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The Subversive Guitarist: Joe Gore’s Guitar Theory and Technique Book

Kill the clichés and develop your unique style! Now available from Amazon and Premier Guitar.

The Subversive Guitarist is for any intermediate or advanced player who feels like they are stuck in a rut. If you’ve ever thought, “I always play the same things whenever I pick up a guitar,” this is your remedy.

The Subversive Guitarist includes hundreds of exercises designed to free your hands and mind from auto-pilot licks, muscle-memory repetition, and box-pattern boredom.

These lessons are applicable to all musical styles. Music reading is not required — all musical examples appear in tab as well as standard notation.

The book purchase includes audio downloads for the hundreds of musical examples and links to relevant videos. —Joe Gore

Praise for The Subversive Guitarist:

“It’s hard to imagine any serious guitarist not coming away from this important book as a better musician. It offers such a fresh approach to breaking out of ruts and forces you to look at the guitar from a different angle. Joe Gore’s incredibly deep knowledge of music history and his unique approach to the instrument make this an invaluable tool for any dedicated guitarist. It has certainly helped me! I will return to this book again and again for years to come. Thanks for the inspiration!” —Richard Fortus (Guns N’ Roses, Psychedelic Furs, Dead Daisies)

“The Subversive Guitarist is unique in the pantheon of guitar instruction. Joe Gore’s prodigious intellect and empathic heart are engaged in the vital work of illuminating alternative ways to approach guitar, giving inquisitive seekers new ways to find their own voice. Joe invites and gently provokes players to truly become themselves, out from under the shadow of Guitar Industrial Complex conformity. The Subversive Guitarist sits alongside such classics as Mick Goodrick’s The Advancing Guitarist and Philip Toshio Sudo’s Zen Guitar.” — Vernon Reid (Living Colour, Jack Bruce, Public Enemy, Mick Jagger)

“This book is fantastic! It’s chock-full of ideas and exercises to expand a player’s command of the instrument and break free from habits that hinder advancement. It guides your fingers through new journeys, expanding your ears in the process. I highly recommend this brilliant book!” — Lyle Workman (film composer, Sting, Beck, Frank Black, Todd Rundgren)

“Learning guitar is difficult. Learning how to use your own instincts and creativity to make your best music is even more difficult. Joe Gore has managed to fuse teaching guitar techniques with simultaneous expansion of musical knowledge. You will learn about things you never knew you wanted to learn. You can’t get any more subversive than that!” —Dweezil Zappa (composer, bandleader)

“Joe Gore is among today’s most versatile and knowledgeable guitarists. With expertise that spans genres and eras, his uniquely wide view provides valuable perspectives for any musician seeking to push past convention, grow a richer musical vocabulary, and cultivate a more adventurous creative approach. I’ll be geeking out alongside the rest of you with these exercises and concepts.” — Gretchen Menn (solo artist, Zepparella, guitar clinician) 

“My homie Joe Gore could be the most subversive guitarist of all. He has somehow found a way to get guitar players to learn all of the bedrock fundamentals without seeming like that’s what they’re doing. Think of The Subversive Guitarist as one of the classic guitar method books, without any dogma or agenda. One which, if the player puts in the hours, will do two things very effectively: create a guitar player who is an asset on the bandstand, and one who has their own voice. I wish this book was around when I was coming up. Bravo, Joe!” — Charlie Hunter (solo artist, T.J. Kirk, Norah Jones, Frank Ocean, D’Angelo)

“This book is incredible! The internet is full of guitarists following well worn paths, known patterns, and predictable music. What’s needed now is a generation willing to seek beyond the clichés. Joe has written a book full of clues and cues to inspire your own fresh ideas. These are the best kind of concepts: the ones you never finish working on.” — James Valentine (Maroon 5, John Mayer)

Will You Be My Friend?

kitty_friends

This guitar blog has been around since 2011. The site remains active, and I reply to almost all comments. But I’ve posted here less frequently as my focus has shifted from text to video.

Please visit my YouTube channel. And if you find anything worth your time, please subscribe. There too I reply to most comments. And you can always contact me via my personal page, joegore.com.

Don’t be a stranger — keep in touch! 🙂


Welcome…

. . . to a blog about all the things you can do with — or to — a guitar. Topics: DIY, instruments, amps, effects, recording, software, technique, music history, music heresy.

My Afternoon With Jeff Beck (and SRV)

I only had one meaningful encounter with Jeff Beck, but it was a memorable one — and it involved Stevie Ray Vaughan as well.

In 1990, Matt Resnicoff and I were assigned a Guitar Player cover story on the Jeff Beck/Stevie Ray Vaughan tour. We were the two young guys on staff, eager to prove ourselves. Hard to believe, but music magazines had actual budgets in those days — enough to send me to NYC, where Matt lived, to interview the duo while they were in town for their two Madison Square Garden shows.

Despite promises from the record label and management, the pair basically just blew us off. Matt was far more aggressive than I about pursuing unauthorized interviews. (Once, after being declined an Eddie Van Halen face-to-face, he pursued Ed into the mens room and hurled questions while Ed stood at the urinal.) So we hung out in the lobby of the guitarists’ Midtown hotel. We saw Beck walk by with an attractive young woman at his side, but there was no interviewing to be done that day. Or the next one.

The label, Epic, offered to send us to the next show in Worcester, MA. Even better, we could hitch a ride back to NYC afterwards on Stevie Ray’s tour bus!

Alas, blown off again — and there was no one from the label or management to secure our ride. We’d returned our rental car, so we were pretty much stranded. We somehow forced our way to SRV’s bus and explained our situation to the road manager, who of course knew nothing about the supposed arrangement. But he kindly let us ride with Stevie Ray and the band overnight. Our interactions with SRV were minimal. Everyone was watching some mediocre western on TV, and one by one folks slipped off to their bunks. As the last person in the main lounge, I flicked off the TV. An irate Stevie Ray poked his head out the star lounge, asking who the hell had turned off his movie, which he was watching on a second screen.

“Sorry!” I squeaked.

The Epic publicist then offered to send us to the Cincinnati show. By now Matt and I were rather stressed out. We’d heard rumors that Beck could be an ornery interview, and Matt was spinning fantasies about potential disasters to come.

“I can’t believe anyone would be so stupid as to ask that idiotic question,” Matt said, imagining one possible scenario.

“Come on,” I said. “He’s probably not going to say that, and he’s definitely not going to talk in that Nigel Tufnel accent you’re using.”

The upside of all this was getting to watch the show up close — four times! Don’t hate me, but I confess that the SRV performances got old for me. The show varied little from night to night. And while I have vast respect for his musical skill and ability to touch so many hearts, I’ve always had limited patience for by-the-book blues licks.

Beck was different. This won’t be news to anyone fortunate enough to have seen him in concert, but he was no mere virtuoso. His playing was positively supernatural. He seemed to pull each note down from somewhere on high, each one requiring a mighty effort. (I hope it’s obvious that I’m not talking about any technical shortcomings on his part.) I’m not a woo woo-type person, but I swear, it was like watching Sisyphus push his rock, or Prometheus stealing fire, or some such mythological shit. He was the least complacent and most suspenseful guitarist I’ve ever witnessed. And for me, nothing on his records comes close to capturing that live energy.

At the time, his latest record was Guitar Shop, and the highlight of each set was his rendition of the album’s “Where Were You,” inspired by the La Mystère des Voix Bulgares, a 1975 album of Bulgarian folk singing. Each performance was unique, and each time he’d summon different versions of those impossibly high harmonics and that improbable sustain. His body coiled with the effort, as if he were in constant danger of falling to his death from a high wire. It was otherworldly. We often say virtuosos make difficult tasks look easy, but Beck made impossible tasks look really fucking hard. (And no — watching up close up didn’t demystify his technique in the slightest.)

Finally, Beck, Vaughan, Matt and I met in a nondescript Cincinnati hotel room. They were both perfectly nice, and Matt’s interview predictions were happily unfounded — sort of. Beck, fit and youthful-looking, pretty much WAS Nigel. If Christopher Guest didn’t derive his Nigel character directly from Beck, well, that performance was an uncanny coincidence.

You can find the interview online by googling “Beck Vaughan Guitar Player Interview 1990,” though GP has split the interview into irritating little sections. I have a difficult time revisiting my work, be it words or music, so I haven’t looked at it in 33 years. I remember feeling that the story was a bit flat simply because the two players seemed to have genuine respect for each other, and there was a lot of sincere but unexciting “No, you’re the man!” energy.

I was struck by Beck’s humility. He said that the experience of jamming with Hendrix was “awful” because it made him feel “like a peanut.” Jeff professed astonishment that Jimi seemed to admire his playing in return. He sorely regretted never having spoken to his hero Cliff Gallup. He said he’d have been satisfied just to hear his voice, even if he only said “fuck off.”

Beck reiterated what he said in so many interviews: He just wasn’t that into guitar. He compared himself negatively to Jimi, Steve Ray, and Buddy Guy, players who, he felt, lived and breathed the instrument. He said he merely “picked it up and played sometimes,” and that he felt guilty about that. Beck’s true passions were his hot rods. But perversely, the facts that he wasn’t obsessed with guitar and that he seldom, if ever, practiced only add to his mystique.

The best obit I’ve read since getting the sad news yesterday appeared in the Guardian. It quotes what was probably the most significant passage from our interview: Beck’s statement that “I shouldn’t have done Blow by Blow.” The Guardian quotes make it sound as if he was uncomfortable in that jazz-fusion format, even though the album was his greatest commercial success. True, no doubt! But I got the impression that he was mostly mortified about being immortalized in a cover image wearing those flared trousers.

We kibitzed for a few minutes after the interview. For some reason, Jamie Lee Curtis’s name came up. (Maybe someone had seen the then-recent A Fish Called Wanda.) I’d read somewhere that Curtis had pursued future husband Christopher Guest after falling in love with his Nigel character. Beck hadn’t heard this. “Oh my god,” he moaned. “That exquisite creature! And to think that she could have had the real thing!” (So yeah, he was indirectly acknowledging the Nigel/Jeff parallels.)

One grim aspect of working in music journalism for decades is the sheer number of encounters with artists who are no longer with us. I sometimes think of all the departed greats I had a chance to speak with: Ray Charles, Ennio Morricone, Bowie, Dr. John, Sonny Sharrock, Leon Russell, and on and on. Recalling my brief encounters with Beck and Vaughan evokes sadness and gratitude in equal measure.

Joe Gore Interview by Gretchen Menn

My friend and frequent collaborator Gretchen Menn interviewed me about various guitar topics, including my new album, Falling Through Time: Music from the 1300s. (Links below.)

If you don’t know Gretchen’s playing, do yourself a kindness and discover it (https://bit.ly/3FOcYIW). She is utterly brilliant. My album is available via BandCamp and the streaming services.

Bandcamp https://bit.ly/3JNcHt6

Apple Music https://apple.co/3t5iZ1e

Spotify https://spoti.fi/3q4k0oC

YouTube Music: https://bit.ly/3GDlP1H

Booklet (via joeggore.com) https://bit.ly/3qVNRyD

My Very First Album (It Only Took 50 Years!)

I’ve worked on many projects by many artists, but this is my first release under my own name. And it only took me 50 years!


It’s a back-to-the-roots project for me, though I have some fairly strange roots. When I was a teen I wanted to go into academia, specializing in early music (that is, European classical music from before 1650). Fate choose a different path for me, but I’ve always been fascinated by ancient music, especially the bizarre stuff that emerged toward the end of the Middle Ages. So this is a collection of music composed during the 1300s.

I followed a simple but strict “rule book”: I played only the notes and rhythms the composers specified, but I allowed myself total freedom in applying modern instrumentation and production. (As opposed to when I was young, when my goal, like that of most early music practitioners, was to perform the music as authentically as possible.) The resulting album is surreal, psychedelic, and, for better or worse, unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

Here are some places you can listen:

Bandcamp

Apple Music

Spotify

This is a digital-only release for now, though I’ll do a vinyl pressing if there’s enough interest.

Me at age 17, playing my 15-string lute at — where else? — a Renaissance Faire. Yes, I was a dork even by 1970s standards.

I could say a lot more about the project, but I already did: I created a little booklet with credits, liner notes, background, and lots of amazing 14th-century images. It’s a free download from here:

Falling Through Time PDF

I also created several videos. Here’s the first one:

I’ll be honored if you can spare the time to listen to this passion project. Thanks, friends!

From Medieval to Modern

I’d never have imagined that I’d get to participate in so many cool music collaborations during Covid lockdown — man, was I fortunate! One of the most exciting developments was being invited to join Another Night on Earth, an international octet of electric guitarist who perform classical music.

A few months ago I posted our first virtual concert. The link includes some info about the incredible musicians I get to work with, ranging from Steve Vai’s favorite contemporary guitarist to the guy who leads the conducting department at Julliard. There’s an old musicians’ saying: You’re lucky when you get to perform with players who are better than you. If it’s true, I am really frickin’ lucky.

Last week we posted our second concert.

This one is a real mixed bag. It starts with a medieval piece that I transcribed for two guitars, which I perform with group founder Heiko Ossig from Hamburg, Germany. Next comes a octatonic-scale workout by Daniele Gottardo, performed with Steven Mackey, who is almost certainly the world’s leading exponent of using electric guitar in contemporary classical music. Finally, all eight of us perform Bill Ryan’s recent composition Simple Lines, originally written for eight cellos.

Assembling complex music remotely has presented challenging technical hurdles, and not just the complexities of trans-continental file management. Unlike most pop music, classical pieces usually aren’t performed to a steady click — tempos breathe freely, and the BPM number can vary bar by bar. We’ve experimented with unusual workflows, sometimes reverse-engineering audio that was recorded in strict tempo. In some cases, conductor David Robertson creates a free-flowing tempo map, which we enter into Logic Pro (our primary DAW of choice) so each of us can perform independently to a free, ever-shifting click.

Speaking of medieval music: I’ve been obsessed with early music since I was a teen. When I was 18 or so, I was certain that I would become a university professor specializing in music from before 1650. Fate decided differently — I wound up playing in rock bands and writing about music. Now, in late middle age, I’m returning to those roots. I have a particular passion for the music of the 14th century, the catastrophic era that included the 100 Years War, the Papal schism, and the worst ravages of the Black Plague. The era’s art music is an extreme as its time. It can be incredibly bizarre, especially the stuff from the end of the century, right before what we call the Renaissance.

A damn good read!

Besides being strange in its own right, the era’s music forces us to listen in new ways. This was a time before chords. I’m not talking about monophonic Gregorian chant, which evolved centuries earlier. This is intensely polyphonic/contrapuntal music, with multiple lines weaving in and around each other. But there’s nothing like the chordal “skeleton” that underlies almost all music from subsequent centuries. And OMG, the rhythms! It would be 400 years before classical composers created rhythms of equal complexity.

Listening to this literature forces us to hear all music in new ways. It brings to mind the title of Barbara Tuchmann’s epic history of the 14th century: A Distant Mirror. When we turn back the musical clock by 500 years or more, we perceive some aspects that feel timeless and contemporary, testimony to our common humanity. (That’s the “mirror” part.) At the same time, it’s so alien and unknowable that it could have come from Mars. (That’s the “distant” part.) By the way, A Distant Mirror is a spellbinding page-turner, even if you don’t have a particular interest in history or the late Middle Ages. I can’t recommend it more highly.

I’m currently making an album featuring modernistic interpretations of this radical music. I’m not going for maximum historical accuracy the way I did when I was young. I want to capture both “distant” and “mirror.” It’s been a slow, experimental process with many dead ends and false starts. So many seemingly good ideas turned out to be cheesy in practice! But I’ve been making major headway recently, and I hope to have an album to share before the end of the year. (And that, by the way, is one of my main excuses for posting relatively few new YouTube videos over the last year.)

Sound Test: Wood Neck vs. Aluminum Neck

I’ve been wanting to try this A/B test for ages. I recorded my lipstick-tube “parts” Strat/ Then I replaced the MIM Fender neck with an aluminum neck from Alef Guitars before playing the same music through the same signal chain. The sound contrast is dramatic, consistent, and repeatable.

Is an aluminum neck for you? That’s a subjective call. It makes tones tighter and brighter, possibly at the expense of some midrange warmth. Since the EQ curve produced by the aluminum neck looks an awful lot like EQ adjustments I commonly make while mixing, I love the results.

The feel is equally subjective, but I love that as well. It’s almost surreally smooth and consistent.

What are your impressions?

Meet the Quesocaster! A New DIY Guitar Experiment.

This is my fifth and latest DIY guitar experiment using Warmoth parts. Most of the tech details are in the video, but I’ll share a few additional experiences and impressions.

I’ve been thinking about making something using the Fender Swinger body profile for a couple of years. My earlier Kitschcaster used Wamoth’s Fender Starcaster (“Mooncaster”) body, but when I made it, the company didn’t yet offer a version of that swooping Starcaster headstock. (No biggie — that Starcaster body looks great with a Strat-style headstock.) When they finally introduced a Starcaster neck last year, it occurred to me that the headstock’s curves might go nicely with the Swinger body.

I confess that when I unboxed the parts and saw that screaming orange finish, I had a “What was I thinking?” moment. But the look has grown on me since then. It’s also the first time I ordered a neck with stainless steel frets, which some players rave about. They felt weird at first, and now they feel normal. Now I’m not sure whether I perceive any difference in tone or feel.

I’ve had those Lollar pickups sitting around for a few years. (I previously demoed them as alternate strat pickups.) So I had the guitar routed for them. I’d forgotten how different the P-90 and the “Staple” sound! But they’re complimentary in an oddball way, and they produce cool yet crisp blended tone.

I didn’t decide on the final wiring till I heard the pickups in the body The P-90 has distinctive resonant peaks, so I voiced the bass-cut controls to compliment that. (I have some sort of bass cut in most of my non-vintage guitars.) I don’t love the look of toggle switches, but the Swinger/Musiclander body is too small to permit a third pot in the control cavity.

As usual I’m using expensive but awesome Thomastik-Infeld flatwound strings. No one ever listens, but for the zillionth time I’ll declare that flatwounds are great for distorted playing. When these pickups were designer, flats would have been the reference. And of course, anyone playing one of those early Les Paul Customs before the mid-1960s would have employed flats with that guitar’s P-90/staple pickup set.

I own all the appropriate tools for doing a proper guitar setup, but these days I’m lazy. I set the intonation by ear, and then just guess on the action. I keep a set of hex wrenches on hand while I play, and make adjustments on the fly, eventually arriving at something that feels good. (Same with pickup and pole piece height.) For some reason, it took me a long time to arrive at the right combination of neck relief, bridge height, and saddle height for this instrument. But I wound up with something that feels great. Even though I use heavier-than-usual strings and a wound third string, I’m not macho about the action. I like it as low as possible without buzzing.

The Best Band I’ve Ever Been In

A bright moment in a dark year was being asked to join Another Night on Earth, an international collective of electric guitarists performing classical music.

They say you’re a lucky musician if you get to work with players who are better than you. If this is true, I’m really frickin’ lucky.

Another Night on Earth (ANOE) is the brainchild of Heiko Ossig, a renowned concert guitarist who teaches of the University of Music and Theater in Hamburg, Germany. There he created the innovative Guitar Lab, where students meld traditional classical guitar approaches with modern technology. Ossig invited American composer/guitarist and Princeton University music professor Steven Mackey as a guest lecturer. (Mackey is almost certainly the world’s leading exponent of employing electric guitar in modern classical composition.) When the pandemic made that visit impossible, Ossig launched this project as an alternative.

In addition to Ossig and Mackey, the group includes six distinguished musicians: 

David Robertson is one of America’s leading orchestral conductors. After a long tenure as music director of the St. Louis Symphony and appearances with many of the world’s leading orchestras, he now serves as the director of conducting studies at New York’s Julliard School of Music. He also wields a mean Telecaster. 

Gretchen Menn is a California guitarist known for her virtuosity, musicality, and sheer stylistic range. A classic rock specialist, she performs with Zepparella, one of the leading Led Zeppelin tribute bands. But she also boasts a formidable classical pedigree, and she combines her influences in exciting and distinctive ways, often in ambitious extended-form compositions. 

• Italian virtuoso Daniele Gottardo boasts drop-dead technique and a phenomenally broad stylistic range. His rock shredding is second to none, but his repertoire also embraces classical music and jazz. Guitar icon Steve Vai has cited Daniele as his favorite contemporary player. 

• Korean-born classical guitarist Jiji is an assistant professor of music at Arizona State University. A tireless advocate for new music, she has premiered many works by emerging composers, often employing electric guitar. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and other premier classical music venues. 

• The New York Times rightly described composer/guitarist James Moore as “model new music citizen.” His career highlights include performing the music of John Zorn, George Crumb, and Steve Reich at such venues at BAM and the Barbican. He’s currently pursuing a PhD in music composition at Princeton. 

• Sometime last century Joe Gore dropped out of the PhD music composition program at UC Berkeley to play in rock bands. He went on to record and tour with Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Tracy Chapman, Courtney Love, John Cale, and many other artists. He’s also a music journalist who has edited for the magazines Guitar Player and Premier Guitar.

Assembling all this was a complicated but gratifying process. I talk about it in this video chat with conductor David Robertson, who may well be the heaviest musician I’ve ever collaborated with.

The Dobro EBow No No

As if this year wasn’t sucky enough: I tripped on the sidewalk ands fractured my left wrist. I’ll be fine in a few weeks, but I had to put a hold on a couple of projects in progress.

But there are a few things you can play when your forearm is in a cast. Dobro, for example. Or EBow. Or both at once.

Music from A Plague Year

Hi folks! I created this video during my initial COVID quarantine, but I cleverly forgot to post it here at tonefiend.com.

When COVID struck, I was in Mexico City, working on a MTV Unplugged special with one of my all-time favorite bands. (I can’t share the details yet.) But the project was postponed when the scope of the disaster became clear, and I rushed home. I quarantined in the studio for two weeks and recorded this.

For decades Claudio Monteverdi has always been one of my three favorite composers, along with Claude Debussy and Duke Ellington. He’s one of the most fascinating figures in music history. It’s an exaggeration to say that he invented opera, but only a slight one. Over the course of his long career, opera transformed from an avant-garde experiment among court intellectuals to a grand popular entertainment. He also composed many books of madrigals and some of the most gorgeous liturgical music ever created. He pushed the period’s musical limits on all fronts: dissonance, drama, instrumentation, structure, and psychological depth. Do yourself a favor and read up on this radical visionary!

This piece, Zefiro Torna, was originally a vocal piece, based on a poem celebrating the return of spring. (This video includes a lovely traditional performance, with a scrolling view of the score.)

When the piece was published in 1623, there wasn’t much to celebrate. Europe was decimated after the ravages of the insane international power grab known as the 30 Years War. Venice, the composer’s adopted home, had lost a third of its population to the plagues that accompanied the incessant violence. Yet it’s exceedingly upbeat music, celebrating the seasons rebirth — until toward the end, when the mood turns dismal as the poet/narrator mourns that he alone is miserable, tortured by unrequited love.

For my video I performed the vocal lines mostly on overdubbed Veillette Gryphon. It’s a small 12-string tuned an a minor 7th above standard. (That is, when I finger the piece in its original key of G, it comes out in F.) Most of the other instruments perform the continuo — that is, the bass line and chords, as indicated in ubiquitous Baroque-era shorthand.

As I write now, many months later, COVID rages worse than ever. In the intervening time I’ve returned again and again to medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque music from times of plague. There’s something soothing about beauty born of cataclysm. It’s a tribute to the better angels of our artist nature at a time when good angels are scarce.

P.S.: That postponed Mexican project returned to life last month. It’s a fun story that I’ll share soon.