Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - 89

time. They would've been my primary
amps."
So, he had a Vox at the Grand Hotel.
Next, we put forth another million-dollar
question: Did you use a treble booster?
"Yes, I used the Hornby Skewes treble
booster," he said. "It was a [tabletop] box,
not a pedal."
The Hornby Skewes used a germanium
transistor in its circuit to add overdrive
boost to a signal, kicking the preamp with
coloration.
We posed a final guitar-tone scenario
to Blackmore by asking whether he used
less "distortion" than many players think.
"Yes, that's exactly right," he said. "In
those days there was no overdrive in the
Marshall amps."
At last, we can visualize Blackmore's
rig in December, 1971, as he stood in the
corridors of the empty Grand Hotel. He
had at least two CBS-era Strats, Marshall
and Vox amps, and a Hornby Skewes treble
booster. At long last, we understand how
he got those glorious Machine Head tones
(see sidebar).
Finally, don't underestimate the studio
gear. Purple had the Rolling Stones Mobile
Studio and an array of microphones, preamps, compressors, mixer, and 2" analog
tape to capture the music. Guitarists often
play mental hopscotch over recording gear,
but these elements had a powerful impact.
For a bit of final studio trivia, Deep Purple
hired the RSM in a gap between two other
projects - Led Zeppelin's fourth LP (IV/
Zoso) and the Stones' own Exile on Main
Street. Think about that for a second.

Blackmore 2016: Fabrice Demessence.

CRITICAL TRACKS
Machine Head cooks from end to end,
but guitarists remain in awe of "Highway
Star" for it's terrifically fast tempo, Bachinspired arpeggios, and Blackmore's protoshred chops. This is high-speed metal and
sports the double-knockout of Jon Lord's
virtuoso organ solo and a raging guitar
solo. For this break, Ritchie worked out the
parts in advance, overdubbing the Baroque
arpeggios for brilliant technical effect. In
the Blackmore documentary, Joe Satriani
says, "'Highway Star'... makes everyone who
thinks he's a guitar player need to pick up
the guitar and say... "Can I really do that?'"
"Smoke on the Water," a U.S. hit in the
summer of '73, is a feast for fans of tone
and taste. The essential riff - itself reminiscent of a 1966 bossa-nova standard
called "Maria Quiet" - features Blackmore plucking double-stop fourths with
his fingers, not a pick. Cut at Le Pavillon,
his Marshall's tone is also ambient, telling us the cabinet was room-miked (the
microphone placed away from the cab),

Onstage with
Rainbow in 2016.

BLACKMORE'S BEST

T

o help denote the 45th anniversary
of the release of Machine Head, we
asked subscribers to Vintage Guitar's
electronic newsletter, "What are your
three favorite Ritchie Blackmore songs,
riffs, or licks?"
Here are the 10 most-popular responses. To view the top 30, go to www.
VintageGuitar.com/BlackmoresBest.

1

2

(14.9%)
Deep Purple
"Higway Star"

(13%)
Deep Purple
"Smoke on the Water"

3

(7.7%)
Rainbow
"Man on the
Silver Mountain"

7

4

(7.3%)
Deep Purple
"Lazy"

8

5

(6.2%)
Deep Purple
"Burn"

9

6

10

(3.5%)
Rainbow
"Stargazer"

not close-miked, to pick up ref lections of
the space. That gave his Strat huge sonic
girth. Considering the big tone of the
riff, the cavernous interior of Le Pavillon
makes better sonic sense as a location
than does the Grand Hotel.
Blackmore's solo, cut later at the hotel,
is a masterpiece of bluesy understatement,
echo, and chunky neck-pickup voicing (a
variation on Clapton's famed "woman
tone"). You have to admire the guitarist's
restraint; instead of deploying his serious
picking chops, Ritchie laid back and played
one of rock's most emotive solos, a nod to
September 2017

89

VINTAGE GUITAR

(3.4%)
Deep Purple
"Woman From
Tokyo"

(3.4%)
Deep Purple
"Child in Time"

(3%)
Deep Purple
"Space Truckin''
(2.9%)
Deep Purple
"Hush"

his '60s British-blues heroes. For even more
fun, check out Blackmore's isolated guitar
tracks online.
"Space Truckin'" is a great example of
the Blackmore/Lord/Glover triumvirate,
with Ian Paice pile-driving the beat
underneath. Much of the song's tritone
riff is dominated by Jon Lord's crunchy
lines on the Hammond, but you can hear
Blackmore's isolated parts online. One
thing you'll notice is Blackmore's supersolid rhythm - his timing and groove are
metronome-perfect. His solo was short,
but you can hear the country influence in



Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open

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