Vault Vol.4 No11 November 2014

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N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

GEORGE BENSON

TALKS ABOUT RECORDING LIVE, SITTING INWITH WES, AND LOTS MORE IN THIS CLASSICGUITAR PLAYER INTERVIEW FROM 2010

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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vault-vol4-no11-november-2014 8/66GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | November 2014 |

from the vault

8 George BensonGeorge Benson talks about recording live, sitting

in with Wes, and lots more in this classic Guitar

Player interview from 2010.

20 FeaturePete Huttlinger

Gear

24 New Gear From the November 2014 issues of Guitar Player .

oN the NewsstaNd

26 GP November 2014 Table of Contents

lessoNs

28 Bill Frisell Master Class

(from the December 2002 issue of Guitar Player ).

38 Joe Pass Altered Dominant Sounds

(from the August 1995 issue of Guitar Player ).

sessioNs

40 The ever-popular TrueFire Lessons

traNscriptioNs

42 “Welcome to My Nightmare” Alice Cooper

50 “Send the Pain Below” Chevelle

56 “Behind the Veil” Jeff Beck

nnNovember 2014 · Volume 4, Number 11

J.J. Cale - Page 8


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classic interview



march 2010

ROMPIN’IN

REAL TIMEGEORGEBENSON

G O E S L I V E T O R E C O R D

SONGS AND STORIES

BY ART THOMPSONP H O T O G R A P H B Y J O H N H A L L



classic interview

The

world may know George Benson best by

his golden voice, but lurking alongside

his crooner persona is a hard-core jazzer

with deep improvisational skills and some

of the scariest chops around. Benson

learned about “one take” recording early

in his career, and by all accounts he was

a quick study. In these trial-by-fire sce-

narios Benson’s fretboard prowess, great

ear, impeccable groove, and boundless

self-confidence made him an unstoppable

force in the jazz community. “I had such

chops in those days and I wasn’t afraid to

try anything,” Benson recalls. “I would

stretch things out and make them sound

wild and crazy—that was just my way of

doing things back then. They once did a

blindfold test on Wes Montgomery and

played him a cut from one of the first

CBS records that I did with [saxophonist]

Ronnie Cuber and [keyboardist] Lonnie

Smith. When he heard it, he said, ‘I know

who that is—it’s that kid George Benson.

Man, when he slows down he is going to

be a monster!’”

By the time he was in his 20s, Benson

was a seasoned veteran who had recorded

with such heavyweights as Miles Davis,

Jack McDuff, Herbie Hancock, Stanley

Turrentine, Freddy Hubbard, Ron Carter,

Jack Dejohnette, and Hubert Laws.

Benson may have dropped out of high

school, but in the university of real-

world jazz he honed his skills to a razor’s

edge and became a hot commodity as a

solo artist. Following a series of albums

on the CTI label, Benson signed with

Warner and, with the help of producer

Tommy LiPuma, broke from mainstream

instrumental jazz once and for all with

the hugely successful album Breezin’.

Benson’s rendition of the Leon Russell

song “This Masquerade” made him a

vocal superstar, and the equally popular

instrumental title track basically laid the

foundation for the smooth-jazz genre.

Benson’s latest album, Songs and

Stories doesn’t stray far from this for-

mula that has kept him in good stead for

the last 30-something years. Masterfully

produced and arranged, it showcases

Benson in 2004.

PHOTO: GREGORIO BINUYA / RE



march 2010

GEORGE BENSON HELPED

to bring worldwide at-tention to Earl Klugh byfeaturing him on WhiteRabbit, one of his mostcelebrated CTI-era al-bums. Benson had beenim-pressed with Klugh’s

nylon-string playing afterdiscovering him in De-troit. “He was playing ata club that his managerowned called Bakers Key-board Lounge,” says Ben-son. “Everybody playedthere—Ella Fitzgerald,Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass,all the greats—and theywould stick Earl in a cor-ner so that nobody would

notice how young hewas. His manager said,‘George, I want you tohear a guitar player.’ SoI asked him to bring Earl

down to where we wererehearsing. Earl was veryshy, but when he playedthat guitar I just thought,‘wow!’ There was noone else doing finger-style guitar like that at

the time—especiallyan African American—and Earl studied with ateacher who had studiedwith Andres Segovia, sohe had the right tech-nique. When I first heard him I was mesmerized by what he

could do, and he was only 17 at the time. His manager askedme if I could do something for him—which was kind of funnybecause in those days we were just making it from week toweek—but I invited Earl to be on an album with us, and wewent in the studio and recorded White Rabbit.”

What was it like to be a kid from Detroit and the first record you

play on is with George Benson, Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham, and

Ron Carter?

I was 17 and it didn’t really sink in at the time. I was veryexcited and very amazed, but I think more about it now at 56than I did then. At 17, you figure that you might have these

opportunities. Lookingback, you realize that notmany people do. So muchof it is being in the rightplace at the right time.I was very green, andno way was I up to thelevel of those guys, butit was a great opportu-nity. It got me in front ofsome record people and

that allowed me to getmy own deal eventually,which was great.

What was the ses-

sion like? How many takes

would you guys do?

Oh, with [producer]Creed Taylor, one or twotakes. They weren’t fool-ing around. That’s whyhe had players like that.He spent money on thembecause he knew he wasgoing to get perfection.

He didn’t have to spendit on studio time.

What did you learn from

George Benson?

I played in his band,so there was a lot that I

learned from him. Thebiggest thing I remem-ber was after a show, wemight go out to break-fast at 2 am and Georgewould go back to hisroom and practice until

6 am. I figured if George Benson thinks he needs to practice

that much, then I better do the same thing or more [ laughs].You don’t make it without that drive and determination.

What advice would you give to young players who find them-

selves in an intimidating musical situation?

Don’t let it throw you, because if you think about it toomuch it will. The thing that I learned over time is this: Doall your preparation and you’ll know what you should play.

Then go out there and be yourself. Don’t let an intimidat-

ing situation make you think that you should change yourintent. Just do what you do, even if you feel scared, and beyourself.

EARL KLUGHON BACKING GEORGE BENSON

Benson (left) and Klugh

back in the day.



classic interview

PHOTO: JOHN H



march 2010

Benson’s vocals on the majority of the 12

cuts while spotlighting his guitar playingon the songs “Exotica,” “Living in HighDefinition,” and “Sailing.” What makesSongs and Stories special is that it was

cut live in the studio. A bevy of top-tierL.A. session musicians were recruited forthe project, including bassist/co-producerMarcus Miller, drummer John Robinson,guitarists Jubu and Steve Lukather, andkeyboardist Gregory Phillinganes. ForBenson, it was familiar turf: “These guysplay better when they play together, andthey kept pumping out these new ideasfor me to bounce off of. I think just abouteveryone in the studio cried after we didthe first song because they realized it wasgoing to be something special. It was likethe old days, and it felt so good.”

Do you have to rehearse more for a live

recording?

No, because rehearsing kind of blocksout my thinking. It makes me sound ster-ile because I start thinking about all thisstuff I practiced and I can’t get away from

it. I prefer to bounce off the musicians.

If someone plays a chord that is alteredin some degree, I tend to use that as aplatform for what I’m going to play. I likedoing it that way because it makes it a

one-time performance. It’s never going tohappen that way again, and I think that’swhat we’re looking for as creative musi-cians. Even back when we made thosegreat recordings with Stanley Turrentine,Freddie Hubbard, and Hubert Laws, weonly rehearsed the songs once or twicebefore we jumped on them. Those recordscame off like we had been playing themall of our lives. They had a freshnessand didn’t need any fixing. Every recordshould have two formulas: feel good andsound good. Once you do that, the rest isleft up to the melody and whatever the

song is about.Although you were recording in a multi-

track studio when you first signed to CTI,

why didn’t you take advantage of tracking

parts separately?

Creed Taylor [CTI Records founder]didn’t have any money back then—he

was just starting his record company—

so he couldn’t put any sweetening onthe recordings. We just went in withthe musicians we had, flopped aroundin the studio, and made some music.

Whatever happened, that’s what it was. Also, [Engineer] Rudy Van Gelder didn’tlike overdubbing because he was alwaysafraid he was going to erase something.He was the only engineer in the studio,and he had to do everything himself.So we did straight-ahead recording andwe either liked the result or we didn’t.Many of our tracks had a lot of loose endsbecause we never went back and cleanedthem up. Some of that stuff came back tohaunt us later. It would have been so easyto go in and erase all the clicks and badlicks or whatever, but that was not the

order of the day then.Was Songs and Stories recorded entirely

in L.A.?

The James Taylor song “Don’t Let MeBe Lonely Tonight” was recorded four orfive years earlier in Brazil. It was still livein the studio, but with Brazilian musi-

http://bit.ly/stomp_GP

http://bit.ly/stomp_GP



classic interview cians. I had those tracks and I’d thought

about putting out the whole album, but it

wouldn’t have gotten played in the U.S.

and no record company here would have

agreed to put it out.

You got a great tone on that song. It’sclean and fat with just a touch of distortion.

That song was recorded with an old

Gibson L-5 that I borrowed from a gui-

tarist named Toninho Horta, a brilliant

player who did a lot of recording with Pat

Metheney. It’s the only song on the album

that I used the L-5 on, but that’s why it’s

fatter sounding.

Other than your signature model Ibanez,

what other guitars did you use on this

album?

For “Sailing” I pulled an old D’Angelico

out of my closet. Every time I use this gui-

tar I get a smash, and I don’t know why. Iused it on the album I did with Earl Klugh

called Collaboration, and I cut “Morning”

with it with Al Jarreau. I also used it on a

song called “Hypnotic” with Boney James.

I’ve had nothing but number-one hits with

that guitar, so I figured. “Well, let me try

it again.” So we pulled it out and sure

enough it had the right voice for this song.

Have you requested any changes to the

Ibanez GB model over the years?

They may have switched the pick-

ups and strengthened the pickguard, but

nothing major has changed. It does sound

better, though, so maybe they’ve donesomething internal to it. We used the

GB30TH on this album, which is the

30th Anniversary model. It has a Japanese

kimono finish, so not only does it sound

beautiful, it looks beautiful too.

What amplifiers did you use?

I’m still using my Polytone Mini Brute

with a 12” speaker. We also ran a direct

feed just in case any problems come up

with distortion. The engineer fattened my

sound up beautifully, so it sounds like a

full-sized acoustic-electric guitar.

Does recording live affect how you play?

It’s better when it’s live because itforces me to pretend that I’m playing for

an audience. It’s like, “Well, this it, I’ve

got to make it happen right now.” In that

situation I’m on all fours so to speak, and

my brain is working overtime. I also knew

the guys were all watching and prob-

ably thinking, “Is this the same George

Benson? Where has he fallen behind? He

can’t be as good as he was years ago.” I

hadn’t played with those guys for a long

time, so I had to come up with it.

On “Show Me the Love” you’re doing a lot

of scat singing over your octave parts. How

important is it for guitarists to be able to

vocalize what they’re playing?

It’s an advantage because the melody is

the most important thing that must stay inthe minds of the people who are listening to

you. No matter how many notes you play,

you can’t let them forget what the song is.

What drove you to becoming such a fast

picker in the first place?

The reason I always played so many

notes was because I was using Guild gui-

tars, which weren’t as resonant as Gibsons.

You could hit a chord on a Gibson and it

would last for several seconds. Guild gui-

tars didn’t resonate as well, so I would fill

those holes by playing a lot of notes.

Have you always used flatwound strings?

No. When I found out guys were using

flatwounds that was a blessing for me

because I sweat a lot, and that eats strings

up like candy. The tight wraps on flat-

wounds makes them last longer, thoughI still have to change the plain E and B

strings every few days.

Did you intentionally change your tone

for the solo tradeoffs with Norman Brown

on “Nuthin’ But a Party”?

Yes, I switched to playing with my

thumb. Our sound is so similar, and I did

that so that when we’re trading fours you’d

be able to distinguish one player from the

other. I let Norman have the pick because

he’s the guest, and you always treat your

guests right. He played beautifully, and it



march 2010

was completely off the cuff—we just threw

that together in the studio.

Were there any songs that you didn’t

think were going to work for this album?

The Marcus Miller song “Exotica.” I

thought it was very smooth-jazz orientedand I didn’t appreciate it right away. But

everybody I played it for loved it, which

made me realize that Marcus knows what

he’s doing. The melody is very repetitive,

and I was kind of reluctant about that,

but there’s a reason for it. He’s trying

build a certain kind of fervor and I think

he achieved it.

Why did you choose an octave approach

for the melody on that song?

It’s the thing Wes Montgomery did

so well. He made octaves a guitar sound

that people could recognize very easily.

I have different formulas for where I usethe octave. Sometimes I start on the third,

sometimes the sixth, or I’ll rattle the notes

and turn it into a chord. There’s some flex-

ibility to go beyond the octave, but even if

you just use the octaves themselves, they

still make the melody stick out.

Did you ever play with Wes Montgomery?

I was the only guy he ever invited up

on the bandstand to play with him. I came

in the club one night and he goes, “Hey,

George Benson just came in the door.”

I shook my head like, “No!” but he justsaid, “Nope, you’re going to have to come

up here and play some.” I was kind of

embarrassed because nobody could play

with Wes. He treated me like a friend,

though, and that was very inspiring for

me. The guys in his band told me that Wes

must have thought I was pretty special

because he never did that with anyone.

Later, I wound up owning the guitar he

was playing that night. I auctioned it off

recently and Pat Metheney ended up with

it. It was a Gibson L-5 with a Florentine

cutaway. I’d had it refurbished because

when I got it looked like it had bulletholes in the body and was ready to fall

apart. I gave it to a cat named Flip Scipio

[flipscipio.com], who found the guy who’d

actually made the guitar when he worked

for Gibson in Kalamazoo. He put it back

together, and after Scippio got finished

sharpening it up, it was better than new.

I’m glad to see it ended up in some great

hands. Pat Metheney was just the right

cat, because he loved Wes too.

Wah Wah Watson is featured on “Exotica”

and “ Living in High Definition.” Why did youhave him play on those tracks?

He has his own studio, and he begged

me to give him the song “High Definition.”

I told him, “Okay, but don’t mess up my

song—if it don’t sound good I’m going

to erase it.” But when he got done with

it, that song was so much more interest-

ing than when we gave it to him. I kept

everything he did, because I thought it was

just wonderful. Watson is one of the most

interesting guys I’ve ever met, and he loves

guitar with a passion. He’s famous, of

course, for what he did on the Isaac Hayes

song “Shaft”—that’s where he got “WahWah” from—but he is also a musician of

high caliber and an effects genius.

How did you get a Smokey Robinson song

for this album?

We were in contact recently, and

I let him know how much I loved his



music. He heard about this album I was

putting together, and he was working

with one of the guys in my band named

David Garfield. So they started sending

me material. When I heard “One Like

You,” I really liked it because it soundsso much like Smokey. I tried to get away

from it, but I couldn’t. Every time I

opened my mouth, I found myself think-

ing like Smokey.

Had you ever worked with him before?

Only once when I was about 17. He

came through Pittsburgh in 1960 with

the Miracles, and we were the opening

act for them. Things were running late,

though, and the Miracles had to get

somewhere else, so they wound up open-

ing the show. I remember them stopping

to watch us for a little while before leav-

ing. Many years later, I ran into the gui-tar player in Hawaii, and he was shocked

that I remembered what guitar he was

playing that day. He was holding a guitar

case, so I said, “I know what you’ve got

in there—it’s a black Les Paul with three

gold pickups.” He goes, “How did you

know that?” Some things in life you just

don’t forget [laughs].

Did you know Jubu before working with

him on this project?

I hadn’t met him before, but I fig-

ured if he’d been invited to play on this

record, he must be good. He was going

over the music, and when I heard whathe was coming up with, I thought, “I

shouldn’t make one comment, because

he has this thing under control.” I don’t

like to confuse musicians, and if you

say the wrong thing, you can send them

off on the wrong tangent. So I left him

alone, and when I listened back to the

tracks I thought, “Man, this young guy is

a genius.” He came up with everything I

was looking for and more. On the song

“Rainy Night in Georgia,” he led me to

some of my best playing in years.

Your solo at 1:51 on “Living in High

Definition” sounds like classic CTI-eraBenson. What were you thinking when play-

ing over that minor-7 vamp? Also, what

inspired your vocalizing on that song?

I’d never played a song like that, so

it was a bit of challenge. The guitar fills

needed to be a little more exciting—I

didn’t want it to be just straight-up blues

licks—so I came up with some substitute

changes, and melded them together with

a couple of fast licks here and there. The

scat singing was a last-minute overdub.

Marcus Miller was very happy with what

he was hearing, but I said, “Man, give

that mic and let me do some vocal things

on this.” I was thinking about Shakira,

and that kind of Eastern sound, and what

I came up with seemed to really make the

track come alive. When I play a song for



march 2010

more than three or four minutes, things

meld together and start becoming mun-

dane. And if it gets boring to me, I’m

always afraid it’s going to be boring to

my listeners.

How did you learn about chord substitu-

tions?

Ron Carter turned me on to the Miles

Davis song “Impressions,” and while we

were playing it, he said, “George, have you

ever thought about using minor 6th chords

instead of minor 7ths?” I thought, “What

the heck is a minor 6th”—I was so used to

playing minor 7 and 9 chords. I suddenly

realized I could use the minor 6th in place

of those chords. That was an important day

for me, because after Ron told me that, I

thought differently about playing minor

chords. He changed my whole concept

with just that one statement.How did you end up playing with Miles

Davis?

After we did that date, Ron called

Miles and told him he needed to hear

what this kid Benson was doing. So Miles

called me, and I ended up playing on his

record Miles in the Sky. I wasn’t ready

for that yet, but it was an honor that he

asked me.

What do you recall from that experience?

I remember [drummer] Tony Williams

trying to give me some direction, and

Miles goes, “Tony, just play your drums

and don’t tell him what to play—he’s theguitar player so let him play guitar.” I was

wishing someone would tell me what to

play, but Miles didn’t like that. He liked

loose records, and that’s why he left

lots of mistakes in his recordings. Miles

was searching for a new way to get to

the public with something fresh, and he

wanted people to know it wasn’t some-

thing he’d sweetened up. I once heard

that he even paid cats not to rehearse the

songs they were going to record. Playing

with Miles was scary for me, but I knew

that if I hung out with him something

good was going to come out of it. I triedto convince my managers to let me play

with his band, but they’d say, “George,

you can’t do it—we think your career is

going to blow open and you’re going to be

very important.” So they stopped me from

joining his band, and I lost something that

could have been a good period in my life.

I would have gained a lot of knowledge

and a new way of looking at things if I had

joined Miles’ band for a year or two.

On Beyond the Blue Horizon you also

covered another Miles Davis song called “So

What.” Do you know what he thought of your

version? That was on the first record I did for

CTI, and after it came out, I ran into

Miles one day. He was coming across the

street, and he hollered out, “Hey George!”

I thought, “He’s going to punch me out

because I destroyed his song.” But instead

he goes, “I love what you did with my

song, man.” I just went, “Whew” when I

heard that.

The song “Somewhere in the East” from

that album features possibly your most

GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | November 2014 |



classic interview march 2010

outside guitar playing ever. Were you

intentionally going for a different sound

on that cut?

Those were the days of the sitar, whenRavi Shankar was a superstar. A kid came

up to me in Buffalo, New York, and said,“Mr. Benson, I’d like to show you some-thing—give me your guitar.” He retunedit and gave it back to me, and told me toplay it just the way I normally would. Istarted playing, and I went, “Oh, wow,I’m Ravi Shankar.” I remembered thetuning when I went in the studio, and it

worked our really nicely on that song. Inever used it again after that, but I stillhave it in my head. I promised the youngman I wouldn’t divulge the tuning, and Inever have.

What made you change the groove from

swing to funk on your famous version of “Take Five” from the album Bad Benson?

That was Phil Upchurch’s idea. Heand I had been friends for many years,and when he got out of the army, hestopped in New York to see me. Creed

Taylor invited him to the studio, and

that’s where he came up with the idea,

He said, “Have you ever thought aboutplaying ‘Take Five’ like this [scat singsthe funky 5/4 rhythm].” I thought it wasgreat, so we jumped right on it. To this

day, if I want to find out what’s new orwhat’s possible with the guitar, I’ll callPhil and ask him what he’s working on.He never ceases to amaze and surpriseme, and that’s the reason he and I haveremained such friends over the years.

You performed a nice solo guitar piece

on that album called “From Now On.” Why

didn’t you pursue that style of playing

afterward?

Funny you should bring that up,because now everybody is trying to get

me to do a solo album. Back then, though,I was never in that category. I was always

trying to be like Grant Green and CharlieChristian, and they weren’t chord guys,they were single-line geniuses. Later, Istarted hearing all these wonderful chordpieces from these great players like JimHall, Joe Pass, and, of course, Earl Klugh.

After I had him in my band for a year,

I really started thinking about chord-melody playing. [See sidebar for more on

Earl Klugh]How did Charlie Christian influence you?

He devoted everything to the swing,

and it wasn’t just notes he played—it hadto fit within the groove. Learning thatwas important for me. Unfortunately Icouldn’t conceive his licks well becausehe was always going somewhere that Ididn’t expect. I didn’t understand himharmonically, but I did get that pointabout making it swing. Also, the tonalityof his guitar was a most amazing thing.Very few people ever matched that.

When did you first feel like you could

excel in the jazz world?

When I recorded Giblet Gravy [laterrenamed Blue Benson]. I had my Guild

X-500, and man, I was in my world whenI made that record. I was up there trad-ing fours with the great Herbie Hancock.Years later it occurred to me: What was Ithinking messing with Herbie? It showedhow much nerve I had in those days. Iwasn’t afraid of anything. g

CLASSIC INTERVIEW

from the March 2010 issue

of Guitar Player magazineBENSON PLAYS “TAKE FIVE” LIVE AT MONTREUX IN 1986


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn27IcAapPI



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classic interview

PHOTO: KIM SHER

FEATURES Acoustic

P e t e H u

t t l i n

g e r

B Y J I M M Y L E S L I E



october 2009

“I LIKE TO THROW MYSELF INTO DO OR DIE

situations,” exclaims Pete Huttlinger. His

fearless attitude and fleet fingers have

helped him conquer multiple fretted in-

struments, earn a degree from the BerkleeCollege of Music, win the 2000 National

Fingerstyle Championship, and land gigs

with John Denver and LeAnn Rimes. His

fifth solo CD, Fingerpicking Wonder: The

Music of Stevie Wonder [Instar], comprises

ten solo performances essentially captured

live in Huttlinger’s home studio. What at

first may appear to be a choice of safe ma-

terial—and at least potentially an exercise

in easy listening—turns out to be a daring

adventure in Huttlinger’s hands. Sure, his

readings of “My Cherie Amour,” and “You

Are the Sunshine of My Life” reflect an

inherent schmaltz factor, but Huttlinger

dazzles on funk juggernauts such as “Su-

perstition” and “Living for the City,” tack-

ling multiple parts simultaneously. The

album’s coup de grâce is “I Wish,” on

which Huttlinger distills nearly the entire

original arrangement into an electrifying

solo acoustic guitar presentation.

Did you start out as a banjo player?

I did. That’s where the thumbpick

comes from, and that’s why I started

fingerpicking. It naturally carried over to

the guitar. Also, my older brother made

me take classical guitar lessons by threat-ening to kick my ass if I didn’t, and I took

him at his word.

You play everything from country to

Brazilian jazz in settings ranging from solo

to orchestral. How do you vary your picking

approach to suit the situation?

It depends on the instrument, and the

style of the song. I use a thumbpick for

my solo stuff because I like the balance

between it and my fingernails. National’s

medium thumbpicks sound great, but

they loosen up as soon as they get warm,

so I Krazy Glue fine sandpaper to theinside for a better grip. I’ll go to a flatpick

for bluegrass, Celtic, country, or when I’m

accompanying a singer. On duo gigs with

LeAnn Rimes, I go back and forth. The

flatpick delivers a broader dynamic range,

and it’s great for strumming.

Describe John Denver’s guitar playing,

and what it was like to play with him.

He was great at accompanying his own

voice. He didn’t do anything too techni-

cally involved, but he worked just the

right harmony and counterpoint lines into

his arrangements. And his solid rhythm

playing allowed the band a lot of leeway

to flesh out the songs however we saw fit.

I came in playing mostly electric guitar,and branched out to play acoustic, man-

dolin, and other things. He was okay with

whatever I wanted to do, and that kind

of freedom for sidemen is unheard of at

that level.

How did you choose which Wonder tunes

to record for your new CD, and what did you

hope to bring to such a well-known batch

of songs?

I wanted to try a different approach to

the tunes I grew up with and still love.

The only one I wasn’t already famil iar

with was “Lately,” which I’d learned for

LeAnn Rimes. I wound up digging it so

much that I decided to cut my own ver-

sion. For all the acrobatics on the other

tracks, “Lately” is my favorite because

of the gorgeous, powerful melody and

the surprising minor chord progression

in the chorus. The songwriting is just

outstanding.

How did you decide which tuning to go

with on “Living for the City?”

“Living for the City” wasn’t sitting

well in the original key of F #. It was

either too low or too high, and I was try-

ing to find somewhere in the middle. Idon’t usually use a lot of open tunings,

but I tried several in this case before

landing in open D [ D, A, D, F #, A, D, low

to high]. The introduction came alive

immediately, and I figured the rest of the

tune out from there.

You cover lots of parts—from bass to

horns—on “Superstition” and “I Wish.” Can

you detail how you tackle such involved

arrangements?

The melody has to be there, obvi-

ously, and if there is a great bass line I

want to figure out a way to play it simul-taneously, so I’ll write out both, and put

the chord names above. I start slowly,

and work on a measure or two at a time.

I try to picture the guitar neck, and

understand what needs to happen where.

When one section is comfortable, and

that picture is engrained, I move on. It’s

a slow process, but once I’ve got it—I’ve

got it. From there, I decide which other

parts are most important, and how I can

make them fit. For example, during the

“I Wish” intro, I wanted to nail the funky

electric guitar part that is often missing

from cover versions. Those few bars are

the most difficult part of the tune for me

physically.

According to the liner notes, you played

four different Collings guitars on the record-

ings. How did you choose between them?

I used a D1A on “I Wish,” “Living for

the City,” and “Superstition,” because I

wanted the big, bold sound of a dread-

nought. I also used heavier strings than

normal. I usually use a light Elixir phos-

phor bronze set on my OMs, and for the

dreadnoughts I replace the top two stringswith a .013 and a .017. That gives me a

little more power, but no added string

buzz. For these tunes I used a complete

medium set because I tuned the entire

guitar down a half-step to match the origi-

nal recordings, and I hate the sound of

floppy strings. On the other tunes, I just

lined up three Collings OMs. I’d try a tune

on one, and if it didn’t hit me just right,

I’d try another. My main live guitar is

an OM1 cutaway with a Fishman Ellipse

Blend pickup system that I run through an

AER Compact 60 amp.What’s your recording setup?

I use Digidesign’s Pro Tools LE via a

Digi 002 Rack that I’ve actually had modi-

fied since I cut the CD. Black Lion Audio

in Chicago put in better converters and

upgraded the word clock synchroniza-

tion. Now the high end is more open, and

there’s that transparency you get with

higher-grade equipment. They also put

in better mic preamps, but I use Vintech

outboard mic preamps anyway. I capture

“I wanted totry a differentapproach to thetunes I grew upwith and stilllove.”



I capture the full range of the guitar by

using either a pair of Neumann KM 54s

or KM 84s. I place one slightly outside my

left knee, pointing up towards where the

neck and body meet. I place the other onehigh over my right hand, pointing above

the soundhole between it and the bridge.

Both mics are around six to eight inches

from the guitar.

Other than a couple of obvious overdubs,

these sound like live solo performances.

How did you capture the best ones?

I used a click on everything except

“Lately,” which I wanted to feel a little

freer. I actually looped the drum intro

from the original “Superstition” record-

ing as a click track for that cut, figuring

you can’t do any better than Stevie’s

playing. I’d punch in to fix little mistakes

here and there, but I’m not the kind of

player who likes to edit takes together

because you lose the feel, and it’s just

not honest. I’m really only good for four

or five takes, and if I can’t pull a song off

within that time—I go practice. g

october 2009

CLASSIC INTERVIEW from the October 2009 issue

of Guitar Player magazine

PETE HUTTLINGER PERFORMS “JOSIE” AT ALL STAR GUITAR NIGHTIN 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU6LwBXyhDc


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November 2014 · Volume 48, Number





classic lesson

“I HATE TO SAY IT,” ASSERTS BILL FRISELL,

“but music’s greatest innovators weren’t guitar

players.”

Yes, die-hard guitar loyalists, you heard right.

But before you take exception to Frisell’s bold

words, remember that Frisell has more than

enough credibility to make such a statement. Not

only has he dedicated almost 40 years to the guitar,

he has achieved the ultimate goal of any musi-

cian—a sound . His distinctive playing ranks right

up there with B.B. King, Allan Holdsworth, Carlos

Santana, Pat Metheny, and a few select others.

And though you’ll often find Frisell in your record

store’s jazz bins, his albums transcend genres.

“Think about it,” says Frisell. “Miles Davis often

didn’t even have a guitar in his groups, but the

way they functioned was revolutionary. The way

the drums, bass, and piano all reacted with each

other—that’s what I get excited about.”

In this lesson, Frisell will show you how

to import these outside influences to the

fretboard, producing new colors you may

never have heard from your guitar. Frisell

will also show you how to create stirring,

otherworldly textures using harmonics, neck vi-

brato, cascades, and dissonance.

> Bill Frisell Helps You Unleash An Ever-ExpandingUniverse of Melodic, Harmonic, and Textural Possibilities

THE BIGBANG

>By Jude Gold



december 2002

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SONGLINE/TONE FIELD PRODUCTIONS; ADDITIONAL PHOTOS: JUDE GOLD



Before we get started, however, don’t let

Frisell’s love for horn players, pianists, and jazz arrangers mislead you—hehas been pro-

foundly influenced by guitar players, as well.

Proving his point, Frisell starts off this Master

Class by passing along an approach he learned

from jazz great Jim Hall three decades ago.

THE JIM HALL LESSON“What Jim showed me is an idea that’s

very simple, yet you could spend your whole

life trying to get through just one millionth of

the possibilities,” says Frisell, who took eight

memorable lessons from Hall in 1971. “It

basically has to do with taking, say, a C major

scale and harmonizing it with one, two, or

three other notes. But instead of thinking of

the scale as going across the neck like this

[plays Ex. 1]—which is how most guitarists

are taught to practice it—the idea is to see the

scale going up and down the neck on just one

string. It’s as if you’re looking at a piano with

all the white keys laid out in front of you. Here

are three ways of doing it [plays Ex. 2]. I’m just

playing notes from the C major scale with onefinger, one string at a time.”

MELODIC MOTION“Once you get this way of playing the

scale burned into your brain, try to play

some melodies in the same manner,” sug-

gests Frisell. “To show you what I mean, I’ll

improvise freely in C on just the first string

[plays Ex. 3]. It’s sort of an awkward way

of playing—and it does go against a lot of

classic lesson

C major scale

VII

Ex. 1

T

A

B

etc.

Single-string C major scales

0 1 3 5 7 8 10 120 1 3 5 6 8 10 12 13

0 2 4 5 7 9 10 12

Ex. 2

T

A

B

Freely

44

etc.

22 2

2

etc.

1 5 3 7 8 12 10 7 8

C

Ex. 3

T

A

B

Freely

1

3

2

23

1

1

3

2

1

13

0

01

132

354

5

56

7

78

8109

10

1012

12

1213

C

Ex. 4

T

A

B

Freely

3

3

1

3

2

11

3

3

110

332

554

765

887

10109

121210

131312

C

1

1

Ex. 5

T

A

B

Dreamily

44 2

4

3

Cmaj7

899

131414

121212

101010

899

1

1

1

Ex. 6

THE BIG BANG



instruction books that teach you to play in

single positions—but it gets you to break out

of patterns. In a way, you’re playing like sitar

players do. They play unbelievably complex

melodies on just one string.”

PARALLEL MOTION“The next step is harmonizing these single-

string scales,” offers Frisell. “Start with triads

[plays Ex. 4]. I’m still just going up the C major

scale, but this time on three strings at the same

time, creating three-part harmony. It’s a very

useful sound and it’s a lot like what a piano

player might do when vamping in C .

“What Jim had me do next was break out

of this triad thing and get more into intervals .

For example, here is the scale being played

on the first three strings again, but this time

each shape is composed of stacked fourths,

using notes from the C major scale [playsEx.

5]. This creates an interesting sound, and we

haven’t even left the scale—that is, each of

these three-note chords is diatonic to the

key of C major. I often use this approach in

my musical arrangements. Experiment with

this technique; see if you can use it on other

sets of strings or as a means of harmonizing

a melody—like this [plays Ex. 6].”

EVANS AND EVANS“I really love Gil Evans,” says Frisell.

“He arranged music for Miles Davis, and

he often featured seconds in his harmo-

nies. To demonstrate, here’s an ascending

melody in the key of C that has either a major

or minor second between the lowest two

notes of every grip [plays Ex. 7]. I love that

sound. It’s also reminiscent of what Bill Evans

did on the piano.”

The unique thing about Frisell’s vibrato—

which he introduces at the end of Ex. 7 and

employs in many of the ensuing examples—is

that it’s capable of both raising and lowering

single notes, entire chords, or even open

strings in pitch. But when you’re face to

face with the guitarist, it’s hard to tell how

he’s generating this warbly, underwater

sound—especially on a Tele-style guitar with

no tremolo system. “Though it may not look

like it, I’m wiggling the neck around a lot,”

explains Frisell. “I sort of lean into it and push

on it. It’s become an unconscious thing.”

PUNCHY PAIRS“Jim Hall also taught me that you don’t

always have to play gigantic, stretched-out

chords to have a huge impact,” says Frisell, il-

lustrating his point with the rising diads in Ex.

8. “Sometimes just a couple of notes can have a

real meaty sound if the intervals are spread out

over several strings, like these major and minor

ninths. I’m starting withF on the first string and

E on the fourth string, and I’m just climbing up

the C major scale on both strings. We haven’t

left our major key, but we’re generating a lot

of dissonance with just a few notes.”

december 2002

CHEAT SHEETS

“It’s a bit embarrassing, actually,” confesses Frisell of the crowded music stand

that accompanied him at a recent string of concerts at Yoshi’s in Oakland, California.

“The rest of the band already knows their parts, but I’m still reading the music—and

I wrote the songs!” —JG

T

A

B

44 Fmaj7

1

2 2

3

1

2

1

2

3

3

5

5

7

7

8

9

Abrasive

Cmaj7

Ex. 8

T

A

B

Ethereal

44

124

C

135

53

7

569

7810

108

121210

14

121316

Ex. 7



classic lesson december 2002

EXPANSION POTENTIAL“I could spend the rest of my life strug-

gling to learn all this stuff,” admits Frisell

of Hall’s approach. “And here, we’ve barely

covered C major. It really gets insane when

you start thinking of the possibilities offered

by all the different keys, not to mention all

the other scales. But while the thought of

that can be overwhelming, what I like most

about this stuff is that you can apply it to any

kind of music, whether you play jazz, rock,

or bluegrass.”

Proving that Hall-inspired moves also

work in blues settings, Frisell plays a series

of spicy grips over G7 , the V chord in C [Ex.9]. “The scale gets a lot more complicated in

a blues, where you may include a b3 or a b5,”

he observes. “What I’m playing here is sort of

cheating, because some of the notes are way

outside the key. But you can get away with

it because the bluesy melody—which takes

place in the upper voice on the first string—is

so strong. Plus, this phrase is easy . I’m just

moving the same shape up and down the

neck. It may sound a bit wild by itself, but

if a whole a band is banging away on a G7

chord, it sounds fine, and is not unlike what

entire saxophone sections might play in big

bands. It’s a sound that you don’t often hearfrom the guitar.”

CASCADE TACTICS Wh en pl ay in g me lo di es , Fr is el l of -

ten plucks notes on different strings and

lets them ring against each other. These

overlapping tones create stabs of har-

mony that enrich a melodic phrase. “I

like to work out fingerings for scales or

FRISELL’S COCKPIT

Frisell’s gear, like many of his songs, is casually arranged, allowing plenty of room

for sonic mixing and matching. A Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler—which Frisell uses mostly

as a looper—is taped to the stage, along with a Boss DD-3 Delay. These pedals are

routed through a DigiTech PDS 8000 Echo Plus and a Lexicon MPX 100 multi-effects

processor, which are both placed within arm’s reach on a stool. The MPX 100 sends a

stereo signal to a pair of tube amps (often Fender Deluxe Reverb reissues), and noisy

ground problems are minimized with an EBTech Hum Eliminator. Frisell’s cables are

all George L. —JG

T

A

B

Dissonant blues

44

G13

1

2

4

357

6810

7911

6810

357

357

135

THE BIG BANG

Ex. 9



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melodies that get things running like a

piano,” he says. “For example, I’ll take a G

major scale and refinger it using open strings

[plays Ex. 10]. I let everything ring as long as

it possibly can by holding every note until

the last moment. Curve your fingers so they

don’t dampen the open strings.

“You can also play these same notes

over Em. Or, raise each C to C # , and you’ll

get the A Mixolydian scale, which works

over A7 . To make things even bluesier in

the key of A, include C , which is the b3, as

well as E b, the b5.”

Frisell demonstrates these tangy sounds

over a 12/8 groove in Ex. 11. For full effect,

keep those pitches ringing with chimey

overlap, and notice that the last pitch is a

harmonic sounded on the D string at the

7th fret.

HARMONICSListening to Frisell, you realize that noth-

ing adds sparkle to a riff, melody, or phrase

like the inclusion of harmonics. To illustrate

how these partials can be incorporated in alick, Frisell plays Ex. 12. “I’m mixing open

strings with harmonics sounded at the 12th

fret,” he details. “The result is a rising E minor

pentatonic scale, and when you hit the final

note, all six strings should be ringing.”

Frisell also digs the sweet-and-sour clang

created by fretted notes that are placed in

close pitch proximity to ringing harmonics.

“I like finding dissonant sounds that way,”

he says, demonstrating with Ex. 13. “I’m not

even thinking in a particular key.”

T

A

B

let ring

G major/E minor cascade

1

1 4

1

37

03

50

70

47

03 0

37

Ex. 10

T

A

B

Clangy blues

let ring

128

3

4 1

3 4

13

45

20

78

55 0

68

7

A7

Ex. 11

THE BIG BANG

T

A

B

Freely

let ring

Em11

0

12

0

12

0

12

0

12

Ex. 12

T

A

B

Otherworldly

let ring

44

1 2

24

6

77

79 13 (13)

Ex. 13

JAGCASTER!Frisell’s newest tool of ex-

pression is a colorful, one-of-

a-kind Tele-style guitar built

for him by Seattle tech Mike

Lull. “The neck is from my beat-

up ’64 Fender Jaguar,” reveals

Frisell. “It has a shorter scale than

a Tele neck, so the bridge had to be

installed closer to the center of the body. The custom paintjob is by Claude Utley, who did the

artwork for my 2000 album, Ghost Town. He painted the entire back of the body, including

the backplate! It’s strung with D’Addarios, the pickups are Seymour Duncan Antiquities—a

humbucker and a Telecaster Neck—and instead of a 3-way selector switch, the guitar has a

3-position knob.” —JG

classic lesson



december 2002

Frisell produces

another striking ef-

fect by plucking

fretted notes and

harmonics simul-

taneously in Ex. 14.“I’m starting with a

B harmonic on the

sixth string that’s

played against a fret-

ted C on the fourth

string, creating a dis-

sonant minor second,” he

says. “With each pairing

of a note with a harmonic,

I’m picking the lower string

while plucki ng the higher

one with my middle finger[see Fig. 1].”

Six-note chords can in-

clude harmonics as well, as

Frisell proves with Ex. 15.

Looking at Fig. 2, it may ap-

pear that all six strings are

being barred at the 7th fret.

They’re not. While Frisell

is indeed touching all the

strings with his 1st finger,

he’s only pressing hard

enough to sound the har-

monics. It’s his 2nd and 4th

fingers that are actuallyfretting notes.

FINAL ODYSSEYThe best way to learn

how to integrate these

various approaches into

T

A

B

Freely

1

4

14

1010

1111

98

77

77 12

12

Ex. 14

Cmaj9/B

VII

1 4 21 1 1

= harmonic

Ex. 15

T o m

A n d e r s o n

J a m e s T y l e r

J o h n

S u h r

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Fig. 2

Fig. 1



classic lesson december 2002

your playing is, of course, to sit down with

Frisell and watch him seamlessly blend

these colors in a spontaneous improvi-

sation. While GP can’t teleport you to a

one-on-one jam with Frisell, we can come

pretty close with Ex. 16, which shows you

how the guitarist effortlessly merges sev-

eral of the concepts tackled in this lesson.

Accompanied by anEm7

chord, he starts off with a jangly phrase laced with open strings

in bar 1, follows with an arpeggiated cluster

in bar 2, delivers a shrill mix of harmonics

and fretted notes in bar 3, and closes with

an ascending cascade composed entirely

of harmonics.

“That’s what I love about the guitar,” ob-

serves Frisell. “It can get so many sounds andreally mimic other instruments. I think of it

as a miniature orchestra.” g

T

A

B

let ring throughout

= 54

44

1 4

42

1 43

1 1 4 3

4 1

04

74

07

0 5 0

8

1212

8

1212

0 (0)

7 7

13

7 7

9 (9)

B1/4

1212 12

12 12( )

77

7

Em7

Ex. 16

THE BIG BANG

CHECK OUT FRISELL’S SOLO VERSION OF “SURFER GIRL.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnDZ7yb5g-c



http://truefire.com/robben-ford/chord-revolution-foundations/



classic lesson

WHEN I IMPROVISE OVER A II7-V7

progression, I only think in terms of the V7

chord. Most of my dominant-chord lines are

based on altered dominant scales, which

feature the #5, b5, #9, and b9. For, say, E7

I might play a scale that includes the root,

b9 (equivalent to b2), #9, 3, b5, #5, and b7.

Enharmonically, that’s E, Fn , Gn , G# , Bb, Cn ,

and Dn .

It’s very important to get the sound

of a chord and the many ways it can be

improvised into your ear. Each of the fol-

lowing musical examples contains a useful

dominant chord, followed by a typical line

I might play over it. First play the chord,

then its line. From there make up your own

melodies. g

ExploringDominant

Altered

Sounds B Y J O E P A S S

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

Pass and ES-175.




august 1995

Ex. 3

Ex. 4

JOE PASS PERFORMS “JOE’S BLUES” IN 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQfjm1m9MEI



sessions

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transcription


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vault-vol4-no11-november-2014 44/66GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | November 2014 | Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC.

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Vault Vol.4 No11 November 2014