This week I had the pleasure of catching up with blues guitarist Aynsley Lister, and got the chance to ask a few questions ahead of his busy touring and recording schedule.
GS: Aynsley, how old were you when you began to learn guitar and what was it that inspired you to choose the guitar as your main instrument?
AL: I got my first guitar for my 8th birthday after nagging parents for ages for one. I grew up in a musical house where my dad would always have the stereo on… most of it was guitar led blues and rock stuff.
GS: Are you a self taught musician or have you had music lessons?
AL: Nope, self taught - learning to play by ear. My dad bought a new record player so I inherited his old one and I would sit in my bedroom with that and just work stuff out from the records I’d play.. slowing the record down and then finding the notes on the neck. I have a very basic knowledge of theory now but for the first 20 or so years of playing I had none at all. Nowadays I understand it to a very basic level mainly due to the workshops I run - most of the students will ask me theory based questions so I try and be theoretically correct if I can.
GS: Do you play any other musical instruments?
AL: I play bass guitar too.
GS: What is your go-to guitar tuning?
AL: My guitar is tuned to Eb standard, I have a guitar that is set up in open G tuning for slide but again tuned down by half a step.
GS: What pedals does you current board have on it?
AL: I’m not a massive pedal user to be honest - I do use ‘em but prefer to get as much of the sound out of the guitar and amp and then use pedals to just enhance what’s already there. My live pedalboard has a tuner, an octave, a tube screamer type boost and a clean boost. Sometimes I’ll add a mild overdrive pedal if I’m using a Fender type amp but if I’m using a Marshal type amp I’ll just use the natural overdrive that the amp gives and push it a little with the clean boost. The Tubescreamer pedal is just there for any extreme craziness but in general I don’t really use it much - just once or twice on the gig. 90% of the variations in tone I get are by just using the volume control on the guitar.
GS: You post many pictures on social media of Fender amplifiers, do you have any idea of just how many amplifiers you own?
AL: I have around 10 amps at the minute, mostly old ones. I always had a soft spot for old Fenders, I suppose because all of my heroes played them back in the day and those are the tones I love. It’s taken a while but I’ve managed to find a really good sounding example of each amp I always wanted. Old amps can be quite variable - some sound bad, some sound good and then a select few just have that extra something that makes you want to play for hours. Live I’ve been known more to use Marshalls and I’ve got a couple of really nice 70s JMP models. They’re a lot more controllable volume wise and so they’ve probably been the core of my sound for the most part, plus I can literally plug into one without a single pedal and get all the sounds I need just by using the guitar volume control.
GS: What is your favourite sounding Fender amplifier?
AL: Hmmm… changes from day to day haha. At the moment it’s a brown 2x10 Vibroverb combo. It’s actually a reissue one from the 90’s but it just has this lovely warmth to it. Other than that, for the past 18 months I’ve been using a 1966 Princeton Reverb on tours that just sounds killer. I run it into a bigger speaker cab for a fuller sound but it’s the raunchiest and loudest Princeton Reverb I ever tried!!
GS: What guitar/amp combo would you recommend for the budding blues musician to obtain killer tone on a budget?
AL: Depends on what the exact budget is, but without getting into the high end stuff I think you could put together a killer sounding rig for a grand. This is a rig that I would be more than happy to take on a gig. I would have to say a Squire Strat for the guitar as they really are great guitars for the money and then something like a Fender Blues deluxe or similar. A nice warm valve amp, maybe adding one of the million overdrive pedals out there!! Overdrive pedals are very subjective and so it’s hard to recommend just one that would suit everybody but for me I would pick the Mad Professor Royal Blue Overdrive - a really natural amp like overdrive that responds really well to the use of the guitar volume.
GS: If you had to choose just one amplifier to use for the rest of your career what would it be?
AL: One of my Marshall JMP’s haha - it can just give me everything I need in one box. The Fenders are an obsession and a passion but when it comes down to it, my two Marshalls are really the ones I couldn't do without!
GS: What is your favourite guitar pedal?
AL: When I do fly-out shows, I never know what amp I’m gonna get. It’s usually a Fender Twin or something so I always take an overdrive pedal with me - the Mad Professor Royal Blue Overdrive ;-) It’s kind of like an amp in a box for me
GS: Do you have any plans on releasing any new material this year?
AL: Hopefully yes, I’m gonna release a recording of some of my solo stuff. I’ve been doing solo gigs for years but the last recording available was done in 2001!! I thought it was about time to do a more recent recording so I’ve literally just come out of the studio. I went in for 3 days and recorded everything I know. Once I’ve sifted through it, there should hopefully be an album later this year. Other than that I’m writing when I can for another band album so hopefully I’ll be back recording again this year and then something should follow fairly soon after. Watch this space haha
GS: How does the recording process start for you and do you record at home or is it always in the studio?
AL: I write at home in my home studio but here it really is just for demo’ing and putting things together. I use Logic and write everything first on my own then I send the musicians an MP3… they learn it and then we rehearse and head into the studio to record it properly.
GS: Do you get involved with the mixing and mastering process on your tracks?
AL: Definitely! I’m quite OCD when it comes to that part haha
GS: You have a busy time of live shows ahead of you in the next few months, will you have time to run any of your popular guitar workshops this year?
AL: We had 2 in January and we are planning 2 more for later this year - maybe August or September. We’re still to confirm dates and location etc but I think one will be a guitar workshop and one will be a songwriting workshop
GS: Could you tell us what attendees can expect by attending one of your workshops?
AL: For the guitar workshop, students arrive at the venue on a Friday evening and eat dinner together and that's followed by an all night jam with my band. Saturday daytime is the teaching and learning part where I show various techniques and ideas, getting students to try things out with exercises etc. Saturday evening is more jamming and then Sunday runs much the same - tuition during the day ending with a jam. They’re really good fun weekends and the numbers are limited to 25 players per weekend. They’re non-judgemental and so many friendships have come about from people meeting at these get togethers. Everyone is really supportive no matter what level you’re at.
The venues we use are nice and comfortable with decent rooms and great food. Tuition wise I cover everything from rhythm, lead, groove, how to play in a band with others, guitar sound and set-up. Basically whatever people want to know I’ll cover. They're definitely popular, on the last one in January we have 8 guys who had flown in from Germany and Holland!
GS: Aynsley, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to Guitar School today. It’s been an honour talking with you. We wish you all the very best for the rest of 2019 and for the future!
