Written by cmauck

Learning to play a musical instrument offers a lot of benefits. We personally believe that if there's one thing you should learn in your lifetime, it's how to play an instrument. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Playing A Musical Instrument Makes You Smarter
Many studies have been conducted on the effects of music to the brain. Scientists say that children who are exposed to music, or those who play an instrument, do better in school than those who don't. Recent research suggests exposure to music may benefit a child's reading age, IQ and the development of certain parts of the brain. Adults can benefit from learning to play an instrument too because it helps the mind to be alert and remain active eventually helping to sharpen the memory.

2. It Teaches Discipline
Learning to play an instrument is like learning to speak another language and it can be challenging at times. One of the qualities musicians possess is discipline. You have to be disciplined in order to master playing your instrument. You have to set time each day to practice, practice and practice some more.

3. Playing A Musical Instrument Relieves Stress
We all have days when we are so stressed out and we just want to take a break from it all. Have you ever noticed that when you hear soft, soothing music you feel more relaxed? Playing an instrument can do that and more, especially if you're the one playing. Music is one of life's simple joys; it helps calm the mind.

4. Sense of Achievement
If you're a beginner learning to play your first piece, it can be frustrating. But once you've mastered it, the satisfaction you'll feel is priceless. Never mind if it's just a simple piece, believe me you'll never forget the first piece you've mastered. You are one more step closer to achieving your goal and that is certainly something to be proud of.

5. Playing A Musical Instrument is Fun
Sure it can be a lot of hard work but there is no denying playing an instrument is fun. Once you get better at it, opportunities will arise for you to share your newly learned skill with your family and friends. Who knows, you may also consider playing professionally in the future. Playing a musical instrument opens up a lot of good possibilities that will surely enrich your life.

http://www.fender.com/news/index.php?display_article=982

 The guitar world is full of Fender guitars made famous (or infamous, here and there) by the greats who played them—Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” Stratocaster comes to mind, as do Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Number One” Stratocaster, David Gilmour’s “Black Strat,” James Burton’s paisley and flame-finished Telecasters, and many others.

Similarly and no less reverently, you’ll also hear of certain Fender basses made famous (or, again, infamous) by the greats who played them. Here are five examples, all put to such remarkable use—even historic, in some instances—that the basses themselves have become as noteworthy as their owners.


The Funk Machine

 

Jamerson and his 1962 “Funk Machine” Precision Bass.

The world’s most famous Fender bass is undoubtedly the “Funk Machine”—the Precision Bass played by the great Motown house bassist James Jamerson (1936-1983).

As the label’s top session bassist from 1959 to the early 1970s, Jamerson transformed the role of electric bass and lent his immensely influential skills to more hit records than perhaps any other bass player in history. Largely uncredited during his lifetime for his towering contribution to popular music, the many hits fueled by his propulsive, musically adventurous bass work remain beloved by millions as each generation discovers and re-discovers the magic of Motown.

Jamerson began his Motown career in 1959 playing upright bass, but recorded most of his work on a stock 1962 Precision Bass that he bought after his first Precision, a gift from fellow bassist Horace “Chili” Ruth, was stolen. Jamerson’s new Precision, which was soon nicknamed the Funk Machine, had a three-color sunburst finish, tortoiseshell pickguard, chrome bridge and pickup covers, and La Bella heavy-gauge flat-wound bass strings that he is said to have never changed. Jamerson typically left the volume and tone controls full up, and he sometimes tucked a piece of foam under the bridge cover to lightly mute the strings. He played by plucking the strings using only his right index finger while resting his right middle and ring fingers on the chrome pickup cover, thus earning his right index finger its own nickname, “the Hook.”

Thus, when you hear “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Supremes, “I Was Made to Love Her” and “For Once in My Life” by Stevie Wonder, “My Girl” by the Temptations, “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye, “Going to a Go-Go” by the Miracles and so many others, you’re hearing the Funk Machine.

The Funk Machine was reported to have unusually high action. Several players who knew Jamerson remarked that the string height on his bass made the instrument virtually impossible to play, although Jamerson himself is said to have believed it improved the tone and discouraged overplaying.

The instrument was stolen only days before Jamerson’s death at age 47 in August 1983. Its whereabouts remain unknown.


The Bass of Doom

 

Pastorius onstage with his “Bass of Doom” 1962 Jazz Bass.

Like the Funk Machine, the “Bass of Doom” was also stolen shortly before the untimely death of its most famous owner. Its whereabouts remained unknown to all but the thief for two decades before the instrument resurfaced in New York in 2007, not far from where it vanished one afternoon in 1986.

The Bass of Doom was the fretless 1962 Jazz Bass with which enigmatic virtuoso Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987) soared to untold heights of bass mastery. Pastorius exploded onto the international music scene in 1976 with his eponymous solo debut. Jaco Pastorius is still considered one of the greatest electric bass albums—if not the greatest electric bass album—ever recorded, and his subsequent work with Weather Report and Joni Mitchell, in addition to other solo work and many guest appearances, bequeathed to the world a highly influential bass legacy. Through all of this, the Bass of Doom was the bass with which he re-defined the possibilities of the instrument and the role of the electric bassist.

Allegedly nicknamed by Pastorius himself, the instrument began life as a stock 1962 Jazz Bass, which he bought in Florida in the early 1970s for $90. A 1984 Guitar Player magazine article noted that the frets were already gone from the bass when Pastorius bought it, but Pastorius also claimed to have removed the frets himself with a butter knife, filling the slots and missing chunks with “plastic wood” and covering the fingerboard with several coats of marine epoxy to resist the substantial wear induced by round-wound strings. Thus “customized,” it became the only fretless instrument Pastorius ever recorded with (he also had a fretted early-’60s Jazz).

Pastorius could be volatile as well as virtuoso, however, and he’d all but destroyed the instrument by the mid 1980s. Shortly after luthiers miraculously refurbished the Bass of Doom in 1986 and returned it to a delighted Pastorius, it vanished—stolen when he reportedly left it briefly unattended on a New York park bench one afternoon. Despite offering a hefty reward, Pastorius never saw the instrument again, and the great but troubled bassist himself lost his life less than a year later, in September 1987.

The Bass of Doom remained missing for two decades until it was identified in a small New York music shop in 2007. The shop’s owner reportedly paid $400 for it to the stranger who brought it in. A protracted legal battle then ensued over ownership, and two years passed with little progress made until another famous bassist stepped in. Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, a longtime Jaco Pastorius fan and a friend of the family, basically bought the bass on behalf of the Pastorius family and has since provided for its safekeeping.


Frankenstein

 

Entwistle played his “Frankenstein” Precision Bass when the Who appeared in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus in 1968 (above); the bass was sold at auction in 2003 (below) after Entwistle’s death in 2002.

Who bassist John Entwistle (1944-2002) played a lot of basses in his career, but few if any of them were as unusual as his infamous “Frankenstein” Precision Bass, which was his main stage and studio instrument from mid 1967 to 1971—a period that encompassed classic Who material including Tommy, Live at Leeds and Who’s Next. So when you hear quintessential Who tracks such as “Pinball Wizard” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” you’re hearing Frankenstein.

Entwistle assembled the monster himself in San Francisco on a day off during the Who’s summer 1967 U.S. tour. Consisting of the remains of several basses, it had a 1965 Precision body in three-color sunburst, a maple neck and pickups/circuitry from two “dead” 1966 “slab” Precisions (special limited-edition versions with no body contours sent to England in 1966), a pickguard from yet another Precision, tuners from two other Precisions, and a chrome pickup cover from a Jazz Bass.

“I used this baby from 1967 onwards through Tommy and all the tours up to Quadrophenia,” Entwistle once said in an interview. “Two hours with a Phillips screwdriver and a soldering iron and I was ranting around my hotel room screaming, “It’s alive, it’s alive!”

Entwistle retired Frankenstein from onstage work in the mid 1970s, at which point he had it refinished from sunburst to the salmon pink hue often referred to in the U.K. as Fiesta Red (although this differed notably from Fender’s U.S. Fiesta Red finish). Nonetheless, he noted in an April 1994 interview, “I have about 35 Precisions, all with different colors and from different eras, but I always go back to Frankenstein.”

Many of Entwistle’s belongings were auctioned off after his death in June 2002, including his voluminous instrument collection. Frankenstein went on the block at Sotheby’s in London in May 2003. Auction estimates ranged from £5,000 to £7,000 (up to $11,300 at the time), but the bass sold for a staggering £62,400 ($100,400)—nearly ten times its expected price—to an anonymous U.S. bidder.


London Calling

An indelible moment in Precision Bass history came during a concert by the Clash on Sept. 21, 1979, at New York’s Palladium concert hall, when bassist Paul Simonon, angered by staff treatment of the audience, smashed his Precision to pieces onstage. Other than Simonon’s own decorative touches—including a paint-streaked pickguard, lower-bout skull-and-crossbones sticker and upper-horn “Pressure” inscription, there was nothing particularly special about the instrument—it was a fairly standard Precision model and was easily replaced, especially given the Clash’s high-profile status at the time as the “only band that matters.” But it wound up being immortalized.

 

Simonon and his just-about-to-be-destroyed Precision in “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll photograph of all time” (above); he briefly lent the splintered remains to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio for display in 2009 (below).

Indeed, Simonon’s moment of fury might’ve been quickly forgotten had it not been for U.K. photographer Pennie Smith, who was standing offstage and who happened to catch him in her lens mid frenzy. The resulting photo was later used for the cover of what many consider the Clash’s greatest album, 1979 magnum opus London Calling (with a title track highlighting Simonon playing what is surely one of the most apocalyptic Precision riffs of all time). So famous is the image that, more than 20 years, Q magazine deemed it the greatest rock ‘n’ roll photograph of all time.

That night in New York at the Palladium, Simonon carried on with his backup Precision, but it wasn’t quite the same, as he noted in 2010 when recalling that evening:

“There was a bass I had once before that was really great, and I had a spare one that was sort of much lighter,” he said. “And the good one, unfortunately, I sort of smashed it up—I was sort of annoyed at the bouncers at the Palladium in, I think it was 1979, (because they) wouldn’t let the audience stand up out of their chairs. So that frustrated me to the point that I destroyed this bass guitar. Unfortunately, you always sort of, well, tend to destroy things you love in temper. Anyway, I learned from that lesson and, subsequently, the rest of the tour, I had to play the really light bass, and it just didn’t sound the same.”

To be clear, though, Simonon’s rage was aimed at for the venue staff, not the instrument that bore the brunt of his dissatisfaction. “I wasn’t taking it out on the bass guitar, ’cause there was nothing wrong with it,” he said. “It was a great guitar.”

Simonon kept the splintered Precision, and in fact still has it (he briefly lent the still-wrecked bass to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio for display in 2009). It almost didn’t work out that way, though—the night of the incident, one of his band mates would’ve successfully absconded with one of the fragments had Simonon not caught him red handed.

“In fact, (Joe) Strummer took one of them and was about to walk off with it,” he said. “And I just had to grab it back, (saying) “I think that belongs to me.”


West Ham United F.C.

 

Harris with his “West Ham” Precision Bass onstage in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2011 (above); the 1987-1997 style West Ham United F.C. crest that appears on the bass’s lower bout (below).

The Brits do love their football, and Iron Maiden founder, bassist and chief songwriter Steve Harris is certainly no exception. Since boyhood, he’s been an avid fan of West Ham United, a top-tier London pro football club; he was even scouted for the team and invited to train before his muse took hold.

Although a serious footballer with professional aspirations during youth, Harris eventually realized that his true calling lay elsewhere.

Around the time he founded Iron Maiden in late 1975, Harris acquired the heavy mid-’70s Precision that would remain with him throughout his prolific career to date.

The bass has changed colors several times. It was white when Harris got it and refinished in matte black by the time Maiden hit London’s Kingsway Studios to record eponymous 1980 debut album Iron Maiden. It thereafter appeared in one of its more recognized guises—a sparkling royal blue finish combined with a chromed mirror metal pickguard (this is the version that Fender issued in 2009 as the Steve Harris Precision Bass).

Since the early 1990s, however, the bass is even more beloved by Harris and by legions of Iron Maiden fans worldwide as the “West Ham” Precision. Around 1991, Harris declared his love for West Ham United football anew and for all to see by having his number-one bass re-finished in elegant pearl white with blue-and-black pinstriping and, most notably, the West Ham United F.C. crest in blue and black on the lower bout. The mirrored metal pickguard remained in place, as it does today.

Harris has played the bass on every Iron Maiden album to date, and on 2012 debut solo album British Lion. And his support for West Ham United F.C. has never wavered. In fact, just as West Ham United fans are fond of the expression “Up the Irons” as a cheer for their team (one of the club’s nicknames is the Irons), Maiden fans have adopted it as a cheer for the band, too.
 

By Mike Duffy

Simply put, Bonnie Raitt is a true and longtime trailblazer for female musicians worldwide.

The fiery redhead burst onto the scene with four Grammy Awards in 1990, but Raitt had been making a name for herself since the early 1970s – setting a standard for not only her genre, but her gender, as well.

It had been a while since we’d heard from Raitt, though.

The first female artist to lend her name to a Fender signature model, Raitt just recently got back into touring mode after taking time off following the death of her older brother, Steve Raitt, from brain cancer in 2009.

It was her first time off in more than a decade.

Slipstream was released on April 10, 2012.

"All of the caretaking and worry and stress and pain around Steve's illness and before that my parents and also a good friend who was going through a cancer fight, that was really draining," she told The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "I really needed to come off the road and allow myself the time to feel all of that pain."

During her downtime, Raitt turned inward, practicing yoga, hiking, biking and just checking out other artists as a fan. For Raitt, it was refreshing to not have to sit in every time she was near a stage.

“For somebody who’s on the road all the time, just being home is really the vacation you want to have,” Raitt recently told Premier Guitar. “So I got to balance some of the other aspects of my life and be with my family and friends and really enjoy some time at home, watching what fours seasons look like changing in a row from the same place.”

Now, the 2000 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is back in the swing of things, with the April 2012 release of Slipstream, an effort that American Songwriter praised as “one of the best of her 40-year career."

Raitt’s first offering since 2005 – and the initial release off her own Redwing Records label – is stocked with several adult-contemporary cuts that are classic Bonnie.

Raitt tabbed several sources for Slipstream, including R&B producer Joe Henry, Nashville songwriter Al Anderson, and even Bob Dylan, two of whose tracks get the cover treatment from Raitt.

Additionally, Slipstream boasts a reggae-inspired remake of Gerry Raffery’s 1978 hit “Right Down the Line” that is a definite highlight.

The mix of sweet ballads and bluesy rock hearken back to her musical upbringing.

Raised in Los Angeles by her Broadway musical-starring father John Raitt, Bonnie Raitt began playing guitar at an early age, picking up a style based on classic country bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and John Hammond.

When Raitt went to college at Radcliffe in Boston, she happened to meet promoter Dick Waterman, who managed many of the blues artists coming out of the Cambridge, Mass., scene.

It didn’t take long for Raitt to develop her soulful voice and passionate guitar licks.

Playing in the folk and R&B clubs in and around the Boston area, Raitt established herself as a must-see solo act and powerhouse slide guitarist, while also performing alongside legends like Howlin’ Wolf and Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Sippie Wallace, the revered singer/songwriter who was one of the top female blues vocalists of her era, also became a guiding force for Raitt.

Thanks to an article in Newsweek in the fall of 1970, Raitt began to garner the interest of major labels. Signing with Warner Bros., Raitt released her self-titled debut album in 1971 and eventually made eight records with the label.

She also continued to develop her sound, dabbling in a poppier direction while still remaining true to her blues roots.

Streetlights (1974) and Home Plate (1975) built Raitt’s audience, but she really broke out with 1977’s Sweet Forgiveness, which featured a cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway” that became a commercial hit.

Still, it wasn’t until Raitt went to Columbia Records that she became the household name that she is today.

Nick of Time (1989) was the smash that filled Raitt’s mantle with her first Grammys. The album reached the top of the charts exactly one year after its release.

“Thing Called Love,” “Nick of Time” and “Have a Heart” were all big-time cuts off that record, which was named Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female) and Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female). She also won Best Traditional Blues Recording that year for “I’m In the Mood,” a collaboration with John Lee Hooker.

Despite the success of Nick of Time, however, Raitt did not rest on her laurels. Her biggest achievement came with Nick of Time’s follow-up, 1991’s Luck of the Draw.

Nick of Time was a force of nature.

Luck earned Raitt three more Grammys, and its tracks “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” and “Something to Talk About” still can be heard on airwaves today. In fact, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” has been covered by the likes of Prince, Adele and Bon Iver.

Raitt logged another Grammy three years later, with 1994’s Longing in Their Hearts taking home gold for Best Pop Album.

Raitt’s stocked trophy case is only part of the reason why she was inducted into the Cleveland shrine to rock. Her soulful guitar talents – with a heavy emphasis on her slide work – paved the way for women in a genre that is generally considered an ‘Ol Boys Club.

“One of the great things about slide guitar is that I found I could go to Cuba and play with musicians there, and then I went to Mali, Africa, where the blues was born, and within a day I was playing with those musicians – because it doesn’t matter whether you know all the chords if you know your way around with a slide,” Raitt said. “It’s such a monophonic instrument: You can sit in with the Chieftains on slide as well as you can Cuban and African music. When your own lungs literally run out of air, you can take the slide guitar and add that other voice.”

Raitt is so respected as a guitarist that she was one of only two females (along with Joni Mitchell) to make Rolling Stone’s 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, checking in at No. 89.

“When guitar was still considered a man's game by many, Raitt busted down that barrier through sheer verve and skill,” wrote the venerable music mag.

To this day, Raitt continues to be a voice for women musicians everywhere, holding strong to her musical upbringing and always giving fans something to talk about with her heartfelt songwriting.

For more information, visit Raitt’s official website.

Established in England in 1991, Tanglewood Guitar Company UK has emerged as the best selling brand of acoustic guitars in the UK and Ireland. Since being introduced  Tanglewood guitars have turned heads for their unsurpassed playability and tasteful designs.

Tanglewood instruments reflect a perfect blend between time-honored design philosophies and modern manufacturing methodologies. Designed by some of Europe’s most celebrated luthiers, each guitar is a manifestation of some of the finest tonewoods available, produced with our factories’ meticulous attention to detail. Each instrument is quality-checked and set up at Tanglewood's facilities immediately prior to shipping, to ensure a comfortable and consistent playing experience.

In 2009, Tanglewood introduced the Tanglewood MasterDesign Series - the new crème-de-la-crème of Tanglewood, designed by Swedish master luthier Michael Sandén.

This addition to the line-up joined Tanglewood's existing Series - Heritage, Sundance, Premier and Evolution - making Tanglewood Guitar Company UK one of the most complete and exciting family of instruments available today.

Get your hands on one of our guitars designed to inspire the artist within, and you'll experience all of the reasons why Players Get It.

Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage. On songs like "Machine Gun" or "Voodoo Chile," his instrument is like a divining rod of the turbulent Sixties – you can hear the riots in the streets and napalm bombs dropping in his "Star-Spangled Banner."

His playing was effortless. There's not one minute of his recorded career that feels like he's working hard at it – it feels like it's all flowing through him. The most beautiful song of the Jimi Hendrix canon is "Little Wing." It's just this gorgeous song that, as a guitar player, you can study your whole life and not get down, never get inside it the way that he does. He seamlessly weaves chords and single-note runs together and uses chord voicings that don't appear in any music book. His riffs were a pre-metal funk bulldozer, and his lead lines were an electric LSD trip down to the crossroads, where he pimp-slapped the devil.

There are arguments about who was the first guitar player to use feedback. It doesn't really matter, because Hendrix used it better than anyone; he took what was to become Seventies funk and put it through a Marshall stack, in a way that nobody's done since.

It's impossible to think of what Jimi would be doing now; he seemed like a pretty mercurial character. Would he be an elder statesman of rock? Would he be Sir Jimi Hendrix? Or would he be doing some residency off the Vegas Strip? The good news is his legacy is assured as the greatest guitar player of all time.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-20111123/jimi-hendrix-19691231#ixzz20yvOnA42

"Fender musical instruments have shaped my life well beyond imagination. When I was a little kid I listened to the radio like it was my best friend. I hung on every musical note and still remember every catchy guitar line or riff I have ever heard. That was my escape, and still is. But it wasn’t until years later that I connected the bands and songs I loved to a company named Fender. I actually knew what a Stratocaster looked like before I knew who made it. It’s the guitar that Hendrix played… and so on. I’ve always felt like music was the emotional outlet that you can’t get from anything else. For me, this intangible force was life-shaping and, dare I say, larger than life itself. If you’re reading this and you’re under 65 years old, Fender has been working hard throughout your lifetime to make our world a better, more musical place. Working closely with many of the people at Fender for years has been great. Fender is like a company of skilled musical ‘superfans’, who all want to make the biggest and best musical instruments of the past, present and future all at once. The hallways at Fender headquarters are filled with musicians, technicians and history. I’m a bit older now, but will forever be a kid – and although I don’t believe in Santa Claus anymore, I do believe that if he does exist, his workshop looks something like Fender’s." Mike Dirnt

Available in six unique designs – Dinky^™, SLS^™, Rhoads, Warrior^™, Soloist^™ and King V^™ – the new X Series guitars feature hot humbucking pickups, fantastic tone, distinctive shark-fin inlays, and stunning finishes. All models boast Jackson’s trademark compound-radius fingerboard, allowing for easy chording and low-action bends.

The Jackson Dinky DKXT, available in Black, Snow White and Transparent Red finishes, has an arch-top basswood body (quilt maple veneer on Transparent Red finish); bolt-on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, and passive EMG^®HZ-H4-AN (neck) and H4-B (bridge) humbucking pickups that deliver well-balanced tone with tight bass, glassy mids and crunching highs. Other features include 24 jumbo frets; three-way pickup switching, and TonePros^®fully adjustable bridge with through-body strings for thick sustain.

Available in Natural, Gun Metal Gray and Snow White finishes, the Jackson Super Light Soloist SLSXMG has a basswood body (flame maple veneer on Natural finish); through-body maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, and active EMG^®85 (neck) and 81 (bridge) humbucking pickups. Additional features include Floyd Rose^®Special double-locking two-point tremolo; 24 jumbo frets, and three-way pickup switching.

The Jackson Rhoads RRXT is Jackson’s most affordable neck-through-body model. Available in Black, Kawasabi Green with Black Bevels and Transparent Black finishes; it features a basswood body (flame maple veneer on Transparent Black finish); maple neck with rosewood fingerboard; Duncan Designed^™ alnico HB102N (neck) and high-output ceramic HB102B (bridge) humbucking pickups. Other features include 22 jumbo frets, three-way pickup switching and TonePros^®fully adjustable bridge with through-body strings.

The fittingly namedJackson Warrior WRXTMG has a killer-shaped basswood body, through-body maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, and active EMG^®85 (neck) and 81 (bridge) humbucking pickups. Other features include 24 jumbo frets, three-way pickup switching and TonePros^®fully adjustable bridge with through-body strings. This model is available in Quicksilver with Black Bevels and Black finishes.

The Jackson Soloist SLX has a basswood body, through-body maple neck and Duncan Designed™ alnico HB102N (neck) and high-output ceramic HB102B (bridge) humbucking pickups. Other features include a Floyd Rose® Special double-locking two-point tremolo; 24 jumbo frets and three-way pickup switching.

Available in Black, Kawasabi Green, Natural and Snow White finishes.

The King V KVXT is available in Burnt Cherry Sunburst, Black with Blood Red Bevels, Quicksilver and Black finishes. This V-shaped beast has a basswood body, through-body maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, and EMG^®HZ H4-B and HZ H4-AN humbucking pickups. Other features include 24 jumbo frets, three-way pickup switching and TonePros^®fully adjustable bridge with through-body strings.

For more information, and to find a dealer near you, please visit www.jacksonguitars.com

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JACKSON KING V KVXT

JACKSON RHOADS RRXT

JACKSON DINKY DKXT

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  (Sept. 6, 2011) — Fender is very proud to introduce one of the most distinctive signature models in its history, the Kurt Cobain Jaguar guitar, meticulously modeled on the battered 1965 Jaguar that the Nirvana singer, guitarist and songwriter wielded during the heady and meteoric early-’90s era when the band burst out of the Pacific Northwest, ruled rock and led a musically stunning and culturally subversive movement.

Fender craftsmen have reproduced Cobain’s battle-hardened left-handed Jaguar down to the last unusual detail, including its worn finish, dual humbucking pickups and unique electronics and controls (which were already in place when Kurt acquired the guitar in summer 1991).

Unique features include an alder body with Road Worn aged finish and hardware treatment, bound fretboard with pearloid dot markers, Stratocaster headstock shape with 1950s-style “spaghetti” logo under the finish, DiMarzio^® humbucking DP103 PAF 36th Anniversary neck pickup and DP100 Super Distortion bridge pickup, triple knurled “chrome-dome” knob configuration (volume-volume-tone), three-position toggle switch, black chrome Adjusto-Matic^™ bridge and Gotoh^® sealed tuners. The guitar will be available in right- and left-handed versions.

Accessories include a black textured vinyl hard-shell case and an exclusive Fender Kurt Cobain book featuring extensive photos and commentary by Charles Peterson and an insightful interview with Nirvana guitar tech Earnie Bailey.

Nirvana photos courtesy Charles Peterson, © 2011.

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About Fender Musical Instruments Corporation

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) is the world’s leading guitar manufacturer, and its name has become synonymous with all things rock ‘n’ roll. Iconic Fender^® instruments such as the Telecaster^®, Stratocaster^®, Precision Bass^® and Jazz Bass^® guitars are known worldwide as the instruments that started the rock revolution, and they continue to be highly prized by today’s musicians and collectors. FMIC brands include Fender^®, Squier^®, Guild^®, Tacoma^®, Gretsch^®, Jackson^®, Charvel^®, EVH^®, SWR^® and Groove Tubes^®, among others. For more information, visit www.fender.com.

The G-DEC 3 Thirty Metal.

Fender’s acclaimed G-DEC 3 Thirty practice amp is now available in three genre-specific FSR (Factory Special Run) versions tailor-made for blues, metal and country guitarists.

Like the standard 30-watt blackface G-DEC 3 Thirty, all three new FSR models come equipped with 100 presets, a wealth of CD-quality backing tracks, easy computer connectivity and Fender FUSE™ software for custom configuration. Unlike the standard model, however, each of these three distinctive new amps features a striking cosmetic treatment created especially for its individual musical personality.

The G-DEC 3 Thirty Blues is a vintage-style amp with a classic Fender look, with blonde vinyl covering, oxblood grille cloth and chrome corners that tastefully evoke the early 1960s. Onboard CD-quality backing track loops by dozens of top musicians give a special nod to the blues, with other tracks in various vintage jazz, R&B and soul styles and 100 tone presets appropriate to these styles.

The G-DEC 3 Thirty Metal goes horns up for shredders and punks alike, with black hardware and grille cloth and covered in hardcore black-white-gray camo. It features onboard CD-quality backing track loops by members of Hatebreed, Anthrax, Cannibal Corpse, Whitechapel, Sepultura, Bad Religion and others, plus several sick drums-only metal loops, a few Southern rock tracks thrown in just for fun, and 100 tone presets perfect for all these sounds.

The G-DEC 3 Thirty Country saddles up with stylish western “cowboy tooled” vinyl covering, wheat grille cloth and chrome corners. Its onboard CD-quality backing track loops by dozens of top musicians give a special nod to classic and modern country, rockabilly, and Americana styles, with 100 tone presets by acclaimed pickers Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, James Burton and more that are ideal sounds for the tracks.

The G-DEC 3 Thirty Blues (left) and G-DEC 3 Thirty Country (right).


 

Squier is proud to introduce a trio of new Vintage Modified series instruments for 2011—two guitars and a bass—that deliver time-honored vibe and great Squier look, sound, feel and value.

With its offset waist and contoured body, the new Vintage Modified Jazzmaster® guitar honors its famous Fender® forerunner, with a few hot-rodded touches included. Custom Duncan Designed™ pickups with vintage tone (neck) and higher output (bridge) produce tones ranging from glassy smooth to jangly rocking rhythm crunch. Other features include a comfortable one-piece maple neck, ’62 Jazz Bass® stacked concentric volume/tone controls, distinctive top-loading hard-tail bridge and vintage-style tuners.

The Vintage Modified Jaguar HH guitar offers many of the same features found on the Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, including the offset waist and contoured body, ’62 Jazz Bass stacked concentric volume/tone controls, distinctive top-loading hard-tail bridge and vintage-style tuners. Its special features include a 24”-scale fast action maple neck with rosewood fretboard, dual Duncan Designed™ humbucking pickups, and a three-position toggle pickup switch on the upper horn.

    

Squier’s all-new Vintage Modified Jazz Bass and Vintage Modified Jazz Bass Left Handed guitars feature the time-honored offset-waist body and ultra-slim fast-action neck that the model is famous for. Modern hot-rod touches include a pair of Duncan Designed™ JB101 single-coil Jazz Bass pickups. Other features include basswood body with Three-Color Sunburst polyester finish, “C”-shaped maple neck, 9.5”-radius rosewood fretboard with medium jumbo frets, three-ply tortoiseshell pickguard, standard four-saddle bridge and chrome hardware.

 

Also introduced in 1951, the Precision Bass was the world’s first successful solid-body electric bass guitar; an instrument that revolutionized popular music so thoroughly that it even created a new kind of musician—the electric bassist. Sixty years later it is still the first word in electric bass and an essential and indispensable instrument in the hands of bass players worldwide.

The 60th Anniversary Precision Bass embodies six decades of Fender bass legacy in a collectible U.S.-made instrument. Features include an ash body with Blackguard Blonde thin-skin lacquer finish, maple neck and fretboard with modern 9.5” radius and medium jumbo frets, vintage Precision Bass split single-coil pickup, black pickguard, high-mass vintage bridge, knurled control knobs, modern tuners and Fender/SKB® molded case.