The Guitar Channel

New Santana guitar tribute on the way

Jeff Richman is producing another guitar tribute album for the Tone Center label. This time it's a tribute to Santana called "Se A Cabo". Guest guitarists include Vinnie Moore, Pat Martino, Albert Lee, Mike Stern, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, Eric Gales, and Frank Gambale. I'l post an update more when details become available.

Review: Paul Gilbert - Get Out Of My Yard

Guitar geeks like myself have been longing for an instrumental album from Paul Gilbert for a long time. He's recorded instrumentals before; on Racer X albums, his solo albums, and some side projects. But he's finally released a full length, all-instrumental guitar album, and it's well worth the wait.

"Get Out Of My Yard" features a diverse set of songs. I expected most of the songs to be very heavy, along the lines of the instrumentals featured on past Racer X albums. That's not really the case. There's certainly some metal here, no question. But even the heavier stuff is very tuneful. "The Curse Of Castle Dragon" and the title track are maybe the only songs I could see being on a Racer X album. The title track, by the way, is one-and-a-half minutes of pure shred with just some bass in the background. The opening sequence is unreal.

The disc mainly consists of what I would term "heavy instrumental rock", but there's a few twists thrown in. Overall, the writing has a '70's influence, in my opinion. Some of the riffs and progressions would not sound out of place on an old Pat Travers or Frank Marino album. The common denominator is Gilbert absolutely shreds on nearly every song. It sounds cliche to say he's playing better than ever, but I'll say this - I've been listening to Gilbert since the first Racer X album, and I was surprised by how well he plays here.

I think my favorite tune is "Rusty Old Boat". This is a great funk-influenced tune with a very cool riff (Paul's wife Emi plays organ on this song, and piano on "Marine Layer"). This song is very dynamic, with lots of guitar/organ unison lines. Another great tune is the Robin Trower-esque "Radiator". The '70's influence I mentioned is strong on this one. The main riff is reminiscent in style and tone to the outro from Trowers "Day Of The Eagle". Then a faster riff come in later, before returning to the main riff at the end. Gilbert showers the whole tune with his trademark bluesy shredding. The lone "ballad", for lack of a better word,  is a song called "Marine Layer". This is a real nice acoustic guitar/piano piece.There's a classical influence here, but also a hint of "Behind Blue Eyes".

"The Echo Song" is almost a techno tune. The whole thing is done in delay-effected single note lines. A real departure from the rest of the album, but very cool. There's also an all-electric guitar version of Haydn's "Symphony No. 88 Finale". Emi Gilbert is credited with "Classical Consultation" on this piece, and the result is really something. Gilbert has recorded classic pieces on guitar before, but nothing as dynamic as this.

Another song that needs mentioning is "Three E's For Edward", obviously dedicated to Eddie Van Halen. This is a solo acoustic guitar piece done with only three string's on the guitar, all tuned to E (in octaves). Harmonically, it's very tuneful, but Gilbert also shreds on this tune like you won't believe. Some of the wild intervallic jumps would probably not be possible if the guitar were not tuned as it is. In the liner notes, Gilbert writes a paragraph or two for each song describing the song's inspiration. Some of the descriptions are more abstract and esoteric than others. For "Three E's For Edward", Gilbert writes quite eloquently about Eddie's influence, and his hope that Eddie will find his way to better place so he can show us the beauty of his music and soul once again.

Overall, "Get Out Of My Yard" is a fantastic guitar album, with great writing and chops throughout. Well worth picking up. It has not been released in the US yet, but import versions are already available.

Rich

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See Also:
Paul Gilbert - Get Out Of My Yard Instructional DVD Review

Music Industry Now Targets Tablature Sites

First it was services that provided music, then it was sites that offered lyrics. Now the music industry has trained its legal guns upon guitar tablature, and several of them have already been shuttered.

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Guthrie Govan releases first solo album

Guitarist Guthrie Govan has released his long awaited first solo album 'Erotic Cakes'. It is available now through cornfordrecords.com. If you've never heard Guthrie before, he's an incredible player in the heavy-fusion vein, with unbelievable chops. I ordered the CD this morning. It's coming from the UK, so I don't know how long the shipping will take. I'll be sure to post a review once I've had a chance to check it out.

New Steve Morse "Notes From The Road" posting

Steve Morse has a new two-part entry on the Notes From The Road section of his website. Among other things, he talks about his son playing Smoke On The Water with him at a Deep Purple gig.

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Chris Poland interview with Modern Guitars Magazine

Modern Guitars Magazine has posted another cool interview. Hot on the heels of the Mike Stern interview from just a few days ago, they posted one today with Chris Poland (Ohm). Not sure when this interview was conducted, but it's a good one.

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Posted a new guitar lick

I've finally posted a new lick on my Guitar Licks page. This time it's a C minor pentatonic pattern that uses a combination of hybrid-picking, sweep-picking, and legato. Check it out.

Rich's Guitar Licks

Review: Jonas Hellborg - Abstract Logic (Remastered)

Depending on who you ask, Shawn Lane was arguably the greatest guitar player who ever lived. I first heard Shawn on the 1991 MVP - Centrifugal Funk album, then through bootleg tapes I acquired while a student at GIT in 1992. He floored me completely. In my opinion, his chops and musicality remain unparalleled to this day (sadly, Lane passed away in 2003). Lane's first solo album, Powers Of Ten, was released in '92 as well. He came to GIT in February of '93 and played an infamous gig which I was lucky enough to attend (my friends and I also got to meet and hang out with Shawn backstage after the show). Powers Of Ten was a very commercial-sounding album. Similar in vein to the instrumental work Eric Johnson was doing at the time. It appeared back then that Lane's future work would follow along the same lines. Then he met bassist Jonas Hellborg.

Hellborg met Lane in 1994, and turned him on to the Indian and Pakistani influences he was exploring. Hellborg's 'Abstract Logic' album, recorded in December of 1994 with 17 year old (!) Kofi Baker on drums, marked their first collaboration. Hellborg has re-mixed, re-mastered, and re-released this landmark fusion album with 2 previously unreleased songs included. When you hear the music on this CD, it's hard to believe it was only 2 years earlier that Lane released the Powers Of Ten album. By comparison, the music on Abstract Logic is radically different. The writing and playing here is rich with various non-western influences. This album marked the beginning of a whole new direction for Lane.

The new mix sounds crisper than the original. There seems to be more separation between the instruments. It's sounds louder as well, more raw. The album art is new also. The opening track, 'Serpents And Pigs', is a good example of what Hellborg's collaboration with Lane would sound like for years to come. The main parts of the tune are pretty exotic. Lane sings along with the main melody, which he did in many future recordings and live performances (sort of like an Indian-music version of George Benson). Then, for the solo section, Hellborg and Lane trade off for a bit before Lane starts his solo over a grinding 4/4 shuffle groove. If you've never heard this track before, the lick Lane plays about 3 minutes in may cause uncontrollable convulsions in the listener. You've been warned.

Some of the songs are longer than they were on the original release. The most interesting example of this is shown in 'Throwing Elephant And Wrestling', one of my favorites from the original. The version here is almost a full minute longer than the originally released version. There's a long bass solo in the middle of the tune. The solo is periodically  broken up by a short motif played in unison between the guitar and bass. In the original, the same motif comes around a few times before the groove changes and Lane's solo begins. In the re-released version, that same line is played, but so is a whole new line that did not appear on the original release at all. They go back to that a few times as well before the guitar solo, which ends up extending the length of the tune. Hellborg must have edited the song down for the original, and now he's giving us the whole performance. 'Rice With The Angels' is another great track. This song became a Hellborg/Lane classic that they played live quite a bit. Each player has a solo spot on the album as well. Lane's is a piano piece entitled 'Pluie D'etincelles'. Most people think of Lane as an incredible guitarist, but he was a highly accomplished pianist as well. What a musician. And the solo drum track, 'Put The Shoe On The Other Foot', makes it's hard to believe Kofi Baker was only 17 at the time of this recording.

The 2 new songs are 'A Handful Of Earth', and 'Don't Look Back', both written by Hellborg. The band as a whole doesn't sound as tight on these songs as they do on the others. These 2 recordings were probably deemed too raw or unpolished to make the cut 12 years ago. But that's what I like to see in a reissued album; give me something I don't have yet if I already own the original release (which I do).  'A Handful Of Earth' has a decent solo by Lane, in a cool harmonic minor/phrygian-dominant tonality. 'Don't Look Back' is an odd one. One part has Lane playing these exotic lines with a backwards guitar effect. Another part, however, is a very mainstream-sounding doublestop rhythm part.

The question you may be asking is, "If I already own the original release, should I buy this one as well". For diehard Shawn Lane or Jonas Hellborg fans, my answer would be yes. It's worth it to have the 2 new tracks, and to hear the re-mixed originals. If you don't have this album yet, you should absolutely pick this up. Not only is the music incredible, but it's a point of historical significance in Shawn Lane's career, which you will want to experience.

The re-issued Abstract Logic is available now through Abstractlogix.com (where'd they get that name I wonder?)  It will be released through other outlets on 8/15.

Rich

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Mike Stern interview with Modern Guitars Magazine

Modern Guitars Magazine has a good interview with Mike Stern. Topics include: playing with Miles, playing with Jaco, Sterns new album and DVD, and other interesting stuff.

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Jimmy Herring joins Widespread Panic

Jimmy Herring has joined Widespread Panic as their new lead guitarist. They will be starting a fall tour on Sept 14th with a 3-day run at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Link

Added a PayPal donation button

I've added a PayPal donation button to the bottom left corner of the site. Any donations would be greatly appreciated, and will be used to help support and expand the Guitar Channel SHOUTcast stream.

Thanks
Rich

Frank Gambale To Release Three CD Compilations

Guitarist Frank Gambale will be releasing three CD compilations documenting the varying styles he has employed throughout his career. Best of Acoustic Side, Best of Jazz & Rock Fusion, and Best of the Smooth Jazz Side are set to be released Sept 5th.

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