100 posts tagged with guitar and music (View popular tags)
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).Wrath of the Grapevine: The Roots of John Fahey
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
He wasn't the greatest technician on earth (he only studied a short time with a teacher, as states his biography), he wasn't really famous outside Brazil, in spite of the many recordings available under his name, of his various talents (drawing, designing a new string instrument), but his playing is really endearing, and whatever the material, originals, bach or chico buarque, he made his point across easily.
posted on Aug 11, 2007 - View this thread
Who is Zack Kim anyway? Classical Guitarist? Nope. Composer for Film? Nah. How about viral marketeer!
Almost all u-tube and the last one is really impressive. Many more where these came from.
posted on Jul 13, 2007 - View this thread
Power Pop 4 Ever. Pop icon, kick ass guitarist, working musician, and subject of a recent movie, Glen , along with Squeeze bandmate Chris Difford, wrote some of the most memorable hooks of the 80s. Among them Pulling mussels, Black Coffee in Bed, Up the Junction and Is that love?.
posted on Jul 7, 2007 - View this thread
Flamenco guitarists on YouTube: Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo, Sabicas, Niño Ricardo, Manolo Sanlucar, Serranito, Tomatito, Paco Peña, Carlos Montoya, Gerardo Nuñez, Diego Del Gastor, and of course, the legendary Segovia.
posted on Jul 4, 2007 - View this thread
Isaac Guillory was widely regarded as probably the best acoustic guitarist in Britain. These three clips from a Berkeley performance in 1989 show why he is still much missed.
posted on Jul 2, 2007 - View this thread
John Fahey - 1969, Part 1
John Fahey - 1969, Part 2
John Fahey - 1969, Part 3
John Fahey - 1969, Part 4
See also The Thong Club
And Previously
Via FaheyGuitarPlayers
posted on Jun 21, 2007 - View this thread
Captain Beefheart's 10 rules for guitarists are also useful life rules for anyone: " Never Point Your Guitar At Anyone: Your instrument has more power than lightning. Just hit a big chord, then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.."
posted on Jun 19, 2007 - View this thread
While the first pioneering forays into atonality and free chromaticism were starting to occur in Western European music, the talents of Latin and South America were discovering the Romantic beauty of re-interpreting the past. [much, much more inside!]
posted on Jun 3, 2007 - View this thread
Guitarweek is quite easily one of the best, if not the best, guitar education websites on the web.
Check out the Chord worksheets. The load of free lessons, plus some members-only flash lessons.
It's a real labor of love by a pretty interesting guy, who like a lot of people who work more for a passion than money, appears to have trouble making ends meet on it. Membership is amazingly cheap to boot.
posted on May 22, 2007 - View this thread
John Petrucci of Dream Theater is pretty much amazing. His gear can control the heat of the sun. Additionally, Yngwie is your new God.
posted on May 12, 2007 - View this thread
Happy Birthday, Paul "Ace" Frehley.
posted on Apr 27, 2007 - View this thread
JGuitar, a rather useful tool for those learning the guitar or experimenting with alternate tunings. You can even bookmark a certain tuning.
posted on Apr 18, 2007 - View this thread
"If you had Bruce playing with you," Dylan wrote, in his 2004 autobiography, Chronicles, "that's all you would need to do just about anything."Bruce Langhorne has quite the discography. And a hot sauce, to boot. And he's led quite the life. Here is Richie Unterberger's interview with Langhorne in Parts One and Two. And here he talks with Unterberger about working with Mimi and Richard Fariña.
Let me stand next to your fire. Forty years ago today, Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar live on stage for the first time when he was appearing at The Astoria London. It was the first night of a 24-date tour with The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and Engelbert Humperdinck.
posted on Mar 31, 2007 - View this thread
You really shouldn't miss the snazzy ukulele stylings of the great Roy Smeck, strummer and showman extraordinaire, who was not only fast as greased lightning, but for whom the ukulele also occasionally functioned as a wind or percussion instrument. The man was indeed a wizard of the strings: just give him a slide and watch him lay down that Hawaiian sound. And as you'll see here, he was still going strong in his later years. [most links to YouTube]
posted on Mar 23, 2007 - View this thread
So you wanna be a rock and roll star. Here's a place to start. GOSK, or the guitarist's online survival kit, is a very handy guide to both scales and modes as well as all chords in all positions on the neck. In order to put it all together, and map modes to chord progressions and really start jamming, this little php widget is pretty helpful. Though in all things, even if you want to learn from the masters, you should never forget the basics. However, if you decide that using these online utilities to improve your performance is too much, you can always go back to school, or else forego training entirely and emulate rock star attitude and style in real life situations.
posted on Mar 20, 2007 - View this thread
Yardbirds documentary part 1, part 2, and part 3. Bonus: Jimmy Page, age 14.
posted on Dec 27, 2006 - View this thread
Robert Lockwood, Jr. R.I.P.
posted on Nov 28, 2006 - View this thread
John Fahey in concert: Beverly (aka Indian Pacific Railroad Blues) Poor Boy (Which is a variation on Booker White's Poor Boy Long Way from Home)
posted on Oct 22, 2006 - View this thread
Here is the Mississippi John Hurt Blues Foundation, the website, which is the creation of one Frank Delaney of Spokane. There's a great deal of guitar related material and a page of mp3's by fans, which includes several interesting originals by one Fred Bolden, a grand nephew. I always knew he had a son who played guitar and wondered why no one had ever tried to record him. Now there is a grand nephew playing, if nowhere near as sublimely as his great uncle, in roughly the same style.
Here is an interview of John Hurt from 1963, courtesy of Stefan Grossman's guitar video empire. It is a real delight.
Consider this a follow up to this post. Not all of the links there are good. The Mississippi John Hurt Guitar Tab Book, for instance, is now available only in PDF format but well worth the download. And here is an illustrated discography of John Hurt by another Stefan, Stefan Wirz, a subject of yet another post back in the day.
posted on Oct 4, 2006 - View this thread
Etta Baker 1913-2006
posted on Sep 25, 2006 - View this thread
Europa (Earth's Cry, Heaven's Smile, YouTube...)
posted on Sep 10, 2006 - View this thread
For murder ballads, here's your Mississippi John Hurt's Louis Collins and your Grayson & Whitter's Ommie Wise. Then, for some early white blues bottleneck guitar, here's your Frank Hutchison's K. C. Blues. Not to mention Charley Patton's Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues. All courtesy the Internet Archives 78 RPM tag. where there is way more--like Bix Beiderbecke's first record, Davenport Blues, Louis Armstrong's Ain't Misbehavin' and Geeshie Wiley's Last Kind Words, among many others. Then, for more,
Nugrape Records has an mp3 page. The standout there, at least for me, is Gus Cannon's Poor Boy Long Ways From Home. As for their namesake, the Nugrape Twins, well, the Archive has the mp3 of I've Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape. And don't let me omit mentioning PublicDomain4U. They have Mississippi John Hurt's Frankie, for one. Tyrone's Record and Phonograph Links will lead you to more 78 RPM goodness. And don't forget the inestimable and erudite vacapinta first directed us to Dismuke's Virtual Talking Machine.
posted on Aug 25, 2006 - View this thread
Hans Reichel (previously) is a man of many talents. His own site (flash/sound) is fun (often funny) and chock full of agreeably wacky sounds, but can take some time to navigate. Reichel hasn't made it easy for you if you happen to be in a hurry. You may well get stuck somewhere and just give up. That'd be a shame, though, cause you'd miss getting acquainted with the guitars he makes and plays. Or how he designs fonts. The mixing board shenanigans are not to be missed (once you get past those curious little fellows in the brown hats), plus you can sorta kinda play his daxophone yourself. And of course conduct your own little ensemble of meercats when one of them finally comes out of hiding and says "Hallo! Play with me".
posted on Aug 3, 2006 - View this thread
After nearly 70 years, blues legend Robert Johnson's guitar has recently surfaced. It's up for sale, but you may need to sell your soul to afford it. Maybe Legba will lend you the purchse price. [more]
posted on Jul 26, 2006 - View this thread
...Record collectors are typically thought of as irascible loners, but in the Washington of the ’50s and early ’60s, there existed a group of scruffy young blues and folk fans who could’ve given the Illuminati a run for their all-seeing eyes. They thought of themselves as the guardians of a tradition the rest of the world had either forgotten or misinterpreted. They adopted fake names. They invented strange mythologies. They hatched plans to bring their favorite historical figures back from the dead--or at least back from the commercial oblivion to which the music biz had consigned them. But most of all, they inspired admiration and awe. Though they never used the term themselves, this bunch of vintage-78 obsessives was known by others as the East Coast Blues Mafia.The Thong Club
Guitar Virtuosity with feeling and sophistication... I forgot just how good a guitarist Allan Holdsworth is. A similar player is Scott Henderson, who these days is much more in touch with his blues/funk roots. His outside playing is delicious. Notice how they both build up their solos instead of starting off with all guns blazing with nowhere to go.
posted on May 31, 2006 - View this thread
Made most popular to many Americans as the closing song for the Grand Ole Opry programs, Will The Circle Be Unbroken was written in 1907 by Ada Habershon, an intensely religious young woman and acquaintance of Dwight Moody and Ira David Sankey. The music was "composed" by Charles Gabriel, a popular songwriter and composer of the era who is often solely credited with the song, but while he may have put the notes down on paper, the tune itself already existed as the African-American spiritual Glory Glory / Since I Laid My Burden Down. [lots more inside]
posted on May 26, 2006 - View this thread
DIY Instruments: Guitar, Bass, A Drum, Yokobue, Pipes, analog synth sound effects. And for those of you who don't want to build anything - you can play the spoons.
posted on May 16, 2006 - View this thread
Video of guitarist who plays slide with a spoon held in his mouth.
posted on May 3, 2006 - View this thread
Six-String Masterpieces. Dean Guitars invites tattoo artists and musicians to decorate 50 Deans in a tribute to Dimebag Darrell. The results range from popstar kitsch to cronenbergian delight. Via Needled.
posted on Apr 14, 2006 - View this thread
Kid Congo Powers , noted guitar stylist, teenage president of The Ramones Fan Club, erstwhile member of The Cramps, The Gun Club, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (also known for his collaborations with Julee Cruise, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Khan and others) has produced a two part online autobiography of sorts for New York Night Train. It includes oral histories, available as transcriptions or MP3s, pages from his Cramps scrapbook, a vintage Creem article, free MP3s from his back catalogue, and, of course, his recipe for enchiladas.
posted on Feb 12, 2006 - View this thread
The Six String Sonics are about reinventing the guitar.
The conventional guitar has many limitations. For example, it binds the player to chords that one can hold with one hand, or melodies that can easily be reached with one hand. As a result, guitar compositions have come to sound very similar to each other. We created Six String Sonics to rid the guitar of these limitations, and make room for more possibilities in composition. A video of their debut perfomance. [embedded MOV file]
posted on Feb 3, 2006 - View this thread
So You Think You Hate Country Music? Then listen to this. The roots of American country music may surprise you. In this series of NPR programs, trace the gradual development of real country music through the first half of the 20th century. Learn how a woman's instrument of the late 1800s, the parlor guitar, became the the central symbol of country and rock; see how African-American musical forms like gospel and blues meshed with the development of country and early rock and influenced the traditional forms in turn; listen to German-Mexican hybrids of accordian style; find out why women had so many honky-tonk torch songs to sing in the late 40s. The series contains hours of content (narrative, interviews, music tracks), and a multitude of excellent links for deeper digging.
posted on Feb 2, 2006 - View this thread
NAMM 06 oddities. Guitars as works of art. Also found on that page: the Mikey guitar which functions as a frettted or fretless instrument with the flick of a switch.
posted on Jan 29, 2006 - View this thread
Robert Fripp sells out to Microsoft, but at least we get to watch him build up a beautiful Frippertronics piece (wmp req'd).
posted on Jan 6, 2006 - View this thread
Bad acoustic cover songs with a French accent.
posted on Jan 4, 2006 - View this thread
"I know these desires could kill me dead, but how you gonna act instead?" So sings eros-haunted Delta-blues-steeped songwriter Chris Whitley on his superbly dark new album, Soft Dangerous Shores, and he's not kidding -- Whitley is currently "very very ill" and receiving hospice care. After Whitley's 1991 debut, Living with the Law, the slim (drug-addicted?) songwriter was acclaimed by his peers as "the real deal." When he was dropped by Sony in 1998, he released an album of stark poetic beauty recorded in a barn, Dirt Floor. Soft Dangerous Shores updates Whitley's coiled-viper resophonic guitars with dreamlike electronic atmospheres (one reviewer describes it as "a hypnotic wrestling match between juke joint blues and Kraftwerkian beats"). Instead of posting an elegy for another underappreciated self-destructive genius a la Nick Drake after his death, check out Whitley's music (via free downloads) while he's still with us on Earth.
posted on Nov 14, 2005 - View this thread
The personal instrument collection of John and Rudy Dopyera is for sale. John and Rudy are the inventor-craftsmen behind the resonator guitars that made the National and Dobro (DOpyera BROthers) guitar companies famous. No, you can't afford the collection, but it is pretty to look at (my personal favorite).
Bonus string link: Chordie (previously discussed) has added chord diagrams for ukulele, banjo, mandolin and lefty guitar!
posted on Jul 20, 2005 - View this thread
Learn to Play Guitar like a SuperDork . Can't. . . not. . . look. Don't miss the links in the comments.
posted on Jun 22, 2005 - View this thread
"Now I need to take a piece of wood and make it sound like the railroad track, but I also had to make it beautiful and lovable so that a person playing it would think of it in terms of his mistress, a bartender, his wife, a good psychiatrist."
Les Paul interview and his recent 90th birthday celebration. via Kill Ugly Radio. (more...)
posted on Jun 18, 2005 - View this thread
ZOW!
Surf Guitar 101 Compilation!
posted on Jun 1, 2005 - View this thread
Double Guitars? Try Two; at the Same Time! Justin King just humbled my sorry guitar-playing self. Also check out the amazing slap-style acoustic stylings.
posted on May 11, 2005 - View this thread
GuitarBot
"In designing GuitarBot, our goal was to create an electrified slide guitar that was versatile, responsive, capable of fast and slow playing, easy to control, with high-quality sound, modular and portable. We also wanted to extend, not simply duplicate, the capabilities of a human guitarist."
Don't miss the video [16 meg Quicktime]. Brought to you by the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots.
posted on Dec 1, 2004 - View this thread
MP3's - Covers & Tributes on Guitar101.com. is like karaoke WITH GUITARS!!!! My favorite so far.
posted on Sep 21, 2004 - View this thread
In the early 70's explosion of singer-songwriters, one great one's career was tragically cut short, just over 30 years ago. His lyricism, humor, unpretentious manner, and ear for a hook are sadly missed and rarely remebered these days. The recent release of archival material might help revive interest.
posted on Jul 25, 2004 - View this thread
Hootenanny songbook. "Music is our bomb."
posted on Jun 6, 2004 - View this thread
Chordie: Did OLGA leave you in the lurch? Or when she came back, did it just never feel the same?
Do text-based song transcriptions make you rub your eyes and stumble over missing lyrics? [after the bridge, there is more inside]
posted on Apr 27, 2004 - View this thread
Virtuoso guitar performance of the Super Mario theme song. With sound effects too!
(3.5 mb Windows Media video)
posted on Apr 2, 2004 - View this thread
Truefire TrueFire is a self-publishing tool and open marketplace for authors and artists wishing to promote and distribute their original poetry, guitar lessons, novels, music, reference material, photography and artwork.
posted on Oct 24, 2003 - View this thread
Amusing Bass Guitars - a fun 62 page collection of unusual bass guitars from Bunny Bass where "basses are bunnier." Also, don't miss the gallery of bass & guitar girls and the lusciouslyy-crafted instruments from custom design builders. Seen any good basses you would add to this collection?
posted on Apr 12, 2003 - View this thread
John Hurt: Although it was not John (wrong sex anyway) who through a gentle voice and pleasant demeanor (yet he had this about him too) served as my primary impetus to play the guitar, it was nevertheless he, and others who played like him - but mainly he who provided me with my first technical model (emotional model to some extent also) for playing the guitar. He was the first I heard who played in the three-finger, non-choking, "picking" style, and he was one of the best. He was in his quiet way, a very great man, and I deeply mourn our loss of him. John Fahey
Mississippi John Hurt
"I just make it sound like I think it ought to" (more →)
posted on Feb 8, 2003 - View this thread
mysterio sympatico is the latest collaboration between jazz guitarist bill frisell and cartoonist jim woodring, who designed a few covers for frisell's records. in honor of flash friday, whimgrinder is online for your amusement (though sadly without frisell's score). what are some animation/music combos you'd like to see?
posted on Jun 13, 2002 - View this thread
Welcome to Planet Dobro! – The origins of bottleneck blues, bluegrass dobro and the pedal steel guitar all begin in Hawaiian steel guitar, popularized by the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915, the 78 rpm record and the introduction of the National, and later Dobro guitars, invented by two wild and crazy Czechoslovakian brothers. But wait—the mystery deepens! Is there a Hindustani connection involving a Portuguese-Indian sailor? The arcane story of the first World music and how it changed American vernacular musics. Details within, along with tunings, tabs and the universe of resophonic, lap and pedal steel guitars…
posted on Mar 26, 2002 - View this thread
John Fahey - American Primitive Guitar. I got an e-mail from a listener about a John Fahey song I played on my show today and it prompted me to revisit his website. I've been listening to him ever since '67 or so. He died last year due to complications during a coronary bypass operation--I realized again today how I miss him. (more inside)
posted on Mar 22, 2002 - View this thread
Guitar Geek diagrams, in loving detail, the (probable) effects and speaker setups of an incredible number of guitarists and bassists. Examples range from super-stripped down to staggerly huge to downright bizarre. It's pretty cool (and, admittedly geeky) in a sick, fanboy kinda way.
posted on Dec 20, 2001 - View this thread
Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan... Mark Twain? I thought nothing else could increase my admiration of Twain but it turns out he sang and played guitar to newspapermen, miners, women (hmm), tourists... No recordings are known to exist. He's my all-time favorite wise guy and rebel!
posted on Nov 1, 2001 - View this thread
Guitarist Wes Borland Leaves Limp Bizkit Two chord guitarists, your gig awaits. You can contact Fred at the Playboy Mansion.
posted on Oct 12, 2001 - View this thread
ask alphonso Want to know about bass guitar? Why not ask ex-Weather Report bassist Alphonso Johnson.
posted on Sep 1, 2001 - View this thread
Guitarist, musical icon Chet Atkins dies at 77 Chet Atkins, whose guitar style influenced a generation of rock musicians even as he helped develop an easygoing country style to compete with it, died Saturday. He was 77.
"And another bites the dust."
posted on Jul 1, 2001 - View this thread
E-Bow A nifty electric guitar effect that replaces the pick. Ignore the visuals. Instead, give it a listen.
posted on Mar 5, 2001 - View this thread
Musical instruments are pretty good examples of form following function. Over time, they evolve into standard shapes. Occaisionally, some people push the instruments in new directions. Other times, they run at right angles to reality
posted on Nov 17, 2000 - View this thread
It's not political. But it's rather useful. Free (accurate!) tuning software for the guitarists out there.
posted on Nov 13, 2000 - View this thread
Everybody can be a rock star First there were guitarists, then there were people playing the keyboards. Now with your keyboard you can play the guitar. Don't forget to thank the Rockschool when you pick up that Grammy.
posted on Mar 9, 2000 - View this thread
Net Music School Found a very cool site in Flash that provides online guitar and piano lessons over the 'net.
They got a free lesson sections too.
posted on Nov 2, 1999 - View this thread
![the hi-res picture for all the explicit functional details. [NSFW]](http://www.metasonix.com/G1000large.JPG){kind=link}
