Guitar Player articles from August 2006

Guitar Player archives from August 2006

Noise.(Dweezil Zappa works)
August 1, 2006... A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, I ATTENDED THE Surround Music Awards in Los Angeles, where Dweezil Zappa accepted an award honoring his father's pioneering work in multi-channel audio. Dweezil's speech was extremely heartfelt, but what affected me the...

Modeling is dead!(Hughes & Kettner Switchblade )(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2006... THE SUSPECTS To fully understand what has led us to this crime, we need to first examine the suspects and their motive. Mr. Hughes & Ketter have a long rap sheet for committing deadly tone. The kind of tone that only comes from a true...

Letter of the month!(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... Okay. May 2006 issue. Page 81. Tip number 13. Whose dumb-ass idea was it to tell kids to play loud? Kids today get a Les Paul, a distortion pedal, and a half-stack, learn two power chords, and then think they can play anything under the sun....

Books and covers.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... After reading the June issue and learning that the long-haired, muscle-bound, leather-clad Zakk Wylde is really "one of the most humble and reverential dudes in guitar-dom," and then that the pale-faced, black-fingernailed. Goth-looking John 5...

Feed Zakk.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... I thoroughly enjoyed the Zakk Wylde interview in the June issue. I vividly remember the first time I ever heard Zakk play "No More Tears" with Ozzy. His solo put chill bumps on my arms then, and. to this day, it still does. But what really...

Opps!(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... In the June issue, we accidentally neglected to include a photographer's credit for the NYC Guitar Festival piece (pages 36-37). The photos were all taken by Jim McCarthy. In the July issue's roundup of handwired 30-watt tube amps, we...

Schecter turns 30.(David Schecter)
August 1, 2006... IF YOU DIG SCHECTER GUITARS, YOU CAN THANK legendary Who guitarist Pete Townshend for helping transform one of the foremost replacement-part companies into a maker of world-class instruments. Townshend had walked into Rudy's Music in New York...

Reader's spotlight.(David Mills, Dave Eichenberger, Jermaine Rand)
August 1, 2006... Note to Readers: Guitar Player thanks Mike Varney for the fantastic job he has done writing this column for the past few years, but, starting with the next issue, we'll be transitioning to a new way of showcasing the talents of GP readers. In...

Gutbucket's Ty Citerman.(RIFFS: OUTSIDERS)(Interview)
August 1, 2006... "THE TITLE OF SLUDGE TEST [CANTALOUPE] was inspired by a high school science lab," says Gutbucket's Ty Citerman about his band's new CD. "You were given a Petri dish filled with what the teacher called sludge, and the test was determining what...

Steve Howe.(RIFFS: DEUVRE EASY)(guitarist)
August 1, 2006... You have to give Steve Howe credit. While most of his guitar-toting English brethren spent the '60s fishing the Mississippi Delta, the North London native cast his nets globally, drawing in a wealth of influences such as Western swing, hard-bop...

Wolfgang's vault.(RIFFS: WEB ALERT)
August 1, 2006... WHERE CAN YOU HEAR LIVE-IN-CONCERT versions of Cream ("Sunshine of Your Love"), George Harrison ("In My Life"), Leo Kottke ("I Owe it All to Pamela Brown"), Jimi Hendrix ("Hey Joe"), Muddy Waters ("She Moves Me"), and Tiny Tim ("Tiptoe Through...

Shredmistress Rynata.(RIFFS: ROCKER GIRL)(interview)(Interview)
August 1, 2006... GERMAN-BORN SHREDMISTRESS RYNATA NOT only possesses awesome technical chops, she's also an evangelist for female musicians who puts her words into action. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Rynata runs her own label, Go-Girl Records, as well as...

The 88.(Led Zeppelin)(Keith Slettedahl)
August 1, 2006... GIVEN HIS BAND'S PENCHANT FOR MATCHING SUITS, crafty hooks, and tight arrangements, it's a major head-turner to learn it was Led Zeppelin that first got the 88's Keith Slettedahl into songwriting. "When I was young, the first music I...

Passing notes.(RIFFS: BUZZ)(obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Phil Walden, the colorful promoter who launched the careers of such artists as Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers, and Kenny Chesney, passed away April 23, at the age of 66, following a long battle with lung cancer. Walden started his first...

Johnny Cash: personal file.(AUDIO)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... With the bulk of Johnny Cash's music now widely available on myriad re-release packages, one could easily get the impression that the deep well of his classic work is close to being pumped dry. But that's definitely not the case, as evidenced...

John McLaughlin: Industrial Zen.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Opening with the appropriately titled "For Jaco"--featuring 21-year old bassist extraordinaire Hadrien Feraud--Industrial Zen honors McLaughlin's fusion roots, while updating the approach with liberal infusions of electronica and other more...

What's spinning in the editors' heads this month?
August 1, 2006... DARRIN FOX Frank Zappa, Shut Up And Flag Yer Guitar Frank Zappa, Sheik Yerbouti Tommy Bolin, Whips And Roses ANDY ELLIS Wilco, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, a film by Sam Jones (DVD) Cream, Disraeli Gears--Classic...

Muddy Waters: Classic Concerts.(performances)
August 1, 2006... If you love the blues--in its original, primal, raw and uncompromising form--it doesn't get any better than watching Muddy Waters work his mojo with his top-notch bands. Classic Concerts offers more than an hour-and-a-half of previously...

Rodney Jones: live at smoke.(DVD)(jazz guitarist )(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... There are more than a few sophisticated jazz guitarists on the scene today. Only a handful of them, however, truly have the gift of groove. To put it another way, it is a special guitarist who can please bandleaders as varied as bebop godfather...

Electro-Voice: Blue Raven Dynamic Microphone.
August 1, 2006... * Cardioid pattern with excellent off-axis rejection helps reduce sensitivity to feedback * Particularly suitable for miking guitar amps * Swivel mount allows precise positioning * Frequency response: 45Hz-18kHz * Maximum SPL:...

Warrior Instruments: Generation H Custom Double Cutaway.
August 1, 2006... * Aged mahogany body * Three-piece, handmade mahogany neck with ebony fretboard * Sperzel USA locking tuners * Two EMG 85 pickups * Black gator plush hardshell case available * $2,299 retail * warriorinstruments.com...

Kustom Amplification: High Voltage Series HV65 AMP.
August 1, 2006... * 65 watts * Two channels, each with Gain and Master Volume controls * Bass, Middle and Treble controls * One 12" Celestion speaker * 16 programmable, 24-bit digital effects with tap tempo or ability to toggle between...

Soundtech Professional Audio: Lightsnake USB Intelligent Instrument Cable.
August 1, 2006... * Heavy-duty 10-foot shielded cable features 1/4" and USB connectors * Allows you to plug into your computer without the need for a soundcard * Embedded A/D chip technology with audio signal boost eliminates need for additional signal...

Tascam: GA-100CD Guitar AMP/CD trainer combo.
August 1, 2006... * 60-watt guitar amplifier with Clean and Distortion channels * Neo Tube solid-state circuitry for tube-style tone * DSP-based effects for the amp section include delay, chorus, phase, flanger, tremolo, vibrato, and dedicated reverb ...

Washburn guitars: B52SW Solid Wood Travel Guitar.(OUT NOW!)
August 1, 2006... * Solid spruce top * Solid mahogany back and sides * Mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard * Gold tuners with black buttons * Includes deluxe padded gig bag * $599 retail * washburn.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Peterson Strobe tuners: Strobosoft Suite.
August 1, 2006... * StroboSoft Deluxe software strobe tuner for Mac and PC * Includes Peterson Tuning and Intonation DVD, hardcopy manual, audio adaptor for standard soundcard jacks * Exclusive Peterson Sweetened Tunings * Supports Buzz Feiten...

Rebel Strap Company: Tri-pick Series.(OUT NOW!)
August 1, 2006... * 68" long * Rubber end holds up to three picks * $14 retail * rebelstraps.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Charley Patton.(founder of Delta Blues)(Biography)
August 1, 2006... SCRAPED AND RAW AS A FRESHLY PLOWED FIELD, CHARLEY PATTON'S VOICE decries his harsh life amid the plantation system of the Reconstruction-era South. Patton rises defiantly from scratched 78 rpm shellac records, his voice in sync with the...

Back among the living: Scott Ian and Dan Spitz anchor the reunion of a classic anthrax lineup.(Interview)
August 1, 2006... BACK IN 1984, ANTHRAX RELEASED FISTFUL of Metal, and, since then, the band has sold more than ten million records worldwide, been nominated for three Grammy Awards, kick-started the rap/metal hybrid with its 1991 collaboration with Public Enemy...

Metallo atmosferico: Cristiano Migliore & Marco Biazzi bring the thunder to Lacuna Coil's atmospheric Mediterranean metal.(Interview)
August 1, 2006... THERE'S A POTENT GRANDEUR TO LACUNA COIL'S music that evokes the muscular beauty of a Lamborghini, the sensuality of exquisite leather, and maybe even the power and awe of ancient Rome in its glory days. The Italian band's soaring melodies...

All in the family: Dweezil Zappa reinvents his playing and hits the road to celebrate his father's music.(interview)(Interview)
August 1, 2006... "WHEN PEOPLE WOULD ASK FRANK HOW HE WANTED TO BE remembered," says Dweezil Zappa, sitting in the studio control room tucked inside the rustic confines of Zappa Family Headquarters, "he would say, 'I don't. It's not important.' Well, to me it...

The top eleven Jeff Beck: Riffs of all time.
August 1, 2006... JEFF BECK'S STUNNING SOUND COMPRISES MANY ELEMENTS. FOR ONE THING, his signature-model Fender Stratocasters sport huge, chunky necks and floating tremolo bridges that are set up to raise the G string approximately three half-steps. He has also...

The wonderful world of Oz: jazz-rock wunderkind Oz Noy shares his full-spectrum soloing strategies.(Biography)
August 1, 2006... OZ NOY IS A QUICK STUDY. HE FIRST PICKED UP the guitar at age ten, and three years later, when most guitarists his age were still dialing in the finer syncopations of "Smoke on the Water," the Israeli adolescent was already a working musician,...

Jazz Guru: interchangeable fingerings.(playing a guitar)
August 1, 2006... ONE INTERESTING AND challenging aspect of the guitar is that it usually offers several different ways to play the same rift, chord, or melody. For instance, take the three-note A13 voicing that opens Ex. 1. There's only one way to play this...

Jam Guru: secret uses of the major pentatonic scale.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... LAST MONTH I SHOWED you a few sly ways to get unusual sounds when improvising with the pentatonic scale by simply shifting its fingering a whole-step or a perfect fifth up the neck without changing keys. Well, the same is true of the major...

Rock guru: phrase shifting.(concentrating on rhythm)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... GUITARISTS OFTEN SPEND A LOT OF TIME studying the melodic and harmonic applications of scales, but it's also worth focusing on rhythmic ways of playing scales, as the same group of notes sounds vastly different if framed in a different rhythm....

EZ street: piano Boogie.
August 1, 2006... WE BEGAN EXPLORING PIANO-INSPIRED boogie bass lines in the previous lesson ("Boogie Blues," July '06), as part of our ongoing journey through the world of rhythm. We'll continue working with this theme, but this time, instead of using an...

Reader's challenge: primary colors.(playing a guitar)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... ASIDE FROM THE HUMAN VOICE AND THE DRUM, the world's favorite musical instrument is the guitar, and few things remind us of that fact more than the return addresses on submissions for this column. GP receives entries from all over the globe,...

Production strategies: lipstick conspiracy's wicked textures.
August 1, 2006... WHEN YOU'RE A TRANSGENDER rock band, your guitar tones had better kick enough ass to totally obliterate the preconceptions of, shall we say, "less-than-enlightened" audiences. Not surprisingly, capturing huge guitar sounds was continuously on...

Artifacts: the guitars of Frank Zappa.(VINTAGE VAULT)
August 1, 2006... "CONSIDERING FRANK RARELY USED ANYTHING STOCK, it's difficult to ape his tones," says Dweezil Zappa, who is trying the best he can to get close to his old man's sonic deviancy on the Zappa Plays Zappa Tour. "For the most part, it's really about...

Zemaitis Z-JHS/R.(Zemaitis International)
August 1, 2006... HIGHLY REGARDED FOR HIS ECLECTIC, METAL--AND shell-topped solidbody guitars, the late British luthier Tony Zemaitis was also a creator of some very unique acoustic instruments--many of which featured unusual soundhole shapes. Zemaitis...

Roland micro cube red and Vox DA5.(musical instrument amplifiers )
August 1, 2006... SMALL GUITAR AMPLIFIERS ARE HARDLY NEW, AND battery-powered models have been available since the early '70s, but the advent of digital-modeling technology has made it possible for even the most diminutive amp to deliver multiple tones, and even...

Louis Electric KR M12.(from Louis Electric Amplifiers)
August 1, 2006... MANY A BUILDER OF BOUTIQUE AMPLIFIERS has gotten their start repairing vintage Fender and Marshall amps. Louis Electric's Lou Rosano says that working on those classics gave him lots of insight into how to design his own line of amplifiers,...

Michael Kelly Valor Custom.(Michael Kelly Guitars)(Company overview)
August 1, 2006... FIFTY-FOUR YEARS AND COUNTLESS DESIGNS later, a maker still comes down the pike every so often that feels they have a worthy new twist on the affordable, set-neck solidbody electric. You'd have thought the market might have had its fill of low-...

Veillette Jazz Archtop.(high end jazz guitars)
August 1, 2006... THERE'S ALMOST NOTHING MORE EYE CATCHING than a big jazz guitar with all the binding, gold hardware, and fancy woods. But for a lot players---especially those who travel--a guitar's compactness and roadworthiness can be more important than the...

Dan Erlewine's Mod squad.(ADAM FOX )(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... M0D SQUAD MEMBER ADAM FOX PLAYED IN LOCAL BANDS for years before devoting his time to writing and recording music. When local pop-punk singer/guitarist Matt Palsgrove kept breaking strings during a recording session in Adam's studio, Adam...

Stompbox fever.(tonebones from Radial Engineering)
August 1, 2006... RADIAL TONEBONE PLEXITUBE The Tonebone gang has produced some absolutely raging pedals during the past few years, and the Switchbone and Tonebone Classic received GP Editors' Pick Awards. One of the Tonebones we didn't have a chance to...

Jodi head.(Jodi Head)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... HOW DO YOU GET FROM EXPENSIVE HAND-beaded, custom bustiers that hugged the torsos of supermodels to arty guitar straps designed to grace the bods of guitar players? According to Jodi Head, it's not really much of a stretch. "A guitar strap...

C.C. DeVille on image.(TESTIMONY)(Bruce Anthony Cecil Johannesson)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... "I ALWAYS WANTED A SUPERHERO ALTER EGO that would give me poetic license to live a bizarre lifestyle--one that was so bananas," says Bruce Anthony Cecil Johannesson, a.k.a. C.C. DeVille. "Growing up, it seemed that rock stars such as Jimmy Page...