The Frankenstein Guitar

Artists and musicians are renowned for living in a world far removed from the real one. For them, reality is a vague concept that afflicts others while they are allowed to roam freely and express their creativity in any form that they choose. When an artist and a musician get together to collaborate on a project, you can be sure that they will create a unique, off-the-wall and functional piece of art.

Stephen McSwain is a luthier (string instrument maker), musician and artist living in Los Angeles. Blessed with a double dose of creativity, he decided to liven up the image of standard guitars by applying his idea of "functional art". His first attempt was completely experimental. By carving faces in the wood of the guitar by hand, he ended up with a masterpiece that now belongs to Grammy Award winner Steve Vai.

His pieces are now in great demand by so many musicians that there is a waiting list. However famous his clients are, Steve doesn't rush his work to meet any deadlines. He works with great care, creating each guitar by hand and ensuring they all meet his high standards to become prized collector's pieces of art.

Clients can bring in their own designs or merely discuss want they would like with Steve, and he will make their visions come to life. He chooses the kind of wood that will best suit the shape of the guitar without affecting its sound, and sets to work carving out the design with a knife. Depending on the client's needs, metal might need to be polished, etched and riveted to the wood. The wood might need to be scorched, and sundry miscellaneous items salvaged from scrap heaps to be attached to the evolving guitar in various ways.

One of his favourite and most famous guitars is the Frankenstein guitar. Frankenstein has a maple top and mahogany tone chambered body with a three-piece mahogany neck. The fret board is ebony, maple and purple heart, all stitched together with leather cord. The guitar is adorned with red leather dye to get a bloody realism effect.

Slash, of Guns 'n Roses fame, saw the Frankenstein and immediately had to have an original McSwain guitar for his wife. He went with a Wizard of Oz theme, as she is a huge fan, and together with McSwain, came up with a Wicked Witch of the West guitar. She has eyes that glow in the dark, and teeth made from cow bone rubbed with black powder for a nasty rotten effect. Two of her wicked monkeys fly at her side. Their eyes also glow in the dark and they have sinister grins that follow you around the room.

St00000461eve's designs are as varied as the artists he counts as his clients. Among the guitars he's created are an alien, a viper, a KISS guitar with all the members of the band in full regalia, the Star Trek Enterprise because even celebrated musicians can be Trekkies, and an elaborate vision of space.

Musicians are artists with creative needs that are not always fulfilled through the creation of lyrics and notes. Sometimes they need to express themselves in other ways. Hence we got Rod Stewart in Spandex pants and big hair, Freddie Mercury's topless strut and now, unique guitars that reflect the artist's lives, loves and bizarre tastes. Long live creative expression!

Recommended sites:

http://www.mcswainguitars.com/pages/about.php

http://www.neatorama.com/category/music/

Sandra wrote this article for the online marketers Pop Music News site index on pop music culture and trends one of the leading site indexes on upcoming music events, trends and news snippets.

Guitar Tutorials - A Beginner's Journey to Learning Guitar

Before you begin learning from guitar tutorials, you must first own your own guitar. If you're going to take guitar playing seriously, owning your own as opposed to borrowing someone else's guitar is a must.

Why? Having your own guitar is first of all going to be your pride and joy, and second you become accustomed to it after a while - it becomes an extension of your own body. Thirdly, you're going to be practicing on it every single day so why not buy your own guitar?

Here's a tip for you - When purchasing your first guitar, make sure it's at a decent price and nothing too cheap. There are plenty of cheap $200 guitars that are all made in China and they sound absolutely horrible and are difficult to play.

A well-made guitar just makes your guitar learning much easier and more enjoyable. Without going into too much detail, look for something around the $700 mark. Remember, you get exactly what you pay for!

Right, now that you've got a guitar you can start your journey of guitar learning. This will be a life-long process and it's never-ending. Fret not ( pun intended ) though, it will be an extremely fun process!

You will need to first get your hands on taking some beginner lessons. " Where is the best place to start sourcing for guitar tutorials? " I hear you ask.

The fastest way to get started is by looking for online guitar lessons. These are great as you can get started right away and you probably won't have to read thick, boring manuals.

Most of the online lessons you find will be free, however you should pay for a decent guitar course because there will be much more value for your precious time spent learning.

The paid guitar courses will go into more depth in teaching and will usually get you learning guitar with a systematic approach.

Baby Steps For Beginner Guitar Lessons

Many of the online guitar lessons will start off teaching the most basic aspects of guitar playing. Some of which are:

- Showing you the right way to hold a guitar and the pick
- Knowing the different parts of the guitar, their names and functions
- How to change strings
- Guitar playing posture ( sitting and standing etc )

And the list goes on..

Other things that are taught are how to play chords, starting with the most basic forms to some more complex guitar chord fo00001ABFrms that sound a lot nicer but will require you more time for your fingers to get used to.

Guitar Theory Is Not Required!

Some of the guitar courses will teach you some elementary music theory, some will teach you way too much theory ( boring you to tears ), and others will teach you almost zero theory.

There are different schools of thought with this one, and I found in my own experience that theory although important is not mandatory for a beginner. Too much theory is one of the main reasons why most people who start out learning to play guitar end up quitting!

Guitar theory, I feel is on a " need to know " basis. As you progress in your learning, you will either naturally pick up some music theory in your head, or you will go out in search of answers.

This is the natural way of learning and probably the best. Either way, you will end up at the same destination in the end.

The most important thing is to get out there and start learning today! There is nothing holding you back and all the information you need for learning guitar is out there and easily accessible.

Just remember to find a course that teaches you systematically and don't go pushing yourself too hard beyond your current abilities - it doesn't do anything but make you form bad habits.

Want to speed up your guitar learning? Then you will need a systematic approach that will take you by the hand and lead you step by step without missing any important details out. You will find the best paid tutorials reviewed here at Guitar Tutorials

Eastwood Guitars - Old Styles With Modern Sounds

Eastwood Guitars have brought the guitar style of the 60s right back. The hippie era has a romantic memory for many, even if you were too young to be there. The guitars were special sporting some highly original styles that have never quite gone out of fashion. That's why Eastwood Guitars are enjoying such success.

It all started with Michael Robinson who set up his Canadian company of Eastwood Guitars in the year 2001. The vision that Mike had was to capture the styles of the classic guitars of the 1960s. Not only that, but he wanted to produce guitars that not only looked good, but sounded good and felt good to play too.

That's no mean feat, but it's exactly what Eastwood Guitars have achieved. They also have achieved the modern quality and ease of playing that today's guitars enjoy, all in a 60s image. It's no wonder then that Eastwood Guitars have developed something of a cult following, not only with guitar enthusiasts, but with serious professional musicians too.

Eastwood Guitars can be found all over the world now. The company has loyal followers in more countries than it can keep up with almost. The appeal is fairly obvious when you think about it. Classic guitars are becoming rarer every day. Special models that are no longer being produced go for many thousands at auction.

The real shame of it all is that these rare guitars snapped up by collectors are rarely ever played again. They are placed in glass cases and kept under closely controlled environments like museum pieces. Guitars are meant to be played, and this is the main reason why Mike Robinson created his range of Eastwood Guitars to give back the classic 60s guitar to anyone who wants it.

Do you need a Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul? Perhaps an acoustic Martin D-28 or a semi-acoustic Gibson E175? Maybe you'd prefer a Gretsch, a guitar loved by the late, great legendary guitar virtuoso, Chet Atkins, or maybe a Rickebacker V64 12-string is your thing. Well, if you can't find or afford an original, Eastwood Guitars may be the very place to look for a close replica.

When David Love of the Burton Cummings Band decided to get Eastwood Guitars for their live performances because he thought the visual impact would be just right, he only expected a really good looking guitar that he could just about play. What he got surprised him though. "I got 110% of both!" he exclaimed in delight. "These guitars have exceeded my expectations on every level."

Eastwood Guitars have at least 20 models that they produce. The guitars have received praise from musicians all over the globe and glowing reviews in many music and trade publications. Their products are not confined only to lead and rhythm guitars however, they also produce classic bass guitars as well.

The vision that is Eastwood Guitars is solely down to the company's founder, Michael Robinson. Guitar player, Matthew Sweet says: Mike is infinitely knowledgeable on cool and neglected guitar treasures." Not only that, but he knows how to make cool copies of them and let those who appreciate the styles have their own models.

David A Robinson

Information on Eastwood guitars

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