10. Does It Doom?'s Steve Reis on Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath"
Premier GuitarThe envoy of evil honors Tony Iommi's ominous opening odyssey that is a foreboding fight between light and dark that ultimately sparked several subgenres of metal.
9. Joey Landreth on Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Texas Flood"
Premier GuitarThe Canadian guitar slinger recalls the moment that cemented his passion for playing thanks to SRV's evocative delivery and compelling chord voicings.
8. Jason Richardson on Lamb of God and Dream Theater
Premier GuitarThe All That Remains shredster details two technically challenging riffs that leveled-up his playing and he shouts out the latter for springboarding him into 7-strings.
7. Daniela Villarreal on Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole"
Premier GuitarThe Warning's guitarist remembers first being mesmerized by Matt Bellamy's captivating performances and then empowered to front her own power trio.
6. Trivium's Matt Heafy on In Flames' “Artifacts of the Black Rain"
Premier GuitarThe heavy metal maven details how music made more sense to him after digesting the swift Swedes coupling of "raw, intense screaming vocals with such beautiful guitar melodies."
5. Andy Timmons on the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There"
Premier GuitarThanks to an older brother, the instrumental star became fascinated with the Fab Four who's early B-side introduced him to the guitar solo.
4. Melissa Dougherty on Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing"
Premier GuitarThe 6-string foil for Grace VanderWaal and Mayer Hawthorne was mesmerized by the guitar god's dexterous orchestration and explains why the song is great for teaching solo-guitar compositions.
3. Eva Gardner on Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On"
Premier GuitarThe bassist for Pink and Cher explains how John Paul Jones' rhythmic tightrope of whimsical melody and driving might still hits her today.
2. Devin Townsend on Judas Priest's "The Sentinel"
Premier GuitarThe once Strapping Young Lad chronicles the "pinnacle moment" with the Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing riff that helped him earn "social collateral" and he became "moderately accepted" with schoolmates.
1. Doug Aldrich on Free's "All Right Now"
Premier GuitarThe Dead Daisies' sharpshooter guitarist runs through his favorite A-chord riffs before zeroing in on Paul Kossoff's magic.
![Rig Rundown: The Dead Daisies [2021]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-the-dead-daisies-doug-aldrich-glenn-hughes.jpg?id=27077708&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
When we rolled into Nashville's Mercy Lounge during soundcheck, the band was roaring through the Deep Purple classic "Mistreated," with Glenn Hughes hitting all the requisite high notes and Doug Aldrich laying down the song's heavy riff. Drummer Tommy Clufetos and bassist Hughes had the groove in a headlock, and guitarist David Lowy—who leads this musical collective—was grinding out the rhythm.
After the check, we talked to legends Aldrich, of Whitesnake and Dio fame, and Hughes, whose bona fides include Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and Black Country Communion, about the gear they're using to push up Daisies, who have a new album called Holy Ground. So, get ready for gold tops, Marshalls, a killer Nash bass, and a couple stacks of Orange-flavored goodness.
[Brought to you by D'Addario's XPND Pedalboards: https://www.daddario.com/XPNDRR]
Doug’s Gold and Black Beauty
For the Dead Daisies' current tour, Doug Aldrich is slinging three LP-style gold tops. His main instrument is this black-pickguard-wearing road-warrior. It's his favorite among the six gold tops he owns, yielding what he describes as a "big, open sound." (True that!) He acquired this '57 Gibson Custom Shop reissue in 2008 and replaced the pickups with his Suhr signature high-outputs. The tuners are by TonePros and the well-played axe has been refretted by Bruce Nelson of L.A.'s Nelson Guitar Works. Otherwise, it's stock. And he uses .11–.50 Dunlop strings and tunes down a whole step on all his guitars for Dead Daisies.
The Golden Ruby
The Golden Ruby was built by Leo Scala and named for Aldrich's pre-school-aged daughter. In addition to being onstage, it's gone to class with her for show-and-tell. It's a bit different from his Gibsons, although it also sports his Suhr signature pickups, in that the neck's got a slightly thinner profile—"but still chunky," Doug adds. "I like a chunky neck." There's also a wraparound bridge and, like most L.P.-style guitars, it's got a mahogany body and maple top.
Head Games
The most immediately noticeable difference on Aldrich's Scala L.P.-style is its hand-tooled headstock, which features a distinctive top cut and Scala's signature logo.
A Real Signature Model
And Ruby's done a little customizing on this Scala herself. It took a few practice runs to nail this autograph for daddy.
Born on the Sunburst
It was love at first site when Aldrich saw this '59 reissue at a friend's house during the COVID lockdown. It was sent to his pal by Gibson, and the high eye-appeal of its flame top made it a must-have. This one has Gibson tuners and his signature Suhr pickups. He also had it refretted. And there's another customization—tooth marks on its bottom, top, and one dial courtesy of another COVID acquisition: a Boston terrier puppy. This guitar's voice accents the high-mids a bit, making it perfect for covering Ritchie Blackmore leads.
Did You Say Marshall?
You want rock tone? You get rock amps. Aldrich plays a pair of John Suhr-modded 100-watt Marshal JMP heads. The one on the left is from 1978 and was a one-master 4-input head until Suhr added another master "so I can kick it up a little bit for solos," the guitarist explains. There's also an effects loop. In that loop resides an Eventide H9, set only on 27.DIGD to provide a reverb sound its owner loves.
On the right, a 1979 model with an added master. It's the first amp Doug bought when he moved to Los Angeles in 1981. The 4x12 cabs are both reissues, with Celestion Vintage 25s. The cabs are always miked live with SM57s and behind them lurks a Palmer line driver.
Doug Aldrich's Pedalboard
Aldrich is big fan of the tried-and-true sounds of MXR pedals. First stop on his board is a Phase 90 set slow, and then a Dunlop-made Custom Audio Electronics (CAE) wah, a CAE Boost/Overdrive, a DVK GoldTop (which was standing in until his preferred Dunlop Authentic Hendrix '69 Psych Series Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato pedal arrived just in time for the gig), a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner, an MXR Talk Box, an on/off for the Eventide, and a boost switch for the amps. His wireless is a Lectrosonics.
Glenn Hughes' Main Bass
This custom Bill Nash-built bass has traveled with Glenn Hughes for 12 years. It's a JB model with Lollar pickups and a custom thin neck. And has it got a voice!
Orange Squeezers
Hughes powers up two Orange AD200B MKIII heads running through two 8x10 Orange OBC810 cabinets.
(A second tower is at stage right of the drum kit, and those are David Lowy's Friedmans at front-view right.)
Glenn Hughes' Pedalboard
It's a short but sweet affair: a Black Cat Bass Octave Fuzz, a Nice Rack Y-boost, and a DigiTech X-Series delay.