Lessons

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Gretsch Broad’tron BT-2s vs Blacktop Filtertrons G5400 BT G2420T 

Ever since the Streamliners came out in 2017 I have had my eye on them. They seem like a great value, and while the appointments are not traditional Gretsch, with a few small tweaks, the Streamliners can be taken into G5420T territory. If one wanted to pour into it, the G420T can be born into G6120T territory.

The Gretsch Streamliner series WOW

As I compare the specs, the Pro line 6120, and other hollow body offerings, seem to share the same specs besides pickups and hardware. Scale length, nut width, and body materials all a match. The fretboard, neck materials, and nut material are the only major structural differences I can see. The finish also differs, with the Pro line being Nitro and the Streamliner being “gloss.” Either way, I was set out go through this Streamliner and make it my go-to Hollow Body guitar. I went through and did a facelift, knobs and pickups. But the stock Broad’tron pickups were so good I figured I better make this video to compare them to the filtertrons I was putting in. I considered leaving them in, but I’m not really looking for the PAF sound from this guitar, and I enjoy modding guitars so here we are.

Broad’Trons Compared to Filtertrons

In this video I am starting with the Broadtrons, the interesting thing is its the same exact guitar, same amp settings etc, so its a pretty good comparison. I go from the bridge, to the neck, to the middle position, the same guitar lick roughly, then some noodling with delay and reverb on the filtertrons.

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Layla Backing track in D minor (blues Jamtrack)

Layla Backing track image

I hope everyone is having a great summer. Its super humid and hot down here in sunny North Port FL! I have put together a fun Layla backing track to jam along with in D minor. Its essentially Layla, by Eric Clapton, very slightly different, but still makes for a great jam.

Theory Behind Layla

While not exact, I followed pretty close to the chord structures of the 2 main parts of the song. The main signature lick is in D minor, then interestingly enough on the verses it changes keys, dropping a half step, to C#minor. This makes it a great Jamtrack to practice your chops to. Also when in D minor practice adding the “7” note to your pentatonic scale. So on the high string, string 1, instead of using your pinky (4) to play the top note, use your third finger to play the note behind it.

Legendary “O” Acoustic Guitar Tone

When it comes to the O style acoustic guitars I cannot think of a better example then Eric Clapton’s 1992 Mtv unplugged session of this song Layla. The whole session is filled with great examples, but Layla really showcase how dynamic and sweet the O sounds with percussive finger playing. Particularly the main guitar lick played by Mr Clapton. You might be thinking, “What is an O style acoustic guitar?” An O guitar stand for “Orchestral.” The exact guitar Clapton is playing in this song is a Martin 000-42 acoustic guitar which was a guitar was a gift from George Harrison. For a deeper study into the different acoustic guitars of Eric Clapton check this article out HERE.

OOO, OM, O Orchestral Model

The Orchestral style of guitars have generally 2 models, the OOO and the OM, and the only difference being the scale length. The OOO is a bit shorter scale length at 24.9″ compared to the OM with its 25.4″ scale length. The scale length is the distance between the nut of the guitar and the bridge. A shorter scale length makes bending easier, the down side being the strings can flub out much easier. Which to personally choose is a matter of ones playing preference. Me? I chose to be opened and use every style of guitar, thinking each brings out different techniques, feels and styles. I like to let the instrument talk back, but everyone is different. For this backing track I used and OM style guitar, but only because I had a really nice one in the studio at the time. If you have any questions, comments, or requests please drop them below. See more of our backing tracks HERE. Have a great jam with this Layla Backing track in D minor my peoples!

D'Angelico excel Tammany XT
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G Dorian Backing track, Modal Jam track

Hello, today we are looking at our Dorian scale, particularly this funky Backing track in G Dorian we have made. If you are unfamiliar with the theory behind modes you will have to do some digging, but you can still jam along using the scales illustrated below. In general, the Dorian scale has a Latin or Caribbean sort of vibe to it. As it pertains to the guitar, Carlos Santana is one of the champions of the Dorian sound. The mode really fits his whole vibe. Many Santanas songs use Dorian, including his smash hit “Oye Ye Como Va,” which is in A Dorian.

Pattern 1 G Dorian

Every scale can be broken down into roughly 5-7 different patterns to encompass the entirety of the guitar neck. 5 patterns is a pretty smooth way to digest this type of info. Hopefully, you are already familiar with the 5 patterns of the pentatonic scale. Let’s look at the 5 patterns of the Dorian scale, using G as our key. G Dorian is actually the key of F, but that’s a theory lesson for another day. You can also play G pentatonic over a G Dorian progression. Notice how similar the Dorian scale is to the pentatonic scales? If you look closely you will see that each Dorian pattern has a pentatonic pattern inside it. Remember pentatonic is the 5-note version of a 7-note scale. If you are already familiar with the 5 pentatonic patterns, learning these shapes will be easier. Also, check out our backing tracks page for more modal jam tracks.

5 patterns of the Dorian Scale on guitar
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Muddy Waters Blues backing track in E Minor Funky

Here is a tasty Muddy Waters-style Backing track in E minor. It uses a loose 12 bar blues structure, but use your ears cause there’s a few curveballs. This is a funky electric Delta Blues track to rip your meanest leads over. To me it also has a very Texas, ZZ Top feel to it. You can use your opened E pentatonic scale, which is a great starting place. As always leave the few lower strings out to avoid sounding like you are just running through a scale soullessly. Also make use of hammer-ons and pull-offs to all the opened strings, as they are all available in this key. Then, practice floating through every pattern (5) of the scale until you end up back in pattern 1 but up on the 12th fret, a full octave up. See if you can develop some cool patterns floating from pattern 1 up to pattern 4. A slide can also be employed for this jam. Make use of the opened notes, slide into the chord changes, and let your ears guide you.

When it comes to Muddy Waters my favorite song is “Champagne and Reefer” Give it a listen for some inspiration. Look at the original studio version by Muddy Waters, it’s in A minor, and I have the main guitar lick tabbed below. Other than that it’s loosely based on a 12 bar blues style progression, but like most songs, doesn’t stick to it 100%, but the thing to keep in mind, its still a 1 4 5 progression. Take it from there and use your ears. I wasnt able to embed the Muddy Waters version, but here’s a cool cover, nothing like the original, featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy guy.

Main riff guitar tab Champagne and Reefer by Muddy Waters
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Custom American Cabronita Telecaster Flame Maple build

Hello Internet. I wanted to share with you a very cool custom guitar build I did over at Circuit Rider Effects. We call it “La Cabronita Exotica.” It’s a custom-built Tele-style guitar featuring a pair of Gretsch High Sensitivity Alnico Filtertrons. Every piece of wood used for this build was carefully chosen for tone and beauty. With a stunning, thick piece of figured American Flame Maple, paired to a piece of resonant, large-grained Walnut. The Walnut is chambered a good bit, making it the perfect balance of lightweight, yet resonate and rewarding to play. 

The Neck is Strikingly Beautiful

The neck is highly figured, flame/Curly Maple with an exquisite Canarywood fretboard. The fretboard’s grain looks like a piece of artwork with depth and shades that tell a story. The shape is a slightly chunky modern C shape. All woods are from, cut, and crafted in the USA 🇺🇸 The entire guitar has been slowly hand-finished with gun oil. Over 20 coats were carefully applied on the figured top. The chatoyance is stunning, pictures don’t really do it justice. Fitted with big Chrome, genuine Gretsch knobs, and a matching chrome tip toggle switch. Sounds even better than it looks. Here’s a bluesy clean demo, but it excels at overdriven tones and vintage modern country tones!

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Tone Emporium TE-25 Pickups Review with Ibanez S470DXQM

Today we are looking at one of my top choices for high-quality, boutique pickups, Tone Emporium and the TE-25. I have an Ibanez S series I fell in love with, but the pickups definitely were not cutting it for me. The stock Pickups are the highly revered Ibanez PowerSound Ceramic magnet pickups. The Ibanez Powersound is basically a budget, mass-produced, copy of the Dimarzio Super Distortion pickups. They are pretty good for the 80’s metal sound, wound very hot and aggressive, they have a very gnarly vibe. For my purposes, they are way too bassy and out of control, not nearly versatile enough for what I use this guitar for.

So my search for some good replacement Humbuckers started. I had my eye on the traditional, go-to versatile Metal pickups. The Dimarzio Tone Zone and PAF pro, or the Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz set. I love both of these options, and being a lifelong Ibanez guy I have had plenty of Experience with the Dimarzio set. In my search for the right option for this Dark but aggressive sounding guitar, I noticed Tone Emporium did have a higher gain option for humbuckers. Being so affordable for about a decade Tone Emporium is my go-to for all the vintage style boutique pickups, from Fender style all the way through to PAF humbuckers. I have used them for everything except metal-style guitars. Being a huge fan of the Tone Emporium TE-20, and even having a spare set on hand, I began to think about using them on this unruly Ibanez.

It was then I discovered the good folks at Tone Emporium actually have a high-gain humbucker option known as the TE-25. I am not sure if they are new, or I just never considered them because I only use TE for the vintage vibe style of instruments. Either way, this was a new discovery to me, so I instantly ordered them. As I was excitedly reviewing the specs I noticed, on paper anyways, the specs are strikingly similar to the aforementioned Dimarzio and Duncan go-to sets of Humbuckers. With the Alnico V magnet and the Bridge pickups clocking in at 17K, just like the Duncan JB and Tonezone, and the neck also a Alnico V clocking in the 7-8K range ala Duncan Jazz or PAF pro.

I slapped them in this lovely S470 and made this demo video, mostly for myself, to get a good comparison, but also for your enjoyment. The part I forgot to Mention is all of Tone Emporiums stuff is extremly budget friendly, to the tune of half the price or less than the Duncan/Dimarzio counter parts. If you have reference monitors or studio headphones use them while watching the video. Drop a comment and let me know your opinion.

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Episode 2 ‘Beginner Slide Guitar’

Welcome to the “Beginner Slide Guitar” series Episode 2. Today we are looking at the classic rock/blues song, “Bad to the Bone,” by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. This song leads us to the topic of tuning.

Opened Tunings and slide

A prevalent and convenient technique with slide guitar is open tunings. This is where the guitar is tuned to a chord when all strings are played open. The most common open tunings are open E, D, G, and A. We won’t dive too deep into all the different tunings, but Open E tuning, like the others, when all strings are strummed open, makes an E major chord. Less common but just as fun is to tune them to the minor, but that’s a topic for another day. Bad to the Bone is tuned to open G. Opened G tuning, from lowest to highest string, is tuned ‘D G D G B D.’ The song is in the key of G and sounds a lot more advanced and impressive than the guitar playing actually is.

The Main Lick

The main lick of the song is repeated throughout the song. Sometimes the guitar fully drops out, other times the guitar adds some small leads around this lick. But it’s the general phrase the entire song is built upon.

Bad to the Bone main lick phrase

Right after the intro, where the lick is played like 4 times in a row, they start to introduce some slight lead to the phrases. These leads are super simple but extremely powerful. Remember we are in our open tuning, which makes this type of playing very simple, compared to slide-in standard tuning.

Slow slide up to 12th fret after the phrase, then down from 15

Master the main phrase, then play around peppering in these little lead parts, while keeping the main phrase in time. For the lead notes, you want to approach it with the mindset of outlining the different chords, as opposed to playing out of a scale. the 11 to 12th fret slide is incredibly powerful. Here’s a backing track in G to practice your slide guitar lead improvising. If you have any questions or comments drop them below and we will try to answer them as soon as possible.

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Beginner Slide Guitar #1 “Won’t Back Down” Tom Petty, Lead guitar lesson

Welcome to the “Beginner Slide Guitar” series of lessons. Today we are looking at Tom Petty’s hit song “Won’t Back Down,” which features some excellent slide guitar techniques. The song is in E minor and switches to the relative Major, G, for the choruses. That’s a cool songwriting technique to add a different feel and dynamic to a piece of a song. The verses, intro, and lead guitar solo are all in E minor. They have a tight palm-muted feel, then when the chorus kicks in it blasts into a wide-opened, full-throttle dynamic in the Major.

Intro Lead part, Simple yet powerful

The lead guitar slide parts are all out of the E minor pentatonic scale. We will first look at the intro lead guitar part. This comes right in at the very beginning of the song. It last two progressions, and is four measures long. The first note rings for half the intro, two measures. The idea is to get some big sustain out of your notes using compressors and overdrive effects pedals. It’s a very straightforward, Pentatonic pattern 1 lick. Feel free to add some vibrato on your slide, it helps keep the note alive.

Intro lead tab “Won’t Back Down”

Main Solo, All SLIDE

Although the intro is very straightforward from pattern 1, the main solo bounces throughout most patterns. Since it’s a pentatonic scale there are a few different ways to play the solo while still being note-for-note correct. Tabbed below is the way I prefer to play it, and I think it sounds great. Be sure to add plenty of vibratos to encourage the sustain. I have both guitar parts tabbed below to help show the rhythmic patterns of it all. Notice how minimal the lead part actually is. Often times tasty slide guitar work doesn’t require a ton of notes, just quality choices for each note chosen, especially on the notes you choose to sustain and land on. Of course properly using some effects, like compressors and dirt boxes, is almost always necessary to get the right tone and sustain for slide work. Experiment with delay and reverb thrown at the end of your signal chain, as each situation will be different. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions drop a comment below. Also, keep an eye out for the next installment in the series “Beginner slide guitar.”

Main solo tab “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty
Video example of solo