This month's Guitar Tricks giveaway is the Ebow – Like the magic wand of the guitar. Placed over your strings it draws out the haunting, ethereal and/or violin like tones your guitar never knew it had.



Watch Neal's Video Demo Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H3kbHCGA60


The Ebow sprouted to glory in the '80s and is available again with two settings: the ‘normal’ switch and the 'harmonic' switch which really brings out the upper harmonic tones in your axe. It comes in a small box with a handy carrying bag, owner’s manual and demo CD. Listening to the CD I was really surprised at what the Ebow can do. When I first picked one of these up about 20 years ago, I remember looking at it and going "what is THAT thing??" then trying it out and going "oh..that's pretty cool". But slap in the CD and you really get a taste of what this little devil can do with a little practice and direction. It's amazing how the Ebow can imitate violins and horns. There's an amazing version of 'Eleanor Rigby' all done with the Ebow and it sounds like a symphony did it.

Also, it’s a very cool way to get the Hendrix backwards guitar solo sound live which I think is one of its coolest functions. On the Ebow demo CD they were able to imitate horns, cellos, woodwinds and a harmonica and it’s impressive but would take a little work to master but the CD comes with step by step lessons to learn each one.

Slap in a 9v battery and this baby's ready to go, compact and easy to carry or throw into your guitar case. The pickup on this is really strong so it took me a couple minutes to get used to adjusting my guitar volume so the sound wasn't overwhelming and then getting used to working it to and from the bridge pickup to add a little finesse to the attack. If you've never used an Ebow or haven't in a long time it's definitely worth a first or second look.

Here's a few artists you've probably heard of who have used the Ebow on their albums: Def Leppard, The Cars, Pearl Jam, Blondie, Depeche Mode, Dream Theater, The Cure, Collective Soul, David Bowie, Faith No More, Van Halen, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Soundgarden, U2 and Steve Vai. You can find a full list and some MP3 samples from these artists and more here:

http://www.ebow.com/ebow/record.htm

You can check out my live demo of the Ebow on the GT Ch. :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H3kbHCGA60

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This one can be yours courtesy of our friends at Sweetwater by subscribing to our monthly newsletter and reading the product review for the month. Sweetwater sponsors this giveaway and they are always a real pleasure to deal with. They give free shipping on all orders (even strings!) and have an outstanding staff of real musicians who can help you make the right purchase the first time.

Sweetwater provides the gear, we review it for the Guitar Tricks Newsletter, and we give it away to one lucky Guitar Tricks member. Don’t forget to post a reply in this thread to qualify to win, good luck!