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The Secret Room: Not So Secret Anymore
Now with more secrets — and less secrecy. Last winter I tried an odd experiment: a website where players were encouraged to post their best tone secrets — the kinds of tricks and techniques that are...
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Contest: Build the Tonefiend Forum!
A sad, desolate place — but not for long! One cool thing about going indie with tonefiend is that fact that I can finally host my own geek forum! It’s already up and running — but it’s a sad, vacant...
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Acoustic Strings: Bronze vs. Nickel
Like Talos the Giant from Jason & the Argonauts, most modern acoustic strings are made from bronze. Like him, they can be cruel and inflexible. UPDATE: I’ve updated the audio examples to include...
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Back to Bronze Acoustic Strings
Bronze isn’t so bad after all! A quick update to last week’s post about bronze and nickel strings: Over in the forum, Bear suggested trying 80/20 bronze strings. It’s a little embarrassing to admit,...
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Welcome to Fingerstyle Boot Camp!
I’m 200 years old, but I can still kick your ass, punk! UPDATE: I’m proud to announce that my fingerstyle video lesson based on the 200-year-old etudes of Mauro Giuliani has been selected to appear in...
View ArticleGuitar Lessons, Great and Otherwise
This clip from the short-lived British sketch-com Snuff Box made me think about great guitar teachers — and not-so-great ones. I was lucky — I had some truly memorable teachers, starting with my mom,...
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A High-Tech Plastic Guitar — from Half a Century Ago
Plastic guitars are not a new idea! In comments to a recent post on 3D-printed guitars, we were discussing the pros, cons, and general aesthetics of instruments molded from plastic. But this isn’t...
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Who Dares Predict Our Fretboard Future?
“We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.” — Criswell, Plan 9 from Outer Space UPDATE: Wow, I can’t believe all the cool stuff folks...
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NAMM I Am
It’s that time again, folks. “It’s the most won-der-ful time of the year…” Oh wait — that was last month. Now it’s January. NAMM time! I’ll be there for the duration, partly to hang out with my Pure...
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An Alternate-Tuning Capo
UPDATE, 03.07.13: I should have mentioned a point that several readers noted in comments: The capo only alters the tuning of open strings. Which means that while you can play many harmonies normally...
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The View from Here
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may have noticed a recurring pattern: I attend some interesting event and promise to report on it, only to get subverted by work, crowds, jabbering...
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Silk and Steel Strings Revisited
Silk and steel — bad-ass, or strictly for wusses?. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve tried silk and steel strings. I’ve always thought of them as a transitional set for students migrating from...
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Acoustic Strings Search: Update
Holy crap! Now THAT’S a guitar string! Man, it pays to curate a blog frequented by smart people! I wrote last week about my experiment with silk-and-steel strings. It’s the latest chapter in my ongoing...
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Tonefiend Book Week is Coming!
Next week at tonefiend we’ll be talking about our favorite guitar/music books. I’ll write about some of the titles I find especially useful, inspiring, or entertaining, and I hope you’ll chime in with...
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Tonefiend Book Week 2013Wednesday: Repair and DIY
Monday: Theory and Technique Tuesday: Gear Wednesday: Repairs and DIY Thursday: Biography Friday: Fiction Tonefiend Book Week is simple: I discuss a few titles I’ve found particularly enlightening,...
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A Guitar Tone Wiki?
Wikis (websites that permit that collaborative editing of information) are wonderful. I consider Wikipedia a modern miracle, one that revolutionized how we assemble, edit, and consume information. Who...
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A Lo-Fi Acoustic Guitar Pickup
Part acoustic, part electric—but 100% bitchin’. This post is inspired by in interview I just did with Mississippi Allstars guitarist Luther Dickinson, a cool dude and a deep player. I’m digging the...
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Strange, Strange Strings
No longer ridiculously expensive. Now they’re just very expensive. I spent last week covering the Musikmesse musical instrument trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, for Premier Guitar. I had a blast, and...
View ArticleTaylor 150e: An Affordable 12-String Acoustic
I needed a 12-string acoustic in a hurry for a session, so I picked up a new Taylor 150e for under $700. It wasn’t a review model or anything — I just ordered one online, sight unseen and sound...
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Magic Fairy Dust: The Veillette Avante Gryphon
I recently reviewed the gorgeous little Veillette Avante Gryphon for Premier Guitar and liked it so much that I bought one. This was my first opportunity to record it in my studio. The Avante Gryphon...
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