60 SECONDS WITH...
A minute’s all it takes to discover what makes a great guitarist tick. Before she jumped into her limo for the Airport, we grabbed a quick chat with Texan guitarist, singer and songwriter, Arielle.
Texan singer-songwriter guitarist, Arielle.
: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without?
A: I sure do. It is funny to think about such a small piece of material being so important as far as technique, tone, and comfortability with the guitar. If I don’t have my Dava Delrin pick, it’s over. They come in lots of colours, so depending on my mood, I pick them. Blue, red and white are my fav, since they match my guitar (even though typically no one notices but me). My favourite thing about them is that they have the break in the middle. If you choke up on them, they become a ‘hard’ pick. When you back off, and let the break give the pick some give, they become a comfortable medium. I have used them for over two decades, and they have been good to me. For acoustic, I use Dunlop small thumbpicks, a la Chet and Tommy Emmanuel.
GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be?
A: The JRockett Animal, Catalinbread Echo Rec and TC Electronic Vintage chorus/flanger. My Rocket Animal was a happy accident that my friend Dave at LA Sound design found for me. They have changed the design since then and put it in a smaller box, but I hold true to the original. It is a massive part of my tone. The echo is massively useful for my clean tone, and the TC is divine for clean. You strike one chord and... chime for days. That said, in my opinion most of the tone should be in the guitar, the amp, and most importantly, the player.
GT: Do you play another instrument well enough to be in a band?
A: Yea! I play keys well enough enough to be in a band. I believe I could do bass guitar too. I used to play bass in a few bands, and I had a ton of fun. I could groove on the same note for days. I am generalising here, but overall I had more fun playing bass. Maybe that is what happens when I do not take myself too seriously. Keys would be fun, but I would be bored standing around, and it’s hard to look cool playing keys, and a lot of digital equipment to rely on.
GT: If a music chart were put in front of you, could you read it?
A: Yes! Yes! Yes! Being in music school at a young age was a very big blessing. I started reading music at the age of five. There is nothing worse when you are playing with someone who is a music school snob, and they talk nonsense at you when you want to play a song. I learned how to read on the piano, then trumpet, and it carried on into guitar when I want into GIT in Hollywood, and again at ICMP in London. Is it necessary to be a good guitar player? No. But is it impossible to learn? No. I think anything that can expand my knowledge and allows me to grow is nice. I do not get asked for it much, but when someone asked me for a string arrangement and wanted me to check it out recently, it was useful.
GT: Do guitar cables really make a difference?
A: I have spent enough time with Eric Johnson to know that everything makes a difference. I use The Rapco G1 and G4, as well as the curly Lava cables. I also have a few George Alessandro cables that are brilliant. Each cable has a certain spot. All my cables look a bit different, or I mark them with different ties. Some go directly to my guitar. Some go from my amps to my pedal boards, but it is always the same. One more thing; since I am also a frontwoman, I need a cable I will not trip and die on. So I also use the Shure wireless systems, and they sound great without me having to risk it all during a set when my guitar cable gets caught on my pedal board and I am stuck until I have time to stop singing and move it away.
GT: Is there anyone’s playing (past or present) that you’re slightly jealous of?
A: Jealous? Hmm... honestly, I would say that I admire a ton of people’s playing, but I am not jealous. I have learned that the jealous energy can be a little bit toxic when allowed to run wild. But! I do love Brian May’s touch. I love Vince Gill’s soul. I love Jeff Beck’s tone and spontaneity. I love Bonnie Raitt’s slide. I love Eric Johnson’s chord voicings and his ability to ‘fly’ with the guitar. I love Tommy Emmanuel’s perfection, Chet Atkins’s ability to dance. Robben Ford’s grit. Uli Jon Roth’s magic. I just admire and love. Jealousy? Waste of time.
GT: Your house/studio is burning down: which guitar do you salvage?
A: Worst nightmare. Two-Tone no doubt. It is the only thing in the world other than people that is irreplaceable to me. I have this ongoing joke about my two guitars that I must have protected and either with a friend if I am away from the house or gone on a trip. Two-Tone and my 12-string Rick Colin. Two-Tone, my self-built guitar, is the reason I play. When I was 16, my friend Patrick and I built it from scratch inspired by Brian May. Now, Brian and I have collaborated on our own design, and the rest is history.
GT: What’s your favourite amp and how do you set it?
A: A hard question, since I typically use two to three on stage at a time, but if I were going to go with just one, it would be my 1x15 Blankenship Fat Boy with Sour Creme. I like a lot of bass, and the killer 15-inch speaker. I love the colours it gets with the Trisonics in my guitar, and the sensitivity it has with both touch and frequency. A beautiful amp. Roy Blankenship built me a custom AC30, and while I was in his studio, he had me plug into another amp. I freaked out at the beauty of it and bought it. I have two of them now, one in the US and one in the UK. He even made me one that matches my guitar for the UK with sparkles, and the other one is tweed. I think I am more of a tweed gal.
GT: What kind of guitar action do you like?
A: Not low enough so you fret something and it buzzes, but just above that point. I have ultra-flexible joints so I do not have much strength in my hands and cannot play electric or acoustic without super low action.
GT: What strings do you use?
A: I use 9-42 Ernie Balls, and 11-gauge Earthwoods on my acoustic. On some guitars like my 339 Bijou, I use 9-46. But having 10s is debilitating. Gotta be 9s or I’m not playing!
GT: Who was your first influence to play?
A: Brian May is the reason I picked up the guitar. I am sure you have had a moment where you knew something the moment you saw it? Well, that happened when I saw a video of Queen at Wembley when I was six. Instead of looking at Freddie, I saw Brian. I knew we would be friends. It has been 14 years now, and of course, guitar designing buddies. It was written in the stars, I guess.
“I play keys well enough to be in a band. I used to play bass in a few bands and I had a ton of fun. Keys would be fun, but it’s hard to look cool playing keys!”
GT: What was the first guitar you lusted after?
A: Hmmm… I dunno. But I could tell you what I’m lusting for now. I want a vintage 60s 335 with a trapeze tailpiece. Dreammm. I dreamed of having a vintage 12-string Rick, and got that, so now I am lusting again. I also want a Vintage Gibson CF100 as well as an old SG. I am eyeing EJ’s SG. But the truth is that Two-Tone is more than enough to fill my guitar-loving life!
GT: What was the best gig you ever did?
A: I got to play a festival opening for Kansas a couple years back. They had a full orchestra, 61 musicians playing all sorts of instruments. The conductor wrote string arrangements for my songs. Getting to play with that kind of support, as well as a 10k audience, was a night to remember. It moved me each note I played.
GT: And your worst playing nightmare?
A: You name it, it has happened. The most embarrassing is when I fall, which happens a lot. Especially face down. I have had wardrobe malfunctions where my boob pops out of my shirt and I didn’t notice for two songs. I have had amps blow up, I have had creepy guys jump up on the stage and run at me. The worst part is, I could name more and still not run out. The way I see it is, if you make it through a gig and nothing goes wrong, you are a living miracle.
GT: Do you still practise?
A: If I ever stop practising, rip me off the stage because I do not deserve it! I need to keep learning. There is nothing worse than just plateauing because I simply did not have the desire to keep going. It makes me happy to keep adding to my repertoire. And it makes me happy to feel inspired and want to grow. And to find excuses to buy more gear!
GT: Do you have a pre-gig warm-up routine?
A: I make sure my hands are warmed up separately, then together, then my voice. I usually start with the song I am the most afraid of playing to make myself feel better about life.
GT: If you could put together a fantasy band with you in it, who would the other players be?
A: I would say Brian, but he likes to be the only guitar player. So, let’s say Jeff Beck, Vinnie Colauita on drums, Leland Sklar on bass, Vince Gill on background vocals and keys. Can I have Mike Campbell too? We’ll be like the awkward Iron Maiden of triage guitarists.
GT: Who’s the greatest guitarist ever?
A: One cannot be the best because there is no tally we can mark. So there can’t be one. Maybe it’s the collective. Maybe we all are the best as a unit, especially when we push ourselves to be better. That being said, Brian is my favourite, because he reminded me of what I am here to do. A big part of it, anyway.
GT: Is there a solo you wish you had played?
Anything by Uli Jon Roth. Anything he touches is gold. I also really like Where Were You, by Jeff Beck. His solos can make me cry. At this point, I just aspire to write a song or a solo as great as the legends. The ones that are so familiar, you feel like you’ve heard them before.
GT: What’s the solo or song of your own of which you’re most proud?
A: The one where I did not hold back on my emotions. There is part of me that believes I am barely scratching the surface of what I can do, simply because I am afraid to face the reality of my feelings a lot of the time. I do not feel like I have gotten there yet, and I am also aware that may never come.
GT: What would you most like to be remembered for?
A: Trying to give back to other musicians coming up in the world. Being a good person. Making people truly feel, and giving back to the environment. My partner and I are growing trees that are tonewoods. We have five Koa and two mahogany currently and more to come. We are giving back to the trees we cut down and are starting a nonprofit called Tonewood Forest.
GT: And what are you up to at the moment?
Working on another album, new designs for my guitars, as well as constantly making my gear better. It is an endless journey. No touring now of course, but practising a lot to make sure when I do show up, I am in playing shape.