Guitar pick I pick you in bronze. Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. Lisa asked: How old were you when you started playing the guitar and what kind of guitar was it? One guy had a Gibson, one guy had a Fender, so youd learn the differences and how to use them. We recently caught up with Petty and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, with whom Petty has been working since the earliest days of the band. I was going to ask how big that number might be. His favorite 12-string is the Tom Petty solidbody, which we did use on the record quite a bit. Bath Nov 3, 2020. As we begin our nearly two-hour conversation, Mike Campbell admits that even after more than 40 years as the lead guitarist in the venerable Heartbreakers band, the pressure is still on him. But I did my best, and I didnt really think it was very good. Here he's playing a late-'60s Dan Armstrong lucite model. Next is a recent Fender Custom Shop Tele with a B-Bender used as a backup, then a pair of Rickenbacker 12-stringsthe one on the right is used on "Free Fallin." Guitarist plays $40 Harley Benton on arena tour, Marshall pedal reissues finally confirmed. I could play the whole show with a Tele or a Les Paul or an SG. Yeah, with a 12-string I need a little more room at the end. The acoustics were all Martins the Tom Petty signature models which we had just got. The one that I bought, I took it in here in this room, and plugged it into an amp, and the tone was just I usually play bright guitars, jangly stuff and this thing was like thick and full, says Campbell. There were some long friendships made there. $3.39 to $5.99. Ive only bought things that I actually play. Taylor Swift 6 Guitar Picks RED Concert Tour Souvenir Set . Just lays around the house all day doin' nothing. Its so good. Well, I liked the first album a lot because that was sort of us discovering what we were gonna be. "This is one of my favorites. Well, they all became my dear friends, you know? Its a 67, which I actually bought a couple of tours ago in New Jersey, Campbell says. So weve got to have a Gibson on this one. The bottom line is about tone. Thats the one I used to record The Waiting and all those classic 12-string numbers. Howie was a great bass player. COOL !!! The first couple of albums, I had a Broadcaster and Les Paul, and Id gotten a Rickenbacker 660/12 for 120 bucks its the one on the Damn The Torpedoes cover. It sounds incredible. So the non-Tom Petty model specs out the same. Itll probably be a long time before I get to do another one. Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. Well, I would get together in the garage with buddies, but I never really joined a band until I met up with Tom in Gainesville, after Id gone to college. or Best Offer. In addition to playing on and co-producing Tom Petty and The Heatbreakers albums and cowriting some of their biggest - . Those two bottles and an old tshirt will get your D-28 looking great. Mike Campbell was best known as Tom Petty 's right-hand man for decades. Love all those guys. In the eighties, the Sonic Youth leader emerged as indie rock's premier guitar radical, mixing strange drone tunings, jamming screwdrivers or drumsticks under his strings, and blasting out. "As weve gone along, thats become a bit of a good problem to have. As soon as I got the guitar and knew a few chords, I tried to write songs, because I didnt know a lot of songs. Wed build tracks up, usually with acoustics, and overdub the other instruments to finish it off. 1989: Petty releases his first official solo album, "Full Moon Fever," co-produced by Jeff Lynne and Mike Campbell. 1) The very first, or intro, tone sounds like a bridge single coil or Gretsch-type pickup into a small Fender amp. Well, I thought it was kind of a strange call, but interesting. Used on a slew of recordings, Campbell himself mentions the guitar in this September 1999 "Spotlight on a Heartbreaker" interview from the official Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers website. But thats how I hooked up with Rick, and the good thing about working with him is that wed just done a couple of records with Jeff, which is a really fun process, but is a lot of building tracks as opposed to playing rock. Then, of course, a few years later, I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan like everybody else my age, and I figured, Well, thats what I want to do!. One day, I think Tom was banging on it, and it broke It never worked again (laughs)! It makes a beautiful sound. Unique Guitars. Mike Campbell is a long time Duesenberg artist and this Starplayer was put into production to celebrate their long standing friendship. If the Heartbreakers are tracking, and all playing at the same time and trying to get a performance on the song a live performance and theres a call for a guitar solo, I like to try to get it within the performance of the band or at least get the essence of it. I got it in Florida for $200, which I did not have at the time, but a friend of a friend had been in an automobile accident and got a settlement, so she had some extra money. Advertisement. Or are you more likely to buy something because you need a certain sound for a certain song. And no episode of The Collection would be complete without the obligatory 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard the Holy Grail guitar. Have you thought about where you sit in the pantheon of rock songwriters? I just like to step out every decade or so. This, folks, is living the dream. Still Thrilled. All those albums probably had a whole bunch of guitar licks or guitar parts that jumped out at you? 65, or 66. Heres how it works. I love playing with them theyre the best rock and roll band there is, I think. Was: $14.99. Chris Biorkman. But besides that, he was an incredible bass . The first song I ever played on guitar was Baby Let Me Follow You Down. A friend had the Bob Dylan record, and he taught me the chords to that. In this photo, Campbell is seen playing the mapleglo Rickenbacker 330. But I really concentrated on being I guess, because Id been a bass player, I wanted to play rhythm in a real solid way. As long as weve been doing this, we still draw from the same places and people who inspired us when we were young. Guitar lesson on playing with dynamics and using a motif to build interest into your melodies and improvisations Guitar lesson exploring voice leading, alternate picking and a TrueFire jam track Guitar lesson on using sequences to gain the 'wow' factor and beyond the Pentatonic box Its been rebuilt a few times, but its basically the same. Theres so many. Thats when we were learning about how to play, how to have a band. "They said it was the next guitar off the assembly line after George Harrisons", Thats my original 12-string, he explains. "Ill maybe do a song here and there, but to do a whole album is really taking on their life.. "The Clipper had one pickup in it; a bass pickup. I use the 67 on [So You Want To Be A] Rock N Roll Star. So I thought, Well, okay. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. The best places to look for gear usage are typically on the artist's social media, YouTube, To receive email updates when Mike Campbell is seen with new gear. "We actually still like each other and, when we play together, its still like the first time in the garage. Mike Campbell is selling a trove of vintage gear on Reverb, including a number of electric guitars and amps he has used through the years with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Don Henley and Fleetwood Mac. And then, you know, I learned stuff off records, slowing them down to try to hear the guitar parts and stuff. Paul Gray - Slipknot. The bulk of his sound comes from a 1963 Fender Princeton and a 1954 Fender tweed Deluxe. It was a fantastic time, really very exciting. So when youre exposed to that, you walk away with a much broader perspective than you had going in. It depends on what I need. So far, has everything on tour gone as planned in terms of crowd response, especially to the new tracks? Its such a good-sounding guitar. But throughout the whole tour I felt the band played really well, and I was very proud of everybody.. Wed usually set up acoustic guitars in Jeffs kitchen, which is adjacent to his studio, and just lay the basics down, usually on acoustics. Ever loyal to their roots, both Petty and Campbell play through very cool looking Vox Super Beatle amps, jazzed up with Echoplex and MXR Dyna Comp. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halens Panama. ROLLING STONES GLASGOW SCOTLAND 2003 TOUR SHIRT LARGE NWOT. Rickenbacker makes mandolins, but they look like this: Attached Thumbnails. But it was a very hard guitar to play. "Sherwood green Strat. In the course of making that record, we realized that we were so green. Sporting just one pickup and a pair of control knobs, it's the guitar Campbell used for his solo on Petty's classic 1989 tune, Runnin Down a Dream. He augments that with a custom Fender Excelsior and a Fender Vibrotane for Leslie-type effects. I bought this Rickenbacker six-string bass from the 60s. I was always tuned into the guitar and what the guitar was doing. They were a huge influence on me and everybody in my generation it was a great time for guitar inspiration. I don't hear a fuzz on this track. Therell be a certain sound that we want, and cant get with a Stratocaster, but a Gretsch makes that sound. It didnt take long at all because I went in with everything written. I was watching a Rig Rundown and I saw the settings listed below. So I made the neck wider, and changed a few cosmetic things put the gold pickup and gold pickguard on the sunburst, which I dont think they were doing. Watch Jack White showcase some of his wildest Fender custom builds in explosive Saturday Night Live performance, Zoom unveils new B2 Four bass multi-effects pedal, with Multi-Layer IR, 300 patches and a 60-second looper, Satchel: Malcolm Young influenced more guitarists than Eddie Van Halen or Eric Clapton, Watch Journey perform Black Magic Woman with Steve Lukather and original vocalist Gregg Rolie, Exploring Brad Paisleys awe-inspiring acoustic country playing. Well, thats an emotional song for me, because the night they did that record, Tom called and said, Look were finishing a song I just wrote with Bob (Dylan) and George and Jeff. It was me and Smokey Hormel, Matt Sweeney, and Johnny Polansky. $24.99. Maple Glow. duplicated, some of them were edited or compiled together. I think its the last one for a while, simply because theres a lot of recording projects I want to finish, and they dont get finished when we put half of each year into touring. So, the next time I talked to Tom, I told him about this guy we might want to work with. And then I started to move forward. Fast forward to you first bands, the Epics, and then Mudcrutch. I used it on Fooled Again [(I Dont Like It)], Strangered In The Night, even the solo on Listen To Her Heart is doubled on a 12-string with this underneath to make it thick. Yeah, its been insane. It sings. Blair has a different kind of tone very clear. Its been our mainstay for many years. 26) Hank asked: I saw that you use those Danelectro pedals. On a lot of records, you hear certain chords, and thats what makes the record, that tone. That was my main guitar for the first three years I wish I still had it. And so yeah, I think the 12-string is always that solidbody Rick. "This one, '59 B-Bender, it's tuned for 'American Girl.' Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to publications including Guitar World, MusicRadar and Total Guitar. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, "Then there were certain songs that were done on a 12-string, so you kind of need the 12-string to make those songs sound special. Yeah. We get them because we love them as pieces of art and we use them on our records. When you turn down the other Ricks, they get a little sloppy with the lower pitch, but this one sounds great.. And speaking of reverence, one listen to Petty and Campbell as they discuss vintage guitars and amps, and its obvious these are two guys who make no bones about what has inspired them. Its the third Rickenbacker 12-string ever made. But for recording, I like the smaller Fenders Deluxes and Princetons. 5. He plays it pretty much in the set. And coming from Rick, I guess he got inspired (laughs)! It was his concept, and he came to each of us. We were just together around the clock, all the time. But theyre also both inspiring in their own way. This is for everything else for 12-strings," says Mike Campbell's guitar tech about the Rickenbacker 1967 375 Electric Guitar. This guitar looks like the tail of a 1959 Cadillac. I have recently. Are you on the lookout for anything in particular? He seems really keen on getting good songs, I said, And, hes got a really cool vibe. So thats how we started working together. Theyre not noticeably different. Then I got my draft notice, took the physical, and failed the hearing test. Do you remember how the concept was pitched to you? But looking at it closely, we figured out that it was probably a red guitar thats the same model as the small-body one from the Torpedo cover. And speaking of the Heartbreakers as a band, in the 80s you guys backed Bob Dylan. Mike Campbell Reflects on His Long Career as the Rock Guitarist's Guitarist By Joe Bosso published April 23, 2020 From his 40+ years as Tom Petty's right-hand man to his current roles in Fleetwood Mac and his own group, The Dirty Knobs, Campbell looks back on an incredible career (Image credit: Kevin Scanlon) To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now. He played with Petty in the pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch and co-wrote, co-produced and played the searing guitar. They were thinking maybe youd like to play guitar on it. Well, the idea scared the s*** out of me, but I went down to the studio with my little Marshall, set it up, and they put the track on. Get the latest and greatest Guitar news with one of our guitar magazine subscriptions. I thought that it was just the way guitars were. Brian Jones was a really good rhythm guitarist, I thought, and rhythm guitar is a lost art, you know? The Les Paul is the guitar that Michael played when The Monkees recorded "Pleasant Valley Sunday" in 1967, producing the classic riff that became the cornerstone of the song. Mick liked one of them, but he never did work on it. Those few years of collaboration really made me come back to the band with a more experienced, wider scale of music to work with. One record that I really studied a lot was Paul Butterfields first album with Mike Bloomfield. I told Tom that and he was really happy. Together, the two have been the key to an unmistakable rock and roll sound created by one of pop musics longest-lasting entities. She . Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Its just too valuable now, and Im afraid itll get damaged. From the left side we have "Little Ricky," which is a Rickenbacker-style mandolin with a whammy bar. Boiled down, the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is defined by a handful of essential elements: their leader's character-filled voice, songs about life and its toils, swirling B-3 organ, and - much as anything - Mike Campbell's . Wed never played Fenway and that was epic. King and was recommended to Campbell by the Cars, plus a variety of Fender combos. Mike was pretty happy with the dot-neck Gibson ES-335 he picked up, Yeah, I have one, too I think I have the only black one ever made. On your solo records, do you do most of the bass playing? I want to get back and finish those things. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. We used to call it the mystery guitar. Its so easy to play. Like Neo., See Eric Clapton make a surprise guest appearance with Jerry Douglas to pay tribute to Jeff Beck and play While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Larry Carlton demos his $641 Sire signature guitar, Nuno Bettencourt explains his secret to playing difficult guitar solos it involves getting his leg up, Music meets gaming in the Beat Machine, the world's first music-making arcade machine. I did buy a few guitars while I was [on the first leg of the Highway Companion tour]. Wed love to stay in touch, sign up for The Pick team to contact you with great news, content and offers. And Ive always bought one whenever I had the money. We recently caught up with Petty and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, with whom Petty has been working since the earliest days of the band. It sounds better than any of your other guitars! I told him I leave it at home but I use it in the studio. Though Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Fleetwood Mac electric guitar legend Mike Campbell slightly thinned his enviable guitar collection with a Reverb.com sale last summer, his stash of vintage six-strings is still world-class. So when we started doing that song live, I just wanted to honor him. A subscription makes a thoughtful gift for both family and friends. Pictured here is a sort of reissue Firebird V. On pgs. Campbell himself mentions the Bassman in this September 1999 "Spotlight on a Heartbreaker" interview from the official Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers website. She may not be the best cook. Mike also has another band called The Dirty Knobs, which is his sideband. Find album credit information for Voodoo by D'Angelo on AllMusic And which electrics can we hear on the album? Campbell should be proud. So we met up with them and Benmont (Tench, keyboardist for the Heartbreakers) to put a demo session together. If I had to pick one, Id pick that. "For instance, on I Wont Back Down, I have the Gretsch Clipper tuned to an open tuning that I use for that slide part. Tom played it on a couple of tours in the 80s, and if you look at it closely, even though its been painted black you can see where it used to be red underneath. I had a Gibson Dove, and he had the Stratocaster. And then we came across another sunburst one. As a subscriber enjoy big savings off the shop price! The guy who ran the shop said they had a really ugly one in the back, and then brought out this red, three-pickup Firebird. "That was my guitar for several years until Tom sat on it and broke the neck off of it". He was an amazing person. The Mike Campbell II features a so called "Destruct Knob" placed at the lower cutaway, which enables you to boost the signal by up to 10db, controlling distortion and feedback at any time with the touch of . Its a really good, earthy acoustic sound. Well, that was kind of the first rule of that particular video. did you use to get the sound f "Rickenbacker, 370, 360? We just werent ready to make a record. Well, they all make a different sound, you know? Whereas, the other direction is just going by the seat of your pants and jumping on with the band and riding the wave. All rights reserved. Its a six-string. But there are certain songs where I use a certain guitar on the record that just has a certain colour and when I use the same guitar as I did on the record, it just sounds better because its perfectly right for that song. And of course, the Broadcaster I used on the first two albums, I still use. Its a lot to live up to. Princeton Volume 7 Treble 7 Bass 3 Speed 1 Intensity 1 Deluxe Tone 9 $8.25 shipping. But if I had a choice, Id probably use my old D-28. Others he and Petty made iconic, such as the Fender Broadcaster he played on Breakdown and most of the Heartbreakers early records. It saw plenty action, too, before meeting an untimely end. Mike Campbell Roles Guitarist Genres Rock Pop Groups Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Fleetwood Mac show all ALL 84 Guitars 32 Amplifiers 12 Effects Pedals 22 Studio Equipment 8 World Instruments 2 Cables 1 Microphones 3 Strings 1 Bass Guitars 1 Studio Monitors 2 Sort by: Most Relevant Hide incorrect submissions The faceplate has a good amount of scratches on i " '67, 375. Your parents bought your first guitar, a Stella acoustic. The well that Petty, Campbell and company draw from certainly is deep. "Madison Square Garden is a big deal," he begins, ticking off the most memorable shows of their recent 30-date US tour with an almost childlike enthusiasm. Tom was in interesting head space at that time we were young and idealistic, so there are a lot of songs about hope. And on a lot of his solo work its more piecemeal, like bringing a song in and building it. Thats a beautiful-sounding guitar, too, but its so valuable now that I leave it at home.. I just would never part with it.. And Tom pretty much made you join, as opposed to asking you. Well, its an interesting record because theres really only three people playing on it me and Tom and Jeff. Instead of playing music in the living room, we took it to the studio. In the Refugee video, you play a red Tele with a humbucker? It looked good and I liked the way it felt and I didnt have a white one.. Hes an amazing, talented fellow, and I probably learned something from everybody there, just because everybody has a different method and way of working. I got it for $120. Aug 9, 2015 - Mike Campbell's (Tom Petty's Lead Guitarists ) Gator Guitar . 1990: Del Shannon, a close friend of Petty, commits suicide at age of 56. Well, like the best of us, Campbell is a long-term sufferer of Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and they're running out of storage at the Heartbreaker Clubhouse. Yeah, its about time, you know? Loves the long road and on through the set," says Mike Campbell's guitar tech ab "That's a custom tweed. But this is the stuff that he couldnt part with. Were you paying attention to guitar tones, or more focused on sounding good as a group? Gibson SG 9. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Thats a good amp, but for me, theres something in the tone of the Fender tubes thats just fantastic those blackface Deluxes, the Princeton I love those in the studio. But I didnt know any better! They just instinctively picked up on the tones and the feel of it.. He was a huge inspiration to me, and fortunately, I got to be a bit of a friend with him. Although Campbell wrote and recorded with Tom Petty for over 40 yearsthrough Petty . Those days are kind of gone now, but still, collecting guitars is about loving the sound and liking instruments, you know? It's the epitome of picking a niche theme, going all in, and nailing it. this is what he uses for 'Running Down a Dream.'" Pinterest. 24) Mark in GA asked: What kind of guitar, pick-ups, amps, any effects pedals, et Campbell himself mentions the Daddy O in this September 1999 "Spotlight on a Heartbreaker" interview from the official Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers website. Still, we took the music quite seriously. He was a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and co-wrote many of the band's hits with Petty, including "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl", "You Got Lucky", and "Runnin' Down a Dream". One of Campbells most prized guitars in his collection is a white Firebird signed by the doyen of white Firebirds Johnny Winter, and by legendary jazz drummer Philly Joe for good measure. So youre talking in terms of length of time youre out, as opposed to the size of the venues? Only one thing that got me hooked. What I remember most was that all of us fell out of the front-man thing, you know? Its also a very quick way of working Highway Companion was three months. "Its in your hands. Which we didnt discover, but George Harrison discovered because he had the second one. Is there any particular guitarist who influenced the way you play guitar? Tom said, This isnt bad. If you were looking for something that little bit different with a stunning iconic tone then this is the guitar for you. Its hard, theres just so many great guitarists from that era, its just hard to narrow them down to who your favorites are, but George is definitely one of mine. I saw Bruce Springsteen had one and I was telling him I invented that! (laughs). "I have another one from the mid-60s that I use on Free Fallin, Roger McGuinn-style [a 360 with single, rear binding]. Well, I finished the semester, but then we started getting gigs and I never went back to school. The Garden has always been one of my favourite places. I like really narrow necks, and its a very thin neck really nice. I think its better that they get used. Campbell's guitar tech, Steve Winstead, walks us through every guitar, amp, and pedal and lets us in on Campbell's time-tested formula for great tone. On those, I used the older vintage acoustics. My dad was in the Air Force, and he was leaning on me to sign up so I could make some choices of where I might be deployed. Once I get in the studio and get working on something, I get inspired and can do all kinds of things, but it usually has to wrap up in a nationwide tour, which is a whole other mindset. The series is currently premiering exclusively on TomPetty.com for members of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' Highway Companions Club Plot summary Add synopsis Genre Documentary Parents guide Add content advisory Details Release date After Torpedoes, we started to make a little profit, and started buying guitars basically as we saw them. If youre playing with the same five or six people throughout an album, you make a different noise than if, say, its just yourself on several overdubs. You cant just walk away from a dot-neck 335 that nice.. And it was a coincidence that the Martins all showed up right then, but we were so pleased with them. Aug-16-2009, 3:58pm #4. Michael Wayne Campbell (born February 1, 1950) is an American guitarist. Campbell is famed for the wide variety and sheer number of guitars he brings along to a show. And of course in the late 80s you were doing the Wilburys with some of your personal rock heroes George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Dylan. Product Description To commemorate over 30 years of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Duesenberg have along with Mike Campbell created a beautiful signature guitar brings you classic Doozy tones in a hot rodded semi hollow design. $11.15 shipping. I find it very interesting to see that he runs both the Princeton and the Deluxe clean, and then uses the Camel Toe for overdrive, and apparently the Fender Excelsior for a soloboost. First of all, I dont have that much time. I think I gave it to a friend when I got a Stratocaster. The sunburst 64 Strat youre touring with now and have played for years, is that Mikes guitar? I wanna give you my guitar. I thought he was crazy on drugs or something. Please try again. They made a thousand of them, then kept making them, but without calling them Tom Petty models. But it was fun. And one day, we looked up and there were hundreds of them! Rickenbacker 4003 (love this bass) 8. And the songs, like American Girl and Breakdown, still hold up. "The Deluxe is probably a '54 or a '55," says Mike Campbell's guitar tech about the Fender Deluxe Amp. You guys are doing Handle With Care on this tour. That palm wah is really cool, and the fuzztone in them sounds great. So, many of the solos are on a tiny amp in a big room. CAMPBELL! And I pulled it out for this tour and said to Tom, Why dont you try this? And he said, Theres the sound. All the other guitars theyre all good, but that guitar just has that tone. The effects currently in the setup are: A Digitech Whammy II pedal, a Boss TU-2 Tuner, a Boss RC-20 Looper, a Line 6 DL4 . I dont take it on the road anymore. Highway Companion I think I wrote entirely on guitar. They do make some good ones, but this was not a good one. So he got this guitar to me to let Tom check it out and it stayed in a case for two weeks, we were at the Hollywood Bowl, and Nathan came back and said 'Hey, what about that guitar?' This is 'Free Falling.' I think Blair is probably is more locked with the drummer, where Howie played more like a guitar player. If Im showing the band a new song, its based on rhythm guitar, and they fill in around that. Well a lot. Benmont played a lot of keyboards on it.