Rudiment Round-Up Episode 2: Rolls

Previous: Rudiment Round-Up – Episode 1: Why you need ‘em! introduction

Well folks, its time for you to sit up straight, sticks in hand, mouths shut, eyes front and center! Today let’s get you familiar with the wonderfully tasty little rudiment that is the roll. Rolls are used to give the drums a sense of sustain. They’re how we drummers hold the snare drum note to increase tension in the music and how we call attention to an important happening.

The Star Spangled Banner starts with a snare drum roll! Rolls come in many shapes and sizes, but are all made using the same sticking pattern…RRLL, RRLL, RRLL, RRLL. There are long rolls, buzz rolls, numbered-stroke rolls, closed rolls, dinner rolls, sushi rolls, all kinds of rolls…I digress. The common building block to them all is the sticking: RRLL. Read more

Rudiment Round-Up – Episode 1: Why you need ‘em! An introduction

Rudiment Round-Up
Episode 1: Why you need ‘em! An introduction

Well partners, this, I‘m afraid, is something that I encounter far too often in the real world… maybe some of you do too. You’re minding your own business, picking up a new pair of sticks and a fruit shaker at the local Guitar HQ when, all of a sudden, you’re under siege by some twenty-something hipster in skinny jeans who thinks he’s being artful (and obstinate about it) when in reality, he’s just whacking off in public. You’re helpless; it’s just like 3rd grade grammar class when your teacher picked the “slow kid” to read all you can do is stand there and take it. I realize that no one reading this would ever freely admit to committing such a vulgar display of public fugga-duggaery. But (just between us) if you’re reading this and want to free yourself from the limits of your own expression, there is a good place to start. Rudiments! Read more

Fight Club: Chops vs. Heart – The Age-Old Question

When it comes to guitar playing, there seem to be two main camps that most of us fall into: those that value chops and technically-based music and those who prefer more simple, earthier, played-from-the-heart styles. There always seems to be some friction between the two, with the chops guys looking at the feel fellows as the musical equal of a knuckle-dragging caveman and the feel folks viewing the sweep pickers as soulless, over-practicing robots. Read more

Lick Library releases Guns N Roses DVD

Press Release–Lick Library, one of the world leading suppliers of guitar tuition DVD’s, have just released the ultimate guide to playing Guns N’ Roses with a series of professional works shops and tutorials totaling more than eleven hours of lessons. Read more

The Gibson Holy V Guitar – Only 1000 Being Made

Having come up with such guitars as the Les Paul and Flying V, among others, Gibson is known for innovation, creativity and spirit. The Gibson Holy-V is a representation of this continuing ingenuity, with its unique body and headstock. Like most Gibson guitars of the month, January 2009—is Gibson’s latest testament to their imagination. Production is quite limited—just 1,000 of these are being made, making it both a collector’s item and a good guitar for both the amateur and the pro guitarist.

The Main Features

One of the most noticeable things about the Holy V is the holes (vented openings) that are found in the V-shaped body and headstock of the guitar. These holes are carefully carved into the body and the headstock, so as to make the guitar the lightest Gibson to date and gives an intense aesthetic effect. Indeed, the guitar has the same tonal sound quality of a traditional Gibson Flying V, while it’s said that the vented cavities provide for more sustain, we should all agree that the light weight creativity is a unique feature in itself.

Another thing people will notice about the guitar is the gearless tuners. There are no tuning pegs on the headstock, which gives the headstock a very distinctive look. Every Holy V is fitted with Steinberger Gearless Tuners which are noted for their smooth tuning action and accuracy and are said to prevent string slippage.

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The Gibson Holy V also features a 24-fret ebony fingerboard, making it ideal for guitarists who need the extra two frets for soloing. While the Flying V is usually considered to be a guitar appropriate for metal/hard rock guitarists, the Holy V can handle many types of music. So if you’re a classic rock or modern rock guitarist, you’ll still find something to like about this guitar.

Among the Holy V’s other features are the beautiful split diamond inlays, a mahogany set-neck construction (for better sustain), solid mahogany body with a Tune-O-Matic bridge and a ‘57 classic pickup, supplying the classic Gibson PAF crunch and power.

While the Holy-V is an expensive guitar, for all that it features and uniqueness; is worth it?

MSRP $2799 but can be found as low as $1839. The Gibson Holy-V will not be available until January 2009. However some music stores will allow you to pre-order.

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Gibson ES-135 Limited Edition Guitar Review

With its single cutaway and slightly deeper body (2.125 inches at the edge), the ES-135 comes a little closer to a jazz axe than its 335-based brothers. Read more

What’s Tremolo and how does it work?

Tremolo suffers from an acute identity crisis. Thanks to various descriptive errors made in the Fifties, tremolo is frequently mistaken for vibrato. For the record, tremolo is a rhythmic pulse produced by a change in volume over a set clock rate; Read more

Story of the Instruments Strings

The very utterance of the word ‘guitar’ conjures a series of varying and fleeting images in one’s mind. Though mostly associated with the long haired, head banging rock stars, guitar also conveys or signifies various other connotative meanings as well, mostly above all the Freedom of Expression. Despite the fact that this string instrument in the modern times is perceived as a symbol of articulation of free thoughts, it has been now confirmed that guitar has its history and origin sometime in the first century in the Roman Civilizations.

In spite of its germination in first century, it was not until around 1200 AD that this instrument started resembling its present day counterpart in terms of the shape, appearance and functioning, for the first time and this feat is generally credited to the Hispanics, Moors and the Norse. The saga of the modern day guitar more or less starts with Gaetano Vinaccia, a resident of Naples who lived in the mid 18th and early 19th century. Another set of important names that have been historically associated with vintage guitars are those of Antonio Torres Jurado and Louis Panormo, both having significant contributions in the make or construction of the instrument. All these were howbeit, facts related to the traditional, classical acoustic guitar. It was George Beauchamp of Texas, USA along with Adolph Rickenbacher of Switzerland who jointly founded the guitar manufacturing company “Rickenbacher” and patented Electric guitars; though the mass production was first started by “Danelectro”.

The chronicles of vintage electric guitars witnessed an era of emergence and development of various new ideas in terms of style, design, etc. in and around the time of the Second World War. One of the pioneering names from this period is that of American jazz guitarist and inventor Les Paul. Among his groundbreaking contributions are those of striking the correct balance with a pickup, bridge and neck of a guitar leading to the solutions of problems involving the sustaining and feedback of sound. He also experimented with the effects such as phaser and delay and made important innovations which were to be popularized by musicians in decades to come. His model of guitar, manufactured by Gibson Guitar Corporation became known as the “Gibson Les Paul” and went on to become one of the most familiar instruments in different genres like jazz, blues, rock, metal and have been associated with figures like Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Gary Moore, Slash, Adrian Smith and Ted Nugent among others.

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The only other name that appears in the same row as Les Paul in the story of vintage guitars is that of Leo Fender of USA. His model of “Esquire” and “Broadcaster” (later changed to “Telecaster”) was nearly synonymous with early popular music like boogie woogie, R&B, swing, honky tonk, etc. It was however with “Stratocaster”, launched in the early 1950s, that he struck gold. With its solid body and bolt-on neck joint, the very name invoke names of its eminent users including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Ritchie Blackmore, David Gilmour, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray to mention a few.

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Epiphone Riviera Semi Hollow Body Electric Guitar Review

The Riviera is a perfect example of Epiphone’s ability to rival parent Gibson in quality and playability. It’s a kissing cousin to the Gibson ES-335, set apart by its mini-humbuckers and “Frequensator” tailpiece. Read more

Washburn HB-35 Hollowbody Electric Guitar Review

Washburn puts just enough spin on the HB-35 to make it both a strong contender for the Gibson ES-335 customer and a viable alternative to the ES-335 clonedom. The body’s cutaways are a shade wider and less like the “mouse ears” of standard ES-335s, and the extra handroom really does provide greater access to the upper frets. The body is covered front, sides and back with the deliciously tight-flamed sycamore (a close relative of maple) in a pale golden yellow natural finish (tobacco sunburst and whine red finishes are also available). The rosewood fingerboard, ornamented with variations on split block inlays, has an open grain which is sealed, leaving a surface that’s attractive and silky smooth. The gold hardware (including Grover Tuners and a Tune-O-Matic bridge) is an appropriately regal touch, making the Washburn the most handsomely appointed guitar of the batch.

The attention to detail extends to the workmanship and playability, too. The neck is a solid-maple affair, with a wide, mildly V-shaped contour. A scarf joint at the headstick is added for strength. The frets are medium-tall and somewhat triangular, and the sides of the fingerboard are slightly rounded for a friendly “played-in” feel.

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The setup, with .011-.049 strings, including a wound G, was perhaps the best of all the guitars straight out of the case from our hollowbody review models. The action was boldly low, yet free of buzzes, and the heavier strings and triangular frets contributed to a firm and precise feel.

Clean amp settings unveiled a somewhat dark neck pickup and a refreshingly open bridge pickup that country players will love. The pickups work well as a pair, but I suspect a pickup swap would add some fresh air to the neck position. On the other hand, the pickup combination made perfect sense when sent through overdriven amp settings. The pickup growled on command, and the neck pickup had a smoky jazz tone that cleaned up well. The combo position retained its identity even as high-volume leads sent the responsive tope into resonant feedback.

The End Line

Looks great, feels great, sounds great. You could cover a lot of gigs on this axe. If it sold for close to two grand, I’d call it a great guitar. At a list price of $949, it’s a bargain to boot.

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