Elmo Karjalainen | MusicBackingTracks.net

Our guitar buddy Elmo Karjalainen has recently created a new site, musicbackingtracks.net where you can download backing tracks for free.

As of this writing he is offering two tracks in the style of Jimi Hendrix and Steve Vai, as well as a track off his Unintelligent Designs album with more to be available soon. The backing tracks come with and without lead guitar so you get a sample of how Elmo plays over them before venturing out with a solo of your own.

To get you started, also included are some handy tips and ideas for each backing track which you can use to incorporate into your solos.

Don't forget to check out my interview with Elmo Karjalainen.

Jimi Hendrix Naked Tracks!

Ok, maybe calling this Jimi Hendrix Naked Tracks is not copyright appropriate -- Steve Vai already calls his series of backing tracks minus lead guitar, Naked Tracks.

But anyhow, if you've always wanted to jam along with Mitch Mitchell's and Noel Redding's actual drum and bass tracks now's your chance.  No need to break into the Hendrix vaults here, because Eddie Kramer's already raided his own archives and beat you to it! 

This set of original studio tracks, as recorded by The Experience, sans Jimi's lead guitar for the most part, provides an intriguing glimpse into rock history.  It's been written about before but to truly appreciate what an absolute monster of a rhythm section Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were, you have got to check this out. 

Pardon the French but damn did they make Jimi sound good!

And here's a handy list of track notes, keys and tunings that are part of this set:

PURPLE HAZE * Key: E Major
Guitar bleed is heard through drum and bass mics, is below 1%. You can finally hear Jimi's Oooohs and Ahh's.

SPANISH CASTLE MAGIC * Key: Eb Major-1/2 step Down
Intro Chords are heard from the 2nd Guitar. Very Loud Clav piano. Guitars bleed is below 1%. Simply Incredible

WIND CRIES MARY * Key: F major
Incredible Vocals, Historic Bass Tone, Guitar bleed is below 1%

WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW * Key: Ab Major-1/2 step down
First Chord Slams, then the bleed is above 1% due to the laid back drums, but gone when band kicks in. Hendrix Rap is classic. Background Vocals are a gas.

FOXY LADY * Key: F# Minor
Rhythm Guitar bleed is below 1%. This was a 2 Guitar track recording, so the lead guitar track is out and there is no bleed, Killer Bass

AXIS BOLD AS LOVE * Key: Ab Major-1/2 step down
Probably contains the loudest guitar track out of this collection. Recording of this Epic song was very open, and when you now hear it...you can understand why.

CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC * Key: C# Major-1/2 step down
What you hear on this track is NOT a guitar, but a KAZOO that Jimi played to emulate a second guitar doing harmonies.

FIRE * Key: D Minor
This track is the cleanest of the bunch, which leads to believe that the drums and bass were recorded alone, or that Jimi's amp was in an isolation booth.

FREEDOM * Key: C Major
Again here is the obvious use of a cleaner recording style, as there is no guitar bleed whatsoever. Nice Clav work that you can hear now. Also checkout the double track vocals by Jimi.

MACHINE GUN * Key: D Minor-1/2 step down
The new recording style pays off here also as the guitar tracks again have no bleed. There is an extensive count-in click.

POWER TO LOVE * Key: B Minor-1/2 step down
The later recording style again, this cut is taken from a studio version of the song. Guitar bleed in non-existent. You can now hear the heart of the 2nd stage rhythm section.

Head over here for a preview of the tracks. 

Now where's my kazoo?

Bill Connors | "Never Say Goodbye, Variations on Layla"

This one brings back a lot of memories! 

The July 1985 issue of Guitar Player magazine was devoted almost entirely to Eric Clapton and this piece, "Never Say Goodbye -- Variations on Layla" was specially commissioned for the included Soundpage.



According to Bill Connors who composed 'Variations' and played all the guitar parts, "The session took place at Media Sound in New York.  I had trouble hearing the first part back in my headphones, and when I added the middle voice to bars 17 through 22, the chords turned out to be slightly out of tune, giving things an eerie quality.  I considered doing it over, but decided that it had a horn-like feel that I liked, so I kept it."

Connors used his Charvel Strat-copy equipped with prototype DiMarzio pickups through a Dean Markley tube amp and Marshall cabinets.

Readers old enough to remember the heady experience of peeling open the outer shrinkwrap cover of a newly purchased record album will also remember the wonderful aroma of the black record vinyl therein.  (Don't knock it til you've tried it). 

Back in the day, circa October '84 til Dec '89, GP's monthly addition of the free Soundpage -- a paper-thin playable record, manufactured by Eva-Tone -- always featured exciting and unique content, often unavailable anywhere else.   Replete with that black vinyl smell!

It was on the first of these Guitar Player magazine Soundpages that I heard 'The Attitude Song' by a guy called Steve Vai -- blowing my mind and causing me to bust more than a few strings in the process. 

Check out my earlier Bill Connors article here.

Steve Vai and Orianthi on American Idol!

Here's a clip from Wednesday's American Idol episode featuring Mary J Blige backed by Steve Vai and Orianthi Panagaris! 

Watching Vai fingerpick his way through the acoustic guitar bits of Stairway To Heaven was kind of cool in a 'ok, now we've seen everything' sort of way.  Funky half-acoustic/half-electric Ibanez doubleneck too. 

Orianthi does her own take on the classic Jimmy Page solo at 2:17-2:39, modernizing it with a barrage of pentatonic flurries.

She must have some mighty calluses from all those hammer-ons and pull-offs she does.  Anybody have a picture?

Check out Orianthi's take on Eddie Van Halen's Beat It solo

Ibanez Universe UV77MC Owned by Steve Vai on eBay!

Hot on the heels of my last owned-by-Steve-Vai post comes this Ibanez Universe UV77MC!  This road-warrior was one of the main axes used by Vai on his 1990 Slip Of The Tongue world tour with Whitesnake and, according to the seller, even bears the same strings from the last show!

Dagnabbit, I can't get my strings to last two weeks, let alone 20 years.  I always knew those string companies were making the good stuff only for their star endorsers.

This guitar also comes with the original neon-green DiMarzio strap locks, yellow custom-wound Blaze DiMarzio pickups which replaced the original green ones, and Steve's custom pickholder -- sticky tape attached to the bottom of the headstock. 

And I'm especially digging the extensive belt-buckle rash at the back of this guitar that goes right down to the wood grain.

The vid below features Steve Vai playing The Star Spangled Banner on this very same Ibanez Universe, before hurling it at least 10 feet to his roadie at the end!



As usual, do the necessary research before committing.  eBay Item #: 290421721490

Steve Vai Owned Ibanez RG550 on eBay | JEM Prototype?

This eBay seller lists this Steve Vai owned Ibanez RG550 as a JEM prototype.  While we can't be absolutely certain about the prototypical history of this instrument without dropping an email to Mr Vai's camp and hoping for a response, Steve Vai memorabilia collectors will probably get a kick out of the owned-by-Steve factor alone.

Vai's site states that this Ibanez RG550 does not have a serial number, was used as a tester guitar for trying out different pickups (this axe currently sports BiaX pickups) and was eventually auctioned for a charity. 

Notice that this guitar was once retrofitted with a tremelo guard, a simple metal frame attached over the Edge tremelo by two screws on each side of the trem.  A feature on the original Loch Ness green JEMs -- Vai wanted to be able to rest his hand on the bridge without making it go sharp -- the tremelo guard was phased out on subsequent models. 

A JEM prototype?  I suggest getting verification directly from the Bad Horsie's mouth. 

Sorry Steve, couldn't resist that last one.

eBay Item #: 180478933455

http://www.vai.com/Machines/guitarpages/guitar056

Also check out this earlier article on Steve Vai's original Green Meanie guitar

What Six Real Guitar Heroes Have To Say About Guitar Hero The Game

With the debate going on about the educational merits, or lack thereof, of Guitar Hero, here's what six of our real guitar heroes have to say:

Jimmy Page:

"Obviously, there have been overtures made to Led Zeppelin, but if you start with the first track on the first album, Good Times Bad Times, and you think of the drum part that John Bonham did there -- how many drummers in the world can actually play that, let alone dabble on a Christmas morning?  There could be a lot of alcohol consumed over Christmas, and you still aren't going to get it."

Yngwie Malmsteen:
"I actually think it's a good thing. I do. I think because it introduces kids to music. I was sitting in the airport in Miami, I don't know, a couple of months ago. We were flying somewhere, and me and my drummer and my bass player or somebody, probably my singer too, we were sitting at this restaurant waiting and this little kid, he couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old, and he looks up at us and goes, 'Hey, are you guys in a band?, We go, 'yeah.' 'I want to be in a band!' And this was so cool because a few years ago that wouldn't be happening. Plus, I see in the audience when I play now, every night there's very, very young kids. This is a great thing."

Carlos Santana:
"If you're going to spend that much time and energy, get yourself a real guitar.  I'm not into virtual anything, if it's not the real thing."

Steve Vai:

"Now I can jam with people in the comfort of their own plastic!"

Joe Satriani:
"I've stood at the end of the aisle at Best Buy and watched eight-year-old kids completely dominate the game, but I haven't played. A couple of my songs are featured on the games, so they've sent me the console. But I've never opened the box. I don't think it would be any fun for me -- there are only three or four buttons. Plus I seriously thought I'd mess up my head. One night onstage, I'd be looking for the green and yellow buttons and it would just be strings and frets and I'd be confused."

Jeff Beck:
"Who wants to be in a kid’s game, like a toy shop?  There’s just this mad avalanche of material that’s available, so it’s so hard for aspiring young players to find where they should go (and) not be enslaved to yet another tool or device."



Thanks to Stratoblogster's Jeff Beck article for inspiring this one!

Jackson Custom Shop Steve Vai 'Crossroads' Replica Guitar On eBay!

If, like me, your first visual introduction to Steve Vai was in his role as the Devil's guitarist in the movie Crossroads from way back in 1986, then this Jackson guitar will surely bring back fond memories.  (eBay Item#: 290399667260)

A replica of the axe that Vai shredded, teased and strangled in the movie in a 'guitar duel' with the hapless Ralph Macchio, this Jackson guitar is apparently a one-off made in the US Jackson Custom Shop.

According to the seller, this particular axe features an oil-finished early-80s style Charvel neck (read: wide and flat but not too skinny at the back) with a compound radius fingerboard with rolled edges, ash body, Seymour Duncan JB and '59 humbuckers and a Floyd Rose trem.  All topped off with a stunning Candy Apple Sparkle finish. 

Is it time to air out those leather pants or what!

Now I've sworn off Floyd Rose bridges for the last 15 years but this Crossroads-inspired Jackson Custom Shop has piqued my interest in a locking-bridge axe again.

Ibanez and Steve Vai Announce Design A JEM Contest

What better way to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the Ibanez JEM guitar than with a Design A JEM contest?  To top it off, Ibanez will custom-build two guitars based on the winning design, one of which will be awarded to the winner, with the other going to Steve Vai himself.

And with sales of the JEM and Ibanez Universe approaching 77,777 units for 2010, no wonder Steve Vai is doing a happy dance in this video at 3:13.  Take it from the top, ladies. Three, four..

So what are you waiting for?  Grab that 2B pencil and a box of crayons and have at it!  See the original Ibanez JEM guitar blueprint at right for possible inspiration.

For more details about the Design A JEM Contest, go to http://www.ibanez.co.jp/JEMUV/index.html

Frank Zappa -- Birthday Tribute

Frank Zappa (born 21st December 1940) was way ahead of his time. A great composer, musical visionary, anarchist and extremely quirky guitar player, Zappa's music is beyond description.  Combining rock n' roll sensibilities with modern classical and avant-garde, he also peppered his music with liberal doses of sometimes explicit humour. You were either a fan or you weren't.  In Zappa's own words, "I never set out to be weird.  It was always other people who called me weird."

His music was legendary for being fiendishly difficult to play, but his sidemen were often an unlikely combination of conservatory-trained and unschooled, feel musicians.  And as bandleader of his Mothers of Invention, the roster of musicians who have been through the 'School of Zappa' is staggering.  It was Zappa who discovered Steve Vai as a budding guitar virtuoso, crediting him with the 'stunt guitar' parts on albums.  Zappa's impact on Vai's playing concept is undeniable.  And according to Vai, the best single piece of advice he received from his mentor was "Don't give up your publishing."

Because of the explicit humour in his music, Frank was no stranger to controversy. He battled the censorship of his music as well as the move to start labelling CDs with Parental Advisory stickers.  In the hearings before the US Senate that followed, Frank, a virtual army of one, took on no less than Tipper Gore (wife of former presidential hopeful Al Gore) and her music censorship lobby group Parents' Music Resource Center (PMRC).

Baltimore, where Zappa was born, has declared December 21st 'Frank Zappa Day', and are honoring him with a bust outside a public library.  Not bad for a guy who once stated, "I think it is good that books still exist, but they make me sleepy".

You were quite a character Frank.  Happy belated Birthday, wherever you are.

Steve Vai Duets With The Jemini Distortion Pedal

Not exactly a new video but a pretty entertaining one nonetheless.

Designed by Steve Vai and manufatured by Ibanez, the Jemini is a two-channel distortion device. The Jemini's left channel produces a smooth distortion with even overtones, while the right channel is, as Vai describes it, "grainier, with a lot more hair".

Vai sets up the Jemini's smoother left channel with the overdriven rhythm channel of his amp, kicking in the pedal for solos. The Jemini's right channel is used with the clean channel of his amp to accentuate its 'gnarly' characteristics.

Vai does a really good job demo'ing each of the Jemini's channels in two solo spots before performing a duet with himself, trading rhythms and solos.  When he puts the pedal's right channel through a rather skinny-sounding chorus-laden clean amp channel, he had me thinking how's he going to make that work?

As Vai plays the duet it all makes perfect sense.  Separating the two guitar parts with different tone frequencies, he cleverly avoids the tonal collision that using the same fat, creamy sound on both guitars would create.  No muddled frequencies!   His multi-guitar layering on Whitesnake's Slip Of The Tongue is still a reference for me from an engineering perspective -- check it out for how Vai lays down what must be 25 or 30 guitar parts per track, and have them all jive frequency-wise.    

A longtime devotee of the Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, check out also Vai's sly reference at 2:19!

Steve Vai On Beekeeping!

Steve Vai got into the hobby of beekeeping when he moved to his home in Encino, California. Or as he describes it, "Went online, learned about honeybees, found a local beekeeper .. and got myself a swarm!

Vai waxes philosophical about the life and times of a bee, "A honey bee works until it dies -- I can relate!"

Steve covers the finer aspects of beekeeping including the reason why beekeepers use smoke, how raw honey is purified, and why one should avoid getting stung in the neck! Good to know, good to know..

Steve involves his wife, son and even his intern in his honey harvests, producing close to a thousand pounds of Fire Garden honey which go toward raising funds for his non-profit organisation, The Make A Noise Foundation.

www.makeanoise.com

Orianthi Plays Eddie Van Halen's Beat It Solo

Here's a vid of Orianthi Panagaris playing Eddie Van Halen's iconic solo from Beat It.

Following in the footsteps of Michael Jackson's previous touring guitar veteran Jennifer Batten, Orianthi was all set to embark on Jackson's This Is It comeback tour before the singer's untimely demise.





A PRS Guitars endorser since 2004, Australian-born Orianthi has drawn accolades from no less than Steve Vai and Carlos Santana.

On the PRS website, Carlos is quoted as saying, "It's not cute anymore. It's seriously ass-whupping. If I was going to pass the baton to somebody, she would be my first choice."


www.myspace.com/orianthi

Ibanez 2670 Artwood Twin Reissue on eBay

This is one gorgeous instrument. (Item #: 110433904762)

A slightly less ornate version of the Rex Bogue Double Rainbow that was built for John McLaughlin, the Ibanez 2670 Artwood Twin came out around 1975 and was available only on special order. This was a top-notch, no-expense-spared instrument.

Reissued in 2006, the Artwood Twin was faithfully recreated from the original blueprints by the same luthiers who built the early models. The only specification changed was that Ibanez replaced the original Super 70 pickups with Super 58's on the reissue.

Interestingly, the Tree of Life mother-of-pearl inlay on the 2670, adapted and simplified from Rex Bogue's original intricate design on the Double Rainbow, is still used by Ibanez today on their Steve Vai signature and higher-end Prestige models.

A layout of the controls and the various switching possibilities on the 2670 is shown in the diagram below. Again the 2670's controls nearly duplicate Bogue's original design sans built-in preamp.

Dave Weiner's Advice For Musicians

I've long been a fan of Dave Weiner's Riff Of The Week on YouTube. Dave is a very tasteful player who balances technique and melodic playing very well. He has also been Steve Vai's touring guitarist for the last decade.

In this video, his 200th Riff Of The Week, he talks about his very recent move to Los Angeles to teach at GIT and, since his guitars were still waiting to be unpacked, devotes this entire episode to sharing some gems of career information.

Dave talks about his experience studying at GIT, the importance of networking and his internship with Vai's manager as her assistant, which nearly made me fall out of my chair laughing -- "I was an office-bitch for her. For a year. For free... and I would take papers over to Vai every once in a while, and every time I showed up he would call me a different name.. "

If you've ever wondered how someone lands a plum, high-profile gig as touring guitarist with Steve Vai, here it is plain and simple.

Watch this vid -- it will be eight minutes well spent.

Steve Lukather's Paul Rivera Modified Fender Princeton

Here's an eBay listing for Steve Lukather's Fender Princeton Reverb amp:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Steve-Lukather-Fender-Princeton-Reverb-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ200380004115QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea7943713&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14

(The link will go down once the amp is sold)


Leo Fender had it right the first time.

The circuits for the Fender Princeton, Deluxe and Twin Reverb have long been the templates on which other American amplifier manufacturers have been building on.

And Fender's circuitry was adaptable and relatively easy to modify.

For instance, before launching his Boogie amplifiers, Randall Smith got his start by modifying Fender Princeton's in his garage, introducing cascading gain stages that enabled the little amp to scream with almost infinite sustain even at low, hotel room volumes.

Across the pond, Jim Marshall was basing his earliest creations on the original tweed Fender Bassman amps, but powered with EL34 power tubes instead of the American 6L6's.

Even Alexander Dumble designed his amplifiers around the Fender Deluxe schematic. And as Lowell George once put it, “A Dumble is a Fender made right.”

And more amp hot-rodders rose to the task to meet the needs of a tone and gain hungry clientele with each building a reputation based on their work modding the amplifiers of rock’s elite -- Jose Arredondo (Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai), Harry Kolbe (Al DiMeola, Allan Holdsworth, Yngwie Malmsteen) and Paul Rivera (Steve Lukather, Larry Carlton and many of LA’s session elite). Rivera was also a pioneer in building custom pedalboards and effects racks for studio guitarists in the late 70's.

Which brings us to Mr. Lukather's Rivera-modded Princeton. As the eBay listing describes it, this Princeton was Lukather's 'go to' amp from 1976 to 1982 and has appeared on a lot of his session work.

And it's not surprising. With its low wattage -- two 6V6 power tubes producing all of 12 watts -- the Fender Princeton was the secret weapon of many studio guitar players. The amp could be cranked if needed without becoming overbearing and, with a possible modification or two, could produce a gamut of tones from silky clean to high-gain.

Rivera's mods to Lukather's amp in this case included a 6-position rotary switch in place of the second input jack which enabled a selection of six different mid-boost frequencies. The red knob that was installed in place of the vibrato speed knob is a control for adding gain to any one of those six mid-frequencies.

As he did to most of the amps he worked on, Rivera also probably reworked the amp with his Stage 2 Plus mod where the preamp, output stage and power supply are modified to produce a smoother, more articulate distortion.

Paul Rivera went on to manufacture his own line of Rivera amplifiers in the late '80s. Lukather, ever the loyal customer, started endorsing his own signature model Rivera Bonehead amps in 1999.

John McLaughlin's Rex Bogue Double Rainbow

John McLaughlin has always had a penchant for unusual instruments.

And the Rex Bogue Double Rainbow was easily the most visually striking guitar that McLaughlin has used in his illustrious career.

An earlier custom built double-neck by Gibson left him largely disappointed. According to McLaughlin, Gibson had generally ignored most of the specifications he had requested.  "It took them a year to do it -- they had strikes and everything.  Finally I got it, but they had only done one thing I had asked, and that was the writing of 'Sweetest Is My Lord' on the necks.  The one thing they'd done was the least important as far as the music.  The electronics they hadn't done, the neck they hadn't done, the body shape they hadn't done, they hadn't even used the right wood."

But all was to soon change. California luthier Rex Bogue introduced himself when McLaughlin was playing at the Whiskey club in LA.

Bogue had brought with him a guitar he had built with "flowers going down the neck and this beautiful ebony board". Taken by the high degree of workmanship and attention to detail, McLaughlin commissioned Bogue to build him the double-neck of his dreams.

Bogue took exactly a year to build the instrument, completing it in July 1973. From that point, the Double Rainbow, as it came to be known, became McLaughlin's signature instrument, closely associated with the early days of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

According to Bogue, the 24 3/4" scale Double Rainbow had a body made out of fiddleback maple, laminated necks made from maple and Brazilian rosewood, and Gaboon ebony fingerboards with 22-frets. An ornate 'Tree of Life' inlay traversed each fingerboard to symbolize a musician's progress in achieving his ideals.

For its electronics, the Double Rainbow had individual volume controls for each of the four pickups and a single master volume that controlled the overall output from the guitar. There were no individual tone controls for each pickup; instead, a master tone controlled both necks. In addition, the humbucking pickups were rewound with coil divider taps so that inter-coil phasing and adjustable quad-coil phasing were obtainable with the flick of a switch. Finally, a preamp was also built into the guitar.

Sadly, McLaughlin has said that the Double Rainbow fell off a bench in 1974 under "perculiar circumstances" since no one was near it. It hit the ground on its front, splitting it down the middle and according to its owner "would have to be virtually rebuilt".

It is not entirely clear if the Double Rainbow was the only one of its kind.

Ibanez copied the famed Double Rainbow and came out with their own model around 1975, the 2670 Artwood Twin as shown in the ad on the right.

The Artwood Twin featured a simplified 'Tree of Life' inlay based on Rex Bogue's original design which Ibanez later also featured on their Bob Weir signature model in the late '70s.

The 'Tree of Life' inlay is a design that Ibanez continues to use to this day on their higher end models -- in particular, the Steve Vai Jem signature series.

Another notable design idea 'borrowed' from Rex Bogue is the 'cloud' tailpiece design as shown in detail in this previous article.





Buy Mahavishnu Orchestra CDs Here!

Steve Vai's 'Green Meanie' Charvel Guitar

In an earlier article I spoke about the mysterious connection we guitar players sometimes have with certain instruments.

These special instruments emit a special vibe, feel great in our hands and make us play beyond our abilities. Or perhaps, more accurately, they make us realize our abilities.

Case in point, Steve Vai and his now legendary Charvel 'Green Meanie' (Serial No. 3733), shown above in an early 80's Carvin amplifiers ad.

Legend has it that Vai was in Grover Jackson's workshop talking about getting some new guitars made when he happened upon Grover's personal Charvel. Vai liked the guitar so much he asked to borrow it. Legend also has it that Grover never got the guitar back.

Originally finished in a light amber sunburst, Vai soon set about putting his personal 'touches' on the instrument.

The guitar was refinished a 'Loch Ness Green' and a cavity was carved out into the body under the back end of the Floyd Rose by Vai himself to facilitate radical pull-ups on the whammy bar.

Later on, the lower cutaway on the guitar was sanded deeper to allow easier access to the upper frets as shown in the stage pic from David Lee Roth's Eat 'Em and Smile tour at right.

Vai also added a piece of foam to the upper bout of the guitar near the bridge to enable him to rest his right wrist on the body of the guitar -- the Floyd Rose was not recessed and sat high off the face of the instrument, interfering with his picking hand.

An interesting pictorial timeline of the evolution of this guitar can be found at the Jemsite here.

The Green Meanie was to be his main instrument both onstage and in the studio for several years.

Said Vai of his beloved axe, "It's so ugly that it's beautiful; it's got a personality of its own. Pretty soon it's going to grow legs and walk away from me."

And when his considerable collection of guitars was stolen from a rehearsal studio during preparations for the Eat 'Em and Smile tour, the Green Meanie was spared because Vai always had the guitar with him.

Sadly, the guitar was damaged irreparably while Vai was warming up for a David Lee Roth show at Madison Square Garden -- the entire Floyd Rose vibrato was "ripped right out of the guitar". Vai then called upon famed Los Angeles guitar builder Tom Anderson, who was then just starting out with his fledgling company, to build a replacement based on the Green Meanie's specs.

And indeed, the forthcoming Ibanez endorsement deal that Vai signed in 1987 was a culmination of design ideas that grew out of both the Charvel and the Tom Anderson.

Ibanez AH10 Allan Holdsworth Signature Model

Determined to become the industry leader in a burgeoning guitar market, Ibanez started developing a roster of endorsees in the mid '70's.

Artists such as Bob Weir, Steve Miller and Paul Stanley played existing models from Ibanez's catalog, aesthetically modified with tons of inlaid mother-of-pearl, or in Stanley's case, with inlaid pieces of broken mirror.

In 1977, Ibanez collaborated with George Benson to produce the first of their artist-designed guitars -- the GB10 and GB20.

By the early to mid-80's, Ibanez's roster of artists with personalized signature models included Steve Lukather, Allan Holdsworth, George Benson, Lee Ritenour and Joe Pass.

Ibanez had yet to sign on rising-star Steve Vai -- arguably the company's most famous endorsee -- who was still mainly playing his Grover Jackson-built Charvel and Tom Andersons.

The AH10 model was designed in collaboration with Allan Holdsworth in 1984. Holdsworth had very clear and radical ideas as to what he wanted in a custom instrument:

• A light basswood body with a large, rectangular hollowed-out area under the pickguard for added acoustic resonance
• Custom designed AH Special humbucking pickups with adjustable polepieces on both coils
• A single volume and a single tone control
• A lightweight aluminum bridge
• A wider ebony fingerboard with jumbo frets
• Slightly wider string spacing at the nut and narrower string spacing at the bridge -- giving a very uniform string spacing along the entire length of the instrument
• The first model, the AH10 had only a single humbucking pickup at the bridge position, which is Holdsworth's preference to this day. A two-pickup model, the AH20 appeared after several months to create a more versatile (and probably more saleable) instrument

The AH10 and AH20 were only available for about 2 years making these guitars very sought-after by Ibanez afficionados.




Buy Allan Holdsworth CDs and DVDs Here!

6 Surefire Signs That You're Playing Too Loud

This is something every gigging guitar player has done at some time or another.

Sometimes we're aware of having ramped it up too much -- picture Jimi Hendrix at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival gesturing to the audience to cover their ears during his feedback prelude to 'Wild Thing'. Or Steve Vai playing at a small Hard Rock Cafe, personally handing out wads of cotton wool for earplugs to audience members standing at the front.

Sometimes, for various reasons (not excluding sensory-numbing consumption of alcoholic beverages), we have no idea that we're playing too loud. In these cases, the following are 'canary-in-a-coalmine' indicators that we are kinda pushing it:

• The Moses Phenomenon -- The audience directly in front of your amp stack has parted like the Red Sea


• The Hastily Prepared Petition -- A waitress gives you a request slip that says 'Turn it down!' And its signed by every staff member in the club


• The Lars Ulrich Syndrome -- Your drummer breaks two snare skins in the same night, each time during one of your extended solos


• The Snake Pit -- The hiss coming from your guitar amp between songs is louder than the applause of the 3 or 4 people who actually clapped


• The Haunted Set List -- The set list you've strategically taped to the floor in front of you mysteriously flaps in rhythm to your power chords


• The Disgruntled Soundman -- The soundman has symbolically shrouded the mixing board with a large piece of black cloth and is standing back, arms folded, glaring at you