Music & Artists: Jared James Nichols

The blues-rock guitar hero talks Epiphone Les Pauls, Blackstar amps, playing electric without a pick and the fine art of riff-writing.

The Epiphone Les Paul is one of the guitar wall’s most underrated pleasures: You take it down, plug it in, dial in a tone, and everything just feels and sounds right, like a Gibson-designed instrument should. And then you flip over the price tag: Hey, I could actually buy this thing and not feel guilty!

In recent years, a slightly curious pair of Epiphone Les Paul Customs caught our attention with their sleek, streamlined look and no-nonsense electronics setup: the “Blues Power” and “Gold Glory” signature models by Nashville-based blues-rocker Jared James Nichols. Launched in 2021, the Gold Glory features a body based on a 1955 Les Paul Custom, with a stunning gold top and a single P-90 pickup in the bridge position. Controls are limited to one volume knob and one tone.

The “Blues Power,” introduced in 2023, offers the same vibe with upgrades including the JJN P90 Silencer pickup, which Nichols developed with Seymour Duncan. “I always say that a P-90 pickup is the perfect in-between,” Nichols, 35, explained recently during a chat with Music & Arts. That often-overlooked single-coil pickup balances a “really thick humbucker [sound]” with “the clarity and shimmer of a Strat or a Tele single coil,” he said.

His signature P-90 came about in an effort to get rid of some of the noise, or hum, long associated with P-90s — without losing the grit and character he loves about them. The result is a “higher-output, super-aggressive pickup,” Nichols said, but also a tremendously versatile one. “You can really make it do what you want.”

That last statement echoes Nichols’ guitar attack on the whole. Like his blues-rock forebears Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Perry and Billy F Gibbons, he’s the sort of player who seems to have absolute control of his instrument. His solos, which he conjures up without a flatpick, are at once lyrical, textured and explosive — full of great guitar-shop licks that merge into longer statements with a storytelling arc. He can sing and write too. His riffs linger in your head, and songs like “Easy Come, Easy Go,” off his self-titled LP from 2023, boast radio-ready hooks.

The album was a comeback of sorts, a victory lap after Nichols worked his way back to fighting shape following a strange and devastating injury he suffered in 2021. Upon picking up a road case after a gig in Florida, he heard a pop and felt an odd sensation of looseness in his right arm. An X-ray revealed he’d chipped a bone just above his elbow. Today he soldiers on, touring and wailing with a plate and 19 screws. “I’m like the Terminator, man,” he said.

We recently caught up with Nichols to talk about his Epiphone guitars as well as his most recent signature amp from Blackstar. Along the way, we covered his fantastic right-hand technique, the power of an unforgettable riff and more.

This conversation was edited for clarity and length.

Let’s talk about your gear journey. How do you get to this incredibly focused instrument with a P-90, a volume knob and a tone knob? 

I was 15 when I started to play, and the first guitar I got was a Washburn X-Series. When I played it, I was like, Oh, this is great. I did everything in my power to make all of the sounds. I never lusted over expensive guitars. I’ve never been a collector. I love the actual performance and playing of the instrument.

When it came to gear, I was always a less-is-more kind of guy, because a lot of my heroes — Stevie Ray Vaughan and Hendrix, all the classic-rock examples — didn’t use a ton of gear. When I was starting to gig, I would set up these pedalboards, or I’d have these [various] guitars, and I’d have everything set up like, OK, don’t touch it. It’s perfect. But after a few shows, Something’s wrong. The wah went out. Get the wah out of there. Then I’d plug straight into the tuner and the distortion pedal, and something would happen with the distortion pedal.

Next thing you know, I’d plugged straight in and thought, I like the feeling of this because it’s like there’s nothing in my way. Now, I don’t even play with a guitar pick. I’m a lefty who plays righty and I love the connection with the guitar.

When Gibson approached me to make a signature model, they said, “People are really digging this simple stuff.” And I just love one P-90, a volume and a tone. It’s just you. You have to create all the sounds. Gibson said, “Well, we can make some Custom Shop versions, or we could do an Epiphone line, which would be in tune with what real players are going to be able to afford.” Instantly I was like, “Yes, Epiphone.” I couldn’t believe the quality. I was blown away by how these guitars sounded, how they felt. It was just awesome.

What I found with these guitars, compared to even a Les Paul Standard, is the consistency of tone. You know it so well that when you pair it through an amp, you know exactly what kind of vibe you’re going to get.

A lot of players would look at it and say, “Oh, it’s going to make one sound,” but it’s pretty insane. It forces you as a player to think more musically, instead of going, Let me switch to this pickup. I adjusted where I picked — by the bridge, more by the neck. Turn the tone all the way off and pick by the bridge — all these different sounds.

In my research into the single-pickup design, I also came across Joe Perry’s name. What part does he play? 

This is a great story. I was living in L.A. in 2012, and I was rehearsing at [Swing House Studios], and the guy who was running the studio said to me, “Hey man, Aerosmith is going to be in the back making a record. So if you see the guys in the hallway, just be cool.” I’d be there at the cheapest times, like Sundays at 11 p.m.

It was probably around midnight on a Sunday, and I’ll never forget it. My trio was jamming, working on songs, and all of a sudden the door cracks open and I see a silhouette. It was Steven Tyler. He had just come off set from American Idol. I was pretty starstruck, like, Is this really happening?

I’m standing with my guitar and he’s like, “Man, you guys kick ass. Do you know how to play ‘Sweet Emotion’?” I said, “Uh, yeah,” and he starts singing it. Then he goes, “Hey, we’re making a record. Come hang out.” At this point I’d just moved to California, had no job, no money, nothing. So every day for almost six months, I got to hang out and watch those guys record. Steven would say, “Oh, it’s J.J. He’s cool.”

Joe Perry started to hear, “Oh, there’s this guitar-player guy.” I’d come and hang out when he was cutting solos. Joe Perry and Jack Douglas, the producer, walked into the room when we were rehearsing one day. I was so nervous. We stopped playing. Joe looks at Jack and goes, “Let’s get him a real Les Paul.” So they walk in with this behemoth black single-humbucker Les Paul Custom from, like, 1972. It was a rock-and-roll warrior, so it’d been all messed up, but it still had one PAF pickup, volume and tone. They said, “Play this,” and they left.

When I started to play that guitar, I was like, Wow, this is it — this guitar through a really loud tube amp, the way it’s reacting with my fingers and how I’m playing. I love it. I love the way this sounds.

I borrowed that guitar for about six months. That guitar and the Les Paul Junior were the nucleus for the signature model. One thing I noticed was that when I played Joe’s guitar without a pick, it was so bass-heavy. I’d have to run the amps with a lot less bass, but with the P-90 I didn’t. But yeah, Joe Perry was a huge piece of the puzzle.

Tell me about Blackstar. How did that relationship begin, and what’s the story behind this new signature 50-watt head and matching 2X12 cab? 

That rehearsal studio I started to go to in L.A., in 2011, had Blackstars. I started playing them and I’m like, Oh, this is cool. It has the Marshall thing, but it still has the Fender thing too. When I rolled my volume down it was really articulate. The NAMM Show came around and I introduced myself.

In 2019, we released my first signature head, the JJN-20 — 20 watts, two-channel amp. I loved it. But I was on tour playing these bigger festivals and 20 watts wasn’t cutting it. I started to talk to Blackstar and said, “Hey guys, I need a little bit more power, more headroom” — clean headroom, because with the way I play, the dynamic shift is everything.

Blackstar’s St. James amps came out a few years ago and I fell in love with them. I started to play those on tour because they were louder and had the dynamic headroom. So we started to talk and Blackstar said, “Why don’t we mod you a 50-watt St. James?” They gave me free rein of the circuit. For me, this amp is the perfect Swiss Army knife of tone.

It’s a really interesting amp. It has an old-school, handcrafted custom-shop vibe with modern features.

It has a USB out. There’s cab simulation. I did a session and [the engineer] said, “Do you have a cab?” I said, “No, let’s just plug it straight in.” And it was fantastic, with all of the tone you’re expecting to hear.

With the Sag power reduction, the amp can go from 50 watts to two watts, which is insane, because you can play an E chord at 50 watts with the volume moderately high and click that down and it cuts everything — but it still has the clarity and the actual tone. When it’s off Sag mode, it sounds really peppy; think of it like a car, right? Oh man, the car is accelerating really well. On Sag, it almost has the sound of an old amp and it hits differently — more of a vintage feel.

Let’s get into the built-in reactive load, which would allow a player to tour without a cabinet, essentially. 

Yes, right into the board. One time I was playing in New Orleans and [the venue was] supposed to have cabinets. [The sound guy said,] “We don’t have cabs.” He’s like, “I’ll plug you straight into the house.” And I was like, This is going to sound horrible. But with the built-in reactive load, what ends up happening is it tricks the amp into thinking that it’s [plugged] into a cab. So it’s giving you all of the overtones and all of the color.

I could turn the amp up and it got more aggressive — the notes started to bloom, it had its own kind of feedback. It sounded like I was plugged straight into an amp with a mic on the speaker. It also has these simulated cab rigs with the direct out. As with the other St. James amps, you can go on an app and pick what your favorite-sounding cab rigs are. 

With regard to your right hand, how did the pick fall away and you begin to play with the fleshy part of your fingertips? It’s such an expressive technique.

I didn’t really have a plan for it. When I first started to play, I played with a guitar pick because the guitar teacher said to. I never liked the way it felt. I never had total control of the pick. When I just used my fingers, there was more immediacy.

I would still use a pick at my guitar lesson, or if I was jamming with friends. Then I started to hide the pick between two fingers and pluck with my thumb and index finger, and other variations of that. I eventually stopped using that, and it didn’t come from a place of Oh, I’m going to be a no-pick guitar player. I was just having fun.

When I was 16 I wanted to be like Stevie Ray Vaughan so bad. I was wearing the hat and acting like I was Stevie Ray. I was trying to use a guitar pick, and I went, This just doesn’t feel right to me anymore. I started to play Les Pauls and I thought, I love the way this feels. I started to play Les Pauls without a pick, and all of a sudden it was like, Whoa, I can play a lot of that same stuff, but when it comes out it sounds like me.

Your tone still has great definition. Do you use nails?  

No nails, which I learned early on: I hit a chord using my thumbnail and ripped the whole nail off. So essentially I’m using the corners of my thumb, index and middle finger. My thumb goes down at all times; I don’t really do an up-down pattern. Basically, I’m always anchored on the bridge, and the index and middle pull up and I can do a roll thing [grabs Les Paul and does a banjo-style three-finger roll]. Or on one string I can do [picks using thumb and index finger], like alternate picking, or use three fingers. And then pulling up on the strings, snapping the strings, doing chicken pickin’.

When playing with your fingers, the biggest killer for me is too much distortion, too much saturation or compression. I thrive off of a more overdriven tone where I can use the volume knob. I’m almost one of those players who thrives on playing one amp with a really good dynamic range. If I’m going to use a boost, I’d rather use the clean end of a Tube Screamer instead of stacking [amps].

It’s very different, playing with the fingers, because I don’t have that piercing cut of a pick, and I want to make sure it doesn’t sound like there’s a blanket over the amp. It comes down to dialing in the amp with a lot less gain than you think and a ton of mids. Cut the bass, give me a ton of mids. Keep the treble in there, but it’s very mid-heavy. 

One of the first things that hit me when I went through your catalog is your knack for riffs. What’s your approach to riff writing? 

I had the chance to work with Eddie Kramer — the engineer for Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Kiss, tons of crazy people. So he comes in and says, “I’ve worked with guitar players my whole life,” and he starts naming all these players. And he goes, “I’ve listened to your stuff. It’s OK; it’s fine. What you need to learn is that it’s all about the riff. If you don’t have a good riff, you don’t have [anything].”

He goes, “Name your top 10 songs.” I wrote a list and it was [Mountain’s] “Mississippi Queen,” [Ted Nugent’s] “Stranglehold.” And he says, “What do all these have in common? They have a badass riff.”

One of my favorite things to do is sit on the couch late at night, not plugged in, and come up with riffs. How do you take E-minor pentatonic and make it something? Every player, the way they write or play a riff, it’s gonna be unique to them. It’s always a work in progress. Whatever you’re playing, whether it’s jazz, blues, rock, funk, country — it’s all about the riff.