Orianthi dishes about the natural vibe of her new album, getting nervous in front of Santana, and her favorite bassist
Listen to "Frozen" from Heaven in this Hell:
At the ripe age of 7, Orianthi Panagaris told to her parents that she was āgoing to Americaā to make music. From there, the self-proclaimed terrible student sought out her own education by way of Elvis videos, guitar magazines, classical training, and hours of practicing guitar. āIād come home from school and not see my parents for six hours or something,ā she remembers. So no one was surprised when the Aussie native left school at 15 to devote all of her time to playing the band circuit in her hometown of Adelaide.
It was around that time she first played with Steve Vai, and soon Santana was in her corner too, an early champion of her skills in a long list of supporters that includes Michael Jackson. In 2009, Orianthi was invited by Jackson to try out for his This Is It tour after seeing her perform with Carrie Underwood at the Grammys. When Orianthi proved she could make the famous āBeat Itā solo her ownāand rock the stage with Jackson while playing itāshe was chosen on the spot.
In 2011, she joined Alice Cooperās touring band and continues to tackle those guitar duties while balancing a solo career in between. Her 2009 major label debut Believe included a song co-written with Vai, and her single āAccording to Youā received heavy airplay and made the global charts. But while Believe was more of a pop record, she calls her new album more āorganic.ā
āI was really proud of [Believe],ā Orianthi says, ābut I feel that every record should be different, itās part of this musical journey and you should evolve.ā In fact, Heaven in this Hell wasnāt really planned, per se, but born out of inspired jam sessions with Oriās writing comrade/producer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics). They recorded the tracks in two sessions: one at Nashvilleās Blackbird Studio, the other at Stewart's Hollywood studio.
In her new tunes, Orianthi references the blues-rock and country she grew up with while opening herself to new muses. āIām discovering different sounds,ā she says, ālike the Delta blues of Robert Johnson where heās not playing with his pick but with his hands,ā Orianthi says. āIt sounds swampy and Iāve just been discovering that and writing with a vibe in mind.ā In light of this creative awakening, Orianthi tells us about her songwriting āwalkaboutsā and humming songs into her phone on the streets of L.A., her new favorite pedal combination, and how she sees herself as more than just a chick guitar player who can shred.
Photo by Stephen Holding, Shooting Stars Photography
Youāve said youāre going to keep touring with Alice Cooper as long as heāll have you, but do you have plans for your own dates in the interim?
Totally, Iām setting that up now, trying to fit it in around Alice and his tour dates. I have such fun playing onstage with him and itās fun to be the guitar player, but I want to do my own dates so itās all about finding the balance and figuring it all out.
What have you learned as a player, working on the Alice Cooper tour?
Theyāre all like brothers to me, everyone in the band. Iāve learned a lot because there are so many parts in the songs. Theyāre great performers. We all have our own thing going on, like characters in a crazy Rocky Horror show. The first part of the tour Iād have blood all over my face and arms, and Iād be writing things on my arms and I had all of these Christian people thinking I was some sort of Satanist or something, with blood all over me and the guitar. Iām like no, Iām playing a part! Iām playing this irritable zombie onstageāI was called āScarianthiā or āGorianthiā for a while. Maybe Iāll be Frankenstein for the next one, Iām not quite sure.
Playing live shows is a lot different than making an album. Whatās Orianthi like in the studio?
I like to bring a lot of people in, my friends and family or whoever Iām hanging out with for the day. I like the energy of people around, it sort of adds to it being a mini crowd. I like playing live, in front of people. When Iām alone, Iāll play differently. If thereās only one person in the studio, I wonāt play as energetic as if thereās more people in the room and Iām putting on a show.
Iāve been playing live since I was 7, I started writing my first songs and played the school assembly. Even at lunch time Iād be playing in front of people. Thereās something about performing and capturing the performance as opposed to hearing yourself think. The problem is, if Iām left alone too long I tend to drive myself insane because Iāll go over a solo too many times until I, like, destroy it. ā¦ I think energy is actually an important thing when youāre recording.
Photo by Stephen Holding, Shooting Stars Photography
Dave Stewart is your producer, but you also seem to have a bandmate relationship. Do you look at him as someone you love to play and make music with or as a mentor?
All of that. Heās definitely been like a mentor and friend and jamming buddy. We talk about the blues and he loves writing songs. About two years ago he said, āCome āround my place and jam out.ā We ended up just writing a ton of songs and it got to the point where we said, āLetās make an album.ā It started that way, it felt like a natural thing, we got along very well, it was a great vibe. I walked into Blackbird Studio and, listening to these people play, I was really blown away.
Youāre a player who can play it all. Was it a struggle to figure out where you fit in genre-wise?
The last record [Believe] took quite some time to make. It was more in the pop vein, and thereās nothing wrong with that, but this one was a lot freedom because I left Geffen Records and made it myself, with Robo Records releasing it.
It was like, āLetās just make an album,ā kind of the way that records were made back in the day.
Where do you like to do your songwriting?
It changes, like, all the time. At my place here in L.A. or if Iām walking down the street and I have an idea Iāll be humming it into my phone, itās kind of embarrassing ā¦ sometimes itās strange you canāt hear anything, itās like a bunch of sirens and crap. Sometimes you get good ideas like that. People think Iām strange but I donāt really care anymore, Iām going on walkabouts [laughs].
Did you and Dave Stewart write most of the songs together?
We wrote most of the songs together, and then I also went to Nashville and wrote some songs over there with some of my favorite writers. But most of the songs I wrote with Dave. One of the first songs we wrote was āHow Does That Feel?ā It kind of flips from this bluesy jazz to this rock thing. I wrote [part of] āHeaven in this Hellā with John Feldmann from Goldfingerāwe had this Delta blues ideaāand then I wrote the chorus with Dave because we had this swampy idea. I would bring in different ideas and go from there.
I noticed some unique genre-blending on āHow Does That Feel?ā where you go from like an R&B funk groove to one of the most epic rock solos at around the two-minute mark.
We had this idea that it should totally flip. Itās a storyāItās basically an āF Uā to a dude: āYou can do your thing but I love playing music and thatās my first love so I donāt really care because Iāve got a million fans, ya know?ā We were thinking about how fun this song would be to play live.
You really belt it out in the opener, āHeaven in this Hell,ā and then it ends on this notable contrast of acoustic melody. Do you play acoustic quite a bit?
I wrote that on acoustic when I was listening to a lot of Robert Johnson and Howlinā Wolf. Thereās some country going on in the album too, I worked with Zac Maloy in Nashville on āYou Donāt Wanna Knowā and I played banjo on it too. But I wanted to have the nylon string sound for [āHeaven in this Hellā] because it starts off in hell, and I wanted it to end with this floaty sound, like youāre going to heaven.
Youāre noticed for your mad guitar chops, but youāve also got major pipes. Do you find people taking more notice of your vocal abilities these days?
Iāve been singing since I was 7, and then I had this instrumental phase where I focused on just playing and writing songs, and then coming out here collaborating with a lot of people and just being a guitar player, but I see myself more as an artist than a guitar player. If someone gives me something to learn, Iām going to put my own thing to it naturally. Itās something Iāve learnt to do, to paint with my own colors because I donāt want to step on anyoneās toes. For example, going to work with Michael Jackson on the āBeat Itā solo, I canāt fill Eddie Van Halenās shoes, hell no! Heās amazing, but Iām going to go in and do my own thing, and I think thatās what Michael wanted me to do because each guitar player heās worked with is different. Slash is so different from Eddie and from Jennifer Batten. Yeah, I ām definitely more of an artist than a guitarist I think.
Are there any singers you really admire whoāve influenced you?
I grew up listening to Elvis a lot and I love Roy Orbison, the Beatles, Eric Clapton, Steve Ray Vaughan, and Jimi Hendrix. I listened to a lot of country tooāfrom Faith Hill to Rascal Flattsābecause we always had the country music channel on at home in Adelaide. So itās kind of a real blend, I was playing in a cover band too, Top 40 stuff like No Doubt. I was singing guy songs and whatever was on the radio.
And making guitars out of milk cartons?
Yeah and rubber bands! When I left my guitar at home and I had invited everyone to watch me perform at lunchtime by the steps. I remember I was like, āCrap I guess Iāll have to make one.ā It was terrible. My mom used to work at this dental office and people used to come and say āI saw your daughter perform this afternoon with a guitar made out of rubber bands.ā She kinda got used to that.
Letās talk about your gear a little bit. You have your signature PRS guitar. Is āPepperā still your number one?
Yes, definitely. Iāve had Pepper 10 years and thatās my go-to guitar. It just feels like my companion guitar, itās natural to play it. I love āManosā and then I have āMoby,ā and āFrankāātheyāre all custom 22s and 24s. On the Alice tour I use āFloyd,ā itās a white PRS Custom 24 and āFireā is my other one I use on the tour and itās covered in blood. I name all my guitars. I have another one I love called āHazeā that was built on Christmas Eve (2011). Itās a very special guitar, made in purple, itās just really electric-looking. Itās a private stock guitar, pretty much a one-off, itās a PRS Custom 22 and I love it.
In the studio, did you stick with your PRSās or were there any other guitars you played?
I used an old Fender ā54 Stratocaster, you can see me playing it in the making of the Fire EP. Itās a beautiful Strat, I just had to use it, itās old, it sounds great and the PRS and Strat sound good together.
On what tracks on the album can we hear you play the Strat?
The guitar solo in āIf You Were Here with Me.ā
Photo by Robert M. Knight
Is your setup different for your own band and your Alice Cooper rig?
I donāt use many effects when I play with my band, itās just straight into the amp, maybe a delay or a reverb or wah or something. But with Alice I use a Whammy pedal, it changed from first tour to this tour, itās pretty bare bones now but we use an [ISP] Decimator and some other things. I like the connection of the amp and the guitar so I try not to interfere with that much. On my first tour I had a whole rackmount with TC Electronic stuff. I had this song called āDraculaās Theme,ā
and I had a ton of effects for that songāI had a flange going on and I did customized Tone Prints with TC. It always changes, it depends on the song but I like to use technique, really.
Do you have a favorite pedal?
Right now I like the Boss Octave and the Dunlop Fuzz Face.
What are you using to get your crunchy tones like at the end of the title track?
My EVH 5150 III amp and also the TC Electronic MojoMojo Overdrive. I also used an old Fender amp that was at Blackbird, I canāt remember the model but it was just super old and battered. For the āHow Do You Sleep?ā solo, we actually had the amp so loud it was near the breaking point.
Can you recall one of your performances where you had an out-of-body experience where you played the best you ever played?
I got to jam with Carlos Santana not too long ago up in Seattle, he was getting honored at the EMP Museum, and they asked me to come and play with Jonny Lang. [Santana] is the reason why I play guitar and heās a friendāIāve known him since I was about 18ābut Iām always in awe of him and when playing in front of him Iām never comfortable ā¦ He sat down on the couch and I was playing one of his solos at [Microsoft co-founder and EMP creator] Paul Allenās studio and it was this great setup. So he was sitting there staring at me and Iām like āCarlos youāre making me very nervous. I donāt get nervous very often, but you staring at me right now while Iām playing so you have to get up and play.ā And he got up and jammed.
And then writing a song with Steve Vai for my last album, āHighly Strungāāthereās definitely been a lot of moments where Iām like, āThis is crazy.ā
Do you think youāll collaborate with Steve Vai again?
I would love to, and weāve spoken about it. Heās been so encouraging to me since I was 14 and it was my first support, I think, for him in Adelaide. I would send him demos and he would actually listen and write back and take the time to say, āThis part I like, but this part could be better if you change this chord, or change the key here.ā He was just very attentive, and it was like wow, getting an email from Steve Vai whoās actually listened to your demo. Thatās just incredible!
Heās definitely been a mentor and just an awesome person. I donāt want to play when Iām around him because heās like the Hendrix of our time, heās such an innovator. Heās one of the very few who can actually shred like thereās no tomorrow and play the most beautiful melody that makes you just stop what youāre doing and listen. Some guitar players can play full out, and itās a bunch of noise and itās craziness. But Vai is a composer, too. He seems really free with his playing but at the same time being very technical. I havenāt heard anyone play like Steve. I donāt think there will be.
Gear
Guitars
Signature PRS SE Orianthi Model, PRS Custom 22s and 24s,
PRS Angelus Cutaway Acoustic
Amps
EVH 5150 III amps
Effects
Boss Octave, Dunlop Fuzz Face, TC Electronic pedals, DigiTech Whammy, ISP Decimator
Strings, Picks, and Accessories
Dean Markley Helix .009-.042 strings, 1 mm picks
What kind of player are you?
I studied classical at age 10 and went through that theory thing, but
then you have to try and step away from that and just play. A lot of
players I love, like SRV, B.B. King, or Santana, itās not really in
scales itās more about the melody. When I hear Santana I get inspired
and want to play guitar. Thatās what I hope to do for others. Playing
guitar is like a meditation and it makes me feel like itās what Iām
meant to be doing. Now more female players are coming up to me and itās so
cool because when I first started there were hardly any female players,
it was all guys. You donāt want to be shy about it ā¦ you gotta step out
there and own it. And I think thatās the thing Iām seeing more and more
of, which is awesome. One of my favorite bass players is Tal Wilkenfeld,
she just owns itāshe just plays like a dude and I love it. Whether
youāre a drummer or whatever, you donāt want people to think youāre
playing politely.
So when are Orianthi and Tal going to start a band?
Weāve spoken about it. Right now sheās doing her stuff, and
Iām doing my stuff, but when the time is right, weāll do something. Weāve
played together at the Troubadour with Joss Stone and Dave Stewart, and
I saw her at Crossroads in ā07 when she was onstage with Jeff Beck.
Hopefully weāll do something together in the future.
YouTube It
Orianthi performs bonus track āSex E Bizzareā from her new album at a
St. Jude benefit this month, taking a searing solo at 1:50.
This montage from Michael Jacksonās This Is It documentary shows the man and his guitarist practicing one of the most famous solos on one of the most famous songs of all time.
Behind the scenes during the making of the video for the Orianthi-Vai shred-fest āHighly Strung." The concept, Vai says, is: āPlay your ass off.ā
The Spirit Fall trio: drummer Brian Blade (right) and saxophonist Chris Potter (center) joined Patitucci (left) for a single day at The Bunker. āThose guys are scary. It almost puts pressure on me, how good they are, because they get it really fast,ā says Patitucci.
Legendary bassist John Patitucci continues to explore the sound of a chord-less trio that balances melodicism with boundless harmonic freedomāand shares lessons he learned from his mentors Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter.
In 1959, Miles Davisā Kind of Blue and John Coltraneās Giant Stepsātwo of the most influential albums in jazz historyāwere recorded. Itās somewhat poetic that four-time Grammy-winning jazz bass icon John Patitucci was born that same year. In addition to a storied career as a bandleader, Patitucci cemented his legacy through his lengthy association with two giants of jazz: keyboardist Chick Corea, with whom Patitucci enjoyed a 10-year tenure as an original member of his Elektric and Akoustic bands, and saxophonist Wayne Shorterās quartet, of which he was a core member for 20 years. Patitucci has also worked with a whoās who of jazz elites like Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie, and Michael Brecker.
What distinguishes Patitucci is that he is one of the few jazz musicians who simultaneously enjoys a vibrant career as a classical bassist and first-call session bassist. His rĆ©sumĆ©āwhich includes recordings with pop icons like Sting and Bon Jovi, and hundreds of film datesāis virtually unparalleled. Patitucci also composes classical music and is frequently commissioned to write music for string quartets and other chamber ensembles. Among his numerous compositions are a piece for 6-string electric bass and string orchestra that was performed with Suono e Oltre, a chamber orchestra in Italy. In short, Patitucci is the very rare jack of all trades who is also exceptional at all.
Freedom without Chords
Patitucciās latest release, Spirit Fall, is a trio album featuring Patitucci, drummer Brian Blade, and saxophonist Chris Potter. This instrumentation leaves out a traditional chordal instrument, and can be tricky to make sound full, as there is a large harmonic hole in the sonic space. But in the hands of master musicians, this setting offers more room for harmonic exploration and conversational interplay amongst the band members. Patitucci has been exploring this chord-less format since 2009ās Remembrance featuring Blade on drums and Joe Lovano on saxophone.Throughout Spirit Fall the trio employs a variety of textures and colors to make for an engaging listen. āPole Starā has an open feel with the counterpoint between acoustic bass and sax discreetly implying the underlying progression. āLipim,ā which means hope in Cameroonian, has a lively afrobeat groove and a ridiculous sax solo by Chris Potter. Like many of his solos on Spirt Fall, Potterās solo on āLipimā veers through several harmonic detours that would have likely been hampered if a chordal instrument were imposing the harmony. āSpirit Fallā and āThoughts and Dreamsā sees Patitucci using his 6-string electric to explore gorgeously haunting figures. The bass solo on āSpirit Fallā sees Patitucci almost accompanying himself as he alternates between low notes and chords against blistering single-note lines.
Even though Patitucci had the luxury of studio time, Spirit Fall was recorded quickly, with mostly first or second takes, and the occasional third take. The trio was able to record a powerful musical statement in such a short time because they are a working band as opposed to hired guns that might possibly play together for the first time at the session.
John Patitucci's Gear
āIām just a kid from Brooklyn,ā says Patitucci. It was his formative years spent with his older brother (who played guitar) that led him to the bass.
Photo by Dave Stapleton
Guitars
- Yamaha TRBJP2 Signature Model 6-String
- Yamaha Custom Semi-Hollow 6-String
- 1965 Fender P Bass (Used on āLipimā)
- Gagliano Double Bass
Amps
- Aguilar DB 751 for acoustic bass
- Aguilar Tone Hammer for electric bass
- Aguilar 4x10 cabinet
- Aguilar 1x12 cabinet
- Grace Design FELiX Version 2
- Grace Design m303 DI
Effects
- Line 6 HX Stomp
- Line 6 DL4
Strings and Accessories
- DāAddario Nickel Round Strings (.032-.045-.065-.085-.105-.130)
- Gruvgear Signature Straps
- Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Weich gauge
- Pirastro Perpetual
Prior to the recording, Patitucci sent demos out, and by the time they got to the studio they were ready to commit to tape. They finished the whole record in just one day without any rehearsals. āNot with those guys,ā says Patitucci. āThose guys are scary. It almost puts pressure on me, how good they are, because they get it really fast [laughs]. I was hoping that my good takes were theirs too.ā
Interestingly enough, while iconic chord-less trio albums by saxophonists like Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and Joe Henderson played a big role in Patitucciās musical upbringing, he came to record with that instrumentation almost by accident. āWe were going to rehearse for that record [Remembrance], and [pianist] Brad Mehldau, who played on some tracks, couldnāt make the rehearsal,ā recalls Patitucci. āSo we rehearsed at Lovanoās house and it sounded so good I was almost like, āWow, maybe we should do the record as a trio.ā But I had all this music written that really was for the piano. So I said, āWell, maybe someday.ā And then finally we got around to it.ā
Spirit Fall was tailored to the sensibilities of Blade and Potter, both of whom Patitucci has played with a lot over the years. āWe have a relationship and we have a sound together already because of the way they play. Brianās sense of dynamics has made it easier for me to get the kind of acoustic bass sound live that I've always wanted to get. Itās not easy to do that if the drummer canāt play those wide dynamics like Brian can,ā explains Patitucci. āAnd Chris has been playing my music for years. Heās just an incredible interpreter of my music, and I love that. I remember using him in the early ā90s. Interestingly enough, around the time I did Imprint, I was using him and I was also using Mark Turner. And itās funny. I started teaching college [Patitucci was Professor of Jazz Studies at City College of New York and is currently teaching at Berklee College of Music] a lot in 2000, and all my students were trying to sound like those guys.āāAs a composer, I wanted to have a chance to have major control over the sound and how we did things, as opposed to a live record.ā
As a precursor to Spirit Fall, in 2022 Patitucci had recorded Live in Italy with the same lineup of Blade and Potter. He could have easily just done Spirit Falllive againwith the trio but this time he specifically chose to bring them into the studio. āAs a composer, I wanted to have a chance to have major control over the sound and how we did things, as opposed to a live record,ā explains Patitucci. āLive records are great, but I wanted to record in the studio with that band so we can get into some new compositions I was writing, and some through-composed things with the 6-string, as well as the acoustic.ā
How Chick Helped Turn Four into Six
Patitucci isnāt fond only of the traditional trio sans chordal instrument format. In fact, heās recorded in just about every context you can imagine. From completely solo bass on Soul of the Bass, to his Electric Guitar Quartet with two guitaristsāAdam Rogers and Steve Cardenas on Brooklyn, to guitar trio plus string quartet plus Chris Potter on Line by Line. Patitucci uses each situation as a way to grow musically.When Patitucci first started playing with Corea it was in the trio format, along with drummer Dave Weckl. Corea was a keyboardist who covered a huge sonic range and Patitucci saw this as an opportunity to push the creative envelope. āChick and I became very close. I had enormous respect and love for him and he taught me a lot. Thatās how I really discovered the 6-string, because I felt like I needed it orchestrationally to play in that band,ā says Patitucci. āI started playing with Chick and at first I played my 4-string, and itās a trio, but I have to blow on every song. And heās got all these synths, and Iām thinking, āMan, I need a low string, because heās playing all these low notes. I want to play the low notes.ā [laughs] I need a 5-string at least. Then I heard Anthony Jackson play the six. He was the pioneer who invented it.ā
Spirit Fall is the documentation of a working band exploring new music in the studio. It features all new compositions and an inventive take on āHouse of Jade,ā written by Patitucciās longtime mentor, Wayne Shorter.
Corea fronted the money for Patitucciās first 6-stringāa Ken Smithāand took some money out of his check every week to pay it off. The transition to the 6-string wasnāt immediate for Patitucci, however. There was actually a big learning curve to the new instrument. To make matters even more daunting, the first big tour was to begin two weeks after Patitucci received the new instrument. Despite all the potential risks, Corea was very encouraging. āChick was really patient. It was ridiculous. It was so hard. I was just a glutton for punishment,ā admits Patitucci. āI just wanted the sound, and I was so naive about what it would be like. When I got the 6-string, it was a couple of weeks before we started going out on major tours and I was clamming. Like I would go down to what I thought was the E string but was now the B string.ā
Once he got a handle on it, the 6-string allowed Patitucci to finally maximize the potential of his fluid soloing style. āI wanted to play the 6-string because when the blowing comes around, the C string helps me get over the top as a band,ā says Patitucci. āChick dug the fact that when I was blowing I wanted to sound more like a tenor player.ā
āWayne [Shorter] made me have the courage to play very little and hang a note up in the air.ā
Shortly after Patitucci joined his band, Corea convinced GRP Records to sign Patitucci, whose 1987 eponymous first solo album reached number 1 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart. Patitucci reflects, āThe two biggest long term influences in terms of mentoring and what they did for my career would have been Chick Corea and then Wayne Shorter.ā
The Spirit of Shorter
Patitucci first met Shorter in 1986, during the Chick, Wayne, and Al (Di Meola) tour. A year later Shorter asked Patitucci to record several tracks on his album, Phantom Navigator. This began his association with Shorter and led to Patitucci ultimately joining Shorterās quartet in 2000.
Itās fitting that the only non-original tune on Spirit Fall is a Shorter tune, āHouse of Jade.ā Shorterās highly individual approachāparticularly the electric stuff he was doing from the Atlantisperiodāshaped a lot of Patitucciās conception of music. āI was playing electric bass and all the tunes were through-composed, except the blowing was like on one chord. And, you know, thatās challenging, actually,ā reveals Patitucci. āAnd he was creating these incredible things, and he could do it with density or almost nothing, almost like one note. His lyricism and melodicism is so powerful that it really changed me. I was like, āWow, I want to play like that. I want to be able to have a sound that I can be confident enough about to leave a ton of space and be able to just let space happen.ā Like, he got that from Miles.ā
Moving to a 6-string bass wasnāt as natural for Patitucci as you might think. āWhen I got the 6-string, it was a couple of weeks before we started going out on major tours [with Chick Corea] and I was clamming.ā
The minimalist approach that Shorter used at times was a stark contrast to some of the over-the-top pyrotechnics Coreaās Elektric Band was known for. āI was always into melodies too, but yes, in Chickās band there were a lot of changes to play over, and sometimes a lot of fast tempos,ā says Patitucci. āIt wasnāt only chops, there were a lot of melodies and we played ballads too. I mean, I wanted to do that, but I didnāt have the courage to. Wayne made me have the courage to play very little and hang a note up in the air. With the 6-string, you can really do that. I started to realize that I was really interested in moving people in that way too.ā
The Journey of the Kid from Brooklyn
Subliminally, the transition from 4- to 6-string bass might harken back to Patitucciās childhood in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. He originally picked up the guitar, influenced by his brother Tom who had already been playing. Tom tried to teach him but ultimately the guitar just didnāt connect, and Tom sensed it. āHe just said, āWhy donāt you try the bass?āā recalls Patitucci. āBecause we can play together then.ā And thatās where it all began.
At 10, Patitucci got his first bass, a short-scale Sears Telstar bass that was hanging on a wall like a decoration down the street at somebodyās house on East 39th Street. āWe bought it for 10 bucks and I thought it was great,ā reflects Patitucci, who enjoyed rock ānā roll and James Jamersonās playing on Motown Records in his formative years.
When he was 13, Patitucciās family moved out to the West Coast. Soon after the move, Patitucci started learning the acoustic bass, and by the early ā80s, Patitucciās career started taking off. In 1996 he moved back to New York, where he continues to break new musical ground.
With a career spanning over four decades and still going strong, Patitucci has achieved the dream that many aspiring musicians long for. What is the secret to his success? āNobody knows the secret and anybody who tells you they know that is lying,ā says Patitucci. āI don't even deserve it. I think that God was really good to me and blessed me. He somehow allowed me to have my dream come true. I look at it now as a 65-year old guy and go, āWow, that was really a long shot.ā [laughs] Itās kind of unbelievable. You know what, I mean? Iām just this kid from Brooklyn, you know?āYouTube It
This trio rendition of the Beatlesā āAnd I Love Herā showcases John Patitucciās ability to add chordal textures on his 6-string bass to create a full sound, even without a conventional chordal instrument like guitar or piano.
The National New Yorker lived at the forefront of the emerging electric guitar industry, and in Memphis Minnieās hands, it came alive.
This National electric is just the tip of the iceberg of electric guitar history.
On a summer day in 1897, a girl named Lizzie Douglas was born on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, the first of 13 siblings. When she was seven, her family moved closer to Memphis, Tennessee, and little Lizzie took up the banjo. Banjo led to guitar, guitar led to gigs, and gigs led to dreams. She was a prodigious talent, and āKidā Douglas ran away from home to play for tips on Beale Street when she was just a teenager. She began touring around the South, adopted the moniker Memphis Minnie, and eventually joined the circus for a few years.
(Are you not totally intrigued by the story of this incredible woman? Why did she run away from home? Why did she fall in love with the guitar? We havenāt even touched on how remarkable her songwriting is. This is a singular pioneer of guitar history, and we beseech you to read Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnieās Blues by Beth and Paul Garon.)
Following the end of World War I, Hawaiian music enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity. On their travels around the U.S., musicians like Sol Hoāopiāi became fans of Louis Armstrong and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, leading to a great cross-pollination of Hawaiian music with jazz and blues. This potent combination proved popular and drew ever-larger audiences, which created a significant problem: How on earth would an audience of thousands hear the sound from a wimpy little acoustic guitar?
This art deco pickguard offers just a bit of pizzazz to an otherwise demure instrument.
In the late 1920s, George Beauchamp, John and Rudy Dopyera, Adolph Rickenbacker, and John Dopyeraās nephew Paul Barth endeavored to answer that question with a mechanically amplified guitar. Working together under Beauchamp and John Dopyeraās National String Instrument Corporation, they designed the first resonator guitar, which, like a Victrola, used a cone-shaped resonator built into the guitar to amplify the sound. It was definitely louder, but not quite loud enoughāespecially for the Hawaiian slide musicians. With the guitars laid on their laps, much of the sound projected straight up at the ceiling instead of toward the audience.
Barth and Beauchamp tackled this problem in the 1930s by designing a magnetic pickup, and Rickenbacker installed it in the first commercially successful electric instrument: a lap-steel guitar known affectionately as the āFrying Panā due to its distinctive shape. Suddenly, any stringed instrument could be as loud as your amplifier allowed, setting off a flurry of innovation. Electric guitars were born!
āAt the time it was positively futuristic, with its lack of f-holes and way-cool art deco design on the pickup.ā
By this time, Memphis Minnie was a bona fide star. She recorded for Columbia, Vocalion, and Decca Records. Her song āBumble Bee,ā featuring her driving guitar technique, became hugely popular and earned her a new nickname: the Queen of Country Blues. She was officially royalty, and her subjects needed to hear her game-changing playing. This is where she crossed paths with our old pals over at National.
National and other companies began adding pickups to so-called Spanish guitars, which they naturally called āElectric Spanish.ā (This term was famously abbreviated ES by the Gibson Guitar Corporation and used as a prefix on a wide variety of models.) In 1935, National made its first Electric Spanish guitar, renamed the New Yorker three years later. By todayās standards, itās modestly appointed. At the time it was positively futuristic, with its lack of f-holes and way-cool art deco design on the pickup.
Thereās buckle rash and the finish on the back of the neck is rubbed clean off in spots, but that just goes to show how well-loved this guitar has been.
Memphis Minnie had finally found an axe fit for a Queen. She was among the first blues guitarists to go electric, and the New Yorker fueled her already-upward trajectory. She recorded over 200 songs in her 25-year career, cementing her and the National New Yorkerās place in musical history.
Our National New Yorker was made in 1939 and shows perfect play wear as far as weāre concerned. Sure, thereās buckle rash and the finish on the back of the neck is rubbed clean off in spots, but structurally, this guitar is in great shape. Itās easy to imagine this guitar was lovingly wiped down each time it was put back in the case.
Thereās magic in this guitar, yāall. Every time we pick it up, we can feel Memphis Minnieās spirit enter the room. This guitar sounds fearless. Itās a survivor. This is a guitar that could inspire you to run away and join the circus, transcend genre and gender, and leave your own mark on music history. As a guitar store, watching guitars pass from musician to musician gives us a beautiful physical reminder of how history moves through generations. We canāt wait to see who joins this guitarās remarkable legacy.
SOURCES: blackpast.org, nps.gov, worldmusic.net, historylink.org, Memphis Music Hall of Fame, āMemphis Minnieās āScientific Soundā: Afro-Sonic Modernity and the Jukebox Era of the Bluesā from American Quarterly, āThe History of the Development of Electric Stringed Musical Instrumentsā by Stephen Errede, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL.
In our third installment with Santa Cruz Guitar Company founder Richard Hoover, the master luthier shows PG's John Bohlinger how his team of builders assemble and construct guitars like a chef preparing food pairings. Hoover explains that the finer details like binding, headstock size and shape, internal bracing, and adhesives are critical players in shaping an instrument's sound. Finally, Richard explains how SCGC uses every inch of wood for making acoustic guitars or outside ventures like surfboards and art.
We know Horsegirl as a band of musicians, but their friendships will always come before the music. From left to right: Nora Cheng, drummer Gigi Reece, and Penelope Lowenstein.
The Chicago-via-New York trio of best friends reinterpret the best bits of college-rock and ā90s indie on their new record, Phonetics On and On.
Horsegirl guitarists Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein are back in their hometown of Chicago during winter break from New York University, where they share an apartment with drummer Gigi Reece. Theyāre both in the middle of writing papers. Cheng is working on one about Buckminster Fuller for a city planning class, and Lowenstein is untangling Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmannās short story, āThree Paths to the Lake.ā
āIt was kind of life-changing, honestly. It changed how I thought about womanhood,ā Lowenstein says over the call, laughing a bit at the gravitas of the statement.
But the moment of levity illuminates the fact that big things are happening in their lives. When they released their debut album, 2022ās Versions of Modern Performance, the three members of Horsegirl were still teenagers in high school. Their new, sophomore record, Phonetics On and On, arrives right in the middle of numerous first experiencesātheir first time living away from home, first loves, first years of their 20s, in university. Horsegirl is going through changes. Lowenstein notes how, through moving to a new city, their friendship has grown, too, into something more familial. They rely on each other more.
āIf the friendship was ever taking a toll because of the band, the friendship would come before the band, without any doubt.āāPenelope Lowenstein
āEveryone's cooking together, you take each other to the doctor,ā Lowenstein says. āYou rely on each other for weird things. I think transitioning from being teenage friends to suddenly working together, touring together, writing together in this really intimate creative relationship, going through sort of an unusual experience together at a young age, and then also starting school togetherāI just feel like it brings this insane intimacy that we work really hard to maintain. And if the friendship was ever taking a toll because of the band, the friendship would come before the band without any doubt.ā
Horsegirl recorded their sophomore LP, Phonetics On and On, at Wilcoās The Loft studio in their hometown, Chicago.
These changes also include subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in their sophisticated and artful guitar-pop. Versions of Modern Performance created a notion of the band as ā90s college-rock torchbearers, with reverb-and-distortion-drenched numbers that recalled Yo La Tengo and the Breeders. Phonetics On and On doesnāt extinguish the flame, but itās markedly more contemporary, sacrificing none of the catchiness but opting for more space, hypnotic guitar lines, and meditative, repeated phrases. Cheng and Lowenstein credit Welsh art-pop wiz Cate Le Bonās presence as producer in the studio as essential to the sonic direction.
āOn the record, I think we were really interested in Young Marble Giantsāsuper minimal, the percussiveness of the guitar, and how you can do so much with so little.āāNora Cheng
āWe had never really let a fourth person into our writing process,ā Cheng says. āI feel like Cate really changed the way we think about how you can compose a song, and built off ideas we were already thinking about, and just created this very comfortable space for experimentation and pushed us. There are so many weird instruments and things that aren't even instruments at [Wilcoās Chicago studio] The Loft. I feel like, definitely on our first record, we were super hesitant to go into territory that wasn't just distorted guitar, bass, and drums.ā
Nora Cheng's Gear
Nora Cheng says that letting a fourth personāWelsh artist Cate Le Bonāinto the trioās songwriting changed how they thought about composition.
Photo by Braden Long
Effects
- EarthQuaker Devices Plumes
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- TC Electronic Polytune
Picks
- Dunlop Tortex .73 mm
Phonetics On and On introduces warm synths (āJulieā), raw-sounding violin (āIn Twosā), and gamelan tilesācommon in traditional Indonesian musicāto Horsegirlās repertoire, and expands on their already deep quiver of guitar sounds as Cheng and Lowenstein branch into frenetic squonks, warped jangles, and jagged, bare-bones riffs. The result is a collection of songs simultaneously densely textured and spacious.
āI listen to these songs and I feel like it captures the raw, creative energy of being in the studio and being like, āFuck! We just exploded the song. What is about to happen?āā Lowenstein says. āThat feeling is something we didnāt have on the first record because we knew exactly what we wanted to capture and it was the songs we had written in my parentsā basement.ā
Cheng was first introduced to classical guitar as a kid by her dad, who tried to teach her, and then she was subsequently drawn back to rock by bands like Cage The Elephant and Arcade Fire. Lowenstein started playing at age 6, which covers most of her life memories and comprises a large part of her identity. āIt made me feel really powerful as a young girl to know that I was a very proficient guitarist,ā she says. The shreddy playing of Television, Pink Floydās spacey guitar solos, and Yo La Tengoās Ira Kaplan were all integral to her as Horsegirl began.
Penelope Lowenstein's Gear
Penelope Lowenstein likes looking back at the versions of herself that made older records.
Photo by Braden Long
Effects
- EarthQuaker Westwood
- EarthQuaker Bellows
- TC Electronic PolyTune
Picks
- Dunlop Tortex 1.0 mm
Recently, the two of them have found themselves influenced by guitarists both related and unrelated to the type of tunes theyāre trading in on their new album. Lowenstein got into Brazilian guitar during the pandemic and has recently been āin a Jim OāRourke, John Fahey zone.ā
āThereās something about listening to that music where you realize, about the guitar, that you can just compose an entire orchestra on one instrument,ā Lowenstein says. āAnd hearing what the bass in those guitar parts is doingāas in, the E stringāis kind of mind blowing.ā
āOn the record, I think we were really interested in Young Marble Giantsāsuper minimal, the percussiveness of the guitar, and how you can do so much with so little,ā Cheng adds. āAnd also Lizzy Mercier [Descloux], mostly on the Rosa Yemen records. That guitar playing I feel was very inspiring for the anti-solo,[a technique] which appears on [Phonetics On and On].āThis flurry of focused discovery gives the impression that Cheng and Lowensteinās sensibilities are shifting day-to-day, buoyed by the incredible expansion of creative possibilities that setting oneās life to revolve around music can afford. And, of course, the energy and exponential growth of youth. Horsegirl has already clocked major stylistic shifts in their brief lifespan, and itās exciting to have such a clear glimpse of evolution in artists who are, likely and hopefully, just beginning a long journey together.
āThereās something about listening to that music where you realize, about the guitar, that you can just compose an entire orchestra on one instrument.āāPenelope Lowenstein
āIn your 20s, life moves so fast,ā Lowenstein says. āSo much changes from the time of recording something to releasing something that even that process is so strange. You recognize yourself, and you also kind of sympathize with yourself. It's a really rewarding way of life, I think, for musicians, and it's cool that we have our teenage years captured like that, tooāon and on until we're old women.ā
YouTube It
Last summer, Horsegirl gathered at a Chicago studio space to record a sun-soaked set of new and old tunes.