In the third episode of Fender’s Re-Creation Series, J Mascis, the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Dinosaur Jr., gives the American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster a good workout playing “Freak Scene.”
J Mascis
The offset guitar-wielding J Mascis blasts Freak Scene on one of the new Fender American Acoustic Jazzmaster models in the latest Re-Creation Series video uploaded to YouTube today.
These models are currently available in Black and White at Thomann.
Freak Scene
The track, taken from Dinosaur Jr’s third album, Bug, was a huge Indie hit back in the late ’80s and is famous for its raucous opening riff and epic guitar solo. I saw the band on that tour for the Bug album and they were ear bleedingly loud even back then!
The Purple One
You kind of expect J to be playing a purple-coloured American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster, but maybe Fender will one day make him a custom one of his own.
Pedals!
Of course, J puts the acoustic through his pedalboard and gives it some dirt, which you knew would happen before you clicked on the video.
If you would like to emulate some of J’s guitar tones, I wrote this article back in 2016 for Gearnews. It describes how to get that huge guitar sound and discusses the gear Mr Mascis used on those classic Dinosaur Jr recordings and live.
Sweep It Into Space
Bug was a great and the last album with the original Dinosaur Jr lineup playing on it, before they reformed in more recent years. Their new album Sweep It Into Space is about to drop now on 23 April and it is already getting rave reviews, so make sure you go buy a copy!
