GuitarVibe.com

Is this John Petrucci's Rig?

Via the good guys over at FretBase, here's a video that might or might not be about John Petrucci's rig.  If you've had your fill of over-the-top arrogant guitar players, you'll enjoy this.  No offense to over-the-top arrogant guitar players intended.

• FretBase: Main site, News

Hondo Chiquita Travel Guitar

I recently picked up a unique and somewhat rare Chiquita Travel Guitar.  This guitar was designed by Mark Erlewine in the early 1980s with input from Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.  The idea was to create a short-scale electric guitar that you could take as carry-on luggage and play on a bus, plane or wherever.  The guitars were manufactured by Samick in Korea and sold by Hondo, a division of IMC.   Several different colors and styles were made, including models with swtichable double-coil and single-coil pickups.

Mine is in bright yellow, same as what Michael J Fox played in the opening scene of "Back to the Future."  I must admit, when I first got the guitar and opened the hard-shell case, I burst out laughing.  It's quite something to see this bright banana-colored instrument nestled in the lush velvet interior of a case.  It's like seeing a gold record for the Ramones.  It's a great guitar but not something you need to take too seriously.

Despite it's low-cost manufacturing, the guitar is very high quality.  It has a neck-through design, a nice Schaller bridge and the original DiMarzio distortion humbucker pickup.  There's no tone control though you can back down the volume from 10 for a slightly cooler sound.  Otherwise, it's crunch all the way.

The Chiquita weighs just over 4 pounds, making it incredibly light.  It measures just 28" end-to-end, almost a foot shorter than a typical electric guitar.  The Chiquita achieves its compact size by using a short-scale of just 19" which feels like you're playing a regular full scale guitar with a capo on the 5th or 6th fret. 

Since it uses heavier gauge strings (.013) you're able to get a very good tone out of the guitar and can still play in standard tuning (EADGBE).  The Chiquita sounds great for open chords, power chords etc.  But the compact scale can take some getting used to, especially as you get to the 12th fret and beyond.  Because of the short scale, you don't have to bend very far to get a half-step or two of tone.  Which is good because the heavier gauge strings give more resistance than typical light-gauge electric strings.  But again, it's mostly just a question of getting used to it.

Unfortunately, Hondo discontinued the Chiquita in 1985 and these guitars have become somewhat rare now.    You can sometimes find them on eBay for between $250-$300.   Erlewine Guitars continues to sell high quality hand-made versions of the Chiquita, but they are quite expensive, clocking in at over $600. 

Check out the video below to see an example of the guitar in action.

• Hondo Chiquita: HubPages Blog
• Erlewine Guitars: Main, Chiquita Travel Guitar

Ray Davies: Working Man's Café

From the first track of Ray Davies' latest CD "Working Man's Café" it's clear that at the ripe old age of 65 the man still has a lot to say about what's going on the world.   Vietnam Cowboys is a biting commentary on globalization and the loss genericization of culture.  But rather than preaching, Davies' combines wit with a good ol' rock and roll soundtrack. 

You better top up your suntan
Looks like we're in for heavy weather
Economic meltdown
Nobody said it would last forever
Let's make a movie in Baghdad
Take the culture right to the Third World
Blow up a brand new civilization
In the name of globalization

Big confusion in Hollywood
Now it's American Major League in Japan
Hamburger in China
With sushi bars in Maine and Boston
Dollar signs said expand
Now it's cowboys in Vietnam

For a guy who penned more classic hits in a single Kinks album than most bands achieve in a lifetime, it's great to see Davies still very much a working man.  Vocally Davies' remains as strong as ever.  Musically the album sounds a bit like late stage Kinks combined with a dose of Nasheville sound and a pinch of Mark Knopfler.  At any rate, it's rock music that has something to say.  While not every cut on the album is a hit, there's at least half a dozen great songs and a couple of close contenders.  It may not have brother Dave pounding out Kinks riffs, but it's still a strong, upbeat album and thoroughly enjoyable.  There are some good clips on YouTube; the segment below is the song "In A Moment."

Ray Davies continues touring and has a few upcoming dates  in the UK and the United States.

• Amazon: Working Man's Café, Other People's Lives

• Kinks: Unofficial Web Site, Tour dates

• Rolling Stone: Interview, CD Review

NRBQ: Best Cult Band You Never Heard Of

This is another guest post from my buddy Rick in Phoenix on the legendary cult band NRBQ (New Rhythm & Blues Quartet). 

It’s all there in their first ‘hit’, “Flat Foot Flewzy” – an amazing guitar riff to lead off, sinking into a deep groove that keeps on rolling over a nonsense lyric, but throughout it all, music that just makes you want to smile.  NRBQ is one of the greatest bands of all time.

In some ways, NRBQ never ‘progressed’ from that initial shot.  They just kept creating small masterpieces over the years, refining the perfect pop song in a hundred different ways.  You can pick them up from nearly all their albums, from the rock splendor of “Me and the Boys”, to the novelty of “It Was An Accident”, to the touching “Another Word For Love”.  And any aficionado could add dozens to this random list.
 
One of the most admirable things, for me, about the Q is how they just kept doing it.  They never really cracked anything like the big time over more than 3 decades of recording and playing.  But they kept it up, and every live show was an unpredictable rollercoaster ride.
 
In person, they were always a riot. Terry Adams’ stage persona was a complete goofball, so much so that it took a while to realize that his stumbling approach to his keyboard overlaid some impressive chops as a musician.  And they always seemed to take real pleasure in playing together.  As they put it in “Things we like” – “We like to have lots of fun and play these songs for you”
 
Which brings up back to joy.  How joyous?  Tom Ardolino, their drummer, was just a fan when he got called to sit in on short notice.  He ended up playing with them for more than 30 years.  And there is nothing surprising when you hear that Tom has one of the biggest record collections in the world.

NRBQ have never been flashy, just deep, mining a rich vein to perfection.  An old friend and I were talking recently, and we agreed on a one-question test to determine if someone was a real music fan – “Do you love NRBQ?”  And, if they didn’t know the Q, playing half a dozen tunes would act as an instant aptitude test.

If you're not familiar with NRBQ, check out the video and some of the links below.

• NRBQ: Annoying main site, News, Live dates, Wikipedia
• Amazon: NRBQ, The Best of NRBQ , Gotta Be Loose (live)

Guitar Break Weekend

This is a guest posting from my buddy Richard from the UK who attended a recent GuitarBreak Guitar Getaway weekend near Guilford.

Looking for a way to improve my confidence and technique for impromptu blues/rock soloing I saw this GuitarBreak Guitar Getaway event advertised in the GuitarTechniques Magazine published in the UK but distributed globally now. Out of all the guitar magazines I’ve bought and kept! this has proven to be the most consistently helpful to me over the years – although it should be noted that they cover many different guitar styles, not just blues and rock.

This event took place over a weekend in Barnett Hill near Guilford - a good location in Southern England (ed note: The Stranglers were from Guilford!)  - and was chaired by Neville Marten and Jason Sidwell with a special guest : Dave Kilminster.  And check out the video below:

There's a nice interview with Neville Marten on the GuitarBreak experience and also a profile on the Tutors that GuitarBreak uses, including Neville, Jason and DaveK.

Attending the event were about a dozen players of varying ability and experience. When I booked to attend the event it was positioned for Blues/Rock Levels II/III, which I figured was something between ‘better than a beginner’ but a long way from being an expert guitarist. I was pleased to find that I wasn’t completely out of my depth.

Over the two days we had a tour across different topics starting with time signatures moving swiftly into right hand picking/muting techniques. We then took a look at the basic theory and practical approach to soloing over a couple of different chord changes - not your typical blues progressions – I think we started with Amin to F, and later progressed to Amin to Cmin.

Each time we were given the opportunity to test ourselves by going out to the front of the room and soloing over a backing provided by a tutor or a looper pedal, with some good feedback afterwards aimed at helping us progress  --rather than exposing our poor technique or personal nervousness! Attempting to solo directly in front of much better guitarists is something I find quite challenging – although I seem to be ok in front of a non-guitar playing audience!

On the second day, we had a flipchart session on what I called ‘Modes for Dummies’. This was a ‘light switching-on moment’ for several of us in the room! and the personal highlight of the event for me. To look at ‘modes’ in practice we then randomly chose some well known pop/rock ‘standards’ and briefly decomposed them to look at their key and modal approach taken to allow us to figure out how you would approach building an impromptu solo to the song. So now I know what mixolydian, dorian (and some of the others) modes are and why I should care! It was all a mystery to me before and something I glazed over on when I heard other guitarists talk about them…

Neville, Jason and Dave are all great guitarists – each with different emphasis and experience, but more than that, each of them were good at teaching us (with all our different levels of ability) several tips or approaches that would help us improve – which in turns build confidence – which increases motivation, which to my mind ultimately justifies the cost of the event.

So what did I take away with me? Within a few days I had bought a Boss RC-2 Looper pedal to help me practice the art of impromptu soloing over a backing track – rather than what I had been doing before – which was learning specific riffs and licks from songs by my favourite artists and then relying on my memory and ability to use them in a vaguely interesting way when I was jamming with friends on a more standard chord progression.

This has completely changed my approach to practicing. I now jam over CD backing tracks or input a more unusual chord change into my loop pedal, and practice putting myself in the impromptu situation. Already I feel more confident as a result.

Was it worth the money at £399 GBP? Absolutely 100%. I’m waiting to see the GuitarBreak.Com 2010 schedule and will definitely be attending another event this year!

Thanks to Richard for an excellent write-up.  GuitarBreak seems like a great experience for folks in the UK or Europe.  More information is available at the links below.  In the US the National Guitar Workshop puts together week-long summer guitar courses in Chicago, Austin, LA and Connecticut.

• GuitarBreak: Main site, Blog, Venues, Articles, Tips & Tricks, Sunday Times PDF
• Dave Kilminster: Official Site,  Wikipedia
• GuitarVibe: National Guitar Workshop, Guitar Camps, JM4 Looper
• Amazon:  Boss RC-2 Looper, KORG Pandora PX5D, Line 6 JM4 Looper