Chanteur puissant à la voix rocailleuse. And here is bluestab's blog And here, via Babelfish is bluestab's blog in an English of sorts. Then, while, looking for mp3s to match the tabs, I came across the universe of African American history and culture that is AfricanAfrican aka NegroArtist.com, a site so big it has two URLs. [Billy Mays] But, wait--that's not all! [/Billy Mays] [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Oct 23, 2009 - 12 comments

Aurora "Rory" Block has staked her claim to be one of America's top acoustic blues women, an interpreter of the great Delta blues singers, a slide guitarist par excellence, and also a talented songwriter on her own account. - AllMusic
posted by Joe Beese on Oct 2, 2009 - 14 comments

100 Famous Rock Guitar Riffs, in one take. List of song titles can be found here on the artist's page.
posted by lazaruslong on Sep 6, 2009 - 89 comments

Musical sorting algorithms. [via]
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse on Aug 21, 2009 - 23 comments

Les Paul, musician, pioneer of multitrack recording, and creator of one of the most successful and recognizable guitars in history, passed at the age of 94. [more inside]
posted by mrg on Aug 13, 2009 - 169 comments

The Who: Maximum Windmill Guitar Contest
posted by marxchivist on Aug 6, 2009 - 8 comments

"She was a rock star," recalls Ira Tucker Jr., who grew up watching Tharpe with his father's gospel group in the 1940s and '50s. "You know, like Beyonce today and people like that. That's what Rosetta was to us." Sister Rosetta Tharpe wasn't the first one to bring black popular music into the church. (Here's the great Arizona Dranes playing barroom honky-tonk piano on the gospel side I Shall Wear a Crown in 1927.) But her fierce stage presence and her original blend of gospel, boogie-woogie, swing and smoking hot blues guitar was a crucial forgotten influence on what we now recognize as rock and roll. (Many more recordings inside. Enjoy!) [more inside]
posted by nebulawindphone on Jul 21, 2009 - 20 comments

Fried Gibson. I've always thought you were safe in a house from lightning storms as long as you were off the land-line or computer. A Mississippi man's Gibson Les Paul got positively roasted while sitting in his home, in its case, leaning against a wall. That's a powerful bolt. Lots of gory photos here and in the auction linked above including a nice shot of some of the parts that exploded off of the guitar, some shooting like bullets through the case. Awesome! And it still held quite a bit of its value. Via [more inside]
posted by JBennett on Jul 10, 2009 - 49 comments

Sometimes music really is a weapon. Big surprise, United Airlines messed up some luggage and refused to do anything about it. But I have to give props to this guy for taking a bad situation and making something positive out of it. Bonus points for the song being pretty catchy. I wonder what would happen if that song was so popular that the record label wanted it on the in flight music station...
posted by theichibun on Jul 7, 2009 - 70 comments

S. E. Rogie: Go easy with me. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue on Jun 28, 2009 - 6 comments

Van Shipley was the first electric guitarist in India. The name Van Shipley is Methodist, he [was] from Lucknow [Uttar Pradesh, India]. He designed his own electric eight string steel guitar in the 1940's. The reason he did this was that he'd studied Indian classical music under Ustad Alaudin Khan, the leading classical musician in India, who was also a contemporary of Ravi Shankar. He also studied the violin with a German teacher... so he made an eight string guitar, instead of a five string. His guitar was a solid guitar, designed to his style at the time, it was futuristic. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Jun 14, 2009 - 10 comments

Carlos Montoya can play the blues/jazz too. youtube X 2. The second link is a still with great audio. Guitarists and music lovers enjoy!
posted by snsranch on May 7, 2009 - 5 comments

The First of May Jonathan Coulton's ode to the 'coming' of spring (SLYT). NSFW language. Coulton's Last.fm page. More MP3s here. Coulton wrote the 'Still Alive' song from Portal and also works with John Hodgman. Jon on Twitter.
posted by daHIFI on May 1, 2009 - 21 comments

How to Build: A simple washtub bass. Some variations (on a crazily made webpage). A cookie tin banjo. (Previously) A cigar box guitar, and a cigar box ukulele. A fancy cigar box uke. (Kathy Marsushita's whole amateur luthier projects page is worth checking out, as is this gallery of cool cigar box ukes.)
posted by OmieWise on Apr 22, 2009 - 22 comments

Etsy has a YouTube channel where they have all kinds of profiles of their users and how-to guides. My two favorite series are the Process series (e.g. New Books with Old Materials & Tin Toys) and Handmade Portraits (e.g. Armor Guitars & Wood Mosaics). In the description of each video there is a link to the corresponding entry on Etsy's blog, The Storque. The blogposts have more information on the users and sometimes further links and videos. [via Work in Progress]
posted by Kattullus on Apr 20, 2009 - 5 comments

Looping, live: David Ford, Imogen Heap, KT Tunstall x2, Dub FX, Ed Alleyne-Johnson
posted by flatluigi on Apr 7, 2009 - 50 comments

You know that guitar sound at the start of "Touch Me I'm Sick"? Or when Keith plays the big riff in "Satisfaction"? That's fuzz. I love fuzz, and I was very happy to stumble across this fine documentary about fuzz pedals and their makers. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 7, Part 8 Should be enough there to sustain your interest for a while... (Previously...)
posted by awfurby on Mar 22, 2009 - 28 comments

Guitar chord progression generator. Guitar chord charts. Have fun!
posted by baphomet on Mar 9, 2009 - 16 comments

Guitar Noise is a free guitar lesson website with hundreds of articles, tips and reviews for students of this versatile instrument. Whether you are a beginner, a lefty, a bass player or a singer, Guitar Noise has lessons on nearly everything and anything to do with the guitar. There are many talented musicians out there. The artist profiles section includes interviews with dozens. The forums, blog and podcasts help you keep up with this thriving community.
posted by netbros on Feb 23, 2009 - 11 comments

Snooks Eaglin has died. One of New Orleans' most authentic and underrated guitar players won't be making his jazz fest gig this year. Next time you have some red beans & rice, take a moment to remember the guy who some called the human jukebox.
posted by msconduct on Feb 18, 2009 - 23 comments

Can you learn guitar in 10 minutes (pt. 1, pt. 2)? [more inside]
posted by 445supermag on Feb 2, 2009 - 49 comments

Little Big Star (free software, currently in beta - video) it's the first guitar rythm game with support for real instruments. In the next months two more products of the same kind should be released, Disney Star Guitar and Guitar Rising. [more inside]
posted by darkripper on Jan 14, 2009 - 16 comments

Story From North America. A boy learns to appreciate life in all its forms via song.
posted by ludwig_van on Jan 5, 2009 - 8 comments

8 Year Old Shredder.
posted by gman on Dec 30, 2008 - 36 comments

Acoustic guitar virtuoso Clive Carroll is one of Britain's most acclaimed players. To find out why, check out these performances: Mississippi Blues, Czardas, Eliza's Eyes, Aerial Discoveries, The Kildimo Set. The last link comes from Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, an amazing resource with more than two hundred tutorials and performances from top guitarists.
posted by tomcooke on Dec 26, 2008 - 6 comments

Fun, funky fingerstyle arrangements from Adam Rafferty: Superstition, I Wish, Billie Jean, The Chameleon. He's clearly having a great time and I think you will too.
posted by tomcooke on Dec 9, 2008 - 19 comments

California Guitar Trio plays a quiet version of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm. Here is another solo electric version by Sean Conklin. Finally here is a passionate acoustic electric treatment by Michael Fix.
posted by RussHy on Nov 18, 2008 - 14 comments

Nelsonica ’08 is sold out. But for those who won’t be at the Official Bill Nelson Fan Convention in Yorkshire this weekend, comfort yourselves with these blazing live performances by the guitar god and his band Be Bop Deluxe: Maid in Heaven, Dangerous Stranger, Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape. [more inside]
posted by grounded on Oct 28, 2008 - 16 comments

The Martin D-28. You have heard it thousands of times before. Its modest appearance belies its history and influence; there have been several changes in its design and construction over the years, but it remains largely the same since its introduction in 1934. [more inside]
posted by jimmythefish on Oct 25, 2008 - 24 comments

The website to tie in with the BBC series Imagine: The Story Of The Guitar has video interviews with The Edge, Bob Brozman, Johnny Marr, Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Charlotte Hatherley and BB King. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Oct 21, 2008 - 27 comments

In the wide world of synthesizer guitars, the Synthaxe may well be the choicest both in its aesthetics and its raw awesomeness could. John Hollis tells us what we're missing. Some guy demonstrates it. Allan Holdsworth whips it out in concert. Also, a music video from Lee Ritenour's Synthaxe-heavy Earth Run album.
posted by colinmarshall on Oct 18, 2008 - 25 comments

SLYT: Paul Simon and his brother play Davy Graham's 'Anji'.
posted by RussHy on Sep 21, 2008 - 12 comments

20 pretty painted guitars. (via Nag on the Lake) [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Sep 6, 2008 - 12 comments

Having always found the process of setting up a guitar slightly intimidating, I am so glad that there's now a robot that can do it for me. Plek is a German-designed system for mechanically adjusting the setup of your guitar. Short video here. I wonder what happens when the robot guitar tech meets the robot guitar?
posted by awfurby on Aug 24, 2008 - 20 comments

Two flutes at once. Two guitars at once. (Honorable mentions.) Two recorders at once, 100% nose-powered. Two trumpets at once (breakdown at three).Two harps at once. Two saxophones at once. (Bonus: Clarinet/sax unos.) [more inside]
posted by No-sword on Aug 6, 2008 - 18 comments

Hiram Bullock, original guitarist for Paul Shaffer's "Worlds Most Dangerous Band" died on July 25th. He was a fixture in the early days of David Letterman's show. The cause of death was not disclosed but Bullock had been undergoing treatment for cancer and was known to have had drug problems. Bullock was 52. [more inside]
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Jul 29, 2008 - 24 comments

So, about 9 months ago I started working on this compilation... Until yesterday, however, I hadn't seen a tracklist from the mysterious 10-cd set called the VrootzBox, so this is not a derivative work, however similar it may be...I should mention that not all of these songs are songs that he covered or copped licks from. Most of the music he has made mention to, though a few of the songs were recorded after his formative years and one or two he never would have heard. But they are presented to give an illustration of the styles he drew from (such as gamelan, which he grew up playing in his neighbor's back yard).

Leslie Low is an indie improv-based musician singer/songwriter. This site has songs from his two solo albums, Volcanoes, moody instrumental music mixing striking melodies, organic sounds, odd rhythm structures and laptop noise elements; and Worms, with solo guitar and voice delivering haunting intense acoustic numbers about death, retreating from the world and seeking refuge in a quiet place behind the woods. [more inside]
posted by netbros on May 19, 2008 - 10 comments

Three of the giants of Brazilian guitar were Laurindo Almeida (1917-1995; wiki here), Luiz Bonfa (1922-2001; wiki here), and Baden Powell (1937-2000; wiki here). Here is Laurindo Almeida w/the MJQ playing One Note Samba; here is Luiz Bonfa playing the theme from Black Orpheus (which he composed); and here is Baden Powell playing Samba Triste. [more inside]
posted by ornate insect on May 19, 2008 - 17 comments

In addition to violins, violas and cellos, there are also Stradivarius guitars. Two still exist: one in South Dakota and one in the Ashmolean in Oxford (see a reproduction of the Oxford one here). These are Baroque guitars, strung a little like modern ones without the low E string and with the other five strings doubled. Instructions for Baroque guitar. [more inside]
posted by motty on May 7, 2008 - 14 comments

Smooth Jazz, also sometimes referred to as new adult contemporary music or instrumental pop, is generally described as a genre that utilizes instruments and improvisation traditionally associated with jazz and stylistic influences drawn from mostly R&B, but also funk and pop. Since the late 1980s and into the 1990s, it has become successful as a radio format. [source wikipedia] [more inside]
posted by netbros on Apr 20, 2008 - 251 comments

OK, so here's Living On A Prayer played by an 11-year-old Korean kid. He has more.
posted by jimmythefish on Apr 15, 2008 - 44 comments

Sacred Steel is a pedal-steel guitar style that evolved in the African-American Pentecostal denomination The House of God, Which Is the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth. Brothers and lap steel players Willie and Truman Eason, inspired by the electric blues and Hawaiian steel guitar of the 1920s and 30s, brought the sound to two branches of the church, the Keith and Jewell dominions. Its hallmark: "talking guitar," in which the sliding steel emphasizes and mimics the words of preachers and singers. In the 1970s, a new "Motor City" tradition began, featuring the more complicated pedal steel guitar. This body of music was known mainly in church circles until two things happened: first, folklorist Robert Stone became interested in the music and relased several CD collections. And then, church player Robert Randolph (and his Family Band) began taking Sunday morning's music out onSaturday night. [more inside]
posted by Miko on Apr 8, 2008 - 19 comments

The Sterner Capo Museum For anyone who has found themselves reduced to the pencil and rubber band.
posted by Miko on Apr 3, 2008 - 29 comments

The youngest of the three kings of blues guitar, Freddie King (The Texas Cannonball) is probably best known for his instrumental Hideaway, but what stands out in retrospect is his amazing intensity. Having grown up in Texas and then Chicago, during the 1970s he found a niche playing to mostly white audiences in supper clubs and at festivals -- what he called the Fillmore Circuit -- although he also played other more challenging venues. His music, always funky and sweaty, just got funkier and sweatier. His death in 1976, at the age of 42, took him at his prime.
posted by unSane on Mar 25, 2008 - 9 comments

Imagine a guitar constructed from a country’s history. Recently named Voyageur, the Six String Nation guitar is just that: Canada’s Guitar. [more inside]
posted by valleys on Mar 25, 2008 - 17 comments

Whether on fretless electric guitar or fretless Turkish banjo, mister Salih Korkut Peker sounds mighty fine. And here he is again on banjo, getting down on some Turkish grooves with percussionist Gencer Savaş. Sweet! [note: see hoverovers for link descriptions] [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Mar 6, 2008 - 33 comments

And here we have a couple of YouTube productions, screensaverish animations of photos and lyrics to the original recordings: Robert Petway - Catfish Blues and Tommy McClennan - It's Hard To Be Lonesome. This is mostly about Petway and Catfish Blues but you can't mention Petway without mentioning McClennan, as they ran together in their time and as both did versions of Catfish, a song canonical in Delta Blues, recorded and performed by nearly everyone--Muddy Waters - Rolling Stone, for example. Petway just happens to be the first person to record Catfish, and quite possibly the person who wrote it and certainly. to my mind, at least, the person who nailed it... in the uptempo version at the very least. [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Feb 28, 2008 - 8 comments

I tell you what, buddy, that ol' Joe Maphis fellow outta Bakersfield, he was one fast picker. Yup, fast as greased lightning and smooth as gaht-damn silk on that double-neck Mosrite guitar. He and the missus have a little advice for you, too: Don't Make Love In a Buggy. And though Joe was mainly a picker, he did pen one memorable little country ditty which you might've heard in some honky tonk along the line: Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music). [note: see hoverovers for link descriptions] [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Feb 28, 2008 - 27 comments

Elizabeth Cotten [previously] sits down and talks with Pete Seeger. She plays the "Wilson Rag," "Mama, Your Papa Loves You," and Pete joins her for "Freight Train." (Lyrics are provided for "Freight Train," so you can all sing along, too.) [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on Feb 20, 2008 - 6 comments