Jeff Beck Rock-n-Roll Party

Jeff Beck paid Tribute to Les Paul last summer, celebrating what would have been the pioneering guitarist’s 95th birthday by playing his friend and mentor’s music, along with classic tunes from the era, in the same Times Square nightclub that Paul played every Monday for 14 years before his death in August 2009.

Sponsored by Gibson Guitar and billed as “A Celebration of Les Paul,” Beck was joined by The Imelda May Band at the Iridium Jazz Club in June 2010. Other guest performers joining Beck onstage included Brian Setzer, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, and Trombone Shorty.

“Les was my inspiration,” says Beck. “For years I had always wanted to do something for Les to show him how much I respected and admired what he had done. Les used to play every week at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, so for me it was the obvious and fitting place for a ‘Salute’ to him.”

Beck will take the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Party” on the road for a short U.S. tour. Beck will once again be backed by The Imelda May Band and its enchanting singer Imelda May, who joined Beck on stage at the 2010 Grammy® Awards for a spot-on rendition of Paul’s “How High The Moon.”

The DVD of this amazing session is available now. The 27 track set list is jammed packed of lively, upbeat tunes that will unleash the swinger inside you. Complete with a house jazz band it will transport you back in time and make you appreciate the true talent and musicianship of Les Paul as well as Jeff Beck.

Check out the video from the DVD of Jeff and Imelda May doing their sultry version of “Poor Boy”:

Check out Ernie Ball’s newest product–the Gigbag Amp!

This new Ernie Ball accessory allows a guitarist to plug and play anywhere. It has a built-in custom two-channel Marshall amp that features three controls–Tone, Volume, and Gain. It also has a dedicated MP3 input so you can jam along to your favorite tracks and a headphone jack so you can practice privately. And it doubles as an amp stand because when it is empty the bottom of the bag and be clipped to the top, creating a triangular amp stand that can help project your tones.

Pretty ingenious product if you ask me.

Slash Auction

In the heart of Beverly Hills Julien’s Auctions will host an auction of Legendary proportions. A sale of just under two hundred items that spans rock n roll history with property from the life and careers of musicians Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Fogerty, Madonna, Prince, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and many others.

Highlights include: Prince’s Purple Rain sunglasses, jackets given by Prince to a girlfriend, Tom and John Fogerty’s childhood recording equipment, a letter Madonna wrote to David Letterman, The Jimi Hendrix Experience poster inscribed by the band in 1969, a rare poster advertising a 1963 concert by The Beatles and Michael Jackson’s personal MTV Moonman trophy.

Property From the Collection of Slash

On Saturday, March 26, 2011, Julien’s Auctions will partner with legendary guitarist and musician Slash to offer items from Slash’s personal collection at auction. For the first time ever Slash has authorized the sale of guitars, clothing, jewelry, furniture and décor from his home and other personal items.

Highlights from this sale include two versions of Slash’s Gibson signature guitars, stage and event worn T-shirts, Slash’s diamond encrusted guitar pendent, a pair of monumental red suede conversion sofas from Slash’s home, Slash’s Harley, 1966 corvette, and other eclectic items from Slash’s travels around the world. From Guns N’ Roses early days, through the formation of Velvet Revolver to Slash’s solo career — every period of Slash’s career is represented in over 300 items.

The items can be viewed at Julien’s Auctions showroom in Beverly Hills at 9665 Wilshire Boulevard from 10am to 5pm Monday through Saturday starting Monday March 7th through Saturday, March 26th.

A portion of the proceeds from this sale will benefit one of Slash’s favorite charities, Los Angeles Youth Network (LAYN). LAYN works to empower abused, neglected and homeless adolescents to become self-sufficient. More information about this organization can be found at www.layn.org.

Last Sunday, I woke up to the news of Gary Moore’s sudden passing.

Seven days later, I am still in shock.

I find myself searching Google every day — looking for new stories and updates to the tragic story. One of the saddest stories I have read is “Heartbreak of the blonde beauty who was Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore’s last love“, which was posted today.

About 6 months ago, I purchased Gary’s CD Box Set titled: Essential Montreux. I never wrote a review about it – but I tweeted dozens of times about how I considered it to be a six-hour masterclass in the blues.

“See Gary Moore Play Live” was on my bucket-list. I scratched it off today.

R.I.P. Gary Moore, 1952-2011

Use to be so easy
To give my heart away
But I found that the haeartache
was the price you have to pay
I found that that love is no friend of mine
I should have know’n time after time
-Gary Moore, Still Got The Blues

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER THE NEW JOE BONAMASSA CD “DUST BOWL”!

Joe Bonamassa is set to release his 12th full-length solo album, DUST BOWL in the UK on March 21st and in the USA on March 22nd. The album will be promoted on Bonamassa’s forthcoming 2011 Dust Bowl World Tour that will take in America, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia.

DUST BOWL is Bonamassa’s 9th studio release on Provogue Records in Europe and his J&R Adventures label (which he created with long-time manager Roy Weisman) in the US and his 6th collaboration with Dust Bowl’s producer, Kevin “Caveman” Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Crowes, Black Country Communion).

Shirley most recently produced Bonamassa’s 2010 release, Black Rock, which entered the UK album chart at #14 and 2010′s self-titled debut album from Black Country Communion, the Bonamassa-helmed, British-American rock supergroup with Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath), Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Foreigner) and Derek Sherinian (Billy Idol, Dream Theatre).

Recorded in sessions at Black Rock Studios in Santorini, Greece, Ben’s Studio in Nashville, TN, The Cave in Malibu, CA and The Village in Los Angeles, CA, Dust Bowl combines the gritty, blues-based tones of Bonamassa’s first albums with the fluid, genre-defying sounds he’s mastered in the years since, plus a dose of Nashville in duets with legends John Hiatt and Vince Gill

So much has been written about the launch of the Gibson Firebird X.

But at $5,500.00+, there are not many readers.

The Gibson “Les Paul Studio – Faded” at a (street price) of $799.00 is another story completely.

FINALLY, Gibson releases a “feature rich” guitar for the rest of us!

The Get Down-to-Business Les Paul

The Gibson Les Paul Studio - Faded

Just like the most revered Les Paul Standards of all time, this Les Paul Studio Faded starts with the classic tonewood combination of a mahogany body with solid carved maple top. Together, these woods offer outstanding tonal depth and richness from the mahogany, with superb clarity and “snap” from the maple. In this model, the strategic placement of several tone chambers enhances resonance while also reducing the guitar’s overall weight considerably, without sacrificing an ounce of punch or sustain. And even in this more affordable instrument from Gibson USA, the glued-in solid-mahogany neck is cut to the superior “quarter-sawn” grain orientation for superior strength and optimum resonance transfer between neck and body.

To further maximize all that vibrational energy, Gibson includes its legendary Tune-o-matic bridge and stud-mounted wraparound tailpiece, arguably the most storied hardware combination in the history of the electric guitar. Designed to allow precise intonation of individual strings for perfectly in-tune playing, this bridge and tailpiece pairing also provides rock-solid string anchoring at the body end. Of course, to make optimum use of all that sweet resonance and singing sustain you need a couple of superb pickups, and the Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top carries a pair of the very best: updated from the acclaimed Burstbucker pickups that populate numerous instruments from Gibson Custom, the Burstbucker Pros on this model give you all the renowned warmth, growl and zing of genuine PAF humbuckers, with biting Alnico V magnets. The set includes a slightly overwound bridge pickup for searing lead tones, and both pickups feature wax-potted coils to squelch microphonic squeal at high volumes. Together, they provide everything from warm, vocal blues tones in the neck position, to snappy in-between settings, to phenomenal crunch and wail in the bridge position.

Read more about the Gibson Les paul Faded on the Gibson.com web site.

I have often wondered if the Ukulele would be a better option for me.

After all, only four strings to master instead of six, right? What can be so hard about that?

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is high on the list of songs least likely to be covered by a solo ukuleleist. Yet when Jake Shimabukuro delicately yet assertively plucks out the opening notes of the quasi-operatic, hard-rocking power ballad, the 34-year-old Hawaiian is clearly out to show that there are no limits in the world of covers, and that even a seeming stunt can sound both musical and emotive. –NPR

Taylor Guitars is making BIG NEWS with their new “Double Cutaway SolidBody” guitar.

Taylor Guitars Double Cutaway SolidBody

Building on the success of its versatile line of SolidBody electric models, Taylor Guitars is adding a new options for 2011 in the form of a double cutaway and a slew of vibrant colors for the SolidBody Standard. The new offerings expand the custom ordering capability, allowing players to easily design the look and sound of their SolidBody to suit their style.

As a completely customizable guitar, players can “build” their SolidBody by choosing from a series of options that include body style (Classic or Standard), cutaway (single or double), color, pickguard color (including a new color, Parchment), bridge (stoptail or tremolo) and a variety of Taylor’s “plug and play” solderless pickups. With nearly a dozen different pickup configurations are available, including high gain (HG) and high definition (HD) humbuckers, Vintage Alnicos (VA), and silent single coils, the “plug and play” pickups were designed to be easily swapped to change the guitar’s sonic personality on the fly.

For a company that has been historically known for making acoustic guitars, Taylor is turning a lot of heads with their electric models. Check out this video to see what I mean – these are some of the most beautiful guitars made today!

Eric Clapton

“The secret to guitar playing…”, “The 5 most important techniques…”, “The 10 steps to mastering chords…” blah blah blah yada yada yada…

To me, Eric Clapton summed it up when he said this:

“It’s not about technique. It’s not about what kind of instrument you play or how many strings it’s got or how fast you can play or how loud it is or how quiet it is. It’s about how it feels and how it makes you feel when you play.” — Eric Clapton