The Guitar Channel

John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension European tour dates

Here's the most current list of confirmed dates for the upcoming John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension European tour. The 4th Dimension band consists of Hadrien Feraud on bass, Mark Mondesir on drums, Gary Husband on keys and "jungle kit," and McLaughlin on guitar.

MAY 2008

09 Monaco - Salle Garnier
11 Udine  - Italie - Opera House
12 Ferrara –Italie - Opera House
13 Roma –Italie - Stazione Birra Club
15 Bucarest - Romania
16 Belgrade – Serbie
18 Wolsfsburg – Germany - Autostadt
19 Warsaw - Poland - Congresova Hall
20 Bratislava, Slovakia
21 Prague – CZ - Congresova Centrum Praha
22 Budapest - HU - Petofi Hall
23 Pecs - HU - Pecs University
25 Neuenhaus – Germany - Aula Gymnasium
26 Luxembourg - Philharmonie
28 Hamburg – Germany - Fabrik
30 Dublin – Ireland - Vicar Street
31 London - UK - Barbican

  JUNE 2008

02 Kaluga – Russia - Philharmonic Concert Hall

via John McLaughlin News

New Blues Jam Tracks set featuring Guthrie Govan

BluesJamTracks.com has a new set of jam tracks available called "Contemporary Blues." Once again, Guthrie Govan plays sample solos to each track on the website, and in the set if you purchase the tracks. Check it out.

My NAMM diary

Maybe "diary" is the wrong word, but Modern Guitars Magazine has just published an article I've written detailing my experiences at this year's Winter NAMM show.

Rich Murray at the 2008 Winter NAMM show

Lukather's "Ever Changing Times" reviewed at All Out Guitar

All Out Guitar has a review of Steve Lukather's new album Ever Changing Times.

All Out Guitar review: Steve Lukather - Ever Changing Times

John McLaughlin "Floating Point" news

John McLaughlin has completed mixing his new album Floating Point. This album was recorded in India with Indian musicians, though McLaughlin's 4th Dimension bandmate Hadrien Feraud provides the bass (his parts were recorded later). Though it features Indian musicians, the music is Jazz-Fusion in nature according to McLaughlin. Read McLaughlin's latest news post for more info.

John McLaughlin Floating Point news

Widespread Panic spring US tour dates

Widespread Panic (featuring guitarist Jimmy Herring) will release their new album Free Somehow on Feb 12th on Widespread Records. In support of the new album, the band has scheduled the following spring tour dates:

April 2008
1-2 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
4-5 - New York, NY - United Palace
6 - Albany, NY- Palace Theatre                      
9 - Cincinnati, OH - US Bank Arena         
11-13 - Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre                               
16 - Murfreesboro, TN - Murphy Center
18-20 - Orange Beach, AL - The Amphitheater @ The Wharf
22-23 - Savannah, GA - Johnny Mercer Theatre
25-26 - Raleigh, NC - Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
27 - Richmond VA - Landmark Theater
29 - Columbia, SC - Township Auditorium

May 2008
1 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
2 - Houston, TX - Showgrounds @ Sam Houston
3 - Dallas, TX - Nokia Theatre

via LiveDaily

Greg Howe video - "Bird's Eye View"

Here's a new video of Greg Howe jamming on his tune "Bird's Eye View" from the Extraction album. Thanks Laurie!

NAMM gigs photo gallery

I've uploaded a second Picasa photo album featuring shots I took of the following shows:

Scott Henderson Trio @ The Baked Potato - 1/16/08 (first show)
Jazz Ministry (feat Michal Landau) @ The Baked Potato - 1/17/08 (first show)
Allan Holdsworth @ The Baked Potato - 1/18/08 (second show)
Brett Garsed and Dirty Martini @ Alva's - 1/19/08

There aren't many pics here, and some of them are a bit rough, but here they are:
NAMM gigs photo gallery

I also saw Ric Fierabracci's set with Brett Garsed at JT Schmid's on 1/18/08, but those pics turned out awful.

NAMM show photo gallery

I've put up a Picasa photo album of my best pics from the 2008 Winter NAMM show. Most of the pics have captions but some do not.  Enjoy!

2008 Winter NAMM photo gallery

NOTE: These pics are just from the NAMM show itself. I still need to upload my live gig shots. I don't have many, but I'll have them in a separate album.

Joe Satriani set to release 13th solo album

*** PRESS RELEASE ***

JOE SATRIANI SET TO RELEASE 13TH SOLO ALBUM

WORLDWIDE TOUR PLANNED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

ALBUM SET FOR RELEASE ON APRIL 1, 2008

Over the course of his illustrious career, JOE SATRIANI has achieved legendary success with his 12 solo albums and 3 platinum DVD’s selling more than 10 million units worldwide.  On April 1, 2008, SATRIANI is set to continue his brand of electric education for the masses with the release of his 13th solo album entitled Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock (Sony/BMG).  Following the albums release, SATRIANI will embark on a worldwide tour, kicking off April 30th in Lisbon, Portugal before hitting the European market, Australia, South America and finally returning to the U.S. in the fall of ‘08.

Professor Satchafunkilus was produced through the creative envisioning of SATRIANI and John Cuniberti; guiding the musical talents of longtime drummer/percussionist Jeff Campitelli and reknowned bassist Matt Bissonette.  A special addition to the album’s artist list is Joe’s own son, ZZ Satriani, playing the tenor sax.

Track Listing for Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock:

1.Musterion
2.Overdriver
3.I Just Wanna Rock
4.Professor Satchafunkilus
5.Revelation
6.Come On Baby
7.Out of the Sunrise
8.Diddle-y-a-doo-dat
9.Asik Vaysel
10.Andalusia

Over the last two decades, SATRIANI has traveled the world, playing to sold-out crowds as both a headliner and as founder of the all-star “G3” guitar extravaganza. Of his 12 solo albums 2 went platinum and 4 gold with 15 Grammy nominations between them. This year Joe is nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the song "Always With Me, Always With You" from his album, Satriani LIVE!

Last year marked the 20th Anniversary of his groundbreaking album, Surfing with the Alien and was commemorated with new expanded edition in a meticulously restored two-disc set including the newly re-mastered album and a previously never-before-seen live show filmed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1988.

Click here for info about Joe Satriani's May UK tour featuring special guest Paul Gilbert -

http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/kennedy_street/joe_satriani.htm

Click here for the online edition of this announcement -

http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/kennedy_street/joe_satriani_album.htm

For further information about Joe Satriani's UK tour please contact Peter Noble at Noble PR: Noble PR Ltd, Tel. 020 7272 7772, email: peter@noblepr.co.uk,

Paul Gilbert - NAMM 2008 video

Here's a video I took of Paul Gilbert performing at the Marshall booth at this year's NAMM show.

Modern Guitars Magazine photo coverage of NAMM

Jesse Stern took some great photos of the NAMM show for Modern Guitars Magazine. Jesse and I worked together a bit, going from booth to booth to find some good shots. Great guy. Modern Guitars has extensive photos from all 4 days. Start with the day one, page one link below and follow the links from there (you will even see a picture of me on this page playing a copper Dean acoustic; my pic is right below Dave Mustaine's.)

Modern Guitars Magazine NAMM photos

I'm back

Well I'm back home from my NAMM show trip, and all I can say is WOW! Well, that's not all I can say. I'm going to be doing a lot of writing in the coming days about my experiences there and some of the awesome shows I saw. I will also put up a Picasa photo album with all my best pics. Stay tuned...

Rich

Heading to the NAMM show!

Friends,
I'm heading to California for the NAMM show today. I probably won't be posting anything new to the site until I get back next week. I'm sure I'll have lots of great stuff to share when I return!

Rich

Book Review: Gustavo Assis-Brasil - Hybrid Picking for Guitar

My review of Gustavo Assis-Brasil's instructional book Hybrid Picking for Guitar has been posted at Modern Guitars Magazine.

Review: Gustavo Assis-Brasil - Hybrid Picking for Guitar

UPDATE 1/29/08: I've republished my review below.

"Hybrid Picking" is a technique that combines the 2 most common methods of playing the guitar - finger picking and flat picking. Using a flat pick alone is a great technique, but large interval skips can be difficult, and you can't play all the notes of a chord at the same time. With finger picking, you can execute these intervallic leaps and chordal ideas with ease, but you lose the ability to perform many common flat picking techniques (funk rhythms, alternate picking, etc). By combining the techniques you get the best of both worlds. Most flat-picking guitarists use some amount of hybrid picking, maybe without even realizing it. You may not consider yourself a "hybrid picker", but how many times have you grabbed all the notes of a chord using the pick and your right hand fingers? Ever pick a note then pluck another with a right hand finger in the middle of a line? Technically, you're hybrid picking. While it's quite common for country guitarists to use hybrid picking, many rock, jazz, and fusion players use the technique as well (personally, I was bitten by the hybrid picking bug back in the early '90s after seeing rock fusion great Brett Garsed use the technique for the first time).

With his self-published instructional book Hybrid Picking for Guitar, jazz guitarist and hybrid picking guru Gustavo Assis-Brasil lays out a full curriculum for developing this technique that is applicable to both beginning and advanced hybrid pickers. A fine player with numerous recording credits, Assis-Brasil is the director of the Jazz and Contemporary Music department of the Cambridge School of Weston, and a Berklee College of Music grad.

The book is broken down into 4 sections: "Hybrid Picking Exercises," "Lines," "Compositions," and "Charts". The bulk of the book's material is contained in the "Hybrid Picking Exercises" and "Lines" sections. The "Compositions" section features seven complete songs, and the "Charts" section at the end is essentially an appendix showing pick/finger permutations for both chordal and single note applications. A CD is also included containing recorded examples of everything from the "Lines" and "Compositions" sections.

Note: For the purposes of this review, the picking hand will be referred to as the right hand throughout.

After an introduction that gives general tips for developing proper hybrid picking technique (such as nail care and picking angles), the "Hybrid Picking Exercises" section focuses on building your technique from the ground up. In general, a hybrid picked phrase involves picking a note with a flat-pick, then using a right hand finger to pluck another note, usually on another string. As this first section of the book demonstrates, there are countless variations on this approach. These early lessons are geared towards building strength and independence in the your right hand fingers. To that end, several of the exercises include alternate right hand fingering instructions that omit the pick entirely. Many of the examples in this section use only open strings as well so the focus stays squarely on what your right hand is doing. Every possible combination of pick, second, third, and fourth finger is covered here, so it's a pretty intense workout program. Obviously you can just take bits and pieces from this section if you prefer. If you're just looking to throw your second and third fingers into the mix once in a while, there are exercises here to help you develop that. If you're looking to get more advanced, you can certainly do that too. Hybrid picking is a technique that you can use as much or as little of as you want.

Now comes the fun stuff. The "Lines" section concentrates on putting your new-found hybrid picking prowess to good musical use. Chock full of great jazz and fusion lines, this section is the real meat-and-potatoes of Hybrid Picking for Guitar. One of the great advantages of hybrid-picking is the ease at which one can execute wide interval jumps. That's certainly reflected in the musical examples Assis-Brasil presents here. Some of these lines, such as examples 9 and 24, are reminiscent of Carl Verheyen's angular, intervallic approach. There are plenty of odd meter and atonal examples as well. Overall there's a wealth of material in this part of the book that will keep even an advanced player busy for some time.

Assis-Brasil also includes seven fully transcribed, original compositions in Hybrid Picking For Guitar. The songs represent a wide variety styles and hybrid picking approaches to demonstrate the versatility of the technique. In "Sem Partidas," for example, Assis-Brasil uses hybrid picking in a chrodal jazz context. "Jaywalker" on the other hand is a great, fast country tune that relies mainly on single note lines. "Next Week", with it's upbeat mood and liberal use of open strings, is a real standout as well (Assis-Brasil also recorded this song with his band Dig Trio on their self-titled studio release).

Hybrid Picking for Guitar is to hybrid picking what Ted Greene's classic Chord Chemistry is to chord voicings. The point being it's as much a reference tool as it is an an instructional one. Long after you're comfortable with the technique, you'll be combing it's pages for new ideas and approaches. While the musical examples are mainly jazz-oriented, guitarists of all styles can vastly improve their hybrid picking technique by using this book.

Rich

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Paul Gilbert sitting in with Spock's Beard - Whole Lotta Love

This is Paul Gilbert playing Whole Lotta Love with the prog-rock band Spock's Beard. It's from 5/20/07 in Budapest. An incomplete version of this was uploaded to YouTube a while back. This is the complete version of the song from a different angle. The video quality is not great, but the audio is good and Gilbert shreds his brains out.