The Farida CT-60 has turned many heads since it premiered at the Frankfurt Musikmesse last year. In fact, the first CT-60s were bagged by two of the UK’s fastest rising indie bands: Liverpool’s Wave Machines, and the young Irish trio Two Door Cinema Club. Since then the CT-60 has been spotted literally travelling the globe, rocking at SXSW, Glastonbury, Dubai sound City and beyond.

As you can see, the CT-60 is a real looker. Its distinctive single-cutaway body is made of swamp ash with a beautiful tortoiseshell ‘tree of life’ pickguard, topped off in fantastic three-colour sunburst. Of course looks can be deceiving but this guitar has nothing to hide. The tone you get from a CT-60 rivals any of the best, as Dawsons’ Dave Foster shows in our video. The CT-60 is perfect for everything from smooth country picking to high-gain indie, producing sounds that are truly spine-tingling.

And now for the good news…

The first batch are available to try and buy in Dawsons stores now!

On Thursday the 1st of April our Open Mic Night at The Cinnamon Club in Bowdon will be back by popular demand. This is a great opportunity for any budding singer-songwriters or performers to practise their craft in front of a friendly audience at one of the Northwest’s favourite live music venues.

Every performer will also be in with a chance of winning £50 worth of Dawsons Vouchers !

Admission to The Cinnamon Club on the night will be £2 and, more importantly, the bar will be open from 8pm-11pm.

Acoustic only,  guitars and piano available .

The Cinnamon Club
The Firs
Bowden
Altrincham
WA14 2TQ

Jeff Bridges won the Oscar for ‘Best Actor’ at the Academy Awards last weekend for his outstanding performance in Crazy Heart.

“A juicy, career-crowning role. Bridges – a master of subtle brilliance – plays the hell out of it.” – Rolling Stone

In Crazy Heart, Bridges stars as down-and-out country music singer/songwriter Bad Blake, who struggles to put his drinking and cheating ways behind him after starting a relationship with a young journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

The soundtrack is also a thing of beauty, winning the Oscar for ‘Best Original Song’ with ‘The Weary Kind’ by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett. It was actually the involvement of T Bone Burnett that convinced Bridges to take a second look at the script.

It is impossible to watch the film without noticing Bad Blake’s absolutely gorgeous guitar, the 1959 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman. Any guitarist (with even a speck of country in their soul) will probably drool a little at the sight, as Bridges brandishes his Country Gentleman with unparallelled country-cool.

The film is a must-see for all musicians, not just country fans, and is well worth catching on the big screen. You can see the Gretsch G6122II Chet Atkins Country Gentleman II on our site. If there were an Oscar for “Best-Looking Guitar” the Gretsch Country Gent II would have walked it.

JamHub has a section for each musician to plug-in to, so you can easily mic-up the whole band. Each section also has a headphone amp for jamming without making external noise. You can actually hear even better with the JamHub than in a regular practice room as each musician controls their own headphone mix. This means no more competing to be heard. There is a dedicated channel for recording (plus a USB interface on the bigger models) and a number of on-board effects.

For musicians that need a bit more space (like drummers) there is a remote available so you can set your own  headphone mix from across the room. For musicians with limited space: if you can fit in the room, you can jam in it with a JamHub.

There are three models of JamHub:

• BedRoom has inputs for up to five musicians, a recording mix/mp3 player input, individual mixes, effects and a remote output.
• GreenRoom has inputs for up to seven musicians, phantom power, a recording mix, effects and a USB audio interface. It also comes with one remote.
• TourBus (pictured) has the same features as the GreenRoom plus two remotes and an on-board SD Card digital recorder so you can record, wherever you are.

The JamHubs are due to arrive next week with some to try in our Reading store. Can’t get to Reading? Check out the Video on our site.

This free to download App is available for all Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users directly from the Apple App Store. This is one App every guitarist and fan of Gibson Guitar must own.

Features

• A professional quality Chromatic Tuner that will allow you to tune any instrument using the iPhone microphone (or iPod Touch with microphone attachment)
• Alternate Tuning settings so you can quickly and easily tune your guitar to various alternate tunings, including Open G, Low C, Drop D, Eb and others.
• A Standard Mode Tuner that allows you to tune each string to a sample tone
• An accurate Metronome with multiple time signatures, visual and audio options, and a set-your-own tempo tap pad
• A Chord Library with a sample of the essential chords for every player beginner to advanced
• Free Videos Lessons – Watch full length lessons from the Award Winning Learn & Master Guitar course. Watch as instructor Steve Krenz gets you started on your way to mastering the guitar. You will also be directed to printable resources to accompany these lessons on www.learnandmaster.com
• Quick access to Gibson.com’s mobile site where you can keep up with the latest in music industry news, artists and events

The Gibson Guitar App’s traditional chromatic tuner starts in “All Notes” mode that tracks whatever is played. Owners of the App can choose a tuning on the “Mode” page so the tuner will only track notes for that particular tuning. Also included is a traditional chromatic tuner, a simple tuner which allows less advanced users to tune to Standard tuning Open G, Open D etc by touching the key. For iPhone users, the Gibson headstock inlay will automatically change colour indicating if the string is sharp, flat or in tune. For iTouch users they can turn the “Play Notes” option on so they can hear the appropriate since they do not have a microphone facility.

The Gibson app also features a standard metronome that allows users to choose a specific BPM or tap the screen three times to automatically set the tempo. Other key features of the app include over 30 chord charts with finger markings to help the user with mastering the chord. For those who prefer to learn new guitar riffs, licks or chord sequences via video tuition can now have that option from their Gibson App. The app will be updated frequently with new video content so users of all guitar ability can improve their technique from the comfort of their home.

For those who want to keep up with everything Gibson Guitar related including the announcement of new products, artist activity, news stories, interesting and factual features, exclusive contests and special events to name a few can now do this via the Gibson.com option. By popular demand the Gibson Guitar App is multi-purpose and fully interactive which can be used at home, on the road or in the Studio. It’s a must have free download for guitarists of all ability and style, get yours today.

On Friday the 12^th of March at 7pm

Through his innovative work as a solo artist and his contributions as a sideman to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, Stuart Hamm has firmly established himself as one of the most influential electric bassists of the past half-century. Extending the non-traditional function of the electric bass previously revolutionised by Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke in the 1970s, Hamm helped to reshape the contemporary concept of the bass guitar as an unaccompanied instrument with the utilization of polyphonic, two-handed tapping, slapping and popping techniques, chords, and harmonics. Hamm is at the forefront of his generation who effectively fused the application of these unconventional techniques.

Stu will be in-store demonstrating his techniques through the latest bass amps from Hartke. To register for your FREE place for this event please call Dawsons Music Reading on 0118 958 1320 or email reading@dawsons.co.uk.

Please note that FREE CUSTOMER PARKING is available at the rear of the store.

Guitarist and founding member of Oasis, Bonehead, popped into our Warrington store recently and bought a  Blackstar ARTISAN 30 2×12 Combo Amp and a Epiphone Nick Valensi Riviera P94 Antique Natural from Dawsons Warrington manager (and friend) Damian McMullen (the one in the glasses). Bonehead is currently playing in Manchester band The Vortex. Check his MySpace links out to see what he’s been up to recently…

http://www.myspace.com/boneheadoasisdj

http://www.myspace.com/thevortexmanchester

Lecture: Alan Shacklock
Date: Tuesday, 9th March 2010
Start Time: 18:30 (06:30 pm)

Register Here

SAE is proud to be hosting Industry Legend Alan Shacklock for a special guest lecture open to the public.

Alan Shacklock is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and producer. He played guitar since he was a child, playing in his first band, the Juniors (which also included future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor). He went on to play with Chris Farlowe’s backing band and studied classical guitar and lute at the Royal Academy Of Music for a number of years as well.

He later went on to form the British band Babe Ruth, featuring lead singer Janita Hann. He served as the band’s chief songwriter and producer from 1971 to 1975, and then he left the band to concentrate on writing and studio production work.

Thrice-nominated for the Grammys and with multiple platinum, gold and silver discs to his name, Alan Shacklock will be talking about his career and experience at SAE Liverpool on Tuesday 9th March at 6:30pm.

In his role as producer, he has worked on projects at Abbey Road in the London, Ocean Way in LA and Electric Lady Land in New York.

He has produced Roger Daltry (of The Who), The Alarm, Meatloaf, Jeff Beck, Mike Oldfield, Bonnie Tyler and Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, as well as title tracks for major motion pictures; Quicksilver, Doc Hollywood and Buddy’s Song.

He was also a founder and board executive of the British Record Producers Guild alongside chairman Sir George Martin.

Entry is FREE however registration is required to guarantee a place. To register please click here.

We have just taken stock of the new Roland RP-201 and HP range (HP-302, HP-305, HP-307).

The three models in the HP range feature Roland’s SuperNATURAL technology, classic design, supreme playability, and sharing technology with Roland’s legendary V-Piano.
See the range here: available in Satin Black, Rosewood and Polished Ebony (HP-305 and HP-307 only) finishes.

The Roland RP-201 makes learning the piano even more enjoyable and affordable: sublime PHA-II action, learning features, and inspiring, playable sound. In rosewood or satin black.
See the range here: available in Satin Black and Rosewood finishes.

For more information on available models and finishes please click here