This years’ addition to the Guitober website is the GuiDictionary.  Now you can find the meaning to all of your favorite Guitober words.

And if you know of any Guit-related vocabulary that shoud be added, just e-mail Brendan.

We are putting together the finishing touches on this year’s schedule and adventures for Guitober 2009. It’s going to as Guitabulous as ever, so stay tuned!

This was posted earlier, but now that all the pictures have been posted, here it is again: The Guitober 2008 Photo Reel

The Faculty Concert last night was a great way to end Guitober ’08.  Thanks to everyone who came out.  It was a great please to share our music with you.

Set List:

• Will Dick – April Come She Will by Paul Simon
• Will Dick & Brendan Burns – Lovers In A Dangerous Time by Bruce Cockburn
• Brendan Burns & Will Dick - Depart by Brendan Burns
• Bob Ward – Prelude No. 1 in E Minor by Heitor Villa Lobos
• Bob Ward - Magic Serenade by Brian Johanson
• Brendan Burns, Bob Ward & Scott Pittman by Egg Radio by Bill Frisell
• Bob Ward, Will Dick, Brendan Burns & Scott Pittman – Stairway to Heaven by Page/Plant

Our big Finale, and the one of the main reasons Guitober is Guihappening, is the Faculty Concert.  The Guitar Department of Brookline Music School will showcase their Guitabulousness at the Bakalar Recital Hall this Thursday at 7:30pm.  

Scheduled to perform:

• Will Dick
• Bob Ward
• Brendan Burns
• Joe Conley
• Scott Pittman

Our Final Clinic this year was Jay’s Repair Clinic.  Jay is the senior guitar tech at Mr. Music in Allston.  He came in to talk about considerations when purchasing a new guitar, how to assess your own guitar and how to maintain & do simple repairs at home.  Topics included:

• examining a guitar for cracks 
• examining the “true” of a neck
• changing strings
• cleaning the fretboard
• input jack repair & maintenance
• maintaining proper humidity
• pickup adjustments
• fret erosion and dents
• problems associated with the nut
• saddle adjustments
• how to set intonation
• tremolo-bar spring adjustments
• fret buzz fixes

Joe Conley let an Guimazing clinic on Saturday with his guitar effects demonstration.  He brought his giging pedal setup and explained:

• pedal ordering & signal flow
• true-bypass effects
• making your own cables
• effects without any pedals
• & demonstrated all his gear

The top 3 guitar fx brands I use:

• Zvex - All those great weird effects. Great Video Clips of each pedal in action
• Xotic - Distortion, Overdrives, and Boosters     More Great Video Clips of pedals in action by top Guitar Players
• Eventide - The be all end all of effects processors

Books I recommend:

• Pedals, The Practical Handbook by Dave Hunter
• How To Build Your Own Effects Pedals by Brian Wampler
• The Guitar F/X Cookbook by Chris Amelar (Hal Leonard)

Some Websites:

• http://www.hugeracksinc.com/forum - Lots of Great Gear Info
• http://www.schematicheaven.com/  - Schematics for making and modding your pedals and amps
• http://www.mouser.com/ - Electronics Component Distributor for buying cable, pedal components, and anything else you could ever want electronically
• http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Custom-Guitar-Cables-on-The-Cheap/ - Instructions for making cables…plus many other related musical projects

Jason Yost led a Guitabulous Blues Clinic on Saturday filled with an incredible amount of information about comping & improvising.  Some of the topics Jason discussed and demonstrated:

• 12-Bar Blues
• Jazz Blues Chord Progressions
• Dominant 7th chord voicings
• Modal Playing
• Harmonic Substitutions
• Modal Substitutions

This Saturday marks our last Weekend of Guitober activities.  We will have three clinics hosted by Brookline Music School in Bakalar Hall (25 Kennard Road, Brookline, MA):

• Blues Clinic – Learn everything you wanted to know about the Blues & Guitar with Jason Yost (3pm).
• Effects Clinic – Let Joe Conley blow your mind with all the possibilities of guitar effects (4pm).  Have you seen his setup?
• Repair Clinic – Jay, from Mr. Music, will show how to string your guitar, adjust the truss rod, set intonation, get rid of the “crackly sound,” and give you tips on how to take better care of your instrument in his Repair Clinic (5pm)

All Guitober Clnics are free and open to the public.  Bring your friends; we’ll bring the pretzels.