There are five types of guitarists online

A little humor for you - everyone who's looked for guitar reviews online should understand :)


I've noticed there are about five different types of people on the average guitar shopping forum/question:


- The Ridiculously Brand Loyal Silver Spooner
"Only a 1957 Gibson is worth anything.  Those other guitars are sh**, and you're a sh** musician if you like them.  Suck it up and get a job, punk."


- The Tuner-Upper
"Find the cheapest guitar.  Dumpsters are fair game.  Take it into your workshop, strip the paintjob, replace the body, build a new neck from scratch, buy Ultra-Grade locking tuners, slap in some $400 Bareknuckle custom pickups, and you're good to go."


- The Confused 12-Year Old
"where do i get a gibsom if i only have $30 and is a first act good enuf 4 tour?"


- That Ultra-Specific Personal Experience Guy
"17 months ago I bought a great MiJ Ibanez XYZ4812 from gU1taR74 on eBay and there was a little bit of fret buzz on the G string but once I adjusted the bridge pickup the treble was perfect so that should work for you too."


- The Soul Match Purist
"You can't buy on brands or price.  You can't buy online, ever.  You must try every guitar in your hands and feel the vibrations touch your heartstrings because every guitar is special and no one else can tell you what feels right for you."

10,000 Views!

Guitar Gear Reviews just broke 10,000 views - thanks viewers!

Made a new site logo / profile pic for the occasion and all that.

WVU Open Mic Night Live Performance

Open Tuned Natural Harmonics

Wrote a little ambient song with natural harmonics on a guitar tuned to a major chord.  Pretty much the prettiest a guitar can get.

Shred Run

Just a little bit of shredding I wrote for showing off~

Hey Bulldog Acoustic Solo

Solo from the Beatles' "Hey Bulldog" on classical acoustic.

New Classical Acoustic Guitar Tuners

          I received a set of replacement tuners for my Juan Estruch classical acoustic guitar, to replace the old and partly broken set of original tuners.  Stay 'tuned' for upcoming projects!

Bernie Sanders 2016 Cover Photo

The Airman's Creed

The Airman's Creed

Sure it's not guitar related at all, but I put a lot of work into this printable form of the Airman's Creed and hope that some other people may find it to be of use as well.

Wanted Dead or Alive Chords Bon Jovi

Chords and lyrics to "Imagine", optimized for printing.

Credit to Ultimate Guitar for the original tablature.

Imagine Chords and Lyrics by John Lennnon

Chords and lyrics to "Imagine", optimized for printing.

Credit to Ultimate Guitar for the original tablature.

Weird Guitar Picks

          With the limitless variety of materials to try as guitar picks, it's incredible that most guitarists never stray from the ever-popular celluloid.  Nonetheless, there are hundreds of viable materials available for those looking for a slightly different tone and feel from their guitar.

More Than Words Lyrics and Chords - Extreme

Full lyrics and chords to the song "More Than Words" by Extreme.

More after the break:

Enter Sandman Solo

Finally got around to learning the solo from Metallica's "Enter Sandman".

Behringer Hellbabe HB-01 Wah Pedal Review

I looked through a lot of wah pedals before ultimately going with the Behringer Hellbabe, as much as I wanted a Morley Bad Horsie, I don't think I could have justified the price difference.

Why did I go with the Behringer?

Find out after the break!

Love is Strange

I've heard this song a lot in commercials recently and decided to learn it for kicks, enjoy :)

Tabs here: http://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/mickey-and-sylvia-love-is-strange-tab-s87163t0

Carry on my Wayward Son Intro

One of my favorite songs of all time here - Carry on my Wayward Son by Kansas.

Behringer Hellbabe HB-01 Wah Pedal Demo

Demo of the Behringer Hellbabe Wah pedal with several effects - full review coming soon!

"Souped Up Amp" with wah

The "Souped Up Amp" is still going strong after two years, and turns out it works pretty well with a wah pedal too!

Thinking Out Loud Cover

My cover of Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud", for my lovely girlfriend.  One of my first vocal covers, and my first with a new microphone for better quality audio.

Digital Reference DRV100 Microphone Review

I went to Guitar Center planning on buying a Shure SM48-LC or similar microphone - but was recommended the outstanding deal of two Digital Reference DRV100 microphones for $30 and decided to pull the trigger.  It turned out to be a fantastic decision.

Review after the break -

Enter Mandolin - Rogue RM100A

Installed a pair of cheap piezoelectric pickups into my Rogue RM-100A Mandolin, time to rock out!
Review and pics coming soon :)

Annabel Lee meets Heavy Metal (Edgar Allen Poe)

Seven Metallica Riffs in Two Minutes

How well do you know Metallica? 

Tape Delay Effects

Messing around with 100% tape delay and some diminished 7th scales.

School's Out

Graduation day finally came... so here's Alice Cooper's "School's Out".

Hallowed Be Thy Name (Short)

Sneak peek at upcoming recording of Iron Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name", with layered guitar parts and an improvised solo over top.

The Trooper

Felt like some heavy metal and guitar harmonizing, so here's my take on Iron Maiden's "The Trooper".

Greatest Riffs of All Time (Seventh Edition)

          Many different lists have been compiled of the "best guitar songs" to learn, but I thought I'd put in my 2 cents on this everlasting debate by putting out my personal list of best guitar riffs.

          This list is now in its seventh iteration and while is still subjective of course, has added some more riffs to make it more encompassing and cover more types of music, and many of the songs are hyperlinked to the most accurate tabs on Ultimate Guitar.  You're welcome.

Awesomeness after the break.

Thunderruption

Some tapping work... Thunderruption!

Super Mario Bros - Mandolin

           First mandolin video here!  I've only played mandolin for around a year now, and much less often than guitar, but here goes - Super Mario Bros on mandolin.

Thinking Out Loud Chords and Lyrics

Chords, lyrics, and solo tab for Ed Sheeran's hit "Thinking Out Loud", optimized for printing convenience.

Classic Rock Mix

          How many of these classic rock riffs can you name?

Painkiller

          Thrashing to the riffs of "Painkiller" by Judas Priest.  One of the hardest songs on Rockband 2!

Metal Humbucker Pickup Covers Review

          Looking to change the look of one or more of my guitars, I decided to take a chance on some cheap metal pickup covers from Amazon for new style without a lot of work or money.  Worth the low price?  Maybe...

Far Beyond the Sun

Tried my hand at shredding today, here's my practice take of "Far Beyond the Sun" by Yngwie Malmsteen.  A great but ridiculously difficult song :P

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Solo)

Solo from Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".  It's hard to quite capture the energy of Brian May's solos but I try :)

Today

Short cover of "Today" by the Smashing Pumpkins to test how hard an acoustic-electric can rock!

Bang Go the Bells

Riff from the hard rock hit "Bang Go the Bells" by the band Babylon A.D.

Winner Of The GPC Guitar Legends Contest

5000 views!

Just a shoutout to all my viewers, thanks for your interest!  This blog has really picked up in the past two months, hope it'll only keep getting better from here!  Having also had a blog with 30,000 views and another with 20,000, I think we can top that :)

Malaguena

- Malaguena -


My take on the Spanish classic "Malaguena" with original variations.


Tablature: http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/a/andres_segovia/malaguena_tab.htm

Further Strat Modifications

          Because I just can't leave my cheap Squier Strat alone, I did another round of mods to it, mainly to increase tuning stability and dampen crazy spring reverb.

More after the break.

James Bond Theme

Keeping things classy with the 007 theme.

Starcraft Terran Cover

Brief cover of part of a song from the original 1998 Starcraft Terran soundtrack. If you recognized it, you're awesome ;)  

Strat Pickguard Replacement

Recently ordered and received a new prewired pickguard from Amazon.  So far I'm extremely happy with it for what I paid :)  

Many pictures after the break.

Passage to Bangkok

Harmonizing the riffs to "Passage to Bangkok" by Rush.  Sorry for the low visual quality, Microsoft Expression Encoder always does that when I overlay videos.

Hocus Pocus

Just riffing along to Hocus Pocus by the band Focus.  Really fun song to play :)

Don't Stop Believing Solo

Quick little solo from the Journey classic "Don't Stop Believing".

DIY Fretcam

          What's that strange wooden device there?  Why, it's a guitar headstock fretboard camera mount of course!  A "fretcam" mount like this is a simple device (like a tripod) for mounting a camera to the headstock of a guitar, allowing a camera to video down the fretboard as you play.

          Construction was simple, just three pieces of wood cut and sanded to 1/2" x 1 1/2" x either 4 1/2" (shorter two pieces) or 5 1/2" (longer piece).  The two shorter pieces are held together by bolts and work as a clamp to hold on to the headstock.  The longer arm at 90 degrees holds the camera by it's threaded mount.  I drilled five different holes through the longer arm, which allows the height to be adjusted, and the camera can be tilted to the desired angle.

          It's not perfect, but it's easy to make and quite effective if used right.  Below I have some examples of the fretcam in action.

Pedal Chain

Current pedal chain

          Here's my current footpedal setup, though it's extremely simple.  I'm currently only using three pedals, two of which I only occasionally use.  From left to right:

Joyo JF-2 Ultimate Drive - Very nice overdrive/distortion pedal for just $30.  Only used sometimes because I can get plenty of different overdrives and distortions from the amplifier.

Homemade Passive Signal Modifier - Has a couple different, mostly subtle, effects.  This functions like an extension of the tone and volume controls in the guitar, with a more variable tone knob that can cut either treble or bass, but reduces the signal greatly.  Also has a passive diode clipping control to allow a slight natural overdrive.  Honestly the best part is that it is entirely battery and power source free.

Homemade A/B Selector Switch - This is the most basic footpedal possible - and also my most used pedal.  Made from an old hard drive case, it's just an input jack and on/off switch.  This allows changing between two presets on the amplifier.  Extremely useful.

Graphtech TUSQ Nut (42mm Strat)

          A brief review of the Graphtech TUSQ nut, installed as an upgrade to the original nut on my Squier Bullet Stratocaster.  An overpriced but very functional upgrade to almost any guitar in regards to tuning stability.

Full review right after the break.

Custom guitar pick design

          Clayton USA manufactures guitar picks and other accessories, and will even make custom picks, great for advertising your band.  I decided to check out their custom pick designer and made this simple Skyrim designed Acetal pick.  The price is $0.50 per pick, and this is on the low end of costs, so it's not cheap, but I'd definitely consider buying some for inexpensive advertising.

Into the Void Drop G

          A classic heavy metal riff.  Recorded in drop C#, I took it to the next level and played in drop G, nearly a whole octave down.  Enjoy!

Mr Crowley Cover

My cover of "Mr. Crowley" by Ozzy Osbourne.  The solo over the intro is original improvisation.

Credit to Ozzy Osbourne and especially Randy Rhoads for creating this awesome song.

Some Blues Backing Tracks

Here's a couple jazz/blues/funk backing tracks to satisfy your need for soul jams.

More after the break.

Skyrim Tablature

Skip the Bard's college!  Here are some of the most popular Skyrim songs with lyrics and chords from Ultimate Guitar, formatted and sized for printing.

More after the break.

Sweet Home Alabama / Jameson Thinline Acoustic Guitar Demo

          Here's a bit of Sweet Home Alabama to demo the Jameson acoustic-electric guitar that I got for Christmas. I hooked it up to an amp on low volume just for a little extra reverb, ambiance, and all that.

Overall it's a pretty good guitar, I'd give it 9/10 stars for an inexpensive instrument.

Full review coming in the next few days!

Satch Boogie

      My little cover of part of "Satch Boogie" by Joe Satriani, from the album "Surfing with the Alien". Recorded entirely with my homemade fretboard camera mount. It was zoomed in a little much but the battery was low so I only had one take, and plus it's a really hard song :P