Howard Black's Music Resource

I currently own around 20 guitars, many of which are pictured above. Most of the electrics are Gibson Les Pauls and all three acoustics (with electric ability) are Ovations, one of which is the Al DiMeola signature model. I also have two jazz axes; the workhorse is the Pass signature model, while a 1948 Gibson L-11 doesn't see much action (too valuable!). Rounding out the collection are two Les Paul Jr.s and two black seven-strings, which, so far, I have not invested much time in learning. Amplification is via anything from a few small practice amps to a Marshall MG250DFX for small venues to a Marshall AVT50HX full stack for huge venues, playing outside, or killing small animals within a 20 ft. radius (short review by MusiciansFriend.com; owners' manual)! I also have an old but great Peavey MACE VT Series Model 212 (the forerunner to the 6505 - 160 watts, 2x12" Black Widow speakers, power from SIX (!) 6L6GC power tubes) just for fun or as a loaner.

I also use quite a few effects pedals. Actually, no more than a few are actually being used at one time, but it's good to have many different effects available when they're needed. The collection is shown below. Actually, I have quite a few more, but they're leftovers from my searches for the ideal compression pedal, distortion pedal, etc. I'll sell them on E-bay as soon as I get around to it.

top

My effects rack has about 15 pedals, featuring the usual suspects (compressor, distortion booster, octave divider, phase shifter, digital delay, blues booster, in-line digital tuner, wah pedal) as well as an original Octavia (adds an octave above with moderate distortion) and Uni-Vibe (sounds like a Leslie amplifier; these two effects together gave Hendrix his incredible tone on solos like Machine Gun), a tape echo, noise suppressor, circuit switcher, Behringer amp mimicker, and a few other goodies. They're powered by a Dunlop 1000mA power supply. For strings, I use Ernie Ball slinkies (10-46) on the electrics except the jazz boxes and D'Addario extra lights (11-56) on the acoustics. By the way, it does make a difference what order the pedals are in; consult Guitar Player magazine or other reputable source for good information on this. The board itself is one of several very good commercially available ones; its surface is like a carpet so that Velcro (hook style) clings strongly to it.

Recent Addition (8/23/10) Despite liking a lot of effects possibilities, I finally bottomed out on lugging around a bunch of pedals, so I recently took the plunge to a single unit signal modeler - the Line 6 M13 Stompbox Modeler (pictured to the right - click the image for a larger photo; click the link for a review of this model). It looks at first like there are only four effects available, but in fact each of the four vertical "modules" has three buttons associated with it, and each button can provide a different effect. Of the six dials under the colored indicators, the upper left one (circled in white) switches between all of the possible effects; the remaining five modify the effect to your liking.

The two photos to the right are views of my study in Champaign, IL. Although the wall can't hold all of my guitars, it holds enough of them to keep the more valuable ones fairly safe; they also make great wall decoration!

The left photo also shows a music stand with a chart on it and a floor-to-ceiling bookcase which stores mostly music books and periodicals (the ones in the black holders with date tags are Guitar Player).

All musicians are influenced by others, especially those whose music we laboriously copied, hour by hour, until we could play it like they did. My own belief is that the best way to becoming a great improviser is to memorize great solos by lots of different guitarists (as well as horn players and keyboardists), so that you become familiar with the myriad of approaches to different chord sequences, chord substitutions, and timing. You'll also avoid getting into ruts where your fingers keep wanting to play the same riffs you've played along with so much and feel so comfortable.

Any time you want to start a spirited discussion among guitarists, ask who is/was the best guitarist around. For me, the best all-around guitarist is Al DiMeola. As a 19-year-old studying guitar at the Berkelee School of Music, he got a call from Chick Corea, who was starting a band that would shatter peoples' ideas about jazz and rock with a new kind of music, called fusion. The result was a band called Return to Forever, featuring Al, Chick, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White. A contemporaneous outfit called the Mahavishnu Orchestra, with guitarist John McLaughlin, was blowing away audiences with similarly fast-paced, high volume, intense music which displayed every members' incredible musical virtuosity.

Shredding - for a very well-conceived analysis of shredding by one of its great practitioners - Alex Skolnick - check out his piece in GP!

Speaking of virtuosity, I am inclined to stay as far away from "shredders" and their "techniques" as possible, and I recommend aspiring guitarists to do the same. Of course, there are exceptions, but the typical shredder is impressed by only one thing - speed - regardless of its lack of musicality, theory, applicability, cleanliness of execution or certainly any emotional involvement. A truly telling example is on YouTube - sorry, I don't have the citation - but the keywords are something about a 13-year-old shredder. Well, I sure couldn't miss this one! There he was, a skinny kid, probably about the advertised age, and at the prescribed moment, he pulled off a typical shredder break, mainly legato slush, but not too bad for such a young kid. Then, right in the midst of the solo, he yawned - he yawned! - and started looking out at the audience as if searching for someone he knew, or something else interesting.....anything to take his mind off what appeared to be, for him, quite a boring task. With a little experience, he'll hopefully learn something about showmanship, but until then, watching him speaks volumes about the difficulty of "shredding" and how much concentration it requires.

The common approach to shredding is to develop ways to pick as few notes as possible, which obviously makes single-note control impossible, but remember - they don't care about theory. Thus the emergence of "breakthroughs" such as "sweep picking" and the egotistically-labeled "legato" (which means "smooth" in Italian), in which as many notes as possible are hammered on or pulled off - ideally, 100% of them. Of course, this requires very high volume or you'll get no sound, with thick distortion to cover all the mistakes (this is true of all shredding), and no concern with dynamics or other elements of musicality. Again, there are exceptions - Frank Gambale is undoubtedly the cleanest sweep picker around, and he can play the runs just as well slowly or on an acoustic guitar. But guitarists like Gambale are few and far between.

If you want to play something fast, be sure you can play it slowly and cleanly, then slowly increase your tempo, using a metronome unless you have an excellent and unusual sense of timing, and speed will come. Use alternate picking to hit nearly every note (obviously, hammer-ons and pull-offs are fine to help go faster and smoother, as long as they don't form the foundation of your technique). Think you've got a fast lick down? Play it on an acoustic with no amplification. Oh, yes - use your little finger! Why so many guitarists decide they don't need 25% of their fingers when soloing is baffling, especially when playing fast is of such paramount importance to them! Check out the photos below and see how few have their little fingers balled up like a useless appendage.

When I first started teaching guitar in high school, I had one student in particular who just would not use that little finger, claiming it was too weak to finger a guitar string effectively (the most common reason by far). So I had an idea. I said "You want to play with only three fingers, right?" "Right" I had come prepared with several rubber bands of approximately the right size, and asked if I could have his left hand just for a minute. Finding the right sized rubber band, I curled up his index finger comfortably, ascertained from him that it was not too tight, and with a few wraps of a large rubber band, I banded the finger into that curled up position. "What's this all about"? I said, "Well, you're so in love with the idea of playing with only three fingers, here are the three I want you to use this week. He gave me one of those little half-smiles, trying to figure out if I was serious. I said, "Oh, I'm completely serious. Before you practice each time, I want you to put on the rubber band. And I want you to play the stuff you know really well, stuff that you really enjoy playing. And next week, I'd better see a ridge on your finger where the rubber band's been all those hours, and when I ask you to put the rubber band, you'd better be able to do it like you were born doing it!" Finally, I said "you're really going to thank me next week!" With a morose, betrayed look, he went outside and I left.

I'm sure the guitarists reading this - at least, those who use their pinkies, know what happened. The next week, I put him through the drills until I was assured that he'd done what I'd asked. Then I pulled out one of the songs I knew he'd been practicing, that happened to feature a lot of eighth note triplets. I asked him to play the song with his normal fingers, and he was smiling the whole time - he said it never sounded or felt so smooth! A repeat of the tune, leaving out his index finger - voluntarily this time; no rubber band needed - sounded indistinguishable from the first! Finally, I asked him to try using all four left-hand fingers, however he wished - and this time there wasa difference - he sounded not only more fluid than ever before, on any tune; he played with an obvious enjoyment, a confidence that was newly found and clearly making him extremely happy. So, the bottom line is: if you shun your little little finger, stop making him so lonely and welcome him into the left hand finger club, with equal opportunities and exposure to the other three. You'll be rewarded with a 25% increase in the number of available fingering appendages, a smoothness that will startle you, and a new technical prowess that will open the door to complex tunes that, while they used to baffle you, now can be played with an ease and fluidity that you'll just love!

By the way, if you'd like to know the birthday of your favorite jazz guitarist, check out this cute page, from the wonderful Jazz Guitar Online site. The list isn't exhaustive, but they hit all the big players.

top


Al DiMeola on his signature Ovation. I got one as soon as they were available, and it's truly a work of art.	Always the same acoustic! Of course, his are free, but its balance, action, sustain, and amplification are unsurpassed.	Working out with his '57 Les Paul. Recently, he's been using only PRS guitars onstage; Smith must have made him quite an offer!


The incomparable Jimi Hendrix. Nearly 40 years after his death, he's still considered the most influential guitarist ever.	Showing us how to use a wah. While Clapton used it essentially to keep time ("White Room"), Hendrix could make it talk.	Jimi, improvising in the "zone". The fewer acrobatics he used onstage, the more incredible his improvisations were.


Jeff Beck, with two of his loves - old cars and the most original, creative guitar work of anyone today.	Live with his Strat and without a pick. He's been pickless for about 10 years, and is without equal in coaxing amazing sounds from his Strat.	With the Yardbirds, circa. 1966. Even back in those days, he showed an stunning creativity that has only deepened with time.


Larry Coryell, who helped define fusion; he's been on the scene and recording since the late 1950's.	Eric Johnson, major Hendrix fan and incredible guitarist. Every month, he picks a Hendrix song to totally dissect.	Alan Holdsworth, one of the greatest fusion players alive, so creative that no one can figure out his approach, frustrating imitators mightily.


Bucky Pizzarelli, 7-string master and ex-guitarist for Johnny Carson's superb "The Tonight Show" band.	Recent John McLaughlin photo. He wrote the best instructional DVD available - and there's not a TAB anywhere in it! ;-)	McLaughlin with the Mahavishnu Orchestra (ca. 1971), blowing away audiences around the world with virtuosity and volume.


The incredible Joe Pass, the best jazz guitarist of the past 50 years; his "Virtuoso" recordings redefined solo jazz guitar.	Gettin' in tune! For all of his incredible knowledge and application of music theory, Pass never learned to read music. Although it's useful, it's clearly not mandatory!	Master improviser Pat Metheny. I saw Pat often in Chicago before he had a record contract; it was clear that his career was destined to shine.


Cream-era Eric Clapton. In those days, you'd see grafitti proclaiming "Clapton is God!". He was great, but puleeze...	The current, popular-as-ever Eric. Now sober a long time, he has gained true humility, although many think his playing has suffered.	Late, great Michael Hedges, who, with amazing percussion effects and a different tuning for every song, extended the acoustic guitar.


Johnny Winter, a true blues legend. In recent years, his health has declined, and he plays live sitting down.	Mike Bloomfield, a major reason I bought my first Les Paul in 1969. His tone and phrasing always blew me away (and still do).	Larry Carlton, ex-studio player for Steely Dan (among many others) prior to an excellent solo career with players from every musical genre.


Dickie Betts, of the Allman Brothers, with his beloved 1957 Les Paul.	Pete Townsend with his Strat - the same kind of axe he's used for his amazing 40+ year career.	Country gentleman Chet Atkins - an incredibly multifaceted musician, equally at home with Miles Davis, Les Paul, and Buck Evans.


Robert Conti, one of the most excellent, busiest jazz players and teachers around, with his novel 8-string jazz axe.	Lee Ritenour, studio ace.	Paco de Lucia, the greatest flamenco guitarist in the world and partner to John McLaughlin and Al DiMeola.


Aussie Frank Gambale, super fusion player who - alone (so far) - can make sweep picking sound good.	Eddie Van Halen, the last real guitar technique innovator, who introduced and popularized tapping as an arpeggio device.	George Harrison, mid 1970's, who really blos-somed as a solo musician once he was away from Lennon & McCartney's influence.


Herb Ellis, super jazz master and duet partner with Joe Pass (check out the album "Seven Come Eleven"!).	George Barnes, doing only downstrokes (it's true - he never uses upstrokes!). When you hear his clean speed, it seems impossible!	Steve Howe of Yes who, inexplicably, was never rated as highly by the music community as he deserved. He continues to grow into jazz.


Pat Martino, who learned the guitar twice, after a car accident wiped out all of his memory of how to play!	Adrian Legg, an astonishing guitarist who's arguably the best fingerpicker around, with a wry sense of humor that livens his performances.	Leo Kottke, a great fingerpicker who also happens to have a cool voice, which he says sounds "like goose farts on a foggy day". ;-)

BB King, who's been playing the blues so long that he probably originated the licks that you think are clichés.	Mick Ronson is best known for his work with David Bowie, but has worked with Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn, Elton John, and others.	Ry Cooder, the best little-known guitarist around, has worked on Rolling Stones albums, won 3 Grammy awards for his solo work, etc.