52 guitarists, week 8—Tony Iommi

The first song I ever learned to play on guitar was Paranoid by Black Sabbath. To this day it’s still one of my favourite songs to play on the guitar and it remains one of the only songs I attempt to play lead guitar on.

Lead guitar is not my thing.

Having said that, this song that is almost as old as me, is as cool today as it was when I first heard it. Heck … It’s as cool today as the day it was recorded almost 46 years ago. Why? Simple … Tony Iommi.

The man is the God of Riffs. Pure and simple. As a rhythm guitarist, Tony Iommi started the guitar style that has continued to rule my world of guitars up until this day. He will continue to do so until the end of days I suspect. … 52 guitarists, week 8—Tony Iommi

Guitar

Dialtone Pickups—finally, the video I’ve promised

Regular readers of this website may have seen me mention my love for Dialtone Pickups before. I was lucky enough to see them at the 2015 Winter NAMM Show and I installed my first set of Dialtone Pickups in May last year. Since then I have mentioned a few times how much I love the pickups and several people on Twitter and Facebook have asked me how they sound. Each time I’ve said something along the lines of “They sound amazing! I need to make a video to showcase them.”

Well it took me almost a year and a fresh install of my own v2 Dialtone Pickups, but I have done it. The video has been put together. Pity it wasn’t really worth the wait—you’ll see soon enough if you read this entire article. then again, maybe this well crafted blog post with pretty colour photographs will make it all better. Let’s see. … Dialtone Pickups—finally, the video I’ve promised

Guitar

52 guitarists, week 7—Marty Friedman

Back in the late 1980s, I was a massive Metallica fan. I loved plenty of other heavy metal bands, but few came close to Metallica for me. A close second was Megadeth. That was until 1990 when Rust In Peace was released with the new Megadeth lineup that included Marty Friedman. It was at this time and with this new material that Megadeth became the greatest heavy metal band ever in my opinion. Marty Friedman’s solo work was—and still is—mind-blowingly amazing.

Also, he had hair to die for. I’m man enough to admit that. … 52 guitarists, week 7—Marty Friedman

Photography

Kookaburra

A Kookaburra sits calmly on top of a cabin in the northern New South Wales hinterland near Bellingen. Photograph taken on Nikon D60.

Guitar

52 guitarists, week 6—Tommy Emmanuel

Acoustic guitar playing is not my strong suit. Actually, electric guitar playing is not my strong suit. Wow … I just realised that blogging isn’t either. Someone who is without equal on the acoustic guitar—in my opinion—and is also damn impressive on the electric guitar is Tommy Emmanuel. I sure hope his website doesn’t show he’s a better blogger than me too. I’ve got to have something over him! … 52 guitarists, week 6—Tommy Emmanuel