THE AXEMEN SERIES : Jonathan Hayward of Dark Messiah.

 

1. Tell us your name and the band you play for.

My name is Jonathan Hayward and I play for the Canadian metal band Dark Messiah.

2. Who made you want to pick up the guitar?

When I was in junior high a friend lent me the “Master of Puppets” and “Cowboys from Hell” albums. It was my first introduction to heavy metal and I immediately wanted to start learning how to play guitar.

3. Are you self taught or did you take lessons?

    

I am for the most part self taught. Online lessons and reading Guitar World magazine is how I first started teaching myself.

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4. Can you read music, Can you read tab?

I cannot read sheet music. I’ve used tab since I started playing.

5. Do you feel like you have your own sound/tone?

I recently picked up a Marshall MG100HDFX which has benefited my tone and made it a lot easier to dial in compared to my last Marshall which was an AVT150H. 

6. Tell us about your guitar (brand ,model, year, color).

  

I play a 2009 Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy Ex. The colour is Midnight Ebony.

7. What about pickups? Passive or active? Tell us about them.

It has active EMG-85/81 pickups. Those are the original pickups it came with.

8. Lets get into amplification, Same drill brand, model, speakers etc...

I use a Marshall MG100HDFX head plugged into a Marshall 4x10 cabinet with

Celestion speakers.

   

9. Do you have a pedal board? Tell us about that badboy.

I’ve been experimenting with different noise gates, and delay pedals recently. Other than that I use a Korg tuner pedal. 

10. Now tell us your Dream Rig in detail…..

If I could have any rig it would be a tie between a Revv 100p Generator with a matching 4x12 cab, or a Mesa Boogie Mark V head with a Mesa Recto cab with V30’s.

11.What guitarist can you not stand?

Yngwie Malmsteen.

    YES! It was my ultimate goal Jonathan Hayward hates me!!!

12. Is tone more important or is technique?

Technique is more essential. Great tone won’t make you sound good if you don’t know how to play your instrument.

13. Name your top 5 guitarists.

Dimebag Darrell

Kirk Hammett

Alex Skolnick

Randy Rhoads

Mark Morton

  

14.Who is the most overrated guitarist?

Yngwie Malmsteen.

15.Who would you like a one hour private sit down lessons with anyone dead or alive?

Dimebag or Randy Rhoads.