1987 Januar Volume 21 Number 1
(1) Frank Zappa On... The '80s Guitar Clone As told to Dan Forte, 5 pp (2) Zappa & Son Onstage Together For The First Time By Tom Wheeler, 4 pp
(1) WHO BETTER TO COMMENT ON the guitar's evolution in pop music than Frank Zappa? That's what we asked ourselves in late 1976, when we were preparing our 10th Anniversary issue of Guitar Player (Jan. '77). And when the question came up again for our 20th Anniversary, the answer was the same. Besides being one of rock's most prolific composers and recording artists – both as a soloist and head of the Mothers Of Invention – Zappa is one of the idiom's finest, albeit underrated, guitarists, a synthesizer pioneer, and an intelligent, biting satirist. In recent years he has concentrated on his first love, modern classical composition, and has been one of the country's most outspoken opponents to the PMRC's drive to give ratings to rock lyrics. His essay of 10 years ago, "Good Guitar Stuffor Stereotypifications? The Evolution Of The Guitar's Use In Pop Music: Short Version," was so provocative, so priceless, so ... Zappa that we decided to rerun it in its entirety – at the end of which Frank reflects on what he wrote before, with comments about the state of guitar in the '80s. (read more)
(2) TW: How much time did you and Dweezil rehearse before performing "Sharleena" on stage?
FZ: None. It was the last concert of the 1984 tour. I'd been on the road for six mouths and had just gotten back to town. Dweezil had been rehearsing away, and since we were working at the Universal Amphitheater, I knew that he wanted to go onstage. He had played a solo on the album version, so he already knew the song. It was just a matter of him coming down to the soundcheck in the afternoon and getting his equipment set up. That was the first and only time that he and I had ever played together live. (read more @ Zappa & Son, Guitar Player: January 1987) |