The rock version of Pachelbel’s Canon in D has been one of the most viewed videos in YouTube thanks to the arrangements of JerryC. There have been a lot of different versions of this including the popular video by a FunTwo. If you haven’t seen the original video check this out:

If you have always been wondering how to play this, check out the tutorial below. With a little bit of practice you should be on your way to rock star status.

2008 has been a great year for music! Taylor Swift rocked us with a great album. Taylor Guitars launched their awesome electric guitar line. Kanye West amazed us with his non-rap album.. maybe not.. but it was awesome to read blogs dissing him which made my 2008 quite fun. American Idol gave us two great Davids. Quirky Katie Perry entertained us with her novelty songs (which she will perform tonight in Hollywood for the New Year’s eve bash). Jason Mraz finished a very successful tour. Chinese Democracy finally came out after a long wait. Guitar Hero World Tour (including Heidi Klum’s guitar shredding performance-definitely a highlight). The Jonas Brothers and their promise rings. And a lot more…

Hopefully your 2008 has been a great ride. I will leave you with both acoustic and electric versions of Auld Lang Syne to help you greet 2009!

Acoustic Version:

Electric Version:

If you didn’t know, tapping is the new strumming. Check out this impressive demonstration of guitar skills by Eric Mongrain.

A smashed guitar from the late rock legend Curt Cobain has been sold for $100k to an unidentified collector. This is the second highest price  for any of Cobain’s memorabilia.

The sale was confirmed Tuesday by Jacob McMurray, senior curator at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, where the taped-up Fender Mustang guitar in sunburst finish was displayed for a time.

The guitar is apparently held together with a duct tape.

The title says it all. It’s a video of 2 guys sharing a guitar. This is the total opposite of a double neck guitar.

Who needs two guitars?

Japanese guitarist Merce Death plays a guitar connected to a tesla coil by MIDI interface to output the frequencies. Don’t try this at home kids.

Here is an awesome video of a kid playing the Simpsons theme using two guitars.

Most people I know (or in the world) play guitars with at least 6 strings. Willy has proven that you don’t need all those extra strings. All you need is one. Which can save you a ton of money over time and help conserve our steel resources.

Sitka Spruce - Sitka spruce is the top wood standard of the modern era. Its dynamic range is very broad, allowing for everything from aggressive strumming and flatpicking to fingerpicking.

Western Red Cedar - Cedar is less dense than spruce, and that softness typically translates into a sense of sonic warmth. If Sitka has a full dynamic range, cedar makes quieter tones louder, but it also imposes more of a ceiling on high volume levels driven by an aggressive attack. If one tries to drive a cedar top hard at a certain point it will reach a volume limit. Typically, players with a lighter touch sound wonderful on a cedar top guitar, fingerstyle players especially -  that lighter touch will be amplifieda little more, and one’s attach never reaches the ceiling.

Adirondack Spruce - Also known as Eastern red or Appalachian spruce, Adirondacy defined guitars of the pre-WWII era. Its availability is beginning to increase slightly, as another generation of trees matures, although they’re still considerably smaller than their old growth forebears. Current supplies of Adirondack tend to lack a certain aesthetic purity of look, but tonally, Adirondack is even more dynamic than Sitka, with a higher ceiling for volume. The payoff is the ability to drive an Addie top hard and hear it get louder and louder without losing clarity; it’s hard to outplay it.

Engelmann Spruce - Engelmann is also known as white, European or German spruce, although they are technically different species. It is usually visually distinguishable from Sitka by its creamier complexion. Engelmann trees these days are so small and twisted that we get a fair amount of runout and as a result, mismatched tops. Sonically, Engelmann has a mature tone, and yields a slightly richer midrange than Sitka, which makes a guitar sound a bit older. Old growth Engelmann tends to have a sonic attribute of smoothness or refinement to it, but the days of older growth Engelmann tress are essentially gone for now.

Hardwood tops - Certain guitars that feature hardwoods for backs and sides will occasionally also incorporate a top of the same hardwood. Think koa or walnut. These tend to have a similar tonal range to Sitka but will be brighter. An all-koa guitar, for example, will start out bright, but again, the more it’s played the more it warms up and develops bloom. An all-hardwood guitar really needs to be played a lot before it starts to sound full and rich. But once it does, it yields a very rewarding sound.

British rockers Muse’s total count for guitars smashed has totaled to $32,000 in worth. Front  man Matt Bellamy has developed the habit of smashing is $243 at the end of every show. They band had clocked up more than 140 shows on their tour.

Their tour manager has insisted they pay for all the damages themselves. He says in Out of This World: The Story of Muse, a new biography of the band, “Every day he’d (Bellamy) smash up the guitar in the same way. When they smash the stuff it comes out of their own pocket. After a while they learnt to smash up their gear without ruining it.”