Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Save The Date: First-ever Guitar Center Musician’s Expo at Long Beach Convention Center

Aloha!

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 there will be an event at the Long Beach Convention Center that should be of interest for Southern California musicians. The Guitar Center Musician’s Expo is an opportunity for us common folks to see a lot of the new gear that was introduced at the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim.

Guitar Center is the big daddy of music retailers, and I admire that they are trying new thing despite the crushing debt they are staggering under. Through their relationships with their suppliers and vendors, they will be featuring equipment from over 60 manufacturers, including Martin, Fender, Casio, Roland, DW, Bose, Pioneer and more. There will be company representatives on hand to answer questions, and the equipment will be out for the unwashed masses to touch and use. Most musicians are not able to go to NAMM, and I know they would like to see and play stuff gear that is not even at dealers yet.

Besides the gear there will also be artist and DJ workshops with a pretty fine line-up that includes Chad Wackerman, Allan Holdsworth, Jimmy Haslip, Mix Master Mike, Derek Sherinian, Stephen Perkins, Tony Franklin (my hero!), Rob Wasserman, DJ Qbert, and more. There will also be free group clinics, including group Recording Made Easy classes, guitar lessons and ukulele lessons. This might be kind of cool for the kids.

Rumor has it that there will also be a few notable instruments from Guitar Center’s collection on hand, including Eric Clapton’s "Blackie" Fender Stratocaster guitar and Gibson ES-335 as well as Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Lenny" Fender Stratocaster guitar. You probably will not get to touch these, though…

As I said earlier, the Guitar Center Musician’s Expo will be at the Long Beach Convention Center on Saturday, April 6, 2013. The show will be open from 10AM to 5PM, and admission is $5 if you buy your tickets from a local Guitar Center, or $10 at the door. Complete details should be available at guitarcenter.com

I hope to see you there!

Mahalo!

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