Just ran across this brand-new fuzz pedal from Reinhardt Amps, called the "Willard" distortion pedal. This pedal is pure 80’s fuzz, a sound that I came to love! From the video, it’s clear that this pedal is capable of producing some serious hair, but it also retains a lot of clarity. Built around a true NOS LM308N op-amp chip and based around a big-box Rat of that era, this is a very nice-sounding distortion box. Check out the video below:
Archive for April, 2009
Better Guitar Playing Through… HYPNOSIS?!!!
Posted in guitar, guitar instruction, guitar lifestyle, guitarists, Guitars, inspiration, instruction, learn guitar, Music, music theory, musicians, tagged guitar, guitar gear, guitar hypnosis, guitarists, Guitars, hypnosis, learn guitar, Music, musicians on April 28, 2009| 10 Comments »
I recently read a press release on Harmony Central where this company, Hypnobusters, has just released a self-hypnosis audio to improve your guitar playing. I snickered at first because when the word “hypnosis” is mentioned, my gut reaction is, “Yeah, right… just some more of that New Age crap…” But then again, over the years, I’ve developed meditation techniques to help focus and quiet my consciousness to develop and extend my “chi” (for those martial artists out there), and even so far as performing self-healing. In a way, those meditation techniques are a form of self-hypnosis. And if I’ve used self-hypnosis to accomplish different things, why not apply it to guitar playing?
The mind is a very powerful tool. And if you have the ability to quiet your consciousness, and filter out the hustle and bustle of your waking mind, you’ll find that you can much more clearly analyze different subjects or help steer yourself towards accomplishing many things. It’s not hocus-pocus. It’s pure focus.
For instance, have you ever been playing guitar at a gig or in the studio, and you close your eyes because you’re so in tune with the song that what you’re doing is just pure expression? While you’re in that “groove,” nothing else exists. It’s just you and your axe reverberating with the song. That, my friends, is a form of self-hypnosis. That’s happened to me many times in my studio, and when I listen to the printed track, I’m sometimes in total disbelief that I actually played what I played! I’m not really all that good of a soloist, so I suppose any clean take is a good take. 🙂
In any case, I went to the HypnoBusters site, and found their guitar improvement page. The audio session only costs $9.95, so I said, “What the hell? I’ll give it a whirl. Besides, I could use a little mind quieting time.” And really, that’s what it’s all about – quieting your mind, and allowing yourself to explore the limits of your playing. I’ve often found that the limits of my skills on guitar aren’t merely technical – there is definitely that – but also because my conscious mind often tells me “You can’t do that.” It’s like an inherent fear. But as I break through those boundaries, I find that my actual limits are much further than what my conscious mind tells me.
I’ll give this audio a try, and report back. I’m not sure that it’ll make me a better player – that’s purely up to me. But one thing I know about things like this: They help you give yourself the permission to improve.
Strap Locks: Ten Minutes Could Potentially Save You Hundreds of Dollars!
Posted in GAS, gear, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, tagged GAS, gear, guitar, guitar gear, guitar maintenance, guitar repair, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, strap locks on April 26, 2009| 1 Comment »
The title kind of sounds like a spam ad, doesn’t it? But it’s totally serious!
We’ve all heard of or even personally experienced guitars straps coming off their strap buttons, potentially causing serious harm to them. I’ve played for years without mishap without using strap locks. I’ve had some close calls, but no catastrophic accidents. My buddy Phil warned me awhile back that I was just asking for trouble by not having them on my guitars. I just said, “Yeah, I know I should do it, but hey, I’ve been lucky so far…”
Well, my luck almost ran out because I almost had a terrible mishap the other day. If you follow my blog, you know that I’ve just gotten my new Prestige Heritage Elite. I was in my studio jamming, and at the end of the song I was jamming to, I did a harmless thing: I reached over to my amp to turn it down; at which point, my body must’ve been at the right angle, and the strap came off the bottom strap button. My guitar quickly swung toward my amp, aimed straight at the grille cloth! Luckily for me, I was able to catch the guitar and press it against my leg to prevent it from doing any serious damage to either itself or the amp!
Soon after, I put the guitar down, turned off my amp, walked back into the house, told my wife I was going down to the local music store, got in my car and got a set of strap locks. I will NEVER be without strap locks again! Once I got them, it literally took five minutes to install them, and I thought that this would be good forum to share my experience, and to share how I installed them.
Installing the Strap Locks
I got Schaller strap locks because I could also use the locks on my Strat that came stock with Schaller butttons (Fender owns Schaller), so it was a no brainer to decide. So here’s how I did it:
- First, remove the original buttons with a screwdriver.
- When they come out, you’ll probably notice that the screws are a bit thicker with wider threads than the Schallers. This is not a problem.
- To be safe, as opposed to using pure wood filler (I used Plastic Wood because it dries evenly), I happened to have really thin dowel material that I could use as a shim in addition the wood filler. I placed the dowel in the screw hole, and marked where it would be flush with the surface of the guitar, then simply cut that length.
- Once the dowel was cut, I put some Plastic Wood into the screw hole, and with a toothpick, spread it up and down the hole. Take your time with this, and be as neat as possible. Then I wiped off the excess from the hole, then inserted my dowel. This made some Plastic Wood ooze a bit, so I cleaned that up as well.
- Then with my little power drill, I screwed in the new Schaller button.
- Repeat steps 3 – 5 for the next hole.
- Let it dry for a couple of days.
- Install the locks on your strap. That’s it!
That process took literally ten minutes! My strap ain’t coming off any time soon!
Finished Song: Before the Night Falls
Posted in gear, guitar, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new song, tagged guitar, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new song on April 25, 2009| 4 Comments »
This is one of the toughest songs I ever wrote; not from a technical standpoint, but from an emotional one. It’s really an emotional purging. I’m glad I got through it!
Anyway, give it a listen and let me know what you think! Thanks!
Gear Used:
Guitars: Prestige Heritage Elite and Strat
Amps: Aracom VRX22 and Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
The VRX22/Heritage combo is just insane! You gotta check this gear out!
Aracom Amps : http://www.aracom-amps.com
Prestige Guitars: http://www.prestigeguitars.com
The only effect I used was my lovely Hardwire RV-7 reverb on my VRX22 (this is by far one of the best reverbs I’ve ever used). I also used the spring reverb in the Hot Rod.
And lest I forget, I used my trusty V-Picks “The Snake” pick for the lead. What an incredible tone it produces.