I felt guilty not posting about guitars today so I decided to post a quick extra for you!

Apparently James Hetfield has a new flying V according to this picture, he already bagged himself a tasty Trussart Les Paul recently which you can see in this photo and to compliment this crazy metal guitar he now has a Zemaitis Flying V like this one. As you can see both his new guitars are very metal, literally, the Zemaitis is a Solid Duralumin (an aluminium alloy) Top, 2-piece Mahogany back and looks pretty tasty!

You might wonder what on earth has happened to me today posting about search engine optimisation instead of guitars?! Well last week Google released an SEO starter guide which is a very useful pdf document for all site owners and I wanted to relay some of the changes I made to Guitar Noize after having a browse. Sorry if you use WordPress or Movable Type but I’m sure there are similar ways to achieve the results that I am going to explain.

Firstly, why am I using Expression Engine? Well this is simply because I have been using Ellis Labs’ Code Igniter php framework for well over a year now for large scale projects so I figured if a company makes such a great php framework then their CMS must be pretty good too. Unfortunately until the next release (version 2) it still doesn’t really bare much resemblance to Code Igniter but I have decided to stick with it and hopefully the 2 will become more closely coupled.

So what changes have I made to help with my Google rankings? Well the first is a very simple change, when I first started Guitar Noize I had the page titles reflecting the main post title but with the words Guitar Noize in front like this:

Guitar Noize - Gibson’s Dark Fire is here!

This was initially to help get my name out there, I later read that it was frowned upon by Google and it was better to have your brand at the end, so I changed the title tag to output this:

Gibson’s Dark Fire is here! - Guitar Noize

Well after reading the SEO document it seems Google really don’t appreciate this either which is fair enough, there really is no need. They say that every page should have a totally unique title so all I had to do was drop the branding and instantly my SEO has been slightly improved! Easy. Here is my new Title tag:

<title>{exp:weblog:entries}{title}{/exp:weblog:entries}</title>

The second tip is a little more in-depth and relates to your meta tags, in particular your keywords. Google states that in order to be fully optimised for their indexing algorithm the keywords must be relevant to your page and not just the same keywords site wide. Previously I had been putting a list of keywords and then appending the keywords with the post title using some php in my template but today I made a change which hopefully will really help boost my Google ranking.

When you log in to Expression Engine click on the Admin tab and then the Weblog Administration link. You will see, 3rd link down, Custom Weblog Fields. We are going to create a Custom Field that can be used to manually insert keywords for your post each time you publish and then output them into your meta tag. Click on the Custom Weblog Fields link and then with the Default Field Group click on the Add/Edit Custom Fields link. Ok thats a lot of clicking I know but hang in there, we’re almost done! You should see a button on the right that says, Add a New Custom Field. This is the page where you will create your Keywords field for your publish page. Enter the Field Name “keywords” (this is your variable name) then the Field Label “Keywords” (this is the label which will show up in the Expression Engine publish view, finally change the Default Text Formatting for This Field from “xhtml” to “None”. If you think you are going to need more than 128 characters you can also change this under the Field Type where it says Maxlength, I have set mine to 255, this should be plenty. Finally click on update and the field is set up and ready to go. Now edit one of your posts you should see the new Keywords field under the Extended Text section, add some relevant keywords and update, next we’ll make them show up in your template!

Now edit your template, mine is called Comments which is the template that shows individual posts. Find the the meta tag in the head of your html page called keywords, it should look something like this:

<meta name="keywords" content="" />

Now if you have just started your blog you can enter the following code and your template will be in business straight away:

<meta name="keywords" content="{exp:weblog:entries}{keywords}{/exp:weblog:entries}" />

However, chances are you are updating your template and have existing posts, which, if you use the above code will mean you need to edit every post you have ever made to have keywords otherwise they will be blank so what I have done is to add an if, else statement which checks if there are any keywords entered for the post and if not outputs a set of default keywords. Here is how it is done:

{exp:weblog:entries}Guitar, Electric Guitar{/exp:weblog:entries}

And that is it! It looks harder than it is, if you follow my instructions step by step you will be up and running in no time and you will instantly improve your Google SEO which hopefully will lead to better Google rankings!

Don’t worry I’ll be back with something Guitar related tomorrow!

I’m not an iPhone user and to be honest have no real desire to get one but I have to admit this app looks very cool. FourTrack is a songwriting and practice tool for musicians who want to capture musical ideas and record songs on their iPhone. Plug in a microphone, arm a track, record, and repeat. FourTrack works with the iPhone built-in microphone, a headset mic, or an iPod touch with a third-party mic and headphones. WiFi sync allows FourTrack recordings to be downloaded to any desktop computer with a browser. Tracks can then be loaded into any recording software (including Sonoma Wireworks Riffworks) to continue working on songs. FourTrack’s introductory price is $9.99.

Pretty nifty idea isn’t it? And the graphics look great too. The calibrated meters accurately monitor record and playback levels while the recording clip lights ensure input levels do not cause distortion. You can accurately adjust playback level of each track with the calibrated faders all by touching the display. The latency compensation is apparently accurate to within 1ms and the built in Compressor helps to fatten up your sound. Once you are done you can send to your desktop using the built in Wi-Fi!

For more info about the FourTrack and Sonoma Wireworks’ other music software check out their website: http://www.sonomawireworks.com.

When I saw the cover of “A Tribute To Stevie Wonder“ by Vernon Neilly I was a little worried but then I noticed a couple of the guitarists who join Vernon on this album, Greg Howe and Kiko Loureiro and suddenly it piqued my interest!

The opening track, an instrumental version of ‘Boogie on Reggae Woman‘ features the amazing Greg Howe, and from the moment he starts playing you can tell instantly that its him from his middly sounding guitar to his incredible phrasing and that slidey vibrato! Greg always amazes me when I hear him play, you can tell instantly that it is him but he doesn’t have signature licks in fact he never seems to repeat himself and flies all over the fretboard with tasteful yet jaw dropping skill. As a Greg Howe fan this track is hard to beat, shame it is track 1 in a way because I will always judge everything that follows by this incredibly high benchmark.

Following such an explosive opener was always going to be a challenge but it is well met by Vernon’s cover of “I Wish“ which is taken on a fusion ride by the awesome Kiko Loureiro. Unfortunately everytime I hear this track I hear Will Smith’s ‘Wild Wild West’ in my head, damn him for poisoning my mind! That aside this is a great track, I would be happy to drop the electric piano solo which sounds a bit plinky plonky for such a rocked up track but Kiko’s incredible playing is enough to make this my 2nd fave track on the album next to “Boogie…“

So 2 strong openers what could they follow that with, well how about a metal version of ‘Superstition‘? I hadn’t heard of guitarist Bill Hudson but a quick poke around Wikipedia gave me the following info:

Bill Hudson, born in January 13 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, moved to the United States during the year of 2005 in order to join the Nebraskan power metal band Cellador, playing on their debut album Enter Deception and remaining in their line-up until early 2008. Since leaving Cellador Hudson has formed his own band called Coldera, and also joined Power Quest.

I really don’t know what to say about this, the vocalist would fit Yngwie Malmsteen’s band very well, but singing Stevie Wonder? It just sounds a bit wrong with all that wailing, double bass drum fills and chugging guitars. I think Stevie Ray Vaughan is the only cover version I’ve heard that does this track justice. Having said all that, the guitar playing is very impressive, Bill is a very talented metal guitarist.

‘Sir Duke‘ features Miguel Mega, a Portugese guitarist based in Sao Paulo, Brazil and features some funky guitar playing as you would expect and Cristopher Clark’s vocals are pretty true to the original. I personally have always disliked this song so it is hard to give this track a fair review, what I can tell you is that the guitar playing is good, fusion playing but not in the same league as Greg Howe.

Track 5, “Isn’t She Lovely“ - I hate this song with a passion, its just so cheesy and uninteresting and a strange choice for the album. Fabyan Irving on vocals does a good Stevie Wonder impression and Vernon’s playing is good but I can’t get past my hate for this cheery love song sorry!

“I Was Made To Love You“ has some nice Jazz soloing by U-NAM and is one of the few tracks on the album that actually has a clean guitar tone on it which makes a nice change. I’d never heard of U-NAM before but his playing is clean and funky with lots of nice runs and plenty of octaves a la Wes Montgomery!

“Don’t You Worry Bout A Thing“ once again features Brazillian Kiko Loureiro, which is good choice for him with his latin american background turning this tune into something you could quite easily mistake for a Santana tune, well at first anyway, the last minute descends into a shred frenzy with crazy drumming and fast picking galore! I’m not sure what Stevie would say about this but it is certainly impressive from a guitarists’ point of view.

“For Once In My Life“ is another one of those cheese-meister tracks that I just think would have been best left to Stevie to sing at pensioner’s parties. It reminds me of 80’s Royal Variety shows on TV when I was a kid where the cast of Eastenders all come out on stage for a knees up! I think I’m slowly coming to the conclusion that I’m not much of a Stevie Wonder fan? Miguel Mega once again takes center stage on guitar and again plays very nicely but not enough for me to listen to this track again.

The penultimate track is a Vocal (if you can call someone singing using a vocoder vocals) version of ‘Boogie on Reggae Woman‘ again featuring Greg Howe, but it was all said and done on the opening track which is the best track on the album, I don’t understand the point of this track?

The album finishes with an instrumental version of “Isn’t She Lovely“ and well it really is not much better than the vocal version. Not sure why there are 2 vocal and instrumental versions of tracks on this album seems like a waste of time to me, just pick one or the other.

Ok so I’ve been a little negative about this CD which isn’t like me but I have put that down to my general dislike of Stevie Wonder songs, I suggest you check out the streaming tracks on iTunes or similar because there is some really great guitar playing on this album and a few tracks that I would buy separately rather than buying the entire album. If you are a die-hard Stevie Wonder fan then chances are you will think this album is sacrilege but if you are a fan of funky fusion based guitar playing this could be just the thing to pop on your Christmas wishlist!

Here is some exciting news, Jeff Beck is about to release a new live album on November 25th which was recorded at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, all the info is below but if you want to hear a little teaser here is a streaming file taken from the DVD of the classic Jeff Beck track “Cause we ended as lovers” originally featuring on the 1975 album “Blow By Blow”.

This sterling €™07 live gig at the famed British jazz club Ronnie Scott€™s in London features the legendary guitarist in a 16-song career-spanning set that incorporates Rock, Jazz, Ballads, Beatles, Blues, Boogie and Bolero.  Beck raved it up so much with bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and keyboardist Jason Rebello that the usually sedate London Times gushed, perhaps the greatest living guitar virtuoso combining astonishing technique with a blissful nuance he exercised an almost supernatural control of his fretboard.€ Jazzwise called it €œan absolutely jaw-dropping display of the most exciting, imaginative and inspirational jazz-rock guitar witnessed in years.€ And London Lite added, the kind of visceral, fluid music-making that other guitarists can only dream of.€

Recorded over a series of gigs with standing-room-only crowds, the electricity was bouncing off the walls as Beck was clearly inspired himself and egged on by the perfect complement of band mates. A DVD of the event, the first such live concert DVD as authorized by Jeff Beck, will be available in 2009.

Track Listing
1) Beck’€™s Bolero
2) Eternity’€™s Breath
3) Stratus
4) ‘€˜Cause We’€™ve Ended As Lovers
5) Behind The Veil
6) You Never Know
7) Nadia
8) Blast From The East
9) Led Boots
10) Angels (Footsteps)
11) Scatterbrain
12) Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Bush With The Blues
13) Space
14) Big Block
15) A Day In The Life
16) Where Were You

As a Vox AD50VT owner I was interested to see that Vox had launched a new section of their site dedicated to tone settings on their amps. I was a bit surprised to see that it was in fact a replica of Valvetronix.net, for instance check out this preset for a “Slash” type sound. Vox have obviously had their eye on this site for a while and realised how many users found this information valuable so they decided to redirect some of that traffic back to their own site.

In order to view the saved user presets available you just need to go to the Toneroom and choose the amp series that applies to you, if you are a ToneLab owner there is also a section for you too. Once you select your preferred amp you can view all the user presets including the rating that other users have voted on and if they have included it, a link to a YouTube demo. So for instance here is a preset for a Noel Gallagher from Oasis tone, inspired by the track “Live Forever” using an AD series amp like mine. You will see the flash interface shows you exactly which amp model to choose, how much gain and volume, what EQ settings and which effect to use along with the effect parameter settings.

Adding your own tone is very simple but you do have to be a registered member of Voxamps.com before you can add it. Once you are logged in you click on ‘Add Your Tone’ which takes you to the create page. Here you simply name your preset, select which amp series and model and then you are ready to click and drag the amp knobs to the desired settings. Once you are finished you can add some more metadata to help users find exactly what they are looking for such as what artist or song inspired the tone, what pickup position to use, a link to a YouTube demo video if available and a short description.

I think Vox have created a very nice community driven section which most Vox amp users will find very useful. The fact that you can download ToneLab patches is also a big plus. Vox are really having a big revival at the moment so it is good to see that their website is evolving to match the calibre of products that they are producing now.

I was reading an email newsletter from PremierGuitar.com the other day and came across this video and had to share it with you. I think it is pretty amazing that EMG not only had the foresight to realise what a great benefit to their company it would be to have artists demonstrating their pickups on video but they have created a high definition digital studio called “The Cube”. You can find all the actual specs of the studio by watching the video but it looks like they have really gone to town with hardware and software! I’d like a setup like this for my YouTube channel!

I wonder if this studio will be hired out for instructional DVD’s and the like? Seems like a good opportunity to make some money on the side, mind you I have no idea what they have in mind for their website. Whatever they are planning I hope they do a makeover of the website, if they have this much cash to spare there is no excuse!

Original Source: Inside EMG’s New “The Cube” Studio - Premier Guitar

I was sent a url a couple of weeks ago to a site that I thought was a really nice, simple but well executed idea. Let me introduce to you School Of Everything. This site was summed up very nicely by The Guardian who said “...a beautifully simple idea using the web to connect those who have something to teach with those who want to learn.“ What School Of Everything offer is the chance to either find a teacher (or sign up to teach) and through a very simple interface allow you to filter for a particular skill where you wish to find a teacher. Now it just so happens that there is a guitar section which is why I am talking about them in the first place, you can find the main category page here. To allow you to narrow your search for a guitar teacher down you can use the google map on the right hand side to zoom in on your area, there are currently only 85 guitar teachers registered for the site but I believe it is still a fairly new service so I’m sure this will expand. Once you have narrowed down your selection you can click on a teacher to see their profile page which includes a bio, the subjects that they teach and any relevant web links, it also includes related teachers, it doesn’t mean literally related but I’m not entirely sure how they qualify a teacher as related to another? Maybe by area? The profile pages also include pricing, age groups that they teach and whether they teach private or group lessons.

This seems like a very simple way to source a guitar teacher as it includes plenty of information for each teacher and allows you to contact them directly by becoming a member. It is also very easy to sign up as a teacher and put yourself on the map for free!

Gibson describe it as “The Most Versatile Tone Monster Ever Made.“

The Gibson Dark Fire combines two of Gibson’s most popular pickups — the P90h in the neck position and a Burstbucker 3 in the bridge position. Both are capped with new carbon fiber-like pickup covers, impeccably designed to match the Dark Fire’s advanced fade.

This new offering also has acoustic capabilities:

The Dark Fire also gives you the ability to adjust and blend the acoustic sound from the piezo bridge pickup with the sound from the guitar’s traditional pickups. It does this by utilizing a revolutionary rotary potentiometer which is part of the pickup selector toggle switch. By twisting the switch’s head clockwise or counterclockwise, you can blend the piezo acoustic sound from zero percent acoustic sound (100 percent traditional pickups) to 100 percent acoustic sound (no traditional pickups).

Additionally, the Dark Fire features improved locking tuners, a Teflon-based frictionless nut, a bridge that locks to the studs and a chambering system that gives each one near-perfect tone, balance and weight. It also makes the Dark Fire one of the best-sustaining Les Pauls ever produced.

Teflon nut? Thats a good idea!

Each of the Gibson Dark Fire Limited Edition First Run guitars features a dramatic Dark Fire nitrocellulose finish created especially for this exclusive run. It is one of the most striking finishes ever to leave a Gibson factory and is achieved by combining the time-tested techniques of applying a standard nitro finish with several new procedures that help bring out the natural beauty of the wood. The result is a stunning, deep gloss color that naturally highlights each piece of wood’s distinctive grain patterns. The mahogany back and neck of the Dark Fire are given a satin finish, while the top and peghead face are sprayed with a gloss finish.

It does look quite special I have to say! The black binding around the chambered Mahogany body looks stunning. And of course the technology from the original Robot Guitar has been given quite an upgrade making this guitar the most technologically advanced guitar ever created.

The redesigned powerhead tuners on the Dark Fire are significantly smaller and lighter, and more in line with the size and weight of conventional tuners. They’re also radically faster. You can now access any preset tuning in less than one second, which means you can realistically change tunings in the middle of a song, if needed.

For a full overview of the technology used on this guitar check out the Tech page.

Also Gibson players who bought the original Robot will be offered an opportunity to convert their guitars to Dark Fire specs with an upgrade kit that will be made available at a price significantly lower than its standard retail price (in fact, very close to cost).

Oh and you lucky US citizens have the chance to win one of these stunning guitars, check out the Contest page for details.

Dark Fire Homepage

UPDATE: Gibson have uploaded a few sneak peak videos to YouTube, check out the “World’s first look at Dark Fire Teaser 3“ video which has just been uploaded.

I received a press release from Larry over at Six String Bliss and thought it sounded interesting so wanted to share it with you. Hope the A-Team is in there!

Six String Bliss, the longest-running guitar-centric Podcast on the Internet announces the release of Stay Tuned, a collaborative effort by members of their listening community. This project features cover versions of TV Theme Songs, selected and performed by various listeners. Tapping the resources of the audience, Stay Tuned will feature 15 songs performed by 12 different artists. This is truly a global project, as there are entries from Canada, Germany, Greece, Ireland, and Scotland, as well the submissions from the United States. This is the second such project produced by Six String Bliss, the first being last year’s A Blissful Christmas. Says PT Hylton, co-host of the Podcast: “We all have that TV theme song we secretly love. Our contributors took the basic concept and injected it with more passion and enthusiasm than we could have ever hoped for. It has been truly inspiring to see the amazing musicians in our Six-String Bliss community come together on this project. I can’t wait for people to hear it.”

Please check the website at www.sixstringbliss.com for notes regarding this project. Podcast Episode 125 which will feature Stay Tuned will be up on the RSS Feed (http://sixstringbliss.libsyn.com/rss) shortly before Midnight (CST), with the show notes added to the website on Tuesday, November 11th.