At: Guitar Center

The Ball Family is the last of a dying breed, crafting high-end guitars, basses and strings exclusively in the United States for the past 25 years. Their dedication to excellence has culminated into a premier line of custom quality instruments played by some of rock’s most iconic guitarists.

Last week Guitar Center and Ernie Ball kicked off the GC Sessions: Ernie Ball Music Man 25th Anniversary Tour, a six city tour celebrating the launch of the revolutionary 25th Anniversary Music Man guitar and bass, as well as the new “Big Al” model.

With stops in Chicago, Orlando, Detroit, San Jose, Hollywood and La Mesa, Ernie Ball Music Man is also bringing along some of their top artists including John Petrucci, Steve Morse, Dave Larue and Steve Lukather.

Here are a few photos from the recent stop in Orlando with Luke, Morse and Larue. Plus, if you happen to be in Southern California this weekend you can still catch the stops featuring Steve Lukather, Steve Morse and Sterling Ball in GC Hollywood (May 31st) and GC La Mesa (June 2nd).

…and a Drum-Off breaks out. Join the other 1.4 million people who have made this amazing clip of monster drummers Travis Barker and Adrian Young, performing at Guitar Center’s Drum-Off Grand Finals, part of their lives.

Last year’s Guitar Center Sessions with Joe Bonamassa has gone down as one of the greatest evenings of dialogue and music we’ve had the pleasure of hosting since introducing Sessions in 2007.

As one of the premier blues-rock guitarists of his generation, Joe got his start at the early age of 12, touring as a pro and opening for BB King.  Since then, Joe’s incendiary playing has earned him a loyal legion of fans and numerous albums in Billboard’s top 10 blues chart.

Here’s a spellbinding 5 minute talk/performance taken from that 2008 Sessions event. In it,  Joe pays homage to fellow slide geniuses David Lindley, Johnny Winter, and the incomparable Ry Cooder. If you’re a player, this is a great tutorial, with clear neck shots that will help you break down songs and licks. But you don’t need to be a player to get the chills watching this one.

It closes out with Feeling Bad Blues by Ry Cooder, that spooky, ethereal moan from the 1986 film Crossroads. Enjoy.

8 videos in all.  You can view them here.

Guitar Center was an exhibitor at the 19th annual Chicago Custom and Vintage Drum show last May 16-17th, where better than 1,000 drummers walked the halls over the weekend to see and buy thousands of rare, used, vintage and custom drum sets, snares, cymbals, hardware and more. Attendees were also treated to clinics around the clock with top artists including Will Calhoun, Zoro, Danny Seraphim, Donny Osborne and Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz.

I had the fun of working at the booth (I’m GC’s National Drum Buyer) along some of our drum experts from GC’s Chicago area stores. The booth was buzzing the whole time with a mix of some of our best vintage gear pulled from around the chain, some of which actually dated back to the 1920’s. Each day we also gave away a $500 handmade, one-of-a-kind snare drum from Pork Pie Drums. Kris Schoen and Nick Kapka were the lucky dog winners. Congrats guys. And thanks to Pork Pie!

Here’s one from the GC video vault. Guitar Center’s King of the Blues ’06 at the House of Blues in Chicago. We had the honor of kicking off the Chicago Blues Festival with the grand finals of our nationwide search for the next great undiscovered blues guitar player. After crowning Matt O’Ree our ’06 champion, Mr. BB King blew our minds with a duet with surprise guest, John Mayer. Turn the lights down low and your speakers up!