|
The Sound magazine
|
|
The Sound magazine
|
 The
Adventures Of BumblefootReview by Levi Clay It's been many years in the making, in fact I remember meeting Ron just after the release of "Chinese Democracy" and a big topic of conversation was his truly fantastic album "The Adventures Of Bumblefoot". I wasn't on the scene when the album was originally released in 1995 so didn't get my hands on it, only hearing tracks friends would show me years later, but I knew this was an album I had to have. I was hooked by the quirky nature of Ron's playing, still 15 years later no one has managed to absorb Ron's playing into their sound from the utterly ridiculous harmonies, unorthodox tapping techniques and extensive use of the thimble to extend the range of the guitar to canine pitches. You need only look at the collection of guitars on his website that he's used over the years to know that the fine line between genius and lunatic is being towed and the jury is out on which side Mr. Foot falls.... but I love it. So back in 2008 when Ron said he was trying to get the album re-released and that there was a transcription book that he wrote at the time containing every single chord, note, squeak, squeal and clang he made on the record I thought Christmas had come early. Unfortunately due to an insanely busy schedule as the new Slash this project has been on the backburner until early August this year when a friend on the BumbleForum told me "it's here...." Needless to say, I pre-ordered the package there and then. Add to this that a share of the profits is being donated to Multiple Sclerosis research and I really feel good about my purchase. When the book arrived I decided to lock myself away and get to grips with exactly what was going on, and this is what I found. The book itself is 206 pages of spiral bound joy. There is a 4 page introduction telling the story of the album and the book, and then we have the transcriptions of the 12 songs on the original record. I wasn't prepared for just how much was going to be in the book; we don't just have guitar, instead we have - lead guitars, harmonies, rhythm guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, horns and vocal parts. Scanning through the book I quickly find one "problem" (as a classically trained player) for some reason the bass is above the guitar in the score, but I don't see that as a BIG issue, just something that I would have fixed before publication to conform to the standard. So on with the content. It becomes quickly apparent that this book is definitely one for the collection rather than one I'll be learning note for note. There is so much information contained, picking directions, hybrid picking instructions and the other more comical instructions like "slide thimble (4th finger/right hand) inward from bridge", "while sliding 9-volt down neck, side of right hand accidentally touches string at (36)" and my favorite "slide up neck (tape was later spliced into small pieces, thrown up in the air, and re-assembled, giving random sequence of notes)" There is the underlying feeling that Ron was worried that an alien race may need to recreate the record if the masters were ever lost. Let's be realistic; how can you copy a line where the lowest number in the TAB is 27?!?!! (use of the thimble) One of my favorite tunes is "Malignant Carbuncle" just because when I first heard the tune I had NO idea what he was doing (as many of you know I'm a prolific transcriber) so to have this peculiar tapping, pulling off to a harmonic then percussively slapping the strings technique put on paper in front of me is priceless. I'm not suggesting you buy this book, I am insisting, so what are you waiting for? |
IC:
You've had an involvement in the instrumental guitar community ever
since your very first release on the now-classic underground guitar
compilation, "Ominous Guitarists From the Unknown."
Bringing things full-circle, in recent years, you produced a
fantastic virtuoso guitar compilation entitled, "Guitars That
Ate My Brain." Could you talk a little bit about your
involvement on that project?
BBF: It was 2 years ago, Pete at
Magna Carta had half the tracks and asked if I would finish the other
half of the album. I hired Jeremy Krull to write songs in the vibe of
different metal artists, I co-wrote some, Dennis Leeflang laid drums
at my studio with Jeremy engineering. For Shane Gibson's song Dennis
laid drum tracks at his studio. Then the performers were matched up
with songs, they laid their guitar solos and sent tracks to me, (I
did my solos at my place), then mixing began - I mixed drums, Jeremy
re-amped guitars and mixed music stems at his place and sent tracks
to me, and mixes were completed. I got the rest of the tracks from
Pete and did the mastering. It's a pretty cool guitar cd, great
players. 
IC: Do you have any advice to give
to aspiring musicians who look up to you as a guitar player?
IC: In the
past, you've played swiss cheese, hands, the infamous "Flying
Foot" guitar, as well as your fretless endeavors. But more
recently, Vigier Guitars released the Limited Edition Bumblefoot
model. Could you tell us a bit about the unique features built into
that signature model, and where you first got the idea to use a
thimble in your playing?
About the guitar - starting with the neck, it has 24 frets,
it has a 'zero fret', and there's no truss rod - instead there's a
strip of graphite rock going through the neck, and these necks
*never* need adjusting. I've beaten them up on tour, changes in
temperature and humidity, and the things have *never* warped or
needed any adjusting. The body - two pickups, a DiMarzio Tone Zone at
the bridge and a Chopper at the neck, with a 5-way toggle switch -
bridge, bridge split-coil, bridge & neck, bridge & neck
out-of-phase for that quacky piercing tone, and neck position.
There's a Floyd Rose with custom pole pieces that make it smoother,
the bridge is hard against the body so it only bend down, not up
(this way the guitar stays in tune if you break a string). There's a
magnetized hole on the body that houses the thimble. More 
IC: You've done various clinic tours and
master-classes all over the world, including appearances at IA's
Freak Guitar Camp, your Live at The RMA DVD, and so on. Now that
you're working with GN'R, do you still have time to perform as a solo
artist?
BBF: Thank you! Usually solos are played
spontaneously in the rough tracks, and I use them as is or tweak them
for the final tracks. That solo was a spontaneous one. It's funny, I
think a lot of the melodic stuff on the album goes unnoticed
sometimes, cool ya pointed that one out.. :)