By Dave Anderson As we enter into the new year and reflect on what was 2020, it’s almost impossible to say that Covid-19 and being locked down hasn’t disrupted our everyday lives in some way. For musicians, it has been life-changing and still is. Pretty much all touring acts were halted and then canceled for […]
By Aman KhoslaPhotography by Derek Brad How does one start a conversation with a guitar player so legendary that they’ve been called a pioneer? Someone who has had a career spanning well over 40 years as a solo artist and part of the monumental supergroup Return To Forever, collaborating with the likes of Chick Corea, […]
By Andrew Catania The historical archives of the heavy metal rock speak for the sheer class of Jimi Hendrix. As soon as his fingers came in touch with the metal chords, it was as if he was magically squeezing out tones that poured into the ears as profound musical fantasies that humanity had never heard […]
Boston, MA – Johnny Ramone’s Mosrite guitar sold for $937,500, according to Boston-based RR Auction. The 1965 Mosrite Ventures II electric guitar used by John Cummings, better known as Johnny Ramone, for nearly two decades as the guitarist for punk rock legends the Ramones. It was played at every Ramones performance until his retirement: from […]
By Michael Molenda The massive onslaught of tributes, tears, salutes, and shock that trended all over social media following Neil Peart’s passing from glioblastoma on January 7, is indisputable evidence of not just his formidable talents as a drummer, musician, author, and lyricist, but also of his quiet but titanic imprint on popular culture. But […]
By Aman Khosla In a world where technical prowess, proficiency, and complexity have become well-celebrated pillars of guitardom (no, unfortunately, that’s not a real word), Paul Gilbert lives on the top shelf. Known to most as the co-founder of Mr. Big, he has had a colorful and successful career thus far, including his early affiliation […]
By Greg Jones The year was 1986. The FM radio dial and MTV were uncharacteristically compelling due to the decision to play a sonically startling new record called “Yankee Rose” by newly-departed Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. As the sound of a talking guitar answered the singer’s opening dialogue with ever-increasing snarling and sneering, […]
By Pat Bianculli On a beautiful, sunny day in late July 2014 (to a New Yorker, every day is beautiful and sunny in the Bay area of California!) I scouted out the legendary steel-string guitar builder, Ervin Somogyi [pronounced: Suh-MAH-jee], at his workshop, a large white house just off Telegraph Ave. at 52nd Street on the […]
by Dave Anderson The path to becoming a guitar builder is one that is both organic and in flux. Meaning the variety of skills one must learn to have a successful guitar company ranges from designer, drafter, woodworker to finish expert, business manager, inventory manager, accountant, the list goes on. Not to mention, most builders […]
By Greg Jones There was a famous TV commercial in the 1980s that used to feature a plethora of mechanical toy animals, all moving or banging away on drums and cymbals in a cacophony of noise, while a voiceover would say “can you guess which one has the Duracell batteries?” But alas there was no […]
