91~mJ'I~II~I~I~~ji1I1~r - Joe Bonamassa

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Joe Bonamassa Interviewto eXarnlne LbE: new relpase's filler Lon 11 Olnts, and find out why h~'s011 tc l

ones that will stand the test oftime andI think this album is the culmination ofthe work that Kevin and I have done overthe last four years. I'm never satisfied as aguitar player, I'm never satisfied as asinger, nor as a writer and I'm never reallysatisfied with my guitar sound, so I'malways looking for the edge."You have [South African guitarist] BlondieChaplin on the record too, right?"Yeah, Blondie taught me a whole newthing about rhythm guitar. I take up a lotof real estate: I'm heavy handed, my tone isthick - it tends to dominate. But he camein and plugged into my tweed Harvard,plus some Colorsound pedals I bought inManchester, and a BOSS Chorus pedalthat was in my pedal drawer. So he puts itall together - the chorus all the way up, thetremolo and a Les Paul on the front pickup- and it just had this beautiful tOllch. I wasreally inspired to just watch him: all theseweird chords. It was almost like watchingthe guys in the Stax studio, the way theywould play. Such a bigsound, too - a littleamp with a [Shure SM] 57 just draped overit. And there I am using all this bigstuff!"The BOSS Chorus and Colorsoundpedals - is that the solo sou nd on AsThe Crow Flies?"Yes. That was Blondie's rig. He'd leave itonand plugged in. The studiowas thisGoldRushJoe's signature guitar is outt11ere -11is t11oug11ts so far?"Not only do Iwatch them." he beginswhen we ask about his signature models."but Icarefor them as if they were myown!There are some inconsistencies: some ofthem are more aged than others. some ofthem are a pound apart in weight ­between 8.5 and 9.51bs - but they all havetheir own sound. It's a very dark and warmsoundinggUitar. and they sounddifferent to the R9s. too [GibsonCustom Historic Series 1959Reissues]. Ican hear it on the album-Iknow when I'm hearing flametops andIknow when I'm listening to the Goldtops."Some people say they prefer thecream pickup surrounds instead ofblack. and the two sets of knobs arehideous. Well if you have the money tobuy a four-thousand dollar guitar, you'vegot $50 to buy any colour parts youwant! The same goes for theretaining wire [at the bridge]. If youwant to use old brass-style saddles- it's a four-minute job. So thatstuff is forthe ADD guitar buyer- you're bored and you want totweakyourLes Paul. You canalways put it back to how it was'"Apnl2009 Guitarist 43

Interview Joe BonamassaLiveRig Recap----------Four heacls, two cabs, louelas hell itself...When we met with Joe in February lastyear. he showed LIS around tlis live rig. Ithasn't changed for 2009. except the ampscomprise a Marshall Silver Jubilee headfor the core tone. then he adds differentmid-range flavours by switching in one offour other amps: a Two Rock CustomReverb Signature, Category 5 JB-lOO andeither a Van Weelden Twinkle Land orCarol-Ann Joe B(not pictured).The 4 x12 cabinets are loaded withElectro-Voice EVM12L 200-watt drivers,and sit on Auralex isolation pads. withplastic baffles for sound dispersion.records there's a little bit ofnote in there;some singing is involved."Has your recent weight loss affectedyour singing at all?"Yeah. Every 20lbs you kind of have tore-tool. When I lost the first 20, I found Iwas having trouble with my voice. You geta lot ofyoursound from YOlll' diaphragmand a lot ofsound from your head. Whereyou don't want to get your sound from isyou I' actual vocal chords - you want to belight on that. So losing mass, I found I wasover compensating and relying too muchon my vocal chords, so I had to kind ofre-compensate. But that's it, no more!"The guitar in The Great Flood sounds veryvocal- almost as ifthere's a Peter Greenlikeout-of-phase thinggoing on..."No, I think itwas just an EQ thing. Butalso it's using no pick - I've been gettingout of using a pick a lot lately. The guitarwas the prototype for the signature LesPaul. I have that, and I have the firstproduction model, and those are the mainguitars on the record. I also traded a guitarfor Number 52 with a friend. He boughttwo, then realised he didn't need twoGoldtops... We traded guitars and I havenumber 52 that I use on the road - it's agood one, it's a light one."Is there any more signature gear in theIpipeline ~ a signature amp, for example?"I've never found one amp that can do itall. There are a couple ofamps that theyput my name on, and they're very limitedrun things. Like the Category 5 - wedeveloped a sort oflOO-watt Super Leadwith a Dumble-style mid boost for reallythick mids. But it's also clean and clear soyou get that Paul Kossoffclarity. And alsothe Carol-Ann, which is the Joe B 100...But I honestly couldn't look somebody inthe eye and develop something with aMarshall or Bogner or whatever. I couldn'thonestly sell an amp and say, This is the"I guess I'm the Line 6 POD of guitar players ­I n10del everybody!"end-all, be-all, one amp for me. To me, yougotta have a bass and treble amp, and youneed another for mid-range."From The Valley - is that a [National]Duolian you're using there?"Yeah - I was going to use my '31, butI was tuning it up before the track and Ibroke not one, but two ofthe plasticmachines - the old ones are so brittle anddry. So I was trying to tune it up with apair ofpliers and it's all kranky: there hasto be a better way here. I have a reissueTriolian that's really good - it doesn'tbuzz, and that's what it is!"That track is interesting because you havewhat sounds like a traditional, open-tunedmajor chord, yet you're playing all theseEastern-sounding melodies over the top..."Yeah, I think ofit like Ry Coodel' hangingout in Mumbai - I've been on this severeRy Cooder trip for about a year. I love thatsound - those intervals versus thepentatonic intervals. It's not like I'mmeditatingevery day, not like GeorgeHarrison, but I'm intrigued with thatapproach. Some ofthe Indian ragas thatRavi Shankar did remind meofbluesjams.Start with a theme, end with it, andeverybody solos for 150 bars."Rightthen, Gary Moore - you read hiscomments in Guitarist issue 311 we take it?"Oh yes [laughs). It was brought to myattention - I think the post on the forumwas: Joe Bonamassa Les Paul reviewed inGuitarist magazine... and... oh, that. GaryMoore is one of my heroes; he's a nice guyand he always takes time to chat with me.The things he says here he has mentionedbefore, perhaps not in this way, but he hastold me that before. I've made my careera certain way, and Gary has made atremendously successful career a certainway. My method is that I cannotwholeheartedly sell an album from start tofinish ofstraight-up 12-bar blues: it's justnot who I am. I've never been on a bluespilgrimage - I'm a blues-based guitarplayer but I'm influenced by everythingunder the sun, including some ofGaryMoore's non-blues work! I think myaudience has expanded over the last fouror five years 'because I don't just dostraight-up blues-rock. So I respectfullydisagree that I have to stick to one style.My music sounds this way when I'm 31,I have no idea how it will sound when I'm41 and probably Gary Moore didn't either!"Would I like my heroes to say, Hey Joe,that rocks? Well that would have beenpreferable. But be that as it may [says Joepointingto Moore's comments on BradPaisley], at least I'm not Brad Paisley!"So then, the Albert Hall in May..."It's a huge deal, and it'll be a big band too!It'll be like [Joe Cocker's] Mad Dogs &Englishmen, only without the backgroundvocals! My mom and dad will be there,we're doinga DVD, so it will be pressurepacked.But I'm goingto make it as normala gigas I can, even though it's the mostimportant show of my life."On 5 May 2009 - the day after the show- I will have completed every goal I set formyself20 years ago. I wanted a numberone album - okay it's a number one bluesalbum, but it's still a number one [laughs].I've met Eric Clapton, I've met JeffBeck,I've done a song with Paul Rodgers and Iwill have played the Albert Ha II! So now[ need to figure out some new goa Is." [846 Guitarist April 2009

InterviewJoe BonamassaBonafideDespite usually being filed under 'blues-rock', Joe Bonamassa'splaying reveals a much wider range ofinfluencesJoe was lucky enough to have aneclectic musical upbringing,surrounded by top players. Havingbeen mentored from an early age by thegreat Danny Gatton, he appeared at a BBKinggig at the age of12, and then formeda band with the sons ofMiles Davis andRobbie Krieger just two years later!Joe BonamassaJoe has absorbed his fair share ofblueslicks, but his rock side encompasseseverything from Jimmy Page to EricJohnson. This makes Joe one ofthe mostexciting live players around.So, to play like Joe, you're going to needplenty ofaggression and conviction, butdon't be sloppy. When Joe plays those fastbox-position runs, he's incredibly tightand accurate. Although most of this solouses the E minor pentatonic (EGABD) thepassage in bars 9-10 uses the mixolydianmode (EF#G#ABC#D). For those fake­Indian G# bends, try to execute the bendand release as a quick, jerky movement,not pausingat the target A note." IIJ=105--,.­ .. }1/4EBGDAEt.!1.3~ i.-'--. -,; .-,;'--~ ~~ i~ ~- ~,-. -,; _~; "-­2--2-0-2 Y 2--2--~2-02--2Y 3o---o--x" IIvt.! - -X2----{)L.....::l3 22-2tr___.. f'-~ .. 1:::::1-. ~ ..~r- ..________•..-...E7-5tr---Y5 7 8 8 7 3 YB 35~38­G /7 4 4 4","2 14 12D2-0--+2 ---AX "E4~ ~.r:~~ ~ #t~ ~Hf~---W-..~ lv ~ .. ~ ~" II-../-7/5i3V4}~JEBGDAE7" Jl..BU~BU BD BU BD BU BD BU BD10-(12) 10 7 9-710'10-g-(10}­ ------{9)-7i~7-9-7_(9H7)-9-7_(9H79-7~6_(7H68""------------------------------------------------------------------------,r---3--, r--3-, 1-3-. ,.---- 3 ----. ,-3 .-, ,--3-. r--3--, r-3 ..~'---f'-----­r~ ~ I-t-1 ,....,..., ~ ~t.!"­l-32..JBU BU~BU BD~E 15117}----{19}-15-12~B 15-1212-15-12 ­G 14116H14}-12 14--12 14 14 12 14 12 14 16 14 12 14 12~o 14 14 14 14 14 14 "­AE 1297­48 Guitarist AprJI2009