Juliana Hatfield

Juliana Hatfield (b. Wiscasset, Maine, July 27, 1967), is a guitarist/songwriter from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock band Blake Babies.

Instruments

The guitar (in both its electric and acoustic versions) is Hatfield's primary instrument, and she is a highly proficient technician, her work often featuring alternate tunings and intricate, unusual voicings executed high up on the neck. She has not received as much acknowledgement for her imaginative bass playing, which can be best heard on the Blake Babies albums Earwig and Sunburn. Unusually for the instrument, she plays melodically and harmonically rather than simply holding down a bass line; she often plays on two strings simultaneously, using expressive sliding tones on the upper string to add another melodic voice to the group's sound. Since her work with the Blake Babies she has gravitated more towards the guitar and has largely lost interest in the bass, generally assigning parts for the instrument to other band members, and not playing as melodically when overdubbing with it in recordings. She has periodically also played piano, electric piano, and organ on her releases, and on her most recent disc, Made in China (2005), she played drums for the first time.

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