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Steve Lukather is a legend in the guitar community, obviously he is best known for being the guitarist in American rock band Toto founded in 1977 and although they broke up in 2008 they reformed in 2010 for a tour of Europe and a live DVD recorded in Denmark will be released in 2011. That is a pretty epic career in itself but Steve Lukather is just as well known, at least by guitarists, for his session work playing on records such as Michael Jackon’s “Beat It” and “Human Nature”, Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical”, Lionel Richie, George Benson… the list goes on and on. Steve also sang backing vocals on three new songs on Van Halen’s “The Best Of Both Worlds” compilation.

As well as Steve’s work with Toto and session work he has also release five solo albums over the years Lukather (1989), Candyman (1994), Luke (1997), Santamental (2003), and Ever Changing Times (2008). “All’s Well That End’s Well” is his sixth solo record and features Steve on vocal duty as well as guitar for this record with help from Fee Waybill, Joseph Williams and Bernard Fowler who contribute backing vocals. Steve’s son Trevor also plays guitar on the album too although I’m not sure which tracks.

I’ll be honest I’m not a fan of Toto although I’ll admit they have created some classic songs over the years, the music on this album has a similar AOR kind of sound to it but with a heavy edge to it too. The guitar tones are amazing on this record, as you can imagine from someone like Steve Lukather and there are some great rock riffs such as the main riff in the opening track “Darkness In My World”. There are also bluesy riffs on a song that you can hear throughout the video above called “Flash In The Pan” which is my favourite track on the album and has a mixture of southern rock mixed with Hendrix, very funky, very fun song with beautiful guitar tones. Another track with a similar feel is “Brodie’s”, which has the same funky, blues rock vibe and the closing track “Tumescent” is the only instrumental on the album and has a jazz/rock fusion kind of sound and is another of my favourite tracks with some amazing guitar playing.

Steve Lukather’s official site - www.stevelukather.net
Follow Steve on Twitter - @stevelukather

Paul Gilbert has a great knack of creating fun, musical riffs that double up as great exercises, the title track of his latest album Fuzz Universe is absolutely chock full of licks that you can use for picking exercises or to steal for your own solos. I have taken 3 short riffs from the intro and tabbed them out so you can download them below as you watch the video above. Have fun and if you haven’t already make sure you check out my review of Fuzz Universe definitely worth buying!

Lesson tabs
Riff 1
Riff 2
Riff 3

Check out my review of Fuzz Universe

Vox released the distinctive 15 Watt Night Train a while ago and it was an instant success, lightweight, stunning mirror finish and great tones at bedroom, studio and small gigging situations. Well following on from that success Vox have launched the little brother called the Lil’ Night Train which has an output of 2 watts and is even lighter and more compact. As you can see it has a very simple front panel, Gain, Treble, Bass, Volume and a Bright/Thick switch. The Bright mode boosts the high frequencies and activates the EQ and the Thick mode bypasses the EQ and boosts the gain for a full, beefy sound. There is a Headphone/line out jack perfect for recording directly or silent practicing. The head is powered by two 12AX7 preamp vacuum tubes and a single 12AU7 power tube.

Obviously Vox would prefer you to match this head with their own 10” Cabinet:
The dedicated V110NT speaker cabinet is the perfect companion for the Lil’ Night Train head. Packing a ten-inch custom Celestion VX10 speaker, this cabinet delivers a rich, full-bodied tone. The rounded retro-look exterior is a great match for the Lil’ Night Train, making it the ideal choice in both sound and design.

For more info head over to www.voxamps.com

Joe Satriani has been working with Vox for a while now on his signature series of effects pedals such as the Ice 9 Overdrive and Time Machine Delay so it makes sense that Vox enhance the range of already great Amplug’s with a Joe Satriani signature model. It sounds like this model has much more gain than the AC30 and Classic Rock versions that I have tried but it also has that distinctive midrangey overdrive that Joe favours. Great for rock and blues and of course a bif of Satch Boogie! Obviously results will vary depending on your guitar and pickups, the JS1000 is an amazing sounding instrument and the Fred DiMarzio medium output humbucker is one of my favourite pickup sounds.

Check out Joe Satriani’s latest single from his forthcoming album “Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards” called “Light Years Away” here.

http://www.voxamps.com
http://satriani.com

via I Heart Guitar

Check out this great series of interviews from GuitarCenterTV talking about his influences growing up in the 80’s and how he used those influences to mold his own style.

Snap shots in Time

Learning to Feel the Music

American and British Influence

All About the Fans

I just wanted to share some more of my favourite entries in the Blue Noize blues solo contest so far:

themattchandler - the best camera work in the competition, but we aren’t judging on video quality which is why I was glad the solo is a blinder!

sunbrust from Thailand

ledzepplingood underselling his entry I think!

Milan Polak - effortless

huttyy - simple, great solo