Frets on Fire is a cool-looking open source clone of the Guitar Hero series of games. It is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (although the Mac version is listed as experimental).

The game supports importing Guitar Hero I and Guitar Hero II songs, but perhaps more interesting is that Frets on Fire supports songs composed by the community. You can even make your own songs using the game. The project About page boasts that hundreds of songs have been created by the community so far.

I downloaded and installed the latest release. The installer worked great and quickly finished without much user intervention, which isn’t the case with a lot of open source software. The developers really have done a great job. While the game is obviously not as polished as Guitar Hero, I didn’t have to pay $80 for the game. And, the game is quite a bit of fun!

You can play the game using the keyboard, a USB guitar controller, or a joystick. I played the game using the keyboard. Game play is fairly simple and straightforward using the keyboard, and it took just a few minutes to get acquainted with the controls. I was quickly burning up the fretboard keyboard!

I enjoy playing games, but I generally play in spurts of 30 minutes or so. Frets on Fire is perfect for gamers like me. You can start up the game, play a couple of songs, and feel satisfied. Or, if you’re so inclined, you can play the game and compete against other players from all over the world.

Because the game is open source, you can dig into the source code to see what’s going on under the hood. I can’t imagine that most people who play the game will want to do this, but as a programmer I’m interested in taking a look at the source code. The game was written using the Python programming language.

Overall, I think that Frets on Fire is a fun (and free!) alternative to Guitar Hero and is available for all of the major platforms.

Mark Dalton, a founder of acoustic guitar maker Huss & Dalton, recently held a workshop on guitar making at one of my favorite local guitar stores, Artisan Guitars. I had never heard of Huss & Dalton before, but it appears that they are fairly well known in bluegrass circles. They are a niche guitar maker who make high-end guitars and banjos. The workshop also featured a concert by Richard Bennett.

Mark was very interesting and discussed quite a bit about wood, bracing and finishes. I liked the fact that he said that they respect tradition, but aren’t shackled by it. They’ll innovate where they can, but adhere to traditional guitar making standards when it is appropriate to do so. The guitars they build appear to be of a very high quality, with my favorite being their 12-fret 00 series of guitars, but they also make dreadnought and jumbo-sized guitars.

During a discussion of Brazilian Rosewood, Mark mentioned that the availability of Brazilian Rosewood may become even harder to get than it already is. Apparently, the Brazilian government, in an attempt to crack down on poachers, is going to prevent any Brazilian Rosewood from being cut and exported, even from stumps that have been left from previous clearing. It’s sad that poachers will prevent this wonderful tonewood from being used in the future, but it highlights the need for preservation and prevention efforts of the wood that is remaining.

While searching for more information about Huss & Dalton, I found an article published on Guitar Noise featuring an interview with the other founder, Jeff Huss, and a tour of the shop. You can view more photos of their shop on their Web site.

After seeing the workshop and discussing guitar building with my friend Taylor, I’m inspired to build a guitar. Now I just need to find the time to do so.

* Photo from Huss & Dalton’s Web site

I had the recent pleasure to catch Joe Bonamassa as he traveled through Nashville on November 24th playing at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. This was the first time I’ve seen Joe in concert, so I didn’t know what to expect, though I had heard that he puts on a good show. It was by far one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while.

I’m a relatively new fan of Bonamassa, having heard his name for years but never really paying attention to his music. I’m paying attention now. After jamming with Bonamassa, Ted Nugent was recently quoted as saying “This kid deserves to be in the same class with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmy Hendrix and Jeff Beck.” That’s some pretty heavy praise, but not unwarranted. Bonamassa is a fantastic guitarist and showman.

During the show, Bonamassa mentioned that his latest album, Sloe Gin, had been at the top of the Blues charts since it came out, only recently being replaced by the Stevie Ray Vaughan collection Solos, Sessions & Encores. I can attest that Sloe Gin is an excellent album. The album contains a generous mixture of electric and acoustic songs, and Bonamassa excels at both. The mixture extends to his live show with Joe playing an acoustic series of music, which was a highlight of the show.

Since I enjoyed the entire show so much, it’s hard to pinpoint any particular part that was the highlight. However, I did really enjoy Bonamassa’s covers of ZZ Top’s “Just Got Paid” and Led Zep’s “Dazed and Confused” and would consider those a definite highlight. The encores were fantastic, as well.

I didn’t know this ahead of time, but it looks like Joe posts about his day on his Web site. His Nashville post includes such details as the Tyson after show chicken he ate for lunch, but also includes information about his trip to Gruhn’s Guitars and subsequent purchase of a 2006 National Resophonic guitar (which he did not play at the show). Most interestingly, though, is his conversation with the Gibson Custom Shop guys about a JB Limited Edition Les Paul. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with that.

Although his current US tour is winding down, I’d highly recommend checking out his show if it comes to your area. In the meantime, you can check out some videos that Joe has put online from the North Sea Jazzfest, which includes many of the songs from his current setlist.

* Photo taken by Al and courtesy of www.jbonamassa.com.