The February 2010 issue of Guitar World magazine is a blues-oriented issue and features John Mayer on the cover. On the bonus disc that comes with the magazine, John Mayer gives a lesson on how he plays his cover of “Crossroads” on his latest album Battle Studies.

The intro to the lesson is hilarious, and the lesson itself covers how he plays the entire song, including what pedal he uses to get the dead-battery fuzz tone on the album:

I’m happy to announce another contest here on Guitar Lifestyle! I have several copies of Steve Morse’s latest CD Out Standing in Their Field to give away.

In my opinion, this is one of Morse’s best albums in a long time. Like Morse’s previous albums, he melds various styles together to create an eclectic album of great guitar playing, as well as great bass playing by Dave LaRue and great drumming by Van Romaine.

How To Enter

There are two ways to win a CD. The first way to win is to send me an e-mail from the contact page using the subject “Morse Contest”. I’ll randomly select a winner from the e-mail entries.

The second way to win is by tweeting about this contest on Twitter, with a mention of my Twitter name: @guitarlifestyle. I’ll randomly select a winner from the Twitter entries. Although you are not limited to using the following text, here’s an example tweet you can use to enter this contest:

Win a free copy of Steve Morse’s latest CD Out Standing in Their Field from @guitarlifestyle: http://bit.ly/6qW9Wb

The contest will end on January 24, 2010. I’ll select and notify the winner on January 25, 2010.

Classical guitarist and composer Kevin Gallagher, from his recent article “Music First“:

We cannot excel at any style of music by simply putting our fingers in the correct place at the correct time. There are no excellent jazz guitarists that I know of who don’t have an understanding of jazz music. There are no great pop guitarists who don’t have an understanding of pop music. And consequently, there are no great classical guitarists who don’t understand how classical music is written on the guitar. Often, I think that students forget that they are studying classical music on the guitar – as if the classical guitar is more about the technique than the music. Let me be clear – if you are studying this style, you are studying classical music on the guitar.

Sterling Ball has confirmed that former PRS-endorser Johnny Hiland is now endorsing Ernie Ball Music Man guitars:

As of today Johnny Hiland has joined our family as a valued endorsee. Johnny is over the moon with the Silhouette and will be playing them for a long time we both hope.

This was rumored a few weeks ago, but at the time Ball stated that he and Hiland had not spoken about it. However, it appears that shortly after the rumor started, Hiland’s people sought out Ernie Ball Music Man after negotiations fell through with Paul Reed Smith.

In June, I reviewed Chuck D’Aloia’s Blues with Brains DVD, which is designed to help you add some sophistication to your blues. I liked the DVD, and I like Chuck’s approach to teaching. Since then, Chuck has released two new volumes of his Blues with Brains series, providing further information about how to jazz up your blues soloing. Volume 2 expands upon the insights provided in Volume 1, and Volume 3 focuses more on using blues in a jazz setting. Right now, you can download all three volumes for $50 from Chuck’s site.

At the end of the year, I always like to reflect on all the great music that came out during the year. There were quite a few good albums that were released in 2009. Here’s a list of some of the more notable ones that crossed my radar in 2009 (in no particular order):

The Ballad of John Henry by Joe Bonamassa – Each new album by Joe Bonamassa shows him stretching the blues/rock genre with his own unique style of playing. The Ballad of John Henry continues that tradition and is another great album by Bonamassa. See my full review of the album here. Also, do not miss Bonamassa’s latest DVD release Live from the Royal Albert Hall. Bonamassa puts on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen, and this DVD does a great job of capturing that magic. It also includes an appearance by Eric Clapton.

White Sugar by Joann Shaw Taylor – Joann Shaw Taylor is an excellent Telecaster-wielding blues/rock guitarist from the UK. White Sugar is her debut album and showcases not just her guitar playing but also her soulful vocals and songwriting skills. If White Sugar is any indication, Shaw appears to have quite a future ahead of her.

Keep It Hid by Dan Auerbach – I can’t say that I really understand why Auerbach went solo with this album, as any of these songs would have sounded good on a Black Keys album. However, Auerbach does expand the guitar/drums duo format and adds full instrumentation on Keep It Hid. At any rate, it’s an excellent album full of the Black Keys-style of playing that Auerbach does so well. I love his fuzz tones.

Heads, Tails, & Aces by Matt Schofield – Matt Schofield is another excellent blues guitarist from the UK. Heads, Tails, & Aces is his latest release and it showcases his excellent guitar, vocal, and songwriting talents. Schofield hasn’t gotten much press yet in the US, but he’s recently acquired US-based management and he’s looking to tour in the US soon. I can’t wait!

Coming Up For Air by Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam – Coming Up For Air is Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam’s Peter Frampton-produced second album. I think this album is a nice evolution from their debut. Although Knowles is one of my favorite guitarists, this album showcases more of his vocal and songwriting talents. These songs sound good on record, but really shine live, so I highly recommend catching them live if they come through your town.

By a Thread by Gov’t Mule – By a Thread is another solid effort from Gov’t Mule, who continue to put out great music. And, it features a guest performance by none other than Billy F. Gibbons, so what’s not to like?! Some of my favorite tracks from the album, “Broke Down on the Brazos” and “Inside Outside Woman Blues #3″, should be great live, so I’m really looking forward to catching them when they come through Nashville in a few months.

Crack the Skye by Mastodon – Mastodon is one of the premier progressive metal bands of today, and Crack the Skye serves to solidify their place in progressive metal history. This album is full of epic riffs. I bought the deluxe version of the album from iTunes, which includes a full instrumental version of the album.

Battle Studies by John Mayer – Another solid effort by Mayer. I’m partial to his Trio music, but his songwriting skills are undeniable. And, other people complain about his inclusion of “Crossroads” on this album, but I really like his version.

Sean’s Blues by Sean Costello – Frankly, I wish this album didn’t need to be released, because it’s release depended on Costello no longer being around to create new music. That being said, this is an excellent retrospective of Costello’s music with some really great tracks that weren’t released on albums during Costello’s life. This album also serves as a great introduction to Sean’s music if you’re not familiar with it.

Black Gives Way to Blue by Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue is almost as notable for what it stands for (the return of AIC) as for the music. This is not AIC’s greatest album, but what’s surprising is that it’s a solid continuation of AIC’s music. There’s going to be some fans that will never acknowledge AIC without Layne Staley at the helm, but Black Gives Way to Blue is a solid effort, and new singer William DuVall does an admirable job as Staley’s replacement.

This list is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of my favorite albums of 2009, but a list of some of the more notable albums that I keep coming back to. In fact, I’m sure I missed a number of excellent albums that were released in 2009, so please feel free to add your favorites from 2009 in the comments.

The January 2010 issue of Mix magazine features an article about the making of Joe Bonamassa’s upcoming album Black Rock, which will be released on March 9, 2010. The article discusses how Bonamassa came to record the album in Greece at Black Rock Studios, which is where the title of the album comes from. The article also talks about how producer Kevin Shirley pushes Bonamassa out of his comfort zone. For example, during the recording process, Shirley put aside the Les Pauls that Bonamassa typically favors and just recorded Joe playing a Telecaster directly into an amplifier with no effects in between. I hope some of these recordings end up on the final album! Shirley also recorded Joe playing with some Greek musicians, which he says helped introduce some new elements to Bonamassa’s music. They liked recording the album at Black Rock so much that they’re playing on returning to record their next album there. Read the full article online here.

Local Nashville band Throwing Gravity, who were formerly known as The Rust, had quite a 2009. They played their first live show, they embarked on their first US tour, and they signed with a major label. They are now in the studio recording their album, which is set to be released in the middle of 2010. It’s being produced by Jon King and Josh Abraham; King produced their first album, and Abraham has worked with Rev Theory and Velvet Revolver.

We had a chance to see them play on Saturday night, and they’ve really solidified as a band since we first saw them in June. The founding members of the band are sons of some friends of ours, and it’s been really exciting to get somewhat of an insider’s perspective on their growth as a band. They’ve worked really hard over the past year or so, and they deserve all the attention they’ve been getting. I can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for Throwing Gravity.

Happy New Year! Thank you for helping make 2009 the best year yet for Guitar Lifestyle. Traffic grew by over 50% from January through December, and there was quite a bit of good discussion. But more importantly, I’ve been able to communicate with more of you, which has been a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for Guitar Lifestyle. Best wishes to you and yours for 2010!