In case you were wondering, shred is not dead, and Ethan Brosh is determined to keep it that way. The Israeli-born Berklee grad is a young man with an old soul whose style harkens to the early musical fury of Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore. His second album is called Live The Dream, and Brosh …

James Patrick Regan welcomes Pete Bernhard, guitarist with Devil Makes Three, to the latest “Have Guitar Will Travel” podcast. They rap about Pete’s path to forming the band with Cooper McBean and Lucia Torino and how they’re coping with the current state of music. They also talk guitars, musical influences, and how Pete’s family introduced …

More and more, guitar designers are digging deep, thinking out of the box, and using their imaginations to conjure hip, nontraditional designs. Strat, Tele, and Les Paul shapes are no longer the go-to templates. Among younger consumers, particularly, retailers see a move away from standard shapes to more futuristic profiles, early-’60s oddball, artsy flourishes, and …

MXR M87 Bass Comp and M234 Analog Chorus Price: $318 (M87 Bass Compressor), $170 (M234 Analog Chorus). Info: jimdunlop.com For decades, players in virtually every musical genre have been familiar with MXR pedals; the name connotes a solid road-warrior stompbox associated with great tones from ’70s through today. The Analog Chorus M234 is designed to …

In the history of live recordings, there are a handful widely considered to be all-time classics: B.B. King’s Live at the Regal is one, James Brown’s Live at the Apollo 1962 is another. And the original release of Van Morrison’s “..It’s Too Late to Stop Now…” is certainly a third – and interestingly also combines …

For the new episode of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan sits with Shane Theriot, musical director and guitarist for Hall and Oates and the internet program “Live from Daryl’s House.” Theriot grew up just outside New Orleans and spent eight years as guitarist for the Neville Brothers. After moving to Nashville he …

It was February 21, 2012. As part of the White House’s music series, “Red, White & Blues” featured a cavalcade of blues and blues-influenced greats including B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Keb’ Mo’, and guitar legend Buddy Guy. President Obama thanked the performers as they wrapped up the evening with …

In Episode 39 of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan speaks with guitarist/composer Lyle Workman, whose new solo album was recorded at Abbey Road. After growing up in the South Bay of San Francisco, he played in Bourgeois Tagg, Todd Rundgren’s band, and became a go-to in the L.A. studio scene. For the …

Since last spoke to him, songwriter and master of the Telecaster Al Anderson has been extremely productive. More than a dozen of his songs appear on Vince Gill’s new These Days, and Anderson recently toured as part of Vince’s band. In between his songwriting and touring responsibilities, Big Al has managed to put together a …

It would be an understatement to say that REO Speedwagon bassist Bruce Hall and his 1965 Fender Jazz Bass, dubbed “Butter,” have been through a lot. Born and raised in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, Hall, who has been with the band for more than 30 years, acquired this mainstay when he was 16. In an ironic twist, …

The model 4000 was not only Rickenbacker’s first foray into the electric-bass market, it was decidedly different from Fender’s Precision – the original electric bass. Beyond frets, four strings, and their role in a musical combo, they have little in common. In the 1950s, F.C. Hall forged Rickenbacker into a modern guitar manufacturer. Striving to …

Every so often, a builder gives the art of guitar design a firm shove into the future. The Dean Zelinsky Tagliare Z-Glide Custom certainly fits into that category. On the surface, it’s a high-performance “super Strat” with basic features that should seem familiar, but this solidbody aims to pack the features of two or more …

Fretted instruments can be examined in much the same way as zoological taxonomist or forensic pathologist would approach them. They fit well into a Linnaean taxonomic order, and in fact that is very much the approach we use in identifying and dating fretted instruments. In addition, these instruments can be examined much the same way …

Mention the Ventures to a pop-music aficionado and the conversation will likely focus on the surf-music phenomenon of the early 1960s or – if that person also happens to be instrument-savvy – the band’s affiliation with Mosrite guitars and basses. Though the partnership lasted only a half-decade, the Ventures have been perpetually associated with Mosrite, …

Swedish disciples of pre-World War II blues Erik Jacobs, Erik Nilsson, and Pontus Ohlsson, hauled a bunch of gear up to a remote cabin and got down to business. The result is an album so full of genuine love for the genre, it’s impossible to dismiss. Sure, the band consists of three young Swedish guys …

The words “proto punk” arouse recollections of furiously strummed guitars and amps cranked to 10. For many, its sound and aggression were embodied by Iggy and the Stooges. But when Stooges guitarist James Williamson recently collaborated with renowned Radio Birdman axe-wielder Deniz Tek, each reached for an acoustic. Williamson replaced Ron Asheton in the Stooges …