WORKMAN’S WORKS

Not familiar with Lyle’s styles? Start here.

NOT MANY PLAYERS can claim to have worked with both James Brown’s rhythm section and Todd Rundgren’s Utopia. Given Lyle Workman’s wide-ranging résumé, where does one begin to explore this eclectic guitarist’s output? Here’s a sampling of six tunes that offer a quick introduction to his musical world.

“NORTH STAR” UNCOMMON MEASURES (2021)

“Sometimes, I approach guitar more like a keyboard. I’m finding places to put my fingers based on what I want to hear, rather than where I’ve gone before. If I want to hear a certain note in the chord, I might tune the B

A#. string down to There are some places on this tune where I’ve retuned the guitar. For the solo, I retuned to standard. I’m not crazy enough to try to fit in some weird tuning.”

“GLUTTON OF SYMPATHY” JELLYFISH, SPILT MILK (1993)

“Jellyfish was essentially two guys: Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning. I thought they were a band from England, but it turned out they were practically from my backyard, in the Bay Area. I contacted Roger to say I was a huge fan and if they ever needed some guitar to please think of me. They ended up hiring me for their second record. We rented a bunch of gear from Guitars-R-Us, which was a big vintage guitar shop that is no longer. There were over a dozen amps of all kinds: Gibsons, Fenders and Supros. I can’t remember which amps we used, but I remember using a mid’60s Gibson ES-335 on that one.”

“CAN’T STOP RUNNING” TODD RUNDGREN, NEARLY HUMAN (1989)

“I grew up listening to Todd’s guitar playing. When it came time for solos, sometimes Todd would say, ‘You solo on this one,’ but ‘Can’t Stop Running’ was a big moment for me.

That song has a huge guitar feature in it, and I assumed he was going to take it, but he didn’t want to play the solo. His band, Utopia, was the backup band for that particular track, so I’m playing with Utopia as the lead guitarist. It was really fun and quite an honor to be in that position.”

“SUPER WHAT” SUPERBAD SOUNDTRACK (WITH FUNK LEGENDS BOOTSY COLLINS, BERNIE WORRELL, JABBO STARKS, CLYDE STUBBLEFIELD ETC.) (2007)

“It was great because of the joy those guys have as a group and their history, from playing with James Brown through Parliament and George Clinton. It was a joy to be around their energy and be able to give them the chance to play together again. It was a gift, because they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. In addition, they were getting paid nicely for their work over four or five days, so they were really happy. We had a lot of fun playing with the architects of that music.

“Both Jabbo Starks and Clyde Stubblefield played on the record. Bootsy said, ‘You need both of them.’ I didn’t understand until I had them there. Essentially, it is because Jabbo always has a swing to his playing. Even when he does something that’s straight eighths, it has a lilt or a shuffle feel to it — whereas when Clyde did the straight eighths, it was definitely straight eighths. In funk music you’ve got both camps. After hearing them play, I went, ‘All right, that’s why I need each one.’ I then understood who to use for which cue, depending on the sound or the groove of that particular track.”

“SOLID GOLD” FRANK BLACK AND THE CATHOLICS, FRANK BLACK AND THE CATHOLICS (1998)

“That’s the Fender Telecaster with the Barden pickups. I think at one point I used a Tele with EMGs as well. At that time, I was using a Dual Rectifier. Even though I usually prefer power-amp distortion, I was going back to this amp that has all this preamp gain in it. I like both, really. My rig at that point was a Matchless DC-30 paired with a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier. Putting them together was quite a sound, because on one side I had the Matchless set up for a lead tone with a good amount of gain, then I mixed that with the beast that was the Dual Rectifier.”

“PRETTY YOUNG SOLDIER” STING, 57TH & 9TH (2016)

“I’m situated more on the right in terms of the stereo field. That was a progression I had that I brought along to the rehearsal at the studio. We jammed it out and turned it into a full-fledged song. Of the four tracks that I wrote together with Sting and the band, ‘Pretty Young Soldier’ has the most me. I’m using my ‘55 Tele and my Divided By 13 heads on that recording.”

require access to the upper fretboard, he has a Jeff Traugott with a cutaway, as well as the instrument favored by one of the greatest acoustic players ever. “I have an Altamira, D-hole Django-type guitar,” he says. “I fell immediately in love with it. I could never figure out how Django was able to bend strings but discovered he used light strings with high action.”

There is often a mallet instrument doubling Workman’s blistering electric solos. One might think it is a guitar synth, but it is in fact first-call percussionist Wade Culbreath reading a transcription of the guitarist’s solo. “I got that idea from Ruth Underwood on Zappa records,” he says, revealing yet another influence.

Workman’s electric guitar solos are soaring but not overly saturated. “I’ve got a modified ’69 100-watt Marshall, which has a good amount of preamp distortion,” he says. “It’s got a pull gain and a treble boost. I also have a ’72 50-watt that I like to combine with the Divided By 13 heads. I always prefer distortion coming from an amp, as opposed to pedals.”

If you search “Lyle Workman” on Spotify, you will find, in addition to his four solo records and soundtrack albums, a series of compilations with titles like Titans of Metal, The Pleasure of Your Company, Soar and Acoustatic. These are yet another outlet for this musician’s seemingly boundless creativity.

“About five years ago, I was hired by Facebook to be part of what they call the Sound Collection,” he explains. “It’s license-free music for Facebook users to add to their personal or advertising videos. It was started by two old friends. The great thing is we don’t have to give them hit singles. We write in different genres, and I can go as far out as I want because all kinds of people listen to this music. I’ve written over 150 pieces in five years, in between working on films and TV. The EPs and albums on Spotify are collections of that music. Facebook allows us to put the music up on streaming networks as promotion. Three songs I wrote for that program are now on my record because they ended up being too good.”

It’s not unusual for a 21st century guitarist to wear many hats. Diminishing revenues in each area require numerous income streams to make a living. What is unusual is for one musician to do so many things at such a high level. Workman’s secret is just being true to his vision. “If I were marketing myself, it would be hard, because it’s not only one thing,” he says. “I’m not like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai, where it’s so clear what they do. I just let whatever comes out of me become what it is.”

Currently able to support his family composing movie scores largely in the comfort of his own home studio, could the guitarist be lured back on the road someday? “I would go back out with Sting in a heartbeat,” he says. “I would love to participate with Peter Gabriel in anything, including moving his barbells from his basement to his attic. It’s all about the music. I’d rather be a tiny cog in the biggest, most beautiful wheel than a gigantic cog in a decrepit wheel.”

“I’M NOT LIKE JOE SATRIANI OR STEVE VAI, WHERE IT’S SO CLEAR WHAT THEY DO. I JUST LET WHATEVER COMES OUT OF ME BECOME WHAT IT IS”