The tones and sounds Eric Clapton has coaxed out of his guitars are legendary: from his heavy blues-based riffs in the ’60s power trio Cream to the weeping moans and wails of unrequited love on the 1970 classic Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs. And let’s not forget some fantastic acoustic fingerpicking over the years, [...]

Live from Santa’s Pub in Nashville, it’s our 2012 Holiday Gear Guide. The Ettes’ Coco Haines and Amanda Shires dropped by to help test out these must-have instruments. Photos by Mackenzie Moore and Will Vastine.

The Fender Acoustasonic 150 guitar amplifier is ideally suited to the gigging musician looking to maximize the sound of an acoustic-electric guitar while taking advantage of a variety of modern features and flexibility. The Acoustasonic delivers an incredibly clean, full, and powerful sound, provided by two 8” foam-surround low-frequency neodymium drivers and a high frequency [...]

It is easy to separate the one day visitors from those that have endured the previous two (or in the case of those who set up the show, five) days of NAMM; the one day visitors have a spring in their step. Those that have endured the last few days tend to have hoarse voices [...]

If in fact show business is glamorous, then the Wednesday before the annual winter NAMM show officially begins in beautiful downtown Anaheim, California, is the makeup and fitting session before the big date. Boxes, crates, roadcases, rolls of carpeting, curtains and piping in various states of being unpacked fill the aisles, while the sound of [...]

Outtakes from our Holiday Gift Guide with The Apache Relay and photographer Brett Warren.

(Photos by Brett Warren) The holidays came early for The Apache Relay, who found themselves on the receiving end of a great bounty of amazing gear. We give you the skinny on a dazzling array of instruments and amps, so you can fine-tune your own wish list this Yuletide season. Click on the links to [...]

On September 16, Fender Musical Instruments hosted a party celebrating the grand opening of their Visitor Center located adjacent to their domestic manufacturing facility in Corona, California. The festivities were capped off with a performance headlined by long-time Fender endorsee and legendary bluesman Buddy Guy. The Visitor Center, which houses a showroom, screening room and [...]

While the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation, per usual, did not make an appearance at this summer’s NAMM convention in Nashville, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based guitar giant has been steadily rolling out new gear this summer, covering a wide range of their product line from electric guitars to bass and acoustic amps. While many companies specialize in [...]

For our second day at Summer NAMM 2011, American Songwriter brought along the guys from Apache Relay to have some fun and test out some new gear. We hit all of the big names, playing some high-end Martin acoustics, messing around with some of Electro Harmonix’s latest toys, playing stainless steel instruments and checking out [...]

Summer NAMM 2011 comes to Music City.

Now that the dust has settled in Anaheim, California, and all the NAMMies have returned to their husbands or wives (or guitar collections), we’re thinking back on the week that was. Most companies we spoke with were highly optimistic about 2011 and many said that, surprisingly, 2010 was a strong year. Things are definitely looking [...]