Chords for Andy Summers, 'Equinox'

Some people consider the great era of electric guitars was really like, you know, from the mid-50s to the mid-60s,
when, you know, the Les Pauls and the early Stratocasters were made.
And in a sense, you know, this guitar, this is a 1961 Strat, it's never really been beaten.
I mean, Leo Fender and Les Paul got it right, you know, and they were such classic shapes,
and so, you know, ultimately right to hold, you know, on a human body,
that no one's ever really been able to do anything [G] better.
_ [Gb] _ _
[F] _ _ [Dm] _ [F] Whichever guitar he chooses, Andy Summers always [Db] seeks to adapt technique.
[G] _ _ _
But the [C] natural built-in [Gbm] sounds of the instrument are [D] still important.
[Db] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ [F] _
Something we did in the place was to, you know, [Bb] instead of _ _
playing just regular chord sequences, we used to break up the
_ _ chords into arpeggios and add extra notes on, so you get something like,
_ _ it's a chord, every breath you take would be played, instead of like,
[Bb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Eb] see, which is the basic [F] chords, into like, _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ [Fm] _ _ _ _
[Bbm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ that sort of [E] thing, where it becomes effective on the electric guitar.
I mean, it filled up the whole sound, I would play that against just bass and drums,
put it through a big PA and you're happening. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Gbm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[Gbm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Gbm] _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
[Ab] _ _ [Db] So,
Summers has played the guitar since the early [G] 60s.
_ [Gb] _ [G] He has [Dm] absorbed a wealth of [F] jazz and rock influences.
_ [Db] A truly versatile player, keen to experiment [G] with sound and tone for effect.
_ _ [C] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ He's seen great leaps in the technology.
I'd say since the mid-60s, the technology for the electric guitar has changed incredibly.
_ _ When I started, I mean, basically it was just your guitar amplifier,
one speaker and a little amplifier all contained in one box, and you had, you know,
treble and bass, and if you were really lucky, you got a tremolo unit thrown in as well,
and maybe a bit of reverb.
Then gradually, you know, effects pedals started to be made.
I mean, see, early ones would have been like the wah-wah pedal,
which, you know, was pioneered by Jimi Hendrix,
_ which later became an envelope filter and got a bit more sophisticated.
But that was where you worked the wah-wah, wah-wah on the floor.
And then all these little boxes started to come in, I guess, in the early 70s.
Things like the Phase 90 made by MXR, which is probably, you know,
I remember like probably getting that on higher purchase at the time. _ _ _
This is not on higher purchase.
[Ab] _ _ _
It's Andy Summers' new effects rack. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
A digital library of sounds and voices.
A small computer known in the industry as MIDI
links all the digital files to this pedal board.
_ Hitting the buttons with his foot,
Summers is able to flick through the system to select a voice or effect. _ _ _
_ Three to four hundred watts of raw volume comes from here.
_ _ The system is particularly useful for live performance.
_ On stage, in a live performance,
when one doesn't really have time to go over and like fiddle around with this,
or even think, you know, all I have to remember is a number.
Probably look at a piece of paper on the floor and have a number.
And I'll have the sounds programmed in here.
So all I have to hit is a button and the right number will come up
with that particular combination of sound.
_ [F] _ So look, this is the beginning of Walking on the Moon with nothing.
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ It's a pretty plain fare.
_ But I can add in the effects of that and the echo.
It gets a little more modern sounding. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _
But if I now add in the echo unit, you can hear what it sounded like. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Db] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _
[Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ _ _ [F] That repeat gives it that punch, which, you know,
characterized everybody knew what the beginning of the record was.
So it's very integral.
There is a seemingly infinite [Bb] number of effects. _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ At the touch of a button, a soft, subtle sound.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Like a [Bb] pizzicato sort of violin.
_ _ [F] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] Another number, another sound.
_ _ [Db] _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ [Db] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _
[Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ This effect is called [Bbm] backwards reverb. _ _
[Fm] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [Fm]
There are certain [C] sounds, you know, guitar [Ab] sounds that you can pick up on,
which is, you know, a combination of a guitar and an amplifier in a room.
But what I guess my point is that all this equipment is just to make a basic,
basically, a sound like we used to get years ago without all of this.
I don't know, things have changed.
_ I mean, electric guitar is basically, you know, if you don't put anything,
if you don't use any effects or anything [N] like that. _