Guitar Player articles from December 2007

Guitar Player archives from December 2007

Noize.(From the Editor)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] YEAH, THERE'S A COWBOY ON THE COVER. He shreds like nobody's business, and he's as much of a gearhead as any zealot who posts on the most arcane vintage and boutique amp forums. But, still, it's a bit of a risk...

Letter of the month.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... I got home from work today, and what did I see staring at me from the kitchen table? My next wildest dream answered. Now, I have the tools available at my fingertips to actually play like Danny Gatton! I thought I really had it made when I...

Newbie mistakes.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... The October issue's Common Newbie Guitarist Mistakes were the truest words I have ever seen written. I am the only guitarist at my school that learns the entire song, doesn't tune to dropped-D, and doesn't play in just pentatonic scales. I am...

Summer love.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... How much do I love your magazine? Last month's Larry Carlton article was truly inspiring. In your own words, the content seemed simple, but to me it was all about a true love and expression of music. The Vox cover story:. outstanding. Danny...

Summer tough love.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... I was excited to receive my October issue and see, for once, that the cover did not have a picture of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, or Zakk Wylde--only to open it up and see a big feature on Vai in the Riffs section. Come on, are these guys paying...

Allison Robertson.(RIFFS: Rock)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... YES, ALLISON ROBERTSON IS TOTALLY HOT. JUST LOOK AT HER PHOTO (opposite). Now that's a stunningly beautiful woman. Now, forget about it, because her looks have nothing to do with the fact she's a viciously balls-out guitar player who has burned...

Polish Hendrix Festival.(RIFFS: Rock)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Messing Around with Jimi--(left to right) French guitarist Slavek Wojnarowski, GP Associate Editor Barry Cleveland, and festival organizer Leszek Cichonski performing "Hey Joe"--along with 1,875 other guitar-wielding...

John Lee Hooker.(RIFFS: Oeuvre Easy)(Sound recording review)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE BIRTH OF THE BLUES BOOGIE ON RECORD occurred in the early winter of 1948, in Detroit, Michigan. The love child of Mother Africa and a 31-year-old ribald son of the Mississippi Delta named John Lee Hooker, "Boogie...

Editor boy's big eight.(RIFFS: My Space Hordes)
December 1, 2007... 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...

Pierre Bensusan.(RIFFS: Acoustic)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WATCHING PIERRE BENSUSAN INTERACT WITH his guitar is a lot like watching Baryshnikov execute post-modern ballet moves. Classic techniques are obviously in evidence, but it is equally obvious that those techniques are...

Joe Bonamassa.(RIFFS: Blues)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... IT SEEMS LIKE JOE BONAMASSA HAS FEWER reasons to sing the blues every day. Forget about the fact that Danny Gatton took him under his wing as a kid, and that he shared the stage with B.B. King when he was 11. He has also worked with legendary...

Recording Africa in Mali.(RIFFS: Recording)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I RECORDED MY LATEST ALBUM, AFRICA [LSR], at Moffou Recording Studio, located in Kalabancoro--a neighborhood in Bamako, the capital of Mall. The studio is part of legendary Malian singer SalifKeita's Cultural Center,...

The Scorpions.(RIFFS: Metal)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... THEY SAY THAT AFTER A NUCLEAR BLAST, THE only animal hearty enough to still be around is the cockroach. But given the longevity, tenacity, and survival instincts of the famed German metal band the Scorpions, maybe we should think about adding...

Supro Dual-Tone and Thunderbolt.(RIFFS: Vintage Vault)
December 1, 2007... ONE OF THE MOST AMUSING BY-products of the vintage-gear craze pervading every music store from Maine to Moscow is the perversion of the original manufacturer's intent. For example, Les Paul meant for his guitars to elicit squeaky clean,...

Catherine McLean.(RIFFS: Rocker Girl)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SINGER-SONGWRITER CATHERINE "CAT" McLean's musical career has varied between production chores, composing for television, and engineering and performing alongside industry heavyweights such as Bob Weir, Merle...

Mary Halvorson.(RIFFS: Jazz)(Biography)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE LOOK: BLOND HEAD WITH COOL NERDY glasses staring into the void over a big Guild Artist Award guitar. The sound: Bright, jagged, unpredictable. Flurries of notes mix it up with pungent chords not found in any Ted...

Elvin Bishop.(RIFFS: No Guitarist Left Behind)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FM RADIO WILL PROBABLY BEST REMEMBER Elvin Bishop for the 1976 mega-hit. "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" with Jefferson Starship's Mickey Thomas on vocals. But Bishop's influence stretches over a much larger...

2007 Readers' Choice Awards Ballot.(RIFFS: Community)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] ANOTHER YEAR HAS PASSED, AND GUITAR PLAYER has published thousands of words on hundreds of guitarists, launched pages upon pages of music lessons, and tested tons Of gear on stages and in rehearsal rooms and...

What's spinning in the editors' heads this month?(RANTS & RAVES)
December 1, 2007... MATT BLACKETT Butch Walker, Letters The Chesterfield Kings, Psychedelic Sunrise Badfinger, Wish You Were Here DAMIEN CASTANEDA Balkan Beat Box, Nu Med Aswad, Aswad vs. the Rhythm Riders Supreme Beings Of Leisure,...

The Soul of Tone.(Print)(Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps)(Book review)
December 1, 2007... THE SOUL OF TONE Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps By Tom Wheeler [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] From one of the world's foremost chroniclers of Fender history comes this fabulous new book on the amplifiers produced by Fender over the...

Alan Pasqua.(Audio)(The Antisocial Club)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2007... ALAN PASQUA The Antisocial Club [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Veteran keyboardist, composer, and bandleader Pasqua has worked with a daunting variety of jazz greats, including playing alongside Allan Holdsworth in the New Tony Williams...

Dungen.(Audio)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2007... DUNGEN Tio Bitar [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fuzzy guitars, jazzy flute, and trippy swirls of electric piano signal that Sweden's Dungen just has to be a kitschy psych-rock throwback. Right? No way, baby. Dungen's sound is an inspirational,...

Wes Montgomery.(DVD)(Brief article)(Video recording review)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WES MONTGOMERY Live in '65 The Jazz Icons series presents entire concerts and studio performances by some of the greatest names in jazz, filmed during the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Here, you get three sets shot...

Seymour Duncan AHB-1 blackouts-active humbucking pickups.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Active design * Reduced hum--especially around computer monitors or fluorescent lighting * Available in individual neck and bridge models, or as a two-pickup set * Mounting hardware included (pots, jack, battery clip) * Individual pickups: $129...

Fender Joe Strummer telecaster.(GEAR: New Gear)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Alder body * Maple neck with rosewood fretboard * Two single-coil Tele pickups with alnico magnets * $1,285 retail * fender.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Baden Guitars Rosewood guitar.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Auditorium style * 100 percent handmade * All solid wood * 25 1/2" scale length * 13/4" nut * Fishman Ellipse Aura electronics available for additional $400 * Includes hardshell case * Starting at $2,498 street * badenguitars.com ...

Roland VG-99 v-guitar system.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Dual modeling engines * New COSM models (including bass guitar and synth waves) * Advanced performance controls include D BEAM, V-LINK and Ribbon Controller * Onboard guitar-to-MIDI converter for direct connection to keyboards, sound modules,...

Roger Linn Design Adrenalinn III guitar processor.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Wide variety of unique modulation and delay effects, and innovative looped filter sequences--all synched to the onboard drum machine or MIDI * 40 amp models (including four bass amps) * 200 user presets and drumbeats * Control nearly all...

Line 6 spider valve 112 amplifier.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Designed in collaboration with Reinhold Bogner * 40-watt Class AB tube amp with two 12AX7 preamp tubes, and two 6L6 power tubes * Single 12" Celestion Vintage 30 speaker * 12 models * Modulation. delay and reverb effects * Programmable presets...

Gear freak: country superstar Brad Paisley is a Tele-toting connoisseur of boutique amps, and a blazing picker who's pushing the boundaries of twangy guitar.(Interview)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] THE SLEEK TOUR BUS IDLES A FEW FEET BEHIND THE STAGE at the fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York, as Brad Paisley and his long-time band pound out an uptempo version of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." Above the...

10 things you gotta do to play like Jeff Beck.(LESSONS)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN ROCK POETRESS PATTI SMITH INTRODUCED JEFF BECK AS "THE JEWEL in our crown" at London's 2005 Meltdown Festival, she wasn't just whistling "Hail Britannia." An international treasure whose wizardly way with the...

Texas blues: blues guitar from a Lone star state of mind.(LESSONS: Style Council)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DESPITE WHAT LEGEND AND LORE MAY tell you, the blues did not originate in the Delta. It grew out of the African American experience in the early 20th Century, wherever musically inventive people faced oppression and...

Make it heavy! The crushing metal of shadows fall.(INTERMEDIATE)
December 1, 2007... "WANT SOME ADVICE, KIDS?" ASKS Jonathan Donais of Shadows Fall. "Don't pick up a f**kin' guitar. Don't play music because no one is going to buy it---especially not heavy metal. If you want to get on MTV these days, you're better off learning...

Stupefying sixteenths and beyond: Paul Gilbert traces the evolution of his lethal lead licks.(LESSONS: Soloing Seminar)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... THE ATOMIC BOMB GREW OUT OF A SINGLE equation. The Grand Canyon was, arguably, carved by a single river. The world's largest pearl started out as a single grain of sand. The great fire that consumed Chicago in 1871 was sparked by a single...

12 booster, distortion, and fuzz pedals.(GEAR: Roundup!)(Product/service evaluation)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] DISTORTION. MERRIAM-WEBSTER DESCRIBES IT as "falsified reproduction of an audio or video signal caused by a change in waveform of the original signal," and it's certainly one of the most important words in a...

AXL Akita AK40.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)(Table)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT HIP-LOOKING TUBE COMBO amps are getting insanely affordable. Witness the Akita AK40, a 2x12 rig that struts an uber-rustic aesthetic with its brushed copper control panel and veneer birch cabinet...

Eventide TimeFactor.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)(Table)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] VISIT ANY PROFESSIONAL RECORDING STUDIO, AND odds are you'll find at least one Eventide product on the job. Effects processors such as the various Harmonizers and Ultra-Harmonizers, the Orville, and the more recent...

Zuni exhibition Custom Sapphire.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)(Table)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IF YOU HAD SEEN THE ZUNI GUITARS BOOTH AT the Winter 2007 NAMM show, or its appearance on Barry Wood's always entertaining NAMM Oddities website, you'd have witnessed what looked like a hunting lodge, complete with...

Carr Vincent.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)(Table)
December 1, 2007... CARR AMPLIFIERS SPECIALIZES IN HANDCRAFTED boutique combos that combine traditional tones and aesthetics with modem touches. The Vincent's retro look, class-A tube circuitry, and point-to-point wiring are bolstered by a unique Drive feature, a...

Hagstrom Viking.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)(Table)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FULL DISCLOSURE: I'M A HAGSTROM FAN. AS THE proud owner of the '60s-era 6- and 12-string Hags featured in the November 2001 issue of GP, I've known for years that if you wanted something a little left of center on a...

Gibson Custom Shop inspired By Elliot Easton SG.(GEAR: Field Test)(Product/service evaluation)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN A WORLD WHERE GUITARS ARE BEING CHURNED OUT BY THE MILLIONS, THERE are only a handful of truly iconic 6-strings. Somewhere near the top of that hallowed heap of lust-inducing axes is the Gibson SG. This...

Fishman Aura Acoustic Imaging Pedals.(GEAR: Stompbox Fever)(Product/service evaluation)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FISHMAN'S ACOUSTIC IMAGING TECHNOLOGY debuted a few years ago in the form of the Aura Acoustic Imaging Blender--a device designed to improve the sound of amplified acoustic guitars via a system of modeled microphone...

ZZYZX SnapJack guitar cable.(GEAR: Accessory File)(Product/service evaluation)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE SEEMINGLY LESS-THAN-EXOTIC SNAPJACK cable was nonetheless one of the showstoppers at the Summer NAMM show in Austin, Texas. In fact, it won a Best In Show Award in the "Gotta Stock It" category. Taking a cue from...

Randy Rhoads: 1982.(BACK 40: GP Archives)(Obituary)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] RANDY RHOADS HAD BECOME ONE OF ROCK'S most acclaimed guitarists at the time of his death earlier this year. A magnificent performer. he rose to fame quickly, and became a hero to legions of young players. He left us...