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Jazz Guitar Comping – Andrew Green (Book)

2 August 2010

Any and all guitar players should be concerned with their rhythm playing. Concerned in the sense that it’s just as important (if not more so) than being great at soloing. I have always been much more impressed with the ability of guitarists to play with the band rather than how well they stand out. Especially [...]

Meisel COM-90 Clip-On Electronic Tuner

27 July 2010

3 Comments

Having a good tuner is a must. I think we can all agree that there is nothing worse than a guitar player whose guitar is out of tune. When I first started learning jazz guitar (still learning…) I went on this mad search for the be-all clip-on tuner to use with my jazz box. It’s [...]

Big Studio Secrets for Home Recording and Production (Book)

16 July 2010

8 Comments

One of my biggest personal failings as a musician is that I was never much interested in recording or production. I never cared too much about tweaking my guitar sound to get “my” tone; I was always a plug-and-play kind of guy. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that approach, but as I get older and [...]

Rush – Beyond the Lighted Stage (DVD)

6 July 2010

0 Comments

Back in 1980 I remember getting the album (on vinyl, thank you very much) 2112 by Rush for my birthday. Up to that point I had no particular interest in progressive rock. I mean, I wasn’t even a teenager yet, so what did I know about music? I was into Ratt and Motley Crue, and [...]

Five Must-Have Metal Guitar CDs

18 June 2010

10 Comments

The late 1980′s and early 90′s was a great time for metal guitar. Players like Satch, Malmsteen, and Vai were pushing the envelope and bringing guitar to the forefront of everyone’s mind. MTV was dominated by great axe slingers and every bar in town had original music played every weekend. While the guitar gods were [...]

625 Alive: The Wes Montgomery BBC Performance Transcribed

9 June 2010

2 Comments

Wes Montgomery is widely regarded as the greatest jazz guitarist of all time. His work has been dissected, analyzed, and copied millions of times. His influence as a jazz guitarist has thus far been unsurpassed and will probably remain so for a very long time. One would be hard-pressed to find a straight-ahead player who [...]

Spock’s Beard – X

25 May 2010

16 Comments

It’s not always easy writing about your musical influences. From a journalistic standpoint (like, say, as a blogger) you want to be as objective as possible, making sure to cover the subject matter from all angles while presenting all viewpoints. From a fanboy standpoint, you want to share with the world your discovery; screaming from [...]

The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine

18 May 2010

2 Comments

Whenever you get into a new hobby, line of work, or general area of interest, there is always one book or resource of information that people in those circles dub “The Bible.” “Oh, you must get this book!” “This is the only book you’re going to need!” “Everyone usually recommends you start here first.” It’s [...]

Daily Exercises in the Melodic Minor and Harmonic Minor Modes by Barry Galbraith

13 May 2010

0 Comments

Barry Galbraith was a well-respected jazz guitarist who played with everyone from Miles Davis to Sarah Vaughan. Though he was generally not known outside of the jazz guitar community such as the likes of Wes or Metheny, he made an indelible mark on the instrument and has appreciated a wide range of great players who [...]

Kapsalis and Ivanovic – Guitar Duo

3 May 2010

1 Comment

It’s hard to be original these days. Market over-saturation, media reluctance to buck the trend, lack of guitar heroes… lots of factors seem to keep the carbon copy guitarists at the forefront while many of the truly exceptional players languish in coffee shops and book stores. Every time I get a CD from an independent [...]