It’s
a question that comes
around every decade or
so: is the electric guitar
dead?
Back in the ‘90s,
electronica bands like
The Chemical Brothers
seemed poised to drive a
nail into the coffin of the
instrument. Actually plug-
ging a souped-up piece of
wood into a tube amplifi-
er? How passé!
Then hip-hop and pop
blew rock and roll off the
charts and the guitar was
once again, according to
some, a relic. Kids weren’t
going to rock bars; they
were dancing the night
away to EDM. The laptop
was the new Strat. Why
rock when you can make
the beat drop? Even the
rock charts were bereft of
distortion pedals as the
indie pop scene made gui-
tars no more mandatory
than harmoniums. Hell,
just google the words “is
electric guitar dead” and
you’ll find articles claiming
the affirmative from out-
lets as varied as Rolling
Stone to right-wing zealot
mainstay The Federalist.
But something funny
happened on the way to
“irrelevance” – kids are
still buying beaters, plug-
ging them into practice
amps, and cranking the
gain up to 11. In the year
2020, almost 30 years
after power chords were
declared as musically rel-
evant as lutes, the guitar
still lives.
Hell, even in the mid-
dle of our current cata-
clysmic pandemic, retail
outlets say their sales
are booming as self-
isolators make the most
of their quarantine by
picking up their first real
six-string. And you cer-
tainly don’t have to look
far for livestreams of
varying quality depicting
an artist in their bedroom
or living room with a gui-
tar on their lap.
Need more proof of
the guitar’s continued
vitality? Look no further
than the Canadian rock
scene, which is as strong
as ever thanks to players
that are as adventurous
as they are diverse. Here
are five of the country’s
finest, explaining what it
is they still find exciting
about tuning up, plug-
ging in, and rocking out.
Shifting Gears with
DEVIN TOWNSEND
Go-To Live Rig:
•@ Framus Stormbender Devin @
@
@ Townsend Signature Electric
•@ Prestige Guitars Devin Townsend @
@ Empath Signature Acoustic
•@ Fishman Fluence Devin Townsend @
Signature Pickup Set
•@ Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III Amp
Modeler
•@ Fractal Audio FM3 Amp Modeler
•@ Mesa/Boogie Amps
•@ Fender Amps
•@ Tyler Amp Works Amps
•@ Mooer Ocean Machine Devin @ @
@ Townsend Dual Delay/Reverb @
@ Pedal
•@ MXR, Strymon, EarthQuaker
Devices, JHS, Maxon, Dunlop & @
@ Diamond Effects
•@ Line 6 Wireless
•@ Radial Engineering Signal
Distribution
•@ Planet Waves Cables
•@ Planet Waves Straps
•@ D’Addario XL Strings (10-52)
•@ Dunlop Ultex & Tortex Picks (.88)
To call Devin Townsend a guitar hero
would be to sell the man short. Over
50 CANADIAN MUSICIAN
the course of his almost 30-year-long
career, he’s been a musical Justice
League unto himself – ripping shred-
ding solos as the founder of extreme
metal-oriented Strapping Young Lad,
diving deep into atmospherics on a
series of solo albums, and even tak-
ing gigs as an acoustic troubadour.
While the casual fan knows him
for his freakish technical ability, his
sheer range as a musician has led
him to transcend being just a guitar
player.
“I do [still get excited by the
guitar] but not in the way I used to.
I find I used to be fascinated by the
writing process, but now I like the
sound of the guitar and I like the
sound of bass, but I don’t actually
like to play things,” he says. “When
I practice, I don’t sit and run scales
anymore; I’ll sit and put on the TV
and just play the guitar.”
Which doesn’t mean he doesn’t
get into the nuts and bolts of gear.
He long ago attained the achieve-