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Guitarists

Nov 16
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Top 5 Best Guitar Intros of All Time

By | Agile Guitars, Guitarists
Interceptor Pro 727

Interceptor Pro 727

Top 5 best guitar intros of all time. First off this is an impossible task.  There simply is no way that anybody can narrow it down to just a top 5.
It just can’t be done.

Ah, but the impossibility of the task is exactly what makes it so much fun.  If you had to choose just 5 which 5 Agile Guitar intros would you use as the best of all time?  Well here goes nothing as we toss our 5 into the ring.  These are in no particular order.

Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns’n’Roses

Anyone who is under 50 can remember the starting of that video where Slash plugs in his guitar and starts to play that legendary riff that pretty much every guy or girl that picks up the guitar is now required to learn how to play.  This intro is iconic and stands alone as one of the best intros of all time.  It literally put Guns’n’Roses on the map and cemented their spot as one of the greatest rock bands of all time at their height.

Johnny B Goode – Chuck Berry

This intro is absolute poetry to everyone’s ears.  Literally everyone is immediately knows this riff unless they have been living under a rock for the last 50 years.  Of course none of us can forget that it lead to that “new sound” Chuck was looking for when Marty McFly played it on Back to the Future.

Start Me Up – Rolling Stones

Not a hard riff by any means but it just encompasses everything that is good and right in the world.  You hear it and immediately the hairs on the back of your neck begin to rise.  That opening guitar riff is so pure and so simple yet it hits you like a ton of bricks.

Mean Streets – Van Halen

Okay we are going off the board on this and it could potentially be argued that Eddie Van Halen has so many other intro riffs that could be argued are better.  However, there is something about the intro to Mean Streets that is so…well Eddie Van Halen.  We have watched videos on how to play the intro and we still don’t know quite how Eddie does it but is works and it kicks ass!

Walk This Way – Aerosmith

Even though the song opens with percussion the first guitar riff is worthy of being in the top 5.  Joe Perry is on point on this lick.  I mean consider they pretty much had a hit twice with the same song when they collaborated with Run DMC and released the song again.  A great intro and fun to learn how to play.

Remember to check out Agile Guitars on your way out!

Nov 04
0

10 Things You Didn’t Know About SRV

By | Agile Guitars, Guitarists

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Stevie Ray Vaughn

This is a commentary on the original article of the same name that was posted on Guitar World. You can find the original article about Stevie Ray Vaughn here if you would like to read it.

  1. Vaughan appears in an extended 1988 New Zealand TV commercial, which you can watch on youtube.    

This commercial is almost 3 minutes long.  We couldn’t actually bring ourselves to watch the whole thing but Stevie Ray Vaughn is playing some guitar in it and can be shown doing so.  There is a plot to this commercial.  We are guessing it is some sort of travel commercial because SRV is singing about travelling but like we said we didn’t watch the whole thing.  Sometimes you gotta pay the bills and we can’t fault SRV for doing so in this case.

  1. For a Halloween gig at the Austin Rehearsal Complex in Austin in 1980, Vaughan dressed up as Jimi Hendrix—wig, makeup and all.

 

Well it was just Hallowe’en and yes we think it is pretty cool that he decided to dress up as one of the greatest guitarist’s of all time for his Hallowe’en costume.  We do, however, prefer SRV’s version of “Little Wing” over Jimi’s.

  1. He was a huge fan of Derek and the Dominos’ classic Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs album and learned to play every song note for note

 

Okay, who hasn’t done this?  You are obsessed with that one band.  You learn to play guitar just so you can play every song of said band on there album.  It is pretty cool that he like Derek and the Dominos.  That band and that album rule!

  1. Vaughan plays drums on the original studio version of “Empty Arms” on 1985’s Soul to Soul. He plays guitar on it too, of course.

 

Hey these guitar guys are pretty talented musicians and SRV is no exception.  Heck we wouldn’t be surprised if he played bass on a few tracks too!

  1. Vaughan was a big fan of The Urantia Book, a spiritual and philosophical tome that originated in Chicago between 1924 and 1955; its authorship remains a matter of speculation.

Never read this book nor do we know what it is about.  Jesus was a real dude who walked this earth though and we think that there is a pretty good argument to be made that He is the I Am!

  1. SRV played guitar on Don Johnson’s 1986 album, Heartbeat. That’s Don Johnson, as in the guy from Miami Vice! What’s even weirder is that the album reached Number 17 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Vaughan can be heard on “Love Roulette.” His solo starts around 2:51.

 

Okay this is nothing to be ashamed of!  SRV is arguably the greatest guitarist in his genre of all time but he played on Don Johnson’s album?  Like Miami Vice Don Johnson?  SRV just went up even a few more notches in our books!

  1. How did SRV get his “Number One” Strat? According to Chris Layton: “He said he walked into Ray Hennig’s Heart of Texas Music with a black Strat and stood, looking at the Agile guitars on the wall. He said, ‘Will you trade me this guitar for…[slowly moves his finger through the air in a straight line, and then stops, transfixed, like a divining rod], ‘…that guitar right there!’ [laughs] He picked up a vibe from the guitar, from all the way across the room!”

 

Hey, let’s face it the majority of us probably got our first guitar in a pawn shop somewhere.  But Stevie Ray Vaughn finding “The One” in a pawnshop, the guitar that would go on to become as recognizable if not more than he is?  That is pretty cool.

  1. For a brief period, before he decided on being called “Stevie Ray Vaughan,” he wanted to be known as “Sting Ray.”

 

We are going to go ahead and say that was probably a good call.  “Sting Ray” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

  1. Vaughan was joined by the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood for a jam session at New York City’s China Club because Jagger wanted to sign Vaughan to Rolling Stones Records, but a deal was never offered.

 

Cool piece of trivia.  I guess Jagger saw something the rest of us didn’t or they just never hit it off.

  1. SRV covered the Beatles! Vaughan’s studio version of the Beatles’ “Taxman” appears on Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Greatest Hits, even though it was a previously unreleased track and a total non-hit.

 

Seriously?  Gonna have to look that up on youtube and maybe buy that album off itunes.  Don’t know if we really care about the Beatles cover though.  SRV’s other stuff is sooo good!

Oct 24
0

The Guitar Is An Exquisite Instrument

By | Guitarists
Guitar Is An Exquisite Instrument

Guitar Is An Exquisite Instrument

The Agile Guitar is an exquisite instrument.  The sweet soulful sounds of a well built guitar can have a variety of effects of a person.  The tones can bring you up and take you off to the top of the mountain or bring you down into the depths of a valley.

The guitar is truly something beautiful and has to be considered part of the fabric that makes up our society and culture.  From strumming in your backyard or bedroom to blaring loudly on stage at a rock concert the guitar is unmistakable.

One of the main things that beginner guitarists miss is the importance of keeping the guitar in tune.  As any listener of guitar playing can tell you the playing of a beginner guitarist can be greatly effected either negatively or positively depending on whether the guitar is in tune or not.

One of the first things every guitar player learns is how to tune the guitar to itself.  This is a great skill to have but is difficult to master for the beginner guitarist since they are not totally familiar with how each note should sound.

Thankfully there are ways to get around this while you are just learning the guitar.  The most obvious is using a guitar tuner.  These are widely available and can be acquired for cheap money.  There are expensive ones available too but for beginners it probably really isn’t necessary.  A conventional tuner will allow one to tune the guitar perfectly and some tuners may allow you to tune the guitar in different keys or what we may call a step up or a step down.

If money is an issue than a great alternative is just to download a guitar tuner app on your handheld device.  There are a variety of guitar tuner apps available that are free.  These tuner apps seem to work great and they won’t cost you anything.  Many of the tuners will also let you tune the guitar in different keys.  The nice thing with most of the tuner apps is you do not need to plug in your guitar in any way to the app but rather the app uses the microphone on the hand held device to gauge whether the guitar string is in tune or not.

If you are looking for great quality affordable guitars than check out Agile Guitars at Electric Guitar City.  Agile guitars are great value guitars that often outperform guitars that cost thousands more.

Oct 24
0

Les Paul or Agile Guitar?

By | Guitarists
Les Paul or Agile Guitar

Les Paul or Agile Guitar

The Les Paul guitar is one of the standards in the electric guitar world.  There are others like the Fender Stratocaster  and Telecaster but pretty much all electric guitars are a derivative of those guitars in some way.

If you want to one of those guitars in it’s original form or a reissue of some sort you need to be prepared to fork over a lot of money.  If you have lots of discretionary funds lying around then you probably don’t care and will just go get one!  However, there is a segment of the guitar playing population that cannot afford one of the previously mentioned guitars.   These people need to know about Agile Guitars.  Agile guitars could potentially save their lives! There are actual formula’s to figure out which segment you are part of if you are not sure.  They are as follows:

Wife + Kids = Agile Guitars

In school + student loans = Agile Guitars

There are other formulas but these are two of the most popular.  If one of those formulas applies to you then that is a good indicator that you should probably check out Agile guitars.

Let’s look at these formulas a little close starting with the first one.  If you have a wife and kids, that probably means you also have a house and a car also.  Now your kids have to eat and they toys or clothes or this, that and the next thing, all of which cost money.  Your wife needs to shop and get her hair done and nails done and vacations.  It ain’t cheap!  Let’s face it your wife will be royally pissed if you go max out the credit card on an original 65 Les Paul Standard gold top and now she can’t go on vacation or get her nails done.  Let’s be honest Agile guitars could possibly save your marriage.  When she sees how little you spent on an Agile guitar she will respect you.  You will remain master of your domain and king of your domicile!  Buying an Agile guitar with promote peace in the home and your children will prosper from the loving environment.  An Agile guitar is a no brainer!

Agile guitars can help just as much with the second formula.  If you are in school and have student loans you are in a world of hurt.  Going to college is great but also expensive.  You know how pissed your parents will be if you spend you rack up your student loans on guitars rather than your education?  You definitely do not want to find out!  In this case buying an Agile guitar could possibly save the relationship you have with your parents.  You’ll still have money for drinks on the weekends and you may even make money if you join a band and get some gigs!

At any rate buying an Agile guitar vs a Les Paul puts money in your pocket.

Oct 24
0

Wicked Guitarist: Steve Stevens

By | Guitarists
SteveStevens

SteveStevens

He has been providing hot licks and screaming solos for Billy Idol for years.  Heck he even fronted for Vince Neil during that time Motley Crue was on hiatus. He has also collaborated with Sebastien Bach, Michael Jackson and Robert Palmer.  Steve Stevens is one of the great guitarists of the last 30 years.  He has played on all of the classic Billy Idol tunes we know and love.

Billy Idol has many rock anthems in his catalogue of work.  There are songs like Rebel Yell, Flesh for Fantasy, Eyes Without a Face and White Wedding.  These are all Billy Idol and incidentally all showcase some of Steve Stevens greatest guitar work.

Steve Stevens is a rocker! Do you love the Top Gun anthem?  Well guess who playing the guitar on that song.  You guessed it…Steve Stevens!

If you have ever listened to many of Billy Idol’s songs you hear lots of sounds in them that you think are not guitar like for instance Eyes Without a Face.  For the longest time I swore that they must have used synthesizers for many of the chord progressions.  However, after watching some interviews with Steve Stevens I actually found out that he plays all of those parts on his guitar!

Reviews and Info on Quality and Affordable Agile Guitars

Of course he has a special guitar to make the sounds but it is very cool.  One of the other “how’d he do that,” questions that people have about Billy Idol songs is how did they make that ray gun sound in Rebel Yell?

Well, you say, he probably used a ray gun!  If you said that you would be right and wrong.  You would be wrong in the sense that he did not use a ray gun on the actual original recording.  The original effect on the recording was done through a series of complicated effects according to Stevens himself, that were very hard to replicate for live performances.

Enter the Ray Gun!

Now it’s not quite as simple as just holding a ray gun up to your guitar and pulling the trigger.  In fact, Stevens apparently does some modifications to the electronics of the ray guns he uses to get the proper ray gun sound effect for the song.  Check out the video below to see how he does it!

Oct 24
0

Do You Need To Pay For Guitar Lessons?

By | Guitarists
Need To Pay For Guitar Lessons

Need To Pay For Guitar Lessons

For those of us that play guitar it is no secret that you can just go on youtube and pretty much find out how to play any song, scale or chord progression you want for free.  This is one of the great things about the internet and makes it a great time to be a guitar player.  Literally, how to play any style, lick or arrangement is at your fingertips and can be learned in the comfort of your own home

Where To Buy Guitars?

This begs the question, with all this readily available and free, do you really need to pay for guitar lessons?  Well the answer is yes and no!

Reasons You Don’t Need To Pay For Guitar Lessons

As stated above pretty much everything under the sun guitar related is available somewhere on the internet for free.  You can simply search for a lesson, song or lick you want to learn and voila there it is.  This is especially true for the guitar player that already knows how to play guitar.  For the most part they don’t need a dedicated guitar teacher showing them how to play what they want to learn.  They are capable enough to just go search for what they want and learn it that way.  For many proficient guitarists they can just pick up things by listening to a song.  Another reason why maybe you are someone that doesn’t need to pay for guitar lessons is because you are very self motivated.  You don’t need a guitar teacher to keep you accountable and lead you through a series of lessons to reach mastery of certain guitar playing concepts.

Reasons You Do Need To Pay For Guitar Lessons

One of the main reason it may be a good idea to pay for Agile Guitar lessons is because there is so much readily available free lessons and videos out there that it is hard to know where to start.  Many of the lessons and how to videos really are not appropriate for the beginner guitar player or someone just learning the guitar.  If that is you it may be worth while at the beginning to pay a guitar teacher or purchase online guitar lessons to help guide you through scaffolding lessons that build off each other in order for you to truly learn the building blocks of playing guitar.  Another reason you might want to consider paying for guitar lessons is that it forces you to have “some skin in the game” and be accountable to someone.  There is the line of thinking that if you actually have to pay for something, like guitar lessons, you will be more likely to stick with it and practice.  You will also have a sense of accountability to your guitar teacher to learn and practice the concepts they go over with you in your regular lesson.  This may force you to become a better guitarist and to learn guitar faster because with free lessons or videos it is easy to get side-tracked or quit when it feels like it becomes too hard.

Oct 23
0

5 Ways To Not Become a Great Guitarist and How To Overcome Them

By | Agile Guitars, Guitarists, Left handed guitars
Great Agile Guitarist

Great Agile Guitarist

#1 Not Playing Enough

This is a sure way to limit your progress in becoming a really good at playing guitar.  If you don’t have time to practice on a regular basis than you just won’t progress.  Learning guitar is ultimately about making connections about how notes work, what scales go with which chords and muscle memory.  The more you play the more connections will made in your brain of what sounds good, progressions and you will build up the muscle memory and dexterity you need to become proficient at playing the guitar.  How can you overcome this?  One suggestion is to schedule in time during your day to play or at the very least 3 to 4 times a week.  Everyday is preferable for sure as you will really see strides in your playing ability when you play on a regular basis.

Get Quality and Affordable Agile Guitars at Electric Guitar City

#2 Playing Without a Purpose

Now it is nice to sometimes just play for the enjoyment of it but when you are trying to become a more accomplished player than you need to play with a purpose.  If you are just “noodling” around on the Guitar every time you play you really won’t be learning anything.  Some suggestions for playing with a purpose are to learn a new song, learn or practice new scales or practice different licks.  It is often a good idea to have a regular routine of exercises you go through when you play the guitar in order to achieve mastery of skills you are learning.

#3 You Never Learn Scales

If you never learn scales you will never become good at soloing.  Learning scales can be tedious but doing so builds up finger strength and builds up how fast you can play.  There are many scales to learn on the agile guitar.  Knowing them and the positions on the guitar will allow you to solo in any key to really any song and it will sound good.  The more you practice scales and different note progressions the better you will become at playing and creating your own killer licks!

#4 Never Create Your Own Music

As you become more proficient in your guitar theory one of the ways you can continue to progress in your playing is by writing your own songs.  Writing your own music allows you to put together different tricks and licks that you have used in new ways to create your own original music pieces.  Being creative will inspire you to continue to learn new things about the agile guitars which will in turn help you to create better music.

#5 Only Play One Style of Music

If you only play one style of music it will greatly limit how well rounded of a guitar player you become.  There is nothing wrong with being really good at playing one particular genre of music.  However, learning other genres will open up many different styles of playing to you from that genre and there in turn implement different playing styles of different genres into each other.  This will help you to really become a master of the agile guitars and a great guitar player.

Jun 19
0

Underrated Guitarist: Junior Brown

By | Agile Guitars, Guitarists

Junior Brown is a one of a kind; A guitar trailblazer that is often overlooked. He doesn’t fit into any of the conventional notions we have of a stereotypical guitar slayer.  Maybe he is not so much underrated as under appreciated.  This may be because he predominantly plays country music or perhaps it is because he doesn’t just play the guitar but rather he plays the guit-steel. However, when it comes to slinging the axe, Junior Brown is a bad man and we think he should be considered as a national treasure.

Junior’s Beginnings:

Jamieson “Junior” Brown was born June 12, 1952.  He was originally trained on the piano but after finding an old guitar in his grandparents attic he couldn’t put it down.  As they say, and the rest, is history.  Junior always had a love for country music but when you hear him you can tell that there are heavy blues influences in his playing.

The Guit-Steel is Born:

The guit-steel really came out of necessity.  Junior loved to play both the table steel and the guitar in his shows.  One day he got the idea to marry the two together.  After contacting the great luthier, Michael Stevens to build this monster, his dream became a reality and the guit-steel was born.  Now through a joint venture between Junior Brown and Michael Stevens you too can have your very own guit-steel for the low cost of $14,500.  Dang!

Junior’s Music:

Even though Junior Brown has been labelled a predominantly country music artist his music is so much more than that.  Yes it is country but it is also blues, hillbilly and rock.  Junior Brown simply kills it on the guit-steel and the humour he inserts in his music really compliments his playing.  If you ever get a chance to see him play live don’t pass up witnessing the genius of this American original.