1.Tell
us your name and the band you play for
My
name is Max, I’ve been playing the guitar in Alwaid, a French
melodic metal band, since its creation in 2010.
2.Who
made you want to pick up the guitar?
To
be honest, when I was young I was more into drums, but my parents
were not ! A close friend of mine introduced me to guitar when I
was about 15 or 16. And I have never stopped since then! (btw I still
love the drums!)
3.Are
you self taught or did you take lessons?
I
didn’t take any lessons, I just practiced a lot with friends and
many of them were guitarists so they taught me some techniques, but
most of the time, I just played over the music of my favourite bands.
Learning to “place myself” to find the good note, and eventually
improvise on the scale as I’m listening. But I think it would be
useful to take a few lessons to learn hard solo techniques for
example.
4.
Can you read music, Can you read tab?
Even
if I’ve made a lot of progress over the past few years by playing
covers on acoustic guitar, I’m still lost when I have to read a
proper music scoresheet or to know which note I’m playing. But tabs
are a very good thing when you can’t read music, it’s quite easy
to find the notes on the neck reading just the numbers.
5.Do
you feel like you have your own sound / tone ?
Yes,
indeed! That’s why sometimes I can be so annoying with the other
members of the band on a show, I often insist on playing on my own
rig, to make sure my sound is exactly how I want it to be.
Btw,
it has taken a lot of time to find it, and even now, I’m not
completely sure that I have found it even if I’m really close
6.Tell
us about your guitar ( brand ,model . year , color )
Of
course it sounds great too! And what about the style! (But I have to
say, I really like V-shaped guitars.)
I
don’t remember exactly when I bought it, but I think I’ve had it
for about 10 or 12 years (and since then, it has known a lot of
gigs!)
7.What
about pickups? Passive or active? Tell us about them
I
like both. On my Jackson RR5, I have a couple of Seymour Duncan’s
SH2 and SH4. I really like the sound, very “hot” and “hard
rock”, which is very good for me, but I’m also a big fan of the
EMG’s. The 81 is one of my favourites essentially because it makes
rhythmic parts sound very precise and with a high gain (which is
great when you play metal music)
8.Let’s
get into amplification, Same drill brand , model , speakers etc
When
I started to play in bands, I used to play on a Peavey Triple XXX
head, which is a very good amp, but for years now I’ve played on a
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. Its sound is closer to what I searched
for my own tone.
When I was young I liked to go to the music store and test a lot of amps, and I am still doing this but the rectifier gives me what I need so it’s great!
When I was young I liked to go to the music store and test a lot of amps, and I am still doing this but the rectifier gives me what I need so it’s great!
For
speakers, I have tested a lot but for now I still play on my Marshall
1960 AV, it’s the vintage version of the classic 1960 but it has
the equivalent of the Celestion V30’s. I like the combination of
these two, head and cab; because it’s like a mix between “American”
and “British” sound
9.Do
you have a pedal board? Tell us about that badboy
I
do! I’ve played a lot on my own pedalboard , I like finding the
right pedal for what I need, and I’m not familiar with the
« all-digital » approach which does thousands of sounds…
For now I’m using the following :
Maxon
OD9 (ideal with the Rectifier), Dunlop ZW 45 Wha, TC Electronics Hall
of Fame and Polytune, Boss RV-3, GE-7 and CE-5, MXR Boost line
driver, and an ISP Decimator.
I
have played a few gigs with a FCB-1010 connected to a G-Major but I
always find it much more complicated than my own pedalboard to find
new sounds and program them, although it’s easier and quicker to
set up on a stage.
10..Now
tell us your Dream Rig in detail…..
I
think I will continue to play on a Mesa boogie rectifier head, I
really like the sound but I think it will great to couple it with a
Marshall JCM 800 head, I’m still a big fan of this old beast.
For
the cabs, the dream will be a big wall of Marshall 4x12 cabs, THE
wall of sound ! ^^
11.What
guitarist can you not stand?
To
be honest I don’t really know. Even if I don’t like the style, or
what the musician is playing, they’re still musicians and I respect
that.
I12.
Is tone more important or is technique?
For
me the tone is more important but you shouldn’t ignore the
technique.
Technique
is great and necessary, but in a song, you shouldn’t put a lot of
long technical parts because I think it’s not very interesting to
listen to that. But, if you combine technique with good emotional
parts which are more based on melodies, you have a great thing. It’s
like cooking ! You have to respect some doses to do something
good.
You
can find it in Iron Maiden songs for example, they are amazingly
talented musicians but in their solos, you always find a big place
for melodies between hard parts, and I think that’s what people
like the most, when they can even sing along!
13.
Name your top 5 guitarist
Zakk
Wylde (this guy is so amazing!)
Randy
Rhoads (his solos are a great mix between classical music and heavy
metal!)
Tony
Iommi (Riff-master for years)
James
Hetfield (Metallica is still a big influence for me)
Adrian
Smith (he has written great songs, Wasted years for example !)
14.Who
is the most overrated guitarist
Trick
question! ^^
I
don’t really know, for example even if I don’t really like what
John Petrucci does, I still think he’s a amazingly great musician!
15.Who
would you like a one hour private sit down lessons with anyone dead
or alive?
Maybe
James Hetfield, it will be great to jam with him !
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