Guitar Player articles from July 2003

Guitar Player archives from July 2003

The infinite tone war. (Soundhole).(guitarists encourage new technology)
July 1, 2003... What is it about the quality of sound that inflames guitarists to constantly declare war on their fellow players? Embrace a certain amp, guitar, stompbox, string, slide, or other tonal device, and someone will be gunning for you. And even the...

Gear! (Feedback).(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2003... I was thrilled to read in your May 2003 issue that you will be reviewing more gear in your magazine. The gear reviews are the first thing I read every month, and I always want more. Thanks. Tom Slocombe Via Internet I have always...

Sleater-Kinney. (Feedback).(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2003... I just finished reading the April issue, and I was very surprised that there were no letters in "Feedback" commenting on the February '03 Sleater-Kinney interview! Am I their only fan? I just about fell over at the newsstand when I saw their...

Cheers! (Feedback).(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2003... I just got off the phone from canceling my subscription to another guitar magazine, and I felt compelled to write a long overdue letter to Guitar Player. I have been subscribing to Guitar Player on and off since the early 1980s, and I have to...

Where's the jazz? (Feedback).(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2003... Before you guys wind up at the chiropractor's office from patting yourselves on the back for taking the awesome "risk" of putting female guitarists on your cover three times in the last five years, consider this: In the same period, your cover...

Oops! (Feedback).(Correction Notice)
July 1, 2003... We have the smartest readers on the planet! Ken Masten of Newburgh, NY, was absolutely right when he pointed out the following: "Great article on Ry Cooder and all his unique gear in the May 2003 issue. However, there may be an error on page...

Fretwire. (Input/Output).(concert tours and web sites)
July 1, 2003... First, the bad news. Mark Knopfler was en route to a rehearsal in downtown London on March 17, when his motorcycle collided with a car. Though a full recovery is expected, he's nursing six broken ribs and a broken collarbone. As a result,...

Peter Green. (Blues Joint).(Interview)
July 1, 2003... That Peter Green is a lost soul has been well documented. After a meteoric rise in the blush of London's '60s blues scene as a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac, drug abuse and schizophrenia robbed him of his reason, his...

1960 Epiphone Sheraton. (George Gruhn's Rare Bird).
July 1, 2003... Epiphone traces its history to Anastasios Stathopoulo, who began making violins, lutes, and traditional Greek instruments in Sparta, Greece. He moved to New York City. in 1903 to escape persecution in his homeland. After his death in 1915, his...

Impedance. (One Minute Tutorial).(using your amp)
July 1, 2003... If the concept of impedance just doesn't seem to get through to you, you already have some inkling of the subject, because not getting through is what impedance is all about. Simply put, impedance measures the amount of opposition to signal or...

Rick Derringer. (Moment Of Truth).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... "When I was eight years old, my uncle, Jim Thornburg, came to my family's house with his guitar and amp, and played some music in our kitchen. That was the first time I was ever that close to real music being created. I asked for a guitar for...

Angels. (Input/Output).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Rusty Draper Draper, 80, who scored a million-seller in 1953 with "Gambler's Guitar," passed away on March 28, after a bout with pneumonia. The red-haired country pop performer last hit the charts in 1980 (with a country version of the...

Carlos Santana. (Encore).(Interview)
July 1, 2003... Few guitarists have enjoyed the enduring artistic and commercial success of Carlos Santana. In these edited excerpts from our June 1978 cover story, Santana reflects on some of the influential music he encountered shortly after his arrival in...

Michael Gurley. (Survivor's Tale).(guitarist)(Interview)
July 1, 2003... As guitarist for the alt power trio, Dada--and, more recently, Butterfly Jones--Michael Gurley's fluid, shimmering Strat lines and rhythmic phrasing have made him an underground hero. He's also capable of uncorking epic solos that wow concert...

Cool & coming soon. (Input/Output).
July 1, 2003... June 3 eels, Shootenanny! [Dreamworks] Dave Gahan, Paper Monsters [Mute/Reprise] Various artists, Vans Warped Tour Compilation [Sideonedummy] June 10 Grandaddy, Sumday [V2] Erin McKeown, Grand...

The Buzzcocks. (Heroes).
July 1, 2003... It wasn't the most angry, the most political, or even the most commercial act to explode out of Britain's '70s punk scene, but the Buzzcocks did enough damage to the three-minute song form to influence scores of acerbic, smarty pants rockers...

Tascam. (New Gear).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... TASCAM's US-122 ($269), a Mac- and Windows-compatible USB audio and MIDI interface, features two 1/4" line-level inputs that are switchable to guitar-level for DI recording. The self-powered (via USB) US-122 also sports two phantom-powered XLR...

Jellifish. (New Gear).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... 1. JELLIFISH The patented Jellifish guitar rasp ($9), a pick-like device made of custom-wound wires molded into a plastic body, is designed to expand the sounds of acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins, and other stringed instruments....

RADIAL. (New Gear).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... 2. RADIAL The Dragster ($69) is a lightweight device designed to reduce the excess brightness that can occur when your guitar signal passes through buffer stages--such as those found in wireless units and effects pedals. The Dragster...

Brian Moore. (New Gear).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... 3. BRIAN MOORE The i1000 Series guitars ($595 to $1,195) are the newest and most affordable offerings in Brian Moore's iSeries. Each of the six i1000 Series axes features a contoured, figured maple top, classic "iM" alnico humbuckers, a...

VHT. (New Gear).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... 4. VHT Designed to emulate the tonal characteristics of an overdriven tube amp, the Valvulator GP3 vacuum tube guitar preamp ($1,495) features three fully independent channels--Clean, Rhythm, and Lead--each with its own set of tone...

Roccaforte. (New Gear).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... 5. ROCCAFORTE The Bastard clean-boost pedal ($169) was engineered to push the front end of any tube amp into natural overdrive. Featuring a die-cast aluminum housing, the Bastard focuses on upper-mid boost and offers true-bypass switching,...

Dimarzio. (New Gear).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... 6. DIMARZIO The Dropsonic high-output bridge humbucker ($105) is for drop-tuning aficionados who seek extended low-end and serious treble response. The Dropsonic's patented design includes four-conductor wiring to provide two different...

Dipinto. (New Gear).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... 7. DIPINTO DiPinto's demonic Hellion electric ($1,195) features a solid mahogany body with a glued-in maple neck, an ebony fret-board with jumbo frets, 7-ply binding, chrome-coil DiPinto super distortion pickups, and--for an extra helping...

Hiwatt. (New Gear).
July 1, 2003... Powered by a 9-volt battery, the three-watt Desktop Bulldog mini-amp ($59) features a real wood cabinet, a heavy-duy 3.5" speaker, an output jack for headphones or an extension speaker, and gain, volume, and tone controls. Weighing in at a...

Rules of the game: the Raveonettes' Sune Rose Wagner lives for limitations.(Interview)
July 1, 2003... "Music doesn't have to be complicated to sound good," says Sune Rose Wagner, the mastermind of the Danish duo, the Raveonettes. So when Wagner sat down to compose his singular vision of uncluttered rock and roll beauty, he set four rules: ...

The power of three: Cream's legacy of high-octane improvisation.
July 1, 2003... Revving up the blues was nothing new in 1966. The Rolling Stones were well on their way, and acts such as the Animals and the Yardbirds were injecting their blues with an amphetamine-like sense of urgency. Why, then, was Cream--another...

Thirty years of thunder: Angus and Malcolm Young celebrate AC/DC's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.(Interview)
July 1, 2003... In many ways, it was a normal night for AC/DC. Guitarist Angus Young donned his famous schoolboy uniform, stepped onstage backed by the mighty rhythm playing of his older brother, Malcolm, and proceeded to electrify the crowd like a...

New model armory: Line 6's Variax is the ultimate schizophonic multitasking guitar. (Tech Breakout!)(Cover Story).
July 1, 2003... The idea of inventing a super-realistic, chameleon-like uber instrument may have intrigued witches, futurists, and possibly Galileo and DiVinci, but until the advent of digital technology, such thoughts were little more than bizarre notions....

Wild side slide: Sonny Landreth reveals his behind-the-bottleneck secrets.
July 1, 2003... John Hiatt steps back from the mic and nods to the wiry guitarist to his right. Swooping notes and stuttering double-stops fill the cavernous rehearsal hall in Nashville's Soundcheck complex as Hiatt's band, the Goners, shifts into high gear....

Robben Ford shares a Miles Davis lesson. (Guest Guru).
July 1, 2003... "THIS IS THE GREAT lesson I learned playing with Miles Davis," says Robben Ford, who with Davis in 1986. "One night after a show, I was hanging out at the hotel bar with the keyboardist, Robert Irving III, and I asked him about these cool...

Blue moves. (Chops).
July 1, 2003... THERE'S SOMETHING magical about blues turnarounds. They mark--with great satisfaction--the harmonic climax of the 12-bar cycle, whether they're opening or closing a tune. So why do most guitarists only bother to learn a small handful of them?...

Staying in shape. (Chops).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... RECENTLY, I WAS listening to a recording of the great jazz pianist Wynton Kelly, in which he suddenly bursts into a repeating melodic hook in the middle of a solo. It was so catchy and lyrical, I found myself humming it long after the tune was...

Reader's challenge: newfangled angles.(guitar playing techniques)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... TAKE IT FROM CLAUDIUS JELINEK OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA: Having a blend of influences can yield some wild riffs. "This bebop lick borrows from classical arpeggios," he says of Ex. 1, which sounds like something Vivaldi might have improvised after...

The George Barnes Quartet Don't Get Around Much Anymore.(More Conversations in Swing Guitar)(Duke Robillard and Herb Ellis)(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... Duke Robillard and Herb Ellis More Conversations in Swing Guitar Recorded live in July 1977, Don't Get Around Much Anymore [Acoustic Disc] is the final recording George Barnes made before he died three months later, at age 56. This...

Quick hits.(music recordings)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... David "Fuze" Fiuczynski/Rufus Cappaducia, Kif. With the epic vibe of Peter Gabriel's Middle Eastern-flavored masterpiece, Passion, and the raw adrenaline of an early Red Hot Chili Peppers record, Fiuczynski's new collection of sonic adventures...

Various Artists Mullets Rock!(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... If ever there was a haircut designed by committee, it's the two-tiered plumage known as the mullet. With its business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back ethos, it not only made sense on the drawing board, it has enjoyed huge popularity among...

Tuck & Patti Chocolate Moment.(Tuck Andress)(Patti Cathcart)(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... When it comes to emulating a jazz quartet with just six strings, two hands, and a volume pedal, Tuck Andress is in a class by himself. He can juggle swinging bass lines, percussive clusters, funky gospel riffs, baroque counterpoint, and...

David Gilmore Ritualism.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... David Gilmore's dynamic and rhythmically sophisticated playing has graced recordings and performances by luminaries such as Wayne Shorter, Steve Coleman, Don Byron, Trilok Gurtu, Christian McBride, and Cassandra Wilson. On the self-produced...

Mountain Sea of Fire.(Movie Review)
July 1, 2003... Mountain is perhaps the foremost example of how one song--or one riff--can expand in scope to drive an act into legend. That song, "Mississippi Queen," propelled Mountain out of obscurity, made guitarist Leslie West a second-tier icon of the...

Ibanez Artcore AFS75TTRD. (Bench Tests).(electric guitar)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2003... Thinline electrics have traditionally carried heftier price tags than their solid-body cousins, but the new Ibanez AFS75TTRD ($459 retail/ $339 street) is a prime example of how far your archtop bucks can go these days. This guitar features...

Genz Benz Shenandoah Stereo Delux 200. (Bench Tests).(acoustic amplifier)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2003... Your first reaction when you meet the Shenandoah Delux 200 may be, "Dang, that thing's big." And indeed it is--especially for a 2x10 combo. Rated at 200 watts, the Shenandoah 200 ($1,399 retail/$1,119 street) is one of the most ambitious...

Fender Stratosonic DVII. (Bench Tests).(electric guitar)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2003... There's no arguing that the Fender Stratocaster is one of the most perfectly realized electric guitars of all time. But since its introduction in 1954, many guitarists--and even Fender itself--have explored various means of fattening-up the...

Maxon 9-Series pedals. (Bench Tests).
July 1, 2003... Do these colorful pedals look familiar? They should, as the Ibanez models they're based on were some of the best-loved stompboxes of the 1980s. Maxon made most of the early Ibanez effects, and these new pedals from the Japanese company feature...

Carvin Vintage 16 and Crate V-Series 1512. (Bench Tests).(amplifiers)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2003... A small combo amp is a must-have for any guitarist, and these new single channel, all-tube 1x12 combos from Carvin and Crate aim to deliver hip tube tones at very attractive prices. Though both sport EL84 power sections, spring reverb, and...

Aphex Xciter pedals. (Bench Tests).(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2003... If you're a studio hound, then you already know that Aphex is one of the top dogs of psychoacoustic processing. In 1975, the company freaked out record producers and engineers with its Aural Exciter--a transient harmonics generator that...

Zinky Superfly. (Bench Tests).(amplifiers)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2003... After serving a four-year tenure at Fender, where he designed such high-end Custom Shop amps as the Vibro King, Tone Master, and Dual Professional, Bruce Zinky founded his own company and introduced the fiendishly clever cigarette-pack Smokey...

C. Hall PME-J. (Exotica).(Charlie Hall)(detailed archtop guitars)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2003... You only have to spend a few hours walking around a large musical-instrument show to realize the majority of "new" guitars are essentially modified versions of classic designs. Imagine my surprise, then, when I chanced upon Charlie Hall's...

Mackie UAD-1. (Field Tests).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... If your plug-ins are bogging down your computer's CPU, and you're always a few signal processes short of a brilliant mix, then take a load off by installing Mackie's UAD-1 ($999 retail/$599 street). This dual-platform, powered DSP card for VST...

MXR M-108 10-band graphic equalizer. (Editors' Pick Award).
July 1, 2003... The MXR M-108 ($225 retail/street N/A)--a simple 10-band graphic EQ designed specifically to be used with guitar--is housed in a bomb-shelter-grade metal casing, and it sports a heavy-duty metal footswitch, metal I/O jacks, and a metal socket...

Sabine MetroTune MT9000. (Field Tests).(chromatic tuner/ metronome/tone generator )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The multi-talented MT9000 chromatic tuner/ metronome/tone generator ($39 retail/$32 street) features a seven-octave range, a simulated needle display, and manual calibration from 430Hz to 449Hz. The MT's generous LCD screen offers clear, stable...

Shure KSM137SL. (Field Tests).(studio condensers)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Shure's KSM series of studio condensers has brought some delightfully transparent mics to the mid-level price range. The small-diaphragm, KSM137SL ($575 retail/$299 street) is no exception, and this mic is a beaut for capturing all the sparkle...

A Brown Soun Tone Tubby H1E. (Field Tests).(hemp fiber speakers)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... A couple of years ago, John Harrison at A Brown Soun came up with the idea of making speaker cones out of hemp fiber. The result is the Tone Tubby H1E 12" ($249 retail/street N/A), a 40-watt alnico guitar speaker available in 8[OMEGA] and...

Charvel Surfcaster. (Pawnshop Prize).(guitar)
July 1, 2003... Jackson/Charvel is best known for creating some of the most aggressive rock guitars of the 1980s, but the company embraced the retro revolution of the early '90s in a big way with its cool, vibey Surfcaster. Combining vintage styling and...