Mike says your rhythm playing is so solid that it frees him up to concentrate on fills. We used to call it the mystery guitar. Well, that may be true, Im just not nuts about putting that much time in on the road. Mike Campbell | Vintage Guitar magazine So our music is really based on that rhythm guitar, and everything else grows from there. We found three of them. And weve gone full circle back to using them again. It looked good and I liked the way it felt and I didnt have a white one.. Look around you. #9. It spawns the hits "I Won't Back Down," "Free Fallin'" and "Runnin' Down A Dream" and remains in the Top 10 for 34 weeks. And, like any guitar lover, he remembers it all via the guitars he crossed paths with along the way My dad always used to play Elvis records, Campbell recalls of his first musical inspirations. Theres so many. So when youre exposed to that, you walk away with a much broader perspective than you had going in. But that broke up, and then I saw an ad that said Mudcrutch was looking for a drummer. (Ed. As things progressed for the Heartbreakers, any time Mike and I would run across something we liked, wed get it. Theres a 1956 J-200 acoustic guitar, a Gold Top Les Paul Standard with coverless P-90s. This article originally appeared in VGs November 2006 issue. "As weve gone along, thats become a bit of a good problem to have. So weve got to have a Gibson on this one. 100 Greatest Guitarists - Rolling Stone It was me and Smokey Hormel, Matt Sweeney, and Johnny Polansky. There are some very desirable amps going on sale, including the very first amp Campbell got a Heathkit TA-16. So, the next time I talked to Tom, I told him about this guy we might want to work with. SPONSORED. This Magnatone Custom 260 High Fidelity is owned by Mike Campbell. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, All those albums probably had a whole bunch of guitar licks or guitar parts that jumped out at you? And Campbell's is as clean as a whistle. When I was little, cowboys played the guitar, Elvis played the guitar, and the Beatles and Stones played the guitar. But this is a great-sounding guitar, and a real workhorse. Plus, I was also below the weight limit, so I got a temporary deferment and never got called back. I like everything they do. The truth is the new ones just arent as good, are they? I told Tom that and he was really happy. February 5, 2023 - Be Prepared | February 5, 2023 - Be Prepared | By Those are our main ones. In fact, over-the-top great. Its been rebuilt a few times, but its basically the same. You dont say, Oh, this is the wrong well, so Im not going to take it! You take what youre given, and hope its from a good place.. It's not just electrics on tap, though. My approach to guitar, I think, is probably a lot like his in terms of fitting into the song and not overplaying. Princeton Volume 7 Treble 7 Bass 3 Speed 1 Intensity 1 Deluxe Tone 9 Reply . Guitar pick I pick you in bronze. Ever loyal to their roots, both Petty and Campbell play through very cool looking Vox Super Beatle amps, jazzed up with Echoplex and MXR Dyna Comp. Oh, yeah my god I wouldnt want that responsibility (laughs)! Its a big chunk of work. I like to be able to just pull them out and use them on impulse if I need to. But thats how I hooked up with Rick, and the good thing about working with him is that wed just done a couple of records with Jeff, which is a really fun process, but is a lot of building tracks as opposed to playing rock. This thing is loud, says Campbell. We think somebody wanted it to look like John Lennons, so they had somebody carve that top horn. Howie was a great bass player. That soon changed, though. Also LA, because thats sort of our home town, maybe Chicago and, on this tour, Seattle and Fenway Park in Boston. They just instinctively picked up on the tones and the feel of it.. No matter what you hit, it sounds beautiful.. Id like to give it to you.. As for the infamous Rickenbacker that accompanies Petty on the cover of 1979s Damn The Torpedoes, Campbell says its as important to him as it is to every guitar lover whos stared at it over the years. It was an f-hole model and it wasnt a good one. But Mike has some that make all these sounds. Guitarist Mike Campbell spent four decades as Tom Petty's co-captain, co-writing hits like "Refugee," "Runnin' Down a Dream," and "Here Comes My Girl." The Florida-born musician also co-wrote "Boys of Summer" with Don Henley, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" for Stevie Nicks, produced Roy Orbison, recorded with Bob Dylan, and in 2018, became a . In terms of bass players in the Heartbreakers, is there a way to compare and contrast the styles of Ron Blair and Howie Epstein? this is what he uses for 'Running Down a Dream.'" But this is the stuff that he couldnt part with. Guitars, amps, it's all about tone. What are you waiting for. Tom Petty &The Heartbreakers 2014 Hypnotic Eye 2 Guitar Picks Also of note is Campbell's '62 Les Paul SG Junior, which he bought at a video store, of all places for just $120. Vintage Guitar: What goes through your mind when you think about the fact that the first Heartbreakers album is 30 years old come November? Mick liked one of them, but he never did work on it. The fuzz is a really unique-sounding, different than anything Ive heard. All those bands that broke up far earlier than we did, or all those bands that are still together but just hate each other thats not us. My mom went to a pawn shop and got me a Harmony acoustic. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder (opens in new tab) and Unrecorded (opens in new tab). So if someone said you had to pick three or four electric guitars to record with for the rest of your days, which would they be? Love all those guys. Next, the video moves onto a '80s - '90s-era white Firebird V Campbell picked up while on tour with Fleetwood Mac. I bought that Gretsch on tour for $200 one day from a video store, he says with a laugh. Watch Jack White showcase some of his wildest Fender custom builds in explosive Saturday Night Live performance, Zoom unveils new B2 Four bass multi-effects pedal, with Multi-Layer IR, 300 patches and a 60-second looper, Satchel: Malcolm Young influenced more guitarists than Eddie Van Halen or Eric Clapton, Watch Journey perform Black Magic Woman with Steve Lukather and original vocalist Gregg Rolie, Exploring Brad Paisleys awe-inspiring acoustic country playing. Malcolm Young more influential than EVH or Clapton? Today, nearly 50 years beyond Love Me Tender and Love Me Do, he is the personification of the rock star created by the Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. And 30 years after his band, the Heartbreakers, formed in Gainesville, Florida, he is still making an impact, still being a force in a medium famous for devouring all but the biggest of its stars. The laconic raconteur of rock very much appreciates that his style never goes out of style, and in selling some 50 million albums he has pandered to nobody not fans, not managers, not record labels. Or why not treat yourself? On those, I used the older vintage acoustics. Mike Campbell is selling a trove of vintage gear on Reverb, including a number of electric guitars and amps he has used through the years with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Don Henley and Fleetwood Mac. Key Features Fender Custom Shop Mike Campbell Limited Edition "Heartbreaker" Nocaster Body Ash Finish Nitrocellulose Lacquer Neck Rift Sawn Flame Maple With a Custom Back Shape and 7.25 Radius Frets Vintage Hardware Nickel Those days are kind of gone now, but still, collecting guitars is about loving the sound and liking instruments, you know? It's a mandolin with a whammy bar which tells you all you need to know about Mike Campbell. or Best Offer. With Rick, we wanted to go back to setting up the band live. 1. Two other Rickenbacker guitars in his arsenal, however, are never far from reach. The Collection: Mike Campbell Gibson TV 373K subscribers 519K views 10 months ago #thecollection #gibson #mikecampbell The Dirty Knobs' frontman Mike Campbell's unique approach to. If you were looking for something that little bit different with a stunning iconic tone then this is the guitar for you. guitar pick jewelry, which is proving to be a big seller. Its got so much history. Thats the one I used to record The Waiting and all those classic 12-string numbers. Amongst his peers today, Petty is revered. Id really like to find one of those. Mike Campbell - Pinterest Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Here are some highlights. Which guitars did you use on Highway Companion? I think the record company gave us some money when we first got together, and we bought 10 of these big Vox amps. But I dont think there were any vintage acoustics, per se. 2) The second guitar that comes in sounds to me like it has a Tonebender or Rangemaster on it . SPONSORED. Campbell's guitar tech, Steve Winstead, walks us through every guitar, amp, and pedal and lets us in on Campbell's time-tested formula for great tone. Yea she got the sugar, oh yes she does. Those few years of collaboration really made me come back to the band with a more experienced, wider scale of music to work with. Tom played it on American Girl and used it for rhythm parts on several albums. Re: Mike Campbell Playing Rickenbacker Mando with the Heartbreake. Well, that was kind of the first rule of that particular video. The show runs well over an hour, and features more gorgeous guitars than we have time to tell you about, but you can see the whole episode above. My guitar tech has been bugging me to go and actually take pictures of them and make a computer file. Sold on 03 Oct 2017 Price guide for collectable Vinyl Records, CDs, Cassettes, Reel-to-reel tapes, 8-Track cartridges, MiniDiscs and more! Nobody else wanted to do it (laughs)! Michael Wayne Campbell (born February 1, 1950) is an American guitarist. I might have bought a Mel Bay book at some point, but the book I most remember was a Carl Wilson chord book. Used on a slew of recordings, Campbell himself mentions the guitar in this September 1999 "Spotlight on a Heartbreaker" interview from the official Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers website. I think I gave it to a friend when I got a Stratocaster. Advertisement. I like Vox guitars a lot. Ive done several things with Rick, including the last Johnny Cash albums that are all acoustic-based. Glen Campbell: the guitar prodigy represented the best of pop and In the Refugee video, you play a red Tele with a humbucker? So I was looking at my options, not really sure what I wanted to do. He sat on it, yeah, and broke the neck off in the studio.. Effects I gave him a hard time for keeping his guitar tech, Steve, so busy during the live show. In this photo, Campbell is seen playing the mapleglo Rickenbacker 330. Keith Richards, thats my hero. caniki Additional comment actions. Its a lot to live up to. With more than 80 million albums sold worldwide, and countless anthems from Refugee to American Girl and Free Fallin to Mary Janes Last Dance under their belts, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers are in the DNA of an audience that encompasses all ages and walks of life. Campbell also tells Agnesi about his huge-sounding, well-worn '56 J-200 acoustic guitar which he purchased while recording with Johnny Cash and his 1968 Dove with a double pickguard, among other stalwart acoustics. Overview A phenomenal reproduction of a great guitar. Thats where the 62 Gibson SG Junior and Runnin Down A Dream comes in It also just goes to show that sometimes you can pickup the best guitars in the weirdest places. In this 1985 live footage, Mike Campbell plays a red Fender Telecaster with Gibson Humbuckers and a Bigsby vibrato. My dad was in the Air Force, and he was leaning on me to sign up so I could make some choices of where I might be deployed. Tom had just gotten some new signature-model Martins, and we used those on quite a few things. I'm currently building a Mike Campbell inspired . Or do you just typically react to the emotions and events of a given day? In your early days, did you buy guitars more out of necessity rather than an Oh, Ive gotta have that! mentality? The Dirty Knobs - Sugar Lyrics | Genius Lyrics I added a treble pickup and it became a really nice guitar. Well, its an interesting record because theres really only three people playing on it me and Tom and Jeff. Guitar World is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The same with Carl Wilson. My dad was on tour in Okinawa and sent me a $60 Goya electric six-string, he tells us. I bought this Rickenbacker six-string bass from the 60s. Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. Campbell has been of significant play in the Heartbreakers and has been co-writers with petty for many of the band's hit songs. It was playable. The Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Fleetwood Mac guitar legend tells the story of his '59 'Burst Les Paul, the '62 SG Junior he played on Runnin Down a Dream and more. Campbell digs into a '67 Rickenbacker 360. Thats one of my favourites as well, but the Broadcaster is the one. Or are you more likely to buy something because you need a certain sound for a certain song. It didnt take long at all because I went in with everything written. The Alliance Series Mike Campbell Hollow is an all-hollow construction sporting our "Destruct-Knob" circuit - an internal 10db booster. Do you think the guitar, more than any other instrument, has propelled your success? She . I cant really remember all of them, but there was a variety of instruments. Mike Campbell Gets Candid About Why Tom Petty Passed on - AceShowbiz Paul Gray was first and foremost an incredible songwriter, who contributed some of the best stuff Slipknot has ever put out. I used a Telecaster and my Vox teardrop. Youre joining this band. And thats where everything changed. If there was three of us playing, one of us might play that. There is also a vintage National amp, a Gibson Lab Series L5 combo which was a big favorite of B.B. Duesenberg Starplayer TV Mike Campbell Left Handed Damn The Torpedoes was kind of a breakthrough record. I (used) a Martin 12-string from the 70s a little bit. He tunes the guitar down a whole step, and has been using it on the Hypnotic Eye tour for "American Girl". The sunburst 64 Strat youre touring with now and have played for years, is that Mikes guitar? It was really interesting. Mike Campbell Heartbreaker American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar We're sorry-this item is unavailable. We made some demos, sent them out to a bunch of record companies, and got rejected by almost everybody except for London and Denny Cordells label, Shelter. The Calhoun V2 is a collaborative signature pedal for legendary guitarist, writer, and producer Mike Campbell. You should pick up a set of Virtuoso Cleaner and Polisher. Its kind of a noble pursuit, in a way. We've been notified and are looking into it. Still, I think wed get sick if we didnt tour. Do you keep a pretty close inventory of all guitars? I want to play good instruments, and I dont have much patience with new instruments. And youve since obtained every last one of them? Country Music Guitar Picks for sale | eBay And on a lot of his solo work its more piecemeal, like bringing a song in and building it. Absolutely. The first song I ever played on guitar was Baby Let Me Follow You Down. A friend had the Bob Dylan record, and he taught me the chords to that. Campbell, who died on Tuesday, aged 81, of Alzheimer's disease, was a guitar prodigy at age 10.He spent his childhood on an Arkansas farm with no electricity, where he was the seventh son in a . Photo by Lindsey Best Do you need specific headspace? They laughed at me when I walked in and played it, but once I played Johnny B Goode, they quit laughing.. Mike from Indianapolis Good interview! Aria Pro bass 7. CD LOT - Hard Rock, Pop, Metal: Stewart, Aerosmith, Elton. And I asked him, Are you high? Of course, I didnt have an acoustic, and was dying to get one. Mike Campbell Rides Again - Premier Guitar I like Wildflowers, which we did with Rick Rubin in 1994, because he was fun to work with. But the 67 is George-style [double-bound] from A Hard Days Night. I realised that when you produce somebody, you really need to give it 100 per cent of your energy. The bulk of his sound comes from a 1963 Fender Princeton and a 1954 Fender tweed Deluxe. Ive bought many guitars from him, and a lot from Norm Harris. I think I was 16. He came over with Mick it was the first time I met Rick and I gave him a couple of tracks. The tour includes a headlining show at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 28 and at the UK's Isle of Wight . It sounds incredible. And maybe I learned a couple of other Dylan songs. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. As we begin our nearly two-hour conversation, Mike Campbell admits that even after more than 40 years as the lead guitarist in the venerable Heartbreakers band, the pressure is still on him. Is there anything in particular you look for, in terms of collecting acoustic guitars? Your solo records have a more laid-back feel because youre not subject to the input of everybody pushing or pulling at you. The bottom line is about tone. And who else there arent too many new/younger bands that I listen to much. Theyre both difficult in their own way. Of course, were skipping ahead to the mid 60s, with the Beatles and the Beach Boys and all that. Rock and roll without it would be kinda sad, wouldnt it? God, let me think Were on this quest to find another bass as good as this Hfner Club weve got. But the 59, theres just something about it, and I think there is a reason why all those guitar players gravitated towards it. I use that on American Girl because its got the right tone, and we lowered the key on that song a half step over the years. For more episodes of The Collection, visit Gibson TV (opens in new tab). ", "Im always proud to play there. Get the latest and greatest Guitar news with one of our guitar magazine subscriptions. And of course Mark Knopfler, who I think sounds like he soaks up a lot of J.J.s thing. But I dont really buy anything unless I think Im going to use it. Like with Bob, wed worked together for years at that point. And I pulled it out for this tour and said to Tom, Why dont you try this? And he said, Theres the sound. All the other guitars theyre all good, but that guitar just has that tone. If theres something I dont think Id ever use, I usually dont buy it. But it wasnt like Tom had this burning ambition to be the guy. I think it was Denny who said, We should call this Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, because thats what its turning into. It just seemed to evolve. The North East has been good to me! Contact our experts for a recommendation of great alternatives. So youre talking in terms of length of time youre out, as opposed to the size of the venues? Ill take it. And so we formed Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers around that group of people. Watch Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs' New - Guitar Player Its just like heaven. $24.99. It was the first one where we broke away from lip-synching altogether. But he had this great room in a separate building right next to the studio, with ceilings that are 30 feet high, and wood. The Beatles were a big deal, and in 1964 everyone wanted a guitar. One guy had a Gibson, one guy had a Fender, so youd learn the differences and how to use them. He had a band called Mudcrutch, kind of a country-rock band, that was playing around the university. MR. BIG Addicted to that Rush Vintage 1989 Promotional Guitar Pick Paul Gilbert. I think its a Supro, but dont know the model it was just some weird-looking thing (laughs). He was a huge inspiration to me, and fortunately, I got to be a bit of a friend with him. They wanted me to do a Tom Petty model of that guitar, and I did, though I changed it a bit; I made the neck wider because I always thought the neck was a little cramped at the end. Just paring it down to a song and a story. Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. 5. Although Campbell wrote and recorded with Tom Petty for over 40 yearsthrough Petty . I kind of keyed on the last big tour thing. "There's a special story behind that guitar", "The truth is, I could do our whole show with one guitar if I wanted to", "We actually still like each other and, when we play together, it's still like the first time in the garage", Damon Albarn reveals that the beat from one of Gorillaz best-loved songs was an Omnichord loop preset, It looks like Gibson is going to start selling vintage guitars including a '59 Les Paul Burst, Deadmau5 delivers his verdict on AI music production: Its scary in the sense of how stupid music already is anyway, Confused about setting up your guitar? And it was a coincidence that the Martins all showed up right then, but we were so pleased with them. Mike Campbell, guitar player from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers does not clean his guitars either. Pettys partner in nearly every step of the music-making process, Campbell is the epitome of the musical right-hand man. Bath Heres how it works. We were band members again. A new episode of Gibson TV's The Collection hosted by Mark Agnesi explores Campbell's literal "carousel" of stunning guitars, how he came to own some of them, and what role those magical instruments played in his lengthy, incredible career.