…and Three Van Halen Connections

Montrose, the 1973 self-titled debut album by the band of the same name, is one of those tone-pillar albums – “a pillar of tone that holds up the house of rock” (or pick a different metaphor). It likewise stands on its own as a monument of great tunes and great tone.
I [...]

As a kid in high school in the ’80s (early ’80s!), Jake E. Lee was on my list of favorite guitarists – another one of the seemingly endless supply of amazing, cool-looking axemen coming out of LA. I wondered how Ozzy found these guys: Were they lined up on street corners? Hanging out under palm [...]

You might. It would probably be a mid-70s Fender Stratocaster, which Lowell (of Little Feat) was favoring at the time, but could be something else.
Why am I asking? Here’s why, from the August 1976 issue of Guitar Player magazine:
GP: How many guitars have you had?
Lowell: I’ve had 50, 20 of which I no longer have [...]

All Fender Except the Joe Walsh Rig
I recently subscribed to Guitar Player’s GP2 on-line mag (subscribe here – it’s free) because this time I saw Pete Townshend on the cover. Had to read it, and glad I did. Following are some cool tone-making and tone-recording excerpts from the interview.

…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 interview is [...]

Howard Leese’s Gear Too; Replace Ace?

To me, the Heart tune “Barracuda” is one of those perfect songs. Everything’s great: guitar, drums (watch it on YouTube) and the singing, which is just amazing. We’ve all heard the song hundreds of times, but there’s precious little about the gear Roger Fisher and fellow guitarist Howard Leese used [...]

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 from three [...]

Most people swore Jimmy Page only used a Les Paul, but we now know about the Fender Telecasters. Jimi Hendrix apparently used a Tele on the Purple Haze solo. Virtually everyone thinks Steve Gaines used a Strat on Skynyrd’s “I Know a Little,” but it turns out it might have been a Les Paul.
Point is, [...]

Part 2 of 2; Plus George’s Vintage Parts Guitars
If you read part 1 of the Lynch Mob’s Smoke and Mirrors review, you know I’m digging the album. (I’m also really digging Lynch’s Souls of We disc – more on that in a future post.) But what’s odd about it, from a Lynch standpoint, is a [...]

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 – [...]

How To Play ‘I Know a Little;’ Played on a Les Paul?
Thirty-two years ago today, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane went down and we lost one of the greatest guitar players ever to walk out on a stage: 28-year-old Steve Gaines.
Steve was an absolute monster. Couple quotes to that effect (if you read nothing else, read Ed [...]

Wanted a Trumpet, Drums; Settled for Guitar
Fender.com recently published a short-ish interview with Ritchie Blackmore that had a couple of interesting tidbits in it, below. For the full interview, which discusses his current work with Blackmore’s Night, click here.
Fender: Is it true that when your father bought you your first guitar at age 11 it [...]

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 [...]