The last music from Eddie Van Halen
Plus, a Beatles’ console is going up for auction!
This week’s issue has it all - we have the last music that Eddie and Alex Van Halen worked on before Eddie’s passing, there’s a fantastic Erasure cover from Jon Gomm, and Dylan Adams has us covered with some seriously sweet slide advice. What are you getting into this weekend on guitar? Let me know by replying to this email! Let’s get into this week’s links.
This week’s guitar links!
Chord Theory That Changed My Life - If you want to spend some time this weekend on a lesson that might be eye-opening for you, you should check out this lesson from Andrew Clarke. You know I’m all about learning things once that might be able to be moved/applied elsewhere. That’s exactly what this video is all about - covering all sorts of easy to understand chord theory. I also liked Guthrie Trapp’s video on how to connect chord shapes with the pentatonic boxes.
How you really improve on guitar - If you want even more good advice, give this video from samuraiguitarist a watch. He goes over some helpful tips like being focused with your practice, having no direction (that’s where teachers come in!), not leaving enough space, and more.
Jimi Hendrix Guitar Solos Eric Johnson, Kingfish, Kenny Wayne Shepherd Ally Venable & Mathias Lattin - Premier Guitar captured some footage of Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Kingifsh and others taking awesome solos at a Experience Hendrix event. I love how different each player approaches each solo. And they might have gotten a little boost of magic, because they were at the Ryman in Nashville. Semi-related, PG also did a fun, fuzz rundown of 6 different “flavors” of fuzz. You can check that out here.
The Best Stratocaster Guitar Tone From Each Decade - If you’re in a Strat mood from the video above, then Tyler from Music Is Win has you covered. He just put out a video that showcases the best Strat tones from each decade, with multiple examples for each one. It still surprises me to this day how many unique tones you can get from each version of the guitar, and especially when you’re hearing it in different hands.
This Tosin Abasi clinic is INSANE... - How about something totally different from the above? Dean Lamb, who’s an impressive guitarist in his own right, is stunned by how insane Tosin Abasi’s slap guitar technique is. If you want to challenge yourself by learning a new technique, you should give this a try.
Tom Bukovac's Priceless Advice for Aspiring Session Guitarists - I always love watching informative guitar videos, but sometimes I like videos that break down the info even more. That’s exactly what John Cordy is doing with Tom Bukovac’s latest video, talking about being a great session player. Even if you’re not looking to jump into the world of studio work, these tips are good for any guitarist looking to record themselves.
Stuff Ghost Does - Right in time for Halloween, Ben Eller is here breaking down “Stuff Ghost Does”. Whether it be them getting into ghoulishly low tunings or how their tone has evolved *so much*, this is a fun vid. I really dug getting a chance to hear the Friedman Jake E. Lee sig model head. It sounds so damn good! What’s your favorite Ghost song?
1983 Jackson "Heaven" Kelly Guitar - The FIRST Jackson Kelly! - I remember growing up, listening to Megadeth, and absolutely loving Marty Friedman’s playing. One of his top guitar models was the Jackson Kelly. In this vid, the Music Zoo shows off the original Kelly guitar. They also provide a little history behind the guitar, including who originally ordered it - Bradford Kelly of the Aussie metal band Heaven.
Jon Gomm - A Little Respect (Erasure cover) - I’m a huge 80’s music nerd, so I loved watching Jon Gomm cover Erasure’s “A Little Respect”. The excellent tapping, and all the ethereal pad sounds make this a really well produced cover. If you dig his playing, check out his song “Passionflower”, which is actually how I first found Jon. It’s passed 20 million views at this point!
Eddie Van Halen & Alex Van Halen - Unfinished / Between Us Two Instrumental Full Version - Alex Van Halen’s new book ‘Brothers’ was just released this week, and alongside it we have the full version of the song “Unifinished / Between Us Two”. This is the last song that the two VH brothers worked on before Eddie passed. The song is a very cool sketch, with all the cool EVH-isms we’re used to. So glad this didn’t get locked away in some vault, and that we get to hear it.
30 Days Guitar Speed Burst Program - If you’ve been reading the newsletter or blog for a while, you know I love monthly challenges like this. So much can change in 30 days if you’re consistent every day. Ozz Guitar is doing a month long program, where he’ll be putting up an exercise every day to improve your guitar speed. This looks like a perfect series to kick off each day’s practice session.
How to Get the BEST Slide Guitar Tone - Dylan Adams is a great slide guitarist, whose videos I’m just starting to get into. In his latest video, he gives us five tips on getting a good slide tone. I really enjoyed this video, and I’m going to try and change up my own playing when it comes to slide. Have you messed with slide guitarist yet? Let me know!
We Recorded on the Restored Beatles' Abbey Road EMI Console - I can’t even believe a piece of gear this legendary will be going up for sale. The Beatles’ Abbey Road EMI console, which has been fully restored, will be up for sale on Reverb at some point. What a massive get for Reverb - I can’t wait to see how much this console goes for. I hope someone doesn’t tuck this away after buying it, and that it gets a lot of use. Reverb put up a video where they ran some tracks through it. Anyone want to go in on buying this?
Giant Steps: The ULTIMATE Arpeggio Masterclass - Maybe I’m still in a jazzy mood from last week’s Scofield show, but I liked watching this video from Ben Eunson. He’s such a monster jazz guitarist, and in this video, shows us how to use arpeggios to solo over the “Giant Steps” changes.