GuitarBandDVD

Archive for April, 2009

From a stack of raw tone woods to a body ready to be finished. Next stop: a stadium or club near you.

Interview with Master Luthier John Carruthers

He’s been building guitars for decades and his client list reads like a who’s who list of some of the biggest and most talented players in the world. His designs have been responsible for some of the most sought-after guitars by players and collectors worldwide. He earned his stripes as a consultant for Fender, G&L and Yamaha (to name a few) and he has been quietly building some of the most responsive, ergonomic and advanced guitars out of his Venice, CA shop for more than 30 years.

I have know John for years and have learned more for from him about what makes a guitar “magic” than anyone else I know. In this video he shows two of his recent designs and we discuss his experiences from being a columnist for Guitar Player Magazine to his current position as a department head at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood and owner of Carruthers Guitars. If you are into guitars, this interview is both entertaining and educational.

Hey, ever heard these songs? You bet you have. What do they have in common? The Wrecking Crew played on ALL of them.

5th Dimension
Let the Sunshine in/Aquarius
Stoned Soul Picnic
Up-Up and Away
One Less Bell to Answer
Association
Windy
Never My Love
Beach Boys
California Girls
Don’t Worry Baby
Fun, Fun ,Fun
God Only Knows
Good Vibrations
I Get Around
Sloop John B
Byrds
Mr. Tambourine Man
Turn! Turn! Turn!
Glen Campbell
By The Time I Get to Phoenix
Gentle on My Mind
Wichita Lineman
Captain and Tennille
Love Will Keep Us Together
Carpenters
Close to You
We’ve Only Just Begun
Cher
Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves
Half-Breed
Chipmunks
Chipmunks Theme

Nat King Cole
Ramblin’ Rose
Sam Cooke
Twistin’ the Night Away
You Send Me
Crystals
Then He Kissed Me
Da Doo Ron Ron
He’s A Rebel
Bobby Day
Rock-in Robin
Defenders
Taco Wagon
Shelly Fabares
Johnny Angel
Richard Harris
MacArthur Park
Jan & Dean
Dead Man’s Curve
Surf City
Little Old Lady (From Pasadena)
Balboa Blue
Gary Lewis and the Playboys
Everybody Loves a Clown
Sure Gonna Miss Her
This Diamond Ring
Barry McGuire
Eve of Destruction
Mamas & Papas
California Dreamin’
Creeque Alley
Dedicated to the One I Love
Monday, Monday
Henry Mancini
The Pink Panther Theme
Marketts
Out of Limits
Surfer’s Stomp
Dean Martin
Everybody Loves Somebody
Scott McKenzie
San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)
Monkees
Mary Mary
Valleri
Chris Montez
Let’s Dance
Ricky Nelson
Fools Rush In
Wayne Newton
Danke Schoen
Jack Nitzsche
The Lonely Surfer
Harry Nilsson
Everybody’s Talkin’
Partridge Family
Come on Get Happy
Elvis Presley
A Little Less Conversation
Viva Las Vegas
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Indian Reservation
Righteous Brothers
Unchained Melody
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
Rip Chords
Hey Little Cobra
Johnny Rivers
Poor Side of Town
Tommy Roe
Dizzy
Ronnetts
Be My Baby
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Routers
Let’s Go
The Sandpipers
Guantanamera
Lalo Schifrin
Mission Impossible
Simon and Garfunkel
Mrs. Robinson
Frank Sinatra
Strangers in the Night
That’s Life
Nancy Sinatra
These Boots Were Made for Walkin’
Drummer Man
Sonny and Cher
The Beat Goes On
I Got You Babe
T-Bones
No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)
Nino Tempo & April Stevens
Deep Purple
Tijuana Brass
The Lonely Bull
Spanish Flea
Taste of Honey
Whipped Cream
Zorba the Greek
Ike and Tina Turner
River Deep Mountain High
Ritchie Valens
Donna
Bobby Vee
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
Ventures
Hawaii 5-O
Mason Williams
Classical Gas

This is just a sample of the songs these guys played on. Check out my interview with Jon Leonoudakis who co-produced this film over a period of 12 years with Denny Tedesco, son of “the most recorded guitarist in history”; the late Tommy Tedesco. In this fascinating interview Jon and I discuss his experience filming these legendary musicians and why this film is so compelling.

This is the inside scoop on film that has not yet been released to the general public but has earned an amazing array of honors at film festivals worldwide and massive critical acclaim. Check it out and feel free to post your comments.

If you are reading this article, you most likely have been viewing my 2 Minute Guitar Tricks posted on YouTube. I really appreciate your positive feedback. I am posting this article to give you some more insight behind my videos and help you when you practice with them.

It’s All About Context
Everyone needs a larger musical vocabulary. So how can learning someone else’s guitar licks improve your vocabulary? The answer is that you make them your licks by choosing when to use them, what effects (if any) to use and what tone you play with. It’s all about context.
I’ll give you an example. Play a some blues licks in the key of E over a background of G, C, D country strumming and your blues licks will become very country sounding.
Another example of context is to play your licks with a clean tone with most of tone rolled off on your guitar and now the same licks sounds jazzier.
You can play the first part of a solo lower on the neck and shift to the higher octave position towards the end of the solo to build intensity.
So where you place the Tricks and what tone you use dramatically alters how they are perceived.
An Exercise Idea
Pick three 2 Minute Guitar Tricks and try using them on one song. Try them in different order or at different points in the song and then change the order in which the licks appear. The process of figuring out what works best and where it works best is valuable.
The Tonal Equation
The tonal equation is made of two basic components, your fingers and your gear. Let’s get away from gear. Aside from having a properly set- up guitar and new-ish strings, you can practice unplugged and don’t need the rest of your gear. You need to feel the fingerboard and strings. You should strive to gain control over your vibrato technique. If anything defines your sound when it comes to blues and rock guitar playing it is your vibrato. Really focus on the intonation, timing and where to place your vibrato. Here’s a great way to improve without learning new guitar riffs; try to play all the Guitar Tricks WITHOUT using a pick.
Now let’s talk about distortion. I am a fanatic about it and I just love classic tones. I love natural tube-driven distortion and I like distortion pedals that sound tube-like. High-gain tones that are harmonically rich, compressed, sustaining etc. are a lot of fun to play solos with. It’s very easy to defer to that kind of sound every time you take a solo, but it may be undermining your ability to express yourself musically.
Clean Guitar Tones
As a younger player, I used to hide behind effects and distortion. I used to rely on high gain tones to cover up sloppy fast-picking. I would only clean up my tone for strumming chords or arpeggios but for a fast lead I always slathered on as much distortion, delay, reverb etc that I could muster and get away with.
It wasn’t until I had been playing for many years that I realized how important it is to feel comfortable playing lead with a clean sound too. I still use all the aforementioned effects, but there is another galaxy of playing that exists when playing clean.
Clean-tone playing is much more unforgiving since it practically highlights your mistakes. The big payoff however is that that is where the nuance is. The subtlety, the emotion and the best way to orchestrate and serve the song is often with a clean sound. You are not hitting the listener with a ton of bricks, you are persuading them with melody. Playing with a clean sound also forces you to play accurately and melodically. Don’t be afraid to clean up your act. The rewards are there.
Combine Clean and Dirty Tones in Your Solo
You can also create tension in your solos by playing the first part of your solo clean and then graduating to a more gritty tone towards the end of the solo.
Solos need to have a beginning, middle and end. The solo can be viewed as a small musical story. Use the 2 Minute Tricks, experiment with which ones work best and place them in the order that tells the story you want to tell over the chord changes they sit on top of.
Play It On Acoustic
Practice on an acoustic guitar as well as electric guitar. Finger strength and improved vibrato are natural byproducts of playing on an acoustic guitar. You may view my 2 Minute Guitar Tricks as electric guitar riffs, but they are really only notes. They work on any guitar. You may not have the ability to play the higher positions if your acoustic does not have a cutaway body, but see how far you can get. Early blues was played on acoustic instruments and you should consider playing one too. A great exercise is to record a rhythm track on acoustic and play a solo over it. Do that over and over. Be sure your acoustic rhythm track is in time and in tune. Try different Tricks and experiment by adding and subtracting notes.
I encourage you to post here and let everyone know how you are doing with my 2 Minute Guitar Tricks do your experiences can help someone else.