The Fifth Fret

The Terrible Tone Challenge

2012-01-27T15:10:00.000-05:00

The Terrible Tone Challenge

By PT

What is the most awful guitar sound you have ever produced?

Maybe you plugged into an unfamiliar piece of gear. Maybe a child or non-musical loved one randomly twisted the knobs on your amp. Or, maybe you just pushed the Distortion button on your 1980s Peavey Rage.

Whatever the case, imagine that terrible tone now. Feel the way it offended your ears. Really try to hear it.

Could you reproduce that sound? Or create one even more hideous?

I come before you this day with a challenge, dear Fifth Fret readers. I challenge you to create your worst possible tone and record it. Enough with the great tone already! My ears are up for something truly awful.

I intend to come back to this space next week with a recording of the worst tone I can muster. I have no idea what it will be just yet, but I do know it will be putrid.

If you would like to participate in the Terrible Tone Challenge, email me a sound clip at pt(at)sixstringbliss.com. Next Friday, I will post my clip along with any submissions I receive. They won’t be pretty, but they will have the ‘can’t-look-away’ awesomeness of a bad tattoo or ‘People at some Big-Box Store’ website.

Who is up for the challenge? At the very least, it will give your friends and family a new appreciation for your usual carefully crafted tone.

PT is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.

The Guitar Room

2012-01-25T04:00:00.000-05:00

The Guitar Room
By Pappy

I rent a house that's pretty awful. Horribly energy-inefficient, surrounded by questionable characters (just last week a gentleman died about 50 yards from where I sit right now), run by some of the biggest cash-grabbing opportunists, and featuring a space that doesn't really function all that well, it's a unique house in the amount of pain it gives me.

But like always I think "how long can we possibly live here?" and every day that period gets a little longer (obviously) but that just means the end is even closer, right?!

The odd space in the house is supposed to be a dining room or a den. But the living room is so big that a table fits in well so, while it may not be a "formal" dining room, I don't think it's much of a loss because "formal" just means "rarely used." So we let the kids have it. We wanted to keep them out of their rooms so we could keep an eye on them or hear them if anything happened, and, as a result, the room was destroyed all the time. Every time we tried to clean it, it was wrecked again within MINUTES of the kids waking up.

The room looked like a bomb went off in it. A toy bomb. Awful. I know you're thinking "how bad can it really be?" Well, friend, I will SHOW you further down. Just wait.

We also have a spare bedroom that my wife and I used as an office. And then she started to also use it as storage. And then she started taking over more and more of it, constantly complaining about how much space my guitars and amps take up. Fed up, I said fine, I'm taking over the toy room.

I grabbed trash bags, opened up the car doors and loaded up all sorts of stuff for Good Will. Then I cleaned it up and began to transform it into an area for me - JUST for me. I don't want to sound like I didn't want to share or anything, but I felt like, since I have the space, I might as well make it a pleasing part of the house instead of a wasted area where there was nothing but a depressing mess.

I moved my bookshelves, amp, put up some String Swings, reclaimed a very comfortable and versatile couch that is generally unloved by my other family members, and settled in. There were some requests to use it as storage as well ("Can we store some bikes in here?" "No, we cannot.") and I did end up with a huge rocking chair because it just couldn't go anywhere else, but generally, it's a very nice space. I feel good in it.

There are trade-offs. HUGE trade-offs. Where I have tons of great light and lots of space, I can't plug in my guitars without headphones when the kids are asleep, which is generally the only time I can plug in anyway.

I also don't have a desk or chair anymore. I sit on a footstool and use an end-table as a desk. That's lame sauce!

I'm also right next to the kitchen with its noisy appliances, and that is next to the living room where my apparently-deaf wife watches TV. The weirdest part about the human ear is that it hears LESS when what it's trying to hear is something you WANT to hear, but when it's something you DON'T want to hear, the volume of a pin dropping is just loud enough for you to say "Jeez! Do you have to have it up so loud?!"

But still, how badly can I complain when I have this great-looking space?

OK, so let's get into the pictures!

All done! I like it!

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The Big Reveal

2012-01-23T04:00:00.000-05:00

The Big Reveal

By Pappy

US soap opera One Life to Live recently aired its last episode ever. It's a show that has been on forever (I think, if there was a creation, God must have taken breaks during the days to watch His "stories") and in a "clever" twist, the finale was wrapped up with fair endings for almost all of the characters and delivered in narrated form by one of the shows villains as a screen play. She is reading the screenplay to a bound hostage, tied to a hotel room bed.

Apparently every One Life to Live Fan had a pretty good idea that the person tied to the bed (who remained unseen until the last few seconds) was Victor Lord, who had recently died.

We knew it was coming, but the show still wanted to do the full reveal and try to show people who have grown pretty accustomed to shocks over the last few decades that the show has been on. The reveal itself wasn't spectacular and I really don't think the finale was better off for the reveal itself, more for the information that Victor is alive after all.

See, it's really the INFORMATION that the fans appreciate, not the reveal.

Guitar companies can stand to pay attention to this factoid.

Recently there was a bit of a hubbub as photos of guitars from companies were "leaked" out to stores and the press and these people posted the information on the Internet, perhaps in a premature gesture because it took the shock and surprise out of the reveal at NAMM.

But I say "Come on. We had a pretty good idea what was coming." Indeed, the only thing I've seen so far (having written this BEFORE NAMM) is that Parker is coming out with a seven string, which is sure to please the masses of metal heads to have been begging for one on several forums. I would have liked to see a Ken Parker seven string Fly because I wonder what he would have done with it, but that's neither here nor there.

Guitar companies rarely come out with anything surprising. Why should they? Guitar companies want to make the most money possible, that means listening to the biggest group of people and saying yes, the world could stand a few more variations of the Telecaster, or another Jem, or this or that. They want to make what sells because that's business. There may be art at the core, but this is more like the galleries that want to sell the art than the starving individual in the corner who just wants to create it and see it enjoyed.

So I say so what if your pictures were leaked on the Internet? What did you think was going to happen differently if the lid had stayed on that information and you were able to do that big reveal in those last few seconds? Do you think more people would buy the guitars or amps because you teased them into a froth? I doubt it.

But the information is out, and I believe that the information is all anyone REALLY wants and the leaks actually beat the inevitable flood of information that comes with bloggers and journalists trying to document everything that they see, so it isn't all bad. I know I get so flooded with NAMM stuff from other blogs that eventually I stop caring (possibly even stop looking at NAMM posts) so I would take the leaks as a bit of a blessing.

Perhaps if the reveal of Victor Lord had happened earlier in the episode we could have found out how the hell he's still alive...

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Blues with Brains Review

2012-01-20T09:31:00.000-05:00

Blues with Brains Review
By PT

For many guitarists, learning the pentatonic scale was an early milestone in our guitar playing journeys. They were five little notes that opened the door to a much larger world. I’ll never forget the guitar high I got the first time I grabbed the G-string and bent the heck of out of it while playing over a 12-bar blues progression. Now that was guitar playing! Watch out world; PT is armed with the blues box!

But as Uncle Ben taught us, with great power comes great responsibility. The pentatonic scale is an alluring master, eager to pull well-meaning guitar players into the jaws of tired, clichéd soloing.

Below is a conversation I had with the cool kid who first showed me the pentatonic scale when I was an impressionable sophomore in high school. Note: This was nearly twenty years ago, so it is possible (though highly unlikely) that this may not be the conversation verbatim.

PT: Wait a minute. So you are saying I can use this to solo over anything?

Cool Kid (Les Paul in hand): Yep.

PT: So if the song is in the key of A, I just play any note in this scale on fifth fret?

Cool Kid: Yep.

PT (his mind officially blown): So this is pretty much the secret to being a good guitar player?

Cool Kid (a man of few words who prefers to let his pentatonic scales do the talking): Yep.

It took years of awful guitar soloing for me to realize the inaccuracy of Cool Kid’s statements.

If, like me, you find yourself easily thrown by odd chord changes and unsure why sometimes your trusty old pentatonic licks don’t sound quite right, allow me to introduce your new best friend: 'The Blues With Brains' series by Chuck D’Aloia.

Mr. D’Aloia is a tasteful player with a glorious tone and oddles of style. He teaches in a casual, laid back manner, but don’t be fooled. There is a plethora of information in these lessons. 'Blues With Brain Part 1' is about an hour and fifteen minutes long. I have gone through that lesson at least five times, and I’ve picked up plenty of nuances on each viewing.

Chuck starts with the basic pentatonic scale over a both a major and minor blues progression in the first lesson. He demonstrates how making fairly minor changes to the way you approach a blues solo can have dramatic results. And that is just the beginning.

I can’t say enough good things about this series. It has me excited about blues in a way I haven’t been in a long time. I am considering tracking down my old buddy Cool Kid and buying him a copy.

Mr. D’Aloia has priced these lessons quite reasonably: $20 for any one lesson, the complete six-part 'Blues With Brains' series for $50, or the 'Blues With Brains' series plus four additional advanced lessons for $100. And I think it’s fair to say that these lessons will have a far greater impact on your playing and sound than that $100 pedal you’ve been eyeing.

The lessons presume a basic knowledge of pentatonic scales in various positions, so you may want to brush up on those if it’s been a while since your last blues solo.

To learn more, hear Chuck’s music and get a free lesson, check out http://chuckdaloiamusic.com/id2.html

PT is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.

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Brad Paisley Diary of a Player

2012-01-18T04:00:00.000-05:00

Brad Paisley's Diary of a Player Review
By Pappy

I think I may have a skewed idea of who Brad Paisley is. See, in my mind, Brad Paisley is like us. If he wasn't out right now selling millions and millions of records, touring to sold-out stadiums, getting fawned over by seas of groupies and delivering the tonal goodness to millions of people, he may be right where I'm at: sitting behind a computer. He seems to be the kind of guy that would either be reading or, more likely, writing a blog of his own, expressing his love of the instrument. He seems to be filled with the same enthusiasm that Jon from Guitar Noize is, or I am (Jon's a much better player than I am though).

My point is, I identified with Brad Paisley (certainly) not because of his playing ability, but because of his obvious love of the guitar. I think that this isn't uncommon. I think this is what makes Paisley a lovable hero to all sorts of guitar players, regardless of their musical tastes or preferences. Brad Paisley is a guitar player's guitar player. He may have become famous for his clever lyrics and crowd-pleasing songs, but it's obvious that the guitar and his playing is the real star. I mean, he released an album of almost all instrumentals, what else would any guitar player need to know that this guy speaks the truth and the guitar isn't merely a hanging decoration for the singer to look cool with. He's the genuine article.

And his book was really promising. It's called Diary of a Player, features a cover picture of him standing there, looking almost oblivious to the amount of people that are going to be reading this - just one of the many guitar players out there that just so happens to have a camera pointed in his direction at this very moment. I was both excited and a little scared at the prospect of this book.

"Oh, hey! Didn't see you there! You just caught me walking by, perfectly lit holding my awesome guitar. Yeah, you can take a picture of you want."

Let me say, I would have read this book anyway as Paisley's a hero of mine, but I was a little disappointed in Keith Richards' book because, while it mentioned the guitar, it wasn't as in the guitar weeds as I would have liked. I suspect this is because he wanted to appeal to the widest base possible, but I also have to question this thought. You're Keith Richards and you may be known for some great things done in your life, but most of them come with you holding a guitar in front of you. If Mick Jagger released a book, I would expect mass appeal, but you're a guitarist for crying out loud. Tons of people want to know your tricks and hear your guitar stories.

Brad Paisley's book is similar to Richards. There are a lot of great stories, but any detailed guitar stuff is presented humbly, in minor detail and almost with an apologetic feel. Like Paisley was saying "look, I know you want to hear all these great stories, but I AM a guitarist and this little bit of information is kind of important, so let's just get through it and I promise, we'll be back to the entertainment that everyone can enjoy."

So yes, I was a little bummed that the book wasn't a gear diary, but at least most of the stories orbit the guitar as if it's some holy strung sun. He told great stories about his grandfather getting him his first guitar and his grandfather said that you'll never be lonely if you play guitar. He meant the guitar will keep you company. What I think is funny about this statement is that you'll always hear great guitarists say they would lock themselves in their room and practice for hours. Yes, the guitar will definitely keep you company, but sometimes it will be the only thing keeping you company.

Just the way we guitarists like it.

Sometimes.

You get the feeling that the book is written by a guitar player and the guitar is basically the reason that all these adventures are happening to him, but you also know from reading it for just a few pages that he has a deep, deep love for music in general and the people that have inspired and played with him. Not only does he display a love for these people but he wants YOU to love them too and provides pretty amazing overviews of their lives and careers and I found myself inspired to look deeper into these other guitarists' catalogs or histories.

I'll tell you one of the cooler things about this book: Paisley really goes into just how freaking AWESOME it is to be him. I don't blame him one bit, either. He's worked his entire life to get to this point and if I were in his shoes I wouldn't hold myself back too much when I talk about how, thanks to my hard work and diligence, I got to not only meet my guitar heroes, not only play with my guitar heroes, but RECORD with them. I won't lie, I would probably be tripping over myself if I had the opportunity to play with Paisley, Heath, Setzer, or Cheney, even if they took the entire time to do nothing more than OWN me with their own fabulous playing. I would emerge from the recording sessions, holding a disc as if it were a new infant telling strangers on the street "I just played with Brad Paisley! He was fantastic and dominated me every second of it, but I played with him! I have the evidence right here in my hand!"

This wouldn't be me showing off, this would be me geeking out on fulfilling a DREAM. You always hear stories about your heroes, you may see them at shows, possibly even meet them and get a picture or autograph, but they're still far away in a way. You have this thing in common, but you know, deep inside, that you'll more than likely never share it with them regardless of how much you want to. You know it because you're realistic. You play guitar in your bedroom or living room. Perhaps you play at Starbucks or at dives. Perhaps you're doing your own regional tours. But you know that you and your heroes are still worlds apart.

Now imagine, even if you KNOW it's impossible, or at least highly improbable, it happened. Tell me you wouldn't geek out the same way!

So the book documents Paisley's growth and development both as a guitar player that was unpopular with his peers, then being popular among his peers when Garth Brooks became popular and brought country music to the masses who didn't listen to country music, then his stint at college, his first writing jobs, the first time singing for a boss and then pretty great documentation of his career. He said that he was never interested in making a big splash, but instead slowly climb the charts and become a musician with staying power, not a flash in the pan. I would definitely say he succeeded.

I love Brad Paisley. He's the reason I bought a Telecaster. He's the reason I listen to the country that I do. I admire and respect his dedication to the guitar in a world and age where playing the guitar is treated more as a filler in the background for your twangy, drawl-tastic vocals to go over which is what you see from a lot of other country artists. I would have read this book regardless of the content. Fortunately for me though, it's a really entertaining book. It's filled with great stories that are heartfelt and that I sympathized with. Brad Paisley is probably one of the most down-to-earth celebrities and that feeling is a theme in the book. It's easy to identify with him as he's practicing. It's easy to live vicariously through his stories of playing, of meeting his heroes, of recording, becoming a star, and touring the world. It's also easy to identify and picture losing everything in the Nashville flood and loved ones along the way. You care about the people in this book as if they were your friends and family. That's a powerful book.

Do I recommend it? You bet. Not only is it an entertaining read about everything that most us guitarists dream about whenever we have free time, written by a guitarist that is no-kidding a REAL guitarist and told to you in a down-to-earth manner that might be written by the guy down the block, but reading is good for your brain. And this will give you even more detail for your rock star fantasies.

My caveat: I would recommend buying a physical copy of this book, not the electronic version, or at least not for the Amazon Kindle. There were things missing on my Kindle that I saw when reading on my iPhone, and I'm pretty sure that there are pictures in the real book that aren't in either.

Check it out, folks. It may not have been as gear-heavy as I would have liked, but my love for incredible gear detail may have made for a REALLY boring book for you. As it is, this will entertain almost all of you, I'm sure of it.

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Taylor 616CE Review

2012-01-16T04:00:00.000-05:00

Taylor 616CE Review

By Pappy

I wrote a while back about the Taylor Find Your Fit event and how my fit was a 616CE. It clicked in a way that I had never experienced before where it just felt and sounded like it was made just for me. Fifth Fret writer PT likened the experience to Harry Potter finding his wand at Olivander’s shop where wand after wand was disastrous, but when the right one was picked, the room lit up magically. The wand was perfect for Harry and this guitar was perfect for me.

So after I got home I emailed the good folks at Taylor Guitars and asked if they would be interested in sending me a 616CE to review and to see if the fit was still right or if this was a case similar to trying on clothes in a department store where they look great there, but at home, under your lights… Not so much.

They accepted the proposal and sent me the 616CE. The box arrived and I let it sit for about four hours in my house, still in the box, to give it time to adjust to the temperature (it had been in a sweltering truck all day and my house is not nearly that hot and sudden changes in temperature or humidity to cause some serious damage to any guitar and this was one guitar I definitely did not want to damage. I felt like a kid who snuck out of bed at Christmas, saw the presents, but knew I had to go back to bed otherwise my folks would know I was snooping. My foot was bouncing and I kept staring at the box.

Soon…

Then it was time. I opened it up and pulled out the case.

Let’s talk about cases for just a second here: In Bob Taylor’s book he was talking about how cases usually come in fairly generic sizes that say “fits most X” kind of guitars which actually means “fits no guitar.” Well, it fits no guitar PERFECTLY. And if you’re buying a guitar that is as high-quality as a Taylor is, then the case it’s wrapped in should mirror that quality. So Taylor makes their own cases. You know when you see it in there, but especially when you put the guitar back in the case that it was made specifically for that size. There’s no wiggle room for the guitar to bang around in and everything from the pad under the headstock to the luxuriousness of the lining to the excellent stitching around the case to the awesome outside material to the (my favorite) heavily padded handle, this guitar case is the best guitar case I have ever seen. It’s weighty, but not overly so (I bet the fact there’s a fully hollow guitar inside helps out quite a bit) and it’s comfortable to carry around.

And it’s beautiful.

Also, not to sound weird or anything, but when I pulled it out it smelled new (the case). I could still smell the glue and it reminded me of buying a new car where there is no bad histories, missed oil changes, wrecks, etc. Just potential and that new car smell to reinforce the fact that this is brand new.

The guitar inside was stunning too! The 616CE features flamed big leaf maple back and sides (the flame sides poke out from the case a bit almost like a tease of what’s to come when you pull the guitar out), a beautiful Sitka Spruce top, an abalone soundhole rosette, an Indian Rosewood headstock overlay, white binding, tusq nut and saddle, 20 frets and the Taylor Expression System.

As far as wood goes, I’ve never seen better examples of them in my life. There are small things with the guitar I have on loan that I think are particularly interesting and lend a LOT of “natural” feel to the mix. For one thing, the grain in the Spruce top is not uniformly heading in the same direction. There’s one small part where there’s a bit of an upswing and then back down to where it was going. I like little imperfections like this because it makes the wood look more REAL (which it is) and less fake. Perfect stuff looks fake to me because, hey, nothing’s perfect all around. On the back of the guitar the flame doesn’t go all the way to the edge, and this is another example that I like because if the flame (which is already huge) went all the way to the end, it would look artificial.

No, there are little pieces of this that impact nothing tonally, but just remind you that you’re playing a real guitar, not something concocted in a lab using artificial materials.

The feel of the guitar was top notch. Taylor is known for making some of the best guitars in the world and it was their necks in particular that gained them sales in the beginning because they were comfortable. Not too thick, like vintage guitars, not so thin your hand would cramp after a while of playing, but occupying a nice middle ground where playing chords was just as easy as playing leads and you weren't hindered in any way by the thickness.

Notes jumped off the fretboard and was constant in quality the entire way up the neck. There was no buzz and the action wasn't high at all. Even when you strummed aggressively, it took what you had and asked for more. The fragile appearance is a trick and one I think that is mainly associated with the price. You don't want to risk hurting it because you spent a good chunk of money on it, NOT because it can't take it. It can take it.

Finger-picking was easy and the notes sounded beautiful, hybrid picking was great and featured a very balanced tone as opposed to other guitars that would either shine on the treble end of the scale, leaving the bass unarticulated or the bass side drowning out the treble's melody. And, of course, when strumming, everything leapt out in a very nice balance and little things you do, the nuances of your playing, come through nicely. Open chords sounded lush and full, octaves didn't sound thin and weak comparatively, even power chords shined on this guitar.

Sound-wise, the guitar was flat-out amazing. I would LOVE to bring out a counter-point, a statement that brings balance and lets you know that I'm not biased, but I am. I have to be, because this guitar was picked out of the litter after multiple attempts and clicked with me more than any other guitar in the line (and the history of my playing). It is the perfect guitar for me and when I was playing it to review, I honestly asked myself why there wasn't more reviews for this guitar out there and why other guitars were so popular? I mean, I know that other brands are popular because of this or that, but even within Taylor Guitars, this guitar is poorly represented by buyers on the Internet. Could it be the flamed maple that's too eye-catching, or the fact that it doesn't featured tried-and-true or "vintage correct" wood pairings? Could it be because Taylor Guitars is famous mainly for the slightly smaller 14 size? The price can't be the issue because there are other guitars that are of equal price or more that have more of a vocal group on the net, so really, what's the deal?

Well, whatever the reason, this guitar is a hidden gem that isn't quite so hidden. It stands out in the crowd visually thanks to its beautiful appointments and also sonically by producing some seriously beautiful tones that have a force, presence, beauty and power that other acoustics may have in one area or another, but rarely all and all together as amazingly as this one. This isn't a diamond in a rough, this is a diamond in a room where you aren't looking for a diamond right now because you're really into rubies. This guitar will almost certainly make any player immensely happy and if you get the opportunity, I implore you to try it out. I was almost certain I would prefer something a little more "accepted" as in rosewood and spruce in a 14 size body, but when I played the 616CE, I was floored, so do yourself a favor and try to forget how unique it is. Close your eyes and play and see what YOU think.

Ah, but don't take my word for it. I recorded a ton of stuff with this guitar, a bunch of sound samples showing off different aspects of the guitar and two videos. I had fully intended and even attempted to take photographs, but because I was using a different camera in a way I wasn't used to, I had neglected to notice that the focus was high (which is great for child portraits) and because of that, most of the pictures looked fuzzy and was unusable. So I asked Taylor for a picture and they sent me this head-to-toe of the guitar, still looking magnificent.

Courtesy Taylor Guitars

Hey, I promise here and now that when I get mine (and I do plan to get my own, but with some custom appointments from their Built to Order catalog. I'm currently saving up), I will photograph it a LOT and post pictures and probably even more videos. I seriously doubt it will sound different as all of my customizations are cosmetic because I REALLY don't want to change the sound, so I'll leave sound samples out of my future review for my own custom 616CE.

Listen to the samples, watch the videos, drool over the photos and see for yourself why I'm so head-over-heels for this slice of heaven that was delivered to my doorstep.

Taylor 616CE Paper Moon by Fifth Fret

Taylor 616C Power Chords and Octaves by Fifth Fret

Taylor 616CE Fast Stuff by Fifth Fret

Taylor 616E Hybrid Picking by Fifth Fret

Taylor 616CE Flatpicker's Delight by Fifth Fret

Taylor 616CE Caprice by Fifth Fret

Taylor 616CE Olde English 800 (sans vocals) by Fifth Fret

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Guitar Ensembles

2012-01-13T04:00:00.000-05:00

Guitar Ensembles
By PT

How many drummers do you know? How many bass players?

And how many guitarists?

I’ll bet the answer to the last question is a significantly higher number than the answer to the previous two. The fact is, there are a lot of guitar players out there and not nearly enough drummers and bassists.

Why do I bring up this point? Is it because I want you to pressure your kids into picking up drum sticks or giant plectrums? No. (Although I think that is a great idea. If your kid becomes a drummer or bassist, they will never have a shortage invitations to join a band.) The real point of my post is to encourage us to take advantage of the greatest natural resource we have: other guitarists.

Sure, we might jam with other guitar players, but it is usually limited to ‘I’ll play the rhythm; you take a solo”. And when it comes time to perform, all-guitar combos are usually the last resort of those who can’t find a drummer.

But does it have to be this way? Why aren’t there more guitar ensembles?

I’m talking about sitting down with two or three other guitarists and really going to work. Really trying to figure out how to make that all-guitar version of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ sound like a full band. Working to come up with parts that simulate the experience of the other instruments. Just think of how much fun that would be! And how much you would learn about music, the guitar and the roles of other instruments? And when it came time to play with the a traditional rhythm section, I’ll bet you’d be a better band member for the experience.

If those cheesy a cappella groups can simulate the sound of a full band, why can’t we?

I’m not saying this is an original idea. There are certainly groups doing this today. The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet is a fine example. But I am convinced there is room for more - lots more! With so many guitarists looking for people to play with, it’s an idea with plenty of legs.

So go out there, find a guitarist or two (try throwing a rock; you’ll hit one) and see if you can’t arrange something interesting.

PT is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.

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AmpliTube Fender Review

2012-01-11T04:00:00.000-05:00

AmpliTube Fender by IK Multimedia Review

By Pappy

Fender is a unique company in that I haven’t met anyone that can say they don’t like SOMETHING about them. They’ve been around for so long and released so many guitars and amplifiers that people have picked up and played and made famous music and inspired fans with, that really, there’s no area that Fender hasn’t touched and made better in the guitar world.

And while it would be easy to sit back and rest on all this history and all the guitar and amp models that a ton of people want to buy and coast for the rest of eternity, you have to give Fender credit for trying new things out. They have always been experimenting with their guitars and amps and releasing new things to a market that may or may not be ready for them. When the seven string boom hit, Fender released one of the most affordable seven strings available, for instance. When modeling amps from Line 6 began to gain favor, Fender was there with a tube/modeling hybrid known as the Cyber Twin (and then the Cyber Twin SE). When people began to use Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) on their personal computers to record music, going amp-less and relying on purely digital software to convey the same emotion and quality they’re used to, sometimes to mixed results, Fender threw their hat into the ring, but they did it in a very smart way.

For one thing, they combined forces with IK Multimedia, makers of AmpliTube. IK Multimedia had already garnered a great reputation and was continually evolving their processes and software, resulting in better and better guitar sounds, soFender allying with IK makes sense.

Personally, when I heard about Fender offering a package for $229.00 that contained twelve of their amps (’59 Bassman LTD, ’65 Twin Reverb, ’57 Deluxe, ’65 Deluxe Reverb, ’64 Vibroverb Custom, Vibro-King Custom, Champion 600,Super-Sonic, MH-500 Metalhead, Pro Junior, Bassman 300 and the TBP-1 Bass Preamp) I thought it might be a bit…self-cannibalizing. If IK and Fender are offering a viable alternative to physical amplifiers with a quality sound for less money than any one of these amps (with the probably exception of the Champion 600), then why would anyone buy thephysical amps?

Of course, given some thought, it makes more sense. Take me, for instance. I love Fender amps. I like Champs, Deluxes (especially Deluxes), Pro Juniors, Super Reverbs, Deluxe Reverbs, Twins, etc. etc. There are a LOT of Fender amps that I like and want. But they’re a bit pricey and they’re usually big in size. Even if my wallet was overflowing, I only have so much physical space that can be taken up by amps before the other occupants in my house begin to complain.

There’s also the fact that there are a lot of companies offering Fender circuits for less money than Fender.

So this is kind of a guaranteed win for them. I want Fender amps, but I want more amps than I can realistically buy. Fender and IK Multimedia offer me most of these amps and more for a price far lower than any competitor would offer it for. I walk away happy knowing I have a ton of tonal options, Fender’s happy because they made a sale that may very well have not happened if this wasn’t available and IK Multimedia walks away happy because, well, because I assume they’re always happy. IK Multimedia is one of the leaders in the amp sim industry. Why WOULDN’T they be happy?

Take a look at the features for Fender AmpliTube:

12 amps

12 matching cabinets

9 microphones

9 signature stomp effects

7 rack effects

2 fully-configurable rigs with up to 32 simultaneous effects

400 presets included with more that can be downloaded online

And more

Four HUNDRED presets. That is nuts. I found that there were so many presets that once I had a general idea of what amp I wanted, there was probably a preset with the exact tone I was after. And like always you can tweak the amp settings if you don’t find a preset to your liking and save it for future recall.

Of course, all the presets and amp names in the world wouldn’t matter if they didn’t have great tone, so how does Fender AmpliTube sound? In a word: Awesome. All of the amps sound like Fender amps and you can tell a ton of care and work went into the product. There was respect for the source material and the sounds from the sim are, if not spot-on, certainly close enough to scratch that Fender itch. I especially liked the ’57 Deluxe. It was everything I liked in a real deluxe, but delivered in a package with significantly more volume control and packed right alongside ELEVEN other amps, all great-sounding, all just as easy to use as the real things and all taking up an infinitesimal amount of space in the physical world. The hoarder in me rejoiced at the amount of cool new amps I have available, the neat freak in my wife rejoiced in how transparent these amps are and my kids rejoiced in the fact that, since it’s on my computer, I can use headphones or turn down my computer’s speaker volume and not keep them up through all hours of the night.

Fender AmpliTube is packed with great features and amazing-sounding amplifiers and pedals. The tremolo pedal sounds amazing in particular. You can buy it directly from IK Multimedia for $229.00 and while that may seem a bit steep for something you never actually touch or hold (unless you buy the version with a CD, and even then $229.00 for a CD is pretty steep too), but when you put it in the amplifier perspective, it’s a lot more fair. $229.00 won’t get you too much of an amp, but with this it gets you twelve rock-solid and time-tested amps, ready for you to use as you see fit, whenever and wherever you want to.

If you like Fender amps at all, this is definitely worth looking at. I know I’m glad I have it.

For more information about AmpliTube Fender, you can go HERE.

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Gretsch 5120 Modification

2012-01-09T04:00:00.001-05:00

Gretsch 5120 Modification

By Pappy

The 5120 from Gretsch is in a good position. It’s expensive enough to be taken seriously, it’s cheap enough to be attainable, and the “Electromatic” on the label puts people right at ease when it comes to the idea of modifying it. Some people wouldn’t think to do such a thing to a pro-line Gretsch, but don’t hesitate in the slightest to do the same thing to the 5120.

And why should they? It’s got good bones! I’ve seen a lot of customized 5120s and they usually follow a certain pattern. There is usually aftermarket pickups (usually of the TV Jones variety), and there was a while there when people were trying to make reproduction Stray Cat lookalikes.

I always thought it would be cool to replace the stock humbuckers, which are OK, but nothing insanely special, with a pair of Wide Range Humbuckers from the Creamery and then use push/pull pots on the independent volume knobs to split the pickups. That way I can make it as meaty as I want to, or I can get that tone that only single coils have.

I also always thought it would be cool to have a Piezo in there. I guess Larry’s Parker really did me in on the idea of a Piezo in a guitar because I didn’t care at all about them before I got my hands on his guitar. Add a stereo output so I can set up one amp to be the dirty amp and one to be the acoustic amp and I’d be in tonal heaven. I like songs that have acoustic breaks in them and the idea of just changing channels/turning off your distortion/etc seems a little… well, I don’t think it’s the best you can do.

But the idea of flipping a switch all the way down (or up) and having the signal move to a completely different amp with an amazingly different sound… that sounds pretty appealing!

And then there’s always the idea of keeping both signals going to beef up your mix and add an acoustic to the mix without actually adding an acoustic. Not a bad idea at all in some applications.

Well, a buddy of mine must have had a similar idea because he went out and found the best Piezo bridge that would fit his 5120 bridge base and started wiring it up! His goal was to modify it in a way that was reversible which is why his switch is located inside the F-hole. Check out the link to read about how he did it and be sure to watch the videos and listen. Not only is this guy an AMAZING player, but the sounds he’s getting through the STOCK pickups and the Piezo bridge are out of this world. This makes me want to get a 5120 and bust out the soldering iron!

Click here to see what I'm talking about!

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The Next Stage

2012-01-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

The Next Stage
By PT

In the fictional world of Marvel Comics, the X-Men and their fellow Mutants are the next stage in human evolution. They are a group of people drastically different from anything that has come before. Science even questions whether Mutants can be considered the same species as us average humans. The Mutants’ sudden presence is met with concern, fascination and fear among the general public. Something drastic has changed, and most people aren’t ready for shifting times.
I wonder if the next ten years will present a similar shift in the world of guitarists.

With the constant, easy access to nearly limitless free instructional materials and the emergence of higher quality inexpensive gear, will we see a crop of Internet trained super-guitarists emerging in the near future?

I am torn. Here are my thoughts for and against this idea.

For -

Let’s say there is a thirteen year-old boy who wants to learn to play gypsy jazz. (It could happen…) In the pre-Internet era, good luck to him! His only options would be to either find a gypsy jazz player to instruct him, or to just try to figure it out himself.

Today, a YouTube search for ‘gypsy jazz guitar lesson’ nets 1,690 results. Will they all be quality lessons that will actually help our hypothetical young guitarist? No way. But if even 10% are useful, that’s 169 lessons for Django Jr. to work his way though! Not bad.

To sweeten the deal even further, most young guitarists now have access to recording software, amazing amp simulators and quality effects... often on their cell phones.

With the plethora of free materials available, how can today’s dedicated learner help but be better equipped?

Against –

Part of the coolness of guitar has always been the ‘secret knowledge’ factor. If material is too easily available, it may not be as appealing to learn.

More importantly, the abundance of tablature and video lessons make it unnecessary for guitarists to figure out a song from the recording.

So when you look at it that way, the next generation of guitarists might be worse (at least ear-wise) than those that came before.

And if the Internet was such a boon to guitar-knowledge, wouldn’t that explosion of talent have already happened?

I am left undecided. Either way, the next few years will be an interesting time. What do you think?

PT is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music

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Orange Jim Root Signature Amp

2012-01-04T08:28:00.001-05:00

Press Release – Jan 4th 2012

Orange Amps Launches Signature #4 Jim Root Terror Head and Cab

Slipknot’s Jim Root to launch his signature gear on the Orange Booth at NAMM

Orange Amplification is proud to announce the Signature #4 Jim Root Terror Head and cab, developed in association with the famed guitarist.

Jim Root has the incredible honour of showcasing his skilful playing with two of today’s best in American hard rock– the multi-Grammy nominated Stone Sour and the Grammy winning Slipknot. He has a wide range of playing styles, which come together to create a unique, uncompromising sound and tone.

The Signature #4 Jim Root Terror Head is modelled after the dirty channel on the same amp that Jim Root plays in the studio and on the road: the Orange Rockerverb 100. This all-tube, 15-watt amp is capable of far more than high gain rock and metal though. With a full 3-band EQ players will find it easy to dial in everything from vintage rock, blues and beyond. The addition of a tube-driven FX loop allows the user to take the tone in any direction they want.

His new Signature #4 Jim Root PPC212 cab has been developed alongside the head to bring you Jim’s full tone! The new cab is finished in black vinyl with a specially developed black version of the Orange basket grill cloth and proudly features the signature #4 plate on the front. With a closed back design, the cab has a tight bottom end and delivers Jim’s signature Orange tone.

Said Jim of the name on the signature head, "With this amp, simply giving it the number I use in Slipknot seemed logical. I've not been to apt to splash either band logo or artwork all over things, but this will be the beginning of the end of that...maybe"

To complement Jim’s own style and image, the Signature #4 Terror Head is formidable and attention grabbing, featuring the vintage ‘Pics Only’ logo in white on a black chassis. The rear of the amp has both the Slipknot and Stone Sour logos.

Specifications

Volume, Gain, Bass, Mid and Treble Controls
12AT7-Driven FX Loop
1 x 16 Ohm and 2 x 8 Ohm Outputs
Switchable Between 15/7 Watts

This is a simply essential tool for any guitarist from any playing background. Quality built for the huge sound, lush tones and high gain necessary for rock and metal music, but versatile enough to be useful in any situation!

Jim Root will be personally launching his signature #4 products on the Orange Booth #4890 Hall C at NAMM at 2pm on Saturday 21st January.

Book of Orange Review

2012-01-04T04:00:00.001-05:00

The Book of Orange Review

By Pappy

I love Orange amplifiers. They’re a unique company that has developed a sound that people crave, alook that people like, and a history that is interesting. And through it all they seemed to be aamplifier company that was more in tune with the modern players. Marshall and Fender always seemed more aboutthe business and concerned with the bottom line where Orange seemed to be moreabout pleasing the people and doing whatever they wanted. They wanted to release an amp that featuredpictures instead of words for the controls. Done. They wanted to make a crestfor the company. They did it.

Along the way they picked up fans and have never seemed toopopular. You see famous artists throughthe years playing their Orange amps from Jimmy Page to Mastodon, but I reallyfeel like I see less Orange amps when I’m out and about compare to otherbrands. The scarcity of them may beappealing. It might also be the factthat there are far less Orange players than, say, Fender or Marshallplayers.

In short, they seem like a small company, but a company thathas survived for a long time and has the kind of great stories that only comesfrom sticking around for a while. Andthey released this history in a way befitting Orange. It’s a huge book, hardcover and wrapped in asoft cloth like crushed velvet. It alsofeatures two books inside. They don’ttake place one after the other like you would expect where you move forward asif it were a new chapter in a novel. Ohno. Both sides of the book feature abeginning and they meet in the middle. It’s called a flip book, because you have to flip it to get the spine onthe correct side to start reading.

On one side you get the history of the brand Orange called“Building the Brand”. From the beginningof the company it documents the twists, turns, and obstacles that came by in away that isn’t too serious or detailed. This could be considered a crash course in Orange’s company history andit features some fantastic stories, my favorite being when their store wasraided by the feds for some crazy reason because they were making too big of animprint in the market.

Flip the book over and you get “The Book of Orange” whichdetails the technical aspects, modifications, improvements, etc. on Orange ampsto get them where they are today. Itfeatures photographic examples of amplifiers through the years, the differentlogos, even a detailed list of pictures used and what they mean.

Both books feature a light feel when it comes to thewriting. Nothing is too serious, butthere’s still some meat to it. You WILLlearn about Orange and in the end, I walked away happy. I love learning about company histories,especially in a way that doesn’t take a month to cover but still gives me agood chunk of valuable information, not the Cliffs Notes that can be surmisedin a couple of paragraphs.

You can buy it from the British Orange shop for about 30 British pounds if you are in the UK or the US Orange shop for about $50.00. If you’re a fan ofOrange, know someone who is a fan of Orange or you just want to get a coolcoffee table book that can deliver some good guitar history to you infun-to-read segments, this book is for you.

Check it out.

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Guitarist New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-02T04:00:00.001-05:00

Guitarist New Year's Resolutions
By Pappy

OK, let's be honest here: even the people that say they don't do New Year's Resolutions probably have SOMETHING they want to do, some goal they would like to achieve, some mountain that they want to claim and they just don't want to admit it's a resolution. I can see doing this for two reasons:

1) Basing a resolution on an event on your calendar is stupid unless it's specifically tied to that day (birthday, anniversary, etc). Anyone who is waiting until the 1st of January to start working out is doomed to eventual failure because they're using logic to hold off and if they're using it now, it will be easy to do later.

2) Resolutions as they are, are incredibly easy to fail at.

They're hard by nature. No one makes a resolution that's easy because if it was easy, they would already be doing it. No one says "this year I want to dedicate myself to gaining twenty-five pounds of pure fat from a diet consisting of lunches at Burger King." Instead they say things like they want to drop their weight down to "high school level" or "work out 360 days this year (I'm giving myself some wiggle room in my schedule for off days)." They want to break bad habits (hard) or start new, good ones (harder).

But we all have goals and your terminology or hiding them from others isn't going to make them go away or become less of a failure on your part when you can't commit to them. The one consolation you'll have is that no one else knows you failed because you didn't tell anyone.

I used to do this and be this way. In 2010 I made two resolutions, one to play every day possible for at least 10 minutes and to record something by the end of the year. It turns out I did both and that was with me forgetting I made the resolutions in the first place. Funny how that worked out. In 2011, my resolutions included making two of my guitars better. My thinking was that I wasn't going to make enough money from the blog to buy a new guitar and since I had a couple that were getting to be either unplayable or was already in that state, I figured I would make the most of what I had.

I didn't even start. For one thing, I didn't make enough to mod them in any serious way, though I could have done MOST of what I wanted to do to my Les Paul. Instead I bought a bookshelf that was used to organize the room that all my guitar stuff is in. It was needed and appreciated.

So what will 2012 have in store for me?

Well, I have three resolutions:

1) Get through as much of Learn & Master Guitar as possible. I feel like some of the people doing this are blowing through as fast as they can and missing things or not letting the lessons have the greatest level of impact. Perhaps this is so there's always something new and fresh to do, but I think my method will be very slow and deliberate, MASTERING what they give me before moving on. I hope i can stay motivated.

The sub-goal for this is:

a) At least 10 minutes of real practice every day. Not noodling on the couch, but working through the book and DVDs and trying to become a better player. If i have to stay up late, that's 10 miserable minutes, but at the end, hopefully I will have improved at least a little. No wiggle room. Every day.

The next resolution:

2) Become certified in power tools at my local hobby shop. I love community centers and hobby shops. You get to see some real artists there that you would never expect to see (especially with that level of quality) and my local hobby shop offers classes every Wednesday I believe, where they certify one power tool and once you're done with all of them (I think there's five), you're free to use the shop at a ridiculously cheap rate per hour. I believe the lessons/certifications are $5.00 each time. I've always wanted to be a builder and this is a good first step.

My third and last resolution:

3) Using my above certifications, build either a workstation or recording desk. I'm being kicked out of the office and am taking over a different section of the house. It will be my domain almost all of the time (I'm still cool with my wife using it for photos because the light is good), but me moving means I won't have a desk, a table, carpet, a chair, or any creature comforts like that. It will start very sparse and hopefully build from there. I know I want a workstation to build things because I've grown to really enjoy kits. I also like the idea of a recording desk because, well, because I like sitting down when I record podcasts and (less often) music. If i build my own desk, I can do a two-tier like is popular, but I'll be able to build the gap between tiers big enough to accommodate something like, I don't know, a Peavy Vypyr 60 which I think would be a blast to record with or play through. I've heard very few bad things about them.

And I can build it durable too. I bought a desk years ago that I swear is holding on from the sheer persistence of my wife's frugality. She's so cheap she's WILLING it to keep from buckling.

Those are my three resolutions! What are yours?

Once you 'fess up with your goals, how can you help yourself follow through with them?

1) Tell as many people as possible. Tell everyone here. Tell everyone at your home and work. Make a blog and keep us all updated on your progress (throw a link in the comments section and post every now and then letting us know when new posts are up so we can be supportive), just put yourself in a position where others know your goals so they can help you accomplish them or put your feet to the fire about sticking with them when the going gets tough (and considering the amount of crap life can throw at you in a year, odds are good it won't be following a trail of Starbursts on your glittery unicorn). We all need outside motivators so we can't convince ourself it's OK to cheat as much as we WILL want to cheat.

2) Set goals that are realistic or at least attainable. My resolution is not to build a house, merely a desk OR a table to work on stuff. If I do both, great, but the goal is ONE thing. I have a whole year to get certified and build ONE thing. I hope I can follow through with that and 10 minutes of practice every day.

3) If possible, try to document your progress. If you can do it in a blog like I mentioned above, great, but if it's something like weight lifting and you just keep a log, keep up with that log. If you're trying to cut down on smoking, count how many cigarettes a day you smoked on 1 January so you know when you're seeing a trend of less cigarettes. The more motivation, the better.

I hope these help and I wish you all the luck and persistence with your new year's resolutions. Go get 'em, tiger!

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The Thirteen Percent

2011-12-30T08:09:00.000-05:00

The Thirteen Percent

By PT

This could be the last Fifth Fret post of 2011 (unless Pappy sneaks one in at the last minute – you never know with that guy). As the year rolls to a close, I want to take the opportunity to look back at some of the really cool stuff that happened to me this year, top ten style.

10. I learned a little acoustic blues.

9. I played guitar on my iPad.

8. I read some great books.

7. I gave myself permission to fail.

6. I learned a little guitar history.

5. I learned to appreciate solid state.

4. I saw a lot of amps.

3. I got in tune.

2. I podcasted.

1. I blogged.

2011 was the first year I have ever blogged on anything resembling a regular basis. Sure, I posted the occasional Fifth Fret post in 2010, but you certainly couldn’t call me consistent. But this year, especially in the latter half of 2011, I buckled down and decided to become an honorary blogger.

I’ve posted 27 entries on the Fifth Fret this year. The amazing thing is that those 27 posts represent a mere 13% of the total entries on this blog in 2011!

Which brings me to my real point: Pappy is a pretty inspiring blogger! Not only is he amazingly prolific and consistent, but he writes with the kind of contagious enthusiasm that cannot be faked. The guy loves guitar playing, music, and gear in a pure and passionate way. Even better, he loves talking and writing about guitar. And we all get to benefit.

So a big thanks to Pappy for another year of the Fifth Fret. Thanks for letting me post, and thanks for sharing your posts with all of us.

Can’t wait to do it again next year!

PT is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.

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animation test

2011-12-29T19:24:00.000-05:00

Planet Waves NS Mini Headstock Tuner

2011-12-28T04:00:00.001-05:00

Planet Waves NS Mini Headstock Tuner Review

By Pappy

You know what I find indispensible now? My Planet Waves headstock tuner. It’s small, no-nonsense, looks good and it works. All the time. I just leave it on whatever guitar I’m using the most and whenever I pick it up to play it, I tune it first. How could I not when it’s so easy to do? A click of a button and then I can start turning machine heads and I always play in tune.

It’s great.

But there’s another thing I love:

Telecasters and Tele-shaped guitars.

The problem with my Planet Waves tuner is that it needs a bit of meat on the headstock for it to grab on to and my Flatline Delta 90 does not have enough real estate to make a good grab and start tuning.

And now that I’ve become so used to tuning before playing now, it feels WRONG not to. And don’t even suggest using an old-fashioned tuner with a cord attached – do I look like some sort of animal? I keep a Squier Tele behind the couch in my living room and I pull it out when I’m watching TV. It’s the end of the day and I’m tired and I really don’t’ want to walk ALL the way to the other side of the house to plug into a tuner (because you want to keep your cords with your amp). My motivation at the end of the day is… lacking.

But now it’s a complete non-issue! Planet Waves released an even smaller clip-on tuner that clips to the bottom of the headstock and wraps around. Basically it seems like it was made specifically for a Telecaster or headstocks without much space. Now, if you have guitars with three tuners on a side or similar, there may be issues and the normal Planet Waves tuner is probably more up your alley, but any six-on-a-side headstock will benefit with this on it.

See how little of the headstock is taken up with the tuner? I can still see the model name!

And you as a guitarist can improve your ear because you’ll always be playing a guitar that’s in tune. Once you start playing in tune and tuning every time you start to play, you eventually achieve a lower tolerance for out-of-tune strings and notes. If you are always playing out of tune, you only know you’re IN tune when you use a device but if you’re always starting out IN tune, it becomes easier to pick out strings that are a little flat or sharp.

Action shot! Screen is easily readable in both light and dark situations.

Planet Waves has always been making cool stuff from cords to straps to locking tuning machines that automatically clip your strings and now, headstock tuners that offer quality tuning at a small price. At a price like this, you can get one kind of tuner for each of your guitars and never have to worry about swapping out to another one.

Off the guitar, it actually looks bigger, but it still easily fits in the palm of a small hand.

Do I recommend it? As a Tele player, I INSIST on it. The more in tune you are as a player, the better you’ll sound and if you’re anything like me, every little bit of goodness helps.

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Wish Lists

2011-12-26T04:00:00.000-05:00

Wish Lists
By Pappy

Well, another X-Mas is done. What did YOU get? I hope you received all sorts of tonal goodness if you celebrate X-Mas, and if you don't celebrate X-Mas, I hope the ones that do didn't annoy you too much.

It was during this holiday season that a brilliant thought occurred to me, thanks to Sweetwater. See, Sweetwater sends me some really cool catalogs. Besides the big ones that come every now and then, they also send this little pamphlet sporadically that focuses on a few pieces of gear, talks about a wide range of equipment and interviews a Sweetwater employee.

By the way, one of the questions they ask these employees is what their favorite music websites are and I now have a new goal to be one. Not for them to SAY that the Fifth Fret is one of their favorite sites, but to MEAN it if they do say it. Everyone has dreams.

Anyway, my wife checked the mail and was walking back to the house when I saw a pamphlet and knew right away what it was, but then this light clicked in my head.

The light said "lazy people."

What followed was my brilliant idea.

Almost everyone who uses Amazon has an Amazon wish list. Stuff they want that they publish for the world to see (or specific people) and hope that someone buys them something from it. People make these lists and then hope their friends or relatives will be sitting around before a birthday or any gift-giving occasion and remark to each other "I don't know what to get Mark this gift-giving occasion! I'll just hop on Amazon and... yup, there's his list. Now I'll just pick the most expensive thing..."

But here's the snag: everyone is lazy. Maybe it's a laziness that exists on a subconscious level, but no-one really thinks to do this. Instead they sit there and say "I don't know what to get Mark! Hey, wait a minute... Mark likes books. I'll just pick up the new Dan Brown."

They took a WAG (Wild-Butt Guess) and this is a good way to lose friends. Especially if you get them a Dan Brown book. A lot of people are forgiving in nature, but there are lines, people. Lines that shouldn't be crossed and giving someone a book written poorly in bullet-style format for people who don't like to read is a good way to get crossed off the X-Mas card list.

I know I would never think to check Amazon for a wish list. Who says you use Amazon? Or any other website that features a wish list feature? Am I supposed to troll around the internet like some sort of stalker looking for your name, hope it's actually you, and purchase something?

That's asking a lot of me.

So here's a proposal:

Sweetwater, or any guitar store with the means, really, sets up a program. You go through and pick things you want with a limit of, say, 10 items. These items populate a double-sided piece of paper (a big one) and have little areas where you can add your own comment. Keep it Twitter-sized. The company's description of the product is also included. You organize the order you would like the products presented and then fill in the fields on the site that make it able to be sent to five people of your choosing. Break out the address book. In addition to the product picture, description, your additional comment and the available colors, it will feature a QR code. A QR code is important. In November 2010, smart phones comprised 28% of the US cellphone market and that has only gone up. Some carriers are looking to drop traditional cellphones in favor of smart phones and some cellphone companies are dropping their traditional cellphones as well because it seems people don't want them anymore.

And if you have a smart phone, you probably have a QR reader.

QR codes look like this:

They can bring you directly to videos, websites, or (in this case) it can make a note on your phone with contact information.

They're ridiculously easy to use once you get your QR Reader (they're free) and any potential buyer can peruse your short list, find the bracket they feel most comfortable with, scan the code and buy the item.

What would be REALLY cool is if, once bought, it takes it off the list, like you would find at a department store wedding/baby registry. "Oh, someone already bought Mark a Classic Vibe Telecaster... Guess I can go with the Joe Satriani Ice 9 pedal. I bet he'd like that."

I think I KNOW he would like it, because I would be theoretically holding a piece of paper with items he picked himself, why he picked them, and the description that makes them all seem so cool.

And it would have been delivered to my mailbox, not my email box where I would look at it like spam and delete it, or hidden away on some website that I'll never look for. I have a tangible wish list in my hand, probably a smart phone in my pocket and all the potential in the world.

Seems like a good idea to me.

XXX---XXX

Relic

2011-12-23T04:00:00.000-05:00

Relic
By PT

We’ve all seen that quote about the music industry from Hunter S. Thompson. I can think of at least two people in the musical instrument world who have it as their email signature. You know the quote I’m talking about:

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

It’s certainly a humorous sentiment, and there are enough real life stories to prove the truth behind Thompson’s candid remark. (Interesting side note: According to my friends at About.com, the quote comes from Thompson's book Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the 80s, but he never wrote the pithy ending line ‘There’s also a negative side’. That was mysteriously added later and misattributed to him. Other interesting side note: I don’t actually have friends at About.com.)

Too often, I hear these stories, and I get a little sad about the music industry and what it does to people. However, it is way more fun to hear the good stories - the ones that fly in the face of the HST quote. It may take a little more digging, but it is well worth the effort.

One of my favorite recent stories is that of acoustic guitarist Matt Stevens. Matt is the perfect example of how a musician can make a name for himself through hard work, talent and creativity. I interviewed Matt for Six-String Bliss back in September 2010, and I was blown away by the nearly endless ways the guy markets himself and makes himself accessible to listeners. In a world where twitter-spamming is often mistaken for marketing, Matt has gone another direction. Sure, he is a constant presence on Twitter, but he tweets wisely, linking to all sorts of interesting content. He also streams gigs over the Internet, offers Skype guitar lessons and so much more.

But all of that is nothing without the music. Matt’s new album Relic hit me pretty hard. His stuff has always been good, but he took a massive leap forward with this one. It may be odd to say this about a mostly-acoustic album, but it reminds me a lot of Led Zepplin in the power of the music and feelings it evokes. Relic is one of my top albums of the year.

Matt Steven’s isn’t at the top of Billboard charts, but he is making a name for himself in a big bad way. I can’t tell you how many magazine articles I’ve seen on Matt Stevens in the past twelve months, but I can tell you the most recent was a write up in Guitar Player magazine. And seeing such a talented and nice fellow getting his due from the guitar establishment brings a big smile to my face.

If you love guitar, treat yourself to Relic. It is available on his site at http://www.mattstevensguitar.com/ where you can name your own price for the album.

PT Hylton is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.

XXX---XXX

Chris Brooks "The Axis of All Things"

2011-12-21T04:00:00.000-05:00

Chris Brooks: "The Axis of All Things" Review
By Pappy

There are a few things that bug me about instrumental guitar albums:

1) They're almost always too long
2) The songs often sound the same and feature the same tone
3) The songs are way too long
4) The whole album usually comes off as self-indulgent

Fortunately, none of these issues are featured on Chris Brooks' new album, "The Axis of All Things." The album is fairly short, coming at just over 40 minutes long, with the longest song being 6:39 in length. The songs sound different and often feature different tones or different styles of playing. When you think you may be getting used to the tones and style that Brooks uses, out comes a new one that perks your ears up and keeps you from becoming complacent. This isn't to say the album suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder and different for differences' sake because there's a common tone lining the album that seems to be Brooks' particular voice, but it doesn't feel like one really long song with the same licks and tones. There are a lot of twists and turns through the songs, expertly positioned to keep the listener interested and maintain the integrity of the song.

Also, the biggest thing is that the songs don't come off as self-indulgent. It doesn't feel like I'm listening to someone who wants to show me how great they are at playing guitar. Instead, it feels like I'm listening to someone who wants me to listen to great songs and the fact that he can play with speed and precision of the level that could singe the eyebrows of shocked faces isn't showcased.

It's an odd thing, when someone toes this line, I think. Chris Brooks is an absolutely amazing guitarist, with a strong grip on melody and instrumental song-writing and the playing really feels like he's holding himself back in places for the song's sake. But you know in your mind he has the potential in his playing to fly off in a shred-fest. Similar to Superman not killing anyone. He does it because it's right, but you know it wouldn't be hard at all for him to destroy you.

I appreciate the reserve in both cases.

This album also features some amazing tones. Brooks uses a Suhr Custom Standard guitar (similar to a Super Strat) and a Suhr Badger 30 amplifier head, which Brooks says has a Plexi sort of sound, as well as a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier into Port City cabinets loaded with Eminence Cannabis Rex speakers. Between the guitar and amp lie assorted Suhr and Boss pedals.

If you are a fan of instrumental rock, this album is required buying and you won't be disappointed. If you think you may be interested in getting into this kind of genre, this album is an excellent introduction to it.

I highly recommend it. It's great. Check it out HERE and see what you think!

XXX---XXX

Guitar Fail

2011-12-20T13:33:00.006-05:00

Did you guys see my catch on Guitar Fail? I would think if you were to advertise anything acoustic, it would probably be best to feature a picture with an acoustic guitar...

Pro Tone Pedals Essential Metal Distortion

2011-12-19T04:00:00.001-05:00

Pro Tone Pedals Essential Metal Distortion Pedal Review

By Pappy

Pro Tone Pedals has always been a company that lies slightly off-kilter, offering guitarists a unique way to get the tones they want, or unique tones they didn't know they wanted yet. They were among the first to pioneer insane levels of art on pedals and they back their products with strong warranties, leaving customers satisfied.

The quality tones, looks, and service has always come with a price tag that mirrored the quality though: high.

So Pro Tone Pedals alchemist Dennis Mollan wanted to offer something new for guitarists who have always wanted boutique quality, but has always had to settle for pedals made overseas that featured boring graphics and little in the way of uniqueness for tone. He wanted to give the people an option. In the end, he unveiled the new line from Pro Tone Pedals called the Essentials. This review covers the Essential Metal Distortion.

As with all the Essentials line, there are budget-saving drawbacks that usually fall on the aesthetic side of the fence and include a bare metal appearance with the metal monotony broken up with either a tasteful black pinstripe or (in this case) a pinstripe-y spiderweb motif (giving a proper nod to metal heads). They don't include rubber feet either, but since a lot of musicians velcro their pedals down anyway, it's a bit of a non-issue. These cuts in the name of keeping the cost down are more than welcome by me because it's apparent once you turn them on that none of the budget cuts happened inside the pedal. Unless you count battery snaps, but really, you shouldn't. Batteries are awful in pedals, giving a wide variety of power that you can't really depend on. You and your town would be much, MUCH happier if you invested in a Sanyo Pedal Juice or even a cheap OneSpot adapter. It will save you money and it will keep your tone consistent.

Now, unlike the Essentials Delay, there are plenty of pedal makers putting out cheap distortions, even high gain distortions claiming to be "metal." They're usually cheap too. As far as price goes, it's on par with others at $99.00. The differences come from the attack on pedal construction and the resulting tone. A lot of metal distortion pedals only focus on guitars tuned to standard, but not many modern metal bands tune to standard anymore, instead preferring to dip lower in the scale and hang out in the bass player's register (unless he doesn't like other people hanging out with him and in turn tunes his bass lower to keep a healthy level of separation apparent). When guitarists tune low, the merit of the distortion pedal shines through and the complaint as Pro Tone Pedals saw it was that chords became "soft," and lose "all bottom end definition."

This is a serious problem for metal players. Metal's a tough genre to become proficient in. There's a lot of intricacies that are taken for granted by the audience in general because they're easy to overlook, but you put in the time learning how to properly marry your left and right hand and you want every detail to shine through, even if you tune down to A.

So Pro Tone set out for this crowd specifically and offered a distortion pedal that will retain that definition previously lost by other boxes. The result? Successful!

Check out Pro Tone's sound sample:

But what about the people that DO tune in standard. Are we left high and dry? Certainly not. I'm glad too. Whenever the metal bug bites, I usually keep my tuning in standard because 1) I don't have a dedicated metal guitar that I can keep in anything other than standard, 2) most of my favorite metal was recorded in standard and 3) standard strings are easier to thrash on because there's less flex in the string.

So how does it sound in standard? Pretty great. I used one of my favorite virtual amps, the Orange Tiny Terror, in a clean setting and plugged in a buddy's Schecter Omen 6 tuned in standard and loaded with Alumitone Deathbuckers in the middle position and got to recording. It's definitely a metal guitar.

For the first clip, you'll hear just the guitar and the amp. The second clip is with the pedal on. The controls are: level at 9:00 (on every sample), the tone and drive at 12:00. The tone knob has a very wide sweep so if you want it to sound deeper or more modern, you just turn it down. If you want it to sound more vintage (like classic metal) it requires additional treble or less bass so you just turn the tone knob up and presto! Classic metal tones.

The third clip is with level at 9:00, the tone at 12:00 and the gain maxed out. You can definitely hear the modern metal slant of the pedal. I really appreciated the bass response of the pedal set this way. A lot of metal distortion pedals are high-gain, but sound more fuzzy and don't get the bottom end right. When I plug in I want to sound like James Hetfield, not James Hetfield's fuzzy, trebly little brother. This pedal delivers in this regard.

The fourth sound is with the gain and tone maxed out. You can hear the classic metal leanings easily. I also switched to the bridge pickup, so please keep that in mind.

So now that you've read the descriptions, let's hear the actual samples:

PTP Metal Distortion by Fifth Fret

Yup, if I ever needed a versatile metal box on the cheap, this is the one I would reach for. The problem with this tough is that I rarely play metal anymore. I generally like tones ranging from the lower gain sounds of punk rock to the borderline clean sounds of rockabilly and jazz (because I don't like pure clean - sounds too sterile for me). A Metal pedal is very much a limited-use prospect for me. Sure, metal heads would love to have it on all day, but that's just not me.

Just for giggles then, I grabbed one of MY guitars, the Flatline Delta 90, and turned the gain of the pedal down to about 9:00 and the tone to about 1:00 and switched to the middle position and started rocking out in my own style. I loved it. There really is a "soft underbelly" to the pedal, but it still sounds rough and tumble like Indie Rock should. It loved open chords, let the guitar's tone shine through and had a really pleasant "KERRANNNG!" to everything.

Check it out!

PTP Metal Distortion Indie Style by Fifth Fret

With this in mind, I think the Essentials Metal Distortion is a great buy for most guitarists. If you like gain, you can find SOME spot on the pedal that will scratch that itch and at $99.00, it would even make for a realistic item to add to your Christmas list. It's a worthy buy what with the fact it's packed with great tones, made with a crazy metal head in mind, features true-bypass and is hand-wired right here in the US.

For more information, check out Pro Tone's blog about the pedal you can go HERE.

XXX---XXX

Gear News Exile

2011-12-16T04:00:00.000-05:00

Gear News Exile

By PT

One of my favorite things about being a guitar podcaster/blogger/writer/man-about-town is the press releases. Over the years I have somehow gotten onto a lot of publicists’ distribution lists. Throughout the year, my email box is hit with anywhere from one to three press releases a day.

Sometimes I write about them. Sometimes I talk about them on the Six-String Bliss podcast. But mostly I don’t. By the time the next episode of the podcast or my next blog post comes around, the press release will probably be old news. But I do read each and every one of them. And I take a certain selfish pleasure in reading the latest gear news (albeit with a heavy PR spin) a few hours before it appears on all the popular websites.

Over the last couple of weeks, my Inbox has been drying up a little. And it’s only going to get worse. It happens every year. For the next month, PR people – folks who are paid to talk about their clients’ products – will suddenly turn cryptic and coy.

This can only mean one thing: NAMM is approaching. And while NAMM itself is great, the month leading up to it is gear news torture.

Consider this email I received a few days ago (this is a dramatic recreation, and the names have been changed to protect the innocent a la Unsolved Mysteries.):

Hello Media Colleague,

Big Name Gear Company (BNGC) would like to invite you to attend the world premier of the most significant product announcement in our company’s storied history.

BNGC CEO Franklin Bigwig and endorsee Johnny Rockstar will be on hand to answer questions, conduct interviews and demonstrate this mind-blowing new piece of gear.

Date: Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
Time: 8:00AM-8:39AM
Location: NAMM, Fancy-Pants Room B

Get ready for everything you know about gear to change forever!

Really? I have to wait a month to see what you are talking about? Although, on the other hand, thank you for addressing me as ‘Media Colleague’. I shall show that to my wife the next time she asks why I spend countless writing and talking over the Internet about guitar. “Honey, Big Name Gear Company expects a certain level of dedication from their Media Colleagues.”

So let’s all settle in for a long month in Gear News Exile. And while we are here, let’s try to think positive. We could spend time with our families. Celebrate the holidays. Maybe even play a little guitar.

And before we know it, the light at the end of the tunnel will appear. The floodgates will open, and the gear news will rain down upon us. Sure, the riverbeds are dry now, but the air is heavy with moisture and the storm clouds are gathering.

NAMM is coming.

Edit: I wrote the above on Wednesday. On Thursday, I got five awesome press releases. It's a Christmas miracle! - PT

PT Hylton is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.

XXX---XXX

Stuck

2011-12-14T04:00:00.000-05:00

Stuck

By Pappy

When I was a young teenager I heard the Living End’s “Prisoner of Society” and my life changed. The band in general exposed me to both punk and rockabilly and those two things have stuck pretty well to me and seriously shaped my musical tastes. The guitar work of Chris Cheney was amazing and inspiring and in one fell swoop I wanted to play guitar and I wanted to play a Gretsch. Specifically a 6118 because that’s what I saw him play. He was the one most responsible for my playing guitar.

I bought the album and became obsessed with it. I loved it, the intricacies of it, and (oddly) the fact that no-one else had heard of them. I was a hipster before there was such a term (I don’t claim to be one now). I had this band that nobody else was familiar with and they were all mine. They were inspirational, they had amazing music, good content (their songs weren’t fluff), and I felt a bit of ownership of them.

Then “Roll On,” their sophomore release came out and I was not a fan of it at ALL. Their sound had changed. Songs lengths changed. Tones had changed. There were a lot more twists and turns in the songs and it felt more akin to AC/DC or the Clash than a punked-up version of the Stray Cats.

I felt a little betrayed to be honest. I had no reason to feel that way, but that’s how I felt, regardless.

Now, over the years I would change my mind. Roll On is now my favorite Living End album because of all those reasons I just mentioned. I think I was just shocked by the change and didn’t get what I was expecting and didn’t like that fact more than I disliked anything else.

That’s a big fan for you though. We all get a little nuts sometimes. I think as you get older this begins to wear off and you become a bit more mature with bands and music, but when you’re young everything’s so much more severe and matters so much more. When you’re young, it’s easy to get stuck on a band or album and change can be tough.

Metallica bassist Jason Newstead said that he understands confusion from fans after Load came out. If you compare the sounds and images of the previous album (the black album) and Load, the two are pretty different. One features long-haired heavy metal gods with a very dark theme and one features blood and semen on the cover, and four guys with short hair smoking cigars and drinking martinis on the back. It wasn’t YOUR Metallica anymore because they had changed. Metallica continued to change through the years, experimenting with their sound, changing their playing style, tone, and image but fans will still say that Master of Puppets is the best Metallica album (even if they’re wrong – Ride the Lightning is the best). No matter what Metallica does, there will always be these people talking and praising the past, while either pushing aside modern efforts or becoming downright nasty about them.

The reception of Lulu and St. Anger immediately jumps to mind…

I don’t really think Metallica, the Living End or ANY band should think too poorly of the fans for doing this though. What it really means is that somewhere along the way of you releasing albums, one connected with a fan in a deep and meaningful way. You made something that has become a huge part of their life. This is the kind of album that people often say to the artist “I don’t know where I would be without that album.”

It’s important. And it’s a badge of pride for you regardless of when the album came out or how many albums you’ve put out since. You as an artist should always be proud when this happens.

Yes, I know it’s kind of a bummer to have your other stuff ignored, especially if you’ve released a LOT of material since then, and it must be difficult to hear a fan say they wish you could make an album like that again as if you’re some sort of song-writing monkey for hire and not an artist with artistic integrity, but try to look at the positive side of this. You touched a life with music and you know the fan is always going to remember you and will always care about that album. Your album won’t be easily digested and forgotten two years from now like so many pop stars’.

I definitely think what you SHOULDN’T do is target these fans as if they’ve done something wrong. The only thing they’ve done is let you into their life, bought your stuff and made you $0.958 richer with every album they purchased (on average).

Korn singer Jonathan Davis says he’s excited about their new dubstep album because it will upset fans who are “stuck in 1994.” He says it like it’s a goal of his to lose these fans. In 1994 Korn released their debut album, which may be the most honest, volatile and perfectly balanced album for conveying the rage that comes with child abuse and drugs. The music was new, with seven string guitars tuned a whole step down, crunching out rhythms and not going into solos, instead favoring “break-downs” where everyone slows down a bit and then explodes to the end of the song. The singer moaned, whispered, screamed and cried his way through what felt like all the bad parts of a person’s journal and let it all out for the world to take as they will.

And since then they’ve released nine studio albums. I was a huge fan as a youth, but dropped off at their fourth release named “Issues.” By then some things had happened: the level of seething rage seemed to lessen and I felt like we had been here before and revisiting it wasn’t as important/urgent/helpful. Perhaps I had just gotten used to it, but I think the more likely reason is that Davis was starting to get over it himself and was beginning to pander to the audience. They were also becoming very successful. Now, instead of me being the only kid in a Korn shirt, now there were legions of kids in Korn shirts – the same kids that would pick on other kids. Jocks started liking Korn. For those not in the know, if you’ve ever been mistreated, stepped on, harassed, or abused, Korn is the music for you. It’s very cathartic. So for someone who DID those things to be wearing a shirt of the band that got you through those things, it seems a bit much to take.

Now Korn wants to release a new album and Davis says he hopes the fans stuck in 1994 will get pissed. No doubt this has to do with artistic integrity, but again, he should look at the bright side of things – something I’m not entirely sure he can do considering his entire career is based on looking at the bad side of things. But he of all people should take a long time to consider the ramifications of his past albums and ask himself why he wants to piss these people off so badly.

I have never heard so many fans of a band say openly that they would have committed suicide had it not been for the band – for their debut album. The band helped the fan through so much insanely bad stuff, almost always in their young teenage years or slightly before, and they are sincerely grateful for the band’s and this album’s existence. Why shouldn’t they be? It got them through some of the most horrible situations imaginable. I don’t think that because there was an explosive album dedicated to abuse that the youth were thinking this happened to everyone – that it was normal – but that it happened to enough people that they could talk about it and not feel like the only one suffering. What started out as sonic therapy probably led to REAL therapy. And in 1994 this album came out. I picked it up in 1997 and it was helpful for me (though my troubles pale in comparison to others) and now I’m almost 30. I think there’s a good chance that a LOT of fans of this album from this time period now have kids and because of the therapy, because of the album, because of a hopefully loving and caring relationship, they have kids of their own that they would never subject to the same torture they had to go through.

The fans have spoken in numbers saying they wouldn’t even be alive had it not been for that album, and I think it’s not a crazy leap of logic to think that these people have a much higher likelihood of leading happy lives and breaking the cycle of abuse because of it.

That’s a pretty amazing badge of honor. Even if they’re still having problems, at least you know they’re still alive because of your words and music. They still have the potential to get better - a potential that ends suddenly if suicide is successful.

Look, I’m not saying you have to be a monkey for hire and keep releasing your debut album over and over, just with different covers and words. I’m not saying you have to give up your artistic integrity. I am saying that, where Van Halen can claim a lot of fans who took up the guitar because of EVH, you have a lot of fans that are ALIVE because of you.

So buck up and stop trying to upset these folks. You gave them the will to live and they gave you your career and success.

XXX---XXX

Rocksmith

2011-12-12T04:00:00.001-05:00

Rocksmith
By Pappy

Firstly, I never understood all the hate for games like Rockband or Guitar Hero. People were saying that it was somehow preventing people from learning the guitar, the thought process generally going along the lines of "they'll never learn how to play the REAL guitar if they can have so much fun PRETENDING to play guitar!"

But you could just as easily lay the same results on the doorstep of the lowly tennis racket.

Here's the thing though: playing GH, I never felt like a badass. I'm standing in front of my TV, holding a miniature, toy guitar with colorful buttons. While there's something to be said about locking in with the rhythm, there's no shaking the fact that you're holding a toy and most definitely NOT improving your guitar skills (if you're concerned with such a thing).

Rocksmith, though, is awesome. You plug the cord directly into your XBox's USB port and plug the other end into ANY real guitar. No more materials are needed. A guitar you probably already own, the game and the included cord.

I always thought the list of songs on the game seemed pretty great. When it came out, I was in a big Nirvana mood and saw there were a few of Nirvana's songs on it, as well as songs from other great bands (like the Cure, Dead Weather, the Rolling Stones, etc) so I was intrigued.

The first song is Satisfaction. It's fun. But eventually I got to In Bloom by Nirvana. I played this one a lot. A WHOLE lot. It started out with me playing single notes on single strings along with the song, but not with the same note count. On songs like the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Higher Ground" the faster palm muting section would be represented by one strike on the open E, not a bunch of muted E's.

But the more I played In Bloom, the more intricate it became. The game was learning about me and my skill and upped the difficulty accordingly. The first time the solo came around, I played one note and rode it to the end. The seventh time I played the song, the solo included more notes and sounded a lot closer to the actual song.

At the end of it, I could play In Bloom. It sounds legit (except for the solo, because I need to put some more work in it) and like the song.

Oh man, and it's fun. I spent two hours "playing" and at the end of it, I had a good grasp on the majority of a song, I had some fun playing others and my fingers were sore.

I had inadvertently been practicing!

"Playing gigs" is fun too. You learn some songs and you can rehearse them until you have a good grasp, or you can go in fairly cold, but the better you are, the more the crowd will react and the more you know the song, the more you can watch the crowd.

So there I was, standing in front of my TV, but playing a real guitar, and a girl near the front row pulled out her cell phone to either take a picture or record a video and I found myself striking a bit of a rockstar pose, pulling the guitar up in the air a bit and really getting into it.

What a great time.

When playing, the screen not only shows you major fret numbers that line up with your fretboard dots, but it highlights the anchor station - where your four fingers should generally be that would make it easiest to hit the notes that are coming up next. Anchor stations change, as does the highlighted area.

The scrolling also changes. In areas of songs where there are more notes than others, spanning more of the fretboard, the notation is smaller. It turns, as well. This might not sound like a big deal. It is, though. With Guitar Hero there was a constant downward scroll moving at a consistent speed. The result was after a few songs, I was dizzy. If I was persistent, I would get a headache. No marathon Guitar Hero sessions for me.

And there's also the fact that there are more songs available for downloading (for a fee, of course).

OK, so let's look at this from a different perspective: For about $80.00, you can learn 48 songs, and most songs are able to be played in multiple arrangements, either in single-note (easier) or a combination of single notes and chords (harder and sounds much more accurate).

That price will not be beat by any guitar teacher. It CAN'T be beat by any instructor. The only thing the instructor can offer you is the possibility of explaining the theory that goes into the song's notes (Rocksmith does not supply this information).

But your instructor can't offer a learning experience as fun as this, nor can they offer the feeling of playing in front of a room full of people, even if they're virtual.

It's just plain fun.

Along the way you unlock amps, pedals, guitars and entire settings nailing down a general tone (Seattle Flannel, for instance) and can go noodle with these tones as long as you like. For someone who doesn't record, this may be a big plus, but anyone with an interface and their free copy of IK Multimedia's AmpliTube 3.5 will get much better tones.

So the fact that you can unlock these tonal tools is much more of a bonus, not really a buying feature.

Overall, if you're on your last nerve about your gamer children not paying attention to their practice regiment, this may be an option (you can play it yourself and get a bit more rounded as a guitarist in a win/win situation). If you're looking to learn a bunch of great songs, this is worth it. I don't really think it's comparable to Guitar Hero or Rockband because you DO learn how to use a REAL guitar, but playing guitar is still a pain, so even if this is your primary instruction, as a beginner, it may be a hassle. Your fingers will hurt, you'll question your motivation, etc. But if you stick with it, I think it would be worth it.

If you're a guitarist with a gaming device, this may be worth your while.

Will it be the party game that Rockband and Guitar Hero was? No. It's a niche game that definitely falls more into the "instruction" side than "normal game" side, but I think there's major potential, the instruction is easy to grasp after a while and you'll walk away a better guitarist (or at least armed with a few more songs).

Check it out and see what YOU think!

XXX---XXX

QFA: Santa's Here

2011-12-10T16:27:00.001-05:00

Question for the Audience: Santa's Sleigh
By Pappy

Does anyone remember the movie Ernest Saves Christmas? It answered one of those nagging questions that everyone has at one point another: how does Santa fit all those toys and gifts into one bag? Some shows and movies show Santa with a gigantic bag, but the bag would have to be insanely large for gifts for every boy and girl...

Instead, Santa's bag in this movie is filled with small magic balls that turn into gifts. Like Pokemon (I think. I'm not entirely hip to Pokemon, so I may be wrong here...).

Anyway, let's say Santa comes down the chimney/vent/window/slides under a door in a liquid puddle a la "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." He knows you caught him and, like any good genie (or elf in this case), says you can choose five balls out of his magic bag that will turn into what you want this year.

JUST five, mind you!

So! What are your magic balls going to turn into?

My list is as follows:

1) Taylor custom 616CE. I'm not just wishing for this beast, I'm currently saving for it. Oh, it's going to be awesome: a 616CE with koa binding and rosette and their beautiful Cindy inlays on the headstock, neck and bridge. As Wayne once said, "it will be mine. Oh yes. It WILL be mine." Santa or no.

2) Orange TH30.

3) Gretsch Black Phoenix. Gretsch offers several Falcons, but this one may be the best 17" Gretsch there is. Amazing guitar.

4) Gretsch Chris Cheney Falcon. Look, here's the skinny on this: Santa would be the only one that could get me this guitar. Unfairly available to an incredibly limited market that has a ridiculous exchange rate that is so lopsided that importing is walking that fine line between "highly unlikely" and "downright impossible." I hear there's one person in the US who did just that, but I haven't heard from him lately. I assume this is because he's not getting that great of an internet connection in his new dwelling, the discarded refrigerator box. But hey, he's got a great looking guitar, right?

5) Taylor 814CE. I love the 616, no doubt about it, but I would also like to have this slightly smaller guitar with a more traditional wood pairing to play as well. It seems like a guitar that's perfectly sized for couch playing!

Those are mine! Let's hear yours!

FQRBtAotRaRHoF2012CoI

2011-12-09T04:00:00.000-05:00

FQRBtAotRNRHoF2012CoI
(Five Questions Raised By the Announcement of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2012 Class of Inductees)
By PT

The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame has somehow accomplished the feat of being both relevant and irrelevant at the same time.

At the end of the day, does it really matter who is inducted? ‘Almost Cut My Hair’ is a killer track regardless of whether Stephen Stills is an HoF honoree. (He is - twice. More on that later). At the same time, any attempt to qualify who are the greatest performers in Rock and Roll history can only lead to debate and in-fighting within the clan of the music geek.

Which is awesome.

Every year when the list of inductees is announced, I can’t keep the smile off my face. I know I am in for at least two weeks of discussion on the merits of the artists selected versus those left off the list, articles and blog posts decrying the shadowy selection process, and endless wails of disbelief that Rush is still not in the HoF.

This year’s list of inductees is an especially strong one, and it has raised these five questions in my mind.

Q: Will Buckethead be inducted? Because I’ll bet that would really piss off Rush fans.

A: Sadly, no. My dream of all 800 members of Guns N’ Roses taking the stage in Cleveland is not to be. Alas. While the official word has not been released (to my knowledge), the prevailing wisdom is that only the founding members plus Dizzy Read and Matt Sorum will likely take part in the ceremony.

That does raise an interesting question though: Shoud the HoF induct individuals instead of bands? Opening the door to full bands leads to some… issues. For instance, take Clapton.

EC has been inducted 3 times: as a solo artist, as a Yardbird, and as a, er, Cream-er. Undoubtedly the Yardbirds and Cream both deserve an HoF slot, as does solo Clapton. On the other hand, is Clapton really three times more HoF worthy than, say, Mark Knopfler or Brian Setzer, both of whom have yet to be honored once? Alternatively, one could make the case that Clapton should be inducted yet again for Derek and the Dominos. Sure, they only released one album, but that album is probably one of the top 25 rock albums of all time. Doesn’t that band deserve a seat at the HoF table?

Think about it too much, and your head will start to spin.

I know you are probably saying, “PT, you are talking crazy. A band is more than the sum of its parts. To induct some members and not others would be ridiculous.”

My retort to you, Hypothetical Reader, would be this: consider the ‘85 Chicago Bears.

Not that it has to be the ‘85 Bears in particular, but they are a great example. The ‘85 Bears were more than the sum of their parts as well. Their smothering defense wouldn’t have been what it was without every man on that squad. Yet Richard Dent and Walter Payton are Hall of Famers, while the vast majority of their teammates are not. This is the way sports Hall of Fames work. So there is precedent.

Inducting the person rather than the band would solve the problem of Clapton. If he’s in, he’s in. Now we can concentrate on Setzer and Knopfler.

Of course, my solution leads to all sorts of other problems. Best not to think about that now. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Q: Is Donovan the creepiest selection ever?

A: I don’t know, but every song I’ve ever heard from Donovan is super creepy. Seriously, go back and listen to Mellow Yellow. Now do it with the lights off. You can’t, can you?

I love that this guy is now a Hall of Famer. Genius.

Q: Am I old? Bands from my childhood are now being inducted.

A: Yes. I officially became old in 2009 when Metallica got the HoF nod.

Q: Who’s the Sideman?

A: Ah, the Sideman. My favorite part of the HoF proceedings. Each year the Hall of Fame inducts one or more people who spent their career outside the spotlight, but still had a profound impact on Rock and Roll. It is really quite a cool idea. Go to www.rockhall.com and read about the past Sideman inductees. It’s a mind-boggling collection of fascinating characters.

So who is the Sideman this year?

Nobody! The Sideman category has been cancelled.

Okay, that’s not quite true. They just renamed it the ‘Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Award for Musical Excellence’. Which is at the same time less demeaning and way less cool sounding than' the Sideman'.

This year the honorees are Tom Dowd, Don Kirshner, Cosimo Matassa and Glyn Johns. Never heard of them? That’s the point of the Sideman!

Q: Is this the Best Class of Guitarists Ever?

A: No. But it is a pretty great year for guitarists.

First, you’ve got Freddie King, an electic blues pioneer. You’ve got Slash, arguably the most important rock guitarist of the last 30 years. And you’ve got the creative and soulful playing of John Frusciante. And I guess maybe Ronnie Wood for his short-lived role in Faces? (See how confusing the whole-band induction concept is?) All in all, a quality year.

By its nature, each year of the HoF brings diminishing returns. More and more of the great ones of the past have already been inducted. Every year can’t be Elvis, the Beatles and the Stones.

For the record, my favorite guitar years are 2004 (George Harrison, Prince, ZZ Top, and Traffic), 2002 (Chet Atkins, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ramones, and Talking Heads), 1998 (The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Santana and Gene Vincent), 1995 (Allman Brothers, Zeppelin, Neil Young and Zappa) and 1988 (The Beatles, Beach Boys, Dylan, Lead Belly, and Les Paul).

But the greatest year was 1992. This class included Booker T and the MG’s, Johnny Cash, Leo Fender, Elmore James and the Yardbirds. Awesome group even without the one inductee that puts 1992 over the top: the Jimi Hendrix Experience. So you had Jimi, EC, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Johnny Cash, Elmore James and Leo Fender all inducted on the same night. Best year ever.

In the end, maybe the HoF doesn’t matter all that much. But it sure is fun to talk about. And isn’t fun what Rock And Roll is all about?

PT Hylton is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.

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Pro Tone Pedals Essential Delay Review

2011-12-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

Pro Tone Pedals Essential Delay Review

By Pappy

The quality tones, looks, and service has always come with a price tag that mirrored the quality though: high.

Boutique delay pedals are priced at a point that makes a lot of guitarists lose control of their jaw. It seems like so little to ask for, a repeat of a signal you made, but the prices for this effect are often astronomical. Even non-boutique companies offer delays for about $140.00 which is better, but not by much. An effect like this that's mass produced should be cheaper in price.

In this aspect, Pro Tone offers a good alternative with their Essential Delay coming in at $120.00. Now, twenty bucks might not seem like much, but that's where the boutique part comes into play. This pedal is made in the USA, hand-wired, affixed with all sorts of secret mojo, true bypass, and they offer you a unique thing to look down and see on your pedal board. That's part of the joy of buying boutique, I guess. You can claim the pedals are your secret weapon and feel good about supporting the little guy, often making these in your own country.

There is a tradeoff though, and it deals mainly with aesthetics. The pedal is bare metal, with black art that is spartan, but this feels less dramatic what with the fact that the pedal is fairly small. Personally, I think it looks understated and will probably appeal to a wider base of delay fans than most of Pro Tone's more expensive graphics which may be a bit divisive. But since the pedal has the dimensions it does, there really isn't the much space to create the usual visual cacophony that Pro Tone is known for, so I think it works. Perhaps a white base-coat would be preferable, but at $120.00 I'm certainly not complaining too much.

In an area that isn't aesthetics that features a trade-off, you also lose the pedal's feet. Those small rubber bumps are gone in an effort to keep the price down, but when asked about it, Dennis stated that a lot of people just velcro pedals down to their boards anyway, so it's a transparent difference. That's a valid point.

But those are just the body differences. Things you can overlook that don't effect the most important thing: the sound. So what are the trade-offs when it comes to the reason you bought the pedal in the first place?

Well, there's no battery snaps. The pedal runs completely off of a 9V negative tip BOSS-style adapter. Don't know what that is? Don't worry. If you buy a 1-Spot adapter or (better yet) the Sanyo Pedal Juice (which is my favorite way to power pedals) you'll be able to power this pedal.

Because I love the Sanyo Pedal Juice so much, the fact that this doesn't have batteries is completely transparent to me. I don't LIKE batteries. They drain and change the tone. Don't believe me? The makers of Kendrick Amplifiers, often regarded as some of the brightest brains when it comes to amps, released a pedal that uses two batteries, powering two different sections in an overdrive pedal SPECIFICALLY because of this. The pitch was that if you wanted both the tone that came with a new battery and the tone that comes from a battery half-dead, you can now bounce between the two. But I haven't heard a pedal that sounds better half-dead than fully-juiced.

So the fact that there's no batteries is completely fine with me. I actually prefer it because, even though I don't use batteries, the empty snaps inside the casings run the risk of shorting the pedal out if they touch something they normally wouldn't be able to (because you normally have a battery connected to it).

1-Spots are cheap, as are the daisy chains and if you can swing a Pedal Juice, you'll never look back. I promise.

As far as other tonal ramifications for offering this pedal at $120, there is none. It's a great-sounding delay that was modeled after vintage tape delays and, as a result, sounds a bit darker than a lot of modern delays that are bright-sounding. But the fact that it's geared more toward yesteryear's tone makes it easy for me to find a warm vintage slapback for rockabilly and it makes for a satisfying base for more overdriven music featuring long delays. Darkker delays like this add a bit of menace to it and when I turn up my delay time, that's exactly what I'm going for. A very Nightmare on Elm Street kind of sound. According to Dennis, the maximum delay time is 450ms give or take 20% for the pot swing. I'm not the Edge, but that's longer than I would ever need a delay gap to be.

One of the small things that I especially liked about the development of this pedal is that Dennis tested them out with virtual amps. A lot more guitarists are looking to get into virtual recording because it's cheaper and offers significantly more tonal options, but you don't have to give up real pedals in the process, but some pedals don't sound as good with virtual amps as they do with real ones. It's nice that Dennis thought of this and attacked it this way.

So would I recommend buying this? If you're looking for a delay built in the US by a small company that is different than what everyone else plays and maybe even save some money, I would say yes. It even comes with a five year warranty.

But enough chitter chatter. You know how it looks, you know how much it costs and the trade-offs associated with the price. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty and let you hear how it sounds!

First up are two sound samples from Pro Tone Pedals.

Pro Tone Pedals Delay by ProTonePedals

Essential Delay 2 by ProTonePedals

Now here's a couple sound samples from me: Visit the SoundCloud page to read even more details on what I used and how I recorded these.

PTP Delay Clean by Fifth Fret

PTP Delay Crunchy by Fifth Fret

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Danger!

2011-12-05T04:00:00.000-05:00

Danger!
By Pappy

Danger is an interesting thing. What makes you feel danger? Is it walking alone at night? Is it the strange sounds in the dark? How about your creepy neighbor?

I’ve felt danger plenty of times, some for good reasons, some not so much, but there’s one thing I never understood and that was why people would say that MUSIC is dangerous.

MUSIC!

The thing that brings joy to almost everyone on Earth, the thing that we sent out to space for any intelligent life forms to check out (which seems like a bad idea to me because while we’re able to send a message in a bottle out into the biggest “sea” known to Man, the life form that intercepts it, understands it, and can come to us has a pretty good likelihood of killing us all, even if we DID send him Chuck Berry). Somehow music is dangerous.

They said rock and roll was dangerous. Rockabilly was dangerous. Really? Ricky Nelson has a song about how miserable he is that he’s getting his date home late and how much he dreads seeing her dad. Danger. Pshaw.

They said metal was dangerous. They said rap was dangerous. They said punk was dangerous.

Why are all these things dangerous? Because they introduce new ideas to you? Offer you different points of view – sometimes unpleasant ones? Because it will corrupt the heart and soul of your precious children? Honestly, if this is the criteria that makes something dangerous than what on earth is SAFE? Every time you open a book or magazine, you’re being offered new perspectives, shown new things, told what to like and what not to like. You’re given advice left and right – advice you may not have even been seeking. Turn on the TV and you’re getting the exact same thing. Go outside and talk to ANYONE and guess what? New perspective. New opinions.

My father, for instance, refused to let me buy a Rammstein album because they sung in German so I had no idea what messages were entering my ear-hole. Which is an interesting idea he brought up, that somehow external of my skull I can’t understand the words, but upon penetrating the ear canal, my subconscious picks up the words and translates them as if I have a Babblefish inside my head.

On a side note, I wonder if other countries have parents with the same mentality. So much of recorded music is sung in English, and so many acts are popular in countries away from their domestic shores. Hmmmm…

So no, I’ve never felt any danger from music. Even the hardest of metal doesn’t get me going, because there’s a limit (say, anything past Slayer) where is starts to get silly and look like you’re trying too hard (*cough cough* Cradle of Filth *cough cough*).

But I will say I had one instance where I could see why people may think ONE band was dangerous. That band was the Cramps. Fronted by a singer in high heels, and backed by his wife Poison Ivy, who, strapped with a Gretsch hollowbody, pounded out primal songs with a definite rockabilly leaning that had rhythms that inspires hips to move and lyrics that mock every single moral value anyone holds dear. Nothing was safe and everything was up for grabs and it was done in a way that is nothing short of sonically addicting. There’s an organic and IMMEDIATE feel to the music, like random energies in the universe happened to come across each other and discovered the unabashed NEED to play music. Some of the songs feel like it was a race to put it on tape, like in an instant or two the magic would be gone. And it sounds good! It wasn’t offensive for offence’s sake. Like the Misifts, it would be dangerous to take the band seriously, but have you come across a lot of parent groups that have a sense of humor when it comes to music?

The music makes you feel like anyone can do it if they have enough passion, not because it’s easy, but because there’s just a FEEL to it that the will to play conquered any obstacles standing in the way.

And the aesthetics of the band were pretty outlandish too. If you were a parent who blushed at the idea that perhaps your child had come across something as mainstream as a Playboy magazine, then the fact that this same child could go to the record store and buy a record with a seductive-looking girl wearing barely any clothes, posed in a provocative manner and sometimes also with a knife in hand would REALLY flip your lid.

I could see someone saying the Cramps were dangerous. I would buy the idea that the Cramps threatened their way of life by not giving it a second thought as they insulted it. Every facet of them, from the music on record, to the picture on the front, to the live shows they would do, dripped with sex and energy and the attitude of the world’s biggest middle finger and it unapologetically waved to and fro.

The Cramps. What an underrated band. You should check them out yourself and see what I’m talking about. They’re one in a million, heck, one in a BILLION. Every fan of rock should take a listen and see what this glorious band brought to the table that so many other gladly borrowed or stole from. It’s a real eye-opener!

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QFA: Guitars and Amps

2011-12-04T20:00:00.001-05:00

Question for the Audience: Guitars and Amps
By Pappy

I've been playing guitar for probably almost 16 years and have ALWAYS loved trying out new guitars and amps. They're so different from one another, even in the same company, that there really is something for everyone and while some guitars and amps are certainly fine for a large group of people (and there are some that will lay claim to these guitars in a bit), finding the right guitar and amp that fits you perfectly is a lot like finding the love of your life.

And much like finding the love of your life, the only way to be successful is to get out there!

So tell me, dear readers, have you found the guitar and amp that fit you? Do they work together perfectly? Do you feel close to your discovery or do you still feel a ways off?

I'm a huge fan of Telecasters. They're the everyman's guitar. A butcher's block of wood, no comfort contours (usually), two single coil (usually) pickups and an indestructible demeanor. Masses of people love this guitar and it truly is great.

But as much as I love the Telecaster, it's when I put on my Gretsch 6118T that I feel like I'm right where I should be guitar-wise.

As far as amps go, no amp has made me happier personally than the Orange TH30, which I sadly had to send back as the one I played was a review model. But it was truly something else and seemed to be designed for a person as fickle as me when it comes to picking tones for the moment.

What about you?

The Quest for Style: Discomfort Zone

2011-12-02T04:00:00.000-05:00

The Quest for Style: Discomfort Zone
By PT

As long-time Fret readers know, I have been on a quest for style in 2011. Tired of being a jack of all trades and master of none, I set out to spend one year developing my skills as an acoustic blues player. I envisioned myself entrenched in the world of acoustic blues and emerging at the end of the year as a different kind of guitar player. When people thought of PT, I wanted them to think of the Delta, bottlenecks and beat up six-strings.

From that perspective, my year of acoustic blues has been a failure.

I haven’t discovered a signature style in that way I had hoped I would. Sure, I’ll use a thumb pick from time to time, and my slide will never be far from my guitar case. But I am also not ready to trade in my Flanger pedal. Rather than reinventing myself as a guitarist, the acoustic blues has just added another arrow to my existing quiver of styles.

In another way though, this year has been a rather astounding success. I can honestly say that I have improved more as a guitarist in the past one year than I did in the previous five.

And I think the reason is discomfort.

I couldn’t fall back on my standard acoustic blues riffs, because I didn’t have any. I couldn’t play the same old songs I’ve been playing for years, because there aren’t any songs in that style that I have been playing for years. Every time I picked up the guitar, I had to work at it.

This year was full of guitar frustrations, but it was also full of discovery. I struggled and got angry at times, but I also had moments of sheer glee when I conquered a new lick or a passage from an old standard. The first time I played an acoustic blues song for a couple friends, there was a thrilling level of terror I hadn’t experienced since my first musical performances as teenager.

2011 isn’t over. I’ve still got nearly a month of acoustic blues in front of me, and I want to make sure I relish that time. But I can’t help but look ahead to 2012. Putting myself into a discomfort zone has been fun and its had a huge impact on my playing. How could I not repeat my experiment next year?

2012 will bring new challenges and new discomforts. But for now, for these last few weeks of this waning year, I just want to play the blues.

PT Hylton is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.

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30 DSC Day 30

2011-11-30T04:00:00.000-05:00

Your Favorite Song At This Time Of Last Year

“Dine, Dine My Darling”

Alkaline Trio

This Addiction (2010)

What a great way to end these thirty days! This is a great song about a person’s last wish to spend their evening with their significant other and enjoy each other before he dies knowing that if this happens, he’ll die happy.

It’s the sweetest Alkaline Trio song I’ve ever heard and they did it well. It’s sweet, but not nauseatingly so.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 29

2011-11-29T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song From Your Childhood

“You Give Love a Bad Name”

Bon Jovi

Slippery When Wet (1986)

This is the first song I ever remember listening to. I remember sitting in the front passenger seat as a four year old (try doing that now) and loving this song right off the bat. I’d ask my dad to play it again once it was done. Over and over and over and over. I can still remember driving down the streets in our neighborhood listening to this song.

It’s still a great song and I love it. It’s like my whole youth consisted of this song until my mom commandeered the tape deck and started playing Rod Stewart.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 28

2011-11-28T04:00:00.001-05:00

A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty

“Hallelujah”

John Cale

Fragments of a Rainy Season (1992)

I dare anyone to listen to this song and NOT feel guilty about something. It's a powerful song - a truly remarkable track that has an insane amount of ability to reach into your soul and just start messing with everything inside it. It's amazing.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 27

2011-11-27T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song That You Wish You Could Play

“Icky Thump”

The White Stripes

Icky Thump (2007)

Jack White OWNS his guitar. It doesn’t have to be conventional playing, you can just watch him dominate the instrument and abuse it so much it HAS to do what he wants. He demonstrates it in this song as well as every other WS song and even blends the guitar with playing the keys. Honestly, I didn’t even know it was a keyboard I was listening to until I saw them do it on a live recording. If you just listen to it, there’s very little difference between the keyboard and the far-beyond-fuzzed-out licks that you yourself may have a tricky time pulling the two apart.

This was the first song that really made me pay attention to the White Stripes. Of course I had heard “Seven Nation Army” but I wasn’t in a place where I could appreciate it. Then I heard this on the radio and it was just OK to me until that huge guitar riff came in after the verse and it changed me. It reminded me of what I thought Led Zeppelin sounded like (having not listened to LZ very much at all beforehand) and it made me want all of the White Stripes stuff, but also all of Led Zeppelin’s stuff. It gave me a new found respect for classic rock. I wanted to play my power chords less and great big overdriven open chords more.

It was like this song turned on a light in my head illuminating a whole other section of my appreciative brain.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 26

2011-11-26T04:00:00.003-05:00

A Song You Can Play On An Instrument

“Halloween”

The Misfits

Collection II (1995)

I love the Misfits. I grew up loving horror movies, sneaking them whenever I could get them past my parents, I loved loud music, I loved music that sounded like I could make myself, given the opportunity. I loved the fact that the Misfits would scrimp and save in high school to go into a studio and record a song or two to sell. I loved EVERYTHING about them. They are who I look to when I dream of my own band. They were a self-reliant force to be reckoned with that has become something less important thanks to the handy work of bassist Jerry Only.

They should have quit after Famous Monsters, or gotten over themselves and brought Danzig back into the fold.

I learned Halloween because… well, I HAD to. So many great bands covered it from Alkaline Trio to the Dropkick Murphys to AFI and I felt like I was missing out on something and sure enough I was. It’s an easy song to learn and because of its ease, it’s also easy to tweak and make into your own.

It’s cool stuff.

Alfalfasprout 69 from Six String Bliss and I even recorded the song. I took the guitar, he took the vocals. We liked the slow moodiness of Alkaline Trio’s version but wanted there to be guitar instead so we drenched the track with reverb, delay and I think I even added some chorus to it and he laid down some beautifully fitting vocals and viola! We had a track!

I’ll tell you what, I’ll do you one better than talking about it. I’ll let you listen to it.

11 Halloween by Fifth Fret

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 25

2011-11-25T04:00:00.001-05:00

A Song That Makes You Laugh

“Mr. Policeman”

Brad Paisley

5^th Gear (2007)

Brad Paisley is not only a flat-out amazing guitar player, but he can write one hell of a song and while the more humorous ones wear out on me pretty quickly, Mr. Policeman will stay in the rotation because of the excellent playing in it. So even when the lyrics get tiresome (which hasn’t happened yet), the song can still be enjoyed because of the amazing playing.

Seriously, if you haven’t checked out Brad Paisley because you think you don’t like Country, you should indulge me and look for some videos of him on YouTube. The guy’s a monster and deserves his moniker “Van Halen on corn bread.”

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 24

2011-11-24T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song You Want To Play At Your Funeral

“Close to Me”

The Get Up Kids

Eudora (2001)

I’ve been to exactly one funeral in my life. I don’t think I’m going to invited to too many (I base this on the fact I haven’t been invited to many weddings either) but the one I went to played “Wind Beneath My Wings.”

It was awful.

Oh, the relatives insisted it was a great song, but way to kill a song for someone who just thought it was a good one. Now I can’t listen to it without thinking of dead people.

But it was sentimental for the important parties and that’s all that really matters. I was just some kid in the seats.

For my funeral though, I want something a little more upbeat. A funeral to me is a celebration of someone’s life. There will be black suits, but only because they look good. If they played this song, it would be great. It’s got a fun beat, it’s got a morose tone to the lyrics and still a sense of hope. That would be a good exit song.

But here’s what I REALLY want to happen: I saw on a soap opera years ago when one of the characters died, the funeral-goers locked themselves in a bar and they each took turns standing up and telling stories about the deceased. They were drinking and telling great stories and while they may have been bummed that their friend was dead (who woudn’t be?) they were remembering the GOOD times and building on them with this meeting. They were sharing these stories that may have gone unknown to everyone else.

If this happened when I died with a jukebox in the corner playing all my favorite stuff, I would consider that a win.

Bonus points if they wear mourning bands on their arms.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 23

2011-11-23T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song You Want To Play At Your Wedding

“Sunglasses at Night”

Corey Hart

First Offense (1984)

I didn’t have a real wedding, just a courtroom affair but if I DID have a wedding, this song would be played. A lot of songs remind me of my wife, but this song is special. We were driving home one night while we were still dating and even though it was night, I put on my sunglasses (for what reason, I don’t know) and my wife started singing the song. I had never heard it, but that wasn’t the big deal here, I had never heard her sing (she says she can’t sing) and there was always the fact that she, a person who doesn’t like music, knows a song that I don’t.

It blew my mind.

Not fifteen seconds go by and guess what comes on the radio?

It was fate, I tell you.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 22

2011-11-22T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song You Listen To When You’re Sad

“Tiki God”

Presidents of the United States of America

II (1996)

Look, if there is ONE band in this world that is only interested in making music with a happy beat and bringing your spirits up (regardless of sometimes dark lyrical content that is overshadowed by the happy mood of the song), it’s the Presidents of the United States of America (is everyone OK with shortening that to PUSA now?).

It’s not just my love of tikis that make me like this song, there’s just a general positivity evident throughout the band’s catalogue and this song as well. So this song perks me right up whenever I’m bummed out and WANT to be brought out of the funk. Sometimes you just want to stay sad for a while, you know?

But when you want to be cheered up, PUSA will do it for you.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 21

2011-11-21T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song To Listen To When You’re Happy

“Don’t Pay The Ferryman”

Chris de Burgh

The Getaway (1982)

I was riding home from school with a friend and her dad asked if I liked Meatloaf. Of course I like Meatloaf. Big operatic rock songs, how can anyone NOT like Meatloaf? “Well,” he says “Check this out.” Then he played two Chris de Burgh songs, “Spanish Train,” a song about God and Satan betting for the souls of the dead, Satan cheating the whole time and God not being hip to it and trying to beat him fair and square. Talk about a good story. I thought that this song should have been on a Meatloaf album. I think it fits with the cover art of Bat Out of Hell a LOT better than “Paradise By The Dashboard Light.”

The next song he played was called “Don’t Pay The Ferryman,” a song about getting to the boat to cross the river Styx. The ferryman demands payment before the boat arrives on the other side while voices come to the passenger saying “don’t do it.”

It’s a good song! I don’t know why I listen to it when I’m happy though. I guess because it’s got a fast beat and isn’t depressing (to me) and I really like de Burgh’s singing style. Stellar stuff.

-Pappy

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Congratulations!

2011-11-20T16:00:00.000-05:00

Psst... Hey guys (universal sense). Want to know something cool?

Of course you do.

Right now close friend to the Fifth Fret, good-guy and a personal buddy of mine, Skinny Jim Rotramel is

GETTING MARRIED!

That's right, rockabilly cat Skinny Jim of Skinny Jim and the Number Nine Blacktops who gave us an interview, and released the album Daredevil Action, and who ranks in my Top Five Kings of Tone, is finally settling down with the lovely love of his life, Natalie and we here at the Fifth Fret say Mozel Tov! Congratulations! We wish you all the best in your married life! I can't speak for everyone else on the Fifth Fret staff, but I've been happily married to my best friend for seven years now and even though there have been some rough patches, for the vast majority of it, it's been nice knowing I have my best friend by my side to help, encourage, share and experience life with me.

Being married is like watching the show Arrested Development: you have to start at the beginning and it is full of callbacks to previous scenarios. It's also one of the best things you can possibly watch.

That's marriage.

Congratulations, kids! I'm so happy for you!

Sincerely,

Pappy

30 DSC Day 20

2011-11-20T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song You Listen To When You’re Angry

“Silenced”

Mudvayne

The End of All Things to Come (2002)

I don’t get too angry most of the time. I wouldn’t say I’m a calm person by any means, but when things happen as they often do, I attack it logically, not emotionally. If it’s something that can’t be fixed, there’s not really a reason to be upset about it (unless it’s something big) and if it’s something that CAN be fixed, you just get to work fixing it and trying to ammend your or someone else’s error.

My problem – what really pisses me off – is when I figure out a solution for something only to be ignored for WHATEVER reason. It bugs me big time. Or when I’m working on something and realize that the way I’m doing it (whatever it is) is too long and inefficient and I can think of a better way and someone says “this is how it’s always been done…” I hate working hard (honestly, who likes working hard?) and if I can do it better, faster, easier, why should I be stalled from changing it? It makes me feel as if I’m not being considered a part of the team, like I’m just a worker bee who’s inputs should be on a small scale – let the big bees who aren’t doing the work figure out the best way to do the job.

Yeah right.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 19

2011-11-19T04:00:00.001-05:00

A Song From Your Favorite Album

“Chillout Tent”

The Hold Steady

Boys And Girls In America (2006)

The Hold Steady is… it’s an acquired taste. The music isn’t in line with what’s popular today, there’s a lot to the music itself and the singer has a very unique styling where he’s singing, but also kind of talking the words and it sounds like he’s in his own world musically. His world and the band’s blend quite nicely though but in the end, the Hold Steady just sounds different than what you hear most of the time.

Personally, I think if the Counting Crows, Marc Cohn and Led Zeppelin were to make a super group, it would probably be the Hold Steady. There’s huge guitar riffs, intricate piano work, and introspective lyrics.

Anyhoo, the first Hold Steady song I heard was “Chips Ahoy!” which automatically got a thumbs-up from me for the title, but I did NOT like the song itself. I didn’t like the structure or singing style. But over the next month or so, the hook would drift in and out of my head and after a while I wanted to hear it again and when I was able to, I realized it wasn’t so bad and then it was a rapid trip to getting the album and declaring it my favorite album ever.

There’s just something about it that really connects with me and I can’t put my finger on it. Perhaps it’s the fact that the characters in the songs don’t seem to have the best lives, but they’re making the most out of them. That kind of stuff connects with me.

Whatever the reason, I love the album.

“Chillout Tent” is a standout track featuring THREE voices, two first-person characters and a narrator. The narrator (the singer) sets up the scene and explains how the characters wound up in the chillout tent at a festival and then the character takes over singing about what happened to them afterward. I had never heard a song with three dedicated singers playing different parts before and it was fun for me. It also has a pretty cool hook.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 18

2011-11-18T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song You Wish You Heard On The Radio

“Mother”

Danzig

Danzig (1988)

Like I said yesterday, I listen to a lot of pop radio on a non-voluntary basis. While I ocassionally hear some rock songs that happen to be popular at the time, I think there can be more. After all, I really don’t think playing popular songs is the only goal of pop radio. I think it’s a conspiracy to MAKE a song popular by shoving it down our throats three times and hour. Perhaps pop radio needs to be tweaked a little. Why can’t it contain popular songs from a wider spectrum of time, or just good songs? Why not try to flex those FM muscles and resurrect a song from the current niche-appreciated grave and put it back on the charts?

I would like to see that!

And I’d like it to start with “Mother.” Mother is arguably the biggest song that Danzig has done, being popular on a large scale and it’s probably the ONLY option you’ll get if you call an FM rock station and request the Misfits/Samhain/Danzig. Perhaps they’ll reach a LITTLE deeper and pull out “Twist of Cain.”

But honestly, why is it just the rockers who get to hear this stuff? Is it not GOOD enough o be on pop radio? Do people think that listeners would change the station before the ending of the song?

I don’t. I think it has every element to be on pop radio while still retaining a sound that make it unique in the landscape. It’s got a great beat, you can sing along with it, it’s fun to drive to, you can hear the words, and it clocks in at only 3:24 which is fine for pop radio!

It would work.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 17

2011-11-17T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song That You Hear Often On The Radio

“We R Who We R”

Ke$ha

Cannibal (2010)

My wife listens to a lot of pop radio when she’s driving the car and, as a result, I’m kind of hip to what is popular. While the vast majority of it strikes me in no way, I really like Kesha. She has said in the past that her albums are about being young and having fun and specifically going against the pretentious nature of music where pop is taken seriously.

Of course pop isn’t serious. It’s pop music! If you want serious and meaningful, dig a little deeper, everyone.

I like how everything is out in the open with her and she does stupid things but she seems to be doing it specifically to entertain those around her and herself.

She also writes the songs. Look, I don’t care what kind of music you make, if you write your own songs, you already have a ton more respect from me than anyone else – regardless of the quality band/singer/artist/whatever is they don’t write their own stuff. It bugs me that it’s OK for someone else to write a song that makes someone famous or makes them a ton of money and they didn’t even put in the work to write the song!

My caveat about that is that cover bands are still cool. They’re not trying to pass off anything as their originals.

So, yeah! Kesha is awesome. To me, anyway. My three-year-old also really likes her, and I don’t necessarily know what to make of that. She’s not anywhere near the age bracket where the actions sung about would be OK with me. But she’s also three, so there’s plenty of time for her to forget the music and for multiple rounds of pop stars to commandeer the radio with their songs.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 16

2011-11-16T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song You Used To Love But Now Hate

“Always”

Bon Jovi

Cross Road (1994)

This is the first CD I ever bought and I loved this song. The whole CD was good (as a Greatest Hits album with a few new songs and takes, how could it be BAD?) and this song stood out. Perhaps I played it out, but I don’t like it anymore. Especially considering that I still like one of the other new tracks from that album (“Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night”).

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 15

2011-11-15T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song That Describes You

“Mr. Chainsaw”

Alkaline Trio

From Here to Infirmary (2001)

“In case you’re wondering we’re singing about growing up. About giving up and giving in.”

Those are the last lines from the song “Mr. Chainsaw,” a great song that uses violent imagery to describe losing your innocence, giving up on your dreams, giving in to adulthood and basically selling out. It’s a painful song to listen to sometimes, but every adult knows that there are things you HAVE to do, and they don’t necessarily line up with things you WANT to do and even if you could line them up, when you first hatched your dreams, you were probably only thinking of yourself and as an adult you’re probably thinking about how the pursuit of these dreams will affect those around you. Maybe you want something MORE.

Still, buried dreams are painful, regardless of why you gave up on them. There’s a feeling of lost potential. Where I wanted to be in a band and make a living that way more than anything in the world, I want to be a good father and husband more – I want to be around them more. I’ve made my decision and now my dreams are on a far smaller scale. Right now, I’m fine with recording songs for myself or the release on Six String Bliss albums or outro tracks for episodes and maybe one day I’ll retire and start a band and tour locally, say, within the confines of a state, but I’ll never be in a guitar magazine for an album that’s critically acclaimed or have a roadie or a room filled with stacked guitars that I got from my worldwide travels or buy a hangar in the Bay Area to do with what I will.

I’m OK with this. But the fact I had to choose made this song perfect for me.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 14

2011-11-14T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love:

“Happy Boys & Girls”
Aqua
Aquarium (1997)

I really like Aqua. Well, I like their faster stuff. I know it’s not really fair to expect or want a band to be a one-note band and play nothing but similar songs, but I can’t help it in this case. Their music is light, happy, and puts me in a good mood and sometimes, that’s all we really want on the drive home.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 13

2011-11-13T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

“Firework”

Katy Perry

Teenage Dream (2010)

I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. I think that most things that make you feel guilty have no real reason to do. I think it’s the society around you and the pressure they put on you that instills this guilt and makes you intimidated to speak your mind and say your piece. Obviously these taboos are in place for a reason in some areas (serious things like murder or pedophilia are never even remotely OK), but when it comes to most areas in life, especially in consumable media, guilt is unnecessary. You like what you like and that’s it. Because you and the person next to you are not the same person, you shouldn’t feel bad that you have different likes and if anyone tries to make you feel guilty then they’re a douchebag who shouldn’t be paid attention to anyway.

So I don’t feel bad for liking Katy Perry’s “Firework.” I think it’s a great song that builds up and even though some of the imagery is a little off, I still like it.

And hey, even the content of the song is telling you to be yourself. Extrapolate that and you basically have what I just wrote.

Good stuff!

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 12

2011-11-12T04:00:00.002-05:00

A Song From A Band You Hate:

“Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)”

Pink Floyd

The Wall (1979)

I don’t want to step on too many toes here, but I’ve never been a fan of Pink Floyd’s music. I think it’s boring, drawn out and overrated. I also think it’s hypocritical to say your albums are meant to be bought as whole albums and not a song at a time because it needs to be listened as a whole while still letting radio stations play single songs from your various albums.

All that being said, I’m sure there are people who don’t like the music I do and if there’s anything music is, it’s subjective. Whether it’s a generational gap or just the fact I don’t appreciate it like I should, Pink Floyd leaves me cold.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 11

2011-11-11T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song From Your Favorite Band:

“Hell Yes”

Alkaline Trio

Remains (2007)

I like a lot of bands and think there are quite a few of them that would count as my favorite band, but I went with what gets played most in my iTunes and what I constantly reach for in my iPod which is Alkaline Trio and this song in particular sums up the band pretty well. It’s dark, it’s snide and it’s filled with a bitter happiness. I don’t think anyone can do this better than Alkaline Trio.

Also, this song is pretty awesome to me because it’s pretty inspirational to me. Not lyrically, but musically. It’s a simple song, but it’s got a cool hook to it using drone strings and the tone isn’t the best but it gets the job done. When I listen to this song, I think I can make something similar. When I hear it I think that there was more emphasis in getting the song done and out than there was making sure it had amazing tone or filled with licks that will please guitarists.

When I hear this song, I have hope for my own playing. I need to just work on the songs and getting them out. Better tone will come down the road, but for now, it’s practically a race to get the song done before I get distracted and move on to something else.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 10

2011-11-10T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep:

“Satin Doll”

Rick Wurzbacher

Unknown

A buddy of mine in high school said his dad was coming to town and it turned out his dad was a guy named Rick Wurzbacher. I had never heard the name at the time, but I met him and he seemed nice enough. He accidentally destroyed my Smokey amp by throwing it in a pool, but felt bad about it and paid for a replacement. He made an impression and got me excited about jazz. After he left, his son gave me his CD saying it was obvious I could get better use out of it than him.

Now, I did a Google search for Wurzbacher and came up with some VERY interesting reading material but honestly, things I can’t confirm or deny – I only met him for a few days, after all.

Still, his live CD which was recorded at a retirement home, I believe, is filled with smooth jazz and a Wes Montgomery kind of tone and a pianist that never stops playing (it takes a lot for me to like the keys) and “Satin Doll” knocks me out with no effort. I have to be sure not to listen to it while driving.

That isn’t to say it isn’t good – it is. It’s quality jazz. It just makes me sleepy.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 9

2011-11-09T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song You Can Dance To:

“Jump, Jive ‘an Wail”

Brian Setzer Orchestra

The Dirty Boogie (1998)

Like Genesis said in the past, “I Can’t Dance.” That’s the truth. I’m awful at dancing. When I danced with my wife at my prom, we danced to a slow song and halfway through she made me stop because I had made her dizzy by spininng around too much.

I really can’t dance.

And it’s not for a lack of effort, either. I’ve taken lessons from various instructors and made far too little progress in far too much time. The most prominent example being a swing class in my freshman year in High School. The high school was not the best. There were security guards roaming the grounds because at all times there were drug dealings, fights, even full-blown sex in stairwells going on. Because of this, the teachers would open their classrooms during breaks or lunch to the students to do pretty much whatever they wanted. They were better off under the watchful gaze of the teacher than outside where they could get up to untold levels of mischief. That was the general thought.

One class did swing dance lessons every lunch. They always used this song and my desire to learn outweighed my inability to dance so I tried again and again until there was literally no one left to dance with. I had kicked too many shins, spun girls too fast, etc. etc. In a class filled with volunteers, teachers that were willing to give up their free time to watch students to “keep them safe” and the big bad outside world beyond the threshold, I was banned from the room.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 8

2011-11-08T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song That You Know All The Words To

“Handlebars”

Flobots

Fight With Tools (2007)

I like some rap or hip-hop. I think it takes a lot for me to like it though. I mean, rap, like rock, is saturated with artists that sound exactly the same as one another. There are carbon copies left and right and when a genre that isn’t your favorite is flooded with clones, you look for what stands out. For me, it’s the rappers that rhyme differently, have a different flow and work with music and not just a beat and really use that music to create a subtle underlying melody in their lines.

I also like rap that is politically or emotionally charged. I don’t like happy rap, and I don’t like “meh” rap that seems to dominate the radio airwaves. I don’t care about songs about girls, nor do I care about how much money/stuff anyone has. I like the unrest when it comes to rap. We’re constantly told on news channels that rap is dangerous, but if you listen to the majority of what’s on the radio, I don’t see how they could think that, but the idea of dangerous rap is a good one. I like it.

All I’m saying is that it seems to me that if there was a revolution, rap would be the genre to carry it. At least with rap you can understand the words (I’m looking at you, most forms of metal).

The Flobots had this unrest but they also featured real musicians. No samplers or DJs. Guitar, bass, drums, viola and even trumpets. They rapped about the world around them and there was always a sense of uneasiness and dissatisfaction in the tone of the lyrics. Like they can see a better potential for themselves or the world and they’re pissed at not being able to achieve it.

I like it.

“Handlebars” is a great introduction to the band too. It starts off minimal and escalates with every verse adding more instruments, more angst and emotion and a higher build than the verse before content-wise. The first time I heard the song a friend played it for me and I listened to about 20 seconds before I decided I was a fan of the band and was most definitely going to buy their stuff.

Give them a shot, maybe you’ll like them too.

-Pappy

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30 DSC Day 7

2011-11-07T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Song That Reminds You of A Certain Event

“Never Again”

Nickelback

Silver Side Up (2001)

I can assure you right off the bat that this song does not remind me of an event that may be obvious. I never witnessed any family members domestically abused. That’s a good thing.

But I digress.

I used to live in Biloxi, MS and the rock station there had an annual festival. It was two days long and tickets were cheap – about $35.00 a day and the bands that came were actually really good. One year they had just one stage and mixed the bigger names with local bands which must have been a shot in the arm for the smaller bands and it gave the bigger bands more padding time-wise before the sun went down. Both days were an all-day event, so there was a ton of music and it always took place in the late spring/early summer and in case you didn’t know, on the coast of Mississippi, that means it’s hot and humid.

It was great fun. Seeing a huge hodge-podge of bands together that you normally wouldn’t see. Filter, the Toadies, Fear Factory, Clutch, Chevelle, Danzig, Nickelback, etc. etc. Bands that are good or decent mixed with bands of equal quality but not in a scenario you would normally expect to see them. Who would think the Toadies, Fear Factory and Danzig would share a stage?

And honestly, I wasn’t too impressed with Nickelback in the beginning. Their music was OK, but I wasn’t rushing out trying to find their huge album, Silver Side Up. Seeing them on stage made me give them a ton more respect. When they performed, they put so much into the show it was crazy. I expected stationary people, some head-bobbing, nothing too crazy. But when the dedicated guitarist decided to climb on top of one of the PA speakers (where no one from any other band had climbed) and he was in full-fledged head banging mode, perched on top of this fairly small PA rocking out to the maximum extent with his Explorer. It was great!

Look, I liked a lot of the other bands more and Danzig put on a great show, but he (Danzig) pitched a fit when the Toadies were delayed (their bus broke down en route or something) and was asked to take the stage early saying he doesn’t play in the daylight. So Danzig had the benefit of the night, lights, fog, etc. Nickelback earned it. I think out of the whole festival they put on the best show and it was probably the most difficult. There were people dropping out left and right in the crowd from the heat, yet these guys wouldn’t let up. The show was highly energetic, the patter was OK (entertaining and not too long), and they didn’t have the benefit of lights, effects, or the “coolness” of the night.

I’ll probably never forget that day. That day cemented in me the idea that no matter how many ballads Nickelback puts out that I don’t like, I’ll never fully hate them and I’ll always say they put on a good show because that day they earned it.

-Pappy

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