Album Review - Paul Kleff "Machined"

Paul Kleff is a rock/metal guitarist based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, and has over 20 years of experience as a musician, instructor, composer and performer. He was originally inspired by artists like Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and The Who, which got him started on acoustic guitar, learning some chords, songs and the basics of guitar playing.

Paul was soon drawn to the fire, expression and speed of artists like Edward Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, George Lynch and Yngwie Malmsteen. He then set out to learn the styles of his heroes and began practicing and developing a lead guitar style based on both blues-influenced rock and the neoclassical shred styles of his newer influences.

Paul was featured on the 2008 compilation CD, “Guitars from the Shadows,” along with 12 other musicians from all over the world.

In mid September 2008, Paul will be participating in a seven city instructional clinic tour through the Midwest USA, along with six other guitarists and international touring and recording artist Tom Hess. The clinics will be held at Guitar Center and local music stores in each city.

Paul teaches private lessons at his studio in Grand Rapids. Having successfully helped hundreds of students, he continues to develop specialized programs of study for each individual student based directly on their musical goals. Paul has also featured as an instructor on cyberfret.com and shredknowledge.com, and will be featured on additional guitar instructional websites in the future. He is also developing new instructional products set to be released in late 2008. A full-length CD is also planned for release in 2009.

Paul’s debut solo release is a four-song EP called “Machined”. It was written during late spring and summer 2008 and recorded during July 2008. The CD is made up of two instrumental songs and two songs featuring guest vocalist Jerry Keyzer.

The songs cover elements of rock, metal and shred. All the tracks are melodic, but what I find most pleasing is Paul’s ability do drop an unexpected twist into his riffs and leads.

All music was composed and performed by Paul and all lyrics were written and performed by Jerry Keyzer. The CD was mastered by Rob Perez.

Looking at the individual tracks:

The first track, “Grind”, has one of the best verse riffs I’ve ever heard. Heavy, driving, and mean, with some trademark Kleff twists. The solos are great compositions in their own right and, while showcasing Paul’s awesome chops, they remain fresh and melodic. “Grind” is a great opener to the CD.

Track two, “Last Stand”, is the first of two vocal tracks featuring vocals by Jerry Keyzer. I hear a lot of Iron Maiden and old Queensryche in both the vocals and guitars in the chorus section. The solo is great and fits the song well, as opposed to being a gratuitous flash of skill, and it remains tasteful and nothing sounds forced.

The third track, “Dead Line”, is the second vocal track. Building from just a clean guitar and vocals, it morphs into a mid-tempo metal anthem, bridging the gap between an air punching epic and a metal ballad. Keyzer’s delivery is powerful, emotional and raw. The fast linier runs, pedal-point ideas and swept arpeggios, combined with Paul’s excellent vibrato create another melodic mini-composition for the solo section.

The opening guitar phrase to the fourth track (and second instrumental) “As If…”, is so cool I immediately picked up my own guitar and learnt it. It floats over a piano-based rhythm section which eases off as the lead guitar builds for the chorus. The melody over the opening and verse sections has a vocal-like quality in both the tone and phrasing. The bridge and outro section show a great use of vibrato and harmonized lines to express a great deal of emotion. The song is essentially a hard-rock ballad and it ends the CD off well.

As a whole, the production is clear and balanced, while Paul’s melodic sensibility is fresh and often unexpected. I can’t wait for a full album.

http://www.paulkleffmusic.com/

Summer Song - No Internet

Hey Shred Fiends! I've been away for most of the Summer in France and managed to survive no internet access for a whole month...the first few days of cold turkey were tough, but then I started doing some really weird things...

For example instead of surfing the net looking for new music, tabs, tips, guitar porn and forum chat I treated myself to a Korg Pandora and grabbed my trusty old strat (my first real guitar that I bought in '89) and sat down to actually play! So what was I doing? Well I spent quite a bit of time setting up loops and jamming around neo-classical type phrases using the harmonic and melodic minor and some of their various modes. There's no substitute for practising with a beat and the Pandora is very cool for that! I also explored playing over different types of beat, reggae, hip hop, dance, etc and had some amazing fun using the guitar synth patch. It was loads of fun to plug the pandora in the hi-fi at a post surf party, crank up a hip hop beats and knock some Scott Henderson style licks...nobody complained at all! In fact people were dancing. Wow, why is it when I changed to a metal backing track and started to 'shred' everybody shouted at me...

I met lots of French folks who really love their shred guitar, many of you probably know that guys like the late great Shawn Lane, Ron Thal and Greg Howe are really well known in France, no coincidence that Ron has been playing those awesome Vigier guitars for years, not to mention Shawn Lane. My copy of Guthrie Govan's 'Erotic Cakes' was listened to intently by many French shredders and surfers too. I expect that a few orders from France have been received at http://www.cornfordrecords.com/shop.php

Of course I was spreading the Shred Academy word too, so maybe we have a few new forum members too.

Anyway now that I'm back home it's time to kick off my new covers band, Metropolis, so I'll be sharing some thoughts on that of the coming months.

More importantly, after 9 years from concept to completion, on the 12th Sept I'm taking delivery of my own design guitar from the genius luthier and all round good guy, Colin Keefe http://www.keefeguitars.co.uk/ watch this space! I hope I like now it's finshed - EEEK!

Finally, over the coming weeks and months I'll be recounting my conversations with all sorts of interesting guitar related folk.

See ya

Shred Bloggs

Nick Layton Interview - A chat with Nick after his album launch

We get to learn more about Nick, his career and the recording of his debut solo album.


What steps have you taken to forge a career in the music industry?

Well, I have just released my debut CD "Storming the Castle." Having a good CD is a big piece of the puzzle, especially as an independent artist. I have had good response from fans and also from many in the industry. So, all of that is very encouraging and bodes well for the present and future of my career as a recording artist.

In addition to promoting the CD I'm also focused on getting out and playing live...and that will be happening very soon with my new band.

I'm also heavily involved in writing instructional material for guitarists as well as teaching privately.

I think that one's mind set is a critical and often overlooked piece of the success puzzle as well. I have a great musical mentor named Tom Hess (http://www.tomhess.net//). His example and wisdom has helped me immensely in realizing and believing that my success does not depend on others. I don't need someone to give me a record contract to "make it" in the music business. What I need is a good work ethic, specialized knowledge and skill, a good network of musicians and people, and a belief and passion in what I'm doing. I have taken some positive steps already and will continue to move forward each and every day!

During your formative years, what sort of practice regime did you have?

I was self taught so I had to learn a lot of stuff by trial and error. But back when I was learning to play I was obsessed right from the start. I would literally practice and play all day. I bought books on technique and theory...bought all the guitar magazines and devoured them from cover to cover, etc. I learned to play in the late 80's...so there was no shortage of inspiration for great guitar playing.

The Vinnie Moore, John Petrucci, and Paul Gilbert instructional videos were big for me.I would practice exercises and licks from those as well as learning tunes by ear all day long. I also improvised a lot. Something in me needed to express all the stuff I was learning in my own way. I think that is a critical part of the learning process--application! It doesn't matter how many techniques you can play or how many scales you know. Unless you can apply it and express yourself all of that is utterly useless.

What advice do you have for beginner and intermediate players who are trying to achieve a highly advanced level of playing?

Remember that Rome wasn't built in a day and great guitar playing isn't either. It takes time...and you have to be willing to put in the time necessary and be patient with the whole process. What I have noticed with many beginner and intermediate players is that they become impatient with the process and as a result their progress is stunted. Mastery of anything requires consistent, intelligent work. As an example, I hear a lot of young players these days with some really good chops...but they can't bend strings in tune or apply vibrato to save their life. Why? Because they thought all of that stuff was unimportant and thought they could be great by just developing technique. Being a great musician doesn't work that way. Musicianship involves many things and technique is only one aspect of it.

So my advice is to take your time, work hard and smart, and don't skip over essential skills like vibrato, bending, improvisation and phrasing. You should also have a clear idea of the style of music you want to play and the type of player you want to be so that you don't waste a lot of time on things you don't need to reach your goals.

What is it like teaching other advanced-level guitar players?

For me I enjoy teaching the advanced players the most. Sometimes, with players of that calibre, I become more of a coach or mentor than an actual teacher. Some of them come to me wanting to work on specific things in their playing...but oftentimes they are not sure where to go next with their playing. I usually end up steering them towards developing their own voice on the instrument, if they haven't already. That leads us back to things like phrasing, note choice, greater self expression, etc. Most of these type of players already know the advanced scales, arpeggios and techniques, so we focus on actually making music with all of that stuff.

What gear do you use and (more importantly) why?

I'm currently endorsed by AMT Electronics http://amtelectronicsusa.com//They make some great pedals.

I use a combination of amps depending on what I'm doing. For small gigs I love the Tech 21 Trademark 60. Beautiful amp with perfect tone for me...fat and warm. I hate trebly amps. I have also used a Carvin Legacy 100 watt head recently...pretty cool amp with a very unique sound. On the record I recorded 90% of the guitars direct with a POD 2.0, and 10% with the Trademark 60.

Guitar-wise I'm a Carvin guy. I'm left handed and play lefty so it's hard finding pro guitars sometimes. Carvin does it right! One of my guitars is made with Hawaiian Koa wood and has an ebony fingerboard, neck through construction. Looks killer and the tone is incredible. I use DiMarzio pick-ups in all my guitars. My favorites are the Super Distortion(Bridge), Tone Zone(Bridge), PAF Pro(neck) and Air Norton(neck). I'm mainly a dual humbucker guy although the sound of a single coil strat is unbeatable for some things.

Tone wise I like a pretty clean sounding distortion...I like to hear the wood and the hands make the music and not cover it with a ton of distortion.
Effects--not much really. I use a boss SD-1 to boost the signal for solos but the gain is usually on zero, level all the way up....and of course the AMT Dt-2 Distortion Station is a part of my arsenal now. A touch of delay and/or reverb and sometimes a Crybaby wah is about it for me.

What are you trying to achieve compositionally?

For me, music, guitar playing, and composition is all about expression. I have to "feel" something or it doesn't interest me. So when I'm composing that is first and foremost--it has to move me in some way. Many of my heroes certainly influenced these tunes, indirectly...and I'm actually quite pleased with that. Why hide it? I never spent much time copying other people's licks or tunes but I certainly listened to a lot of great music that inspired me big time. I think you can hear traces of Vinnie Moore, George Lynch, Criss Oliva, a little Yngwie and John Sykes (especially the vibrato), and maybe some Queensryche/Maiden as well. But I think what you get is my voice coming through the loudest...just a nod here and there to my heroes.

I ended up having a lot of sweep picking sequences as part of the tunes...and that's a technique that I've really only mastered in the last year or so. Probably my favorite sound is smooth legato so you hear lots of that on the record as well.

Most of my songs start out as small ideas. Maybe a riff or chord progression. Sometimes a melody. It's usually one or the other and the initial seed usually comes pretty quickly. Then I go about crafting the song, much like a writer would go about writing a novel. A little here, a little there, etc. And all along I have to be happy with each "draft" of each section or it gets revised or dropped. So, I'm always trying to express some feeling, or some idea and a song is never "done" until I'm satisfied. A song like "Storming the Castle" or "Snake Charmer" happened in many different sections over quite a bit of time. If I got stuck I just moved on to something else. Other tunes come quickly and easily. "Daybreak", for example, just sort of rolled right off my fingers...but even that took a lot of work before I was completely happy with everything.

Talk about the process of recording your album. Are there any tips and trick that you could pass on? Who are the guests on it, where was is recorded, how long did it take to compose and record, etc?

I knew very little about recording when I started this album. I had to basically teach myself how to use Pro Tools from scratch. I did get help from some cool people like my buddy Paul Tauterouff and also Rob Perez. That helped immensely when it came to things like panning and mixing.

The best advice I have is to take your time and learn your equipment/recording software. Even if you have the greatest tunes in the world, and the most insane guitar playing , a bad sounding recording will kill it. So take the time and learn how to record and mix your own stuff. And you don't need a million dollar set up either. My entire CD was recorded using Pro Tools and an MBox 2 in my house. I'd say the whole process took a couple years from start to finish. Of course next time should be much quicker but the learning process was invaluable.

I had some talented friends play on my CD.

Paul Tauterouff (http://www.paultauterouff.com/) played bass and also did a guest guitar solo on "Deceiver." Dave Cardwell (http://www.cardwellmusic.com/) sang lead
vocals and co-wrote two songs and also tracked the drums on the whole CD.

I'd also like to mention Rob Perez (http://trinityrecords.net/Mastering.html) who mastered the CD. I consider mastering an essential part of finishing a CD and Rob did a killer job!

Thanks for the cool interview and to everyone reading this. The Shred Academy is a great site and I'm honored to be a part of it. If anyone has any questions about guitar playing, phrasing, recording, composing, etc please email me at: nick@nicklayton.com

If you'd like to know more about what I do including instructional products, articles and of course my CD please visit http://www.nicklayton.com/

Nick Layton

http://www.nicklayton.com/
www.myspace.com/nickolaslaytonproject

Album Review - Zack Uidl "Insomnia"

Zack Uidl’s solo album, Insomnia, is a show stopper for anyone into progressive music and a high level of musicianship. Oh yes, there is also a truck load of shredding. The record is a mind bending aural assault that is simultaneously pleasing and terrifying.

The entire album is essentially one song, broken into 8 tracks, perhaps for easier navigation to the listener’s favourite part, or maybe it's a map of Zack's own experience suffering from insomnia. My favourite track is the near-on 15 minute epic “The Crossing”. Crazy time signatures, brutal rhythm guitar, razor sharp leads, chilling melodic break-downs and insane harmony sections, it’s all there, and it’s all great.

Zack is well known as an instructor and for his instructional material, however, he is fast becoming just as well known for his astonishing technical prowess as well and Insomnia is a great show case of his playing skills and melodic ideas.

I hear a strong Dream Theater influence in the heavier songs, though not so much the Petrucci style solos, but rather the rhythmic stabs, climaxes and crescendos.

I’m not going to break the album down track by track, because it’s meant to be listened to as a whole.

The track listing is as follows:

1 Insomnia
2 The Crossing
3 Reverie-The Aspiration
4 Disillusion Theory
5 Reverie- Seize The Accolade
6 Turmoil
7 Reverie-Reminiscence
8 Collapse Of The Depraved

The 3 tracks called Reverie serve as mellow and contemplative transitions between the heavier feel of “The Crossing”, “Disillusion Theory” and “Turmoil” (where Zack’s playing really comes alive) while the last track “Collapse Of The Depraved” revisits and completes the musical themes introduced in the opening track “Insomnia”.

This is an excellent one-man album, and a fantasic debut for Zack as a solo artist. I have listened to the album a lot and I'm sure I will continue to do so.

Zack has also recently received his new 8 string guitar through his Conklin guitar endorsement, which should yield some interesting results, so watch this space.

http://www.zackuidl.com/

www.myspace.com/zackuidl

Album Review - Nick Layton "Storming the Castle"

Nick Layton is a professional guitarist, composer and teacher living in Washington State. He has worked in a variety of professional music settings including teaching private and group lessons, as well as having been the Music Coordinator at both Chorus church in Southern California and Discovery church in Oregon.
Layton has also released a major instructional course called: Phrasing Concepts for Rock Lead Guitar Soloing-- a powerful new instructional course for guitarists who want to learn highly effective soloing concepts to help better express themselves.

In addition, Nick has co-authored the E-Book “The Next Step: Serious Improvement for the Developing Guitarist.” This book is for guitarists who want to learn to play better, faster, technically more efficient, and much more.

Nick has an endorsement with AMT Electronics and he is currently using the DT-2 Distortion Station.

Inspired by the great artists and virtuoso guitarists of the late 70's and 80's, including Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, George Lynch , Michael Schenker, John Sykes, Dio, Queensryche, Savatage, TNT, Dream Theater, etc; Nick became obsessed with the guitar in 1987 and never looked back.

Layton's musical education includes advanced studies with virtuoso Tom Hess in his Music Careers Mentoring program as well as private studies with recording artists/virtuosos James Byrd, Slav Simanic and Howard Hart.

Nick graduated from George Fox University in 1998.

Lets dive in:

The opening track “Storming the Castle” is a hard rock track with an interesting opening melody based on the Japanese pentatonic scale. Nick says that the title of the song was inspired by a scene from the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia”, where a storming charge is lead by the Lion character, Aslan. Nicks solo’s are blazing right off the bat.

The second track “Fire” is one of two vocal tracks on the album. Both the lyrics and the vocal lines were contributed by Dave Cardwell. The song has a chilled out intro incorporating wind and chime sound effects. The rest of the song is all about the driving rhythm guitars and some great phrasing in the solo.

Track three, “Valiant One”, sees the influence that Nick draws from Yngwie Malmsteen. Nick is by no means a Yngwie clone, though he does have a good grip on his neo-classical styling’s.

“Daybreak” is based around the G# minor 9 chord. It’s extremely melodic and shows a hint of Vinnie Moore with a massive slice of Nick Layton. The solo is full of incredible ideas, probably my favourite on the album.

On to the fifth track “Snake Charmer”. Well, with a name like that, you’re expecting something with a Middle Eastern flavour and Nick’s Phrygian Dominant ideas deliver.

The other vocal track “Deceiver” sees all lyrics and vocals delivered superbly by Dave Cardwell again, as well as a guest solo by Paul Tauterouff. Nick says that Chris Oliva of Savatage came through as an influence on this track.

Track seven “B and Me” is dedicated to Nick’s friend Barb who always encouraged Nick to pursue a career in music. The song is very uplifting (well, to my ears at least) and Nick’s unique musical voice comes through strongly in this track.

“Tears of Gethsemane” is probably one of the most emotionally charged instrumental songs I’ve heard in a long while. According to Nick, the song follows the biblical account of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.

The sombre feel of the previous track is completely lifted by the ninth track “Alive Again”. Nick commented that he really likes the way the outro melody and improvised solo came out.

The final track “Palm 91” is different to all the other tracks in that there are no drum or bass lines, just a little synth. Nick explained that the biblical passage of the same name had helped him through some tough times in his personal life. A great ending to an album full of Nick Layton Signature licks.

Nick’s ability to express himself on his two Carvin DC’s is something that not many guitarists ever acquire. In short, he’s a great player and I’m sure you’ll like his music. 9/10.

Pre-Orders of the CD directly from Nick, made before July 21st will get FREE shipping. Pre-ordered CD's will ship no later than July 22nd, one full week before the official release date.In addition all pre-orders may request a free copy of the 16 track compilation album Chronicles: City of Sound.

As of 29 July, Storming the Castle, will be available at outlets such as CD Baby, I-Tunes, Guitar Nine, and several others in both hard copy and digital download versions.

London International Music Show Part 1

Hi All,

The 12-15th of June was all lined up to be a high point of the year for musos, and gear addicts in particular, with the London International Music Show taking place at Excel in Dockland's.

LiMS is in fact an amalgam of previous music trade fairs focusing individually on guitars, drums and music tech, so the question was... was it really bigger, or did it just have more stuff that I didn't want to look at?

Well the answer to that questions was simple, it 'felt' smaller than last year's Guitar Show and for some odd reason, no doubt to do with local councils, you couldn't even buy anything priced above £25! This latter fact had some types looking like extras from a Sam Raimi film...wandering round looking but not touching with credit cards hanging uselessly in their hairy hands. Eeek!

In these days of the on-line retailer it did make me wonder whether the show was there to further encourage people to ignore their local guitar shop in favour of the faceless .com. We'll all regret it when it's too late!

Another odd side-effect of the 'sales ban' was that there seemed to be far fewer people actually trying gear out than last year - was this for fear of wanting to buy something and being told 'guitar denied!' in true Wayne's World style? Maybe, but surely it doesn't help the industry does it?

But the LiMS is not just about the gear, it's about performances too and Shredders...we were well catered for! I was there on the Saturday which meant Jamie Humphries, Dave Kilminster and the outstanding Guthrie Govan set the stage on fire as a Cornford Amplifiers endorsee billed 'C3'. We were later treated to the incredible and legendary Billy Sheehan doing crazy things on a bass further assisted by Mr Govan.

A real chemistry showed through with these two and the mouth watering prospect of a future collaboration between Sheehan and Govan was left hanging in the air! I've got my fingers crossed!

If that wasn't enough, next up was a man well known to Shred Academy...Paul Gilbert. Paul is of course responsible for more shredders taking to the strings than any other guitarist as a result of his terrifying teaching videos and outstanding recording career with Racer X, Mr Big and his solo work. Paul played a jaw dropping clinic style set with backing tracks and you could hear people breaking their own fingers in disgust! Strangely he didn't join former band mate Sheehan on stage...

Phil Hilborne hit the stage next but I've seen Phil before, and he's a real entertaining guitarist with top chops, but there was only so much time in one day, so I hopped out awaiting the headliner...

Yngwie J. Malmsteen!

What is there left to say about this guy? His influence is everywhere and his playing grossly underrated in my opinion. I particularly love his interpretation of classic rock and blues style solos that most people never hear - check out his version of Carry On My Wayward son for example - amazing!

So the opportunity to see the legend was top of my 'not to miss' list. BUT...

The organisation had been a mess...all the timings were well over an hour out of sync by the end of the day (perhaps they had a drummer organising it LOL) and people were drifitng out early (nothing to do with the price of parking, beer or food..RIGHT!), so Yngwie exploded on to stage to a half empty auditorium. To make matters worse, his tone was awful!

I know we say it's all in the fingers, but if your amp sounds rough and the FOH sound is poor there's nothing really you can do even if you're YJM. It looked as if Yng was playing through a DSL, but it sounded like a cheap combo out front. To top this he was playing along to backing tracks in a very 'OK where's the cheque?' sort of way, hilariously shouting 'Track 1, 2, 3, 4 etc' to the sound engineer between numbers! Great...by the time I heard Yngwie bark out the order 'Track 5' I'd had enough and went back to try out more gear. I'm sorry but I'd rather keep good memories of Yngwie than this performance. I'm certain his live tour next month with a real band will see him back to majestic form...let's hope so!

Sunday had a performance from Joe Satriani that I couldn't make, so tell us all about that if you were there.

I'll be back with LiMS Part 2 to share some of my thoughts on the gear I tried out...yum, yum!

Now stop wasting time on the net and go and shred!

Shred Bloggs

Hello from Shred Bloggs!

Hi Shred Academy Alumni,

My name is Pete (aka Northerngit) but for the purposes of this, and because it's fun, I've decided to call myself Shred Bloggs!

So what are you likely to expect from the blog? Well, as most of you lot, I'm just an ordinary guitarist who enjoys listening to shred and trying to crank up the metronome myself. I have a particular leaning towards jazzy/fusion type stuff (in fact I love Jazz anyway) but also technical metal and Seven string antics (i.e. Nevermore as opposed to Korn if you get my drift).

I'm going to be covering a wide range of topics, mainly to do with the people of shred, the gear we use, or would LOVE to use, reviews of gigs and recordings, fun things that I'm doing with guitar design and bands and any old nonsense that pops into my head.

So if you want to hear about something in particular, get me to review your latest opus or simply wind me up on a Shred related subject (and no...Lily Allen's 'performance' at Glastonbury isn't shred!) then leave a message.

Let's take this up a few more Bpm!

Cheers

Shred Bloggs