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'Pretty Ballsy Having A Bass Solo On Your Debut': David Ellefson Recalls Learning Cliff Burton's '(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth' [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitars'Pretty Ballsy Having A Bass Solo On Your Debut': David Ellefson Recalls Learning Cliff Burton's '(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth' [News] Music News : "I'm like, 'Oh my gosh. I think they got the wrong guy.'"

'I'd Say One In Three People In The Crowd Liked Us': Original Primus Guitarist On Band's Beginnings &Amp; Origin Of The 'Primus Sucks' Slogan [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitars'I'd Say One In Three People In The Crowd Liked Us': Original Primus Guitarist On Band's Beginnings &Amp; Origin Of The 'Primus Sucks' Slogan [News] Music News : "We would rehearse a new song one or two times, and surprisingly Les would put it on the next show’s playlist. It taught me how to gracefully stumble through a song."

Gretsch's Unusual Folding Guitar That Beat The Travel Guitar Market By 40 Years: The Bikini [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsGretsch's Unusual Folding Guitar That Beat The Travel Guitar Market By 40 Years: The Bikini [News] Music News : The neck alone had every working part: pickup, controls, bridge, string anchors. The folding body it slid into was just decoration.

Slayer's 'God Hates Us All' Turns 25: Inside The Alternate Tunings And New Producer Behind Their 9/11-Overshadowed Release [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsSlayer's 'God Hates Us All' Turns 25: Inside The Alternate Tunings And New Producer Behind Their 9/11-Overshadowed Release [News] Features : "I want us to be the AC/DC of thrash. I want people to know exactly what they're going to get from us."

Pulled From The Coronation Playlist, Voted Down By Scotland's Own Fans: The Proclaimers' 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' Became Scotland's World Cup Goal Song This Summer [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsPulled From The Coronation Playlist, Voted Down By Scotland's Own Fans: The Proclaimers' 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' Became Scotland's World Cup Goal Song This Summer [News] Features : Craig Reid wrote "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" in 45 minutes while waiting on a lift to a gig in Aberdeen. Chrysalis released it in 1988, and barely anyone noticed. Five years, one film soundtrack, and a Comic Re

Pointy Guitars Weren't Just For Metal Players: 'A Quick Way You Could Have A Makeover,' Author Explains [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsPointy Guitars Weren't Just For Metal Players: 'A Quick Way You Could Have A Makeover,' Author Explains [News] Gear : "Pick up a pointy all of a sudden…"

The Polka Lesson Hidden In My Chemical Romance's 'Mama' [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsThe Polka Lesson Hidden In My Chemical Romance's 'Mama' [News] Tab Spotlight : The staccato bass-and-chord pattern in the verses is where most rock guitarists trip up on a first attempt: nothing rings, nothing carries over, and rock playing trains the opposite instinct. The fix is r

'What Would Geezer Butler Do?' Why Tony Iommi Banned Guide Tracks For Becky Baldwin's Sessions On New Album [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitars'What Would Geezer Butler Do?' Why Tony Iommi Banned Guide Tracks For Becky Baldwin's Sessions On New Album [News] Interviews : UG Exclusive: "I thought, okay, I've played a lot of Geezer Butler bass lines over the years, I think I know the kind of things he would play, and I know Tony likes Geezer's playing, so let's channel some of

Neuroscience Study Links Childhood Guitar And Piano Lessons To Stronger Working Memory [News]

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsNeuroscience Study Links Childhood Guitar And Piano Lessons To Stronger Working Memory [News] Trends : Learning and sticking to an instrument from a young age can have benefits, but exactly how much does it affect you?

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About

XLR is a magazine, a radar and a diary about music gear and the making of music — for the people who make records and put on shows, wherever they do it.

The name is the three-pin connector that every signal in the business passes through: the microphone on stage and in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX cable that runs the lights. Studio, stage and lighting rig share it, and so does this magazine. Every few hours XLR collects what the makers shipped, what the reviewers heard, what the studios and the touring crews are doing, which producers and collectives are surfacing and what they are saying — synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lights, the rooms and the people — from a few hundred sources in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and more, then plots what is moving. The editor writes a letter every few days. Nothing is sold here; when a link leads to a shop, that is the maker's shop, not ours.