
Texas slinger Zach Person joins us in sharing the ditties we play when sizing up a new axe to see if it meets our needs. Plus, we discuss current musical obsessions.
You enter your local guitar store. An instrument calls you over, you pick it up ... what do you play? Do you have a go-to riff when testing out new gear?
Zach Person ā Guest Picker
Photo by Nathan Hall
A: I usually will set the amp really clean so that I can hear the true sound of the instrument. I'll almost instinctively play through a variety of pentatonic and Lydian-esque passages, and big open chords to get a feel for how it handles tuning, intonation, etc. If it proves to sing through all of these "tests," then I'll add some drive and continue exploring. At that point, any person accompanying me knows that they've lost me for the next half hour!
Current obsession: An artist in town (Austin, Texas) named Dave Scher. He is truly my favorite guitarist, and he inspires a lot of my playing. He's so melodic, and his improvisation never feels stale. He's one of those guys that can plug straight into any amp and make it sound like he's running through a $3K+ pedal rig. Before the pandemic he was on the road for several months with Eric Johnson playing rhythm guitar (and bass on some songs), but he has his own solo project here in town. Go check him out. You can thank me later!
Dave Scher "Georgia On My Mind"
Dave performs the Ray Charles classic "Georgia on my Mind" with his trio.
Felipe Gonzalez āĀ Reader of the Month
A: I tune it down to D, then play "Hate by Design" by Killswitch Engage. If it resists the abuse of that riff, it's worth it. The reasoning behind playing this riff to test guitars is the mix of precise downstrokes, palm-muted notes, and ringing notes in an up-tempo song. (It's KSE, after all.) It's challenging and delightful to play. I love the power of their riffsāto play them is tricky and will develop your timing in a very good way. I think Adam and Joel are one of the best guitar tandems on the metal scene of all time.
Riff Rundown - Killswitch Engage's Hate by Design
Current obsession: My current musical obsessions are three bands I discovered by chance: God Is an Astronaut, Earthside, and Distant Dream. Sometimes the YouTube algorithm works nicely for you, and that's how I found them. I love their melodic approach in their composition and the lack of virtuosic playing, which in the end, makes me tired. This is music, not a competition.
GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT - Fade (Official Video) | Napalm Records
Ted Drozdowski ā Senior Editor
A: I have a very specific ritual: a rip on the riff from Beck's "Devil's Haircut" followed by the four-note riff and opening barre chords from "Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Part II" and then some blues licks and campfire chords. If there's no buzz, it rings out, and the neck feels like love, then I plug in.
Current Obsession: Figuring out how and when to return to live performance. My band, Coyote Motel, just had its first rehearsal in 14 months and we could feel the rust, but the gears were still turning beautifully underneath. Now what?
David Von BaderĀ āĀ Contributing Writer
A: I have one rootsy-sounding, slippery ascending riff that starts with the open low E and slides into a little double-stop sequence that I tend to play when my hands are on autopilot. It's a lick that makes it sound like I kinda know what I'm doing, but without being too showy. As someone that put in a few years working at a busy but physically small vintage guitar shop in Brooklyn, I'm hyper aware of in-store demo etiquette and the last thing I want to do is subject shop employees to any ego riffing beyond what I really need to get a feel for a guitar or amp or pedal.
Current Obsession: I've been absolutely punishing the Walker Brothers' 1978 release Nite Flights lately. It was the last album they released as a group, but it's essentially three solo EPs smashed together. The songs each of the band's three members (they weren't actually related) respectively wrote and sang appear sequenced together in clusters. The four Scott Walker tunes that open the album are dark, wonderfully dramatic, incredibly catchy, and subtly telegraph the avant-garde (and occasionally quite terrifying) direction of his late-career solo work.
The album features some truly phenomenal guitar work by famed British session ace Big Jim Sullivan, as well as hired soloist Les Davidson, who rips a proper barn burner of a solo on the album's opener "Shutout" that perfectly accentuates the song's bad drug trip at the disco feel.
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Grez Guitars has introduced the Grez GrandTour Bass, a short scale semi-hollow carve-top instrument available in 4-string format.
The Grez Grand Tour Bass, designed in collaboration with bass powerhouse Ian MartinAllison is, like all Grez instruments, a modern sleek interpretation of the classic instruments from the 50ās and 60ās.
The instruments feature a carved Spruce top, Honduran Mahogany body and neck. The 30" scale construction includes a Macassar ebony fretboard, 12ā radius with 21 jumbofrets. Each bass comes equipped with a Halon bridge, Grez string anchor and LaBellaDeep Talkinā long scale 45-105 flatwound strings. Electronics include Curtis Novak Bisonic/Darkstar pickups with coil tap.
The Grand Tour bass features a nitro finish and is available in a variety of colors(pictured here in custom Toasted Marshmallow).
Grez Grand Tour Bass with Ian Martin Allison
Barry Grzebik explains: āI love process of design instruments, marrying acoustical,electrical, visual and ergonomic engineering with industrial and artistic design. In this case creating something that artfully balances the desire for a robust acoustic voice with the need to hold up to professional touring and stadium stage volumes. One small notable detail is that although this is a short scale instrument, because of the after-length of string past the bridge, it uses standard long scale strings which dramatically increases sting options and availability.ā
Ian Marin Allison shares, āIām inspired by the unique character of vintage hollow andsemi-hollow basses, but they donāt always live up to our modern expectation of stability, playability, versatility and QUALITY. Iām proud to have helped create something that doesā.
The Grez Grand Tour Bass, is available now from Grez Guitars and their dealers with astreet price starting at $5,999. Light customization is welcome with delivery times aslittle as 8 weeks.
$149
Marshall 1959 Super Lead
The very definition of classic, vintage Marshall sound in a highly affordable package.
Thereās only one relevant question about Marshallās new 1959 Super Lead overdrive/distortion pedal: Does it sound like an actual vintage Super Lead head? The answer is, simply and surprisingly, yes. The significant difference I heard within the voice of this stomp, which I ran through a Carr Vincent and a StewMac Valve Factory 18 kit amp for contrast, is that itās a lot quieter than my 1972 Super Lead.
The Super Lead, which bore Marshallās 1959 model number, debuted in 1965 and was the amp that defined the plexi sound. That sound is here in spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts. Like the Super Lead, the pedal is easy to use. The originalās 3-band EQ is replaced by a single, rangeful tone control. The normal dial and the volume, which together mimic the character created by jumping the first and second channels of a plexi head, offer smooth, rich, buttery op-amp driven gain and loudness. And the high-treble dial functions much like the presence control on the original amp.
The pedal is sturdy and handsome, too. A heavy-duty metal enclosure evokes the classic black-with-gold-plate plexi look and a vintage-grille-cloth motif. Switches and knobs (the latter with rubber sides for slip-free turning) are ultra solid, andārefreshinglyāthereās a 9V battery option in addition to a barrel-pin connection. Whether with single-coils or humbuckers, getting beefy, sustained, historic tones took moments. I especially delighted in approximating my favorite Super Lead head setting by flooring the high treble, normal, and tone dials, and turning back the tone pots on my Flying V, evoking Disraeli Gears-era Clapton tone. That alone, to me, makes the 1959 Super Lead stomp a bargain at $149.Two guitars, two amps, and two people is all it takes to bring the noise.
The day before they played the coveted Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, the Washington, D.C.-based garage-punk duo Teen Mortgage released their debut record, Devil Ultrasonic Dream. Not a bad couple of days for a young band.
PGās Chris Kies caught up with guitarist and vocalist James Guile at the Blue Room to find out how he builds the bandās bombastic guitar attack.
Brought to you by DāAddario.
Devilish Dunable
Guile has been known to use Telecasters and Gretsches in the past, but this time out heās sticking with this Dunable Cyclops DE, courtesy of Gwarsenio Hallāaka Jordan Olds of metal-themed comedy talk show Two Minutes to Late Night. Guile digs the Dunableās lightness on his shoulders, and its balance of high and low frequencies.
Storm Warning
What does Guile like about this Squier Cyclone? Simple: its color. This one is also nice and easy on the back, and Guile picked it up from Atomic Music in Beltsville, Maryland.
Crushing It
Guile also scooped this Music Man 410-HD from Atomic, which he got just for this tour for a pretty sweet deal. It runs alongside an Orange Crush Bass 100 to rumble out the low end.
James Guileās Pedalboard
The Electro-Harmonix Micro POG and Hiwatt Filter Fuzz MkII run to the Orange, while everything elseāa DigiTech Whammy, Pro Co Lilā RAT, and Death by Audio Echo Dream 2āruns to the Music Man. A TC Helicon Mic Mechanic is on board for vocal assistance, and a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, Morley ABY, and Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3 Plus keep the ship afloat.
Ernie Ball, the worldās leading manufacturer of premium guitar and bass strings, is proud to announce the release of the Pino Palladino Signature Smoothie Flats, the newest innovation in flatwound bass strings.
Developed in collaboration with legendary bassist Pino Palladino, these signature sets are engineered to deliver an ultra-smooth feel and a rich, warm tone thatās as versatile as it is expressive. Available in two gaugesāExtra Light (38ā98) and Medium (43ā108)ā Smoothie Flats are crafted with a precision-polished cobalt alloy ribbon for low tension, flexible playability, and deep vintage-inspired sound.
Ernie Ball: Pino Palladino Signature Smoothie Flats Bass Strings
Product Features:
- Precision polished for an ultra-smooth feel
- Cobalt alloy ribbon winding for a rich, deep sound
- Flexible, low-tension design for superior playability
- Trusted by Pino Palladino for studio and live performance
Pino Palladino Signature Smoothie Flats bass strings are available at Ernie Ball dealers worldwide.