Knocked Loose’s Isaac Hale Plays His Favorite Riffs
For many artists, music is a love that comes from family. That goes for Knocked Loose guitarist Isaac Hale, who grew up with a father who also played. In this edition of Loudwire's Gear Factor powered by Sweetwater, Hale speaks with the Music Experience's Squiggy about his start and which riffs still strike a chord with him.
When it comes to the first riff he learned, Hale's response is a common one amongst guitarists of his age. "Metallica is my favorite band of all-time and I think that this might be every single kid's first riff, but it's the 'Enter Sandman' riff," says the guitarist, who then plays a sampling of the well know part.
"It was mostly playing along to songs that I knew," says Hale, reflecting on his beginnings. "I had a room in the back where I'd just plug into a combo amp really loud and my dad had a speaker system. He would play music over it, so sometimes I would plug up some kind of shitty MP3 player or something like that, I would play along to the songs that I heard and as soon as I was able to follow shit and hit it on time with what was going on. That's when I was getting stoked about playing." The guitarist looks back at his start fondly, with his dad often talking him up to friends.
The guitarist also cites Korn as an influence, adding that their approach has also carried over to his own band. "We play in drop G, but our new record, we play in standard A, which is the same tuning as Korn does. So we moved from drop to standard, which is cool cause there's a lot of things you can do," says Hale. "The new stuff, standard A sounds a lot brighter and it was a new, exciting way to look at the new record and kind of come at it in a different angle. It ended up being really, really sick. I'm happy we made it that way."
Looking at his own music, Hale takes us all the way back to the song "Manipulator" as one of the band's first moments when it all started coming together. "When we played that for the first time, it was our first song that took shape. I remember when we got together and we played it as a group after I wrote it ... and when that hit and it came to life."
As for his current favorite riff, that belongs to "Mistakes Like Fractures" off the A Different Shade of Blue album. The guitarist demonstrates a part of the guitar break, explaining, "Live, that hits super, super hard for me every single time."
Knocked Loose's A Different Shade of Blue drops Aug. 23 and you can pre-order a copy here. The band is also spending the summer on tour and you can keep up with their dates here. For those wanting to follow in Hale's footsteps and get the ball rolling on playing guitar, head on over to Sweetwater.com for your gear needs.
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