AC/DC, JAM WITH. TOTAL ACCURACY. CD TABLATURE
Basi per voce e per chitarra, con la Tablature delle 2 tremende colonne portanti dell'hard rock.
Basi con preascolto:
-For those about to rock
-let there be rock
-highway to hell
-hell ain't a bad place to be
-sin city
-whole lotta Rosie
-back in black
-Hells bells
ANGUS YOUNG OF AC/DC
If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It!
Interview by Nick Bowcott
LAST MONTH, ANGUS STRESSED THE IMPORTANCE
of being able to play rhythm well and discussed the various aspects of tone. This month, the tone talk continues.
ANGUS YOUNG: The heavier your string gauges are, the bigger your sound is gonna be. Not just on rhythm, but on solos as well. With thick strings you can really get a nice, round, bluesy lead sound happening without having to use any pedals to help fatten things up. Because I've got such small hands, though, .010 to .048 [high to low] is about the heaviest set I can deal with. Malc's a different story altogether, though his gauges just keep getting heavier and heavier. He really likes those big, thick, "tram track" things and he's actually at the point where they don't make those gauges anymore. I couldn't tell you his exact gauges, but if you find out what the heaviest set of strings available is right now then that's what he's probably using. [Our most recent report indicates that Malcolm is using a Gibson 900M set, which is .012 to .056 with a wound .025 G string-GW Ed.]
A lot of idiots think, "thick strings are just a macho statement or something," but they're not. When we were growing up we couldn't get those "slinky" strings. We learned how to play on heavy gauge strings, almost bass strings! [laughs] When they started selling those Iighter strings, Mal tried a set and said, "Fuck, these things wobble too much. I've got no tone on my guitar!"
GUITAR WORLD: Talking about gear, your rig is quite simple and direct.
YOUNG: Yeah, I've always kept it fairly simple right from the get-go. I just plug my guitar straight into a stack or .four [laughs] and start banging away; That's all you need, y'know-have fingers, will play! I've always felt that if you're on stage playing rock and roll and you've got too many toys hooked up, there are just too many things that can go wrong. My SG and Marshall combination has always worked well for me, so I stick with it. As the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
GW: I take it you're not a big fan of effects devices.
YOUNG: Nah, I'm my own effect! [laughs] To be honest, I've always looked at effects as being a bit like a video remote control you' re always trying to work out what the hell they are! I grew up at a time when effects gadgets were being used a lot and pretty much every guitar player had a pile of 'em in front of him. Every time you walked into a guitar shop you'd see all these people stepping on pedals and going "wah-wahwah." That got so common, it cured me pretty quick. My whole approach is to get the amp happening and then just plug in and play. Then, if I want to hear something different, I try and get it with my guitar. The trouble with these effects units is sometimes you can walk awayfrom your gear for a few minutes and people who don't know any better start plugging stuff in for you. I remember once we were playing the Donnington Festival in Britain and I went down the day before the show and they had this gadgetry up there-it looked like Space Station #9! Anyway, I think Van Halen were on the bill too and Eddie Van Halen came up and said, "Jeez, what's all this?" One of the guys who'd built the thing explained it to him and when he was done I said to Eddie, "Do you like it?" Eddie went, "Yeah, it's nice," so I said, "Do me a favor mate, take the fuckin' thing with ya! I'm sticking with me Marshalls-simple is better."
GW: Marshalls have pretty much always been your amp of choice.
YOUNG: Yeah. I've experimented with different makes of amp, but I eventually came to the conclusion that the Marshall 100-watt stack was the best way to go. I love 'em because they're great rock and roll ampsthey' re road-worthy and they're noisy, too (in a good way)! I think if you're into rock music, that's the amp you should be using. Live I
normally use four stacks hooked up in a series via splitter boxes. [On the Ballbreaker tour Angus used four Marshall reissue 1959SLP Plexi heads driving eight Marshall straight-fronted 4x12 cabs loaded with 25W Celestion Greenback speakers: "the noisy ones! ']
GW: And is everything turned up to 11?
YOUNG: Nah! [laughs] A lot of people think that with Marshalls you've gotta run everything full up and drive the buggers to death. I don't do that; I pretty much have everything on around half. To my ears, if you go over half it starts to get a little bit mushy. I like to get a natural sustain that cuts; I don't like playing lead with that false, Tonebender
[fuzz] type sound. It's funny, people hear us and automatically think we play really loud. Well, we don't-mind you, we're not exactly quiet either!
GW: Although you use 100-watt stacks on stage, I believe you have an old Marshall JTM45 miked up under the stage and also use JTM45s in the studio.
YOUNG: You're right, my main amp for recording is an old JTM45 head and I also use it live-I have it underneath the stage with a single 4x12 cabinet and an isolation box. I use a 100-watt head in the studio every now and then, too. It just depends on what I'm after. The 100s are thicker-sounding, have more bottom end and are cleaner and louder. The JTM45 (a 45-watt amp) has a smoother sound and is much easier to overdrive.
GW: And your primary guitar has always been a Gibson SG, right?
YOUNG: Yeah. When I was in school in Sydney, Australia, a friend of mine had a Gibson guitar catalog, and as soon as I saw the SG I went, "Jeez, that looks great, I want one." I always liked the shape of it and the double cutaway is great because if I'm playing high up the neck I don't have to reach around anything like you have to do on aLes Paul. I also like the weight and the size because I'm a little guy, On most people an SG looks pretty small-like a violin. On me, though, it looks like a pretty big guitar and it balances well, too. Oh, Ilike the sound of 'em too!
GW: Have you ever played Strats or Les Pauls? .
YOUNG: I tried Fenders but they were too heavy and they just didn't have the ballsy sound I was looking for. I tried a Les Paul when I was younger and nearly dislocated my hip because the fucking thing was so heavy! You've gotta have muscles to playa Les Paul and if you've ever seen me with my shirt off you'd know that I'm not exactly Arnold Schwarzenegger!
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