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Young, The Stratocaster, and The E Street Shuffle | |
Nils LofgrenArticle from International Musician & Recording World, August 1985 |
Chris Maillard takes a close look at the E Street man's unorthodox guitar technique
Nils Lofgren has taken his guitar and his thumbpick from the streets of Chicago to the E Street Band of Bruce Springsteen. He's picked up a few tricks on the way — tricky picking being one.
Of all the Great American Rock Heroes, big bad Broooce Springsteen is the best. And of course by his side there is the Great American Guitar Hero — Nils Lofgren. And he's not bad either, as anyone who saw the Boss's marathon shows will testify.
What many of the uninformed might remember most about the guitarist was the spectacular aerial somersault, complete with guitar, that he pulled off during Rosalita. But if you'd been listening closely you might have noticed some fretboard gymnastics as difficult and impressive.
Lofgren, you see, is a very unusual guitar player for a number of reasons. While his approach is from the classic Rock mould, he has several tricks which make him worth a close look. Which is exactly what I did.
So, starting with the very finest of details, what is it that makes Nils so different?
"Well, one thing is that I play with a thumbpick," he explained. "When I first started playing I had an old guitar which my father had around the house — he'd never really played very well but he had this old acoustic — and the only pick in the case was a thumbpick. I got quite keen on the guitar and I played all the time with this pick, so by the time I got to playing with other musicians I was really used to it.
"Then somebody said to me 'hey, why are you doing that? Don't you know it's much easier to play with a flatpick?' but I realised if I wanted to use one I'd have to start all over again and I didn't want to. So I've stuck with it."
What difference does it make?
"It gives a much harder edge to the sound, a much more attacking tone. But it's not as easy to get a soft strumming sound, and to get much variation I have to change where I hit the strings. Over the end of the fingerboard and up by the neck pickup gives a softer, warmer sound and if I want a harder, brighter tone I play towards the bridge. That's good for picking, as well, that position."
"The thumb pick is useful for techniques where you might want to use the other fingers of your right hand, like fast picking for instance, or pulling off chords or lines, which I sometimes do. It leaves your finger free for pulling the strings away from the fretboard and letting them snap back, a bit like that Funk bass thing. That's a good effect for really staccato lines."
But there are more tricks up the Lofgren sleeve. Like the one that makes him most recognisable, for instance — the false harmonics.
"Oh yeah, I use those a lot. I learnt them from Roy Buchanan. He's a tremendous player, and I knew him pretty well so I get him to show me how he got them with a flatpick and then went away and worked at it with the thumbpick. I can do it pretty well now, although I still think Roy's the best there is at that.
"The secret is to play the note you want normally with the left hand, then touch the string lightly with one finger of your right hand exactly 12 frets up from the left hand position; just split the neck in half and touch the string at the middle point. Then pick the string and take the right-hand finger off and you'll get a real pingy, high harmonic on the note you're playing.
"It takes some practise to be able to get it really accurate and to be able to hit it right on the button every time.
"Of course, if you're following your left hand with your right hand 12 frets higher when you get high up the neck your right hand will be off the end of the fretboard. Then it's very much a feel thing knowing where to touch the string. Once you get used to a particular guitar, you can judge whereabouts to play. And once you get up that far the notes are so close together anyway that it's not too difficult."
What else is unusual about the Nils style?
"Well there is one thing, but I'm not sure it's that important — that's the fact that I'm left-handed. I play a normal right-handed guitar, so I suppose that might make me a little weird. I don't think it has any effect on the way I play, though. It just seemed too much trouble when I was learning to take the strings off and reverse them, to pay more for guitars, not to be able to learn chords from other people... all the problems you get when you're a left-handed guitar player. I'd say the same to anyone who's learning — unless you feel really uncomfortable playing right-handed, you'd be much better off doing it that way. Why make things difficult for yourself?
"Having said that, though, one of my idols and my biggest influence was left-handed; Jimi Hendrix. I used to go and see him a lot, follow him around on tour and things, and I don't think there's anybody who could do some of the things he did.
"I use one trick I picked up from him — it's what I call the 'waterfall' effect, where you play a two-note chord, just the root note and the fifth, and slide it on the fingerboard. That gives a sort of dreamy, flowing effect. I put that in solos quite a bit."
Who else comes into the Lofgren Hall of Fame?
"I like a lot of the classic Rock players; Beck, Clapton, Townshend... and in fact the two people I've worked with most are really good although they're not known as guitarists in their own right.
"That's Neil Young and Bruce, of course. I started with Neil on his After The Goldrush album when I was only, what, 17 or so, and he taught me a lot. I'd been an accordion player when I was young, and he showed me how to apply that to piano, and he got me into playing acoustic guitar as well. When we'd finished the album he gave me this old Martin guitar, the one he wrote all the Buffalo Springfield stuff on and a lot of his own songs. It's a great guitar, and I was stunned he gave it to me.
"Bruce is another good player. And like Neil, he's very much a feel player, an emotion player. When Neil was playing some gigs not long back Bruce and I went along and got up at the end for a jam and it was great to hear them playing together. We did Down By The River and Bruce did a blinding solo, really getting into it..."
To change the subject a bit, what about guitars? Or rather guitar, as there's really only one.
"My Strat is my main guitar. I'm really comfortable with it and I've got so used to it, I rarely play anything else.
It's pretty much standard apart from the pickups which are Bill Lawrence. I didn't really want to change them, but normal Strats are so noisy. I got sick of playing in clubs and having to walk around until I found a spot where the interference wasn't too bad and then stand there holding the guitar still while I played a quiet solo. These pickups sound exactly the same as Strat ones but they don't pick up the buzz and hum.
"I've got an Alembic Stratoblaster — that's a little unit that plugs into the jack socket and it adds a bit of high — it's got a little pre-amp in it which can boost the power, but I only ever use it set as low as it'll go, just at the normal volume. They don't make those any more, unfortunately. I leave it on all the time, and it just adds glassiness, like having a new set of strings or something.
"Another thing that helps is being wireless — you don't lose any of the highs that you would with a lead."
So what happens at the other end of the radio link — to wit, amps?
"Probably 95% of everything I've ever done in a studio has been through the same little amp, a Fender Super Reverb. It's got a real clean sound up to about two or three on the volume, then after that it just thickens up nicely. A lot of new amps have got the power and the bottom end, but they don't have that warmth in the midrange.
"I put the treble and middle on full, the bright switch on, and the bass somewhere between zero and four... depends on the particular amp. I've got a Music Man which I use sometimes and that needs a little more bass.
"I sometimes use an MXR distortion, set with the boost up but not much distortion, so it brings the volume up for solos and just thickens it a little as well. But that's live — most of the studio stuff is just with the Fender on 10 for solos.
"No chorus or flanger, usually — just the reverb on the amp set on four or five."
But as I mentioned earlier, another of Nils' skills is gymnastics, a speciality being high somersaults off a trampoline. How on earth do you do that — and why?
"Well, I used to do gymnastics as a kid and I used to be really nervous on stage, I never moved at all, and so I learnt to do a little flip with my guitar just as something to do to keep people amused. And it worked really well, people always remembered the stunt even if they didn't like the band very much. And I kept it in the act, because nobody else does it.
"I didn't have a wireless system then, either — but that's no problem, really, if the cord is long enough. Even if it tangles round you while you're up in the air, providing it doesn't tighten up you can step out of it when you hit the floor. I've tripped a couple of times doing that stunt and occasionally bruised myself a bit, but nothing serious."
Apart, of course, from the reason that Nils is wearing a very Mickey Mouse pair of white gloves.
"I was doing some gymnastics for a video I've just done, spins round a bar and things, and I ripped up my hand," he explained. "Unless I cover them in moisturising goo they'll split and the skin'll crack up, and these gloves are the only way to stop the goo from getting all over the place."
The white gloves don't really go with the US Guitar Hero image; the menacing three-day stubble, however, does. One question that needed to be asked was how Nils manages to get the identical half-beard in each video, photo or live appearance.
"Oh, I just shave about twice a week," he muttered. "You see, it's not because of any macho-man thing. I just have really sensitive skin. If I shave every day I always cut myself to pieces..."
Not the average guitar hero, after all.
Hard As Nils (Nils Lofgren) |
Interview by Chris Maillard
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