The King For A Day Booster is built to allow you to use it as both a clean boost or a treble boost by using a combination of the hi cut and voice controls, the higher the hi cut control the less high frequencies and therefore more full the sound is, as you back this control off you get more more treble and a little more gain. I found the pedal worked particularly well on an already overdriven amp, in the second half of my demo I setup a crunchy tone on my Ceriatone Chupacabra 50 and use the King For A Day to add gain and sustain.

This Pedal is available for 88 Euros direct from Custom 77, for more information on this pedal visit Custom 77.

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The Knaggs Chesapeake “Severn” is an interesting guitar, it has the shape of a strat, the bridge of a Tele, a Wenge or maple Pickguard and the body construction reminds me of my Taylor SB2-S. The body of the guitar is Alder and the top is curly Maple but the design and colour difference give it a very unique look. To see a close up of the body carve, check out this model’s photos. The cool thing about the bridge on this guitar is that it is actually a Knaggs’ designed hardtail bridge but it is available in a tremelo version that looks almost identical (see here). This guitar has a Rock Maple Neck, Rosewood or Curly Maple fretboard, 22 frets, a scale length of 25.5” and a fretboard radius of 8.5”. The recommended retail price of this model is $5,000.

Have a good scout around the Knaggs site there are some really amazing and unique looking instruments on there http://www.knaggsguitars.com/.

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Check out my review of the new Van Halen album ‘A Different Kind Of Truth’ – http://www.guitarnoize.com/review-van-halen-a-different-kind-of-truth/

via I Heart Guitar

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No updates have been made to the Jet City site yet but I’m sure they’ll update it soon – http://jetcityamplification.com/

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In the video below Mesa Artist Relations Tim McKee traveled to Richmond, Virginia to spend some time with Mark Morton from Lamb of God and talk about his new Royal Atlantic RA-100 rig and catch Mark playing the new amp in his home studio. Mark Plays through new songs ‘Ghost Walking’ and ‘Desolation’ from Lamb of God’s latest album Resolution.

Don’t like this high gain tones? Check out Doug West from Mesa R & D showing off the features and tones that the Royal Atlantic RA-100 head and 2×12 combo are capable of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7QbSZBz0dI

http://www.lamb-of-god.com/
http://mesaboogie.com/

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Tommy is a one-of-a-kind artist and you won’t want to miss this. During the clinic, we will activate our “live chat mode” so we can all connect while Tommy is performing. In the meantime, be sure to register to participate.

If you haven’t heard of Tommy Emmanuel then you are seriously missing out, check out this guest post I wrote for DeftDigits: Discover a Guitarist: Tommy Emmanuel.

Also check out this video where Tommy answers some of my questions as well as a few fan questions too – http://www.guitarnoize.com/tommy-emmanuel-answers-questions-from-guitar-noize/.

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So what do you think, could this overtake the Axe-FX as the modeller of choice for touring guitarists?

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My favourite part of the night being my second visit to this event was the petting zoo and having the chance to not only play the amazing 8 string Baritone which is like playing the guitar equivalent of a grand piano but also the incredible sounding and looking Fall Limited Cocobolo Series guitar which, I’ll be honest, I can’t afford so it was nice to have the opportunity to play. Andy concluded as he did last year by playing over one of his songs but due to a technical hitch not on the Taylor T3 that he was going to use but instead with one of Taylor’s brilliant SolidBody guitars much to my excitement. Here is a photo of Andy caught in the moment:

By the way although similar that isn’t my Taylor SolidBody (which you can check out here and here), that is an SB2-S but it has a trem and it is Baja Blue rather than the Balboa Blue of mine.

So if you get the chance this event is FREE and well worth a visit, you might even win some free swag and you will also get a copy of Taylor’s magazine Wood & Steel. Here are the remaining dates for Australia:

Guitar Factory Paramatta – Tues 8th Feb 6.30pm
Derringers Forestville – Thurs 9th Feb 6.30pm
The Music Spot – Fri 10th Feb 6.30pm
Mooloolaba Music Centre – Sat 11th Feb 3.00pm
Cranbourne Music – Mon 13th Feb 7.00pm
Keyboard Corner and KC’s Rock Shop – Tues 14th Feb 7.00pm
Mega Music – Tues 15th Feb 6.30pm

http://www.taylorguitars.com/

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What is “it”? “It” is the idea that there is some sort of magic contained within certain exercises such that the mere act of playing certain notes in a certain order will help you to play faster, more accurately, etc. Not only is this wrong, but following this line of thinking can actually make you worse instead of better.

Let’s look at a non-musical example of why this approach to improvement is seriously flawed. Let’s say I love baseball and I want to be a pitcher. I find myself a coach to help me get better at pitching. My coach’s entire improvement regimen consists of setting up a series of targets for me to hit with my pitches. Never once does my coach talk to me about my throwing mechanics, balance, fluidity of motion, weight training, or anything besides hitting those targets.

So this pitching coach… he’s awful, right? How can he claim to be an expert when all he does is focus on the end result of what I’ll be able to do AFTER I’VE ALREADY LEARNED TO PITCH (hit all those targets) instead of helping me to learn HOW to throw properly? In fact, if no one teaches me HOW to throw, I will almost certainly develop poor throwing mechanics and as a result will never be able to consistently hit those targets. I may even injure myself.
The above example is analogous to what happens when you focus on WHAT you’re practicing instead of HOW you’re practicing. When it comes to improving your technique, the notes you’re playing are very close to irrelevant.

Let’s look at one example of an exercise that I’ve seen recommended countless times by top guitarists and respected publications:
1-2-1-2-3-2-3-4-3-4-3-4-3-2-3-2-1-2

This repeating finger pattern is supposed to be played with hammer ons and pull offs over and over again across all strings and starting on all frets from one to whenever your left hand falls off.

So what’s the problem? Aside from being far too complex for most beginning to intermediate players who want to improve their technique, there is usually no mention whatsoever of how to move and how those movements should feel. The assumption is that simply playing this pattern, however you have to muscle your way through it, will result in better technique. The reality is that unless you teach your fingers how to move properly, doing exercises like this will help you become a tense, inaccurate, rhythimcally poor player… just what we all want to be, right?
So what should you do instead? Break this exercise down into its smallest component parts. For example, get out your metronome and just practice hammer-ons from your first finger to your second. Pick the first note and then try to land the hammer on a click. Then do the same for second-to-first finger pull-offs, once again working to get each pull-off on a click. The tempo doesn’t matter, nor do you have to get a hammer-on or pull-off on every single click. The piont is to teach your body to move when you want it to move by focusing on one movement at a time. When you’re done with your first and second fingers, move on to your first and third fingers, then your first and fourth, and so on.
Now that you’re working on a single motion at a time you can also begin to focus on what that motion should feel like. Your motions should be free and fluid. Your body likes motions that are large and free flowing. These motions are easier for your body to remember. Your body does not like motions that are tiny and tense. If you practice technique with tiny, tense movements your body may only remember a big ball of tension, which will ultimately get you nowhere. Yes, it’s true that as you get faster your motions will get smaller, but your body will do this automatically as a result of you training your fingers to move freely.

As you practice, focus on coordination and effortlessness instead of speed. Make adjustments to your hand position and movements based on ease of motion rather than speed. Effortlessness at slower speeds will get you where you want to go. Excess tension and inconsistency at higher speeds will take you backwards.

So the bad news is that there is no single magic bullet exercise that will make your technique better. The good news is that improving your technique isn’t all that complex if you just think about it logically. You’ve got four fingers on your fretting hand. Work towards effortless motion using each possible combination of two fingers. You’ve got two basic motions with your picking hand, downstrokes and upstrokes. Work towards effortless motion of each. Once these foundational mechanics are in place, start adding complexity bit by bit. Work on combinations of three left hand fingers. Work on alternate picking with your right hand. If you start getting tense and inconsistent, stop. Something’s wrong. Figure out what it is and fix it.
The name of the game is coordinated and effortless. It’s not what you practice, it’s how you practice.

About the author:
Dan Vuksanovich received his Master of Music degree in classical guitar performance from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University in 1999. He currently teaches and blogs about how to get better at guitar via his website, www.whyisuckatguitar.com.

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