Guitar Noise

With FODFest starting up in ten days, I thought this would be a great time to check in on Todd Mack, a Berkshire based recording artist and producer, and find out what’s going on with this year’s festival honoring the life of Daniel Pearl. Plus we get to hear about some of the other music Todd’s working on.

When people learn an instrument, it’s easy to get caught up in copying the riffs and styles of one’s idols. Fortunately, Al Caldwell took some advice from Anthony Jackson to heart and learned to be himself, finding his own voice as both bass player and musician.

Helena caught up with Living Colour’s bass player, Doug Wimbish, last fall in Chicago. Here, he shares his thoughts about the bassist’s role in a band and how to approach playing with different drummers and other musicians.

Guitar Noise welcomes writer / bassist Helena Bouchez to our pages with the first of a series of discussions with prominent bass players. Here, renowned bassist Victor Bailey (Weather Report) muses on how to go about making good music.

Women play guitar and play it well. If you’re not familiar with any great women guitar players, Guitar Goddesses, if you will, then let David Wagle get you acquainted with four exceptionally talented ones right now!

Alan Garcia-Torre is a manufacturer of affordable classical concert guitars in France. With 40 years experience playing the instrument, Alan knows what he’s talking about when he talks about guitars. A Guitar Noise first – this interview is in both French and English!

Dave Sanderson sat down with Guitar Noise staffer Alan Green to discuss his new CD, Songbook, as well as all sorts of aspects of songwriting.

After listening to Disguise the Limit’s new album, Redemption, A-J felt that he just had to get in touch with the guys in the band. Guitarist Mark Summers agreed to share his thoughts on the group’s latest album and on his own career as well.

Sheryl just got back from Europe this past week and was kind enough to answer a few questions for us at Guitar Noise. I think that you’ll find her insights into jazz and songwriting to be both helpful and enlightening.

Read A-J Charron’s fascinating interview with this guitarist whose work spans four decades. Martin offers some fine advice concerning the nature of playing for a living and the attitudes that make it a lot easier on one’s well-being. A definite must-read!

Chris Juergensen’s latest piece for Guitar Noise is a Q & A with the legendary Adrian Legg. Get some great examples of Adrian’s techniques (banjo rolls, open string incorporation and pedal steel licks) to practice on your own.

One incredible songwriter/performer/guitarist meant getting two interviewers in for the job! Janis Ian kindly answers our questions on everything from getting into the business to internet music sharing. She even passes on a great tip that Chet Atkins gave her…

Thanks to the wonder of the Internet, A-J didn’t have to go to Sweden to interview the front man of The Flower Kings, although I’m sure he would have preferred to do so! Here is his interview with Roine Stolt, which covers everything from the band’s early history to his custom Parker Fly guitars.

Mato Nanji, the incredible guitarist from the band Indigenous, chats with Guitar Noise contributor Bill Cozzo about recording the band’s latest CD, his guitars and amps, playing live, and aspects of the band’s career from early beginnings to playing with legends.

We’ve got a two-for-one deal this week, courtesy of Nick Torres. After seeing Joanne Juskus in the Washington DC area, he managed to not only review her latest CD, but also enticed this incredible songwriter to do an interview for Guitar Noise.

Recently Nick Torres arranged a tour of the Huss & Dalton guitar factory. Read this fascinating exchange and learn more about how guitars are made.

Karl Groom is well-known as the guitarist for the great Progressive-Metal band Threshold, but he’s also a great producer and an all-around great guy.

We caught up with Rebekah Fischman and Victoria Lavington, the singer/songwriter duo that makes up the band Molly Pitcher.

We spoke to the guys from Symphony X before kicking off their North American tour and found them to be extremely friendly and certainly out for a good time.

Planet X is made up of Virgil Donati on drums, Derek Sherinian (Dream Theatre) on keyboards and Tony MacAlpine on Guitars.