Chris Loeffler

Uncle Raymond Kane Style Hawaiian Slack-Key Guitar Techniques by Mark Nelson Guitar techique that will get you lei'd ... by Chris Loeffler Hawaiian slack key guitar is one of the world’s great guitar traditions. Called ki ho`alu in Hawaiian, it developed in the 19th Century. Legend has it the first guitars were brought by cowboys imported from Alta California to deal with wild cattle. By day, the paniolo taught the Hawaiians to rope and ride, by night they serenaded them with the soft sounds of Spanish guitars.. By the mid-20th century slack key had almost died out- no one wanted to hear this quiet, back country music. A series of ground-breaking recordings in the late ’40s by Gabby Pahinui changed all that. In the early 1970’s a young musician named Keola Beamer wrote the first-ever slack key instruction book. Since then the style has bloomed, thanks in no small part to pianist George Winston and his Dancing Cat Records. Slack key artists regularly tour North America, Europe and Japan and players from all over the world are discovering how satisfying it can be to play. Although most players prefer steel-string acoustics, slack key may be played on any guitar. It’s a fingerpicking style characterized by a strong, steady bass played with the thumb. Melodies, often harmonized in sixths; trills, slides and chimes (harmonics) are varied by each player in highly individualized styles. As one Hawaiian musician said, “I don’t care what notes you play, I just want to feel your aloha.” Ki ho`alu means “loosen the key”-it refers to retuning some of strings to create a harmonious sound. There are hundreds of slack tunings-most players stick to a few that define their personal style. Tunings have wonderful names like Taro Patch (D-G-D-G-B-D low to high); Drop C (Also known as Leonard’s C, after Leonard Kwan) (C-G-D-G-B-D), and Double Slack (a.k.a G Wahine or Namakelua’s Tuning) (D-G-D-F#-B-D). All of which brings us to Uncle Ray Kane. Widely considered the original slack key ambassador, Ray Kane opened many doors for this beautiful and unique guitar style. Uncle Ray was one of the first slack key masters to play public concerts and tour internationally, bringing the music of the islands to all corners of the globe. Slack key guitar was an honored tradition that players were hesitant to share with outsiders, and Kane’s willingness to perform in documentary films and teach broke from that tradition as he began witnessing the erosion of his culture. "If we don't share slack key, we'll lose it," he says. "That almost happened once, so we have to watch out." His outgoing personality, which earned him status as one of slack key's most beloved and colorful characters,. can be traced back to a deep family tree of famous Hawaiian musicians, including Andy Cummings, Genoa Keawe, Marlene Sai, and Mekia Kealakai. Despite a these musical roots and a father, Herman "Manu" Kane, who was an extraordinary slack key player who left the family when Kane was two, Kane’s desire to learn slack key forced him to look beyond his family for lessons at the age of nine. "Back then people wouldn't teach you unless you were family," Ray says. "But I was a good diver, so I made a deal with Albert Kawelo. I gave him fish and he gave me lessons." Ray also credits the radio with teaching him songs in the early days. "Back then I used to take my guitar everywhere," Ray says. "My favorite spot was Zablan's beach. It was so quiet at night. There was nobody around. I'd sit and play and watch the moon shine down on the waves." Kāne developed a deceptively simple and distinct style across many open tunings by plucking or brushing the strings with only the thumb and index finger of his right hand and performing hammer-ons and pull-offs with his finger moving up and out, instead of down and in. In 1961, the Tradewinds label invited Ray to make his first recordings. "It was a great experience, but there was no money in it," he says. "I had a family, you understand, so I just played out a little on the weekends.: The new attention the 1970’s brought to traditional artists in Hawaii, elevated Kane to the position of media celebrity and a role model for the young. In 1973, the newly created Hawaiian MusicFoundation asked Kane to perform formal concerts, something new for slack key. It brought the music and musicians to an entirely different audience. "I don't know why they picked me," Ray says. "I wasn't famous. I wasn't playing steady anywhere. I was just trying to stick to the style I learned back in the 1930s. Maybe that's why, but the next thing I knew people were asking me to play all over the place. All kinds of people came to those concerts. They'd just sit there and listen, then applaud after each song. I was in a state of shock." Kane peppered his performances with humor, an engaging counterpoint to the soft, romantic music he performed. "Hey, sometimes it makes me cry too," Ray says. Medical problems saw Kane ducking from the public eye for a decade before returning to teaching and performing in the 1980s. "I like to teach one-on-one. I tell all my students to do it your own way, from the heart. And don't talk stink about the other guy. Humble yourself. Play the best you can and share what you know." In 1987, in recognition of his performing and teaching, Kane received a National Endowment for the Arts Folk Heritage Fellowship, the nation's highest honor for a traditional artist. He was also recognized by the Hawaii state government and the city & county of Honolulu. That same year, Ray appeared in Robert Mugge's Hawaiian Rainbow documentary and made triumphant appearances across the Islands. -HC- Resources Old Time Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar: Complete Tablature by Mark Nelson Learn to Play Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar by Mark Nelson ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Electro Harmonix Green Russian Muff π Proof that you can keep your hands warm with a different kind of Russian muff ... by Chris Loeffler The Electro-Harmonix Big Muff fuzz pedal, possibly one of the longest running in-production pedals of the effects world, has seen many variations since it’s debut around 1969, with subtle (and not so subtle) tweaks to the circuit. The resulting changes produced different flavors of the distinct, thick sustain and distortion the Big Muff is known for, creating sub-cults of the Church of BMP. Some canonize the smooth, singing lead tones of the 70’s era USA Muffs, while overs prefer grungier, more gated fuzz tones. The army-green Russian Big Muff, always a favorite among guitar and bass players alike for its lower gain tones, fat bass response, smooth high end, and military-themed enclosure and packaging, debuted in 1994 and was produced until 2000. The seemingly endless demand for all flavors of Big Muff and proliferation of boutique cloners dropping Green Russian clones caught Electro-Harmonix’s attention and prompted the reintroduction of the Green Russian circuit. The Electro-Harmonix Green Russian Big Muff Pi reissue comes in EHX’s mini enclosure and has controls for Volume, Sustain, and Tone and runs on a standard 9v Boss-style adaptor or 9v battery. What You Need to Know First thing first… players hip to Electro-Harmonix pedals before 2010 likely remember the massive, unwieldy folded-steel enclosures, ready-to-chip paint, and non-standard power supplies as part of the package when you joined the EHX army, up to and including the wooden boxes they came in that would have looked at home in a Russian ammunition supply warehouse. I mention this only because that complete overkill in presentation and format created an experience that added a vibe and attachment to the EHX line. With those memories top of mind as I opened the box, I was surprised to see such a small, sturdy looking pedal. If you don’t know what to expect in a Big Muff, think thick, saturated gain that straddles the line between fuzz and distortion and varying levels of scooped mids, depending on the circuit. Subtlety is not the Green Russian's game, and the controls typically offer different shades of the same color, with limited dynamics and nothing to speak of in the lower range of the gain spectrum. The Electro-Harmonix Green Russian Big Muff Pi doesn’t stray from that equation, differentiating itself from the pack with a significantly beefier low end, more prominent (but still slightly scooped) upper mids, and a grittier texture to the distortion character. There’s less sustain than a current production Big Muff Pi and subtle gating in the decay. The Volume control gives access to more volume above unity, something I appreciated and don’t remember being the case with the original design, ensuring jumping from clean to the Muff’s distortion stands out and minimizing the tonal shift that comes with the cut in mids. The Tone knob provides limited focus in the fuzz, and helps settle into a place that best fits your amp’s EQ, either taming the highs or reigning in the lows. The Sustain knob controls the character of the distortion, and while I didn’t find much of interest in the lower half of the control, the upper half of the dial is crucial to fine-tuning the pedal to different pickup output levels. Another thing about the standing popularity of the original Green Russian is how well it played with the bass guitar. This carries forward with the Green Russian reissue. The expanded subs and distinct mid voicing creates a sludgy, lo-fi bass tone that would be equally at home on a Weezer or Sleep album. Said differently, I asked a bass player in a local band to demo the pedal against his Bass Big Muff Pi and received a text a day later asking if he could buy it (no). Limitations The “ideal” tone is a highly subjective, but to my ears the Green Russian excels at rhythm parts and immediately disappears in the mix for guitar leads, especially in a live setting. The black knobs and font against the capo green get difficult to read in poorly lit spaces. Conclusion The EHX Green Russian Big Muff Pi is unapologetically what it is; a grainier, deeper cousin to the smooth, violin-like USA Muffs of the 70’s. At less than half the cost of boutique clones, it is a no brainer for people looking for the grinding fury of the 90’s Muff tone. There is a little Easter egg printed on the PCB that brought a smile to my face, but I'll leave that a secret for the curious to discover themselves! -HC- Resources Electro-Harmonix Green Russian Big Muff Pi Product Page Buy Electro-Harmonix Green Russian Big Muff Pi ($107.50 MSRP, $80.60 Street) at Sweetwater , Guitar Center , B&H ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Thalia Guitar Capo Step up your capo game ... by Chris Loeffler Whether to quickly transpose a song to a different key for vocal comfort or simply wanting to unlock new colors in open strings, here often comes a time in a player’s life when it’s time to get a capo. The goal of a capo, to re-fret at a point further up the neck and change key without needing to relearn the notes on the fretboard, is typically accomplished by anything from a buckled piece of braided nylon or a vice-like mechanical clamp to hold down the barring strip. Thalia Capos, a newer company started by a father-daughter team, have been catching media and designer attention with their new take on the capo designs that introduces easier capo application, a more customized capo experience, and a focus on aesthetics. For the purposes reviewing, I was sent the Thalia Capo 200 in 24k gold finish with blue abalone inlay, the most popular of their 31 different designs. What You Need to Know The Thalia Capo ships in a fitted clear acrylic jewel case with two tension pad kit assortments (standard and high), all stored in a branded microfiber travel bag mean to fit in most gig bags. IThere are seven tension pads available in each tension kit, for a total of fourteen; 7.25”, 9.5”, 10”, 12”, 15”, 16”, radiuses and a C (classical) zero radius pad. For those who really like presentation and bling, there is a celebrity gift box option that is available for an upgraded price or with custom shop orders that includes two pull-out drawers and slots for picks. The most unique feature of the capo itself, other than being incredibly eye-catching, is it’s reverse implementation of the pincher and spring, making one-hand, on the fly mounting and dismounting of the capo a cinch during performances. Anyone who has had to break the flow of a show to apply or adjust a capo will readily see the benefit of this feature, as it makes putting a capo on as simple and fast as placing your fretting hand on the neck and releasing pressure from the trigger. I found the trigger to have the right balance of tension between feeing solid and substantial without straining my hand while pressing in to release the pincher. The tone was strident and consistent across the fretboard, and I suspect the slightly larger fret pads helped in creating uniformity across the strings. The inlays on the capo actually provide incredibly useful visual information in helping quickly align the capo at a perfect 90 degrees from the strings. I applied the Thalia capo to a Fender Strat, Gibson ES-335, Taylor 814, and Breedlove dreadnought without issue, and indeed felt and heard the benefits of matching the fret pad to the radius of the instrument. An off-brand Canadian classical guitar was all I had available to test the zero-radius pad, and I found it incredibly inspiring in higher frets to hear how the tone of the nylon strings settled into an almost bell-like character. Additional add-ons to the Thalia capo include partial pads for people looking to only capo three to four strings, and teflon pads to replace the rubber pads. I found the teflon pads to be much better suited to my preferences than the traditional rubber pads for a number of reasons; the seemed to introduce less of the intonation issues than I’ve experienced with capos in the past, there harder surface results in crisper highs, and it can even double as an on-the-fly slide. I found the teflon pads to sound closer to a fretted note than a repositioning of the nut, and found low-note bends to sound and feel less pinched. The trade-off, though, is losing some of the anchored stability of the standard rubber pad. Limitations Learning curve! The number of options and customizations that make the Thalia capo so great when dialed in means a player will probably want to dedicate 30 minutes to experimenting with the different pad sizes and types to identify the perfect fit for each guitar. While this isn’t necessary and a one-size-fits all would work, that misses the point of the Thalia. Conclusion The Thalia capo is probably the ultimate capo in terms of flexibility and premium build quality. With nearly three dozen standard styles, a player would be hard-pressed to find one that didn’t fit their visual sensibilities. The strength and ease of application during live performances instantly removes decades of awkward crowd banter typically associated with changing capos, and instant accessibility of “slide mode” with the teflon pads is something that will bring a grin to anyone’s face. While the premium packaging upgrades might seem excessive for what’s typically a strictly functional accessory, they really are a natural extension of the attention to construction, detail, and general quality as a whole… this is a capo that deserves the shrine they’ve built for it. - HC- Resources Thalia Capo Product Listings Buy Thalia Capos ($64.99 - $199.99) ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Different ICs for Different Tone A different circuit could tweak it perfect ... by Chris Loeffler Guitar players love to tinker with things and modify their gear to get the exact sound they want. Much like tone aficionados changes tubes in their amps to tweak the headroom or breakup characteristics of their amp’s tone, parts can be swapped in effects pedals to a similar end of modifying the characteristics of the effect. One of the most discussed examples of an effect that has been modified and customized to death is the Tube Screamer. The IC (Integrated Circuit) chip opamp is the heart of TS-type overdrive circuits and one of the biggest factors in shaping their sound. While the stock JRC 4558 found in the original Ibanez TS-808 is considered to be the epitome of the ideal overdrive sound (especially when compared to the loathed 72558A or JRC 2043DD found in later TS-9 models), experimenters and modders have embraced alternative opamps in their quest for the perfect overdrive tone. Effects maker PedalMechanic offers a unique take on the classic TS-808 circuit called the Bi-Polar Overdrive that includes the typical mods for increased bass and headroom, but adds a second 3PDT footswitch to switch between two different opamp chips, making it an ideal candidate to demo multiple chips. The two chips share the same Volume and Tone control but have independent Gain controls, making it easy to A/B chips throughout the gain range. Please note the following observations are based on the narrow focus of how they performed in this particular version of the TS topology and the applications TS are used in, not overall judgment of the merits of the ICs. In testing different ICs with the goal of really hearing the slight differences, it is important to start with a high-fidelity guitar and a clear, relatively trasparent amplifier. I nasally vintage mini-humbucker into a mid-heavy Marshall is likely going to bury a lot of the nuance that would be revealed with high-output, neaturally voiced pickups and a clean Fender Silverface. That said, keep in mind some of quirks revealed in the transparent testing will marry perfectly with character-heavy gear, so don't mistake purity of testing with "the best" when it comes to individual setups. The chips shipped with the B-Polar include the RCA 4558, LM1458, ST TL072, and a low noise 5532. A TA7558P and LM833N were also sourced for comparison. Starting with the inimitable RCA4558 chip, the classic TS-808 sound was nailed in spades. It had headroom and crunch with a vocal, harmonically rich upper-midrange. Basically, SRV in a box, and the standard by which the rest of the chips were measured. The LM1458, by comparison, seemed a bit cleaner and more sterile. While this chip excels in more transparent overdrive circuits, it came off as less colorful and a bit soulless in the TS. The ST TL072CN, while sharing the clarity and reduced midrange content of the LM1458, had a bright, piano-like percussive bloom to it that had a good feel, but the overdrive was a bit less rich than the 4558. The 5532 was the most bland and pedal-like of the group, with a boxy, two-dimensional overdriven sound. The TA7558P, which is what is found in more modern TS-9s as the stock chip, added quite a bit of high-end and produced a grainy overdriven sound that had an almost fuzzy haze to the overdrive. The LM833N was the final chip tested, and provided a clear, crunchy overdrive that was warm but a bit tighter than the typical OD. The tight clamping of the gain somewhat cut the sustain, and it felt more like a modern, gated drive than a classic, smooth overdrive. In the end, none were terrible, and the differences were probably not going to be heard in a live performance at a loud bar, but the comparisons did give ideas for how those other chips could shine as well as the happy accident that was the implementation of the original 4558 (which was purportedly used in the original 808 because of its low cost and ready availability). So other than a fun test, it is worth noting that an effect circuit is a concert of componants working together to create a specific sound. Upgrading caps, for instance, would have a much smaller impact than using a different value cap, and what's being fed into (and pulled out of) the IC was designed with that particular opamp in mind, so the circuit path that leads to glory with one IC may be unbalanced and weak with another. Like all great things in life, there is nothing better, just better suited to the moment. ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Cort Gold Series D6 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar When you're going for the gold, but don't have much gold by Chris Loeffler Earlier this year, Cort announced a special torrefaction process they were applying to soundboards in their new Gold series of acoustic guitars that would give new guitars the open tone of a decades old, well-worn acoustic. Called “Aged to Vintage,” the solid Sitka spruce tops of the Gold series are kilned to replicate the humidity fluctuations and vibrations of consistent regular use. After this process is complete, they apply a proprietary extra-thin UV coating for a protective but minimally constricting finish. The Cort Gold Series currently consists of a D6 Dreadnought-style body and an O6 Orchestra-style body. What You Need to Know The Cort Gold D6 Dreadnought acoustic guitar I received for review was precisely set-up, well balanced, and came in an extra-padded gig case. The 25.3 inch scale guitar features a solid Sitka spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides, with hand-scalloped X-bracing. The Mahogany neck has a rosewood fingerboard, genuine bone nut, and features deluxe gold tuning pegs on the headstock. The saddle too is genuine bone with rosewood and ebony pins, and the guitar is tied together with triple-ply ply purfling. The Doublelock neck joint in the Cort Gold D6 enhances tone and resonance transfer by using both a traditional dovetail neck joint and a reinforcing bolt for maximum material contact and stability. Visually, the guitar is classic looking and understated. The Gold D6 felt equally comfortable sitting or standing, and the neck in particular has a pleasing profile, with a rounded fingerboard edge that adds to the feeling the guitar has been well played. Sonically, the first strum revealed that something truly different was happening with the soundboard. Even the most elegantly designed and tonefully appointed acoustic guitars tend to have a pinched tightness to their acoustic sound that gradually opens up and mellows over time (sometimes days, sometimes months), but the Cort Gold D6 has an unnaturally open sound right out of the gig bag. The tone itself is classic Dreadnought, with enough bass to fill the entire sonic space for a solo performance without getting boomy, the highs are crisp, if somewhat subdued, and there is a strong, sweet midrange that gives extra articulation to arpeggios without turning to mud with heavy strumming. Limitations In two cases, I found the attention to detail in construction to be not to par with the rest of the instrument quality. While the Gold D6 feels and sounds fantastic, I noticed unmasked filling material at the nut and the smallest amount of corrective glue on the internal bracing upon an extra-close inspection. Given the price point and the fact that these are barely noticeable cosmetic things that don’t impact the tone or durability of the guitar, these aren’t big deals, but it speaks to how well the guitar looks, feels, and plays that they even caught my attention. Conclusion The $400-$600 price-point is a pretty crowded one in the acoustic guitar market, and it’s hard to stand out in a sea of imported acoustic with established brand names, but I believe the Cort Gold D6 Dreadnought will be a big seller at guitar stores, where players are able to actually play (and buy) with their ears - not their eyes. The Aged to Vintage process is the real deal, and the Gold D6 takes a decade’s worth of break-in out of the equation for an instantly open- and warm-sounding acoustic guitar. HC- Resources Cort Gold Series D6 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Product Page Buy Cort Gold Series D6 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar (Street $499.99) @ Musician's Friend , Reverb, Guitar Center ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

D&A Guitar Stands Even your guitar needs a support network by Chris Loeffler Accessories are often the least sexy purchases made for guitar: they don’t make new sounds, or change how your instrument feels…they are workhorses. That said, at some point we need to ask ourselves how many times our guitars need to get stepped on or knocked over before we realize accessories like guitar stands pay for themselves in convenience. D&A Guitar Gear reached out to Harmony Central at Summer NAMM and asked if we’d like to give their entire line of guitar stands a spin. Normally, we don’t like to review multiple products in a single review, but there was enough functional crossover among the different stands and hangers that we decided to take a roundup approach. D&A Starfish (Passive and Starfish+ Active) The D&A Starfish guitar stand comes in two formats (passive and active), and features a five-legged open yolk design for increased stability and balance. Two of the five legs are longer than the others, creating a more solid connection with the ground while at the same time, clearing the front area where the guitar body will be resting. The guitar is suspended by the yolk, and doesn’t need support on the body or bout. D&A claims the Starfish can withstand twice the tilt (30 degrees as opposed to 15) without tipping over, a claim I didn’t verify, but I can attest you have to want to knock one over to make it lose balance or even jostle the guitar in the stand. Casual bumps and kicks replicating the typical risks guitar stands face during gig setup and breakdown didn’t budge the Starfish. One of the nice visual features of the Starfish is the angle at which it holds guitars; they seem more “presented” than simply hanging, resulting in a curated, aesthetically pleasing look. However as robust as the Starfish is, it folds in half in seconds and the size and weight both make it travel-ready. The Starfish features the same Grip Friction System used by all the D&A stands and hangers, where the yolk is covered in a polymer molding that is soft enough to add a bit of grip to the neck and make initial contact gentler. I found no memory loss over the multiple week evaluation period, and the inner grooves give even more pinch for a very solid cradle. While the Starfish Passive is plenty sturdy and capable of securing a guitar, the Starfish Active + guitar stand features a spring-assisted yolk grip that holds the neck on a spring so that it's slightly raised. As the guitar is placed in the hanger, its weight drops the cradle into the yolk, causing a see-through gate to emerge from both ends to enclose and lock in the guitar neck. This added stability may be overkill given how well the Starfish Passive works, but it undeniably beefs up the protection. D&A Hydra Triple Guitar Stand The Hydra triple guitar stand triples down on the guitar storage capabilities of the Starfish and adds an extra leg to ensure balance. Probably the Hydra's best feature is that it triples the amount of guitars held yet barely expands the footprint, making it by far the most space-saving solution in the D&A lineup. Using the same locking yolk system as the Starfish Active + in triplicate, the Hydra adds a soft-plastic support bar for the body to keep the same level of balance as the Starfish - even when only one or two of the yolks is holding a guitar. Given that it works nearly identically to the Starfish, I decided to try to exploit balancing weaknesses by playing around with different lengths and weights of guitars and basses. Long story short, I wasn’t able to destabilize the Hydra regardless of how unbalanced it was, even when balancing a mandolin and a six-string extended neck bass. D&A Grip Wall-Mounted Guitar Hanger The Grip is a wall-mounted guitar hanger available in black and white/chrome configurations. The solid-steel alloy framework is rated to hold up to 50 lbs, and installation is as simple as finding a supportive place on you wall and screwing it in. I was able to fit all my guitars in without issue, although I found an old Dobro with a huge neck to be a bit too large. When properly installed, most guitars, regardless of size or weight, sat perfectly horizontal to the wall and didn’t look cocked in or out, which made the hung guitar very aesthetically pleasing. D&A Headlock Wall-Mounted Guitar Stand The bigger brother of The Grip, the Headlock also mounts to the wall but places the yolk grip that holds the neck on a spring so that it's slightly raised. Just like with the Starfish Active +, as you place the guitar in the hanger, its weight drops the cradle into the yolk, causing a see-through gate to emerge from both ends to enclose and lock in the guitar neck. While I didn’t have much concern about a guitar slipping from The Grip, there is no doubt the Headlock increases the stability even further and has a nice, solid feel to it. I’ve found few guitar hangers that don’t require a second hand to stabilize the guitar’s body as it nests into the hanger, but I was confidently placing and removing guitars from the two I evaluated with a single hand and without a concern of the guitar shifting into place. Like The Grip, the Headlock is available in black or white and chrome colors. D&A Gigstand and Icestand (Electric and Acoustic) The D&A Gigstand is a floor stand available for Electric and Acoustic guitars, and it small enough to fold and place in your back pocket or gig bag. Although they are treated as separate SKUs, the Gigstand and the Icestand share the same design and form factor and differ only in that the Gigstand is a standard black color while the Icestand is clear. Weighing about as much as a guitar cable (20 oz.), the Gigstand folds open in two steps and is dramatically more durable and stable than I expected. The no-skid treatment at the base makes a solid connection with the floor - the moment a guitar is set in it, your axe is effectively anchored to the ground and not going to move unless you roundhouse kick it. Adding to the stability is the same Grip Friction System used by all the D&A stands and hangers, which holds the guitar both at the bout and on the back. After a couple of weeks of monkeying around with the Gigstand and Icestand with both my electric and acoustic guitars I expected to see a bit of loosening of stability as they broke in after multiple uses, but they were both as rigid and stable as they were when I took them out of the boxes, with solid connections in the joints and smooth folding despite my (intentional) less-than-gentle treatment of them. Limitations As stands and hangers that bring enhanced features to the table, it’s hard to find an issue with them. My only suggestion is offereing the hangers in multi-unit bundles for people who want to put up several guitars and save a few dollars. Conclusion The Grip Friction System is a simple but elegant solution to many of the issues I’ve encountered with stands in the past, from inferior materials that mar the guitar to stability and resting position within the yolk, and it is well implemented throughout the line, from hangers to stands. Build quality is consistent across the line and the folding hinges and latches all carry a professional heft to them that elevates them beyond the typical guitar store stand fare. Given that the sole purpose of a guitar stand or hanger is to protect your guitar while keeping it within reach, I don’t know how one could improve upon the design or materials in the D&A guitar stand and hanger line. -HC- Resources D&A Starfish Passive Guitar Stand (MSRP $69.99, Street $50) Buy @ Sweetwater, Musician's Friend, AMS, zZounds D&A Starfish Active + Guitar Stand (MSRP $89.99, Street $70) Buy @ Sweetwater, Musician's Friend, zZounds, Guitar Center, AMS D&A Hydra Guitar Stand (MSRP $199.99, Street $149.99) Buy @ Sweetwater, Musician's Friend D&A The Grip Guitar Hanger (MSRP $19.99, Street $14.99) Buy @ Sweetwater D&A Headlock Guitar Hanger (MSRP $32.99, Street $27.99) Buy @ Sweetwater D&A Gigstand Guitar Stand (MSRP $29.99, Street $24.99) Buy @ Sweetwater D&A Icestand Guitar Stand (MSRP $30.99, Street $25.99) Buy @ Sweetwater ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Primer for Gypsy Jazz Guitar with Ed Dunsavage Django fortunes told with a jazzy twist by Chris Loeffler Jazz guitarist and university instructor Ed Dunsavage held a workshop for the Britt Education Guitar Workshop this year to provide students with an overview of jazz guitar, with a focus on his current passion - Gypsy jazz in the style of Django Reinhardt. A large focus of the exploration focused on the foundation of most Gypsy jazz rhythm parts with an introduction to "La Pompe" ("the pump"), the typical rhythm guitar strumming. This simple, driving beat is often played by multiple players at the same time, which moves the progression forward relentlessly in a traditionally percussion-free genre. As simple as it sounds, mastering La Pompe requires a fairly disciplined practice regimen, but the payoff is one of the most infectious guitar rhythms in the world that is useful for much more than just Gypsy jazz. The Technique of La Pompe Starting below the high E string, play an upstroke, then a down stroke and then quickly rest your strumming hand above the low E string, so you’re positioned for the next down stroke. As you do this, place an emphasis on contact with the lower strings more than the high strings to create a solid bass foundation. With your hand already in place, quickly fast down stroke, this time emphasizing the sound of the upper strings more than the lower strings. That’s the technique, as simple as could be. That said, there are a lot of body mechanics to pay close attention to that are required for proper strumming feel and motion. You use your elbow and not your wrist to strum, so that your entire arm is working the strum and you have a more solid and consistent attack. However, your wrist should still be slightly bent to keep contact from being too stiff. The staccato pumping of La Pompe requires lots of fast jumps and pauses, requiring efficient and controlled right-hand technique. Chords & Chord Progressions Here is a classic Gypsy jazz chord progression to work through that's perfect for La Pompe. This is just a brief taste of what the first steps into learning Gypsy jazz is all about, and if you like where it's going, you've got a long, enjoyable musical road ahead of you! -HC- ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral Modulated Delay Modulate your delay...delay...elayd...layde...aydel by Chris Loeffler Earthquaker Devices debuted the Space Spiral at 2017 Winter NAMM, adding yet another left-of-center option to their impressive line of delay and reverb effects. As anyone who has been paying attention to Earthquaker Devices’ pedal introductions over the last year or two has likely noticed, they’re slowing down on the “me too” circuits that most pedal makers fall into and ramping up unique sounds that expand the general sonic palette. With nearly a half-dozen Earthquaker Devices delays on the market, let’s unpack what makes the Space Spiral different. The Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral is a darkly-voiced modulated delay effect that features a 30 ms-600 ms delay time with controls for Time, Repeats, Mix, Depth, Shape, and Rate. The pedal runs on a standard 9 volt DC power supply with 2.1mm negative center barrel, and features clickless true-bypass. What You Need to Know The Space Spiral's control section divides into delay and modulation categories, with the Repeats dictating the number of delay repeats, Mix blending in the delayed signal from entirely absent to almost exclusively wet signal, and Time dictating the delayed signal's length. Without modulation, the delayed signal has a darker sound that cuts treble a bit more with each subsequent repeat. The delays are slightly rounded off but have a solid presence; for example, they're less smeared-sounding than a Deluxe Memory Man. The modulation portion of the Space Spiral is applied only to the delayed signal. The Depth control determines how wide the pitch modulation will be in the effect, the Shape control goes from a soft-shouldered triangle wave to a hard-chop square wave, and Rate sets the speed at which the modulation ramps between extremes. The range of all these controls allows for extremes that most will find go beyond their needs, so it will help to listen with your ears - not your eyes - when determining ideal settings. The Depth control allows for a pretty hefty amount of detuning, both musical and otherwise, but can be dialed in as subtly as you’d like. I found the most common tones to reside in the lower third of the modulation controls, but interesting warped record and drones emerge as your reach the halfway point of all three controls. Even modulated pads could be coaxed out with careful dialing, and near octave-spanning stepped jumps are available on the far side of the Depth dial. For a lo-fi delay effect with modulation, the Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral is immaculately devoid of background noise or artifacts. This holds true even at the highest delay time. Players seeking the analog-style UFO takeoffs and other musical forms of self-oscillation will find the Space Spiral’s out-of-control feedback very organic and controllable. Limitations Modern delays have made features like tap tempo and stereo outputs almost obligatory, so their absence on the Space Spiral is conspicuous and make it a less likely contender to be the delay that replaces all your other delays. Conclusion The Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral takes a familiar sound to very new places. While there is an undeniable “Deluxe Memory Man with more definition” vibe to the more modest modulation settings, the extreme settings go way beyond that due to the extended pitch depth and unique modulation shapes. The modulation and repeats marry beautifully, and the lack of hiss or digital artifacts deserves repeating. -HC- Resources Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral Product Page Buy Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral ($195.00 Street) @ Sweetwater, Amazon, Musician's Friend, Guitar Center, Sam Ash ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

(Note: Tube amplifiers contain potentially lethal voltages, and any internal work—such as voltage checks, soldering, and even internal cleaning—can pose safety concerns and should be done by a professional.) Tube and analog audio devices defined the sound of electric instruments for more than a half a century, and has become so ingrained into the general concept of what an instrument sounds like that even in the year 2017, where all technology is heading digital, most players have stuck to tube amplifiers - or at least digital or solid-state audio processing that replicates the warmth and unique gain structure of tube-driven circuits. Unlike most modern consumer electronics, tube amps leverage antiquated technology whose “flaws” and technical limitations are actually considered a benefit. That said, like any device using physical components, tube devices require regular upkeep to maintain peak performance. Proper care is neither time consuming nor prohibitively expensive. Regularly played tube amplifiers likely require changing at least the power tubes (and probably the preamp tubes as well) every couple of years or so. You’ll know it’s time to consider a re-tube when you experience inconsistent volume/gain levels between uses, increased hiss and white noise, ora general dulling of tone. Re-tubing most amps is something players can do with no experience or equipment, although there are fixed-bias amps that require rebiasing when output tubes are changed, meaning a multimeter or a professional is required. On the average, output (power) tubes tend to benefit from replacement every couple of years, although how often they're used and how hard they're pushed impacts that estimate. Preamp tubes generally last longer, with the first preamp tube and phase inverter positions being the most likely areas to need attention if the amp begins sounding dull. There’s a long-standing rumor that handling tubes with bare hands leaves oil on the glass that can create hot-spots and result in early failure, but that’s not really accurate (although working on anything with clean hands is a good idea)! As always, be sure to follow your amp manufacturer’s owners manual’s instructions for tube replacement, and use higih-quality, properly tested tubes as your replacements. Guitar amplifiers (especially combos) go through quite a bit of physical stress from transportation and even the physical vibration of the amplified noise passing through the speaker. To stay on top of this, physical maintenance to keep your amp firm and rattle free, like tightening speaker-mount nuts finger-tight should take place every three to six months. When tightening speaker mounts, the goal is to create a solid connection between the speaker and cabinet without getting so tight you’re bending the speaker basket or damaging the wooden baffle to which it’s mounted. Following this same approach, check the mounting screws or bolts holding your transformers to the chassis, the speaker baffle, the back panels on the cabinet, the handle, the feet, and even the chassis itself. Anything that is loose can (and will) rattle when you crank up that amp . Electrolytic capacitors (filter caps) keep electric ripple and noise out of your amp’s power stage, and are likely the second-most short-lived components in your amp. Quality filter caps should last between 10 to 20 years before beginning to fail. Faulty filter capacitors result in noisier operation and a flabbier-sounding low end; at the point of near total failure, they can introduce dissonant harmonics that sound a little like a lower and out-of-tune tone. Due to the need to know basic soldering for extraction and their proximity to high-voltage circuitry within the amp, replacing filter caps is likely a job for the professional amp tech. To be clear, a dangerous charge can be lurking in your amp even when it's switched off and unplugged, and this charge can persist for a while. The parts themselves are not expensive, and a quality tech with a schematic of the amp for reference can likely replace them in 15-20 minutes. While modern amplifiers tend to be built with more tightly spec’ed parts than their vintage brethren, resistors in amps old and new can drift in tolerance over time and sometimes fail entirely; this is another job for an experienced electrician. Crackling, hissing, and sizzling sounds, particularly during warm up, are all signs the carbon comp resisters in your preamp may be failing. Larger resistors in the power stage also occasionally fade due to the heat and high voltages they handle. These aren’t in the signal chain, but they’re worth having a tech test them if your amp is being serviced for anything else. Final Thoughts Does this basic maintenance sound like too much? It really isn’t. It’s a small price to pay to keep your tone a great as the day you bought the amp. If your guitar started sounding dull, you’d change the strings. If your intonation started drifting, you’d have it set up. The same should be true for your tube equipment; if you love the sound of your amp, make sure it keeps that sound over the years! -HC- Things to Know Vacuum Tubes A vacuum tube, like a light bulb, operates by heating a metal filament (cathode) coated with electrons, which emits them to the plate and become a moving electric current. Tube Bias If too many electrons heat the plate in the tube, it will eventually overheat and be destroyed. By applying a bias voltage to the grid, the number of electrons passing through the grid is reduced and can be managed for optimum performance. Tube Care Tubes need to be biased correctly. If they are biased too hot, your tubes may be running beyond spec and die prematurely. Set too cold, your tubes may sound lifeless and sterile. As tubes are often run in pairs, biasing them equally (to the manufacturer’s recommended level) prevents one tube from working harder than the others. If your amp has a standby switch, let the amp warm up for 60 seconds on standby before turning it up to full power. If your amp doesn’t include a standby switch, avoid passing any signal through it for a similar period of time. Until the tubes have warmed up and are in optimal operating mode, processing an instrument's signal is overly taxing on them. Tubes turn white when they lose their vacuum, which is a good indicator that they need to be replaced. Another visual clue is purple glow focused around specific elements. This glow, which means there is leakage, can be confused with the combination of orange glow at the filament and the cloudy blue glow near the glass. ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Electro-Harmonix Tone Corset Compressor Effect Pedal You'll look great wearing this corset ... by Chris Loeffler For players obsessed with squeezing their guitar tone into a very narrow space, the name and artwork of the Electro-Harmonix Tone Corset definitely makes sense… The Electro-Harmonix Tone Corset is an OTA analog compressor designed for guitar in a small, foot-stomp format. The Tone Corset features four controls (Sustain, Attack, Blend, and Volume), a pad switch for higher-output pickups or other instruments, true bypass switching, and is powered via a standard Boss-style 9v adapter or 9v battery. What You Need to Know Similar to standard compression controls, the Electro-Harmonix Tone Corset features basic controls to shape the compression's envelope and attack. The Sustain knob controls the amount of compression that's applied to the signal after the initial attack peaks, and can easily double or triple the duration of a sustained note when turned all the way up. More subtle settings change the speed, nature, and ramp-down of the decay, but don’t alter the basic character of the Tone Corset’s compression. Attack determines how quickly the compressor’s envelope kicks in. At lower settings, the compression is applied so rapidly it effectively obscures the true pick attack, and at the highest settings the compression slowly ramps in a swell that can take up to a full second to overtake the direct signal. The Attack control is somewhat interactive with the Sustain control, especially in determining the character between attack and release. The Blend knob is where the biggest tone tweaking happens, as different combinations of the dry and compressed signals determine how subtle or over-the-top the overall effect is. Blending both, the dry signal allows the natural pick attack to come thru while the compressed side swells to replace the direct signal at unity as the note decays. Volume controls the output of the blend of the dry and compressed signals, making anything possible from a clean boost to a punchy compressor to push a hot preamp. The Tone Corset features a Pad switch to adjust the input sensitivity, which I found to be subtle on electric guitar (even when comparing low output to high output pickups) but necessary if running with a bass or keyboard. The Electro-Harmonix Tone Corset leverages the natural character of the OTA chip to create a warm, funky compression that is meant to add its flavor to the guitar tone. What is that flavor? It sounds warm (a tad lifted in the mids) and punchy. The compression, while not transparent, is consistent and has a vintage, saturated dynamic that really grabs on to overdriven signals. For those seeking the Ross/Dyna Comp tone, the EQ is there, but the compression behavior of the Tone Corset is less rubbery. By virtue of how it works, compression can add or amplify signal noise, and OTA chips are especially challenged by headroom issues, so it was surprising to me how quiet the Tone Corset was in even less-than-ideal situations (dirty power, shared power supplies, single coil pickups). Dead silent? No, but quieter than most of the compressors with which I compared it. Limitations There is undeniable high-end roll off in the compressed signal that keeps the Tone Corset from standing in on “transparent compression” duties. Conclusion Electro-Harmonix’s Tone Corset brings a new compression tone to players, with a “similar yet different” sound that walks the line of doing the duty of several different cornerstone compressor designs without falling into the trap of being a one-trick pony by virtue of the excellently implemented Blend control. While there is too much character in the compression circuit to be called uncolored, the Tone Corset brings the right amount of funk and vintage behavior to complement the electric guitar beautifully. -HC- Resourcees Electro-Harmonix Tone Corset Product Page The Electro-Harmonix Tone Corset (MSRP $119.30, Street $89.50) is available from: Sweetwater B&H Guitar Center AMS zZounds Reverb.com Musician's Friend ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Rock Guitar Primer with Page Hamilton You're gonna need your helmet for this ... by Chris Loeffler Many Rock players are afraid of theory, but theory doesn’t need to be a dirty word; it’s the key to learning songs. Without a solid foundation of basic theory, learning songs is nothing more than rote memorization that adds a song to your repertoire but does nothing to expand your personal musical knowledge. That said, many players don’t know where to start, so when talking with Page Hamilton at a recent guitar workshop for rock guitar, he suggested going to the basics and really understanding scales and chords. Other articles specifically address scales, so we will focus on the most common chord types in this brief overview. The majority of rock music is built on the foundation of basic major, minor and seventh chords in guitar voicings. Understanding the basics of how these chords are put together is a great first step to understanding the theory behind why they work on a listening level. Major Chords Major chords do the majority of the heavy lifting in rock music. Major chords are simply built from different notes taken from the major scale, such as taking the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes from the scale to make the chord. For instance, the C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A and B) forms a major chord from C, E and G. The same logic applies to major chords in any scale. Minors Minor chords can produce a dramatically darker sound than major chords by altering a single note. Flattening the 3rd creates a more melancholy tone that creates interesting counter-points to major chords. Using the C major scale again (C, D, E, F, G, A and B), you can see that while the 1st ©, 4th (F), and 5th (G) notes can be played as major chords the 2nd (D), 3rd (E), and 6th (A) can be played to express a minor chord. Again, this applies to all keys. Sevenths Introducing 7th chords, which flatten the 7th note in the scale, adds unease to a progression and can create interesting transitions between chords. In the example of C, a C7 chord will replaces the B in the scale with a B flat. You can essentially replace ordinary chords for sevenths whenever you’re looking to heighten tension to a progression. With these three basic chord types you can play, or at least fake your way through, any rock song. By understanding what notes are changing in the scale that compose these chord types makes both chord voicing and melodic notes much more obvious than just trying to “hear” the difference. Building Chord Progressions Scales don’t just form chords; entire progressions can be built from scales! Using the C major scale, where C is I, D is II, E is III, F is IV, G is V, A is VI and B is VII, you can quickly identify one of the most abundant chord progressions in rock guitar, I-IV-V. Knowing that the II, III and VI notes in the scale are minor, you can build on the I-IV-V progression with minors like I-VI-IV-V to build in a minor chord. In C, this would be C major, A minor, F major and G major. Now experimenting with the duration of individual chords within the progression it’s easy to start creating a “new” song from old parts. Putting It All Together This is a very simple overview of what could be a very deep topic, but it’s meant to show how obvious and easy learning theory is and how built music theory is into the fabric of guitar playing. Simple patterns suddenly open entirely new doors, and eventually you’ll have enough knowledge to pick the perfect notes and chords the first time, every time! -HC- ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

An Introduction to Music Technology: 2nd Edition, by Dan Hosken If music technology makes you cower ... by Chris Loeffler Textbooks created for university programs are a mixed bag, and often require a strong professor to bring the material to life. That said, they can also can form the core of a learning experience and be tomes of knowledge kept for repeated reference in the future. This gets particularly tricky when the focus of a text is on something as fleeting as technology, which is why I was sent a recently updated, Second Edition of Dan Hosken’s An Introduction to Music Technology and asked to provide feedback for how well it balanced technological advancements with the core subject. What You Need to Know An Introduction to Music Technology is a fundamental studies book found in many audio engineering and music-major departments throughout universities. It is written as a coursebook designed to educate aspiring audio engineers in the technology behind modern recording techniques in both consumer and professional capacities. The challenge with any instructional material about technology is that technology changes; hence the 2nd Edition issue of the book and various author updates around the current state of hardware and software standards in recording. Hosken does a deft job of getting deep enough into specifics that it feels relevant to recording in this moment, but is functionally-oriented enough that the application is more about what is being accomplished than how it’s being accomplished. For instance, plug-ins and software updates are mentioned in broad enough strokes to be not only applicable to the programs described, but also within the general ecosystem of recording software and hardware. In short, the content is around types of gear and technology, not specific pieces. The section covering EQ, audio plug-ins, and general sound processing is illuminating in the explanation of how these technologies work, but a bit shallow on general application within the engineering processes. As such, the book truly does feel like a part of a series of topics around audio engineering as opposed to a one-stop shop for beginners. Hosken’s writing style sits somewhere between professorial and technical; wordy enough to feel like an explanation as opposed to a process, but technical enough to build out vocabulary with conversation. There were times when the narrative-focus challenged my use of it as an on-the-fly reference book like a true technical manual. Limitations There is an assumption readers already have a decent background in general recording techniques, leaving readers without any prior recording experience to connect the dots between the “how” of recording and the “what” of the hardware and software tools being described by Hosken. Conclusion Read in conjunction with courses around recording, mixing, and mastering techniques, An Introduction to Music Technology can be a powerful foundation for understanding the process of sound capture and processing. There is likely more information in this book than any one student will need, but a quick look at Amazon and various book sites shows that this is the rare college textbook that isn’t being immediately traded in at the end of the term. The wordiness may turn off the completely technical minded, and the specificity may scare off a few true neophytes, but that’s the balance between creating something for a specific audience or something for as broad an audience as possible. - HC- Resources Rent or Buy "An Introduction to Music Technology" on Amazon (MSRP $68.95, Street $43.17) ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Classical guitar music can often mean playing from a repertoire of classically composed pieces that form the pantheon of traditional “classical” music. That said, modern classical guitar composers and performers have a rich pool from which to draw from that includes Jazz, Folk, Improvised Music, and any number of national styles. This diversity in material further expands the structure and composition expectations of what Classical guitar music can be. Much of the older, canonical Classical guitar pieces were written by composers, not guitar players, with a focus on musicality and lack of worry of the physicality of performing the piece within the geometry of the instrument. As such, there are certain phrasing and chording positions that appear in Classical guitar that are rare outside of the genre simply because the symmetry of the guitar’s strings leads most guitar players to play to the fretboard. Classical Sound Unlike electric and steel string guitars, Classical guitar playing does not allow for additional tools, like a plectrum or slide. The expressive quality of the nylon strings, simplicity of the acoustic design, and finger/nail condition as strings are plucked and strummed makes the Classical style performance one of the most individualized and stripped down experiences available to guitar players. Unlike other genres, where gear is often as associated with the voice of the player as their musical vocabulary, the Classical player’s voice is entirely stylized by their playing technique. Classical Technique Classical technique is most identified by accuracy and purpose of the player’s right hand and finger independence. Each finger most be available to perform in tandem or asynchronously as well as manage individual dynamics. While Classical technique has a reputation for being one of the most demanding styles of guitar music, there is actually quite a bit of flexibility within the parameters of “proper” technique. For instance, there is no one way to sit correctly; whether the crook of the guitar is resting on your thigh or the bout of the guitar is sitting directly in your lap, as long as a player achieves a straight spine and relaxed shoulders they should be “compliant”. Leaning slightly into your guitar gives you a greater prevue into your fretboard and also encourages a more active role in performance. Classical Notation Classical guitar’s relative rigidity in using standard notation rather than TAB is another perceived barrier to entry, and does require a bit more up front investment. While there may not be a silver-bullet shortcut to learning standard notation, the payoffs are worth it. Standard notation opens the door to composing and even, to a degree, performing on any instrument. It’s more an investment in music knowledge in general, not just your instrument. -HC- Resources Grant Ruiz Home Page ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupter Synthesizer Effect Pedal Turns chaos into music! by Chris Loeffler Standard guitar effects like overdrive, pitch and amplitude modulation, and delay are a core of the foundation of the guitar tones in modern music. Every now and then, an oddball effect like ring modulation or bit crushing will step into the spotlight for being distinctly not guitar-like, someone will find a way to use that effect in a way people haven’t heard before, and a cult following forms around the eccentric sound while the general playing public writes it off as a one-trick pony. I already see the Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupter taking such a place in history, being flexible enough to inspire creative players to explore new territory while requiring just enough learning time to be written off by players who don’t want to commit the ten minutes to understand the tool (or are married to the status quo). The Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupter is a monophonic PLL (phase-locked loop) harmonizing synthesizer with modulation capable of creating three-voice guitar synthesizer tones that features discrete control sections for Voice Mixer, Master Oscillator, Suboctave, and Frequency Modulator. It also features soft-touch true-bypass switching, and is powered by a standard 9v adaptor. What You Need to Know In layman’s terms, the Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupter introduces a square wave fuzz and an oscillator that synthesizes the input signal up between 1 and 3 octaves for a Theremin-style sound. You can add an additional subharmonic signal path that's either tied to the input signal or the oscillator that can be dialed from -1 to -3 octaves as well. Listen to the clip below to get an idea of the types of sounds lurking within the Earthquaker Data Corrupter. The Data Corrupter does a lot of things at once to achieve its unique sounds, and even with the logical, user-friendly control layout there is still a bit of a learning curve to move past the “this thing is crazy” phase and predictably dial in the sounds you want. Spending your initial ten minutes with the Data Corrupter learning the three sections individually, then exploring how they interact, is the quickest way to mastering the unit as a whole. Starting with the Voice Mixer section, you can manually blend the Square, Subharmonic, and Oscillator output volume. Turning down the Subharmonic and Master Oscillator controls reveals an effective, grungy square wave fuzz tone that is thick and complex, with a stepped and gated decay reminiscent of a subtle digital flare out. Blending in the Subharmonic next is helpful to understanding the relationship of the subharmonic notes octave and interval to the input signal (-1/U, -1/5, -2/U, -2/M3, -2/5, -2/m7, -3/U, -3/M2). The Subharmonic signal can be generated from the input signal (Unison) or from the Oscillator. The tone produced is a warm, slightly fuzzed octave interval that sustains better than most analog octave devices I’ve evaluated. The sound can get a little glitchy when playing multiple notes simultaneously, but “stable” is the most fitting word to describe the Subharmonic section. My experience is setting the Subharmonic to Unison yielded the most predictable results; tying it to the Master Oscillator is best after the behavior of the Oscillator is fully understood, as the cascaded signal multiplying can seem random without Master Oscillator mastery. The Master Oscillator section is the dark heart of the Data Corrupter, and is set to synthesize against the input signal at Unison or down 1 to 2 degrees, which helps to dial in tracking on certain instruments. The behavior of the Master Oscillator can be set to Glide or Vibrato modes, which means the Oscillator will either pitch modulate vibrato at a consistent rate (set by the Rate control) at the octave division above the input note or rise and fall to the notes being played in glide mode, which creates a whammy-like swell attack as the oscillator bends from the input note to the subdivided note, sustains in relative stability until the input signal drops below a certain threshold, and then decays back down to the base note. I found the Master Oscillation section (U, +1/U, +1/5, +2/U, +2/M3, +2/5, +2/m7, +3/U) to be most expressive in the Glide mode, especially when utilizing odd intervals in both the Oscillator and Subharmonic sections - but there’s no denying the appeal of the Radiohead-ready haunting upper octave vibrato over the moody Square and Subharmonic signal lines. Keeping a blend of the Square in the signal mix is crucial to hearing how the Master Oscillator behaves within the context of the input signal. Once you understand the Master Oscillator's behavior, things can get really wacky when the Subharmonic signal path is set to generate from the Master Oscillator. The result is the Subharmonic pulls the opposite direction of the Master Oscillator while modulating or gliding in concert. For an even more mind-bending exploration of new sonic territory in the Master Oscillator-controlled Subharmonic, setting the Oscillator to the fifth and octave above the input signal and the Subharmonic a Major 3rd two octaves down from the input signal results in tendril branches of conflicting harmonies that scramble to different edges of the sonic spectrum, peak at a surprisingly satisfying polyphonic chord voicing, and then descend into chaos as the various audio lines reconcile. Limitations The Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupter is fundamentally a monophonic device, meaning the more complexity you add to its signal (more than one note, especially as the intervals get more exotic) the more likely the Master Oscillator and Subharmonic lines will glitch out. Conclusion The Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupter is a pedal for iconoclasts and explorers, and can be incredibly revelatory and rewarding for players seeking glitch, lo-fi NES soundtrack throwbacks, stoner rock psychedelia, or retro-futuristic sonic walls. The stability and fine tuning of the various signal paths makes for a much more predictable and user-friendly experience than I’ve experienced in similar types of effects, and with a little disciplined discovery work the Data Corrupter is one of the most intuitive and accessible platforms I’ve experienced when it comes to marrying an instrument signal with an oscillator. On the other hand, those chasing the perfect smooth, glassy lead tone or chimey crunch for rhythm chords might want to keep on walking and stick to the safe side of the aisle. -HC - Resources Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupter Product Page and Manual The Earthquaker Devices Data Corruptor (street price about $225) is available from: Sweetwater Sam Ash ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

V-Picks Acrylic Guitar Plectrum Round-Up Sometimes it pays to be picky ... (yup! I just went there) by Chris Loeffler V-Picks have been around for over a decade, and I’ve see them many times at various tradeshows. I’ve spoken with the owner, Vinnie, at several of them and heard the pitch that they sound and stick better, but I confess I hadn’t really looked beyond that as I am used to picks being a disposable thing… buy them by the dozens and plan to eventually buy more as they slowly disappear in washing machines, desk drawers, and as choking hazards on the floor for toddlers. In a recent drive to re-assess my plectrum preferences and knowledge, I reached out to V-Picks with a request to evaluate whatever their newest pick for electric guitar was and they immediately responded saying they would send something out. What You Need to Know I was sent a dozen V-Picks to evaluate and compare; a Small Pointed Ultra Lite, Small Pointed Lite, Fusion, Medium Lite, Medium Round, Large Pointed, Screamer, Black Hole, Dimension, Euro, Chicken Picker, and a Mummy. All picks appear to be made of the same proprietary acrylic, and the ground bevels look hand-ground. The acrylic material of the picks has a firmer feel than the materials used in most picks I've experienced, and is unique in that it truly does warm up after a minute or two of playing and start behaving in the interesting ways V-Picks fans like to discuss. First and foremost, the texture of the pick changes slightly as it rises to your body heat; it becomes slightly more adhesive and feels just a touch softer. True to their marketing claims of being a pick you can’t drop, I indeed found it difficult to drop a pick accidentally after it warms up. The wide variety of shapes and thicknesses means there’s likely an analog to whatever a player’s current favorite pick is, but it can be intimidating to go through them all. As a Jazz III player I was most drawn to the Fusion and Euro, which offered a very similar playing experience with a slightly brighter tone. While there certainly were differences in how they felt, the picks were comfortable and not so obviously different as to be distracting. After a few minutes of playing they felt like second nature. I played through all the picks, and while the thicker, larger picks were not my preference, they offered amazingly strident tones and were especially diverse in their use, depending on where on the top and even the side bevel I leaned in. In that case, more technical players would likely find a lot to love, especially when focused on pinch harmonics and general overdrive. I also noticed slightly less pick noise in both acoustic and electric settings. Limitations The uncolored, transparent picks “disappear” easily when absentmindedly set down - an issue exacerbated by poor lighting or weak eyesight. Conclusion V-Picks are the real deal: a rare product whose claims sound like marketing Hoodoo, but it actually delivers. At a higher price point than run-of-the-mill picks, V-Picks ask players to be a little more mindful of their pick storage behaviors in exchange for a toneful, more durable pick that sticks without being sticky, and even disappears into the playing experience. - HC- Resources V-Picks Product Assortment Page Buy V-Picks at Amazon.com ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Electro-Harmonix Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive Effect Pedal For a special overdrive, sometimes you need to call in special forces by Chris Loeffler Electro-Harmonix has no less than 45 current production gain-based effects listed on its site, so it’s fair to say they’ve covered a lot of ground in the distortion arena. As they’ve added one more overdrive effect to their roster, one has to wonder what’s left to cover? The pedal in question, the Electro-Harmonix Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive, answers that question with a unique feature-set. What You Need to Know The Electro-Harmonix Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive (we'll call it the Allied Overdrive for short), in addition to being a mouthful, is a stereo overdrive pedal with controls for Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, and Volume as well as a Boost overdrive with independent volume control and a Dry knob to blend the direct signal with the overdrive. The pedal runs on a standard center-positive 9v power supple, features ¼” stereo inputs and outputs, and true-bypass footswitches for the Overdrive and Boost (more on that later). The Allied Overdrive uses JFET gain stages to create amp-like, low-to-medium levels of overdrive and early distortion. It's relatively uncolored, and can be dialed in via the three-band EQ controls to sound identical to the direct signal. The Gain control runs from completely clean to about as much crunch and saturation as a cranked vintage amp, with minimal compression. I found the Treble, Mid, and Bass controls to provide a useful range of sounds without going overboard at the extremes. Although the shape of the distortion changes with the EQ, the basic character of the tone does not… it isn’t an amp in a box, it gives amp-like distortion to complement the core tone. The Boost adds cleanish overdrive boost in front of the Overdrive to up the gain (as opposed to after, where it would just make it louder). I say “cleanish” when describing the boost because there is a bit of a push in the mids to the boosted signal along with a touch of gain, similar to a tame Tube Screamer. The pedal comes from the factory with the Boost side tied to the Overdrive so both are tied to the bypass switch. An internal DIP switch decouples the two, so they can run independently. Input Level control selects between High (HI), Normal (NORM), and Low (LO) input settings, so anything from extremely low output guitar pickups to a hot synthesizer output can be accommodated. Using hotter, modern pickups in the LO input setting resulted in an appropriately vintage sag, while slamming the overdrive with the same pickups in the HI input setting gave an extremely aggressive girth to the distortion. Dry control blends the direct (clean) signal into the overdrive, which gives players the ability to dial in a little definition and clarity from the direct signal. Combining the Dry with the Overdrive, the Volume control makes available a large dB boost for players looking to use the overdrive signal to push their preamps. In addition to mono and stereo uses, the Overlord can split a mono input into a stereo output to send the signal to two amps. Limitations The Boost cannot be placed after the Overdrive. Conclusions The Electro-Harmonix Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive is an incredibly flexible effect tool that marries well with any instrument you can put in front of it, offers the unique feature of stereo ins and outs, and is as transparent a gain device as you can find. -HC- Resources EHX Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive Product Page The Allied Overdrive is available for about $150 "street" from: Sweetwater Reverb.com Musician's Friend Guitar Center Sam Ash B&H AMS Gear Tree ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Introduction To Percussive Guitar Techniques with Vicki Genfan Let the drummer inside you come out ... by Chris Loeffler Beyond traditional strumming and finger-picking approaches to playing the acoustic guitar, some guitarists employ percussive flairs in their playing by striking the body and neck of their instruments to create rhythmic beats. Players like Michael Hedges, Preston Reed, Kaki King, and others are well-known acoustic guitar players who employ percussive techniques in their playing style. A relatively small subset of modern acoustic guitar music, percussive acoustic players tend to focus on groove in their performance, and especially stand out when performing live; bearing witness to the manual dexterity and "multitasking" is impressive. Vicki Genfan is one of the pioneers in this field, and seeing her play in person for the first time is a mind-opening experience - as is listening to her musical catalog. Here’s a brief dip in a very deep ocean to explore building a foundation of percussive acoustic guitar. Build Your Kit It helps to think of the percussive strikes you will be creating with your guitar as building out a standard drum kit, so let’s talk about how to build a basic kit. You can coax a convincing "kick" sound out of several places with an acoustic guitar, but one of the most effective tones involves slapping the lower bout of the acoustic guitar’s soundboard with the heel of your hand. You can add a "snare" tone by slapping the side of the lower bout (approximately the same location your hand rests for the kick) with the fleshy part of your fingers. Muting the strings creates a crisper and more authentic sound, whereas leaving the strings open adds overtones to the notes. Expressed differently, the kick could be likened to a stomp and the snare a clap. Having mastered these two sounds, practice rotating between them using the “stomp-pause-clap, stomp-stomp -clap” beat of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” for your first percussive groove. From there, you can start expanding your percussive kit by adding a "snare wire" sound, which is performed in the same location on the guitar as the kick by balling your fingers and then flicking outward, striking the soundboard with your nails as your fingers straighten. To add a "high hat" to this, lightly slap the fleshy part of your fingers against the same spot in the soundboard like a 16th note as you pull your fingers back in. Grooving With Your Kit Now that you’ve built your kit, you’ll notice you can strum your strings or strike with your right hand, but not at the same time! Percussive guitar techniques requires thinking about space in your playing to accommodate the introduction of percussive strikes, and lends itself to a greater level of dynamics than the typical “sawing wood” of chord strums. Groove is what drives a song forward, and percussive techniques add color and additional language to the mix. To develop your groove, pick a chord progression and play it as simply as possible, strumming each chord on the one and holding it for the four beats. Listen to where you hear a kick drum fitting in and employ your palm strike. Now ask yourself where you hear a high hat, and add that. Consider if there are opportunities to add more strums or arpeggios in the space that is left. Add your snare, jumping between the standard snare and snare wire for more color. Through this process, your groove will develop and eventually all that space is full. Once you’ve completed and mastered that passage, compose a chorus or transition passage and practice rotating between them. Harmonics Leveraging the naturally occurring harmonics of the acoustic guitar becomes especially important in percussive acoustic music. Conventional harmonics are played by brushing the strings at the frets 5, 7, and 12 up from the first fret with mild pressure from the fretting hand. However, applying percussive techniques like hammer-ons and pull offs to your fretboard opens up even more harmonic opportunities and complements the percussive activities happening on the soundboard. Deftly striking your strings with the flesh of your fretting fingers where harmonics naturally occur creates a different color and tone to the harmonic, as does plucking upward as you’re pulling your fingers back from a hammer-on. This approach takes your hands away from the standard fretting position and frees you up to explore further percussive opportunities around the neck and top of the guitar. A Final Note Your brain builds neural paths as you learn new things, so it’s important to take something difficult, like adding percussive playing to your acoustic playing, slowly. While it’s tempting to try to play at the correct speed, you will actually take longer to unlearn the bad habits and mistakes you develop because you’re playing faster than a speed you can mantain successfully. Take it slow; this is an entirely new skill set that will reward patience and focus. Now tap, slap, and knock away! HC- ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Acoustic Blues Primer with Terry Robb Blues you don't need a psychiatrist to remedy ... by Chris Loeffler Blues are a not only a feeling, but they are a style unto itself. Lots of people can cry the Blues, but not everyone can play the Blues. It's not easy to get a definition of Blues. If you hear Robert Johnson singing “Ramblin’ On My Mind” or B.B. King playing “The Thrill Is Gone,” it’s easy. That’s Blues, no doubt. But what about Cream’s version of “Crossroads”? Can Pavarotti sing the Blues? No – everyone can, if there's the right feeling for it. The characteristics that most identify a Blues song are the 12-bar form, the call-and-response structure, dominant 7th chords, the I-IV-V progression and the shuffle rhythm. But Eric Clapton, the latter-day Blues hero, says it best: “My definition of Blues is that it’s a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you can have either of those things but it’s the two together that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things alone don’t do it.” – Eric Clapton (interview 1998) The Art Of The Blues Guitar Turnaround Turnarounds create intros and endings that both set the mood and resolve (or not) the song, making the turnaround the two most important parts of a song. Now let’s make them interesting and memorable! Nearly all Blues songs have one of seven different kinds of intros. The following intros are the most common ones: No Intro at All, a/k/a ‘Starting from the Top’ A very common intro is to start right from the top of the 12-bar Blues progression. This first chorus could be an instrumental chorus (solo) or with vocals. The following songs are famous examples of this kind of intro: ‘I Can´t Quit You Baby’ – Otis Rush ‘Dust My Broom’ – Elmore James Starting with Four Bars on the I-Chord This intro starts with four bars on the I-chord with no turnaround. This intro lends itself to a song with a strong riff. ‘Green Onions’ – Booker T & The MGs ‘I´m Ready’ – Muddy Waters Starting with the Turnaround A common way to start a Blues song is to play the turnaround as an intro and return to the top of the progression, either with an instrumental chorus or with a chorus with vocals. ‘Key To Love’ – Gary Moore Starting from the V Possibly the most common Blues intro of all time, starting with the last four bars of the Blues progression, then playing throught the V and IV before the turnaround. Listen to the following songs for this kind of intro: ‘Tell Me’ – Stevie Ray Vaughan ‘I´m Tore Down’ – Eric Clapton Four-Bar-Intro with Turnaround This is a variation of the previous intro. Instead of playing V-IV-turnaroun, two bars of the I chord are played and then the turnaround. Sometimes this intro goes I-IV-turnaround. Here are some classic songs with this kind of intro: ‘Before You Accuse Me' – Eric Clapton ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ – The Blues Brothers Endings Songs have to end eventually, and the best ones end with something that stays with the listener long after the song is over. A typical way to end a Blues song is some variation of the turnaround used throughout the song. Just play a turnaround till the first beat of bar two, then use embellishments on the root. -HC ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

R&M Tone Technology PowerWire Active Guitar Cables Meet the cables where you get out more than you put in by Chris Loeffler Despite the obsession many players have over the purity of their signal path, buffers, and tone loss, most still rely on passing a passive signal through 10’ to 30’ of cable. Although electronic instruments create a line-level signal at the output, the signals from guitar and bass pickups (except for active ones) typically experience signal degradation until they hit a buffer or op amp. R&M Tone Technologies saw this as a challenge that could be overcome, and introduced their PowerWire line of powered instrument cables at Winter NAMM 2017. What You Need to Know The R&M Tone Technology PowerWire series of instrument cables are available in 20’ lengths and feature built-in amplifiers to boost your instrument single directly from the guitar jack. R&M PowerWire instrument cables currently come in four versions- CB6 Clean Boost, CB0 Clean Boost, SS Super Sizzle, and TS09 Dynamic Distortion. All four are powered by an included pair of 675 button-cell batteries, and average about one year of usage between battery changes. Unlike passive cables, PowerWire cables are directional; the amplifier section must plug into the guitar jack. The CB6 and CB0 Clean Boost cables contain transparent preamps in them, so the tone of the guitar’s pickups I used was fundamentally unchanged, other than being more immediate and stronger by reducing or removing signal loss due to cable capacitance. The difference between the two is the CB0 does not boost the volume of the signal; it simply makes it active so there’s less chance of tonal degradation downstream, whereas the CB6 features a pronounced 6 dB boost that can drive (or even overdrive) anything thereafter. The longer the unbuffered signal chain after the instrument cable, the more noticeable its effect was. The Super Sizzle SS increases the gain and lowers the sub frequency to under 20Hz. On the guitar, there was a noticeable beefing up on the low end in both single coil and humbucking pickups that was most pronounced when fed into overdrives or fuzzes, and the mids and treble weren’t perceptibly changed to my ears. However with a bass and bass amplifier, the bass increase made a considerable difference, with much deeper and slightly growlier lows. The TS09 Dynamic Distortion, as its model number probably tips off guitar players, has a fixed tube-screamer-styled preamp in it. An “always on” tube screamer translated better than I expected, cleaning up with the guitar’s volume knob to go anywhere from clean and warm (with single coil pickups) to classic, cranked overdrive with pronounced mids, a slightly reduced low end, and round treble. The compensated volume boost balanced out the volume differences as the guitar’s volume control was used to clean up or boost the gain. While the jack plug (where the amplifier and batteries live in the cable) is slightly larger than many cables, I didn’t find it to be an issue with various types of guitar outputs, even ones recessed in the body along the bridge. The cables have a sturdy feel and didn’t display any potential worries as far as reliability during the four weeks I evaluated them. Limitations Batteries will need to be replaced eventually, and without an indicator light there may not be much warning between the cable working or not. That said, a 20 pack of replacements was available for sale on Amazon for less than $8, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to replace them. A couple of vintage germanium fuzzes with low-impedance inputs didn’t like being fed an active signal and became brighter and harsher than they were with a standard passive signal. Conclusion I can easily see why most players would benefit from starting their signal chain with one of the four R&M Tone Technology powered cables, whether it be simply to strengthen their pickups’ signal with a CB0, kick everything up a notch with a CB6, boost and reinforce lows with the SS, or gain the tone sweetening and instant access to overdrive afforded by the TS09. While $149 prices them firmly in the “premium” tier of instrument cables, the fact that you’re also adding an effect circuit without needing to shuffle the pedal board may make that well worth it. -HC- Resources Bonus: From the Manufacturer: We're so convinced Harmony Central readers will fall in love with the amazing tone of PowerWire active cables that we're giving HC readers 50% off to try it for themselves. Get yours now through August 31, 2017. Use code HCSAVE50 Buy R&M Tone Technology CB0 Clean Boost Powered Cable ($149.00) Buy R&M Tone Technology CB6 Clean Boost Powered Cable ($149.00) Buy R&M Tone Technology SS Super Sizzle Powered Cable ($149.00) Buy R&M Tone Technology TS09 Dynamic Distortion Powered Cable ($149.00) ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Earthquaker Devices Erupter Perfect Fuzz Pedal Sometimes you need the fuzz to flow ... by Chris Loeffler Sweetwater currently has 71 new production fuzz pedals listed on their site, with no fewer than ten being fuzzes by Earthquaker Devices. While that may sound excessive to people who don’t obsess over fuzz tone, the fact that they’ve introduced an eleventh fuzz pedal to the mix means they’ve either found something new or they’re losing their minds! So how does the Earthquaker Erupter stand out from its fuzz siblings? The Earthquaker Erupter is a brand-new fuzz circuit designed to create what Earthquaker Devices deems to be the perfect fuzz tone that can be placed anywhere in your signal chain. A single Bias knob is the only control on the pedal, which features true bypass and can be powered by a standard 9-volt DC power supply with a 2.1 mm negative center barrel or a 9v battery. What You Need to Know The Earthquaker Devices Erupter overcomes the signal-chain issues that plague most fuzz circuits by using a transformer-based pickup simulator to remove impedance issues - even the most poorly buffered wah pedal can’t muck up your tone. I ran the fuzz at the beginning, middle, and even end of several signal chains and can confirm that the fuzz quality stayed consistent. The Erupter features all the "magic mojo" components fuzz seekers crave, like NOS globe-top transistors and Sprague and BC capacitors. Unlike most fuzz pedals on the market, the output volume and fuzz level are set, with the Bias control being the only knob . While this may at first sound limiting, fuzz effects are well known for their reactivity with input volume and the Erupter is able to create dozens of shades of dirt, from light grit to wooly, saturated fuzz just by playing the Volume and Tone knobs on your guitar. The output volume is a touch over unity, enough to hear the increase but not enough to slam a preamp, which sounded just about right in several different amps with which I demoed the pedal. The Bias control adjusts the fuzz's bias (makes sense, right?) and is center-notched at noon, which Earthquaker Devices considers the “perfect” setting. It's very SI Fuzz Face-like, with punch, a healthy low end, and lots of sustain. Dialing the Bias control below noon drops the output slightly and the fuzz becomes more pinched and gated. Past noon, the volume steps up a bit and the gain structure becomes more focused and thick, leaning more into Tone Bender territory. In all settings, the pedal displayed a large amount of responsiveness to playing dynamics of a single-coil pickup while not becoming overwhelmed when slammed with high-output humbuckers. Earthquaker Devices say they’ve spent over two years fine-tuning the components to reach the final sound of the Erupter, and in my opinion what they’ve created a universal vintage fuzz tone that sounds familiar but is uniquely its own thing. Limitations Fixed volume output means you won’t be able to aggressively slam a hot preamp with 20 dB of level without additional pedals, if that’s your thing. Conclusion Getting a classic, vintage fuzz tone in a “plays well anywhere” factor is definitely cool, especially for players who want their wah in front of their fuzz without ruining their tone...but that’s really just a bonus. The start of the show is how many different sounds the Erupter can achieve, without having a bad tone in it. Resources To Purchase Sweetwater - All Earthquaker Devices Pedals Sweetwater - Earthquaker Erupter Perfect Fuzz Pedal ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Keeler Sound ReWave Acoustic Preamp A new way to hear your acoustic guitar... by Chris Loeffler The acoustic guitar’s general design has been dialed in for centuries, suggesting we’ve taken it about as far as it will go. When someone steps up and says they’re found a way to significantly improve any acoustic guitar’s tone with an accessory you drop in the guitar’s soundhole, it seems like maybe it's time for a healthy amount of skepticism. However, that’s just what Keeler Sound’s ReWave acoustic preamp claims to do...does it? Referred to as a “sound processor” and “natural preamp," the ReWave is a wooden device with multiple chambers and sound holes that inserts into the soundhole of almost any acoustic guitar. It's available in natural maple and flat black colors in three sizes, as well as contour or flat cutouts, and has an adjustable diaphragm in solid or slotted configurations. What You Need to Know The theory behind the ReWave natural preamp is that by eliminating feedback and sonic bottlenecking that happens within the body, it's possible to eliminate unpleasant soundboard production and muddiness. Their approach involves focusing the string’s energy into dedicated ports to reduce ambient noise entering the body, and refocusing the acoustic wave from the soundboard energy leaving the body through the interior chambers of the ReWave and the bridge. The ReWave installs by loosening your guitar strings enough (or removing them, if you prefer) to place it flush in your guitar’s soundhole. Small rubber nibs secure the ReWave in the soundhole without any tools needed, and the slight lip sits flush with the guitar’s soundboard for a snug and solid connection to the instrument. The six small brass string ports aligned perfectly with the strings in three different guitars I used to evaluate the ReWave, and even with different fretboard/sound hole styles I didn’t find an issue securing it every time. You can change the diaphragm depth by physically pulling it closer to or further from the soundhole, but the change is subtle and not necessary. For those who want to just "drop and play," it comes set at the general recommended depth. On all three guitars, the ReWave undeniably added some volume (around a 20% perceived boost) and cleaned up the acoustic tone in a noticeable manner that also somehow didn’t dramatically change the tone. The ReWave genuinely is the physical equivalent of an EQ touch-up, with a more focused low end, rich midrange, and shimmery highs in the treble in all three guitars and significantly less acoustic mud. My Breedlove dreadnought produced the same brash, cannon-like tone and projection I’m used to with the ReWave, but there was more space between the frequencies for the high strings to shine through. My Taylor 814, already an exquisitely balanced guitar, sweetened up even more with the ReWave installed and demonstrated even more individual note definition. Limitations For serious tweakers, there is a one-time hassle to experiment with various diaphragm depths to find the one that best fits the guitar and desired sonic results. You have to loosen and then retighten all six strings between every adjustment, which also makes it challenging to remember any sonic differences between the settings. Conclusion The Keeler Sound ReWave is one of those pieces of gear that seems like a gimmick until you actually put it to use. It did everything it claimed, including producing more volume and balancing out a guitar’s acoustic tone without altering the guitar's character. But would I put this in a $3,000 guitar? I surprise myself by answering, “Absolutely.” While there are times the visceral rawness of the standard acoustic guitar experience is what I want, I absolutely experienced sonic enhancements in instruments I already considered highly polished. -HC- Resources Keeler Sound ReWave Acoustic Preamp Product Page ($279.99) ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Found out how a ukulele can help you add new musical colors — The Ukulele has enjoyed quite a resurgence over the last ten years, and has taken the place of the mandolin as the instrument guitar players pick up to add new colors to their sound. When compared to the six strings and 12-24 frets of a standard guitar, an ukulele seems like a pretty simple instrument...and it can be, but taking a few minutes to understand how it is similar and different can pay dividends. So, here’s a guitarist’s cheat to the Uke. An uke is usually tuned: GCEA (G closest to your face, A closest to the floor). Does this sound vaguely familiar? Hint… put a capo on the fifth fret of your four highest strings and you’re in standard uke tuning (other than the G being an octave higher on a uke)! How to Hold the Ukulele The ukulele is played and held very similarly to guitar. Unlike guitars, however, it's very common for a ukulele not to have strap buttons and be played using solely the fretting hand to keep the instrument in balance; the downward pressure of your right forearm on the soundboard pushes the body into your chest. In its resting state, your fretting hand should see your thumb behind the neck and fingers parallel to the frets. Introduction to Chords Much like the guitar’s standard tuning revolves around chord shapes (C-A-G-E-D), the ukulele has similar patterns that can be plucked from the fretboard. Mark Nelson, a renowned uke instructor who spent years in Hawaii learning uke and slack-key guitar, recommends starting with “C”, “F”, and “G7” as guitar-friendly fingerings and chord forms. C Major F Major G 7 While most players will intuitively know which fingers to use in each chord based on muscle memory from their guitar-playing days, here’s a quick walkthrough for those who could use a little help. C Major- Hold C with your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret on the 1st string, and leave the bottom three strings open. F Major- Hold F with your index finger on the 1st fret, 2nd string and your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the 4th string, leaving the 1st and 3rd strings open. G7- Place your index on the 1st fret of the 2nd string, middle finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string, and your ring finger on the 2nd fret of the 1st string. Strumming As with guitar, there are many different ways to approach strumming the uke. Many uke players rely solely on down strokes with their index finger by curling the rest of their fingers into their palm and brushing down across the strings, with a rolling wrist movement. Players looking for more speed and variety utilize both down and up strokes to their strumming, which follows the same hand motion but adds a pluck to the upstroke. Chose a Song and Play! With the simple three chords you’ve learned, you can now play through some songs because Western music is dominated by songs written with I, IV, V chords. A few famous examples of songs using C Major, F Major, and G7 include CCR’s “Down on the Corner,” The Beatles’ “Love Me Do,” Hank William’s “Jambalaya,” and the Hawaiian classic “Island Style." This is Just the Beginning One of the aspects people find most attractive about the ukulele is how accessible it is, but beyond that easy entrance there is a deep pool of technique and theory to be explored for those willing to seek it. While traditionalist players like Don Ho and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole will always be the go-to image of what ukulele music is, players bringing fresh ideas to the instrument like and Kris Fushigami challenge what an ukulele can do, and fuse traditional ukulele music with other music genres for exciting new directions. Whether it be a brief dalliance or a regular way to explore music apart from the guitar, taking on the uke as a second (or third) instrument adds to your musical vocabulary and is a heck of a lot easier to lug around! -HC- Resources Instructor Mark Nelson's Website with Free Lessons Ukuleles Currently Available at Sweetwater Ukulele Guild of Hawaii ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Filter effects are designed to add emphasis and animation to instruments. By limiting the frequency range and varying the filter's frequency, filter effects can create focused, even vowel-like tones that add liquidity to rhythmic strumming and vocal qualities to lead parts. Like a tone knob on steroids, filter effects dramatically change the core tone of your instrument through a variety of different triggering approaches. The Technology of Filter Effects A filter works by allowing a range of frequencies pass through the filter, while removing the rest of the frequencies from your input signal. Filters used as an effect on guitars often offer multiple frequencies, such as a low-pass filter that passes only lower frequencies, a bandpass that pushes through the mid-frequencies, and a high-pass for only trebly highs. Precisely which frequencies are filtered out is determined by either manufacturer preset or via a user-definable cutoff. Most filters feature a resonance control, often labeled 'Q', that provides a boost at the selected cutoff. Types of Filters Wah Pedals Wah pedals are treadle-rocked expression pedals where your foot moves the treadle to sweep the filter band frequency, which provides hands-free filter control. Jimi Hendrix, Kirk Hammett, and Joe Satriani are just a few players who have popularized the wah sound and cemented it in the guitar tone lexicon. The benefit to the wah format is complete control of how wide and fast the sweep happens. Envelope Filters Envelope filters turn control of the filter’s sweep over to an envelope circuit, which is sensitive to the attack of your playing through the dynamics of the signal it receives. Using a process of Attack, Sustain, Decay, and Release, the envelope sweeps the filter from a set starting point to as high a peak as the input signal dictates, and begins a decay and release (close) once the signal falls below a certain input. The result is a sound that is similar (or identical) to a wah, but with the filter entirely following the dynamics of your playing. Modulated Filter One of the rarer formats of filtering effects, modulated filters us an LFO (similar to a chorus or tremolo effect) to control the sweep of the filtering, resulting in a consistent waveform through which the band-frequency modulates. This is the least dynamic version of a filtering effect, as it responds to the LFO and not to playing or physical manipulation. Sample/Hold Filters Sample/Hold filters are probably the most exotic of filter effects, and are certainly the most synth-like. These effects work by randomly grabbing a frequency band, applying it for some duration (anywhere from 100ms to multiple seconds), jumping to another frequency band, and repeating. The result is a robotic hard step between frequency shifts that almost gives the impression of new notes getting played. The most famous use of this effect on guitar is probably Frank Zappa’s Ships Ahoy. Examples of Filter Effects Classic Wah Pedals- Vox V847, Dunlop 535Q Cry Baby, Fulltone Clyde Standard Classic Envelope Filters- Mu-Tron III, Seamoon Funk Machine, Ibanez AF-9, EHX Q-Tron Classic Modulated Filter- Moog MF-101 Classic Sample/Hold Filters- Maestro Filter Sample/Hold, Xotic Robotalk, Zvex Ooh Wah -HC- ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Gibson Memphis Freddie King 1960 ES-345 Sixties Cherry VOS When you need to ooze blues ... by Chris Loeffler Freddie King is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee often referred to as the Patriarch of Blues Rock, as well as the person who kicked off the Texas Blues scene. The playing style of players like Clapton, Page, and Beck echo his aggressive picking and intensity in solos; King had an immediacy and brashness that stood out from his contemporaries. While his early gigging years most often saw him with a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top with P-90s, his transition to Gibson semi-hollow guitars, such as the Gibson ES-345, is what he is most identified by today. As part of Gibson’s growing Artist series, Gibson Memphis created a limited run of 200 era-accurate ES-345 guitars that exactly replicate the look and sound of the guitar that helped King define the forceful sound that would become synonymous with rock and roll. The Gibson Memphis Freddie King ES-345TCD is a semi-hollow guitar available in limited 60s Cherry Red that is built to vintage specs with rhythm and lead humbuckers, 3-way pickup toggle switch, Varitone switch, and a stereo output jack. The guitar ships with an included stereo instrument cable and a period-correct tan and pink deluxe Gibson hard-shell case. What You Need to Know The Gibson Memphis Freddie King ES-345 I reviewed arrived especially well set up, with low action and zero fret buzz. The mahogany neck is a comfortable and thick 12” radius with a 24.75” scale length, and tiny details like vintage-spec’d fret wire, hot-hide glue, and period correct plastics create a guitar experience so authentically vintage that the line between “tribute” and “re-issue” becomes pretty blurry. The Freddie King ’64 body shape is composed of three-ply (maple/poplar/maple) top, side, and rims, and is era-accurate plain figured with three-ply top binding (tan/black/tan) anchored by quartered Adirondack spruce braces and a maple centerblock for added sustain and feedback control. The pickups carry through on the vintage vibe of the Freddie King 1964 ES-345, with specially voiced Memphis Historic Spec humbuckers that deliver PAF tone. Scatter-wound Alnico magnets (III in Rhythm, II in Lead) are the heart of these V.O.S. gold plated pickups, for a slightly under-wound tone that produces open mids and highs without the sizzle of hotter, modern humbuckers. There’s a lot of sonic ground covered, from country clean to snarling rock, all with a decidedly vintage voice. Simpler tube amp circuits seem especially adept at bringing out the Freddie King’s nuances. The Varitone circuit, a big part of the guitar’s uniqueness and the Freddie King sound, began as a Gibson original feature first found on guitars in the late 50s. It's a six-position switch that selects among circuit bypass (position 1) or five different preset frequency scoops that are mostly mid-focused. The result is several voicings not found in other guitars, each with specific applications in which they would absolutely shine, but in general decidedly specific and "untraditional." The stereo output jack allows players to run their bridge and neck pickups into separate amps, which is a unique and satisfying experience if you can swing a two-amp setup; however, the included stereo instrument cable is equally suitable for a traditional single-amp setup. Limitations While I can’t imagine one would purchase a guitar like this for metal, the Freddie King is not a guitar that’s going to hold up well in modern, high-gain metal settings. Conclusion Like most of the Artist series guitars coming out of Gibson Memphis, the Freddie King ES-345 is a flawless production that achieves its goal of recreating a vintage guitar to the most exacting details. It's beautiful, a joy to play, and is a Swiss army knife of vintage tones. -HC- Resources Gibson Memphis Freddie King 1960 ES-345 Sixties Cherry VOS Buy Gibson Memphis Freddie King 1960 ES-345 Sixties Cherry VOS @ Sweetwater (MSRP $6,821, Street $4,849.00) ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.

Ernie Ball Paradigm Electric Guitar Strings Can the claims be true — unbreakable? by Chris Loeffler It’s not often that there’s something new in the world of guitar strings, so companies tend to lean on elemental alchemy and marketing speak when they bring a new line of strings to players. In short, string makers feel the need to tell you what you’re about to experience. Ernie Ball took a different approach with their new line of electric guitar strings, the Paradigm series, by promoting an open call to players to sign up to try the new strings with no information as to what made them different. Only after they received feedback from thousands of users did they reveal what made their Paradigm strings unique: the company claims they’re nearly impossible to break due to patented brass Reinforced Plain Strings, a re-engineered grain structure for the core, and a plasma enhanced process for improved corrosion resistance. What You Need to Know I had the opportunity to review an initial batch blind after Winter NAMM 2017, as well as production versions of their 10’s and 11’s once they began shipping to retail (they were identical except for packaging). The Ernie Ball Paradigm electric strings are sold in a display box that contains a vacuum sealed pack with each string individually sleeved in an envelope. Visually, the strings don’t really stand out other than a slightly larger length of the twist lock near the ballend than you’d typically find. The strings set up easily, and a side benefit to their stronger construction is how quickly they set and are in tune; break-in time was easily half what I’m used to with a set of strings. The Ernie Ball Paradigm strings certainly feel solid and bend extremely well, with fluidity and an anchored feel in even larger bends. Initially, their tone caught my ear as being a bit darker than the Cobalts or Nickel strings I I’m used to, but they seemed to brighten up a bit as they broke in. I would still measure it a touch less bright than what I normally play, but they also held that tone for the duration of my evaluation (60 days), whereas my reference strings demonstrated gradual dulling of the highs. As a reviewer, I took the “never break” claim to task, which led to a surprisingly liberating playing experience. While I don’t believe I was conscious of the behavior, I realized I play a little timid with bends given the fragility my fretting hand can feel as I start pushing the string. I bended the strings as much as I ever would in a playing situation, but chose to forego some of the more gimmicky attempts to break the strings that they have artists doing in their promotional material. Limitations The Ernie Ball Paradigm strings are at the top end of guitar string pricing ($14.99 street), so the value proposition comes in the form of either tone you can’t get anywhere else or extended life. Conclusion Based on my extended play time with the Ernie Ball Paradigm electric guitar strings, I can confirm they are incredibly durable, hold tune better than most strings I’ve played, and kept their tone as long as coated strings I’ve played. Sonically, they would fit in nearly any situation and sound good without expressing any particular character. While I don’t personally find myself breaking strings often, I did enjoy the extra rigidity and the confidence it gave me in bends and more aggressive playing. While they are a bit on the expensive side compared to a standard set of strings, players looking to address concerns around their string life may find them to be a bargain in the long run. -HC- Resources Ernie Ball Paradigm Electric Guitar Strings Product Page Buy Ernie Ball Paradigm Electric Guitar Strings (MSRP $32.99, $14.99 Street) @ Sweetwater ____________________________________________ Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.