Instruments & Gear Reviews & Tutorials

In the 1970s Gibson guitars relaxed their quality standards and sold some things they should not have. The Japanese took notice and started building Les Paul copies. Here are five of the best brands.

A pair of spoons can be used as a folk and percussion instrument. A variety of playing techniques are possible and a range of rhythms and sounds can be produced.

Here's my list of best bass guitars for under $500. If you are a bassist on a budget here are the top basses for the money. They're affordable, they sound great and they are made by some of the best bass guitar companies of all time.

Iconic, back-breaking, sustaining, brash and pricey, the Gibson Les Paul is a one of a kind guitar. Just don't stumble and lose your head.

Discover which bass guitars are best under $300. Find a bass that keeps you under budget but still sounds amazing!

Compare the Epiphone G-400 PRO to the Gibson SG Standard when it comes to sound, construction and value and find out which SG is right for you!

Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster? Read this review to help decide which guitar is better for you based on sound, quality and differences.Learn about affordable versions of each and how to choose between them.

Are you a heavy metal guitarist, a shredder or riff master? These Super Strat guitars are the heavy metal virtuoso's dream come true.

We can't all afford a $1500 Les Paul Standard, but with a bit of time and money, we can make a cheap guitar sound less... cheap.

Here is a list of the top 20 guitars for metal.The best heavy metal and hard rock guitar has to not only look the part, but sound amazing too. Learn which instruments made the cut, and how to choose the right guitar for metal.

Check out the best acoustic guitars for beginners, all under $200 and from some of the top brands in the guitar world

Find out why the most underrated acoustic and electric guitar brands can give you the best chance at finding a diamond in the rough. Some guitar makers never get the credit they deserve, while others are well known but undeservedly looked down on. Either way, you’d be smart to check them out.

Learn the difference between the Ibanez RG and S Series and decide which guitar is better for you and your music.

The Gibson Les Paul Studio is a great guitar, but how does it match up with the Les Paul Standard or Epiphone Les Paul? This review explains all!

Compare 5 of the best bass amps for beginners, top-rated amplifiers from some of the biggest brand names in the bass guitar world.

Here's a detailed list of the 36 best guitar brands. Anyone looking for the top electric or acoustic guitars in 2019 will find this guide useful.

If you've always wanted to own a Telecaster, and have a maximum of five hundred dollars to spend, then this information is for you. Here are 5 of the single best options.

Learn how many watts you need for a guitar amp based on your goals. Get advice on amplifiers for home use, playing in a band, recording and more.

Check out the best acoustic guitars under $300! Perfect for beginners and intermediate guitarists, but good enough to impress the veterans!

Discover the best heavy metal guitars under $300, great options from brands like Jackson, Schecter and Ibanez.

The Fender Telecaster was born perfect. The design is timeless and utilitarian bliss. Here are 5 of the very best Fender Telecasters anywhere.

Check out this review of the Epiphone Les Paul Custom PRO. Compare to Gibson and discover if it's the right guitar for you.

Compare the best small guitar amplifiers and find the top amp for home use and practice. Beginners and pros alike love these little powerhouses.

Dreadnought guitars crafted from Brazilian rosewood are highly sought after, very expensive, and absolute treasures to own and enjoy. Here are my pics for the best of the best of them.

I bought the JBL boombox. Check out my review to see if this bluetooth speaker is worth buying.

Check out my review of the Marshall DSL40C guitar amp. It’s a powerful, versatile tube combo from a legendary name in the guitar world.

Here’s a review of the Fender American Special Stratocaster and Telecaster, affordable American-made instruments with classic vibes.

The Martin J-15 is a discontinued model from historic C.F. Martin & Company. Here is the rest of the story.

Learn what to look for when choosing an electric or acoustic guitar for beginners and get step-by-step advice on how to pick out your first guitar.

Learn whether a beginner should choose an electric or acoustic guitar when starting out, and discover the differences between each type of guitar

When it comes to vintage American guitars the big three will always come to mind. Now, everyone has heard of the big three American automobile companies, but we Americans have a big three for guitars as well, Martin, Gibson, and Fender. C.F. Martin...

These five small body acoustic guitars are outstanding instruments of tremendous value, but they are instruments for the serious amateur or professional only.

Compare the Fender Mexican (MIM) Player Strat and American (MIA) Professional Stratocasters and decide which guitar is better for you and your budget.

Conch shells come from large sea snails and are used as wind instruments. The shells are played at ceremonies and in jazz. They produce a loud and eerie sound.

All over the world mahogany body dreadnought guitars are sought after for their bright, woody tonality. These are the cream of the crop in mahogany body dreadnought guitars.

Jumbo sized acoustic guitars were created for folks who wanted even more volume out of their acoustic guitars than the large dreadnought design could offer. These are some of the best of the best.

The Gibson Les Paul is known as one of the greatest guitars in the world and with good reason. Here are 10 of those reasons!

Martin 16 series dreadnought guitars offer all the great play-ability and tones of far more expensive models at less cost. These all solid wood Martin guitars are bluegrass cannons.

The best portable guitar amp combines cool features with great sounds in a small, battery-powered package. Here are 5 awesome choices.

All mahogany dreadnoughts offer a great counterpoint to the typical spruce top guitars. They have a unique voice too. They are most especially great for a singer songwriter who loves to play rhythm.

You always want an all solid wood construction dreadnought if you can afford one. Mahogany is a bright tonewood with a very woody sound, excellent for all styles of music. Here are 5 of the best.

Check out the best Yamaha acoustic guitars, top-rated instruments perfect for beginners but good enough for intermediate and advanced guitarists.

An introduction to the world of piano chords. If you have always wanted to play the piano but have no interest in reading music, this article is for you!

At some point or another most people who are into music wish to play an instrument, or see if they can - and the guitar is the most common instrument found in modern music. Here are five of the very best acoustic guitars for under five hundred dollars. These guitars are all very good instruments that won't need to be replaced until a musician reaches a higher skill level, and even then these are guitars that are keepers for a lifetime if they are properly cared for.

Check out this review of Jackson’s best guitars: The King V, Soloist, Rhoads, Dinky and Kelly. If you're metal, how do you choose only one?

Radio station managers know that sound quality is part of everyday operations. But what is the audience actually hearing? Poor sound and shoddy production may lead to lost messages.

Everyone loves a Fender Telecaster, but not all Teles out there are made by Fender. Here are 5 of the best makes of Tele out there which are not Fender guitars.

Find out what other guitarists say makes an electric guitar sound good or bad and cast your own votes in this online guitar poll.

If you're serious about playing music, you need to be prepared. Veteran players know that in order to get steady work, they need a well-stocked survival kit. Carry these items and be ready for anything.

Don Felder wasn't always a member of the Eagles, but the band would have never soared as high as they did without him. The twin guitars of Felder and Joe Walsh produced some timeless music indeed. Gibson guitars has produced two instruments in Felder's honor, and here is the rest of the story.

A great parlor guitar will always be small, and never be cheap. These are not backpacking or travel guitars, but fine fine small acoustic guitars for serious players and consumers.

The Telecaster has always been associated with country and western music, and in the mid-1960s, country rock. There is no limit to what music can be created with one.

In this buying guide you’ll learn how to choose the right guitar for extreme metal, hard rock, classic metal and shred. Get advice on 7-string guitars, pickups, tonewoods and more.

If you're looking for the best heavy metal guitar under $500 here are the top electric guitars you need to consider.

The Gibson Marauder and S-1 guitars were crossover instruments where Gibson tried to steal some market share from Fender. These are somewhat rare birds, but very fine instruments should you find one.

The world of the acoustic steel string guitarist is totally in love with the Martin D-28 Herringbone guitars. It has been this way since the 1930's, and it will be this way for long to come. While there are many different varieties, makes, and models of the high X D-28 from various and sundry manufacturers, this article examines five of the best without trying to encourage breaking the bank and spending someone's inheritance

Learn the difference between the Fender Stratocaster vs the Telecaster and decide which guitar is best for your needs.

The Martin D-19 and the Martin D-17m are both all solid wood dreadnoughts with solid spruce tops, but the tops are stained to look as though the guitars are made entirely of mahogany. Here's the rest of the story.

Is Squier a good guitar brand? This review takes a look at Squier by Fender and lays out the good, the bad and the ugly.

Check out this list of the 10 best sounding acoustic guitars for under $1000, amazing instruments from the top guitar makers in the world.

Learn the difference between a tube amp and solid state amp and decide which best meets your needs as a guitar player.

Capturing a good guitar sound goes beyond simply just hitting record. Guitar production can get very complex, so here is a good introductory guide to recording and mixing electric and acoustic guitars.

The hydraulophone is an interesting instrument. Pressurized water moves through a tube and out of a series of holes. Placing a finger over a hole produces a sound.

This Fender Standard Jazz Bass review takes a look at a Made-in-Mexico (MIM) version of a classic instrument.

Kurt Cobain was a hot burning star that went supernova. As a parting gift he gave us the MTV Unplugged concert. Here's the story of his guitar, and what similar guitars are available today.

The Les Paul guitar by Gibson is a iconic electric guitar. But they make so many different ones it can be hard to know which is best. Here are 5 of the best across a range of price and style.

If you’re trying to choose between the Gibson SG and Les Paul this article can help you sort out the differences and decide which is better for you.

Mystical and mysterious, the life and death of Robert Johnson are legendary. He became the king of the delta blues, and inspired countless singers and guitarists. Did he make a deal with the devil? You be the judge. He played a Gibson L-! guitar, and here is the rest of the story.

The Epiphone vs Gibson Les Paul debate has been going on for years. This review will help you decide which guitar is better for your budget and needs. Here you can compare construction, quality and sound between Epiphone and Gibson, and even learn a little history.

Find out which guitars besides the Epiphone Les Paul are among the best affordable alternatives to the Gibson Les Paul.

Bob Dylan's earliest recordings were made using a small all mahogany Martin 00-17 guitar. This guitar is no longer in production, but the very very similar Martin 00-15 is inexpensive and available.

The Gibson SG Standard is an amazing guitar, and no question about it. But if you want an SG's vibe, but something just a bit different, then here are your five very best options or alternatives.

Find out how Marshall, Fender and Peavey, three kings of the guitar amplifier world, stack up against each other. Learn which amps are best for which genre and level of guitar player.

Learn the pros and cons of a modeling guitar amp when compared to a tube amp or solid-state amp and find out how digital modeling technology can help you grab the sounds you are looking for.

Learn how to buy a bass guitar in this guide to choosing a bass for beginners. Get advice on setting a budget, understanding pickups, strings, scale length and more.

Check out the top rock guitar builders, companies that have proven themselves as the best of the best over the decades.

Check out this list of best bass guitar brands for 2019 and get help finding an instrument that’s perfect for you.

This guide can help you find the best guitar amp for the money. Beginner or pro, you need the right amp for your budget and style.

Read my hands-on review of the Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded T electric guitar and decide if this affordable instrument is right for you!

Learn about the pros and cons of the Floyd Rose tremolo bridge, one of the most significant inventions in the history of electric guitar.

Tonewoods are a key selling point for electric guitars, so why do some guitar players say they don’t even matter?

Compare 10 of the best electric guitars under $1000 in this guide to the top instruments for under a grand, all from big names in the guitar world.

Learn about the difference between the Epiphone Les Paul 100, Special II and Studio and find out which electric guitar is best for you.

Learn the difference between a maple or rosewood fretboard for guitar and decide which is better for your sound.

Martin M series guitars such as the M 36, the M 38, and the M 42 are simply different body style guitars than Martin's more famous dreadnoughts. Martin M series guitars have a larger lower bout, but a shallower depth - and this causes these instruments to have different tonal characteristics than the more famous dreadnoughts. These guitars were originally designed to provide less feedback when miked on stage.

Here’s a review of the Fender Standard (MIM) Telecaster. This guitar might be made in Mexico, but the MIM Tele is a real Fender through and through.

Recording software is notorious for costing even more than some instruments, but that doesn't have to be the case. Here are five digital audio workstations under $100 that will do the job just fine.

You’ve heard headroom is important for bass and guitar amplifiers. Find out how it affects your sound as a bassist or guitarist, when you should care about an amp’s headroom, and when you shouldn’t.

Small bodied acoustic guitars with mahogany tops were the guitars of choice for most during the great depression. Well, they sound great today too. Here are five of the best mahogany top small bodies.

These are five top notch and less expensive solid wood alternatives to a Martin D-28. Rosewood and spruce in a dreadnought design is something very desirable, but not all can afford a D-28.

Compare the 10 best electric guitars under $500 and decide which top-rated instrument is right for you in 2019. These are affordable, budget guitars for intermediate players, but good enough for the pros.

Check out some of the best Flying V guitars! This review looks at the classic Gibson Flying V and alternatives from Dean, Jackson and ESP LTD.

Here's a list of the best acoustic-electric guitars on the market for under $1000. If you’re looking for a new acoustic-electric guitar start your search here!

These 5 essential guitar effects pedals are classic must-have stomp boxes, found on the pedal boards of some of the best guitarists in history.

Which guitar brand is best for metal: Jackson, Ibanez, ESP LTD or Schecter? Compare construction, quality, sound, specs and more.

Get some basic tips and information on how to take good care of your precious instrument.

Looking for a Stratocaster guitar but want to stay away from Fender? Here are five of the most well thought of non Fender Stratocaster manufacturers.

The Gibson Les Paul is one of the most copied guitars in the world. Here are ten great ones, some more exact copies than others, from ten different manufacturers of electric guitars

If you play country music you want to find the best electric guitar with the perfect tone. Here are few guitars that have stood the test of time.

The Martin D 18 acoustic guitar is less expensive than the Martin D 28, D 35, and D 45 - it's FAR less expensive than the D 50 or D 100 - but the Martin D 18 may very well be a BETTER guitar than any of it's more expensive cousins.