Part 1 of this interview was about the music Joe Bonamassa has been recording lately. In part 2 below, it’s all about tone and gear (yeah!). Joe has a great ear for tone (for woody tone), so it’s always interesting to see what he has to say.
WoodyTone: There’s Black Rock, Black Country and now I’m [...]

I’m a Rush fan, particularly since I came of guitar age during the Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures era, still two of my favorite albums. I did fall away from Rush a bit over the years as they got more into synths and Alex Lifeson got more into washy, ultra-chorused, ambient sounds instead of riffs.
But [...]

…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 [...]

In September we posted that a new Slash Les Paul was in the works, along with new signature pickups. Well, with the winter NAMM show just weeks away, details about lots of products are beginning to trickle out, including the new Slash pickups. Here’s what we know.

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 heard [...]

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 than Ace Frehley.
> [...]

Well, wow.
I’d been watching bits and pieces of Joe Bonamassa’s Live from the Royal Albert Hall DVD, but today I sat down and watched the whole thing, start to finish. I have to say that this is one of the best concert DVDs I’ve seen – and remember, I’m a rock guy.
It’s a great performance [...]

…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 [...]

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 [...]

Yesterday my son wanted to bang on the drums at Sam Ash and Guitar Center, which are across the street from one another here in northern New Jersey. So I sort of shrugged at my wife like, ‘Hey – I’m doing it for him,’ then ran for the car and took off!
(On the way there, [...]

There’s more woody tone in Gov’t Mule’s new By a Thread CD than in just about any album I can think of off the top of my head since the ’70s (maybe Derek Trucks’ latest?). Many other albums have great tones, but it’s pretty rare that everything sounds this woody in a vintage rock way. [...]

Foreigner is a funny band. One of their songs will cause you to change the station, another will cause you to crank it up – because Mick Jones can throw out cool riffs.
I’ve always been curious about the specifics of Mick’s early Foreigner gear, but there isn’t much info on the web about it. So [...]

If you’re a diehard Slash fan, you might know this already, but it was news to me – interesting news.
Lately, Slash has been spotted playing only a Les Paul (no surprise), but one that is not one of his many signature Les Pauls (a surprise). Naturally lots of people have been curious about the guitar.
Here’s [...]