Les did it. Chet did it. Hank (Marvin) did it more, but nowhere near as much as Jimi at Woodstock!!!!!
They used the whammy quite creatively, and look ma, no string locks!, without excessive tuning problems.
So, why were string locks invented?????
Because, players didn't know how to string their axes properly, and more importantly, either having the knowledge or patience to streeeeeetch their strings when they changed the buggers!

My method is to curl my fingers under the string, and using the index finger and thumb, pull the string about a finger width above the fretboard, and run up and down the length of the string. (Otherwise only a section of the string will be stretched!)
Retune, and restretch til the tuning becomes stable.
Next, change the next string, and repeat the stretching /tuning procedure. Retune all the strings, not just the one you are stretching. Especially on a strat through-body bridge with whammy configuration, string tension and stability is dependent on the whole guitar being in tune.
When all six strings are done, check tuning, and obviously, restretch and retune where required.

Always drop the pitch, and tune up to the note, never just tune down.

Sometimes strings can bind in the nut, especially when the nut is plastic, and strings may tune themselves sharp.
Plastic needs some humidity, and our guitars are often in artificially heated areas with very dry air.

I keep a plastic squeeze bottle of powdered graphite, (which is what pencil leads are made of) to insert in the nut slots if I have string binding problems. Locksmiths and hardware shops should be able to sell this to you, as the powdered graphite is used for squeaking door hinges.

After this, happy whammying, even without string locks!

Fretless guitar: I have recently toyed with the idea of having a fretless guitar. I think it may work for single notes and double stops, but I doubt it would be much good for chords!

Having an old acoustic laying around, I decided to start on this project. I found that removing frets is NOT an easy task, and the finger board can get damaged in the process.
So, research was the next step. I found this site: http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/fretting.htm
Now, why didn't I think of heating up the frets with a soldering iron????
(Tongue in cheek) Brett from World of Music is interested in this topic. If you have any old guitars or maybe just some spare necks, perhaps you could donate them so that he can practice. :-)

I will keep you posted on my own efforts when I resume this project.

I have just begun playing and was talked into a classical acoustic by a salesman who said it would be the "best to learn on".

IT IS NOT EASIER TO LEARN ON A NYLON STRING (CLASSICAL) GUITAR

Sure, the strings have lower tension and "hurt your fingers less" at first. But that's only the first couple of weeks, as you build up callus on your fingertips.

Most nylon string guitars have much wider necks than steel, so chord positions are harder to reach unless you're into strict classical technique.

You should start out on the kind of guitar that's used for the music you'll be playing. Then, as you learn, you'll be making the sounds that you enjoy. You'll be getting the reinforcement that helps you enjoy the learning process.

A healthy steel string guitar can be "set up" with VERY easy, low action and extra-light steel strings. In my opinion, a guitar set up like this will be easier to play than the nylon, and, of course, will give you the sound you're looking for.

This advice has been precised slightly from http://www.frets.com/

I would personally extend this advice as to whether to learn on an acoustic or electric guitar. The electric guitars sold in beginners packages are often very well engineered and are much better instruments than entry level acoustic guitars. If your interest is in electric guitar music the extra money spent is more than worth it.

This site is full of lutherie tips with great repair and maintenance information.
It does discuss pickup installations, but as with everything else on this site, in the context of acoustic instruments.

The skill that most musos (except for piano and or...

The skill that most musos (except for piano and organ tuners!) lack is a trained ear!
Would you just love to be able to accurately recognise the correct pitch of a note that you hear, and to be able to recognise intervals and chords? You would never need to buy sheet music or look up chords on web pages again, and be able to play most things you wish mistake-free, (if your chops are up to it, of course!)
I have here a link to ear training software: Functional Ear Trainer Basic, and Functional Ear Trainer Advanced, and both these programs are freeware!
http://www.miles.be/

If Brett has sold you Band-in-box 2005, click on the icon that has an eighth note preceding an ear, and it will open up the Ear Training Program in Band-in-a-box, which was a ground-breaking program that has got better and better over the years.

I have just looked at the PG website and Band-in-a-box 2006 has recently been released, and (co-incidence!) it has enhancements to the Ear Training feature.

It also has ASIO support, I think I'm a bit wary of what that means to me!


http://www.pgmusic.com/

The Korg Toneworks Pandora PX1 is as old as the hills now, so when I bought one second-hand recently, the search was on to find a manual for it. A pom who calls himself Johnny Shredfreak was kind enough to put manuals on a webpage after he was sent one from a young Aussie named Jacqui.
This webpage doesn't exist any more, so I have set up a Yahoo group with a zip file of the manual in the files section. (Yahoo Groups, PX1)
The unit is so small that when I first went to show it off to Ziggy I was unable to find it in my FX case!
If you see one hanging around in your local Cashies or where-ever, buy it but don't pay too much, there are some very nice distortions and even a nice vibrato effect. Mine is hissy, and as I usually use more treble than average on my amps this is an issue. But I haven't played with the Noise Reduction settings yet, and postings on the Net suggest it can run quietly.
I have seen posts where people tape or velcro their unit to their guitar strap, and this is definitely the way to go with the Pandora.

Shave and a haircut - two bits -The Bo Diddley beat!

This rhythm originated with black American Baptist church music. Recall the James Brown scene in the Blues Brothers movie and you will get the idea.

An interesting delta blues song to listen to (but no drums, just guitar and voice!)is Preachin'Blues by Son House who had in fact been a Baptist preacher. (Often the early delta performers recorded under two names and personae, one as a blues man, and the other as the Reverand so and so.)

This post is for the drummers, um well really for myself 'cos this beat is fun to work with,
and every drummer should know it to keep the guitarists in his life happy!

I can't talk a lot about drumming, so I welcome comments, suggested links, etc from drummers.

http://drumsdatabase.com/bodiddley.htm

I discovered the SIX STRINGS PUBLISHING website when I googled chord synonyms.
This site is a gem.
There is a large amount of information available for the beginner or even the advanced player on this site, which has quite extensive excerpts from their books.

There is a playing tips tab. Topics covered include solos, (pentatonic and blues scales), sounds, guitar amintenance, theory, and accompaniment.

Not all the lesson material is under the tips tab. You click on an advertised book and along with the spiel there are usually links to excerpted lessons. After studying the material you will presumably be impressed enough to add the publication to your shopping cart.

The lesson material on synonyms and chord substitutions is found by drilling down on the home page tab for guitar chords and accompaniment to the book "more Jazz Guitar Chords and Accompaniment".
http://www.sixstringsmusicpub.com/index.html

Memories........ of the way we were.......
Another lifetime ago with Glen and Dave

Peter Keane is a a semi-retired folksinger/blues guitar player who lives in Austin, TX.
The web link that I have included has in excess of 40 mp3 files which Peter has tagged with: [feel free to download these mp3s! -pk]and his web page has a footer which reads Creative Commons License © 2005 Peter Keane
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
http://www.peterkeane.com/
It is great to see that Peter values his art for it's intrinsic value, and not just as product!!!!

I have Roland GK3 Guitar synth pickups on both my Gibsons.
I use them with the Roland GR33 guitar synth.
The GR33 is a very good synth and the GK3 tracks very well.

The sounds in the GR33 are a different matter.
Many are gimmicky and useless apart from being used for ambience between songs, a la Steve Miller. I was totally astounded that the old General Midi stalwart Vibe patches are NOT included as standard fare.

My web research came up with the following link as being the most useful, even if most of the patches were put on site years ago. Not only do I now have Vibes, but bagpipes as well, and a very good banjo sound.

I use a Edirol USB midi port to connect the GR33 to my computer, and use the Grapelight patch editor to download patches back into the synth. The comments about problems occurring with Grapelight and Win XP haven't shown in my usage, and I have found the operation to be quick and smooth, although there was a bit of head-scratching initially to work out the logic employed in Grapelight.
http://www.ludgerhesse.com/guitar-synth/GR-33_Patches/gr-33_patches.html

I am the proud owner of a Les Paul Signature model guitar.


These days there is a Les Paul Signature model xxxxxx for just about every guitar player there ever is who doesn't play Fender!!!
It is very difficult to google and find a Les Paul Les Paul Signature model.

What can also be very hard to comprehend is that the Signature model Les Paul is a double cutataway thin bodied hollow bodied guitar with F holes, probably built on a 335 chassis!.
The guitar has a three position tone switch which thickens/thins the sound, a phase switch, and a single volume and single tone control.
The LP Signature was built approximately around 1974.

My guitar is modified with a pan pot in place of the pick-up toggle, and a Maton knob with a lever so I can see the position of the mix quite easily.
I have also fitted a Bowen handle, which is a whammy bar for Les Paul style guitars, and a Roland GK3 midi guitar pickup.

The Signature model has two output jacks, one for high impedance usage, and the other a low-Z output. The pickups are in fact low-Z pickups.

The Signature model is a very versatile guitar tonewise.
It is a beautiful, sweet sounding guitar, a very under-rated axe.
It works well for country music, but shines very brightly as a mellow blues lady.
B.B. has Lucille, Albert had Lucy, I have Gibby!
If you own or wish to know more about this or other Les Paul low-Z guitars, check this web address: http://www.gould68.freeserve.co.uk/lprusers/lprusers.html

I don't believe music is all about lyrical inanity.
In a world gone wrong musicians need to say something within their songs about the lies we are all told: apart from Dylan's brilliant best no one says it better than Robb Johnson
And Robb still says it and lives it...... His web sight has downloads of some of his inspired compositions.
http://www.robbjohnson.co.uk/

A scan I did from GOSET magazine October 3rd 1970 - A classic magazine cover!

A month ago if you had said "Nick Charles" to me, I would have asked which AFL team has recruited him.

About 3 weeks ago I borrowed a CD from the Chelsea Library (Grace Notes) and was blown away by this incredible finger-picking which is a worthy legacy of the Chet/Merle /Doc tradition.
I couldn't get on the 'net quick enough to research the player and to see him play live.
I have now seen him play 3 times, including once as part of an electric blues band, where he played an Epiphone Emperor, a beautiful looking arch top box.

I haven't been disappointed and have included a link to Nick's website where there are some samples to listen to of his playing.

I have already told Nick that I strongly identify with one of his vocal numbers, his own composition, "Everybody sleeps but me"!

Thurs 11th Aug 05, I attended the first Weekend Warriors jam held at World of Music, 809 Nepean Highway, Brighton East.
I went back on the 18th, to then be seconded into a band for an impending initial performance with Lu, (Precious!), Ziggy, who volunteered for Bass duties, Tim on drums, and Jeremy on guitar.

Jeremy and Lu pulled out of the program, so a week from the performance, Ziggy, Tim and myself found we were a trio with some emergency rehearsing facing us.
Sunday 9th October and our live gig!
Interesting!!!
We rocked!!!
Ziggy, Tim and Stan

Tim, Ziggy and I decided we would keep our band together, and have since picked up an exciting addition to the band with Jed Davis joining us on guitar and vocals.

We have since rehearsed together and at times have sounded awesome with our blend of blues and psychedelia. We hope to gig in the near future, and are looking forward to meeting Frank and Brett again at World of Music for the next round of Warriors.

If you are an aspiring (or respiring!) muso, or perhaps a drummer, and feel a bit shy, you have nothing to lose but your inhibitions and reputation, give it a go.
If you are a bassist you will probably wonder why a red carpet is rolled out for you!