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Artist / Heroes,
Inspirations on Guitar!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Posted by: Source Audio | Posted in: Artist / Heroes,
Who Inspires You?
We all have defining memories of great guitar sounds and great players – that not only inspired us in terms of how to play music, but on how our own music should sound.
I remember getting a haircut in 6th grade, in front of a television, and seeing Led Zeppelin play The Immigrant Song – now, whether that single memory alone caused me to be a fan of Led Zeppelin for decades, I am not sure – but that was indeed the start.
Listening to “Machine Head” made me dream about Stratocasters and tube amps, as “Beck’s Bolero” made me want a Sunburst Les Paul. Same story with so many other recordings, from the 1970’s to this day: hearing Robert Fripp gave me endless desires for fuzz tones with long sustain - and I had quite a few that broke down, from MXR to Dallas Arbiter; Steve Howe made me want a Ramirez Flamenco, as well as an ES-5 Switchmaster (and so many other great guitars that Steve Howe played).
“Selling England by the Pound” gave me a good reason the buy a volume pedal and put it in front of my delay pedal – so I could cascade notes atop one another while the echoes from the preceding note played on; and that same record, Mike Rutherford’s playing forced me to buy a Rickenbacker 12 string, and to start using alternate tunings – a big part of my guitar explorations to this day. And of course, practically every guitarist alive in the 1980's had to have a custom Strat with one humbucker and a Floyd Rose, in their quest to out-Van Halen Van Halen.
What is still true to this day, is that when I hear a sound that I am attracted to – I need to know how it was constructed. What playing techniques? What chords? What guitar, amp, cabinet, speakers, effects or recording techniques???????
And of course, these new items that I bought were not just ashtrays or decorations for around the house – they made me PLAY differently. The real question is: what similar memories caused you to create your musical identity? Is your current gear helping you - or keeping you in a creative "holding pattern"?
Chances are, if you are not creating your best music, you could use a fresh look at your tools.
If you look at some of the top players and bands of today – quite a few are using and touring with our Hot Hand and Soundblox pedals in their pro pedalboards – and if you’ve gone to see Umphrey’s McGee, moe, DragonForce, Galactic, Soulive, Gwen Stefani or Vernon Reid, you have heard our products. Have a look at our YouTube
Channel and get a taste of how we can help you forge your musical identity!
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