The Guitar Players Club

I was just searching around for guitar news and came across the Rolling Stone article (by Pete Townshend 1983) 'The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.' Obviously Pete knows his guitar, and players, especially having lived in, and experiencing first-hand some of the most developmental times in the evolution of guitar playing.

However, and I say this at the risk of being hunted down and strung up, I just never got Jimi Hendrix, Townshend's greatest player of all time, to the extent that most people seem to. Before you start thinking how stupid I must be, I will say that I do/did like the guy and his playing ability, but I was never awe-struck like most seem to be.

Hendrix was a fantastic player, there's no doubt, but I think there's been several (if not many) other players that I would put above him in both playing ability and performance. Jimmy Page comes to mind if you're thinking Rock guys. If you wanna get into other genres, which I guess isn't fair if we're comparing apples to apples, there are many, many guys (and girls (Liona Boyd)) that could play circles around Jimi Hendrix.

From the tone of Townshend's article I realize he was not only taking the final product (the music) into consideration when branding Hendrix 'The Greatest', but was figuring in his whole persona, which I'm sure lifted him up to God-like status, but when it's just about the music I'm sorry, but he just doesn't cut it.

In closing, if we were to consider actual technical ability on the instrument, players such as Segovia and Parkening, as well as many, many other players in jazz, classical and other genres, including rock are light years ahead of Hendrix, but that's just one man's opinion, and from what seems to be the popular opinion of Jimi Hendrix, an ignorant man's opinion at that.

I'm sure you've heard by now that AC/DC has released a new album, their first in 8 years. It's entitled 'Black Ice' and debuted at No. 1 according to Billboard Magazine, which is probably not a big surprise.

AC/DC, Australia's primo Rock 'n Roll powerhouse is nothing new to selling lots of albums, but not only is their new album very hot, it's triggered an amazing upswing in sells of previous albums also.

For the week ending Oct. 26, 2008, Black Ice has sold over 784,000 copies, and their older catalog efforts have sold a combined 92,000 copies!! Those are obviously some impressive numbers.

Back in Black, the band's huge 1980 hit, sold 21,000 during the week in question, that's up from 9,000 the week before. According to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the album is the fifth all-time biggest seller in the United States. Sells to date are a staggering 22 million copies.

The album High Voltage, the band's 1976 debut, sold 11,000 copies in the week ending Oct. 26, 2008, that's up from 4,000 units the week prior.

What's the reason for these awesome numbers ? It's simple, AC/DC ROCKS!! As a guitarist, I've always loved Angus Young and his playing. Although he hammers out simple chords on his famous Gibson SG, nobody does it better, or makes it work so well.

This however isn't a review of AC/DC, or any of their music. I just wanted to mentiont the new album and the fact that the boys down under haven't lost their touch. I doubt they ever will either, as long as they still enjoy what they're doing. You can tell from the cuts on Black Ice that they still do enjoy playing their fantastic music.

If you haven't heard the entire album yet, you need to get a copy. It's very deserving of the accolades it's been receiving.

Let There Be Rock!!

I thought it appropriate to mention the death of Richard Wright today. In case you don't know, he was one of the founders of the fantastic band, Pink Floyd.

Wright met Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college and he and friend (late) Syd Barrett, joined their band Sigma 6. That band was named Pink Floyd and would make musical history in a big way.

Keyboardist Wright and Barrett were considered the bands dominate musical forces and were probably the main influences for their early psychedelic styled music.

Wright wrote "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Us and Them" for the 1973 album 'Dark Side of the Moon', which sold 40 million copies. He also worked on "Atom Heart Mother," "Echoes" and "Shine on You Crazy Diamond."

Unfortunately, the tension between Wright, Roger Waters and guitarist band member David Gilmour, caused Gilmour to insist that Wright be fired. Wright was to be only a session musician on the tour of 'The Wall' and didn't perform on 1983's album 'The Final

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Perhaps you've heard of the blues scale, perhaps not. Regardless, the blues scale is a soloing tool you should have in your repertoire. Below is a diagram for the blues scale. If you start with your index finger (left hand) on the 'A' of the sixth string, which is at fret 5, you would be playing an 'A' blues scale. Obviously, if you moved your index finger up two frets to the 'B', you would have the 'B' blues scale.

If you had to guess what kind of music you might use the blues scale in, I'd bet you'd probably say the blues. Bingo...but, the cool thing about the blues scale is it's versatile. Of course it is used extensively in blues music, but it can also be used in other styles of music. The best thing to do, is to memorize the scale formula, and try it out when you're soloing. The added blue note creates tension, and can be very useful when soloing.

The blues scale, in case you haven't noticed, is a minor pentatonic scale with the addition of a single note...the 'blue note', as it's often called. The added note is a flatted 5th. So if you're playing the the key of 'C', you count up five (counting the C) to the 'G'. In the minor pentatonic, you already have the 'G', but to the scale, you now add the Gb (flat). The G flat being the blue note.

In the diagram above, the blue note is depicted in, yep, blue.

It's advisable to remember the blues scale, as well as the other scales, in all the positions.

For those of you out there that are die hard Fender fans like moi, you need to take a look at what's going on in the Fender Custom Shop. I'm not only a big fan of Fender guitars, David Gilmour is one of my most favorite players of all time. At least in my top (5) or so.

Well, I'm kinda freaking because on September 22, 2008, the Fender Custom Shop is releasing a David Gilmour signature Strat!! Yes, what could be better ? The release date was set to coincidewith the release of Gilmour’s three-disc Live in Gdansk CD/DVD set. The instrument is based on Gilmour’s beloved Black Strat and was created by Fender Custom Shop craftsmen to mirror the look, sound and feel of the original instrument.

David's famous guitar was nicknamed very, ah hem, very 'creatively', 'the Black Strat'.

It's awesome to even look at, but when you know what David used the original for, it'll kinda give you cold chills knowing that you could own even an exact copy. I mean his Strat was used on all the hot Pink Floyd tracks from Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall...not to mention Gilmour's solo work. I'm talking about an instrument that will go down in rock and roll history. I have to have one!!

David Gilmour, and his long time guitar tech., Phil Taylor worked closely with Fender in the development of the Signature Series Stratocaster guitar. I would expect nothing less that perfection in form and function.

Here's a link to the Black Strat at the Fender Custom Shop. You need to go check it out for yourself.

I should mention...always head over to zZounds.com for the best selection and prices for all of your musical needs. Those guys are awesome. Great products, great selection, great prices, fast shipping and a very knowledgeable staff. What else could you want ?