
Composing can introduce you to new techniques, concepts, and most importantly, a new side of your own voice.
Advanced
Advanced
• Learn the fundamentals of harmonic minor scales.
• Understand the elements of serialism.
• Develop a better sense of polyrhythms.
Music is an art. Its value and longevity aren't measured in notes per second. Technique certainly has its place, as it allows you to deliver ideas fluently, but it can't be a substitute for substance. History shows that the ceiling of instrumental virtuosity is constantly on the rise, and ultimately, it's great writing that endures. I'll be looking at seven guitarists who employ techniques derived from composed music, and whose compositions warrant real appreciation and invite deeper study.
If we seek to have our musical contributions last longer than the average shelf life of an Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok video, devoting more time to honing our compositional skills and developing a unique, creative voice is a smart bet. And where better to learn than from those for whom this is their specialty?
Many compositional tendencies have become so widely used that they are now part of today's general music practice, but there are still myriad lessons to be learned and inspiration to be found in music of the masters of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century.
Admittedly we don't have space here to dive deeply into any of these concepts, but I'm including suggestions for further study in each section. If anything here intrigues you, you'll have ideas for where you can go next.
Steve Morse's Counterpoint
Counterpoint is one of the oldest and most widely embraced compositional techniques in Western music. Its essence–point against point or note against note–is two or more independent lines contrasting with and enhancing each other. To achieve a level of mastery to use it fluently takes discipline. But when done well, the result is nothing short of divine. Think Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, or Beethoven.
But even if you're apprehensive about the rabbit hole that is counterpoint, a few of the core principles can still help you write better, more interesting music.
1. Think of independence of voices. When one line is moving, the other can rest or be a longer note duration. When one line climbs, try having the other descend. Make sure both lines sound good by themselves as well as with each other.
2. Approach perfect consonances (unisons, octaves, fifths) with contrary or oblique motion. This helps the ear continue to hear the lines as independent. Thirds and sixths are your friends, so use them plentifully.
3. Try out some dissonances–but resolve them, preferably stepwise.
Steve Morse is one of the most sophisticated and recognizable voices in modern guitar. He uses his extensive virtuosic abilities in service of highly developed compositions. One example of his contrapuntal skills is in the aptly named "Point Counterpoint" from his album, Southern Steel. The lower voice enters with a rising motif, echoed immediately in the upper.
"Point Counterpoint"
Ex. 1 shows a basic chord progression and Ex. 2 is a short etude I wrote based on the harmony. Notice how each voice passes the melody back and forth.
Ex. 1
Ex. 2
If you want to deeper into counterpoint, check out Alan Belkin's excellent video series on YouTube. Below you can see the first installment.
On Counterpoint
Jonathan Kreisberg’s French Impressions
French impressionists and American jazz composers have a history of cross pollination. Ragtime pioneers like Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton incorporated polyrhythms of African music into their piano compositions and were pioneers of a style that was the first recognizable genre of music to originate in the United States.
Ragtime made its way to Europe, and Debussy was one of the first western composers to incorporate ragtime in his music. Then, in turn, gypsy-jazz legend Django Reinhardt paid tribute to Debussy's Nuages with his own piece of the same name, integrating distinctly impressionistic whole-tone scales and modal harmonies. The languages have continued to blend, and modern jazz master Jonathan Kreisberg blends colorful chords into the characteristic sonority of French impressionistic composers.
First, let's define a few terms. A mediant relationship is when two chords are separated by a third. In the key of A that could be A and F#. Since both root notes are in the key of A we call that a diatonic mediant. If they aren't in the same key, say we have A and F natural, then that's a chromatic mediant. French composers like Debussy, Ravel, and Satie used this form of chromaticism to achieve a loose tonality, the musical counterpart of the softly representational imagery of Impressionism in the visual arts.
Now, let's get back to Kreisberg. First, watch a video of his epic piece, "Kiitos" below.
Jonathan Kreisberg Group - Kiitos |2008|
The progression that appears at the end is this:
Abmaj7/C–Abm/Cb–Bb7–Bb7–Amaj7–Fmaj7–Emaj7–Emaj7
The progression is based largely around a common note (Ab or G# enharmonically, as in Emaj7) and chromatic mediants, specifically Amaj7–Fmaj7 and Emaj7–Abmaj7.
How Do I Use This?
Try experimenting with movement up or down by a third to a chord outside the diatonic world. Ex. 3 lays out a diatonic chord progression in E major followed by various chromatic mediant options for the second chord.
Ex. 3
An important note: Your harmonic progressions will sound more convincing if you use voice leading—meaning smooth transitions between notes, moving notes as little as necessary when changing harmonies, and keeping notes in common, when possible.
Further Study:
This super artistic video by 12tone is highly recommended to learn more about how to combine seemingly unrelated chords.
When Chords Won't Share
Daniele Gottardo on 20th-Century Russian Harmony
Photo by Matt Grans
Rimsky-Korsakov, godfather of the Russian school, and his pupil, Igor Stravinsky, were on a mission to empower Russian composers to create their own nationalistic identity through blending diatonic folk melodies with chromatic, highly symmetrical harmonic devices. This sound, known as Russian Fantastic Harmony, has had widespread compositional influence. Past and current film composers draw heavily from this language.
One example of this symmetrical type of harmony is octatonic. The octatonic scale alternates half -and whole-steps, as in: B–C–D–Eb–F–F#–G#–A.
Furthermore, you can build harmonies on each scale degree, just as in diatonic harmony, with a wide array of resultant chords. Because of the equal alternation of half- and whole-steps, there is not the same sense of tonal center, so octatonic is great for creating tonal ambiguity. Significantly, you can derive four major and minor triads a minor third apart—both are options in the case of the octatonic scale. Just be on the lookout for enharmonic equivalents—Eb can also function as D#, the third of a B major triad, yet D is also present in the scale, meaning both B major and B minor are octatonic triads.
Italian maestro Daniele Gottardo cites the Rimsky school as his biggest compositional influence. In his piece, "Gingerbread House," Gottardo makes good use of triadic octatonicism.
Daniele Gottardo - Gingerbread House
How to Use This:
1. Pick an octatonic scale and write out the notes (Ex. 4).
2. Pick chord progression derived from the scale. Let's use Bm–Dm–Bm–G#m.
3. Add melody notes and passing tones using your ears and instincts within this environment.
Ex. 4
Ex. 5 shows a Gottardo-inspired octatonic line, incorporating tapped notes.
Ex. 5
Fugues and J.S. Bach
Certain musical practices have earned an enduring place in musical history, even if used less popularly. The fugue is almost synonymous with J.S. Bach, and the highly complex, imitative texture delights us still today. Yet composing one requires rigorous study and highly cultivated counterpoint skills.
A fugue is a compositional procedure based on imitation in which a small musical phrase is introduced and taken over by other voices working in counterpoint.
Bulgarian guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Alexandra Zerner composed a fugue, "Triangulum," in tribute to J.S. Bach.
Alexandra Zerner | Triangulum (Playthrough)
If fully immersing yourself in the discipline feels daunting, there are still components of fugal composition than can enhance your writing:
1. Imitation
2. Contrast of keys
3. Architecture of musical density and texture
How to Use This:
1. Start with writing a canon—a musical idea that is stated and then gets echoed by another part.
2. Write one measure for voice 1. (Ex. 6)
Ex. 6
3. Copy it to voice 2 (transposing by octave is fine) and continue voice 1 by writing a counterpoint to voice 2. (Ex. 7)
Ex. 7
4. Copy the counterpoint to voice 2, and write a counterpoint in voice 1.
5. Continue in this way, until you reach a logical cadence or end of a musical phrase. Ideally the separate voices of the canon should work well together as well as on their own. Ex. 8 shows a short canon idea.
6. This process can also be effective with less rigid imitation—try retaining the basic shape and rhythm of a melody while transposing notes as necessary for harmonic purposes (a process known as free imitation).
Ex. 8
We Need to Talk About Yngwie
Photo by Austin Hargrave
Hilarious quotes aside, Yngwie's combination of tone, technique, and neo-classical shred that celebrates the masters make his musical contribution no laughing matter. The use of the harmonic minor alone wouldn't really justify inclusion here, but combined with baroque-approved chord progressions, intelligent melodic sequences, and Paganini-like technique, we must shine a light on Yngwie's incredible playing.
The sound most identified with Yngwie is the harmonic minor scale, which is simply a natural minor scale with a raised 7, or you can think of it as a major scale with a flat 3 and flat 6.
How to Use This:
Try combining a traditional minor chord progression with arpeggios or a melodic sequence, and make sure you throw in the raised 7, especially when you get to the dominant chord.
In Ex. 9, we have a minor progression outlined by arpeggios a la Yngwie. Notice the raised 7 (B) in three out of the four measures, functioning both as a leading tone to approach the root and as a note of the harmony.
Ex. 9
For Further Study:
Here's a great breakdown on minor scales from Seth Monahan.
Lesson 3: Minor Scales
A good gateway into Yngwie's catalog is "Far Beyond the Sun."
Yngwie Malmsteen - Far Beyond the Sun LIVE
Frank Zappa’s 12-Tone Rows
With the emancipation of dissonance and the treatment of all notes as equals, Schoenberg pushed ears and aesthetics of the time to (and past) the limit. Zappa similarly challenged, delighted, and sometimes enraged listeners and critics. Both were creatively shocking, forward thinking, and managed to forge unmistakable voices. Zappa's contribution as a legitimate and brilliant late 20th-century composer is becoming ever more widely recognized, and his music displayed a deep understanding of complex and varied compositional techniques. Let's look at just one: the 12-tone row.
A 12-tone row is a concept of serialism in music. It is the practical extension of the concept of all notes being treated equally and consists of a composer putting the 12 notes of the chromatic scale in a particular sequence. No note is repeated until the row completes. The series becomes the unifying element of the piece, rather than functional tonality.
"Waltz for Guitar" is a composition that Zappa wrote when he was 18. The tone row he uses is:
G–F#–A–A#–E–G#–D–D#–B–F–C–C#
Frank Zappa - Waltz for Guitar (1958) (score/audio)
The system might feel rigid or the results a bit dissonant for many, but, as with any technique, it can be useful to try it out and see where it leads you. Anything that pushes us into new territory is a great way to encourage artistic revelations, or at least growth. Ex. 10 shows Zappa's 12-tone row.
Ex. 10
To better demonstrate how to manipulate this technique, I came up with Ex. 11, an original tone row I composed.
Ex. 11
I then took the row and came up with a way of delivering that felt that there was some rhythmic interest and cohesion (Ex. 12). I made the choice to have the pitches shift within the rhythm, so that while the rhythm laid out in the first three measures starts again in measure 4, the starting pitch is the last note of the tone row (F#), so everything shifts rhythmically by one note.
But give it a go and be as strict as serves you and your muses.
Ex. 12
Steven Mackey’s Polyrhythms
In addition to being an award-winning composer, Steven Mackey is an electric guitar player whose roots are in rock and blues. Of all the guitarists on this list, he is most fully integrated in the world of serious composition and has been at the forefront of incorporating the electric guitar in unconventional contexts.
You could pick any aspect of composition and find it in Mackey's work. Here we will highlight the use of polyphony and polyrhythm.
Polyphony is a musical texture with multiple, simultaneous voices in independent, complementary melodies. Polyrhythm is the simultaneous juxtaposition of beat groups that are not subdivisions of each other, for example, triplets against eighth-notes.
In the second movement of Mackey's piece for guitar and orchestra, Tuck and Roll, a delightfully wacky guitar part combines both polyphony and polyrhythm in a 5/8 figure against half-note triplets within 4/4 time.
Tuck and Roll: Dark Caprice
I had the pleasure of talking with Steven Mackey about this, and here is how he would advise someone new to this concept to approach creating with it.
1. Start away from your instrument and get used to tapping simple polyrhythms with both hands, such as 2 against 3, 3 against 4, 2 against 5.
2. Apply the polyrhythm to two adjacent strings on the guitar, with each string assigned one part of the meter. Ex. 13 shows a figure of 2 on the 3rd string and 3 on the 4th string. Work on getting the rhythm first—it's very helpful to use a slow click (60 BPM or so). Then start moving notes around to create melodies.
Ex. 13
3.Then try Ex. 14 and Ex. 15, using the same method of getting it in your ears first, then under your fingers in a rudimentary way with static notes on adjacent strings. Then move on to adding melodic movement.
Ex. 14
Ex. 15
4. Once you have really internalized this concept, you can take it across more strings, and move freely.
Good luck with this! The idea with any technique—whether it pertains to your instrument or your composing—is to put it in service of creativity. Developing a new skill requires investment to reap the benefits, so stay patient with aspects that feel laborious. Challenge is how we grow, and the goal is not to recreationally restrict your muses, but to broaden and enrich your palette. If some of these techniques seem cerebral or confining, remember that you have the freedom to use them to the degree that suits you. And you never know… sticking with it a bit longer than is easy or comfortable just might result in something you'd have never written otherwise. I encourage you to stay curious, courageous, and shameless as you discover what is uniquely you in your artistic expressions.
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Stevie Van Zandt with “Number One,” the ’80s reissue Stratocaster—with custom paisley pickguard from luthier Dave Petillo—that he’s been playing for the last quarter century or so.
With the E Street Band, he’s served as musical consigliere to Bruce Springsteen for most of his musical life. And although he stands next to the Boss onstage, guitar in hand, he’s remained mostly quiet about his work as a player—until now.
I’m stuck in Stevie Van Zandt’s elevator, and the New York City Fire Department has been summoned. It’s early March, and I am trapped on the top floor of a six-story office building in Greenwich Village. On the other side of this intransigent door is Van Zandt’s recording studio, his guitars, amps, and other instruments, his Wicked Cool Records offices, and his man cave. The latter is filled with so much day-glo baby boomer memorabilia that it’s like being dropped into a Milton Glaser-themed fantasy land—a bright, candy-colored chandelier swings into the room from the skylight.
There’s a life-size cameo of a go-go dancer in banana yellow; she’s frozen in mid hip shimmy. One wall displays rock posters and B-movie key art, anchored by a 3D rendering of Cream’s Disraeli Gearsalbum cover that swishes and undulates as you walk past it. Van Zandt’s shelves are stuffed with countless DVDs, from Louis Prima to the J. Geils Band performing on the German TV concert seriesRockpalast. There are three copies ofIggy and the Stooges: Live in Detroit. Videos of the great ’60s-music TV showcases, from Hullabaloo to Dean Martin’s The Hollywood Palace, sit here. Hundreds of books about rock ’n’ roll, from Greil Marcus’s entire output to Nicholas Schaffner’s seminal tome, The Beatles Forever, form a library in the next room.
But I haven’t seen this yet because the elevator is dead, and I am in it. Our trap is tiny, about 5' by 5'. A dolly filled with television production equipment is beside me. There’s a production assistant whom I’ve never met until this morning and another person who’s brand new to me, too, Geoff Sanoff. It turns out that he’s Van Zandt’s engineer—the guy who runs this studio. And as I’ll discover shortly, he’s also one of the several sentinels who watch over Stevie Van Zandt’s guitars.
There’s nothing to do now but wait for the NYFD, so Sanoff and I get acquainted. We discover we’re both from D.C. and know some of the same people in Washington’s music scene. We talk about gear. We talk about this television project. I’m here today assisting an old pal, director Erik Nelson, best known for producing Werner Herzog’s most popular documentaries, like Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Van Zandt has agreed to participate in a television pilot about the British Invasion. After about half an hour, the elevator doors suddenly slide open, and we’re rescued, standing face-to-face with three New York City firefighters.
As our camera team sets up the gear, Sanoff beckons me to a closet off the studio’s control room. I get the sense I am about to get a consolation prize for standing trapped in an elevator for the last 30 minutes. He pulls a guitar case off the shelf—it’s stenciled in paint with the words “Little Steven” on its top—snaps open the latches, and instantly I am face to face with Van Zandt’s well-worn 1957 Stratocaster. Sanoff hands it to me, and I’m suddenly holding what may as well be the thunderbolt of Zeus for an E Street Band fan. My jaw drops when he lets me plug it in so he can get some levels on his board, and the clean, snappy quack of the nearly 70-year-old pickups fills the studio. For decades, Springsteen nuts have enjoyed a legendary 1978 filmed performance of “Rosalita” from Phoenix, Arizona, that now lives on YouTube. This is the Stratocaster Van Zandt had slung over his shoulder that night. It’s the same guitar he wields in the famous No Nukes concert film shot at Madison Square Garden a year later, in 1979. My mind races. The British Invasion is all well and essential. But now I’m thinking about Van Zandt’s relationship with his guitars.
Stevie Van Zandt's Gear
Van Zandt’s guitar concierge Andy Babiuk helped him plunge deeper down the Rickenbacker rabbit hole. Currently, Van Zandt has six Rickenbackers backstage: two 6-strings and four 12-strings.
Guitars
- 1957 Fender Stratocaster (studio only)
- ’80s Fender ’57 Stratocaster reissue “Number One”
- Gretsch Tennessean
- 1955 Gibson Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty” (studio only)
- Rickenbacker Fab Gear 2024 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Model (candy apple green)
- Rickenbacker Fab Gear 2023 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Model (snowglo)
- Rickenbacker 2018 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Fab Gear (jetglo)
- Two Rickenbacker 1993Plus 12-strings (candy apple purple and SVZ blue)
- Rickenbacker 360/12C63 12-string (fireglo)
- Vox Teardrop (owned by Andy Babiuk)
Amps
- Two Vox AC30s
- Two Vox 2x12 cabinets
Effects
- Boss Space Echo
- Boss Tremolo
- Boss Rotary Ensemble
- Durham Electronics Sex Drive
- Durham Electronics Mucho Busto
- Durham Electronics Zia Drive
- Electro-Harmonix Satisfaction
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro switcher
Strings and Picks
- D’Addario (.095–.44)
- D’Andrea Heavy
Van Zandt has reached a stage of reflection in his career. Besides the Grammy-nominated HBO film, Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, which came out in 2024, he recently wrote and published his autobiography, Unrequited Infatuations (2021), a rollicking read in which he pulls no punches and makes clear he still strives to do meaningful things in music and life.
His laurels would weigh him down if they were actually wrapped around his neck. In the E Street Band, Van Zandt has participated in arguably the most incredible live group in rock ’n’ roll history. And don’t forget Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes or Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. He created both the Underground Garage and Outlaw Country radio channels on Sirius/XM. He started a music curriculum program called TeachRock that provides no-cost resources and other programs to schools across the country. Then there’s the politics. Via his 1985 record, Sun City, Van Zandt is credited with blasting many of the load-bearing bricks that brought the walls of South African apartheid tumbling into dust. He also acted in arguably the greatest television drama in American history, with his turn as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos.
Puzzlingly, Van Zandt’s autobiography lacks any detail on his relationship with the electric guitar. And Sanoff warns me that Van Zandt is “not a gearhead.” Instead he has an organization in place to keep his guitar life spinning like plates on the end of pointed sticks. Besides Sanoff, there are three others: Ben Newberry has been Van Zandt’s guitar tech since the beginning of 1982. Andy Babiuk, owner of Rochester, New York, guitar shop Fab Gear and author of essential collector reference books Beatles Gear and Rolling Stones Gear (the latter co-authored by Greg Prevost) functions as Van Zandt’s guitar concierge. Lastly, luthier Dave Petillo, based in Asbury Park, New Jersey, oversees all the maintenance and customization on Van Zandt’s axes.
“I took one lesson, and they start to teach you the notes. I don’t care about the notes.” —Stevie Van Zandt
I crawl onto Zoom with Van Zandt for a marathon session and come away from our 90 minutes with the sense that he is a man of dichotomies. Sure, he’s a guitar slinger, but he considers his biggest strengths to be as an arranger, producer, and songwriter. “I don’t feel that being a guitar player is my identity,” he tells me. “For 40 years, ever since I made my first solo record, I just have not felt that I express myself as a guitar player. I still enjoy it when I do it; I’m not ambivalent. When I play a solo, I am in all the way, and I play a solo like I would like to hear if I were in the audience. But the guitar part is really part of the song’s arrangement. And a great solo is a composed solo. Great solos are ones you can sing, like Jimi Hendrix’s solo in ‘All Along the Watchtower.’”
In his autobiography, Van Zandt mentions that his first guitar was an acoustic belonging to his grandfather. “I took one lesson, and they start to teach you the notes. I don’t care about the notes,” Van Zandt tells me. “The teacher said I had natural ability. I’m thinking, if I got natural ability, then what the fuck do I need you for? So I never went back. After that, I got my first electric, an Epiphone. It was about slowing down the records to figure out with my ear what they were doing. It was seeing live bands and standing in front of that guitar player and watching what they were doing. It was praying when a band went on TV that the cameraman would occasionally go to the right place and show what the guitar player was doing instead of putting the camera on the lead singer all the time. And I’m sure it was the same for everybody. There was no concept of rock ’n’ roll lessons. School of Rock wouldn’t exist for another 30 years. So, you had to go to school yourself.”
By the end of the 1960s, Van Zandt tells me he had made a conscious decision about what kind of player he wanted to be. “I realized that I really wasn’t that interested in becoming a virtuoso guitar player, per se. I was more interested in making sure I could play the guitar solo that would complement the song. I got more into the songs than the nature of musicianship.”
After the Beatles and the Stones broke the British Invasion wide open, bands like Cream and the Yardbirds most influenced him. “George Harrison would have that perfect 22-second guitar solo,” Van Zandt remembers. “Keith Richards. Dave Davies. Then, the harder stuff started coming. Jeff Beck in the Yardbirds. Eric Clapton with things like ‘White Room.’ But the songs stayed in a pop configuration, three minutes each or so. You’d have this cool guitar-based song with a 15-second, really amazing Jeff Beck solo in it. That’s what I liked. Later, the jam bands came, but I was not into that. My attention deficit disorder was not working for the longer solos,” he jokes. Watch a YouTube video of any recent E Street Band performance where Van Zandt solos, and the punch and impact of his approach and attack are apparent. At Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., last year, his solo on “Rosalita” was 13 powerful seconds.
Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen’s relationship goes back to their earliest days on the Jersey shore. “Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity,” recalls Van Zandt. “At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to Telecaster. At that point, I was ready to switch to Stratocaster.”
Photo by Pamela Springsteen
Van Zandt left his Epiphone behind for his first Fender. “I started to notice that the guitar superstars at the time were playing Telecasters. Mike Bloomfield. Jeff Beck. Even Eric Clapton played one for a while,” he tells me. “I went down to Jack’s Music Shop in Red Bank, New Jersey, because he had the first Telecaster in our area and couldn’t sell it; it was just sitting there. I bought it for 90 bucks.”
In those days, and around those parts, players only had one guitar. Van Zandt recalls, “Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity. At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to Telecaster. At that point, I was ready to switch to Stratocaster, because Jimi Hendrix had come in and Jeff Beck had switched to a Strat. They all kind of went from Telecaster to Les Pauls. And then some of them went on to the Stratocaster. For me, the Les Paul was just too out of reach. It was too expensive, and it was just too heavy. So I said, I’m going to switch to a Stratocaster. It felt a little bit more versatile.”
Van Zandt still employs Stratocasters, and besides the 1957 I strummed, he was seen with several throughout the ’80s and ’90s. But for the last 20 or 25 years, Van Zandt has mainly wielded a black Fender ’57 Strat reissue from the ’80s with a maple fretboard and a gray pearloid pickguard. He still uses that Strat—dubbed “Number One”—but the pickguard has been switched to one sporting a purple paisley pattern that was custom-made by Dave Petillo.
Petillo comes from New Jersey luthier royalty and followed in the footsteps of his late father, Phil Petillo. At a young age, the elder Petillo became an apprentice to legendary New York builder John D’Angelico. Later, he sold Bruce Springsteen the iconic Fender Esquire that’s seen on the Born to Run album cover and maintained and modified that guitar and all of Bruce’s other axes until he passed away in 2010. Phil worked out of a studio in the basement of their home, not far from Asbury Park. Artists dropped in, and Petillo has childhood memories of playing pick-up basketball games in his backyard with members of the E Street Band. (He also recalls showing his Lincoln Logs to Johnny Cash and once mistaking Jerry Garcia for Santa Claus.)
“I was more interested in making sure I could play the guitar solo that would complement the song. I got more into the songs than the nature of musicianship.” —Stevie Van Zandt
“I’ve known Stevie Van Zandt my whole life,” says Petillo. “My dad used to work on his 1957 Strat. That guitar today has updated tuners, a bone nut, new string trees, and a refret that was done by Dad long ago. I think one volume pot may have been changed. But it still has the original pickups.” Petillo is responsible for a lot of the aesthetic flair seen on Van Zandt’s instruments. He continues, “Stevie is so much fun to work with. I love incorporating colors into things, and Stevie gets that. When you talk to a traditional Telecaster or Strat player, and you say, ‘I want to do a tulip paisley pickguard in neon blue-green,’ they’re like, ‘Holy cow, that’s too much!’ But for Stevie, it’s just natural. So I always text him with pickguard designs, asking him, ‘Which one do you like?’ And he calls me a wild man; he says, ‘I don’t have that many Strats to put them on!’ But I’ll go to Ben Newberry and say, ‘Ben, I made these pickguards; let’s get them on the guitar. And I’ll go backstage, and we’ll put them on. I just love that relationship; Stevie is down for it.”
Petillo takes care of the electronics on Van Zandt’s guitars. Almost all of the Strats are modified with an internal Alembic Stratoblaster preamp circuit, which Van Zandt can physically toggle on and off using a switch housed just above the input jack. Van Zandt tells me, “That came because I got annoyed with the whole pedal thing. I’m a performer onstage, and I’m integrated with the audience and I like the freedom to move. And if I’m across the stage and all of a sudden Bruce nods to me to take a solo, or there’s a bit in the song that requires a little bit of distortion, it’s just easier to have that; sometimes, I’ll need that extra little boost for a part I’m throwing in, and it’s convenient.”
In recent times, Van Zandt has branched out from the Stratocaster, which has a lot to do with Andy Babiuk's influence. The two met 20 years ago, and Babiuk’s band, the Chesterfield Kings, is on Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records. “He’d call me up and ask me things like, ‘What’s Brian Jones using on this song?’” explains Babiuk. “When I’d ask him why, he’d tell me, ‘Because I want to have that guitar.’ It’s a common thing for me to get calls and texts from him like that. And there’s something many people overlook that Stevie doesn’t advertise: He’s a ripping guitar player. People think of him as playing chords and singing backup for Bruce, but the guy rips. And not just on guitar, on multiple instruments.”
Van Zandt tells me he wanted to bring more 12-string to the E Street Band this tour, “just to kind of differentiate the tone.” He explains, “Nils is doing his thing, and Bruce is doing his thing, and I wanted to do more 12-string.” He laughs, “I went full Paul Kantner!” Babiuk helped Van Zandt plunge deeper down the Rickenbacker rabbit hole. Currently, Van Zandt has six Rickenbackers backstage: two 6-strings and four 12-strings. Each 12-string has a modified nut made by Petillo from ancient woolly mammoth tusk, and the D, A, and low E strings are inverted with their octave.
Van Zandt explains this to me: “I find that the strings ring better when the high ones are on top. I’m not sure if that’s how Roger McGuinn did it, but it works for me. I’m also playing a wider neck.”
Babiuk tells me about a unique Rick in Van Zandt’s rack of axes: “I know the guys at Rickenbacker well, and they did a run of 30 basses in candy apple purple for my shop. I showed one to Stevie, and purple is his color; he loves it. He asked me to get him a 12-string in the same color, and I told him, ‘They don’t do one-offs; they don’t have a custom shop,’ but it’s hard to say no to the guy! So I called Rickenbacker and talked them into it. I explained, ‘He’ll play it a lot on this upcoming tour.’ They made him a beautiful one with his OM logo.”
The purple one-off is a 1993Plus model and sports a 1 3/4" wide neck—1/8" wider than a normal Rickenbacker. Van Zandt loved it so much that he had Babiuk wrestle with Rickenbacker again to build another one in baby blue. Petillo has since outfitted them with paisley-festooned custom pickguards. When guitar tech Newberry shows me these unique axes backstage, I can see the input jack on the purple guitar is labeled with serial number 01001.“Some of my drive is based on gratitude,” says Van Zandt, “feeling like we are the luckiest guys in the luckiest generation ever.”
Photo by Rob DeMartin
Van Zandt also currently plays a white Vox Teardrop. That guitar is a prototype owned by Babiuk. “Stevie wanted a Teardrop,” Babiuk tells me, “but I explained that the vintage ones are hit and miss—the ones made in the U.K. were often better than the ones manufactured in Italy. Korg now owns Vox, and I have a new Teardrop prototype from them in my personal collection. When I showed it to him, he loved it and asked me to get him one. I had to tell him, ‘I can’t; it’s a prototype, there’s only one,’ and he asked me to sell him mine,” he chuckles. “I told him, ‘It’s my fucking personal guitar, it’s not for sale!’ So I ended up lending it to him for this tour, and I told him, ‘Remember, this is my guitar; don’t get too happy with it, okay?’
“He asked me why that particular guitar sounds and feels so good. Besides being a prototype built by only one guy, the single-coil pickups’ output is abnormally hot, and the neck feels like a nice ’60s Fender neck. Stevie’s obviously a dear friend of mine, and he can hold onto it for as long as he wants. I’m glad it’s getting played. It was just hanging in my office.”
Van Zandt tells me how Babiuk’s Vox Teardrop sums up everything he wants from his tone, and says, “It’s got a wonderfully clean, powerful sound. Like Brian Jones got on ‘The Last Time.’ That’s my whole thing; that’s the trick—trying to get the power without too much distortion. Bruce and Nils get plenty of distortion; I am trying to be the clean rhythm guitar all the time.”
If Van Zandt has a consigliere like Tony Soprano had Silvio Dante, that’s Newberry. Newberry has tech’d nearly every gig with Van Zandt since 1982. “Bruce shows move fast,” he tells me. “So when there’s a guitar change for Stevie, and there are many of them, I’m at the top of the stairs, and we switch quickly. There’s maybe one or two seconds, and if he needs to tell me something, I hear it. He’s Bruce’s musical director, so he may say something like, ‘Remind me tomorrow to go over the background vocals on “Ghosts,”’ or something like that. And I take notes during the show.”
“Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity. At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to a Telecaster.” —Stevie Van Zandt
When I ask Newberry how he defines Van Zandt’s relationship to the guitar, he doesn’t hesitate, snapping back, “It’s all in his head. His playing is encyclopedic, whether it’s Bruce or anything else. He may show up at soundcheck and start playing the Byrds, but it’s not ‘Tambourine Man,’ it’s something obscure like ‘Bells of Rhymney.’ People may not get it, but I’ve known him long enough to know what’s happening. He’s got everything already under his fingers. Everything.”
As such, Van Zandt says he never practices. “The only time I touch a guitar between tours is if I’m writing something or maybe arranging backing vocal harmonies on a production,” he tells me.
Before we say goodbye, I tell Van Zandt about my time stuck in his elevator, and his broad grin signals that I may not be the only one to have suffered that particular purgatory. When I ask him about the 1957 Stratocaster I got to play upon my release, he recalls: “Bruce Springsteen gave me that guitar. I’ve only ever had one guitar stolen in my life, and it was in the very early days of my joining the E Street Band. I only joined temporarily for what I thought would be about seven gigs, and in those two weeks or so, my Stratocaster was stolen. It was a 1957 or 1958. Bruce felt bad about that and replaced that lost guitar with this one. So I’ve had it a long, long time. Once that first one was stolen, I decided I would resist having a personal relationship with any one guitar. But that one being a gift from Bruce makes it special. I will never take it back on the road.”
After 50 years of rock ’n’ roll, if there is one word to sum up Stevie Van Zandt, it may be “restless”—an adjective you sense from reading his autobiography. He gets serious and tells me, “I’m always trying to catch up. The beginning of accomplishing something came quite late to me. I feel like I haven’t done nearly enough. What are we on this planet trying to do?” he asks rhetorically. “We’re trying to realize our potential and maybe leave this place one percent better for the next guy. And some of my drive is based on gratitude, feeling like we are the luckiest guys in the luckiest generation ever. That’s what I’m doing: I want to give something back. I feel an obligation.”
YouTube It
“Rosalita” is a perennial E Street Band showstopper. Here’s a close-up video from Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park last summer. Van Zandt’s brief but commanding guitar spotlight shines just past the 4:30 mark.
With over 350 effects models, 120 sampling slots, and a Groove Station with a 480-second looper, this pedal offers unparalleled versatility for guitarists worldwide.
In 2025, MOOER has announced that it will be set to release its latest multi-effects pedal, the GS1000 Intelligent Amp Profiling Processor, an augmented intelligent amp profiling processor. Built on MOOER’s advanced third-generation digital platform, the GS1000 introduces groundbreaking MNRS 2.0 technology, allowing guitarists around the world to emulate their favorite gear with immense precision–specifically, for distortion pedals, preamps, amplifier heads, and cabinets.
With this innovation, guitarists can fully capture the essence of their favorite guitar gear without owning the physical hardware, enabling them to carry their favorite tones wherever they go. Users are even able to use third-party IRs for cabinets of their choice, further enhancing the flexibility of this feature.
It’s unforgettable how much MOOER’s multi-effects pedals have impressed audiences so far, primarily thanks to their robust tone libraries. However, even still, the GS1000 continues to build upon this with storage for up to 120 sampling profiles, along with continued integration with the MOOER Cloud app. Essentially, this cloud integration facilitates infinite upload and download possibilities, giving users access to a global community of shared tones, widely expanding the number of accessible tones. More still, the GS1000’s previously mentioned third-party IR cabinet simulations support up to 2048 sample points, guaranteeing studio-grade tonal accuracy across the board.
Even more impressive for the price is how the GS1000 inherits the dual-chain effects architecture that made previous MOOER gear so versatile, making it suitable for highly complex usage scenarios. With over 350 factory effects models and a Sub-Patch preset grouping mode, the GS1000 makes it far simpler for users to make seamless transitions between tones, all while maintaining effect tails to guarantee seamless transitions. Additionally, the reintroduction of the innovative AI-driven EQ Master builds upon MOOER devices’ previous capabilities, using intelligent adjustments in real-time to match the musical style of players to tones, while still allowing manual tweaks for precise control.
Impressively, the GS1000 also comes packed with a Groove Station module, consisting of a combination of drum machine and looper features–including 56 high-quality drum kits! It offers a 480-second phrase looper with infinite overdubs, automated detection, and synchronization capabilities, resulting in an intuitive platform for solo jamming, composition, and live loop-based performance. Overall, the Groove Station acts as an all-in-one suite for creating full arrangements, without having to depend on additional backing tracks or bandmates.
Visually and functionally, the GS1000 really stands out thanks to its sleek visual design and enhanced user experience. For example, it features a convenient 5-inch high-resolution touchscreen, which is also paired with ambient lighting to add a visually stunning element to the pedal. As a result, the GS1000 is not only designed for convenient touch-based control but also as a standout centerpiece in any guitar rig.
In addition to this touchscreen control system, the GS1000 also provides expanded connectivity options, improving upon the already impressive flexibility of past pedals. Most notably, it supports connectivity with the MOOER F4 wireless footswitch, as well as the ability to control presets via external MIDI devices.
As is expected from MOOER these days, the GS1000 also excels when it comes to routing opportunities, going above and beyond the typical stereo ¼” inputs and outputs that would be expected from other brands. Yes, it still includes such staples, but it also includes an XLRmicrophone input, alongside balanced TRS outputs for long-distance signal clarity. The configurable serial/parallel stereo effects loop enables seamless integration of external effects, and the addition of Bluetooth audio input and MIDI compatibility broadens its wide range of use cases for live and practice-based applications.
Furthermore, the pedal also serves as a professional audio solution thanks to its low-latency 2-in/2-out ASIO USB sound card. Supporting up to 192kHz sampling rates, the GS1000 makes recording and live streaming effortless, as it can easily be used with software DAWs, MOOER’s editing software, as well as the USB-based MIDI control.
The GS1000 will be available in two versions–the standard white edition, which is powered by mains power, and the GS1000 Li version, which introduces a 7.4V 4750mAh lithium battery, chargeable through its power port. With this upgrade, users can enjoy up to six hours of continuous power-free playtime, making it ideal for practicing, busking, and generally performing on the go.
Overall, for fans of MOOER’s previous amp simulation offerings, the GS1000 represents a natural evolution, building on everything that made its predecessors great while introducing cutting-edge features and expanded capabilities. Most importantly, MOOER has promised to continuously update its MOOER 4.0 tonal algorithms on the MOOER Cloud in line with therelease, keeping things fresh for the company’s dedicated user base.
- MNRS 2.0 sampling technology for emulating distortion pedals, preamps, amplifier heads, and cabinets
- Over 350 original factory effects models
- 120 sampling slots with upload/download support via the MOOER Cloud app
- Supports third-party cabinet IR files up to 2048 sample points
- Integrated Groove Station with a drum machine and 480-second looper, featuring infinite overdubs and synchronization capabilities
- 54 high-quality drum kits
- 4 metronome tones
- Tap-tempo control for timing effects
- Advanced AI-driven EQ Master for intelligent tone adjustment based on music styles, with manual customization options
- Built-in high-precision digital tuner
- Quick-access dual-chain effects architecture for seamless creative workflows
- 5-inch high-resolution touchscreen with ambient lighting for enhanced usability
- Four multi-purpose footswitches
- Configurable serial/parallel TRS stereo effects loop for external effects integration
- 6.35mm instrument input and XLR microphone input for expanded connectivity
- Balanced TRS stereo outputs for long-distance signal transmission without quality loss
- Bluetooth audio input functionality for accompaniment playback
- Low-latency ASIO 2-in/2-out USB sound card supporting up to 192kHz sampling rate
- MIDI controller compatibility for managing presets and features
- USB-C port for preset management, USB audio, and USB MIDI functionality
- Supports MOOER F4 wireless footswitch for extended control
- Also available as the GS1000 Li, which features a built-in 7.4V 4750mAh lithium battery, offering up to 6 hours of continuous playtime, chargeable through the power port
The GS1000 will be available from the official distributors and retailers worldwide on January 16th, 2025.
For more information, please visit mooeraudio.com.
Hand-crafted in Petaluma, California, this amp features upgrades while maintaining the original's legendary tone.
The Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head’s arrival in 1992 was a watershed moment for alternative rock and metal that changed everything; heavy music would never sound the same again, and the Dual Rectifier’s crushing, harmonically rich tone became the most sought-after guitar sound of the era. With a feel as empowering as its sound, the Rectifiers provided an ease of playing that supported and elevated proficiency and was inspirational, rewarding, and addictive.
Its sound and impact on the generation that used it to define what rock music would become were as sweeping as they have been lasting. And it remains arguably the most modeled in today’s digital amp landscape. Now, the 90s Dual Rectifier is back with a vengeance, built in Petaluma, California, by the same artisans who made the originals the most desirable high-gain guitar amplifier of all time.
For more information, please visit mesaboogie.com.
MESA/Boogie 90s Dual Rectifier full demo & tutorial ft. Doug West & Tommy Waugh - YouTube
Mesa/Boogie '90s Dual Rectifier 100-watt Tube Head - Black Diamond Faceplate
2 Channel HeadFeaturing Bluetooth input, XLR inputs, and advanced amplifier platform, the KC12 is designed to offer exceptional sound quality and versatility for a wide range of applications.
The KC12 is a first-of-its-kind, 3-way, 3000-watt active loudspeaker system encompassing the visual aesthetic of a column loudspeaker while surpassing the acoustic performance of conventional designs. Simple and easy to deploy, the elegant KC12, available in black and white, is ideal for a wide range of customers and applications from solo entertainers, musicians and bands, mobile entertainers and DJs to corporate AV, event production, and static installations.
Column-style portable loudspeaker systems are most often put into service due to their unobtrusive form factor. However, typical designs lack clarity and definition, particularly when pushed to high output levels, forcing the user into a form-over-function compromise. Solving this common dilemma, the KC12 cleverly utilizes a 3-way design featuring QSC’s patented LEAF™ waveguide (first introduced in L Class Active Line Array Loudspeakers) combined with a true 1-inch compression driver, two 4-inch midrange drivers, and a high output 12-inch subwoofer, while still maintaining the desired, elegant appearance of a “column” system. The KC12 produces an outstanding full-range horizontal coverage of 145 degrees and 35 degrees of audience-directed vertical coverage with clean and natural sound at all output levels.
The system features three inputs: a Bluetooth ® input combined with a 3.5 mm TRS stereo input, as well as two combo XLR inputs (Mic/Line/Hi-Z and Mic/Line/+48 V), with independent, assignableFactory Presets for each XLR input, making it ideal for small events where two microphones are needed for different uses. The rear panel incorporates a multi-function digital display, offering control and selection of several loudspeaker functions, including Global Parametric EQ, Subwoofer level, Presets and Scenes, Bluetooth configuration, Delay (maximum of 200 ms), or Reverb. Bluetooth functionality also provides True Wireless Stereo (TWS), which ensures low latency pairing between the music source and both left and right loudspeakers simultaneously.
Additionally, the KC12 can be deployed with or without its lower column pole, making the system ideally suited for utilization on a floor, riser or raised stage. The system is backed by a 6-year Extended Warranty (with product registration).
“The KC12 exquisitely resolves the form-over-function compromise that has frustrated users of this category of products since they made their market introduction over 20 years ago,” states David Fuller, VP of Product Development, QSC Audio. “With the benefit of time, experience, extensive customer research, and cutting-edge innovation, our talented design team has truly created something very different from the status quo – not simply a differentiated product, but an overall better solution for the customer.”
The feature set and performance characteristics of the KC12 are complemented by a new, advanced amplifier platform, first incorporated into the L Class LS118 subwoofer released this past October. Fuller adds, “Among the platform’s key attributes are layers of real-time telemetry and protection to ensure uninterrupted performance day after day, which is a foundational QSC brand attribute.”
“Just like our first K Series reset the bar for powered loudspeakers, elevating customers’ expectations for performance, quality, reliability, usability, and professional appearance, the K Column offers a compelling, new approach to a familiar category and is destined to redefine the whole notion of what a ‘column’ is for users of portable PA products,” states Ray van Straten, VPBrand, Marketing & amp; Training, QSC Audio. “The product is simply stunning in its sleek and elegant appearance, but with the marketing tagline, ‘Just Listen’, we’re confident that once again, QSC sound quality will ultimately be the reason customers will quickly embrace the K Column as the next ‘New Standard’ in its category.”
The QSC KC12 K Column carries a MAP price of $1,999.
For more information, please visit qsc.com.