It's been a big week!
It's certainly not every week we get to introduce someone like music instruction pioneer Arlen Roth as our new provider of exclusive online guitar lessons on Gibson.com. Roth practically invented the genre of video guitar instruction in the 1980s, in addition to establishing himself as one of the most influential guitar players of the 20th Century, as voted by the readers of Vintage Guitar magazine.
Friday, July 25, 2008 4:52 PM
Delta singer-guitarist Son House felt the lines of blues and gospel should never blur. Playing a juke joint on Saturday night and heading straight for the pulpit on Sunday morning got plenty of musicians, including House, run out of Southern towns. Ray Charles, for one, was a controversial figure early in his career when he began to experiment with gospel vocal techniques and driving rhythms―inventing rhythm & blues.
Friday, July 25, 2008 4:02 PM
When Buffalo, New York emo band Cute Is What We Aim For crashed onto the scene a few years ago, they brought with them so much momentum (and critical backlash) that it seemed impossible for them to follow-up the success of their 2006 debut The Same Old Blood Rush with a New Touch. But judging by the reaction—and album sales—of their new album Rotation, Cute Is What We Aim For could very well possess something far more valuable than money or fame: longevity.
Friday, July 25, 2008 3:03 PM
From the Beatles to Roxy Music to Radiohead, bands in their later years often sound markedly different from how they sounded in the beginning. But that’s a natural process of evolution, and typically such changes occur over time. Far less commonly, either by necessity or by choice, a group undergoes a seismic shift in style seemingly overnight. Below are five bands who did just that.
Friday, July 25, 2008 1:58 PM
With partial sponsorship from the Gibson Foundation, retired musician Ray Nelson’s Guitars Not Guns charitable organization has been giving disadvantaged kids their own guitars and lessons for years. Here’s a May class of graduates giving a heartwarming performance of “Hey There Delilah” at their sponsoring Boys and Girls Club chapter in San Francisco.
Friday, July 25, 2008 9:28 AM
There's nothing the like the sweet sound of a guitarist knocking out some killer soul or R&B guitar licks. And few do it like our very own Arlen Roth.
Today's lesson finds Roth exploring the world of double-stops, and the slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs between the positions. They're all very important chord positions that are key to anyone's guitar-playing skills, and Roth demonstrates clearly how to incorporate this classic style into your playing repetoire.
Thursday, July 24, 2008 5:16 PM
The power trio is a different breed of rock and roll animal. With fewer people there is more ground for each member to compensate and less room to mess up. It’s no wonder then that the form is so popular amongst the precise world of heavy metal. Here’s a list of five of our favorite heavy metal power trios. And be sure to check out our previous feature on Tony Iommi’s Pentagram of influence which highlights a few more of our favorite power trios; namely High on Fire, Cream, the Melvins, and Blue Cheer!
Thursday, July 24, 2008 3:28 PM
Nothing short of a hydrogen bomb could stop Buddy Guy’s first solo on “Best Damn Fool,” the opening track on his new powerhouse album Skin Deep. It’s fierce, intense, caterwauling. Guy dives into a free falling circular riff with the commitment of a locomotive plunging from a bridge, only to leap back into the melody that’s the tune’s backbone a moment before impact.
Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:44 PM
Hard to imagine that two musicians who share the same surname could have found themselves farther apart during the rock culture wars of 1977, yet that was the fate of Mick and Steve Jones, ax men of Foreigner and the Sex Pistols, respectively.
Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:40 AM
For the past few years, icons like Gwen Stefani and Puff Daddy have dominated the runways with their street-inspired clothing lines, coaxing peers like Jennifer Lopez and Justin Timberlake into following suit. But the real story is the number of pop-punk bands now hitching their star to a fashion label. Here we highlight some punk and hardcore rockers whose music is just as innovative as their fashion sense.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:21 PM