Guitar Player articles from April 2008

Guitar Player archives from April 2008

From the editor.(NOIZE)(Editorial)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE WORM HOLE THAT IS MAGAZINE publishing always freaks me out. It's barely 2008 in calendar terms, but the GP staff is already working on the May 2008 issue. Think about it--we've already run almost half the year's...

Letter of the month.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2008... I just read your article on the Joe Barrick Cow's Skull guitar [February 2008 Vintage Vault]. The author noted that this was not a cow's skull--but a bull's skull--because it has horns. Now, I am not a country music guy, but I do have a degree...

Trower power.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2008... Thank you ever so much for February's "10 Things" piece on one of my all-time favorite living-legend guitarists, Robin Trower. It was a complete joy to see a seven-page spread on him. Mr. Trower has been a tremendous influence on me as a guitar...

Top 50 DVDS.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2008... I haven't written a letter to a magazine since 1964, but I enjoy Guitar Player so much that I feel compelled to make other readers aware of an excellent DVD that accidentally got left out of the "50 Essential Guitar DVDs" article in the...

An un-poplar opinion.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2008... I've been a subscriber for a while now, and, as usual, I was totally jumpin' out of my skin to read my monthly GP. One look at February's cover, and I couldn't wait to learn about the 50 Greatest Guitar DVDs, fantasize about playing like Robin...

Oops!(FEEDBACK)(Correction notice)
April 1, 2008... When transcriber par excellence (and longtime GP contributor) Jesse Gress opened the February '08 GP and saw the reader-submitted lick in the style of The Twilight Zone theme ("Quick Licks"), it reminded him of what late, great studio legend...

Robin Trower.(RIFFS: Rock)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... THOUGH IT HAS BEEN MORE THAN 25 YEARS SINCE ROBIN TROWER and Jack Bruce made a record together, time seemingly hasn't affected the magic these two iconic instrumentalists create when they put their artistic heads together. "I was a huge fan of...

Ike Turner.(RIFFS: Oeuvre Easy)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "IKE TURNER THE GUITAR PLAYER?" MUSED the reluctant 6-string innovator. "I am a piano player. I just do tricks on the guitar." We should all be such guitar "tricksters," because, buried beneath the avalanche of bad...

Dan Donegan.(RIFFS: Metal)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... WHEN DEVO KICKED OFF THE DE-EVOLUTION gag back in its '70s and '80s heyday, the band probably didn't envision inspiring Disturbed's Dan Donegan in 2007. But de-evolution was one of the creative triggers for Disturbed's latest release,...

Editor boy's big eight.(RIFFS: MySpace Hordes)(Website list)
April 1, 2008... GP IS EMBRACING D-I-Y MUSICIANS by spotlighting thrilling (or, at least, interesting) guitar talents in this column and at guitarplayer.com. If you think you've got something going that our readers should hear, go to myspace.com/michaelmolenda...

Cattarina Tasso.(RIFFS: Rocker Girl)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "MOVING TO SAN FRANCISCO FROM LOS ANGELES did something to me," says the May Fire's Cattarina "Cat" Tasso. "I was so mad that the weather was cold and gloomy all the time that my style began to morph to reflect my...

James Muller.(RIFFS: Fusion)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE MINIMALIST COVER OF JAMES MULLER'S Birdland Records debut looks like an exclamation frame from a Superman comic-book fight scene. It features one word--Kaboom--in off-kilter, all-caps letering that overlays a...

Bob Brozman.(RIFFS: Blues)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN IT COMES TO HIS MUSIC, SLIDE master and ethnomusicologist Bob Brozman is unfailingly honest. Whether he's playing the music of Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, or Mississippi, he immerses himself in the culture,...

Peter Lang.(RIFFS: Acoustic)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... PETER LANG MAY BE KNOWN AS ONE OF THE WORLD'S preeminent 6- and 12-string fingerstyle solo instrumentalists, but as his new CD Testament [Horus] reveals, his approach can also propel a mean blues jam. The album finds Lang, along with Bad Plus...

The Double-Branded Hallmark/Standel.(RIFFS: Vintage Vault)
April 1, 2008... I LIKE A GOOD GUITAR MYSTERY--ONE where all you have is the evidence before you to figure out what happened--and such is the case with this month's featured guitar. In the insulated world of sickos like myself who care about such things, this...

Yamandu Costa.(RIFFS: World)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... BRAZILIAN GUITARIST YAMANDU COSTA ATTACKS the nylon strings of his guitar with a demonic playfulness. The fingers of his left hand trace lightning riffs, pausing briefly to block out full chords as they range up and down the neck with...

Oz Noy.(RIFFS: Outsider)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MUTANT MAESTRO OZ NOY MAKES A JAZZ NOISE that's undeniably different. It can be bouncy and beautiful with a pleasant tone one moment, and then quickly turn turbulent with gnarly distortions drenched in otherworldly...

What's spinning in the editors' heads this month?(RANTS & RAVES)
April 1, 2008... MATT BLACKETT Cisco, Tipsy Gypsy Chicago, Chicago's Greatest Hits Paul Gilbert, Get Out of My Yard BARRY CLEVELAND Gonzolo Bergora, Portena Soledad Radiohead, Radiohead Box Set Adrian Below, Side Four (Live) ...

Five Times August.(Audio)(Brighter Side)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] FIVE TIMES AUGUST Brighter Side Let's get the obvious out of the way: Five Times August is not a band. It's one dude named Brad Skistimas. Aside from being a talented guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Mr....

King Crimson.(Audio)(The Great Deceiver Live 1973-1974 Part One/Part Two)(Sound recording review)(Book review)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] KING CRIMSON The Great Deceiver Live 1973-1974 Part One/Part Two Originally issued as a four-CD box set in 1992, and long out of print until recently, this collection of live recordings is now also available...

Larry Dunn.(Audio)(One of These Days)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LARRY DUNN One of These Days A rootsy affair that touches on blues, Tex-Mex, and jazz, former Dynatones' guitarist Dunn delivers wonderfully tailored tunes that manage to highlight his ultra-hip, yet...

Duke Levine.(Audio)(Beneath the Blue)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DUKE LEVINE Beneath the Blue Boston-based Robert "Duke" Levine is best known for his work backing Mary Chapin Carpenter, Otis Rush, Peter Wolf, Kathy Mattea, Aimee Mann, and other luminaries, as well as his...

Harry Manx.(DVD)(Raga Meets the Blues)(Brief article)(Video recording review)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HARRY MANX Raga Meets the Blues The excellence Harry Manx brings to acoustic blues, lap-slide, and other steel-string styles, including British Isles folk (befitting his Isle of Man upbringing), should be...

M-audio fast track ultra audio interface.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... 8 x 8 audio interface with MIDI and USB 2.0 connectivity * MX Core mixer employs an array of eight individual DSP cores to deliver near-zero latency * Mixer provides for up to a 16 x 8 configuration, allowing users to mix hardware inputs with...

Cordoba Guitars fusion 12-CEB acoustic guitar.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Solid Canadian cedar top, mahogany back and sides * Mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard * B-Band A3T electronics (with onboard tuner) * $650 retail, $499 street * cordobaguitars.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

T-Rex Engineering spindoctor overdrive preamp.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Four programmable channels, each with Gain, Output, Bass, Mid, Treble and Presence controls * Motorized knobs * Tube Drive knob * Boost function * Create and store additional presets via an external MIDI device * $1,199 retail $899 street *...

Teuffel Guitars NIWA guitar.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... All mechanical components except roller nut, tuners, and vibrato are hand made by Ulrich Teuffel * Built one at a time, about 15 per year * Master Volume, Master Tone with push-push bypass for bridge pickup * 5-way rotary pickup selector *...

Octave4Plus steel strings.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... For guitarists wanting a genuine high A string on guitars with scale lengths from 24" to 29" * Available in gauges from .005 to .009 * Also available without ball ends for Floyd Rose tremolo systems * Starting at $4 retail * octave4plus.com ...

ISP Technologies theta combo amplifier.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Two selectable input preamplifiers with Gain, Bass, Mid Level and Mid Sweep * Clean channel Presence control provides more than 20db of high frequency boost * Dynamic Saturation Modulation creates the actual feel of a saturated tube power...

In search of the uncommon chord: Allan Holdsworth continues to blow minds and preconceptions ... and he's still better than you.(Interview)(Cover story)
April 1, 2008... ALLAN HOLDSWORTH'S PRIME DIRECTIVE HAS ALWAYS BEEN to avoid sounding like anyone else, and he has ensured compliance by making it impossible for anyone else to sound like him. His liquid legato lines, spellbinding speed, incomprehensible...

10 things you gotta do to play like Rory Gallagher.(LESSON)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ALTHOUGH HE'S OFTEN EXCLUDED from lists and polls that rate the upper echelon of blues-rock guitar heroes, the late, great Rory Gallagher (1948-1995) certainly deserves that honor. Why? Consider the Irish...

When guitars went gargantuan: a prog rock primer.(LESSONS: Style Council)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN THE LATE 1960s, ROCK BEGAN TO EVOLVE FROM SHORT POP SONGS BEST SUITED to the lo-fi bandwidth of AM radio and cheesy sounding 45's to higher-fidelity, stereo-ready FM, long-playing albums (a.k.a. LP's), and...

Tapping into genius: Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal's innovative two-handed techniques.(LESSONS: Master Class)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "IT'S NOT ABOUT SPEED. IT'S ABOUT groove. Get a flow." These words are spoken by Guns N' Roses guitarist Ron Thal, perhaps better known to the music world by his nickname, Bumblefoot. As if to demonstrate the...

Beginner: Joe Satriani's magic chord sheet.(LESSONS: Guest Guru)(Interview)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the first two installments of this column, Joe Satriani shared everything from purely calisthenic warm-up exercises to focused picking workouts using the chromatic scale. Now, it's time to learn the building...

Seven baritone electrics.(GEAR: Roundup!)(guitars)(Product/service evaluation)(Table)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IF YOU'RE LIKE A MAJORITY OF GUITAR PLAYERS, you don't own a baritone guitar and possibly have never even played one--at least not for more than a few moments at your local music emporium. So why, then, should you...

Danelectro Dano '63 baritone.(GEAR: Roundup)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... ANY MANUFACTURER WHO WOULD PIONEER A pickup housed in two surplus lipstick tubes--as Danelectro did soon after they started making guitars back in the mid '50s--clearly has equally developed senses of resourcefulness, innovation, and humor....

Eastwood: Sidejack Baritone STD.(GEAR: Roundup)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TALENTED GUITAR LUTHIER SEMIE MOSELEY--the "Mos" in Mosrite guitars--died in 1992, but his influential guitar designs are so cool they're nearly immortal. Moseley's most successful offering, the Ventures model...

Fender: Jaguar Baritone Special HH.(GEAR: Roundup)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... THOUGH STRATOCASTERS AND TELECASTERS have evolved to become Fender's flagship instruments, another guitar that visually conveys the company's legacy equally well is the Jaguar, which was first produced in 1962. Though Fender's new Jaguar...

Gretsch: G6144 Spectra Sonic C Melody Baritone.(GEAR: Roundup)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE GRETSCH SPECTRA SONIC C MELODY Baritone--despite having a longer scale than any guitar in this roundup except the Danelectro--is actually intended to be tuned C to C, a half-step higher than typical baritones....

MJ guitars: Roadster Baritone.(GEAR: Roundup)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THERE ARE MANY SMALL GUITAR COMPANIES building stellar double-cutaway solidbody electric guitars. Unfortunately a large number of them are, to one degree or another, content to simply build Strat copies. If you're...

Schecter: Black Jack C1EX Baritone.(GEAR: Roundup)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IT'S NO COINCIDENCE THAT MANY BARITONES--five of the seven in this roundup, for example--come finished in black. After all, if you're a manufacturer building a specialty product (and to most guitarists, a baritone is...

Steinberger: Synapse TranScale ST-2FPA.(GEAR: Roundup)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DON'T LET THE VISUAL SIMPLICITY OF Steinbergers fool you: Though minimalist in appearance, these diminutive instruments spring from a design philosophy that's maximalist to the core. It has long been the goal of...

EVH Frankenstein replica.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOR MOST ROCK GUITARISTS WHO WERE BORN IN the mid '60s, the release of the first Van Halen record in 1978 was our Beatles-on-the-Ed-Sullivan-Show moment. It divided recorded history into two distinct sections: stuff...

EVH 5150 III amp.(GEAR: Bench Test)(amplifier)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... THE MOST OBVIOUS ASPECT OF THE FAMOUS Van Halen sound was Eddie Van Halen's wacky striped guitar, but to create the awesome tones we know and love, he had to plug it in. And his amp of choice for those early VH records was a late-'60s 100-watt...

Line 6: Spider Valve 212.(GEAR: Bench Test)(amplifier)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] QUITE HONESTLY, I THOUGHT I WOULD SEE PIGS FLY, hell freeze oven and the San Francisco Giants win a World Series before I saw Line 6 put tubes in anything. Well, when the news began swirling that the company that set...

First Act: ME685 The Blade and Delia LS.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FIRST ACT IS KNOWN FOREMOST FOR PRODUCING entry-level import instruments--such as the ME685 on review here--which are carried by a number of "big box" retailers. But the Boston-based company also offers a range of...

Composite Acoustics: performer & player series.(GEAR: Bench Test)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] GIVEN THE WARM, FRIENDLY, AND MUSICAL VIBE of the host city, I never expected to walk into a medieval torture chamber at the 2007 Summer NAMM show in Austin, Texas. But in full view of everyone, the malevolent...

Rockfield SWV, SWC, Fat Ass, and Mafia pickups.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TODD ROCKFIELD MAY BE A RELATIVELY NEW FACE in the pickup business, but with his humbuckers now in guitars made by B.C. Rich and Michael Kelly, as well as available for aftermarket installation, Rockfield is now a...

Gander Gemini.(GEAR: Exotica)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IT SEEMS LIKE EVER SINCE THE SOLIDBODY electric guitar was invented, people have been bent on modifying its look. Carved tops and curvy offset cutaways turned the plain-Jane Telecaster template into the graceful...

All about ... class A amplifiers.(GEAR: Sonic Essentials)
April 1, 2008... THESE DAYS THE TERM "CLASS A" GETS SLUNG around by amp makers more than hot hash off the griddle at a greasy spoon in Memphis, but by its very nature the label can be misleading. Calling anything class A makes it sound inherently better than...

Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai.(GEAR: Stompbox Fever)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EDITORS' Guitar Player PICK INTRODUCED IN 1976, THE ELECTRO-HARMONIX Memory Man and later Deluxe Memory Man have become the go-to analog delay pedals for many players. The new Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai ($286...

Jensen Jet Blackbird.(GEAR: Accessory File)(loudspeakers)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PEOPLE LIKE TO HAVE THEIR CAKE AND EAT IT too, and that's certainly the case when it comes to alnico speakers. Most players love the sound of alnicos, but they typically haven't been able to enjoy them in...

Conductive board games.(BACK PAGE: Shop Talk)(Fender amplifier component boards)
April 1, 2008... THE VOLUME AND TONE POTS ON MY OLD BLACKFACE Fender Deluxe Reverb are sounding very scratchy, and even though I have cleaned them with De-Oxit Tech Spray, the scratchiness is still there. Worse, the amp also has horrible tone now. I tried...