Category: Guitar Gear

Guitars, Effects, Accessories, Amps and more

Build Finger Strength With The Gripmaster Exercise Tool

Gripmaster – Extra Light Tension

As any guitarist will tell you, playing in a live band will definitely test your stamina in ways you never would expect. It’s really hard to build the type of endurance you will need to be able to play an entire live gig when you don’t play out a lot. You can practice on your instrument of course but it’s hard to practice for 3 hours to simulate the live show experience. Even if you do play regularly it’s a good idea to have some tools to help you build your finger strength and stamina. Years ago I bought a Gripmaster Exercise Tool finger exerciser and I have used it to help stay in playing shape over the years. I have recommended this product to many of my students as well to help them build up their finger muscles.

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Buy A Used Guitar On eBay

Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster

Ask any live musician and we’ll all tell you we love a good bargain. Some of the best savings on music equipment can be found on eBay. There’s almost always a good deal to be found on eBay if you just take the time to search for it. There are tons of guitars for sale on eBay and if you search through them you can find some real bargains. Here are some basic tips for buying a guitar on eBay: (more…)
How To Save And Load Presets On Your Fender Cyber-Twin SE With MIDI Sysex

Fender Cyber-Twin SE Front

I use the Fender Cyber-Twin SE Amplifier as my main amplifier and have programmed many custom patches for it. It would be catastrophic to say the least if I lost all my presets before or during a show. That’s why I have backed up all my presets in MIDI System Exclusive format and I keep a copy on our computer that we use at all shows. The best and easiest way to load patch presets onto your Fender Cyber-Twin SE Amplifier is by using MIDI System Exclusive data. The Cyber-Twin SE creates and communicates this type of MIDI data natively and it works flawlessly for backing up, sharing and loading your patches. It’s much easier than tediously entering in all the parameters by hand which would be very difficult at a gig. The beauty of using MIDI Sysex data is that it will save all your front panel EQ settings as well as all expression pedal settings and assignments for each preset as well.

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The Guitar Player Repair Guide Review

Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine

The most beloved possession any live musician will own and take care of is their instrument. Playing in a live band over the years I’ve seen guys play on the most beat up and improperly setup instruments you could imagine. They still loved them but they loved them even more when they were setup correctly. I’ve been setting my own guitars up now for about 20 years and I have become extremely good at it. My guitars really play silky smooth. I take the time to properly set up the string height, pickup height, neck relief and intonation as well as maintain my guitars very methodically. I set my students guitars up for them and they often say “I didn’t know my guitar could be so easy to play!”.

Today I want to tell you about one of the most valuable books in my collection. It is by legendary guitar builder and repairman, Dan Erlewine. I bought his book “The Guitar Player Repair Guide” when I was about 19 years old and it has been very well used over the years. This book is packed with information about setting up, maintaining and repairing electric and acoustic guitars. It covers Fender style bridges, Floyd Rose style bridges and Les Paul style bridges. It goes in depth about how to setup each type of guitar as well. (more…)
The Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster – My Favorite Guitar

Matt With American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster

Being a guitarist in a live band, I’m constantly asked “What guitar do you play?”. The truth is I have a modest guitar collection of about 12 guitars so I play a lot of different guitars. But there is one particular model that stands out above the rest. That is my beloved Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. I actually have two American Deluxe Strats and A Jeff Beck Signature Strat that is very similar to an American Deluxe Stratocaster. The two I’d like to talk about today are my 2004 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster and my 2005 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster. They are both very similar to each other and incredible guitars.

I got the 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster when it was released in 2004 because I had always wanted a collectible guitar and I love the Stratocaster. My Jeff Beck Signature Strat had been serving me well for about 9 years and I was looking for another good guitar. The reason I got the American Deluxe version rather than the American Standard version was because I absolutely love the feature set that is on the American Deluxe Stratocaster.

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My Stage Amp – The Fender Cyber-Twin SE

Fender Cyber-Twin SE Front

My main onstage guitar amplifier for the last couple years is the Fender Cyber-Twin SE. As a live guitarist this amplifier has been invaluable to me. Because I play in a cover band as well as an original band, I needed an amplifier/effects setup that could cover a wide range of different guitar sounds. At a gig I will use sounds ranging from a country twang to hard rocking Marshall type distortion to full on saturated mid-scooped distortion.

I used to use a Digitech 2120 Valve Guitar System but it just didn’t have the punch and presence of an actual amplifier and it’s sound always left me wanting more power. When I was searching for a new amplifier I played a bunch of modeling effects units and amplifiers including the Line 6 POD, Boss GT-8 Effects Processor and the Line 6 Vetta 2 among others. None of those modeling devices gave me the playing response that the Fender Cyber-Twin SE did.

The biggest thing I noticed was on the other modeling devices, whether I played light or heavy, or when I turned the guitar down or up, the sound stayed the same. The Fender Cyber-Twin SE responded to my playing touch, guitar volume adjustments and my picking attack. It simply breathes more than a standard DSP modeling amplifier. There’s a secret to how Fender achieved this with the Cyber-Twin SE.
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Music123 Sale, 15% Off Your Entire Order

**This Offer Has Expired** Check out other great offers from Music123!

From now until November 26 you can get 15% off your entire order at Music123. Music123 is an online music store that caters to every type of musician whether you play live or just like to record. I’ve always had good experiences ordering from Music123. Here’s an experience I had recently when I ordered a product. I had ordered several different types of guitar picks to experiment with including the Jellifish Chorus Guitar Pick. Somehow, the Jellifish got crushed during shipping and all the wires on it got bent. I called Music123 and they sent me out a brand new one, completely free without making me return the damaged one. Now that’s customer service! So make sure you check out the great sale and excellent products at Music123.

Now is the perfect time to get your big ticket items for Christmas. These top items sell out regularly and can be hard to get closer the Christmas. I recommend these top selling products from Music123: (more…)
Planet Waves CT-03 Pro String Winder With Cutter And Tuner

$Planet Waves CT-03 Pro Winder\Tuner\Cutter$
Planet Waves CT-03 Pro WinderTunerCutter

One of the most essential tools you can have for your guitar and bass collection is a string winder. It’s a real challenge to hold the string in place while with one hand while having to reposition your other hand every time you want to give the tuning head a half turn. The other tools you need every time you change strings are a string cutter and a tuner. Well, the Planet Waves CT-03 Pro String Winder\Tuner\Cutter is the tool for you. You can have all 3 tools right there in your hand while changing strings. The built-in tuner is so handy you’ll wonder how you lived without it before.

The Planet Waves CT-03 Pro String Winder also has a built-in bridge pin puller. It’s nice to have that for pulling the bridge pins on your acoustic guitar. The string winder is a really handy tool and makes changing your strings so much easier. (more…)
Get The Original Dunlop Crybaby Wah-Wah Pedal
Dunlop Original Crybaby Wah Pedal

Yes here it is, the original and still the best wah-wah pedal on the market. The Dunlop Crybabay Wah-Wah pedal. This pedal is the highest selling guitar pedal of all time and for good reason. It’s been used by some of the greatest artists in Rock-N-Roll history. Here’s a short list of artists who have used the original Dunlop Crybaby Wah-Wah pedal.
- David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
- Mick Ronson
- Kirk Hammett
- Jimmy Page
- Steve Howe
- Tom Morello
- Brian May
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How To Get Your Band In Tune

Peterson Stroboflip VS-F

I’m going to talk about a common problem that I hear quite often when I’m out listening to bands. It’s a problem I’ve encountered working with various musicians in my studio as well. The problem that I’m talking about is the use of several different electronic tuners while tuning the various instruments in a band. You would think that a tuner is a tuner and that they’re all properly calibrated but the truth is that any individual tuner can be slightly out of calibration. If you have two different tuners and they’re both a little bit out of calibration, let’s say one is slightly sharp and the other is slightly flat, you’ll hear a big difference in tuning between the different instruments that have been tuned on them. The audience will simply hear an out of tune band which isn’t good for any performance by a live musician.

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