Guitar Of The Week #3: 1957 Rickenbacker Combo 400

This is a 1957 Rickenbacker Combo 400. One of the rarest and perhaps most unusual in my collection. This 3/4 guitar sports the horseshoe pickup. Most commonly found on lap steels. 1950′s Rickenbackers epitomize what quality and innovation that make vintage guitars so desirable.

Guitar Of The Week #2: Gibson Bona-Byrd

This is a Gibson Bona-Byrd. The one and possibly only. Built by the Gibson Custom shop at my request. It’s a wonderful hybrid between a Les Paul and a Firebird 1. You will be able to see this guitar in my new DVD Live at the Beacon.

Guitar Of The Week #1: 1954 Gretsch Country Club

This is a 1954 Gretsch Country Club in rare factory blonde. Even though Cadillac green is more desirable these still seem cooler. I used this 1954 Gretsch Country Club on Sloe Gin album and The Ballad of John Henry.

Joe Bonamassa jams with Seymour Duncan at NAMM

Mon, 23 Jan 2012

Over the weekend at the annual NAMM show in Anaheim, California, Joe Bonamassa unveiled his new Seymour Duncan Signature Pickup set!

“The Seymour Duncan Custom Shop has teamed up with blues-rock virtuoso Joe Bonamassa to produce the Joe Bonamassa Signature Pickup Set. This immaculately crafted and calibrated dual-humbucker set accurately replicates the P.A.F. pickups in Joe’s beloved 1959 sunburst Les Paul®. Their rich, dynamic, and nuanced voice will appeal to all tone connoisseurs who cherish the passion and power of the original humbucker.” says the company about the new addition to their product roster.”

Joe Bonamassa was voted Guitarist of the Year in honor of his new album Dustbowl and Black Country Communion’s world tour and live DVD.

“Though still a young 34 years of age, this guitar slinger has accomplished more than most players could imagine to achieve in a lifetime, and 2011 was a testament to the hard work, dedication and hours spent in the practice room and on the bandstand by this guitar great,” Guitar International said in a statement.

And  Slash was given a Lifetime Achievement Award. “A guitarist who has revived his career (twice, with his recent solo albums after Velvet Revolver’s demise), played with Michael Jackson, Alice Cooper and many more music icons, and held his commitment to rock over his entire career certainly deserves Guitar International’s Lifetime Achievement Award. And with his impeccable track record, one can only assume Slash has much more rock ’n’ roll in the tank.”

As a matter of fact, he does – and the engine is revving up now for a new album due later this year. Congrats, Joe and Slash!

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/slash-bonamassa-0111-2012/

Photo Courtesy of Brett Diaz

Carmine Rojas: Crossing Boundaries  (February 2012 Bass Player issue by FreddyVillano)

Carmine Rojas is the consummate bass sideman, and that’s not by accident. Over a career that has spanned four decades, the native New Yorker has laid tasty foundations for a long list of heavies that include Tina Turner, B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, David Bowie and Rod Stewart, for whom he served as musical direction from 1988 to 2003. Since 2005, Rojas been touring and recording with blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa, whose 2011 release Dust Bowl- as well as Don’t Explain, Bonamassa’s gritty soul collaboration with singer Beth Hart-Showcase Rojas’ ability to tap into a wealth of musical styles for any given gig. His secret? Respect, “If you’re going to do this and make it  a career, respect it. It’s very sacred. Where the information comes from is spiritual. You have to be above yourself and respect the flow of energy and where it comes from.

How’d you hook up with Joe Bonamassa?

I have to thank [producer] Kevin Shirley for piecing this together, because at first, I wasn’t sure about being in a blues band. I didn’t know if it was going to be interesting enough. Buy it’s not about playing “Sweet Home Chicago” until we’re blue in the face. I get to throw some 6/8 in there just to clever it up.

You worked with David Bowie on hits like “Let’s Dance” and “Modern Love,” and your bass line on “China Girl” is classic

Iggy Pop’s  original version of “China Girl” doesn’t even have a bass line. The day before we cut that song, the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb” was on the radio. Brian Jones’ great vibraphone part has the same chord changes as “China Girl” –E to D to C. That’s where my bass line comes from.

What prepared you to be a musical director for Rod Stewart?

I learned a lot Carlos Alomar, David Bowie’s musical director for many years, who took me under his wing. He would mix genres all the time, like Latin with Rock. He’d say, “Let’s put [Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1888 symphonic suite] ‘Scheherazade’ in this punk thing.” I’d be like “You can do that?” and he would say “Year,Sure-Just turn the groove around.” As long as it was in the pocket, I could do whatever I wanted with Carlos. I was never Limited.

Ron Wood’s bass line on “Maggie May”: Masterpiece or mess?

[Laughs] You can her Woody messing around and missing the root notes; that’s a brilliant, walking/country-western line that he put in a little rock flair into. I added my own thing to it’s the kind of line you can mess around with. I would throw in an extra 3^rd somewhere or stay on the V chord for a while. I altered that line all the time.

What’s the difference between backing an icon like Rod Stewart and a guitar hero like Joe Bonamassa?

There isn’t really any difference, because I still play what I call “Across-the-boards” bass. Maybe with Joe I try to come up with more Andy Fraser-like parts, but I’m using the same spirit, the same techniques, the same aggressiveness, and I’ll add to it whatever I heard the day. My ipod stays on “Shuffle” all day long, and I play along with whatever comes on. If I hear something I like-even if it’s keyboards, horn parts and vocal lines-I try to figure it out and then us it in the show somewhere.

Gear:

Basses: Xotic XB Series 4 and 5-strings, Rig: Gallien Krueger Fusion 550 amp, Gallien Krueger Neo Series 4×12 cab, Strings: Ernie Ball Super Slinky (0.040 – .125), Other: Brace Audio digital wireless

Once in a while a scorecard of the socalled “greatest” guitarists will come out, and then the chatter will pick up again. Such was the case a few weeks back when Rolling Stone published its 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list. I for one took exception to it, as you can see here. And when I called acclaimed picker Joe Bonamassa in Bakersfield, California, the other day in advance of his upcoming Vancouver gig, the subject came up again.

As expected, Bonamassa didn’t complain that he wasn’t on the list–even though readers of the prestigious Guitar Player magazine voted him Best Overall Guitarist last year–but it was clear that he wasn’t thrilled with how some of his own six-string heroes were ranked. For one thing, his childhood mentor Danny Gatton was nowhere to be seen.

And what about his own top picks? Although–unlike those diehard Hendrix fanatics–Bonamassa claimed that he “couldn’t pick a number one”, after some urging from me he started to name names.

“I could tell you who’d been my number one influence overall on guitar,” he offered. “As an artist, singer-songwriter, overall, probably Eric Clapton, single-most. Second would be Paul Kossoff. Third would be Jeff Beck. Fourth would be probably Jimmy Page. Fifth would be Peter Green. And then Mick Taylor, and then Rory Gallagher, and then Danny Gatton. So those are my cats right there.”

Yes! Rory Gallagher finally makes a Top 10! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

http://www.straight.com/article-561046/vancouver/rolling-stone-be-damned-joe-bonamassa-picks-his-own-top-guitarists-all-time

By Jonathan Tully   |  November 23, 2011

Joe Bonamassa performs at the Kravis Center. (Aaron Gilbert / luumphotos.com)

There was a point during Joe Bonamassa’s show on Tuesday – he was playing “Sloe Gin”, considered one of the best songs to see this blues-rock guitarist play live. The crowd was mostly silent, except for the occasional whoop when the music got the better of a fan and that fan had to let loose his or her appreciation.

Those fans were shushed.

Bonamassa is one of those rare musicians where you don’t want to miss a single note he plays. (And, frankly, that can be a true challenge, considering he can play so many.)

At the show at the Kravis Center, Bonamassa showed why a lot of people consider him a rightful heir in the lineage of great guitarists – stretching from the likes of Robert Johnson and Django Reinhardt, through Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan and on down.

Bonamassa is clearly worthy of that praise, but he is also one of the most respectful musicians of those who’ve come before. His style bounds from straight blues to ‘70s classic rock to a mix of blues and Americana, the last of which dominates his new LP, Dust Bowl.
The newer songs, such as “Slow Train”, “You Better Watch Yourself” and the title track of the new LP, were as well received as his more recognizable songs – and the crowd clearly knew Bonamassa’s work. The Kravis’ audience was extremely respectful and knowledgeable, cheering loudly between songs, but at times completely rapt by the talent on stage.

The guitarist cuts a great style on stage – slicked-back hair, sunglasses, jacket, button-down shirt and shoes polished so well the stage lights were reflecting off them. That just adds to the whole atmosphere of the show, although seeing someone who looks like Joe and whose musical style incorporates not just American but also British and European influences may be confusing to some – as Bonamassa relayed.

“This woman comes up to me in the hotel and says, ‘We’re so glad you came here all the way from the U.K.,’ ” he said. “I thought, well, we did just play London before our latest American leg. And she said, ‘You don’t sound British.’ And I said, ‘Well, yeah. I was born in Utica, N.Y.’ ”

That’s another fun thing to find out about Bonamassa – it’s rare you see a musician with his comic timing. Before playing “The Ballad of John Henry”, he spoke about how that song was the closest he’d come to a hit in his career: “Twelve albums. One hundred and thirty-four recorded songs. Not. One. Hit.” He then proceeded to act as though he were patting his own back.

That sense of fun extended to his playing. Before diving headlong into a cover of The Who’s “Young Man Blues”, Bonamassa had a playful musical exchange with drummer Tal Bergman – at one point, Bonamassa played the immediately recognizable lick from Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”, at which point Bergman mocked as if he were crying, then responded with the unmistakable drumming style of Zeppelin’s John Bonham, a la “Moby Dick”.

When it came right down to it, though it may not have been the exact same path that many of his forefathers had taken, Bonamassa had achieved what most bluesmen want: To leave the crowd with smiles on their faces.

For Joe Bonamassa,the ultimate merchandise item is a bobblehead.“It’s a way of saying I don’t take myself too seriously,” says the guitarist and singer, 34. “And it keeps the genre interesting. Acts who take themselves too seriously get stuffy.” Stuffy isn’t a word that fans would apply to Bonamassa, a blues-rock musician who’s been performing professionally since childhood. He’s earned their devotion for his dynamic style and superior skills, paired with a reverence for blues-rock players of the past.

But Bonamassa’s not about to uphold a personal mythology that casts him as a former prodigy, a reigning wizard or the torchbearer of the blues. “Kids who play piano, and they’re ripping up Mozart, note for note, they’re prodigies,” Bonamassa says. “I’m just a hardworking guitar player.”

Let others rave about his natural-born talent, or rank him on best-of lists that include Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bonamassa prefers to talk about his devotion to the instrument and his countless hours of practice. “To play guitar at a high level, to get to that echelon, I think you have to commit to it all the way,” he says. “I’m the flavor of the month now. But if you keep at it long enough, everyone gets a turn at being the center of the dartboard.” Listeners can form their own conclusions (and check out the Bonamassa bobbleheads at the merch table) when he performs in Birmingham on Nov. 29 at the BJCC Concert Hall. Whimsical Bonamassa statues — complete with sunglasses, a Marshall amplifier stack and a Gibson Flying V — also are available on his official website. Bonamassa sounds like he’s proud to imagine his oversized head rocking and rolling in the window of a moving vehicle. During a recent phone interview, he’s also witty, articulate and bluntly down-to-earth.

Q: You’re known for playing non-stop, two-hour shows. Do you ever worry about your stamina?

A:When you go on tour, you always come out of the gate strong. For the first four or five weeks, you’re hitting the notes and stamina’s not an issue. Around the ninth week of the tour, that’s when you start really feeling the burn. Your hands aren’t moving so fast, and your body goes, “You’re running a marathon, and you have to do it five days again this week?” People get on the tour bus and think every day is Mardi Gras. But I go, “That’s a comet; you’re going to burn out quickly.” The more laps around the sun you do, the harder it becomes. I try to give 100 percent of whatever percentage I have on that particular day. If I’m tired or sick, and I have 80 percent, I’m going to give you 100 percent of that 80 percent.

Q: Musicians talk about feeling completely jazzed after a concert, like they can keep playing forever or build a house. Is it that way for you?

A: There’s an adrenaline rush for a couple of hours, and then you crash. I used to be up until 3 a.m. after a gig. Now it’s more like 1 a.m. But there’s a feeling of a job well done.

Q: John Hiatt, Vince Gill and Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple make guest appearances on your new record,“Dust Bowl.” Do you spread the net wide when you choose collaborators for a project?

A: The cool thing about this genre is that it cross-pollinates so well with country and rock. I met Vince Gill at the Clapton “Crossroads” concert last year. He came up to me and said, “Hey, my name is Vince and I really like the way you play. Keep up the good work.” Next thing you know he’s singing a song with me called “Sweet Rowena.” It’s insane. The record’s a star-studded event.

Q: You’re from upstate New York, so “Dust Bowl” can’t be a reference to your childhood. Are you going for prairie themes or saying something about the American heartland?

A:Well, my life is pretty much a nonstop whirlwind these days. It’s pretty hectic, and I sometimes think I’m stuck in a tornado. A lot of it is “Dust Bowl” as the (John) Steinbeck concept. And there’s a song on there called “Slow Train.” I think every blues guy needs to write a song about a train.

Best stocking stuffer ever? For blues fans, it just might be the Bonamassa bobblehead.

Q: You’re involved in the Blues in the Schools project. Is it important to mentor younger players, the way others have mentored you? Are you trying to keep the blues alive in this way?

A: One of the most gratifying things I’ve ever been a part of, on a regular basis at shows, is seeing the kid who shows up with a Gibson Les Paul and says, “I bought this guitar because of you.’ That brings me back to when I was a kid, and I did the same thing. I went to the shows. I studied the gear. So I’m happy to meet with those kids, and debunk any myths. I’m happy to talk to anybody about the craft. It really is an honor to inspire younger generations, and it’s something I take very seriously. I met a couple of my heroes who weren’t so nice, and I took that away with me. The lesson I learned from B.B. King — the epitome of the blues, who defined the genre in which I play — is that he’s also the nicest guy in the world. My mission is to teach as many kids about the art form as possible. And to be a nice guy. At the end of the day, if I’m doing a little to keep the art form alive, that’s fine.

Q: So you’re nurturing the next generation of players, instead of seeing them as competition?

A: I like competition. I like it when it’s friendly and everybody’s playing their best and trying to make the music better. I think about the players in my generation, about Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang and Derek Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi. There’s a compounding effect, over and over again, and there’s room for everybody. The more people you turn on to the music, the better it is. That’s how it was when some of my heroes were playing, like Jimi Hendrix and Free and Cream and Led Zeppelin. To me, that’s the definition of friendly competition.

Q: Many of today’s guitarists talk about buying, selling and trading their instruments. Do you do that?

A:Those guys probably aren’t making enough money at the gigs. I buy. That’s all. I buy things that speak to me. I have a pair of ’59 original Les Pauls. I have over 350 guitars, and more than one of everything at this point. My collection is called the black hole. What I buy goes in, and it never comes out.

Joe Bonamassa performs at the Kravis Center on Tuesday.

Guitarist Joe Bonamassa doesn’t just play the blues – he is a student of the form.

For example, here’s how he describes Rory Gallagher, an Irish blues guitarist who never got nearly as well-known in the United States as he did in Europe: “Think of Rory like this – what you see is what you get. He comes out in a flannel shirt, blue jeans, playing a battered old Strat. He walks up to the mic, and he just plays, and it’s honest, the music’s honest.”

Bonamassa, who’ll be performing at the Kravis Center on Tuesday, is not just interested in knowing the blues. He wants to pass along his knowledge – so he started Keeping the Blues Alive, where he visits with groups of middle-school and high-school students to keep the fire of the blues burning.

“That’s the whole point, how do we get through the next hundred years?” Bonamassa said in a telephone interview. “Blues is 100 years old, essentially, so how do we get to the next hundred years? We get the kids interested in it. A lot of blues guys tend to play the victim – that the music doesn’t get covered by the media, it gets ignored. But at the end of the day, you have to be proactive about it.”

Directions, invite a friend, nearby dining

So Bonamassa will be taking his love of the blues to the kids – including a session before his show at the Kravis.

“As it happens, it’s about self-preservation for the blues, but it’s also about giving a little back to the community,” he said. “I get to do this nightly, playing music and a couple thousand people show up, so I feel indebted to the community.”

These days, it’s just one more thing on a busy slate for Bonamassa – he’s just wrapped up a pair of albums and tours with the supergroup Black Country Communion, which also features bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian; he’s worked on an album with singer/songwriter Beth Hart that he calls the project he’s most proud of; and he’s touring in support ofDust Bowl, his latest solo record.

Bonamassa set out to make Dust Bowl a much more American album than what he’s done before – he said his guitar work was closer to that of Duane Eddy, the great surf guitarist of the 1950s and ’60s, than anyone else. He also had the chance to work with singer/songwriter John Hiatt and Vince Gill, a country legend who also happens to be a highly respected guitarist in his own right. Bonamassa first met Gill at the Crossroads Guitar Festival just outside Chicago in the summer of 2010, and from there, it just took off.

“I saw him from afar, but I didn’t really approach him,” Bonamassa said. “But he came up to me, and he said, ‘My wife and I watched your concert at Albert Hall on DVD and we really like it,’ and he asked, ‘Do you know me?’ I said, ‘I know exactly who you are!’

“I’m not one to go up to famous people, I don’t enjoy the experience, it’s very daunting to me. I probably wouldn’t have approached him, but he approached me, and it’s Vince freakin’ Gill! Two months later we’re doing a session with John Hiatt, and then he’s on stage with me at the Beacon Theater in New York. My Rolodex has changed a bit in the last 10 years – used to be my mom and dad and a couple of friends!”

If you go:

JOE BONAMASSA

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22

Where: Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach