During my week long course on jazz-guitar improvisation, I meet with the students for four hours each afternoon on the University’s newly built campus extension which houses the music department. The students came from a wide variety of backgrounds, and were at various levels in their musical development, but one thing that they all shared was an eagerness to learn and an enjoyment of all things guitar.
Day 22 of GI’s series on building better guitar technique volume 1.
Remarkable virtuosity intertwines with a firestorm of ferocity in this astounding self titled debut album from four rock titans, blues guitar virtuoso and wizard Joe Bonamassa, the iconic Glenn Hughes who lended his searing vocals and thundering bass to the likes of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, Jason Bonham, Led Zeppelin’s drumming heir apparent to his legendary father John, and Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian.
For today’s hard rock fans, the release of Black Country Communion has been a greatly anticipated supergroup event. And now that the self-titled CD is about to drop (Sept. 21), they’ll finally get to hear the assortment of solid recordings from this melting pot of influences.
A seemingly insignificant event happened last weekend: two touring bands from the Bay Area played in the basement of the Double Door in Chicago to a measly crowd of about twenty people. To anyone not in the “Dirtroom,” this paltry concert might as well have not happened at all, and this truth is incredibly unfortunate.
During the second half of the 20th century, the guitar has overtaken the piano as the instrument of choice for households and individuals across America. Gone are the days when the family gathered around the piano after dinner to sing their favorite songs. Now, if there’s an instrument in the house, or if you ask anyone if they play an instrument, odds are that it’ll be a guitar. With the guitar’s popularity skyrocketing, it is no coincidence that an entire industry has grown out of teaching people how to play the instrument.
On a cool, rainy fall evening in downtown Chicago, the kind of day that painfully reminds the city’s residents that the long, cold winter is fast approaching, the Paulinho Garcia Quartet featuring Art Davis took the stage at the Auditorium Theater and warmed the crowd with two breathtaking sets of Brazilian standards and arrangements of American jazz classics.
Guitarist and composer Fabrizio Sotti released his much anticipated jazz album Inner Dance earlier this year after taking a hiatus from the jazz world. For the past few years Sotti was making a name for himself in the hip hop and rock world, and was keeping himself busy working with well known artists like Dead Prez, Q-Tip, Tupac Shakur, Jennifer Lopez, and Whitney Houston.
In all the years I studied evolutionary biology in school, there was one word I can hardly believe I didn’t learn.
In inside look at 10 of the best Glam Metal albums that any rock guitarist should have in their library.
