I’m ripping myself off. Actually, I’ve had a few requests to revisit an old article about one of my guitars so here it is, this time with photos. In the past year the guitar made appearances on the albums Out Of Confusion by ConFused5 and The Running Time by SolidTube, both of which I produced for Sellaband. So, on with the guitar-porn…

MK signature Strat

My favorite guitar is a Fender Mark Knopfler Signature Stratocaster. I love this guitar for two reasons. For starters, she is just a fantastic guitar not only to play but to look at and admire, and I’ll get into that in a moment. But what makes her so very special to me is that she was placed into my care by Mark as a “thank you” for the small part I played in support of his 2004 SHANGRI LA album.

Electric bass is my weapon of accomplishment but I’ve always had a few guitars around for writing and teaching. On a more sensual level, there are some guitars which pay their way just by being beautiful to look at and touch in ways that result in wonderful noises. This is what my ‘62 P-bass and my first girlfriend once had in common. After fifty-some years, the bass is sexy as ever and still makes wonderful noises when I touch her just right. I can’t say with any certainty, but I’d hazard a guess that the old girlfriend hasn’t aged as well.

Everyone has a favorite “the one that got away” story. My stories tend to fall more into the “Pete, you are a friggin’ idiot” category. I once bought a ‘63 strat for $75.00 and decided it was ugly, so I sold it and made fifty bucks! Now this was in the early seventies and fifty bucks kept me alive for a week so it was cool…I thought. It was ugly to me because of the color. I found out later that Inca Silver is a rare color and had I put that rare bastard in the the case and under the bed, well…every time I think about it I imagine a big pie hitting me in the face.

Vintage bridge

I could write all day and into the night…into many nights, about my knuckleheadedness but let me get back to my favorite guitar. MK arrived at Shangri La the evening before we were to load in the instruments and digital recording gear. Some days before, I had taken delivery of the guitars he planned to use for the album. We spent the evening unpacking his guitars to get them acclimated to the Malibu air. Mark proved to be a true guitar junkie and we spent a most enjoyable evening fawning over each of the instruments as we set them free of the flight cases and let them run loose in what would be their home for the next five weeks.

One of the guitars for which Mark is known is a “frankenstrat” which, to my knowledge, is a ‘59 red Fender Stratocaster body mounted to a ‘61 neck with a rosewood fretboard. This guitar, with the middle and bridge position pick-ups out of phase, was the sound heard on “Sultans Of Swing.” Fender now markets The Mark Knopfler Signature Strat and I was surprised to find that both Mark and Richard Bennett play these guitars on stage and in the studio just as they come from the factory. I admired the guitar and told Mark that it seemed like an instrument worth having and that I would look into getting one for the studio.

The weeks spent recording the album are another story but it must be said that a good time was had by all concerned. About a week after the circus left town, a guitar was delivered, addressed to Mark in care of Shangri La Studio. I emailed Mark’s tech in London and asked what was to be done with it and when the answer came, so did I. The guitar was no longer an anonymous “it” but a “she”…and she belonged to me!

Lightly figured maple

In describing the manufacture of the guitar, Mark had told me that he thought Fender had done an excellent job of reproducing his original Strat. As I had played both Richard’s and Mark’s guitars, I had to agree but these guitars were in the hands of world-class musicians and I suspected that they were handmade at the factory especially for them. I was surprised to find that this was not the case at all and that my new Strat was a spectacular instrument right out of the box. The first thing that impressed me was the finish which is a bright, hot-rod red nitrocellulose lacquer and absolutely flawless. The use of nitrocellulose insures that the guitar will age beautifully and actually sound better as the years pass. Her first impression simply knocks your eyes out. The neck is also finished in the old school lacquer with a beautiful, aged amber tint. The grain of the rosewood fretboard is very straight and runs the length of the neck with no run-out. This is not only visually attractive but will contribute to years of stability.

Rosewood

I always judge the musical voice of an electric guitar un-plugged. When I play a guitar without amplification, I can hear and feel how the wood reacts to string vibration. Some guitars “speak” more clearly than others and there was an unmistakable similarity between the Signature Strats used on the session and my newly arrived beauty. There is a pronounced consistency in these instruments that speaks very highly of Fender’s quality control. But what impresses me is that when I have this girl in my hands, all the techno talk melts away and I’m left with a guitar that feels like she was handmade only for me.

Mark once said to me, “A beautiful guitar will be a friend to you for  life.” Truer words were never spoken. This beautiful redhead has been a true friend and a hard working cohort who has never asked for a raise. She doesn’t mind bad weather, is kind to strangers and doesn’t bark at children. I am in love with this guitar. It is a Mark Knopfler Signature Stratocaster.

The invention and marketing of the electric bass represents the dawn of modern recorded music. Giving the event the weight it deserves moves me to declare that we are now living in the year 59 F.E. or “Fender Era.” The amplified solid-body bass holds a special double-faceted place in modern music. First developed as a way for bassists to compete with amplified guitars, the increase in stage volume eventually caused guitar players to turn up their own amplifiers to the point of distortion thereby becoming the pivotal influence in creating a rich soundscape with equipment tortured beyond previously acceptable limits.

The electric bass is a mule combining the strength and firm footing of a donkey with the sleek lines of a thoroughbred. Recording this beast can be as challenging as you want to make it but keeping the function of the bass in mind will ensure that you don’t go astray. To put it into pugilistic terms, leave the jabs and uppercuts to the guitars. Bass notes are the “low blows” of any good track. All’s fair in love, war and rock and nothing says it better than a size 15 boot to the balls. The bass has such influence on a track that even a light tap to the right spot will get the listeners attention.

My Outboard Rig

As to the proper equipment, simplicity is the key. After trying all of the amazing toys dedicated to bass amplification I’ve found that nothing will make a crap bass sound acceptable while there is an abundance of tinkertoys that can fuck up a great sounding instrument. So let’s begin at the beginning and make some decisions as to which instrument should get the gig. The vast majority of bass tracks we hold in special reverence were recorded on Fender basses. The Precision and later, the Jazz bass were so prevalent in recording studios that many professionally copied charts were designated “Fender Bass” in the upper left hand corner. The sound of the instrument was usually captured by direct injection (DI) to the recording console and if an amp was used it was usually a low wattage Ampeg B-15 or something equally as portable.

Ampeg B-15

During the past 30 years I’ve had every bass imaginable in my hands and I recognize the attraction of having a lot of pretty things hanging on the studio wall. But it seems that the dominating feature most often associated with high end basses is that it “gets that old Fender sound.” I have a revelation for you, so do the new Fenders…even the cheap ones! I played a $200 Squire recently that sounded more like an “old Fender” than many basses with 10 times the price tag. Think about it, what is an electric bass? A flat piece of cheap wood bolted to a long piece of hardwood, some strings and a primitive magnetic coil like we used to make in science class out of wire and a 16 penny nail. Like the string bass before it, the electric bass is a physical instrument that responds best when man-handled and all the gizmos that make it easier to play can sometimes emasculate a track.

Bass tracks are not just low notes and there is a fine line between punch and definition. It can be difficult to make out precisely what notes James Jamerson was playing on his early electric recordings, but there was no lack of bottom end punch. Many modern basses and bass rigs offer much wider frequency ranges than were available to early electric players, but it was the physical act of pulling sound out of a primitive instrument that made recordings by guys like Jamerson, Tommy Cogbill, Joe Osborn and Donald “Duck” Dunn have the punch that made a generation dance. The tools to make that happen are still here and are not hard to find.

The first step for any aspiring bassist should always be to learn to play the damned thing. Find a decent bass and don’t plug it in. Play for hours until you can hear and feel the instrument with a minimum of non musical noises. See how long you can get low notes to last.  I remember my first lesson with Monty Budwig. He had me play a low ‘F’ and then pressed my finger down into the fingerboard with both of his thumbs and had me play it again. The sound was twice as big and he said, “That’s the way a bass sounds. Don’t ever forget that it’s a physical instrument.” Once you’ve got the physical aspect of the bass under your belt you can proceed to get your rig together. But always remember that the sound and feel must come from you and the plank, not the gear. Half-assed playing through great amplification is just louder half-assed playing.

A bit of sponge

Older basses were fitted with sponge mutes. I’m not a nazi about keeping every detail of an instrument intact and the bridge cover holding the mute was usually the first thing to end up lost in a drawer. But they do have a very useful purpose and I frequently wedge a piece of sponge under the strings at the bridge. Without the mute, the bass will have more high frequency ring and sustain. But these frequencies and overtones also have a way of smudging areas in the soundscape that may need to be left available for other instruments. While the un-muted sound may be more pleasing on its own, it may not work as well in the mix in combination with the kick drum. Much of what you hear without the mute will never be audible in the mix so experiment and don’t be afraid to sacrifice ring in the interests of more thud.

One of the iconic bass sounds is that made by the Höfner Beatle bass and Club bass. It is interesting to note that these are not fitted with mutes and the string saddles are actually bits of fret wire set into a wooden bridge. The classic sound has a full bottom end attack initially and does not sustain as much as one would think given the construction of the bass. I discovered the reason when I loosened the strings on an old Höfner to clean it. As soon as the strings were slack, they were drawn to the pick-up magnets with a great deal of force. These magnets were seriously powerful. When you attack the string, the powerful magnetic field is disturbed creating a huge initial impact. But because the magnets are so powerful, they actually stop the string vibration and don’t allow sustain. It is the power of the pick-up that gives the Höfner its Tuba-like characteristic punch and short sustain.

Playing a muted bass with the fingers is a great way to learn just how much you need to lean into the strings to get a good sound. Many early electric players were string bass converts and brought their right hand chops with them. Try stroking the string with the whole fingertip of the index finger or even the bone of the first joint and you will be surprised at how much bigger the sound can be. Then there is also the great sound of a muted bass played with a pick. The pick will give definition to the attack and as you move the picking hand from the bridge toward the neck you will find a wide range of usable sounds that no amount of knob twisting will give you.

Polytone Mini-brute

When it comes to getting the bass on tape or, better said, into the hard drive, less is always more. Mic’ing an amp can be fun but not always possible. The most desirable recording amp I can think of is the old Ampeg B-15. Another great amp if you can find one is the Polytone Minibrute. It’s a little solid-state combo just big enough to hold a 15″ speaker. Yeah, I know…it’s not a tube amp. But it is one of the most versatile little bastards on the planet. It gives you exactly what you put into it so the only reason not to love it is if you have a shitty sounding bass. I’ve also used a Trace Elliot tube pre-amp and sent the signal direct from the XLR output with good results. I spent a lot of time convincing myself that the PODxt bass models were pretty good…and they are fine to a point. But 90% of the time I find that plugging the bass into a cheap passive direct box gives me the most cluck for my buck. I’m lucky to have great sounding basses and it seems that the less I put between my fingers and the screen tends to result in the most sincere playing. With no sound sculpting toys helping you along, you are forced to come up with a convincing part based on your playing. And a well played fat-assed track can always be diddled with later.

To summarize:

Don’t get hung up on a high end bass unless you have a specific reason (or you have loot to burn).

Go to the source. Plug into a small amp, set everything flat and try to play like the great players that you admire.

Get physical. Watch Ray Brown use his right index finger to pull the sound out of his instrument.

Experiment with a sponge mute and a pick…go ahead, nobody’s looking.

If you mic an amp, don’t think you need to go broke. A low wattage amp that lets your bass sound like your bass will do. If you are working in a home studio you’ll do fine with a relatively inexpensive Shure SM7 or even an SM57. An expensive condenser mic can sound great, but it might also hear things that have nothing to do with your song…like refrigerator motors, traffic noises and helicoptors. The SM7 will only hear what’s right in front of it.

Get a cheap passive direct box and leave all the toys for your live gigs where they might impress someone.

And most importantly, realize that the electric bass is a bastard instrument without a hard and fast pedagogy as to playing or recording the thing. Don’t become a disciple of one method to the exclusion of others. Play it with your fingers, a pick or a can opener…but play it with intent and record it as honestly as possible.

Quoting one of my earlier posts, rule number two states , “It’s always simpler than it seems.” Okay, so the rule is a bit simplistic. But it  can furnish a sense of optimism, false or otherwise, in the face of overwhelmingly difficult tasks. Creating a piece of music consists of the same multi-tiered process as cooking a great meal or putting a man on the surface of Mars. When considered in its entirety, the process, from conception through development and execution, can be daunting, and every artist has a distinct method of logistical organization.

Some of us take the trial and error route and agonize over every conceivable possibility before finalizing a guitar solo, a kick drum eq or even which color to use for the EFX channel strip. Then there are those who seem to float through the process effortlessly, the so-called “naturals.” Both extremes and all points between are valid but I think that what makes a musician, athlete or even an accountant seem like a natural consists of two things. First, and this is a topic all to itself, being exquisitely prepared through education and repetition. When you really know what you are doing, things tend to come naturally, or so it seems to those less prepared. And second, with intense preparation and knowledge comes the ability to predict the future.

Okay, so before you think I’ve gone off the deep end, I’m saying that competence allows one to predict the future by taking the guess work out of the creative process. With the ability to filter irrelevance before the fact comes courage. And a courageous artist is not afraid of the obvious. There exists an image of the mythical studio musician who can read fly shit on paper and play every Charlie Parker solo at 260 bpm. Many young musicians, thinking that this is the yardstick by which they are to be measured, start right off bumbling their way through be-bop solos before they can play Happy Birthday or even Row Your Boat without making a mistake. And when it comes to putting a rhythm track together for a pop song, they will reach for the most complicated fingerings or extended chord voicings instead of the major triad waving from the back of the room begging to be called upon.

With all the great new toys available, one person can be band, engineer, producer and mastering studio without ever leaving the chair. The possibilities for creativity are endless. But when working alone, I try to put my head back into sessions where the room was filled with real people who were very good at whatever it was that they were there to do. Great drummers play even the simplest parts with conviction. Great bassists play big fat grooves that lock with the drummer and stay out of the way of whatever is happening up top. Right down the line-up it can be striking how very simple a guitar or keyboard part can be when taken out of context. But all those simple little parts can add up to a killer track because they are played with conviction. Experienced studio musicians have huge vocabularies but their main talent lies in quickly and unemotionally eliminating material irrelevant to the song no matter how cool it may be.

In working with musicians of limited recording experience, and using my own early years as prime example, young musicians can be stymied by knowing what to leave out more than what to put into a recording. Experimentation is a great device, but the knowledge resulting from detailed analysis can allow an artist to develop a personal style based on skill and preference rather than the limitations of a truncated vocabulary. All of us have musical heroes or favorite artists to whom we look for inspiration. So why not go further and perform an autopsy on a favorite recording? Cut it open from chin to scrotum and find out what’s really in there. Figure out the chord voicings and guitar articulations. Pull the bass pattern out of the deceased and give it a good once over. It might be absurdly simple laying there all by itself but observe how exquisitely it interacts with the other instruments. Take the vocal apart and imagine yourself singing the song. Out of everything you hear, what would you need in the headphones in order to make it feel that way.

In practical terms, don’t be afraid to go with the obvious whether it’s a guitar lick, a drum pattern or a reverb preset. The important thing is the song and there is absolutely no danger of some grad student in an audio engineering course tearing apart your track and accusing you of not diddling enough with the high frequency roll-off of the reverb plug-in. And don’t worry about impressing your fellow musicians. Some might criticize your work because you didn’t use the Lydian mode in the fourth measure of the solo…but those types don’t buy music anyway so don’t waste your time. If you’re using Guitar Rig, Amplitube or something like Line6’s Pod products to get your guitar sounds, don’t let all the wacky toys overwhelm you. You might create an amazing sound that turns to mush as soon as you try to cram it into your mix. Somewhere in that program there has to be a decent Marshall Plexi, Vox Top Boost, or Fender Tweed that will sit in there just right.

And don’t be afraid of doing the work that will give you the time saving skills of a natural. You can spin your wheels around all the ways to improve your skills. But ask anyone competent in their field, any so-called natural talent,  and they will tell you how easy everything became after they really knew what they were doing. Work your ass off and you will realize that it is indeed always simpler than it seems. Don’t be afraid of the obvious.