SURF GUITAR

Authentic note-for-note transcriptions straight off the original recordings for 30 of the best surf guitar songs ever! Includes: Let's Go • Lonesome Town • Misirlou • Mr. Moto • Poor Little Fool • Rumble • Surfin' Safari • Tequila • Wipe Out • and more. Also features a souvenir photo section and playing notes on each song. Includes tab.

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Inventory #HL315168
Book $19.95 (US)

Dick Dale

"The King of the Surf Guitar," Dick Dale singlehandedly created the surfing sound in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Not only did he inspire a generation of guitarists, but he was instrumental in the development of Fender® amplifiers, as he shredded speakers left and right to the dismay and delight of Leo Fender, the company’s founder.

Dale’s guitar playing style was then and is still unique. Aggressive and hard-driving for its day, it was a marked departure from the rock ‘n’ roll of 1961-1962, when Dale first hit the charts with "Let’s Go Trippin’" and "Misirlou." A true surfer who surfed sun up to sundown, he has always explained his sound as a sonic representation of the waves and the thrill of surfing. Additionally, a good dose of Dale’s Lebanese heritage can be heard in some of his playing, particularly "Misirlou," as echoes of the Middle Eastern music he heard and played growing up.

Born Richard Monsour, he and his father purchased a ballroom in Newport Beach, California and turned it into a venue for surfers’ music, and later created their own Deltone record label. Like many other artists, Dale’s career was radically altered by the British Invasion, but he continued to have an impact on other guitarists – most notably Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix included the spoken line "You’ll never hear surf music again" on "Third Stone from the Sun" (Are You Experienced?, 1967, MCA) as a tribute to his friend Dick Dale, who was desperately ill with cancer at the time. Miraculously, he recovered.

Following the rediscovery of "Misirlou" for the movie Pulp Fiction, Dale’s career has been rejuvenated and he has continued to record new material and tirelessly pursue a grueling tour schedule – a schedule even more amazing considering he is near retirement age. For tour info, check out Dick’s website at dickdale.com.

DICK DALE INTERVIEW:

CLASSIC ROCK INSTRUMENTALS

A big collection of 29 songs that have become classics because of their guitar riffs. Artists include Dick Dale, Duane Eddy, The Ventures, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Freddie King, the Allman Brothers, Bo Diddley, Link Wray, and Lonnie Mack. (Ghost) Riders in the Sky • Hawaii Five-O • Pipeline • Scuttle Buttin' • Sleepwalk • Wipe Out • and more.

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Inventory #694793
Book $18.95 (US)

A longtime member of the Fender family, Dale worked closely with Leo Fender and R&D engineer Freddie Tavares on many gear projects, ranging from the reverb tank to the 5-way Strat switch. One of Dale's most enduring contributions to Fender lore was the development of heavy-duty JBL speakers that would withstand his rough treatment. Dale was the pioneer of loud guitar, blowing out many amps until Leo came up with the Showman, with dual D-130 speakers and a special output transformer known to surf fans as the "Dick Dale Transformer."

In an interview with Fender Frontline, Dale provided the following insights into his gear:

"The Dick Dale sound was a Stratocaster guitar with heavy-gauge strings, and my strings are .018s, .038s, .048s, .039s, .049s, .060s, and two 15-inch D-130 [JBL] speakers. That is the Dick Dale sound. Now everybody calls it surf music.

If you would pick up my guitar, you would throw up. Because it's not a guitarist's guitar, the way I have it. I mean, I've got a string up here, a string down here, a string over here, and the neck is bowed from all the pressure. Kids ask me, 'Uhh, when you play on .060 gauge, .059 gauge strings, does it bother the neck?' I don't care. What I do is I turn around and I push through it. I've got hands of steel, so I go, 'Aaaah, do it whether you like it or not, pal.' But then you get Segovia, you get Stevie Vai, and you get Eddie Van Halen who be-de-de-de all over the place...They could not play my guitar. Because my strings are not balanced out properly. I am not a guitarist. I am a person who gets sounds out my instrument. I'll leave that up to you guys and Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Vai. That's the whole thing. I never said I was a guitarist in the first place. I just get sounds...

I play my guitar wide open. Everything is wide open. I took off my tone controls. It comes right out of the amp, what I do. So I go to the amp and I hit a note and I’ll turn up until it blossoms. I call it blossoming. It’ll go aaaaaauuunnng, like that. Like an afterburner. Right where it hits that spot, that’s where I’ll play. Then I control everything with my hands."

-- Keith Brawley, from Fender Frontline Vol. 27.