The Guitar Channel - Passion Amplifier

I believe I first heard about Chris Sherland on the Six String Bliss guitar podcast. I read his book, Lead Guitar From The Inside Out and spent quite a lot of time with my iPad to get the most out of it. Here's an interview I did with Chris. I really enjoyed reading this e-book with my guitar in hands. It's totally worth the price of 9,99€ (iTunes link) . Enjoy, Pierre.  

Derek Trucks was in Paris with the Tedeschi Trucks Band for a show at the Olympia. I jumped on the opportunity to do a video interview of Derek. Derek Trucks interview The Guitar Channel podcast The audio version of the video is available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Subscribers bonus The full length of the interview is reserved to the paying subscribers. Plus there's a full gallery of all the pics taken of the Derek and Susan's stage gear in this other reserved article. Subjects discussed in the interview * His first guitar * His influence * His approach of the slide guitar * And plenty of the other stuff Extracts of the album heard before the audio show * Made Up Mind * Do I Look Worried * Misunderstood * All That I Need 100% of the Derek stage gear An SG, a jack and a Super Reverb, that's it! And let me tell you he has the tone. Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

In June 2013 I had the pleasure of meeting Jonny Lang for the release of his album "Fight For My Soul." You can see an excerpt of the interview video above. Get the Backstage Pass for the full 20min video interview. Extracts of the album played before the interview * Blew Up (The House) * We Are The Same * What You're Looking For * The Truth Subject discussed in the interview * His first guitar * His influences * The relationship between singing and guitar playing * The genesis of Fight For My Soul * The equipment used for recording * His wisdom advice for musicians * Upcoming projects * And many other things Backstage content The full 20min video is available for the backstagers in this reserved article. Also, thanks to Lisa Ortola and Romain Marengo who manage the Jonny Lang fan website jonnylang.fr, I am happy to be able to propose you with the full written transcription in the reserved article too. Thanks a lot for your work Lisa and Romain. Check-out their great website! Enjoy, Pierre.  

Become an active player of The Guitar Channel An active player of The Guitar Channel not only helps finance it but he/she is way more than that: as in a music band, he/she is taking part in the discussion to make the band even better. This is done with on-going exchanges with the Backstage Pass owners through the private online community. To crowdfund is to finance a project by having large number of people to contribute a small fee to ensure the development of a project. In the case of The Guitar Channel, you have 1 methods to show your support: The Backstage Pass The Guitar Channel is your independent guitar media, 100% ads free and 100% financed by those who watch it. The is no ads on the site and there will never be. More info on the Backstage Pass  

Michael Lee Firkins is not a newbie in the guitar business. Some may recall his first albums in the Mike Varney stable of shredders, Shrapnel Records. Michael provides us with Yep (on the Magna Carta label) an album very far from this era with a powerful guitar music. It's not complicated the only thing I did not like about the album is the cover. That said, I agree, it is a matter of taste and what matters is the music inside. On that end you can be sure the music rocks big time throughout all the album. In Yep, everything is good: very good songs, plenty of guitars with that sound with the kind of blues/rock spirit that only the american can do. Extracts of Yep played before the interview * Golden Oldie Jam * Cajun Boogie * Last Call * The Cane Enjoy, Pierre.

Here's a Greg Koch audio interview. Greg is a star on the Internet because of his countless awesome demos on YouTube but he is in fact much more than that. He is a complete musician able to compose great songs and play inspiring solos. When I discovered he had a new album out, I contacted him via Twitter (his account is @mansqwatch) and a couple of weeks later we did a Skype audio call to record this interview. Extracts played before the Greg Koch audio interview Simone Down The Road Hey Godzilla Spanish Wine Radio Mix Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre.

In this December video chronicle I present you with plenty of cool boutique pedals and with the short version of the interview I did recently of Pierre Bensusan, acoustic fingerpicker extraordinaire who has just released a triple live album to cover 40 years of concerts! Summary + Review of future pedals to be tested + Short version of the interview with Pierre Bensusan (the long version will be published soon) + Some news about the show and future giveaways The full interview of Pierre Bensusan will be available for the Backstage pass subscribers in a protected article. Pedals presented in the video + Pimento by Celmo (which you can get at 40% off for a limited time, more info here) + Riff Shooter by JMB Experience + 2 Fuzz pedals, 2 overdrives and the awesome Lucy's Drive II (a Klon Centaur clone) by Doc Music Station  

Here's the video chronicle for November 2013 with videos of the interview of Al Di Meola as well as some exclusive footage shot during the soundcheck, a treat you only get to see very rarely. You will have also an extract from the interview with Stéphan Forté, one of the best world class shredder we have in France. Summary + News from the show + Al Di Meola interview (extract with some footage of the soundcheck) - Full version + Stéphan Forté interview (extract) - Full version + Upcoming giveaways for the Backstage pass subscribers

Here's Ivano Icardi interview in audio. Ivano, it's all the passion of Italy on a Stratocaster! After a contact with Ivano via Twitter, I received the album Walking With The Giants which really charmed me with finely crafted compositions with melodies that stay in your head, all with a superb touch on the guitar. Anyway, I loved it and I hope it will be the same for you. Ivano's website: www.ivanoicardi.com Extracts from Ivano Icardi album Walking With The Giants Here are the extracts played before the interview: * Funky Mama * The Snatch * Morse Code * Still Waiting As Backstage pass bonus, not one but two full backing tracks with transcriptions and chords chart in PDF for Funky Mama and The Snatch. The link to the 73 MB zip file is in the article exclusively accessible for the Backstage pass owners. Ivano has also published a FREE e-book available on iTunes where he share tips & tricks about his guitar playing. Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre.

Here's a video chronicle in a magazine format packed with news, mini gear reviews and interviews from Richie Kotzen, Billy Sheehan who were in Paris for the european tour of the Winery Dogs and Eric Bibb, a great bluesman who is about to release a superb album called Jericho Road. Summary * News from The Guitar Channel * Giveaway to win the great book from Jean-Pierre Danel The Legend of the Fender Stratocaster * Mini gear reviews of picks : the Chicken Picks and the ergonomic Niglo * Eric Bibb interview (short version) - The long version is here for the Backstage pass owners * Richie Kotzen interview (short version) - The long version is here for the Backstage pass owners * Billy Sheehan (short version) - The long version is here for the Backstage pass owners Richie Kotzen live rig (source : John Zocco, his guitar tech) * Fender Telecaster Signature * Fender VibroKing and a Fender Vibrolux. * For overdrive tones he is using a Punch Pedal overdrive/boost pedal * Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal. * Strings D’addario EXL115 .11 The signal chain is : Fender Signature Tele - Line 6 Wireless - Dunlop Crybaby Wah - Punch Pedal Overdrive - VibroKing - Vibrolux. Giveaway To enter the giveaway to win the book  The Legend of the Fender Stratocaster from Jean-Pierre Danel you have 3 methods : *  Share this Facebook status with your friends * Retweet this tweet to your followers * Post a review on iTunes about The Guitar Channel podcast In all 3 cases, don't fail to mail me at pjournel@gmail.com a screenshot of the result of the method of your choice so I can enter you in the giveaway. I will draw a winner on October 30th. Until the next time, happy guitar playing ! Pierre. PS: the audio version of this chronicle is available in MP3 format in the podcast feed.

Malina Moye sings well, plays lead guitar and is able to be a real performer on stage. An artist who puts a good dose of six strings in Funk, a style of music where our favorite instrument does not play a leading role in general, deserved an interview on The Guitar Channel. I hope this interview will help you discover Malina. K Yotic is the song you can hear an excerpt from before the interview. Enjoy, Pierre.

Yossi Sassi is a guitar player from Israël and when I listened to his album Melting Clocks I found he was able to create a very exciting mix of high powered instrumental guitar with oriental music. We did the interview backstage in Paris when he was touring Europe with Marty Friedman and Stéphan Forte. We talked during the interview about his influence, about how he mixes instrumental guitar music with oriental music, about his hybrid bouzouki/guitar instrument and many other subjects.   Extracts from Melting Clocks played before the interview: * Drive * The Calling Rush Hour * Sahara Afternoon * Melting Clocks Enjoy, Pierre.    

I found David Wallimann through his awesome YouTube channel so when I heard about his excellent book Guitar Methods Made Easy I contacted him to organize an interview. You will discover in this interview how he wrote his book, how he developed his approach of modes and many other things. At one point or another in their learning life all the guitar players are exposed to modes without always understanding everything and above all without actually integrating all the wealth that they have in their playing, at least that was my case. This book with an approach that is both clear and comprehensive guides the reader through the various modes. In the end we can better understand how the methods work and how to use them. There is no black magic, however, you have to work to make sure you progress. But having a book of this quality is a real plus. Personally I finally understood some important things even though I still have some work to fully master the subject. If you want to purchase David's book, he has graciously provided all listeners the promo code "TGC" to enjoy 20% discount on all orders made ​​on its www.guitarplayback.com site. On top of that, David is allowing me to offer you a free backing track called Dorian Floyd and an associated PDF with the chords grid and suggested scales to work on your Dorian mode and minor blues scale. Not bad, huh? Just follow this link. Backstage pass holders have an another discount code to enjoy a 50% discount on any order on www.guitarplayback.com. 20% off with code TGC, 30% for the Backstage Pass owners Until the next interview, keep on playing your guitar! Pierre.

Here's some heavy rock with this Gus G interview. This guitar player from Greece not only plays with none other than Ozzy Osbourne but also fronts his own band Firewind. We talked about his career so far, how to get the gig with Ozzy, about hus gear and many other subjects.   Extracts from Apoteosis Live 2012 played before the interview: * Allegiance * Edge Of A Dream * Glorious * Maniac Enjoy, Pierre.

I  already said several times, there is a lack of women in the guitar community so when the opportunity arises to interview a musician like Ana Popovic class, I jump at the chance. Yes, Ana is a beautiful woman, yes she has gorgeous legs but also (and this is important part) she plays the guitar very well and has a fabulous voice. It was during one of her passages Paris in November 2012 that I was able to do an audio interview with her. Extracts from the album "Unconditional" played before the Anna Popovic  interview * Fearless * Slideshow * Your Love Is not Real * Voodoo Woman Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre.