Slide guitar: A tutorial in six videos
If you haven’t ever tried to play slide guitar, all you need is a metal or glass slide, some patience, and to apply a few basic tips, as presented in these six videos. Read the post.
electric guitar
The birth of the humbucking pickup
Excerpted from Chapter 3, “From the Flying V to the Jazzmaster” from the new book, Electric Guitars: Design and Invention (Backbeat Books), this post gives a brief history of the invention of the humbucking pickup. Read More.
The early days of the Fender Precision bass
Excerpted from The Bass Book, here’s a brief history of the Fender Precision bass – an instrument that revolutionized modern rock ‘n roll. Read More.
Eric Clapton and the Gibson 335 guitar
Excerpted from The Gibson 335 Guitar Book, take a glimpse into Eric Clapton’s heralded Gibson 335 hollowbody that was first featured with Cream and went on to garner $847,000 at auction in 2004. Read More.
Guitar icons and the Gibson Flying V guitar
So many iconic guitarists have made their mark on music history using a Flying V, and a host of others who have made significant use of the guitar, either on record or live. Untold numbers have dabbled with this legendary guitar model, and there are a host of non-Gibson Flying V users who deserve inclusion in the list. Read more.
Part 2: The evolution of guitar effects pedals – today’s market
Each of the basic effects pedals we covered in Part 1 is still made today, by a variety of manufacturers. That’s one of the things that makes the pedal world so fascinating. New takes on classic effects come out continuously, each offering some sort of variation or wrinkle that can help you further refine your own special sound. Read more.
Guitar effects pedals and the evolution of music – Part 1
In part one, we rewind some of the history of these interesting devices, including links to product pages and demos of effects pedals in action. In part two, we identify some of the current stomp boxes and multi effects units that can help you create signature sounds. Read more.
The history of the incomparable Gibson Flying V guitar
The Modernistic trio of the Flying V, the Moderne, and the Explorer were first designed in 1957 with the concept of bringing futuristic design elements to the Gibson electric guitar line. Borrowing ideas from other modern designs of the era, Gibson created some of the more exotic production guitars of its day. Read more.
Use hammer-ons and pull-offs to energize your chords
Part of developing as a guitarist is learning how to dress up chord progressions so they don’t sound stale and boring. One way to make your chord playing more dynamic is to incorporate hammer-ons and pull-offs. Hammer-ons and pull-offs use the fretting hand instead of the picking hand to articulate notes. Read more.
Guitar intonation: how to keep your guitar in tune
Guitars use what is known as an equally tempered scale, which is a compromise and doesn’t result in 100% precise tuning or intervals between notes. Since guitars have this inherent weakness when it comes to being in tune, it helps to have a basic understanding of guitar intonation and adjustments to get the best performance. Read more.
Vintage guitars for fun, profit, and a little piece of history
Take for instance the Kalamazoo line of student instruments from Gibson. Manufactured in the 1960s, the KG-1 (single pickup) and KG-2 (dual pickup) solid body guitars first featured a Fender Mustang style body and then morphed to an SG-style body. They featured a Fender style headstock, rosewood fretboard, and maple neck, with all the tuners on one side. They were built using regular Gibson components as a budget line instrument to hook young players on the Gibson style and sound. Nearly 24,000 of the KG-1 and -2 were manufactured, so they are not so rare as to be impossible to find. Read more.