Guitar Smarts

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome to the podcast! This week, Kiran and Matt mull over some recent news in the guitar world. From the hilariously ridiculous litigation battles between PRS and Gibson, to the intrigue around Nuno Bettencourt's involvement with the Positive Grid Spark II amp, culminating with Matt's realisation that he's DONE with Wedding gigs for GOOD! We hope you like this week's episode! For links to all our important stuff, ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back to the pod! This week, we talk about a good few things but mostly we welcome another new Tokai to Kiran's family of guitars. It's another Les Paul, but what was it about this guitar that made Kiran part with his pennies?We also discuss the tantalising possibility of a Murphy Lab Red Special, and a great and good value way to get Brian's tone thanks to the folks at Catalinbread pedals. For links to...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Summer is here! And what could be better on a sweet summers day, thank grabbing your acoustic and sitting outside to serenade the world with your favourite tunes. But, which tunes? This week Kiran and Matt reel off their go to acoustic hits to listen to and to play when the time is right!Listen to a playlist of the songs here!https://open.spotify.com/playlist/25SYpyj3GMm1wBocox9muq?si=b777ead6e0134cd3And as Matt mentions...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! This week we are looking at a couple of things, the most popular songs googled by guitarists around the world, and also Kiran takes us through the second part of his recent London Guitar Safari, where he falls for another Strat! Will he buy it? Find out in this weeks podcast..https://woodandfirestudio.com/en/most-played-songs-and-riffs/For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://l...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! On this episode of the Guitar Smarts podcast, Kiran has tagged in our good friend and previous guest Mr Damo Lodrick to provide some valuable insight on the importance of training your ears. Music is something we experience in many ways, and often we find ourselves moved by things we hear but do not necessarily understand. Matt & Damo are here today to help you understand why it is a valuable endeavour ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings! This week we take a look at some of the finest new gear released by some of the biggest names in the industry. Line6 has released a new version of the POD, Keeley have once again innovated with their new drive pedals and Gibson have done exactly what Gibson do, revisit the past. For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemember to please subscribe wherev...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!On this week’s podcast Kiran recalls his recent visit to the brand new UK Gibson Garage, a guitar store built and operated by Gibson guitars in London’s West End. This new store has got all the Gibson products you could wish to see, and is not just meant to be a high quality guitar store, but a shrine if you will, to the history and impact of Gibson guitars. You can head here to try out some of the finest Murphy lab guit...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!On this week’s podcast Kiran and Matt are discussing some of the new releases from this years NAMM show in the US. What caught our eye though was Yamaha's re-release of the Pacifica model. Listeners of the show will know that we love the old Pacifica model, which was seminal guitar back in the 90’s whose build quality and playability changed the expectation of what your 200 pound or dollar learner electric guitar w...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!We are kicking off 2024 by celebrating 60 years of Eric Clapton. Back in October 2023, Eric celebrated 60 years as a professional musician and artist. Arguably one of if not the most celebrated and revered guitarists of all time, it’s hard not to understate his contribution to the world of guitar playing and music making. Over on the Eric Clapton website, there was a fantastic article celebrating this milestone, that inc...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we have our final episode of 2023. I want to start by thanking each and everyone of you who have joined us and listened to the show throughout the year, it’s really a great pleasure for Kiran and I to share these conversations with you and we have great plans to bring you even more in 2024, so keep those subscriptions active and look out for more as we get into January. This week we talk about 2 new guitars, on...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we have a short episode for you - shorter than usual at least. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Guitar Breaks founder, Ian Edwards, at the London International Guitar Show in late October. Guitar Breaks are a company that specialise in all-inclusive guitar workshops offering you the opportunity to get away from it all, explore different techniques and skills, discover new styles, hone your own playing s...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Its been a while, but we are finally back! After a few weeks of downtime due to some illnesses, work trips and general business we are finally able to bring to you our first episode from the London International Guitar Show 2023. It was a fantastic show, we met many people, introduced the show to a lot of new listeners, spent a little bit of money and enjoyed looking at some truly wonderful guitars and amplifiers fr...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!We are here with another episode of the pod, this week Kiran and Matt are talking about their desert island discs. Each of them have chosen the 5 albums that they would be happy to listen to for the rest of eternity, knowing that they could listen to nothing else. Play along, make your own list, and head on down to the Guitar Geek hangout to let us know what albums you would have chosen for your personal stay on a desert...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome! This week we dissect a great night playing at Damo Lodrick's local Jam night, where we let loose and rocked out in celebration of Damo's birthday. Matt can't make his mind up about a possible Esquire mod or a new guitar build whilst Kiran feels the need to buy a new guitar. Finally, we finish off with a discussion about using Midi to control Matt's Line 6 Catalyst 100 guitar amp as a get out of jail rig fo...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we are grateful for the suggestions of our friends over on the Guitar Geek Hangout page on Facebook. We asked what you might like to hear us talk about, and you spoke! This week we are taking inspiration from our listeners Fred Simpson and Olly Browning who both asked similar questions related to tone. Of all the famous guitar rigs there are, who’s would we choose to play through if we could, and along with tha...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!We are back...again! This week we discuss Matt's strange preference for relaxing after a long day gigging, we talk about the careful but accessible method that Matt took to finally level the frets of his much beloved Epiphone Les Paul that has been screaming out for this work for years, and we talk about the recent news brought to light by KDH about Lee Anderton and his personal involvement in some well known brands and ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, We talk about the use of in ear monitors without having a guitar amp on stage following Kirans first ever experience of this. This seems to be the way that a lot of pro gigs are these days so how does that experience play out for a guitarist like Kiran who is only used to having blaring amp on stage behind him? We also talk briefly about the first ever Guitar Smarts Guitar Solo Challenge and how that played ou...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, we are asking the question, if you had 3000 pounds to spend on a new guitar, what would you buy? We asked our listeners on the Guitar Geek hangout what they would like us to talk about on the podcast, and we had a plethora of excellent suggestions, many of which we will most certainly do but this week we are thanking you Mr KingFredward Simpson for your excellent suggestion. Kiran and I have got 3000 of our fi...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!We are once again back with you for another episode of the podcast. Thanks as always for listening in. This week, we discuss the meteoric rise of the brand Sire, whose star has been lifted by Marcus Miller and Larry Carlton, two of music’s most revered ever session musicians. But what is it about Sire guitars that are turning the heads of these guys? Commercial interests aside, there has to be something about these guita...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back to the show! This week, we look at some of the best songs in rock history that prominently used guitar effects to punctuate the guitar tone. This episode is accompanied by another great Spotify playlist that you can find in the links below! For links to all our important stuff, including this weeks new Spotify playlist, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemember to please subscribe...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!So, recent Eric Bibb gigs, Helix programming Skills for wedding gigs, Fret Dressing Anxiety, Luthiery dreams and much more, this week is a mixed bag conversation of many things but nothing in particular! Hope you enjoy it. For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our soc...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Bluetooth toggle switches and Fancy Pickups, Ibanez making the best guitars and T-Rex spending 8 years to create an echo unit that already existed? This week we are lining up the best in news from NAMM 2023 and telling you what we think about it all! Remember to come and tell us what you think on the Guitar Geek Hangout!For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemember ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome Back! This week on the podcast we are celebrating everything female with a list of our favourite ever female guitarists. Some of the most important contributions in the guitar world have come from incredibly talented and capable women who continue to create and inspire the next generation of guitarists, so here we are celebrating their contribution.Here's a link to the playlist:https://open.spotify.com/track/5z9Y...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we look at some of the pre-NAMM news nuggets dropped by manufacturers to see what exciting new products and developments are going to soon be available. We also discuss Matt's process upgrading and improving his Les Paul. What have you been up to in the last few weeks? Come and let us know at the Guitar Geek Hangout on Facebook. For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/gu...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, we ask ourselves one of the most asked questions in the history of guitar playing - does an expensive guitar make you play better? This may not be as straightforward as you think, an inexpensive guitar setup perfectly will feel better to play than an expensive guitar that has been neglected and left to warp, bend and dry out. Is there musical inspiration to be found in the craftmanship of a custom instrument? ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, Kiran and Matt take a look at the recently released list of top selling guitars, amps and pedals as released by Reverb.com to see if we could see any interesting surprises. Turns out the list does indeed have some interesting conversation points, but many of us will be less than surprised to know which guitar came in at number 1. Can you guess it already? https://www.guitarworld.com/news/reverb-best-selling-el...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!The final episode of our 3 part journey to fine tuning your guitar action like a pro guitar tech! This week we take a look at what you can do to make sure your top nut is properly installed and setup, how to measure it and how to adjust it. For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on o...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we continue our 3 part look at the best way to fine tune your action on your guitar. Last week Kiran took us on a deep dive through adjusting the truss rod, this is the device in the the guitar neck that allows us to set the relief, or curvature of the next, allowing enough space for the strings to vibrate above the frets. Step 2, and this weeks topic, is the guitar’s bridge. This is where the strings pass over...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! This week we discuss recent gigs, a pending rig change for Matt that will open up a plethora of new possibilities, Kiran's new pedal board configuration following his delivery from Santa, and most importantly, Kiran puts his Guitar Tech hat on and talks us through the proper process for adjusting your truss rod to allow for the best possible guitar action. For links to all our important stuff, check out our...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings! This week, we get together for the first time in 2023 to discus various things including what the man in the red jacket and white beard brought us, some near-miss Guitar Safari action from Kiran and of course we talk about the key habits we want to instil in our playing in 2023. For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmarts Remember to please subscribe where...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings! Welcome to the final episode of the year 2022. This week we are talking about the past year gone by and the new year ahead of us. We think back and talk about he best new gear of 2022, money we have spent, new songs we have learned, Gigs we’ve been to and what we want and hope for in 2023. Come and see us on the Guitar Geek hangout on Facebook, and tell us what your hopes and desires are for your guitar endeav...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Seasons Greetings! We are looking forward to a restful and cosy Christmas this year, and to kick it off we are discussing all the cool new things we want Santa to bring us this Christmas, and that maybe should be on your Christmas list this year too! For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmarts Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and com...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we close out on our final thoughts from the London 2022 International Guitar show and Kiran laments on a missed opportunity to buy a guitar he connected with just moments before the show closed its doors! Also this week, Kiran gives us his field report, after finally getting a chance to play a brand new PRS Silver Sky John Mayer signature guitar, was it everything he hoped it would be or was he left disappointe...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we give you our very first ever face to face recording! Kiran and Matt visited the 2022 London International Guitar Show to see the latest from the UK's (and further afield) finest guitar stores, luthiers, distributors and other... We saw some £300K Gibson Les Paul's, and some of the newest in inexpensive guitars from Fairclough guitars.Links to some of the stand out exhibitors can be found here:https://flamegu...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back to the podcast! This week Kiran and Matt discuss the King King show they attended at the Southampton venue the 1865 on the 20th October. King King are an utterly superb rock band, and you should check them out, they may just be the best live act in the UK right now in their genre. Visit them at their website here:https://www.kingking.co.uk/And check our their Spotify playlist 'This Is King King':https://open...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Following on from episode #63, this week Kiran and Matt look at more recent history to choose guitar riffs that may just go on to be the classic guitar riffs of the future. For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartshttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/5eSyZxq6dxDXWp8yQ1cpzq?si=cf87529a4a994273Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come t...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back to the show! This week, we talk about some of the finest ever classic guitar riffs to grace our ears. Enjoy this episode, you might just hear of a new guitar riff that you didn't know about before! You can find a Spotify Playlist of the Riffs we chose in the Linktree below.For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmarts https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1siz...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Boutique pedal makers from all over the world have been having huge success for many year and continue to do so, but with the closure of Fulltone Pedals, one of the originals in the market, does this indicate that the time for boutique pedals has come to an end? We discuss this, and also we talk about the next 3 things we want to try out on our next visit to a Guitar Store. For links to all our important stuff, che...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!We are back and this week we are talking all about our favourite YouTube channels and creators, why we love them and why you MUST follow them too. For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.instagram.com/...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings listeners! Have you ever felt like your guitar playing is stuck somewhere, unable to improve or get better, and lacking the motivation and drive to push it in the right direction? What have you done about it? How do you deal with a lack of motivation and what can you do to help put the train back on the rails?For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemember t...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!After our recent episode talking about why you should join a band, we had a great question from Josh Chudley on Facebook, asking us HOW you join a band. It's easier said than done, however if you want to increase your chances of getting a spot in a band or finding a band who are looking for someone like you, then listen in carefully...For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitar...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!We all love playing guitar - whether that's jamming to tracks, along with songs we love or practicing licks BUT nothing quite makes you a better musician more than joining a band and playing with PEOPLE! That's just one reason to join a band, listen in for more.For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsCheck out The Cold Stares:https://open.spotify.com/artist/0hLLs7dOw0Z...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings Guitar Smarts listeners! Have you ever had to quickly learn a song you didn't know for a gig at short notice? If you have, you'll know how stressful it can be getting familiar with new music quickly enough to play it confidently. This week we talk about our experiences with this problem, and how we deal with the process of learning new music. For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https:...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back to the show! This week we are spending more fake money in a dreamland of Guitar Stores as we talk about how we would spend £5K if we had to buy a full gigging Guitar Rig. How would you do it? For links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! This week, Kiran and Matt are debating the age old question, is Vintage Gear really better than modern or do we fetishize the use of old equipment because of it's heritage and history? Objectively speaking, what is truly the best?Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://ww...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings Guitar Smarts listeners! Welcome back to the show and thanks for sticking with us. This week, we celebrate a rare event - MATT Has bought a new guitar! In fact, he has bought two. Come an listen to the lowdown on what happened and what the guitars were!Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshtt...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings from the Guitar Smarts Team! This week, Kiran and Matt are pretending that their pockets are flush with about $1000 or about £800 of cash, and they need to put together a rig for their first ever pub gig. Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.instagram.com/guitar_smarts/Have a very...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!We are guitarists, and we love tone! But how do we get more and better tone than we had before? What can we do to maximise the sound that we produce from our instrument and out rig? Where can gains be made and what simple changes can we make to ourselves and our setup to really get to Tone Heaven! Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week the guys take a philosophical view of Guitar Ownership and what it really means to own instruments that in some case have incredible sentimental meaning. Are guitars frivolous things, are they needless purchases only justified by a desire to own them rather than a real requirement, or are they genuine investments for the cash-savvy guitarist looking to make their money work for them?Remember to please subscribe...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back Listeners! This week Kiran and Matt discuss old guitar magazines, GAS, and Cheap Guitar Amps! Are you looking for a great budget amp to use for gigging or jams? Have a listen and check out the amps the guys chose! Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.instagram.com/guitar_smarts...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week Guitar Smarts are super pleased to see the return of our regular guest, Damo Lodrick. This week Damo joins us to impart his experience upon us and to help us become better studio musicians. Check out Damo's website here: https://www.dlentertainments.co.uk/dlb/Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.co...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we are considering what the future looks like for the Guitar, for amps and manufacturers and all things to do with this instrument that we love. Will we see the instrument change as it devours new innovations and technology or will we remain as we have for a quite some time now, loyal to 1950’s and 1960’s design with a distrust of new technology? Should we even mention robot tuners? What do you think the next 1...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome! This week we are doing a Guitar based Pub Quiz night and you are all invited! get yourself a pint of your favourite, a packet of Pickled Onion Monster Munch, a pen and paper and settle down for the first ever Guitar Smarts Pub Quiz!Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.instagram.com...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Now its been a couple of weeks since Paul Reed Smith Guitars released their much anticipated and highly publicised SE model of the John Mayer Signature Guitar, the Silver Sky. Being John Mayer fans Kiran and I had been talking about this guitar for sometime and were interested to see what the SE model would be like in comparison, safe to say the specs of this new guitar and its apparent performance left us itching to hav...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome to 2022! We are kicking off the New Year with a light hearted look at the songs we love gigging and the ones we don't quite enjoy as much!Link to the Playlist is here:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2VNPOscy7Ymk8zIu9mYIPE?si=fe02e3be2bfe4d75 Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.in...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!As we reach the end of another year, and the first year in Guitar Smarts history, Kiran and Matt look back at what have been important milestones for them in 2021, and also look forward to 2022 with new resolutions and hopes for how things might improve and change for the better in their guitar and music worlds!Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media chann...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, we are extremely privileged to welcome Richard Shaw on to the podcast. Richard is one of the guitarists in legendary UK Extreme Metal Band, Cradle of Filth and his career over the past 20 years is the product of many years of dedication and hard work. This conversation was a gem, and Richard recounted many experiences from his life as a musician to us, some cherished memories and some horizon expanding philoso...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week on the podcast, we talk about some guitar brands that you may not know about, but you NEED to know about! There are some luthiers out there who are knocking it out of the part and this week we are pointing the spotlight their way. If you want to find out more about the Luthiers we have spoken about on this weeks podcast, use the links below:https://www.mbguitars.co.uk/http://www.svlguitars.com/https://bacc...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week on the Guitar Smarts podcast, Matt gives us the lowdown on his new rig. If you've been following the show, you'll know that Matt recently took the plunge and decided to sell all his amps, pedals and kit in favour of a Line 6 Helix based rig with FRFR cabinet. Lets find out how this has gone so far. Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings and welcome back to the Guitar Smarts podcast! This week, the guys have a hypothetical £300 (about $400) budget to create a fully working pedal board out of new equipment. No homemade pedal boards here! And the guys did surprisingly well! Here are links to the equipment:Matt's Boardhttps://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/181228336832008--tourtech-ttpb-5s-b-pedal-board-with-baghttps://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/produ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!OK, maybe not the hottest guitar news out there but we enjoyed it! What do you think about the topics discussed today? We discuss some big manufacturer news, new products, budget equipment that is new on the market and a unique justification for buying something cheap. Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsm...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings! This week we are making another list - this time its our favourite guitar solos, from each sub genre of Rock, Blues, Jazz, Metal, Country and Pop. What are your favourites?You can find a Spotify playlist of this list of songs here:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2iB4KG3QTeYAOnvbgakVh6?si=d8f94782f4fa46ddFor links to all our important stuff, check out our LinkTree...https://linktr.ee/guitarsmartsRemembe...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Every guitarist loves a great guitar based intro to a song. Sometimes it's better than a good solo, and the best of all of these songs are defined and recognised most by their amazing guitar introductions. They set the tone, create the vibe and leave you feeling ready for more. This week, Kiran and Matt have listed their favourite guitar intros, find out what they are in this weeks podcast!Want to listen to the songs men...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, we are revisiting our conversation from an early episode of the podcast around guitar practice and music theory and specifically the things we have learned about how to get better at guitar practice. Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below: https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.instagram.com/guitar_smarts/&nbs...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, we conclude our discussion on the things you can do to improve your live sound at your gigs for your band. You would be surprised how much of an improvement you could make simply buy reading up on some basic sound engineer skills and applying them to even the most basic setup. Go for it! Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels belo...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Getting good live sound at your gigs can be a challenge. Taking a simple approach is often the taken path for most bands, opting to use a PA to amplify vocals only and rely on backline for everything else. But taking that extra step to invest in some equipment, and more importantly, some knowledge and skills to improve your experience won’t just improve the gig for your audience but for your experience on stage also.Rate...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Once again, Matt has rebuilt his entire pedal board which means that this year, every gig he has played has had a different rig. Does Matt have a problem? You decide...Rate and Review the Guitar Smarts podcast here:https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/guitar-smarts-1580199 (On the right hand side, press the button that says 'Rate this Podcast')https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/guitar-smarts/id1548265334 (Follow this li...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Streaming music is undoubtedly convenient and how we all consume music these days. However has this ability to listen to any track instantly or let Spotify choose your playlist actually resulted in the death of the “album experience”? Does anyone craft an album the way they used to or is the industry geared to just produce a collection of “singles in one place”?Today we are going to discuss the different listening ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Everyone loves a good live performance, but when an artist captures a live performance and releases it as a live album, you get to relive that performance forever. Some live albums have gone on to be revered as classic albums to be remembered and enjoyed for all of time, regardless of their origin. Which ones are our favourites, which ones do we find the most inspiring, and who do we recommend you go and listen to yourse...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Recently we spoke about getting ourselves prepared for gigging on a technical level, maintaining our instruments and getting our equipment ready for the rigours of gigging and rehearsing. But what do we need to consider when it comes to being a member of a band and ensuring that we are pulling in the right direction? How do we be a good band member, what do we need to do on a personal level to help ensure success as a ba...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Ever wondered what it takes to be a modern day session musician? Gone are the days of driving from studio to studio, taking calls from the hot producers and working with artists to give them your sound. Now is the age of remote recording, dropboxing your stems and getting ideas down over Zoom calls, and the competition is high! This week we speak to Rory Harvey, who is making a real name for himself as a session guitaris...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!For quite a few decades now, many guitar manufacturers have honoured some of their more famous users with signature instruments. Arguably the oldest signature instrument is the Gibson Les Paul, which has evolved into a whole range of guitars. For some guitarists, a signature guitar is a representation of what they prefer in a standard instrument and for some, it is more of a custom designed tool, made to give them the fu...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we conclude our conversation on the best mods you can do to your guitars to make them better! Rate and Review the Guitar Smarts podcast here:https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/guitar-smarts-1580199 (On the right hand side, press the button that says 'Rate this Podcast')https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/guitar-smarts/id1548265334 (Follow this link, then open the podcast in your iTunes app and leave a rating ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! This week we give you part 1 of our Guitar Modifications conversation. There are many things you can do to add incremental capability to your guitar, from simple guitar string choice to rewiring. We take a look at the best ways to add more tone to your guitar! Rate and Review the Guitar Smarts podcast here:https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/guitar-smarts-1580199 (On the right hand side, press th...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Buying a used guitar can be a difficult process, especially when it involves you parting ways with lots of your hard earned cash. What can you do to be more prepared, better informed and increasingly confident about the decision you make? This week, Kiran & Matt discuss the process of buying used guitars and the steps you can take to prepare. Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back Guitar Smarts listeners! Here in the UK, Covid restrictions are beginning to lift and gigging is back on the agenda! The prospect had us both thinking, what have been our best and worst gigging experiences over our years of gigging? Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.ins...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! This week Kiran and Matt are talking about the songs that changed or affected their guitar playing the most throughout their lives as guitarists. What songs can you think of that you consider to be watershed moments in your playing career?Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.i...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! This week the boys are lamenting about a guitarists worst enemy and best friend, Gear Acquisition Syndrome! Why is it that guitarists are never happy with what they have, and are always trying to find a reason to spend more and more on equipment that they may or may not need? This week we try and find out!Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social med...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!If you are new to the podcast and haven't listened to us yet, this is the episode to listen too. Here you will find some of the best bits of the first 20 episodes, where we introduce ourselves, talk about our influences, guitars, desert island rigs, challenge each other, speak to musicians and genuine rock stars too! Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!The Guitar Smarts team are incredibly happy to share with you our conversation with British Blues Rock Giant-to-be, Matt Long. Matt is the front man and leader of international touring blues rock powerhouse Catfish, who are making waves on the music scene in the UK and Europe. Matt joins us after winning the 2021 UK Blues Award for Instrumentalist of the Year, a prize that has been virtually presented to him by Joe...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, Matt & Kiran scrape through the deepest depths of their gigging experience as non-pro musicians to bring you the definitive Boy Scouts guide to gigging! Learn everything you need to know to be prepared for your weekend gig, from the tools you should carry with you to the gig, the the planning and preparation you do before hand. Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and com...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Guitar Smarts are once again proud and happy to be joined by the immensely talented and hard-working Damiain Lodrick. If you are a musician who enjoys playing live but isn't ready to make the step to joining a band, or even in a band but not gigging enough, you probably have been to a Jam night at a local pub. This week, Damo takes us through his experiences running Jam nights as a host, and gives us his tips on what to ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week, Kiran and Matt are joined by Mat Lake, one of the hardest working and most in-demand guitar teachers in the South East of the UK. Mat talks us through his early life as a student, how he got into teaching guitar and how he manages his bursting diary of guitar related activities such as teaching in schools, privately, gigging, educational events and performances, recording & rehearsing and even the paperwor...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! This week we are discussing our guitar idols and influences, who they are and why they mean so much to them as guitarists. Also, we have a fairly sizeable rant and discussion about the new Gibson Murphy Lab guitars. What do you think about them? Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below: https://www.facebook.com/Gu...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome back! This week Guitar Smarts brings you the continuation of our Pedal Boards Basics discussion and this time we actually do tell you what the mystery pedal is that Kiran has fallen head over heels in love with! Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below: https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.instagram.com/guitar_sm...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Everyone loves guitar pedals, and we are no exception to that. Maybe you've never really built a proper pedal board before or you find it difficult to get a good sound from your pedals - maybe you need to build a board that carries all your pedals, keeps them powered and connected and maintains consistency in your sound. This week is part 1 of our discussion on building your first pedal board. Remember to come back ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Kiran & Matt are delighted to welcome Damiain Lodrick as a guest on the Guitar Smarts podcast. Damiain has lived the dream as a working musician and has literally travelled the world as a music student, studio engineer, multi-instrumentalist and musical director of his own outfit, The Damiain Lodrick band. Damiain joins us today to talk about his life in music, his experience and learned wisdom, and to share with us ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we discuss Matt's efforts to setup and upgrade his Strat at home, and how much difference it made to the playability. We also have a chat about guitar strings and using them as a tone shaping tool. Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our social media channels below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsmartshttps://www.instagram.com/guitar_smarts/ Have a ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings Guitar Smarts listeners!So here is the deal: You’ve got a covers gig at a local wedding and you need to put a band together. Your phonebook is an endless collection of the world’s finest session musicians & famous rock stars. All of them owe you a favour, and will say yes to the gig. Who do you call?Join Matt & Kiran as they put their band of legends together!Remember to please subscribe wherever you li...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings Guitar Smarts listeners!This week, Kiran and Matt are talking about guitar practice, setting goals for getting better at playing guitar, reminiscing about past teachers and who our favourite online guitar personalities are. Do you need a guitar teacher, is it good to have a defined practice schedule and how do you set goals for improvement?Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts,...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings Guitar Smarts listeners!This week Kiran and Matt are competing in the £300 Gigging Guitar challenge. Here is the rub:You've just had a tax rebate to the tune of £4,500! Unfortunately, the car needed an MOT, the lounge needed new carpets and there was a water leak under the orangery. After all is fixed and a family holiday is booked, you're left with just £300 to spend on a new axe good enough for gigging....

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings lovely listeners! Thanks for coming along. This week Matt & Kiran are speaking to old bandmate and friend, Andy Rudd. Andy was the front man and band leader for South East UK band Roadrunner blues for more than 20 years. During his time fronting the band he learned all the best ways to run a covers act whilst also becoming a formidable front man famed for his audience participation. As the Roadrunner ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Whether you are a seasoned pro guitarist or a bedroom rock star, Guitar Smarts resident guitar health guru Kiran Amliwala believes that there are 8 things every guitarist should be able to do to maintain the playability and health of their guitars. Some are simple, some more complex, but all are essential. This week we round up the final tasks we should all be able to complete, covering the electronics, lubrication ...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Whether you are a seasoned pro guitarist or a bedroom rock star, Guitar Smarts resident guitar health guru Kiran Amliwala believes that there are 8 things you should be able to do to maintain the playability and health of your guitars. In Part 1, we look at the changing the strings and fretboard/neck care.If you need any of the products mentioned in this series of podcasts to help with your guitar maintenance...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings Guitarist Friends!This week we shoot the breeze over all things guitar, particularly the things on our mind right not such as Kiran's ever swelling guitar collection and struggles with GAS, Matt's neglect of his Fender Strat and it's urgent maintenance needs and also his inherent inability to spend money on equipment!Remember to please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts, and come to see us on our so...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings once again! Remember that Desert Island challenge from last week? This is part 2, and this week we select our pedals, amps, albums and wildcards! This was great fun, and recommend you do this yourself! Remember, nothing you own already is allowed! Remember to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and come and give us a like on the socials too, links are below:https://www.facebook.com/Guitarsm...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Greetings! This week Kiran and Matt have challenged themselves to define their desert island rig of choice, with a few extras thrown in. This wasn't an easy task, but goodness me was it fun! This is part 1 of a two part topic, so look out next week for part 2. Remember to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and come and give us a like on the socials too, links are below:https://www.facebook.com/Guita...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!This week we continue our conversation on cheap kit (it was a long one!) Kiran makes a shocking Ibanez Tube screamer confession (SRV fans cover your ears) and Matt discusses his love for a simple guitar rig controlled from the volume pot on the guitar, Joe Bonamassa style.Subscribe to the show so you don't miss another, we are available in Spotify, iTunes and many more places too. Come and join us on Social media too for...

Love Guitar Smarts and want to get in touch with us? Send us a Text HERE!Welcome to episode #1 of the Guitar Smarts Podcast. On our first ever podcast, we are talking about our love for a bargain! Everyone covets the most desirable pieces of gear but one thing that we have both learned over the years is that 'inexpensive' equipment really does have a place in the gigging guitarist's arsenal. Join us as we discuss our favourite bargain buys. What do you have in your kit that was a bargai...