Guitar World “Last Licks” Video Lesson on Double Stops by Martin Goulding
For the October 2012 edition of Guitar World magazine which features Dan Auerbach and Billy Gibbons on the front cover, I put together my back cover column “Last Licks” based around five classic double stop licks. The double stop vocabulary is often based around two-string intervals, with 3rds, 4ths and 5ths figuring heavily in the rock style, along with the more country influenced 6ths, and has been a well-used feature since the mid 1950’s rock’n’roll era, with players like Chuck Berry famous for his use of double stops to harmonise melodies and fatten up solos and fills. As rock developed throughout the 1960’s, the technique was used to great effect by players such as Jimi Hendrix who was well known for his clean chordal embellishments. From the more aggressive lead work of the 1970’s icons such as Angus Young, to the 1980’s Texan blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan, to the modern blues/rock players like Slash, the sound of double stops has become a key element in the rock guitar style.
For the audio I used an Axe FX II set up with a Marshall Plexi type sound for the Hendrix example, gradually getter hotter with the Young example and then to a JCM 800 type sound for Slash and with a fender vibroverb type sound for Chuck and Stevie Ray. I used pseudo double tracking (duplicating the track and delaying one side/panned hard left and right), straight to an Apogee ensemble card into a Mac Pro running Logic. For Video, a Canon 60D and FCP X for editing. Guitar wise, i used my new 1962 replica which i had made by my guitar tech/luthier Ian Allerton and which features an authentically contoured 62 replica lightweight 1-piece alder body from Warmoth USA, with a faded Olympic White nitrocellulose thin-skin finish and relic’d. The neck has been handmade to the exact same spec as on my Tokai Goldstar and with 6000 fret-wire for a modern feel, along with a Callaham bridge and custom made block for greater sustain. The pick-ups are the Suhr Fletcher-Landau set, fitted with the Suhr Silent Single Coil Backplate for low noise.. (see gear page). The supporting video goes into some detail breaking down the examples in a way that will be accessible for intermediate level players.
To check out the video please click here.
