JJCale's Harmony

Corvus

This is old news but doesn't come up often so hey. Watched a vid earlier with JJ and Leon Russell, in it JJ showed a bit of his guitar. It was a 50 dollar Harmony, slightly modded... five pickups, different outputs, the back taken completely off permanently and bracing chucked inside. With a coin against the heel block to adjust the action, compensate for the thing bending ... Some pics borrowed from here http://harmony.demont.net/jjcale.php

http://harmony.demont.net/kamikazie/jjcale/JJ_Cale_H165_03.jpg
http://harmony.demont.net/kamikazie/jjcale/jj_cale_harmony_front.jpg
http://harmony.demont.net/kamikazie/jjcale/jj_cale_harmony_back.jpg

In the vid he shows a hole made in the upper bout so he could stow a mic in there - says something like "I used a hammer, I gotta find a mic this big for it"

Relics eh

richardhomer

Love the session with Leon Russell - that is ‘the’ JJ Cale guitar for me. 

TTony

I'm a big fan of JJ Cale.

Just shows.  Ropey old gear.  Easy, simple, playing.  A voice that's "distinctive".


And it sounds bloody brilliant.

AlexC

Proof as well that sound is in the playing and the player - the guitar is 'just' a means to an end.

richardhomer

TTony said:

I'm a big fan of JJ Cale.

Just shows.  Ropey old gear.  Easy, simple, playing.  A voice that's "distinctive".


And it sounds bloody brilliant.

Cale is one of my all time favourite musicians - a genuine musical hero of mine.

Someone I’d have loved to meet.

p90fool

AlexC said:

Proof as well that sound is in the playing and the player - the guitar is 'just' a means to an end.

I agree, but he obviously didn't or he wouldn't have spent years fine tuning his guitar electronics to be exactly what he wanted. 

I can empathise, I'm endlessly swapping pickups, pots, caps and magnets just to, as my missus says, "sound like you always do".

BigLicks67

On one of the lp's I've got he's playing a 70's Strat and on another I've seen him playing a Roland guitar, despite which his sound is the same. It might be seen as easy but I find his phrasing hard to copy because it is so unique to him.

guitars4you

richardhomer said:

TTony said:

I'm a big fan of JJ Cale.

Just shows.  Ropey old gear.  Easy, simple, playing.  A voice that's "distinctive".


And it sounds bloody brilliant.

Cale is one of my all time favourite musicians - a genuine musical hero of mine.

Someone I’d have loved to meet.

I agree - pure simplicity yet not so easy to pull off - put on any JJ Cale album, play along with it and see how few notes are required to make it effective

ESBlonde

A true spirit, knows what he likes and likes what he knows. To him the outside world and 'business' were less important than making music and being himself. I guess he flet that more as he got older too.
I remeber reading a reviewer/collaborater that said JJ would sit on the front porch and play guitar and write songs, the fact that people paid for that was incidental, he'd still do the same if theyre was no finacial incentive.

KKJale

A big hero of mine too (hence my user name, obvs). 

I've always loved mixed-up music and Cale has that "is it blues or country or rock'n'roll or jazz?" thing going on. Of course, it's all of 'em. Sometimes I also think his classic records had this bizarre never-ending quality... it's as though when you drop the needle on a track, you're just visiting for a few minutes of some out-in-the-desert jam session that that's been going on for years. 

guitars4you

KKJale said:

I've always loved mixed-up music and Cale has that "is it blues or country or rock'n'roll or jazz?" thing going on. Of course, it's all of 'em. 

that is part of what I like about him and his records as well

Neckwringer

Big fan too.....saw him at the Hammersmith Apollo,I think,a few years back now.
He finnished the show with 'mama don't allow' only starting with the full band and ending up with just him....
Fucking brilliant.....

He put a hammer through the upper bought on the Harmony and said he would attach a mic later......

Winny_Pooh

Such a cool songwriter, my wife is hugely into him lately. Mark Knopler could also be considered a fan

richardhomer

Winny_Pooh said:

Such a cool songwriter, my wife is hugely into him lately. Mark Knopler could also be considered a fan

MK is on record as being a fan - but I think any similarity in their guitar playing is massively over-stated. Admittedly they both play ‘quietly’ and use predominantly ‘clean’ tones - but Knopfler’s playing - even on the first DS album - was never as sparse as Cale’s. 

What they both have/had in spades was subtlety - a much under-rated quality among most guitar players....

TTony

richardhomer said:

What they both have/had in spades was subtlety - a much under-rated quality among most guitar players....

Didn't Clapton say that the space between the notes that he played was important as the notes themselves?

And he was obviously another JJC fan.

richardhomer

TTony said:

Didn't Clapton say that the space between the notes that he played was important as the notes themselves?

And he was obviously another JJC fan.

EC loved him - his entire 461 Ocean Boulevard band was recruited from Tulsa (Cale’s home town). His ‘70s output was massively influenced by JJ - and even though he was out of it - contains some of my favourite work of his.

I accept I might be in a minority on this - but I generally liked the ‘Blackie Years’ more than Cream, John Mayall and Derek and the Dominoes.

p90fool

In Clapton's case the space between the albums is the most important bit. 

EricTheWeary

I associate him with that Casio guitar which seemed like an odd choice for almost any guitarist let alone someone more 'roots.'  If it ain't broke don't fix it I guess. 

p90fool

p90fool said:

In Clapton's case the space between the albums is the most important bit. 

That was a joke btw, my favourite Clapton stuff is the mellow junkie years, the more like JJ Cale he was the better IMO.

richardhomer

p90fool said:

p90fool said:

In Clapton's case the space between the albums is the most important bit. 

That was a joke btw, my favourite Clapton stuff is the mellow junkie years, the more like JJ Cale he was the better IMO.

I’ve now unwowed you and wis’d this one....

p90fool

I knew it was you, you bastard!