Do you want to be a true rocker? You have heard them, you have seen them and now you can do them… The most awesomist guitar solos on the Earth. All you need is to have solo lessons.

What is so good about guitar solos? Come on, you gotta be joking! Everybody loves a mind blowing guitar solo… but, you need to make sure that it serves the song in some way. There is nothing wrong with going a little crazy but when you watch and listen to the greats you will fast learn that their solos always adds something of value to the song.

What’s the secret to being a great guitar soloist? Training, practice, more training and more practice. In solo lessons you will learn techniques which include the pentatonic scale which will help with your solo. The good thing is these scales can be used for any type of musc that you want to play.

When going through your guitar solo lessons it is important to have someone in front of you showing you how it is done and bursting your ear drums with their own wicked guitar solo. If you can’t get a live trainer to help you out, how about an instructive video course – its the next best thing.

Where to start. You need solo lessons that will first focus on the basics where you can learn about the basic bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs and then work your way up to the more difficult techniques like rakes and sweeps (and I do not mean gardening equipment).

Now how about learning to play by ear? Does a good guitar soloist need to know how to do this? Well good solo lessons should include some instruction on this as well. Why? Well this essential skill will come in handy for the skill of listening. As when you can listen to the background section and pick up the key, then you can really get down to some awesome shredding.

Every great guitarist that does a mind blowing solo has had some sort of professional guitar solo lessons. The question then is… do you want to be one of the great guitar soloists?

Fee Waybill

“We had this engineer at the time, Humberto Gatica. He was Davids’ engineer. The band would always ask Humb ‘What’s this? What’s that? What does this do? What does that do? Humberto would NEVER answer you. He’d always say ‘talk to ya later. I’ll talk to ya later.’ It was his way of avoiding answering dumb ass questions! So I thought that was funny. So I said let’s call it “Talk to Ya Later”. We wrote and recorded the song by the time the band showed up at 3 o’clock. At one point Foster called in Prairie Prince and told him to come in early to play some drums. Lukather played guitar, bass and the leads. Prairie played drums. I didn’t really do a vocal. I was working on lyrics. But by the time the band came in we had the whole fuckin’ track done! When the band came in they said ‘Wow, jeez man. How long you been working on that?’ I told them TWO HOURS! They said ‘WOW!’ That’s amazing!’ There’s just no denying it. It’s a great tune. That’s kinda how we became friends.”

Then we did it again on the next record. We did the same kinda thing. David said ‘it worked so well that let’s do it again.’ So we wrote “She’s a Beauty” the second time again with Steve, David and me. It was in the same ridiculous amount of time. And the band just went ‘fuck, Jesus Christ!’ That’s how we met. We’ve crossed paths from time to time. We’ve actually played gigs together over the years. We were both at Fitzgerald/Hartley for many years. We stayed in touch. We kept writing. I moved to Sherman Oaks and he was living on Vineland. So we just lived down the street from each other. So we used to hang out. This was before he was married to Shawn, when he was raising the kids, Trevor and Tina by himself. I wrote some Toto songs with him.”

“Back in ’97 The Tubes did another studio record and Luke wrote another song with me, “Big Brother Still Watching”. We went to his house and sat down with an acoustic guitar. He fuckin’ whipped out the lick in ten minutes. It’s a joke! He’s AMAZING! In 2001 the band did a live record “Tubes World Tour 2001″. It was live but we didn’t want to do the same old thing. We were working with Greg  Ladanyi and we wanted to write a couple of studio tracks. By this time Foster had quit writing and quit producing. He was running a record company at the time. He was running “143″ this Atlantic Division Records. I think it was Atlantic. I called Foster out of the clear blue sky and said, you know Dave it’s been 20 years since we first wrote together! Let’s do a 20 year reunion! You, me and Luke write a song together for The Tubes record. He said ‘Sure, okay’. He hadn’t produced in a long time. As a matter of fact he had just broken his wrist and was whacked out on Vicodin. He was in such pain that he couldn’t play. So we went out to his studio in Malibu, Chartmaker and wrote another song “Loveline” which is on ‘The Tubes Live World Tour 2001′.”

Did you know when you wrote “Talk to Ya Later” and “She’s a Beauty” that they would be such huge hits?

Fee: “Honestly I’d have to say yes. Some tunes you just know. The day we wrote “Talk to Ya Later” I was so excited about it. The band was excited about it too, on one hand. On the other hand they were kinda pissed off because they didn’t write it. It was a song written outside the band. But there was just no denying the song. I remember a guy named Ricky Farrar at the time was managing us. This was before Fitgerald/Hartley. It was the last record that he managed. I was living in San Fransisco at the time. But I was staying down here in Los Angeles at his house in Toluca Lake. I came home at like two o’clock in the morning. I was so jazzed! I went into his bedroom and woke him and his wife up! I said Ricky you have to listen to this. Lukather and I wrote this fucking song! It’s incredible!  I was so excited! He said ‘What? Can’t it wait until the morning’?  I said NO it can’t wait until the morning! So I drug him into the living room and played the track for him. I said this is going to be big! At the time we had just been released from A&M for NEVER having a hit! We had just signed to Capitol, Bobby Colomby. He had put us together with David Foster. It was the first time that we ever worked with a producer that was as high end as David Foster. The guy is a genius,you know! We write this song and I go, Oh my God! That is a hit! I told Ricky that this song is going to be a hit! We finally have a hit! Radio is going to love this song! They’re going to go crazy! And sure enough it went to #1 on Rock radio in pretty much every country in the world! Then we did “She’s a Beauty” and it was the same kinda feeling! I just went, oh man, this is going to be a hit too! And Foster said the same thing! ‘This is a hit. This song is going to be #1′! You have this feeling. You just know! I haven’t had that feeling since! “(laughing)

Fee Waybill

I recently listened to the Steve Lukather album “Candyman” that you worked on with Steve. I had forgotten how great that album is. Can you tell us about that experience?

Fee: “I pretty much wrote all the lyrics on that record. I think I wrote all but one or two songs. I wrote the whole record with him and then I went in and recorded with him. I sang a lot of background vocals. Luke was working with Dave Garfield at the time. It was really cool. Everything was kinda relaxed. There was no rush. we had the studio locked out. I was in a very metaphysical spot when I wrote that song “Hero with a 1,000 Eyes” and other songs, “Extinction Blues” and stuff. It was very weird. It was one of the best lyrical concepts writing wise that I’ve ever done. I really enjoyed making that record with him. Just from the very beginning Luke said ‘Look man, I just want you to write ALL the lyrics on the whole fuckin’ record!’ I think there was one instrumental. There was one song he had recorded already. He said ‘I’m just too busy! I don’t have time to deal with this’! So from the very beginning I just felt very involved. Not like it was a one off deal. Write the song, see ya later. It was like every day going to the studio. It was really a great, great project! I still love that album! I still listen to that. It’s fuckin’ cool! I’m trying to remember. There were a lot of great players on that record. Garfield, Simon Phillips and John Pena. It was a really good time!”

A few years ago I saw you and another Luke musical partner, Edgar Winter at a Doves of Fire gig to see Luke play. You guys are true fans of each others work. Tell us about that.

Fee: “Oh, ya we always have been fans of each other. I loved that Doves of Fire gig! It was incredible! I’ve always wanted to do a group with Luke. As a matter of fact we were in a band together for a day! Did he ever tell you that story? We were in a band together for ONE DAY! It was after ’86. I had left The Tubes. Toto had kinda split up at the time. Bobby had left Toto. Luke called me up one day and said ‘Let’s have a band’! I’ve always wanted to be in a band with Steve. He’s probably the best guitar player I’ve EVER heard play! So we were in a band called the “Screaming Whities”. Gosh, it had to be ’88. Something like that. Larry Kline was the bass player, Mike Landau was the other guitar player. So we had the two best guitar players in all of L.A.! Carlos Vega was the drummer. I’m trying to remember if David Garfield was the keyboard player or not. I can’t remember. We booked a rehearsal session. We just fuckin’ noodled around all day long. You know those guys! I don’t think we wrote a single song! They just kept playing licks back and forth and back and forth. I was just sitting there saying, fuck, Jesus! When are you going to play a song? Go to a verse! Stop playing leads so I can figure something out! What the fuck! That was it. We did one rehearsal session and I don’t know what happened. Landau went off with James Taylor. Luke went off with somebody else. We never had a second session. So the “Screaming Whities” lasted one day!”

“Steve and I have always been very close. There’s always been this thing about hanging out. We really enjoy it. I haven’t seen him for a while. Since he had the baby. He’s been very busy. We’ve crossed paths across the world. I saw him once in Germany. It’s kind of a mutual admiration society. I used to go hang out at his house. I remember about a year ago the last time I was at his house. Toto was getting ready to go out to Europe with Lee Sklar and Greg Phillinganes in March of ’07. I went to the last rehearsal session and Luke said ‘We’ve  gotta hang’! So he took me to “Sushi Dan”, this Rock ‘n’ Roll sushi place. I have never been so fuckin’ drunk in my whole life. I mean we ate and ate and ate and drank sake and beer. And we drank more sake and more beer. We just got hammered out of our gords! It was unbelievable! He said let’s go to the house and continue the party. It was an occasion so I agreed. I ended up passing out on his couch at like 3:30 in the morning dead to the world with my clothes on. I was out cold! I didn’t wake up until the next morning. Luke just left me laying there and went to bed! The next morning I just went, what happened? What did we drink? What happened? I didn’t remember anything! I was just so hammered out of my mind! We have a lot of great memories. I haven’t seen him in awhile. I haven’t talked to him in awhile. I think the last time I saw him is when they had come back from the European Tour in 2007. Actually I did talk to him when after had the baby in September. So even though we don’t talk all that regularly we remain close. We’ve just got so much history and there’s so much love. He’s sat in with us quite a few times over the years. He’s played “Talk to Ya Later” and “She’s a Beauty” with us as a special guest. I think the world of the guy. He’s just incredible. I’m also really proud of him the way Trevor and Christina have turned out. He’s a really good dad and really raised those kids. Trevors’ a great guitar player also. I think the world of the guy!”

The Tubes 2008

Could you tell us what you and The Tubes are currently up to.

Fee: “I’ll probably talk to Luke now because I’m kinda working on a solo record again with Richard Marx here and there recording in the studio. I actually wanna write a tune or two with Luke for that. Not that it will sell any records but he doesn’t give a shit! He enjoys writing I’m sure. So I’m kinda working on that in my spare time. I’ve been really busy. Polo season is in full swing so I’ve been playing a lot of polo. Also The Tubes are coming out with an anthology DVD that we’ve been working on for about three years. Mike Cotten has been putting together a lot of footage and interviews from the old days. We’ve got some great stuff with Luke! We’re planning to release a two DVD package called “White Punks on Dope”. We just got a big time producer involved in the project. This producer  who did “Dogtown and “Z Boys”, “Riding Giants” the surf documentary and the last documentary on The Who. Having a big time producer really kicks it up a notch.It’s really exciting. So we’re in the process of doing that. The Tubes are just doing dates, weekends. We don’t wanna work too hard. We play about 35-40 shows a year. I invested in a commercial property management company with my ex. So I do that during the week. We have five commercial properties and I manage about 2,000,000 square ft. of property. It’s pretty much a full time job. So on the weekends we’re either playing gigs or playing polo.”

Official The Tubes Web Site: thetubes.com

With the many guitar effects that can be generated by any guitarist from the instrument come more possibilities as well. This is why there is indeed a need for guitar effects processors. You see, with guitar effects processors, you can actually use your very own computer to enhance the generated sounds in any way you want. Best of all, there are a lot of guitar effects processors that are fully programmable for whatever guitar you are using. May that be for your ordinary guitar or your bass guitar, there are indeed a lot of guitar effects processors that can be programmed to get your desired effects. And if that is not all, guitar effects processors come in software format as well! All you have to do is download the software and install it onto your computer, and you are ready to go!

So, what can programmable guitar effects processors do? You can actually make a combination of whatever guitar effects you want to use. These effects can be sequenced at any order you desire. And most guitar effects processors carry an interface wherein there’s no limit to the number of guitar effects included in the combination. You can also program the effects to interact with each other. A common application of this would be for volume detection effects to create tremolo effects. When volume of a certain range occurs, a tremolo effect would then be produced. And with the many built-in guitar effects in these guitar effects processors, there is just no limit to the possible combinations you can make.

Guitar effects processors also allow you to have presets of these combinations that you have made. Having a preset feature is very convenient, because the guitar effects processors can recall whatever combinations you have encoded into the system right away. You no longer have to go through each combination over and over again. And there is also no limit to the number of presets you want to save with these guitar effects processors.

Although this is highly unlikely, there just might come a time when you would feel that you have gone through all possible combinations of the effects already. Should this time ever come, you can actually create new guitar effects as well. Most guitar effects processors have integrated code editors that you can use in writing the codes for the effects you want to create. And if you are satisfied with the effects you have made, the guitar effects processor can integrate these codes into their system right away.

Written By Barry Dixon…

If you think that only living animals have necks, then you just might be surprised to know that there are indeed guitar necks. And if that’s not enough, you might also be surprised at the fact that guitar necks are very essential when it comes to playing the instrument.

So, why exactly are guitar necks important? There is a very simple reason to this actually. Guitar necks hold a lot of important parts of the guitar. These include the frets, the fretboard, the headstock, the tuners, and the truss rod. Typical guitar necks are made of wood. But the fretboard of guitar necks would be made of another kind of wood than the wood used to make the rest of the neck itself. And what about the bending stress that the guitar necks should have? This should depend on whether or not the gauge strings you use are heavy. Another point to consider about guitar necks is their capability to resist bending. This because guitar necks have to resist bending in order to give out a consistent pitch of a particular key, when the instruments are being tuned. When the strings are being fretted, the guitar should also give out a consistent pitch. Imagine tuning a guitar that is not capable of giving out a consistent pitch. Even if you’re not doing any tuning, the string would give out a different pitch when you pluck it. Getting the right pitch and tune for the whole instrument would be close to impossible then.

Guitar necks also come in different shapes. Some guitar necks come in a subtler curve, much like that of the letter “C”. Other guitar necks come in with a more prominent curve, much like that of the letter “V”. Other aspects to consider about guitar necks should include the fingerboard and its overall width. You would not want to have a neck that has too wide a measure for its width. Doing so would be very inconvenient for you as a performer. Aside from this, you should also consider the scale of the neck. This is actually that space between frets. Find a guitar that has just enough space for you to place your fingers on the required frets conveniently. Playing the guitar should be done with much convenience, to as to ensure enjoyment. The construction of the neck should also be considered as well. Some necks are just glued to the body. Other necks are bolted into the body. Obviously, bolted-in necks are sturdier compared to the glued necks. But your choice here should still depend on your preference.

Written By Barry Dixon…

Guitars are quite popular. Popular enough to earn it the title of being one of the most popular of musical instruments in the world, partnered by the piano, which is another popular musical instrument. Basically, the guitar is a versatile musical instrument, used in almost all musical genres known to the world. Rock and roll owes a profound influence to guitars, as Blues and Jazz, also are known for superstar guitar players. Flamenco heavily depends on guitars as its primary musical instrument, as well as the Pop genre of music. Reggae, punk, heavy metal, hardcore, speed metal, alternative, and even the increasingly popular emo, all have guitars in their mix, simply standing as testament to the basic truth which is that guitars are truly popular musical instruments.

As guitars are popular, a number of guitar classes could be found in the world today, primarily differentiated by two major classes of guitars, the acoustic and electric guitar. Acoustic guitars are basically guitars made with a hollow body, which is usually made of wood, and have one sound hole. Further classes of acoustic guitars include the steel stringed acoustic guitar and the classical guitar. The steel stringed acoustic guitar, as its name already suggests, uses steel strings, and are designed with a narrow neck. This class of acoustic guitar is commonly used in the country and folk genre of music, as well as the general classes of music genre requiring not so soft guitar sounds. Classical guitars, on the other hand, produce softer sounds, as they use nylon strings for their successful operations are guitars. Classical guitars also have wider necks, meaning wider spaces between strings, allowing for more enhanced plucking, which happens a lot with classical guitar pieces. Electric guitars are the solid-bodied class of guitars, and depend on an amplifier for their sound production. Certain types of electric guitars, like the archtop class of electric guitars, are built with a hollow body, but are entirely different from acoustic guitars.

The Yamaha Pacifica Guitar stands tall in being the guitar for beginners, as the Yamaha Pacifica guitar is one guitar known for its best value, not too pricy, but produces quality sound. It is a known fact that getting the best of something, doesn’t make you the best. But getting the worst, would definitely affect your performance. The Yamaha Pacifica guitar is one such item, which isn’t the best, and is in no way the worst. In fact, many players start with the Yamaha Pacifica Guitar, as it is cheap and quite capable of producing high quality guitar sounds.

Should you have need for a beginners’ guitar, the Yamaha Pacifica Guitar would be just the thing for you.

Dave Mason,
This man’s pedigree within music is amazing,such a brilliant songwriter, man he has written some great songs in his time…
Have you ever seen this man’s live DVD…please note:I am just giving my opinion,this is not an advertisement for Dave Mason…he is not my 2nd cousin,once removed…ok so we have that CLEAR”

DAVE MASON (Live at Perkin’s Palace) when you see this DVD you willl understand what I am talking about,his unrehearsed brilliance is amazing.With his compatriot of 18 years, JIM KRUEGER who has since passed away,kicking the shit out of it right next to him on guitar…Just try and play guitar like JIM KRUEGER,and if you succeed,then give yourself a pat on the back because you are playing better than the best there is,and that is an understatement…the dvd is fantastic,and if you want you can here Dave Mason talk over the concert,he explains to you,the song and why he wrote it etc,etc.At times it is pretty funny.He gives JIM KRUEGER the ultimate salute as a vocalist/guitarist/songwiter and close friend.

Music is not the same as it was back in the old day’s, when these guy’s were recording,they were going into the studio with the whole band at once and as they say,would put it down,no overdubbing or anything like that,it was then and there and that was it,put it on plastic and let’s get it out there NOW,and most of the time,especially with these guy’s,it worked well…

Music is such a beautiful thing,and it shouldn’t be dragged down by repititious crap rap…Quincy Jones was the soul man for Rap,he did rap with style,and with taste,none of this “show me your gun gangster rap crap.”

I grew up with the music of the mother’s of invention,the tubes,the who,the rolling stones,jefferson starship,steely dan,traffic,the fugs,america,the doobie brothers,the b52 ‘s,devo,etc,etc…and these band’s that I enjoyed and still do,are really enjoyable to listen too,because most of these bands have a story to their song’s,so it gives you a start and a finish,and to me that is great.It gave me solace….which is real hard to find in a song.

I am sorry,but I have to speak up on this,because it is driving me mad,music has so much more to offer than what we are hearing these day’s.We don’t need stuff to sing that make’s no sense other than he is a rapper that has been to jail,or once was in a gang,I mean come on,just because he/she has fucking tattoo’s and is a bad ass,come on,give me a break.let’s here some music that has feeling and even,let’s say a storyline to it,that might even have an ending to it…how MAD would that be..
By Barry Dixon…

…STEVE LUKATHER HAS LEFT TOTO FOR GOOD.NO COMEBACK’S,IT IS ALL DONE…

THIS IS MY REVIEW FOR STEVE LUKATHER’S LATEST ALBUM “EVER CHANGING TIMES”

1 Ever Changing Times     anthem

a brilliant “luke” anthem great rock riff that will get you rocking.

A top grinding song to start the album.

2 The Letting Go    moody

a beautiful song,fantastic melody,”LUKES” voice shines’ on this song. I love how the song breaks away and into that flowing guitar solo and then straight back to the groove of this haunting ballad to the end.

3 New World    she’s a beauty

This one,written with the help from his son trevor lukather has ”The Tubes” feel all over it.I really like the intro to this song,it really has that “Tubes“ beginning.you have to love the lyric’s,mayhem at the white house,this one will grow on you.The 20 odd years of friendship and musical collaboration with Fee Waybill,sure does seem to rub off,particularly well on this one. She’s a Beauty”

4 Tell Me What You Want From Me    trippy song

wow this song trip’s on through all different direction’s,you are on a journey from start to finish on this one.A real unique song,I dig it.once again his son collaborates,(co writes) on this one too,only this time as my research tells me,that most of the guitar lick’s on this were that of his son.1/2 way through this song,it  goes into a “beatles” type of vocal structure.It still rocks out to the finish.

5 I Am    ballad plus

If Steve Lukather was to release another ballad from this album,then this should be the one.very nice song and with plenty of heart in the lyrics and the vocal’s are superb…

6 Jammin With Jesus    hold on to your hat’s

not much more to say other than,this song kick’s ass from start to finish.rock and roll,YEAH!!!. get on it.

7 Stab In The Back dedication to steely dan

this number is an dedication to “steely dan” to whom “STEVE LUKATHER” is and always has been an devoted fan.when I first heard this song I thought to myself,I have the complete collection of steely dan and I haven’t heard this one before,1hour later after going through the whole bloody collection,thinking maybe I had missed it over the years or so,I looked on “LUKES” website and their it was;see on the cd,there is no information as to who wrote what,so to find out, you have to go to the website and you can also print out the lyrics too which is a great plus in my opinion and should be applied to all album’s of the future.stab in the back was written by steve lukather/randy goodrum.By the way,donald fagen/walter becker should be proud of what they have achieved with this song as it has that definitive steely dan groove.    well done.

8 Never Ending Nights toto’s latest new song     “what the”

they should just go ahead and release this one on the next TOTO album as it is a classic.it is a brilliant example as to why Steve Lukather is and alway’s will be the driving force behind TOTO.this song is such a great song,just release it now and watch it fly through the charts.

9 ICEBOUND    jazz fusion

this little number really lights’ up.I played this song the other night when we had this huge thunderous storm and it went perfect with all the thunder and lightning.a very slick song.

10 How Many Zero’s      good old rock

how much money do you need,is the theme of this song.real nice drumming on this one,it has a great feel to it and hold’s up nicely to all the other song’s on this album.”greed has got you on your knee’s,at the gate’s of hell” quote from the last verse, I say no more.

11 The Truth    instrumental

very nice,smooth as you can get it and a fine ending to a fantastic album from Steve ”LUKE” Lukather…

Acoustic guitars have been around for a long time, with the first breed of acoustic guitars dating back to have been used 5000 years ago. Now standing as one of the most popular of musical instruments used in various popular music genres, acoustic guitars come in many different kinds, each boasting impressive playing features, as well as different resonating sounds, for specific or general types of musical genres.

The most distinctive look of an acoustic guitar would be its single sound hole, as well as the six strings most acoustic guitars stand to have. There are actually various classes of acoustic guitars in the world, the most popular of which would be the steel string and the classical types of acoustic guitars.

Steel stringed acoustic guitars, as their name already says it all, are acoustic guitars fitted with steel strings. They often come in various shapes, and could be made from various materials, the most popular of which would be wood. They also have narrow necks, and produce a distinct sound. Classical acoustic guitars differ form steel stringed acoustic guitars in the sense that classical acoustic guitars have wider necks, and use nylon strings, instead of steel stringed guitars. They also produce more softer sounds compared to steel stringed acoustic guitars, making them perfect for playing classical pieces. Rock, Country, Alternative and general pop make do with steel stringed acoustic guitars. Folk, Ragtime and country blues employ classical acoustic guitars, as the finger picking nature of these genres are perfect for classical acoustic guitars.

Basically, the bodies of acoustic guitars are hollow, allowing for the resonance of the sounds produced by the acoustic guitar’s strings. Unlike electric guitars, acoustic guitars have their own means of amplification, in the form of its hollow body. Smaller acoustic guitar bodies produce lower tones, while larger body acoustic guitars are capable of producing heavier/deeper tones. Come acoustic guitars are designed with cutaways, which basically impact the general sound of an acoustic guitar.

A weak sustain is also one of the many things which define acoustic guitars as what they are. A weak sustain means notes would easily face after being struck. Electric guitars, coupled with special effects, have higher sustain values over acoustic guitars, but this doesn’t mean all acoustic guitars have this limitation. Certain acoustic guitars, like concert guitars, feature good sustain, resulting to good overall performance.

If you are entertaining the though of learning to play the guitar, getting an acoustic guitar would be the best way to start, as acoustic guitars are the most basic of guitar types.