Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf” Guitar Headed to Auction
A custom guitar nicknamed Wolf and designed for the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia is headed to auction on May 31, at the Brooklyn Bowl in New York City. The guitar is currently owned by musician and avid Dead Head Daniel Pritzker, who purchased it for $790,000 at auction in 2002. Proceeds from the sale will […]
Confessions of a Guitar Synthesis Addict
Nobody says, “when I grow up, I want to be a guitar synthesis addict.” Well, my name is David, and I have been addicted to guitar synthesis for quite some time now. My own journey through pursuing “synthesizer” sounds on my guitar began with a major realization at a buddy’s show at the Burlington in […]
Perfect Pairings: Positive Grid BIAS Head Preamp and Distortion Pedal
Most of us guitar enthusiasts here at zZounds HQ are purists when it comes to amps and pedals. We have our go-to tube amps and distortion pedals and would be hard-pressed to want to replace them with anything. Then, we got a shipment of BIAS gear from Positive Grid. For this edition of Perfect Pairings, […]
Studio Amp and Effects Modeling with Positive Grid
Getting the perfect tone in the studio can be tough. Whether you’re in your home studio or dishing out the big bucks to track in a professional studio with tons of gear, there are still endless combinations of amps and pedals, all of which behave differently depending on the space they’re in. It’s certainly not […]
Legends of Tone: Dick Dale
Dick Dale is the undisputed founder and King of Surf Guitar. While many know his name, they may not know much about his interesting past and contribution to the world of guitar in general. This includes several innovations of amplification and a personal playing style that changed how many thought to manipulate the instrument. Here […]
The Elements of a Song
Welcome to Beat Connection, a series dedicated to promoting modern and vintage dance styles the only way we know how…by providing you a musical starting point to help you create that beat. Last time we showed you the way around grid notation – essential info for understanding your way around drum machines and recording software. Today, we go forward […]
Interview with Stephen Carpenter of Deftones
Since forming Deftones in late ’80s Sacramento, Stephen Carpenter has traveled the world over, slinging churning riffs and atmospheric textures with the help of a slew of extended-range guitars and evolving amp rigs. We got the chance to hang out with Steph in a southern California studio to talk Deftones, gear simplicity and his love […]
How to Deck or Block Your Tremolo
As one of the most distinctive features on perhaps the most famous (and most imitated) guitars ever, the floating tremolo system as found on the Fender Stratocaster (and other guitars like it) is one of the most-played hardware systems out there. The system allows players to create natural, fluttering vibrato, akin to what early jazz and blues […]
Parallel Compression
Controlling dynamics during the final mixdown can sometimes feel like a compromise, especially on instruments with wide dynamic ranges. Drums, bass, and vocals often produce loud signal peaks that can cause issues when trying to compress the signal. Sure, you can try to put a limiter on the offending track, but that has the possibility […]
