GuardiansGuitar

I talked to some Boogie insiders recently, and they are extremely jazzed about the future. The Gibson team seems passionate about music and doing the right thing, and they claim they will leave Boogie alone. Randy himself reportedly told Gibson, if you mess with the staff, they ARE Mesa/Boogie. In addition, Gibson will likely provide Boogie with the investment to do some great things for their own brand and Gibson custom amps, as well. The Gibson of today is NOT the Gibson of Henry J. I'm actually very excited about where this can all go.

On Monday, Leslie West's brother, Larry West Weinstein, announced that the guitarist's "heart gave out and he's on a ventilator." Hoping that Leslie pulls through to make more music for us. Sending good vibes his way.

Winston Psmith â Agree. Back in the day, I remember engineers slapping your hand whenever an artist tried to grab a knob or fader on the board. Hahaha. Now there's that very strange habit of some mixers LOOKING at waveforms and making adjustments, rather than LISTENING to what is in front of them. Had to giggle the first time I was confronted with that situation. But, yes, there is no rule that any artist or recording professional HAS to touch a certain quota of knobs. Hahaha.

KuruPrionz â Ha. I doubt I've earned a "Mr." yet!

Hi Scott... Surprising. But it just goes to show that humans are humans and mistakes are a part of life. I had to quit listening obsessively critically to '60s and '70s hits that I loved, because the "miscues" you sometimes hear from the engineering or performances can be a bummer. I remember the first CDs of SGT. PEPPER betrayed some fizzy distortion on the horns? Not exactly sure where the glitch was introduced, but it shocked me. Hahaha. Got ya on GarageBand and agree. That said, a lot of artists are using it to make music during the pandemic, and I actually dig the audio quality, production, and performances of many of them. It's also nice that so much music is finally coming out of this depressing thing. Stay safe and healthy!

Hi all... I've joined the fab team of bloggers for the Line 6 MODEL CITIZENS site. Have a read: https://blog.line6.com/2020/11/17/five-ways-to-massacre-your-mix/ I hope it's a worthwhile expenditure of your time! Best to all, Mike

Hi all... I've joined the fab team of bloggers for the Line 6 MODEL CITIZENS site. Have a read: https://blog.line6.com/2020/11/17/five-ways-to-massacre-your-mix/ I hope it's a worthwhile expenditure of your time! Best to all, Mike

Hi all... I posted the below text on the Guardians of Guitar FB page yesterday. As many of you know, I was a victim of the diminishing fortunes of the print-mag industry and was laid off from my 20+ year gig as Editor in Chief of GP in 2018. I'm also aware that current owner Future UK has been careful regarding investment in the brand, and the current staff continues to be challenged to varying degrees with resources â especially during the zombie apocalypse we are all dealing with. But I was overjoyed that, despite all of the challenges â including a major content shift and a brutally shortened deadline to ensure the EVH story made it to the press in time â the staff pulled off a truly transcendent celebration of Eddie. Sometimes, the "old pros" are precisely the right team to do something of this magnitude. I was so proud that GP delivered such a wonderful issue. I hope all of the groovy Guitar Forum peeps feel the same... "Disruptions in the mediasphere have not been kind to many "veteran" publications, and certainly Guitar Player Magazine has been compromised â perhaps even embattled â by the travails of an often struggling industry and a culture that appears to devalue print media and deep journalism. BUT THIS IS WHY GUITAR PLAYER IS SO IMPORTANT to the community of guitarists, music lovers, and gear makers. GP's EVH special tribute issue is a comprehensive, scrupulously researched, well written, and adoring celebration of an artist who meant so much to so many, and IT COULD ONLY HAVE BEEN DONE BY GP. No disrespect to any of the other fine guitar publications around the world â and, truth be told, I am a tad biased as a former Editor in Chief â but this issue IS the bible of all things about the guitarist Eddie Van Halen. It is the pinnacle of guitar journalism on the subject of Eddie. And it is a loving tribute penned by players who were in the trenches themselves, intimately know how to approach the subject at hand, and who are truly aware of Eddie's impact on guitar. Bravo to Matt Blackett, Jude Gold, Art Thompson, Jimmy Leslie, Christopher Scapelliti, and everyone else who contributed their heart, words, and insights to this tribute." â MM (via Guardians of Guitar).

One of the articles about this situation quoted someone from the GC camp as attributing COVID's impact on "discretionary income" as one of the reasons for the current troubles. But if I was a savvy investor, I'd ask, "So how come Sweetwater and some other retailers are thriving, and many categories of music-gear sales are way up?"

Hello Guitar Forum Members... On May 1, Wroclaw Poland's Guitar World Record Festival is moving online due to the COVID-19 crisis. If you are looking for something cool and collaborative to do this coming Friday, then grab your favorite guitar and join players across the planet in a massive world-guitar orchestra to perform a Jimi Hendrix-inspired version of "Hey, Joe." Here's an article I did on the 2019 festival: https://guardiansofguitar.com/2019/05/15/guitars-jimi-hendrix-and-the-uniting-vibration-of-music/ Here's the broadcast link: For more information: http://en.heyjoe.pl/ I have attached directions, as well. The festival is originating in Poland, so for guitarists on Pacific Time, the performance starts at 7 am (if you're an early riser, rehearsals begin at 5 am and 6 am). For rockers on Eastern time, it's 10 am (with rehearsals at 8 am and 9 am). Please join me and rock on! Have fun! Best, Mike

Ha. Well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, Danny. Be safe! M

Hi all... Interesting feedback from the https://www.facebook.com/KingdomOfRockPodcast/ I've been co-hosting with Matt Gibson. We've interviewed artists such as Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, Elliot Easton, Johnny A, Bruce Kulick, Michael Sweet, and Joel Hoekstra, as well as a platoon of producers, business people, and everyday musicians affected by the coronavirus crisis. Some of the counsel has reflected on one's personal outlook â such as Steve Vai, who advocated NOT giving into fear â and other comments have focused on what a specific artist is doing to keep busy while sheltered at home. Keeping busy. Yes. That... After all, it would be truly tragic if guitarists DID NOT use the extra time we have all been given to write songs, learn new techniques, practice familiar and unfamiliar exercises, work on social-media and website promotion, devise a marketing plan for when we can gig again, and absorb other practical and essential tools of the musician's creative life. "After I engage with my children and wife each day, I could spend the evening zoning out watching Netflix, or I can choose to work on answering social-media comments, practicing my craft, and finishing my upcoming album," said Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Cher). In addition to upping your productivity game, I have to believe that working on your music will also calm your soul, anxiety, and frustrations during the apocalypse. So, GUITAR FORUM... What are YOU doing to enhance your talents, aspirations, techniques, and creativity during this time?

Marky â Join the party. Email me, and I can share the schedule with you. Best, Mike

Hi all... I'm posting again, because I'm kinda surprised that NO ONE took me up on my previous offer to appear on the Kingdom of Rock video livecast on COVID-19 AND THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. It's a great opportunity to share knowledge, hope, disgust, and strategies with the larger music community at large, as well as a nice way to get you in front of potential fans. Check out the link to see past episodes: https://www.facebook.com/KingdomOfRockPodcast/ So... If you want to appear, please email me at gpeditor@gmail.com, and I'll see if I can get you "on the air" so to speak. BTW: Episodes to date have included STEVE VAI, MICHAEL SWEET, ELLIOT EASTON, JOHNNY A, JORDAN RUDESS, and on and on and on. Cheers and Be Safe, Mike

My PSA for the Day: Those musicians who are currently rehearsing together, or who plan to start rehearsing very soon, should click to read the LA Times article below, which I just saw posted by my friend Jane Tyska. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-29/coronavirus-choir-outbreak?fbclid=IwAR0k-dv8K_Ufy069GfIfloBAaKUw3iN1H9nagfF8-TDO5u_2LmNOv6-LHdA The main takeaway is this: "[There is] a growing body of evidence that the virus can be transmitted through aerosolsâparticles smaller than 5 micrometersâthat can float in the air for minutes or longer." In other words, a typical band rehearsal could cause the virus to be unleashed into your practice environment, and settle on your face and hands. WHY RISK IT? BTW, I DO NOT view articles such as these as sensationalized, hysterical, or fakeâeven if elements of the reports may indeed be overwrought or inaccurate. What is NOT overwrought or inaccurate are the posts we are all seeing now about family members, friends, and "friends of friends" coming down with COVID-19, as well as players of all levels of success DYING. Whether you trust big media or not, I would submit that being OVERLY careful ain't such a bad idea these days. Sometimes, paying attention to cautionary tales can be a basic survival skill. SO PLEASE... I desperately want all of my musician brothers and sisters to take precautions and NOT GET SICK! Don't let boredom, distance from your band mates (and the much-missed collaboration and camaraderie), and the desire to start ramping up for that wonderful time when we can perform for the public again rush you into a badâand possibly tragicâdecision. I can wait to hear your music again, and I want to see YOU playing it.

Hi all... I'm co-hosting an ongoing videocast series with Matt Gibson at his Kingdom of Rock podcast: https://www.kingdomofrock.com/covid-19-and-the-entertainment-industry-a-daily-series/ If you want to contribute to one of the livecasts, please email me at gpeditor@gmail.com. We need female musicians, tribute-band musicians, and just about anyone whose career has been kneecapped by this crisis. Thanks tons, Mike

For those interested, here is my last interview with Andy from February 9, 2019... https://guardiansofguitar.com/2020/02/02/remembering-andy-gill/

Shocked and saddened to hear of Andy Gill's untimely passing at 64. I interviewed him when Gang Of Four Official appeared at The Chapel just last February. 'I"ve always approached Gang of Four"s music fundamentally the same,' he told me when I interviewed him on the stage after soundcheck. 'It"s just the guitar, bass, drums, and vocals sitting next to each other and working with each other in a kind of matrix, rather than layering parts on top of each other. We lock into each other and the rhythm is carefully thought out so that it"s funky and exciting. Sometimes, I worry if even that is simple enough. I mean, when you hear a Muddy Waters' record, and he"s in a room tapping his foot on the floor and you hear him kicking his guitar and you hear his voiceâTHAT is thrilling. That is my touchstone. If I"m layering stuff, I"m going wrong.'

A true tragedy and a total misfire by the Rock Hall.

Okay, even if you didn't attend NAMM 2020 in Anaheim, I'm sure you've seen tons of show reports by the gear media, social posts by your fave manufacturers, and ads in guitar mags by now. So what new guitar releases thrilled you the most? Let's see! Cheers, Mike

Oops. In the NAMM rush, I think I forgot to post this article from Guitar Connoisseur... LINK: http://www.guitarconnoisseurmagazine.com/gc75/2020/01/20/what-guitarists-can-learn-from-neil-peart-rushs-legendary-drummer-wasnt-just-an-instrumentalist-he-was-a-consummate-artist/ PASTE: What Guitarists Can Learn from Neil Peart Rush"s Legendary Drummer Wasn"t Just an Instrumentalist, He was a Consummate Artist By Michael Molenda The massive onslaught of tributes, tears, salutes, and shock that trended all over social media following Neil Peart"s passing from glioblastoma on January 7, is indisputable evidence of not just his formidable talents as a drummer, musician, author, and lyricist, but also of his quiet but titanic imprint on popular culture. But it wasn"t easy to win such impassioned and world-wide respect. It all worked out just fine, thank you, but Peart"s tenure in Rush wasn"t always cheers and parades. Non-fans derived the band as pompous prog for a predominantly male audience of geeky nerds. Peart"s lyrics were savaged in some quarters. His elaborate drum kitâwhich eventually expanded to the size of a feudal estateâwas certainly worth a chuckle or outright guffaw. The meaner of the musical cool kids even slammed Peart"s much-acclaimed drum technique, tagging it as fussy, maddeningly intricate, or just too damn much. And yet, Peart and band mates Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, stuck together throughout the ebb-and-flow of commercial fortunes and pop-culture relevance to become rock legends, as well as to achieve a level of adoration far surpassing that of many arguably hipper acts and rock stars who wore more fashionable clothes. However, this is not a story about a maligned band of brothers battling all obstacles to success to win big just before the credits roll. It"s not even a real obituary for Peart, who died much too young at just 67 years old. Finer, and more comprehensive eulogies have been penned elsewhere, as a simple Google search will prove. Instead, we"d like to honor Peart by examining how his fervent commitment to excellence canâand shouldâinform the actions of creative thinkers. Specifically, in this instance, the feisty community of often-impractical dreamers, ruthless critics, unhinged egotists, ambitious obsessives, and, at times, ne"er-do-wells. We"re talking about guitar players. During his time in the limelight (apologiesâjust had to toss in the title of one of Rush"s beloved songs), Peart honed an elegant curiosity into a fastidious work ethicâtraits that could fuel an entire seminar on self-realization, productivity, and joy. As a result, many aspects of his artistic life as a drummer and writer can be deployed to help guitar players evolve their craft. I selected a few of my favorites to share as 'teaching moments.' So rather than solely honor Peart for the many amazing triumphs of his life, let"s take a little bit of his wisdom with us, and let him inspire our lives. Small Events = Lasting Rewards Sometimes, fate gives us little gifts, and the trick is to recognize when a brightly wrapped package drops into your lap. When Peart was just beginning his journey with the drums, he tended to break off the tips of his drumsticks. The bummer was that, at the time, he couldn"t afford to go out and buy new sticks whenever he trashed a pair. 'I would just turn them around and use the other end,' he told the Backstage Club Newsletter in 1994. 'I got used to it, and I continue to use the heavy end of lighter sticks. It gives me a solid impact, but with less dead weight to sling around.' Ultimately, a solution to a less-than-bountiful bank account opened up a new performance technique and improved ergonomics for Peart. In much the same way, some guitarists have purchased lighter-gauge strings than they prefer because that"s all a music store had in stock, and they discovered the resulting ease of string bending opened new vistas of expression. Or how many times has a piece of gear imploded during a set, forcing a player to instantly try something else, or make the sound happen using their fingers alone? Solving a challenge can be more than simply outwitting a musical pratfallâthe action can point to new and exciting creative possibilities. Never Stop Learning A truly dangerous moment that can arise at any point in a guitarist"s career is when he or she stops asking 'What"s Next?' and chooses to be satisfied with where they"re at. They stop learning new chords or exploring unique scales. They quit listening to different music. They lose interest in playing with new guitar tools or keeping up with music technology. ('Ah, who needs that crap!') Peart could have enjoyed his success in Rush and coasted the rest of his career. But that didn"t happen, did it? Instead, Peart seemed obsessed with acquiring knowledge and tormenting the concept of comfort zones. 'Everything I could possibly change, I changed,' he said to John Sakamoto in 1996. 'I started all over again. I set up my drums differently. And with my teacher"s urgingâas well as my own wish to really go out and reinvent thingsâI switched from playing matched grip after 30 years to using a traditional grip.' The first thing you might notice in the above quote is that Peart mentions a teacher (at the time, this was jazz drummer Freddie Gruber, and he later took lessons from Peter Erskine). Why would someone as accomplished and technically ferocious as Peart need a teacher? Well, whether he 'needed' continuing education to maintain his career in Rush is beside the point. Peart wanted to evolve his craft. He wanted to get better. While he was performing with Rush, he never considered himself done. All guitarists should follow Peart"s lead here. No matter how awesomely you can burn across your strings, no matter how much experience you"ve reaped, no matter how much your current facility works just fine with the music you"re performing, you should respect your craft enough to want more. Trip Yourself Up This bit is admittedly a part two to 'Never Stop Learning,' but it deserves further elaboration. In the "90s, Peart became involved in a Buddy Rich memorial concert, which ultimately lead to him producing and performing on two Buddy Rich tribute albums. One of the stories is that he was impressed with Steve Smith"s improved technique on one of the projects and discovered Smith"s 'secret weapon' was teacher Freddie Gruberâwho Peart then sought out for his own guidance. Although Gruber coached Peart on many elements, the lessons inspired a switch to traditional grip on the drumsticks after he had played matched grip (mostly for the physical power he felt Rush"s music required) for decades. This was not an insignificant changeâit was almost a complete reinvention of Peart"s style. It took a long time to master traditional grip to his exacting standards, and the move came with enough doubts, second guesses, and other concerns to fill an oil tanker. But Peart stuck with it, and his technique, creativity, dynamics, and stylistic flexibility shot up to the stratosphere as a result. Guitarist Richie Kotzen undertook a similar stylistic 'tumble down the stairs' when he stopped using a pick. What started out as a personal challenge afforded such a wider dynamic and emotive authority to his playing that Kotzen never went back to using a pick. Few people are comfortable with changeâespecially if there"s a volcanic transformationâbut, for all musicians, having the courage and commitment to really f**k with your usual approach can deliver untold benefits. Get Into the Groove When he studied with Peter Erskine, Peart was instructed to 'own the time.' You"d think that would be Job One for any drummer. But 'owning' time is somewhat different than 'keeping' time. 'I practiced for six months just on the hi-hat alone with Peter,' Peart told Modern Drummer in 1996. It"s no big secret that many guitarists are drawn to the crowd-cheering, ego-expanding delights of ferocious soloing, and tend to dismiss intensive study of rhythm-guitar playing. Studio legend Steve Lukather has, on many occasions, counseled guitarists to focus on rhythm, as becoming a solid rhythm player can get you gigs. I"ve interviewed many famous guitarists who have said much the same thing in their own way. Do guitarists listen? Well⦠Peart was obviously a connoisseur of time keeping before he sat down to study with Erskine, but, again, it wasn"t enough for a musician so compelled to always improve. I"ll paraphrase the great British poet William Blake here: 'Don"t CALL yourself a rhythm guitarist.' Nah. Ya gotta walk the talk, and put in the time to truly 'own' the time. Listen! I recently wrote an info tidbit for my Michael Molenda Musician Producer Facebook page citing instances where guitarists, when first running through a song for stage or studio, just blast all over the tuneâperforming fast and/or noisy licks that have nothing at all to do with the vibe and intent of the composition. It"s writing parts by physicality and habit, rather than, say, putting the damn guitar down for a spell and listening to the harmony and arrangement to craft an appropriate part. Peart, on the other hand, could not have contributed as brilliantly to Rush"s music if he acted like one of 'those' guitarists. As he told Guitar World in 2012: "Rush songs tend to have complicated arrangements, with odd numbers of beats, bars, and measures all over the place. Much of my preparation time would be spent just learning all that. I don"t like to count those parts, but rather play them enough that I begin to feel the changes in a musical way. Playing it through again and again, those elements became 'the song."' Whether you like Rush"s music or not, it"s difficult to deny that Peart"s drum performances flow with the songs and the other instruments. There are so many instances of this: tom patterns that pulse around guitarist Alex Lifeson"s arpeggios without obscuring them, kick impacts that alternately lock into and dance around bassist Geddy Lee"s punctuations, cymbal work that recognizes the frequency ranges in play, employing space (or even silence) as a musical part, and so on. None of this is truly possible unless a musician takes the time to assess everything that"s going on in the arrangement, all of the frequency ranges being utilized by the other instrumentalists, and the narrative unfolding in the song. Peart even listens throughout the bombast of live performance. 'When I"m playing live, if I"m worried that a song is a little bit too fast or slow, I listen to the singer to see of the phrasing is falling comfortable,' he stated during a Guitar Center seminar in 2010. You can probably count the number of guitarists who listen to singers in much the same way on maybe four sets of hands. It"s not just about the vocalist"s phrasing, either. Listen critically to make sure you aren"t at war with the singer. Are you too loud? Too overdriven? Playing sharp accents when a more sensible path would be palm muting on your bass strings? We could go on forever, so let"s just say this: If you can LISTEN with at least 65 percent of Peart"s sympathetic ears, you"re probably going to be a hero to your band mates. Diversify Peart didn"t restrict his creative output to drums and lyrics, he was also a published author of fiction and non-fiction. I believe that everything undertaken within the creative sphere feeds your musical brain, but some guitarists resist listening to new musicâmuch less seriously embrace another artistic endeavor such as painting, photography, dance, cooking, or anything else of interest. Peart didn"t seem to be the kind of person who would go brain dead as soon as he stepped off stage, or exited the studio door. His output suggests that he always had writing projects going, and he found the time to actually finish them. His creative intensity was unbound. So should yours. Being a one-trick ponyâeven if you"re the most magnificent 'guitar pony' in the stableâstill means you are choosing to do just one thing. Share Your Gift Given the popularity of Rush, Peart didn"t do a lot of interviews during the band"s long stroll in the spotlight. However, he was incredibly sharing about music and drumming techniques when he did agree to an interview. Check out his Modern Drummer and DRUM! interviews, his instructional DVD, and the numerous interview, performance-breakdown, and educational clips on YouTube. Peart may have been reluctant to be the 'media darling' of Rush, but he certainly embraced opportunities to instruct other players. I can"t say the majority of guitar stars are any different, really. I"ve interviewed scores of accomplished players in my career, and 99 percent of them were as open and transparent as Peart. The disconnect is usually with guitarists just coming up, who would sometimes decline to share gear, recording, or performance details, because these things were 'their little secrets.' Really? There are no secrets. Everything has been done. What is unique is how a player interprets technique, gear, and the recording arts in their own way. That data is what can inspire, excite, and educate the musician community. Peart 'played it forward' by telling his story with passion and honesty. Celebrate Yourself Perhaps because the guitar community can be so mean, critical, and jealous, many guitarists lock themselves into the activity of 'aiming to please.' They react to audience behavior, freak out over low YouTube views, go nuts if their bookings diminish, and drive themselves bonkers taking the advice of people promising more popularity, consistent streams, and heightened brand awareness. None of this stuff tends to strengthenâor even highly valueâone"s belief in themselves. There"s always stuff you can do to be successful that requires jettisoning most everything you love about your own music, your style, your voice, and perhaps even your clothes. Peart was pretty clear about his take on 'gaming the music business,' so it seems appropriate to finish up with another shot of his wisdom⦠'Some musicians try to second-guess that instinctive response, and 'design" their music to appeal to as many people as possible,' he told Jon Wiederhorn for an R30 promotional interview in 2005, 'but I have to think that must get confusing. It"s hard enough to decide what you like, and figure out how to do it, never mind trying to please everybody.'

Well, okay, that's a crass headline. Apologies. Of course, there was new stuff at NAMM, and there were some fabulous and innovative products, as well. But after decades of walking NAMM aisles, there also was the nagging, kinda depressing, and far-less-than-thrilling echoes of "Same as it ever was." Many manufacturers continue to play off the past, and, let's face it, the past â as far as music gear goes â was a massively groovy time. But trekking through aisles upon aisles of NAMM 2020 booths, and seeing a whole lot 'o' stuff I could have seen 20 or 30 years ago is, well ... disappointing. Do we assume that significant communities of young players think exactly like we did decades ago, and are so jazzed to revisit emulations and evolutions of gear that debuted before they were born? Are some of these young people adopting a kind of "Okay Boomer" stance because we've failed to aggressively rethink tools that are 60-, 50-, 40-, 30-, and 20-years old? Then, there areâwe've all seen themâthose makers who are well aware they are offering nothing super innovative, but attempt to obscure that fact with marketing bravado, outright falsehoods, or frenzied cheerleading with no tangible backup. I've dealt with instances of such overwrought promo my entire career. Oh yeahâit's the best fastest toughest greatest awesome-sounding never-before-been-heard-in-this-way-ever-before wonder machine in all the cosmos. Maybe no one cares about these thoughts at all, because, in most cases, musicians continue to buy stuff in droves. (A fair amount of manufacturers told me that 2020 was super successfulâlots of orders and media attentionâbut, then again, many companies say that every year, so what's a little Italian editor to believe?) Please comment as you wish.. [1] Was your NAMM 2020 experience a feast for your eyes, or just blah blah boring? [2] What product or products lifted you out of your shoes with excitement? [3] If you wish to share, what was the most overt instance of PR-speak that had little truthâor an understanding or its relevanceâin its text? Did you laugh out loud? [4] Is there anything you'd like to see at NAMM 2021 that might better address the performance and sonic needs of teen, 20-something, and 30-year-old guitar players and gear freaks. Maybe everything is okay. It probably is. But when I see clones and cosmetic revisions and outright homages in scores of booths in 2020, I can't help but wonder, "Is this where we should be now?" Please let loose with your ideas, comments, and counsel. Cheers, Michael Molenda/NAMM vet

Sharing what I posted today on my Michael Molenda Musician/Producer Facebook Page... Hey, guitarists! Try this exercise. Instead of spewing massive quantities of notes all over a song intro, melodic riff, counterpoint hook, textural piece, or solo section, restrict yourself to playing less than ten notes and incorporating a huge chunk of silent space throughout the part. Think catchy rather than showy. Consider being a friend to the song, instead of grandstanding. Be a sensitive musician, rather than a LEAD guitarist. Just food for thought here. Give it a try and see if you dig the results. Something else to ponder: It remains a mystery to me after all these years why so many guitar players go off vomiting rapid-fire fusillades of notes the instant a band mate or songwriter starts showing them a new tune. There's no "listening" it seemsâjust a knee-jerk physical reaction to "Oh boy, some harmony to blast over!" I'm not saying you shouldn't be that personâsimply that you should be the person that takes a breath, listens, absorbs, calculates, and FEELS before unleashing the onslaught. Have fun!

I like switchless wahs because I'm a dork with clumsy feet. My Vox wah is a favorite for its classic, vowel-like tone, but it has a switch, so I seldom bring it out live. I'm been using the Morley DJ Ashba wah onstage for a year or so, and it has been bulletproof. The frequency sweep is good, as well.

These are my insane dreams for "Molenda Gear" in 2020. I realize no one will listen, but it was fun to muse over the stuff I want this yearâeven if I will never see it. https://guardiansofguitar.com/2020/01/06/five-selfish-things-i-want-from-namm-2020/ Why not add YOUR dream gear to the fantasy? Please post what you'd love to see manufactured this year, and be as selfish as you desire!