Photo by notsogoodphotography

Tune That Guitar!

The hard driving sound of a rock and roll guitar riff is unmistakable. However, there are so many styles and sounds of rock guitar. Each one has its own signature. For the amateur player, getting a good rock guitar tone is not easy.

New guitar players tend to make the same mistakes. Primarily, good tone and good sound come with the proper tuning of the instrument. Strings are also an important aspect of achieving that unique sound quality. Rookie players tend to use heavier gauge strings that may seem optimum for a harder rock sound. Though this may be true in some cases, newer players often cannot manipulate them in a skillful manner. This is due to the fact that heavy gauge strings are also hard on those virgin fingers. Tough skin and calluses need to develop by practicing regularly. Light gauge strings can create some of the best sounds in rock, and they are much easier to play.

Dial in the Right Sound

As far back as the 1950s, getting a good rock guitar tone meant having a quality electric guitar and a decent amp. The best electric guitars in the business during that era were Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker. Back then it was more the guitar than the amp, but today good tone can come from many things.

Though vintage guitars are still the preferred instrument of most rock musicians, amplifiers have taken a giant leap forward in creating specific sounds themselves. Amp modeling has become a feature of some of the newest digital units. In some of the higher quality digital amps, sounds of specific guitars and amplifiers are used. For example, a newer amp with a modeling feature can mimic the sounds of a Fender Stratocaster or an old Vox tube amplifier. The digital quality usually comes fairly close to the sound that is produced by the guitar or amp that is being copied.

Using Effects Effectively!

Various pedals or board effects can also create a good rock tone. These adjuncts to the electric guitar can provide a myriad of sounds that can be custom made, and combined to form a more personalized sound. Some of these effects are built into the amp itself. The most common effects that create the best rock tones are distortion, chorus/flange, overdrive and vibrato. There are some others, but these additional guitar effects are main ingredients in that vintage rock guitar sound. However, in the end its all about practice and knowledge of the instrument itself that creates good sound.

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Corey Palmer is a guitarist from Woodstock, NB Canada who has been playing for the past 20 years.  During this time, he has been a member of many different bands ranging from rock, metal and even a little country.  He currently jams with a band called gNosh. Email: coreypalmer@sharemyguitar.com

Like this post? Then you won’t want to miss the other awesome posts we have planned. Subscribe to Share My Guitar and get new posts delivered daily…for FREE!

Share My Guitar is proud to release a special series of guest posts by John F. Crowley about guitars owned by members of the Beatles. Each week we will unleash another article covering the history and impact of these fab guitars.

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John Lennon picking a few choice banjo chords on his Gallotone acoustic!

Lennon bought this 3/4-size guitar by mail for about £10 after seeing an advertisement in Reveille magazine. Made by the Gallo company of South Africa, it was “Guaranteed Not to Split.” Banjo player and sympathetic spirit Julia Lennon allowed her son’s new guitar to be delivered to her house, rather than that of disapproving Aunt Mimi. The lad started a band, the Black Jacks, with his mate Pete Shotton. His mother had shown him a few five-string banjo chords, so Lennon played the guitar with the sixth string left slack. With the addition of a few more members he rechristened the group the Quarry Men, and it was that outfit that played the St. Peter’s Parish Fete in Woolton, Liverpool on 6 July 1957 when McCartney entered the picture. Lennon wailed on this beginner model until it broke the following year. Whether the instrument — made of laminated woods — actually “split” is undetermined.

Long thought missing, this guitar recently turned up and was auctioned through Sotheby’s. The auction house called on original Quarrymen member Rod Davis to help authenticate the guitar, and in a Liverpool Echo story he remembers that when the band played that famous fete “John took the skin off the edge of his index finger while playing,” and when Davis changed one of the strings on Lennon’s guitar, he noticed a spot of blood inside. So Davis recounted that story to Sotheby’s and advised them to look inside for the spot, and “although faint, it was still there.”

So where has it been all these years? In its auction coverage, the Times of London reported that “when the Beatles became successful, Lennon left the guitar in the care of his guardian, Aunt Mimi. After his murder, she gave it to a family friend who had a disabled son. When the boy died, it was passed to another disabled friend, who is now in her twenties. Her stepfather sold it to safeguard her future.”

The Sotheby’s catalogue adds that “a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of this lot will be donated to the Olive Mount Learning Disabilities Directorate, Liverpool.” Interestingly, it also includes excerpts of an undated document accompanying Mimi Smith’s donation. Her typewritten and signed letter, sent from her home in Sandbanks, Poole, states:

“With regards to the request for items in support of your Liverpool handicapped musicians appeal, most requests I have to refuse, however, in this case I feel able to make an exception . . . The poor old guitar was in such a state when I found it I had it professionally repaired . . . I hope that through you John’s possessions can bring pleasure . . .”

The guitar, which was auctioned together with the trunk it sat in for years, now sports a brass plaque Mimi had mounted on the headstock memorializing her advice to the young, guitar-happy Lennon: “Remember, you’ll never earn your living by it.”

So whence this mythic instrument? An anonymous bidder later identified as a “private collector” named Adam Sender got it for £155,000 (about $250,000). In the fall of 2000 this guitar went on display at Boston’s Museum of Fine Art.

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Like this post? Then you won’t want to miss the other awesome posts we have planned. Subscribe to Share My Guitar and get new posts delivered daily…for FREE!

Share My Guitar is proud to announce a new series of guest posts by John F. Crowley about guitars owned by members of the Beatles. Each week we will unleash another article covering the history and impact of these fab guitars.

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George Harrison posing with a few lads including this 1962 Rickenbacker 425!

George Harrison picked this up for $400 in September ’63 at Fenton’s Music Store in Mount Vernon, Illinois, during a two-week trip with his brother Peter to visit their sister Louise, who was living a few miles away in Benton. It is not possible to do a more comprehensive report on this guitar than that already done by Peter McCormack, so I will but summarize and recommend a visit to his excellent piece titled “You Won’t See Me.”

In Benton, Harrison met Gabe McCarty of the the Four Vests, a local musical group that played popular standards, and when the young Englishman mentioned he’d like to buy a Rickenbacker while in the States, McCarty drove him up the road a piece to Mount Vernon and introduced him to Lester “Red” Fenton. Red did have a Rick on hand — a single-pickup 425 in Fire-glo. Harrison admired the “cresting wave” solidbody but wanted one in black to match Lennon’s now-painted 325, so the accommodating shopkeeper refinished the 425 in black polyester and had it ready for the guitarist by the time he flew home the next week.

A few days after his return, on 4 October, Harrison debuted the 425 on Britain’s “Ready, Steady, Go!” TV show, telling an admiring Dusty Springfield “I made it myself.” A couple weeks later it’s seen again on the “Thank Your Lucky Stars” program. After that, Harrison used it for the Swedish tour (late October) and the British tour (November and December). Interestingly, while the band’s van was parked outside a Glascow theater, some miscreant broke into it and stole the 425, but it was quickly recovered.

Check out this similar version of  George Harrison’s ’62 Rickenbacker model 425 guitar

Back in London the guitar played a return engagement on “Thank Your Lucky Stars” on 15 December. When he got his next Rick a few weeks later in New York, this one was summarily retired but apparently not forgotten, for at some point he added a second “toaster top” pickup and another switch, and replaced the control knobs. In 1971, Harrison gave this guitar to George Peckham, a mate from Liverpool (he played in Earl Royce and the Olympics, and later as rhythm guitarist for the Fourmost) who had become cutting engineer for Apple and rhythm guitarist for a new band, Matchbox.

Harrison learned the band was about to appear on “Top of the Pops” but Peckham had no guitar, so Harrison loaned him “Rocky” his psychedelic-painted Fender Stratocaster. When Peckham returned it, Harrison asked him if he wanted a guitar, and offered him the 425, calling it a “great rhythm player.” Peckham kept it until September 1999, when he put it up for auction at Christie’s. Although the auction was posted as completed, for some reason the high bidder rescinded his bid, and the auction house brokered a sale to another party for £56,500 (about $90,000). Christie’s records are confidential, but soon after the sale, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame received this guitar on indefinite loan from one Sharon Mineroff, who reportedly was apprehensive about keeping it in the house. So there it sits in Cleveland, not that far from where Harrison found it.

Note: When Rickenbacker first introduced the 425 in 1958 it had no vibrato; in 1965 Rickenbacker added a vibrato unit to the 425 and designated the vibrato-less 425 as model 420.

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Share My Guitar is proud to announce a new series of guest posts by John F. Crowley about guitars owned by members of the Beatles. Each week we will unleash another article covering the history and impact of these fab guitars.

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John Lennon seen above jamming on the Hofner Club 40, one of his earlier guitars

The ’59 Hofner Club 40 hollow-body, fawn colored electric (vintage unknown). Although McCartney says in an interview that Lennon and Harrison both bought Club 40s in Hamburg, a photo taken in the autumn of 1959 — months before their first Hamburg trip — shows Lennon playing his Club 40 at Liverpool’s Casbah Club.

In his book Beatles gear, Andy Babiuk cleverly researched the origins of this guitar. Apparently, the guitar “Guaranteed Not to Split” had suffered some damage, so the day before that Casbah gig, Aunt Mimi, after considerable pleading, had taken Lennon to Hessy’s music store in Liverpool and plunked down a £17 deposit on this guitar and co-signed for it. Its total price, with hire-purchase charges, was about £30. Lennon made sporadic payments, and at one point Hessy’s account ledger notes “Son in Germany — mother paying.” He played this guitar — his first electric — until buying a Rickenbacker in Hamburg the following year. He then loaned this Hofner to McCartney, who restrung it lefty and used it until Lennon sold it, in his words, “at a profit.” Where is this guitar now? People of Hamburg, check your attics!

Note: Lennon’s Club 40 is not to be confused with the Hofner Club included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 2000 Lennon exhibit; that guitar, a Club 50 model, is erroneously described as an instrument Lennon purchased in Germany in the early ’60s and shared with Harrison. More likely, Lennon picked it up not long before he gave it to son Julian in ’74.

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Like this post? Then you won’t want to miss the other awesome posts we have planned. Subscribe to Share My Guitar and get new posts delivered daily…for FREE!

Share My Guitar is proud to announce a new series of guest posts by John F. Crowley about guitars owned by members of the Beatles. Each week we will unleash another article covering the history and impact of these fab guitars.

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Paul McCartney picking on his ’63 Hofner 500/1 Bass Guitar

The 1963 Hofner 500/1 bass

Hofner had updated its violin bass in ’62, and in ’63 gave one to McCartney. First use: Ready, Steady, Go! broadcast, 4 October.

Variations from his first bass include the neck (two-piece rather than three-piece); machine heads (two-on-a-strip open-back as opposed to single open-back “rugby ball” tuners); pickups (“staple-top” rather than “diamond logo,” with one of the two moved nearer the bridge); headstock logo (horizontal script rather than vertical lettering); body (round back rather than flat), and fretboard dot inlay (to the 21st fret rather than the 19th).

Although by ’65 he’d switched largely to the Rickenbacker bass for studio work, McCartney appeared and recorded with this Hofner from “I Want to Hold Your Hand” through Let It Be and beyond.

Some time in 1966 he removed the pickguard, and its last Beatles action was the Apple rooftop session, complete with a “Bassman” sticker from his speaker cabinet. McCartney resurrected this bass at Elvis Costello’s request for Flowers in the Dirt, and later for tours, comparing it to Charlie Chaplain’s cane: “You just expect to see it.”

The ’63 Hofner Today

McCartney had strap buttons added so he’d no longer have to “dog-clip” one end to the tailpiece and tie the other end around the heel and under the fretboard.

This old workhorse still has the set list from the ’66 tours taped onto it; it reads “Rock & Roll,” “She’s a Woman,” “If I Needed,” “Tripper,” “Baby’s in Black,” “I Feel Fine,” “Yesterday,” “Wanna Be,” “Nowhere Man,” “Paperback” and “Long Tall.”

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Like this post? Then you won’t want to miss the other awesome posts we have planned. Subscribe to Share My Guitar and get new posts delivered daily…for FREE!

Share My Guitar is pleased to announce a new series of guest posts by John F. Crowley about guitars owned by members of the Beatles. Each week we will unleash another article covering the history and impact of these fab guitars.

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George Harrison and the 1963 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman

When his first Gent went back to Sound City for repairs, they gave Harrison this one, identical to his first except for the mutes, which were flip-up rather than dial-up, and Harrison came to prefer it.

Seen on the Sullivan shows and used on the ’64 and ’65 U.S. tours, this was the guitar for the Beatles’ first flush of worldwide success. What happened to this guitar? Brian O’Hara of The Fourmost, interviewed by Andy Babiuk, said Harrison gave him the Country Gent during a studio visit at Abbey Road and that he (O’Hara) remembers trading it for something or other. But in a recent interview in Modern Drummer, Mark Hudson tells of Ringo taking him to his house and showing him, among others, the Country Gent, which they promptly brought to the studio and used on the song “Satisfied.” I followed up in 2006 with my own interview with Hudson, who confirmed the story.

JFC: OK. When did you see the first Beatle guitar? When did Ringo actually pull it out?
MH: He took me in his house in England, I was there before the band got there, and he took me into his house where his has all his original stuff, his Sgt. Pepper outfit, Magical Mystery Tour, all that great stuff that he still retains. And he goes (imitating Ringo) “Well, I’ll show you these,” and I see these three guitar cases. You know, and full well knowing – being a John Lennon freak – I knew what that was.
JFC: It was a Rickenbacker case?
MH: Yes, a Rickenbacker case. As soon as I saw that, I knew. And then I saw something shaped like a Country Gentleman Gretsch, and I knew what that was, and something else I didn’t recognize. So the first thing he opens is John’s Rickenbacker.
JFC: The Fire-Glo?
MH: Yes. And my heart fell to my ass. And I went “Oh, my God,” you know, and I said “May I?” And he went “Yeah, go ahead and play it.” And like, there I was – strumming that guitar. And then he opened up the other one, and it was George’s Country Gentleman. And it was immaculate. Olivia gave that to Ringo. And it was the guitar.

Read the full interview here!

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Adventures in Black-Rock with Jimi Hazel of 24-7 Spyz: part 3

SMG writer Oscar Jordan interviews lead guitarist Jimi Hazel of the rock group 24-7 Spyz in this 6 part series.

Oscar: When did you get into the hard stuff?

Hazel: Me and a core group of guys that I grew up with just loved music. Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rush, you name it. As much as we loved The Commodores, Earth Wind & Fire and Rufus, it was prog-rock. We would listen to Farewell to Kings by Rush or anything and everything. The heavy stuff was always there. We also liked heavy stuff in an R&B vein and the best thing that could have happened at that point was Funkadelic: Continue Reading

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Guitar Review: The Buckethead Signature Gibson Les Paul

Each Buckethead Signature Les Paul is crafted from a two-piece maple top attached to a chambered mahogany body. This wood combination is one of the most legendary pairings in the history of the solid and semi-solid electric guitar and yields a beastly tone  that is unmatched. The chambering adds a further dimension, increasing the guitar’s tone, while also increasing its acoustic volume and sustain.

The Gibson Buckethead Signature Les Paul is unlike any Les Paul out there. With an over-sized, chambered Les Paul body, a marker-less ebony fretboard, and Buckethead’s custom Gibson ceramic humbucker pickups: Continue Reading

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Danelectro Transparent Overdrive: CTO-1 vs CTO-2

The CTO-1 is a great pedal and “transparent” is an accurate description. I’ve tried a number of OD’s and have often been disappointed by the way they tend to drop the bottom out of the tone and emphasize the mid range.

Danelectro recently phased out their Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive CTO-1 pedal for the CTO-2 which adds features to let guitarists further customize their sounds: Continue Reading

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The Beatles Guitar Heroes 15 – John Lennon

This short-scale guitar was used on a Dutch TV show, in the studio (Beatles For Sale) and served as a backup throughout 1964, and saw actual use at a show in Boston on 12 September. Tom Hartman, who recorded in Abbey Road as a young man, recalls seeing it in the storage area with a set list taped to it.

At their New York meeting, Lennon asked Hall to make him a twelve-string model to match his 325, and in March ‘64, Rickenbacker shipped this guitar to him in London: Continue Reading

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Session Guitarists: Tips For the Aspiring Musician – part 2

The number one way to get called in for a session work is to be known as a great guitar player. There are many and different ways to do this. For example you could be world famous in that your talent and abilities speak for themselves.

While I’m not a household name, I have plenty of session work experience and feel familiar with a number of topics that I will address in this weeks post: Continue Reading

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If you haven’t joined us yet on the SMG Social Network for guitarists, feel free to sign up and become a part of this awesome new community!

Share My Guitar is pleased to announce a new series of guest posts by John F. Crowley about guitars owned by members of the Beatles. Each week we will unleash another article covering the history and impact of these fab guitars.

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John Lennon’s ’64 Rickenbacker 325-12

John Lennon sitting with his ’64 Rickenbacker 325-12 String!

At their New York meeting, Lennon asked Hall to make him a twelve-string model to match his 325, and in March ’64, Rickenbacker shipped this guitar to him in London. The only differences are the headstock and the tailpiece. This short-scale guitar was used on a Dutch TV show, in the studio (Beatles For Sale) and served as a backup throughout 1964, and saw actual use at a show in Boston on 12 September. Tom Hartman, who recorded in Abbey Road as a young man, recalls seeing it in the storage area with a set list taped to it.

Rickenbacker CEO John Hall remembers “seeing this guitar at one point with a vibrato on it as the model number describes (which didn’t work well at all).” Because it made the guitar impossible to keep in tune, the vibrato was removed and replaced with a trapeze tailpiece before this prototype was sent to Lennon. Most recently on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Owned by the Lennon Estate.

Stay tuned for next weeks Beatles guitar…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Taken from HeXx Henderson’s website: musical influences include rock guitar heros like Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Roy Buchanan, Jeff Beck, The Ventures, and Lonny Mack. Great Lap Steel Guitar players like Leon McAuliffe, Santo and Johnny, Buddy Emmons, Alvino Rey, and Little Roy Wiggins, pioneering lap steel Blues players Hop Wilson and Freddy Roulette, and jazz organ great Jimmy Smith also had a big impact on HeXx. Through his study of Rock, Blues, and Country’s greatest masters, and by playing with musicians of the highest caliber, HeXx doggedly earned a profound knowledge of music which enables him to weave many influences and styles together to form a very distinctive new sound. Rock, Jazz, Blues, Country, and Hawaiian music, with threads of Gospel, Pop, Surf, Heavy Metal, and Funk, all color the final, masterful design….

Previous Podcasts:

• Podcast 10: Interview with Gretchen Menn
• Podcast 9: Interview with Josh Gooch
• Podcast 8: Interview with Bob Wootton
• Podcast 7: Interview with Margaret Scranton
• Podcast 6: Interview with Steve White
• Podcast 5: Interview with Tom Stanton
• Podcast 4: Interview with LA Jones
• Podcast 3: Interview with Luke Mulholland
• Podcast 2: Interview with Tallan ‘The T-Man’ Noble Latz
• Podcast 1: Interview with Anthony Contreras

Show Notes:

1. Bob Wills
2. Beatles
3. Hendrix
4. Bass Guitar
5. Frederick’s of Hollywood
6. Acoustic Control Corporation 126
7. Johnny Winter
8. David Allan Coe
9. Steel Guitar
10. Eddie Van Halen – Eruption
11. Tribute to Hendrix – Star Spangled Banner
12. Dimebag Darrell
13. Dimebag Darrell killed in shooting
14. Carol Kaye
15. Bo Diddley
16. NAMM 2010
17. Joe Bonamassa
18. Asher Guitars
19. Trailer Trash Pedal Boards
20. ’73 Fender Super 6 Reverb
21. ’72 Fender Twin Reverb
22. ’78 Lab Series L11
23. ’37 Rickenbacker Model B
24. Bakelite
25. Leo Fender
26. Standard Lap Steel Tuning
27. Dolly Parton Signiture Series Guitar
28. Epiphone Les Paul 100
29. Foxrox Wah Mod
30. Seymour Duncan’s Twin Tube Classic Overdrive
31. Danelectro DJ-10 Grilled Cheese Distortion
32. Boss TU-Tuner
33. HeXx Website
34. HeXx Myspace
35. Men who look like Kenny Rogers
36. HeXx Youtube Channel

Share My Guitar is pleased to announce a new series of guest posts by John F. Crowley about guitars owned by members of the Beatles. Each week we will unleash another article covering the history and impact of these fab guitars.

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1964 Rickenbacker 325 Jetglo; Serial #DB122

This updated, solid-top 325 was designed with Lennon in mind but not yet ready when Rickenbacker president F. C. Hall arrived in New York to meet with the Beatles before their Ed Sullivan debut. Hall had heard about the British band using his guitars, and had tracked down Brian Epstein, and arranged a private meeting, to which Epstein, probably with an eye toward replacing Lennon’s battered Hamburg 325, readily agreed. (To this meeting Hall also brought an electric 12-string, which the group schlepped over to an ailing George Harrison, and a prototype Model 4001 bass, which Paul McCartney passed on, for some reason). Lennon’s new 325 — updated with an extra fine-tune knob, double-layered pickguard, improved vibrato and slimmer body — was shipped to Lennon at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach in time for rehearsals for the second Sullivan broadcast and immediately took over from the “Hamburg” 325 as Lennon’s workhorse; it saw action right up until late ’65 tours, after which it served as a backup. Temporarily out of action after Lennon dropped it at the Hammersmith Odeon during a ’64 Christmas show. First album use: A Hard Day’s Night. On display at the John Lennon Museum in Japan, where it still has a nasty crack in the headstock, near the machine heads.

Photo courtesy of Frank Trevino

Lennon’s ’64 Rick still has cello tape on it from the ’65 tour set list. Lennon bent the vibrato arm, presumably to get it out of his way. When this model went into production it sold for about £400. Rickenbacker has introduced a faithful replica, the 325C63.