Author Archive

Paul Gilbert interviewed by Classic Rock Revisited

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Jeb Wright from Classic Rock Revisited gives us a nice long interview with Paul Gilbert discussing various aspects from Fuzz Universe to Mr Big, Racer X, Freddie Nelson and so on. One of the best interviews I’ve read recently, here’s an excerpt:

Jeb: I love the names of the [Fuzz Universe] tunes.  Usually people name instrumentals after people, places or things that mean something to them or they name them after what the music reminds them of.  How do you do it?

Paul: Since I do my demos in ProTools, I have to think of a new title every time I make a new session. I just go with whatever pops into my head, and that title will stick about 50% of the time. “Fuzz Universe” was that way. It just came into my head immediately. “Batter Up”, “Olympic,” “Propeller,” and “Mantra the Lawn” were all titles that came to me quickly. It took me much longer to think of “Plastic Dracula.” I had been playing with the name “Juan Chutrifo” for a while. It’s an approximation of how it sounds if you count, “1-2-3-4,” so I put “Count” at the beginning of the title. It makes it sound like the name of some ancient Spanish aristocrat but it’s actually just what you say when you want to start a rock and roll song.

Head over to Classic Rock Revisited for the whole interview :D

Amazing Mermaid Guitar

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

I was perusing Music Radar’s list of bizzare and outrageous guitars (some really are outrageous by the way), when I came across this truly amazing cross between a guitar and the sculpture of a mermaid. Not only does it look stunning, but it’s playable too, check it out below:

The guitar was created by Andy Mason, a luthier from Devon, who also makes more conventional guitars. Incidentally, his website states that the mermaid guitar is currently for sale and that half the proceeds will go to Help Africa. I can’t see any price though, which is probably just as well.

Guitar Practice log – Shades of blue

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

More of the same tonight, been having fun playing some more Gary Moore. Sometimes simple can be quite gratifying. I’m still nowhere near fluidly playing the fast bit in the solo but then it’s the same story for just about every other song I’ve been learning so far, I don’t think I can comfortably play any of them at their original 100% speed. It is frustrating sometimes to be forced to deal with the limitations of your own finger muscles but what can you do other than practice with what little time I have to do so?

Anyway, while taking a short break I casually found some youtube lessons for a blues player called T-Bone with interesting accents. Now apparently he was using 9th cords in his style, which I won’t quite be using just yet but the effect he uses sliding from one chord to the next chromatically is something I have been toying with, with mixed results of course, but I may see how it blends in with my own playing. As a matter of fact, I tried some more over the backing track playing and, well was moderately pleased with the results, so good thing I wasn’t able to record anything this weekend.

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Saturday Sounds present: Joe Satriani – All Alone

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

Sorry in that kind of mood:

Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards walkthrough

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Those lucky guys at music radar have been chatting up with Joe Satriani about his upcoming album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards and he’s been kind enough to give them a little commenting for each of the 11 tracks on the album, here’s an excerpt:

Premonition -

A dynamite opener that blasts out of the gate at a breakneck pace. A surging, ominous yet majestic epic in which the imposing weight of the guitar frequencies could move air. The breakdown section is tough as a rusty piece of chain, followed by overwhelming waves of shred.

Joe Satriani says:

“It was written very quickly, although it sounds like it might have been composed in sections. It was about that feeling you get when you feel that something is not right. It doesn’t let up. It’s kind of nightmarish, in a way.

“The guitar tone is different than what people might expect, and in that regard, this is one of my ‘black swans.’ The expression ‘black swan’ is one that’s very old, and basically it means ’unlikely things’ – images, occurrences, extreme rarities in life. I love how Premonition sets the tone for the album – you don’t know what’s coming next.”

Head over to MusicRadar for the whole thing.

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