2020-03-01 Total Guitar

TOTAL GUITAR MARCH 2020

T

hefirstsongI remember...

It’sA KindOfMagic– Queen

WehadTheBestOfQueen- the

secondonewastheoneI usedto

playaroundthehousea lot.I used

tolistentoIt’sA KindOfMagicandjumpup

anddownonthesofa,dancingaround

thinkingI wasBrianMay.Thatwasprobably

thefirstthingI becameslightlyobsessed

with,it mademerealisethatI loved

musicwithguitarsinit.

Thesongthatmademewanttoplay...

Polly– Nirvana

Mybrotherbroughtbacka MiniDisc-

rememberthem?!- withMTVUnpluggedin

NewYorkfromAustralia.It wasoneofthose

olderbrothermomentsof‘Listentothis!’

Irememberthinking,‘Holyfuck,thisis

amazing!’Becauseit wasacoustic,and

Pollywasreallyeasy,it mademefeellike

Icoulddoit.Then,lateron,I realised

that’snothowNirvanasounded,but

Unpluggediswhatmademewantto

learnguitarandplaythosetunes.

TheriffthatI’venever

beenabletoplay...

A CrowLeftOfTheMurder

• Incubus
  It hasthisriffthatI thoughtwas
  abitgood.I alwaystryandplayit
  insoundcheck,butI’mjustnot
  verygoodatguitar,I’mvery
  limited!It jumpsbetween
  octavesandyouhaveto
  doalotofstretchingand
  hammering-on.MikeEinziger
  isa reallygoodwriterofparts,
  hemakessomereallyunusual
  stuff.I thinkhe’squite
  underratedinthatsense.

TheriffI wishI’dwritten...

SevenNationArmy

• TheWhiteStripes
  I’msureloadsofpeoplesaythis.
  Tome,thebestriffsarejuststraight
  downtheline,andthat’sa riff
  whereyouthink‘Howthefuck
  didn’tI thinkofthat?’Youtryand

makea riffthat’ssimilarandas good,but

it’sso difficult.It’stranscendedguitarmusic

nowandbecomea footballanthem,with

everyoneshouting‘JeremyCorbyn’.It’s

probablyoneoftheonlylatermodern-day

riffsthathasbecomegloballyhuge.If 10

drunkfootballfanscanscreamyourriff

thenyou’resorted!

Myfavourite

guitarsound

onrecordis...

12:51–TheStrokes

I alwaysloved12:51

onthesecond

Strokesrecord.

Apparentlyhe

justcrankeda load

ofFenderChampsandpumpedloadsof

distortionthroughthem.Thelegendisthat

hebrokeaboutsixampstryingtogetthis

take.It’sa super-saturatedleadsound,

andIthinkheplayeda hollowbody

EpiphoneRiviera.It’sanamazingsound,like

akeyboard,butit’sthissuper-crankedamp.

ThesongI’dliketoberememberedfor...

T-ShirtWeather– CircaWaves

OurbiggestsongisT-ShirtWeather, interms

ofconnectingwiththatmanypeople.For

asongtobecomeasbigasthathasforusis

somethingI alwayswanted,tohavea bitof

anindieanthem.I writeeverythingon

acoustic,if it soundsbigonanacousticthen

it’sgoingtosoundridiculousonanelectric.

IreadTomMorellosayingthatinTotalGuitar

whenI wasa kid,andif it’sgoodenoughfor

him,it’sgoodenoughforme!

Thesongthatremindsmeofhome...

InMyLife– TheBeatles

MostBeatlessongsremindmeofhome,

beingfromLiverpool.I haveveryfond

memoriesoflisteningtothem,andInMy

Lifeisveryhumbling,andfeelslikea big,

warmhug.Theywerethemastersofweird

chordchangesthatsoundnatural.Only

afewactscangetawaywiththatand

theywereoneofthem.

Mymusicalguiltypleasure...

Sugar– Maroon 5

I waslisteningtoSugarbyMaroon5 theother

day,andthatisa properbanger.I wasgoing

fora jogandI neededsomepopenergyso

IwhackedonMaroon5.I thinkwithguitar

youwanttobecoolandlistentoSonicYouth,

butultimatelypeoplelikeEdSheeran,

Maroon5 andShawnMendesarekeeping

guitarsalivetoo,whichcanonlybegood.

Happy, partoneoftheSadHappyalbum,

isout now. Sad is realsed 13th March.

The Playlist

Frontman for Liverpudlian indie rockers Circa Waves,

Kieran Shudall tells TG what makes his musical mind tick

Photo:

Okpako/WireImage

THE PLAYLIST

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