HotLinks
As winter descends, you’ve got to battle cabin fever any way you know how. This
month our Web Editor, Joe Coffey, explores two sites that will keep your sanity intact.
Master That Riff!
Despite the zillions of kid-sits-on-his-bed-and-shreds online videos
out there, there are some good clips out there, too. We like Master
That Riff!, a collection of instructional videos by Mark McGuigan, a
guitar teacher out of Edinburgh, Scotland. There are a number of
local guitar services offered by McGuigan (lessons, setups, recording, etc.) but luckily his website contains a page of embedded
You Tube instructional videos that are free. Each vid breaks down
the main riffs of popular songs like AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” The
Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” and Pantera’s “Walk.”
He also tackles some jazz fare like Miles Davis’ “So What” and Wes
Montgomery’s “Four on Six.”
McGuigan has a knack for breaking things down – just watch how
he explains the pinch harmonics in Steve Vai’s “The Attitude Song”
or the 7/4 groove of Porcupine Tree’s “The Sound of Muzak.” It
helps that McGuigan speaks the language of guitar; unlike some
self-taught players who can play well but have a hard time communicating to other musicians, he frequently refers to chord and scale
names we all know and understand or can look up somewhere. In
fact, McGuigan’s own language skills might be the biggest barrier
to learning. We have no problem understanding his Scottish accent
– in fact, we think it’s cool – but there are always people who, for
whatever reason, have a hard time understanding non-American
English.
The minimal production values involved with McGuigan’s clips
give them a certain character and appeal. These aren’t the slick,
multi-camera, graphics-heavy clips some of us have come to expect
these days, but rather bare-bones video versions of a guy who can
teach you just as much within a few minutes. He isn’t flawless, as
evidenced by his riff lesson for Guns n’ Roses’ “Mr. Brownstone,”
which doesn’t quite nail Slash’s groove, but that’s okay. Most of his
vids are money.
Master that riff at mastertheguitar.co.uk
Duncan’s Amp Pages
Here’s one to bookmark if you’re into working on your own
amps. Duncan’s Amp Pages is the go-to place for information
about amps and the parts that go in them. For starters, the site’s
“Tube Data Sheet Locator” is essentially the web’s own Library of
Congress for data on vacuum tubes. Name a tube and it’ll churn
out everything you’d ever want to know about it: ratings, applications, pinout diagrams, etc. Under a listing of substitute tubes it
will even indicate which tubes are close or identical and which
tubes have a different rating, performance, pinout or filament
voltage. In addition to listing several external links where you can
find additional data sheets on each particular tube, Duncan’s Amp
Pages even offers the download of database software designed
to let you search for such data while offline.
The site also houses an impressive collection of links to amplifier schematics, boasting 103 different manufacturers and 1502
different models. This includes schematics for 333 Fender amps,
88 Vox amps and 97 Gibson amps, plus models from Bogner,
Gretsch, Carvin and Univox, just to name a few. It’s a fine resource
for modders needing inspiration as well as folks doing their own
amp repairs.
Tech geeks will rejoice when they find the “SPICE simulation and
models” page and its comprehensive selection of different models for electronic components. These models include integrated
circuits like NPN Darlington subcircuits, five different Celestion
loudspeakers and four different transformers. If you don’t know
what SPICE is (no, not the channel), you can download a simulator
and learn.
The site’s “Technical & Test” page is a tremendous resource,
featuring 4-1-1 links on topics like amplifier classes, coupling
caps, speaker impedance and more. Want to know how to match
valves? You say you’re not quite sure what a nuvistor is? Need a
refresher on how to bias your amp? This is the place to look.
Tweak away at duncanamps.com
