Recent Posts

Gibson Dark Fire Kinda Cool

Gibson Dark Fire Kinda Cool

Gotta admit, the vid looks pretty cool – in a techy kind of way. What the heck is the Gibson Dark Fire? Until today, I had no idea other than it was a newfangled $3,499 MSRP Les Paul crammed with electronic gizmos, the shipping or QC (quality control) of which caused delays in shipping the […]

January 13, 2009 | By | Reply More
A Gibbons-May-Van Halen Thang?

A Gibbons-May-Van Halen Thang?

Did Edward Van Halen learn tapping from Brian May who learned it from Billy Gibbons? In a recent (and very good) Guitar Player interview of Brian May, conducted by GP associate editor Matt Blackett, the topic of two-handed tapping (aka, right-hand hammer-ons) came up. Rather than paraphrase the whole exchange, I’ll quote it below – […]

January 12, 2009 | By | 3 Replies More
News Clips: Ace, Rainbow II, Guitar Gods

News Clips: Ace, Rainbow II, Guitar Gods

Some news clips of the week: Ace’s Album/Space News From Blabbermouth.net and HardRadio.com: Ace Frehley’s new solo album, tentatively due out this spring, will be called “Anomaly.” In an early 2008 interview with Billboard, Ace said about the forthcoming CD: “Basically I’m trying to get back into the mindset I was in when I did […]

January 10, 2009 | By | Reply More
Vai’s Legacy II Amp Specs Are Out

Vai’s Legacy II Amp Specs Are Out

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 […]

January 9, 2009 | By | Reply More
No ‘Zep’ Tour, No Zep Anything?

No ‘Zep’ Tour, No Zep Anything?

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 […]

January 8, 2009 | By | Reply More
Gibson Reveals Page Secrets (Not)

Gibson Reveals Page Secrets (Not)

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 […]

January 7, 2009 | By | 1 Reply More
New Wolfgang $3K, Sounds Like ‘Nut Butter’

New Wolfgang $3K, Sounds Like ‘Nut Butter’

Full Wolfgang specs below! It’s almost time for the winter NAMM convention, so details about new gear are starting to come out here and there. One of the hottest items in terms of buzz is of course Edward Van Halen’s new EVH Wolfgang guitar. What Ed said about it to Guitar World’s fawning staff has […]

January 6, 2009 | By | Reply More
One of a Kind Wolfgang: Buy Ed’s Car

One of a Kind Wolfgang: Buy Ed’s Car

Want a custom EVH Wolfgang? Buy a car. Edward Van Halen is selling two 1956 Chevy’s at the famed Barrett-Jackson uber-expensive car auction this month, and with each car comes a custom-painted EVH Wolfgang guitar – painted to match the cars. These will of course be one-of-a-kinds, designed and at least held by the man […]

January 5, 2009 | By | Reply More
AmsterDAM, Al’s Got Wood

AmsterDAM, Al’s Got Wood

Devoted VH fans may know (should know) that Alex Van Halen coined the “brown” term now famously associated with his brother Ed’s woody guitar tone. Al used it to describe his snare sound, something like “brown, like beating on a log.” If that’s not woody, I don’t know what is. Al has probably the most […]

January 5, 2009 | By | Reply More
End-Of-Year News: Becker, Vai, Lynch, GNR

End-Of-Year News: Becker, Vai, Lynch, GNR

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 […]

December 31, 2008 | By | 1 Reply More
Get the Feb. 09 Guitar Player

Get the Feb. 09 Guitar Player

Do you subscribe to Guitar Player? I did for a long time, and then didn’t for many years. I clearly remember – as clearly as I can remember these days – an issue with a guy from The Cure on the cover. That was it for me. That was diversity for the sake of it, […]

December 29, 2008 | By | 1 Reply More
Allen Collins’ Freebird Solo

Allen Collins’ Freebird Solo

If you’ve heard the long solo at the end of Freebird, you’ve probably tried to figure out how to play it. And since that piece was recorded and played in the days before video ubiquity, you might have assumed – like I did – that that outro solo was split between Skynyrd’s great axemen, Allen […]

December 23, 2008 | By | 2 Replies More
Shocking Backstory to KISS Origins

Shocking Backstory to KISS Origins

Couldn’t believe it when I heard about, but plausible – and if true, shocking. Enjoy. Chocolate NewsWednesdays 10:30pm / 9:30c KISS My Ass More Funny VideosComedians on Tour Get Funny RingtonesStand-Up Comedy David Alan Grier is a funny man!

December 19, 2008 | By | Reply More
Ace Finally Has a Website! (But…)

Ace Finally Has a Website! (But…)

Ace Frehley, one of my heroes (my first guitar hero) and a guy who always seemed to want to do high-tech stuff even before there was such a thing as high tech, finally has a website. Yeah! But… …while it’s very cool to go to acefrehley.com and hear his tune Ozone auto-play (as well as […]

December 18, 2008 | By | Reply More
Axl Goes Off (on Slash)!

Axl Goes Off (on Slash)!

Axl Rose (apparently) recently posted a long “clearing the air” type diatribe on the GnR message board, and it’s a doozy. The guy who gets cracked the most? Slash. I’ll leave you to wade through the whole thing, but here are what I thought were the most interesting quotes. Axl going off on everyone, particularly […]

December 16, 2008 | By | 1 Reply More