Holy Gibson, Batman: Gibson guitar plant raided

“…The [FBI] agents did not say what they were searching for or if anything was removed from the plant. But some hardwoods used in making premium guitars, like rosewood from the rain forests of Madagascar and Brazil, have recently been banned under a federal law called the Lacey Act because of environmental concerns…” Here.

“Song decoders”

Though not specifically related to guitar this is an interesting article on music analysis, as in what makes a song tick? “…On first listen, some things grab you for their off-kilter novelty. Like the story of a company that has hired a bunch of “musicologists,” who sit at computers and listen to songs, one at [...]

The grand old Lute

Luteplayer’s channel

A guitar case, a motorcyle, and a basketball player

Cavaliers’ star player Delonte West arrested for carrying guitar case–of course, it was full of weapons. Article here.

Strange guitars again (I think they’re breeding)…

Hey here’s a slew of strange guitars I got from one of the commenters here.

Hope for the Iraqi Oud

“Dhia Jabbar hides his oud in a sack when he walks down the street in his Baghdad neighborhood. He used to teach students in the back room of a photo shop, where the sound could not be heard. But last week, militia gunmen invaded the store, destroying one of his instruments and ordering him to [...]

Dissed guitarist?

“The unsung hero behind Madonna and Michael Jackson died yesterday morning, and the grieving family of David Williams is furious over the disrespect shown to him by the music community and by what they say was neglect by the hospital where he spent his last days. Williams, who was 58, was the guitarist for the [...]

Playing the charango

The charango is a small, rounded back guitar like instrument popular in the music of Peruvian Andes region. Kate Hathaway explains it all in the video below. Ms Hathaway forms half of a brother sister duo (the other half being James). You can learn more about this enterprising duo at their website and blog. They [...]

Stradivarius

We’ve always heard that the Stradivarius had the finest sound of any wood instrument. Perhaps it does, but why? Is it the age of the wood? The wood itself? The construction procedure? Well it turns out, at least to scientists who have studied this phenomenon for years, the superior tone is  actually due to a [...]

Double your sleepwalkin’

My big fat guitar wedding

Here comes the bride…Skip that depressing organ music–Go with guitar theme. Remember, weddings performed with guitar music are seventy-three percent less likely to end up in divorce (official statistics from the Guitar Marriage Institute). Get your wedding book of guitar music here.

Most strings?

I far as I can tell this is the world’s most strung “guitar,” the Pikasso. It has 42 supposedly playable strings. I have no real idea about what technique you’d use on this thing, but I will admit it’s aptly named.

Classical guitar music in tab form

Do you play classical guitar but don’t read music? If so you might want to check this site, Classical Guitar Tabs. You’ll find finger placements tabs for Bach, Tarrega, Sor, Albeniz and a lot of others. It also features videos of  virtuoso guitarists playing some of these pieces.

More on bass guitars

“The Ritter Royal Flora Aurum… has a body carved from a rare, solid piece of maple while the nut is carved from 10,000-year-old mammoth ivory. The fingerboard is decorated with a floral inlay pattern made of 24-karat gold. There’s even a black diamond set in platinum decorating each leaf. Even the bridge, tuner buttons and [...]

Hitting rock bottom

This may be rock bottom but for what he’s working with it’s not half bad. Here’s his website. By the way this video, as seen on Youtube, has had well over 928, 000 views so far. Amazing.

Update: Would you believe this guy’s video is now up to almost 1, 438,000 views?

Amazing what you can do with a bass guitar with only four strings

Amazing what you can do on a four-string bass with only one arm:

The vegetable orchestra

I didn’t see any vegetable guitars but here it is anyway, instruments of the vegetable orchestra. There’s also some other musical instruments here too, including manualists (human hands) and a sea organ. Yes, and you might expect in such a list there’s also a description of a helicopter string quartet. This is the home page [...]

“Secret life of the banjo”

“Centuries ago, somewhere in West Africa, the banjo was born on the knees of griots—storytellers who improvised their lyrics as they performed. Almost like forerunners to today’s hip-hop artists, griots interacted with their audiences using call-and-response patterns to liven up the crowd. Their instruments—strings and animal skins tacked across hollowed-out gourds—are considered the first banjos.” [...]

Finally, Guitar Hero for Christians

Only this one’s called Guitar Praise… Solid Rock. Here’s a link to it on boing boing. And here’s the order page. I wonder if the Pope has one of these?

The pink ukulele

“…Last summer she was living in Hell’s Kitchen, working as a finance manager for a nonprofit arts company and having little success with her forays into stand-up comedy. Then her boyfriend bought himself a natural wood ukulele. She started strumming it, and found it easy to play with little training.” Continue reading article, “Those Four [...]

Cream with that guitar?

Looks like guitarist Eric Clapton will reunite with old Cream band members–but it’s just for a tribute to drummer Ginger Baker.  Read more.

Guitar Hero in your hand

Believe it or not Guitar Hero comes to handheld Nintendo DS.
The verdict? “So, while the peripheral is in many ways a minor masterpiece of innovation and the programmers could not have done a better job of converting the full-sized game, it is impossible to think of anyone (except, possibly, players possessed of freakishly small hands) [...]

String life

Guitar strings are a pain to change, especially when you have to change the whole set. And guitar strings should be changed, say,  every twenty-thirty hours or so of play (in my humble experience). Oil and sweat from your figners tend to dampen the strings’ response. This “response decay” is especially obvious on the kind [...]

World’s fastest guitarist?

Check the video.

An early bass guitar

Here’s an early bass guiar (from the National Music Museum):

“The hollow-bodied instrument has no sound holes, only an early blade pickup with hexagonal housing, often called the “Charlie Christian” pickup after the jazz artist who was an early adopter of Gibson’s ES-150 electric arch-top guitar. Although the instrument appears surprisingly modern for its age, it [...]

Can’t women be musical geniuses too?

Of course. Of course. Read more.

Music and math

I haven’t had time to read the whole article yet but it looks interesting.

Secrets of a “guitar hero”

Eddie van Halen: How did you start playing guitar? What were the first songs you learned to play? Etc, etc… Sorry I’m not a big Van Halen fan but the Rolling Sone intrview is still interesting.

A different perspective of a Master Class

This shows Aaron Shearer attending as an auditor a master class conducted by Manuel Barrueco.

High drama of a Master Class

It is high drama, and nerve wracking. I attended a master class a few years ago  (though not as a player). I don’t have a video of it but I got these two old ones off of Youtube, from I think 1965 and 1986 respectively. They both were taught by Andres Segovia.
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