Jon over on guitarnoize.com has recorded a video interview with *THE* Greg Howe!

Check it out!

Paul Gilbert playing ‘Bach Partita in Dm’ which features on his new CD ‘Fuzz Universe‘!

Some more footage from Guthrie Govan’s Suhr tour of Asia with an EBS TV broadcast of “Little Wing”:

I never got the chance to see Extreme live back in the day and unfortunately couldn’t make their ‘Take Us Alive’ tour in the UK last year. So when a live DVD was announced I was overjoyed!

Recorded live at the House of Blues in Boston August 2009 the ‘Take Us Alive’ DVD is brilliantly shot, shots from the crowd perspective give the sense of actually being and there are plenty close up shots Nuno to see what he is up to.

The sound is also immense, in fact the DVD was mixed and engineered by Bob St. John who has worked with Extreme since their self-titled debut album in 1989. Gery Cherone’s vocals are clear and his singing on top form, the drums and bass are tight and sound thunderous and Nuno’s guitar tone is huge and 100% Nuno.

The setlist features:

Decadence Dance
Comfortably Dumb
Rest In Peace
It (’s a Monster)
Star
Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
Medley: Kid Ego – Little Girls – Teacher’s Pet – Play With Me
Midnight Express
More Than Words
Ghost
Cupid’s Dead
Take Us Alive
Flight Of The Wounded Bumblebee
Get The Funk Out
Am I Ever Gonna Change
Hole Hearted

Nuno Bettencourt is one of my all time guitar heroes and he is on sublime form here, totally flawless with that arrogant swagger of his. The camera work allows you to get a great closeup view of his guitar powers. Showcase pieces like Midnight Express and Flight Of The Wounded Bumblebee are executed with breathtaking ease. He even has the cheek to pretend to be bored and yawn during the blazing ‘Play With Me’ Solo!

If you’re an Extreme fan this is a must buy, even though I never got to see them live the DVD captures the band’s infamous live performance and it’s a nice touch to see it was filmed in their home town where they built up that performing reputation all those years ago.

Buybuybuy!

Great to see that Richie Kotzen will be back after the unfortunate cancellation of the UK dates few weeks ago:

Richie Kotzen has rescheduled the recently cancelled UK dates as part of the upcoming fall European leg of the 2010 Peace Sign World Tour! While details of the rest of the tour are forthcoming, the UK dates have been announced and are all currently on sale.

There will be four UK dates from Nov 7 – Nov 10th. Richie will be playing 02 Academy venues in Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool and Islington. Richie released the following statement to his fans in a recent blog:


To all my Friends and Fans in the UK, Again, I apologize for any inconveniences caused by the recent UK cancellations. I can only assure you that they were completely out of our control and we have been working very hard at rescheduling those dates and getting back to play for you as quickly as possible. That said, I am thrilled to be able to announce 4 new UK dates for the fall! Please check out www.richiekotzen.com for tickets and info! Thanks again for all your support and I can’t wait to see you all in the fall! – RK
The tour celebrates the release of Richie’s latest album, PEACE SIGN, available now, right here at RichieKotzen.com! PEACE SIGN has been receiving rave reviews from fans and critics alike and is sure to become a Kotzen classic!

The UK tour dates are as follows (CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW FOR EVENT INFO/TICKETS):

Information on VIP PACKAGES will follow. Please check back at richiekotzen.com soon for postings on VIP PACKAGES. Please note, if you are planning on ordering VIP Packages, the tickets to the show will still need to be purchased in advance from the respective venue’s box offices.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7th, 2010 – 02 ABC 2, GLASGOW

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8th, 2010 – 02 ACADEMY 2, LIVERPOOL

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9th, 2010 – 02 ACADEMY 3, BIRMINGHAM

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10th, 2010 – o2 ACADEMY, ISLINGTON

Check out this cool interview with Andy James over on dofret.co.uk:

Q: I understand that you are in the process of putting the finishing touches to your new solo CD – said to “re-define shred”! I’m quite excited by this news – what can listeners expect?

A: Lol, I don’t know about re-defining shred! There are a lot of awesome players out there. Yeah the new solo CD is underway. All the drums are done courtesy of Lee from Sacred Mother Tongue and all the rhythm guitars and clean guitars are done. I’ve just got to do bass then the rest of the solos and stuff. Scott Atkins (founder of Grindstone Studios http://www.grindstonerecording.com/) is producing it. We talked about working together on a new solo album and he was up for it. I wanted this one to be a proper studio effort rather than trying to record an album at home again. I’m not very technically minded and recording is something I’ve always struggled with. Scott is amazing at what he does and he is a bit of a slave driver so I know my best playing will be squeezed out of me.

As for what the listener can expect, mmm, well with the stuff on this album I’ve really tried to go for more of an epic approach to writing. I would say it’s written more like a band vocal album than an intrumental jam fest, which there is nothing wrong with, but it makes sense to me to write in this way as I find it translates to people better. You know your obvious intros and verse sections and then melodic hooked choruses. I’ve not really heard much instrumental stuff written this way, especially in more of a heavier vein, that is just guitar without vocals. There are some great instrumental releases coming out though that are really making me think “Jesus, I hope mine will be half as good as that”. I’m talking Rick Graham’s new album and Andy Wood’s solo record. Both those guys scare me, not just because they are great players, but also because they show a great deal of versatility.

One thing with my album which I don’t think is a bad thing, is that it’s pretty much all in the same vein. Lets face it, I’m a rock/metal player and thats what I love to do. I know instrumental albums seem to be judged on how versatile it is musically but this is a shred album for shred fans that has got technique, melody and hopefully good some songs (I’ll let you guys be the judge). You have to play to your strengths, and I admire guys who can do it all.

News from Lick Library:

Continuing in their quest to give guitarist the widest possible resources, Lick Library release the definitive Andy James’ Metal Rhythm Guitar in Six Weeks to follow on from the huge success of Andy James’ Shred Guitar in Six Weeks .

The six week DVD guitar tuition course has been put together in a way that sets sensible realisable targets, which teach you a wide range of different techniques, concepts and licks helping you understand and play metal rhythm guitar. Most importantly you can do it all at your own pace.

Andy James is one of the UK’s rising stars in the world of shred and metal guitar and has taught thousands of budding shredders world-wide through his DVDs and tutorials. He is also the lead guitarist for the band Sacred Mother Tongue, who played Download Festival last year and this year have just been confirmed for this summer’s UK Sonisphere Festival.

Lick Library is confident that by following the Andy James’ Metal Rhythm Guitar in Six Weeks course you will be able to see and hear genuine progress in the way you play metal rhythm guitar. Following the tuition DVDs week plan, your guitar playing will quickly begin to show discernable differences. Each DVD is broken down into easily absorbable logical sections which teach you different rhythm patterns to help your playing in real musical situations.

Here are just some of the areas covered in the six week series:

Week one includes: Standard tuning, palm and left hand muting, and more with four metal jam tracks.

Week two includes: Drop D tuning, chord progressions and phrasing, and more plus three metal jam tracks

Week three includes: Drop C# tuning, odd rhythms over a 4/4 beat, and more plus two metal jam tracks.

Week four includes: E flat tuning, complete song breakdown, triplets, and more plus a metal jam track.

Week five includes: Arpeggiated riffs, pedal tone riffs, and more plus a metal jam track.

Week six includes: Drop C tuning, odd rhythms, phrygian dominant scales, and more plus metal jam track.

All of the metal jam tracks have been specially devised by Andy himself to support your progress and help you practice all the things you have learnt. Stay with the six week plan and Lick Library guarantee your metal rhythm guitar playing will improve. The full set of six DVD’s retail for £79.99 or can be purchased individually at £16.99.

To find out more about this exciting new Guitar Lesson DVD format and all the other inspiring options Lick Library offer visit www.licklibrary.co.uk today and place your order now.

Spotted over on the Suhr Forum posted great post by by Ed:

As some of you know, Guthrie and I embarked on a clinic tour of the Far East in early-June and it was a spectacular success. Guthrie started out in India with two clinic-gigs which drew over 500 people for one and nearly 300 for the other. I then hooked up with Guthrie in Hong Kong for a clinic there in a packed little restaurant/bar. From there, it was onto Beijing and the clinic there also drew nearly 300 people, which was a pleasant surprise.

But the highlight of the tour was definitely the visit to Seoul where we did a clinic-concert one night and Guthrie did two TV show tapings that will be nationally broadcast in Korea in mid-July. Music Force, the Suhr dealer and distributor in Korea, did a tremendous job organizing and promoting the events. The clinic-concert on June 8 drew nearly 700 people, which was definitely a record for an event like this.

We are already planning another extravaganza in Seoul in October with Guthrie’s band also flying in from UK and Andy Wood joining in on the fun as special guest and second guitarist. There’ll be four TV station shows for both Guthrie and Andy as well as a concert at an even bigger venue.

Guthrie brought his Signature Set-Neck for the tour and also played the first Signature Model for ‘Ner Ner’ in Seoul. Guthrie played the OD-100 Classic Plus for the Hong Kong gig and said he really liked the amp. He used the Badger 30 through a Suhr 2×12 for the three gigs in Seoul along with the Koko Boost.

By the way, the Hong Kong vid has Guthrie playing through a Line6 POD direct to the board as they just couldn’t arrange to send a real amp and cabinet to the station and you can hear the difference…

I should have more vids and a lot of photos later from the trip, but here are some new vids from the tour for now. Enjoy!

Special thanks to Jennifer Hong at Music Force who took these vids and edited them for our viewing pleasure. Jennifer, who is the marketing manager at Music Force, really gets Guthrie, guitar music in general and guitars as she’s from a singer/musical actress/pianist background. She did an amazing job organizing the events and made the experience far beyond what Guthrie and I expected in Seoul. I’d also like to thank Andy Yang, the president of Music Force and his entire staff for making our visit to Seoul so memorable and enjoyable. Can’t wait to get back there with Guthrie’s band and Andy Wood to boot!

A sneak peak of Paul Gilbert’s upcoming album ‘Fuzz Universe’ aired on Rock On Radio FM802 in Japan:

\m/ >< \m/ sounds immense, can’t wait for the album!

The album is on sale now in Japan but we have to wait a little longer til July 13th here in the UK.

Steve Vai ( at Jemfest X! ) talks about his iconic signature guitar the JEM as well as showing off the new Floral 2 JEM: