Brendan Delumpa is a professional web engineer by day, but his alter ego is GoofyDawg, a singer/ songwriter, webmaster of GuitarGear.org, and self-styled guitar gear freak-o-maniac!

Last week, I was perusing guitars at the local shop near work. I was on a mission to check out Telecasters and Telecaster-like guitars, as I’ve been thinking about adding a Tele to my small collection of guitars. I tried several; some solid-body models, some semi-hollow. They all had great tone, and each had their own unique character. Then I longingly looked over at a G & L Comanche hanging on the rack, and thought to myself, Man, I’d just love to have one of those, but they’re out of my price range. I picked it up anyway, plugged it into an amp, and savored the sweet, rich textures that I’ve come to love with that guitar. After a few minutes, I sadly shook my head, unplugged the guitar, and started putting it back on the rack.

Then I looked at the price, and almost pissed myself. The tag read $799.00! How could that be? A basic Comanche normally sells for $1600! Did G & L guitars become so popular that they decided to drop the price? Then reason took over and I realized that G & L must’ve done the same thing PRS did: They used an overseas production company to provide high-quality, yet more affordable models. This was borne out once I called a sales guy over and he confirmed what I was thinking and said that what I just played was a Tribute Series Comanche, made from the same materials (though different hardware) as the original, but constructed in Korea.

One of the best reasons to run a blog is the amazing friendships that strike up with the people you meet via e-mail.  Take one Emon Hassan, for instance.  I asked him to write this post--he enthralled me with his surprising love for a certain kind of music genre I never expected.  I helped him--by asking him to write a post, which led him to a music connection. (He even posted about it!) And now, it finally comes full circle with this enrapturing blog post.  For more intriguing entries by E, check out Guitarkadia.

Picture me. Back when I was a boy listening to whatever I was listening to. The sounds coming out of those speakers, tiny as they were in those early boom boxes, bringing the sounds of pop music. Pop music that is sweet as candy, that sticks to the teeth as candy, and that disappears as...you guessed it. Mind you, I was growing up, not in NYC, but in Dhaka, Bangladesh. And although many around me were exposed to Rock, Blues, or Jazz - I had the faintest idea what those meant, let alone sounded like. Then one day: 

"What's this you're listening to?"

Allyson brings glitter and glam back to rock music one guitar strum at a time and shows the world that men aren't the only ones shredding those babies.  Check out her salacious site, Bring Back Glam. 

It's just about my one year anniversary of "playing" the bass. I use the quote marks because my playing ability is definitely questionable. When I started my lessons, I figured that in a year's time I'd be as good as any old player willing to brave a crowd of people in a bar.
 
Boy, was I wrong.
 
I started my bass experience like most of you: a cheap learner's rig with bass, amp and bag -- all for "one low price." I lived with this crappy setup for about six months, just to ensure the lessons would stick. Then I moved up to a professional bass and amp - and I must admit, the sound is still as luscious today as it was the first time I plucked a string in the guitar shop.
 
Now, buying a good rig doesn't equal great playing, but it does help in other ways. I had a little more self-confidence in those first lessons after I had my glorious new bass and this has helped over the long term. The issue now - as it is for everyone - is practice.

Jack Pribek is a guitarist and songwriter for over 30 years.  His first CD "Trouble Ain't Over" was released in 2006.  Read all about his interesting experiences and inspirational moments on his blog Pribek: Trouble Ain't Over. 

Are you a guitar player or a songwriter? It’s really two different worlds, you know?

It can get inside your head. Sometimes, when I’m practicing some technique or harmonic device, feeling like I’m making some progress and, I’ll hit on some little idea and think, “I need to stop right now and write a song." Other times, I’ll be writing a part and ask myself, “Is this really helping the song or, is it just a clever lick?"

You might think of some guys like Bob Dylan or, I don’t know say, Elvis Costello as songwriters. I mean, you aren’t going to hear either one sweep picking through arpeggios at lightning speed or doing a bunch of dive bomb, whammy tricks but they are solid guitar players. They keep good time and make all the chord changes. Stuff that works in a band, works for the song. It takes some serious practice to get to that point.

For more on Al's self-proclaimed obsession with ukuleles, check out his uke-devoted site Ukulele Hunt. 

It's Like A Fun-Sized Guitar

The ukulele is smart and cute and travel-sized which makes them perfect for keeping your fingers busy in guitar-unfriendly situations like taking a bath, on top of Mount Fuji or while you're driving. The ukulele is tuned like the top four strings of a guitar capoed at the fifth fret. So if you're a guitar player, you'll have no problem picking up ukulele chords.

Recently I‘ve been looking into small amps:. I thought I’d never care about them but here I am writing a blog all about them. Traditionally, we rock/metal guitar players look up to our heroes and see these impressive rigs and do our best to have the same thing. I too, was into big amps and huge rigs for a long time. That is to say, I thought that big amps were the only things that were worth looking into. I used to be a Mesa Boogie man through and through. I owned a Rectifier and was in love with Mark IVs, Lonestars and Roadkings. A lot of this changed when I moved from California to Japan. I sold all my gear and headed of to teach English (Oh know! The cat‘s out of the bag, I‘m under the grammar microscope now).