Fender Play Foundation Provides More Than 1,000 Students With Guitars and Ukuleles for Music Classes
Los Angeles Unified students began the first of several unique enrichment classes for the Districtās online summer school today. Through its partnership with the Fender Play Foundation, Los Angeles Unified is offering more than 1,000 students the opportunity to learn how to play guitar and ukulele.Ā
āMusic helps students find a group and a sense of belonging to help them express themselves,ā Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner said. āItās exciting to see how we can combine the online connection with students and great teachers together with instruments and the Fender Play App to create a truly unique learning opportunity.ā
FenderĀ believes that music is the universal language that empowers self-expression and community building everywhere. Since 2019, theĀ Fender Play FoundationĀ has supported educators and helped youth who aspire to play. To continue that mission, Fender will be providing gear and Fender Play subscriptions to over 1,000 Los Angeles Unified students across grades 6-8, who will be learning to play acoustic, electric or bass guitar and ukulele online this summer.Ā
During this program Fender will be working alongside a team of Los Angeles Unified music teachers on all curriculum toward the goal of performing one song in genres like rock, pop, blues or latin. Students will learn 10 important chords and how chord progressions work; understand the history of several genres; write an essay about the genre; solve real-world math problems related to guitars; and learn digital recording techniques to record music.Ā
āThe mission of the Fender Play Foundation is to equip, educate and inspire the next generation of players, as they embark on their musical journey,ā Fender CMO and Fender Play Foundation Co-President Evan Jones said. āWith the stay at home orders at hand, people of all ages are learning guitar and new skills now more than ever and we want to support that creative expression however we can.ā
āWe are honored to partner with Los Angeles Unified and teachers to bring the opportunity of music to so many students in our community.Ā Playing guitar has proven emotional and wellness benefits that we hope add some hope during this time,ā added Ed Magee, Fender EVP Operations and Fender Play Foundation Co-President.
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Features
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Effects Loop
True Bypass
9-volt power ā can use external power supply or internal battery
Switchable MUTE
-12dB Attenuation switch
DIRECT OUT balanced XLR and 1/4-inch
Carvin BX1 Bass Preamp Pedal
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In their corner, from left to right: Wilcoās Pat Sansone (guitars, keys, and more), drummer Glenn Kotche, Jeff Tweedy, bassist John Stirratt, guitarist Nels Cline, and keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen.
Photo by Annabel Merhen
How Jeff Tweedy, Nels Cline, and Pat Sansone parlayed a songwriting hot streak, collective arrangements, live ensemble recording, and twangy tradition into the bandās new āAmerican music album about America.ā
Every artist whoās enjoyed some level of fame has had to deal with the parasocial effectāwhere audiences feel an overly intimate connection to an artist just from listening to their music. It can lead some listeners to believe they even have a personal relationship with the artist. I asked Jeff Tweedy what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that.
āItās definitely weird having people know you that you donāt know,ā he replied. āThereās a level of intimacy that some people feel theyāve had with you because youāve reached them in intimate momentsāyour voice has, at least.ā But rather than off-putting, he sees beauty in it: āI try to be really respectful of that, ācause itās ultimately really sweet. Itās flattering to be a companion to somebody that you donāt know. Itās one of the more beautiful things about doing what I do, in that it has the potential to be difference-making for somebody in a dark moment.ā
With the release of Wilcoās 12th studio album, Cruel Country, Tweedy and the band are offering 21 new songs to connect with. And as its title suggests, Wilco sinks into a country vibe more than ever before. Tweedy speculates that fans have always assumed that Wilco is in some way a country band, and although heās not sure he agrees, he decided to lean into that on Cruel Country.
I Am My Mother
Although Wilcoās members worked on Jeff Tweedyās latest group of songs apart, the final architecture of the arrangements was completed together, live in their Chicago studio and practice space, the Loft.
Cruel Country has a concept behind it but isnāt necessarily a concept recording. Tweedy sees it as an āAmerican music album about America.ā The songwriter says heās struggled with what American identity means for decades. āGoing back as far as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, thatās sort of a running theme through a lot of things Iāve written. I would call it an affection or a connection where I canāt really choose. Just like the soft spot you have for your family or the people that you wish knew better but just canāt help themselves, that you have been shown kindness from in other ways. I think that you can be critical of something, believe that its flaws are intolerable, and actually have love for the same person or the same thing. In this case, your country.ā Of course, with its twangy riffs, bent-note solos, and other classic sonic signatures, the album can easily be heard as a loving homage to country music. Regardless, this new entry in Wilcoās catalog seems the next right step in the bandās career.
āIt all becomes a part of the thing that you canāt fakeāensemble-based playing.āāJeff Tweedy
The album blends Wilcoās classic sound with that twang and small doses of unconventional arrangements. It refamiliarizes us with Tweedyās unassuming, mutedly sad, and at times droll lyrics. āOnce, just by chance / I made a friend in an ambulance / I was half man, half broken glass,ā he sings on āAmbulance.ā In the single āFalling Apart (Right Now),ā he reflects on the pervasive stress of modern life with the couplet, āNow donāt you lose your mind / While Iām looking for mine.ā And in keeping with Wilcoās wilder moments, the band explores abstract effects on the nearly eight-minute āMany Worldsā and ventures into an extended jam for the second half of āBird Without a Tail/ Base of My Skull.ā
Cruel Country started back in 2020, when, after having to cancel a tour with Sleater-Kinney, Tweedy started sending the band songs to work on remotely. They got back on the road in 2021, and during those two years, Tweedy met occasionally with individual members at their Chicago recording and practice space, the Loft, to hash out material. But it wasnāt until January 2022 that all the members were able to meet at the space for the first time since before the pandemic.
Jeff Tweedyās Gear
Jeff Tweedy used three acoustic guitars on Wilcoās latest, including his faithful Martin D-28. He praises Bob Dylan and Buck Owens as models for his own country-flavored acoustic rhythm playing.
Photo by Jordi Vidal
Guitars
1944 Martin D-28 named āHankā
1933 Martin OM-18
1931 Martin OM-28
Strings & Picks
DāAddario Phosphor Bronze EJ16 (.012ā.053)
DāAddario Phosphor Bronze EJ17 (.013ā.056)
Herco Flex 50
Herco Flex 75
Snarling Dogs Brain Picks, green, .53 mm
In the days leading up to that, Tweedy was writing more prolifically and continued to forward his rough demos to his bandmates. āThe songs started coming very easily and felt very urgent, and it felt good to have a new song to sing each day,ā he says.
Guitarist Nels Cline, Wilcoās sonic not-so-secret weapon, notes, āAt one point last year, Jeff decided he wanted to send us a song a day that he would record on his smartphone, playing guitar and singing. As I recall, he wrote 51 songs in 52 days. And unlike a lot of his songwriting that weāve experienced, a lot of these songs had finished lyrics and choruses and everything. Some were so absolutely classic in the style that I would loosely call country songs or folk songs that I didnāt know that they were Wilco songs.ā
Multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone adds, āBut when we looked at the material that we had in the works, we saw that we had a lot that was in this style, and decided, āWhy donāt we lean into these songs to make a body of work?ā I think itās natural for us to do something like this. Itās always been a part of our vocabulary.ā
āIāve always loved that [B-Bender] sound and I certainly admire the great players. Clarence White was a genius and one of my favorite guitarists. And Iām a big fan of Marty Stuartās guitar playing.āāPat Sansone
When Wilco was able to meet, putting together the arrangements for Tweedyās already fleshed-out ideas came easily. āWe actually made the first disc of this record in January in two weeks,ā Tweedy says. āAnd then we got together for two weeks in February and thought initially that weād just be seeing if we could make anything that would beat the things that are on the first record. We ended up starting to feel like, well, this is kind of making itself a double record. The songs kind of inform each other.ā Except for a few overdubs, the album was recorded liveājust the six members playing in the studio together. Essentially, the two discs were recorded and released in five months.
When asked what they might have learned about themselves or the band in the making of Cruel Country, all three guitarists sayāin some variationāthat they discovered Sansoneās skills on the B-Bender Telecaster. āIāve never seen that before [from him]; it was pretty mind-blowing,ā Tweedy laughs.
Cline continues, āA lot of the really twangy, cool-sounding country-style guitar that you hear on this record is Pat. I donāt think he even deigned to add the B-Bender to the record until Jeff asked him at one point, āDo you have a B-Bender Telecaster?ā And it was so successful. Heās such a natural at it that Jeff asked him for it again and again on song after song.ā
Nels Clineās Gear
Nels Cline wiggles the vibrato arm on his main guitar, a 1960 Fender Jazzmaster that heās dubbed āthe Watt.ā
Photo by Jim Bennett
Guitars
1930s National square-neck resonator Duesenberg lap steel (with B- and G-Bender levers) 1940s National resonator with Bakelite neck Early ā50s Epiphone Electar Mule Resonators āThe Mavisā electric resonator 1960 Jazzmaster aka āThe Wattā Neptune 12-string Fano SP6 by Dennis Fano, with custom-designed Duneland Labs hum-canceling pickups
Amp
Milkman Creamer with 50W Jupiter 12" speaker
Effects
Moyo Volume pedal
Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer
Walrus Audio Voyager overdrive
Vintage MXR Phase 45
EarthQuaker Devices Disaster Transport delay
EarthQuaker Devices Aqueduct vibrato
Big Foot FX Magnavibe
Strings, Picks & Cables
GHS Boomers (.012 sets; āThe Mavisā has flatwounds)
Dunlop Ultex 1.14 mm
Bluebird picks borrowed from Pat
Divine Noise cables
āIāve always loved that sound,ā says Sansone, āand I certainly admire the great players. Clarence White was a genius and one of my favorite guitarists. And Iām a big fan of Marty Stuartās guitar playing. Itās something that I learned that I really like to play, and itās something that I definitely want to get better at.ā
Of all the songs on the record, Sansone names āMystery Binds,ā a dreamy folk-rock ballad with plenty of texture, as one of his favorites. āThatās the song that Jeff had sent to us in the dark days of the pandemic when we were still working remotely. I immediately took to that song. I thought it had a really unique and beautiful mood and was something a bit different than anything Iād heard Jeff send us. āMany Worldsā is another favorite. That was Nels and I playing together and kind of playing off each other, and thatās always a thrillāto be able to do that with him.ā
Cline and Sansone say that āMany Worlds,ā despite how kaleidoscopic its sonic architecture might seem given the abundance of effects and instrumentation, was recorded live like the rest of the album. Sansone actually got up in the middle of the song to switch from piano to guitar. ā[We wanted to] see if we could play it live,ā Tweedy shares. āWe tried it, and you can hear us moving around on the track. But it all becomes a part of the thing that you canāt fakeāensemble-based playing.ā
āOne friend of my wifeās and mine whoās French once compared my lead guitar playing to the voice of Edith Piaf.āāNels Cline
The three guitarists in the band have found their own ways to complement each other. Cline is often thought of as the lead guitarist, with Sansone typically alternating between back-up guitar and keys. Tweedy sets the tone at the front, either with rhythm strumming or fingerpicking. On Cruel Country, however, Cline comments that Sansone took the role of lead guitar on many songs with his B-Bender, and Tweedy says that his primary goal was to be a solid country strummer.
āOne person I think is really good at that, oddly enough, is Bob Dylan. I like the drive that he has on his records when heās playing acoustic guitar,ā Tweedy opines. āI like Buck Owens and country recordings where itās not even a specific playerāitās just a style of playing where the guitar becomes part of the rhythm section, almost like a tambourine or something.ā The guitars Tweedy used on the album were all Martins, including his 1944 D-28, 1933 OM-18, and 1931 OM-28.
The axes Cline played on the album include a 1930s National square-neck resonator, a Duesenberg lap steel, a Neptune electric 12-string, and his main guitar, the 1960 Jazzmaster known as āthe Watt.ā Cline, whose background includes experimental and avant-garde jazz, names Electric Ladyland by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Meditations by John Coltrane, and Solstice by Ralph Towner as three of his top albums. He also mentions that since age 10 heās been fascinated and inspired by Indian classical music, and that among his many, many influences on the guitar is Peter Framptonāone he says journalists tend to leave out.
Pat Sansoneās Gear
Pat Sansoneās B-Bender-equipped Telecaster became an essential part of the new Wilco record, helping to put the steel-guitar sound of country into the new Cruel Country.
Photo by Jordi Vidal
Guitars
Tokai Telecaster with B-Bender 1963 Epiphone Casino 1988 Rickenbacker Roger McGuinn 370/12 12-string
Amp
Vintage Fender Deluxe
Effects
ā70s Ibanez Phase Tone II
Strings, Picks & Cables
Assorted DāAddario sets
Bluebird picks (made from 1930s Argentinian poker chips by Patās brother-in-law)
Divine Noise cables
Cline describes himself as versatile and isnāt sure his jazz roots influence what he records with Wilco. āI try to change what I play based on what I think the song is asking for, or quite often what Jeff specifically asked for. I donāt know that I have any voice that I could zero in on. Iām many voices.One friend of my wifeās and mine whoās French once compared my lead guitar playing to the voice of Edith Piaf. I think itās because of what I call the wiggleāmy fast vibrato which is inspired by John Cipollina from Quicksilver Messenger Service and Tom Verlaine from Television.ā
Sansoneāwhose favorite albums include Revolver, Odessey and Oracleby the Zombies, and Third/Sister Lovers by Big Starādescribes his approach: āI have a tendency to go toward melodic figures, finding places where counter-melodies can support the arrangement, or melodic bits on the guitar that help connect different parts of the song. Thatās probably where my style and my sensibilities are maybe most unique in the group.ā The B-Bender-equipped instrument he used on the album was a Tokai Telecaster. He also played a 1963 Epiphone Casino and a 1988 reissue Roger McGuinn 12-string Rickenbacker. In the studio, he prefers using a Swart Atomic Space Tone amp. āItās just a small amp, low voltage, one 10" speaker, but it has a beautiful tone. It takes pedals very well, so itās easy to get a range of tones at low volume.ā
Wilcoās songs have always begun with Tweedy. He has some methods of writing that help him along the path of fine-tuning his work, including sharing his ideas with the band. āWhen I play my songs for the rest of the band, I start to hear them with other peopleās ears. It kind of provides at least a little moment of objectivity, ācause I can hear āem and forget that I made them up,ā he shares. His songwriting is defined by the simple notion that he canāt not be himself while composing. āAnd at some point, you try to be yourself on purpose,ā he elaborates. āI canāt really extract myself from it anymore. Itās just a thing that I do, and it results in a thing that has some āme-nessā to it. Like some āJeff-ness.ā
āWhen I play my songs for the rest of the band, I start to hear them with other peopleās ears.āāJeff Tweedy
āI like reading a lot, I like listening to records, and I generally do both until I canāt take it anymore and I feel like I need to do something of my own,ā he continues. āI need to answer that call to add my own voice to the [mix]. Itās just inspiring when you spend time with other peopleās consciousnesses.ā
In the nearly 40 years heās been performing as a professional recording artist, Tweedyās ambitions havenāt really changed. āAll the decisions I feel have been mostly centered around, āWhat path do we take that will allow us to do this tomorrow?ā I mean, first, if you canāt picture it, it canāt happen. Even āI want to be a songwriter,ā to me, is a little bit more intangible than āI want to write a song.ā Thatās a manageable goal, and all your big dreams are built on those manageable goals. Because if you donāt do those, other things donāt happen.ā
YouTube It
Pat Sansone lays down some heavy twang with his Fender Telecaster in this three-guitar-frontline performance of āFalling Apart (Right Now),ā from Wilcoās new Cruel Country, at the bandās Solid Sound festival 2022 in North Adams, Massachusetts.
Luthier Maegen Wells recalls the moment she fell in love with the archtop and how it changed her world.
The archtop guitar is one of the greatest loves of my life, and over time itās become clear that our tale is perhaps an unlikely one. I showed up late to the archtop party, and it took a while to realize our pairing was atypical. I had no idea that I had fallen head-over-heels in love with everything about whatās commonly perceived as a ājazz guitar.ā No clue whatsoever. And, to be honest, I kind of miss those days. But one can only hear the question, āWhy do you want to build jazz guitars if you donāt play jazz?ā so many times before starting to wonder what the hell everyoneās talking about.
Contrary to popular belief, archtop guitars have the potential to be some of the most versatile on the planet. Yet a huge corner of the music world insists on keeping them in a straitjacket. Whatās up with that? Even as a little-girl player, I always felt archtops were the most beautiful guitars of them all. So beautiful that they were untouchable. I didnāt need someone to tell me I didnāt play the āright kind of musicā to feel unworthy of them. But the word on the street was that archtops were meant for a very particular and sophisticated style of music.
This is not the guitar for you. I believed it. I could feel it. I am not worthy. Instead, I picked up an OM and headed down a very different musical path in life. Tying down the restraints not only on the archtop, but myself. Does this sound familiar?
This is not what music and guitars should do to us. So, who put this straitjacket on? Did I put it on myself? Did I put the archtop guitar in one? Are there others?! Help! How did this happen? I spent the next 11 years walking around in a singer/songwriter straitjacket. It wasnāt until I showed up at the Galloup School of Guitar Building and Repair that I was able to bust out of that thing with some chisels and gouges. It was there that I got my first glimpse at the archtop party.
The first private moment I had with my completed archtop, I was stunned to silence. My soul shifted, and there a song was found hidingāmy very first instrumental fingerstyle piece.
My intentions were to be a flattop builder, but I was changed forever when my archtop construction began. Enthralled by the versatility of skills the process demanded, the woodworker in me was ignited. The experience of building a variety of guitars was why I wanted to take the Galloup Masters Program. With that came the experience of playing a variety of guitars that I normally would not play,which was equally educational and life changingāsomething that has now become essential to my musical inspiration.
The first private moment I had with my completed archtop, I was stunned to silence. My soul shifted, and there a song was found hidingāmy very first instrumental fingerstyle piece. I was so hypnotized by the voice of this guitar that it launched me in a completely different musical direction. I did not sing another note for almost 7 years; this instrumentās voice was the only one I wanted to hear. It was everything Iāve ever wanted: acoustic, electric, sensitive, powerful, delicate, strong. Our love was effortless, and it found music living inside of me that I had no idea existed. Isnāt that what itās all about?
I share this dusty story with you today because I know Iām not alone. There are others out there who have allowed the restraints to come between them and these remarkable instruments. Because at some point along the way, they were told theyāre not supposed to do that with an archtop. I hear this all of the time. Whatever happened to just picking up a guitar, closing your eyes, and letting it pull something out of you? Iām not at all denying the fact that certain instruments excel with certain genres and styles of playing, but we canāt let that prevent us from exploring the things weāre curious about.You could be missing out on one of the great loves of your life.
I almost missed out on the archtop party, but thankfully I came in through the woodshop window. And I have good news: The others at this party are on a similar mission to free the archtop from its straitjacket. Not to mention, the music at this party is off the hook. Is there jazz? YES! But thatās not allāwe have fingerstyle, honky-tonk, funk, blues, rock, weird space music, and everything else youāre not supposed to do on an archtop. With todayās premier archtop builders such as Danny Koentopp, Tim Frick, Wyatt Wilkie, LHT, Otto DāAmbrosio, or Retrograde, just to name a few, there is undoubtedly something for everyone to be inspired by.
This is your official invitation to the archtop party. Leave your straitjacket at the door and join us, ācause an archtop party donāt stop.