Player

 Japan

 
#1 music magazine in Japan. Full name of this monthly guitar player magazine is Young Mates Music Player. The magazine started as 8-page tabloid newspaper titled Young Mates Music in May 1968.
Since 1979 the supplement The Guitar is irregularly published, less than once a year.

1979 January

Vol. 10 No. 1 Issue 132

 

An Introduction To Classic Albums: One Size Fits All / Frank Zappa and the Mothers
名盤紹介: One Size Fits All / Frank Zappa and the Mothers

By Sakuma Masahide [佐久間正英], Suzuki Keiichi [鈴木慶一], Morizono Katsutoshi [森園勝敏] and Asano Takami [浅野孝已], pp. 66-67

Pipco Studio Presents Vol.1: Frank Zappa / Studio Tan
By Yagi Yasuo [八木康夫], pp. 94-95


TAN Mitsugu:
This issue has Yagi Yasuo's commentary on Studio Tan, with his parody illustration of Gary Panter's cover art. As an FZ enthusiast, he'd been in charge of providing Japanese liner notes for most of the Discreet-era albums. But for Studio Tan, Warner Pioneer in Japan decided to hire a not-so-enthusiastic American writer to do the job, which resulted in a not-so-satisfactory text for an avid fan like Yagi. Thus, he essentially wrote his own version of liner note in the first installment of his monthly column. (It was later incorporated into his "Zappa Vox" in 1989.)

You can find another FZ-related article called "An Introduction To Classic Albums", to which four Japanese musicians contributed their thoughts on OSFA. Two of them, namely Sakuma Masahide and Morizono Katsutoshi, were from a band called Yonin Bayashi, which was one of the supporting acts for FZ's first Tokyo concert (1976/2/1). Sakuma was also a member of the Plastics, whose song "Robot" was picked up by FZ during his BBC Radio 1 appearance in 1980.

 

1983 April

Vol. 14 No. 4 Issue 206

 

The Guitar: Frank Zappa
pp 265-269


TAN Mitsugu:
The article shows eleven guitars in FZ's house. The photos were taken by Joel Serber, but the author of the Japanese text is unknown.

Apparently, Serber and the unknown author didn't notice that they also took up two of Dweezil's guitars: a Stratocaster with a lot of stickers on it (p. 268, center) and "Star Guitar" (p. 269, left), which was a special present from Eddie Van Halen. (You can read the full story on the guitar here.)

Among FZ's guitars featured here, I think the black fretless Stratocaster (p. 268, right) is the rarest. Is it the one that FZ mentioned during the 1982-04-20 rehearsal? (See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtLKP04qJTg)

 

1990 December

Vol. 22 No. 12 Issue 298

 

The Pioneers Of Rock #34 Frank Zappa:
-- History, Discography, Sound, Family

    By Kato Masato, pp 279-281, 284-285, 288-290, 292
-- Frank Zappa Interview
    By Andy Gill, pp 282-283, 286-287


Frank Zappa interview was originally printed as "Frank's Wild Years", Q, December 1989. Translated by Kato Masato.

 

1995 January

Vol. 27 No. 1 Issue 347

 

Frank Zappa Interview
By Steven Rosen, pp 60-65

Zappa Guitar Special
By Keishi Kawakami, pp 184-189

Masters Of Rock #29 Frank Zappa:
-- Background, pp 283-285
-- Dweezil Zappa interview by Steven Rosen, pp 286-287
-- Mike Keneally interview by Yoshika Horita, pp 288-289
-- The Works, pp 290-291
-- Shut Up'n Play My Guitar, pp 292-293:
------ Black Page #2
------ Zoot Allures


TAN Mitsugu:
Last September, I came to realize that it is the summer 1979 interview that was included in Rosen's CD "Frank Zappa – The Classic Interviews". 

You can see the more detailed discussions in affz

                     

 

1995 May

"The Guitar 7" extra issue

 

Frank & Dweezil Zappa Guitar Collection
pp 196-207


TAN Mitsugu:
This extra issue of the Player magazine essentially gathers their old articles on guitar collections of various famous musicians. The photos of FZ's guitars are from the January 1995 issue. In addition, you can read Steven Rosen's interview with Dweezil (translated by Fujimoto Yukiko) and see his guitar collections.

 

1999 April

Vol. 31 No. 4 Issue 398

 

Frank Zappa Lost Episode: Interview with Steve Vai and Mike Keneally
By Andy Aledort (translated by Kato Masato) pp. 36-42


TAN Mitsugu:
This article is a translation of Andy Aledort's interview with Vai and Keneally, which originally appeared on Guitar World (1999 February). One of the other features of this issue is "100 Guitar Solos!!!", which has Vai's comment on Jimmy Page's solo in "Heartbreaker" (from Led Zeppein II). Also, Page 115 has a book review on Ohyama Kohjitsu's Dai Zappa Ron.

 

2003 February

Vol. 35 No. 2 Issue 444

 

Album Legend 79 - Frank Zappa "Sheik Yerbouti":
-- Story: An Experimental Music Genius Who Sublimated Rock Music Into An Art Form
   Story: ロックを芸術に昇華した実験音楽の鬼才

   By Kato Masato [加藤正人], pp 266-267

-- Interview: Steve Vai
   インタビュー: スティーヴ・ヴァイ
   By Kato Masato [加藤正人], pp 268-269

-- Interview: Terry Bozzio
   インタビュー: テリー・ボジオ

   By Noda Masayuki (Interpretation by Kato Masato [加藤正人]), pp 268-269

-- Equipments: Zappa's Favorite Guitars
   Equipments: ザッパが愛したギターたち
   By Kawakami Keishi [川上啓之], pp. 270-271

-- Technique: The Profound World of the Zappa-Style Playing
   Technique: 深遠なザッパ奏法の世界

   By Urata Yasuhiro [浦田泰宏], pp 274-275

-- Recording Room: Building Complex Orchestrations Based on Grooves from Live Performance
   Recording Room: ライヴ演奏ならではのグルーブをベースに複雑なオーケストレーションを構築

   By Akutagawa Kazuhisa [芥川和久] (with JINMO and Watanabe Kazuo [渡部和夫]), p 276


 

2007 May

Vol. 39 No. 5 Issue 495

 

Album Legend - Frank Zappa "Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III":
-- Story: The Amazing Extraordinary Artist
   STORY: 驚異の規格外アーティスト

   By Yamazaki Tomoyuki [山崎智之], pp 202-203

-- Interview: Terry Bozzio
   インタビュー: テリー・ボジオ

   By Yamazaki Tomoyuki [山崎智之], pp 204-205

-- Technique: The tightest ensemble achieves a one-of-a-kind sound world with a full of diverse elements
   Technique: 一糸乱れぬバンド・アンサンブルで展開される多様な要素が詰め込まれたオンリー・ワンの音世界

   By Urata Yasuhiro [浦田泰宏], p 206

-- Recording Room: Creating a complex yet unobtrusive sound that captures the listener's imagination to the fullest
   Recording Room: 聴き手の想像力を最大限にかきたてる、複雑でありながらそれを意識させないサウンド作り

   By Akutagawa Kazuhisa [芥川和久] (with JINMO and Watanabe Kazuo [渡部和夫]), p 207

-- Equipments: Frank Zappa's Les Paul has been modified many times
   Equipments: 何度も改造が重ねられたフランク・ザッパのレス・ポール

   By Kawakami Keishi [川上啓之], p 208


 

2008 May

Vol. 40 No. 5 Issue 508

 

Tribute to Fank Zappa: Zappa Plays Zappa
-- Dweezil Zappa & Steve Vai Talk Session

    By Kato Masato, pp 22-27
-- Mike Keneally Interview
    By Kato Masato, pp 28-29


TAN Mitsugu:
These interviews are original, done by Kato Masato for the Player magazine. ZPZ did their Japanese tour in January 2008, and MK did his solo gig in Japan next month.

Note. One regular column in Player is titled "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama" (p 75).

 

2022 April / June

Vol. 55 No. 3 Issue 677

 

"ZAPPA": A must-see documentary movie for rock fans that portrays the unparalleled musician with the vast amount of visual material provided by the Zappa Family.
"ZAPPA": 稀代の音楽家をザッパ・ファミリーによる膨大な映像素材の提供で浮き彫りにしたロックファン必見のドキュメントムービー
By Kitamura Kazutaka [北村和孝], p 45

ZAPPA 1990 Archive Interview
pp 46-49


TAN Mitsugu:
This is part of a special feature entitled "Rock Movies of My Youth [我が青春のロック映画]". The "archive interview" is an abbridged version of "Frank's Wild Years", which had also appeared on the December 1990 issue of Player. And two photos of FZ's guitars are also recycled from one of their old issues (April 1983).