Say hheellloo to my new metronome practice

"Technical Difficulties" by Paul Gilbert/Racer X:

Mozart on acoustic guitar

Some pretty schweet playing going on up in heah'

The new signature Jimi Hendrix Electric Guitar Package

...from the Gibson Guitar Company. WTF??? Yes, you read correctly, from the one and only Gibson Guitar Company. Yeah, Jimi might have played a few different guitars, but the iconic image of the legend is with a "Fender Stratocaster, maple neck, strung upside down for a left-handed motherf**king genius" to quote Ford Fairlaine. And what to Gibson do? Release an SG or Flying V, which are legendary Gibson models that there at least are some photos of mr. Hendrix playing? No, they copy a Strat and slap on some kind of Firebird neck:
I can't believe the nerve. And this is in collaboration with the Hendrix estate? I've should have filed this under "nonsense"... No es bueno.

Blues tune of the week

One of my old heros here, Hound Dog Tayler, doing Taylor's Rock, in all his six-fingered glory (more is more, as some people claim...). Mr. Taylor was the artist that made Bruce Iglauer start Alligator records, since the boss at the record company he worked on wouldn't record Hound Dog and the House Rockers. Or so the story goes.  Anyway,  Hound Dog Taylor is known for his six fingers, fierce slide playing, a cheap ass japanese guitar with too many switches and knobs and bad jokes.

Enjoy!

Blues tune of the week

Just to to counter balance the spandex wearin', bleached haired, girl-friend-metal dudes that makes "metro sexual" seem like the epitome of manhood that have infected this blog lately (no offense). :-D

First out, I bring you a modern and slightly slick version of the Robert Johnson classic Sweet Home Chicago, by Keb' Mo' and Corey Harris. Check out the beautiful National Reso-Phonic "Vintage Steel" tricone Corey Harris is playing.

Powerballad blueprint

This summer, I've had the main fixin's of a generic 80's summer power ballad in the vein of Mr Big's "Just Take My Heart" running through my head. So here it is -a very basic demo of the intro, verse, prechorus, chorus, bridge and solo of a power ballad. For once, there are no overdubs, just a rhytm and a lead track, with levels semi-equalized throughout. I'm actually very happy with the solo on this one, as it contains a melodic beginning, no excessive technique and a reiteration of themes, as well as the mandatory octave climb towards the end.
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The guitar hero saga continues...

You just gotta read this. Some 17-year old guitar hero player is opening a double headliner of Aerosmith and ZZ Top. What's wrong with the world today?

iShred

Just discovered this little app you could add to your iPhone, which turns it into a guitar simulator of some sort (and giving Line6 a run for the money... ;-D ). Check it out:


I really don't know what I think of this. I have to admit, there's some pretty good thinking behing adapting a guitar to a small screen. Of course it is very limited compared to a guitar, but you can do slides, single string picking, wah-wah, string-bending, etc, etc. And compared to GuitarHero, you actually have to know some guitar/ music to make this thing work. And it's not sounding half-bad on my PC speakers either. As for the entertainment value, I don't know. You won't see me running to the store for a iPhone just for this app. But the nerd in me likes some of the solutions in the app...

So, what do you guys think?

Amplifier issue

I've got a problem with my Line6 Spider 210. Specifically, the amp is in the original state from when it was purchased in NC, meaning I've run it through a 110 to 230V power adapter ever since we moved here.

The adapter had the recurring problem of getting REALLY hot during use, and now the plugs are shot, leaving me high and dry (not the Def Leppard album) and currently unable to run my amp. What I want to do - or rather get done - is replace the transformer in the amp so as to enable use with 230V and Norwegian sockets. Seeing as how people import amps all the time, this should be a straightforward operation, right?

So; can I just haul the amp to the guitar shop and have them work their magic? And what would be a realistic estimate for how much that's gonna set me back?

Anders Boogie

Haven't listened to this blatant rip-off of ZZ Top's La Grange and Satriani's Satch Boogie boogie song written on the occasion of Anders' bachelor party in quite some time.



I think I'm gonna try to re-record it with the PreSonus + Cubase setup this summer and add some more solos and schtuff (like bass and perhaps a drum beat beyond the epic click track featured here). What say you Anders - do you want to add some bars of solos as well?

About time...

This is probably the most iconic LP out there, maybe only rivaled by the Peter Green/ Gary Moore LP. It's about time Gibson reissued it.

Speaking of the saddest of all keys

Here's a small tapping exercise/etude back to back with a fitting riff structure (think "Sleeping In The Fire" by W.A.S.P. on gear or "Between Heaven And Hell" by Firewind). I actually like this tapping thing a lot. What's really cool about more "involved" tapping motifs is that I don't come off as a poor man's Yngwie when I play them (seeing as how he doesn't tap all that much). With this style of tapping, I rather come off as a poor man's Kiko Loureiro.



Notice the rather unimaginative bass part...

Unplugged and unwigged

A little blast from the past:


The 'Tap hits the road and is going on tour again. Well, it's limited to only one show in London, but as Derek Small says "One night is not enough, and it's way too much!". Featuring classic songs from The Folksmen and Spinal Tap, the members will perform as themselves, unplugged and unwigged:


And on bass...

Pop Metal demo

Spent about two hours this weekend coming up with and recording the various bits and pieces in this tune.



This tune is me ripping off Trond Holter (nowadays better known as "Teeny" from Wig Wam) who is "being influenced by" Whitesnake-era Steve Vai playing a John Sykes-penned song. With a little bit of "Trash" era Alice Cooper thrown in for good measure. In short, this is so commercial late 80's metal that it could've been on Eurovision. As usual the solo is missing - both because I don't like to add that until the songs is actually done, and because this type of song requires a more Vai approach than I usually go for.

Learing to play guitar again

I decided to pick up the guitar again, and this instructional video looks to be appropriate for my level of playing...

Any bass players out there? :-D

Edit:
One more video, the classic powerballade More Then Words, with some interesting behind the scene shots.

Have a nice weekend, y'all!

Power Metal by the numbers

Yet another rough demo of the skeleton of an incomplete song (incomplete as in "no solo").



After coming up with the different parts and recording them, it's obvious to me that I've been heavily "influenced" by for example "I Want Out", "Power" and various other songs by Helloween, "Send Me A Sign", "Dethrone Tyranny" and "Follow Me" by Gamma Ray, and "Hunting High And Low" by Stratovarius. This would look really bad if not for the fact that many, many songs by rather famous power metal bands appear more related than what one would assume from random statistical occurrence of overlapping chord progressions etc.

Alternatively, I employed Scott Adams' originality formula:

Originality = Theft + Lack of talent + Time

Not acoustic slide...

...but as close as I'm likely to get within the confines of my taste in music.



At the very least it's played with a clean(ish) sound and at a relaxed tempo. This is one of my favorite chord progressions: Bm - Bm/A - Bm/G - F#, which also just happens to be one of the progressions often used in the music of Yngwie Malmsteen.

Imagine that.

The melody is in the key of *shock* B harmonic minor, in the unlikely event that any readers of this blog would be interested in laying down their own tracks to this fantastic progression

Two more short(ish) demos

.....just to spam the blog some more with my recordings







..the second tune isn't an original, regrettably....rather, it's Satch's tapping extravaganza named "Midnight"

Yet another outline of a song

Another very rough sketch including main riff, song structure and a fill. Guitar and bass only, and the bass line is beyond rudimentary. Moreover, as this is a more touchy-feely song with a blues type progression, it's slow (75 bpm), and so the bass line is rushed a couple of places. I'm not used to playing this slowly, dammit.



The main riff is approximately exactly the way I want it (with the possible exception of what if any harmonics should be present), and so are the chords in the "main" section. I'm very undecided about the rhythm guitar sound and style, and I'm not sure if drums are needed. Again, keyboards and a proper bass line would be excellent - right Joe? No full-on solo is going to be added until I figure out whether to make this into a regular song (I've got a suitable vocal line worked out) or if it's gonna be a Satch-esque instrumental - I think I could go either way. To the extent you can pinpoint any influences from such a rough demo, I'd say this is very akin to some of the slower Dionysus songs, and I definitely had Olaf Hayer in mind for the vocal line (which conveniently is not included). There's also some Satriani in the lead parts - at least to my ears.

Outline of a song

...at least a rough recording of the basic riff, verse and chorus structures, with a some simple fills added. I can always add bass with teh Whammy and program some decent drums in Cubase, but it would be better if someone could add proper bass and keyboard. You hear me, Joe?



...oh; and this song structure is somewhat reminiscent of some three other bands. Anyone hear any resemblance?