What instrument is this?

[bcgood]

What instrument in the provided sample is playing the solo?

[jwag]

A rhodes through a wah with some resonation???

[guitarwes]

Guitar with a wah and volume pedal in simultaneous action.

Possibly a key patch with sort of the same effect?

Some multi-fx do it easily, and I'm pretty sure that you can get a dedicated pedal too.

[Clayphish]

Sounds like a wurly through a volume pedal into a auto wah. A guitar through a wah comes in at the end a continues on.

[chrisso]

Clavinet.
Either with an auto-wah or mutron type effect.

[Clayphish]

What was I thinking.. you're right Chris.. thats definitely a clav. I guess I'm too used to hearing one being played choppily through a wah.

[chrisso]

A similar sound, but on guitar does come in at the end though.

[bcgood]

Thanks Chrisso, good going mate! I superstitiously thought it was a clav all along.

[JOliver]

thats definitely a guitar the whole way through I understand how you guys could think its a clav but the sustain is way too variable... the expression is that of a guitar not a clav Its just two different guitars

[chrisso]

Possibly no one will know for sure, but the chordal playing (about 15 secs from the end) is more keyboard style than guitar style.
I don't think the sustain is a factor personally.

[bcgood]

I'm pretty sure that it is indeed a clav. Obviously towards the end there is a guitar.

[dbbubba]

I'd say guitar.

Interestingly, at :30 it says "guitar parts" to me, but by :38 it sounds like a clavinette!
The little 32nd note fall off lick at about :40 sound like a clavinette too, but you could play that on guitar as well.

It sounds like a FUZZ played into a wah or an envelope follower filter similar to a Mutron (this sounds pre-Mutron.)
It has the early '60s fuzz and wah sound to it.
I have some Jimmy Bryant stuff that has a very similar sound.
C&W / hillbilly / jazz with a fuzz and wah? Yep!!!!

I was listening for licks that say "guitar" or "Clavinette" and any bends.
I hear some slides, but you could do that on a Clav as well because they are only one note slides.

Heck! A Clavinette is just a Strat with a bunch more strings, laid flat with keyboard operated, plucking things.
The pickup LOOKS like a giant Strat pick-up, too!
It's a single coil!

[bcgood]

No, on this clav I detect a personally modified double humbucker pick up.

[dbbubba]

Originally Posted by bcgood

No, on this clav I detect a personally modified double humbucker pick up.

I'm not saying that it sounds specifically like a single coil.

I am just pointing out the fact that Clavinette D7s have a big, long, single coil pickup.
They will hum like a bitch just like a single coil GTR, too!
Sit one atop a Hammond B3 and see what happens!

[bcgood]

Originally Posted by dbbubba

I'm not saying that it sounds specifically like a single coil.

I am just pointing out the fact that Clavinette D7s have a big, long, single coil pickup.
They will hum like a bitch just like a single coil GTR, too!
Sit one atop a Hammond B3 and see what happens!

Just messen with ya man. Good stuff!

[dbbubba]

Originally Posted by bcgood

Just messen with ya man. Good stuff!

I knowed that.

But you know me!
I had to pontificate on the matters at hand.

[Makinithappen]

Not a guitar.

[travisbrown]

Guitar. No way that's a keyboard instrument. Listen to the ornaments and variation in sustain. I hear definite guitar box pattern and the sort of notes you dwell on when you aren't that good of a soloist (I know these spots well).

If I heard just 00:31 to 00:35, I'd say keyboard, but everything else sounds undoubtedly like guitar.

[bcgood]

Originally Posted by travisbrown

Guitar. No way that's a keyboard instrument. Listen to the ornaments and variation in sustain. I hear definite guitar box pattern and the sort of notes you dwell on when you aren't that good of a soloist (I know these spots well).

If I heard just 00:31 to 00:35, I'd say keyboard, but everything else sounds undoubtedly like guitar.

I disagree, I think this is very skilled playing and very tasty!

[dbbubba]

Originally Posted by travisbrown

Guitar. No way that's a keyboard instrument. Listen to the ornaments and variation in sustain. I hear definite guitar box pattern and the sort of notes you dwell on when you aren't that good of a soloist (I know these spots well).

If I heard just 00:31 to 00:35, I'd say keyboard, but everything else sounds undoubtedly like guitar.

The guitar patterns are what are kind of a give it away to me.
I've played GTR since I was a wee little kid in the mid '60s... matters.
It only occasionally says "clavinette" to me.

My impression was a sorta' weak player guy, too.
Weak player with a dolled-up sound.

For some reason I picture a Jamaican guy playing a Les Paul of sorts.

Cool track, either way!

[Makinithappen]

Originally Posted by travisbrown

I hear definite guitar box pattern and the sort of notes you dwell on when you aren't that good of a soloist (I know these spots well).

The notes in a scale don't change if you are on a keyboard. Bad key players tend to use the same notes and easy progressions that bad guitar players do. IMO...

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by Makinithappen

The notes in a scale don't change if you are on a keyboard. Bad key players tend to use the same notes and easy progressions that bad guitar players do. IMO...

I understand that (cause I'm about as good at keyboard solos as I am at guitar solos), but the way the player jumps from between intervals has that particular sound and passing notes that you get from the way the notes are laid out on a fretboard. There's a couple guitar trills in there too - hammer-ons have that sound.

Maybe we've all just got confirmation bias.

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by bcgood

I disagree, I think this is very skilled playing and very tasty!

Really? Sounds sort of meandering and made up as it goes along - sort of, "uh...where do i go next?" It's not terrible, but the sort of thing I'd make excuses for if I was playing it. It's better than a solo that's overplayed, though. Can't overplay reggae.

[bcgood]

Clavinet

A Clavinet is an electrophonic keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.

Various models were produced over the years, including the models I, II, L, C, D6, and E7. Most models consist of 60 keys and 60 associated strings, giving it a five-octave range from F0 to E5.

Each key uses a small rubber tip to perform a "hammer on" (forcefully fret the string) to a guitar-type string when it is pressed, as with a conventional clavichord. The end of each string farthest from the pickups passes through a weave of yarn. When the key is released, the yarn makes the string immediately stop vibrating. This mechanism is completely different from the other Hohner keyboard products, the Cembalet and Pianet, which use the principle of plectra or sticky pads plucking metal reeds.

Most Clavinets have two sets of pickups, which are positioned above and below the strings. The Clavinet has pickup selector switches, and a guitar-level output which can be patched to a guitar amp. Early Clavinet models featured single-coil pickups; the D6 introduced a six-core pickup design.

Originally the instrument was designed for home use and aimed at playing early European classical and folk music. The Clavinet L, introduced in 1968 was a domestic model and featured a wood-veneered triangular body with wooden legs, reverse-colour keys and an acrylic glass music stand. The final E7 model saw the culmination of several engineering improvements to make the instrument more suitable for use in live amplified rock music, where its use had become commonplace. By 1982 however, the Hohner corporation had ceased production of the Clavinet. It should be noted that the "Clavinet DP" name was applied by Hohner to a range of Japanese-made digital pianos during the late 1980s. These instruments were designed for the home market and made no attempt to emulate any characteristics of the true Clavinet, and should be seen as the equivalent of a badge engineering exercise. In 2000 Hohner disassociated themselves from the Clavinet completely by unloading their spare parts inventory to restoration website Clavinet.com.

The archetypal Clavinet sound can be heard on:

* Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and "Higher Ground"
* Led Zeppelin's "Trampled Under Foot"
* The Rolling Stones' "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)"
* Sun Ra's "Atlantis"
* The Commodores' "Machine Gun"
* Billy Preston's "Outa-Space"
* Van Der Graaf Generator's "Godbluff"
* Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Tank" (as well as the live cover of "Nut Rocker" from the Pictures at an Exhibition album)
* Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters
* The Beta Band's "Easy"
* Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne"
* Bob Marley's "Concrete Jungle"
* Peter Tosh's "Equal Rights"
* Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (Part 8) and "Empty Spaces".
* Tori Amos' "Not David Bowie"
* Soundgarden's "Fresh Tendrils"
* Red Hot Chili Peppers's "Warlocks" (played by Billy Preston)
* Gorillaz' "Dirty Harry".

[bcgood]

Originally Posted by travisbrown

Really? Sounds sort of meandering and made up as it goes along - sort of, "uh...where do i go next?" It's not terrible, but the sort of thing I'd make excuses for if I was playing it. It's better than a solo that's overplayed, though. Can't overplay reggae.

Well taste is subjective. I enjoy this solo very much and could care less how difficult it was to play.

[frankiedrz]

YouTube - Bob Marley- Stir It Up

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by bcgood

Well taste is subjective. I enjoy this solo very much and could care less how difficult it was to play.

That's cool. I wasn't making any comment on the complexity or difficulty. It's a simple solo; it works for the song - if it was more complex or difficult, it would be overwrought - it's one of those things that you've heard a million times and is instantly recognizable.

And thanks for the link on clav. It's always been one of my favourite instruments. Up here in Canada we had a cool band called the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. Chris Brown could get the snottiest sounds out of his clav.

Now he's down in NYC with Kate Fenner, also of BTC, doing a duo thing.

[bcgood]

Originally Posted by travisbrown

That's cool. I wasn't making any comment on the complexity or difficulty. It's a simple solo; it works for the song - if it was more complex or difficult, it would be overwrought - it's one of those things that you've heard a million times and is instantly recognizable.

And thanks for the link on clav. It's always been one of my favourite instruments. Up here in Canada we had a cool band called the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. Chris Brown could get the snottiest sounds out of his clav.

Now he's down in NYC with Kate Fenner, also of BTC, doing a duo thing.

Your welcome, I really want a clav now or at least one so I can sample it for my sample module.

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by frankiedrz

YouTube - Bob Marley- Stir It Up

Wait a sec. Everyone knew that the original clip was a Marley song, right?

I thought Danny was kidding when he wrote, "For some reason I picture a Jamaican guy playing a Les Paul of sorts."

[bcgood]

Originally Posted by travisbrown

Wait a sec. Everyone knew that the original clip was Marley, right?

I thought Danny was kidding when he wrote, "For some reason I picture a Jamaican guy playing a Les Paul of sorts."

Well if you watch the clip closely the cameraman, (Or director) was confused because you can hear different notes being played and obviously it's not the guitar player.