Witnessing the Derek Trucks Band live

I think most of us know when we are witnessing something unique, something way above the norm. Specially when it comes to arts, specially music. I got that feeling two years ago when I saw Derek Trucks live with his amazing band. His incredible tone, his interpretation, his musicality. I could tell right away: "He is way above most guitar players out there".

Last night I was lucky enough to see him live again at the Vancouver Jazz Festival. Couple of years later and after listening to his albums many, many times; the feeling is the same. What an amazing talent Derek Trucks has! 

His music vocabulary is so vast. He seems equally comfortable playing his signature slide guitar with soulful passages and then going to blues roots, then he goes to more obscure places and shows us his jazz licks. Fast, slow, explosive, mellow, ice sharp. He's a master in all ranges of the musical spectrum. 

Oh, and he does it with just his 1961 SG re-issue plugged into a Fender Super Reverb. Nothing else. Simplicity at its finest.

Cheers,

Ernesto

Show me the mobile!

Depending on where you live, you might have noticed tons of people using a Blackberry or iPhone or Palm or whatever cool smart phone comes to market. You might be excited, or you migh ask yourself: "so what?". Well, it turns out smart phones are here to stay and are already stirring things up out here in the web world.

Since TopOfGuitar.com was born with the idea of bringing the latest and greatest to my fellow guitar lovers, I can't fall behind when it comes to the mobile browser space!

You might be asking: will there be a TopOfGuitar iPhone app? Maybe. But first things first. Which is making sure TopOfGuitar.com is optimized for mobile browsers. 

Pretty much, that means:

- Light images (I'm conscious about mobile bandwidth)

- Optimized layout for small screens (less content than regular version, different pagination, no messy layout)

- Automatic detection for mobile browsers. If you access TopOfGuitar.com with a mobile phone, you will be redirected to the mobile-optimized page.

- Optimized for mobile ads (yes, I need to monetize too!)

It turns out TopOfGuitar has been mobile friendly since February 2009 but hey, it's always good to brag about how cool this site is!

Cheers,

Ernesto

P.S. If you have any suggestions that would improve the mobile user experience, please let me know...

Great recordings and the mighty Fender Champ

One of today's featured stories, taken from the Gibson blog, talks about famous recordings done with tiny amps. It mentions classics from Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, among others.

It's almost funny what a big difference playing in a studio makes versus playing in a venue. Specially when it comes to tiny tube amps. Just crank up the volume and let the tubes do their magic! But then, when playing live the same amp sometimes just doesn't cut it. 

Welcome to the overwhelming world of sound experimentation. Playing live vs. studio, what a big difference isn't it?