The Guitar Hero series on Jemsite features interviews with guitarists and musicians who may not have star status YET, but their current situations have shaped them to be who they are--determined, fond of their craft, and heroes in their own right.  Perhaps you'll see in these upcoming entries the next Jimi Hendrix, Melissa Etheridge, or Duane Allman.  Or perhaps they'll become household names by doing what they do best--ripping a mean riff!

Australia, too, can rock out with the best of them, and it holds some of the best guitarists on the planet! Chris Cheney...Tommy Emmanuel...Paul Dempsey...and then there's Peter Hodgson, who picked up guitar at age 7, counts David Bowie and Steve Vai as major guitar influences, writes consistently for his guitar blog I Heart Guitar, chats with John McLaughlin about fusion, and owns his dream guitar, which happens to be a JEM!

And so much more!

He's not just your Average Joe. In fact, Philadelphia resident Joe Pelone counts himself as a vegetarian, a Star Trek fan, and an avid reader of Ernest Hemingway novels.  

But that's not all--he also has an incredible taste in music!

And why shouldn't he? After all, he already writes for two way popular blogs--his very own Picasso Blue, and the highly popular Punknews.org, which provides an inclusive community for discussion of punk, ska, hardcore, emo, metal and indie music news.

Since Joe provides some of the best commentary on these types of music on both sites, we asked him to come up with a list of 5 of a his favorite guitar-influenced tracks.  He didn't disappoint.

The Guitar Hero series on Jemsite features interviews with guitarists and musicians who may not have star status YET, but their current situations have shaped them to be who they are--determined, fond of their craft, and heroes in their own right.  Perhaps you'll see in these upcoming entries the next Jimi Hendrix, Melissa Etheridge, or Duane Allman.  Or perhaps they'll become household names by doing what they do best--ripping a mean riff!

Just call him the Talking Heart.  After all, guitarist Kraig Kenning certainly believes that his live performances are merely his heart talking out loud.  His music, a blend of wispy ballads, folk, and Americana, proves his passion for his craft and he'll be the first one to admit that he hopes it truliy comes through in his shows.

Jemsite wants to find out!  In a new series, we've set out to find the best reps across the country to will tell us just what it means to make it in the big city music scene.

Music blogger Chris DeLine calls Minneapolis a dysfunctional community, but one with a thriving music scene--whether it's rock, hip-hop, or electro.  He writes all about it on his hit music blog, Culture Bully, which was created nearly four and a half years when music blogs had yet to be as common as a a JEM guitar for an Ibanez fan.

Culture Bully has a plethora of album reviews, concert reviews, music videos, band profiles, and music videos and is currently considered one of the most trafficked blogs in all of the "Twin Cities."

Better late then never, as they always say.  This little piece of cool guitar info may have come out at least a week ago but I'm only getting my hands on it now.  And of course, this being a JEM site, I HAD to share it with all of you. 

According to a little ditty I read on Guitar Site, Ibanez has come up with a left-handed JEM7VLWH and JS1200CAL.  For a cool $3999, you can get a JEM7VWHL with a White finish and great details like a 5pc Maple/Walnut JEM Prestige neck, Edge Pro bridge, Pearl/Abalone vine inlay, DiMarzio Evolution pickups and a trademark monkey grip.  For a nice $2999, the JS1200CAL has a candy apple finish, a Maple JS Prestige neck, Edget Pro bridge, and DiMarzio PAF-JOE and FRED pickups.

And for more on these beauties , of course visit Guitar Site and Ibanez.com.  

Some great news came my way the other day.  Peter Hodgson, the hip guitarist who writes the I Heart Guitar blog, is being featured on DiMarzio Inc., maker of some of the best guitar pickups in the world. They're using clips of his guitar playing on their website to showcase their John Petrucci (Dream Theater) signature pickups, the Crunch Lab 7 and LiquFire 7.

He used an Ibanez RG620 7-string guitar for the clips! That sounds like it's definitely worth a mention on the ol' Jemsite blog, no? 

Besides Petrucci's work on the new Dream Theater album, Peter is the first to use these pickups on a publicly available recording.

You can hear his clips by heading to the DiMarzio Inc. site and going to the 7 String section, then clicking on the link for the sounds on each pickup's page. 

DiMarzio asked Peter to provide samples after he reviewed the new pickups for his website.  You can find the review here.

Pretty cool, huh?