Two Thousand Sixteen has been a crazy year. But my version of it took a huge upswing when I got the chance to work with my former guitar student Andrea Fischman on her new recording with her group, Mancie. There were a few songs that needed lead guitar, and Andrea gave me the call. I readily accepted, embracing a chance to rock out and get creative on two of her hard-edged originals that are infused with melody and atmosphere. It was a bonus that Mark Feldman, who played drums with me in the Anodyne Blues Band for over a year, was behind the kit.
I set about working up my parts, charting out the songs “Moon and Stars” and “Love Spares.” I didn’t color code my charts like Robert Trujillo in Some Kind of Monster, but the thought occurred to me. I was enjoying myself. The basic tracks had already been recorded so the overdub session took place in the studio of a very talented engineer named in Jeff Cook, located in the basement of his Bushwick apartment building. The studio itself was fascinating, one of the most meticulously put together small studios that I have ever seen (pictured above - Photo by Andrea Fischman).
Andrea performing with Mancie
I played my 2014 SG ’61 Standard and used Andrea’s 30 watt Orange tube head into a small Marshall (one twelve) cabinet. That combination provided a raucous and rich tone but I wanted a smoother sound with more gain so I added an overdrive pedal in between the guitar and amp. On “Moon and Stars,” I was going for a slightly more aggressive sound so I used a Fulltone OCD. I used the bridge pickup. I thought to switch to the middle or neck pickup for “Love Spares,” but Jeff wanted to keep me more in a higher frequency spectrum and requested that I not add too much bass. So, to change the sound a bit, I switched out the OCD for my Boss OD-3, which has a warmer, sweeter tone. It worked. For the upfront emotions of “Love Spares,” I got a more melodic sound, which was good because I was playing off of and around Andrea’s vocal. I loved the way Jeff was making the guitar sound in the mix, as there was an immediate textural presence to what I was playing. I had been wondering how to fit in with Andrea’s full and heavy rhythm guitars. The tracks are below, so please give them a listen.
To top it all off, I got the nod to play lead guitar with Mancie at an upcoming show they will play at Arlene’s Grocery. I used to play there fairly frequently and I love the room and the sound and everything about it. It’s great to be back playing and recording some big rock and hitting it live in a cool room, no less! The show is on Thursday, December 8th. Thanks Andrea!
Wow these sound great. I think you fit in perfectly with these tracks, just enough snarl and bite but letting the lead vocal predominate. You add a lot to these this is what a band is supposed to sound like!
Posted by: Jim | 11/16/2016 at 10:33 PM
Thanks, Jim! It's a kind of spacious, complete sound even without the lead guitar, so it was somewhat of a challenge to figure out what to add. I'm really glad you liked it and it sounds like you heard what I was going for. We're going to be playing at Arlene's Grocery on December 8th. I'm psyched! -Chris
Posted by: On Practicing Guitar | 11/22/2016 at 06:49 AM