The Nashville guitar star shows off a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Burst "Gemini" she borrowed from Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian. Guitarist Grace Bowers is a 17-year old California transplant tearing it up in Nashville. Currently working on her first album with producer John Osborne of the Brothers Osborne, Bowers invited John Bohlinger and the PG team to walk through her studio and live rig.
In the midst of working on her first album, the 17-year-old guitar star takes PG through her rig.
Guitarist Grace Bowers is a 17-year old California transplant tearing it up in Nashville. Currently working on her first album with producer John Osborne of the Brothers Osborne, Bowers invited John Bohlinger and the PG team to walk through her studio and live rig.
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Mostly Stock Special
Bowers’ number one is her mostly stock 1961 Gibson SG Special. The P90s and the skinny neck are a perfect fit for her style. The tuners were changed at some point, and the whammy is no longer attached, but the rest of the axe is original. This guitar and all others are strung with D’Addario .010s.
Osbourne's ES
For PAF humbucker tone on the album, Grace plays John Osborne’s all-stock 1960 Gibson ES-335.
With a Little Help From Her Friends
The one acoustic on the album is this 1968 Gibson 12-string acoustic, on loan from a friend.
Deluxe Simplicity
Bowers keeps it simple with a stock, new-ish Fender Deluxe Reverb amp.
It's Not a Phase, Mom!
Bowers’ pedal setup includes a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, Grindstone Audio Solutions Night Shade Overdrive, EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job, MXR Phase 90, MXR Phase 95, and Boss DD-2. Bowers powers them with a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power ISO-5.
Shop Grace Bowers' Rig
Gibson SG Special - Vintage Cherry
Gibson ES-335 Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar
Gibson Acoustic J-45 12-string Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb 1x12" Combo Amp
Dunlop CBJ95 Cry Baby Junior Wah Pedal
MXR Phase 90
Boss DD-3T
EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job V2
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power ISO-5
D'Addario NYXL1046 NYXL Nickel Wound Electric Guitar Strings - .010-.046 Regular Light
John Osborne goes deep on scales, finding his guitar voice, and the spanky solo for “Stay A Little Longer.”
“I think it’s safe to say John Osborne is a fuckin’ beast!”
That’s how Chris Shiflett kicks off this episode of Shred With Shifty, featuring bearded Brothers Osborne shredder-in-chief John Osborne. Osborne joins Shifty to dissect his blistering country-rock ripping on the band’s breakout single, “Stay A Little Longer.”
Osborne tells Shifty about failing miserably at guitar in college, where he learned to read and play bass clef but never got the hang of the treble clef. It’s no surprise when Osborne admits he’s taken notes from players like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dickey Betts, Eric Johnson, and Skynyrd shredders Allan Collins and Gary Rossington, but his very first guitar influence? Kurt Cobain, and the Nirvana frontman’s anxious energy. “I’m a little bit awkward, and I have social anxiety, but I can talk to people through music,” says Osborne. As far as technicality, though, he and Shifty agree that bluegrass guitar playing is “the Usain Bolt of musicianship.”
To recap the “Stay A Little Longer” leads, Osborne plays a stock blackguard 1953 Fender Telecaster that he scooped from Carter Vintage Guitars. (Listen in to learn why it and some other Fenders from that era have an abnormally thick “Friday neck.”) He explains that he wanted the solo to have the same philosophy as legendary solos like those in “Free Bird” and “Hotel California”: hooky, repetitive, accented, and not too shreddy. Plus, he reveals the “un-Photoshopped” blips in the solo that stayed on the record.
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.