I've Got You

I've Got You

A new track featuring Lily Adams on my new MartinBirdMusic soundcloud page.

Bogner Shiva

I recently traded my trusty Blackstar Artisan 30 amp for this wonderful Bogner Shiva.

This is the 6L6 model, which is  60 watts and has a touch more lowend/highend that's more in the American-style. This also has a wonderful rich reverb which sounds fantastic on the clean channel especially with my Stratocaster plugged in. This being the 1x12 Combo features a ported speaker enclosure that sounds very full, almost like a 4x12 cabinet.

The real joy starts when my Gibson SG is cranked up through the high gain, just pure bliss. Time to spark up the Shiva methinks!

Connected (short film)

Earlier in the year I did the music to Connected a short film starring Kevin Eldon and Miles Jupp. Directed by Chris Connatty it is a film about a man isolated by modern technology, it is presently doing the rounds at festivals in New York, Leeds, Houston and Sweden.

source

For the last year I have been working (in down time) with  'RavenRook' who are the exceptionally talented twins Lily and Violet Adams. Their music has many roots but mostly in folk with a unique twist, and with their wonderful lyrics and harmonies they really are in my opinion one to look out for.

They are hoping to release their CD 'New Horizons' over the next couple of months.

LovePedal Babyface Tremolo

I've just added a very dinky Babyface Tremolo from Lovepedal  to my pedal-board. This pedal boosts 3 switchable waveforms via a mini toggle which lets you choose between the opto sound (sine wave) of a blackface amplifier, a sawtooth wave that recalls the tremolo of an Ampeg amp, and a full square wave, which is suitable for stutter and chopper effects (great with distortion or fuzz, which I particularly enjoyed). Boasting just one speed knob it is simplicity itself.

After playing with it for a while I was struck by it's smooth warm analogue sound and liked what I was getting out of this tiny pedal. Perhaps the main drawback could be that to access the depth and volume trim pots you need to remove four screws and take the back panel off, where the pots are then easily adjustable with a small screwdriver. I find that with a Tremolo pedal I pretty much stick to one sound,  however I did  set the depth a bit deeper and tweaked the volume up slightly which stopped the psycho-acoustic volume drop that happens with some tremolo pedals, and I think this will cover my options nicely.

All in all a great little pedal that I think will definitely be staying on my Pedalboard

Heart Full Of Soul

I was intrigued to learn that the 1965 single "Heart Full of Soul" by  The Yardbirds was written by Graham Gouldman of 10cc fame (popular belief is that they adopted the name 10cc because the average male ejaculation is 9cc and the band was above average with 1cc more than that. So 1 more just like 11). Gouldman was a prolific songwriter who also came up with songs for The Hollies, Cher, The Shadows, and Herman's Hermits.

The song features Jeff Beck playing his Telecaster employing early use of a fuzz box (a Tonebender MK I designed by Gary Hurst) on his lead part. The original arrangement called for a sitar playing the lead guitar part, but they instead opted for Beck's sitar-sounding guitar.(An authentic Indian sitar player was brought into the studio, as well as a tabla player who could not get the 4/4 time signatures right)

                                                           Tone Bender Mk1

Engineered by Brian Auger this was one of the first songs to use the "Eastern-exotic"influences that became so popular with George Harrison at the forefront.

Although it is Beck that plays on the song, the U.S. single was released with a picture sleeve showing the Eric Clapton lineup. A March 1968 appearance on the music show "Upbeat" features the final lineup with Jimmy Page guitar-synching to the record (Jimmy Page miming to Jeff Beck!).

It charted in the United States at number nine and at number two in the United Kingdom. 

Heart Full of Soul - The Yardbirds

Sick at heart and lonely, deep in dark despair.
When you want her only, tell me where is she where?
And if she says to you, that she don't love me.
Just give her my message, tell her of my plea.
And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad.
I got a heart full of soul. I got a heart full of soul.
She's been gone such a long time, longer than I can bear.
But if she says she wants me, tell her I'll be there.

And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad.
I got a heart full of soul. I got a heart full of soul.
Sick at heart and lonely, deep in dark despair.
When you want her only, tell me where is she where?
And if she says to you, that she don't love me.
Just give her my message, tell her of my plea.
And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad.
I got a heart full of soul. I got a heart full of soul.
I got a heart full of soul!

Writer/s: GOULDMAN, GRAHAM
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Electro Harmonix Micro Pog

My of my favourite pedals on my pedalboard at the moment is the Electro Harmonix Micro Pog, this little blighter is a fantastic sonic addition to any set-up.

Basically it's polyphonic, got 3 very user-friendly knobs, dry signal (input signal) volume, sub octave volume (-1 octave), octave up volume (+1 octave) the octave sound it creates reacts fast and sticks closely along side your original guitar signal and you can play more than one note through this unit at a time tracing your notes and chords almost seamlessly.  It's great for electric organ sounds, or can make a 6 string guitar sound like a bass or 12 string, you can get great Jack White tones when distortion, overdrive and basically anything over 11 is applied.

Time to fire up my amp methinks.

                                                  image Sound Unlimited

Bill Nelson

I am often asked who my favourite guitarist is, bit like asking what is your favourite food really (curry). There are so many to choose from and so many influences, but the first guitarist to really grab, inspire and shape my sound (his use of echo especially) was Bill Nelson.  Be Bop Deluxe was one of the first live bands I saw, it was the most amazing show I had ever seen. Sister Seagull, Ships In The Night, Maid in Heaven (don't worry I'm not going to go through the whole set list, but I could) these great songs took me to new musical landscapes and were very inspirational for a young player like me. Brandishing his Gibson 335 Bills playing was breathtaking and his 15 minute solo spot remains with me to this day. 

Be Bop Deluxe were a great band and Bills vision was very forward thinking, and the cover for Axe Victim is a classic. 

After Be Bop Deluxe he had a short stint with the band Red Noise and I absolutely loved the single Revolt Into Style.

The 80's saw his music became ever more experimental and influenced David Sylvian (who collaborated with Bill) the album "Do You Dream In Colour?" was hardly ever off my turntable, (turntable? this is an old term referring to how music used to be listened to, I mention this as recently my partners 16 year old twin daughters had never seen a record before, and were fascinated by the fact that it could be played on both sides!! anyway back to Bill) recorded in his home studio in Yorkshire it inspired me to get a Tascam 4-track porta-studio and explore my own musical visions. Through him and his music I also discovered the films of Jean Cocteau.

Though not a very public figure today, Bill Nelson has a devoted core audience who admire his perseverance, his integrity to his art in the face of commercial rejection, and his versatile musicianship. In recent years Bill has begun to perform live again.

I have included this live clip of Be Bop Deluxe from 1978 as this was when I first saw and heard him and it shows off a lot of his styles, i particularly love the little riff he plays near the beginning.

 

Bills website "Welcome To Dreamsville" is here

A Guitar for a Gent in a Tuxedo

The Les Paul Custom debuted in 1954 in an attempt to broaden the solid body product line after the initial success of the Les Paul Model gold top. Les Paul claimed that he suggested black as the color for the guitar because it looked classy and went well with a black Tuxedo on stage. (he also felt that his hands and super-fast fingers would stick out more clearly against the black background)

The Les Paul Custom differed greatly from the Les Paul Model in several ways. It had a solid Honduras mahogany body, which gave it a mellower tone than the maple capped Les Paul Model. It came with a dark ebony fret board with rectangular pearloid inlays, a wider, bound headstock with the Super 400’s style split diamond inlay, gold plated hardware, seven-ply top binding on top of body, five-ply binding on back of body and around the headstock, and three ply pick-guard. The Custom was the first Les Paul model to receive the Tune-o-Matic bridge.

The Custom was issued with the unique Alnico V pickup in the neck position that was designed by Seth Lover during 1952/53 and installed in Super 400s and L-5s. It was designed by Seth to be louder than the P-90 in the bridge position. Lover said that he designed the pole pieces in the alnico pickup to be rectangular so that it looked different from other pickups this new Alnico V pickup (also called the “staple” pickup by some), gave added note definition in the neck position, while a traditional P-90 in the bridge position provided its beloved bite and growl, there is simply no other Les Paul that sounds like this one, and it is a wondrous instrument to hear.

 

Microphone plug-in fit for a King (or a Queen)

I was fascinated to learn from last months "Sound On Sound" that the microphones used for the wonderful film "The Kings Speech" were in fact original microphones made for King George restored for the film. I now learn that having captured the sounds of these historic mikes used during the 1920s and 1930s Waves Audio has worked with Abbey Road Studios to develop The King’s Microphones plug-in.

The Waves/Abbey Road plug-in is a digital audio processor, created in concept by Abbey Road Studios and engineered by Waves, and marks the first and very interesting collaboration between Waves and Abbey Road.

The plug-in recreates these rare microphones, giving studio/live mix engineers a quick and easy distinctive vintage/’lo-fi’ sound for vocals, drums; giving post re-mixers a dialogue processor to ‘achieve authentic period-appropriate sounds; and giving sound designers the chance to recreate the sounds of the era and perhaps we may even see Cher overusing the effect very soon.

                                            image Waves

Quick Steps Kalimba

Got any spare guitar pick-ups that you don't know what to do with?

Well here is an idea from Yuri Landman builder of experimental electric musical instruments from his site Hypercustom it is called the ''Quick Steps Kalimba''.

all pictures from hypercustom.com

He states that: The Quick Steps Kalimba is a Bass Kalimba starting with the low E of a Bass guitar going up to D# and covering the complete octave. Traditional Kalimba’s are often tuned different. Most of them close to a regular major scale (Do-Re-Mi). That set up is very handy to play harmonic, but it excludes you from making chord progressions, which is one of the key elements of Western music. Therefore those African instruments are often not very suitable to play on during complete songs made by a guitar/piano. My Quick Steps covers all twelve notes of the Western scale. This makes it slightly more difficult to play the correct notes, but you can play almost any pop song on this one.

If you prefer the African tuning it is possible to rearrange the prongs in the traditional configuration.

Boys keep swinging with the "Home Swinger"

 Yuri is based in Holland and holds workshops on how to build this and other fascinating instruments which include among others a  ''Caterpillar drum guitar'', "Moodswinger" and the intriguingly named ''Home Swinger'' (careful if you Google that one!). He says of the workshops that ''Participating on the workshop requires no special skills or handiness. It’s as difficult as building a piece of IKEA furniture''. If you  can't make the workshops you could always get your Strat pimped into ''The Shavelander'' by Yuri

The Shavelander

Yuri can be booked for workshops,  performances or for purchasing an instrument and also been active as a comic book creator, musician, and singer. if you visit his page be sure to check out the 'Moonlander

.

A Moodswinger

Neon Guitar Strings

If you spend enough time with a guitarist the conversation will eventually swing round to the subject of strings (even The Edge asks fellow players Jimmy Page and Jack White if you are 'anorak' enough to watch the extras on "It Might Get Loud' ) be it gauge, brand, life expectancy, combination of maple or  rosewood neck etc. But it very rarely gets to the subject of colour, until now.........

Want your guitar to stand out at gigs? Want to add to the excitement of guitar conversation at parties?  Then how about trying the Neon range of strings from DR Strings
We are reliably informed that  these 'Nickel Plated Electric String's wound on Hexagonal Cores are so bright in appearance "they look like they are on fire."I am reliably informed that  they  sound as good as they look, are very durable and they are available in the usual gauges.(oh oh! I'm off into string talk)

 

 

(Photo's  DR Strings)

Bass players can join in too

As for the subject of guitar strings at parties, it will still incite a yawn from the uninitiated.

Guitar #56 (Peter MalinoskiArt Guitars revisited)

Guitar #56

A little while ago I did a blog about Peter Malinoski Art Guitars, well as fortune would have it I mentioned them to a friend of mine who runs the online music company called Funkymonkmusic and before you could say Peter Malinoski Art Guitars he had imported one from the US and I was lucky enough to get my mits on it.

Plugging into a Fender Twin I played this unique guitar. I was struck at just how immensely playable and comfortable the instrument was and as for the sounds wow! I guess the best description would be a demonic cross between a Strat and a Telecaster the array of sounds obtainable from Peter's hand wound pick-ups and the Piezo was astonishing. From thick growling Tele's to rasping funky out of phase Strat tones, it was all there and switching in the piezo was very pleasing indeed. Whether with clean or distorted tones it sounded great and was very hard to put down.

 My only very minor grumble (I have to have one) is the plastic selector switch, considering all the effort and work that went into the rest of the guitar this seemed an oversight. So if you want to be different have a unique sound (who doesn't) and own the only one of these remarkable hand made guitars (or pieces of art) in Europe  head on over pronto to the Funky Monks it's here

Here are the specs:

Guitar #56

25 -1/2" scale 

24 large frets @ 14" radius   

Bone nut @ 1-11/16"

Neck thickness @ 7/8"  

Push-pull truss rod & carbon fiber rods  

Gotoh tuners   

Hipshot SS bridge @ 2-1/8", thru-body strings 

Oiled curly Maple and Goncalo Alves neck w/ Padauk fretboard 

Oiled & acrylic painted Spanish Cedar body w/ oiled Maple pickup plate

Malinoski Type 2 single coil  pick-ups w/ bridge transducer

Single volume pot

Single tone pot with push/pull piezo activation

5-way selector

Weight - 5lbs 15oz

GOTD Rickenbacker 370\12

Currently Ed Roman Guitars in America is selling the Original Roger McGuinn Rickenbacker that was used on all the hit songs of the 60's. Yours for a mere  $750.000.00 . This is the one from all the TV Shows & almost every original hit song performed by 'The Byrds'.

Of this guitar Roger McGuinn says:

"We went as a group to see A Hard Day’s Night multiple times and were totally taken with The Beatles. I liked George Harrison’s Rickenbacker 360/12, but I couldn’t find one that looked like his with the pointy cutaways, so I bought the blonde 360 model. I thought it was beautiful, like a golden palomino and the checkerboard binding reminded me of Gene Autry or Roy Rogers. I loved that guitar and played it eight hours a day. It was later stolen and I discovered that it was auctioned off in England for over $100,000. Given the statute of limitations and the difficulty in dealing with laws in a foreign country, there wasn’t much I could do, even though I considered myself the legal and rightful owner."

If your jingle jangles can't quite afford this then you can always settle for a reissue Rickenbacker 370\12 RM 

 

 

Michael Hedges Guitar Tunings

Many people are not aware of the great acoustic guitar player Michael Hedges. His  wonderful groundbreaking playing  has influenced  many guitar players.

His first two albums Breakfast in the Field and Aerial Boundaries  were milestones for the acoustic guitar and continue to inspire and influence.

He attended Phillips University, then Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore studying composition and classical guitar

Classical and jazz musicians quickly took note of his complex compositional abilities while the rockers appreciated his sense of rhythm and driving melodies.   

He wrote nearly exclusively in open tunings (all listed here) Some of the techniques he used include slap harmonics (created by slapping the strings over a harmonic node), use of right hand hammer-ons (particularly on bass notes), use of the left hand for melodic or rhythmic hammer-ons and pull offs, percussive slapping on the guitar body.

He was also a master on the harp guitar an instrument with additional bass strings (see picture), and the Trans-Trem Guitar. He was a multi-instrumentalist  playing piano, percussion, tin whistle, harmonica, and flute, among others.
   

Tragically he died in a car accident in 1993, he was 43 years old.

GOTD: Gibson Explorer

The Explorer made its debut in 1958 it offered a radical "futuristic" body design which was the final development of a prototype design which years later Gibson marketed under the name Futura.
The Explorer's initial run was unsuccessful, and the model was discontinued in 1959.

In 1976, Gibson began reissuing the Explorer and it was around this time I fell for the sleek design after seeing a photo of Eric Clapton playing one and watching Rick Nielson of 'Cheap Trick' playing his Hamer Explorer on "Top Of The Pops" from the "Cheap Trick at Budokan" video (his stage persona was very influential on me), I was lucky enough to have two Explorers made for me by the one and only Melvyn Hiscock and these were my stock guitars for about seven years until the arrival of 'The Edge' and various metal bands brandishing them along with Flying V's with legs in full wide apart mode proved too much for me.

           (Tweets 1979:  And I was worried about the legs wide apart Rock bands!)

Winter Warmer ( Roasted Brussels Sprouts Recipe)

Most musicians I know love food. I find myself in this category so I feel the odd recipe would not go amiss here. 

Seeing all the shops stocking up for Christmas I got to thinking about an old favourite... the dreaded Sprouts...mmmmn. 

Like Marmite you love them or hate them. So for all the sprout lovers here is a nice looking simple recipe that puts a different slant on the little green balls of fun (you could also try rolling them in Marmite)

Roasted Brussels Sprouts Recipe

 Active Time: 15 minutes    Total Time: 30 minutes

Recipe Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 3 tubs (10 oz each) Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• 1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Recipe Preparation

1. Heat oven to 500ºF. Line a rimmed 15 x 10-in. baking sheet with nonstick foil. Mix oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a large ziptop bag. Add sprouts, seal and turn to coat.

2. Spread on prepared baking sheet. Roast 15 minutes, or until crisp-tender when pierced. Sprinkle with lemon zest and juice; toss to coat.




From Woman's Day | November 15, 2005

Guitar Of The Day

Last night I was lucky enough too play on this beauty. 

It's a  1962 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman (walnut finish) gold hardware, Neo-Classic inlays, dial-up mutes, Gretsch Bigsby vibrato, two Filter'Tron pickups, made famous by George Harrison (after his 1957 Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet semi-solid mahogany body, black finish, silver pick-guard; Serial #21179, boy I'm an anorack!).  

In May 1963 Harrison upgraded to this more deluxe Gretsch he found at Sound City London, and after removing the mutes  (and later the bass-side screw-up knob) used it extensively for touring and recording (first on "She Loves You" and then With The Beatles).   It's also seen in the famous Royal Command performance. 

When this guitar went into the shop for repair, Sound City gave him another one, but while in the shop this first Gent was stolen.  It was later recovered, and Harrison, by then prefered his second Gent.
The Gent met its fate on a roadway.  On 2 December 65 the Beatles' limo, bound for Glasgow for the first stop of the band's last British tour, hit a bump at Berwick on Tweed.  The first Gent had been lashed to the boot and came untied, and it wound up on the road. When Ringo Starr noticed a trucker flashing his lights, he notified the driver, Alf Bicknell, who pulled over.  "You've just lost a banjo back down the road," the trucker told Alf.  Alf broke the news to Lennon, who told him that if he found the banjo, the driver would get a bonus: he could keep his job.  Alf doubled back and found it (in pieces)  but kept his job anyway.  As the band was in a hurry, they left the pieces in the road and kept going.
 
George would later switch to a Gretsch Tennessean and his Country Gentleman made its last appearance in the music video of 'You're Going To Lose That Girl'  where you can really hear its tone in the solo, (check out Ringo's ciggie) from the movie 'Help!' 

I really enjoyed playing my friends guitar (which incidentally is for sale so let me know if you are interested in owning a piece of rock and roll history, if only I had the money....sigh) it has a surprisingly good action and once I got used to the electronics I managed to get some cracking authentic sounds and would love to have tried this cranked up through my Blackstar Artisan 30, I don't think I would have been able to put it down.

Hysteria Never Repeats by Martin Bird

Hysteria Never Repeats by Martin Bird

Les Cheval by Martin Bird

Les Cheval by Martin Bird