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When she was seven years old, sibling rivalry spurred Blu DeTiger to get a bass so she could play along with her brother on his new drum kit. After honing her skills for several years at School of Rock, taking lessons, and playing in high-school bands, she also became a DJ on the New York […]
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It’s impossible to overstate the influence Led Zeppelin’s “untitled” fourth album – call it IV, ZoSo, Runes, Four Symbols, whatever – has had on musicians of all stripes. Released November 8, 1971, the album was a towering creative achievement that has been the subject of unequaled acclaim, speculation, and lore. Of its eight songs, “Stairway […]
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As an accomplished sideman, Adam Levy is famous for supplying charismatic guitar sounds for Nora Jones and Tracy Chapman. On his latest solo album, Spry, Levy positions his trusty 335 at the forefront, creating evocative jazz-based rainy-day tunes filled with melancholy and depth. Spry is saturated with atmosphere and artistic refinement. He recently told VG […]
Eectric Slave is the third album by Black Joe Lewis, and marks a return to the sound of his roots – Hound Dog Taylor, Elmore James, Ron Asheton, and Jimi Hendrix. It features garage band sonics, mellifluous horns, and gnarly fuzz tones. The shadow of his old band looms ominously, but Lewis has his eye […]
Selwyn Birchwood’s third album for Chicago-based Alligator Records represents new creative frontiers for the 36-year-old Florida native. The robust use of keyboards and baritone sax makes it his most sonically expansive effort to date, and that sound isn’t just expansive – it’s thick. The instrumental wall, fortunately, doesn’t detract from Birchwood’s omnipresent guitar work and […]
Tech 21’s Steve Harris SH1 Signature Sans Amp celebrates the tone of metal icon Harris, Iron Maiden’s bassist, songwriter, and driving force. For 40 years, Harris has delivered a brash tone via Marshall 4×12 cabs with 12″ EV speakers and a Precision Bass with flatwound Rotosound strings, delivering more clank than you’d expect. For his […]
Rick Wilkinson’s Austin Mics company, based in San Diego, specializes in do-it-yourself ribbon-microphone kits and DIY guitar pedals. His latest is the Summer Spring Reverb pedal, a digital spring reverb simulation with an Accutronics reverb module. The kit includes chassis-mounted Neutrik connectors, powder coated die-cast enclosure, jewel indicator light, high-quality filter caps and resistors, and […]
As much a celebration of kinship as it is an educational forum, the biannual Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans (ASIA) Symposium, held at East Stroudsburg University, in Pennsylvania, is mini mecca for guitar builders and hobbyists ranging from novices to top professionals and manufacturers. Held in alternating years with the Guild of American Luthiers (GAL) […]
Road-warrior guitarists with years of gigs under their belt who later design guitars have an advantage over builders without that experience. Knowing what works in the real world of tone-sucking stages and mishaps is where the rubber meets the road. After sharing stages with guys like Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, and Mike Keneally, to name […]
King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor is on a roll. Despite the band being on hiatus due to bassist Dug Pinnick’s health issues, Tabor stays busy with side projects like Jelly Jam, with Rod Morgenstein and John Myung. He operates an audio-mastering facility and his new solo album, Nobody Wins When Nobody Plays, showcases idiosyncratic melodies, […]
“Unsung” is a good word to describe John Hart. He’s been part of the jazz-guitar scene for more than two decades, but rarely is he mentioned in conversations about the cream of the crop. That’s a shame, because, as his new trio record shows, he’s an amazingly inventive soloist and composer who is not afraid […]
If there’s a 21st-century guitar style, Roman Bulakhov is a prime example, particularly how he fuses rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop – and everything else – into a radical stew. The music tumbles like an acrobat, with fast rhythmic and chordal changes, yet simmers with soulful grooves. With the Ukrainian war raging, Bulakhov is living in […]
CopperSound pedals started in the winter of 2014 as a group of friends in Massachusetts who wanted to build pedals for themselves. Soon, though, people outside their circle wanted one and orders started rolling in surprisingly fast. Today, their catalog includes a dozen options, and the Strategy preamp/clean boost has become one of the most […]
Country-music fans familiar with the history of Bakersfield, California, know of Trout’s nightclub. The last of the venues that gave birth to the “Bakersfield sound” epitomized by the twang of a Telecaster in the hands of Merle Haggard or Red Simpson, many stars strode its stage. Other legendary nightspots included the Blackboard, Lucky Spot, the […]
In the mid 1950s, Gibson president Ted McCarty was paying close attention to two new instruments impacting the musical-instruments market – the solidbody electric guitar and the electric bass. Both had been developed by an upstart company called Fender, and Gibson’s original solidbodies, the Les Paul guitar and Electric Bass (VG, February ’06) were introduced […]
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Rick Hogue Season 01 Episode 06 In Episode 9 of VG’s “Buy That Guitar” podcast, host Ram Tuli is joined by Rick Hogue of Garrett Park Guitars to discuss the entry-level market – collectible instruments priced between $5,000 and $10,000. Which are the best models to look for […]
The Vox AC30 grabbed most of the headlines for years, but many tonehounds have come to appreciate the sweet, juicy glories of the smaller AC15, particularly in the wake of contemporary attitudes about smaller amps’ abilities to hit the sonic sweet spot at more ear- and mic-friendly volumes. Designed by Dick Denney in 1957, the […]
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s latest album shows the 22-year-old blues prodigy flourishing with maturity and tone for days. Titled 662, the digits reflect the area code of his North Mississippi home. Double-dipped in his regional blues style, Kingfish displays not only the influence of the three guitar Kings, but a passion for real-world blues. He’s the […]
Almost any guitar can be viewed in terms of a confluence of influences that produced it, from the company history to the history of guitar evolution to the kind of music it was meant to play. But it’s rare that you get one so fully loaded as this circa 1933 KayKraft Style A that’s just […]
