A Guitar Lesson with Eureka Machines’ Chris Catalyst - “Zero Hero”
Coheed & Cambria Rig Rundown
Premier Guitar’s Rebecca Dirks catches up with Claudio Sanchez’s guitar tech and Travis Stever for a run-through of the guitars, amps, and effects Coheed & Cambria are using on tour.
Oh, and Gibson Explorer. Coolest. Guitar. Ever.
Premier Guitar Rig Rundown with Scott Ian
The lovely Rebecca Dirks of Premier Guitar catches up with Anthrax guitarist and founder Scott Ian to get a run-through of his rig and the stable of guitars he’s currently playing through in concert. But I’m sorry, how many guitars can he have to have lost track of one for over 20 years?!
Enjoy!
Hear master guitar builder and Hamer co-founder Jol Dantzig talk about the inspiration and history behind his latest custom build, Hell’s Half Acre. Visit Dantzig’s blog to learn more about what is shaping up to be an amazing-looking guitar.
An Inside Look at PRS Acoustics
Have you ever wondered how a PRS acoustic guitar (or any acoustic guitar for that matter) is made? If you’re a guitar geek like me, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Well, your wait is over.
The PRS website now includes an in-depth look on how the company builds its line of acoustic guitars and the philosophy behind the choices it makes in the construction process. Included is a series of 13 videos that provide just over an hour of the following guitar building and lutherie geekery:
Enjoy!
100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N’ Roll)
via Guitar Noize:
Alex Chadwick plays 100 famous guitar riffs in one take giving you a chronological history of rock n’ roll. I’ve got to say this is very impressive to do this all in one take!!
The list of riffs includes everything from surf music to grunge, Chet Atkins to Metallica, and just about everything in between, all played by one guy in one take on one Fender Strat. Pretty cool stuff.
Enjoy!
Doctor Who and shred guitar: two great tastes that taste great together.
Rhett Butler performs Joe Satriani’s “Always With Me, Always With You”
Joe Satriani himself recently posted this video of guitarist Rhett Butler on his Facebook page performing an arrangement of “Always With Me, Always With You” on two—yes two!—guitars. At the same time. Seriously. I can’t even play that song on one guitar. To quote Satch:
this one is a bit insane…
Frankly, I think Butler is just showing off. And what kind of name is Rhett Butler anyways?!
Frankly, I don’t give a damn.1
Jol Dantzig on CPTV’s All Things Connecticut
Connecticut PBS affiliate CPTV visited the workshop of luthier and Hamer co-founder Jol Dantzig to discuss guitar building on the station’s “Spotlight on the Arts” segment of All Things Connecticut. Hear Dantzig talk about what got him into guitars and how he is bringing new life to old electrical components.
Enjoy!
Epiphone has just announced a new Ace Frehley tribute model Les Paul. From the press announcement:
Epiphone is proud to announce our tribute to Ace Frehley, one of rock’s most influential guitarists, with the Epiphone Limited Edition Ace Frehley “Budokan” Les Paul Custom Outfit. As the lead guitarist for KISS (and the original designer of the famous KISS logo) Ace Frehley is renown around the world as one of the Les Paul guitar’s most exciting ambassadors as well as one of rock’s greatest showman. Ace single handedly inspired a generation of guitarists to pick up rock and roll’s most powerful axe. Now, Epiphone makes this iconic guitar available to players everywhere.
This looks like a pretty sweet piece of gear. The only thing missing is the fake drop-out smoking pickup. It will be limited to a run of 1000 and comes with a custom hard case, a certificate of authenticity, and a photo of the Space Ace himself. So if you have a few thousand dollars to spare, go get yours today.
Paul Gilbert runs through his rig for Premier Guitar
Premier Guitar runs through Billy Sheehan’s bass rig
It’s time for another rig rundown with Premier Guitar. This time, in lieu of having their techs go through their rigs, Mr. Big shred-meisters Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan discuss their guitars, amps and effects themselves, all the while displaying how genuinely nice and down-to-earth they both are. No rockstar egos here, boys and girls. The only question I have is … where’s Rebecca?!
Enjoy!
Billy Gibbons’ gear rundown with Premier Guitar
Premier Guitar’s Rebecca Dirks gets the low-down on Billy Gibbons’ rig with guitar tech Elwood Francis. This gear rundown takes us through Billy’s guitars, effects, and amp settings. The biggest revelation of the entire video? Billy uses really skinny strings. 007’s to be exact. The Dunlop Billy Gibbons signature Rev. Willy’s Mexican Lottery Brand .007’s to be even more exact. .007’s?! And according to Francis, he’s never broken a string during his tenure as Billy’s tech. Wow.
Enjoy!
Cool virtual guitar solo in iPad GarageBand app
Crap. Add one more kind of guitar to the list of guitars I can’t play.
The Wildhearts mainman Ginger is auctioning his one-of-a-kind bestickered 25th Anniversary Gibson Les Paul on eBay, with all proceeds going to the British Red Cross. The guitar has been with him since before he founded The Wildhearts and has appeared in countless photos.
Note the KISS Rock and Roll Over sticker and the wear on the neck. This guitar has seen some action for sure.
From the eBay auction details:
Released in 1978 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Gibson Les Paul, I bought this guitar around 1987 when I was asked to join New York rockers The Throbs. After a short term in NYC the guitar came back to England with me to form The Wildhearts. I formed the band and recorded every Wildhearts album with this guitar (also Silver Ginger 5 ‘Black Leather Mojo’, Supershit 666 and multiple solo projects). This fine guitar acted as my main guitar on every tour The Wildhearts ever did, including the AC/DC ‘Ballbreaker’ tour, as well as appearances with Sex Pistols, Manic Street Preachers, and many more. And it rarely needed tuning onstage. Basically if you ever saw The Wildhearts I was playing this guitar and if you ever heard The Wildhearts then you were listening to this guitar. Every song was written, played and recorded with this instrument. THIS is history.
And in the Questions section:
Q1) Why on earth are you selling this guitar? Surely the memories etched are too numerous to mention. Part of seeing you and the wildhearts is seeing THAT guitar!
Ginger: The money from the guitar will mean more to some than the memories mean to me. Often we have to give things away to get things in life, and in this case I’ll be receiving the gift of helping someone less fortunate than myself.
