An interesting 12-part documentary of Peter Green has been posted to YouTube. I’ve embedded part 1 below, but parts 2-12 can be found at the following locations:

part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US-q1oIZ-ZU
part 3 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KJT4DEzX44
part 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCsCWJB8dBo
part 5 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txMtLbDy6Uc
part 6 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR4q1sMKKLU
part 7 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo-0drP30kc
part 8 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_0-Y3r569s
part 9 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqhEU3Szklw
part 10 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dm2uMoJc_Y
part 11 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o225-etRktQ
part 12 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbUACzI-go

Here’s part 1:

(via TGP)

Classical guitarist Jason Vieaux was recently a featured performer on NPR as part of their Tiny Desk concert series. The concert included three performances, the first a prelude by Bach, then a real interesting piece by composer Maximo Diego Pujol titled “Candombe en mi,” followed by “Capricho Arabe” by Francisco Tarrega. There’s also a sidebar on NPR’s site about how Vieaux embeds a piece of a ping pong under his thumbnail to aid in playing.

Watch Vieaux’s Tiny Desk concert below:

I’m terrible about keeping a log of my practice sessions. Chris Davis gives us five reasons why keeping a practice log helps. Here’s one of the reasons:

Ever sat down to practice and though, “well, I wonder what I should do today?” We’ve all been there. A practice log takes the questions out of the equation. What did I have trouble with during the last practice session? A practice log can help track these issues and focus your practice session in on them

The thing that I enjoy so much about Twitter is that you get to connect with people you might not have connected with otherwise. One artist that I’ve met through Twitter is Stuart Weber, a classical guitarist and composer based out of Montana. Weber has recently released a new CD titled The Fifth Row, which includes a number of original compositions as well as performances of Weber’s arrangement of compositions by composers such as George Philipp Telemann, Antonin Dvorak, Bela Bartok, Randy Newman, and Samuel Ward.

Weber’s performances of the pieces are tasteful and well executed. His technique is flawless, but not at the expense of the music. To me, one of the hallmarks of a great classical guitarist is whether you can listen to the guitarist perform and not think about the technique but instead focus on the music. Weber certainly falls into this category. Listening to The Fifth Row, I find myself engrossed in the music. I’m really impressed with Weber’s ability to bring out the emotion of the compositions.

In addition to the performances, Weber celebrates 11 historic theaters in the Western United States by recording a different track in each theater. Some of the theaters Weber celebrates are the Ellen Theater in Bozeman, Montana; the Sheridan Opera House in Telluride, Colorado; and the Ellen Eccles Theater in Logan, Utah.

The Fifth Row highlights Stuart Weber’s excellent performing, arranging, and composing skills. If you are a fan of classical guitar music, I think you’ll really enjoy The Fifth Row.

Also, see Dr. Matthew Warnock’s review of The Fifth Row for Modern Guitars.

Below is a video of Weber playing one of my favorite pieces from the CD, Telemann’s “Bouree alla Polacca”:

Tuesday night my wife and I went to the Rutledge to check out upcoming local Nashville band The Rust. The Rust have been on quite an upswing over the past few months, even though the band’s fairly new to the scene. They recently won a battle of the bands here in Nashville, competing against 100 other bands. They’re starting to get spots on local radio stations, and they’ve recently confirmed a fall tour opening for Secondhand Serenade.

The band was excellent and played selections from their debut album Anticipation, which was released late last year. The songs are probably best categorized as melodic hard rock, with influences such as Fuel, Chevelle, Foo Fighters, and Metallica. I was surprised to learn that the drummer has only played a few shows with the band and the rhythm guitarist was playing his first show with the band. The reason I was surprised was because the band sounded very tight, like they’d been playing together for years. Singer/guitarist Nick James was great, as was the rest of the band, which includes keyboardist Chris Scott, lead guitarist Justin Davenport, bassist Greg McCool, and the new rhythm guitarist, whose name I, unfortunately, didn’t catch.

I think The Rust have a bright future ahead of them. It’s exciting to see a group of talented guys starting to get some of the recognition they deserve. Here’s a video of The Rust playing their song “Drowning” from Tuesday’s show:

What’s with iconic guitarists suing people lately? First Joe Satriani, now Eddie Van Halen. He has taken some offense to Nike’s new Dunk Low line of shoes, which feature a pattern similar to the paint scheme on Van Halen’s famous “Frankenstein” guitar. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Nike unsurprisingly disputes Van Halen’s claim:

Nike’s Dunk shoe design is not substantially similar to any of the Van Halen designs, and Nike has not referenced the ‘Van Halen’ name or image as part of any marketing campaign or promotional material associated with the shoe.

Once again, only the lawyers will end up winning with this lawsuit.

CP Thornton Guitars has posted the Tone Quest Report magazine from August 2007 (PDF), which features a dissection of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘64 Vibroverb amp. SRV’s amp tech Cesar Diaz had done quite a few modifications to the amp, including changing the caps, adding a larger transformer as well as many other mods. It’s interesting to read how the amp was modified to help give SRV his massive tone.

(via TGP)

Guitarist Chuck D’Aloia has recently released an instructional lesson set titled Blues with Brains. Unlike other blues lessons that try to teach you basic pentatonic blues licks, Blues with Brains teaches you how to add a different element to your blues playing.

While you do not need to know music theory in order to benefit from the lessons D’Aloia provides, I think you’d get the most benefit from the lessons if you have a basic knowledge of blues progessions (I-IV-V) and a basic knowledge of the pentatonic scales. This is the foundation that D’Aloia starts with, and he then shows you how to take it in a different, slightly jazzier direction.

He starts off with a basic blues progression in A minor and discusses how the notes work over the chords. Some notes work better than others, and D’Aloia discusses which ones work and which ones don’t. After going over examples slowly, he then plays over a jam track to illustrate his ideas. Not only is it helpful to see Chuck play the examples, it’s just fun to hear Chuck play.

After explaining how to work with pentatonic scales, Chuck talks about dominant 7 blues and the diminished scale. Throughout all of the lessons, Chuck’s teaching style is warm and infectious. It’s clear that Chuck enjoys the music he’s playing and that he enjoys teaching it to others.

There’s a LOT of information packed into the 1:15 of Blues with Brains. I think it’ll take a number of run-throughs of the lessons in order to fully grasp the concepts Chuck is teaching, but I’ve already got some new ideas to explore.

In addition to Blues with Brains, Chuck has recently released a CD of jazz/fusion music titled Circle 7. Chuck’s playing is very tasteful and illustrates many of the concepts he goes through in Blues with Brains.

You can purchase Blues with Brains directly from Chuck as either a DVD or a download. Here’s a video sample of Blues with Brains.

Also check out reviews of Blues with Brains on TGP’s Webzine and Guitar Gear Enthusiast.

Here’s a nice video find from YouTube of B.B. King playing “Sweet Little Angel” live in Africa in 1974:

(via TGP)

Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam played here in Nashville this past week at a local club called 3rd & Lindsley. I’ve seen Back Door Slam once before, but since that time, Davy and the previous members of Back Door Slam split up. Additionally, Knowles worked with Peter Frampton on a recently released new album. I was curious to see how those changes would affect the live show.

A few minutes into the show, it was clear the changes were only for the better. The new live band was surprisingly tight, even though they’d only been playing together for two weeks with only about a week of rehearsal. While the original band was good, they seemed to lay back a little more. By contrast, PK, the new bass player, and Steven Barci, the new drummer, really lay down a solid foundation. Also, Davy’s playing, while excellent before, is even better.

They opened with some songs from the new album, which translated really well to a live environment. Also, as expected, they played a few of the songs from the first album. They also played a few cover songs, including songs by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Rory Gallagher. As the show went on, the band got better and better. They really put on a phenomenal show. Knowles channels a lot of the blues-rock greats, but puts on his style on the music.

Throughout last year, Knowles’ main guitar was a Fender Stratocaster. However, for this show, the Strat was present, but he played a PRS McCarty Smokeburst through a Marshall amp for the entire show, and it sounded great. He even played slide on one song, which I’ve never seen him do before.

After the show, my wife and I had a chance to spend a few minutes chatting with Davy and the band. We asked how he got into playing the guitar, and he mentioned that he started playing guitar after hearing “Sultans of Swing” by Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits. His father had an acoustic around the house, but no electrics, but Davy finally got his dream guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, after seeing one in a local music shop. In addition to Dire Straits, Knowles mentioned that John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, particularly, the Beano album and Peter Green era were big influences, as was Cream and other Clapton albums. He started gigging at 12 and has pretty much been gigging ever since, and he said that he still plays all the time. It definitely shows.

I really enjoyed the show, and I highly recommend checking out Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam if they come through your area. They are going to be opening for Chickenfoot this summer, and also have other headlining shows throughout the year. If you can catch them at a small club like I did, you’re in for a real treat. I can’t imagine Davy and BDS playing small venues for too much longer.