Shred This Way - Guitar Lessons, Reviews, Jamtracks and Backing tracks

Chris Brooks - The axis of all things - Review

2012-01-01T03:53:00.000-08:00

Chris brooks is one of Australia's best kept secrets, if you're a local I'm sure you would have heard about him but if you're from any other part of the world and haven't heard about him so far, he is definitely one guitarist you should look up. For today we are reviewing his latest album "The axis of all things". Before we go about it, a special thanks to Chris for sending me a review copy of this one, had awesome fun listening to it!

Here's the track listing for the album

The Axis of all things :

Prelude
The axis of all things
Transfiguration
Open doors
Not the day, nor the hour
Wisdom RD
Hammer's heart
Feeding the Myth
In and out of dreams (Axis pt2)
Velvet Claws

I know that sometimes it gets a little boring to read these reviews, so what I'd suggest is listen to some of the samples from Chris's site while you go through the review. Here's the link to the samples http://www.chrisbrooks.com/listen

Chris is the kind of guitarist who would definitely put melody first and shred second but at the same time he's a rare breed of guitarists who can create a perfect blend melody and shred. I was listening to his tracks for close to an hour, and I never felt like he is loosing control or shredding too much or compromising the tempo of the song to put across his melodies. An overall top class album which I would definitely recommend.

The album has Chris playing the guitars and the keyboards. On the Bass we have Nate Apparati and on the drums, Peter McDonaugh & Gordon Rytmeister. Ofcourse there are several surprises in the album in the form of guest guitarists such as Brett Garsed, Rick Graham & Lord Tim

This is definitely the kind of album that I would love to listen to when I'm alone in my room and just wanna listen to something really melodic. It's almost hypnotic at times and the melodies are so sweet that they can captivate you for hours. Axis of all things is definitely the kind of album that deserves a listen with closed eyes and be in a complete state of trance.

Along with the review copy, Chris was nice enough to send in his thoughts behind the songs, which I must add, is beautiful. With his permission, I'm gonna put them up here so that you guys can understand the guy a little better.

THE THOUGHTS BEHIND THE NOTES - By Chris Brooks

1. PRELUDE*

I’ve always loved the simple beauty of this melody from Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s ‘Te Deum’, so I adapted it to open the album. It’s always a mood-lifter for me. It was a last minute decision to have that noodling at the beginning, but I really liked the idea of starting the album with guitar alone, as if to enjoy a quiet word with you before the band arrives.

2. THE AXIS OF ALL THINGS

I’m always imagining where a song will sit on an album when writing, and this one had that “first song” vibe from the beginning (even though there’s a prelude). Hat-tip to Brett for that little pattern that got the whole thing rolling! The title refers to that thing that you feel allows you to be who you are… the thing that is the source of your happiness or being.

3. TRANSFIGURATION*

A jam over a drum groove, some new chord voicings, a melody jam overdub, and this new, funky, cruisy track was on its way! My favorite part of recording this song (besides the hook) was doing the solos before each chorus. I tried to get new things out of my finger tone and phrasing. I also had a blast doing the riffing where the song “transfigures”.

4. OPEN DOORS

I considered covering a Joey Tafolla tune for this album since I loved his “Infra Blue” album in the early 90s, but I opted instead to write a new song as a tribute instead, using the ideas I gained as a player from that album. In Tafolla style, almost every section of the song contains open-string motifs.

5. NOT THE DAY, NOR THE HOUR

It took something as simple as a new sequence I was practicing with a minor 9^th arpeggio to get this song rolling. I love it when a new idea goes into a song right away. There are some alternating time signatures (sometimes from bar to bar) somewhat like I did on tracks like “Axiom” and “Tales…” from my first album. I like the unusual feel that creates.

6. WISDOM RD

I wrote this song a very long time ago, but it came to mind recently and I thought it would be nice to have some acoustic on the album. It takes me back to the time I wrote it, and makes me think about everything I’ve learned since then. I hope it takes you back to some interesting time in your life when you listen.

7. HAMMERS HEART

This Kee Marcello tune is very special to me because it was perhaps my first exposure to a guitar instrumental. Covering it came with a little trepidation, so I hope Kee likes it. I’m happy with the performance and in ways possibly only detected by me; I feel it made me a better player. It’s the kind of song where every performance is unique and really exposes the guitar to the listener.

8. FEEDING THE MYTH*

When that negative voice inside you tries to throw you off your game, it will do anything in its power to prove to you to that “you can’t do it”, “you won’t succeed” etc. It’s Feeding The Myth. I’m a firm believer in believing firmly, but we all have that inner struggle at times and that’s what I tried to get across in this song. Thanks to Rick and Gordon for their awesome performances!

9. IN AND OUT OF DREAMS (AXIS PT2)

The intro came to me in 1995, and sat on an “ideas tape” until now. It was an absolute pleasure for me to have perhaps my first ever guitar hero, Brett Garsed, appear on the track! Brett’s one the finest players ever to put fingers to strings, and a total pioneer of this style I and many others play. I also called upon my old mate Lord Tim to supply the outro solo. Tim is one of my favorite musicians and creative minds. Thanks to you both for gracing this track!

10. VELVET CLAWS

I was poking fun at someone when I began writing this song, as a kind of musical revenge for something, but the more I added to it – the country licks, the rocking solo, the breakdown, bass solo etc… the more it felt like a Chris Brooks song, albeit a cheeky one. It’s a really fun one to play live. The music video I did for VC has (at the time of writing) been viewed on Youtube over 33,000 times… probably the closest I’ll get to a hit single! Rock on!

www.chrisbrooks.com

DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again (Acoustic Guitar Cover)

2011-12-31T06:37:00.000-08:00

Defenitely not I would post on a regular basis, but I had awesome fun jamming to this song and I think this was an amazing performance and worth sharing.

The Chords are pretty simple to figure out, but here's the lyrics for anyone wanting to try this out. Oh !! and don't forget to leave the link in the comment here if you guys manage to record something.

Have fun !!

DJ got us falling in love again by Usher - Lyrics

So we back in the club

Get that bodies rockin from side to side (si-side to side)

Thank God the week is done,I feel like a zombi gone back to life (ba-back to life)

Hands-up,and suddenly we all got our hands-up
No control of my body

Ain't i seen you before?
I think I remember those

eyes,eyes,eyes,eyes,e-e

Cuz baby tonight
the DJ got us falling in love again

Yeah baby tonight
the DJ got us falling in love again

So dance dance
Like its the last last night
of your life life
Im'ma get you right

Cuz baby tonight
the DJ got us falling in love again

Keep downing drinks like this,not tomorrow not just right now now now now n-now now

gonna set the roof on fire,gonna burn this mother**** down down down down d-down down

Hands up when the music drops,we both put our hands up
Put your hands up on my body

Swear i've seen you before

I think I remember those

eyes,eyes,eyes,eyes,e-e

Cuz baby tonight
the DJ got us falling in love again

Yeah baby tonight
the DJ got us falling in love again

So dance dance
Like its the last last night
of your life life
Im'ma get you right

Cuz baby tonight
the DJ got us falling in love again

Source :

http://www.elyricsworld.com/dj_got_us_falling_in_love_again_lyrics_usher.html

Understanding Intervallic Structures

2011-12-30T05:26:00.000-08:00

Today we have a guest post by a vey talented guitarist, Theodore K. Hope you guys enjoy this article

Level: Advanced

Goals:

To expand your chord vocabulary.
To be able to create interesting open chord voicings.
To improve your harmonizing and arranging skill.

Many intermediate-advanced guitarists feel stuck when it comes to chords. Even though sometimes they put immense study hours in chords, they feel doomed to use the same chord voicings time after time. Some of these guitarists have real zeal and passion for music and study long and hard.

They try to create new fresh and “open” chord sounds, to translate into music what they've learned from theory lessons about chord construction, tonic and modal harmony, modal interchange etc.

I used to be in that position too. But then I realized that the problem was not my eagerness to study or my willingness to evolve. All I needed was a new way of doing things. I soon came to understand that the problem was that I possessed a relatively poor voicing vocabulary. This was when I was introduced to the concept of Intervallic Structures.

This concept really helped me to tackle this problem, because it gave me a simple, applicable way I could use immediately to change my whole perception of chord structure and my ways of using it on my improvisation. Therefore, I would like you to watch this tutorial where explain what exactly is the concept of Intervallic Structures and I demonstrate (watch the video below), how we can use an Allan Holdsworth-like voicing to harmonize the C Major Scale (you can download the score and the tab for free here: http://goo.gl/42Mx5 ).

Intervallic Structures, are voicings that are created stacking various intervals (unlike the standard harmony under which chords are being created usually stacking only diatonic thirds).

For example: The structure that it is used in the video lesson is created by stacking intervals of a diatonic 3rd, a 2nd and then a 4th.

In the video lesson, I use the aforementioned structure to harmonize the C Major Scale. Having this exercise registered in your muscle memory and having visualized the voicings over the various positions of the C Major Scale, you will expand your musical palette with these “open” sound voicings and you will be able to use them in all kinds of situations: accompanying someone else, harmonizing a melody using these ideas (instead of using standard chord voicings), composing a contemporary chord-melody etc.

You can download the score and the tab from here http://goo.gl/42Mx5 :

Note #1: Don’t forget that any note from the C major scale can be used as root, giving each time different chord voicings. Since we are trying to expand our imagination here, you can (or better: should) feel free to experiment with this idea.

For example: If we take the first chord given, the notes are G-B-C-F. If we consider as root the G, the structure is a G7add11. If we take the B as root, it becomes a Cmaj7sus4, if we take the note A as root (caution: that it is not contained inside the voicing!), then it becomes an Am7b13no11 and so on.

Note #2: Don’t occupy yourself with the theory of these chords, at least at first. Using common theory terms it is actually difficult to even name most of these chords, even when you’re only studying (not playing). At least until the point where your hands have memorized these voicings, it is better to see them as stacked intervals, for two reasons: 1) it’s simpler (thus easier) and 2) it’ll help you to understand their inside structure.

That's why many times these voicing are named with the Root following by the mode they represent (i.e. A Aeolian chord, B Dorian b2 chord etc).

Note #3: Generally, you can use these structures to play any chord “as is” over almost any root to create chord extensions that will characterize or imply a modal tonality.

It is highly recommended to create and experiment with other types of Intervallic Structures, and practice them harmonizing all the scales and modes!

Enjoy!

/Theodore K

Adrian English - Interplanetarium - Review

2011-12-30T04:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a review thats long overdue. I heard about this album almost 4 months back and absolutely loved it. Interplanetarium is brought to you by Shred guy records and contains one of the finest works by the mad scientist of shred, Mr Adrian English himself. I remember a while back I posted an interview with Adrian english where we spoke about his album, ever since then It's always been on the favourites list in my pod. Before we get to the review, I'd like to give a special thanks to Adrian for sending me the songs and also to Mike Mcdowell from Shredguy records for hooking me up with guys like Adrian and Danny Joe. Before we start here's the list of the tracks :

1. Viper

2. Interplanetarium

3. Awoos Beach House

4. Ten Ways

5. Transcendence

6. Solidarity

7. Sinistar

8. Velvet Rain

9. Paranormally

10. Whats under you're shred

11. G-Theory

12. Harmony Creek

13. Closure.

Adrian sent me these tracks a few months back and the first thing I did was put it on my pod and went for a long drive, and let me tell you it's probably one of the best driving tracks I've heard. I just love going on long drives with interplanetarium. But the best part about the album is you would still be able to appreciate it when you're alone in your studio or in your room and listen to it note by note.

I have to say it's an absolutely brilliant album and if you haven't heard about it, you definitely should. Everyone I've played the album to has absolutely loved it. I wish I had the time to do a song-by-song review for this one, but I will leave you with this thought... some of my favourite tracks in the album, besides the title track interplanetarium ofcourse, are Harmony Creek and Closure. I guess there's always a reason why they keep the best for the last.

Would love to hear your comments on the album, do let us know

Being Creative with guitar and songwriting

2011-12-29T14:02:00.000-08:00

What is being creative all about anyway ? Well, with guitars you can learn almost anything and everything online or through a good guitar teacher but one thing I personally feel no one can teach you is, how to be creative. I am not going to try and tell you do this many exercises for so many hours and one fine day you are going to start being creative, no but instead in this article I'm just going to share some ideas about what I personally feel about being creative is all about.

Writing a song is not an easy thing to do !! I think anyone who makes a statement like that should seriously look back at his works and start enjoying the process of making music again. Writing a song is all about having fun, you don't need to fit in the right chords at the right place, you don't always need words that rhyme, one thing that I feel is always important is to make sure that it comes straight from the heart, that makes it a whole lot easier. Learning how to play or rather I should say play good can often be more complicated than rocket science but making music and composing your own song is all about applying what you've learnt and having fun.

What to write about ? Well if you look back at some of the most popular songs of any generation, it's always been writen about something that was very close to the songwriter's heart. When ever I try and write a song, I always stick to a topic that's close to my heart, the closer the topic is, the more easier and fun the whole process becomes. It doesn't always have to be fun, it's not necessary that you're always writing songs about things that makes you happy, you can also write about things that have had a negative impact in your life but what's important is that whatever the topic is, the song should always strike a chord to your heart

Who do you write for ? Unless you're writing for your girl, I think it should always be about you. You are the first (and hopefully not the only one ) to enjoy your songs. Don't care about what someone else thinks or how someone's gonna take it. There will always be critics in this world. Let them do thier jobs and you do yours

Keep a track . We've all had our moments of getting drunk at the middle of the night and coming up with the most perfect song ever, or atleast it sounds like that to us. But there's one small problem, the next day morning you just can't remember wether you were playing Em or E maj , or even worse you don't even remember the tune. One thing that's always bailed me out in situations like this is my handy phone. Most of them don't have a great recorder but atleast everytime I record something I end up remembering it the next day morning. If it still sounds nice, I record it or else it's always good to have some memory

Well, I've been wanting to write about this for a long time so I did. I know some of the things are probably the most obvious things in the planet. But it's always the obvious things that always gets ignored. I hope that you guys enjoyed this. If any of you feel like picking up your guitar after reading this post and come with a song, please upload it somewhere and post them here, would love to hear them.

Interval Time!!! - Take a break

2011-11-25T21:43:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! Today we have another guest post from Dogukan Ozturk on Intervals

"Hello all.My name is Dogukan Ozturk.Welcome to my new Music Theory Series Lessons. For the first part of the series we will start with the intervals.

Intervals are the distances between two notes. Each interval will have a number - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. These numbers are the distance between two notes, based upon counting the lines and spaces on the staff.

Intervals may be described as:

-Vertical or harmonic, if the two notes sound simultaneously

-Horizontal, linear, or melodic if they sound successively.

Intervals may be roughly classified as:

-Diatonic intervals, between the notes of a diatonic scale,

-Chromatic intervals, non-diatonic intervals between the notes of a chromatic scale,

-Minute intervals (commas, and microtones), sometimes so small that the difference in pitch between the two notes cannot be perceived.

For example, if we count lines and spaces, starting from C and ending on G, we count: C,D,E,F,G = 1,2,3,4,5, Therefore, the interval from C to G is a fifth (5th).

We can also keep counting past 8, through 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, but usually not past 13.

List of interval types:

0-Perfect Unison-------P1

1Minor- Second-------m2

2Major- Second------M2

3-Minor Third----------m3

4-Major Third----------M3

5-Perfect Fourth------P4

6Diminished- Fifth-----d5---Tritone

6Augmented- Fourth--A4---Tritone

7-Perfect Fifth--------P5

8-Minor Sixth---------m6

9-Major Sixth---------M6

10-Minor Seventh----m7

11-Major Seventh----M7

12-Perfect Octave----P8

Construct a chord by Dogukan Ozturk

2011-11-25T21:37:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, today we have a guest post from Dogukan Ozturk on constructing chords, hope you guys have fun reading through this one and looking forward to your comments.

"Hey all.Dogukan Ozturk here.Welcome to my Music Theory Series part 2.In todays lesson we will take a look at how to

construct a chord.So lets get started.

We can build a chord from a scale.We can build 7 basic chords from a given scale.

The formula is:

(b=flat,#=sharp)

-We take 1,3 and 5th notes of the scale to build a Major Chord

-We take 1,b3 and 5th notes of the scale to build a Minor Chord

There are many other chords but these to are two most common chords.I will give the other chord formulas

at the end of the lesson.

So lets continue with an example.Take C Major scale:

C D E F G A B C

The first(root) note is:C

The third note is:E

The fifth note is:G

If we put them together we have a C Major Chord.Lets take the other notes of the scale since i mentioned before that we can build 7 basic chords from a given scale.Everytime we will make the 1,3,5 combination within the scale eventually we will get 7 chords from 1 given scale.

If we start with D in the C Major Scale:

The first note is:D
The third note is:F

The fifth note is:A

C D E F G A B C

If we put them together we have a D minor Chord.If you are confused about;we take 1,3 and 5th notes.Why is this a minor chord instead of major chord?-It's because,actually this is still C Major scale not D.We only started from a different note in the C Major scale.Since, between D and F we have minor3 interval we have a minor chord.(1,b3,5)

If we start with E in the C Major Scale:

The first note is:E

The third note is:G

The fifth note is:B

C D E F G A B C

If we put them together we have a E minor Chord.

There is a easy way for this.In a Major Scale;We can build Major,Minor,Minor,Major,Major,Minor,Diminished

Meaning;

We can build C Major,D Minor,E Minor,F Major,G Major,A minor,B Diminished chords from the C Major Scale.

This order is same for every Major scales.

Lets take D Major Scale:

D major scale = D E F# G A B C# D

Then the chords are in D are should be like that; D Major,E Minor,F# Minor,G Major,A Major,B Minor,C# Diminished

You can see see the difference between a major and minor chord.

-A D major chord is made up of the notes D, F#, and A.(1,3,5 rule)

-A D minor chord has the notes D, F and A.(1,b3,5 rule)

Finally here are the some other basic chords formulas:

major = 1 3 5
minor = 1 b3 5

augmented = 1 3 #5

diminished = 1 b3 b5

sus2 = 1 2 5

sus4 = 1 4 5

major 7 = 1 3 5 7

7 = 1 3 5 b7

minor 7 = 1 b3 5 b7

minor 7b5 = 1 b3 b5 b7

diminished 7 = 1 b3 b5 bb7(6)*

6 = 1 3 5 6

minor 6 = 1 b3 5 6

*bb=double flat,means to lower a note by 2 half steps 2 frets

Hope you enjoy lesson."

Trigger finger for guitarists - How can you prevent it ?

2011-07-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Finger movement is originated through spaghetti like tendons so as to expand from the muscles in the forearms to various attachment joints along the front and back of the fingers. Along their path to the fingers, these tendons should pass under a group of rigorous fibrous material known as retinaculums. A retinaculum enables to steer the ligament to its insertion place, and acts as a retaining band and fulcrum which keeps the tendon near to the bones of the hand. The tendons grow to be surrounded by fluid-filled protecting sheaths as they pass under a retinaculum. This casing prevents friction from occurring among the tendon and the retinaculum.

Through excessive use of the tendon from such activities as PC use, playing an instrument, and pass-times such as crocheting and firing pistols or rifles, the sheath could possibly grow to be inflamed and the contents will thicken. This compresses the tendon as it passes through the sheath. As of this constriction of the tendon, it begins to swell also. The tendon swelling tends to occur immediately before it passes through the sheath and retinaculum. In majority of the cases, this involves the flexor tendons of the hand. This inflamed and enlarged flexor muscle will have problems fleeting through the inflated sheath and will have struggle passing under the retinaculum.

A Guitar player bearing with this condition will notice that the fingers will get trapped up as he/she tries to straighten them out. The finger will get stuck midway in a flexed place. The Guitarist shall take to physically straighten the finger with the other hand. This procedure could agonizing enough to bring the person to tears. Whilst straightened, the person may hear a loud noise of a snap. This snapping is caused by the thickened tendon squeezing through the tunnel of inflated material.

In such a situation the guitar player should immediately see a doctor and commence the treatment. If noticed in an earlier stage, conservative measures will be successful to bring the inflammation down, and regularise tendon movement. Conservative measures must include primarily chiropractic spinal and extremity adjustments to regularise nerve flow to the hand tissues. You should also consider acupuncture, and myofascial therapy to liberate bound-up strain in the fascia, muscle, and tendons.

If the condition is permitted to progress whereby the finger cannot straighten, conservative measures must still be taken into consideration for a span of six weeks. If no relief if noticed in that time frame, then more persistent measures may be needed, such as corticosteroid injection, and perhaps surgery to cut open the sheath to give the tendon more room to glide.

Numerous studies in the area have reported an elevated incidence of the development of trigger finger, carpal tunnel syndrome and tenosynovitis for guitar players who happen to be diabetics. The aid of corticosteroids in this population has not been very flourishing in remedying this disease, with only half a chance for success. It is further illustrated that diabetic guitarists tend to have multiple digits involved. In these cases it is imperative to use conservative care initially, since most medically cared for individuals will ordinarily require surgical intervention.

Click image to try Grip master

For Guitar players with inflammatory conditions , the fundamental to prevention is knowledge and education, proper biomechanics, and the good old fashion common sense. The biggest slip people make is trying to work through the pain. A PC or laptop user making millions of keystrokes and under high pressure of targets are susceptible to these injuries. Also in danger is the guitar player who is under the pressure to finish a song for an forthcoming recital or gig. Many guitarists will practice 8 hours per day to study songs an do exercises. This puts a tremendous amount of strain not just on the tendons, but also on the musculature of the entire body.

One of the fundamental remedy to this situation for guitar players is to take frequent breaks and relax your muscles. I suggest minimum of 5-10 minute break for every 45 minutes of playing. By "Taking a break" I do not mean stepping out for a beer or watching porn. Instead try and use this time for stretching, not just your fingers, but also your whole arms, neck and shoulders. If you are in the habit of sitting and playing, get up and go for a walk give your whole body a break from guitar playing. One small trick that I like to do is to avoid keeping water near me, this usually makes sure I end up walking to the fridge for a glass of water. Besides all the medical reasons mentioned above, I feel breaks are necessary for a guitarist because, sometimes you need to look back at what you were playing and taking breaks may also give you some perspective and ideas of what you acheive to play next in your session

Free Guitar Jamtrack - Blues 1 [BPM: 65]

2011-07-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : Blues

BPM :65
Key : G Major

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

To stay updated on what Jam Tracks we upload Subscribe to us in Youtube

We are constantly updating our database of jamtracks. If you are interested in submitting your own jam tracks or in playing any instrument in our jam tracks, do let us know.

Free Guitar Jamtrack - Rock 7 [BPM: 100]

2011-07-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : Rock

BPM :100

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

To stay updated on what Jam Tracks we upload Subscribe to us in Youtube

We are constantly updating our database of jamtracks. If you are interested in submitting your own jam tracks or in playing any instrument in our jam tracks, do let us know.

20 questions with Noud Smeets from Project Masquerade - Interview

2011-07-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here's an interview with Noud Smeets from Masquerade. Stick with us while we talk about their new album "Nothing but everything will remain" and lots of other interesting stuff

1. Hey Noud! . First off all thanks for taking the time and giving us this interview. To kick
start the questions, tell us a bit about your new album "NOTHING BUT EVERYTHING WILL
REMAIN" set to release on July 8th?

Thank you Vin for having me on .Noting but everythin will remain is an album with a lot of shredding stuff , but I’ve decided not to make a guitar masturbation album. There’s only one instrumental track, a lot of melody and male and female vocals.NBEWR has a lot of different moods and shows lot of different styles of heavy metal.

I started doing pre-production about two and a half years ago writing songs and recording ideas.I moved to Rotterdam where I have a small studio were I can record vocals, bass keys, and of course guitars. I started with drumkit from hell for the drumparts but ended up using a real drummer.

I think I have some real killer guest musicians on the album that is recorded in the Netherlands and in New York. On drums there’s Dennis Leeflang (Bumblefoot, Lita Ford, Sun caged). Besides being a

true professional who is also capable of delivering astonishing drum parts, Dennis is a really nice guy.

Thanx to Dennis I found Chandler Mogel (Outloud, Tallon) who is singing two tracks on the album. Chandler has a real American soulfull hardrock voice like Ray Gillan and Glenn Hughens . I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard him singing the first time! This guy is gonna be huge in the future. Besides Chandler on the clean vocalsounds there’s Grain on vocals. Grain is a very talented singer songwriter (and my lovely girlfriend). And last but not least Michel Zandbergen. Michel kan also be heard on the first Masquerade album (Cybernetic

empire) For the real heavy grunting stuff I have Daniel Verbrugge on vocals and Dimitri Konstitsyn from the NY band Hung who does a blowing version of ”Carve your heart” Barend ”The Bear” Courbois is playing bass guitar on four tracks on the album. Barend came straight from his tour with Steve Fister to my house to record his bass parts. He is really one of worlds best rock players who played with people like Mike Terrana, Zakk Wylde, Michael Lee firkins, and Steve Fister to name a few on his very long list and I’m

really exited he plays on the album. At the moment i´m talking to some labels but in case thats not going to work, I´m releasing the album on cdbaby and Itunes.The release on cdbaby will be 1.9.2011

2. There are different reasons why each one of us picked up the guitar in the first place,
What was yours? and what, or rather who were your early influences who inspired you to
reach where you are today?

I´m lucky to come from a family who loves music. Both my grandfathers used to sing in a

choir and one of them even made a record just after wwII.My father played saxophone for almost 9 years.

I have one sister who is 7 yrs older and she used to listen to bands like Deep Purple all day when I was 7 or 8 yrs old so that was my first influence. When I was around 9 I saw Redbone and jimi Hendrix on on tv and after that I made a cardboard strat to take with me around the house all day. When I was around 15 I got my first real electric guitar, took guitarlessons at the local musicschool and started to play in local bands soon.

I liked players like Blackmore a lot. I remember buying Ozzy's ‘Blizzard Of Ozz’ and listening over and over again to Randy's amazing playing. I’ve always been interested in all kinds of different music besides metal. I really love to hear Tori Amos and jazz players like Charlie Parker to name two different places in the music spectrum. But of course metal will always be the main core. Besides almost all the Schrapnell players from the '80´s my biggest inspirations are Randy Rhoads, Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Satriani, Racer X, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Akira Takasaki, Tori Amos, Charlie Parker, Robert Fripp, Chriss Olivia, George Lynch, Deep Purple, Queensryche, Crimson Glory, Killswitch Engage and my 5 crazy maine Coons

3. I've heard someone qouting that you guys are the hidden treasure of Netherlands!
Although, I know for sure that this is just the beginning for you. So how was it like growing
up and performing there?

My recordings alway get great reviews, exept in the netherlands...lol Especially the Cybernetic Empire album got good international reviews like people writing “ the band is a hidden treasure from the Netherlands” . Remember, the music from the first Masquerade album was recorded between 1989 and 1994 and released in 2010! .

4. What was it like playing for your first band, Lion's Pride ?
Thats a long time ago.
I joined Lions Pride who had just released their first album on Mausoleum records and departed with one of their guitar players in 1985. I travelled once or twice a week from Holland to Belgium for rehearsals, played live gigs, but also had to go to school every day at that time! We played a lot of gigs in Belgium and Holland. Sometimes 2-3 gigs a week Lions Pride was my first semi-pro band. They had a real roadcrew and a good
management. I remember we were writing for the new album and already played new songs live but we had to wait for the “GO” from Mausoleum to record the second album.We wrote a lot of fast guitar orientated stuff that was lot more heavy than the first album.The band played at the Shockwave Festival in Belgium and our gig was filmed with 6camera's for a video to support the new album but there was still no go from Mausoleum. Actually they never released the video (Some parts of the video are on YouTube nowadays ) and I didn’t want to wait anymore. I finished school, moved to another place and started to study film and photography for four years. Besides that I started my own band Masquerade.

5. Your band "New Breed" was the winner of the "Westerpopbokaal", a prestigious
bandcompetition in the south-west of Holland? Tell us a bit about that.

After Masquerade I played in a lot of different Dutch bands.New Breed started as a nu-metal band playing a Limp Bizkit style of music complete with turntables, and developed later into a pure rockband. The band was getting successful in the Southwest of the Netherlands making one official EP entitled ‘Cut The Crap’, (reviewed in Music Maker magazine as the dutch CD with the most original guitar work ) and a lot of demo’s and promo’s.
Being the winner of the "Westerpopbokaal" competition gave us a lot of attention in the dutch press, a lot of gigs and the money to make some good recordings and a promo video. The band had the opportunity to play a lot of festivals and gigs and we also recorded music for a Dutch horror movie that unfortunately was not released after all. We even had a track in a compilation album mastered by the great Bob Katz who has engineered and mastered recordings that received Grammy Awards and nominations.
Unfortunately the band had a lot of line-up changes and never met the right people at the
right place.

6. What other projects have you worked on before Lion's Pride?
Nothing realy serious, just local bands from school

7. How was it like working with Project Masquerade ?

I started Masquerade when I left Lions Pride in 1988 I listened a lot to guitar players like Marty Friedman, Tony McAlpine Vinny moore and all the other Schrapnell guys at that time but also to a lot of US power metal bands like Vicious Rumours and Crimson Glory (The name Masquerade actually comes from the CG track Queen of the Masquerade !) With Jack Kraal on drums and Ronald Klatt on bass guitar, I started the band Masquerade. Already from the beginning we had problems finding a decent vocalist who was capable of
producing those high pitching screams. Our very first gig, also recorded by Dutch radio, was done with a guest-singer. When we entered the studio for recording our first and only demo (‘Behind The Mask’) we were not very happy with the recorded vocals. We knew that Richard Muermans just had left the in Holland well known band Avalon and after a short rehearsal at his living room he rewrote all the lyrics and a week later recorded the vocals within a few hours! When I heard him singing together with the tape at the studio I knew something magical happened. He managed to sounds very different from the things he did with Avalon and just everything fitted in the right place. The demo turned out to be a real killer selling about 400 copies
(and that’s without the internet lol). I got the craziest reviews from all over the world and than Richard told us he didn’t wanted to continue because the music was to heavy for his taste.

The band was on the verge to sign a deal with a quite popular record label We had a few labels interested in the band. But one company from Franc was really interested. I One of the band members even talked to them in Paris and they told us that they wanted Richard as a singer and they wanted to see the band play live as soon as possible... That wasn’t possible anymore because Richard already had left the band. We auditioned more than 30 singers during the next year and we got mad of sitting in our rehearsal room that long without any result. We also met some crazy people that time. I remember there was one guy who had to travel for hours by train to get to our rehearsal room. We went to the station to pick him up and we introduced ourselves to him. Then he turned, stepped back into the train and left… lol… I wish we had a video camera there that time.

Jack Kraal (drums) was the first who made the decision to quit and that was the end. Somewhere around 1993 / 1994 Ronald and I decided to rewrite and record some of the Masquerade stuff and also wrote some new tracks. I heard Rob Snijders playing drums and was really blown away by his playing. He was
playing with Kong at that time and not really into metal. I asked him if he had a student who would be capable of playing the tracks in the studio and was surprised he told me that he wanted to do the job. But again there was the vocal problem. We did some auditions in the studio spending a lot of money, and that decided to record with a few different metal singers like Gregoor vd Loo who was playing with Lemur Voice at that time, Hans Reinders from Form and Michel Zandbergen who played with bands like Picture. We recorded eight tracks but only had the money to make a final mix for five tracks. The final mix was done bij Ron Lieberton
(Zinatra) . I moved to the north of Holland and dropped he Masquerade tapes in a box in the attic.

8. Tell us a bit about Cybernetic Empire?
‘Cybernetic Empire’, is a compilation of the complete works of Masquerade from 1989 to 1994 released by Adrenaline / Steelheart Records from Italy in 2010. the album is still available (http://www.bol.com) and got great international reviews About two years ago I got an email from one of the label owners. When Masquerade released the ‘Behind The Mask’ demo, he wrote a very positive review
in an Italian magazine. He asked me if it was possible to do a release on their Steelheart Memories label! So, after being surprised for a week, I had to search in the attic for the old tapes. The ‘Behind The Mask’ master was in really poor condition and was full of mungus! It has been cleaned second by second and is remastered in Italy. From the Project Masquerade recording sessions I had only a master on CD. Steelheart decided to ad some extra’s as well. I have a lot of studio-outtakes and was also lucky to get two live tracks from the very first gig Masquerade ever played. Unfortunately there are not any recordings of the Mark II line up that were good enough for the CD. The guys at Steelheart really did a great job and made the ultimate Masquerade CD with a sixteen page booklet. I even got the opportunity to do a part of the front cover design.

9. What got you into Guitar playing?

I think it was seeing Jimi Hendrix and Redbone on tv.
I still want to cover one of Redbone's tracks :-)

10. What's your favourite music related website?

I've grown up when a band needed to send tapes around.
There were no downloads, no Internet, no possibility of meeting anybody.
Now I can meet and talk to all my favorite musicians, discover new music and musicians,
sell my music and invite musicians for my new projects.
I left Myspace about half a years ago. Its terribel nowadays and I prefer ReverbNation in
combination with facebook and youtube.
http://www.reverbnation.com/noudsmeets

11. Tell us a bit about your last show. How do you find playing live?

For the last year I decided to concentrate on finishing the new album .
I think it will be very difficult to get the musicians involved together for a live show
presenting NBEWR. Their from both the Netherlands and the US.
But you never know whats going to happen in the future.
My last liveshow was in 2010 with dutch singer-songwriter Grain.

If you´re into artists like Tori Amos or Kate Bush I realy recommend her album “Shut your
mouth Kevin”.
Besides that I did a lot of shows with Dutch band Edge of Serenity who released their first
album on Romulus X records.

12. Besides music, what else are you into?

My daily Job is working as a coach in photography and film and as a photographer.
I love to be with my family: singer-songwriter Grain and our little son Kick (who was born
during the recording of NBEWR ) and our 5 cray Maine coones
Besides that I'm realy into Photoshop. I started working with Photoshop in 1991 already

13. Enchant us a little more about your gear! Guitars, effects, picks, amps , what would we
find if we were to walk in to your studio?

For recording, most of the time I use a POD XT. On the NBWER album I used also a Engl
530 with inpulses on a few tracks
Besided that in the studio its only a fast computer running cubase, a piano and a few
guitars.

I used a lot of different gear during the years. I have old pics where you can see a lot of
Marhall stuff on stage like JMP and JCM amps with 4x12 cabs.
When I joined New Breed I realy liked Line6 amps.
A few years ago I fell in love with Engl Amps. I used a rackmount preamp (e530) and
poweramp (e930/60) for years but changed It for an Engl Blackmore last year.
For cabs I use 2x12 cabs. One with V30 and the other with GT75 speakers.
For effects I dont use very much, a tubescreamer for boosting the Engl, (in combination
with a Keeley compressor and a noisegate, a rackmount TC electronics delay and a
rackmount boss harmonic delay.(a pedal rebuilt to “19)
Besides that I have an old roland gp8 from where I get some chorus and I use a Digitech
whammy.

For guitars, My main guitar is a bo- MC7 (7 string) that I play exclusively from the bo-el
guitarcompany in the netherlands.(http://www.bo-elguitars.com)
Besides that I have an Ibanez 8 string prestige, an Ibanez 520 with dimarzio evolution
pichups, a Charvel usa strat from 1988 and an old Fender telecaster.
The mc7 is the best I have ever played. I had old Fender strats, Ibanez, Charvell, Yamaha.
Sold it all . On the NBEWR album you only hear the MC7 (and the 8 string Ibanez on one
track)

My fav. picks are ”Twins”, handmade by Wegenpicks (http://www.wegenpicks.com)
These are 3,5 mm thick gypsyjazzpicks. (Sometimes I use Dunlop jazz III)

14. Do you also play in studio sessions? If so how has it treated you?

I've done one session for a coveralbum initiated by American producer Chris Barth called
Skinny bones and monsters a few years ago. Its a cover version of a track by Dutch
rockstar Herman Brood who comited suicide a few years ago by jumping of the roof of the
Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. The track was mastered by the great Bob Katz!!
I heard they made a lot of different mixes before chosing this one. The first one was really
heavy, bit Limp Bizkit like, but they wanted a more mainstream sound and edited the

guitar solo at the end.

15. Without thinking for a second if you had to name your favourite guitar player, who
would it be?

Thats Joe Satriani for shure.
But when I think a few seconds...There are so many good players out there. But some of
my fav players are: Randy Rhoads, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie van Halen,
Joe Satriani, Jason Becker, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Akira Takasaki, Chris Olivia
and George Lynch

16. How does a normal day in your life go?

I used to work 4 days a week teaching photography and film and when I have to work I
do not play guitar a lot because I work all day.
But I lost my job last week......So besides al the hassle to find a new job, I'm playing a lot
right now and I´m lucky that I can spent a lot of time with my son Kick who´s 8 months old
now
Besides that I started writing for a new Project Masquerade album and also have started
a new project together with Grain. I have a small studio of my own where my girlfriend also
works as a vocalcoach.

17. Your 5 most favourite movies?

Being a cameraman and photographer, I love the cinema but is impossible for me to
choose just 5 movies!
I love old movies like Metropolis by Fritz Lang (1927)
The movie tells the story of a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class
and the city planners The son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class
prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences. This film was
an inspiration for a lot of movies like Starwars, The Matrix and Blade Runner. The track
Masterplan on my last album is inspired by this movie.
I also love films like Van Helsing, Lord of the Ring, the Star Wars trilogy or Alien

18. Which is the one place where you've always wanted to perform?

Love to play everywhere. Only thing I want is a decent PA system and some lights.
Would be cool to do some gigs in the US in the future.

19.You are pretty active on facebook and Reverbnation! how do you find surfing these
social networking sites and meeting fellow guitar players?

What bothers me is that social networking takes so much of your time but gives very little
effort.
But thanx to the internet and Myspace I was able to make the last album.
On the other hand, surfing on the internet is very band for your ability of concentration.
(Nicolas Carr has written a great book about that titled The shalows, what the internet is
doing to our brains)
I also think it makes people lazy. They just copy from youtube but dont learn.
You hear a lot of guys who can copy a Malmsteen or Gregg Howe solo but they can not
write decent songs themselve.

20. Any plans for the future?

A lot but unfortunately a day has only 24 hours...
The NBEWR album wil be released on 1.9.2011 and I' m making a new website and some
making-of video's.
I also started writing for the new Masquerade album already.
Besides that I have a new project together with Grain (bit Nightwish meets Dreamtheater)
and I want to record some instrumental stuff as well.

That puts this interview to an end. Special thanks to Noudfor being a sport and giving us an interview.And all the best with the new album

Hope you guys liked this one. Do let us know what you thought about this interview! Leave a comment below

If you are famous and would like to get interviewed or reviewed by us then, Let us know

Sneek Peek About the Album. "Nothing but everything will remain" - Review

Well as you all know the album is set to be released on 1st september. But Noud was nice enough to send us a little sneek peek of things to come. Before we go into the track listings, let me just tell you this is one amazing album. To be honest I had no idea who Project Masquerade was before I ran into Noud in facebook, but now I'm finding myself listening to their albums all day.

Knowing Noud's ability, I was expecting this album to be highly guitar dominated. But to my surprise, the album is filled with some real old school Vocals (both male and female) augmented by some pretty amazing overall compositions.

If you haven't heard Project Masquerade, then you should know that they are a new breed in the genre of Melodic Metal. Their new album "Nothing but everything will remain" is definitely something to look forward to. We will keep you posted on the release dates and any further developments.

For now here's a sneek peek on the track listings

Disease
Carve your Heart
Restless Souls
Killer of Life
Masterplan
King of the wasteland

Hope you guys enjoyed the interview and the lil' sneek peek thanks to Noud Smeets .

You can catch Noud at his facebook page or visit his website

Website : www.noudsmeets.com

Mystery GuitarMan Youtube Channel

2011-07-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

I recently ran across this youtube channel called Mystery Guitarman. It's basically some really funny stuff, mostly in the lines of short stories that I'm sure you guys will enjoy. These are not guitar lessons or performances, it mostly consists of some really nice animation and production which is truly unique and Cheers to Mystery Guitarman

Click here for Mystery Guitarman Channel

Mystery guitarman comes up with a video every thursdays.

Definitely something worth subscribing to

Hope you guys enjoy this. Do let me know if you guys know of any other channels like these

20 Questions with KB - Interview

2011-07-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

I'm very pleased to introduce KB Project to you all. For those of you who know KB I'm sure you will enjoy this interview and finding more about this rather mysterious one man band. For those who don't have a clue who KB is, all I have to say is this, I recently got hooked to KB Project but as soon as we heard them we decided to do a complete review of their album "twelve ways to warm up your days". I have to say KB is absolutely one of the freshest sounds I've heard in quite some time. Now without further adieu, lets proceed to the interview. But like most of our interviews, we understand that reading interviews can get boring sometimes. So we've put up a nice song from KB which you can listen to while you skim through the interview.

Interview

1. Hey Karl! First off all thanks for being a sport and agreeing for the interview. Now lets start off with the questions. To begin tell us what is the full form of KB? and how did the band come along?

For now, KB, it's just one member: me. It's my project. I compose, I record, I mix and I produced everything. I try to make the most of things by myself. I also do my covers and my clips. For now this should not change. Things work well like that.

2. There are different reasons why each one of us picked up the guitar in the first place, What was yours? and what, or rather who were your early influences who inspired you to reach where you are today?

I started the guitar completely by accident. A friend one day showed me some chords, and that's how I started. I've always liked music. But I never had the idea of learning to play before. This may be because I'm not from a family of musicians. Then I took some lessons before working alone. Younger I was fan of AC / DC, Sex Pistols and Van Halen. But that's when I heard Ygwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore and Tony Mac Alpine for the first time I really wanted to work the guitar. I also listened to, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Blues Saraceno and all the guitarists from the Shrapnel Records Label (Ron Thal, Greg Howe, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, Michael Lee Firkins, Joey Tafolla, Ritchie Kotzen ...). Later, I discovered Django Reinhardt, Stochelo Rosenberg, Uli Jon Roth, Allan Holdsworth, John Scofield, Fredrik Thordendal, Tom Morello ... There are too many guitar players I love to list them all.

3. I absolutely love "Twelve ways to warm up your days", your first CD, tell us how did the album happen?

From the time I started to compose songs and the moment when the album was released, it spent 10 years I think. It's very long, but it's the time I need to realize this first project. I recorded all the guitars and bass in two or three weeks, finalized drums arrangements, and then called some friends to play on. I then started the mix, and the mastering. I also created the cover and made a clip. Meanwhile I found a distributor "Brennus Music".

(http://www.brennus-music.com/boutique/product_info.php?products_id=4684)

4. Tell us a bit about your first band?

Lol, I played in a band called Filth for a few years, with whom I recorded several demos and did a lot of concerts. In retrospect, although I think it was a group without a future, it taught me a lot. Without this experience I would not be here today, and I'll never recorded my first album. So I look back on those years with pleasure.

5. I have to ask you this, you created the video of Sunny Day, right? how was it like, and how much time did it take?

Yes, I've made the video "Sunny Day". You know, next to the music, I also do post-production video. This is actually my real job. I specialize in character animation and the special effects, and I love my job. It took me a year (not at full-time) to complete the clip. It is very long, but the animation is a very long work. Finally, It was a good way for me to promote my music, and a good way to differentiate myself from the others guitarists.

6. You recently worked on Guitar Addiction "A Tribute to modern guitar", what was it like and what can we expect from the album?

Yes, I participated in the album "Guitar Addiction". And I'm very proud to have my name associated with great musicians like Ron Thal, Mattias Eklundh, Guthrie Govan, Brett Garsed or Stuat Hamm, to name a few. But there are many others. This is an album dedicated to the modern guitar. All the musicians who were invited on the album are amazing and the songs are really good. This CD is for all guitar fans of course, but also to all music fans who want to have a good time. I hope this album, distributed by guitareuroshop all over the world, will make myself known.

(http://www.guitareuroshop.com/catalog/guitar-addiction-tribute-modern-guitar-p-1478.html)

7. How was it like working with DJ Shalom in your album?

I worked a few years ago with Ardag, a salsa singer. That's how I met Dj Shalom. I offered him to work with me because I had the idea to put some scratches on a title. But his work was so good that I finally decided to put on the entire piece. It's always very interesting to work with musicians who do not have the same musical universe as you. I really hope to repeat this experience.

(http://www.myspace.com/ardag1)

(http://www.myspace.com/djshalom)

8. What were you upto before KB Guitar project.

Before creating the KB Guitar Project, I played in "Filth", a Parisian band, with whom I did a lot of gigs. I was demonstrator in the 90's for ESP. I recorded guitars on the debut album Ardag, and participated in the tour that followed, and I recorded some guitar solos on the first album of Symbyosis.

(http://www.symbyosis.com/)

9. You were recently featured in The Bradshaw Chronicles. How was it like?

It is always gratifying to be the special guest of a show. It is a contact, like many others, I've got on Facebook. I wasdelighted to be invited. And I hope that his listeners were happy to hear me, lol.

(http://worldtv.com/thebradshawchronicles)

10. What's your favourite music related website?

I loved Myspace before. But it became cumbersome and unmanageable. I prefer ReverbNation today. Youtube and Daylimotion are very good too. But the most effective is currently Facebook. On the other hand, I do not like Twitter.

(http://www.reverbnation.com/kbguitarproject)

(http://www.myspace.com/kbguitarproject)

(http://www.youtube.com/user/resultofdysfunction?feature=mhee)

(http://www.dailymotion.com/kbguitarproject#videoId=xjmkuo)

(http://twitter.com/#!/kbguitarproject)

11. Tell us a bit about your last show. How do you find playing live?

Unfortunately I do not play often, so when a show is announced I suggest you not to miss it, lol. My equipment is very simple, because I'm alone on stage with a backing track. But it's not easy to find gigs because instrumental guitar is not very popular. In addition it is difficult for me to do everything: work in post production, composing music, playing guitar, doing my promotion, and find gigs. I need a manager, it would be much easier for me, lol.

12. Besides music, you are also interested in designing Videos. You have a great video for your song sunny days, how have you managed to mix both the passions?

Music and video are two things that fascinate me. Thus It was natural for me, I mix the two. In addition, I immediately knew it was a great way for me to promote my music and make myself known. The downside of that is that it's hard for me to find time to do everything, but I try and I'll get there, lol.

13. Enchant us a little more about your gear! Guitars, effects, picks, amps , what would we find if we were to walk in to your studio?

I am not endorsed for now (If people are interested, lol.), but I play exclusively on 7-string Ibanez Prestige. In the studio, I plug my guitars on a POD XT Pro. I use a Whammy XP 100 , and a Whammy reissue. I record on my computer, via a Motu MKII and two Genelec 8030A. On stage, my POD and my two Whammy, are connected to a Mesa Boogie Fifty/Fifty and a Marshall cabinet. I use also DiMarzio Evolution pick-ups, and my fingers, my brain and my ears !!!

14. Do you also play in studio sessions? If so how has it treated you?

I've never done studio sessions for the moment, but maybe on day. I'm open to every commercial propositions.

15. Without thinking for a second if you had to name your favourite guitar player, who would it be?

Without hesitation: Steve Vai. He is the only one for me today, who is not boring. He is able yet to renew itself, and be inventive. This is not the most technical. But for me, the performance does not interest me, only the result is important. And lots of guitarists today don't understand that, unfortunately for them. That's why a lot of guitar albums are boring.

16. How does a normal day in your life go?

When I work in post-production, in general, I do not play guitar because I'm too tired. But when I spend my day to play, there is no rules. Sometimes I work on new ideas, I practice, I compose, or simply I have fun. I can yet play 8 to 10 hours in a day.

17. Your 5 most favourite movies?

Difficult question. I love the cinema, it is impossible for me to choose just 5 movies! I love French comedies of the year 60/70 that's why I made a cover of "La Folie des Grandeurs" on my album. But I also love horror films of G.Romero, J.Carpenter, Sam Raimi ... the Star Wars trilogy, the Alien quadrilogy, Terminator, directors such as Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Paul Verhoeven ... The corean cinema of these last years is really very good too, with films such as The Chaser, Memories of Murder, Old Boy, The Host ... I love Peter Sellers and the Pink Panter ... I believe I will not be able to choose only 5 movies, lol.

18. Which is the one place where you've always wanted to perform?

I'd love to play in the biggest city in the world. In the USA, Japan, Brazil, ... All over the world.

19. You are pretty active on facebook and myspace! how do you find surfing these social networking sites and meeting fellow guitar players?

ernet today is a great communication tool. Without MySpace and Facebook, I could never do know my music. The effects of the Internet are largely positive for me. And it's true that it is a great way to listen, to know and find new musicians. We can contact and collaborate with musicians worldwide. It's great!

20. Any plans for the future?

For now, I continue to promote my work, and I begin to compose new songs for a second album!

Thanks to you and your blog ShredThisWay for this interview and for your support.

That puts this interview to an end. Special thanks to Karl for being a sport and giving us an interview.And all the best with the new album

Hope you guys liked this one. Do let us know what you thought about this interview! Leave a comment below

If you are famous and would like to get interviewed or reviewed by us then, Let us know

Free Guitar Jam Track - RnB 1 [BPM: 63]

2011-07-09T12:24:00.001-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : RnB

BPM :63
Key : C min

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

To stay updated on what Jam Tracks we upload Subscribe to us in Youtube

We are constantly updating our database of jamtracks. If you are interested in submitting your own jam tracks or in playing any instrument in our jam tracks, do let us know.

Ear Training Software for Guitar Players

2011-07-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a small ear training software that might help you out initially in developing a perfect pitch or may be even a relative pitch.

This is not just for beginners, it should give a chance to some expert level players to determine how good their ear training really is. Personally I feel a relative pitch is more than enough for a guitar player. There are several books and videos out there which might promise you the gift of perfect pitch, but personally I think it is something that comes naturally. So if you're not someone with a perfect pitch, I would suggest you start developing you relative pitch, which is exactly what this little tool below will help you do. Hope you have some fun with this. Do let me know how it turns out.

This little tool is brought to us by http://www.musiclearningtools.net/

Google Plus is Shredthisway's new adobe - Comment for invites

2011-07-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, we are just discovering google plus, it's a new service from google that is almost like facebook. Google plus is currently in a beta stage so it's only on invite basis. If any of our readers need a Google Plus Invite, just drop in a comment with your mail id and i'll send you one. Spammers please excuse, this is only for guitar players and exclusive readers of our posts.

Looking forward to your comments.

See you in Google Plus :)

New Chikenfoot Album Teaser

2011-07-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a teaser from the New Chickenfoot album set to be released in September.

Here's another promotional video

visit chickenfoot.us for more info

Click to buy album

Who is ChickenFoot?

Chicken foot is yet another fantasy band, if I may call it consisting of.

Sammy Hagar (from Van Halen)

Mike Antony (again from Van Halen)

Chad Smith (from Red Hot Chilli Peppers)

and none other than .... Mr. Joe Satriani.

Their Latest album ?

Chickenfoot III is set to release on September 27th, 2011. No wonder it's created a huge buzz in the land of the Shreds. As for now, this teaser from the Chickenfoot website is the only thing available online. This is something that would be keeping a close eye on.

Free Guitar Jam Track - Rock 6 [BPM: 110]

2011-07-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : Rock

BPM :110

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

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Free Guitar Jam Track - Rock 5 [BPM: 110]

2011-07-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : Rock

BPM :110

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

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We are constantly updating our database of jamtracks. If you are interested in submitting your own jam tracks or in playing any instrument in our jam tracks, do let us know.

Free Guitar Jam Track - Rock 4 [bpm120]

2011-07-07T15:48:00.001-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : Rock

BPM :120

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

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We are constantly updating our database of jamtracks. If you are interested in submitting your own jam tracks or in playing any instrument in our jam tracks, do let us know.

Free Guitar Jam Track - Rock 3 [BPM: 120]

2011-07-07T15:47:00.001-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : Rock

BPM :120

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

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We are constantly updating our database of jamtracks. If you are interested in submitting your own jam tracks or in playing any instrument in our jam tracks, do let us know.

Free Guitar Jam Track - Rock 2 [BPM: 100]

2011-07-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : Rock

BPM :100

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

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We are constantly updating our database of jamtracks. If you are interested in submitting your own jam tracks or in playing any instrument in our jam tracks, do let us know.

Free Guitar Jam Track - Rock 1 [BPM: 65]

2011-07-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

Details of Jam Track

Style : Rock

BPM : 65

This is a free guitar Jam Track provided by Shredthisway. To view more Jam tracks from us just click the Jam Tracks button on the top and pick the one you like!

To stay updated on what Jam Tracks we upload Subscribe to us in Youtube

We are constantly updating our database of jamtracks. If you are interested in submitting your own jam tracks or in playing any instrument in our jam tracks, do let us know.

20 Questions with Adrian English - Interview

2011-07-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yet another addition to our series of "20 questions with" interview series is Adrian English. Hope you enjoy this interview while we talk about his recent album Interplanetarium and also his debut album ADD and discuss about everything under the sun, right from his favourite movies to his inspirations. So just sit back, hit the play button in the video below and enjoy the interview

20 Questions with Adrian English - Interview

1. Hey Adrian! or rather I should call you "The Mad Scientist of Shred". First off all thanks for taking the time and giving us this interview. To kick start the questions, tell us a bit about your new album Interplanetarium?

thank you Vin for having me on, well Innerplanetarium is a collection of different moods that i laid out on cd, straight forward rock,heavy dropped tune,finger picking ballad,flamenco'classical meets god father mandolin electric acoustic, a little bit of southern influence here and there, etc . just my interpretations of different styles coming from one artist with out being overly authentic!

Eddie Van Halen,George Lynch,Shawn Lane and all the original 80's Shrapnel Alumni, but Eddie was the first thing i heard when i was like 8,9 and 10 yrs old. hes the reason i wanted to play.

3. In your new album you are working with artists such as MIKE ABDOW, DANNYJOE CARTER, TOBY KNAPP, AND SEAN BAKER!, how was it like working with them?

all of them i corresponded state wide with for they're appearances. it was really cool and simple, Danny and Toby ive known for a very long time, Mike and Sean i met a few back on the phone and or face book, and all of them are super cool and supportive as well as they all have they're major talents dialed, that's why i wanted a splash of they're styles on the cd.

4. Whats it like working with Shredguy Records?

Mike McDowell kicks ass! hes really cool...not pretentious or overly consumed with the industry like alot of the indies and some majors out there, but still very professional and to the point. for some odd reason he was taken by my music and really wanted to work with me,and for that im really grateful.

5. Now I have been a big fan of your Youtube videos. How do you find the time and inspiration to make the videos?

well.....im not a video guy, which may hurt me in the long run because everything is on you tube, although doing them isnt a problem what i dont care for or understand is the Haters...especially the bored,malicious and just plain un-happy with they're own lives people...whom some of which dont even play a guitar who go out of they're way to bash and leave ridiculous comments. its funny because almost every known guitar player out in the world wide circuit who has heard my stuff has been really complimentary, and thats all that matters, would you rather respect Marty Friedman or Chris Broderick's opinion ...or some 16 year old Mal-content hack who only knows 6 or 7 Yngwie solos but couldn't write his own original song to save his moms life.

[click image to buy the album]

6. What other projects have you worked on before your debut album ADD?

well i took a long break from playing live to focus on my alternate career, i worked with the original drummer from Apocrypha(Shrapnel Records)- (Mike Poe) for a good couple years,and stayed active in the Las Vegas Guitar Center Guitarmageddon contests of which i represented Nevada 3 Yrs. in a row.

[Click image to buy the album]

7. How was it like working on "Shredding across the world" series ?

fun, Pete Pachio and i did a remake of a demo riff Called Flight Of The Blue Phoenix that i originally wrote and sent to Mike Varney when i was like 18 for S.A.T.W. VOL 2.,and i also got a shot on VOL.3 with a tune called G-Theory of which was a drum machine demo, i got such a good response that im like...."i really need to do this with a real drummer"! so i did for Innerplanetarium and WOW what a difference it made.

8. You have been featured in Guitar world magazine several times, tell us how did that happen, what was the experience like

between Mike Varney and Shred Guy Mike McDowell they were and have been so cool and supportive of my playing, i gotta say i was pretty stoked to see me in the biggest and baddest guitar mag in the world, a few times,lol

9. What got you into Guitar playing?

the rubix cube,the light cycle,donkey kong cereal,flat land freestyle boxing,body surfing with a McDonald's breakfast tray,Eddie Van Halen,hunting eels in the alawai canal Hawaii, and playing monopoly until 2am.

10. What's your favorite music related website?Pandoras Radio

11. Tell us a bit about your last show. How do you find playing live?

havent played live in a while, i love it, and am gearing towards at least to start a live local campaign of Innerplanetarium ,it will be for demo purposes to a studio mastered dummy cd of course.

12. Besides music, what else are you into?

riding Quads,Shooting guns,going to the gym and an occasional round of Mortal Kombat.

13. Enchant us a little more about your gear! Guitars, effects, picks, amps , what would we find if we were to walk in to your studio?

Fractal audio Axe FX Ultra,Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier,Marshall 1960 lead 4x12's and all Ibanez's ,6's and 7's , been a fan of Ibanez since i was 10. as far as picks Tortex Dunlope m3's

14. Do you also play in studio sessions? If so how has it treated you?

other then demo and album work havent ventured into studio sesh's, but looking forward to it pretty soon here.
Dime Bag Darrel!!!! hands down ....R.I.P. brother!

15. Without thinking for a second if you had to name your favorite guitar player, who would it be?

16. How does a normal day in your life go?

work,work out,record/rehearse/practice, repeat
clerks II,Jack Ass 1 thru 3D,Super Troopers,Tron 3D and Family Guy something ,something Death star

17. Your 5 most favorite movies?

18. Which is the one place where you've always wanted to perform?

The Blaisdell Arena in my home town of Hawaii

19. You are pretty active on facebook and myspace! how do you find surfing these social networking sites and meeting fellow guitar players?

great...every one i have come across have been very supportive and kind as well as informative to chat with.

20. Any plans for the future?

TOTAL CHAOS !

my follow up to a.d.d. ...only this time i have a way better sounding rig and production facilities to best the recording that was A.D.D. im gonna go super heavy and over kill orchestrated.

That puts this interview to an end. Special thanks to Adrian for being a sport and giving us an interview.And all the best with the new album

Hope you guys liked this one. Do let us know what you thought about this interview! Leave a comment below

If you are famous and would like to get interviewed or reviewed by us then, Let us know

20 Questions with Dannyjoe Carter - Interview [Fastest Guitar Player in the world]

2011-07-06T05:24:00.000-07:00

Today we have with us the fastest guitarist in the world , as rated by Guitar World Magazine, Mr. Dannyjoe Carter. Besides being a mindblowing guitar player, Danny is also one of the nicest guys I've met online. His band (Dannyjoe Carter Band) has a new EP coming out under the label of ShredGuy Records. Stick with us through the interview while we talk about his new album, his feature in guitar world magazine and ofcourse a lot of wierd and un-orthodox questions like how he lost so much weight :) . So without further adieu here's "20 Questions with Mr. Dannyjoe Carter"

Interview

(Click image to buy the album)

1. Hey Dannyjoe! First off all thanks for being a sport and agreeing for the interview. Now lets start off with the questions. To begin with tell us a bit about your new album?

Thanks Vin for inviting me! With my new album I really wanted to focus on song writing more than just shred. Going for a commercial sound that would encompass catchy hooks and melodies and with bluesy shred guitar solos and still keep everything in a 3-4 minute radio friendly package.

I did all the vocals on the CD but originally wanted a real singer. I had a few good ones but like so many musicians, they all flaked out. So this kind of debuts my singing voice however I have no desire to do it live - so I'm looking for a real singer!

2. There are different reasons why each one of us picked up the guitar in the first place, What was yours? and what, or rather who were your early influences who inspired you to reach where you are today?

For me I was attracted to it like a moth to a flame. I remember being three years old and knowing it's what I wanted to do, I just had to do it.

My earliest heros were Ace Frehley, Joe Perry, Ted Nugent and Billy Gibbons. Just good old dirty rock&roll guitar playing really. Now days even under all the more technical stuff I love to do you can still can still those guys coming through - to me anyway, LOL!

3. You have a signature model with KNE Guitars, from what I've heard it sounds amazing, Tell us a little about this baby?

KnE Guitars is an up and coming company that has been on the internet for several years now. Mitch Yenney is a Saint to me, really. He's been very patient with me because I sweat all the little stuff. But it's made for an amazing guitar. Basically everything I ever wanted in a guitar from the smallest detail Mitch has giving me on my signature model. Mitch ROCKS!

SInce I picked up the guitar at 13 there have been things that bothered me on every guitar out there, mainly knob placement. Another huge issue was hand access because of the way I hold my left hand. There have been guitars that were close but I still had to modify them. So I have never had an expensive guitar because of what I have to do to it to make it work for me. So I got into building guitars but actually hate the work although I'm good at it.

I feel that CNC is the only way to go to get two or three of the same feel, which is important to me. After the Guitar World 50 fastest article came out a friend turned me on to Mitch at KnE. Now I won't play anything else.

4. Whats it like working with Shredguy Records

Mike McDowell is amazing! He knows all the right people and has established ShredGuy as "THE" guitar label now days. There's a lot of top-notch players on there too from many different styles so I consider myself very lucky to be on board. Mike has worked very hard to get this label rolling and it's really taking off now!

5. Now I have been a big fan of your Youtube videos. So I have to ask you this! How on earth did you lose so much weight? I remember seeing your Amazing grace video a while back and then recently saw some of your newer videos and was shocked! So care to explain how you got your "girlish figure back"

Man I had no choice but to get back in shape, seriously. My health was failing big time. I was at 305 pounds at only 5' 9" only 16 months ago. No surgery, drugs, fad diets but rather cut off ALL sugar, soda and anything with carbonated water ( I was a huge Dr. Pepper fan ) and stopped eating past 6pm. It came off pretty quick!

6. What other projects have you worked on before Dannyjoe Carter band?
Well I was lucky enough to get invited on ShredGuy's Shredding Across the world III as well as my buddy Adrian English's new CD Interplanetarium just last year. And a few others that never made it out. I love to do guest appearances but many times people never put there CDs out.

And I put out my first CD back in 2001 which was only meant to be a little sample disc that I wanted to hand out at NAMM.
Vol. 3-Shredding Across the World

7. How was it like working on "Shredding across the world" series ?

Man I loved that - Seriously! I'm the most proud of my song Don't Stop for show casing my whole bag of tricks so to speak. If someone wants to know who and what I am as a player I tell them have a listen to that. That song was magic for me and very fun to record. I knew I was going to be on the that CD with some really great players and was a bit nervous because I wanted to be at least remembered on the CD. When I finished it I was very happy with my work!

8. Now I know you're gonna get a De-ja Vu! but I have to ask you this. You were featured in the Guitar world magazine (July 2008) as the fastest living guitar player. (Personally I think it should be changed to fastest guitar player dead or alive). So how did it feel like?

At the time I hadn't picked up a guitar in five months. I figured at 43 I had been lucky enough to get a few other writeups in major magazines but I just couldn't get a band happening or get anyone to notice what I did. So when I bought my new house I never unpacked any of my gear and said, "Why am I doing this after all these years"?

Then one morning I went to my email and there was over 160 emails from all the world and players asking me about how I hold my pick and even what I ate to get so fast. I had no clue why people were writing me. Then a friend called me and asked if I'd sign his magazine for him and I said, What the hell is going on with all this? Then he emailed me a picture from the magazine article. I cried. Then got worried and thought I'd better unpack my guitar because somebody's going to want to see me play! That's also when I decided to put up my Amazing Grace video. I was thinking there would be a million people saying mindless, boring, wanking no feeling only fast playing. I'm real proud of that video because I did the whole thing, playing all the parts and recording them then playing it live as it appears in only 48 minutes.

9. What got you into the Indie-Rock genre?

Mainly because after the 80's shred died. Major labels wanted nothing to do with technical guitar so indie rock was the only way to go.

10. What's your favourite music related website?

Facebook for me really. I never really know what's going on until I get on there in the morning and follow the links.

11. Tell us a bit about your last show. How do you find playing live?

I got to play a month ago at a local tavern; an open jam type thing. It was an older croud and more into country western so I played my whammy bar slide style with shred to country standards. I had fun - don't know if anyone else did LOL!

12. Besides music, what else are you into?

My family. Everything is about them, music is second. Honestly people have only been interested in what I do for the last two year and I have played for 32 years of my 46 years on earth. My family will forever be with me. Who knows I could gain all my weight back again and lose all my fans LOL! Or shred could die again but no matter what, my family is there.

13. Enchant us a little more about your gear! Guitars, effects, picks, amps , what would we find if we were to walk in to your studio?

For guitars, only my KnE sig guitars. Lots of bodies because we went through several prototypes before I got the perfect guitars. Amps, I love the original Peavey 5150 combos and I have a couple that I had converted to heads. I think for me those amps are the most perfect tone I have ever heard. As for effects, only one, several of the same thing, the ZOOM G2 which I used for recording as well as pradtice and live. Just the noisegate though with a touch of delay in the effects loop of the 5150s is all I need. The if it doesn't sound right - I'm not playing it right! LOL! As for recording gear, two ZOOM 1608 MRS units. I love those things! Picks, those little Dunlops Black Ice tortex 1.14 mm. ( used to be purple )

14. Do you also play in studio sessions? If so how has it treated you?

I'd love to do more - but I don't read music or even know the notes on the neck. I just play and can hear things on the spot, harmonies and everything. I get emails every week asking what mode or how I came up the scales or phrases I do on a song. Can't tell you - figure it out and come tell me - LOL!

15. Without thinking for a second if you had to name your favourite guitar player, who would it be?

I really feel George Lynch. He's one that can stop me dead in my tracks with his phrasing. I really want to meet him one day and jam with him, anyone have his email? LOL!

16. How does a normal day in your life go?

Get up, say good morning to my family then five mile bike ride then shower. Lots of email which I love! Then some days play/practice for at least 20 minutes then go to work. For now I'm a cashier at a convience store...........and no one knows or suspects what I really do, they wouldn't believe me anyway LOL!

17. Your 5 most favourite movies?
Number one is Casino Royale! Hands down. Then believe it or not, Titanic.I'm a hopeless romantic. Leo was great in that! And the other three could chage from day to day really.

18. Which is the one place where you've always wanted to perform?

I don't know - this is actually the hardest question. I'll think about it and we'll talk about it another time.

19. You are pretty active on facebook and myspace! how do you find surfing these social networking sites and meeting fellow guitar players?

I love it actually. Some younger friends of mine turned me onto both and I see facebook as the only way really to stay current. I think myspace died didn't it?

20. Any plans for the future?

Yes, sell lots of CDs and get my band together. Also to watch ShredGuy grow to be a huge label. Also for me to make a living as a full time musician and not have to do odd jobs but rather be able to create music whenever I want as opposed to when I get off work or when I'm not too tired. Also I want to play on as many albums as I can. It's a rush for me to hear what I can come up with to someone elses music!

That puts this interview to an end. Special thanks to Dannyjoe for being a sport and giving us an interview.And all the best with the new album

Hope you guys liked this one. Do let us know what you thought about this interview! Leave a comment below

If you are famous and would like to get interviewed or reviewed by us then, Let us know

Brett Garsed Interview [Audio] About New Album Dark Matters

2011-07-05T14:58:00.000-07:00

Here's an interview that was posted by Brett Garsed himself in Facebook. The Interview is conducted by Randy Allar on his Radio show, The other morning.

Click here to Download the Brett Garsed Audio Interview

It's Just a Temporary file so most probably it would disappear in a couple of weeks. So download it before then.

Shredthisway's Complete Review of Brett Garsed's New album Dark Matters

Here's where you can find Brett Garsed

Facebook Profile

Facebook Fan Page

Brett is absolutely great, he is always in one group or another just chatting like a regular guy.. One of the main reasons why facebook rules

You can find Shredthisway in the following places in Facebook

Facebook Profile - Shredthisway

Facebook Group- Shredthisway

Facebook Page - Shredthisway

20 Questions with Gabriele Pala - Interview

2011-07-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

I recently realised that we haven't conducted any interviews in quite sometime, so I decided to do a series of interviews over the next few days. Today we have with us Gabriele Pala, former guitarist of Karnak and currently playing with Azure Agony. If you don't know who Gabriele is, than just click play on the video below and enjoy the interview. Trust me, you won't regret it. [http://www.gabrielepala.it]

Interview with Gabriele Pala

1. Hey Gabrielle! First off all thanks for being a sport and agreeing for the interview. Now lets start off with the questions. To begin tell us a bit about Karnak and your departure in 2010.

Thank you for gettin in touch with me! I'm really glad to answer your questions! Ahah good one...!! Well, I've been playing with Karnak for about 17 years. We are friends since forever, as far as I remember. Me and Stefano (Karnak drummer) were the only two fixed members of the band throughout the years. We always wanted to mix classical death metal stuff with progressive schizoid things. Lately in the years, however, the band returned back to its original pure brutal death metal style, which is actually more commercial than the ultra-progressive stuff we reached in the meanwhile. Then, life itself brought us on different points of view, as persons. We became different, during time... both musically and personally. So, at a certain point, it's correct to put a stop and think about something new. In the meanwhile I was starting to play with Azure Agony and develop a lot of stuff on my own, completely different from the direction that Karnak wanted. That's it.

I always loved music. I always loved writing my own stuff, and never really thought about being a strumentist. My grandfather was a music professor and a organ teacher. He gave me the first inputs when I was about 10 or even younger, I don't remember now :) So, I began playing keyboards. One day, I found an old guitar at home, an old unplayable wreck... then I picked it up, just as a game, and tried to play my music. During time my parents bought me some more decent instrument, seeing that music was a real passion. My father had a lot of vynils albums too: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and so on: he used to spend a lot of time with me listening to those bands. Then, one day I saw Jimi Hendrix and the spark ignited! One other big revolution in my life was the discovery of all the great metal bands: Iron Maiden and Slayer above all the others. Only later I got into the more advanced stuff like Holdsworth or Gambale... I think that my ear followed a gradual evolution. Now I listen to everything... really everything, from classical to crust and beyond.

3. This year you started playing Chapman Sticks! .. What got you into them and How do you find it so far?

I always dreamt about having one, since I've discovered it!! Now I had the chance some money available and bought one! What a big emotion when it arrived! It's the perfect mix between all instruments I play and like: a little bit guitar, a little bit bass, a little bit piano, a little bit drums... all compacted into one minimal object. Its sound is fantastic, never heard something similar, no YouTube video can give the real idea of its sound. I also like to have 6 octaves of extension, and have 10 fingers to use and have the full control of notes without a pick. I'm still in a learning phase... but I'm proceeding well: I'll record a video as soon as possible. This fall, I'm having the first concerts with my new avangard music duo (stick + electroacustic music) with Stefano Mattiussi, a good friend of mine and a great electronic composer.

4. Tell us a bit about your first band?

I began when I was 15 in a band called Fire Dreams. We used to play some Iron Maiden and Metallica covers. We had also some tunes written by us. Then, they fired me because I was too "metal" and wanted to play violent and complicated things... then I joined Karnak :D

5. Coming back to Karnak, I couldn't help but notice that the name of the band was changed a few times. What was the reason?

The first name was Subtraction, but one day we changed to Obscenity (I don't remember the reason at the moment). But, at that time (about 1997) there was another German band named Obscenity that was becoming pretty famous. So we changed to Karnak, because it sounds good and Stefano likes the ancient Egypt a lot. During the years, however, no lyrics was about Egypt :)

6. I've heard that you're also pretty good with the keyboards. Do you still play them?

Sure! I also have a real piano now, in my living room. I played synthesizers and guitars at once with Revoltons some years ago. They were really a good heavy metal band!! At the moment I'm playing keys only at home, but I like them a lot, expecially all those sci-fi effects that some synth are capable of. Furthermore, with a piano or a keyboard, it's very easy for me to write music because you can play melodies and harmonies at once quite effortless. Sure, also on guitar that is possible, but it requires a lot of more concentration on technique for me, instead of focusing on the actual composition.

7. Tell us a bit about your signature model guitar?

It's my pride! I found BassLab randomly on the web. I soon fell in love with it, even if most people say that they are...ugly, just because they are completely different from a traditional guitar. So I got in touch with Heiko Hoepfinger, BassLab inventor. He was so kind since the very beginning to follow me in all my requests, and thanks to him I could finally have my perfect instrument. Now it's available in the BassLab custom models and most of people recognize me because of the guitar rather than my face :D !! I also had the chance, this year, to attend at the MusikMesse in Frankfurt (the biggest instrument fair of the world) at the BassLab booth, so I finally met Heiko by person.
The instrument itself is incredible: 7 strings, one piece construction, completely hollow (even the neck)... so the evolution of neckthrough! The guitar is made of a special secret BassLab patented material (Heiko is a doctor in physics, so....). It's headless, with ETS hardware (tuning pegs are on the bridge like the Steinbergers, but you don't need the double ball strings: they are clamped on the end of the neck with endless screws). Fretboard is completely flat and neck is thick as a chunk! 2 Seymour Duncan pickups (Custom + Jazz), and a kill switch embedded in the volume pot. What else? Yeah... my signature just below the bridge and on the top back of the neck!
Its sound is unbelievable: a mix of an archtop and a solid body... but more full, rich and precise. Note attack and definition is from another planet.

8. I believe you are currently playing with Azure Agony. Tell us a bit about the band and your last album Beyond belief .

Yes I'm currently playing with them. The band was born in 2006, Marco (keyboardist) asked me to join in. I gladly accepted, at first just for helping him out with a gig. Then I discovered a great band. We wrote Beyond Belief quite quickly, and decided to not hire a singer because we didn't find anybody good enough for the task. Our big luck is have met Luigi Stefanini, a producer in our area, but very famous in the progressive metal world in Europe. He worked with Labyrinth, Stratovarious, Deep Purple and Rolling Stones members, just to a name a few. We assigned to him the mixing and mastering of Beyond Belief, and the result was incredible: everything became perfect and shining! Few months later we were contacted by SG Records and signed the deal. There was no need to send tons of CDs around before getting a contract. We got about 40 reviews so far, all positive!! I believe that Azure Agony is an amazing band, I'm very proud of them! We are now finishing to write the second album (this time with vocals, we found the right person in the meanwhile) and about to contact mr. Stefanini for recording the second chapter!

9. I'm excited to know a little more about "The GoldenSeed" Project, Tell us a bit about that.

Thank you for your interest about that!! Goldenseed is my one-mand-band, in which I deviate everything not feasible by human beings :) I've been always passionate about technology (which is actually my daily job), and I always hated all that tricks that in the modern studio recordings are used to push a human performance to sheer perfection... so why not using directly machines and exaggerate beyond the limit?? That is the main purpose of Goldenseed. I normally program drums, bass and keyboards (to the most possible high degree of complexity), then play guitars and sing. I made two albums so far: Creatures of the Sea, dated back in 1999, that covers the more black metal and symphonic part of my musical vision (vocals are in growl) and Collector Of Illusions (2006) in which I put clean vocals (also experimenting a lot with them) and moved towards a more prog-thrash-fusion approach. I admin that both works are really overcomplicated and perhaps difficult to understand for most people, but they actually represent my soul at its most. If you are interested both CDs are available at CDBaby on Goldenseed page.

10. You were also involved with Revoltons. How was it like playing the guitar and keyboards for them?

It was really funny!! First of all I had to study what to play (and when) since I have only two hands and guitar and keyboards at once shoud require 4... ahahah! I joined to replace their missing keyboardist, who left the band to play with Raintime, another great band of my area. The main helpful thing was the sustain pedal of my synthesizer!! With that I could held down a chord on keys while playing the guitar. When there was a significant keyboard theme, I tried to play it one-handed and leave a spare hand to just fret notes on guitar without picking... then I had a MIDI pedal to control both keys and guitar sound changes.... well, I was going out mad!!! But Revoltons was a great band, with a great singer and intense and beautiful melodies to play. I suggest everybody to pick their last album "The Underwater Bells".. a great Heavy Metal masterpiece. Since I live quite far from them however, we decided to quit this experience... they needed a closer and more available person than me.

11. Tell us a bit about your last show "Festival dell'Inutilita' part III" in Italy earlier this year. How do you find playing live?

That festival was very interesting! Even if the name is quite strange (in English will sound like "Festival Of The Unuseful Things" :D), is a very well known event in my area which covers the most avantgardistic aspects of music. I played there with the electroacustic duo that I mentioned before in the Chapman Stick question... so no bands, just me with the 8 string guitar and Stefano Mattiussi on the electronic part! I believe a lot in that kind of things... music is a manifestation of culture and human progression and we, as musicians and composers, must use music to improve people and leverage their cultural level by expanding their tastes and ear sensibility. I really love to push compositions beyond the boundaries for this reason. So, live appearances are important for that... in this period, where everything is available for download (even not legally) the only thing that saves music is playing live! Even if it's not easy (because of the daily job and the area where I live) I always try to play live, and it's always a big emotion, even if more than 20 years passed from the first concert!!

12. Besides music, you are also interested in designing websites. You have a great design for your site, have you created it yourself?

Thank you!! Yes I'm interested in everything that is computer-related... somebody say that I'm the classic NERD :D ahahah.... I designed the website myself and I also sometimes do works for others... so if there is somebody interested who likes my style, please do not hesitate to contact me! Furthermore I use my site to experiment with the latest programming technologies, I constantly work on it (usually once a year I completely change the graphics, while improving contents). I'm going to put some articles in the next future in which I explain a lot of things about my feeling of music, so check it back often!

13. Enchant us a little more about your gear! Guitars, effects, picks, amps , what would we find if we were to walk in to your studio?

Guitars: I have my BassLab signature model 7 strings (which we have seen before) and an Agile Intrepid PRO 828 8 string guitar. You see both of them in my videos on youtube. The Chapman Stick, 12 strings version in rosewood. I sold my latest 6 strings (an Ibanez RG) about ten years ago.... since then, never less than 7 strings!
Keyboards: a Yamaha CS1x synthesizer... really unique sounds, even if it's very old and outdated. A piano.
My main guitar rig is composed of a Genz-Benz El Diablo 100 head... quite unusual, but follows the rest of my strange gear :) ...I really like its sound, and it's also very noiseless (also when pushed to maximum gain), which is unbelievable for a valve head. It's plugged directly in a Peavey 4x12 enclosure with nothing in between. I use a Line6 POD XT Live between the guitar and the amp as a pedalboard: I do not use its distortions or simulations, just the stompboxes and the volume/wah pedal.
I'm very precise about picks: only Gator Dunlop USA 2mm (the dark grey ones with the crocodile). No other kind of pick, absoultely.
My personal studio is very minimal. I mainly use my computer (my DAW is Reaper) with two Yamaha NS-10 monitors and some outboard. I prefer to have less things but know them in depth.

14. Do you also perform studio session recordings? how has it treated you so far?

Yes I do! Mostly I play guitar solos in other bands recordings. The last one was with Gone In April, a symphonic metal band from Knoxville, TN, USA. I must thank Chicco Parisi Lalonde (former Sadist bass player) for involving me in this project. I played two solos for their first upcoming album, that was recorded at the Wavetransform studio of Yanic Bercier (former Quo Vadis drummer), and finally mastered at the legendary Morrisound Recording, a place that everybody listening to classic death metal should know ;) It's a very big honor for me to be chosen for this appearances, there are tons and tons of good players around... and if they call me instead of somebody else... well I'm so excited!
I'm also in contact with different studios in my area and work also with them, when there is the possibility.

15. Without thinking for a second if you had to name your favourite guitar player, who would it be?

It's a big challenge between Allan Holdsworth and Mike Davis (Nocturnus). Beside Allan, I don't like so much all the usual names that you normally read everywhere. The modern "shred wave" is having a lot of incredible guys from a technique standpoint, but they all miss something undefinded.... they all play solos, and very few rhythm parts, and their tunes sound all almost identical to me. The last greatest guys, for me, are Shawn Lane and Jason Becker.

16. How does a normal day in the life of "Gabriele Pala" go?

Well.... about 12 hours per day in front of a computer :S It's a strict daily schedule... in a 24-hours time span I must put: work, housekeeping (I'm living alone since 5 years), studying guitar/piano and stick, write music, manage all my internet contacts... maybe there is some time left for sleeping, but not always :S Sometimes it's stressing, but I like it... all this keeps me alive.

17. Your 5 most favourite movies?

Alien above all!! Then, Star Wars (all 6 movies), Peter Jackson's Braindead, the first Star Trek movie and the first Rambo.

18. Which is the one place where you've always wanted to perform?

Absolutely New York. I've been there in 2002 (not playing), but I would really like to play there one day. But, at the end, every place is good, if I can play my music and express myself. Also a big theater stage with perfect audio and lights is one of my dreams, with all people listening close to every nuance of my playing.

19. You are pretty active on facebook and myspace! how do you find surfing these social networking sites and meeting fellow guitar players?

It's a revolution!! Expecially facebook. MySpace went really bad in this last period. I can meet and talk to all my favorite musicians... it's sci-fi being realized for me! I've grown up when a band needed to send TAPES around, there was paper fanzines, no downloads, no possibility of meeting anybody... having an autograph at a concert was a blessing. Today I open up Facebook and talk to... I don't know... Patrick Mameli of Pestilence, Mike Browning of Nocturnus, Kelly Shaefer of Atheist (I will forever be a death metal guy... sorry :D ). Furthermore, I can share my stuff around, without having anybody between me and the public that decides if my music is good or not. I think this freedom will foster quality and will open the doors to new kind of music from all over the planet! I'm so excited about that!!

20. Any plans for the future?

I'm about to appear on the 4th volume of Shredguy Record's compilation "Shredding Across The World". Thanks to Luigi Coppo I can get in touch with Michael McDowell, the Shredguy boss, and send him some tunes of mine. Mr. McDowell is a really great guy, he is pushing a lot of new great guitar players (check the latest Adrian English album). I'm so happy to be part of that. I'm currently finishing to write a complete album on my own. I will send to McDowell once finished, let's see what he will think about. As usual it will be something completely original and different from the current shred stuff, but it will have a high level guitar content!!!
Finally I would like to thank you for this interview... it was very funny to answer (perhaps one of the longest I did so far), I TRUELY appreciated the focused questions. Normally people have a common interview for everybody and not always the questions fit the case. So again, thank you! And thanks also to everybody who wanted to read everything till the end! You rule!!

That puts this interview to an end. Special thanks to gabriele for being a sport and giving us an interview.And all the best for the next edition of "Shredding Across The World"

Hope you guys liked this one. Do let us know what you thought about this interview! Leave a comment below

If you are famous and would like to get interviewed or reviewed by us then, Let us know

V-Picks Review - Better Grip,Improved tone and Lightning Fast

2011-07-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Lighning Fast ... Secure Grip ... Improved tone .. This was the first thing I saw when I opened the pack of V-picks that Vinni had sent me for the purpose of this review. By the way he is handing out some free samples, for details check out my earlier post "Tired of Jazz 3, Try V-Picks". Well anyway at first glance they looked normal picks but when I started playing, I suddenly saw a ray of light and I started shredding at 240 bpm ... Just kidding, like I've said in all my Pick reviews, it's not the pick that plays the guitar, it's the player.

Colossal - 8.55 mm By V-Picks

But after having played V-picks for sometime now, I can definitely tell you that it's the next stage of evolution in guitar picks. V-picks are the original clear acrylic picks. Now I know it's logical to ask the question, What's so different about this pick.? Well besides a clear change in your tone, I guess one of the greatest thing about V-picks is the Grip. It is one of the most non-slippery guitar picks that I have ever tried.

Find best rates for Jazz III

Why can't I just stick with my Jazz III?

Well clearly the word around is that V-picks are a replacement for Jazz 3. Even I made a post about it last week. But after playing with V-picks, I can definitely tell you that they are both in two completely different leagues altogether. I guess the only thing common is their shape and size and that too only with V-pick model Stilleto. I have been using Jazz III for several years and would still stay loyal to it. I don't think V-picks are a substitute or a replacement for Jazz III , for some songs I would prefer Jazz III and for some V-Picks .. I think they are both amazing and People around the web should stop comparing the two and give V-Picks the respect it deserves.

If we were to compare the two, this would be my two cents. Grip-wise I would prefer V-Picks any given day, but I still feel Jazz III has a better tip and produces a more sharper tone. But if you're looking to produce a fatter tone and a more smooth tone, then I would go with V-Picks. But then again V-picks has several models to choose from that it's absolutely amazing. From the pack that Vinni sent me I've tried 4 and going to order a few more as soon as possible.

For the whole list of picks check out http://v-picks.com/picks.php

If you guys manage to get your hands on these babies, I would love to hear from you

KB Twelve ways to warm up your days - Review

2011-07-04T04:18:00.000-07:00

Click on Image to Buy Album

Now here's a album that I'm sure you'll have fun listening to for hours. KB has a unique sound (and video) that's almost as good as a freshly baked cookie straight out of the oven. I recently posted one of their videos "Sunny Day" after which I decided to give a listen to their album Twelve ways to warm up your days and I have to say it's absolutely mind blowing. It has all the elements that you could dream of in an album. The album is both fun and technically strong and at the same time quite melodic , which is a rare quality in my opinion in any artist. You can find details about the band after a brief song-by-song review in the end. Before we start the review, I'd like to thank Karl KB for sending in the demo for the purpose of this review.

Now here's a song-by-song review of the album

1. Sunny Day (Download)

This is probably the best song in the album and rightfully placed as the no.1 track. The Song has some excellent effects works and is also more in the lines of dreamy 80's yngwie malmsteen style mixed with a more joe satriani style. Also has some really nice Keyboard playing.

2. As far as the eyes can see (Download)

This one has some excellent modal play mixed with some nice effects and some memorable melodies. Some really nice riffs too.

3. Rosco's New Boots - Feat. DJ Shalom/Xavier (Download)

Bringing a DJ into the picture in a rock instrumental is never a good idea. However I think KB has done a pretty good job in bringing both the worlds together. Not my favourite track in the album but still was fun listening too. I just felt that the DJ's scratches somehow hurdled the guitar playing

4. Endless Tears (Download)

This would be my second favourite song in the album. Besides the strong intro, the song has some amazing arpeggios throughout the song.

5. Electronics For Dogs (Download)

A fast-moving song with some groovy vocal samples! .. It's amazing how KB has managed to maintain the convention of a shredder along with the vocal samples and the DJs

6. Engine Room (Download) / (Download Remix "Mosquito's Buzz")

Once again some really nice work with the arpeggios and also a great melody

7. West Wham (Download)

When you listen to this song you can almost imagine a Modern Cowboy riding a silver horse ... The song takes a steep melodic turn right after a minute and half .. Guaranteed to keep you hooked through out

8. Secret Yard (Download)

For some reason this song takes me back to the days when I used to be hooked to these old school Nintendo games .. Probably the most interesting song in the whole album! Can't wait to get my hands my axe and try this one out

9. Move on (Download)

Has a nice riff to it and some really nice slides and melodies

10. Breathing(Vocals) (Download)

This is the only song in the album with vocals .. Sounds a lot like Pink Floyd's Breathe. A really softer song as compared to the others in the album .. loved the fill-ins and leads after 2 minutes.

Note : There is also a Bonus instrumental version of this which is absolutely great (Download Breathing Instrumental)

11. La Folie Des Grandeurs (Download)

The song starts with a 70's disco beat .. The guitating really shows the capablity of the artist in tackling any drums with ease and at the same time maintaining some originality.

12. Mosquito's Buzz - Engine Room Remix (Download)

Overall I think this is an absolutely Amazing album and you guys should defenitely check it out

BUY Twelve Ways to Warm Up Your Days

Let me know what you guys thought of this album and our review

Angry Bird Guitar version (Rock)

2011-07-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few guitar versions of Angry bird on Youtube, but this one is my favourite

Download Guitar Tabs

Kb Sunny Day - Amazing Animated Video

2011-07-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Just came across this amazing video and also a pretty cool song through Karl KB in Facebook . Check it out. ( Click Here to Buy the Album Sunny Day)

Here's some more info:

Click Image to buy the album

http://www.myspace.com/kbguitarproject
http://www.twitter/kbguitarproject
http://www.kbguitarproject.com

I-Tunes : http://itunes.apple.com/fr/album/twelve-ways-to-warm-up-your-days/id343063984...

Guitareuroshop.com : http://www.guitareuroshop.com/catalog/twelve-ways-warm-your-days-p-1288.html

Music-shop.com : http://www.kbguitarproject.com/music-shop/index.php?a=p&p=a-090427030858

Brennus-music.com : http://www.brennus-music.com/boutique/product_info.php?products_id=4684

Fnac.com : http://telecharger-musique.fnac.com/fm6058953/KB-Twelve-Ways-to-Warm-Up-Your-...

virginradio.vm-wl.com : http://virginradio.vm-wl.com/default.aspx?directpage=http://virginradio.vm-wl...

Play.com : http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Album/4-/12863570/Twelve-Ways-to-Warm-...

Mcm.vm-wl.com : http://mcm.vm-wl.com/default.aspx?directpage=http%3A%2F%2Fmcm.vm-wl.com%2FMus...

Musicme.com : http://www.musicme.com/Kb/albums/Twelve-Ways-To-Warm-Up-Your-Days-36615852277...

Amazon.fr : http://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_ss?__mk_fr_FR=MZ&url=search-alias=mp3downlo...

Wayne Calford - Shredman Walking

2011-07-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to introduce an unknown ranger, Wayne Calford, 22 years old , From Wales UK,he has been playing guitar for nearly 12 years and recorded 12 albums of instrumental guitar music,Just finished my 12th album "Shredman Walking" and will be writting for a new album soon,

All his albums are available for free in youtube.

Just check out his Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/kingcalford

Here;s a sample of what the guy can do:

These are his album titles in order,
Beyond The Feilds Of Magic ,1st
Five Past Ten ,2nd
Merry Halloween ,3rd
Destination Planet Earth ,4th
At The Day Of Rememberance ,5th
Eternal Power ,6th
The Seventh ,7th
Painless Steel ,8th
If Time Does Not Stop...Then Why Should We? ,9th
Instrumentality ,10th
Awakened Season ,11th
Shredman Walking ,12th

Fusion Blues Playing - Modern Lines for Advanced Blues Players

2011-07-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

Have you wanted to get a handle of the unique sounds that Robben Ford, Larry Carton Scott Henderson and other more modern fusionists sound like? Look no futher , This 4 solo lesson will do your fusion blues a ton of good as well as your theory for further musical studies.

This lesson is an exhaustive info book full of the the information you need to play those fusion blues lines your probably wanting to get a handle on.

Image by Shredknowledge

The video with all the licks to the 4 solo's explained note by note.

Their are 4 solo's,each solo has a very unique sound and vibe all played over the same groove .

There are some very interesting intervallic ideas and they are all really well explained by Tom in the Video. This is really cool because the extra info like fingerings and techniques make it easier to master these great sounds.

The two backings are the same blues form and are two speeds so you can get a handle on the lines at slower tempo .

The pdf's , the 26 page book with the knowledge and solo transcriptions make this package a must have.

I can recommend this to all those who are look for more musical and toneful way to play blues fusion.

This is not a shred or has any shred vibe but more easy paced and very very theoretical. Don't misunderstand me , these lines are not just easy lines they are very phrase based and have those "outside" and chord-tone lines that we all know Tom has a great handle on .

Summary

This title is one of the best blues/fusion lessons Ive ever had the pleasure of reviewing. Toms lessons all are very cool but this one stands right out amongst the lessons I've seen on other places.

To be really honest its far too cheap , you have what would be a couple of months of private lessons compressed into 1 hr of non stop video explanaitions of every note and its relationship with the key and chord.

Then add the solo's on their own merit , 4 very cool phrased solo's with fusion lines oozing with tension and release and all ahving a character of their own and not a repeat of the last cycle in any way.

The audio is well produced as in the video , I'm very impressed in fact , all the audio is well captured and the new suhr and new port city amp certainly do make those notes sing.

The PDF is also a lesson on its own and worth the price of the whole package , you have the tabs to all the solo as licks to seperate them and make it easier to connect the lines, there are a host of great diagrams and scale choices plus stacks of theory and great insites .

This is ideal for both the beginner as it has a bundle of foundation theory and stuff you need to know also the advacing guitarist will get a bunch of theory and knowledge to use in improvising .

All the licks are not easy to pull off if either especially if your used to being stuck in the box or if you have been used to shredding your way through chords.

The pace is moderate but theres no slouching on some of the lines , this is a 10/10 for all areas of modern blues playing for sure.

Source : www.ShredKnowledge.com

Remember the order of the modes

2011-07-03T04:47:00.000-07:00

Well anyone who has checked out our earlier post on modes would be quite familiar with the order of the modes and the way to remember them. However I thought it would be a fun idea to list out various things that people use to remember the order of the modes, namely Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, MixoLydian, Aeolian, Locrian.

Here's a few more ways to remember the order. Feel free to contribute some of your own phrases through comments:

I Don't Play Like Mike And Larry
I Don't Pee Like My Aunt Lucy :)
I Dig Pu$$y Like My Aunt Lucy
Ignorant Dogs Piss Like Mad Against Lamppost
I Do Pot Leave Me A Lone
If Deep Purple Likes Madonna A Lot

I got most of the phrases from Jemsite forum, would keep updating the list so feel free to contribute

Lick Library Interactive Guitar Magazine Free

2011-07-03T02:51:00.000-07:00

Lick library has come out with an online interactive guitar magazine.

Here's the link check it out!

Read the Magazine for Free

Say Hello to Mr. Fretboard - Fretboard Understanding

2011-07-03T01:49:00.000-07:00

What makes a player grand? Sure, it's having terrific technique and precision but a great player knows their fretboard inside out. Understanding all the notes on the fretboard is essential in being a well-rounded player.

To just look at the fretboard and see all the notes can be daunting. I came up with a picking/warm up exercise in 3 positions to teach you all the notes.

This exercise will use alternate picking through out; it is NOT a exercise just to develop speed but rather a slow warm up in picking and learning the notes.

Shredthisway.blogspot.com

In figure 1, I use the open position 0 - 3 frets, start by picking the first note in a down stroke and calling out loud what note it is. Work your way down slowly (0-E, 1-F, 2-F#, 3-G etc...) only moving on when you've successfully called out the note. Go down across the six strings and back until you hit your first note again.

        Go over this exercise in the 2nd position (4th to 7th fret) and also in the 3rd position (8th to 11th fret) shouting out loud the corresponding note, always using alternate picking.

       This is a workout that you can use all the time, even for a couple of minutes. When you are more comfortable knowing your fretboard you can pick random notes (i.E. D string 6th fret?) and see how fast you can figure out what note it is and what notes are around it.



     In my next lesson, I will apply this exercise in taking your box shaped licks and applying them all over the fretboard, Good luck and remember to do it slowly until you know it well!! It will be enormously rewarding when it opens up the fretboard to you!!


POSITION 1-ALTERNATE PICKING

-----------------------------------------------------------------0-1-2--3-------
-----------------------------------------------------01-2--3--------------------
---------------------------------------0-1-2-3----------------------------------
--------------------------0-1--2-3----------------------------------------------
-------------0-1--2-3-----------------------------------------------------------
-0-1-2-3------------------------------------------------------------------------

E F F#G AA# B C DD# E F GG# AA# B CC# D E F F# G
.

POSITION 2-ALTERNATE PICKING ALSO

----------------------------------------------------------------------4--5-6-7----------
---------------------------------------------------------4-5--6-7------------------------
--------------------------------------------4-5--6-7--------------------------------------
------------------------------4--5-6--7---------------------------------------------------
---------------4--5-6---7------------------------------------------------------------------
-4--5-6--7----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

G# AA# B C#DD# E F#GG# A B CC# D D#E FF# G#AA# B

POSITION 3-ALTERNATE PICK ALSO

----------------------------------------------------------------------------8-9--10-11----------
-------------------------------------------------------------8-9--10-11-------------------------
----------------------------------------------8--9-10-11----------------------------------------
-------------------------------8--9-10-11--------------------------------------------------------
----------------8-9-10-11------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8--9-10-11--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C C# D D# F F# G G# A# B C C# D# E F F# G G# A A# C C# D D#

source: www.shredknowledge.com Author: Mark Thompson

CAGED Chords and Scales Primer

2011-07-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

Major Triad - CAGED

(As per rule with many guitar lessons I used the common key of C for the examples - as all the shapes are interchangable this should prove no obstacle for those desiring to explore this logic in other keys)

The CAGED method takes it's name from 5 simple open chords that everyone should be aware of - C A G E D. In each case the formula of a major triad is 1 3 5. This means that in order to form a major triad in any key you take the root note, the major third (4 frets from the root) and perfect fifth (3 frets from the major third). Chords are formed from these triad notes "stacking" vertically across the fretboard:

C D E F G A B C

Please note - stacking diatonic thirds is not the only way of harmony but the less commonly used forms such as quartal or secundal harmony aren't a bit beyond the scope of this article.

Looking at the first diagram of a C chord with a "C shape" you will immediately notice that your C major chord is formed from the root, third, fifth, root and third intervals - C E G C E. It's important to remember these intervals as your ability to form further chords changes on the knowledge of these intervals in location to the root note.

Alright - the "C shape" is immediately Appreciable but where do the other shapes come from? How does the knowledge of these chords allow you to move around the fretboard making chords?

Play your open C chord again, and slide it up a fret - play the same strings and you'll notice that it immediately sounds disonant as the intervals that the open strings form in relation to the root have also changed. In order to move this shape about you will need to use your first finger to barre the frets where the open strings would actually be so you need to move your fingers around to accomodate this new chord voicing.

Play the C with your pinky, the E with your third, and the next C (up an octave) with your second - this leaves your first free to barre and you have a move-able C shape. Take a look at the other shapes and you can see how their original open voicing has been modified in order to make moveable forms which interlink (all guitarists should be familiar with the E and A shapes as they are the most common chords in use today).

Hopefully you can now see that you are able to play ANY major triad in ANY position on the neck simply by using these five chords and memorising the position of the roots. By extension because you all know that a minor triad is formed by taking the first, flattened third and perfect fifth degrees of a major scale (1 b3 5) you can now also play any minor triad as above because you simply need to lower that major third by one fret....oh...problems?

Some of these voicings aren't ideal in their basic form as in some positions they can leave you with uncomfortable stretches or a clutter of notes that you might prefer to simplify. For example - the open G chord has a number of different voicings depending on it's position on the neck and the repetition of the major thirds/fifths according to taste:

Open G voicings

How you choose to voice your own chords is a important factor in your playing style and I can only recommend that you experiment with what I consider to be the very minimum - three chords to address the 6th, 5th and 4th string roots. Going beyond that to learning how all the positions interlink, experimenting with fretting notes with the thumb, using open voicings and how you deal with inversions adds a great deal of colour to your compositions.

Major Scale CAGED

As you can see, the top diagram is the (corrected) C major triad over the whole neck. The next down is the C major scale over the whole neck, and the following are diagrams showing each CAGED scale shape in relation to each chord position.

Chord tones are marked with a triangle shape (triad) and the usual chord voicings are connected via the lines to give you an idea of how they all fit together. Knowing each chord+scale shape is an excellent way of traversing the neck but I'll throw in one last diagram of the three Notes per string scales to show you how that works as well.

Note - I have listed each scale shape with two different referrences - the "position" refers to the major scale. Position 1 is the root position, position 2 links directly onto that etc The modal nomemclature refers to the fact that each of these positions is also a root position for a mode - I'll cover modal theory more thoroughly in a later lesson.

Major Scale - Three notes per string

Source: www.Shredknowledge.com Author: Dave Thomson

Marcos De Ros - Heard of him?

2011-07-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

I was pleasantly amazed when i saw a small message in my inbox from Marcos De Ros. If you haven't heard of him, here's a small video that should strike an interest.

Here's

Masterpieces (Buy now from Amazon)

Here's what you need to know bout the man!

Marcos De Ros began his musical career as he was 9 years old, photocopying approximately harmonies and melodies by the guitar. When he was 10, he ongoing musical education and studying approximately hours a time. Inside 1985, by the age of 14, he used to bestow his initially shows with his rock belt, named "GARGANTHUAE", and in 1988 he played in several bands and performed uncommon kinds of composition, from jazz-fusion to batter metal. At this calculate, he began violin classes. Inside 1989, he was hired as violin player by the "Orquestra de Câmara de Caxias sort out Sul".

Inside 1991, he made up the power trio "DE ROS" with Sandro Stecanela (drums) and Fábio Alves (bass). With this assemble of musicians, he recorded approximately demos and presented approximately shows in Rio Grande sort out Sul and as well in the focal point of the people.

Inside 1992, he performed as a guest musician in the "RADICCI" confirmation, by the label "Official Bootlegs". Inside 1994, he released his initially confirmation with "DE ROS" belt, the self-determining compact disk "AD DEI GLORIAM", which has gotten an exceptional result both, from the broadcast and from the critic. Three years shortly (97), it was calculate pro a extra compact disk, "UNIVERSE”, with the same line-up but more diverse and sophisticated than the initially lone.

The guitar player released his third compact disk, "MASTERPIECES", in 1999. Inside this bring about, Marcos De Ros the stage composition from many composers such as log cabin Lobos, Paganini and Bach, amongst others. Inside in the dead of night April 2000, he ongoing to travel around Europe with "AKASHIC", a Progressive Metal belt. They played in Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium and Netherlands. Inside in the dead of night 2000, he recorded "AKASHIC" initially compact disk, "TIMELESS REALM".

Inside the following time, 2001, the musician did a ration of workshops and played in approximately projects of community artists. He furthermore played in the “Terceiro festival internacional de Violão Erudito de Caxias”, an international festival of Classical Guitar. He was the single lone teacher who the stage an thrilling guitar by the event. He furthermore appeared on the CDs – Hellion Collection (with Akashic) and in the Guitarapalooza (solo).

2002 was the time to get on to the pre-production of a extra Akashic compact disk and to relief his initially instructional guitar CD-Rom, “ADVANCED GUITAR TECHNIQUES”, trough the locate Chops From Hell. He furthermore made a special advent by the Paulo Barros compact disk, “GEMINI”, before a live audience along with Tommy Newton.

At the commencement of 2003 Akashic recorded his following compact disk, “A BRAND NEW DAY”, trough "Frontline" records, again with the production of Luis Barros. Inside this same time he participated in the “VIRTUAL GUITAR VIRTUOSOS” compilation, made especially pro the Thailand’s promote.

Inside 2004, along with the guitar player Pablo Soler, he made a long tour right through Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia, called “SOUTH AMERICAN GUITAR MASTERS”, counting 40 live gigs in these countries. He furthermore participated in the “Shawn street Remembered Vol.II”, released by "Lion Records" (Finland) . He released “MASTERPIECES 2”, as well.

Marcos did a further South American tour with Pablo Soler in 2005 .Apart from with the intention of, he released his following instructional compact disk Rom, “INTENSE PICKING”, some time ago more with the "Chops From Hell" as a partner. Moreover, Marcos did several concerts as a songster musician, as well as with Akashic.

Inside the following time, 2006 , lot’s of tours in South América. He furthermore recorded a further instructional DVD pro Chops From Hell, this calculate with his supporter Pablo Soler.

Inside 2007 and 2008 the guitar player did approximately tours in Germany with "AKASHIC" and Chile/Bolívia with Pablo Soler. At with the intention of calculate his signature distortion pedal was relief by "WAVEBOX", as well his signature guitar Strap, by "IBOX". It was furthermore released a DVD with approximately old footage of his belt, "DE ROS", called LIVE 9793, and Marcos start to bring about as a composer pro show soundtracks, with the facility: "30 SEGUNDOS DE LUZ", "FINADOS" and "SE MILAGRES DESEJAIS".

2009 begins with his tome “TOQUE DE MESTRE” run, called “TÉCNICAS INCENDIÁRIAS”, by HMP, with distribuition all ended Brazil, and he furthermore start a weekly participation in a inhabitant box Show, "STAY HEAVY", with his own stain - "DESCENDO A LENHA".

Nowadays he is working in his extra project “PEÇAS DE BRAVURA” (PIÈCES DE RÉSISTANCE) with the intention of is solely released!

Chord Composition Technique- Improve your Chord Playing

2011-07-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

Before we can start with some chord composition we need to build on some basics, just like constructing a house. When I was a child I was not tolerable just accepting that the wheels on a car turn, I had to understand how it worked. The same issue happened when I started playing the guitar. I had to know what how music was made. I read up on all kinds of material s to gain knowledge. Knowledge is what you will require to compose music.

            The major scale pattern is the framework of music theory. So let’s start with the frame. Each note has a value. Some notes in the scale will sound steady and others will be unstable. Composition is the art of tension and release. You need to be able to create tension, and then release to a stable or consonant sound.

            You just can't be happy when you're sad. No up devoid of down. No big without small. I even noticed that there were sometimes that I feel have given me some personality. We aspire to be able to do the same with our music. So here it is: Each note in the scale is either a stable or unstable tone. This does not modify when you use various major scales. The first note in G major is stable just like the first note in B major.

The order of stability is 1,5,3,6,2,4,7.

There are only three stable tones 1, 3 and 5. The others 6, 2, 4, and 7 are unstable. The 6 is the least unstable of these 4 tones and the 7 is the most unstable. In the major scale there are two seats where we see a half step. This happens between the 3 and 4, and the 7 and 1. One of these is called a leading tone. Look at the list of unstable tones. The least stable tones are the 4 and the 7. Both of these notes have stable tone a half step away. The 7 leads up to the 1 (the 7 is the leading tone because it resolves up half a step) and the 4 leads down to the 3. All the other notes will come down a whole step to the nearest stable tone. The resolution is always a whole step away.

7 is up a half to the 1

6 is down a whole to the 5

5 needs no resolution it is already stable.

4 resolves down a half to the 3

3 needs no resolution

2 resolves down a whole to the 1

1 needs no resolution

When we start to compose, remember to wear out unstable tones to build tension and stable tones to produce release. If we were to use only stable tones the music would be very boring. We also need target tones. If we don’t use them, then it will be hard for someone to hear the scale that is being implied. The target tones are the 1, the 3, and the 7.

Tonic. The 1 is the root or the home tone of the scale. To call attention to the tonal center of a composition use this note at the beginning or end of a phrase.

Third. Use this note to accentuate the color of the music. It will explain the scale. The third will be either major or minor.

Seventh. Leading tone. This positions the melody to return or resolve to the tonic. This will also determine along with the third, the major, minor, or dominant nature of the scale.

This will get you going a bit. Make yourself a chart to help you memorize these so that the concept of music theory gets imprinted in your head. If you did not get this notion, look back as we move along and maintain to compare this in everything you learn and have been playing. You will find that you have been doing things right all along, but we want to make music from both feeling and expertise. So now that you have the formula, let’s work on putting this stuff to work. It is cool when you make music that affects the listener’s emotions exactly the way you wanted.

Courtesy : www.shredknowledge.com

Guitar Artwork by Sinamex

2011-07-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

Just the other day while browsing in facebook I came across Sinamex. (Singapore). Quite honestly I don't know what they do but all I was interested in was some really nice guitar artwork in their photo album, so thought I would share it with everyone. So here's some really nice guitar artwork, once again proving that there are lots of creative things to do with a musical instrument than just playing it. :)

Courtesy of Sinamex Singapore

For more images you can checkout Their Facebook Page

Shredthisway Facebook Group

2011-07-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! besides our facebook page, we've decided to start a Shredthisway group to promote the site and to pool in some nice folks. We're gonna be doing some competitions and jams in the future, which would be routed through the group (atleast until we figure out how to start a forum) so I would like to welcome all our readers to join in the madness

Shredthisway Facebook Group

Would be great to get some input on what you guys think about this! Let me know through a comment

Mortens Guitar masterclass Summer 11 batch

2011-07-02T01:56:00.000-07:00

Mortenslessons is starting a summer batch from 24th july, 2011. The online registrations have started from today, hurry up to get some early-bird discounts

How the Guitar Master Class works?

The lessons are broadcasted in a way that you can practice along with most of the videos

Featuring a chat Screen
If you have any doubts you can ask during the lesson + There will be a Q&A session at the end of the lesson

source: www.Mortenslessons.com

Also for more information, you can visit their website. There are a few more features that are explained in detail in the site

How much will it cost?

The whole summer session including 5 lessons would cost you $19.95

Moreover the first 20 registrants get Jazz rock album "Bergen March" Absolutely free

Where Do I Register?

Just visit http://www.Mortenslessons.com

Let us know how it turns out and what you thought of the lessons?

Dream Theater Copies Supertramp Album Cover

2011-06-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

This earth shattering discovery (:) was made by madsman from John petrucci forum. But as it turns out there is a striking resemblence in album covers between Dream theater's latest album "A dramatic turn of events" and Supertramp's album "famous" ;; don't believe me?? Take a look for yourself

Looks familiar? Well what do you guys think .. Do leave a comment in the comments box below

As of now there is not much info known about this album except that its set to release in september

and here's the track listing

1. On the Backs of Angels
2. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
3. Lost Not Forgotten
4. This is the Life
5. The Shaman's Trance
6. Outcry
7. Far From Heaven
8. Breaking All Illusions
9. Beneath The Surface

Girl guitarist plays Santana

2011-06-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

Just amazing .. Here's a god fearing , smoking hot chick playing santana. What more can I say! Here's Ash soular soloing and mostly enjoying herself, and also helping the 8 million users (so far) in Youtube! enjoy themselves.

Really nice work by Ash

You can find out more about her at her website www.Ashsoular.com

Enjoy the Video and let me know what you think

Ash Soular's Groupies Dark T-Shirt by CafePress

Baby owned by Opeth

2011-06-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

As per a recent survey on youtube! it was reported that the highest category of videos searched in youtube are about babies ( Right after porn ofcourse~!) well just to make things clear, I wasn't one of them. All I was doing was searching for some songs by Opeth, when I ran into this video. I'm not gonna take much of your time guys, I know this is not really our usual kinda post, but it's definitely a must watch. Check it out!

The song is "when" from My Arms Your Hearse album. by Opeth

Jus sit back and enjoy this video!

Dannyjoe Carter joins Shredguy Records

2011-06-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

Who is Dannyjoe Carter?

Dannyjoe Carter (the fastest player as per guitar world magazine) is the newest addition to the army of shredders at Shredguy Records . He was reported to be the fastest guitar player in the world at 17 picked notes per second.He has also been featured in shred across the world vol. 3. He is also the recipient of several endorsements from KNE guitars and Seymor Duncan

Who are Shredguy Records?

Shredguy records has been in existence from 2008, starting with reissue of releases from rob johnson. Ever since then they have been they have been one of the leading names in the guitar shredding community. One of thier popular releases is the "Shredding across the world" series

Vol. 1-Shredding Across the World

Vol. 2-Shredding Across the World

Vol. 3-Shredding Across the World

For more info on Shredguy records visit thier website

Source: Shredknowledge

Finger style picking - Dust In the Wind

2011-06-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

(Click image to download mp3)

In the past few months we fave quite a few requests asking for a tutorial on finger picking. I figured what better way to put it across other than through Dust in the wind by kansas. In case you haven't heard the song I've put up the link at the end of the post.

I scanned through most of the lessons in youtube and this ones the best one I could find. I think it explains it all. But before you begin, I would suggest you take a look at the tabs.

Click here for tabs of Dust in the wind by Kansas

Now here's the video you should check out by Tonedr

This should get you started with finger picking. This was one of the first songs that got me hooked to finger picking. Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I have over the years

Now here's the original "Dust in the wind" by Kansas

Shredworx by Rob Johnson - Review

2011-06-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

Rob Johnson is a guitarist from Ohio. He has several solo albums and 3 albums with his band Magnitude 9. His recent studio album is Shredworx. Today we are gonna review this album. I've heard most of the songs. so lets do a song by song review of the album. But before I begin, I have to say the album is absolutely amazing. I would definitely not put it in the mindless shredding category. The album reminds me a lot about the 80s and 90s shredders, the the era of melodic shredders like Vinnie moore , Malmsteen etc. Infact as soon as you fear any song in the album the first thing you would notice is the deep rooted influence of Malmsteen and The Vinman.

Now here;s a list of the songs: (Along with samples and downloads

1. Forcefield : Here's a song that would definitely remind you of Jason Becker. You know a lots of people would be offended if someone says he sounds like this or sounds like that, but I personally believe telling someone you sound like Becker is truly a complement. Now back to the song, it's absolutely amazing, it like a perfectly cooked dish with just the right amount of melody and the perfect amount of shredding.

Download a sample of Forcefield

Download the FULL SONG (Amazon)

2. Guitarchitecture: "Well !! Which instrument would you like to play, I was thinking like ... How bout electric guitar"... These are the opening words of the song and then some good old fashioned melodic shredding.I think this song is very well structured, kind of rare in many instrumentals.

Download a sample of Guitarchitecture

Download Full song (Amazon)

3. Metaphysical: Well this song has some nice effects. The song starts picking up some speed only after 2 minutes or so. If you're listening to the whole album in one shot, this one might stand out at first but I would recommend stick with the song for about a minute brace yourself for some melodic surprises.

Download a sample of Metaphysical

Download FULL SONG (Amazon)

4. Jinxed: You know the one song in any album that gets you all excited from the beginning! well jinxed does the job for this album. I just got the album and already heard it some 5 times. This is the song that would hit various spots in your hearing buds and I have to say very Satch-ish. (again I mean that only as a compliment)

Download a sample of Jinxed

Download FULL SONG (Amazon)

5. Supercharged: This song, more than reminding me of any artists, reminds me of Need for speed. The song starts with some car skidding samples and then I have to say the song matches the speed!. The arpeggios and tapping are truly delightful.

Download a sample of Supercharged

Download FULL SONG (Amazon)

6. Gravity pulling me: Again another very satch-ish song. But personally I felt that the song could not find the right mixture of speed and melody. But still it was quite delightful and creates a perfect change when you're listening to the whole album in one shot

Download a sample of Gravity pulling me

Download FULL SONG (Amazon)

7. Seven String Rhetoric: Melodic! Just plain melodic. and then some experimental shredding. I wouldn't say it's the most put-together song. But the loose-ness has it's own pleasantness. Both the last song and this one brings a change in the mood in the album. which is great when you're listening to the song at home or whilst driving( which is by the way my favourite)

Download a sample of Sevenstring Rhetoric

Download FULL SONG (Amazon)

8. Divided by Three: I feel after the last two songs, this one really brings the structure to the album. Now what I mean by structure is the kind of discipline you might expect from players like Vinnie moore, which pretty much seems like the central theme around the whole album. Jus good ol' fashioned Technical Shredding Superiority!

Download a sample of Divided by Three

Download FULL SONG (Amazon)

9. Relay Speed Torque : I don't know much about Rob, but the guy defenitely seems like a car-freak. If you're a newbie or an intermediate level player listen to this song, this is what years of practice will do to you. What can I say about this song! It's simply brilliant, one of my favorites in the album.

Download a sample of Relay Speed Torque

Download FULL SONG (Amazon)

Now the album contains in total 15 tracks .. but at present I'm only able to review the above 9, I'll surely get back to the remaining 6 and review them one by one.

Here's where you can get the whole album

Mp3 Download: Shredworx

Audio CD : Shredworx

Here;s the list of the remaining songs:

10. Soul Chukles

11. Subliminal dream

12. Instant Vibe potion

13. Dance of the monster gods

14. End of days

15. Blistered

Let me know what you guys think about the album and our review! Post a comment

Play for ShredKnowledge competition

2011-06-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

Hey guys here's some info on the New competition going on in Shredknowledge. The video should explain everything

FIRST 10 ENTRIES AUTOMATICALLY GET A FREE V-PICK !!!!

PLAY 4 SK

Starting on the 25th MAY for 6 week
RULES
1.Just play over a free backing track from the very cool www.jamtrackcentral.com or use your own backing or original track .

2.Title your vid "Shredknowledge.com PLAY 4 SK" and your name

3.Respond to the vid at the top on youtube
(you can use an old track of your own and enter as many tracks as you like just title them as specified)
ANY LEVELAlso 1 beginner/intermediate level winner will be picked by SK
and win some cool stuff too so all levels should enter.

Visit and Register in www.shredknowledge.com to participate

Best Youtube Channels and Online Guitar lessons

2011-06-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

With so many online guitar instructors available readily available to share thier knowledge, it could get pretty difficult to find a great instructor or website that you can stay loyal to.proble

So to solve the problem, here's a list by Mark Thomson from Guitar Addiction that should come in handy

WEBSITES AND BLOGS

... and ofcourse SHREDTHISWAY

YOUTUBE

well that's not all there's surely more where that came from, we'll keep updating the list. If you guys want us to add something to the list, just drop in a comment

Brett Garsed New Album - Dark Matters [With Samples]

2011-06-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well it's finally here, the much awaited new album from the legend himself Brett Garsed. The album is called Dark Matters. At present the album is only available for pre-order from his site www.brettgarsed.com along with a signed copy. as usual the album is Kick Ass.

Samples

Click Image to Buy The Album

Here are a few samples that you can listen to (Courtesy of www.brettgarsed.com)

Note: If you would like to stream, just click the grey box with play button in the bottom left of the page

Featuring

Brett Garsed - guitar
Ric Fierabracci - bass
Phil Turcio - keyboards
Gerry Pantazis - drums
Virgil Donati - drums on "Dark Matter"
Craig Newman - bass on "Enigma"
Ric Fierabracci - bass solo on "Enigma"

As a bigtime brett garsed fan, I would have to say my favourite is James Bong(Licence to Chill)

Check it out!

Other Albums from Brett Garsed :

Big Sky

FRP a Tribute To Mark (feat. Brett Garsed, Eric Bricout, Guthrie Govan, Patrick Amar & Paul-Alain Font

Tapestry

Uncle Moe's Space Ranch

Quid Pro Quo

Zakk Wylde Lesson by Kristopher Dahl

2011-06-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a small beginners zakk wylde lesson by Kristopher Dahl ..
What can I say about this guy?
Funny but Effective!

Brett Garsed - Melodic Choices Video

2011-06-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a Video from Brett garsed called Melodic Choices from his old REH video
defenitely worth checking out

Tired of Jazz 3 - Try V-Picks

2011-06-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

Are you guys tired of Jazz III? Need a better grip? Feel like trying something new ?

Well then it's about time you tried V-picks

As for now it's available in V-picks.com.

If you would like a free sample, join Shredknowledge.com and send a mail to vinni@v-picks.com. He would be happy to send you some sample picks

Mine should be arriving soon. Will write up a full review of the picks after getting my hands on them

Till then, you can check out a review from Alex Raykin, which was the best review i could find in youtube

Let me know what you guys think about this in the comments.

Dunlop Jazz III Pick Pack, Black Stiffo, 1.38mm

Guitar hero online- Guitar God in Facebook

2011-06-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

Ever since Guitar hero has released, the online flash game creators have always tried to replicate a smaller version of it online .. I have to say I've tried quite a few until now, but nothing matched up to the real thing .. Just the other day while browsing through Guitar games in Facebook, I ran across this game called Guitar God

I have to say I'm not completely impressed with the game, but it's sure is addictive. At present they only have a few songs. So I would recommend trying it out once. But the difficulty level is decent

So try it out

Guitar God

If you guys know any better online games do leave a link in the comments

Try the Real Thing : Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Guitar Bundle

Acoustic Blues Guitar Lesson - Blues Guitar Lick

2011-06-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Loved this Video from Marty from guitar jamz Blues Domination DVD

Iphone/Smartphones Guitar Sidekick - Attach IPhone to your Guitar

2011-06-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Ever struggled with your Iphone or smartphone while playing the guitar? Well here's the answer to all your troubles. Today we are reviewing the The Guitar Sidekick by Calvin Media Inc.

What is The Guitar Sidekick?

With thousands of guitar applications in Iphone and smartphones, it was only a matter of time before someone could think of something like The Guitar Sidekick. What it does is, it attaches itself to your guitar between the nut and the tuning peg. In no way would it affect the sound of your guitar or create any disturbances, allowing you to smoothly select any tab or applications you desire. It also comes in handy for playing backing tracks or jam tracks whilst playing.

Whats the use?

Well gone are the days when we used to print out guitar tabs or even sit next to a laptop or a pc. Welcome to the 21st century! If you don;t have an Iphone, well like the folks from apple would say, "you don;t have an Iphone"

With the ability to display any guitar tabs and useful applications such as metronomes or even recorders, Iphones and smartphones have been the greatest blessing to guitar players all around the globe. But we all know the difficulty of managing the device while playing the guitar .. What Guitar Sidekick does is it makes the experience a lot more easier. The location of the device is strategically chosen to provide a sturdy support for your device

How much does it cost and where to get it from?

Well the Guitar Sidekick is reasonably priced at around $29 .. We would say it's value for money , grab one as soon as possible .. I guess the best place to shop for it would be Amazon!.

Guitar SideKick- Buy Now!

Click here to see our Comlete List of Articles

Dethklok - Metalocalypse Mindblowing

2011-06-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well most patrons of heavy metal are already hooked on to this band, If you're not! then it;s about damn time you check them out. For those who haven't heard of them here's an overview of what the band is all about

Who is DETHKLOK ?

Dethklok was created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. The band is highly popular with their virtual performances in Metalocalypse and also I guess one of their most popular album "The Dethalbum", which is also their first album released in 2007.This album was an instant topper in The Billboard Magazine's Top 200. The Dethalbum II was released in 2009, which is also worth picking up.

For more info on Dethklok, visit thier website http://www.dethklok.org/

Members

Studio members

Brendon Small – vocals, guitar, electric bass, keyboards
Gene Hoglan –

Live members

Brendon Small – vocals, guitar
Gene Hoglan – drums
Mike Keneally – guitar, backing vocals
Bryan Beller – bass, backing vocals

Check this out!

Dethalbum II [Explicit]

Click here to see our Comlete List of Articles

Getting A Good Rock Guitar Tone

2011-06-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

The hard driving sound of a rock and roll guitar riff is unmistakable. However, there are so many styles and sounds of rock guitar. Each one has its own signature. For the amateur player, getting a good rock guitar tone is not easy.

New guitar players tend to make the same mistakes. Primarily, good tone and good sound come with the solid tuning of the instrument. Strings are also an important aspect of achieving that unique sound quality. Rookie players tend to use heavier gauge strings that may seem optimum for a harder rock sound. Though this may be true in some cases, newer players often cannot manipulate them in a skillful manner. This is due to the fact that heavy gauge strings are also hard on those virgin fingers. Tough skin and calluses need to develop by practicing regularly. Light gauge strings can create some of the best sounds in rock, and they are much easier to play.

As far back as the 1950s, getting a good rock guitar tone meant having a quality electric guitar and a decent amplifier (amp). The best electric guitars in the business during that era were Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker. Back then it was more the guitar than the amp, but today good tone can come from many things.

Though vintage guitars are still the preferred instrument of most rock musicians, amplifiers have taken a giant leap forward in creating specific sounds themselves. Amp modeling has become a feature of some of the newest digital units. In some of the higher quality digital amps, sounds of specific guitars and amplifiers are used. For example, a newer amp with a modeling feature can mimic the sounds of a Fender Stratocaster or an old Vox tube amplifier. The digital quality usually comes fairly close to the sound that is produced by the guitar or amp that is being copied.

Various pedals or board effects can also create a good rock tone. These adjuncts to the electric guitar can provide a myriad of sounds that can be custom made, and combined to form a more personalized sound. Some of these effects are built into the amp itself. The most common effects that create the best rock tones are distortion, chorus/flange, overdrive and vibrato. There are some others, but these additional guitar effects are main ingredients in that vintage rock guitar sound. However, in the end its all about practice and knowledge of the instrument itself that creates good sound.

All that is left now is to get some good rock and roll guitar lessons and you will be ready to rock!"

Guest post by Corey Palmer

Click here to see our Comlete List of Articles

Guitar Lessons from Shredthisway

2011-03-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some categories of guitar lessons currently provided by Shredthisway

Picking
Practice
Pentatonic
Harmonics
Sweep
Tapping
Theory
Dexterity
Blues
Rhythm
Scale
Slide
Soloing
S p e e d
Stretch

A Guitar “Cheat Sheet" Learning Tool

2010-02-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

BACKGROUND – THE FRUSTRATION AND THE INNOVATION

Guitar Scale Magnets is a finger positioning tool for learning and playing musical scales that is located on the top of the guitar’s neck adjacent to the fretboard, which serves to show the player where to place their index finger in relationship to the top string (the fat "E" guitar string) in order to start that particular scale mode.

The first scale I learned was the E minor pentatonic scale out of a book. I understood that there were 5 standard “box” shapes that comprised the pentatonic scale modes. I soon realized that these 5 “box” shapes are universal and what actually changed the key of the pentatonic scale was the location on where to play these universal box shapes on the guitar's fretboard. As a guitar player, I found it frustrating that instructional books and videos that teach scales simply show moving the box shapes up and down the fretboard accordingly to play in different keys. The problem is that it usually takes a guitarist a long time to master one scale and to become comfortable where to play these scale shapes on the fretboard. If, however, the guitarist wishes to play the same scale but in a different key, then the locations of where to play these scale box shapes change--the player now has to recommit to memory the new locations on the fretboard, thus adding confusion and reducing play efficiency.

Hence the birth of Guitar Scale Magnets: A “Cheat Sheet” learning tool for the guitar that allows the player to QUICKLY locate where musical scale shapes begin on your guitar’s fretboard. Slap on the scale strip and start playing!

http://www.guitarscalemagnets.com/

Click here to see our Comlete List of Articles

Paul Gilbert Ultimate Guitar Tricks

2010-02-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

Well just saw these in youtube after a long time. Amazing video! . These 3 guitar tricks are taken from paul gilbert's Old REH instructional video. One of the best videos ever, besides being pretty informative it's also quite interesting. So check these out. I don't want to ruin Paul's moment by rambling on and on so here are the videos

Hope you guys had fun with these. Do feel free to suggest some more videos that we could mention in our site.

Click here to see our Comlete List of Articles

Mark Goffeney - No hands guitar player

2010-01-29T19:10:00.001-08:00

The first time I heard this song I was completely bamboozled. Mark Goffeney is a truly inspirational player. I remember seeing this video when i first started out and was a little frustrated, but after watching this... i figured if he's not giving up, neither am I.

Mark Goffeney is also the singer/Guitarist for The Big toe band.

Here's a salute to a truly genious player, Mark Goffeney.

Jimi Hendrix Licks

2010-01-26T17:41:00.001-08:00

Before you even think of trying this one out , I would highly recommend you get some nice strings and make sure you got your basics on bends down .

It's a lick library video, so needless to say it rules!!!

This one's from richard barret. found this while browsing through youtube. of all the jimi hendrix licks, I somehow liked this one and once you finish watching the video, you'll know why.

have fun!

Blues Guitar Lick - 2nd Greatest :)

2010-01-26T17:37:00.001-08:00

Found this one in youtube. The guy claims it to be the second greatest guitar lick ever, don't know about that but sounds pretty sweet. pretty much a standard blues lick. Wouldn't go as far as calling the second greatest guitar lick but could come in pretty handy. Hope you guys have some fun with it

3 Best Guitar Forums We Recommend

2010-01-26T16:03:00.000-08:00

How often have we had to google our ass off just to find answers to our questions, would'nt it be nice to have a decent place where shredders with similar taste can hang out at one place and share thier knoledge and thoughts. Well it might seem like a silly post considering the growth of guitar forums around the web, but trust me there's nothing like being part of a good guitar community that can help you evolve on your journey to guitar awesomeness. From over 10 years of hunting around the web for guitar forums, I've only managed to find a handful worth mentioning, I know it's sad , but in a way I think it's better to keep the guitar community to a fewer places because more forums there are more would be the chaos and lesser the numbers.

Well here's what I would recommend if you're hunting for good guitar forums or guitar communities.

If I missed out on a good site, feel free to comment

1. The John Petrucci Forum

I can't begin this list without starting with the Official John Petrucci forum. This one is an absolute guitar players dream. Great crowd, well experienced guitar players from around the world who might just be honest every once in a while and tell you that you suck. Well take it from me, if they do say that listen to them cause if you ask them how to improve, they would defenitely help you out. been a member here since 2003. Best Guitar Forum Ever

http://www.petrucciforum.com/

2. GuitarS 101

If the petrucci forum gets a bit too serious and technical for you, then the best place to go would be Guitar blast. The folks in guitars101 know how to have some fun. With a huge collection of backing tracks, jam tracks , a seperate jam room and a collaboration room and not to mention the official joke thread, this is the one forum that's made my guitar journey both fun and fruitful

http://www.Guitars101.com/

3. Infinite Guitar

Well if the other forums get too crowded for ya! head over to infinite guitars. Compared to the other too this ones a bit smaller in number but there's a lot you can gain from this one. IG basically provides online instructional videos. We've had a post on Review of Infinite Guitar, where we talked quite a bit about them. But I have to say there forum absolutely Rocks!!

http://www.infiniteguitar.com/forum/

Although there are numerous guitar forums out there, these are the once that I would hand pick for our readers. If you're a guitar player and have any kind of existence online than being part of a guitar forum is only going to make you a better player. So give these a shot and let us know what you think.

If you would like to suggest a site do leave them in the comment

Thanks

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Modes - Remember the names

2010-01-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

Being a guitar player for the past 10 years, I still form part of a group that finds the names of the modes quite wierd. But after doing a detailed study on modes for the past few weeks, I can declare without a doubt that it's absolutely one of the powerful tools available to a guitar player. Now if you are an absolute beginner with the theory of modes, we would be covering a few detailed posts on the subject, but as for now I thought it would be a better to get you familiarised with the names of the 7 modes and ofcourse, like the title says, an easy and painless way to remember the names.

Before we begin here are the names of the modes:

Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixo-Lydian
Aeolian
Locrian

Now it's best if you can remember these in the exact order I've mentioned above, I would be going a bit further on the subject later on, and remembering the names in this exact same order would be pretty helpful. Now if you're seeing these names for the first time, these might seem a little awkward

So here's an easy way to remember the names

If Deep Purple Liked Madonna A Lot

It's a pretty simple pneumonics that would help you remember the names in the same order ..

So bear this in mind and keep looking out for our further posts on the subjects, I'll try to update this post as and when I come up with some decent materials and examples for modes

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