03 Waves Guthrie Govan (2006)

More notes than B.B. King played on entire albums

Bwasefore his debut album, Erotic Cakes, Govan

a guitar-playing Rory Bremner, capable of flawlessly impersonating any guitarist you could mention. It was a joy to discover he was also capable of sounding like no one else. On Waves, Guthrie delivers a turn of shred that justifies his other reputation as probably the most technically-complete electric guitarist on the planet.

For Waves, Guthrie was trying to make a fretted guitar sound fretless, hence the huge number of slides. The incredibly smooth neck pickup tone almost recalls a monophonic synth, but it’s remarkable how relatively little gain he uses. The amp on this was almost certainly a Cornford MK50H II, which Guthrie endorsed at the time – a rock amp but not a high-gain one by modern standards. Most guitarists would cower in fear from attempting anything with that tone, let alone Guthrie’s snaking, alien legato. Incredibly, it appears to be completely improvised: every live performance of Waves has featured a unique solo section. In 25 seconds, Guthrie delivers more notes than B.B. King played on entire albums, but it never seems like he’s showing off so much as revelling in the joy of playing.

At 0:58 he screams out of an ascending run into a huge bend, and you barely catch a breath before he’s off again, kicking up clouds of dust like a musical Road Runner. There are chromatic notes, fiery blues scale licks, and nods to Jeff Beck with the whammy bar, all announcing the end of Guthrie the sessioneer and the arrival of Guthrie the guitar hero.

WAVES: CHROMATIC NOTES bit.ly/tg372audio The solo in Waves is a soaring, whistle-stop tour of advanced guitar techniques, including wide-interval bends, fast legato lines and, as we’re analysing here, Guthrie’s use of chromatic notes. Bar 2 is played with alternate picking and the key to increasing the speed is the use of the fourth finger of the fretting hand.