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Fender University has announced that the spring session of the program is set to take place March 4—8, 2009 in Corona, Calif. Fender University is an exclusive music education program for guitar enthusiasts worldwide. The program offers exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to Fender's manufacturing headquarters and world-renowned Fender Custom Shop, in addition to a series of music workshops, hands-on educational experiences, performance opportunities and special guest appearances.

Eastwood Guitars has just opened the Eastwood Players Lounge in their newly renovated showroom, just northwest of Toronto, Canada. This comfortable 2,000 square foot demo space is incorporated into the company’s distribution headquarters. Eastwood artists and preferred customers alike can schedule an appointment to tryout the complete Eastwood and Airline product line of guitars and basses.

Zoybar is a modular hardware platform for creating custom electric string instruments and effects. The Zoybar components provide research and development tools as a sustainable prototype platform. The same modular parts can be assembled as different instruments, can be changed during the performance and also be mounted with numerous special effects, just by adding and changing their position across the profile groves.

Alfred has announced two new guitar releases that span guitarist of all ages: Guitar for Kids and The Guitar Scale Picture Book. Guitar for Kids book and CD package explains lessons using plain language that’s easy for kids to understand.

While keyboards, drum pads, and even turntables have dominated the world of commercial electronic musical instruments, composer/guitarist/inventor Keith McMillen has spent decades advancing the fortunes of string players.

MyGuitarSpace.com has announced the last call for entries in the MyGuitarSpace.com Best Instrumental Contest. Entries will be accepted through the last day of October, and the winner will receive a check for $250.

Jon from GuitarNoize has posted an article rating what he thinks are the Top 10 Rock Guitar Poses. He came up with the idea while browsing through guitar pose photos from Flickr. Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen all get a mention. Feel free to let Jon know what you think of his choices in his comment section.

LightWing Studios has announced a product line expansion of their AxeGlove Guitar Protection System to include PRS Guitars and Fender Basses. AxeGlove is a complete, two piece system which encompasses both the neck and body of solid body electric guitars and basses is now offered for Gibson SG, Les Paul Standard, Custom, Deluxe and Double Cutaway models, PRS, Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars as well as Precision and Jazz basses.

Peter Hodgson from I Heart Guitar recently caught up with Joe Satriani for a quick chat about his new album, his distortion box and his new band. Joe Satriani has spent the past five months touring in South America, Europe and other countries. And is about to begin an American tour behind his current CD, "Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock."

The latest creation for guitarists available for purchase on the iTunes App Store is a neat little program called the GuitarToolkit. The GuitarToolkit is a collection of essential guitar utilities. According to Guitarmx.com it includes the follwing:

Martin Guitar celebrated their 175th Anniversary with a first time auction of guitars donated from their private collection. The exclusive auction partnered the legendary guitar maker with Christie’s in New York for the sale of 44 unique and one-of-a-kind guitars, ranging from prototypes to limited artist signature editions, on Friday, October 10th. The sale pulled in more than $210,000 dollars exclusively from the lots donated by Martin Guitar, with all proceeds going to benefit the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation.

Following in its tradition of encouraging players to express their own uniqueness with the launch of the Neo Series ‘Your Space’ guitars, Luna Guitars takes it one step further with its “Design and Win Contest”. Luna invites you to design and submit your most original, creative, and Luna-esque pick guard ideas, and be considered to win a Your Space guitar of your own, as well as an all-expenses-paid vacation in Florida where you can visit Luna Headquarters and spend a day at Busch Gardens theme park.

Yes, you read that right. A giant guitar boat, motor and all. It was created for Sydney signer Josh Pyke to the exact specifications of his Maton acoustic guitar. He's using it in his new video.

Alfred has introduced The Complete Beginning Guitarist. Making learning fun and creative, The Complete Beginning Guitarist combines note reading with creative rote and "by ear" styles of playing the guitar. You will simultaneously use melodic, strumming, and fingerpicking approaches while learning to read music, understand music theory, improvise, and perform song accompaniments.

Sweetwater has dubbed October "Microphone Month," and to celebrate, the retailer is giving away one of its largest prize packages ever - two mic collections with a combined retail value of more than $25,000.

Starting with their conception and design in the early 1950s, Solidbodies, the 50 Year Guitar War focuses on the five decade competition of sounds between the two guitars that have been heard on more popular recordings than any other instruments during the rock era: the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul.

iVideosongs has added a boatload of bass to its catalog this week, with eight great titles for bass guitar: Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl; Otis Reeding's Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay and Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive. Also added to the catalog are Switchfoot's Dare You To Move; REM's Losing My Religion; Kansas' Carry On Wayward Son; Steely Dan's Rikki Don't Lose That Number; and Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

eMedia Music has announced the upcoming release of eMedia Guitar Master CD-ROM. This new instructional release includes songs featured in Guitar Hero and Rock Band. eMedia Guitar Master teaches how to play for real, with over 100 step-by-step audio- and video-enhanced guitar lessons. It teaches everything needed to rock out on your guitar from classic rock to modern techniques.

In tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, GMP Diecast has announced the release of the 1:3-scale Fender guitar replica features a real wood neck contoured to match the real guitar, acontoured die-cast body, moveable pickup selector switch, volume and tone controls, real steel strings, and a moveable tremolo arm.

Richard Wright, a founding member Pink Floyd, died today. Pink Floyd's spokesman Doug Wright, said Wright died after a battle with a undisclosed form of cancer at his home in Britain. He was 65.

A scorched Fender Stratocaster famously set alight by Jimi Hendrix during a concert at London's Astoria in March 1967 was auctioned off for £280,000 ($595,000) to a collector in the US. The successful bidder Daniel Boucher said 'I thought I'd have to pay a little bit more for it, actually. I am going to play it, I hope some of it rubs off on me.' I hope some of Boucher's money rubs off onto me.

GuitarStorage.com has announced the release of its new Band Room Guitar Case Rack. The Band Room's design is based on the Company's successful Studio and SlimLin Guitar Case Racks and is designed with durability in mind.

Berklee College of Music has announced new online courses in advanced guitar-Guitar Chords 201 and Jazz Guitar 201-now enrolling for the fall term. Guitar Chords 201 will teach you to master Berklee's approach to playing chords. Improve your style, technique, time feel, and tone in this new in-depth course from master guitarist Rick Peckham.

Alfred and the National Guitar Workshop have teamed up to release the essential guide to playing rock guitar with Play Rock Guitar: Beginning Chords, Strums, and Riffs.

Something a little different: Bloomberg writes that the first art investment fund devoted to guitars is set to start in 2009.