Ask Zac

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com I started my channel in January of 2020 with 70 subscribers, and a year and a half later have over 20,000 subs. I have gotten many questions about how I create my show, including people wanting to know the specifics of how I capture my guitar sounds. Well here it is, and even...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Today I take a long-overdue look at questions that have arisen over the last couple of months. I cover the common questions I get about Princeton Reverb amps, the Tele body thickness question that was repeatedly asked concerning my 57 vs 67 Tele video, and I cover how Guthrie...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Fender tweeds are some of the most desirable vintage amps, especially the late 50s designs, which are considered by many as the pinnacle of Leo Fender's work. Today, I look at 2 of the most revered of the smaller tweeds, the 1959 Harvard, and the 1960 Deluxe. The 2 amps...

Check out the opening Squier Bass VI lick played with Fuzz!   To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com Did you know that the fuzz pedal was born because a Danelectro Bass 6 was recorded using a faulty channel on a studio mixing console? The part, played by the great Grady Martin, was a hit for Marty Robbins in 1961, and th...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Fender has made the Telecaster for longer than many of us have been alive. The elegant, yet simple instrument has evolved and had many variations over the past 70 years. Today, I take a 1957 and 1967 Telecaster and show how the instrume...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo - AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com Learning to play guitar in the 80s, my only reference to fuzz was articles about Jimi Hendrix, SRV, and Eric Johnson in either Guitar World or Guitar Player magazines. When I finally got to play the fuzz pedals that became available in the 90s, like those made by Fulltone, they were...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo - AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com John Leventhal is a favorite, and his work in the early 90s acted as a musical roadmap for a young Texas Honky Tonk guitarist trying to stay afloat in the world of pop/folk/singer-songwriter music. In this episode, I look at 7 concepts that I have stolen from Leventhal, that are ver...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com An old friend texted me on a Saturday morning to see if I was available to play at one of the big clubs in downtown Nashville from 2-6 pm that day. I absolutely said "yes," as I had not played in the downtown area since 2003....

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com My son told me, "Dad, you ought to do a video on your favorite Telecaster licks." So here are my 10 favorite Telecaster licks of all time. 1. Cornell Dupree "Rainy Night in Georgia." 2. Reggie Young "Memphis Soul Stew." 3. James Burton "Suzy Q." 4. Jesse Ed...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com After getting numerous emails about doing a B-Bender lesson, here it finally is. In this AZ, I show some of my favorite chord voicings and licks for the B-Bender that you can add to your string bender vocabulary. Gear Used: 2014 Crook Custom Vintage Paisley - APC Adder (Neck) Peter Florance TE-60...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com Spotlight on Frank Reckard, Emmylou's Hot Band lead guitarist from 1978-1990. A great player, who is sometimes overlooked as he left the music business after his tenure in the Hot Band to go to law school. Taking the position once held by both James Burton & Albert Lee was a task that Rec...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com After the last video, I was hooked and wanted to have a new style Glaser B-Bender installed in one of my guitars. The Bill Crook-built Paisley seemed like the appropriate candidate, so I set up a time for an install, and Joe agreed to t...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com Joe Glaser is the guru that has kept Nashville guitarists up and running since the early 80s. With help from Brent Mason, Steve Wariner, and Ricky Skaggs, his string benders and 3-pickup Telecaster setups became "must-haves" for anyone wanting to be seen as a serious guitarist in Music C...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com I set up an AB switch with my 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb, and 1964 Vox AC10, and I had so much fun switching in-between the 2 amps, that I decided to do a video to show the tonal differences between these two great amps. Fender and Vox h...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Fender recently surprised me with a new '68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb amp. I was honored, yet a little concerned as I had never really enjoyed single-ended (1 output tube) amps because they tended to sound small, boxy, and to have...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com Fred Newell is best known for his decade-long position as the lead guitarist on Nashville Now, the hugely popular flagship show of TNN, The Nashville Network. Few are aware of all the sessions he played on that were huge hits for Alabama, George Strait, Jerry Reed, and The Kendalls. In this episod...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com The Nashville Flood of 2010 was devastating. Lives, homes, businesses, and a huge amount of guitars were lost. The day the rain started, I took my pregnant wife and 1-year old son to a guitar festival in Leiper's Fork, TN, just south of Nashville. While there, I saw Larry Carlton, Reggie Youn...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com Since I first heard John Jorgenson with the Desert Rose Band, I have been a huge fan. I first saw John play in 1994 with the Hellecasters in Nashville, with Brad Paisley in tow. Brad was 21, and I was 20 with a fake I.D. Paisley told me as we got to the door, "If you don't get in, I&apos...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com The 3 pickup Tele is commonplace now and is often referred to as the "Nashville" Tele setup. Joe Glaser pioneered it in the early 80s with the help of test pilots, Brent Mason, Ricky Skaggs, and Steve Wariner. For Mason, it wa...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Roy Buchanan took the Telecaster, and guitar playing in general to a new level with his groundbreaking use of volume swells, tone control "wah" simulations, pinch harmonics, and feedback. Although influenced by Buck Owens and...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com With the blessing of Redd Volkaert, who has an album by the same name, this Roy Nichols episode is titled "No Stranger To A Tele." Roy of course was the guitarist in Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers,  from 1965-1987, b...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Buck Owens & Don Rich set the world on its ear with their bright, twangy guitars, and their incredibly tight vocals. In today's episode, I take a look at the Bakersfield Dynamic Duo that influenced everyone, including the Beatl...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com In 2020, I checked out the original Black Tolex Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb and thought it was pretty good, but not great. In my video, I mentioned the virtual bright cap, the verb, and the speaker as being in need of upgrades. Wel...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com I have tried to be a Vox guy for years; buying and selling them over and over and never finding the right one. I had to come to the point of giving up when a friend let me borrow his 1964 Vox AC10, and I finally found the tone I had alw...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com The first pedal compressor, and somewhat of a misunderstood effect. Today we will look at its history, including the changes in the pedal throughout the 70s, users, and how compressor pedals have gone from a "sometimes" effect to an "always-on" box for many. Amazon link MXR&apo...