John Jorgenson: A Guitarist’s Guitarist by Scott Terry
John Jorgenson has accomplished more than any other guitarist since Les Paul, both as a player and as a product innovator. He has been an integral part of some quite successful bands, including The Desert Rose Band, The Hellecasters, and Elton John’s band. John is a first call session player in Los Angeles, Nashville, and London; his guitar has graced the works of everybody from Baby Spice to Luciano Pavarotti. He has signature model guitars available from Fender, Takamine, and Saga. He has assisted in the research and development of many guitar related products, including Takamine’s new Cool Tube pre-amp and Saga’s Gitane (a Selmer-Maccaferri style guitar). John has recently expanded his resume, adding actor to his list of credits by portraying his hero, Django Reinhardt, in the new feature film Head in the Clouds, staring Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and Stuart Townsend.

Inside Connection: You've worked with a lot of great artists. Is there anybody that you'd like to collaborate with in the future—singers, guitarists, or other instrumentalists?
John Jorgenson: Oh yeah. There is just never enough time to do all I would like to do! Singers would be: Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, Paul Rodgers, and Diana Krall, off the top of my head. Guitarists would be: Jeff Beck, Bireli Lagrene, Tonino Balliardo (Gypsy Kings), Tony Rice, and Brian Setzer. Other instrumentalists would be: Dick Hyman (stride piano), Nigel Kennedy (violin), Wynton Marsalis (trumpet), Edgar Winter (alto sax). There are many more too.

IC: What do you listen to when you're not preparing for a session, gig, or tour?
JJ: Django, of course, is always inspiring and the Gypsy Kings because I love the singing too. I also listen to some various world music artists and sometimes good old classic rock!

IC: Do you have any tips for budding musicians, i.e. what have you learned over the years that would come in handy to the up-and-coming guitar player?
JJ: Melody, melody, melody; play it, know it, but don't fake it. If you are backing up a singer, put yourself in the singer's shoes, and play something that you would liked played behind your vocal. Know how to be a team player and support your fellow band members. Help create a positive vibe whenever possible--at sessions, rehearsals, and gigs. Listen to other instruments and styles, not just to guitar music. Strive to be tasteful and original.

IC: How do you, mentally, go from Elton John to Django Rhinehardt to a session with Baby Spice?
JJ: It is not too hard for me because I, truthfully, enjoy almost all styles of music and my challenge is to fit in and make the overall sound great. That is unless it is my gig, and then the goal is to really shine as a musician and be entertaining and connect with the audience too. Sometimes if I have been playing a lot of Django music which is very technical and virtuosic and I am called upon to play very simply it takes a little while to "ramp down" the intensity and technique! In the studio too, I am not afraid of doing what might seem like a very simple lick, if it is what is called for.

IC: Are the Hellecasters doing anything right now?
JJ: No, the Hellecasters are pretty much done. I feel like we took that musically as far as we could, seeing that it was only supposed to be for one gig--just for fun--and ended up being 3+ CDs and a live video.

IC: Are you mainly working with your own band?
JJ: Yes, I am mainly playing with my own band in the UK. It is an electric quartet with keyboards, bass and drums. We play material from all the phases of my career--Hellecasters, Desert Rose Band, Byrds, bluegrass, gypsy jazz, vocals--you name it. It is really fun to be able to do all those styles in one show.

IC: Your site (www.johnjorgenson.com) does not have your gear listed yet... what is your current studio and stage set-up?
JJ: In the studio I have a couple trunks full of guitars of all kinds--6 strings, 12 strings, baritone guitars, 6 string basses, Fenders, Gibsons, Rickys (Rickenbacker), Epis (Epiphone), mandolins--hopefully whatever is called for that day! In the studio I use either an old Matchless HC30 (head) and single 12 cabinet, or a Vox Valvetronix single 12 combo. I use a pedalboard with TS5 and TS808 tube screamers, Boss DC2 Dimension C, DD2 Delay, a Digitech reverb pedal, and an Experience or Sobbat Fuzzbreaker. I also have a pedalboard with four Line 6 pedals--the delay, distortion, modulation, and filter pedals that I use for wackier sounds. I have just started also using the new Vox ToneLab SE, which is very cool too.

Live, I use either a Vox VT60 or a Matchless JJ30 with about the same pedalboard (for either amp). I play a Fender Signature Custom Shop Tele and a Limited Edition Signature "Hellecaster" for the electrics. For acoustic, I use my signature Takamine 6 and 12 string guitars and for gypsy jazz, I use my signature Gitane John Jorgenson model with a Schertler DYN contact mic into the Schertler Unico amp. The Dean Markley strings I use are: .010s on the Tele, .009s on the Hellecaster, and Alchemy .012s in phosphor bronze on the Takamines. On the gypsy guitar, I have a signature set designed with Dell'Arte that start with a .010; they are silver plated and copper wound. With Earl Scruggs I use an Eddie Cochran Gretsch 6120 through the Vox VT60 and my 1980 Gibson F5L with the Schertler DYN.

IC: What products have you recently had a hand in?
JJ: Well, I helped to voice the new Takamine Cool Tube preamp, which meant choosing the frequencies that would be used for the treble, middle, and bass controls. It is an amazing thing to be able to have a tube preamp on board like that!

The Saga Gitane is the most recent guitar I had a hand in designing. I was so impressed with the quality and tone of their D250M model that I contacted them to make some personal changes, which resulted in the John Jorgenson Gitane. I am really happy with that guitar; it sounds, looks, and plays great. I mentioned the strings before--I selected a special gauging of string that Dell'Arte already made to come up with my own signature set of strings.

IC: Tell me about your coolest electric guitars in your collection.
JJ: I have been really lucky to be able to keep most of my cool guitars. I still have the first Gibson SG/Les Paul I bought on monthly payments when I was a teenager, and my first Tele--a paisley one that I bought for $150! I have some oddballs, like a Hofner 6 string that looks like a Beatle bass, a Burns Double Six 12 string, a late 30s Charlie Christian ES150, etc. I do have lots of cool stuff, I must say!

IC: Do you believe new guitars are on par with the vintage stuff?
JJ: Yes, I think the state of electric guitar building is as good as it has ever been and that the new stuff is very well built. The same goes for acoustic guitars and mandolins too, for that matter.

Scott Terry is an Augusta, Georgia based multi-instrumentalist. He has recorded on Nashville sessions and he is a noted expert on vintage guitars.
SCOTT TERRY