![]() When playing anything that requires a wide finger stretch, Winter rotates his thumb behind the neck. Johnny Winter Poster for D’Addario Guitar Strings ![]() Guitar strap: PR gimmick from No.1 Guitars in Hamburg, Germany (best shop in Europe, I swear), a little flexible number that you can pull down right to your knees.Effects: MXR phase 90s, Boss C-E2 chorus (setttings), Tube Screamer – only used during slide work on the Firebird.In addtion to the 2 amps that have 4 10′ speakers (one is a stand-by, “on” but not used unless problems occur) there is usually a 2 12′ “one-thirty” on stage in case it sounds better in the venue. ( that is the model name and the power rating ) They employ 4 E元4 power tubes and 1 12AX7 as a splitter/driver. The Music Man amps Johnny uses are designated “one-thirty”. Amplifier: 2 x Music Man, 200 watts, 4×10″.Guitars: Erlewine Lazer, Gibson Firebird for slide work.Photo of Johnny Winter’s most popular gear, Gibson Firebird, Lazer Guitar, Chorus Pedal and MusicMan amplifier All of the slide guitar examples shown herein (FIGURES 11-15) are to be played in this tuning (notated in the key of E for the sake of familiarity, with the examples based primarily on the E minor pentatonic scale ). For this song, the guitar is tuned to open D (low to high: D A D F# A D), which is the same as open E tuning (low to high: E B E G# B E) transposed down one whole step. Johnny usually uses open tunings when he plays slide guitar, and “Highway 61 Revisited” is no exception. Johnny’s most well-known slide guitar performance is his classic cover of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” as heard on the album Second Winter. Some of his slide guitar influences include Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Earl Hooker. No survey of Johnny Winter’s guitar style would be complete without an examination of his incendiary slide guitar work. Notice how two- and three-note chords are beautifully intertwined with single-note melodic figures. FIGURE 10 illustrates a fingerpicked rhythm guitar part to be played over a slow blues. Though known primarily as a single-note player, Winter is also an excellent fingerpicker, especially when playing in a “country blues” style. In the key of A, a dominant I-IV-V (one-four-five) blues progression would utilize the chords A7, D7 and E7. Though these are minor scales, both are often used within a dominant tonality, wherein the chords are built from roots, major thirds, fifths and dominant sevenths. In the key of A, this scale is spelled A, C, D, Eb, E, G. Winter often expands this scale by adding the b5 (flatted fifth), resulting in a scale known as the blues scale, spelled, intervallically, 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7. In the key of A, this scale is spelled A, C, D, E, G. Winter’s favorite scale for improvisation is the minor pentatonic, which is a five-tone scale spelled, intervallically, 1, b3 (flatted third), 4, 5, b7 (flatted, or “dominant,” seventh). ![]() Winter’s lines effortlessly spin into each other, creating the impression of constant and relentless forward motion. His soloing style is earmarked by blazing speed, crystal-clear articulation and a consistently spontaneous flow of ideas, while his melodic inventions are delivered with pure rhythmic drive. Winter successfully assimilated the stylistic elements of these influences while forging a distinctly original blues/rock guitar style, one that cut new ground, yet retaining the heart and soul of his roots. Elements of the Kings-B.B., Albert and Freddie-are blended with such disparate influences as Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Hubert Sumlin, Robert Johnson, Son House, Lightning Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and T-Bone Walker. Winter’s guitar playing can best be described as an amalgam of blues guitar’s greatest players, intertwined with his unique, fire-breathing approach and sound. Johnny could sit and play along with every single one of these records. Tommy Shannon, the other half of Winter’s Sixties rhythm section, adds, “Johnny had this wall of blues records it was really incredible-everything from the most rural field hollers to the musical sophistication of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, B.B. “Johnny had thousands of blues records-more blues records than I’d ever seen-and he studied every one of them.” Red knows first-hand the depth of Winter’s immersion into the blues idiom. “There ain’t no one alive that knows more blues licks than Johnny Winter,” says no less an authority than Winter’s own late-Sixties drummer, Uncle John “Red” Turner. ![]()
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