Some even like to play with their teeth or feet or other bodily appendages or the like, this is normally used as a performance technique in order to impress spectators. In a blues context, as well as others, lead guitar lines are created using call and response-style riffs that are embellished with string bending, vibrato, and slides.
To attain this prized sustain effect tube amplifiers such as Marshall are often utilized. These are aesthetically pleasing to many guitar players and sometimes violin and keyboard players as well.
High volume is also used to induce audio feedback, which increases sustain dramatically. Sometimes, if done correctly by holding the guitar pickups at precise distances from the amplifier speakers such can present a steady, undecaying sound. Electronic special effects employing effects loops can artificially reproduce this as well. Other effects used to embellish lead guitar tone and pitch include the whammy bar which physically stretches the strings, slides used extensively in country music and wah-wah and univibe effects. Also very commonly used are hammer-ons.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Kirk Hammett |
|---|---|
| Background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth name | Kirk Lee Hammett |
| Born | November 18, 1962San Francisco, California, USA |
| Genre | Heavy metal, thrash metal, hard rock, speed metal |
| Instrument | Guitar, bass, sitar |
| Occupation | Musician, songwriter |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Label | Warner Bros., Elektra, Vertigo, Megaforce |
| Associated acts | Metallica, Exodus, Spastik Children |
| Url | Metallica Website |
| Notable instruments | ESP KH-2 and KH-3 Signature models |
After picking up a 1978 Fender Stratocaster copy, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various guitar parts, eventually falling for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. Hammett also took a job at Burger King as a youth before quitting once he saved enough money for his Marshall amplifier.
In 1983, Hammett was invited to join Metallica following the dismissal of the band's original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine. This was just prior to the recording of Kill 'Em All. At the time Hammett, was taking private guitar lessons from the now-famous touring guitarist Joe Satriani.
Hammett has written and contributed riffs for Metallica songs since the mid-1980s (particularly in the 1990s during the Load album era). One of these riffs, used in "Enter Sandman", became one of Metallica's most popular songs. It was the first track and first single on Metallica's self-titled Black Album and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest songs of all time.
The bridge for "Creeping Death" was originally an Exodus riff that Hammett took with him to Metallica.
Hammett is also known for always having his picking hand taped up. During the course of a full tour, due to constantly palm muting and fast picking, the palm of his hand takes sizable abuse.
Hammett's playing style is noted for his extensive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos. Hammett says, "The wah-wah is an extension of my personality." Hammett's use of the wah-pedal hadn't been featured in recent Metallica solos, but has seen a resurgence in his solos on the band's newest album, Death Magnetic, including in the song "The Unforgiven III".
Hammett initially wanted to have guitar solos on Metallica's 2003 album, St. Anger, but drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock thought that the solos did not sound right in the songs. Hammett later admitted himself, "We tried to put in solos, but they sounded like an afterthought, so we left them out".
On April 4, 2009, Hammett, along with current Metallica bandmates Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, and Robert Trujillo and former Metallica bandmates Jason Newsted and the late Cliff Burton, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2009, Hammett wrote the foreword for British author Joel McIver's book To Live Is to Die: The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton.
In 2006, Hammett voiced himself on The Simpsons ("The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer"). He also provided various voices on the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, including a two fingered fan ("The Curse of Dethklok"), The Queen of Denmark ("Happy Dethday"), and a Finnish barkeep ("Dethtroll"). He also appeared as a guest in an episode of titled "Jacksonville", alongside fellow Metallica member James Hetfield.
In 2010, Hammett will play with Nicolas Abou Chedid on Nico's solo album.
Hammett played guitar on the track "Satan" with Orbital for the Spawn: The Album soundtrack released in July 1997.
After performing a set with Metallica at Bonnaroo in June 2008, Hammett played one song with My Morning Jacket and a couple songs with the annual Superjam collaboration, which also included Les Claypool and members of Gogol Bordello playing primarily Tom Waits songs.
He also appeared on the "Kichigai" E.P. by punk band Septic Death. He played additional lead guitar on the title track.
He appeared as a guest guitarist on K'Naan's "If Rap Gets Jealous" off of the Troubadour album.
Hammett is one of the main characters in , along with the rest of the current lineup of Metallica.
Hammett can be seen in the background in Primus' "John the Fisherman" video fishing off of Les Claypool's boat. Claypool and Hammett are childhood friends.
In January 2009, ESP also announced the rare release of Hammett's famous "ouija" guitar, which was very limited and for 2009 only.
Kirk Hammett's current tour guitars: ESP M-II "Zorlac" - This was the starting line for the whole KH series. It features a vertical skull & crossbones as opposed to the horizontal ones featured on today's KH's, and an upside down Jackson Guitars style headstock which is what Hammett originally intended. However, Jackson Guitars threatened law suits if this model was ever sold. As a result, the headstock was changed to the typical ESP style, but flipped upside down.
On the 25th anniversary of Metallica's Kill 'Em All, Kirk Hammett appears on the cover of Feb. 2008's Guitar World sporting his new custom ESP. This model is the KH20, the 20th anniversary model from ESP.Guitar World - Covers Archive
In the video for "One", Kirk Hammett is seen using what is most likely an ESP Vintage Plus. It appears however to be modified; it has a Floyd Rose tremolo, which could have been Hammett's own work or a custom model.
In September 2007, Randall Amplifiers announced a partnership with Hammett to design a line of signature amps, heads, combos and preamp modules.
Hammett has also been seen using a wide range of different amplifiers in the studio and during live performances.
In 2008, Jim Dunlop started working in partnership with Hammett to create a signature Wah-wah pedal, the KH95. It is now available to buy in stores.
Category:1962 births Category:American heavy metal guitarists Category:Exodus (band) members Category:American people of Filipino descent Category:American musicians of Filipino descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:Lead guitarists Category:Living people Category:Metallica members Category:Musicians from California Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:San Francisco State University alumni
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Buck Owens |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. |
| Born | August 12, 1929 |
| Died | March 25, 2006Bakersfield, California |
| Origin | Sherman, Texas |
| Instrument | vocals, guitar |
| Genre | country, Bakersfield sound |
| Occupation | singer, bandleader, TV host |
| Years active | 1945–2006 |
| Label | Capitol Records, Sundazed Records |
| Associated acts | The Buckaroos, Susan Raye, Rose Maddox |
| Url | Owens' Web site |
While Owens originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, his sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental, incorporating elements of rock and roll. His signature style was based on simple storylines, infectious choruses, a twangy electric guitar, an insistent rhythm supplied by a drum track placed forward in the mix, and high two-part harmonies featuring Owens and his guitarist Don Rich.
Beginning in 1969, Owens co-hosted the TV series Hee Haw with Roy Clark. He left the cast in 1986, convinced that the show's exposure had obscured his musical legacy. In 1974, the accidental death of Rich, his best friend, devastated him for years and abruptly halted his career until he performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988. Owens died on March 25, 2006 shortly after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield.
Owens is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
"'Buck' was a donkey on the Owens farm," Rich Kienzle wrote in the biography About Buck. "When Alvis, Jr., was three or four years old, he walked into the house and announced that his name was also Buck. That was fine with the family; the boy was Buck from then on." He attended public school for grades 1–3 in Garland, Texas.
In 1937, his family moved to Mesa, Arizona, during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
Owens recorded a rockabilly record called "Hot Dog" for the Pep label, using the pseudonym Corky Jones because he did not want the fact he recorded a rock n' roll tune to hurt his country music career. Sometime in the 1950s, he lived with his second wife and children in Fife Washington, where he sang with the Dusty Rhodes band.
Owens' career took off in 1959, when his song "Second Fiddle" hit No. 24 on the Billboard country chart. A few months later, "Under Your Spell Again" hit No. 4, and then "Above and Beyond" hit No. 3. On April 2, 1960 he performed the song on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee.
In the early 1960s, the countrypolitan sound was popular, with smooth, string-laden, pop-influenced styles used by Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, and Patsy Cline, among others. Owens went against the trend, using honky tonk hillbilly feel, mixed idiosyncratically with the Mexican polkas he had heard on border radio stations while growing up.
Owens was named the Most Promising Country and Western Singer of 1960 by Billboard. In 1961, his top 10-charting duets with Rose Maddox earned them awards as vocal team of the year.
Owens met his longtime guitarist Don Rich in the Seattle area.
The 1966 album Carnegie Hall Concert was a smash hit and further cemented Buck Owens and the Buckaroos as more than just another honky tonk country band. They achieved crossover success on to the pop charts. During that year, R&B; singer Ray Charles released cover versions of two of Owens' songs that became pop hits: "Crying Time" and "Together Again".
In 1967, Owens and the Buckaroos toured Japan, a then-rare occurrence for a country musician. The subsequent live album, appropriately named Buck Owens and His Buckaroos in Japan, was an early example of country music recorded outside the US
In 1968 Owens and the Buckaroos performed for President Lyndon Baines Johnson at the White House, which was later released as a live album.
Between 1968–1969, steel pedal guitar player Tom Brumley and drummer Willie Cantu left the band. Drummer Jerry Wiggins and steel pedal guitar player Jay Dee Maness were added to the band. Owens and the Buckaroos had two songs reach No. 1 on the country music charts in 1969, "Tall Dark Stranger" and "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass". In 1969, they recorded a live album, Live in London, where they premiered their rock song "A Happening In London Town" and their version of Chuck Berry's song "Johnny B. Goode". During this time Hee Haw, starring Owens and the Buckaroos, was at its height of popularity. The series, originally envisioned as country music's answer to Laugh-In, outlived that show and ran for 24 seasons.
In the early 1970s, Owens and the Buckaroos enjoyed a string of hit duets with his protege Susan Raye, who subsequently became a popular solo artist with recordings produced by Owens.
In 1971, the Buckaroos' bass guitarist Doyle Holly left the band to pursue a solo career. Holly was known for his solo ballads with his trademark booming deep voice on Buck Owens and the Buckaroos albums. His departure was a setback to the band, as Doyle had received the Bass Player of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music the year before in 1970 and served as co-lead vocalist (along with Don Rich) of the Buckaroos. Holly went on to record two solo records in the early 1970s, both were top 20 hits. Holly has subsequently been honored in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and with a block in the Walkway of Stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Owens and Rich were the only original members left of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, and in the 1970s they struggled to top the country music charts. However, the popularity of Hee Haw was allowing them to enjoy large crowds at indoor arenas.
In 1972, Owens and the Buckaroos finally had another No. 1 hit, "Made in Japan", after three years of not having a number one song. In April, he added pedal steel guitarist, Jerry Brightman. The band had been without pedal steel since late in 1969 when Maness departed, and Owens returned to his grass roots sound of fiddle, steel, and electric guitars releasing a string of singles including "Arms Full of Empty", "Ain't it Amazing Gracie" and "Ain't Gonna Have Ole Buck (to Kick Around no More)". Owens' original release of "Streets of Bakersfield" was released in 1972.
On July 17, 1974, Owens' best friend and Buckaroos guitarist Don Rich was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and struck a guard rail on Highway 99 north of Bakersfield. Rich had been on his way to join his family for vacation on the coast at Morro Bay. Owens was devastated. "He was like a brother, a son and a best friend," he said in the late 1990s. "Something I never said before, maybe I couldn't, but I think my music life ended when he did. Oh yeah, I carried on and I existed, but the real joy and love, the real lightning and thunder is gone forever."
Before the 1960s were done, Owens—with the help of manager Jack McFadden—began to concentrate on his financial future. He bought several radio stations, including KNIX-AM and KNIX-FM in Phoenix and KUZZ-FM in Bakersfield. In 1999, Owens sold the KNIX stations to Clear Channel Communications, but he maintained ownership of KUZZ until his death.
Owens established Buck Owens Enterprises and produced records by several artists. He recorded for Warner Bros. Records, but Owens and his longtime fans were less than happy with the results; the recordings, made in Nashville, reflected the very type of bland country music he had always assailed. His spirit broken by the depression of Rich's death, he simply allowed himself to be led. He was no longer recording by the 1980s, devoting his time to overseeing his business empire from Bakersfield. Slowly, during that time, he recovered his equilibrium. Time allowed him to realize that despite the excellent pay and friendships he'd developed on Hee Haw, the show had redefined him as a comedian...to the point that many who tuned in knew nothing of his country music career or his classic hit recordings. He left the show in 1986.
We sat there that day in 1987 and talked about my music to that point, my short career, and what I'd been doing and how he'd been watching me. I was really flattered and thrilled to know that this legend had been keeping an eye on me.
The 1990s saw a flood of reissues of his Capitol recordings on compact disc. In 1974, Owens had bought back publishing rights to all of his Capitol recordings, as part of his final contract with the label. His albums had been out of print for nearly 15 years, when he released a retrospective box set in 1990. Encouraged by brisk sales, Owens struck a distribution deal with Sundazed Records of New York, which specializes in reissuing obscure recordings. The bulk of his Capitol catalog was reissued on CD in 1995, 1997 and in 2005. Sometime in the 1970s, Owens had also purchased the remaining copies of his original LP albums from Capitol's distribution warehouses across the country. Many of those records (still in the shrinkwrap) were stored by Owens for decades. He often gave them away as gifts and sold them at his nightclub for a premium price some 35 years later.
In August 1999, Owens brought back together the remaining members of his original Buckaroo Band to help him celebrate his 70th birthday at Owens' Crystal Palace in Bakersfield. All the original surviving Buckaroos were there: Owens, Doyle Holly, Tom Brumley, and Wille Cantu performed old hits from their heyday including "Tiger by the Tail" and "Act Naturally."
Owens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He was ranked No. 12 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003. In addition, CMT also ranked the Buckaroos No. 2 in the netwok's 20 Greatest Bands in 2005.
Long before Owens became the famous co-host of Hee Haw, his band became known for their signature Bakersfield sound, later emulated by artists such as Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam and Brad Paisley. Buck inspired indie country songwriter and friend Terry Fraley whose band "The Nudie Cowboys" with a similar sound. This sound was originally made possible with two trademark silver-sparkle Fender Telecaster guitars, often played simultaneously by Owens and longtime wing-man Don Rich; Fender had made a "Buck Owens signature Telecaster," and after his death paid tribute to him. In 2003, Paisley blended creative styles with this guitar and his own famous Paisley Telecaster, creating what became known as the Buck-O-Caster. Initially, only two were made; one for Paisley himself and the other presented to Owens during a New Year's celebration that Paisley attended in 2004.
Following the death of Rich, Owens' latter trademark was a red, white and blue acoustic guitar, along with a 1974 Pontiac convertible "Nudiemobile", adorned with pistols and silver dollars. A similar car, created by Nudie Cohn for Elvis Presley and later won by Owens in a bet, is now enshrined behind the bar at Owens' Crystal Palace Nightclub in Bakersfield.
Owens would hand out replicas of his trademark acoustic guitar to friends, acquaintances and fans. Each would contain a gold plaque with the name of the recipient. Some of these guitars cost $1000 and up.
The Los Angeles Times interviewed longtime Owens spokesman (and Buckaroos keyboard player) Jim Shaw, who said Owens "had come to the club early and had a chicken-fried steak dinner and bragged that it's his favorite meal." Afterward, Owens told band members that he wasn't feeling well and was going to skip that night's performance. Shaw said a group of fans introduced themselves while Owens was preparing to drive home; when they told him that they had traveled from Oregon to hear him perform, Owens changed his mind and took the stage anyway.
Shaw recalled Owens telling the audience, "If somebody's come all that way, I'm gonna do the show and give it my best shot. I might groan and squeak, but I'll see what I can do." Shaw added, "So, he had his favorite meal, played a show and died in his sleep. We thought, that's not too bad."
The front of the mausoleum where Owens is buried is inscribed "The Buck Owens Family" with the words "Buck's Place" beneath.
Category:1929 births Category:2006 deaths Category:American country musicians Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Musicians from Texas Category:People from Bakersfield, California Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees Category:Starday Records artists Category:Capitol Records artists Category:American people of Welsh descent
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
