Category: Steve Vai
…the new Gravity Storm pickups designed for Steve Vai, and a bit o’ other stuff. Why other stuff? Because the second-best thing to playing guitar is talking guitar. Thanks much to Steve Blucher – DiMarzio’s pickup guru, in case you didn’t know – and DiMarzio for setting this up. So much for the preamble: WoodyTone: […]
Earlier this year I got an awakening, in the form of checking out the YMI5150 Model-A axe. Lots to love there, but the awakening was the DiMarzio Super Distortion. Really a re-awakening because I’d used DiMarzios (Super Distortions and Dual Sounds) for years back in the day. Bang! Was a shot to the ears. Fell […]
A bunch of get-your-hopes-up new music has been coming out lately, or is due out soon. At least one huge disappointment in that pile, but there’s some good stuff, including Steve Vai’s new one, The Story of Light. Before I start yapping about it, here’s the “single” (first release) from that, “Gravity Storm.” That sweet […]
It’s Friday! Do you have guitar-squeezin’ in your weekend? Is it part of the plan? It should be if not, even if you have to…squeeze it in. (I wish I could find an amp that I could crank through headphones late at night that would sound like roasting EL84s or EL34s.) Anyhow, to get your […]
New CD – Last Part of the Trilogy – Out Now In an era when the word “artist” is thrown around for everyone from “rap artists” (oxymoron) to people who couldn’t shovel snow with a guitar let alone play it (but are famous), I’m here to tell you something we already know: Steve Vai is […]
Human Voice-Emulating… PremierGuitar.com had an article on its website titled “The Science of Tone.” Caught my eye, read it, turned out to be only semi-interesting. The bottom line of the article is that there really isn’t much of a science because it’s all in the ears of the beholder, and everyone’s ears are different. Duh. […]
Vai and Sammy Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and if not, happy holidays. Hope yours is fun, relaxing and you get at least one new piece of gear. (If anyone out there is reading this while on military duty, you have my sincere thanks. Keep your head down.)
Vai and Crimson I think that headline is self-explanatory. So here you go: first Steve Vai playing Zappa, then King Crimson playing ‘Elephant Talk.’ Re: Elephant Talk, I’d never heard that song before – or anything remotely like that song – which several of my buds could not believe. Maybe you’re in the same boat!
Wow. I caught Jeff Beck at the Scranton, Pa. Cultural Center last night on the first night of what looks like a short U.S. tour, and it was incredible. Just absolutely mind-blowing.
Yours truly scrolled through all 700+ Winter 2009 NAMM show YouTube vidoes (and a few others) to find the best vids uploaded so far – WoodyTone-wise, that is – and they are below, in no particular order. Tone-wise, my favorites are the Wizard amps – I believe Wizards are made by Angus Young’s roadie and […]
Steve Vai said on his website that a new Carvin Legacy amp, the Legacy II, would be announced in a couple weeks at the winter NAMM show. Well, the newest Carvin catalog is available on the Carvin site via PDF, and Vai is on the cover with his Legacy II. One download later, and here’s […]
Kind of a news round-up: New Jason Becker Guitar (and more) If you don’t know who Jason Becker is, do a Google search on him. He went from being one of the hottest six-string gunners on the planet to one of the most enlightened human beings on the planet (which would you rather be?). The […]
Can anyone get woodytone out of a solid basswood guitar body? Or is this just the worst guitar wood ever? Here’s my ear experience with it. 1. Not even the great EVH can get a true woodytone out of basswood, though he has come close on stage with the EVH Art Series Charvels.
Fair Warning Tone Ain’t All the Same
Got it in my head to figure out which Van Halen song tones – not album tones – I liked the most. Started with Fair Warning, whose balls I just can’t get enough of…which doesn’t sound so good but you get what I mean. Listen to it cranked in my car because that’s the only […]
Pondering VH’s Fair Warning Tone
LOVE the first four Van Halen albums. Always have, always will. Love the rest too, including the Van Hagar years (oops, forgot about VH III…), but those first four vinyl donuts are to me and many others just the nads. The nadliest of nads. They’re a band kicking the world’s butt in every way, and […]
Recently I was ruined yet again by a good amp. This time a bud’s Bogner Shiva, EL34 version. Let’s call him Sean – because that’s his name…. He’d been talking about how awesome it was for a while, and even though I know he has good ears, wasn’t too motivated to go try it. I’d […]
The Gene-EVH-Ace-Joe Perry Connection
Have you picked up “Guitar World Presents 40 Years of Van Halen” yet? Zactly – I didn’t even know it existed until I saw it in a bookstore (remember those? lol). Anyhow, I’m always amazed at how I think I’ve memorized every word ever written about Ed and his gear and then I read something […]
More On the YMI5150 Model-A Guitar
Few weeks ago I posted a brief “review” (outdated word) of Kevin Holbrook’s YMI5150 Model-A guitar. As a brief reminder, what got my attention were the following things: > A good wood combo: swamp ash, maple/rosewood. > An interesting and unique combo of components resulting in a Strat-shaped and -scaled guitar with an ABR bridge […]
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 […]
