And my first acoustic was also given to me it was a Gibson J-45 I got after a gig when some kid came up and said, I loved how you played. We were band members again. I liked just the sound of it, and the spirit of what they were doing. So I started playing it, and youre right, I played it for years. I want to get back and finish those things. Mike also has another band called The Dirty Knobs, which is his sideband. Together, the two have been the key to an unmistakable rock and roll sound created by one of pop musics longest-lasting entities. Campbell's guitar tech, Steve Winstead, walks us through every guitar, amp, and pedal and lets us in on Campbell's time-tested formula for great tone. "I have another one from the mid-60s that I use on Free Fallin, Roger McGuinn-style [a 360 with single, rear binding]. The effects currently in the setup are: A Digitech Whammy II pedal, a Boss TU-2 Tuner, a Boss RC-20 Looper, a Line 6 DL4 . So Id like the opportunity to live a somewhat normal life for a while; our life has really been either on the road or in the studio, and very little else. BA1 1UA. Malcolm Young more influential than EVH or Clapton? This time, he quickly snapped it up. I could play the whole show with a Tele or a Les Paul or an SG. We started out playing those big Super Beatle amps made by Vox. So in my spare time, I would just try to invent them. So the non-Tom Petty model specs out the same. I have a 50-watt Marshall that I really like, a little 60s amp in red. Finally, theres a mid-60s Gibson SG that Campbells been favoring for this tour after recently digging it out of storage. The band are playing better than ever and they scored their first No 1 album with last summers Hypnotic Eye, as much of a back-to-basics rock n roll album as theyve made since breaking through the New Wave clutter in the late 1970s. My dad was in the Air Force, and he was leaning on me to sign up so I could make some choices of where I might be deployed. Mike Campbell launched The Dirty Knobs after coming to terms with his increasingly prolific creative output. I like the Broadcaster just because the way it is, I mean that's what was done on American Girl and all the first recordings was all Tele sub. Featuring a Laminated Flame Maple back and sides with a Laminate Spruce top, this semi hollow design with sustain block allows for a stable, rich, resonant and dynamic tone. I bought those two guitars for $200 a piece. If the Heartbreakers are tracking, and all playing at the same time and trying to get a performance on the song a live performance and theres a call for a guitar solo, I like to try to get it within the performance of the band or at least get the essence of it. And theres something to be said for the aesthetic qualities of a bunch of them, as opposed to one. Oh, and of course Full Moon Fever is one of my favorites the first album we did with Jeff Lynne. Its just too valuable now, and Im afraid itll get damaged. Pick your selections. And even years before the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan, your aunt took you to a movie set, where you saw Elvis. As we wind down, we ask Campbell why he doesnt take to the producers chair more often. As we begin our nearly two-hour conversation, Mike Campbell admits that even after more than 40 years as the lead guitarist in the venerable Heartbreakers band, the pressure is still on him. Theyre tools, and I look at them like colors or paint brushes; each has a different texture or color, and if thats what you need, only that guitar will make that sound. Pick up an astonishing new guitar with this Duesenberg Signature Series Starplayer TV Mike Campbell Guitar at Andertons! "The Clipper had one pickup in it; a bass pickup. Of course, were skipping ahead to the mid 60s, with the Beatles and the Beach Boys and all that. Free UK Delivery! Look around you. Campbell, who died on Tuesday, aged 81, of Alzheimer's disease, was a guitar prodigy at age 10.He spent his childhood on an Arkansas farm with no electricity, where he was the seventh son in a . Its so good. And after the first album, and with Damn The Torpedoes breaking out, you could buy pretty much anything. But it was fun. They know what works to achieve a particular sound, and there's a little bit of room to see what else might be interesting. But the truth is, ours a working collection. I havent quite got that far, but I do have a list. That soon changed, though. Gibson SG 9. Its the third Rickenbacker 12-string ever made. And the top horn looks like somebody cut it it used to be like the 12-string on Torpedoes. He knows when I come in that its going to be hard for me to walk out without buying something. Well, I finished the semester, but then we started getting gigs and I never went back to school. Im very much in love with the early-60s Fenders. At Gil Southworths shop. On almost every song there was at least one or two acoustic Martins. Duesenberg Starplayer TV (best guitar I've owned - awesome!) The afternoon after the emotional interview at his house, Campbell is at an enormous soundstage at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. It sounds better than any of your other guitars! I told him I leave it at home but I use it in the studio. The hits keep coming. Pettys third solo album, Highway Companion, was released last month, debuting at #4 on Billboards Top 200 album chart, and he and the Heartbreakers spent the summer on the road in support of it. Guitar Center 1.03M subscribers Mike Campbell's guitar playing and songwriting come from a place of joy from his long career with Tom Petty & The Heartbreaks, to joining Fleetwood Mac in. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Then I got my draft notice, took the physical, and failed the hearing test. I need different guitars for different things. And I pulled it out for this tour and said to Tom, Why dont you try this? And he said, Theres the sound. All the other guitars theyre all good, but that guitar just has that tone. "But I also have a 59 kind of Jimmy Page one thats really great, and I have one thats a 56, too. This Magnatone Custom 260 High Fidelity is owned by Mike Campbell. The Mike Campbell II features a so called "Destruct Knob" placed at the lower cutaway, which enables you to boost the signal by up to 10db, controlling distortion and feedback at any time with the touch of . It worked because everyone knew each other, and were hanging out before there was a band. Well, they all became my dear friends, you know? MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. It has two Gibson humbucking pickups and a normal Telecaster pickup in the bridge.". He augments that with a custom Fender Excelsior and a Fender Vibrotane for Leslie-type effects. Bath Its so easy to play. I was walking around in Hartford, Connecticut and saw they had an SG Junior and the Gretsch Clipper. I listened to lots of John Lennon, Keith Richards, Brian Jones. And I have them set up at home, in my studio. So I thought, Well, okay. This is 'Free Falling.' Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder (opens in new tab) and Unrecorded (opens in new tab). Guitar lesson on playing with dynamics and using a motif to build interest into your melodies and improvisations Guitar lesson exploring voice leading, alternate picking and a TrueFire jam track Guitar lesson on using sequences to gain the 'wow' factor and beyond the Pentatonic box "Then there were certain songs that were done on a 12-string, so you kind of need the 12-string to make those songs sound special. Do you consciously approach the guitar solos differently on different projects? $4.99 shipping. Australian Musician's Greg Phillips had the pleasure of. The following photos are from the companion book to one of the best music documentaries that I have ever seen named "Runnin' Down a Dream." Its a semi-hollowbody, and Id never seen one before. Jimmy Iovine came in to produce it, and we had a big hit (Refugee). From the left side we have "Little Ricky," which is a Rickenbacker-style mandolin with a whammy bar. This is for everything else for 12-strings," says Mike Campbell's guitar tech about the Rickenbacker 1967 375 Electric Guitar. The show runs well over an hour, and features more gorgeous guitars than we have time to tell you about, but you can see the whole episode above. Well, nothings written in stone. Here are some highlights. In the eighties, the Sonic Youth leader emerged as indie rock's premier guitar radical, mixing strange drone tunings, jamming screwdrivers or drumsticks under his strings, and blasting out. We have an Ovation 12-string that we made into a high-string we took off six regular strings and just kept the high strings its called Nashville tuning. If you were looking for something that little bit different with a stunning iconic tone then this is the guitar for you. Tom said, This isnt bad. We used to call it the mystery guitar. In the Wilburys, you were with Harrison and Dylan. As the setlist starts to take shape, though, I try to minimise the number of guitar changes as much as I can. Its kinda out of control (laughs). My dad was stationed in Okinawa, he was in the Air Force, and he picked up a $60 Goya electric and gave it to me. Yeah, well is was back in days of the Vietnam draft, and I had drawn a really low number, so I knew I was going to be called if I dropped out. For more information on Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and the Mike Campbell guitar series, please visit TomPetty.com. My guitar tech has been bugging me to go and actually take pictures of them and make a computer file. Im told your guitar collection includes a Rickenbacker that has so far avoided full identification. Nobody else wanted to do it (laughs)! Mike says your rhythm playing is so solid that it frees him up to concentrate on fills. Its hard, theres just so many great guitarists from that era, its just hard to narrow them down to who your favorites are, but George is definitely one of mine. "[Out of] all these guitars, [the 'Burst] is the only one I put back in the case when I'm done with it.". Thats how I learned how to bend strings, by hearing him do it, slowing it down and thinking, Oh you have to push this down to get the string to make that sound. I learned a lot of phrasing and scales I just love the way he played on that record. You guys are doing Handle With Care on this tour. Amongst his peers today, Petty is revered. Did you hold your finger on the label as it would spin? Yeah, because Id been a bass player before the Heartbreakers, I didnt really have an electric guitar. It was Georges. Maybe a cranked Princeton or Deluxe? Wake is easily my favorite album of all time. One guy had a Gibson, one guy had a Fender, so youd learn the differences and how to use them. The Official Mike Campbell Reverb Shop Chicago, IL, United States Send Message Preferred Seller Listings 89 Feedback 58 Info & Policies Oops, Something went wrong. But the 59, theres just something about it, and I think there is a reason why all those guitar players gravitated towards it. Find album credit information for Voodoo by D'Angelo on AllMusic MR. BIG Addicted to that Rush Vintage 1989 Promotional Guitar Pick Paul Gilbert. Is there any particular guitarist who influenced the way you play guitar? Each instrument includes a small number of guitar picks used by Mike Campbell on the last Heartbreakers tour. But he had this great room in a separate building right next to the studio, with ceilings that are 30 feet high, and wood. After Torpedoes, we started to make a little profit, and started buying guitars basically as we saw them. CD LOT - Hard Rock, Pop, Metal: Stewart, Aerosmith, Elton. SPONSORED. "That was my guitar for several years until Tom sat on it and broke the neck off of it. How did that happen? Jimi Hendrix compared to George Harrison is a way other universe, but still equally inspiring. And again, we have a lot of songs to record. It was an f-hole model and it wasnt a good one. Im always in awe of him, of his talent. I prefer to have the Broadcaster out but for whatever reason he'll take it out. I think Blair is probably is more locked with the drummer, where Howie played more like a guitar player. So when I got back to town, I called him and said, Ive got some tracks that Tom doesnt want to use, and said he could listen to those if he liked. Others he and Petty made iconic, such as the Fender Broadcaster he played on Breakdown and most of the Heartbreakers early records. On your solo records, do you do most of the bass playing? YouTube Link: Mike Campbell Continue reading "Mike . It had a weird kind of Formica finish when I got it, but I put a pale blue finish on it..