This is an early video of Jimmy Page from 1957 where Page is playing skiffle music, which was popular in the UK in the 50s. I, for one, am glad that he got into blues music a little later!

This is some video footage of Joe Bonamassa playing “The Ballad of John Henry” during the recording sessions of the album of the same name. Producer Kevin Shirley recorded a lot of the recording sessions, so I’m hoping more videos of the recordings become available at some point. In the meantime, enjoy:

JD Simo is an up-and-coming local Nashville guitarist. Since moving to Nashville in 2006, he’s become an in-demand session musician as well as a regular performer in the Don Kelly Band, which counts Redd Volkaert, Johnny Hiland, and Brent Mason as alumni.

I had a chance to see Simo this past weekend at Robert’s Western World in downtown Nashville. Although I was only able to catch a few minutes of his set, I can see why he’s been garnering great reviews. Apparently, the word has already gone around Nashville, because Robert’s was standing room only with wall-to-wall people. I’m looking forward to catching a longer set next time, hopefully with a little more room to move! Here’s a clip of Simo playing some blues with the Don Kelly Band:

Joe Bonamassa has recently been on a press tour talking about his upcoming album Black Rock (aff link). He’s also been playing some songs from the album. Here’s Joe playing Three Times a Fool:

Last year, Tommy Emmanuel put on a clinic at Berklee. If you’ve never seen Emmanuel live, I highly recommend it. He puts on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Here’s some footage from his Berklee clinic:

Josh Gooch is an 18-year-old blues guitarist based out of San Diego. Gooch regularly performs in the San Diego area with the Road Dogs. He recently recorded a gospel record with Bonnie Bramlett and was featured on Don’t Wake Albert (aff link) by Highly Kind.

Last November, he performed as one of the five finalists of the Guitar Center King of the Blues competition. Although he broke a string during his electric song, his performance was my favorite of the five finalists and I thought he should have won. Guitar Center recently put his performance online on their channel on YouTube:

I think Gooch has a very bright future ahead of him.

Guitar Center recently interviewed Slash about his guitars, his amplifiers, his effects, his technique, and song writing. In the interview, he talks about his new “Appetite for Destruction” Les Paul model that he and Gibson are working on as well as his new amp that he and Marshall are working on.

Here’s Slash talking about his guitars:

Also check out the other videos from the interview:

Tools of the Trade: Amplifiers
Technique and Style
Fat Strings and Simple Effects
Song Writing

Early in his career, Joe Bonamassa recorded an instructional video for Hot Licks titled “Lead Guitar Unlimited.” The video is now out of print, but a promo for the video is available on YouTube. Even back then, Joe was already a phenomenal guitarist.

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:

Andy Timmons is a phenomenal and versatile guitarist. He’s probably best known for his rock fusion licks, but the video below shows that he also has some great country licks! The video is from Andy’s DVD Live Resolution and is of the song “Headed For the Ditch”.