Shredding With Bumblefoot: "Strangles"
Jeff Beasley
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal drops by to share some licks from "Strangle"
off of his 1995 debut album
One of my favorite guitarists of all time is Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal,
the lead guitarist for Guns N’ Roses. Ron and I go way back to columns
we did together in 2004, and we’ve developed a great friendship over the
years. I’m excited to announce that Ron’s debut CD The Adventures of Bumblefoot,
originally released in May 1995 on Shrapnel records, will be
re-released in August 2010 along with a transcription book. Bonus tracks
are added from the videogame soundtrack Ron did for Sega, for a total
of 19 ripping guitar tracks. The CD will be available through Ron’s
web-store (bumblefoot.com/store) and will also be autographed. Five dollars from every CD sold will go to benefit Multiple Sclerosis research.
“After the initial release of the album, I transcribed every detail of
what I played – the tablature, notation, fingerings, picking, and weird
noises—absolutely everything,” says Thal. It's a 200-page book, and will
also be available at Ron’s website.
Ron is known for his virtuoso guitar work, eccentric personality, and is
a modern-day guitar legend. In this edition of Lethal Guitar, Ron
shares with us an excerpt of the song “Strangles” from his debut CD in
transcription and tablature form, coupled with an awesome video lesson.
What was the original idea behind the album?
Conceptually, everything for the album started in the early ‘90s while
my girlfriend was in veterinary school. I was helping her study and came
across a disease that turkeys get called Ulcerative Pod Dermatitis,
also known as Bumblefoot. One of the treatments for this disease is to
rub hemorrhoid cream on the bird's foot. I was so oddly amused that I
wrote a song called “Bumblefoot.” When it came time to do the album,
that song became the starting point. I named every song after a
different animal disease, and the album art has characters that
represent each song.
How did you record the album?
I was still living with my parents, and had a small home studio set up
in the basement. Everything was in a little area along the wall—a seat, a
rack of ADATs with a mixing board on top, a pair of headphones, and a
guitar amp with a mic in front and a blanket over it. Five feet away was
the big, noisy air-conditioning unit for the house, and it was a hot
summer. I'd start recording and the AC would kick on, then I'd have to
stop and wait for it to shut off. Then I'd start up again, and go
through the same thing. I'd sneak upstairs and turn the thermostat up to
90º F and get a good batch of recording in until I'd hear my mom's
voice from the floor above, “Why is it so hot in the house?” followed
soon after by, “Who turned the thermostat up to 90?!....RONALD!!!” I'd
stop recording, get yelled at, then I'd continue recording. Then I'd
sneak upstairs and turn the thermostat back up again.
Sounds like it wasn’t an ideal situation. Did you do all the mixing in the basement as well?
I didn't have a separate recording room and control room—the only thing
between me and the amp was a blanket over the mic and cabinet and a now
25-year-old pair of Sony headphones (which I still have and use.) I
didn't have studio monitors, so all the recording and mixing happened in
those headphones. I had 16 tracks maximum, no editing, no remote
control (just stop, play and rewind)—none of the modern-day
conveniences. But it wasn't a problem. You take what you have, be
creative, and go as far as you can with it.
Tell me about how you got some of the unusual guitar sounds on the album.
I didn't use very many effects. A lot of it was a thimble on the pinky
of my picking hand, which I used mainly for tapping notes off the
fretboard, the guitar's volume knob, an out-of-phase pickup setting, and
a wah pedal. At the end of the track “Blue Tongue” there is a vibrato
effect and a pitch shifter. Before the vocal break, I took a guitar
part, cut the tape into small pieces, and threw them in the air. I took
the pieces and spliced them back together, not knowing what they'd sound
like, random note patterns, some notes backwards. I then took the
spliced guitar line and put it back into the song, fading it in. In the
“Strawberry Foot Rot” solo I used a wah pedal and a pitch shifter. With
the delay and feedback, it makes every note sound like it's ducking down
in pitch.
Check out an excerpt from "Strangles" off of The Adventures of Bumblefoot:
