The 70th anniversary of the Strat
Plus, a new signature Epiphone and an awesome compressor from Wampler
It’s been one hell of a week - both good and bad. But for this newsletter, we’ll get right into the good stuff. I was able to see the mighty King’s X in my hometown this week, and they were incredible. Ty Tabor was playing a beautiful goldtop Les Paul into a Orange stack, and it sounded awesome. They also had Sound & Shape open for them, and the guitarist’s tone in that band was also really good - his setup was a Reverend into an Axe FX III.
In more good news, I got a brand new, super portable music stand from the folks at KraftGeek. They ran a Kickstarter a little while ago, and now you can pick up the stand directly from their website. Be on the lookout for a review video soon with my thoughts.
This week we’re kicking the newsletter off with some gear news - like the much anticipated Dave Grohl Epiphone signature, and a new pedal from Wampler that emulates a studio staple. Then we’ll get into lessons. Let’s get into the links!
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This week’s guitar links!
- The Epiphone Dave Grohl DG-335 Signature Demo Video & Review! It's real and it rules! - The long awaited Epiphone Dave Grohl signature model 335 is finally out, and lots of people have been releasing their demo vids. If you're looking to get that iconic Foo Fighters sound, it's worth checking this guitar out. Or even if you're in the market for a 335 in general, this seems like a great starting point. I've heard nothing but great things about the Epi 335 models over the past couple of years, and from all of these videos, the guitar sounds great for its price point.
- Wampler EGO 76 Compressor - Brian Wampler keeps coming out with cool pedals. This time he's releasing the EGO 76, which is his take on the legendary 1176 limiter. I love the idea of having a blend knob for mixing direct and compressed tone, similar to parallel compression. The pedal sounds great with both clean and distorted tones. I shared Shawn Tubbs' demo of the pedal, because his demo licks/songs are always so good! But if you want to hear Wampler's story behind the pedal, you can check that out here.
- Voodoo Child (Slight Return): Forever Ahead of Its Time | The Year of the Strat - Did you know it's the 70th anniversary of the Strat? I can't imagine a more revolutionary guitar (here come the comments). I'm sure we'll be seeing lots of Strat news out of Fender this year, inlcuding this awesome version of Hendrix's Voodoo Child, with an all star cast. And if you want to check out all the 70th edition models, you can check them out here.
- Level up your alternate picking skills. Syncopation with polymetrics. Animated Licks ep 52 - If you want to throw a fun alternate picking workout into your practice schedule, try this one from Mika Tyyska. Mika starts with two notes, and ramps up the notes and difficulty from there. If you work on this for even 10 minutes a day, I'm sure you'll see an improvement quickly.
- Connecting Pentatonics To Chord Shapes - It’s All The Same! - If you love the CAGED system and the pentatonic scale (and who doesn’t?), then you should check out Guthrie Trapp's latest video. In it, he talks all about how the notes are all laid out for you with the pentatonic boxes, if you used the CAGED shapes, and how to find them. Earlier in the week, we got a date for Trapp and Tom Bukovac's upcoming album. Watch the announcement video here. Can't wait to hear what they've come up with!
- Why Do Guitar Players Like Fixed Bridges?! - Whether it's the easy changing of tunings or the seemingly endless sustain, guitarists love fixed bridge guitars. Ben Eller shows off an awesome, Schecter Keith Merrow signature and tells us even more reasons why you might want to consider a fixed bridge for your next guitar purchase.
- Why Are There Three Minor Scales? - Why are there three versions of the minor scale? It's all about the chord change-ups depending on the progression you're playing. Chris Sherland explains everything in a crystal clear way. If you're only playing the natural minor scale, this video should help you learn the other two versions!
- 8 Tips to AVOID Muting Strings - David Pots talks about one of the most classic guitar issues of all time - muting strings, and how to avoid doing so. David goes over 8 helpful tips - from fretting with your finger tips rather than pads, to developing calluses (especially if you're just starting out).
- Now Serving: Royal Tea Live From The Ryman Watch Party - This video is currently unlisted, so let's see how long it stays up! Joe Bonamassa recently had a fun watch party where you could check out his latest live album - ‘Now Serving Royal Tea: Live from the Ryman'. If you get a chance to watch this, you gotta check it out!
- Half-Whole Diminished Blues?.... Learn These 3 COOL Example Solos! - Levi Clay has come out with another great guitar book, this time all about the diminished scale. He's been putting up a lot of great videos around the book this week, including this one, where he shows us 3 great solos that use the half-whole diminished scale inside of blues.
- "I Didn't Fall In Love With Guitar To Teach" w/ Dr. Molly Miller (video version) - I fell in love with Molly Miller's teaching when I was taking her CAGED courses on PickUpMusic. The Tone Mob had Molly on to talk about teaching, growing up in a family band, balance in her career, and so much more. If you want to sign up to PickUpMusic, you can use my affiliate code here.
- Report: Sam Ash Closing Almost Half of its US Stores, Including Historic Branches in Hollywood and Clearwater | Ultimate Guitar - Some sad news to close out this week's issue. Sam Ash is closing nearly half of its brick and mortar stores in the US. This includes stores like NYC, Clearwater, Miami, Atlanta, Orlando and more. Many, many years ago I worked for Ash's Paramus, NJ store. Over the years there, I met so many great musicians, and even more importantly, some of my best friends in the industry. If you ever need any gear, and are looking for one of the best salespeople on the planet, reach out to Mike Friedman at SamAsh.com.
Always enjoy your posts and links, Brian. I'd recommend your David Pots link for beginners to medium level players. I think muted strings and sore fingers are a contributing factor to people giving up the instrument and saying its too hard. When people are self taught, or learn from their mates, it's not uncommon to learn bad habits. I remember a friend who was learning flamenco from a master saying that in Spain a guitar teacher would often hold a lit cigar close to the wrist of his students to force them to have perfect form of their hands and use their fingers, not their wrists. You can hide bad form in a sing along situation, but it will limit your growth if you are playing fingerstyle, jazz, classical and other styles, especially when playing and shifting around complex chords.