Here’s Why Kevin Shields is a Cornerstone of Alternative Rock Guitar

Where other guitarists have bags of technique, Kevin Shields has originality. As the leader of My Bloody Valentine, he led the group through a pair of albums – 1988’s Isn’t Anything and 1991’s Loveless – that remain alt-rock cornerstones and ground zero for shoegaze.

But it was on their 1990 EP, You Made Me Realise, that Shields found his secret weapon. Wielding a borrowed 1964 Fender Jazzmaster with a tremolo, he discovered he could use the device to make his notes warble and drop.

Applying backward reverb, he created waves of sound that made the whole production teeter woozily as if in a dreamscape.

The resulting “glide guitar” became his plaything. “It was like a new toy, really,” he says.

Shields influenced many other alt-rock mainstays, including Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis and Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, and went on to work with numerous acts, from Yo La Tengo to Patti Smith.

No less than Vernon Reid declared of him, “He achieved a wholeness and a unity. He created his own sound.” In doing so, he tremendously expanded guitar’s sonic palette for everyone else.

In this 2018 Fender film celebrating 60 years of the Jazzmaster, Shields’ love for the original Fender offset electric guitar is evident.

When asked how many Jazzmasters he owns, the American-born Irish guitarist replies, “Not a lot. Not millions… Ten, I think. Maybe eleven or 12. Probably 12. There’s more, but I’ve got lots of other ones. Made up ones, Japanese ones, copy ones. So maybe 25. But 12 good ones…

“I need them. I need more.”

We hear you, Kevin!

Browse My Bloody Valentine's catalog here.