My Top 5 Guitar Heroes

I've been thinking of some new ideas for this music blog other reviewing albums and concerts I've been to and thought I'd write about something else. So today's subject is my Top 5 Favourite Guitarists! So rather than sit here and blabber on, let's get right into it. What I must add before I get into it is that these are my personal favourites so not everyone might agree with my lists but like I said; it's personal opinion.

1. Brian May

I have always been aware of Queen's legendary music catalogue ever since I was little and have memories of watching footage of a Queen concert from the 80s as a little girl. My admiration for Brian May as both a person and a guitar player has continually grown over the years and I was lucky enough as you have probably read in an earlier post to see Brian live in concert with Queen earlier this year. I was already a fan, but seeing him play live was just incredible! His guitar playing has a distinctive sound that I don't think I've ever heard anyone else's playing sound like.

Brian's iconic guitar known as "The Red Special" was built by both Brian and his father when he was just a 16 years old and in school using any material that he had available to him. According to my research it cost him just £8 to make which is pretty incredible to think about. Apparently, the neck of the guitar was made using the wood from a 100 year old (ish) fireplace mantel which earned the guitar one of its nicknames "The Fireplace". Another fact that you may not know is that rather than using a pick or a plectrum (whatever you prefer to call it) Brian opts for a sixpence coin and during quieter parts of a song uses his fingers to pick the guitar strings instead.

2. Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham, lead guitarist of Fleetwood Mac is another of my all-time favourite guitar players. Again, he has an extremely unique technique when it comes to playing guitar where he uses his fingers alone to pick the strings of his guitar. I recently read somewhere that Lindsey first developed this particular technique when he took to bed for a year, ill with mononucleosis just a short period of time before he and Sevie Nicks were due to move to LA to pursue a career in the music industry. I have linked a video below of Lindsey playing guitar to give you a taste of just how much of an incredible player he is.

3. Orianthi Panagaris

I have been a huge fan of Ori since 2009 when I saw her in Michael Jackson's This is It movie, I was about 10 years old at the time and was in complete and utter awe watching her play. Around that time I was given the opportunity to learn guitar at school and probably wouldn't have actually taken up the opportunity to learn guitar had it not been for Orianthi's influence. It was so cool to see such an amazing female guitarist and I wanted to be just like her, that is most definitely where my love for musical instruments began!

She can seriously shred a guitar like nobody's business-she'd put a lot of guys to shame with her playing! Over the time that I've been a fan of hers I've done my fair share of research and learnt a lot about her and apparently she left school at 15 to focus on her music career and release her first and it certainly paid off! Over the years she worked, performed and toured with music legends such as Michael Jackson, Prince, Alice Cooper, Dave Stewart, Carlos Santana, Steve Via and most recently, former lead guitarist of Bon Jovi who show toured the UK and Europe with last year and is also, currently recording an album with. During that time she's released her own solo albums Believe and Heaven in This Hell both of which are filled from start to finish with her incredible guitar riffs and solo!

I personally owe a huge thanks to Ori for her influence over the years and of course taking some time at one of her concerts last year to chat with me backstage. It was a memory that'll last a lifetime and definitely inspired the young musician in me!

4. Prince

Prince is probably best known for his massive success with his 1984 album Purple Rain and of course songs such as 1999, Raspberry Beret, Diamonds and Pearls, Kiss and Little Red Corvette. However, one thing that isn't acknowledged as often is his talent when it comes to playing guitar. There isn't much video footage of Prince on YouTube due to his own personal decisions. I have however, embedded one of the few videos that I came across to let you guys see one of his incredible guitar solos right before your very own eyes!  Prepare to be blown away my friends!

5. Jimi Hendrix

Now, I'm pretty sure this guy would be on almost everyone's lists of favourite guitar players because he is by far one of the best guitarists to ever live in my opinion! Jimi was in a league of his own and to top his playing would be near impossible. Being left handed, Jimi used right handed guitars, turned them upside down and had them restrung to suit playing his guitar left handed. Jimi received his first guitar at the age of 15 as a gift from his father Al, costing him just $5. And thank goodness he did, because none of the incredible music and guitar solos that Jimi created during his lifetime would have exisisted and inspired so many music lovers out there!

Prince HITnRUN Phase One Album Review

This review of legendary singer Prince's latest album HITnRUN Phase One is up a little later than I had initially anticipated due to the fact I tried to get a copy of the album on its release date however, the music shop I visited in Glasgow for whatever reason didn't have it out on display in its designated area. Perhaps, I went in too early but considering it was release day, you'd expect them to have it out on display wouldn't you? After that, I didn't get a chance to pop into my local HMV to pick up a copy until just over a week or so ago. But all that matters is that I managed to eventually get a copy of the album and have finally written a review! I've listened to this album in full on a good few occasions now to really get a flavour of it before actually sitting down and writing my thoughts and opinions about it. So here it goes.....

Prince's latest album comes almost a year to date since the release of his previous solo album Art Official Age and his band 3rd Eye Girl's long awaited release PLECTRUMELECTRUM. I actually can't quite believe it's been a year since the release of both albums as I remember dragging my Mum out to HMV after tutoring to purchase the albums I'd waited so long to finally hear! And, an entire year later I find myself sitting here writing about yet another Prince album that an entire year ago I had no idea would even exist 12 months later. HITnRUN Phase One shares the same name of Prince and 3rd Eye Girl's HITnRUN tour last year which saw them tour the UK in early February 2014 and perform a selection of last minute gigs. The reception of Prince's new band 3rd Eye Girl in the UK was a success leading to a further set of arena tour dates in May and June of last year, one of which I was lucky enough to actually attend! What a night!

If you read one of my latest blog posts on the subject of music streaming you will probably recall that I mentioned that Prince would be releasing his new album HITnRUN Phase One exclusively on a streaming named Tidal ahead of the physical album release last month in September. So what are my thoughts on this new release? Well let me begin.....

The opening number, a song named Million $ Show features a singer named Judith Hill who was a backing vocalist on Michael Jackson's This Is It and was also seen as contestant on The Voice in the US. The song begins quite gently before the listener is subjected to a blast from the past, a sample of Let's Go Crazy from the 1984 Prince album Purple Rain. It then transforms into a more upbeat R&B duet between Prince and Judith Hill featuring a similar flavour to Prince's previous solo album Art Official Age.

As it begins to fade we are introduced to another number named Shut This Down. This is followed by a duet called Ain't About 2 Stop with Rita Ora, who can be seen as a judge on this years X Factor here in the UK. This song in my opinion features a range of genres including R&B, Funk, Rap and there's even a slight hint of rock which just wouldn't be the same without Prince's incredible guitar playing skills. Like A Mack comes next featuring a duo named Curly Fryz whom I have never heard of here in the UK. The actual lyrics are performed as more of a rap; a genre of which I am not a fan of whatsoever, however this will of course appeal to so many and I like the fact that because this genre is more popular with my generation it could potentially introduce the world of Prince to othersnof my age group. What I will say about Like A Mack is that the actual music itself most definitely has a taste of the funk and soul genre.

This Could B Us comes next on the album. Now if you're an avid Prince fan and keep up to date with the fan sites, you like me will probably be familiar with this song title as it's popped up by name from time to time in different articles about Prince's up and coming music for well over a year or so now. Perhaps even longer, but I've only really been keeping up with the Prince fan sites since early 2014 so that's one fact I'm not 100% per cent sure of. This Could B Us slows things down quite a bit, although this song isn't quite what I'd describe as ballad. It has a significant piano riff throughout most of the song and of course one of Prince's amazing guitar solos! He is in my opinion such an underrated guitarist and deserves much more credit than he receives in that field.

Fallinlove2nite is a more upbeat, dance track which was actually released last year as single with actress Zoey Deschannel sharing vocals with Prince. Prince actually premiered this number when making a guest appearance on an episode of the hit TV show in the US called New Girl. However, the album version of Fallinlove2nite only features Prince on vocals. This is then followed by a shorter song named X's Face.

Probably my favourite track on the entire album, a song named Hardrocklover soon follows. Basically, just as it says in the title, this song features a more rockier sound which appeals to someone like myself. At the same time, it features the distinctive funk sound that I personally love and admire Prince for! And, of course there's no forgetting the amazing guitar playing throughout the track which is of course, right up my street! Brilliant!

No sooner than Hardrocklover begins, it then comes to an end going straight into a track named Mr Nelson (Prince's surname). This stays in a similar style to Prince's previous solo album Art Official Age featuring samples of a song named Clouds from the same album. Mr Nelson also features the voice of an artist that you may recognise and that is Lianna La Havas who's recently received alot of radio airplay here in the UK with her new album Blood. A song named 1000 X's & O's which I read somewhere was actually an older piece written by Prince and intended for an artist he used to work with named Rosie Gaines (I don't know how true that is, so don't hold me on that one! This of course, was followed by June which brings the album to a close.

My thoughts on this album? Well, what I really love about what Prince is doing of late and particularly in this album is featuring other strong, up-and-coming artists and performing with them. Like I said this album is the perfect example of that with the likes of Judith Hill and Lianna La Havas, I personally think that they will go far in the music industry. And, of course there's no forgetting the fact that he has also collaborated and shared the producing credits with a gentleman named Joshua Welton who is actually married to Hannah Welton, drummer of Prince's band 3rd Eye Girl.

I think I mentioned somewhere above in this review that this album features a strong flare of R&B alongside funk, rap and even a little rock in the mix. Now, I'm not particularly fan of genres such as R&B and rap so not every song really appealed to me; however, I personally appreciate that each song is of an extremely high standard and sounds great for its particular genre. I'm definitely more into the rockier numbers and anything with a bit of funk I love! So overall it's a great album, I'm not a huge fan of every single song I must admit, however that's my own personal opinion, perhaps some of those songs may even grow on me overtime. I definitely think this album is worth checking out and I believe it's currently available in HMV stores for £9.99.