I remember the Guitar Player magazine with Warren DeMartini on the cover – because it never arrived. I remember looking forward to it, I remember seeing it in guitar stores, but it never arrived at my house even though I was a subscriber. That’s how guitar-crazy the ’80s were: someone at the post office stole [...]
I happened on a fairly recent interview with Alex Lifeson from Canadian Musician magazine a while back, then forgot about it. Found it again, so here are the interesting parts, all quotes are Alex’s: Composing Solos “I want it to be part of the song – I don’t want it to be just an exercise [...]
Here’s a tip for web-minded musicians: Do a blog about your recording process. A good one. Detailed, daily, with lots of photos. That’s what Bruce Kulick did for the recording of his BK3 CD, and if you’re at all a gear head – and what musician isn’t – after reading Bruce’s blog you’ll want to [...]
On: BK3, Not Being in KISS, His Favorite Rig You’d have to be newly arrived from Jupiter – with no Internet connection – not to know that Bruce Kulick was KISS’s lead guitarist during the shreddy (and then grungy) ’80s and early ’90s. But you might not know this: > He was in KISS longer [...]
If you’re a diehard Van Halen fan, the only thing you know for sure is that no one can get “THAT” exact sound but Ed himself. Yes, some people’s fingers can sound like Ed’s and some people’s rigs can sound like Ed’s, but to put it all together…. You might swear it’s been done. If [...]
…in PremierGuitar.com Articles Lots has been written about KISS’s Sonic Boom album, but all of the interviews thus far have left info gaps. PremierGuitar.com recently posted a couple of new interviews – a little late to the party, but the info is good. A few gear details are still missing, but not many! One PG [...]
Plus Roger’s First Impression of EVH Here’s the second part of my 3-part interview with founding Heart member Roger Fisher – who unfortunately for all of us hasn’t gotten his due over the years. Although there’s no doubt, you can tell he’s a guitarist merely by the fact that he can recall his gear details [...]
Great Tone Info! After reading a disappointing interview with Tony Iommi and Edward Van Halen in Guitar World – how you interview those two guys and just end up with a b**ch session I have no idea – it was a pleasure to get the January 2010 Guitar Player with Tony on the cover. It’s [...]
I’ve been a Randy Rhoads fan ever since I heard the Blizzard of Ozz album. Many people can say the same thing. I’ve read all the guitar magazine interviews (Guitar Player only?) with Randy, and while I can’t quote from them verbatim, I know the gist of his gear details. It also seems to me [...]
ZZen and the Kung Fu Masters of Rock Dang! I was lucky enough to catch that little ol’ band from Texas at New York City’s Beacon Theatre a couple weeks ago, and wow, what a show. The guys were just…cool, and the sound – I hope the sound guy got a case of beer that [...]
Sound Clip Below! Here’s the rest of the interview with Gaspedals owner Jayson Lane, followed by a sound clip and some notable info. WoodyTone: I read on your website that you’re a tone-chaser, obviously a guitar-player. What sound were you trying to find or achieve when you got on to the Carb and do you [...]
The Gaspedals Carb! What if a stompbox gave you only two things: more and better. More of the tone you worked hard at creating for yourself, then opening that up with more clarity, dynamics, harmonics and whatever other descriptors you want to toss in there that equal better to you. Would you jump all over [...]
George Lynch is one of my favorite guitarists, but for guitar fans he seems to be a love him or hate him guy – no middle ground. Maybe that’s because he has a distinctive style, and he’s very experimental having tried the rock-rap thing (I love the Smoke This CD), entire albums and concerts with [...]
It’s tough to pin down the Aerosmith guys as far as what guitars were used when because they definitely didn’t stick with any one instrument too long, even during any given concert. But amp-wise, after Toys they switched over to the new-at-the-time Music Man amps which had 6L6 power tubes (like Fenders) but solid-state preamps.
With Aerosmith touring and all the pre-tour talk about playing the Toys in the Attic album live, I wanted to try to nail down what gear Joe Perry and Brad Whitford were using on Toys. Well, good luck: This one has been tough to track down.
There’s been a lot of stuff written about, said about and speculated about regarding Edward Van Halen’s mind-blowing, world-altering Van Halen I setup. Was he running “slaved” amps (one amp into another), was he using some sort of boost and/or distortion pedal, etc. If you read hard and don’t fall prey to speculation (which is [...]
The September 2009 issue of Vintage Guitars magazine has Mick Mars of Motley Crue on the cover. My first thought was: Another guy who makes a lot of dough and buys a bunch of vintage stuff. But after reading the interview, I was surprised to find out that Mick actually uses this stuff, in the [...]
Before getting into this track-by-track review, I’d like to make three things clear just so you know where I’m coming from. 1. I’m a new-ish Joe Bonamssa fan, so I don’t have in-depth familiarity with his prior six CDs. 2. I’m a classic rock guy, not really a blues guy – although Joe is sort [...]
Vid: ‘The Spirit of Radio Lesson’ from Alex Even though I played in bands that copped multiple tunes off Rush’s Moving Pictures album, my favorite Rush album is Permanent Waves. The band was just on fire for that recording. Lots of energy, great parts, great arrangements that are complex yet understandable. Did I say great?
Still Using Peaveys, No Talk of Marshalls GuitarCenter.com just put up a good interview with Chickenfoot, which, while documenting yet again the great chemistry these four guys have, also gets into the gear they use, notably Satch and Michael Anthony. As you will read, Satch only talks about his Peavey JSX signature amps. There’s no [...]
One Man’s Recollections, Anyway… And: Why Ed Used a Variac and Greenbacks? [A quick request: Please do not copy and paste this entire post somewhere else. Thanks!] Not too long ago I had the pleasure of connecting with a guy who grew up with Eddie Van Halen. Ed went to the same high school, they [...]
Seems like someone at Guitar Center had the common sense to grab a videocam and get Joe Satriani to talk about his pedals. And talk Satch does. He says why he likes each one, what settings he uses, what the pedals can do, even the order (a little) of his signal chain. Sweet! And through [...]
No One Touches Sykes’ Les Paul! I happened upon a cool, recent interview on PremierGuitar.com of Scott Gorham. Good stuff there, but not a lot on his Thin Lizzy-era gear, maybe because it was Les Pauls and Marshalls and that’s it. But I had to find out, which led me to a Performing Musician interview [...]
Diehard Eric Johnson fans may have seen this one, but then again maybe not. My buddy Sean (thanks man!) unearthed this gem deep on the Music123.com site – a vid of Eric going through his pedalboard, guitars and amps in the studio, and playing some stupidly amazing stuff.
I know that’s a Steve Vai line, but it applies here: I caught Allan Holdsworth Wednesday night in Teaneck, N.J., my first time seeing him live. I loved it – and I’m a litle surprised I did. I knew going in that Allan was a monster player with a monster band – that’s always fun [...]
Just for kicks, and so you can see how much money some things cost, here are a few examples of mostly-vintage, toneful gear that have sold on eBay recently – meaning if they sold 2 years ago, or a couple of years from now, maybe they would’ve gone for more. And no, I didn’t buy [...]
The first time I heard Robin Trower, I had the same thought everyone probably did: That guy sounds like Hendrix. Actually, it may have been: That guy ripped off Hendrix! But man, Robin did it well because his tunes sounded so goooooooooood. If you don’t have Bridge of Sighs on CD, you must…go…get…it. Right now! [...]
Treble Booster Was Key, Paranoid on a Les Paul Tony back in the day, with ample Laneys. There’s some good stuff on the Gibson.com website (are you listening, Fender?), though you have to spend time surfing to find it. Recently I tripped over a mid-2008 interview with Tony Iommi about recording Paranoid, a classic album [...]
To get WoodyTone, you almost always have to have vintage gear, or reproductions of vintage gear. That’s just the way it is. Wood, not wood smothered in inch-thick polyester finishes. Tubes, not modeling. Analog, not digital. There’s a general consensus in the guitar world that older is better: the wood in older guitars has aged; [...]
Plus a gear explanation! Another good find by the folks at Gibson.com, this time of rare Jeff Beck vids on YouTube. Gibson is promoting the new Jeff Beck signature oxblood Les Paul, so they’re naturally doing quite a few Beck-related items of late. This one is way cool for any Beck, Les Paul or tone [...]
Did You Read the Esquire EVH Piece Yet?
We’re going to have to wait yet another week for the interview with Kevin Holbrook of YMI5150 guitars because we have yet another newsworthy event. This time it’s the recent Esquire interview with Edward Van Halen. Now before you EVH fans get to getting your hopes up, let’s bear in mind the same ol’s: 1. [...]
Show ‘Review’: Van Halen at the Garden
Took my 10-year-old son to see Van Halen at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 1. I think he was more excited to see them than I was – not that I wasn’t, but this was the mighty Van Halen whose tunes the both of us have copped, jammed to and listened [...]
Thoughts On Van Halen’s New One
Been listening to Van Halen’s A Different Kind of Truth over and over and over for a while now. Couple reasons: 1. It’s great, and I’m a teenager again (minus a bunch o’ hair), running up to my room to put 1984 on the turntable. 2. Sometime after X listens (X = 1,000? 10,000?) things [...]
So everyone’s asking me, “Where the F is your review of the new Van Halen?” And I’m like, “I’m workin’ on it, man!” One reason it took a little bit is I wanted to catch up with Pete Thorn to get his comments on the tracks. If you haven’t heard of him, Pete is an [...]
Here’s the New VH Single/Vid: 50w?
Update from a reader (thanks!): Tattoo is is based on an old song, “Down in Flames” – check it below. “Tattoo.” Is it me or have we never heard a Van Halen tune like this before? If Ed used his “grail” Marshall Super Lead on this album, don’t think we’re hearing it on this tune! [...]
Breaking Down the VH NYC Debut
She’s the Woman! Cafe Wha – yeah man! Couldn’t wrangle my son and I an invite, so instead awaited the sure-to-follow YouTube vids. Fingers were crossed that the band would play some new tunes, though had to admit that didn’t make much sense since they hadn’t even released a tune yet. Anyhow, here’s what we [...]
Bonamassa Hears Clapton in EVH: You?
Lots of well-known axe-slingers are quoted in Neil Zlozower’s new (and awesome) Eddie Van Halen book. One is the current white bluesman extraordinaire, Joe “gingers o’ fire” Bonamassa. What he says is interesting, and not sure I can hear what he’s hearing. Bear in mind a couple things: 1. EVH has said many times that [...]
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