Dunlop recently interviewed Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s guitarist Mike Campbell’s guitar tech, “Chinner” Winstead. In the interview, Chinner gives a tour of Campbell’s rig, including his guitars, effects, and amps. As you might expect, there are some nice vintage pieces in Campbell’s collection. As an added bonus, Chinner may have the best beard this side of ZZ Top. Watch the interview below:

Mark McGuigan recently posted the video below of a tour through the Suhr Guitars factory. I’ve said before that I love a good factory tour video and this one doesn’t disappoint. An added bonus is a backing track of Guthrie Govan’s “Sevens”:

Fender has announced a promotion to win tickets to Eric Clapton’s sold out Crossroads festival on June 26. The grand-prize winner will receive a pair of tickets and a Fender T-Mobile myTouch 3G Limited Edition phone. A runner-up will win a pair of tickets to the festival. All you have to do to enter is fill out the form on the contest website.

This year’s Summer NAMM show is just around the corner and will be held on June 18-June 20 here in Nashville. For the first time ever, they are opening the doors to non-NAMM members on the last day of the show for what they’re calling “Wanna Play Sunday.” Entry into the show on Sunday will cost $20, with the proceeds benefiting NAMM’s Wanna Play Fund.

The Wanna Play Sunday portion of the Summer NAMM show will include the following sessions and information:

Education Sessions

* “Get Endorsed” – Learn how you can capture the attention of music product manufacturers to get yourself endorsed from top artist relations executives: Joe Hibbs (Mapex), Bob Borbonus (Taylor), Chris Gero (Yamaha), and Dick Boak (Martin Guitar)
* “Setting Up a Home Studio”– Learn techniques you can employ to get professional sound quality out of your home systems and how to set your system to the same specifications as industry professionals. Presented by Doug Roberts, owner of Doug Roberts Creative, a company focused on home studio installations.
* “Garage Band Test Drive” and “Logic Pro Test Drive” – Whether you’re a new user or frequent user, make the most of Garage Band and Logic Pro! Experts from Apple will be on hand to help you learn all the ins and outs of these popular music making applications in hands-on workshops.

Education Sessions from Master Clinicians

* Drummer Jim Riley of Rascal Flatts and Modern Drummer magazine’s 2009 #1 Drum Clinician of the Year will offer unique drumming tips.
* The world’s top finger-style guitarist and master clinician, Doyle Dykes, will demonstrate his techniques and style in this amazing workshop.
* Victor Wooten, an American solo bassist, composer and author, will demonstrate his amazing musical ability.
* Legendary guitarist Eric Struthers for the Neville Brothers and master clinician will demonstrate the Zoom Pedal and show how to use the techniques that have made him an icon.
* Plus a wrap-up performance by Victor Wooten and Eric Struthers.

Additional Features Include

* A Sirius radio taping of “Heroes Behind the Hits,” featuring three of country music’s top songwriters talking about their inspiration for the music they have written. Watch as they perform live, and enjoy their music and stories in this intimate setting.
* Twenty-minute informational sessions with renowned guitar manufacturers C.F. ‘Chris’ Martin IV, chairman and CEO of C.F. Martin & Company; and Bob Taylor, principal of Taylor Guitars. This is a unique opportunity to get an insider’s perspective on the business, the instruments they make and the future of the industry.
* “The Best Band You Never Heard” event, offering musicians a chance to jam together using the “Best In Show” product of 2009 Summer NAMM called JamHub.
* The Reunion Blues Vintage Guitars Road Show. Bring your classic or vintage guitars and find out from the experts what they might be worth.
* Free guitar re-stringing from D’Addario
* A fast drumming competition. Think you’re fast? Test your skills!
* Live music throughout the day
* Join in the annual Summer NAMM Drum Circle. No musical ability needed. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun!

Premier Guitar magazine recently featured a photo retrospective of Stevie Ray Vaughan, from the photo archives of Tracy Anne Hart. The retrospective contains 17 photos of Stevie spanning his career. Some great photos of my favorite artist.

Music instrument retailer Sweetwater will be holding their annual summer GearFest on June 25 and June 26. There will be more than 40 workshops, over 170 manufacturer exhibits, $75,000 in gear giveaways, and special deals on instruments. If you’re in or near the Fort Wayne, IN area during that time, Sweetwater’s GearFest will probably make for a fun afternoon!

Whole Lotta Led is an interesting website detailing the guitars, amps, and effects that Jimmy Page used during his Led Zeppelin days. The site appears to be fairly well researched and also includes a number of great pictures of Page with Zeppelin.

I was recently alerted to the fact that the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation is holding its first annual guitar workshop late this summer from August 29 – September 5, 2010 at the Flathead Lake Lodge in Bigfork, Montana. The workshop is supported by the National Guitar Workshop and features an impressive list of guest artists, including Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton, Alex De Grassi, Scott Tennant and several NGW teachers. Find out more about the workshop on the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation website.

JamTrackCentral.com has recently added two jam tracks with Paul Gilbert playing over them. They have even included tab for Gilbert’s solos for the tracks. In addition to Gilbert’s tracks, they will soon be adding some country backing tracks to their already excellent rock and blues backing tracks.

Anthony Stauffer of StevieSnacks.com recently wrote an article titled No Secrets, Just Practice providing his thoughts about what it takes to get better, responding in part to my article The Secret to Becoming a Better Guitarist. In that article, I posited that there actually are no secrets; Anthony agrees, but says that there are shortcuts:

My thoughts on this are similar with one exception. There are shortcuts. I spent hours, upon hours learning the things I teach here. I can tell you more in a one hour lesson than I learned in 6 months. But here’s the catch. During that 6 months, I was playing. A lot. So while I might not have had as much information as someone with my lessons will have, that forced me to play all the time just to make something sound good.

I agree with him. Finding a good teacher will help immensely. Whether it be online lessons like Anthony provides at Stevie Snacks, or in-person lessons with an instructor at a local music store, I highly recommend finding a teacher that you can relate to. However, regardless of whether you find a teacher or decide to learn by listening to albums, it’s going to take time to improve. While I’m extremely grateful that you’re visiting this site and reading what I write, I can only provide information. I can’t play for you (nor would you probably want me to!). If you want to get better at playing the guitar, you’re going to have to play the guitar. It’s that simple and that hard.