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

The Digital Revolution

It has been an ongoing debate – as well as the basis for many strong opinions – as our industry continues to embrace the technological advances of the digital revolution.

It has been an ongoing debate – as well as the basis for many strong opinions – as our industry continues to embrace the technological advances of the digital revolution. For years, gearheads have cautiously considered the dichotomous relationship of digital tone and analog tone, especially as it relates to the recording industry. However, I am referring to an entirely different digital revolution, the digital revolution of how modern day information is disseminated, received and used.

In this day of “new media,” digital technology has presented informational opportunities that extend far beyond what traditional media services could ever provide. This is going somewhere, right? Well, of course it is – I would like to personally introduce the recently updated and vastly improved digital edition of Premier Guitar.com. I promise you that there is more than one prize in this box of Cracker Jacks.

Start by logging on to https://digital.premierguitar.com. From there, you can start the search for your fortune cookie of tone. Premier Guitar’s new digital edition features the very latest digital functionality, providing your membership to the gearhead network of tone.

Finally, read how you want. Utilize our page turning software to scroll through the entire publication, access a fully linked Table of Contents or click the “pages” function at the top toolbar to access thumbnails of each page for easy, visual navigation. Effortlessly zoom in and zoom out with just a click for the highest quality resolution available. Quickly visit each advertiser through the rich media links on each page, or by locating them in our interactive Advertisers Index – simply click on the web address of an advertiser and jump to their site to learn more about their product and services. “Search” for specific articles, subjects or advertisers to find what you are looking for without the wait. Use the “Share” feature to email interesting articles to fellow tone chasers. “Download” the entire issue and save it as a local version for offline viewing, all faster than you can say, “Tone up!”

By the way, did I mention that all of this is free? 24-7-365. Some would say we are frickin’ crazy, that we should just tease you with small samplings and making you pay for more. We say, “Nonsense!” The relentless pursuit of tone should be a shared journey and we want to share it with you.

Needless to say, we here at PG think this service simply kicks ass, but we want to know what you think. Please let us know by emailing me (trent@premierguitar.com) or our Managing Editor, Adam Moore at adam@premierguitar.com. We’ll actually listen!

So whether your preference is traditional print or a digital magazine, Premier Guitar simply wants to provide you with the opportunity to peel your own banana. It’s information on your terms, the way it should be. It really is part of our plan to rule the universe, one gearhead at a time. Life is short; tone up and throw down.

Nuff Sed

The Spirit Fall trio: drummer Brian Blade (right) and saxophonist Chris Potter (center) joined Patitucci (left) for a single day at The Bunker. “Those guys are scary. It almost puts pressure on me, how good they are, because they get it really fast,” says Patitucci.

Photo by Sachi Sato

Legendary bassist John Patitucci continues to explore the sound of a chord-less trio that balances melodicism with boundless harmonic freedom—and shares lessons he learned from his mentors Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter.

In 1959, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s Giant Stepstwo of the most influential albums in jazz history—were recorded. It’s somewhat poetic that four-time Grammy-winning jazz bass icon John Patitucci was born that same year. In addition to a storied career as a bandleader, Patitucci cemented his legacy through his lengthy association with two giants of jazz: keyboardist Chick Corea, with whom Patitucci enjoyed a 10-year tenure as an original member of his Elektric and Akoustic bands, and saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s quartet, of which he was a core member for 20 years. Patitucci has also worked with a who’s who of jazz elites like Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie, and Michael Brecker.

Read MoreShow less

The National New Yorker lived at the forefront of the emerging electric guitar industry, and in Memphis Minnie’s hands, it came alive.

This National electric is just the tip of the iceberg of electric guitar history.

On a summer day in 1897, a girl named Lizzie Douglas was born on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, the first of 13 siblings. When she was seven, her family moved closer to Memphis, Tennessee, and little Lizzie took up the banjo. Banjo led to guitar, guitar led to gigs, and gigs led to dreams. She was a prodigious talent, and “Kid” Douglas ran away from home to play for tips on Beale Street when she was just a teenager. She began touring around the South, adopted the moniker Memphis Minnie, and eventually joined the circus for a few years.

Read MoreShow less
- YouTube

In our third installment with Santa Cruz Guitar Company founder Richard Hoover, the master luthier shows PG's John Bohlinger how his team of builders assemble and construct guitars like a chef preparing food pairings. Hoover explains that the finer details like binding, headstock size and shape, internal bracing, and adhesives are critical players in shaping an instrument's sound. Finally, Richard explains how SCGC uses every inch of wood for making acoustic guitars or outside ventures like surfboards and art.

We know Horsegirl as a band of musicians, but their friendships will always come before the music. From left to right: Nora Cheng, drummer Gigi Reece, and Penelope Lowenstein.

Photo by Ruby Faye

The Chicago-via-New York trio of best friends reinterpret the best bits of college-rock and ’90s indie on their new record, Phonetics On and On.

Horsegirl guitarists Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein are back in their hometown of Chicago during winter break from New York University, where they share an apartment with drummer Gigi Reece. They’re both in the middle of writing papers. Cheng is working on one about Buckminster Fuller for a city planning class, and Lowenstein is untangling Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann’s short story, “Three Paths to the Lake.”

Read MoreShow less