Archive for June, 2009
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
You may have noticed something different about Fretbase lately. We’ve been working on some improvements to the website and we hope everyone is enjoying some of the new and improved features. Fretbase is a structured wiki of guitars, gears, artists and songs that can be edited by anyone. It’s meant to be a resource for guitar players looking to research guitars, gear or find out what they’re favorite artist uses to create their sound.
Here are some of the new features:
- Gear: We’ve added amplifiers, effects, strings and other related gear to the site
- Reviews: You can now write reviews of our guitars and gear - we want to hear what you think!
- Homepage: Highlights the most popular stuff in our database and shows stories from around the web
- New Logo: We have a really nice logo now :) (Thanks TJ!)
Our goal continues to be to create the best archive of guitars and guitar related information so that we can become your online resource for all things guitar-related. Please let us know what you think!
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Tags: fretbase, guitar, website
Posted in News | No Comments »
Monday, June 29th, 2009
Most of us would be perfectly happy with a standard issue Fender Telecaster, but not Keith Urban. Urban gets his custom made…and he pulls out all the stops. The latest in his arsenal is a custom made Fender Telecaster that was inspired by guitars played by Paul Stanley of KISS. The guitar looks like it has broken pieces of mirror all over it. It is definitely worth viewing at CMT. How does it sound? In the words of Urban, “You’ll be blinded into thinking it sounds good.”
Keith Urban’s New Guitar Has Arrived (CMT)
Fender Telecaster (American Standard)
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
We’ve stumbled across an incredibly talented guitarist from the land down under: Smokin’ Joe Robinson. Not to be confused with Smokin’ Joe Bonamassa, this Smokin’ Joe is a fingerstyle genius at the ripe old age of 18. Before we all collectively moan about yet another kid that can play guitar way better than we can, this kid deserves some serious attention. His playing is pretty mature for his age and he has an incredible fingerstyle along the lines of Atkins and Jerry Reed. Full story…
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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Mega-Internet music retailer Musician’s Friend will start selling used gear next week. Musicians Friend will rate used gear using 5 different categories ranging from “Like New” to “Salvage”. They are also including their 45-day satisfaction guarantee however we’re not sure if that’s just for “Like New” gear or if it applies to “Salvage” gear as well. Right now they’re previewing a select set of “Like New” gear on their site.
It’s pretty obvious the new Musician’s Friend new category of gear is meant to directly compete against Ebay and sites like Craiglist. The used gear market is huge and musicians are more than willing to save a few bucks buying a used Fender Stratocaster over a brand new if they can save a few hundred bucks. Full story…
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Tags: musician's friend, used gear
Posted in Accessories, Amps, Guitars, News, Retailers | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
The geniuses over at Electro-Harmonix have started a new series on their blog called “Effectology” that display some of the amazing capabilities of the EHX effects when placed into the right hands. In their first installment Bill Ruppert managed to make an electric guitar sound like a blue harmonica using a HOG, Micro Synthesizer, Wiggler and a Holiest Grail.
And in their second installment Bill Ruppert recreated the sound of Pink Floyd’s “On the Run” from “Dark Side of the Moon” (pedals used: Micro Synthesizer, Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai, Frequency Analyzer, Big Muff Pi, Stereo Pulsar). It’s some very impressive stuff.
Check out the videos…
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Tags: Effectology, EHX, electro-harmonix, pink floyd
Posted in Accessories, Video | No Comments »
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
The title says it all. Fans of Dave Matthews, fans of Taylor guitars or lucky people that like to participate in sweepstakes can enter for a chance to win a Taylor 914ce signed by Dave Matthews. Oh yeah, you’ll also meet Dave himself. Two runners up will win the complete Dave Matthews Band Live Trax Volumes 1-15. I’d go ahead and enter now. You only have until July 22.
Read on to find out how to participate.
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Tags: Dave Matthews, Downturn Guitar, Taylor
Posted in News | No Comments »
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Calkwalk announced yesterday new versions of their guitar-focused recording software - Guitar Tracks Pro 4 and Guitar Tracks Pro USB. The main difference between the two - Guitar Tracks Pro USB comes with Calkwalk’s UA-1G audio interface while Guitar Tracks Pro 4 is just the software package.
One of the cool stats we received from the folks working at Cakewalk - 3 out 4 employees are guitar players. This means they had a lot of input from the guitarists perspective when they updated the design of the Guitar Tracks Pro 4 software. Full story…
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Tags: calkwalk, guitar tracks pro 4, guitar tracks pro USB
Posted in Accessories, Reviews | No Comments »
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Guitar Idol, the world’s biggest online talent search to find the hottest undiscovered guitarists on the planet final was held today at the London International Music Show and the overall winner was Jack Thammerat from Thailand.
Live judges included Phil Hilborne, Jamie Humphries and Jamiroquai’s Rob Harris, and the overall winner was chosen by public vote on a live webcast sent out all over the world, on a unique online voting system broadcast at LickLibrary. A quick side - the name “LickLibrary”? Really? Seems an unfortunately comprise on a domain name. Maybe their theme song is “Lick It Up” by KISS?
Check out the video of the winner…
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Tags: Guitar Idol Winner
Posted in Bedroom Rockstars, Instruction, News | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
Since we spend most of our time here at Fretbase looking at guitar makers’ websites for clues on what’s coming, we take notice when a guitar manufacturer makes a major upgrade to their website. And boy did we notice the improvements over at Collings Guitars. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Collings Guitars, the company is based in Austin, Texas and has been making hand-made guitars since 1989 and mandolins since 1999. Collings guitars have been played by artists from Keith Richards to Lyle Lovett to Pete Townshend. So is their new website as good as their guitars? Read on to find out.
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Tags: Collings
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
We’ve reported on the upcoming documentary “It Might Get Loud” in previous posts here and here. It looks the movie now has an official trailer that’s been released today. If you’re not familiar with “It Might Get Loud”, it’s a documentary that brings together Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White and explores their various backgrounds. Needless to say this movie should be on the top of every guitar player’s movie list.
Guitar World is also going to release an interview with the trio in the upcoming July 2009 issue.
Check out the trailer!
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Tags: documentary, It Might Get Loud, Jack White, Jimmy Page, The Edge
Posted in News, Video | 1 Comment »
