Holiday Stocking Stuffers for Guitarists

By: Staff

The Holiday Season is upon us and closing in fast and many of us will be looking for gift ideas for our favorite guitarists. So, we decided to drum up a short list of some of our favorite CDs, books, DVDs and gear that should bring smiles to the faces of our loved ones as they unwrap their gifts.

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Book: Star Guitars: 101 Guitars That Rocked The World – The first thing that grabs you about Star Guitars: 101 Guitars That Rocked the World,is the book’s front cover cut out that frames the psychedelic Cream days axe of Eric Clapton, known as The Fool.  Open the hardbound book and a colorful montage of album covers and posters featuring famous guitarists and their guitars that gets the adrenaline pumping. Fortunately, Star Guitars delivers a page turner that’s impossible to put down.

This is a great book and a hoot to read with illustrations and photographs throughout to whet any guitarist’s appetite.  Once I had my paws on Star Guitars, I was hooked and didn’t put it down from the time I read the first entry for Chet Atkins, until I finished up the piece about Neil Young and Old Black. Star Guitars: 101 Guitars That Rocked The World would make a great gift for any guitar enthusiast during the holidays.

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DVD: Jimi Hendrix: Live at Monterey – Experience Hendrix has released a thoroughly captivating DVD, Jimi Hendrix: Live at Monterey that takes us back to 1967 during the Summer of Love when nearly 200,000 concert goers converged on the California seaside hamlet of Monterey. The three-day rock concert was the first of its kind and was headlined by such ‘60s music giants as the Mamas and the Papas, the Who, Simon and Garfunkel, Otis Redding, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Grateful Dead and a trio that cracked the musical landscape wide open, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Jimi Hendrix: Live at MontereyDVD is visually and aurally stunning.

The film captures a moment in time when the tectonic plates of the music world lunged forward with Hendrix redefining the very meaning of the word “guitar” by making his axe whine, scream, ache, moan, groan and ultimately burn. Few moments in rock history have redirected the course of rock history. Hendrix at Monterey falls within the realm of rock upheavals like Elvis, the Beatles invasion of America and Dylan going electric. Live at Monterey invites us all back to amplify and memorialize the centerpiece of the Summer of Love, Jimi Hendrix.

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Book: The Stratocaster Chronicles – For Fender Stratocaster aficionados, The Stratocaster Chronicls is a must have book. Extremely well written and beautifully presented, it is a true chronicle of the instrument’s first 50 years thanks to the wealth of first-hand information Tom Wheeler provides through an extensive use of quotes from those who directly participated in its history. Fifty years from now my children will have celebrated the Strat’s 100th birthday in 2054. In addition to being a company that has proven its ability to act and react with changing times, Fender has adopted Leo’s point of view – the Stratocaster always was and always will be a work in progress.

Chronicles also comes with a 73-track audio CD that lets you hear the story. On tracks 1-8, Leo Fender speaks about elements of his creation such as the origin of the Strat’s headstock design and the benefit of having all six tuners on one side. Track 9 is George Fullerton explaining how he developed the Strat’s first Custom Color, Fiesta Red. The balance of the CD is called, Fifty Sounds of the Strat.

It’s an incredible aural tour of what the Strat has sounded like in the hands of legendary players that range in style from Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix, plus 9 tracks of unique “sounds” that serve as examples of the Stratocaster’s limitless possibilities. As you read through the book you’ll notice small icons that refer you to a particular track on the CD. The referenced track will allow you to hear the sound of the Strat.

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Book: Rock Gods: Forty Years of Rock Photography – Prolific rock photographer Robert M. Knight shares his love of rock music and passion for performance photography in his new coffee table book, Rock Gods: Forty Years of Rock Photography. Knight captures seminal moments in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, while at the same time highlighting some of his memories of rock legends that he befriended from the ‘60s British Invasion to today.

Rock Gods: Forty Years of Rock Photography delights whether in the photographs that document the early antics of a wild Elton John, the early Zep years, Ray Charles commanding the 88s or in the book’s final photograph of his pal and now rock elder, Jeff Beck. It’s rock history as seen up close and personal over the course of four decades by one of the finest photographers of our time…and it’s beautiful.

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The Beatles: The Love Album – Sir George Martin and his son Giles Martin produced The Beatles Love album by mashing together 26 classic tunes of The Beatles into a riveting melodic menagerie that discerning Beatles fans will recognize and sing along with, but might also be a bit disarmed when the tracks lose their original moorings, with other Beatles tunes intertwined throughout.

A more spartan demo “Strawberry Fields Forever” builds and takes on serpentine twists when fused with “Hello Goodbye,” “Baby, You’re a Rich Man,” “In My Life,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Penny Lane”, and “Piggies”….and it reflects the magic of The Beatles in a stunning way. The Beatles Love album, like all other Beatles records in my opinion, reflects pop music at the top of its game.

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Book: The Recording Guitarist – “Recording guitar and playing guitar live are as different as night and day,” states author Jon Chappell in the introduction to the new fully revised and updated edition of The Recording Guitarist. It is a fact anyone who has every tried to lay down tracks will attest to—when it comes to getting the right sound down on tape (or hard drive as is increasingly the case) there is a whole different ethos than on stage or in the rehearsal studio. So arm yourself with the essentials before you hit the record button at your next session.

Revised and updated with a heavy focus on the modern digital-recording techniques and processes now so prevalent everywhere from desktop home setups to top recording studios, author Jon Chappell provides an invaluable reference guide that should always be in arms reach of any six-string slinger or studio engineer! Chappell’s decades of experience as musician, arranger, and journalist make The Recording Guitarist the most comprehensive course available on guitar recording and perfect for both home, studio, and classroom use.