Blog Archives

A quick visit to the Guitar Noise Forum will let anyone know that many of our members are big fans of the “Blues You Can Use” series of tutorial books. Mark Morrow found (and purchased) the “Blues You Can Use Book of Guitar Chords” on a recent visit to his local guitar store and shares his findings and thoughts with you all.

Starpics are plectrums or guitar picks handcrafted in Australia from semi-precious and precious stones. Guitar Noise stalwart Vic Lewis gives us this thoughtful look at these stone beauties.

Natasha Borzilova, formerly of Grammy-nominated Bering Strait, originally from Russia and now living in Nashville. This is her first solo outing.

Andre Marins began studying classical guitar at eleven, and went on to study Jazz improvisation. This album is a fusion.

Have you ever wanted to just be able to land anywhere on the fretboard and play? The Rosetta Stone of Guitar is an instructional DVD/book that teaches a really easy set of patterns. It isn’t about learning to solo, it’s about learning to see.

The Guitar Lesson Companion is a hybrid of lesson companion, instruction manual and method book. On the surface, it seems to be a throwback to the Method books of old. But to dismiss this gem of a book as that beginning guitarist’s nightmare would be foolish.

As founder and lead singer of The Rosenbergs, David Fagin led a crusade for artists’ rights against unfair recording contracts, yet his solo CD is virtually free of politics.

Guitar Nose contributor Mike Roberto caught Kathy Reichert (a Sunday Songwriters Group mainstay) playing last month at a Saturday night performance at Borders Bookstore in Highland Park, Illinois. Read all about it!

Another outstanding tutorial DVD from the author of PlaneTalk! This DVD guides you through the ins and outs of playing slide guitar in standard tuning, as well as Drop D. Plus it uses a fantastic three-way split screen method that displays slide placement, the left hand and the right hand all at the same time.

A mysterious, seemingly mystic teacher arrives to assist a struggling bass player make sense of both music and life in Victor Wooten’s (bassist for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones) book. Both entertaining and enlightening.

If you’re someone who feels you learn better with visual aids, there’s a lot here to help. You get good views of both the left and right hands play cool features like interactive chord charts (not to mention a two hundred and fifty chord dictionary) and animated fretboards.

Live @ The Fat Cat, the latest CD from the impossibly talented trio of Sheryl Bailey (guitar), Gary Versace (Hammond B3 organ) and Ian Froman (drums), was recorded last November in one of New York City’s top jazz clubs and displays the Sheryl Bailey 3 at its finest.

A virtual workshop on great guitar playing across many styles and genres, Eric Mantel’s The Unstruck Melody is sure to strike a chord with some part of your musical psyche.

DC Slater is a former student of Berklee College of Music and participates in the SoundAid project to fight hunger. His latest mixes Grunge with a bit of Satch and Eddie Van Halen.

Guitar Noise Forum member Mitch (Slejhamer) Schlesinger gives us his review of David’s first tutorial book. I was glad to see that this book has a different presentation style than the typical bass method book. It is much more discussion oriented, which gives it a unique teaching value that I found very helpful for self-study.

There is a first time for everything. In 2003 Tommy Chong, one half of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong, was sent to jail because his son’s company Chong Glass shipped glass water-pipes, also known as bongs, across state lines. To publicly tout the success of their Operation Pipe Dreams sting, government prosecutors sought to [...]

A re-issue of the classic 1979 album from Robert Fripp, as diverse a work as you might ever hope to find. With outstanding contributions from Daryl Hall, Terre Roche, Peter Gabriel, Tony Levin and many, many more.

Another wonderful compilation from Magna Carta’s Prime Cuts series – this CD spotlights the talent of keyboardist Jordan Rudess, known to many for his groundbreaking work with Dream Theater.

Imagine the late, great Warren Zevon having a good (meanly slightly less than morbid) day. Todd Mack’s songwriting is guaranteed to make you smile, with his good humor, wry observations and catchy hooks. You can always tell when musicians are having fun playing and recording!

Joe Bonamassa has been playing since he was four years old. It sounds it. He’s got excellent chops and a great feel for the blues. His latest CD, You & Me, infuses his evident love of the blues with more of a southern, swampy sound.