Blitzkrieg Bop Isolated Guitar (mostly)

[HardlyRamone]

Well, here's something interesting related to the original topic of this post. If you listen closely to the B chord in this isolated guitar track, you can actually tell that it's a minor chord. I isolated that part of the song and looped it to repeat several times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnDXJayCtb0

I looked up some live footage, and to my surprise, you can actually see Johnny use a minor barre chord (A shape) at the second fret, as oppose to the B major chord people always use when playing Blitzkrieg Bop. So I guess the famous first song on the first Ramones album actually has a minor chord. I'm guessing this is because the song is written in the key of A, and Bm would technically be the correct chord for a song in that key. Normally the Ramones don't seem to care about that kind of thing, but the music for this song was written by Tommy, and he was an experienced musician.. so I guess it makes sense.

[Greg_L]

Hey I forgot about this thread.

Check my cover of Judy is a Punk.
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6336

I think I got reasonably close to the guitar sound. Not exact, but closer than most people get.

[HardlyRamone]

Dude, that Hallmark sounds great. Obviously the Marshall helps, but those chords sound right in tune. Are you keeping the low E string fretted on both types of barre chords? It always looks and sounds like Johnny does that, but most people who post Ramones covers seem to miss that detail.

[Greg_L]

Dude, that Hallmark sounds great. Obviously the Marshall helps, but those chords sound right in tune. Are you keeping the low E string fretted on both types of barre chords? It always looks and sounds like Johnny does that, but most people who post Ramones covers seem to miss that detail.

Thanks, yup, I barre my chords like Johnny did. They aint dumb ol powerchords. Barre major chords with an occasional, maybe inadvertent, maybe not, minor thrown in here and there.

Johnny's sound is, IMO, part equipment, but mostly how he played. His strumming and fretting made his sound. The cranked Marshall can't be underestimated though, and it can't just be any Marshall. It has to be a Super Lead for that early sound. My other Marshalls don't do that early sound. My JCM 800 will do his later sound. But the harder-to-get early sound has to be a 4-input non master volume Marshall - cranked.

[HardlyRamone]

Wow, that really is cranked! The Super Lead is undoubtably a big part of the early sound, but I definitely agree that the Ramones guitar sound truly comes from Johnny's playing style, not his gear. You are getting really close to the original sound, though. I get a decent recorded sound out of my cheap guitar/cheap amp after a lot of EQ tweaking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHebzNkiqEA but you can tell it lacks that rich, almost warm sound that Johnny's Mosrite/Marshall combo had. Also I may have gotten carried away with the downstrokes in that video, but I wasn't trying to copy Johnny exactly.

[Greg_L]

I'll check your vid later.

A Super Lead is cool beast. There's a reason it's one of the holy grail rock and roll amps. The EQ section and vol controls are very different from a "normal" master volume amp's EQ. On a Super Lead the tone stack comes before the gain stage, so cranking the tone controls sends everything to get hammered by tube saturation, as opposed to filtering out frequencies later which is what typically happens with master volume amps. The difference is subtle, but the harmonics are more prevalent with Super Leads, and the tone controls aren't as destructive as with modern styled amps. You can cut all the mids or bass out of a Super Lead and it won't thin it out too much. It will still sound awesome, it's just those frequencies won't be overdriven as hard.

And with no master volume, the amp is ready to blow your face off as soon as you flip it on. It's immediately full-on angry. They are not bedroom amps unless your bedroom is in the middle of nowhere and no one else lives in the house. The "volume" isn't really a volume at all. The amp is almost full loudness immediately. The volume controls are basically gain controls. Even at 1 it's loud as heck, like ear-damaging loud, but it's pretty clean. Not Fender clean, but Marshall clean. Run it up to 10 and it isn't that much louder, it's just totally overdriven, and frankly, pretty freaking awesome. A Marshall 1959 circuit on 10 is truly a religious experience.

[HardlyRamone]

Well, I have heard that many famous guitarists used one, so I'm not surprised. I'd love to own one someday, or at least a JMP 2203 MKII. I've always loved Johnny's Super Lead tone on that first album, but I have mixed feelings about the extreme separation of the guitar and bass. It does make it really easy to get decent backing tracks, but I still kind of wish the guitar had been more present in the mix, like on Road To Ruin.

I actually read an article on the Ramones recently in Uncut magazine, and it briefly touched on the production of the first album. There's a quote from Craig Leon saying "Nothing about it was conventional. Every track was done three piece live, but there was considerable doubling, tripling, even quadrupling of guitars. Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy were all in different rooms, playing along with headphones". Now I'm trying to figure out what part of the album actually had four guitar tracks at once.

[Greg_L]

Well, I have heard that many famous guitarists used one, so I'm not surprised. I'd love to own one someday, or at least a JMP 2203 MKII. I've always loved Johnny's Super Lead tone on that first album, but I have mixed feelings about the extreme separation of the guitar and bass. It does make it really easy to get decent backing tracks, but I still kind of wish the guitar had been more present in the mix, like on Road To Ruin.

I personally think Road to Ruin is the best sounding Ramones album. Great production. Awesome guitar sound. I'm pretty sure that was the first album with the white Mosrite, and probably his second batch of amps....maybe even rentals. They'd still be Super Leads, but later 70s models which had gotten brighter by then. I have a 79 2204 MkII and it gets close to the Road to Ruin sound, but being a 50w, it's a lot fatter. Great rock and roll amp though.

I actually read an article on the Ramones recently in Uncut magazine, and it briefly touched on the production of the first album. There's a quote from Craig Leon saying "Nothing about it was conventional. Every track was done three piece live, but there was considerable doubling, tripling, even quadrupling of guitars. Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy were all in different rooms, playing along with headphones". Now I'm trying to figure out what part of the album actually had four guitar tracks at once.

Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue, I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You, Listen to my Heart, Havana Affair, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend....they all have extra guitar parts. Both the guitar and bass is double tracked on I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You. Tommy supposedly did most of the extra stuff, and Joey's brother Mickey sang a bunch of backups.

[HardlyRamone]

Yeah, RTR sounds fantastic. I think the songs on it are great, too. Lots of extra guitar stuff dropped in, but Johnny's main rhythm tracks alone sound brilliant on that album.

I've figured out most of those extra guitar parts on the first album. I find it weird that "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" has somewhat of a more complex mix than every other song. I still can't figure out exactly what's happening on "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" around 35 seconds in. That little lead guitar part of sorts makes it difficult to tell what the main rhythm track is doing.

[Greg_L]

Yeah, RTR sounds fantastic. I think the songs on it are great, too. Lots of extra guitar stuff dropped in, but Johnny's main rhythm tracks alone sound brilliant on that album.

I've figured out most of those extra guitar parts on the first album. I find it weird that "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" has somewhat of a more complex mix than every other song. I still can't figure out exactly what's happening on "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" around 35 seconds in. That little lead guitar part of sorts makes it difficult to tell what the main rhythm track is doing.

The main rhythm (on the right) is playing that riff, but he's doing it while also banging the low E open. If you watch it live you see he's like full strumming that thing, but the notes are in there.