Chords for Guitar interview with Counting Crows' David Bryson

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ I got this right after we made the first record.
So I've always toured with this guitar,
but I didn't make the first record with this one.
It says 1956.
It is.
It is.
And it's been on the radio since then?
Yeah, it has.
It's done every show we've ever done, I think.
It's kind of my main guitar, too, I guess.
Yeah, in the studio.
And then it's been on every record since _ August.
Is it stock PD?
_ It is.
_ _ It's all an original _ thing. _ _ _
What do you like about the shapes?
You know, I don't know.
It's just like when you pick up a guitar,
it just feels right or it doesn't.
And you could pick it up and go, well, this_
But for me, the first time I picked it up,
it just got the right size neck,
and the frets feel right,
and the weight's right.
And _ it's a super versatile guitar,
which is sort of crazy,
because it just has two knobs,
which I like, too, you know?
But you can just roll the tone back,
and it thickens it up,
and you can roll the volume down,
and it cleans it up.
So it can be real chimey and clean,
or it can be real grumpy.
[F] _
So, [B] yeah, _ _ it's a keeper.
_ _ _ _ Well, on the first record, I [E] was the only guitar player.
And on the second record, I was one of two.
[Em] And then by the fourth [B] record,
we added David formally to the band,
although he played on the first record.
But back then, he just played mandolin.
He might have played a little pedal steel,
[E] but he played some more mandolin on the second record.
He's always been there.
He's the guy who introduced me to Adam,
and that's how the band got started.
But he didn't want to join the band.
_ He had other things going on.
So, yeah.
But my role now, like the other two guys,
they're really good guitar players.
They're like lead guitar players,
and I've never been that guy.
I've always kind of _ _ fancied players
like Peter [Bbm] Bach and The Edge.
I don't really do solos.
I'd rather just have parts
and just make it a part of the song.
I don't even, you know,
records I listen to don't have solos.
If I could change [Eb] one thing in Counting Crows,
it would be reduce the number of solos.
But I didn't say that. _ _ _ _ _
I've got a J-45 that is my main
kind of songwriting recording.
I know I said I love small body guitars,
but this [B] J-45 is kind of like this thing.
In fact, it looks like this thing,
and it's super beat up,
and it's just like, it's a [F] whoa guitar.
I mean, it's [E] trashed, but it's really great. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ I love that about it.
[Dm] Every night, just fiddling with it.
[F] _ Dan, the [Am] other guitar player,
[N] has this really crazy rig made in L.A.
that's called Bradshaw's, the company.
_ _ All the little pedals are on these little trays,
and they all have these little loops.
It's all over here,
and then all he has on the floor
is just a button to turn it off and on.
It drives me nuts.
I want to go, _ fiddle with it,
or get a little more distorted,
or it's not feeling too nice,
so I'll crank it up.
I have these little MXR rubber knobs
on a bunch of the pedals
that you put over the knob,
so you can put your [F] foot on it and twist it.
[G] So the delay, I've got just one of them
on the amount of delay.
I tap it for the time,
but some songs, I just want a little hint of delay.
But sometimes, I want a ton of it.
I just crank it up.
And then, same with [Am] my compressor.
I've got one on the gain,
because certain songs,
I use that for my [Bb] rickenbacker. _
And certain songs, I want a more [Dm] aggressive sound,
so I don't have to bend over.
I can just fiddle with it. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Not the first tour,
so not when we toured for August,
but _ [F] probably _ after our second record,
we probably had them. _
I think so.
It's a game changer, especially for a singer.
_ [D] _
We've been jokingly called
cancelling crows before,
_ because we used to cancel a show a month.
We'd have to cancel [F] a show,
because Adam's voice would go out.
It was always toward the end of tours. _
_ _ But getting in here has just changed it for him.
He doesn't have to scream over all these stupid guitars.
He still does a little bit,
but he can control it more.
Did you find that the change for you
is that you went out as a player?
_ [C] _
Yeah, it's a little harder for a guitar player.
In fact, Dan Vickrey,
he puts one in and one out,
because he likes to hear his amp.
David Inmergluck doesn't use them at all.
But I'm so used to it now,
I love the clarity.
I can make myself exactly where I want to [Bb] be.
[Dm] The great thing too,
I know you're not here to talk about in-ears,
but you can pan stuff really aggressively.
I put David Inmergluck's guitar hard left,
so I can turn it way down.
If I put it in the middle,
I wouldn't hear it at all.
But since it's way out here,
I can hear it great.
Put Dan hard right,
so I know what he's playing,
but it's not clouding,
it's not getting in the way of me.
Yeah, that's interesting.
[F] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
Huge advantage.
[C] Plus, with modern music,
we _ have drum loops on certain songs,
and I can hear them great. _
Everybody uses a click track at some point.
But you can't if you don't have in-ears.
But with in-ears,
we start the songs with a click track,
and we'll leave it on for the first verse.
And it just, man,
it just gets the groove just locked.
Yeah.
And then nobody can hear it but me.
Or if there's a breakdown moment,
sometimes we use the click track,
and it's really open.
Like Charlie, our keyboard player,
we'll just be playing whole notes,
but we're all perfectly in time
because we can hear this thing that nobody can hear.
It's awesome.
I mean, it's just a great tool.
And if you don't have in-ears,
you can't really take advantage of it.
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _