Guitar Jam

NAMM Gallery: Day 4 - Sunday, January 21st

It was the final day of The NAMM Show. Everyone was a bit weary from three days of working the long days on the show floor, the evening activities, and late night drinks at the Hilton bar. But the faithful were still there en masse, as were we. So here’s a look at moving day.

Visit the Day 4 NAMM Gallery >

NAMM Gallery: Day 3 - Saturday, January 20th

It is another day in paradise at the 2007 Winter NAMM Show. Today is Super Saturday and the show is running at full capacity. This is THE BIG day for the 81,000 buyers, dealers, manufacturers, celebrities, press, and visitors who are coming together to enjoy the greatest music show on earth.

Visit the NAMM Photo Gallery - Day 3 >

NAMM Diary- Day 2, Friday January 19th: Stars with Guitars

By Nick Friese
We got a late start again yesterday because both Ken and I were dealing with business calls, emails, and publishing matters in our suite at the Four Seasons Travel Lodge of Anaheim.

But we did make it out of the room around 11:30am and headed over to the show. As we were pulling into the parking lot closest to the Conference Center, we were stopped by the local authorities and then with one flash of our super powered press badge, we were waived in. 

Once inside the cavernous expo hall, I walked in whatever direction the currents of the crowd pulled me. And luckily enough they pulled me right over to the Marshall booth where low and behold Jim Marshall and Kerry King were hanging out and signing autographs. Two people could not look more opposite. But they were big time crowd pleasers and the meet and greet line went on as far as I could see

And this was the start of a day filled with stars, stars, and more stars with guitars.

After spending some time at the Marshall booth we headed over to Graph Tech for Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s performance with Hubert Sumlin and Bryan Lee. He was promoting his new DVD Ten Days Out: Blues from The Backroads with his ensemble cast. And the crowds were lined up for a sighting of KWS.

He was supposed to start at 12:30 and made a late entrance around 1:00ish. Hey we can cut him slack because he’s a star and has the right to make us wait. By this time the crowd had swelled so much that people were filling up the exhibitors booths surrounding Graph Tech.

Guthrie Govan from the Cornford booth was one of those exhibitors who were none-the-merrier about the crowd in front of his booth. He was worried about his one or more of his axes getting the chop from one of the KWS loyalists. So as the charitable chaps that we are, we played traffic cop to help save his six stringed kids.

As he does in his DVD, Kenny Wayne allowed Bryan Lee and Hubert Sumlin take the front and play and sign as he hung back and played side man and came in with a lead or two but he remained very respectful of his mentors who were seated net to him.

Scott Henderson and Guthrie Govan continued their conversation in the Cornford booth, while the KWS set was going on, about what one can only imagine – starting their own G2 tour?  One could only hope.

I took a look at my watch and it said hey get yourself and your 80lb backpack, notebook and camera over to Peavey for Joe Satriani's press conference for his new JSX Mini Colossal amp.  I got there and was quickly escorted into the inner sanctum.

(Note: Full audio from the press conference and demo will be available soon - please check back)

Soooo, it was only about 130 degrees in the Peavey glass encased sauna (Press Room) where the event was scheduled. The funny thing was all of the attendees outside had their noses pressed to the glass watching us as we slowly cooked inside. Now that’s a real spectator sport!

The net, net Joe didn’t play the new amp and left it up to the Peavey project manager to run the amp demo - a good player, but no Joe.  Oh well we can’t win them all.

But we continued to bump into more guitar greats throughout the day with the likes of Warren Haynes, Dick Dale, John 5, Kerry King, Greg Koch, Pat Bergeson, Guthrie Trapp, Neil Schon, Skunk Baxter, producer Eddie Kramer, just to name a few.

Towards the end of the day I went back into the Fender Frontline Stage to see Greg Koch and his trio perform. Yet another room that contained balmy desert temperatures – great for performers! In between tunes Greg Koch told us, in a way that only he can, that his next tune was sponsored by Right Guard - insert Greg sniffing armpit here.  You have to love him he’s a guy’s guy! 

The GK Trio burned through their set as expected. It was a complete display of guitar wizardry by Greg Koch and his band. I am simply amazed at how effortless his playing is and how big and great his tone is – not to mention the way he plays so tastefully. He’s one that has monster chops and never over uses them. Way to go!

So Greg tells us that he has a special guest coming out to the stage, one who used to be in law enforcement, hmmmmm…And yes out walks Andy Summers to play with the Koch band.

Andy is yet another humble guitar God who proceeds to tell us how nerve racking it is to play at a NAMM show. He had a right to be a bit nervous coming on after a burning set by Greg. But he pulled out a very funky, cool jazz number (name unknown) and burned it up on his new “Andy Summers Telecaster,” an exact replica of his relic from the police days. Admittedly Summers couldn’t tell the difference between this new axe and the original upon first sight.

He continued to praise Fender throughout his set for it’s brilliant work on the new guitar, I mean old, new guitar. And we at GJD continue to praise them for such an excellent booth that is filled with stars with guitars.

One unfortunate incident that we failed to cover was Eddie Van Halen’s appearance and demo at the Fender booth late last night. In an unconfirmed report we were told that his demo occurred late in the day (a coincidence?) and he was completely blotto’d during the appearance. I think Eddie hasn't read Larry Dobrow's "An Open Letter to EVH" just yet.

Well it’s just another day in Disneyland!

Stay tuned!

NAMM Gallery: Day 2 - Friday, January 19th

The show doors opened again today at 10:00am and the crowds were out en masse for more demos, meetings, press conferences, performances, star gazing, and live workshops. Here are some of the star guitar players we ran into today and some of the guitars we were admiring. Enjoy!

Visit NAMM Gallery: Day 2 >

Photo Gallery: AES '06 San Francisco

Over the weekend audio pros gathered for the 121st Audio Engineering Convention (Oct. 5 – 8) at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The convention offered workshops, papers, tutorials, technical tours, platinum, broadcast, live sound, student, electrical engineering, historical and special events for audio (and related) professionals, to what has become the industry’s largest and most meaningful educational/technology event.

From a Keynote speech by legendary concert sound and recording engineer Robert Scovill to tours of the Bay Area’s most storied recording studio, educational and manufacturer facilities, this year’s AES Convention served up another milestone.

AES 06 Gallery >

Photo Gallery: Gov't Mule and Dave Matthews at Randall's Island

Randall’s Island was the site of a two-day jamfest on August 5-6. The lineup included: Dave Matthews Band, Gov't Mule, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Yonder Mountain String Band, just to name a few. Jambase covered the event and captured some excellent shots of the headliners playing their favorite instruments.

View the photo gallery >

Its All Part Of A Rock n' Roll Dream

Last Thursday night campers from the Rock n' Roll Fantasy Camp boarded the Gibson tour bus for a short ride from the Ultra Sound Studios to the B.B. King Club on 42nd street in the heart of Manhattan. It was their last night to show off all that they had learned over the past five days from classes, lessons, presentations, demonstrations, rehearsals and jams with some of the biggest names in rock n' roll history.

The camp is clearly not designed for the average musician. Think high level corporate executive who works 80 hours a week, keeps his vintage Les Pauls in their cases 360 days a year, who’s hands spend more time on a golf club than a guitar, and thinks that the metronome is where the Twins play. Look, if you need to hire these top names in rock you’re going to have to pay them for their time so the tuition “ain’t gonna be cheap!”

You, too, can join in on the fun if you happen to have an extra $8,499 lying around. That price buys you a full week of playing music with the likes of Dickey Betts, Jeff Skunk Baxter, Joe Satriani, George Thorogood, Mark Farner, Bruce Kulick, and more. Plus, the camp agenda is filled with dreamy activities like a trip to Gibson’s showroom to pick out your guitars for the week, master classes with Skunk Baxter, a private party at Guitar Center, dinner with Jon Anderson, studio sessions with Joe Satriani, a workshop with Dickey Betts, and last, but not least, a Battle of the Bands night at the B.B. King Club to jam with the “Greats.”

This is a very professional and extremely well produced event with high quality stars, venues, activities, a cool website, and the super packed guitar player’s dream agenda. The people who run Rock n' Roll Fantasy Camp know what they’re doing and do a great job of it. And from what we witnessed that night at the Battle of the Bands, the end result was reached; the campers were having the times of their lives.

They are first-rate dream makers.

But reality came crashing down on me during the Battle of the Bands when I witnessed the first group. Now I’m sure glad the campers were having fun up on stage, because my ears certainly weren’t on the floor in front of it. The sounds and tones coming from the camp attendees vocals and guitars were so bad that I thought I was witnessing a wacky American Idol audition. I think William Hung had a better chance of winning the Battle of the Bands than anyone in this class. The campers’ music was almost unbearable to listen to. If it weren’t for David Letterman’s horn section, the session drummers, bass players, and keys holding down the musical attributes of Wild Thing and Not Fade Away, the songs wouldn’t be recognizable.

But the campers were having a ball. And that's what matters most.

Fortunately, the B.B. King Club was packed with family and friends of the campers so they were able to keep an audience. We caught Peter Tork hiding behind a New York Times at a nearby Starbucks shortly after his group (the first act) left the stage. And let me just say this, he wasn’t in a friendly mood. He told Guitar Jam’s own Ken Volpe to get out of his seat and chased away a few autograph hounds that for some reason wanted the John Hancock of this angry Monkey. 

The assault on my ears lasted all night long, but I kept smiling as I watched these campers whoop it up with their band-mates and with rock’s royalty. Even the guitar Gods sounded mortal when it was their turn to play and solo. At one point, it appeared that Dickey Betts found his one way out and walked off the stage because his rig wasn’t producing any sounds for a minute or two. But he did return later in the set during the band’s rendition of Ramblin’ Man and treated my battered ear drums to those legendary major runs and licks made famous in the recording of that song. 

The fact is the campers aren’t musicians and will never be. But that is not the point here. They go to the Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp for the fun and excitement of doing all things music for one week. For them it’s about leaving behind the Blackberry and the hundreds of urgent emails from the bosses and clients. It’s about getting away from the wife and kids and all of the daily challenges and hanging out with rock stars and pretending for one night that you are one of them.

That’s where the brilliance lies in this event. And its all part of a rock n’ roll dream.

View Gallery >

More G-Jam NAMM Cam: Ronny North Rocks Austin

Ronny North was also down in Austin last weekend for NAMM’s Summer Session. As you'll see, he was moving between all of the big gigs and rockin’ the house down on Sixth Street. Thanks for sharing these shots RN!

Ronny's Photo Jam Cam >

NAMM Summer Session News:

2006 NAMM Summer Session Videos (HC)

Electro-Harmonics Introduces Micro Pedals (SS)

Peavey Unveils the ValveKing Royal 8 (HC)

Ibanez Introduces New Talman Heart Guitars.  (HC)

Roland's lineup Expands with Cube-15X, 20X and 30X amplifiers (HC)

GJ At The Shows: NAMM Summer Session

The news and the images from the NAMM Summer Session 2006 show have been streaming in. Those who were in Austin this weekend were treated to three days of new gear, music, awards and education from the show floor.

Guitar Jam is pleased to bring the show to you with Guitar Jam "At the Shows" recap which includes the "G-Jam NAMM Cam". From the Live Music Capital of the World, have the latest news, pictures, video and sounds from the summer's big music event.

Check out what's on the G-Jam NAMM Cam.

Summer NAMM News:

New Yamaha Acoustic - Electric Guitars Are Feedback Free (SS)

Line 6 Announces GearBox Plug-In Silver and Gold bundles (HC)

Vinnie Paul To Attend Summer NAMM (93x)

Gretsch Presents the Return of the Classic G6130 Roundup (HC)

Planet Waves Introduces New Leather JS Series Straps (HC)

DigiTech Ships The Brian May Red Special Artist Series Pedal (HC)

Traynor Introduces The Custom Special Half-Stack (HC)

Washburn Debuts The Damen Idol Electric Guitar (HC)

D'Addario Offers Guitar String 10-Packs (SS)

Digitech Introduces Three New Modeling Processors (SS)

Photo Gallery: Jimmy Stafford of Train

Guitar Jam made a stop over the weekend in Newport, R.I. for the Sunset Music Festival to catch several acts, including Train. Train includes one of the most underrated rock guitar players on the scene today, Jimmy Stafford.

As expected, Train served up two guitar-lite sets. Most of the show Jimmy was tucked away in the background holding down the pop rock rhythms quite masterfully, while adding some very interesting riffs and harmonies in every song. You have to pay close attention when he plays or you’ll miss his subtle musical gold dust. Stafford is a player who knows how to add rich textures to songs without being flashy or loud. And he is one of the reasons that Train has such a tight, dynamic sound. But when Stafford got a few openings during the set to rip, he showed off his monster rock chops. So don’t be fooled by the quiet guitar player on stage right. Jimmy makes the most of the spotlight when it’s his turn to come out of the shadows and he can really play.

Jimmy played several guitars during the show. He has good taste, mixing it up with Strats, Tele’s, a PRS and two Taylor acoustics. His amp set-up consisted of Fender Custom Shop heads and cabs. Take a look for yourself.

Photo Gallery >