Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 118 i Australian Guitar

WIN A 360FLY 4K CAMERA AND 360FLY VR HEADSET! The 360fly 4K is a single-lens camera that captures stitchless 360-degree video, with a powerful new 16-megapixel image sensor that increases resolution to 2880x2880 pixels — no seaming or stitching! 360fly 4K is water resistant to 1 ATM, dustproof, shockproof and has a non-slip/soft-touch coating. The latest features include Motion/Audio Activate, Time-Lapse Mode, First-Person POV Mode, built-in gyroscope, non-assisted GPS, 64 GB internal memory, and full 360° Live Stream via the free Livit mobile app. The 360fly VR Headset allows you to view footage from your 360fly camera in virtual reality mode. Simply look up, down and side-to-side for immersive entertainment. Note this is the viewing unit — you need to add your smartphone; the headset is compatible with 3.5 inch…

Known as one of the country’s hardest working and most innovative guitar maestros, Claude Hay is releasing his fourth studio album, Roller Coaster, with a bang. He’ll be taking some time out from his relentless Aussie and Euro touring schedules to build a lucky fan one of his famous eclectic axes. Claude always creates a new handmade guitar for each of his tours, but this time, he’s cooked up a pair. ‘Jeri’ and ‘Jeri Mk 2’ have been created from jerry cans to supply the resonator-style tones found all over the album. The legend himself is running a competition to win the Jeri Mk 2 - all you have to do for your chance to win is to head to claudehay.com.au/guitars and fill in an entry form!…

Melbourne musical phenom Harts has just released his new album, Smoke Fire Hope Desire, and his second record is just as indefinable as his first. Rock, soul, blues, pop, psychedelia - it’s all in there, and it all blends together seamlessly and naturally. Recorded completely on his own in a bedroom studio, it’s a sonic tour de force loaded with way-better-than-it-has-any-right-to-be production and great guitar playing. And the guitar snobs out there might be surprised to know what the source of those guitar tones is. “I went through a bunch of different types of guitars, but eventually landed on just a Squier Strat,” Harts says. “It’s just the guitar for me. That’s what I play onstage. A Strat is really my guitar now, and the one you see me playing…

With a curious concoction of bouncy pop-punk and crushing metalcore, A Day To Remember quickly found themselves in the pupil of the public eye. 2005’s And Their Name Was Treason debuted the band to moderate success, but it was For Those Who Have Heart that threw their acclaim into overdrive come 2007. Almost a decade of non-stop touring followed, breaks few and far between and reserved exclusively for hibernation. As such, their next three albums were written in chunks, between cities and countries that melted into a blur – a habit the quintet were determined to crush when it came to smashing out their latest offering, Bad Vibrations. “We’ve written all of our albums together,” rhythm shredder Neil Westfall opens (addressing misconceptions that LP #6 is their first collaborative outing),…

I always say that my greatest teachers are the guys in my band,” says Dave Navarro, down the line from California. The longtime Jane’s Addiction and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist sounds relaxed and fulfilled. “Being able to play with other musicians has become so easy, especially here in Los Angeles. Yesterday, I was playing with Scott Shriner from Weezer, Joey Castilllo from Queens of the Stone Age, and Dave Kushner from Velvet Revolver. Chester Bennington from Linkin Park was singing. It was just fun, y’know? Nothing to sell. Just having a good time.” Good times are also being had out on the road with Jane’s Addiction, celebrating the release of their Sterling Spoon vinyl box-set. The six-LP collection includes the band’s early classics - Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual…

There’s little doubt that vocals are the focal point of a song. A good singer will make or break an act. It doesn’t matter how astounding the band or backing is, if the vocal doesn’t capture the attention and imagination of the listener, it’s all in vain! It follows that getting a great vocal take in the studio is paramount to producing a convincing track. Capturing a killer vocal performance is an artform, and involves a lot more than simply throwing up a microphone and hoping for the best! There are countless variables involved in any performance, but none so fragile and fluid as the human voice. Recording vocals can be equated with portrait photography - imagine photographing a subject every morning for a week. Obviously, you’d get different results…

In this issue, I am building on the techniques we have covered over the previous five issues. Using a combination of three note-per-string scales, pentatonic scales, arpeggios and the CAGED system, I have tried to combine these different approaches into one. As with all things, it doesn’t work out perfectly, but through a system of trial and error, I have come up with a way that works for most of my students and allows them to better understand how to map out the fretboard. This idea stemmed from a student question on how the pentatonic box shapes and three note-per-string scales relate. This led me on a path to mapping the CAGED arpeggios, pentatonic box shapes and three note-per-string modes over the top of each other. This has resulted in…

GREEN DAY Revolution Radio REPRISE After the tactless tyre fire that was their 2012 trilogy (¡Uno!, ¡Dos!and ¡Tré!), Green Day were in desperate need of a weekend away. The faux-punk powerhouse have had their fair share of ups and downs over a storied 30 years, and since 2004’s American Idiot took them from Triple M to Broadway, most of those downs have hit in its follow-up releases. Thankfully, though, Revolution Radio sees the band step back and assess why they haven’t had a hit in so long. It sheds the gimmicks, strips back the pretentious bullshit and presents a band that, for the first time in a long time, just wants to make good music. Cuts like the title track and “Bang Bang” shine with the angsty prowess that made…

A VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH SIMON KINNY-LEWIS Simon Kinny-Lewis is an amazing guitarist, songwriter and performer. He has recorded and performed with world-class artists such as Christian Howes, Ric Fierabracci, Anton Davidyants, Simeon Cain, and so many more. Simon has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists, including Richie Kotzen, Scott Henderson, Robben Ford, Doug Seven, Ray Beadle and others, however, he is now well on the way to finding his own guitar ‘voice’ through many years of hard work and dedication to his craft. Having release three albums with a new one on the way, Simon has toured Brazil, USA and was a finalist in the 2013 Yamaha & Laney World Wide Guitar competition held in Thailand. He was also invited to play in the Basement Blues Society’s Five Of Our…

It’s not about squiddly-diddly or any of that,” says The Peep Tempel’s frontman and guitarist Blake Scott. “I’m not a conventionally great guitar player. I just hack away at it a bit, and I’m always trying to unlearn everything I already know.” Listen to the band’s latest record, Joy, and you’ll realise that he’s right on the unconventionality, but wrong on the greatness. On lead single “Rayguns”, Scott’s noisy, squalling guitar sounds are casually improvised, but the song itself is wholly fat-free and packs a sneaky hook in the urgently strummed octaves of the chorus. Scott’s gift for layering parts comes through in the intro to “Rayguns”, which sounds like a small history of art-punk guitar, from Mission Of Burma to The Drones. But for Scott, the music he makes…

I've busted up both of my shoulders! One playing hockey, but the worst one is the left one - I've got arthritis,” says Mårten Hagström, leaving a sinking feeling that the next words out of his mouth will be something along the lines of 'early retirement'. But breathe a sigh of relief, Meshuggah fans: Hagström is on the mend, and the band’s new album, The Violent Sleep of Reason, isn’t their final hurrah. “For a while there, I was a bit worried about whether I could play guitar anymore, because in a live situation, it really didn't look like it was going to work out. But I've been rehabbing a lot and starting to eat stuff that helps your shoulders, ligaments and joints. It's a lot better.” Although Hagström's injuries…

About five years ago, Perth lad Brian Mitra decided that it was time to leave the freelance life behind - and thus, Fremantle Studios was born. Since then, he’s built a massive list of clients from all walks of the musical spectrum, including one of the most popular genres around: indie-pop. Working, and even playing in bands with the likes of Methyl Ethel members - and Tame Impala’s own Kevin Parker - has given Mitra an ear for building that distinct, retro meets modern, reverb-heavy electro rock sound that’s dominating Australian airwaves right now. What is the Brian Mitra history, from your early recording days to the establishment of Fremantle. I was about twelve or 14 when I started recording some friends’ bands on a little BUS, and I just…

I recently saw a great description of sweep picking by guitarist Ben Eller - he said it was the guitarist’s equivalent of the drummer’s blast-beats, and that we need to do a lot more with it if we’re going to use it in a musical way. I’m totally on board with this idea. Sweep picking can be such a useful tool, but like anything in music, there has to be a reason for it - usually, “listen to me execute this technique” isn’t good enough of a reason. Now, I ain’t no Frank Gambale, but here are some ways I try to put some variation into my sweep picking. Sometimes, what we’re really going for in sweep picking is an interesting-sounding way to jump over certain notes, instead of running…

In the last column, I examined a solo section from my original song “Genesis/Genocide” (from power/thrash metal band Darker Half’s new EP, Classified), and discussed using the Lydian mode in a heavy metal setting. Since I got such a great response to this, I thought it would be neat to take a look at another of my solo passages from this track. Whist still using the Lydian mode, this excerpt involves a fast, shred-style twin guitar harmony. EXERCISE 1 The four bar passage I’ll be looking at occurs in the song from 3:00-3:06. It’s the final, climactic phrase of the preceding (quite lengthy) guitar solo. As I mentioned, the tonality here is Lydian – E Lydian (E-F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#). If you’re unfamiliar with it, Lydian is the fourth mode of the major…

$299 RRP AT A GLANCE Out of the box, the ATH-E50s look like swankier versions of your standard consumer-grade sports headphones. The cable is nice and long at 1.6 meters, and standard accessories like a case, 1/4” stereo adapter and various ear-tips are included. The real question is whether these little buds xan deliver the pro-level sound implied in their name. The short answer is: Yes, they can. The quality of sound coming out of these little guys made me reconsider what in-ears are capable of - especially ones that come in only at a few hundred dollars. It’s easy to see several applications where the ATH-E50s would come in very handy, ranging from field and set recording to serious mix jobs done on the go. BALANCE IS KEY The…

CURRENTLY PLAYING WITH? Dallas Frasca (three-piece riff rock). USUALLY FOUND PLAYING? An original 1963 Silvertone. YEARS ON THE FRETBOARD? Around twenty years. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PLAYING STYLE? Three chords and the truth. FIRST AXE? Gibson Les Paul. CURRENT AXE? 1963 Silvertone. RIG/PEDALS? Stock Fender Deville, Big Muff (with the original bubble font), Boss Octave, Whammy, MRX Phase 100, Bass Big Muff. SECRET WEAPON? Dearmond Silver Foil pickups. FAVOURITE GUITARIST OF ALL TIME? Damn, that’s too hard! I suppose I’d have to refer to one of my first inspirations, Ry Cooder, who also introduced me to Steve Vai’s shredding style. FAVOURITE CURRENT LOCAL PLAYER? Jeff Curran. CURRENT RELEASE? Our new EP, Dirt Buzz.…

GUITARS UNDER $1000 STERLING BY MUSICMAN SILO3 RRP $495 The Sterling by Music Man Silo3 is a versatile workhorse that’s easy to play and sounds like a higher-end guitar. The solid hardwood body is attached to a solid maple neck via a Music Man-designed easy-access 5-bolt neck joint. The double cutaway, contoured, hardwood body is fully sculpted and shaped for comfort, and the asymmetrically-cut maple neck is slimmer on the treble side and thicker on the bass side, for effortless movement as you zip around the neck. It has two high-output single coils and one overwound humbucker, and a vintage-style tremolo bridge with a comfortable area to rest your palm on. IBANEZ AF55 RRP $699 The bound, all-maple full hollowbody provides tight resonance without feedback, great for everything from jazz…

Any self-respecting guitar player and any guitar player that doesn’t like themselves should, at some point, acquaint themselves with some gypsy jazz. Namely, that of Django Reinhardt. Aside from having a name that you’ll ask how to pronounce, Django still remains one of the most impressive and colourful inventors on the guitar, despite his death decades ago. His chord playing is bold, triumphant and deeply swinging, and his single note playing is as musical as it gets whilst also pushing melodic and harmonic boundaries. When you get the chance, I highly recommend you get online and have a listen to the transcription I’ve provided today. It’s a minor blues inspired by the likes of Django Reinhardt, and even if you don’t want to learn it, I hope that you’ll be…

THE NATION BLUE Blue POISON CITY The long wait for new Nation Blue material has finally come to an end, with an album that sounds like it was born out of Melbourne’s Brunswick Street scene, and the dustiest pubs creaking in Australia’s most secluded corners. Blue (the second of two separate, but simultaneously released records), is as tight and raw as it gets: straight-up punk rock, driven by distortion and drenched in a dreary atmosphere. Darkness ensconces the album in strange, but alluring ways that aren’t immediately noticeable, until it shifts from being an uncomfortable undertone to an all out assault that pushes you down and holds a pillow over your face. Yet, you could hardly call it hopeless - at times, it’s even oddly upbeat amidst the pounding, sometimes…