Blog List

Well, it seems that the guitar podcast directory was a good idea and well received by those that saw it and sought it out but honestly, not a lot of hits come from that page. That's not a big deal or anything, my wife often says I'm one of the few that genuinely enjoys listening to other people talk, even when it's about something I love.

I think this one will be much more popular as there is a reason you're HERE, right? I'm assuming of course you didn't just stumble across the site and decided to spend your time going back through the catalog even though your favorite thing in the world is, say, scrap booking.

We here at the 5th Fret know that we are but one blog and we certainly don't think you should read JUST our blog (though you should read it any chance you get). I know in my blog reader I have 63 blogs that I subscribe to, 46 of those being guitar related. Unfortunately all of those 46 aren't really worthwhile or they have ceased posting new material. In that case, if the older material is still worth while, I'll include it.

This is just my list though and if you have a guitar blog you would like to recommend, please leave a comment and do so. I would really like to read it. 46 blogs sometimes just isn't enough and I love to read.

So for those of you who would like to add a blog, make sure it isn't on the list yet and then leave a comment with the blog title and URL, your name (or the name you would like to be posted anyway) and why you like the blog. I'll make sure it's a legitimate guitar blog and not just random spam and add all of that info to the list.

So let's see this list!

http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/ A Guitar Teacher's Lesson Notebook. I'm not entirely sure why it's called that though. It's just a really good guitar blog.

http://www.blog.frugalguitarist.com/ Frugal Guitarist. Oh, FG, you are always going to end up on my favorite blog lists.

http://guitartone.blogspot.com/ Brian Wampler builds pedals. He's the reason things like Wampler Pedals and Indy Guitarist are around. Recently he went to Summer NAMM and did not get a booth. He just went to walk around and document for us because he's a guitarist first and a pedal builder second. There's something really cool about that. Definitely worth checking out.

http://www.blackhearteng.com/blog/ Clogged Arteries. This is a Blackheart Amps blog and while a lot of companies toot their own horn and use a blog as a way of getting good press and testimonials out to the public and this is no different, it's from Blackheart Amps, a company that seems to deserve some attention. You have to admire a company that has a section of their web site dedicated to the modifications users are doing to their amps. That kind of thing would make most amp makers pull their hair out.

http://www.jemsite.com/blog.html "The Community Blog." If you hang around guitar blogs long enough, this term will probably come up and they are probably talking about the community blog at Jemsite. Not just limited to Ibanez Jems, but guitar in general, often with helpful tips and great news articles, it's definitely worth a look.

http://www.electric-guitar-review.com/ Electric Guitar Review. I am a huge fan of reviews. I can't get enough of them. Between the new all-in-one budget Amplitube Fender package (that retails for $100.00) and the 1.1 update to the regular Fender package (which retails for MUCH more) I think I've read about a dozen or so reviews on Amplitube's Fender packages. I don't mind at all. Consider them all second opinions and you'll be set. What one reviewer might miss another won't and in the end you'll have enough information from enough sources that you'll be able to form something that resembles and educated opinion all without playing it yourself.

http://www.fender.com/blog/ Fender Front Row. Oddly enough, with companies like Fender and Gibson (more so with Gibson) their blogs - their official company blogs - often feature amazing stories that have little if anything to do with the company. I think this is awesome as they seem to enlist the help of some of the best writers around to write for them.

http://www.fretbase.com/blog/ Fret Base.

http://www.gear-vault.com/ Gear Vault. Not to sound like I'm limiting the blog or anything (because there is a ton of great stuff here) but if you have a blog entitled Metallica VS Megadeth you now have my attention.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle Gibson Lifestyle. This blog features one of my favorite writers (Jonah Bayer) and some of the coolest articles around on a variety of topics. Whether they want to show you the new VOX book that details the history of the company or whether they want to talk about how P90s are becoming the most sought after pickups (they are in this household) or they want to show you a list (my god, do they love lists and who doesn't like to read a good list, especially when it's about the best stage fights, or favorite named guitars, or bands that feature siblings) this is one of the blogs that is just required reading.

http://www.guitarnoize.com/ Guitar Noize.

http://redwingguitar.blogspot.com/ Guitar Repair and Construction. I wouldn't look here to figure out what's wrong with your pickups or how to set your intonation. This is a blog maintained by a guitar building teacher with pictures and stories from his classes. The students come in and build their own guitars and we get to sit at home and watch it and say "MAN, that looks AWESOME!"

http://guitarspeedsecret.blogspot.com/ Guitar Speed Secret. To a guy like me who would love to shred or at least put a fast solo in a song or two, this blog is invaluable. Who doesn't want the ABILITY to go nuts whenever they want?

http://www.guitarticles.net/ GuitArticles. Maintained by the same guy as Guitar Speed Secret (Tennyson Williams) this is another truly helpful blog. Well worth the time to check it out.

http://www.guitarvibe.com/ Guitar Vibe. It isn't just the fact that this is a good blog that made it onto my list. For the last few days I've been following his progress through National Guitar Workshop and let's just say it's been amazing to read about it. You rarely see people document their way through a school like this.

http://www.iheartguitarblog.com/ I Heart Guitar. Apparently I Heart Guitar is turning into one of the biggest Guitar Blogs out there and getting recognized by print media left and right. Kudos to them. They deserve it.

http://searcystringworks.blogspot.com/ Searcy String Works. Clint Searcy is an interesting fellow who makes pickups, records some great music and often does reviews on Six String Bliss' podcast that are informative and easy to understand, even if you have no experience with, say, an envelope filter. He'll explain it to you without talking down to you and the stories he talks about on his blog are incredibly entertaining too.

http://www.sixstringbliss.com/. Six String Bliss. They have the longest running guitar podcast in the world and as a fan, I include them on this list though it would be wicked sweet if they would take the news stories from Guitar News Daily (http://www.guitarnewsdaily.com/) and also upload them to the blog for those of us that can't access the site from work both sites need to be checked out (and again, if you have an iPod, why are you not listening to them?).

http://stratoblogster.blogspot.com/ Strat-O-Blogster. This one is one of my favorite blogs, a blog that, when it pops up in the reader with others, will probably be read first. There's all sorts of cool stuff here, so much cool stuff in their articles that it doesn't even matter that I don't like Strats at all! It's just that cool.

http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/ Street Musician. Street Musician recently released a series of posts about busking, what to expect, the stereotypes, how to handle them, the purpose of it all and it was an amazing read especially for a guy like me who lives in a small town where busking just wouldn't work. He also constantly includes ways to make your playing better and runs the Top 100 Guitar Blogs (of which the 5th Fret is number 110).

http://truthinshredding.blogspot.com/ Truth In Shredding. While it would be easy to assume that TiS is about nothing but shredding, that would be an incorrect assumption though shredding does play a part in a lot of it. It's just a great blog worthy of your attention and subscription.

http://bookerjwood.blogspot.com/ Your one stop shop for recording tips and tricks in a digital world. Very handy stuff for getting past the learning curve of home recording.

http://www.muzicosphere.com/ This particular site is in French, but there's a language toggle in the header so you can read it in English. It's a very well-written blog that should be checked out!

http://leftyfretz.com I've always been curious about left-handed guitars. Do left handed players look at right handed guitars and think they look as weird as I think left handed guitars do or are they so used to seeing them that left handed guitars look weird to them too? For a look into the life of a left-handed guitarist, check this site out.

http://ajobteachingguitar.wordpress.com/ Want to learn how to play guitar? Want to learn how to TEACH guitar? This site's for you!

http://onlineguitarbooks.com/ Want to learn theory, scales and modes, but don't know where to go to get the goods?  This site has it in spades!

http://www.guitarfail.com/ One of my good blogging friends started a blog all about Guitar Fails and it's quickly catching on!  Well worth throwing this in your RSS!

So there you have it, my list. Submit your favorite guitar blogs to be added per the instructions at the top and the list can be updated and added to by you the reader.

Thanks for reading.

-Pappy