Yesterday, on his 'Blues Thursday', the great bluesman Al Wood put forward an open collaboration where he plays acoustic guitar:
Al is stunning on electric, but I really dig his acoustic playing too, so I quickly took his track and laid down some electric guitars of my own on top of his acoustic.
There's a modal feel to his chord work, so I got some raga touches on there. albeit rather ragged. I kept thinking of the Beatles' 'Within and Without You', which is slyly [mis]quoted quite a few times.
Also, the changes reminded me of Hawkwind's 'Hurry On Sundown', so the spaceship did get a few revs.
The guitars I used were a Tokai Telecaster, a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Les Paul.
Here it comes ...
- that sort of guitar is always out to get ya! Awesome of you to repost it, too.
this is going all the right places
very imaginative playin'-I luv his acoustic too it sets the stage for your work
- Al is what I call a 'stone' blues player - straight up from the roots. I'm a weird blues player, always tugging at the mandrake.
Love your Blues!
Over to the Les Paul - the best guitar for blues in my view
Really love your Guitar sounds! Awesome!
- a good Strat will never let you down
Jjimi approves
- I seriously belive that Hendrix is a collossal spirit who overlooks the whole nation of guitar players world wide, cosmos wide
jamtastic groove dude!
quality all round guys
My, that was fun. I'll bet you had fun, too! This has the echo and ring of so many great things in it.
- you touched upon something there; how something that is 'blue' is also fun - the blues line, "laughin' to keep from cryin'" has that. There is something in Al's playing that recalls great sounds of the past, and that rubbed off on me here. I started to hear some old things in between the cracks, and they peeped out here and there rather joyously
right here
: all conscious thought had evaporated by that point - only gut feeling prevailed
Such a wildly expressive tune.
- I'm glad you mentioned expression there, it's easy to forget that expression is the main aspect.
Hey, really cool what you did with Al's track! Great psychodelic stuff!
Al is the man and had been encouraging me to do another collab with him - so glad I did!
I have the memories of floating in time.
- I wonder what the experience is when listening to music when asleep, where the sounds go?
One never knows - I don't do it any more, but I went to sleep for years with Floyd's "Obscured by Clouds." Perhaps my dreams are ever-more cloudy!
Yea, can really hear the Harrison and Hawkwind vibes going.
those two things came to me as I played along - yeah, George Harrison and Dave Brock. They are both connected by Eric Clapton. While Eric and George's relationship is well known, it's less well known that Dave and Eric used to jam together on acoustics in the early 60s!
Clapton has been a more miss than hit with me - I think the only thing I genuinely like him on is Waters "Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking" album.
I must admit, I didn't know Clapton had made that album with Waters! Listening to some of it. you're right. Eric's doing some great Strat stuff on there.
I like Eric on the album he did with Mayall, the 'Beano' album, and the live stuff with Cream - so when he was playing Gibsons. I agree with Charles Shaar Murray - Eric's problem was that he peaked too soon!
There's live bootlegs of the concerts where he supported that album as well. Honestly, what I take from Clapton is he's like Jerry Garcia for me - better when he's support in someone else's project.
very cool blues de- and reconstruction, super guitar fx!
- I was very pleased with this one, not least because it happened instantly - first takes and then posted
Super opener great ideas, Al
Thanks Al. As I listened to the your guitar I could hear that quasi raga of the Beatles. Of course, it's really just Mixolydian, but has that raga feel to it. So I paraphrase the Beatles slightly there with the opening licks on my Strat
- the operative word is ragged, though. It's quasi raga - an Eastern tinge - but I love all that - there a great series of compilations called 'Electric Psychedelic Sitar Head Swirlers', of 60s stuff, and this is in that vein - a nice blend of blues, raga, psychedelia and electrical menace
Defo bringing the house down thanks so much for taking it on, Al
Thanks to you Al for laying down a stunning acoustic guitar track - I gave it a different title to reflect the particular flavour resulting from the collaboration. Just got it down and put it out real quick.
Bro your one of a kind I just love the opener love the twist on the acoustic sound too way cool too Dude am still smiling!!, Al
Yeah, I double tracked your acoustic and put the two duplicates slightly out of sync, and raised the pitch by a tiny few cents on one of them - production tricks! At times it gives a chorused, or even 12 string sound to your guitar. That's a thought man, love to hear you on a 12 string! Seriously though, thanks for stepping back and allowing others to put leads down on this. Your own leads are killer, so it is a nice compliment.
Screaming Blues!!!, Al
That's my Gibson Les Paul with mini humbuckers, using the bridge pick up and really just mangling the thing in a kind of blind rage. Those are the two basic colours - Strat and Les Paul.
Ya got mi headphones spinning for sure great effects!!!, Al
Yeah, panning is an important effect man, not least because it opens up space for other sounds; as one sound moves another sound can come through. Production is an art in itself and every bit as important as playing [here endeth the sermon]
Wow would not expect anything less from ya Bro, Magic, Al
There is definitely a magic to sounds when you start to work with them as if they are colours. It all stems from the suggestive colours of your acoustic, they way you hint at a kind of DADGAD thing [i.e., the tuning used in a lot of modal acoustic playing] and the supple blues run, and the unhurried feel - lots of colours suggested so I just opened up some paint tubes - Strat here, Tele there, Les Paul somewhere else. Kept it simple, only a few tracks and then some production - bang, it's down - almost live don't you know!
beautiful swoops and bends .. such cool phrasing - I see what you mean about Hurry on... I get that too
Hurry on Sundown is such a huge thing, and shows the link between blues and space rock in the person of Dave Brock. It's such a touchstone for me. At that section the Les Paul and Strat are flying dangerously close to each other and there's some clipping - but hell, I left it in. I'm surprised how elastic a Les Paul can be. Fine, the Strat has the whammy, but the Paul can glide and squirm and groan in a way that other guitars can't. And there's a girth to the sound which is almost indecent.
did you detune big style for these sounds? I did once on a collab with ESyrup - great fun - never wanted to tune up again!
Yeah, I find concert pitch too tight. Thinking about it, the only guitars I have at concert pitch and higher are my lap steels [not used here!]. The acoustic guitar is tuned down to Eb as Al mentioned - which is standard blues practice - Jimi and SRV, for eg. I usually tune down to D, so I played around the first position . So it's not a big detune, but the trem bar on my Fender Strat works really well and sends things south at the tip of the bar!
Thanks so much Bro I had my trem locked down having listened to this I must get it back in action lol happy days, Al
This is a new Strat I got and it really knocked me out. The trem is set up very nicely, and slightly balanced, so there's a little up pull. But it is very sensitive to the touch. I had the guitar set up by Tim Marten in Denmark Street a few weeks before he was forced to move out by the barbarians who are knocking down Tin Pan Ally. Tim also put in a set of Lace Sensor pick ups.
Luxuriously indulgent. .Denmark St....Lace Sensors..for goodness sake! A Kay from Woolies was luxury in the day :))
Heh heh heh - I do have a delightful Kay Les Paul copy I got for twenty quid! It looks great, but under those big pick up covers are not humbuckers, but single coils! the neck is a bolt on, and the carved top is not carved but moulded plastic! But cheap guitars can make sounds a top range can't. Also, is it just me, but is the bottom falling out of the guitar market [not a double entendre]? I think there are some serious bargains out there. Denmark Street was a place of pilgrimage ... now it's just grim pills ... not like it was back in my day, lad!
I agree wholeheartedly! I just picked up an Ibanez RG7321 for 130 quid and it is superb..mega pickups, super intonation and great action. I don't think I'll ever go USA made. It was either 7string or scalloped. . £1500 for a Malsteen Strat? I could get a decent car for that! :) OK..half-decent!
Yeah - at the risk of sounding like a Harry Enfield character [too late!] I have an Ibanez 8 string - I've got one more string than you!. Haven't used it a great deal though, but what you say about Ibanez is right - they just work so well. My Gibson Les Paul is USA made [and the craftsmanship is flawless] *but* I have an Epiphone Les Paul, Korean made, which sounds better! Or rather it has that Beano sound down perfectly. Gibson's in big trouble because people are sick of just paying for the name. I think you chose right to get a 7 string over a scallop because the former is a gift to your brilliant extended linear style [as well as giving lots more low end fo menacing riffs]. I
lyrics
While my spaceship is being refuelled,
I offer another oblique take on the blues.
credits
from Searching the Blues,
released January 24, 2018
Al Wood, acoustic guitar
Bill Boethius, electric guitars.
Orignal idea by Al Wood.
Produced and arranged by Bill Boethius.
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