Each January, the music and pro audio industry manufacturers gather in Anaheim, California, to unveil their newest products before a rabid assemblage of retailers and the press — these are the new products you’ll be lusting after for your guitar rig for the next year! I’ve attended dozens of trade shows for more years than I care to remember, and I have to say that this Winter NAMM show was a ton of fun — loads of new products, great concerts and music events, $12 turkey sandwiches… what more could you ask for?

In order to progress and improve as a guitarist, you have to practice. Sure, we all know that! But the problem for many of us is time — we’re all so busy that finding time to practice can be challenging. It follows, then, that anything you can do to make your practice easier to accomplish and more efficient is a very good thing!

Sweetwater recently began carrying Orange amplifiers and cabinets, which meant just one thing: I had to get my hands on them for review, in my own studio! These amplifiers have a heritage that stretches back literally decades, to 1968, when Cliff Cooper began making the amps in his London West End music shop.

There are really only three aspects to achieving speed while playing guitar: the fretting hand’s ability to move quickly and accurately, the picking hand’s ability to move quickly and accurately, and the synchronization between the two hands. If both hands can make their movements quickly and the two hands are tightly synchronized, you’ll be able to shred with the best of them. (Or, if shredding isn’t your goal, you’ll be able to play cleanly with great control, because you’ll never be pushing the limits of your ability.)

Mitch Gallagher, Sweetwater Editorial Director and Editor of Guitars & Gear, takes you on a thrilling tour of three excellent stompboxes: the Seymour Duncan Double Back Compressor, the Fulltone Ultimate Octave, and the handwired Ibanez Tube Screamer.

Join Mitch Gallagher, Sweetwater Editorial Director and Editor of Guitars & Gear, as he puts two amplifiers through their paces. First, the astounding Mesa/Boogie Mark V will show off its amazing flexibility. Then, the crunch-monster Orange Tiny Terror will give up its rock-centric tonal virtues.

One of my oldest guitars is the “FrankenTele” — a much maligned and abused Telecaster. The guitar started out as one of the original Japanese Squier Telecasters from the early-mid-1980s. It was a standard Tele: two pickups, an alder body, a maple neck and fingerboard, a black finish, and a white pickguard.

Sweetwater has announced a very exciting once-in-a-lifetime event — one that any guitar lover would be thrilled to attend! On March 5 and 6, 2010, Paul Reed Smith himself will be coming to Sweetwater and bringing not only his Private Stock staff but also his Private Stock Wood Library! You’ll be able to sit down with Paul and his staff, and design and order your own custom Private Stock guitar.