Lisa’s Guitar on “You Really Got Me’

[Jung Roe]

Great question Howard.  I envision smoke rising from Lisa’s guitar strings after doing this song.

[Howard]

It’s fascinating how so many musicians in the sixties experimented with different ways of modifying the sound of their guitars. Recording systems were still fairly primitive in the sixties. For instance, Keith Richards got that tremendous guitar sound at the beginning of ‘Street Fighting Man’ by playing his acoustic guitar through a cassette player, which were very new at the time. I still remember hearing that song (full blast), on head phones at a record shop for the first time in 1968! What a blast! I was amazed when I discovered many years later that they only used acoustic guitars on that song. The first track on the second side of ‘Beggars Banquet’ of course is the infamous ‘Sympathy For The Devil’!

[Rudolf Wagner]

My trusty ol’ Gretsch Duo Jet + Vox AC30 = no need to slash open anything 😉 Love the Dave Davies story though. They were pioneers in many ways!

[Michael Rife]

Really a Gretsch Duo Jet!!!  I have a Baby Jet and I cannot imagine a sound like that coming close to what you did on “You Really Got Me”.  The Baby Jet should sound a little like the Duo Jet but it is really too “thin” for the sound you got.

Also, when I saw you were doing “You Really Got Me” and “White Room”, I was a little worried.  “You Really Got Me” is the type of song that builds into a major guitar break and, in my opinion, Dave Davies really didn’t play it all that well (I know, I know…..I couldn’t do any better and likely much worse) but when you did the break it sounded better and more “organized” than when he did it.

When it came to “White Room” I was concerned because it has an iconic guitar piece to it and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.  But, you played it very, very well (wah-wah and all).  It sounds like over the years you have turned into one “bad” (in a good way) guitarist.  I imagine it’s not easy taking on a Clapton piece.  So, in the top ten which includes Jimi, Clapton, Beck, Page, SRV, Santana, Prince, and others…..they will likely have to make room for Lisa.  Mike

[Jung Roe]

Mike, yes I agree.  They will have to make room for “Lisa, guitar queen”.

It sounds like over the years you have turned into one “bad” (in a good way) guitarist.  I imagine it’s not easy taking on a Clapton piece.  So, in the top ten which includes Jimi, Clapton, Beck, Page, SRV, Santana, Prince, and others…..they will likely have to make room for Lisa.

Now imagine a Lisa lead guitar riff of a Guess Who “American Woman” with Mona on lead vocal and rhythm guitar. 

[Michael Rife]

This is an odd one.  I’ve seen the Kinks play this on YouTube and one time Dave was using a Telecaster and another time an ES-335. Can’t get much different than that in terms of guitars.  Only thing I can think of in those cases was that when playing live they were lip-synching and pretend playing the instruments.  But, they have changed up instruments before…….one time Ray plays a resonator on Lola…..another time a regular guitar (SG, I think).  But, the beginning of Lola sounds more like a resonator.    Mike.

[Howard]

Ah Mike. All those grainy old 60s videos of pop music. Some were actually live (Like on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’), but many were also the bands miming their songs as this is what the particular TV show preferred.  As for Dave Davies guitar on ‘You Really Got Me’, I was referring to his studio take for the record. His live shows would have been a completely different matter.

[Michael Rife]

Yeah, he was using a Tele for the show and the recording video looked more like an SG…..shich makes sense for the sound.  Mike.