There’s a distinct charm in the resonance of a well-tuned guitar—a charm that is crucial whether you’re practicing alone, recording in a studio, or performing live on stage. While some seasoned musicians have the knack for tuning by ear, the precision and ease of using a guitar tuner are unparalleled, especially in a live performance […]
Read more
Guitarists have been using guitar slides for over a century to produce crying, wailing sounds, chunky rhythms, and sweet, vocal-like tones. These little tubes of glass, metal or ceramic that slide onto your finger open up a whole new world of sounds and techniques on both acoustic and electric guitars. As you’ll soon find out, […]
Read moreBy Ross Boissoneau Guitarist Nels Cline isn’t a name necessarily familiar to those who follow the charts, even though he’s been a part of the popular band Wilco since 2004 and he’s contributed to hundreds of recordings, as a sideman, studio guest, or bandleader or co-leader. That includes seven with the ironically-named Nels Cline Singers, […]
Read moreBy Ross Boissoneau Numbers to know: Six, two, 20-plus and 48. As in six International Bluegrass Music Association wins, two Grammy nominations, more than 20 recordings, and 48 years (and counting) since Greg Cahill founded the Chicago-based bluegrass outfit Special Consensus in 1975. That’s a lot of history. And yes, a lot of numbers. But […]
Read moreBy Ross Boissoneau Robert Berry is many things: Multi-instrumentalist. Vocalist. Songwriter. Studio owner. Producer. Conceptualist. He comes by all those things through a lifetime spent in music. As a youth, he was a fixture at his family’s music store, and by his high school years was gigging regularly as well as working at a local […]
Read moreSpecially written by Irene Gómez for Strings By Mail Articles. 2023 has offered the opportunity to realize some interesting and contrasting facts, such as the birth of Wes Montgomery, Bach’s moving to Leipzig, Liszt arriving to Paris and the passing of the great American pedagogue Julia Crane. Today, let’s remember Julia Crane. 1923, the passing […]
Read moreBy Ross Boissoneau It’s not that far from pop to jazz, or from guitar to ukulele – at least not for Jeff Linsky. The California-based musician has performed pop and rock, Latin, jazz, and more. He’s done so in various settings: solo, in duos, trios, full band and with an orchestra. It all comes from […]
Read moreSpecially written by Irene Gómez for Strings By Mail Articles. 2023 has offered the opportunity to realize some interesting and contrasting facts, such as the birth of Wes Montgomery, Bach’s moving to Leipzig, Liszt arriving to Paris and the passing of the great American pedagogue Julia Crane. Today, let’s take a glance at some details […]
Read moreBy Ross Boissoneau A Renaissance woman. A label owner. An investment banker. An award-winning banjoist. A boundary breaker. Alison Brown is – or in one case was – all these things and more. The celebrated artist has a new recording coming this summer on which she collaborated with everyone from with Grammy Award-winning musician/actor/author Steve […]
Read moreSpecially written by Irene Gómez for Strings By Mail Articles. 2023 has offered the opportunity to realize some interesting and contrasting facts, such as the birth of Wes Montgomery, Bach’s moving to Leipzig, Liszt arriving to Paris and the passing of the great American pedagogue Julia Crane. During March, the month of his birth, let’s […]
Read more