Graham Coxon tone and playing on Charmless Man

RandallFlagg

Just heard Charmless Man this on the way home from work, turned it up loud and was reminded what a great tone and turn of phrase Graham Coxon has, especially on this song.

Love that tone and the little twists and turns in the lines he plays, right up my street. Sounds like his '52 reissue Tele with some fuzz on it for some parts. Anyone know what fuzz he used?

Good stuff

RandallFlagg

bloody hell, they look so young in the video

rico

Poor chap couldn't get away from them!

bingefeller

I believe he used a Rat.

mudslide73

He really is the bees knees. He's so inventive it's not fair. 

tone1

He loved Boss Pedals so maybe a FZ2?

cruxiform

Fantastic player and a great song too. Around that time I loved his playing as well as that of Bernard Butler. 

impmann

Rat definitely.
For the later stuff with the really spongey fuzz sound it was the Shin Ei fuzz - sometimes with the RAT as well.

tone1

I remember having a look at PGS Andy’s Lesson when I was trawling through some Blur tunes
https://youtu.be/mLnCvBEugbw

darthed1981

Graham and Bernard Butler were the two great Britpop guitar heroes.

A real favourite of mine is the solo on This Is A Low

cruxiform

darthed1981 said:

Graham and Bernard Butler were the two great Britpop guitar heroes.

Yep. Bernard is a hero of mine.

darcym

I don't get the buzz on Graham - what is the selling point with him (some great pop songs but nothing that sounds killer tone wise or some playing that is magical (not talking flashy but great)

bingefeller

darcym said:

I don't get the buzz on Graham - what is the selling point with him (some great pop songs but nothing that sounds killer tone wise or some playing that is magical (not talking flashy but great)

Quirky riffs and solos, unusual chord progressions.  

JerkMoans

darcym said:

I don't get the buzz on Graham - what is the selling point with him (some great pop songs but nothing that sounds killer tone wise or some playing that is magical (not talking flashy but great)

Blur far from my favourite band, but I think he plays interesting stuff, and lets the guitar serve the song as it were.

tampaxboo

pretty sure it's a tele and a rat, from what i remember reading about his kit.

as for coxon's rep, my abiding feeling is that had he not been in blur he may have done something genuinely interesting. his work with blur only interests me after all the stupidity of britpop. beetle bum is cool. he's trying to do something different around that time. but i think damon's totp-or-bust mentality sort of stunted his progress. it's clever but is it art, etc.

on the other hand, butler fully deserves his rep. i think he maybe squared things with brett in a way that coxon didn't square things with damon, so that he owned the musical side. it was clearly demarcated and all his territory.
my impression (from what i've read) is that coxon got pissed off with blur (well damon, let's be specific) because the band dynamic became him being allowed to do what he wanted... as long as it was ok with damon. which is no one's idea of creative freedom really.

when bernard left suede it was a huge shame. when coxon left blur it was kinda so what?

NeuralStatic

Think it was two RAT’s 

Johnnyseven

There are some points in the song where there definitely seems to be a stuttery fuzz of some sort which doesn't sound like a Rat. PGS Andy used a fuzz in his lesson so he also agrees.

BintyTwanger77

darthed1981 said:

Graham and Bernard Butler were the two great Britpop guitar heroes.

A real favourite of mine is the solo on This Is A Low

Graham Coxon, Bernard Butler and Nick McCabe were basically my guitar heroes during my 90s teenage years (along with Johnny Marr obviously).

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

BintyTwanger77 said:

darthed1981 said:

Graham and Bernard Butler were the two great Britpop guitar heroes.

A real favourite of mine is the solo on This Is A Low

Graham Coxon, Bernard Butler and Nick McCabe were basically my guitar heroes during my 90s teenage years (along with Johnny Marr obviously).

Throw in John Squire too, and that sums up my teenage years too. Though nowadays Squire's reputation and influence seems to have faded big style from the adulation he received in those days, quite the opposite to the way people now view Coxon...

darthed1981

I find it quite reassuring that even the normally superb Rabea managed to murder This Charming Man when Andertons did sound like the Smiths.

Marr remains an absolute legend. I'm scurrying off to get my QID vinyl my wife just got me

fields5069

What I get from Graham Coxon is that his playing is always tasteful, as has been said he is always serving the song. It takes real ability to do that. Chuck Prophet is another example, albeit more traditional musically.

It's like art - you don't need to be an excellent draughtsman to scrawl like a baby, but if you are then the result somehow has more depth to it.

I particularly like Coxon's playing on No Distance Left To Run. Quite simple, perhaps, but he's the one who came up with it.