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
I expect this week’s article to make people question this list. I’m quite OK with that. Remember, this is not some top 50 guitarists of all time list. This is the 52 guitarists—in no real order—that have influenced me at some point in my guitar playing journey. Wes Borland is one of those guitarists. He influences me in ways similar to Adam Jones from my previous entry in this list. Wes is an artist—in many ways and mediums—and his approach to guitar playing and showmanship is one I admire greatly. Plus he can riff with the best of them. … 52 guitarists, week 5—Wes Borland
Great guitar music—to me—complements what is going on in a band while still making it clear that the guitar is not only there, it’s a presence to be reckoned with. It’s a subtle mix between subtle and bold. It’s a rare mix to get right. Few do it right in my opinion. Well, to my personal liking at least. I’m no expert by any means, but one man that does it perfectly is Adam Jones from Tool. Not only is his guitar work an important part of the seriously impressive music Tool produces, it’s the part that blows your mind when the chords come pounding in at those all-important moments.
Adam Jones makes fist pumping guitar moments of passion and I love it. … 52 guitarists, week 4—Adam Jones
It’s time to exit the timeline approach I’ve been running with these past two weeks and enter the realm of ‘whatever the heck I feel like doing’. It’s a realm that really needs a better name, but it essentially means I can write about any guitarists I feel like writing about. Which is OK because this is my website, my rules.
So if you could write about any influential guitarist in week three, who would you write about? Me, I’d look to a band with three guitarists and then choose your favourite guitarist from that band. For me that’s easy. Dave Murray from Iron Maiden. … 52 guitarists, week 3—Dave Murray
I’ve decided to stick with a timeline approach to my blogging for this series of 52 guitarists. For now, that will be the approach. Next week, who knows?! I’ve also decided that today’s post will have some profanity in it. You have been warned.
You may wonder what the two have in common. A timeline approach and profanity. Well, when you’re a fifteen year old boy and someone introduces you to the sound of Eddie Van Halen, there’s not much you can do but swear. Well, if you’re anything like me at least. … 52 guitarists, week 2—Eddie Van Halen
Another year and another weekly blog post commitment from me. For those who have been on this journey with me before—thank you by the way—you have witnessed my wishlists of 52 guitars, 52 amplifiers and 52 pedals. This year I’m trying something different—52 guitarists.
It’s safe to assume therefore that this is also not a wishlist like previous years.
Also, this series is not a top 52 guitarists list. There is no ranking system here. What I will be doing however is writing about 52 guitarists who have been influential to me personally. By the end of this list, there will be many guitarists who would normally feature in a top 10 or top 100 guitarists list. Once again though, this is not that list. This is personal. These are the guitarists who either influenced me enough to start playing guitar or to continue playing guitar decades later. For me, this list needs to therefore start at the beginning. It starts with the guitarist who made me realise that guitar-focused music was going to be my passion.
My list has to start with Ace Frehley. … 52 guitarists, week 1—Ace Frehley
I’ve been bitten by the blogging bug lately and this has caused me to investigate all-things guitar once again. I’m very OK with that. Who doesn’t love spending hours surfing the Interwebs looking at guitars? I’m sure that doesn’t appeal to some folks—I like to call those people boring. What is hopefully not boring though is this list of the five signature guitars I wish I owned.
Now to watch the next lotto draw and hope for the best. Or dream. I’m happy to continue dreaming. … Five signature guitars I wish I owned
This is a top-five style list. But it’s my top-five list. This is the list of my five favourite guitar moments from 2015. This is the Scarebear 2015 in review article I never thought I’d do. What can I say, I’ve rediscovered the blogging bug.
I’m pretty sure there’s a cure for that. I just don’t care to take it. … 2015 in review—My five favourite guitar moments
Let me start by saying that I’m not suggesting this list is some kind of top list in any way. This is not the top five metal albums of the year. This is not the top five guitar albums of the year. No, this is simply my favourite five new albums from 2015. I’ll hopefully explain why as I summarise each album. I’d also like to say that 2015 was an amazing year for new releases. You need only check out the list of albums released in 2015 on Wikipedia to see that.
Marilyn Manson, Periphery, Slayer, Lamb of God, Joe Satriani, Motorhead … It was a good year for metal releases. For me though, there were five albums that made me very happy. These are those albums (in no particular order). … My favourite five new albums from 2015
I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t know how much harder 52 pedal manufacturers was going to be when compared to last year’s 52 amplifiers. I fell behind on my weekly posting schedule—the real world can be such a needy thing—and finding so many different manufacturers who were all providing something that appealed to me in a way no other pedal manufacturer was proved to be a lot more time consuming than I had anticipated. Having said all of that, I’m glad I persevered. I’ve put together a list I’m proud of that is hopefully going to be of use to other guitar gear addicts.
So, 52 different pedal manufacturers all offering that something special in an attempt to gain access to your valuable pedalboard real estate. If you had to choose one new pedal, what company would you choose a pedal from? What pedal would you go for first? Me, I’d certainly make it one of the following 52 pedals. At least one … … 52 pedals—the summary
