Recently I posted this picture of Joe Bonamassa with a “portion” of his guitar collection as a part of my review of his Phoenix concert.

I LOVE THAT PICTURE!

I use it as the desktop background on my computer as well as a constant reminder of how “few” guitars I actually own!

The truth be known, I own 9 guitars. They are:

1. Fender Squier Strat
2. Alvarez Yairi Acoustic
3. Taylor 414-CE Limited Edition
4. Rogue Acoustic Resonator
5. Schecter C-1 E/A Quilt Top
6. Traveler EG-1 Travel Guitar
7. Gibson Les Paul Standard
8. Taylor Solidbody – Deluxe Walnut
9. Gibson CS-356 w/Bigsby Custom Shop

OK…now let’s look closer at this list. The first 2 are really my daughters. They are in her room and she’s the one who plays them (the most). So that really means I have 7 guitars. And since the Traveler guitar is only played a few weeks a year (when I travel) I really can’t count that one either. So I guess I have 6 guitars. The Rogue Resonator was an impulse purchase when MusiciansFriend.com blew them out for $99 bucks on one of their “Stupid Deals of the Day” and it’s really more of a decoration on a stand in our living room (with it’s shiny cones) so to be honest…I really have 5 guitars.

But wait… I almost forgot… I re-tuned the Schecter to “Open E” a few months ago when I thought I wanted to play slide… an idea never really took off so the Schecter is hardly being played at all right now and the Gibson is a Custom Shop that I’d hate to see get damaged so when it comes down to it… I ONLY HAVE THREE GUITARS (that I actually play).

I keep telling myself (and my wife) that I still need all of them because they all sound different. Some of my other favorite excuses are:

• They are all going up in value and we would lose money if we sold them.
• There is a unique guitar for each “genre of blues” that I play.
• Different kinds of wood sound different.
• This is not a “new” guitar, it’s used.
• I am not going to keep this one very long.
• I could not pass this deal up!
• I need a guitar in every color.

My wife says it’s a sickness and she is right.

It’s called GAS. Not the kind of GAS sickness you get after 2 tacos and a bean enchilada…but G.A.S. as an acronym that stands for Guitar Acquisition Syndrome.

Please understand that the acronym G.A.S. is not my creation. “G.A.S.” was coined by Walter Becker in his 1996 Guitar Player article when he wrote that “G.A.S.” was “Guitar Acquisition Syndrome” [CLICK HERE TO READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE].

Guitar Acquisition Syndrome (also known as Gear Acquisition Syndrome, both abbreviated to G.A.S.) is used to describe an uncontrollable urge to acquire and accumulate multiple guitars. G.A.S. should not be confused with collecting and G.A.S. is similar in many ways to very mild obsessive compulsive disorder, hence the sickness my wife believes I have.

Even when financial means are not available, the G.A.S. sufferer will do anything to procure the instrument. Be careful around these folks. G.A.S. has been known to highly contagious and spreads quickly. -Squidoo.com

I must be fair to my readers (and myself) and add that I do not keep every guitar I buy. I have sold dozens of guitars over the past few years that were bought as a result of G.A.S. (and I miss them all).

In the midst of this craziness, I find myself on eBay every day looking for the guitar that I can’t live without.  I know it’s out there and I will find it!

I’ve been using IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube and iRig on my iPad for several months and I must say… the honeymoon is far from over. In fact, I see a marriage lasting into it’s “Golden Years”.

For those who are not yet on board, the iRig is a hardware adapter and Amplitube is an App for the iPad (and iPhone). The iRig adapter allows you to plug your guitar into your iPad, process it through the Amplitube App and listen to the output. The iPad serves as your amp.

You can download a free version of the AmpliTube software to test it out. The free version comes with one amp, one speaker cab, a delay pedal, a noise filter and a distortion pedal. Certainly enough to get you started and to see if this truly portable “Rig” is for you.

I was immediately impressed by the quality of the tone out of my iPad. The effects behaved as expected when making adjustments, as did the amps and mics.

You can also upload audio tracks to AmpliTube to play along with (a good site for backing tracks is NewBackingTracks.com).

All in all, it’s a combination that transforms an iPad into a virtual guitar recording studio.

Check out this video:

21 years ago today, August 27th, 1990, the guitar world lost Stevie Ray Vaughan and the entire world lost a musical legend.

Stevie’s memories and his music still penetrate our spirits and will do so…forever.

I never had the chance to see Stevie play live. It’s something I will eternally regret and if not for the huge “video vault” know as YouTube would be something left only to my imagination. Once again, Thank You YouTube!

Earlier this month, three videos were posted by YouTube user: “gstarvids” that have been hidden away for years.

Sit back and watch in succession – as an observer of an SRV soundcheck. Soak in 18 minutes of musical genius.

This Video is song #1 of 3 from the sound check at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh, PA 1-24-86. Video Photographer Greg Savage has captured SRV doing the sound check, and these videos have never been public until now.

This Video is song #2 of 3 from the sound check at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh, PA 1-24-86.

This Video is song #3 of 3 from the sound check at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh, PA 1-24-86. The audio is the monitor mix to the camera since a board patch was not available.

When Rory Gallagher died from complications following a liver transplant in 1995 at only 47 years old, the music world lost one of its most influential and respected guitarists. Apocryphal evidence suggests that Hendrix rated Gallagher second only to himself and numerous respected guitarists cite him as having influenced their sound including Brian May, Eric Clapton and The Edge from U2. He appears in many fan-voted best guitarist lists and remains the personification of the razzled Irish blues-rock musician (From Soundunwound).

This 2-CD archive release from the Irish guitarist contains previously unreleased material.

In 1977, Rory Gallagher entered a San Francisco studio and recorded a whole album’s worth of material. For the first time, the recordings from this session will see the light of day on Notes From San Francisco. The first disc features the results of this recording session. Disc Two consists of a massively energetic live concert recorded in December of 1979 at The Old Waldorf in San Francisco.

Incidentally, the album’s sleeve image is an original postcard Rory Gallagher posted to his mother while on tour. Gallagher would always send postcards back home to Ireland from wherever he was in the world. The Limited Edition Deluxe Edition of ‘Notes From San Francisco’ will include a set of personalised Rory postcards complete with ‘Rory Stamps’ which have been sourced from the original US company that produced them. Also included are reproductions of Rory’s hand written lyrics which were kept by Elliot Mazer.

The live album is a smoker – Rory holds nothing back here. The solo at the end of “Tattoo’d Lady” is three minutes of mind boggling, all out Rory Gallagher guitar bliss. Another treat is a great version of “Bullfrog Blues”. Very good sound quality for a 1979 live album and I’d rate the CD on par with the excellent live material from ‘Live at Rockpalast’ done during that period. Highly recommended! - Amazon.com Review

CD1: Rue The Day 2. Persuasion 3. B Girl 4. Mississippi Sheiks 5. Wheels Within Wheels 6. Overnight Bag 7. Cruise On Out 8. Brute Force & Ignorance 9. Fuel To The Fire BONUS TRACKS: 10. Wheels Within Wheels (Alt version) 11. Cut A Dash 12. Out On The Tiles

CD2: Follow Me 2. Shinkicker 3. Off The Handle 4. Bought And Sold 5. I’m Leavin’ 6. Tattoo’d Lady 7. Do You Read Me 8. Country Mile 10. Shadow Play 11. Bullfrog Blues 12. Sea Cruise

Los Angeles based singer-songwriter Beth Hart, known for her raw and powerful blues-rock sound, wraps her expressive vocals around classic soul cover album titled: “Don’t Explain” — an album that grew out of her friendship with blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa.

Produced by Kevin Shirley (Joe Bonamassa, Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes), the album features Hart’s interpretations of ten soulful blues songs, with Bonamassa on guitar and his ace band filling out the tracks.

“Don’t Explain” the debut album collaboration between American singer-songwriter Beth Hart and the acclaimed rock /blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa. The album is made up of
intimate soul cover versions and will be released in the UK and Europe.

The album is produced by Kevin Shirley who produced albums for Aerosmith, Black Country Communion, The Black Crowes and John Hiatt. The album perfectly combines Beth Hart’s soulful vocal with Joe’s guitar sound to produce a superb collection of hand-picked soul covers from such as Gil Scott-Heron, Tom Waits, Etta James, Aretha Franklin and others.

Joe Bonamassa crossed paths with Beth and her band numerous times on the road, he recalls how “Don’t Explain” came about; “I was up late one night, I couldn’t sleep. I was playing songs on my iPod from the reissue of Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, which included all the opening acts from that Stones show. As soon as the Ike & Tina tracks came on, I just said out loud, “Beth Hart.” I emailed Kevin, saying, “let’s do a soul covers record with Beth,” and he replied back, “Actually, that’s a great idea.”

Don’t Explain is scheduled for release on September 27 on J&R Adventures—the independent label founded by Bonamassa and his longtime manager and business partner, Roy Weisman.

[LISTEN TO A PREVIEW OF "SINNER'S PRAYER"]

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The quintessential chick-with-guitar, Hayley throws a stark and dramatic silhouette on stage, cross-referencing Bonnie Raitt rootsiness with Keith Urban virtuosity and everywhere she plays, right after they pick their jaws off the floor, people turn to each other and ask:

“Where did she come from?”… Watch the video to see what I mean…

She came from a seriously unconventional family long on throttling everything they can out of life. When she was six years old, Hayley’s parents refitted a 45-foot Hawaiian charter sloop and together with her two older sisters, the five took off sailing for two years down the Pacific Coast to Mexico. “It makes or breaks you as a family” says Hayley, “and it certainly set the tone for me. Family is the most important thing for me and we’ve always been really close.” On top of home schooling, everybody had chores from standing night watch to swabbing decks but there was still a lot of down time and with dad’s old Fender acoustic on board, there was a lot of music. The girls soon figured out harmonies to Beatles tunes and nursery rhymes and even on their return to Vancouver, summer sailing jaunts always meant music.

Read Haley’s full bio and hear more of her music on The Official Haley Mclean Website.

Special thanks to one of my favorite blogs, StratoBlogster, for introducing me to Haley!

I recently wrote about attending the first stop on Eric Johnson’s Up Close Tour 2011 in Phoenix.

Yesterday a video update with tour highlights popped up on YouTube. You don’t want to miss this!

From YouTube: “Guitarist Eric Johnson hits the road to promote his new album “Up Close”. Joining Eric are Chis Maresh on bass and Wayne Salzmann on drums. Eric will be performing songs from his latest album along with some old favorites plus new material. Check the tour schedule at the end of the video and be sure to see them when they come to your town”.

Watch the video for your FREE CD.

FREE Download http://jbonamassa.com/youtube/bundle.