Fender offsets are the ultimate indie guitar. They coax players towards textural, chordal playing, angular melodies, ringing open strings, and often a lot of extra noises, clatters and clangs thanks to that entertainingly unique tremolo system. It seems weird in retrospect that indie guitar icon Johnny Marr wasn’t a Fender Jaguar player until picking one up in Modest Mouse in the 2000s. Now it almost feels strange to see him without a Jaguar. 

Marr’s latest signature model takes the majority of its cues from his existing model, which is among my favourite Fender guitars. The biggest difference, and it’s a huge one, is the addition of a trio of lipstick pickups in place of the Jaguar’s regular two single coils. But let’s back up a bit and break it down. 

We’ll start with the overall features. We’ve got an alder body with a gorgeously deep custom gloss nitrocellulose black laquer finish and a 22-fret maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. The fingerboard radius is 9.5”, a slightly flatter board than you would expect on a Jaguar (where 7.25” is more common). The back of the neck is carved to Marr’s specific preferences, inspired by the neck on his ’65 Jaguar. The 24” Jaguar scale is present and correct, and while the vintage tremolo initially looks pretty standard, there are a number of tweaks to the spec. The vibrato itself is a classic vintage-style floating Jaguar unit but it employs a nylon sleeve insert and a taller tremolo arm, while the bridge uses a Jaguar base with Mustang saddles and speclialised nylon post inserts (and the radius differs from the standard Marr model in order to match the flatter neck of this version). There’s also a removable bridge cover in the same style as the ashtray covers found on Strats, Teles, Jazz Basses etc. Cool touch. 

But what makes this particular Marr model stand out is its electronics setup. First up and most obviously we have those three lipstick pickups. They’re made by Kent Armstrong to Marr’s specs, and represent his continued search for tone and versatility. In addition to the typical master volume and master tone controls, there’s a four-way pickup selector switch to give you bridge, bridge+neck in parallel, neck, and bridge+neck in series modes. 

An extra three-way switch on the top control plate flips between the wiring of the original Marr Jaguar model (complete with muted middle pickup in keeping with said original model’s two-pickup layout); a version of the same but with the middle pickup added to every setting; and a middle-only option that bypasses the four-way switch. There’s also a brightness switch which really takes the low end out of the signal if you need it. Then there’s a secondary brightness switch which only operates on the neck+bridge series mode. Fender and Marr have figured out how to get a huge amount of variety out of this circuit. To me it doesn’t feel too complicated but I’m sure there are players who think there’s too much going on here. 

Sonically, this guitar is supremely versatile. The in-between settings afforded by the middle pickup create a texture that we’re just not hearing from a Jaguar: clearer, snappier, slightly hollow, definitely gritty. Then flip back to the two-pickup mode and you’re locked in to a new take on the classic Jag vibe, edgier and twangier but no less bold and powerful. The tone is almost a little Telecaster-like looser, darker within the middle frequencies, but you can zap that darkess straight to heck with the brightness switch. 

The sheer clarity of this guitar makes it a great choice for players who use loads of pedals: it maintains its character no matter what you’re piling on top of it. And it’s definitely geared towards clean and edge-of-dirt sounds, but I found a few settings that wanted nothing more than to absolutely roar through a fuzz pedal. 

Is this the ultimate Jag? Can it be the ultimate Jag in a world where the regular Marr model exists? I dunno but it’s certainly the most fun Jaguar I’ve played in years and undeniably the most versatile one ever. My only suggestion would be, hey guys, how about a version with a lipstick humbucker in the bridge position? Aww c’mon, it’d be cool. 

The post REVIEW: Fender Johnny Marr Signature Special Jaguar appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

This last year has been, without doubt, the absolute worst of my life. I lost my mum. I lost three other family members. My wife had several hospital visits and an operation. I suffered a bunch of health stuff. Already in treatment for depression and anxiety, the sheer weight of everything I was trying to deal with meant that if I was not at work, I was at home just laying on the sofa staring at the walls. I was bursting into tears at random moments or memories every day. Things got bad. You know the kind of bad I mean. The kind where there were two nights in particular where I almost never came home. 

I’m seeing an amazing therapist now who is really helping me. I feel like I’ve come through the deepest darkest parts of my depression and grief now. A big part of that has been forcing myself to look for the light. Turning off the phone and letting myself get lost in books. Going for long walks and feeding the local birds (I could write a whole article about the birds in the neighbourhood now, the family of magpies who gather around me and sing for peanuts, the spotted dove pair, the crafty Currawongs, the dishevelled little Magpie Lark who flies in circles around my head like I’m in a Loony Toons cartoon and I’ve just been hit in the head with a mallet).

And one of the other things that’s really helped has been setting up a pedalboard in the living room so I can just play with no fuss whenever I feel like it. 

Earlier this year I got a TONEX Pedal by IK Multimedia. I’d already been using TONEX in my recording setup but the depressive funk I’ve been in meant that my computer stuff was no longer all hooked up and my studio space was basically being used as storage. So I brought my monitors out into the living room, popped them either side of the TV an sound bar, plugged in my pedalboard (it stashes nicely out of sight under the TV cabinet) and now I have this little rig that I can immediately hook into when I need it. I have a Line 6 HX One before the TONEX pedal and an Eventide H9 after it, all connected via MIDI into some Hotone controllers so I can do all sorts of fun clever stuff. I spend hours with a guitar in my lap creating presets and fine-tuning tones, downloading tone models and generally just playing guitar for fun again. I love to pop on YouTube or the Retro channel on Aussie streaming service Binge and just play along, no expectations, no pressure, just let my ear take me where it will. 

It’s so healing. 

The one thing that has been able to quiet my mind on my worst days has been that feeling of picking up the guitar and instantly turning into notes. Becoming music. My conscious mind shuts off and I’m just focused on sound and melody. It’s a kind of meditation that takes you outside of yourself in one way and very deep into your subconscious in another. And through it all, I’m starting to regain the urge to write, to get my recording stuff set up again, to play guitar for people, to maybe even put together a band and get out there.

Playing guitar has been a huge part of my healing, alongside the very hard, very intentional work I’m putting in with my therapist to turn these feelings around, and those long walks listeing to music or podcasts or just the sound of nature, and feeding my bird friends which makes me feel engaged in the natural world around me. It’s all important. I don’t know if I would have found my joy in playing guitar again if it wasn’t for that TONEX Pedal sitting on my board (and now I see there’s a TONEX Plug headphone amp unit which is funny cos just last week I posted on Facebook that I wish IK would release one, and while I often have advance knowledge of products due to my work at a guitar store and in the music media, in this case I had no idea). 

Ultimately inspiration is wherever you find it: a new guitar, a new tuning, a new pickup or amp, finding new material to learn. In my case, just having my favourite guitar sounds within easy reach has been really energising, at a time where I needed something to lift me up. I don’t think I’ll ever be over my depression and I’ll never get over all the loss of the past 12 months and especially losing my mum. But I’m trying really hard to remember the good when I’m dragged down by the bad. And playing guitar is really, really good. 

The post How a guitar pedal helped pull me out of a depression pit appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

Skid Row – B Side Ourselves

“Psycho Therapy” (Ramones)
“C’mon and Love Me” (KISS)
“Delivering the Goods” (Judas Priest)
“What You’re Doing” (Rush)
“Little Wing” (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)

Skid Row released this EP between their Slave To The Grind and Subhuman Race albums, and
it stood out for me because in those pre-Spotify/YouTube/iTunes days you couldn’t simply
command a song to appear in your ears: you had to either catch it on the radio or encounter its
physical representation in the form of a CD or cassette. Wild, I know. So for me, this was the
first time I’d heard a song by The Ramones, and although I was already a Jimi Hendrix fan by
age 13 I hadn’t yet come across “Little Wing.” The Judas Priest cover features a guest
appearance by the metal god Rob Halford himself, and there’s an energy throughout this disc
which captures the power of Skid Row in this unique era, when they successfully survived the
last days of rock’s hair metal era and before grunge temporarily put the boot in to bands like
Skid Row. This was a band with the world at their feet and a song in their hearts.

Metallica – The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited

“Helpless” (Diamond Head)
“The Small Hours” (Holocaust)
“The Wait” (Killing Joke)
“Crash Course In Brain Surgery” (Budgie)
“Last Caress/Green Hell” (Misfits)

This EP represented Metallica’s first release with Jason Newsted on bass following the tragic
death of Cliff Burton, and the band chose to go back to their roots before diving in to new music.
These tracks are all available on the band’s 1998 Garage Inc double album too, but for me they
tell an entirely different story when heard in their original context instead of fitting in amongst
other covers, B-sides and one-offs. If Garage Inc is the story of a band using their platform as
The World’s Biggest Metal Band to shine a light on the songs that inspired them, Garage Days
Re-Revisited tells a story of a band who was struggling to cope with the emotion of the situation,
and who retreated to the comfort of the jam room and the songs that inspired them in their early
days before life became so complicated.

Stone Sour – Meanwhile In Burbank…

“We Die Young” (Alice In Chains)
“Heading Out To The Highway” (Judas Priest)
“Love Gun” (KISS)
“Creeping Death” (Metallica)
“Children Of The Grave” (Black Sabbath)

I get a feeling we’ll be seeing more of this as time goes on: covers EPs that feature songs
released post-1990. While most of Stone Sour’s recent covers EP (the first of a trilogy) focuses
on tracks from the 1980s, the inclusion of Alice In Chains’ “We Die Young” acknowledges AIC’s
rightful place in the Great Heavy Rock Songbook. It’s interesting to note that this EP features
songs by Judas Priest and KISS, just like Skid Row’s. And it’s also cool to see a band paying
tribute to Metallica, who have done so much to share cool covers with the world.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Covers EP

“A Teenager in Love” (Dion and the Belmonts)
“Havana Affair” (The Ramones)
“Search and Destroy” (Iggy Pop and James Williamson of The Stooges)
“Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” (Neil Young)
“I Get Around” (The Beach Boys)
“Suffragette City” (David Bowie)

The Chili Peppers released this EP in 2012 as an iTunes-only digital download to celebrate their
induction in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. The idea was to pay tribute to other bands who came
before them in joining the ranks of the Hall. The tracks themselves date from between 1991 and
2011, with three guitarists represented: John Frusctiante, Dave Navarro and Josh Klinghoffer.

Rush – Feedback

“Summertime Blues” (Eddie Cochran/Jerry Capehart)
“Heart Full of Soul” (The Yardbirds)
“For What It’s Worth” (Buffalo Springfield)
“The Seeker” (The Who)
“Mr. Soul” (Buffalo Springfield)
“Seven and Seven Is” (Love)
“Shapes Of Things (The Yardbirds)
“Crossroads” (Robert Johnson, Cream)

Alright, this one is probably long enough to qualify as an album if you really wanna stretch it, but
this eight-song release clocks in at just over 27 minutes. While most of the EPs covered (ha!) in
this list feature songs from the ‘metal and onwards’ era, Rush’s reflects an earlier era, an era we
now think of as ‘classic rock.’ Heck, it even includes two songs apiece by Buffalo Springfield and
The Yardbirds, and you might as well count “Summertime Blues” as a The Who song too and at
them to the ‘two songs by…’ list. What’s really great about Feedback is that it gives the listener
a clear indication of where Rush derived their energy, yet it provides virtually no hints
whatsoever as to how they developed such a progressive, iconic sound of their own.

Page Title: Five Great Covers EPs
Page Description: Here are five great covers EPs by Metallica, Stone Sour, Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Rush and Skid Row. What are your favorites?
Page Keywords: Metallica,Stone Sour,Red Hot Chili Peppers,Rush,Skid Row,Jimi
Hendrix,Black Sabbath,Judas Priest,Ramones,Alice In Chains,

The post Five covers EPs I always loved appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

TONEX has been my favourite amp plugin since the day it was released and it only keeps getting better. And the TONEX pedals – the flagship TONEX Pedal and the smaller TONEX One and limited edition chrome Joe Satriani version – are great options for those who need really authentic, more natural-feeling amp profiles in a stage format. TONEX is perfect for players like me who need an amp pedal to reproduce their playing dynamics. And now they gone and made a great thing even greater. Meet the Brown Sound 78/79 Signature Collection.

IK Multimedia Releases the Brown Sound 78/79 Signature Collection for TONEX

Delivering the explosive tones that launched a guitar revolution, meticulously researched, sourced, and captured in multiple variations.

May 15, 2025 – IK Multimedia releases the Brown Sound 78/79 Signature Collection for TONEX, the first in an exclusive 3-part series diving deep into the legendary recorded guitar tones that defined modern rock. Using period-correct gear and an obsessive attention to detail, this collection features 50 Tone Models that capture the unmistakable sound of the rock icon’s first two groundbreaking albums.

Every decision behind Brown Sound 78/79 was made to capture not just the gear, but the attitude, the feel, and the raw sonic blueprint of a genre-defining moment in rock history. With a mix of confirmed and speculated setups, including alternate speakers, these Tone Models deliver stunning accuracy and creative flexibility.

The Amp: “The ONE”
At the heart of the Brown Sound 78/79 collection is “The ONE” – a meticulously crafted Marshall-style amp built from the ground up to the exact same spec as the infamous 1968 Super Lead serial number #12301, including crucial mods that capture the DNA of the early brown sound like no other amp model.

Voltage Controlled
TONEX perfectly captures the saggier response and thicker gain produced when the voltage drops and tubes are starved for voltage. The internal amp bias was maximized and modeled using several different Variac settings, and the results were captured across all cab configurations, allowing users to hear and feel the various combinations of voltages and speakers.

Other details included removing output tubes 4 and 5 for the ’78 captures to produce that signature bite, bloom, and angry edge. For the ’79 captures, all 4 output tubes were used along with specific Variac settings, reproducing the meaner, but slightly clearer sound heard throughout that album.

Cabs: Built to Shape the Sound
Speaker choice was everything. Several classic and hybrid cab setups were utilized, each selected for its distinct role in shaping the tones of the era. Some combinations replicate known rigs, while others explore options players and experts speculate were also part of those recording sessions.

Each cabinet was captured using a variety of voltages to provide a spectrum of feel, ranging from tight and punchy to spongy and loose, thereby tailoring the sag and compression just as on the records.

Studio Magic: Captured Like an Album
Every cab was miked with classic SM57s and run through a vintage-style analog console to capture the recorded vibe as authentically as possible. A few Tone Models were created using a U67 placed further back to capture more resonance and a smoother top end, perfect for double tracking with brighter, more articulate tones.

For players who want a bit more edge, alternate “Hot” Tone Models are included, created by driving the analog mic preamp harder to add extra gain and saturation, as heard on many early recordings.

Signal Chain: Secret Sauce Included
Beyond the amp and cab, the front-end signal was run through the exact vintage pedals used in the original recordings, even when bypassed, to retain their subtle, but crucial tonal imprint. Several captures using the Vega wireless system are included. Many players famously used it, even in the studio, for its slight compression and subtle tone thickening.

In short, no expense was spared or compromise made to achieve the incredible Tone Models of this exciting collection, with the promise of more to come.

Pricing and Availability
The Brown Sound 78/79 Signature Collection is now available via ToneNET and within any version of TONEX for Mac/PC at a limited-time introductory price of $/€ 79.99 (reg. $/€ 99.99).*

*Pricing excluding taxes.

For complete details and information about the Brown Sound 78/79 Signature Collection and to hear the tones, please visit:

www.ikmultimedia.com/tonex-brown-sound-7879
www.ikmultimedia.com/tonex-brown-sound-7879/video

The post New Brown Sound collection for TONEX! appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

Winger. Killer instrumentalists. Great songwriters. Born performers. Although their commercial fortunes have ebbed and flowed with the whims of pop culture, musicians have always known these guys are the real deal. With Winger heading to Australia for their final tour here and first with the original line-up, I Heart Guitar caught up with virtuoso guitarist Reb Beach for a chat about guitar nerd stuff. 

I Heart Guitar: So Reb, it’s great to talk to you again. I was looking it up the last time we chatted was for Guitar World. About ten years ago I interviewed you and David Coverdale about Whitesnake’s Purple Album.

Reb Beach: Oh, that was a good record.

I Heart Guitar: Yeah, that was fun.

Reb Beach: Actually, the remix was really good. I I hated the mix on that record, like a lot. David brought someone in to remix it, and it was such a difference. It really is amazing how much of a difference a mix makes. Crazy.

I Heart Guitar: You know, one of my favorite examples of that is the Pearl Jam album Ten when they got Brendan O’Brien to do a remix for like a special edition. And he took all the reverb off and he put everything up front and it’s like ‘Oh, that’s what they sound like.’ But let’s get to the reason for this interview: Winger is coming to Australia for the last time. You’ve been here before, obviously, but not with the original Winger lineup. It’s gonna be cool. See, for me, I started listening… Okay. I was born in ’78, so I started listening to you guys in my teens when Pull came out. That was my kind of introduction.

Reb Beach: You got the best record on your first try!

I Heart Guitar: Haha. I was like a shred kid already. I also love grunge and all that stuff. And you guys were able to find the perfect synthesis to me of keeping the melodic and the technique and stuff all in balance. It’s all there, but also this darkness that I don’t think you guys would’ve been able to present as fully say five years earlier.

Reb Beach: Not with Beau Hill! No. That when we basically fired Beau Hill and and were able to do Kip’s vision. Big difference.

I Heart Guitar: How would you classify that vision? Like obviously we’re hearing the results of it, but what did it take to bring it out?

Reb Beach: Well, it wasn’t about, you know, ‘Okay, you need at least four top 40 singles.’ Like, In The Heart Of The Young, we gave them that record and they said ‘The only hit we hear is Miles Away and that’s gonna be the first single.’ And we said ‘No, that’ll be the death of us. A lot of bands were doing power ballads at the time andafter that they weren’t as cool and they sold less records. Those bands were getting known as ballad bands. ‘Oh, that’s a power ballad band.’ And they don’t have a cool, you know, Eddie Van Halen or kind of vibe or anything like that on there. So we wrote Easy Come, Easy Go and Can’t Get Enough. Both songs took a half an hour to write. Kip wrote Easy Come, Easy Go and I sat down with him and took half an hour to write Can’t Get Enough. And they were big hits. And actually, probably without them we probably wouldn’t have sold as much. But that wasn’t the focus doing Pull. It was more of just what we liked. The heavy factor. we knew we had a hit with Down Incognito and that’s really kind of all we really needed, I think. And we got to really branch out on that record and do some crazy stuff on there.

I Heart Guitar: Yeah. Musically and also texturally it’s great. And it’s a great headphone album as well, you know?

Reb Beach: Yeah. And on the next one, Kip went even further out. And Winger IV, that was dedicated to the troops. And that record, there’s some stuff that really went out there and some people hated it, and when it came out I didn’t like it. And now it’s one of my favorites.

I Heart Guitar: And of course, Seven is a killer album. Proud Desperado, amazing track.

Reb Beach: My least favorite song. [Laughs]. Really!

I Heart Guitar: Oh?

Reb Beach: Okay, I take that back, it’s not my least favorite song on the record. But it’s hard to recreate that one live. It sounds great on the studio track. And it used to be my favorite when we were writing it and when we were listening to all the songs on the demos, that was my favorite. But as it progressed it was a sort of Euro pop song. We were obviously going for that and it’s great for what it is, but I preferred a couple of other songs. It’s a really dark record, Seven. I was so surprised that people love it the way they do. People love that record.

I Heart Guitar: I mean, people need that darkness, you know? I think at one time we’re all holding down the dark and now it’s like, ‘Oh, let’s embrace it cos it’s here anyway!’

Reb Beach: Hey, it’s the first time we’ve gotten a million hits on a video in the first couple of months.

I Heart Guitar: So let’s talk guitar stuff, guitar nerd stuff, because yeah. I’m a big ol’ guitar nerd and it’s a guitar website. I am fascinated by your choice in guitar. You the whole Koa, EMGs, Floyd Rose, there isn’t really anything out there that does that, you know? Tell me the history of that guitar… Unless you’re bored of story!

Reb Beach: No, no, it’s fine! I was doing sessions in New York City in 1986 and that story is kind of interesting. I was a singing waiter in New York City and heard about an audition in Long Island for a girl named Fiona on Atlantic Records.Beau Hill was producing he used me for all the guitars. And I had never even played through a Marshall before! So I needed Kane Roberts to come in and show me how to get a good sound outta the Marshall because he was working with Alice Cooper in Studio B and we were in Studio A. Yep. So I did all the guitars and, and Beau was really, really happy. I replaced a bunch of other guitar players like Rick Derringer and they had all these guys and it just wasn’t right. So I did all the guitars and when it came time to pay me, Beau said ‘Listen, I’ll give you 500 bucks. I hope it’s not putting you down or anything, but it’s kind of a low budget.’ When it was a huge budget! And I was like, ‘Five hundred bucks, that’s great!’ It should have been at least $5,000! And so the good news of that is that Beau spread the word that there’s a kid who can do all the Van Halen stuff he’ll do your record for 500 bucks! Because of that, I did Chaka Khan, Howard Jones, Kenny Loggins, Roger Daltry, they all wanted these Van Halen solos on their record because that year Beat It came out with Van Halen playing the solo. So it’s right place at the right time. That’s how I got that.

And then I was doing Twisted Sister and I was going to Rudy’s Music Stop, which is where John Suhr worked. And I saw this KOA guitar, which was actually just a Tom Anderson body with a Warmoth neck that had Suhr painted on it, or Pensa-Suhr at the time. It had a Floyd and EMGs and I fell in love with it, the weight of it, the look of it, just like a beautiful piece of wood. And I took out a loan and bought it for $1,800 in 1986. I took it back and showed it to Dee Snider of Twisted Sister and he said ‘It looks like a coffee table! What the hell man, that thing doesn’t rock at all!’ But I used it on every session after that, and it was my favorite guitar. I love a beautiful piece of wood. And that kind of caught on. You know, like Nuno was always into the wood guitar and there’s, there’s us guys that just love a nice natural, beautiful piece of wood. The coolest guitar players I knew growing up who lived around me, like guys that were older than me, always had some guitar that cool looked homemade. I always thought that was so cool. Rather than a painting of a girl or something on your guitar that was all flashy. And it made you look like a pro as well.

I Heart Guitar: And of course that obviously served as some kind of a template for the Ibanez Voyager signature model. 

Reb Beach: So I was sitting on a plane and it was time to design the Reb Beach model. And I was drinking and I drew a million drawings on a napkin. And I loved the the cutouts of the Steinbergers at the time. I thought that was really brilliant. And I’m like, ‘What if you take that and do a Koa top and then take out the wood back there?’ I remember saying to Mace Bailey, who was kind of their master builder, ‘Does it make any difference when you take out wood from the beautiful girl shape of a guitar?’ He said ‘Yes, it does.’ I said ‘What if we add some wood to the horns and make the horns go in like a devil shape?’ And he said the problem is you can’t make the horns too pointy because they’ll just snap off. And I said ‘Screw it. Make the horns pointy. And we did. And so the prototype guitar, which is a beast – it’s so awesome, the first one we ever made – it has really, really pointy horns. And they broke off. So he was right! So that’s the story. And they sold really well for Ibanez and they’ve talked to me about bringing it back out again. And because you can’t find ’em on eBay. They’re, they’re selling for like $20,000. It’s crazy.

I Heart Guitar: If you can find one for sale! People tend to hang onto them.

Reb Beach: Yeah. And not the blue and red ones. That’s all crap. What you need is the Koa one. Huge difference.

I Heart Guitar: I guess there must have been a time for you where you were on everyone’s radar and you must have had all the companies coming after you. Right?

Reb Beach: It was short-lived but yeah, I got guitars from every guitar company shipped to my house, and I shipped them all back. And George Lynch told me I was an idiot! [Laughs] He said ‘You keep that stuff, you don’t send it back!’ I just didn’t know any better. But I always try and do the right thing. So I stuck with The Ibanez, which was the nicest one… although when I signed with Ibanez, my guitar cover for Kramer had just come out on Guitar for the Practicing Musician. The cover with me with the Blue Kramer that I used in 17 video came out and Kramer called me and said ‘Thank you. We’ve sold so many of these, all of us have made so much money because of you this year! This guitar is outta stock. And it’s incredible, what being on the cover of magazine with a guitar could do. I guess makes that guitar sell.

I Heart Guitar: I guess a follow on from that is, there also would’ve been a time where you must have been like ‘Yeah, this is working out!’ What was that like for you as a career kind of thing where you’re like, ‘I’m getting consistent work and I appear on guitar mag covers.’ How do you deal with that? Are you like ‘Yeah, I’m meant to be here.’ Or you’re like, ‘Whoa…’

Reb Beach: Well when Winger first came out, we bombed. Like we were over, it wasn’t gonna happen. They were gonna put us up on a shelf. And only because Rod Morgenstein knew a big guy at MTV did we get one play at 1:55 in the morning on Head Bangers Ball. That got calls into radio and that took off. But it took six months to go Gold, so when it started happening and we were playing arenas, at first it was really, really exciting. But then you’re always looking forward: ‘What’s next? What are we doing? How’s the next album writing?’ You’re just working so hard when you’re touring so hard. We did a hell of a lot of shows every year but we were always an opening band except for a really short tour we did with Extreme, the little-known band from Boston. Every night they’d play this song on acoustic, and Kip Winger went to them and said ‘Hey, you guys are idiots. You need take this song, go to radio and play this song every morning at 7:00 AM on the radio live with your acoustic. And that song’s number one.’ And they did. And it was number one. And they thanked Winger on their record for that. But that was, that was short lived. We were always kind of an opening band, unfortunately, even though we sold millions of records.

I Heart Guitar: You know, we didn’t get MTV out here, all that stuff. We didn’t have it but we got the results of its influence. We had our own music video shows but there was no channel because we didn’t have cable. We would see the impact on the culture of where things would get popular on MTV and then by virtue of that would be popular elsewhere but we missed out on all that. So what I do these days is I get on YouTube and I watch old MTV videos ’cause like, I feel like I’m catching up on the culture that we couldn’t get down here back then.

Reb Beach: It was everything. It made us and it broke us. Overnight. Both things. It was a really cool channel. I had it on all the time and we actually had a room where Beau Hill paid like 25 people and put them all on a phone and had them call radio stations to request, and call MTV to request. And that was one of the things that, that helped us!

I Heart Guitar: Stuff you gotta do cut through! Now that’s just influencer marketing, and stuff like that works the same way!

Reb Beach: Yeah! There was payola back then. You got 12 points on a record, which is 12% of the record. And we got, I think, six points as a band, and then Beau Hill got like four points. Ridiculous. He got everything. And then the other points were for Payola, for like radio stations, disc jockeys and all the big players to give them little slice of the album.

I Heart Guitar: Man, those days must have been interesting and slightly unregulated and chaotic.

Reb Beach: Oh yeah. There was promiscuity everywhere. It was a great time. Maybe not as open and free as the sixties. I mean, they only had herpes, you know!

I Heart Guitar: So you ever think about writing a heavily redacted book or anything? I mean, these stories are rare and those conditions don’t exist anymore. Those stories are gonna disappear one day.

Reb Beach: The stories about my family are much better! I do like a comedy routine and tell stories about my family that are very funny and they’re, they’re much funnier than the Winger stuff. Winger, we didn’t really get into trouble, which is one of the reasons why we didn’t make it as big as like Guns N Roses and all those bands, because we weren’t bad boys at all. We never trashed our hotel room. We never really got into trouble. We were all just four really good looking studio musicians, which just doesn’t sell. So it was just all in the music for us. And you know, in hindsight we probably would’ve sold more if we had just worn jeans and a t-shirt. ‘Cause We came out in 89 when the eighties was almost over and we were still doing the poofed-up hair. I mean, everyone was the poofed up hair and the spandex and the whole thing. You know, I had a waiters’ jacket on in the Seventeen video, like ‘May I take your order, sir?’ That’s kind of what it looked like to me these days. But that’s what it was. But it ended as soon as we came out. It screwed us. You know, I think if Pull had been released a few years earlier, I think we would’ve been a lot bigger.

I Heart Guitar: Yeah. It was an interesting time. I mean, for me, I turned 13 in 91 and a month later, Nevermind. And Metallica’s Black album came out in like the same week or something. And it was like all my friend group, you either went down the metal path and then you got into Pantera, Sepultura and all that, or you went down the grunge path and you kind of did that. It was such a bifurcating of the the cultures, even down to my high school in regional Australia.

Reb Beach: They didn’t have that when I was 13. When I was 13, four albums came out that I got for Christmas. It was Boston, Kansas, ELO and Styx. Those are the four albums I got. And so I wore those records out and all such great music. And Aerosmith and all the bands when I was 13 in 1976, all the bands were cool! Everything that came out was cool. There wasn’t another road to go unless it was punk. But what was on the radio was heavy rock songs, you know? And well-written songs and great singing and killer guitar playing. The guitar players when I was a kid were Ronnie Montrose and Peter Frampton, just really great guitar players as opposed to today when there’s kids on YouTube that are unbelievable, but they can’t write a song so you’ve never heard of them.

I Heart Guitar: Yeah. Or they can’t perform. That’s the thing. You get gotta get in front of people and learn those skills. I’m a totally different person when I’m on stage, and that person only exists up there. I can’t summon him otherwise.

Reb Beach: That’s really interesting. That’s something I never really thought about. I never thought about that factor. I was on stage from like the third grade when I had a stage mother who was pushing me to be on the stage all the time, singing in all the school plays. I have a good strong in-tune pleasing voice. I’m not a lead singer but from third grade I was performing and I was I was used to it. I was also the class clown. I was always outgoing and never had a problem there. But like you’re saying, a lot of these incredible guitar players that you hear on YouTube they may very well have a hard time being in front of people and performing. It takes a certain kind of person, I think, or practice.

I Heart Guitar: Yeah. You kind of develop that part of yourself by doing it.

Reb Beach: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

I Heart Guitar: Well that’s our time up. Thanks for the great chat. It’s been really fun.

Reb Beach: Well thank you very much Peter. It was nice talking to you too. And I actually learned something so that was good. Thank you. Maybe I’ll see you at the show!

Tickets from: silverbacktouring.com
VIP Upgrades available at: wingertheband.com

WINGER April 2025 Australian Tour Dates:
Friday 4th April – MELBOURNE 170 Russell
Saturday 5th April – SYDNEY Manning Bar
Sunday 6th April – ADELAIDE The Gov
Tuesday 8th April – BRISBANE Princess Theatre
Thursday 10th April – PERTH Magnet House

The post INTERVIEW: Winger’s Reb Beach appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

The new Fender Standard Series is an Indonesian-made successor to the old Standard Series, which was made in Mexico and was superseded by the Player and Player II Series. Much could be made of the current controversy over the Standard Series because of course people will argue about anything and everything online, but we’re not going to do that here. If you’re open to buying a guitar made in Indonesia, a country that has seen decades of investment by guitar manufacturers and which is producing great quality stuff, then cool, me too, guitars are the best! If not, that’s your business and nothing anyone else’s lived experience will change your mind about.

And so here we are: a new budget-priced Fender Stratocaster, not terribly unlike the previous Standards in terms of the market segment it’s pitched at and the overall specs, and providing an entry point several hundred dollars below the previous most affordable on-ramp, the Player Series.

The new Fender Standard Stratocaster isn’t trying to replicate any specific year’s Strat model. Instead it’s a carefully considered encapsulation of elements to create the perfect default Strat for those shopping in this price bracket. 

We have a Poplar body with gloss finish in a choice of four colours – Candy Cola (the model on review) and Olympic White with Maple fretboards or 3-Colour Sunburst and Aqua Marine Metallic with Indian Laurel. The pickups use Ceramic magnets like the old Standard series, rather than Alnico like the Player models. There are three single coils on this model, or there’s an HSS variant too. The middle pickup is reverse wind/reverse polarity in order to provide hum-cancelling options in positions 2 and 4. 

The bridge is a standard 2-point tremolo with satin chrome steel block saddles that remind me of the look of the old Stratocaster Plus. The pickguard is 3-ply which I always prefer on anything that’s not explicitly trying to be a reissue of something that originally came with 1-ply. 

The electronics configuration employs a slightly modded version of classic Strat wiring, with the bottom tone control wired to the bridge pickup while the other one handles the neck and middle simultaneously.

The neck features a Modern C shape with a Satin finish and 21 Medium Jumbo frets on a 9.5” fingerboard radius board. I like this choice. The tuners are fine but nothing to get super-excited about and they lack the ‘Ooh, that feels like a piece of fine engineering’ feel that you get further up the price chain. The frets are big enough to encourage bends and easy legato techniques, and the radius is curvy but not too curvy.

Yeah yeah, but how’s it play? Is it any good? What’s the deal? 

Alright. First impressions: the pickups have plenty of character, and the neck and middle settings sound really nice. Glassy trebles, tight low end, enough mids to hold your own in a mix but not so much as to sound honky. The bridge pickup isn’t quite as exciting though. It’s certainly not a bad sound but it comes across as a little harsh and buzzy compared to the neck and middle selections. That’s where the modified tone control layout comes in handy. I personally prefer the traditional way in most cases (no tone control for the bridge pickup at all), but in this instance the tone control helps tame some of the hairiness of the Ceramic magnet. If this guitar has a weakness – and it’s not a failing, just a weakness – it’s the voicing of that one pickup selection, but the other pickup selections have a lot going for them. The 2 and 4 settings in particular have a really nice, almost acoustic-like zing to them without getting harsh or hollow.

The playability is flawless. The Standard Stratocaster did everything I asked it to do, even ridiculous 3-step bends on the B string, and returned to tuning pretty reliably for a non-locking trem. These arrive with the bridges set to float with a nice amount of up-bend potential, and you can definitely get away with a few Jeff Beckisms if you so desire. 

The construction is right on par for a guitar in this price range. Although the fretboard edges are not listed as being rolled, they have clearly been shaped a little during the fret-finishing progress, giving the guitar a more ergonomic feel than the spec sheet might suggest. That Satin neck finish also really aids in making this guitar feel nice to play. The Candy Cola finish on the body is gorgeous, very deep and shimmery, and while it’s not the most glass-like finish I’ve ever seen on a guitar, it has a hypnotic quality that will look great on stage.

I’ve got to say, I’m seriously impressed with this guitar. It achieves everything it sets out to do, which is to be a Stratocaster that says Fender on it, for people who want something above a Squier but can’t stretch to the Player and above models. It would be a great upgrade platform further down the line with a pickup upgrade and maybe some nicer tuners. In fact, something like a pre-wired pick guard with Texas Specials or Vintage Noiselesses would be a killer idea. Ultimately though, this is a guitar that fills a gap that neither Squier nor Fender were occupying, and you owe it to yourself to get to a music store and try one for yourself. 

The post REVIEW: The new Fender Standard Stratocaster appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

I’ve been on a bit of a string journey with my Gibson Les Paul lately.  I’m always on the lookout for something that offers that perfect balance of feel, tension, and tonal clarity, and of course when you’re talking about a Les Paul you’re also be paying special attention to that famously finicky G string. Enter the Ernie Ball Silver Slinky designed for John Mayer. 

The gauges Mayer and Ernie Ball have selected here are pretty unusual. From high to low, the set goes: 

10.5

13.5

17.5

27

37

47

I guess you can kind of think of these as being a little more than a 10-46 set, or not quite a 10-52 set. The feel of these is obviously going to change depending on your guitar’s scale length, but I’m here to tell you that these strings are ideal for the Les Paul, a guitar they weren’t even designed for. Here’s why.

First, the balance of playability and tension is spot-on. I’ve tried countless sets of strings on my Les Paul over the years – Elixirs, D’Addarios of every type, Rotosounds, Ernie Balls, GHS, Dean Markley, JVB and probably a bunch more I’ve forgotten about. But these feel just right. The tension feels firm but not unbendable, and when I really wallop an A power chord I can feel the whole guitar vibrating. It doesn’t do that with the 9-42 strings I was recently using, and it feels a little more vibrant than when using 10-46. 

Sonically they’ve got that smooth, balanced sound that works beautifully with the Les Paul’s naturally warm, thick tone without muffling the high-end snarl of this particular guitar. The low-end is punchy and full, making power chords sound beefy without ever getting muddy. And if you’re someone who drops into lower tunings, like I often do in Drop C#, these strings maintain their definition and clarity, even when you really dig in. I’ve used a few different string sets for my Drop C# experiments, and a lot of them either feel too slack or too stiff. The Silver Slinkys have just the right amount of tension in that low range, offering a solid grip without feeling like you’re fighting the strings to get a clean note. I don’t know if I’d tune them any lower than Drop C# because they might then start to feel a bit loose. Ernie Ball makes plenty of other sets specifically for lower tunings though.

Crucially, they stay in tune, even the G string. It seems like 17.5 is exactly where this particular guitar wants that string to be. 

I can confidently say that these will be my go-to strings for the Les Paul from now on. TIf you’re looking for a versatile set that handles standard and alternative tunings with ease while delivering that signature Les Paul warmth, the Ernie Ball Silver Slinkys are my top recommendation. These will definitely be my standard gauge from now on, and I highly recommend them to anyone rocking a Les Paul or any guitar that needs a balance of responsiveness and firm tension.

Ernie Ball John Mayer Signature Silver Slinky strings are available in 1, 3 and 10 pack varieties.

The post REVIEW: Ernie Ball John Mayer Signature Silver Slinky Strings appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

Richie Kotzen is one of the most prolific musicians in rock. This is a guy who recorded an album of 50 songs to celebrate his 50th birthday, an artist whose material has evolved from hard rock and shred to blues, R&B and fusion, a band member who breathed new life into Poison and Mr. Big, and who made up one third of The Winery Dogs, a classic rock-influenced supergroup with Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy that gave us three killer records. Now Kotzen is back with Nomad, his latest solo album. Released on major label BMG and mostly played by Kotzen himself, there are parts that are familiar to those of us who love the ‘Mother Head’s Family Reunion’ albums and stuff like Peace Sign, and then there’s some of the most out-there, unique, unencumbered expression we’ve ever heard from Kotzen. We caught up over Zoom, our first chat since 2017, to hear a little about it.

I Heart Guitar: Dude, I’ve been listening to the new record, and you sound like you’re having fun on this. It kind of reminds me of Peace Sign, which is one of my favorites of yours. There’s a kind of you feel excited on this one, like you’re exploring things and hitting things that I haven’t really heard you do very often or at all. Was there a concept for this one? Like, this is what this album’s gonna be like? Or did it just happen organically?

Richie Kotzen: No, it wasn’t really a concept. I you know, I just started looking at some of the ideas I had for songs because I was on the road. So I just wrote, went back and looked at what I had that was finished and what I had that was in development. And then I had a few other ideas come to me. I just kind of put this record together the same way I always do: typically what happens is I get into a mode where I am getting ideas and I start documenting them. And then something will happen, usually where something new will get written and recorded, and then that kind of prompts me to go back and look at what I have that I never finished. And ’cause then what happens, I get the feeling after I write the new song, like, ‘Oh, I wanna keep going,’ but if I don’t have any new ideas, I can’t keep going. So then I’ll go back and see, ‘Oh, wait a minute, I’ve got this idea for this song ‘On The Table’.’ So I worked that up, and ‘Nihilist’ actually was written a few years ago. That’s been finished for a long time and I just never was sure where to put it. So it kind of came together that way. But I don’t ever really sit down and say ‘I’m writing an album.’ I kind of let it come to me.

I Heart Guitar: It sounds to me like BMG really gets it.

Richie Kotzen: Yeah. I’m lucky. I am lucky because when I say lucky, I mean in reference to the fact that a major label is trusting in the music and allowing me to put out the record as I envisioned it. The truth is that the record was done and I was planning on putting it out on my own, and then all of a sudden they said ‘Oh no, we’ll do it for you. We’ll put it out.’ And so here we are. A lot of times when you work with a big company they get a lot more involved, which sometimes is okay. But other times if they’re not of the right mind, they can kind of mess things up for you creatively. So this time around I got the perfect situation.

I Heart Guitar: Yeah. Well, I mean, you’re someone who’s released albums yourself. You’re someone who’s released albums with a label, and you know what you want by now, you know how to do it, and you can probably spot when you’re being ripped off! Let’s talk about some of the tracks on the record. ‘Insomnia’ has these really greasy, low guitar sounds. What do we hear in there?

Richie Kotzen: So it’s kind of two things going on in the, in the verse. You’ve got this basically very simple, you know, ‘da da da da da da’. And even though the song’s in F#, to play that I might have done the Drop D tuning bit just to get the, the lower note. I’d have to go listen to it. ’cause What happens is I record this stuff, and unless I’m actively performing it, I forget what I did. But it’s a pretty simple thing that’s happening. The bass is a bit more active in the verse and it’s playing this sort of pattern, and then the drum beat is something very specific, this kind of thing where it’s like I’m doing something on the hi hat and the snare drum where it’s like… I’d have to play it to actually describe it but it kind of does that over and over again. But then where it flips is when the chorus comes in, and it’s kind of a big riff that the band plays together. And of course, there’s that little interlude where we have a little unison line to kind of set up the chorus which the guitar and bass play together. But what I like about that structure is that you have that verse that’s kind of dark and a little creepy, you know? And then the chorus kicks in and it’s bright and it’s hopeful. And it’s just the way it was written. I mean, it just came that way. You know, as, as a songwriter, I don’t think about these things. They kind of happen. I follow the instinct and I allow it to kind of develop and open up on its own, you know? And so that’s just where it went.

I Heart Guitar: It’s funny ’cause I interviewed so many musicians of different types, and people either fall into one of two general categories. I find one is ‘the music just falls outta me, and I’ve gotta figure out what it wants to say and where to go with it.’ And the other is people who agonize over every detail and are absolutely miserable.

Richie Kotzen: Oh, yeah. Well, I’ll tell you something. You know, I’ve done a bit of both. And it’s an interesting situation for me because I’ve got such a large body of work behind me so it kind of puts me in a position where my only motivation for doing it is because it’s because it’s something that comes natural, and it’s something that I can do for myself to sort of exercise, you know, these thoughts and, and these emotions and put it into the form of a song. And I’m able to do it without expectation. And what I mean by that is, in the early days, as a young recording artist you do have expectations. You’re expecting – you want – people to listen to your work. You want people to acknowledge your point of view and this and that. And then as you get older your perspective changes. And in a very interesting way, I’m in a much better place, I think, not just now but over the last 15 years probably, where I’ve got enough work out there where I really feel well represented for who I am and what I am as it relates to making music. And I feel very fulfilled with it. So in that, coming from that kind of place, it’s almost like an insurance policy against your work, that if you finish something and you decide to release it, that you can fully stand behind it, as opposed to in the old days, maybe you had a recording contract and you had some pressure, and you knew that, well, if this doesn’t do something, I might lose my deal and this or that; I have to live up to what I did on the previous album. With all that, with all those expectations gone it’s, it’s a really good feeling, you know?

I Heart Guitar: Yeah! I feel like that translates as some of the excitement that I hear in this record. ‘Nomad ‘feels like a really interesting song. I can’t really compare it to anything you’ve done before. It’s so progressive, but it does kind of remind me in a way of the spirit of the Vertu stuff you did.It must be fun to kind of dip into those more out there kind of aspects of your musical personality and know that it’s gonna be accepted.

Richie Kotzen: It’s in my DNA. In my early years I did a record, it was kind of a fusion record that Greg Bisonnette played drums on, and Jeff Berlin appeared on bass on a few songs. And when I was quite young, I was probably 25 when I did that. And my first record had some pretty wacky stuff on there. You know, I remember Steve Smith the drummer, telling me, ‘I don’t know how to chart this. What …what is this? What time signature is that?’ I have these kinda weird little phrases that I wanted everybody to play together, and that sort of stuff, that abstract stuff is in my DNA. But over the years when I started taking singing more seriously, a lot of that kind of quirkiness in the music kind of went out the window a little bit. So I brought a little bit of it back in on the 50 For 50 record. And then I think with, with the song ‘Nihilist,’ I really kind of went full throttle on it and I think that’s why it’s such a special, unique track. When I wrote that, I just wanted to do something that was totally free of any sort of constraint or anything that I may put on myself.

/

I Heart Guitar: Yeah. So you have been playing drums on your records for decades. You’re a great drummer. What does playing in a band with Mike Portnoy do to your drumming?

Richie Kotzen: It doesn’t really affect it. I mean, it affects my guitar playing more than my drumming, obviously, and I love playing with Mike. He’s an amazing drummer, but he’s a stylist too. He’s like guitar player in that respect. Like if you hear a guitar player, you’ll know, ‘Oh, that’s so-and-so playing,’ and obviously Mike is like that with the drums, which in a strange way it might be more difficult to get to that place on that instrument just because of the role that it plays in rock music. Obviously if you play progressive music, which he does, that’s a little more common. But in the world of rock and roll it’s a little different for drummers to have their own voice the way a guitar player can, so I think what’s great about playing with Mike is that he has that, And he is a lot of fun to improvise with too. I love to improvise when I’m playing live. And you know, it was a great experience, the whole Winery Dogs thing.

I Heart Guitar: Yeah! We got three great albums and the way I see it, sometimes these things come back, sometimes they don’t, they’re great while they last, and it’s great if it comes back but onward and upward, y’know?

Richie Kotzen: Yeah. That’s the best healthy attitude. I mean you only ever are where you are. You know, it’s like, here I am in a hotel room talking to you. I’m on tour with my trio with my own new record coming out and everybody [from The Winery Dogs] is off doing other things and now it’s a great memory. And you never know what the future holds, you know? Not to get into a Winery Dogs talk but the fact of the matter is that when we played our last show it was smiles and high fives and it was a healthy, nice vibe coming out of that. So yeah, you never know.

I Heart Guitar: Yeah. So let’s talk nerdy gear stuff! Did you use anything on the record that would probably surprise us or anything unusual that has a cool story or..?

Richie Kotzen: Well the surprise would maybe be the guitar. You know, obviously most of the record is my signature Tele, and if it’s not that, it’s the Stratocaster signature model from Fender. I do have this old Yamaha Hollow Body. It looks like a Gretsch guitar. I don’t know the model but I’ve had it for a long time and I used that for the rhythm guitar on ‘Cheap Shots.’ When you hear that opening guitar it’s this Yamaha hollow body plugged right into my Marshall direct with no pedal. Plug into the upper normal channel – ’cause there’s four inputs – upper right, and just get the amp turned to a certain point where it breaks up nice, and a [Shure] 57 in front of it and that’s it. That might be a surprise ’cause I think everybody thinks that I always have a Telecaster in my hands.

I Heart Guitar: I know you’re a man who enjoys his Yamahas. We’ve talked about your your old SG models and stuff in the past.

Richie Kotzen: Yeah. I haven’t played those in a while. They’re, they’re locked away in cage. I haven’t played those in a long time, but that was my first real guitar.In America it was called the SBG 2000. But I have two of ’em. I have a 2000 and a 3000.

I Heart Guitar: So the last thing I wanted to ask you about is a record that I come back to a couple of times a year. It just kind of lures me in: The Road by Wilson Hawk. It’s so musical, it’s so memorable, and it’s just classic R&B. Tell me about that one.

Richie Kotzen: Well, that was a record I made with a very good friend of mine named Richie Zito. He’s a very successful record producer. You can Google him, you’ll be blown away with the work he’s done. I met him when I did the Poison album. He was the producer and we became instant friends. And then he produced a solo record of mine. And we actually ended up somehow becoming neighbors and lived on the same street. We were, and are, very good friends and wanted to make a record together, and, and he’s like ‘You’re from the Philadelphia area, let’s do a really authentic soul album, really focused on that side of your writing.’ And so we got together and wrote a bunch of songs. I wrote a few on my own. He brought in some things and we made that record together and initially, you know, at that time we were thinking maybe we could get a major recording contract for it, get a major label to put it out. Do some live stuff and have like a big band with horns and backing singers.

And, and then, you know, the industry being what it was, it didn’t really get the kind of response… We were not met with the same enthusiasm that we had! So we said ‘We still believe it’s, it’s special and we love it, so let’s just put it up.’ We put it up on iTunes and it’s been there ever since. And it’s a really fun album. And a funny thing how we got the name I have to say, was we took a famous soul artist, one word from their name, and then a sports team. ‘Wilson’ for Wilson Pickett, and Hawk from the Atlanta Hawks basketball team. And so, check this out. Kim Bullard was playing organ – and you should Google him too. And we were at Kim’s house and we were sitting there and I said ‘We need an album cover.’ And I look and he had sitting there these two letters. It was an H and a W and they were initials for something. And I was sitting there and I’m looking at it and I go ‘Whoa, check this out.’ And I just switched the letters around and I laid like some kind of cloth and I just dolled it up a little bit, took my iPhone, took a few photographs of it and said look at this. There’s the album cover. And that’s the final image. So the cover was so weird. I mean, you know, weird stuff like that happens. It’s one of those moments where it was like somebody just shone a light there and put that in front of me. I love when stuff like that happens.

Nomad is out now. Visit richiekotzen.com for more info.

The post INTERVIEW: Richie Kotzen appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

Frank Gambale’s contribution to guitar is immeasurable. His pioneering development and use of sweep picking changed the way lead guitarists approached the instrument, and his instructional material – even the stuff that came out decades ago – is still studied by guitarists to this day. 

But Frank Gambale is about much more than technique. His melodic choices. His sense of storytelling and drama within a solo. The musical environments he explores. That is to say, Frank Gambale’s music is compelling whether you’re a guitarist or not, and whether you’re a musician or not. 

Frank is performing a residency at Melbourne’s iconic Bird’s Basement, as well as teaching a masterclass there on Sunday September 22.

All the info you need is here: https://birdsbasement.com

I caught up with Frank via email for a little chat about it.

Is there a specific plan for each of the shows, or is it more of a ‘let the magic happen on the night’ situation? 

I draw from my vast number of compositions from my albums. The melodies are all written and in the true jazz tradition there’s plenty of space for improvisation and the spirit of spontaneity with the high level musicians interacting.

You’re bringing Dave Weckl with you: what’s it like playing with that guy? He’s such a great player that I imagine he still surprises you?

I played with Dave for 36 years off and on with Chick Corea Elektric Band so yes we have a long history. Dave is a phenomenal drummer. I describe him like a being on a magic carpet ride. I’m really looking forward to playing with him again. This is first time since Chick passed on to the heavens so it’s a special event. Dave was on a few of my albums – Noteworker and Thinking Out Loud so I have chosen to play a few of the tunes from those albums.

We last spoke probably a decade ago and I was wondering how you feel your playing has changed in that time. Are there things you find yourself particularly drawn to today verses ten years ago? 

I feel more comfortable than ever in my own skin and I think it reflects in my playing. I’m on Earth to deliver guitar playing and music to the best of my abilities and without compromise of any kind. I really don’t think ever about what anyone else thinks, that’s a blessing…I’m serving the art, nothing else.

What guitars are you bringing with you?

I have four diverse instruments with me because I like to present all of my different styles of guitar playing in the show. I find that it doesn’t happen often in jazz presentations, most play the same instrument throughout the show which is fine.

For me I enjoy all the different tonal and harmonic possibilities of the various guitars. I have my signature Kiesel FG-1 electric guitar, I have my Ibanez George Benson GB-10 jazz guitar with flat wound strings for the authentic jazz tone, I have my signature Cort Luxe acoustic guitar and my custom made Kiesel double-neck guitar which allows me to incorporate my Gambale Tuning. I invented the Gambale Tuning back in 2003 and it allows me to voice close intervals like a piano keyboard on the guitar, chords that are simply impossible with standard tuning. It only took me 40 years to come up with it. Guitar players everywhere are starting to catch on to it.

I really love the yellow Kiesel you did which was more in the spirit of your old Ibanez models. How does the Kiesel differ, and how is it similar?

You mean my signature Kiesel FG-2. It’s basically a Strat but much more refined. It’s a great. I didn’t bring that guitar this time. I have a new pale yellow FG1 that is my favourite guitar right now, it’s flawless and light and for me to get into the “zone” when I play, I must have NO distraction from the instrument. This instrument allows me to truly play freely.

Do you own any guitars that would really surprise us to find out you have?

I enjoy playing bass on some of my recordings. Cort sent me a semi-hollow fretless bass that I used on the recent release of a song called “Pine Mountain”. It’s an incredible instrument. Other than that 98% of the guitars I own are my signature guitars past and present from Ibanez to Yamaha to currently Kiesel ( formerly Carvin ) and Cort. No surprises… 

What were your early bands like? My aunty Barbi knew you around town in Canberra and said you were real good even as a teenager.

I had a good head start at 7 years old starting out with two keen older brothers who were playing guitar also and turning me on to music that only older kids were listening to. My Canberra days seem like such a distant past that I just remember it with a misty fondness. I left when I was 22 and then I was in L.A. for 40 years…and now the last four on the Costa Brava in Spain…I do appreciate hearing Barbi’s thoughts…I’ve been truly blessed but I have also worked my arse off and been a true devotee unwaveringly to music, guitar and the art.

The post Interview: Frank Gambale appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

The post Cort Guitars Solencanto Classical Guitar appeared first on I Heart Guitar.