Artist Spotlight - Warren Haynes
by Lisa Sharken
Warren Haynes is undoubtedly one of the hardest working musicians around. As a member of the Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule, and Phil Lesh & Friends, Haynes has been regularly touring and recording at a rigorous pace. Though some might call him a workaholic, Haynes simply loves playing music!
GroundWire caught up with the man Rolling Stone Magazine listed as 23rd in its "100 Greatest Guitarists" for the lowdown on his gear, his favorite sounds, and the eclectic mixture of ingredients that make up his musical entity.
What inspired you to play guitar?
I started singing when I was about seven years old and fell in love with Black gospel music. From there I went to soul music—James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, the Four Tops, and the Temptations. Then, my oldest brother got a Sly & the Family Stone record, and hearing that pushed me towards rock music—hearing the guitar mixed in with the soul music. Then I heard Cream and Hendrix, and that’s what made me want to play guitar.
Which players were most influential to your style and tone?
In my late teens I started listening to a lot of horn players because you can be influenced by other instruments and you don't have to listen only to your own instrument. I'm a singer and I love instrumentalists who phrase like singers. I listen to a lot of vocalists and saxophones players, too, and take influence from them. Whether it's Maceo Parker and his amazing understated way, or Charlie Parker and his overstated way, there's so much to learn from those people and I translate it to guitar.
As far as the non-guitar players, I think Sonny Rollins was most influential for tone, and Cannonball Adderley for phrasing--not to say that they both aren't amazing for tone and phrasing. Both of those guys influenced me a lot. I always thought Sonny Rollins' tone was the ultimate big fat tone with a nice spike on top of it. Cannonball's tone was amazing, too, but Cannonball had that street level kind of soul that a lot of jazz people didn't have and that churchliness has always been an inspiration to me. The way he phrases is totally amazing.
Of course, you can listen to a lot of great guitar players for tone, too. Starting chronologically, the first two that moved me were Hendrix and Clapton, and then Duane Allman, Billy Gibbons, Santana, Jeff Beck, and David Gilmour. There are so many different ways to get a great sound. For me and my own sound, it was always a humbucker thing. I would always hear people using single-coils and love it, but it never did work for me.
Which players affected your choices in gear?
Well, I guess Clapton in Cream. He was using Les Pauls, Firebirds, and 335s, and to this day I still play all of those. That was such a big sound--as was the sound that he got with John Mayall. Duane Allman, Billy Gibbons, and Carlos Santana all used humbuckers. They all had unique sounds, but they all had that one common ingredient.
What are the essential tonal qualities you strive for?
The richness has to be there. That allows you to relax while you're playing and not have to fight the guitar. But at the same time, it should be a little bit of a struggle. You don't want that totally saturated distortion where every note sings and feeds back equally. There should also be a natural acoustic quality to the overall tone. Like Sonny Rollins' saxophone, it should be big and fat with this little spike on the top end to distinguish one note from another, and each note should be as big as it can be.
Describe your live rig.
Well, it varies from the Allman Brothers to Gov't Mule to Phil Lesh & Friends. The common denominator is that all the guitars are Gibsons. In the Allman Brothers. I use predominantly Les Pauls, and occasionally a 335. I have a '61 dot neck 335 that I played throughout the entire new album, with the exception of two songs. In Gov't Mule, I use a lot more variety of tone, so I'm using Les Pauls, Firebirds, 335s, and an Explorer. They all have that Gibson character, but they all sound different and all have a slightly different top end. In Phil Lesh & Friends, I use SGs and 335s, leaning more toward the SGs because in that band I want a smaller sound and a spikier tone that fits the sound of that band a little more.
Ampwise, the common ingredient for all of those situations is my César Diaz CD-100 which finds its way onto all three stages. In the Allman Brothers, I'm using my new 100 watt Marshall Super Lead Plexi reissue these days. In Phil & Friends, sometimes I use my Custom Audio Electronics head that was made by Bob Bradshaw, and sometimes a Fender Super Reverb. In Gov't Mule, the additional head is my Soldano SLO-100 which I've used forever and ever. Sometimes I use a Gibson Goldtone GA-30RVS 2x12 amp that really sounds cool.
With Gov't Mule and Phil Lesh, I use effects, but with the Allman Brothers, I don't, and I just plug straight in. I have a Boss OC-2 Octaver, two-speed stereo tremolo made by Bob Bradshaw, César Diaz Texas Tone Ranger pedal, Centaur distortion, Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere Leslie simulator, Dunlop Crybaby wah, and Guyatone Funky Box envelope filter.
Which guitars are outfitted with Duncan pickups?
Some of the Les Pauls and Firebirds, which are all Gibson Custom Shop guitars built over the past 15 years. My main Les Paul is a 1989 '59 Reissue that I've played for years and it has Pearly Gates in it. I recently got another Les Paul that I like more than that one, but I'm not sure what's in that one at the moment. My mid-'90s '58 Reissue Les Paul has an Antiquity humbucker in the bridge position. My 1998 '59 Reissue Les Paul has a JB in the bridge. My 1964 Firebird III has an Alnico II Pro Mini-Humbucker in the neck, and my 1997 tobacco sunburst Firebird has an Alnico II Pro Mini-Humbucker in the bridge. My non-reverse Firebird has a P-90 in the bridge. The 2000 SG-61 I use with Phil Lesh has two custom-wound humbuckers that Seymour made for me. The neck pickup is a copy of Peter Green's neck pickup with the reversed coils, and the bridge pickup is a copy of the bridge pickup from Eric Clapton's SG--the one he played with Cream that was painted by The Fool.
What do you like most about Duncan pickups and the way they complement your instruments?
I think the cool thing about Duncans is that if you want to replicate the sound of the original pickup that came in those old guitars, you can do that. If you want to enhance that sound and make it a little brighter or fatter or midrangier or hotter, you can do that. They're not like a lot of pickups where they're trying to reinvent the wheel. They're taking classic sounds and either recapturing them or enhancing them, but not going totally away from the original concept, which I really like because most of the sounds I prefer are made with pickups that are 30 or more years old. Even when you can find the old pickups, they don't always sound the way they used to. So it's great to know that you can get back to that sound if you need to or enhance it.
Lisa Sharken is Seymour Duncan's New York-based artist relations consultant.
