Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
Jackson Pro Series Lee Malia LM-87: The Bring Me The Horizon guitarist's new signature model is inspired by the Surfcaster and debuts a hunbucker/P-90 combo.
Artists “I feel like that song had everything we needed to come back with”: Bring Me The Horizon’s Lee Malia on Shadow Moses, its riff and the secrets behind its tone, and why it was the right anthem at the right time
Misha Mansoor digs in on his signature Jackson Juggernaut as he play live with Periphery. The stage is lit in purple and white.
Artists Periphery’s Misha Mansoor on wild baritone tunings, high-gain theory and why he needs guitar lessons
Kirk Hammett of Metallica wears a studded denim jacket as he plays live with his Mummy ESP signature guitar
Artists “Guitars should be played”: Kirk Hammett has been anonymously selling his guitars online
This composite image features Charlie Starr playing a TV Yellow Les Paul Junior on the left, while Metallica's Kirk Hammett plays his Greeny Les Paul Standard, and James Hetfield plays his his ESP Snakebyte.
Artists Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on that time he took Duane Allman’s '57 Goldtop to a Metallica show
Jackson Pro Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 and HT7P
Artists Misha Mansoor spills blood as a home shopping TV presenter to unveil new signature Jackson 7-strings
Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age plays a red/orange Gretsch onstage, and is framed by a triangle of yellow-green stagelights.
Artists “It was the most bizarre musical experience”: QOTSA’s Troy Van Leeuwen on playing Paris's Catacombs
Jackson Pro Plus Pure Metal Series: the new limited range strips the Soloist, Rhoads and Kelly down with a single Fishman bridge humbucker, Floyd Rose and black finishes as standard
Guitars Jackson unveils stripped down single-pickup shred classics in ltd edition Pro Plus Pure Metal range
  1. Artists
  2. Guitarists

Lamb Of God's Mark Morton talks about his live guitars

News
By Joe Bosso published 31 January 2012

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Lamb Of God's Mark Morton talks about his live guitars

Lamb Of God's Mark Morton talks about his live guitars

With the just-released album Resolution, a modern-day masterpiece of bludgeoning brilliance, the Virginia-based band Lamb Of God have climbed to the top of the heavy metal mountain. Despite the bird's-eye view, guitarist Mark Morton is keeping a level head. "People are saying we're the latest and greatest thing," he says, "which is flattering, of course, but a lot of these folks don't know how long we've been around. This is our seventh album. We've been building steadily to get where we are now."

While the band's career trajectory has been relatively unhurried, the riffs on Resolution are rapid-fire. Morton re-creates every lick on stage with a modest collection of guitars. On the following pages, he describes the axes he uses live.

Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5
Mark Morton's live guitars

Mark Morton's live guitars

"The red and black guitars are basically the same, and I have backups of both. One is tuned to C# and the other's tuned to D. But because most of our songs are in drop D, I guess the black guitar is the main one.

"Both guitars are Jackson Custom Shop Dominions outfitted with DiMarzio Dominion pickups, and they sound amazing."

Page 2 of 5
Page 2 of 5
Mark Morton's live guitars

Mark Morton's live guitars

"I use the red Dominion a little less than the black one. What I like about the guitars really goes into the making of them, how I tried to take some of the things I loved about older models, like Les Pauls, Telecasters and Jaguars, and I tried to put them together into one new style of guitar with some modern touches.

"There really isn't a reason why I chose the black over the red as far as number one and number two goes. It's just the luck of the draw, really."

Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5
Mark Morton's live guitars

Mark Morton's live guitars

"I'm a huge fan of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. I guess that doesn't come up too much, but yeah, I'm so into what Kurt and the rest of the guys did, their whole sound.

I asked the people at Fender if I could check the guitar out, and they hooked me up with a Cobain Jaguar. As soon as I got it, I was really impressed with the way it played and sounded. I threw it into the set almost immediately. I play it on the songs Descending and Contractor."

Page 4 of 5
Page 4 of 5
Mark Morton's live guitars

Mark Morton's live guitars

"My wife gave me this strap for Christmas, which is a replica of Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock strap. As far as the duct tape goes, I thought it was appropriate because it looked totally right for a Jaguar. We've all seen it, the whole duct tape look. But what I discovered was that it's a foolproof strap lock system. You can't beat it."

Read what Mark Morton has to say about Lamb Of God's new 2012 album Resolution here

Page 5 of 5
Page 5 of 5
Categories
Guitars
Joe Bosso
Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar World, Guitar Player, MusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.

Read more
Jackson Pro Series Lee Malia LM-87: The Bring Me The Horizon guitarist's new signature model is inspired by the Surfcaster and debuts a hunbucker/P-90 combo.
“I feel like that song had everything we needed to come back with”: Bring Me The Horizon’s Lee Malia on Shadow Moses, its riff and the secrets behind its tone, and why it was the right anthem at the right time
Misha Mansoor digs in on his signature Jackson Juggernaut as he play live with Periphery. The stage is lit in purple and white.
Periphery’s Misha Mansoor on wild baritone tunings, high-gain theory and why he needs guitar lessons
Kirk Hammett of Metallica wears a studded denim jacket as he plays live with his Mummy ESP signature guitar
“Guitars should be played”: Kirk Hammett has been anonymously selling his guitars online
This composite image features Charlie Starr playing a TV Yellow Les Paul Junior on the left, while Metallica's Kirk Hammett plays his Greeny Les Paul Standard, and James Hetfield plays his his ESP Snakebyte.
Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on that time he took Duane Allman’s '57 Goldtop to a Metallica show
Jackson Pro Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 and HT7P
Misha Mansoor spills blood as a home shopping TV presenter to unveil new signature Jackson 7-strings
Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age plays a red/orange Gretsch onstage, and is framed by a triangle of yellow-green stagelights.
“It was the most bizarre musical experience”: QOTSA’s Troy Van Leeuwen on playing Paris's Catacombs
Latest in Guitarists
Jackson Pro Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 and HT7P
Misha Mansoor spills blood as a home shopping TV presenter to unveil new signature Jackson 7-strings
Dickey Betts and Warren Haynes live onstage with the Allman Brothers Band in 1992. Haynes wears a patterned shit and plays his Les Paul Standard.
Warren Haynes on what Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts told him when he joined the Allman Brothers Band
Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy plays his Zemaitis singlecut onstage in 2023.
Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman ruled out for rest of the year as he gets surgery on injured right hand
Vivian Campbell and Ronnie James Dio onstage in 1985 as they tour Campbell's final studio album with Dio, Sacred Heart. Campbell is playing a well-worn Charvel S-style electric guitar.
Vivian Campbell on his relationship with Ronnie James Dio – and what Dio told Ozzy about his playing
Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age plays a red/orange Gretsch onstage, and is framed by a triangle of yellow-green stagelights.
“It was the most bizarre musical experience”: QOTSA’s Troy Van Leeuwen on playing Paris's Catacombs
[Left] Richie Faulkner plays his custom Les Paul Custom while Rob Halford looks on; [right] Late-stage Ozzy-era Sabbath the first time around, with Ozzy cheering on guitarist Tony Iommi
Judas Priest salute the OG metal gods with a cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs
Latest in News
Exodus Gary Holt
"It might have been like 12 people there”: Exodus’ Gary Holt pulls zero punches in his new autobiography
blur and oasis
“I am happy to accept and concede defeat”: Damon Albarn just admitted that Oasis won
Jeff Lynne ELO
"Jeff is devastated": ELO's last ever mega-gig plunged into jeopardy after last-minute cancellation of last night's Manchester show
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: It's your last chance to grab a Prime Day deal on gear from Fender, Roland, Casio, Yamaha, Toontrack & more - but you'll have to be quick
Ernie Ball Music Man Pino Palladino StingRay: the bass legend's new signature model is offered fretted or fretless, and in a deep and luxurious 79 Burst finish.
Pino Palladino teams up with EBMM for a signature StingRay inspired by the bass that started it all
Amerie
How Amerie created a ‘00s R&B/funk classic with producer Rich Harrison

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...