Good Shepherd/Jefferson Airplane

[Fred Treece]

Does anyone know how Jorma Kaukonen played the recurring electric feedback guitar riff on Good Shepherd? It’s only two notes, but that fantastic sound has been a mystery to me ever since I first heard the song in about AD 009….

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lOWX2-l788A

I am not going to offer my thoughts on it, because I have an idea that’s probably wrong. I have looked everywhere I could think of online for some insight with no luck, so my last resort is to defer to the smartest Enncyclopedia of Music History people I know.

[Joachim Kettner]

My guess would be that Jorma employed an e-bow (if it was already invented in 1970) and a wah-wah pedal to get this sound. Now Fred please tell us about your idea.

[Fred Treece]

I hadn’t thought of an e-bow, but that is a good possibility, Joachim!

The only problem I see with it is that high note is picked hard after ringing. I don’t know how I would switch gears from the e-bow so smoothly, but I suppose Jorma could have.

For years I used to think he was playing a tapped harmonic, but now I think a simpler technique is probably more accurate. Play a D on string 2 fret 15, hammer-on to E at 17, follow with skillful use of controlled feedback for 3-1/2 beats, then pick the E again and gliss down as far as his fretting hand could go. The consistency of the volume increase on the feedback and the lower overtones on the slide are amazing. The wah-wah pedal probably enhanced the feedback response at a certain setting, and maybe the engineer did an old-fashioned cut-and-splice of the lick on a separate track to give it that consistency. It was recorded on 16-track tape in 1969, so that possibility exists.

It’s hard to believe that such an incredible sound could come from such a simple lick.

[Bud Angelotti]

Looks like just guitar and amp- go to 7:04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TMDT-k73Zc

[Jeremy Reeves]

sounds like a fuzzrite too

[Dave Mudgett]

On that live version, some type of fuzz. Could be a Fuzzrite, but could be a Muff or Fuzzface. I've had Fuzzfaces that had that ratty thin sound. Every fuzz I've ever owned was different from every other one. But I think also some type of treble boost - given the wah later in the song, I assume he had the wah totally toe-on for that.

On the original version, the wah sounded closer to half-cocked to me. Between toe-on and half-cocked. And the amp loud as hell. Even with an ES-345, that kind of rapid feedback needs the amp pretty well cranked.

When I played this song back in those days, to try to get close to this, I used a Vox wah and a Muff fuzz - not a Big Muff, but the 2-stage version that plugged directly into the amp input. With the wah, It's about finding the resonant sweet spot. And the amp cranked to hell. I was still in high school, drove my parents and the neighbors nuts. For psychedelic guitar, I followed Jorma pretty closely. Him and John Cipollina.

[Fred Treece]

I’d forgotten how bad live recordings could sound from back then. The studio version is a work of art, but that live cut is a tragedy.

Thanks for your insight, Dave M. Sounds like you gave it a good shot, and I would have loved to hear it.

I still think I hear the first D note in the lick an octave lower than the high E with the feedback. And it looks like Jorma is playing it on string 4 or maybe 3, and he’s really bangin’ on it. Can’t really tell though. Probably an audible illusion.