Learn Guitar

I've just finished watching the incredible Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott's on BBC4, whilst the show also featured some great performances from Joss Stone, Imogen Heap and Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck's playing was truly mind blowing.

Jeff Beck's reputation as a guitarist has grown ever since playing with Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds and its no surprise he ranked 14th in Rolling Stone's '100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time'. Much of his playing has been instrumental and he has proved a versatile player with his musical styles spanning from blues to rock, jazz and heavy metal.

He has produced some amazing studio albums with the Jeff Beck Group including 1975's 'Blow by Blow', Wired a year later, 'There and Back' in 1980 and 1989's 'Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop'. He won another grammy award for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance' for the track "Dirty Mind" from 2001's 'You Had It Coming'.

His playing is full of tone and emotion and this is evident in the track "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" which you can watch below.



His tremolo work is probably what makes his sound so unique however and he uses this to powerful effect in the heart wrenching 'Where were you'.



Jeff Beck's 'People Get Ready' illustrates his great rhythm work and a fantastic lead melody.



Of course the guy can rock with the best of them. Check out 'Sling Shot' from 1989's 'Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop'.



Jeff Beck Guitar Tabs

If you feel like learning a few classic Jeff Beck tracks then check out the following tabs.

Jeff Beck Tags from Ultimate Guitar

Free Tabs

MusicNotes.com

Labels: guitarists

After featuring Jamsbio on my last blog entry I thought it would be fun to create my first list on the site. It's called "Top 5 Most Underrated Guitarists" and features Richie Kotzen and Joe Satriani amongst others.

I hope you like it and would encourage you to create your own ultimate list of guitar players. Visit Jamsbio.com to join and once you create a list we'd love to hear about it so make sure you post the URL in the comments below.

Labels: guitar, guitarists, Jamsbio

Guitarists are well and truly spoilt for choice on the internet these days however as there are so many websites on-line, sometimes it can be tricky finding the best ones. Hopefully this list of essential websites for guitarists will help you in the right direction.



Guitar Site

This magazine style website offers plenty of guitar news and gear reviews as well as tutorials and lessons. Not a bad place to start.



LickLibrary

This is a paid membership website for guitarists however the sheer wealth of content and quality on offer is well worth the monthly fee. They have some big name guitarists such as Joe Satriani and Steve Vai promoting it and you would be hard pushed to find a better community website for guitarists.



Guitar Noize

This guitar blog features some interesting posts and we'd recommend subscribing to the RSS feed when you get the chance.



Ultimate Guitar

This massive on-line guitar community is one of the most popular websites around and they have a particularly good guitar tabs section which features tabs uploaded by members. We find the layout a little confusing at times but that's probably due to the sheer amount of lessons, reviews and columns they have. Definitely one for the favourites.



Guitar Port
This website has been built around the innovative Guitarport USB amplifier and features a well laid out and feature rich layout that compliments the Guitarport perfectly. You'll get a vast library of accurate tabs, famous teachers and the ability to play rhythm, bass or lead guitar on each backing track Superb!



Guitar Toybox

Another well laid out blog that features interesting news in the guitar community.



Music Street UK

Probably our favourite place to buy guitars and equipment. The website is easy to use, they have a massive range of gear and often have deals that you would be hard pushed to find anywhere else.



Audio Tool

This is simply incredible. Built entirely in Macromedia Flash, the Audiobox on Hobnox features an array of stomp boxes, samplers and even a Roland Drum Machine.The dragable interface lets you view all the effects which can all be controlled easily via a few mouse clicks. You could spend a lot of time on this tool!



Guitar World

Just like the magazine, Guitar World provides a wealth of interviews, guitar reviews, lessons and tabs. It's geared to towards the modern rock and heavy metal scene however so it might not be everyone's cup of tea.



Jams Bio

This website is a recent discovery but we love it already. It's a social community that allows you to share your life through music and was created as a place for people to meet, reconnect, or simply stay in touch by sharing music related stories. I can see many guitarists using this website to share gigs and experiences with friends and it's also a great site to create a tribute to your favourite band or guitarist. Well worth checking out!

If you have any suggestion for even more essential websites for guitarists then we want to hear about them. Simply leave a comment below with the name and URL of the site you'd like to recommend.

Labels: guitar, guitar news, guitarists

Well I have to admit I do like Coldplay but I'm a little concerned over some of the melodies which seems quite familiar at times. Check out the video below which does a convincing job of arguing the case that Cold play have stolen the main riff and chord progression from Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly" for "Viva La Vida".



Pretty cool ending to the video though. Hey I wonder if we could get Joe on stage with Coldplay? Well maybe if the lawsuits aren't flying!

Labels: guitar, guitarists

I have to confess that I'm not the biggest Yngwie Malmsteen fan but his olympic white 70's Fender Stratocaster is the stuff of legend and certainly iconic amongst guitarists. Fender's custom workshop have painstakingly put together an identical tribute series stratocaster complete with 70's enlarged headstock, stressed bodywork and aged scalloped fretboard. The attention to detail is quite literally incredible and the guitar even has the "Play Loud" sticker that Yngwie put on back in 1983.

You can watch the making of this incredible instrument at the Fender custom workshop website which provides a fascinating insight into the process of creating such a classic guitar. Enjoy!

Labels: fender, guitarists, guitars, rock, stratocasters

Looks like Guitar Hero IV is shaping up nicely. Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Zakk Wylde will appear in the game, due this autumn (fall) and will feature in the classic tracks Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley. Those songs will also be playable in a virtual Ozzfest venue.

Other tracks confirmed include;

Steve Miller Band - The Joker

Interpol - Obstacle 1

The Doors - Light My Fire

Linkin Park - In The End

Michael Jackson - Beat It

Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings

Sadly, despite the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, we will not be seeing Led Zeppelin's iconic songs in either game any time soon, according to the Wall Street Journal. The band, specifically Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, is not comfortable giving gaming companies access to the group's master recordings which is a necessary step in adding the band. No surprise there as Led Zeppelin have been typically elusive when it comes to access to their songs. You only have to look at the lengths Jack Black had to go to secure the Immigrant Song in School of Rock.

Labels: bands, guitar, Guitar Hero, guitarists

Well we just couldn't resist it any longer. This is LearnTheGuitarNow.com's tribute to the sexiest girls that play the guitar. Ok, ok some of them don't play guitar but that rock just the same!



Avril Lavigne

The pint size rocker has a cracking voice and certainly knows her way around the fretboard.




Michelle Branch

Michelle Jacquet Branch is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. After collaborating with Santana on the single "The Game of Love", which won a Grammy Award, she went on to form the musical duo The Wreckers with fellow musician Jessica Harp. Michelle Branch has now released her third solo album with Maverick entitled "Everything Comes and Goes".



Lori Linstruth

Female lead guitarist Lori Linstruth released her demo CD of darkly melodic instrumental guitar music in 2004. Her instantly identifiable style captured the attention of none other than the mighty Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One), who promptly recruited her for his band project Stream of Passion. Lori also plays guitar and writes songs for her all-female melodic metal project, Warbride, and recently contributed some guest solos to Janne Stark's Mountain of Power.



Allison Robertson from the Donnas

The Donnas really know how to rock. Their punk rock meets glam metal style has won them many fans and they certainly know to put their own stamp on covers. Check out the cracking cover version of Round and Round by Ratt and you'll see what I mean.



KT Tunstall

My personal favourite and I think this has to be my favourite pic of KT. I think it has to be one of the most iconic rock photos taken. A modern classic!



Grace Potter

Grace Potter is the 25-year-old lead vocalist and guitarist of The Nocturnals, a Vermont-based band that has recently gained national attention with their newest album, "This Is Somewhere".



Marion Raven

After being one-half of the now defunct pop duo M2M, Marion started a successful career as a solo pop-rock artist and has so far released the albums "Here I Am", "Heads Will Roll" and "Set Me Free". I think you'll agree she is a very talented girl in more ways than one.




Anita Robinson from Viva Voce

Viva Voce is an American indie rock band formed by husband and wife duo Kevin and Anita Robinson.



Courtney Love

Courtney Love is an American rock musician and Golden Globe-nominated actress. Love is best known as lead singer, songwriter and lyricist for the alternative rock band Hole and for her two-year marriage to late Nirvana lead singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain



Liz Phair

Liz Phair is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her signature guitar is a Fender Duo-Sonic II and her album Exile in Guyville was chosen as one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.



Susan Tedeschi

Susan Tedeschi is an American blues and soul artist, who has risen to fame with multiple Grammy Award nominations, and her marriage to Derek Trucks of the Allman Brothers Band and Derek Trucks Band.




Krystal Meyers

Krystal Meyers is an American Christian rock musician. Krystal started writing songs by age 10 and was playing the acoustic guitar by 13, later releasing her self titled first album at age 16 in 2005. Her second album, Dying for a Heart, was released on September 19th, 2006. Her music combines hard-edged rock with smooth acoustic melodies.



Nancy Wilson

Not only is she a great guitar player and singer / song writer but she happens to be a complete babe. Heart achieved massive success in the 1980's with massive singles such as "Barracuda" and "Alone". She was the lead vocalist on the hits "These Dreams", "Stranded" and "There's The Girl" and has since gone on to compose music for films such as Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky and Elizabethtown.



Lita Ford

After finding fame in the all-female rock band The Runaways where she played lead guitar, Lita Ford went on to forge a successful solo career. Her first two albums, Out for Blood and Dancin' on the Edge were reasonably popular however she achieved major success with her 1988 album, "Lita". This album featured the commercial hits, "Kiss Me Deadly""Close My Eyes Forever" (a duet with Ozzy Osbourne) and "Falling In and Out of Love".



Vixen

The original girl rock band. Vixen were an all-female American glam metal / heavy metal band which achieved some success during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Labels: acoustic guitar technique, bands, guitarists

I guess every guitar player has had an embarrassing guitar moment at some stage. Whether its bum notes, broken guitar straps or slipping on stage we all have a story to tell. But I came across this story from Joe Satriani on Youtube.com that shows that even the best still have the odd embarrassing moment and to be honest it doesn't come much more embarrassing than this. I feel for you Joe!

Labels: guitar, guitarists

I've been listening to a lot of Guns n' Roses recently and particularly Appetite for Destruction. I've always loved the album but recently I've really come to appreciate Slash's guitar playing. He's probably a lot more technically gifted than most people think and he's got a great combination tone and plenty of feel to his classic blues rock technique. He's also a great guy and always worth listening to.

I've included some online guitar lessons from Slash himself courtesy of Guitar World which give a great insight into his unique style of guitar playing.

Velvet Revolver Guitar Lesson



Slash Guitar Lesson January 2008



Slash Talks Guitar Solos

Labels: free guitar lessons, guitar video lessons, guitarists

You may have noticed things have been a little quieter than usual over the last month or so on LearnTheGuitarNow.com. This is because we have been hard at work creating a great new website called Fretpoint. Fretpoint.com is a Digg style, community driven news aggregator dedicated to guitarists and musicians.

It's mission is to collect and organize guitar and music related content from across the web while letting the community vote for the best articles, news and lessons so they rise to the top of their categories. We hope the site will be embraced by the guitar community as this type of site has a lot to offer guitarists and musicians across the globe.

Why not get started today and register with Fretpoint.

Labels: acoustic guitar technique, fretpoint, guitarists

I know, I know! It's been done to death but every guitar blog should have a top 10 list of best and worst guitar solos and I couldn't resist, besides it's fun. Here's my top 10 worst guitar solos. I've included some videos for some of the solos as well.



Smells Like Teen spirit - Whilst Curt Cobain was undoubtedly a great song writer he was rubbish at playing the guitar and this so called solo is the worst part of what is widely regarded as a grunge classic.



Always - Richie Sambora's guitar tone of this solo is just plain awful and thankfully he has somewhat redeemed himself on live versions of this track.



Any solo on the first Motley Crue record - What can I say? Mick Mars had a stinker on this one and despite having an ear for a melody (check out the solo on Home Sweet Home) there's absolutely no technique on this album.



Yngwie Malmsteens live acoustic solo - Does anyone really enjoy this? I mean seriously?



Paul Stanley's solo on the Animalize concert DVD. - Only Paul Stanley would have the ego to think he could ever pull this off in front of a live audience. I think it's the worst example of tapping I've ever seen. To think I actually thought it was pretty cool when I was14. What was I thinking?




Unskinny Bop by CC DeVille - I think this entire track has to go down as one of the worst ever which is saying something for Poison. I really liked the native tongue album though, Richie Kotzen managed to bring out the best in those guys.



Nigel Tufnell's Live solo in Spinal Tap - "widdlywiddly widdlywiddly widdlywiddly eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" Ouch my ears hurt!

Layla - I know I'm going to get some stick for this one but Duane Allman's slide guitar at the end of this track is pretty dire in some places.

Anything solo by Graham Coxon from Blur - Am I the only one that really doesn't like his playing?

Do you feel like we do by Peter Frampton - Consistently comes up in nearly every poll of bad guitar solos. Nuff said.

Disagree? Want to add your opinion? Go on, add a comment you know you want to!

Labels: guitar solos, guitarists

Ain't that the truth! This video from BBC's 7 Ages of Rock features some great stuff from Robert Plant and Keith Richards. Keith plays some cracking acoustic blues on this video and I really think he gets to the essence of what blues is all about.

"You can't write this. It's just a matter of how you play it, does it have the intensity? Does it make any sense to anyone else? ... that's what I like about the blues ... you can't fake it"

Keith Richards.

This is for all those blues fans out there, so just grab a coffee, sit back and enjoy. The teaser clip is below and the full video about the blues can be viewed here (UK visitors only).

Labels: blues guitar, guitarists, keith richards

The hugely anticipated reunion gig for Led Zeppelin has been postponed as lead guitarist Jimmy Page has fractured a finger. Page has been ordered by doctors not to play guitar for three weeks and the gig has been moved to 10th December.

It's not been revealed which finger he broke, or on what hand but for guitarists everywhere it goes without saying, any injury of this kind is a huge deal. Thankfully he is clear to start rehearsing on 23rd November. The reunion gig will also feature Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman, Paolo Nutini and Foreigner and will be held at London's O2 arena.

Can't Wait!

Labels: guitar news, guitarists

Mark Knopfler gives a short interview and insight into his unique playing style on Sultans of Swing. There's some great stuff here and towards the end of the interview he gives a great demonstration of how he gets that great staccato rhythm sound. The BBC's 7 Ages of Rock is well worth checking out if your into classic rock and they have videos about the guitarists of the Yardbirds, Cream, Kiss, Metallica and loads more.

Labels: guitarists

I love Yngwie Malmsteen as much as the next guitarist but he probably had this coming. This had me in stitches and is the best bit of guitar humour I've seen in a while.

Hardcore Yngwie fans cover your ears now. Everyone else prepare to laugh your ass off.

Labels: guitarists

Following on from my last post about Christmas present ideas for guitarists those cool chaps over at Music Store UK have some more excellent ideas in there Christmas gifts section.

I particularly like the JHS Guitarist's Christmas Stocking for the beginner guitarist which includes strings, capo, glass bottle slide, picks, pick holder, guitar machine head winder amongst other things.

The Planet Waves Guitar ToolBox also caught my attention and I think I'll be picking up one of those myself. It includes a five-pack of the new Planet Waves SurePick, which has an overmolded rubber grip that keeps it from slipping in the player's hand, The Headstand string-changing stand, which holds a guitar's neck in place during re-stringing, the Pro-Winder 4-in-1 peg winder that also has a string cutter, string stretcher, and bridge-pin puller built in, and a thick, soft, black tubular nylon strap. As Borat would say "Its Nice!"

Visit the Music Store UK website.

Labels: guitar reviews, guitarists

Staying focused as a guitarist is important particularly in your early phase as a beginner so its handy to realise possible career paths as a musician beyond your typical pop/rock band scenario.

This article by Duane Shinn called "Learn a Musical Instrument, Prepare for a Career" should give you some ammunition when explaining to family and friends how important and ultimately life changing learning guitar can be!

Invisible Career-Path Available Only to Musicians

For a skilled musician, there is an additional career path that is invisible to the non-musician. This is an additional benefit beyond the pleasure of playing music, the attention it brings, and the better academic performance than students who do not learn to play a musical instrument. It is a broad range of extra career opportunities that non-musicians never even consider.

But if you're a musician, you can apply. Let's take a look at these careers that are available only to musicians

Education: Are you a musician who has also studied education? If so, there are numerous music education opportunities that may interest you:

• Music educator at a college, conservatory, university
• Music teacher at secondary or elementary school
• Private music instructor
• Music supervisor
• Choir director

Therapy: Are you a musician who has also studied psychiatry? You can practice the trade of music therapy in a wide array of settings. Some of the sources of employment for music therapists are the following:

• Schools
• Universities
• Nursing Homes
• Mental health clinics
• Correctional Facilities
• Private practice

Business: Ever wonder what it takes to work in business management? Besides business smarts, an ability to talk the language of music will take you places the non-musican cannot go:

• Artist Manager or Agent
• Talent Agent
• Concert Promoter
• Independent Radio Promoter
• Music Business Entrepreneur
• Music Business Consultant
• Record Company Executive
• Music Publisher
• Tour Coordinator

Performance: Actors are more highly valued if they have a musical education. Today, with so few actors multi-skilled as they were in the era of the large studios, this can be a real advantage. Below are some of the jobs for which an actor who is also a musician may "incidentally" be qualified.

• Performing artist
• Soloist, instrumental or vocal
• Studio musician
• Background vocalist
• Theatre musician
• Accompanist
• Church musician
• Product demonstrator for instrument manufacturer

Movies / Video Games: If you study movies or video game production, a background as a musician will help you prepare for music-related jobs such as the following:

• Conductor
• Music Composer
• Music Editor
• Music Supervisor (to scout for music)
• Arranger (to determine the mix of song elements per the conductor or producer's specifications)
• Sound designer (of effects to accompany music score)
• Jingle writer / composer

From education to video games, there are careers available for those who happen to have a background in music which the rest of us never see. Each of these fields requires time and study for proficiency, but they represent a career path that is nonexistent for non-musicians.

Sure, you already knew that playing music could improve your quality of life. Now you know it can improve the quality of your career.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and music educational materials such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. His book-CD-DVD course titled http://www.pianoplaying.com/ "How To Dress Up Naked Music On The Piano!" is used all around the world to teach improvisation and music arranging skills. He holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Keyboard Workshop in Southern Oregon. He is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled http://www.playpiano.com/ "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 70,000 current subscribers. Assisted by Phil Honstein.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Duane_Shinn

Labels: guitarists, playing guitar

We are big fans of "Guitar Techniques" here at learntheguitarnow.com and this months issue (January 2006) just got better by including an awesome DVD. Its got an amazing interview with Gary Moore and includes an exclusive track from the forthcoming Live DVD called "Gary Moore and Friends, One Night in Dublin, A Tribute to Phil Lynott". I have to admit I when I last saw Gary perform live which was at the 2003 Monsters of Rock tour I left bitterly disappointed and didn't think his performance matched earlier gigs but this performance is a welcome return to form. From what I understand this DVD will be released in March/April 2006 and I can't wait!

The DVD also features interviews and lessons with Paul Gilbert (Always worth listening too!), Dominic Miller (Sting's guitarist), Mike Stern and loads more so grab it while its still on the shelves.

Labels: guitarists, playing guitar