Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2005 1:01 am Post subject: Jimmy Herring answers some of your questions!
Hey guys,
I just found out, not to long ago there were some questions people had for me. I don't know much about computers and that's an understatement, but I wanted to try and answer some of the question and say thanks for listening because if it weren't for folks like you, guys like me wouldn't have any work. So, thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
Jimmy H
What kind of pickups in the strat used in the Jacksonville Jazz Fest DVD?
The pickups in that strat during that time were Fender Lace Sensors.
I took the pick guard off of a newer strat that I had, and put it on the 69 used in the Jacksonville gig. There are different models of Lace Sensors. Those were the Gold ones . I experimented a lot with pickups in that guitar. In the early 90’s it had humbuckers . Now it has some kind of Fender reissue single coils in it.
Picks: (what kind and do I flat pick)
I usually just use a basic Fender Heavy. My all time favorite picks are no longer made. They were called “Arrow.” Everyone used to tell me that the Clayton picks with the eagle on them were the same thing but they are not the same. I’m not even sure what they were made of but they produced the best tone to my ears. They also had the word Arrow engraved into the pick which gave you a really good gripping surface to hold onto. To me, nothing is more irritating than the pick slipping away when you’re trying to play. I switched to the Fender Heavys when I could no longer find the Arrows. I became really dependant on the Arrows and when they were no longer available, I figured I should get used to playing
with a pick that would always be available. Picks are very important to me. I usually play with the same one for at least 3 to 6 months before breaking in a new one. When they finally get worn in correctly, they produce a much smoother tone to my ears. They’re also much easier to play with. I can’t play worth anything with a new pick. Most normal people don’t have all these hang ups about such a trivial thing, but I’m really weird when it comes to picks.
Someone asked if I flat pick…. If flat picking is the same as alternate picking, yes. If I’m playing sixteenth notes or triplets I’m probably alternate picking. I don’t know how to sweep pick or any variations on that style of picking.
Hope this clears up a few gear questions!
Amps: When I was playing with Jazz is Dead I was using a 50 watt 76 Marshall JMP head going through a 73 Marshall 4x12 cab with the original 25 watt Celestion speakers. With this amp I used a Tube Screamer and a Fender spring reverb unit. This was the lead amp, basically.
For the cleaner rhythms and chords I had a 64 Fender Shoman which also had a Fender spring reverb unit going to it. The speaker cab was another 4x12 Marshall with the original greenbacks in it wired to 4 ohms to work right with the Fender amp, which is fixed at 4 ohms.
Instead of using an A/B box, I used Ernie Ball’s Stereo Volume Pedal to switch between the two amps. When the vol pedal was all the way back, the Fender was the only amp you heard. If you push the pedal down a little you would hear the Marshall coming in. Push the pedal down further, and the Marshall would dominate. All the way down was Marshall only. It was a pretty cool way to do it but you had a lot of ground hums and stuff to deal with. In crappy clubs the power is not always the way it should be. Sometimes the light system isn’t separate from the power outlets your amps are plugged into. This creates some awful hums and noises that you can’t control and this kind of rig magnifies these problems.
When I started playing with Phil Lesh I brought the same type of rig to his gigs but quickly realized that the Marshall just wasn’t necessary in this music. It was just a little too aggressive. That’s when I started using a Fender Twin. Then I got hip to the Hughes and Kettner Tube Factor. It works great through a twin with a single coil guitar. It makes it possible to play clean solos and still get your sound up and over the band. It also has another gain stage that gets really distorted if you need it.
The next serious obstacle was the shaky stages in all the gigantic places Phil and the Dead play. I couldn’t use my spring reverb because when the drums started playing the stage would shake, making my twin sound like some kind of bomb went off. You know, the springs inside the tank were moving so much they would hit the walls of the tank, which makes that awful sound most of us have heard. The solution was to convert the external spkr. jack on the back of the amp to a Line Out. This made it possible to go from the line out, to a digital reverb, then to a Mesa Boogie stereo power amp which is connected to two 2x12 cabinets. The shaky stages didn’t bother the digital reverb. It worked great. Plus, this way, the twin was bone dry, no verb, and the other cabs could have reverb only. That way, if you’re playing in a big boomy room, the sound guy can just turn up the dry amp, but YOU can still hear all the reverb you want, without it going through the PA. A typical problem when playing those big boomy places is: Out front it’s really boomy and there’s a lot of natural reverb in the room , but on stage, you can’t hear enough reverb. So you turn your reverb up so it sounds right to you, and your sound guy is drowning in verb. By doing it this way, you eliminate that problem.
Strings:I’ve been using D’Addario strings as long as I can remember. I experimented a lot with gauges. For awhile I used 11’s. It was OK but the way I like to bend strings, it just started tearing the flesh off my fingers and made my hand hurt. So I finally settled on a regular 10 set. On some guitars I have 12’s but I don’t usually play those guitars in public and I don’t bend much when I play them. Mostly I just shed jazz type stuff on the 12’s.
Question about playing "swing":
I’m not very good at playing “real” swing. But I do like to draw from it and extract some ideas from it. To me it’s more of a rhythmic question than it is a harmonic one. I think the scale or arpeggios you would use are dictated by the chord progression you’re playing over. To get some great ideas for playing swing related stuff, I would listen to Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomerey, Cannonball Adderly, and countless other great jazz artists that are truly great at swinging.[/u][/b]
I've been practicing with the picks that Eric has given me from a few different shows (Red Rocks and The Warfield recent shows) and the picks have "Planet Wave" with your name engraved on them. Are these the same picks you use?
Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Brighton, MI
Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 2:23 am Post subject:
I've been using those Clayton picks for about a year now (the 1.26mm). I got hooked on that teardrop shape when a friend gave me a Larry Carlton pick, I used that pick for a long time before I found the clayton's. Can't go wrong with Fender Heavy's though... I usually use those on acoustic.
And I just want to say, its very cool of you to share this info with us internet geeks. I've been frequenting another guitar message board for years now hoping one of the guitarists we so often talk about would swoop in and share their secrets. Thanks Jimmy!
Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 26 Location: Tucson, AZ
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:59 pm Post subject: stupid picks
OK JImmy, I got one for you....
Back in the old days (70s), I played a Gibson 335 with Ernie Ball strings (9s I think) I NEVER broke strings.
When I got my North Dakota band up, I was using a Strat w/ Ernie Ball 11s. I began popping strings. So naturally I bought another Strat to have on stage just in case.
In the band I'm in now, I'm still breaking strings. I switched to D'Addarios after I read you use them. (I still use 11s)
For a while I thought I had 'acid hands' - but now I wonder if it's not the pick I use! I think I'm 'sharpening' the pick while I play - because of my angle of attack - and then finally 'boink' the string breaks.
Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 7:45 pm Post subject: Picks
Hey Jimmy,
Long time... hope we run into eachother this summer... I've got some custom picks for Phil that Dunlop made for him in the early 90's - let me know if he still wants them... haven't been up in the Bay Area for a while... Did you ever get those Hemp Tone Tubbies? Great speakers! Stay in touch...
Wow, it is great to see all the information that is being spread around through this site. I haven't been able to view in a while and I am pleasantly surprised!
The short stint with the Codetalkers went very well and Jimmy had so much fun! A great bunch of musicians and good music! Bobby Lee is such an awesome songwriter and player. Jimmy loves being able to hit so many genres of music in one night and has lots of freedom to stretch!!!! He just did an Athens show and the SmileFest! Things went well! The kids and I saw it for the first time in Athens and totally approved.......!!!!!!!!
Jimmy is excited about the upcoming Phil shows in CO with Ryan Adams. Ought to be a fun time. It is good to have Rob coming back for these shows and of course Jimmy loves [b]every[/b] opportunity to play with Sipe.
As you have already heard there is work being done on the Project Z release and a short tour with the band listed should follow. Also, there may be another member added and that news will come soon! Probably a major city tour....so keep your eyes and ears open.
Hope to have jimmy on soon to give his 2 cents worth about your questions!
Have a wonderful weeekend and thank you for the info! A new memebr, eh?? I wonder...a Mr. Bobby Lee Rodgers perhaps? I can only hope so! _________________ South Panic
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