In the first article of this two-part series (The Definition of Tone), we took an introductory look at the world of replacement pickups for electric guitars. As much a part of a guitarist’s signature sound as wood or fingers, pedals or amplifiers, the pickups are the starting point where the guitar’s sound becomes electric. While it can be tricky to find the pickups that will help you find ‘your voice’, there is really no excuse for crummy tone these days. Guitarists on a quest for satisfying sound have a very wide variety of high-quality aftermarket pickups from which to choose.

As you might recall, I was in search of replacement pickups for my late 80′s Ibanez 540s. This guitar has a lightning fast neck, a very attractive cherry sunburst, tiger-striped maple top, and major mojo. With the right pickups, I knew this would be my “number 1″ guitar. It has double coil (humbucker) pickups in the neck position and bridge position and a single coil pickup in the middle position (known as an H-S-H configuration).

From the neck pickup, I wanted to be able to get warm, clean tones for both rhythm playing and single-line solos in a jazz setting. I also wanted to be able to get a smooth, singing sustain when using the neck pickup for high-gain soloing reminiscent of the sounds that Carlos Santana gets. If possible, I’d want to be able to get some “Strat-like” funk and grit from this pickup when I split one of the coils and used a crunchy, mid-gain setting.

From the bridge pickup, I wanted a great ‘power-chord’ sound that was neither too muddy nor too thin, and a harmonic-rich lead tone that really cuts through for rock solos without sounding shrill on the high notes.

From the middle pickup, I hoped to be able to produce a very interesting sound for clean rhythm guitar parts, mostly balanced across the frequencies with perhaps slightly de-emphasized bass response and treble with a hint of that “chime-y or glassy” quality. I also wanted the ability to combine the middle pickup with the neck or bridge pickups in order to get those interesting “position 2 and 4″ sounds that a Strat can get (sometimes referred to as ‘quack’), especially with a clean amp setting. I also wanted try to get rid of the annoying 60 Hz hum that single coil pickups cannot eliminate.

Final Selection

I listened to a lot of sound-clips and asked a lot of questions of guitar players familiar with different pickups. I considered pickups with ceramic magnets, alnico 2 magnets, and alnico 5 magnets. I considered pickups with regular pole pieces, small allen-screw pole pieces, oversized pole pieces, staggered-height pole pieces, and ‘blade type’ pickups without individual pole pieces at all. For purposes of blending the humbuckers nicely, I decided to select pickups of the same magnet type for the neck and the bridge. It turns out that alnico 5 magnets were used in the highly coveted vintage humbuckers from the late 1950′s, so I focused my search to pickups in the PAF family. (PAF stands for patent applied for and refers to the pickups used on Gibson guitars back in the 50′s. These pickups had the letters PAF stamped on them and the nickname stuck.) I chose the “59″ pickup from Seymour Duncan for the neck position. I decided to get the “4-wire” option to allow me the coil splitting configurations I was hoping for. Wanting a slightly more modern sounding pickup, I selected the “Custom 5″ model for the bridge position. Finally, I decided on the “Duckbucker” from Seymour Duncan for the middle position. This pickup is designed to produce the desired ‘quack’ sound but in a stacked double coil configuration that provides the 60-cycle hum-canceling effect and still fits in a single coil-sized hole. I was comforted to know that Seymour Duncan pickups come with a 21-day trial period. If for some reason the pickups weren’t satisfying in my guitar, I could send them back and try some another model until I was happy with the results.

Circuit design

Even before I had made my final pickup selections, I knew that my wiring diagram would be fairly intricate in order to get the pickup combinations I desired. I’d want not only to be able to have each of the humbuckers operate with both coils on, but also to be able to split either of the coils for single coil sounds. This was not a common wiring approach as most coil-split circuits provide for only one of the coils to be split. I wanted to be able to combine the neck and bridge pickups in parallel – not only as dual humbuckers, but also as the top coil of the neck pickup combined with the bottom coil of the bridge pickup, and vice versa. These “outer” and “inner” coil combinations became very popular in the mid 80′s when Paul Reed Smith guitars introduced the 5-position rotary switch for their dual-humbucker guitars. These combinations can produce some interesting ‘scooped’ sounds reminiscent of Strat or Tele tones. My “wish list” represented 9 combinations so far, and I hadn’t even considered the middle pickup (alone and in combination) yet! I knew my stock hardware wasn’t going to get me what I hoped for.

In addition to a “five position, two pole” pickup selector switch, the guitar had one master volume control potentiometer (or “pot”) and one master tone control pot. It also had a double pole-double throw (DPDT) “on-off” mini toggle switch to allow splitting of one coil from the humbuckers. In order get the desired “upper coil / both coils / lower coil” combinations from the humbuckers, I knew this mini toggle would have to be replaced by a DPDT “on-off-on” mini-toggle switch. I developed a circuit diagram that allowed me to pick the upper coil from the neck pickup at the same time that I was selecting the lower coil of the bridge pickup, and vice versa. In order to preserve the hum canceling properties of the outer and inner combinations, I would need to reverse both the magnet polarity and direction of the winding for one of the pickups. (see open pickup surgery below)

So far, I had realized my goals for positions 1 and 5 of the 5-way switch, and felt confident that I could get what I wanted in positions 2 and 4. It was position 3 that I was stuck on. I wanted to be able to use position 3 for the middle pickup by itself, but I also wanted to be able to use position 3 to combine the humbuckers. I needed another switch, but didn’t want to drill another hole into the guitar. I decided to use a “push/pull” DPDT switch built into the pot that I would use as the volume control. While I was changing out this pot for one that includes a DPDT switch, I decided to use an audio taper pot instead of the linear taper pot that was in the guitar. The audio taper pot provides a smoother range of control as the pot is rolled from the lowest value to the highest, conforming more closely to the way the human ear perceives changes in volume. (note: Humbuckers typically need 500K ohm pots for best results.)

The stock pickup selector switch did not provide a straightforward way for combining the humbuckers, so I researched options and found a 4-pole, 5-way switch known as the “superswitch”. I designed a circuit to get exactly what I wanted, but was set back when I discovered that the superswitch was too deep in its physical dimension to fit inside the shallow control cavity of my guitar. So, forced to reuse my stock 2-pole, 5-way selector switch, I cobbled together a ‘work around’ that was functional, but inelegant in implementing all the choices I wanted. In position 3, when the push / pull switch was ‘pushed’, I would have the middle pickup by itself. When the push / pull switch was ‘pulled’, I would have the combination of the neck and bridge pickups as dictated by the on-off-on mini toggle (i.e. outer coils parallel / neck and bridge double coils parallel / inner coils parallel).

Open pickup surgery

In order to preserve hum-canceling when combining the inner or outer coils of the neck and bridge pickups, I had to reverse the magnetic polarity and winding direction for one of the pickups. I decided (arbitrarily) to make the change on the neck pickup. By gently loosening the screws in the base plate, I was able to separate the pickup bobbins from the housing. I then unwound the cloth tape that protected the pickup windings. This revealed the magnet nestled on the underside of the pickup between the pole pieces. I carefully slid the magnet out, flipped it over like a pancake, and slid it back into place. After re-taping the bobbins, I tightened up the screws on the base plate, and I was done. Total elapsed time, about 3 minutes. In order to reverse the direction of the winding, I simply treated the ‘start’ end of the winding (in the case of Seymour Duncan humbuckers, the black wire) as the finish and the ‘finish’ end (green) as the ‘start’. This change would be invisible when running the pickup by itself, but would make all the difference in preserving hum cancellation when one coil from the neck pickup was paired with one coil from the bridge pickup.

Installation

Installation went very smoothly. I used a ‘star ground’ technique to avoid any ground loops. This technique joins all the parts of the circuit that need to be grounded at a single point as the rays of a star emanating from the center. The ground wires from the pickups and the pots and the chassis were all grounded to the audio return on the guitar output jack. I used 22 gauge solid core copper wire, but wished I had some stranded wire on hand as it is typically easier to work with and is less prone to breaking. I tinned all the leads prior to soldering and was careful to heat the joint, not the solder. This is important in order to prevent ‘cold’ solder joints that can cause unreliable connections during operation. I had left one of the strings on the guitar in order to have an easy way of testing the guitar before buttoning up the back plate. I also tapped on the pole pieces with a tiny screwdriver (keep the volume down!) in order to make sure that the switches were providing the correct combinations. When the guitar checked out 100% it was time to string it up and take it for a test drive. Total installation time was approximately 90 minutes.

Final Results

I couldn’t wait to plug the guitar into my rig to test it out and hear the results. First I made sure that the pots were working (check!). I dialed in a clean setting and strummed a jazzy chord using the ’59 neck pickup set as a humbucker. I was delighted to hear such a full tone, a bit darker than I could ever coax from the original pickup, with a very rich midrange. Even with arpeggiated licks high on the neck, the tone was never brittle, even with the tone control maxed out. I then dialed in a high gain setting and the guitar gave forth a sustain like it never had before. It had a slight hint of natural compression without any artificial quality at all. Fast licks had a good balance between rounded slur and crisp articulation. I knew that this pickup was demonstrably better than the pickup it had replaced, but I hadn’t even begun to really reveal its versatility. I then flicked the mini toggle to split the upper coil. Back to a clean amp setting, I played a handful of blues licks with bends and double stops. No one would ever confuse it for a vintage Strat, but it was most assuredly a single coil tone with a pronounced ‘snap’. The tone darkened up a by a subtle amount when I split to the lower coil instead. Again, decidedly single coil, but no one would be forgetting Stevie Ray Vaughn’s or Eric Johnson’s tone any time soon. I decided to see if I could find out what this pickup was NOT good at and it didn’t take long. To my ears, it was entirely too muddy for hard rock power chords. I didn’t consider this a shortcoming because I never intended to use it in such an application. I suppose a punk rocker that wanted to create a thick wall of noise would find it quite useful.

I switched down to the Custom 5 pickup and did the same kinds of tests from the bridge position. With a crunchy hard rock rhythm setting on the amp, I got a very hot ‘power chord tone’. Thick with solid low end and nuanced mid ranges, it was decidedly ‘scooped’, especially compared to the Seymour Duncan JB pickup I have in the bridge position of another guitar. Instantly, I knew that this was a major step-up from the original pickup. Stepping up the gain and playing my best imitation of flashy hard rock solos, this pickup did not let me down. It had a nice high end that wasn’t shrill at all and didn’t get muddy when playing some low notes on the wound A and E strings. I needed to tweak the pickup height down a bit in order to get a good clean sound, which thankfully didn’t alter the ‘hot’ sounds noticeably. Splitting the coils had much the same effect as was evident when splitting the neck coils. The lower coil was a bit brighter than the upper coil, and while both were musically useful, neither was a stand out. (Like the man said, “if you want to sound like a Strat, buy one!”). I found that the single coils ‘crunched’ passably, but in high gain settings, they simply weren’t my cup of tea. Again, this was never my objective, so I wasn’t terribly disappointed.

As if the results thus far were a mere opening act, I switched to the middle pickup not knowing what to expect. The first thing that struck me was how quiet the Duckbucker was. Intellectually, I knew it should be quiet owing to its humbucker construction. I just didn’t consider the psycho-acoustic impact of switching to position 3 and hearing absolutely no noise. Dialing in a clean setting I started a few licks of my poor impersonation of a ‘chicken picker’. I was stunned! The snap and twang that I had hoped for was in full effect! Very bright and punchy, this pickup revealed ‘inner’ nuances to my favorite jazzy chords that I had never heard. It had a lovely chime to it with a “shimmery” high-end sustain. I started playing some bluesy licks and noticed a problem instantly. As I bent the strings, the volume would drop off very noticeably, and then increase as I released the bend. I suspected that the very narrow pole pieces were too far from the strings. I raised the pickup as close to the strings as I could without hitting it with my pick. The ‘volume drop’ problem was essentially gone, but it seemed to lose a bit of it’s ‘shimmer’ and ‘snap’. Pickups that are too close to the strings can rob a guitar of sustain as the pull of the pickup’s magnet physically dampens the string’s vibrations. Some tweaking will be needed to find the lowest possible height that I can get away with without seeing the ‘volume drop’ problem return. Another possible remedy would be to try the Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails pickup because it has tonal characteristics essentially identical to the Duckbucker, but with a blade design instead of individual pole pieces.

I then combined the Duckbucker with the neck pickup in all three mini-toggle positions. I was surprised to hear the nice varieties of tones that I could get. One of them was sure to work as a reasonable approximation of the Sultans of Swing sound, and another worked nicely for the Comfortably Numb / Brick In The Wall tone. Combining the Duckbucker with the bridge had similar results, only a bit brighter than the Duck/neck combos. In a critical listening environment, a schooled ear would readily know that this was not a Strat in positions 2 and 4. But in a live band situation, the sound would be plenty sufficient to evoke the familiar tones.

When I returned the 5-way switch to slot 3 and pulled up on the push/pull pot, I was treated to tones that this guitar had never produced. The dual parallel humbucker tone was dead-on for an old Gibson LP in the middle position. It rang out with full humbucker presence, but with a little extra top-end crispness and little extra low-end tightness. Adding a slight hint of crunch, I was able to get tones reminiscent of Steely Dan guitar tones from the 70′s. Very, Very cool ! Toggling up to get the ‘outer’ coil combo was exactly what I had hoped for. A very desirable tone approximating a “spanked” Tele was immediately present. (think Keith Richards crunchy rhythm sound) The ‘inner coils’ gave a slightly altered tone that had it’s peak shifted a bit to the midrange. Equally appealing, equally musical. Neither of these combinations had a trace of hum (the surgery was a success!). These last combinations rounded out the test drive that took me through all 16 unique combinations from this guitar.

Aside from the personal satisfaction from accomplishing my objectives in this do-it-yourself project, I got a HUGE smile on my face the first time I took this guitar out for a gig. Our soundman (a fellow guitarist who owns many expensive guitars, amps, and other toys) was floored by how good my tone was with just my guitar, a cord, a small Fender solid state combo amp and a touch of reverb. The notes seemed to jump off the fingerboard with a new crispness and the hi-gain solo tone was just transcendent. I played the best I ever had with this band that afternoon, even taking a few extra choruses on Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers (check out Jeff Beck’s Blow by Blow CD for the definitive version of this Stevie Wonder composition). This guitar is officially ‘number one’ for me.

Conclusion

My total cash outlay for this project was under $250 and total time spent was approximately three hours (not counting research).

Inspiring tone can really stimulate a player to new heights of creativity, and noodling with the pickups is a fun and effective way to get very close to the heart of the tone. I hope this two-part series was informative and inspiring to readers who have considered getting “under the hood” and tricking out their axes to get a custom “hot-rod” sound. Gentlemen (and ladies), Start your soldering irons !!

I am grateful to all who helped me with my journey, especially my ‘tone brothers’ on the Seymour Duncan website message forum. Special thanks also to John at BlackroseCustom.com and Lew at lewsguitars.com for excellent advice and fast service.

Also check out… Replacement Pickups Part 1

An Introduction Into The World Of Replacement Pickups (Part 2) was written by Bill Cozzo for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Indigenous drew critical acclaim in 1997 with their independently released debut CD titled Things We Do. Since then, they’ve grown their following through steady touring and recording, releasing five CDs in total. Their most recent CD, simply entitled Indigenous, was released in 2003 and is their strongest recording to date.

Mato’s scorching lead guitar work and soulful deep-pitched vocals are showcased on every tune and can evoke a wide variety of emotions and intensity. His soloing is particularly impressive, demonstrating his complete command of the wah-wah pedal’s power to infuse melodic phrases with a stunning vocal-like quality. He extracts a wide pallet of tones from his Fender Stratocasters. His chords range from chime-y clean, through medium grit, to full-on crunch during rhythm work and his single lines can howl with power tube saturation, quack with a pronounced mid range, or purr with silky smoothness.

Mato graciously agreed to chat with Guitar Noise contributor Bill Cozzo to talk about recording the band’s latest CD, his guitars and amps, playing live, and aspects of the band’s career from early beginnings to playing with legends.

Bill Cozzo: Congratulations on the latest CD. I know that you recorded it mostly ‘live’ as opposed to building up the songs one instrument at a time. Did you set aside time to write and rehearse for it?

Mato Nanji: Thanks. Yeah, we had a couple of songs written already so we went in and kinda broke the ice a little bit and recorded those right away. After that, we had a bunch of other ideas, so we sat down and worked out the rest of the songs with our producers the Davey Brothers. They ended up co-writing a few of the songs with us too.

bc: Do you write when you’re on the road?

MN: Yeah, yeah. A lot of times when we’re doing sound check I get different ideas for songs, or even when I’m playing live, once in a while I get an idea from something I’m jamming.

bc: How do you pick covers that you decide to do, like “Shame, Shame, Shame”?

MN: That was actually our producers, the Davey brothers’ idea. They wanted us to do a cover of something like an old blues track. It was something that we haven’t done in the past, so we decided on that track because it was one that everyone liked. I’m a pretty big Jimmy Reed fan.

bc: Do you ever see yourself getting into instrumentals in different styles like Stevie Ray Vaughn or Eric Johnson?

MN: We’ve done a little bit of that, we did a couple instrumentals on our first two recordings but on this record we strictly went for just songs. I’m not quite sure how that happened. (chuckles)

bc: What are some of your thoughts about recording layer-by-layer versus keeping it mostly live ?

MN: It’s cool both ways. When you do it layer by layer you can get a great drum track and layer over it until your happy with it. When you go in and setup like we do live and just basically jam it out, it’s a lot of fun.

bc: Talk about working with your co-producers, the Davey brothers. What did they bring to the process?

MN: I think a lot of getting that live feel was them coming in and helping us capture that vibe. I really like the way Jesse Davey captured the guitar tone that I got on the record. In the past, it was kinda hard for me to capture the guitar tone that I wanted and he really helped me out with that. Basically, what I did was just set up the way I do live. Well, maybe with a few more amps than usual (laughs). We went through every amp and got a different tone and mixed them. A lot of times, (the final sound) was mixed all together.

bc: The first single from the new CD, “C’mon Suzie”, has mixes a cool, modern vibe with the more traditional blues rock sound of the other tunes on the CD. How did that come about?

MN: Actually, that song was written by an English Band that I met the Davey brothers through, called the Hoax. They’re a really great blues rock band. They had written the song but never got a chance to release it. I really liked it, so I thought “Shoot we can cover that. It’s one of my favorite songs that they did, so I thought we could give it a shot”.

bc: A lot of Guitar Noise readers are relatively new to guitar. Talk a little about how you learned from your father. Did he show you chord fingerings and scale patterns and finger exercises and stuff?

MN: yeah my dad basically taught me how. Actually, when I first started out trying to play guitar the hardest thing I had a problem with was trying to keep it in tune, you know? (laughs). That was the toughest thing for me. After a while he kinda got me through that and showed me the simplest way to tune it. Then he started teaching me more chords. He was really into a lot of different kinds of music – some jazzier stuff, and blues. He could go to a song that I was trying to learn and listen to it once and be able to play it. Just like that, pick it up right away. With me, even now, it takes me a while to kinda pick up on things (laughs)

bc: What are your thoughts on learning to read, write, theory, scales modes arpeggios, etc …

MN: I haven’t really learned that way. I never really learned to read music or write it. I just learned it all by ear. That’s kinda the way my dad taught me. I think it’s a little more of a different vibe if you learn it that way. You get a lot more of the feel, I guess of what’s goin’ on. At least, that’s what I’ve noticed. He also said “If you learn it that way, you’ll never forget it. (chuckles) It’s in your blood”.

bc: Tell me about some of your early gigs. Were you playing for large groups of people? Where you playing mostly covers or originals??

MN: I think the very first gig we did was mostly in front of families and friends.. we did mostly covers back then. We did some Santana, some Hendrix. Actually we even did a few Ventures songs. We did all kinds of stuff. We did some Lonnie Mack. It was a pretty wide range. Back then, when we first started doing the shows, my dad told us right from the beginning to start writing our own stuff. One of the first songs I ever wrote was “Things We Do” back when I was 17 or 18.

bc: Tell me about what it’s like playing with family. What does it bring to the recordings and the lives shows as opposed to guys who just form up a band with people they meet, or friends?

MN: Yeah, I’d say that it’s a lot different. Even from the beginning when we were just first starting out playing together it felt really comfortable right away. A lot of times when you play with other people you have to build that comfort together. From the beginning, there was something there, you never could see or explain what it is, but you can feel it. Even now when we go out to play we never have a set list we just get up there and kinda go with the flow.

bc: What are some of you favorite memories of playing with superstars like BB King, Carlos Santana, Dave Matthews. Besides the thrill of it that any fan would feel, what is the experience like on a musical level?

MN: It’s just totally awesome. Just being able to see B.B. King every night, getting the chance to get on the bus and talk to him a little bit was really great. His thing that he always said was “Just stay high on the music. That’s what it’s all about”. And then playing with Santana was really awesome. Realizing that this is one of the guys I grew up listening to, and learning from, and then seeing him right there, trading licks with him back and forth was a lot of fun.

bc: Let’s talk “tech” a little bit. Are your guitars and amps modified or stock?

MN: My Strats are modified a little bit. I’ve been swapping out different kinds of pickups, trying them out, trying different tones. Right now I have Texas Specials, which I think are pretty cool. Who knows, I might try something else (chuckles).

The amps are all stock. I’ve got an old Fender 75 that’s one of my main amps. It’s an amp head and I play it through a Matchless cabinet with four 12″ speakers. It sounds pretty awesome. It’s one of my favorites. I think the guy who made that amp only made it for one year, and then he went on to make Rivera amps. I still have the old Super Reverbs and the new Vibroverb that they modified after Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Vibroverb. I really like that, with the 15″ speaker. I also use a Mesa Boogie once in a while for the clean sounds. I’ve been using a new Marshall JCM 2000 and I really like it. Sometimes I use it for an in between overdrive sound, and it also sounds real good on the clean channel too. I like to try out different amps to see what kinds of different tones I can get out of them.

bc: Talk a little about singing and playing at the same time.

MN: (starts laughing)

bc: Does it come natural for you or does it take practice?

MN: (still chuckling) It takes a lot of work for me. I’m still working at it. For some of these newer tunes, it was tough in the beginning to get ‘em down. Of course, in the studio, you just lay ‘em down live then you go back and do the vocal track. But even now, it’s a real job … (laughs) to keep that rhythm going and to sing.

bc: Are you mindful of that when you’re writing, to not put a lick in the middle of a verse that you’ll have to sing over?

MN: yeah, I try not to get ‘em too intertwined so I won’t have to (laughing)

bc: Do you use the Internet much for things related to music?

MN: A little bit. I’ve been getting into it a little more lately. My sister (Indigenous’s drummer, Wanbdi) has really got it down way better than I do so a lot of times I’ll just go to her and she’ll look things up for me. I’ve bought some pedals over the Internet and on E-Bay.

cc: Do you have any thoughts on music sharing across the Internet?

MN: Yeah, it’s a bit tough because I see both sides of it. You have musicians like us, just like everyone else, who want to go out there and make a living. But in a way I think it’s also kinda cool to get some new fans that might be interested in what we do. So while it’s good to get our music out there, we’d also like to make a little something out of it. Hopefully they’ll come up with something that works for everybody.

bc: Talk a little about the differences for you in playing smaller clubs, larger concerts, and outdoor festivals?

MN: Well, I like the outdoor stuff when you get a good festival going on and a lot of people there. You get a pretty cool vibe. But on the other hand, I also really like the more intimate clubs with 200 to 400 people packed in there all jamming together. I like both ways actually (chuckles). Each kind of show has its own kind of energy that I like to take in and then turn around and give right back through my playing.

bc: About 20 yrs ago, David Bowie tapped Stevie Ray Vaughn, who was then relatively unknown, for a recording and tour sideman gig that set SRV on the path to superstardom. If some multi platinum star offered you a similar gig today, would you do it?

MN: I guess it would be fun to play with them on the record. But I really dig playing with my family. It’s a lot of fun and it feels like we’re really starting to get going, especially with the new record. It’s getting released in Europe, which is the first time for us. So for right now, this is what I want to do for as long as I can. But maybe if I get a little older and somebody decides they want me to hang around (chuckles) and play with them a bit it’d be fun.

bc: If not music, what career path would you have taken?

MN: (pauses and then chuckles) I don’t really know. Maybe something weird, like a lawyer (laughs). I probably would’ve gone to school.

bc: Well that wraps it up. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk today. Best wishes for continued success with the latest CD and tour.

MN: Thanks a lot

Mato is a very easygoing guy to talk to. He is generous with his time and he had no hint of a ‘rock star’ attitude. With his skills, dedication, and positive attitude, one can only hope that the future holds wonderful things for, and from, this rising star of the guitar world. Guitar Noise readers are heartily encouraged to catch Indigenous live this summer on their tour dates throughout the Midwestern USA, to check out their website, and have a listen to their CDs.

An Interview with Mato Nanji was written by Bill Cozzo for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Background

I have always loved the feel of my Ibanez 540S solid-body electric guitar. Its neck and fingerboard radius is super flat, super thin, and of medium width – in short; it’s built for speed. The body shape is very comfortable, very lightweight, and also extremely thin. It is truly nothing short of a joy to play. Equally it’s no slouch in the looks department with its cherry sunburst finish over a nicely figured, flamed maple top. Its only shortcoming has been its sound (granted, this is a major shortcoming for a musical instrument). The palette of tones that my guitar produces has served me reasonably well – other players have even complimented me on my tone – but there has always been something missing. The tones that I ‘hear’ in my head are more nuanced, subtle, and ultimately, more expressive than the ones that I have been able to coax from this guitar.

In attempts to improve this condition, I have done all the relatively easy, inexpensive, and reversible things. I have tweaked endlessly with the settings on my rack-mounted pre-amp. I have changed string gauge (from 0.09-0.42 to 0.10- 0.46 to 0.11-48) and string type (nickel, steel, ‘coated’). I have tried different styles and gauges of picks, to include trying a thumb pick and my fingers. While these experiments have added to my arsenal of tone producing weaponry, none of them have achieved all the tonal qualities I have hoped for. So I decided once and for all that I would endeavor to remove the stock pickups from my guitar and replace them with aftermarket upgrade pickups.

This two-part series will describe the journey and the discoveries made along the way. In the first part, we’ll have a beginner’s look at exactly what a pickup does and how it does it. We’ll also have a brief overview of the tones made famous by some of the best sounding electric guitar players of the last thirty years. We’ll also review some of the web’s sources of information available to those who want to embark on a quest for tone. In the second part, I’ll describe the steps I took on my quest and reveal my results.

Pickup Primer

Pickups have the relatively simple job of turning the musical vibrations of guitar strings into an electrical signal that feeds an amplifier which somehow turns it into limousines, supermodel girlfriends, rehab, a ‘behind the music’ special, a reunion tour, and if you’re lucky immortalization in Cleveland, or at least your local Hard Rock Café. As far as the physics is concerned, electric guitar pickups are relatively simple devices (Well, up to the limousine part. Everything after that is left to the reader as an exercise).

Electric guitar pickups (1) are nothing more than a length of wire wrapped in a coil (usually around a plastic bobbin that gives the pickup its elongated oval shape) with a magnet (usually Ceramic, or an alloy of Aluminum, Nickel, and Cobalt called Alnico) in the center of the coil. Pole pieces (either adjustable screws or fixed metal slugs) poke up out of the coil towards the strings and ‘focus’ the pickup under the vibrating string. Basic principles of electro magnetism tell us that a coil of wire around a magnet creates an electro-magnetic field. The vibrations of the guitar strings create a disturbance in this field that, in turn, induces a current onto the coil of wire that becomes the output signal of the guitar (i.e. the coil ‘picks up’ the vibrations and turns it into electricity – hence the name). The output power (i.e. volume) of a pickup is related to the number of turns in the coil (the more, the louder) and the strength of the magnet (the stronger, the louder).

A single coil pickup will produce a noticeable ‘hum’ at a frequency of 60 Hz corresponding to the frequency of AC power lines that interfere with the pickups electromagnetic field. A double coil pickup (frequently called a ‘humbucker’) has two single coils that are installed in opposing orientations. When the signals from these two coils are added, the 60 Hz signals ‘cancel’ each other out, thereby ‘bucking’ the ‘hum’ and leaving a relatively noiseless signal.

Despite the simplicity of the theory behind the operation of pickups, there is a vast body of practical knowledge to be uncovered in the artistry surrounding pickup design. Design facets include the selection of the type and length of wire, the type and strength of magnet selected, and physical assembly considerations (such as potting the pickup in wax, or proper placement of the pickup in relation to the strings). By varying these parameters, different pickups can be made to produce vastly differing tonal characteristics.

All other things being equal, a single coil pickup will have a lower output level than a double coil pickup simply because it has half as much wire and half as much magnet strength. A single coil pickup historically has a brighter, cleaner sound whereas a double coil pickup will be louder, with more harmonic content. Single coils are noisy due to their picking up the 60-cycle hum, while humbucker’s increased magnetism can physically dampen the vibrations of the strings, leading to a loss of sustain. Sometimes, humbuckers can have just one of the two coils selected for output (either the ‘upper’ or ‘lower’ coil), this allows an approximation of a single coil sound.

Another aspect to consider regarding pickups is the different ways of combining more than one pickup. They can be combined ‘in phase’ or ‘out of phase’. In phase combinations are typically louder while out of phase combinations can produce interesting ‘notches’ due to the cancellation of some frequencies. Pickups can also be combined in series or in parallel for an entirely different kind of alteration to the resulting sound. Note, by careful selection of direction of pickup windings and polarity of magnets, two single coil pickups can be combined in such a way as to cancel the hum, much like a double coil pickup.

A Journey of One Thousand Miles Begins with the Very First Step.

With this bit of practical knowledge under our belts, we can consider the options ahead. With all due apologies to Steven Covey, the first habit of the highly effective tone seeker is to “begin with the end in mind”. So I suppose that it might be useful for us to describe both the tones we might want, and how these differ from the tones we get.

As most readers will no doubt understand, a truly useful electric guitar must be able to do more than one thing well. It has to be able to produce a nicely balanced ‘chime-y’ tone when playing chords without being ‘muddy’ or ‘tinny’ (2). The bass must remain present, but always taut, never sponge-y. The modern electric guitar also has to be able to voice a range of distorted tones – from the gritty bite of slightly overdriven rock rhythm to the full bodied ‘crunch’ of power chords – without its mid range frequencies being out of balance, it’s bass getting too soggy, or its treble fuzzing out. It must be able to sparkle a twang-y, jingle-jangle when appropriate, and add a touch of ‘quack’ when needed. And last but not least, it must remain articulate with warm sustain (without ever being shrill) when singing in an overdriven lead voice.

It might be useful to point out the tones of famous players in order to illustrate these qualities (3):

For distorted hard rock rhythm guitar parts, Eddie Van Halen captured the sound of a generation with the opening strains of the remake of the Kinks You Really Got Me from the first Van Halen release. Known as ‘the brown sound’, EVH’s rhythm tone (especially that used on the first four VH albums) is produced in equal parts from his hands, the guitar (with its single humbucker pickup in the bridge position), his use of effects, and an intentionally underpowered (4) Marshall tube amplifier. While we are noting his rhythm tone here, EVH’s soloing tone is equally amazing and distinctive. Another Hard Rock / Heavy Metal players with notable tone is George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob) and inimitable Brian May of Queen.

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones has a very distinctive rock rhythm tone that is the product of a vintage Fender Telecaster tuned to open-G tuning with only 5 strings (he omits the low E string). Bruce Springsteen, Tom Campbell (of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers fame), and others have similarly banged out a distinctive rhythm tone on the Tele’s famous swamp ash plank.

Mark Knopfler’s guitar sound on the first few Dire Straits albums was particularly admired for its chime-y quality. He combined the single coil pickups on his custom-built, Strat-style guitars in such a way as to produce a unique ‘out of phase’ tone that ‘quacked’ when his finger attack was especially aggressive. Check out the fills and solos from ‘Sultans of Swing’ for an example.

Taking Knopfler’s tone and kicking in the overdrive will bring you close to some of David Gilmour’s signature Strat tones from Pink Floyd. Check out Comfortably Numb, Wish You Were Here, and Another Brick in The Wall.

Stevie Ray Vaughn did things with a Strat that can only be described as otherworldly. From lush, clean chords, to warm jazzy single note and octave runs, to gritty blues riffs or explosive solos that alternately sting or sing, SRV had among the very broadest pallets of sound of the last 25 years. Eric Johnson uses a similarly spectacular arsenal of sonic possibility, not only with a Strat, but also with semi-hollow Gibsons (ES-335) and others. Both of these Texans have used combinations of vintage Marshall Amplifiers and Fender amplifiers in the creation of their tones.

Neil Schon, best known from the 80′s arena-filling band, Journey, had some of the most versatile tones in music of that era for both his chording and single note sounds. Any Way You Want It, Walks Like a Lady, Lights, Faithfully, Separate Ways, and a dozen others show the variety of tones he produces from a variety of guitars, mostly customized Strats and Les Pauls.

Carlos Santana has perhaps the most distinctive solo tone in rock music with his Neck-Position Humbucker-driven PRS guitar through a Mesa-Boogie amp. Warm and singing, this guitar seems to say “ooooo”, while almost everyone else’s is saying “eeeee”. (Sing these two sounds out loud to hear the difference in tonal quality. Even though you don’t change the pitch of the note you are singing, the tonal quality is quite different)

Taking Santana’s tone and de-emphasizing the bass and lower midrange frequencies while punching the upper mids and keeping the highs in check will give you the building blocks of an impressive overdriven solo voice typical of electric fusion players such as Al DiMeola and Frank Gambale. Whether DiMeola’s alternate picking or Gambale’s sweep picking, an assertive picking-hand attack, tightly synchronized with nimble left-hand note selection, combine with high output humbucker pickups for this singing solo voice that retains articulate note differentiation amidst the harmonic-rich warmth. If you de-emphasize the bass even further and crank the treble, throw in the liberal use of effects units (such as pitch harmonization and multi-tapped digital delay lines) and add more radical use of the vibrato bridge (most frequently called (incorrectly) a tremolo bridge), you arrive at the modern instrumental rock tones of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.

Pat Metheny and Mike Stern, elite Jazz guitarists, each have a readily identifiable tone that is influenced by their choice of guitars (Metheny, a variety of hollow ‘jazz boxes’ with associated ‘rolled off’ treble tonality, and Stern, a custom-made ‘Tele-styled’ solid body with its crisp articulation), their use of reverb, chorus, and delay effects, and their formidable fingerboard skills (Metheny with his ‘slippery’ phrasing and syncopated rhythmic timing and Stern with his ‘chops of doom’ speed and melodic composition). See Also Allan Holdsworth, or John Scofield in this genre.

So, with such a comprehensive understanding of the ultimate tone objectives firmly in hand, how hard could it be to get my guitar to be able to pull off a reasonable approximation of all these tones?

Investigating the Transformation Possibilities

Fortunately, there is essentially no excuse for crummy tone these days with the number and variety of replacement pickups on the market. Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio are the two largest makers of replacement pickups for electric guitar, with Joe Barden, Carvin, EMG, Fender, Lindy Fralin, Gibson, Bill Lawrence (5), Lace, PRS, and others rounding out the field. Pickups range in street price anywhere from about $50 US to well over $100 US. The hard part is not finding pickups, but rather deciding which ones to try. Words can only do so much to give you an idea of what a pickup can do. As I described at the outset, tone is such a composite quality that listening to records with the pickups identified provides only a rough guideline. With enough technical skills, time and money, one could purchase an assortment of pickups and ‘road test’ them, but given the impracticality and inefficiency of this approach, those on a tone quest must do their best to find their own path forward.

A fun tool for those embarking on a ‘Quest for Tone’ is the Internet. Manufacturers’ websites describe their pickups with many of the same adjectives used in this article to convey a sense of the pickups intended uses. Some are described as ‘neck’ pickups or ‘bridge’ pickups. Some are described as ‘vintage’ (suggesting that a pickup closely reproduces the much sought-after tones of Fender or Gibson guitars from the 1950′s or 1960′s), or modern (usually suggesting a higher output device, or one that uses advances in technology to reduce noise, string pull, etc). Seymour Duncan’s website has an interesting feature called the ‘tone wizard’. After entering the type of guitar you have, the type of wood its body and fingerboard are made from, and the style of music you play, the wizard lists some suggested pickups for your consideration. With several dozen pickups in the product line, this is a very helpful starting point.

What I was not prepared for was the amount of confusion that I experienced when reading manufacturers websites. For example, one pickup, labeled a ‘neck’ pickup would be described in terms that indicated that it might be suitable to my purposes, but upon reading further in the description, I would see that the manufacturer also suggested using it in the bridge position. The converse was also true for pickups labeled initially as bridge pickups. I still cannot fathom how a pickup can be the same in either position. I understand that some, even many, would find the pickup to exhibit pleasing (albeit different) characteristics in either position, but I seriously doubt that it will have the same characteristics in either position. By failing to describe the changes in characteristics, I suspected that I was getting a ‘sell job’, that the pickup being pushed is a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. Instead of convincing me, the manufacturer simply left me doubting that such a pickup is right for me.

Another distraction encountered during pickup selection is the names of the pickups. A pickup called ‘Screaming Demon’, or ‘Full Shred’ might have tonal characteristics desirable to a broad segment of the pickup buying public, but the connotation that these are intended primarily (exclusively?) for the heavy metal crowd is quite strong. Likewise, the tones produced by a pickup called ‘Jazz’ or ‘Bluesbucker’ might actually appeal to a greater number of players than the name might imply. I know that a ‘rose by any other name would smell as sweet’, but when you have several dozen pickups to consider, you need something to start narrowing it down. Manufacturers need to realize that their products do not have a readily identifiable physical characteristic to distinguish themselves by (e.g. when I go to an auto showroom, I know what differences exist between minivans and sports cars). When all we have is words to go by, it’s best if the words really mean something.

The websites often have sound clips of pickups. These range from snippets of commercial recordings by artists who use a given pickup (not very informative given the amount of additional production present) to simple clips of a guitarist playing guitar solo licks. These too are fairly limited examples, but they are better than nothing. There is typically not enough variety in the types of guitars used or in the playing styles demonstrated in these clips to allow the user to determine the suitability of the pickup to their individual needs. A hard rock / heavy metal shredder won’t be able to assess a pickup’s suitability if the sound clip features a clean tone playing a chicken-pickin’ lick. Likewise, a jazz cat won’t learn much from a high-gain robo-riff sample. One pickup might sound a certain way for cleanly strumming open chords, but different when playing crunchy power chords. Cleanly playing single notes on the wound strings might not yield the same tonal properties as bending notes on the plain strings high on the neck with long sustain. Further, no site that I have found has sound samples of pickups in combination with other pickups, or even what humbuckers sound like when their coils are tapped individually. So, as cool as it is to get a hint of a pickup’s sound, and to compare it head-to-head with other pickups, web-based sound samples have not reached full potential as an informative device.

Manufacturers websites also often have technical specifications of their pickups that give a pickup’s DC resistance (measured in K ohms) or resonant frequency (measured in KHz). DC Resistance loosely corresponds to the pickup’s output, with a higher DC resistance indicating a ‘hotter’, or higher, output device. Given that a pickup has to work in an AC environment, it’s DC resistance cannot provide information about it’s overall sound. Similarly, the resonant frequency of a pickup doesn’t provide much insight into the pickup’s tonal characteristics across the entire frequency range from bass, through lower and upper midrange, to treble. Some manufacturers try to give a quantitative comparison value of a pickup’s frequency response by rating the highs, mids, and lows of a pickup on a 1-10 scale, with 10 being most prominent. Again, this is a qualitative assessment more than a quantitative measurement, despite the use of numbers.

Another useful source for finding information on the Internet is message boards where guitarists share their knowledge, experience, and opinions and ask questions for others to comment on. I used the Seymour Duncan message forum extensively during my search and found the participants to be friendly, honest, and helpful. Other message forums include a Fender forum, Les Paul forum, PRS Forum, and a Carvin forum. Some participants in these forums have their own websites featuring additional samples of pickups in their guitars. Not only can some of these folks play very well (!), but also many are meticulous about describing exactly how the clip was recorded so as to give the critical listener enough information to gauge the context of the tones produced. I found this to be the most unexpected, but among the most helpful sources of info as I researched my choices. Check some out for yourself, you might be as surprised as I was what some gifted amateurs can accomplish.

A moment to catch our breath

So, there you have it. A little intro describing how pickups work, a review of some sweet sounding tones, and a few clues on where to find out more than you ever might’ve expected about pickups.

Next time, we’ll finish our journey and find out how close we can come to the promised land of tone, sweet tone.

2. It is important to note that guitar tone-o-philes yield no ground to wine aficionados in their liberal adaptation of adjectives to describe sonic qualities.

3. There are lots of famous players with excellent tone and highly skilled chops. Those described here are included to illustrate the point.

4. By under-powering the amplifier (i.e. providing less than 120volts of AC power), the amplifier’s tubes become saturated or distorted in a unique way. However, this can damage an amp if done improperly and is not advised for the amateur hobbyist to try at home.

5. I already own two Bill Lawrence humbucker pickups and am thrilled with them. They are X500-Ls from the mid ’80s and are probably the most articulate, balanced, powerful, noiseless, and versatile pickups I have ever played. I decided not to include them on my current replacement quest simply for the sake of variety.

My Journey into the World of Replacement Pickups – The Definition of Tone was written by Bill Cozzo for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Playing on a “three voice” I-series solid body, he demonstrated some of the various magnetic pickup configurations of the guitar’s electric ‘voice.’ Cummings used a Mesa Boogie Dual RectoVerb combo amp and produced tones ranging from a nicely balanced, warm rhythm tone on the neck pickup, to a springy, chicken pickin’ tone with tapped single coils. He told the audience that he didn’t bring a distortion pedal and joked that no one really needed to hear him bash out heavy metal licks. Unfortunately, he never got around to showing the guitars ability to ‘sing’ in a high-gain, sustain or ‘crunch’ in a rock rhythm role. This demonstration merely hinted at the versatility that one would expect from a guitar that lists for about $1000 U.S.

He then switched to a piezo pickup (by RMC) that is built into the bridge saddles to show off the guitar’s acoustic ‘voice’. After rolling off the magnetic pickup volume and turning up the piezo output, he strummed and arpeggiated a standard open G chord to reveal a very convincing acoustic presence through his “demo amp du jour”, a Crate acoustic amp. Finger-style chord / melody lines and single-note flat picking sounded equally solid when EQ’d and seasoned with a touch of reverb. The heart of this voice is the piezo transducer, made by RMC. Each string’s bridge saddle has a gold-tipped crystal unit that detects the full frequency range of the strings vibrations. The output of the individual strings are summed, and sent to a stereo output jack. This allows for the separate routing of electric and acoustic sounds because, as Cummings opined, playing an acoustic through an electric amp sounds “about as good as an AM radio”. This high quality piezo unit also serves as the pickup for the guitar’s third voice.

Lastly, he turned down the piezo output and turned up the control he referred to as the ‘fun’ knob (the volume control to the iGuitar’s 13 pin GK pickup output) to demonstrate the guitar’s third voice. Controlling a Roland GR-33 guitar synthesizer, Cummings played a handful of very interesting synth patches solo, blended in with the magnetic output, blended with the piezo output, and all three voices blended together. Showing that the technology of guitar synthesis has vastly improved over products from 10 or 20 years ago, he demonstrated what was, essentially, flawless tracking by blending a saxophone patch on the synth with the magnetic output. There were no noticeable delays or glitching as he ran scales up and down the neck at a considerable tempo. While simply finger picking an open G chord, a very nice wash of synth strings welled up underneath to generate a sonic palette that one teen player described as ‘all warm and fuzzy’.

Cummings suggested that a fully capable midi tool like the iGuitar could open up opportunities for guitarists to make some money by finding work more typically performed by keyboard players such as scoring video documentaries or commercials. His example of a ‘shark week’ promo was especially convincing in this regard.

Cummings then described a little about the Brian Moore line of guitars and basses. He talked about US custom shop guitars that are hand made in New York. He characterized these as professional quality instruments in the $3000 US range. He showed a gorgeous custom shop guitar with an “11″ flamed maple top and a solar system inlay on the neck and indicated that many more custom shop creations could be viewed on the Brian Moore website. He also talked about his iGuitar line, made in a very high-quality factory in Asia with guitars starting in the sub-$1000 US range. While obviously very proud of his company and its products, he was very understated in his delivery and wasn’t at all the ‘pushy salesman’. More details about the entire Brian Moore line are available on their website, http://www.brianmooreguitars.com/

In addition to the sonic possibilities of the three-voice system, Cummings demonstrated a new software package by Sibelius that allows a guitarist to route the midi output from a guitar synth into a computer and have the computer transcribe the music to standard musical notation, tab, or both in real-time! Once captured, the music can be transposed, corrected, and notated with chord diagrams, lyrics, etc. the performance can also be played back as a midi file to drive any midi sound source. Coupled with sequencer or digital recording software, a guitarist could build up a multipart musical composition layer by layer all from their familiar fret board. Attendees were wowed by the speed, and accuracy of the transcription software as even the speediest single note runs showed up on the staff in a flash. Cummings’ jazzy finger style performance, with alternating thumbed bass notes and off beat chord stabs, almost immediately showed up on the screen exactly as performed.

Mr. Cummings concluded his informal remarks with an invitation to all in attendance to step up and take a test drive of the guitar and synth. As an inducement to overcome shyness of playing in front of strangers, he offered a pack of Elixir strings to anyone who played the guitar. The writer eventually gave it a try and found the guitar to be quite playable and the numerous controls very intuitive. The neck was fast with a thickness and width that felt somewhere in between a Les Paul and a Strat. Its shape felt more like a “C” than a “U” or “V”. The tonal varieties from the electric voice were substantial, yet responsively subtle and nuanced. (too bad there was no ‘lead channel’ available on that Boogie – I think it’s a misdemeanor in some states to play a Boogie without trying some Santana-esque sustain phrases). The acoustic voice was bright in its attack, but also remarkably warm in its sustain, without any of the “quack” frequently associated with piezo pickups. It responded very nicely to differences both in fretting-finger vibrato and picking-finger / flat pick attack. The synth voice was flat out fun to play, instantly conjuring a nearly endless vista of possibilities. From smokey Middle Eastern bazaars (tabla and sitar, mizmar) to outback walkabouts (didgeridoo and bamboo flute); from funky Fender Rhodes to gritty Hammond B3, warm string pads to wailing sax lines – one could play this thing for months and never run out of inspiration to create something new.

Brian Moore Guitar Clinic was written by Bill Cozzo for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Let’s pick up the topic again, this time using these chords in songs. A good way to get a feel for this kind of substitution is to reinterpret a well-known tune. The Bob Dylan song All Along the Watchtower (also recorded famously by Jimi Hendrix) is an interesting framework against which to examine the possibilities of comping with fourths. The chords to the tune are simple. They’re in A minor (the relative minor of C major – the key we studied last time).

In our reinterpretation, we won’t be playing a simply strummed folk style, or an all-out, psychedelic rocker. We’ll be going for a half-time, jazzy groove feel , so be sure to swing those eighth notes! As we set out to substitute for the original chords, let’s pick out voicings from our harmonization of C major in fourths that avoid heavy use of the roots and fifths. A bassist would most likely be playing these notes. When looking for a replacement for Am, we would avoid a voicing with an A or E in it. Let’s also try to select voicings that emphasize the thirds (minor or major) because these notes give a chord its quality. For Am, we would choose a substitute that has a C in it.

Here are some choices:

Notice how the highest-pitched notes in the substitute chords are the thirds for the chords they are replacing (e.g. the C note played on the 13th fret of the 2nd string is the minor 3rd of the Am chord it is replacing). By having these notes on top, we will be able to accent them (perhaps with staccato upstrokes) and use them to create the tonal focus of the chord. And by choosing a voicing with the 7th on the original chord (in this case, G is the 7th in Am7), we further color the chord’s quality with extended tonality.

Here are the replacement chords used in the song’s progression:

This is just one simple example of the ways that you could use the harmonized voicings to substitute for the original chords. While extending an improvised jam around this song, try your own variations. You needn’t limit yourself to simple strumming either. Arpeggiating these harmonized forms can create a rolling and spacious melodic backdrop.

I hope this has given you a useful point of embarkation on your journey to explore the use of fourths for comping.

For examples of reinterpreting Hendrix tunes with a different feel, check out Sting’s version of Little Wing and The Wind Cried Mary, or The Corrs’ version of Little Wing. The Hendrix Tribute CD, entitled In From The Storm (RCA/Victor), has a number of very strong renditions that stretch the original tunes.

Also check out… Comping With Fourths Part 1

Comping With Fourths Part 2 was written by Bill Cozzo for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Jazz composer/pianist Chick Corea has performed in numerous musical settings during his 40-plus year career. From the mid 1980′s to the early 1990′s, his main vehicle for composing, recording, and performing was the Chick Corea Elektric Band. This group of virtuosi set the gold standard for instrumental electric jazz of that era, selling millions of CDs, winning awards, and inspiring musicians to practice more studiously. In celebration of his recent 60th birthday, Corea has reunited the best-known, best-loved lineup of the band for a tour. Joining Corea’s piano and synthesizers is bassist John Patitucci, drummer Dave Weckl, guitarist Frank Gambale, and saxophonist Eric Marienthal. After a comparatively tame tour opener in Tarrytown, NY last week, the band stormed into Washington DC for an evening of music that treated the enthusiastic and appreciative crowd to selections from each segment of the band’s career.

The evening opened with the strains of City Gate / Rumble, the first two songs from the first Elektric Band recording (1986) played on a vintage “suitcase” Fender Rhodes (modified to be a MIDI controller as well). This opening number featured fast-paced syncopations from the ensemble as Corea improvised on the electric piano, then on a wireless midi controller worn on a strap like a guitar. Everyone in the band took a mini-feature in this warm-up selection, giving fleeting hints at the extended solo turns each would take during the night. Next was “Trance Dance” from the band’s 1988 recording, “Eye of The Beholder.” This tune featured stretched-out improvised excursions by Marienthal and Gambale, who unleashed his sweep picking technique to thunderous applause at the climax. Not to be confused with garden-variety shredders from the 80′s, the native Aussie (nicknamed the “Thunder from Down Under”) created superior melodic content to match his pyrotechnic technique. He is a world-class example that technique is simply a tool – a means to an end – not a goal unto itself.

Sweep picking is a technique that offers economy of motion in the picking hand for better articulation and greater speed. Similar to strict alternate picking (where all notes are rigidly played with upstroke followed by downstrokes), when all the notes of a given lick are on the same string, sweep picking provides for a single stroke to play two notes with only one right hand motion when moving from one string to the next. Gambale developed his amazing ability with this technique and has produced instructional articles, books, and videos. He’s also taught the technique in master classes, and as part of the curriculum at GIT and the L.A. Music Academy, where he is head of the guitar department.

Chick introduced the next song, “C.T.A.,” as one he first heard back in the early 1960′s on a Miles Davis album (most likely Miles Davis, Vol.2). The bandleader then noted that a different incarnation of the band (known as the Chick Corea Elektric Band II) had recorded this Jimmy Heath composition in 1993, but concluded his remarks with a warm chuckle by saying “this band plays it better.” Again, Marienthal and Gambale soloed to broad applause. But the end section, with Corea (playing a custom-made 9′ concert grand), Patitucci, and Weckl playing an extended section in simple trio format, was absolutely transcendent. These too few minutes of improvised interplay brought to mind the brilliant work the three had done in the “Chick Corea’s Akoustic Band” recordings.

Introducing the closing piece for the first set, Corea described “Make A Wish,” from the 1990 recording Inside Out, as his personal favorite of the Elektric Band repertoire. The very difficult composition, with extended jazz harmonies and poly-rhythmic feel, was executed masterfully by the quintet. And the combination of cohesive ensemble playing and over-the-top feature sections foreshadowed the second set’s display of elite-caliber musicianship. Gambale’s tone was in full voice as he pulled out all the stops on his signature Yamaha solid body (AES-FG) through a rig consisting of a Marshall JMP-1 preamp, TC Electronic G-Force multi effects, and Stewart PA1000 power amp, through a Marshall JCM-900 cabinet wired for stereo with four 12″ Celestion speakers. The grooving propulsion of Weckl’s multi-limbed independence further augmented the solo to its stunning crescendo.

Patitucci also displayed unrivaled soloing skills on this tune with his signature Yamaha 6 string bass. Moving from his spot in the center of the back line to center stage, he was fully immersed in the moment as his amazing display of fretboard wizardry produced long arpeggiated lines over the accompaniment of Corea and Weckl. Seamlessly weaving his role across the continuum from simple groove-locking support to masterful soloist, Patitucci’s career continues to be an embodiment of the precept that musicians must not pigeonhole themselves with rigid definitions of musical roles. With elegant simplicity, he lets his ears and the music guide his performance, taking cues from the mood of the soloist, the vibe created by the other members of the rhythm section, and the momentum of the piece when his turn arrives for the spotlight.

The second set opened with “Silver Temple,” a bonus track found on the CD release of the band’s first recording. Again taking a turn in the spotlight, the bassist glanced at a chart of the tune intermittently, his face showing a sometimes smiling, sometimes wincing expression of self-effacement, as if somehow his playing wasn’t quite up to his standards. (John, the solo was outstanding. Don’t sweat it, bro’). Corea later indicated that it was the first time Patitucci had ever soloed in that song.

This situation illustrates several interesting aspects of musicianship: First, even top performers – whom most folks would be happy to be even one one-hundredth as skilled as – are often critical and unsatisfied with their own work. Second, taking risks (as Patitucci did) with music is vitally important, and handsomely rewarding. Third, sometimes we can learn from masters by observing the things that go on around them besides the notes and the rests.

Next, the band played along with a pre-recorded backing track to “Home Universe” as introduction to the “Eternal Child” from Eye of the Beholder. This was perhaps the most ambitious piece of the evening – so much so that Gambale played the piece sitting down in front of a music stand with at least 4 pieces of sheet music containing the composition. Recreating the recorded version with great authenticity, he played this piece on a steel string (Yamaha FPX-300) acoustic guitar. His solo was another amazing amalgam of chops and soul, to the extent that when he looked up to signal his intent to re-enter the head section, Corea encouragingly waved his hand in a circle to indicate that the guitarist should take another chorus.

Smiles flashed appreciatively on the faces of the band members as Gambale somehow found another gear with which to take it up a notch. The crowd responded with tremendous ovation as Gambale was signaled to yet another chorus. Taking his solo to absolute melodic and technical extremes, he climbed to the highest registers of the neck – literally coming over the top of the body – for stunningly rapid arpeggios across the complex chord changes at breakneck speed.

Chick introduced the next song by offering his opinion that the noted filmmaker Ken Burns (of Civil War and Baseball fame) should make a follow-up to his award-winning documentary, Jazz, because that film ended without exploring the jazz masters that came after the late 1940′s when Miles Davis came onto the scene as a 17 year old phenomenon with Charlie Parker. Corea offered that this sequel should use Miles as the common thread for all the jazz of the second half of the 20th century, owing to the staggering number of world-class talents that held chairs in Miles’ bands over the years.

This 12 bar blues, “Blue Miles,” was written by Corea as a tribute to Davis and recorded by the Elektric Band II lineup. It has a familiar turn-around riff in the final four bars that served as a perfect vehicle for the Elektric band to really spread out and continue to build the night’s improvisational energy to a new peak. Each player started their turn with slow, low riffs over a restrained but funk-tinged accompaniment. As the soloists built their statements into increasingly energetic explorations, the rhythm section kept pace by driving them on with matched vigor.

Each soloist reached soaring heights to conclude their turn with the crowd wildly acknowledging the display. Each time, the band brought down the dynamics over 12 “naked” bars allow the audience to settle in for another round and the next soloist to begin with a clean sheet. After Corea, Gambale, and Marienthal took individual turns, the three then began “trading fours,” with the bandleader taking the first four bars of the chorus, Marienthal responding over the middle four, and Gambale tearing up the turn around four. This continued as Patitucci and Weckl built up the rhythm support with increased intensity after every chorus. “Trading fours” soon gave way to “trading twos” as the conversation grew more frantic, and pretty soon the three were actively jamming at the same time with lots of interplay and a crowd gone wild. The rave-up ending was perfect as the band obviously enjoyed the moment.

The band’s final song of the second set saw Corea once again strap on the wireless keyboard controller and take a seat on a stool at center stage. He asked the audience to sing back to him some phrases in a call-and-response fashion. The phrases started out simply enough, but got progressively more challenging in pitch and melodic complexity. As the phrases got more difficult, the crowd (largely made up of musicians) matched him note for note as the band members cheered on the crowd. The climax of the participation section saw the band launch into “Got a Match?” a wild display of virtuosity from the first of the Elektric band’s recordings. As expected, each member gave a master clinic on his respective instrument that brought the house down.

And once again, they demonstrated how the whole they create is much more than the sum of its parts. They demonstrated tight ensemble melody lines, subtle accompaniment shadings, dynamic shifts, and accented rhythmic syncopations that responded to the feeling being created by the soloist at any given moment. They were a living, breathing testament to the importance of listening while performing. They finished the song with Marienthal, Corea, Patitucci, and Gambale standing side by side at the front of the stage to hit the unison line of the main theme in crisp, note-perfect fashion.

The Band’s encore was the title track from Light Years, their second recording, and the first to feature the lineup that performed in this concert. Its groove literally had the folks in the balcony dancing. The band left no notes unplayed as they left the crowd simply wowed at the spectacle they had observed. The last echoes of the final sustained chord had barely finished reverberating through the hall as a chilly and rainy Sunday night morphed silently into Monday morning. Without a doubt, the echoes of two and a half hours of passionate, musical excellence will reverberate much longer through the souls of those who were graced with the chance to experience it.

The tour continues into the first week of November, with Jimmy Earle taking the bass chair after October 19.

Related websites of interest:

• Chick Corea’s website – http://www.chickcorea.com/
• Frank Gambale’s website – http://www.frankgambale.com/
• Eric Marienthal’s website – http://www.ericmarienthal.com/
• John Patitucci’s website – http://www.johnpatitucci.com/
• Dave Weckl’s website – http://www.daveweckl.com/

Chick Corea’s Elektric Band Discography

• 1986 – THE CHICK COREA ELEKTRIC BAND
• 1987 – LIGHT YEARS
• 1988 – EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
• 1988 – GRP SUPER LIVE IN CONCERT
• 1990 – INSIDE OUT
• 1991 – BENEATH THE MASK
• 1993 – PAINT THE WORLD

Chick Corea’s Elektric Band Reunion Tour was written by Bill Cozzo for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Guitarists often want to know how to grow beyond standard barre chords when they expand their playing outside of rock/blues into jazz or other alternative styles. In this series of lessons, we’ll explore a cool approach to accompanying (often called “comping”) jazzy chord progressions. This approach can be called “harmonizing in fourths” because that is exactly how you derive the chords.

Barre chords are very “heavy” on roots and fifths. These can be the least harmonically “interesting” notes in a chord, and are typically being played by a bassist or other accompanist. With the “fourths” approach, you provide a broader harmonic “space” to other musicians. Your rhythm part supports their solos.

I – Chord Construction:

In this first installment, we’ll learn how to construct the chords and find them on the guitar. In the next installment, we’ll have a look at putting them to use.

As an exercise, try doing this on your own to find chords harmonized in fourths in other keys.

II – Finding these chords on the fretboard:

For our first exploration, we’ll play all the chords we created from the C major scale using only the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings (B, G, and D strings in standard tuning).

Play each of these chords and let them ring out. Listen to their unique quality. Compare the sound of these chords to the standard chords (harmonized in thirds) from C major scale. Do you notice the increase in harmonic complexity? They create tension and color when compared to a major or minor chord. These chords might seem a little (or a lot) “off” to you if you are not familiar with extended chord voicings, but in time, your ears will come to hear them as natural and interesting and maybe even preferable.

Now move back and forth among these chords to get a feel for how they create movement. Don’t use a very busy rhythmic pattern yet, just appreciate the motion generated by the harmonic changes.

Lastly (for now), use the open A string as a bass “pedal” or “drone” note and move the chord forms around in an improvised rhythmic “vamp.” This low tone sets the “key” as A minor (the relative minor of C major). The harmonized chords (from the above chart) work nicely to establish an interesting backdrop for soloists.

If you can, record yourself playing this vamp. When you play it back, you can solo over it to get a feel for how much extra “space” this comping style creates. Next time you jam with a friend, try it out and watch their eyes bug out because they didn’t know they could play “jazz.”

As an exercise, try to find these same chords using only the G, B, and E strings.

Next time we’ll use these chords as replacements for traditional ones in chord changes.

Also check out… Comping With Fourths Part 2

Comping With Fourths was written by Bill Cozzo for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Moments after the guitar technician finished a routine sound check – first on Carlo’s ever-present PRS guitar, then on a stand-mounted, electric-classical – the house lights dimmed and the first strains of Day of Celebration (a bonus track from the 1999 Grammy-winning release Supernatural) started the show. Playing on the electric-classical for the intro, Carlos improvised in a Spanish motif with understated elegance. As the main theme kicked in, he switched to the PRS, and lit up the stage with his signature melodic style and warm, singing tone. After a faithful reading of the studio arrangement and an extended soaring jam (complete with sound effects produced by a glass slide directly over the pickups), the rhythm section took over with multi-percussionist Karl Perazzo, conga player Raul Rekow, and drummer Dennis Chambers trading licks to a thunderous finale.

Next came the beautiful instrumental ballad, Victory Is Won, reminiscent of Santana’s classic compositions Europa and ‘Samba Pa Ti. After the guitarist’s soulful main melody and solo, he and bassist Benny Rietveld traded call-and-response phrases, and keyboardist Chester Thompson added a perfect organ solo. Carlos showed a playful side as he enjoyed “CT’s” solo by playing ‘air piano’ and smiling broadly.

The stage lights inexplicably went dark and the guitar technician reappeared apparently making an adjustment on the electric classical guitar. Instead of proceeding with the show, a spotlight came on and the guitar tech revealed himself to be a stunningly talented flamenco guitarist. Playing solo, he alternated fiery and passionate chordal strumming passages with very fast but articulate multi-octave arpeggio runs. Shifting gears, he added a section of delicate chord changes connected by sensitive melodic phrases. Racing towards the finish of his unexpected star turn, he repeated a furious rhythmic phrase that got the crowd clapping in accompaniment. He was treated to a thunderous ovation as the lights came back up and Carlos sent him to center stage for his bows. Guitar playing hobbyists in the audience were left to reconsider their future on the instrument if being that good only gets you a job as a roadie.

As Santana took over the electric-classical, the band was joined by a trombone player (Jeff Cressman) and trumpet player (Bill Ortiz) and launched into Maria Maria, also from Supernatural, sung by vocalist Andy Vargas. Carlos switched back to the PRS mid-way through the song (after the lyric “to the sounds of the guitar … played by Carlos Santana”) and punctuated the vocal phrases with stinging counterpoint. This led to another Afro-Cuban styled extended instrumental jam, Foo Foo, with solo breaks for everyone and an audience participation, “call- and-response” segment lead by vocalist Tony Lindsay.

Carlos then approached the microphone and introduced a special guest, the creator of the guitars that bear his name, Paul Reed Smith. A Maryland native, Smith frequently joins the band on stage when they come to the Baltimore-D.C. area on tour. Playing the song, The Calling from Supernatural, Paul played in the spot recorded by Eric Clapton on the original recording. After trading licks back and forth for a while, Santana – always the gracious host – stood off-stage and let Smith lead the band with his own tasteful solo. Paul was obviously enjoying the moment as he leaned back into his best ‘guitar god’ stance and smiled from ear to ear. Carlos rejoined him after having switched to a blue PRS Santana SE model guitar. While certainly not as distinctive (in looks or in tone) as his amber-hued, tiger-striped, flamed maple PRS, this entry-level guitar acquitted it self reasonably well as Santana and Smith traded licks again on Sonny Sharrock.

The 55-year-old bandleader then shared some heartfelt wisdom that he has gathered on his life journey. He offered the crowd a blessing and, by calling attention to the presence of so much violence and hatred in the world, implored us to always be compassionate and to open our hearts to “the light.” The band kept a subtle backdrop during the soliloquy entitled Spiritual.

The band then launched into a four-song run that replicated the first four songs from the Supernatural release. First was (Da La) Yaleo. The horn section stabs punctuated the chorus and Santana’s phrases wove in and around the vocal line in note-perfect recreation of the studio version. Extending the “outro” solo section, he used the studio version as a launching-off point from which to expand the groove. Climaxing with a rapidly ascending hammer-on / pull-off riff, he bent the highest notes possible from the upper register of the neck with soulful passion. It is interesting to note that Carlos Santana does not seem to be concerned exclusively with technical perfection in his playing. He generates his unique voice and expressiveness from note selection and phrasing at least as much as fingerboard precision. There is a lesson here for all guitarists suggesting that technical prowess must be paired with a lot of soul to be truly transcendent. Precisely produced notes will have a lifeless ‘flatness’ unless they are born of an inner yearning for individual expression.

Next came Love of My Life with Carlos recreating the melody lines that he and Dave Matthews swapped on the studio version. The band kicked mightily into the end jam and Santana again delivered a smoldering presentation of the solo from the recording before extending and building upon the original rhythmic and melodic touch-points for his solo. For Put Your Lights On, the rhythm guitarist and piccolo bassist, Myron Dove, strummed the first chorus-tinged chords (played through a Roland JC-120 amp). Carlos again interjected note-for-note recreations of his phrases between the lyrics, creating a conversation with both vocalists. The band completed the Supernatural foursome by launching into the salsa-influenced groove of Africa Bamba, complete with a salsa-style trombone solo. Spreading the wealth of horn section solos, a trumpet feature opened the next song, Adouma.

Introduced by the bandleader in a manner consistent with his status as regional favorite son, drummer Dennis Chambers treated the crowd to a drum solo that can be described as a mini clinic of percussion excellence. Dennis is recognized around the world as among the most talented drummers of his generation, and has lent his talents to the recordings and concerts of numerous world-class artists such as Mike Stern, Andy Summers, Carl Filipiak, and John McLaughlin. Starting his feature segment on this evening with a driving polyrhythmic groove that demonstrated the very essence of four-limbed independence, he followed with a delicate snare drum workout that covered the full range of dynamics and tempo. To complete this showcase, Chambers displayed what can only be described as “bionic perfection” with his extended double-beater bass drum playing. Not stopping his rapid-fire footwork, he a) toweled off his face, b) slam guzzled a 32 oz. Bottle of Gatorade, c) mugged for the Jumbotron cameraman, and d) blew bubbles with his chewing gum. This solo was a truly awesome display of artistry and endurance that Santana himself chose to watch and admire.

For Make Somebody Happy, Carlos came out with a very rare PRS single cutaway with an elaborate dragonhead inlayed into the body. The song opened with a beautifully melodic muted trumpet solo by Bill Ortiz that revealed just how carefully the soloist has listened to the bandleader and has been influenced by him. This is a valuable lesson for guitarists to learn as we sometimes focus too much on elite guitarists as influences. By expanding our listening experiences to include sax players, trumpet players, piano players, etc., we can broaden the palette from which we draw inspiration when creating our own voice.

Taking to the microphone again, Santana gave prayerful affirmation to the beauty in all of us – teaching that we all possess beauty, dignity, excellence, elegance, and freedom. He encouraged all victims of personal violence and violation to rise up and feel a healing love from within and asked that we all work to spread love and compassion in our lives so that peace may spread throughout the world to eradicate hunger and war and suffering. The band launched into Right On Be Free / Get It In Your Soul with driving emotion to underscore their leader’s heartfelt sentiments.

Bassist Benny Rietveld had his moment in the spotlight as he opened his solo with a slapping and popping tour de force. He then moved through a handful of choruses of a blues-ey I-IV-V complete with upper register chording before culminating with melodic, single-note phrasing that implied a trumpet player using a plunger to create a “wah” effect. He took his applause with a laughing smile and a kiss for his bass that had served him so well.

The band returned with an instrumental interlude, Apache, that featured both Carlos and Chester Thompson unleashing ferocious solos over the changes.

The last song of the set was the hit single from Supernatural, Smooth. As he had all night, Santana faithfully recreated the melodic component of the guitar solo, while sometimes changing the rhythmic aspects to create a pulsing, ‘push / pull’ effect. His internal sense of rhythm is readily evident as his notes create ever-building emotional tension and climactic release.

After an extended standing ovation, the band returned for an encore of Jingo. Playing a very similar arrangement to the performance on the Sacred Fire live recording, the band brought the crowd, long simmering as a result of the breath-taking performances, to a full boil. Santana pulled out all the stops for an ‘over the top’ solo with the band’s underlying, “turn-on-a-dime” percussion syncopations furiously propelling the song to full intensity.

After nearly two and a half hours, with the local noise ordinance deadline approaching, Carlos introduced the band members (each one taking one last solo break after his name was called), bowed humbly in thanks to the audience, then waved goodbye, leaving the grateful crowd smiling and satisfied.

Carlos Santana – All Is One tour was written by Bill Cozzo for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise