Ivan May

John Lennon began his career playing a banjo. Even if John was playing a banjo, you'd still be able to tell John's rhythm guitar riffs if he were playing them on a banjo!

Animals is one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums. I think Richard Wright played an ARP Solina String Ensemble and a Clavinet on that album. Listening to Animals nearly 45 years later, it's amazing how much great music came from a band like Pink Floyd. I just wish Gilmour and Waters would stop arguing.

What matters most about guitars is who plays them, and the different amps and guitars they used. Springsteen, Brad Paisley and Keith Richards all play Telecasters, using largely Vox AC30 amps, Slash and Gary Moore both played Les Pauls through Marshall amps, and Jimi Hendrix played Strats through Fender and Marshall amps. But it all depends what guitars and amps YOU own, doesn't it? I can't sound like Hendrix worth a shit, but I can play guitar just as good as he did.

I believe that the Juno-106 was the synthesiser on which Geddy Lee used on Power Windows by Rush. I know he used a Roland Super Jupiter synth on that album as well.

Along with his contemporaries Elvis Costello, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and Howard Jones, Joe Jackson was a very innovative new wave artist, one who seems to be forgotten compared to all those other acts is Joe Jackson. A classically trained pianist and saxophonist with a taste for jazz and rock, Joe Jackson put out his first album, Look Sharp! in 1979, for A&M Records. It included his signature song, Is She Really Going Out With Him?, and the title track, and showcased his ability to blend various genres into one. He also acted as a bit of a warm up act for the Eighties New Wave sound that followed. I'm The Man is perhaps his most well known album, which saw a release in late 1979. However, my favorite albums by Joe Jackson are Look Sharp!, Night And Day and Joe Jackson's Jumpin Jive. I really like his songs Is She Really Going Out With Him?, Steppin Out and Breaking Us In Two. I own a few of his albums, and it's quite surprising how he kind of faded after those albums came out. He also had the great drumming of Larry Tolfree and excellent bass playing of Graham Maby backing him up. He also contributed piano and synthesizer arrangements to Suzanne Vega's classic 1986 hit, Left Of Center, off of the soundtrack to Pretty In Pink. Over time, Joe Jackson has started to release more jazz and classical themed albums, which are very experimental and certainly worth a listen. Joe Jackson primarily played a saxophone, but he also played a piano, a Yamaha CP70 electric grand piano, a Hammond organ, and the Mini Moog and Prophet 5 synthesizers. I certainly hope there are a lot of fans of Joe Jackson out there. Count me a fan, at least. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TzKSFbsh2Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7IGRNWVQkc

Boy, I wish Don Felder was here so he could help you arrange Hotel California to play with your band.

My parents paid $15.00 for Metallica tickets. It's about the bands you like, not the money! That's what a concert should be about!

The Out Of The Blue Iineup of Electric Light Orchestra was not only the most commercially successful lineup, it's also the one most ELO fans associate the band with. The musicianship between Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy, Bev Bevan and Kelly Groucutt was TIGHT!

As a devoted Jacksons fan, I will admit that Wilton Felder's bass solo on I Want You Back kicks every ass.

I will be honest and admit that I am a fan of both Godsmack and Alice In Chains. They're not bad bands, mind you: along with Korn, Evanescence and some of Faith No More, they really helped with the nu metal boom of the nineties, carrying over into the early 2000s. It also does not help that "God Smack" is also the name of a song off of the Alice In Chains album Dirt. I can see why Godsmack is often compared with Alice In Chains: they have similar influences and both formed at around the same time. There also seems to be a big Metallica influence on Godsmack, as well as Aerosmith, who are from the same area of Boston as Godsmack. I think they've toured together too. I also own a few Alice In Chains albums. My local radio station plays a lot of the songs Unforgettable, and they are also known for playing other songs, such as Voodoo and Keep Away. Sully Erna is a very good guitarist and singer, and Tony Rombola does have a very good guitar tone, even if he composes a riff by borrowing heavily from Michael Schenker, circa Strangers in the Night. I was thinking of buying some Godsmack CDs next time I go shopping, so if you have any suggestions on what Godsmack albums I'm going to buy, please post it here. "Unforgettable" "Voodoo"

Check out that Squier Strat George Harrison played! I think he used this Squier Strat when he toured Japan in the Nineties.

John Popper is a very skilled harmonica player and vocalist, and probably the only human touch in Blues Traveler amid the cold precision of guitarist Chan Kinchla and the rhythm section of bassist Bobby Sheehan and drummer Brendan Hill in full improvisational flight. The music that Blues Traveler creates are shiny blues rock simulations of the seventies and eighties, but you would be better off putting on an old Allman Brothers or J. Geils Band record.

Wishbone Ash has a twin guitar job, and Ted Turner and Andy Powell were capable of handling it. A profound influence on Thin Lizzie, the original studio versions of Blowin Free and The King Will Come are presented, as is the full Rockpalast concert in 1976, featuring Ted’s skilled replacement, Laurie Wisefield. Throw in the rhythm section of bassist Martin Turner and drummer Steve Upton and you have the fucking amazing Wishbone Ash!

I bought Pictures at an Exhibition by Emerson Lake and Palmer on Saturday. It is a very productive album. I really like their cover of Nut Rocker which closes the album.

You should play some classical music at your dinner party. Specifically piano music by Emanuel Ax.

Now this is how a Strat through an AC30 should sound like! and @KuruPrionz thanks for telling me you saw Rory Gallagher, Fleetwood Mac and Deep Purple in concert. You have good taste in concerts.

I seem to remember that most of the lead synthesizers on She’s So Unusual were a Roland Jupiter 8 and a Roland Juno 160. The other percussion synth on Girls Just Want To Have Fun is a Prophet 5, but that’s all I can remember about the synths Cyndi used back then.

Even if you don’t like King Crimson, you have to love Larks Tongues In Aspic. It’s almost as if Robert Fripp’s guitar is playing tag with the drums of Bill Bruford and the bass of John Wetton.

Whilst Rickenbacker tends to be the leader of the electric 12 string pack, Guild and Gretsch have also made some really good 12 string electrics. John Lennon played a Guild Starfire XII for a short time.

There’s nothing wrong with social commentary on naked people running around. Which is why Ray Stevens tries to throw in a little fun.

When pop punk had its golden years in the early 2000s, many bands had a hell of a good time. Avril Lavigne, Sum 41, Simple Plan, Green Day, New Found Glory and Paramore among them. Having hailed from the same suburbs of Chicago, IL as Fall Out Boy, Plain White T's were another act that was often called pop punk (or, in some cases, alternative rock). With a lot of similar influences in their music--Green Day, The Beatles, The Clash and early Police--the Plain White T's were mostly known for their acoustic pop ballad, Hey There Delilah, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 on this date 15 years ago, in 2007. The song was written for the track star Delilah DiCrescenzo, whom lead singer Tom Higgenson had met in 2002. The single's runaway success (it was originally recorded in 2004, but never officially releaeed as a single until early 2006) suddenly earned The Plain White T's 2 Grammy nominations, including one for Record of the Year (it lost to Rehab by Amy Winehouse). The group never quite scaled such heights again, though lead singer Tom Higgenson did guest on the song Little Miss Obsessive by Ashlee Simpson, and the group even appeared on an iCarly episode perforing the song Our Time Now, which was also featured in promotional trailers for the ABC Family series Greek. Throughout much of 2008, the Plain White T's toured with Panic At The Disco and also appeared on Sesame Street. The band's "Rhythm of Love" single was the first to be released from the group's 2010 album, The Wonders of the Younger, which unfortunately sank commercially. The song reached number five on the Hot AC chart, and was in the top ten in 2010 as well. In 2012, the band also covered The Ramones' "Pet Sematary" for the song soundtrack of the 2012 Disney film Frankenweenie. Should've Gone to Bed, a four-song EP, was released on April 9, 2013. The band left Hollywood Records after creative conflicts with the label during the production of the American Nights album. American Nights was released by Megaforce Records on March 31, 2015. The release date of American Nights was pushed back several times by their former record label, Hollywood Records. In 2015, they also appeared on Blues Traveler's album Blow Up the Moon, co-writing the song "Nikkia's Prom." During this same time, The Plain White T's, along with Panic At The Disco, Cyndi Lauper, Aerosmith and David Bowie, among other artists, contributed to a SpongeBob SquarePants musical, wihch aired on Broadway and even earned a Tony (!) nomination. On November 22, 2015, the band released a music video for "American Nights" featuring Higgenson's son, Lennon. In May 2017, Plain White T's released a music video for their song "Land of the Living". The band, which had left their label Fearless in 2005, returned to the label. As of April 2017, the band has said that they are currently writing new music. The band performed "Hey There Delilah" at the 2017 Alternative Press Music Awards. In July 2017, the band closed the 2017 National Scout Jamboree, exactly 10 years after "Hey There Delilah" was number-one on the charts. In 2017, Plain White T's re-signed with Fearless Records. Their latest studio album, Parallel Universe, was released on August 24, 2018. Tirio quit the band in October 2020, making Higgenson the only member of the original line up. It upsets me that many people consider them a one hit wonder. If you watched Nickelodeon or TRL growing up, then congratulations: you've heard a Plain White T's song. They have more hits, you just need to go on YouTube or Spotify to look up a Plain White T's song. But if you like Plain White T's (or any other pioneer of pop punk), then let me know.

Sending prayers your way. Losing a band mate is not fun.

As much as I disliked Peter Frampton (due to years of Show Me The Way being played to death on my local classic rock radio station), the music he created with Steve Marriott in Humble Pie was very good.

Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI) was a subsidiary of the Allen Organ Company, based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, active from 1966 to 1982. The company was formed to produce portable musical instruments, and manufactured several electronic pianos, harpsichords, and organs that used oscillators to create sound, instead of mechanical components like an electric piano. The first significant instrument produced by RMI was the Rock-Si-Chord, which emulated a harpsichord. The best-selling and most widely used instrument was the RMI Electra-piano, that was played by numerous artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Steve Winwood, Frank Zappa, Paul Davis, Deep Purple member Jon Lord, Genesis' Tony Banks, and Yes' Rick Wakeman. Later, the company became a pioneer of digital synthesizers, including the Keyboard Computer and RMI Harmonic Synthesizer, the latter of which was used by Jean Michel Jarre. The company struggled to compete with digital synthesizers in the early 1980s, which led to its closure. A number of sample libraries featuring RMI instruments are available for modern digital keyboards. This picture is of the RMI 300B electra piano. It can be very easy to mistake the sound of an RMI for that of a Hohner Pianet. Both the Pianet and the RMI have that attack that not many other electronic keyboards are known for. The keyboard solo on Empty Pages by Traffic is an RMI Electra piano played by Steve Winwood. This is probably the most well known usage of the RMI, but there are a few other exceptions: The main keyboard riff on Right Place Wrong Time, is also an RMI, played by Dr. John himself. Dick Halligan, the keyboardist and trombone player for Blood Sweat and Tears, also played an RMI on the tracks You've Made Me So Very Happy and And When I Die. If you have ever owned an RMI, or just like the deep, intimate tone of the RMI, then feel free to discuss.