One on One Interview with Johnny Hiland
About Johnny
If you tried, you couldn't make up a story this good: legally blind kid
grows up in a trailer home in rural Maine. A guitar prodigy, he tours
with the family band starting at age 8, wins local and regional
competitions, moves to Nashville, ends up dropping jaws all over
town, doing sessions with Ricky Skaggs, Toby Keith, Randy Travis,
Janie Fricke and many more, and gets signed by Steve Vai when his
manager leaves a demo snippet on Steve Vai's voicemail box.
Johnny’s Gear
This is a list of the gear that Johnny was playing through on the day of the interview.
GUITAR
Paul Reed Smith - Johnny Hiland Signature Model
Elixir Strings – Super Light Gauge .009-.
AMP
Paul Reed Smith - 2x12 100 watt Dallas Amp
Amp Case by Pro Stage Gear
EFFECTS
Compressor - Johnny Hiland Compressor by Wampler
Tuner - Boss TU1000 Stage Tuner
Foot Switch - Boss FS-5U Foot Switch
Distortion - Route 808 by Visual Sound
Distortion - Johnny Hiland “Bad Dog” Overdrive/Distortion by Wampler
Distortion - AC-Booster by Xotic
Pre-Amp - EP3-Booster by Xotic
Noise Reduction - Decimator G String by ISP Technologies
Power Supply - Pedal Power by Voodoo Lab
Effects Case - Pedaltrain Pro by Pedaltrain
Blues Playing & Technique
Johnny’s trademark technique is his use of “chicken pickin’” hybrid picking. This involves mixing the use of the
pick with upstrokes from the middle and ring fingers. The tension needed to pull the strings with the
upstrokes is hard on the fingernails so often players will use artificial fingernails on the middle and ring fingers.
Johnny’s aggressive playing and blazing speed during this interview intertwines many of the techniques that are
covered in this course.
Pulling upstrokes by the middle and ring fingers create a slap back sound that gives a lot of character to the
tone as well as increased sustain.
http://www.learnandmaster.com/bluesresources“I think Johnny Hiland is the most versatile guitar
player I’ve ever heard. From Bill Monroe to Eddie Van
Halen, he can play it all.” Ricky SkaggsBlues Guitar with Steve Krenz http://www.learnandmaster.com/bluesresourceswww.learnandmaster.com/bluesresources
One on One with Johnny Hiland
Interview
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