jimi hendrix

Illustration by Kate Koenig

Nashville producer James Cody examines plugins from IK Multimedia, Native Instruments, Line 6, Waves, Neural DSP, STL Tones, Positive Grid, and Universal Audio that can help you take your guitar-recording to pro levels.

There are more audio plugins at our fingertips than ever before. Whenever new products or software hit the market, I always ask myself, “Will I actually use this and will it serve my needs?” On the topic of guitar amplifiers and simulation, I take a “best of both worlds” approach. When performing live, I use solid-state Quilter amplifiers because they sound great to me, and they’re lightweight and easy to transport to gigs. If something isn’t broken, why fix it?

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Photo by Tim Duffy

At 79, the wah-wah crazy guitarist is a living nexus of psychedelia-soaked blues and rock. He talks about coming up in doo-wop, Atlanta’s supercharged ’60s R&B scene, jamming with his friend Jimi, his guitar named Sweet Rose, and his new album, Let the Gods Sing.

“I grew up listening to all music, and that’s where my playing came from—country, rock, blues, and the gospel feel,” explains Herman Hitson. These varied yet inextricably linked influences probably explain why it’s hard to pigeonhole Hitson’s guitar playing, which is often described as some magical combination of funk, blues, and psychedelic rock. However, “soul,” or perhaps even “spiritual,” might be more apt, especially when considering his own assessment. “I look at my guitar playing as part of my soul—what’s coming out of me. It takes a person a long time to find themselves, because we come up mimicking everybody else, and after years and years, you’ve got to find yourself.”

Musically speaking, Hitson arguably found himself decades ago. It’s just taken the rest of the world 50-plus years to catch up.

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Life—and playing guitar—is really about the art of storytelling.

I became infatuated with Roy Buchanan’s incendiary playing when I was a relative youngster, after finding a copy of Guitar Player with Roy on the cover. He looked more like one of dad’s disheveled friends than a star, which intrigued me enough to pick up Roy Buchanan and Second Album—the first time I heard the war between angels and demons channeled through wood and steel.

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