If you’re curious about what Metallica’s new album Death Magnetic sounds like, they have offered a stream of the entire Death Magnetic album on their Web site. Surprising, given their earlier stance against Napster. I’m happy to see them trying to move past all of that.

As a big fan of their earlier records, I was very curious to hear the new album, especially given the hype around Rick Rubin producing the album. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. However, I think the album is actually pretty good. I don’t think it’s a full return to their earlier glory, but if Master of Puppets and And Justice For All are on one end of the scale and St. Anger is on the other, Death Magnetic definitely trends more towards the former records than the latter.

Introduction
Last year, I wanted something a little different than the Strat I was playing. I wanted a guitar with a little bit thicker sound and a little more versatility. I love my Strat, but after Gibson lost their lawsuit against PRS (which had prevented PRS from producing the Singlecut models), I anxiously awaited the re-release of the SE Singlecut series.

Ever since I first saw Paul Reed Smith guitars over 15 years ago, I’ve wanted to own one. I thought (and still think) the paint jobs and attention to detail were amazing. However, back then I was just starting out and had no need for such a high-end guitar. In fact, I still don’t really have a need for such a high-end guitar. Enter the SE series of PRS guitars. The PRS Singlecut SE guitars have a street price of around $600.

According to Paul Reed Smith, it was actually Carlos Santana’s idea to create the SE series. He thought that more players should be able to see and obtain the quality of the PRS guitars. Subsequently, PRS found a manufacturing facility in Korea and taught them how to make PRS guitars.

Guitar Specs
Body – Singlecut mahogany body with maple top & flame maple veneer (except for opaque black)

Neck – 25″ scale length mahogany 22-fret neck with rosewood fretboard and moon inlays, Neck carve – wide fat

Hardware – PRS designed stoptail, PRS designed tuners

Electronics – PRS designed treble and bass humbucking pickups, Volume and tone control with 3-way toggle pickup selector

Playability
Out of the box, this guitar played great. I haven’t had to do any setup changes in the 12 months since I’ve had the guitar. The neck feels great in my hands. It’s a little thinner than my Strat neck, and I generally prefer a slightly thicker neck, but the wide-fat PRS neck is very smooth and fast. I don’t like really low action, and this guitar’s action was set up perfectly straight from the factory. Not too high, and not too low.

The guitar is fairly light and comfortable. It feels a couple of pounds lighter than my Strat. However, I usually play sitting down, so weight isn’t really an issue.

Coming from a Strat-style guitar, it took me a few days to get used to the different position of the guitar when sitting down. The guitar sits slightly to the right of where I’m used to playing. It also took a few days to get used to the slightly shorter scale length (25″ vs. 25.5″ for the Strat). That being said, it really didn’t take long at all to get used to the guitar, and once I did I’ve really enjoyed it; it’s a fantastic playing guitar.

Sound
This guitar sounds great for a mid-range guitar. The pickups have a smooth sound, but can get nasty if you want them to. I find that it’s really easy to get a Cream-era Clapton sound out of the guitar. But, I can also turn up the gain and use the bridge pickup and get a metal sound, if and when I want to. I’ve been playing the guitar primarily through a Fender G-DEC practice amp, and the sound is fairly impressive. A lot of people on the forums recommend changing the stock pickups on the PRS SE guitars. I don’t know if I agree. The stock pickups sound great for the playing I do, although I don’t do any gigging. For most people, I think the stock pickups are fine.

Conclusion
After 12 months of ownership, I still really like my PRS Singlecut SE guitar. I have the tobacco sunburst finish model, which looks fantastic hanging on the wall. Additionally, the guitar plays and sounds great for a mid-range guitar. In fact, ever since getting the guitar last year, I’ve been playing it more than my Strat, although I go through phases where I play one guitar more than the other.

Compared directly to the Epiphone Les Pauls, the PRS Singlecut SE model is a better value, in my opinion. The quality of workmanship is fantastic for a guitar in this price range. I haven’t found anything that I’ve wanted to change or upgrade on the guitar. It’s not an American-made PRS, but it’s the next best thing and it’s less than a third of the price of an American-made PRS guitar.

If you’re looking for a dual-humbucking guitar in a classic style body, I highly recommend checking out the PRS Singlecut SE guitars. It works well for both classic and modern sounds and looks great to boot!

Over the past few years, there have been a number of new entries into the online video guitar lessons business. There’s nothing that compares to having a live, one-on-one teacher, but online videos can serve as a nice supplement, or, in some cases, a good alternative when no local teachers are accessible.

Infinite Guitar is one of the more recent entries in the online guitar video sites, launching this past March. Founded by Sean Conklin, Infinite Guitar currently provides video lessons by Conklin, Rick Graham, Richard Lundmark, Mike Edwin, Pavel Denisjuk, and Robert Mussatti. Lessons are divided up into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced lessons, or you can access lessons by style. Many styles are covered, including Rock, Metal, Blues, Jazz, Classical, Funk, Fusion, and even Country. You can sample the site by signing up to get 10 free lessons and if you like what you see, site membership is available from $8.25 to $10.95 per month. Membership gives you access to all 587 lessons, as well as premium member forums and direct access to the instructors.

My first reaction when looking at the Infinite Guitar Web site is that it doesn’t look quite as polished as some of the other online video guitar lesson sites that launched several years ago. However, when looking for online guitar lessons, I’m more interested in the content than the presentation, so the lack of a more polished feel wasn’t all that much of a concern for me. That being said, the Infinite Guitar site looks professional and is easy to navigate. On to the content!

An online video guitar lesson site lives or dies by the quality of the lessons, and this is where Infinite Guitar does a very good job. The videos are high quality and well thought out. Lessons are shown in both full-speed and slow-speed versions allowing the viewer to hear how the music should sound in full speed and then work their way up to that. Close-up video is shot of the instructor’s hands during the lesson, so you really get to see what the instructors are showing you. Tablature is available for each lesson, which you can print out and refer to later.

In addition to teaching individual styles, Infinite Guitar offers lessons on Music Theory, including scales and chords. There is also a Chord Finder available on the site, which you can use to view and hear chord shapes.

Although the site boasts a number of different styles, there are currently more metal and rock lessons available than other styles. I believe that there is something to be learned from all styles of music, so I wasn’t bothered by the bias towards rock and metal. However, if you’re looking for a large number of classical guitar lessons, you might be somewhat disappointed in Infinite Guitar’s selection. Conklin did let me know that they are just getting started with the site, so expect many new lessons and instructors added to the site in the future.

Some of the lessons on the site are for songs written by the instructors. For example, Sean Conklin has a number of lessons featuring songs that he has written. Backing tracks are available for the songs, which you can use when learning the song. Currently, the backing tracks do not appear to be downloadable. I understand why Infinite Guitar might not want the backing tracks to be downloadable, but it would be nice to be able to refer to the backing tracks later, even if I were no longer a member. However, the fact that there are backing tracks available is a nice touch.

Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of both the videos and instruction available on Infinite Guitar. And, they are currently one of the cheapest online video guitar sites on the Internet, so you get a great value for the money. If you’re looking at online guitar video lessons, I recommend you take a look at Infinite Guitar and see if what they offer is what you’re looking for. Here’s a sampling of what Infinite Guitar offers:

John Mayer’s latest live 2CD/DVD combo “Where the Light Is” was released this week. This 2CD/DVD is a recording of Mayer’s charity concert he held on December 8, 2007 at L.A.’s Nokia Theatre. One of the more interesting aspects of the concert is that he played three distinct sets. First, he started off with an acoustic set, followed by a Trio set, and culminating in a set with his full touring band.

The acoustic set features Neon, Stop This Train, In Your Atmosphere, Daughters, and a cover of Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’. This set was an intimate set with a small number of musicians, and sometimes just Mayer himself. This is a nice, relaxed set, which serves as a good introduction to the concert.

In between each set, the DVD shows some backstage footage of Mayer getting ready for the next set and discussing the last set. Additionally, there are some cut scenes to Mayer discussing life as a well-known musician and him preparing for the show.

The Trio set is the highlight of the concert for me. I really enjoy the sound that Mayer, Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan put together, and Mayer really lets loose more on the Trio than when playing with his full band. The set list for the Trio is Everyday I Have the Blues, Jimi Hendrix’s Wait Until Tomorrow, Who Did You Think I Was, Come When I Call, Good Love is On the Way, Out of My Mind, Vultures, and Hendrix’s Bold As Love. Mayer really digs into his Strat during these tunes, with Come When I Call being one of the highlights of the whole concert for me, although I greatly enjoyed each of the Trio songs. If you enjoyed Mayer’s work on his John Mayer Trio CD Try!, you’ll definitely enjoy this part of the concert.

The final set of the night was with Mayer’s full touring band. The set list for this part of the show included Waiting On The World To Change, Slow Dancing In a Burning Room, Why Georgia, The Heart of Life, I Don’t Need No Doctor, Gravity, I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You), Belief, and I’m Gonna Find Another You. Again, Mayer displays some great guitar chops on these songs. I was pleased to see that he doesn’t hold back too much when there are more players behind him, although he does allow his bandmates to shine, as well. The Heart of Life and I Don’t Need No Doctor were two of my favorite songs from this set.

I purchased the 2CD/DVD combo at Target, which has some exclusive features not found on the mainstream release. The features are 200 Guitars: The Collection, and a photo gallery from the night of the performance. I was reminded when watching the 200 Guitars feature that Mayer’s guitar tech is Rene Martinez. Martinez was Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar tech from 1985 until Vaughan’s untimely passing in 1990. Part of the 200 Guitars feature involved Mayer receiving the Fender Custom Shop “Lenny” tribute to Vaughan’s famous red Stratocaster. Martinez offers some comments about the original compared to the tribute as part of the 200 Guitars feature, which you can find on YouTube if you don’t get the Target version.

I’ve never seen Mayer perform live, so I can’t comment on how accurately “Where the Light Is” depicts a John Mayer concert. However, I can say that this is an excellent concert performance and a great way to see each of Mayer’s different styles together in one show. There’s some excellent guitar playing throughout the show, as well as some great music. I really enjoyed the whole show would highly recommend “Where the Light Is.” You can watch a trailer for the concert below:

Solidbodies: The 50 Year Guitar War is a DVD by Guy Hornbuckle that chronicles the history of two of the earliest and most popular solidbody guitars: the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul. The DVD features interviews with some of today’s top guitarists including Joe Bonamassa, Derek Trucks, Henry Garza, Gary Hoey, and some great playing by Wes Jeans, John Roth, and Steve Selvidge. Additionally, the DVD features interviews with vintage guitar expert George Gruhn and author Richard R. Smith.

It’s obvious that Hornbuckle is a fan of the guitar. Both the Strat and Les Paul are given equal time with no real “war” being depicted other than the struggles of Fender and Gibson to become the dominant guitar manufacturer throughout the years.

The Fender story goes all the way back to when Leo Fender was repairing radios during the depression. It was interesting to find out how Fender was not really even a musician, he was just a great tinkerer and inventor. The Stratocaster was largely developed in collaboration with Fender’s employees, who were guitar players.

The Gibson story goes back to when Gibson was producing only acoustic and hollow-body guitars. I found it interesting to hear that there are two stories to how the Les Paul came about: the Les Paul story and the Ted McCarty story. Les Paul states that he went to Gibson with the idea for the Les Paul, while McCarty claims that Gibson went to Paul with a more or less finished guitar. It was also interesting to hear that during the 60s, the Les Paul was discontinued due to the agreement with Les Paul running out and not being continued. According to the movie, it was largely the result of British bluesmasters like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck that re-sparked the interest in the Les Paul guitar. Of course, nowadays both Clapton and Beck are better known for playing Fenders than Gibsons, but they both were playing Gibsons in the 60s.

In addition to the great interviews, throughout the movie there are musical interludes and great soundtrack clips. After discussing the difference between humbuckers and single-coils, for instance, the viewer gets to actually hear the difference between the two types of pickups. At the end of the movie, Wes Jeans and Steve Selvidge play a very nice piece together with Jeans playing a Strat and Selvidge playing a Les Paul.

The DVD also features some special features: a slide show of the vintage guitars featured in the movie and a feature on vintage guitar values. These are a nice addition to the DVD; who doesn’t like looking at near-mint vintage guitars?

I really enjoyed watching this movie. You never know what to expect with a guitar documentary. Some are very cheesy. However, Solidbodies is a very well done movie. My wife, who is not a guitar player, even enjoyed watching this movie, which I consider to be a triumph since she rarely wants to watch any of my guitar-related movies. I think Guy Hornbuckle and Lightning Lab Productions have done a great job. If you like the guitar, I think you’ll like Solidbodies: The 50 Year Guitar War. You can watch a trailer for the movie at the Solidbodies Web site.

I recently had the opportunity to play the John Mayer Stratocaster. I didn’t play the guitar for a long period of time, but during the short period of time I did play the guitar, I really liked it. It played and sounded great.

The neck of the John Mayer Strat is a thick “C” shape, which felt great in my hands. And, the African Rosewood fretboard played very smoothly. The action was set a little high on the guitar I played, but that just made it more fun to really dig in and attack the strings. I’ve never been a fan of super-low action anyway. I’m used to playing my Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat, which has Jumbo Frets, so the Dunlop 6105 Narrow Jumbo Frets on the John Mayer Strat felt good under my fingers. As I mentioned above, the guitar sounded great. As you would expect, it had that unique Strat sound that no other guitar is able to replicate.

Some unique features of the John Mayer Stratocaster include Big Dipper pickups with a special “scooped” mid-range voicing per John Mayer’s specs. Additionally, the string tree is placed farther from the nut than a standard Stratocaster.

Although I only played the guitar for a short period of time, I was very impressed with the John Mayer Stratocaster. It felt natural in my hands and played and sounded great. If you’re looking for an American-made Stratocaster, I’d highly recommend checking out the John Mayer Strat. I’ll definitely be considering it the next time I’m in the market for a high-end Strat.

I had the pleasure of seeing Tommy Emmanuel perform live at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) this past Friday, June 27. Although I’ve heard many great things about Tommy Emmanuel as a guitarist and performer, I wasn’t all that familiar with his music. So, before the show, I listened to the samples on Amazon’s page for Emmanuel’s recently released Center Stage album. One of the reviewers for the album stated:

…if you ever get to see Tommy in a live performance, your life will be forever changed for the better.

After seeing the show, I can say that this is only a slight overstatement. This was one of the best shows I have seen in a long time. And, for the most part, it was just Emmanuel on stage with his guitars. More than a show, this was an intimate experience with Tommy telling stories using his guitar. As you would expect with one of the best acoustic guitarists in the world, there was plenty of excellent guitar playing. But, the guitar playing never seemed superfluous. It always seemed to fit in with the feel of the song.

Not only is Emmanuel a great guitarist, he is a great performer. He engaged the audience and was quite funny and fun to watch. He played for over 2 hours and I could have sat for 2 more if he would have kept playing.

It may sound like I’m gushing, but that’s because I am. I was barely a casual Tommy Emmanuel fan before this show, but now I’m a believer. If you ever get a chance, do yourself a favor and go see Tommy Emmanuel in concert. Here’s a clip of Emmanuel playing a Beatles Medley:

A few months ago, Tom Bocci sent me a review copy of Ted Greene Remembered, a musical tribute to guitarist Ted Greene. Truth be told, I hadn’t heard of Ted Greene prior to receiving the CD. However, it became clear with a little research that Ted was a well-respected guitarist and teacher with many fans.

The Ted Greene Remembered CD seems to be a fitting tribute to Mr. Greene. The CD features great performances by Tommy Emmanuel, Laurence Juber, Lee Ritenour, Phil du Gruy, Stephen Bruton, Steve Ferguson, Mark Goldenberg, Jay Graydon, John Pisano, Dan Sawyer, Anthony Wilson, George Winston, and Tom Bocci.

Proceeds from the sale of the CD will help support the TedGreene.com Web site, which will allow future students to benefit from Mr. Greene’s teachings.

Recently, several other bloggers have mentioned the Web site GuitarInstructor.com. If you’re not familiar with GuitarInstructor.com, as its name implies, it is a guitar instruction site. What makes the site fairly unique is that it features video lessons by guitar legends, such as Eric Johnson, Keb Mo’, John 5, and others. You can purchase videos a la carte, which I think is a great way to buy videos. Video lessons are $1.99.

Another unique aspect of the site is a la carte song transcriptions. They have many song transcriptions by popular artists, such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton. Song transcriptions are generally $0.99-$1.49 each.

GuitarInstructor.com also features video lessons of songs by popular artists. Like the other aspects of the site, the song-based video lessons are pay as you go, with the lessons costing $1.99 each.

The site sounded interesting, so I thought I’d check it out in depth. I’ve recently been listening to some old Metallica tunes from their Ride the Lightning album. I had learned how to play part of “Fade To Black” when I was younger, and I wanted to learn it again. It just so happens that this was one of the song transcriptions available on GuitarInstructor.com, so I decided to purchase it.

Song transcriptions are delivered in PDF format. GuitarInstructor.com uses Sibelius Scorch to deliver and protect the content of the song transcriptions. You get one chance to print the transcription, so it’s important that you ensure that your printer is set up and working before trying to print the transcription. However, this is a minor quibble, and after purchasing the transcription, it was extremely simple to load and print it.

Based on my somewhat limited experience with GuitarInstructor.com, I’d recommend it to someone looking for pay as you go pricing on guitar lessons and guitar transcriptions. The site was extremely simple to use and offers a wide variety of lessons and songs.

I recently picked up It Is Time For A Love Revolution by Lenny Kravitz, and so far I’ve been very impressed. I think it’s the best album he’s put out so far.

I recently read that other than a few guitar solos and the saxophone parts, Kravitz played all of the instruments on the album. Apparently, he’s done this for all of his albums, but I’d never heard about it until recently. Very impressive!

Like all of Kravitz’s other albums, this latest album melds classic rock from the 60s and 70s with funk and modern rock. Some people criticize Kravitz for being too much of a throw back, but I personally dig it. Sometimes, it can become a little tired, but It is Time For A Love Revolution breaks through and remains fresh throughout the entire album.

The album is funky, rocking, and laid back all at the same time; an excellent blend of the old and the new. If you’ve enjoyed any of Kravitz’s music in the past, then you’ll like It Is Time For A Love Revolution. If you’ve never been a fan, then maybe this latest album will change your mind. I’ve really been enjoying it over the past few weeks.