GUITAR EUREKA !

GITARRE EUREKA! GUITARE EUREKA! GITAAR EUREKA! CHITARRA EUREKA! ギター EUREKA! κιθάρα EUREKA! 기타 EUREKA! GUITARRA ERUREKA! гитара EUREKA! 吉他 EUREKA!

Thursday 30 September 2010

POST # 360 Ozzy Osbourne on Guitar Riffs

”… I don’t want you to play me a riff that’s going to impress Joe Satriani; give me a riff that makes a kid want to go out and buy a guitar and learn to play …” – Ozzy Osbourne

Wednesday 29 September 2010

POST # 359 MYSTERY CASE No. 7 WHO am I ?



Good Day GUITAR EUREKA Detectives!

You are given 10 clues to the identity of this mystery PERSON. See how many clues you require to solve the case...have fun!

1. I was born August 9th, 1944 in Philadelphia

2. I was born with a last name of Azzara, but I am commonly known with a different last name.

3. I started my recording career with Willis Jackson and Eric Kloss.

4. I moved to Harlem and immersed in the 'soul jazz' scene, and gigged with Jack McDuff and Don Patterson.

5. I signed as a leader for Prestige Records when I was just twenty years old.

6. I underwent surgery in 1980 as the result of a nearly fatal brain aneurysm. The surgery left me with amnesia, leaving me, among other things, without any memory of the guitar and my musical career.

7. I made a successful recovery and returned to the stage in 1987.

8. Wes Montgomery is one of my favourate guitar players.

9. I had a signature model made by Gibson. I been known to play through Roland JC 120 amps.

10. My albumns include Strings!, Desperado, El Hombre and Baiyina (The Clear Evidence).

I am ????

Tuesday 28 September 2010

POST # 358 Barney Kessel on Playing Scales

“Playing scales is like a boxer skipping rope or punching a bag. It’s not the thing in itself; it’s preparatory to the activity” – Barney Kessel

Monday 27 September 2010

POST # 357 Leopold Stokowski on Silence

“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” – Leopold Stokowski

Sunday 26 September 2010

POST # 356 Jimmy Page on the Record that made him want to play Guitar

I got really stimulated by hearing early rock and roll; knowing that something was going on that was being suppressed by the media. Which it really was at the time. You had to stick by the radio and listen to overseas radio to hear good records—Little Richard and things like that. The record that made me want to play guitar was “Baby, Let’s Play House” by Elvis Presley. I just sort of heard two guitars and bass and thought, “Yeah, I want to be a part of this.” There was just so much vitality and energy coming out of it.



Saturday 25 September 2010

POST # 355 Joe Satriani on Rolling Stone Magazine's Gratest Guitarist List

“… guitarists shouldn’t get too riled up about all of the great players that were left off of ‘Rolling Stone Magazines’ list of the Greatest Guitar Players of all Time’ … Rolling Stone is published for people who read the magazine because they don’t know what to wear …” – Joe Satriani

Friday 24 September 2010

POST # 354 Pat Metheny On Rhythm and Time

I was able to work with the best musicians in Kansas City starting when I was really young. To me, rhythm and what you do with it is everything. And to get the opportunity to play with KC's best drummer, Tommy Ruskin, regularly starting when I was 14 was probably the single most important, tangible musical education I could have had. Almost everything I still do when it comes to thinking about "time" has to do with things I picked up from listening to and watching Tommy play. In a way I see it more clearly now than ever. He also had a huge impact on the way I think about "touch." The way he plays very gently yet really firm and in the pocket is something that I still try to emulate.



Thursday 23 September 2010

POST # 353 Buddy Guy on the Ways Guitars and Amps were Made

“Why did they keep changing guitars and amplifiers when they were perfect? They did the same things with cars, if you ask me. They forgot how to make them right, because they focused on style and bells and whistles.”





Wednesday 22 September 2010

POST # 352 MYSTERY CASE No. 6 WHAT am I ?



Good Day GUITAR EUREKA Detectives!

You are given 10 clues to the identity of this mystery OBJECT. See how many clues you require to solve the case...have fun!

1. I was first made in 1952 with 1 speaker.

2. I acquired 3 additional speakers in 1955 to a total of 4 speakers.

3. My various incarnations includes the following circuit, 5D6 (1955), 5E6 (1955), 5E6-A (1955-1957), 5F6 (1957) and 5F6-A (1958-1960)

4. A unique feature of my circuit is the use of a cathode follower, which provides a slight compression of the sound while also allowing an increase in current, and thus more signal is sent to the power amp. It also had the secondary consequence of increasing the amp's dynamic.

5. Later versions consisted of a piggyback style head and 2x12" or 4x12" cabinet.

6. I was discontinued in 1983

7. I was reissued in 1990

8. Marshall based their first amplifiers on my design.

9. I am a tube amplifier originally designed for bass guitars

10. I am made by Fender.

I am ???????

Tuesday 21 September 2010

POST # 351 Jim Hall on Newer Guitar Players on the scene

I love Bill Frisell's playing for obvious reasons; he's unique and always surprising which is part of what being unique is. I recently did an evening playing with Greg Osby, a marvellous alto player. I found that really interesting and challenging in a different way. Another guitar player that I like a lot is Pete Bernstein; he's with Josh Redman's group. Peter comes from a Grant Green tradition but, and I say but for a reason, because I have very little patience with born-again beboppers. But Peter has a great ability to grow I think. He's a very melodic player and has fantastic ears.



Monday 20 September 2010

POST # 350 George Barnes on His First Recording

At 14, 1 formed my first quartet, the George Barnes Quartet. We did a lot of work. At 16, I made my first record under my group's own name. We recorded "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" and "I Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me," for Okeh records: Many guitar players who read Guitar Player magazine have written me that they have that record.

Sunday 19 September 2010

POST # 349 Jimmy Page on Banjos and Mandolins

“Gallows Pole” (Led Zeppelin III) was the first time for banjo and on “The Battle Of Evermore” (Led Zeppelin IV) a mandolin was lying around. It wasn’t mine, it was Jonesy’s. I just picked it up, got the chords, and it sort of started happening. I did it more or less straight off. But you see that’s fingerpicking again, going on back to the studio days and developing a certain amount of technique. At least enough to be adapted and used. My fingerpicking is a sort of cross between Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs and total incompetence.








Saturday 18 September 2010

POST # 348 Horace Silver on Trying something New

We all have to open our minds, stretch forth, take chances and venture out musically to try and arrive at something new and different.

( Horace Silver stretches out over a few static vamps - Ed )



Friday 17 September 2010

POST # 347 Billy Gibbons on how to give Guitar it's own personality

“Each guitar has its own character and personality, which can be magnified once the player engages in beatin’ it up” – Billy F. Gibbons

Thursday 16 September 2010

Wednesday 15 September 2010

POST # 345 MYSTERY CASE No. 5 WHO am I ?



Good Day GUITAR EUREKA Detectives!

You are given 10 clues to the identity of this mystery person. See how many clues you require to solve the case...have fun!

1. I was born on January 26, 1955.

2. My father is Dutch and my mother is Indonesian.

3. My first band was called "Mammoth" in 1972

4. Gene Simmons financed our first demo tape

5. Our debut record was released on February 10, 1978

6. I am known for my use of two-handed tapping, natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato, and tremolo picking.

7. I constructed a custom guitar using a Charvel factory "2nd" body and neck (cost $50), a single vintage Gibson PAF humbucker pickup (sealed in paraffin wax to reduce microphonic feedback), a pre-CBS Fender tremolo bridge (later to be a Floyd Rose bridge) and a single volume control with a knob labeled "tone".

8. I am known to have a 'brown sound'.

9. I played on Michael Jackson's Thriller

10. I have a son called Wolfgang.


I am ???

Tuesday 14 September 2010

POST # 344 Frank Gambale on Writing Music

I love to write. It took a long time for me to like my own compositions. It's difficult to come to a point where you feel comfortable with your own music when you've been listening all your life to the brilliant works of some of your favorite musicians. You always compare yourself. Now I don't really do that anymore. I write what I write and hope that people like it. The market for my music is small, and so I know that those who do listen to my music expect a high standard and interesting chord changes and a high level of soloing. That's what I do. I try to find strong melodies that can be sung, and then create solo sections with interesting solo changes to play over. I don't like to write something that's like anyone else or for commercial gain, I wish to be true to the music, art for art's sake. My music is difficult to describe and record companies have a hard time selling it and the main radio stations won't play it, but that's OK. I still won't deviate from making what I consider good music. It's not music for everybody, but it's what I love to do. I won't compromise.

Monday 13 September 2010

POST # 343 Chet Atkins on Vintage Guitars vs New

Since 1950, electric guitars have improved so very much, the Les Paul and Gretsch guitars made back in those days aren’t near the instruments they are now, the workmanship and pickups. I guess there are just so many more people now who can do woodwork and have learned from each other how to build superior instruments. They’re so good now, I don’t know how they can be improved very much, you know like the Strats and Les Pauls. And the Country Gentleman that Gibson makes is a very good guitar for an f-holetype guitar.

Sunday 12 September 2010

POST # 342 Buddy Guy on Guitar Slim

“The first guitar player I saw putting on a show was Guitar Slim - I must've been 13 years old - he came out riding that guitar, wearing a bright red suit. I thought; 'I wanna sound like BB King, but I wanna play guitar like THAT.”





Saturday 11 September 2010

POST # 341 Shawn Lane on Buckethead

What that is was, I have been pretty obsessed for a little while with the music of Conlon Nancarrow, so I wanted to try to express something like that with the guitar and I wanted to do note combinations that I didn't think could be done on the guitar. So actually what I did is constructing it by recording every note separately. So I actually just would play a note and then record however long I wanted the tone to be. If I wanted it to be longer I'd record longer, for shorter notes I just recorded for a second. And I literally just constructed it note-by-note over a couple of night's time. Thousands of notes. I wanted to make combinations of notes that couldn't be played, I was pretty convinced they couldn't be. So I did that as a stand-alone loop about 8 years ago and a bootleg tape of it got in the hands of buckethead. And nobody told him that I didn't play it, that it was assembled on tape with guitar. And so he tried to sound like that by tapping and based a lot of his style on that tape. So it's Conlon Nancarrow influencing me influencing Buckethead. It became it's own style. But I think it's funny because it was because of a misunderstanding. He didn't know that I didn't play it so he assumed that it could just be played. Well, when I constructed it, I constructed it specifically so it could not be played. And he didn't know that, so he achieved something going (imitates Buckethead playing fast) by tapping them in wide intervals. It's a weird story (laughs)





Thursday 9 September 2010

POST # 338 MYSTERY CASE No. 4 WHAT am I ?



Good Day GUITAR EUREKA Detectives!

You are given 10 clues to the identity of this mystery OBJECT. See how many clues you require to solve the case...have fun!

1. I was first made in the late 70's

2. I have 3 knobs, overdrive, tone and level.

3. I am known to have a 'mid-hump' in EQ frequency.

4. I have a subtle clipping circuit and a post-clipping equalization circuit with a first-order high-pass shelving filter

5. My overdrive is produced using a variable gain op-amp circuit with matched diodes in the feedback circuit to produce soft, symmetrical clipping of the input waveform.

6. I use the JRC4558 chip, but have been known to use RC4558P, TL4558P, JRC 2043DD etc

7. I was contracted out to be made by a company called Maxon.

8. I was renamed with a few changes in 1982.

9. I am Green

10. I have been associated with players such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson.



I am ?????

Wednesday 8 September 2010

POST # 337 Paul Gilbert on his Practice Routine

My practice routine is mostly just learning songs. I try to learn songs like a starving man at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Every song I like, I just cram into my head. For example, Bach piano, violin, and cello pieces, are great for learning how to apply scales and arpeggios in a very musical way.

60’s and 70’s pop is great for learning chords and gaining an intuition for good melody writing. Blues is great for developing vibrato and developing a sense of “speaking” through your guitar. There is so much music out there. I just try to find what I like and play it. From Paganini to the The Partridge Family. I like it all.”

( Paul gives a great lesson on phrasing. - Ed )

Monday 6 September 2010

POST # 335 B.B. King on Jazz and Blues

“Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.”



Sunday 5 September 2010

Saturday 4 September 2010

POST # 333 Carlos Santana on Surrendering to the Music

Surrender your whole being to a note, and gravity disappears...with one chord, John Lee Hooker could tell a story as deep as the ocean.

Friday 3 September 2010

POST # 332 MYSTERY CASE No. 3 WHAT am I ?


Good Day GUITAR EUREKA Detectives!

You are given 10 clues to the identity of this mystery OBJECT. See how many clues you require to solve the case...

1. I was first introduced in 1922 Masterline under Lloyd Loar and sold for $275.00

2. I was the first guitar with F holes and adjustable truss rods

3. My dimension changed from 16" to 17" in 1934

4. I was an acoustic instrument used in big bands

5. I acquired a cutaway version in 1939

6. I inspired an electric model in 1949 called the Switchmaster.

7. In 1951 I acquired P90 pickups and in 1958 I acquired humbuckers.

8. There was a 'diminished' version made in the late 50's and 60's named after a TV comedian/Actor.

8. There was a solid body version made in the 70's.

9. I feature a carved spruce top.

10. I have been associated with players such as Wes Montgomery, Eddie Lang, Maybelle Carter and Scotty Moore.

I am ???

Thursday 2 September 2010

POST # 331 Jimmy Page on his solo on "I Can't Quit You Baby"

There are mistakes in it, but it doesn’t make any difference. I’ll always leave the mistakes in. I can’t help it. The timing bits on the A and the Bb parts are right, though it might sound wrong. The timing just sounds off. But there are some wrong notes. You’ve got to be reasonably honest about it. It’s like the film track album (The Song Remains The Same); there’s no editing really on that. It wasn’t the best concert playing-wise at all, but it was the only one with celluloid footage so, there it was. It was all right, it was just one ‘as-it-is” performance. It wasn’t one of those real magic nights, but then again it wasn’t a terrible night.



Wednesday 1 September 2010

POST # 330 Bill Evans on Analyzing Jazz

...it bugs me when people try to analyze jazz as an intellectual theorem. It's not. It's feeling.

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