What Gives a Custom Acoustic Guitar That Exceptionally Great Sound? Part 1

10 Great Garage Rock Bands

There’s irony in the fact that garage rock is generally regarded as rock and roll in its most primitive form. Fact is, some of rock’s greatest bands – from The Ramones to Sonic Youth to R.E.M. to Green Day – can trace their styles to this mostly singles-oriented genre of music. Garage rock still is flourishing today, of course, but its true flowering occurred in the ’60s. Below are 10 bands who were pioneers during that glorious garage rock heyday.

The Count Five

With their 1966 hit, “Psychotic Reaction,” The Count Five assured themselves a prime spot in garage rock history. Hailing from San Jose, California, and still in their teens when “Psychotic Reaction” assailed the charts, the band essentially sabotaged their burgeoning career when they opted to seek college degrees instead of further pursuing music. Legendary critic Lester Bangs immortalized the group in a famously glowing profile.

Flamin’ Groovies

Forerunners of both punk and power pop, Flamin’ Groovies crafted their garage rock aesthetic by fitting ’50s-style rock and roll with Brit-style melodies. In contrast to their San Francisco-based peers, the Groovies didn’t shy away from greasy blues, powered mostly by the dual whammy of guitarist Cyril Jordan and flamboyant singer Roy A. Loney. The band’s 1971 album, Teenage Head, continues to be hailed as a cult classic.

13th Floor Elevators

Hailing from Austin, Texas, and centered largely on guitarist-singer Roky Erickson, the 13th Floor Elevators fused garage rock and psychedelia to form something new under the sun. Founded in 1965, and predating the San Francisco flower-power explosion, the Elevators were later acknowledged by fellow Texan Billy Gibbons as one of his prime inspirations. Unfortunately, physical and emotional problems brought on by substance abuse derailed the band’s grand ambitions, but not before they released a smattering of brilliant and influential albums.

The Seeds

Combining the trashy swagger of the early Rolling Stones with a penchant for psychedelia, The Seeds scored two hits in the mid-’60s with “Pushin’ Too Hard” and “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine.” The band’s unadorned, slop rock niche yielded two classic albums – The Seeds and A Web of Sound – but with their third disc, 1967’s Future, the group embarked on an ill-fated attempt to make a concept album along the lines of Sgt. Pepper. Following the death of original Seeds singer Sky Saxon in 2009, members of The Smashing Pumpkins, Love and The Electric Prunes staged a tribute concert in his honor.

The Troggs

Iggy Pop, The Ramones and R.E.M. are among the many artists who’ve cited The Troggs as a primary influence. One could argue that the British band’s proto-punk cover of Chip Taylor’s “Wild Thing” is the crown jewel of garage rock, and in fact The Troggs scored two additional hits with the flower-power ballad, “Love is All Around,” and the riff-driven “With a Girl Like You.” Jimi Hendrix, of course, loved the band.

MC5

In the late ’60s, along with fellow Detroit natives The Stooges, MC5 forged a garage rock template upon which future punk rockers and thrash rockers would build. Thanks largely to the one-two punch of guitarist Wayne Kramer and Fred “Sonic” Smith, the band backed up their rebellious stance with music that seared with energy and volume. Kramer and Smith’s interlocking guitars influenced nearly every dual-lead guitar band that came in MC5’s wake.

The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes’ 1966 single, “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night),” established a permanent place for the band as garage rock pioneers. Working at Leon Russell’s studio in Los Angeles, under the tutelage of Rolling Stones engineer Dave Hassinger, the band went on to release a flurry of near-misses, including a splendid song titled “Kyrie Eleison” that was featured on the soundtrack for Easy Rider. After a 30-year absence, a re-tooled version of the band emerged in 1999.

The Kingsmen

If “Wild Thing” is garage rock’s crown jewel, then The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” rates only a slight notch below. Released in late 1963, the song was, at that time, an oasis of slop rock authenticity on singles charts that were laden with the likes of Bobby Vinton and The Singing Nun. The song has since been covered by hundreds of artists, most notably by The Stooges, whose second album, Fun House, was produced by original Kingsmen keyboardist Don Galluci.

The Stooges

Released in 1969 and 1970, respectively, and powered by the swaggering charisma of Iggy Pop and the six-string ferocity of guitarist Ron Asheton, The Stooges’ first two albums are exemplars of anyone-can-do-it, garage rock abandon. Adding guitarist James Williamson to the mix (Asheton switched to bass), the band then produced a punk-metal masterpiece with 1973’s Raw Power, all the while continuing to adhere to their deliberately primitive spirit. In a word, The Stooges brought a sense of danger to garage rock.

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground may have been the first band to frame serious literary sensibilities in garage rock settings. Bringing to life the seedier side of his beloved New York, and singing about the city’s colorful misfit characters, Lou Reed brought a novelist’s eye to his songwriting craft. Of course, none of that would have mattered if the Velvets’ music – by turns willfully discordant and nakedly beautiful – had not been imbued with brilliance on par with Reed’s lyrical talents.

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‘Surrey Delta’: 5 Great British Blues Albums

Swinging London, James Bond, The Beatles, mini skirts and Mini Cooper cars… 1960s England was an unlikely place for a blues revolution, but it did happen. The young white English guitarists who embraced and super-electrified the blues in the 1960s were hardly of a similar background to their original inspirations – pioneering bluesmen such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker – but they took electric blues to new places.

Indeed, the “Surrey Delta” – jokingly named because Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were all born within a few miles and a year of each other – remains a world away from the Mississippi. Surrey remains an opulent part of England to the west of London where the river Thames winds into verdant countryside. There were never cotton plantations and chain gangs in Clapton’s home village of Ripley.

But imported American blues records helped shape British rock. Early “skiffle” star Lonnie Donegan, a huge influence on The Beatles, regularly covered Lead Belly songs. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards formed their alliance when the guitarist spotted the singer clutching blues albums in his arms at Dartford railway station. Jimmy Page reworked quite a few Willie Dixon songs in early Led Zeppelin…

Britain’s young blues-loving guitarists soon morphed their own style into something recognizable as rock. But early on, their unique take on Amercian blues resulted in some remarkable recordings. Here are just five…

John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers: Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton

If there was one British blues album that punched hardest, it was 1966’s Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Commonly known as the “Beano” album (due to Clapton reading the comic on the cover photo), it did much to reawaken guitarists to the majestic tone of single-cutaway sunburst Gibson Les Pauls.

Clapton told Guitar Player magazine that the famed six-string he played on Blues Breakers was “the best Les Paul I ever had… just a regular sunburst Les Paul that I bought in one of the shops in London right after I’d seen Freddie King’s album cover of Let’s Hide Away and Dance Away, where he’s playing a gold top. It had humbuckers and was almost brand new – original case with that lovely purple velvet lining. Just magnificent. I never really found one as good as that. I do miss that one.”

Clapton’s “Beano” Les Paul became near-mythical, after being stolen during rehearsals for Cream’s first gig in late July 1966. But the guitar lives on in Clapton’s stinging Les Paul/Marshall tone on the album, be it on Mayall/Clapton originals “Key To Love” and “Double Crossing Time,” to fiery covers of Willie Dixon/Otis Rush’s “All Your Love” and Freddie King’s “Hideaway.” This album remains a landmark of electric blues.

Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac

If there is a rival to Clapton’s guitar crown in the British 1960s blues pantheon, it is Peter Green. Londoner Green had briefly replaced Clapton in Mayall’s Blues Breakers when Eric formed the more psychedelia-tinged Cream, but it is Green’s work on Fleetwood Mac’s 1968 debut that impresses most. It’s a no-frills blues LP, with Robert Johnson, Elmore James and Howlin’ Wolf covers interspersed with Chicago blues-inspired originals.

And Green’s weeping Les Paul playing that sets it apart: B.B. King famously remarked, “He has the sweetest tone I ever heard, he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.” Fleetwood Mac soon branched beyond “pure” blues to have pop hits with “Black Magic Woman,” (later a hit for Santana) followed by 1969’s #1 instrumental “Albatross.” Green had bailed out by 1970, after a binge of LSD left him fragile. Fellow guitarists Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer also left.

Peter Green still plays, but nothing quite recreates the sweet Les Paul sound he had on early Fleetwood Mac recordings. Play Fleetwood Mac’s debut album 44 years on, and you’ll still be amazed this is the blues guitar of Peter Allen Greenbaum, a 22-year-old Jewish man from a poor neighbourhood in East London.

Watch “Homework” from French TV in 1969, a song first recorded by the band on Fleetwood Mac in Chicago with Otis Spann on piano.

The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones

Even if held at knifepoint by Keith Richards, few would admit the Stones were ever a purist blues band. But alongside their love of high-tempo R&B and straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll, blues music was a touchstone for the Stones – from Jagger and Richards’ first alliance to their name (both indebted to Muddy Waters). Early leader Brian Jones, despite his dandy hair, was the real blues purist of the band and it’s his influence that stands proud on the Stones’ 1964 debut. Covers of Willie Dixon/Waters, Slim Harpo and Jimmy Reed are at the heart of the album, and if Jagger and Richards’ blossoming songwriting soon established their own sound, the blues never left them.

As Richards once said: “If you don’t know the blues, there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.” The Stones’ debut, remarkably, stands the test of time. Mick Jagger is no Howlin’ Wolf, but getting this “alien” music to the top of the U.K. charts in 1964 was some achievement.

 “Little Red Rooster” from 1964.

The Yardbirds: Five Live Yardbirds

The Yardbirds were just as much a psychedelic R&B/rock band as “pure” blues, but their impact was huge. Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck all variously served as guitarists, and their early repertoire did much to introduce the blues to British teens – they covered songs by Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Elmore James, including “Smokestack Lightning,” “Good Morning Little School Girl,” “Boom Boom,” “I Wish You Would,” “I’m a Man,” “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” and more. The various guitarists use of early fuzzboxes, feedback, backward echo and super-distorted amps foresaw heavy rock by years – it was no coincidence that Page originally called Led Zeppelin “The New Yardbirds.”

For the proto-sound of their “blues” rave-ups, seek out Five Live Yardbirds, recorded in March 1964 at London’s legendary Marquee Club. It’s a bridge between British beatpop and psychedelia, but with the blues beating strong at its heart. After all, The Yardbirds acted as Sonny Boy Williamson’s backing band on his 1963 U.K. tour.

But a few years on, The Yardbirds were rocking harder. Watch this great clip of The Yardbirds in 1966 with Jimmy Page on bass and Jeff Beck on lead guitar.

Ten Years After: Ten Years After

The “classic” British Blues Boom only lasted a few years. John Mayall kept going, moving in a jazzier direction with Mick Taylor joining on guitar. Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin. The Stones became their own people, though their remarkable cover of Robert Johnson’s “Love In Vain” (from 1969’s Let It Bleed) proved their blues mojo was still working. Clapton’s Cream lasted only two years. Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer both left the music industry, after suffering mental health problems.

And as Brit Blues got harder and morphed into hard rock, there were few more aggressive than Ten Years After. Toting an ultra-amped Gibson ES-355, Alvin Lee turned blues tunes into proto-shred, paving the way – along with Jimmy Page – for blues pentatonic wigouts to form the basis of 1970s hard rock. Ten Years After’s version of “Spoonful” was surely not what writer Willie Dixon had in mind, but it and other cover songs kept the blues alive for a new generation of guitar blasters.

Here is Ten Years After’s version of “Spoonful” from 1968.

The notion of “British blues” pretty much disappeared with the dawn of the 1970s. But in its prime, the U.K.’s guitarists’ work revived old blues tunes and turned many fans on to the originals. The above players may not be your own “best.” And there may be others coming along. And we’ve had to omit a few worthy of mention, of course: Gary Moore, Mick Taylor, Paul Kossoff and Robin Trower all have their fans. Add your own favorites below!

More British blues:

John Mayall and the Les Paul Legacy of Clapton, Green, and Taylor

Get That Tone: Blues Breakers Era Eric Clapton

Peter Green, Gary Moore and The Holy Grail Les Paul

Andy Fraser of Free: Video Interview

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Lost! 10 Great Albums That Were Shelved or Abandoned

The rock and roll landscape is littered with album projects that have been abandoned, shelved or even stolen. Most such projects are lost forever, consigned permanently to the dustbin of history. In the case of major artists, however, these albums occasionally attain a near-mythic status, inspiring fans to wonder if in fact a heretofore unheard masterpiece might one day surface. To varying degrees, the “lost” albums below have acquired just that sort of reputation.

Bruce Springsteen – Electric Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen’s bleak, darkly acoustic Nebraska album was hailed as a monumental work upon its release in 1982. Fact is, however, The Boss’s original intent was that the disc be a full-on rock and roll effort. To that end, Springsteen recorded Nebraska’s songs with his E Street Band, replete with amped-up arrangements, before deciding his homemade demos would better serve the message he wanted to convey. Drummer Max Weinberg later described the electric versions of the songs as “hard-edged” and “killing.”

Neil Young – Homegrown

This mostly acoustic country-rock album – recorded by Neil Young in 1974 – was so close to being released, the cover art already had been designed. Young has described the album as “the missing link between Harvest, Comes a Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon.” Many of Homegrown’s songs centered on the deteriorating relationship between Young and his then-girlfriend, actress Carrie Snodgrass. In the end, Young deemed the songs too personal and opted to release Tonight’s the Night instead.

Prince – Camille

In 1986, Prince began work on an album intended to showcase his strange (even for him) new obsession: speeding up his recorded vocals to make himself sound like a female. Dubbing his feminine alter-ego Camille, the Purple One is said to have recorded an eight-song LP that was even bawdier that the previous tracks that had drawn the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center. Prince shelved the disc, but several of the songs he had worked up, including “Housequake” and “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” surfaced on subsequent albums.

The Kinks – Four More Respected Gentlemen

The songs for this never-released Kinks album, recorded in 1968, were originally intended for a U.S.-only LP to be released in tandem with a Europe-only version of the band’s The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society. Instead, record label powers-that-be opted to shelve the former album, and instead released a longer version of the latter disc in both the U.K. and the U.S. Years later, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, Kinks leader Ray Davies said Four More Respected Gentlemen consisted of a song cycle about table manners.

Green Day – Cigarettes and Valentines

This intended follow-up to Green Day’s 2000 album, Warning, never saw the light of day for one simple reason: the master tapes were stolen from the studio. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong later said the pilfered material was “good stuff,” while bassist Mike Dirnt remarked that the songs constituted a return to Green Day’s “hard and fast” punk roots. Nonetheless, instead of re-recording the album, the band decided to go a different route. The result was the acclaimed 2004 disc, American Idiot.

Pink Floyd – Household Objects

In 1974, in the wake of Dark Side of the Moon’s monumental success, Pink Floyd was casting about for a worthwhile departure. The idea the band came up with was to create music using nothing but household objects. Rubber bands, cardboard boxes and water-filled crystal wine glasses were among the tools employed in the effort, but alas, the challenges proved insurmountable. “It just got too difficult – and pointless,” David Gilmour later told writer Jim DeRogatis.

The Beatles – Get Back

Paul McCartney’s idea for The Beatles in 1968 was that they should “get back” to their roots, and make an album free of studio refinement and overdubs. He also wanted the band to get back to live performances, which in fact The Beatles half-heartedly did for their famous “rooftop” performance. In the end, however, tensions prevailed and the Get Back sessions grinded to a halt. Producer Phil Spector eventually pieced together the Let It Be album from the Get Back tapes, but that string-laden LP was a far different animal from what McCartney intended.

David Bowie – Toy

Prepped for release in 2002, this album featured new versions of some of Bowie’s earliest work. Recording with his Hours… touring band and longtime producer Tony Visconti, Bowie re-cut such obscure tracks as 1968’s “In the Heat of the Morning,” 1971’s “Shadow Man” and 1964’s rousing “Liza Jane,” which had been released originally in Bowie’s early incarnation as David Jones and the King Bees. For reasons unclear, Virgin Records shelved the disc, although several tracks surfaced later on other albums and as B-sides. A full version of Toy was leaked onto the Internet in early 2011.

The Who – Lifehouse

Simply put, Lifehouse was a project toppled by the weight of Pete Townshend’s grand ambitions. Conceptually, in the wake of Tommy, Townshend wanted to construct a multimedia extravaganza that would incorporate music that reflected the personalities and states of mind of The Who’s audience. The complications involved in the undertaking precipitated a nervous breakdown in Townshend, but not before he penned some of his finest songs. Fortunately, although Lifehouse was abandoned, much of the material found its way onto Who’s Next, one of The Who’s most triumphant albums.

The Beach Boys – Smile

This album – contemporary music’s most famous “lost” disc – was intended to be an ambitious follow-up to The Beach Boys’ 1966 pop masterpiece, Pet Sounds. Building on the epic sweep of “Good Vibrations,” Brian Wilson’s “pocket symphony,” Wilson and lyricist Van Dyke Parks envisioned an intricate tapestry of sound. Wilson wasn’t able to pull together his original vision for Smile, although years later, in 2004, he recorded a version on his own. The recently released Smile Sessions Box Set, which gathers material from the original sessions, offers a tantalizing aural portrait of what might have been.

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Drum ’n’ Bass: 10 Great Rock Rhythm Sections

Bass and drums are often the unsung heroes of rock and roll. A killer rhythm section will make a band soar, while a mediocre bass-drums combo can drag down even the strongest ensembles.

At Gibson.com, we simply can’t get enough of that cascading cannon-style drum sound, and little competes with a flawlessly executed, funky slap-and-pop bassline. It’s the rhythm section’s time to take the spotlight!

Below, check out our list of 10 of the greatest rhythm sections in rock and roll. Let us know in the comments section who you think we’ve snubbed. Happy grooving!

10. P-Nut and Sexton, 311

311 broke out of the ’90s alternative rock collective with their distinct fusion of reggae and rap-metal. Rhythm players P-Nut and Sexton had much to do with the band’s catchy grooves, as the duo evenly balance the band’s rap-metal power with cool reggae vibrations. “Beautiful Disaster” and their eternal cover of The Cure’s “Love Song” wouldn’t jam without P-Nut and Sexton in sync.

9. Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool, Green Day

Green Day have never shied away from letting their rhythm section shine. Just listen to the opening riff of “Longview,” dancing along with Mike Dirnt’s buoyant walking bass-line and Tre Cool’s shuffle. While Billie Joe Armstrong often is the face of Green Day, his anti-establishment croons and poppy melodies would have no oomph without Dirnt and Cool behind them, and songs like “Minority” and “American Idiot” would easily lose their punch.

8. Jack and Meg White, The White Stripes

Sure, Jack and Meg White aren’t technically a “drum and bass” combo. But their ability to concoct spirited, no-frills rock and roll with merely Meg’s thumping percussion and Jack’s guitar-and-vocal assault is what puts them on this list. Meg’s playing was always purposeful and clear-cut, and those rhythms proved the ideal counterpart to Jack’s fluid guitar skills and blues-rock leanings.

7. Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine came on strong in the ’90s, with their effusive, deeply polemical music, which infused left-winged lyrics into a tailspin of hip-hop, rock, punk and thrash. While often politically minded rapper Zack de la Rocha and guitarist Tom Morello often stole the show, bass guitarist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk provided a mischievous bottom end, completing all the weapons in the band’s explosive arsenal. “Testify” certainly wouldn’t be “Testify” without Commerford and Wilk fiercely in the pocket.

6. John Entwistle and Keith Moon, The Who

The Who’s live performances were always a cyclone of momentum, with singer Roger Daltrey’s undeniable swagger and guitarist Pete Townshend’s sky-high onstage leaps. Bass player John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon proved an unlikely yet charismatic combination, with wild-child Moon swooning over his drum kid and Entwistle anchored, serving as the calm amid a musical storm.

5. Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, The Rolling Stones

While Mick and Keith grabbed the spotlight, The Rolling Stones would never have become “the World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band” if it weren’t for bass and drums men Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. The rhythm section of the Stones provided the blues, soul and funk feel of the group and a coarse, raw sound that set them apart from the rest of the British Invasion pack.

4. Les Claypool and Jay Lane, Primus

Primus‘ doctrine is distinct and deep-rooted: Les Claypool’s sprawling bass guitar and drum grooves, his madman vocals with near-cartoon lyrics, and biting, whacky rhythms. Claypool and drummer Jay Lane parted ways for several years, but on the band’s latest album, Green Naugahyde, Lane was back in the fold, at one once again with Claypool’s unmistakable slap-and-pop bass, among other tricks.

3. Flea and Chad Smith, Red Hot Chili Peppers

There’s little room to deny bass player Flea’s influence on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ funky style, and his chemistry with drummer Chad Smith is just as integral to that sound. Between his slap-and-pop breakdowns and inherent ability to make anything groove, Flea makes Peppers songs pop, from “Give It Away” to “Californication” to “Aeroplane.” Along with Smith’s in-the-pocket playing, the Peppers created a funk-style, bringing together punk, psychedelic, punk and hard rock that spawned plenty of wannabes.

2. Geddy Lee and Neil Peart, Rush

Canadian power trio Rush gained a following thanks to their virtuoso instrumentals and radio-friendly progressive rock style. Geddy Lee proved the quintessential hard rock frontman, with his oh-so distinct tenor – and a bass player, to boot! It’s Lee’s attention to bass grooves and vocal melodies and his perfect fit with drummer Neil Peart – who, consequently, is to praise for much of Rush’s songwriter – that makes this ranking a no-brainer. 

1. John Paul Jones and John Bonham, Led Zeppelin

Drummer John Bonham, a.k.a. “Bonzo,” and bass player John Paul Jones crafted an extraordinarily heavy sound that has inspired thousands of bands for decades to follow. Many consider the duo the best rhythm section in rock, with their tight beats and keen sensitivity to each other’s playing – a musical chemistry that’s simply inherent. With their aptitude for heavy metal, rock, roots and blues, Jones, Bonham, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant made Led Zeppelin the definitive band of the rock and roll era.

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Sam Rivers, Veteran Jazz Great, Dies

Jazz saxophonist Sam Rivers, a leading figure during the strikingly innovative post-World War II jazz period, died on Monday from pneumonia, the New York Times has reported. Rivers was 88. A multi-instrumentalist, Rivers zeroed in on the tenor saxophone in the mid ‘40s, and soon became an integral part of the then-thriving Boston jazz scene. During the ‘60s he played with such seminal artists as Miles Davis, T-Bone Walker and Billie Holiday. In the ‘70s, working out of his loft-apartment studio in New York’s East Village, he made a series of albums that solidified his reputation as a central figure in New York’s avant-garde jazz “loft scene.” Later Rivers work extensively with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who had been an early influence. After moving to Florida in the early ‘90s, he performed and recorded with his band, the Rivbea Orchestra, and with small combos. This past year saw the release of a 3-CD set titled Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra – Trilogy, which features recordings from 2008 and 2009.

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What's So Great About An Acoustic Guitar?

Improv: 10 Great Jam Bands

If there’s one segment of contemporary music that inspires exceptionally devoted followers, it’s jam bands. Structuring their craft around live performances and, often, ceaseless touring, such bands embrace improvisation in ways associated with the work of vintage jazz artists. From Frank Zappa and The Mothers to The Derek Trucks Band, such groups also bring exceptional musical skills to what they do. Below are 10 jam bands, past and present, who’ve set a standard for their peers to follow.

Dave Matthews Band

Formed in the early ’90s, the Dave Matthews Band brought a world music vibe to the jam band phenomenon. Emphasizing college campuses as their tour stomping grounds, the group built a word-of-mouth buzz that blossomed into the sort of mainstream popularity few of their peers have enjoyed. The Virginia-based group continues to win followers with their annual summer tours, lengthy improvisations and the distinctively rhythmic approach that underpins their sound.

Blues Traveler

Blues rock, psychedelia, folk, R&B and, of course, straight-up rock and roll comprise the simmering musical stew that drives Blues Traveler’s eclectic style. Fans have long been drawn to the improvisational nature of the group’s live shows, which are often punctuated by startling segues. Tragedy struck in 1999 with the sudden death of original bassist Bobby Sheehan, and frontman John Popper has struggled with health issues. Still, the group – who encourage live tapings – remain a favorite on the jam band festival circuit.

Umphrey’s McGee

Superb musicianship, marathon concerts and a predilection for wacky covers has made Umphrey’s McGee a favorite among jam band aficionados. Hailing from the Midwest, the group emphasized live-show releases over studio recordings as they built a massive fan base. Known for their spectacular light shows, as well as their stellar musicianship, the group has made every concert they’ve performed since 2006 available to the public.

The String Cheese Incident

Although they’re often pegged as bluegrass-based, The String Cheese Incident actually incorporate a multitude of styles into their richly eclectic sound. Fiercely independent, and committed road warriors, the Colorado-based group also has been hailed for their charitable endeavors, their community involvement and the integrity they’ve demonstrated in the face of corporate pressures. As regards their music, the band rightly describes their approach as a “sacrilegious mix of bluegrass, calypso, salsa, Afro-pop, funk, rock and jazz.”

Moe.

Founded in 1990, Moe. has taken a do-it-yourself approach in building one of the jam-band world’s most devoted fan bases. Dubbing themselves “moe.rons” (which they decidedly are not), Moe.’s followers have seen their beloved group emerge as favorites on the festival circuit, and indeed the group has made multiple appearances at Bonnaroo. Asked to describe their music, Moe. guitarist Al Schnier once said, “It’s an amalgamation of a wide variety of the history of rock, regurgitated … with a sense of adventure, a sense of humor and a constant desire to push the envelope.”

Widespread Panic

While R.E.M. was staking out a prime place in the world of alternative music, their Athens-based rocker peers, Widespread Panic, were doing the same in the jam band arena. Widespread Panic’s studio albums have put equal emphasis on songwriting and improvisation, but the band’s live shows have become striking communal events, wherein fans are treated to marathon performances filled with dazzling ensemble interplay. “We’ve always considered the camaraderie of the band to be as important as anything else,” drummer Todd Nance once said. “[We’re] like a family and I think that comes through in the music.”

Gov’t Mule

A shared affection for power trios led Warren Haynes and Allen Woody to form Gov’t Mule as an offshoot of the Allman Brothers Band in the early ’90s. Spearheaded by Haynes’ searing blues guitar, the trio (which includes Matt Abts on drums) brought a Cream-like psychedelic component to their core Southern-rock sound. Woody’s tragic death in 2000 dealt a terrible blow to Gov’t Mule, but the group continues to dazzle fans with marathon shows that mix funk, blues and incendiary rock and roll into astral improvisations.

Phish

If any single band can claim to have snagged the jam-band spotlight from The Grateful Dead, it’s Phish. Like the Dead, Phish often apply a free-form strategy to their genre-bending approach. Guitarist Trey Anastasio is capable of evoking the likes of Frank Zappa, Yes’s Steve Howe and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour in the space of a few bars. The band’s epic compositions sometimes approach the ambitious scale of classical music, albeit in a rock setting.

The Grateful Dead

A strong argument can be made that The Grateful Dead represent ground zero for the emergence of the entire jam band phenomenon. Starting out in the ’60s with a “street party” form of psychedelic music, the Dead went on to establish themselves as gifted assimilators of folk, bluegrass, rock and roll, jazz, country and all points in-between. Writing about the Dead’s Jerry Garcia in Rolling Stone, Warren Haynes said: “[He’s] one of the few guitarists where, as soon as you hear him, you know instantly who it is. There was a humanity in Jerry’s guitar work, as well as his singing, that drew you in. He was a very personal guitarist; he played with more heart and soul than technique.”

The Allman Brothers Band

It’s no exaggeration to say the Allman Brothers Band set the standard for on-stage jamming. At their best, the pioneering Southern rockers can still stretch a song for 30 or 40 minutes, filling the performance with celestial solos and ensemble interplay that sound conjured from magic potions. While the Brothers’ guitarists have been uniformly brilliant, Duane Allman warrants special mention for inventing the template for improvisational guitar playing, especially in the southern rock genre. Cohort Dickey Betts played a formidable role in that endeavor as well.

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Guitar Lessons - What a Great Guitarist Needs

Wouldn't it Be Great to Be Able to Buy a Guitar That Felt Gig Ready Right Out of the Box?

I love guitars, and there's nothing like a new electric guitar with a proper set up! I like the tone, the way it feels in my hands, and the way that I can make a guitar sound "right" for any kind of music that I play. Whether it's jazz, blues, country, hard rock, R and B leads, guitar chords, or just working on guitar tabs, all it takes is a flip of a switch, some prep, a couple twists of the knobs, neck alignment and I'm right where I need to be.

I've bought a lot of guitars over the years, and discovered that taking that beautiful new Strat or Tele guitar out of the box was always just the first step in finding the guitar that fit in my hands the way that I imagined that it would when it first caught my eye. After a close inspection I found that my new guitar wouldn't be quite gig ready until I did all of the little subtle tweaks, repairs and modifications that would make it play just the way I wanted it to when I got it out onto the gig. I'd dress the frets, get the intonation just right, tweak the pick-ups, customize the configuration a bit, and before you know it, I'd be playing a guitar that felt like it was made to be in my hands. Playing music is always fun, but when I'm on the gig with a guitar that feels just right... it's just pure guitar joy.

After a while I thought; "Wouldn't it be great to be able to buy a guitar that felt gig ready right out of the box?" As wonderful as that idea may seem, in reality it's almost impossible to pick up a guitar in a music store "off the rack" and have it play right. It just doesn't happen. There are many things that need to be done to "prep" the guitar before it's ready to play. We recommend and perform all of the following in prep for a guitar purchase before it leaves the bench at the workshop. For our purposes here I will focus only on electric instruments for now. First, let me pose a question to the beginning through the advanced guitarist.

What Is Guitar Intonation and why is it important? Do you know?

Intonation is the accuracy in which an electric guitar or bass can produce a fretted note and the most important issue with any instrument. Setting the intonation on a guitar is the act of adjusting the length of the strings (by moving the bridge saddles) to compensate for the thickness of the string and the stretching of a string due to pushing it down to the fret board to produce a note. To adjust the intonation of your guitar or bass guitar, you move the bridge saddles toward or away from the fret board until the 12th fret note and its harmonic are equal in pitch to the same open-string note, which are exactly one octave apart. Accurate intonation is critical to pitch quality. Pitch quality is essential to "in tune" playing. Poor pitch quality="out of tune" notes which in turn = poor musical presentation. Wouldn't you want to present your musical talents in the best way possible? Of course, you do.

Now, it is not necessary for a guitar player to know this at all. It is essential however that the guitar possess this quality and maintain as close to perfect intonation as possible. Buying on looks alone can be very disappointing. If however, you like an instrument for the looks but realize that you will need to have it worked on to get it playable then that is a savvy notion. It's best to speak to a luthier or guitar builder previous to any purchase. It's akin to asking a mechanic which car he would recommend-before you walk into the show room. In this way you can benefit from his first hand knowledge and experience and not have to go it alone. After all he sees the ones that breakdown more often than you or the car salesmen do.

Below, I have outlined the essential adjustments to be performed prior to purchasing and playing a guitar under optimal circumstances.

1. 4-axis Alignment of the guitar neck.

The guitar neck is checked and adjusted to insure that it is true and straight to insure proper alignment on all axis. This step insures proper action and allows for more accurate and easier guitar tuning, playing and set-up in the following steps.

2. Inspect and Lube the guitar tuning gears.

Each tuning gear is adjusted so that there is no play in the mechanism. They are then lubricated to insure smooth and even movement to make your guitar tune accurately.

3. Potting the guitar pickups.

Dip the pickups in hot wax to reduce squeal and unwanted guitar feedback.

4. Prep the guitar body.

Upon installing the guitar electronic components, great care is taken to insure that all wires are properly routed, spaced, and grounded to insure years of trouble free service with your guitar.

5. Level and polish the frets.

This insures that all of the guitar frets are level, eliminating any possibility of fret buzz due to unevenness.

6. Radius the guitar strings.

Most guitar necks have a contour over the top of the neck called the "radius". Adjust the strings to make sure the height of each string follows the contour of the guitar neck.

7. Adjusting the overall guitar string height and the action.

Once the string contour and radius of the guitar strings is set, it's time to adjust the overall height or "action" or distance of the strings from the top of the frets to the bottom of the guitar strings.

8. Set the guitar intonation

This step should be done twice. The intonation is normally set two times with a 24 hour period in between to allow the new guitar adjustments to properly re-seat.

If these steps are performed before playing your new guitar then, you won't be disappointed. Your focus can then be on the music and not the problems of the instrument. If it is "set up" properly a player will not have to "get used to" it. Everything on it will feel natural and fall right into place and the music can flow.

In summary, Guitar purchase "off the rack" can be a real disappointment. A thoughtful purchase should include consideration in buying a "custom" or "Gig-Ready" electric guitar versus a "pre-fab" instrument built on a production line. Custom guitars are individually built for a specific customer and will have all of the above necessary operations performed. All the guitarist needs to do is-Play!

Rick Mariner - Owner and founder of Haywire Value Priced Custom Guitars ( http://www.HaywireCustomGuitars.com ) and a member of The Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans (A.S.I.A.) as well as a guitar player. He holds a bachelors degree from University of Md. and a Masters degree from George Washington University.

Haywire developed an 8 - Point "Gig- Ready" guitar process that allows for Haywire Custom Guitars that are "GIG-READY". With many years of development and guitar set-up experience, we pride ourselves in helping to build you the "Just Right" Haywire guitar for you at prices well below market.

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This Day in Music Spotlight: The Great Pretenders

Special thanks to ThisDayinMusic.com.

Fans from the past 25 years or so can be forgiven for thinking that the Pretenders have always been a solo vehicle for Chrissie Hynde, because that really has been the case since the early ’80s. But there was a time when the Pretenders were a true band—and a great one at that. Two untimely deaths snuffed out the group before it could reach its full potential, but its musical legacy lives on.

The whole thing started in Akron, Ohio, of all places. The tire capital of the world gave birth to a little girl named Christine Ellen Hynde in 1951. Young Chrissie, though, wasn’t content to grow up to lead a typical buttoned-down life in Akron. She yearned to find greater glories in the world of rock and roll. After a three-year stint at Kent State (where she played in a band with Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh), Hynde finally took flight and did what she’d wanted to do her entire young life—seek her fortune in the rock and roll capital of the world: London, England.

In the meantime, a menagerie of top-class musicians had sprung up in the unlikely city of Hereford, a cathedral city near England’s Welsh border. Hereford wasn’t exactly Swinging London, but it did have an artsy side, with five colleges in the city. Mott the Hoople were the area’s crowning musical act in the early ’70s, but other musicians were afoot in projects like Cold River Lady. Three such musicians in CRL’s rotating cast were bassist Pete Farndon, drummer Martin Chambers and a talented young guitarist named James Honeyman-Scott.

A veteran of the Hereford scene, Farndon was inspired to return to bass after a few years away, after attending a Thin Lizzy concert in 1974. Farndon was a denim and leather rocker who helped toughen up CRL’s sound and that of his subsequent band, Australia’s The Bushwackers. Chambers followed his stint in CRL with a group called Cheeks. Cheeks were led by former Mott the Hoople keyboardist Verden Allen and featured a guitarist five years Chambers’ junior in Honeyman-Scott (also a CRL vet). Honeyman-Scott would prove to be one of the most influential guitarists of the (rather broad and undefined) New Wave genre, though his background was more traditional than one might expect from a player in a post-punk band; influenced heavily by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman, Honeyman-Scott had some serious chops.

Chrissie Hynde moved to London in 1973 and almost immediately immersed herself in the music scene. She wrote for the NME, worked at Malcolm McLaren’s infamous clothing store, SEX, and dated famous rock critic Nick Kent (followed by a series of musicians). She also dug in as a guitarist and played in a variety of bands, featuring future members of The Clash, The Damned, The Psychedelic Furs and other notables. But none of those projects ever took flight. Hynde had just about given up hope of getting a band together, when she managed to get a demo into the hands of Real Records owner Dave Hill in 1978. Hill saw Hynde’s potential and offered to manage the singer-songwriter, giving her enough financial backing to take the time to put together a proper group.

Farndon was the first to join Hynde’s band, followed in turn by Chambers and Honeyman-Scott…both on the recommendation of the bassist. Hynde named them the Pretenders, after The Platters’ song, “The Great Pretender.” The group practiced like the devil for nearly a year before placing an updated demo in the hands of Nick Lowe, who agreed to produce their first single, a cover of The Kinks’ “Stop Your Sobbing” (with the b-side, “The Wait”). The single went to #34 in the U.K. and effectively launched the band. From there, a chart-topping, self-titled debut album followed, featuring the #1 single, “Brass in Pocket.”

The group continued to grow in popularity on both sides of the Atlantic over the next three years, with the successful releases Extended Play (EP) and Pretenders II yielding further hits, including “Talk of the Town” and “Message of Love.” But success got the best of Farndon, whose hard-partying ways turned into a serious drug habit. In June 1982, the band convened in London to determine how to deal with Farndon’s slippage as a player and general surliness as a result of his drug use. He was fired on June 14. Ironically, his bandmate James Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose two days later. Honeyman-Scott was not an overt drug user, but his body’s intolerance to cocaine proved lethal. Suddenly, in the space of two days, one of the rock’s most promising young four-pieces was destroyed. A year later (on this date in 1983), Farndon joined Honeyman-Scott in death, overdosing on heroin and drowning in a bathtub.

Hynde, for her part, carried with on the band, mostly with Chambers playing behind her. Players have come and gone (some of them world-class, like guitarists Robbie McIntosh and Johnny Marr), and Hynde has become the rock headliner she always dreamed about in those Akron days. But one still pauses to think about what could have been if the Pretenders, the band, had lived on.

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Oops, I Did It Again! 10 More Great Rock and Roll Bloopers

Back in October, we looked at some great bloopers that made it to tape. But the road of rock history is strewn with hundreds of these little gems. So let’s look at a few more. Some of these bloopers are “in the moment” things in the spirit of the original article, while others move into new territory, starting as little one-off instances which are incorporated into their respective songs.

Van Halen, “Eruption”

“Eruption,” with its blistering licks and innovative techniques, launched a million shredders, but the technique-redefining tapping section includes – by Eddie Van Halen’s own admission – a little mistake. Van Halen told Guitar Player, “I took one pass at it and they put it on the record. I didn’t even play it right. There’s a mistake at the top end of it. To this day whenever I hear it I always think, ‘Man, I could’ve played it better.’” But where is it? It sounds like a mistake can be heard at about 1:01 – listen for a tiny stutter which breaks up the flow of the tapping pattern. However, there are those of us who believe EVH’s playing to be utterly infallible and will not accept that he can make mistakes, even by his own admission.

Led Zeppelin, “Heartbreaker”

As anyone who has ever tried to jam along to “Heartbreaker” will attest, the song’s iconic unaccompanied solo section is pitched slightly higher than the rest of the song. As Jimmy Page explained to Guitar World in 1998: “The interesting thing about the solo is that it was recorded after we had already finished ‘Heartbreaker’ – it was an afterthought. That whole section was recorded in a different studio and it was sort of slotted in the middle.” Even with the studio technology of the time it would have been possible to match the tuning of the two sections via some deft tape speed manipulation, so why does it sound higher than the rest of the song? Is it possible it was slightly sped up on purpose to appear even more impressive? Maybe we’ll never know.

Led Zeppelin, “Since I’ve Been Loving You”

Led Zeppelin chalk up another little studio mishap in the form of a squeaky kick drum pedal on “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” In 1993, Page recounted his discovery of the artifact while putting together the first Led Zeppelin boxed set. “It sounds louder and louder every time I hear it,” he said. “That was something that was obviously sadly overlooked at the time.” Still, it’s one of those great little Easter eggs that make Led Zeppelin albums such wonderful headphone fodder.

U2, “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)”

At around 3:10 to 3:14, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. can be heard dropping a drum stick. He valiantly continues on for a few bars before obtaining another drum stick (I’d like to think that he summoned it to his hand using the Force). The mistake was left in the song – and it lends a particularly cool dynamic shift to the song – although legend has it that Mullen wasn’t exactly pleased with the decision to leave it in.

Frank Zappa, “We’re Turning Again”

On the version of this track from You Can’t Do That on Stage Any More Vol. 6, Mike Keneally loses control of his guitar after the Hendrix section (“You can regulate my fuzztone with your wah wah,” etc). Keneally quickly gets his axe under control but vocalist Ike Willis can be heard chuckling about the incident for a few more bars.

Black Sabbath, “Sweet Leaf”

Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” is a heavy, lumbering ode to a particular extracurricular activity the band often engaged in at the time of recording 1971’s Master of Reality. The track opens with a tape loop of somebody coughing. Ozzy Osbourne told Rolling Stone in 2004 that the source of the cough was guitarist Tony Iommi. Iommi confirmed, “I was outside recording an acoustic thing, and Ozzy brought me a [not suitable for publication]. I had a puff and nearly choked myself, and they were taping it!”

Pantera, “Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills”

The staccato feedback chops which punctuate portions of this Far Beyond Driven track were created when Dimebag Darrell stood a little too close to brother Vinnie Paul’s drums. Dime was running his guitar through a vintage flanger pedal and a noise gate. As he told Guitar World in 1994, his plan was to “just make a little bit of racket in the beginning of the song,” but by chance his guitar’s pickup sensed the sound of Vinnie Paul’s snare, and its output was enough to release the noise gate, creating a choppy, flanged roar perfectly synced to the snare.

Mr. Big, “Alive and Kicking”

This song – from Mr.Big’s breakthrough album Lean Into It – doesn’t include an actual mistake per se, but its main riff was created when guitarist Paul Gilbert was tuning his guitar. Gilbert told Guitar World (March 1991) that he hit two strings while twisting the tuning peg of one string, and the riff’s distinctively sassy first note was created. Gilbert figured out how to achieve the same effect by bending one string instead of messing with the tuning keys, but the riff wouldn’t have happened if not for a creative spin on a mis-hit note. Gilbert also plays off this effect during the song’s intro, both in the studio and live.

David Bowie, “Little Wonder”

While not quite a blooper so much as a clever rearranging of off-the-cuff moments, Reeves Gabrels told Guitar World in 1997 that the skittering riff on Bowie’s ’97 hit was born after he recorded about 40 minutes worth of random guitar noises, loaded the results onto a sampling keyboard and messed around with the riffage until he found something he liked. Gabrels said that when Bowie and Co. started playing “Little Wonder” live, he had to figure out how to physically play what he had sampled. “It was really educational,” he said. “To a small degree it changed how I look at my actual real-time playing, which is a cool thing.”

The Mamas & The Papas, “I Saw Her Again”

This 1966 single includes an iconic and much-imitated blooper around the 2:40 mark. Singer Denny Doherty sings the first line of the third chorus a little too early, cuts himself off, and comes in again at the right moment with the rest of the group. Producer Lou Adler (who also produced Carole King’s Tapestry) intentionally left the flub in. The Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian mimicked the mistake on “Darling Be Home Soon” in 1967 and Kenny Loggins did the same on “I’m Alright” in 1980. A similar mistake can be heard before the start of the first verse of “Discipline” from Nine Inch Nails’ 2008 album The Slip.

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