Archive for April, 2009
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
As summer approaches, you may be looking for some good options for your kids. At Fretbase, we’re recommending the National Guitar Workshop. David Smolover founded the National Guitar Summer Workshop in 1983, wanting to create an educational and collaborative atmosphere for students and teachers alike. Within this environment, participants would live, learn, and practice with each other. In the words of one student that year, “It’s like a dream come true to think, eat and sleep guitar for a whole week.”
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Tags: national guitar workshop
Posted in Instruction | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
Lick Library contacted us about a few free videos just put on their site. Lick Library produces instructional videos and jam-along-tracks for guitarists. They have three free videos of Smokin’ Joe Bonamassa giving interviews and performing live. But the best video, at least for gear-heads like us, was Bonamassa going over his European touring rig.
Highlights include his demonstration of the Van Weelden, Two Rock and Category 5 amps. The other videos are interviews with Joe about his background and performing live. Full story…
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Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
We were just given a chance to preview a new iPhone app for guitar players called FretBoard. FretBoard is similar to many other guitar iPhone apps in some respects but also has some neat features that separate it from the pack. It’s big differentiation from others is the fact that it supports many stringed instruments including the guitar, banjo, bouzouki, bass, mandolin, violin, viola, cello, lute, viola da gamba, ukulele, dulcimer, all Chapman Sticks and Warr guitars. Extra points if you even know those last two instruments.
We’ve added the app to our iPhone Apps For Guitar Player’s page. Read the Full story…
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Tags: fretboard, iphone, iphone app
Posted in Accessories, News, Reviews | 7 Comments »
Monday, April 27th, 2009
All right Fretbasers here’s a match up that will have reverberations throughout the world! We all wish we had a nice spring reverb built right into our amp or maybe even a sweet standalone Fender ‘63 Reverb unit. But sometimes the only option is adding a pedal to our board or into our effects loop. So today we’ve picked a classic, well known reverb pedal - the EHX Holy Grail Plus and pitted it against the new comer - the Malekko Spring Chicken.
Check out the demos and let us know which reverb pedal you think is the winner. Full story…
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Tags: electro-harmonix, face-off, Holy Grail Plus, malekko, Spring Chicken
Posted in Accessories, Reviews, Video | 6 Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2009
We’re big fans of skanking on the guitar. Who doesn’t love playing on the upbeat with a palm mute, right? A relatively new album we’ve recently become acquainted with is Stephen Marley’s “Mind Control Acoustic”, an all-acoustic version of the Grammy winning album “Mind Control” from 2007. The album is chock-full of skanking acoustic guitar as well as some other good guitar surprises.
Stephen Marley, son of reggae legend Bob Marley, is no stranger to the music business. A young Stephen got his start when he was just 7 years old, playing in his older brother Ziggy’s band as a Melody Maker. But Stephen Marley has proven himself to be a solid musician in his own right and has done his father’s legacy justice. Full story…
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Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
Last fall we posted on the Internal Combustion Guitar by Woody B, a guitar that at it’s heart is a speaker transducer fit inside the body chamber of the Internal Combustion Guitar with special tone ports and filter baffles that add resonance to the vibrating strings and guitar top. The guitar produces a sick resonate energy with lots of killer overtones.
Well Woody B has updated his Internal Combustion Guitar with 4 new models that have better finishes and nicer accoutrements like ebony fretboards, Bigsby vibratos and Sperzel tuners. Full story…
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Tags: Internal Combustion Guitar, Woody B
Posted in Guitars, News | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
We all know the trials and tribulations of collecting a massive amount of gear. Beyond the complaints from our spouses and the past due credit card statements, one problem we inevitably run into is space. Especially when it comes to pedals. Just where are we going to fit that next must-have, 6″ wide, analog delay pedal we scored off eBay?
Well the puzzle-piece influenced folks over at Lava Cable have come up with an innovative solution to our ever growing problem. The Lava CPS or Configurable Pedal Board System. Full story…
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Tags: Lava Cable CPS, pedal effects, pedalboards, pedals
Posted in Accessories, News | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Ok this one might be a little off topic today but I couldn’t help posting on this upcoming video game. Inspired by the classic metal album covers of the late 70s and 80s, Brutal Legend is an action adventure game that follows a man who has fought his way from roadie to rock god.
Brutal Legend will feature music and voice overs from Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead), Rob Halford (Judas Priest), and Lita Ford. And the main character, Eddie Riggs, is voiced by none other than Jack Black himself. Full story…
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Tags: brutal legend, heavy metal, videogames
Posted in News, Video | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
While spending an inordinate amount of time on the Acoustic Guitar Forum this week (o.k., every week), we were struck by a question posted by a user on the best albums that feature a singer-songwriter on acoustic guitar. While some of the obvious choices were mentioned (is anybody surprised to see Eric Clapton Unplugged on the list?), there were a few choices that we didn’t expect. We were especially shocked by the album that got the most mentions. We like the one whose picture we chose for this story, but that one wasn’t the #1 choice. If you want to know which album was mentioned most often by guitarists in the forum, read on.
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Tags: Dave Matthews, Eric Clapton, jackson browne, james taylor, john denver, John Prine, neil young, patty larkin, townes van zandt
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
One of the all time classic analog echo/delay pedals from Electro-Harmonix is getting a new chassis. The original ‘trapezoid’ design (pictured on the left) is being put into a much more pedal board friendly size. EHX had originally planned to phase out the old design completely but feedback from fans have changed their minds and the old version will continue to be available for as long as they have inventory.
The Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man is one of the all time classic analog delay pedals that many collectors and musicians cherish. It was first released in the late 1970s and reissued around 2000. Full story…
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Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
