B.B. King, Jimmy Page, Nancy Wilson, Eddie Van Halen, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Slash, Prince, Nita Strauss, Steve Vai, Chuck Berry – those are just a handful of six-string masters. The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments with roots dating back to the 14th century. George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker made the first electric guitar in the United States in the 20th century, Les Paul continued innovating by creating the solid-body electric guitar, multi-track recording, echo, over-dubbing, and other musical technologies.
In 1987, the Guitar & Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA) and the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) founded International Guitar Day to advance global sales. April was designated as its commemorative month, so it’s the perfect moment to share three music podcasts that absolutely shred.
Shred With Shifty is a podcast led by Chris Shiflett, longtime guitarist for the Foo Fighters and solo artist. After watching hours of YouTube videos with people trying to explain intricate and/or mind-blowing guitar solos, Shiflett decided to go to the source of these legendary licks. Shiflett asks, “How did you do that?” Every axe slinger provides insight by giving a front-row lesson. It’s like asking Jim Delligatti and Ray Kroc for the Big Mac sauce and getting it! Shred With Shifty gets the ingredients for tasty riffs instead. Shred With Shifty is produced by Double Elvis (the podcast company co-founded by Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan, creator & host of the podcast DISGRACELAND) in partnership with Volume.com and Premier Guitar. If you wanted to know how Alex Lifeson pieced together the “Limelight” solo in the studio, a breakdown of the chords to the iconic Diana Ross hit “I’m Coming Out” from Nile Rodgers himself, or how Richie Sambora crafted the “Wanted Dead or Alive” solo, this is the show for you.
For Craig Garber, music has been one of the most important things in his life. Many of his childhood days were spent sitting in his room listening to David Gilmour, Freddie King, Jeff Beck, Roy Buchanan, and Alvin Lee. He learned to play drums, multiple woodwind instruments, and (eventually) the guitar. Garber was an entrepreneur for 18 years and published a newsletter about selling, marketing, and writing ad copy for 10 years which included an interview of the month. He thought it would be cool to have conversations with guitarists and created Everyone Loves Guitar to fill that curiosity. His goal is to have interesting chats with professional guitar players, musicians, and other creatives to find what makes them tick and to get the backstory of successful performers. Craig has conducted over 900 in-depth interviews with musicians and artists since its inception in 2017 – Andy Summers, Eric Gales, June Millington, Phil Collen, Joe Satriani, Stevie Salas, Sue Foley, Ian Moore, Ty Tabor, and many others. The interviews on Everyone Loves Guitar are fascinating. The listener gets a peek behind the curtain and uncovers the life stories of music industry favorites and insiders.
Jude Gold, Jefferson Starship’s lead guitarist and an editor for Guitar Player Magazine, flies his helicopter to various musical landscapes to land interviews with other rock gods for No Guitar Is Safe – the official Guitar Player Magazine Podcast. Gold brings you along on this musical journey with some of the world’s most revered guitarists with face-to-face interviews and playing sessions. “Amazing players, amazing stories, amazing playing” is the mantra for No Guitar Is Safe, and I can say it delivers on that promise. Jude’s interviews are a lot of fun, too. Steve Lukather, George Lynch, Billy Sheehan, Andy Timmons, and Joel Hoekstra are just a few shredders to plug in and jam. The podcast is closing in on 200 episodes and it’s easy to understand why.
Let this trio of podcasts inspire you to grab your guitar, raise your fist in the air, pick up a new instrument, or bang your head!
The next column will spotlight dynamic duos who share hosting duties and may agree or disagree on various musical topics combined with humor and a wealth of knowledge.
SHRED WITH SHIFTY, EVERYONE LOVES GUITAR, & NO GUITAR IS SAFE ARE AVAILABLE WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO PODCASTS!
