A Bad Monkey Breaks The Internet
Plus, some awesome animated pedal demos
Some Quick Tidying Up
Welcome to the latest issue of Six String Sunday Club! Wanted to do a little bit of housecleaning at the top here. This past year I’ve messed around with having paid subscriptions here on the newsletter. It’s been a fun year, with different experiments for paid subs featuring monthly bonus posts in both written and audio form.
But I want to do even more for those of you who support this what I do, so I’m going to shake things up and move my bonus content over to Patreon. I’m still getting everything sorted out, but expect to see a post about it at some point in the future.
One thing is for sure though, this newsletter is never going anywhere! I’ve poured years and years into writing and publishing it every Sunday. And whether you’ve been subbed for a week or years, I appreciate you reading. Oh, and if you want to support me in the meantime, you can always pick something up from the Chasing Sound merch store, or simply buy me a coffee ☕ (I appreciate ya!)
One final sneak peek for all subscribers - I have something fun coming up in May, which I’m going to announce here and over on the website in the next couple of weeks. If you’ve never written a song before, or if you haven’t written anything in a while, this will be a lot of fun. Stay tuned! Alright, let’s get on to this week’s links.
This Week’s Guitar Links
- How to Build a Martin Guitar | Factory Tour - Premier Guitar heads to Nazareth, Pennsylvania to take a very cool tour of the Martin Guitar factory. I love how they go from sawmill to completed instrument. Have you ever taken the factory tour at Martin - if so, what was your favorite part?
- Chordplay - The Chords Of Primus - Primus has long been one of the funkiest and weirdest bands out there, which is why I was so suprised and delighted to see them show up on the most recent episode of Chordplay from Late Night Lessons. If you're looking to grab some strange and out of the box chords, filled with dissonance, check out this video which explores Larry LaLonde's playing style. Also, if you're looking for even more outside style playing, check out this great lesson from GP who breaks down the playing of guys like Zappa, Fripp and more.
- You've NEVER Heard Somebody Control Guitar Harmonics Like THIS GUY! - Another player in the same vein as LaLonde has to be Mattias "IA" Eklundh. If you haven't ever heard his playing, you need to check out his Freak Guitar albums and his work with Freak Kitchen. Eklundh has long been one of my favorite oddball players. He's known more recently for his wild use of odd time signatures, but initially was known for his insane knowledge of harmonics all over the neck. Check out this short, tabbed out lesson from Levi Clay.
- Bad Monkey vs KLON, JHS Morning Glory, Zendrive, Fulldrive, and ODR-1 - Josh from JHS Pedals broke the internet again this week as he compared a Klon to the DigiTech Bad Monkey - for what it's worth, they sound very close! The next day, you saw Bad Monkey pedals for hundreds of dollars above what they typically cost. Josh even made shirts to mark the occasion.
- From Yngwie To Tosin: The ULTIMATE History Of SWEEPING! - Justin Hombach takes us through the history of sweep picking - everything from its humble origins, to masters like Frank Gambale, Petrucci, Alex Hutchings, and more. Later in the week, Mr. Fastfinger actually taught a short sweep picking lesson in the style of Gambale. You can check that out here.
- Learn the licks of 12 Stratocaster blues legends - Countless people have used a Strat over the years - everyone from Clapton and John Mayer, to SRV and Buddy Guy. Guitar Techniques put together 12 Strat-esque licks based on some of these iconic players.
- Joe Perry reveals he used Fender Strats to record most of Aerosmith’s ’70s material - You learn something new all the time. I've been a fan of Aerosmith since I was in my teens, and still didn't know that Joe Perry used Strats on a lot of that early Aerosmith material. In this interview clip from Total Guitar, he explains why.
- Chibson USA now sells Cease/Desist toggle switch washers for your off-brand Les Paul - I love that Chibson started out as a joke, and is still around doing their thing. Their latest gimmick is offering cease and desist pickup selector rings for your knock off Les Paul. Gotta love it.
- Steve Vai’s Practice Rig for Sale on Reverb - Vai recently visited his childhood home, and found a bunch of his early practice gear. Everything from a Jem to a Carvin amp, some effects pedals and more. Items are listed separately on Reverb, and will fetch a hefty price.
- Pedal Playhouse talks about her joyous animated pedal demos - Guitar.com spotlights Pedal Playhouse and their amazing, animated pedal demos. I had never seen any of these before, but after watching a few, I subscribed right away. A bunch of work must go into these videos!
Hey did you know, not only do I talk guitar each week, but I also teach it!
Try out a half an hour to see how much you can learn when you know the right things to practice. Whether you want to learn guitar, recording, mixing or more, I can help you out!
Monkey see, monkey do!