Guitar

Among those celebrating Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 150th anniversary over the weekend was Tom Scholz . The MIT alum and mastermind behind the formerly mega-selling band Boston performed with the Pops at Symphony Hall, wearing a tuxedo shirt and playing his signature Mighty Mouse Les Paul guitar. (In his intro, Pops conductor Keith Lockhart recalled how Boston’s first LP was the soundtrack to his senior year of high school.) Scholz played a new song, “Last Day of School,’’ on the Symphony Hall pipe organ.

From the moment he first stepped in front of the judges and unleashed a folksy take on Michael Jackson's "Thriller," guitar-playing crooner Phillip Phillips seemed preordained to win "American Idol," and not just because he's another white guy with a guitar, the all-too-familiar profile of the previous four "Idol" champions. "I'm just lucky," the former pawn shop worker said Wednesday night in his backstage dressing room after his win. It was more than just luck that helped Phillips easily overcome 16-year-old mini-diva Jessica Sanchez to become the Fox talent competition's 11th...

On Jan. 22, a concert featuring Ian Ethan playing his double-neck acoustic guitar will be held at the Weston Public Library, 87 School St. Ethan, a Vermont-based musician who attended the Berklee School of Music, traverses the country playing the 18-string instrument. The concert is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. in the library's Community Room. - Andrew Clark

Everyone expected Phillip Phillips to win "American Idol" — except Phillips himself. Shortly after cleaning the confetti out of his hair, the folksy guitar-strumming crooner who bested vocal powerhouse Jessica Sanchez on Wednesday still seemed surprised that he'd actually won the whole shebang. "I can't really feel anything," Phillips said sitting on a couch in his backstage dressing room with his legs casually crossed. The 21-year-old from Leesburg, Ga., received the winning share of the record-high 132 million viewer votes cast after Tuesday's final showdown with the...

SOMERVILLE -- For a cold Sunday night, P.A.'s Lounge was well filled. However, given that the billed headliner was Bark Haze, an experimental guitar duo featuring Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore and the mysteriously monikered Gown (a.k.a. Andrew McGregor ), you'd presume the line would've been around the block. Somerville! Thurston Moore! Come on! But this was a low-key, barely publicized appearance where the preternaturally youthful looking Moore seemed intent on, well, having no intentions beyond hanging out and, when he was onstage, coaxing and demanding sounds from his guitar.

When singer-songwriter and pop hearthrob John Mayer took a left turn last year to immerse himself in a blues project it looked like a lark and a risk. He had something to get out of his system, or wanted to prove his technical mettle, or maybe he felt compelled to expand his musical horizons, damn the career consequences. It turns out Mayer was doing all those things, and the consequences are anything but dire. "Continuum," in stores today, is a creative leap for Mayer. He's seamlessly integrated the catchy, laid-back songcraft that endeared him to a global fan...

A guitar valued at $5,000 has been stolen from the tour bus of George Clinton and his P-Funk band. Shelby County Sheriff spokesman Chip Washington said Monday that the guitar was taken Saturday while the group was in town performing at Shelby Farms. He said the instrument, brand name XOX Audio Tools, was designed for a member of Clinton's band. Washington said the theft is under investigation, and it's not clear if the bus was broken into.

NASHVILLE - Charles "Skip" Pitts, the longtime Memphis guitar player for Isaac Hayes whose distinctive sound helped define soul and make "Shaft" cool, has died. He was 65. Tim Sampson, with the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, said Mr. Pitts died Tuesday in Memphis after a long struggle with cancer. Mr. Pitts was responsible for the unforgettable wah-wah pedal guitar sound on Hayes's "Theme from Shaft," the '70s film that remains a memorable moment in American popular culture, mostly due to the enduring popularity of the song.

NASHVILLE - Billy Grammer, whose 1958 hit "Gotta Travel On"' hit the top of the charts and led to a long career on the Grand Ole Opry, has died. He was 85. Mr. Grammer died Wednesday morning in his home state of Illinois of natural causes, according to a statement from Grand Ole Opry spokeswoman Jessie Schmidt. He had suffered a heart attack in late March while visiting Plano, Texas. A singer and guitarist who was also a Nashville recording session musician, Mr. Grammer performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry beginning in 1959.

Myles Kennedy plays David Coverdale to Slash's Jimmy Page on "Apocalyptic Love," the second studio "solo" album from the top-hatted guitar hero. Just as Coverdale-Page was a Led Zeppelin doppelganger, this pairing of Kennedy and Slash bears unmistakable resemblance to Guns N' Roses. Kennedy, from Alter Bridge, has the sort of pinched, perturbed tone Axl Rose blended with Slash's guitar work when the two were in GN'R. Not many could slip a smoky blues-rock solo into a galloping punk-ish tune, but Slash pulls it off on "One Last Thrill.

Myles Kennedy plays David Coverdale to Slash's Jimmy Page on "Apocalyptic Love," the second studio "solo" album from the top-hatted guitar hero. Just as Coverdale-Page was a Led Zeppelin doppelganger, this pairing of Kennedy and Slash bears unmistakable resemblance to Guns N' Roses. Kennedy, from Alter Bridge, has the sort of pinched, perturbed tone Axl Rose blended with Slash's guitar work when the two were in GN'R. Not many could slip a smoky blues-rock solo into a galloping punk-ish tune, but Slash pulls it off on "One Last Thrill.

Authorities say an Alabama man has been charged in the theft of a $15,000 guitar that belonged to Hank Williams Jr. Adam Dale Broach, of Notasulga, was arrested Sunday by the Pike County's Sheriff's Office. Broach is charged with first-degree theft of property. An arrest report says the custom-made 1968 Les Paul guitar disappeared from Williams' cabin in the area in July 2010 and then was recovered later that month when it was given to Wayne Mills of the Wayne Mills Band as a gift during a concert in Sheffield.

HALLELUJAH THE HILLS NO ONE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT On its third album, Boston's Hallelujah the Hills seems in conflict with its popularizing tendencies. As if to undercut the TV commercial-ready potential of the coed harmonizing chorus hook of "Get Me in a Room," a broken-down jalopy of a guitar solo tries to pull the song back from crossover territory. "Nightingale Lightning" pulls a similar trick, devolving from a flourishing blast of horns and intricate curlicues of bright guitar into unsettling strings and the static of feedback.

"Occupy This Album," Various artists (Razor & Tie) "Occupy This Album," this homage to the Occupy Wall Street movement, is thick with troubadours and an eye toward social justice. The four-disc compilation is one part "Who's who" and one-part "Who's that?" But there are some gems within this encampment. The theme is mixed, as has been the movement. Take Richard Barone's "Can I Sleep On Your Futon?" His world is in tatters as he bemoans having a hard time finding the perfect job. "Six years of school and an advanced degree/ And still no job is calling me/ Just student loans and...

Visionary keyboard player Bernie Worrell is among the new recruits in guitarist Steve Kimock's band. But Steve wasn't the first Kimock whom Worrell joined in musical pursuits. "My eldest son, John Morgan, is a drummer and a composer and he had a local funk gig that Bernie sat in with one night. Bernie was like, ‘Oh, your dad plays music too?' " Worrell can be forgiven, since the senior Kimock is an uncharacteristically low-key guitar god, going about his business for 30-plus years in myriad jazzy and jammy configurations with minimal fanfare.

This is our pick of the best of the 'burbs. For more information, go to www.­­boston.­­com and search music, restaurants, arts and crafts, and other goings-on throughout Greater Boston. MUSIC Framingham: The Stanton Davis Quartet, featuring Kenwood Dennard on drums, Tim Ingles on bass, Jeff Lockhart on guitar, and Stanton Davis on trumpet, performs Sunday, 2-5 p.m., at Samba Steak and Sushi, 1138 Worcester Road (Route 9 east). $18, $15 advance online. 508-628-0288, www.nceptiveentertainment.com.

David Gonzalez has been playing guitar for nearly 30 years, and strummed on street corners in nine countries. But it was still a special thrill this week when Bruce Springsteen paused to listen as Gonzalez plucked the strings of his Spanish guitar in the Public Garden. The Boss, who was in town to drop his son Evan at Boston College, stopped to chat for a few minutes Thursday, but quickly moved along when his presence began to attract the attention of passersby.

From the moment he first stepped in front of the judges and unleashed a folksy take on Michael Jackson's "Thriller," guitar-playing crooner Phillip Phillips seemed preordained to win "American Idol," and not just because he's another white guy with a guitar, the all-too-familiar profile of the previous four "Idol" champions. "I'm just lucky," the former pawn shop worker said Wednesday night in his backstage dressing room after his win. It was more than just luck that helped Phillips easily overcome 16-year-old mini-diva Jessica Sanchez...

NASHVILLE - Charles "Skip" Pitts, the longtime Memphis guitar player for Isaac Hayes whose distinctive sound helped define soul and make "Shaft" cool, has died. He was 65. Tim Sampson, with the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, said Mr. Pitts died Tuesday in Memphis after a long struggle with cancer. Mr. Pitts was responsible for the unforgettable wah-wah pedal guitar sound on Hayes's "Theme from Shaft," the '70s film that remains a memorable moment in American popular culture, mostly due to the enduring popularity of the song.

Paul Rishell likes to tell the story of how he met one of his key influences. He discovered the music of Son House at 13, and by the time he was 22, Rishell was introduced to the country-blues singer and guitarist through Dick Waterman, the photographer who was once based in Cambridge and managed blues artists. Flabbergasted, Rishell stood in shock when he realized he was going to play blues alongside Son House that day. "Nine years between hearing him and playing with him," Rishell says earlier this week over coffee and a sandwich in Harvard...