J Mascis reveals his favourite guitarists of all time
J Mascis, the lead guitarist and singer of Dinosaur Jr, is undoubtedly one of the greatest guitarists of the last 40 years. Mascis is known for playing some of the hardest solos on his signature Fender Jazzmaster, with the gain turned right up to melt the audience’s faces away.
During an interview with The Guardian, Mascis admitted, “Generally, my songs are just some riffs slung together as an excuse for a guitar solo.” Clearly, Mascis just loves to riff, and in that same interview, he noted some of his favourite guitarists of all time, including several you might not have heard of before.
The biggest name on Mascis’ list is Kurt Vile, who recorded half of Mascis’ solo album Several Shades of Why. Mascis said of the former The War on Drugs man: “I like the way he uses pedals with acoustic guitars. He gets some interesting sounds and textures that I haven’t really heard before and fills the space in an interesting way”.
Graham Clise played in the bands Annihilation Time, Lecherous Gaze and Witch and is another of Mascis’ favourite players. “I like to have a guitarist who’s really solid, so I don’t have to worry about holding it together myself,” he said. “His style is classic rock meets hardcore, which is interesting. The sound that comes out is something like UFO or Thin Lizzy mixed with Black Flag.”
One of Mascis’ “female guitar heroes” is Marissa Paternoster of the band Screaming Females, who once opened for Dinosaur Jr. “When Marissa plays, she doesn’t hold back,” Mascis said. “I like anybody who just lays it out there and goes for it. “They did a really interesting version of [Neil Young’s] ‘Cortez The Killer’, which is a brave song to take on. Their version is sorta reggae-ish and new wavey.”
Another female axe player that Mascis admires is Elisa Ambrogio from Magik Markers, who, like Mascis, is also from western Massachusetts. “She’s another guitar player who really goes for it. Her style is really intense and totally not traditional or technical or anything like that,” Mascis noted. “I’ve seen her play with Six Organs Of Admittance, too, and she really added a lot to their music.”
Rounding off the list is Rick Tomlison of Voice of the Seven Woods and Voice of the Seven Thunders and Derek Stanton of Awesome Color and Turn to Crime. Of the latter, Mascis said, “He plays lead and sings, and you don’t see that done well much these days.”
J Mascis’ favourite guitarists:
- Graham Clise
- Marissa Paternoster
- Kurt Vile
- Rick Tomlinson
- Elisa Ambrogio
- Derek Stanton
