 | Download Example 1 Clean - Toggle between neck only, neck and bridge, bridge only. Recorded direct into Pro Tools. |
| Download Example 2 Distorted - both humbuckers on, recorded through Eleven Rack into Pro Tools |
| Download Example 3 Riffs - Bridge Pickup. Recorded with PRS Sweet 16 head & cab, Shure SM57, Pro Tools. |
| Download Example 4 Solo - Neck Pickup. Recorded with Eleven Rack with Treadplate Red preset. |
Whether you like Slash as a guitar player or not,
you can’t deny the fact that he brought Les Pauls
back into the spotlight at a time when pointy guitars
with Floyd Rose tremolos were the in thing.
When it seemed like every other rock guitar player
was playing a million miles an hour with their
hammer-ons and arpeggios, Slash’s guitar playing
reintroduced the bluesy element that seemed to
be missing from rock.
A major part of Slash’s tone was his trusty Les
Paul. In 1987, Slash was recording the basic tracks
for Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction, and
he was having a hard time getting a good sound.
The band’s manager, Alan Niven, bought a Les
Paul for Slash to use in the studio. Slash promptly
fell in love with it and it ended up being his main
guitar for years. It’s no secret that this guitar was
not actually a Gibson, but a replica of a ’59 Les
Paul that was handbuilt by a California luthier
named Kris Derrig. Back then, Gibson didn’t make reissues, so this was the closest to a ’59 Les
Paul that Slash could get.
Over the years, there’s been huge fascination
about the gear Slash used on
Appetite, and that gritty, warm overdriven
sound has become somewhat iconic. Slash
has said that so many fans have asked him
about the Les Paul he recorded with that
he felt it was a good time to recreate the
guitar for those die-hards.
Under the Microscope
The Gibson Slash Appetite Les Paul incorporates
many of the most sought-after
features of the original Les Paul Standards
from 1958 to 1960, such as a slim,
’60s-style neck profile and a body based
on a 1959 Les Paul, just like Slash’s original
guitar. It also features the new Seymour
Duncan Alnico II Pro Slash signature humbuckers,
a gorgeous, AAA-grade figuredmaple
top with a nitrocellulose finish, and
a rosewood fretboard with traditional trapezoid
inlays. Hardware includes a TonePros
Tune-o-matic bridge and a stopbar tailpiece.
The Slash graphic on the headstock
and case show the world how proud you
are of your cool axe.
One of the major thrills in receiving a brand-spanking
new guitar is just opening the
case for the first time, and this guitar did
not disappoint. The finish on Paul was absolutely
stunning! The highly flamed, two-piece
maple top features the exclusive “Appetite
Amber” or “unburst” finish, which replicates
how the sunburst finish fades over time and
leaves only a deep amber glow. I love the
way this finish looks and it really gives the
guitar a vintage vibe. Further, the guitar I
received definitely had one of the nicest
tops I’ve seen on a Les Paul.
After just admiring the guitar in its case for
a little while, I had to pick it up and play it!
I noticed a couple things right away. First
of all, I like the slimmer ’60s profile neck.
It felt really comfortable in my hand. And
the guitar was perfectly set up right out of
the case—easy playing and smooth fretting,
with low action. Just how I like it. You can
definitely dig in and do some wide bluesy
bends, but you could also play fast and
shred if you wanted to. The Appetite Paul
is a bit lighter than some other Pauls I’ve
played. Like all current Pauls with binding
(like the Traditional and the Standard), it
has nine strategically routed holes in the
mahogany body. When I first heard about
these weight-relief holes, I was concerned
about how they could affect sustain and
tone. However, Gibson says it has done
extensive testing showing that, as long as
the holes aren’t near the bridge or tailpiece,
they don’t adversely impact tone. It’s pretty
evident with the Slash guitar, too, because
there was plenty of sustain and resonance,
even when playing the guitar unplugged.
The Ultimate Test
I plugged the Appetite Paul into a variety
of amps, but naturally chose my Marshall
cabinet first for instant gratification. The
classic-rock sound just poured out of the
speakers. All the elements of the Les Paul/
Marshall rock tone were there—thick,
chunky, deep tones when playing chords,
and long, singing notes when playing leads.
I own a 2008 Slash Les Paul with Alnico II
pickups, so I was able to compare them
to these new Slash signature pickups. I
noticed that the new humbuckers have a
brasher, more aggressive sound with a dirty
tone, and a greater dynamic range that’s
really evident with a clean sound. These
pickups definitely have a boomier low end,
smoother mids, and a brighter, crisper high
end than the Alnico IIs in previous Slash
models, which seemed to have more of a
midrange tone.
Although I’ve been a fan of earlier Slash
Les Pauls, I will admit that I was a little
skeptical about this Slash model at first, if
not simply because it can be considered a
replica of a replica. However, if you take
away the back story and just look at the
guitar for what it is, you’ll discover that it
really is a great guitar worth checking out.
It’s a well-built, high-quality Les Paul with
flawless playability and gorgeous looks.
Some players may not be crazy about the
Slash logo on the headstock, but it is his
signature model after all. Price-wise, it is comparable to
other Gibson USA
Les Pauls. And while
that price may be
out of reach for some
guitarists, you do get
what you pay for. The
Gibson Les Paul is a classic
for a reason. And with
its traditional specs and a
few modern enhancements, the
Gibson Slash Appetite Les Paul is
an instant classic.
Buy if...
if you are a die-hard GNR fan or just need a fantastic Paul.
Skip if...
you don’t have an appetite for destruction and aren’t crazy about the specs.
Rating...
Street $2900 - Gibson USA - gibson.com |
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Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, EGC Chessie in hands, coaxing some nasty tones from his Hiwatt.
The Jesus Lizard’s sixth album, Blue, served as the band’s final statement from the frontlines of noisy rock for the next 26 years. By the time of their dissolution in 1999, they’d earned a reputation for extreme performances chock full of hard-hitting, machine-like grooves delivered by bassist David Wm. Sims and, at their conclusion, drummer Mac McNeilly, at times aided and at other times punctured by the frontline of guitarist Duane Denison’s incisive, dissonant riffing, and presided over by the cantankerous howl of vocalist David Yow. In the years since, performative, thrilling bands such as Pissed Jeans, METZ, and Idles have built upon the Lizard’s musical foundation.
Denison has kept himself plenty busy over the last couple decades, forming the avant-rock supergroup Tomahawk—with vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn (both from Mr. Bungle), and drummer John Stanier of Helmet—and alongside various other projects including Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank Williams III. The Jesus Lizard eventually reunited, but until now have only celebrated their catalog, never releasing new jams.
The Jesus Lizard, from left: bassist David Wm. Sims, singer David Yow, drummer Mac McNeilly, and guitarist Duane Denison.
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Back in 2018, Denison, hanging in a hotel room with Yow, played a riff on his unplugged electric guitar that caught the singer’s ear. That song, called “West Side,” will remain unreleased for now, but Denison explains: “He said, ‘Wow, that’s really good. What is that?’ And I said, ‘It’s just some new thing. Why don’t we do an album?’” From those unassuming beginnings, the Jesus Lizard’s creative juices started flowing.
So, how does a band—especially one who so indelibly captured the ineffable energy of live rock performance—prepare to get a new record together 26 years after their last? Back in their earlier days, the members all lived together in a band house, collectively tending to the creative fire when inspiration struck. All these years later, they reside in different cities, so their process requires sending files back and forth and only meeting up for occasional demo sessions over the course of “three or four years.”
“When the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.” —Duane Denison
the Jesus Lizard "Alexis Feels Sick"
Distance creates an obstacle to striking while the proverbial iron is hot, but Denison has a method to keep things energized: “Practice loud.” The guitarist professes the importance of practice, in general, and especially with a metronome. “We keep very detailed records of what the beats per minute of these songs are,” he explains. “To me, the way to do it is to run it to a Bluetooth speaker and crank it, and then crank your amp. I play a little at home, but when the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.”
It’s a proven solution. On Rack—recorded at Patrick Carney’s Audio Eagle studio with producer Paul Allen—the band sound as vigorous as ever, proving they’ve not only remained in step with their younger selves, but they may have surpassed it with faders cranked. “Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style,” explains Allen. “The conviction in his playing that he is known for from his recordings in the ’80s and ’90s is still 100-percent intact and still driving full throttle today.”
“I try to be really, really precise,” he says. “I think we all do when it comes to the basic tracks, especially the rhythm parts. The band has always been this machine-like thing.” Together, they build a tension with Yow’s careening voice. “The vocals tend to be all over the place—in and out of tune, in and out of time,” he points out. “You’ve got this very free thing moving around in the foreground, and then you’ve got this very precise, detailed band playing behind it. That’s why it works.”
Before Rack, the Jesus Lizard hadn’t released a new record since 1998’s Blue.
Denison’s guitar also serves as the foreground foil to Yow’s unhinged raving, as on “Alexis Feels Sick,” where they form a demented harmony, or on the midnight creep of “What If,” where his vibrato-laden melodies bolster the singer’s unsettled, maniacal display. As precise as his riffs might be, his playing doesn’t stay strictly on the grid. On the slow, skulking “Armistice Day,” his percussive chording goes off the rails, giving way to a solo that slices that groove like a chef’s knife through warm butter as he reorganizes rock ’n’ roll histrionics into his own cut-up vocabulary.
“During recording sessions, his first solo takes are usually what we decide to keep,” explains Allen. “Listen to Duane’s guitar solos on Jack White’s ‘Morning, Noon, and Night,’ Tomahawk’s ‘Fatback,’ and ‘Grind’ off Rack. There’s a common ‘contained chaos’ thread among them that sounds like a harmonic Rubik’s cube that could only be solved by Duane.”
“Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style.” —Rack producer Paul Allen
To encapsulate just the right amount of intensity, “I don’t over practice everything,” the guitarist says. Instead, once he’s created a part, “I set it aside and don’t wear it out.” On Rack, it’s obvious not a single kilowatt of musical energy was lost in the rehearsal process.
Denison issues his noisy masterclass with assertive, overdriven tones supporting his dissonant voicings like barbed wire on top of an electric fence. The occasional application of slapback delay adds a threatening aura to his exacting riffage. His tones were just as carefully crafted as the parts he plays, and he relied mostly on his signature Electrical Guitar Company Chessie for the sessions, though a Fender Uptown Strat also appears, as well as a Taylor T5Z, which he chose for its “cleaner, hyper-articulated sound” on “Swan the Dog.” Though he’s been spotted at recent Jesus Lizard shows with a brand-new Powers Electric—he points out he played a demo model and says, “I just couldn’t let go of it,” so he ordered his own—that wasn’t until tracking was complete.
Duane Denison's Gear
Denison wields his Powers Electric at the Blue Room in Nashville last June.
Photo by Doug Coombe
Guitars
- Electrical Guitar Company Chessie
- Fender Uptown Strat
- Taylor T5Z
- Gibson ES-135
- Powers Electric
Amps
- Hiwatt Little J
- Hiwatt 2x12 cab with Fane F75 speakers
- Fender Super-Sonic combo
- Early ’60s Fender Bassman
- Marshall 1987X Plexi Reissue
- Victory Super Sheriff head
- Blackstar HT Stage 60—2 combos in stereo with Celestion Neo Creamback speakers and Mullard tubes
Effects
- Line 6 Helix
- Mantic Flex Pro
- TC Electronic G-Force
- Menatone Red Snapper
Strings and Picks
- Stringjoy Orbiters .0105 and .011 sets
- Dunlop celluloid white medium
- Sun Studios yellow picks
He ran through various amps—Marshalls, a Fender Bassman, two Fender Super-Sonic combos, and a Hiwatt Little J—at Audio Eagle. Live, if he’s not on backline gear, you’ll catch him mostly using 60-watt Blackstar HT Stage 60s loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. And while some boxes were stomped, he got most of his effects from a Line 6 Helix. “All of those sounds [in the Helix] are modeled on analog sounds, and you can tweak them endlessly,” he explains. “It’s just so practical and easy.”
The tools have only changed slightly since the band’s earlier days, when he favored Travis Beans and Hiwatts. Though he’s started to prefer higher gain sounds, Allen points out that “his guitar sound has always had teeth with a slightly bright sheen, and still does.”
“Honestly, I don’t think my tone has changed much over the past 30-something years,” Denison says. “I tend to favor a brighter, sharper sound with articulation. Someone sent me a video I had never seen of myself playing in the ’80s. I had a band called Cargo Cult in Austin, Texas. What struck me about it is it didn’t sound terribly different than what I sound like right now as far as the guitar sound and the approach. I don’t know what that tells you—I’m consistent?”
YouTube It
The Jesus Lizard take off at Nashville’s Blue Room this past June with “Hide & Seek” from Rack.
Keith Urban has spent decades traveling the world and topping global country-music charts, and on this episode of Wong Notes, the country-guitar hero tells host Cory Wong how he conquered the world—and what keeps him chasing new sounds on his 6-string via a new record, High, which releases on September 20.
Urban came up as guitarist and singer at the same time, and he details how his playing and singing have always worked as a duet in service of the song: “When I stop singing, [my guitar] wants to say something, and he says it in a different way.” Those traits served him well when he made his move into the American music industry, a story that begins in part with a fateful meeting with a 6-string banjo in a Nashville music store in 1995.
It’s a different world for working musicians now, and Urban weighs in on the state of radio, social media, and podcasts for modern guitarists, but he still believes in word-of-mouth over the algorithm when it comes to discovering exciting new players.
And in case you didn’t know, Keith Urban is a total gearhead. He shares his essential budget stomps and admits he’s a pedal hound, chasing new sounds week in and week out, but what role does new gear play in his routine? Urban puts it simply: “I’m not chasing tone, I’m pursuing inspiration.”
