Recent Posts

A Couple Cool Rockin’ Holiday Thangs

A Couple Cool Rockin’ Holiday Thangs

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.)

December 24, 2009 | By | Reply More
Alex Lifeson: Composing Solos, Rig Mainstays

Alex Lifeson: Composing Solos, Rig Mainstays

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 […]

December 22, 2009 | By | Reply More
Review: Bruce Kulick’s New BK3 Solo Album

Review: Bruce Kulick’s New BK3 Solo Album

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 […]

December 17, 2009 | By | Reply More
Bruce Kulick on New Solo Album and KISS

Bruce Kulick on New Solo Album and KISS

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 […]

December 15, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Go Buy the Bonamassa Albert Hall DVD

Go Buy the Bonamassa Albert Hall DVD

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 […]

December 11, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Joe Bonamassa’s Current Guitars and Rig

Joe Bonamassa’s Current Guitars and Rig

Here you go, three YouTube vids, courtesy of Premier Guitar.

December 11, 2009 | By | 2 Replies More
Townshend’s Recording Rigs and Tips

Townshend’s Recording Rigs and Tips

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.

December 9, 2009 | By | 5 Replies More
What To Learn from the VH Guitar Hero Iso Tracks

What To Learn from the VH Guitar Hero Iso Tracks

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 […]

December 8, 2009 | By | 3 Replies More
New KISS Sonic Boom Gear Info…

New KISS Sonic Boom Gear Info…

…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 […]

December 7, 2009 | By | Reply More
Roger Fisher’s ‘Barracuda’ Gear (and Other Tidbits)

Roger Fisher’s ‘Barracuda’ Gear (and Other Tidbits)

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 […]

December 4, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Roger Fisher’s Heart Gear

Roger Fisher’s Heart Gear

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 […]

December 3, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Exclusive: Original Heart Axeman Roger Fisher (Part 1)

Exclusive: Original Heart Axeman Roger Fisher (Part 1)

Talks Heart, Tone, EVH, KISS and more! Do you remember Roger Fisher? If you’re a classic rock fan, you should. But in case you don’t, just know that he was the co-founder of the band Heart and wrote many of that band’s signature riffs and tunes – “Barracuda” being one outstanding example. That’s right. Heart […]

December 2, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Review: Raw Power Les Paul Sounds Good But…

Review: Raw Power Les Paul Sounds Good But…

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 […]

November 30, 2009 | By | Reply More
Iommi Fans, Get the New Guitar Player Mag

Iommi Fans, Get the New Guitar Player Mag

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 […]

November 25, 2009 | By | Reply More
What To Learn from the New Angus SG

What To Learn from the New Angus SG

New ‘Signature’ Pickup… You may be aware that Gibson recently announced two new signature Angus Young Gibson SGs. One is a custom shop model – the Angus Young SG Standard – and the other is a Gibson production model that has the same name minus the Standard. We can learn about what kind of tone […]

November 23, 2009 | By | 2 Replies More