What The DEAL With Chris Ballew (The Presdents Of The United States Of America)

[emjee]

I looked at an old guitar magazine (from '97) and the back inside cover has an ad with Ballew
holding an Epiphone V with only two strings?
Can someone please chime in as to why he strings
his guitar ike this? It looks like he is just using the
"D" and the "B"? Does he play just single notes or does
he play chords or what? WEIRD.

[tnvol]

It was their thing.

[Sweetfinger]

It was their thing.
Yes. They were not well people! They went on to do some projects with Sir Mix-A-Lot.

[grapeshot]

Chris had two strings and Dave Dederer had three strings on his guitar. They detailed what they were doing in their 1996 GW interview (cover below). I think they were both tuned down to open C. Chris was essentially playing the bass parts ("bassitarist" is how he put it) and Dave the guitar ("guitassist" I think the term was?). They played regular tuning on their "Freaked Out & Small" CD (which is f'n awesome, btw, all of their music is).

http://www.guitarworld.com/files/imagecache/futureus_imagegallery_fullsize/gallery/GW-0596.jpg

[EricPeterson]

Awesome band! Love those guys.

[monty]

They wrote some great music with thise 5 strings.

[Lublin]

http://www.guitarworld.com/files/imagecache/futureus_imagegallery_fullsize/gallery/GW-0596.jpg
I vividly remember buying that issue. Wow.

[dirk_benedict]

how does one do pentatonic blooze lixxx with no high strings like that? don't get it.

[failed_astronaut]

ok ok, I'll be boring (and probably inaccurate) and give you as straight an answer as I can.

I'm pretty sure what you're looking at is a two string "bass-itar" i.e Chris played the bass lines on a regular guitar strung with two bass guitar strings.

Dave Dederer then played "guit-bass" which was a regular guitar but only strung with three strings.

I think they played mostly in drop-C# (C# G# C#) and wrote some mighty good riffs.

[coldfingaz]

I loved what these guys did. Cool that they had some success for a while too.

Chris Ballew also played with Tad Hutchison (drums) of the Young Fresh Fellows in a fun little side project called The Chris & Tad Show.

Hutchison is one of the most proficient & entertaining drummers I've ever seen perform.

[ScottB]

Look OUT!

VvcohzJvviQ

[b80]

Yes! PUSA are legends. I strung two of my guitars the same way. Have you never tried it? It's fun. My band uses them when we cover their songs.

My Epiphone Les Paul Special (basitar)
.60 and .40 gauge strings tuned C# G#

Squier Telecaster (guitbass)
.54 .42 .36 gauge strings tuned C# G# C#
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8092/010mwu.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/010mwu.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)



http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/1912/011olk.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/39/011olk.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[tsar nicholas]

^ Nice!


Yeah, I remember reading a mid-90s "Guitar Player" interview where they discussed the reduced string count, tuning, and their approach to harmony. They were like "Anyone who knows anything about harmony knows that you can imply any chord with only three notes. Imagine what we can do with five!"

[pir8matt]

Mark Sandman from Morphine (R.I.P.) did something similar, though he played with a slide:

http://musicalstewdaily.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/403826522_84d53369851.jpg

And actually on a bass. But still, conceptually similar.

[aliensporebomb]

Have you ever been onstage and broke a string yet kept playing?

Sometimes playing within limitations can be fun and might lead you to riffs and licks you wouldn't have otherwise find.

Like when Robert Fripp did the new standard tuning - it let him discard everything and start over and then he came up with a lot of really cool and new things.

Ricky Wilson of the B-52's - "Rock Lobster" came out of the unusual 4 string strange tuning with the the EA and B and E strings.

[geek-mo]

Mark Sandman from Morphine (R.I.P.) did something similar, though he played with a slide:

http://musicalstewdaily.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/403826522_84d53369851.jpg

And actually on a bass. But still, conceptually similar.

I remember reading an interview where the PotUSA said that they got the idea from Sandman.

[scolfax]

Andrew McKeag is also awesome.

[pir8matt]

I remember reading an interview where the PotUSA said that they got the idea from Sandman.

I think I read that too, but I couldn't remember who did it first.

Off to listen to Morphine on Spotify!

[27sauce]

Didnt they have a project with Sir Mix A lot?

[Lublin]

I vividly remember buying that issue. Wow.
Me, too!

[b80]

Didnt they have a project with Sir Mix A lot?


Yes, they were called Subset. They played a few shows, never released anything. Might find stuff on youtube.

[Custom50]

I actually love this band. haha.

[aaronblues]

I remember reading an interview where the PotUSA said that they got the idea from Sandman.
That doesn't surprise me.

Mark is missed. OP should really really check out some Morphine, and hear what is possible in a "rock" band with no guitar, sax, and a 2 string slide bass.

cheers

[billfoma]

Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches