Why You Should Listen To Derek Trucks

The search for the next greatest guitarist is an elusive and daunting task. Most of the old greats are still alive, but their effect on today’s music is limited to underground or very specific fan bases. Jimmy Page? Nothing new from him (but who should expect anything?). BB King? Still touring but he’s not exactly impacting music like he used to (not that it’s his fault). Eric Clapton? Still making albums, but he’s very unpublicized.

So, who is young, fresh, and making good music? More importantly, who is extremely talented? We can, for sure, rule out most pop bands, alternative rock bands, and nu-metal bands. Their guitarists may be talented, but nothing shows through in their work. We have to turn our eyes to a man named Derek Trucks.

Currently, Derek is playing with both his own band (simply called the Derek Trucks Band) and the Allman Brothers Band. There’s something to put on your résumé, eh? The man is only 27 and he is one of the most talented guitarists of this generation.

Nephew of the Allman Brothers Band’s drummer Butch Trucks, Derek began playing live concerts with family members and friends at age 11. By age 22, he was playing with the Allman Brothers, putting a new twist into their music that still retains that classic stamp of bluesy rock. Uncle Butch said that he was so shy (and still is) when he was younger that when playing at sold-out concerts with fairly-big-name bands, he would turn his back to the crowd and face the only guy in the band he knew.

Influenced by jazz greats such as Miles Davis, Sun Ra, and John Coltrane, as well as sarod players like Ali Akbar Khan, Derek is the youngest player on The Rolling Stone’s “Top 100 Guitarists Of All Time.”

Well, what really makes him so special? For one, his style. It copies no one. It is so distinct that somebody who has only heard him once or twice can detect his presence on a CD. Following the trend of the Allman Brothers, especially Duane (the “Jimi Hendrix of slide guitar”), he plays with a glass slide. On top of that, he never looks at the fretboard. Second Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes (“the only man to be able to replace Duane”) has so much confidence in him that they can easily switch the “Duane” and “Dickey” parts of any given Allman Brothers song (this is decided before going out on stage).

He also is in search of a very pure tone on his instrument. He refuses to use any effects pedals or equalization either on stage in the studio. The engineers who have recorded his work say they don’t even dare touch the buttons on their in-studio processors because they don’t want to ruin Derek’s tone. It sounds good on any set of speakers. His guitar techs and Allman Brothers roadies often tell stories of how before a concert one time, his amplifier cabinet fried up and all they could find in the town was a cabinet with speakers meant for a car. “Now he won’t let us take it away,” they say. (Since then, the cabinet has been replaced but remains in the possession of Derek Trucks)

Furthermore, he uses the open-E tuning (E-B-E-G#-B-E from low to high), which is used by slide players (most often) to play chords easier. Derek takes this in a new direction playing lead in that tuning, a very unconventional move for slide players. Even more interesting, he detunes his low-E string a tad bit (about a quarter step) because of a habit that causes him to angle the slide just a little too far up the neck on the E string. One list bit of interest is his lack of the use of a pick. He has amazing picking abilities in his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, and can fool any listener into thinking he’s using the good ol’ plectrum.

He also has a technique that produces one of the heaviest “crunches”: With the slide firmly on his finger, he barely lifts it off of the three heaviest strings and quickly puts it back down and muting them with his pick hand just to hit one note on the higher strings. It echoes the “crunch” that Stevie Ray Vaughan created when hitting and bending higher notes. Trucks’ “crunch,” however, is deeper, heavier, and thicker than Stevie’s. The actual physical movement resembles the act of a carpenter sawing a guitar body in half. If you listen to the “Live at the Fillmore East” concert by the Allman Brothers band from 1971, you can hear Duane Allman pull this technique off with a bit less flash. Derek has mastered it.

Furthermore, he simply makes people’s jaws drop. Everybody knows what people said about guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King, and Jimi Hendrix: When you watched them, if you were a guitarist, you had to leave just to save some of your own dignity as a musician. And Derek Trucks is the one of the only guys to do it since then. People at Allman Brothers concerts ask, “Who is this kid?” … And someone will reply simply with a shaking head of disbelief.

He has released numerous albums with his solo band: Soul Serenade, Joyful Noise, Out of the Madness, and a self-titled album, among others. Every track makes you jealous that you cannot play guitar like this guy. Nobody can play like him, and is it doubtful that anyone ever will be able to. Kofi Burbridge (brother of Oteil of the Allman Brothers Band) plays a rockin’ organ and flute (yes, a flute), capable of most any line or lick. Todd Smallie, bassist, conquers anything Derek can give him. Yonrico Smith on drums and Mike Mattison on vocals round out this little-known supergroup. For a seriously amazing musical adventure, give them a listen.

What’s been said so far about Derek Trucks is truly an understatement. You must listen to him or see him in action to truly appreciate his art. There are few out there in this new generation right now that can even touch his ability, and almost none who sound like him. The kid is a prodigy, and he will continue to make good music as long as somebody is listening.

Comments

[Ramco]

Why You Should Listen To Ramco

Ramco is teh coolest guitar player ever (not to mention teh coolest human being ever)! You MUST listen to him or you're not cool and you suxors at guitar and you listen to Busted and are gay. Buy Ramco's CD and you're realize how awesome he is, but you'll really realize how awesome he is if you buy 10 or 20 copies of his CD, plus t-shirts and buttons and stickers! I don't need a long article to tell you how awesome Ramco is, because he's so awesome in himself - YOU MUST LISTEN TO HIM!!!



P.S. PWNED!!!

[Anty 7]

so maybe he's good, but that doen't mean I'll like what he does.
An boring article, I like Trucks a lot actually, but who wants to read this?

Good things: 1st paragraph and details

good luck in your next article

[LedZepplin64]

wow, i dont care.
I dont need someone telling me what to like, and i dont want to read a ficking biography on some guy I dont care about. I read the first 3 paragraphs and decided you wasted enough of my time. So why dont you go kill yourself so we never have to hear from your sorry ass ever again.

[LedZepplin64]

just kidding

[dmcphedran]

haha wow ^^^

[thefinalcut]

Ramco was being sarcastic but he has a point, the author is on Derek Truck's nuts.

The author was gonna get trashed no matter what he said, because we all have opinions on the "best of new generation" guitar players.

Either way, Derek Trucks does own, great slide work and finger playing. After watching the Allman's Beacon DVD, I decide to focus on learning E tuned slide after seeing that. Warren Haynes was good too.

[Anty 7]

yeah he may be good, but we don't want anybody wirting about how cool he is and that we should listen to him

[MrVert]

Soul Serenade is a great album by them, I love chilling out to that.

Congrats on trying to educate some people and open their eyes (or ears) to new music, your article could have probably done it in a better way but I'd bet it is better than the angsty teenage pond scum that plauge the comments could ever come up with.

[Sterbob23]

I like Derek Trucks, very good guitarist, I only have one of his albums, but that's only because I can't find any others. He does need to be more well-known... he has some amazing riffs. But seriously Led... grow up. Lol.

[kurdtkobaign]

...who cares. i cant believe someone took the time to post this. and i cant believe UG put it up.

[shoot2ill545]

i don't get how you can put trucks in an article and not even mention John 5 , his first solo ablum, Vertigo, is by far completely awsome, and i rank him as like a top 20 guitar player of all time

[psychodelia]

Well, you tried to open the eyes of some of the people on here and this is the thanks you get lol. Good article, pity it's been received horribly so far... good try anyhow redwing.

[SuperAnalytical]

Interesting, I'm sure it's worth a listen. Maybe you should do a rig thread on him, in replacement of WlydePlayer or whatever?

[darksteel890]

okey dokey, never heard of him but i guess il check it out

[Twilight]

The article said exactly what the title implies. Why did you click on this if you didn't want to read about how great Derek Trucks is?

[Guitarded8988]

agree completely with twilight. People who post damaging unintelligent criticisms on here just because they can seem way out of line. I think the audience this was targeted towards was people who may not have listened to him, but who maybe had heard of him. Good Article: 8/10

[Inahrima]

uhuh...

[safe_as_fcuk]

ZzZzZzZ... wake me up when we're there..... zZzZzZz

[tHewHiteHendrix]

already knew how awesome derek trucks was. its too bad you would have more people check him out if you had said he was the fastest shred player of todays guitarists.. guitarists today aint got no soul man, wheres the passion and emotion? well i got a feeling things gonna change, so keep yer fingers crossed cuz mine are.. hopefully i'll be part of the new revolution of music.

[GuitaPlaya]

derek trucks probably wrote this

[msierragtz]

It's cool to make people listen to new stuff, and this guy is really good, but I find this article excessive.

[bassmonkey16]

who the hell is derek trucks, and, if he's "so great", why haven't i EVER heard the name?

[~AdNy]

YES! MORE POWER TO DEREK TRUCKS! a lot of people give credit to john mayer for being so young and so good, which they should, but derek is unbelieveable. seeing him alongside warren haynes with the allman brothers band...incredible. a real treat, im glad this article was written

[imRob]

never heard of um must not of been that impacting.

i think u have to think about mat bellamy of muse he has to be one of the most orgional and biggest things to cum around for a while, with unreplicable riffs and song writing talent, not alone a sellout world tour

[tHewHiteHendrix]

"never heard of um must not of been that impacting."
the whole point of this article is for you to check him out. hes 27, he plays w/ the allman brothers band, do you know who they are?

[timmEH]

a)derek trucks is great
b)redwings rock

[THC]

pretty bording read fist 2 paragraphs then quite

[Fargalas]

I didn't really try to read this, because I love Trucks.

I certainly don't need you to convince me, brother. Let the music live!

[ledzep1991]

LedZepplin64 spelt his name wrong...n00b

[metal_militia23]

The next greatest guitarist is Jeff Loomis from Nevermore. And being on rolling stones top 100 greatest guitarists list isn't saying anything. That list is incredibly horrible. Malmsteen isn't even on it and talentless beginners like Jack White are high ranking.

[Stratocaster17]

Interesting article... I'll give them a listen... aaaaa

[me_myself_and_i]

dude...no talented metal guitarists? haha...seriously man..sadly most of todays great young guitar heroes are metal players....derek trucks kicks ass..but theirs a large number of insane metal guitarists out their..just would like to point that out..look to the underground

[rosshmusic]

first of all, the point of the article is to get people to give the guy a listen... when someone tells me about a guitarist they are excited about I don't say "if they were good I would have heard of them" or put down the article for being poorly written... there is absolutley no point in berating the guy writing the article, if you wanna listen then good, and if not just forget about it...

secondly, there are a few inaccuracies in the article... one is that he has used effects in the studio, albeit very limited to this point (a few tracks on the joyful noise album) and the new album coming out feb 21st he used at least two different pedals (but you won't see him using them live)... second, the speaers in his amp are NOT car stereo speakers... here is a link to a ABB forum thread where "Lord Valve" who built dereks amps talks about various aspects of it:
http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForu
m&file=viewthread&tid=188
13#pid352567
and thirdly, he does look at the fretboard, but not that much... he often plays with his eyes closed but I've seen him watching the fretboard before (what guitarist NEVER looks at the fretboard? :P)

yes, I'm a fan... and while the rolling stone list means nothing to me, he is still WELL worth checking out... each album is unique and has it's own merits...

The Derek Trucks Band (S/T) is a mostly jazz and avant garde... great cover of coltranes "Mr. PC" on this one

Out of the Madness is the bluesiest album... lots of warren haynes and jimmy herring on this one... good cover of preachin blues and a original instrumental called "young funk"...

Joyful noise is the most eclectic CD thus far jumping generes and is filled with guest vocalists... it has indian themed music and soul... a little jazz and some cuban influenced stuff as well

Soul Serenade is an incredibly smooth album... only one track with vocals (greg allman)... they cover rastaman chant on this one, also afro blue...

Live at the goergia theater is a double disc live concert available only on the interenet, but by far is the best representation of what the band does live... this is also the first album with dedicated vocalist Mike Mattison... This should be a must have for any guitar player IMO

the new one called Songlines comes out Feb 21st... and has some great new originals plus some covers... most notably chevrolet by taj mahal... also crow jane (30's skip james tune) and blind, crippled and crazy... this should be a spectacular album - the new Relix magazine has a track from this album on a CD included in it - Sailin' On (a toots and the maytals song)...

be open if you can and give him chance - and nothing will replace seeing him live (thats one thing this guy got right on - he's jaw droppingly good)..

Peace

[rosshmusic]

first of all, the point of the article is to get people to give the guy a listen... when someone tells me about a guitarist they are excited about I don't say "if they were good I would have heard of them" or put down the article for being poorly written... there is absolutley no point in berating the guy writing the article, if you wanna listen then good, and if not just forget about it...

secondly, there are a few inaccuracies in the article... one is that he has used effects in the studio, albeit very limited to this point (a few tracks on the joyful noise album) and the new album coming out feb 21st he used at least two different pedals (but you won't see him using them live)... second, the speaers in his amp are NOT car stereo speakers... here is a link to a ABB forum thread where "Lord Valve" who built dereks amps talks about various aspects of it:
http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForu
m&file=viewthread&tid=188
13#pid352567
and thirdly, he does look at the fretboard, but not that much... he often plays with his eyes closed but I've seen him watching the fretboard before (what guitarist NEVER looks at the fretboard? :P)

yes, I'm a fan... and while the rolling stone list means nothing to me, he is still WELL worth checking out... each album is unique and has it's own merits...

The Derek Trucks Band (S/T) is a mostly jazz and avant garde... great cover of coltranes "Mr. PC" on this one

Out of the Madness is the bluesiest album... lots of warren haynes and jimmy herring on this one... good cover of preachin blues and a original instrumental called "young funk"...

Joyful noise is the most eclectic CD thus far jumping generes and is filled with guest vocalists... it has indian themed music and soul... a little jazz and some cuban influenced stuff as well

Soul Serenade is an incredibly smooth album... only one track with vocals (greg allman)... they cover rastaman chant on this one, also afro blue...

Live at the goergia theater is a double disc live concert available only on the interenet, but by far is the best representation of what the band does live... this is also the first album with dedicated vocalist Mike Mattison... This should be a must have for any guitar player IMO

the new one called Songlines comes out Feb 21st... and has some great new originals plus some covers... most notably chevrolet by taj mahal... also crow jane (30's skip james tune) and blind, crippled and crazy... this should be a spectacular album - the new Relix magazine has a track from this album on a CD included in it - Sailin' On (a toots and the maytals song)...

be open if you can and give him chance - and nothing will replace seeing him live (thats one thing this guy got right on - he's jaw droppingly good)..

Peace

[humble bee]

Remember, the author is writing a column, it's an opinion piece, explaining why we should be listening to Derek Trucks. Admittedly, the opening paragraphs are a bit provocative, and he surely stepped on some toes.

Try re-reading it, but skip the first paragraphs and start with the one which begins,

Well, what really makes him so special? For one, his style. It copies no one. It is so distinct that somebody who has only heard him once or twice can detect his presence on a CD...

His analysis is dead on. It is amazing that someone can simply plug a guitar in an amp and without even using so much as a pick, can produce a completely unmistakable sound. I took a jazz promoter who had never heard of Derek Trucks to one of his concerts, and his jaw literally dropped.

We need not make this into a competition, but for the true music lovers among you, do yourselves a favor and listen to Derek Trucks.

[allmanbros4ever]

DT is already the best guitar player ever. cmon, the 1st time he played with the ABB he was like 14, and people were talking about how good he was on the beac. dvd a few years ago, well hes about 5 times better than he was then now...

[ozzypie]

In 2002 my girlfriend demanded we go see the Allman Brothers. I was dead set against this because I loved Dickey Betts, who was kicked out of the band. My girlfriend won that battle, but in the end I won too. I won because that night I discovered who Derek Trucks is. Forty Allman Brothers and twenty-six Derek Trucks Band concerts later, I'm still discovering who he is, but I do have a much better idea. Eric Clapton recently discovered who he is too. Eric not only had Derek record in the studio with him, he also asked him to be on his upcoming tour. If you are mesmerised by those who are blessed with the gift of musical virtuosity, as I am, you'll do well to discover Derek too. You'll not only discover a great young musician with a profoundly deep respect for music, but a humble human being with a gentle spirit as well. Derek's only 26 by the way, he won't turn 27 until June 8th, 2006.

[Swinger]

Ha ha ha ha your not fooling anyone I bet Derek trucks wrote this.Good luck in your music career!
P.S ha ha ha ha!

[rhye999]

A Great article, Thanks for it and i hope some stupid people learn to listen to new good talent, thanks for explaning Derek techniques and don't pay attention to the poor reviews people gave here. Derek Rocks !!

[HellRaizor88]

I think Derek Trucks is Awesome ive seen him and his band 4 times in concert and he just brilliant every time, The man has really got a great feel for the guitar im amazed at how well he uses the open e tunning... and now with him playing with Clapton he will really go places with his music...

[nightraven]

good article, trucks is great, he's getting more publicised every day, which is good. he was featured in one of the big guitar mags i remember. good to see a jazzer/slider/fusioner doing this well today.