Guitar Player Vault

AUGUST 2013

STANLEY CLARKE A pioneer of jazz-rock bass shredding talks about his career, technique, gear, and more in this classic GP cover story from 1980 M O C . R E Y A L P R A T I U G . W W W

Reviewed!

Ten High-End Acoustics Steve Stevens John Scofield Plus

3 Free Song Transcriptions

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4 | August 2013 | GUITAR PLAYER VAULT

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August 2013 · Volume 3, Number 8

nn

New Artist FeAture 08

Steve Stevens (from the current issue of Guitar Player )

From the vAult 16

Stanley Clarke

Clarke’s work with Art Blakey, Stan Getz, and Return to Forever made him one of the most acclaimed jazz-rock bassists of all time. In this classic GP cover story from 1980 he talks about his career, technique, gear, and much more. (from the May 1980 issue of Guitar Player ) 38

John Scofield (from the September 1979 issue of Guitar Player )

GeAr 46

Roundup

Ten High-End Acoustics (from the current issue of Guitar Player ) oN the NewsstANd 68

GP August 2013 Table of Contents

lessoNs 70

Superimposition Strategies!

Jamie Kime on Building Colorful Solos Over One-Chord Jams (from the November 2009 issue of Guitar Player ) 72

Fingerstyle Blues Master Class!

Explore the evolution of Delta, Piedmont, Nashville, Rockabilly, and Ragtime Guitar (from the June 2007 issue of Guitar Player ) sessioNs 80

The ever-popular TrueFire Lessons

trANscriptioNs 82 94

Steve Stevens - Page 8

100

“South City Midnight Lady” Dobbie Bros. “White Houses” The Animals “Jesus Loves Me” Traditional GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | August 2013 | 7

artist feature

Forever Young WHY IS GUITAR ICON STEVE STEVENS LIKE A CLASSIC HOT ROD? BY MICHAEL MOLENDA

BY SOME MIRACLE OF SUPERLATIVE TALENT, BRAND SAVVY,

hard work, and constant creative evolution, ’80s rock-guitar hero Steve Stevens has escaped the fate of becoming a trivia answer for the nostalgic 50-plus-years-old set. In fact, Stevens appears to be as feisty and relevant now as he was when he and Billy Idol were all over MTV in the days when the channel actually played music videos. Yes, he’s still touring with Idol, and, this year, the team is celebrating the (gasp) 30th anniversary of Reb el Yell. But Stevens is also a solo artist with varied soundtrack and album credits, he plays in allstar cover bands such as Kings of Chaos and Camp Freddy, and he just released a Knaggs signature model guitar and a Friedman signature amp head. Whether you talk about his tones, techniques, or tailoring, Stevens is a stellar example of a classic design carrying on into the next generations—like a Tiffany ring or a reimagined Ford Mustang. Rock on.


steve stevens

GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | August 2013 | 9

artist feature How did the Knaggs Steve Stevens Signature come about? I wasn’t looking to do a signature model, but Peter Wolf contacted me— we had worked together when he was at Hamer all those years ago—and he said, “Hey, you know that PRS guitar you played onstage for a number of years? The guy who made that guitar is Joe Knaggs, and he has star ted his

steve stevens

own company.” Then, I remembered seeing a K naggs guitar somewhere, and the f irst thing that caught my eye was the one-piece, kind of Tuneo-matic-on-a-plate bridge. I thought that was a goo d idea, and I wondered why no one else had done that before. So I said, “Cool. Send me one to check out.” They shipped me a really nice guitar, but I’m old school. I like

guitars that are thicker, heavier, and have chunkier necks than what they had sent. So I started to explain what I was looking for, and Peter said, “Oh, we can do that.” Within weeks they had a gu itar in my hands. Peter said, “Basically, you have a guitar company at your beck and ca ll. Whatever you want—or anything you can dream up or think of—we’ll make for you.” How could I ignore that? But this was also a friendship thing, as well. I trusted Peter because I worked with him for so many years. In addition, a percentage of the proceeds go to the Musicians’ Assistance Program [MA P], which helps guys in recovery. They ’ve helped a lot of my friends, and they helped me one time. I thought, “Okay, cool. This is a reason to have a signature guitar out there.” [See our review of the Knaggs Steve Stevens Signature on p.112] And what about your signature amplifier?

Dave Friedman of Rack Systems is making it. It’s based on my old plexi Marshall t hat’s now retired from touring because it ’s just not road worthy. Dave basically cloned that amp, and then he added a clean channel that’s like a Fender Twin. It’s a really good sounding amp that has a bit more bottom than top, and its frequency spectrum is a bit wider than an old Marshall’s. It’s hard to believe it has been 30 years sinc e Rebel Yell was released. What are some of your memories from those sessions?

When we did Rebe l Yell, we didn’t have a drummer. A lot of those songs were written in the studio to a L inn Drum, and then we ended up tracking guitars to the drum machine grooves. Fortunately, Thommy Price— the drummer on Re be l Yel l—is like a human time machine, so he could lock to a click and record real drums to the Linn t racks. We searched high and low for a guy who could do that, because back then drummers didn’t record with click tracks as much. You know, I could see som e of the songs on Reb el Ye ll released today. There’s some go od classic guita r stuff


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artist feature on that record. By contrast, the previous one— Bi lly Id ol—I think is really ’80s sounding. One of the t hings that makes the g uitars sound the way they do on that record is they were all subtly processed through this ext remely expensive piece of outboard gear called a Publison Infernal Machine. It was a harmonizer-type of effect that gave the guita rs added

steve stevens

sparkle and a kind of kinetic energy that I liked. Well, there are some pretty raging guitar tones on that album.

For the rock stuff, man, I need the volume. You know, people ta lk about how records sound now versus back in the day, and they’ll often blame digital recording. But here’s what’s happening wit h a lot of guitar sounds

these days—they’re totally isolated. Th ey ’re not cut li ve or in th e stud io with the amp, so there’s no signal bleed happening. Totally isolating instruments can sterilize them. When I tracke d “Rebel Yell,” I was standi ng next to my amp wearing headphones, and the sound is all about the natural feedback that occurred with my guitar a nd I being in the same room as the cabinet. One of the elements of your style that I find most intriguing is how yo u’ ve al wa ys be en ab le to ca st these wonderfully memorable parts— great melodies, cool tones, and a tad off-kilter. How did you develop that appro ach?

Th at comes do wn to ar ra nge ment, and if there was ever anything that helped me tru ly understand good arrangi ng, it was the years playing in a cover band doing a lot of Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page didn’t just double the bass, the guitar arrangement was always a totally u nique part of the songs, and t he sum of the music was so much greater because of that. It’s like an old watch. S ome gears are little and t hey move at twice the speed of the big gear. So I learned to do guitar parts that are polyrhyt hmic, as well as to find something to play that’s harmonically different than the other instr uments. Jimmy Page is the best teacher for that. I kind of hit on that approach with “Wh ite Wedding,” and I th ink I nai led it on “Rebel Yell.” You know, I’m not precious ab out my guitar stuff. For the Billy Idol sound, the stuff I do is pretty simple by guitar standards—which is probably why I’m never mentioned in the same breath with Vai and Satriani— but I still believe my main streng th is playing what benefits the song. And that makes me happy. Another thing is that you can still hear the fire and youthful exuberance in your playing today, while some other guitarists of your era sound more mature, and, to be frank, kind of boring.

Here’s the t hing. The records I loved when I was 13 years old—when I fel l


Many styles One voice

Robben Ford is the master of many musical styles. But when it comes to his speakers, there’s only ever been one choice.

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artist feature in love with pop music and got my first electric guitar—I tr y to tap into that feeling of listening to music at that age i n whatever way I ca n. You almost have to block out everything about who you are as a musician to get to that point. Otherwise, you start t hinking a bout how it’s a business and you’ve been doing this for 30 years, and suddenly you’re overthinking everything, and the 13-yearold kid is gone. It also helps if you truly love making music. These days, the mentality of t he music business has changed, and some people actually get into t his industry ju st to be fa mo us or ri ch . It ’s do geat-dog, because people a ren’t selling the number of records they once d id. So now when I meet a younger ba nd, everybody’s a mini mogul. They’re

steve stevens

selling all kinds of things—clothes, perfume, shoes—a nd none of that has anything to do with the quality of their music. To be honest, if I’m writing or playing with somebody, I don’t want to know about that sh*t. Billy and I never wanted to be businessmen—that’s why we hire other people to do that st uff. We just want to be rock and roll knuckleheads and make music. Do you absorb a lot of today’s artists for inspiration?

I listen to everything, but if somebody has Cookie Monster vocals, I’m outta there [ laughs]. The stuff I enjoy listening to still comes down to great songs. I like Bruno Mars because he’s a great ta lent with great material. I also like Muse. And there are some brilliant guitarists around

WATCH STEVENS DO HIS “TRIBUTE TO LED ZEPPELIN” SOLO


now—particularly Guthrie Govan, who is an absolutely exciting and amazing player. When I hear him play, it gives me hope. Is there anything you do to keep your self evolv ing as a player?

I continue to challenge mysel f on a technica l level, because I never want to have an idea in my head and not be able to play it. I still try to practice, as well. You know, a few months back , Zakk Wylde sat in with this a ll-star Hollywood cover band I was guesting with cal led Camp Freddy, and his technique was so unbelievable t hat I was humbled. The next day, I found out Zakk ha d released some instructional DVD s, and I ordered the whole series. I thoug ht, “Wow. I want some of that technique. Oh, look—he has a DVD. I’m getting that sh*t!” g

classic interview


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