In the other room, there’s Lukas Nelson. Was just moving between playing slide, playing regular lead, and he just owned it. When you did your Reverb artist shop with us, you said that your plan was to basically take those 20 guitars and turn them into two. I mean, for me, I’m the type of player I just have to rehearse a lot. I loved making West Coast Town out there. You put a Strat through a Princeton Reverb, you can make that work. I did a gig last year or about a year ago, when I was wrapping up making my new record. How'd you go about making that change? Archived. Based on your location, we've changed your settings: Shipping Region: Learn how to play the riffs and solos of Foo Fighters’ “Congregation” off their 2014 album Sonic Highways as well as achieve its distinctive tone. So, there’s that thing that happens that’s kind of fun and just adds to the overall mood of it. I haven’t put that thing down since. Apparently, I must be tone deaf too - so the CDs help keep me in tune. And so forth and so on. It’s kind of how you want it to be. Did it feel excessive at first? And I remember that day, I recorded that solo, and it’s funny, because I had a very different idea coming into it. And it’s completely in your head. The Foo Fighters have a long history of doing this; Sonic Highways was an eight track album with each song being recorded in a different U.S city and Wasting Light contains a song titled “White Limo” that is practically a screamo fest. Oops, looks like you forgot something. It’s just very different. Throughout all this time, Shiflett has remained a student of guitar, starting numerous side projects and cover bands, interviewing peers and heroes on his Walking the Floor podcast (now on its 142nd episode), and continuing to learn new aspects of his instrument. I was getting real-time updates while it was going on. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Just a big long line of incredible players and I got to back them all up, which was unbelievable. The way that we make Foo Fighter records is way more relaxed than it was in No Use for a Name. And you realize when listening to the guitar tones that I consider to be great guitar tones—somebody like Angus Young or Malcom Young—you listen to what they sound like on record, and it’s not that it’s super gained up. And I love the results that I walk out of there with. I had made West Coast Town, like, summer of 2016—I just wanted to get in there again quick. A guitar with humbuckers like an Epiphone or a Gibson will get you a little closer to that sound too. Through a separate AB switch he channels over to a mesa boogie for his crunchy distorted tones. You’ve already started that tour, right? "Get that thing. I read an interview in Guitar World around the time of Concrete and Gold, and you were talking about the stranger tones you were going for with producer Greg Kurstin. Album: The Colour and the Shape Release date: May 20, 1997 All gear used on this video: – Fender Stratocaster American Standard 1996 – Hagstrom Pat Smear Signature – Motu 896HD – Guitar Rig 5 – Pro Tools HD 12 – Sony A7III – Tamron 28-75 2.8 Like… No pedals. Japan, I don't think Dave is really one to use a fancy distortion pedal, I'm pretty sure he just cranks it up and lets it rip. And so you start losing stuff. This is my Guitar Cover of Hey, Johnny Park! By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Was that intentional? It’s definitely louder. Hi, im searching for the foo fighters sound when i'm buying new amp and pedals. I think it affects it a lot, probably as much the sound as the overall mood. My live rig is: I'm going through a Friedman through a 4x12. There was also, of course, plenty of stadium-filling rock in between, with Chris having joined the Foo Fighters in 1999, and continuing with the massive, globe-trotting rock band to this day. I love coming up with different tones on different songs and just playing around with as much stuff as you can to find the thing that works. I only saw Pat using Mesa amps though, Dave was using a Hiwatt head on a Fender (I believe) cab. The guitar features a pair of Hagstrom Custom 58 humbuckers with tone and volume controls for each and three-way switches. I love that pedal because there’s no knobs on it. And I was like, I’ve got to get this on this record somewhere. It’s so fun. It’s kind of why I do my solo stuff, in a big way. And then, when I went to go make that next Foo Fighter record, I loved that Bumble Buzz so much that I bought one. It’s not it. How to achieve that static, overdrive tone of Dave's guitar? By clicking Subscribe, I agree to the processing of my data in order to receive emails. You just kind of went in with what you had. by Foo Fighters. At the time, the sort of gold standard for recording, just doing little home recordings, was the Fostex 4-track. And I remember the first time I went into like a real studio—I want to say it was maybe Cherokee [Studios, which closed in 2007]—and this engineer that one of my bandmates knew was working on a record over there. That’s funny. Dave's guitar tone. Tomas Sandanus Guitar. I’m sure if I were to listen to those tapes now, it would probably sound pretty bad, but it sounded fucking amazing at the time. On "Dirty Water," there are these percolating fuzz lines midway through the song. Like, world-class. It’s where he lives, you know? I sent each of them a picture of that guitar while I was sitting there. Did you make Hard Lessons with Dave Cobb too? Hey! Foo Fighters have used Mesa Boogie since their mid ’90s beginnings. Because in "Goodnight Little Rock," there’s nothing else that’s all revved up like that. I have a fender and want the fundamentals. Please check the fields highlighted in red. I did see the Rat, the Phase 90, the Boss delay on the floor but I’m not sure on the rest. We went in after hours and recorded two songs on the fly, real fast. Or, I guess that timing wouldn't have lined up. This … A little less twang. They all responded pretty quickly. I was so—I did not expect it to go like it did. I had even demoed it and played it for everybody and it didn’t fly [laughs]. I have an aversion to gain saturation nowadays that I did not have when I was younger. And he had the Bumble Buzz, right? So Dave plays a DG-335. It wasn’t until I joined No Use for a Name when I was actually in a band that started making records. This song includes a new Authentic Tone accessed in AMP mode. ... Run -Foo Fighters . And I wanted to be able to get the record done in time to be able to get out and do some touring while Foos were less busy this year. It’s the context. The interesting thing with Dave’s rig is that no single guitar is essential to his tone. And it’s just being comfortable with it and doing it more. This beast spits out sparkling cleans, heavy metal distortion and everything in between in equally great measure. Simply put, the Mark V possesses one of the most expressive tones of any amp in the world. That’s not the thing that makes it sound big and crunchy and powerful. His latest solo record, Hard Lessons, was released June 14 and is his second with Nashville's Dave Cobb serving as producer. And it’s a maybe a little more broken up. Foo Fighters, Waltzer, Made Violent, The Luka State and George Jackson have new musical releases. Close. And that’s where it fit. I didn’t quite hear those guitar tones as the same, but I guess they really are. "In a way. When you do that, I think it makes your guitars sound kind of small and thin. What was it about him and about that room [RCA Studio A] that made you want to go back there? It should work. No need to bother with distortion pedals! Exactly. It was just like: Get in, turn your amp on, and go. No gain. For making records though, when I joined Foo Fighters and then we were going to make a record, that was the first time that I ever got to record in a more relaxed environment, where you’re really getting way more involved in playing around with pedals and different amps and different guitars and taking different approaches to it. We’ve never really done that before. Thank you! I mean, you guys did such a good job of getting the word out and hyping that up that the whole store sold out in like 45 minutes or something, which was mind-blowing. I hope you enjoy it!! So there was very limited space in the control room, because the control room was just a little room above his garage. Whereas, on the Foo Fighters' track, everything is revved up around it. Yeah, I still use those now. Photos used with Permission. Although his studio tone for TINLTL. Just get something recorded as fast as you fucking can. It was super chorused-out, delay, this sort of wacky tonal thing. There’s just a button. And then, I’ve also got a Vox AC30 going through a 4x12, and I sort of go between those two for live. Cookies help us deliver our Services. Just looking back for a second on the No Use for a Name era, was there anything about making records at that time that you just kind of shake your head at now? Eruption – Van Halen Assuredly one of the greatest guitar solos of all time, if not the greatest. Authentic Artist Tone by Ben R Vesco; Capture the recorded studio tone of Foo Fighters as heard on their song Everlong from the album The Colour and the Shape; Sounds like Dave Grohl and Pat Smear playing multilayered guitars; Helix Snapshots enabled with two snapshots: CoreRhythm (sounds like multi-layered, stereo guitar tracks) Whereas, on the Foo Fighters' track, everything is revved up around it. It seemed like there were a few of those around. There’s a crazy Jack White/Third Man pedal called the Bumble Buzz. JPY Tone: [D] Verse [D] I've been waiting on a war since I was young [A7sus4] young ... See your chords appearing on the Chords Easy main page and help other guitar players. Sometimes blended and sometimes not. So much of guitar playing is context and tone. Because when I first started doing that, I couldn’t figure it out. I’ve got some stuff going on in the fall. It’s like, let’s find the tone that fits into the song where it needs to fit into the song. In this Everlong guitar lesson I am going to teach you how to play all of this Foo Fighters smash hit in it’s entirety. That right there should get you pretty close to his live tone. I've been looking at the peavey bandit 112 amp, if you think any other amp in that price range is better for the foo fighters sound then tell me so! Like, when we were recording at Dave’s house, his house isn’t set up to be a recording studio. Just went in with that. And then Wolf Alice comes in for a week. So, it just does what it does, and it’s just a super duper crazy fuzz. When I was in No Use for a Name I had—I still have it, actually—I bought a Mesa-Boogie Mark III when I was about 18 years old, and I had that amp for a long time, through most of the time I was in No Use for a Name. I have a fender and want the fundamentals. I was never a gear guy—I was really never a gear guy even for a long time after joining the Foo Fighters. I think it’s a mistake that a lot of people make, especially when you’re younger and inexperienced—and I was very guilty of this—just recording everything way too gained up, way too hot. That was a huge step up from the Fostex 4-track. Comprising of just a few different parts I think Everlong would be a great study for just about any level of guitarist. I remember Dave came to the studio and was like, "Do something crazy, nasty, fucked-up-sounding shred solo kind of thing. Built around a funky riff quite untypical of Foo Fighters, the title track of the new album features a lot of slap-back delay to create a warm tone that guitarist Chris Shiflett likened to the sounds of “a lot of the music I listened to growing up in the late seventies and early eighties”. Yeah. At that age, I was probably in my very early 20s, right around 20 years old, and that sounded incredible. Fifteen years later, with his band The Dead Peasants and as a solo artist, he'd be playing Bakersfield-inspired country with a Telecaster and Fender combo. And was that the '65 Reverb or something different? Put a bass track on there and put a guitar track on there. So, is that on Hard Lessons? Then, you’d almost be out of tracks. In the Foo Fighters, you’re one-third of a big guitar sound. I’ve done a bunch of touring already this year. But it was very different. So, it’s blonde. I went into Chicago Music Exchange to look at a bunch of guitars. The way a guitar behaves through a single coil into a low-gain, little Fender combo amp is just so radically different than what I spent my whole life playing through. Be sure to tune your guitar to “Dropped D” before starting the lesson so you can play along. You'd get all of your drum tracks done as fast as you can, get all of your bass tracks done as fast as you can, all of your guitar tracks done as fast as you can. HAHAHA. I think a lot of it comes down to you just having to get used to it in your own head, because it’s so radically different. I mean, god yeah [laughs]. [Laughs.] I want to get a similar sound without extra equipment if possible. It’s a real adventure. I played around Hollywood in a bunch of bands. Trini Lopez running through a box ac 15 with the amp full blast pushing the tubes running through a proco rat pedal and a delay. The new album MEDICINE AT MIDNIGHT out now! I couldn’t believe it. Dave Grohl has used an extensive collection of guitars over the Foo Fighters career. Butch Vig shares the guitar recording secrets of Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters and more As his latest project, 5 Billion In Diamonds, release a new, genre-defying album in Divine Accidents, we ask the super-producer to guide us … And I’m certain that those were pretty much the only guitars I ever played, and I probably mostly just played my '82 Les Paul. I was like, I’ve got my Tele and I'm going into this '65 Deluxe Reverb, put a little reverb on it and maybe a little slap—that’s the whole thing—so why do I play so shitty when I play through this thing? Nowadays he's mostly using Fender supersonic heads live. But it really perfectly illustrated: You don’t need all that shit to play, to make this thing. And you would do all your guitar tracks in, like, a day. Of course. I love making records with that dude. And most of the same folks played on it. Near the start of his career, when Chris Shiflett was with No Use For a Name and Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, the Santa Barbara native was playing Bay Area punk with an '82 Les Paul through a gained-up Mesa-Boogie. To learn more about his work and his upcoming solo tour dates, check out his website here. You get a new guitar, you get a new pedal, and it’s like, I’ve got to put this somewhere on this record. I believe that’s what I used on it, but I can’t speak for everybody else. Gibson Les Paul Custom EB Gloss Alpine White. And he was like, "Dude, get that thing. And that’s what I wound up getting. Learn More. No nothing. ", There’s a few people—I’m not super knowledgeable about vintage gear—so I have a few people that I tend to run that stuff by. Jamey Johnson. With those recordings—you’re recording on a cassette tape—they'd always be really thin and have a lot of tape hiss. There was not a lot of time spent on those For No Use For a Name records or those early Gimme records, like noodling around with different amps, different guitars. It’s sort of my more ragged version of that tone, because I tend to play the amp a little louder than probably Don Rich did or whatever. We’re just trying to figure it out, see what’s out there, line up a couple of festivals here and there. Let's talk about the move to Bakersfield country with your solo and Dead Peasants records. I would use one and Luke [Tierney] that played with Dead Peasants would play through the other. So, you would just record a drum track and hope that your drummer more or less remembered how the song went. Ideal for Foo Fighters, who like to mix up the tone from album to album. But that feeling when you first hear yourself back, even when it’s that poorly recorded, is like, Yeah, this is for real. I had gotten a pedal. Hope that helps.-Andrew But also, I feel I need to understand how a certain sound is created before I try creating my own. But I love that when we make records. If you want his studio sound-good luck. They also do another episode where they have no budget if you want a more accurate tone, New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the Foofighters community. The first time I went into a studio was in high school, and there was this guy that had a home studio in his garage out in Goleta. You need to get that thing.". I’m so much more comfortable, even still, playing through humbuckers through a gained-up amp. It kind of has that Marty Robbins' "Don’t Worry" bass fuzz solo vibe going on. He actually set up a big tent thing out in his yard and that was sort of like the lounge. They certainly have used Boogies at times, but the guitar tones on this record have a very distinctive Vox vibe. It was really inspiring. Posted by 3 years ago. I think it’s more of a rock 'n' roll guitar record, for sure. Currency: If you took an Angus Young guitar solo and you cleaned it up and put a little slap on it and surrounded it with a rockabilly band, it’d sound like Chuck Berry, or something of that era. Honestly the guitar itself doesn't sound that great all on its own through a clean signal. The Reverb store blew my mind. But, one guitar stands out … The guys at Anderson’s do a cool way to sound like foo’s under a budget which might help give you an idea at least! Yeah, it’s definitely not on Hard Lessons. Otherwise my own will be a disaster haha, not sure how legit this is, but it's good place to start. That’s one of my favorite sounds in the world. That was really the only guitar I had for a long time. What was your guitar and amp in those days? I never owned one, but I definitely got my hands on one here and there. They use tons of racks compressors, filters, eq's to dial in what they want. What was going on there? No delay. It’s absolutely amazing. Also, Dave played all the guitars since Pat didn't like that song. Key: F Major Genre: Rock Tempo: 135 BPM. It was like, He’s just going straight in with this Strat. And of course, EastWest is an amazing fucking room. Even though it was fast—and probably kind of a mess—it was great. Yeah. Was that just a matter of, like you said, playing it so much and getting more familiar with it? Was that an odd thing to become familiar with? Maybe a little slap thrown in there, but not much. I have to gig a lot. He plays through two different amps. That’s the only thing in there that’s all revved up. Granted, Jason Isbell is an amazing guitar player. Beyond that, when I turned 18, I moved to LA. I had a couple things in mind that I wanted to get, one being a late-'50s Les Paul. Wasting Light was made in Dave's garage. https://sonicscoop.com/2015/10/29/get-that-guitar-tone-foo-fighters-edition Preferring guitars with humbuckers when playing with the Foo Fighters to get a thicker sound, Shiflett has used guitars like the Gibson ES-335 and the Les Paul Custom since 2007, though has considered sneaking his 1962 Fender Telecaster Custom into live sets. Why don’t you do something like that?" And as a matter of fact, when I was at Chicago Music Exchange looking at guitars, I took a picture of the Les Paul that I wound up getting and I texted it to Cobb and said what it was. But I did play, ironically, a '57 Goldtop on a lot of Hard Lessons, but it was one that belonged to Dave Cobb. One of the greatest guitar players of the moment. I only wanted to finally have that sound when playing foo songs. Comparing that to some of the more historic recording studios that you guys hit for Sonic Highways and then doing Concrete and Gold at EastWest Studios, how much does the room affect what you're playing or how you're recording your parts? And that was it. Do you remember what you had going on there? We’re in there with an amazing producer and amazing engineers and everybody’s like really high-level and great at what they do. I'm over 40 and so learning to play the guitar this late in the game is pretty challenging; this book with CDs have been really helpful. It’s funny now looking back on those times, because again, it wasn’t like this time of tonal exploration at all. But if the sound is entirely coming from a special OD box or sth, i suppose i have to know that. I know you still often play a Les Paul with the Foo Fighters, and you've been known to play Friedman amps too. It would be great to go back and do all that shit over again knowing what you know now about how. It’s just on or off—there’s no way to adjust it. One more question for you. Basically a mock of a Gibson 335 with a Torino Lopez neck. The guitar-playing difference, I think, probably stems from the fact that the Foo Fighters isn’t a band that has a lot of guitar … I love the Foo Fighters, so when I started learning to play guitar about a year ago, this was a must have! Like, recording at EastWest was super fun. It wasn’t like we were, "I’ve got my cool tweed Fender combo, vintage..." There was none of that shit. The AC30s came later (nothing left to lose era). I mean, it’s a really, really good one. So much of guitar playing is context and tone. But I remember we were just playing on a backline and there were a couple little Princeton Reverbs up there. I want to get a similar sound without extra equipment if possible. And I remember my band in high school—it probably would have been about 10th grade—was the first time we started messing with those things. Wasn't too complicated. He is most recognizable as lead guitarist for the American rock band Foo Fighters.He was previously a member of the punk rock bands No Use for a Name (1995–1999) and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (1995–2019). Play " My Hero " by Foo Fighters on any electric guitar or bass. It’s just a matter of the type of song that you’re playing. If you compare a Friedman, which is really like a Marshall Plexi—it’s like a souped-up version of that—versus a Boogie Rectifier, those are very different guitar tones. I do, yeah. If you took an Angus Young guitar solo and you cleaned it up and put a little slap on it and surrounded it with a rockabilly band, it’d sound like Chuck Berry, or something of that era. Foo Fighters - Guitar Player He references the AC30 and Rat as being staples. However at that price you're probably better off buying a new car or something. Because it was in a real studio, with an engineer that really knew what he was doing and all that sort of thing. So if you have any sort of semi-hollow body you're off to a good start. I hope you enjoy it!! Your purchases help youth music programs get the gear they need to make music. That’s what having fun with pedals does. Do you feel as though we hear your true guitar sound more on your individual solo albums? When I saw them in Richmond this past tour a bunch of that stuff was still in use. by Foo Fighters. At some point toward the end of being in No Use for a Name, I bought a Goldtop as well. Lots of help here. Playing through a little Princeton Reverb, low volume, super-low gain, and it was very much out of my comfort zone, but I was digging it. This is what he plays his clean tones through. The early days would be my first bands in high school. Modes suggestion: C mixolydian mode. Overly gained, overly saturated guitars just sound thin. I got to be in a house band out in Nashville for this gig that Dave Cobb was putting together that was sort of a celebration of outlaw country stuff. The songwriting and deft guitar work on display bisects the current country stylings of his most recent solo work with some louder rock 'n' roll. I got a '57 Goldtop that somebody at some point removed the gold from. Route some dates between them. The song starts with muffled guitar, and subsequently builds up to "non-stop ferocious rock 'n' roll " in its fourth minute, [6] and "an ear-shattering outro lined with scorching guitar riffs." So, we’ll see. I wanted to ask specifically about the "Goodnight Little Rock" solo on West Coast Town. I remember just being really nervous—and it wasn’t like sitting down and experimenting with different tones. Throw in some sort of phase shifter pedal as well. It was like: Get in the studio, get a sound, and fucking go. We didn’t have that as an option. And then Jason Isbell walked up and he sat in for half a set. Early in the Foo Fighters career, Dave Grohl used a Gibson Les Paul Custom in (aged) White. He has maintained a consistent style through the bands career with his minimalist rig. I have to really kind of live in something to get there a hundred percent with it. First being the box ac30. We hadn’t recorded in a traditional recording studio like that for quite a while and you have that thing—where you’re in there but there’s a bunch of other artists in there too. And all these crazy people came, all these unbelievable—Tanya Tucker, Jessi Colter. Dave and the engineer have told me that the record's big distorted tones were DUAL Rectifiers and Fender Tone Masters. How to achieve that static, overdrive tone of Dave's guitar?