Christone “Kingfish” Ingram wails on his signature Fender Telecaster Deluxe, dressed in dazzling purple, for his late mother.
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram just wants to play the blues, man. In late August, the globe-trotting 24-year-old guitar phenom is hanging out in Los Angeles, doing studio work for a few different projects. He’s catching his breath after a whirlwind European summer tour that included a stint on a Mediterranean cruise ship with Joe Bonamassa. Ingram and his band returned home with a full-length live recording in hand, Live In London, which was recently released via legendary Chicago blues institution Alligator Records. The performance, captured on June 6 in front of a sold-out, standing-room-only crowd at the Garage in north London, demonstrates what Ingram’s converts have been saying for nearly a decade now: His studio records are great, but there’s something special about his live show.
Mississippi Night (Live-Instrumental)
“In the studio, I would say I’m more restrained,” says Ingram, pondering the differences between his live and on-record sounds. “I’m trying to play for the song a little more in the studio, whereas live, I’m more wild and crazy with my playing.” He chuckles: “It’s a little more upbeat.”
But long-time listeners will recognize more than just energetic novelties on Live In London. Ingram’s playing, in its essence, is changed. It’s more complex and thoughtful, mixing in different scales and modes than the genre’s traditional home turf of major or minor pentatonic. You can hear Ingram dip his toes into jazzy atonal runs throughout the scorching instrumental “Mississippi Night,” and oldies like the previously acoustic “Hard Times” are blown wide open with new arrangements that challenge and elevate their spirit. At other points, Ingram does the reverse: The electric rendition of “Something in the Dirt” on record is swapped out for an intimate acoustic performance on the live set.
This all makes perfect sense. Ingram told us what he was gunning for all along. The very first track on his 2019 debut record declared this intention: to celebrate the sacred roots of his home in Clarksdale, Mississippi, while finding his own way. “I could stay here forever, but I just can’t stick around,” he crooned on the track. “I know that there’s life outside of this town!”
Born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Ingram was perhaps destined to play Delta blues. On his new live album, though, the guitarist expands the borders of his traditional sound.
Photo by Erika Goldring/Courtesy of BMI
It’s hard to say if being born in Clarksdale is what set Ingram on his seemingly preordained path to modern blues greatness, but it sure couldn’t have hurt. Clarksdale has been either the original or adopted home of blues musicians that pioneered and popularized the genre: Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Son House, Ike Turner, and Willie Lee Brown, among many others. The intersection of highways 61 and 49 near Clarksdale is rumored to be the very crossroads at which Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil for guitar greatness. “There’s magic in the music,” Ingram sang on his 2021 LP 662, “but there’s something in the dirt.”
“I’m trying to play for the song a little more in the studio, whereas live, I’m more wild and crazy with my playing.”
It was in this hot melting pot of blues magic and myth that Ingram learned to play the guitar. First came gospel quartet music, a natural love developed through his mother and her side of the family. His mother’s family sang, and his uncles preached and played guitar and bass. Ingram started off singing gospel, and at age 8, his father enrolled him in the guitar program at Clarksdale’s Delta Blues Museum. The transition felt natural to Ingram, who heard parallels between the musics. “It’s pretty much the same thing, just one is sacred,” he says.
That’s where he learned from mentors like Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry, a local who became a nationally celebrated bluesman. It was Perry who gave Ingram his now-iconic nickname, “Kingfish.”
For his third album, Kingfish decided to record live during a well-rehearsed performance at London venue the Garage.
“He used to give all the students little nicknames, and we kind of thought of them as stage names,” says Ingram. “He got ‘Kingfish’ from an old sitcom, Amos and Andy. I didn’t like it at first, but I kept it because the ‘king’ kinda reminded me of B.B.” During the program, Ingram focused on guitar-playing, but one day his instructors coaxed him into adding his pipes to the mix.
It wasn’t long after that Ingram got his first guitar, a Teisco electric. By the time he was a teenager, Ingram was wowing lifelong bluesmen. Alligator Records founder Bruce Iglauer remembers hearing “Kingfish” for the first time at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas. Ingram, then 14 years old, was playing on a tiny stage to an audience of roughly a dozen people. “He was executing wonderfully, but he was playing a whole lot of notes all the time, and singing standard blues songs in the voice of a 14-year-old,” remembers Iglauer. “I was impressed with his chops, but thought that he had to learn to tell a story with his playing, including more dynamics, more rests and pauses, more ‘tension and release.’”
Five years later, in 2018, Iglauer heard him play again at the Chicago Blues Festival. Things had changed. “He totally knocked me out,” says Iglauer. “His talent was much more mature and exciting. He carried himself completely confidently on stage, introducing the songs and bantering with the audience.”
That was the year that Ingram cut his debut album, Kingfish, which was released in May 2019 on Alligator. Kingfish is a clean, well-oiled machine, a slick handshake introduction from Ingram. It covers classic, slinking, electric juke joint blues, overdriven blues rock ’n’ roll, finger-picked acoustic blues, and even some pop R&B over its 12 tracks, all showcasing Ingram’s mastery of blues guitar and singing. 662 covered much of the same ground, but mixed in some production tricks. “Another Life Goes By,” Ingram’s plea against anti-Black violence, took notes from ’90s hip-hop and R&B, with digital drums and clean, contemplative leads punctuating the singer’s deep, rich vibrato.
Ingram explains that both of his full-length records were cut with studio musicians instead of his touring band, which includes long-time friend and drummer Chris Black, bassist Paul Rogers, and keyboardist Sean Alexander. This is the crew that backs him on Live In London. “It goes deeper than being a band,” says Ingram. “They’ve been with me during some hard times for sure.” On Live In London, Ingram and his trusted road comrades are out in full-force. No studio tricks or assists, just pure blues-music excellence. Even Ingram’s sound is simple as can be. These days, he plays his signature Fender Kingfish Telecaster Deluxe through a Fender Twin that he boosts with a Marshall ShredMaster. At a few points on Live In London, he stomps a wah, too. Other than that, he says, he’s got a tuning pedal. No aces up his sleeves.
“Blues is life. Blues is always gonna be around us as long as somebody’s feeling down.”
Listening through Live In London, it’s easy to see why. He simply doesn’t need them. Even without the rhythm guitars that back him on his studio releases, Ingram’s playing somehow fills the gaps with thoughtful phrasings, and the extra space lets all the performances glisten just a bit more. Ingram says that while certain songs have parts that call for specific licks, all the solos are improvised. But where earlier in his career he might have favored speed, these days he aims for sincerity. “I do always try to have in the back of my mind to tell a story, try to paint a picture with the notes rather than just saying a whole lot but not meaning anything,” he says.
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram's Gear
Ingram’s playing is contemplative and warm on Live In London, filling up the space left by the absence of a rhythm guitar. But he doesn’t use tricks to beef up his presence—his rig is dead-simple.
Photo by Steve Kalinsky
Effects
- Marshall ShredMaster
- Cry Baby Mini Wah
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario (.011s)
“I’m not the best singer, I’m not the best technical guitar player,” he continues. “I can’t really do all the ‘wows!’ like other players can, but what I bring to the table, it comes from the heart for me. It’s real. I think that’s why people are drawn to what I do.”
Ingram and his band poured months of work into the Live In London set, rehearsing both in Los Angeles and in London before the date. Ingram wanted the show to tell a story with its sequencing and arrangements, and it helped that he developed some new narrative tools through the pandemic’s downtime. Stuck at home, Ingram dug back into music theory and worked on expanding the borders of his playing style, an experience he describes as “wonderful.” Those techniques lend the record its most compelling qualities—what Alligator’s Iglauer describes as “the energy and spontaneous creativity that [Ingram] delivers every night, plus the extended guitar improvisation that proves what a giant guitar talent he is.”
Live In London clocks in at just over 90 minutes with little to no fat—it’s a lean, athletic set, and Ingram says that’s par for the course, maybe even a touch on the shorter side. “We play two hours max every night,” he says. “This is like a normal show, we just added more songs and played ’em in less time.”
Ingram’s peers might not understand his reverence for the blues, but veteran blues label head Bruce Iglauer says he’s part of a wave of young Black American guitarists picking up the genre and making it their own.
Photo by Brad Elligood
In any genre, a youthful prodigy is always destined to raise eyebrows, but perhaps Ingram’s commitment to a field with a cultural import that feels shrunk from its mid-1900s heyday is particularly relevant. Iglauer, though, sees Ingram not as an anomaly, but the spearhead of a new wave of young Black blues musicians, originating from all corners of the United States. Iglauer lists off a stream of names: D.K. Harrell, Stephen Hull, Matthias Lattin, Sean McDonald, Dylan Triplett, Jontavious Willis, Andrew Alli, and Joey J. Saye. Some of them are pushing the genre’s themes forward with political messages; some are playing with its structure, mixing it with soul or reggae. But the most exciting thing, says Iglauer, is that they’re all supporting one another, and building a new era of blues. “Kingfish has already emerged as the most popular artist of this new generation, but there will be more to come,” says Iglauer. “It’s a rebirth of the blues from within the Black community.”Ingram has mentioned before that his youthful peers don’t understand his love for the blues. Ingram has ideas for how to stoke interest. ”We just come to their level a bit and add what they like to it, and once we get ’em in, we can teach ’em about the real and raw thing.” But he also thinks they’re missing an elemental piece of the human experience in the music. “This notion that the blues is dead or dying, it’s not true,” says Ingram. “Blues is life. Blues is always gonna be around us as long as somebody’s feeling down.”
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram - Midnight Heat (Live)
Live from the Garage in London, England, Kingfish and his band rip through a sweltering performance of “Midnight Heat,” a ’70s funk-indebted joint. About halfway through, Ingram takes his signature Telecaster Deluxe on a face-melter.
A rack of in-progress Aristides guitars, at the company’s factory in the Netherlands.
Over the decades, and especially more recently, a wild wave of alternative-material possibilities has steadily emerged, captivating many of our imaginations with unique sonic palettes, response, aesthetics, and playability. From the pioneering experiments of the past to the cutting-edge innovations of today, this is the journey of those materials—a testament to the enduring spirit of creativity and the relentless pursuit of excellence across the guitar universe.
As early as the 1950s, Danelectro, known for its budget-friendly instruments, made waves with their Masonite bodies. These guitars’ quirky designs and lipstick pickups offer a distinctive, resonant tone and affordability that appeals to many musicians seeking something unique and familiar. Less popular, but still prevalent, National built instruments from “Res-O-Glas,” a fiberglass-like substance made by combining polyester resin and glass threads.
The 1970s witnessed a surge of experimentation. The Ampeg Dan Armstrong “see-through” guitar was crafted from transparent acrylic. Though it had its drawbacks, the guitar became a bonafide icon. “It’s a pretty dense material. It weighs a lot,” notes James Little, CEO of Aluminati Guitar Co. “But it’s what gives them that midrange—they just cut through.” Together with their futuristic look, that cutting tone captivated players as diverse as Keith Richards and Black Flag’s Greg Ginn.
Adrian Belew’s own signature model Parker Fly, as seen on a recent Rig Rundown shoot. He’s playing the guitar on the current BEAT Tour, celebrating the classic ’80s recordings of King Crimson.
Photo by Perry Bean
While Masonite and acrylic were making headway, Veleno Guitars’ all-aluminum designs were landing in the hands of rock royalty, including Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, and Marc Bolan. The late producer Steve Albini’s Veleno even supplied the clean tones for Nirvana’s In Utero in the ’90s. Veleno wasn’t alone when it came to using metal, of course. Aluminum was used in the construction of electric instruments going back to the Rickenbacker A-22 “Frying Pan” lap steels, and Italy’s Wandre guitars were some of the first to use aluminum as a guitar-neck material in their radical designs. Later, Travis Bean and Kramer guitars, favored by artists like the Melvins’ Buzz Osborne and Jerry Garcia, followed suit in the ’70s.
These early forays into alternative materials may not have achieved the mainstream success of a Stratocaster. Still, their combination of attention-grabbing appearances and sound paved the way for future innovations and continues to inspire luthiers. As Ned Steinberger, the visionary behind his namesake brand and NS Design, puts it, “It’s not about the materials as much as how you feel when you play the guitar. How it sounds, how it plays, and how it looks—they’re all very important in terms of your enjoyment of playing.”
Ned knows a thing or two about electric guitar innovation. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he emerged as a true disruptor in the guitar world with his headless, carbon-fiber creations. These instruments, devoid of traditional headstocks and tuning pegs, offered unparalleled tuning stability, ergonomic comfort, and a sleek aesthetic that challenged conventional notions of guitar design.
A worker inspects a fresh and shiny body at the Aluminati factory.
Steinberger’s instruments initially faced resistance from traditionalists, but carbon fiber’s undeniable benefits soon won over a legion of progressive players. Eddie Van Halen, in his relentless pursuit of technical perfection, was one of the many who embraced Steinberger guitars for their tuning stability and futuristic TransTrem bridge. And on bass, Sting and Rush’s Geddy Lee also became prominent Steinberger players. These endorsements, as well as the instruments’ undeniable performance and stability, cemented Steinberger’s legacy as a true pioneer in alternative-material guitars.
Sparked by Steinberger’s work, the 1990s witnessed a renaissance of guitar innovation. Companies like Parker, Modulus, and Zon pushed the boundaries by combining carbon fiber and various alternative materials into premium instruments. Parker Guitars, founded by Ken Parker, gained the most recognition for its Fly model, a striking instrument featuring a composite body and a carbon-fiber neck. It symbolized the future for guitarists coming up at the time. “I have a vivid memory of being 15 or 16 and going to a guitar store and seeing a Parker there,” recalls Jake Howsam Lowe of the bands Plini and the Helix Nebula. “I played it, and all I could think was, ‘This thing is insane. I love this so much!’”
The Fly’s unique combination of materials offered a balanced tone, exceptional sustain, and a lightweight feel that has yet to be matched. Everyone from eclectic, boundary-pushing wizards Adrian Belew and Vernon Reid to fingerstyle master Phil Keaggy became champions of Ken Parker’s revolutionary design.
Like Steinberger and Veleno before them, Parker Guitars may have been too ahead of their time. By the mid 2000s, the brand was on the back burner, and the guitar industry was amid a significant shift. With renewed concerns about deforestation and the dwindling supply of rosewood and mahogany, there was a new focus on the search for sustainable alternatives. Much of that energy went into the hunt for alternative woods. Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars was at the heart of a movement to embrace non-traditional tonewoods like ovangkol, sapele, and pau ferro.
Buddy Miller in his home studio posing with a Wandre, one of the first aluminum-neck designs. Buddy has nearly single-handedly inspired a cult around these Italian exports.
Photo by Ted Drozdowski
Sustainability continues to remain a concern across the industry. Even builders who specialize in non-wood construction still rely on plenty of wood in their builds. “We do [use wood],” says Little. “Mainly, we use local poplar and maple, but we also use some sapele, and we’re looking into paulownia. It grows on farms here in the South. So we try to keep it as local and green as possible."
Little’s Aluminati Guitars is at the forefront of today’s alternative-materials movement. Though not afraid to branch into the mentioned tonewoods, Lucite, and carbon fiber, the brand is known for its all-aluminum models. “Aluminum is just the perfect thing to make a stringed instrument from,” states Little, plainly. “It just rings out like a bell.”
Aluminati’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond their choice of materials. They also prioritize how they source their materials, ensuring their instruments are as environmentally conscious as they are sonically impressive. “For example,” says Little, “a company sent us some aluminum cans from a few of their venues in the United States. We recycled those cans into some fretboards and other parts.”
This Aluminati Nebula is all aluminum, but the model is available with customizable options, including fretboard and body material.
The contemporary guitar landscape is a tapestry of innovation and experimentation, where luthiers and musicians push the boundaries of what a guitar can be. Prisma Guitars builds instruments out of retired skateboards; German maker Verso’s minimalist designs are built using sheet metal; and luthier Rachel Rosenkrantz is challenging the conventions of what is accepted as instrument materials by using mycelium and paper within her sustainable avant-garde builds. Some builders, like YouTube-famous Burls Art, craft instruments from unexpected materials like colored pencils and Legos, transforming everyday objects into functional works of art.
Aristides Instruments is a leader in the charge for technological advancements. Engineering their own Arium composite material (a blend including thermoplastic resin and glass bubbles), Aristides crafts their instruments as a single uninterrupted piece. Each comes to life in specialized molds unique to their breathtaking designs. According to CEO Pascal Langelaar, the result is unparalleled consistency and playability. “People could see that as less romantic,” he admits, “but the benefit is that, when you play your neighbor’s guitar, you're getting the same quality [when you order your own].”
This consistency and quality control is a hallmark of the modern alternative-materials movement, offering reliability and predictability essential in today’s online-retail world. That peace of mind can be elusive with traditional wooden instruments.
Alternative materials aren’t without their unique challenges, though. Little acknowledges the hurdles, especially faced by early pioneers. “The main challenges were their weight, tuning stability, and action. They sound fantastic, but [a lot of them are] like 12 or 13 pounds. They’re always cold and have pretty raunchy tuning stability. So, we’ve had to address not only the traditional sound but also the pain points from aluminum instruments from the past.”
Caption: This Aristides 8-string is made from the company’s proprietary Arium composite material.
Aristides Instruments’ innovative approach to creating its own composite material helps solve these challenges. Even their finishing process is a highly technical exercise in innovation and precision. Erik Nieuwenhuisen, the company’s production manager, explains: “Once the guitars are out of the mold, they get painted on a really high level. We try to keep the paint layers extremely thin, but need to be sure that everything is really consistent.”
For decades, guitarists have remained fiercely loyal to traditional wood instruments, most viewing them as the only true path to sonic authenticity. But it seems as though players are embracing alternative materials more than ever before, a significant shift in the industry. So, what’s driving this change?
Little believes it’s a sign of the times. “I think it's the younger generation,” he says. “They want stuff that’s just kind of no-bullshit, something that works all the time when they want it to work without having to do a bunch of maintenance.”
Lowe, an Aristides devotee, echoes the sentiment. “I’m a very low-maintenance guitar player,” he explains. “And the less I have to do to my instrument, the happier I am. I think part of it also has to do with the fact that companies are just getting better.”
Luther Rachel Rosenkrantz’s Mycocaster is made of a unique combination of mycelium, recycled paper, Indian rosewood scraps, wax, and oil.
As part of Plini’s two-guitar live attack, Lowe is one of many guitarists flying the alternative-material flag while leading a new generation of fusion and metal players. According to him, online communities have also been crucial for expanding players’ horizons. Forums and social media platforms have provided a space for guitarists to connect, share their experiences, and discover new builders pushing the boundaries of design.
“Access through the internet is really important,” he says. “I remember cruising those forums and seeing guys like Misha [Mansoor of Periphery] and Nolly [Getgood of Periphery, producer] talking about nerdy guitar stuff. We all seem to start there and move out from there.”
The future of alternative material guitars rests with these newer artists, and the past two decades have seen a surge of innovation in guitar gear in large part driven by artists like Lowe, Mansoor, and Animals as Leaders, who fearlessly embrace everything from new materials to digital modeling and extended-range instruments. As Lowe says, point blank, “The rules have changed for electric guitar design.”
Langelaar also sees a bright future for alternative materials, saying, “I think there’s going to be more and more alternatives and different visions on guitar building. Aristides offers something different that speaks to people. And maybe right now it’s still a niche, but I think that niche is going to get bigger and bigger.”
Ever the innovator, Steinberger also envisions a future of refinement and evolution, but thinks it’s coming a little at a time. “I don’t think there’s a lot of revolution on the horizon,” he says. “There’s nothing quite like what happened when they put a pickup on a guitar. I mean, that was the revolution.”
There’s no denying the allure of alternative-material electric guitars. They represent a bold step into the future, a testament to the spirit of innovation, and carry a long list of benefits unmatched by traditional tonewoods. As guitar designs, these instruments stand as a reminder that the possibilities are limitless.
Whether alternative materials will eventually become the norm or remain a niche remains to be seen. But one thing is certain, the electric guitar, in all its forms, continues to evolve, driven by a relentless pursuit of new sounds, innovative designs, and the quest for musical expression.
The North American leg, produced by Live Nation and SJM, will see Oasis play stadiums in Toronto, Chicago, East Rutherford, Los Angeles and Mexico City next summer with Cage The Elephant as the special guest across all dates.
The news comes 16 years since their last performance in North America. Oasis commented,
“America.
Oasis is coming.
You have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along.”
The previously announced dates on the Oasis Live ‘25 tour sold out immediately, with over 10 million fans from 158 countries queuing to buy tickets. Days after their return, the band claimed their 8th UK No. 1 album with the 30th anniversary of their electrifying debut album Definitely Maybe, while at the same time occupying two other spots in the top 5 UK albums chart.
Oasis remain a huge draw in the streaming era, with over 32 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone – an increase of almost 50% since the announcement of their return – and nearly 12.5 billion streams to date across platforms.
Registration for the presale is currently open at oasisinet.com until Tuesday, October 1st at 8 am EST. General ticket sale will begin Friday, October 4th at 12pm local time and will be available from Ticketmaster.
Plans are underway for Oasis Live ’25 to go to other continents outside of Europe and North America later next year.
JULY 2025
4th - Cardiff, UK - Principality Stadium (SOLD OUT)
5th - Cardiff, UK - Principality Stadium (SOLD OUT)
11th - Manchester, UK - Heaton Park (SOLD OUT)
12th - Manchester, UK - Heaton Park (SOLD OUT)
16th - Manchester, UK - Heaton Park (SOLD OUT)
19th - Manchester, UK - Heaton Park (SOLD OUT)
20th - Manchester, UK - Heaton Park (SOLD OUT)
25th - London, UK - Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT)
26th - London, UK - Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT)
30th - London, UK - Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT)
AUGUST 2025
2nd - London, UK - Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT)
3rd - London, UK - Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT)
8th - Edinburgh, UK - Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium (SOLD OUT)
9th - Edinburgh, UK - Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium (SOLD OUT)
12th - Edinburgh, UK - Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium (SOLD OUT)
16th - Dublin, IE - Croke Park (SOLD OUT)
17th - Dublin, IE - Croke Park (SOLD OUT)
24th - Toronto, ON - Rogers Stadium (JUST ADDED)
28th - Chicago, IL - Soldier Field (JUST ADDED)
31st - East Rutherford, NJ - MetLife Stadium (JUST ADDED)
SEPTEMBER 2025
6th - Los Angeles, CA - Rose Bowl Stadium (JUST ADDED)
12th - Mexico City, MX - Estadio GNP Seguros (JUST ADDED)
27th - London, UK - Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT)
28th - London, UK - Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT)
Hats off to Carmen Vandenberg of Bones UK, our celebrity Question of the Month respondent.
Guest Picker - Carmen Vandenberg, Bones UK
The cover of Soft, Bones UK’s new album, due in mid-September.
A: My favorite method these days (and to be honest, from when I started playing) is to put on my favorite blues records, listen with my eyes closed, and, at the end, see what my brain compartmentalizes and keeps stored away. Then, I try and play back what I heard and what my fingers or brain decided they liked!
Bone UK’s labelmade, Des Rocks.
Obsession: Right now, I am into anyone trying to create sounds that haven’t been made before—bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White, and our labelmate, Des Rocs! There’s a Colombian band called Diamanté Electrico who I’ve been really into recently. Really anyone who’s trying to create innovative and inspiring sounds.
Reader of the Month - Sam C. Schiff.
Sam spent endless hours trying to learn the solo Leslie West played on “Long Red,” off of The Road Goes Ever On.
A: The best way to learn guitar is to listen to some good guitar playing! Put on a record, hear something tasty, and play on repeat until it comes out of your fingers. For me, it was Leslie West playing “Long Red” on the Mountain album, The Road Goes Ever On. I stayed up all night listening to that track until I could match Leslie’s phrasing. I still can’t, no one can, but I learned a lot!
Smith’s own low-wattage amp build.
Obsession: My latest musical obsession is low-wattage tube amps like the 5-watt Fender Champ heard on the Laylaalbum. Crank it up all the way for great tube distortion and sustain, and it’s still not loud enough to wake up the neighbors!
Gear Editor - Charles Saufley
Charles Saufley takes to gear like a duck to water!
A: Learning by ear and feel is most fun for me. I write and free-form jam more than I learn other people’s licks. When I do want to learn something specific, I’ll poke around on YouTube for a demo or a lesson or watch films of a player I like, and then typically mangle that in my own “special” way that yields something else. But I rarely have patience for tabs or notation.
The Grateful Dead’s 1967 debut album.
Obsession: Distorted and overdriven sounds with very little sustain—Keith Richards’ Between the Buttons tones, for example. Jerry Garcia’s plonky tones on the first Grateful Dead LP are another cool, less-fuzzy version of that texture.
Publisher - Jon Levy
A: I’m a primitive beast: The only way I can learn new music is by ear, so it’s a good thing I find that method enjoyable. I’m entirely illiterate with staff notation. Put sheet music in front of me and I’ll stare at it with twitchy, fearful incomprehension like an ape gaping at the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I’m almost as clueless with tab, but I can follow along with chord charts if I’m under duress.
The two-hit wonders behind the early ’70s soft-rock hits, “Fallin’ in Love” and “Don't Pull Your Love.”
Obsession: Revisiting and learning AM-radio pop hits circa 1966–1972. The Grass Roots, Edison Lighthouse, the Association, the Archies, and Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds—nothing is too cheesy for me to dissect and savor. Yes, I admit I have a serious problem.