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PART 8 "THE FAB SIXTIES A.K.A. THE GLORY YEARS PART 5" (more Blues!)
Well, we're back for another part of "Blues: American-Style". As you can guess, this part of the "Sixties" era left a deep impression on the musicians who followed later on, such as Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers, Cream, and a list of too many groups too numerous to mention. The "Blues" definitely struck a cohesive chord with everyone who bothered to listen. A reader by the name of Geoffrey Stich wrote me with an interesting question about a hit song by the "13th Floor Elevators" called "You're Gonna Miss Me" recorded in 1966 in Houston, Texas. Since my brother has all of our 45 r.p.m. records in a brown box buried in the basement of his home in Minnesota, I didn't have real access to listen to the 45 single. After calling several friends about this, I was told that Billy Gibbons of "ZZ Top" would know.As luck would have it, Billy was in Portland hanging out at Buck Munger's "Two Louies" mansion on his day off from the road. I could hear the song in my head, but that wasn't enough because it was off in the distance of my memory, without listening to the song on a real good stereo system. Buck had the "Reverend Billy G." give me a call to get the answer...Billy carefully pondered the question, and the information emerged out of the "blue"!
The equipment used for the recording of this tune was both guitarists; Rocky Ericson and Stacy Sutherland, using Gibson ES-335's through "Black-Face" Twin Reverbs with both guitarists using external Fender "tank" reverb units and Gibson "Maestro" Fuzz-tones as distortion devices. Thanks, Billy, everybody should know that you are a walking dictionary of musical and tonal trivia! Yes, indeed. "Vintage Guitar" readers can look forward to an interview with Billy Gibbons conducted by Willie G. Moseley at various times over an extended period (so I've been told). Mr. Gibbons is a true gentleman and a scholar, as well as one funny guy! His humour just preceeds him.
There was one particular record I missed in last month's installment; B.B. King's Live "Blues is King" album. This classic was recorded on November 5, 1966 at some club in Chicago. If you listen closely, you can tell that he's using a smaller band than at "Live at the Regal" the previous year. His sound is quite a bit louder on this record when compared to the "Regal". I suspect B.B. was using a good ole' Fender Black-Face Twin on this recording, but there is something about the tone on the "Regal" album that is quite haunting...maybe it was the miking technique and the room's ambience that contributed to that special sound; it was recorded in a theatre instead of a club.
Another great blues giant who plays upside- down and left-handed is Otis Rush. He played a red Epiphone Rivera for the two albums he recorded in the 1960's; 1968's "Mourning in the Morning", (produced by Mike Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites) and "Right Place, Wrong Time" recorded in 1969. Ironically, Otis Rush is most famous for the songs he recorded during the "Fifties"; particularly "All Your Love (I Miss Lovin')", "Keep on Lovin' Me, Baby", or "Double Trouble" and "She's A Good 'Un" all contained on the C.D. collection titled "Otis Rush: The Cobra Sessions" from 1956-1958.
Otis played a Stratocaster on this stuff instead of the Epiphone, and it should be noted that he switched to a Gibson ES-355 later on, with the Strat as a secondary axe. Otis Rush has one of the most distinct vibratos. It's just real strong and identifiable from the moment your ears hear it. What's so great about the "Blues", is that everyone has his or her own version or interpretation of "how" it's supposed to be played. Yet, it all sounds different from one player to the next! You can have the crazy "over the top" bending of Buddy Guy to a completely differ- ent sound a la Hubert Sumlin...the "Blues" are probably the most diverse, educational, and never ending lessons you can receive as a guitarist; there is ALWAYS something that you pick up from a song even if you've heard it a million times!
It's all in the dynamics and the "little" nuances that you almost have to strain to hear while figuring out the song. I know I learn a "new" thing every time I just let the music surround my senses. Your brain on the deep sub-conscious level draws things up to where you finally become aware of them. PERCEPTION is the key word here when you listen! Since we're on the subject of "Blues", We cannot leave Peter Green out of the whole picture...he might be British, BUT he has a more "American- style" sound. Why??? Because he was one of the greats that didn't use a Marshall amplifier! Don't get me wrong, I love Marshalls too, but Peter used Orange and Vox amps as far as I know. As a matter of fact, with his "touch" and technique, he could make ANY amp sound great. Talk about getting every note's worth!
Any collection that includes John Mayall's "A Hard Road" (1967), or Fleetwood Mac's "English Rose" (1969), will have cuts like "The Supernatural" and "The Green Manalishi" just for starters. Other albums like Fleetwood's "Live: The Boston Tea Party" or their "Greatest Hits Live" give you chills...it's just mandatory listening material. There was a special night in New York at the Fillmore East where Peter played a four hour non-stop version of "Black Magic Woman" and the crowd STILL wanted them to keep on going!
Those were the days, alright. There is a neat twist to Peter's unique sound; the front pickup of his Les Paul Sunburst was turned around so that the pole-pieces were facing towards the bridge of his guitar. This gave it an "out of phase" tonality compared to a standard Paul's wiring. Later on, he turned the pickup around like it was "stock", but the position of the magnet was changed in it's polarity so it retained the same effect when both pickups were used together. Sometimes one innocent accident can result in one hell of a tone! Of course, this effect won't be exactly the same on every Les Paul, due to the weight and density of the instrument's wood and the strength of the pickups in the individual guitar. It was just "magical" in Green's case.
While we're on the discussion about "American Blues", I want to ask a question...that is for you to recall any significant "Blues" record of this time-frame (and before) that wasn't recorded with any type of Fender amp? The simple answer is that if you were a true "Blues Man", you couldn't count the records on many fingers of one hand. Fender model amps were the standard if you wanted to sound really authentic during this period and it still holds true today! Granted, there may have been some guys using Magnatones, Ampeg "Reverb-o-rockets" and some types of Gibson amps too, and if anyone has any real pertinent information of this, I want to get the "skinny" on this subject!
We've been talking about players like Albert King who used his thumb for a pick, but what about the late Albert Collins? He played with his bare fingers and eveybody knows about that "icy" tone he got. There is a C.D. out called "Truckin' with Albert Collins" that contains immortal tunes like "Frosty", "Snow-Cone II", "Icy Blue", "Don't Lose Your Kool" and "Koolaide". This record was originally released in 1965 as "The Cool Sound of Albert Collins". Albert played through a 1962 blonde-tolex Bandmaster for these tunes with an earlier model Esquire. He purchased his "signature" converted 1961 Telecaster from Ace Music of Santa Monica, California in around 1969. This guitar already had the neck pickup replaced with a humbucker when he bought it. The binding was added on later when he had the guitar refinished.
He used an "F-minor" tuning which was from low to high; F, G#, C, G#, C, and F with a capo placed at various fret locations (usually above the fifth fret), depending on the key of the song. He was seen later on in the 1970's using his Fender Quad Reverb which he purchased the day George Wallace was shot in the spring of 1972. Strangely enough, Freddie King also used a Quad Reverb around the same time in the 1970's up until his death in 1976. To me, a Fender Telecaster is the most touch sensitive guitar in the world, as you can still get a very stinging tone from it using your fingers alone without the use of a pick. I believe that the output of the bridge pickup combined with it being a bit larger in width accounts for this.
A Stratocaster will work well with your fingers a la Jeff Beck, but you have to "dig in" a bit more on a Strat then with a Telecaster. They didn't call Albert Collins "The Iceman" for nothing...his searing tone spoke for itself. His choice of strings were Fender 150's (using a semi-flatwound pure nickel format) gauged .010,.013,.015,.026,.032 and .038. The fact that he raised the pitch of his guitar to "F-minor" with his use of the capo, really contributed to his own unique tone. Note that he must have tuned his "D" string down a step to "C" because a .026 gauge string would feel awful stiff and useless for bending purposes (tuned up to the tonic note "F"). Along with this, "C" is the "fifth scale degree" of the "F minor" triad.
His use of a .038 and .032 gauges for the lower two strings would not affect his bending when tuned a half-step higher ( on the Low "E") or a half-step down (on the "A" string). It must be stated that although the strings manufactured in the 1960's had a wonderful sound, they were not very consistant due to the technology of the day and the production techniques employed. The strings of today can be made MUCH better than before due to the advances in machinery, etc. We really concern ourselves with the materials and their overall quality as well as the winding process. If you compromise ONE little thing for another the quality goes way down the toilet. Extreme care and attention must be given to every detail in the manufacturing of a quality string...you remember what Stephen and Ralph said in their contributions to this article series, and believe me, they're not even close to being done either!
We can and will expand even more on various concepts which involve the production of sound and tone(s). We want to get it to a molecular level so all of our readers completely understand all the relationships that work together to form a special and unique timbre; the ONE that you're looking for. Another issue that relates to good string quality is the volume of product manufactured versus the raw material available. This is not to mention the subject of the consumer's awareness of what "quality" really means.
It's up to us as consumers to BECOME aware and informed of what we're actually buying to keep the quality high instead of just buying product that is not even BARELY acceptable. That's another big reason why this column exists...for consumer protection, and that means YOURS!! After all, it all boils down to how much value you receive for your hard-earned cash. We all know that in this day with our current economy, we can't afford to be "Penny-wise and pound foolish".
This month's thanks go out to John Payne, Greg Allen and Peter Wright for their efforts in the "R & D" Department. Of course, thanks again to "Cap'n Willy Smith" for your time and graciousness. Profound thanks to Seymour Duncan for the "scoop" on Albert Collins' rig and thanks to Tim Larson for helping out with this as well. Kenny, I'm really glad you're doing better, I just knew you would come through that thing okay. Catch ya next month.
Copyright 1994 by Dean L. Farley
Reprinted from "Vintage Guitar" November 1994 issue.