Choosing a bass guitar at the under $500 price point isn’t much different than choosing a more high-end one. You’ll need to identify the features that are most important to your playing style. Thankfully, even at this lower price point, there’s a ton of high quality and fully-featured instruments available, and you’ll only have to …
You might be wondering why you see signs in music stores forbidding the song Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin. Many guitarists are left scratching their heads wondering how such a legendary tune could ever be known as the forbidden riff. So let’s answer the age old question. Why is Stairway to Heaven banned in …
The F guitar chord can be one of the first challenges a beginner guitarist encounters but can also be a gateway to many timeless songs. The F chord, or more formally known as “F major”, is commonly played as a barre chord and usually one of the first barre chords guitarists will learn. It’s widely …
If you compile a list of the greatest bass players to ever live, Geddy Lee would easily end up toward the top of the list. Lee’s sound was so unique that he inspired countless musicians, including Metallica’s Cliff Burton, Primus’ Les Claypool, Rage Against the Machine’s Tim Commerford, Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris, and Dream Theater’s …
Long before the advent of rock and roll, and high-speed shredding was a key part of any lead guitarist’s arsenal, there was jazz. Bold techniques, inspirational improvisation, and encyclopedic knowledge of music weren’t just desirable for post-war jazz musicians. They were a minimum requirement. Among the kings and key innovators in the genre was Wes …
Though the 90s are often known for boy bands, grunge and pop punk, metal dominated much of the alternative music scenes throughout the decade and brought new subgenres into the mainstream such as death metal, industrial metal, nu-metal, and a second wave of black metal in Scandinavia. Thrash and glam metal were beginning to die …
Whether you are looking for an amp to serve as a clean pedal platform or looking to highlight the natural sound of your guitar with smooth clean tones, an amp with enough clean headroom for your volume needs is a critical factor in dialing in your sound. Oftentimes, clean guitar amps are also capable of …
One of the leading genres of modern time, indie rock infiltrated the music industry as early as the 1970s with its notorious DIY attitude, low-budget production, and its amalgamation of punk rock, psychedelia, post-punk, and country. Though the term was originally utilized to describe independent record labels, “indie” became synonymous with bands who strived to …
When it comes to creating unique guitar tones, effects pedals provide musicians with the platform to express themselves in an original and interesting way. Indeed, amplifiers and guitars have a notable impact on the tone and style of a guitarist, but when you throw effects pedals into the mix, a new dimension of possibilities opens …
Tube amps are often perceived as being louder than solid-state amps, which is technically true. A low-wattage tube amp, of say 10 or 15 watts, will actually sound as loud or louder than a solid-state amp of 50 watts or more. Speaker impedance, which is the amount of resistance that a speaker offers to the …