Happy Halloween everyone!

If you still don’t know what to wear tonight, here are a few rockstar halloween ideas:

ELVIS

ROCKSTAR

PINK GUITAR-POODLE HYBRID

THE BEATLES

MARIACHI

Cornell University researchers created the smallest guitar from crystalline silicon. The Nano guitar is only 10 micrometers in size, is about the size of a cell. It has six ultra tiny strings about 100 atoms in width. The new technology demonstrates a new generation of electromechanical devices.

Using high-voltage electron beam lithography at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility, one of only two similar machines in this country, the structures were sculpted out of single crystal silicon on oxide substrates. A resist is used to pattern the top silicon layer. The oxide that is underneath this layer can be selectively removed using a wet chemical etch. The result: free-standing structures in silicon crystal.

Now if only we can find a way to teach bacterias to play it then this world would be a better place.

If you’re looking for a guitar pick, there’s no shortage of different shapes, styles and materials available for you to choose from. Customized picks have been prevalent since the days when Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick would throw hundreds of them out into the audience. In fact, most famous guitarists have their own custom guitar pick. Even among the myriad of different styles, some plectrums are more unique than others. The world’s most expensive guitar picks are some of those.

Starpics, an Australian company known for plectrums made of precious metals, created a completely unique pair of guitar picks. Like their other picks, they’re guaranteed to last pretty much forever and to significantly reduce string breakage. So what makes these picks so special?

They’re made of meteors.

These two luxury picks were fashioned from pieces of Gibeon meteorite. Said to be around 4 billion years old, Gibeon meteorites were discovered in 1836 in Namibia, Africa, where their sale and export were banned by the local government. Despite that fact, over twenty-five tons of the meteorites have been recovered and it is the most commonly found meteorite on the market today. One of the most interesting things about the meteorites is the pattern of Widmanstatten lines created by their frigid passage through space. These patterns are preserved in the picks and can be seen in the picture above.

The most expensive guitar picks in the world are priced at $5,000 AUD ($4,674 USD).

RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) can occur from any movement that is repeated many times. For most people it is the clicking of a mouse and the tapping of fingers on a keyboard, but it can also be contracted by playing a musical instrument. Other such conditions that can be aproduct of RSI are Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Tendonitis.

Ways Of Preventing RSI

01. Check Your Fretting Hand
Having a poor hand position can be a factor is having more tension in your fretting hand, this is usually because the placement of the thumb is too high and that the wrist has to bend to allow the fingers to do their job. Depending on the size of your hand and how comfortable you are with playing with your thumb quite high this should be seen as a problem that needs sorted — look at your wrist and that should tell you everything.

2. Check Your Guitar Height
Never ever play with a guitar too low down. It does not look cool, it does not enhance playing but it does encourage injury. Playing with the guitar quite high is actually more comfortable and allows for better playing in most cases. Again the indicators here should be the wrists and how straight they are.

3. Check Your Picking Hand
Anchoring your hand, forearm, pinky or any part of your body to the guitar creates more friction and more tension in your muscles. Fact. The decision as to whether they create enough tension to be a problem is yours. If it is then it would involve learning a new way of picking all over again — this is worth it as I’m sure you’d rather play guitar than not even be able to grip things (happens in extreme cases).

4. Relax
Like above — any unneeded tension can attribute to more pressure on your limbs. This can result in having a sore shoulder when you play to your hand going numb. At no point is guitar supposed to hurt when you’re playing (apart from calluse building in your finger tips). If you are having such problems then just try to play something easy with no tension — think light. Sometimes tension is a result of muscle memory and needs to be wiped out through lots of practice. This should involve relearning something slow — speed when you can’t play very fast causes most

Evidently, lots of people decided to pick up AC/DC’s Black Ice when they were at Wal-Mart buying their Halloween candy. The album enters The Billboard 200 at #1, with an eye-popping sales tally of 784,000. That’s the second biggest debut of 2008, trailing only Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III, which started in June with sales of 1,006,000. Black Ice had a bigger first week than Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, which started in June with sales of 721,000. AC/DC’s tally represents the biggest first-week by a rock album since U2’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb started with sales of 840,000 in November 2004. It’s the biggest debut ever by a mainstream hard rock album. (A pair of alternative-metal bands, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, got off to faster starts.)

It’s also the biggest debut ever for an “exclusive”–an album sold in only one retail chain. It tops Eagles’ Long Road Out Of Eden, which opened with sales of 711,000 in November. Both of these albums are Wal-Mart exclusives. I wasn’t sure that AC/DC and Wal-Mart would be a good fit when I first heard about this deal. Garth Brooks and Eagles made perfect sense for the retailer, because those acts all but define the term “mass appeal.” I thought AC/DC’s appeal was more specific and narrow. This week’s debut reminds us (as if previous achievements by Led Zeppelin and Metallica hadn’t already made the point) that hard rock is virtually as mainstream as country and rock.

You can read more of this story here.

When you play your guitar you will undoubtedly leave some dirt and oil on the guitar. Dust will also collect on your guitar which may dull the appearance.

This is unavoidable however a little preventative maintenance and proper cleaning will help avoid future issues with your finish.

After you play your guitar you should take a few minutes to wipe down the guitar with a cotton cloth. Use a 100% cotton cloth that’s free of lint and dirt. You can also use a commercial flannel guitar polishing cloth available at your local guitar store. Please note that some paper towels may scratch your finish, particularly if the finish is shellac or lacquer so you should avoid wiping down your guitar with paper towels.

If you notice your guitar has spots that have a haze to them you may have grease or oil deposits on your guitar. These may require a water and little mild detergent. Apply the water and detergent to the cloth and not directly to the guitar. Use as little moisture possible in order to avoid getting detergent and dirt worked into hairline cracks in the finish. You don’t want any detergent left on the guitar finish so wipe the guitar down with a clean slightly damp cloth after using detergent then follow up with a dry cloth to remove any remaining streaks.

If you want to polish your guitar there are several commercial guitar polishes and cleaners on the market that provide good results however be careful with creamy polishes as they may have a mild abrasive which can dull your finish so go easy on the polish.

If you encounter adhesive or tape on your guitar you may have to use mineral spirits or naphtha to clean off the adhesive. This is safe for most guitar finishes but when in doubt consult your favorite repair shop for advice.

Guitar Hero:World Tour is released to the world today, but it wasn’t until Tim Riley was standing in a London recording studio watching the seminal 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols rerecord their smash hit Anarchy in the U.K. that he realized just how popular Guitar Hero had become.

To include songs on Guitar Hero, the makers need the master tapes to the recording. The only problem was the master recording to the Sex Pistols hit song Anarchy in the U.K. had been lost for four decades.

Much to his surprise, the surviving members of the band offered to go back into the studio – something they hadn’t done in 30 years – just to record a song for a video game where players rock out on plastic guitars in time with colored dots on a screen.

“It was the craziest thing ever,” he said. “I never thought something like that could happen.”

Tuesday marks the beginning of the latest chapter in the unlikely story of Guitar Hero, with the release of its latest incarnation, Guitar Hero: World Tour.

Read more about this story at globeandmail.com here.

Acoustic Guitar magazine and Takamine have teamed up to give you a shot at winning the perfect performing guitarist’s package!

Enter today!
The lucky winner will take home a Takamine Singer Songwriter guitar, and a Genz Benz Shenandoah Pro acoustic amp.

PRIZE: Takamine TF430SS Singer Songwriter model with case
Retail Value : $2,219.00

PLUS: Genz Benz’s Shen Pro LT Acoustic Amp
Retail Value: $1,499.00

As a model in the T Series of professional acoustics, the Takamaine TF430SS Singer Songwriter is an elegant songwriting tool with a classic, vintage vibe. The guitar is built with luthier-selected, solid cedar top and solid ovangkol back and sides, a semi-gloss finish, and comes equipped with a pickup and CTP-2 preamp. The warm, lush tone and wide dynamic range of the Takamine Singer Songwriter provides excellent support for a solo vocalist, and its sweet voice responds superbly to a variety of playing styles. You’ll definitely find inspiration in this guitar!

Get full-bodied, clean tone to enhance the sound of your Takamine Singer Songwriter! The Genz Benz Shenendoah Pro LT includes a 12AX7 tube to the preamp, and a highly efficient 300 watt neodymium 12-inch loudspeaker, chosen for its articulate response. The Shen Pro features a rear-ported cabinet and bottom-mounted, tilt-back stand that will angle the amp up toward the performer. Sustainable plywood and Baltic birch construction make this professional acoustic amp lightweight and portable. It’s perfect for your new Singer Songwriter guitar!

I found this funny Mastercard Commercial. Look for a brief Slash cameo.

Singer Dido is taking music classes at a university in Los Angeles. She took evening classes while making Safe Trip Home, her first album for five years, which is out next month. 

“I just wanted to use my brain,” she said, adding her fellow students did not recognise her initially.

“No-one noticed. It’s great, no one ever does,” she said. “I don’t go out of my way to be noticed, but I wasn’t wearing a fake beard or anything.”