Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Gallery: Shaky Knees 2019

Good news, folks: Guitar is alive and well! PG headed south to Atlanta for three days to celebrate performances (and gather guitar details) from Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Tame Impala, Tyler Childers, Incubus, the Struts, Cage the Elephant, Tash Sultana, and more!

Oh Sees’ John Dwyer

Many fan art and t-shirt depictions of Dwyer showcase him in this manner: possessed, frantic, and most importantly, powerful. Seen here in overdrive with his custom Electrical Guitar Company SG-style companion, carries out the frantic ending of “Nite Expo.” During a 2017 interview with PG, Dwyer explains two unique things about his guitar: “I do three tunings live. I do a drop-D standard thing, a couple of Elizabeth Cotten tunings—like open G—and then I do this tuning I used to do with this band, Pink and Brown, where the lowest gauge string is dropped down to the next string up, so it would be a double A and then the top two strings would be tuned to the same B. I use .060-gauge strings right now.

Yeah, they’re Dungeon & Dragons knobs. This kid makes them. They’re awesome. I loved D&D when I was a kid and it still has play in my writing now in a weird way. I think role playing is just a huge metaphor for life [laughs]. They’re 10-sided dice and have pointed edges. It makes it super-easy to turn up and down by rolling your finger across it—even more so than a normal knob. I really like them for that. I can do volume tricks with it.”

Reader: T. Moody

Hometown: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Guitar: The Green Snake


Reader T. Moody turned this Yamaha Pacifica body into a reptilian rocker.

With a few clicks on Reverb, a reptile-inspired shred machine was born.

With this guitar, I wanted to create a shadowbox-type vibe by adding something you could see inside. I have always loved the Yamaha Pacifica guitars because of the open pickup cavity and the light weight, so I purchased this body off Reverb (I think I am addicted to that website). I also wanted a color that was vivid and bold. The seller had already painted it neon yellow, so when I read in the description, “You can see this body from space,” I immediately clicked the Buy It Now button. I also purchased the neck and pickups off of Reverb.

Read MoreShow less

Our columnist’s Greco 912, now out of his hands, but fondly remembered.

A flea-market find gave our Wizard of Odd years of squealing, garage-rock bliss in his university days.

Recently, I was touring college campuses with my daughter because she’s about to take the next step in her journey. Looking back, I’ve been writing this column for close to 10 years! When I started, my kids were both small, and now they’re all in high school, with my oldest about to move out. I’m pretty sure she’s going to choose the same university that I attended, which is really funny because she’s so much like me that the decision would be totally on point.

Read MoreShow less

Kevin Gordon and his beloved ES-125, in earlier days.

Photo by David Wilds

Looking for new fuel for your sound and songs? Nashville’s Kevin Gordon found both in exploring traditional blues tunings and their variations.

I first heard open guitar tunings while in college, from older players who’d become friends or mentors, and from various artists playing at the Delta Blues Festival in the early mid-’80s, which was held in a fallow field in Freedom Village, Mississippi—whose topographical limits likely did not extend beyond said field.

Read MoreShow less

Ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore records the song of Mountain Chief, head of the Blackfeet Tribe, on a phonograph for the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1916.

Once used as a way to preserve American indigenous culture, field recording isn’t just for seasoned pros. Here, our columnist breaks down a few methods for you to try it yourself.

The picture associated with this month’s Dojo is one of my all-time favorites. Taken in 1916, it marks the collision of two diverging cultural epochs. Mountain Chief, the head of the Piegan Blackfeet Tribe, sings into a phonograph powered solely by spring-loaded tension outside the Smithsonian. Across from him sits whom I consider the patron saint of American ethnomusicologists—the great Frances Densmore.

Read MoreShow less