, while

Marc cuts a solo on a cherry

Gibson ES-335 at L.A.’s Sound

City Studios, May ’94.

PHOTO: BUTCH BELAIR



this insane passion for music.” Rich agrees:

“I guess you could almost call us musical

scholars, without having gone to school. We

love all music, and we study it. We’ve devoted

our lives to it.”

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Marc: I’m not big on the technical side

of things. I’m about letting it all hang out,

and if it sounds like shit sometimes, that’s

fine, because you’re finding your way to

new areas. Even Jimi Hendrix at his best,

when he was playing flawlessly, would oc-casionally hit the clam. “Ouch!” But he was

up there in heaven with the guitar, feeling

his way around and always trying to push

further and further, to find that new thing

that tells you, “I’ve never done that before.”

Page was the same way—all the greats were.

You’ve got to fuck up to move ahead. We’re

not a pop band. It’s spiritual. “Don’t think,

feel”—that’s my motto.

I can’t listen to guitar as athletics. Who

cares how fast you can run? It’s how cool you

look . [Laughs .] It’s like a woman. Do you want

a natural-born woman with beautiful curves,

or do you want someone with silicone and

collagen all over their body? Do you want

someone manufactured that’s supposed to

look great, or someone just being who they

are and being beautiful? I’d rather hear Keith

Richards just strum than somebody flippin’

out all over the guitar.Rich: I’m not technical at all. I mostly

play in open G , so I don’t know the names

of any chords. I know that I throw a capo

on different frets, but I don’t know what the

chords or scales are. And I’ve never bothered

to find out, though it’s something I’d like

to learn. The strongest thing about Marc is

how well he knows the instrument and how

many different styles he can play. He knows

everything about every note.

Marc: I don’t know as much as you think

I do. If there’s one thing I’ve brought to the

band, it’s the ability to listen. I was a little

more familiar with my instrument than the

other guys when I joined, and they learned

from watching me and listening to me say,

“This is not a competition. No one’s better,

no one’s worse. Let’s listen to each other.

Let’s make this sonic tapestry together.” You

can have six guys with instruments in their

hands—they could be the most amazing

players in the world—but if they’re not listen-

ing to each other, it’s bullshit. There are live

versions of us doing “Thorn In My Pride” that

are like 18 minutes long. We just keep going,

trying to really listen to each other.

Rich: It’s not the typical arena drum-

solo/guitar-solo deal, and it’s not like the

super hippy-dippy space jam. It’s not just a

bunch of people soloing—it has a structure

and it’s musical, like parts of a song where

everyone follows each other.



C B lack

rowes

“Retro was an easy label

created by someone whothought it was going to be

big for five minutes.”

Rich Robinson

PHOTO: BUTCH BELAIR



Marc: We’re listening to each other. If

someone starts going . . .

Rich: . . . the rest of us back off.

Marc: If someone starts taking that dive,

you support him. Then when he’s done, it’s

someone else’s turn and you help him. “Help

let that man slide!”

Rich: Since I initiate the whole thing,

everyone pays attention to me. They don’t

always know where I’m going to go, so it’s

amazing how well everyone follows. The

only guy I really need to look at is Steve. He

and I are on a wavelength when we jam—I

can tell him the weirdest shit, and he’ll un-

derstand what I’m getting at. If Steve and

I are in sync, everyone else knows exactly

what’s going on.

Marc: Rich is sort of the band director.

You need one guy saying, “It’s going to be up,

it’s going to be down.” Rich gives Steve a cue

and we’ll follow Steve, but really it’s a vibe

situation—it’s so instant. Steve might raise

his hand, but what does that mean? We just

know. It’s a strange communication.

Rich: I’ve got Ed Hawrysch over at my side

of the stage. Marc handles it on his side, and

Johnny follows Marc . . .Marc: . . . which is so weird . He’s following

my hands. I’ll say to Johnny, “Go over there

next to the drummer—you’re the bass player!”

How do you work out parts for the stage?

Marc: Sometimes we’ll double rhythm

parts, but more often Rich will play the bot-

tom end of a chord and I’ll play the top. Or

if he’s on top, I’ll widen the chord on the

bottom.

Rich: Plus I play a lot of weird chords in

open G . A lot of times I’ll only play two notes

of the chord, and Marc will follow it up.

Marc: When two guitarists restate what

each other’s doing, it can make it really big

and powerful, but most of the time it’s just

redundant. We’ve got seven people in the

band, so you’ve got to make space, because

there’s a lot of area that’s already covered.

You’ve got to do your thing, but stay out of

the way and be part of the whole. There’s a

lot of notes lying around.Rich: We will double up parts, but we

don’t overdo it—there’s a balance, and

that’s what keeps it interesting. I think our

songs are interesting; they take you to dif-

ferent places and emotions, and that’s what

music is for.

What’s it like spending ten hours in a bus

every day for a year?

Marc: It all depends on what you’re hold-

ing. [Laughs .] We have a great time. Chris and

I enjoy the outer side of reality, so maybe we’ll

drive for eight hours, and everyone will get

off the bus and go into the hotel room, and

we’ll just sit there and rap until everyone gets

back on the bus. Sometimes you don’t want

to leave the bubble—bus, stage, hotel room.

It’s not a bad bubble, as long as you keep it

in perspective and know what you’re doing.

I’ve seen a lot of people crash. But it’s very

cool, ’cause you know you’re going to make

rock in a couple hours. Days off are fucked,’cause you’ve got no gig to do, and you end

up getting yourself in a lot of trouble.

What’s the worst trouble you’ve ever gotten

into with the Crowes?

Marc: No comment. [Laughs .] I can’t say.

Lots of trouble. Never been arrested, knock

on wood . . . or formica, or whatever that is.

Rich: Being on the road is a weird way of

life. It’s not bad, but it’s strange, especially

when you’ve been brought up to live in one



“We’re not a pop band—

it’s spiritual.”

Marc Ford

P H OT O : B UT C H B E L A I R




house and go to school every day. But we still

soundcheck every day! I love soundcheck. Get

up there and play, that’s what you do.

Marc: Yeah, we always jam at sound-

check—a lot of bands don’t even show up atsoundcheck, which is unbelievable to me. I

want to spend as much time around the gig

as I can, because the rest of the day is fuckin’

boring. How many times are you going to be

in the same city, and you know where the cof-

fee is, you know where the beer is, you know

where the weed is, you know how to get what

you need. Get to the gig! Be as close to the

stage and the guitar as possible. Every single

day, we show up religiously to soundcheck.Sometimes it’s just to check the monitors and

things, but some days we’ll stand out there

for three hours and they’ll have to kick us

offstage because they’re opening the doors.

“Get off!”

Every day we switch the set around,

because it would be such a shame to have

it be mundane. “Aw, we did that last night.”

It would turn into a job, and I’m into this

because I didn’t want to have a job. I wanted

to make sounds that people could appreciate,

and see as many smiling faces as I possibly

can. I say it all the time, though: “I have a

great job. I go to work with a beer in my

hand.” Just a bunch of belligerent drunks

running around the world.

A CLASSIC FORD

IN THE MAKING

Marc: I was born in Long Beach, Califor-

nia, on April 13, 1966, and I grew up there.

My first guitar was a $7.50 acoustic that

you couldn’t play past the 3rd fret; the neck

was so fucked up and bent that all the notes

were the same after that. My grandmother

was a big antique freak. I used to go with her

to swap meets all the time. At a Rose Bowl

swap meet, I walked by this old, toothless

man playing an acoustic guitar, and out of

nowhere something hit me. I said, “Please,

please, buy me a guitar.” It took me all day

to beg her to break with the $7.50 to buy this

shitty little acoustic, and ever since then, I just

can’t put it down. Magic came to me. Then

my little brother trashed it! My grandfather

kept buying me guitars because he saw thatit meant a lot to me. He bought me a classical

nylon-string, then a steel-string, and finally

a Les Paul copy, probably ’cause Frampton

Comes Alive was the big record at the time.

“Three pickups—wow.”

As I kept getting better and more involved

with guitar, he got me a Fender Stratocaster,

but it had no whammy bar, and I was so

depressed. “Oh, damn it. How could you get

me a Stratocaster with no whammy bar?” But


C B lack rowes





I was already playing to a hundred million

billion fans every day in my room.

Did you ever take lessons?

Yeah. That’s probably why I got my first

guitar. In elementary school, we had this

elective period for a half-hour a day. You

could grow gardens or play guitar with Mr.

Milling. He really got turned on by turning

other people on to guitar. He taught me D

and A and all the rudimentary chords, and

he would write out songs like “Clementine.”

At some point his class at school ended, sohe started a night class for adults— mostly

bored housewives. I was the only kid in the

class, so I ended up teaching all these women

how to play “Stairway To Heaven.”

I also took classical lessons from a woman

who lived around the corner from my mom’s

house. I hated that so much, but at least I

was learning something. I’d go for a half-

hour every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., and it

was like going through hell. [Puts on mock

formal voice and twists his body into classical

posture ] “You have to hold the guitar like so,

put your foot over here. . . .” She would give

me homework to do, and of course I wouldn’t

touch it until 15 minutes before class the next

week. I’d cram really quick, memorizing by

ear, because I had to fake my way throughthe reading. I played trumpet in fourth grade,

so I knew what the notes were, but I couldn’t

really get it together. I didn’t have the heart

to tell my mom that I didn’t want to go to this

teacher any more, because I was afraid that

it would be a slap in the face.

What were your favorite records back

then?

I really got turned on to the Beck-Ola and

Jeff Beck Group albums. I’d blast them as loud

as the stereo would go and as loud as my amp

would go. I couldn’t wait to get out of school

to get home and pick up the guitar and play

Jeff Beck. At some point, someone taught

me the blues scale and the Mixolydian and

Assholian modes. And it really didn’t help me.

I learned a lot more from sitting there with

records and playing them over and over. I

drove my parents fuckin’ crazy. In the early

days it was stuff like Ted Nugent’s Double Live

Gonzo. I had a friend who really turned me on

to Hendrix. But I always tried to keep open

to any other style that might be heartfelt. I

still do. Chris really turned me on to Gram

Parsons. Clarence White was unbelievable,

his picking and things.

The guitar saved my life. I’d either be

dead or in jail if I didn’t have the guitar. It

was always there. It was always someone I

could talk to. It was my lady. I could always

go to it, and it would help me out. I never

bought into the macho, jock bullshit, and I

never bought into what they were trying to

teach me in school.

I dropped out of school when I was 17,

told Mom and Dad, “I have to be a musi-

cian—I’m going to be a rock star.” It went

over really well. My father’s a banker. “No, you’re not. Get a real job. Don’t you know that

for every 10,000 people who say they want to

be rock stars, only one will make it?” I said,

“Yeah, but I’m the one. I’m going to do it. I

know what I’m doing, leave me alone.” I was

living at Mom’s house because I didn’t have a

job. I was just hanging around. I’d crawl into

Mom’s house at five in the morning when

Dad was leaving the house. We’d wave at each

other. It was really hard to explain to them

C B lack rowes

Descending again: Marc Ford’s lyrical lines pack an emotional wallop.

PHOTO: BUTCH BELAIR




that it was all worth it. I had to stay out late.

I was networking .

We had this network of people who were

really fighting against the big-hair bands,

metal bands, and all the bullshit. I knew

Jimmy Ashurst in high school, and we had

a garage thing, but he quit and formed the

Broken Homes with Craig Ross. [ Now with

Izzy Stradlin’s Juju Hounds, Ashurst plays

mandolin on Amorica. Ross has been Lenny

Kravitz’ lead guitarist for the past three years .]

We were trying to keep it fresh, with real

guitar sounds, not this stupid overdriven

“crunch” thing. We were just sitting in alley-

ways drinking whiskey out of plastic bottles

and screaming out, “We’re the next genera-

tion of great musicians!” And three or four

years later, here we are.

But at the time it was hard to find a singer

who understood what I was trying to do, so

I ended up having to create my own situa-

tion. I tried getting a lead singer, a friend of

mine, but we just didn’t see eye-to-eye, so

I quit. I figured I would have to sing myself.

My record Burning Tree came out in 1990

around the same time the Black Crowes’

first record came out. Chris and I got each

other’s records about the same time. I said,

“I will listen to this man sing. I will be play-

ing with this guy, I know it, because he hears

and feels the same thing I do.” [Burning Tree

later opened for the Crowes on a leg of their

first headlining tour .] I got the call when they were done with

their first big tour—350 shows in 14 months.

I was still on Epic with Burning Tree, and we

were about ready to do another album, but

the label was dicking us around and we were

looking for another deal. Chris called one day

and said flat-out, “We’re kicking Jeff Cease

out of the band. He’s not working out, and

we don’t want to play with him anymore.

And being the best rock and roll band in

the world, we need the best guitar player.”

I went to Atlanta and we jammed in Chris’

garage, and it went great. I went back home

for a week, got some more clothes, and came

back. Meanwhile, they had written a whole

new batch of songs. They said, “We trashedthose other songs; these are the new ones.”

We rehearsed for two more days, learned

all these new songs, and on the third day

we were in the studio making The Southern

Harmony And Musical Companion. It was

finished in eight days. It was a whirlwind.

We were on the road for 18 months after

that. And now we’re going out for another

18 months.

A RICH HERITAGE

Rich: I was born in Atlanta on May 24,

1969, the same birthday as Bob Dylan. I grew

up in the South. My dad used to always play

guitar for Chris and I when we were kids. I

always listened to a lot of folk and bluegrass

with my dad, because he knows how to play it

for real. My dad was mainly a songwriter and

singer. He went by his name, Stan Robinson,

and had a folk band called the Appalachians.

He had a few songs in the Top 40 and he

was on the Alan Freed show and American

Bandstand . He used to play at the Ryman

Auditorium at the Grand Ole Opry. My mom

is from Nashville, and she used to sing, so

she knows all the old folk and country songs.

Sometimes I’ll hear a song and recognize it

from my mom singing it.

When I was 14 or 15 I started picking up

my dad’s favorite guitar, a really nice 1953

Martin D-28. To keep Chris and I from play-

ing that guitar, he and my mom bought me a

little shitty Lotus strat copy for Christmas and

got Chris a bass. We were into punk rock back

then. There was a band in Atlanta called Neon

Christ, so I had a big Neon Christ sticker onmy guitar. I didn’t have the patience to try to

figure out someone else’s songs, so I started

writing music and Chris started writing lyrics.

That’s how the whole thing started.

What were your first songs like?

The first stuff showed that we liked the

Cramps, the Dead Kennedys, the Effigies,

Fear, and all those bands. It was punk-rocky,

but we always had a pop thing going too.

We liked the punk phase, but everyone goes

through it, and it runs its course. And then

with R.E.M. being big and coming from the

South, you heard a lot of alternative radio—

real alternative, not 80 million listeners like it

is today. It was what alternative is supposed

to be: the alternative to commercial main-stream music. There were all these college

stations that used to play bands like Rain

Parade, R.E.M., the Three O’Clock, the dBs—

who we were big fans of—the Long Ryders,

and Let’s Active, [early R.E.M. producer]

Mitch Easter’s band, who, though they were

supposedly an alternative band, used to do

Zeppelin covers live like “The Rover” and

“Dancing Days.” We also started listening to

Big Star and Alex Chilton around then.

Nick Drake is one of my all-time favorites.

He’s kind of what got me into open tunings,

because he’s just so . . . low. Especially his

guitar tone and his picking, the subtleties

that you can only pick out on acoustic,

which is how I write. That’s why you really

have to listen hard to pick out half the shit

I’m playing on our records, because they’re

always washed over by so many different

instruments.

I started with a double-dropped-D tuning,

and I gradually tuned the A string to G , and it

all started from there. Nick was the guy who

got me into that. Then I started listening

to blues and started seeing different ways

to tune down. I like Lightnin’ Hopkins and

Furry Lewis. His blues made me feel good.

It’s just him and an acoustic. Lightnin’ makes

me feel good too, but he’s a little meaner

and less folky. You know “Prodigal Son” on

the Stones’ Beggar’s Banquet ? Elements of

that are definitely Furry’s things. Even his

chord progressions make me smile, whereas

someone like Mississippi Fred McDowell

kind of bums you out. McDowell’s actually

my favorite guitar player, but Furry’s one of

my favorites for his overall thing.

Do you write most of the band’s music? Chris and I always collaborate. He’ll ask

me about melody and I’ll ask him about

arrangements. Chris and I usually work the

songs out before we bring them to the band,

but sometimes I’ll write a song in practice

by accident. I came up with the “riff”—I hate

that word—for “Gone” with Chris, took an

older song and melded them together. “De-

scending” is almost like a Prince tune because

of the chord changes and the percussion.


C B lack rowes



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Prince is underrated as far as melody goes.

That guy is amazing. I wrote “Descending”

in practice, and I didn’t even like it at first.

I wrote the music for “Cursed Diamond” by

myself on an acoustic in a hotel room. That

song is really heavy; it’s hard to listen to. But

it’s cool that after hearing it a hundred times

I can still get bummed out by it. It’s really

kind of lonely.

When people say, “What did you mean

when you wrote this?” my answer is, “What

does it mean to you?” because that’s inevi-

tably the most important thing. With words

you can come up with a billion meanings or

associations of your own, and that’s when

people really get songs. It may have nothing

to do with what whoever wrote it was think-

ing, but you got something out of it. It’s hard

to find something in common with anyone,but the 8 million or so people who buy our

records all liked a song or a sound, and that’s

something they now all have in common.

RETRO R.I.P.

Rich: The whole retro thing started as an

easy label created by someone who thought

that retro was going to be big for about five

minutes. They created that little niche. It’s

like “alternative” now. Then retro became a

bad word, and suddenly only losers are retro.

Which Seattle band doesn’t have Zeppelin or

Sabbath in it? Soundgarden is Black Sabbath,

but they’re not retro. This is the music we

grew up on. You can’t deny that. You have to

know what has and hasn’t been done before,

so you can figure out what to do next. It all

comes in a cycle. There’s a reason the Stones

sounded like the Beatles and had similar

haircuts when they first came out. Then they

found their niche and spread out.

The music industry is stifling people whe n the y don ’t sel l enough records at

first or don’t fit any niche. Bands aren’t be-

ing given the chance to expand and grow.

They’re not being taken for their talent or

their capabilities for the future. They’re be-

ing signed because they fit a niche. “That guy

looks grunge—let’s sign him.” That’s about

how pathetic it is. There are all these hands

in the pot when money or glory is to be made,

and all this selfishness stems from one of the

most selfless acts a person can do, which is

write a song and give themself to someone

else. Even if you write a song to your girl-

friend, you’re opening yourself up to a lot of

criticism, a lot of hate or a lot of love. When

you realize that, it’s a scary thing. But we love

what we do, and no one can take that away

from us. g


BLACK CROWES IN 1995.

CLASSIC INTERVIEW

from the January 2005 issue

of Guitar Player magazine

C B lack rowes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iBlxBl3CVk



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March 2014 · Volume 48, Number 3



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lessons

“Keep things

simple. Don’t fill

your head with

theory and num-

bers that have

little to do with

music.”—JOE PASS




august 2000

P H OT O : C L A Y T ON C A L L

secretsof the

walkıngbassto jazzy comping

b y a d

a m l e v y

a beginner’s guide

the world of jazz, it’s often flam-boyant soloists who garner the

most attention. But it’s the rhythm

section—the bass and drums—who

make things really swing. On gigs where there

are no bass and drums, the guitarist is expected

to be the virtual rhythm section. One cool way tomake the groove happen is to strum four-chords-

to-the-bar, à la Freddie Green. But to get things

seriously cooking, you’ll need to lay down bass

lines yourself, and add rhythmic punctuation with

well-placed chordal and melodic counterpoint. n

ın



How can one player do the physi-cal and creative work of two? Withpractice and persistence, it is pos-sible to simulate a mini-ensemble.In this lesson, we’ll work throughthe basic steps of building a hardybass-and-chords groove. First,

we’ll isolate the essential skills,and then we’ll merge these ele-ments to create a solid, swingingaccompaniment.

Baby Steps Let’s start with a simple, two-

measure chord progression—G7-C7 —and the most elementary bass

line that will get us from the rootof the first chord (G) to the root ofthe second (C) using scalewise mo-tion. Jazz bass lines are typicallyrendered in steady quarter-notes,so if we walk an upward line fromone root to the other (beat one, bar1 to beat one, bar 2), we’ll have toaccount for five notes: G , x, x, x, C .Stepping up through the appropri-ate scale for G7—G Mixolydian—

we only have four notes (G , A, B,C ). This means we’ll either have to

repeat a note (Examples 1a and1b) or add a chromatic passingtone (Examples 1c and 1d). Any ofthese solutions is fair play.

Walking downward from G issimpler, because there are justenough scale tones to fit—G , F , E ,D , C . But you can still add chro-

maticism if you like, as shown inExamples 2a and 2b.

Adding Harmonyand Rhythm

The next step is to add harmony.Here, the job is to outline a pro-gression’s essential harmonic con-tent. Of course, on any given beat,one fretting-hand finger will be tiedup with a bass note, so your chord

palette will be limited to two- andthree-note voicings. Given such re-strictions, the best bet is to play achord’s 3 and 7, which are its defini-


lessons august 2000

T

A

B

44

G7 C7= 72-120

2

24 1

3 33

52

Ex. 1a

T

A

B

44

G7 C7

2

24 1

3 33

52

Ex. 1b

T

A

B

44

G7 C7

2

24

1

33

52

4

3

Ex. 1c

T

A

B

44

G7 C7

2

24 1

33

52

1

1

Ex. 1d

T

A

B

44

G7 C7

3

3

32 1

1

5 4 35

= 72-120Ex. 2a

T

A

B

44

G7 C7

3

3

31

12

55

34

Ex. 2b

secretsof the

walkingbass



lessonsaugust 2000


tive tones. OnG7 , for example, layingdown F and B (the b7 and 3) abovethe G bass gives our ears enoughinformation to infer G7 (Ex. 3). For

other chord types, use the appro-priate 3 and 7 (see table, DefinitiveChord Tones).

Now, we could simply let thechord’s 3 and 7 ring out as whole-notes, but half the fun lies in add-ing syncopated chordal punchesto create a swinging feel. Thesimplest way to do that is to in-clude one eighth-note punch permeasure. To practice this, repeata one-measure phrase using G7 ,and place a chord punch on the

first eighth-note of the measure(Ex. 4a ). Note: Treat all eighth-noterhythms in this lesson as “swing”eighth-notes.

Next, shift the punch to the sec-ond eighth-note of the measure(Ex. 4b), then the third eighth-noteof the measure (Ex. 4c), and so on,until the punch is on the eightheighth-note (the and of beat four).Make sure to work on this punch-over-bass concept at a variety oftempos, from 72 bpm to 200 bpm.

You can make this exercise even

more interesting by repeating atwo-measure phrase, which gives

you eight more possibilities for theeighth-note punch.

Once the basic one-punch-per-

bar groove starts feeling good,it’s time to tackle more complexrhythms. Examples 5a and 5b put two common jazz-compingrhythms to work.

“Contrapuntal players need

to be able to

independently

control the volume

of each voice.”

—TUCK ANDRESS

E B E T R

O B E R T S

T

A

B

44

G7

2

1

1

43

3

Ex. 3

TAB

44

G7= 72-120Swing feel

43

3 3 3 3

21

1

Ex. 4a

TAB

44

G7

3

43

3

33

1

1

2

Swing feel

Ex. 4b

TAB

44

G7

3

43

3

3 3

2

1

1

Swing feel

Ex. 4c

TAB

44


43

3 3 3 3

43

2

1

1

Ex. 5a

TAB

44


43

3 3 3 3

43

2

1

1

Ex. 5b




lessons august 2000

Use Your Illusion

Once you’ve made nice withthe previous examples, it’s time tomove on to the final step—puttingit all together. The bluesy, eight-measure etude (Ex. 6) combines

all the points we’ve discussed,and offers a few extra goodies.Pay close attention to the left-hand fingerings, as some of thechords— particularly C9 in bars 5and 6—are nearly impossible tosustain for their full value withoutusing the suggested fingerings.

Notice how the rhythmicchordal phrasing in bars 3 and 4mimics the phrase in bars 1 and 2.Such symmetry makes compingmusical, and not just a series ofrandom eighth-note punches. Use

secretsof the

walkingbasshere’s more to walking bass than learning a few hip bass lines. As you’re trying to create an aural illusion, the trick is to get a

timbre that suggests acoustic bass. And to really make the magic

work, you’ve got to pay attention to details. Rule number one:

Do not use a pick—the resulting sound is often pointed and plucky. For

optimum bass-like attack, use the flesh on your picking-hand thumb.

(That’s not how bassists do it, but it’s the best way to approximate their

timbre on the guitar.) Your attack should be quick and sure, but not

heavy handed. The last thing you want is the un-bass-like sound of your

strings slapping the frets. (After all, upright basses don’t have frets.)

It’s also a good idea to experiment with where you locate your picking

hand, as different points along the string create subtle timbral changes.

In general, you want to have your hand a little closer to the nut than

usual, with your thumb hovering near the end of your fretboard.

If you’re an electric player, you’ll want to dial in a clean, clear tone,

with little or no reverb. A guitar with a wooden bridge will give you the

most authentic attack and decay, and for a bona fide bass vibe, use a

set of flatwound strings. —AL

t

bass tone

TAB

44

G7 = 72-120

Swing feel

C9 C dim7 G7 F7 E7

1 3

1

1

2

2

1

1

3

4

2 2

4

1

3

3

1

1

2 3

3

1

2

2

1

1 1

3

4

1

1

2

3

3

4

1

22

2

3 5

3

34

5

57

6

8

7 8

8

87

8

8

89

9 9 1010

79

99

10

1012

12

7

78

87

7

76

77 0

1

T

A

B

5

( )

A7 C9 D7sus

5

5

68

7 0

5

52

2

333

35

5

553

0

3

3

54

1

1

2

4

3

4

11

11

3

3

14

2

1

1

42

G13 C7 D A 7 G7 G134

1 1

1

42

3

1

1

3

43

2

1

24

3

6

2

53

3

4

45

3

5

6 54

4

43

3 3

3200

1

1

3

Ex. 6




lessonsaugust 2000

this concept as you develop yourown bass-and-chord moves.

Work the etude up to speedgradually, keeping time with a

metronome or beat box. If youcan’t make your bass line andchords swing at a slow, sultrypace, you won’t be able to makethem swing at medium or fasttempos. You may find it help-

ful to practice thebass line (down-stemmed notes) andthe chord punches

(upstemmed notes)separately beforeattempting to playthem all together.

To really get intothe swing of things,

oe Pass is likely the best known and most extensively recorded guitarist to feature walking bass lines in

his music. His solo discs on Pablo (including the Virtuoso series and Montreux ’75 ) contain numerous ex-

amples of high-caliber walking, and his duets with vocalist Ella Fitzgerald offer further inspiration. Lenny

Breau was another fine walker. Found on Five O’clock Bells [Genes], “Little Blues” illustrates his prowess.

Tuck Andress—the fretboard titan in the guitar-and-vocal duo Tuck and Patti—is yet another master. Tears of

Joy [Windham Hill Jazz] evinces the outer limits of walking guitar lines, and Reckless Precision, his solo outing

on Windham Hill Jazz, is packed with sauntering bass and rich counterpoint. Of course, nearly any record by

7-string pioneer George Van Eps will motivate wannabe walkers. The new kid on the block is 8-stringer Char-

lie Hunter, whose approach has roots in R&B and straight-ahead jazz. You can hear Hunter in full swing on

his mid-’90s Blue Note discs Bing! Bing! Bing! and Ready. . . Set. . . Shango!

If you want to go to the low-end source, check out the undisputed kings of jazz bass—Ray Brown and Paul

Chambers. Brown made many great records in the ’50s and ’60s as a member of the Oscar Peterson Trio,

and some of Chambers’ finest walking can be heard on the 1956 recordings Cookin’ with the Miles Davis

Quintet and Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet . —AL

j

the sound of walking

definitive chord toneschord type 3 7 example

maj7 3 7 Cmaj7 =E (3),B (7)

dom7 3 b7 C7 =E (3),Bb (b7)

m7 (or m7b5) b3 b7 Cm7 =E b (b3), Bb (b7)

dim7 b3 bb7 Cdim7 =E b (b3), A (bb7)

J ON S I E V E R T

“Fool around with

half-step approaches

to create tension.”

—LENNY BREAU



lessons august 2000


try setting your time keeper at halfthe actual tempo, using its clicksas beats two and four. As awkwardas this may feel at first, it’s a tried-and-true method for improvingswing feel by de-emphasizingbeats one and three, which are

more favorably accented in rockthan in jazz. Make sure that

your two parts (bass and chords)are balanced musically. To getthe clearest perspective, record

yourself and listen to the results.Remember, you’re trying to cre-ate an aural illusion, so the bassline should have the timbre of anup right, and the chord punchesshould sound like guitar. Which-ever instrument you try to emu-late, keep your chords timbrallydistinct from the bass.

Homework

Okay, so you’ve got the basicmoves under your fingers. Now

what? For walking practice, workon 12-bar blues progressions atvarious tempos in several dif-ferent keys—including keys thatcould easily make use of open-string bass notes (such as E, A,

D, G , and C ), as well as those thatare less likely to include openstrings (such as Bb, E b, and Ab).

When you’re comfortable walk-ing and comping through bluesprogressions, take a stab at a fewsimple jazz standards, such as“Take the A Train” or “All of Me.”

With a little effort, you’ll soon beable to walk and chew gum at thesame time. g THE GREAT JOE PASS TALKS WALKING BASS.

“It’s not about playing

quicker, it’s about

playing with more ex-

ecution—cannonball

phrasing.”

—CHARLIE HUNTER

E B E T R OB E R T S

secretsof the

walkingbass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcUhJbkTwDc



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december 1991



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lessonsdecember 1991


JOHNNY WINTER PLAYS SOME GREAT

BLUES AND ROCK TURNAROUNDS ON

DON KIRSHNER’S ROCK CONCERT IN 1974.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9srJIjp55Bs




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GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | March 2014 | 55Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC.

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