After globe-trotting and finding a home in the heartland of Americana, the Nashville-based guitarist dances between classic psychedelia and modern sonics on her lysergically tinged new album, Wholly Roller Coaster.
Anne McCue looks a bit like the Mad Hatter as she takes the stage at Nashville’s 5 Spot, wearing a red felt topper and colorful silk crimson-and-flowers jacket. It’s a visual cue for what’s coming next: an exquisitely performed show of original psychedelic songs that set the controls for the heart of 1967, when the holiest temple of the psychedelic era was being constructed by Pink Floyd and the Beatles. But the music is new—from McCue’s album Wholly Roller Coaster—and it is a wild ride, bounding between past and present, transportive and allusive. Despite its obvious roots, it feels remarkably original and contemporary, thanks to the gentility of McCue’s relaxed, virtuosic playing and singing, and a dappling of pop, rock, and folk flavors from the pre- and post-lysergic days that inform the swirling melodies and strong-boned harmonies, and guitar solos that could as easily be sung as played. The results are something like a paisley rainbow in sound—bright, colorful, trippy, and entirely pleasing, even when the lyrics turn a bit dark.
“I try to approach the guitar differently, more like a piano, which has a broad palette and colors and textures, and I really focus on melody and harmony,” McCue says. “I don’t try to come up with riffs and licks that are classically guitar. I love that, but when I was learning guitar, I was learning more complicated chords than I-IV-V. As a child I was a huge Beatles fan, and their arrangements were really quite sophisticated.”
The Loneliest Saturday Night - Anne McCue & The Cubists
“The Loneliest Saturday Night” is the first single from Anne McCue and the Cubists new album, Wholly Roller Coaster.
Early on, McCue shared a nylon-string with her siblings and, later, taught herself on an SG copy one of her brothers brought home. She delved into the Reader’s Digest Treasury of Best Loved Songs, from her parents’ bookshelf. “It had the most beautiful songs, from the jazz era all the way up to Burt Bacharach. I learned all the jazz chords, and the major sevenths and minor sevenths—more complicated chords than most people start with.”
For McCue, who grew up in a small town outside of Sydney, Australia, her modernist take on the era of incense and peppermints is the latest stop in the musical Gulf Stream that she’s navigated. Buoyed by other canonical influences, from Ennio Morricone and Alfred Hitchcock soundtracks to the sophisticated guitar-pop of XTC, she has chased her muse from Melbourne blues jams to Ho Chi Minh City, where she played solo jazz and blues guitar at a hotel for a year. A return to Australia in turn led her to Los Angeles, following a lead from a friend about a band on the verge of breaking out that was looking for a female guitarist who could sing harmony. That group’s record deal and a subsequent solo contact both fizzled. But she moved to Nashville in 2007 on the advice of her manager, and found a home in the creative music hotbed of East Nashville.
“When I was learning guitar, I was learning more complicated chords than I-IV-V.”
Allowing the influence of the Western movies, like the classic High Noon, and her early country music heroes—most notably Johnny Cash—that she loved as a kid to pervade her songwriting, McCue dived into the currents of Americana and developed an international reputation over the course of seven albums, including the powerful Roll. That recording ranges over a variety of roots terrain, from the fingerpicked, elegiac “Ballad of an Outlaw Woman” to a boldly reharmonized, ripping cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun” to the album’s most harrowing song, “Hangman,” about a lynching, driven by the raw, ghostly tones of her lap steel. The BBC’s influential DJ Bob Harris chose Roll as his top album of 2004. Over the years she’s toured the U.S. and abroad, hosted the smartly eclectic radio show Songs on the Wire on Nashville’s indie radio station WNXA, produced other artists, and played on sessions, mostly for friends—including modern psychedelicist Robyn Hitchcock.
Anne McCue's Gear
McCue’s acoustic is an old Guild dreadnought, captured with her here onstage at Nashville’s 5 Spot. It’s used as her primary instrument on “Witch Song?" and for sweetening elsewhere.
Photo by Jill Kettles
Guitars
- 1979 Gibson Les Paul
- Hanson Cigno
- Hanson Gatto
- Hanson Ravenswood 12
- Guild acoustic dreadnought
Amps
- Fender Blues Junior
- Custom Jamison (15/30 watts switchable)
Recording Gear
- Pro Tools
- Royer 121 mic
- Mojave Audio MA-50, MA-100, MA-200, and MA-300 mics
- Focusrite interface
Effects
- Line 6 DL4
- Electro-Harmonix ML9
- Fulltone Distortion Pro
- JHS Morning Glory
- Danelectro Rocky Road
- Strymon Flint
- Dunlop Cry Baby
- Boss OC-5 Octave
- EBow
Strings, Slide, & Picks
- D’Addario (.010 and .011 sets)
- The Rock Slide
McCue met Hitchcock, a native Londoner who moved to Nashville in 2015, when she produced an EP for Emma Swift, his wife, and Hitchcock invited McCue to be his guitar foil on 2017’s Robyn Hitchcock. Hitchcock, who came to fame as the leader of the Soft Boys, can be glibly described as a sane version of his idol Syd Barrett, the original Pink Floyd frontman and the guiding hand behind the Floyd’s marvelously playful and boldly psychedelic debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
“He didn’t want lead guitar on the album,” McCue explains. “He wanted two guitars working together, so it was more about riffs that would fit with what he was playing. I went around to his house and we played, to try out things, before we went into the studio.” The result is a guitar conversation as literate and bristlingly playful as Hitchcock’s always-clever lyrics.
“I wanted to make a record that made people feel like they were stoned without actually having to work hard.”
That planted the psilocybin seeds of a new musical direction, but they really sprouted during the pandemic, when Pink Floyd became an important and soul-buoying part of McCue’s musical diet. “The pandemic gave me a chance to get off the treadmill of everyday existence,” she relates. “One day, I listened to the first seven Pink Floyd albums [including early live recordings] and never even got to Dark Side of the Moon. It was an epiphany. I listened to Pink Floyd and XTC for days and days and days. It took me out of a long gray tunnel into an open space, and I hear that space in the music.”
When she began playing guitar, McCue didn’t initially encounter the good ol’ I-IV-V. “I learned all the jazz chords, and the major sevenths and minor sevenths—more complicated chords than most people start with,” she says.
Photo by Jill Kettles
Which is only right, because, as Sun Ra declared, “Space is the place.” It breathes life into Wholly Roller Coaster, which McCue crafted with her band, the Cubists—although McCue played guitars, bass, keys, percussion, bouzouki, and electric sitar (which opens the album, with the gently hallucinogenic “Fly or Fall”) herself, at her home studio, Flying Machine. Even when contemplating the quirky nature of humanity in “Leaping on the Moon,” which has a soaring EBow finale, her lyrics possess grace and empathy—the latter another element that taps the spirit of Pink Floyd’s less acerbic work. And her often-playful rhyming swims in the same channel as Barrett and Hitchcock. By the time the album ends with “The Years,” which offers a backwards guitar solo in the middle of its observations on the passage of a lifetime, a repast richer than “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast” has been served.
“There’s a comforting, expansive, and inspiring space to get into,” McCue says. “I wanted to make a record that made people feel like they were stoned without actually having to work hard … so you could get lost in the sound.” And want to stay lost, for a good, long while.
YouTube It
Anne McCue & the Cubists recently filmed McCue’s “Witch Song” for NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest.
We dissect some of the legendary Pink Floyd guitarist's most identifiable rhythm and lead techniques.
Chops: Intermediate
Theory: Intermediate
Lesson Overview:
• Learn how to incorporate open strings into non-open position chords.
• Develop a more accurate bending technique.
• Understand how to improvise with the blues scale.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
Pink Floyd is without a doubt one of the last remaining supergroups of the classic rock era. Likes Queen, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd have sold millions of albums and filled arenas all around the world. The band started out as a psychedelic rock band, playing the underground clubs of London during the ’60s, but later became one of the leaders of the progressive rock movement, composing complex songs with conceptual themes. These were performed against a backdrop of elaborate lighting, video projections, and inflatable stage props.
This month’s piece was a joy for me, having been a fan of Floyd since I was a child. I also spent several years touring with the Australian Pink Floyd Show, and produced and mixed two albums for Roger Waters’ current guitarist, David Kilminster. For this track, I drew inspiration from several famous Floyd songs including “Breathe,” “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” and “Dog.” The solo is a pastiche of many famous Gilmour licks.
Click here for Ex. 1
The example kicks off with a verse that wanders through some C Lydian sounds (with the D/C chord) before resolving to C and modulating to G minor in the third measure. In Floyd’s music, it isn’t uncommon to subtly move through a few different key centers within a single section. The next section moves to the IIm chord in the key of F (Gm). The famous Gm6/Bb chord from the intro to “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” pops up next. I simply couldn’t resist playing this chord in a Floyd-style track. It makes for some cool harmonic coloring over the G minor tonality, and it’s actually a lot easier than it sounds. (I’ve even seen it taught using all fretted notes and no open strings!)
In the next section of the verse, we pick up some rhythmic and harmonic moves from “Dogs.” Here, I’m using a simple Fmaj7 chord shape in the 1st position, but the D from the bass gives it a Dm9 sound. I then move that shape up a few frets and play an Abmaj7, but again, the F in the bass gives it a Fm9 sound. This technique is a great way of reapplying basic chords against a new root to get different sounds.
A “Breathe”-inspired chorus is up next and begins with a strummed Em(add9) chord and some higher-positioned open chords over the A7. The next measure contains some simple C and D chords before repeating the Em-A7 section again.
A descending chord progression that’s borrowed from “Shine On” leads into the solo. I particularly like the relationship between the Dm, Dm/C, and the Bm7b5, as you’ll notice they all include the Dm triad played on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings with just the root note shifting. Again, this is a great writing tool to experiment with and explore.
An A minor blues progression forms the harmonic foundation for the solo. For a twist, the turnaround is F, E7#9, Dm7, C, and G/B. Most of the melodic elements are based around the A minor pentatonic (A–C–D–E–G) scale. The key to Gilmour’s style is his laid-back feel—make sure not to rush!
Gilmour’s signature pull-off figure from “Shine On” appears in the fourth measure of the solo. This section also includes some tricky bends, including some pre-bends. One of Gilmour’s favorite bends happens in the fifth measure with a two-step stretch. The solo then moves down into the very familiar 5th position for some licks based off the A blues scale (A–C–D–Eb–E–G). The solo concludes with a nod to “Comfortably Numb” when the 9 (B) gets added to the pentatonic scale.
David Gilmour is known for having one of the best tones in rock. He uses various Hiwatt amps with an elaborate effects system that includes a variety of stompboxes and rack equipment. (At one time he even used modified Alembic bass amps that were combined with a crossover system that allowed the Hiwatts to handle the upper frequencies while the Alembics covered lower frequencies.) Gilmour mainly plays his famous black Fender Strat, although he’s used a Tele and a P-90-equipped Les Paul. I’d suggest checking out gilmourish.com, which I found to be an invaluable resource when building my rig for the Aussie Floyd tours.
Recording details. Once again, I used Steinberg’s Cubasis for iPad to record this track. For the drums, I either program them in Cubasis (which has really great samples) or, as in the case here, I use an app called Drum Loops HD. This is a great app for drums, with a variety of styles recorded with modern and vintage mics. The bass is recorded live with a Music Man StingRay 5 plugged into Positive Grid’s JamUp Pro app via an Apogee interface. For the bass amp, I used a model based on an old ’60s Ampeg. On the guitar side, I grabbed my trusty Ernie Ball Music Man Axis Super Sport. I used a single-coil configuration for the clean tones and the neck humbucker for the solo. I rolled off the volume a bit to emulate a P-90-style tone. Again, I used JamUp Pro for the guitar sounds and dialed up a Hiwatt-style amp with some spring reverb and an Echoplex-style effect.
For the “Shine On” chords I used a different single-coil setting on the guitar through emulated MXR Dyna Comp and Uni-Vibe effects. For the solo, I added a touch of front-end bite with a fuzz pedal and a flanger modeled after a vintage Electro-Harmonix pedal. I also increased the amount of delay and reverb during the solo for a more ethereal tone. The “acoustic guitar” in the background was the piezo pickup on the Axis through an acoustic DI and acoustic amp in JamUp.
Witness the gear of the low-end gods—from Flea’s massive Gallien-Krueger rig to Juan Alderete’s bountiful boutique board, Tom Petersson’s drool-worth collection, Billy Sheehan’s dual-output Yamaha, and Roger Waters' iconic black P bass.
Sure, most of the magic conjured by the world’s best players is in their hands, but obviously their gear is a huge deal, too—because they’re still pretty particular about what they play. So take a break from honing your own chops for a bit, and check out what your heroes use to conjure their amazing tones. Who knows, maybe it’ll help you rethink how you approach your music and give you some ideas for how to improve your own rig. Or just sit there and lust after all the cool stuff. Either way works.
Here we’ve compiled our top Rig Rundowns with some of the most badass bass legends on the planet:
Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea
Roger Waters
Mr. Big's Billy Sheehan
The Mars Volta's Juan Alderete
Cheap Trick's Tom Petersson
Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea
PG's Rebecca Dirks is On Location in Rosemont, IL, at the Allstate Arena where she catches up with Tracy Robar, tech for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea. In this Rig Rundown, we get to see what Flea is currently using on the I'm With You Tour, which includes Modulus Basses, Gallien-Krueger amps and cabs, GHS Strings, and various pedals from MXR, Malekko, Moog, and Electro-Harmonix.
Basses
Flea relies on his main Modulus bass for the majority of the set. It's outfitted with a Modulus Lane Poor pickup, which is no longer in production, an Aguilar preamp, and a Leo Quan Badass bridge. He keeps his knobs taped at his preferred settings (bass almost full up, treble rolled off) and only uses his volume knob live. The Modulus has a graphite neck that allows Robar to set Flea's action very low and Flea uses his signature set of GHS Boomers (.105 - .145).
In addition, he uses (left to right) a Modulus bass with custom Aboriginal finish and a Seymour Duncan pickup that's tuned to Drop D for "By The Way," a Modulus bass with the Aboriginal national flag with the controls built into a cavity on the back (only an on/off switch on the face) tuned down a half-step for "Breaking the Girl," a Chinese-made Flea Bass with custom Damien Hirst spin-art finish, his main Modulus, a backup Damien Hirst-painted Flea Bass, and a Fender P-Bass that isn't used live. Far left is a Fender Bass VI used by Josh Klinghoffer on "Happiness Loves Company" while Flea plays piano. In the gig bag is a five-string Modulus used for "Funky Monks."
Amps
Flea uses three Gallien-Krueger 2001RB amps, one controls the other two as slaves. The amps run into three Gallien-Krueger 410 cabinets and three 115 cabs, all running. There are two additional 2001RB amps in the rack, one is used when Klinghoffer plays bass, and the other is simply a backup.
Effects
Click here for a photo gallery with more detailed pictures of Flea and Josh's touring gear.
Roger Waters: The Wall Live
Basses
His main instrument since the 1970s, Waters uses this P-bass for all of his bass parts on the show. It's the model his signature model is based on. He uses Rotosound 66 strings. Waters keeps a clone of this guitar made by the Fender Custom Shop as a backup and he also has a clone with a rosewood neck that's used only for the front of the stage, where the instruments are supposed to be dark.Amps
Waters uses an Ampeg SVT-6 Pro, with one spare, through three 4x10 cabs rewired to 8 ohms (two running with one spare). The same system is used throughout the Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall tours.Effects
This is Waters' original Pete Cornish-built board that was built for him just before the original Wall album in 1980. It's kept in the back and controlled by his guitar tech. While he used to use the phaser and echo, he now primarily uses the Bassballs circuit as the delays are controlled via rackmounted TC Electronic units.Mr. Big's Billy Sheehan
Basses
Sheehan uses his Yamaha Billy Sheehan Attitude bass on tour. He's currently using the third version, which has a specially-designed new neck pickup. Each pickup has its own output and separate Line 6 wireless units. The bass also has a deep neck joint that attaches at an angle. The guitar's body is made of artificially aged wood. As with all of Sheehan's basses, it has a Hipshot D Tuner. He uses a custom set of Rotosound strings gauges 43 - 110.
Amps/Rack
Sheehan uses a Pearce BC1 preamp, though he says he only has three left before "that's the end of it." He uses it for distortion and clean. He uses the Ashly Audio compression unit on the clean side of the Pearce, as well as on the Hartke LH1000 for his low end. In addition, he uses the ISP Decimator ProRack.
The signal comes out of the Pearce preamp and splits via the neck or bridge pickup into a LH1000 for low end and an LH1000 for pedals, as well as an HA5500 for his high end.
Effects
This pedalboard is basically similar to Taurus pedals in a different format that trigger a Roland SonicCell.
The Mars Volta's Juan Alderete
Basses
Amps and Cabinets
Just before heading out on this 2011 tour, Alderete switched his amp setup from his old standby SVT-VR heads and cabs to the newer PF-500 heads, which power PF-115 1x15 and PF-210 2x10 cabinets.Effects
The TMV bassist is a big proponent of using compression on his tone—no doubt because of his love for Jaco—and has used a Boss CS-2 Compressor/Sustainer since his days with Racer X in the '80s. He says he leaves this pedal on probably 95 percent of the time because it adds some roundness to his high end. He's stuck with this retro box because it's the most musical compressor he's ever played. Next up is the Boss VB-2 Vibrato that he uses to accentuate and pop his harmonics out in the mix. And the third Boss pedal on his board is the OC-2, which he feels adds dimension to his tone while retaining musicality and still sounds like a bass guitar. For straight-ahead delays and ambient verb sounds, he kicks on the EarthQuaker Devices Ghost Disaster. To push his amps to near destruction and rattle the stage, cabinets, and rafters he calls on the DOD Meat Box FX32. For water-like phaser tones he goes with the Pigtronix Envelope and Rotary Phaser, which he loves combining with a sped-up VB-2 to create a choppy wake of noise. For modulated, tweaked-out delays and sampling abilities Alderete relies on the Line 6 DL4. And the other pedals on his board that are used for soundscape, interludes, and backups include a TC Electronic PolyTune, Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian Fuzz, Boss PN-2 Tremolo/Pan, and a DigiTech PDS 20/20.Cheap Trick's Tom Petersson
Basses
Petersson's main bass during this tour was a gemstone-encrusted Waterstone signature 12-string that he calls the Peacock because it was made for Cheap Trick's scheduled performance on NBC's The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, but before the show O'Brien left the TV network. Another signature Waterstone 12-string features the same Ludwig drum covering for its top that is used on guitarist Rick Nielsen's Disco Dick Hamer Standard. He tunes his 12-strings in triple unison to E-A-D-G. And although Petersson uses only 12-strings onstage, he warms up for every show with a heavily relic'd Fender Custom Shop P bass.Amps and Effects
To get one of the most amazingly gritty and full live bass sounds you'll ever hear, Petersson uses all-tube Orange AD 200 MK III and Orange AD 50 heads raging through two Orange 4x12 cabinets. For backup purposes, he's got a Reeves Custom Studio/Stage MK II and an Orange Rockerverb 50 MK II. The only pedal that Tom uses is a Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI.