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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