• Artist in Focus: Q & A with Gretchen Menn

     

    Rapidly gaining praise in the world of instrumental rock and beyond, Ernie Ball Music Man artist Gretchen Menn isn’t your average guitar hero on the rise. She once flew regional jets to support her six-string habit, and has studied the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Jimmy Page, and fellow Music Man artist Steve Morse....Read the full article.

  • Inspired Women

     

    We gathered a remarkable group of inspired women across the entertainment industry. They’re creative and business talents who’re experts at bringing projects to life in Hollywood. They’re strong, accomplished women with warm hearts. And they’re standouts in an industry that’s renowned for being challenging for women....Read the full article.

  • By redazione

     

    Per chi vuole iniziare a suonare la chitarra, servono passione e amore per la musica. Oltre a ciò, nulla può essere più utile del supporto e dell'esperienza di qualche musicista o amico più navigato. Qualche suggerimento dato al momento giusto può aiutare a fare meno fatica, divertirsi di più e migliorare più in fretta. Così, abbiamo chiesto alla chitarrista americana Gretchen Menn qualche consiglio da girare ai chitarristi alle prime armi, per partire con il piede giusto.....Read the full article.

  • By redazione

     

    La versatilità in un musicista non è solo la capacità di destreggiarsi attraverso generi musicali differenti, indispensabile per essere un professionista. E anche la possibilità di avere a propria disposizione una tavolozza di colori espressivi e stilistici, così ampia da garantirgli di tratteggiare combinazioni artistiche inedite e personali. Parola di Gretchen Menn....Read the full article.

  • By Gianni Rojatti

     

    In un momento storico in cui nel chitarrismo, spiccata capacità tecnica, proprietà di fraseggio e versatilità non sono più un punto d’arrivo ma una necessaria rosa di talenti alla base delle aspirazioni dei musicisti più ambiziosi, fare dischi in cui si snocciola la propria bravura tra trentaduesimi e composizioni complicate non basta più....Read the full article.

  • Rapidly gaining praise in the world of instrumental rock and beyond, Gretchen Menn isn’t your average guitar hero on the rise. She once flew regional jets to support her six-string habit. She has studied, in equal parts, the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Steve Morse, Frank Zappa, and Jimmy Page....Read the full article.

     

  • Interview

    R'n'R : How music came into your life ?

    GM : Music was a part of my life as far back as I can remember. Both of my parents love music, and it was always playing in the house. They had diverse tastes—everything from classical to reggae. My mom loved old musicals, ballet, theater, so my sister and I were exposed to many different types of music, and were raised with the idea that it’s an essential part of life....Read the full article.

     

    Abandon All Hope review

    One would think that Gretchen Menn, guitar player of Zepparella, a Led Zeppelin's tribute band, is only a pretty face and probably a guitar player who only learned to play Jimmy Page's hard guitar parts. Mistake, big mistake....Read the full article.

     

    Hale Souls review

    What makes the virtuosity of an artist, a musician, is the gift, the work but also the fact of going to the others, to put at their disposal the work accomplished and especially one must be modest and possess a great sense of humility....Read the full article.

  • By Alison Richter

     

    Gretchen Menn: From Shakespeare to Dante to Zepparella – Motivated to Keep the Momentum Going and to Keep Learning

     

    If you majored in English or enrolled in any literature classes, chances are that Dante’s Inferno was part of the required reading. Somehow, throughout her studies, Gretchen Menn never crossed paths with the classic. Instead, it became required reading for the making of her most recent album, 2017’s Abandon All Hope....Read the full article.

     

  • By Michael Molenda

     

    We promised at the beginning of this auspicious and celebratory 50th-anniversary year of Guitar Player that the staff would use the magazine’s “elder statesperson” role to dream about the possible future of the guitar and to honor its past. As part of that mission, we are recognizing 50 female guitarists who have made—or who are making—tremendous contributions to guitarcraft and guitar culture....Read the full article.

     

  • By Michael Molenda

     

    We’re guitarists, so we know how we are. We have elevated praising and blasting other guitar players to an Olympic-level sport. So the staff thought it would be fun to step out of the way for a 50th Anniversary issue feature lauding supreme guitarists between 1967-2017, and let you pick the honorees. Now you have no one to blame but yourselves for any omissions, controversies, or blasphemies. Hahaha....Read the full article.

  • Gretchen Menn has released a brand new video for the song "Shadows" off her latest album, Abandon All Hope.

     

    The video for "Shadows," includes images by Max Crace, libretto by Michael Molenda, and features the musical brilliance of Thomas Perry on drums, Daniele Gottardo on bass, Kirsten Menn on keys and vocal, and Glauco Bertagnin on violin....Read the full article

  • By Andrew Catania

     

    Record Review: Gretchen Menn’s Abandon All Hope

     

    There are many reasons why Gretchen Menn is #1 on my list of shredders.  While Gretchen isn’t necessarily a shredder, Gretchen is disciplined in all areas of the guitar, including shred.  Her latest record, Abandon All Hope,  is not just another guitar instrumental album from a talented guitarist. .....Read the full article.

     

  • By James Wood

     

    Zepparella's Gretchen Menn Discusses Her 'Inferno'-Inspired Album, 'Abandon All Hope'

     

    Zepparella guitarist Gretchen Menn’s new conceptual work, Abandon All Hope, is an eclectic study of guitar, art and literature.....Read the full article.

     

  • Female Guitar Players Make Their Mark with She Rocks, Vol. 1

     

    A publicist emailed me about a month back describing this really incredible project. It was a compilation album, She Rocks, Vol. 1, scheduled to release January 20th, 2017 at the She Rocks Awards during the annual NAMM event. It’s a compilation made up of some of the most badass female guitar players in the world. You wonder who some of these women are? Well, to name just a few Lita Ford, Jennifer Batten, Orianthi, Nita Strauss, Gretchen Menn, Nili Brosh and so many others! Yeah, no big deal, right?...Read the full article.

  • By Erkka Lehmus

     

    Today I received an e-mail which starts like this: "Dear Erkka, I wanted to send a big thank you for your support of and interest in my music. Independent artists are able to exist and continue to create because of people like you." Something told me it was not an automated script sending those thanks-messages, but that the artists had written that in person....Read the full article.

  • By Michael Molenda

     

    Gretchen Menn Releases Concept Album Based on Dante’s Inferno

     

    Following an exclusive preview at Amado’s San Francisco on December 7, 2016 — attended by adoring supporters from across the United States — Gretchen Menn is now releasing her new conceptual work, Abandon All Hope, world wide....Read the full article.

     

  • Gretchen Menn is probably best-known for her role as the lead guitarist in the all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band Zepparella, but her epic musical prowess goes far beyond that...Read the full article.

  • Gretchen Menn’s musical prowess began during her early teenage years, and evolved into an explosive career spanning the genres of jazz, funk, rock, progressive and metal...Read the full article.

  • Gretchen Menn

     

    From the friendly skies, to the rocking stages and everywhere in between.

     

    When you hear the name Gretchen Menn, what comes to mind? Guitar virtuoso, Led Zeppelin, beautiful?  Well, if you answered any of those, you would be correct.  She has assumed the role of Jimmy Page in the all-female band Zepparella for the last nine years. But there is more that makes up this extremely talented young woman....Read the full article.

     

  • Review by Laura B. Whitmore

     

    One of the reasons I hauled my butt into the city two nights in a row (Can you believe I went to the ballet the night before?) was to see the amazing and talented Gretchen Menn. Wowza. I am not kidding. Gretchen is one of the best guitarists I've ever seen, male, female or humanoid of any sort. She shreds, she’s classically trained, she can play just about anything...Read the full article.

  • By Meilina Dalit, Laura B. Whitmore

     

    Yes, it’s time once again to present to you 10 uber-talented female guitarists you may never have heard of! They rock, they finesse, they shine. From the classic singer/songwriter to the ferocious shredder, these 10 women know their way around six strings!...Read the full article.

  • By Rustyn Rose

     

    When we say hottest, we aren’t talking about sexy, we’re talking about the steam coming off the fretboards when these ladies of the axe cut loose. No more is the guitar a boys only club, and it’s about damn time we celebrate and recognize. The frenzy of female fronted bands is a sight to behold and a leap forward from the 80s and 90s when metal bands were 95% testosterone....Read the full article.

  • Review by Jas Obrecht

     

    Gretchen Menn steps out on her own with her first solo album, and what an album it is! If you’re looking for traces of the AC/DShe and Zepparella covers she’s played in the past, forget it. If you’re looking for edgy, compelling, freshly minted instrumentals that take a musical journey like albums of old, you’ll find much to admire here...Read the full article.

  • How many Certified Flight Instructors do you know that can say they've phoned their flight students to walk them through instrument ground lessons while doing a concert soundcheck with their rock band from the stage while on a national tour? If your answer is "none", well, that's all about to change...Read the full article.

  • By Laurie Monk

     

    I was fortunate enough to catch up with Gretchen Menn in San Francisco at the benefit gig for Jason Becker at Slims night club back in March 2011. I was in San Francisco for just a few days just for the show and I was really enjoying the American experience. We had just arrived at the venue in the early afternoon. The place was a hive of activity with people setting up the show. The venue is filled with top guitar players, all here to celebrate the genius that is Jason Becker. I’m super hyped, everywhere you turn there are number one guitar players, Greg Howe, Richie Kotzen, Steve Lukather to name but a few... I can see Mike Varney out of the corner of my eye... my heart is racing... here I am 5291 miles from home and feeling like a very happy fish out of water! In the darkness of the hall, I can see a diminutive, stunning, redhead. She is standing quietly whilst all around the noise and mayhem of preparations for the Jason Becker gig continues apace...Read the full article.

  • By Jas Obrecht

     

    Some guitarists just seem destined for ascendency. I felt this for the first time listening to Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption" on Don Menn's stereo at Guitar Player magazine in 1978. It happened again a few months later while watching Steve Morse front the Dixie Dregs. In the 1980s, that premonition came roaring back while listening to early demos of Yngwie Malmsteen, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Shawn Lane, and Buckethead. And now, after a many-year hiatus, that intuition strikes again: Meet Gretchen Menn, best known for her work with Zepparella, Sticks and Stones, and Lapdance Armageddon...Read the full article.