I hope you enjoyed my EVH 5150 III 50 Watt Head review…

For the best price online click here –>

Having had the amp for several weeks now I can say that after the initial excitement has died down a bit, the head is a very good sounding piece of gear…

If you are looking for the EVH brown sound you can definitely find it here:

Another demo of the EVH 5150 III 50 Watt Head…

For the lowest price online check out –> EVH 5150 III 50 Watt Head

Here are some of the features that set the 50 watt head apart from the 100 watt EVH head.

The 50 Watt head is obviously smaller but it also includes a few things the 100 watt head does not.

With the EVH 5150 III 50 Watt Mini Head you get:

1.  Midi in and out…
2. a headphone jack
3. Resonance control

EVH 5150 III 50 Watt Head

 

Another difference between the 100 watt and 50 watt version is because of space they had to combine channels one and two’s tone control.

I personally do not have a problem with this but some users have complained about a volume jump when you go from channel one clean (green) to channel two (blue) distorted rhythm tone.

For me I hardly play clean so, a volume jump from channel one to two is minimal.

I’ll do another demo of the volume jump for people who want to hear the difference.

I think for me one of the best things about the EVH 5150 iii 50 watt mini head is the price.

In the USA and CANADA you can pick it up for $999.00.

They have been selling like crazy though, hopefully they are in stock here –> EVH 5150 III 50 Watt Head

I would say if you are on the market for a lower wattage head, 50 Watts is loud enough for gigs and jamming but it will also allow you to get a decent sound at lower volumes.

Plus you get the headphone jack with built in speaker simulation for late night practice sessions.

I would say this head is great for bedroom practice or full on gigs…

If you have the cash then you may want to spring for the EVH 5150 III 100 Watt Head.

I personally didn’t need the volume but some purists may want to go the 100 watt route.

For the price I think it would be hard to find another amp that would sound as good.

Click “Like” If You Love Playing Guitar

I hope you enjoyed my EVH 5150 III 50 Watt Head review and make sure you join my newsletter and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more updates…

For tips on how to play guitar visit here:

To check out a review of the EVH MXR Phase 90 Phase Shifter visit here:

Other cool EVH 5150 III 50 watt links…

EVH 5150 3 50 watt mini head.

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Take care…

Craig

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Vanhalen Panama Live at Henson Studios February 1st 2012.

The guys from Van Halen held a private show in LA recently for VIP’s and special guests in preparation for there upcoming 2012 tour for the CD “A Different Kind Of Truth”.

They played a 60 minute set of mostly older material including the songs, Panama, Unchained, Dance The Night Away, You Really Got Me, Ain’t Talkin Bout Love and Jump as an encore.

As far as the newer material Vanhalen played Tattoo, She’s The Woman and The Trouble With Never.

Check out “Hot For Teacher” Van Halen Live at Henson Studios in LA.

Eddie Vanhalen was once again playing his EVH Wolfgang Stealth with the ebony fretboard along with his signature EVH Head and cabs.

EVH Wolfgang Stealth Guitar

Best Price online Click Here –>

Check out the EVH Wolfgang Stealth here…

Although David Lee Roth appears to have lost some of his vocal range and misses a few lyrics here and there.

It was never about Dave’s singing anyway.

Eddie Vanhalen is playing better than he has in years… Looking a little heavier than usual, let’s hope he’s won his battle with drugs and booze.

Wolfgang is also coming into his own as a Bass player and a backing vocalist.

This gig has them playing much better than there surprise New York gig less than a month ago, at Cafe Wah.

I am still a little surprised after all these years Eddie has made the switch to ebony fretboards.

Strangely enough, the ebony fretboard doesn’t seem to sound much different then Maple, I guess it is mostly in the fingers and the sound of the amp.

I might have to check out this new wolfgang…

You can find out more about the EVH Wolfgang Stealth here.

 Van Halen Live Henson Studio

From the looks of things it looks like this tour is going to be better than I expected. It seems there rehearsals are starting to pay off.

I may grab tickets to catch a show in Las Vegas, it seems like a good excuse to visit Las Vegas and do some partying…

Let me know if you plan on checking out Vanhalen live on tour.

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Click Here for the lowest price on the web…

The video review of the Mxr EVH Phase 90 phase shifter should give you a rough idea of the sound differences between the two pedals.

Unfortunately, in order for the video to play properly on the internet, a great deal of compression is applied which downgrades the original sound samples quite a bit.

Mxr EVH Phase 90 Looks Cool!

When you play through the Mxr EVH Phase 90 live.

You can hear the subtle differences between the two Mxr pedals much more clearly.

In my opinion the Mxr EVH Phase 90 not only looks way cooler than the original orange version of this pedal but with the white script button activated the pedal captures that early Eddie Vanhalen vibe.

The pedal sounds a little less harsh and more refined once you engage the white script button.

Click here for the best price online.

Mxr EVH Phase 90 VS Mxr Phase 90

As I mentioned earlier the EVH version of this pedal is the clear winner in this head to head shootout. If you are an Eddie Vanhalen fan then you will have to add this pedal to your collection.

Eddie Vanhalen's Brown Sound

For that authentic early Vanhalen brown sound you should place this pedal before the amp in your effects chain. The early Marshall amps did not have effects loops, so placing the phase shifter before your pre-amp will get you closer to Eddie Vanhalen’s brown sound of the late seventies and early eighties.

I have to be honest, looking down at my pedal board and seeing this pedal inspires me to play more often and with more excitement. It is just a cool pedal to look at even when you are not playing through it.

I give the MXR EVH Phase 90 two thumbs up.

It is hands down the coolest looking and sounding phase shifter on the market…

Click here for more info:

Check out my review on YouTube.

Hey, while you are here leave a comment and check out more of the site…

For more info about How To Play Guitar

And here are some Easy Songs to Play on guitar

Mxr EVH Phase 90 MXR phase shifter…

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Vanhalen has just released there first new single Tattoo with David Lee Roth, from there upcoming album “A Different Kind Of Truth.

Tattoo is a reworked version of an early seventies demo called Down In Flames.

Check out the live concert footage below…

David Lee Roth, Alex, Eddie and Wolfgang all got together on Thursday, Jan 5th at the Cafe Wah in New York City to play a private show and to reveal a couple of new tunes from there upcoming tour…

Check out the Vanhalen Cafe Wah Video filmed in New York City…

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Click here to check out the Van Halen Tattoo Single.

There are a couple of songs on the new Vanhalen CD, “A Different Kind Of Truth,” that are actually reworked songs from an early 1976 demo.

Van Halen Cafe Wah New York City

Tattoo and She’s The Woman are throwbacks from the early Van Halen days and sound like a mix of tracks from there 1978 debut VanHalen one and there 1984 CD.

Eddie is sporting a new Wolfgang…

In the New York City gig at Cafe Wah, Eddie is playing the Wolfgang Stealth guitar with an Ebony fretboard instead of the usual Maple fretboards he has used for most of his recording career.

EVH Wolfgang Stealth, to check out the best price online click here.

The EVH Wolfgang Stealth looks like a pretty hot guitar.

EVH Wolfgang Stealth

Get the lowest price online by clicking on this link…

The EVH line of guitars made by Fender are great sounding tone monsters.

You can find out more here

The rumours are true Van Halen is going on tour in 2012.

I can’t wait to see the Vanhalen 2012 tour, tickets go on sale January 10th for those who have RSVP’d on Facebook.

Here is the RSVP link.

If you are looking forward to the new CD let me know…

Leave your comments and let me know what you think of the new Van Halen Tattoo single. 

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Click Here To See If It Is In Stock

BBE Sonic Stomp Review

In the video above, I reveal some sound samples of the BBE Sonic Stomp also known as the BBE Sonic Maximizer pedal.

I wasn’t expecting to like this pedal as much as I do. I had read a few good reviews of it but I was a little skeptical that it would live up to the hype.

BBE Sonic Stomp

Right away, I instantly noticed a significant improvement in my sound.

I first tried it out front of my amp and then I placed the BBE Sonic stomp in my effects loop.

For my guitar set up, I am using a Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier 25W head through a Mesa Boogie 2×12 cabinet.

I found the BBE Sonic Stomp sounded much better in the effects loop than it sounded in front of the amp.

It may be different for you depending on which amp you are using.

The pedal aligns all the frequencies prior to the signal hitting the power amp section of the Mesa Boogie when you place it in your effects loop.

As far as setting it up…

I just set the process control to 5 and the lo contour control to 5 and leave the sonic stomp pedal on all the time.

When I Decided To Do The BBE Sonic Stomp Review

I never expected I would be using this pedal as much as I am. In fact, I would feel lost without it.

It really does make a very noticeable improvement to my overall sound.

When you turn it on, it almost sounds like you are lifting a blanket off of your amplifier.

The BBE sonic stomp sounds good on both clean and distorted sounds.

It fattens up the rhythm sounds and increases the clarity of each individual string.

BBE Sonic Maximizer Pedal

The pedal improves the overall tone of the leads as well.

The best part is, this pedal costs less than $100 bucks which makes it a winner in my opinion.

If it was ever damaged or replaced, I would make a point of replacing it right away.

Out of all the pedals I own, I would say the BBE Sonic Stomp makes the biggest difference in my overall sound.

It is hard to describe exactly what it does.

I guess you can say it tightens things up, gives you a bit of a volume boost and makes everything sound a little clearer and more out front.

It is almost like combining a compressor and an EQ pedal at the same time.

That is the closest way I can think of describing how it improves your overall sound.

I even like the look of the pedal. The LED has a blue glow to it and the pedal itself has kind of a fifties retro vibe.

I looked around the web and it seems like you can get the best price at Amazon.com.

Here is a link to the lowest price online. BBE Sonic Stomp.

Grab one today and then come back and post your feedback once you have had time to check it out properly.

Make sure you check out my other post…

How to play guitar

I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback.

So what are you waiting for?

Click here for more details…

BBE Sonic Stomp Review

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Tom Morello Guitar Lesson Cochise By Audioslave

In the video guitar lesson above, I walk you through the song Cochise recorded by Audioslave.

In this Tom Morello guitar lesson I demonstrate how he achieves the Helicopter sound in the intro section and then we move right into the verse riff from Cochise.

Tom Morello Playing Live

This song has a very rhythmic groove and is quite easy once you get the hang of it.

The trick is to play with emotion and intensity.

The parts themselves are fairly easy to execute, even the guitar solo is quite basic.

Use a little distortion and your guitars bridge humbucker to get close to the rhythm tone.

Audioslave’s Cochise is one of my favourite songs on the CD.

Chris Cornell’s vocals sound awesome mixed with the groove the band lays down.

If the Tom Morello guitar lesson is too advanced for you.

Check out the other guitar lessons I have featured on the site.

Don’t worry if you don’t get the groove right the first time. Break each section down until you master it.

Then move on to the next. The verse and chorus are quite similar so it shouldn’t take you too long to pull it all together.

Take your time and memorize each section and then start out playing it slowly.

Once you start to fell comfortable with it, then speed it up to real time.

Once you get it post a video to Youtube and come back and leave a link.

I really would like to see you play your version of Cochise.

I better get back to work creating some more Guitar lessons…

If you want to learn how to play guitar then you are in the right place.

I will be adding new lessons all the time, so make sure you bookmark our site and come back often.

I hope you enjoyed the Tom Morello Guitar lesson.

Thanks for stopping by how to play guitar hq.com

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Guitar Survey…

Eddie Van Halen Guitar Lessons.

Eddie Vanhalen is one of the most influential guitar players of all time.

VanHalen One

He was one of the first to incorporate, two hand taping into his playing and he single handily changed the sound of rock guitar in the late seventies with the release of Vanhalen One, in 1978.

Featuring David Lee Roth on lead vocals, Michael Anthony on Bass and Eddie’s brother Alex VanHalen on drums.

Oddly enough, Edward started playing the drums first and then switched to guitar and his brother Alex became the drummer.

Vanhalen one features songs such as, Ain’t Talkin Bout Love, Runnin With The Devil, You Really Got Me and Atomic Punk.

Van Halen Guitar Lessons…

It wasn’t long after the album was released that everybody was in search of Eddie Van Halen guitar lessons.

Eruption an instrumental guitar solo on the album, was the song every guitar player aspired to play.

It is difficult to be sure exactly how many people he inspired, how many people after hearing his playing decided to learn how to play guitar.

We will never know, but my guess is in the thousands if not more.

Even today, almost 34 years after the solo was recorded, guitar players around the world are still trying to learn Eruption.

It’s kind of hard to believe the impact Eddie Vanhalen has had, on the guitar community as a whole around the world.

Above this article I share with you an Eddie Van Halen guitar lesson.

I walk you through the intro riff to “You Really Got Me!”

Eddie Live

The main riff is based around a A chord and a G chord with single note fills.

The intro to the solo contains some Chuck Berry style riffs, with two hand tapping, wide bends and vibrato.

Considering the music scene of the late seventies, these guys took hard rock into a whole other direction and raised the bar for guitar players all around the world.

This album may have even led to the phrase “shredders” describing players who could play lighting fast and shred up and down the fret board.

In this picture you can see Eddie playing one of his early custom strat style guitars.

He made them out of several different guitar necks and bodies and then custom wound the pick-ups to suit the sound he was searching for.

In the early days Eddie played a Marshall Plexi with a variac to get his much sought after brown sound he often referred to.

Since then, he has released a signature line of Amplifiers first with Peavey.

The Peavey 5150 and the 5150 II. And most recently the 5150 III made by Fender.

Fender is now also producing his Wolfgang signature guitars.

For more information about EVH gear you can visit Ed’s site here.

But, before you go make sure you check out the Eddie Vanhalen guitar lessons.

Note:

To learn the guitar solo to “You Really Got Me,” you will have to subscribe to access the private lesson section of the website.

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How To String A Guitar

In the video above I demonstrate how to string a guitar in the style of a Gibson Les Paul.

I reccomend that you use the same brand and gauge of strings every time you change your strings, doing that will allow you to save time setting up your intonation.

I cover how to do a proper guitar setup in another video.

For electric guitars, I recommend using D’Addario and the particular gauge you use, is really up to personal preference.

Gibson Les Paul Standard

I personally use .010 to .046 for standard A 440 tuning, on my Gibson Les Paul Standard.

If you are playing in E flat on a regular basis, you may want to consider using .010 to .052.

Some players prefer to play with a .009 on the high E, for ease of bending the strings.

Personally I feel you get a better tone from the slightly larger .010 on the high E.

Experiment with different brands and gauges until you find something that sounds and feels right to you.

You may find that you like the sound of an entirely different brand.

You might want to test out whatever your favourite guitar player is using although, in the end that may not be inline with your personal preferences.

How To String A Guitar So It Stays In Tune

In the video above I show you a method for bending the string back on itself. I find this allows the natural tension to hold it into place a little more.

You may also want to use a lubricant on the nut…

Big Bens Nut Sauce

Big Ben’s Nut Sauce, although it has a strange name is used by many professional guitar technicians.

It lubricates the friction points at the bridge and the nut to help your guitar to stay in tune and avoid string breakage.

You may find that Gibson style guitars often have tuning issues with the G string.

It tends to get hung up on the nut with this style of guitar for some reason.

Using a lubricant such as Big Ben’s Nut Sauce on the nut and bridge saddles should help to alleviate some of the tuning issues you may encounter.

I know, it is a strange name, but it is used by a lot of pros, so that has to say something.

Hopefully these tips help you to stay in tune.

For more tips on how to play guitar check out the Guitar lessons section of our site.

If you are just starting out you may also want to check out the… How to hold a guitar video.

As I mentioned above, once you have changed your strings you should do a proper intonation set up of your guitar.

Refer to the guitar set up video for a walkthrough of the various steps you will need to follow.

Before you go…

Send me your feedback…

Let me know if you have any tips that help to keep your guitar in tune.

Also, share your string preference and gauge.

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Guitar Setup Gibson Les Paul Guitar Set Up

In the video above I show you how to set up a Gibson Les Paul standard to factory specs.

You will need a few tools in order to do a proper Guitar setup.

1. A 64th ruler which is designed for very accurate measurements.

2. A truss rod, which you should already have.

3. A Capo for fretting the strings, many players use them for alternate tunings.

4. A Feeler gauge, not totally necessary you can also use a piece of paper.

Guitar Set Up 101

Craig Beckta

Once you have gathered the proper tools you will then tune your Guitar to the tuning that you regularly play.

For most it will be standard tuning, A 440 but for others it may be E flat or Drop D.

Tune your instrument to whatever pitch you usually play and then measure your low E string at the 15th fret.

Do not fret your Guitar, measure the Open E at the 15th fret with your 64th ruler and the Low E should be 5/64th from the fret wire.

The high E should be 3/64th.

If these measurements are off, you will have to adjust your bridge in order to get these measurements right.

Once you have the string height adjustment, the next step is too check for the neck relief.

With a Capo place it on the first fret and then with your right hand fret the 15th fret.

Next measure the gap at the low E on the 7th fret.

You should be able to slip a piece of paper in the gap between the string.

I usually like to set my gap at .008 on a feeler gauge.

You could probably get away with .006 as well.

If you do not have the right gap you will have to adjust your truss rod.

Guitar Setup Warning

If you are not comfortable doing neck adjustments consult a repair technician.

If you would like to proceed on your own, I suggest you make very tiny adjustments to your truss rod.

Make a small adjustment in one direction, wait ten minutes for the neck to move, and then measure again to see if you turned the truss rod in the right direction.

It may take you a few adjustments to get your guitar setup right.

Be patient and it will sound and play, much better than when you started.

Watch the video above a couple of tunes and make sure you have a clear idea how to do a Guitar setup before you get started.

You can find the 64th rule and a feeler gauge at Home Depot.

Capo’s can be found at most music store.

Doing a Guitar set up is a pretty simple procedure once you have done it a few times.

Learning how to set up your electric guitar on your own will save you money and time.

You will no longer have to take your axe into the repair shop to have your guitar setup.

Your next step is to set your intonation, make sure you check that video out next.

If you are just starting out, make sure you check out the Guitar lessons section as well.

Thanks for visiting, how to play guitar hq.

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How To Hold A Guitar

In our first beginner guitar lesson, we’re going to talk about how to hold a guitar.

We are also going to talk about the importance of rehearsing, how you want to play live on stage.

It may seem basic, but knowing how to hold a guitar properly, effects your playing greatly.

I have heard stories about guitar players who have written and recorded solos in a seated position who were practically unable to play the solos live.

Your arm position is different in a seated position, than it is in a standing position. Making it a little more difficult to fret certain notes cleanly on the fret board.

Watch the video above, in it I share some tips on how to hold a guitar properly.

It is a good idea to split up your practice time between sitting and standing if you plan on playing a live gig in the near future.

You’ll find it slightly more difficult to hold the guitar in a standing position.

You will also want to have a look in the mirror to make sure you are not holding your guitar to high.

You want to look cool on stage, right?

I mean Rock n Roll is all about looking cool on stage and it is hard to do hat if your guitar is too high up on your body.

I’m sure you have seen how awkward that can look.

How to hold a guitar is an intro video, to the beginner guitar lessons online video training series.

Craig Beckta

Check out the videos and if you have any questions post a comment below.

I check the comments section often and I will get back to you.

The lessons on this site will show you how to play guitar in no time at all.

In the meantime check out the rest of the guitar lessons.

I will be updating them on a regular basis, based on your feedback.

I hope you find the, the “how to hold a guitar” video helpful and I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

I wish you the best on your quest to learn how to play guitar.

Enjoy the videos.

Talk soon,

Craig Guitar HQ

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