DEF LEPPARD Guitarist: "I Actually Don’t Like Hard Rock Music!"
See also: Vivian Campbell interview

Music piracy forces top guitarist onto the streets
Queen guitarist Brian May left without a pot to p*ss in
How very odd!

Auerswald-instruments: Did you ever wonder where Prince got that Symbol guitar from? A fascinating selection of innovative space-aged instruments.

I notice that there is a Chico Hablas model. All that I know about Chico Hablas is that he played guitar on certain songs by swiss funsters Yello; in fact his laid back but Oh So Cool solo on "Desire" on the album "Stella" has got to be one of my favourite guitar solos ever. Other than that I know nothing about the man. If anyone has any more information on Chico Hablas, please get in touch!

The Nu-Metal Guide: Handy hints on how to form your own Nu-Metal band, become the next "Slipknot", etc...

The Humane Guitarist: dedicated to the technique and health of the classical guitarist.

The Oud Home Page: all about this 11-stringed fretless arabian lute.

Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny's learning curve continues

Guitar factory could open in Wayne County: A Huntington man who makes a uniquely shaped guitar is proposing to open a manufacturing facility in Wayne County. Leo Burrell, retired pastor of Norwood Free Methodist Church, has invented and sells what he calls "the only truly ergonomic guitar." The guitar is constructed at an angle and without internal bracing to curve around the musician’s body. It was patented three years ago. Burrell also invented a twisted neck guitar that was patented in 1985.

See also: www.burrellguitars.com - these guitars are freaky! Visually, they could possibly be considered acoustic equivalents of Brian Eastwood's Bender Distortocaster!

Playing guitar a weighty decision: Eduardo Niebla might have become the King of the Accordion - instead, he has been dubbed The King of Latin Guitar.

Oppressive work spurred guitarist on: John McLaughlin speaks about his career and his new album "Thieves & Poets".

Happy Birthday to a man who should need no introductions, Mr Bill Wyman, who is 67 years old today, and is still rocking with his band The Rhythm Kings.

Javier Ruibal: Spain's 'madman with the guitar

Broadcaster and guitarist Tony Capstick dies

Ex-Stones guitarist in annual jam pledge

Elliott Smith dies aged 34

Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitarist Honored With Gibson Model

Joe Strummer left a host of unreleased material

Kiss guitar hero recovering from shooting - NME.COM

I don't know if he celebrates such things, but Happy Birthday anyway to the Arch-Drude himself, Julian Cope, who is 46 years old today.

Actually, I'm going to see his "Rome Wasn't Burned In A Day" show in London at the end of the month, which should be interesting!

'Scuse me while I eat my pie! JIMI HENDRIX biopic in the works!

The Guitar Hanger - Rock & Roll Museum featuring guitars owned by David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Ian Hunter, Carlos Santana, Blue Oyster Cult, and others.

V-Amp Guitar Processor From Behringer

A ukulele orchestra is claiming that Kate Bush has banned them from recording a cover version of her hit song Wuthering Heights. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, who claim that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation as long as they are played on the ukulele, have already become a big hit on BBC Radio 2 and had hoped to release the song on their new CD. The track has now been replaced by a Miss Dynamite cover.
www.easyaddiction.co.uk

Kiss guitarist shot outside club
Former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick has been shot in the leg and grazed by a bullet to the head outside a West Hollywood nightclub. More...

Support Jimi's brother and sign the LEON HENDRIX "AXIS" Petition

The Cigar Box Guitar's Rightful Place In Music History - a very interesting and entertaining website! Recommended to would-be guitarists on a very strict budget!

See also: How to make a cigar box guitar

Cream bassist has liver transplant

Best Wishes to Jack Bruce who is currently recovering from a near-fatal liver transplant operation.

Get well soon, Jack!

Happy birthday to Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp who is 44 years old today.

Ono gives Lennon musical the nod - the very idea sounds hideous to me.

Martin guitars hit 1 million on high note - in January 2004, the one-millionth Martin will make its debut at the annual NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.

McCartney Guitar up for auction live on TV - it's one of his first guitars apparently. I doubt if it's any of his famous instruments such as one of the Hofner violin basses.

Blinkin' flip! Today's the 63rd birthday of Sir Cliff Richard, and the alarming thing is that he's still going strong.

Never mind, at least his old backing band did well too... one of the most famous guitar groups ever: The Shadows

The Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery - some fantastic stuff in the galleries here. Happy browsing!

The votes are still coming in for our Stratocaster Poll with "boring" in the lead (only just), I'm afraid...

Happy Birthday to the master of no-nonsense twelve-bar boogie rhythm guitar, Mr Rick Parfitt, who is 55 years old today.

See also:
www.statusquo.com
www.statusquo.co.uk
Roadhouse Replicas - faithful replicas of the now legendary Status Quo Telecasters

Smiths bass guitar sells for $5,800.00 (approximately £3,486.21) on eBay.

Stratocaster bashing - the poll.
Vote now!

Happy Birthday to Midge Ure who is 50 years old today. As well as being successful in his own right as a solo artist, and famously fronting the post-John Foxx line-up of Ultravox, Midge has also played guitar for bands such as Slik, the Rich Kids, and Thin Lizzy.

Sorry, by the way, that I couldn't find a decent photo of Midge with a guitar. Oh, and if I remember rightly, he never liked Strats either.

For Mac users: Guitar Shed 1.0.1
Guitar Shed is a set of tools for guitarists, bassists, and many other musicians. Includes an extensive tuner, with customizable alternative tunings, a chord library, tablature organizer, jam machine, song jammer - which lets you slow your songs down for practice, as well as loop sections continuously for simple learning.

Guitar showdown with G3 - Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen at Reno.

If anyone out there would like to take issue with my claim that Stratocasters are boring, then when you communicate would you please make a reasoned carefully-thought-out argument, and do not simply resort to name-calling or extremely baffling and childishly immature exclamations of "Are you gay?" in the comments.

Whatever one's sexual orientation has to do with a person's preferences for certain guitars, I just cannot fathom.

If you've got something to say - a point to get across - then just say it. But really, there is no need to resort to abuse just because someone else thinks a little differently to you.

As to Stratocasters, well, I used one for over 10 years. It was a great guitar, but the best thing I ever did was to get rid of it and try something different!

The bass guitar on which Smiths bass player Andy Rourke played on all the band’s records is being sold.

The 20-year-old Yamaha bb200 is currently listed on ebay for a starting bid of USD$2,400 (approximately £1,444).

According to the item description, Rourke bought the bass guitar in 1983 and subsequently used it on all the Smiths recorded output, as well as on session work for artists including The Pretenders, Badly Drawn Boy and Sinead O'Connor. It also appeared on the gatefold cover of the Smiths’ 1984 rarities compilation ‘Hatful Of Hollow’.

The bass, which comes in its original case with a letter from Rourke, is up for bids until 2pm on Friday (October 10). To bid, click here.
Via: www.nme.com

EBay air guitar gets bid of £25,000
Ha! There's always some joker on eBay who thinks that it is the height of wit to offer for sale an "air guitar" ... as if no-one had ever thought of that "joke" before. It's absolutely pointless. Well, now the joke's on the latest air guitar selling prankster - just think of the fees he's going to have to pay eBay! Serves the stupid bastard right.

Pick an investment: Collectors see electric returns from playing guitar market  The Seattle Times - Business & Technology

The Fender Discussion Page - I must admit that I'm vaguely interested, but have decided that I am very much an ex-Fender user (other than my Jazz Bass, that is). I just don't see the point in playing a Strat or a Tele anymore because everyone else plays them. The word "boring" springs to mind, especially where the Stratocaster is concerned.

"Oh, but you've assembled a couple of Fender-style projects yourself..." you may well say. This is true; let's face it building a Strat-type guitar from parts has to be the easiest because the parts are so easily available and you can mix and match to your heart's content. So, yeah, I have put together a couple of Strat type guitars, and a Tele style guitar too, but at least I tried to inject a bit of originality into them (especially the Tele!).

However, for those of you who can't get enough of the Fender Stratocaster, there's this site: All Things Strat

The Blues Blog

Present at the creation: The Electric Guitar - a recommended site for all of you who are interested in the history of the solid body electric guitar.

We have another guitarist birthday today, namely a Mr Mike Rutherford, of Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics fame, who is 53 years old today.

Click here for a nice pic of one of his wacky doubleneck guitars, this one being a twelve-string guitar and six-string bass pairing.

Click here to find out more about his more celebrated Shergold doubleneck instruments.

Raise a glass - or a mug of cocoa if you will - in honour of Sting who is celebrating his 52nd birthday today.

At last, that seems to be a believable age for the ex-Police frontman. I recall that years back he must have stayed at age 32 for at least a decade.

Strat Central - Fender Stratocasters galore! A whole website devoted to the World's most popular (and arguably most boring) guitar.

How about these Kona Walkingstick Basses? They must certainly be a lot less ungainly than a standard upright.