Guitar Noize - guitar news, crazy guitar designs and cool guitar videos

Back in May I gave 1 lucky person the chance to win a signed copy of the Tommy Emmanuel Live CD ‘Center Stage’ well to mark the release of the ‘Center Stage’ live DVD Guitar Noize is giving you the chance to win the entire catalogue of Tommy’s Favored Nations releases! Favored Nations is Steve Vai’s record label that includes guitar virtuosos on his books such as Eric Johnson and Andy Timmons, but also has an Acoustic artists section including Peppino D’Agostino and Pete Huttlinger.

The prize pack includes:

• Center Stage DVD
• Live At Her Majesty’s Theatre DVD
• Center Stage CD
• The Mystery CD
• Endless Road CD

And we’re not giving away 1 pack, we’re giving away 2 prize packs! All you have to do is head over to the Competition page and enter your name and email address to be in the running, simple!

The live ‘Center Stage’ DVD is fantastic by the way, it is one thing to listen to Tommy play but to watch him play tracks such as “Mombasa“ (which has a great intro where Tommy uses his guitar as a drum kit!), Train To “Dusseldorf“ which Tommy plays so effortlessly and Tall Fiddler which just makes you want to give up playing! Well ok, not give, aspire to play it like Tommy! The performance also features Harmonica extraordinaire Bob Littell who joins Tommy onstage for a few songs such as “Georgia On My Mind“ and “Amazing Grace“. Tommy has an amazing amount of dynamics in his playing which really shows with his accompaniment of the songs with Bob Littell.

If you haven’t heard Tommy Emmanuel play before, check out his site which has a few YouTube links which showcase Tommy’s amazing talent. And what better way to get into Tommy than to win his entire Favored Nations back catalogue?

Tommy Emmanuel Competition page

Back in July I posted about the imminent release of Steve Vai’s Naked Tracks a set of 5 volumes worth of backing tracks with the lead parts removed for you to play along to. I was pretty excited about the prospect so as soon as I noticed that they had gone on sale I decided to download a track to test.

I decided on the track ‘Answers’ from one of my all time favourite guitar albums ‘Passion & Warfare’ because, well, compared to the rest of the album its not too technically challenging! I downloaded the track from iTunes which cost me AUD$1.69 and loaded it up in Abelton Live 7. Now I’m not sure why or how this happened but the first 8 bars played at a different tempo to the rest of the song, it doesn’t happen when I listen to the track in iTunes just when I import into Abelton. Weird, ah well I couldn’t be bothered to work it out so the first 8 bars play at 107bpm and then I switch to 95bpm even though it continues to play at the same tempo (this also happens momentarily at 4:15 too). I’m sure this is some kind of weirdness that I don’t have the technical knowledge to fix rather than a problem with the track.

So the first thing I noticed was that this is an extended version of the track… damn I thought I was going to get away with the album version! The idea is that there are extended solo sections which presumably Mr Vai uses in live performances but I suddenly realised that I was going to have to record a solo… over a Vai track… gulp! Well I figured out that E Mixolydian seemed to do the trick so I didn’t stray much from that and probably made the mistake of trying to sound like Vai instead of me but its very tempting when you have the whole Vai backing section behind your playing!

Below is the finished version, I didn’t do it one take and its a bit sloppy in places but it is to show the quality of the Naked tracks, not my playing! I will be downloading a few more of my fave Vai tracks to play along to because you don’t have to download the whole album and I’m hardly going to even notice $1.69 disappearing out of my bank account.

In case anyone is having trouble playing the above example I have also uploaded the track to my Ultimate-Guitar.com profile.

One of the techniques that guitarists are eager to learn in order to impress their mates is Sweep Picking. Unfortunately it is not a simple technique to master and when done badly sounds atrocious. I’ve never been much of a sweep picker which is why I was interested when I received a copy of Ysrafel’s ‘Sweep Picking Mastery’. Now the cover art is not a very good indicator as is often the case with guitar instruction books… why is that? Ah who knows but anyway this book is packed with just about every arpeggio pattern, execution tips and tricks, no wait there is no trick only practice! The book starts with 2 string patterns explaining muting techniques and advances chapter by chapter to 6 string patterns. There is a table showing the bpm that you should start learning each exercise and what you should work up to, this is the key to learning sweep picking, use a metronome to make sure you articulate each arpeggio correctly, something I’ve never had the patience to do but I am going to try and work on it using this book. So where do you go once you have mastered all the major and minor arpeggios? Well, the book moves on to 7th chord patterns, extended 7th chord patterns such as major 13#11 and then adding tapping to further extend patterns to previously unachievable levels!

So if you are looking to master the art of Sweep Picking this book is a very good place to start, it is only $29.95 which I think is a fair price for an arpeggio reference book let alone a technique masterclass. You can get more information at Ysrafel’s site.

There aren’t many female guitarists in the world who can hold their own up against the top shredders but when I first saw the Michael Jackson video for ‘Dirty Diana’ I had to know who the quirky guitarist was with a shock of blonde hair that could beat Marge Simpson in a height battle. It wasn’t long before Jennifer Batten was appearing in all the guitar mags and I remember reading how she attended the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) which was the holy grail of music institutions for guitarists in the 80’s and is still going strong today as part of the L.A. Musicians Institute. After GIT Jennifer auditioned for Michael Jackson’s band sending a video which included a note for note rendition of Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Beat it’ solo, she was selected for the ‘Bad’ tour and played to over 4.5 million people over a period of 1.5 years. That in itself is a pretty amazing achievement but Jennifer then decided to record a solo album to really let people know what she was capable of, the album was called ‘Above, Below and Beyond’ and featured her incredible two handed tapping rendition of Rimsky Korsakov’s ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’, check the video out here. Shortly after Jennifer rejoined Michael Jackson for the ‘Dangerous’ tour and in ‘93 played in Superbowl XXVII’s half time show which aired to 1.5 billion people in 80 nations! She then released another solo album called ‘Jennifer Batten’s Tribal Rage ~ Momentum’ before joining Michael Jackson once again for the 2 year ‘History’ tour in 1997. After the ‘History’ tour Jennifer joined forces with Jeff Beck for 3 years releasing a couple of albums and touring the world.

That just about brings us to Jennifer’s new album ‘Whatever’, yes that is the title of her album I wasn’t dissing her in my post title! This album was mainly written while she was working with Jeff Beck and it really shows with his love of electronica. There is a very diverse collection of music on ‘Whatever’ from the laid back hip hop vibe of album opener ‘Ass Whoopin’ which features Jon Clark, the other guitarist on MJ’s ‘Bad’ tour, doing a spoken word comedic character. The melodies have a bit of Vai about them but Jennifer has a really unique rock/fusion style. Some of the tracks such as ‘Ricochet’ are a bit 80’s sounding and really don’t have enough guitar playing in them for my liking but these tracks are in the minority.

‘Fearless’ took me by surprise as it is an acoustic solo piece and I’ve never heard Jennifer playing acoustic guitar before, you could easily mistake her playing for Tommy Emmanuel to begin with and then she unleashes her Michael Hedges style, there’s even a bit of slide in there. This is one of the stand out tracks for just being so different to the rest of the album and showing that she also has the chops on an acoustic guitar.

The title track ‘Whatever’ and ‘Hooligan’s Holiday’ both have heavy Jeff Beck influence in them, the latter even more so utilising Jeff Beck’s whammy technique to create a slide sound in the main melody.

Another stand out track is ‘Run With It’ which show Jennifer’s world music influence as well as some interesting riffs and the odd flurry of notes that makes you want to quit playing!

I don’t really know what to say about the final track but I suppose it shows Jennifer’s sense of humour which is basically a bunch of musical farts and belches… very bizarre!

All in all it is an interesting album and showcases Jennifer’s exceptional guitar playing and the reason why she enjoyed so many years touring in one of the top jobs in the world with Michael Jackson’s band but due to her diverse musical interests it is a bit hard to pidgeon-hole. Maybe that is a good thing? Check out her website for some audio snippets to see what you think. Also watch out for her upcoming column in Guitar Player magazine!

Jennifer Batten’s Official Site

One thing I noticed recently whilst looking to purchase a new guitar was that here in Australia the choice is limited in comparison to the US and the UK. I also quickly realised that the pricing of anything but standard guitars were somewhat over-inflated which is why I eventually settled for importing a guitar from the US. Well someone else has noticed and started a business to address this situation. Now if you are just looking to buy a standard American Strat or Les Paul then this site probably isn’t going to be of as much interest, what this nicely designed blog does is showcase a selection of pristine quality rare guitars that you simply don’t see in Australian guitar stores such as this Ibanez J-Custom RG8470Z RS which uses top grade woods and hardware as well as DiMarzio Air Norton, Blue Velvet and Tone Zone pickups.

This is just one example of the guitars on sale, there is also a George Lynch Kamikaze and a limited edition custom shop Gibson ZV which is number 95 out of 100. Each guitar has a rating of up to 5 stars which means new condition to give you an idea of what you are looking at, also any defects or damage is listed in the description as well as a full spec list. Now obviously this list is updated all the time so I advise you to subscribe to the rss feed to see when new guitars are available or have been sold. The blogging platform actually works well with this kind of business!

If only I had known about this site before I ordered my JS1000!

As an owner of a Vox AD50VT I was interested to see Vox announce a new series called simply the VT series which include VT15, VT30, VT50 and VT100 combos amps. At first glance you would be forgiven for thinking you were looking at the AD50VT or similar as they share the same chrome metal grill on the front but what Vox have done is basically double the amount of amp model variations at your fingertips with 22 amp models. The 11 extra amp models appear to be variations on the original set which was already a formidable lineup. The amp has a single 12AX7 miniature triode in the power amp is used to reproduce a distinctive tube amp sound unattainable by digital technology and if you have the amp cranked up to full wattage it sounds great. You see there is a power attenuator on the back of the amp that lets you change the output wattage whilst maintaining the same drive from the power amp in order to create a true tube sound, which in theory is great but in actual fact sucks a bit of the life out of the sound when you drop the wattage, but your wife/girlfriend/neighbours will be thankful of this feature!

Aside from the 22 amp models which range from crystal clear cleans to full force shred there is also a powerful effects section. My biggest problem with the AD50VT is the fact that you can’t use Reverb in conjunction with other effects it is one of the selections along with delay, phaser, flanger etc. Vox have addressed this issue with the VT series. Now the reverb effect is always available, and three of the other eleven types are composite effects that allow up to three effects to be used simultaneously. Noise reduction can also be used at the same time. Each effect has multiple parameters that you can adjust to create the precise sound you want. There’s also a tap switch that makes it easy to set the delay time or modulation speed. Vox have also extended the amount of user presets to 8 from 2 which is very handy and there are 66 presets of sounds that simulate famous guitarists, but to be honest I always have my amp switched to manual mode.

If the AD50VT et al are anything to go by these amps are going to literally fly out of the warehouse, it is fast becoming the most popular beginner amp before upgrading to a full tube amp but has the power, tonal variety and effect depth to extend way beyond beginners. I’ve been playing guitar for 20 years and the AD50VT is currently my only amp which I use for band rehearsals and recording. If you have never heard the Vox AD series amps in action and would like to hear some of my recordings check out my YouTube channel. These recordings were made using a Patrick Eggle Berlin Stage direct in to the Vox AD50VT and direct out into a Tapco audio interface and into my Mac, with the exception of ‘The Extremist’ which also uses an Exotic Effects BB+ stomp box.

Many of you reading this will be unaware that by day I am a web developer for Soap Creative in Sydney, well last thursday we entered a band into an industry event called ADMA Idol. ADMA is the Australian Direct Marketing Association and once a year they organise a battle of the bands for creative agencies and ADMA members. As you can see we decided to dress up a little for the event, in case you are wondering I’m the one in the blonde wig… and I’m not singing. I thought I would go for a cross between Eddie Van Halen (the velvet white tiger print trousers) and Jimi Hendrix (the jacket) and then I threw in a touch of Dave Mustaine on a bad hair day.

We played ‘Night Train’ by Guns ‘n Roses and ‘Panama’ by Van Halen which we seemed to fly through at double speed… no hang on, not ‘seemed’ we DID! I think it was a mixture of nerves and excitement from everyone but luckily the tempo didn’t hinder our performance except for me stuffing up the Panama solo but ah well! The winners were ‘Massive Logo’ from Foxtel who had a massive amount of support and blasted the crowd with ‘Slither’ by Velvet Revolver and ‘Cold Hard Bitch’ by Jet, the latter went down a storm with stage diving galore!

The Patrick Eggle wasn’t exactly 80’s rock and I did consider striping it up a la Eddie Van Halen but was worried it would leave a sticky mess all over that lovely carved Mahogany!

Oh and here is the trophy we won!

Here is a tool that the ebay fanatics among you might enjoy, Terapeak are a company that specialize in eBay marketplace research so they have designed a site to help you track eBay sales of a few top brands of acoustic and electric guitars with a self-updating sales index.

“Martin and Gibson lead the pack in terms of acoustic sales, while Fender and Gibson manufacture the top-selling electrics. Of course, that’s combining total items sold with total sales both of
which you can view independently, along with average price. In reality, Fender electrics are selling at a far higher rate than any other, but the average price of Gibson balances the two in terms of total sales.“

The index also comes with a companion widget, which you can easily embed in any blog or webpage, just click on the share button at the bottom of the page to get the embed code, you also have the ability to do your own Terapeak search which means you can search closed eBay listings for any other guitar brand you so choose. So if you are currently looking to buy or sell a guitar from ebay and want to do a bit of research first check out Terapeak’s ebay tool.

Last month I featured a couple of Gibson’s “Inspired By” series guitars, the Kiefer Sutherland KS336 and the Okuda Tamio Les Paul OT Special. Well Gibson just added the Zakk Wylde ZV Buzzsaw pictured above to the range which has to be one of the ugliest guitars Gibson have ever produced.  The ZV in case you aren’t aware is a Zakk Wylde creation that is a cross between the classic Gibson Flying V and SG guitars. I’m not sure where or when the orange buzzsaw graphic came about but I have seen it on an Epiphone Zakk Les Paul and it is just nasty compared to his classic black and white bullseye design.

So how does this guitar shape up, well it is solid mahogany, ebony finish top and back with a 3 piece maple neck. The fingerboard is single bound ebony
with pearl block inlays. It has EMG 81 and EMG 85 active humbuckers and a V shaped tail plate with Nashville Tune-o-matic bridge. I’m sure some metal heads or Zakk fans will want this guitar but its not going on my wishlist.

They say “This guitar is something a little different for Gibson, but it’s a lot of fun!“

Last friday I featured Emerald Guitars’ new creation. Well aside from Emerald Guitars’ Custom Shop creations they also make a travel guitar that was “...born out of a need for a guitar that was small enough to take anywhere, Strong enough to endure anything and with a sound that would make you want to play it all the time rather than just when you are travelling.“ The result of this desire is the X5, an acoustic guitar made from a one piece carbon composite body and neck and carbon fibre fretboard. The neck is apparently so stiff and strong that it doesn’t even need a truss rod. The nut and saddle are by Graphtech as are the bridge pins.

To see just how robust this guitar is check out what the Emerald crew put the poor X5 Life through! It survived being submersed in the Atlantic, climbing a mountain and being used as a canoe paddle!

“...a neat wah wah effect could be created by swishing the water around the inside of the guitar.“

YIKES! Don’t worry apparently it was still in tune after its ordeal. Check out the guitar specs page to hear some samples of the guitar in action. And if you fancy owning one of these robust guitars, you can buy one through their online shop for £545 with a pickup or knock off 80 quid without.