On Practicing Guitar

Wilson Pickett's It's Too Late - Who Was That Masked Man?

Wilson Pickett, Cornell Dupree and Jimi Hendrix rock the house.

R&B titan Wilson Pickett really knew guitar players. Just two of the hot shots that he employed in the 1960s include Duane Allman and Jimi Hendrix. Didn’t they come out number one and number two on a Rolling Stone Greatest Guitarists list awhile back? Well, like I said, Pickett could pick ‘em. He also worked with Steve Cropper, one of the masterminds of the Stax sound, and even wrote songs with him, such as “In The Midnight Hour.” But who is playing the scalding, driving, greasy guitar on his first big hit, “It’s Too Late,” from 1963?   

Jimi and Duane weren’t actively recording at that time. The famous picture of Jimi and Pickett also includes Cornell Dupree, who backed Sam Cooke on his incendiary Live at the Harlem Square Club (1963). Cornell Dupree is possible but it seems his recording work with Pickett came a little later. Speaking of Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack is also possible – he was touring with Cooke around that time, too. Another hot guitar player who was given to playing quick bursts of notes is David Walker, who played with Etta James on her Rock The House live album, recorded September 1963 at the New Era Club in Nashville. 1963 would seem to be a watershed year for smokin’ R&B. This Etta album is a favorite of mine and I have to add that I have a minor obsession with live albums from this period.

One last guitar player comes to mind, and that would be Chips Moman, who just passed away. He was most famous for his work as a producer, orchestrating Elvis Presley’s comeback in the late ‘60s. But he started out doing studio work and was a founding member at Stax. But let’s take a look at that blistering run. (see video and tab)

 

Sixteen notes are unleashed in an almost arrhythmic frenzy – triplets, sixteenth-notes and sixteenth-note triplets all tumble out in short order. The foundation however is quite simple, a major pentatonic scale in C that is straight out of the pattern that I call Long Form I, a lower and upper extension of minor pentatonic scale Form I at the fifth fret (the one that everybody learns first). This lick uses only the lower extension and the central part of the scale. The chord progression for the intro and verse is C – Am – F7, and the lick begins over the F7 chord, leading back to C. The sixteenth note triplet (hammer and pull) at the beginning emphasizes the note Eb (the 7^th of the F7 chord) which gives the run its seriously bluesy sound.

I’m not sure what kind of guitar this gunslinger is playing, but judging by pictures of Wilson with Jimi and Duane, and the fact that Steve Cropper is a Tele player, I think we can safely say it’s a Fender. I tried recording it once with a Strat, but I didn’t think that any of the pickup selections matched the sound that well. It could have been a Jazzmaster or Jaguar. I ultimately decided to use my Kelly Tele, and you can see for yourself if you think I got a good approximation of the tone. I used a Fender Deluxe 65 RI with a Weber Greenback and a Boss OD-3 set to a moderate amount of gain. The pickups are Lindy Fralins.

The mystery remains – who was that masked man? If anyone out there knows, please drop me a line. In the meantime, I’ll continue my research. It’s one of my favorite activities and probably one of yours, too. -Chris Botta

Fender Pro Junior - A Sexy Little Beast

A reliable, lightweight and great-sounding gig amp is high on the list of most guitar players, and I recently joined the ranks of those seeking to prevent backaches as well as rock the house. Before that, I played mostly locally, used backline amps or lugged various let’s just say more committed amps like a Fender 65 RI Deluxe or Rivera 5512 up and down five flights of stairs. But great sound is what I was really after.

I had always liked Fender Blues Juniors and figured I would buy one used. The hunt continued when I met a guy on craigslist selling one of the most beaten looking Blues Juniors I’d ever seen. The reverb worked, yeah – it was on twelve all the time! Wanting to bypass the eventual reverb repair that seems to come with these amps and maybe lose a few pounds, I started looking at the Pro Junior.

A Boss OD-3, MXR Carbon Copy and EH Small Stone sounded superb with the Pro Junior. Photo: Jason Johnson

I was never a big fan of ten inch speakers, so I spoke with my friend Steve about it (he owns a Blues Junior and loves it) and he seemed to think that the speaker could make a real difference. We tend to play a bit loud in my band, as do many blues outfits. Most people online felt that the Pro Junior is a better sounding but noisier amp. The Pro Junior has two EL84s and two 12AX7s, and I love EL84s. There are only two knobs, volume and tone, but I’m a big fan of plug and play. I decided to take the plunge with a big gig coming up, and bought a floor model Pro Junior from Matt Umanov in NYC.

Umanov’s is not a great place to try things. I’ve gotten some great pieces from them, including my ’62 RI Strat. But if you’ve ever been there, you know what I mean. They play music all the time on a sound system and the little amp room is noisy and hot. When I got the amp home, it was as noisy as advertised on the web. With the volume on zero, it was still buzzing away. It had sounded great at the store with a Baja Tele. As luck would have it I tried one at Music Makers rehearsal the week before and it was impressive, making two inexpensive guitars sound terrific with both humbuckers and single coils.

I decided to take it to my gig with my band Saints and Sinners (Dave Gerstein on bass, Daryl Cozzi on drums, myself on guitar and vocals) at American Trash Bar to play three sets and bring my 65 RI along for backup, the tremolo and some songs where my friend Harris would sit in. American Trash is a medium sized bar with a lively, clear sound. Long story short, the Pro Junior sounded fantastic. I used my 2014 SG Standard ’61 and ’76 hardtail Strat for slide, and both delivered some of the best sounds I’ve ever heard from them. Missing reverb? I could swear there was an ambient glow coming off the brick walls that was among the sweetest, dare I say ‘produced’ and complete sounds that I’ve ever heard at a gig.

The '76 Hardtail Strat in action - glassier and smoother, too. Photo: Clement Renaud

The Strat sounded more balanced, less muddy than with the 65 RI, which has a Weber Green Back in it. The SG had the sweetest overdrive and a nasty, aggressive edge that was a true inspiration. The ten inch speaker didn’t seem to matter at all. The lack of a midrange control on the Deluxe is remedied on the Blues Junior, but the Pro Junior is reputed to have a midrange bump, and I feel it makes a difference. It takes pedals way better than the 65 RI, although I haven’t put anything high gain in there yet. But my biggest concern – the noise – was a non-issue. I knew that I would probably never hear it in a loud bar. But the tone easily made up for the one negative aspect of the amp: It’s not a practice amp. You could play it at home if you want, but it’s too noisy and too loud. It doesn’t get into it’s beautiful tone range at low volume. Bottom line – you’ve got to take this puppy out for a run. It’s A Sexy Little Beast.

An Ode To Brian Jones Part II

Wouldn't you know? I thought I had a catchy title for my Brian Jones article but who else but Jim Morrison would seem to have gotten there first? Morrison's poem is also an ode to L.A., so there is still room for someone to write the definitive and ultimately formally correct Ode to Brian (Jim's Ode is a little short to be considered a traditional ode). 

I did at one time however write a term paper in grad school about Brian Jones and his impact on the blues scene in England and beyond in the the 1960s. It's called Brian Jones - Authenticity and Significance and you can read it here:  Download Brian Jones Authenticity And Significance

Please let me know if you have any thoughts!