NEWS: Monkeyfest 2011 – Guthrie Govan, Alex Hutchings, Andy James, Rob Chapman, Godsized, Haken, Lyle Watt and many others including me!

April 25, 2011

www.monkeyfest.co.uk

UPDATE

: Alex Hutchings has now been confirmed to play and teach at Monkeyfest!

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ALBUM: The Aristocrats – Guthrie Govan, Bryan Beller and Marco Minnemann recording gets underway!

April 24, 2011

Excited to see that Ed Yoon has posted some details and pictures from the preliminary sessions for The Aristocrats!

I’m at the Planet10 Studios in Chicago right now helping Guthrie get set up for the recording session with the new super power trio called The Aristocrats featuring Guthrie on guitar, Marco Minnemann on drums and Bryan Beller on bass. The session will run through April 30 and the album will consist of 3 tracks each from each member. It’ll be more like a “live in the studio” type of recording with a minimal of overdubs. I’m here just through Saturday to get the gear set up and help dialing in the guitar sounds. Here are some pics from the first day:

Bryan and Guthrie are still rehearsing the parts and tweaking their sounds. Tomorrow they’re setting up the drums for Marco’s arrival on Sunday. It seems learning certain sections of Marco’s tunes have been the most challenging task for Bryan and Guthrie.

These will be new songs except for Guthrie’s ‘Bad Asteroid’, which hasn’t been properly recorded on an album yet. So Guthrie has two new tunes written specifically for this album although some of the ideas had been written for the next solo album (or Erotic Cakes).

Bryan and Marco are each contributing three brand new tunes each for this album and they cover a gamut of styles and sounds and they were all written specifically with Guthrie in mind.

The average length of the tunes is over 6 minutes, with the shortest being around 5 minutes and longest clocking in at over 8 minutes, so the CD will have around 60 minutes of music.

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REVIEW: Tom Quayle and Rick Graham Masterclass April 16th 2011

April 18, 2011

If you are a fan of modern electric guitar then I’m sure Tom Quayle and Rick Graham will need no introduction.

Last year Tom and Rick hosted a very popular and successful three day masterclass. At the time I wasn’t able to attend so when I saw that another masterclass was being held on April 16th I jumped at the chance and got myself a ticket!

The masterclass was held at The Barn in the quiet and leafy setting of Calverley near Leeds and hosted in conjuction with renowned Leeds guitar teacher Jonathon Vipond.

The masterclass attracted a good turnout, around twenty odd people. We’d travelled from all over, eager to glean some golden nuggets of guitar genius from two class players and, I must say, it was also great to see plenty of Suhr headstocks on show

Jonathon, Tom and Rick greeted us warmly as we got settled and took our seats. We were also provided with pre-prepared handouts and tablature for the upcoming lesson topics.

Tom and Rick kicked things off with a breathtaking jam over the classic ‘Prowling Blues’ jamtrackcentral backing track which whet everyone’s appetite from what was to come.

First topics of the day were technique based with Tom talking about his characteristic approach to legato, using groups of four accents to break out of common three-note-per-string patterns. Tom’s delivery was very relaxed, detailed and informative with points highlighted with live demonstrations over a backing track.

Rick then talked about his approach to tapping four-notes-per-string patterns to create flowing ascending lines. Rick’s easy relaxed manner and detailed description with demonstration showed us how to use the symmetry of scalar patterns to help to visualise the lines in an easier way.

Things then took on a more improvisational approach with Tom and Rick both talking about using limitation ideas to help creativity and phrasing. At this point a brave volunteer, Col, got up to try some of these concepts out to great effect.

Tom and Rick had warned that they wanted us to get up and jam, so this helped ease any nervousness in the room

After a break we got straight back into things by looking at rhythmical and timing ideas to help with phrasing and improvisation.

As with the earlier topics, there was some really great stuff here and once again some of us got up to try out these concepts, jamming over a backing track. I got up to play, which wasn’t as horrifying as I thought it would be . (I was also lucky enough to get to play through Rick’s new Splawn Nitro amp and I must say, what a tone!)

After another couple of hours or so the masterclass was rounded off with Tom and Rick answering some of our questions, in the process imparting even more invaluable information, before jamming together, again dazzling us all with some awesome music.

Then sadly it was all over and time for everyone to head home.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and what Tom and Rick had to teach us. There were players of all levels there and we all left with plenty of great stuff to work on.

The class was enlightening, funny, relaxed, and genuinely friendly with the sense that we were all just sitting chatting and jamming, all sharing our common love of the guitar.

Considering the attendees will be receiving additional lesson materials online and the fact we got over 4 hours of tuition time with two World class musicians, the masterclass was terrific value for money.

It was also nice touch that all proceeds from the masterclass will be going to Cloth Cat in Leeds which provides free or low cost music training to people on low incomes.

I’ve seen some talk about Tom and Rick taking their masterclass overseas. I really hope they get the opportunity to do so.

If they do and you have a chance to attend one of these masterclasses, GO!

No, really, GO!

You won’t be disappointed .

A few more pics from the day here.

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mastertheguitar 11111 youtube subscribers! VOTE for the next MasterThatRiff!

April 13, 2011

http://www.facebook.com/mastertheguitar

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COMPETITION: Toadworks Pedals Spring Shred Contest with Tom Quayle

April 13, 2011

Check out this great competition from Toadworks and Tom Quayle:

Contest Rules & Submission Requirements

This competition is being judged by Tom Quayle and ToadWorks USA. All submissions must be made in video format, uploaded to a video hosting website (ex: YouTube). We realize not everyone has access to a professional studio, but the better it sounds, the better we will be able to hear you, so do the best you can.

Step 1: Download one of the backing tracks (located in the lower left-hand column) and compose a solo over it.

Step 2: Record a video of yourself playing your solo over one of the provided backing tracks. NOTE: When you upload your video, the video title MUST read ‘ToadWorks Spring Shred 2011 Entry’

Step 3: Chill and wait.

The judges will get together to choose the winners. The winning submissions (including runners-up and honorable mentions) may all be put in a Final Winners video, as well as special promotion from Tom Quayle and ToadWorks USA.

Submission may be made starting April 15, and the final deadline for submissions will be May 20, 2011. Any entries made after this deadline will not be judged. The winners will be announced June 10, 2011.