1 00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:05,220 MUSIC: Hey Joe by Patti Smith 2 00:00:05,220 --> 00:00:08,020 # Hey, Joe 3 00:00:08,020 --> 00:00:12,660 # Where you going with that 4 00:00:13,580 --> 00:00:17,700 # Gun in your hand? # 5 00:00:21,860 --> 00:00:25,660 London is a special place for me. 6 00:00:25,660 --> 00:00:28,580 In '76, when I first came here, 7 00:00:28,580 --> 00:00:31,420 playing guitar with the then unknown Patti Smith, 8 00:00:31,420 --> 00:00:35,020 the review in the NME and the Whistle Test, 9 00:00:35,020 --> 00:00:37,420 with me flipping out on guitar, 10 00:00:37,420 --> 00:00:40,100 was the moment it all took off for us. 11 00:00:40,100 --> 00:00:43,140 MUSIC: Hey Joe by Patti Smith 12 00:00:49,260 --> 00:00:53,900 Back then, we were on a kind of mission to save rock and roll, 13 00:00:53,900 --> 00:00:57,340 to make it primal and exciting again. 14 00:00:57,340 --> 00:01:00,980 So many records, so little time. 15 00:01:01,980 --> 00:01:04,020 Kind of the story of my life. 16 00:01:04,020 --> 00:01:05,740 Yes! 17 00:01:05,740 --> 00:01:10,100 I didn't look like that in 1977, but who did? 18 00:01:11,540 --> 00:01:14,220 Like me... 19 00:01:14,220 --> 00:01:16,460 every guitarist... 20 00:01:16,460 --> 00:01:19,180 is in search of their own sound... 21 00:01:19,180 --> 00:01:23,180 MUSIC: Bellbottoms by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 22 00:01:23,180 --> 00:01:25,900 ..that uniquely expresses their feelings 23 00:01:25,900 --> 00:01:27,860 and connects them to the world. 24 00:01:29,460 --> 00:01:31,780 And it doesn't stop with your guitar. 25 00:01:31,780 --> 00:01:35,140 It's amps, pedals, electronic gizmos, 26 00:01:35,140 --> 00:01:39,780 or even just a plectrum or slide on your finger. 27 00:01:41,860 --> 00:01:46,540 This isn't just about who can play the fastest or the best. 28 00:01:46,540 --> 00:01:48,940 TOGETHER: Excellent! GUITAR RIFF 29 00:01:48,940 --> 00:01:53,980 I'm talking about the decades-long search for new guitar sounds, 30 00:01:54,780 --> 00:01:58,260 the innovations that made the guitar sound completely different, 31 00:01:58,260 --> 00:02:00,220 touched the zeitgeist, 32 00:02:00,220 --> 00:02:04,060 and took popular music to entirely new places. 33 00:02:06,540 --> 00:02:09,740 This is my guide to some of the extraordinary moments 34 00:02:09,740 --> 00:02:13,140 where guitarists have changed the game, the feeling, 35 00:02:13,140 --> 00:02:18,140 and, by opening a new door in music, kind of changed the world. 36 00:02:18,140 --> 00:02:21,540 MUSIC: I'm In Love With A German Film Star by The Passions 37 00:02:25,820 --> 00:02:29,140 The thing you have to bear in mind with guitar sounds 38 00:02:29,140 --> 00:02:31,820 is we didn't always have the options we have now, 39 00:02:31,820 --> 00:02:36,540 and you could argue that all of rock and roll was kick-started 40 00:02:36,540 --> 00:02:40,740 by the moment someone tried to turn this into this. 41 00:02:40,740 --> 00:02:43,780 THUNDERCLAP 42 00:02:43,780 --> 00:02:45,180 Electricity was the key. 43 00:02:46,260 --> 00:02:48,540 For the best part of 60 years, 44 00:02:48,540 --> 00:02:53,060 pop's primary instrument has been the electric guitar... 45 00:02:54,380 --> 00:02:59,420 ..and Leo Fender and Les Paul were the guys who changed the world. 46 00:03:01,700 --> 00:03:04,180 Post-war, they were grappling with the fact 47 00:03:04,180 --> 00:03:08,580 guitarists couldn't be heard in an orchestra or a dance band, 48 00:03:08,580 --> 00:03:11,980 and they looked for ways to amplify the guitar. 49 00:03:13,220 --> 00:03:15,460 The brilliant thing that Les Paul did 50 00:03:15,460 --> 00:03:18,500 was took the available technologies of the time 51 00:03:18,500 --> 00:03:21,220 and turned them into something entirely new. 52 00:03:21,220 --> 00:03:23,820 MUSIC: Caravan by Les Paul 53 00:03:27,260 --> 00:03:30,340 He didn't follow the rules. 54 00:03:30,340 --> 00:03:33,020 He just was a mad scientist at work. 55 00:03:35,100 --> 00:03:37,300 It's very kind of Futurama. 56 00:03:37,300 --> 00:03:40,380 DISTORTED VOICE: Don't tell Leo Fender about this. 57 00:03:42,460 --> 00:03:44,700 A science experiment with rock and roll. 58 00:03:44,700 --> 00:03:47,700 HE STRUMS ACROSS THE STRINGS 59 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:53,020 It's truly amazing that you can take a phonograph needle... 60 00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:57,980 ..stick it in a guitar and run it into an amplifier 61 00:03:57,980 --> 00:04:00,940 and have it be the electric guitar. 62 00:04:00,940 --> 00:04:02,420 HE PLAYS GUITAR 63 00:04:02,420 --> 00:04:05,500 It's alive! It's alive! 64 00:04:06,700 --> 00:04:11,780 Eventually, Les and Leo Fender created solid-body guitars. 65 00:04:11,780 --> 00:04:15,300 Les's first one was just called The Log. 66 00:04:15,300 --> 00:04:18,460 But it was what Les would do with the guitar 67 00:04:18,460 --> 00:04:21,380 and the sounds he would create that would make him 68 00:04:21,380 --> 00:04:25,580 the true pioneer of the new electric guitar. 69 00:04:25,580 --> 00:04:28,620 MUSIC: Hawaiian War Chant by Les Paul and Mary Ford 70 00:04:28,620 --> 00:04:30,620 He had a groove. 71 00:04:31,980 --> 00:04:34,940 Although he was a mad scientist, at the same time, 72 00:04:34,940 --> 00:04:37,660 him and his wife together created 73 00:04:37,660 --> 00:04:42,700 a real toe-tapping, happy, '50s, euphoric moment. 74 00:04:42,700 --> 00:04:44,700 # Somewhere there's music 75 00:04:44,700 --> 00:04:46,780 # How faint the tune 76 00:04:46,780 --> 00:04:48,900 # Somewhere there's heaven 77 00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:50,700 # How high the moon 78 00:04:50,700 --> 00:04:53,660 # There is no moon above when love is far away... # 79 00:04:53,660 --> 00:04:56,020 It's the sound of Southern California, 80 00:04:56,020 --> 00:04:59,060 husband and wife sleeping in separate twin beds. 81 00:04:59,060 --> 00:05:03,140 You know, I mean, it harkens back to a bygone era. 82 00:05:03,140 --> 00:05:07,100 # Where there's heaven It's where you are... # 83 00:05:07,100 --> 00:05:10,260 The way they had their house rigged for sound, 84 00:05:10,260 --> 00:05:12,380 she'd be up doing the dishes, 85 00:05:12,380 --> 00:05:15,220 singing harmony parts to track on headphones, 86 00:05:15,220 --> 00:05:18,380 with him in the basement playing the parts and recording. 87 00:05:21,620 --> 00:05:23,620 Hello, there. Hi. 88 00:05:23,620 --> 00:05:27,140 You know, Father Time was the main reason we built our studio 89 00:05:27,140 --> 00:05:28,660 as part of the house. 90 00:05:28,660 --> 00:05:31,060 Otherwise, we'd never have any home life, with radio 91 00:05:31,060 --> 00:05:34,660 or Capitol Records, and now meeting you on television. That's for sure. 92 00:05:34,660 --> 00:05:38,780 I've been kicking shine around, so let's do it. All right. 93 00:05:38,780 --> 00:05:41,860 HE PLAYS GUITAR 94 00:05:41,860 --> 00:05:44,980 They looked like your neighbours, they acted like your neighbours. 95 00:05:44,980 --> 00:05:49,700 There was nothing about them that gave a whiff of showbiz. 96 00:05:50,940 --> 00:05:53,340 That was a Trojan horse. 97 00:05:53,340 --> 00:05:55,860 You could get that in. Boom! 98 00:05:55,860 --> 00:05:59,620 MUSIC: Hawaiian War Chant by Les Paul and Mary Ford 99 00:06:01,460 --> 00:06:04,420 In the early '50s, what Les was working on 100 00:06:04,420 --> 00:06:08,420 in his home studio was the first form of multitrack recording, 101 00:06:08,420 --> 00:06:12,500 layering multiple sounds of Mary's voice and his guitar 102 00:06:12,500 --> 00:06:17,220 at different speeds to produce a totally modern sound. 103 00:06:19,220 --> 00:06:21,500 They take advantage of the trick 104 00:06:21,500 --> 00:06:24,140 that you can record one part of a song 105 00:06:24,140 --> 00:06:26,500 and then you can play it back to yourself, 106 00:06:26,500 --> 00:06:29,180 and then you can accompany that part and keep on recording. 107 00:06:29,180 --> 00:06:31,820 We turn the tape machines on. 108 00:06:31,820 --> 00:06:35,060 This is an early '50s Ampex 350 deck 109 00:06:35,060 --> 00:06:37,220 and a Les Paul guitar. 110 00:06:37,220 --> 00:06:41,100 It's just a standard, regular Ampex tape machine. Mm-hm. 111 00:06:41,100 --> 00:06:43,100 Right now, we're on low speed. 112 00:06:44,100 --> 00:06:45,980 So, I'm just going to record a little song 113 00:06:45,980 --> 00:06:47,900 at half speed on the tape machine, 114 00:06:47,900 --> 00:06:50,660 and half speed as I'm playing it. That's the tricky part. 115 00:06:50,660 --> 00:06:55,700 And, we play the first part on the guitar. This is the rhythm part. 116 00:06:56,900 --> 00:06:59,940 HE PLAYS GUITAR 117 00:06:59,940 --> 00:07:02,780 Once he'd recorded it at low speed, 118 00:07:02,780 --> 00:07:05,060 Les would play it back at high speed 119 00:07:05,060 --> 00:07:07,780 to get an extraterrestrial-sounding guitar... 120 00:07:07,780 --> 00:07:10,020 RECORDING PLAYS AT HIGHER SPEED 121 00:07:10,020 --> 00:07:13,100 ..while adding another guitar into the mix. 122 00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:16,180 HE PLAYS GUITAR OVER RECORDING 123 00:07:22,220 --> 00:07:25,780 He made the guitar, sonically, truly electric. 124 00:07:25,780 --> 00:07:28,420 It didn't sound like an acoustic guitar, 125 00:07:28,420 --> 00:07:32,460 making it sound like no other instrument in existence. 126 00:07:33,860 --> 00:07:36,900 A futuristic guitar, fitting perfectly 127 00:07:36,900 --> 00:07:41,380 with the '50s spirit of breakthrough technology and design. 128 00:07:41,380 --> 00:07:43,340 ADVERT: This is the kitchen of tomorrow, 129 00:07:43,340 --> 00:07:46,100 a press-button dream coming true for Mrs Housewife. 130 00:07:46,100 --> 00:07:49,580 # Jealous of the tick-tock on the shelf 131 00:07:51,180 --> 00:07:54,980 # Even getting jealous of myself... # 132 00:07:54,980 --> 00:07:59,540 And the sound of fourteen top ten hits in just five years. 133 00:07:59,540 --> 00:08:01,940 MUSIC: Jealous by Les Paul and Mary Ford 134 00:08:04,940 --> 00:08:08,740 In the '50s, if you didn't have Les's home studio 135 00:08:08,740 --> 00:08:13,180 or a magic tape machine, it was just you and the guitar. 136 00:08:13,180 --> 00:08:16,220 Not much you could do in terms of making new sounds. 137 00:08:16,220 --> 00:08:18,820 HE PLAYS A CHORD 138 00:08:18,820 --> 00:08:22,180 But what if you did this with the volume control? 139 00:08:22,180 --> 00:08:25,780 PLAYS CHORD AND OSCILLATES VOLUME 140 00:08:25,780 --> 00:08:28,140 Mm, sounds pretty interesting. 141 00:08:28,140 --> 00:08:32,660 And that sound was what inspired the first guitar pedal. 142 00:08:32,660 --> 00:08:35,060 MUSIC: Come Softly To Me by Chet Atkins 143 00:08:38,300 --> 00:08:40,380 The tremolo is a beautiful thing. 144 00:08:40,380 --> 00:08:43,300 It lilts like a human vibrato. 145 00:08:44,220 --> 00:08:46,780 # Come softly, darling... # 146 00:08:46,780 --> 00:08:49,660 But instead of just taking a note up and down... 147 00:08:49,660 --> 00:08:51,660 # ..darling... # 148 00:08:51,660 --> 00:08:54,580 ..it takes it in and out of volume, 149 00:08:54,580 --> 00:08:58,780 so it's creating this mysterious, ethereal, 150 00:08:58,780 --> 00:09:01,380 magical, floating sensation. 151 00:09:01,380 --> 00:09:02,660 # Darling 152 00:09:02,660 --> 00:09:06,100 # Come softly... # 153 00:09:06,100 --> 00:09:10,580 This is the first tremolo and it's a mechanical device, 154 00:09:10,580 --> 00:09:13,020 where they had a tiny little thing filled with mercury 155 00:09:13,020 --> 00:09:15,180 that they would send the guitar signal through, 156 00:09:15,180 --> 00:09:17,980 and then a motor that would jiggle that thing. 157 00:09:17,980 --> 00:09:20,340 When you turn it on, you can hear this thing... 158 00:09:20,340 --> 00:09:22,780 MACHINE JIGGLES ..jiggling like that. 159 00:09:22,780 --> 00:09:24,540 I just love the way these things sound. 160 00:09:24,540 --> 00:09:26,380 PLAYS NOTE THROUGH TREMOLO 161 00:09:26,380 --> 00:09:27,780 Adjust the speed. 162 00:09:27,780 --> 00:09:30,340 PLAYS NOTE WITH INCREASED TREMOLO 163 00:09:30,340 --> 00:09:33,700 It's really kind of a one-trick pony, but it's a beautiful trick. 164 00:09:33,700 --> 00:09:36,460 MUSIC: Bo's Bounce by Bo Diddley 165 00:09:36,460 --> 00:09:39,780 Most guitarists use tremolo at a slow speed 166 00:09:39,780 --> 00:09:42,700 to give a dreamy, lilting feel. 167 00:09:42,700 --> 00:09:45,500 But Bo Diddley, a Mississippi blues man, 168 00:09:45,500 --> 00:09:48,100 with his own home-made guitars, 169 00:09:48,100 --> 00:09:53,100 used tremolo at a fast speed to create a very different effect. 170 00:09:54,660 --> 00:09:56,660 He would tune his guitar to an open chord 171 00:09:56,660 --> 00:09:58,380 and without the tremolo on it... 172 00:09:58,380 --> 00:10:01,100 HE PLAYS GUITAR 173 00:10:02,740 --> 00:10:04,500 ..it just sounds like a guitar really. 174 00:10:06,380 --> 00:10:08,700 PLAYS SAME TUNE WITH TREMOLO 175 00:10:15,140 --> 00:10:18,980 Watch the technique of Bo Diddley! 176 00:10:18,980 --> 00:10:20,620 SCREAMING 177 00:10:24,380 --> 00:10:28,860 Bo's very first single topped the R&B charts. 178 00:10:28,860 --> 00:10:30,460 For young white America, 179 00:10:30,460 --> 00:10:35,460 that dance beat and tremolo shake was a truly new rock and roll sound. 180 00:10:35,820 --> 00:10:38,740 MUSIC: Hey Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley 181 00:10:41,900 --> 00:10:45,860 # Hey, Bo Diddley 182 00:10:45,860 --> 00:10:47,860 # Hey, Bo Diddley... # 183 00:10:47,860 --> 00:10:50,540 A Bo Diddley beat is physical 184 00:10:50,540 --> 00:10:52,980 and it's bringing people together. 185 00:10:52,980 --> 00:10:57,620 I'm doing something that's affecting the world that I live in. 186 00:10:57,620 --> 00:11:00,180 # She rustled and tustled like Buffalo Bill 187 00:11:00,180 --> 00:11:02,380 # Hey, Bo Diddley... # 188 00:11:02,380 --> 00:11:05,460 Bo Diddley has this subversion to him. 189 00:11:07,740 --> 00:11:12,740 He's overtly sexual and overtly seductive. 190 00:11:12,940 --> 00:11:16,260 You know, that rhythm is so elemental. 191 00:11:18,140 --> 00:11:22,820 You really can feel the bedsprings moving up and down. 192 00:11:22,820 --> 00:11:25,420 # Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley, have you heard...? # 193 00:11:26,620 --> 00:11:29,380 You have Elvis recording it in '54, 194 00:11:29,380 --> 00:11:32,540 but he was kind of a small, regional act until '56. 195 00:11:32,540 --> 00:11:37,140 And Bo Diddley had this huge national hit with Bo Diddley, 196 00:11:37,140 --> 00:11:40,300 his first record, in 1955, so really, 197 00:11:40,300 --> 00:11:42,620 as far as, like, a national consciousness 198 00:11:42,620 --> 00:11:45,900 of what rock and roll was all about, it was this scary Bo Diddley guy. 199 00:11:45,900 --> 00:11:48,100 He was the first thing that a lot of these people saw. 200 00:11:48,100 --> 00:11:50,620 MUSIC: Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley 201 00:11:56,940 --> 00:12:01,180 Back in the day, there was another way you could change your sound - 202 00:12:01,180 --> 00:12:04,860 the tremolo arm or the whammy bar. 203 00:12:04,860 --> 00:12:07,300 The way it works is it slackens the strings. 204 00:12:07,300 --> 00:12:09,340 NOTE DEEPENS 205 00:12:09,340 --> 00:12:13,460 ..or tightens them. NOTE RISES 206 00:12:13,460 --> 00:12:17,060 And there was one guy who made that sound his own. 207 00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:23,380 ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYS 208 00:12:34,740 --> 00:12:39,740 When I was 12, my dad got tired of shovelling snow everywhere, 209 00:12:39,740 --> 00:12:41,620 so he wanted to go where it was warm, 210 00:12:41,620 --> 00:12:43,140 either Florida or Arizona, 211 00:12:43,140 --> 00:12:44,900 and I said, "Arizona, please. 212 00:12:44,900 --> 00:12:47,580 "I want to get out there and see those cowboys and Indians." 213 00:12:47,580 --> 00:12:51,260 MUSIC: Because They're Young by Duane Eddy 214 00:12:56,660 --> 00:12:59,100 It was pretty flat. It was desert. 215 00:12:59,100 --> 00:13:03,100 I had bought my guitar at this music store called Ziggie's, 216 00:13:03,100 --> 00:13:06,420 and Ziggie was a great guy. He was a musician's friend. 217 00:13:08,060 --> 00:13:10,420 Ziggie said, "I've got something you might like." 218 00:13:10,420 --> 00:13:12,620 And he put this guitar in my hands 219 00:13:12,620 --> 00:13:14,780 and I thought, "Oh, man." 220 00:13:14,780 --> 00:13:19,020 It settles in there so nice, and the neck on it was a dream. 221 00:13:19,020 --> 00:13:21,580 And it had this bar, this vibrato, 222 00:13:21,580 --> 00:13:23,100 which I could go... 223 00:13:23,100 --> 00:13:25,180 HE PLAYS A NOTE WITH VIBRATO 224 00:13:25,180 --> 00:13:29,620 HE PLAYS WITH VIBRATO 225 00:13:29,620 --> 00:13:32,020 ..which I could use to great effect on... 226 00:13:32,020 --> 00:13:34,060 HE PLAYS INTRO TO PETER GUNN 227 00:13:34,060 --> 00:13:38,100 MUSIC: Peter Gunn by Duane Eddy 228 00:13:40,220 --> 00:13:43,940 Duane Eddy is the danger in the neighbourhood. 229 00:13:43,940 --> 00:13:45,780 GLASS SMASHES 230 00:13:45,780 --> 00:13:48,660 It conjures up a sneaky walk. 231 00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:53,100 He is the leather jacket, a knife fighter. 232 00:13:53,100 --> 00:13:55,940 Something excitingly dangerous. 233 00:13:55,940 --> 00:13:57,980 And it's put into sound. 234 00:13:59,060 --> 00:14:00,780 SHE SHRIEKS 235 00:14:00,780 --> 00:14:03,300 I get mental pictures sometimes, 236 00:14:03,300 --> 00:14:06,780 like the group of bad guys coming down the alley toward me 237 00:14:06,780 --> 00:14:10,980 with their chains and their knives, switchblades and everything. 238 00:14:12,620 --> 00:14:15,260 Rock and roll, at the time Duane was coming out, 239 00:14:15,260 --> 00:14:17,700 was starting to move into a safe era. 240 00:14:17,700 --> 00:14:21,900 It's a time of teen idols, the great Philadelphia triumvirate 241 00:14:21,900 --> 00:14:24,980 of Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon and Fabian, 242 00:14:24,980 --> 00:14:27,420 that were nonthreatening. 243 00:14:29,380 --> 00:14:33,300 I think Duane's sensibilities, staying on those low strings 244 00:14:33,300 --> 00:14:36,780 that have a kind of ominous quality to them, 245 00:14:36,780 --> 00:14:39,500 gave a sense of threat to rock and roll. 246 00:14:39,500 --> 00:14:42,060 HE PLAYS PETER GUNN 247 00:14:43,860 --> 00:14:45,900 You know, there's a break in the middle of it. 248 00:14:47,980 --> 00:14:51,020 That was a new thing in recording, back in those days. 249 00:14:51,020 --> 00:14:54,260 You know, finish the song and then start it up again, you know. 250 00:14:56,860 --> 00:14:59,500 Duane didn't just have twang and bend, 251 00:14:59,500 --> 00:15:01,700 he had a big guitar sound. 252 00:15:03,020 --> 00:15:08,060 And recording in Arizona, they found their own way of doing that. 253 00:15:08,420 --> 00:15:11,740 They got their reverb from a water tank. 254 00:15:11,740 --> 00:15:14,660 MUSIC: Rebel Rouser by Duane Eddy 255 00:15:14,660 --> 00:15:17,380 The 2,000-gallon water tank. 256 00:15:19,140 --> 00:15:22,860 Twenty feet long, probably eight feet high and round. 257 00:15:26,620 --> 00:15:30,460 Put a speaker in one end and we'd send the sound out, 258 00:15:30,460 --> 00:15:32,620 it would go out and come out that speaker, 259 00:15:32,620 --> 00:15:34,100 swirl around the tank 260 00:15:34,100 --> 00:15:38,140 and into the mic at the other end, and we had our echo. 261 00:15:39,500 --> 00:15:43,420 By '59, Duane was the man with the golden arm... 262 00:15:44,500 --> 00:15:47,060 ..a new type of guitar player, 263 00:15:47,060 --> 00:15:50,460 who ushered in an era of guitar instrumentals. 264 00:15:51,740 --> 00:15:53,500 Cue The Ventures, 265 00:15:53,500 --> 00:15:56,540 Link Wray, and your own Hank Marvin, 266 00:15:56,540 --> 00:15:58,700 who evoked wide-open vistas 267 00:15:58,700 --> 00:16:03,060 and brought a sense of freedom and escape to British rock and roll. 268 00:16:03,060 --> 00:16:06,260 MUSIC: FBI by The Shadows 269 00:16:09,460 --> 00:16:11,700 Hank's sound prevailed for years, 270 00:16:11,700 --> 00:16:13,700 until, in the mid-'60s, 271 00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:18,340 a younger generation, reared on Hank, staged a sonic revolution. 272 00:16:21,780 --> 00:16:23,620 It's 1964, 273 00:16:23,620 --> 00:16:27,340 and there's still not a lot of new guitar sounds in the air. 274 00:16:27,340 --> 00:16:30,540 But it's the Beatles who everyone is listening to 275 00:16:30,540 --> 00:16:33,820 and taking inspiration from. 276 00:16:33,820 --> 00:16:36,180 And when the Beatles come to New York City, 277 00:16:36,180 --> 00:16:41,220 in February of 1964, to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, 278 00:16:43,900 --> 00:16:48,020 and presents George Harrison with one of the first production models 279 00:16:48,020 --> 00:16:51,380 of the electric 12-string. 280 00:16:53,860 --> 00:16:57,060 # It's been a hard day's night 281 00:16:57,060 --> 00:17:00,740 # And I've been working like a dog... # 282 00:17:00,740 --> 00:17:03,260 The 12-string gives you 283 00:17:03,260 --> 00:17:05,500 an extra six strings. 284 00:17:05,500 --> 00:17:08,700 The bottom four strings are in octaves. 285 00:17:08,700 --> 00:17:12,140 HE PLAYS BOTTOM FOUR STRINGS 286 00:17:12,140 --> 00:17:14,380 And the top two strings are in unison. 287 00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:16,900 HE PLAYS TOP TWO STRINGS 288 00:17:16,900 --> 00:17:18,460 And taken all together... 289 00:17:18,460 --> 00:17:20,300 PLAYS A CHORD 290 00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:22,580 ..they can ring your bell. 291 00:17:27,820 --> 00:17:29,860 And in Los Angeles, 292 00:17:29,860 --> 00:17:33,100 one fledgling folk group took such inspiration 293 00:17:33,100 --> 00:17:34,820 from that Beatles film, 294 00:17:34,820 --> 00:17:38,180 that they changed their haircuts and instruments 295 00:17:38,180 --> 00:17:41,780 and built a whole career on that look and guitar sound. 296 00:17:42,940 --> 00:17:45,420 Seeing the movie A Hard Day's Night, and taking notes 297 00:17:45,420 --> 00:17:48,340 on what the Beatles were playing, so that's how we knew what to get. 298 00:17:48,340 --> 00:17:50,380 And I traded in my acoustic 12-string 299 00:17:50,380 --> 00:17:52,460 that Bobby Darin had given me, 300 00:17:52,460 --> 00:17:56,060 and a five-string long neck Pete Seeger-style banjo 301 00:17:56,060 --> 00:17:58,420 and some cash, and got a Rickenbacker electric 12. 302 00:17:58,420 --> 00:18:02,620 It was like getting a new car. I mean, it was exciting. 303 00:18:02,620 --> 00:18:06,020 I took it to bed with me. I played it all day long, eight hours a day. 304 00:18:06,020 --> 00:18:10,700 The neck is very thin, so in order to play certain chords, 305 00:18:10,700 --> 00:18:12,900 you can't play them the way you used to. 306 00:18:12,900 --> 00:18:15,420 Like an E minor chord, I play with one finger. 307 00:18:15,420 --> 00:18:16,980 PLAYS CHORD 308 00:18:16,980 --> 00:18:18,820 And an A chord, I play with two fingers... 309 00:18:18,820 --> 00:18:20,860 PLAYS CHORD ..instead of three. 310 00:18:23,060 --> 00:18:25,980 This is called Hey, Mr Tambourine Man, 311 00:18:25,980 --> 00:18:28,900 Please Play A Song For Me. 312 00:18:28,900 --> 00:18:33,220 And in '65, there was one song doing the rounds 313 00:18:33,220 --> 00:18:37,580 by a young folk singer, Bob Dylan, that was offered to The Byrds, 314 00:18:37,580 --> 00:18:41,300 but met with resistance from rhythm guitarist David Crosby. 315 00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:44,620 # Hey, Mr Tambourine Man 316 00:18:44,620 --> 00:18:46,820 # Play a song for me.... # 317 00:18:46,820 --> 00:18:49,700 My manager, Jim Dickson, was convinced that it was a hit. 318 00:18:49,700 --> 00:18:52,460 Crosby hated it. He said, "I don't like it, man. 319 00:18:52,460 --> 00:18:55,340 "That folky two-four time, it's five minutes long." 320 00:18:55,340 --> 00:18:58,340 AM radio wouldn't play anything over 2 minutes and 30 seconds. 321 00:18:58,340 --> 00:19:01,060 # In the jingle jangle morning 322 00:19:01,060 --> 00:19:04,700 # I'll come following you... # 323 00:19:04,700 --> 00:19:08,500 I had an idea of how to fix it up. I'd learned how to play... 324 00:19:08,500 --> 00:19:12,620 HE PLAYS JESU, JOY OF MAN'S DESIRING 325 00:19:12,620 --> 00:19:15,380 ..from Pete Seeger's Goofing-Off Suite. 326 00:19:15,380 --> 00:19:17,700 It's Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring. 327 00:19:17,700 --> 00:19:19,900 And I thought, "What if I took some of that 328 00:19:19,900 --> 00:19:22,180 "and put it as an intro for Mr Tambourine Man?" 329 00:19:22,180 --> 00:19:24,500 HE PLAYS INTRO TO MR TAMBOURINE MAN 330 00:19:24,500 --> 00:19:26,700 Right, straight out of Bach. 331 00:19:26,700 --> 00:19:30,300 MUSIC: Mr Tambourine Man by The Byrds 332 00:19:30,300 --> 00:19:33,940 HE PLAYS INTRO TO MR TAMBOURINE MAN 333 00:19:34,940 --> 00:19:38,460 # Hey, Mr Tambourine Man 334 00:19:38,460 --> 00:19:40,820 # Play a song for me... # 335 00:19:40,820 --> 00:19:43,540 Cut it down to one verse, for time. 336 00:19:43,540 --> 00:19:45,860 Got it down to 2 minutes and 16 seconds, 337 00:19:45,860 --> 00:19:48,820 and it became a number one in 13 countries. 338 00:19:50,420 --> 00:19:54,380 # Hey, Mr Tambourine Man 339 00:19:54,380 --> 00:19:57,300 # Play a song for me 340 00:19:57,300 --> 00:20:00,500 # In the jingle jangle... # 341 00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:03,580 Dylan's "jingle jangle" line became the phrase 342 00:20:03,580 --> 00:20:08,300 that summed up this new sound and idea of folk-rock. 343 00:20:08,300 --> 00:20:10,860 # Take me for a trip 344 00:20:10,860 --> 00:20:14,860 # Upon your magic swirling ship 345 00:20:14,860 --> 00:20:16,820 # All my senses... # 346 00:20:16,820 --> 00:20:19,500 The sound of the 12-string really cut through on AM radio. 347 00:20:19,500 --> 00:20:21,100 I think it was a unique sound. 348 00:20:21,100 --> 00:20:23,220 It was something that hadn't been heard before. 349 00:20:23,220 --> 00:20:27,780 # I'll come following you... # 350 00:20:29,780 --> 00:20:32,100 The thing about the electric 12-string 351 00:20:32,100 --> 00:20:34,660 is that it gives a sense of sparkle 352 00:20:34,660 --> 00:20:37,420 to any particular chord you play. 353 00:20:37,420 --> 00:20:40,300 HE PLAYS SERIES OF CHORDS 354 00:20:44,860 --> 00:20:47,020 Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. 355 00:20:50,420 --> 00:20:52,580 And it wasn't just sparkle. 356 00:20:52,580 --> 00:20:55,820 As Roger would discover on Eight Miles High, 357 00:20:55,820 --> 00:21:00,100 the 12-string could channel Indian music and free jazz. 358 00:21:00,100 --> 00:21:04,540 MUSIC: Eight Miles High by The Byrds 359 00:21:06,780 --> 00:21:09,260 I'd bought a Philips cassette recorder in London 360 00:21:09,260 --> 00:21:12,420 and we had it on a bus tour plugged into an amplifier. 361 00:21:12,420 --> 00:21:15,900 We'd been listening to Ravi Shankar on one side 362 00:21:15,900 --> 00:21:18,660 and flipped it over and listened to John Coltrane for a month, 363 00:21:18,660 --> 00:21:20,820 and that's the only music we listened to, 364 00:21:20,820 --> 00:21:23,180 so by the time we got back in the studio in LA, 365 00:21:23,180 --> 00:21:24,700 it just came out like that. 366 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:29,220 HE PLAYS INTRO TO EIGHT MILES HIGH 367 00:21:29,220 --> 00:21:32,500 MUSIC: Eight Miles High by The Byrds 368 00:21:35,020 --> 00:21:37,660 In the '60s, you had a decade 369 00:21:37,660 --> 00:21:41,660 that was so full of hope and celestial elevation. 370 00:21:44,380 --> 00:21:48,900 Hearing the electric 12-string gave it a sense of soaring possibility. 371 00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:53,580 # Eight miles high 372 00:21:53,580 --> 00:21:57,860 # And when you touch down... # 373 00:21:57,860 --> 00:22:01,860 David Crosby always wanted to be the guy dropping his pants, 374 00:22:01,860 --> 00:22:06,700 saying, "Let's get high and break that boundary in song." 375 00:22:06,700 --> 00:22:11,740 And you have McGuinn, who wants to write about planes. 376 00:22:12,420 --> 00:22:14,660 It's a song about a trip to England. 377 00:22:14,660 --> 00:22:18,100 Yeah, it's really about an aeroplane ride and when you get there, 378 00:22:18,100 --> 00:22:20,540 the cultural shock, it's different from the US. 379 00:22:20,540 --> 00:22:22,540 Street signs are up on the sides of buildings 380 00:22:22,540 --> 00:22:24,540 instead of on little poles. 381 00:22:24,540 --> 00:22:28,660 People in the rain. "Rain-grey town, known for its sound", London. 382 00:22:28,660 --> 00:22:30,540 It's about a trip to England. 383 00:22:30,540 --> 00:22:34,460 # Rain-grey town 384 00:22:34,460 --> 00:22:38,020 # Known for its sound... # 385 00:22:38,020 --> 00:22:42,980 This song is one of rock's first great double entendres. 386 00:22:46,340 --> 00:22:50,540 When the radio stations got hold of it, they did the math and said, 387 00:22:50,540 --> 00:22:53,620 "Wait a minute, commercial airliners don't fly eight miles high. 388 00:22:53,620 --> 00:22:56,420 "They must be talking about some other kind of high, man." 389 00:22:57,380 --> 00:23:00,380 So, they banned it. It was one of the first songs... 390 00:23:00,380 --> 00:23:03,260 Censorship. They wiped it off the air. 391 00:23:09,740 --> 00:23:14,740 But uplift and higher consciousness was just one side of the '60s. 392 00:23:16,820 --> 00:23:21,260 There was another darker, dirtier side. 393 00:23:21,260 --> 00:23:24,700 MUSIC: You Really Got me by The Kinks 394 00:23:24,700 --> 00:23:27,220 Guitarists had experimented with slashing speakers 395 00:23:27,220 --> 00:23:29,780 to get distorted sound. 396 00:23:29,780 --> 00:23:31,660 But in the mid-'60s, 397 00:23:31,660 --> 00:23:36,460 this shop was the first in Britain to sell a new guitar pedal, 398 00:23:36,460 --> 00:23:40,300 that, at the touch of a button, unleashed something unforgettable. 399 00:23:42,460 --> 00:23:45,100 That's quite an assemblage of sound enhancers. 400 00:23:45,100 --> 00:23:48,380 Yeah, well, you know, when someone comes in the shop 401 00:23:48,380 --> 00:23:50,100 and I demo one of these Fuzz pedals now, 402 00:23:50,100 --> 00:23:52,140 it's pretty mind-blowing. 403 00:23:52,140 --> 00:23:54,300 But what it must have been like 404 00:23:54,300 --> 00:23:57,020 in 1965... The only stomp boxes really being used 405 00:23:57,020 --> 00:24:00,460 were things like tremolo, a bit of tape delay. Mm-hm. 406 00:24:00,460 --> 00:24:04,100 People were really into clean sounds, like The Shadows were. 407 00:24:04,100 --> 00:24:06,700 Yeah, very clean. That was the sought-after tone. 408 00:24:06,700 --> 00:24:08,140 So when this came along... 409 00:24:08,140 --> 00:24:10,940 I guess my dad would say, "Have you heard this, mate?" 410 00:24:10,940 --> 00:24:14,460 And they'd sit down and suddenly, their life would go from clean... 411 00:24:14,460 --> 00:24:16,900 to GRRR! 412 00:24:16,900 --> 00:24:21,220 Fuzz had been around for a couple of years, 413 00:24:21,220 --> 00:24:24,140 but to get that sound to go big, 414 00:24:24,140 --> 00:24:29,180 it took a certain player with a certain lyric at a certain time. 415 00:24:29,420 --> 00:24:33,540 MUSIC: Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones 416 00:24:44,500 --> 00:24:47,900 # I can't get no 417 00:24:47,900 --> 00:24:51,300 # Satisfaction 418 00:24:51,300 --> 00:24:54,820 # I can't get no 419 00:24:54,820 --> 00:24:57,460 # Satisfaction 420 00:24:57,460 --> 00:25:00,540 # Cos I try and I try 421 00:25:00,540 --> 00:25:03,940 # And I try and I try 422 00:25:03,940 --> 00:25:05,980 # I can't get no... # 423 00:25:08,460 --> 00:25:13,460 That Keith riff is heavy and grungy and nasty and dirty. 424 00:25:16,380 --> 00:25:20,060 They were the baby-boomer, post-war generation. 425 00:25:20,060 --> 00:25:23,940 They wanted to have an experience different from their parents. 426 00:25:26,380 --> 00:25:28,620 I've never heard anything like it. 427 00:25:28,620 --> 00:25:30,260 I went to see them 428 00:25:30,260 --> 00:25:32,780 at Long Beach Arena when I was 15. They were playing live, 429 00:25:32,780 --> 00:25:35,260 and I remember just waiting till that record came on. 430 00:25:35,260 --> 00:25:36,940 # Hey, hey, hey... # 431 00:25:38,380 --> 00:25:41,540 Then I went and got the 45 and just played it till it turned grey. 432 00:25:42,620 --> 00:25:46,340 Five girls sprinted towards their idols before police intervened. 433 00:25:46,340 --> 00:25:49,020 Said the girls, though, "It was worth it." 434 00:25:50,500 --> 00:25:53,180 The dangerousness of it is evocative. 435 00:25:53,180 --> 00:25:55,940 Every night, when I turn on my guitar, 436 00:25:55,940 --> 00:26:00,820 I get the same sense of power and abandon and sex and fury. 437 00:26:02,180 --> 00:26:05,820 And it's the same feeling I got when I heard Satisfaction as a kid. 438 00:26:05,820 --> 00:26:08,460 # No satisfaction... # 439 00:26:09,900 --> 00:26:13,420 This Fuzz was given away in a competition 440 00:26:13,420 --> 00:26:16,700 and the competition was in Beat Instrumental in 1965. 441 00:26:16,700 --> 00:26:19,660 It was about the song Satisfaction. Whoa. 442 00:26:19,660 --> 00:26:21,900 You had to say what was important about the song. 443 00:26:21,900 --> 00:26:26,860 Was it mix, vocals, the Fuzz sound, the lyrics, Mick's trousers? 444 00:26:27,180 --> 00:26:29,660 I don't know. And you had to put them in order. 445 00:26:29,660 --> 00:26:31,380 Add all these years later, 446 00:26:31,380 --> 00:26:35,420 I got this one back from the guy who won it in the magazine. Whoa. 447 00:26:35,420 --> 00:26:38,340 So, that's one of my most prized possessions. 448 00:26:39,940 --> 00:26:44,980 Of course, the winning answer was the use of Fuzz-Box. 449 00:26:45,220 --> 00:26:49,300 MUSIC: Keep On Running by The Spencer Davis Group 450 00:26:50,580 --> 00:26:54,140 1965, the annus mirabilis, 451 00:26:54,140 --> 00:26:58,020 the miracle year for new guitar sounds. 452 00:26:58,020 --> 00:27:00,580 The Stones release Satisfaction, 453 00:27:00,580 --> 00:27:03,900 The Byrds release Mr Tambourine Man, 454 00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:08,980 and The Who are about to take us on a sonic journey with this. 455 00:27:10,780 --> 00:27:13,940 HE PLAYS A CHORD WITH REVERB 456 00:27:16,460 --> 00:27:18,980 As a young American producer, 457 00:27:18,980 --> 00:27:23,980 Shel Talmy became the first to tame the extraordinary sound of feedback 458 00:27:24,260 --> 00:27:29,300 on a hit record and light a very British, very male touchpaper. 459 00:27:29,980 --> 00:27:34,100 MUSIC: I Can't Explain by The Who 460 00:27:34,100 --> 00:27:37,300 I was asked to go and see The Who, 461 00:27:37,300 --> 00:27:39,940 and they were playing at a church hall. 462 00:27:39,940 --> 00:27:42,060 # Got a feeling inside 463 00:27:42,060 --> 00:27:43,820 # Can't explain... # 464 00:27:43,820 --> 00:27:45,460 It took about maybe eight bars 465 00:27:45,460 --> 00:27:47,780 to say, "Yes, I'll sign them." 466 00:27:47,780 --> 00:27:50,900 # Dizzy in the head and I'm feeling blue 467 00:27:50,900 --> 00:27:54,100 # The things you've said Well, maybe they're true... # 468 00:27:54,100 --> 00:27:57,740 They were the best, rockiest rock and roll bunch 469 00:27:57,740 --> 00:27:59,820 that could play music that I'd heard. 470 00:28:01,100 --> 00:28:03,980 # Can't explain, I think it's love 471 00:28:03,980 --> 00:28:07,460 # Try to say it to you when I feel blue 472 00:28:07,460 --> 00:28:09,500 # Can't explain... # 473 00:28:09,500 --> 00:28:11,340 Pete was always very smart, 474 00:28:11,340 --> 00:28:14,900 had, at that point in time, kind of a chip on his shoulder. 475 00:28:16,980 --> 00:28:19,860 Daltrey had maybe two chips on his shoulder, 476 00:28:19,860 --> 00:28:22,900 Entwistle hardly spoke at all, 477 00:28:22,900 --> 00:28:26,100 and Moony was the best rock and roll drummer there ever was. 478 00:28:26,100 --> 00:28:27,780 # Can't explain... # 479 00:28:27,780 --> 00:28:30,420 HE PLAYS CHORD 480 00:28:37,940 --> 00:28:40,260 Sound had gotten so perfect 481 00:28:40,260 --> 00:28:42,620 by '64, '65. 482 00:28:42,620 --> 00:28:44,660 Those Beatles singles, 483 00:28:44,660 --> 00:28:48,660 which is the peak of recorded sound, of excellence. 484 00:28:50,660 --> 00:28:53,940 But it was time we are taking this and we're going to wreck it. 485 00:28:53,940 --> 00:28:58,020 # I could go anyway Way I choose 486 00:28:58,020 --> 00:29:00,700 # I could live anyhow Win or lose 487 00:29:00,700 --> 00:29:04,060 # I could go anywhere For something new 488 00:29:04,060 --> 00:29:08,260 # Anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose 489 00:29:08,260 --> 00:29:10,300 # Do anything... # 490 00:29:10,300 --> 00:29:12,980 There was a meter, 491 00:29:12,980 --> 00:29:15,300 a VU meter, it was called, 492 00:29:15,300 --> 00:29:17,980 and it had the red line, and you were not supposed to go 493 00:29:17,980 --> 00:29:22,220 past the red line because that allegedly took you into distortion. 494 00:29:22,220 --> 00:29:25,060 GUITAR DISTORTION 495 00:29:25,060 --> 00:29:28,300 They weren't afraid to cross the line. 496 00:29:28,300 --> 00:29:33,100 There is a section...of cacophony. 497 00:29:33,100 --> 00:29:37,700 They don't keep it going straight through, 498 00:29:37,700 --> 00:29:42,660 and it just adds a little touch of obnoxiousness. 499 00:29:46,380 --> 00:29:49,660 SHEL TALMY: Feedback was brand-new because nobody had worked out 500 00:29:49,660 --> 00:29:51,980 how to record the feedback 501 00:29:51,980 --> 00:29:55,380 without the entire record sounding distorted. 502 00:29:57,580 --> 00:30:00,180 I used four different mics, 503 00:30:00,180 --> 00:30:03,420 so it would pick up the distortion that was bouncing around the room. 504 00:30:06,780 --> 00:30:11,140 Pete had this great thing. He would do the morse code on his guitar. 505 00:30:13,740 --> 00:30:16,100 One pick-up on, one pick-up off. 506 00:30:16,100 --> 00:30:18,500 HE IMITATES PETE TOWNSHEND'S STYLE 507 00:30:18,500 --> 00:30:21,340 Then, of course, he'd take his pick and he would go... 508 00:30:21,340 --> 00:30:23,140 SLIDES PICK 509 00:30:23,140 --> 00:30:26,220 MUSIC: Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere by The Who 510 00:30:26,220 --> 00:30:29,420 And Pete Townshend also recognised the potential 511 00:30:29,420 --> 00:30:34,420 of pushing sound effect to the point of destruction and anarchy. 512 00:30:34,740 --> 00:30:36,460 # The way I choose... # 513 00:30:36,460 --> 00:30:39,940 It was almost like once the feedback happened, 514 00:30:39,940 --> 00:30:42,340 you knew that that was the starting point 515 00:30:42,340 --> 00:30:44,140 for something to get smashed. 516 00:30:44,140 --> 00:30:47,340 MUSIC: My Generation by The Who 517 00:30:51,300 --> 00:30:54,860 Our actual intention is to play out all the adrenaline 518 00:30:54,860 --> 00:30:57,580 and all the aggression and show the audience 519 00:30:57,580 --> 00:30:59,780 that you are a frustrated character, 520 00:30:59,780 --> 00:31:01,940 that you do want to get something out of your system 521 00:31:01,940 --> 00:31:04,060 and you do want to do it in front of them, 522 00:31:04,060 --> 00:31:07,700 and it's got much more to do with art and music than people imagine. 523 00:31:09,500 --> 00:31:13,940 It's the moment where the guitar moves away, almost totally, 524 00:31:13,940 --> 00:31:15,700 from playing rhythm. 525 00:31:16,980 --> 00:31:19,420 It moves into effect, 526 00:31:19,420 --> 00:31:22,740 sonic possibilities that are beyond music. 527 00:31:24,500 --> 00:31:28,740 You realise that you can do anything with the guitar 528 00:31:28,740 --> 00:31:31,740 and it will be read as music. 529 00:31:34,060 --> 00:31:37,100 CHEERING 530 00:31:38,260 --> 00:31:40,780 On drums, Mitch Mitchell. 531 00:31:40,780 --> 00:31:43,180 On bass, Noel Redding. 532 00:31:43,180 --> 00:31:45,980 On guitar, Jimi Hendrix. 533 00:31:45,980 --> 00:31:49,100 The Jimi Hendrix Experience. 534 00:31:51,140 --> 00:31:56,140 I must say, in the true '60s sense of blowing one's mind, 535 00:31:56,620 --> 00:32:00,060 I cannot believe that I'm in Jimi Hendrix's bedroom. 536 00:32:00,060 --> 00:32:03,260 MUSIC: All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix 537 00:32:10,060 --> 00:32:13,100 A beautiful story that Patti Smith once told me 538 00:32:13,100 --> 00:32:18,140 about when she was invited to the opening of Electric Lady Studios. 539 00:32:20,660 --> 00:32:23,700 She was on the stairs and he came upstairs, 540 00:32:23,700 --> 00:32:25,540 and he was uncomfortable with the party 541 00:32:25,540 --> 00:32:27,500 and she was a little uncomfortable. 542 00:32:27,500 --> 00:32:32,540 And he talked to her about the universal language of music. 543 00:32:32,860 --> 00:32:35,580 That's what he was hoping to achieve. 544 00:32:35,580 --> 00:32:39,100 MUSIC: All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix 545 00:32:39,100 --> 00:32:42,140 The Star Spangled Banner was his start 546 00:32:42,140 --> 00:32:45,540 of taking huge amplifier stacks 547 00:32:45,540 --> 00:32:48,780 that would just give an amazing amount of feedback, 548 00:32:48,780 --> 00:32:52,220 the Fuzz-Tone, the whammy bar, 549 00:32:52,220 --> 00:32:56,180 and combine them into something entirely new. 550 00:32:56,180 --> 00:32:59,540 HE PLAYS THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 551 00:33:09,300 --> 00:33:12,380 Amplification started to come in and he took full advantage. 552 00:33:12,380 --> 00:33:15,460 He had six cabinets with three stacks, 553 00:33:15,460 --> 00:33:19,020 and then he leveraged it into something extraordinary. 554 00:33:21,580 --> 00:33:24,540 At that volume, everything becomes alive. 555 00:33:26,940 --> 00:33:28,860 HE PLAYS RUN OF NOTES 556 00:33:28,860 --> 00:33:31,300 Something like that doesn't sound like much. 557 00:33:31,300 --> 00:33:33,380 But with the set-up that Jimi Hendrix had, 558 00:33:33,380 --> 00:33:37,180 something like that was like a screaming apocalyptic sound 559 00:33:37,180 --> 00:33:39,620 that freaked all the hippies out. 560 00:33:39,620 --> 00:33:42,580 DISTORTED ELECTRIC GUITAR 561 00:33:50,420 --> 00:33:53,140 There was something awry in America at this stage. 562 00:33:53,140 --> 00:33:54,900 It was the Vietnam War. 563 00:33:58,700 --> 00:34:01,500 He would evoke dive bombs, 564 00:34:01,500 --> 00:34:04,140 aeroplanes, everything, you know. 565 00:34:10,460 --> 00:34:13,220 Sounds that make you feel like you're in a war... 566 00:34:14,980 --> 00:34:18,580 ..which is so completely meaningful for the time. 567 00:34:18,580 --> 00:34:22,340 People forget that Jimi Hendrix and his bass player, Billy Cox, 568 00:34:22,340 --> 00:34:25,780 were both paratroopers and they met in the Army. 569 00:34:25,780 --> 00:34:28,860 HE PLAYS THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 570 00:34:31,780 --> 00:34:33,980 I think it's the sad resignation of 571 00:34:33,980 --> 00:34:37,340 "Look at our country, look where we're at." 572 00:34:37,340 --> 00:34:39,700 The conflict between generations, 573 00:34:39,700 --> 00:34:44,260 the conflict between men and women, all of that was in his version. 574 00:34:44,260 --> 00:34:46,420 You know, look where I'm at. 575 00:34:46,420 --> 00:34:49,540 I'm a superstar, but I can't eat where I want, 576 00:34:49,540 --> 00:34:51,460 I can't drink where I want. 577 00:35:01,020 --> 00:35:03,700 that it was indelible. 578 00:35:03,700 --> 00:35:07,140 The beautiful dichotomy of America. 579 00:35:07,140 --> 00:35:10,420 HE PLAYS THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 580 00:35:25,820 --> 00:35:29,260 MUSIC: Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix 581 00:35:31,180 --> 00:35:34,180 One thing that Jimmy also used that day 582 00:35:34,180 --> 00:35:36,580 and pioneered is one of these, 583 00:35:36,580 --> 00:35:38,580 a wah-wah pedal. 584 00:35:38,580 --> 00:35:41,260 Think of Voodoo Child. 585 00:35:41,260 --> 00:35:43,620 HE PLAYS RIFF FROM VOODOO CHILD 586 00:35:43,620 --> 00:35:46,700 That riff sets up the whole character of the song. 587 00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:51,220 It's still iconic today. 588 00:35:51,220 --> 00:35:55,500 You hear those four bars and, yes, you are a voo-dude. 589 00:35:58,260 --> 00:36:01,820 What it gave you was a completely new sound for the guitar. 590 00:36:01,820 --> 00:36:04,260 No pedal, and it sounds like this... 591 00:36:04,260 --> 00:36:07,460 HE PLAYS RIFF FROM VOODOO CHILD WITH NO PEDAL 592 00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:13,140 Add the pedal, and it's a whole different animal. 593 00:36:14,380 --> 00:36:16,500 HE PLAYS SAME RIFF WITH WAH-WAH PEDAL 594 00:36:23,580 --> 00:36:26,540 MUSIC: Stir It Up by Bob Marley & The Wailers 595 00:36:28,420 --> 00:36:32,020 Wah-wah was just a way of using your foot 596 00:36:32,020 --> 00:36:36,820 to roll your guitar's tone control from bass to treble, 597 00:36:36,820 --> 00:36:39,140 from muffled to bright. 598 00:36:40,700 --> 00:36:44,420 Before the pedal itself, you'd have to do the tone knob on your own. 599 00:36:44,420 --> 00:36:47,820 But you could hardly play anything else at the same time. 600 00:36:49,260 --> 00:36:52,220 It can give your riff a talking affect. 601 00:36:52,220 --> 00:36:54,820 Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. 602 00:36:54,820 --> 00:36:57,820 HE MOUTHS OVER GUITAR'S WAH-WAH SOUND 603 00:36:57,820 --> 00:37:00,420 Almost, almost like a big duck. 604 00:37:01,980 --> 00:37:06,460 And in '71, wah-wah would cement its place in pop culture 605 00:37:06,460 --> 00:37:08,580 on a movie soundtrack - 606 00:37:08,580 --> 00:37:11,980 a kind of black update of Peter Gunn. 607 00:37:14,660 --> 00:37:16,900 When you think of the theme from Shaft... 608 00:37:16,900 --> 00:37:19,020 MUSIC: Theme from Shaft 609 00:37:19,020 --> 00:37:22,420 ..it defined a kind of urban soundscape. 610 00:37:23,460 --> 00:37:25,260 A lot of TV shows, 611 00:37:25,260 --> 00:37:26,940 when they wanted to signify 612 00:37:26,940 --> 00:37:30,380 you were in an urban environment, they would have the guitar player 613 00:37:30,380 --> 00:37:32,780 play a wah-wah thing to let you know, 614 00:37:32,780 --> 00:37:35,860 oh, you're in the ghetto now, cos you're hearing wah-wah. 615 00:37:35,860 --> 00:37:38,660 CAR HORN BEEPS Go on! Get out of the way! 616 00:37:43,060 --> 00:37:45,180 There isn't a discernible chord. 617 00:37:45,180 --> 00:37:47,780 It's almost like you get the sound of the wah-wah itself 618 00:37:47,780 --> 00:37:52,020 but without the notes bringing out. It's "waka, waka, waka." 619 00:37:52,020 --> 00:37:55,140 MUSIC: Theme from Shaft 620 00:38:01,060 --> 00:38:05,100 If wah-wah gave guitar a voice-like effect... 621 00:38:06,700 --> 00:38:08,900 GUITAR MANIPULATED THROUGH TALK BOX 622 00:38:08,900 --> 00:38:12,500 ..in '75, Peter Frampton took it one step further. 623 00:38:16,820 --> 00:38:21,540 His talk box had a tiny speaker that sent the sound of the guitar 624 00:38:21,540 --> 00:38:26,380 up a tube into his mouth where Frampton could manipulate the sound 625 00:38:26,380 --> 00:38:29,380 and speak the guitar back into his mic. 626 00:38:32,060 --> 00:38:35,580 A year later, jazz guitarist George Benson... 627 00:38:35,580 --> 00:38:37,620 HE SCATS OVER GUITAR 628 00:38:37,620 --> 00:38:39,900 ..had his own take on the idea, 629 00:38:39,900 --> 00:38:43,100 crossing over into the pop mainstream, 630 00:38:43,100 --> 00:38:48,140 by perfectly melding his scat singing with his playing. 631 00:38:48,300 --> 00:38:51,100 HE SCATS OVER GUITAR 632 00:38:57,340 --> 00:39:02,340 Throughout the decade, the appetite for guitar heroes kept growing. 633 00:39:02,340 --> 00:39:07,260 From Kossoff to Clapton to Gilmour, Page and Santana, 634 00:39:07,260 --> 00:39:11,500 the roll call got as long as their 98-bar solos. 635 00:39:11,500 --> 00:39:16,580 And toward the end of the '70s, rock found a new guitar sound 636 00:39:20,220 --> 00:39:22,260 The speed shredders. 637 00:39:22,260 --> 00:39:24,300 This was about how fast you could play 638 00:39:24,300 --> 00:39:28,140 and how many notes you could cram into a song 639 00:39:28,140 --> 00:39:31,420 and, sometimes, how big your hair was. 640 00:39:31,420 --> 00:39:34,300 I have to say that some of these guitar players - 641 00:39:34,300 --> 00:39:36,780 Eddie Van Halen, Uli Roth - 642 00:39:36,780 --> 00:39:38,900 they took the machine that we call a guitar 643 00:39:38,900 --> 00:39:41,540 to a whole new level of intensity. 644 00:39:41,540 --> 00:39:44,980 MUSIC: The Sails Of Charon by Scorpions 645 00:39:48,820 --> 00:39:51,220 They called me "father of the shredder" 646 00:39:51,220 --> 00:39:53,500 or something like that. 647 00:40:02,660 --> 00:40:05,900 Some people get very excited by fast playing, you know. 648 00:40:05,900 --> 00:40:07,820 When I started playing guitar, 649 00:40:07,820 --> 00:40:10,180 it was a very exciting time for guitar 650 00:40:10,180 --> 00:40:13,100 because you had Eric Clapton and then you had Jimi Hendrix. 651 00:40:13,100 --> 00:40:15,500 You had people like Jeff Beck already, 652 00:40:15,500 --> 00:40:17,500 and they were pushing the envelope, 653 00:40:17,500 --> 00:40:20,220 but a lot of their playing was basically pentatonic, 654 00:40:20,220 --> 00:40:22,580 meaning they were using, like, five notes. 655 00:40:22,580 --> 00:40:24,460 One, two, three, four, five. 656 00:40:24,460 --> 00:40:27,460 The sixth note is the same as the root note, 657 00:40:27,460 --> 00:40:30,380 so that's completely different from classical music. 658 00:40:30,380 --> 00:40:32,980 Basically, you work with classical scales, 659 00:40:32,980 --> 00:40:36,460 like one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. 660 00:40:36,460 --> 00:40:39,820 So, in the Scorpions, I started bringing that stuff in, 661 00:40:39,820 --> 00:40:43,820 but then I thought, "Well, why not do two octaves 662 00:40:43,820 --> 00:40:46,740 "instead of, erm, instead of one?" 663 00:40:46,740 --> 00:40:49,500 HE PLAYS NOTES ACROSS TWO OCTAVES 664 00:40:49,500 --> 00:40:52,740 Or more? HE RUNS THROUGH SEVERAL OCTAVES 665 00:40:52,740 --> 00:40:55,540 Or, you know... HE RUNS THROUGH SEVERAL OCTAVES 666 00:40:55,540 --> 00:40:58,740 MUSIC: The Sails Of Charon by Scorpions 667 00:41:01,980 --> 00:41:06,820 I tend to see music extremely visual, 668 00:41:06,820 --> 00:41:11,020 a musical scale through the entire rainbow colours, you know. 669 00:41:11,020 --> 00:41:14,140 From A to orange, 670 00:41:14,140 --> 00:41:16,700 amber, you know, yellow, 671 00:41:16,700 --> 00:41:18,660 it's different yellow, 672 00:41:18,660 --> 00:41:20,980 going through the greens, then the blues... 673 00:41:20,980 --> 00:41:24,180 HE PLAYS A FEW NOTES ..and then red again. 674 00:41:24,180 --> 00:41:26,060 So, basically, an arpeggio... 675 00:41:26,060 --> 00:41:28,580 HE PLAYS ARPEGGIOS 676 00:41:31,660 --> 00:41:36,700 It's like moving through a rainbow of light and of energy. 677 00:41:36,940 --> 00:41:41,780 And for some reason, we have the incredible ability 678 00:41:41,780 --> 00:41:46,260 to translate every note directly into emotion. 679 00:41:48,260 --> 00:41:49,740 All right, 680 00:41:49,740 --> 00:41:51,900 the greatest rock and roll guitar player in the world, 681 00:41:51,900 --> 00:41:53,900 Mr Eddie Van Halen. 682 00:41:53,900 --> 00:41:56,460 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 683 00:41:56,460 --> 00:41:59,180 HE SHREDS GUITAR 684 00:41:59,180 --> 00:42:01,300 By the early '80s, 685 00:42:01,300 --> 00:42:05,740 Eddie Van Halen was filling stadiums with the sound of shredding... 686 00:42:08,340 --> 00:42:10,820 ..adding a touch of Hendrix whammy bar 687 00:42:10,820 --> 00:42:13,220 and a technique called "tapping". 688 00:42:14,420 --> 00:42:16,580 He would use his first finger and... 689 00:42:16,580 --> 00:42:19,700 HE "TAPS" THE GUITAR 690 00:42:25,580 --> 00:42:28,980 The culture of '80s hair metal got so big 691 00:42:28,980 --> 00:42:30,860 that the sound of shredding... 692 00:42:30,860 --> 00:42:33,700 TOGETHER: Excellent! GUITAR RIFF 693 00:42:33,700 --> 00:42:36,340 ..came to sum up a whole way of life. 694 00:42:36,340 --> 00:42:40,460 Where's the clerk? I know, I'll use the "May I help you?" riff. 695 00:42:42,580 --> 00:42:45,580 HE PLAYS GUITAR RIFF 696 00:42:45,580 --> 00:42:48,620 May I help you? Yes, my good man. 697 00:42:48,620 --> 00:42:51,100 # Might as well jump Jump... # 698 00:42:51,100 --> 00:42:54,460 In true '80s style... # Go ahead and jump... # 699 00:42:54,460 --> 00:42:57,500 ..shredding got bigger and brasher 700 00:42:57,500 --> 00:43:02,420 and, like all '80s look-at-me excess, it went the extra mile. 701 00:43:02,420 --> 00:43:05,500 MUSIC: Freight Train by Nitro 702 00:43:05,500 --> 00:43:09,260 For me, it was extremely important, when playing fast, 703 00:43:09,260 --> 00:43:11,580 to always play melodic. 704 00:43:11,580 --> 00:43:15,820 It needed to be logical, understandable. 705 00:43:18,340 --> 00:43:21,740 Somewhere along the line, with a lot of shredders, 706 00:43:21,740 --> 00:43:26,660 that early bit of wisdom didn't make it to the finishing line, 707 00:43:26,660 --> 00:43:29,820 you know, and I wish it did. 708 00:43:29,820 --> 00:43:34,820 So, I kind of feel guilty, in some respects there, yeah. 709 00:43:37,180 --> 00:43:41,060 MUSIC: Walking On The Moon by The Police 710 00:43:45,300 --> 00:43:48,820 But it wasn't all about ego in the guitar Olympics. 711 00:43:48,820 --> 00:43:51,300 It could be about less - 712 00:43:51,300 --> 00:43:56,300 about mood, texture, spirit and the sublime. 713 00:43:57,940 --> 00:44:02,180 The '70s had given us the watery sound of the chorus pedal, 714 00:44:02,180 --> 00:44:04,980 used by The Police's Andy Summers. 715 00:44:04,980 --> 00:44:09,980 Now, in the '80s, there was a new guitar sound, courtesy of this - 716 00:44:10,300 --> 00:44:13,340 a digital, programmable delay machine 717 00:44:13,340 --> 00:44:18,300 that could set the rate of your echo to a precise millisecond. 718 00:44:18,300 --> 00:44:21,020 Second, second, second. 719 00:44:21,020 --> 00:44:23,140 Second. 720 00:44:23,140 --> 00:44:26,420 MUSIC: Where The Streets Have No Name by U2 721 00:44:31,100 --> 00:44:33,420 When you look at U2 and The Edge, 722 00:44:33,420 --> 00:44:36,900 working with this delay that he created, 723 00:44:36,900 --> 00:44:41,420 this most inventive, simply, deceptively inventive sound, 724 00:44:41,420 --> 00:44:44,860 it just brings so much more depth to it. 725 00:44:44,860 --> 00:44:48,300 Cos I've been in a lot of U2 shows and seen them a lot. 726 00:44:48,300 --> 00:44:50,860 It has such an effect on the audience 727 00:44:50,860 --> 00:44:55,820 because I think it's almost feeling yourself echo back to yourself. 728 00:44:55,820 --> 00:45:00,820 It's like your humanity is bouncing back on itself to itself. 729 00:45:05,620 --> 00:45:09,620 One of the first things I discovered with echo was the opportunity 730 00:45:09,620 --> 00:45:11,940 to use it in a rhythmic capacity. 731 00:45:11,940 --> 00:45:15,260 If you change the delay time, like in a sine wave, 732 00:45:15,260 --> 00:45:17,620 it's like a Doppler effect within the echo 733 00:45:17,620 --> 00:45:19,540 and it can be a very nice sound. 734 00:45:19,540 --> 00:45:21,340 So, this is the sound that I would use 735 00:45:21,340 --> 00:45:23,060 for Where The Streets Have No Name. 736 00:45:23,060 --> 00:45:26,060 HE PLAYS A LINE FROM WHERE STREETS HAVE NO NAME 737 00:45:28,300 --> 00:45:30,380 Simple part. But when I add the echo... 738 00:45:30,380 --> 00:45:33,780 HE PLAYS THE SAME LINE WITH ECHO 739 00:45:37,020 --> 00:45:41,380 So, that's all about knowing how to get that sound out of the echo, 740 00:45:41,380 --> 00:45:44,620 cos if, you know, if I'm not playing the right tempo or whatever, 741 00:45:44,620 --> 00:45:46,980 you get a totally different result, so it's... 742 00:45:46,980 --> 00:45:50,300 The two work off each other, totally. 743 00:45:50,300 --> 00:45:53,420 MUSIC: Where The Streets Have No Name by U2 744 00:45:55,460 --> 00:45:57,220 Playing rhythmically with echo, 745 00:45:57,220 --> 00:45:59,860 almost like playing off a second musician, you know. 746 00:45:59,860 --> 00:46:02,820 It's almost like a kind of conversation, 747 00:46:02,820 --> 00:46:06,420 but the conversation, in this case, is between me and the echo. 748 00:46:06,420 --> 00:46:08,860 # Oh-oh 749 00:46:08,860 --> 00:46:16,660 # Where the streets have no name 750 00:46:16,660 --> 00:46:21,660 # We're still building then burning down love 751 00:46:22,100 --> 00:46:25,180 # Burning down love 752 00:46:25,180 --> 00:46:28,660 # And when I go there 753 00:46:28,660 --> 00:46:32,420 # I go there with you 754 00:46:32,420 --> 00:46:35,460 # It's all I can do... # 755 00:46:35,460 --> 00:46:39,780 And that all came out of the right echo setting for that song. 756 00:46:39,780 --> 00:46:42,020 In fact, that's how the song started 757 00:46:42,020 --> 00:46:44,260 was with the guitar part and the echo. 758 00:46:46,340 --> 00:46:49,140 I love The Edge's playing and, to me, 759 00:46:49,140 --> 00:46:52,980 I drew a line between Bo Diddley and The Edge and what they do, 760 00:46:52,980 --> 00:46:54,860 because they're both having something 761 00:46:54,860 --> 00:46:56,860 that, like, you know, scatters the notes. 762 00:46:56,860 --> 00:47:00,500 Some of these are vintage. This is from, like, the early '80s. 763 00:47:00,500 --> 00:47:03,380 This is just an echo machine. 764 00:47:03,380 --> 00:47:05,420 The sound piles on itself. 765 00:47:05,420 --> 00:47:10,100 It's a very sound-oriented way of playing. 766 00:47:10,100 --> 00:47:13,540 We often think about the place that a song is coming from, 767 00:47:13,540 --> 00:47:15,940 as much as what it's about. 768 00:47:15,940 --> 00:47:18,220 And particularly on Joshua Tree, 769 00:47:18,220 --> 00:47:21,500 that was the beginning of that conscious attempt 770 00:47:21,500 --> 00:47:24,340 to try and evoke a location 771 00:47:24,340 --> 00:47:27,740 and to use the echo to bring the listener somewhere. 772 00:47:27,740 --> 00:47:31,340 MUSIC: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2 773 00:47:41,540 --> 00:47:44,060 The Edge wasn't the only '80s guitar player 774 00:47:44,060 --> 00:47:48,860 to reach for something more spacey, evocative and cinematic. 775 00:47:48,860 --> 00:47:53,900 In 1984, one movie soundtrack was entirely built on a guitar sound 776 00:47:54,340 --> 00:47:56,340 that had been around for decades, 777 00:47:56,340 --> 00:47:58,220 but caught on again, 778 00:47:58,220 --> 00:48:03,300 as that sound was foregrounded and put up on the big screen. 779 00:48:03,380 --> 00:48:06,580 MUSIC: Paris, Texas by Ry Cooder 780 00:48:26,060 --> 00:48:28,460 When I first heard the slide, 781 00:48:28,460 --> 00:48:30,660 I didn't quite know what I was hearing. 782 00:48:32,460 --> 00:48:37,420 This kind of liquid kind of thing, and being fascinated by... 783 00:48:38,500 --> 00:48:42,780 I don't know, it sounded like some siren or something. 784 00:48:48,380 --> 00:48:50,980 My grandfather was a Methodist minister 785 00:48:50,980 --> 00:48:54,620 and played hymns on a Hawaiian lap steel. 786 00:48:56,260 --> 00:48:58,740 The sound of it was just so haunting. 787 00:48:58,740 --> 00:49:01,140 There's nothing more evocative and more emotional 788 00:49:01,140 --> 00:49:03,020 and it just pierces me. 789 00:49:05,500 --> 00:49:09,900 First thing I ever tried was to play with a pocketknife, so I thought, 790 00:49:09,900 --> 00:49:14,860 "Wow, if I didn't stab myself, this was going to be pretty cool." 791 00:49:14,860 --> 00:49:18,940 HE PLAYS GUITAR WITH SLIDE 792 00:49:25,060 --> 00:49:28,060 HE HUMS ALONG TO THE GUITAR 793 00:49:30,060 --> 00:49:33,140 That's what I learned with, but it's not so safe, 794 00:49:33,140 --> 00:49:35,380 especially if you get drunk. 795 00:49:37,340 --> 00:49:41,460 I fell in love with that sound, so I went in the medicine cabinet 796 00:49:41,460 --> 00:49:44,220 and soaked off the label of a medicine bottle 797 00:49:44,220 --> 00:49:47,300 and held it with these two fingers, 798 00:49:47,300 --> 00:49:50,020 and that's what I use for my bottleneck. 799 00:49:50,020 --> 00:49:52,980 # Don't have to humble yourself to me 800 00:49:52,980 --> 00:49:56,220 # I ain't your judge or your king... # 801 00:49:56,220 --> 00:49:57,660 I think one of the things 802 00:49:57,660 --> 00:50:00,300 that's most expressive and powerful about slide 803 00:50:00,300 --> 00:50:03,500 is that the emptier the music is behind it, 804 00:50:03,500 --> 00:50:05,380 the more the band drops out, 805 00:50:05,380 --> 00:50:08,020 the more the tone of it and the emotion of it 806 00:50:08,020 --> 00:50:11,220 and the vibrato of it can really sail. 807 00:50:13,020 --> 00:50:15,340 In the breakdowns of songs, 808 00:50:15,340 --> 00:50:20,340 I know that I can continue the emotion that I set up in my verse. 809 00:50:25,500 --> 00:50:27,540 You can keep it going in a way 810 00:50:27,540 --> 00:50:30,340 where you'd run out of breath if you were just singing. 811 00:50:32,180 --> 00:50:36,580 I feel it's about dredging up what you can from your soul. 812 00:50:36,580 --> 00:50:39,620 The closer you get down to the well down there, 813 00:50:39,620 --> 00:50:41,860 I think the more real it gets. 814 00:50:41,860 --> 00:50:44,580 Even in one note, you can go... 815 00:50:44,580 --> 00:50:46,500 HE PLAYS NOTE WITH SLIDE 816 00:50:46,500 --> 00:50:48,540 You know, you can feel something. 817 00:50:52,500 --> 00:50:55,100 For me, you can like... 818 00:50:56,740 --> 00:50:58,540 ..you know, hit it, you know. 819 00:51:00,420 --> 00:51:03,140 It's like how you punch it, you know. 820 00:51:03,140 --> 00:51:07,140 HE PLAYS AND HUMS ALONG TO GUITAR 821 00:51:16,460 --> 00:51:18,540 # I don't want a lover 822 00:51:19,940 --> 00:51:22,060 # I just need a friend... # 823 00:51:24,100 --> 00:51:27,300 The revival of slide in the '80s and early '90s 824 00:51:27,300 --> 00:51:31,700 marked a moment when pop music looked beyond the studio sounds 825 00:51:31,700 --> 00:51:34,860 of drum machines, Fairlights and keytars 826 00:51:34,860 --> 00:51:39,860 and found something forgotten and authentic in acoustic sound. 827 00:51:40,580 --> 00:51:43,660 All of a sudden, they're playing blues and slide, 828 00:51:43,660 --> 00:51:46,060 and all the people thought it was brand-new. 829 00:51:46,060 --> 00:51:47,700 But it wasn't. 830 00:51:47,700 --> 00:51:50,340 I'll tell you something, but this was in the '90s, 831 00:51:50,340 --> 00:51:52,620 and I was playing slide. 832 00:51:52,620 --> 00:51:55,820 These kids, teenagers or whatever, I don't know, college kids, 833 00:51:55,820 --> 00:51:58,580 come up to me and asking what was on my finger. 834 00:51:58,580 --> 00:52:00,420 They had never seen a slide. 835 00:52:00,420 --> 00:52:04,580 # Hey, yes, my mamma told me... # 836 00:52:04,580 --> 00:52:08,100 It was great to have a swing back to organic roots music. 837 00:52:08,100 --> 00:52:10,340 # But my daddy didn't tell me, Lord 838 00:52:10,340 --> 00:52:13,180 # What the man was putting down 839 00:52:13,180 --> 00:52:15,700 # It got me in the mood... # 840 00:52:15,700 --> 00:52:17,500 I already sold a million copies 841 00:52:17,500 --> 00:52:19,900 by the time I got nominated for a Grammy, 842 00:52:19,900 --> 00:52:22,700 and then I won all those Grammys in one night, 843 00:52:22,700 --> 00:52:26,660 so it shot the record up to number one and changed my life. 844 00:52:26,660 --> 00:52:29,820 MUSIC: Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine 845 00:52:29,820 --> 00:52:34,660 But the evolution of guitar sounds never stands still. 846 00:52:38,340 --> 00:52:42,580 The '90s and millennium saw guitar pedals hit the digital age. 847 00:52:42,580 --> 00:52:47,620 Rage Against The Machine using the octave-shifting whammy pedal. 848 00:52:48,060 --> 00:52:50,380 # They're the chosen whites Come on... # 849 00:52:53,180 --> 00:52:56,180 And you could get Fuzz pedals in as many varieties 850 00:52:56,180 --> 00:52:58,980 as there are days of the year. 851 00:53:00,380 --> 00:53:04,180 But distortion and squeal wasn't the whole picture. 852 00:53:04,180 --> 00:53:06,060 # Talking in my sleep 853 00:53:06,060 --> 00:53:10,100 # And I'm making myself crazy 854 00:53:10,100 --> 00:53:13,820 # Out of my mind Out of my mind... # 855 00:53:13,820 --> 00:53:17,860 And there was one pedal that was designed for electric guitar 856 00:53:17,860 --> 00:53:21,460 but became something else when it was picked up by a busker, 857 00:53:21,460 --> 00:53:26,500 offering infinite possibilities for a one-person band. 858 00:53:26,740 --> 00:53:29,460 # She makes you feel like nobody else 859 00:53:29,460 --> 00:53:32,300 # Nobody else... # 860 00:53:35,860 --> 00:53:39,260 My worst ever day of busking in Glasgow, 861 00:53:39,260 --> 00:53:43,300 a bagpiper set up directly opposite me. 862 00:53:43,300 --> 00:53:45,340 It was tense. 863 00:53:45,340 --> 00:53:48,180 MUSIC: Refugee by Oi Va Voi 864 00:53:48,180 --> 00:53:51,140 Busking, for me, was a training ground 865 00:53:51,140 --> 00:53:53,980 in learning to be a percussive player, 866 00:53:53,980 --> 00:53:57,140 so that you're actually kind of sounding like a band, 867 00:53:57,140 --> 00:54:00,900 and it was also a real training, in terms of getting people's attention. 868 00:54:00,900 --> 00:54:04,460 MUSIC: Refugee by Oi Va Voi 869 00:54:06,580 --> 00:54:11,140 I made my first records, I didn't have a band in the studio, 870 00:54:11,140 --> 00:54:12,940 it was just me and a drummer. 871 00:54:12,940 --> 00:54:14,620 The loop pedal came about... 872 00:54:14,620 --> 00:54:18,220 I recorded that album and I was a guest vocalist 873 00:54:18,220 --> 00:54:20,940 in a Jewish band called Oi Va Voi. 874 00:54:20,940 --> 00:54:23,940 Their sound guy, who is called Moshik, 875 00:54:23,940 --> 00:54:26,980 we were rehearsing one day, I was playing him some of my stuff. 876 00:54:26,980 --> 00:54:28,940 He was, like, "It's so cool." 877 00:54:28,940 --> 00:54:31,980 I said, "Yeah, but I can't afford to pay a band 878 00:54:31,980 --> 00:54:34,660 "and I've got to go out and play this record that I've made 879 00:54:34,660 --> 00:54:39,180 "and I really like it, but I cannot play just girl and guitar any more. 880 00:54:39,180 --> 00:54:41,220 "It's boring to me." 881 00:54:41,220 --> 00:54:44,100 And he said, "Oh, I've got this loop pedal in my bag." 882 00:54:44,100 --> 00:54:47,660 It's this pedal, it's the same one. I haven't changed up. 883 00:54:47,660 --> 00:54:51,140 Black Horse And The Cherry Tree was basically me learning 884 00:54:51,140 --> 00:54:52,860 how to use the loop pedal. 885 00:54:52,860 --> 00:54:55,380 So, the record button, you put in what you want to put in. 886 00:54:55,380 --> 00:54:57,980 SHE BEATS HER GUITAR 887 00:54:57,980 --> 00:54:59,740 MACHINE PLAYS BACK BEATS 888 00:54:59,740 --> 00:55:02,580 So, the play button stops it and you start the loop. 889 00:55:02,580 --> 00:55:04,420 So, that's your basic loop. 890 00:55:06,180 --> 00:55:08,380 The album was all finished 891 00:55:08,380 --> 00:55:13,020 and the Later With Jools scout team came over to a rehearsal 892 00:55:13,020 --> 00:55:17,540 and my label boss said, "Play them that "woohoo" thing." 893 00:55:17,540 --> 00:55:19,580 And I said, "But it's not on the record. 894 00:55:19,580 --> 00:55:21,940 "Shouldn't I play something from the album?" 895 00:55:21,940 --> 00:55:24,420 He was like, "No, just play that. Trust me." 896 00:55:24,420 --> 00:55:27,460 Let's introduce somebody new, making their television debut. 897 00:55:27,460 --> 00:55:30,740 From St Andrews in Scotland, please welcome KT Tunstall. 898 00:55:30,740 --> 00:55:32,940 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 899 00:55:32,940 --> 00:55:36,260 I'd never been on TV before, and I was on the show 900 00:55:36,260 --> 00:55:41,300 with Anita Baker, Jackson Browne and The Cure, which was insane. 901 00:55:41,540 --> 00:55:44,220 MUSIC: Black Horse And The Cherry Tree 902 00:55:53,900 --> 00:55:58,900 I was just trying to find as many different sounds as possible 903 00:55:59,100 --> 00:56:01,220 to try and build the loop... 904 00:56:01,220 --> 00:56:02,860 # Whoohoo... # 905 00:56:02,860 --> 00:56:05,580 ..into what would sound like a full band. 906 00:56:05,580 --> 00:56:09,380 So, using claps, using backing vocals, using the tambourine. 907 00:56:09,380 --> 00:56:13,580 # Whoohoo 908 00:56:13,580 --> 00:56:15,980 # Whoohoo... # 909 00:56:15,980 --> 00:56:19,300 It was fantastic to have playing something be the reason 910 00:56:19,300 --> 00:56:23,140 that you become...famous. 911 00:56:23,140 --> 00:56:25,140 # Whoohoo 912 00:56:25,140 --> 00:56:27,540 # Well, my heart knows me better than I know myself 913 00:56:27,540 --> 00:56:30,620 # So I'm gonna let it do all the talking 914 00:56:30,620 --> 00:56:33,940 # Whoohoo, whoohoo 915 00:56:33,940 --> 00:56:36,780 # I came across a place in the middle of nowhere 916 00:56:36,780 --> 00:56:39,620 # With a big black horse and a cherry tree 917 00:56:39,620 --> 00:56:41,820 # Whoohoo... # 918 00:56:41,820 --> 00:56:45,820 And I think people were excited to see a girl playing with tech. 919 00:56:45,820 --> 00:56:48,620 It's not, it's not common. 920 00:56:48,620 --> 00:56:52,580 # Whoohoo 921 00:56:52,580 --> 00:56:55,940 # Well, there was a big black horse 922 00:56:55,940 --> 00:56:58,060 # And a cherry tree 923 00:56:58,060 --> 00:57:02,180 # I can't quite get there cos my heart's forsaken me... # 924 00:57:02,180 --> 00:57:05,700 It was a massive surprise what happened after Later. 925 00:57:05,700 --> 00:57:08,380 I was running my own website at the time, 926 00:57:08,380 --> 00:57:10,860 and I would get a few e-mails a day, 927 00:57:10,860 --> 00:57:15,940 and I just woke up to reams of e-mails from people who'd found me. 928 00:57:16,260 --> 00:57:18,740 # Whoohoo No, no, no, no... # 929 00:57:18,740 --> 00:57:21,820 ..saying how inspired they were, how much they loved it. 930 00:57:21,820 --> 00:57:24,300 # Big black horse... # 931 00:57:24,300 --> 00:57:28,380 And they had an online poll for that episode, and I won it. 932 00:57:28,380 --> 00:57:32,620 And I was, like, "But The Cure... What?!" 933 00:57:32,620 --> 00:57:35,300 # ..and a cherry tree 934 00:57:35,300 --> 00:57:39,740 # I can't quite get there cos my heart's forsaken me. # 935 00:57:39,740 --> 00:57:42,180 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 936 00:57:51,340 --> 00:57:55,580 Black Horse And The Cherry Tree. The wonderful KT Tunstall. 937 00:57:55,580 --> 00:57:58,100 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 938 00:57:59,740 --> 00:58:01,740 In recent years, 939 00:58:01,740 --> 00:58:06,020 Ed Sheeran adopted KT's technique and took it to another level. 940 00:58:06,020 --> 00:58:08,420 MUSIC: Bloodstream by Ed Sheeran 941 00:58:13,060 --> 00:58:17,300 It's kind of the perfect guitar style for a post-crash society. 942 00:58:17,300 --> 00:58:20,460 Just one player and a looper pedal 943 00:58:20,460 --> 00:58:23,980 sells out whole stadiums around the world. 944 00:58:25,540 --> 00:58:27,420 # Tell me when it kicks in... # 945 00:58:30,140 --> 00:58:34,140 In a sense, everything has gone back to Les Paul. 946 00:58:34,140 --> 00:58:35,820 That's what he was doing - 947 00:58:35,820 --> 00:58:39,260 recording himself and playing back with himself. 948 00:58:41,180 --> 00:58:44,580 As a guitarist and musician, I look to the future 949 00:58:44,580 --> 00:58:48,340 and celebrate the breakthroughs we keep making 950 00:58:48,340 --> 00:58:50,300 and the pop music that results. 951 00:58:50,300 --> 00:58:53,780 It's the soundtrack of our lives. 952 00:58:53,780 --> 00:58:56,340 # Horses, horses, horses, horses 953 00:58:56,340 --> 00:58:58,380 # Do you know how to pony 954 00:58:59,460 --> 00:59:01,580 # Like bony maroney? 955 00:59:02,540 --> 00:59:04,500 # Do you know how to twist? 956 00:59:05,620 --> 00:59:08,700 # Well, it goes like this It goes like this 957 00:59:08,700 --> 00:59:10,620 # Baby mash potato 958 00:59:11,860 --> 00:59:15,020 # Do the alligator Do the alligator... #