Posted 06/May/2019
PartII
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On May 10, 2019, Whitesnake will release their long-awaited new album, Flesh & Blood. The current incarnation of Whitesnake features the talents of classic rock legends, Joel Hoekstra and Reb Beach.
We recently caught up with Reb to discuss the new Whitesnake album, as well as his upcoming solo release, and a new project featuring his former bandmate Jeff Pilson. In addition, we discuss the role of music theory and improvisation in classic rock music.
When you joined Whitesnake in the early 2000s, did you feel a need to adapt to 'The Whitesnake Sound'? Interestingly enough, you've been in the band for so long now that you sort-of are the Whitesnake sound.
"No, Doug [Aldrich, ex-Whitesnake guitarist] did all that. He played a lot like [John] Sykes, he was good at doing the Sykes-y stuff. So, he gave me all the bluesy solos, which was great because it was right up my alley.
"But I'm not the Whitesnake sound - if you ask me. If you ask me, the Whitesnake sound is Sykes. When that album came out, I rushed out and bought it. I had never heard anything like that. It just jumped off the album.
"I bought the cassette and I played it in my car constantly. It just rocked. Like, 'Crying in the Rain' - those guitars are on fire. I got to hear those guitar tracks by themselves and it's just insane - they just jump out at you.
"It was like the first Van Halen record. So that, to me, is the Whitesnake sound, where he does all those sick segues into certain parts. Everybody has their own idea of what the Whitesnake sound is because the Whitesnake before that was a blues band and I didn't know that.
"A lot of people in America weren't familiar with that other band because the big record in '87 is that one most people know with 'Here I Go Again.'"
There have been a few different incarnations of Whitesnake through the years. Now you're working with Joel [Hoekstra].
"I think I was the 46th member of the band. We counted once."
That can't be true. Is it?
"Yeah, it was in the 40s. I'm pretty sure it was 46. That includes all the drummers and bass players and all that."
There has been such a great cop of guitarists that come through there. Whitesnake has always had great guitarists.
"Definitely. David [Coverdale] only wants the best."
Aside from just being a great guitar player, you got a chance to flex some songwriting muscles on this new record as well. What was that like, working with David, from a songwriting standpoint?
"I was not what I expected. It was really different. I didn't know he was such a good songwriter, for one thing. He knows what he wants. We don't spend more than five minutes of him talking quickly, picking up a guitar and playing a few chords and that's it.
"He wrote most of the stuff on the record, those were his ideas that he had when we came in. I brought in like 40 ideas but to get him to listen to them, you've got to really feel strongly about it if you're going to play it for David.
"If it's not something that catches him right away, you're wasting your time. It's got to be like a three-chord thing that everybody gets. It can't be Winger, it can't be Rush, he won't like that at all.
"He likes three-chord rock and he can write the three-chord rock, and he knows what he likes right away. It goes very quickly. So, once you're done with the basics of a song, he'll go, 'Here's the bridge,' and he'll play it and once in a while, there will be a weird chord he'll use, and we'll change it.
"But after that five minutes of [writing the framework of the song], then you take that song and you make it a finished song. 'Shut Up and Kiss Me' was my idea and I came in with 'Hey You' and my big song was 'Sands of Time.'
"It took a while to get David on board with that one because it was kind of sounding Led Zeppelin-y, but he came around on it and I'm really glad because that song sounds Whitesnake-y to me. "
The album itself sounds Whitesnake-y which I suppose it should because you're Whitesnake.
"You know, I've been reading that online [from reviews] and it's hard for me to look at it objectively because I've heard the album 8 billion times.
"We worked on it for a year and a half, living with David, working on it every day. But everyone's saying it sounds like Whitesnake so that's great."
The guitars are the focal point, the solos are incredible, as we would expect from you and Joel. Is a song like 'After All' a good representation of how one of these songs start? That was a cool song.
"David wrote that. Its just David's song. David came in and said, 'This is the song, here you go.'"It was quite a changeup after listening to the rest of the record, which is face melting-guitars, and then there's that song.
"Yeah, it's a beautiful song. I haven't heard in a while actually, but I always thought it was pretty. David played it for me and I said, 'You should put that on the record.' It's a very lovely song. I told him he should end the record like that."There's some cool slide guitar work on there. Was that you or was that Joel?
"I did some. I can tell when it's me and when it's him. He did a lot more slide than I did. I did the maybe two solos on a slide but it's mostly Joel on the slide."Joel has some co-writing credits on the album as well. How did you two divvy up the guitar work and the solos?
"He does. He would come in when I was out with Winger and he would write with David. So we wrote two different ways, either it was us one on one with David or the three of us, but mostly it was one on one.
"Joel brought some stuff in but mostly it's just honing David's ideas that he spews out. He's constantly picking up a guitar and saying, 'What do you think of this?', and 'What do you think of that?'. The writing process is very 'bang bang bang.'
"As far as who played what solos, basically, I picked the solos that I wanted to do and gave Joel the rest. Because Joel can play over anything. Joel doesn't really care because he's amazing at whatever he plays on.
"He's just on another plane of thinking, guitar-wise. Just give him any rhythm and he'll just burn over it and it will sound awesome. And he'll do it on the first take too.
"He can [remember what he played and replicate it]. I can't do that, it would be different every time. But I looked at the solo sections and picked up a guitar and asked myself if I liked it or if it sucked to jam over.
"For Joel, nothing sucks to jam over. He can jam over anything. So that's why I got to choose what solos I wanted to play and he was, like, 'Fine,' it doesn't matter to him."
For your solos on the record, did you improvise or did you plan them out?
"I don't like to comp them, like playing seven solos and putting sections together. Usually, I find a good seed to start with. I just pick the best take on a solo and then pick the parts that suck.
"That's always the way I do it. Like if I find one solid performance, I'll go in and fix that one. You have to keep in mind, that with me anyway, David told me, 'No widdly-widdly stuff.' He wants melodic.
"I don't know if he even said that to Joel but he said it to me. He wants to keep [my playing] melodic. That's the way he likes guitar. So that's what I did on this record."
Did you experiment with any pedals or new gear in the studio?
"I'm not a pedals guy. I learned early on that going directly into the amp works best, maybe a distortion pedal if you need it, which helps make your tapping sound like you're picking every note because it compresses it.
"Other than that, I just go right into the Custom Audio head and if they're going to add stuff, we just do that later. I like having the least amount of bells and whistles possible. I rarely use a wah. Joel uses a wah all the time, he a wah guy."
It seems that everybody has been going to modeling amps - Kempers, Fractals, etc. What has steered you away from those?
"They don't sound as good to me. And I think anyone who says they sound just as good is wrong. Period. I just like the Marshall sound - the big, fat, tube rock sound. It hasn't been done yet where they can recreate that perfectly, it comes close but they haven't done it perfectly yet, in my opinion.
"That's why Joe Satriani and Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen, and all those greats take those big heavy amplifiers out on the road with them I mean, it's a pain in the ass to carry those things out in a giant rack. But it just sounds better.
"But the Kempers and all that stuff is fantastic in the studio and it's really useful. With Whitesnake, they're always wanting me to give them a direct signal. But I won't do it because then they will screw with the tone."
So you still mic the cabs and all that?
"Yeah, just stick a [Shure] 57 on there and that sounds good. It's just the way I've been doing it for 30 years now. That's my thing. Joel canft stand that, live, I play with a 320-millisecond delay on for the whole show.
"It drives Joel up the wall. He's, like, 'You don't change it to the tempo of the song?', and I'm like, 'No, thatfs a pain in the ass.' I'm just a lazy, beer-drinking, '80s guitar player. But I've always done that with the delay on the whole time."
You do that to thicken up the tone a bit, I assume?
"Yeah, I don't want a dry guitar? Who wants a dry-sounding guitar [tone]?"So, where are you at with this solo instrumental record? I've been hearing about it for years now.
"Oh man, it's like it's cursed or something. I finished it, handed it to a label, and they said I needed another song for Japan. And it turns out that I haven't done my taxes in a couple of years, like, I'm behind on my taxes.
"So for this label, I have to be up to date on my taxes - this just happened. So now I'm doing my taxes and finishing the last song. Some of my friends just said, 'Why donft you just put a different solo on a song for the Japanese?'.
"But man, the Japanese fans are like my greatest fans and I love the Japanese people. They love music and they listen to every single note that you play and I think they would like this record more than anyone. So, I don't want to disappoint them, so I'm recording another song which I'm almost done with.
"I just have the outro solo to do on it and then Ifll send it to the bass player. So that will be done fast. It'll be out this year for sure. I have the contract all done and everything. It's really fucking good too. It was just like a hobby when I would come home from the road. Ifve been working on it for years.
"Kip Winger asked me whatever happened to those recordings, I told him they were sitting in my computer. He asked why I hadnft released it and I said because I never have the extra 5,000 dollars to pay a drummer and other musicians to come in and studio time.
"So he lend me 5,000 and we recorded the drums with my favorite drummer of all time, Dave Throckmorton, who also played on 'Masquerade,' my 2003 solo album."
For people who have heard your previous solo work, is there anything on the new album that's going to surprise people about your playing or your songwriting?
"Yeah, that's a great question. I like that question a lot. There really is. There are people I know who have heard my 'Fusion Demos' and it was when Winger went under and I wanted to make this record - I wanted to make an instrumental album.
"I was still coming off of Winger so all the labels wanted me to do something that sounded like Winger. They didn't want an instrumental record because instrumental records don't sell. They didn't sell back then either.
"So nobody wanted it so those demos just sat and then the internet happened so I put them out on the internet and now it's my best selling thing, the 'Fusion Demos.' So that's where I got the idea to actually do something that wasn't done on a four-track cassette machine but continued in that area of instrumental music.
"It progressed as I was writing and recording. It wasn't as basic. It sounds more mature. It sounds like a band playing it. The thing I really like about it is that it's really inside.
"It's not typical of a guitar player's instrumental record. It's got rock, it's got ballads, it's got jazzy funk jams. But they donft sound like stuff you've heard before. I think they'll be really surprised, actually."
I'm one of those nerds who loves instrumental guitar albums.
"It's very inside though it's not just [a bunch of typical flashy guitar playing], it's very melodic. But its good technical playing. It's got to be my best playing ever."You've been doing this for 30 years. How do you define success as a musician?
"I guess these days just by making a living. I feel successful just because I'm able to pay the bills and I'm able to do it through music. All I do is write music and play music and drink beer and travel around.
"It's the greatest job in the world. I was complaining to my Uber driver the other day and he was, like, 'What the hell are you complaining about?'.
"I was, like, 'You're right! I'm the luckiest guy on the planet!'. I feel that I'm very successful just being able to do that and I think if a guy can do that, then he's successful."
I heard a rumor about a new project that youfre allegedly involved with. Are you able to talk about that?
"Yeah, a little bit. I'm just not allowed to say the name, and I don't know why. That's what they told me. It's done. It's going to be mixed and it will definitely be out this year.
"So, I've got three new things coming out, I've got that, my solo album, and the new Whitesnake album all coming out this year. But I'm really excited about the project with [Jeff] Pilson because it's all my seed ideas that I came in with. We wrote the whole album - 10 songs - in 11 days. Because one took a little longer.
"Me and Pilson wrote 'Erase the Slate' together for Dokken. So, this is however many years later we got back in a room together and I did my homework and I came in with a bunch of ideas. This is going to sound terrible, but it was a bunch of ideas that Winger never used. Because Kip was never inspired that they were Winger-like ideas.
"They were just basic rock ideas but I always loved them and wanted to do something with them, but they were just sitting there forever. So I came in with 30-40 ideas. Probably the same damn ideas I went to Whitesnake with, that David used like one of them. Pilson just picked the ones he liked ? basically, theyfre just verses and choruses and thatfs it. The great thing about Pilson is that he is one of those schooled guys that we were talking about earlier.
"Hefs a serious music director and hefs a great arranger. Thatfs what I needed. Ifm a terrible arranger. Thatfs one of the reasons that Kip Winger and I worked so well together. Ifm a killer riff writer I can just pick up a guitar and write a riff = thank you, God, for giving me that gift that I can write riffs all day long. But Pilson can take those riffs and instantly know if theyfre a bridge or an outro, and I kind of know that too, but hefll know where to go from there.
"Like hefll say, 'Letfs modulate up to F#f and itfs something that I never would have thought of. So thatfs why we were able to bang those songs out so quick. Ifd come in with a riff or an idea and he would finish out the songs. So wefre a great writing team. Hefs so great to work with. Hefs a super nice guy and hefs so energetic and so into it.
"Most of the solos I did on this record were done first take and Ifve never done that before. It was really fun. Itfs a great project ? itfs really rockinf. Ifm so thrilled to have Robin McAuley singing. He sings his ass off. Itfs just '80's rock music. You can bang your head and sing along ? that kind of stuff. Thatfs what I do."
So are we calling this a project, or is it fair to call this a band which will make more albums in the future?
"Itfs very good. Therefs no question that its very good. All I can do is speculate but Ifm pretty darn sure that it is a band that is going to play live. If it tanks, then certainly we wonft but I just canft see any way of it tanking because itfs really good. Therefs not a dog in the bunch so Ifm sure itfs going to do really well and at that point, wefd be obligated to do another record as that band."2019 is going to be a massive year for you.
"I wish I was more dedicated to the guitar, but Ifve been playing a lot more just because of these projects Ifve been doing and Ifve been getting into guitar a lot more. It's reminding me of that spark and that drive that I had when I was a kid where I just wanted to play guitar all the time.
"I mean I would come home from school and smoke a bowl and play for six hours straight. The way I learned to play guitar was when I first got an electric guitar, I got the Molly Hatchet album and I learned every single song, front to back. So, Ifd come home and just play that album front to back ? all the solos, everything. I taught myself the whole thing, the solos were so easy, they were just simple pentatonic super easy solos and id pretend I was a rockstar.
"Ifd take the mattress off the bed because it was like a wood platform and I would pretend I was on stage and my friend would come over and I would play gGreen Grass and High Tidesh note for note. Ifm remembering what that was like, so Ifm playing a lot more now. Ifve been [experimenting] a lot more and really getting into it.
"The more you do that stuff, the more you can have your own style and be your own voice. Like Billy Gibbons, for example, you can always tell when its Billy Gibbons after one note. Those are the coolest guitar players and thatfs what I aspire to be is one of those guys [with a unique voice]."
Are there some aspects of your playing youfve been focusing on recently?
Well, believe it or not, I learned the pentatonic scale all the way up and down the neck on every string, which I never did before. I never knew that until a couple of months ago when I taught it to myself. I only know like three scales."Three is all you need.
Yeah, three is all you need for '80s rock. But I do it by ear so Ifm sure I play the harmonic minor scale all the time, I just donft know, or care, that thatfs what it is.It would appear that knowing music theory gives you the why it works but itfs not necessarily a measurement of whether or not youfre able to do it.
Yeah but itfs also really helpful when youfre playing with other musicians. Sometimes it can be obnoxious, like when Ifm playing with a schooled musician and wefll be playing a whole step down and theyfll be like eactually thatfs not an E, itfs a Df. Whatever! Itfs this note.Whitesnake's new album is due out on May 10 via Frontiers Records. You can check out the "Shut Up & Kiss Me" single below.
Interview partI
During a conversation with UG's Justin Beckner, Whitesnake guitarist Reb Beach talked about the beginnings of his musical journey and the importance of knowing music theory.
You can check out a part of the interview below.
Let's start from the beginning. What made you want to reach for a guitar and what were some of the first songs you tried to learn?
"Well, I wanted to be a piano player. I thought I was going to be a pianist. I wanted to be Elton John or Billy Joel. I had been playing the piano since I was 4.
"So I was really into it and I thought it was really cool until I saw KISS. That was the end of the piano for me. I took one look at Ace Frehley - I saw them live at Madison Square Garden when I was 13. That was it. I just knew, right when I saw it, that's what I was supposed to do.
"My mom had gotten me a guitar for Christmas and it sat under my bed for months. I mean I tried to play it but it hurt so I never played it. But after that [KISS show] I took up this huge interest in guitar.
"This guy I knew was a folk guitar player so he knew how to play chords, just the basic chords, so he taught me to play those and I took it from there."
I ask that question about what inspired you to play, all the time, and Ifm always surprised by how often the answer is KISS - or Jimi Hendrix. What was it about KISS that drew you in so much?
"I remember when they came out, there had never been anything like it that I knew about. They were the hot new thing. Hendrix was way before my time. I was born in '63 so I wasn't influenced by him. I was influenced by people who were influenced by him, thatfs for sure.
"But what is it about KISS? I was just a kid and I liked the whole thing surrounding [the band]. Like, I thought Ace was really from space, you know. I just liked the whole stage thing. I had sort of a stage mother who was always pushing me to be on stage.
"So, I loved the whole theatrics thing. He was just such a rock star, Ace was. He still is. He does shows and he'll do jams and stuff and when other people come out people cheer, but when Ace comes out, people go crazy.
"It's amazing. And he's not like Joe Satriani or one of those kinds of guitar players, he's just cool. He just puts the amp on 10 and just plays."
With your background in piano, do you have any schooling in music theory?
"None. Zero."
Do you think that has helped you or hindered your career as a guitarist? Has it helped you find your own voice?
"I think it's hurt me more than helped me that I don't read music, I think. There were situations where it would have helped if I had read music.
"Like, I auditioned for Hall & Oates and I didnft get it because I was playing the right chord but the wrong inversion of the chord. It was on, like, 'Rich Girl' or something. I wasn't used to playing the chord you'fre supposed to play so I had a really hard time playing it.
"They loved the solo that I did at the audition, I told them I was great at soloing and they said, 'Yeah, obviously.' But I couldnft play that chord. So I told them I would have to practice that one because it was weird for me and that was it, I didn't get the gig.
"There have been a couple of other times where it would have been helpful to be able to read. But the thing is, I know a couple of people who I went to school with who went to four years of music college and came out without any soul.
"They all just sounded the same. All those guys at Berklee, they were all playing scales and they all kind of sounded the same. So I've definitely got my own sound when I play the guitar and I like that.
"I like that the second I hear a guitar somewhere on the record I know it's me. I don't think I would have had that if I had stuck it out at Berklee rather than just doing two semesters of partying."
They have good parties at Berklee, I hear.
"We had good parties back then. It was in 1982 and I dated the only girl there [laughs], the only cute girl there, so that was fun. I was just jamming at Berklee. I never went to class.
"My guitar teacher was an asshole. He told me I was holding the pick wrong and that I was sitting wrong and he told me, 'You'll never make it. You'll never make as much money as I do, the way you play guitar.'
"That's basically when I got in my car and drove away. I was voted most likely to be a rock star in high school. I always knew that I belonged on the stage.
"I'm an extrovert and I'm really comfortable up there. I have a great ear and I just knew that I was just meant for it. Not that I think of myself as a rock star, I don't think of myself that way, but I have had a lot of success."
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