Why do we play?
Plus, some shake up at Gibson
The Song Challenge rolls on
How’s it going this week for you? I hope you’re in a creative mood, because we’re already one week through May’s songwriting challenge. This Monday I’ll have week two’s post about getting more ideas down before it’s time to record. I’ve come up with a rhythm and recorded a couple of scratch tracks. I’m excited to be creating more music again. It’s been a blast.
I have a lot of fun guitar links this week. Let’s get into them!
This Week’s Guitar Links
- I've made some mistakes... - I liked this video from Tyler at Music Is Win. He talks about "right" and "wrong" pedal order, tone and more. There's some really good advice in this one. Tradition is a great starting point, but don't be afraid to shake things up a bit.
- The Secret To Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pentatonics (two extra notes...) - I love a good troll intro, and “SRV was pretty good at playing blues guitar” has to be up there as one of the best. If you want to make your leads sound more Stevie-esque, you should try adding in the 9 and b9 to your pentatonic scales. Ross Campbell breaks down how to use these notes in micro phrases.
Nuno News
- Nuno Bettencourt (EXTREME) on Herman Li's Shred Talk - Turns out that Herman Li has a video podcast on Dragonforce's YouTube channel! Who knew? Thanks Jeremy M. for sharing this with me. Herman's latest guest is Nuno Bettencourt - the two have an awesome guitar geek filled conversation, and even break out some guitars towards the end.
- Nuno Bettencourt on Why He Doesn't Use Pedals | Wong Notes Podcast - Nuno was also on Cory Wong's “Wong Notes" podcast recently. Here's a clip of Nuno talking about why he doesn't typically use effects pedals (with a good EVH story too). I love this podcast, and typically listen to every episode - Cory always asks great questions that a guitarist would ask.
- Watch Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt play the Rise solo live for the first time - One more bit of Nuno Bettencourt awesomeness, check out Nuno play the solo for “Rise" for the first time live. I was waiting to see that last part of the solo, and he absolutely nailed it!
- Cesar Gueikian appointed President, Interim CEO of Gibson - Big news in the guitar world this week, as Cesar Gueikian, who seems to be everywhere cool Gibson things are happening, was appointed president and interim CEO of the company. With this, former CEO and director James Curleigh will leave the company entirely. Excited to see where Cesar takes the company next.
- Polyphia Answers A Lot of Questions: On Recording Process, Technique, and Keeping Steve Vai Happy - Polyphia have been on a roll over the past few years. Recently, Reverb invited them on to ask them a bunch of questions. The guys talk about recording, having Steve Vai as a guest on their latest album, how they make their unique style of metal, and a lot more.
- Why Do We Play? The Joy of Learning, Practicing and Performing - Tim Lerch is a fantastic jazz guitarist. I love the recent book he did with Guitar Vivo on interesting jazz chords. He just sat down with five watt world to discuss one of the most important questions - “why do we play?”
- The FUNDAMENTALS of Legato - A Pathway to BETTER Legato Technique - John Cordy made a great fundamentals of legato video. He breaks down where you should place your thumb, how to use modes to learn legato, hammer ons, pull offs, and a lot more. Super helpful if you've never added this technique to your playing.
- The MAGIC of Double Stops feat. @danieldonato - Want another great technique video? One of my favorite trippy country players is Daniel Donato. His Cosmic Country stuff is fantastic. Marty Schwartz had him on the channel just recently to talk about why double stops are so magical. I remember accidentally playing double stops as a kid, and that was the only thing I wanted to play for weeks! Later in the week, Marty also broke down why Hendrix’s "Little Wing" is so great - you can check that out here.
- The Van Halen Lick Cheat Code Is So Simple! - One more technique-style video for good measure! Ever hear about sequences? It's a "cheat code" that you can use to make patterns sound incredibly fast. Robert Baker breaks down some cool sequences in the style of Van Halen.
- Improve Your Groove in Three Simple Steps - We're not done practicing yet! If you want to beef up your rhythm playing, you should check this lesson out. Of course it talks about metronomes, but some key points here are being consistent with the speeds you're playing at, playing on either side of the beat and being comfortable with that, and to stop overthinking it so much.
- Cry Baby® DareDevil™ Fuzz Wah - I only talk about gear every once in a while in this newsletter, but I'm a huge fan of wah. Maybe it's my love of all things Kirk Hammett? Either way, I thought this video of the new Cry Baby DareDevil Fuzz Wah was pretty cool! I liked hearing where Johnny from DareDevil was coming from when he was designing this with Dunlop. Another one to add to the board!
- Simple 3 Step Process For Absorbing Guitar Licks - Ever have that experience where you learn a lick, only to forget it days later? Anthony over at Texas Blues Alley gives us 3 tips that'll help us remember licks and make them stick, rather than losing them to the ether.
- How to craft the PERFECT solo - Some of the guys over at Pickup Music went live earlier this week to talk about how to craft a great solo. At around a half hour, this was a nice, compact lesson with a lot of great info. The guys talk about phrasing, dynamics and more.