INTERVIEW Using the 12-String Guitar in Studio Work. >>>Did you think those pre-folk-rock 12-string productions had an influence on the sound and arrangement of mid-1960s folk-rock records, and if so were you conscious of hearing that influence at the time? When a recording came out (about 1959-60) with an acoustic 12-string guitar on it, I and a few others also immediately saw the future use of the 12-string guitar as being hugely important, not only for folk styles but popular rock as well. My Gibson 12-string was a good guitar and almost immediately I put a DArmand pickup on it as I thot it would be a good sound in the studios (coincidentally, the fine legendary jazz guitarist/studio musician Barney Kessel did exactly the same thing at the same time I did, unbeknownst to each other, we both had the same idea). And soon I bought a Guild elec. 6-string which I had my great repairman Milt Owen switch over to a fine elec. 12-string with special pickups, strings and bridges...and that worked fine too. It was perfect for that ragtime banjo style of paradiddling I used to do on it as fills either for Sonny & Cher, Herb Alpert, others too....it was double-time picking that got that elec. 12-string picking across and added a LOT to the tune. Later I played something of the same sort of doubletime picking on the bass and they couldnt believe it was me on some of the recordings (some of the Motown stuff) but its all the same sort of rhythmic picking...actually banjo picking to be exact, easy enough to do. Am not much of a banjo player at all but rhythm is rhythm, you apply it to other situations. It was very common say about 1961-62 for everyone in the studios to jump on the 12-string craze....they all did the same as what I did. Most of them had an elec. 6 switched over etc. to use in the studios. This was wayyyy before the Byrds finally picked up on it all. It was a very integral part of the music biz, starting with Herb Alperts sounds (I played on some of his things before I did the Phil Spector things) and was a hugely important sound of Sonny & Cher too who kept using me (even tho I was the #1 call bassist mid 60s by that time, doing a huge amount of recording on bass 64-65) for the fills on elec. 12-string which was a part of their sounds....ditto a few others. Yes, Id say it was very vital to the sounds of the early 60s and mid 60s....strangely enough, it all stopped, the 12-string lost its favor after the Byrds recordings. David McCullem loved the way I played elec. 12-string double-time paradiddle fills and wanted me to do it also on his recordings, and theres quite a bit of elec. 12-string fills I did for him at Capitol Records, lovely guy, kind of fun stuff, lots of inventive fill-playing on the elec. 12-string with him (H.B. Barnum wrote the chord charts). >>>>such as Sonny & Cher, were really pop musicians who were appropriating a few elements of folk music to capitalize on a trend. Having played on sessions by Sonny & Cher and Cher solo, would you agree with that? Whether you do or not, do you recall if there was any conscious attempt by the duo or the arrangers to get a folky or folk-rock feeling?>>What were the circumstances of the Simon & Garfunkel sessions that you played on -- were those backing tracks without the singers present, or was Paul Simon there? In any case, was it your impression that the session musicians were giving those tracks a rock/pop body that Simon & Garfunkel perhaps could not have managed with folk-oriented musicians?>With Bob Linds Elusive Butterfly, that seems to me a prime example of someone from a folk background being given a fairly lush pop arrangement (by Jack Nitzsche in this case) to make him more appealing to pop listeners. Was that also your feeling, or not?>>> Didnt ever think about it..it was all commercial to me. While recording that one on bass, I got the impression it was a sort of a soft-pop thing....no never got the impression that it was folk at all - it was all style-blending all styles in the pop-rock genre during those years. All Jack did was to write out the chord charts, I was left on my own as usual and remember how boring that tune was to play chordal-wise and made a mistake on the take and slid back down the bass neck then. The producer heard that (I felt badly for making that mistake - and knew hed catch it which he did) and he loved that effect, calling for more slides, wanting me to milk that -- so that began my signature gliss on a lot of recordings after that. >>>As a big Buffalo Springfield fan, Im curious if you remember which session(s) you played on and why you were brought in.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 18:17:21 +0000
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