The latest issue of Guitar Interactive, the free digital guitar magazine has been released and it’s loaded to the brim with new video interviews, interactive guitar lessons and reviews of all the latest guitars, amps and pedals. Also, after the success of last month’s offer, every Guitar Interactive subscriber can still claim a FREE copy of the brilliant TAB editing software package Guitar Pro 6!
American guitar virtuoso Richie Kotzen is this month’s cover star with an in-depth interview at his LA home studio and a special ‘Kotzen Masterclass’ lesson from Tom Quayle. Other interviews include Free bassist Andy Fraser and Guitar Interactive favourite Steve Hackett returns to talk with Michael Casswell about his new album ‘Genesis Revisited ll’ and to perform an exclusive live session!
There’s more exclusive material on offer as Guitar Interactive are invited to the annual LA Amp Show to sample the latest products and find out what’s new in the world of Amplifiers. Pedals and Guitars. With a whole host of interviews with the brains behind the gear you love including Fractal Audio, Matrix Amplification, Suhr Guitars, Eganter + More….
There’s lots of prizes up for grabs in the competitions section of the mag… Gi are giving away two Wampler pedals and two copies of the new Randy Rhoads biography + find out which lucky reader bagged the Ibanez Steve Vai JEM70V Guitar!
Don’t miss the column features as Andy James, Tom Quayle, Rick Graham, Michael Casswell and Giorgio Serci all continue their technique lessons including tips, tricks and licks to help make you a better guitarist and starting this month, Guitar Idol winner Don Alder joins the Guitar Interactive teaching team to begin his ‘Acoustic Percussion’ series.
Included in the magazine is full downloadable tab for all of the lessons in the usual PDF format and now our new Guitar Pro 6 format so you can start using your FREE software right away (For details on how to claim your copy, visit the downloads page in the magazine).
The rest of the issue is jam packed with reviews including the new Tony Iommi Signture T-100 Laney Amp, Washburn, Rickenbacker, PRS, Hiwatt, Wampler, TC Electronic, Danelectro, Stonebridge and an exclusive review of the new Ibanez Roadcore RC230 Guitar!
If that’s not enough, Gi brings you a Quiet Room special with the new ‘Rise Of The Super-Ukes’ feature – Ukelele expert John Howlett explains why the Ukelele is conquering the world and reviews the best models on the market.
All this is available now and it’s completely FREE! Visit http://www.iguitarmag.com/issue13 to read it now!
REVIEWS_GUITAR REVIEW
The Brian May Special is a signature guitar with a difference. Instead of applying
his name to the products of a big brand maker, the former Queen guitarist has
licensed a smaller company to make faithful replicas of his homebuilt icon.
Michael Casswell, who has played the original, checks out the latest version of
this classic.
There are two ways of looking at this guitar.
You could look at it as a fan of Brian, who
wants something that looks, sounds and feels
like his home-made iconic Red Special and
isn’t too bothered about the finer details that
most serious guitar players obsess over, as
long as it looks like Brian’s own guitar. Or
you could approach this guitar as a serious
playable instrument than can offer many
tones and versatility other guitars can’t, all at
an affordable price. Which camp do you fall
into? As a professional guitarist, I approach
any signature product on its merits rather
than the name associated it with it, so no
surprises which camp I’m pitching my tent in.
I actually own one of these guitars. Mine
is from around 2006/7 and was purchased
when I was regularly playing in the London
show, We Will Rock You. Around that
time, I was also asked to film some tuitional
Queen/Brian May DVDs for Lick Library, so
it made sense for me to own one.
I had the luxury of being sent a number of
them and choosing my favourite. I looked
STAR RATING CHECK THE SPEC
74 Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 14
for tuning stability, resonance, neck size and
the quality of how the nut was cut, which
did vary, as it does with most brands. I went
for the one that had the biggest baseball
bat neck, was acoustically the loudest and
had the most responsive tremolo system. I
have been lucky enough to play Brian’s own
Red Special, which does have a big fat neck,
is very resonant and has a very responsive
tremolo made from a bicycle saddle (!), so
that puts me among the select few that know
what the original is actually like and what
these guitars are derived from.
Since the purchase of my example, the
quality of these guitars has obviously gone
up. In fact, as the review went on, I became
aware of a number of quite significant
improvements. For example, they now come
as standard with a Wilkinson derived tremolo
system which is really superb (and I am very
picky when it comes to trems), which works
with such a nice feel that any experienced
trem user will not be disappointed. Once the
brand new strings on our review guitar had
been stretched and bedded-in, the tuning of
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