With a strong focus on the Australian music scene, Australian Guitar is a rich source of information on playing techniques, styles, the wide range of instruments available and all the technology that guitarists have to consider in the 21st Century.
A VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH HARRY BRUS – PART 1 In this two part interview, Steve Flack talks to renowned Australian bass player Harry Brus, who takes us on a journey through a career that spans almost five decades and saw him perform with many of Australia’s best musicians and artists. Harry arrived in Australia at the age of seven from Graz Austria. As a teenager, he was initially inspired by the sounds of the great Hank B Marvin, and after seeing a live performance of The Beatles, Harry picked up a guitar and decided that playing music was going to be his life. In ‘65, his band The Amazons scored a record deal with Festival Records, and since then, he has never stopped working as a professional musician. Harry’s music…
AUSTRALIAN MUSIC ICONS JIMMY BARNES AND PAUL KELLY ARE HEADLINING THE FOURTH ANNUAL BIRDSVILLE BIG RED BASH, AN ICONIC OUTBACK MUSIC FESTIVAL THAT HAS EXPANDED TO A THREE-DAY EVENT OVER JULY 4-6TH 2016. Staged at the famous Big Red sand dune on the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert, 35km outside Birdsville in Queensland, the Bash promises an experience of a lifetime for anyone seeking a unique Australian outback adventure. We’re lucky to have a giveaway this issue that will see one lucky reader have the opportunity take their favourite person (and maybe their kids too) along for three nights and two days of great entertainment, plus three nights on-site camping at Big Red. Sound like an incredible adventure you’ve got to get involved in? Simply let us know -…
DRUM PERSPECTIVES Drums play an integral part in a song, and are often noted as the most important element to get right when mixing. They provide the rhythm and tempo, and are also quite dynamic in their ability to be played soft or loud at an instant. Before getting into the technical specifics of drum mixing, we must first work out if the drums should be featured in the musical piece from the drummer’s perspective, or the audience’s perspective. What does this mean? THE DRUMMER’S PERSPECTIVE This would mean that you want to present the drum mix to the audience from the perspective of the drummer playing on stage. Doing this, you have positioned the listener behind the drum kit, facing out toward the crowd. When wearing headphones, you would…
The Ernie Ball Music Man James Valentine Signature Series guitar has taken out the Best In Show award at this year’s NAMM festival. James was involved in the design, looking for a guitar that he could use through the band’s entire live set. The “Valentine” guitar features a slab ash body, two Ernie Ball Music Man designed pickups (1-humbucker/1-single coil), with 3-way custom wired lever switch, coil tap, modern hardtail bridge with vintage bent steel saddles, 25.5-inch scale, oil and wax rubbed roasted maple neck with 10-inch radius maple fingerboard, 22 stainless steel frets, oversized 4-over-2 headstock and compensated nut, designed for superior tuning stability.…
CURRENTLY PLAYING WITH: The Bennies. USUALLY FOUND PLAYING: On stage or on a couch in Oz and abroad. YEARS ON THE FRETBOARD: Way more than than it should to sound like this... 20 years. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PLAYING STYLE? I’m pretty much a rhythm/lead player. We incorporate a bunch of styles in the Bennies, so I need to be able to switch it up. This has helped to define my sound - that, and being the only guitarist in the band. FIRST AXE: An Aussie made Wayne nylon string; dates/model unknown. CURRENT AXE: Maton Guitars got behind me a while back and introduced me to their MS2000TB. It was developed with Troy Brady ( The Amity Affliction). It’s basically a regular Maton MS2000DLX with hotter Maton custom pickups,…
PEOPLE ARE CHASING: Vintage Boss pedals have always been popular, but over the last couple of years, demand (and therefore prices) has been on the rise. There’s an almost endless list of units we could talk about, but we’re going to focus today on three of the most sought after. The DM-2 Delay, VB-2 Vibrato, and SG-1 Slow Gear. Most people are probably fairly familiar with the DM-2 Delay. Manufactured for just a few years from 1981 through to 1984, many consider this pedal the holy grail of analog delay. Famous for its warm, lush repeats and favoured by an impressive list of guitarists (including the likes of Mark Knopfler and Dave Grohl), original DM-2s now seem to be averaging $300-400 in terms of asking prices – sometimes even more.…
