Toting his Gibson Custom DG-335, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl took the stage on Sunday at the 50th Grammy Awards in style. Grohl led the Foo Fighters in a spirited rendition of “The Pretender” from the group’s latest album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, released this past September. The Foo Fighters were not performing on the main stage inside the Staples Center, rather the band was setup outside the main Grammy theatre with their own audience. Actor Jason Bateman introduced the band and the orchestra that accompanied them for the song. He also introduced the special guest conductor, John Paul Jones. “That’s Led Zeppelin for you morons,” said Bateman to laughter from the crowd. Well said Jason.

The Grammy Awards celebrate music, past and present, so it was only fitting that Gibson took some time during the lead-up to the Grammys to educate artists about Music Rising. Founded by U2’s the Edge, Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, and legendary producer Bob Ezrin, Music Rising is an organization dedicated to replacing musical instruments lost in the devastating storms that ravished the Gulf Coast in 2005.

If you need to sharpen your skills on using the pentatonic Am scale then today's lesson is right up your alley. Whether you're a skilled player or just starting out, learning to incorporate the pentatonic Am scale into your rhythmic groupings and sequences can seriously expand your technique and solo-playing abilities.

It wasn’t Beyoncé or Kanye West who brought the crowd to their feet at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. That was left to Tina Turner and Jerry Lee Lewis. When Turner was introduced the entire crowd at the Staples Center stood up and screamed louder than I have heard a crowd in a long time. There was certainly a lot of respect in the applause, but the crowd was ready to rock and Turner didn’t let them down. Turner began with “What’s Love Got to Do with It.” It only took a few bars for her to convince the audience that she still had what it takes to perform live. She sang like the woman who first recorded the tune so many years earlier.

Using the word “revenge” in an album title is pretty heavy. Passion and violence come to mind, but Portland-via-Sacramento songsmith Jacob Golden quickly belies the titular implications of his new Revenge Songs with a collection of measured folky melodies that ponder building, straining, and crumbling romances. “I never said that I had answers/ I never claimed to be the better man,” Golden sings in “Zero Integrity,” his delivery flitting between the folk harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel and the mournful moods of Bright Eyes. His songs, however, best recall Elliott Smith, one of Portland’s most famous songsmiths. The shy but slyly intelligent vocal. The fingerpicked plinks that rise into strums fleshed by cavernous harmonies and organ.

Jorma Kaukonen is best known as one of the founders of legendary rock icons the Jefferson Airplane, and the popular psychedelic movement that erupted out of the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1960s. What many people don't know is that Kaukonen is also one of the most respected guitar players in the world. This fabulous lesson takes you into Kaukonen's world of unique and influential blues and country guitar fingerpicking styles. The lesson is filled with Kaukonen's invaluable wisdom, advice, and techniques for pickers of all levels. He gears his material for players with little knowledge, but also challenges skillful, more experienced players as well.

Musicians hate being compared to other musicians, but it’s unavoidable. Imagine explaining a new artist to a friend without referencing an elder kindred spirit—it’s as futile as putting out a record and hoping not to get compared to anyone. It’s not that no one’s doing anything new, it’s just that familiarity is comforting. And when a younger artist sounds or feels like one of your established favorites, well, you’re often on your way to having a new favorite. Touchstones are easy enough to find in the young music-makers listed below—but you’ll hear new twists, too, and they’re worth paying attention to.

Gibson USA's new product pages are now updated with video, links to articles of interest, photo galleries, and 360 degree imagery. Take a closer look at the guitars you love.

The title of British Sea Power’s third album begs the question Do You Like Rock Music? It’s a hard one to answer, given all the variations inherent in the word “rock.” Even armed with some knowledge of the U.K. four-piece’s past work—the post-punk drive in their debut, or the polished approach of follow-up Open Season—it’s hard to determine where under the rock umbrella their third LP falls.

Britney is a little too easy to take cheap shots at these days. And not just the obvious rock critic wise crack—all the condescending phony concern is almost worse (are you listening Dr. Phil and Anderson Cooper?). But maybe the real shame—besides the part about the young girl devoured by show business, from the Mickey Mouse club to dancing half naked and wasted on the MTV Awards—is that Britney will probably never be able to put the whole mess of it into her music. (Who knows, though, maybe she has a great album in her yet. Who would have ever suspected that the kid who sang “Cry Like a Baby” would go on to write “The Ballad of El Goodo”; or that the teenage pop bombshell who sang “As Tears Go By” would go on to write “Sister Morphine”?) Fortunately, some other artists don’t have that problem. So while every tabloid and basic cable entertainment news show tracks Britney’s not-funny-anymore meltdowns, take a second to check out new releases by some of today’s incredible female artists. You can call them the Anti-Britneys. Not because they are strangers to hard times, but because they have an incredible ability to make art out of it. Hey, Brit, if you’re listening: Go buy these records.