Justin Hayward

The Moody Blues’ guitarist extols the virtues of low on-stage volume and correct seating apparatus…

- David Mead

What was your first ever gig?

“My first gig was at St Saviour’s church hall in Swindon with a group called The Kestrels. It was pretty messy, I think – a little bit under-rehearsed. I would have been 10 and there were a couple of boys who had nice instruments but they couldn’t play, whereas another couple of us had terrible instruments but knew the chords…”

Describe your current stage rig…

“With the Moodys I use my 1963 red 335, my ’65 Telecaster, my Collings D3 and two McPhersons – a 12-string for Nights In White Satin and a six-string for Tuesday Afternoon. The acoustics go straight into the PA and I put an LA Baggs preamp in front of the PA for the 12-string McPherson just to fiddle with the tone a little bit. I have a Boss GT-3 that I’ve had since the 90s on the floor. I boost the output of the guitars with a Pete Cornish booster because the 335 doesn’t have that loud an output, so I just put that before the GT-3 so it has a hotter signal going in. On top of that I have a Kalamazoo pedal, which is the best oomph pedal I’ve ever had, it gives just that little bit more warm distortion.