The ex-Pavement frontman preserves the element of surprise in the solos and sounds he explores with his band, the Jicks, on their new album, Sparkle Hard.
In the 1990s, Pavementāa band from Stockton, California, that started strictly as a recording projectāemerged as one of the most critically acclaimed indie rock groups of the decade. Singer and guitarist Stephen Malkmus was central to Pavementās trademark approach: highly literate, oblique lyrics, matched by an off-center bent to the guitar. Solos on songs like āThe Hexxā and āCut Your Hairā showed Malkmus to be not necessarily a skilled guitarist in any obvious sense, but a master of melodic economy and gestural effects, as well as a purveyor of killer, oddball tones.
Shortly after Pavement went on hiatus in 1999, Malkmus continued his concept as a solo artist with a new band, the Jicks. The group, whose most recent lineup includes co-guitarist and keyboardist Mike Clark, bassist Joanna Bolme, and drummer Jake Morris, recently released its seventh album, Sparkle Hard. The first single, āMiddle America,ā is clearly in the mold of Pavement, but there are plenty of rich new details throughout, like synth-y electric guitar sounds, the unexpected occasional use of Auto-Tune on Malkmusā vocals, and a country-ish duet (āRefuteā) with Kim Gordon, best known for her work with Sonic Youth.
Shortly before the release of Sparkle Hard, Malkmus called from his home in Portland, Oregon, to talk about the peculiarities of his technique (he plays without a pick), his formative years in Stockton, and the handful of trustworthy axes he has used, both with Pavement and the Jicks, in the service of his artistic songs.
Sparkle Hard sounds excellent. What guitars did you play on the album?
Electric-wise I played some Iāve had for a long time, like my Guild S-100, I think itās calledāsimilar to what that guy from Soundgarden [Kim Thayil] played. I canāt remember who else played one, but they were economical ā70s guitars that are actually really good.
Iām still playing my old Strat. At home, I still play my Travis Bean, and I used it on this song called āSolid Silk.ā At the end of the song, I do some solos on there. Theyāre just plugged directly into Pro Tools, and those Travis Beans have a certain sound. Itās a little unwieldy and heavy to play live, and also mine needs to be serviced. I can handle it in the studio, but maybe not on the road. But those are cool guitars.
What year is the Strat?
Itās a ā73 or ā74. Iāve told the story before of buying it from a friend of mine, whoā¦ I donāt know where he got it, but I donāt think that it was on the up and up. But I was 16 and I wasnāt the most on-the-up-and-up person, either. Someone had put two humbucker pickups in it, and I took those out immediately. Even then I knew that was probably a bad idea. Iāve played that guitar forever. It weighs like zero pounds. Itās just a fun guitar to play, and it sounds so cool. But then again, it also needs a little bit of looking after. These old guitars can just be great, but they do need some love. They need somebody who understands what you want and also how they should sound.
Iāve noticed that you donāt play the guitar, not even the electric, with a pick.
I play with my thumb and pointer finger exclusively. That offers me a lot of control, but, of course, people can get a lot of control with their guitar picks, too. There are plenty of outrageous flatpickers. Plus, when youāre working with distortion and compression, you can get away with a lot. You donāt have to hit every note just right, at least not with what Iām going for. But, yeah, thatās something Iāve done for the last 20 years. Iāve kind of abandoned using a pick.
Speaking of distortion, you get some great and varied sounds on the album. Is that all within Pro Tools or did you use stompboxes
No, those are all pedals. [Producer] Chris [Funk, of the Decemberists], he has a shitload of pedals and he split it two ways. Thereās his way, my way, and a direct sound, which hypothetically we couldāve used, but for the most part we didnāt. He had his pedals running to one amp and he had a lot more of these ones that make your guitar sound like a synthesizer. I was like, āYou go for it and Iām going to do what I do over here with my standard setup.ā
On my side, thereās a lot of wah-wah on thereāmore than Iāve ever used. And I was coming back home to this vintage Mu-Tron volume and wah-wah that Iāve had since 1996. I left it for a while because it does alter the sound, making it more trebly. I have a bunch of EarthQuaker pedals that I was able to borrow from a friend, and I bought some, too: one of the reverb pedals they have, the phaser with an octopus on it, and a fuzz. And I have also a blue Diamond J-Drive pedal. Itās a very simple distortion pedalāvery useful, no fail.
TIDBIT: Malkmus played guitar in the control room during the recording of his latest album. āItās amazing what you can hear and what you can get away with without wearing headphones,ā he says.
What would you say is the ratio of his setup to yours on the album?
Thatās a good question. It goes song to song. If it sounds really gnarly, itās more likely his setup. Sometimes we would get over synth-guitarād and weād want to back it off. But itās an awesome sound. He had a pedal from Japan [a Korg Miku Stomp] that makes an anime characterās voice. I didnāt use that, but I was interested in it. Pedals can be quite addictive.
Just so I understand correctly, when you were recording, were you hearing both setups at once or were you only hearing your setup?
Yeah, I was hearing both at once. I stood in the control room with the band. I wore no headphones during the whole recording, so I was just listening to the monitors, and we were trying to develop a group sound in there. And the band sat in the other room, because the drummer and the bass player, they should be together. Thereād be no bleed in my vocal. And it was a small room with mirrors and windows. I could see everybody, but they were on the other side of the fence from me, so I could hear everything coming through my vocals. I didnāt have to deal with headphone mixes.
What was it like to record a rock album without cans?
Itās kind of nice to not have to wear headphones in loud rock. You can do it in acoustic music, of course. And actually the room we had was so fancy and quiet that Iāve done some acoustic in there. Itās amazing what you can hear and what you can get away with without wearing headphones.
Hearing these kind of synth sounds from Chrisā setupādid you find it made you play differently than you normally did?
Not really. When I soloed, I just did what I normally do. We went into the studio with some pretty solid demos, which maybe Iāll release some day. If you like us, theyāre interesting, but theyāre maybe not for the average listener.
I kind of knew what I wanted to add, and I tried to be careful with just adding stuff and building tracks, because with Pro Tools things can get out of hand. You can Frankenstein solos together and spend forever on it. I think the songs are there. Theyāre going to be there whether I build all these interlocking guitars or not.
Malkmus still frequently plays this early ā70s hardtail Fender Stratocaster, shown here during a 2014 gig with the Jicks at L.A.ās El Rey Theatre. Photo by Debi Del Grande
Talk about your formative years, in Stockton, California.
I just had a Spanish guitar or whatever, a soft-string [nylon-string] guitar. Iād play that and bass. The first thing I played was bass in a punk band called the Straw Dogs. Itās like working in a restaurant, at least in the world of punk. Playing bass in a punk band is kind of like paying your dues by washing dishes in a restaurant.
Thatās funny.
They hand you the bass and you just play the root notes and itās a good place to start. Thatās no disrespect to bass players in the world. Our music was so remedial and I didnāt know barre chords and it was easier to downstroke those roots on the bass. Then I started learning some guitar chords. I remember the Jimi Hendrix āPurple Hazeā chord [E7#9] and the E7 in [Creedence Clearwater Revivalās] āBorn on the Bayou.ā And when I learned those chords, however basic they are, I was just like, āMan, thatās amazing.ā Those were my first chords ā¦ that and playing in the farmerās corner with the open voicings. It was really fun.
And then some guy taught me āSomethingā by the Beatles and I learned some diminished chords in standard tuning, just seeing how you could make these countermelodies in chord progressions like that. Another song that really blew me away for some reason was by Ten Years After: āIād Love to Change the World.ā I learned it, and it was like, āWhoa, Iām really good,ā probably because itās easier to play than it sounds. Thatās how I kept goingālearning things that sounded good but werenāt too difficult to play.
Then, around when I was about 18, I decided to use some drop tunings, like drop D. I read about Keith Richards playing in open-G tuningāvery simpleāand later I got into Sonic Youth, who used nonstandard tunings extensively. And from then on, I basically only have like 10 percent of my songs in standard tuning.
I played around with tunings, sometimes dropping lower [in terms of pitch] than most players do. I used the tunings to make songs that sounded full when I played by myself. And also the tunings sometimes made it easier to play the bass notes with my thumb while I was doing other things on the higher strings. I could easily make patterns that sounded unique to me. I pretty much havenāt progressed far from that. Like most of us with our musical taste, it solidifies around adolescence and our young adulthood, and thatās where Iāve been for years.
You mentioned ditching the pick, so there must be at least some way that your playing has evolved since the Pavement years.
Yeah, thatās true. When I first started, there was certainly a lot of hitting a pedal and just doing a scratchy kind of sound with a pickājust going as fast as I could and creating a kind of beehive effect. That sounded rocking to me and, again, I was usually playing very simple solos that were sometimes just one or two notes.
Guitars
1970s hardtail Fender Stratocaster
Guild S-100
Travis Bean TB1000S
Amps
Benson Chimera 30-watt
OrangeĀ Retro 50
Effects
Diamond J-Drive Mk3
EarthQuaker Hoof Reaper dual fuzz
EarthQuaker Dispatch Master delay and reverb
EarthQuaker The Depths optical vibrato
Mu-Tron volume/wah
Benson Tall Bird spring reverb
Strings and Picks
Various DāAddario sets
Later on, I realized that on electric guitar, one of the most fun things to do is to bend into notesāstarting on a note thatās different than the target note. Plus, when youāre bending, you can create your own slightly out-of-tune sound for an interesting effect.
On the other hand, Iāve tried to keep a bit of naivetĆ© in how I approach the guitar. Thereās a benefit in not knowing what Iām going to do. It can certainly help keep things fresh. Also, at this point I try not to play too much. Iām totally blown away by watching really intense guitarists that are incredibly good at playing the instrument, but I guess Iām going for a different feeling. Theyāre both valid. Iām more into fewer notesākind of in the manner of Neil Youngāless notes and more emotion.
Earlier you mentioned Sonic Youth. Talk about what it was like to work with Kim Gordon on āRefute.ā
Kim is a friend from over the years. Pavement toured with her, and I kept in touch. āRefuteā was kind of a country-style song. I sang it and it sounded fine, but it just seemed to call for someone outside of the band to sing on it as well. I reached out to Kim, she listened to the song, and she said, āThese lyrics are funny. Iāll do it.ā
I was really happy that she was willing to collaborate. Sheās just not afraid. She maybe had a sip of tequila or something, and she just did it in 15 minutes, in just three takes, which were actually all good. She plays guitar, too. Sheās like, āYou really should use this amp.ā Sometimes Iām surprised when people are into gear, because Iām somewhat into gear but not full gear. Iām just low gear. I thought she was low gear, but sheās not. Sheās medium gear.
Thatās a funny way to put it. Each tune on Sparkle Hard seems to have its own sound world: āMiddle Americaā is kind of stripped-down pop, āShiggyā is kind of deep fuzz with what sounds like Mellotron, and so on. When youāre writing, what comes firstāthe sonic environment or the song form, chords, and lyrics?
I usually get the chords and the melody going first, not lyrics. But then this time I ran a lot of these songs through multiple demos, different pacesālike slow, fast, country, more rockāand Iād present things to the band and say, āWhat do you like?ā And theyād hear me sing it. They didnāt listen for the lyrics, but theyād hear how I wanted to play it and Iād hear how they wanted to play it. But, yeah, itās preconceived, I guess, more so than the early days when Iād just bash it out. And also, in the very early days of Pavement, we didnāt even make demos.
But yeah, now, for whatever reasonāmaybe itās either because Iām trying harder or Iām less decisiveāitās turning out that Iāll run through a bunch of different tempos and different keys. Itās probably stuff that a lot of people do all the time, but itās relatively new to me. And Iāve also come to like to do a little more data research and get feedback about what people likeāeven if itās only like my three bandmates.
In this May 21, 2018, performance, Stephen Malkmusā guitar is front and center, displaying a keening lead tone on āShiggyā from the new Sparkle Hard album. Check out his thumb-and-index-finger picking approach on his Guild S-100.
Framus Hootenanny Re-Issue Guitars: John Lennonās Favorite Reimagined | PG Plays
Join PG contributor Tom Butwin as he explores all-new versions of the Framus Hootenanny 12-string and 6-string acousticsāmade famous by John Lennon and now available with modern upgrades. From vintage-inspired tone to unique features, these guitars are built to spark creativity.
Neil Youngās ā70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neilās guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Neil Youngās ā70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neilās guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Like any discography thatās been growing over the course of more than half a century, it can be hard to decode Youngās work. And with such an adventurous spirit, it could be easy to make some missteps and miss out on his best guitar works. In this episode, Nick guides Jason through some of his heroās finest moments.
More news from Neil always seems to be on the horizon, so hereās your chance to catch up.
This episode is sponsored by Gibson.
This Japan-made Guyatone brings back memories of hitchinā rides around the U.S.
This oddball vintage Guyatone has a streak of Jack Kerouacās adventurous, thumbing spirit.
The other day, I saw something I hadnāt noticed in quite some time. Driving home from work, I saw an interesting-looking fellow hitchhiking. When I was a kid, āhitchersā seemed much more common, but, then again, the world didnāt seem as dangerous as today. Heck, I can remember hitching to my uncleās cabin in Bradford, Pennsylvaniaāhome of Zippo lightersāand riding almost 200 miles while I sat in a spare tire in the open bed of a pickup truck! Yes, safety wasnāt a big concern for kids back in the day.
So, as Iām prone to do, I started digging around hitchhiking culture and stories. Surprisingly, there are organized groups that embrace the hitching life, but the practice remains on the fringe in the U.S. Back in the 1950s, writer Jack Kerouac wrote the novel On the Road, which celebrated hitchhiking and exposed readers to the thrill of maverick travel. Heck, even Mike Dugan (the guitarist in all my videos) hitched his way to California in the 1960s. But seeing that fellow on the side of the road also sparked another image in my brain: Yep, it always comes back to guitars.
Let me present to you a guitar thatās ready to go hitching: the Guyatone LG-180T, hailing from 1966. The āthumbs-upā headstock and the big āthumbā on the upper bout always made me think of thumbing a ride, and I bought and sold this guitar so long ago that I had forgotten about it, until I saw that hitchhiking dude. Guyatone was an interesting Japanese company because they were primarily an electronics company, and most of their guitars had their wooden parts produced by other factories. In the case of the LG-180T, the bodies were made by Yamaha in Hamamatsu, Japan. At that time, Yamaha was arguably making the finest Japanese guitars, and the wood on this Guyatone model is outstanding. We donāt often see Guyatone-branded guitars here in the U.S., but a lot of players recognize the early ā60s label Kentāa brand name used by an American importer for Guyatone guitars.
With a bit of imagination, the LG-180Tās āthumbs upā headstock seems to be looking for a roadside ride.
Kent guitars were extremely popular from the early ā60s until around 1966. The U.S. importer B&J fed the American need for electric guitars with several nice Kent models, but when the Guyatone contract ended, so did most of the Kent guitars. After that, Guyatone primarily sold guitars in Japan, so this example is a rare model in the U.S.
āUnless you are a master at guitar setups, this would be a difficult player.ā
This headstock is either the ugliest or the coolest of the Guyatone designs. I canāt decide which. I will say, no other Japanese guitar company ever put out anything like this. You have to give the Guyatone designers a thumbs up for trying to stand out in the crowd! Guyatone decided to forgo an adjustable truss rod in this model, opting instead for a light alloy non-adjustable core to reinforce the neck. Speaking of the neck, this instrument features the most odd-feeling neck. Itās very thin but has a deep shoulder (if that makes any sense). Totally strange!
Another strange feature is the bridge, which offers very little adjustment because of the three large saddles, which sort of rock back and forth with the tremolo. Itās a shame because these pickups sound great! Theyāre very crisp and have plenty of zing, but unless you are a master at guitar set-ups, this would be a difficult player.
This could be why the LG-180T only appeared in the 1966 and 1967 catalogs. After that, it disappeared along with all the other Yamaha-made Guyatone electrics. By 1969, Guyatone had gone bankrupt for the first time, and thus ended guitar production for a few decades. At least we were blessed with some wacky guitar designs we can marvel at while remembering the days when you could play in the back end of an explosive 1973 AMC Gremlin while your mom raced around town. Two thumbs up for surviving our childhoods! PG
There's a lot of musical gold inside the scales.
Intermediate
Intermediate
ā¢ Develop a deeper improvisational vocabulary.
ā¢ Combine pentatonic scales to create new colors.
ā¢ Understand the beauty of diatonic harmony.Improvising over one chord for long stretches of time can be a musician's best friend or worst nightmare. With no harmonic variation, we are left to generate interest through our lines, phrasing, and creativity. When I started learning to improvise, a minor 7 chord and a Dorian mode were the only sounds that I wanted to hear at the time. I found it tremendously helpful to have the harmony stay in one spot while I mined for new ideas to play. Playing over a static chord was crucial in developing my sense of time and phrasing.
The following is the first improvisational device I ever came across. I want to say I got it from a Frank Gambale book. The idea is that there are three minor pentatonic scales "hiding" in any given major scale. If we're in the key of C (CāDāEāFāGāAāB) we can pluck out the D, E, and A minor pentatonic scales. If we frame them over a Dm7 chord, they give us different five-note combinations of the D Dorian mode. In short, we are building minor pentatonic scales off the 2, 3, and 6 of the C major scale.
Viewing this through the lens of D minor (a sibling of C major and the tonal center for this lesson), D minor pentatonic gives us the 1āb3ā4ā5āb7, E minor pentatonic gives us 2ā4ā5ā6ā1, and A minor pentatonic gives us 5āb7ā1ā2ā4. This means you can use your favorite pentatonic licks in three different locations and there are three different sounds we can tap into from the same structure.
If you smashed all of them together, you would get the D Dorian scale (DāEĀĀāFāGāAāBāC) with notes in common between the D, E, and A minor pentatonic scales. Ex. 1 uses all three scales, so you can hear the different colors each one creates over the chord.
Ex. 1
Ex. 2 is how I improvise with them, usually weaving in and out using different positional shapes.
Ex. 2
The next idea is one I stole from a guitarist who often came into a music store I worked at. On the surface, it's very easy: Just take two triads (in our example it will be Dm and C) and ping-pong between them. The D minor triad (DāFāA) gives us 1āb3ā5, which is very much rooted in the chord, and the C major triad (CāEāG) gives us the b7ā9ā4, which is much floatier. Also, if you smash these two triads together, you get 1ā2āb3ā4ā5āb7, which is a minor pentatonic scale with an added 2 (or 9). Eric Johnson uses this sound all the time. Ex. 3 is the lick I stole years ago.
Ex. 3
Ex. 4 is how I would improvise with this concept. Many different fingerings work with these, so experiment until you find a layout that's comfortable for your own playing.
Ex. 4
If two triads work, why not seven? This next approach will take all the triads in the key of C (CāDmāEmāFāGāAmāBdim) and use them over a Dm7 chord (Ex. 5). Each triad highlights different three-note combinations from the Dorian scale, and all of them sound different. Triads are clear structures that sound strong to our ears, and they can generate nice linear interest when played over one chord. Once again, all of this is 100% inside the scale. Ex. 5 is how each triad sounds over the track, and Ex. 6 is my attempt to improvise with them.
Ex. 5
Ex. 6
If we could find all these possibilities with triads, it's logical to make the structure a little bigger and take a similar approach with 7 chords, or in this case, arpeggios. Naturally, all the diatonic chords will work, but I'll limit this next idea to just Dm7, Fmaj7, Am7, and Cmaj7. I love this approach because as you move further away from the Dm7 shape, each new structure takes out a chord tone and replaces it with an extension. I notice that I usually come up with different lines when I'm thinking about different chord shapes, and this approach is a decent way to facilitate that. Ex. 7 is a good way to get these under your fingers. Just ascend one shape, shift into the next shape on the highest string, then descend and shift to the next on the lowest string.
Ex. 7
Ex. 8 is my improvisation using all four shapes and sounds, but I lean pretty heavily on the Am7.
Ex. 8
This last concept has kept me busy on the fretboard for the last five years or so. Check it out: You can take any idea that works over Dm7 and move the other diatonic chords. The result is six variations of your original lick. In Ex. 9 I play a line that is 4ā1āb3Āā5 over Dm7 and then walk it through the other chords in the key. These notes are still in the key of C, but it sounds drastically different from playing a scale.
Ex. 9
In Ex. 10, I try to think about the shapes from the previous example, but I break up the note order in a random but fun way. The ending line is random but felt good, so I left it in.
Ex. 10
While all these concepts have been presented over a minor chord, you can just as easily apply them to any chord quality, and they work just as well in harmonic or melodic minor. Rewarding sounds are available right inside the harmony, and I am still discovering new ideas through these concepts after many years.
Though the above ideas won't necessarily be appropriate for every style or situation, they will work in quite a few. Developing any approach to the point that it becomes a natural extension of your playing takes considerable work and patience, so just enjoy the process, experiment, and let your ear guide you to the sounds you like. Even over just one chord, there is always something new to find.