Dave Kain

Improvising over jazz standards can be a very difficult thing to do. Once you learn all your scales, arpeggios, licks etc., you may find yourself in a rut with what to do with all the harmonic knowledge you have learned. For me, an incredibly important as aspect of improvisation that is overlooked is phrase placement. Where you start and end your phrases can take your solo from a predictable, boring and safe one to a strong assertive and climatic one.

When I am improvising, I am extremely aware of what, where and when I am starting any and all phrases. Becoming conscious of this is going to be more difficult if you don’t know the tune very well. So, applying this concept may be too difficult if you are still struggling with the harmonic elements of any tune you wish to use this idea on.

Breaking The Barline-Phrase Placement is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

StrumSchool.com

For those people who want to learn guitar and are completely starting from scratch — I’m talking the people that don’t even know that the guitar has six strings — it can be be difficult to try and figure out exactly where to begin. Surely, youTube, Fretterverse, and plenty of books and DVDs have plenty of information to use, but there aren’t many places where you can actually sit down from the absolute beginning.

If only there was a website that catered to the Day One guitarist…

Enter StrumSchool.com

StrumSchool.com is a new website catering explicitly and exclusively to the absolute beginning guitarist. This free site (though you do have to put up with advertisements) offers video lesson instruction ranging from the parts of the guitar, chord voicings, reading tab, etc.

StrumSchool.com

The site is not complicated at all, and that’s a huge plus. The video lessons are incredibly clear and easy to understand, and the teaching is very good; exactly what beginners need.

A blog on the site, labeled “Inspiration” is aptly named. If you’re looking for motivation or something “cool” to check out, just click on the link and start reading.

A “Donations” page is also on the site. (Hey, everyone’s gotta generate some cash, right?) Since all of the material on the site is available for free, you can show your support for their ongoing efforts by throwing a few greenbacks their way.

It will be interesting to see how the site develops. They are obviously new, but the quality of the lessons are very, very good and any new guitarist would be hard pressed to not get an awful lot out of the site.

I wish these guys lots of luck; the more guitarists we have on this planet, the better!

Learn Guitar with StrumSchool.com is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

NeckFx – Adding Visuals to Your Next Gig is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Get Me Out Of Here!

Oh minor pentatonic scale, how I love you. You are easy to learn and you sound at least reasonably good in a great many musical situations. Blues and rock music would not be what they are without you, and lots of my favorite players use you all the time. But minor pentatonic scale, I also loathe you. I have heard you sounding just awful in the most inappropriate of musical situations. You are overused to the point of ridicule, yet you seem to have no shame.

Can’t you just go away every once in a while?

This is a snapshot of my love/hate relationship with the minor pentatonic scale. Some of the coolest riffs and solos of all time make use of the minor pentatonic, and I truly believe that there are a truckload of fantastic songs yet to be written using it. So how is it possible that this musical Swiss Army Knife can make me so angry? Because the minor pentatonic scale’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness.

What is its greatest strength, you ask? I’ve already mentioned it: It’s easy to learn and sounds at least reasonably good in a great many musical situations. The same qualities that make it such a wonderful tool also make it ripe for abuse. Let’s examine further.

The pentatonic scale is created by taking a diatonic scale and eliminating the half steps. In the case of the minor pentatonic scale this means getting rid of the second and sixth degrees of the diatonic scale. Why is this important? Consider:

• Solos that are made up of only scale runs or only of arpeggios sound like exercises. Traditionally, scales are made up of seconds while chords/arpeggios are made up of thirds. The pentatonic scale sounds cool because it’s a hybrid of seconds and thirds. This means that simply by running up and down the pentatonic scale we can create some cool sounding stuff in a variety of musical contexts.
• Half steps in scales are tricky to work with because, from a voice leading standpoint, they “pull” very hard for an appropriate resolution. The inclusion of an ill-advised half step within a solo will sound avant-garde at best and downright sickly at worst. The pentatonic scale eliminates this risk by getting rid of half steps altogether. Problem solved!

Fantastic, right? We’ve got a scale that’s easy to learn that also helps us avoid things that will make us sound bad. So what’s the problem?

The problem is that the pentatonic scale doesn’t force us to think. It doesn’t force us to understand what’s going on in the accompaniment. It doesn’t really force us to know anything at all about music. We can shut our ears off, let our fingers go wherever they want to go within the scale pattern, and there’s a fairly good chance that we’ll land on our feet.

For beginners and intermediate players, this is great, because it lets us sound at least somewhat like we know what we’re doing, which in many cases prevents the kind of discouragement that might cause us to give up the instrument. Where it becomes a big, big issue though is when we get too comfortable inside our little pentatonic cocoon of not having to know anything.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard/seen the question, “How do I break out of the pentatonic box?” The implicit assumption is often that there are some other magic notes that can be added to the pentatonic scale so we can continue sounding good without really knowing anything. This assumption is dead wrong.

The best way to break out of the box is to start studying the accompaniment. Learn the notes in the chords you’re playing over. Play different notes against those chords and see how they sound. Remember which notes you like against which chords and which notes you don’t like. You will start to realize that there are notes in some of the accompaniment chords that are already outside the box. Use them in your soloing.

In addition to helping you break out of the box, studying the chord tones of the accompaniment will help your playing inside the box sound better. In other words, instead of just playing random pentatonic runs, start targeting specific notes against specific chords.

Your fingers can’t hear, so don’t let them decide what notes you’re going to play. Start using your ear… start using your brain… and you won’t be trapped in the box anymore.

Trapped In The Box – Why The Minor Pentatonic Scale Remains A Crutch is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Anyone Can Fake It; You Can, Too!

I remember about 15 years ago I was offered an interesting one-night gig. A co-worker of mine had a band that was playing a show that evening. That morning, their guitar player severely cut his hand in a bizarre weed-whacking accident. (I kid you not.) As this was a pretty important show for them, the thought of cancelling was more or less out of the question. They asked me to fill in, to which I said “no problem!” I figured it couldn’t be all that bad to fill in.

But there was a catch. (Isn’t there always?)

I had to learn 15 songs in 4 hours!

We’re not talking jazz standards either, folks, we’re talking 14 completely original songs and 1 cover song by the Rolling Stones (of who I have never actively listened to). I could have turned it down, as obviously learning that amount of material in such a short period of time was insane. But I didn’t. Do you want to know why? Because you have to Fake It ‘Til You Make It!

Perhaps I had no business doing the gig. I really wanted to help my friend out, I consider myself a capable guitarist (even at the time) and my ego back then always got the better of me in thinking I was so good that I could handle the songs without a problem. But learning so many songs in such a short amount of time could have also potentially screwed my friend’s band out of a good opportunity. If I played horribly that night, any number of things could have happened to prevent them from achieving their goals.

But something in the back of my mind told me that I needed to get up there and play — success or failure be damned.

I learned the songs as best I could and played reasonably well, right up until we got to the last song of the set… the Rolling Stones tune.

Oy Vey!

Crash and Burn or Live and Learn?

As we started playing the song, I completely blanked! I mean, I couldn’t even remember what the first chord of the song was. (That’s pathetically sad if you consider it was a Rolling Stones tune; the old bags themselves didn’t know more than four chords, so at the very least I would have had a 25% chance of getting the first chord correct.) I found myself turning the volume on my guitar down more and more, so by the time the song was over I barely had the volume pot open at all. The sound guy was soooooo pissed at me! (But who cares about sound guys?!?!) It would have been really easy for me to just duck off the stage, and in some ways I did, but overall the experience was very helpful to me.

What happens when you get up there and completely bomb out? Well, essentially nothing happens. You do the best you can, you get embarrassed, people talk shit about you, and life goes on. Do you stop playing music altogether, or shy away from any future gigs? F*&$k no! You press ahead like the Spartans, against seemingly impossible odds, and you kick ass! In essence, it’s not really “Crash and Burn or Live and Learn,” it’s “Crash and Burn AND Live and Learn.” Turn the burn into a chance to learn. (Ugh, that was bad; sorry, folks!) But in all seriousness, completely crapping out on a gig will actually help you to get better. If you take that experience and analyze what you did wrong, you have a much better chance of not screwing up in the same way in the future.

All the Great Ones Fake It

Do what with THIS guy? Hell no!

You don’t really think porn stars love sex that much, do you? Beautiful girls having sex with Ron Jeremy? There’s just no way. Similarly, if you listen to your favorite jazz performer (I use jazz because of the heavy improvisational component) a lot, you will notice they often play the same devices time and time again in their solos. In some small cases it’s because it’s a part of their signature sound; in other cases it’s because it’s a “crowd pleaser.” But in most cases it’s because the guy simply ran out of ideas! He backed himself into a musical corner and couldn’t find a way out of it, so he faked it until he could squirm out and into a new direction.

I remember going to a duo gig starring a very famous musician and a less-well known but still respected player in the area. I had never heard this “other” guy play before, but I figured if he was playing with Famous Guy he’s probably pretty damn good.

Let me just say that after 5 seconds of hearing him play I determined that he had absolutely NO business being on that stage, with or without Famous Guy. He was awful; simply the worst musician of the genre I had ever heard.

But you know what? He faked it so well that the rest of the audience absolutely loved him! His playing was shit, but he played with such passion and energy that the entire audience (save for me and perhaps two other people) completely ate his shtick up. When I thought about it more, after comparing myself to him as guitarists are always wont to do, I realized that this guy may suck, but at least he’s the one up there playing with Famous Guy. On top of that, I paid to see him play. He got my hard-earned money, so who’s the fool?

You Should Fake It, Too!

Now, I’m certainly not advocating you rip off your audience. However, even if you don’t have the confidence, technique, ear, talent, patience, or courage right now, you need to put on airs until you do. You need to give the appearance that you have it all together, because in doing so your confidence, technique, ear, talent, patience, and courage will eventually catch up to you and it will be as if you had it all along.

So get out there, grab the world by the balls, and fake it ’til you make it!

Fake It ‘Til You Make It is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

But can you play guitar?

Kids these days.

Seems like every generation says the same thing about the younger ones. “When I was your age, yadda yadda yadda” is something we always hated to hear growing up, but now seem to find ourselves saying it more and more.

I’m not here to lecture anyone on sociology, the trouble with kids these days, every kid gets a trophy, blah blah. What I am here to talk about, however, is the responsibility I think we – as guitarists who have “been there and done that” – have to the younger players out there today.

Okay, so what am I really talking about here. Well, the way I see it, one of the things kids today – especially kids who want to be musicians – are lacking these days, are good mentors. No, I’m not saying good role models like you have to take them to church and encourage them to do their homework. I’m talking about showing the younger kids how to really master their instrument; getting back to the “good old days” where you learned by watching, listening, and emulating.

The Internet is great, backing tracks are cool, and there are certainly tons and tons of excellent books and DVDs on the market. But there is no better way to learn than by getting one-on-one attention from someone who has truly been there and done that.

Okay… So What Can We Do?

I’m putting a call out to all of you; all of us, really… the seasoned players that have had a guitar in their hands for a long time, to get involved. Get involved by showing the young guns what they need to know. Start a guitar community.

A Guitar Community?

Yes. Just think back to when you were coming up. How cool would it have been to show up to a session once every other week or once a month and jam with cats older than you, ask them questions, steal licks from them, and be so inspired that you went home and shed until your fingers bled? I know I would have.

In a time when our youth are being medicated for false diagnoses, we should be giving them an opportunity to benefit from our experience. Is it ADHD or just a lack of going outside and doing stuff instead of playing XBox and Facebook all damn day long?!?!

Okay, okay, I know… I promised I wouldn’t lecture, but the sad truth is that kids today really need our help.

How We Can Help

First, find some friends and talk to them about starting a guitar community. Just one day a month, get together and jam. Have someone come up with a topic and let them do a mini lecture. Get some jam tracks and play along. Talk to your community centers, Boy Scouts, and local music stores. Tell them what you want to do and encourage them to help you reach out to the young players.

Once things start to take off, and trust me, they will if you stick with it, you’ll reap rewards that you never though were possible. There is nothing greater than seeing the passion on a kid’s face when they are playing and really enjoying the guitar. You’ve been there yourselves; you know what I’m talking about.

So what are you waiting for? Start a guitar community!

Start a Guitar Community and Save the World is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

It's not easy to sing and play at the same time

For many people, myself included, the guitar is not just an instrument; it’s an accompaniment. I have always enjoyed expressing myself through music, in particular by singing. Not long after I really started getting interested in music in my teens, I decided to purchase an acoustic guitar at the age of 19. At the time, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to achieve. Naturally I started by learning basic chord shapes and progressions, mostly from my Oasis chord book (and still love a bit of Brit-pop today!).

Once I had a basic progression down, I would record it and then try to layer the lead sections over the top using my brother’s electric guitar – I was useless. My timing was always off and I couldn’t play quickly enough. Whilst this can be rectified in time through lots and lots of practice, it didn’t take long for me to realise that the most intriguing and ultimately satisfying part of playing guitar for me, was the ability to sing along with the chords I was strumming.

This was tough to master, and I would like to share with you five techniques which helped me learn how to play and sing simultaneously.

Try to Minimise the Pain

You can’t comfortably sing if you are struggling to play. Make sure that you keep your fingernails short and that the skin on the end of your fingers has toughened up. If you are in pain, you will more likely be concentrating on this than anything else, and I found that if there was something hampering my playing, my voice and timing would go to pot. Also, sometimes you need to step back and take a break. I was practicing for 4-5 hours at a time which was very intense on my fingers, posture and vocals.

Have a Conversation

What you need to do is separate your hand from your brain. When trying to sing and play at the same time, many people strum the guitar in emphasis along with what they are trying to sing. There needs to be a disconnect between your hand and your brain. To do this, start by just having a conversation with a friend whilst strumming. Concentrate on the conversation, not your playing. Don’t try to play anything in particular – just play what you know. This will help to sever that connection between your brain and your hand, meaning that neither is dependent on the other.

Get Your Playing Down

My timing naturally sucks, and this tip can be useful to all musicians – practice with a click track (metronome). If you never play with a drummer, there is a good chance that your playing is not consistent with anything other than itself. This isn’t good if you’re performing a solo song. Practice both playing and singing individually with a metronome, which will help to train your natural rhythm. This, in time, will make playing and singing simultaneously much easier.

Work on Your Vocals Independently

To complete the singer/guitarist package you need to be expressive in your singing. Strengthening your voice is a great way to improve vocal projection. Take in deep breaths and release slowly 10 times in a row. Do this in the shower to take in the steam and air out your lungs. Lie down on the couch with a weight (i.e. a large book or similar) on your diaphragm and take large breaths… in and out… this all helps to strengthen the muscles which control your voice. Obviously this is the tip of the iceberg, but I encourage you to look further into vocal training as this will make you a better all-round performer.

Jam With Others

Sometimes this can be hard to orchestrate and no, a drum machine or metronome is not the same! Find people to play with; guitarists, singers, bassists, drummers… Humans make mistakes and have ideas just like you, and having a jam session with other musicians can be a really good way to train your skills. You don’t need to be the best guitarist in the world; you just need to have a passion and desire to progress your skills. Who knows, you may even decide to form a band of your own some day!

Learn to Play Guitar and Sing at the Same Time is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Have you made your resolution yet?

Yes, it’s that time of the year again; the end of the year. That time when we start to drool with anticipation and count down the days to see if our loved ones got us all of the guitar goodies we asked for. (And I know one of those things was our Scale Mastery eBook, right?)

The big day arrives, you get all of your new gear and toys, and you spend the next week or two shredding up a storm and sending the neighborhood pets running for cover. It’s a great time to be a guitarist, and you’re loving life.

But after that, then what? You probably tuck your new toys in the closet with the rest of your stuff and don’t pull it out again for a month, right? Life getting in the way of life and all that stuff.

Every year, millions of people try to set goals for themselves – things they want to accomplish or change about themselves – in an effort to improve their daily lives. It’s a noble cause, but unfortunately it’s also one that 99% of us stick with for about a month and then give up on. And yes, we all know the world is going to end in some Mayan apocalyptic catastrophe that would make Mel Gibson proud, but until that happens we’re going to help you set a guitar goal for 2012…

Notice I said a guitar goal, and that is the crux of it; we’re going to set one single goal and work on it for the entire year. Why? Because we all know you’re not going to get through an entire list. But, if you give yourself one goal and work on it while doing all of the other music stuff you like to do, the chances of you actually sticking with it and achieving what you set out to do becomes much greater.

To give you a head start, here are some examples/suggestions you might want to consider to get your brain flowin’:

• Master the melodic minor scale
• Learn 20 new chord voicings
• Memorize a favorite solo
• Stop listening to Nickleback
• Improve alternate picking
• Learn to sight read
• Write five songs

You get the idea. As you can see, I didn’t write “learn every scale” or “practice every day for five hours a day” or something insanely implausible. First and foremost you need to be realistic. My goal? Well, mine is very easy:

• Become better at improvising over ii-V-I and iii-VI-ii-V-I progressions in all 12 keys.

What’s great about this goal is that there are 12 keys to learn and 12 months in the year. Spread out, that means (obviously) I can work on one key per month. Granted, this goal is a bit open-ended in that I can easily get carried away by adding different scales, arpeggios, substitutions, etc. But I’m not going to do that. I know what I already have in my improviser’s toolbox, and so I’m going to focus on what’s already there. I’m also going to focus on what I know but cannot naturally implement. I know the melodic minor scale. I know how to play extended arpeggios. I understand how to use the minor pentatonics over each chord.

But I’m not as good as I want to be with them yet.

And so that’s my goal; one month, one key. Really nail those changes so I don’t have to think about them at all anymore.

What about you? Do you have something in mind? Comment below and let me and the other Fretheads know what you plan to work on (the ONE thing) next year.

Have You Set Your Guitar Goal for the New Year? is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Greatest band ever!

I have a profound distaste for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It would be fair to say that I think it’s a joke, a disgrace, and nothing more than a way for a select few music executives and critics to get together once a year and circle-jerk while they tell each other how great they are. But despite my misgivings, there are those who believe “the Hall” has some legitimacy to it. To those people, I have to ask why.

Take a look at a sampling of some artists who have been inducted:  The Flamingos, The Kinks, Lovin’ Spoonful, John Mellencamp, The Moonglows, The Pretenders… I could go on.

You can obviously get where I’m going with this given the title of today’s post, so it’s not like the drum roll leading up to my argument is as dramatic as usual, but I truly have to ask:

Why is Rush not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

How can an entity expect any pretense of legitimacy when it consistently fails to recognize one of the most important rock bands of the last 30 years. Whether you are a fan or not, as a musician you cannot overstate how important they are. I present to you the following list of points as to why Rush should have already been nominated and inducted:

Consecutive Gold Records

Only two bands sit higher on the list of groups that sold more consecutive gold records than Rush – The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. I think we can all agree that is no small achievement. Out of every single group that is currently in the Hall, only two have been more consistently successful.

Inspiring a Genre

Talk to virtually any progressive rock musician that started playing music from the late 1970′s forward and they will mention how influential Rush was to their musical upbringing. Monster musicians such as Billy Corgan, Trent Reznor, and Kirk Hammett (among many others) all sing the praises of the Canadian trio.

Not only at the group level, but individually they have all been tremendously influential as well. Take drummers, for example. I would be very comfortable saying that if I interviewed 1,000 professional rock/metal drummers today and asked who their influences were, Neal Peart (pronounced like “peert” by the way, in case you were wondering) would be on 99% of those lists.

Their long form, epic songs pushed the boundaries of songwriting, especially at a time where there was no computer recording, auto-tune, or drum quantizing.

Their Influence Compared to Others

Neal Peart - easily one of the most influential drummers in the world

Given the aforementioned inspiration for other musicians, can the members of the Hall induction committee really justify how artists like Dusty Springfield are in and Rush are not? Let’s take a look at some of this year’s noiminations:

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Laura Nyro
The Small Faces/The Faces

Who?
What?
Really?

I mean, who the fuck is Laura Nyro? She wrote one song, apparently, that The Mommas & The Papas sang. The Small Faces? I have absolutely no clue who they are. Joan Jett? Maybe I can see it, but I can’t think of one person she or The Blackhearts ever inspired.

Alex Lifeson - just to keep it "guitar"a

I don’t know what it is about Rush, or about the genre in general, that creates such a negative reaction. People said the same thing about hip hop twenty years ago, and yet Eric B. & Rakim are nominated this year. Genesis was only inducted in 2010; Miles Davis in 2006 and he’s not even rock! To my knowledge, Genesis is the only “prog” band that has ever gotten in, as I wouldn’t consider Pink Floyd prog.

Neal Peart vs. Hal Blaine?
“Tom Sawyer” by Rush vs. “Sincerely” by The Moonglows?

I concede that perhaps I’m not making my best argument. I’m also not saying that Clyde McPhatter and The Everly Brothers shouldn’t be in. But I’m having a very hard time swallowing the pill that the corporate music mavens make me swallow. I thought is was bad enough when the Grammys awarded Jethro Tull the “best hard rock/heavy metal album” honors over Metallica, but even they eventually admitted their mistake and made up for it.

I would like to hear your opinions. Especially if you think Rush deserves to be in, please leave a comment. I doubt that the knuckleheads at the Hall will ever get wind of my piddly blog rant, but the #OccupyRush movement needs to keep pushing forward.

Xanadu!

Why is Rush NOT in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Gibson's new Firebird X Computer Guitar

It’s not a mystery that the line between analog and digital has been getting smaller and smaller over the years. I think Line 6 was the first company to truly innovate and show us what was possible. With modeling now taking such a prevalent position in the music product industry, it was only a matter of time before a guitar company came along and shoved a whole mess of computer equipment into it. Line 6 had the Variax, and Brian Moore added USB to their iGuitar series.

Tomorrow, Gibson will officially release the Firebird X for sale. Having “enhanced an already outstanding instrument to unbelievable performance and creative heights” Gibson aims to set the bar higher than any guitar manufacturer before by including a wide range of new features from electronic tuners to 3rd party apps.

As intriguing as this all may seem, I can’t help but wonder if we, as consumers and musicians, have finally gone so far over the edge, so far down the path of having everything in one small package with ten million options immediately available to you, that we’ve actually killed the guitar.

Is the Gibson Firebird X signaling the death of the guitar?

I won’t go into all of the specific details about the Firebird X. I think Gibson has done enough work to warrant you taking a look at their website if you want every piece of information available. But I have to say I’m really on the fence. As some of you know I’m not really a huge effects guy. I’ve always been a “plug it in and play it” kind of guitarist. Effects are cool, but kind of like baseball it’s only cool in small doses. Where I can see some advantage to the automated tuners for live musicians, at this time I just can’t see why you need a guitar that has 3rd party applications you can install into the actual guitar!

I get that it’s still an analog guitar and only the audio signal is being modified, so in essence it’s not a midi guitar or modeler where your actual performance may have to change due to technological limitations, but to me in many ways the guitar is supposed to be pure.

Pilfered from Gibson's website

On the other hand, I also get that most people don’t have the money to buy all kinds of different amps and pedals and other gadgets, so having a guitar that can do all of those things is a plus.

Yes, I get it. But I don’t necessarily agree with it.

I’ve been thinking about all of my favorite guitar players; all of the guys that have really kicked my ass through the years. And you know what? Most of them don’t usually use a ton of effects. Players like Wayne Krantz are using them more now than in the past, but I still love their “pure” stuff better. Guitarists like Oz Noy, who use tons of effects, I just don’t get into that much.

Anyway, I’m reserving final judgment until I can get my hands on one of these monstrosities and can check it out first-hand, but I wanted to get your opinions; are we going too far in the other direction where we risk losing our musical creativity to circuits and signal chains, or are we opening the doors for new innovations that will inspire and truly bring the best music out of us?

Chime in and let me know what you think?

Is the Gibson Firebird X the Death Of the Guitar? is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.