Guitar Licks and Tips


You are here: Home / Archives for Musicians

Chuck Berry is the Father Rock and Roll

by

Chuck Berry. Wow, what a man/guitarist/god! After saying his name out loud I find myself sitting back and thinking about all that he has done for Rock and Roll music throughout his life. Chuck Berry is Rock and Roll!

I’ve been a huge fan ever since I heard this song at an old friends house, Carl Tessier was his name I think? I eventually bought the album and tried in vain to figure out what it was that he was doing! The licks, chords and phrasings are things that only he can do! A couple of years ago I did a small post about Chuck Berry on my other blog. In it there was a video that shows him telling Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones how to play a certain part of a song that they and his band is playing for a documentary, Hail hail Rockin’ Roll. God it’s so funny!

So here’s to Chuck Berry! Enjoy.

Keep on Jammin’ Canada!





Acoustic Guitar magazine is 20 years old

by

The Acoustic Guitar magazine is celebrating 20 years of service to all those die hard acoustic guitarists out there everywhere!

I’ve always found some great topics and intriguing issues in this magazine. The way the articles are phrased makes them simple to understand and the writers don’t talk down to you. I find this magazine to be unmatched and highly recommend it to any level of guitarist.

I’ve picked up some real nice little riffs and chord progressions in it that I find myself using without even realizing it! The website is just fabulous! If you have an online subscription, the guitar videos will help you become not only a much better guitarist, but a well rounded musician as well. I can’t say enough about the guys and girls that work there.

Acoustic Guitar’s 20th anniversary issue has what they consider to be the top 240 essential albums from the past 20 years. Some are from albums/guitarist that are familiar and some musicians that are very obscure to most, but in the end will help you expand your playing styles in new and exciting directions.

The anniversary installment, January’s issue, covers some great guitar and gear innovations over the past 20 years. Products like the Trace acoustic TA-100, the Kyser Quick Change capo (I’ve got one and I NEVER leave home with out one in my case), the Fishman Acoustic Matrix piezo pickup, tons of guitars and pedals. It also has a real nice article about how guitar making technology has helped change the sound of modern instruments.

Acoustic Guitar 20th Anniversary collector’s edition is out and I highly recommend that you pick this one up for either yourself or a guitarist that you know.

Keep on Jammin’ Acoustic Guitar!

The Roots Music Authority called No Depression

by

The website called No depression is a follow up from a quarterly print magazine covering alternative- country music in 1995. The magazine was canceled in June 2008. I caught a glimpse of it while at work the other day and from what I saw of their final issue I wish that they continued on with it.

I found the magazine highlighting a ton of blues players and other songwriters, I only skimmed through it for around an hour and then the patient that had brought it in had to go.

No Depression had received Utne Reader Independent Press Awards for Arts & Literature coverage, and was cited as one of the nation’s Top 20 magazines of any kind in 2004 by the Chicago Tribune. It had it’s own radio show in Texas that was syndicated in between 2002 – 2003. They even did a tour with a couple of bands that they fell in love with during the magazine. They were featuring Whiskeytown, the Old 97’s, Hazeldine, and the Picketts) in 1997.

Our name, No Depression, refers to a song written by southern gospel pioneer J.D. Vaughan called “No Depression In Heaven.” The Carter Family recorded it in 1936, making the song one of their few topical offerings. It was cut again by Charlie Monroe (Bill’s brother and one-time singing partner) in 1948, released as the B-side of his 1950 RCA single “Mother’s Not Dead.” It next resurfaced, minus one verse, on a 1959 album by the New Lost City Ramblers (whose membership included Mike Seeger) called Songs From The Depression. That is the album that St. Louis band Uncle Tupelo heard and that they made the title track to their 1990 debut album. And that, in turn, led to the naming of an Internet discussion board, No Depression/Alt.Country. We thought all that history made it an ideal name for a magazine that wished to cover the past, present and future of American music. And with nodepression.com, we’re echoing the roots of that first-generation discussion board (which is still active, by the way).

In that final issue they also did a piece on a old high school friend of mine Carl Wilson, now that blew my mind!

So check it out and tell me what yo think of it!

Keep on jammin’

Meta

Pages