Anthrax have been going from strength to strength for the past few years. With the return of vocalist Joey Belladonna, the Big Four shows which saw them share the stage with fellow thrash icons Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, and the 2011 release of Worship Music, Anthrax have been tearing it up all over the world and taking no prisoners.
Since Anthrax are returning to Australian shores as part of the Soundwave Festival I thought it would be good to ask Seymour Duncan artist, Anthrax guitarist and founding member Scott Ian a few questions.
Worship Music has been a very successful album for you and band, especially with the return of Joey Belladonna to the mic. How has it been touring the new album? Do the new tracks get as big a response from the audience as the classic stuff?
Yes, the songs from Worship Music have really connected and fit seamlessly in the set. Continue reading “Five Questions with Anthrax’s Scott Ian”

When I was younger I developed a passion for harmony. I started learning how modes, scales and chords work together to create music. Harmony is the teaching of a set of rules to make music audible. Perhaps the word ‘rule’ is wrong since that word implies something immobile, the enforcement of the wills or wishes of a few. That notion is in my opinion incorrect, since the teachings of harmony were to suit the human hearing, conditioned to western music. In this article I will be talking about harmony for western music. After all, there is so much more like Arabic harmony, Indian, Chinese and many other harmonies. For us, those harmonies might sound strange and different but our music has the same effect on people who only know that kind of music, which means the rulebook on how to make music sound good depends on the cultural background of the listener. Continue reading “Harmony: A Closer Look At The Perfect Fourth”

The ’59 Model humbucker is a very versatile humbucker. By using the same materials and methods as the original PAF pickup, a vintage-correct sound is achieved. It has vintage-level output, which means plenty of sparkle, while still having the throatiness that humbuckers are known for.If, however, your guitar doesn’t have a space where you can put a humbucker, the Seymour Duncan Little ’59 models can help you get close to that same vibe. It’s available as either a Strat pickup or a Tele lead pickup. We’ll take a look at both in this article. Continue reading “Two Kinds of Little ’59”

We all know Gary Hoey can do pretty much anything on guitar. His cover of prototypical prog classic ‘Hocus Pocus’ was a Top 5 Billboard Mainstream Rock hit in 1993. In 1994 his soundtrack to Endless Summer II single-handedly made surf music cool again in the eyes of players raised on shred. His Ho Ho Hoey series of Christmas albums have rocked up the holidays for nearly two decades, and he’s even found the time to record and tour with Lita Ford. But one thing Hoey had never done was record a blues album. That all changes with Deja Blues. Funded via kickstarter and recorded in a burst of creativity in 2012, the album finds Hoey tapping into the blues lifeblood that beats in the heart of every rocker, but with his own unmistakable tone and touch.
You recently released your first ever blues album. Tell us about it!
The new record! I’ve recorded 18 albums since 1988, and I always wanted to do a blues record. I’ve always been a big fan of the blues. I produced Lita Ford’s latest record, Living Like A Runaway, and at the end of that project I was ready to do something just for me, a real satisfying project. Continue reading “Gary Hoey Gets The Blues. And Loves It.”

In the last article on this subject I wrote about my approach to the left hand, concentrating on the wrist, palm and thumb. This time we’ll look at the fingers. First I’ll start out by saying that I seem to have little girl hands. I am fairly short too, at 5’7”, so those who have much bigger hands might alter my approach accordingly. But really, it all comes down to not working as hard as you might think you need to. Continue reading “Relaxation and the Economy of the Left Hand, Part 2”

When last we left off, I’d installed the ’59 set in my resurrected-mutant 80s Kramer Voyager. It sounded great, but the idea was to see how different combinations worked in the guitar, so we’ll be moving on to the next bridge pickup combo (the ‘59 neck remains). While the ’59s sound great, and fully nail the vintage vibe – something slightly hotter than the standard PAF, but not quite “distortion” class could be also very cool in this guitar’s bridge slot. It does kinda look aggressive after all, so we wouldn’t want it to be … “mild”, would we? Continue reading “The Kramer Chronicles, Volume II: The Pearly Gates”

Gigging at the Edge of Reason is a series I started here on the Seymour Duncan Blog to share stories of gigs that have gone terribly awry for one reason or another. Performing live is an art all to itself. My hope is that by sharing these stories from time to time, we can all laugh together a little and find ways to appreciate the unique experience of live performance even when it doesn’t go as planned. Continue reading “Gigging at the Edge of Reason, Episode 2”

In this lesson I’d like to look at one of my secret weapons. No, it’s not the magic amulet that lets me talk to animals. I’m still officially denying I have that in case that pesky wizard starts poking around again. And it’s not even my winning smile and sparkling wit. Still officially denying I have those too. It’s circular picking. I first learned about this clever little technique from an article in a guitar magazine when I was about 15, and it stuck with me in the back of my mind but utterly unused until I finally gave it a proper shot in my mid 20s. I immediately and unrestrainedly began to hate my 15-year-old former self for not getting right down to it and learning the technique straight away. DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE!!! Continue reading “Talkin’ Bout A Revolution: Circular Picking”

Les Pauls are famous for the tone the neck pickup produces. I feel that a Strat and Tele (in my opinion the two other ‘big ones’) also have an amazing neck pickup tone, but the Les Paul really shines and sings when you add some gain to it. Literally. If you have a great Les Paul, the neck pickup can be an immense reward on its own. The chunky, crunchy tone the bridge pickup can produce can be a bit harsh sometimes, and rolling down the tone pot might give you a sound that’s too fat, so the neck pickup is almost the natural choice. Unfortunately, it can be a very daunting task to find the right, proper neck pickup to match the tone of your guitar but more importantly: match the tone you have in your head! In this article I will explore six pickup options Seymour Duncan has to offer to make your Les Paul sing and howl. Continue reading “Choosing Neck Pickups For A Les Paul”

When I was a kid first starting out on guitar, there was no widespread “DIY” market to speak of. That was just beginning. You basically took what you could get at your local music store, and liked it. Unless you were daring enough to try the also embryonic mail-order market and run with something you found in the back pages of Guitar Player or Guitar World magazines.

Continue reading “The Kramer Chronicles, Volume I: The ’59 Set”