Guitar Info

Zakk Wylde earns reputation as one of rock's best guitarists

Crossroads Guitar Festival, June 4-6, 2004: Eric Clapton has announced a three-day Crossroads Guitar Festival to take place Friday, June 4 through Sunday, June 6 at Fair Park in Dallas.

Radiohead's gig in the mud voted best ever: What a load of arse! (Radioarse?). In order to be voted the best gig, it has to receive the most votes (Duh!) so that means only the really BIG gigs stand a chance in this poll. Absolutely pointless.

Steve Vai - the Online Scholarship Program

Uke Beatles! Play these famous Beatles tunes on your jumping flea! Great interactive site.

'Greatest metal guitarist' tells all: Tony Iommi on Sabbath's 'Black Box' and early years.

The Ten Best Electric Guitars according to The Independent.

Traynor All-Tube Bass Amps Return

Hughes & Kettner Introduces Warp X Head: Representing the flagship model in the company's Warp lineup, the new Warp-X is a two channel, all-tube guitar head designed for dropped-D tuning and other heavy playing styles.

Drive up to 4 Amps with Voodoo's Amp Selector: just make sure you're on a big enough stage for them all.

Motorhead - new album news

Living Loud live at last: Living Loud have played their first gig ever, in Melbourne at the Metro. The supergroup featuring members of Cold Chisel, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Ozzy Osbourne and Rainbow, is Jimmy Barnes, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Steve Morse and Don Airey.

Official: the Fender Strat is the world's greatest guitar say The Independent. Sorry, but I still think it's the world's most boring guitar.

Win an Autographed Fender Guitar from Eight Days Gone and Titan Feature Story. Never heard of them. Also it's a bit worrying that they lst Radiohead amongst their influences. Zzzzzzzzzzzz... Sleeprock!

The 10 Most Influential Guitarists Of All Time Pt.1 courtesy of Blogcritics.org

Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich posts unreleased solo track online at www.dougaldrich.com

Here's a couple of photos I took this weekend:



It was a fantastic couple of gigs from The Damned at Knaresborough in Yorkshire this weekend. On Sunday, the group, obviously in high spirits, strayed from their set list and played a few super cool cover versions such as The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg pop" and a blistering version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid".



Definitely one of the best live bands on the circuit in the UK at the moment. Catch them if you get the chance.

Happy Birthday to Captain Sensible of The Damned who is celebrating his 50th today. The Captain, who is a very much under-rated guitarist and musician, will be celebrating all weekend with The Damned and their fans in Knaresborough in North Yorkshire. Which is where I'm just off to now; I have a five hour train journey to get there! Looking forward to the celebrations, and much drunkeness and chaos no doubt!

BSM FuzzBender puts two classic fuzz circuits in one pedal: With the flick of a sliding switch, the guitarist can toggle from a vintage FuzzFace tone to a SolaSound/Vox ToneBender MKI tone.

Tony Iommi comments on the time when Black Sabbath supported Rod Stewart!

Gene Simmons is an "Asshole": new star-studded solo album from the Kiss frontman.

The Cure to release first album in four years

Justin Hawkins of The Darkness to undergo op: to correct a recurring heartburn problem, apparently. I wonder if they can do something about that funny voice of his whilst they are at it?

Happy Birthday to The Cure's Robert Smith who is 45 years old today.

Metasonix Unleashes the TX-1 Agonizer: The latest design from Metasonix defies categorization, but its goal is simple - to destroy your sound. The all-analog TX-1 Agonizer features a vacuum tube that originally found its place in 1960s televisions, and has no real place in the audio world. (Check out the dodgy graphics on the casing).

EVH the Subject of Riff Interactive's Latest CD-ROM: Eddie Van Halen is the subject of Riff Interactive's latest instructional CD-ROM, covering rhythm playing, leads, and two handed tapping.

Metallica shows ugly side in documentary: As opposed to what? Do you mean there's a pretty side?

ZZ Top celebrating 35th anniversary on the road: it's hard to tell just quite how old they really are beneath those beards.

Oasis on the verge of a split? I'm amazed that they lasted this long. Please, please pack it in.

B.B. King Postpones Surgery for Concert

Guitar nipple blues for musicians: Making music can be bad for the skin, causing "guitar nipple", "fiddler's neck" and other disorders, said a study. Some guitarists suffer guitar nipple, otherwise known as irritant mastitis.



Well, if do insist on wearing your guitar or bass high up on your chest like Mark King from Level 42, then what do you expect? Sling 'em low, like the Ramones, is what I say.

Langcaster guitars & bass guitars: Handcrafted guitar bodies made from stunning 35,000 year old swamp Kauri roots are fitted with innovated technology pickups.

Check out the ex-Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman's music site - there's a nice section on his guitars and amps.



Incidentally, I'm trying to find a CD of one of his albums, "Can't Stand Noise". I used to have it on cassette (no idea what became of that) and I'd really like to listen to it again as it was a favourite of mine. Please drop me a line if you can help.

The photo that made Dean famous: Dean guitars and that ad.

Kurt Cobain's 1960's Mosrite Gospel: another look at the guitar that recently went for big bucks at auction.

RISA Musical Instruments: they've only gone and re-designed the ukulele! Check out their acoustic, solid, and electric instruments - ukuleles, guitars, mandolins and hybrid instruments.

Cobain's guitar fetches $117,500: A Mosrite guitar belonging to the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was auctioned for $117,500 (£65,000) on Saturday.

Deep Purple bassist leaves door open for possible live appearances with Ritchie Blackmore

Gipsy Kings hope to reclaim gypsy name: Folk band the Gipsy Kings have said they want to "reclaim" the word gypsy to turn it into something positive, amid negative publicity in the current political climate.

Fernandes Guitars have updated and re-designed their website. It's now all Flash driven which is ghastly. Is anyone seriously impressed by Flash websites anymore? They are just so slow. But more to the point, it looks like they have discontinued some of their guitars, such as the Native series. I was seriously considering buying a Native Pro or Elite at one point. I even enquired if they were going to make a production model of the mirror-fronted Native Elite as used by Daniel Ash. (They said "No". Boo! Hiss!)

Seven Fender Stratocaster Models That Pay Tribute to Jimi Hendrix

Happy 60th birthday to Dave Edmunds, one of the rockingest guitarists to have come out of Wales!



I can't find an official website foir him, but here is a fansite:

Dave Edmunds Rockpile Love Sculpture

Manson's First Band Exhumed: Guitarist Scott Putesky (a.k.a. Daisy Berkowitz) has assembled ten Spooky Kids songs for the group's first official release, Lunch Boxes and Choklit Cows, due next week.

Gary Moore will be releasing a new album, "Power Of The Blues", on 7 June

Former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick records guest appearances for Lion's Share and Audiovision

Aaron Howell is "Just a guy who makes guitars".

Dan Armstrong's Orange Squeezer Updated: Vintage Tone Project is working with Dan Armstrong to produce a new line of pedals, kicking things off with the Orange Crusher, and updated version of the classic Orange Squeezer compressor. See also: Pulp Diction

London Guitar Show 2004: I don't know if it's going to be safe for me to go this year. I went to last year's and ended up spending far too much money, especially seeing as I only went in order to write a report for this blog.

T-Rex Launches BigTone Amp Line: BigTone T45 Head, T25 Combo, T212 Cabinet, and T412 Cabinet.

U.S. Music Corp to Acquire Parker Guitars

CUBE family grows with addition of CUBE-60: Introducing the Roland CUBE-60 Guitar Combo.

The Who plan international dates: only two of 'em left, and they still keep going!

Buddy Holly's Guitarist Dies: Guitarist Niki Sullivan, who played rhythm guitar and sang background vocals in Buddy Holly's Crickets, died on April 6th; he was sixty-six.

Stones guitar returned after 38 years: Bill Wyman is reunited with his Vox teardrop bass.

Ned Steinberger To Design New Instruments

Van Halen sellout: Van Halen's reunion is a success before they even play their first date.

StarPolish Interview: Earl Slick: Bowie's guitar man speaks.

Boss GT6B Bass Effects Processor: Boss's first new bass multi-effects processor in over five years.

Ashdown Launch New Bass Amps: New from British manufacturer Ashdown is the AL-ADRP1, a sophisticated bass preamplifier developed for use in professional recording applications, and in conjunction with the AL-1500D DSP power amplifier in a high-power, rack-based backline bass rig.

Zombies guitarist dead at 58: Paul Atkinson, an original guitarist for 60's Brit band The Zombies, has died from cancer.

The King's guitar comes home: The latest attraction in the Rock 'n Soul Museum, Memphis, is the Tsana guitar Elvis played while stationed in Germany.

Build Your Own Guitar in Software: Line 6 release new customising software for their Variax modelling guitar.

Aerosmith returns to its hard-rockin' roots

Behringer unveils LX1200H V-Ampire Digital Modeling Guitar Head

Ozzy confirms possible Black Sabbath reunion, although he wouldn't confirm or deny the rumour that ex-Sabbath bassplayer Geezer Butler was once again part of his backing band, explaining he didn't want to be shouted at by wife and manager Sharon.

Former Led Zeppelin bassist to receive achievement award: John Paul Jones will be receiving an award for his achievements in music at the Frankfurt Musikmesse.

Avril's guitarist quits her band: another departure! Jesse Colburn, Avril Lavigne's rhythm guitarist and ex-boyfriend, has left her band after two years to pursue other interests. I can't say I blame him; it must be a real drag playing that lifeless dirge.

Marilyn Manson Loses Guitarist: John 5 has taken his Telecasters and gone. I wonder if he'll return to his beloved country music?

Guitar Rig Virtual Guitar Studio: Native Instruments introduces Guitar Rig at Musikmesse. Looks bloody complicated to me.

Deep Purple bassist checks in: a tour report from Roger Glover.

Clapton plays guitar again after house ban by his three-year old daughter!