Here’s more about his experience, gear and techniques.

> On his early start, from a Guitar Player interview: “I was just really focused. I really knew what I wanted to do, and I think that was the main factor in everything falling into place for me. It was a pretty mind-blowing and jaw-dropping experience to be in Santana that young. I mean, what a great band! When I first joined up, I was a fired-up speed-gun blues guitar player who had studied a lot of Beck, Hendrix, Clapton and Page. I also loved Albert King, B.B. King, Albert Collins and Michael Bloomfield, and my goal was to put all those guys together in one style and then speed everything up and make it really accurate. I think I became more tasteful after touring the world with Santana.”

> On EVH, from the same interview:

What was it like having Van Halen open for you in 1978?
It was like getting your ass kicked every night by the best sword-swinging sushi chef in the land. I had seen a lot of guitar players by then, but I’d never seen anything like him. Somebody had given me that first Van Halen album and I remember sitting with my record player and a guitar trying to figure out what he was doing, and for the first time in my life I was stumped. I had no clue until I saw him and realized he had both hands on the fretboard. I’d met Harvey Mandel years earlier, and saw him do that a couple little tapping things, but Ed was taking everything to a much crazier level.

But it wasn’t just the tapping you dug about EVH, right?
It was everything. Ed is one of the greatest rock and roll guitar players of all time, and as far as being an innovator and taking it to the hilt, he’s right up there with Jimi and everyone else. And he didn’t come any better than on that first tour with us when we were touring Infinity – our first record with Steve Perry – and he was touring Van Halen’s debut. They opened every night, and Ed played with extreme fire and loose abandon. Ronnie Montrose was supporting, and he hated being in the middle slot. I would tell him, “Man, I’m glad you have to follow that and not me.” [Laughs.]

> Setup: “I usually use .009-.042 D’Addario strings, because I don’t like my guitar to be too hard to play, and your tone really lies between your guitar, your amp and your fingers, not your string gauge [interesting!]. But I do like the action to be a little more meaty than some players do. I went to one of Joe Satriani’s rehearsals recently. He let me plug in, and honestly, I couldn’t get anything out of his guitar because the action was so low. And when Ed [VH] showed me one of his new guitars, it was too easy to play—he had .009s tuned a half step below standard, and my fingers were just falling off the fretboard.”

> Salami: “Wes Montgomery used to say in interviews that he liked playing after eating a salami sandwich because the grease acted like Finger-Ease, and that that was one way he got such a smooth sound with his thumb and fretting fingers. I swear to God, every time I get a new guitar now, I take the strings off, get some sliced salami, and rub it up and down the fretboard, and let the grease soak in. Then I wipe off the neck and string it up. With new wood, it works really well. You’d be surprised. And sometimes [wipes forehead and then starts playing] I use my own grease. It’s organic!”

Here's the EJ Jazz III.

> Picking: “You know who I actually pick like? John McLaughlin. The crazy thing is that even though I was a huge Mahavishnu freak back when Journey first started, and still am, I never learned to pick from McLaughlin. But I caught up with him before a show recently in San Francisco, and when he started warming up, I noticed he was slicing the strings sideways with the pick, and that’s exactly what I’ve always done. I’ve never played straight on. On stage, I use Dunlop [483 Classic Celluloid] medium picks. Heavy picks feel kind of stumbly to me. But when I’m warming up, sometimes I use those pointy little Dunlop Eric Johnson [Classic Jazz III] picks. Those are really great to practice with, because they build up your accuracy. When I come back to my normal picks after that, it feels really easy because the other pick is so hard it’s like playing with a piece of bone or something.

Rigs Through the Years

Misc notes trolled up:

‘80s

At some point in the ’80s (Escape and Frontiers era) Neal was using modded Hiwatts, modded at Leo’s Music of Oakland, Calif. Apparently Jeff Watson of Night Ranger and and Paul Dean of Loverboy had similar amps.

The mods apparently were internally bridged channels and possibly more gain.

Do you hear Hiwatt in this clip?

‘95 Live Rig

A quote from Neal: “I’ve been using a Roland ME-10 [FX unit] powered by a couple of Marshall heads in stereo into two 4×12 cabinets.”

‘08 Live Rig

From the same Nov. ‘08 Guitar Player interview:

“My new Marshall JVM heads and Diezel VH4s are almost identical in the way they talk to each other and turn effects loops on and off for different settings. The TC Electronic G-System adds effects and changes everything at once. The Boss GT-6 is mostly for my in-ear monitors mix. The setup runs really smoothly, actually.

“Sure, the cabinet count has grown and grown because there’s only one guitar in the band – and sure, I could play through one Marshall in mono and just crank it on 10. But those five cabinets aren’t really that loud – they can’t be because honestly, my ears are fried and I’m constantly dealing with tinnitus. The extra cabs are really just there to simulate the ambience of a hall or a coliseum. We play a lot of sheds [amphitheaters] where the sound just goes out and doesn’t come back, so I have some cabinets set wet with effects so my area of the stage sounds like I’m playing indoors.

Gear notes from the article:

Here's his sig LP (click to see it way bigger).

> When Schon’s tech, Adam Day, is asked if he can think of a more complex stage rig, he can only cite the Edge’s famously elaborate U2 setup. Schon’s backline setup starts with a Lectrosonics wireless. From the receiver back in his amp racks, Schon’s signal passes through 45-foot Mogami cables to and from his pedalboard, which includes a Dunlop Buddy Guy Wah, a Boss compressor pedal used mostly for Strat solos, and Xotic AC- and RC-Booster pedals. (“Lectrosonics systems tend to run a little bright, so the extra capacitance created by all that long cable actually serves to balance out the sound a bit.”) A TC Electronic G-System controller at Schon’s feet handles all MIDI-implemented effects and amp channel changes, an expression pedal controls the overall delay level (the delay time seems to work nicely for most songs when set to 600ms), and Schon uses a Gibson Digital Echoplex to create the loops he solos over during instrumental interludes between songs. That’s the simple part.

> Things get more intricate back at the amp racks where Schon’s signal is split five ways [!] courtesy of Framptone Amp Switcher and 3-Banger pedals. One signal feeds a drawer-mounted Boss GT-6 processor that runs through a Demeter tube preamp into a Roland M-120 Line Mixer feeding Schon’s in-ear monitors as well as a Marshall Dual MonoBlock power amplifier driving two 1960B 4×12 cabinets in stereo. Schon’s signal is also split between two Marshall JVM half-stacks with G-System effects in their loops, and two Diezel VH4 heads running in stereo courtesy of an Eventide Eclipse processor in their loops (used primarily to fatten things up occasionally with “a little detune”). Each Diezel drives a separate 4×12. And because one is run flat out to get a full sound, its cabinet is turned backwards and miked up behind the stage, thus keeping Schon’s stage volume down.

> The only truly standard features on a Neal Schon Les Paul are the tuning machines and the Gibson BurstBucker Pro bridge humbucker. The neck heel has been heavily sculpted—almost erased—to grant easy access to the high frets, and the fretboard is angled more parallel with the body than those on standard Les Pauls so that the Floyd bridge sits flush. The neck pickup cavity is occupied by a single-coil-sized DiMarzio Fast Track 2 humbucker and a Fernandes Sustainer Driver. The knobs are widely spaced and have been rewired to include a master volume, a push/pull master tone (the pull position activates a Vari-Tone-type circuit that gives Schon “wah sounds without a wah pedal”), and a master Sustainer volume. The mini-toggle switches behind the tailpiece control the Sustainer settings. And if you take an MRI of Schon’s cherry sunburst Paul, you’ll discover it has been chambered for weight reduction.

Neal sure likes amps with a lot of knobs! (Cool seeing him play “Mother, Father, Sister” or whatever the name of that tune is!)

Alex with 'Al.'

I’m a Rush fan, particularly since I came of guitar age during the Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures era, still two of my favorite albums. I did fall away from Rush a bit over the years as they got more into synths and Alex Lifeson got more into washy, ultra-chorused, ambient sounds instead of riffs.

But last night I happened to accidentally catch Rush live on DirecTV’s 101 channel. Turned out to be an hour of tunes from the Snakes and Arrows DVD, and it was freakin’ outstanding! Tight playing, great tones, good singing, well-filmed, good sound.

Alex’s tone was good – I was surprised! It sounded quite a bit more raw than what I’d become used to from him. Almost sounded like the sound really was being mic’d from an overdriven amp and speaker, rather than from a line out right into the PA or whatever.

So naturally I had to chase down his gear.

Conveniently, England’s Guitarist magazine posted a video run-down (with Alex) of Alex’s gear from that tour (2007). Here are some highlights of it with more details, I believe from a Guitar Player magazine interview from around the same time:

Guitars

> In the video he runs through his guitars, but the only guitar I saw on the hour of tunes on TV last night was the one he calls “Al,” the burst custom shop Gibson Les Paul with a Floyd Rose bridge. It’s interesting that in the vid he says he tried a Bigsby and Kahler on the LP before deciding on the Floyd.

> From the pre-tour GP interview: “I’ve got a couple of Gibson Les Pauls with Piezos in them. I also have a Gibson Howard Roberts that has a Piezo and is tuned G G D G C E (low to high) for ‘The Way the Wind Blows.’ My white ES-335 is back out again this time around. That’s my baby. It’s just so deliciously great-sounding. I have an SG with a whammy – it’s in standard tuning. i have my Gibson doubleneck here at rehearsals, but I’m not so sure if it will make an appearance. I’m bringing Garrison 12-strings in D A D A A D tuning for ‘Hope’ and ‘The Main Monkey Business.’ I’m also bringing a Garrison G-50 9 [acoustic] that I did most of the recording on the album with. I run my acoustics though Fishman Auras. Those really help the Piezo tone – they’re very acoustic-sounding.”

Amps

Here's a pic of the amps and rack (Life magazine photo).

> Here the video and the pre-tour interview agree: Two Alex Lifeson model Hughes & Kettner Triamps run in stereo (the two middle heads in the video), plus two H&K Switchblades “for peripheral sounds. They’ll have various effects on them, and they’ll be panned hard left and right. I kick in those two amps to create the presence of another instrument.”

> The Switchblades replaced the H&K ZenTaras, which he had used. They were super-expensive (I believe $3K U.S.!) solid-state modeling heads.

> He added: “In two of my monitors there’s a 15ms delay between the two Triamps so I can get a left and right sound, leaving the middle monitor open for vocals, drums and bass.”

> The H&K website has no specs that I could find on the signature cabinet, but recommends a 4×12 with Celestion Vintage 30s.

Rack/Pedals

Because the video quality isn’t good, and the interviewer doesn’t appear to be asking any probing questions, Alex glosses over his rack and pedals. But here’s what he said in the GP interview:

> “My rack is pretty straightforward. I don’t have a lot of stuff in there, but it’s really effective. The main things are a Dunlop DCR-1SR Crybaby Rack Wah, a T.C. Electronic 1210 Spatial Expander + Stereo Chorus/Flanger, and the T.C. G-Force [delay] – I use three and one is a spare. I use the 1210 for chorus. I may add a second one or use a Loft chorus. The Loft chorus is on the ‘Limelight’ solo. I have a couple of Behringer mixers that I run into the Voodoo Lab GCX switchers. ”

> “At Lifeson’s feet are an Ernie Ball volume pedal, a Dunlop DCR-12FC foot controller, an Axess Electronics FX1 MIDI controller, a set of Korg MPK 180 bass pedals for triggering keyboard sounds, and a lone Boss TU-12H tuner.”

Now to get that DVD….

Notable

Here’s a very cool pre-Moving Pictures version of ‘Tom Sawyer’ – Alex goes nuts on the solo!

Composing Solos

“I want it to be part of the song – I don’t want it to be just an exercise in notes. It’s really just trying to get a sense of excitement and pacing. That’s the way I look at all my solos.

“I listen in context of what the point of the song is, what the emotional value of the song is, and what the song is about lyrically. I try to make my solos connect to the song – it’s not just trying to be flashy and throwing something around. I’ve always thought of the solo is a very integral part, a musical part, of the song.

“Geddy and Neil play off that as well. When writing things down and doing just a mock solo just to have something to refer to. They’ll work their parts out around that. Quite often, when the time comes to the real solo, I already have a really good foundation of what I’m going to play over, rhythmically and note-wise.

“It’s a little more instinctive than running scales and modes over certain things. It’s more emotionally driven.”

Live: “Quite honestly I try to stick to what the solos were originally meant to do in every song. We all depend on each other to be consistent.”

Rig Mainstays

“I use a TC Electronic 1210 for my chorus [this is the Spatial Expander + Stereo Chorus Flanger, no longer made]. I’ve always used that unit and it does a great job – I must have had that same unit for 15 or 18 years now.

“Delays [from a TC Electronic G-Force]…vary between probably 100 milliseconds (ms) to 700 ms, depending again what the song is. I think generally 375 to about 450 ms is my range for most of our songs and the tempos that I use. I get a little bit of flanging from the G-Force as well…my effects setup is pretty simple these days.

“I use [all] three channels on the Hughes & Kettner [Alex Lifeson Signature Series Tri Amp]. There’s a clean channel, and a crunchy all-purpose channel [with] which I do everything. In fact, I like to roll down the volume on the guitar and then bring it up for solos.

“The third channel is extremely overdriven, and I use it mostly as an effect. Basically, I rely on those first two channels…. I wouldn’t even need a third channel if it died or something – wouldn’t even miss it.

Notable: Live Mixes

It’s always interesting to find out what each musician wants to listen to when they play live. Here’s what Alex said about it:

> Alex’s mix: He has a stereo-ish mix with drums and and guitar on the left…bass and vocals in the middle.

> Geddy’s mix:  “Very dry with a lot of vocal, bass, high-hat, kick, snare a little bit of the other drums and a very little bit of guitar.”

> Neil’s mix: “Almost all drums with some vocals, a tiny bit of bass, and a tiny bit of guitar.”

Roger with his mic'd cab and a few fans! (RogerFisher.com photo)

Here’s the second part of my 3-part interview with founding Heart member Roger Fisher – who unfortunately for all of us hasn’t gotten his due over the years.

Although there’s no doubt, you can tell he’s a guitarist merely by the fact that he can recall his gear details from three decades ago!

WoodyTone: How about your tone – were you happy with it at the time or were you still going through gear trying to get it to match what you heard in your head?

Roger: That’s such a tough thing for guitarists. I think we’re pretty much all alike. Most of us are always chasing after that – better tone. I invested lot of money into rack systems, different amps, guitars, effects until at some point back in the ’90s I just decided use off-the-shelf Strats and just basic effects – so I can concentrate on being a producer, engineer, guitarist, singer, head of the art department and head of marketing (laughs).

In this business it’s so difficult…because it’s necessary at times to wear a lot of hats. It does squash the art thing a little bit, which brings to mind something else important to me: I’m not interest in being a virtuoso as a guitar player or singer, but I do want to be a virtuoso as a human being. And then let that greatness come through in my guitar-playing and singing without feeling any need to prove that I’m some great player.

Greatness isn’t in the number of notes per second. The greatness is what you have cultivated your presence in life to be. If your evolution has brought you to the point where you’re an alcoholic with a drug problem who will be as dishonest as necessary to continue your indulgence, then I wouldn’t think your music has much magnetism. But then there certainly are exceptions to every situation. A great player is a great player, doesn’t matter what they’re doing.

To me personally, if I meet a guitarist held in high esteem and see just a wreck, the music doesn’t have quite the shine it had before I met him. Whereas if you meet Jeff Beck and he’s just a regular guy like he is, then his music – he’s probably my favorite electric guitarist. Every time I’ve spent time with him, it’s been like he’s an old buddy.

What was your favorite gear when you played in Heart?

A Les Paul – I think it was a ‘65 Gold Top with the standard humbuckers it came with. My favorite rig was a Hiwatt – I think 100 watts. I don’t remember what the speakers were. Maybe Fanes [Fanes were the speakers in older Hiwatt cabs].

For strings, I went back and forth between different sets, sets starting with 9s and sets starting with 10s. Brand didn’t really matter, but I think I used Ernie Balls most of the time

I was a real proponent of cleanliness in a guitar sound because the dirtier you get, the more clipped that waveform is and the less substance it has. A clean guitar sound when you hear it hits you like a piece of steel. It’s solid. A real distorted guitar sound kind of hits you like a puff of smoke. It’s pleasing in a way, but it doesn’t have solidity. So to have a guitar sound that has real solidity with just a little bit of smoke, that’s what I like about the Hiwatt.

I think about gear and tone all the time, still. I’ve been thinking of getting a small Hiwatt rig, probably an AC30 [Vox] and probably a small Marshall and using those amps together to come up with my perfect sound.

All those older Heart tunes still hold up, and one of my favorites is Barracuda – one of the greatest rock tunes ever, in my opinion. Do you recall who came up with the riff and chord structure of that tune?

I think I came up with most of it. I definitely came up with [sings opening riff]. That came into being at soundcheck. Me and Mike [Derosier, drummer] would go down to soundchecks early so we could jam, warm up and horse around with different ideas, I was playing that lick, and my brother said, ‘That’s a good one. You should make a song out of it.’ So I kept adding to it from there.

Anytime we were working up a song, each member of the band would make a valuable addition. And some of the most quirky and valuable additions were made by Howard Leese. I think he was responsible for the really odd time signature. I can’t remember it very well. I think 19/4 is what the time works out to. You can look at it different ways.

Mike was a great drummer, which is an often-overlooked ingredient in all classic bands. Was it inspiring to work with him?

Absolutely. We searched long and hard for the musicians for Heart, and when we auditioned [Mike] in his bedroom in Edmunds, north of Seattle, he played for about a minute and I knew he was the guy.

How?

He sounded like John Bonham and we loved John Bonham!

Heart, ‘Kick It Out,’ Live, 1978, Largo, MD
> Roger is using a white Les Paul Custom in this tune.

Notable: Gear Notes

Random info from Roger’s website:

> Live he used an MXR digital delay, the Phoenix Systems flanger and a volume pedal.

> For the solo on “Sing Child” he used a Les Paul through a Fender Twin (turned way up) with a Univibe.

> The setup for Dreamboat Annie [album, 1976] was pretty simple: Les Paul through a Fender Twin Reverb, LOUD. I used a Univibe at the time as well. I think I used a distortion pedal, but I need to talk to Howard and a few others to determine which one it was as I don’t remember.”

Roger now.

> More on his current gear: “I decided to buy three new Jeff Beck Strats, simple Marshall and THD amps, a TC Electronics G System pedal board and call it good. I’m also using Taylor and McPherson acoustic guitars, and an ASR electric mandolin that was handmade for me in the ’70s. So my gear isn’t terribly exciting, but, having skipped in and out of more sit-ins and jam sessions than I can count, and having to play on as many different guitars and amps, I’ve found the most important aspect of musical expression, in my opinion, is the attitude, spirit and fingers of the player. Gear means almost nothing. Granted, if I’m playing through a system that rocks, I play better, and that is the most desirable scenario.”

Notable: Roger’s Impression of EVH

“We were introduced to Van Halen by my brother, who I think bought a cassette of their first album. He put it on in the tour bus and we were all blown away.

“The first time we met them was at the stadium in Dallas. We were playing there and Van Halen were in town. They’d just played some club or something, just after they’d released their first album. We met them and invited them to come up onstage and watch our set. We were about to go on – our road manager said at the time to go on, and we said, ‘Okay, let this band be onstage and watch us. He didn’t know who they were and said, No way.’ We said, ‘Okay, then we’re not going to play.’ Then of course he let the band come up and watch our set.”

Roger also recounted a couple of anecdotes about Ed: one was Eddie asking him how to play a fast part in an acoustic tune (also see him recount it starting at 8:14 in this YouTube video), and one was driving around with Ed in Seattle trying to find what hospital David Lee Roth was taken to after Dave had passed out on stage. They never found Dave but “had fun hanging out anyway,” he said.

- End of part 2 (of 3) -