A-list performances, gear exhibits and over 200 workshops draw record crowds to the nation’s largest customer-focused music trade show
Fort Wayne, IN — For the 17th year, Sweetwater hosted its annual GearFest on Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23, 2018 at its campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, drawing record crowds with more than 15,000 attendees from across the world — including guests from Australia, Brazil and Japan. This year’s event also saw a 15-percent increase in music equipment sales during the event
Considered the nation’s largest customer-focused music and pro-audio trade show, GearFest 2018 offered something for every music lover — from over 200 workshops to new gear releases from top musical instrument manufacturers to performances by some of the biggest names in the industry, including Greg Koch, Peter Erskine and John Scofield.
“We are thrilled that GearFest continues to attract more and more musicians from across not only the U.S., but the world, who are searching for a unique music experience unlike any other,” said Steve Dwyer, Senior Director of Brand at Sweetwater Sound. “Through GearFest, Sweetwater is reaching today’s music creation community and bringing them the opportunity to learn and interface with some of the brightest minds in the music industry. We are certain that anyone who attended GearFest walked away with a new piece of knowledge and are ready to take their passion for music to the next level.”
For those who couldn’t make the event, Sweetwater live streamed select panels, performances and workshops on Facebook Live so everyone could be a part of the GearFest experience. The live streamed videos can be viewed at: https://www.sweetwater.com/gearfest/watch-live/.
Unforgettable Performances
Inspiring the crowd, this year’s GearFest was full of memorable, impromptu performances by some of the biggest names in the music industry, including guitarist Nita Strauss who took the stage during her seminar with Nick Bowcott and performed an impromptu performance of Pantera’s “Walk” as a tribute to the late Pantera/Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul.
Another unforgettable performance came when drummer Steve Ferrone, who has worked with top talent like Tom Petty, Eric Clapton and Duran Duran, learned that his former bandmate — keyboardist, arranger and music director Greg Phillinganes — was also at GearFest. The two legends connected and jumped onstage, entertaining the audience with a spontaneous rendition of Clapton’s “Pretending.”
Serious ‘Master’ Classes
Performances aside, GearFest also offered attendees the opportunity to learn from some of the best and brightest in the industry during expert panels and workshops which featured names like Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor, drummer and producer Russ Kunkel, and former Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick. The more than 200 workshops and seminars covered such topics as getting discovered on YouTube, music creation with computers, and tips on improving technique and theory.
A perennial GearFest favorite, this year’s Producer’s Panel offered a high-powered discussion on what it takes to be a producer, how to help artists perform their best and what makes a song great. The panel was made up of Sylvia Massy (Tool, Prince), Neal Pogue (TLC, Pink), Kevin Killen (Shakira, U2), Fab Dupont (Jennifer Lopez, Bon Jovi), Chris Lord-Alge (James Brown, Prince) and Rich Chycki (Dream Theater) along with Sweetwter’s own Mitch Gallagher moderating the panel.
Among the most popular of the events was “Getting Great Electric Guitar Tone” which featured Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Panic! at the Disco), Buddy Miller (Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant), Tim Pierce (Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen), Lyle Workman (Bourgeois Tagg, Todd Rundgren), and panel moderator and Nashville session star Corey Congilio. During this session, the group dug deep into capturing electric guitar tones and demonstrated the power of Universal Audio’s OX.
Next year’s GearFest 2019 will be held June 21-22nd.
When California-based effects company Noise Engineering released their Desmodus Versio in 2020, it represented the first reverb effect in their product line, but they coined a new term for the DSP-based effect: a synthetic-tail generator. The name reflects the reality that it is, by definition, the Desmodus Versio doesn’t create literal reverberation, as in reflections in a room, but instead builds “tails” onto an audio signal. Taxonomy aside, it was a powerful, well-received, and positively jam-packed digital unit.
The Batverb, launched earlier this year, is an evolution of Noise’s tail-generating efforts. However, it uses brand-new code programmed for Electrosmith’s Daisy Seed DSP platform. A stereo effect box that spans delightful and demented flavors of delay and reverb, the Batverb is generously featured and full of unique takes on space-making effects.
Heads or Tails
The Batverb’s main panel includes six knobs, three 3-way switches, two footswitches, and one “bat” button, which you press and hold to access alternate parameters assigned to the knobs. On the crown are input jacks for either mono or stereo performance as well as MIDI in/out and expression pedal jacks. Up to 16 different presets can be saved and recalled via MIDI.
In normal operation, the knobs govern, from bottom left to bottom right, input volume, time, a suboctave chorus, an octave-up shimmer, “regen” or feedback, and a blend of dry and wet signals. When holding the bat button, those same knobs, in order, control output volume, MIDI channel selection, high-pass filter, low-pass filter, duck amount, and expression pedal parameter assignment. The focus switch changes the diffusion of the delay lines. In the left position it behaves more like a delay, while the other two settings sound and feel more like reverbs. Grit adds, in the middle and right positions, a discrete soft-clipping distortion, and duck determines the responsiveness of the feedback. In the switch’s center position, there’s no ducking. At left, feedback monetarily increases when input volume is received, then tapers off as the signal does. At right, the opposite happens, and feedback increases as the signal gets quieter.
Enter the Bat Cave
To my ears, the Batverb’s more reverb-y patches are in hall or room territory—albeit very cavernous halls or rooms. But reverb sounds created by the Batverb’s algorithms sound more authentic to me than many sought-after reverbs I’ve played. Rather than an indistinct wash of sound, the tails here give the convincing impression of your amp’s signal ricocheting around a high-ceilinged cathedral, at first coming back in clearer, sharper bursts, then melting into smeary ambience. And the handy hold feature can be engaged for infinite regeneration by tapping the footswitch, or for a specific window by pressing and holding. That double utility goes a long way toward determining whether the Batverb sounds organic or unhinged.
The sub- and up-octave content injected by the doom and shimmer knobs is more chaotic and spacious than garden-variety iterations of those effects you’ll find on many octave-based reverbs, and that’s a good thing. Like most effects generated by the Batverb it feels like the product of thoughtful, well-considered programming.
The delay algorithm, engaged with the focus toggle at left, is pleasant and plenty usable, and it’s nice to have alongside the less predictable reverb settings. But the Batverb’s deep tweakability means you can still dial in a broad range of both standard and more marginal delay sounds. The chunky transistor-ish dirt summoned by the grit switch widens the palette further. Add in the touch-sensitive ducking (and its customizable parameters), and you’ve got a ton of ground to play with.
The Verdict
Noise Engineering created an outstanding reverb and tail generator here. Considering its steep asking price, the Batverb will be out of the question for many players, but it’s obviously geared to adventurous players and discerning producers, especially those looking for authentic, parallel universe-conjuring ambience and noise in their studio or live rigs. For these musicians, the Batverb will be more than worth the bite it takes from the bank balance.
Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch—one of the creative avatars of downtown New York cool since the mid ’80s—was asked a while back what he thought were some of the key innovations of the 20th century. “My answer was the mapping of the human genome, the Hubble Space Telescope, the French bikini, and the electric guitar,” recalls the director of such arthouse wonders as Mystery Train, Dead Man, and Only Lovers Left Alive. “My favorite of those might be the electric guitar. I just love guitars and musical noise.”
YouTube
Jarmusch isn’t just a fan of music ranging from the Stooges and Crazy Horse to heavy drone bands like Earth and Nadja. He generates guitar noise himself, most notably with his band Sqürl and his frequent duo partner, the Dutch lutenist Jozef van Wissem. Jarmusch has been making records and performing live with both for years now; his output with a guitar in hand has even lately outpaced his productivity behind a camera. Last year, he and his prime Sqürl mate, Carter Logan (drums/electronics), released Music for Man Ray, an album of their scores to Surrealist short films made by the titular artist in the 1920s, the whorls of sound captured live at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. That disc followed a 2023 Sqürl studio album, Silver Haze, with guest stars guitarist Marc Ribot, actress/vocalist Charlotte Gainsbourg, and the singer-songwriter Anika. Jarmusch and van Wissem toured this summer to herald a new record, The Day the Angels Cried, their fifth non-soundtrack release. Jarmusch has also been working on some longform solo guitar music, asking the recording engineer to “edit out all the riffs” as he follows a dream-logic muse.
“You have to be listening and use your whole body along with your instrument, your amps, your effects. But what you’re going to produce isn’t certain, and there’s tension in that.”—Jim Jarmusch
Although he had played in bands during the early ’80s, mostly on keyboards, Jarmusch took up the guitar as a passion in the early 2000s. He had planned for his pensive noir The Limits of Control (2009) to feature preexisting music rather than a purpose-written score, including viscous art-metal by Boris, Sunn O))), and Earth, the tolling psychedelic rock of the Black Angels’ “You on the Run,” and a handful of flamenco pieces to suit the Spanish setting. But when he couldn’t find the right tracks to match some elemental sounds he heard in his head for a few remaining scenes, Jarmusch decided to make that music himself, alongside Logan and engineer-organist Shane Stoneback. Credited as Bad Rabbit on the soundtrack, the name morphed into Sqürl as Jarmusch and Logan released further recordings, such as the luminous, affecting Some Music for Robby Müller (a sonic tribute to the late, great cinematographer).
On his most recent tour with Van Wissem, Jarmusch has been using this P-90-loaded Guild I Starfire Jet 90. “It’s kind of a beast,” he says, “but I’m loving it, because it’s very good for controlled feedback.”
Photo by Joachim Adria Pujol
“I’m not a trained guitar player—never even had a real lesson,” explains Jarmusch, 72. “I play my own way. I don’t practice scales, but something I have practiced for many years is controlled feedback. If I can say anything, it’s that I’ve become pretty good at that kind of musical feedback on electric guitar, something I do a lot in the duo with Jozef. I have had some pointers in this area, particularly from Stephen O’Malley from Sunn O))) and Stewart Hurwood, one of Lou Reed’s guitar techs. But the thing about feedback is that you’re not always totally in control of it. You don’t know exactly how the guitar and pickups are going to react vis-à-vis what distance you are from the amplifiers and how their levels are set. So, you have to be listening and use your whole body along with your instrument, your amps, your effects. But what you’re going to produce isn’t certain, and there’s tension in that. I’m always interested in the challenge of being a little off-balance—it inspires me. I’m not so good at repeating a formula, as I’m not mathematical in that way. When playing more rock ’n’ roll guitar with Sqürl, I can even sort of frustrate Carter at times, because he’s a precise drummer and my approach is on the loose side.
Primal Sounds, Old Wood
When it comes to his ethos of guitar, clues come from the two documentaries Jarmusch has made: the exciting, insightful Stooges history Gimme Danger (2016) and the lo-fi road document Year of the Horse, which Neil Young called “a nature film” of his 1996 tour with Crazy Horse. “I’m definitely not into shredding, even if you can admire the technical mastery of someone like Eddie Van Halen,” Jarmusch says. “I’m a Ron Asheton guy—in the more primal camp. I really like Neil’s raw style. I’m drawn to players who approach the instrument from an odd slant.” He points to Ribot, Link Wray, Robert Quine, and Rowland S. Howard of the Birthday Party as other individualists he finds inspiring, along with Earth’s Dylan Carlson for “his beautiful sound and incredible control” at glacial tempos, and Pat Place of the Contortions and Bush Tetras, “who brought such a funky vibe to the post-punk and No Wave scene in New York.”
Jarmusch lights up at memories of witnessing Television live, calling the interplay of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd “a beautiful revelation—this weaving of guitars that wasn’t necessarily blues-based. Their shows would just elevate me to the sky.” He also digs the live-wire, sui generis guitar weave of Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and his mates in the nomadic Saharan band Tinariwen, as well as the drone-metal pairing of O’Malley and Greg Anderson in Sunn O))) and the intrepid avant-rock of Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo.
Jim Jarmusch’s Gear
Guitars
FenderStratocaster modified by Rick Kelly with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickups, Callaham bridge, and leather pickguard by Cindy Guitars
Like some of his favorite players, Jarmusch’s go-to shop is Carmine Street Guitars in New York’s West Village, whose customers have also included Quine, Ribot, Lou Reed, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and Lenny Kaye. The proprietor, Rick Kelly, is a luthier whose specialty is creating guitars made out of rare, especially resonant 19th-century wood sourced from New York City buildings, including McSorley’s Ale House (established in 1854) and the roof of Jarmusch’s Bowery loft. He calls Kelly “my main guy—a real artisan and just fascinating to talk with about guitars, tonewoods, everything.” Kelly built Jarmusch a custom T-style (with a wide-range humbucker at the neck), along with modifying his longtime road guitar for Sqürl: a black Stratocaster, with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickups and other touches. Jarmusch appreciates the store’s old-school, workshop vibe so much that he encouraged a documentarian friend of his, Ron Mann, to make a charmer of a film called Carmine Street Guitars, which features Jarmusch and many of the aforementioned players stopping in to talk about the shop’s instruments and try them out.
“Making a film is a complex process with a lot of equal talents all pulling together, yet I’m necessarily the captain of the ship, navigating an idea from my imagination onto the screen. But when I’m making music with other people, I’m in a conversation.”
Jarmusch’s other favored guitars include a Blueridge dreadnought and an Ed O’Brien signature model Stratocaster. “The Ed O’Brien Strat with that Fernandes Sustainer unit is an amazing guitar, kind of trippy,” he says. “Whenever I pull that thing out in my little studio, the instrument almost starts playing itself, like it just wants you to experiment with it.” For the squalling counterpoint he provides to van Wissem’s circular arpeggios, Jarmusch switches to a semi-hollow guitar. “I have a cool 335-style Epiphone from the 1990s that feeds back beautifully, sounding like a cello. I played it for almost all the past recordings where I used feedback a lot. But for my latest tour with Jozef, I have been using a Guild Starfire Jet that has three P-90 pickups. It’s kind of a beast, but I’m loving it, because it’s very good for controlled feedback.”
Analog Spirit, Drone Power
About Jarmusch’s romance with guitars, van Wissem says, “I guess it was sort of an accident that the guitar and music became a bigger and bigger focus for Jim, but I always had the idea that he really wanted to be a musician, in a way. He has definitely become a good guitarist now, having developed his own sound and approach over the years. He loves his pedals and playing wild electric stuff and feedback, but he likes playing acoustic, too. We can go from darkly beautiful, even elegant things to some pretty metal sounds, especially at the climax of these recent shows when I trade the amplified lute for a 12-string guitar, my Gretsch Electromatic.”
Jarmusch and van Wissem hit it off after meeting on the street in SoHo about 20 years ago. “We immediately discovered that we shared an enthusiasm for many of the same films and books, and music from Morton Feldman to Joy Division,” van Wissem recalls. “Jim is a cultural sponge—he takes everything in.” The two developed a synergistic association, performing around New York with their unique combination of instruments and making records often colored by van Wissem’s arcane, neo-gothic mythos. The lutenist, playing models made for him by Canadian luthier Michael Schreiner after Renaissance and Baroque examples, had already been recording his own minimalist, contemplative compositions solo, having eschewed a traditional route of playing the complex classical repertoire (despite a love for such Baroque lutenist-composers as Sylvius Leopold Weiss). The aim, van Wissem says, was to “dust off” the lute by putting its intimate tones in a new context, “to make it live in the now.” It was a path more in keeping with his punk-rock spirit, something the indie-minded Jarmusch could appreciate.
Jarmusch and Dutch lutenist Jozef van Wissem, who says, “I always had the idea that he really wanted to be a musician.”
Photo by Joachim Adria Pujol
About Jarmusch’s romance with guitars, van Wissem says, “I guess it was sort of an accident that the guitar and music became a bigger and bigger focus for Jim, but I always had the idea that he really wanted to be a musician, in a way. He has definitely become a good guitarist now, having developed his own sound and approach over the years. He loves his pedals and playing wild electric stuff and feedback, but he likes playing acoustic, too. We can go from darkly beautiful, even elegant things to some pretty metal sounds, especially at the climax of these recent shows when I trade the amplified lute for a 12-string guitar, my Gretsch Electromatic.”
“David Lynch said that movies are the closest thing that humans make to dreams, and it’s true. A film is like a dream that you’re pulled into. But music is more like a kind of magic, even just listening to it. You supply your own imagination, your own feelings and associations.”
Jarmusch and van Wissem hit it off after meeting on the street in SoHo about 20 years ago. “We immediately discovered that we shared an enthusiasm for many of the same films and books, and music from Morton Feldman to Joy Division,” van Wissem recalls. “Jim is a cultural sponge—he takes everything in.” The two developed a synergistic association, performing around New York with their unique combination of instruments and making records often colored by van Wissem’s arcane, neo-gothic mythos. The lutenist, playing models made for him by Canadian luthier Michael Schreiner after Renaissance and Baroque examples, had already been recording his own minimalist, contemplative compositions solo, having eschewed a traditional route of playing the complex classical repertoire (despite a love for such Baroque lutenist-composers as Sylvius Leopold Weiss). The aim, van Wissem says, was to “dust off” the lute by putting its intimate tones in a new context, “to make it live in the now.” It was a path more in keeping with his punk-rock spirit, something the indie-minded Jarmusch could appreciate.
The Day the Angels Cried, released on van Wissem’s Incunabulum label, is the duo’s fifth non-soundtrack record.
A milestone for the Jarmusch/van Wissem partnership came with the soundtrack for Only Lovers Left Alive(2013), the director’s most potent latter-day film. Although ostensibly a vampire movie, on a deeper level it’s about valuing the gifts of the past while also appreciating new possibilities ahead, despite the melancholy evanescence of this world. The score is a mosaic of Sqürl and van Wissem, with the lutenist composing the main themes—which earned him the soundtrack award at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s also the duo’s “hit,” the one crowds cheer from the first notes.
Reflecting on his various collaborations, Jarmusch says: “Making a film is a complex process with a lot of equal talents all pulling together, yet I’m necessarily the captain of the ship, navigating an idea from my imagination onto the screen. But when I’m making music with other people, I’m in a conversation. With Sqürl, I can lead things, or not. But in the duo with Jozef, he generally makes the decisions on structure, etc., which I’m then free to react to. I like that. Giving up control is good for me, and he has experience making his own records. He has always encouraged my musicality, and I trust him. Our interest in history and our sense of aesthetics align in many ways, even if our philosophies differ in some areas. I see Jozef as this Swedenborgian mystic in a way, whereas I’m a natural-phenomenological psychedelic atheist, I guess.”
Jarmusch and Van Wissem first met in SoHo about 20 years ago. “We immediately discovered that we shared an enthusiasm for many of the same films and books, and music from Morton Feldman to Joy Division,” says van Wissem.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
Jarmusch and Van Wissem certainly share an appreciation for the timeless power of the drone. The pick of their albums, American Landscapes, comprises three droning tone poems created in 2022 to reflect the embattled state of the nation, like an alarm-cum-lament, with the lute tolling as the guitar growls at the moon. But all of the duo’s music-making taps into a hypnotic essence. “I’ll be playing one chord, arpeggiated, for a long time, circling around, and that repetition can put a listener into something like a trance,” Van Wissem explains. “On the lute, I’m playing Renaissance drones, essentially, alternating the bass line on two strings and improvising a melody on top, the drone staying the same with some variation in the melody. It’s basic, but that trance effect at a show means you go more inward. You let things go in the process, your daily disturbances, and when it’s over, you’re different somehow. I have the same experience when I go to a Sunn O))) concert.”
Due out this fall is Jarmusch’s first movie since 2019, Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, starring Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, and Tom Waits. Jarmusch tells a story involving Waits that helps illustrate a difference for him between directing movies and making music: “Once, I was with Tom at his house, and he’s sitting at this old piano and writes a song as I’m sitting there. It just comes and then goes into the ether, like perfume. At the time, I had been working on a film for two fucking years, with longer to go, and he conjured up this wonderful piece of art in the moment. Making films doesn’t have that immediacy. David Lynch said that movies are the closest thing that humans make to dreams, and it’s true. A film is like a dream that you’re pulled into. But music is more like a kind of magic, even just listening to it. You supply your own imagination, your own feelings and associations. Filmmaking is something that I love to do and hope to keep doing. But music is in another realm. I think it’s the most beautiful thing that humans do.”
YouTube It
Here’s a flashback to Jarmusch and van Wissem earlier in their union, creating droning magic in Barcelona in 2013.
Chops: Advanced Theory: Intermediate Lesson Overview: • Work through sweep arpeggios in the style of Jason Becker. • Add more chromatic notes to your improvised solos. • Make your riffs more compelling with unexpected rhythmic subdivisions.
Shrapnel Records introduced the world to some of the most virtuosic rock and metal guitarists to have ever plugged into a high-gain amp. Starting in the ’80s, an era that has subsequently become infamous for guitar gods, Shrapnel’s founder Mike Varney carefully selected the cream-of-the-crop players for his unique record label.
Some Shrapnel alumni are best known for sweep picking, others for insane alternate picking, and yet others for emphasizing legato fretwork. But all of them are known for playing a lot of notes in a very musical way. What made many of these players great, in my opinion, is that each took a unique approach to playing and writing within the fairly specific “shred” genre.
Want to acquire some tricks of their trade? Let’s take a look at key ideas and techniques used by several of Shrapnel’s heaviest hitters.
Most people associate Shrapnel guitarists with technical lead playing, but before we go there let’s first visit the often-overlooked art of playing rhythm. In my opinion, Paul Gilbert and Bruce Bouillet of Racer X were absolute masters of creating rhythmically exciting and unexpected metal riffs. These were often based on strong rhythmic hooks that included subdivisions and interwoven exchanges, and took surprising aural twists and turns.
Ex. 1 is a Racer X-style riff in A minor that illustrates the basic idea of taking one rhythmic pattern and throwing in surprise subdivisions. This riff’s main rhythmic pattern is based on three-note groupings of 16th-notes. In the first measure we encounter a new subdivision on beat 4. Hear how those 32nd-notes surprise the ear? It’s a great example of what Racer X was known for.
Another example of this effect is in the riff’s second fill. We have a 16th-note triplet run to wrap up the first repetition (starting on the “and” of beat 3 in measure 2), and again, the change in subdivision from the main 16th-note pattern creates an additional rhythmic twist.
Now that we’ve had a dose of rhythmic content, let’s shift over to the kind of lead playing that makes many listeners’ jaws drop. Because he introduced pop and R&B-inspired chord changes and funky rhythms to what was fundamentally a hard rock and metal label, Greg Howe is arguably one of the most distinctive Shrapnel artists. To make things even more interesting, he favored an innovative tapping technique and infused his playing with chromatics.
Inspired by the record Introspection, Ex. 2 is a Greg Howe-style lick over a series of dominant 7 chords. Hear how the chromatics are interwoven between E7 and B7 chord tones on the weak parts of the beat? This is a common jazz guitar technique, but it’s made very Howe-ish thanks to Greg’s grooves, feel, and note choices.
Next over A7 comes one of Greg’s most famous tapping techniques. This line also demonstrates his “hammer-on from nowhere” technique, which means that the hammer-on note isn’t approached by a previously picked note. Finally, we have another of Greg’s famous tapping techniques over the F#7. Here, we take three-note-per-string scales and instead of picking every note or playing full-on legato, use a hammer-hammer-tap pattern to cover the ascending phrase.
Another Shrapnel powerhouse is Tony MacAlpine, who is famously known for his blazing picking and his blend of classically inspired themes and contemporary instrumental music. Ex. 3 pays tribute to his approach to arpeggios.
The opening phrase is one of my favorite Tony-isms. We’re creating a major 7 arpeggio, in this case Dmaj7, by only using the lowest two strings. Keep in mind that there’s absolutely no picking here—it’s strictly legato and tapping. But the real interesting thing about this kind of line is the context in which Tony often uses it. Here, we’re in a Bm tonality, so we can use a D major arpeggio (Bm’s relative major) and still stay in the key.
We’ve explored a variety of tapping and arpeggio ideas, but haven’t yet encountered one of the most common staples of the Shrapnel guys: alternate picking licks! Many of the Shrapnel guitarists are well known for playing long, scalar runs in which they pick each note. If used wisely, this can be one of the simplest ways to enhance your playing, as these runs are mostly pattern-based and primarily built on the three-note-per-string scale fingerings.
A simple alternate-picked line in B minor, Ex. 4 starts with a six-note scale shape that’s copied across three octaves. You’ll find this fragment (the first three beats of the first measure) on many Shrapnel albums. Keep in mind that strict alternate picking is crucial for the accuracy and cleanliness of a lick like this, so be sure to practice it slowly.
Because these lines work so well in the three-note-per-string fingerings, they’re often conducive to some sort of triplet subdivision. The kicker with such licks is that they’re very pattern-based and can end up sounding too much like an exercise. Use them wisely and musically.
And last but not least, what would a column on Shrapnel be without a mention of the legendary Jason Becker? For dedicated shredders, his playing and spirit need no introduction, but if you need one, check out this trailer for the excellent documentary Not Dead Yet.
Ex. 5 is a workout in Becker-style sweep arpeggios. One point that was unique about Jason’s particular approach to sweep picking is that he extended certain arpeggio shapes further than other players did. In this example, all of the shapes extend down to include two notes on the 5th string. It’s fairly rare to see the Bm and E shapes extend down that far, but that’s part of Jason’s nuanced magic. The key to successfully playing sweep arpeggios lies in the picking pattern. It’s always a specific, non open-ended pattern that isn’t as simple as just constant downstrokes and upstrokes. A hammer-on or pull-off is included every time there’s two notes played on the same string.
Keep in mind that playing anything cleanly and accurately lies in practicing very slowly, in time with a metronome. These guys were all masters of fast playing, but I believe they were standouts because they used their chops in clever and musical ways, and that composition was their first priority. So when you’re sitting down with your metronome to blaze through these licks, just remember that music comes ahead of technique.
Racer X
This blazing live performance of Racer X’s “Scarified” from 1988 illustrates how Paul Gilbert and Bruce Bouillet varied the rhythms within their warp-speed riffs.
Greg Howe
Greg Howe improvises an incredible solo over his tune “Come and Get It.” Check out 0:45-0:48 for a great example of one of his signature tapping techniques.
Tony MacAlpine
Here’s Tony MacAlpine playing “Pyrokinesis” with an excellent view of his fretboard. Marco Minnemann plays the drums on this track and MacAlpine plays everything else. Look for his tapped arpeggios sequences and notice how he weaves them into both the melody and the solo.
Jason Becker
The legendary Jason Becker performs a dazzling mix of feisty, extended-range arpeggios in this clip from a guitar clinic in 1989.
Kiesel Guitars has introduced the two newest models in the company’s iconic line of custom-built instruments: the Kyber Headless and Masvidalien MIII now join the lineup of Kiesel’s premium US-made instruments.
Designed to excel in a variety of musical styles, the versatile Kyber Headless is available in 6, 7, and 8-string configurations, standard or multiscale. Key features include:
7 different body woods for customization
25.5” scale length, 15 different fretboard woods for customization, 24 frets
Over 100 different pickup configurations
Kiesel-Designed locking nut, headpiece for hanging, optional body scoops
The Masvidalien MIII is the debut Kiesel signature model from Paul Masvidal, guitarist and composer known for his work with Cynic, Death, Æon Spoke, and Mythical Human Vessel.
Built in Kiesel's California factory, the MIII was designed with strength, resonance, and playability at its core. Inspired by Kiesel's Kyber model, which Masvidal was already connected to, the MIII began as a natural extension of that instrument but quickly evolved into something uniquely its own, a hybrid guitar that expands on the Kyber's spirit and opens new creative ground.
Key features include:
Woods: 5A Poplar top with a Swamp Ash body, Buckeye top with a Roasted Swamp Ash body
25.5”-26.5”, Fretboard woods: Ebony, Richlite Diamond, Roasted Maple, Royal Ebony, and Roasted Birdseye Maple, 24 Fret
The brand-new Focus pickup, a humbucker made from two blade-style single coils that offers tighter and more precise tones
The Hybrid carbon fiber/wood neck, the Barbury Castle Crop Circle inlay, Headpiece for hanging,
Like other Kiesel models, the new Kyber Headless and Masvidalien MIII are available in a wide range of options for unique customization. Players can select their favorite finish, tonewoods, electronics and hardware to create the guitar of their dreams…expertly crafted in Kiesel’s Southern California custom shop.
Kiesel’s new Kyber Headless is available for street pricing starting at $1,599. The new Masvidalien MIII is available for street pricing starting at $3,199. For more information visit kieselguitars.com.
The Steve Morse Band has announced details of their brand-new album, Triangulation, which will be released on November 14 via Music Theories Recordings (Yngwie Malmsteen, Ayreon, Paul Gilbert, Vandenberg). To celebrate, they have unveiled the official video for their new track,“Break Through.”
“Break Through” is the first new music since the release of 2009's Out Standing In Their Field. Talking about the track, Steve Morse shares, "This may start with a guitar riff, but the bass carries the melody. It's just a great feel to play over, and a positive vibe to start the album."
Whenever we think of the greatest guitar players of all time, Steve Morse is a name that's always in the conversation. This album sees Morse teaming up once again with Dixie Dregs, Steve Morse Band, and Flying Colors bassist Dave LaRue, with Van Romaine [Steve Morse Band/Enrique Iglesias] joining on drums.
Steve beams, "Dave and Van have been the bedrock of this trio, and this recording shows why. These guys are unique and incredible musicians on their own, and together, our chemistry is magical. While making the album, we played together, working through parts, riffing off each other, and collaborating on arrangements. I'd bring an idea, and hear it instantly — and then hear it improved. We made this album together, and you can hear it."
There are also some stellar guest features, from Eric Johnson's majestic contributions to “TexUS” and John Petrucci bringing his inimitable progressive metal thunder and, of course, Kevin Morse joining his father on "Taken by an Angel.".
Executive producer Bill Evans noted, “The compositions are among Steve’s best. And audiences can finally hear every detail of Van and Dave’s performance…the band’s collaborative musicality.” Steve added, “Brian captured me brilliantly, and Carl Roa created more sonic and performance clarity than we’ve ever had.”
Morse started his career in the mid-1970s, playing mind-melting jazz-rock with The Dixie Dregs, which earned him multiple Grammy nominations in the process. The following decade, he formed the Steve Morse Band, grabbing an additional Grammy nod, and joined arena heavyweights Kansas, before being recruited by rock and roll originals Deep Purple in 1994. And despite being in one of the world's biggest bands, he continued to innovate in other projects like Living Loud, Angelfire, and Flying Colors – as well as guitar supergroup G3 – showing the world just how much versatility there was in those magic fingers. He announced his departure from Deep Purple in 2022, choosing to care for his wife, who passed away in 2024, by that point having become their longest-serving guitarist.
Naturally, the last few years have been the most personally traumatic of his life, which is perhaps why this year's creative comeback with the new Steve Morse Band album Triangulation embodies the spirit of a master returning to do what he does best. Its nine tracks are a thrilling ride through the mind of a musician who seemingly knows no bounds, crossing over into a cornucopia of sounds and styles from funk and blues to classical and metal.
“The album title Triangulation comes from the concept of aviators, navigators, and sailors looking at two points to pinpoint their exact location at a specific moment in time,” says Steve. It's a geographical concept that also applies to human life on a broader level, and given the journey Morse has been on in recent years, it's only natural that he's been on a path of self-discovery and reflection.
Perhaps the most poignant of the nine tracks is "Taken By An Angel" – a tribute to Steve's beloved wife Janine. Steve left the music world behind to care for her, remaining by her side until her final days. "That song is new territory for me," explains Morse. "It was put together for my late wife's memorial service, with my son Kevin playing along. It brought tears to many folks' eyes because Janine was a huge part of my life and career. People knew her from the Steve Morse Band tours. She was the smiling face opening CDs for me to sign, selling t-shirts, listening to people's stories in the crowd, and taking photos for VIP visits."
After all the heartache and anguish of the last few years, you can't help but feel grateful Morse is once again ready to share his creative genius with the world around him. Given his stature among the guitar community – often lauded as 'your hero's hero' in the same way people spoke about Jeff Beck – his creative return marks a new phase of inspiration and brilliance. In that sense, you can tell the release of this record means a lot to him.
The band hits the road in October bringing the new repertoire to the stage. Steve Morse shares, “Every generation or so, we put out a new album, and the time is now! We'll be doing new material on stage, and have enlisted a special guest, Angel Vivaldi, to allow us to better perform some of the layered tunes in concert. Excited to have a bigger sound and new material! See you on tour!” Van Romaine offers, “I am so thrilled for this brand new major Steve Morse Band chapter with new tour dates and an album that was so much fun to record with Steve and Dave LaRue, and a couple special guests. While music is always subjective this Triangulation album is such a gem to me on many levels.”
