Anthony Stauffer of StevieSnacks.com has been providing free blues guitar lessons in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan since 2007. He started out by providing free lessons on YouTube and later progressed to providing premium guitar lessons that cover a number of specific topics related to playing Texas-style electric blues. For example, his most recently released premium lesson … [Read more...]
Gibson Midtown Standard
Gibson have announced a new semi-hollow guitar model: the Midtown Standard with Bigsby. The Midtown model appears to be sized similarly to the ES-339 model, which is smaller than an ES-335 but slightly larger than a Les Paul. The Midtown Standard features a chambered mahogany body and a maple top. Unlike some of Gibson's other semi-hollow guitars, the Midtown features all … [Read more...]
Samamp VAC 40 Series II
This past weekend I attended the Nashville Amp Expo. It was a great time checking out a bunch of new gear and chatting about guitars with some great people, including Anthony Stauffer of StevieSnacks.com. He and I spent a good amount of time speaking with Sam Timberlake, creator of the Samamp line of amps. I first heard about Samamp through Anthony's demo of the VAC 23 and … [Read more...]
Mesa/Boogie Mini Rectifier
Mesa/Boogie have announced the Mini Rectifier Twenty Five, a lightweight, 25-watt version of their high-gain rectifier series of amps. The amp uses two EL-84 power tubes and five 12AX7 preamp tubes. It has two switchable power modes: 10 watts and 25 watts. Additionally, the amp has two channels and four operating modes. Channel 1 features Clean and Pushed modes, and Channel 2 … [Read more...]
Mastodon – Curl of the Burl
I don't listen to much metal these days, but Mastodon is one of the few metal bands that I still like, primarily because of their imaginative riffs and groove-oriented songs. Their new single "Curl of the Burl" from their forthcoming album The Hunter definitely falls within those parameters. I really dig the riffs in this track. … [Read more...]