In response to the recent flooding of Nashville, Gibson has stepped up in a charity effort by getting residents of Austin and vistors to Nashville to donate money…
“Gibson Guitar banks” created from guitar cases will be set up at popular sites and participating venues all over town for visitors to make donations. The banks are currently being set up, but the 18th will mark a “final push” for donations.”
Read the article here and learn more from Gibson here
(photo by nashvillest)
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>- Over at guitarforums.com there is a discussion over whether you should practice sitting down or standing up. Like many of these questions, the answer depends on your goals as a guitarist. If you intend to play live a lot, it would probably serve you well to also have frequent practice playing your guitar in the standing position. For more tips, our own Peter Vogl has free videos on the seated guitar position and standing position
- Trying to decide between the real deal and a knock off? Take a look at this post on Gibson Les Pauls vs. a copy. Take a look especially at dspellman’s comments:
IMHO, Gibson doesn’t start making a really good Les Paul type guitar until you get to the $3000 mark. Even at that price point, there are guitars that are far less expensive that easily compete with Gibsons in terms of playability and build quality.
At the low end, Rondo Music’s Agile AL3000 series (AL3XXX, actually, since there are 3000M and 3100’s) are real contenders, and normally run about $389 – $599 (if you want a 3/4″ solid maple top). The pickups in these are Alnico V’s that actually sound and respond very much like Gibson’s ’57’s. The controls in these are serviceable, but it would certainly be cheap to shake these out and replace them with the best availalbe. But these guitars come with multi-layer binding around the body and headstock, single-layer binding on the fretboard. They have ebony fretboards and real abalone inlays. The fretboards have a 13.7″ radius (Gibsons are 12″, the frets are hand-dressed, the necks are a bit thinner than Gibson’s ‘60 series (you can also get necks that are wider and thinner) and very comfortable. The bodies are SOLID mahogany (I think there’s one series that has chambered bodies available) and the result is a guitar that measures up very well against what Gibson tosses out there in the sub-$3000 range.
- And finally we have a thread debating Rosewood vs. Maple fretboards. Two arguments come into play. Does the type of wood that the fretboard is made from make a difference? And if it does what are the differences.
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>- The New York Times has a simplistic but fairly neat flash graphic showing the design process of a Martin guitar.
- Somone in Atlanta posts a Craig’s List guitar lesson ad with a twist. The lessons are free for women who agree to be topless during the lesson. But not just any women: “Also, the free/topless offer only goes for attractive, not overly fat females. Seeing fat girls topless does not make my day better. Fat girls are welcome to take guitar lessons, but you have to pay just like any dudes.” I’m assuming he doesn’t get much of a response.
A few cool links from Gibson:
- Video lesson on learning how to play the guitar riff from Green Onions. You may not recognize the name of the song but you’ll recognize the tune of this instrumental from the 60’s.
- A gear guide on recreating Wilco’s live sound. If you haven’t been keeping up with Wilco, there music has taken a guitar heavy turn with the addition of Nels Cline. Their last album “Sky Blue Sky” has at times a Grateful Dead/Phish type jam band sound. But with fuzzier guitars. Check the performance of “You Are My Face” below. It’s starts off mellow and then kicks it up a notch.
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>Guitar Lifestyle found an old BBC video (below) of Eric Clapton explaining how he makes the “woman tone” that he used on Sunshine of Your Love and other tunes. Gibson.com also has an article on the same subject:
“Zeroing in on “Woman Tone” isn’t rocket science. That would be easier. There’d be a precise formula that would work for everyone, and no mojo factor. Nonetheless, a powerful neck-position pickup is essential. Start by turning your guitar’s tone dials all the way off. Next, place the pickup selector switch in the middle position. Now roll the bridge pickup’s volume to about six or seven, and crank the neck pickup all the way up to 10.
Amp choice is crucial too, although a carefully selected high-quality distortion pedal can turn some tiny practice rigs into snarling monsters. Clapton used heavy artillery: a Marshall 50-watt head through a 4×12 cabinet with 25-watt Celestion greenback speakers running full out – volume, bass, midrange and treble all set on 10. And while an electronic amplifier – especially one that emulates tube distortion – can get the job done, one of “Woman Tone’s” key elements is the smooth, creamy distortion that only tubes provide.”
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I’m not sure I’ll believe it until I use one, but Gibson claims to have a self tuning guitar. Surely it can’t be this easy?
“Simply activate your guitar’s Master-Control Knob (MCK), strum the strings lightly, and within seconds the Powertune’s digital brain and Powerhead tuners work together to put you perfectly in tune. Or to achieve any open or alternate tuning, rotate the MCK to the desired preset, strum, and you’re ready to play in Open E, Dropped D, Double Dropped D, DADGAD, Open G, Hendrix Tuning (half-step down), or any of your own custom tunings. In the time it takes you to say, “Hello, Cleveland—we think you’re gonna like this next one…” you’re back in tune, and ready to rock.”
The article also takes some jabs at Fender’s attempt at creating a self tuning guitar.
Which also leads us to the news that Gibson has retooled their site with a more entertaining approach. When you now head to Gibson.com you are given the choice of heading towards “Products” or “Lifestyle”. The Products section gives you what you’d expect from a guitar manufacturer website. From the lifestyle section you’ll immediately get a blog like layout, but also choices for interviews, downloads, podcasts,lessons, and more.
Click here for free premium guitar techniques lessons and 50 FREE videos
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>- Hometracked.com has an excellent post that includes audio examples of 10 recording bloopers that appear in famous songs.
- Guitar MX has a how to guide on makin your own guitar picks
- Gibson has an interview with Emmylou Harris about music, her guitar, and well… her love of the Atlanta Braves.
- All About Jazz has an interview with guitarist John McLaughlin
- Interesting article on Mel Bay from the Indianapolis Star.
- Mark McGuigan posts his favorite guitar related Youtube videos of the past month. Which includes the video below entitled “Tomatito Bulerias”
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>A short video on the making of a Gibson guitar by the Travel Channel’s Made in America. The clip features interviews with Steve Earl, Dan Seals, Joe Diffie as well as a fantastic tour of the Nashville factory.
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>Own a Gibson guitar and want to learn more about it? Well Gibson has an article up on their site showing you what info you can and can’t deduce about you guitar just from looking at the serial number.
For some basic serial number info on other guitar brands check out this site.
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