Himsa has completed the writing portion of their third album and are entering the studio today to start recording. This will be their first album with Century Records.

Derek Harn (bass) states: “The new album draws from the strengths of our last two records, Courting Tragedy and Disaster and Hail Horror, but this is an entirely new chapter for Himsa and our fans. Sammi Curr (guitars) wrote a lot of the music for Courting, and Kirby Johnson (guitars) wrote most of the tracks on Hail Horror (when Sammi wasn’t in the band), so the two of them have joined forces to craft a whole new level of rage. We’re looking at about 10 or 11 songs right now, and are extremely proud of them.

I look forward to this album. I loved Courting Tragedy and Disaster, and Hail Horror was really good too. I hope the new material is just as just as crazy.

The instrumental tracks will be produced by Courting Tragedy and Disaster producer Steve Carter and vocals will be tracked by Devin Townsend (Lamb of God, Darkest Hour).

[Via Ultimate Guitar]

As I said in my post about Michael Amott’s guitar setup, I went and saw Arch Enemy and Chimaira last night at MacEwan hall. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I must say it was one of the better shows I have seen.

I went with a buddy of mine and we arrived after the first band. We got there just in time to watch them setup for God Forbid. They were pretty good for the most part. They had a really rad singer, but their sound setup wasn’t the greatest. You couldn’t hear the guitars over the bass and most of the backup vocals were pretty off key. (more…)

In about 2 hours time I will be heading down to the MacEwan Ballroom at the University of Calgary to see Arch Enemy with guests Chimaira. I’m pretty excited for this show, I have never seen Arch Enemy play and I think Michael Amott is a wicked guitarist. In light of this I thought I’d do a post up about Amott’s guitar setup.

Michael Amott uses some complex midi switching on his live setup. Since he does a lot of switching in his songs and he didnt want to go with a multi-effect setup, he settled on a MIDI-controlled Providence looping/switching system.

From Guitar to Amp

It’s not that simple to describe Michael’s setup in list form since he uses multiple effect loops connected to his MIDI switch, but I’ll do my best. (more…)

I have been seeing lately that a lot of people have been finding this site by searching for Alexi Laiho Guitar Lessons or Alexi Laiho Instructional Video. Since I don’t really have anything directly related to that on this site I thought I might post some videos I found on Google Video.

Alexi Laiho Interview and Instructional Video

This first is pretty sweet it’s both an interview and a practical lesson. Alexi talks about a lot of important stuff like practicing with a metronome, starting slow and building speed, how he writes a solo, and his musical influences.

At about the half way point he does do some hands on stuff on his guitar. He starts off playing it quickly and then slows it right down so you can learn it. He shows off some sweep picking licks with some tapping thrown in and then some chord phrases. At the end of the video he goes through 5 or 6 licks from some of his songs as well.

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Some people can remember where they were when they found out Elvis died. For some it’s John Lennon or Kurt Cobain. I was much too young when Elvis and Lennon died and I was probably 10 or 11 when Cobain died, so I have no memory of those events. However, I remember the day I learned Dimebag had died.

It really isn’t all that glamorous, I was in class in college and a friend was on the computer when an IM message popped up on his screen breaking the news. At first we didn’t believe it, but a quick Google news search confirmed the report. That was a pretty depressing time all around.

To the point, I wanted to share this Dimebag Darrell interview with anyone who has not already seen it. In the first video dimebag tells the story of his first and second Dean guitars. He tells of the one that got away and a great friend who got it back for him. The guitar he sold and eventually bought back became his iconic lightning bolt Dean. In an interview taking place after a show in Milwaukee Dime talks about being happy and achieving his dream.

The second video picks up where the first left off. He gives his praise of the new Razorback design for his signature Dean guitar. The video then leads into some joking around between Dime and some of the crew and friends and then Dime heads back out on stage to play the end of their set. I hope everyone enjoys the vids.

Dimebag Darrell Interview at Deanguitars.com

I have found two more impressive shredding videos on Google Video. Both are the same player and he has some very impressive skills. The first thing that I notice is he is very precise. You find a lot with videos on Google, Yahoo, or YouTube most people who film themselves shredding are playing much faster than their technical ability allows them to. As a result it looks and sounds impressive to the untrained ear, but once you see a guy like this play you realize the others were not as good as they seemed.

This should be today’s (and every other day’s lesson): start slow and build up your speed. If you can not play each note cleanly, slow down until you can and slowly build up your speed.

This guy though, is very good. The musician is Chris Feener and the first video is titled Neoclassical Shred.

The second video from the same player is called Petrucci Shred. He plays licks from Flight of the Bumblebee and Into the Acid Rain Unison.

Basically his skills give me something to aspire to. I have just started practicing from John Petrucci’s instructional video, so hopefully I can build up my speed and ability and one day shred like this.

When Fender bought out Jackson Guitars Alexi was told it would take 1 year for them to build him a new signature guitar. When ESP told him it would only take them 3 months it was a no-brainer for him to switch. The Alexi Laiho signature is basically a Jackson RR Custom clone with some added visual flair.

The design of the guitar plays on the black pinstripe on white look that the Jackson RR1 Rhoads has, but with a more stylized look. The shark fin points on the body are straighter and slightly curved as opposed to the true edges on the RR. (more…)