George Vodden of Illinois is the winner of the Steve Stevens autographed G-5 VG Stratocaster. In this video, Gary Lenaire of BOSS and Roland guitar products, congratulates George and sends off the prized guitar. The Roland & BOSS team is currently working on the next giveaway, and YOU could be the next winner!

Related links and articles:

• Win a Steve Stevens Autographed G-5 Strat
• Steve Stevens V-Guitar Experience Interview
• New Product: G-5A VG Stratocaster, Built in the U.S.A

Published by Jude Gold

Jude Gold is a true Renaissance man in the world of guitar. He splits his time between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, working as a session player and sideman for many artists, including Jefferson Starship, Brendon Small, Miguel Migs, JGB, Eddie Money, and more. He’s also a noted guitar journalist with Guitar Player magazine, with hundreds of interviews and articles to his credit. To top it all off, Jude is a devoted educator who served as the Director of the Guitar Program at the esteemed Musicians Institute for four years and is currently an instructor there.

Catch Jude Gold this weekend in L.A. for the debut of Brendon Small’s Galaktikon at The Roxy during Wesfest.

While he’s a highly versatile player and proficient in many different styles, Jude is noted for his signature “full-contact” slap-guitar playing. With a unique, energetic approach, he abuses his axe with slaps and taps to produce rapid-fire rhythms, harmonics, and raw funk grooves. You can sample Jude’s impressive and entertaining playing in this style by firing up YouTube and searching for his debut music video, “Funkytown.”

Jude Gold on Facebook

Jude has been a BOSS player for a long time, and he currently uses a wide range of BOSS stomps for his various playing activities. He also employs the Roland G-5 VG Stratocaster®, which he loves for its instant access to different sounds and altered tunings. For Edition 35 of the BOSS Tone Radio podcast, we talked with Jude about his diverse career, favorite BOSS gear, and more.

To listen to the complete conversation, visit BOSS Tone Radio.

You’ve played a lot of gigs with Jerry Garcia’s band, Eddie Money, Greg Howe, Stu Hamm, Jeff Berlin, and others. Are there any that stand out?

Oh man, there are so many. I guess for me, it always comes down to the same thing though, which is the reason why many of us play guitar—once in a while, we all have those gigs where your feet don’t touch the ground, you know? For whatever reason, everything is just working and the music is flowing through you and you’re playing stuff that you didn’t even know you could play. I live for those moments, and those moments can happen anywhere. I think that’s the beauty of music. You never know when that magic can happen, and I do remember those gigs.

You’re definitely into the groove, and you describe your playing with the terms “deep pocket” and “evil funk.” What do they mean to you?

Continue reading this article on BOSS Users Group

Related links and articles:

• Play an Entire Live Set with Just the GT-100
• G-5 VG Stratocaster Review
• Guitar Amp Roundtable

Guitar legend Steve Stevens is perhaps best known for his nearly 30-year association with ‘80s icon Billy Idol and his pyrotechnic playing on Idol tracks such as “Rebel Yell” and “Eyes Without a Face.” Additionally, Stevens boasts an impressive resumé of achievements as both a solo artist and sideman, working with a diverse range of artists, including such greats as Joni Mitchell, Michael Jackson, Vince Neil and many others. In 1986, his contributions to the Top Gun soundtrack earned Stevens a Grammy Award. Considering his incredible experience, Roland approached the guitar legend for his take on our ground braking G-5 Fender Strat. Check out the video below for his thoughts and enter to win the featured G-5 Strat autographed by Mr. Stevens himself!

The G-5 features the following guitars and tunings:

MODE knob: 5 types

• N: Normal (non-modeling mode)
• S: Stratocaster
• T: Telecaster
• H: Humbucker
• A: Acoustic

TUNING knob: 6 types

• N: Normal tuning
• D: Drop D
• G: Open G
• d: D Modal
• B: Baritone
• 12: 12-string guitar

Review by Michael Hodge

A few years ago, Roland and Fender got together and offered a Stratocaster with a built in Roland GK Divided Pickup system.  I have one and love it for programming since I am better on guitar than keys.  You can also double stuff via MIDI and make cool layers behind chords and solos, adding synth tones to what is coming out of the amp.

Roland and Fender have teamed up again, and the result is really cool!

The G-5 VG Strat is to guitar synthology what the iPod was to mp3 players.  It is streamlined and does just a limited number of things exceptionally.  The G-5 comes in two models. One is black with a maple neck, and the other is sunburst with a rosewood fingerboard.  Both models have alder bodies, Fender vintage ceramic pickups, a 22-fret neck with medium jumbo frets and American inline tuners.  There is also a built in Roland GK-3 divided pickup and a synchronized tremolo bridge.  Focusing on just the guitar tones, the G-5 is powered by Roland’s Composite Object Sound Modeling (COSM) engine from the VG-99.

What is unique to this guitar is that you just…

Continue reading this review in the July/August issue of Worship Musician! magazine

Darryl has played bass guitar for the Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Cher and Peter Gabriel. He also plays with an amazing trio, the Stone Raiders. Darryl uses BOSS effects and the Roland GR-55 guitar synthesizer.

John 5

John plays guitar for Rob Zombie. He has also played with Marilyn Manson, Rob Halford, David Lee Roth and many others. John’s innovative and versatile guitar style has been featured on many projects. John plays BOSS compact pedals and the Roland GR-55 guitar synthesizer. John is featured on the new BOSS compact pedal Connect videos.

Watch the Loop Station World Championship 3 live and vote

Steve Stevens

Steve is the guitarist for Billy Idol. He has performed with Michael Jackson, Vince Neil, Ric Ocasek, Robert Palmer, Tony Levin, Terry Bozzio, the Atomic Playboys and Flamenco a GoGo. He played guitar on the mega-selling soundtrack “Top Gun” which earned him a Grammy Award for Pop Instrumental Performance. Steve plays BOSS compact pedals, the Roland GR-55 guitar synthesizer and Roland G-5 V-G Stratocaster.

Billy Duffy

Billy has played guitar with Johnny Marr, Morrissey and many others. He is best known for his work as guitarist for the Cult. His iconic guitar riffs are known to millions of music fans. Billy plays BOSS compact pedals and the Roland JC-120 amplifier.

Herman Li

Herman plays guitar for DragonForce. His blindingly fast and precise guitar playing has won the respect of many fans around the world. Herman is originally from Hong Kong and studied in the UK where he now lives. Herman uses BOSS compact pedals, BOSS eBand and the Roland GR-55 guitar synthesizer.

Gary Lenaire

Gary Lenaire is the Product and Marketing Manager for BOSS and Roland Guitar Products. As a guitarist and composer and is mostly known for his work with the bands Tourniquet and Echo Hollow. He has released 12 records and has published over 90 songs worldwide, including those found in the Roland VS-2480, BOSS® MICRO BR and BOSS BR-800.

Watch the Loop Station World Championship 3 live and vote

Related Links and articles:

• Loop Station World Finalists 2013 Part 2
• Loop Station World Finalists 2013 Part 1
• 18 Exciting New Products For Winter NAMM

On Thursday, November 8th, Steve Stevens demonstrated his playing style and his use of guitar synths at the V-Guitar Experience event at Guitar Center in Hollywood, California. On stage with Steve were the GR-55 guitar synth and the G-5 Stratocaster®. The V-guitar experience tour consisted of 20 dates that started on September 22 through November 25th in various locations around the world.

Steve Stevens has long been a guitar synth advocate since the early 80s with his use of the GR-700 and GR-33. Steve explains that in his recent Billy Idol tour, he played all the keyboard parts with his guitar synth and completely eliminated the need for a keyboard player while Billy Morrison filled in as the second guitar player. Steve explained that his set-up worked flawlessly, even with keyboard heavy songs such as Flesh for Fantasy and Eyes Without a Face.

Published on Nov 9, 2012 by DANOV50

We found some really great footage from a member of the audience that night. Thank you YouTube user DANOV50 for posting these videos. The first video is of Steve Stevens being introduced by Roland’s product manager for guitar, bass, and BOSS pedals, Gary Lenaire. The second video of Steve is his demonstration of the G-5 V-Guitar Strat.

Published on Nov 8, 2012 by DANOV50

It was a real treat watching and listening to Steve demonstrate these instruments. He’s more than an average user, he explained how he really dives in to create his custom sound patches which he uses to perform and create material. Steve is also a song writer and producer and has toured with other bands and artists such as Michael Jackson, Juno Reactor, Vince Neil, and his own band of super musicians, Bozzio Levin Stevens. We say super musicians because the other two band members, drummer, Terry Bozzio and bassist, Tony Levin have a history of playing with some of the giants of music. Bozzio has played alongside Frank Zappa, U.K., Missing Persons, Steve Vai, and Jeff Beck while Levin has played with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, and Liquid Tension Experiment.

In writing this blog post, we stumbled upon some great material and history of Steve and our products. Perhaps one if his most memorable projects was his appearance on the 1986 soundtrack to the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun, for which he collaborated with keyboardist Harold Faltermeyer on “Top Gun Anthem” which earned Stevens a Grammy Award for Pop Instrumental Performance that year. So with this, we leave you on the way back machine with with Steve Stevens.

Published by rockssiddiqui on Mar 25, 2011

Did we miss anything? Do you have any questions about our gear or Steve? Leave us a comment. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Related links and articles:

• Steve Stevens Demos The G-5 Strat
• The VG-99 Inspires
• Billy Duffy on How He Discovered His Signature Sound

In this video Steve Stevens demonstrates the Roland G-5 V-Guitar and the plethora of sounds it covers. We could continue to write about the demo but it wouldn’t give justice to Steve’s  talent or the product so just check out the video.

The G-5 features the following guitars and tunings:

MODE knob: 5 types

N: Normal (non-modeling mode)
S: Stratocaster
T: Telecaster
H: Humbucker
A: Acoustic

TUNING knob: 6 types

N: Normal tuning
D: Drop D
G: Open G
d: D Modal
B: Baritone
12: 12-string guitar

Guitar legend Steve Stevens is perhaps best known for his nearly 30-year association with ‘80s icon Billy Idol and his pyrotechnic playing on Idol tracks such as “Rebel Yell” and “Eyes Without a Face.” Additionally, Stevens boasts an impressive resumé of achievements as both a solo artist and sideman, working with a diverse range of artists, including such greats as Joni Mitchell, Michael Jackson, Vince Neil and many others. In 1986, his contributions to the Top Gun soundtrack earned Stevens a Grammy Award. Join Roland, Guitar Center and Steve Stevens for an evening of insight, discussion and live performance.

Published on May 24, 2012 by Rolandmedia

Location: Guitar Center #110 7425 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90046

When: Thursday, November 8, 2012

Live streaming here via GuitarTV.com. Live streaming begins at 7:00pm EST

7-7:30pm: Steve Stevens V-Guitar demonstrations
7:30-8:00pm: Q&A with Steve, autograph session

Giveaways include:

Roland G-5 Strat autographed by Steve Stevens
Roland Micro Cube guitar amp
BOSS TU-10 Clip-On chromatic tuners
Lots of T-shirts

V-Guitar 2012 World Tour:

9/22 Calgary
10/2 Nashville
10/4 Birmingham
10/6-7 Copenhagen
10/10 Redmond
10/11 Portland
10/12 Keizer
10/17 Torrance
10/25 Budapest
11/3 Sterling
11/5 San Antonio
11/6 Austin and Warsaw
11/8 Hollywood
11/10 Albuquerque
11/13 Pensacola
11/15 West Seneca
11/17 Fukuoka
11/18, 22-23 Tokyo
11/24 Saitama
11/25 Osaka

Links and related articles:

Michael “Nomad” Ripoll Demos the Roland G-5 V-Guitar
Billy Duffy (The Cult): How I Discovered My Signature Sound
Mike Scaccia (Ministry): How I Got My Tone