The live persona is well documented: a tall, slim frame bounding around the stage, arm pinwheeling its incessant attack into the strings of a Rickenbacker 360, a Gibson SG Special, a Les Paul Deluxe, or a modified Fender Telecaster or Stratocaster. The sound is legendary, too: a maelstrom of rhythm and fill playing emanating from a single guitar part — a combination of crushing power chords and jangling suspended trills, all holding the floor together beneath an ordered chaos of seemingly floating drum and bass accompaniments. From 1970 onward, however, the secret behind that sound revealed a very different studio rig from the one that Pete Townshend was seen using live on-stage with The Who.
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
Myth Busters: Pete Townshend’s Recording Secrets
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April 15 2009, 2:23pm
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
6 of America’s Best Music Scenes
In 2007 Leslie Simon burst onto the literary scene as the co-author of Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide To Music Culture — and two years later she’s back with Wish You Were Here: An Essential Guide To Your Favorite Music Scenes—From Punk To Indie And Everything In Between. While the title to Simon’s latest music book sounds straightforward, the information contained inside these pages is incredibly far-reaching, and we guarantee you’ll learn something new about each of the 12 areas she hilariously analyzes in this collection. Just to prove it, we picked some of our highlights from the first six chapters in the book.
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April 14 2009, 3:02pm
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
5 Amazing Releases To Snag On Record Store Day (This Saturday!)
These days it seems like whenever the phrase "record store" is mentioned it involves a famous shop going out of business or is related the steady decline in record sales in general. However, April 18 — this Saturday — marks the second annual Record Store Day, a holiday where more than 1,000 independent shops all over the world will celebrate with a series of exclusive releases, live performances and other special events designed to drive music sales and spur a resurgence of interest in brick-and-mortar retailers.
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April 13 2009, 5:01pm
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
Black Dogs: A Fictional Take On Classic Rock’s Biggest Heist
In July 1973, Led Zeppelin played three shows in New York City at the legendary Madison Square Garden. The night before their final performance, over $200,000 of the band’s cash was stolen from their safe deposit box and never recovered in what would become the largest safe deposit theft in the history of NYC. That’s where the story ended, until now.
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April 13 2009, 4:02pm
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
Legendary Guitar: George Harrison’s Rickenbacker 360/12
Meditate for a moment on the sound of The Beatles in the mid ’60s—those amazing three-part harmonies aside—and your mind’s ear is likely to land upon that stirring 12-string jangle and zing that was, for a time, a trademark of the Fab Four’s instrumental assault.
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April 13 2009, 10:23am
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
Survival Stories: 7 Musicians Who Beat Cancer
Oftentimes it seems rock and roll artists live exalted lives untouched by the frailties and vulnerabilities that loom over the rest of us. But of course that’s an illusion. Through the years countless artists – often in their prime – have been stricken with cancer. Many have lost their lives to the disease, but others have survived and subsequently made it their mission to bring attention to issues such as early detection and alternative treatments. The seven artists below represent just a few of many who’ve overcome the disease.
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April 13 2009, 10:18am
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
6 Embarrassing On-Stage Incidents Caught On Camera
Being a rock star may seem like the most glamorous job on earth, but it can also come with its own set of humiliations. For example, if one of us trips on the street or in our apartment, chances are thousands of people worldwide won’t care enough to email it to their friends and colleagues, but the same can’t be said for Beyoncé.
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April 9 2009, 12:00pm
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
How to Get James Taylor's Tone
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” from the musical Oklahoma is irrelevant to most guitar aficionados. At least it was until this Tuesday, when James Taylor’s Other Covers became available.
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April 9 2009, 10:32am
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
Presenting The Gibson Tribal Explorer.
Introduced in 1958, the Gibson Explorer has been a symbol of rock extremism for more than 50 years. It was too radical for many players in its day, but when hard rock and heavy metal came to town in the late ’60s and early ’70s, an Explorer was the ultimate guitar to be seen with, a total declaration of crushing rock action. Through the years, it has also become a beloved instrument in the hands of a wide range of guitar stars of all genres, from Eric Clapton to U2’s The Edge. Now, the latest issue in Gibson’s Limited Run Series takes the classic Explorer format to the next level in the form of the Tribal Explorer, an instrument honed for the contemporary rock and shred player. Available from early April 2009, it will be produced in a strictly limited run of 350 guitars, and is destined to appeal to the collector just as much as the player.
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April 9 2009, 9:49am
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
Legendary Guitars: Bob Dylan’s Gibson Nick Lucas Acoustic
Before he went electric in 1965 — and drew jeers from legions of (arguably small-minded) fans in the process — Bob Dylan epitomized the hard-traveling folk troubadour, and he established this image largely on a vintage Gibson Nick Lucas model flat-top guitar. The young Dylan had played other Martin and Gibson models in the late ’50s and early ’60s, but in those final years of his acoustic era, before a “blonde on blonde” Fender Telecaster ushered in a whole new folk-rock sound, the Nick Lucas was his instrument of choice.
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April 7 2009, 11:57am
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
The New Eye Guitar From Gibson USA
Even the fiercest rockers like their hot-looking guitars, and no axe out there offers the intensity of eye candy captured in the form of the stunning new Eye Guitar a new 2009 Limited Run Series model from Gibson USA. You’d better believe this is one sweet looking instrument — but watch out! Try to take a bite and you’ll expose yourself to an eviscerating maelstrom of tone. Available beginning April 1, 2009, only 350 of the new Limited Run Series Gibson Eye Guitars will be produced, and they’re bound to go fast.
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April 7 2009, 11:07am
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
Legendary Rock Photographer Robert Knight On Zeppelin, Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan
Robert Knight has long been one of rock’s most acclaimed photographers, a master lens man whose four decades of stunning musical portraits and concert photography are now chronicled by Insight Editions’ lavish Rock Gods book, which also features insightful commentary by the veteran rock image maker.
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April 6 2009, 4:15pm
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
’50s Flashback: Gibson’s Pedal Steel Guitars
The quest for extended harmonic possibilities revolved around two main types of instruments: the multi-neck console and the pedal steel – even if a few players like Jerry Byrd stuck to single neck lap steels. Although pedal steel guitars had been available for more than a decade, they emerged as a crucial element in Country music during the 1950s. Music experts pinpoint the actual dawning of Country’s modern era to the recording of the song “Slowly” by Webb Pierce in late 1953.
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April 6 2009, 12:47pm
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
Announcing The Winner of The 'In Love With Your Guitar' Contest & An Epi Casino ...
Bob Motley of Paris, Illinois wrote the winning entry (see below) for our Valentine's Day-themed 'In Love With Your Guitar' contest, as determined by our editorial staff. That means that a Cherry Epiphone Casino is on its way to Motley.
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April 6 2009, 9:41am
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From Gibson Lifestyle - Features, gibson.com
5 Rockers Who Can Also Write A Mean Book
Most of us can probably agree that writing a four-minute song is a huge challenge. However, the five musicians in this column have gone one step further and found the time to write entire books, either while they’re on the road or during their respective bands’ downtime. Whether it’s poetry, memoir or fiction, all of these collections prove that there’s nothing that a true Rock N’ Roll Renaissance Man can’t accomplish — and it also shows that capable writing transcends musical trends or genres. We recommend reading all of the books on this list. Afterward, you can get started on your own novel.
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April 3 2009, 2:37pm
