Pete Townshend has enormous respect for Angus Young. He also believes the AC/DC guitarist is living proof of what can happen when a musician spends too much time on the road.

Speaking to Guitar Player in 2000, the Who guitarist argued that many rock musicians stop evolving because they're constantly touring instead of developing new ideas in the studio.

“I think a lot of great musicians become frozen in time because of their obsession with the road,” Townshend said. “I mean, look at AC/DC. They've never stopped touring and Angus is still wearing those stupid shorts. He still plays brilliantly—and he's one of my favorite guitar players—but the band is definitely stuck in a rut.”

It was a surprising jab at one of rock's most enduring guitar heroes — and, in fact, AC/DC are currently out on their massive Power Up tour, which returns to the U.S. on July 11.

But for Townshend it illustrated a larger point. Long before home studios became commonplace, he'd built one of his own and made it the center of his creative life.

“I was the first person,” Townshend told Guitar Player. “The only people I know who had home studios before I did — apart from electronic music composers — were Les Paul, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Barry Gray, who did music for English cartoons.”

Having his own studio gave Townshend a place to experiment with sounds and develop songs long before he brought them to the Who. Working alone, he built remarkably complete demos that served as blueprints for ambitious projects including Tommy, the abandoned Lifehouse project and Quadrophenia, allowing the band to hear exactly what he envisioned before they entered the studio.

Many of those recordings were eventually released on the Scoop albums, Lifehouse Chronicles and expanded editions of classic Who releases, including Who's Next/Lifehouse and My Generation.

Despite his reputation as one of Britain's most influential guitarists, Townshend said recording — not playing guitar — had always been his true passion. In addition to his fluency on electric and acoustic guitar, he’s also a capable drummer, bass guitarist and keyboardist when it comes to turning his ideas into fully formed demos.

“Recording has always been a passion of mine, and it still is,” he said. “I find it hard to talk about guitars and amplifiers because playing guitar is just something that I do—it's not a passion. The guitar just happened to be what I fell into, and the guitar has become an icon that has grown out of all perspective. The way that I used the guitar in the early days was incredibly irreverent. To some extent, I continue to be irreverent about it.

“My passion and enthusiasm has often been contained in my home studio — partly because it's private, and it's where I've found a way of expressing my complete musicianship. For me, the creative idea is about a neighborhood. The creative spirit needs roots — you have to be fairly well grounded before you can set it free. My studio provides me with a place to create and to be creative.”

Townshend believed the place where music is made becomes part of the music itself, pointing to early rock pioneers like Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly, who rehearsed and recorded in garages.

“I’m a great believer in the concept that the creative process is often about where the music comes from,” he said. “People like Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly rehearsed their routines and made recordings in their garages — Cochran used to engineer his own records!

“So you can't remove the garage from the sound of their early work. You'd never find a painter, for example, who would say they didn't need a place to work, but a lot of musicians undervalue the importance of the studio space. They'll say, ‘Here's my guitar and my bottle of water, so now I can go anywhere.’ Crap! You can't really do that.”

Townshend's own fascination with home recording began in the early 1960s after meeting Barry Gray, whose electronic soundtracks for British television introduced him to the creative possibilities of recording outside a commercial studio.

“He was doing those cartoon soundtracks electronically with simple organs,” Townshend recalled. “Pete Wilson, the guitar player in my very first band, had his father arrange for us to record our first demo in Gray's studio. We recorded one of my first songs, ‘It Was You,’ which was also the first song I ever published. This was around 1963 or ’64.”

Townshend soon began experimenting with a pair of film-location tape recorders, bouncing tracks between the two machines to create sound-on-sound recordings before upgrading to a Revox recorder with Dolby noise reduction and, later, a 3M eight-track machine.

By 2000, Townshend had embraced Pro Tools, but his old analog studio remained his creative refuge. It was the kind of space he believed every musician needed—a place to experiment, evolve and avoid becoming, in his words, "frozen in time."

“If I want to make a great-sounding demo,” he said, “I'll go back to my classic analog equipment.”

No song is a guaranteed smash, but when it serves as the theme for a hit movie, its odds increase dramatically.

That’s what Survivor learned when they were asked to write the signature tune for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky III sequel in 1982. The result was “The Eye of the Tiger,” the title track from the group’s third album, released June 8, 1982.

The song went on to become a worldwide chart topper. But the song’s co-writers — Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan and guitarist/keyboardist Jim Peterik — faced a daunting task. Stallone had already chosen Queen’s 1980 monster hit “Another One Bites the Dust” for an early cut of the movie, but the song got axed — either United Artists (which produced the film) nixed it for being too old, or Queen denied permission for its use.

“I actually saw it on the film at the studio when I was there with Sly,” Sullivan confirms. Whatever the reason, the result was a make-or-break opportunity for Survivor, whose first two albums had charted at just 169 and 82, respectively.

As Sullivan explains, the deal was instigated by Tony and Ben Scotti, owners of Survivor’s label, Scotti Brothers Records, over dinner at Rao’s Italian-American restaurant in Los Angeles.

“They were all good friends,” he says. “Tony was real smart, and he said to Sly, ‘I’ve got this band, maybe we could help each other.’ Tony asked Sly to call me, which he did. That dinner was probably the best thing that ever happened to my career.”

As Sullivan explains, the deal was instigated by Tony and Ben Scotti, owners of Survivor’s label, Scotti Brothers Records, over dinner at Rao’s Italian-American restaurant in Los Angeles.

“They were all good friends,” he says. “Tony was real smart, and he said to Sly, ‘I’ve got this band, maybe we could help each other.’ Tony asked Sly to call me, which he did. That dinner was probably the best thing that ever happened to my career.”

Stallone sent Sullivan a videotape of the film, but out of caution he included only its first 10 minutes. “I called him up and said I needed to see the whole film to write the song,” Sullivan says. “Which wasn’t true — I just wanted to see what happened in the movie. I reassured him, ‘Dude, I’m not going to make bootleg copies in my garage!’ He laughed and had a copy of the movie hand-delivered.”

Sullivan admits he and Peterik felt pressure writing the song, knowing that the potential reward was immense.

“It was tense, and we were struggling to complete it,” he says. “The music took about 10 minutes, but it took three days to get the lyrics right. We had 90 percent of them, but we couldn’t come up with a title.” He found what they needed while browsing a copy of the script. “There was the part where Apollo Creed says Rocky used to have the eye of the tiger. And that was our title.”

The recording session itself took very little time. “We recorded the demo for it really quick,” Sullivan says. “I used a Les Paul into a 50-watt Marshall JMP.” As Sullivan told The Guardian in 2020, the Les Paul had a headstock break that he had repaired himself out of necessity. “I couldn’t afford another one, so I glued it back together.”

The completed demo was soon delivered to Stallone, who assumed it was the final recording. “I told him that what we had given him was the demo version, and he said, ‘What the fuck is a demo?’” Sullivan recalls with a laugh. “He said that’s the version he’s using.”

Even so, Stallone wasn’t happy with one aspect of the recording. “He asked me about the sound of the song and why old AC/DC records sounded so powerful,” the guitarist says. “And I told him about tape compression — how great it sounds when you slam it into the red.”

To demonstrate, Sullivan ran the tape and pushed the faders higher until Stallone liked what he heard. “Sly said, ‘That’s it right there.’ I was worried that it would be too distorted, but he said ‘Print it,’ and that was the version that he used in the film.”

The global success of “The Eye of the Tiger” gave Survivor the fame they needed, and brought its writers huge financial rewards.

“I had a great manager,” Sullivan says. “He was way ahead of the game with publishing, and he made sure that I got everything that was due to me. I bought a Porsche 911 and a whole load of great old electric guitars, including a few ’50s Les Pauls, an original Flying V and a lot of ’50s Strats. I’ve got over 200 blue-chip guitars.”

The memory of seeing the movie in a theater for the first time still stirs up strong feelings for Sullivan. “I actually got goosebumps. It just slammed. I was driving home afterward, and three rock radio stations were playing our song. I mean, we had Rocky III for our MTV video. How could we fail?”

It’s been roughly 48 hours since guitarist Olly Pearson owned the stage and blew away the judges on Britain’s Got Talent, and in that time he’s no doubt received countless invitations from bands across the globe in need of a new shred monsters.

Whether he’ll be able to entertain any such offers remains to be seen. Pearson, you see, is all of 11 years old.

The diminutive guitarist admitted that he was nervous as he strolled onstage with what appeared to be a Patrick James Eggle guitar. Pearson, who first picked up the electric guitar at age seven, said that his favorite guitarist is AC/DC’s Angus Young, to which judge Simon Cowell responded, “Okay. Now you’re talking.”

That’s when Pearson put it all out there, telling the judges, "My dream for the future is to become the best guitarist in the world.”

With the cheering crowd already on his side, and his proud grandfather Lee looking on, Pearson paid tribute to Angus by kicking things off with a crunchy slice of “Highway to Hell.” In the blink of an eye, AC/DC morphed into Van Halen as the young picker nailed some of Eddie’s spunky licks on “Jump.”

But the kid – and the crowd – was just getting warmed up. He concluded his star-making spot with a smashing, note-perfect performance of Brian May’s solo on Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”

All of which brought the crowd, and the judges, to their feet.

“Oh, my god, Olly. Literally, a star is born. I have never, ever seen anything like that in my life,” said a stunned Amanda Holden, who presented Pearson with the “Golden Buzzer.”

Next came Cowell’s verdict: “You already have your own distinct sound, which normally people take decades. You’re that good! That was brilliant.”

Still basking in his triumph, Pearson appeared on Britain’s This Morning broadcast with his grandfather Lee, who recounted the moment his grandson was bitten by the guitar bug.

“Olly said to me, ‘I saw a guy playing in the street, and I wanna do that.’"

Guitar became their bond, as grandpa, a player in his youth, relearned the instrument while Olly blew past him.

“I didn’t so much teach him,” Lee said. “I just opened the door and out it came.”

“I remember a cover me and my brother did together going way back [November 1995],” Angus Young told Guitar World in 2020. “That was nice, because there was always a tendency for people to only look at solo guitarists, while Malcolm was an out-and-out rhythm player. A lot of people forget that there's some great rhythm players out there. And the two of us were doing it together.”

Angus Young has written some of the most memorably riffs in hard rock, but his solos are equally hailed as some of the greatest. The Aussie guitarist was heavily inspired by the electric guitar work of players like Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend and Chuck Berry. Among his most celebrated solos can be heard in songs like “Back in Black,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Thunderstruck,” “Highway to Hell” and “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You):”

Yet to hear Angus tell it, his contributions aren’t nearly as important as those of the group’s rhythm guitarist. For much of AC/DC's history, his late brother Malcolm held down the rhythm end, often with a Gretsch Jet Firebird in his hands. Since 2014 that role has been filled by his nephew Stevie Young, who took over when Malcolm retired due to dementia.

Speaking with Guitar Player in our February 1984 issue, Angus told assistant editor Jas Obrecht, “That's the easiest part, the solos. There's no great thing in being a soloist.”

Which cuts contain the essential Angus Young?

That's hard, because I never look at them as a solo thing. It's our band; we all play together. The guys all around me — it's just like a little team. I could tell you the best songs. I like "Let There Be Rock" very much. “Whole Lotta Rosie" I love, the song "Back in Black," "What Do You Do For Money Honey" — the list is endless.

Do you play all the solos on AC/DC records?

Yeah, my brother's too lazy. It interferes with his drinking.

What is the difference between your brother's and your roles in the band?

I'm just like a color over the top. He's the solid thing; he pumps it along. His right hand is always going. In that field, I don't think anyone can do what he does. He's very clean; he's very hard. It's an attack. Anyone that sees him or knows about guitars can tell.

Does the fact that you're the most recognizable member of the band ever bother Malcolm?

No. He was the one that shoved me in the first place. He got me into it: "I want you to do all of this." In the early days we used to fool around on some of our first albums. He would do little bits of guitar. We would double up, swap, do a solo here, a solo there. Malcolm's more experienced at it than me.

Playings solos or rhythm?

Anything. He knows what he's doing with it. He's got his own style and his own sound.

Could you switch roles?

I could copy it. I don't think I could fill it, not like he does.

Could he play your solos?

Ah yeah, easy [laughs]. I look at it this way: That's the easiest part, the solos. There's no great thing in being a soloist. I think the hardest thing is to play together with a lot of people, and do it right. I mean, when four guys hit the one note all at once — very few people can do that.

Will he ask you to redo solos?

Yeah, if he thinks they're not happening — if he think they’re not rock enough or don’t suit the song. It’s mainly the songs that we worry about. I won’t sit there and spend 12 hours on a guitar solo. I couldn’t. That’s pointless. I like to go in and just go — bang away at it.

Do you have a fairly good idea of what you're going to do with the solos?

No, I never work that out before, unless there's an important part, like if it's part of the song.

Are your parts ever double-tracked?

No, it's never been an important element. I'd rather go for something that's natural than to double-track. You can make it sound thick by double tracking. You can make it quiet; you can add acoustic guitars to bring it down. There are a lot of tricks like that. We've done things in the past, but it's mainly been the natural sound that we've always ended up with.

What should an Angus young solo do?

I just want to add to the song, I don't want to take away from it. You don't want to suddenly give a raging solo in a song where really it should be sitting in there. Sometimes it can go over the top. Guys will try to get in every lick they can get, cover every bit of space. We just like to go with what the track requires.

Most of your leads and fills are blues based.

I'm a sucker for that. Yeah.

How do you construct solos? Do you work out of the chords?

It's mainly spontaneous. I mean there are some things I've played where I've gone, how in the hell did I do that? You can sit there and try to figure it out for years and there's nothing to match that. In the early days. If you're playing an A chord you might play a solo that's in A. But then again, you might put progressions or notes in there that don't sound right. It sounds like you're playing in the wrong key or something, and sometimes that works.

Do you know what you're doing in musical terms?

I haven't a clue.

AC/DC are currently preparing to launch the North American leg of their Power Up tour. It marks the first time in nine years that the rockers have toured in the United States. The road stint is named for the group’s 2020 album. Since its release, the band have played just one U.S. show, on October 7, 2023, as a co-headlining act of the Power Trip music festival, in Indio, California. The Power Up tour launches April 10 in Minneapolis, and concludes May 28 in Cleveland. Tickets are available for all dates as of this story’s publication.

20 years ago, back in 2003, Guitar Player sat down with Angus and Malcolm Young to look back over their career. Prompted by AC/DC's induction in that year's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame it became a funny and insightful trip through their back catalog, made all the more poignant today with Malcolm Young's death back in 2017.

In many ways, it was a normal night for AC/DC. Guitarist Angus Young donned his famous schoolboy uniform, stepped onstage backed by the mighty rhythm playing of his older brother, Malcolm, and proceeded to electrify the crowd like a Gibson-wielding demon. However, for perhaps the first time in AC/DC’s history, Angus wasn’t the only one in the building sporting a tie.

“It was our first restaurant gig,” cackles the guitarist, “and hopefully our last.”

But while the audience was full of white tablecloths and black tuxedoes, this was by no means your average restaurant gig. It was March 10, 2003, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, and AC/DC was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The irony of it all wasn’t lost on Angus.

“The whole thing was kind of amusing,” he says about playing such a posh room, “because it was exactly the type of place that would normally throw us out!”

But no one was going to throw the Young brothers out of this ceremony—especially since they took a fistful of stock, Chuck Berry-style rhythm and blues licks and created one of the most identifiable rock-guitar styles of all time. In fact, the duo’s imprint on rock and roll couldn’t be more obvious if the generations of guitarists they’ve influenced had “Angus and Malcolm were here” branded on their foreheads.

Here, the Young brothers reflect on their long, adventurous journey to the Hall of Fame and the albums that got them there…

How did it feel being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Angus: Weird—you wouldn’t really think of us in an institution like that, you know? You’d think of us somewhere else, like maybe in the Hall of Insane.

Looking back on the three decades of hard work that landed you in the Hall of Fame, is there anything you wish you had done differently?
Malcolm: No, I think we’ve done just what we’ve wanted to do. We’ve always been forceful in getting what we wanted from record companies, management, and everything else. If we had done something differently, we might not still be around. If we’d have jumped on one of the bandwagons, it might have been costly for us, like it was for many other bands. That’s why we never changed hairstyles for the latest fashion or embraced the latest musical trend. We just stuck to what we always were.

Angus: It’s like when the music of the day dictates that the guitarist has a wah pedal or a tremolo effect or something. You listen to it five years later, and go, “Jeez, it sounds so dated.” We never did that.

Ever have a temptation in the ’70s to put a disco beat on any of your records?
Malcolm: No, but a few other people wanted us to do exactly that. We literally had record company people asking us for a disco hit!

How did you deal with that?
Malcolm: We gave them Highway to Hell.

How do you respond to critics that say AC/DC’s sound hasn’t evolved much over the years?
Angus: I think what those people are really saying is that we’ve never changed our style.

Let’s look back on some of the recording sessions for the albums that have now been remastered. What do you guys remember most about tracking High Voltage?
Angus: That was our first real album, and it was the one that defined our style. Up until that point, all we had really done was a lot of touring around Australia, so it was great to get into a studio and really hear how we sounded. What was impressive about that album was that it sold on word-of-mouth alone, because music on Australian radio at that time was really soft.

Air Supply, huh?
Angus: Worse than that!

What did you guys learn from the Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap sessions?
Angus: Never to do an album that way again! [Laughs.] The “dirt cheap” part of the title says it all.

What were the Highway to Hell sessions like?
Malcolm: That’s when we first met up with [producer] “Mutt” Lange, and, to be honest, recording that album went really smoothly for us—even though the budget was tight, and we had to put the whole thing together in about three weeks.

How did Lange prepare you for the sessions?
Malcolm: He’d have us play our songs, and then he’d record them on his little tape recorder. When he came back the next day, he’d have all his ideas organized, and he’d tell us exactly where he wanted things rearranged, what parts he wanted changed, and where little breaks could be added.

Angus: For example, he put in that great break near the end of “Highway to Hell” where the band drops out, and I scrape the pick down the strings. He created the hole, and I filled it. I’m the dentist. [Laughs.]

Before that, your albums were produced by your older brother, George Young, along with Harry Vanda. What was different about working with Lange?
Malcolm: George and Harry had free studio time, so things were usually pretty relaxed. They’d say, “Come on guys, let’s go in and see what we can come up with,” and we’d end up working out arrangements while we were tracking. Sometimes we’d change a song ten times in a night. And if we thought a take was good, we might leave a weak snare or a rough-sounding guitar on it. But Mutt was very strict about making sure no bad tracks got through.

Did you have any concerns about switching to Lange?
Malcolm: Having never worked with him before—and with him being fairly new to hard rock at the time—we were worried his sounds might be a little too clean for us. But when he mixed everything, it came alive. It wasn’t as raw as before, but it sounded raw enough. And it was punchy.

Did you learn any mixing tricks from him?
Malcolm: Well, he didn’t like the room we were tracking in, so he recorded everything very dry. Then, when it was time to mix the album, he switched to another studio, pumped the drums and guitars through some P.A. speakers, recorded that room’s sound, and blended it into the mix for added ambience. We thought that was quite clever. When we heard it all together, we were knocked out.

What was the emotional climate like jumping back in the studio to record Back in Black after losing Bon Scott?
Angus: It was a bit of a do-or-die effort. We really didn’t know what would happen with that album. Luckily, Malcolm and I had a lot of good song ideas—a lot of which Mal had came up with during the Highway to Hell tour.

Malcolm: Putting those riffs together was really all that kept us going. We were in a fog after Bon died, and we had to do something, you know—just to keep ourselves alive. But we had ideas, and working on them was the only light at the end of the tunnel for us.

Did Lange help you through?
Malcolm: Yeah—although he suffered, too, because he liked working with Bon. But he kept us going by keeping us on the go. We didn’t have time to stop and think, which was good, because once you thought, it hurt.

Back in Black was mixed so well, it’s hard to imagine remastering could make it sound better.
Malcolm: I must say, the new CDs sound a lot better, and the fans seem to agree. But, to be honest, I prefer vinyl because it has that warmth. They’re also bringing out all our albums on vinyl, which is great because that’s our era.

Angus: Plus, we like the big covers! And I like the hiss when you first put the needle on a record. You can always tell just how loud it’s going to be. You don’t get that with CDs. They just suddenly go “Wahhh!”

Let’s talk about some riffs. Who wrote the three-chord theme to “Back in Black”?
Angus: Mal had that all sketched out on tape with just an acoustic guitar. He even had that little descending lick between the chords. To this day, I still don’t know if I’ve got it right, because it sounded so huge on his demo.

Malcolm: Oh, he got it right.

How did you guys come up with “Highway to Hell”?
Malcolm: Well, that was Angus. He had those chords there at the start, and I said, “Whoa, that sounds really good.” But then I wondered, “What can we do with the drums?” So I got on the drums and put down this straight beat right through it—which most drummers would never do. But it quickly locked in, and the song just flew out. It was done about five minutes later.

Angus: Yeah. We were in a rehearsal room in Miami, and Mal was banging on the drums. I went to the toilet for a minute, and I started singing the words “highway to hell” for the chorus. And then Bon put his pen down and came up with the verses.

Everybody talks about AC/DC’s huge guitar sound, but perhaps one reason your riffs sound so massive is that they often have big holes in them that let the drums jump through.
Angus: It’s kind of like a good book. Part of it’s written, but most of it is a mental picture that’s created when your imagination takes over. Those spaces make things sound bigger, because you fill them in with your mind.

Do you write with the drums in mind?
Malcolm: Yeah—that’s the main thing for us. If the drums aren’t right, it ain’t gonna work. We’re both toe-tappers. When we sit down and play guitar, our feet are going.

Angus: Usually, when we’re playing riffs like “Highway to Hell” or “Back in Black,” we hit the chord, and then tap our feet where the snare would be. We’re really two frustrated drummers. But if you listen closely to our stuff, it’s actually the vocal that holds it all together—like on “You Shook Me All Night Long.” You’ve got the guitar playing in the groove with the drum beat, but it’s the lyrics that push it along. We always look for a melody you can sing. It’s okay if it sounds pretty at first—we’ll make it rough later.

Malcolm: It’s always the songs that are good, not just the riffs.

One way you seem to make guitars sound huge—like on “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “Highway to Hell”—is by having the bass wait until the chorus to come in.
Angus: See, we are subtle after all! Pretty deceptive, huh?

“You Shook Me” is remarkable in that it’s possibly the only hard rock song that gets spun regularly in dance clubs.
Malcolm: That’s right. AC/DC is really a dance band. We got our start having to get people to dance in the small clubs in Sydney. The managers would say, “If you want to work here again, get people out on the dance floor so they sweat and buy more beer.” We’ve basically stuck to that.

When many people think of AC/DC, they think of huge power chords. But not everybody realizes you use more open chords than barre chords.
Malcolm: The big, open G chords are great. Just be careful not to hit too many of the thin strings when you’re strumming. Stop your strum at about the G string, and it just rounds bigger. The tone is crucial, too, because there’s a fine line between being too clean and too distorted. It’s all about getting that perfect edge going with your Marshall, rather than having the chords sort of fart through.

You’re known for using a fat set of strings, Malcolm—including a wound G.
Angus: He uses barbed wire for a G string.

Malcolm: I use Gibson Sonomatics [later sold under the name “L-5”] gauged .012-.058. I switched to that gauge three months after the band formed, and I’ve never changed. I first went to them because we’d been having tuning problems. I thought, “Well I’m just playing rhythm, so I’ll get the thick strings and keep my tuning solid.” Then I realized that we sounded better, too, because the rhythm sounds were bigger. You get more volume from thick strings. And they do stay in tune better when you’re digging in as hard as I do. I rip the chords as hard as I can so the wood really resonates. There’s no finesse involved.

Angus: He doesn’t tickle it [laughs]. And if you actually watch him, he goes through so many guitar picks! It’s a real piece of art—all those picks lying around him at the end of the night. They’re all just shredded.

Malcolm: On “For Those About to Rock,” we do a big, extended ending, and I might tear up four heavy picks in that closing section alone. They just burn down. You can literally smell them in the air.

And you guys are still sticking to your same guitars?
Malcolm: They’re like extra limbs, those guitars. I’ve used my [1963] Gretsch Jet Firebird from day one, and, in the studio, Angus uses the same Gibson SG that he always has. But he doesn’t bring that one out on the road because it’s a lot more delicate than his others. It has a really thin neck, and with the hammering he gives his guitars, it doesn’t stay in tune for long.

Do your SGs get beat up, Angus?
Angus: Believe it or not, the biggest problem is that they get waterlogged.

With sweat?
Angus: Yeah. The screws and pickups start rusting, and the guitar techs are always having to open them up and clean them out.

What about amps?
Angus: I’ve found that Marshall 50-watters produce the best sound in the studio. I can get more drive out of them—which also suits the tonal difference in our guitars. My SG has a more mid- to top-range sound, and Mal’s guitar has more bottom-end. Onstage, however, I usually play through four 100-watt Marshalls with the volume just over halfway up.

Malcolm: I’m running through three 100-watt Marshalls, but the only one that gets miked is my early-’60s Super Bass, which I’ve had forever and use in the studio, as well. Even when we’re doing arenas, I’m rarely above two. If those amps are on three, that’s a loud night for me. I’m up just enough to put that sharp edge on the chords. Live, Angus plays a little bit more distorted than he does in the studio, so that he can use the volume knob on his Gibson to pump up the drive for his solos.

Angus: A big reason we’ve ended up with such huge rigs is because when we were still doing opening slots, we’d often get shortchanged at soundchecks. The guitar amps would usually be the last things to get miked, so we said, “Let’s make sure we get heard.”

Malcolm, you’ve watched Angus run around the stage for decades now. Has he slowed down any?
Malcolm: He’s only getting more hyper. The only time he’s still is in that ten minutes just before we go on. He just goes completely silent.

What’s going on in those ten minutes, Angus?
Angus: I’m just finding the demon inside [laughs]. I think we all carry around someone else who’s bursting to get out of us, and that’s what usually happens with me. Plus, I’m a chain smoker and the only time I don’t have a cigarette is when I’m onstage. So perhaps nicotine withdrawal plays a part in the wildness.

Malcolm, do you ever get bored standing in back of the stage all night?
Malcolm: No. I love planting myself next to the drums and getting that groove thing going. I even put one of my feet against the drum riser so that I can feel the drums vibrating. Besides, Angus and Brian are the showmen—as was Bon—and they provide more than enough visual excitement. And it’s a good idea to stay out of their way because you can get run over!

Have you two ever had any serious arguments in the studio or in rehearsal?
Malcolm: We do have our “had enough” days. Particularly when the pressure is on, or if we’ve been working in the studio for a long time—you know, not sleeping and eating take-out food around the clock. But we’re not ones to stew for long. When we hear stories of what some bands go through—like Guns N’ Roses, for example—we think “Wow, what a waste.” Those guys should just grow up, get back together, and get back out there.

This interview first appeared in the July 2003 issue of Guitar Player. For more info on AC/DC, visit their website.

British guitarist Billy Morrison estimates that he wasted a good 15 years of his life shooting drugs. “I loved the Sex Pistols and Johnny Thunders, and I went down that route,” he says. “But most people get the music career first and then blow their money on drugs. I did it backward.”

By the mid ’90s, Morrison was facing the end. He weighed 120 pounds and was homeless. He’d been stabbed and no one seemed to care. Even his friends had abandoned him. One night, he found himself crouching behind a garbage can in London, trying to shoot heroin into collapsed veins. ”That’s when I finally saw the light,” he says. ”I said, ‘I’m done with this. I’m going to get clean and have the career I always wanted in music.’”

He had played a bit of guitar in bands as a teenager, but at the age of 29 he decided to get serious. Becoming a virtuoso shredder was the last thing on his mind, but he loved rhythm guitar and set out to make his right hand one of the best around.

“Listen to AC/DC and tell me Malcolm Young didn’t drive that band,” he says. “Same with the Sex Pistols. It’s all about Steve Jones’ rhythm playing. Those guys are tone merchants. That’s the club I wanted to be in.”

Things turned around quickly – until they didn’t. Morrison formed a band called Stimulator and signed a deal with Geffen, but label restructuring put the group’s career on ice. 

“It was a blessing in disguise,” he says. “If I had success back then, I’d be playing some craphole in the Valley right now for 10 people.” His longtime pal Billy Duffy threw him a lifeline with an invitation to play bass for a year-long Cult tour, after which Morrison relocated to Los Angeles.

Naturally gregarious, Morrison had people skills that went a long way. Superstar musicians were drawn to the personable, egoless Brit. He rounded up a group of his new friends – Dave Navarro, drummer Matt Sorum, singer Donovan Leitch, and bassist Scott Ford – and formed a rock and roll Rat Pack called Camp Freddy. The general idea was to play covers at low-key gigs and have fun. Soon enough, everybody in town wanted in, and the gigs became anything but discreet.

Among the players who turned up to Camp Freddy jams was Steve Stevens. The two guitarists hit it off, and when Stevens resumed his partnership with Billy Idol, he brought Morrison into the fold as his guitar co-pilot. 

“Playing with Steve and Billy has been the most remarkable experience in my whole life,” Morrison says. “Working with them has allowed me to grow as a musician so much. I don’t do what Steve does, because I can’t – and why would I even try? He’s Steve Stevens. But I’ve been able to establish my own identity and sound in the band, and I’m so grateful for their belief in me.” 

He laughs, “It’s been 15 years with them. Time does fly when you’re having fun.”

Stevens guests on Morrison’s forthcoming solo album, The Morrison Project, along with Steve Vai, John 5, Ozzy Osbourne, and other high-wattage names. Out this April, it’s a fun and feisty set of full-throttle metal and electro rockers on which Morrison sings and plays the lion’s share of instruments. He even takes a hand on some solos. 

“I mean, I can play leads, and the album shows that I can solo,” he says. “I’ve stood onstage with some of the best players and held my own. 

“But I know that’s not really what I’m here to do. Fortunately, I’ve got a good Rolodex and was able to get some of my friends involved, and I’ve ended up with this crazy album project.”

You’re something of the poster guy for networking. It seems as if so much of your success has come from your ability to make friends.

“People skills are important. A lot of people in this business can play rings around me, but they have such an ego. They don’t know how to interact with other musicians or even know how to get on in a tour bus. I’ve got that stuff down. I’m personable and enjoyable to be around – I hope. 

“Once I get to a playing situation, I know my role, and I take playing with other musicians very seriously. I learn and rehearse. I make sure my tone is right for the job. I enjoy being a foil for the other musicians, whereas most people just want it to be about them.”

Let’s go back to when you decided to clean up and get serious about music. You hadn’t played for a long while. How did you get your guitar chops together so quickly?

“I still had some skills from when I was a kid. See, I come from a punk rock mentality, where it doesn’t matter how good you are, as long as you’ve got something worth saying. I formed Stimulator and wrote a bunch of songs – it was a lot of power chords and shit that I could play. Behind the scenes, I woodshedded quite a bit and pushed myself. And then I got asked to join the Cult. We’d be playing football stadiums and arenas.”

You joined the Cult as a bass player. Were you at all comfortable on the instrument?

“It wasn’t a hard transition. Billy Duffy was a longtime friend and he said, ‘I know you’re not a bass player, but it’s the Cult. It’s a lot of D 16th notes. You’ll be all right.’ He encouraged me. I saw it was a great opportunity to play in a big band with some friends.”

Just like that, you were in? Did you have to audition?

“Oh, I auditioned for the Cult. The thing is, I try to live my life with the motto ‘Whatever will be, will be.’ I don’t have a lot of fear walking into situations I’m unfamiliar with, but yeah, [Cult frontman] Ian Astbury can be intimidating. Billy Duffy can be intimidating, and I’ve known him forever. I played with the band, and a couple of days later they called and said I had the job. I was like, ‘Great. Let’s go!’”

The gig with Billy Idol came from playing with Steve Stevens in Camp Freddy. What do you two have in common musically?

“Oh, a lot. He loves the Dolls and the Pistols.”

And prog rock. He can talk Yes and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer for days.

“[laughs] Yeah, well, we disagree there. Anyway, there was a long hiatus with Steve and Billy, but when they got back together, Steve wanted it to be a two-guitar band. He told Billy, ‘I’ve got the guy,’ and that was it. Billy is spectacular. He’s a great boss and has real punk roots.”

Steve is the de facto lead player in the band, but you two do play some intricate parts together.

“We do. Look, Steve is one of the greatest guitar players in the world, absolutely. There’s no way I could do what he does, but I knew what he wanted for a twin-guitar thing. I wasn’t supposed to just do this bedrock thing so he could play. They wanted different tones and textures. 

“It was a little scary at first: Steve would be playing this crazy thing, and he’d walk over and go, ‘Can you play a third above this and we’ll do a harmony?’ I’d be like, ‘No, I can’t play like you, man.’ But he pushed and encouraged me, and we worked out our styles.”

Even so, you’re quite comfortable being the “bedrock” as a rhythm guitarist.

“Absolutely. When Camp Freddy came about, before I joined Idol, I was playing with Dave Navarro. Now, Dave is a phenomenal player, but I had the foresight to see that a strong bedrock underneath him was going to make us sound better. On our second gig, Slash came on as a guest. I’m standing there with him, and again, I saw the need for a good solid foundation underneath him. 

“The more I play with great lead players, the more I appreciate my position. I like being a rhythm player. Of course, it goes back to what I listen to. When I hear God Save the Queen or Anarchy in the U.K. by the Sex Pistols, my hair stands up with that rhythm guitar.”

You do play a fair number of leads on your album. I particularly like your soloing on Drowning. That’s fiery and fluid stuff. 

“Thanks. My solos stem from Johnny Thunders, Steve Jones and Angus Young – I love that stuff. I know how far I can go with a solo, but I’m not Eddie Van Halen. 

“I probably play down my soloing too much. I remember playing one night with Dave Navarro and Billy Gibbons. Billy has a thing he does onstage – he’ll just point at you, and that’s your signal to solo. He pointed at me, and I was like, ‘Shit, I gotta go for it!’ And that’s what I did. After the gig, Billy was like, ‘That was really, really cool.’ I was stunned, but it kind of kicked me into playing lead on other songs.”

You’ve got Steve Stevens, John 5, and Steve Vai playing solos on the album. Did you give them any kind of direction for what you were looking for?

“Hell no. The people on my album – all of them – were given carte blanche to do whatever they wanted. I mean, we can start with Steve Vai – he’s one of the greatest lead players on the planet. How does somebody like me say to him, ‘What if you do this?’ That isn’t gonna happen.  

“On Incite the Watch, I knew I wanted a three-key-change solo over an inordinate period of time – that’s all I knew. I sent the track to Steve and said, ‘It goes crazy for a long time with three key changes. Off you go, mate!’”

His lead break is beautifully composed. It starts out legato and spacey and builds to a dramatic flurry of notes.

“Absolutely. He sent it back and it was perfect. It was the same scenario with John 5 on The Ayes Have It. I didn’t have to tell him anything.”

Was it different with Steve Stevens on the song Crack Cocaine?

“Well, yeah, because the three of us wrote the song together – me, Steve, and Ozzy Osbourne. Steve was able to look us in the eyes, and Ozzy was going, ‘Fucking hell, that’s great.’ It was kind of predetermined where it would go, just ’cause we were all in the same room.”

Speaking of Steve Stevens, like him, you’re coming out with your own signature model from Knaggs, the Kenya J-M.

“That’s right. I did a Gibson Les Paul signature model about 10 years ago, which was wonderful. I’m a Les Paul guy, and that guitar came out exactly as I wanted. As time has gone on with Billy Idol, I’ve been using P90s more and more. Steve likes that, because he’s playing his Knaggs SSC, which for all intents and purposes is a twin-humbucker mahogany body. Thanks to Steve and Knaggs, I’ve got a bunch of SSCs, and I’ve loved them. The build quality was just spectacular. 

“Then they brought out their Kenya J, which has the P90s. They sent me one and I started playing it. The P90s fit Idol perfectly, along with Steve over on the humbuckers. I got to know Joe [Knaggs] and [his business partner] Peter [Wolf], and they came to a gig.  

“We were talking, and I’m pretty direct, so I started saying, ‘Well, yeah, but I would do this, this and that.’ And they went, ‘Well, why don’t we make a Billy Morrison signature?’ I said, ‘Let’s go.’ They built me one that’s beyond my wildest imagination.”

Can you give me some specifics?

“I wanted a thicker body, and they said, ‘We can do that.’ Next, I said that I wanted noiseless pickups. Because of the volume and distortion we use, if there’s dynamics in a song, or if there’s a period where we don’t play, you’ve got this hum coming out of the PA. They took care of that. Then I said I wanted jumbo frets because I have fat fingers. They said yes to everything. Even the color, which was very important to me.

“It’s basically a white cream based on Steve Jones’ Les Paul, which started out as Alpine White, but through years of cigarette smoke and beer it became yellowish cream. Gibson did that, and I asked Knaggs to replicate that. They did that, too – they called it ‘Nico Cream.’ [laughs]”

We’ve talked about a lot of your older guitar influences. Do you seek out new music or players to inspire you?    

“I’m inspired daily by Steve Stevens. When we’re onstage, I watch him play stuff that has never come from his fingers in the 15 years I’ve been in the band. I say to him, ‘What did you do on Blue Highway tonight?’ And he says, ‘I have no idea.’ To be that fluid on your instrument – that inspires me. But I do love new music. I listen to it all the time, and I get inspired by passion more than the notes they’re playing. If I believe the artist and the song and I feel it, that’s when I go, ‘How did that happen?’”  

• The Morrison Project is set for an April 19 release via TLG/Virgin Music Group.

If there is a message to be taken from AC/DC, it’s simply “Don’t give up.”

In early 1980, the band were on the cusp of a commercial breakthrough. Highway to Hell, their 1979 album, had been a Top-20 record in the U.S., putting the Australian group in a make-or-break position to barrel its way to the highest reaches of the charts the next time around.

They had already begun working on their follow-up release. But the band’s dreams seemed to meet an abrupt end on February 19, when its frontman, Bon Scott, died after a night out in London.

Over the next month, the dispirited group considered disbanding. It was Scott’s own parents who convinced them not to give up.

After auditioning singers, they recruited Brian Johnson, the frontman for an English glam-rock act called Geordie, who had been one of Scott’s favorite vocalists.

Returning to the album they’d been making, the group transformed it into a tribute to their fallen singer – not a sorrowful record but a celebration of his spirit through the high-powered rock and roll that had inspired all of them to become musicians in the first place.

The result was not only AC/DC’s commercial breakthrough but also an album that has gone on to become the best-selling rock and roll record of all time: Back in Black.

“I guess at the time you don’t know,” lead guitarist Angus Young told Classic Rock. “So it was kind of ‘go for broke.'”

“It was a force of nature,” added Johnson. “I remember putting the first song on and just going, ‘Wow.’ I couldn’t believe it was that good. But nobody thought it was going to do what it did.”

Second only to Michael Jackson's Thriller on the best-selling albums list, Back in Black has sold an estimated 50 million copies to date.

Far from calling it a day, AC/DC went on to enjoy a long, thriving career.

Veteran pickup builder Seymour Duncan has just launched three vintage-style humbuckers inspired by some of classic rock’s greatest guitar tones.

Hand built in California by the firm’s long-established team of world class specialists, these custom shop-style pickups are now available to order as regular stock items.

Found in the axes of many of today's leading electric guitar players – including Slash, Jennifer Batten, Joe Bonamassa, Robben Ford, Billy Gibbons, Mark Knopfler and countless others – Seymour Duncan pickups are among the most trusted on the market.

Here’s a quick rundown of each of their three new regular production vintage-style humbuckers…

78 Model

Seymour Duncan had already made a name for himself as the pickup guy by the time pickup modding had become a well-established practice in the late ‘70s.

In 1978, he was famously tasked with rewinding a PAF humbucker in order to enhance its sensitivity and tonal response.

Sporting an Alnico 2 magnet and wound to the same specs as this fabled PAF, the 78 Model is a great choice for those seeking an articulate humbucker capable of handling Eddie Van Halen-style whammy bar wizardry and lightning fast solos.

Green Magic

The Green Magic takes inspiration from the legendary ‘Burst dubbed Greeny – an instrument of lore that has been handed down through generations of guitar players from Peter Green to Gary Moore and now Kirk Hammett.

Peter Green rose to prominence in the late ‘60s as one of the leading figures in the British blues guitar movement. Following a stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Green founded Fleetwood Mac in 1967 and set the guitar world alight with his unparalleled touch and tone.

The Green Magic bottles some of Greeny's unique out-of-phase mojo, as well as providing classic vintage ‘bucker sounds.

High Voltage

For those about to rock some new pickups, the High Voltage delivers AC/DC-style crunch and clarity.

Chunky enough to kick out tight, powerful riffage and with enough clout to make solos sustain and sing, this Alnico 2 hard rocker is tweaked for just a little more edge.

As per the 78 Model and Green Magic pickups, the High Voltage is available as a dual set and individually in bridge, neck and (hotter) Trembucker formats.

Visit Seymour Duncan for more information.

AC/DC was the brainchild of Malcolm Young (1953-2017) and his younger brother by two years, Angus. The last of seven brothers, both were born in Scotland, though the Young clan emigrated to Australia in 1963.

An acoustic guitar usually accompanied the family on weekend camping trips, and all the brothers learned to at least strum some chords. Malcolm took up guitar a few years before Angus, and both lads played in local teen bands.

Routine day jobs fueled their dreams of making it as rockers. "I was a printer," confided Angus, "and I just got out as quickly as I could.”

The brothers’ parents were upset when their youngest boys announced that they were quitting work to play in a band. However, 1975's High Voltage and T.N.T. albums were proof of AC/DC’s awesome potential.

One of the greatest electric guitar duos in hard rock history, it was the launch of a musical legacy that continues to inform guitar players decades down the line.

The following extracts are taken from an interview that appeared in the February 1984 edition of Guitar Player following a conversation with Angus Young in 1983 when AC/DC were on their gargantuan Flick Of The Switch world tour…

Do you play all the solos on AC/DC records?

Yeah, my brother's too lazy. It interferes with his drinking.

What's the difference between your brother's and your roles in the band?

I'm just like a color over the top. He's the solid thing; he pumps it along. His right hand is always going. In that field I don't think anyone can do what he does. He's very clean; he's very hard. It's an attack. Anyone that sees him or knows about guitars can tell.

Does the fact that you're the most recognizable member of the band ever bother Malcolm?

No. He was the one that shoved me in the first place. He got me into it: "I want you to do all of this." In the early days we used to fool around on some of our first albums. He would do little bits of guitar. We would double up, swap, do a solo here, a solo there. Malcolm's more experienced at it then me.

Playing solos or rhythm?

Anything. He knows what he's doing with it. He's got his own style and his own sound.

Could you switch roles?

I could copy it. I don't think I could fill it, not like he does.

Could he play your solos?

Ah yeah, easy [laughs]. I look at it this way: That's the easiest parts, the solos. There's no great thing in being a soloist. I think the hardest thing is to play together with a lot of people, and do it right. I mean, when four guys hit the one note all at once – very few people can do that.

Does being brothers influence the way you and Malcolm play? Others, such as the Van Halens and Schenkers, have said that they can sense what their brothers are going to do.

I don't know about that. I just think as brothers you can sort of shout each other down. You can go, "Hey, cut that out!" So you've just got a good rapport.

Malcolm does inspire me. He has very high standards in his way of playing and everything. He's very musical minded, but he can go to the extremes, overindulgence.

Like if we are in a studio and I have to do these things like solos, he'll say, "I want this to rock like thunder," and you've got to make it rock. He just says something like that and you know exactly what he means.

Will he ask you to redo solos?

Yeah, if he thinks they're not happening – if he thinks they're not rock enough or don't suit the song. It's mainly the songs that we worry about. I won't sit there and spend 12 hours on a guitar solo. I couldn't. That's pointless. I like to go in and just go, bang away at it.

Explore the AC/DC catalog here.

On this day, in 1975, AC/DC released their debut album, High Voltage. This seminal long-player differs from the 1976 international release of the same name which comprises tracks taken from the original version and its follow up, T.N.T. (AC/DC's debut and sophomore albums were only available in Australia.)

Though AC/DC were yet to scale the heights of international rock stardom their debut is well worth a visit for any fan. Tracks like “Show Business,” ”Little Lover,” and “She’s Got Balls” (the latter two were included on 1976’s international High Voltage release) were warning shots from a musical force that would soon unleash its full cannonade.

Ultimately, Oz wasn’t big enough to contain AC/DC.

This amazing clip filmed in 1975 just months after the debut High Voltage release shows the band kicking ass as they perform the album's closer, "Show Business."

Already, Angus Young has found his feet as he literally puts his own stamp on the stage while duckwalking around strapped with a Gibson SG (and a satchel, of course.)

Though Malcolm Young is renowned as one of the best rhythm guitarists in music history, it’s nice to see him performing lead duties here. He was also a fantastic lead player who shared much in common with his brother stylistically.

“If Malcolm sits down to play a solo,” said Angus, “he can do it better than me.”

Eagle eyed viewers may notice Malcolm Young’s Gretsch Jet Fire Bird is still sporting its original red finish. This famously modified electric guitar was later stripped and had all pickups but the rear/bridge Filter’Tron removed.

Browse the AC/DC catalog here.

When Rage Against The Machine were forced to reschedule their 2020 reunion tour to 2021 – and then to 2022 – Tom Morello found himself at home for the longest sustained period of his adult life.

While dealing with family demands, the guitarist also experienced something he had encountered before: a seemingly incurable case of writer’s block. “It was a drought in my head, like, ‘I’ve got nothing,’” he says. “For the first four months or so, I was completely uninspired.”

A breakthrough came from an unlikely source, however, when Morello read a Kanye West interview in which the rapper boasted about recording vocals for a new album straight to his iPhone.

Taking the same approach, Morello set his phone on a folding chair in front of a Marshall half-stack, started playing riffs and assorted noises, and before he knew it, the spark of creativity had returned.

“It sounded great,” he says. “I began sending these riffs and licks to producers and artists around the world, and that was the genesis for my new record.”

The Atlas Underground Fire (Mom+Pop Music) is Morello’s follow-up to his 2018 solo album, The Atlas Underground, and like that set it’s a collaborative affair, only this time all the recordings were done remotely (the only exception being a 2014 live version of “Highway to Hell” recorded in Australia and featuring Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder).

Its diverse mix of guest artists includes Bring Me the Horizon, Chris Stapleton, Phantogram, Damian Marley, Sama’ Abdulhadi and others, with a range of musical styles that incorporates blazing rock, transfixing dream pop, modern country, crushing EDM and more.

Morello’s daredevil, transcendent approach to guitar playing is as fierce as ever. The album brims with superhero riffs, hellfire shredding and all sorts of sonic wackiness, and he maintains that he hasn’t even begun to unlock the instrument’s potential.

“I firmly believe that the electric guitar has a future, not just a past,” he says. “And that future is going to require thinking outside of the box and not just retreading the same old ground hoping for different results.

“That’s why on these Atlas Underground records I really look to try to forge an alloy between my Marshall stack, big riffs, crazy guitar sounds and futuristic bass drops. The idea is that the electric guitar has a lot of room to grow, and I’m trying to prove it on this record.”

Even though you hold the position that there’s still so much to do on the guitar, are you sometimes surprised by how many players tend to be traditionalists? Do you feel like they’re stuck in one lane?

I don’t know if it’s so much being stuck in a lane. It’s really just loving the tradition of the instrument. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and they should enjoy it. For me, the excitement comes not from just hearing familiar sounds but also from creating sounds previously unknown to mankind.

I spent my first, whatever, 10 years of being a musician learning the Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads solos. I did my 10,000 hours of chromatic scales. 

It was really at the onset of Rage Against the Machine when I started self-identifying as the DJ in the band and started looking at the instrument in different ways, trying to forge a unique, artistic vocabulary on a tried-and-true instrument.

At first, did you have producers and engineers tapping your wrist – “We don’t do that.” We imagine it was fun for you to upset the apple cart.

That is absolutely correct. The first record I made prior to Rage Against the Machine was with a band called Lock Up. I remember I was just in the fledgling stages of figuring out stuff to do with the toggle switch, and the producer hated it. 

He was like, “That’s getting in the way of the guitar solo.” And I thought, Maybe that is the guitar solo. There was an internal voice telling me to follow my dreams, but there was this external voice saying, "Crush those dreams in the nest.”

On the new album, you recorded your guitars to your phone. You hadn’t done that before?

Maybe with voicemails, to keep track of ideas, but the idea that “this is the take that’s going on the record” never occurred to me. I’ve got to thank Kanye for that.

Obviously, there were sonic limitations to that approach, but it seems as if you embraced them and used them to your advantage.

Exactly. I mean, listen to the record – those guitars sound like kick-ass electric guitars. The one thing I liked about the process was how it changed the whole creative formula. 

Rather than there being four guys in a room looking at each other writing a song, it was me alone every day with my phone going, “What’s the plan for today?” It may be an F-sharp day. It may be a drop-D day or a crazy R2D2 noises day.

You do get some incredible sounds on your phone recordings. Your track with Damian Marley, “The Achilles List,” is a real speaker ripper.

[laughs] Yeah, yeah. There was no science to the process. I remember once my engineer and producer friend Carl [Restivo], who I was sending stuff to, he was like, “Could you just move the phone back a few inches?” I’m like, “I’ll try to remember that tomorrow, man.”

How did your version of “Highway to Hell” with Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder come about?

I was on tour with the E Street Band in Australia, filling in for Steve Van Zandt, and we were in Perth, the birthplace of Bon Scott. I was going to pay my respects to his grave in the Perth Cemetery. It was nighttime, and I couldn’t find his grave – there are no eternal flames burning.

From out of the distance comes this motorbike, and there was this heavyset dude with a German World War II helmet on and a T-shirt that read “I Don’t Give a Shit, But If I Did, You’re the One I’d Give It To.” I’m like, “That guy’s going to know where Bon Scott’s grave is.” [laughs]

Sure enough, he led me right there. I paid my respects, went back to the hotel bar and saw Bruce Springsteen. I said, “Do you think there’s any way that the circle of the E Street Band and the circle of AC/DC might overlap?” And he was like, “Never thought about that before,” but he went upstairs and thought about it.

We began rehearsing “Highway to Hell” at soundchecks, and then we found ourselves in this huge Melbourne soccer stadium with 80,000 people. Eddie Vedder happened to be at the show; he came down to see Bruce.

A lightbulb went off. I knocked on Bruce’s dressing room door and said, “We’re in Australia, where AC/DC is king, where ‘Highway to Hell’ is the unofficial national anthem of rock and roll liberation. What if we open the show with ‘Highway to Hell’ with Eddie Vedder?” And he was like, “That sounds like a pretty good idea.”

We did it, and it was an apex moment in the history of live rock and roll.

Are you surprised that Bruce isn’t given his due as a guitar player? He’s a phenomenal guitarist.

A great guitar player. I would single out Darkness on the Edge of Town as some of my favorite guitar work. Tone, feeling, melodic choice. It’s one of my favorite guitar records.

It was awesome doing guitar duels with Bruce. I had to learn 250 songs before going on tour with him, and we played songs outside of that. It can be a song he played in a bar in 1972. Just off top of his head knows it. He’s a human jukebox.

Your track with Phantogram, “Driving to Texas,” is gorgeous. Not many people would picture you fitting into what we call “dream pop.”

I worked with Josh from Phantogram on a song on the last Atlas Underground record. He and Sarah, his partner in Phantogram, reached out and wanted to do a song this past year. I was like, “I would love to.”

I love their production and their sort haunting, left-of-center, spooky vibe – “Where’s that going to take my guitar playing?” It took it in this kind of crazy, ethereal place. The solo at the end feels like this avenging angel coming down to pass judgment on the protagonist one way or the other.

Your track with Chris Stapleton sounds like taking Dylan into the 21st century. You mix these wild, spacey guitar sounds with country…

Chris is a great guy. I met him at the Chris Cornell Memorial show. We got on a Zoom call to write a song together. He’s in Nashville, I’m here, and we just spent the first two hours talking about what it’s like trying to keep the grandmas alive and keep the kids from going crazy.

That therapeutic conversation became the basis for “The War Inside.” He reminds me of Chris Cornell in a number of ways. He has this effortless ability to craft great melody out of thin air.

You’ve talked about your “misfit toys” guitar collection. Did some of them make it onto this album?

Absolutely. Each day I would pick one of those misfit toys, bring it down and maybe randomly decide, We’re going to use a delay and my $50 Kay guitar today. Then I’d just see what comes out, and who does that get sent to?

The Arm the Homeless guitar is all over it. The drop-D Tele is on it. So is my $50 Kay, my first guitar ever. It’s loud and proud on the record. The Audioslave guitar, which used to be the Budweiser guitar until I burned off the lacquer, that makes an appearance.

The Jimmy Page double-neck is on there, although I only used the six-string part. The baritone guitar I used for “Hold the Line” with Grandson [the pseudonym of Canadian-American Jordan Benjamin]. Most of the solos are played with the Arm the Homeless guitar, and then the rhythm tracks were just on whatever guitar I happened to choose on that day.

A lot of guitarists dream of owning ’59 sunbursts and the like. You don’t seem like you were ever that guy.

I’m not that guy at all. I will tell you, when making records with Brendan O’Brien in the past, because he is that guy, he would bring stuff from his studio and I would always be like, “It’s just a frigging Stratocaster, dude.” But then I’d think, “It actually does sound super good.” [laughs] If you like super good.

We spoke with Alex Lifeson recently, and he told us that you had invited both him and Kirk Hammett to perform on one of your new tracks. We assumed it would be on this album.

It’s a great song, and it will most definitely see the light of day. I ran into Kirk at a non-rock-and-roll-related event, and we hadn’t seen each other in years. I got to thinking, Wouldn’t it be awesome to do something?

I thought about who would be the third member of that triangle, and then I thought about Alex Lifeson, who is one of my favorite guitar players. So I reached out to him. It’s full-on head-cutting.

Given the times we live in, are you planning to return to your protest singer alter ego, the Nightwatchman?

At some point in the future, the Nightwatchman will rear his head. Right now, this process has been so liberating, and it’s been a life raft of hope during a time of anxiety. I’ve been in the bunker making these songs, and now at last people get to hear it.

Pick up a copy of Tom Morello's The Atlas Underground Fire here.

Few guitarist/electric guitar duos are more legendary than AC/DC's Malcolm Young and his trusty 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird.

With two holes in its body – one in the center, a result of the installation and subsequent removal of a humbucker between the Firebird’s two Gretsch FilterTron pickups, and one below the neck, from the removal of the guitar's original neck pickup – the rough 'n' ready, single-pickup axe was emblematic of Young's tough, no-frills approach to rhythm guitar.

It's almost impossible to imagine the late AC/DC rhythm maestro recording without the guitar affectionally known as "the Beast," but exceptions to the rule – somewhat to Young's chagrin in this particular case – did occur in the AC/DC discography.

When asked by Guitar World in a recently-resurfaced 2003 interview if he exclusively used the Beast in AC/DC's recordings, Young had this to say:

"Yes. I think the only time I didn’t was when we recorded 'High Voltage.' My guitar had been broken, and we had to get the song down that night, so I just grabbed whatever was lying around the studio. I believe it was a Gibson L-5. 

"To this day," he added. "I still hear that track and go, 'Ugh.' [laughs] But other than that it’s the Gretsch on everything."

Of course, Malcolm's brother Angus is just as synonymous with his guitar of choice, a cherry-red Gibson SG.

When asked in the same Guitar World interview if he had ever used anything else on an AC/DC recording, Angus said, "Actually, come to think of it there is one track – 'Live Wire' – that I did with another guitar because I had broken mine as well. I did an overdub with a Les Paul, I think."

Angus Young playing a Les Paul on record, you ask? Not so fast. 

"Once my SG was fixed," Young clarified, "I just went out and recut it!"

You might think that the vast majority of rock riffs are in minor keys, but not so! A close study of the rock and pop guitar repertoire over the decades discloses a multitude of major tonality-based riffs.

The major scale and its close relative, the Lydian mode, are terrific sources for creating captivating and mostly bright-sounding riffs that can evoke all sorts of emotions, ranging from love, elation and triumph to mystery and even melancholy.

In this lesson, we’ll explore, arrange and deconstruct various riffs based on both the major scale and the Lydian mode.

Ionian (Major-Scale) Riffs

Throughout this lesson, the major scale will be referenced by its modal name, Ionian. As such, the C major scale (C D E F G A B) can also be called the C Ionian mode.

1950s – ‘70s

First up is a rollicking riff inspired by “La Bamba,” the smash hit by 1950s rock and roll star Ritchie Valens (Ex. 1).

The riff is based on the chord tones of the I-IV-V progression (C-F-G7) and hits every note of C Ionian. An early example of a bona fide guitar riff, it undoubtedly influenced future guitarists and riff writers. You’ll hear echoes of the original in later hits such as Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman.”

Ex. 2 is based on “Funk Brother” Robert White’s iconic intro to the Temptations’ classic Motown hit “My Girl.” Also in C Ionian, the melody cruises along the structure of the C-to-F chord cycle courtesy of C major pentatonic (C D E G A) and F major pentatonic (F G A C D) phrases. (Both of these five-note scales are diatonic to C Ionian, containing common notes.)

In this example, the major seventh, B, is thrown in to sweeten the pot. To achieve the desired tone, pick the strings with your thumb, using a strong attack.

Ex. 3 demonstrates how the sweet R&B stylings of the 1950s and early ’60s were transformed in classic rock. Equal parts Jimi Hendrix (“Angel,” “May This Be Love” and “The Wind Cries Mary”) and the Beatles (“Sun King” and “Don’t Let Me Down”), this riff in E Ionian (E F# G# A B C# D#) is fortified with sliding-fourths intervals and hammer/pull dyads that are scattered across the fretboard. This style, which pays homage to R&B pioneers like Curtis Mayfield, Cornell Dupree and others, is challenging to master.

Although it’s not generally recognized as a guitar riff per se (multiple instruments double the line on the original recording), the intro to Brian Wilson’s “California Girls” – a 1965 hit for the Beach Boys – signifies a shining moment in the ’60s Ionian repertoire. The offset rhythm of the melodic passage alone is worth the price of admission. Cast from B Ionian (B C# D# E F# G# A# ), Ex. 4 is a subtle reimagining of this classic riff, embellished with a bluesy half-step bend.

Jumping ahead to the ’70s, Ex. 5 is a twangy, folk-rock riff inspired by Mike Campbell’s 12-string rhythm work in “Listen to Her Heart” by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Drawing from the groundbreaking 12-string riffs of the ’60s as crafted by such players as the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn and the Beatles’ George Harrison, it’s primarily chordal, outlining A, Asus4 and Asus2, all of which live within the A Ionian mode (A B C# E D E F# G#). It kicks up a notch in bar 2 with a driving single-note bass line played on the A string.

Ex. 6 epitomizes Eric Clapton’s mid-1970s blues guitar pop stylings. G Ionian (G A B C D E F#) by nature, it’s an amalgamation of his main riff lines in “Wonderful Tonight.” Voiced high on the neck for ease of bending (Clapton played most of the riff in seventh position), the melody avoids the major seventh degree (F#), relying chiefly on G major pentatonic note choices (G A B D E), with an added C note in the conclusion of the phrase.

Paul McCartney and Wings’ smash 1974 hit “Band on the Run” may hold the record for the longest guitar introduction comprised entirely of fourths dyads. (Nile Rodgers’ riff that kicks off David Bowie’s “China Girl” would come in a close second.) Ex. 7 serves up a slice of the aforementioned iconic intro, then caps it off with a pair of inverted Em and F# m triads.

Let’s close out our ’70s segment with a riff so infectious, the composer felt the need to transpose it to five different keys over the course of the arrangement! We’re talking about John “Cougar” Mellencamp’s late-’70s hit, “I Need a Lover.” Ex. 8 offers a variation on the riff in an E Ionian setting. As a musical exercise, you may want to try your hand at transposing the phrase to other keys. Staying true to the original song, try to hit the keys of A, Bb, B and F#.

1980s and Beyond

The dawn of the 1980s ushered in the era of MTV and jangly-riff songs built around open chords. Cashing in big time on both trends, the unstoppable Rolling Stones hit the decade running with “Waiting on a Friend.”

Not only does the main riff jangle in a way similar to Ex. 9, the song also produced one of the most popular MTV videos of that time period. Be sure to throw on a chorus pedal or a touch of light flanging to up the sparkle factor on this C Lydian riff.

Journey are another group that benefited in a big way from the onslaught of the fledgling MTV network. Ex. 10 blends elements from two of the group’s most popular major-mode-based songs, “Any Way You Want It” and “Don’t Stop Believin’,” into an E Ionian single-note riff enhanced with bold finger vibrato (a signature element of lead guitarist Neal Schon’s style) and chords.

You probably wouldn’t associate AC/ DC with the Ionian mode, yet there it is, firmly ensconced in the chord/melody-style intro to “You Shook Me All Night Long.” Granted, Angus Young throws in a couple of chromatic passing tones, but he makes liberal use of the G Ionian mode, including the major seventh. Ex. 11 reimagines the original riff in the key of A Ionian, mainly so that the open A string can fortify the key center. Keep your index finger barred across the top four strings throughout the entire passage.

Few guitarists, or musicians for that matter, have as sensitive a touch as Jeff Beck, who is revered for his ability to interpret a melody in a variety of emotive ways. The intro to his 1985 hit cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” (originally recorded by the Impressions in 1965) exposes the fingerstyle electric guitarist’s uncanny chord-melody instincts. His lead fills that complement Rod Stewart’s vocal phrases throughout the song are downright stunning, but the intro riff is a definite standout.

Ex. 12 offers a similarly styled phrase based on the D Ionian mode (D E F# G A B C#) and meant to be performed fingerstyle, much as one would on a classical acoustic guitar. Play this passage with a lot of expression and dynamics.

Ex. 13 is a lovely acoustic example that springs from another rather unexpected source, namely Zakk Wylde. Inspired by the burly guitarist’s cascading intro riff to Ozzy Ozbourne’s 1992 hit single “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” it’s an E Ionian–based melody that similarly descends the G string and is interwoven with open B and high E notes. The original figure walks straight down the scale, but this derivative phrase mixes in a dash of George Harrison’s down-up-down melodic contour from the early Beatles hit “Please Please Me.”

Texas-born guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson has been at the forefront of modern high-tech electric guitar for the past three decades. Ex. 14 pays tribute to the Lone-Star Tone Czar with an arpeggio-laced example crafted from C Ionian. You’ll hear Johnson play similarly styled lines in his Ionian-based tour de force, “Cliffs of Dover.”

Lydian Riffs

Everyone knows what it feels like when they don’t get enough sleep the night before. Things seem just a little bit “off.” In a way, that’s what the Lydian mode is like when compared to Ionian. While the two scales are almost identical in structure, Lydian has a raised fourth degree (C Ionian: C D E F G A B; C Lydian: C D E F# G A B).

Subtle but significant, the raised fourth degree gives the Lydian mode a dreamlike, mysterious and wistful quality. Perhaps that’s why many film score composers use it in scenes of childhood innocence, dream sequences and reflection. (Check out the soundtrack to the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird.)

Let’s now explore some guitar riffs and musical passages that employ this emotion-evoking mode.

Based on the A Lydian mode (A B C# D# E F# G#), Ex. 15 illustrates a common occurrence in Lydian progressions – the establishment of a I major chord (in this case, A) coupled with a II major (B) and often fueled with a droning tonic pedal tone, in this case provided by the open fifth string. Essentially a loose composite of Mike Campbell and Tom Petty’s guitar figures in “Here Comes My Girl,” the passage casts an anticipatory mood, as they did in support of Petty’s spoken verses.

Ex. 16 is inspired by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham’s acoustic intro to Stevie Nick’s song “Sara.” Harmonized from E Lydian (E F# G# A# B C# D#), it’s also set against a tonic drone (in this case, the open low E string) and is driven by a I-II (E-F#) chord sequence. Also included is an arpeggiated G# m chord (G# -B-D#), which is the iii chord in E Lydian. Notice how the passage evokes a wistful, melancholy mood that befits the lyrics of the song itself.

Ex. 17 brings to mind the rhythm riffs in Joe Satriani’s Lydian showcase, “Flying in a Blue Dream.” (Satch had employed an alternate tuning on the original recording, while this example is presented in standard tuning.) The first two bars are in F Lydian (F G A B C D E). The Fsus2(add#11) chord suggests a partial G triad over an F bass note that gives way to an F major chord, thus establishing the toggling I-II chord sequence (albeit backward this time) that we’ve discussed.

Bars 3 and 4 modulate directly to C Lydian, where once again the chords suggest a I-II trade-off, here in the new key. In Satriani’s original composition, the creative guitarist improvises corresponding Lydian melodies over each new set of chord changes: C Lydian over the C chord types, F Lydian over the F chords, Ab Lydian over the Ab chords and G Lydian over the G chords.

Ex. 18 is inspired by one of several Lydian passages in Journey’s arena rocker “Escape.” Based on A Lydian, it also features a driving tonic pedal tone that reinforces the ubiquitous I-II chord sequence (A-B). This example also includes a V-chord triad (E is the V chord in A Lydian). Strive to “wiggle” the marked triads with aggressive finger vibrato. Don’t be afraid to shake the guitar neck.

The octave-doubled melody line in Ex. 19 recalls the distinct E Lydian-based interlude in the Who’s “Who Are You.” Be careful to mute the unused string that lies between the two notes of each fretted octave. This is effectively accomplished by using the fleshy underside of your fret-hand index finger to mute the B string in the first four shapes and the G string on the remaining ones.

Based on A Lydian, Ex. 20 is inspired by Joe Walsh’s hypnotic intro to “Theme from Boat Weirdos,” an instrumental track from his 1978 hit album, But Seriously, Folks… Walsh is a master of crafty guitar figures, wherein the use of strategically placed open strings facilitates the performance of unusual chord voicings that would otherwise be unplayable using fretted notes alone. The picking pattern is the key to unlocking the melodic puzzle here and offers a creative springboard for devising similarly styled creations of your own.

Ex. 21 is the shortest and perhaps most straight-ahead offering in this lesson so far. An endlessly cycled riff cast from C Lydian, it brings to mind XTC’s 1989 hit single “Mayor of Simpleton.” The riff’s quirky charm is mainly due to the ringing open-G string, a technique used to great effect in Blue Öyster Cult’s similarly styled minor-key riff for “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper.”

Ex. 22 is also in C Lydian and is a rearrangement of the intro and outro passages of Christopher Cross’s yacht-rock smash hit, “Sailing.” Cross had employed an alternate tuning for that song, which is in the key of D, but this arrangement and new key make for similarly haunting riff that’s playable in standard tuning.

Ex. 23 is in the style of Police guitarist Andy Summers. Essentially a composite of the bubbling piano and synthesizer parts heard on the verses of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (which cycles around the G Lydian mode: G A B C# D E F#), it’s highly representative of the unique parts that the ground-breaking guitarist played during his tenure in the iconic band.

Ex. 24 heralds the Lydian mode’s “Big ’80s!” style. Inspired by the way-huge synth intro to Tears for Fears’ “Head Over Heels,” it drops straight down the C Lydian mode in bars 1 and 2. Bars 3 and 4 are inspired by the “answering” guitar line heard on the original recording.

Our final example, Ex. 25, is a fun mash-up that’s equal parts Jimmy Page (inspired by his playing on “Over the Hills and Far Away” and “Dancing Days”) and Steve Howe (recalling his solo break in “Sound Chaser”). An open-position, G-Lydian extravaganza, it makes good use of the technique of using single and double hammer-ons and pull-offs in various combinations with open strings, something for which innovative and exciting guitarists are known.

AC/DC founding member Malcolm Young (1953-2017) was a rhythm guitar extraordinaire. Gifted with one of the best right hands in the business he was the driving force behind the band’s immense groove.

But Young didn’t rely on large amounts of distortion or flashy licks to create such a powerful sound. His no-nonsense approach to rock ‘n’ roll was all about fundamental electric guitar tone and back-to-basics rhythm chops.

As this isolated track of AC/DC’s 1980 classic “Back in Black” demonstrates (performed here live at Donington in 1991), you don’t need much to create world-class guitar tone. 

In terms of equipment Young allowed little to get in the way. For the definition of Filter’Tron/Marshall tone we need look no further. This essential combination allowed the subtleties and character of his playing to shine through unhindered.

Here's the original full mix for reference...

Young’s all-killer-no-filler approach to guitar playing is reflected in his long-serving guitar – a heavily-modified 1963 Gretsch Jet Fire Bird. Known as the model 6131, the red Jet Fire Bird was released in 1955 as an alternative to the black Duo Jet (6128), silver sparkle Silver Jet (6129), and orange Round Up (6130). Young’s guitar was later stripped back to ‘natural.’

Similarly, the guitar’s electronics were stripped back to include a single Filter’tron bridge pickup. Empty cavities are the only remaining traces of the original neck Filter’Tron and an aftermarket Gibson humbucker. 

The tight, percussive grit and sparkling harmonics of a single Filter’Tron humbucker paired with a Marshall amp was all Young needed to create his timeless rock 'n' roll tone.

“There’s very few rock ‘n’ roll bands,” Young told an interviewer back in 2000. “There’s the Stones and us, and their sound is completely different to us. We aim in an area that’s going back in time with the sounds – the old analog sounds… And the sounds are bigger than digital.”

Check out the Gretsch G6131-MY Malcolm Young Signature Jet, their "salute to the greatest rhythm guitarist of all time" here.

“I’m always looking for an element of the uncommon,” Eric McFadden says. Perhaps that’s why he’s still something of a mystery to the mainstream after a quarter century plus of virtuosic playing with George Clinton, Eric Burdon, Stockholm Syndrome, Anders Osborne and countless others.

McFadden’s fantastically broad range makes him difficult to pigeonhole, and he’s equally interesting on either side of the acoustic guitar/electric guitar equation. It takes a truly unique cat to blaze a career path from playing gypsy mandolin with P-Funk to strumming flamenco-inspired nylon-string with the Animals, right up to his largely electric blues affair Pain by Numbers, released in 2018 on Tab Benoit’s Whiskey Bayou Records.

What early life events shaped your acoustic outlook?

I wanted an electric guitar when I was a kid because I was into the Beatles, Stones and Zeppelin. But the first guitar I got was a nylon-string acoustic at age 11, so I wound up learning to play that material on that guitar. When I eventually got serious about playing acoustic guitar, I had a steel-string for a while, but I gravitated back to the nylon-string for a few reasons.

For one, I love flamenco music, especially Paco de Lucía. Willie Nelson was also a big influence, and I figured if the nylon-string was good enough for Willie, it was good enough for me. I simply adore the tone and character of a nylon-string acoustic.

When I moved to San Francisco in 1994 and started playing everything from country to punk-inspired rock with the Faraway Brothers and Liar, I often wound up using the nylon-string to play it all, frequently through an amp with distortion. To this day, when playing styles ranging from rock to flamenco to blues, I integrate the nylon-string. It’s become sort of a signature sound.

How did you develop the other side of your signature acoustic sound on mandolin?

The Faraway Brothers had some gigs in Lake Tahoe in the mid ’90s, and [bassist] Ed Ivey brought a mandolin along when we went on a hike. I started messing around with it, and wrote my first song on mandolin at soundcheck that night. I eventually wound up checking out some mandolin greats, including David Grisman and Sam Bush, but I wound up going down the mandolin road simply because Ed had the good sense to bring one that day.

How did that fortuitous moment eventually lead to the wild scenario where your mandolin playing landed you a gig with P-Funk?

Mutual friends connected me with George Clinton for a recording session, and he called me back for another series of sessions. I was playing a nylon-string acoustic guitar on a funky tune, and George came running into the room all excited, shouting, “Gypsy funk! Gypsy funk!”

The next day I dropped by after a gig with my mandolin, which I played for them while they were on a dinner break. When I started playing a riff, George threw his chicken down. “Everybody gather around the mic,” he said. “We’ve got to capture this idea.”

He invited me to come play it that night at the Warfield Theatre, and that riff wound up being incorporated into a new arrangement of a song called “Gypsy Woman” on How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Absent? I connected with them again when my solo tour was falling apart on the East Coast. George eventually pulled me aside and said, “We’ve got a bunk for you on the bus. Where do I send the checks”?

It’s nice to have the distinction of being the first and only mandolin player in P-Funk. [laughs]

What’s your primary mandolin?

I recently worked out an endorsement deal with Ovation, so I’m using one of their Americana Collection Pro Series mandolins, which is very nice, with a distressed sunburst finish. They also sent a few steel-string acoustics, so it’s the first time I’ve had one of those in 25 years, and I’m particularly fond of the Elite TX.

But I mainly stick to the nylon-string acoustic, because that’s really what I’m into, and my main nylon-string is a LaPatrie, which is a division of Godin. I actually play a Godin A8 mandolin as well, but regarding LaPatrie nylon-strings, I’ve played many models over the years, including the Etude and the Concert, but the one I play most is a black Hybrid with no cutaway that they custom made for me.

LaPatrie instruments always feel comfortable, and they tend to sound good plugged in because they have fine electronics. In addition to the usual pickup, mine has an internal microphone that I can blend in to get an authentic acoustic sound onstage. Sometimes I simply run it through a direct box, and other times I’ll run it through an amp, depending on the quality of the backline provided on a particular gig.

Can you detail the killer resonator that you often play onstage?

That’s a James Trussart SteelReso that he customized for me. It has a dual-pickup system. One is a traditional resonator pickup, and the other is a humbucker. A blend knob allows me to dial in any combination.

A resonator with a deep body sounds better unamplified, but mine has a thin body that helps reduce feedback, which is important, because I often play it through loud amplification. That Trussart sounds and looks pretty fantastic. It’s one of the top instruments from my collection that I’d save first from a burning building.

You incorporate some rockin’ acoustic tones on your AC/DC tribute album Eric McFadden does AC/DC (Acoustic Tribute). How did that record come about?

Bad Reputation is a French label that approached me about doing an acoustic tribute to a band that is notoriously not at all acoustic. I couldn’t think of a single instance of Angus or Malcolm Young playing an acoustic guitar track on an official AC/DC studio album, so it seemed fun to see how their stuff would come across in an acoustic format.

“Whole Lotta Rosie” works well as a slide boogie.

I’m a big fan of the original version, and I’ve been playing that song since I was a kid. The riff is very much like a John Lee Hooker riff, so I figured I’d take it back there by swinging it more like he would. I played it on the Trussart resonator with a slide. I almost never play slide, so I’m not the best slide player, but the fact that there’s a lot of out-of-tune slide playing on that is fine with me. I’m sure a few people will cringe, but maybe I derived a small amount of pleasure knowing that.

“Beatin’ Around the Bush” is slamming, and it has a similar, yet different sound.

That’s one of my favorite tracks from Highway to Hell, because it’s a real romp and I felt it translated well when played in pretty much the same fashion as the original, but with a stomp feel on a resonator. On that track I played a full-bodied Trussart resonator that James lent me for the session.

Your cocktail-lounge take on “Have a Drink on Me” is a hoot. Can you talk about how you arrived at that arrangement?

I started out trying a more bluesy tack, but I wasn’t quite happy with it. I recorded at Lucky Recording Company in Brisbane, California, working with Travis Kasperbauer and Mikel Ross. Travis prompted me to take it in a different direction, and he might have even used the word lounge.

Considering the song’s title, it made sense to go in a Dean Martin direction. So instead of power chords, I went full minor swing, with jazzy chord extensions such as 6ths, 9ths and 13ths on the black LaPatrie Hybrid. Mike Anderson played upright bass, Josh Zee played the first guitar solo, and I took the second one.

Do I hear Django Reinhardt’s influence there?

I’m a big Django fan, so you probably hear some of his influence, plus a little Wes Montgomery, and even a bit of Eric McFadden in there as well. [laughs]

You always come across with a cool rock vibe onstage regardless of the material. Do you have any thoughts on how to avoid folkie trappings and rock the planet, even when you’re playing Latin-influenced nylon-string guitar?

Rock and roll is embedded in my blood, so I certainly can’t live without it. If you didn’t have the good fortune of growing up with rock and roll as a religion, then it might be a little more challenging, but there are ways to get there, and it’s never too late to get the rock in you.

Maybe the folk players out there could delve into some rock music for a couple of hours a day? There’s no harm in trying. Rock can’t hurt you, it can only help you. Rock and roll saves lives.

Click here to visit Eric McFadden's website and download music, including Pain by Numbers.

Newbie rockers often make two mistakes when trying to replicate the power of Malcolm Young’s thundering progressions: They assume the AC/DC rhythm king used tons of distortion, and that he regularly employed barre chords.

Actually, the secrets of his power involve huge .012-.058-gauged Gibson strings (including a wound G), a perfectly intonated semihollow ’63 Gretsch Jet Firebird, a rumbling row of Marshalls turned up just loud enough to put sharp edges on the chords (“If those amps are on 3, that’s a loud night for me,” says Young), and open chords struck with a murderous strumming attack. (“He certainly doesn’t tickle it,” says his brother Angus.) 

Try this sequence of power grips for a taste of Malcolm’s merciless guitar part on Highway to Hell’s “Walk All Over You.”

AC/DC have been quite busy of late promoting Power Up, their first new album since 2014, and the first they've released since the death of their co-founder and rhythm guitarist, Malcolm Young, in 2017.

Recently, the band's SG-wielding icon of a lead guitarist, Angus Young, sat down for a chat with Vulture. During the discussion – which revolved around the rock titans' extensive discography – Young was asked what he thought was AC/DC's "most regrettable" tune.

Young's answer was "Love Song," a track from the original, Australia-only version of the band's debut album, High Voltage. Released in 1975, it was excluded from the subsequent, internationally released version of High Voltage, and only saw the light of day again in the 2009 box set, Backtracks. 

“That was very different for us,” Young said of the song. “I didn’t know if we were trying to parody love songs of the time, because Bon [Scott] wrote the lyrics. I don’t even remember what the words are. 

“I remember that song because the guy who worked for us at our record label told us that’s what was on the local radio at the time – very soft music. He thought we should release that song, because it’ll probably get some airplay. I remember thinking, ‘Who in their right mind would want this to go out?’ ”

Young did point out, however, that "Love Song" had at least a few benefits for the band.

“We were very fortunate, though, because all of the radio stations who had seen us live knew this was not who we were. So these stations started to flip the record over and play the other song, which was a cover of a blues standard called 'Baby, Please Don’t Go.' We actually scored a hit from the B‑side! That was the one saving grace of the song.”

Power Up – the band's sixteenth internationally released studio album – topped the charts in well over a dozen countries upon its release last month. It's available now for download, and on all streaming services. 

AC/DC are currently prepping for the release of Power Up, their first album since 2014, and their first since the death of the band's co-founder and rhythm guitarist, Malcolm Young, in 2017.

In anticipation of the new album, Angus Young sat down for an extensive interview with Guitar World, where he discussed the new album, his relationship with Malcolm and how his brother's legendary rhythm abilities often obscured his equally impressive lead skills.

“I remember a [Guitar World] cover me and my brother did together going way back [November 1995],” Angus told Guitar World.

“That was nice, because there was always a tendency for people to only look at solo guitarists, while Malcolm was an out-and-out rhythm player. A lot of people forget that there's some great rhythm players out there. And the two of us were doing it together.

“But what a lot of people never knew was that Malcolm could do a solo probably even better than me. He’d come up with some great licks. Whenever I heard his things, I’d always say, ‘How's he doing that?’”

In another recent interview, Young revealed his all-time favorite Gibson SG, saying "It's a vintage one. The one that I've always had and [that's] been on every album I've ever done is a guitar that now, because it's been on so many AC/DC songs, I just save it for the studio now." 

You can order a copy of the Holiday 2020 issue of Guitar World, featuring Young's extensive interview, at magazinesdirect.com.

In early 2000, right around the time AC/DC unleashed their Stiff Upper Lip album, Angus Young grabbed a Gibson SG (or two) and sat down for an intimate on-camera interview.

During the resulting video, which you can check out above, Young discusses how he and his brother Malcolm got started on guitar, why he favors SGs over Les Pauls ("If you're a little guy like me, [a Les Paul] can give you hip displacement"] and how he developed "little chords" to compensate for the "big stretch" chords he was unable to play because of his small hands.

Best of all, Young breaks out his best Chuck Berry riffs, followed by riffs inspired by Freddie King, Jimi Hendrix and John Lee Hooker. He also discusses - and demonstrates - his own approach to bending strings.

"I suppose people of an average, medium height, when they bend, they just bend the string. With me, you have to sort of lean into it. A lot of people will say they see a lot of movement when I'm on stage. But it's actually me trying to get around the fretboard [laughs]."

At the 7:02 mark, Young shows how he gets "effects" without using pedals, including "rude noises," and siren and rifle sounds. He then launches into "Stiff Upper Lip" around the 9:14 mark.