Are music lessons/instruction vastly overrated? I’m thinking they are. I’ve read over the years how people “should” read music, know all the notes on the fretboard by name and all that stuff, but really? Does that really help you become a better musician with your own style? Or does it hurt….
I got thinking about this [...]

Already Writing Next Record!
Premier Guitar recently posted an interview with Ace Frehley in which Ace FINALLY talks with some specifics about what he used in the studio back in the early KISS days. Not a lot, but some. Here it is:
“On the early KISS records, I used my tobacco-sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard with a [...]

Some people might think an Ace Frehley instructional DVD is an oxymoron. I can understand that. Ace is not a technician and his style isn’t complex in 32nd-note, finger-gymnastical, “hyperlodian” ways.
But that is precisely what makes Ace’s style unique, and the fact that it’s relatively easy to cop is one big reason he’s influenced many [...]

Nuno In a Similar Boat…
Since we recently ended a year and, according to some, a decade, I thought about writing a post on the year’s/decade’s best/worst whatever…but decided it would run a serious risk of being boring. Or at least redundant.
But I couldn’t let one thing pass without writing about it. And because you read [...]

Full Track by Track Review

After numerous listens to the Sonic Boom CD, that’s where I come out: good album, great single – and bear in mind that I’m a huge, long-time KISS fan.
Don’t misread that. This is the best KISS record since 1979’s Dynasty (obviously I’m not a fan of the ’80s KISS stuff – [...]

A couple of decent Ace interviews were published recently – decent because there’s some gear info in them, some good stuff, but both come up a little short on details (when I interview Ace I’ll rectify that!). Anyhow, here are the most interesting bits from modernguitars.com and iheartguitarblog.com. Anything in quotes is Ace speaking.
Gear Used [...]

Yeah! (Anomaly Streaming Link Below…)
Wooo-hooooooooo!! I got an advance copy of Ace Frehley’s new Anomaly CD, his first new music in 20 years, and…well, before I tell you about it, I gotta be honest: I had huge hopes and a little fear sliding it into the CD player.

The tune ‘Outer Space’ from Ace Frehley’s new album Anomaly (out next month) is available for a listen (below), and sounds like classic Ace. It starts out with ‘2000 Man’-like chugging, the vocals of course have Ace’s signature sort of “wavy” style and the lead is backward, like the lead in ‘Speedin’ Back to My [...]

(Note: Check out Ace’s redone website! Sweet!)
Just like every other guitar player playing covers in the 1970s, Eddie Van Halen was familiar with the KISS catalog and thus Ace Frehley’s stuff. So whenever the topic of “did Ed right-hand tap first?” comes up – in my opinion a pointless debate (Ed took all previous guitar [...]

One of my favorite solos on a KISS tune is on one of the studio cuts from KISS Alive II: All American Man. It’s one of my (many) favorite KISS tunes, and guitar sounds too. I should also mention that I’m a huge Ace Frehley fan: He is THE reason I and many other guit-slingers [...]

First Ace Frehley was in a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial, and now Gene Simmons is promoting another beverage: Dr. Pepper Cherry. What’s next, Peter Criss helping Dominos sell recession-proof pizza? Paul Stanley singing that at BK “you can have it you-owoo-owoo-owoor way?”
Ah, whatever. It’s Friday, it’s fun, it’s Classic rock (sorta). And if you ask Gene, [...]

Here’s a vid of Ace Frehley tracking a solo for the song “Pain In the Neck,” a new tune off his upcoming Anomaly CD. Not the greatest vid or sound quality, and it would’ve been nice to see Ace close up, but it’s better than nothing!
The style is all Ace, which is cool, and the [...]

First the disclaimers: I have nothing against Tommy Thayer, whose band Black ‘n Blue I really liked and who seems to do a good job filling the slot of one of my absolute favorite guitar players, the one and only Ace Frehley. Nor do I have anything against KISS, meaning Paul and Gene, one of [...]

Some news clips of the week:
Ace’s Album/Space News
From Blabbermouth.net and HardRadio.com: Ace Frehley’s new solo album, tentatively due out this spring, will be called “Anomaly.” In an early 2008 interview with Billboard, Ace said about the forthcoming CD: “Basically I’m trying to get back into the mindset I was in when I did my first [...]

Ace Frehley, one of my heroes (my first guitar hero) and a guy who always seemed to want to do high-tech stuff even before there was such a thing as high tech, finally has a website. Yeah! But…
…while it’s very cool to go to acefrehley.com and hear his tune Ozone auto-play (as well as see [...]