MEDIA
Preview
BOOKS
Stevie Ray Vaughan:
Day By Day, Night
After Night
This third book on SRV
by author Craig Hopkins
is one of the deepest publications about a guitarist
that has ever been printed.
At 424 pages and nearly
five pounds, it is simply colossal.
It forgoes the traditional author-vetted approach
for a massive media treatment with a comprehensive amount of resource material from which
readers compile their own narrative of the blues
legend’s life story. Multiple accounts of events
are assembled from interviews with more than
a hundred people who were close to Vaughan,
including family members, band mates and
friends. This approach sheds new light on familiar stories like when Willie Nelson literally pulled
the plug on the Nightcrawlers or when Vaughan
walked away from the David Bowie tour.
The book contains nearly 1000 photos, set
lists, gig posters, personal letters and drawings by Vaughan, like his sketch for SRV-shaped
pickups (never produced), a diagram of his rig
and a sketch of a little known guitar that he
designed. Among the book’s many jewels is the
most recently updated listing of gear that SRV
played, including photos of the “Jimbo” 1960s
Tele used on his earliest known recording.
The book lacks a comprehensive alphabetical
index to take you to particular pages on a topic
The upside is that reading the chronologically
arranged opus yields unexpected moments
of sheer gearhead joy or horror, like Tommy
Shannon’s description of his favorite Vaughan
rig (the Dumble with Vibroverbs and a Tube
Screamer), details of his beloved Number One
Strat’s headstock breaking in Lubbock or his
handwritten notes for a bridge/tuning key system for quick string changes.
Shortly after the book’s release, it was
announced that Hopkins is to receive a 2009
Blues Foundation Award for his works on
Vaughan. This latest book is clearly a must-have
for any SRV fan. 3200 copies have been printed
and are available online and at various appearances by the author. –JC
Street $75
Classic Electrics: A Visual History of
Great Guitars
Wondering what that
dusty, odd-looking guitar
is hanging on the wall at
your local pawn shop?
Well, Classic Electrics
is ready to help with
facts on everything
from popular models
to one-offs. Author
Walter Carter packs
concise, compact
descriptions and
pictures into a
pocketbook
guide—a Who’s
Who of electric guitars, if you
will. It covers more than fifty years of electric
guitars, starting in the forties and fifties and
focusing primarily on the sixties and seventies.
The book features descriptions, photos and
production dates of over 70 manufacturers and
350 models in an easy-to-use A – Z format. -CK
Street $14.95
jawbonepress.com
Guitar Identification: A Reference
Guide to Serial Numbers for
Dating the Guitars
Made by Fender,
Gibson, Gretsch
& Martin. 4th
Edition
In the fourth edition, author A.R.
Duchossoir
updates the
ongoing series
by including eight more
years of models, new photos and
more industry insight. Guitar Identification is an
informative guide to four of the biggest manufacturers and some of the most coveted Holy
Grail caliber models. What keeps this book
from being just another reference guide is the
astute and intuitive diagnostic breakdowns of
hardware use, wood grain patterns, headstock
shapes and serial numbers. Whether you’re
looking to be the guru on your favorite guitar
model, or just making sure you’re not buying
a knockoff, this book should help you beef
up your vintage vocabulary and avoid foolish
mistakes. -CK
Street $12.95
HalLeonard.com
Mind Over Metal: A
Musician’s Guide to
Mental Mastery
As any metal fan will tell
you, metal is about more
than just black shirts and
angst. There’s a recondite
complexity behind this
genre that is hell-bent on
destruction and power. Singer and guitarist
Scott “SVH” Von Heldt explores the philosophical side of metal’s mayhem and monster tones
in his first book, Mind Over Metal: A Musician’s
Guide to Mental Mastery.. The book is the first
volume in the Mystic Art of Self-Discovery series.
Von Heldt, who has worked with members
of White Zombie, Cirque du Soleil and Bad
Company, taps a wide range of disciplines and
doctrines to explore the erudite and existential
side of heavy metal: martial arts, the study of
internal energy, the mind’s thought patterns and
ESP (Extended Sense Perception), to name a few.
SVH’s approach is more Buddha than Blackmore.
The prerequisite breakdown of alternative tuning science is there, as expected, but the book
flourishes with its thought-provoking insight into
creativity in general, not just the dark art it can
produce. Mind Over Metal is a quirkily effective read that makes a strong argument for the
appreciation of the metal aesthetic and its ability
to connect the idea of a primal voice with one’s
individual voice. The title suggests a one-sided
attack, but SVH’s message transcends genre as it
unpacks the common mission of any musician: to
create art without apprehension.
Furthermore, the text challenges the reader
to not only practice regularly, but to do it in
an “honest, self-expressive” way, where player
and guitar become one. Only by reaching this
point, SVH explains, can a musician fully grasp
the far-reaching possibilities of the instrument—a state of metal nirvana (the mental
state, not the grunge act) where a guitarist can
reach the kind of “self-realization” that produces truly metal-rific licks.
The book’s narrative is augmented by quotes
from musicians, martial artists, ancient philosophers—even Yoda. This cerebral yet grounded
exploration of the ear crushing, diabolically
poetic force known as metal is indeed a tool of
mental provocation for the guitarist who is seeking to master the genre. -CK
Hard Copy $14.99
Download $9.99
lulu.com/scottvonheldt
