Rock is Dead? Full Film: ruclips.net/video/qMlLfrU5fjs/видео.html What is Classic Rock? - Canada & USA: - RUclips bit.ly/2Kbji5C - iTunes apple.co/2KNOCD2 - Vimeo bit.ly/2Iv1ywd - XBOX bit.ly/2K8AF6Z - Google Play bit.ly/3cwDybU What is Classic Rock? - Worldwide: - Vimeo vimeo.com/ondemand/whatisclassicrock2 Cheers, Daniel
For guitar I use standard dunlops but I love a nice brass pick for bass. As he says gives it a real zing. To further that sound I also put a brass nut on my thunderbird. Metal on metal on metal (however I don't really play metal).
I've been a Big Black fan since buying a couple of cassettes in 1987. There are details here I never knew, like the pronged metal pick. Also, Albini's quote "I'm a guitar cripple" has stuck with me for decades. Here he gives more background on that. Thanks so much for this series, Daniel!
Most people who know Steve Albini as a record engineer aren't even aware that he's an extremely influential musician in his own right. Albini's trademark sheet-metal sharp guitar tone he developed in Big Black was heavily ripped off a couple years later by fellow Chicagoan synth-pop bands Nine Inch Nails and Ministry when they changed their sound to industrial metal.
i dont think there's much in common between albini and reznor's guitar tone. reznor's guitar is much fuzzier due to often bypassing the cabinet or using waveshapers
@@pimposki6232 It's not exactly the same, but the "razor-thin metallic guitar tone backed with a pounding drum machine" vibe is distinctly Albini. Early Marilyn Manson is often mistaken to be influenced heavily by NIN, but they were actually influenced the most by Albini's guitar tone and style with his 80s band Big Black. The band openly admits this in early interviews and Manson's (ghostwritten) memoir. For Albini's part, I think his abrasive metallic tone was probably partially inspired by the recording techniques the Birthday Party famously employed on their album "Junkyard," where the guitars and stuff were channelled through metal tubes with microphones taped against them to create a thin, abrasive, hideous guitar tone.
He was always willing to share his knowledge with other musicians too. Nothing was a secret for him. He had a unique method and technique but it was always merely a permutation of existing sonic ideas. He didn’t consider himself to be special, and that kind of humility is admirable. There aren’t too many people like that in the creative arts. He will be dearly missed.
When Albini was describing his playing limitations..which in turn actually become a skill instead of a limitation...it sounded like he was describing Johnny Ramone's guitar playing. Instead of calling guys like this limited, they should be called specialists. Even when they are playing something that sounds and looks easy on paper....pick up a guitar and try to make it sound like they do. It is difficult.
I lean more towards classic rock, blues and metal in my playing....but damn it, so many punk guitarists are overlooked for their skillful guitar work. Johnny Ramone, Ian McKaye and Guy Piccioto(Fugazi), East Bay Ray(Dead Kennedys), John McGeoch(Siouxsie and the Banshees,),etc. There are a lot of great players whose style came completely out of the punk framework.
Anyone thinking Johnny's style is "easy" needs to try and do nothing but down strum three Ramones songs in a row and see how that goes. Way more to it then it seems and it's just not the same when played without that aggressive style.
i got an old tele recently that instantly became my favorite guitar, because it sounds like none of my other guitars. turns out, the single pickups in that guitar are out of phase. love that sound.
His pick style is interesting 🧐 it plays 2 plucks??? Crazy. every aspect of tone is essential. Steve would be stoked on my fretboard invention. Any alternate tone can enhance style. Every strum is like a paintbrush on a canvas to create the song in its entirety.
That may be the best way I've heard what Steve or really any guitar player does when they touch pick to string(s).It's how I think of the sound art I make with my guitar.I can relate completely to what he's saying about being limited.I have never been technically great but over time I have developed a certain sound and a certain thing I do when my pick drags,sweeps,strums or picks across or at the strings.Thank you for your description of how a guitar player makes art from sound.
I still have the 2-pronged metal guitar pick he dropped on stage right in front of me during a Rapeman performance in 1988. (He dropped his glasses, too, but I handed them right back to him. Hahaha!)
For anyone curious, somebody posted a picture of a pick he threw into the audience in like the 1990's. Believe it was on FB of all places, I expected to go down a rabbithole but it took me like 5 minutes to find a picture of the pick, and it is just a copper classic-shaped pick with a crescent cut on the point.
In Detroit. Touch n Go was based out of here for a while and bands on the label would play fairly regularly. Die Kreuzen, Kill Dozer, Butthole Surfers and Big Black.
i mean really,,, what i respect from steve is he just did it... there really is no magic, you just make music out of necessity. sure beats sitting around doing jack shit
Rock is Dead? Full Film: ruclips.net/video/qMlLfrU5fjs/видео.html
What is Classic Rock? - Canada & USA:
- RUclips bit.ly/2Kbji5C
- iTunes apple.co/2KNOCD2
- Vimeo bit.ly/2Iv1ywd
- XBOX bit.ly/2K8AF6Z
- Google Play bit.ly/3cwDybU
What is Classic Rock? - Worldwide:
- Vimeo vimeo.com/ondemand/whatisclassicrock2
Cheers,
Daniel
I have always felt Steve Albini is a very underrated guitar player. Has a very unique tone and playing style which is very identifiable.
Santiago is truly the underrated player in big black. Pure muscle.
But agree that Steve is a great guitar player with an excellent and unique style
A lot of people talk about guitar tone, but everyone underestimates the effect picks have on this
You could say that the pick and the hands, the touch, are part of the tone.
For real, between this and Brian May using a coin!
Same with
Billy Gibbons. He used either a Mexican peso or an American quarter.
For guitar I use standard dunlops but I love a nice brass pick for bass. As he says gives it a real zing. To further that sound I also put a brass nut on my thunderbird. Metal on metal on metal (however I don't really play metal).
The Edge is certainly a case in point 👍
You can really tell Steve's a audio engineer by how good his audio sounds here. Lol.
I love his guitar playing.
I've been a Big Black fan since buying a couple of cassettes in 1987. There are details here I never knew, like the pronged metal pick. Also, Albini's quote "I'm a guitar cripple" has stuck with me for decades. Here he gives more background on that. Thanks so much for this series, Daniel!
Most people who know Steve Albini as a record engineer aren't even aware that he's an extremely influential musician in his own right. Albini's trademark sheet-metal sharp guitar tone he developed in Big Black was heavily ripped off a couple years later by fellow Chicagoan synth-pop bands Nine Inch Nails and Ministry when they changed their sound to industrial metal.
i dont think there's much in common between albini and reznor's guitar tone. reznor's guitar is much fuzzier due to often bypassing the cabinet or using waveshapers
@@pimposki6232 It's not exactly the same, but the "razor-thin metallic guitar tone backed with a pounding drum machine" vibe is distinctly Albini.
Early Marilyn Manson is often mistaken to be influenced heavily by NIN, but they were actually influenced the most by Albini's guitar tone and style with his 80s band Big Black. The band openly admits this in early interviews and Manson's (ghostwritten) memoir.
For Albini's part, I think his abrasive metallic tone was probably partially inspired by the recording techniques the Birthday Party famously employed on their album "Junkyard," where the guitars and stuff were channelled through metal tubes with microphones taped against them to create a thin, abrasive, hideous guitar tone.
And Albini's tone itself was inspired by Andy Gill's sound in the second gang of four album called "entertainment"
RIP Steve. No secrets. This guy never hesitates to tell anything you ask in regards to music.
I really like that about him. You can tell he was a natural teacher.
He was always willing to share his knowledge with other musicians too. Nothing was a secret for him. He had a unique method and technique but it was always merely a permutation of existing sonic ideas. He didn’t consider himself to be special, and that kind of humility is admirable. There aren’t too many people like that in the creative arts. He will be dearly missed.
@@Missjunebugfreak He was an absolute professor of sound.
So well spoken, I expand my vocabulary every time I hear him.
Steve has always been cool at shows. The times I saw shellac, he was very approachable. Him and buzz from the melvins have always been that way.
I meat Buzz once and he talked to my like someone he knew.
When Albini was describing his playing limitations..which in turn actually become a skill instead of a limitation...it sounded like he was describing Johnny Ramone's guitar playing. Instead of calling guys like this limited, they should be called specialists. Even when they are playing something that sounds and looks easy on paper....pick up a guitar and try to make it sound like they do. It is difficult.
That’s the way I’m inspired to play guitar. I think it’s a lot cooler when someone has their own style
I lean more towards classic rock, blues and metal in my playing....but damn it, so many punk guitarists are overlooked for their skillful guitar work. Johnny Ramone, Ian McKaye and Guy Piccioto(Fugazi), East Bay Ray(Dead Kennedys), John McGeoch(Siouxsie and the Banshees,),etc. There are a lot of great players whose style came completely out of the punk framework.
Anyone thinking Johnny's style is "easy" needs to try and do nothing but down strum three Ramones songs in a row and see how that goes.
Way more to it then it seems and it's just not the same when played without that aggressive style.
....and then you have Andy Gill(RIP), also self taught, with the most ferocious and rhythmic playing.
Big Black ‘Cables’ - the guitars on that will slice your eardrums
The live version on Atomizer literally sounds like bridge steel cables snapping
Legendary tone.
i got an old tele recently that instantly became my favorite guitar, because it sounds like none of my other guitars. turns out, the single pickups in that guitar are out of phase. love that sound.
Rest in Peace, Steve. Your methods in recording those prolific albums will be remembered forever....
Albini is a god tbh
Well Steve you may have never been trained and play a simple style but really you were a humble man. RIP.
A true inspiration 🤙👍
Raw talent bra
I have one of his picks. Got it at SOBs in the 90s. Very cool.
His pick style is interesting 🧐 it plays 2 plucks??? Crazy. every aspect of tone is essential. Steve would be stoked on my fretboard invention. Any alternate tone can enhance style. Every strum is like a paintbrush on a canvas to create the song in its entirety.
totally
That may be the best way I've heard what Steve or really any guitar player does when they touch pick to string(s).It's how I think of the sound art I make with my guitar.I can relate completely to what he's saying about being limited.I have never been technically great but over time I have developed a certain sound and a certain thing I do when my pick drags,sweeps,strums or picks across or at the strings.Thank you for your description of how a guitar player makes art from sound.
These interviews are dope 👌
I still have the 2-pronged metal guitar pick he dropped on stage right in front of me during a Rapeman performance in 1988. (He dropped his glasses, too, but I handed them right back to him. Hahaha!)
Some of Steve's playing reminds me of John McGeoch.
I don't hear it much in terms of style but they're both very experimental, he reminds me more of Keith Levene
For anyone curious, somebody posted a picture of a pick he threw into the audience in like the 1990's. Believe it was on FB of all places, I expected to go down a rabbithole but it took me like 5 minutes to find a picture of the pick, and it is just a copper classic-shaped pick with a crescent cut on the point.
thanks for sharing brandon jacob parolisi!
Part of what gives trout mask replica it's great guitar sound came from the band playing with metal picks too
I was born in this town..LIVED HERE MY HOLD LIFE.
I live in a hole not some trailer park
@@christiancassanova2104 it's a bb lyric. Songs called kerosene
@@MrBooYa-yd5er i know the album very well one of my fav punks bands
its whole
The last Big Black show both guitarists (not bassist) smashed their guitars to pieces. They both played Telecasters.
That footage is so cool
Big Black was intense. They used to play here pretty often in the 80’s
In Detroit. Touch n Go was based out of here for a while and bands on the label would play fairly regularly. Die Kreuzen, Kill Dozer, Butthole Surfers and Big Black.
Dave Riley smashed his bass at that show also. I don’t think Albini played a tele at that gig...
@@ShadSimm it's a Travis bean
Would steve ever put that guitar in a museum?
Da best
Does anyone know what thickness of spring copper he used? I kinda want to experiment with it.
I think Big Black were pretty melodic
i mean really,,, what i respect from steve is he just did it... there really is no magic, you just make music out of necessity. sure beats sitting around doing jack shit
It's like a calligraphy pen but pick
U2’s The Edge would understand were Steve A’s coming from😉!
Delay effect