Music is the universal language
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” - Luke 2:14
General Interest
Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer review – chorus, delay, reverb and glitchy ambient soundscapes all in one pedal
$449/£445, walrusaudio.com
It’s quite possible that people will come to know the Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer as ‘the Yvette Young pedal’. Especially people who don’t know how to pronounce ‘Qi’. But let’s make one thing clear: this is not an artist signature product.
With her band Covet, Young has become known for her intricately melodic and fluid playing, high on clarity and low on atmospheric excesses. Which means the Qi – combining chorus, delay and reverb with grain-based glitch effects and epic stereo soundscaping – is pretty much the opposite of anything you might call her signature sound.
Okay, so let’s just go along with Walrus and call it a ‘collaborative creation’. But that still leaves the question of why the Yvette Young pedal doesn’t sound like, well Yvette Young?
Image: Adam Gasson
Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer – what is it?
The best person to explain this contradiction is surely Young herself – which she did back in January when m’colleague Josh Gardner collared her at the NAMM Show, where the Qi (it’s pronounced ‘chee’, by the way!) was launched.
“My overall vision for the pedal was to have something that was an idea generator, an instant vibe,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot more producing and film-scoring stuff, so I got interested in abstraction. As guitar players, I think we all go through things where it’s like, ‘Oh well, I have my style, I play my riffs…’ I needed something that pushed me and challenged me creatively. And I feel like the granular stuff pushes me in an abstract direction and makes me think in a more painterly way with sound.”
It’s not all about leftfield larks: the reverb and chorus are straightforward enough, while the delay is a simple digital type with no modulation or filtering. But the grain effect is properly radical; there are multiple options for holding down a footswitch to create sustaining beds of sound, and all of this happens in full stereo. Technical math-rockers, brace yourselves: things are about to get bigly ambient.
Tell you what, though… this pedal comes in two finishes: plain black, and a sort of fudgy hue with what appears to be a freshly electrocuted corpse on it. Seeing as Young’s two signature Ibanez guitars come in vibrantly sparkly green or orange, I think we’re allowed to be a teeny bit disappointed with those options.
Image: Adam Gasson
Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer – in use
First of all, is it easy to turn the individual effects on and off with your feet? No, it is not. In fact it’s virtually impossible – holding down a little push-button is the only option for manual bypass – so bear that in mind if you were thinking of using the Qi as a conventional multi-effects stomper. Actually, there’s so much twiddlability in this 12-knob unit that, unless you enjoy playing the guitar while hunched over like William Blake’s Newton, you might want to consider popping it up on a desk.
And what are those 12 knobs? They’re best understood as four separate columns, each controlling one effect. So, starting on the right, the chorus has mix, rate and depth then the aforementioned push-button, which also lets you switch between tri-chorus and stereo modes; the delay has mix, time and feedback then three time-division options on the button; and the grain has mix, ‘X’ (basically the length of the chopped-up sound slices) and a five-way switch for playback speed, while the button flips between two modes: ‘grain cloud’ (for short glitchy repeats) and ‘phrase sample’ (for longer randomised loop effects).
Same kind of deal with the reverb, then? Not quite – the left column has just a single ‘space’ control for that, and the others are for the pedal’s overall output: wet/dry mix, wet tone, and a button for series or parallel routing.
Now we come to the footswitches… and it’s good news for people with three legs, because there’s a lot going on here. On the left is the master bypass switch, but you can also hit this and the middle one together to scroll through three presets plus manual mode. The right switch is for tap tempo but you can also hold it down to ramp up the delay to maximum feedback; hold down the centre switch to do the same with the reverb, or bop it once to freeze the grain effect.
Can you have the delay, reverb and grain all maxed out at once? Yes. Does this sound vast, spectacular, mystical, magical and potentially hallucinogenic? Also yes. But that’s far from the whole story.
Image: Adam Gasson
Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer – sounds
You know when you buy a digital pedal and it comes with 200 presets and 196 of them sound like crap? When I am World King, this will be banned. Or maybe just tariffed at 75 per cent, I haven’t decided yet. Anyway, it won’t be a problem for the Qi, because there are only three factory presets (created by Young herself) and they cover the basics very well.
So that’s probably a good place to get started if you’re new to this sort of thing, but for the purposes of this review the first step is to jump straight into manual mode – helpfully indicated by a white LED – for a methodical exploration of each effect.
The chorus gets things off to an extremely promising start, with a sweetly wobbly core sound and lots of flexibility from those three knobs as well as the welcome bonus of the mode button. The stereo effect is suitably luscious, but in a mono setup you might just find the tri-chorus more appealing.
The delay hardly needs discussing, as it’s completely straight and unfiltered unless you choose to attack it with the master tone control – more on that in a sec – while the grain effect is suspiciously similar to the new algorithm on the Walrus Mako Series MkII D1 delay, with the same five options: standard, octave up, octave down, reverse and random (which hops freely between the other four). As on the D1, it’s all quirky but clean and loads of fun.
Finally, the reverb leans towards hugeness and has a tendency to eat everything you put in front of it – even at halfway it will mush out fairly strong delay repeats. Well, this is an ‘Etherealizer’ after all… even so, in the name of balance it’s good to have the parallel option, whereby the four effects are processed separately then summed together at the end.
Image: Adam Gasson
But the best part of this section of the Qi is the tone knob. It might not look like much, but this is a synth-style resonant low-pass filter with a whole lot of sound-shaping muscle. It’s best left fully open to start with, then yanked down for dramatic shifts in and out of darkness – particularly effective when you want to add some movement to an endlessly looping ambience. Speaking of which… let’s start freezing stuff.
Hold down the tap footswitch and the delay takes a few seconds to properly snowball, which it does in a nicely saturated way; it won’t soar and swoop like an analogue type when you start messing with the time knob, but it will make some interesting thwocky noises.
Freezing the grain has a quite different effect, instantly creating a hypnotic loop of pure texture, while maxing out the reverb takes the edge off the granular glitching and turns that loop into a galaxy-sized stereo wash. As a shortcut to ambient nirvana it feels, if anything, too easy – am I still a musician here, or just the pedal’s supervisor? – but where the Qi really excels is in the freedom it gives you to set up a bed of sound and then play around with it.
I mentioned the power of the tone knob earlier; you can also change the grain speed (try going from double to reverse then back again!) and even flip between ‘cloud’ and ‘sample’ modes. Every move adds a new evolution to the soundscape, and brings the kind of unpredictability that might just save you from pseudo-spiritual self-indulgence.
Image: Adam Gasson
Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer – should I buy it?
In the nicest possible way, this feels more like a toy than a tool. Set up in stereo with a good pair of amps, or a two-channel preamp and headphones, it will eat up whole days of your life as you find yourself creating magical realms of rolling sonic wonder just by picking a few notes and tweaking a few knobs. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a pedal that does this so well, especially in terms of the ability to modify and layer soundscapes once they’re already in flight.
The only caveat, of course, is whether anyone else will ever want to hear these semi-automated creations. I think the answer to that comes down to how you use the Qi – that is, preferably in moderation. The four effects all sound great in normal operating mode, so there’s plenty to explore here without always jumping straight into lushness overload. Please bliss out responsibly.
Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer alternatives
Is this a multi-effects pedal or an ambient soundscape generator? It’s somewhere between the two, in a zone where you’ll also find the Hologram Chroma Console ($399). For pure brain-swamping reverb you won’t find better than the Old Blood Noise Endeavors Dark Star Stereo ($299/£299).
The post Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer review – chorus, delay, reverb and glitchy ambient soundscapes all in one pedal appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
A Psychedelic Swirl S-style Honors a Lucky Black Cat
Reader: Cary Cummings
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Guitar: Catocaster
“The problem with cats is they get the exact same look whether they see a moth or an axe murderer.” —Edgar Allen Poe
Leroy had the courage to live on this earth for 19 1/2 years.
I had no idea what to expect when we arrived at the live animal will-call area at the airport. I knew I was picking up a 12-week-old Burmese kitten. When they brought out his little crate carrier, I was nervous and excited. But when I opened the door to peek inside and greet our new arrival, I saw a shockingly tiny, scared little creature that could fit in the palm of my hand, and I felt so bad that he was put through such an ordeal. He seemed pretty calm about the whole thing.
“Leroy liked flashy things, chaos, and movement.”
At his full-grown eight pounds, Leroy was the patriarch of our household and animal family. Over the course of his days, he lived and played with six different labrador retrievers, outliving three of them. He was everyone’s buddy and tormentor in equal measure. He slept on his bed when he wanted, curled up on a dog’s tummy, or on one of our heads. He loved to play fetch, knock over unattended glasses full of water, and relished a 90 mph sneak attack as we descended the stairs. He loved us, but often reminded us that we really lived in his world and he could take us out at any time. If he had been as big as one of the dogs it would have been terrifying. Sometimes it was terrifying anyway.
I built this guitar to remember and honor Leroy. He liked flashy things, chaos, and movement. He also loved “helping” change guitar strings and occasionally trying to swallow them. This build consists of a S-style poplar body from Ultratouch Guitars in Texas and a Warmoth quarter-sawn S-style neck with a Clapton carve and 6150 frets. I sprayed the body with a primer coat, followed by apple-red satin, and finished it off with Rustoleum red glitter to give it some sparkle. To add interest and movement, and a little chaos, I dipped it into a 32-gallon garbage can filled with water topped with a swirl of Magic Marble paint, finally sealing it in with 10 coats of wipe-on poly.
The finishing touch included an orange anodized pickguard, Wilkenson/Gotoh VSVG tremolo bridge, Wilkenson low gauss, blade style pickups, 250k CTS pots, 0.015 uF ceramic disk capacitors, Gotoh gold tuners, and a dangerous cat decal on the headstock.
I like to imagine Leroy somewhere over the rainbow bridge playing with his friends: Charlie, Dewey, and Olive. I hope to find them again one sunny day. I know Leroy would approve of this guitar and probably give me another sneaky needle-toothed surprise attack to celebrate.
Rig Rundown Best Of: Legendary Gibson ES-335 Stories and Setups
From Tom Bukovac’s first-year ’58 to Larry Carlton’s iconic ’69 and Molly Miller’s well-worn ’78, this PG best-of Rig Rundown celebrates the artists who made the ES-335 their own. Hear Charlie Worsham’s Vince Gill gift story, Tim Pierce’s player-grade philosophy, and Sturgill Simpson’s stage-shaking tones—plus why so many pros trust this semi-hollow classic.
Gibson ES-335 Satin Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Satin Cherry
Steve Gunn Announces Daylight Daylight; Shares “Nearly There”
Steve Gunn has been at the vanguard of American experimental / guitar-oriented rock music for over a decade. After a trio of acclaimed albums recorded for Matador, Gunn will release his 7th studio record – and first in 4 years – on November 7th.
With Daylight Daylight, Gunn wanted to capture something of the intimacy of playing solo, the sense of possibility and discovery that sparks when he sits down to write, while also creating a rich sonic world for the listener to inhabit. Rather than pulling together a band to flesh the songs out, as he’s done on previous albums, he enlisted a single primary collaborator: producer James Elkington, an old friend and longtime collaborator (who also produced Gunn’s 2019 album The Unseen In Between). Elkington is known as a guitarist, but Gunn asked him to contribute arrangements of strings and woodwinds, inspired in part by the music they’ve talked about over the years (ie. Mark Hollis, Ennio Morricone, The Fall, Basil Kirchin) and the evolution of their own relationship making records - both together, and with others. They soon found a fruitful working process for Daylight Daylight: Gunn would record solo demos and send them to Elkington, who had free rein to develop the arrangements on his own. Working primarily out of Elkington’s Nada Studios in Chicago, they would continue adding from there—a whisper of a synthesizer, a guitar overdub, a muted percussion line—but they were committed to the relative spareness of their initial approach. Macie Stewart (violins and viola), Ben Whiteley (cellos), Nick Macri (upright bass) and Hunter Diamond (woodwinds) also contributed. Listen to the album opener “Nearly There” today: noquarter.lnk.to/nearlythere And pre-order Daylight Daylight at the link below: noquarter.lnk.to/daylightdaylight
Tracklisting:
Nearly There
Morning on K Road
Another Fade
Hadrian’s Wall
Daylight Daylight
Loon
A Walk
Gunn will tour the UK and Europe in October and November and is announcing a run of US dates today.
Sept 11 – Chicago, IL @ Sound & Gravity Festival
Sept 25 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s Oct 23 - London, UK @ St. Mathias *
Oct 24 - Glasgow, UK @ Hug and Pint *Oct 25 - York, UK @ The Band Room *Oct 26 - Shropshire, UK @ Firefly *
Oct 28 - Stockholm, Sweden @ stadsgardsterminalen
Oct 29 - Göteborg, Sweden @ Pustervik
Oct 30 - Oslo, Norway @ Bla
Oct 31 - Kristiansand, Norway @ Dirty Old TownNov 1 – Stavanger, Norway @ Folken
Nov 2 – Bergen, Norway @ Kunsthall
Nov 9 - Sétubal, Portugal @ Forum Luisa TodiNov 14 - Dranouter, Belgium @ Dranouter
Nov 15 - Turnhout, Belgium De Warande
Dec 3 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Dec 4 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro
Dec 5 – Raleigh, NC @ King’s
Dec 6 - Washington, DC @ DC9
Dec 10 – Portsmouth, NH @ The Press Room
Dec 11 – Portland, ME @ Space
Dec 17 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
Jan 1 – Sawyer, MI @ Out There
Han 14 – Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
Jan 15 – Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret
Jan 17 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
Jan 20 – San Francisco, CA @ Café Du Nord
Jan 21 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place
Jan 22 – Ojai, CA @ Deer Lodge
Jan 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Lodge Room
Jan 25 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy’s & Harriet’s
*w/ James Elkington
Tame Impala Releases New Single “Loser”
Today, Tame Impala (Kevin Parker) unveils “Loser,” the second song of this new era. LISTEN HERE. The track continues Parker’s fearless exploration of rhythm, texture, and sonic experimentation, building on the meticulous studio approach that has defined his career. The single is accompanied by a music video directed by KRISTOFSKI, and starring actor/musician Joe Keery (Stranger Things, Fargo). Watch the clip HERE:
Prior to today’s release, Parker gave fans a taste of what’s to come with the release of his sprawling, drum-beat heavy “End of Summer.” It drew listeners back to the acid house summer of ’89, free parties of the mid-90s, and Australia’s bush doofs in outback paddocks. “Loser” continues Parker’s journey into new sonic territory, layering hypnotic rhythms and textures that push Tame Impala’s sound ever forward. Drawing from a rich history of dance music, his work transforms the imagined past into a sound that feels both present and eternal, reaffirming Tame Impala as one of modern music’s most visionary acts.
Kevin Parker has emerged as one of the most influential voices of the last decade. A singular artist renowned for carving out a distinct sound all of his own, Parker crafts transcendent genre-bending sonic landscapes playing every instrument and acting as writer, producer, mixer and engineer on his projects. He has been nominated for four GRAMMY awards with one win for his collaboration with Justice on 2024’s “Neverender.” In his home country of Australia, he’s racked up an impressive 13 ARIA Awards and 27 Nominations. He’s won the BRIT Award for Best International Band and scored nominations for two Billboard Music Awards and an American Music Award. Tame Impala has had numerous US Alternative Radio Top 10 songs including two #1’s for “Lost In Yesterday” and “Is It True.” Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know The Better” is part of the Billionaires Club with over 2 billion streams and the project has racked up numerous gold and platinum certifications globally.
Tame Impala has headlined festivals and arenas around the world and released four full length albums - InnerSpeaker, Lonerism, Currents and his most recent album The Slow Rush. The Slow Rush landed at #1 in multiple territories and was his highest charting album to date in both the US and UK, with 14 top 10 chart positions around the world. As a writer and producer Parker has collaborated with Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, SZA, Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Mark Ronson, Gorillaz, Thundercat, Kali Uchis, 070 Shake, Rhianna, Miguel, A$AP Rocky and many more.
Jimi Hendrix Sonic Scholar Andy Aledort | 100 Guitarists Podcast
We figure Jimi Hendrix is easily the most discussed guitarist of all time. And at this point, there are probably few, if any, stones left unturned. So for our Hendrix episode of 100 Guitarists, we had to go to the ultimate scholar on Hendrix’s playing to get deep, and luckily we knew just who to call.
Whether you realize it or not, you’ve probably learned at least a song or two from a transcription or lesson by Andy Aledort. A veteran guitar journalist and transcriber whose resume stretches back to the earlier days of guitar magazines, he’s released books and DVDs teaching the secrets behind Hendrix’s playing and continues to post on YouTube. And if that’s not authoritative enough, Andy has not only played with the Band of Gypsys, but he’s one of the guitarists that Buddy Miles and Billy Cox called for the recording of their The Band of Gypsys Return record.
On this episode, Andy walks us through his own experience of Hendrix’s music, plays us some examples, and tells us some stories from the early days of guitar journalism.
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Podcast 515: Ryan Richter, Dylan Day, and Harrison Whitford (Live from the 2025 Fretboard Summit)
Ryan Richter, Dylan Day, and Harrison Whitford are three wildly creative guitarists who happen to play with some of the most-streamed artists of the last few years, including Ed Sheeran (Dylan), Phoebe Bridgers (Harrison), and Lizzy McAlpine (Ryan). They are all based in Los Angeles.
At the 2025 Fretboard Summit, we sit down with these three musicians to discuss their journeys as artists and collaborators. We hear about why they all landed in LA, how they work with big-name artists, the gear they are currently obsessing over, their solo recordings, and so much more. It’s an introspective chat filled with insights.
https://www.instagram.com/dylnday/
https://www.instagram.com/misterrichter/
https://www.instagram.com/scarrisonwhitford/
Our next Fretboard Summit takes place August 20-22, 2026 at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. https://fretboardsummit.org
We are brought to you by: Stringjoy Strings: https://stringjoy.com
(Use the code FRETBOARD to save 10% off your first order)
Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar: https://mmguitarbar.com
Peghead Nation: https://www.pegheadnation.com (Get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription with the promo code FRETBOARD at checkout).
Subscribe to our reader-supported print magazine: https://www.fretboardjournal.com
Above: Jason Verlinde interviewing Harrison Whitford, Dylan Day and Ryan Richter at the 2025 Fretboard Summit. Photo: Sofia Wolfson
The post Podcast 515: Ryan Richter, Dylan Day, and Harrison Whitford (Live from the 2025 Fretboard Summit) first appeared on Fretboard Journal.
EBMM End Of Summer Sale
For a limited time, enjoy special savings on select Music Man guitars and basses, including some of our most popular and in-demand models. These deals won’t last long! Sale ends October 8th..
Participating Dealers:
American Music Supply Collection
ZZounds Collection
Sweetwater Guitar Collection
Sweetwater Bass Collection
The Red Light Trifecta
Player feel, mic placement, and your recording room are the real secrets to getting soulful, compelling performances. Spend time understanding them before you push the button.
In a world saturated with plugins, presets, and post-production wizardry, it’s easy to forget the most important part of the recording process. I call it the “Red Light Trifecta.” It’s a simple, powerful concept that can transform your recordings from sterile to soulful—regardless of your gear, your room, or your budget. Tighten up your belts, the dojo is now open.
The Red Light Trifecta refers to three interdependent elements that define every recorded sound: the player (of which the instrument is merely an extension), the microphone (and its placement), and the room. If you’re lacking in any one of these, your recording suffers—not just in fidelity, but in feel. When all three work in harmony, the red light on your recorder becomes a doorway to magic. Below, we’ll explore the steps to achieving this.
1. Feel First, Gear Second
It’s easy to get lost in the gear conversation. The internet is full of passionate debates about preamps, converters, boutique mics, and vintage/new guitars. But none of it matters if the performance isn’t compelling.
When you press record, you’re not capturing a tone; you’re capturing a human being’s interaction with an instrument. You’re capturing intention, emotion, and energy. The touch of a player’s fingers on the fretboard, the timing of a right-hand mute, the bend at the end of a phrase—these micro-decisions are what form the soul of a recording. And they’re specific to that player.
“When you press record, you’re not capturing a tone; you’re capturing a human being’s interaction with an instrument.”
If you’ve ever plugged into someone else’s rig—same guitar, same amp, same settings—you know how uncanny it is that you still sound like you. Conversely, a truly great player can make a pawnshop guitar sound like it came from a boutique luthier’s bench. That’s not mysticism; it’s muscle memory, control, and mindset.
So the first rule of recording is this: Start with the player (even if it’s you)! Are they connected to the music? Are they playing with purpose? No amount of EQ or compression can fake that.
2. The Mic: Placement Over Price Tag
If the player is the heart of the performance, the mic is the conduit. There are thousands of microphones out there; some with reputations so mythic they practically glow in the dark. But a great mic in the wrong place will still result in a lousy recording. Conversely, a modest mic in the right spot can yield professional, even breathtaking results.
Mic placement is where your ears matter more than your eyes. It’s about experimenting, listening, and adjusting. Moving a mic an inch can dramatically change the tone—less boom, more clarity, tighter low end, softer transients. You’re not just pointing a mic; you’re sculpting a sound at the source.
Want a quick way to test your placement? Record a short passage, then move the mic slightly and record again. Compare. Listen to not just the tone, but the space, the balance, the emotional impact. Don’t be afraid to break rules or try unconventional setups. Your job isn’t to copy someone else’s sound—it’s to find the best version of yours.
Remember: It’s very easy to make an expensive mic sound cheap. But with care, it’s also possible to make a budget mic sound exceptional.
3. The Room: The Invisible Instrument
The third member of the trifecta is the most misunderstood—and the most revealing: the room. Every space has a sound, whether you’re aware of it or not. Some spaces are flattering. Some are brutal. But all of them are recorded.
Think of the room as your invisible instrument. It contributes resonance, reflections, and tone. It shapes the reverb tail, the attack, and the decay. If the room is boomy or boxy, your track will sound that way—even before you add any processing. If it’s too dry, you might find your recordings feel lifeless or anemic.
That doesn’t mean you need a world-class studio with floating floors and golden ratios. It means you need to understand your space. Clap your hands. Walk around while playing. Record from different spots. Learn what your room wants to do naturally and work with it, not against it.
Sometimes, the best solution is to change the instrument’s location by a few feet. Or use furniture as gobos. Or hang a blanket. Or lean into the room’s quirks and let them define the character of the track.
The Trifecta in Action
When all three elements align, you get a vibe. You get a performance that resonates emotionally, and sonically. And in the end, that’s what we remember: not the mic model or plugin chain, but how the music made us feel. Until next month, namaste.
Phil Demmel’s first-ever Jackson guitar has a hell of a backstory – and he’s just honoured it with a Polka Dot King V signature model
Former Machine Head and Vio-lence guitarist Phil Demmel has partnered with Jackson on a new Polka Dot-finished signature King V model, which pays tribute to the first-ever Jackson guitar he owned.
That guitar – an early Randy Rhoads signature model – was acquired via some “sketchy means”, as he explains.
“It was the Randy model, the first Randy Rhoads model, the white one, and there was one available,” Demmel recalls. “We did a trade, but evidently he owed some money or something.
“So I ended up [playing a] sold-out show in Oakland [with] Vio-lence. I get called off the stage, and the guy whose guitar it was had the cops pull me off and get his guitar back.”
He goes on: “My dad, who was a cop back in the day, came up to see what had happened. The kid got his guitar back, they let me go, the band is already playing without me, they don’t care. I stage dive, get back on, grab a guitar and finish the set.”
While Demmel lost possession of that white Randy Rhoads model, he later acquired another, the RR1 in black, which he says he still owns to this day. I’ll never forget my first Jackson,” he says.
Credit: Jackson
As for the specs of his new Jackson signature model – the Phil Demmel KV King V – the guitar features a mahogany body with a three-piece through-body maple neck with graphite reinforcement, a 12”-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard with 24 jumbo frets, a Floyd Rose double-locking bridge and a set of EMG 81/60 humbuckers.
Other features include pearloid sharkfin inlays and a black-and-white Polka Dot finish which wraps the entirety of the body including the neck and headstock.
Credit: Jackson
“I’ve always been a King V guy,” Demmel says. “The departure into the Fury was something super cool. Creating the tribute to Randy Rhoads with the polka dots back in 2009 was something special, so it’s nice to be able to pay homage with this limited series to share that with everybody.”
The Phil Demmel KV King V has an MSRP of £1,499. For more information, head to Jackson.
The post Phil Demmel’s first-ever Jackson guitar has a hell of a backstory – and he’s just honoured it with a Polka Dot King V signature model appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Strange Audio The Eloise Review
Bold aesthetics and simple but flexible controls make this extroverted 2-channel amp a star.
When it comes to aesthetics, most modern amp design has been lacking for a long time. Go way back to the middle of the 20th century, and you’ll find amps with serious flair. I’m talking about cute little vintage lap-steel combos cranked out by Valco for brands like Oahu, mid-mod-styled early-’60s Gretsches, short-lived watermelon-and-tree-bark ’50s Ampegs, and Fender’s early woody amps, which presaged the bachelor-pad era. By the mid ’60s or so, amp designs coalesced into an assortment of black boxes and have, with some exceptions, remained that way.
When Philly-area amp tech Josh Strange started building his own Strange Audio combos, their candy-colored cabs and technicolor grilles quickly caught the eyes of the Instagram set. The sheer variety of offerings, from grille-cloth options that range from floral to cloud-cover to cowboy, had some of us non-builders wondering, “Has it really been possible to make an amp look this cool all this time!?”
Strange’s latest, The Eloise, comes in a head-and-cab form factor that is stunning. More importantly, Strange’s knack for design goes well beyond the visual. The Eloise’s original circuit design, with switchable preamp tubes and a unique EQ, meets the demands of both players who want a straightforward plug-and-play amp and those who need to capture a wide range of styles or prefer a pedal platform scenario.
Outside the Box
The 35-watt Eloise head is eye-catching for its red vinyl covering and multi-colored starburst grille-cloth, but also for its more subtle but still noticeable control set. There are a pair of triangularly arranged control sets for the bite and bold channels, each of which include tone, gain, and mid knobs. The channels are selectable via a switch on the panel or a footswitch. There’s also an attenuator that brings the power down to about 7 watts, and a 3-way meaner/cleaner/both switch.
The Eloise is ruggedly constructed using top-notch components, including Soursound transformers, and capacitors from Jupiter, Vishay, and F&T. Strange offers matching cabs in 2x12 and 2x10 configurations. I demoed the 2x12, which was loaded with a pair of Weber Legacy Series ceramic speakers.
A pair of 6L6s power the fixed bias circuit, and there’s a GZ34 tube rectifier. Channel switching determines preamp tubes, however. The bold channel uses an octal 6SL7, delivering a robust voice with deep lows, warm mids, and rounded highs. The bite channel utilizes a 12AX7 for a brighter, more cutting high-mid voice. Within each channel, there’s a wide range of tones to explore via the tone control and a unique mid control. The tone knob controls high/low balance, while the mid knob sweeps the midrange voice from scooped to boosted.
Boosted and Balanced
Within each channel, the tone, mid, and volume controls work in conversation with each other, not unlike the tone and volume controls in a tweed Fender, which balance lows, highs, and mids, but also push the circuit to a saturated, overdriven state. As such, I spent lots of time with all three controls pretty near to full-on, manipulating the amp with my guitar volume or playing dynamics.
The meaner/cleaner/middle switch fine tunes output by adding or subtracting negative feedback and a preamp stage bypass cap. Cleaner selects negative feedback with no bypass cap, offering the most headroom; middle offers a medium amount of gain with neither negative feedback nor the bypass cap; and meaner has the least headroom and delivers the most overdrive by adding the bypass cap.
Between these options, the voicing of each channel, and the versatility of each channel’s controls, I dialed up a very wide range of tones. I could find saturated, cutting lead sounds using the bite channel in meaner mode and cranking all three controls, or throaty, neck-pickup tones with the bold channel in cleaner mode, the mids in the upper range, and the gain pulled back to about 60 percent.
Since The Eloise is a cool 35 watts, the natural overdrive is loud enough to hang alongside a rock rhythm section, but not so loud that you’ll get kicked out of the band. And there’s enough headroom that The Eloise can serve as a pedal platform and deliver effect-driven distorted and fuzz tones. The attenuator is effective, too, for keeping overdriven tones ripping without sacrificing tone at lower levels.
The Verdict
The look of The Eloise—and the entire Strange Audio line—helps set a high bar for amp style, and hopefully more builders will take note. Its unique control set and approach to channel voicing is compelling, and the interactivity between the controls gives it a wide range of tone options that are fun and intuitive to explore.
At 35 watts, The Eloise hits a sweet spot for those who want to push their amp while keeping volume manageable. Ultimately, Strange strikes a nice balance between familiar 6L6 territory and a novel approach to how to widen the sonic playing field.
“He plugged into an amp and the entire place’s jaws just dropped”: David Gilmour recounts the first time he saw Jimi Hendrix performing in a tiny East London venue
Even before his 1967 debut, Jimi Hendrix was already stunning crowds across the globe. In fact, when Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour caught Hendrix performing in East London club Blaises in ‘66, he knew Hendrix was destined for greatness.
In a new interview with Rick Beato, Gilmour recalls walking into South Kensington club Blaises one fateful evening – when a significant number of high-profile rocker were in attendance. “One night, I went in there, and it was rammed with people,” he says. “All the Beatles and all the Stones were there. I thought, ‘This is a bit unusual…’”
Of course, everyone was there to catch Hendrix, the hopeful American newcomer who was starting to cause a stir overseas. Gilmour, however, had no clue what to expect. “A kid came in with a guitar case, got up on the stage, opened his guitar case and put [his guitar] on the wrong way round,” he says. “He plugged into an amp and started… The entire place’s jaws just dropped. It was absolutely extraordinary!”
Don’t just take Gilmour’s word for it; journalist Chris Welch was also there on the same evening, and he gave Hendrix a dazzling review in Melody Maker magazine. “The fantastic American guitarist blew the minds of the star-packed crowd”, he wrote [via Classic Rock]. “Hendrix has great stage presence and an exceptional guitar technique which involved playing with his teeth on occasion and no hands on others.”
The impact of the Blaises set left a mark on Gilmour; he knew that Hendrix was a very special talent. Hooked, the Pink Floyd legend went hunting for more of Hendrix’s work – but, unfortunately, he was a year too early to find Hendrix’s Are You Experienced debut in stores. “I went out the next day trying to find records by this character, Jimi Hendrix,” he explains to Beato. “He didn’t exist.”
This would mark the beginning of Gilmour’s patient wait for a Hendrix debut. Speaking to BBC Radio 2’s Tracks Of My Years back in 2006, he also recalled his wild goose chase trying to get his hands on more Hendrix content back in ‘66. “I went to record shops and I said ‘You got anything by this guy Jimi Hendrix?’, and they said ‘Well, we’ve got a James Hendrix?’” he laughed [transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage].
“He hadn’t yet done anything!” he said. “So I became rather an avid fan waiting for his first release.”
Thankfully, he only had to wait one year. When Hendrix finally did unleash his music onto the world, Gilmour was first in line, telling Beato: “As soon as it came along, I thought, ‘Yes, Jimi!! I want a slice of that.’”
Gilmour was such a fan that he would do anything to work alongside Hendrix. While the pair never released any music together, Gilmour helped mix Hendrix’s set at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. “Not a lot of people know that,” Gilmour told Prog back in 2019. “[I was working] side stage with WEM Audiomasters with Charlie Watkins.”
“I went down to go to it and I was camping in a tent, just being a punter,” he continued. “[The sound team] were very nervous, because they were going to have to mix Hendrix’s sound. I did some mixing stuff in those days and they said ‘Help! Help!’ So I did.”
The post “He plugged into an amp and the entire place’s jaws just dropped”: David Gilmour recounts the first time he saw Jimi Hendrix performing in a tiny East London venue appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Join Us This Fall for a Weekend of Learning & Community
Police say Brent Hinds “at fault” for crash which took his life – as he is found to have been travelling twice the speed limit
Atlanta police say Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds was at fault for the crash which took his life on 20 August, after he was found to have been travelling between 63 and 68 mph at the time, around twice the speed limit in the area, according to Atlanta News First.
A police report released shortly after the accident noted how the driver of an SUV failed to yield while making a turn at an Atlanta intersection, leading to a collision with Hinds, who was riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
A responding officer said Hinds was “breathing and moving with visible injuries to his head, arms and torso”, but was later transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, “where he perished from his injuries”.
In a new police report, investigators say that Hinds was “at fault for the crash” due to his excessive speed. Using video footage of the intersection, investigators estimated that the guitarist was travelling between 63 and 68 mph, roughly twice the speed limit at the intersection. “Hinds was at fault for the crash,” police say.
In a previous report uploaded online, the Atlanta Police Department said the driver of the SUV which collided with Hinds’ motorcycle remained at the scene and spoke with investigators.
She said she was “positive the light was green” as she proceeded, however a witness claimed her light was red. The same witness and another both said Hinds was “driving fast” at the time of the crash.
As a founding guitarist of Mastodon, Brent Hinds remained a member of the band for 25 years since its formation in 2000, until his departure earlier this year. While the split initially looked to be amicable, Hinds later came out with some criticisms of his former bandmates, even going as far as to call them “horrible humans” and “incapable of singing in key”.
Hinds’ sudden and tragic death rocked the guitar and wider music world, with his former bandmates saying they were in a “state of unfathomable sadness and grief”.
At their first concert following his death, Mastodon noted how their relationship with Brent Hinds was “not always perfect, but we were brothers till the end”.
Tributes to Hinds also came from Opeth, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Trivium’s Matt Heafy and many others.
The post Police say Brent Hinds “at fault” for crash which took his life – as he is found to have been travelling twice the speed limit appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
It’s Guitar Month at Sweetwater! Here are the five best deals from the event
Ad Feature with Sweetwater
September is Guitar Month at Sweetwater! Until the end of the month, there are some serious savings to be found on electrics, acoustics, basses, pedals and amps. Plus, alongside the big deals, there’s also some cool new and exclusive gear landing, and some special financing offers available. We’ve picked out five of the coolest discounts you can find at Sweetwater this Guitar Month, with hundreds of dollars to be saved on some great pieces of kit.
$500 off a Guild Starfire III Hollowbody Electric Guitar
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Looking for your next jazz hollowbody or wanting to do a rockabilly deep-dive? You can’t go wrong with a Guild hollowbody for either. The Starfire III is a really cool combination of old-school style with some modern design tweaks – the LB-1 “Little Bucker” humbuckers provide a focused sound, just as ready for some warm, jazzy cleans as they are for fire-breathing rock and roll – plus the thinner hollow body will handle higher volume a little better than a full-sized jazz box. There’s also a Bigsby-style vibrato if you need a little wobble.
For guitar month it’s also almost half off. There’s a huge saving of $500, with the price slashed down to $699 from $1,199. For such a premium instrument, that’s a fantastic saving.
$600 off a Gibson Les Paul Standard ’60s Plain Top Electric Guitar in Sparkling Burgundy
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The Gibson Les Paul Standard – one of the most iconic guitar designs ever, of course, with all the Les Paul trimmings you might expect from a USA-made Gibson. There’s a mahogany body with a maple top and a slim-taper mahogany neck, as well as two ‘60s Burstbucker pickups for some authentic PAF tones. A little less authentic – but all the better for it – is the absolutely gorgeous Sparkling Burgundy finish
And this Guitar Month, a USA-made Gibson doesn’t have to totally break the bank – this guitar is down from $2,599 to $1,999, a generous saving of $600.
$500 off a Heritage Standard H-535 Semi-hollowbody Electric Guitar
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Don’t fancy a hollow guitar or a solid-body? Why not split the difference! The H-535 is a take on the classic double-cut semi-hollow electric, drawing on Heritage’s Kalamazoo DNA. The guitar comes finished in a gorgeous Original Sunburst – it’s also a thin nitrocellulose that’ll age and wear just like a 60s guitar.
It also comes loaded with a set of Seymour Duncan ‘59 Humbuckers – these are prized for the PAF impression, capturing the touch sensitivity and transparency of Seth Lover’s 1955 design.
For Guitar Month, there’s a huge saving of $500 – down to $1,999 from $2,499, saving $500.
$800 off a Breedlove Oregon Concert CE
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This beautiful and unique acoustic from Breedlove is made with solid myrtlewood, a unique tonewood native to the Pacific northwest. The sound is described as a blend of the maple, rosewood and mahogany, with a balanced character
Alongside this unique acoustic sound there’s also the fantastic LR Baggs Element system to provide a realistic translation of the guitar’s character on stage or when recording direct.
All of these premium features are at less of a premium this guitar month, too, with a discount of $800 from its usual price of $2,799 – grabbing a guitar like this for just under $2,000 is not to be sniffed at!
$484 off a Victory Amplification V40 The Duchess
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The Victory Duchess splits the difference between what we know and love from both the British and American approaches to tube amp voicing. While it has just a single channel, there’s an awesome Voice switch to leap across the Atlantic for bright and restrained US sounds or midrangey, chaotic British sounds.
Plus your sound on stage will thank you – 40 watts of tube power is more than enough to keep up with even the most aggressive of drummers, and a midrange-push switch will let your overdriven tones stand out amidst a mix.
For Guitar Month, The Duchess has been placed in an entirely different price category – it’s reduced by $484, down to $945 from $1,429.14
The post It’s Guitar Month at Sweetwater! Here are the five best deals from the event appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
PRS SE NF 53 review: “it might look like PRS’s Telecaster, but this is its own guitar”
$979/£979, prsguitars.com
Paul Reed Smith hasn’t got to where he is today by being afraid of ruffling a few feathers. The Maryland guitar maker’s success over the last 40 years has been built on finding new and innovative ways to evolve the electric guitar while always being inspired by its iconic heritage.
Sometimes it’s meant that PRS has attracted its fair share of criticism – remember the outcry when the Silver Sky was first launched? Well, now the ‘PRS Strat’ regularly outsells its inspiration, and the naysayers have gone very quiet.
It was a very similar scenario when Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy started being spotted with a noticeably T-style PRS guitar on stage a few years back. Sections of the internet were widely incensed by the guitar’s very existence, and weren’t shy about letting people know this fact when the guitar, dubbed the NF 53, and its Kennedy signature sibling launched just over two years ago.
Image: Press
Some people loved to hate on the NF 53 and MK. Especially in their unconventional ‘doghair’ finishes – which uses contrasting-colour grain filler to give a striking effect. But then PRS revealed that the guitars were the brand’s top two best-selling USA guitars in 2023, despite only being launched in June of that year.
Again, the naysayers went quiet, and the stage was set for the NF 53 to follow the Silver Sky into the SE range, where the ‘PRS Telecaster’ could truly become a disruptive force in the T-style market. And here, two years on, is the result.
PRS SE NF 53 – what is it?
The first thing to be aware of is that this is not simply a Telecaster with a PRS headstock. Smith’s reputation as one of the most important and innovative minds in the history of electric guitar design is based on his ability to take something and evolve and iterate on it to create a modern instrument that’s more versatile and more reliable.
So yes, on the surface the SE NF 53, like its US-made forebear, is a single-cut, swamp ash-bodied guitar with a bolt-on maple neck that sports 22 frets and a 25.5” scale length. At the other end you’ll find a plate-style steel bridge, a pair of pickups and a control layout that comprises a shared volume and tone controls and a three-way blade selector switch. So far, so Fullerton.
But, this is where the PRS magic so often resides – because a closer look will see that this is not your grandaddy’s T-type in almost every way that matters. That swamp ash body has a more rounded feel than the original, with some well-considered contours on the back and around the cutaway to make it sit a little better.
That bridge I mentioned? It’s Smith’s own design, and sports a pair of adjustable brass saddles – one for the treble strings and one for the bass. Then there are the pickups that give this guitar its name.
Image: Press
Instead of traditional single coils, here you’ll find a pair of PRS’s Narrowfield DD (Deep Dish) “S” units. These differ significantly from the traditional with taller bobbins to fit more winds and extra metal pieces in between the magnets for a focused, powerful tone – this is every bit a noiseless humbucker, but one designed for twang as well as rock.
The one notable difference between the SE version and its US counterpart is the pickguard – the dinky option on the original has been replaced with a sweeping Custom-style plate that holds the pickups and all the controls.
The obvious reason for this is to make this guitar easier and cheaper to build. Instead of having to individually mount each pickup and pot to the body (which involves both front and back routing), you can simply borrow a lesson from the Strat and mount everything on the ‘guard, meaning a much more straightforward assembly at scale.
And, whisper it, but I think the guitar actually looks better with the larger guard – sometimes mass production can have unintended benefits…
PRS SE NF 53 – build quality and playability
Pulling the SE NF 53 out of its included gigbag and the first thing you have to remark on is the finish. I have the ‘White Doghair’ option – which is probably the most polarising of the three offered at launch. It features an off-white base coat with black filler in the grain, giving a striking presentation of the grain of the swamp ash.
Many will probably prefer the flat white option, or indeed the less overt Black Doghair option, but I dig it – it reminds me of a meerschaum pipe in some ways. It’s certainly a conversation starter. It’s also gloss-finished so you won’t get the tactile feel of the wood grain, even if it might look it from a distance.
Image: Press
PRS’s SE line has been the benchmark for build quality and consistency for import guitars, and nothing about the NF 53 challenges that reputation. The finish is expertly applied and every screw, joint and part feels solid, snug and reliable.
One thing that’s also hard to ignore is the weight. Swamp ash is a wood in increasingly short supply, and so you have to expect that the stuff being used for a sub-$1,000 guitar isn’t going to be the absolute cream of the crop. Still, it was an eyebrow raiser to see this guitar tip the scales at around 8.5lbs/3.8kgs. While I’ve played other SE NF 53s that weigh considerably less than this, I’ve also seen some that weigh even more.
Some people will not have an issue with this kind of heft, of course, and if it pays you back with more sustain than you’d normally expect it could be a worthy trade-off. But a T-type that’s verging on Les Paul territory weight-wise is still something you’ll want to be aware of.
Strapping it on and those extra body contours make an instant case for themselves, making the guitar sit in a way that feels comfortable and ergonomic. It’s helped by a very welcoming but still characterful playing experience. It’s a very full neck shape, but thanks to the immaculately applied satin finish, it’s still very comfortable. What’s more, due to the 25.5” scale length strings bend more easily, almost like it is a tremolo guitar instead of a hardtail. The neck shape is very full, but it doesn’t feel it thanks to the satin finish.
PRS SE NF 53 – sounds
The NF 53 has a bright and resonant unplugged quality – perhaps not as lively as its US-made brethren but it still feels alive in the hands. The bigger test is to come of course – the plugged in T-style sound is iconic and distinctive, but is that even what we’re going for here?
In short: no. Putting the NF 53 into an amplifier and it becomes instantly clear that while this guitar has a bevvy of sounds at its disposal, it’s not a Telecaster in the traditional sense. The overall tonality is cleaner and less brittle or biting.
Image: Press
These Deep Dish pickups have a sound that’s very much their own, but that’s no bad thing at all – if pushed I’d say they sit somewhere between P-90s and mini-humbuckers. In practice, it gives you a very full tonality played cleanly, but adding some gain is where this guitar really comes into its own.
With overdrive and distortion, the pickups really fill out – adding body and beef, and a very impressive amount of sustain and grit. But that’s not all – shape the tone of your amp and controls to extract a nice helping of T-style twang from the NF 53, too. It’s perhaps not quite as spanky as the classic, but it’s nice to be able to go there when you need to.
PRS SE NF 53 – should I buy one?
The NF 53 might look like PRS’s Telecaster, but this is very much its own guitar. The sounds are beefy and muscular, and it definitely loses a little bit of the T-type character as a result of that. But you can argue that what we gain here is probably more useful and usable for today’s musician anyway.
Because that’s the thing, this isn’t a PRS take on a classic – that’s not the way Paul Reed Smith operates. He’s reinterpreting the bolt-on singlecut for the needs of the modern player – and in doing so he’s departed from many of our traditional notions for what this type of guitar should be.
You can also make the argument that there are plenty of great traditional T-style guitars in this price point with Fender on the headstock, and so what would be gained from adding another? Again, this is not PRS’s style.
Instead what we get is a guitar that evokes that lineage but adds something different to the pot – all while adding a level of build, fit and finish that continues to set the SE line apart from the rest of the (rapidly improving) Asian-made pack.
Be careful though, plug one in, and you might find yourself going home with it – it’s just that good. In fact, it might be the best SE PRS yet..
PRS SE NF 53 – alternatives
It would be rather silly to talk about T-type alternatives and not start with Fender’s own of course. The Mexico-made Player II and Player II Modified range offer an upgraded and more pro-ready take on the traditional recipe, and its Telecaster ($1,049/£949) is very impressive. If you want another affordable T-type that is sonically on another plane, Manson’s MBM-2H (£569) sports a pair of high-output humbuckers and a killswitch.
The post PRS SE NF 53 review: “it might look like PRS’s Telecaster, but this is its own guitar” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
The Truth About Vintage Amps, Ep. 152
Support our sponsors: Amplified Parts; Grez Guitars; Better Help, and Emerald City Guitars!
It’s the 152nd episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps!
Thanks, as always, for being a part of the world’s finest call-in tube amp repair show.
Want amp tech Skip Simmons’ advice on your DIY guitar amp projects? Join us by sending your voice memo or written questions to podcast@fretboardjournal.com! Include a photo, too.
Some of the topics discussed this week:
3:53 Real musicians ARE gearheads (redux)
6:40 Tom Gunterman gets two Grez’s
8:21 Yellow Jacket tube converters
10:27 Standel amps (redux); Todd Clinesmith; National Dobro amps; driver transformers and pre-war amps
17:35 Using an A/B/C switcher box to flip the phase on amp channels
21:45 Thanks to Chicago’s own @vintagetubeamplifiers for stocking the TAVA room at the Fretboard Summit
23:28 Building a clone AB763 with more headroom, ultralinear transformers
29:20 Yellow Jacket YJRs; eggs in ramen
Note: This was supposed to come out in mid-August (pre-Fretboard Summit), but your overextended co-host messed it up. Sorry. We’ll get back on schedule. -Jason
Above: Listener Kendell’s AB763 Twin clone
Want amp tech Skip Simmons’ advice on your DIY guitar amp projects? Want to share your top secret family recipe? Need relationship advice? Join us by sending your voice memo or written questions to podcast@fretboardjournal.com! Include a photo, too.
Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.
Don’t forget, we have a Patreon page. Support the show, get behind-the-scenes updates and get to the front of the line with your questions.
The post The Truth About Vintage Amps, Ep. 152 first appeared on Fretboard Journal.
New Flat Patch Cables Join Gator Cableworks’ Composer Series
Tight spacing between pedals calls for a tighter cable approach. Gator Cableworks now offers a space-saving option with the launch of Flat Patch Cables, available as part of its Composer Series collection of high-quality audio cables.
The Composer Series Flat Patch Cables are built for musicians who demand premium signal integrity and efficient pedalboard management. Each cable features slim, compact connectors that fit into tight spaces and adapt to a variety of challenging pedal layouts, helping reduce clutter and maximize usable surface area on crowded boards.
Engineered for high performance, the cables feature 99.99% oxygen-free copper conductors to ensure clear signal transmission. The 24 AWG low capacitance construction helps preserve tone while minimizing interference, and a double-shielding layer delivers a 100% shielding factor to guard against noise and RF disruption.
Each cable includes TS male right-angle ¼-inch connectors with nickel-plated housing and 24K gold-plated contact tips, providing optimal conductivity and corrosion resistance for long-term reliability.
The Composer Series Flat Patch Cables are available in the following sizes and pack options: 3-inch, 6-inch, 12-inch and 24-inch lengths, as well as 3-packs of 3-inch, 6-inch and 12-inch models. All Cableworks cables are backed by a Limited Lifetime Guarantee.
For more information, please visit www.gatorco.com.
5 Steps to Better Hybrid Picking
The first thing most guitarists think of when they hear the phrase “hybrid picking” is undoubtedly twangy Telecasters. While that may be the most common use of hybrid picking, it is far from the only application. Diving into hybrid picking opens a whole new world of control, timbre possibilities, ideas, speed, and more.
As beginning guitarists start to move into the intermediate level, they typically build speed by practicing alternate or economy picking. It makes complete sense–especially to someone who’s new to the journey–that if you’re holding a pick, that’s what you should strike the strings with. I grew up learning how to play taking a slightly different route. Personally, I found it easier to be faster–and cleaner–to hybrid pick phrases, lines, and solos. It clicked with me and therefore was the technique I homed in on when growing from a beginner to an intermediate player. My alternate and economy techniques still aren’t as comfortable as hybrid picking, so here are some ideas from a guy that learned things from a bit of a different perspective. If you feel like your playing has plateaued, this might help you to keep climbing.
Small note: I use the pad of my fingers when hybrid picking and not the nail.
Step 1: Focus on the Small Differences
In Ex. 1 you’ll find what I consider to be one of the main benefits of getting comfortable with hybrid picking. I pick every note of the phrase on the first pass, but hybrid pick it on the second. On the second pass, the root note (open 4th string) is the only note the pick hits. I generally like to approach hybrid picking with an “each finger is assigned a string” method, meaning in this example the middle finger picks the note on the 3rd string and the ring finger picks the note on the 2nd string. Listening to the same two phrases played differently, you’ll note that there’s a tad more feel and nuance the second time through. These are subtle but can make all the difference in the world when it comes to creating, playing, recording, or performing parts. The combination of a mountain’s worth of small differences like this are what sets the pros apart!
Step 2: How to Play Chords with Hybrid Picking
Ex. 2 is how I love to use hybrid picking when comping. In this example the pick is handling everything on the 5th string while the middle finger picks the 4th string, the ring finger picks the 3rd string, and the pinky picks the 2nd string. Not only does hybrid picking this groove allow for a ton of control, it allows the pick to rhythmically separate from the rest of the fingers, creating a faux bassline. Again, using the middle, ring, and pinky fingers give a softer touch to the upper end of the chords, creating a more nuanced feel.
Step 3: Time to Go Low
Taking the idea of the pick handling the low end of the chords and giving the notes focus while the fingers contribute to clarity and softness on the upper end of the chords, we get Ex. 3. The pick only strikes the 6th string, while the middle finger picks the 3rd string, and the ring finger picks the 2nd string. This example of hybrid picking is widely used by guys like John Mayer and allows a player to have a ridiculous amount of control over what strings are being struck when playing something clean such as this.
Step 4: Let’s Get Sweeping
Applying this concept to lead playing, Ex. 4 replaces what would typically be an upward sweep with hybrid picking. The pick strikes the A note on the 7th fret of the 4th string. Then, the middle finger picks the C# on the 6th fret of the 3rd string, the ring finger picks the E note on the 5th fret of the 2nd string, and the pick strikes the F# on the 7th fret of the 2nd string. This is followed by a downward sweep of the same notes in reverse order. To end the lick, I pick the open 4th string. That’s when hybrid picking allows me to play a rolled Dmaj7 chord. These two embellishments are highly useful when both soloing and comping, and once again are a small touch that provides some “spice.”
Step 5: Enough with the Clean Stuff
Ex. 5 is a lick I use (I should probably say abuse) consistently. My sweep picking skills are abysmal. In part because I haven’t dedicated the appropriate time to practice them, but also partly because I tend to hybrid pick as a cheat or workaround. The lick is based on a G major arpeggio beginning at the 10th fret of the 5th string. I then pick the 4th string with my middle finger and the 3rd string with my ring finger. From there, I gather for a few notes with the pick on the 3rd string and repeat the pattern again across the fretboard. However, the second hybrid-picked part of the lick begins by striking the 9th fret of the 3rd string with the pick, then using my middle finger to pick the 8th fret of the 2nd string and my ring finger to pick the 7th fret of the 1st string. To end the arpeggio, I strike the 10th fret of the 1st string with the pick. The last bit of the phrase is a garden variety blues lick ending.
Hybrid picking is an extremely valuable tool that I think every guitar player should have in their arsenal. A player can have more control, feel, and timbral options compared to only using a plectrum, and it’s an easier way to add velocity with very minimal right-hand movement or tension. Try hybrid picking different grooves, licks, arpeggiated chord shapes, and even pieces of lead lines you already know to begin exploring how the technique can work for you.
Mr. Black Creates a Powerful Analog Time-Modulator
Continuing to shatter the boundaries of what is possible within the analog time-modulation domain, Mr. Black is proud to announce the all-new Mod.One - Analog Modulator. The Mod.One combines chorus, flanger and “high-band” flanger into a single compact pedal, readily capable of creating each effect independently, and further expanded by its ability to seamlessly morph between these processes on the fly, bridging the gaps between the classic, related modulation sounds, while affording all-new tones and possibilities.
Hand built and individually calibrated, the Mod.One also includes Click-Less relay true-bypass, six waveforms and precision tap-tempo, delivering premium analog modulation in a built-to-last compact and handsome package.
Key features:
• 100% analog signal path
• Wide range of LFO speeds
• Six waveforms
• Tap-Tempo
• Click-Less True-Bypass
• Powered by “Industry Standard” 9VDC
The Mod.One carries a MAP of $249.95 and is handmade, one-at-a-time in Portland, Oregon U.S.A. Available at: www.mrblackpedals.com and retailers worldwide.
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