Joni Mitchellās rich, colorful altered-tuning chord voicings have set her work apart in its own musical universe, where the rest of us guitarists either scratch our heads in wonder or have to do dissertation-level research to unpack just how she gets her sound.
Joni Mitchellās rich, colorful altered-tuning chord voicings have set her work apart in its own musical universe, where the rest of us guitarists either scratch our heads in wonder or have to do dissertation-level research to unpack just how she gets her sound. Dawes guitarist and songwriter Taylor Goldsmith gained firsthand experience with Mitchellās songs when he joined her on stageājust check out 2022ās āJoni Jamā from the Newport Folk Festival, which also included Brandi Carlile, Blake Mills, Jon Batiste, and others.
Goldsmith joins us on this episode of the 100 Guitarists podcast. Together, we talk about Mitchellās chord voicings and progressions, her tunings, what itās like to share a stage with her, and Goldsmith wonders: Was Bob Dylanās āTangled Up in Blueā a nod to the songwriterās 1971 album?
When we wrap up our conversation, we cover a new release of energetic, forward-leaning guitar cumbia by Los PiraƱas and an album of Bach Partitas for Telecaster by guitarist Noel Johnston.
This episode is sponsored by L.R. Baggs.
What if you could have the best of bothāor multipleāworlds? Our columnist investigates.
This column is a fun and educational thought experiment: What if I took inspiration from the well-known Fender amps out there, combined the best from them, and applied a few of my own twists? After all, this is how amps developed. I read somewhere that āFender made the first Marshall, and Marshall made the first reissue Fender.ā It's funny, because it's true: The Marshall JTM45 was based on the narrow-panel tweed Fender Bassman 5F6-A.
Before we start, Iād like to share my respect for the real entrepreneurs who get into the gear industry. The financial and commercial challenges are of existential magnitude, and I can only imagine the complexity of scaling up production lines. For now, letās start with the easy part: designing the amps of our dreams.
The Smarter Deluxe Reverb
The idea behind this amp is to enhance the black-panel Deluxe Reverb by making it simpler, yet more versatile. First, weād need an extra 2 cm of cabinet height for better clearance between the output transformer and the magnet of a heavy-duty 12" speaker. The extra ambience and fullness from the slightly larger cabinet would be appreciated by many who find the Deluxe too small on larger stages. Iād offer both 2x10 and 1x12 speaker baffles of birch plywood that are more durable than MDF particle boards.
For the 2x10 version, there would be simple on/off switches on the lower back plate to disconnect the speaker wires. That way, players could disable one speaker to easily reduce volume and headroom, or select between two different sounding speakers. Also, these switches will enable super-easy speaker comparisons at home. There would be a 4- and 8-ohm impedance selector based on a multi-tap output transformer that is the size of a Vibrolux Reverb 125A6A transformerāone size bigger than the DeluxeĀ“s 125A1A. This would tighten up the low-end response to accommodate the bigger cabinet.
Like the Princeton Reverb, the amp would be single-channel with reverb and tremolo, but with only one input jack. I would keep the Deluxeās tone stack, and add a bright switch and a mid-control with a larger 20-25K mid-pot value instead of the Fender-default 10K. This would enable players to dial in many more tones between a scooped American sound and a British growl. The power amp section is 100 percent Deluxe Reverb, which would allow 6L6 tube swaps without the need to change anything else. The full power of the 6L6 will not be utilized due to the lower 6V6 plate voltages, but it gives you some extra headroom. To reduce costs and complexity, I would use a diode rectifier and transistors in the reverb circuitry, like the modern Blues Junior. This saves two tubes and creates less trouble down the road. The tremolo would be based on the Princeton Reverbās bias-based tremolo circuit, since it sweeps deeper than the Deluxe Reverbās optoisolator tremolo.
The Bassman Pro Reverb
My second amp would be a large, warm-sounding amp with preamp distortion abilities. I really like the Vibro-King and tweed Bassman 5F6-A circuit designs, where the volume control is placed alone before a 12AX7 preamp tube stage and then followed by the EQ section. This means that a high volume-knob setting allows a strong signal to enter the 12AX7, creating a distorted signal at the tubeās output. This distorted signal then enters the bass, mid, and treble pots afterward, which can lower the still-distorted signal amplitude before the phase inverter and power amp section. With this preamp design, you can achieve a heavily cranked tone at low volumes based on preamp distortion and clean power amp operation. This trick is not possible with the typical AB763 amps, where the volume and EQ work together at the same stage. If you set the volume high and the bass, mids, and treble low, they cancel each other before hitting the next tube stage.
āThis amp could do it all: pleasant cleans and distortion at both moderate and loud levels.ā
I would use a Pro Reverb-sized 2x12 cabinet for this amp, with the output impedance selector and speaker switches I mentioned earlier. The amp would have dual 6L6s in push/pull, and a Super Reverb-sized 125A9A output transformer for a firm low end at 40-watt power output. I would go for cathode bias in this amp, for a compressed, low-wattage, tweed-style response, to add even more dirt next after the hot preamp section. There is only one jack input into the single channel, with reverb, tremolo, and full EQ controls (bright switch, bass, mid, and treble). Since this would be a more costly amp, Iād use a tube rectifier and tube-driven reverb. This amp could do it all: pleasant cleans and distortion at both moderate and loud levels. It wouldnāt stay loud and clean, though. For that, we would need a third amp, which we will maybe get back to later.
Iād be excited to hear your thoughts about these amps, and if I should follow my dreams to build themI would use a Pro Reverb-sized 2x12 cabinet for this amp, with the output impedance selector and speaker switches I mentioned earlier. The amp would have dual 6L6s in push/pull, and a Super Reverb-sized 125A9A output transformer for a firm low end at 40-watt power output. I would go for cathode bias in this amp, for a compressed, low-wattage, tweed-style response, to add even more dirt next after the hot preamp section. There is only one jack input into the single channel, with reverb, tremolo, and full EQ controls (bright switch, bass, mid, and treble). Since this would be a more costly amp, Iād use a tube rectifier and tube-driven reverb. This amp could do it all: pleasant cleans and distortion at both moderate and loud levels. It wouldnāt stay loud and clean, though. For that, we would need a third amp, which we will maybe get back to later.
Iād be excited to hear your thoughts about these amps, and if I should follow my dreams to build them!
After surviving a near-death aortic dissection onstage, Richie Faulkner shredder has endured some health challenges. In this exclusive video, he opens up about how the cardiac event impacted his mental health both on- and offstage.
During Judas Priest's the Louder Than Life 2021 performance at the Louisville-based festival, lead shredder Richie Faulkner suffered an aortic dissection onstage. (It's worth noting, the steadfast professional finished the "Painkiller" solo before ending the setāan amazing feat.) He was rushed to the nearby University of Louisville hospital that saved his life. (Serendipitously, the hospital was only a few miles from the festival grounds.)
Faulkner fully recovered from the near-death experience but has endured other health setback stemming from the aortic dissection resulting in several issues including his right-hand coordination and strength. He's powered through the last 3+ years of performances and only now is open to talking about the difficulties he has playing the technical rhythm parts and how that's impacted his mental health both on- and offstage with the massive metal band.
Over the decades with Hüsker Dü, Sugar, and solo, Bob Mould has earned a reputation for visceral performances.
The 15th studio album from the legendary alt-rocker and former Hüsker Dü singer and 6-stringer is a rhythm-guitar record, and a play in three acts, inspired by sweaty, spilled-beer community connection.
Bob Mould wrote his last album, Blue Heart, as a protest record, ahead of the 2020 American election. As a basic rule, protest music works best when it's shared and experienced communally, where it can percolate and manifest in new, exciting disruptions. But 2020 wasnāt exactly a great year for gathering together.
Mouldās album landed in a world of cloistered listeners, so he never knew how it impacted people. For a musician from punk and hardcore scenes, it was a disquieting experience. So when he got back out on the road in 2023 and 2024, playing solo electric sets, the former Hüsker Dü and Sugar frontman was determined to reconnect with his listeners. After each show, heād hang out at the merch table and talk. Some people wanted their records or shirts signed, some wanted a picture. Others shared dark stories and secret experiences connected to Mouldās work. It humbled and moved him. āIām grateful for all of it,ā he says.
These are the in-person viscera of a group of people connecting on shared interests, versus, says Mould, āāI gotta clean the house today, so Iām going to put on my clean the house playlist that a computer designed for me.ā āEverything has become so digitized,ā he laments. āI grew up where music was religion, it was life, it was essential. When people come to shows, and thereās an atmosphere, thereās volume, thereās spilled drinks and sweatāthatās what music ritual is supposed to be.ā
His experiences on tour after the pandemic heartened Mould, but they also gave him traction on new ideas and direction for a new record. He returned to the simple, dirty guitar-pop music that spiked his heart rate when he was young: the Ramonesā stupid-simple pop-punk ecstasy, New York Dollsā sharp-edged playfulness, Pete Townshendās epic, chest-rattling guitar theatrics. In other words, the sort of snotty, poppy, wide-open rock we heard and loved on Hüsker Düās Flip Your Wig and Candy Apple Grey.
Mouldās time on the road playing solo in 2023 sparked the idea for Here We Go Crazy.
Photo by Ryan Bakerink
Mould started writing new songs in the vein of his original childhood heroes, working them into those electric solo sets in 2023 and 2024. Working with those restraintsāguitar chords and vocal melodiesāput Mould on track to make Here We Go Crazy, his new, 15th solo record.
Lead single and opener āHere We Go Crazyā is a scene-setting piece of fuzzy ā90s alt-rock, bookended by the fierce pounding of āNeanderthal.ā āWhen Your Heart is Brokenā is a standout, with its bubblegum chorus melody and rumbling, tense, Who-style holding pattern before one of the albumās only solos. Ditto āSharp Little Pieces,ā with perhaps the recordās chewiest, darkest guitar sounds.
āItās a very familiar-sounding record,ā he continues. āI think when people hear it, they will go, āOh my god, this is so Bob Mould,ā and a lot of that was [influenced by] spending time with the audience again, putting new stuff into the set alongside the songbook material, going out to the table after the show and getting reactions from people. That sort of steered me towards a very simple, energetic, guitar-driven pop record.ā
Of his new album, Mould says, āI think when people hear it, they will go, āOh my god, this is so Bob Mould.āā
Mould recorded the LP in Chicago with longtime bandmates Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster at the late, great Steve Albiniās Electrical Audio. Then Mould retreated to San Francisco to finish the record, chipping away at vocals and extra guitar pieces. He mostly resisted the pull of ānon-guitar ornamentationā: āItās a rhythm guitar record with a couple leads and a Minimoog,ā he says. āItās sort of cool to not have a 64-crayon set every time.ā
Mould relied on his favorite, now-signature late-ā80s Fender Strat Plus, which sat out on a runway at OāHare in 20-below cold for three hours and needed a few days to get back in fighting shape. In the studio, he ran the Strat into his signature Tym Guitars Sky Patch, a take on the MXR Distortion+, then onto a Radial JD7. The Radial split his signal and sent it to three combo amps: a Fender Hot Rod DeVille, a Fender ā68 Custom Deluxe Reverb reissue, and a Blackstar Artisan 30, each with a mic on it. The result is a brighter record that Mould says leaves more room for the bass and kick drum. āIf you listen to this record against Patch the Sky, for instance, itās night and day,ā he says. āItās snug.ā
Mould explains that the record unfolds over three acts. Tracks one through five comprise the first episode, crackling with uncertainty and conflict. The second, spread over songs six to eight, contrasts feelings of openness with tight, claustrophobic tension. Here, there are dead ends, addictions, and frigid realities. But after āSharp Little Pieces,ā the album turns its corner, barreling toward the home stretch in a fury of optimism and determination. āThese last three [songs] should give us more hope,ā says Mould. āThey should talk about unconditional love.ā
The record closes on the ballad āYour Side,ā which starts gentle and ends in a rush of smashed chords and cymbals, undoubtedly one of the most invigorating segments. āThe world is going down in flames, I wanna be by your side/We can find a quiet place, it doesnāt need to be the Albert Hall,ā Mould starts. Itās a beautiful portrait of love, aging, and the passage of time.
Bob Mould's Gear
Mould paired his trusty Fender Strat Plus with a trio of smaller combo amps to carve out a more mid-focused rhythm-guitar sound in the studio.
Photo by Mike White
Guitars
- Late 1980s Fender American Standard Strat Plus (multiple)
Amps
- Fender Hot Rod DeVille
- Blackstar Artisan Series amps
- Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb
Effects
- Tym Guitars Sky Patch
- TC Electronic Flashback
- Electro-Harmonix Freeze
- Wampler Ego
- Universal Audio 1176
- Radial JD7
Strings, Picks, & Power Supply
- D'Addario NYXLs (.011-.046)
- Dunlop .46 mm and .60 mm picks
- Voodoo Labs power supply
And though the record ends on this palette of tenderness and connection, the cycle is likely to start all over again. Mould understands this; even though he knows heās basking in act three at the moment, acts one and two will come along again, and again. Thankfully, heās figured out how to weather the changes.
āWhen things are good, enjoy them,ā he says. āWhen things are tough, do the work and get out of it, somehow.ā
- YouTube
Many of the tracks on Here We Go Crazy were road-tested by Mould during solo sets. Here, accompanied only by his trusty Fender Strat, he belts āBreathing Room.ā