Month: April 2018

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Ten Guitar Challenge

Mary Spender has posted a new guitar challenge up on her YouTube channel: record a song using 10 guitars or more.

There’s a long and glorious tradition of YouTube musicians setting musical challenges for each other, most recently the Write and Record a Whole Song In An Hour. Mary’s hoping to start the next challenge with this one! She got the idea from her time at Port City Studios, where she made a video using 10 of the guitars they have up there.

Today’s video isn’t the song itself; it’s a behind-the-scenes look at all the effort that went into putting the song together. A great look into what it takes to be a YouTube music star like Mary is.

Have a watch, and then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment.

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How To Solo Over Chord Changes

Paul Davids has uploaded a handy lesson video, where he’s looking at how to solo over chord changes using the pentatonic scale.

The pentatonic scale is probably the first scale we learn when we’re trying to get into writing our own solos and improvising. It’s such an easy scale to play, but making it musical over chord changes is deceptively hard.

In Paul’s lesson, he explains what the trick (sometimes) is: switch pentatonic scales when the underlying chord changes. By using the pentatonic scale that matches each chord (e.g. A minor pentatonic over an A minor chord, C major pentatonic over a C major chord), we place more of an emphasis on the musical changes that are happening in the rhythm section.

Watch the video for all the details, then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Paul’s video.

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The Ultimate Guide To Vintage Les Paul Tone

Over at The Guitar Magazine, Huw and the team have published a lengthy read on how to get vintage Les Paul tone without selling a kidney to pay for it.

http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/features/vintage-les-paul-tone-guide/

This is a topic that come up all the time on the two main Les Paul forums. The debates are long (and often become unpleasant), and they usually condense into three points:

  1. Most people don’t know what a vintage Les Paul actually sounds like.
  2. Some people insist that they can’t hear a difference, therefore there isn’t a difference.
  3. Some people think the difference isn’t worth the cost.

I’m very much in the first camp. I have no idea what a vintage Les Paul sounds like. I’ve never played one, and if I did get the chance to, I’d need to either play it through my rig or compare it with some of my guitars to have a reference point to help understand what I’d be hearing.

Have a read of the full article, and see what you think.

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Does A Decade Make A Difference?

Adam and Tom from AStrings have posted a cracking comparison video. They’ve taken two reverb pedals that are currently in production, but a decade apart in their design, to try and answer the question: does a decade (of progress) make a difference?

https://youtu.be/1uFzs74pEsA

What a wonderful, original idea for a gear demo video!

Have a listen, see which one you think, and then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment and let them know which pedal you preferred and why.

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Fender Santa Ana Overdrive Pedal Demo

Henning is working his way through the new Fender pedals, and today he’s published his look at the Santa Ana Overdrive pedal.

Henning makes a great point at the start of this video, and it’s one that hasn’t come up in any of the other demos that I’ve shared so far. The Santa Ana Overdrive needs 130 milliamps of power. That’s more than most power supplies normally offer.

Watch the video for all the other observations – and tones! – that Henning has on this pedal.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed his video.

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Era 2 Acoustic Amp Demo

Mary Spender has posted a demo of the Era 2 Acoustic Amp from Hughes & Kettner.

https://youtu.be/W-ZBtGZzwsM

This is a dual-channel amp for anyone who wants to do acoustic gigs and performances. There’s plenty of volume on tap, a line out if you’re playing a venue that has its own PA, and even a kick stand so that you can angle it up to fill the room.

If you’re looking for this kind of amp, this is well worth a look.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Mary’s video.

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Wampler Equater EQ Pedal Demo

Burgs has posted what I think is the first demo of the upcoming Wampler Equater EQ pedal.

This pedal features powerful active EQ that’s able to cut or boost significant levels. The two-band mid EQ is voiced to give you a lot of ability to sculpt your guitar tone in a musical manner.

I’m seriously thinking of getting one of these. I’m looking for ways to improve my lead tone, and this might just be what I need to help me learn where I’m going wrong.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Burgs video,

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Aleks K Production Maple Leaf Royal Drive Demo

Burgs has posted a demo of an interesting drive pedal out of Vancouver, Canada: the Maple Leaf Royal Drive from Aleks K Production.

In the description of this video, he says that this would be his pick for drive pedal of 2018 so far.  That’s high praise indeed.

This pedal has two separate drive circuits that you can blend together to find your tone. Burgs reckons that, combined with the tone stack on the pedal, this should allow you to use this pedal with most guitar and amp combinations.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed his video.

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RYRA The Klone Demo

Burgs has posted a great demo of RYRA’s The Klone pedal. Not only does he make it sound really good, he shows off how to go beyond the Klon thing and many other great sounds out of this pedal.

Despite the name (and despite how others have covered it in the past) the RYRA Klone isn’t actually a straight-up Klon klone. I have one, and not only does it sound different to my Klon KTR, the controls react differently to. I actually have both on my board atm, because of how different they sound.

This video has lots of great advice in it that I need to go away and try! Might just inspire me to rewire my board to make permanent room for the Klone too …

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed this video.

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Fender Marine Layer Reverb Pedal Demo

The first Fender pedal that Henning looked at was the new Marine Layer Reverb. And it’s fair to say that he really liked it.

I haven’t seen him have this much fun trying a pedal in ages. If that isn’t a ringing endorsement of this pedal, I don’t know what is.

For me, this is a pedal that goes in your effects loop. It’s a performance reverb pedal, if you like, rather than a studio tool – because it isn’t a stereo pedal. Which might be exactly what you are looking for, especially if your amp doesn’t have any kind of built-in reverb.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Henning’s video.