Many music fans found it hard to believe that Alicia Keys was only 20 years old when she released her debut album, Songs In A Minor, in 2001. Her sophisticated blend of R&B, hip-hop, jazz and classical flavors was a sharp contrast to the prefab dance pop performed by most other female singers near her age, and her sultry, bluesy vocals seemed to come from the same deep emotional well that inspired legends like Nina Simone, Dinah Washington, Billie Holliday and Lena Horne. While her sound was certainly contemporary, her approach reminded listeners of classic recording artists who were more concerned with making art than making cash.

“I tend to be a bit of a vintage fanatic,” admits Keys. “That’s the music that I love and the kind of energy that I like. There’s something about the Sixties and Seventies that’s always spoken to me since I was little. I always felt like I was born in the wrong decade. I was supposed to be alive when Nina Simone was alive. I was supposed to get that whole vibe of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield. There’s just something about the honesty, craftsmanship and integrity that existed during that time. There was a genuine passion that I share with those artists and that time. People did what they did because they loved what they did, not because they got paid exorbitant amounts of money or got massive amounts of recognition.” Like many of the artists who inspired her, Alicia is a consummate performer who writes and arranges most of her own music and an accomplished musician who plays several instruments, including piano, guitar, bass and cello. She started taking classical piano lessons when she was just seven, and she was educated at New York City’s Professional Performing Arts School, where she graduated as class valedictorian. The music industry quickly recognized her talent and potential, particularly Clive Davis, the former president and founder of Arista Records, who helped develop the careers of Whitney Houston, Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith. When Davis left Arista and formed J Records, he brought along Alicia, who he had signed while he was still with Arista.

Experience the complete exclusive interview with Alicia Keys as it appears in our September hi-tech guide – READ or WATCH.

Learn more about her new virtual instrument software “Alicia’s Keys” from Native Instruments HERE.

The video is incredible, As well as it’s ability to reach an audience in a whole new and gripping way. Check it out here.

Guitar Center, the world’s largest musical instrument retailer in partnership with Collective Media and DIRECTV, the world’s most popular video service, today announced the debut of Guitar Center Sessions, a new television special featuring exclusive performances and intimate conversations with revered musicians. Hosted by Jason Bentley, KCRW’s Music Director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic, Guitar Center Sessions’ first episode features the iconic Peter Gabriel, fresh off of the release of his critically-acclaimed new album “Scratch My Back” and sold-out world tour.  The show premieres August 21 on DIRECTV’s The 101 Network (channel 101) at 9PM ET/PT in 2D hi-definition and is currently airing in 3D on DIRECTV’s new 3D channel, n3D powered by Panasonic (channel 103). A sneak preview of the show can be seen at www.guitarcenter.com/sessions.

To celebrate the launch, Guitar Center and Peter Gabriel are offering a free download of Gabriel’s “Here Comes the Flood,” a rare and special take on the classic hit as performed on the forthcoming show. The download is available at www.guitarcenter.com/sessions.

Continuing its commitment to inspiring musicians, Guitar Center Sessions is filmed in front of a live audience, primarily consisting of music students, giving them a rare peak inside the minds of today’s most influential artists. Each episode is filmed at the world famous Guitar Center Hollywood Vintage Room, providing an ideal environment for unveiling the inspiring stories, techniques and characteristics that define each of the episodes’ artists. Home viewers and attendees alike will hear first-hand accounts from each artist about their personal and musical journeys and the influences that molded them into the icons they have become.

Guitar Center’s Drum-Off has jump-started the careers of many drummers over its twenty two years, including Cora Coleman-Dunham and Tony Royster Jr, two Guitar Center Drum-Off champions who have gone on to become acclaimed professional drummers (Prince and Jay-Z respectively). In years past, a number of the world’s best drummers have contributed their talent and support to Guitar Center’s Drum-Off initiative, including: Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Matt Sorum (Guns ‘N Roses, Velvet Revolver), Questlove (The Roots), Travis Barker (Blink-182), Tommy Lee (Motley Crüe), Thomas Lang, Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle), José Pasillas (Incubus), Billy Cobham, Niko McBrain (Iron Maiden), Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction), Danny Carey (Tool), Brann Dailor (Mastodon) and Jason Bonham.

Competition spots fill up fast, don’t miss it – sign up now! Click HERE for more info.

For the last 35 years KISS has staged a spectacle unlike any other in the rock and roll business—one that keeps getting bigger and better every time they go out on the road on tour. This year’s tour, called “The Hottest Show on Earth,” is a two-hour extravaganza filled with enough fireworks and pyrotechnics “to bring down low-flying aircraft,” promises KISS rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley.

“When we go on stage, we want people in the audience to go, ‘This is what a rock concert is supposed to be!” says Stanley. “Our show started out by us wanting to get up on stage and show people how it was supposed to be done. We wanted to be the band that we always wanted to see but never saw. We still go out there every night and try to be the ideal band.”

Read the exclusive interview as appears in our August Anniversary Buyer’s Guide HERE.

“I know I’ve realized way beyond my dreams,” says Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. “I’ve actually been a professional musician since 1994. That’s a long time in which I’ve been lucky enough to keep a gig and be successful at what I do, which is also my passion: playing drums. So I’m very, very blessed to live this crazy, unimaginable life.”

Although he’s the idol of millions for his drumming prowess, Hawkins’ first rock ‘n’ roll dreams didn’t focus on the drums; rather, they were centered on the guitar because, as he puts it, “Nobody looks at the drummer.”

As a 10-year-old in Laguna, California, he tried in vain to play his neighbor’s six string, but the instrument didn’t feel right; it required “too much work.” Hawkins’ boyhood visions of rock glory might’ve ended right there. Luckily, however, that same neighbor had a drum set, and from the moment Taylor sat down at the kit, everything clicked; with two sticks in his hands, he was a natural.

Read and watch our exclusive interview with Taylor as it appears in our July drum guide.  READ IT. WATCH IT.

Continuing our commitment of supporting aspiring and emerging musicians, we’re excited to announce that Slash has hand-picked unsigned artists State Line Empire from San Mateo, California as winners of Guitar Center presents Your Next Record with Slash. Over 12,000 bands submitted for their chance to have a 3-song EP produced by the legendary Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses) and have rock icon, Slash play on their single. After months and months of submissions and voting, we’ve found that band. Hear their music here. The band will be in the studio with Slash and Mike in the coming weeks… Expect great things from State Line Empire.

Slash says: “Earlier this year, Guitar Center and I set out to find a great unsigned rock & roll band with a lot of energy and some great songs and take them to the next level,” said Slash. “I’m proud to announce that that band is State Line Empire. They’re the real deal and we’re going to be hearing some fantastic rock & roll from them in the near future. I cannot wait to get in the studio with them.”

What the band had to say: “I can’t even put into words how awesome it was to get a call from one the greatest guitarists of all time to tell us we’d won Guitar Center Presents Your Next Record,” said David Pearl, bassist for State Line Empire. “A lot of people have told us that they love our music and we appreciate their support so much but to hear Slash say that our band is ‘rad’ was something that I will never forget. We’re incredibly grateful to Guitar Center for giving undiscovered bands like State Line Empire such an amazing opportunity.”

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Jeff Beck is one of the world’s greatest guitar legends—his peers Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page both are certainly better known and more commercially successful—but he’s undeniably one of the most fascinating, dedicated, enigmatic and influential artisans that ever played guitar.

During his Sixties stint in the Yardbirds Beck helped define the new sounds of hard rock and heavy metal. Then when bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath rose in popularity during the Seventies, he radically shifted directions, blazing a new path as a jazz-rock fusion pioneer. In the late Eighties and early Nineties when the instrumental shred-rock guitar phenomenon was at its peak, he released the eclectic Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop, a note-for-note tribute to rockabilly guitarist Cliff Gallup of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps (Crazy Legs), and an Asian-inspired original score to a television drama about the Vietnam War (Frankie’s House). At the dawn of the new millennium he released three albums that went in a decidedly more electronic direction, although these efforts also dug deep into modern blues and Celtic airs while Beck expanded his unique lyrical, vocal playing style.

Join us for our exclusive interview with Jeff Beck as featured in our July Guitar Guide – HERE.

Watch the exclusive interview on our official YouTube channel HERE.

Gabriel made a bold first impression as the eccentric leader and highly theatrical lead singer of the British progressive rock band Genesis in the early Seventies. However, when Genesis reached new creative heights in 1974 with their ambitious concept album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel left the band to pursue his own creative muse. Between 1977 and 1982 he released four highly individualistic solo albums that blended electronics, ambient atmospheres and African and Latin rhythms in a truly unique and innovative manner that still inspires musicians today. These albums delivered a consistent string of hits like “Solsbury Hill,” “Games Without Frontiers,” and “Shock the Monkey.”

Join us for the extremely rare exclusive interview as we sit down with one of music’s most prolific icons, Peter Gabriel at Guitar Center Hollywood (as appeared in our July Hi-Tech Guide).

Read the full interview HERE.