Roger Kleier’s kit of implements includes alligator clips (lower left), slides, springs, mini gongs,
paintbrushes, a chopstick, a pencil, a reed, a screwdriver, and an EBow. Photo by Annie Gosfield
German guitarist Hans Tammen also
plays the instrument on a table, like Rowe.
His progression from the worlds of British
rock to classical guitar, jazz, and then into
the world of extended techniques was a result
of being more interested in creating lengthy,
improvised introductions to tunes than in
the tunes themselves. “I started using other
areas of the electric-guitar body besides the
fretboard to elicit sounds,” he explains. “The
more subtle and varied that became, the
more I started working with materials and
gadgets on the strings. This is quite natural
for a guitarist—we are using picks and
bottlenecks already, and as soon as you get
beyond that, the options become endless.”
For Norway’s Stian Westerhus, it’s not necessarily
about “guitar,” but about feeling the
urge for a broader palette for his instrument.
“I wasn’t that into playing guitar, but more
into creating the music I was hearing in my
head,” he says. “In my early teens, I would
record stuff from the radio onto cassettes,
cutting and splicing the tape to create weird
collages of sound and music.” Westerhus
revels in the randomness that alternate modes
can introduce. “The stuff I hear back when I
take risks pushes me in directions I can’t calculate,
but can only try to control—extended
techniques came out of that.”
’Gator Aid
You might think the experimental nature of
these artists’ music would lead them toward
complex custom instruments. However,
they mostly use the same guitars you would
see in your local club band. Kleier plays a
Les Paul, a Telecaster, and a Stratocaster.
Frith often wields a 1959 Gibson ES-345.
Westerhus likes a baritone Danelectro
or a Gibson ES-335 with a Bigsby. And
Tammen, having been through various custom
contraptions now says, “I’m just happy
with my $300 Steinberger Spirit.”
When it comes to effects though, you
are as likely to find these guys at Home
Depot as Guitar Center. Picks, slides, and
pedals aside, many of the implements for
extended techniques come from hardware
and kitchen supply stores, flea markets, and
garage sales.
One tool employed almost universally is
the aforementioned alligator or electrician’s
clip, which can be placed anywhere along
the length of a guitar string to great effect.
In school, Kleier found he liked ring modulators
and metallic-sounding synth sounds,
but because he was a destitute student, he
had no access to those electronic luxuries—
and he was better off for it. “I found that
an electrician’s clip placed on the strings
gave me very unusual overtones. And when
you add distortion, you can really get the
ring-modulator sound. [Placing the clips]
closer to the bridge, you get more of the
fundamental notes—Gamelan-like . . .
further back toward the nut, you get more
upper [harmonic] partials.”
Tammen prefers to clip them between
the bridge and neck pickups to draw out
very low, gong-like sounds. “These are great
for creating rhythms by banging the strings
with different kinds of mallets,” he says. “I
have a collection of five mallets, going from
a hard wooden one to one with a fluffy top.
Having the correct mallet at hand makes a
big difference.”
In his own experimentation, this author
found that though there is no “right” place
along the neck to put the clips, they tend
to fall onto the neighboring strings when
placed on unwound strings—but this, too,
can create interesting sounds. Attaching
clips on the low E, A, and D strings, and
between the pickups of a two-pickup
instrument also changed the prevailing
overtones when switching between pickups.
“It takes some experimentation with
them,” says Westerhus, “but there is a
huge palette of uneven harmonics that
vary, depending on where the clips are
placed, and where and how you pluck
the string.”