Once again it’s time for me to take Clarkson-esque control of the squeeometers and announce the names of the guitar players who have rocked my world during this last 12 months. It has certainly been a great year for squee and, for me, a year of discovering some great music played by the world’s most talented, delicious men.

The list this year is populated by four guitar gods. Three you will know (and can no doubt guess), one you may not be so familiar with. They made the cut because during 2006 I have either discovered some of their material for the first time, have been reacquainted with the classics, or in one special case, has a special meaning to me personally.

On with the list then, in reverse order:

4 – George Harrison

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Two reasons for adding the much-missed George to the list this year. While getting ready for our move to Devon I spent a lot of time watching the Beatles Anthology DVD and it renewed my appreciation for George. The other reason was the new album, Love. Fantastic album, shows off every aspect of the fab four at their best, including George’s guitar.

George and the rest of The Beatles have never really generated any squee in the traditional sense, but their music has been moving enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. In fact, Something on Love was so sweet and moving it made me cry.

• My First Guitar Hero

He’s not the only guitarist on this list to move me to tears… step forward MWG number 3…

3 – Michael Brandenburg

Michael was the creative genius responsible for fusing together the guitar styles of George Harrison and MWG list absentee Kirk Hammett (don’t feel bad Kirk, maybe next year?) in the band Beatallica. But it’s not the classics Got To Get You Trapped Under Ice or I Want To Choke Your Band that sees him on the list this year. He’s here for a very special reason. As regular visitors will know, pigpogm and I tied the knot back in April. We walked down the aisle to a beautiful song composed and played by Michael Brandenburg. Composed just for us. It’s called The Butterfly Meditations and Michael himself described it as:

Think Jimmy Page doing “White Summer/Black Mountain Side”, but by me written for a Ka* album, and you get the picture.

• Today’s Guitar Hottie

And after hearing that, I decided it was time to find out more about this Page fellow…

* Ka is the band in which Michael concentrates on his own musical styles and influences, and very bloody good it is too.

2 – Jimmy Page

This is almost entirely because this year I had the good fortune to strike up a friendship with a woman who is the biggest Led Zeppelin fan in the world. Her never ending enthusiasm for Jimmy, Robert, JPJ and the much missed Bonzo is so infectious, I found myself buying the first four albums and being absolutely spellbound. Although it was new to me, a lot of it felt familiar. Well, it would since so many bands have been influenced by Zeppelin’s musical legacy.

Much has been written elsewhere about Page’s talent as a musician elsewhere… but what about the squee? Well, while he doesn’t generate as much squee for me as he does with certain esteemed colleagues of mine (and no doubt she’ll be along shortly to have her ten cents worth in the comments), but what guitarpr0n aficionado doesn’t come over all unnecessary when the guy in the dragon suit plays a Les Paul with his bow? That, right there, is pure rock and roll burlesque. Fabulous.

• My Guitar Loves – Jimmy Page – by WomanoftheWorld.

So, who’s the top of the tree this year? Which guitar player has rocked, continues to rock, and will rock until he’s old and grey? Get ready with a big “No sh*t, Sherlock” as I announce this year’s Man With Guitar to be….

1 – Slash

Yes, yes, I know. No big surprise there. But there are many, many good reasons for him being the number one and only a few of them are to do with his tight leather trousers…

December 1988 – young, gifted and drunk

I love guitar music, it’s lively, it’s energetic and the right kind of guitar music can also be a massive turn-on. The right kind of music is Slash’s music. There’s something about the warmth, the sustain, the raw emotion that can bring on “the mood” better than any little blue pill ever could.

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July 2005 – still young, still gifted and most likely still drunk.

Listening to Slash’s music is sexy. Watching Slash play his music (Theme from “The Godfather”, for example) is mind-blowingly sexy. I’m yet to enjoy the experience of hearing Slash play live, but if VR hit the road in 2007, I’ll be there, squeeing like a maniac.

So what Slash tunes have rocked my soul and made my special happy places all warm and delicious this year? Well, I’ve been mostly enjoying the Snakepit albums. Ain’t Life Grand is an absolutely fantastic album – the track Serial Killer includes a solo which is a good example of how this man can turn a guitar into a sex toy. Ooh boy. And before I embarrass myself further, I’ll stop blethering and instead link to some more bits about the man I often feel inclined to call “The Lovely Mr Hudson”.

• Slash in PigPog People – a little biography and more about his equipment and sounds.
• My Guitar Loves – Slash – more fangirl bletherings from yours truly.
• Guitar Face Case Study – Hudson, Saul – a fun look at some of the faces a guitar god makes while ‘in the moment’.
• All Things Considered… Slash! – Like Slash? Like squee? This is the site for you. And I’m not just saying that because I run the forum.

So that’s this year’s list. Same time next year? Who knows, Kirk Hammett might make a reappearance!

• Last Year’s List and Selection Criteria

Update3: Still playing, high score now 988. Time for sleepting.

Update2: Yay! 845. Yes. I’m still playing this damn game.

Update: New high score: 731. Finally found out what the skateboard does, too. Once you’ve collected a skateboard, if you hit the ground at a shallow enough angle, your hamster will ride the skateboard along the ground for a bit of extra distance.

Don’t play this game. Really. Don’t click on this link and start playing Flight of the Hamster. Just because Mark Forster told you to do it is not a good enough reason.

Neat little trick from Lifehacker – see a calendar of your photos on Flickr. It’s a standard feature, just a bit hidden – I’d not seen it before.

• My photo calendar. Just replace my username in the URL with your own.

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With moving into a new place, and replacing most of our stuff at the same time, we’ve been buying a fair few Tesco Value things – some good, some less so…

Tesco Value Vacuum Cleaner

Surprisingly good. Permanent bag, very low capacity. Won’t do a lot of cleaning before needing emptying, but apart from that, it’s not at all bad. Reasonably powerful, has a brush and ‘crevice tool’ hidden away inside it, and the cable retracts itself at the push of a button. Decent quality wheels, too. For just over £17, it’s a real bargain. If you don’t have a lot of floor area, it should do just fine.

Tesco Value Frying Pan

A bit crap. The bottom flexed to a curve on the first use, so it just spins around on the halogen hob, and the non-stick isn’t very non-stick. We spent the extra soon after and bought the same Tefal non-stick wok we had long ago. We know it’s good, it works well on the halogen hob we have now, and it can be used for all sorts of things, not just stir-frying. Worth spending more and avoiding the Value pans, I think.

Tesco Value Plastic Slice

Fish slice, flipper, whatever you want to call it, it was cheap and not very good. Would probably be ok, if you weren’t going to use it for frying. The plastic melted and went manky after a couple of uses. Again, we spent the extra, and got a decent one soon after. Only around £3 for a decent Tesco-branded one, but I’d avoid the Value ones.

Tesco Value Clock Radio

Good clear LED clock, and the radio works well. The buttons are nice and ‘clicky’, and the styling is even quite good. We’re impressed.

Cost under £4, too.

Tesco Value Electric Fan Heater

Can’t complain – less than £10, looks good, and works well. Nothing like as good as the one we have in the bedroom, but certainly good for the money.

Tesco Value Shoulder Bag

Sam bought this one – not a bad little bag at all, for very little money. Took a bit of spraying to make it smell ok, though.

Tesco Value Bathroom Bits

Soap dish and cup, plastic. Not much to say to them, they work.

Mostly reasonably good, but I think we’ll pay a little more for the cookware in future, though.

Only the Japanese would come up with a special name for what seems to come down to carrying things wrapped in a cloth, but the diagrams for different ways of wrapping up different shaped objects is really quite handy. If I can find a suitable cloth, I might even have to have a go at some of these.

• Related Pages: Mechanical Pencils, Pens That Are Art.

There’s almost no end to the variety of different types of pens available. Most people are familiar enough with ballpoints, rollerballs, gel pens and marker pens, and at least know about fountain pens and dipping pens. If you want to know a bit more about what the differences really are between those types, see our article on Pen Types.

On with the pens…

Pens by Type

Ballpoint

A paste of ink, using dye for colouring.

• Rotring Quattro Data Pen: four ‘pens’ in one. The individual tips can be changed, but can include different colour ballpoints, highlighters, PDA styluses, and a .5mm mechanical pencil.

Rollerball

Similar to a ballpoint, but using liquid ink. Flows more smoothly, but slower to dry.

• Frixion Erasable Rollerball: Have Pilot finally cracked the challenge of a pen you can erase? Plenty of others have failed, and even Pilot have had at least one poor attempt at this before.

Gel Ink Pens

Pigment ink in a water-based gel. Usually good strong colours (can even draw light colours on black surfaces), and available in metallic and even glitter ink varieties.

• Pilot G-Tec C4: a needlepoint gel pen, good for drawing very thin lines. Popular with people who like to write small, especially when trying to cram a lot into small bits of paper.

• Cross Ion: a dumpy little gel pen, with an unusual design. Nice and short when closed, but extends when opened.

Marker Pens

Also known as felt tips, a fibrous tip sticks out of the pen at one end, and dips in the ink at the other.

• Sanford Sharpie: The classic marker for celebrities everywhere – will let you sign autographs on just about anything – including body parts. If you need them, your agent will get you some. (Actually, they’re great marker pens that draw on any surface, with quite a good solid black.)

Fountain Pens

Liquid ink in a tube inside the pen feeds to the nib, and flows down a crack to the tip. Bad fountain pens can be quite awful, but a good fountain pen is a wonderful thing to use. If you’re thinking about it, we have some advice on choosing a fountain pen, and we also have a page on fountain pen maintenance and repair.

• Lamy 2000: minimalist Bauhaus design German piston filler.
• Lamy Safari: not the prettiest fountain pen around, but I like the simplicity of it, and it works amazingly well. One of the best ways to get into fountain pens – if you find anything cheaper, it won’t write as well.
• Parker 45: first sold in 1960, the Parker 45 has only gone out of production in 2006 – not a bad history for a pen. Is it really that good?
• Pilot Birdie: The fountain pen that fits in a Filofax pen loop – surprisingly cheap, too.
• Pilot Capless and Capless Decimo: Known as the Vanishing Point in America, these are the only retractable fountain pens around – just click the button on top, like a ballpoint. Very good quality pens, too, with great nibs.
• Pilot Parallel Pen: like a fountain pen, but the ink flows between two plates rather than down a split nib. Good for very thick lines – extra-wide calligraphy. Can even mix colours.
• Pilot V4: a disposable fountain pen. Not great, but not bad at all, and certainly cheap enough.
• Rotring Skynn: one of the strangest looking fountain pens around, but it’s a great nib, and a comfortable grip.

We also have a page on fountain pen inks.

Technical Drawing Pens

A slightly different category to fountain pens – they’re almost the same, but the tip is a round tube, not a split nib.

• Rotring Isograph: Probably the all-time classic tech-drawing pen. Very precise, and nice to use, but the ink tends to feather unless the paper is right, and it’s not the easiest pen to look after. Not cheap, either. Still, it produces the most perfect black lines of any pen I’ve used.
• Rotring Rapidoliner: Now out of production, the Rapidoliner was line an Isograph without the work. The only problem was that you had to replace almost the entire pen when refilling – the only part that made it non-disposable was a plastic sleeve the slid over the refill, and the cap.

Technical pens need careful cleaning every now and then – scripto continua has written a bit about it, which may help: Technical Pens and Cleanliness is Next to Rapidographness.

Dipping Pens

Just a nib that you dip in a bottle of ink. Not much use in day-to-day life, but enables artists to use types of ink that can’t flow through a fountain pen.

Related

• Fountain Pens: A Place to Start: Fron Metropolitan at D*I*Y Planner. Nice article for anyone new to FPs.
• PenReview.com: A site dedicated to reviews of pens. Read the reviews, add comments, and even add your own reviews. You can earn points for reviews and comments, and the first user to reach 100 points wins a Montblanc ballpoint. One small point – they claim copyright of anything you submit, all rights reserved – not much of an issue for comments, but it would put me off writing any reviews.