The new Extreme album will be called ‘Saudades de Rock’ (very roughly translated from Portuguese as “Nostalgic Yearning for Rock”) .
From the Extreme Myspace blog:

EXTREME will make their much-anticipated return to the stage this summer in support of Saudades de Rock (pronounced “sow-dodge”), their first studio album in thirteen years. The multi-platinum, Boston-bred band’s 2008 ‘TAKE US ALIVE’ world tour gets underway on July 29th at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and will be anchored by a hometown gig two days later at the Bank of America Pavilion. In advance of the tour, EXTREME will be a co-headliner on July 11th at the five day Rocklahoma Festival in Pryor, OK.

The iconic rock foursome – vocalist GARY CHERONE, guitarist NUNO BETTENCOURT, bassist PAT BADGER and new drummer KEVIN FIGUEIREDO – will be supported by King’s X on all North American dates. Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp will offer additional support .. dates.

Information on the groundbreaking new album Saudades de Rock– which was produced by BETTENCOURT at L.A.’s NRG studios and is planned for release to coincide with the tour–is forthcoming. Fans can expect the same unwavering songcraft and diverse musical approach that made EXTREME legendary. Simply put, EXTREME’s fifth studio offering– which boasts the infectious roar of “STAR,” the groove-laden, swagger of “KING”, a raw funk rock anthem called “LEARN TO LOVE”, and the expressive ballad “GHOST”–just may be its finest hour yet.

Can’t wait to see those UK dates announced!

Spotted on The Guitar Channel, Greg Howe has posted a track from his upcoming album, Sound Proof, on his Myspace page. A cover of the funky ‘Tell Me Something Good’ by Rufus….groovy baby!

I’ve had a few requests from people to do a lesson on the cool tapping sequence from Guthrie Govan’s “Fives”. So here it is! alas split into two videos due to running over 10 mins (TAB is available here):

The new Nine Inch Nails album, The Slip is being made available to download for free! From the NIN site:

as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com.

the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options - all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits

Niceone Mr Reznor!

Not only are the Brazilians a mighty footballing nation ( though they have met their match against Scotland a few times of course ) but from the looks of entries to the Guitar Idol competition, they have some truly awesome guitar players. I was already aware of the likes of Kiko Lourieiro and Gustavo Guerra as well as others. But there are many great players popping up in the competition. Here are a couple that caught me ears:

Would be interesting to see the stats on country of origin for the entries to the competition, I’m guessing it would support the fact that South America is a hotbed of great great players.

Just spotted my iTunes downloading a new 2008 tour video podcast from Mr Satriani. You can check out the podcasts here
http://www.satriani.com/podcast/Satchafunkilus/

Been a touch busy of late but have spotted something very cool in blogland.

As spotted on truthinshredding Greg howe will be launching a new instructional website called www.ghworkshops.com.

Aimed at the more advanced player these lessons will look into the creative process, music industry, recording techniques as well as guitar playing material. Sounds very exciting indeed! Can’t wait. Check out the promo trailer:

A very cool lesson over on Inifiniteguitar by Rick Graham showing how to play the solo section from ‘Andromeda’ that Marco Sfogli posted on youtube.

New MasterThatMelody looking at the iconic ‘For The Love Of God’ ( aka FTLOG ) by Mr Steven Vai.

Spotted on Kotzen’s website:

New Richie Kotzen Cd Live In Sao Paulo
Available here MAY 6th! features 79 minutes of Live Music recorded September 30th 2007 in Sao Paulo Brazil!

and some more info from Guitarist Magazine details the track listing:

01. A Love Divine
02. Fooled Again
03. Faith
04. So Cold
05. Socialite
06. High
07. Remember
08. Shapes of Things
09. Doin’ What the Devil Says To Do
10. I’m Losing You
11. Mother Head’s Family Reunion
12. Stand