Guitar Player articles from December 2002

Guitar Player archives from December 2002

Too much nonsense. (Soundhole).
December 1, 2002... Pop culture is a scary place nowadays, and it's even more horrifying when it's documented in the press. Apparently, the battle for readers and ads is so brutal that some media powers are compelled to deliver the dumbest, pseudo-sexiest, and...

Queens of the Stone Age. (Feedback).
December 1, 2002... I'm a huge Queens of the Stone Age fan, and I love the photos of Josh Homme ["Appetite for Deconstruction," Oct. '02]! Most images of the band are amateur-looking but your guy's photos are the best I've ever seen. Thank you for doing justice to...

Derek Trucks. (Feedback).
December 1, 2002... October's article on Derek Trucks ["Slide Savant"] was a nice follow-up to having just seen him recently play live, both with the Allmans and with his own band. That youngster sure can play! Due to some bizarre good luck this past summer I was...

Charlie Christian. (Feedback).
December 1, 2002... I really enjoyed the Charlie Christian article in the Oct. '02 issue ["The Magic Chrisitan"]. I remember the first time I heard him: On the same day I bought an old Charlie Christian album with "Swing to Bop," I also bought my first Albert King...

October. (Feedback).
December 1, 2002... The new issue [Oct. '02] blew me away straight from the opening editorial! Way to throw down the gauntlet. And not one kid in baggy pants talking about how solos and practicing take away from their music! I'm sure those guys sell a lot of...

Stompin'. (Feedback).
December 1, 2002... I want to start out by saying thank you for all the years of enjoyment you've given me and countless other guitar heads. I was very grateful for your article on "The 50 Coolest Stomp-boxes" [Sept. '02]. It brought me back to my early days when...

Oops! (Feedback).
December 1, 2002... In "New Gear," October '02, we printed the wrong address for CBI Cables, while announcing their new product, the Woody. The correct mailing and Web addresses are: 6125 Country Seat Rd., Oriskany, NY 13424; cbicables.com. Sorry for mix up! ...

The new Guild guitars ... made to be played.
December 1, 2002... Fifty years ago, a small group of veteran guitar makers came together to form a new company. Its founder, Alfred Dronge, had been born in Poland, and several of his key workers were immigrants from Italy, with its rich heritage of musical...

Fretwire. (Input/Output).
December 1, 2002... While watching the Beachwood Sparks' show last September, I was reminded of the Rolling Stones. Not the incarnation that is presently wending its way around North America, I mean from 1967. Or maybe 1971. I'm not sure, since I wasn't around...

Auction block Will Ray's eBay strategies. (Input/Output).
December 1, 2002... AUCTION ITEM: 1950S Kay Stratotone WINNING BID: $202.52 Every now and then I'll receive a guitar I wish I had never bid on, and this '50s Kay Stratotone is one of them. Although the eBay posting was accompanied with photos, they were very...

Buzz bin: Mana. (Input/Output).(latin rock group releases new album)(Interview)
December 1, 2002... "It's the most important album that we're releasing toward the end of the year," said Gabriela Martinez, a marketing vice president at Warner Music in a recent issue of Billboard. But the record in question is not a release from a U.S. mega...

Henry Knowles. (Angels).(rest in peace)(Obituary)
December 1, 2002... Henry Knowles, 44, of the Nardcore (Oxnard hardcore) band Agression passed away August 29 after battling leukemia. Knowles was hardly a media star, but Agression was a very influential '80s punk band, and the act was finding new life after...

Turk Van Lake. (Angels).(rest in peace)(Obituary)
December 1, 2002... Jazz guitarist Turk Van Lake, 84, died of undisclosed causes in early September. Although he wasn't a leader of note, Van Lake played with Benny Goodman, Sarah Vaughn, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and others. He also penned the liner notes for the...

Songcraft: Beth Orton. (Input/Output).(Interview)
December 1, 2002... Beth Orton's Daybreaker [Astralwerks] is a wistful melange of droning guitars, beautiful string arrangements, and somber grooves. It's also her most organic album. Gone are the electronic elements that transformed her acoustic folk songs into a...

Setups of the stars: George Thorogood. (Input/Output).
December 1, 2002... George Thorogood's longtime guitar tech J.J. Liberato has the challenge of not only making his boss' trademark Gibson ES-125 TDCs sound the best they can, but also finding new and original ways to stabilize them. Stock ES-125s have a tendency...

Studio log: Jets to Brazil. (Input/Output).(rock band members discuss the making of the Perfecting Loneliness album)(Interview)
December 1, 2002... Tracking "Perfecting Loneliness" Album Perfecting Loneliness [Jade Tree] by Jets to Brazil. Parts: All. Guitarists: Blake Schwarzenbach and Brian Maryansky. Guitars: Fender Telecaster Deluxe, Gibson Les Paul, "thrift-store"...

My favorite guitar player: Larry Coryell. (Input/Output).(Interview)
December 1, 2002... "Here I am with the February 1978 issue of GP with Al Di on the cover. This article was--and still is--a near-perfect bridge for rock players who actually have more depth to their talent than they realize, and who want to get into playing jazz....

George Gruhn's rare bird: 1939 Martin D-45. (Input/Output).(vintage guitars for collection)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... At a current market value of $175,000, Martin's pre-World War II D-45 brings the highest price of any vintage American flat-top. A total of 91 were made between the time the model was introduced in 1933 and discontinued in 1942. The first D-45...

Producer's desk: Robert Schneider. (Input/Output).(Interview)
December 1, 2002... If one can be damned by inspiration, then Robert Schneider is surely holding an e-ticket to Hell. The guitarist, songwriter, and producer of the Apples in Stereo has whipped his Brian Wilson jones into a boisterous muse that finds creative...

New gear.(instruments on sale)
December 1, 2002... 1. TRAYNOR The 2x12 Custom Valve 80 ($899) and the 4x10 Custom Valve 80Q ($969) are the latest additions to Traynor's line of tube amps. Both models incorporate four 5881 output tubes, Accutronics reverb tanks, Celestion speakers, and...

Tony Furtado: reconstructing roots music.(Interview)
December 1, 2002... "I'm as big a fan of Blind Willie Johnson and Fred McDowell as I am of [uilleann piper] Paddy Keenan and the Bothy Band," says slide guitarist and banjo ace Tony Furtado. "I spend equal time listening to blues and Celtic music, so my songs fall...

The Dillinger escape plan: organized chaos.(Dillinger Escape Plan, rock band)(Interview)
December 1, 2002... The Dillinger Escape Plan's music bursts out of the speakers like a fire engine racing to a three-alarm blaze. Overwhelming at first, the hyper-speed-metal drumming, blistering guitar pyrotechnics, and nearly psychotic vocalizing are not just...

Steve Tibbetts: Zen and the art of sculpting sound.(Interview)
December 1, 2002... When Steve Tibbetts records an album, he doesn't track a dozen clever tunes. Instead, he molds sonic sculptures from gargantuan sheets of sound. His audio clay consists of shimmering 12-string bends, groaning Strat riffs, and bursts of...

Beyond bluegrass: Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins gives traditional flatpicking a progressive twist.(Interview)
December 1, 2002... "I started playing piano when I was six," says ace flatpicker Sean Watkins, "and that has influenced how I approach chord voicings on guitar. Piano showed me the possibilities, so now I can't settle for the obvious fretboard harmony. I'm always...

Yes man: a new box set explores Steve Howe's Yes legacy.(Interview)
December 1, 2002... Without a doubt, Steve Howe is the godfather of progressive-rock guitar. His recordings with Yes were the pinnacle of prog-rock's beauty and excess. Howe's style--which encompasses everything from Tal Farlow-inspired angularity to ragtime...

Call of the wild: Ted Nugent shoots to kill on Craveman.
December 1, 2002... There was time when it would have been very hard to imagine that a guy wearing a loincloth and playing a jazz guitar at ear-splitting volume would one day become an icon of American rock and roll. Even harder to accept would be that said...

Lush life Coldplay: Jon Buchland's shimmering riffs bolster Coldplay's hypnotic appeal.
December 1, 2002... "My biggest challenge," confesses Coldplay's Jon Buckland, "is a broken string or a malfunctioning pedal. My life just isn't that tough." No, Buckland hasn't been spoiled by the multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning success of Coldplay's...

The big bang: Bill Frisell helps you unleash an ever-expanding universe of melodic, harmonic, and textural possibilities.
December 1, 2002... "I HATE TO SAY IT," ASSERTS BILL FRISELL, "but music's greatest innovators weren't guitar players." Yes, die-hard guitar loyalists, you heard right. But before you take exception to Frisell's bold words, remember that Frisell has more than...

Bruce Cockburn's magic tuning. (Guest Guru).
December 1, 2002... [right arrow] "WHEN I FIRST STARTED performing," recalls Bruce Cockburn, "it was the '60s, and the scene was different from today. There was more of a coffeehouse atmosphere, which involved people not drinking alcohol, but actually listening to...

Jamming with Hendrix. (Classic Column).
December 1, 2002... MY FRIEND Marc Silber first told me about Jimi Hendrix in the fall of 1966, when we were living in New York City. Marc owned the Fretted Instruments shop, a place where acoustic guitarists constantly jammed blues, ragtime, bluegrass, and jazz....

Steve Vai's head-cuttin' riffs. (Sonic Snapshot).
December 1, 2002... [right arrow] WHO CAN FORGET the hissing guitar demon Steve Vai portrayed in the 1986 film Crossroads? His character was so intimidating because Vai--with his piercing stare and utterly lethal fretboard prowess--was pretty much playing himself....

Various Artists 20 Years of Dischord.
December 1, 2002... Punk rock has always had its geographic starting points. In the '70s, New York and London were the movement's launching pads for the coming revolution. All over the world, however, smaller pockets of disenfranchised youths were poised to...

Phil deGruy Hello Dali.
December 1, 2002... When you've had your fill of jazz guitar played by serious dudes with solemn faces, it's time to loosen up with Phil deGruy's mind-altering solo instrumentals. Talk about a wacko! For starters, he plays the "Guitarp"--a custom Novak 17-string...

Porcupine Tree In Absentia.
December 1, 2002... Steven Wilson created Porcupine Tree in 1988 as a hoax. The "legendary" '70s progressive rock group sported a fictitious legacy, band members, a phony discography, and cassettes of music to back it all up. When "band" actually received...

Richard Buskin Sheryl Crow--No Fool to This Game.
December 1, 2002... While this expose serves as an engaging biography of Sheryl Crow, you don't particularly have to be a fan of the platinum-selling diva to be glued to its pages. Sure, Crow faithful can look forward to learning more about Crow's family tree,...

Echoes of the past: Danelectro Reel Echo and Spring King. (Bench Tests).
December 1, 2002... Tape delay and spring reverb were mainstays of popular music during the '60s, and many major manufacturers produced one or both types of effects. Some of these products--such as the Fender tube Spring Reverb and the Market Electronics/Maestro...

High and mighty: Veillette Gryphon MK IV Hi-Tuned 12-String. (Bench Tests).
December 1, 2002... It's funny how many electric guitarists who have stretched their range downward via 7-string and baritone guitars have been less eager to explore the soprano register. But that may change once a few players get their mitts on the gorgeous...

Tone portal: Line 6 GuitarPort. (Bench Tests).
December 1, 2002... GuitarPort ($229 retail) is a unique product consisting of a small USB audio interface and various types of software. Right out of the box it provides software versions of some of Line 6's popular amplifier and effects models, and a...

We bet you will hear with perfect pitch: ... with this secret key that unlocks your natural ear for music! (The Learning: Special Advertising Section).
December 1, 2002... Learn to recognize EXACT tones and chords--BY EAR! Close your eyes and play a tone--any tone. Now, without peeking at the fretboard, WHAT IS THE TONE YOU HEAR? No clue? Play any chord at random. Listen carefully. Is it E major......

Handwired heaven: Vox AC30HW. (Exotica).
December 1, 2002... Few guitar amplifiers have so thoroughly captured the imagination as the Vox AC30. Since its introduction in 1960, the AC30 has become synonymous with the Beatles, the Shadows, Queen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and countless other groups...

Cutaway cool: Guild D50CE. (Bench Tests).
December 1, 2002... Most of today's high-end acoustics offer a ton of performance for the money, and Guild's D50CE ($2,199 with hard-shell case) is a standout instrument that delivers many of the features of costlier models, such as solid-wood construction, a...

Gizmo alert Z. Vex Lo-Fi Loop Junky.
December 1, 2002... At first glimpse, the Lo-Fi Loop Junky might not seem particularly attractive, and I'm not referring to Vex's trademark psycho-delic paint job. This $350 stompbox has fewer features than any recent looping device, and it sounds crappier than...

Classic interview * Wes Montgomery * 1973. (Encore).
December 1, 2002... JAZZ CRITIC RALPH Gleason called Wes Montgomery the most influential guitarist since Charlie Christian. Gleason interviewed Wes in 1960, but the transcript remained unpublished until Guitar Player's July 1973 issue. The cover photo is the...