“I like grabbing something that I don’t think is the ‘right’ thing and seeing how that works”: Why Alex Lifeson still reaches for the $57 Japanese guitar his parents got him
When you’ve spent decades playing in front of stadiums with one of prog rock’s most sonically ambitious bands, you earn the right to reach for whatever gear you damn well please.
And for Alex Lifeson, that sometimes means bypassing his custom rigs in favour of a cheap, beat-up Japanese guitar he’s had since 1967.
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Asked if he tends to stick with familiar tools or reach for new ones when recording, Lifeson tells Guitar World,
“There are definitely go-to’s that I prioritise, but I also just like grabbing something that I don’t think is the ‘right’ thing and seeing how that works.”
“Like, I have the first guitar I ever owned, which my parents bought for me in 1967 for $57. It’s just a cheap Japanese guitar that I had refinished. I pull it up for some things.
“It’s kind of like a Jack White sensibility, like, ‘I’ll take this crappy guitar and see what happens.’”
“So far, I haven’t had much success, to be honest,” he adds with a laugh. “But you get what I’m saying. Sometimes, I’ll go for a P90; I’m not normally inclined in that way with guitars, but now I realise that tonality is what it’s all about. I create different tones.”
As for his most-used gear today? “I’d probably say my ES-335, the Lerxst guitars, and a couple of my Teles,” says Lifeson.
“And then, on the amp front, I’ve got a bunch of them. I’ve got a Marshall, my Lerxst amps, Bogner, a Mesa Boogie Mark V and – like I said – I have an enclosure built with a single Celestion 12.”
“Then I’ve got my Universal Audio compressors and about a dozen good acoustics. I’ve been collecting gear for 50 years, so I’ve got a good arsenal of gear here in my apartment. I’m covered.”
Still, for all the gear and decades of experience, the Rush guitarist admits confidence hasn’t always come easily.
“I’ve never been very confident, to be honest with you, as a player,” he says.
“I’ve always felt like I had to work hard, and maybe I didn’t appreciate that I have a natural talent for playing guitar.”
The post “I like grabbing something that I don’t think is the ‘right’ thing and seeing how that works”: Why Alex Lifeson still reaches for the $57 Japanese guitar his parents got him appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
