By
Robert Silverstein
GUITARS
CENTER STAGE
20th Century Guitar speaks with
the latest up and coming guitarists about their gear and new sounds!
ROLAND NIPP
Musical Background
I started playing guitar
at the age of 13 and remember being really excited about playing. I learned by ear primarily as this was BGTM
(Before Guitar Tab Magazines). I took
some guitar lessons to learn scales and modes, and then studied music
theory. For a while, I was very much
into technical playing. Now, however, I
just like to plug in and go for it. The
guitarists I admire are “feel” players who seem to have a direct connection
from their soul to their hands, and the technique to make it musical.
After
teaching guitar and playing in many rock bands, I decided to work on
instrumental guitar music. My main
criteria was to try to create music that I would listen to – music that would
hopefully transport me places and stand up to repeated listens. I released my first CD “The Blue Room” in
1999. “By Night” is my latest release
(2004).
New CD
”By Night”
was written and recorded in the aftermath of everyday life over the past four
years. I feel the album has many songs
that are subtle and cinematic; there are others that are more powerful and
up-front.
The album
was recorded in my home studio. It's a
modest studio - an ADAT, Mackie mixer, some rack gear - but it's certainly more
than adequate to get the job done. I
always admired the way the Beatles created such masterpieces with very little
equipment (by today’s standards) and a high degree of creativity and
imagination.
When I’m
writing music, I’m always thinking of the song.
I also try to play only what's necessary for the song; my favorite
musicians have a knack for playing just the right amount of notes at the right
time (to my ears).
When I’m
wearing my recording engineer hat, I’m also thinking about studio effects like
delays, reverbs, echoes, panning, etc. that can really embellish a
recording. I listen to music on
headphones a lot and really appreciate this aspect of recording. To me, there are few things better than
listening to a great performance of a great song captured by a skilled
recording engineer/producer.
Favorite Guitars
I play a
1952 Fender Reissue Telecaster, 1981 Fender Stratocaster and 1999 Gibson Les
Paul Standard. I also have a nice
Ovation Legend that sounds great acoustically.
I am a bit
of a gear junkie and knob twiddler. On “By Night” I used a Mesa Boogie Mark III
combo, Line 6 POD, and many stomp boxes.
My pedal board this week has a Rat 2, Ibanez MT10 Mostortion,
MXR Phase 90, Boss Heavy Metal HM-2, Boss Tremolo TR-2, Boss Digital Delay
DD-3, Ibanez SC10 Chorus, Boss TU-2 Tuner and a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah-Wah.
Musical Influences
As a
guitarist, I’m always interested in anything by Jeff Beck, Robben
Ford, Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen,
Larry Carlton, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Django
Reinhardt. I'm also a fan of the rock
players who play such perfect parts within the context of their band: Mike
Campbell, Elliot Easton, Brian May, Tom Scholz, Neil
Geraldo, Neal Schon, Steve Lukather,
etc.
Web Site
My web site
is www.rolandnipp.com
My email is
rolandnipp@shaw.ca.