Every week, premierguitar.com features a new Rig Rundown video with the potential to do this for the tones you hear in your head. Even better, it may wedge a new, never-before-considered sound in your cranium and send you down new creative paths. Here we highlight 10 pro pedalboards from the hottest Rig Rundown videos in recent memory. The up-close and personal views of these artists’ stomp stations are bound to get your creative juices flowing, and once you’re done here we suggest clicking over to our site (or youtube.com/premierguitar) to take in the whole shebang—not to mention hundreds of other Rig Rundowns with the same mind-expanding potential.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner
Nick Zinner, guitarist for New York City-based indie outfit Yeah Yeah Yeahs, uses an incredible array of stompboxes and other effects to weave the band’s eclectic mix of raw and ethereal tones. To compensate for the lack of a full-time bassist, Zinner uses several devices that enable him to conjure a broad spectrum of guitar tones, as well as more adventurous samples and loops. His main board is home to a DigiTech JamMan, Line 6 MM4 Modulation Modeler, Pro Co DeuceTone RAT (used for his primary fuzz tones), Boss DD-7 digital delay, HomeBrew Electronics Power Screamer, and Electro-Harmonix Graphic Fuzz. A second board has a DigiTech Whammy, another DigiTech Jam Man, a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, an Electro-Harmonix POG, and a TC Electronic Flashback delay. Zinner’s third board contains a second Line 6 DL4 and three Eventide pedals—a TimeFactor, a PitchFactor, and a Space. A fourth board near his amps features two more sample-loaded DigiTech JamMan pedals, and before Zinner’s signal hits his amps, it goes through a TC Electronic Classic Booster + Distortion.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Queens of the Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen
At our Rig Rundown with Queens of the Stone Age, we were askedto refrain from showing bandleader Josh Homme’s pedalboard to the masses—despite the fact that there are plenty of pics online (hope you appreciate us keeping our word, Josh!). So here we’ve got longtime guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen’s stomp setup. His main QOTSA pedalboard has a Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro MIDI controller, a Custom Audio Electronics tap-tempo switch (for the reverbs and delays in his Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II rack unit, not shown), a Morley wah, Way Huge Supa-Puss and Pork Loin stomps, what appears to be a fourth-generation DigiTech Whammy, a Dunlop volume pedal, and a Korg Pitchblack tuner. Van Leeuwen also has a rack with two drawers holding Way Huge Green Rhino and Aqua-Puss pedals, an EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master, a Fuzzrocious Demon, and an MXR Q Zone.
A third pedalboard for lap steel features two Jim Dunlop volume pedals, a DVP1 and a DVP3, the latter of which is used as an expression pedal for a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler. There’s also a Way Huge Green Rhino, an Electro-Harmonix Superego, a Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, and another Korg tuner, all powered by a Furman SS-6B.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Joe Bonamassa
The signal from bluesman extraordinaire Joe Bonamassa’s guitars finds its way onto his pedalboard via a signature Dunlop Cry Baby wah feeding a Fulltone Supa-Trem and then a Tone Merchants/Rack Systems LLC splitter controlled by a Lehle 1@3 A/B/C box. From there, the signal goes to his Dunlop Bonamassa Fuzz Face, a Way Huge Pork Loin, an original Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer (his primary effect for gain), an MXR Micro Flanger, and a signature MXR FET Driver. Another Tone Merchants/Rack Systems box hooks a Boss DD-3 digital delay and Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere into the effects loop of Bonamassa’s Marshall JCM 2000 heads.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Living Colour’s Doug Wimbish
Considering the diversity of Doug Wimbish’s work—he’s played with such big-name acts as Mick Jagger, George Clinton, Joe Satriani, and Depeche Mode—it’s no surprise he’s got one of the largest, most out-there boards we’ve ever seen, particularly for a bassist. The signal starts in the “noisy” section, which has a Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI, Pigtronix Disnortion, Source Audio Soundblox 2 OFD Bass microModeler and Hot Hand 3, and Pigtronix Mothership. The “bendy” section has a Dunlop Cry Baby wah and DigiTech Whammy, followed by the “filter” section’s Pigtronix Envelope Phaser, Boss BF-3 Flanger, DOD FX25 envelope filter, DigiTech Synth Wah, Source Audio Soundblox Pro Bass Envelope Filter, and Way Huge Ring Worm. Finally, the “delay” section has a quartet of Boss units—a DSD-2 digital sampler, DD-6 and DD-7 digital delays, and an SL-20 Slicer—a TC Electronic Nova delay, an Eventide PitchFactor, and a Pigtronix Infinity Looper. Wimbish also uses a Keith McMillen 12 Step MIDI controller to command a laptop rig.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Minus the Bear’s Dave Knudson
Known for his intricately tapped rhythms and two-footed, Achilles-tendon-abusing looping techniques, indie-rocker Dave Knudson is an avid fan and collector of Line 6 DL4 Delay Modelers—he’s always got four of them on his board. In addition to using them for looping, he also uses the DL4s to add modulation to samples saved in two Boss RC-3 Loop Station pedals. Knudson uses a Barber Tone Press to smooth out tapped parts, while a Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeler approximates tones originally achieved in the studio using an Electro-Harmonix HOG and DigiTech Whammy. Knudson also uses a Boss DD-20 Giga Delay, Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer, a Z.Vex Box of Rock, an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, and a Dunlop Cry Baby wah.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Dweezil Zappa
On the road playing his late father’s tunes on the Zappa Plays Zappa tour, Dweezil uses a pedalboard outfitted with a Bogner Ecstasy Blue, JAM Pedals Fuzz Phrase, SolidGoldFX Formula 76, TC Electronic PolyTune Mini, SolidGoldFX Electroman, and JAM Big Chill and Red Muck stomps. Along the front of Dweezil’s board is a Fractal Audio MFC-101 MIDI foot controller for the Axe-Fx II rack unit that he uses for amp sounds (he runs the pedals into its instrument input rather than its effects loop). One of the four expression pedals on his board is for volume control, while the other three are used for real-time control of various Axe-Fx II parameters, including occasional post-distortion-pedal wah. On the far right side of Zappa’s board is a custom JAM wah, as well as an expression pedal used to alter the Big Chill’s tremolo rate.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
J Mascis
Dinosaur Jr.’s frontman uses a pedalboard with a Bob Bradshaw-built Custom Audio Electronics switcher that gives him a multitude of effect combinations. Among the notable boxes on the board are Mascis’ first Electro-Harmonix “ram’s head” Big Muff (top right), a dual-function pedal built by Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch that features a ToneBender Mk I clone on one side and a Rangemaster-style circuit on the other (bottom right corner), an MC-FX clone of a Univox Super-Fuzz, a CAE Twin Tremolo (upper left), a Z.Vex Double Rock (two Box of Rocks pedals in one, bottom left), and an Electro-Harmonix POG2 that he uses to mimic Mellotron and organ sounds from I Bet on Sky.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Keller Williams
The heart of this famous looper’s pedalboard is a Boss RC-300 Loop Station—everything else on the board feeds into it. Williams is a huge Jerry Garcia fan, so his favorite effect is the Mu-Tron III. His other main effects include a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, a Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble, and a TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb. Williams runs all his effects direct to a P.A., and he controls the wet/dry mix with an Ernie Ball VP Jr. volume pedal.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
The Cult’s Billy Duffy
Billy Duffy’s guitar signal goes through a Line 6 G90 wireless to a switchless Jim Dunlop 95Q wah, a Boss TU-3 tuner and NS-2 Noise Suppressor, a prototype Dunlop Echoplex EP101, Boss BF-2 flanger and DM-2 analog delay pedals, an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, a Lovepedal Kalamazoo, a Whirlwind the Bomb boost, and two Boss DD-3 digital delays. His pedalboard also holds a Morley George Lynch Tripler amp switcher.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Lamb of God’s Mark Morton, Willie Adler, and John Campbell
LoG guitarist Mark Morton keeps his effects offstage in a rack housing his all-important Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor (for taming hiss from his raging Mesa/Boogie amps), an MXR Carbon Copy delay, an EVH Phase 90, an MXR GT-OD, a Dunlop Cry Baby Custom Shop rack wah, a dbx 266XL Compressor/Gate, and a Boss TU-2 tuner.
Co-guitarist Willie Adler has a similar rig with a dbx 266XL Compressor/Gate, Boss TU-2 tuner and NS-2 Noise Suppressor pedals, an MXR Stereo Chorus (which Adler says he only uses to “thicken up” clean tones), and a custom Mesa/Boogie amp switcher.
Bassist John Campbell’s modest pedalboard features a Boss TU-2 tuner, EBS MultiComp, and a Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI, all powered by a Jim Dunlop DC Brick. Campbell says the MultiComp and SansAmp are on all the time, and the front-of-house sound crew takes a direct XLR signal from the Bass Driver.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Guitars
Keller's main workhorse is a Martin HD-28(L) from the early 2000s. It has "the low end of a beast" and is plugged direct into the PA. He also has another HD-28 that is used for more experimental purposes–such as adding a synth pickup or even cutting it in half. The thin-bodied guitar on the right caught Keller's eye online for $180 on Amazon when it was described as an "acoustic SG."
He also uses an electric guitar made by Tommy Rodriguez out of Richmond, Virignia and a Fender Road Worn bass. He strings it with flatwound strings and turns the tone control all the way down to take all the treble out of his sound.
Pedalboard
The heart of Keller's pedalboard rig is a Boss RC-300, which everything feeds into. His favorite effect–due to Jerry Garcia's influence–is the MuTron III. His other main effects include a Line 6 DL4, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Boss Digital Reverb, Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble, and a TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb. Keller is able to blend the effects with his dry signal via an Ernie Ball VP Jr. Volume Pedal. He runs everything direct with no amps.
In addition, the Korg Kaossilator gives Keller access to some synth-style sounds–which are also run through the RC-300. The Roland HandSonic HPD-15 gives Keller all the drum sounds he needs to create his loops, and he also uses a Roland GR-55 for all of his synth sounds (with the Rodriguez electric).
Photo by David Barnum
Listen to "I Am Elvis" from Bass:
Back in the early ’90s, Keller Williams got tired of fading into the background as the barflies at his weekly gigs focused on inhaling every last 25-cent, happy-hour wing and half-price pitcher of Rolling Rock. It’s not easy being a solo acoustic artist when the crowd treats you as nothing more than a human jukebox. The volume and spectacle of a full band might have helped get audiences to take more notice, but it would have also meant losing money at each gig. So, Williams decided to begin his one-manband looping explorations. That changed everything. “Then people started paying attention,” says the Fredericksburg-Virginia native. Soon the crowd was dancing to his loop-a-licious grooves and Williams began garnering major buzz in the music scene.
It wasn’t long after this artistic transformation that Williams made his mark in the jam-band world, of all places, both as a solo artist and also in collaboration with various luminaries in that scene. His album Stage, won a Jammy for Live Album of the Year in 2005, and his song “Cadillac” won a Jammy for Song of the Year in 2008. He also shared a Jammy with the String Cheese Incident and Umphrey’s McGee, among others, for Tour of the Year in 2006. With these accolades, Williams’ scenery changed from inattentive, pot-bellied plumbers and sullen schoolteachers at the local bar to completely engaged crowds of happy-go-lucky hippies and their hirsute companions at massive arenas.
Williams’ music is often goofy and irreverent. In addition to penning a huge number of originals, he’s also covered a broad rage of hilariously incongruous songs—from Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” to the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.” But while his music can be fun, make no mistake—Williams is a serious musician who keeps serious company. His 2007 release, Dream, counted icons like John Scofield, Bob Weir (who played on the Jammy-winning song “Cadillac”), Béla Fleck, Charlie Hunter, and Victor Wooten among its many guests.
Several years ago, Williams became a father, and this life change is reflected in his writing and recent career choices. In 2010, he released a children’s album called Kids, and wrote a book entitled Because I Said So that’s based on the album’s song of the same name. He recently secured the highly coveted Super Music Friends section of the Yo Gabba Gabba! live tour. Even with the grueling demands of parenthood and these projects, however, Williams is always looking to the next frontier—like the loop-free, bluegrass-tinged Keller & the Keels and the Travelin’ McCourys. In December 2011, he released Bass, his 17th album. For this album, Williams eschews the guitar for the first time in his recorded career, teams up with a reggae keyboardist and drummer, and leaves the one-man-band approach behind to pick up the—you guessed it—bass!
Let’s talk about the newest
and most unusual thing for
you first—the fact that you’re
playing nothing but bass on
Bass. How did you get into
the instrument itself?
Well, I guess it started long ago
when I was on tour with the
String Cheese Incident. Keith
Moseley’s wife was due to have
a baby shortly after the tour
ended, and there was a possibility
that the baby would come
early and Keith would have to
leave. So instead of hiring a bass
player, they told me to learn 20
songs on bass just in case. So I
learned 20 String Cheese songs
on bass—I worked on them for
40 hours in one week, doing
the 9-to-5 thing, learning songs.
Luckily, the baby was on time
and Keith never had to leave,
but I was left with a love of this
new instrument and started to
incorporate that into my looping
shows. That’s kind of when
things started to change for
me, as far as people coming to
shows and dancing. Low end
has a huge impact on music in
general. I can’t understand how
I went so long without it, as far
as my solo act.
Was it hard transitioning from guitar to bass? A lot of people say, “Oh it’s harder to go from guitar to bass, and to sing while playing bass.” It’s not, because my guitar style has always focused on the bass line, and now with the bass there are two less strings to deal with and tune. It’s just glorious [laughs].
How did you first get into
playing guitar?
A TV show called Hee Haw that
had these cats playing guitar.
You remember that show? [Ed.
note: The CBS variety show ran
from 1969 to 1992.] I think my
parents knew one of the girls
that would pop her head out
of the little hay field after the
jokes, so they would always have
it on. I wanted to be like Roy
Clark and Buck Owens, pickin’
and grinnin’. It was cool, so I
got a guitar when I was a kid
and just pretended to play it.
What kind of guitar was it?
One of those little 3/4-scale
guitars. I still have it. From that
guitar, I moved to the hockey
stick because it looked more
like an electric guitar [laughs].
It was easier to hold and “play.”
Then a friend showed me some
chords when I was, like, 12 or
13. I really took to it and took
all the chords he showed me
and put them to the songs on
the radio. Three or four years
later, I began making money by
playing covers on a stool at a
happy hour with a coat and tie.
Did you write all the music
on Bass, or was it a collaborative
effort?
Except for the obvious covers,
“Hollywood Freaks” and
“Buena,” all the songs are originals.
One of the originals was
co-written by Robert Hunter.
I’m very proud of that. The rest
were written on guitar, and all
of them have been road-tested.
Some of them I’ve been playing
for years, and they never really
found a place on a record.
Does the road-testing of a
song play a part in the final
outcome of the recording?
Yeah, road-testing is definitely
a big part of the final recording.
It has a lot to do with the
audience reaction. There are
songs that have died a quick,
painful death, never to be resurrected
again, simply because
they didn’t go over live. Which
is the total opposite of how it’s
normally done. Y’know, people
usually go in and record songs,
save them, and go out and play
them live. I’ve never seemed
to have that luxury. And there
have been songs that were
made up in the studio, and
then they go out and get drastically
changed live. I figure out
exactly how I want it to be, and
then record it.
Keller grooves on his Fender Road Worn P bass at a 2011 gig at Pearl Street Night Club in Northampton, Massachusetts. Photo by David Barnum
There’s a YouTube video of you
playing “2Bu” acoustically,
and it’s a totally different feel
than the version on Bass.
“2Bu” is a drastic difference from
what I do on guitar. All these
songs are written on guitar, and
when I took that into the studio
with this trio, it turned into
more of a reggae thing. It’s really
fun for me to do songs a different
way, but it’s not so different
that people don’t know what it
is. The vocals are still constant
and usually done at the same
tempo and in the same key and
in the same timbre. It’s just that
the music might change from an
open, fast-picking tuning to kind
of a laid-back, reggae style.
“I Am Elvis” is another one
like that: On the Bass version,
you add a reggae/soca feel to
it, but in some of the older
YouTube videos you play it in
more of a singer-songwriter
strumming style.
“I Am Elvis” is definitely done in a
few different ways, but if you really
put them side by side you’ll see
that they’re very similar. My guitar
style focuses on the bass lines.
For instance, on the solo section,
this is the bass line [scats bass line]
and if you listen to the acoustic
version, that bass line is there.
Unlike your other albums, Bass
isn’t a solo looping record.
K Dubalicious is the name of
the trio. It’s me and two of my
favorite local musicians—Jay
Starling [keyboards] and Mark
D [drums] from a reggae band
called the Transmitters. The guys
are so good. I’m able to show
them songs and they’re able to
pick up on them really easily.
What led you into looping
originally?
That happened from years and
years of being that guy in the
corner at a bar, where there’s no
cover charge and there just happens
to be a dude playing in the
corner. No one’s really coming to
hear music, they’re just coming
because it’s a bar and that’s where
they go. Years and years of playing
background music, and people
not really paying attention, and
me wanting to go down different
musical avenues and create more
and more of a dance vibe. Once I
started looping, it was more fun.
You create all your loops live,
right?
Oh yeah—nothing is prerecorded.
Your looping can get really
involved and have many layers.
Was it always that intricate, or
did you start off simpler?
It was a couple of years of just
guitar and vocals—looping a
rhythm line and soloing over
the top of it—and putting a
beat-box track over that. Once
I added the bass, that’s when it
really started to change.
Which loopers do you use?
It started out being called the
Echoplex back in the late ’70s
or ’80s. It was a tape machine
inside a bulky box. Then that
went digital, and Oberheim
had it for a while. Later, Gibson
bought out Oberheim and then
totally shut the whole thing
down. They’ve been out of production
for many years.
So where do you get your
units then?
On eBay and Craigslist. Where
the trickiness comes in with the
crap that I use is that we have to
find guys that know how to fix
these things. Louis Gosain, who
travels with me, is an electrical
genius, but there’s usually stuff
he can’t fix. So there are generally
three units that are out being
serviced, and we travel with four
of them—we usually have four
that are working really well.
Or three out of those four are
working well and probably three
more are being used for parts or
are out on a service call.
Have you used any of the other
loopers on the market, like the
Boss RC-300 Loop Station or
any laptop-based rigs?
Those are great—all the new
stuff that’s happening is fantastic.
So much is being done
with computers these days,
and I’ve definitely messed
around with it but I haven’t
crossed over completely. What
I need is to have them be able
to tie together and have them
synced up, because I usually
use three at one time. The
bass is on its own, the drums
are on their own, and then
there’s one for guitars.
Photo By Louis Gosain
Have you ever had issues with
recalling the wrong loop?
Not really, because everything is
created right there. I’m not really
going back and doing verse and
chorus with different loops—it’s
a little simpler than that. I’ll just
play the verse and the chorus.
My looping comes in for jam
sections. Once they’re all synced
up and I have a loop going, I’m
able to work that whole DJ formula
with all the samples that
I’ve created. I can drop out the
bass, or I can have the drums
play, or just let the bass play.
The loops must have to be
pretty tightly controlled. Can
you really get into the music,
or do you have to constantly
be alert to make sure you get
to a particular loop in time?
There’s a lot of starting, stopping,
and starting over. But it’s all
done, hopefully, in time to make
the first-timers think I meant to
do it. The people that have seen
me before kind of know what’s
going on, like where I wasn’t
quite satisfied with a loop so
maybe I’ll start over, maybe do
it in real time. My three loopers
are plugged into each other and
are all synced together, and 90
percent of the time they’ll stay
synced but sometimes they’ll
drift. That’s where the trickiness
comes in and you have to start
over again in the middle.
You’d think all loopers would
stay perfectly synced, but they
do drift.
Yeah, you’d think, “This is in
time and this is in time, and they
should be playing together.” But
they definitely drift. The problem
with the new loopers is that you
can’t really sync them together.
One of the trickier aspects for
people just getting into looping
is getting the loop to stop
and start exactly in time. Is
there a trick to that?
Here it is: It’s all on the one [the
first beat of a measure]. You’ve
got to figure out where your
one is, no matter what time signature
you’re doing. Then you
have to forget about the loop
and concentrate on hitting the
[record] button with your foot
when you want it to start and,
after you’ve played the phrase,
you hit that button [stop]—but
you just keep playing as if you’re
not looping at all. After two or
three seconds, you slowly stop
playing and it should be in time.
So keep playing—even when
you’ve disengaged the original
loop?
Correct. It’s kind of like golf—
looking down at the ball and
not looking up to see where it
went. My problem was always,
like, “Here it comes, here it
comes.” Then I’d hit the button
and I’d stop, and that’s where
the issue would happen—if
you hit it too early or too late.
Just keep playing, and you’ll be
exactly where you want to be.
What if your figure doesn’t start
on a downbeat—for example,
if it comes on the and after the
one? In that case, you wouldn’t
be playing on the one.
It’s all about the initial loop—
the start and stop of the first
loop. Once you have that, you
can kind of create things over
top of it and start them in different
times. You’re kind of making
your own click track.
Keller Williams' Gear
Basses
Fender fretless Jazz bass,
Fender Road Worn Precision
Guitars
Martin HD-28, Gibson Chet Atkins
SST with Roland synth pickup,
Rick Turner Baritone 12-string
Effects
Roland GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer,
Allen & Heath MixWizard mixer,
Korg Kaossilator
Strings and Picks
Flatwound bass strings with a .105 low E,
Elixir Acoustic 80/20 Bronze with
Polyweb Resonator sets (.016–.056),
Jim Dunlop 1.14 mm picks
Let’s talk about your other gear.
What are you using to cover the
new bass-centric material?
On Bass, I used two Fender basses,
both Mexican-made models.
One’s a Fender Jazz fretless, and
the other is a Road Worn P bass.
And what about your main
guitar gear?
My main guitar is a Martin
HD-28. I also use a synthesizer
pickup on a Gibson Chet
Atkins SST, and that’s my
backup and my carry-on—I
always get off the plane with a
guitar. Nine times out of 10,
all the other guitars show up,
but there’s the one time that
they don’t—so I always make
sure I have a carry-on, and it
has to be one with a strong,
thin body. The Chet Atkins is
definitely not the finest of guitars,
but it’s a block of wood,
it fits in the overhead compartment
of a small jet, and I don’t
have to gate-check it like a big,
bulky Martin.
What are you running the
synth pickup into?
I use it as a synthesizer guitar
with the new Roland GR-55,
which is insane. I used the
GR-33 for years, and the technology
involved in the 55 is
unbelievable. I use the same
pickup that I used with the 33,
and with the 55 there’s no latency.
It’s like real time. The stereo
effects are just insane, too—the
way you can mix and match a
vibraphone on one side and a
flute on the other side, and have
that coming out in high volume
in stereo is pretty interesting.
What about amps?
There are no amps. It’s all
plugged in direct. The stuff I
bring around is the outboard
gear that I use for looping. I use
an Allen & Heath MixWizard
soundboard, which acts as
the brain. I also use a Korg
Kaossilator—the handheld Kaoss
pad that’s now updated with
synthesizer sounds. It’s really an
incredibly fun toy. You can set
the key and the scale, and there
are literally no wrong notes. It’s
like a poser’s dream [laughs].
Youtube It
Though Keller Williams jokes about how the new Korg Kaossilator is “a poser’s dream,” the following YouTube
clips quickly prove how self-deprecating the multitalented man truly is.
Williams performs his hit
“Freeker by the Speaker” at the
Hard Rock Café in New York
City. Looping madness—including
bass, beat-box, a guitar
synth solo, and whistling—begins
around 4:43.
Here’s a clip from Keller’s performance
as the Super Music Friend
from a live Yo Gabba Gabba!
show in San Francisco. Although
it’s from a kiddie show, it’s defi -
nitely not child’s play. This clip is
a magnifi cent example of how to
build a loop from the ground up.
In this clip from the 2010 Summer
Camp Festival in Chillicothe,
Illinois, Williams is road-testing
the song “I Am Elvis.” Compare it
to the full-band version on Bass.