Channel The Spirit Of Woodstock

iT’S hARD To SAy whether the 400,000-plus people who descended on Bethel, New York in August 1969 realised they were witnessing history in the making, but it is clear in hindsight that this was a defining moment. 32 of the top acts of the day appeared: a diverse selection, including Richie Havens, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Ravi Shankar. Of course, it is also remembered for the incendiary sets by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who (when Pete Townshend wasn’t hitting Abbie Hoffman with his SG Special) and Mountain, featuring Leslie West. Loud electric guitars (a relatively new phenomenon at this point) were front and centre. It was the norm to use several stacks of amps on stage (Marshall, Hiwatt, and so on) so the volume must have been staggering!

With this solo I’m trying to distill a little of the spirit of Woodstock. It isn’t particularly technical, but it may require a different kind of effort. For example, there are a couple of phrases where I’m not sticking rigidly to tempo and am allowing the phrasing to drift in and out of strict time. There’s a difference between ‘out of time’ and ‘free time’, as anyone who has ever appreciated Keith Moon’s drumming will agree! This elastic approach to timing wasn’t a particularly planned thing, but adds a certain complexity to the phrasing, which would be lost if the whole thing were perfectly in tempo.

The tone follows a similar approach – this is more old-school fuzz than modern high-gain. There wasn’t a massive choice of drive pedals like there is today, so bear this in mind when choosing your tone – what can seem like quite a ragged fuzz tone in isolation can sit very nicely in a mix. Hope you enjoy the licks and see you next time!