Podcast “Let’s Talk Guitar” mit Fabian Ratsak & Justin Hombach | Episode 59: Kemping mit Guido Bungenstock
Guitar Magazin Guitar.de YT Online Interview “How To Homerecording, Teil 10” (von Konst Fischer)
Guitar Magazin Guitar.de Printausgabe 09/21 (von Konst Fischer)
[…]Viele Leute denken fälschlicherweise das Profiling sei eine ganz einfache Sache a lá: “Ich häng da ‘n Mikrofon vor dem Amp und dann ist das Profile fertig”. So ist es natürlich nicht. Es ist genauso kompliziert und aufwändig wie es schon immer war: Du geht in’s Studio, hast da mehrere Mikrofone, hast ein tolles Pult, hast einen Soundengineer, der vor allem weiss, in welche Richtungen er dir Knöpfe dreht und wie er einen tollen Sound aufnimmt. Wenn man das nicht kann, dann kann man auch nicht profilen. […]
Online Magazin Darkstars.de Guitar Special Vol.118 (von Christian Strieder)
Meine Lieblingsgitarre ist definitiv meine Ernie Ball Music Man Luke II. Sie ist ein fantastischer Allrounder, mit der ich alle Musikstile perfekt abdecken kann. Die klassische Pickup Konstellation H/S/S (EMG SL-20 Set) mit dem EMG 85 in der Bridge Position bietet durchsetzungskräftige rockige Mitten. klare Höhen und seidige Obertöne, die aber niemals aufdringlich klingen. Aber auch der Hals PU, sowie die beliebteMittelstellung ist perfekt für glasige Clean Sounds .Für meinen Stil ist mir ein verstimmungsfreies und freischwebendes Vibratosystem extrem wichtig.. Das Vibratosystem ist so eingestellt, dass sich die G-Saite um 3, die B-Saiteum 2 und die Hohe E-Saite um 1 Halbton nach oben ziehen lässt. Die Federspannung ist mit nur zwei Federn sehr weich, da mir Jeff-Beck-ähnliche Vibratotechnicken wie Dips, Flageolett-Bends etc. leicht von der Hand gehen müssen.
Ich mag es sowieso überhaupt nicht, wenn man auf seiner Gitarre um den Ton „kämpfen“ muss. Da kommt mir auch der traumhafte unlackierte V-Hals (der zu einem leichten D übergeht) sehr gelegen. Übrigens sind alle Music Man mit unlackierten Hälsen ein Traum für jeden Gitarristen. Sie haben dieses wunderbar „holzige“ Vintagefeel. Der Saitenabstand ist bei mir ein vernünftiger Kompromiss zwischen Bespielbarkeit und Ton. Natürlich ist es immer leichter auf einem Hals zu spielen, bei dem More
gerade mal ein Papier unter die Saiten passt, aber sehr weite Bendings & Vibrati sind dann kaum noch möglich und auch der Ton wirkt viel dünner. Daher gehe ich da lieber einen Kompromiss ein.
Ich habe an der Luke II ein paar kleinere Modifikationen vorgenommen, wie z.B. schönere Perlmutt Potis, griffigere Schaller Stimmwirbel (ebenfalls Perlmutt), flachere Saitenreiter (die Originalen waren mir irgendwie zu kantig). Auch das gesamte Pickup & Poti System ist plug & play mittels Steckkontakten (die man aus dem Modellbau kennt) d.h. ich kann jederzeit ohne Lötarbeiten Potis o.ä. austauschen oder Funktionen ändern, das ist extrem praktisch. Die Gitarre ist mir so sehr an Herz gewachsen, dass ich manchmal vergesse, dass sie ja eigentlich ein Signature Modell für Lukather ist. Sie könnte auch einfach Taurusheißen, sowie mein Sternzeichen bzw. meine Band, haha.
Generell mag ich zwar diese praktischenClip-Tuner, aber nicht wenn sie so demonstrativ auf der Kopfplatte mittels Klemme montiert sind. Daher hab ich mir meinen Peterson Clip Strobo-Tuner mittels Magnet auf die Rückseite der Kopfplatte montiert (siehe Fotos). Das sieht nicht nur besser aus, sondern ist auch äußert komfortabel. Übrigens wer jemals dachte, dass ein üblicher Clip-Tuner stimmgenau wäre, wird mit Peterson Strobo-Tunern eines besseren belehrt. Die Stimmgenauigkeit ist absolut ungeschlagen undüber das ganze Griffbrett hinweg dank der „Sweetener“ harmonisch extrem ausgewogen. Ich hab’s zuerst selber nicht für möglich gehalten, aber es stimmt tatsächlich.
Seit einigen Jahren spiele ich keine Röhrenamps mehr, da mir der ständige Röhrenwechseln (und das Einmessen) immer schon nervte. Dank des Kemper Amps habe ich jetzt immer einen gleichbleibenden Sound in jeder Situation (Live, Studio etc). Seit einigen Jahren profile ich zusammen mit Philipp Salm (48 Volt Studio/Hamburg) alle Amps selbst. Mittlerweile haben wir über 70 Amps geprofiled, die ich auch in meinem Online Shop auf www.Guidorist.com verkaufe. Als wir gemeinsam damit anfingen war es eher als kleines Experiment gedacht. Aber die durchweg positive weltweite Reaktion auf unsere Profiles hat uns echt umgehauen. Musiker wie Michael Wagener (Metallica, Queen, Alice Cooper, Janet Jackson), Marco Sfogli (Dave LaRue), In Flames sind total begeistert von unserer Arbeit. Mein absolutes Lieblings Profile basiert auf einem Bogner Ecstasy 101b (den auch Steve Lukather spielt).
Wie man an meinem Stil unschwer erkennen, hat mich Luke (neben Dann Huff, Michael Landau, Jimi Hendrix und Larry Carlton) immer schon sehr beeinflusst und hin und wieder schreiben wir uns. Er hat mir ein paar Mal gesagt, dass er meinen Stil sehr mag. Das ist natürlich wie ein Ritterschlag für mich und ein besseres Kompliment kann man sich als Gitarrist wohl kaum wünschen.
About biography and guitar stuff (by Marcus Vinicius Corrêa)
Marcus Vinnas: Through your site I noticed you are a schooled player. Could you talk more about your musical roots and learning process? Any bit of self-teaching was allowed? Had the classical european music any impact over your music (like it had over the Schenker brothers, for example)? Guido Bungenstock: I actually had a strange learning development because I started with piano at age 10 before I switched later to guitar. My father was a classical piano player and church organ player. And I remember how impressive it was for me sitting next to him on the organ chair watch him playing with his hands, his feet and pressing/pulling all the time these huge quantity of stop knobs. Then at age 10 my father started to give me piano lessons from time to time but only really easy stuff. So classical music was around me all the time because he played the piano a lot at home. When I switched to electric guitar (around thirteen) thanks to my father I already had quite a good musical background (Harmony etc.). And like most guys I started to listen to EVH, AC/DC, Eric Clapton, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Yes. But then when I discovered Jimi Hendrix & Santana all changed for me. I loved Hendrix’ raw and wild guitar playing but also Santana’s sweet latin-influenced guitar, specially ballads like „Europa“ etc. I remember when I heard Steve Lukather’s great guitar Solo on “Rosanna“(Toto). I was just blown away and from this point on I knew exactly which More
musical direction I wanted to go now. And also monster players like Jeff Beck & Larry Carlton influenced me a lot. I would say I’m still inspired by every musician I hear if it catches me at some point. Between 25-35 I played a lot of studio sessions, this way I learnt to read fast and lay down the tracks in just a few minutes. I played on lots of live jam sessions and I still love to do it because I like the interaction on stage. So yeah, I’m actually self-teached and learnt almost 1.500 songs and transcribed maybe 500-800 solos, I don’t know exactly, could be more… When I was 25 I studied Rock/Fusion Guitar on Munich but it was kind of boring for me sometimes because I already knew what I wanted to do and what I have to learn to get a better musician. But I finally got my diploma and now I this thing is hanging on my wall just to impress my students, haha MV: By transcribing so many solos – like 800 you said – could you point some of the most difficult to master? And why they are so hard? GB: I transcribed some interesting lines of Brett Garsed, which are harmonically very advanced and hard to play because of his extraordinary hybrid technique. I have never been able to do play it his way so I did it with the normal picking. But I learnt so much of it. Techical-wise John Petrucci’s solo on Dream Theatre’s Innocence Faded was really hard because of the fast arpeggios. To be honest, every solo, riff or song I’m learning is a challenge because I’m not only trying to cover it but trying to “feel” like the player too. I’m always looking to the whole picture: it’s not only the solo what makes it interesting for me, it’s also the harmonic structure, the groove, the other musicians etc. it’s the same thing when I’m composing a new song: the guitar is just a small part of the whole song. That’s the reason why I like to compose on keyboards a lot too because it expands the view. Some guitar players act like egoists and their playing seems to isolated from the rest of the band, in my opinion. So I’m always trying to be a team player in a band or session and this is the most important thing for me. I mean who cares about the guitar solo if the rest is fucking boring? No one! :-D MV: To my ears you are a fine fusion player, but had heavier music got its influence as well? I mean, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock etc? Have you ever transcribed an entire album (I did it with Metallica’s Kill Em All – a long time ago…)? GB: Yeah, as I said I started with Rock & Blues, sometimes harder stuff like EVH and of course I learnt almost every Toto song, haha. I’m still playing with my Band TAURUS some of it, like “Georgy Porgy“ and more… At the moment I’m hearing some Dream Theater stuff and I’m still transcribing or learning by ear as much as I can. Because for me it’s the best way to keep my old brain fresh, haha. Around 1999 I was on tour with terrific drummer Uli Kusch (ex. Helloween) who had a tribute Band called “Catch the Rainbow“ where I had to learn a lot of Ritchie Blackmore’s stuff. We also did a great album on these days with many known guest musicians. But after this great time I returned to my softer roots again. One of my best friends Raimund Burke, in my opinion one of the greatest Hard rock guitar player in Germany, lives in Hamburg too and we meet at least one time a week and jam together or impress each other with the better licks(just kiddin’). But like every musicians at some point he inspires me too even we both have a complete different style. Go check him out at www.raimundburke.de He’s a beast! MV: It’s very noticeable to me that Steve Lukather had a huge impact over your playing. To me you’ve nailed very closely many details from his playing, like tone, whammy bar work and some lines as well. On the other hand, as a veteran player and as a individual you surely go your own preferences, note choices, etc. How do you find the balance between this two trends? I mean sounding like Luke vs. sounding like yourself. GB: As I said before, when I heard Steve Lukather for the first time, he totally changed my way of guitar playing. And I’m sure every guitar player had this kind of experience with some other musicians too. There are always some people who inspire you so much that certainly you want to go to another direction. But most of the time it’s not only one person that have inspired you so much, in my case it was my father, Hendrix, Carlton, Beck, Lukather, Classical music and even my band mates. But to answer your question: yeah, Luke has a deep impact on my playing. And a few years ago I got the biggest compliment from the master himself saying that he loves my playing a lot. For me this was the best compliment ever in my life. But when I’m playing I don’t think about my influences I just feel the music. And if the people can hear some notable influences from some of my favorite players I’m really proud about the fact that my long time of practicing and transcribing was worth it. MV: I noticed you played a Music Man Luke signature guitar in most of your videos (if not all). I got one last year and it’s one of my favorite guitars. Are they your main guitars? Do you play also the standards – I mean Fenders & Gibsons? Which are Luke’s advantages over other models? Did you changed or modified anything on your Lukes? (I want desperately to put bigger frets on mine hehe…) GB: I played all kind of guitars in the past but the Luke model was the first one that was just perfect for me. It’s a very balanced instrument, the neck, the body, the trem etc. everything seems like a long way of development over the years. And for me it just fits perfect. I always was searching for just a perfectly balanced instrument and I finally found it. You can call it coincidence or whatever that this guitar is called LUKE, it also could be called something else. And it would be great if someday Ernie Ball Music Man would build MY GUITAR called TAURUS, haha(my symbol and also my band name) I always liked Strats because of their versatile sound but in my opinion these axes are not really comfortable to play. Les Pauls have a big rock sound and the necks are great but they hard to play on the higher notes. So every guitar has some disadvantage but the Luke models are almost perfect for me. So my main guitar is the grey Luke standard. I only changed the tuning knobs to acryl ones because they look better and have a better grip. I also changed the saddles to ones that are a little plainer. That’s all. MV: You got very well designed website, youtube channel, facebook page etc. But many players – even the young ones – seems to underestimate this type of interaction with their fans. Could you give some advice to our readers/players wanting to expand their reach and audience by using the Internet tools? GB: Thx man. It’s still a lot of work to do this internet thing and I’m trying the best I can. But I think some people overestimate the web, specially the social network. It’s really a good that musicans now have the opportunity to share their music, their thoughts etc. BUT the REAL life is happening outside the web , I mean with your family, your friends, your mates, on stage, wherever. The web for me it’s a good way to communicate with people that I couldn’t reach normally. For example I met Jack Thammarat on the music fair in Frankfurt and we did a spontaneous jam session at s small Laney booth and he filmed it too. It was a great experience for me to play with this great player. Only a few people saw us there but thanks to YouTube suddenly we got 20.000 viewers in the net. But as I said before the net is overestimate sometimes. I just see as another way of marketing myself but that’s not the only way. I know a few great musicians who don’t care about social networking or even don’t have their own website but they’re still really successful. Don’t forget the net is the BIGGEST PLACE OF FAKE at all and you always have to be carefully on what you wanna reveal about yourself and your life. Once it’s said it’s forever there!!! MV: Hey great that you’d met Luke the man himself. Actually I dug deeper into his solo work just after I got my Luke guitar and I have to say I’d found great music there (I am not a huge Toto fan actually). Had you both jammed a bit or something? By the videos I watch he seems a big hearted guy. GB: No, we never met but he send me a private twitter message with the nicest compliments ever. You can hear his great guitar work on over 1.500 studio sessions, beside Toto. So he’s a very versatile player. MV: One of Luke’s greatest tools to me is his lines where he matches notes apparently atonal but he manages to make them work. For example, DON’T SAY IT’S OVER lines from 3:34 on, just before the solo. I absolutely love this approach. Ever thought about writing a lesson over this? I’ll be the 1st one to buy it, hehe. GB: It’s funny that you’re mentioning this tune. I learnt this solo right after the album came out and yesterday I played it again. He just has a fantastic taste of melody and creates wondul tensions with it. Yeah, I should make a lesson about this theme… MV: Not a question really… I don’t know if you like football but I couldn’t forget this: Germany’s team – as always – is a serious candidate to win FIFA World Cup next year here in Brazil. They are always dangerous but this one is one of the best teams ever and the one to be defeated – before even they cross Brazil’s path to the title, me and 200 million more are already praying for this! GB: Well, I’m sorry to say that but I’m absolutely the wrong person to answer this question. I have no idea about football, haha. MV: You live in the city where The Beatles started the path to became the legends they are. Had the music scene there got any benefit from their time in Hamburg? Or it’s just a thing for tourists – “look that place! They lived and played there!” etc? GB: I’m sure Hamburg had or still has a deep impact on some musicians because The Beatles started here but not for me, haha. I mean I love The Beatles of course but I really don’t care so much about a certain place. MV: Guido, thank you for your time and I wish you the best. Please send a message for the brazilian guitarists and tell us where one can find more about your music. I mean CDs, videos, lessons, etc. Also I’d love a final word for all aspiring players – new & veteran – that wish to improve their skills and their music overall. GB: Many Thanks, Marcus! It was a great pleasure for me to answer your questions. On my website www.guidorist.com the people can find an EP version of my songs, the complete album will be finished around April 2014 (I hope…). My new SOLO GUITAR PACKAGES contain videos of my songs including jam tracks & notations and I’m working on a new tutorial for this so the people can have a deeper insight of my playing. I’m offering Skype lessons as well of course. Beside of beeing a studio & live musician I’m teaching a lot and trying to pass on my experience to the students. So my advise about music is really simple: try to be open to any style of music because there’s always something you can learn of it. But beside practising at home it’s so important to have this interaction in a live situation with real musician, jamming with other people is a great way to learn improvisation. I know a lot of great players that really sound awesome at home but they totally fail on stage because they don’t have a “Return button“ (meaning doing a recording over and over again) like they normally use to have on her home studio. When I learnt guitar (I’m 47 now) we didn’t have YouTube, tabs or a digital home studio, we just had OUR ears to learn something and we jammed together to know each other in a musical way. So I think younger players should learn to trust more their own ears instead of just playing a written tab in the net. I mean doing mistakes is absolutely fine as long as you learn something of it. So this is just my experience and it worked……..until now, haha. Music is a gift from God(?) but being a professional serious musician is another thing: it can be heard sometimes because you have to deal with jealous guys or stupid people, you don’t get paid on some gigs/sessions etc.. Yeah, it’s hard to stand up everytime again and not giving up. But at the end you’re happy and thankful for the great time you have. So keep rockin’! !
[…]Viele Leute denken fälschlicherweise das Profiling sei eine ganz einfache Sache a lá: “Ich häng da ‘n Mikrofon vor dem Amp und dann ist das Profile fertig”. So ist es natürlich nicht. Es ist genauso kompliziert und aufwändig wie es schon immer war: Du geht in’s Studio, hast da mehrere Mikrofone, hast ein tolles Pult, hast einen Soundengineer, der vor allem weiss, in welche Richtungen er dir Knöpfe dreht und wie er einen tollen Sound aufnimmt. Wenn man das nicht kann, dann kann man auch nicht profilen. […]
Meine Lieblingsgitarre ist definitiv meine Ernie Ball Music Man Luke II. Sie ist ein fantastischer Allrounder, mit der ich alle Musikstile perfekt abdecken kann. Die klassische Pickup Konstellation H/S/S (EMG SL-20 Set) mit dem EMG 85 in der Bridge Position bietet durchsetzungskräftige rockige Mitten. klare Höhen und seidige Obertöne, die aber niemals aufdringlich klingen. Aber auch der Hals PU, sowie die beliebte Mittelstellung ist perfekt für glasige Clean Sounds .Für meinen Stil ist mir ein verstimmungsfreies und freischwebendes Vibratosystem extrem wichtig.. Das Vibratosystem ist so eingestellt, dass sich die G-Saite um 3, die B-Saite um 2 und die Hohe E-Saite um 1 Halbton nach oben ziehen lässt. Die Federspannung ist mit nur zwei Federn sehr weich, da mir Jeff-Beck-ähnliche Vibratotechnicken wie Dips, Flageolett-Bends etc. leicht von der Hand gehen müssen.
Marcus Vinnas: Through your site I noticed you are a schooled player. Could you talk more about your musical roots and learning process? Any bit of self-teaching was allowed? Had the classical european music any impact over your music (like it had over the Schenker brothers, for example)?