Phasing out Guitar Alchemy profiles -- what's next?

[Dinosaur David B]

In the light of ongoing requests to profile players, it is time to make the following announcement.  We will be profiling Slash (in progress), Paul Gilbert (and possibly one other player) in the full 6+ page Alchemy format.  After that, we are going to shift the focus to other content.

There are several reasons for this decision. Chief among them is that every MAJOR player in the genre has already been done.  The B-level players have been done too.  John and I feel that it's really stretching credibility to suggest that the Vito Bratta's and Reb Beach's of the world have made the same impact or are worthy of the same attention as most of the guys we've done. We know that that's a subjective call, and that we've already done some fringe guys, but we have to draw the line somewhere. With all the major players done, this is no longer a labor of love.  We appreciate peoples efforts to help write them, however, even when we don't write the profile ourselves, we have to do a lot of research and listening ourselves, and spend hours editing to make sure the profile lives up to the standard we've set.  Beyond that, we don't want to be working on these for the rest of our lives. We've done over 60 long profiles and we're a bit burned-out on it.  It's enough.

Alchemy profiles are frequently the bait that brings new Dinos to DRG.  We don't need to write more of them for that to still be the case.  The existing profiles will still do that. What we want to do now is create some content for the members that is useful in other ways.

But what about every other guy who ever picked up a guitar?

What we WILL do is a page of "Honorable Mentions" for all the also-ran guys who are great players, but who didn't make enough of an impact to warrant a 6 page profile. The Honorable mentions sections will be a different format. We'll come up with an abbreviated template, and we'll do a few bullets and paragraphs on each guy.  They will be shorter, and easy to do, so that we can add players to it easily and frequently. It will also be less strict about guys who lean more toward shred or thrash.

What comes next?
This is about knowing your audience. The DRG forum is largely comprised of experienced Dino style players, and a few younger ones who are eager to learn. As such the question becomes what can we do for this audience, and what can this audience do for each other.

Guitar and gear-related content
To address the first part of the question, we have already started in this direction with the article on tonewoods and the Luthier Interview series.  These interviews should prove very informative.

The DRG Knowledge Base/Handbook
As for the second part, as experienced Dinos we possess a wealth of Dino knowledge that can be captured and passed on to younger players.  And to me, that's always what this site was about at its core.  Passing the torch and keeping the Dino flame alive in the next generation of players so that this style of music we love doesn't die.  Alchemy profiles provide part of the education.  The other side of the coin is how to get there. How to find good gear. How to get the tone you want. What to practice. The stuff we discuss every day in the forum.

What we want to do is capture that info and organize it in a way that is bible for young wanna-be Dinos, and be a useful reference for experienced Dinos.  We will be writing some of this content ourselves, but we also intend to seek out a lot of input from the forum population.

The Rogues Gallery
We acknowledge the popularity of the Guitar Alchemy profiles and understand their value.  We don't want everyone to go into withdrawal.
But rather than profiling increasingly less important guitarists, we figured it might be a good idea to profile other important characters of the Dino genre who aren't guitarists. Guys like Dio, Cozy Powell, Lemmy, Phil Lynott etc.  We will profile these folks in a similar way, but the template will be a bit different.

[Stevil]

Ooohhh more goodies on the way! :D
The "DRG Handbook" idea is the coolest idea of all the new features to come for me.

[GibsonFan]

Damn, Reb won't be profiled... that guy was THE SHIT!!!

[Still Of The Night]

Sounds great Dave and Co. Look forward to all of it.  Now, i fonly University wasn't taking up all my practicing time lol

Julian

[Dinosaur David B]

Damn, Reb won't be profiled... that guy was THE SHIT!!!

  Well then you can work on his Honorable Mention once we get the format defined.

[Halvor Hosar]

You do a profile on Eddie van Halen, but not Vito Bratta? This proves that you are a bunch of crackheads, not worthy my attention. Sayonara, suckers!   :butthead:

Just kidding, I understand what you are saying. The profiles have been helping me, and a lot of other younger dinos a lot, but I agree that all the big cats have been covered now. Besides, they have learned me a lot about style analysis. And, those of us who love guys like Vito and Reb have probably been playing guitar for a while, so we have some foundation for learning about their styles. I can't wait to help to write an honourable mention for Vito though (Jebbuda, joint project? ;) ).

I think the content that have been planned is more interesting than more bios right now. The whole handbook thing sounds really helpfull. Right now, good dino learning material is scarce and hard to find online, so it will be a great help for us younger dinos. The rouges gallery and equipment section sounds like great material too, I can't wait.

Lastly, I would like to give a huge thanks to those that brought us DRG. Thanks to you, I discovered a lot of guitarists, like Gary Moore, John Sykes, George Lynch, Warren deMartini, Dave Meniketti, Steve Vai, Jake E. Lee every Thin Lizzy guy, Michael Schenker, and even some non-profiled guitarists like Jeff Watson and Reb Beach. You have broadened my musical inspirations, and musical palette, through the alchemy profiles, and I sincerely look forward to what you might have to offer in the future. Thanks a lot!  :mrgreen:

[Queen Of The Dinos]

It also gets us focused in "Dino Rock" as an overall musical structure, and not just a Guitar Cult.

[GibsonFan]

What would be interesting... alchemy profiles on major Dino musicians (drummers, bass players and singers) made by specialists...

[Queen Of The Dinos]

Damn, Reb won't be profiled... that guy was THE SHIT!!!

Reb is still alive, and still playing just fine.  LOL!!!!!!!

But Reb is a great example of someone that might have been a player that stood out to some, but not someone that jumps to the brain before someone like Zakk Wylde in the genre.

What would be interesting... alchemy profiles on major Dino musicians (drummers, bass players and singers) made by specialists...

If you read above, that is exactly part of what we are going to be doing, that's the Rogues Gallery.

[Duojett71]

The new ideas sound great...I think the new content will breathe new life into the site. Look forward to it. Let me know if I can contribute in some way.

[Gunner4Life]

What happened to Whitford's alchemy? He's not on the roll down window.

[Stevil]

What happened to Whitford's alchemy? He's not on the roll down window.

Yes it is,...

http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/bios/Whitford.shtml

[Dinosaur David B]

He's right. There's a glitch. I'll fix it.  

[GibsonFan]

There's the same thing on the "Music Appreciation" section. Pat Travers album doesn't appear in the scrolling menu.

[A.J. Huckleberry]

I suggest gear articles. While I concede that an EL34-powered Marshall & a Les Paul are pretty much a gimme, yours truly...along with Nugent, Perry, Gibbons...have also played Dino-riffs through Fenders amps.

  I'm not promoting Fenders. I have mine 'cuz I don't wanna be lugging a full stack around, and I don't have the cake for a JCM reissue & a 2x12(yet).
  What I'm proposing is maybe reviews or anecdotes about instruments, amps, and combinations of them that will work for this genre of music(which is more varied than even we give it credit for. Look at the folks profiled in Alchemy).
Obviously, there's the Strat. Marshall comnibation: classic, but we could help a newbie determine whether that's gonna offer up the sound they hear in their head. I know we regularly post about our latest purchases, but is some ICONIC gear combos out there that we could all speak volumes about.
  Hell, we could break it down by price range. Give that aspiring Hetfiels some hope that he could "get there" without a custom ESP & a Boogie.