The Players
News and happenings from the world of your favourite guitarists
Guitarist Of The Year judge Joe Satriani has revealed to us what he’s looking for from entries before he lines up alongside fellow judges Mark Tremonti and Paul Gilbert to select the finalists. “Besides good timing, intonation and technique, you can’t underestimate the power of the ‘it’ factor,” explains Satch. “I know it’s hard to define, but we all know it when we hear it and see it. Originality is a powerful quality in these competitions too. However, it’s pulling all these elements together and making a coherent and compelling presentation that will have the most impact on each stage of the judging.”
In other GOTY news, Tommy Emmanuel, Jonn Gomm and Mike Dawes will help to judge the Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year category while the Young Guitarist Of The Year selection will be aided by Bullet For My Valentine’s Matt Tuck, Chapman Guitars’ Rob Chapman and talented upcoming player Chris Buck.
In other Mark Tremonti news, he may have a new signature head with PRS, but the amp aficionado has revealed he’s also become a fan of Victory amps, using the V40 alongside his PRS MT15 and Cornford RK100 on A Dying
Machine, the new album from his solo project, reviewed on page 48. “When I did the clean tones it was the MT15’s clean tone mixed with the V40,” he tells us. “That’s a great, great clean amp. I’m always scouring the internet for new amplifiers. I came across the Victory demos, and I think it does very well for an amp company to make sure they’re getting great players to do demos. Because their demos come across very well it made me want to really dive into their amps.”
Reggie Lucas, the former Miles Davis guitarist who also played and produced Madonna’s debut album, passed away from heart disease at the age of 65 on 19 May. He spent four years in Davis’s electric outfit from 1972, starting when he was just 19, before joining Roberta Flack’s band. Working as a writer and producer for Warner Bros in the 80s brought him to work on Madonna’s 1983 self-titled debut. Lucas contributed two songs to the session including Borderline. He won a Grammy in 1981 with James Mtume for Best R&B song with Never Knew Love Like This Before. A Star Is Born. The Hangover Silver Linings Playbook
Bradley Cooper plays a hard-drinking country musician opposite Lady Gaga in this year’s remake of The 43-year-old actor of and fame reportedly took lessons for 18 months ahead of his role as Jackson Maine, due to his desire to keep it real when it came to guitar playing as well as singing in the film. The film will be released on 5 October and is also directed by Cooper.