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The Kiss Each Other Clean Review

Music evolves over time — a musician or band will not write the same kind of music when they start playing as they will be playing a decade later, or two decades later. It’s interesting to look at bands from the past and examine their growth over time and see how they change from album to album. Many times, however, when you are living through those changes it can come as a bit of a surprise and it takes getting used to. This happened to me most recently with the new Iron & Wine album, “Kiss Each Other Clean.”

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The Source of Human Zero and Finding the Vibrating Harmonic

When you re-string your guitar, it isn’t enough to just tune it up.  You also need to fine-tune the natural harmonics to help ensure your guitar “sounds right” up and down the fretboard.  Most guitarists test their harmonics at the 12th fret.  Others also test the open-string naturals at the 9th and 7th and 5th frets and sometimes the 19th fret.  It can take a careful touch to get the harmonic to sound — let alone ring right — but the process of divining those harmonics so your guitar can vibrate in tune is of great, melodic, importance in creating memorable music.

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Peeing On Your New Guitar

Men and feral animals like to mark their territory and identify their belongings with urine.  Sure, we men of the world may not always actually pee on our most pleasureful possessions, but we can still find a way to make something uniquely our own that no one else will dare to touch and, in the case of a new guitar, we proudly pee on them with naphtha.

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Ten Eighty-Two

Don’t pick your nose;
pluck your fingers instead!
File on.

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The Gretsch Electromatic Guitar Strings Review

My $10.00USD a set Gretsch Electromatic guitar strings arrived yesterday.  I immediately installed the slighted rusted .11-.49 “Rhythm – N – Blues” gauges on my Gretsch G5120 — even though the factory installed strings were D’Addario EXL115.  I wonder why Gretsch guitars don’t arrive installed with Gretsch stings?  Is it because the Electromatic strings cost twice as much as D’Addario?

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Grant Green is the Greatest Guitarist You Never Heard

When we talk about great guitarists, we think modernly of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and, perhaps, even David Gilmour.  When we think of great Blues and Jazz guitarists, many fans will point in a unified direction to Wes Montgomery.  Today, I want to challenge you to discover the incredible Soul Jazz guitar of Grant Green and to help remember him forever.

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Reviewing Jeff Beck's Emotion and Commotion

Jeff Beck is a great guitarist and musician.  He found his first musical success in The Yardbirds when he replaced Eric Clapton.  Beck then brought in Jimmy Page to play bass for the ‘Birds.  Jeff Beck didn’t find as much commercial success as Clapton and Page — probably because he didn’t sing or tie himself to a lead singer in a band — yet he still survives and thrives in the music scene as a major force majeure.  Jeff Beck’s latest album — “Emotion & Commotion” — was released this week.

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