“It’s a way of lightsabering people!” why Getdown Services’ Josh Law loves playing guitar
Getdown Services have earned their (tongue-in-cheek) self-styled monicker as Britain’s Best Band thanks in no small part to the Minehead duo’s chaotic live shows, where Ben Sadler and Josh Law strip off, get sweaty and proceed to, in their own words, “go mental”.
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When things really need to go up a gear and really get raucous, Law reaches for the guitar he’s loved since he was a kid, to “lightsaber” the audience with monster riffs and frenetic solos – as he says, “when you want to rock out, there’s no better tool for the job”.
But while he’s unhinged on stage, off it Law’s guitar playing reveals his love of Jack White and classic rock, with some delicately tasteful banjo chops adding a very different element to his style as he shows us his two favourite instruments – a tried and tested Dano, and his beloved custom guitar from UK maker, Ancoats.
Indeed, in the latest episode of My Guitars & Me, Law reveals a much less bombastic side of his guitar playing than we’re used to seeing from him on stage, with his beloved Danelectro in hand, he reveals that his interesting right-hand technique developed as a result of a pandemic dalliance with learning the banjo.
“Covid came, and I wanted a new thing to learn,” Lord tells us. “And I wanted to get an instrument where I was like, ‘I’m actually going to practice this.’ So, I picked up the banjo. But it really jumped my guitar playing forward ’cause I could do the roving thumb thing. And I tried to not get in the habit playing the banjo like a guitar. I tried to pick up new techniques and it’s it’s really changed my whole thing with guitar.”
It’s a far cry from the “commanding” sight of Lord and his bandmate Ben Sadler stripped to the waist, screaming commands at their audiences during Getdown Services’ legendarily feral live shows. The climax of these moments is usually when Lord reaches for his guitar to blast a sick riff or shred an aggressively kinetic solo – but that wasn’t the original plan.
“When we started the band, one of the things I wanted to do was not play guitar,” he admits. “The shows started getting a bit raucous but that wasn’t really the intention – we were just kind of crooning and stuff! And then it kind of went a bit chaotic and we started going insane on stage. But if you want to rock out, there’s no better instrument than the guitar. It’s the best thing for it. It’s the best tool for the job.
“So we got like three or four years into the band and I was like, ‘Ah, I should probably play guitar, ’cause I can actually play that one.’ I can’t I can’t sing or really dance or do anything really. But guitar I can play a bit. If you get to a point in the set where the crowd are loosened up. They’re all going mental. We’re going mental. Everyone’s sweaty. If you pick the guitar up, it’s another way of beaming energy out.”
Watch the full episode of My Guitars And Me with Getdown Services’ Josh Lord
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
