To complete our feature Jon Bishop delves into the workings of the Shadows’ main man’s iconic style. So, prepare to enter a Wonderful Land of melodic joy that’s sure to get your Foot Tapping.
ABILITY RATING Moderate Info https://bit.ly/3DEmTDq Will improve your… Ability to deliver a melody Key Various Tempo Various Use of multi-tap echo Use of the whammy bar
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Hank Marvin rose to fame in the late 1950s as the front man for The Shadows. His blend of American rock and roll, country and surf based guitar work coupled with catchy songs full of melodic pop sensibility catapulted the band to mega success. The Shadows also provided backing for British rock and roll mega star, Cliff Richard, and between them (together and as separate entities) amassed dozens of hit singles and albums.
The well-used phrase ‘the tone is all in the fingers’ is particularly relevant to this month’s artist. There is no overdrive to hide behind and the use of a clean tone from a Vox amp combined with the bridge pickup can be particularly revealing if there are any technical glitches in the delivery.
Hank’s sound is of course the product of his consistency in terms of the way the notes are fretted and picked. However, the most obvious aspects of his style are his skilful manipulation of the vibrato arm combined with an ingenious use of tape echo.
The Meazzi Echomatic was the original tape echo machine that Hank used. This had multiple tape heads that produced his signature rhythmic echo. Rhythmic delays provide a cool ambience, but just as importantly add rhythm, especially to muted notes. This can be heard to great effect in songs like Wonderful Land.
In addition to whammy bar vibrato and multi-tap tape delay, Hank uses a huge variety of techniques to ‘sell’ the melodies; th
