Posted October 1, 2009 at 9:06 am | No comments
Aaron Shearer’s Classic Guitar Technique has been one of the most highly used and influential classical guitar method books for more that fifty years. Like many classical guitarists, I grew up learning from Shearer’s book and it’s the main pedagogical resource I now use in my private teaching studio. Alfred Music Publishing has recently introduced the third edition of Classic Guitar Technique, with the new edition being revised, updated, and re-edited by the maestro himself and one or his former students, Thomas Kitka.
Posted in: Classical, Instructional Book Reviews, Reviews
Posted September 30, 2009 at 1:30 pm | No comments
To begin with, for those unaware, a supergroup is a rock band consisting of members from a variety of prior successful endeavors, musicians who are renowned independently as well. Every now and then, a supergroup infiltrates the rock music world, immediately creating intense anticipation and interest.
Posted in: Reviews, Rock, Rock Reviews
Posted September 30, 2009 at 11:14 am | No comments
For the third year in a row the Paul Reed Smith has pulled out the stops for a full force gale of a guitar company trade show near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Stevensville, Maryland.
Posted in: Concert Reviews, Guitars and Gear, Reviews
Posted September 30, 2009 at 10:21 am | No comments
The Monterey Blues Festival is held each year over the last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in June. One of the things I like about the Monterey festival is that it’s more Afro-centric than many other festivals I’ve attended
Posted in: Blues, Blues Reviews, Concert Reviews, Reviews
Posted September 23, 2009 at 4:50 pm | One comment
Guitar International was invited to the premiere showing of Steve Vai’s new DVD release, Where the Wild Things Are and charity event.
Posted in: Concert Reviews, Instrumental Reviews, Rock, Rock Reviews
Posted September 22, 2009 at 7:17 pm | No comments
As classical guitarists and guitar pedagogues, we have become used to lugging around a mountain of books with us everywhere we go. There is a book for scales, a book for arpeggios, a book for right hand technique and a book for the left.
Posted in: Classical, Instructional Book Reviews, Reviews
Posted September 16, 2009 at 6:44 pm | No comments
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is special. That’s what I found out when I went to my first one in 1985. So special to me that I’ve been back every year since (okay, I missed one). It’s an immersion, an immersion in all things New Orleans and Louisiana; music, food, culture and fun.
Posted in: Blues, Blues Reviews, Concert Reviews, Reviews
Posted September 15, 2009 at 9:15 pm | One comment
As I walked out of the festival grounds the thought struck me that I’d just seen something special. I missed Muddy Waters and Stevie Ray Vaughn, the two blues musicians I would most like to have seen live, but I had now seen Kenny Wayne Shepherd in his prime. And it was a show I would remember.
I’d heard Kenny in 1996 at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium when he was 19 years old and remember thinking he was pretty good for a kid. But, this time he had matured as a guitar player and showman and I found him mesmerizing. Part of it was his appearance – in command of the stage and somewhat surly. Yet when he talked to the crowd he sounded polite and appreciative. With a white scarf wrapped around his neck he reminded me of a 1970’s guitar god. Kenny played four different Stratocasters, swapping them out every few songs. Maybe because he’s so partial to Strats, Fender named an Artist Series signature model after him!
Posted in: Blues, Concert Reviews, Reviews
Posted August 25, 2009 at 5:25 pm | No comments
Pat Martino Unstrung documents the physical and psychological struggles faced by the legendary jazz guitarist before and after undergoing brain surgery in 1980 that resulted in the removal of more than half of his left temporal lobe. The film focuses mainly on the neurological aspects of Martino’s condition, both before and after surgery, with added snippets of music and concert footage spread throughout the documentary.
Posted in: DVD Reviews, Jazz, Jazz Reviews, Reviews
Posted August 20, 2009 at 7:06 am | No comments
When I first became interested in solo jazz guitar in the early ’80s there was one name that stood out above the rest: Joe Pass. Joe had recorded more solo jazz guitar albums than anyone and with his special talent he kept the music inventive and engaging. With Norman Granz promoting him and issuing his Virtuoso series on Pablo records beginning in 1973, Pass raised the bar for all jazz guitarists that followed.
Posted in: Jazz, Jazz Reviews, Reviews
