John Frusciante Curtains Rar File

John Frusciante’s name might not be immediately recognizable to the average music fan, but as lead guitarist for the funk rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers from 1988-1992, and again from 1998-2009, his tone is very distinct and instantly recognizable. Massive hits like Give It Away, Under the Bridge and Otherside sound nothing like anything that came before them. Part of that can be attributed to his playing style, while the rest can be put down to the guitars, amps and effects he used.We’ll take a look at John Frusciante’s gear during the Chili Peppers years to analyze how he achieved his tone, and look at some of the artists that inspired him and how their playing style and gear influenced him. John was just 18 when joined the Chili Peppers in 1988 following the firing of Blackbyrd McKnight, who himself was a recent replacement for original guitarist Hillel Slovak who died of a heroin overdose earlier that year.He was an unusual choice for the band since he did not have a background in funk music as the previous guitarists had. His earliest influences were not that different from any of the thousands of other young guitarists of the day, basically, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour and Jimi Hendrix.At age 11, he discovered Frank Zappa, and by age 15, it had become an obsession. In the liner notes for the 2007 Frank Zappa album The Dub Room Special!, Frusciante writes, “By the time I was 15 I owned all of the records and was spending about 70% of my musical life studying and learning his music. For me, striving for the perfection he was known for demanding from his bands was a powerful motivation and force behind the huge amount of practicing I was doing back then.”.

During production of the Mother’s Milk album in 1989, producer Michael Beinhorn wanted John to play with more of a driving heavy metal tone that was popular at the time, but one that was more or less absent from the band's first three records. John wanted to use acid-rock guitar tones as well as a lot of slinky, sexy, funky guitar tones.Beinhorn’s idea won out, as Frusciante felt pressured by the producer's much greater knowledge of the studio. This is evidenced by tunes like Higher Ground, Knock Me Down and Nobody Weird Like Me. While none of these tunes could be described as metal, they were definitely different from the material on the Chili Pepper’s previous albums. The first single off the album, the frenetic Give it Away, shows him really solidifying the funky, sometimes staccato groove that would become instantly identifiable as his unique tone.The quirky Mellowship Slinky in B Major harkens back to the Frank Zappa influences in his past with its complex fret work and studio tape effects.The jazz-flavored Under the Bridge shows John becoming comfortable with a more subdued and understated tone while still featuring the guitar as a key element in the mix. John left the band in 1993, deciding that the band had become “too popular” leaving him unhappy. He also was dealing with personal issues, including growing substance abuse issues.

He ended up conquering his demons and returned to the band in 1998 following the departure of Dave Navarro.It’s impossible to determine what it was that changed in the period from 1993-1998, since, by his own admission, much of it is lost to a drug induced haze; but upon his return, John’s sound maintained much of its earlier funk flavor, but it was now more mature and refined, having lost some of its former looseness. This was apparent not just on more mellow numbers such as Scar Tissue and Otherside, but also on more driving songs like Around the World. John’s technique could best be described as melodically driven allowing the melody of the tune to dictate his playing. He is noted for his knowledge of music theory and perfectionism. With most guitarists, this sometimes affects their ability to play with looseness because they are trying so hard to be perfect, but this isn’t the case with John.Although, he can demonstrate his virtuosity with the instrument, he deliberately downplays this because he feels that his music needs to be more organic and natural.

Even more remarkable is that he’s not afraid to take chances and be experimental, whether with his playing style or his use of electronic effects. Much like his early idol, Frank Zappa, John is a fan of shaping sound with effects like echo, reverse, and modulation (phasing, flanging, chorus, etc.).In addition to Zappa, John also cites Jimi Hendrix and original Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak as huge influences.

Somewhat predictably he includes avant-garde artists such as Sid Barrett, The Velvet Underground and Kraftwerk amongst his influences. What is somewhat surprising is that he also includes glam rockers like David Bowie and T-Rex.For the purposes of this article, we will focus solely on John’s work within the context of his time with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. John’s career body of work is so extensive and diverse that in-depth coverage of it could entail several volumes. Keeping it restricted to just his career with the Chili Peppers makes it much more manageable. John was known to favor two tobacco sunburst Stratocasters, a 1955 and a 1962.

Both guitars are set up identically with Seymour Duncan Vintage Strat pickups. He said he was originally satisfied with the stock pickups, but said that they eventually needed to be changed, and the Duncans were nearly identical to the stock pickups.The only difference, in terms of appearance, between the two guitars is that the ’55 has a maple fretboard, while the ’62 has a rosewood fretboard. He was quoted in an interview with Vintage Guitar magazine as saying the ’62 is the “most important to him sentimentally”. The thin, bright and funky tone so prominent on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ early albums was largely due to this guitar.That classic Strat tone is instantly recognizable on the opening track of the Mother’s Milk album, Good Time Boys, and even more so, on the Chili Peppers’ remake of the Hendrix classic Castles Made of Sand. This clip below from a 2002 Top of the Pops episode shows John with his ‘62 Strat on Under the Bridge. Although John has always favored Stratocasters as his main guitar, he told Vintage Guitar magazine that “Around By The Way, I played Teles more than a Strat.”John’s Tele is a stock 1963 model with a rosewood fretboard. For the most part, he doesn’t seem to be inclined to modify guitars with hotter pickups or upgraded hardware. Given the tighter more evolved sound of By The Way, the more basic and stripped down tone of the Tele was probably an appropriate choice.The signature twang of the Tele can be easily heard in This is the Place and Warm Tape off that album.

John Frusciante Wiki

John can be seen with this Tele in this clip below of Can’t Stop from the Chili Peppers Yokohama show in 2004. Apparently John stumbled upon this guitar by accident during a shopping spree. In an interview with Vintage Guitar magazine, when asked about some of his favorite guitars in his collection, Frusciante mentions his Gretsch White Falcons.He talks about how he came to find it by purchasing different guitars thinking he would play a different way on each: “If I hadn’t gone through a phase of buying, I never would have came upon the White Falcon.' This guitar became an important part of the Californication album, being featured on the title track, Californication and also on Otherside.

John used this amp strictly with the Gretsch White Falcon. The classic Fender reverb pairs well with the jazzy hollowbody of the Gretsch. The only effect John used with this amp’s signal chain was a BOSS distortion pedal (see signal chain illustration in the following section).While I am unable to track down the exact settings he used when he played any of these amps in concert or in the studio, it’s easy enough to listen and come up with some ballpark figures that would help you come close to replicating his sound. The main signal chain for John’s Fender guitars (Stratocaster and Telecaster) and amps is shown beside.

John Frusciante Curtains Rar File 2017

The number and types of effects varied throughout his career with the Chili Peppers, so the effects shown in this diagram are just representative of his early setup, the point being to show that the signal for his Fender guitars was run through a more extensive pedalboard setup rather than a single effects box like the White Falcon.The signal chain for the Gretsch White Falcon is separate from the signal chain for John’s Fenders consisting of just the guitar, a BOSS DS1 distortion pedal and the Fender Dual Showman Amp.John’s effects setup evolved throughout his time in the Chili Peppers. We can look at different setups throughout that period, and see how this evolution took place. None of these are definitive as John was known for frequently adding and removing effects to suit where he was in his head.

John Frusciante Curtains Rar File Size

If something wasn’t working or he found he liked or disliked a certain effect, he would add or remove it, depending on how he was feeling. According to the aforementioned article in Vintage Guitar, John plays D’Addario.010s with medium action. He likes orange.60 mm Dunlop Tortex picks which are on the light side, with the thinnest available pick being the.50 mm.John has said that the lighter pick allows him to play with more variation. “It seems like I can apply more variation in sound by having a pick like this, depending on how you hold it. You can do the same thing you can do with a heavy pick, but a heavy pick can’t ever really do what a lighter one can do in terms of rhythm playing.”.