Tommy Emmanuel, Summer NAMM 2017, Signature Sounds and More

Hey everyone, thanks for hanging out for Six String Sunday. I just got back from St. Louis, and was so excited to write this post for you guys. I’ve been doing the whole guitar radio thing on Anchor, and that’s been a lot of fun. There’s so many great musicians on there, and it’s been awesome to interact with everyone.
Thank you so much for reading this post each week. I write this for you guys, and want to know your feedback. If you want to see more or less of something, feel free to email me at Brian@ChasingSound.com. Let’s get into it!
Guitar Album of the Week — The Black Crowes were such a fun and creative rock band. When you add Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, you have a supergroup. That’s exactly what you can hear on Live at the Greek, the live album where the two giants of rock team up.
Jimmy and co. play Led Zeppelin hits, Black Crowes hits, a B.B. King tune and more. The reason I’m bringing this album up now is because it finally hit streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. There’s tone for days on this album, and it clocks in at just under 2 hours of music, with 20 songs.
If you’re a fan of classic rock, and want to hear some classic riffs and songs, check this album out.
How to develop your signature sound — With some of the feedback I got in the Spring, I’ve been developing new articles for Chasing Sound. One that was a question that came up repeatedly was how you could develop your own signature sound, and be content with your style.
In this post I show you an easy way to start this journey today. From listening and deciding (which is one of the most fun steps), to emulating and innovating on what your heroes play, you don’t have to feel stuck as a player.
This post gets into gear too, and how you shouldn’t let it set you back on your quest to develop your own personal style. I hope you dig this post, and if you do, let me know!
The Chasing Sound User’s Guide — Chasing Sound is in SO many places right now, that I made this handy User’s Guide so you can find all the places where I’m doing guitar related things.
You can find Chasing Sound at the website with lessons and more, on Anchor doing a guitar show, in this weekly post, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and more. I think there’s a wealth of good guitar information out there, and this gives you an easy way to pick and choose how you like to learn.
Best of Summer NAMM — The Summer NAMM show is wrapping up, and guitar companies debuted a lot of new products. There’s a ton to go over, but I wanted to go over some of my favorites like the new Jimi Hendrix pedals, including a mini wah introduced by Jim Dunlop. They released updates to a lot of their other pedals too, like the Carbon Copy and others.
Speaking of pedals, I think Boss’ new announcement of their 40th anniversary lineup looks pricey but amazing. If you’re looking for classic, hand-wired versions of these pedals, you’re going to want to check out this box set.
Being a big fan of Charvel Guitars, I was excited to see some new signature models. On the lower priced spectrum, Epiphone announced a $99 Les Paul. Not exactly sure how great it will be, but I’ll report back if I get a chance to check it out at my local guitar shop.
I’m also really into the new Brad Paisley Road Worn Tele from Fender, some of the new offerings from Strandberg Guitars, and so much more it wouldn’t fit in this post. What’s been your favorite thing you’ve seen coming out of NAMM? Let me know!
Finger Pain Survival Guide — One of the worst things you can do as a guitar player is to play through pain. Thankfully the good folks at Fender have written a great guide on how to avoid finger pain. From playing a little every day, getting to know your string gauges, and not giving up, there are some really helpful tips here.
Tommy Emmanuel — To wrap up this week’s edition of Six String Sunday I wanted to talk about Tommy Emmanuel. I’ve been playing guitar for nearly 20 years, and Tommy’s name has shown up on my radar time and time again, but I never really got around to listening to him play.
I’m so glad I’m getting to hear a player of Tommy’s caliber this late into my guitar life. What a magical player, who combines mind blowing technical ability, musicality, and fun. If you can incorporate those 3 things into your playing, you’d be well on the road to becoming a great guitar player.
Go check out Tommy’s latest album where he was Live at the Ryman, and let me know if you dig Tommy’s playing. I think it’ll want to make you pick up an acoustic right away. I was listening to Tommy speak recently, and he was talking about not only as a guitar player but as a musician, how he could use different musical techniques to make 3 minutes of music exciting.
Think of these musical techniques when you’re writing a new song, and how many of them you can incorporate to keep the listener’s attention.
P.S. If you’re reading this on Sunday, I have a really fun article posting to the site tomorrow about how to find inspiration.
Also I keep talking about it, but I’m having so much fun over at the Amped Up show I’m doing all about guitars. Go check it out at anchor.fm/chasingsound or download the app!
Thank you so much for reading, have a great week, and have fun playing guitar.
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If you have any questions or comments, you can reply to this post, let me know on Twitter, or by posting in our Facebook group. I also have a fun Instagram channel where I post fun guitar pictures throughout the week.
Brian Sutich is a guitar player, audio engineer, podcaster, teacher, and hockey fan! He loves learning, helping people, and drinking way too much coffee.

