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Get A Free British Valve Custom VST Amp Plugin
If you are guitar player who does any recording on your computer, you will want to check out the British Amp Custom amp simulator plugin being offered for free by Studio Devil. The emulation is based on a Marshall stack. If you want more amps models, a fuller feature Virtual Guitar Amp is available for purchase at $79.00.
Purdue University Announces Guitar Workshop 2008
Purdue university has scheduled their week-long Guitar Workshop for July 14 - 18, 2008 (Mon. - Fri., 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.) During this week-long class, participants will make their own solidbody electric guitars and learn both the practical and technical aspects of guitar making. On the first day of class, participants will get a complete kit of materials, including the body and neck (with most of the machining already done on CNC mills.) Individuals can tailor the final shape of the body and neck to suit their own tastes, and add other custom touches to make their instrument unique. Building sessions will be interspersed with talks on subjects such as guitar design and musical acoustics. Experts from Purdue, Taylor Guitars, and Fender Guitars will share their knowledge and assist in the building process.
The $1,295 workshop fee includes all materials and supplies. Workshop participants will learn the practical and technical aspects of making guitars. The class is not for credit, and no previous experience with guitar making is necessary.
A block of rooms has been held at the Hilton Garden Inn. This hotel is less than a mile from the workshop location. They have a free shuttel to campus or you may drive and park in the Grant Street garage. For reservations, call (765) 743-2100. For questions about registration, please contact Beth Scharf at (765) 496-3978 or send an e-mail. For questions about program content, please contact Mark French at (765) 494-7521.
Fender Announces Fender University
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is launching Fender University, an exclusive new music education program for guitar enthusiasts worldwide. The inaugural session will take place Aug. 21–24, 2008 and will offer exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to the company’s manufacturing headquarters and world renowned Fender Custom Shop in Corona, Calif. The curriculum will also include a series of music workshops, hands-on education experiences, performance opportunities, special guest appearances and insight on everything musicians needs to know about the magic of Fender. Enrollment into the inaugural session is limited to only 35 guitar and bass scholars worldwide and is open to players of all skill levels and musical styles over the age of 21. Registration information is available exclusively through the specialty website at www.fender.com/university.
Joe Satriani Posts Video PodCasts About New Album
Joe Satriani has posted video PodCasts about each song on his new album: Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock. Joe explains the ideas and demonstrates the riffs behind each new cut, plus he gives detaiils such as who played on each song, etc. At the end of each PodCast there is a short audio preview of each new song.
This is very cool idea, and very smart marketing. New album, new pedals, daily PodCasts, etc. Where does the guy find the time?
Imagine: The Beatles Play Led Zeppelin
Check out this very entertaining video. An Australian Beatles tribute band plays Starway To Heaven in an early Beatles style. Classic!
Broadway Releases Eric Clapton Autobiography
With striking intimacy and candor, Eric Clapton tells the story of his eventful and inspiring life in this poignant and honest autobiography. More than a rock star, he is an icon, a living embodiment of the history of rock music. Well known for his reserve in a profession marked by self-promotion, flamboyance, and spin, he now chronicles, for the first time, his remarkable personal and professional journeys.
Born illegitimate in 1945 and raised by his grandparents, Eric never knew his father and, until the age of nine, believed his actual mother to be his sister. In his early teens his solace was the guitar, and his incredible talent would make him a cult hero in the clubs of Britain and inspire devoted fans to scrawl “Clapton is God” on the walls of London’s Underground. With the formation of Cream, the world's first supergroup, he became a worldwide superstar, but conflicting personalities tore the band apart within two years. His stints in Blind Faith, in Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and in Derek and the Dominos were also short-lived but yielded some of the most enduring songs in history, including the classic “Layla.”
During the late sixties he played as a guest with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, as well as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and longtime friend George Harrison. It was while working with the latter that he fell for George’s wife, Pattie Boyd, a seemingly unrequited love that led him to the depths of despair, self-imposed seclusion, and drug addiction. By the early seventies he had overcome his addiction and released the bestselling album 461 Ocean Boulevard, with its massive hit “I Shot the Sheriff.” He followed that with the platinum album Slowhand, which included “Wonderful Tonight,” the touching love song to Pattie, whom he finally married at the end of 1979. A short time later, however, Eric had replaced heroin with alcohol as his preferred vice, following a pattern of behavior that not only was detrimental to his music but contributed to the eventual breakup of his marriage.
In the eighties he would battle and begin his recovery from alcoholism and become a father. But just as his life was coming together, he was struck by a terrible blow: His beloved four-year-old son, Conor, died in a freak accident. At an earlier time Eric might have coped with this tragedy by fleeing into a world of addiction. But now a much stronger man, he took refuge in music, responding with the achingly beautiful “Tears in Heaven.”
Clapton is the powerfully written story of a survivor, a man who has achieved the pinnacle of success despite extraordinary demons. It is one of the most compelling memoirs of our time.
Available At Amazon
Tom Wheeler Releases Book/CD About Fender Amplifiers
Noted guitar author Tom Wheeler has written an authorized and illustrated book on the most famous amplifiers ever entitled: The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps. From the same "dream team" that created The Fender Stratocaster Chronicles — Vintage Guitar magazine's 2004 Book of the Year — comes this new publication covering the other side of Fender's legacy, the instrument amplifier. Revered as much as one's guitar, the Fender amplifier gets its due in this full-color, richly illustrated book. It will be highly desired by the millions who have plugged into one of these indispensable components, and were been delighted at its sound.
Fender is the number one guitar and amp brand in the world. This book has a built-in audience. 2006 is Fender's 60th anniversary. Over 400 images, including legendary guitarists such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Neil Young, Pete Townsend, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Robbie Robertson and Dick Dale. Unprecedented collection of vintage gear, including never-before-seen amps that were discovered while researching this book. Accompanying CD features over 50 tracks that make terms and topics come alive.
Available At Amazon
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Recent Releases
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- Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock
- Joe Satriani
- On this studio album Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock, Joe not only delivers one of the most anthemic songs of his career, 'I Just Wanna Rock', but also for the first time ever on a Satch album he plays acoustic guitar: 'Andalucia'. As always, Joe continues to blaze new trails with his guitar and leave the others in the dust.
- The Spice of Life
- Earl Klugh
- Grammy Award-winning innovator and master of the acoustic guitar, Earl Klugh has released a long-anticipated ensemble recording, THE SPICE OF LIFE. The album is Klugh's first full-production release in nine years, and is the follow-up to his 2005 solo masterpiece, Naked Guitar, which drew Klugh's eleventh career Grammy nomination.
- Close As You Get
- Gary Moore
- Gary Moore is acknowledged as one of the finest musicians that the British Isles has ever produced. In a career that dates back to the 1960s he has graced the line-ups of several notable rock bands, Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II and Skid Row to name but three. With his latest studio album he mixes original tunes with some interesting blues covers that he has rediscovered. Close As You Get showcases Moore's exceptional talent as a guitarist and is destined to be one of the finest blues and guitar albums released this year.
- Live At Massey Hall
- Neil Young
- One of the greatest singer-songwriters of the rock era. Solo. Acoustic. January 19, 1971. Live At Massey Hall, the legendary concert from Neil Young, is finally officially released, and in high-resolution stereo, in this CD+DVD package (also as a solo CD). The acclaimed Toronto performance features classics "Old Man" and, in a suite, "A Man Needs A Maid" and "Heart Of Gold" (before they were recorded for Harvest) along with some of his most popular songs. Live At Massey Hall is a newly mined rock gem.
- Weary And Wired
- Marc Ford
- Ex-Black Crowes guitar-slinger Marc Ford's second solo album literally sounds like a classic. With its conflagrant riffing, big six-string tones, and blues bedrock. His unpredictable guitar heroics are as likely to explode into clouds of whinnying feedback as to sprint into marathons of bent, ringing sustained notes and pentatonic scales.
- 10 Days Out
- Kenny Wayne Shepherd
- Kenny Wayne Shepherd's reverence for his musical roots are center-stage on Ten Days Out, a CD+DVD package that features the guitar-slinger and Double Trouble rhythm section of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton performing with some of the greatest blues players of our time as well as lesser-known but historically significant bluesmen.
- Grand Central
- Jeff Golub
- Golub has a natural flare for delivering raw and honest recordings. Grand Central was primarily recorded with a live band in a New York studio by musicians Golub jams and improvises with at small, informal club gigs around the city that they do for the love of playing when they’re off the road. Golub deftly deployed a clean blues sound to his guitar that took on more of a lyrical, vocal-like quality on the new record.
- Quartet
- Peter Rowan, Tony Rice
- Acoustic music legends Peter Rowan and Tony Rice continue their fruitful collaboration with Quartet, which finds the pair joined by bassist/vocalist Bryn Davies and mandolinist/vocalist Sharon Gilchrist. Recorded after extensive touring, Quartet introduces a dynamic and cohesive band grounded in traditional bluegrass, yet capable of spinning out extended improvisational journeys.
