Rock-Pop-Blues
In the wake of their chart-topping album, Hackney Diamonds, Andy Saphir celebrates the styles of this great band’s guitarists: Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, and Ronnie Wood.
The Rolling Stones have been around since 1962 so this is their seventh decade making music. With such a long history, the iconic band has a massive body of work, to which has been added their latest album, Hackney Diamonds.
Starting out as a London-based blues group, The Stones achieved phenomenal worldwide success mixing pop, rock and blues, crafting their own unique sound that’s stood the test of time with classic songs like Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women and Angie which, even decades on, still sound fresh and exciting.
The Stones have always been a two-guitar outfit, with the legendary Keith Richards having been there from the beginning, partnered originally by Brian Jones who tragically drowned in his swimming pool in 1969. Jones was followed by ex John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers guitarist, Mick Taylor, who in turn was replaced by Faces guitarist, Ronnie Wood in 1975.
Throughout their recorded works, the guitar sounds of The Rolling Stones have been a mix of electric and acoustic based, with references to the band’s blues roots in cover versions of classic songs like I’m A King Bee and Little Red Rooster, with Richards, Jones, Taylor and Wood all contributing slide guitar in various songs too. Keith Richard’s inspired guitar riffs have become the stuff of legend in songs like Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Satisfaction, the latter of which was played using a Gibson Maestro FZ1 fuzz-tone pedal.
Perhaps one of the most recognisable musical sounds of The Rolling Stones is Richard’s open tunings, where his guitar is tuned to open chords such as D, E or usually G, where he removes the sixth string; this can be heard on numerous songs, such as Honky Tonk Women and Start Me Up, and give a big, rich, immensely pleasing sound. These songs, among many others, would probably have been played using arguably Richard’s most famously recognisable guitar, his 1950s Fender Telecaster, nicknamed Micawber, modified with a Gibson PAF humbucker in the neck position.
In this feature we’ll be looking at the styles of all the Stones’ guitarists, with examples featuring their individual approaches including their use of bluesy ideas such as mixing Minor and Major Pentatonic scales, country style flavours with the use of 6th interval shapes, and rock and roll influenced double-stops. We also look at Richards’ open G-tuned rhythm style as well as some Brian Jones slide. There are also three ‘mini pieces’ which have a short rhythm guitar beginni
