Yesterday, Australia's Thy Art is Murder had their first gig with their new vocalist at the Turbinenhalle 2 in Oberhausen, Germany.The band's been unable to catch a break for a while now. Starting from the controversy of ex-vocalist CJ McMahon's comments a month ago,...
Judas Priest has been responsible for some of the greatest metal albums of all time – "Sad Wings of Destiny", "Unleashed in the East", "Painkiller", etc. But during a recent interview with the That Rocks! Podcast, former Priest guitarist KK Downing was asked which of...
The Invention of the Electric Bass GuitarThe history of bass guitar musical instruments continues, in 1920 a Gibson musical instrument company, through Lloyd Loar created an electric double bass. This is the company that became the forerunner of the birth of the...
However, the feedback created by traditional hollow-bodied guitars prompted some players and makers to try and develop more suitable designs. In fact, both Vivi-Tone and Rickenbacker created what were essentially solid-bodied Spanish guitars in 1934 and 1935...
Engineer Donn Landee looked back on working with Van Halen on the iconic band's 1978 self-titled debut album, noting how the band's members were initially disappointed in its sound.Even though it would go on to redefine rock music for a whole generation, 1978's "Van...
The creation of the archtop guitar is usually credited to Orville Gibson. Violin-like sound holes, or F-holes, a curved top and back, and an adjustable bridge were among the design features that gave the archtop increased volume and tone.Gibson found that, by making...
Even today, almost two centuries after its invention, the flat top guitar continues to be the most popular form of acoustic guitar. It was developed by Christian Frederick Martin, a German-born American luthier who made his first guitar in the United States in the...
Bassist Rex Brown named ZZ Top and Van Halen as Pantera's two core influences, noting how it was where his band's "Stomp Boogie" roots began.Pantera has indebted heavy music in a whole list of ways, including giving the genre a much needed kick in the butt when the...
In the early 19th century, the guitar looked very close to a six-string instrument but was smaller in size. In the mid-1800s, Antonio de Torres Jurado, a Spanish musician and luthier, began creating the guitar style that would give rise to all modern guitars. Although...
Six-string icon Robin Trower recalled how his career-long relationship with the Stratocaster began, noting how he "left the Gibson at home" the moment he got Fender's iconic ax.The debate of Fender vs Gibson has been going on between guitar players since time...