GUITAR MAGAZINES
Guitar, 1975

Guitar Player 1976

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Interview 2000



RALPH, ALBERT & SYDNEY
Guitar Magazines
Articles
1975-2000

Guitar
the magazine for all guitarists
March 1975
30p
Guitar Folk
Ian Elliott Shircore

When I saw Ralph McTell before Christmas he was standing at the back of the Half Moon Folk Club in Putney, admiring his old mate Sammy Mitchell's impeccable bottleneck playing. He was looking tired but relaxed after a tough concert tour and obviously hoping for a quiet, peaceful Christmas. But the release of the new single version of Streets of London, the home-grown anthem of the folk-clubs which Ralph originally recorded on his second album. Spiral Staircase, changed all that. As it shot to the top of the national pop charts, it brought with it all the complications of instant stardom, though it should also have the effect of focusing attention on Ralph's other, often underrated, songs.

When I first opened a folk club, in 1968, Ralph was already a marketing man's dream. A mature and polished songwriter, with the face and personality of an engagingly amiable gangster and the guitar technique to carry off tricky ragtime versions of songs like Hesitation Blues and Too Tight Rag as well as the slower ballads, we could not believe that the hit machine would fail to cotton on to him immediately. That it didn't do so is almost certainly the result of the fact that Ralph was diffident about his talents and distrustful of the music business as a whole. He still is. But having worked away for years to build up a very real personal following in the clubs and the college circuit, he can at least be sure now that no-one's going to exploit or mismanage him into being a computapop nine days' wonder.

Ralph has been fully professional for eight years now. But he learnt his trade as a guitarist well before the big step in 1967. He spent a long time busking in London and Paris and even played at the Paris Olympia, though the audience wouldn't have known that. 'I used to sit behind the curtain at the side of the stage, filling in the twiddly bits that the guy out front couldn't manage.' Now that he's the one in the spotlight, he uses the acoustic guitar more effectively than almost any other well-known singer/songwriter, playing with the ease and dexterity that only years of nimble-fingered picking can develop.

On stage he plays a powerful black guitar, custom-made for him by Brighton luthier Keith Johns. It's basically a Gibson J200 body married to a J45 neck, though it has been modified so much that you'd scarcely recognise its parentage. And now and then he switches to his vintage 1954 Gibson 145, the instrument many of his best songs were composed on. He also has a Zemaitas 12-string, a Danelectro, a big Martin and a Harmony Sovereign.

Ralph has very few fixed ideas about guitar techniques. He likes many of the more stylish players still to be seen in the folk clubs, such as Martin Carthy, Isaac Guillory, John James and Pete Berry man. He has long rated his friend and mentor Bert Jansch as one of the all-time greats and he's got a lot of time for John Martyn, a contemporary of his from the club circuit days before their musical paths diverged.

I am delighted to see Ralph doing so well; not only because he deserves his long-awaited recognition, but also, as I explained in this column last month, because his success may open doors for many other talented acoustic players.

I just hope that the ballyhoo of chart success doesn't blind people to the fact that Ralph McTell is first and foremost a guitarist and a working musician. And it is good to see hard work get its reward.

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Guitar Player
Ralph McTell – European Fingerpicker
Article in Guitar Player magazine – August 1976
By Stefan Grossman

Riding on the strength of two hit songs, “Streets of London” and “Nanna’s Song”, Ralph McTell, 32, is finally enjoying superstar status in his native country, England; and he’s slowly emerging as a top name here in the United States.

Besides being a fine songwriter, Ralph has proven to be an excellent guitarist, demonstrating his instrumental abilities by playing such tunes as “Cocaine Blues” or “Statesboro Blues” by Blind Willie McTell.  It was, incidentally, out of deep admiration that Ralph (May) selected Willie’s last name as his stage name.

McTell has long been an avid player of stringed instruments.  When he was twelve years old he toyed with the ukulele because, as he put it, “I couldn’t afford a regular guitar at the time.”  Although he occasionally practiced some songs, it wasn’t until he entered college that someone introduced him to the records of various folk blues artists who nudged him towards that style of music and influenced him to search deeper into the blues and folk idiom.

Displeased and unhappy with college and the whole academic atmosphere, Ralph decided it was better for him to quit the campus scene and travel through Europe.  Although he stayed in France for a limited time, McTell discovered new ideas there for his music.  But just when things were rolling, he ran out of money and his journey was cut short.  So he went back to England, formed a small jug band, and worked long hours playing in pubs and concert halls.  It wasn’t until he recorded a demo tape for a record producer that McTell’s career soon flourished and made him a respected figure in the music world.

Undoubtedly a unique individual, Ralph’s acoustic guitar playing has a distinct quality that successfully paved the way for his musical accomplishments.  He has toured occasionally here in the United States, and he can still be heard on two albums, Not Till Tomorrow and Streets.
- Editor

What made you decide to play guitar?
I was always sort of interested in playing.  Ever since I was twelve years old, I wanted to play.  I fooled around a bit with the ukulele, but it wasn’t until I entered college and heard some albums by Jack Elliott and Jesse Fuller that I got really knocked out about guitar.  But once I listened to Elliott I said, “Right, I must get a guitar.”  I worked with that ukulele for a while, but it became rather tedious because it’s limited when it comes to playing chords.  So I finally went out and bought a guitar.  It was a West German model called Voss, and the cost was 15 quid [English pounds], which was a lot of money to shell out at the time.

Did you have any money left to take lessons?
I’m basically self-taught, so when I was playing the ukulele, I managed to work out chords and notes myself by listening to records.  Most of the time I’d remember a few chords that I picked up here and there, and work that into my playing.  This method carried over to my practicing the guitar.  

How did you learn to fingerpick with no formal instruction?
I listened to records real hard for certain techniques and I just figured out what was going on.  For instance, on “Cocaine Blues”, Jack Elliott’s picking is not rhythmical like the usual claw hammer lick.  It was just a question of patiently learning it.  Fortunately, I’ve got a good memory for something like that.  It’s funny, but after playing that song for so long, it becomes your version.  I always add or take out notes from a piece; I never play exactly what’s written.

Do you use a thumb pick?
I got used to playing with my thumb-nail, so consequently my nails are quite strong.  They don’t break that often, except in the cold weather.  I usually keep them about a quarter of an inch long over the skin.

What sort of guitars are you using now?
Right now I’m using my old Gibson J-45.  I also have a handmade one by Keith Johns, he modelled it after the Gibson J-200.  I also have a Martin 000-28, and a Gibson Kalamazoo.  Sometimes I use the 12 string Zemaitis, but without a doubt the Gibson J-45 is my favourite.  It plays better than ever, and it has a real rich-sounding bass.  It really serves my purpose.

What type of strings do you have on your J-45?
I used to use very heavy gauge strings, but now I’m into lighter ones.  I use Martin extra light.

Are there any sort of tunings you like to use?
I usually like to do most of my songwriting in D, so I just use that tuning.  I put the E string down to a D; even if I play in a G or A, I’ll still turn that bass string down.

After quitting college, you went to Paris – did you find the music scene there any different from England?
In Paris I met a lot of English blokes, and a few Americans who were basically playing what everyone else was.  There was nobody particularly outstanding until I met this guy Gary Peterson.  He just blew my mind because not only could he play Reverend Davis’ songs, but he also did Scott Joplin pieces.

When you came back from Europe, did you eventually land a recording contract?
Well, it didn’t happen right away.  When I returned, a few of us got together and formed a jug band.  We worked six nights a week, in three different places, and it was just really crazy trying to keep the dates.  I did that for a year and then I quit.  I started gigging on my own around the countryside, and I finally ended up in Cornwall.  I got a tip from a friend that a publishing company was looking for new talent, so I was eventually introduced to Grahame Churchill.  He asked me to make a demo tape so I borrowed a friend’s tape recorder and cut three numbers.  Two of the songs I played were “Hesitation Blues” and “Nanna’s Song”.  When Grahame heard the tape he told me that he didn’t particularly care for it, but he would send it to Nat Joseph of Transatlantic Records and see what they thought of it.  I was pretty excited because Bert Jansch was on that label and a lot of other guitar players, so I knew I was in good company.  Interestingly enough, the company wrote a contract assigning me a house writer.  Can you believe it?  On the strength of two songs I was given a five year contract.  I, of course, signed it and did some albums for them.

What happened after you did the records?
Since they were selling well, I decided to tour the United States which was somewhat of a mistake.  You see, it was really weird, I had no reputation or following in the States, so it was like starting all over again.  My first gig was in Boston where only six people showed up.  I had been selling out shows in England but nobody knew me in Boston.  Things were getting a little better each night though, and when I finally got on the same bill as Randy Newman the gigs were getting good.  Eventually my name was circulating around, and I was selling out shows.  I left for England right when things were jumping, but I’m planning to go back to America in the near future.  I’ll most likely play in areas where they air my albums over radio stations.  This will at least absorb some of the shock that happened to me the first time.

You named Jesse Fuller and Jack Elliott as some of your early influences.  Are there any others?
I’ve been listening to the Carter Family who I consider quite good.  But some of the old-timers who have influenced me are Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, and of course Robert Johnson – I play his records at home all the time.  I never get tired of listening to him.

Aside from your admiration for Willie McTell, was there any other reason why you used Willie’s name?
A guitar player, Wizz Jones, and I were in a band together playing in pubs around London.  We had just gotten fired from one gig and Wizz decided we should put up some posters to give some advertisement for our band.  When we made them up my real name, Ralph May, looked rather unexciting.  So Wizz suggested that since I liked the blues, perhaps I should pick a blues musician’s name.  I chose Willie’s because his name has a good sound and it’s also easy to remember.  Later when I wanted to change back to my real name, the record company I was with said no because people were familiar with Ralph McTell.

Have you ever done any session work?
Yeah.  That I really enjoy.  I’m always flattered when someone asks me to play.  I’m like a kid, man.  Some of the people I played for are Tom Paxton, Lindsey de Paul and singer Mary Hopkin.  I feel now that I can produce acoustic music to an acceptable level.  I did my own albums, and I also worked on a single for Bert Jansch.  I’ve been offered quite a few gigs actually with various people, but I turn them down because I haven’t got enough time.  I feel that I know the studio now, and I know what sort of sound I want.  Personally, I think my last record was the best production job I’ve ever done.

Now that you’re a success what are some of the things you are looking forward to in the future?
Well, it’s funny.  I haven’t really changed much. I mean it doesn’t feel any different.  I’m singing better than I ever did before, but what I’ve been really wanting to do for about three years now is to take a band on the road.  Before my last album, I never would have thought I could work with a rhythm section.  I’m so used to playing by myself, I thought a drummer would either make me play to fast or too slow.

Do you have any suggestions for aspiring young guitarists who are trying to break into the music business?
I think, first of all, don’t close your eyes to any kind of playing.  I’m talking about every aspect of the guitar.  I think seeing musicians in ‘live’ performances is an incredibly good thing to do.  But whatever you do, don’t lock yourself away with a record player.  Go and watch and invest your time seeing other musicians play, it’s amazing what you can absorb.
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Guitar Player
STEFAN GROSSMAN ON . . . Ralph McTell
Guitar Player magazine – August 1976

There are many singer/songwriters using the guitar very successfully to accompany their tunes, and Ralph McTell is high on the list.  What I find most remarkable is that this excellent musician has a pop star status in Great Britain, his homeland, while in the United States he is at the most an ‘underground’ hero.  Over the years Ralph has built up an enormous European following that was doubled when his “Streets of London” became a smash number one hit on the proverbial hit parade.
Ralph’s roots are in folk music.  The music of Woody Guthrie, Jack Elliott, Reverend Gary Davis and John Hurt have all had a great influence on his approach to music.  Ralph is a very unassuming person and guitarist and it is easy to overlook the power of his guitar arrangements.  They sound so simple, yet in their simplicity there is a world of good picking.
Ralph plays with long fingernails on his picking hand, and uses either a J-45 Gibson or a custom made English guitar.  He has recorded many albums in Europe.  His early albums combined his original songs with jug band tunes and the occasional blues by Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake or Blind Willie McTell.  His latter albums showcased his writing skills that have developed to a high level over the years.  
I asked Ralph which tune he would like to see transcribed in this column and he suggested “Sweet Mystery”.  This has a beautiful melody line sung over a finger picking guitar accompaniment.  Ralph’s use of simple chord positions helps to develop the simplicity and beauty of this tune.  “Sweet Mystery” has been recorded on his Easy album.
For those of you further interested in Ralph’s songs and guitar arrangements, you will be interested in a new book soon to be published in England that features these.  Information about this can be obtained from Bruce May Music, Putney, England. [full addressed supplied in article] 

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Guitar
IT'S GOT TO BE FUN

Ralph McTell
talks to Bob Bater
INTERVIEW - Ralph McTell. Colston Hall. May 18. 1977

Guitar Magazine, 1977

When Ralph McTell last spoke to Guitar in 1974, he'd just crowned a ten-year career as busker and folk-circuit stalwart by becoming the first British solo artist for 14 years to fill the Albert Hall to capacity. But the crest of the super star wave was too far from reality for Ralph, and reality is what his songs are about. He stepped down. His songs though, are not all that distinguish Ralph from the crowd. Of equal appeal is the uniquely tasteful and satisfying way

his guitar-playing becomes an integral part of the song structure.

And there is of course Ralph McTell the ragtime guitarist, giving new life to the intricate folk-ragtime of the US East Coast guitarists of the 1930s. I wanted to try and learn a little more about taste, about altitudes to playing, and - I might as well face it - about how to become a good guitar-player.

Ralph, you're known not just for your guitar playing and your songwriting, hut for the way the guitar and vocal work together in the end-product. Can you tell me something about how you set about writing with the guitar . . . does the guitar mould the tune, or vice versa?

Well. I used to play with a following melody line. on my early songs like, say, Factory Girl or Clown ... I was actually playing what I was singing. 1 think, probably ... it was a slow thing, but I would say it was probably James Taylor's playing that influenced the way I though about playing. I rate James Taylor as one of the best accompanists, he never does the obvious thing to my mind, he always finds an accompanying chord or an accompanying line, rather than something that duplicates what he's singing, and I found that really quite interesting. I would say that First Song war probably inspired by his approach to the guitar.

But when you're actually writing a song, do you have the words in front of you while tinkering about on the guitar, and the melody just comes? Or do you have the melody in your head first and then fit the guitar to it? What I'm trying to say is, how big a part does the guitar play in the writing of your songs?

Well. I've very rarely had a melody come into my head. I usually I'm sitting down and working around a two or three string harmony which might give me an idea for a tune, and I'm messing around with two strings or three strings or a chord until I get something that sounds nice, or a nice run down, or something like that. I sort of play it a few times and it leads to another one, and then to another one ... like that's how Summer Lightning came about, you know.

The tunes sort of write themselves. I mean the classic song The Streets of London which is basically a chord run-down ...

In the last line - you're very conscious of bass lines aren't you?

Very much so, yes. Because I think the best melodic music has a bass line that is very rich, like brass band music, syncopated ragtime music, the bass end is doing lovely things. I learnt the importance of that from this friend of mine that I think you've probably heard of. Gary Petersen, he took me on to stage two of the guitar just by hearing him play. The way he played ... he played things by Buddy Bolden and it just opened up a new thing to me and I started to think that way. And if I can't get a good bass line for a song. I'll either try it in another key or I'll scrap it.

So your songs are written in pretty close interaction with the guitar?

Yeah! Mainly because they suit my voice. Previously I used to write play chords, you know, do it that way. Although some of the most successful songs ... I've had the words and I'm picking around on the guitar, and I'll write that way. They're very simple tunes basically because the guitar has come in at a stage where it can't dictate the chord sequence and the line ... though others are quite tricky to play because they're from the guitar. The simpler tunes are the ones I've written the words for first, usually.

Listening to your work, it seems obvious that you have favourite keys

Yeah! Mainly because they suit my voice. Previously I used to write in G and A more. But D, I love D. It's the greatest one, you know. I never seem to run out of ideas with D. I think it's because of the extra scope on the bass . . . because I turn the E string down to D nearly always ...

... giving you a full octave for the bass line ...

That's right. You get more to play around with on the bass end. C also suits me very well. C. D ... I haven't really got into E yet because I've only just learnt to play a B7th, with an A shape with a bar, you know (laugh)'.

Thinking about the James Tar/or thing you mentioned, that's alright if you don't have sausages for fingers, so you can use three fingers for A and get that hammer-on on the 2nd string/2nd fret he uses. Mine are too podgy, I can only use two.

I use two. I think. Let's see. (Picks up guitar) Yeah. you have to do it by moving the end-joint to lean your fingers over to get the 2nd string ...

Thanks! I'll practise that!

I had a friend I hated because he could play an A with just the first joint of the first finger, because his joint bent straight out at right angles!

What about your instrumental numbers, let's talk about them. The right hand. You use thumb and three fingers - do you always keep them on the same strings, you know, index on 3rd siring middle on 2nd ...

... No. I always tell people actually, when they're asking me, to adopt a disciplined approach, and try and do that. But I tend now myself to move about a bit. I mean I might use the first finger on the 3rd string, or even sometimes on the 1st. Because when I was playing ... and I mean this is absolutely true ... when I first started playing I was working manually, you know. doing building site work, or factory work or whatever, and I became terrified of the very real danger of losing a finger. So I practised with every combination. I could play a clawhammer with my thumb and index, or thumb and middle, thumb and ring, and even with thumb and little finger. I learned to do that, and I think that probably ruined any chance I had of developing a really disciplined right-hand technique.

Ok, so you use three fingers and move them about, but with many people there's a problem straight away. Take your Blind Blake pieces for instance - it seems to me that you use your third finger, the right finger for some very fast picking. With most people that third finger is quite weak and just can't move that fast.

No, I use ... I ... well actually I'm never really that aware of what I'm doing. 1 can show you, that's probably the best way.

(Plays a Blind Blake rag)

I use it quite a bit! I'm more disciplined on that than some of the other things! But see how long my nails are? If I lost a nail I couldn't play because, for some reason my skin has never callused up in all the years I've been playing. And if I break a nail, I've got a blister on the finger by the end of the gig, and then the next gig I break the blister, and it starts to become really painful. I look after my nails very much.

You don't reinforce them?

No. I'm very lucky there. I don't seem to need to. I just look after them. I mean, by the end of a 30-day tour say, I only have to trim that side of them, the other side is kept trimmed just by playing. I'm very lucky - they're very hard. But anyone with weak nails should take care of them. After every session they should take an ordinary safety-match box and just take off the little rough bits, because that's what breaks nails - they chip, or they catch on something and tear off.

I seem to remember you recommending at one time that someone with weak nails should eat a whole pack of jelly a day to strengthen them?

(Laugh} Yeah. Well, actually, somebody told me that see, and I mentioned it in an interview, and the next thing it's "Eat jelly every day", says Ralph McTell'! So I imagined there were all these guys going out and buying up shopfuls of jelly! I should have had shares in Hartley's Jelly! But it does help, I believe. Though it's not a question of desperately strong nails. If you play lightly and just use your nails for a percussive sound ... you know, you don't have to claw it as hard as I do, 'cause I do hit the guitar very hard. But then, I've got strong nails. If you've got weak nails then you should play a little softer.

When you're learning these ragtime numbers - Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Buddy Moss - do you try to play exactly what they play, or do you go more for getting the right feel?

Well, if I'm playing the slower things - say a Blind Blake blues - I think I tend to try and learn it more exactly, but I think the essence of that ragtime music was that it was an expression of joy, and it was played without going, 'Oh, it's got to be this note, or this note'. When I'm playing what I regard as fun ragtime stuff - skiffle really, that's what 1 call it - it's got to be fun. The feel is the important thing, communicate the excitement, communicate the fun. If you can get better at it, put in the little riffs as you get better, but still get the feel - I think that's what I do. I do the same for bottleneck stuff. It's not good slaving over it night after night to get all the notes exactly right, the right feel is the important thing. I've never done that. it would take the joy out of it for me. Besides, if I knew all the little riffs, I wouldn't get any fun when 1 play my Robert Johnson records! And I still get off on them, you know, even today.

So your advice to anyone wanting to play these old ragtime and blues pieces would he?

Enjoy it. If it becomes hard work or starts to get you down because you're saying, 'Oh, I'm never going to do it', put the guitar down and do something else. If you're trying too hard to play to the letter, it'll show in your playing. You'll be demonstrating something, rather than playing something. I heard Dave Bromberg when I was in the States last, two nights running. What a fantastic bunch of musicians they are. Though the first night I almost felt, goodness

me, they're playing all the right notes but they're losing the song, you know, like in the Incredible String Band. But then I stopped and thought, no just relax, listen to the music, and he does it with the same sort of respect as Ry Cooder does it, and he plays beautifully. He's got a brilliant guitar player in his band too. We've produced some great guitar players over here. Bert Jansch never fails to delight me in everything he does, John Martyn, and of course one of the most brilliant guitar players we have over here is Martin Carthy. Absolutely brilliant. We've got some great ones over here, but over there ... oh ho ho!

So you would recommend any up-and-coming guitarist to listen to Jansch,  Martyn, Carthy. Bromberg ...

Yeah. and take in all the American guitarists you can as well ... and for people who are heavily acoustic-biased, try not to be. Because American guitarists have gone beyond all this playing for volume's sake and effects, they're going back to playing old Fender Strats and Telecasters from 1954 and playing them straight, through small amps and getting wonderful sounds out of them, you know.

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Guitarist
Ralph McTell’s Guitars
Tom Mates talks to Jerry Uwins about two new guitars he has made for Ralph McTell
Mellow Yellow – Tom Mates’ Custom 
Guitarist Magazine - August 1987
 

As must have been the case for many other independent makers, it’s taken Tom Mates a long, long time to reach the stage where a part-time dedication to guitar building could be transformed into a full-time vocation.  Something like thirteen years in fact. 

Last autumn, after a decade of making and repairing instruments whilst working for various music stores and three years at the London College of Furniture before that, Tom took up residency in his own, fully equipped and humidity controlled workshop but a deep-fielder’s throw from the Thames at Putney. 

With an impressive client roster over the years including the likes of Gerry Rafferty, Jerry Donahue, Albert Lee, Billy Connolly, Denny Wright, Diz Disley, Iron Maiden, Westworld, Gordon Giltrap and Messrs Gallagher (Rory and Bennie) – not to mention an enviable reputation for sumptuous inlay work – it’s no accident that Tom’s most recent customer for one of his immaculate Custom Telecasters should be Ralph McTell. 

For Ralph is, in the nicest sense, Tom’s minder, providing guidance and help in the new venture.  Indeed, the lease of the building in which the basement workshop is located is owned by Ralph’s brother.  Very much a family affair then, but one which would not exist if it weren’t for Ralph’s high regard for Tom’s craftsmanship. 

Inspiration for asking Tom to build the Tele came partly from chum Jerry Donahue’s highly figured maple version built by Dick Knight.  Remarked Ralph, “I’ve always loved the Telecaster design and Jerry’s one is great.  But we reckoned we could come up with something even tastier, and Tom has.  It was definitely ‘beat Donahue’ time!” 

The Canadian rock maple 25½” scale neck was already in existence.  Tom had made it seven or so years ago for a customer who never returned to collect.  Actually two-piece, i.e. separate fingerboard because Tom dislikes truss rod installation slots up the backs of necks, it is supremely comfortable.  For dimension collectors, depth at the graphite nut is 22mm graduating modestly to around 24mm by the octave.  Width is fairly conventional: from 42mm at the nut to a string width over the bridge of 53mm. 

Radius on the 22 fret fingerboard is shallow enough to permit one of the lowest, choke free actions anyone could wish for, with the nut cut and the medium grade nickel silver, semi-wide oval fretting dressed to a tee.  Result is an octave action height over bass and treble less than 1.5mm and 1.00mm respectively.  Strings fitted are Ralph’s usual choice for electric – Ernie Ball .010” to 0.46”. 

To minimise weight and provide the warmth of sound Ralph was looking for, the 45mm depth body is not solid maple.  It’s a core of mahogany – “old, lightweight and really dry”, says Tom – faced on top, back and sides with 1mm bird’s eye maple veneer.  Colour tone for the body binding was chosen to endow an antiqued look from the word go. 

Originally, cosmetic emphasis for the hardware was ‘blacker’ than it actually turned out.  A mix-and-match of black and gold was eventually chosen to compliment or contrast with the black position markers and sunny-hued natural finish.  A mix to the extent of taking two Schaller bridge units and installing gold saddle assemblies from one into the black base casting of the other.  Remaining hardware including the one humbucker and two single coil pickups is Gotoh. 

“The pickups were a bit of an experiment”, says Tom, “but the Gotohs proved so good we didn’t see any point in fitting more expensive EMGs or whatever.  They also make fabulous machine heads”.  Mounted on the traditional Tele-type control panel is a five-way switch and push/pull coil-tap tone pot which, unusually, is wired for single coil when in its down position. 

All circuitry is front loaded with no back access plate required.  Was this to maintain an uncluttered appearance?  “Yes, partly”, says Tom, “in fact in that sense I’d have only fitted two pickups but Ralph wanted three.  “I’m happy to do what the customer wants”. 

Here it’s worth mentioning that Dave Pegg, after recently clapping eyes on the guitar, immediately ordered one.  Same pickups but his will carry black tuning machines and scratchplate, and Kahler tremolo.  

Two thoughts may be forming in your mind.  First: sure it looks jolly spiff but I bet it’d cost an arm and a leg if I wanted one.  Second: what’s Ralph doing playing electric…? 

Wrong about number one.  Spec’d exactly as Ralph’s, Tom will build one for you at a modest £500 or thereabouts!  For what amounts to many days’ worth of one man’s labour that’s a snip by anyone’s yardstick.  The only significant extras to be taken into account would be the requirement for more expensive, sprauncey-brand pickups, trem system etc. 

As to Ralph himself I, too, was intrigued about this apparent change of direction. 

“I feel I’ve reached a point where I’ve done just about as much as I can as an acoustic soloist”, volunteered Ralph, “and went to branch out a little.  I can go back nearly ten years to when I started writing in a band context and using other musicians for recording, and it’s frustrating that I can use only a small percentage of that material for solo performance. 

“Also, although we’ve sorted out the situation of amplifying the acoustic guitar, when you’re with a band you’re really up against it and obviously an electric blends in much better.  I don’t know whether I’m actually going to form a band but I definitely want to play more with other musicians…and use this Tele.  I’ve other electrics at home but this one will do everything I need.  It has the most comfortable neck I’ve ever played.” 

With Ralph looking forward to debuting the guitar in public when he guests with Fairport Convention at their annual August reunion, will more electric playing involve a relearning process to some extent? 

“Yes”, he reckons, “I developed my technique in the days before the clubs used mics. so I’d use fairly heavy strings, a thumbpick, really dig in hard and sing quiet.  As soon as I plug in to an electric I have the urge to sing loud and I need to control that. 

“Also, I push the acoustic – it’s part of my public identity – and insist that it’s pretty well forward in the mix.  Really, that’s not a natural place for it, so with electric I’ll need to learn to play less, lay out a bit more.  Actually I wouldn’t be embarrassed to take lessons, because you do have to unlearn things.  For instance, nowadays I hardly ever use a pick and want to continue with finger style or maybe use one of those very soft thumbpicks that Ernie Ball make.  So I’ll have to adapt my right hand position to avoid things like hitting the pickup covers – I keep my nails very long.” 

I wondered whether Tom had taken Ralph’s predominantly acoustic background into account when he was building the Tele.  He quipped, “I took it into consideration but it didn’t make any difference!”.  His standpoint is that if you fashion a neck with an acoustic feel on an electric instrument the player will tend to stick with acoustic based ideas.  If, however, you give the whole guitar an out-and-out electric persona the player will then be more inclined to experiment. 

If Ralph’s Tele is a one-off, another collaboration between he and Tom is manifest by the first few of what they hope will be many Tom Mates AP Acoustics. 

The AP is dedicated to Arthur Phelps, aka Blind Blake.  As Ralph remarked, “We share an interest in old ragtime players, especially Blind Blake, and decided to try and make a guitar which looks approximately like the one he’s playing in that only known photograph.  It may be a Martin, we don’t know.  In a romantic sense, it’s nice to pay this wonderful guitarist a tribute.  I’ve collected almost his entire recorded works and he’s staggering!”. 

For reference Tom used a very old Gibson of Ralph’s and “kinda stretched it out here and there, gave it a more pronounced waist, used a Martin style headstock and incorporated a 14th fret neck join.  Sort of a cross between a 00028 and a J-200”.  As for materials, the top is solid cedar with mahogany back, sides and neck.  Fingerboard and bridge are rosewood.  The guitar is finished with “as little lacquer as possible – just enough to protect the wood”. 

Especially pleased with the sound, they’re convinced this is down to the strutting.  Ralph continued, “The Gibson, which hasn’t been particularly well looked after, still shows no signs of bellying and has its strength not from the width of struts but their height.  By adapting this, we worked out we could achieve the same strength but with one less strut overall.  The AP therefore resonates more and sounds fantastic”. 

Tom explained, “I’m using basically X bracing but, depending on the piece of timber being used for the top, I’ll shift the angle of the cross struts and maybe the two lower struts around a bit to where I feel it needs the support.” 

“We aimed for a mean average”, added Ralph, “between the sound of an old Gibson and a vintage Martin – both quite beautiful with sounds all their own.  What Tom’s come up with is something that sounds good and mature new, and can only get better.  So many new acoustics sound new – very bright and thin – and don’t always improve that much. 

“The AP’s response across the strings is also very evenly balanced – unlike some Jumbos which can be bottom heavy – so it will be great for stage work and melody lines.  We’ve also made sure there’s not too much material underneath the neck, so it’s very comfortable to play.” 

Price wise, an AP is in the same ballpark as the Custom Tele – around £550, and each will be sequentially numbered AP003, 4 and so on.  Visitors to the West End can see an ‘Arthur Phelps’ in Ivor Mairants, that is if the shop hasn’t already sold it. 

Right now, Tom is signing the headstocks although they’re looking at the feasibility of incorporating a line reduction of the Blind Blake photo as a headstock motif.  Actually, Tom’s quite obliging about choice of logo on all his guitars.  There’s either the AP or Mates Custom style, or his enigmatic ‘Mates’ mirror image motif. 

Of the last he says, “People used to come in and stand for ages trying to figure it out.  But as it’s so easy to run past a row of names which may mean very little, at least they were trying to figure out who built it!”.  He is, however, tired of ambulance-in-the-rear-view-mirror gags. 

The importance Tom attaches to functional and pre-requisite attributes like good playability and sound quality seems typical of his overall approach.  He eschews the hype and indulgent metaphysics of his craft.  As he recalls, “I heard the story of a guy who would never use a router because he believed it instilled “too many unwanted frequencies into the timber”.  Mind you, this bloke’s guitars were about a thousand pounds a throw, so maybe he was asking his customers to pay for the bullshit!”. 

For more (bull-free) information you can reach Tom Mates at 33, Felsham Road, Putney, London, SW15 1AY.  Tel: 01 788 1098.  If you’re visiting be sure to ask for a look through his photo album.  You’ll then realise why he’s considered no slouch in the art of inlays. 

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Guitarist
Ralph McTell
Article/Interview from Guitarist Magazine
November 1984 Vol 1 No. 6
By Nicholas Webb

Most people only know one song and one jingle by this highly talented musician – but there’s a lot more to Ralph McTell than generally meets the ear!  Nick Webb went along to the studio to talk about life, London and Lager commercials…

NW:     What are you working on at the moment?

RM:      I’m in the middle of a tour just now, so my actual projects are limited until the tour is over.  I have just finished another TV series for kids which comes out on November 5th and I’ve been writing little bits of my own stuff.  I feel that the last two years have been occupied with children’s songs for Alphabet Zoo or whatever, so I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and let what’s going to come out of me happen naturally.  That’s what I’ll be doing in the next few weeks.  So in terms of projects I’m just getting on with the business of playing to a live audience.

NW:     Why the meeting at Air Edel?

RM:    Well, today I’m here to adapt the commercial we did recently for Skol Lager for a possible single.  So that should be a lot of fun!  As far as the guitar goes I’m getting virtually as much pleasure now as I did when I first started.

NW:     Was there a period in your life when your interest for the instrument waned?

RM:    In a way, yes, there was a period of such intense work, the guitar simply became a tool to help you do the job.  I’m rediscovering it as an instrument again, listening to my old blues records.  Some people might find it strange to think that that’s where I came from, but my earliest roots were the blues and ragtime, the singer-songwriter came later.  I love that music, Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Robert Johnson, marvellous stuff.
I’ve also been enjoying an excellent series on ‘Country Blues’ by Stefan Grossman, broadcast by the World Service.  A friend of mine has taped the lot and we’ve been listening to them on tour.  I really congratulate Stefan, it’s one of the best things he’s done.

 NW:     How would you describe your audience on this tour, what sort of people do you feel you appeal to?

 RM:   That’s a difficult one.  I’ve always had a very broad-based audience but it does seem to divide up into sections.  One section would be quite happy for me to play guitar and sing on my own.            
Another section is made up principally of guitar teachers and pupils who come to gigs and say, ‘do more instrumental, do more ragtime’, and yet another section who want me to get a rock and roll outfit behind me.  I tend to fall between the three stools, since I love all these approaches to music.

 NW:     Let’s go back to that period when you were ‘top of the pile’ in the early/middle seventies, riding high on ‘Streets of London’ then virtually overnight the picture changed and the punk/new wave explosion made massive casualties of the acoustic folk artists.  What do you think went wrong from your side?

 RM:   Well, looking back on it one tends to take it all personally!  I think what happened was we’d had a period of fascination for the solo/acoustic guitarist and I had ‘Streets’ which gave me such a boost during the mid-seventies, but it all finally got too much.  What happened, as often happens, was a great surfeit of players trying to hit the same market.  A lot of people were trying to get on the band wagon and as a result there was a lot of dross appearing.  Frankly a lot of them hadn’t had the folk club experience which toughened you up for live work, so when the new wave arrived very few survived.             
I had sensed something was going to happen, and I had formed a group in November of 1974.  However, my manager had persuaded me to re-record ‘Streets’ in preference to re-releasing the old ‘Spiral Staircase’ version.  I had Bert Jansch, Rod Clements and Prelude booked to record ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’, so we held them over for a day and re-recorded ‘Streets’.  When we put it out it was a fantastic success, but when it came to the tour everyone thought it was going to be a ‘Streets of London’ celebration tour and there I was with a backing band.  They didn’t like it at all, and we were a good band – they just didn’t want to know.  At the end of that tour I was totally disillusioned and decided to jack it all in for a while, and I did.             
Finally my manager said, ‘Why don’t you try out a few solo dates’ and I did.  The concerts worked out very well and I started picking up the pieces.  I must say that was a confused period in my life but it led to some good songs, not all of them guitar based.  Songs like ‘Naomi’ came out of this time and the album which was called ‘Right Side Up’.  It was a good album.  I was very please with that.

 NW:     Some of your previous material never received the acclaim it should have done, numbers like ‘First and Last Man’ and ‘The Ferryman’.

 RM:   Both of those tracks are in my present set and go down extremely well, perhaps they were a bit before their time.  I was certainly writing well during that time and I sometimes wonder if I could ever write as well again…I hope I can!

NW:    Apart from your own following, the general public still know you as the man who did ‘Streets of London’ and that was a long time ago.  Do you think it’s ever held you back?

RM:   Yes…because it has been so massively popular, it’s just incredible the success of that song.  I still get reports from people who say they stumble into a bar in Bangkok and the band’s playing ‘Streets of London’!  It’s a world-wide song, it’s much bigger than me.  I’ve always said that ‘Streets of London’ has it’s own career and I have mine.  When I shout out for requests at the end of my set, I get maybe twenty songs called out for, only one person will timidly call out ‘Streets of London’ because they’re the new boy in the audience…but somehow I always feel obliged to play it.            
I slip new material into the sets mixed in with older tracks.  It gives you a chance to play them in before you record them.  I still play, in every set, a couple of instrumental/ragtime numbers, for people to see ‘yes he can play the guitar’.  I think it’s important as a relaxing moment in the set as well, to break up the songs.      
The present tour is fifty dates and I’ve got about forty to go, it finishes on October 30th.  It’s the first tour for a couple of years and I’m doing it solo, economic reasons as much as anything else but also it’s a long time since I gave the public what they want from me, which is to sit down and play solo.  To choose tracks that’ll please them all I need more than an hour to do it, so my manager persuaded me to play two long sets with an interval.            
On two or three of them, including the London gig, I have a few friends with me; Danny Thompson on double bass; Alun Davies on rhythm guitar and vocals and Graham Preskett, violin, mandolin, accordion, piano and vocals.  Graham’s a great find, he’s one of the few people I know who sings lower than me, and I’m low enough!

 NW:     What about future recordings?

RM:     I’m keen to record an acoustic bass/guitar ballad album using some of those old sentimental songs from the 30s and 40s which really had good melody lines strong formats and plenty of scope for individual playing, that’s a temptation.  The other is to do a straight acoustic album, and the last is to go for broke, really pull all the stops out, spend a lot of money and do an across the board album.

NW:     So you don’t really know which direction to take?

RM:     No I don’t.  These last two years have been constant work and I just have to sit down and think what’s the best way for me.  I’m sorry I can’t be more specific!  The new children’s show will go from November to Christmas ’85, but I don’t want to get stuck into children’s programmes, I think I’ve had enough of that.  I would like to do more television though because there’s so much material that has never been played on the air and the public know me only for ‘Streets of London’ and the Skol advert!  That’s all the vast majority know.  There’s talk about me hosting a TV show, just a half hour maybe.  Two or three of my own songs and a guest musician.  Granada have been considering it as a result of the ‘Ralph McTell and Friends’ radio show, which again was acoustic based and mainly guitarists.            
I’m approaching my fortieth birthday soon and I don’t feel it’s up to me to be revolutionary, or to use gimmicks to make my point.  I’m just looking for quality, honest stuff.  There is a reaction to the computerisation of instruments which I think is great so long as it doesn’t get folky with us all sitting on bails of straw being matey and swigging beer.              
The quality of the music being played in many folk clubs is absolutely superb, I’m thinking about the Irish bands, people like Dick Gaughan, superb instrumentalists but their music is always being sold short.  In fact some of the reaction against paying a decent admission fee that will entitle an artist of say Nic Jones’ standard to get proper money comes from people saying, ‘we’re not paying that, it’s folk music!’  It denies the quality of the music.             
There’s no such distinction in the United States.  I’ve no prejudice against electric music at all but I don’t like robot machines and sequencers.  I think people need to be reminded of the organic man playing the organic instrument – it’s more from the heart, but if there’s going to be a revival of the acoustic musician, let’s not dress him up in a white polo-neck sweater with a finger in his ear!

 NW:     Are you still using the old Gibson J45?

 RM:   Yes, I still love that guitar.  It’s about forty years old now and I’ve literally grown with it.  I think the new ones are awful, whenever I have a guitar made I get the neck based on the J45.  I’m comfortable writing with that guitar. 

NW:     Do you find writing comes easily? 

RM:    No.  It never has done and I don’t suppose it ever will do.  Somebody asked me on TV, ‘how do you write songs, Ralph?’ and I was stumped.  I was holding the guitar and the studio was full of little kids, so I leaned forward and pointed to the sound hole and said, ‘they’re all in there’ and all these kids came up peering into the box to see … it was lovely!               

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Guitarist
Ralph McTell tells the secrets behind his fingerstyle playing, his influences, a few guitar secrets and how he got involved in kids TV. 
Matt Swaine
tries not to hum that song...

Guitarist Magazine   
January 2000
 

Ralph McTell isn't taken seriously as a guitarist. At least, that's what he thinks.  Despite being one of Britain's most accomplished fingerstyle players, known for weaving melodies around independent bass lines, the man who wrote Streets Of London feels his lyrics and arrangements have often masked the underlying guitar work.

"People think McTell songs are simple," says Ralph. "But try to play them and you'll see they're not. If I'm writing a piece, then it has to stand by itself without words. As the guy who transcribes my material said, 'no one knows you play guitar, Ralph. It's hidden in your arrangements'. He's right."

It's the song that he's most often associated with that Ralph feels may have done the most damage to his standing as a player. "Oh yes, Streets Of London has been a huge burden," says Ralph, "but I'll never know what would have happened without it. Still, if it hadn't been a pop hit, which it was, and I hadn't been treated as a pop star, then I might have been taken more seriously as a player, "I'm a syncopated fingerstyle guitar player with independent bass and topline..." says Ralph, absent-mindedly plucking a blues piece that clearly illustrates his point. "The breakthrough for me came when I met a guitar dealer called Chris Aleph... he showed me the secret of clawhammer guitar in the style of Freight Train and Railroad Bill. That was used or adapted by a wonderful lady called Elizabeth Cotton who died a few years ago in her 90s. She wrote and played Freight Train, but what no one told me was that she was left-handed and played the guitar upside down; she played the melody with her thumb and bass lines with her fingers.

"The secret is to give each of your fingers a specific job. You need to assign them a certain string and mustn't let them play anything other than that string, at least when you're starting out.

So the thumb plays the three bass strings, the first finger plays the third (G) string, the second finger plays the second (B) string and the third finger plays the first (E) string.

"Chris showed me how to play the 5-4-3-6-2-4-3 rhythm. It gives you that dum-diddy-dum-a-diddy feel and that rhythm gives you a rolling clawhammer feel. Then your third finger can pick out the melody on the top to go against it.  Freight Train is the first tune that comes out of that pattern without having to do anything against it," says Ralph launching into a rendition of Elizabeth Cotton's natural clawhammer tune.

But learning the secret of clawhammer was only the beginning. Ralph was inspired by guitarists like Davy Graham to develop increasingly independent bass and melody lines.

"Davy was probably the best and most innovative British guitarist we've ever had. When his song Angi came on the scene, it just blew everyone away. Without Davy it's hard to imagine that there would ever have been a Bert Jansch or any of the others. Davy's playing was far in excess and so beautiful, there was no-one like him."

But living in Britain had some major drawbacks for an aspiring guitarist. Ralph was listening to the songs of American blues players but there were few opportunities to actually see people playing that kind of music.

"There was no-one to learn from," says Ralph. "You can't imagine what it's like trying to learn everything off records, when you've got no tab, nothing! That's why I think we've developed a very identifiable British acoustic guitar style, the kind of thing Bert Jansch and John Renbourn play."

It wasn't until Ralph got to Paris, a trip inspired by a heady mix of romanticism and socialist ideals, that his playing took another major leap forward. "I'd basically gone as far as I could without watching someone play. I'd been busking on the streets of Europe, flatpicking and everything, but my first love was to fingerpick.  Players like Blind Boy Fuller were a mystery to me. But in Paris in '65 I met an American guitar player called Gary Peterson who'd had lessons with Rev Gary Davis. He didn't play the Reverend’s religious songs, that's what held his music back in terms of popularity because they were all spiritual songs.  But Gary played a few ragtime pieces and I can remember thinking 'fuck, what's going on here?' It was a song with this fantastic independent bass line. I sat and watched what he was doing and then went back to my grubby flat and spent an evening lost in the guitar. It was like I was playing for the first time."

Ralph was offered his first job while busking to a cinema queue in Paris when he was spotted by 'France's answer to Bob Dylan'. "He was a guy called Antoine and he asked me in bad English, 'can you play with the fingers?' I ended up playing in the Olympia in Paris for three weeks.  They were so worried that the audience would realise that one guy was doing all this on just one guitar that they put two other blokes on the stage with me. We were all dressed in tuxedos and these other guys were told to pretend to play while keeping their fingers an inch off the strings so it looked like there were actually three of us playing.  Eventually we were shifted behind the curtains so the attention was kept on Antoine, who was also pretending to play."

It was in Paris that Ralph wrote Streets Of London, which started life as Streets Of Paris; a ragtime melody with a syncopated bassline. "Gary suggested that I played it a little slower and so it developed into a rolling clawhammer piece. If you play it in first position with these chords, then that tune just comes out of it."

Ralph doesn't read music. Having learned mainly by ear, he's developed an instinctive approach to the guitar. "I've acquired some knowledge," says Ralph, "But I couldn't tell you what I'm doing, I can only tell you what sounds right. It's been a slow process, but I've enjoyed my route through it all and my music is more sophisticated than it ever was."

That growing level of sophistication continues to be incorporated into his music and the guitar is starting to take a front seat once again.

 "I wrote songs because I needed something more than instrumentation to play them. Then gradually, the lyrics started to take over. Just recently I've rediscovered the joys of the guitar, I've started to play it every day and there was a time when I didn't do that."

Despite winning an Ivor Novello in 1974 and despite the complexity of his guitar work, Ralph takes a surprisingly simple approach to songwriting.  "It has to be a beautiful thing to play on the guitar. It'll have a bass line and something of interest rhythmically... nothing too complicated because you've got to fit a tune over the top of it and it's got to fit into the first three frets to do it comfortably. A lot of people have missed that and there are a lot of songs that use three chords that are pretty dull. They might be witty, so you'll remember the words, but it's got to have a good tune, be fun to play and have harmonically interesting content.

"On the last album one of the nicest pieces to play, which still delights me, is called After Rain which is complete on three or four frets and works really well. I didn't think 'right I'm going to write a song about what it's like after rain. I just found these three-finger chords and they worked so well within the structure of the song that I just had to do something with them. Then came the idea of the earth smelling sweeter after rain and of the soul feeling cleansed after tears."

Rather like After Rain, Ralph's songs have seldom touched on those lyrical mainstays of love and desertion, partly because by the time fame came along he was already married.  "I was settled down with a family, so I didn't write about love and conquests," says Ralph. "I wrote about Sunday school teachers, disturbed children, racism and all the things that no-one else was touching on. I was lucky that the folk boom was going on and I could play the guitar and write about that sort of thing."

But whatever he chooses to write about it's his guitar style and unique approach that give his tunes such a distinctive feel. "I was always much more interested in the bottom end of the guitar than the top end," says Ralph. "The fact that if you're singing a tune and playing these bass runs in and out of chords, it makes it sound so full."

The String’s The Thing

“I’ve got a little secret to impart to Guitarist readers about re-stringing,” says Ralph.  “Do it right and you can play a two hour set without touching the machine heads once and the guitar won’t go out of tune . . . And I really dig in, I play with a thumb pick and I’ve got hard nails and, thanks to my days playing folk clubs with no amplification, I really do play very hard.

“First make sure it’s pegged properly at the bridge – you just need enough to grip the bead at the end.  I go in East to West at the string-post, then go over and under, turning it so it locks under the string.  Stretch each string for five minutes and you’re sorted.

“Jerry Donahue showed me that method of re-stringing, he plays a Strat and he often bends over a tone and a half."

Ralph on his Influences

Ralph spent most of his early days trying to learn fingerstyle blues from records which, with no one to watch, was a fairly tough task.

“I started off wanting to sound like Jack Elliot,” says Ralph, “because he had such fantastic open chorded style and lovely bass runs.  I was interested in the originators of these songs, particularly Jessie Fuller, Rev Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, Arthur Blake, Woodie Guthrie and Big Bill Broonzy, but I had to try to work out what they were doing.

“All those old black guitar players would break the rules in the most charming, wonderful way, they’d often imply the music and in some cases play out of tune.  Not because they didn’t know how to tune it but because being out of tune gave them a bigger sound, like a chorus pedal.  Someone did an interview with Broonzy where he said, ‘they give me a guitar that’s perfectly in tune and I make it right for myself.’”

Ralph on kids TV

In 1982 Ralph began work on the kids’ TV show Alphabet Zoo and the popularity of that led to the birth of Tickle on the Tum in 1984.  At first he was understandably worried about what effect it would have on his standing.  “It’s sobering for me,” agrees Ralph.  “When they asked me to do it I said ‘No, I don’t want to do children’s TV, I don’t want to be jumping around in a pair of Kickers, braces and a bib’, I wasn’t ready for it.  But then the Director told me that what he wanted were Ralph McTell songs for children.  My brother, who was also my manager at the time, said, “What are you afraid of? Everyone you admire has written songs for children that can hold their attention.  Woodie Guthrie has done it, Leadbelly did it . . . are you frightened of having a go?’ and I thought, ‘yes, I am . . . I don’t want to be perceived that way.’

“But when I got involved in the project I found myself saying . . . ‘no, that story’s not good enough!’  I really got into it.  And I tell you, those albums are still selling, even people who don’t remember the programme are buying them . . .”. 

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