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.
posted on May 19, 2008 - View this thread

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.
posted on May 19, 2008 - View this thread

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.
posted on May 7, 2008 - View this thread

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]
posted on Apr 20, 2008 - View this thread

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

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.
posted on Apr 8, 2008 - View this thread

The Sterner Capo Museum For anyone who has found themselves reduced to the pencil and rubber band.
posted on Apr 3, 2008 - View this thread

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 on Mar 25, 2008 - View this thread

Imagine a guitar constructed from a country’s history. Recently named Voyageur, the Six String Nation guitar is just that: Canada’s Guitar.
posted on Mar 25, 2008 - View this thread

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]
posted on Mar 6, 2008 - View this thread

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.
posted on Feb 28, 2008 - View this thread

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]
posted on Feb 28, 2008 - View this thread

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.)
posted on Feb 20, 2008 - View this thread

Little Hat Jones - Bye Bye Baby Blues
Bye Bye Baby Blues Tab
Dennis (Little Hat) Jones, a Texas bluesman considered a notable of Naples, Texas. He record ten sides of his own and made nine more accompanying the very idiosyncratic and hard to follow Texas Alexander. Bye Bye Baby Blues is a very sweet song that also appears on the Ghost World soundtrack.
See also Texas Blues Guitar (1929-1935) .
posted on Feb 16, 2008 - View this thread

Doc Watson: his warm and unprepossessing voice and rolling guitar stylings (both flatpicking and fingerpicking) are treasures of American music. The following video clips will be a treat for any Watson fan, but especially for guitar players: they feature closeup shots of Doc's left hand fretwork as well as insets of his right hand picking. So, without further ado: Deep River Blues, Blue Railroad Train, Black Mountain Rag and Bluebell.
posted on Jan 20, 2008 - View this thread

The G1000 Fucking Fucker. There is nothing like the G-1000. Not even vaguely. It is arcane and radical. It is 100% vacuum tubes, from input to output. It contains 100% new-old-stock (NOS) tubes. Types never seen in guitar amps. Artwork on the amp's front panel by Dave Lovelace, of "Retarded Animal Babies" infamy. Check out the hi-res picture for all the explicit functional details. [NSFW] I'm guessing it has a pretty good dirty channel.
posted on Jan 18, 2008 - View this thread

Guitar World Tabs ain't OLGA, but it's something.
posted on Jan 3, 2008 - View this thread

You Don't Mess Around With Jim. And you don't mess around with the mysterious Fret Killer, performer of some of the best acoustic guitar playing to be found on YouTube. But who is he?
posted on Dec 31, 2007 - View this thread

The Maestro FZ-1 Fuzztone was one of the first stomp boxes a guitar player could use. Released in 1962 by Gibson, sales didn't take off until a British band used it in the introduction to one of their songs in 1965. But if it weren't for a Marty Robbins song and engineer Glen Snoddy, the pedal might have never been invented and country music wouldn't have been the same.
posted on Dec 4, 2007 - View this thread

Have you ever loved a woman? Compare and contrast.
posted on Nov 28, 2007 - View this thread

He was called "the Telemaster", "the Humbler", and " the greatest unknown guitarist in the world". Danny Gatton, revered by guitarists great and small, never achieved popular acclaim. His refusal to stick to any particular genre of music, and his reluctance to travel had much to do with that. But to those of us lucky enough to enjoy the Washington, DC music scene of the eighties and nineties got to see arguably the most talented electric guitar player this country has produced.
posted on Nov 27, 2007 - View this thread

Singer/songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire Richard Thompson: songs of bittersweet longing, sublime eloquence, dark exuberance and ominous allusion.
posted on Nov 24, 2007 - View this thread

Consider Aaron Thibeaux Walker--if anyone ever deserved the title Godfather, King or Present at the Creation, it would be T-Bone Walker. Without T-Bone, there would be no B.B. King, Albert King, no Clarence Gatemouth Brown, no Pee Wee Crayton, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson ad infinitum to every blues guitarist whoever bent a tube amplified string thereafter. For rock and blues, electric lead guitar begins with him--he invented the language and then wrote the book and style manual, too. And he wrote the performance manual as well--dancing, doing splits, playing guitar behind his back while alternating betwen slow and smoky after hour blues and swinging combo and jazzy big band jumps. For examples of him at the height of his powers, give these Coralized mp3s--Cold Cold Feeling and Strollin' With Bones--a listen.
posted on Nov 14, 2007 - View this thread

Mick Turner: The melodies stagger and dance and swing and fall like events, emotions and thoughts. For me this...is a celebration of life, all of it, good or bad, for me it's a way to understand things I can't say with words.
posted on Nov 10, 2007 - View this thread

Guy playing a guitar on a trampoline.
posted on Oct 29, 2007 - View this thread

The Band is one of the more user-friendly fan sites I have come across. What I appreciate most is the (unadvertised) chord charts. They are not always right but they are often not wrong. Subtle, theatrical chromaticism, your name is Mozart Robbie Robertson.
posted on Oct 26, 2007 - View this thread

Sometimes you've got a song or a tune but something's missing : call Mike Stern, he could add some stuff.
posted on Oct 24, 2007 - View this thread

Pushing the envelope and changing the frame within which improvisational jazz has evolved for years is the focus of many contemporary jazz musicians. As far as the guitar is concerned, merging Hendrix's legacy with be-bop and the rhythms of popular music has been a primary objective. This can be traced back to the guitar of Pete Cosey in Miles Davis's groups of the 70'S. Jean-Paul Bourelly has been directly influenced by him, and Dave Fiuczynski's group, The Headless Torsos, pays its dues to Miles here. The rhythm concept behind such a shift is explained by wayne Krantz at the outset of this documentary. One can hear how close it is of Kevin Eubanks solo playing. Other guitarists of interest : Mitch Stein, Oz Noy, Charlie Hunter.
posted on Oct 22, 2007 - View this thread

CountryBluesGuitarFilter: Keys to the Highway: Some Country Blues Resources --although Weenie Juke Radio is now dead and gone, Weenie Campbell lives on, with forums, guitar lessons and linkage galore. Keys To The Highway lists lyrics and guitar keys and tunings for some notable artists. And the one for the Mississippi Sheiks is a link to the fine country blues music blog Done Gone, which has on its front page list of links just about every prewar, country blues and related site worth linking. As does Weenie Campbell. And at WeenieCampbell there are also some audio lessons in mp3 from the great guitarist and guitar teacher John Miller, these days a resident of my fair city.
posted on Oct 20, 2007 - View this thread

Pink Floyd fans may not need no education but Gilmourish, an exhaustive review of the guitars and audio effects of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour (with help from an insider), will leave most comfortably numb.
posted on Oct 19, 2007 - View this thread

To me, he embodies The classical guitarist with all the clichés attached. But he can also make any material his own, or use forms with humor. He's got good compositions too.
posted on Oct 17, 2007 - View this thread

French jazz guitar is often mistaken for swing guitar, or gypsy style guitar. It's true that great french guitarists, like Bireli Lagrene or Christian escoudé, are still playing in this style. But curiosity is a trademark of most of the French guitarists, and even Bireli Lagrene gave a try to various kinds of jazz. French guitarists have been attracted to Be Bop from the start (btw, even Django has been). Maybe you've heard of Sacha Distel ?
posted on Oct 16, 2007 - View this thread

John Fahey - Fare Forward Voyagers
John Fahey - Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Palace Of King Phillip XIV
Clips from a 2 hour performance at the Euphoria Tavern in Portland, Oregon from 1976. Among the cognoscenti at FaheyGuitarPlayers, the consensus is that these clips display Fahey in rare form on a very good night.
Apart from Fahey, Bohemia Visual Music aka Mike Nastra, the contributor of these clips, provides an interesting assortment of way too hip YouTubery offerings including, among others, Spike Jones, Dimandas Galas, Gene Krupa, Tuxedo Moon, Sun Ra, Pere Ubu and the Holy Modal Rounders.
posted on Oct 16, 2007 - View this thread

Bob Log III plays distorted trash grimey blues slide guitar with his hands, he drawls through a telephone attached to the bubble face of the motorcycle helmet he wears, and he drums with his feet. He is known to ask women to stir his scotch on stage with their breasts, which is sadly Not currently Safe for Work. Sometimes he asks them to sit on his knee, bouncing up and down on the blue glittery jump suit he wears whenever he plays.
posted on Oct 11, 2007 - View this thread

The most creative jazz musician to originate anywhere outside the United States (Duke Ellington) is maybe the great guitarist Django Reinhardt. It is true that he gave birth to a style which is now played by many musicians. His achievements are outstanding, if we consider the events of his life. He still fascinates both the scholar (great links but in need of some work : see french wiki for more biographic details) among other things because of controversial details (his survival during WWII and the very origin of swing manouche (gypsy jazz)) and the aspiring guitarist (more) (essential resource). But it's maybe better just to listen - and watch - him play. Further watching : Nuages, an amateur documentary in 1 2 3 4 5 parts. Previously.
posted on Oct 9, 2007 - View this thread

Flamenco guitar is such a subtle and delicate mean of expression that it looks like arranging flamenco music for a number of musicians isn't practical or efficient. Nevertheless, many attempts have been made to use flamenco phrasing or colors within large ensembles : in a classical piece like The Aranjuez Concierto, in jazz when Gil Evans teamed with Miles Davis to greate several pieces entitled Sketches of Spain, or more recently, with the beautiful work of Maria Schneider, or the small units of Louis Winsberg. One of the most convincing score has been recently produced by Juan Carmona, a gipsy guitarist from Marseille, a work performed by many philarmonic orchestras.
posted on Oct 7, 2007 - View this thread

Shoegazer 101 Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze or shoegazer; practitioners referred to as shoegazers) is a genre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted until the mid 1990s, peaking circa 1990 to 1991. The British music press (notably NME and Melody Maker) called this genre "shoegazing" because the musicians in these bands often maintained a motionless performing style, standing on stage and staring at the floor while playing their instruments; hence, the idea that they were gazing at their shoes. The shoegazing sound featured extensive use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars. Some notable bands are Ride, Lush, Swervedriver, Slowdive, Curve, and American bands Lilys and the Swirlies.
posted on Oct 3, 2007 - View this thread

There are several ways to roam the world. But if you want to do it like a king, you have to master this. Maybe mix it with that. Or this (spanish spoken here). Then, you can bring your old acoustic guitar, hit the street and sing.
posted on Oct 3, 2007 - View this thread

Jake E Lee shreds, Steve Vai shreds, Eddie Van Halen shreds, many others shred.
posted on Sep 19, 2007 - View this thread

This might lead you to learn to play guitar, to write poems, to sing, or just to watch and listen more intently. Kelly joe Phelps, from washington state, is one of the most beautiful musicians I've ever seen. He's got a great way to play traditionals and his originals are mesmerizing.
posted on Sep 11, 2007 - View this thread

Some more great french guitar players. Nelson Veras first came to France to meet Pat Metheny (he was 14 then, it has been documented on video by Frank Cassenti) but upon meeting some other jazzmen , he decided to stay in France and to experiment in various settings. Robert Crumb isn't exactly a "great french guitar player", but his decision to move to France (his or his wife's decision) and later his responsability in the creation of Les Primitifs du Futur has played a part in the rebirth of ancient french styles ("musette") and the renewed interest in old jazz and blues forms.
posted on Sep 10, 2007 - View this thread

Flamenco clearly belongs to spain. But so many immigrants came to France to find work or escape from the civil war that there is a small community of guitarists in southern France who are playing it with original voices. Bernardo Sandoval was the subject of a post in mefi music some time ago. Antonio "kiko" ruiz is about to come to the United States with Renaud-Garcia-Fons : their work can be seen here. Serge Lopez is another great guitarist who puts some guitar parts on his website. Salvador Paterna adds to the traditional sound of flamenco both the 'oud and the violin. They are all from or nearby Toulouse.
posted on Sep 4, 2007 - View this thread

Learn to Play Guitar! Justin, of JustinGuitar.com (not the dork with the TV camera strapped to his head) offers over 100 free video guitar lessons for absolute noobs & guitar enthusiasts, with lesson categories & written instrx as well. For people who want tablature to play along, the good people of Guitar Video Tabs provide full tab notation under videos hundreds of popular songs.
posted on Sep 3, 2007 - View this thread

another beautiful guitarist from louisiana Such a wise cat he even could replace t-bone walker in a minute. Well, so he said with his enthralling voice. He was such a beautiful singer. Unique violin player. He disappeared in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. Peace.
posted on Sep 1, 2007 - View this thread

The Wacky World of beating up guitars to add value."Normally, even one of the resulting scratches or dings on a brand-new instrument would make a guitar enthusiast cringe. But in the hands of Mr. Eldred, they are the first steps in the process of creating a "relic" guitar -- a brand new instrument that has been deliberately aged to simulate decades' worth of rock-and-roll wear and tear."
posted on Aug 28, 2007 - View this thread

Jammin' with Buddy Guy You are a good guitar player, you are a really good guitar player, but you are eight years old, but whoa, here you are on the stage with one of the greatest bluesmen ever, Buddy Guy, and he is digging your sh**.
posted on Aug 25, 2007 - View this thread

Jammin' with Buddy Guy You are a good guitar player, you are a really good guitar player, but you are eight years old, but whoa, here you are on the stage with one of the greatest bluesmen ever, Buddy Guy, and he is digging your sh**.
posted on Aug 25, 2007 - View this thread

The Muse's Muse Songwriting Resource is the place for songwriting tips, tools, interactivities and connecting with other songwriters around the world. See the section about musical instruments or get into the guitar player's guide. Start communicating with other musicians and songwriters in the forums and check out the music reviews. Lots to do, see, hear, learn, and most of all, enjoy.
posted on Aug 22, 2007 - View this thread

Like em or Hate em, Something Awful asks and answers the question: Do guitar solos make non-guitar solo songs better? A-HA, Beach Boys, Britney, Backstreet Boys. Rest of the thread.
posted on Aug 18, 2007 - View this thread