Hey, My name is Chris and i started this site because i LOVE playing GUITAR!!

Ive been playing guitar for 19 years now.  I started out with a cheap Epiphone guitar and Crate amp that i obtained from trading a my brand new Sega Genesis gaming system.  It wasn’t much but it got me playing.  Man, i must have broke 3 different whammy bars on that guitar!!  I loved doing dive bombs and experimenting with feedback.

A year later i had saved enough money up to buy a guitar that i felt fit my playing style and hoped i wouldn’t snap the whammy bar off of.  It was a 1991 Fender Heavy Metal Strat.  Here’s a picture (yup i still have it and still play it occasionally).

Man, that guitar still WAILES!!  I love it.  It’s got DiMarzio pickups that really light this Strat up!  I played so many of them, and they were all too twangy for me.  I was 16 and it was 1991, so i was looking for a heavy full stadium sound.  Today, i can appreciate a classic strat sound.  Hey-I really dig the sound of different guitars -using different guitars for different songs.   That Epiphone i had sounded REAL MUDDY.  It served it’s purpose, got me playing and taking lessons, but eventually things change.  Your style changes as you evolve and mature as a player.

So there i was, cranking my solid state Fender M-80 up, knocking pictures of my parent’s walls shredding this ’80’s rock guitar!!  Man i loved that raw metallic sound it gave me.  I didn’t see the point in ever playing another brand of guitar.  I took lessons for about 6 years.  I learned a lot and highly recommend some lessons for everyone.  At least for a while.  Taking lessons really made me a better player.  I got to learn all the songs i wanted every week AND didn’t get stuck in that rut of playing the same thing OVER AND OVER, which we all know leads to never getting better.  Unfortuantley you just stay at the same level.  Kind of like a kid that stops growing and stays the same age.

AS I got older and continued playing, i went into my local music shop one day and decided to plug in another Epiphone.  Now, the one i had as a kid was probably 12 years old then and didn’t sound good at all.  I had read some good reviews on Epiphone Guitars, but also wanted to see what all the talk was about.  I plugged an Epiphone Les Paul into a crappy little crate practice amp, and i was BLOWN AWAY by the sound.  It was PUNCHY, CRISP, and i was able to get just as good pinch harmonics out of this as my Fender Heavy Metal Strat!!

I ended up playing a bunch of different Epiphone Les Paul models that afternoon.  Two weeks later i bought an Epiphone Les Paul Classic.  Had the intonation done right there, put some DR Strings and went home to jam.  I noticed right away that i had an even clearer sound on my own amp than i did on using my Fender.  Plus, I could really get some sick sounding artificial harmonics/pinch harmonics and bends from that thing.  Never before had i been so surprised from the quality of sound i was getting.  I mean, i had wrote that brand off years ago.

I now had a new sound and was playing about 8 hours a day.  I was getting good and progressing quickly.  I started teaching lessons and loved it.  It never felt like work.  Well, except for when i would figure out a student didn’t want to play anymore and their parents were forcing them to practice (or get grounded).  That’s when i would tell the parents up front, “this isn’t for your child, i won’t be coming back”.  I mean, why take something so beautiful and make it so horrible??

Eventually i bought a Gibson.  I got a Les Paul Classic in 2000 and it was AMAZING!!  It sounded even better than the Epiphone.  Words can’t even explain the creamy, flowing tone that was oozing from my strings.  It had the ceramic enclosed pickups, slim neck, push/pull pots on the volume and tone controls…it was the best guitar i had ever played on…and i OWNED it!

A couple years later i decided it was time for a change.  I decided i needed to slim down on my collection of guitars and add something fulfilling to my life.  I sold my Gibson Les Paul and bought a dog, a Boxer.  I never once regretted my decision as i still had 3 electrics and 2 acoustics to play at any given moment.

After a few more years of playing and teaching i was in the position to buy another Gibson Les Paul.  But which one?  I had to drive 60 miles to the nearest music store that carried Gibsons.  They had a ton and i played 7 different ones, on MANY different brands of amps before i decided on one.  There was one Les Paul Classic that sounded different, more ALIVE than any of the others.  I even played some of the Gibson Les Paul Customs, and none of them sounded as good as this one.  They had some better looking ones, but nothing sounded like this one.  I bought it, along with a new TUBE AMP,  the Mesa Express.

Turns out, the staff at the music store didn’t even know what they had.  They told me all the pickups were the same..but they weren’t.  The pickups in this one were actually Gibson’s 1958 Patent Applied for Pickups with a few modifications made to them- to make em even HOTTER!!

Plus  i really liked how this headstock was different than my last Gibson:

That’s my FAVORITE GUITAR ever, i have NEVER heard anything sound SO GOOD and SO ALIVE before!!  Honestly, it’s the only guitar i want to play when i want everything to sound perfect.  I can dial up any sound on that guitar -  Hendrix, Zeppelin, Classic Appetite for Destruction Guns N Roses tone, Dimebag, Government Mule….ANYTHING is Possible with this guitar.

But once in a while i still have that craving to WHALE on a WHAMMY BAR and experiment with CRAZY FEEDBACK!!!  That’s why i had this Ibanez gutted and replaced with Steve Vai’s specs for his “Flow” guitar.  WOW – when you play this thing people think you have some magical guitar!!  I mean, feedback that’s INFINITE, at any level of volume?!  Crazy, right??

It’s got a Sustaniac Pickup  in it and man, those things are AWESOME!!  If you ever get the chance to play on one, DO IT!  You will be floored!

Well, that’s me.  Now you know where i’m coming from, how i grew up musically and the perfect example of how your taste can change.  keep checking back because i’m going to be posting TONS of reviews along with places you can buy these guitars cheaper than in your local stores.  Plus sometimes you can even get free shipping.  Get ready, because we are going to explore some of the best sounding guitars, and some unknown gems that you never knew you could live without!

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Ok so 3 more posts today that I’ve dug up – I’m an information JUNKIE on this stuff lately. Give em a browse and let me know what ya reckon. They’re just from a few different sites I’ve been surfing lately that are generally good for information like this…

Julia Nunes is strumming up interest in the ukulele – KansasCity.com

Julia Nunes and the ukulele seemed fated to

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While you are learning to master and learn guitar playing techniques with your left hand, you will want to ensure that you are also not forgetting about your right hand technique.

Many new guitar players when learning to play the guitar are unsure of how to properly hold a guitar pick. Holding a guitar pick properly is imperative in order to play your guitar chords

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How to Restring an Electric Guitar
 by: Tony Schuck

For a newbie, this may seem a little intimidating. But with the right tools, a little knowledge and some practice, you’ll be able to restring an electric guitar like a professional guitar tech. When I was gigging regularly, I would restring my guitar every week. My body chemistry is acidic and the sweat and

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Ok so you might find the next few links interesting. These are from around the web, just random snippets that I’ve picked up in my reading, but I found some very cool information in them. You might too. Here goes…

Teachers make time to jam during inservice day

John Avery enters with a smile on his face, guitar in hand. He is followed by physics instructor Ajay Narayanan.

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Major Guitar Chords are also known as plain chords, which form the basis of most standard popular guitar songs. Straight Rock ‘n Roll would use a sequence like: E – A – D or A – D – G -E.

Minor Guitar Chords add a tonality difference that makes the sequence more interesting, and sets a softer mood than a straight major set.

Example: C – Am – F – G or G – Em – D -

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5 Steps To Reading Octaves With Guitar Sheet Music

While the guitar is a sought after instrument to learn, many find it is quite difficult to learn. Just looking at guitar sheet music you will get a sense of how complex it can be. While many instruments require musicians to read one note at a time, the guitar can have as many as six notes at a time.

Obviously

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