Jon Herington on Constructing Solos that Don't Suck!

Jon Herington Has Performed with Steely Dan since 1999, and founders Walter Brecker and Donald Fagen are far from slouches when it comes to evaluating guitar solos. (To quote Bill Murray from Stripes: “That’s the fact, Jack!”) But as delightfully terrifying as that gig can be for a guitarist, Herington is definitely up for the challenge, and in addition to Steely Dan, his exquisitely crafted solos have graced projects for Boz Skaggs, Bette Midler, Madeleine Peyroux, and others. He has also released five albums as a solo artist. His latest, Adult Entertainment, is what he calls “pop music for grownups,” and many of his solos pay tribute to the players who inspired him as a youngster.

- Michael Molenda

Your last album, Time On My Hands, presented a singular guitar sound, but Adult Entertainment rocks a lot of different solo tones.

Because this album is full of allusions to the music of my youth, I abandoned a set formula and went for sounds that worked with each individual song. I loved that Stones records back in the day would have a country tune, a Motown cover, some Chicago blues, and a pop song, and nobody blinked. The records hung together because of the way the band sounded. So I used my Larry Wysocki Tele-style on “Little Big Shot” as a nod to Jimmy Page. “Blacklisted in Bougieville” is my take on the Beatles’ three-guitar trade-offs during “The End,” and “No Way No How Not Me” has a Monkees’ vibe—when they used to do Carl Perkins-style stuff—with the Tele-style in the first half of the solo and a Gretsch in the last half.

Did the sounds you chose while recording stay put, or did you re-amp tones in the mix?