F the iPod, my brothers. Nothing sounds as good as blasting tunes out of speakers, particularly in the car. I don’t know what it is – the enclosed space, the audio engineering, the proliferation of high-end audio stuff in vehicles…. Don’t know and don’t care. The bottom line for me is that when I crank [...]

I don’t know if everyone but me has seen this movie, but if not (and even if so) the clips are worth a look. Very cool to see Jimmy Page play, and they show some of his gear (but apparently not on purpose!).

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 [...]

A Dang Solid-State Amp!

Joe Walsh isn’t a tone king, he’s a tone emperor. A couple examples: He insisted that Jimmy Page take (buy, whatever) the Les Paul that became Jimmy’s No. 1. And he hooked Pete Townshend up with what to this day is one of Pete’s favorite rigs. (More details on both of these [...]

Guitar magazines are strange. Honestly, every month I prepare to be disappointed and once in a while I’m surprised – in a good way. That was the case with this month’s (April 2010) Guitar Player magazine, with Joe Perry on the cover. Good interviews with Joe and also Frank Gambali and Pete Anderson.
I mention that [...]

Plus Jimmy Playing Whitesnake’s ‘Still of the Night!’
Word is the mighty Jimmy Page is going to do “something” musically this year, after seeing his attempt to get Zep II off the ground with a new singer fail, and watching John Paul Jones have fun with Them Crooked Vultures.
I can’t wait. I’m sure it will be [...]

Bonzo! Alex!
When you’re pondering how to improve your tone and playing next year, think about this: It’s inspiring to play with a good drummer. You might play differently, you might be inspired to new heights in riff-dom and all that could change your tone – much of which is in your fingers anyway.

Solid-State Amp; Heartbreaker Guitar Audio Below!

Jimmy Page: Les Paul and Marshall plexi.
Live, yes – mostly. Studio, no. And for Heartbreaker? Heck no, apparently.

We’re finally seeing sun here in Jersey for the first time in about 15 years, so it’s inspired a “head into the weekend with Van Halen” post. It’s Friday – I’ll keep it light.
Three vids: the first a short convo between Jimmy Page and Les Paul in which they discuss EVH; then a KILLER live [...]

Have you ever seen and heard Jimmy Page talking about his number-one Les Paul? Well now you can. I’m sure Pagey fans will know this info already, but may not have seen this video, dug up from YouTube by the good folks at fretbase.com.
A few quick highlights of the video:

Page Played ‘You Really Got Me?!’

Here’s part 2, the last part for now, of my deep dive into Ritchie Blackmore’s tone. Below Ritchie first talks about his technique, and then he issues opinions on everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Jeff Beck (all from the same sources as used in part 1).

Plus some of EVH’s standard fibbing!

Quick tidbits, starting with Robert Plant on not wanting to the the Zep reunion — via a radio interview you can listen to here:

I’m a little burnt from writing my treatise for Monday’s WoodyTone entry, so here’s a WoodyTone-related roundup of “stuff.”
Vox Reading
Speaking of treatise, a new, definitive treatise on Vox amps is out – though the only person I can recall using a Vox amp in a rock context is Brian May.
Kennedy Did Try Out for ‘Zep’
In [...]

What’s the bigger crime: ‘Zep’ touring without Robert Plant or Jimmy, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham never touring together again with any singer?
First came rumors of the band trying out new singers because Robert Plant didn’t want to tour. Robert said categorically that he would not tour for at least 2 years.
Then the rumors [...]

Stairway on a Tele?
In the category of “how the hell did I miss this” is a semi-recent interview published on Gibson.com titled “Jimmy Page’s Recording Secrets.” Say what?
Didn’t want to get my hopes up about learning some cool tidbits from one of rock’s masters of recording and composing, but I guess I did because I [...]

I was wandering through Wal-Mart’s music section the other day, trying to politely refused my son’s repeated requests for a Def Leppard DVD, and found a couple of Zep tribute discs. The first one I listed to was “Contemporary Blues Interpret Led Zeppelin,” put out this year.
It’s cool. Some of it is about what you’d [...]

Back in early October, Billboard.com published an update on the Satriani-Hagar-Anthony-Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilis) “supergroup” that at least for now is titled Chickenfoot. Since I missed it then, hear are some highlights of that article now (all quotes are from Satch):