Steffen Schackinger

Browsing my youtube channel subscriptions the other day I spotted a man on the Candy Rat records channel with an electric guitar!!

Shocking, as this is the very channel/label made famous from some stunning acoustic players such as Andy McKee, Antoine DuFour etc.

The man in question is one ‘Steffen Schackinger‘, a danish guitarist who has recently released a debut solo album called ‘ElectriGuitartistry‘ on Candyrat Records.

I enjoyed these videos so much I decided to buy his album :D. Yay for youtube video promo!

You can definitely hear the Steve Morse and Eric Johnson influences in his playing, amongst many others, but for me the album stands out due to its subtle mix of styles, stunning playing and tone from Mr Schackinger. You can hear tinges of Jazz, Country, Folk, even Classical on the album. Clearly indicating Mr Schackinger’s wide range of musical tastes which I think helps make this album stand out amongst the crowd.

Check it out!

‘Death Magnetic’ Track-by-track Review

Musicradar have posted up an early track-by-track review of Metallica’s hotly awaited ‘Death Magnetic’. Here’s what they say about each track, be sure to check out the full review:

That Was Just Your Life

It begins with the sound of a slow beating heart, moves into a Sanitarium-flavoured piece of clean picking. Then all hell breaks loose. This is a Metallica that many thought they would never hear again – the lighting speed rhythm guitars of Blackened and a mighty James Hetfield with new found fire in his voice. It’s the sound of a band who’ve suddenly recognised their strengths and are somehow bridging the gap between …And Justice For all and 1991’s The Black Album. What a way to start.

The End Of The Line

The main riff here will be instantly recognisable to some fans – it’s been salvaged from ‘The Other Song’ that Metallica debuted live during 2006 (and then trashed). It’s much more at home in the intro here, the first of a smorgasbord of riffs in this powerhouse – including a recurring hook that is reminiscent of Pearl Jam’s Even Flow. Kirk Hammett seems to have developed a guilty conscience for the last ten years and is soloing for his life – and yes he’s brought his wah along too.

“This is a Metallica that many thought they would never hear again.”

Broken, Beat & Scarred

Another dose of heaviness with a simple but effective main riff that recalls The Black Album. It’s punchy, dynamic and showcases another commanding vocal by Hetfield with a catchy refrain (something about surviving through struggle). Although even by this point we’re already getting deju vu from Lars Ulrich’s drum fill vocabulary.

The Day That Never Comes

The single is well placed here after all the twists and turns of the previous three tracks. Two things are now clear: 1) The rumours of a risible mastering or mixing job on Death Magnetic are unfounded for the most part. The guitars have plenty of mid and cut through but don’t sound fizzy. However, 2) Lars Ulrich’s drums still sound too high in the mix on this particular song. How many mics has he got on that snare?

All Nightmare Long

The guitars dominate in this song. Far better than the dodgy title suggests, you might want to check your pulse if your head isn’t bobbing along to the main guitar riff. Back to that Justice/Black mix territory, there’s some great alternate picking that screams Dyers Eve with one of the strongest choruses of the album. Hammett’s chaotic soloing fits in perfectly and there’s even a false ending for good measure – hey, it worked for Def Leppard with Animal. The similarities end there.

Cyanide

It’s odd that the band chose this as the first song to debut live because it’s not a good representation of Death Magnetic. Slowing down the pace, it feels laboured in the second half – a little forced. Or maybe it’s because those drums are rising up in the mix again…

The Unforgiven III

Another ominous title. It begins with Einaudi-esque mournful piano and strings before growing into a surprisingly likeable Metalliballad with some southern rock groove when it breaks. Again, Hetfield has raised his game vocally and that helps carry it while proceedings take off in the second half with some Hammett heroics. Interesting to hear the band recycling one of their old riffs here though – a burst from Ride The Lightning’s title track if we’re not mistaken.

The Judas Kiss

This one’s a potential grower and tries a few riffs out for size before kicking in. The speed up, slow down dynamic on the verses are impressive and Hetfield’s ‘Bow Down’ bellow on the chorus has more than a little Master Of Puppets to it.

Suicide & Redemption

Metallica’s first instrumental for 20 years has a lot riding on it – the pedigree and magic in the likes of Orion and To Live Is To Die cannot be overlooked. Suicide & Redemption turns into the biggest disappointment of Death Magnetic.

The two core riffs simply aren’t strong enough to sustain it – bereft of atmosphere, they could have been the work of any no-name metal act. For a band who’ve spent a large part of the album proving they’ve still got dynamic savvy this sounds laboured and outstays its welcome. But on the bright side – you can hear Robert Trujillo’s bass rumbling along nicely.

My Apocalypse

A great, thrashy way to go out and the most straight-ahead track on the album. It’s almost as if producer/guru Rick Rubin has told them to ‘do a Slayer’ and judging by Hammett’s riff around the two minute mark, the spectre of Jeff Hanneman was definitely present the in studio that day.

Steve Vai demos Jemini

Amusing video from Mr Vai demoing his new Jemini pedal:

Ta to Lofi for the heads up.

More streaming Metallica

Looks like Metallica are giving a sneak preview of each track from the new album ‘Death Magnetic’ every Monday. Now we have a preview of ‘My Apocalypse‘. This sounds more like it! \m/

Metallica post new song on MySpace

Metallica have posted a new song on their MySpace page called ‘The Day That Never Comes’ from the forthcoming album ‘Death Magnetic’ released September 12th.

At 7:56 it’s a bigun and gets going around the 4 minute mark.

Suhr Guitars Flickr Profile

Suhr guitars have just created a profile on Flickr so now I can drool over those beautiful guitars in hi-res detail! yay!

Befriend/subscribe now for much Guitar eye candy.

Swing to Bop

I would like to big-up a new and spiffing blog from a mate of mine, Matt, called Swing to Bop. Great info on chord theory, arpeggios etc. as used in swing jazz guitar and beyond as well as video lessons and cool links to related videos. In Matt’s own words:

For the last year or two I’ve been trying to ‘convert’ over from being a largely rock-based guitarist to someone who plays music with more of a jazz style. In the past I’ve tried to make progress but have become bogged down or stuck several times frustrated by just how much had to be learned and by what seemed like a steep learning curve.

So, when I tried again a couple of years ago, I decided to start a historically informed learning process rather than trying to jump straight in. Contemporary jazz guitar and jazz harmony & theory can be intimidating, difficult and cluttered with terminology: everything is altered scales this and tritone substitions that and it’s never clear to the beginner what is being altered (and from what?) or what is being substituted and why.

So, I decided to go back to the beginning and start with the basics, with jazz as it was first played on the guitar in the 1930s and then working forward historically, picking up the new harmonic innovations as they evolved and became incorporated into jazz playing instead of trying to learn them all at once, ready-formed.

The idea being that a newly introduced harmonic innovation would make sense to me when placed in the context of what had gone before. Often a particular way of improvising over a particular chord or set of changes seemed mysterious to me — why do it this way? I know it’s a substition, but a substition for what? — but became clear once I’d learned the antecedent technique or harmony.

One great side effect: a lot of the guitar music of the 1930s and 40s is really great. Gypsy jazz, classic small group swing, western swing, early RnB and rock’n’roll, jump blues, etc. often feature really swinging, aggressive playing that’s idiomatic to the instrument, the guitar doesn’t sound like a poor cousin to the horn players or pianist and the musical vocabulary employed plays to the guitar players’ strengths rather than weaknesses.

So, this blog, I’m going to try and document some of the stuff I’m learning or have been learning and maybe link to some musical clips, videos or sheet music as I go.

Check it out!

Next Page »