I just got a tourbox to showcase these fine pedals from Coldcraft Efects. Boston Cream Top Boost The one I received was a 4-knob version, with the gain control. The site says now it’s a 3-knob, which makes sense, because I wasn’t sure what the gain knob was doing — there is no dirt in…
I’m sure I’m not the only one. I constantly play by looking down at my fretboard — a bad, bad habit. Closing my eyes or looking elsewhere work to some extent, but today I discovered another trick that really mess it up for me, in a good way. Play half-step down. Plenty of recordings are…
It’s an easy thing to do, particularly when you’re starting out. You stop the music, you drop out of the rhythm, to figure out where your fingers need to go next. It’s understandable, but this is a habit you want to get rid of ASAP. If you’re practicing strumming, learn to find your next chord…
Is to be able to express oneself through your playing. Now, if you are a true master, then perhaps the ideal is to be able to play anything and everything you hear in your head. Wow! Can you imagine the freedom you’d feel, if you actually had such a capacity? Most of us don’t even…
All right, here is a rant, more than anything: Vibrato is the most important technique for all soloing guitarists, except classical. (Well, it’s important in classical, too, though perhaps not the most important) By that, I mean finger vibrato, not the kind you do with your tremolo. Why? It’s because vibrato is the single…
I’ve always been interested in legato playing, because its smooth tone. Perhaps because I play single-coils (not compressed like high-output humbuckers), when I try to pick every note, the pick attack just come through too strongly and the resulting sound has a jagged impression. But it didn’t all make sense to me until the last…
One of the early mistakes I made was that I didn’t enjoy practicing. Eh, let me rephrase that. I didn’t practice what I enjoyed. This is especially important when you’re first starting out on the instrument. Because when you’re learning the most basic things, the number of things you can do are limited. It can…
What picks do you use? It’s not the most glamorous piece of gear, but that question seems to set off most serious guitarists. It’s a very personal choice and everybody has stories about their own preference and experiments. I love experimenting with picks because they are the easiest piece of equipment to swap out yet…
A metronome being something I spend a lot of time with, I consciously sought out one that really works for me. And I chose this one for the sole reason: being able to dial the tempo. It’s just so simple and intuitive. I hate those metronomes that have a digital display of beats, with up…
