It can be tricky at times to categorise a song’s level for the purposes of guitar gradings as different players have different skill sets. Rockschool, who have been a popular go to for secondary schools for many years now, have just announed a new series of books that will help address this problem.

Rockschool’s ‘Hot Rock Guitar’ books feature 8 classic guitar tracks appropriate for each grade allowing students to play their favourite songs in exams.

8 classic rock songs. 2 versions of each track. 1 massive book.
Rockschool is about playing the styles of music you enjoy. The Hot Rock series of graded Guitar tracks feature 8 classic rock songs. The exam versions of these tracks can be used for rockschool grade exams. The full transcriptions are great for both guitarists and vocalists and can be used in the performance units for GCSE and A Level.

Each book features:

• An edited exam version of songs
• Full transcriptions with vocal line TAB and Standard Notation
• Fact files band and artist background information with recommended further listening
• Walkthroughs Hints and Tips on the tricky sections of the songs
• 2 CDs with full mixes and backing tracks exam versions and full transcriptions
• Introduction to tone authentic tone and amp setting suggestions for each track

Currently there are three books available for Grades 1, 2 and 3. The lineup of songs looks pretty good:

Grade 1

Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy
Living On A Prayer – Bon Jovi
Run To You – Bryan Adams
Sunshine Of Your Love – Cream
Wishing Well – Free
Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton
Zephyr Song – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Grade 2

Enter Sandman – Metallica
Highway To Hell – AC/DC
Californication – Red Hot Chili Peppers
I Believe In A Thing Called Love – The Darkness
Supersonic – Oasis
You Give Love A Bad Name – Bon Jovi
Albatross – Fleetwood Mac
Resolve – Foo Fighters

Grade 3

Paranoid – Black Sabbath
Hey Joe – Jimi Hendrix
Cigarettes and Alcohol – Oasis
Ain’t Talkin About Love – Van Halen
Steady As She Goes – The Raconteurs
Golden Touch – Razorlight
Sex On Fire – Kings Of Leon
Wherever I May Roam – Metallica

Each book costs £22.50

The guys Lick Library have launched an exciting new interactive magazine called iGuitar:

Welcome to iGuitar, the first truly interactive online digital guitar magazine. With exclusive interviews and features on some of the most famous guitar players ever, there are also product and album reviews and if that wasn’t enough the magazine is jam packed with over 3 hours of exclusive video performances, interviews and reviews.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words we think that makes a moving picture worth ten thousand, so you’ll find a huge amount of video material in each issue – hours of tuition, expert reviews, interviews and with lots more to come over the months.

The first issue features an article on David Gilmour, an interview with Guthrie Govan and lessons from the fantastic Andy James and Rick Graham plus much much more!

Looks great, my only gripe is the fact it’s flash based which is an ‘issue’ when reading on the iPad but the magazine shows great promise and is raising the bar for what an online interactive guitar magazine should be delivering.

Jonathan Bloomer, mastermind behind the epic guitar blog guitarnoize.com, has just released a comprehensive eBook called ‘Shred Master – Exercises & Studies‘.

The book features tablature of 25 excellent lessons to help build finger strength and dexterity as well as right hand picking accuracy and speed.

What sets this book from the crowd though is the fact each lesson comes with a high definition video lesson showing you how to play each exercise!

Each lesson is clearly transcribed and logical camera placement enables the viewer to get a good clear look at both hands for mastering each exercise.

The sheer amount of material on offer should appeal to players of all levels from beginners to advanced and greatly improve anyone’s playing.

Exercises run the full gamut of modern techniques covering legato, string bending, string skipping, alternate picking, string crossing, economy picking, hybrid picking and tapping.

All this for only $12.99 or in other words $0.52 a lesson!

Check it out now.

Thanks to Mr Clark for the heads up, cool article in the Guardian about the upcoming 40th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death, where Ed Vulliamy speaks to the people who knew him best:

The most precious insight comes from Etchingham. “People often saw Jimi on stage looking incredibly intense and serious. And suddenly this smile would come across his face, almost a laugh, for no apparent reason,” she says. “Well, I remember that very well, sitting on the bed or the floor at home in Brook Street. Sometimes, he would play a riff for hours, until he had it just right. Then this great smile would creep across his face or he’d throw his head back and laugh. Those were the moments he had got it right for himself, not for anyone else.”

Thanks to Thomas, a student of mine, for giving me the heads up an old but amazing thread over on gearslutz.com where the producer Michael Wagner talks about the recording of Extreme‘s classic album, Pornograffitti and engineer Bob St. John talks about following albums!:

the solos are NOT composites, but were recorded and punched in ala the old linear method; it was rare to have the solo recorded and go back and fix a small piece (besides there were some days i was getting a reputation as “eraserhead” i don’t miss the old analog method that much it was just the way we worked. i wish i could say how MUCH time we spent on each part, but that is so obscured in my memory at this point; i know that to record the typical solo was about 4-5 hours of work. although i can’t remember exactly…i believe we spent a little more time on the rhythm tracks; although they were doubled.

as far as people slagging nuno…look, i worked with the guy from when he was 16. complicated? sometimes. gifted…more than anybody here could know. royal pain in the butt? you KNOW it. it’s hard to fall off that pedestal…even if you keep climbing back up on it yourself =) but…to sit in front of that guy in the studio…watch his mind (and fingers) work…has been something i’ve rarely seen. to me…it’s not about those rippin’ guitar solos…but about his innate sense of harmony and rhythm. i have yet to meet someone with that command. i lived through schizophonic (and like extreme III and IV, was listed as co-producer but nuno has a VERY large shadow to stand inside…and to be honest, the records are more a product of gary and nuno’s imagination than anybody’s…and that includes pornograffitti and extreme I).

and from a link withing that thread the actual settings for Nuno’s ADA preamp on that album

Here are the real settings:
Overdrive 1 : 4.0 dist
Overdrive 2 : 5.5 dist
Master Gain : 7.5 dist
Bass : 12
Mid : 6
Treb : 6
Pres : 12
Voicing : .tube
FX loop : off

From the ADA it went into the McIntosh 2100 (transistor) poweramp and from there into a vintage Marshall 4×12 cab with the original G12H inside. At that time I normally used Fostex M11RP ribbon mics and Countryman Lavalier mics through a John Hardy M1 to record guitar.