Category: Guitar Heroics

Study Finds Playing Guitar Good for Brain

Guitar is good for the brain

After reading that headline, we have little doubt that a great deal of you readers forcefully smacked your head and let out an exasperated “duhhh.” After all, it’s pretty intuitive: of course playing guitar is good for your mental health. Playing any instrument definitely uses different sections of one’s brain than any other activity. However, we finally have a bit of hard science to back up this claim. Conducted by the Boston Children’s Hospital, the study looked at children who…

Zakk Wylde’s Guitar Returned

Posted 05 May 2014 in Artist News, Guitar Heroics

Today, we’d like to follow up on a story we first introduced to you readers a few weeks ago. In this story, legendary guitarist Zakk Wylde was unfortunate enough to have a guitar stolen from him on a tour date. Now, this wasn’t just any guitar; this was a custom edition Gibson Les Paul Pelham worth over $10,000 and only one of two ever manufactured. The guitar was stolen from Wylde’s tour bus in Chicago and disappeared for 10 days….

Squarepusher to Team Up with Z-Machines

Z-Machines

Typically when you hear the word robotic in relation to music, it’s being used as a synonym for describing bland music without any semblance of emotion. Here, however, we are employing a much more literal use of the word: electronic pioneers Squarepusher have teamed up with some robotics developers to create an entirely automated (and slightly terrifying) 78 fingered robot player. The guitarist robot has 22 arms, can hold up to 12 picks at a time, and blazes through licks…

Epiphone Hosts Anniversary Giveaway

Posted 29 Aug 2013 in Guitar Heroics, Miscellaneous
Epiphone Anniversary Give A Way

Compared to many other electric guitar manufacturers, Epiphone enjoys a long and varied history. The company was founded by Anastasios Stathopoulos all the way back in 1873, which eagle-eyed readers will note was 140 years ago. Due to this fact, Epiphone has been in the process of launching a year long anniversary celebration. Between massive parties, new guitar announcements, and a stellar open house event, Epiphone has been finding ways to celebrate in style all year long. Recently, the company…

Autographed Squier Strat Carried up Mt Everest being Auctioned for Charity

Posted 23 Jun 2013 in Artist News, Guitar Heroics
At the Summit

This is pretty incredible.  A Squire Stratocaster bearing the signature of no other than Alice Cooper, that was carried all the way to the summit of Mount Everest is currently on auction on eBay in the name of charity.

Can’t be a guitar slinger without a guitar

Posted 17 Dec 2010 in Guitar Heroics

Guitars for Kids Wpg helps kids from low-income families get their first real six-strings Are you the parent of a potential Jimi or Eddie, but don’t have the financial means for a Fender? Don’t fret. Guitars for Kids Wpg is a non-profit organization that aims to afford acoustics and axes for adolescents living in the city’s lower-income areas. “I’m a guitar teacher and I live in the North End,” says Ashley McCurdy, 36, founder of Guitars for Kids Wpg. “I’ve taught…

Couple Escapes Fire with rabbit and guitar

Posted 08 Dec 2010 in Guitar Heroics

A young couple was fortunate to escape as the South Osborne building housing their apartment suite went up in flames early Monday morning. Tenant Alexandra French, 20, was taking a bath about 4:30 a.m. when she heard the fire alarm sound and woke her boyfriend, A.J. Dakin-Schmid, 21. The two quickly fled, grabbing their pet rabbit Nibbles and Dakin-Schmid’s guitar. Sam Dakin, Dakin-Schmid’s mother, quickly arrived on scene to see the two-storey building engulfed in flames. “We’re so lucky that…

5th grader donates 100th guitar to Nicaraguan children

Posted 27 Nov 2010 in Guitar Heroics, Press Releases

Adara Claphan, 10, is not only learning to play guitar herself—she also is raising money so that poor children in Nicaragua will have guitars to play. One of the guitars she is sponsoring is the 100th to be donated through HeartStrings, a program of Wichita nonprofit Trees for Life International—bringing the count halfway to the overall goal of 200 guitars. Adara, a fifth grader at a public school in Wichita, was inspired when she visited the Trees for Life office…

Diamond deploy amps for the troops

Posted 11 Nov 2010 in Gear News, Guitar Heroics, Press Releases

Diamond Amplification today announces Diamond’s 2010 Support Your Troops benefit. CEO/Owner Jeff Diamant and business partner Terry Martin have put together a program to turn 10% of all proceeds from sales of Diamond products between November 1 and December 31, 2010 into musical equipment that will ship overseas for military troops. Many enlisted men and women are musicians but are unable to transport their instruments while on deployment. This campaign will provide guitar amplifiers to troops serving overseas in Iraq…

Pearl Jam donate autographed Telecaster

Posted 06 Nov 2010 in Artist News, Guitar Heroics

Pearl Jam have donated a signed Fender Telecaster to raise money for the family of Andy Kotowicz, the marketing director for Seattle-based Sup Pop records. Kotowicz was killed in a Ballard car accident last month. His daughter, also in the car during the crash, was saved by a bystander. Members of Pearl Jam, one of Seattle’s most notable hometown bands, knew Kotowicz. The band explained why they chose to donate the guitar on their website and the CharityBuzz.com auction listing….