Ghost

The latest Fender John 5 Telecaster is called Ghost; pale complexion with a tinge of blood. Perfect. It has a pair of DiMarzio D Activators on board so it means business when it comes to distortion. Not my thing but I like the blank fretboard.

Pic: Fender

John 5: God Told Me To

Beat it! So this Michael Jackson song was quite the spotlight in this release, it's an instrumental version, lots of guitars, my kinda of rendering. There are lots of guitars in the others numbers as well & it's J5's 'business as usual' serving for us guitar fans. I'm not trying to put Mr. Lowery down but his fast picking could have been smoother. There's something going on in my ears maybe because I hear the sloppy notes in the audio version but in the accompanying DVD, those bad notes were like... what bad notes? By the way, Mr. Lowery's dual humbucking Tele is quite the works :-)

CDs

Just received my new John 5 & Marduk... weekend listening, it seems.

Squier: John 5

There are some fresh Squiers at Swee Lee, I tried the John 5 Telecaster here- thumbs up to craftsmanship & tone! The J5 is very much a distortion-inclined instrument which is devoid of the Tele twang whatsoever. Do take note of the quirk- the guitar is equipped with a dual volume control so to those of us who find the inherent tone a little too bright to our liking, do the EQ tweaks at the amp or get the instrument modified in this aspect.

It's listing for $963 so the implication here is that it's not a starter unit but a mid-priced player instead.

John 5: The Art of Malice

I have tremendous respect for John Lowery or as the current state of affairs puts it, he is known as John 5. John keeps his personal techniques & playing style relevant when it comes to the music he peddles. This is a prime example of how an individual brings his abilities to his music. In John's case, it's putting a halt to introverted indulgences & deliver focused efforts. But the halting was never in entirety as John's music is sheer evidence of how his hybrid picking expertise still steers his ideas. I've been following John's solo releases because I see him as a very skilled player, very much under-rated as the world is too busy applauding popular music. When I look at John, I see Ibanez instead of the Fenders he currently embrace because that's how I first saw him in my 1997 Ibanez catalogue when he was still John Lowery playing for Red Square Black. The Art of Malice is my favourite amongst his solo releases because I hear progression in his playing. There's more focus here. The Art of Malice is a polite track in this listing, contrary to the destruction it implies. I've been listening to this album ever since I got a few days ago. Nothing but The Art of Malice till further notice.

1,000th entry

This is my 1,000th entry. When I started out this blog, I didn't know I had a thousand guitar-related things to say thereafter. I am perhaps too attached to this instrument to not want to say anything as it has become an extension of myself more than an instrument for specific idea manifestations.

Squier: John 5

Any John 5 fanatics out there? Squier now has the John 5 telecaster for your considerations...