Shred With Shifty

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag

Producer: Jason Shadrick

Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis

Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion

Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan

Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready Comes “Alive” Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

Host Chris Shiflett starts things off with a discussion on the musical context McCready emerged from. “If you didn’t have this punk rock background, then you were looked down upon,” remembers McCready. As he explains, his upbringing was less punk rock and more Cub Scouts until he picked up the guitar. He and PJ rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard preferred the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, and after Gossard caught McCready shredding Stevie Ray Vaughan licks at a party, he phoned him up to start a two-guitar band. “I could only do what I knew how to do, which was play leads,” says McCready.

A major turning point came for McCready when he witnessed Muddy Waters’ performance in The Last Waltz. “It seemed like he could do more in one note than I was doing with all these thousands of notes,” he says. The observation led him to give up shredding and move in an emotion-driven, blues-rooted direction.

That spirit drives the soaring solo on “Alive,” which McCready cut with a 1962 Japanese Reissue Stratocaster, a Tubescreamer, and a Marshall JCM800. McCready reveals how Jimi Hendrix’s sounds on “Machine Gun” influenced his own performance. After the lesson, McCready answers questions about how “Alive” has changed over the years, Eddie Vedder’s punk-ish rhythm playing, and why he smashed a Strat onstage last year.

Best of all? Shifty finally gets a proper “guitar store lick” from his guest.

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Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach on the Emo-Meets-Zeppelin Magic of “Accident Prone” Oct 26, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s Shred With Shifty, Chris Shiflett is joined by one of his all-time favorite players: Blake Schwarzenbach, the 6-string architect behind California punk band Jawbreaker’s simple, noisy, orchestral rippers. But before things really get rolling, Shifty gets his heartbroken as Schwarzenbach squashes rumors that Jawbreaker might have a new record in the works: “There’s no truth to it,” he says.

Shifty and Schwarzenbach talk about the band’s trajectory up to and after Dear You, their major-label breakout record which ditched their indie punk-rock production style for a slicker sound. But the band’s fans didn’t approve of the perceived sell-out—a concern Schwarzenbach thinks isn’t so present nowadays. “Selling out is not a concern I think for younger people in a way that it was in our time,” he says. “Selling out seems to be this weird virtue.” Schwarzenbach remembers recording at the same studio as fellow Bay Area punks Rancid and realizing Jawbreaker would be left in the dust: “It was clear to me who was gonna win,” he grins.

Schwarzenbach admits he’s not a virtuoso lead player, but over the years, the augmented, melodic chording of Jimmy Page blended with the elemental intensity of ’80s D.C. hardcore to create his unique style, which uses octaves and drone notes to build melody and discord at the same time. He recalls the original recording rig on “Accident Prone,” including a Sovtek Big Muff, a white Les Paul, and a hot-rodded Marshall JMP. Then, playing a Gretsch Tennessee Rose Chet Atkins 1963 reissue, he guides Shifty through the tense riffing on the track. When Shiflett suggests there’s an element of complexity to the part, Schwarzenbach corrects him: “Chris, I’m afraid what you’re going to find out in your podcast here is that what you think is finesse is just sloth.”

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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty

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Follow Chris Shiflett:

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Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag

Producer: Jason Shadrick

Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis

Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion

Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan

Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Charlie Starr Brings the Thunder Oct 12, 2023

Show notes

Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr joins Shred With Shifty to deconstruct his solo on the Smoke’s 2016 track, “Waiting for the Thunder.”

Starr, whom Shifty credits with owning one of the best vintage guitar collections he’s ever seen, explains how he got into guitar at age six thanks to the influence of his dad, who was a bluegrass rhythm player. But he turned to his mum, the rocker in the family, to help him get his first electric guitar: a Mosrite copy which he played through his sister’s stereo with some old-school technical finessing. (He eventually blew the stereo, which didn’t go over well with his sibling.) Starr and Shifty swap stories about getting their kids into guitar—Starr’s son wasn’t interested until he played guitar hero, when he discovered Allman Brothers and Van Halen.

Starr says his playing has never been too bogged down in theory—“I know what sounds good to me and what feels good to me,” he says—and he details how he came to his hybrid picking, middle-finger “crutch” style of lead-playing. For the scorching solo on “Waiting for the Thunder,” off their 2016 record Like An Arrow, Starr messed around until he found the right shape and sound. He used a 50-watt 1976 Marshall JMP, running through a 4x12 cab with Celestion Greenback speakers, and the same guitar he’s playing in this episode: a 2014 Gibson Custom Shop Southern Rock Tribute Les Paul, an homage to the smooth riffing of Duane Allman, Gary Rossington, and Dicky Betts.

You can hear those southern rock pioneers in Starr’s solo, which starts in the low register before slinking its way up the neck to a blistering crescendo. “Tom Waits said, ‘Our hands are like dogs, and they go to familiar places,’” says Starr.

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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4B8BSR0l78qwUKJ5gOGIWb

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Follow Chris Shiflett:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisshiflettmusic

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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chris.shiflett

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisshiflett71

Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag

Producer: Jason Shadrick

Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis

Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin

Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan

Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Brad Paisley's G-Bender Magic on “Mud on the Tires” Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

"It's maybe the most important thing to me that the solos [I record] are things that I haven't done a million times," country guitarist and singer/songwriter Brad Paisley shares on this episode of Shred With Shifty. "That's getting harder and harder to do." But as Paisley walks host Chris Shiflett through his solo on "Mud on the Tires," the centerpiece of the interview, it's clear that Paisley can improvise melodies that don't necessarily need to clear that bar in order to hook and make a lasting impression on his listeners.

Brad was learning Chet Atkins-style thumbpicking in lessons from the age of 12, and while he later absorbed a rock vocabulary, Shifty comments that Brad always seems to play with a country feel. Throughout the episode, Brad frequently illustrates his points by playing riffs, in a way that shows that his connection with the instrument is a fluid one and a key part of how he expresses himself.

"Mud on the Tires" was originally recorded 20 years ago, in 2003. Brad's setup was either his '68 Paisley Tele or '52 Tele, recorded through a '63 AC30 and a Dr. Z Z 28, the latter of which was run through a 15" JBL speaker. As he puts it, the AC30 fills the frequency gaps left by the Fender, making the combination a perfect sonic marriage. He says that live, he normally plays the solo on a guitar he's nicknamed "Splash," and they've had to replace the nut on it three times, due to how Paisley bends the 4th string on the space behind it at a certain point in the solo.

While rockin' his G bender, Brad has some trouble executing the solo's most elaborate middle riff during the solo breakdown, but his incredible chops pull through towards the end of the ep as he whips out the impressive lick. Shifty encourages followers to see if they can match it! That might be a tall order, but it is all part of the fun.

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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642

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Follow Chris Shiflett:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisshiflettmusic

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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chris.shiflett

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisshiflett71

Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag

Producer: Jason Shadrick

Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis

Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin

Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan

Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Chris Shiflett Rates Your Solos and Shares His Pedal Philosophy Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

In this solo installment of Shred With Shifty, host Chris Shiflett shares juicy unreleased footage from previous episodes, rates fan submission solos, and fields questions from viewers.

This week’s Shred With Shifty keeps the spotlight on our intrepid host and shameless shredmeister, as Shifty kicks things off with a swift hammer-on ascent up the neck. Next, he shares a few ace videos submitted by fans where they tackle Alex Lifeson’s solo on Rush’s “Limelight,” though Shifty has some choice words for one shredder’s choice in guitars. (Plus, he duets one lucky Foos cover band expert’s rendition of the solo on “Long Road To Ruin.”) Shifty shares some unseen clips from his conversations on the pod thus far. He talks Epiphones versus Gibsons with Lifeson, soccer fandom and arthritis with Rivers Cuomo, and guitar-painting with Lindsay Ell. Best of all, Nile Rogers dishes on how he rescued David Bowie’s dismal “Let’s Dance” demo.

To round out the show, Shiflett answers questions from viewers. He talks about his love for Strymon’s Iridium and how they fit into his solo shows, plus he reveals what he’s playing through on Shred With Shifty. Later on, he recounts how a malfunctioning amp during “This Is A Call” ended with a smashed guitar, his favorite pedalboard picks (“Put like 15 pedals on your pedalboard and go to the races!”), his amp-switching rig and pre-show warm up routine with Foo Fighters, and how to play his leads on Foos’ emotional new track, “Under You.”

Look out for the next episode of Shred With Shifty, when Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora joins Shiflett to teach him the screaming solo for "Dead Or Alive."

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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty

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iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-shred-with-shifty-116270551/

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Follow Chris Shiflett:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisshiflettmusic

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag

Producer: Jason Shadrick

Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis

Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin

Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan

Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Nile Rodgers on the Magic of “I’m Coming Out” Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

CHIC bandleader Nile Rodgers and his Hitmaker spill the history behind writing the unforgettable music and lyrics for Diana Ross’ iconic smash, “I’m Coming Out”

When CHIC guitar wizard Nile Rodgers tells Chris Shiflett that he was at Woodstock, Shiflett quips, “You didn’t take the brown acid, did you?” Rodgers grins and chuckles, “I took every color acid they had!”

This is the tongue-in-cheek tenor of the latest episode of Shred With Shifty, a fun, often hilarious conversational romp through Rodgers’ music career. It all started with classical music and woodwinds (specifically the flute and clarinet), but as Rodgers tells it, a major turning point was a chance encounter with a crew of Los Angeles hippies—affectionately called “freaks” in those days of the late ’60s—that led to a two-day LSD party soundtracked by The Doors’ first album.

After he picked up a guitar at 16, he turned to unique jazz pluckers like Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery. He followed in their footsteps and played semi-hollow guitars until he met his longtime musical partner and CHIC cofounder, bassist Bernard Edwards, who urged him to pick up a Stratocaster. So it was then that the Hitmaker was born one fateful day in a south Florida guitar shop.

Rodgers gives Shifty the full, eyebrow-raising story of how he and Edwards penned Diana Ross’ hit, “I’m Coming Out.” The duo had tried the song’s drumbeat on many other tracks—they nicknamed it “the hesitation waltz”—but its playful rhythm didn’t land until they wrote the song for Ross. Rodgers explains that his neck-pickup “chucking” on the song, which is most clearly voiced on the highest three strings, was structured around the vocal melody. “I’m a very hook-oriented guy,” says Rodgers. “I believe in reinforcing the thing that I believe is melodically the motif that the house is built on.”

And Rodgers doesn’t shy away from the whole truth about the song’s history. Ross was the first superstar that Rodgers had recorded with, but as he remembers, that didn’t stop him from spinning a little white lie to make sure that “I’m Coming Out” was released.

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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty

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Follow Chris Shiflett:

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Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag

Producer: Jason Shadrick

Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis

Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion

Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan

Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Lindsay Ell's One-Woman Guitarmony Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, the country guitarist walks Shifty through her blazing solo on "Hits Me," after sharing all about what makes her guitar-mind tick.

"I've always looked at guitar solos as additional lyrics to the song," says Lindsay Ell. She approaches guitar solos by balancing their voice with that of the actual vocal, and on this episode of Shred With Shifty, the country guitarist and songwriter—who really draws from a host of genres, including rock, jazz, and blues—breaks down her epic solo on "Hits Me" for host Chris Shiflett, walking him through each phrase and figure.

But before the two get into the solo breakdown, they cover some ground delving into topics like Lindsay's early bluegrass studies (and how her teacher Randy Bachman later introduced her to jazz and blues), her experience playing with producer Dann Huff, and why there aren't more female lead guitarists. (For that last one, she's not sure she has the answer, but is proud to be on the vanguard!)

"Hits Me" is in Bb, which could be a challenging key to play in, and even Chris admits he gets lost on the fretboard if his songs aren't in the far more common keys of E, A, or G. But, she didn't want to be pigeonholed as the "girl who uses a capo," throwing it out at a very young age, and plays the solo high up on the neck, mostly on the top strings, around the 16th fret. It's also full of "guitarmony"—which she loves doing on just one guitar, although the solo was tracked on two for the recording to throw a bone to the mixing engineer.

In the final minutes of the ep, Lindsay reveals one of her favorite warm up exercises, which she calls "chromatic spiders," which Shifty finds pretty wild (and they sound just as creepy as their name). Watch the full episode to get the whole story on Lindsay and the nuts and bolts of her guitar wizardry.

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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642

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iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-shred-with-shifty-116270551/

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Follow Chris Shiflett:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisshiflettmusic

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Producer: Jason Shadrick

Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis

Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin

Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan

Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Rivers Cuomo's Anti-Pedal Approach to “Only in Dreams” Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

Weezer's Rivers Cuomo sits down with Shifty to talk Yngwie, Phish, and the outro solo to "Only in Dreams" off the “Blue” album.

Head to http://volume.com/shifty to watch the full episodes!

"I don't use effects," Rivers Cuomo states, matter-of-factly, to Chris Shiflett on this second episode of Shred With Shifty. That might come as a bit of a shock to all the Weezer fans out there who went and bought a Big Muff in an effort to imitate the alt-rock guitarist's sound. For his tones on the band’s famous debut album, he went straight into his amp, and the only effect heard on that record, he says, was a bit of delay on the swells in "Only in Dreams."

The outro solo to "Only in Dreams," the final song on the album, is the subject of this ep. And after the guitarists spend a few minutes discussing Cuomo's inspirations, influences, and the production of both that album and the band's sleeper success, Pinkerton, Cuomo walks Shifty through the solo lick by lick. There's the sequence of octaves high up on the neck, colored by an unexpectedly placed major 7th chord ... and Cuomo's vibrato, which reminds Chris of Brian May. What shapes a guitarist's vibrato? “Must have something to do with your nerves between your brain and your fingers,” Cuomo says.

Before the recording of the album at Electric Lady Studios in NYC, Weezer's label insisted they work with a producer, which Cuomo rejected at first. Then he heard the Cars' "Just What I Needed" in the supermarket one day, and sought out the band's guitarist, Ric Ocasek. Ocasek was the one to push Cuomo to record an outro solo over the previously stripped-down, rhythm-section-based final three minutes of "Only in Dreams." After weeks of Ocasek's encouragement, Cuomo found himself alone in the studio one weekend and improvised his way through the solo. "This might be hard to believe, but when we started out, we were much more like a hippie band," Cuomo explains, describing his past devotion to Trey Anastasio. As it turns out, part of the "Only in Dreams" solo came out of Weezer's jamming portions of the song during their live shows.

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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty

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Follow Chris Shiflett:

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Producer: Jason Shadrick

Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis

Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion

Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan

Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Gregory Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Alex Lifeson Breaks Down The Haunting, Legendary Solo On Rush’s “Limelight” Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

On the first episode of the new podcast series Shred With Shifty, which features host and Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett getting a front-row lesson from our favorite guitar heroes, Shiflett learns the solo from Rush’s “Limelight” with a little help from the man who wrote it, Alex Lifeson. According to Shiflett, Lifeson’s lead on the song “does exactly what a great solo should do. It’s a scene change, it’s kind of emotional, it builds, and yes, it shreds.”

Shiflett recalls that in context, both “Limelight” and Moving Pictures, the 1981 Rush record that featured the track, were stylistic and structural departures from the rock ‘n’ roll fare of the day. Compared to Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, and KISS, the Canadian prog-rock trio were practically avant-garde.

Lifeson joins Shiflett from a meticulously maintained studio den he built in his apartment (“I’m a virgo,” Lifeson admits), and talks about early influences like Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck, and Andy Summers. The first solo he learned was from Cream’s “Spoonful,” but even after Rush’s international success, he says he never felt confident in his ability. “I’ve always been a little bit insecure about my playing,” he says. “I always felt like I could be better than I was.” And despite Rush’s infamously complex arrangements and each member’s dazzling technicality, Lifeson remembers that there were occasionally some “trainwrecks” onstage. “With our music, if you got lost, boy, it was hard to get back,” he grins.

While memories of the “Limelight” sessions are imperfect (“That was 43 years ago. I can’t remember things from 40 minutes ago,” Lifeson quips), the guitarist recalls using a modded Stratocaster with a vibrato arm to record the song’s solo in five or six takes, which bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee and producer Terry Brown then comped into the final version. The idea was to create a solo that reflected the isolation and fragility of “living in the limelight.” “The solo I really wanted to echo that feeling and that sense of loneliness,” he says.

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