Guitar Player articles from March 2008

Guitar Player archives from March 2008

Noize from the editor.(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... CAN HONEST AND IMPASSIONED ART TRULY thrive when the pursuit of personal gain is so pervasive in American society? These days, so many musicians babble on about their bling, their clothing and hair care lines, or their various investments, that...

Letter of the month.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... So, it's Thanksgiving, and my Rush (Limbaugh, not the band)-spouting, blowhard uncle notices the January 2008 issue face up on my coffee table. "Guitar Player" he says derisively. He points to Brian May, and, with a roll of the eyes that Rodney...

May day.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... I go to the post office, open the mailbox, and I see on the cover the greatest arena rock hero, Brian May. And I scream, "Yeaahhhhhh, this is Brian May!" And then I see that all the people in the post office are looking at me. And the...

The right stuff.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... If I were trying to make a point to my musician friends about how much you stand out in the guitar mag heap, I would have to use the January 2008 issue as an example. The Brian May interview was splendid and informative (thanks for mentioning...

The right stuff at the wrong time.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... I'm traveling for work right now. It's the middle of the night, and I'm awake--thanks to severe jet lag. The TV is exclusively in Dutch, and I have no guitar, so I'm in a hotel room reading my January GP, and--I say this with the highest...

Tellin' it like it is.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... "Right On!" to Steve Morse regarding the crap mixes that house engineers are hitting us with at venues these days. After nearly four decades of having the good fortune of seeing some of the very greatest acts in rock in a lot of different...

Oops!(FEEDBACK)(Correction notice)
March 1, 2008... In January's Equipment Extravaganza, we inadvertently provided Schertler's international phone number. Those readers wanting to contact the company without calling Switzerland can dial (425) 822-0102. 1/2008 Address editorial...

Billy Duffy.(RIFFS: Rock)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1984-AND THROUGHOUT WORLDWIDE hits such as "Fire Woman," "Love Removal Machine," and "Rain"-the Cult has limited its scope to celebrate loud, dumb, dangerous, and sexy hard-rock revelry. The foundation of the band's...

Lindsey Buckingham.(RIFFS: Oeuvre Easy)(Brief biography)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ASK ANY GUITARIST ABOUT LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM, and they'll likely tell you two things: The former Fleetwood Mac denizen is a great pop guitarist, and he never plays with a pick. While both of these Wiki-ready factoids...

Arch Enemy.(RIFFS: Metal)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... "When I first started playing, I was the worst guitarist in the bunch," admits Arch Enemy's Michael Amott. "I was the kid sitting in the back of the class drawing logos for the imaginary bands I wanted to form. I never really did it for fame--I...

Shelley Doty.(RIFFS Rocker Girl)
March 1, 2008... IN HER 20-YEAR CAREER AS BOTH SOLO ARTIST and hired gun, Shelley Doty has covered a broad spectrum of styles, performing and/or recording with jazz singer and composer Pyeng Threadgill, fusion group Yo Miles!, avant-punk-classical cellist...

Nguyen Le.(RIFF: Fusion)
March 1, 2008... "MY GOAL HAS ALWAYS BEEN TO COMBINE identity and universality in my music," says French-Vietnamese world-fusion guitarist Nguyen Le. "Every artist should have a strong and unique identity resulting from their roots, loves, and dreams. But this...

Best clean tone ever: by guitar player forum members.(RIFFS: Readers' Poll)(Brief article)(List)
March 1, 2008... MOST NOMINATED! MARK KNOPFLER "Sultans of Swing:' Dire Straits Chat Atkins "Red Wing: A Session With Chat Atkins Chat Atkins "Avalon:' Chester and Lester Chat Atkins "Mr. Sandman:' Guitar Legend: The RCA Years Rabble Blunt...

Crazy Joe.(RIFF Rockabilly)(Joe Tritschler)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SHOULD A JOE MAPHIS OR COLLINS KIDS fan claim, "They don't make barn-burning, rockabilly guitar records like they used to," just point them to "Crazy" Joe Tritschler's 2007 release, The King of Nerd-a-Billy [Atom]....

GP's artist master class series.(RIFF: Web)(Guitar Player)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... On November 26, 2007, Guitar Player debuted its online Artist Master Class series with Larry Carlton" s "335 Blues" lesson. Here is an excerpt from host Andy Ellis" blog on the event. For the full story, click to guitarplayer.com. You'll also...

Ronnie Earl.(RIFFS: Blues)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HE HAS RELEASED SOME 20 ALBUMS, AND he uses an extremely minimal rig. But Ronnie Earl can still take your breath away. His latest release, Hope Radio [Stony Plain], is an instrumental album so replete with...

Editor boy's big eight.(RIFFS: MySpace Hordes)(guitar music)(Website list)
March 1, 2008... 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...

1950s Kay art Deco Archtop.(eBay Prize)(Kay guitar)
March 1, 2008... I'M A SUCKER FOR OLD KAY GUITARS. So although the eBay seller was very honest about this model's problems a high action, a neck that needed to be reset, and a missing headstock logo there was something appealing about those two art deco...

Lyle Workman.(RIFFS: Session File)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FROM HIS SESSION WORK IN THE '90S WITH TODD Rundgren, Frank Black, and Jellyfish, on up to more recent credits that include Sting, Jessica Simpson, Beck, and Shakira, Lyle Workman is one of L.A.'s leading session...

Erkan Ogur.(RIFFS: World)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TURKISH MASTER MUSICIAN ERKAN OGUR (pronounced "ow-oor") removed the frets from one of his classical guitars in 1976. He wasn't the first to do so--Elliott Sharp, Frank Zappa, and others had experimented with...

Christopher Parkening.(RIFFS: Classical)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE BEATLES, FRANK SINATRA, NAT KING COLE, Bobby Darin, and Judy Garland often worked in Studio A at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. Sitting in Studio B--and intimidated by the facility's history--a young Christopher...

Wall 2 Wall Guitar Festival.(RIFFS: Community)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] WHEN IT COMES TO GUITAR-FILLED GETAWAYS, few attractions can rival the Wall 2 Wall Guitar Festival, as I discovered last fall at "Take Two" of the fledgling biennial gathering in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (125...

John Jorgenson.(RIFFS: Acoustic)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... "WHEN I FIRST HEARD DJANGO," SAYS JOHN Jorgenson, "I couldn't believe that sound was coming from an acoustic guitar, because it was electrifying. The tonality and the emotion and passion reminded me of Jimi Hendrix. I immediately started trying...

Antietam: Opus Mixtum.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANTIETAM Opus Mixtum For over 20 years, Antietam have been slugging it out in the indi-rock trenches. The band's guitarist, Tara Key, is one of the genre's unsung 6-stringers, with a style that merges post-punk...

Trances Arc: Xoxox.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... TRANCES ARC Xoxox This quintet out of Hotlanta seems to have absorbed most of the cool guitar work from the '60s to the '90s with none of the lame stuff, which adds up to a rocking, tuneful, toneful batch of songs. Guitarists Michael Dorio...

The Sadies: New Seasons.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... THE SADIES New Seasons Eight albums in, the Sadies' psych-country/bluegrass/ garage stylings still sound as provocative and fresh as they did on the band's 1998 debut. One reason for this could be that the Canadian quartet seems to have...

What's spinning in the editors' heads this month?(RANTS & RAVES)
March 1, 2008... MATT BLACKETT Danny Gatton, Redneck Jazz Jeff Beck Group, The Who, live at Leeds BARRY CLEVELAND Heitborg/Eklundh/ Selvaganesh/ Johansson/ Johansson, Art Metal Fripp & Eno, Beyond Freak Zoid, Like Have Seen Before DARRIN FOX Slayer,...

John McLaughlin and S. Ganesh Vinayakram: The Gateway to Rhythm.(Brief article)(Video recording review)
March 1, 2008... JOHN MCLAUGHLIN AND S. GANESH VINAYAKRAM: The Gateway to Rhythm If you've ever seen musicians demonstrating the intricacies of Indian rhythms by clapping their hands and mouthing short syllables--often at immodest speeds--you've witnessed...

Total Scales, Techniques, and Applications.(Brief article)(Video recording review)
March 1, 2008... TOTAL SCALES, TECHNIQUES, AND APPLICATIONS By Mark John Sternal Yes, scales are boring. Luckily, someone forgot to tell Mark Sternal that. Bringing glowing enthusiasm, dear presentation, and concise sentences to this otherwise dry subject,...

Breedlove revival 000 Jeff Tweedy deluxe limited edition guitar.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... BREEDLOVE REVIVAL 000 JEFF TWEEDY DELUXE LIMITED EDITION GUITAR Red spruce top, east Indian rosewood back and sides * Bee-themed headstock inlay with Gold Pearl Honeycomb position markers * Exotlc version upgrades the back/side wood to...

Fulltone FB-2 Fat-Boost pedal.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... FULLTONE FB-2 FAT-BOOST PEDAL Ground-up re-design of original Fat-Boost * Class A. 100 percent JFET powered: no op amps * Pre-clipping Bass control * Treble control * True bypass * Super-bright LED * Anti-pop switching circuitry * $149...

SHS international.(GEAR: New Gear)
March 1, 2008... SHS INTERNATIONAL OLINDA OC-300 CLASSICAL GUITAR Solid cedar top * Rosewood back and sides Ebony fretboard and bridge * $399 retail * shsint.net [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Hagstrom Ultralux xl-5 guitar.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... HAGSTROM ULTRALUX XL-5 GUITAR Basswood body with flamed maple top * Maple set neck with resinator fretboard * Custom Hagstrom 15:1 die cast tuners * Two Custom Hagstrom 60 humbucker pickups, one Custom HS2 single-coil pickup * Hagstrom Full...

Mackie SRM450V2/SRM350V2 active loudspeakers.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... MACKIE SRM450V2/SRM350V2 ACTIVE LOUDSPEAKERS Class D, fast-recovery amplification (SRM450: 300-watt tow-frequency/100-Watt high-frequency; SRM350: 165-watt LF/30-watt HF) * Switching power supplies Neodymium woofers * Titanium dome...

Framus Ruby riot II combo amplifier.(GEAR: New Gear)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... FRAMUS RUBY RIOT II COMBO AMPLIFIER 30-watt class A all-tube combo * Four EL84 power tubes * 2x12 open-back design * One Celestion Vintage 30 and one Celestion "Greenback" speaker * Clean channel with Volume. Bass. Mid. Treble controls *...

Clear channel: free to sound like himself again, John Fogerty summons his creedence-era spirit on revival.(Organization overview)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... IF YOU FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT four decades have passed since Creedence Clearwater Revival first hit the airwaves, consider also that it was 36 years ago that the band officially called it quits. The first five albums released during CCR's...

10 things you gotta do to play like Metallica.(LESSONS)(Organization overview)
March 1, 2008... IT'S BEEN A BLAST WATCHING METALLICA GROW. NOW WELL PAST THEIR QUARTER-century mark, the band has been together longer than the Beatles, Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Led Zeppelin combined. Musically speaking, America's favorite...

Flatpicking: the licks, tricks, and history behind fleet-fingered flat-top guitar.(LESSONS: Style Council)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] YOU CAN KEEP YOUR FLASHY TELE pickers, with all their hybrid pick-and-fingers workarounds (cheaters!), their feather-light strings (wimps!), and their glass -bright pickups (glitterati!). If you want to hear real...

Beginner: Joe Satriani's picking tips.(LESSONS: Guest Guru)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... LAST MONTH, SATCH SHARED SOME simple and intentionally mindless fretboard shapes he warms up with every time he picks up a guitar. This month he introduces the chromatic scale [Ex. 1]--and its more convenient, reduced version [Ex. 2]--to talk...

Lessons: quick licks.(guitar lessons)
March 1, 2008... BEGINNER ZAKK WYLDE'S SENSITIVE SIDE It's hard to name a hit rock song that doesn't have a strong guitar part. Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama, I'm Coming Home" certainly isn't one such tune, because it's got a great guitar part. Zakk Wylde's tender...

11 Tremolo pedals.(GEAR Roundup!)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FROM OLD SCHOOL R&B AND BLUES PLAYERS TO ROCKABILLY CAVEMEN and dance-band texturalists, tremolo is a go-to effect with myriad uses. Often confused with vibrato, which is pitch modulation, tremolo--a volume...

Univox Uni-Vibe vs. Fulltone Deja Vibe 2, Love Pedal Vibe, Moollon ReVibe, and T-Rex Viper.(GEAR: Fight Club)(guitar equipment)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ONE OF THE MOST ENCHANTING GUITAR EFFECTS of the late '60s was the Univox Uni-Vibe. Designed by a Japanese engineer named Fumio Mieda for the Shin-Ei company (one of Univox's overseas subcontractors), and introduced...

Kustom '72 Coupe Hardtop head and 412 speaker cabs.(GEAR: Field Test)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... THE KUSTOM 72 COUPE HARDTOP HEAD ($1,199 retail/$999 street) followed in the footsteps of the '72 Coupe and '36 Coupe combo amps-the latter of which received a very favorable review in the October 2005 issue of GP. Like those combos, the...

Gibson: Robot Guitar.(GEAR: Bench Test)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I'VE LONG THOUGHT THAT ELECTRONIC TUNERS are kind of like beer. I like them a lot, and I use them all the time, but I don't recommend them to young kids. The reason being that if youngsters (or beginners of any age)...

Godin Velocity.(GEAR: Bench TEST)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CANADA'S GODIN GUITARS IS KNOWN FOR packing added value into instruments that otherwise might seem to take fairly standard form. The Multiac, LGX, and LGXT offered stealthy functions such as synth access or hybrid...

65 Amps SoHo.(GEAR: Bench Test)(amplifier)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S 65 AMPS HAS GARNERED more attention in a shorter amount of time than almost any boutique amp outfit in recent memory--save, perhaps, its So-Cal-based compatriots, Divided By 13. The company has already earned due...

Santa Cruz Firefly.(GEAR: Bench Test)(guitar)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MY GRANDMOTHER BOUGHT A MARTIN 0-18 IN 1930, and she was kind enough to give it to me many years ago. Everyone who has ever played that guitar has marveled at how great the tone is, how amazingly loud it is for such...

SoundToys: EchoBoy 3.01.(GEAR: Bench Test)(audio software)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN SOUNDTOYS INTRODUCED ECHOBOY IN late 2005, Pro Tools HD users went gaga over its sensational sound and ingenious features, and it became the go-to echo plug-in for many professional engineers and producers....

Mono M80 case.(GEAR: Accessory File)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... I KNOW APPEARANCE RANKS PRETTY low on the list of must-have features in a guitar case, but, damn, Mono's M80 case ($189 direct) looks friggin' cool. With a NASA-meets-REI aesthetic, the M80 also straddles the line between a hard case and a gig...

All About ... point-to-point wiring.(GEAR: Sonic Essentials)(guitar amplifiers)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PRIOR TO THE EARLY 1970S, THE QUESTION of whether or not a guitar amplifier was a "point-to-point" (PTP) design wasn't an issue. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, all major tube amp manufacturers loaded their circuit...

Ticks & glows.(BACK PAGE: Shop Talk)
March 1, 2008... ON MY BLACKFACE "605 FENDER DELUXE Reverb, I hear a ticking noise when the vibrato circuit is in idle. This popping sound syncs with the speed setting of the vibrato control, but becomes unnoticeable when I am actually playing the amp. How can...