Tone Report Weekly Issue 125 | Page 20

Photo by Yuka C. Honda Nels Cline Speaking of innovative virtuosos, few guitarists embody both descriptors as completely as Nels Cline. A consummate musician, world-class improviser, and ever-restless sonic adventurer, Cline always pushes the music forward, whether he’s playing subdued jazz, sculpting improvised guitar noise with Thurston Moore, or wielding a variety of stringed instruments with Wilco. His penchant for effects is well documented, and among his favorites is the original WH-1 DigiTech Whammy, which he masterfully controls to achieve everything from warped, dissonant harmonic bursts, to tortured sounding melodic passages. One can find numerous moments of creative Whammying throughout Cline’s work, as the pedal has been a staple of his sound for quite some time now. A wonderful example is his short solo at the end of Wilco’s “One Wing,” starting at around the 3:17 mark. It begins rather subtly, but morphs quickly into a twisted, Whammy-bent yelp.     20 TONE TALK // Six Masters of Whammy