David Shankle Featured in ads in Guitar Player October and November

Guitarist and front man of the band DSG, David Shankle, is the featured artist in our current Guitar Wheel advertisements in Guitar Player Magazine in the October and December issues. David Shankle is a world renown guitar instructor and shredder. Revered guitarists such as Michael Angelo Batio, Rusty Cooley, Francesco Fareri and Tom Hess have testified to David's prowess of the guitar. David Shankle was a member of Manowar from 1988 to 1994. Of all the Manowar albums, David Shankle played on the most notible the platnum album Triumph of Steel. After setting out on his own, David attended Roosevelt Music University in Chicago to get his degree in jazz and classical guitar. Today he has his own band DSG also know as the David Shankle Group. With DSG David has released a couple great metal CDs Ashes to Ashes (2003), and Helborn (2008) having it's release at the Magic Cirlce Music Festival. Both are available through the Magic Cirlce Music label. The albums are classic progressive metal; songs with lyrics and guitar led instrumental rock that will melt your face off. David Shankle tears up the fretboard both in terms of melody and technical playing. He is one of the 20 top fastest guitarists in the world. He is known to play over the neck faster then most guys play normally.

I asked David recently if he is using the Guitar Wheel with any of his students and if it was helpful. I also asked him what the status is with the current line up of his band, and to tell me about his new Dean custom 29 fret 7 string signature guitar the DSV7.

David said, "I use the Guitar Wheel with my students and they all love it. It is good for all who play. The Guitar Wheel is fun, small, not a big book that gets in the way. It's easy to use.

"So far the band is great. I am looking for a new drummer, we may have one, and also doing the new DSG CD. I may be playing at NAMM 2009 for Kahler.

"My new Dean DSV7 custom signature guitar will be a 29 fret 7 string shred V one of a kind with a Kahler tremelo [bridge system], EMG pick ups and a lot of other cool stuff. It will be out after NAMM. I am also with Diamond amps now. Diamond's Nitrox head kills bro! I love this amp."

In answer to my question about the current projects he is working on, David Shankle tells me he has done a number of recent guest spots:

Coming up, David will be appearing later in 2008 on Joe Stumps solo CD, Michael Angelo Batio's solo CD, and Tony Smotherman's next CD. Be on the look out for the third DSG album with artist guest appearances by Rusty Cooley, Matt Mills, Tony Smotherman and Roger Staffelbach (formerly of Artension). David will be giving a lesson in the Guitar Wheel boook.

He played a guest solo on Matt Mill's Neo Classical Spirit release along with other guest soloists Joe Stump, and George Bellas. Bellas says DSG should stand for Dangerous Speed Guitar. David also played guitar on Roger Staffelbach's solo album on the song Return of the Pharaoh.

David also played with his buddy from Chicago T.D. Clark on the Next Big Adventure. He played played a killer solo on a song for Asylum, a local Chicago band. Also David did all the demo tracks and solos for the band Voodoo God's.

David will have a full length guitar instructional DVD complete soon. He's also an instructor for the guitar video lesson website www.shredacademy.com

David would like to thank the new members of the DSG band: Power Metal vocalist Kyle Michael's, shred bass player Dan Buckley, orchestral keyboards Drake Mefestta and of course it's David Shankle on guitars. We also would like to thank Jay Walsh at Fairview Recording Studios & Lloyd Freeze as acting road manager & local Booking agent at this time, and all David's friends and fans and students.

David, thank you for your endorsement of the music theory teaching tool the Guitar Wheel. You Rock!

Guitar Player Magazine October 2008


Guitar Player Magazine December 2008


- by Dustin Cheatham

N.Y.C. Gets The Ball Rolling For Radio Promotions

On October 16 N.Y.C.'s lead man Tommy Bolan was invited to call in for a radio interview with DJ Shawn Kelly on KRWN the 4 Corners Rock Station. N.Y.C.'s song "The One" was the most requested song getting played 27 times a week, the max allowed. N.Y.C. has now been added to the rotation in over 40 cities nation wide. Following the interview Shawn went on to www.guitarwheel.com to check out the Guitar Wheel, and liked it so much he told listeners on the air about the Guitar Wheel and suggested they check out our website.

I contacted Shawn Kelly, who is by the way a very cool guy. He is putting together the ultimate guitar giveaway for this holiday season. He is so impressed with the Guitar Wheel that he is going to promote it on the air and include one with each Fender guitar he gives away. KRWN radio's website will soon have our video of Tommy Bolan demoing the Guitar Wheel under their "Gear We Dig" section.

-Dustin Cheatham

Latest News about Rusty Cooley: Dean Signature Guitar, CD re-release, Instructional DVDs and Signature Pedal on the way.

The Rusty Cooley 7 string signature Dean is now available and shipping. The guitar is called the RC7 http://deanguitars.com/dean_winter_07/rustycooleysig.htm http://deanguitars.com/rusty_cooley.php

Rusty's debut instrumental cd has been remixed and mastered and was re released on Sept. 12 with new artwork and bonus dvd with a lesson, tab and video for Under the Influence. For a full press release and info please check out this link http://www.lionmusic.com/cd/rusty.htm

Rusty played two guest solo's on the new All Shall Perish cd titled Awaken The Dreamers on Nuclear Blast the cd was released September 16. ASP guitarist Chris Storey is one of Rusty's best students Chris uses the RC7 guitars exclusively and uses the same preamp and power amp for his tone. www.allshallperish.com

Rusty also has a 10 minute guest lesson on Mark Tremonti's new instructional dvd www.fret12.com

Rusty also played two guest solo's on the new Sean Baker Orchestra cd. The cd will be released this fall www.myspace.com/theseanbakerorchestra

Two new instructional dvds will be released this fall Fretboard Autopsy 1 and 2 with Rock House Method www.rockhousemethod.com

Rusty also took part in testing the new Jason Becker Perpetual Burn overdrive pedal built by Protone Pedals www.protonepedals.com You can see a couple of videos of Him testing the pedal here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2vMp4XxesU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP4teUMmdkU

Look for a signature pedal coming out early 2009 with Protone as well.

In the Feb 2008 issue of Total Guitar Rusty was listed as one of the 20 Most Blazing Shredders Ever and was given an honourable mention in Guitar World magazine's 50 fastest shredders issue.

This is an original blog post from Rusty Cooley's Mspace blog copied here with his permission.

Rusty Cooley will also have a lesson on perfecting the two hand tapping technique in the book were doing for the Guitar Wheel titled Music Theory with the Guitar Wheel. It should be out early 2009.

Ad from Guitar Player Magazine.

"The Guitar Wheel ROCKS! What a brilliant idea, it's compact and fits right in your guitar case. This amount of material usually takes up a full book."
-Rusty Cooley is the guitarist of Outworld and is a world renown guitar instructor.

Paradise Guitars is now taking orders for the Jason Becker Signature Guitar

Go to Paradise Guitars USA website if you are interested in ordering one of the Jason Becker Signature Guitars. They start taking orders midnight tonight. The first 70 will include, Jason's New CD "Collection" a Guitar Wheel and some other cool things. Thanks Jason Becker, Paradise and David Kline, and everybody involved. The Guitar looks stunning! Everybody, nice work!

Dustin C.

Paradise Guitars Photo: Jason Becker Signature Guitar

Here it is everyone, possibly your first look at the Jason Becker Signature Guitar made by Paradise Guitars USA per Jason's exact specifications. These will be available for purchase, but at the moment I don't know when you can order one. Visit Paradise Guitars USA website for ordering info, and keep checking back here because I often post updates sometimes ahead of others. At this moment there is surprisingly nothing about the Becker Signature guitar on the Paradise Guitar USA website. But that is likely because they are so dedicated to every detail of this amazing guitar, and getting ready for its big launch. And truly it is going to be an awesome tribute to Jason. Sales of this guitar model will directly benefit Jason Becker.

Check out Jason Becker's newest CD titled "Collection" (Shrapnel Records 2008). It contains new songs, and some old I've had a preview of it and it sounds amazing. It's official release date is Nov 4. So on that day remember to vote (if you are a citizen of the US) and buy the new CD! It will be released through Shrapnel Records, and iTunes, and available everywhere.

In case you missed the news, Jason Becker is one of the newest artist endorsers of the Guitar Wheel, our educational music theory learning tool.

"The Guitar Wheel is great! I could have used it for teaching students. I can use it now for composing. Very cool!"
- Jason Becker

Relevant links:
Jason Becker's official website
Jason Becker's Myspace
Paradise Guitars USA
Shrapnel Records

Thanks,
-Dustin Cheatham

Symphonic Guitarist Dan Sindel launches EZGTR.com

Today I'm talking about a unique guitar lesson website our friend Dan Sindel just launched www.ezgtr.com. At EZGTR.com the learning experience is all about you. There are a couple ways to be a part of the EZGTR.com system. You can upload a video, they analyze your playing, and then send back to you a video lesson made especially created just for you. Or if you are more shy you can simply sign up and write to them telling them about your playing and what you want to improve on, and you'll recieve the same personal care. EZGTR.com also offers 1 on 1 private webcam guitar lessons.

EZGTR.com was started by "Symphonic Guitarist" Dan Sindel with one purpose in mind, to present high quality instruction for the beginning guitarist and solve many of the issues that normally surround a typical guitar lesson. Dan accomplishes this by providing personalized lessons designed to meet "you" right where "you" are at on a personal level. Once again Dan has thought outside the box, and proven the box wrong. Allowing students to send videos of their playing, not only allows him to tailor a lesson to their specific interests, it saves a student time and frustration with sorting through the literally hundreds of thousands lesson videos on the web trying to find what it is they want. Students create, you create. Also, by taking away the face to face element of teaching you probably remove the barrier most students have when doing lessons: pressure to be perfect. Students can watch the lesson at their own pace and really enjoy their instrument without worrying about when the lesson time has run out and how much the half hour cost them. In addition Dan offers live timed lessons via web cam if you want the live teaching experience. We think Dan's concept is brilliant. In a time where machines substitute a lot of human interaction, Dan uses the computer to deliver a personal guitar lesson tailored specifically for you. And he is probably the nicest guy to be offering this service.

Recently Dan was invited to teach a guitar clinic to a class room of high school students at Granada Hills High School. Dan gave advice about playing and technique and shared some of the tools he uses for teaching including the Guitar Wheel. About 75 students held the Guitar Wheel and witnessed first hand how useful it is for learning music theory.

About Dan Sindel:
Dan Sindel has taught guitar professionally for over 20 years, performed for hundreds of thousands of people and has earned features in current issues of Guitar Player and Electronic Musician magazines. Dan's unique concept; "Symphonic Guitars" has garnered international acclaim for his creative method of adapting classical arrangements to the electric and acoustic guitar. Dan has earned endorsements from some of the biggest names in musical manufactures and is also a member of ASCAP.