Welcome to the Question and Answers page. Though it's impossible to post answers to all questions received, the most frequent topics will definitely be covered and posted here, and an effort will be made to answer as many questions as possible personally via return email. Questions will be titled for reference purposes and eventually sorted by topic.

Feel free to send questions and comments to: jonherington@earthlink.net

Here are excerpts from some elected questions posed to Jon - most have been slightly edited in some way.

More Q & A's will be added soon.

Q - Please for us devoted gear followers, what kind of Gibson, a 335? How about pedals, amps, etc. Saw you in Detroit Pine Knob, it was great. I told my son to try and play as well as he could, but you are tough on us.

Thanks...
Bruce Purmell

A - My setup on the tour was fairly straightforward. I played a Gibson ES-335 and a Fender Telecaster (and a few times a Hamer Newport) through a Shure wireless transmitter (go to shure.com for info) to a Guytron amplifier with a Guytron speaker cabinet containing two unmatched Celestion 12 inch speakers.

The Guytron is a 100 watt channel switching amp with an interesting twist: it has an intermediate power amp stage with two EL-84 tubes used for overdrive tone (located in the circuit before the quartet of EL-34 power amp tubes). This allows very good overdrive amp sounds at much quieter listening levels, if needed. (Go to guytron.com for info.)

I carried some pedals mounted in a rack drawer and three rack units which were switched in and out of either the signal chain in front of the amp or the effects loop on the Guytron as needed by a pedalboard called the Ground Control and a rackmount loop selector made by Digital Music Corporation. These two devices let me select any programmed combination of amp channel, effect pedal(s) or rack unit(s), and patch on my rack multi-effects unit with one step on a pedal. I later added a Ground Link pedalboard for individual access to each loop. (Go to voodoolab.com for more info.)

The pedals I used (very occasionally on this tour) were an MXR DynaComp; a Boss EQ pedal (used off and on experimentally as a way to cut level more precisely than using my guitar volume control allowed me to do); an MXR Phase 90; an Ibanez Modulation Delay pedal (for a chorus sound); and a Demeter Tremolo pedal.

The rack units included a Korg tuner, a Hush noise reduction unit (foroccasional use on the higher gain channel of the Guytron), and an Alesis Quadraverb (used mostly for a general reverb, and once in a while for a delay or a flanging effect).

Most of the time, the sounds I used were the guitar, the amp, and a very minimal amount of reverb. I did take advantage of the channel switching feature on the Guytron a lot, in general switching to the higher gain B channel for solos.

Q - I wonder if you could help me understand how you get such a fine tone out of that Fender Telecaster. I listen to you on 2 against nature and have seen the video of you and Steely Dan in the studio. It looks like you are playing single coils. Can you elaborate on your pickup selction and what sort of effect(s) you use to get that slightly overdriven round, warm, tone on a telecaster. You know, that real cool Jazz tone is very interesting and is really easy to listen to. I really enjoy listening to you on the album. Make some more of those fine tunes!

Thank You,
Scott

A - The tele has stock pickups with a couple of exceptions; the treble pickup was rewound (to original specs, I think) by Lindy Fralin to eliminate a nasty squeal, and a middle pickup was added (it's a Van Zandt, but I didn't use it much on the SD gig). For soloing, I often
rolled the tone back about halfway, since the pickup is so bright, and the amp I was using was, too. The amp is a Guytron and the overdrive tone you heard comes from the higher gain B channel on the amp, not from any pedals. I used a little reverb, but not much else for the soloing.

Q - I've been a big fan of yours since I saw the Chroma video several years ago. I also love the Complete Rhyming Dictionary and your work with Bob Berg and Jim Beard. What I love the most about your playing is the fact that you don't toss out a bunch of notes to dazzle people. I think thatis one of the toughest things for a musician to learn. I know it has
been for me (I'm still working on it!) How did you come to possess this skill? You must just be a natural good listener.

Carl Clark

A - I think what you're referring to in your question is the whole idea of taste in music. I have always found that the players I enjoy most are the ones who are the most naturally lyrical, who always seem as if they're "singing" through their instrument. Though I am as awestruck as anyone when I hear a player with extraordinary technique, I rarely enjoy
the music that results unless it also sounds "sung" or "felt" by the player in a genuine, natural and spontaneous way. Greater and lesser music can can be made with or without dazzling technique; there doesn't seem to be any consistent correlation between dazzling technique and quality music.

For myself, though I am never satisfied with my technical skill, I have felt that I get closer to a more natural self-expression as time goes on, mostly as a result of a better perspective on things, an improved ability to listen well, and a mental attitude more than a physical skill, though music-making certainly makes technical demands on me. Mostly, I think, for me it's about trusting my own musical instincts, tastes, and desires, rather than getting hung up with what others do, or what I think they might expect.

Q - First, I have to say the recent Steely Dan gig I saw in the UK was superb. A big part of that was due to your very creative and tasteful playing. Great work, and what a great band!

Previous Steely guitarists have tended to either completely reinvent a solo, or go for a more or less note-for-note copy of the originals. I thought your approach worked really well - distilling out the "essence" of the original solos, taking that as a reference and then feeling free to expand and add to that, and come up with fresh ideas. That way, you're still reminded of some of the classic original solos, but there's a nice balance of new and old ideas. Was this approach your own idea, or did Donald and Walter make suggestions?

Also, I guess there were fairly detailed charts for the songs. Do these specify particular chord voicings at some points? The voicings are so key to Steely Dan's music, I was wondering how much freedom you had for this. Were you playing written voicings for some parts of songs, or did you try different ideas during rehearsal and work out what worked best with Donald and Walter?

A - I'm happy to hear you put my intentions into words so eloquently when you say "distilling out the "essence" of the original solos, and then feeling free to expand and add to that." That sounds exactly like what I was trying to do. The most daunting task was to find the right balance, (often different for each song), between getting the spirit of the original across and playing in a way where I felt and sounded natural, genuine, free, and comfortable. This was easier on some tunes than others, naturally, because the originals were played by so many different players. (It would be unlikely for any one person to be
equally comfortable playing all the songs if he were trying to get some of that original "essence" to come through.)

In all the months of playing with Steely Dan, I think only once did I get anything close to a specific direction as to what to play. In general, I was completely free to play the gig the way I thought it should be played. Walter and I did get together early on before the band
rehearsals to figure out who would play what parts, etc., but there was never a discussion about solo approach, sound, or anything like that.

The charts for the tunes were only chord charts with changes and occasionally voicings (for keyboard, never for guitar), but I always treated the records as the starting point for deciding what parts and voicings would work best, and then varied those parts as necessary or appropriate, or when asked by Donald or Walter to try something else if it seemed to them that the overall sound required something different.

Q - I heard the stuff you did with Steely Dan and I was just wondering, was playing with Steely Dan as good as I can imagine it being? Write back ASAP.

Miles

A - Not knowing a thing about your imagination, I can only say that playing with Steely Dan was better than I could ever have imagined!

Jon

Q - Caught you at the second night at the Universal Amphitheater Steely Dan show in the Summer (the night of the NBA final final). Great playing...

My question for you is:

As a musician, how did you mentally prepare yourself to be able to play an entire set of some of the most critically acclaimed guitar parts in pop music history? Did you study transcripts or just listen to the originals? I felt that you achieved a nice blend of the original
signature lines but also infused the set with your own feel as well. Any input on your mental state of mind as you prepped for the tour?

Dan Brockett

A - Well, I'm afraid my answers about preparing myself are going to be pretty much the same as anyone else who finds himself in a similar position! The same way you get to Carnegie Hall! Practice!

For me to be comfortable on any job I really have to know the music well. It's only then that I feel I can listen to everyone else and really play as a part of the ensemble in a spontaneous, fresh way. I'm a pretty quick study after many years of playing, but I ended up putting in a lot of time deciding what to play, learning all of the music (not
just the guitar parts), and playing the stuff and looking for ways to improve it all the way through the tour.

I also found that I'm not comfortable unless I have confidence in the equipment I'm using (and thanks to Skip Gildersleeve, the guitar tech, I was as confident as I think it was possible to be). This meant that I often had the neck off the Telecaster to adjust the truss rod, and I was often messing with the gear to make sure things were right.

I also need to be confident that my hands and my head are working right, so before each show I got into the habit of spending 20 to 30 minutes by myself casually warming up on each of the two (different) guitars I used on the gig. I found this not only got my coordination working, but also helped to focus my mind on the job.

Q - Can you tell me if it's a Hamer Newport that you are photograph with in the zoom publicity ? Is it one of your main axe, what do you think of that guitar. I am thinking of buying one sometime. (is it a special order, cause the finish seems to be natural)

Thank you !

Guy Parent
Dorval, Québec

A - Yes, it is a Hamer Newport in the picture. It has not yet become a main guitar of mine, although I did try it briefly on the road with Steely Dan this summer. I think it has a very unique sound, and seems quite flexible because of the P-90 pickups. I have always liked the gradations of overdrive that the guitar volume control gives me with those pickups, and the hollow body gives the overall sound an "airy" quality that I like. I could imagine it becoming a main guitar of mine if I played it enough to get used to the feel of it, but something about it feels quite different from the two main guitars I've been playing lately, a Telecaster and a Gibson 335. I'm not sure whether it's the neck with what I think is its narrower string spacing, or a too short fret for my taste, or the way the Bigsby makes it feel, or what, but I'm not as comfortable as I'd like to be with it yet. I still choose it for the sound, though, when I do use it.

My reservations are few, but have probably kept me from using the guitar more. The Bigsby, though better than on some guitars, gives me some tuning trouble if I use it, and I'm very fussy about tuning. Changing strings is also quite a bit more difficult due to the Bigsby, and so to use it I have to bring a spare guitar to the gig. Since I break so few on my Telecaster and my 335, and since I can change a string so quickly on either of those guitars if I do break one, I usually don't bother with a spare.

I didn't realize the natural finish was a special order. I have to say that I think Hamer is a great company and delivers top-notch guitars ready to play with great electronics and great workmanship. Though I would prefer some different choices in terms of setup (fret type, action, etc.), these are personal things, and I know the company is capable of providing them if asked.

Q - I was wondering how you go about deciding what guitar to play for each song in the set? I thought about this as I watched you guys play at the Sony studio for the Steely Dan concert. I was surprised to see that you used a Tele in Josie (I am going by memory here), as I always thought that particular guitar part was done with a clean sounding Strat. Do other band members help you decide what guitar to use, or is it up to your taste and musical ear/experience to make that decision? The reason I ask, is that I struggle with my two main Stratocasters when trying to decide which to use for the particular song set that is given to me. One is clear like a bell, and the other like the Texas Special (lots of mids, good for blues, certain kinds of rock, etc). And to make it all the more complicated, I plan one day to purchase a Gibson ES-335, 336 or something similar, such as a Guild Starfire IV (haven't played one of those yet) because of the different sound, which I also enjoy. Any thoughts? Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond.

Sincerely,
Daddyo

A - I guess first of all, I chose which guitars I was comfortable playing that I thought would be appropriate for SD and for me. I brought a couple of other guitars to the first rehearsals, but the only two that I found myself reaching for again and again were the 335 and the Tele. They seemed to give me both a range of sounds (including two classic sounds, the Gibson with Humbuckers and the Fender with its single coils), and guitar tones that would complement Walter's sounds, which all were coming from Sadowsky Strat-style guitars. The two other most common guitars I might have chosen, I guess, would have been a Strat and a Les Paul, but I don't own a Les Paul at the moment, and I have never enjoyed playing Strats (though I have one, and love the sounds one can get from them). I also have a couple of Sadowsky guitars that are Tele-shaped, but are set up like Strats with a tremolo arm and three pickups (including a humbucking option in front and back), and though they sound great and are fantastic to play, I felt that they wouldn't offer as simple an answer to the question of complementing Walter's sound, so I stayed with the Tele and the 335 which sounded quite different from the first.

As far as deciding which guitar to play on which songs, I did try to use the records as a starting point, but usually only in a general way, not ever trying to copy the sound exactly, but rather making some sort of assessment about the spirit of the track, and the overall attitude, something I could then take and try to make my own. I think even expert guitarists and producers could easily guess wrong about what guitar was used to create a recorded sound on many records, and I think tone is such a function of the player's head and hands, that it would be a great waste of my time to get hung up with attempts to imitate recorded sounds. In my experience, I can rarely identify which guitar I was playing on a recording once enough time has gone by so I don't recall the particular circumstances of a session, but I can always tell that it's me. I think I'd often be able to guess the amp type before the guitar, too. There are so many variables in recording, that I decided to find a few solid sounds I could comfortably work with on the live gigs, and stick with them.

Basically, I tried to find a happy balance between honoring what I loved about the spirit of the recordings (and occasionally the notes, too), and playing in a way that felt natural to me and offered me room to express my personality freely.

Thanks for the interest and the good questions.

Q -So Jon, what's your favorite Steely Dan track?

Chris Decker

A - Favorite SD track? There are so many for me - off the top of my head the
ones that spring to mind are:

Babylon Sisters; Third World Man; Aja; Deacon Blues; Gaucho; Glamour Profession; Home at Last; Negative Girl; Hey Nineteen.

After looking over the list, close seconds are: Chain Lightning; Dirty Work; Night By Night; Pretzel Logic; Rikki...; Black Friday; Bad Sneakers; Dr. Wu; Any World...; The Caves of Altamira; Don't Take Me Alive; Green Earrings; The Royal Scam; Black Cow; My Rival; Time Out Of Mind; Almost Gothic; Gaslighting Abbie; Here At The Western World; FM.

Q - I have seen Steely Dan with many different guitarists over the years, but your performance at Shoreline in Mountain View, CA was really inspiring. There are very few who have "fit" the sound as well as you did, while maintaining some originality of your own. It is obvious that you put considerable time into preparation.

Are there any "real world" charts available for Steely Dan songs? The ones I see online and in books are full of errors and often don't give the correct voicings. If you have anything available that you might be able to email me, I would appreciate it - this is just for my own learning. Also, what kind of rig do you use to get that awesome creamy tone? I was in the lawn at the show and could not make out the name on your primary stage rig. I think what I was looking at began with a "G", but that is about all I could make out. I assume it was some sort of custom hand-built tube amp, but am not sure. Regardless, the sound of your 335 through that rig was really exceptional. I wish that I could have been closer to the stage to pick up more of the direct sound, but your FOH guy did a great job anyway.

Take care, and best regards from Northern California,

Chuck Kuczaj

A - The amp I'm using is a Guytron amp. Check out http://guytron.com/ for more info.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any available SD charts. I've worked off of fairly simple piano parts with chord symbols that I believe are prepared by Donald and/or Gary Blu, (aka "Chartman", our resident copyist at the rehearsals), but there are never any real guitar parts written out. Obviously, the records are my sources for all of the details. I tried to get away from using any charts at all on the gig, not just because they weren't guitar parts, but because I feel more confident and comfortable that way, and I feel I listen to everyone else better when I'm not lost in the written music.

Check the official SD site, though. I think I remember seeing a link to some other site where there were some transcriptions, or something, though I haven't looked at any of them. I always recommend listening to the records for figuring out the right voicings, etc., though I know from experience how challenging that can be sometimes.

By the way, the fantastic front-of-house sound you referred to was thanks to Dave Morgan, who also does sound for Paul Simon on the road.

Thanks for your interest, and thanks for listening.

Q - I liked the mp3 of "Rolling with the Punches". Very popy and commercial (in the best sense of the word). Did you use your Guytron for the recording?

Regards,
Norm Geib

A - I did use the Guytron on all of the recording, and on "Been There" I also used a Fender Deluxe for one of the guitar tracks.

Q - I truly enjoyed your performance at the Meadows on Sunday night. Players like you make we want to either smash all my guitars or practice all night. Sunday night practice was the answer. I was delighted to discover that you use Guytron amps, as I own and perform with Guytron amps myself. As a fellow professional and Guytron user, I'm very interested in how are you using the 2 heads/4 channels.Some scenarios that occured to me include:
A. Stereo out of your effects rack, 1 head/cabinet per side B. Four different settings, to accommodate different guitars, pickups, etc.C. An incredibly complicated set-up that mere mortals such as I would never understand.

In any case, I would appreciate any details you care to share regarding your switching solution, your amp settings, and the rationale for those settings.

Thank you very much,
Norm Geib

A - Thanks for your interest and thanks for listening. As you can imagine, I'm having a blast playing these great tunes with this great band.

The rig is simpler than you imagined, though the same ideas have occurred to me (using two amps, for instance). The extra head is a back-up only. We had a scare in LA on one of the gigs, and a minor mishap on a gig in Sacramento when Guy brought a new head to the gig for me to use, and since then my tech has been setting up both heads for insurance purposes. (So far we haven't needed to use the back-up.)

I've struggled to find a way to use both guitars through the same amp without having to twist too many dials every time I switch from one to the other, and depending on my mood, sometimes I feel I've succeeded and other times not. There isn't a lot of "tweak time" once the tour is up and running, and I was preoccupied with learning the music during our rehearsals, and could only give the new rig so much of my attention.

On this job, however, a fairly simple approach seems to work. I don't need many effects, and the amp has great tones in it, so I've managed to get by with one amp and the two cabs, some stompboxes (a tremolo, a compressor, a chorus, a phaser, and an EQ), a Hush noise gate (for the B channel only), a tuner, a Quadraverb, and an 8 loop switching system made by Digital Music Corporation (they make the voodoo lab pedals). The GCX can switch amp channels, switch stompboxes in and out of the signal chain, and send midi program changes to rack effects, so it pretty much handles any sound changes I need to make, except for changing settings on the guitars or the amp.

One way I tried to squeeze a bit of extra programmability out of the one Guytron was with the Boss EQ stompbox. Basically my idea was to try to automate an input cut to the front of the amp, so I wouldn't have to hunt for the right spot on the guitar's volume knob to do the same thing, that is, to clean up an overdriven setting on the amp. So, for awhile I was using 4 basic sounds (triggered from the switcher pedalboard called the Ground Control), the A channel cut, the A channel straight, the B channel cut, and the B channel straight. This seemed to work okay for a bit, until I started to feel that I needed the "underdriven" signals to come up in overall volume but not in amp grind or drive. I was afraid that the cleaner sounds weren't speaking out front, since I was giving the sound man less volume on those settings.

So, now I'm about to consider doing some level change programming in the Quadraverb, since it's in the Guytron's FX loop, to try to even out the levels of the 4 basic sounds without changing their drive characteristics.

As far as settings on the amp, I've been experimenting, but the controls don't change much from night to night. The A ch. is usually Gain: 12 -2 (all settings are "o'clock"); Tone: 2; Level: all the way up. The B ch. is usually Gain: 11-1; Tone: 1; Level: 3 - 4; and the power section is something like: Vol: 10 - 11 (any higher and the 335 threatens to howl since the amp is too close to me the way the stage is set); Treb: 9 and sometimes lower; Mid: 1-2; Bass: 8 - 9; and Presence is low, too, at about 9 o'clock.

Since the tele doesn't hit the amp as hard, I usually turn up the gain on the B channel when I'm playing it, and roll it down a bit when I go back to the 335.

I realized early on that the Guytron has enough great sounds and so much range that it would probably be frustrating to have to settle on just two settings (which is necessary for me to play a gig like this in any practical way, since I'm busy trying to make music, stay in tune, make the time feel great, etc), and it is. And though I'm the kind of player who is fussy about the sounds, I also need to keep things from getting too cumbersome technically, because it can distract me from the music-making. So it's a question of balance, I guess, like a lot of things.

As far as having a "rationale" for any of these settings, of course I'm just trying to make things sound as good as I can and make it workable at the same time.

So, again, thanks for listening.

Q - Did your output-level-thru-the-Quadraverb solution work?

Regards,
Norm Geib

A - The quadraverb did work to vary the levels from patch to patch, but I never got comfortable with the inaccessibility of the control. I found I wanted to fine tune the setting for different places and different songs, so I ran into the age old problem of "to program or not to program." I still have no real solution, but the closest I got was the four level approach using the Quadraverb and the ground control, and a smaller version of the same deal where I have a Fulltone Fat Boost pedal doing a clean boost in the loop, so that I can kick in a clean boost on either channel that doesn't result in more preamp or EL-84 drive, just hits the EL-34's harder. I believe your Fulltone pedal will also give you that, and I'm looking into a pedal that Top Hat makes which has cut, bypass, and a boost buttons, and is really designed for single channel amps but it seems to me like it might give you 6 useful sounds. I think it probably would work either in front of the amp (which I have a suspicion will sound better), or in the stompbox level loop, depending on the results you're after (either just changing "master" volume levels or regulating drive).

How are you using the Fulltone? I owned one and sold it, not liking the way it worked with the amp I was then using, but I bet it works well with the Guytron. It seems like it may be more complicated than I would want with this amp, though, with its two channels and the amp's two channels. I've recently been trying the Guytron on a gig only using the A channel with stompboxes, and it's pretty great that way, too. The overdrive pedal into Ch A sometimes sounds better in the band context than the B channel itself. It has a more cutting mid peak, a bit less big warm bottom, but it seems to cut through a little better, even though it's not as "beautiful" when you compare them without the band.

And by the way, thanks for making it to the gig. I had a blast, and I'm starting to book some more gigs (with a smaller band this time). I'll keep you posted.

Q - Let me thank you for the two fantastic shows I saw this year in Irvine, CA and in Raleigh, NC (that one was the best). I guess my only question is which album did you hear that made you want to play guitar or were you simply born with a guitar in your hand?

John Belch

A - I'd have to say it was the Beatles that made me want to play guitar, even though it was a construction paper, Elmers' glue imitation John Lennon Rickenbacker guitar that I first strummed to shreds while jumping up and down on my parents' furniture! I began with some piano lessons, then some saxophone, and years later decided to play guitar seriously,when my interest in music where the guitar was so prominent increased. (I heard Cream, Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin!)

··· Thanks for visiting and stay tuned to jonherington.com ···

back to top

Home | Recordings | Profile | Reviews | Q & A