Scottsdale, AZ (September 3, 2013) -- Fender acoustics is proud to welcome one ukulele and two new acoustic guitars to its collection, the Jimmy Stafford Nohea Ukulele, Sonoran SCE Wildwood IV, and Kingman Jumbo SCE Limited Edition.
The Jimmy Stafford Signature Nohea ukulele is based on the Train guitarist’s customized ukulele Nohea model, as heard on 2009 hit “Hey, Soul Sister.” It’s a real stunner, too, with a gorgeous all-koa body, abalone acrylic rosette and binding, and a rich Transparent Black gloss finish.
Other features include scalloped fan bracing, 17” scale, “U”-shaped mahogany neck with aged white binding and Telecaster® headstock, 19-fret rosewood fingerboard with abalone acrylic dot inlays, rosewood bridge and Fishman Sonitone™ soundhole pickup system with volume and tone controls. Includes a gig bag.
Reminiscent of the colorfully distinctive Fender Wildwood acoustics of the 1960s, the Sonoran SCE Wildwood IV dreadnought was created with exotic woods that make for a truly special instrument with remarkable look, sound and feel.
Premium features include a solid spruce top for superior balanced tone, matched with an exotic back and sides in either exotic dao or purpleheart. Dao wood imparts a gentle tropical look with balanced tone, while purpleheart wood has an elegantly striking look and extended dynamic range. Other features include a maple neck with “C”-shaped profile and Stratocaster headstock, 20-fret rosewood fingerboard with bone nut, rosewood-base Fender “Viking” bridge with compensated bone saddle and aged white pins, three-ply gold pickguard, and Fishman Presys pickup/preamp system with volume control, three-band EQ, mid-sweep control, low-battery light and built-in tuner.
Large in size and volume with a vibe that screams Fender, the Kingman Jumbo SCE Limited Edition is a jumbo cutaway acoustic that can cut through any mix with its loud booming bass thanks to its solid spruce and laminated mahogany back and sides. It offers a natural body finish, maple Strat neck with “C”-shaped profile, quartersawn scalloped “X” bracing, Fishman® Presys preamp with built-in tuner, dual action truss rod for increased stability, all-solid rosewood bridge plate, and bone nut and saddle.
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Left to right: Joe Lally. Brandan Canty, and Anthony Pirog
So you might be surprised to learn that such an accomplished low-ender didn’t always feel confident about his own musical knowledge. “I spent all that time in Fugazi not formally being able to articulate about music very well with the other people in the band,” Joe says. “It was very frustrating at times. There were times I wanted to leave the band because it felt like I couldn’t even talk about what I wanted to do.”
It was only after Fugazi went on indefinite hiatus that, realizing he wanted to keep making music, Joe decided to get some education. “I took a few lessons at Flea’s school in L.A., the Silverlake Conservatory. I studied with Tree, the dean of the school, who showed me some things about songwriting on piano. I was looking at it like I was getting piano lessons, but really he was showing me the sound of major, the sound of minor, and the sound of the dominant 7 chord. Those three chords are the basic beginnings of learning music theory.”
As Joe learned it, the major sound was “Here, There, and Everywhere" by the Beatles, the minor was Santana’s “Evil Ways,” and the dominant 7 was “I Feel Good” by James Brown. “I learned to play those chord changes on piano, and came to understand more about songs and completing my own song ideas.”
Joe mainly learned by asking questions. “To a degree, that’s what I want people to get from the lessons I give,” he continues. “There’s so much you can go into theory-wise, but you don’t really need to to be able to write music, play music, and figure out other people’s music.”
Joe went on to write and release three solo albums, as well as two with Ataxia, his project with Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarists John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer. In 2016, he formed instrumental jazz-punk fusion trio the Messthetics with Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and genre-spanning guitar virtuoso Anthony Pirog. They’ve since toured heavily and released three full lengths. He also joined Ian Mackaye—Fugazi’s and the Evens’s singer-guitarist—along with Evens drummer Amy Farina to form Coriky.
Lally’s humble online flyer.
“I foolishly never picked up a book because I thought it would ruin what I did know. When I told a friend I was teaching theory, he asked, ‘Has it ruined your playing yet?’”
When off the road, Joe worked different jobs in DC’s independent music scene to pay the bills. But when the pandemic lockdown came, he decided to start giving online lessons. He made flyers and posted them on social media.
“I’m not teaching formal theory, which I think is weird and abstract and doesn’t show people everything,” says Joe. “It takes years of learning formally to see how everything is connected to see how this thing is part of that other thing we learned years ago. Most of my students are adults who have been playing but now want to know more about what they’ve been doing.”
But music theory is something we all operate within, says Joe, whether we’re knowledgeable about it or not. “We are engaged in theory. We just may not know it. When you’re playing or writing a song, you might think ‘that note sounds right’ or ‘that note sounds wrong.’ It's because we are relating it to something in theory that we’ve picked up from all the music we’ve listened to.”
Joe recognizes that some people are apprehensive about learning music theory, and he admits that when he was in Fugazi, he was, too. “I foolishly never picked up a book because I thought it would ruin what I did know. When I told a friend I was teaching theory, he asked, ‘Has it ruined your playing yet?’
“But formal study should use your thinking mind, and when you play, you’re outside of thinking. Creativity is outside of thought. You hear about jazz players who practice scales over and over, and what they’re really practicing is the sounds of these things that they want to hear. But when they play, they let go of all of that. So I realized my playing is never going to change. I’m always going to write the way I wrote.”
To immerse yourself in Joe’s creative world, check out the Messthetics’s 2024 album, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, which adds saxophonist Lewis to the trio, bringing together Fugazi’s powerful rhythm section with two players from the creative improv world.
To inquire about bass lessons with Joe Lally, contact him on Instagram at @joelally898.
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