How it all began
I started playing guitar when I was 14 years old. My first inspirations were 6 longplay vinyls from AC/DC recorded on tape by a schoolmate of mine: Back In Black, Highway To Hell, Powerage, Let There Be Rock, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, High Voltage.
I listened to those AC/DC tunes over and over again. And felt a strong urge to play that music by myself. So I grabbed my father’s old acoustic 6-string, tuned it somehow, and tried to find out about the first notes of „Hells Bells“. Don’t ask me how but it worked out at least some way … Later on my father told me about chords (he used to be a boy scout when he was young and remembered his camp fire guitar experiences quite well). It didn’t took quite long until I realized that most of AC/DC’s songs go along with only three or four chords. The world was mine!!!
Today I know that AC/DC’s music ain’t that simple by far. My skills improved. I discovered Deep Purple. Richie Blackmore was a magician! I took some guitar lessons (just for one year). Got my first electric guitar (a Fender Bullet which I occasionally still play today). And started to jam with other young guys. We played it hard! We played it soft! I played guitar on festivals. On weddings. In the streets. At the beach. Facing hundreds of different camp fires. Singing along with friends. And foreigners. And just for myself.
Some facts about Falo Faltu
I live in Germany. I am a German. But I like the idea of beeing a European citizen with German roots. I spent my youth in different places all over Germany. Perhaps the most significant time of my youth (between 1980 and 1990) I used to live near the Lake Of Constance in Southern Germany. Today I live in Remscheid, but Wuppertal was the town I spent most of the time in my life.
I’ve travelled a lot in my life (and I still do). I’m a sailor (actually one of my professions). I’m a researcher (another profession of mine). I love to play music (of course!). And I have fun to take photographs and compose videos.
BTW: Falo Faltu is not my real name. „Falo“ refers to my first name spelled backwards. For the meaning of „Faltu“ click here! 🙂
My equipment
Today I own six guitars:
- A Gibson Les Paul Signature „T“. This is the guitar I play most of the time when I’m on stage. You can hear it for example on this song (The Servant And The God Of The Metal Nation). This guitar is really Rock’n Roll!!! I love its massive sound!
- A Gibson Les Paul Signature Traditional Plain Top 2016 Limited Lemon Burst. My latest acquisition. Comes in a beautiful color. And with an everlasting sustain.
- A Fender Bullet. My first electric guitar. I changed its colour quite a few times. But it is still my first love. I still play it at home. Especially on recordings. You can hear it for example on this song (Alone With Everybody). And I played many solo parts with it. For example the one in this song (Eternal Blood).
- A Daion 81 – Caribou 6-string western guitar. I bought this guitar in the mid 80’s. It is my travel mate and acompanied me half way around the world (at least from the USA to Sri Lanka and many countries in between). I used it for example on this tune (Backstage Woman).
- An Ibanez Roadstar from the early 90ies. This one I played throughout the last 25 years on stage until the day I switched to the Les Paul.
- An Antonio Sanchez 1025 Spanish classic 6-string
build in 1991.
Let’s talk about amplifiers:
- Since summer of 2019 I’m equipped with a Headrush Pedalboard. This is a fully digital pre-amplifier with a large variety of amp models and effects available. It is fully programmable. The only extra effect I am using is the classic Cry Baby Wah from Dunlop. Beside the good sound it has the very big advantage that you can connect the board directly to the PA without any microphones or DI-boxes between it. This makes it very easy for the sound engineer. To monitor myself I use two active stage monitor boxes from ALTO. This leads directly to the second advantage of this setup: I have full control over my personal monitor volume because I can change the monitor volume seperately from the outbound sound to the PA.
- I used to play a Hughes & Kettner Switchblade TSC 100 tube amplifier before switching over to the Headrush. I loved its simplicity. It has four programable channels (from clean to extreme overdrive). And the four most necessary effects Delay, Reverb, Flanger and Chorus are integrated, too. No extra effects needed. Really plug and play! (I sold it to a friend. He is very happy with it!)
- For my home recordings I use a simple Line 6 Pod. Actually I’m not 100% satisfied with its sound. But it works well and has the flexibility needed for recordings.
Music
Videos
