From the Land of Dead Trees

Have the Guitar Player with Orianthi on the cover? Turn to page 154. That's the end of the Orianthi cover story, with a sidebar pulled from GP's Facebook page.

Dave Jacoby I love shredders, but they've chased people away from the instrument. Dick Dale, The Ventures — people used to dance to instrumental rock-guitar music! More power to Orianthi!

I've now been mentioned/quoted in my two favorite guitar magazines!

And there was a quick Facebook quiz for Premier Guitar, and the winner got a free one-year subscription. Guess who won? I feel so good today!

Endorsement FAIL

We know I like Sweetwater. Guitar Tricks seem like good people. I mean, they're teaching people to play music, and that's a good thing. But someone should proofread before they click "Upload", eh?

Have A Rockin' Thanksgiving!

From me, Mr. Carlson and the folks at Hulu.

On The Guitar Collection Obsession

I put this up before finishing it. So, as he says "It's like guitar pornography, isn't it?", I had to go back and add the guitar porn tag.

Gob Iron

Farther Along We'll Understand Why

The Invention of the B-Bender:


Clarence White joins the Byrds:


The Wall of Guitarists:


No, I don't own one. Yet.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot < Anodyne < Trace

I got into Uncle Tupelo at about the last moment you could before they broke up. I've followed both bands, to a point. I have heard each of the studio albums that Wilco has released. I have not heard everything from Son Volt.

But I still think that Trace is the best I've heard of either Jay Ferrar or Jeff Tweedy.

This isn't from that. It's "Cocaine and Ashes". And ain't it good? And Mark Spencer with a P90-necked Tele?

My Reaction to hearing some of Metallica's new album, Death Magnetic, on their website.

How long until we see "Unforgiven XXIV"?

Brothers from Another Genre

One is a pop country hit machine, writing and singing songs about love, pickup trucks and fishing.

One is a metal gun-for-hire with full sleeve tattoos, making instrumental shred albums with song titles inspired by serial killers.

Looking at Brad Paisley and John 5, you'd think they couldn't be further apart. And that might be right. But beyond all that, they're both fantastic guitarists, both worthy of the guitar mag covers they've gotten, and they're both Telecaster players. Which is where I get drawn in.

Brad Paisley, "Make A Mistake"
John 5, "Fiddlers"

That's two songs, ones that I think hit the point where they remind me of each other. They have the same musical sense of humor. Crossing genres, like a twanger going jazzy or a shredder gone country, is funny. Breaking the fourth wall, like "I don't hear any music" and the engineer saying "That's the wrong chord, guys", that's funny.

I really think they could do a great head-to-head version of "Devil Went Down To Georgia".

Except the wrong guy's named Johnny.

An LJ-style quick, near-Twittery dinky spam post

I'm listening to Coverville's podcast, an all-Kate Bush show.

Why do I no longer own any Kate Bush?

Specifically, why don't I own Hounds of Love?

Too Much LDS At Berkeley.....

So, I was reading this blog about people driving through Chicago too fast. Specifically, "Speeding on LSD" was a phrase that I read.

I thought that meant lysergic acid diethylamide. That struck me as a particularly dumb thing to do, but that doesn't mean people don't do it.

I didn't take it as meaning Lake Shore Drive.

If you read "drivers on LSD", what would your initial reaction be?

Anyway, it seems like an interesting book.

So, I jammed with the keys/drum guy and the other guitarist yesterday (Tuesday). I played bass. Not my instrument, but I want one. I certainly want a Jazz bass, probably a 5-string (not so I can really hit the low B, but more so I can play the E in a slightly more hand-friendly place.

I'm getting better, but it's cool. But there is something missing.

Drums.

Keys, guitar, bass, no drums. And I'm the bass.

Did I mention that the bit they were playing was in some odd time signature? 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2 1-2. That's 13/4 or something, right? I was trying to find the one, trying to hook in. I think Peter Hook of New Order, playing long notes over the tight rhythm of the keys, drums and guitar. I think that style would really work with them.

If I could just fine the One.

You don't get out until you get some Soul....

Despite the make of the guitar, I think Stratoblogster will like to see this. They're taking a Fender Baja Tele (with a serial/parallel switch) and they're going to beat the crap out of it.

This could be fun, like the reverse of a build thread on TDPRI. A "destroy" thread. Or, perhaps, un-Pimping the Ride. I'd rather turn my guitar into a Hot Rod than make it into a perfectly-running rusted-out hulk, but there still might be something cool about this.

It's my understanding that this whole relic thing came about because Keef went to Fender to buy some Custom Shop stuff, but he wanted them to look old and beat to crap because "Keef doesn't play new guitars", and Fender thought they could make some money with that. There are worse ideas, although all my guitars (including my Ibanez acoustic with near-scallopped fretboard and truss-rod popping out of the back of the neck) have received their relicing entirely by being used.

Not really on-topic, but Gibson is making a new Les Paul, one where you can pop pickups out the back and change your sound without restringing. They call it the Push Tone, and I can't say it's the worst idea I've heard. As EGR (the guys who'll beat up the Baja) said, the Ampeg Dan Armstrong does this, too. What I find really really interesting is the lack of pictures of the back of the guitar in the gallery. Usually, that's one of the things you expect, even when there's nothing interesting about it, and clearly there's something interesting about this guitar's back.

Back on-ish topic, could you imagine Unpimp My Ride? Taking your car, making it run good and feel right but making it look like you sat it out in the yard for 10 years, backed it into a tree and replaced the right front fender with something out of a junkyard?

Taste the rainbow of taste flavors!

I've done some work on my Guitar Tool. I think I have the contrast issue taken care of.

And now it looks like I've poured a bag of Skittles on a guitar neck.

Comments?

A Real Gone Jerk

Here's Tiny, playin' that jump blues with the train rhythm.

Don't sound a lick like Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, does it?

Come to think of it, Joe Perry didn't play on the album take of "Train"....