Posts Tagged ‘guitar’
Friday, July 10th, 2009
Are you a fan of relic’d guitars? Lately we’ve been hearing more and more about relic guitars, especially after Fender announced the Road Worn series. One of the drawbacks we’ve noticed with the Fender Road Worn guitar is that each of the Strats and Teles all have the same wear and tear marks. You basically lose what is probably the best part of a worn out guitar - it’s uniqueness.
Well we’ve found a great alternative for you. Rittenhouse Guitars makes custom built relic guitars that individually constructed and given their own unique look and feel. In addition Abe Rittenhouse only uses top quality parts, including Lollar pickups (you can also request your favorite brand if you like).
But it gets even better…
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Tags: Giveaway, guitar, relic, rittenhouse
Posted in News | 2 Comments »
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 »
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
A friend asked us today for recommendations for beginner guitar books or websites helpful to someone who’s just starting out on the guitar. Admittedly we were short on answers.
I think it’s fairly trivial to find resources for those of us who’ve been playing for a short time - people who already have some basic knowledge, know how to tune the guitar and can read tabs and chord diagrams. If you’re in this category - Try this out.
But what to do about someone starting from scratch? Is it possible to learn by yourself or do you need some face time with an actual person to learn some of the basics before you can set off on your own?
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Tags: beginner, beginner guitar, guitar, guitar lessons
Posted in Instruction | 5 Comments »
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Here at Fretbase, we’re still riding a high from the results of Tuesday’s election. But we’re wondering, did Springsteen’s guitar swing it for Obama? In the final weeks of the race, Springsteen performed at Obama rallies in key states like Ohio and Pennsylvania and Obama ended up winning those highly contested states. Coincidence? We don’t think so.
And then, to show his support for veterans, yesterday Springsteen auctioned off his Takamine guitar at “Stand Up For Heroes,” Bob Woodruff’s charity event to raise money for for injured troops returning from the Gulf War. His Takamine guitar raised $50,000 in the auction. You, of course, can get one for about $49,000 less at Musician’s Friend (and still donate to the cause).
Next week, Springsteen’s guitar will start working on a cure for cancer.
Springsteen Rocks Obama Rallies in Philly, Ohio (MSNBC)
Bruce Springsteen at Charity Auction (AP via Yahoo! News)
Bruce Springsteen’s Guitar - Takamine EF341SC (Musician’s Friend)
Tags: guitar, obama, springsteen, takamine guitar
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
As Jerry Seinfeld once said, “Wood is good.” And one of the most important places to start when choosing a guitar is tone wood (shape is also important and we’ll cover that another time). But where to begin? How do you know if you want a spruce top or cedar? Mahogany back and sides or Rosewood? What the heck is Ovangkol? Is there really such a think as Cocobolo?
Luckily, Taylor and Martin have created pages on their websites describing the qualities of the the many tone woods available for acoustics. These pages can be very useful when choosing the wood for your acoustic. Definitely worth checking out.
Tone (Taylor Guitars)
Tone Wood (Martin Guitar)
Related Stories
Guitar Woods in Short Supply
Design Your Own Martin Guitar
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Tags: guitar, guitar wood, martin guitar, taylor guitar, wood
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, October 6th, 2008
Reuters has a good story today on the rise of Michael Cera - who we have been big fans of since he played the kid lusting after his cousin on Arrested Development. The article questions how such a nerdy actor could be such a hit with fans - especially girls. After commenting on his “wire-thin body” and “slumping frame,” the mystery is solved:
“But Cera does like music and can play guitar, and one thing about girls
– no matter what decade they grow up in — they love guys who play
guitar.”
Why oh why did I spend so much of my free time in high school playing Intellivision rather than learning chords?
Michael Cera: When Geeks Get the Girl (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Tags: Acoustic Guitar, guitar, Michael Cera
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
We have been interested in Breedlove acoustic guitars since we were first introduced to them at our local guitar store. So you can imagine our delight when we saw that today Acoustic Guitar Magazine published a review (with video) of the Breedlove C25/CR Herringbone acoustic-electric guitar. Many Breedloves are made abroad, but this one is actually made at the company’s Oregon headquarters and AGM seemed to like it. According to the magazine, the C25/CR Herringbone “is a guitar any fingerstylist seeking bang for the buck should check out.” We think you should check out the review at Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s website. A good review of a good guitar.
Breedlove C25/CR Herringbone Review (Acoustic Guitar Central)
Breedlove C25/CR Herringbone (Musician’s Friend)
Breedlove C25/CR Herringbone (Official Site)
Subscribe to Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Tags: Acoustic Guitar, acoustic guitar magazine, Breedlove, breedlove c25/cr, guitar
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Vicki Genfan, an all-acoustic guitar player, won Guitar Player Magazine’s Superstar contest held last Saturday at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. If you haven’t heard her music before (or seen her play), she is worth checking out. Vicki uses a method she calls “slap tap.” In the words of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Genfan doesn’t just play guitar. She also slaps it,
tickles it, fondles it, scratches it, tosses it around in her hands and
coaxes all kinds of unlikely, rhythmic sounds of the otherwise simple
instrument.
We’re not sure what she’s going for with the tickle, we just think the music sounds great.
Video is after the jump.
Acoustic Player Wins Guitar Superstar Contest (SF Chronicle)
Vicki Genfan (Official Site)
Vicki Genfan (MySpace)
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Tags: Acoustic Guitar, guitar, Guitar Player Magazine, Vicki Genfan
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Here at Fretbase, we’re always looking for quality advice on ways to improve our practicing. Recently, after getting our Daily fix of the Tuttle kids playing bluegrass (see video after the jump), we wandered over the site maintained by their father Jack Tuttle. Jack has a page with his Top 10 Practice Tips. The first piece of advice is simply to practice. The second is to practice wisely. If you head over to Jack’s site, you can see all 10. We’re particular fans of #9 (”Jam”).
Considering that this is the guy that taught his kids to play bluegrass so well, we’re following all 10.
Jack Tuttle’s Top 10 Practice Tips (Jack Tuttle)
Jack Tuttle’s Kids Playing Bluegrass (YouTube)
Photo Credit: Merelymel13
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Tags: Acoustic Guitar, Bluegrass, guitar, Jack Tuttle
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, September 15th, 2008
We have read many concert reviews about tributes to certain artists - Paul Simon and Bob Dylan come to mind. But today is the first time we can remember reading about a concert tribute to a guitar. Today’s New York Times has a story about last Friday’s concert at the Knitting Factory in New York where J Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr.), Nels Cline (of Wilco) and Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth) paid tribute to the Fender Jazzmaster. The guitar was originally supposed to be the next step after the success of Fender’s Telecaster and Stratocaster and eventually gained a following among surf guitarists and postpunk players including Elvis Costello (whose signature model is pictured here). During the night Nels Cline stated, “It’s not the instrument…It’s the imagination.” Here at Fretbase, we actually do think it’s the instrument.
Fender Jazzmaster on Fretbase
A Guitar Is the Star on a Night of Tributes (New York Times)
Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster Special (Musician’s Friend)
Tags: elvis costello, fender guitar, fender jazzmaster, guitar
Posted in Guitars, Uncategorized | No Comments »
