Guitar Player articles from February 2003

Guitar Player archives from February 2003

What a wonderful world ... (Soundhole).
February 1, 2003... My life is pretty groovy when I'm not thinking about everything else that's swirling around the planet. And I never know when something will trigger an "enhanced perception" on my part that will pretty much ruin my day. For example, I was...

The Nuge. (Feedback).
February 1, 2003... Thanks for the cover story on Ted Nugent [Dec. '02]. In 1970, when I was but a lad, I had one of those Almost Famous teenage rock journalist jobs, and was assigned to interview Ted following a concert by the Amboy Dukes in Montreal. My buddy...

Hollowbody buddies. (Feedback).
February 1, 2003... The Dec. '02 issue was great I grew up listening to Steve Howe and Ted Nugent (among others), and I was thrilled to see them in the same issue. To read about two great guitarists who both play a hollowbody as their main axe--and who both have...

Soundhole. (Feedback).
February 1, 2003... I just polished off the latest issue [Dec. '02], and it's another fine piece of work. I particularly enjoyed Michael Molenda's "Soundhole." Thank God Guitar Player hasn't succumbed to the "Maxim-Nation" that's killing so many other great music...

Tibbetts & Frisell. (Feedback).
February 1, 2003... Just when I was beginning to think GP was getting a little less than interesting after 20-plus years of reading it, along comes an issue with articles on Steve Tibbetts and Bill Frisell--both of whom I've greatly admired for years. Though...

Fretwire. (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... Here at Guitar Player, we're lucky enough to have a staff chock full of talented, working guitarists who also happen to be excellent writers and editors. But the demands of a full-time job often conflict with band schedules, session work, and...

Songcraft: Aimee Mann. (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... "Sometimes putting an odd sounding noise on a tune can make the difference between a song that's pedestrian and something that's really interesting," says Aimee Mann. Although hardly a pedestrian songwriter, Mann's evocative voice and plaintive...

Buzz box: Taking Back Sunday. (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... For many, the name Amityville conjures up horror stories, but tales of murderous houses are not the only things of note to emerge from the sleepy Long Island town. Encouraged by the success of their debut album, Tell All Your Friends [Victory],...

Auction block: Will Ray's eBay strategies. (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... AUCTION ITEM: Fender Jazzmaster Travel Guitar WINNING BID: $405.00 I love to collect battery powered amps and guitars, so when I saw this little baby on eBay, I had to have it. It's a Japanese-made Fender travel guitar sporting a 24" scale,...

Classic tracks: Marc Bolan & T. Rex. (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... Like the cosmic pixie himself, the recorded legacy of Marc Bolan is relatively small, but its resonance is gargantuan. His T. Rex was arguably the biggest band in the world between 1970 and 1972, after it morphed from a mystic acoustic duo...

Industry insider: Marshall MODE FOUR. (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... Since 1962, Marshall has been setting standards by which rock-guitar tone is judged. Beginning with the JTM 45 and early 50- and 100-watt heads, Marshall's determination to win the sonic arms race has led to the development of such weapons of...

Angels. (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... LONNIE DONEGAN Lonnie Donegan, skiffle legend and inspiration to early British rockers (including the Beatles and the Who), died November 4, 2002, at 71. Although his chart run was killed off by the Mop Tops' "Love Me Do" and the resulting...

Encore: Kurt Cobain. (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... Given the cultural force that was Nirvana, it's strange that GP has practically ignored the band. Our only interview with Kurt Cobain was in the February 1992 issue--well after the release of the band's glorious Nevermind--and historical...

Anniversary party: Guilds big 50! (Input/Output).
February 1, 2003... Guild's legacy of outstanding guitar craftsmanship began 50 years ago, when a group of five highly skilled luthiers were brought together by a 6-string visionary named Alfred Dronge. The early instruments they built in a New York City...

New gear.
February 1, 2003... 1. SONIC MACHINE FACTORY The U.S.-built, hand-assembled 15 Watter ($2,199) has an adjustable "sonic hatch" on the back of the cabinet that lets you choose the amount of baffling that best suits your needs. Designed by Mark Sampson and Rick...

Balls out: Sleater Kinney's bass-less riff rock.
February 1, 2003... Over the course of eight years, Sleater-Kinney have thrived in the indie-rock movement. The bass-less trio from Olympia, Washington, has built a loyal fan base, released a steady stream of critically lauded albums, and has produced tighter...

End of the road? Eric Clapton on what could be his last live album.
February 1, 2003... It's more than a tad facile to call Eric Clapton the "Greta Garbo" of the guitar, but, like the reclusive 1920s/1930s screen idol, he rarely talks to the press. For our June 2001 cover story upon the release of Reptile, for example, we had to...

Kaleidoscopic guitars: Polara's Ed Ackerson is obsessed with tonal colors.
February 1, 2003... "Guitars definitely tend to stack up around here," relates Polara's Ed Ackerson. And he's not referring to the groovy instruments that surround him at Flowers, his Minneapolis, Minnesota, studio. The singer, guitarist, and producer is...

Images of the dead: a gallery of photos from Between the Dark and Light.
February 1, 2003... The Grateful Dead's reign of expressionism lasted for some 30 years, and the band was the focal point for one of the most loyal and dedicated followings in the history of rock and roll. The Dead's music was as free spirited as the throngs who...

Nothing to prove: Good Charlotte's Benji Madden and Billy Martin don't care what you think.
February 1, 2003... When Good Charlotte formed four years ago, the odds were stacked against them in a big way. With a glut of slick punk-pop bands being unleashed on the public, how were four teenage guys from Maryland supposed to stand apart? Well, the boys in...

Healer's touch: Johnny Marr's magic fingers. (Cover Story).
February 1, 2003... Manchester wunderkind Johnny Marr achieved critical acclaim and commercial success while still a teen. As the guitarist and musical director for the Smiths, Marr brought a fresh approach to playing and arranging that ran counter to the...

Money notes: Larry Carlton demystifies chord-over-chord soloing.
February 1, 2003... Before Larry Carlton, session guitarists were a highly skilled, but anonymous subset of the 6-string community. A few studio cats--such as Howard Roberts and Tommy Tedesco--had developed name recognition through solo albums and GP columns, but...

Alex Skolnick's arena jazz. (Guest Guru).
February 1, 2003... JUST WHAT IS IT THAT makes a star shredder cut his hair, quit the metal band that made him famous, and put aside his collection of locking-trem Ibanez solid-bodies for a big or Heritage archtop? "It was seeing Miles Davis on television,"...

Hot guitarist alert! (Chops).
February 1, 2003... Name: Milan Miller Home Base: Nashville, TN "WE'RE TOO ORNERY AND TOO UGLY TO BE MISTAKEN FOR `new' country," jokes Milan Miller of Jubal Foster. "You won't find a pretty girl in a cutoff T-shirt in this band. But we're very musical....

Reader's challenge: glue and grease. (Chops).
February 1, 2003... IF THE SLIPPERY PHRASE BELOW IS ANY INDICATION, Denny Larsen of Howard City, Michigan, has a Teflon-coated 1st finger that slides around the neck as it pleases. His 4th finger, however, seems to be cemented to the fretboard at the D string's...

Steve Lukather's vicious triplets. (Sonic Snapshot).
February 1, 2003... ONE DAY, WHILE PERUSING THE used-vinyl bins in a local record store, I decided it was time to determine which of the Tubes played the amazing lead on their hit song, "Talk to Ya Later." As it turned out, it was none of them. I should have known...

Open-string wing ding. (Chops).
February 1, 2003... INCLUDING OPEN STRINGS IN YOUR riffs and melodies will add vibrancy and excitement to your playing. It's common to hear hotshot country pickers use this trick, but you can apply it to any genre. Ex. 1 is a saucy G7 maneuver that shines as a...

Hip grips. (Chops).
February 1, 2003... TASTY SOUNDING BLUES PROGRESSIONS don't have to be hard to play or difficult to learn. "I think of these as Hammond B-3 stabs," says bebop cowboy Jim Campilon-go of the three rootless grips below. "You can use them as the I, IV, and V chords in...

Isle of Wight revisited.
February 1, 2003... Jimi Hendrix Blue Wild Angel: Jimi Hendrix Live at the Isle of Wight Jimi Hendrix's appearance at the Isle of Wight music festival in England is probably best remembered for being one of his last concert appearances. Hendrix died in London...

Leo Kottke/Mike Gordon: Clone.
February 1, 2003... Sometimes whimsical, sometimes as serious as a heart attack, Clone is a collaboration between fingerstyle legend Kottke and Phish bassist Mike Gordon. The two wantonly jump between lovely acoustic guitar and bass duets, solo performances by...

Johnny Cash: The Man Comes Round.
February 1, 2003... Cash's latest release with producer Rick Rubin (the fourth installment in the Cash/Rubin American Recordings series) finds the country music legend delivering spine-tingling solo-acoustic performances despite the painful neurological condition...

Kurt Cobain: Journals.
February 1, 2003... By Kurt Cobain Whoa, are we really supposed to be reading this stuff?. According to the massive hype surrounding this book's release, that's the big question. But when you begin perusing the text's nearly 300 actual-size photos of pages...

Gibson X-plorer Pro. (Bench Tests).
February 1, 2003... It wasn't until 1952 that Gibson entered the arena of solidbody electrics--years after Bigsby, Fender, and Rickenbacker had done so. But when Gibson finally stepped up to the plate, they hit a grand slam with the introduction of the Les Paul....

Line 6 Duoverb. (Bench Test).
February 1, 2003... If you can imagine NASA yanking the thrusters and wings off the Space Shuttle and mounting them on a '69 Camaro, you have a pretty good idea of the inspiration for the Duoverb ($1,799 retail/$1,299 street for combo; $1,599 retail/$1,149 street...

Samick Royale RL 3. (Bench Tests).
February 1, 2003... Like some kind of international super spy, Samick has been a ghostly provocateur within the guitar industry for nearly 40 years. In fact, although Samick is the world's largest guitar manufacturer--and has produced instruments for some of the...

Rivera Knucklehead Reverb 100. (Bench Test).
February 1, 2003... The Knucklehead Reverb 100 ($1,7.95 retail/$1,600 street) expands Riveras basic concept of offering classic American and British tones by adding a third preamp channel. Channel one provides Fender-like clean tones, channel two takes you into...

Groove Tubes GT6L6GE. (Bottle Rocket).
February 1, 2003... One of the most popular tubes of all time was the General Electric 6L6GC, which saw extensive use by Fender, Macintosh, and other American amplifier makers from the early 1950s to the mid 1970s. GE got out of the tube biz in the late 1980s, and...

Pearl CE-22 Chorus Ensemble. (Pawnshop Prize).
February 1, 2003... When it debuted in 1976, the Roland CE-1 Chorus Ensemble hit the guitar scene with the impact of an H-bomb. Chorusing had already been available on Roland's Jazz Chorus amplifier, but putting the stereo effect in a stompbox was a big reason why...