Joe Satriani didn’t arrive on the guitar scene; he blasted in―just like the Silver Surfer, the comic book anti-hero who soared across the cover of Satriani’s instrumental debut Surfing with the Alien.
His vocabulary of heavy rock tones―whinnying, howling, whistling cluster bombs of sound colored with liquid lightning picking and two-handed filigrees―was seismic.
Thursday, May 08, 2008 5:54 PM
If you haven't heard of Kelly Joe Phelps, then you've been missing out on one of the most talented slide guitar players in music today. He's been playing the guitar for most of his life, and has managed to develop his own unique style of blues with an authentic infusion of varying depth, range, and technique that has resulted in multiple mentions in various industry publications, and earned him the respect of many of his peers.
Phelps plays his guitars sitting flat in his lap, or Dobro style. He also uses his right hand on the body of the guitar to create a unique percussive rhythm technique, and employs the slide bar and alternate-thumb fingerpicking to achieve an amazing technical and improvisational style that simply defies categorization.
Thursday, May 08, 2008 12:55 PM
That dramatic version of the end of Robert Johnson’s life―hastened by a jealous husband and a bottle of poisoned whiskey at a juke joint outside Greenwood, Mississippi, in August 1938―conjured by the poet and revolutionary John Sinclair is typical of the kind of romantic visions the Delta blues giant’s music and patchwork story have inspired since his recordings were first reissued in 1966.
Thursday, May 08, 2008 12:53 PM
A much ballyhooed reunion has long since become an inevitable part of almost every band’s career cycle, even if there isn’t necessarily a hungry public clamoring for it. But the Beatles’ enduring appeal always seemed to set them apart―at least until they, too, cashed in with their multi-volume Anthology series in the ’90s.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 4:07 PM
The summer festival season is finally upon us. For discerning music fans this can only mean weekends spent braving sweltering heat, midday downpours, and a mudslide or two for the chance to check out the latest and the greatest bands out there touring this season ...
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 3:19 PM
Vibrant as it generally is, rock and roll sometimes needs a kick in the pants to shake it from inertia and complacency. Each of the following 10 albums―several of which rank among rock’s best―kickstarted a new direction when change was much needed.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 1:23 PM
If you're going to learn Western swing guitar, you might as well learn it from one of the best, and Ray Benson—one of the founding members of legendary Western swingers Asleep at the Wheel—is certainly that, and much more.
Asleep at the Wheel made its way from humble beginnings in Paw Paw, West Virginia, all the way to its current home base in Austin, Texas, and released 20 albums and earned nine Grammy Awards along the way. Though the lineup has changed throughout the years, Benson has remained at the helm as the band's driving force. He's also managed to become of the foremost authorities on playing Western swing music. His knowledge of this unique style is unprecedented, and his ability to convey its techniques are invaluable.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 11:13 AM
No one single genre―outside the world of professional sports―has dominated the field of mascots quite like heavy metal. Mascots are almost as old as the genre itself. Here is a brief history of heavy metal’s five most savage icons. Bang the head that doesn’t bang!!!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008 3:24 PM
The name Peter Beste is synonymous with the black metal movement and with good reason. For nearly a decade, the photographer has been one of the few civilians allowed to point his lens at the genre’s corpse-paint donning stars—and these musicians are understandably skeptic of outsiders who often want to sensationalize the genre before they truly understand it. On May 15 Vice Books will release Beste’s first book, True Norwegian Black Metal, which contains 216 pages worth of the genre’s most nefarious stars.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008 2:38 PM
Playing good funk guitar is an art. But it's also alot of fun, and makes you a better overall player. So if you're ready to move on from simple bar chords and pentatonic scales and add a little chicken scratchin' to your repertoire, then today is your lucky day!
Leo Nocentelli, guitarist and composer for New Orleans funk masters the Meters, is one of the the funkiest, fastest fingered guitar players in the business. He's considered one of best rhythm players of all time, and the list of musicians he's recorded with is a virtual who's who of legends: Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, the Supremes, the Temptations, Sir Paul McCartney, Dr. John, Peter Gabriel, George Duke, Jack Bruce, Robbie Robertson, Mavis Staple, and Etta James, among countless others.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008 12:31 PM
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