Talkin' Blues: Matching the Solo to the Song

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John Fisher of the band Fishbone performs at Old Forester's Paristown Hall on August 26, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky.

“I wrote that bassline when I was 16. I saw this dude slapping the hell out of a bass at a music store – the tumblers clicked in my head. I took a bus home, picked up my bass, and I was doing it!” Fishbone’s Norwood Fisher names his 10 best basslines

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“People are responding because of the realness and vulnerability, instead of that persona of a drunk rockstar”: Koe Wetzel abandoned his party animal image to show who he really is on 9 Lives, and found a new reason to play his beat-up Gibson J-200

“When I heard Nirvana’s Live at Reading it became less about learning solos than putting the guitar in front of an amp and making it scream”: Fontaines D.C.’s Carlos O’Connell on playing Rory Gallagher’s Strat and why a spring reverb is the best overdrive

“Offset guitars can be really clumsy, but that makes me approach them differently. I kept hitting the kill switch mid-solo, thinking, ‘Why is this here?!’” Samantha Fish on how Kurt Cobain turned her onto the Fender Jaguar

“Mick Jagger was moving around like a marionette, responding to every squeak coming out of my guitar”: Eric Bazillian on playing with a Rolling Stone, writing Joan Osborne’s One of Us – and helping Cyndi Lauper find a career-defining hit

“Allan recorded a bunch of takes. He apologized, saying they all sucked… Of course, every note he played was miraculous”: Grammy-nominated virtuoso Alex Masi on why he turned down Stevie Ray Vaughan, his Allan Holdsworth collab and time with Shawn Lane

“Why wouldn’t you stay in the Sphere and make a lot of money? Because it’s not as much fun. It doesn’t last forever. Look at how many musicians have passed away. What are you going to do with what you have?” Trey Anastasio explains Phish’s joyful rebirth

“If we’re able to reach millions of people with this stupid solo, then obviously we’re doing something right”: Corey Feldman discusses his limits as a guitar player, copping David Gilmour’s tone and why his viral guitar solo really is a joke

“I always wanted to play with my fingers, but now I was forced to”: When his keys player quit, McKinley James had to rethink his playing style to play in a duo – and he did it without turning to pedals, because “none of my heroes did”

“The main secret behind those classic grunge sounds is that they were loud. You need a high-volume amp…” Enumclaw are on a quest for alt-rock tone nirvana – using other people’s guitars and The Smashing Pumpkins’ fuzz pedal

“I’m like the power forward on a basketball team – I bring out the best in my teammates”: A pillar of the L.A. session scene, Bob Glaub might be the most famous bass player you’ve never heard of

“Prince picked up my bass – but it was tuned to Eb, so he just found one note that worked and he stayed on it the entire song”: Raphael Saadiq on playing with Prince, D'Angelo and the “dead” 1962 Fender that put the vintage in Instant Vintage