I have wanted to purchase a digital metronome for quite a while to use while practicing scales and building speed. However, most of the time that I am practicing I am sitting either in front of or within decent range of my computer. It dawned on me, why don’t I just search for a metronome online? There has got to be something flash or Java based somewhere.

Well, I was right, and I actually found a pretty good one too. Metronome Online is a free full featured flash based metronome. It has tempos ranging from 40bpm to 208bpm and also has a feature to play the A440 frequency to give you a reference for guitar tuning. The sound of the tap is pretty pleasing and I’m pretty happy with it. I pretty much have no use for a stand alone metronome now.

Tips on Using a Metronome to Build Speed

The main purpose of using a metronome is to teach you to keep in time when playing your instrument. It will help you learn to play to a beat and keep a consistent tempo. It can also be useful as a speed reference when learning to play faster.

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I don’t tend to purchase CDs that I haven’t already listened to. I don’t like the risk involved. I have been burned once or twice buying an album that I know had a song I liked just to find out the rest of the album is crap. In this case, I took the risk. I bought Friday Night in San Francisco having only heard a few songs here and there from Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia individually. I couldn’t have named a tune of their’s and I had never heard them all together, but for some reason that day I was feeling frisky. I bought the live album without ever hearing a shred of it.

I was initially quite amazed. I listened to it in the car a bit, I ripped it at work and listened to it on my quiet night shifts. Overall I was pretty happy with my purchase. Then, I don’t really know why, but I stopped listening to it for six months or so. A week or so ago I was browsing my CD collection for something to listen to on my daily work commute and I grabbed it almost instantly. For some reason this time around I am so much more impressed with the music. It has hit me on another level all together.

Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia form a group known as The Guitar Trio. They have released two studio albums, one in 1982 and one in 1996 and then two corresponding live albums. Friday Night in San Francisco was released in 1980. The album is all acoustic guitar. There are no accompanying instruments, no vocals, and the only percussion is made by the guitarists slapping their guitars.
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If you are buying a $20,000 aged Blackie guitar, I doubt you are planning on playing it at gigs and jams. One thing is for sure, you aren’t going to want to stick it into a case in the back of your attic or closet. I know you’ll want to flaunt your excessive spending to all of your friends and family. Who wouldn’t?

That would be the entry cue for Great Case Cabinet Company. They build sealed glass wall cases that provide a controlled humidity environment for your sensitive instruments. In all seriousness I hate storing my guitar in it’s case. I like to have it displayed out in the open where it can call me from across the room to play it.

The company makes a range of wall cases for acoustic and electric guitars, violins, harps, mandolins, and whatever else you might want to stick in there. If need be they will also make you a custom case to your own specifications. I know a few people who have hanging guitar mounts for their wall. Well why not have a humidified case to go around that? It’ll be like your guitar never left the guitar store.

Like I said, the cases come in a few different standard sizes, but the company does take custom orders. They offer a selection of woods, finishes, fabrics, hinges, and latches with pricing that ranges from $425USD to $1125USD and up for custom jobs.

[Via Harmony Central]

The Guitar Zeros have taken a Guitar Hero video game controller and modded it into a real instrument. They have interfaced the guitar with a computer to trigger synthesized guitar sounds. In fact, they have done this with two Guitar Hero Xplorers, one for guitar and one for bass.

In the video interview on CNET News the lead guitarist gives us a few details on how exactly it is done. Basically they hooked the guitar up to the computer and then used a synth program called MAX/MSP to trigger the sounds. I’m not exactly sure how the interface works, but he says he uses the binary system to play notes. So basically you could program each binary number to a note in a scale. That takes all of the skill out of it though because then you could just button mash and never go off key.

Sadly, these guys are about 25 years ahead of their time. If they had have come up with this in the early 80’s [see Keytar] they would be superstar one-hit-wonders already. I do have to give credit where credit is due though, these guys are pretty big geeks. I love to mod electronics to use them in ways they might not have been meant to, so I envy their skills on this one. If you are interested you can check out The Guitar Zeros website for a guide on how you can hook up this rig for yourself.

[Via Now Toronto]

Check out this video I found thought Blabbermouth. It looks to me like Yngwie was trying to relic his guitar but he just couldn’t get the flame lit. In the end, in true Malmsteen fashion he gets frustrated with his failed attempt and took it beyond relic. I’m not sure what kind of white powder he is using there, but maybe he should consider checking out Relic Deluxe before his next attempt.

It has also been reported by Blabbermouth that Malmsteen will be reissuing his 1992 album Fire & Ice. It should be out in June.

ESP has announced a new limited edition Alexi Laiho signature guitar, the ALEXI-600 SE. The modifications in this SE edition are mostly visual. All of the hardware specifications are the same in the ALEXI-600 and the ALEXI-600 SE. What we have in the SE version is a new pink finish, pink inlays, and a COBHC logo painted on the back. The only design difference seems to be in the body shape. The bottom cutaway is slightly farther back to give you better access to the higher frets. In fact it looks like the body actually starts a whole two frets back at the 22nd fret instead of at the 20th. And I thought the original had great accessibility. At present it seems as though the guitar is going for just over $1000USD.

Here are the exact specs for the new guitar:

• Modified body shape for more access to higher frets
• Natural satin finish on neck
• Pink LTD logo and artist signature on headstock
• Pink “COBHC” design on back of body
• Pink pinstripes on back of body
• Neck-thru-body design (25.5” scale)
• Alder body
• 3-piece maple / ebony neck
• Floyd Rose locking nut / 42mm
• Thin U neck shape
• Pink sawtooth inlays
• 24 extra-jumbo frets
• Black hardware
• Grover tuners
• Floyd Rose bridge
• EMG HZ-4 bridge pickup
• No neck pickup
• 1 Volume control

I love the look of these guitars, but the missing neck pickup is a real downside as far as I am concerned. If you want to sound exactly like Alexi Laiho then this guitar would be great for you, but otherwise you are limiting your tone by not having that second pickup. Then again, if you play strictly metal, you might not even know the neck pickup exists.

On May 17th, 2007 Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell was inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk. A bronze bust of the legendary metal guitarist was unveiled and installed in the RockWalk. Many performers came out to the event including members of Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Kiss, Rob Zombie, and Slayer.
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Yngwie Malmsteen is auctioning off his 1983 Ferrari GTS 308 QV on eBay. Malmsteen purchased the car while recording the album Eclipse and has owned it for 18 years. Currently the highest bid is $19,100 with 2 days remaining.

Ozzy (and presumably Zakk) will be the musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on May 22nd - the release date of his new studio album Black Rain. EDIT: Looks like he will be playing twice, both the 21st and the 22nd!

Blabbermouth has two links to articles about Chuck Schuldiner. The first is a tribute by Greek Hard Rock magazine originally published in December 2006, and the second is a tribute published by Guitar World in the April 2007 issue.

Will this Dean ML painted by modern artist Mark Ryden sell for one million dollars? He’s a wicked artist, but I doubt it will. It’s a sweet looking guitar though.

After Eric Clapton was reported to have made just under five million on the sale of the rights to Clapton: The Autobiography, Keith Richards is now also shopping around to sell his book. Apparently he wants to beat Clapton’s 5-mil deal. I say good luck with THAT.

Gibson is holding a guitar solo competition on the beta website Votigo this month that will be running until June 17th. To get a chance to win the Epiphone G-400 SG guitar you will have to record a video of yourself playing any kind of solo and upload it to the Votigo website. Then on June 17th, the video with the most amount of votes will win.

It looks to me like the contest is actually being held by Votigo to promote their website. This is only open to entries from within the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. Apparently one of the rules is to tell your friends to vote… Yeah, it’s a good idea, obviously. There is no limit to how many solos you can submit, but don’t bother submitting the same entry more than once… it just doesn’t make sense. Oh, and you have to be at least 13 years old.

I’m not sure how they are planning on confirming authenticity…. I mean I could upload a video of some random who is really good at shredding and win without even picking up a guitar. They do reserve the right to disqualify any entry, so please don’t try that.

The guitar as I said is an Epiphone G-400 SG. The contest states that it is a $500 value, but they are going on Musicians Friend for $299. It’s nothing to scoff at really, it’s a free guitar if you’ve got the chops. My guess though, is if you have the chops then you already have a better guitar and have no use for an entry level SG.

This video below isn’t me, but out of the 10 or so entries so far it is my favorite. Probably cause he shreds like Wylde. May the best solo win!

I was just going to post a comment on his blog, but I thought I’d just write a post on here in response to IG’s My top 5 music passions post. So here it is in reverse order:

5. Writing Music
I’m in the same boat as IG, I haven’t been blessed with the natural songwriters gene. I wish I could just pick up a pen and pour my soul out in rhyming meaningful metaphors and smilies, but it just doesn’t work for me. I am just not very good at expressing emotion through words. When it comes to writing guitar, I guess I’m an over achiever. I write one thing and spend too much time comparing it to other works instead of just being content with it. In the end I discard it. However, I am getting better with writing (the music portion at least), and I am passionate about it, so here it is at number five.

4. Talking about music.
I love to chat it up about my favorite music. I like talking about songs, riffs, solos, jams, concerts, guitars, history, legends, and rock gods. I can’t get enough of the social aspect of music.

3. Discovering Something New
The great thing about talking about music is it always leads to something new. Most of the great music I have discovered in my life has been by “hey, have you ever heard of” or “if you like that, you’ll love this”. How many of my favorite artists and songs would I not know about if I didn’t love to talk about music? I could have missed out on so many different styles too. Blues, flamenco, metal, could be on the list of genres I might have never gotten into if someone had not recommended some kick ass music.

2. Pure F%*#ing Metal
I love the extreme. I love over the top gore filled horror movies and I love metal music. I’m talking about harmonizing guitar, screaming vocals, pummeling drums, shredding keyboards heavy-metal. It allows me to vicariously live the image of a hard core lifestyle. It is so against my personality, and most people wouldn’t know it was my favorite music by looking at me, but it is.

1. Playing my Guitar!
I picked up the guitar out of the blue when I was 16. I never had a desire to play it until that one day, and then all of a sudden I did. The next day I started playing, and I haven’t stopped since. I love playing all sorts of music on my guitar. I love jamming and teaching and learning. This is a lifestyle I will never give up.

What things are you passionate about in music?

PS, I dont know why I used that picture above, I just liked it.

Kris Norris is the lead guitarist for the band Metalcore band Darkest Hour. I really love his style, it’s so melodic metal. I realize that he is not an unbelievable guitarist by any means, but I think he is equally good at composition as he is at actually playing. I’m not really going to say much more, I’ll just let the videos speak for themselves. These are both from a dvd released by Norris himself. This first video shows how to play the solo from the song Tranquil.

One more video after the jump.
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I have been using the new Guitar.com for a day or so now and I feel I have experienced it enough to give you my initial impressions.

It really really wants to be a Web 2.0 site, but sadly, it’s not. The site has a very Cliché CSS look, but the feel is lacking. The problem is the website is full of content that looks like you can edit it inline, but in actual fact you can’t. When you hit update it submits the information old-web style and refreshes the page. Because of this, I really don’t like the way the profile editing is setup. If you click edit beside more than on field, and then click update, it will only update the last one you edited - this is annoying and time consuming if you want to update more than one thing at once.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like how you can create a complete profile full of all your favorite artists, music, videos, and gear. I think this is the essence of what the site is supposed to be about. Guitar players love to talk about gear and music. The fact that you can earn money from suggesting gear to others is interesting too. The problem is the whole site feels like it is focused on selling first and being a community second. An example of this is when you are adding all your gear to your profile, it clearly just searches Musician’s Friend. So if you have gear that is not currently available for purchase, you can’t add it to your profile. Despite the fact that my 81/85 EMG Pickups and Line 6 Spider II amp are very popular, they are not available on musiciansfriend.com, so I couldn’t recommend them. This is problem with the music recommendation section as well. If you do a search for an album that is not currently available on iTunes or Amazon.com you wont be able to add it to your profile.
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Guitar.com has been under construction for a few months now. I first noticed that it was down for redesign January 25th, 2007 and reported it here. A month or so later I signed up for the private beta and was never contacted. Now I just got an email today saying it has moved into the public beta stage.

From what I can see Guitar.com has produced a last.fm style site geared directly towards guitar players. I’m still waiting for my confirmation email before I can log in, but here is what Guitar.com has to say about the new site:

Join. Create your profile. List the music and gear you love for others to discover and if they buy based on your recommendation, you get a commission. Write your blog, use it for education or amusement and earn advertising revenue from the traffic you generate on it.

Customize your home page, add the content you love via rss, move it around where you want and store and share your favorite Youtube or Google vids.

Communicate with others on the forums and groups and raise your webCred to make your recommendations show in more places and have more value in the community. List stuff for sale or swap in the classifieds section. Guitar.com is for you, a place to call home. A place for you to make money doing what you love and a place to discover music and gear you might have never known about.

Also still in development is the standalone application Rype. Rype looks to be a GarageBand type of application that doubles as a front end for the Guitar.com website as well as a marketing tool for selling your songs on iTunes. Again, there are not a lot of details, but it does say Rype will be in beta “soon”.

I’ll check back in as soon as I get the confirmation email.

Just a few notes for today:

First it was reported that Courtney Love was planning on holding an auction to sell off all Kurt Cobain’s stuff, now it seems as though she is planning on selling it all to a single collector. There is a mixed reaction from fans, but really, in the end, who cares about a few old flannel shirts.

I probably could have predicted this: Zakk Wylde will be at Dimebag Darrell’s RockWalk induction to play the song he wrote as a tribute to Dime — “In this river”. Zakk Wylde has been reported to have said that this song will never leave the BLS set list. After the induction, guitars from the The Six String Masterpieces display will be auctioned off in support of Little Kids Rock.

Lori Linstruth from Play Like a Girl has put together a ShredTracker for keeping record of your practicing. I love how very professional looking and well thought out it is. It is a simple tool that can get you pumped about practicing again. Seriously, everybody wants to get better, but sitting in front of a metronome for hours on end isn’t really my idea of a fun practice session. Well, this just adds that bit of fun back to it and is just another reward in the end when you can look at it and see how far you have come.

Gibson’s marketing department always seems to be a few steps behind, but they have finally updated the Gibson Custom website with details about the Zakk Wylde custom Flying V guitar.

There aren’t really any more details beyond what was known before, but they have release a [huge ass] 6MB 2 page PDF that displays it all in one inconveniently large package. Here is the little marketing writeup from the PDF:

THE CUSTOM SHOP DIFFERENCE
It burns in the heart of every player who purchases
a Gibson Custom Shop guitar… and it burns in the
heart of every employee who helps build our
world-class instruments.

We vow to continue infusing every instrument that
passes through our doors with that same passion.
It’s what makes our guitars the best.

From initial wood selection to final assembly, we
sweat the details so that when you pick up your
guitar, your dream, it exceeds every expectation
you could possibly have.

For 2007, we will continue to strive for excellence,
remain faithful to our history, and never lose sight
of our goal to build the fi nest guitars in the world.
Pick one up for yourself. Feel the passion that we
put into our guitars and release yours.

From what I can see they are still only making 100 of these bad boys. This is guaranteed to be a Gibson Vintage in about 50 years.

[Via Electric Guitar Review]