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32 Years Today: Steve Gaines Remembered

32 Years Today: Steve Gaines Remembered

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, […]

October 20, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Credit Paul and Tommy for KISS’s Sonic Boom

Credit Paul and Tommy for KISS’s Sonic Boom

I’ve found myself digging certain parts of KISS’s new Sonic Boom CD, and realizing (or re-realizing) a few things, which are:

October 19, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Blackmore’s Dad: Learn Guitar Or I’ll Beat You!

Blackmore’s Dad: Learn Guitar Or I’ll Beat You!

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 […]

October 15, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Hells Bells! A New Angus Pickup…Sort Of

Hells Bells! A New Angus Pickup…Sort Of

If you follow all things Seymour Duncan, you will have seen a couple weeks ago that the company announced that Seymour himself has been working on Angus Young’s guitars. Here’s what was said: “We’ve been working behind the scenes with Angus Young for the past year. His tech, Takumi Suetsugu, contacted Seymour Duncan about dialing […]

October 13, 2009 | By | 4 Replies More
1979 Interview: EVH on Van Halen II

1979 Interview: EVH on Van Halen II

For tone-heads, cheap video and the Internet came a few decades too late. So instead of having loads of video on pioneering rock bands who had real talent and real tone, we have only a few interviews, some of which might be gone and forgotten. Luckily someone at the MetroAmp forum (I think…might have been […]

October 8, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
The Last Word on Billy Gibbons’ Live Rig?

The Last Word on Billy Gibbons’ Live Rig?

ZZen and the Kung Fu Masters of Rock Dang! I was lucky enough to catch that little ol’ band from Texas at New York City’s Beacon Theatre a couple weeks ago, and wow, what a show. The guys were just…cool, and the sound – I hope the sound guy got a case of beer that […]

October 5, 2009 | By | 6 Replies More
The Best Stompbox I’ve Ever Owned (Part 2)

The Best Stompbox I’ve Ever Owned (Part 2)

Sound Clip Below! Here’s the rest of the interview with Gaspedals owner Jayson Lane, followed by a sound clip and some notable info. WoodyTone: I read on your website that you’re a tone-chaser, obviously a guitar-player.  What sound were you trying to find or achieve when you got on to the Carb and do you […]

October 2, 2009 | By | Reply More
The Best Stompbox I’ve Ever Owned (Part 1)

The Best Stompbox I’ve Ever Owned (Part 1)

The Gaspedals Carb! What if a stompbox gave you only two things: more and better. More of the tone you worked hard at creating for yourself, then opening that up with more clarity, dynamics, harmonics and whatever other descriptors you want to toss in there that equal better to you. Would you jump all over […]

September 30, 2009 | By | Reply More
EVH’s Two and a Half Men Riff, Extended Version

EVH’s Two and a Half Men Riff, Extended Version

Did you see Edward Van Halen on the Two and a Half Men TV show last week? Naturally they left him until the last part of the show, but for Ed fans the wait was worth it – because Ed had a guitar in his hands and proceeded to whip off 10 or so seconds […]

September 28, 2009 | By | 4 Replies More
Criss Oliva’s Gear Details

Criss Oliva’s Gear Details

Some Gear Now Appearing on eBay? Any Savatage fans out there? I know there must be, and if Criss Oliva were still alive today there would probably be a lot more (RIP Criss). I remember the first time I heard “Hall of the Mountain King,” with the classical music intro. I knew I’d heard the […]

September 25, 2009 | By | 6 Replies More
George Lynch’s ‘Breaking the Chains’ Gear

George Lynch’s ‘Breaking the Chains’ Gear

George Lynch is one of my favorite guitarists, but for guitar fans he seems to be a love him or hate him guy – no middle ground. Maybe that’s because he has a distinctive style, and he’s very experimental having tried the rock-rap thing (I love the Smoke This CD), entire albums and concerts with […]

September 23, 2009 | By | Reply More
Super-Early Van Halen: It’s All There!

Super-Early Van Halen: It’s All There!

In the same April 1979 issue of Record Review Magazine mentioned in last Friday’s post, Ed was asked when he started playing guitar. He said: “I’d say that I really didn’t start playing guitar and getting into lead guitar until Cream and the heavy guitar things started happening.” Ask how old he was, he said: […]

September 21, 2009 | By | 3 Replies More
EVH Started Using the Bar Because of Blackmore

EVH Started Using the Bar Because of Blackmore

Here we are again, I guess – another episode of “is it true or not?” starring Edward Van Halen. Can you take him at his word, or not? Is 90% of what he said truth or was 90% misdirection? Was it more like 50/50? Who knows. I’m not in one camp or another. I just […]

September 18, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
Dave Hlubek’s ‘Flirtin’ With Disaster’ Tone

Dave Hlubek’s ‘Flirtin’ With Disaster’ Tone

And Why Hatchet’s First Album Sounded Like Skynyrd I still love Molly Hatchet’s tune “Flirtin’ With Disaster”…and I know I’m not alone! A great song, fast tempo, some great guitar-playing, multiple leads – separated by the southern lead singer whistle which means “c’mon and play something” – harmony leads, it’s all there. Tone of the […]

September 16, 2009 | By | 3 Replies More
The Anvil Movie: Go See It!

The Anvil Movie: Go See It!

An Ode to Joy (Seriously) By now I assume you’ve heard about the documentary on the Canadian metal band Anvil. It’s called “Anvil: The Story of Anvil,” and is showing in smaller theaters in the U.S. and Canada (I’m not sure about Europe). I was given a promo copy by a friend in the music […]

September 14, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More