Guitar Player articles from June 2007

Guitar Player archives from June 2007

Noize: from the editor.(Editorial)
June 1, 2007... JUST LIKE SOME PLOT FROM THE SATURDAY afternoon sci-fi movies I loved as a kid, many worlds have converged lately, and those colliding spheres have once again started me questioning who we are and where we're going. Ricocheting across my brain...

Letter of the month.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... I was generally pleased with the April issue's "40 Greatest Guitar Albums of 1967" cover story. I do, however, have a complaint concerning Darrin Fox's review of Something Else by the Kinks. It is not with his excellent decision to include this...

April (mail) showers.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... The April issue is no fool. This is without a doubt one of the best I have ever seen. Great all around--the photos, the stories, the new gear, the columns, and lessons. Not a page of wasted space. Well done! It was better than getting candy. I...

Points Easton.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... I would like to take the opportunity to thank Dave Hunter for his glowing review of my signature model Martin. Designing the guitar was truly a labor of love, and to find my efforts appreciated, understood, and commended is extremely...

Still bolin 'em over.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing Tommy Bolin to grace the cover of your February issue. There has not been a sweeter soul who has combined versatile guitar prowess, a spectacularly glam voice, exceptional songwriting...

Oops!(FEEDBACK)(Correction notice)
June 1, 2007... Our April Riffs piece on Tim Brady incorrectly stated that his Playing Guitar CD was released on Justin Time records. It's actually on the Ambiances Magnetiques label. Address editorial correspondence to Feedback, c/o Guitar Player, 1111...

Mike Stern.(RIFFS: Jazz)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... NOT EVERY GUITARIST WHO DANCES WITH THE DEVIL LIVES TO TELL ABOUT IT. MIKE STERN has done so, and gone on to record 13 solo albums. His latest disc, Who Let the Cats Out? [Heads Up]--a vibrant celebration of groove and improvisation featuring...

Vanessa Silberman.(Rocker Girl)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... THE WORD DIAMOND IS A DERIVATIVE OF the ancient Greek "adamas," which means "invincible." Vanessa Silberman--the heart and brains behind the Los Angeles-based Diamonds Under Fire--knew this factoid when considering a name for her band....

Jon Rauhouse.(Country)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... "I DON'T HAVE THE TYPICAL 'CRYING' COUNTRY-STEEL GUITAR STYLE" explains Jon Rauhouse, whose steel stylings have graced a veritable Who's Who of alt-country heavyweights from Neko Case to Calexico to the Waco Brothers and John Doe. "I use a ton...

World beat.(RIFFS: Country)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... The National Geographic Web site is an amazing resource, but the World Musix section is an educational treasure trove that should be of interest to any GP reader seeking to broaden his or her musical horizons. Among the multi-cultural assets...

Johnny Winter.(Oeuvre Easy)
June 1, 2007... WIELDING A MODIFIED FENDER ELECTRIC XII, Johnny Winter shocked guitarists like a bolt of lightning from a Texas thunderstorm with his national debut in 1968. Since then, he has burned through electric blues like an acetylene torch. In the early...

Y2K6 International Live-Looping Festival.(RIFFS: Community)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... LAST FALL, MORE THAN 50 PERFORMERS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE GATHERED IN Santa Cruz, California, for the Y2K6 International Live-Looping Festival. The two-day event, which took place at the Alchemy performance space on October 21 and 22, marked the...

Jake Shimabukuro.(RIFFS: Acoustic)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... VIRAL VIDEO. YOU GET something cool in your e-mail inbox, or stumble upon it on the Web, and then you send it along to two friends, who in turn send it to two friends, and so on. A couple of years ago, one such video of an unassuming ukulele...

Thanks Jimi Fest Goes Global.(RIFFS: Acoustic)
June 1, 2007... Having broken the Guinness World Record for the largest number of guitarists simultaneously playing the same song-l,581 strumming "Hey Joe" in Wroclaw. Poland during 2006's Thanks Jimi Festival--festival organizer, educator and master guitarist...

Vieux Farka Toure.(RIFFS: Afropop)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... VIEUX FARKA TOURE INHERITED A LOT from his father, legendary Malian guitarist and singer Ali Farka Toure. First, there's the nickname "Farka," which means donkey in Sonrai, and once described his father's stubbornness and strength as a boy....

Neurosis.(RIFFS: Metal)(music group Neurosis)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... IN 1769, DR. WILLIAM CULLEN COINED THE TERM "neurosis" to refer to disorders where inner conflicts are expressed through emotional disturbances. Of course, Dr. Cullen missed the band Neurosis by two hundred years, but outbreaks of inner chaos...

Ovation debuts the VXT.(Industry Insider)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... In the '70s, when you saw Paul McCartney, Glen Campbell, or just about any other big name star play an "acoustic" onstage, it was an Ovation acoustic-electric. The company's incredibly successful acoustic-electric line is truly iconic, and now...

Tim Bowness.(RIFFS: Songwriting)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... "TOO MANY MUSICIANS HAVE FALLEN INTO the trap of releasing everything they do because it's easy and cheap to produce and distribute music in the era of downloading," says British singer-songwriter Tim Bowness. "However, it's more important to...

The F**king Champs.(RIFFS: Rock)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... "THIS BAND IS A PURE GUITAR ORGY," SAYS PHIL Manley, the newest member of instrumental riff mongers, the F**king Champs. Formed 12 years ago by guitarist Tim Green, the trio has been releasing albums of dense, highly melodic, yet strangely...

1953 Epiphone emperor: customized by Semie Moseley.(RIFFS: Vintage Vault)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... BEFORE SEMIE MOSELEY AND his Mosrite brand were catapulted to success in the mid '60s--thanks to the Ventures' success--the real bread-and-butter for the burgeoning luthier (Moseley worked for Paul Bigsby and Rickenbacker, where he studied the...

Rick Holmstrom.(RIFFS: Blues)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... RICK "L.A. HOLMS" HOLMSTROM LIVES IN that timeless zone where country, swing, and jump blues cohabitate with '50s rock and roll and atmospheric instrumentals, and his seductive tone is powered by the juiciest natural distortion this side of...

Tone center records.(RIFFS: Label Spotlight)
June 1, 2007... GUITARIST AND PRODUCER (AS WELL AS AUTHOR OF GP'S Spotlight columns throughout the years) Mike Varney envisioned a label dedicated to guitar-based jazz and fusion back in 1982, but other interests kept him from realizing his dream for nearly...

Tracking Guitar Masters, Vol. 1.(RIFFS: Recording)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... IN 2006, EMMY AWARD WINNING guitarist/composer Brian Tarquin did something crazy and started a record label specializing in guitar instrumentals. Given the commercial health of guitar music these days, Tarquin is certainly no Clive Davis, but...

Editor boy's big eight.(RIFFS: MySpace Hordes)
June 1, 2007... GP 15 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...

What's spinning in the editors' heads this month?(RANTS & RAVES)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... BARRY CLEVELAND King Sunny Ade, Gems From the Classic Years (1967-1974) Jon Durant, Flood Janet Feder & Fred Frith, Ironic Universe MICHAEL MOLENDA John 5, The Devil Knows My Name Jon Durant, Flood James Blood Ulmer, Bad Blood in...

Keller Williams: Dream.(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... KELLER WILLIAMS Dream Keller Williams is renowned for his live-looping extravaganzas--literally jumping from one instrument to the next to become a one-man jam band onstage. Of course, that's not nearly as impressive when it's done track...

Various artists: The History of Flamenco.(Sound recording review)
June 1, 2007... VARIOUS ARTISTS The History of Flamenco When Paco de Lucia initiated the Nuevo Flamenco movement in the late '60s, he moved the music forward while remaining fully rooted in the traditional forms. More recently, artists such as the Gipsy...

Jinx Jones: Rumble & Twang.(Sound recording review)
June 1, 2007... JINX JONES Rumble & Twang Although the title may lead you to believe Jones' second album as leader is a tried-and-true, countrified rockabilly rave-up, that is only part of what the Bay Area-based guitarist is putting down. Mixed in with...

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs: Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Vol. 1 & 2.(Sound recording review)
June 1, 2007... LESTER FLATT AND EARL SCRUGGS Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Vol. 1 & 2 Long before they hit the big time with the theme song, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", for The Beverly Hillbillies, guitarist/vocalist Lester Flatt and banjoist/...

New gear.(GEAR)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... DUNLOP MANUFACTURING MXR DISTORTION III Delivers everything from singing overdrive to massive distortion * Heavy-duty casing, switch, and jacks * 9-volt operation * $130 retail/$80 street * jimdunlop.com ZEMAITIS GUITARS...

The troublesome truth about Sitka spruce.(GP WHITE PAPER)
June 1, 2007... SITKA SPRUCE--THE WOOD USED FOR the vast majority of acoustic guitar, piano, violin, and other musical-instrument soundboards--is being harvested at such a rate from the Southeast Alaskan forests where it grows that the end of the...

Ever more other: David Torn conjures mutant rabbits from many hats.(Interview)
June 1, 2007... WHEN EVER RECORDS RELEASED DAVID TORN'S CLOULD ABOUT MERCURY IN 1987, THE ALBUM DIDN'T MAKE ANYONE RICH, BUT IT DID ENRICH THE MUSICAL COMMUNITY, INFLUENCING ARTISTS ALL OVER THE STYLISTIC MAP, FROM BOPPERS TO ROCKERS. ACCOMPANIED BY MARK...

Harmo-melodic spaceman: how Andy Summers employed chord fragments and an echoplex to change the sound of rock guitar.(Interview)(Cover story)
June 1, 2007... IT HIT ME WITHOUT WARNING, AND THE FORCE OF guitar geekism smacked me so hard that I found myself fighting back those tears of bliss that often plague Italians, soap-opera divas, and unrepentant sissies. I was drifting around Andy Summers'...

10 things you gotta do to play like Uli Jon Roth.(Lessons)
June 1, 2007... TO THOSE IN THE KNOW, ULI JON ROTH IS AN IMMENSELY IMPORTANT FIGUREHEAD of rock guitar. He's a founding father of neo-classical rock, and a Hendrix devotee who jumpstarted an up-and-coming but wounded heavy metal band and, over the course of...

Fingerstyle blues: trace the evolution of Delta, Piedmont, Nashville, rockabilly, and ragtime guitars on your favorite steel-string.(LESSONS: Master Class)
June 1, 2007... IF YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY PLAYING the blues, well, it's gonna be tough--your best bet may be to get yourself an electric guitar, land a steady gig with a club band, and learn how to survive for weeks at a time on the Chitlin' Circuit. But if...

Van Halen's secret ingredient.(INTERMEDIATE)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... When Hurricane Van Halen struck the shores of guitar culture in 1978, the all-engulfing blues-based flurries of notes were so fast that few people realized Eddie Van Halen's primary influence was Mr. Slowhand himself, Eric Clapton. One reason...

Open up your comping.(INTERMEDIATE)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... In rock, folk, country, Celtic, and countless other guitar styles open strings are regularly included in chords and progressions. But a lot of jazz players tend to comp almost exclusively using fretted chords with no open notes. That wasn't the...

Fistfuls of funk.(ADVANCED)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... The best guitar players take inspiration not only from other guitarists, but other instrumentalists such as clavinet, bass, trumpet, and saxophone players--sometimes all at the same time, as in this example. Inspired by Stevie Wonder's funk...

Angus beef.(BEGINNER)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... With a few 4x12 cabinets behind you and your volume knob halfway up, up-tempo triads plucked on the high strings sound more than a little meaty. Angus Young scooped up the patent on this approach with his signature breakdown on "Shoot to...

Cascade du jour.(INTERMEDIATE)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... "I like to use open strings as notes within a melody," says John Scofield, demonstrating with the modal cascade below. "I'm not sure what you'd call this--it's kind of a joke scale with a 'Japanese restaurant' type of sound--but it's got tons...

Rad reader riff.(INTERMEDIATE)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... When GP subscriber Verona "Vinny" Roth of Centreville, Virginia, finds himself in a one-chord E7 vamp, he doesn't sit on one inversion, watching the paint dry. If so inclined, he leapfrogs across the many E7 voicings shown in the grids below....

Coltrane-style II-V-Is.(ADVANCED)(jazz musician John Coltrane)
June 1, 2007... IT'S HARD TO PROVE, BUT, STUDYING the music of John Coltrane, it sure seems likely that the saxophone legend was exploring his trademark, augmented, "descending in major thirds" tonal cycle well before he made the practice famous with "Giant...

Chart-topping parallel thirds.(BEGINNER)
June 1, 2007... HARMONIZATION--IT'S ONE OF THE MOST effective ways to fatten up a melody. Usually, the most consonant harmony you can apply to a line is a parallel melody a third higher. This harmony almost always makes singlenote melodies sound...

Fender VG Stratocaster.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... EDITORS Guitar Player PICK BETWEEN THE TWO EXTREMES OF PLAYERS--those who rabidly embrace computer technology, and those who'd sooner play tambourine than a guitar with a hexaphonic pickup--are legions of guitarists caught in the middle....

Taylor T5 12-string.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... EDITORS Guitar Player PICK WHEN TAYLOR UNVEILED THE T5 6-STRING IN 2005, they certainly weren't the first company to deliver acoustic and electric tones in one instrument. Taylor's unique approach, however, appealed to enough players that...

Fender Kingman SCE and Malibu SCE.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... SEEKING TO RECAPTURE SOME OF THE FUN-IN-the-sun spirit of its '60s-era acoustics, Fender has introduced two affordable flat-tops that combine classic Fender elements with up-to-date accoutrements such as cutaways and active electronics. The...

Yamaha SA503 TVL.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... FROM THE FUNKY AND MODERNISTIC SA15 OF the 1960s, to the beautifully made SA2200 of a decade later, Yamaha's long-running semi-acoustic line has won deserved kudos in many of its myriad incarnations. The latest to surface is the new SA503 TVL,...

Sadowsky: Jimmy Bruno and Jim Hall signature.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS, ROGER SADOWSKY has maintained and repaired instruments for New York's top session players. His move into guitar making began in 1980, and, since that time, Sadowsky's reputation for high-quality solidbody guitars and...

Dan Erlewine's Mod Squad.(GEAR: Guitar Tech)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Mustang Finale This month, it's the grand finale of the many-faceted repair job the Mod Squad has been performing on a trashed '65 Fender Mustang. (Check out the March, April, and May issues to trace back the entire repair gig.) Here,...

Step-Max tremolo.(GEAR: Accessory File)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... PROOF AS TO HOW TOUGH IT IS TO IMPROVE ON the old Stratocaster vibrato is evident in how few modern systems have answered the call for a direct replacement for the original unit that provides more bending range and better overall stability. The...

Electro-harmonix: stereo clone theory, stereo pulsar, and stereo polyphase.(GEAR: Stompbox Fever)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... THE STEREO CLONE THEORY, STEREO PULSAR, and Stereo Polyphase are essentially more compact, stereo versions of already existing mono effects pedals. All three feature true-bypass switching, and are fitted with industry standard 2.5mm...

James Blood Ulmer: 1990.(BACK 40: GP Archives)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... IN 1982, NEWSWEEK CALLED JAMES BLOOD Ulmer "the most original guitarist since Jimi Hendrix and Wes Montgomery." Yes, he uses wah-wah and overdrive in a way vaguely reminiscent of Hendrix, and, yes, he plays with his thumb like Montgomery. But...