A question came up on the forums yesterday asking if there was a product out there that would allow you to type in a chord progression and practice over that track.

The only product that I’m aware of that fits this bill is “Band-in-a-Box” by PG Music, Inc.

http://www.band-in-a-box.com/

I’ve tinkered around with BIAB before, but it was really my buddy Jason over at Little Rock Jams (http://www.littlerockjams.com/) who really turned me onto this. Not only does it help build your confidence with music theory and speed up the songwriting process, but also can throw down some pretty nice sounding tracks in many styles.

It’s a bit steep for the base package ($129), but you can download a demo to see if it’s what you are after before you plink down the dinero.

Dan

I have been involved in a “house cleaning” project in office. Right now I’m going through all my old magazines and razoring out articles and music I want to keep. On this journey, I’ve been walking down “memory lane” for gear. In one of the magazines, I can’t even remember which one now, I ran across the first interation of the Fretlight guitar. I always thought about getting one of these just to get all those scales under my fingertips.

I decided to check out the website and it seems like Optek is still going strong and selling those Fretlights - with some fancy new models to boot. They’ve even got a cool little flash/shockwave dude in the corner playing one. Wouldn’t mind trying one out myself for grins! Check it out - it might be just the thing to spark your practice sessions. Let me know if you’ve played one - I’d love to hear your opinions.

http://www.fretlight.com/

Dan

Hey I was browsing through the Sweetwater Guitar Gallery and ran across the new PRS SE One. I have really been wanting one of the PRS SE Soapbars but this for some reason look more vintage and individual. Check it out!

http://www.sweetwater.com/guitargallery/electric/all/sH22137/

Dan

Saw this on Yahoo today! Man it’s hilarious to think back to “the day”!

Here are the top 10.

1. Guns and Roses
2. Van Halen
3. New York Dolls
4. Def Leapard
5. Aerosmith
6. Kiss
7. Ozzy Osbourne
8. Motley Crue
9. Spinal Tap
10. Twisted Sister

Here’s the whole article:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/listoftheday/32122/the-25-best-hair-metal-bands

Enjoy!

I’ve been noticing a nice little trend in the acoustic guitar market that has been evolving for several years now. That is the creation of guitars specific to bluegrass and “back-porch pickin’”.

This year in particular I’ve seen three brands come to the forefront, Blueridge Guitars, Recording King, and Morgan Monroe.

One of my favorites is the “BLUERIDGE PREWAR SERIES “000″ GUITAR” from Saga Music.

Of course it’s one of their most expensive models; however, they make a variety of really cool acoustics based closely on Martin pre-war designs. (For you kids, “pre-war” means World War II).

http://www.sagamusic.com/catalog/products.asp?CategoryID=2&FamilyID=2&BrandID=5

From Morgan Monroe, my favorite is more on the country blues side with the “Blues 32″:

http://www.morganmonroe.com/Blues-32_903bfcf888dc15d09654295.html

Another one is Recording King.

I dunno the name just resonates “Memphis Sun Studios” to me. Doesn’t have anything to do with that place - but it sure is a good name. Their abalone series piques my interest.

http://www.recordingking.com/guitars_ro227.html

Hey everyone,

My buddy Jason at Little Rock Jams is offering free lessons to Hilary Clinton, Barak Obama, and John McCain when they come through Little Rock.

As he states “I figure after a 30 minute lesson, I’ll have a good feel for where each person stands and who “I” feel will best lead the country. You can tell a lot about someone when they jam with you over a blues!”

This is just crazy enough that it might work! Do me a favor and check out his blog and while you are at it Digg/Stumble the post!

http://blog.littlerockjams.com/2008/04/28/free-guitar-lessons-for-presidential-candidates–hillary-barack-and-john.aspx

Dan

So I opened up a flyer I got from Guitar Center and I see this new amplifier from Line 6. I am assuming they are releasing it to compete with the Fender GDEC (which is also pretty cool). I’ll say that it looks impressive - boasts 75Ws and early reviews are positive, which isn’t surprising given that it is loaded with a Celestion and the tones are basically from POD 2.0.

What is really kind of cool is the 100 (ONE HUNDRED) endless jam loops. These loops were recorded by studio musicians and aren’t MIDI based or anything like that. Without hearing how they sound, I’ll say thats just got to be a ton o’ practice fun. Better than a metronome that’s for sure!

Let me know if you take one for a spin - I’d love to try one out myself.

http://line6.com/spiderjam/

Dan

Hey folks,

Was browsing around and found a pretty cool guitar lesson website called “GuitarMasterClass”.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/

Kind of reminds me of the old GuitarTricks.com website - except with tons of video.

Dan

My only question is how you get your arms around this beast!

Original article on DVICE:

http://dvice.com/archives/2008/04/quadrupleneck_m.php

Dan

Well the multi-effects space is still red hot. I noticed that Digitech recently released the RP500 a high-end model in their popular RP series. I like the new, more modern look of this model. I also like that the letters are big - that is a good thing on a dark stage where you look dopey if you bend down to see what patch you are on.

I wish they would redo the GNX4 - It’s still a great machine, but needs a serious style update.

http://www.digitech.com/products/RP500/index.php

If anyone grabs a hold of one of these babies - let me know how it sounds!

Dan