Greatest Guitarist Series : Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave

March 7th, 2008 by PlayRecord.Net Management

Tom Morello rose to fame with the ground breaking rap / metal band Rage Against the Machine. The combination of extremely tight three piece backing band including Tom Morello with his distinctive pseudo synthesiser style of guitar backing up the politically charged rapping / vocals of Zack de la Rocha proved to be a refreshing and very popular alternative to the alternative music of the day.

Rage Against the Machine, the bands self titled debut album achieved success in North America and Europe and was acclaimed for its originality, being the first album to completely combine Rock and Hip Hop.

Rage went on to produce three more albums including Evil Empire, The Battle of Los Angeles and finally Renegades. However the time span between albums was often quite long and rumours of splits abounded. Finally de la Rocha did leave the band, though the rest of the guys wanted to continue making music together. They started jamming with Soundgarden front man Chris Cornell and Audioslave was born.

Tom Morello’s guitar technique is definitely distinctive with heavy use of effects and a wide variety of unusal playing techniques. This avante garde style is backed up by some serious technical ability in a more traditional sense. The finished result is something that is something that swings from the sublime to the seriously hard edged and unusual.

One of Morello’s most relied on effects, especially for his more pseudo-synth work is the Digitech Whammy Pedal. This pedal allows for huge pitch shifting sweeps and is distinctive on numerous tracks.

Tom Morello is less known for his Folk music. However he has been writing and playing Folk music under the alias of The Nightwatchman.

“The Nightwatchman is my political folk alter ego. I’ve been writing these songs and playing them at open mic nights with friends for some time. This is the first time I’ve toured with it. When I play open mic nights, it’s announced as The Nightwatchman. There will be kids there who are fans of my electric guitar playing, and you see them there scratching their heads.

But it’s something that I enjoy doing. I look at it more as an extension of my politics. Then again, some of the songs are not explicitly political. It really helped me grow as an artist and songwriter. Once you prick the vein you never know what is going to come out. You could aim for all union songs and you find yourself in other territory.”

Nightwatchman Video