The Holidays. Ah, the most wonderful time of the year.

Or not.
As a female guitarist, I can’t tell you how many times someone has given me a gift that they thought was “cute” or “perfect for a girl who plays the guitar.” Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how you look at it – I’m not like most women. I will not use that pink music note coffee mug or wear those acoustic guitar-shaped earrings made of sparkling fuschia-colored rhinestones that someone thought were “perfect” for me. My preferences are of the darker, “riffier” persuasion, and usually make a lot more noise than my neighbors would like. Continue reading “2014 Holiday Gift Guide”

It’s only been a year since the Dirty Deed distortion pedal came out, and since then it has been followed by the Vapor Trail, 805 Overdrive, Pickup Booster, Vise Grip and now the Shape Shifter. In that time dozens of well-known artists have taken a liking to one or more of the new guitar pedals. here’s a current who’s using what.

Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters is using the 805

Jeff Loomis and Keith Merrow of Conquering Dystopia are using the 805

Carl Verheyen is using the Vapor Trail

Continue reading “Guitarists Using Seymour Duncan Pedals”

Okay, we all know that learning guitar, starting a band, and writing your own music is hard. And it gets exponentially harder as we add more people. The more personalities involved, the more people either want to help or do absolutely nothing, which forces forces some decisions to be made by you, the guitarist or bassist that started it all. This article explains some of the work required to becoming a working professional, and to continually improve our aptitude on guitar, learn about gear, and optimize our tone. Who knew it was going to be this hard? Like anything, if you want to do something well and compete in a world where thousands of players are doing the same thing, we have to get to work. Creative and fun work, yes, but work nonetheless. Continue reading “There Is No Substitute For Hard Work”

Nashville’s music scene has given birth to so many phenomenal guitar players: Brent Mason, Jerry McPherson, Kenny Greenberg, and Hunter Hayes’ current guitar slinger, Devin Malone. As fans, we often fall into the trap of idolizing guitar gods, but what many of us don’t realize is that the studio session musicians are often the ones that create the songs and sounds we fall in love with. Their names may not be the first across your lips when you mention your favorite guitar players, but many of them have written and played on the songs that are the soundtrack of your life. Devin Malone is one of those guitar players. His phrasing, solos, and melodic emotion has weaved it’s way into the fabric of songs by Keith Urban and most recently, country star Hunter Hayes. I had a chance to ask Devin Malone about guitars, tone, and two mutual passions: gear and English literature. What’s not to like about a man who knows his guitar as well as his English literature? Continue reading “Great Expectations: An Interview With Hunter Hayes’ Guitarist Devin Malone”

Simple Plan’s Sebastien Lefebvre

The platinum-selling, “new-punk” stylings of Simple Plan first made their appearance on the music scene in 1999. The band played the Warped Tour and never looked back. For those of us that were in college when they first heard Simple Plan, like yours truly, it may seem almost impossible that the band has been going strong for 15 years. Yes, indeed, my friends, it has been that long since 1999! With songs like “Perfect” and “Welcome To My Life” becoming part of the soundtracks of the lives of so many, the band has been able to become mainstays on the punk/pop scene. In today’s musical landscape, selling records and remaining relevant for 15 months is an accomplishment, let alone 15 years. Simple Plan can also say they’ve remained true to their roots and their sound, and that’s not something many can claim after 15 years either. Continue reading “Interview with Simple Plan’s Sebastien Lefebvre”

The wah pedal is a long-standing fixture on many pedalboards. The Cry Baby wah was the very first pedal I bought – and I still have it – but I’ve always preferred a “darker” tone in my wah sound. I find that when you “open up” the Cry Baby (toe down position), it’s too “pitchy.” Yes, I know, that’s not a word, but anyone who has run into the high-pitched squeals of an open Cry Baby wah knows exactly what I’m talking about. I could have replaced my wah pedal with something darker, but like many guitarists I didn’t want to spend $250 on another piece of gear. Correction: I wanted to spend the money on gear, but I can only hide so many guitar-related purchases a year, and adding another wah pedal seemed redundant. Continue reading “Changing the Tone of Your Wah Pedal”

The sound of a single coil pickup in a Stratocaster is iconic. It helped to shape the tone of blues, psychedelic rock, hard rock and even neoclassical metal. And yet as playing styles progressed and amplifier designs evolved, it became apparent that the characteristic hum of single coil pickups was not always welcome. Some players will always love everything about true single coils – including the hum. But others just don’t want any of it. That’s why the humbucker was invented, of course, but the tone of a humbucker is different to a single coil by its very nature. So if you crave a single coil tone but you wish to use a lot of gain, or you would simply prefer your clean tone to be all guitar and no hum, the Stack Plus series is for you.  Continue reading “The Stack Plus Family Noiseless Pickups”

Halloween: aka Christmas for Rock’n’Rollers and other misfits. It’s the only day of the year when dressing like a zombie vampire pirate is socially accepted by your boss and neighbors. Aside from trick or treating, Halloween is often the time of the year that all of your favorite horror movies make their annual appearance on TV. Spine-chilling shrills, screams, sirens, death knells, and howls abound. Scary sounds are an integral part of horror movies. If you don’t believe me, try watching one with the sound on “mute” and you’ll see what I mean. I distinctly remember watching Michael Jackson’ s video for “Thriller” and being fascinated by all of the visual and sound effects, while watching through the spaces between my fingers which were covering my face. Well, that, and pretending that my Mickey Mouse sweatshirt was a red leather jacket, and my grandmother’s garden glove was a sparkly one like Michael’s, but I digress: my love of the dark, dangerous, and spooky has remained ever since, and backlot tours at Universal Studios and Disney as a young teenager only exacerbated my fascination with the genre known simply as “horror.” Listening to Alice Cooper and seeing his live show only fed the beast! Continue reading “Feed Your Frankenstein: Ten Halloween Sounds You Can Make With Your Guitar”

There are so many little parts on an electric guitar that when you’re a beginner it can be a daunting task to figure out what each part is for! It never hurts to take a closer look at anything, so why not dive into the anatomy of an electric guitar?
Let’s start at the head and work our way down. Continue reading “Guitar Anatomy (Parts of an Electric Guitar)”

Photo By Christiaan Westgeest

Windhand erupted into the world several years ago with their dark melodic and deeply crushing guitar sounds with distant vocals. Their self-titled EP made them well recognized in the Stoner/Doom Metal scene but their ability to infuse other styles also has earned them many fans. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia they went on to produce their second album SOMA which has further built on the success with hits like “Orchard” and “Woodbine.” In this article we talk with Garrett Morris: guitarist, founder and chief recording engineer. Continue reading “Voices of Metal: Windhand”