Enter The Hunter

Born in Greenwich Village in 1968, Hunter grew up in Berkley, California with his mother. It was through her that he got his first taste of music, starting with her collection of old blues records, as well as her work as a repairwoman at Subway Guitar. He started playing guitar at age 13, and at 14 he was taking lessons with Joe Satriani (who was teaching at Subway Guitar at the time). Through all of this, he was listening to a very eclectic mix of music, from the Dead Kennedys to John Coltrane, to Lightning Hopkins.

More Than Just Rumours

It is arguable that the subject of our article, the 1977 album Rumours was peak-Fleetwood Mac, earning the band their most tremendous commercial success. Behind the album, a plethora of problems within the ranks, from members breaking up, to exercises in excess. It’s probably a miracle the album came out!

It’s Flooding Down In Texas

Texas Flood is, for all intents and purposes, a live album. The group played together, running through the best material from their live show and recording songs quickly as a result. Mullen did this to make the most of their limited time, as well as capture the energy that the group had during their live shows. For further proof of this, compare the songs on the album to those on Live at the El Mocambo; it’s almost hard to tell the difference between the two.

Thalia Capos’ Mother’s Day Playlist

From the 1971 album of the same name, this song is probably a great example of love and appreciation between a mother and her child. Dolly sings how her mother stitched her a coat using many colourful rags (including “the love that Momma sewed in every stitch”). The child recognizes the love put into it, appreciates the gift and is quick to defend her coat from the ridicule of the other kids. Try not to shed a tear at the beautiful tale that Dolly sings.

Paul Kossoff - A Glimpse at the Back Street Crawler

Paul Kossoff was born in 1950 in Hampstead, London. After attending his first concert at age 8 (Tommy Steele at the London Palladium), Kossoff soon received his first guitar and started taking lessons. He was also playing with several local groups by his teen years, having taken to the instrument like a duck to water. At age 15, he gave up on academics and began working on his father David Kossoff’s touring productions (David Kossoff was a popular stage and television actor in the UK).

A New Take On an Old Tradition

Luigi D’Andrea got into the pick-making business in 1922, when he decided to make guitar picks out of sheets of celluloid, which was readily available, more durable than tortoise shell, easy to work with, and allowed him to experiment with several different pick shapes. One shape in particular would become known the world over; the 351 guitar pick shape, famously known as the standard “Fender” pick and used by basically every company that produces picks. 

The Iconic Guitars of Eric Clapton

Though Slowhand has had a long association with the Stratocaster, it is not the only iconic guitar that he’s had his hands on. During the years leading up to his solo career of the 1970s and beyond, Clapton was seen with several great instruments known for their sound and looks. These helped shape his status as one of the greats and introduced the world to a wide array of tones never heard before.

The Power of Melody and Rhythm: How Music Affects Our Brain

Music has been a fundamental aspect of human existence since the dawn of time. From the beating of tribal drums to the symphonies of Beethoven, music has been used to express the entire range of human emotions and experiences. Music has been so important throughout history, from the earliest known musical notation on a bone flute dated over 40,000 years ago to the modern-day digital age.

The Beginner’s Guide to Open G Tuning

So, what do Keith Richards, Charlie Starr, Robert Johnson, Joni Mitchell, Rich Robinson and Lowell George all have in common? They all play differently, work in different genres, and are even generations apart... The common element is that they’ve tuned their guitars to Open G. This is one of the more common open tunings there are and provides a great starting point for those who want to experiment with something beyond standard tuning. It’s also fun for those who want to try and play slide guitar.

From the Office of Willis, Messina and White

The Motown Sound. Everybody knows what it is. Even if you don’t know what it is, you’ve certainly heard it. You’ve heard it with Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Little Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, and The Jackson 5, among many, many others.

The Legend of Greeny

Part of the allure of Peter Green was his 1959 Les Paul, affectionately dubbed by all as “Greeny”. This has become one of the great instruments forever associated with its player, much like Eddie Van Halen’s “Frankenstein” and Zakk Wylde’s “Grail” Les Paul. Green acquired the instrument in 1967 when he joined the Blues Breakers and used it extensively during his time with Fleetwood Mac. If you heard Peter Green during this time, you also heard Greeny.

You Should’t Take It So Hard - A look back at Keith Richards and Talk Is Cheap

Listening to Dirty Work (and its predecessor, 1983’s Undercover) is a bit of a challenge, with many conflicting styles going on from track to track. If Mick was modern, and Keith was classic, you know which person won the argument on which song.

The Unsung Genius Behind George Harrison's Slide Playing

While mostly absent in the Beatles’ music, much of George’s solo and guest work features him playing slide guitar, having originally picked it up while on a short tour with Delaney and Bonnie in 1969. He also eschewed many slide clichés, avoiding typical blues and pentatonic licks and opting for a more melodic style of playing. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of George’s slide playing.

What is the One Gig You Wish You’d Seen?

Then there are those artists that I can still see live today, but wish I had witnessed in their imperial phase. To have seen the Stones in ’69 or ’72, supporting the releases of landmark albums like Let it Bleed and Exile on Main Street would be nothing short of exhilarating. Or to catch Dylan in the turbulent mid-1960s, on the cusp of electrifying his sound and completely changing the game.

Master of Puppets: Revisiting Metallica’s Masterpiece

“When I saw two kids who worked there in London wearing T-shirts of a local San Francisco band, I knew I was onto something. When I heard their record, I knew they were the one band that could sell to both mainstream and underground metal audiences.”

The Story Behind Willie Nelson’s “Trigger” Guitar

In the early days of his career, Willie Nelson went through a variety of guitars. Nelson was signed to RCA records, and that meant that plenty of guitar manufacturers were lining up to gift him instruments to test. Willie started out on Fenders, experimenting with Telecasters, Jaguars and Jazzmasters, before switching to Gibsons. Then, in 1969, the Baldwin Company offered Nelson one of their 800C Classical Acoustic-Electrics, complete with a Prismatone pickup and amp.

What is the Best Pink Floyd Album?

And all of those eras have standout albums. Barrett’s first, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, remains much cherished to this day. Atom Heart Mother and Meddle, with their bold, side-filling progressive suites, are rightly regarded as prog rock landmarks. And I don’t need to extol the virtues of Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and the Wall to you. The countless column inches already devoted to those landmark albums in the annuls of rock journalism tells you everything you need to know.

Three Electrifying (and Electrified) Slide Performances You Need to Hear

As the story goes, the Allmans’ version of the track came about after Gregg Allman gifted the self-titled Taj Mahal album to Duane for his birthday, along with a bottle of Coricidin pills (Duane had a cold that day). Inspired by the rendition of Statesboro Blues on the album, Duane, who had never played slide guitar before, washed the label from the Coricidin bottle, fashioned a makeshift slide from it, and taught himself how to play the track.

Neil Young: Words of Wisdom

“When you're young, you don't have any experience - you're charged up, but you're out of control. And if you're old and you're not charged up, then all you have is memories. But if you're charged and stimulated by what's going on around you, and you also have experience, you know what to appreciate and what to pass by.”

John Mayer: Three Incendiary Live Covers

Being a great songwriter comes from understanding great songs. And, as Mayer’s impressive covers repertoire shows, he has that knowledge in spades. Not just a great player and a great writer, Mayer knows how to interpret other peoples’ material to maintain the character of the original while injecting his own unique flavour.

Remembering Dusty Hill

“When I started playing in a three-piece, I realized that you have to do the song, not your personal performance, so you have to be tasty with it and enjoy the playing. Writing the song helps a lot; if I’m involved in the writing process, it comes to me. I think one of the best bass players in the world for that is Paul McCartney; he played the perfect part for everything, in every song. Sometimes you don’t even notice the bass — I hate that in a way, but I love that in a way. That’s a compliment. That means you’ve filled in everything and it’s right for the song, and you’re not standing out where you don’t need to be.”

The Quotable Bob Marley

“One good thing about music—when it hits you, you feel no pain.”

Whitesnake Were a Blues Band?

The version of the band that Coverdale formed in the late 1970s is pretty far removed from the iteration that cracked the American market in the subsequent decade. For many years, Whitesnake only really found success in their native UK. And the BritSnake was more like a down-and-dirty blues-rock extension of Deep Purple than the hair-rock flock that Coverdale established later down the line.

Queen’s We Will Rock You: Why Less is Often More

The weird thing about “We Will Rock You” is that, in spite of being one of the most iconic guitar based rock songs of all time, there’s no actual guitar in it for the first few minutes.