Hendrix's medium-well guitar auctions for £280,000.

The first guitar that Jimi Hendrix ever set light to onstage has been auctioned for £280,000 at the Fame Bureau's 'It's More Than Rock And Roll' auction at the Idea Generation Gallery in London. Jimi grilled the 1965 Fender Stratocaster in the picture at the end of his show at the Astoria in Finsbury Park (London) in March 1967. Tony Garland, recovered it after roadies put the flames out and stored it in his parents' garage in East Sussex, until last year when it was found by Garland's nephew. American collector Daniel Boucher won this piece of history bidding just above the guide price and promises to play it(!)...I am sure that will be a fret-burning performance! (sorry...sometimes jokes write themselves...)

Song Surgeon - a must have tool to learn those impossible solos.

From time to time companies get in touch to have their product promoted on my website. It is rare that I find something interesting, but when the the guys at TmjEurope got in touch I was pleasantly surprised with their very handy SongSurgeon. With this piece of software you can easily slow down, change pitch, EQ and loop audio samples. This is great when you are trying to figure out parts of solos that are too fast or maybe hard to get at normal speed.  The totally foolproof user interface is simple and intuitive and compared to an audio editor, SongSurgeon comes at a fraction of the price.

Highly recommended!

 

Great Ear Training page.

Just a quick post to point you towards this great page.

http://www.good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer


Really...all you need for basic/intermediate ear training, from interval recognition to chord recognition, scales, cadences and more! also a nice section on Perfect Pitch...give it a go. I will definitely spend some time on this page to refresh my aural skills...

Vox Virage

I am quite curious about these new Vox Virage Guitars. For sure they have borrowed a lot of their looks from Gibson, having said that, they are quite innovative because of their pickups. These are built so that you can have, from both the front and back pickup, a single coil sound, a P-90 and an Humbucker sound at the flick of a switch. The usual row of poles has been replaced by a blade, like in a Joe Barden style pickup. I assume that by adding the different coils wrapped around the blades you increase the output, changing the ‘style’ of the pickup. Visit www.voxvirage.com if you want to know more about them…

DIY Amp stands

I always find hard, especially at small gigs, to find the right 'place' for my guitar amp. As a 'pro' you are expected to be loud enough to hear yourself well and be heard from the rest of the band, without blasting anybody. We are all well familiar with the cliché of the mega-loud-egocentric-guitar-hero and in most situations, we want to avoid that Spinal Tap moment. I have always found amp stands very handy, especially when you want to monitor yourself well, at moderate levels: follow these links and you'll find two easy to achieve DIY amp stands made with PVC pipes. Good luck!


gaussmarkov: diy fx » Another PVC Amp Stand




PVC guitar amplifier stand - Instructables - DIY, How To,

Hours of fun: Hobnox Audio Tool.

I discovered this page not too long ago, and I wanted to share it with you. I assure you, whether you are into electronic music or not, it will bring hours of fun. This is the link:

http://www.hobnox.com/audiotool-startpage.1046.en.html

Once you click 'Start Audiotool Demo' and accept the terms of usage you are presented with something like in the picture.



All you do now is create your beatz and plug in the (very Boss-looking!) effects...good luck!

I wonder if something like this exists on line for guitar, something like a flash based 'virtual pedalboard'...I shall find out.

John Mayer: Where the light is

Today I am not going to write about who John Mayer is dating, too much has been said about that...instead, I am here to give the man a million thumbs up for his new live DVD "Where the light is". I mean, the guy is giving a big lesson to everybody in artistic integrity. He could have easily given in (like most artists do these days) and ask Madonna to duet with him, in a shiny Timbaland-coated hit, instead he has embraced the blues and tradition and has been producing quality material for eight years now...just check out the trailer and you'll know what I mean. And if he's good enough for Eric Clapton...he's good enough for me!
In this concert release you'll find an acoustic set, a smartly dressed John Mayer Trio set with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino, and a full-blown set featuring the entire band.