Aaron Lewis Interview: Staind, Going Solo and Gibson Guitars
The Staind guitarist talks about his Gibson Signature model guitar, going solo and upcoming projects with the band he helped make world famous.
The Staind guitarist talks about his Gibson Signature model guitar, going solo and upcoming projects with the band he helped make world famous.
When I first picked up Hemme Luttjeboer’s new book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar Exercises, I have to say that the title made me a bit skeptical of the contents waiting within. As is often the case, maybe far too often in my circumstances, I hastily judged a book by its cover, and was therefore pleasantly surprised when I opened this six-string tome to find a treasure trove of exercises for guitarists of all levels, backgrounds and musical tastes.
We guitarists tend to fall into two camps: those of us, typically classical and folk players, who revere the history of the instrument and value heritage and legacy over innovation; and those of us, typically rock and jazz players, who applaud the pioneers and mad scientists whose breakthroughs changed the way we think about the instrument.
Though the Blues was born and raised in the U.S., the genre has grown and spread out to be a truly global phenomenon. While the first generations of blues musicians cut their teeth in Chicago, Austin and the Mississippi Delta, since migrating across the pond back in the ‘50s,
Guitarists love gear, well that’s an understatement to say the least. Guitarists flock to new gear like moths to a flame, it’s in our blood, if we were born to play guitar we were born to love everything that makes that guitar sound louder, fuzzier, give it more tone and manipulate its signal in any myriad of ways.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and make a statement that might just come back to haunt me, but I think that Smooth Jazz often doesn’t get the credit it deserves as being as legit as its traditional and more “hip” cousin.
Daniel Johns, lead vocalist and guitarist for Australia’s most popular rock-grunge group, Silverchair, met Ben Gillies (drums) and Chris Joannou (bass) before they were in their teens. By the time they reached 15, the trio made its mark “Down Under” as a major rock group. Today, Silverchair’s reputation is global.
As 2010 comes to a close, we here at Guitar International are taking a look back at the year that was, of all the great albums that came out this year, all the killer concerts that took place and the amazing guitarists who made this year a great year for the guitar.
The brainchild of guitarist Benjamin Woods, Bay area band Flametal melds elements from both the Flamenco and Metal genres, hence the name.
Nearly all of today’s blues-rock guitarists are Hendrix influenced to some degree. Few, however, are capable of developing a distinctive, ethereal, almost ‘otherworldly’ tone combined with the tasteful phrasing that characterizes Robin Trower’s body of work.
