Guitar Speak Podcast

    Welcome to Episode 45 of the Guitar Speak Podcast. Today we speak to Joe Robinson, who at the age of 25 is already a veteran of around 2000 gigs. We follow Joe's story from his first notes in his hometown of Temagog in northern New South Wales, Australia right through to his current home of seven years, Nashville. In between there have been national television appearances, mentoring from Phil...

Welcome to Episode 44!  Today we speak to Sydney based guitarist, Joel McDonald. Joel talks us through his early development, right through to his current gig with Rose Tattoo - opening for Guns and Roses on their 2017 reunion tour. Along the way there are magical Les Pauls, a steady diet of Eric Johnson and Steve Vai and a dedication that has led to Joel's ferocious rock chops. And...Frankie's Wo...

  Welcome to Episode 43! Today we speak to Roopam Garg of the band The Surrealist, who fuse progressive, metal, Eastern and minimalist influences into incredibly texture rich pieces. Roopam crafts otherworldly passages from his Kiesel 7 string (not 8!) with an inate sense of detail. We dig into Roopam's intricate technique and compositional style. We also talk through Roopam's time at the famous B...

  Welcome to Episode 42 of the Guitar Speak Podcast, with part II of our interview with the fantastic Brett Garsed. Brett talks us through his move to the US - initially to tour and record with stadium & MTV favorites Nelson - that led him to work with some of the leading US fusion/progressive players like TJ Helmrich, Shawn Lane, Derek Sherinian and fellow Aussie ex-pats Frank Gambale and Virgil...

Welcome to Episode 41 of the Guitar Speak Podcast. Today we speak with Brett Garsed. Brett's unique and dynamic legato style has seen him earn tremendous respect in both his homeland of Australia and around the globe. In the first of a two part interview, Brett describes the development of his voice in rural Victoria, being discovered in Mike Varney's 'Spotlight' column in Guitar Player Magazine a...

Welcome to Episode 40 of the Guitar Speak Podcast. UPDATE: Full episode now available! Today we speak to Joe Elliott, a fantastic guitarist with over 30 years of professional playing in L.A. Joe talks us through his career, explaining how a dream of attending G.I.T. led to a long career in LA as a freelance guitarist and music educator.  Joe's latest jazz/fusion album - Truth Serum - is brilliant,...

  Happy 50th birthday Guitar Player Magazine! This week we speak to Michael Molenda who is the current - and longest serving - Editor in Chief of Guitar Player Magazine. We speak about the magazine's history, legacy and plans for the future in this milestone year for the publication. Michael speaks candidly about his career as a guitarist, studio owner, journalist and creative producer.  We also d...

  Welcome to the Guitar Speak Podcast. Today we speak to Chris Brooks from Sydney, Australia. Chris is an excellent player with two fantastic solo albums. He also is an in demand instructor and clinician who has produced some world class instructional resources. We speak to Chris about early influences - he is another of our guests to cite both Brett Garsed and Dieter Kleeman as important figures...

    Welcome to Episode 37 of the Guitar Speak Podcast. For over a decade Ormsby Guitars have been crafting incredible instruments in Perth, Western Australia. Perry Ormsby talks us through how his childhood love of fine woodworking led him to his career in guitar design and luthiery. Today, Ormsby Guitars are distributed in Australia, USA and the UK. Perry explains his multi-scale concept, the dev...

    Welcome to Episode 36 of the Guitar Speak Podcast! This week we speak to Greg Marra - a brilliant guitarist and producer from Southern California. Greg's career to date has featured two excellent solo albums, a very cool new band project, sideman work with Paul Gilbert and Bruce Bouillet (amongst many others) and some great sponsorship partnerships involving Ibanez Guitars, Fishman pickups, Fr...

  Welcome to the Guitar Speak Podcast! This week we speak to our friend Michael Ross who has just returned from the 2017 Winter NAMM convention in Anaheim, California. Michael is a seasoned musician, author and journalist - currently writing for Guitar Player and Premier Guitar - whilst curating the excellent Guitar Moderne  website. Michael gives us his take on the latest and greatest guitars, am...

  Welcome to Episode 34 of The Guitar Speak Podcast! Today we speak to Tim Green of Mojo Stompboxes. Tim is a collector, modder, repairer, retailer and expert in all things retro Boss! In fact Tim digs many of those compact pedals hailing from Japan in the '70s and '80s - Ibanez, Maxon, Guyatone et al.  We had a great time learning about Mojo Stompboxes, busting or confirming pedal myths and Matt...

Welcome to Episode 33 of the Guitar Speak Podcast! Today we speak with Alastair Greene, who mostly divides his his time between his own blues/rock trio - The Alastair Greene Band - and touring the world with The Alan Parsons Project. Alastair talks about growing up in California in the guitar intense 1980s, forging his voice and career as a solo artist and working with one of rock's most enigmatic...

Happy New Year! Today we speak to Jude Gold...first 2017 candidate for the 'slashie' award. Here goes: solo artist / high profile sideman - Greg Howe, Billy Sheehan, Jefferson Starship et al / journalist - Guitar Player Magazine / podcaster - No Guitar is Safe / educator -  former Director of Guitar at the Musicians Institute, published by Hal Leonard / good guy! My problem wasn't thinking of thin...

Welcome to our last episode of 2016.  Today we speak to Paul Rhoney of Rhoney Guitars. Paul makes incredibly cool guitars that embrace his love of vintage and oddball design, whilst presenting a unique and original aesthetic. Sarah Lipstate (Guitar Speak Podcast Episode 13) plays one of Paul's beautiful Oceana models. Paul also co-hosts a great podcast - The Luthierist 2.0 - with Jon Sullivan of S...

Welcome to the Guitar Speak Podcast! Today we speak amps with Grant Wills from Valve Heaven. Grant builds a range of low to medium powered amps that sound amazing and also hosts amp building workshops. Why does he have a range called the Lamington? There is a great reason! We also ask Grant some questions on valve amp basics - what is push-pull? Class A vs A/B? Triode vs Pentode?  Thanks for tunin...

Welcome to the Guitar Speak Podcast. Today we speak to New Yorker, Rob Balducci. Rob is a fantastic rock instrumentalist with several albums on Steve Vai's Favoured Nations label. He is an Ibanez, D'Addario and Atomic amps endorser, to name just a few of the companies he has had long associations with. Rob has a knack for melding his broad influences into fantastic compositions with very cool tone...

Welcome to Episode 28 of The Guitar Speak Podcast! This week we speak to Johnny Balmer of Alchemy Audio. Based in Chicago, Johnny mods, builds and repairs pedals of all stripes. He has some high profile clients and is working on a line of original designs. Johnny also finds time to brew his own craft beer! We also have some exciting news about the 2017 Tamworth Country Music Festival from our frie...

We continue our discussion with Jon Sullivan from Sully Guitars in Dallas, TX. In this interview Sully describes in great detail his working partnership with the legendary Grover Jackson on a limited run of Sully '71s. Sully also talks us through some new designs and refinements to come to the range in 2017, and we speak about The Luthierist 2.0 Podcast, which he co-hosts with Paul Rhoney (of the...

Welcome to the Guitar Speak Podcast. This week we speak to Jon Sullivan - Sully - from Sully Guitars in Dallas, Texas. Sully builds amazing guitars which could be described as a modern evolution of the '80s hotrods he loved as a kid.  He has been working on a limited run of instruments built in conjunction with the legendary Grover Jackson, co-hosts The Luthierist 2.0 podcast and digs Ace Frehley....

Welcome to the Guitar Speak Podcast! This week we speak to the incredible Andy Timmons. Andy has had a remarkable career as a sideman for Danger Danger, Simon Philips, Kip Winger, Paul Stanley and Olivia Newton-John to name a few. He has jammed alongside Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai and is a popular Ibanez and Mesa Boogie endorser. Throughout his career Andy has released...

Today we continue our interview with Randall Waller, with more stories about Mutt Lange, touring rigs with Shania Twain and Keith Urban, coming back home to Australia and working on a solo album. We have heard some of it and it's sounding massive... Episode 24 is brought to you by yougroove@optusnet.com.au design and Michael Dolce's 2016 Funk/Fusion Masterclass Tour. Subscribe to us on iTunes or S...

Welcome to Episode 23 of The Guitar Speak Podcast. Today we speak to Randall Waller, who has had an amazing career touring with the likes of  Shania Twain, Keith Urban, Bonnie Tyler, Dragon, Sharon O'Neil, Jon English, Billy Thorpe and Rose Tattoo to name a few - not a bad resume! This Episode is brought to you by You Groove Design - yougroove@optusnet.com.au  and Michael Dolce's 2016 Funk/Fusion...

Welcome to Episode 22!   Today we speak to Andy Othling, the man behind lowercase noises. Andy has a built a full time career crafting beautiful ambient and cinematic pieces and taking on some super creative projects. Andy tells of his emerging influences, delving into instrumental guitar, touring as a soloist and sideman, his new podcast, gear and much more. Todays episode is brought to you by Mi...

Welcome to Episode 21 of The Guitar Speak Podcast. Today we give a shout out to Michael Katselos and Storm Front Touring for putting on the amazing Gary Moore Remembered concert. We spoke to Michael about the show in Episode 18 and when we attended the gig this week we were blown away! Our main interview this week is with David Steedman, General Manager of Maton Guitars, an iconic Australian compa...