One Thing I Like About Keith Richards' Playing

elcoholic

Jet Fuel Genius
Subscriber
I was needing some Stones so I listened to Sticky Fingers last night and this morning on the drive. Over played or no, there's a reason that album went multi-platinum in the first place. Great songs of course*. I found myself repeating the opening of Can't You Here Me Knocking? and similar songs. Each time louder than the time before until I run out of volume knob. My new ride has the 400W "Fender Sound" system, so the SPL is significant.
Why is this so? - I asked myself. Keif starts those songs at full strength, the 1st note is just crushed, it comes out of no where. He just grabs you. Boom! Like pulling the trigger on a .357, so sudden.

I like that a lot. So what else do we like about Keith's playing?

* Is there a better belt-it-out sing along song than Dead Flowers? But that's another discussion isn't it?
 
Have you ever seen the documentary of Keith and Chuck Berry where Keith is trying to learn Chuck's guitar style and licks? At one point Chuck Berry hauls off and punches Keith right in the face for what appears to be no reason whatever. Interesting documentary.
 
Last edited:
He doesn't over play it if you know what I mean.
Relaxed and cool:yes:

Saw them last week in Sydney:thmbsp:
 
Have you ever seen the documentary of Keith and Chuck Berry where Keith is trying to learn Chuck's guitar style and licks. At one point Chuck Berry hauls off and punches Keith right in the face for what appears to be no reason whatever. Interesting documentary.

51KJ5D6NMXL.jpg


it is a great flick
 
I was needing some Stones so I listened to Sticky Fingers last night and this morning on the drive. Over played or no, there's a reason that album went multi-platinum in the first place. Great songs of course*. I found myself repeating the opening of Can't You Here Me Knocking? and similar songs. Each time louder than the time before until I run out of volume knob. My new ride has the 400W "Fender Sound" system, so the SPL is significant.
Why is this so? - I asked myself. Keif starts those songs at full strength, the 1st note is just crushed, it comes out of no where. He just grabs you. Boom! Like pulling the trigger on a .357, so sudden.

I like that a lot. So what else do we like about Keith's playing?

* Is there a better belt-it-out sing along song than Dead Flowers? But that's another discussion isn't it?

For that Keif "Boom" sound, Gibson Guitars and a wall of Ampeg VT-40's. You can really hear it on "Ya Ya's". Crank up "Jumping Jack Flash"
 
I have always been more impressed with Keith as a song writer. His early solos (like on It's All Over Now) are really great, and the stuff on Ya Yas, Let It Bleed, and Brussel's Affair is really great too.
 
Keith Richards is a "rhythm first" guitar player. On "Rocks Off," he plays two similar leads. One in your right speaker and one in your left speaker. Like CYHMK, he just comes right out with it.

As always, Charlie lags just a tad behind, creating that quintessential "Stonesy" lag and drag.

I believe it was a Hiwatt amp for CYHMK, but I am not certain.
 
I could go on all evening. Keith is a gear head with a great ear for sound. Heck, when he first met Bill Wyman, all he was concerned about were Bill's Vox amps.

Keith picked up the Mesa Boogie amp prior to "Some Girls" for the recorded "El Mocambo" live show. Mesa Boogie amps started as hot-rodded Fenders back in 1969.

Keith did not want to pay for the amps, saying "We're the Rolling Stones. We don't pay for gear." Eventually Keith relented and actually paid for the amps after meeting the builder, Randall Smith.

"Start Me Up" is perhaps the most recognizable Mesa Boogie riff. I prefer his opening riff on "Before They Make Me Run" - a fantastic Keith tune and the other bookend to "Happy."

Perhaps a guitar head can discuss open G tuning...
 
Not being a player, the open G tuning is beyond me except to say I know what I like and I do love it.
 
I think I'll pull out a few Stones LP's tonight, specifically Sticky Fingers, then what ever follows. Hard to ever get tired of their catalogue. In fact the more I listen, the more I want to listen to more. I regret not seeing these guys back in the day. I had my chances but just wasn't into them enough (back then) for the giant all-day coliseum shows they put on in Dallas back in the 80's. Was kind of thinking that the Some Girls tour was one of the only last chances to see them in a smallish venue in the DFW area. That was just slightly ahead of my concert going years. But yes, I regret the oversight on my part.
 
Perhaps a guitar head can discuss open G tuning...

Not only does he prefer the (open) G-major tuning, but Richards also uses only five strings (at least w/ his beloved '54 Telecaster, "Micawber"), opting to remove the "high E" ("high D" in the open G-major tuning), thus open-tuned to (bottom/heaviest to lightest gauge strings) D-G-D-G-B. Open tunings, which are usually the province of Blues slide players and many folk players, give the player overtones in chords that exude a primal, dronelike sound. Besides Richards, think about the sound of Richard Thompson: open modal tunings all over the place, in his case allowing for 'lead" runs that are at once magnificent and surrounded w/ overtones that give the sense of two, sometmes even three, guitars being played at once. Page uses "open" tunings to excellent effect as well. Now, if you want to really get into "how do they play in that tuning", wrap your heads around the "tuning" of Elizabeth Cotten and Albert King: the standard E-A-D-G-B-E arrangement turned upside down, i.e., E-B-G-D-A-E. Think of the chord & single-note pattern implications. That's why nobody sounds like Albert King (and oh so many try/tried) or Lizzy Cotten. It's called Cotten Picking for a reason.
 
I believe it was a Hiwatt amp for CYHMK, but I am not certain.

I'm not hearing the HIWATT signature tone in my head, but it could be. Funny thing: avowed HIWATT exponent as he was, Townshend's main "power" amp @ the studio was a Fender Twin Reverb. His HIWATT 100 lead heads (custom built for The Who by HIWATT's founder, Dave Reeves) were too friggin' L-O-U-D and percussive for in-studio if turned up to the point @ which Pete's "live" sound could be achieved. One suspects this is also the case w/ Richards & CYHMK, although i wouldn't rule out, especially knowing Keith's high regard for combo amps, the HIWATT Bulldog Combo (50 watt). But in any event the tone I hear in CYHMK sounds British but more Park or Orange than HIWATT. Just my two cents. Or should that be sense?
 
I'm not hearing the HIWATT signature tone in my head...

CYHMK is too gritty for a HIWATT, you say? Perhaps an Ampeg or a Vox with some slap-back delay. Heck, maybe even a Twin Reverb or, as you say, one of his combos. IDK. So let's focus on the guitar...

Keith is quoted as saying the guitar was his brown Gibson ES-345, also used on "Dead Flowers." Jimmy Miller recorded this record "hot" so everything is smeared. CYHMK is your classic Keith open G staccato riff jam.
 
Lots and lots of Ampegs (VT 22) in 1972. Can someone ID the guitar?

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • mick-jagger-keith-richards-ampeg-vt-22-guitar-amp-sunset-sound-1972-02.jpg
    mick-jagger-keith-richards-ampeg-vt-22-guitar-amp-sunset-sound-1972-02.jpg
    47.5 KB · Views: 92
Mick Taylor in 1979 on recording "Sticky Fingers":

"They'd master things really, really hot. It's not that we played incredibly loud in the studio; we used to use small amps. Most of the time we'd use Fender Twin Reverbs. There's a certain kind of tape echo that they used to use a lot when Jimmy Miller was producing records for them, like a Revox echo. That's the kind of echo that's on the guitar intro from 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' and a few other things. If you listen you can hear it - it's a very fast, tight echo."
 
I listened to " Bridges to Babylon" on the way home tonight. It's like 1997 release, or thereabouts. Excellent songs, very well recorded, and some killer guitar happening.

I think a lot of their later work is very over looked and under appreciated. Sure I love the old classics, but really if I never hear Satisfaction, or Brown sugar again I'd survive.
 
Mick Taylor in 1979 on recording "Sticky Fingers":

"They'd master things really, really hot. It's not that we played incredibly loud in the studio; we used to use small amps. Most of the time we'd use Fender Twin Reverbs. There's a certain kind of tape echo that they used to use a lot when Jimmy Miller was producing records for them, like a Revox echo. That's the kind of echo that's on the guitar intro from 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' and a few other things. If you listen you can hear it - it's a very fast, tight echo."

That's what I'd have expected. KR is a combo amp man. His live Twin is an absolute killer-toned tweed monster that loves the (open) G-major tuning. :yes:
 
Back
Top Bottom