Recently, I linked to a video of a Steve Vai satire video. I thought the video was pretty funny, and a few people agreed. Well, the person who created the video has been at it again. Now you can watch Eric Clapton shred, Santana shred, Eddie Van Halen shred, as well as other guitarists.

Eric Clapton:

Santana:

Eddie Van Halen:

This is a collection of links I’ve found interesting over the past week or so.

Costello Jazzmaster Guitar Proto Sold on eBay - An Elvis Costello Signature Series Jazzmaster is forthcoming, and the prototype was recently auctioned off on eBay, with proceeds going to charity (via Electric Guitar Review)

Gibson Robot Guitar - Gibson’s new Robot guitar will be available on 12.7.07. Features include automatic tuning to standard tuning or several alternate tunings. As others have noted, it’s a silly name with an ugly paint job, but the features look pretty cool

Ask Steve - Steve Morse guitar Q&A posted on the Deep Purple Web site (via Rich Murray)

Guitar Phrasing Basics Video Clip - An old video featuring Scott Henderson discussing guitar phrasing

Berklee Music Blogs - A blog by the Berklee College of Music featuring Berklee faculty, music industry professionals and music educators

Sleevage - A blog dedicated to album covers (via Dan Cederholm)

The Rise of the Musical Middle Class Parts I-III - A series on a class of musicians who make a living making music, but aren’t household names (via TDS)

Country’s Declaration of Independents - Newsweek article about how many country artists are signing to independent labels rather than the major labels

KnowTheMusicBiz.com - A new Web community about the music business. Looks pretty interesting (via Taylor)

Tickets recently went on sale for a John Mayer’s 1st Annual Holiday Charity Revue, which will be held on December 8 at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live. This will be a special show with Mayer performing an acoustic set followed by a John Mayer Trio set and finishing up with a set featuring the full band from the Continuum tour. It sounds like it’ll be a fantastic show!

Proceeds from the show will benefit Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts, and the Los Angeles Mission.

* Image from JohnMayer.com

I just noticed that Harmony Central has posted a six-part video interview with Eric Johnson. The interview covers many topics, including how he’s trying to create more of a live feel for his upcoming album, his signature Stratocaster, playing acoustic, his effects and his amps. The video also displays some excellent live footage of EJ.

The acoustic part of the interview included an interesting tidbit about Paul Reed Smith and a possible acoustic guitar being produced by PRS in the near future. Eric plays the guitar and discussed that it uses bracing similar to classical guitars, but uses steel strings. I’m really interested in seeing what comes out of Paul Reed Smith over the next few months. I’d love to see them producing an acoustic guitar.

The Harmony Central video site also includes discussions with Nathan East, Steve Lukather, Derek Trucks, and more.

I also recently noticed that Eric Johnson has released a cover version of Jeff Beck’s Beck’s Bolero. From what I can tell, the song is only available as a single on iTunes.

Jason over at Atomic Guitarist has recently posted about an idea to help people discover guitar-related blogs. I think it’s a good idea, so I thought I’d post the links as well. There are some excellent links included. Many of the blogs I already visit, while some of them I just visited today, but I suspect I’ll be visiting them again in the near future. I encourage you to visit some of the links.

Guitar Noize | IG Blog | Strat-O-Blogster | Guitar MX | Mad Stratter | Guitarz | Building the Ergonomic Guitar | Guitritus | Musician’s Notebook | GuitarToyBox | IGUITARGOD | Mr. Blues Guy | markmcguigan.com | Acoustic Guitar Player | iFingers Guitar Experience | Play Like a Girl | Electric Guitar Review | Guitar Novice | Truth in Shredding | Thumbrella | Music Ramble | The Soul of Rock and Roll | Guitar Lifestyle | GuitaroJam News | Music Gadgets | The Guitar Channel | The Guitar Resource | Guitar Stuff | Axe Victim

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I live near Nashville, TN, Music City USA. Nashville gets its name because it is the home of Country music, but Nashville also has a thriving music scene outside of country music. On any given night, you can go see local, regional and national artists playing anything from jazz to blues to rock at venues all over the city.

For 22 years, Starwood Amphitheatre was one of those venues providing an outdoor summer concert venue for Nashville and its surrounding communities. Over the years, I’ve seen quite a few concerts at Starwood, from B.B. King to Dave Matthews to Sting, and many others. It was a great outdoor venue to watch shows. Of course, it also had some downfalls, including horrific traffic, very long bathroom lines, and high parking charges. Overall, though, Starwood provided for a fun experience.

Unfortunately, in April Starwood Amphitheatre was sold by Live Nation to Vastland Realty Group. Recently, Vastland demolished Starwood in preparation for building 350,000 square feet of retail space and 250 townhomes. I’m proud to live in a city that’s growing at such a rapid rate, but it’s sad to see one of the largest amphitheaters in Tennessee torn down in exchange for more retail space, especially when there’s been no talk of replacing the amphitheater with a new one anywhere in the region. There are other concert venues in Nashville, but no other amphitheaters. I hope that another developer steps in to build one in the area.

I have a lot of great memories from seeing shows at Starwood. Many great artists have performed there, including many of my guitar heroes. Although it’s gone now, I’m glad that it lasted as long as it did, providing many of us some great musical experiences.

R.I.P. Starwood. Thank you for the memories.

This is a collection of links I’ve found interesting over the past several weeks.

DeVillain Centerfold - A folding (yes, folding) electric guitar that looks pretty cool (via Dan Cederholm)

Led Zeppelin reunion show postponed - Show now being held on Dec. 10

Kaman Will Sell Music Division to Fender - Included are Ovation, Takamine, Hamer, Genz Benz, and others (via Strat-o-Blogster)

Robben Ford Interview - Excellent interview by Brian D. Holland of Modern Guitars with Robben Ford

Everything starts with listening … some big changes at Pandora - Online radio provider Pandora is adding some new features to their already excellent service

How Much Do You Really Want To Know About That Band? - My friend Taylor wonders how much access is too much access to a band. What happened to a little mystique?