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Hey all, It's been an exciting day on the Guitar Gathering conference front. I'm excited to announce that we've officially confirmed that Russ Barenberg will be leading a workshop and playing for the evening concert! Russ is one of my favorite guitar players on the planet. He has the ability to touch the strings and make your heart feel emotion. I'd trade every fast lick I know to be able to play a simple chord progression and have the emotional impact that Russ has on the listener. Russ has played on countless things. Here are a few... If you've ever been watching the Ken Burns documentary "The Civil War" and melted at the gorgeous guitar playing throughout it - that's Russ. If you've watched the acclaimed BBC series "The Transatlantic Sessions" with guests like James Taylor and Allison Krause and wondered who was playing guitar - that's Russ. Or maybe you've caught him in one of his legendary nights at a small club here in Nashville... I look forward to hearing his music once again. See you at the Gathering! http://www.guitargathering2019.com/ - Steve

I have always said if this happens again I WON'T miss it this time! And I was always heard that there was not to be another one. I have to go!!!! I haven't heard anything on a line up yet.

So, with a milestone birthday coming up, and having killed my first real tube amp the previous day (sometime I'll tell the story of the exploding Princeton... ANYWAY...) I decided that I would get myself a present, and yesterday one of these followed me home: This is a Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, and it is GREAT!!! It sounds incredible. Just plugging my Strat straight into it, half an hour flies by in seconds. I am mostly a clean player (and my neighbors prefer it that way) and this thing has the most beautiful cleans. If you haven't tried the silver face amps that Fender is putting out these days, definitely check them out. These are not direct reissues, if you want exactly what the blackface amps were like back in the 60s, they do still make those with the same circuits and speakers and such. The Customs that are in the silverface cabinets are meant to be updated a bit from the old designs. On this amp (vs the normal Deluxe Reverb), the reverb and tremolo are available to both channels of the amp. It still has the Vibrato channel (now called "Vintage") with the classic sound, but the Normal channel is gone and replaced by a channel called "Custom", which has the 'Bassman tone stack'. I have never played a real Bassman, but I actually like the Custom channel even more than the Vintage one! It's similar but fatter and fuller sounding. These amps also break up a little earlier than the blackface reissues do. I almost got the Princeton version of this amp (it's 12 watts instead of 22), it sounded really, really great - but the cleans on the Deluxe were so enthralling that I just wanted to play it until the store closed 😎 Go ahead, leave me in here with it guys, I'll lock up when I'm done... or see you in the morning maybe So if you're looking for a great Fender amp that is a step up from your starter amp like I was, check these out, they're awesome!

Thanks, I didn’t know about the blues book.

Hah! Well, basically, it was my first big-boy amp, a Fender Princeton Reverb reissue. I really liked the amp, I got it used, and I think it was 10 years old or more. Pretty beaten up, never had an issue with it though. Then one day I was showing it to someone, and I turn the amp on. The red light comes on, but then 1-2 seconds later, a BANG sound comes out of the speaker, and according to the witness there was a flash or a spark or something in the back. A strong burning smell follows, like something oily or a plastic melting kind of smell. No smoke but it smells bad - Yikes, better unplug it! Later I see that the fuse is good, but one of the power tubes is clearly blown up inside. I subbed a new tube in for the bad tube, still no sound. Subbed all the power tubes for new ones, still nothing. The red light comes on, but no sound of any kind. He's dead, Jim. Luckily no people or animals were harmed! I'm not sure it's worth repairing, maybe I just have a spare 1x12 cabinet now.

Hi, My goal in session 5 was to make sure I could finger the chords.I knew it would take a lot of practice to make the changes.The G7, G and the C chords posed a problem for me but, I moved on before I could play them and continued to work on them. When I started this course I wanted to play the stuff BB king played and I remember him saying he didn’t do chords.(He obviously didn’t count triads)That was very encouraging, but the fact is chords are everywhere The G7 and G barre chords are easier than the open chord versions. I was also relieved to learn chords like G/C, G/B and G/A and other fingering for G7. Even the 4 finger G chord turned out to be easier than the 3 finger version. Cadd9 and C major7 were also nice to know. The one song that helped me with the E and B7 chords was the song Folsom Prison Blues.

Important Medical Public Service Announcement for Guitarists. If, after reviewing this test, you have symptoms do not consult your physician or healthcare provider. I suggest you immediately go to Chicago Music Exchange, your local guitar store, or online at Sweetwater😉😅 ps. I probably don't need to say this, but.......approaching 1700 members from around the world we have many languages and cultures. In case of a language barrier, this is not real. This is a joke. This is absolute bunk.