So Amy Winehouse is no longer with us. They tried to make her go to rehab but she said "No No No!".
The Civil Wars have a free live album on their website for download, and I highly recommend it.
And I finally picked up the guitar again and I'm starting to get back into it after about a month (or over) of not playing much at all.
AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD....Lady Gaga still sucks. Thanks.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Charlie Sheen read this post before it was even written. The power of Tiger Blood.
I’ve decided that since I’m not spending as much time with my guitar, I’m going to post more generic music stuff on here as like a music journal. I’ve found out some interesting things concerning some of my favorite bands this week, so I thought I’d just jot them down and lawl at their expense. I love cultural references and I haven’t to my friends that would get these jokes in a while so I’ll just get them out of my system here until I get my sanity back. Okay, Tyler. Here we go…
Okay, well this has been an interesting week to be sure. Michael Todd, Bass player to Coheed and Cambria, has been arrested for stealing drugs from a Walgreens on threat of a bomb. I love Coheed and Cambria, so I was honestly shocked to find this out. This is the worst things I’ve heard since…I listened to their latest album. I’m going to be totally honest; I’ve considered taking that horrible album off my ITunes since I put it on there. There other albums are great, but if I put out an album like The Year of the Black Rainbow, I might turn to drugs too.
Happier news I’m pumped about is Red Hot Chili Peppers new album, “I’m With You” coming out in August 30th. Their single, The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie, will hit our radios July 18th. This is a huge deal. I love Flea and the rest of the band, What’s-his-face, that-new-guy, and guy-who¬-plays-drums!
Two artists I’ve found that I’m going to name here because I don’t want to EVER forget these names are Big Wax and Dumbfoundead. These guys are L.A. rappers who are simply amazing and have a sound that could simply be described as ‘not tampered with by corporations that turn every rapper into sex symbols without any real musical capabilities. Way better than anything I’ve heard on the radio in a while so hopefully I’ll be seeing these guys go someplace. Big Wax’s songs to remember is “She Beats Me” and “Stay offa My Facebook”. Dumbfoundead sounds amazing on “Are We There Yet”.
Beware; Pun Ahead. Rihanna hasn’t Chris Browned newsstands in a while, and I was starting to think her flame was going to die out, but it’s still going strong. A little too strong, if you ask me! This week at a Dallas concert, the stage was accidentally set on fire! The concert ended a little early, obviously, and as far as I know nobody was hurt. I don’t know how this will affect the attention she’ll get from the media in the near future, but if I had to guess I’d say that she’ll be pretty hot for a day or two more.
Fun Fact: Fergie from Black Eyed Sellouts was a Disney star! It’s true. She was on a show that Disney hosted during the 80’s. I found the videos from 85 and 86 to be the best quality on there. Oh, and you’re looking for a girl named Stacy Ann Furgeson. She was a cute kid back then, but she followed the typical train wreck that Disney stars go through; She was a cute kid, she grew up into a beautiful women, and then she did every drug known to man and she tried to hide the affects with copious amounts of poorly done plastic surgery. Hilary Duff skipped steps one, two, and three and jumped straight to epic failure with no excuse
I’m out of energy for celeb bashing so I’m out.
57 days until my birthday!
Okay, well this has been an interesting week to be sure. Michael Todd, Bass player to Coheed and Cambria, has been arrested for stealing drugs from a Walgreens on threat of a bomb. I love Coheed and Cambria, so I was honestly shocked to find this out. This is the worst things I’ve heard since…I listened to their latest album. I’m going to be totally honest; I’ve considered taking that horrible album off my ITunes since I put it on there. There other albums are great, but if I put out an album like The Year of the Black Rainbow, I might turn to drugs too.
Happier news I’m pumped about is Red Hot Chili Peppers new album, “I’m With You” coming out in August 30th. Their single, The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie, will hit our radios July 18th. This is a huge deal. I love Flea and the rest of the band, What’s-his-face, that-new-guy, and guy-who¬-plays-drums!
Two artists I’ve found that I’m going to name here because I don’t want to EVER forget these names are Big Wax and Dumbfoundead. These guys are L.A. rappers who are simply amazing and have a sound that could simply be described as ‘not tampered with by corporations that turn every rapper into sex symbols without any real musical capabilities. Way better than anything I’ve heard on the radio in a while so hopefully I’ll be seeing these guys go someplace. Big Wax’s songs to remember is “She Beats Me” and “Stay offa My Facebook”. Dumbfoundead sounds amazing on “Are We There Yet”.
Beware; Pun Ahead. Rihanna hasn’t Chris Browned newsstands in a while, and I was starting to think her flame was going to die out, but it’s still going strong. A little too strong, if you ask me! This week at a Dallas concert, the stage was accidentally set on fire! The concert ended a little early, obviously, and as far as I know nobody was hurt. I don’t know how this will affect the attention she’ll get from the media in the near future, but if I had to guess I’d say that she’ll be pretty hot for a day or two more.
Fun Fact: Fergie from Black Eyed Sellouts was a Disney star! It’s true. She was on a show that Disney hosted during the 80’s. I found the videos from 85 and 86 to be the best quality on there. Oh, and you’re looking for a girl named Stacy Ann Furgeson. She was a cute kid back then, but she followed the typical train wreck that Disney stars go through; She was a cute kid, she grew up into a beautiful women, and then she did every drug known to man and she tried to hide the affects with copious amounts of poorly done plastic surgery. Hilary Duff skipped steps one, two, and three and jumped straight to epic failure with no excuse
I’m out of energy for celeb bashing so I’m out.
57 days until my birthday!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
I've not posted in a while...
I realize it's been a few days since I've said anthing on this blog...I still know how to play guitar. That's about it right now. I'm focused on other things right now so I really don't have anything interesting to say. Hopefully I will tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Polish
I bought a new polish for my guitar and it's really shiny and I can't stop looking at myself in the finish because I haven't seen my guitar look like this in forever and it has me really freaking excited because it looks so awesome and OMGorgeous, and such...
The polish it called Guitar One and is made by MusicNomad. It's really easy to use (wax on, wax off), smells kinda nice, and makes my guitar look nice enough to start my blog with a run-on sentence. I put it on my Yamaha acoustic and my Switch Strav and they both turned out looking great. Good thing, too, because my guitars were starting to look a little off. Finger prints, smudges, unattractive stuff that would scare off a woman rather then attract her (which just plain defeats the purpose of a guitar) were all becoming a factor in my guitar's ability to rock like it should. When it's all said and done, I'm really glad I got this spray.
In other news, I'm finally back on my acoustic. I'm ready to push myself a little more and see how far I can get before August. I have over a month until I leave for Minessotta and I won't be able to even TOUCH a guitar, so I have to work up what I can now for the next semester. Why the time crunch? Well, you see...
I kinda got myself in trouble. I'm the choir director for the Sunday night Mass Choir for the Texas State Catholic Student Center. It seems I've scared away all of our guitar players, and I didn't want to play at the Masses myself because I'm so new to it, but I've decided that I am going to play the guitar anyways. I'm just going to play at the first two Masses of the year and we'll find a new guitarist to take over the role after that (hopefully) and I can resume my role as the pianist.
Wish me luck...
The polish it called Guitar One and is made by MusicNomad. It's really easy to use (wax on, wax off), smells kinda nice, and makes my guitar look nice enough to start my blog with a run-on sentence. I put it on my Yamaha acoustic and my Switch Strav and they both turned out looking great. Good thing, too, because my guitars were starting to look a little off. Finger prints, smudges, unattractive stuff that would scare off a woman rather then attract her (which just plain defeats the purpose of a guitar) were all becoming a factor in my guitar's ability to rock like it should. When it's all said and done, I'm really glad I got this spray.
In other news, I'm finally back on my acoustic. I'm ready to push myself a little more and see how far I can get before August. I have over a month until I leave for Minessotta and I won't be able to even TOUCH a guitar, so I have to work up what I can now for the next semester. Why the time crunch? Well, you see...
I kinda got myself in trouble. I'm the choir director for the Sunday night Mass Choir for the Texas State Catholic Student Center. It seems I've scared away all of our guitar players, and I didn't want to play at the Masses myself because I'm so new to it, but I've decided that I am going to play the guitar anyways. I'm just going to play at the first two Masses of the year and we'll find a new guitarist to take over the role after that (hopefully) and I can resume my role as the pianist.
Wish me luck...
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Nighthawk...it's awesome
This is going to be one of the higher quality posts I've done for this blog because this is gonna be one of the few posts I do on my computer. All but one of my previous posts have been done on my phone, so hopefully you'll see a difference.
Okay, so first thing I want to talk about is my fingers. They hurt. A lot. I've been playing a lot of guitar this week. So much guitar, in fact, that I've almost completely worn through my brand new strings in less then a week! I'm proud and feel like an idiot at the same time. Going through strings this fast isn't a new problem, but I may have a new solution.
At SXSW I saw a band called Greek Fire and their Bass player (who was amazing) put a string lubricant on his strings before the concert. I've never seen that before, and neither had my friend. I think we even asked him about it while he was setting up, which was easy because we were right by the stage. Either way, it was new. I hadn't thought about it since, but a few days ago, when I bought my Nighthawk, the guy behind the counter had cleaned up the guitar really good using a variety of interesting polishes. One such cleanser was the Fast Fret String Lubricant. So the guy behind the counter who helped me out, Jim, was nice enough to fill me in on a little secret. Slab on some Fast Fret before and after you play, and string life is double, apparently. I'm wanting to give this a shot so when I go in to buy new strings, most likely next week, I'll pick up some of that foreign substance as well.
It's clear to me now that Rosewood is gonna be a lot more annoying to take care of then I had originally anticipated. My acoustic, Juli, has an Ebony fretboard and that stays for a long time. But I'm gonna have to keep the Rosewood moisterized constantly. I'm seeing it's already needing a fretboard polish. With new strings and decent polishes, my guitar will stay pretty for a while. This is very unlike my previous guitar, Ol' Blue. Ol' Blue was all resin (or plastic, as some called it) meaning there wasn't much need to buy a polish or anything, even for the fretboard. My fretboard on my Switch is made of a type of resin/plastic called ebonite that's made to resemble the sound and effects of an ebony neck. All I needed to do was wipe that sucker down and *Bam* it's good as new.
There's really only one issue I'm having with the guitar. I don't have a hardcase. This is gonna be the heavy hitter of all my guitars for a while so getting a good case is a must. I don't want anything happening to this guitar. It's...my child (creepy, right?). Honestly, there's not a single other thing I want. I wanted certain pedals, and I got them. I wanted certain guitars (acoustic and electric) and I got it. Maybe a better amp eventually, but honestly I really don't care that much right now. I'm really cool with everything I have right now. All that's left is to not suck so much, and I've actually come a long way in that department. I am in a lesser level of suck then I used to be which is great, especially for my parents!
I'm not really working on anything new, I'm just working up the old stuff up to speed to finally be able to play something at a decent level. Kinda regretting not taking my acoustic home, but right now I'm trying to work things so I have space for it all. It's kinda ridiculous how little space there is in my room right now and I haven't even finished bringing everything home so this is gonna be an interesting summer. In a nutshell, I have fun new gear, lots of time on my hands, no money, no wants, no problems. Peace!
Okay, so first thing I want to talk about is my fingers. They hurt. A lot. I've been playing a lot of guitar this week. So much guitar, in fact, that I've almost completely worn through my brand new strings in less then a week! I'm proud and feel like an idiot at the same time. Going through strings this fast isn't a new problem, but I may have a new solution.
At SXSW I saw a band called Greek Fire and their Bass player (who was amazing) put a string lubricant on his strings before the concert. I've never seen that before, and neither had my friend. I think we even asked him about it while he was setting up, which was easy because we were right by the stage. Either way, it was new. I hadn't thought about it since, but a few days ago, when I bought my Nighthawk, the guy behind the counter had cleaned up the guitar really good using a variety of interesting polishes. One such cleanser was the Fast Fret String Lubricant. So the guy behind the counter who helped me out, Jim, was nice enough to fill me in on a little secret. Slab on some Fast Fret before and after you play, and string life is double, apparently. I'm wanting to give this a shot so when I go in to buy new strings, most likely next week, I'll pick up some of that foreign substance as well.
It's clear to me now that Rosewood is gonna be a lot more annoying to take care of then I had originally anticipated. My acoustic, Juli, has an Ebony fretboard and that stays for a long time. But I'm gonna have to keep the Rosewood moisterized constantly. I'm seeing it's already needing a fretboard polish. With new strings and decent polishes, my guitar will stay pretty for a while. This is very unlike my previous guitar, Ol' Blue. Ol' Blue was all resin (or plastic, as some called it) meaning there wasn't much need to buy a polish or anything, even for the fretboard. My fretboard on my Switch is made of a type of resin/plastic called ebonite that's made to resemble the sound and effects of an ebony neck. All I needed to do was wipe that sucker down and *Bam* it's good as new.
There's really only one issue I'm having with the guitar. I don't have a hardcase. This is gonna be the heavy hitter of all my guitars for a while so getting a good case is a must. I don't want anything happening to this guitar. It's...my child (creepy, right?). Honestly, there's not a single other thing I want. I wanted certain pedals, and I got them. I wanted certain guitars (acoustic and electric) and I got it. Maybe a better amp eventually, but honestly I really don't care that much right now. I'm really cool with everything I have right now. All that's left is to not suck so much, and I've actually come a long way in that department. I am in a lesser level of suck then I used to be which is great, especially for my parents!
I'm not really working on anything new, I'm just working up the old stuff up to speed to finally be able to play something at a decent level. Kinda regretting not taking my acoustic home, but right now I'm trying to work things so I have space for it all. It's kinda ridiculous how little space there is in my room right now and I haven't even finished bringing everything home so this is gonna be an interesting summer. In a nutshell, I have fun new gear, lots of time on my hands, no money, no wants, no problems. Peace!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I'm officially poor! :D
Okay, so I have a confession to make. I haven't plugged in my delay yet! I had a payment plan set up on it at a pawnshop and happened to be able to pay it off the day I get my new guitar! Speaking of segue, I have a new guitar!
It's the one I wanted from the beggining. It was love at first sight! It's a sunburst, has three different types of pick ups, and is really freaking pretty! I named her Melody. :D
I played her about four hours (until my fingers hurt) and it's almost time to hook up the delay! I'm so freaking pumped, its ridiculous.
In the words of Leah..."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
P.S.
If I hadn't of read this as I was typed this up on my phone, my T-9 would have had me saying some awkward things. Such as...
1) sunburn instead of sunburst
2) pornshop instead of pawnshop
3) pick ups was almost pick UPS (as in the shipping company)
Comment if you find any really good, awkward ones! Peace out!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Another pedal poorer.
Okay, so maybe not...
Anyways, I'll have my Boss DD3 digital delay pedal in by the end of September, which will complete the board. I found one that was practically in mint condition at a pawnshop and I'm making monthly payments on it. It's the final piece of the puzzle. Anything else is just fun. Might be getting a smaller chorus to make room for a reverb pedal, but I don't even really need that. It would just be nice.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9
Monday, May 23, 2011
Another step forward
I have a Danelectro EQ coming in the mail this week, and I'll be two pedals away from my ideal board (in terms of types of pedals). After that I can start searching for what pedals fit my sound the best but right now I'm working by need, not what I want.
When it's all said and done I'd like to have two pedalboards. One of my ideal pedals and one of all Danelectro pedals. It'd be a nice, cheap little side project. That, however, is a few years from now.
I'll post a pic when I get the EQ in this week. Peace!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9
Monday, May 16, 2011
The man with the funny guitar
Its no secret that I'm into the weird stuff. Um...guitar wise, that is. Brands that aren't around anymore, baritone guitars, funny shaped guitars (except for the flying V. Never could get into that one), slide guitars, etc. But what's astonishing is that these guitars always end up being the ones that play the best (except for the Fender Jaguar. That's just a freaking toy).
So, I busted out my weird blue monstrosity today, plugged it in, and tried to recreate the tones that the pros get on some of there songs. And you know what? I came pretty darn close, too. The tonal versatility on my Switch is surprising. Almost as surprising as me never having played with it before.
Ol' Blue has three single coil pick-ups and a five-way pick-up switch. That plus my Fender Frontmen's options actually opened up my tonal options as well. The reason I'm excited is because after I get my Epi Nighthawk (which has 9 different tones to select from utilizing a mini humbucker, a full humbucker, and a single coil pick up) I'll just need a slightly better amp (i need more wattage) to get just about any sound from my "rig" that I could want.
In other news, I've been asked to fill in for our local praise and worship band until they can find a new guitarist. I need a delay pedal...
So, I busted out my weird blue monstrosity today, plugged it in, and tried to recreate the tones that the pros get on some of there songs. And you know what? I came pretty darn close, too. The tonal versatility on my Switch is surprising. Almost as surprising as me never having played with it before.
Ol' Blue has three single coil pick-ups and a five-way pick-up switch. That plus my Fender Frontmen's options actually opened up my tonal options as well. The reason I'm excited is because after I get my Epi Nighthawk (which has 9 different tones to select from utilizing a mini humbucker, a full humbucker, and a single coil pick up) I'll just need a slightly better amp (i need more wattage) to get just about any sound from my "rig" that I could want.
In other news, I've been asked to fill in for our local praise and worship band until they can find a new guitarist. I need a delay pedal...
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9
Friday, May 6, 2011
string cleaner? Yeah...no.
There is a product known as the Renew String Cleaner. This product was developed by Hitler in WWII to keep the US army from enjoying music, and thus winning the war. It almost worked.
It was advertised that this product removes the dirt and grime left over from our hands when we play and keeps the strings lasting way longer. So, I thought I'd try it. I used it on the strings, and put the guitar away for a day or two. Yesterday, I pulled out the guitar to learn "Walk" by the Foo Fighters and discovered that my strings had rusted. This hurt my soul. I'm now sad. After I by a new set of strings, I'm learning a sad song in memory of the old strings...then an angry punk-rock grunge song to get back at the Renew String Cleaner. Stick it to the man...
Peace.
It was advertised that this product removes the dirt and grime left over from our hands when we play and keeps the strings lasting way longer. So, I thought I'd try it. I used it on the strings, and put the guitar away for a day or two. Yesterday, I pulled out the guitar to learn "Walk" by the Foo Fighters and discovered that my strings had rusted. This hurt my soul. I'm now sad. After I by a new set of strings, I'm learning a sad song in memory of the old strings...then an angry punk-rock grunge song to get back at the Renew String Cleaner. Stick it to the man...
Peace.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8
Monday, May 2, 2011
I've been a fool...
Just learned "Don't listen to a word you've heard" on guitar. Was painfully easy. I feel accomplished and annoyed at the same time. That is all.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8
Friday, April 29, 2011
It has been a while.
Okay, so it has been a while since I last updated but I'm here now! I have done a lot of things since last time, guitar wise, and now it is time to share the details.
The biggest thing for me is that I've started working on finger-picking style a lot more! I really started practicing it more when I set out to learn "Wake Up" by Coheed. "Marry Me" by train followed and things I used to play with a pick where played finger-style. Like "Angel" by Jack Johnson! Only problem is I've spent so much time going finger-style, my pick work sucks!
So, as has been discussed before, my electric guitar's sound is only worth listening to if I'm distorted out my butt. But I prefer clean sounds out of a guitar! So what do I do? I get a new guitar, of course! And I want an Epiphone Nighthawk! I've been talking about it non-stop and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. This guitar has a variety of Fender and Gibson tones, is lighter then either a strat or les paul, is super cheap, and even plays like a strat, but looks like a Gibson. Can I get an amen? Operation Nighthawk is currently in the early planning stages. This guitar will be mine.
Last thing I want to talk about is my pick work. Yesterday, I was watching one if my friends play Metallica and noticed he held his pick very similar to me but he did one thing different. I decided to try this subtle difference because he is so much better then me. The difference was huge and immediate! I was able to grip the pick better and my strumming was more even, and picking was just plain more comfortable. Actually going into detail about these differences would be difficult, so I'm going to leave it mysterious/ambiguous. Sorry. Anyways, hopefully there will be more frequent posts. My phone is about to die so I should go. Peace, and stay classy!
The biggest thing for me is that I've started working on finger-picking style a lot more! I really started practicing it more when I set out to learn "Wake Up" by Coheed. "Marry Me" by train followed and things I used to play with a pick where played finger-style. Like "Angel" by Jack Johnson! Only problem is I've spent so much time going finger-style, my pick work sucks!
So, as has been discussed before, my electric guitar's sound is only worth listening to if I'm distorted out my butt. But I prefer clean sounds out of a guitar! So what do I do? I get a new guitar, of course! And I want an Epiphone Nighthawk! I've been talking about it non-stop and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. This guitar has a variety of Fender and Gibson tones, is lighter then either a strat or les paul, is super cheap, and even plays like a strat, but looks like a Gibson. Can I get an amen? Operation Nighthawk is currently in the early planning stages. This guitar will be mine.
Last thing I want to talk about is my pick work. Yesterday, I was watching one if my friends play Metallica and noticed he held his pick very similar to me but he did one thing different. I decided to try this subtle difference because he is so much better then me. The difference was huge and immediate! I was able to grip the pick better and my strumming was more even, and picking was just plain more comfortable. Actually going into detail about these differences would be difficult, so I'm going to leave it mysterious/ambiguous. Sorry. Anyways, hopefully there will be more frequent posts. My phone is about to die so I should go. Peace, and stay classy!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8
Thursday, March 31, 2011
It's a Strav-II Signature!
Sophomore year of High School, I decided I wanted to learn guitar. So, I took the one hundred dollars I had saved up, had my mom take me to guitar center, and started browsing. Considering how much money I had to spend, I inevitably ended up in the 'used gear' section of the store. I walked over to the used guitars and saw only one there. The blue, fender-looking monstrocity that was within my price range. I took it down and played around with what I knew at the time on the guitar. I loved it. The action was perfect for me (though others seem to disapprove of it), and it was a solid, light guitar. All the tuners, knobs, switches, and everything were intact. I asked the guitar center rep about the guitar, and he seemed annoyed that I was asking questions and that he didn't have any of the answers. He didn't know a single thing about the guitar. Sad day, right? Well, I got it anyway. Turns out it was a good decision. Jump ahead to Sophomore year college (now), and I've really taken to playing guitar seriously. I have an acoustic now and I've started to really get into my electric playing, but I was still frustrated that I knew NOTHING about this guitar. I didn't even know the model! I just kind of assumed based on the other models what it would be called. But today, after a year or two of searching, I found out the specs of my guitar. Let me tell you, I couldn't be happier. I bought the guitar for $100, it's worth $349, and scored higher ratings on several venues then the $700 Fender Strats of the same year. Suddenly my interest in Fender has diminished and my interest in a new Gibson has risen. Any Gibson will do, too. Gibson Studio guitar (the faux Les Pauls), a Les Paul, an SG. My only real problem now is that I saw a Strav-II Signature...in a green sunburst rather then my blue. Wouldn't it be great if I had BOTH guitars? The green one was just so pretty! Okay, I'm done. I'm signing off. Peace!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The shortest blog post ever
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6
The whole gang
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6
Okay, so this is my whole pedal board to date, with the 1-spot plugged into to seven of the eight pedals it can power. My newest adventure has been seeting the dials on these pedals and getting them to sound good. This can be difficult, considering my amp isn't able to take all of them going at once. And if my digitech is on, you can forget about using anything else. I somewhat get a good sound out of my TS-9 and DS-1 together, but my digitech creates way too much noise to consider having a second distortion or overdrive going at the same time.
And I have a new project for my Chorus. It's actually a stereo chorus, meaning I plug the pedal into two seperate amps at the same time. You see, this pedal splits the sound and bends one of the streams it creates slightly out of pitch. Not enough to be considered out of tune, but enough to sound like a second guitar. Having the second amp lets me have each of the split streams through a seperate amp. Other then being really legit, this serves no purpose.
Oh, and I had my electric checked out today. I felt like there's something weird occuring in the upper register of my electric, and rather then telling me there was something wrong, the guitar tech guy told me the guitar sounds fantastic. I'm beginning to wonder what the value of my Vibracell really is...
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Posters. Grungy Posters.
A new pawn shop rule has been added to my list of rules. If you see a woman behind the counter, work with her specifically. As sexist as it sounds, she probably won't know anything about guitar pedals and will most likely bend on the prices. Why would I say such a thing? Because my past experiences have shown me that this is true. There are female guitarists in the world, true, but most of them would not be found working in a pawn shop. Just sayin.
Today, I walked into a pawn shop and saw a Digitech Grunge pedal for $40. I walked out of there with my pockets $10 lighter. How? I spoke to the woman, and even struck up conversation with her. The men at pawn shops, if they are younger, tend to avoid conversation at all cost. Most likely because they know what you are up to when you converse with them. They know you want to haggle the price. Somehow it's ingrained in men to go on the defensive when it comes to money. Again, another generalization that is not always true.
I now have a sixth pedal to my board, but I'll only put it on when I play certain songs and if that happens I'll be taking off my DS-1. No need for three distortions, is there? I mean, not unless you're Jack White, anyways. I haven't tried it out really, but I know it works and that's good enough for now. The pedal isn't the prize so much as the savings in this case. It's the German in me, I guess.
But buying pedals always puts me in a guitar playing mood (crazy, right?). My roommates were sleeping so I busted out Juliana (my acoustic) and started playing through some scales, crazy chord changes, and then tried out a new song...POSTERS! I have the opening riff and the verses down, and the chorus is similar enough so it won't be to long to figure that one out. This week I plan on learning the whole thing, bridge, chorus, verses, opening and final riffs, and all. By 'all' I mean lyrics, because I listed everything else you could learn of a song, and even then I practically already know those.
To finish up the post, here's the songs I intend to learn by the end of this semester. They are really different from each other, but diversity is what I'm looking for while I'm still getting the hang of this instrument.
First, Posters
Second, Enter Sandman (I swear it's gonna happen)
Third, Daughters
Fourth, Smells like Teen Spirit (I know, it's a cliche', but what else am I supposed to do with a Grunge pedal?)
Fifth, 21 Guns (I mostly know this one now, actually)
Okay, so that's my thoughts for today. Peace!
Today, I walked into a pawn shop and saw a Digitech Grunge pedal for $40. I walked out of there with my pockets $10 lighter. How? I spoke to the woman, and even struck up conversation with her. The men at pawn shops, if they are younger, tend to avoid conversation at all cost. Most likely because they know what you are up to when you converse with them. They know you want to haggle the price. Somehow it's ingrained in men to go on the defensive when it comes to money. Again, another generalization that is not always true.
I now have a sixth pedal to my board, but I'll only put it on when I play certain songs and if that happens I'll be taking off my DS-1. No need for three distortions, is there? I mean, not unless you're Jack White, anyways. I haven't tried it out really, but I know it works and that's good enough for now. The pedal isn't the prize so much as the savings in this case. It's the German in me, I guess.
But buying pedals always puts me in a guitar playing mood (crazy, right?). My roommates were sleeping so I busted out Juliana (my acoustic) and started playing through some scales, crazy chord changes, and then tried out a new song...POSTERS! I have the opening riff and the verses down, and the chorus is similar enough so it won't be to long to figure that one out. This week I plan on learning the whole thing, bridge, chorus, verses, opening and final riffs, and all. By 'all' I mean lyrics, because I listed everything else you could learn of a song, and even then I practically already know those.
To finish up the post, here's the songs I intend to learn by the end of this semester. They are really different from each other, but diversity is what I'm looking for while I'm still getting the hang of this instrument.
First, Posters
Second, Enter Sandman (I swear it's gonna happen)
Third, Daughters
Fourth, Smells like Teen Spirit (I know, it's a cliche', but what else am I supposed to do with a Grunge pedal?)
Fifth, 21 Guns (I mostly know this one now, actually)
Okay, so that's my thoughts for today. Peace!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
I scream, you scream, we all scream for tube scream...ers
From left to right I have a NS-2 (Ol' Turn-Off-That-Racket!), A DeepBlue Rocktron Chorus (Ol' WTF), a TS-9 (Patrick), a DS-1 (Old and Disturbed), a Danelectro Tuner (Ol' Faithful), and my Weeping Demon (Ol' El Diablo), and my amp (old and crochety. Not a name but a description). This all will be played on my Switch '88 Custom Vibracell II (Ol' Blue).
Well, today is the big day. I finally got the TS-9 tube screamer for my pedal board! This is my dream pedal, y'all. I've wanted this pedal for a long time, and it's finally mine! I can't believe I'm saying it, either. Oh, and I finally figured out how to post pictures so you can actually kinda see it above. My camera sucks so it's practically like I never showed you at all, but at least you get somewhat of an idea of what my pedal board looks like.
The TS-9, by itself, gives you that classic rock feel that I've been after for my dirty sound from my electric. Suddenly I have the urge to practice Led-Zepplin more then I ever, which I probably will. But, here's the fun part. If I use my TS-9 with my DS-1, I get a very metal sound, and even more so if I use the distortion built into my amp (Enter Sandman, anybody?).
Songs like "Santa Monica" by Everclear and "21 Guns" by Green Day suddenly become a reality for me, and my Weeping Demon (Ol' El Diablo) continues to blow my mind. It's amazing how certain pedals work better together then others. Go figure that the Weeping Demon and the TS-9 are both made by Ibanez. Kind of supports my idea that even if one pedal sounds better then another two or more pedals from the same brand will sound better then mixing and matching. I really don't have enough evidence to support it fully, and I guess I never will, given my pedals.
Just throwing this out there, it I ever get an MXR Metal distortion or a Rat, I'm taking off my DS-1 and learning the Fray's "Little House" for sure!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Led on our way to victory.
Okay, so I have been freaking out (No I haven't) about this chord test we were going to have in guitar class (never happened). So I studied my tush off (not true) all week in hopes of getting a good grade (I could slap the teacher in the face and still be able to secure an A) and then I finally show up to class today (this is truth) and I find out that my teacher has forgotten to print the test for us so now we all are getting free one-hundreds on the test. As you can imagine, I was deeply upset (another lie).
In other news, we had a great lesson about a Led-Zepplin piece called Over the Hills and Far Away. It. Was. Fun! When he pulled out that little number I can honestly say I enjoyed myself (that's what she said?). This piece had all sorts of fun runs going on in it and fast paced chord changes and I really really like playing this one. Considering I've never NOT liked a Led-Zepplin song, I just went out and bought one of their albums. I happened to find one, too, that had every song from Led-Zepplin I've ever jammed out too and more. Clearly, this was the album for me. And so now, as I type this, I am listening to "Mothership".
If I were to summarize this blog in two sentences it would be; Good buy. Goodbye.
In other news, we had a great lesson about a Led-Zepplin piece called Over the Hills and Far Away. It. Was. Fun! When he pulled out that little number I can honestly say I enjoyed myself (that's what she said?). This piece had all sorts of fun runs going on in it and fast paced chord changes and I really really like playing this one. Considering I've never NOT liked a Led-Zepplin song, I just went out and bought one of their albums. I happened to find one, too, that had every song from Led-Zepplin I've ever jammed out too and more. Clearly, this was the album for me. And so now, as I type this, I am listening to "Mothership".
If I were to summarize this blog in two sentences it would be; Good buy. Goodbye.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Picks. A beautiful thing. Oh, and a guitar show.
Okay, so it's been a long while since I've updated. Basically, I've done a lot of guitar stuff, then not much guitar stuff, and then more guitar stuff. So...here we go.
First, the end of Spring Break. On the very last day (a Saturday, for me), I went to South by Southwest, but more specifically the Guitar Trade Show and to see Neon Trees (twice). At said Guitar Trade Show, I salivated so much I was dehydrated for three days. There were plenty of electrics, acoustics, eletric and acoustic pickups, amps, picks, ukeleles, banjos, ukelele banjos (it's a thing), and guitar pedals of all sorts. I took too many pictures to post (but admittedly at some point I should really get around to posting some), nearly bought stuff I could not afford (mad props to my friend for pulling me away from that electric), and even entered into a few guitar winning contests, so fingers crossed on that. I'm pretty sure they would have already found the winners and contacted them by now, but still a guy can dream.
I also saw Neon Trees twice and got some autographs, but that's just too legit for this blog. My computer would implode at the effort of describing that. And that's my excuse for not typing out what would admittedly be the longest blog post ever written.
...*ahem*. So the picks! Today, I decided that I was going to experiment with a few different types of picks. I was curious to see which ones sounded best, which ones I could use best, and what sounded best in what styles.
I usually just use a medium pick, but I decided to branch out and try something different. I haven't tried anything out on my electric yet, but for my acoustic, here are my preferences.
.50mm pick = decent tone but too much give for how much I "muscle" the pick into the sound I want, and comparitively very little resonance to the others.
1mm pick "cool" = almost consistently one of my two favorites in terms of tone. Shaped just right for my massive hands to hold as well.
1mm pick Fender = same as the 1mm pick "cool" in terms of thickness, but seemed to provide a variance in resonance while similarity in tone. Playing solo, I would prefer this pick, but playing rhythm for someone else to play over, I would most definitely prefer the 1mm "cool"
Then I had a few different Dava picks of various sizes = Consistently, strumming was awkward because the picks were too small for my hands to grip properly (piano hands), there was not enough plastic and too much rubber showing wich gave me an inconsistent sound with how much pick I like to use, and all gauges seemed to have too much give to even dream of picking with.
Then I got the Pick of Destiny = this has no musical value whatsoever, but it looks freaking legit!
And finally the Agate stone pick = this pick was $12 so I was going to be ticked off if it didn't sound good. Thank God it sounded good. I would never dream of strumming with this pick on a guitar without a pick guard. Honestly, I don't like the sound of it whilst strumming at all, but the tone I get out of it when I pick is amazingly warm compared to the sound I get out of a normal plastic 1mm. Not only does this warm up my tone, my upper register (past the 10th fret, especially) actually sounds worth listening too! It's priced really high but the warm tone and the resonance is greatly improved making this pick well worth the money.
That's my nerdy self, in a nutshell. Thanks!
First, the end of Spring Break. On the very last day (a Saturday, for me), I went to South by Southwest, but more specifically the Guitar Trade Show and to see Neon Trees (twice). At said Guitar Trade Show, I salivated so much I was dehydrated for three days. There were plenty of electrics, acoustics, eletric and acoustic pickups, amps, picks, ukeleles, banjos, ukelele banjos (it's a thing), and guitar pedals of all sorts. I took too many pictures to post (but admittedly at some point I should really get around to posting some), nearly bought stuff I could not afford (mad props to my friend for pulling me away from that electric), and even entered into a few guitar winning contests, so fingers crossed on that. I'm pretty sure they would have already found the winners and contacted them by now, but still a guy can dream.
I also saw Neon Trees twice and got some autographs, but that's just too legit for this blog. My computer would implode at the effort of describing that. And that's my excuse for not typing out what would admittedly be the longest blog post ever written.
...*ahem*. So the picks! Today, I decided that I was going to experiment with a few different types of picks. I was curious to see which ones sounded best, which ones I could use best, and what sounded best in what styles.
I usually just use a medium pick, but I decided to branch out and try something different. I haven't tried anything out on my electric yet, but for my acoustic, here are my preferences.
.50mm pick = decent tone but too much give for how much I "muscle" the pick into the sound I want, and comparitively very little resonance to the others.
1mm pick "cool" = almost consistently one of my two favorites in terms of tone. Shaped just right for my massive hands to hold as well.
1mm pick Fender = same as the 1mm pick "cool" in terms of thickness, but seemed to provide a variance in resonance while similarity in tone. Playing solo, I would prefer this pick, but playing rhythm for someone else to play over, I would most definitely prefer the 1mm "cool"
Then I had a few different Dava picks of various sizes = Consistently, strumming was awkward because the picks were too small for my hands to grip properly (piano hands), there was not enough plastic and too much rubber showing wich gave me an inconsistent sound with how much pick I like to use, and all gauges seemed to have too much give to even dream of picking with.
Then I got the Pick of Destiny = this has no musical value whatsoever, but it looks freaking legit!
And finally the Agate stone pick = this pick was $12 so I was going to be ticked off if it didn't sound good. Thank God it sounded good. I would never dream of strumming with this pick on a guitar without a pick guard. Honestly, I don't like the sound of it whilst strumming at all, but the tone I get out of it when I pick is amazingly warm compared to the sound I get out of a normal plastic 1mm. Not only does this warm up my tone, my upper register (past the 10th fret, especially) actually sounds worth listening too! It's priced really high but the warm tone and the resonance is greatly improved making this pick well worth the money.
That's my nerdy self, in a nutshell. Thanks!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
What's the buzz?
I've discoveered that the more instruments you learn, the more frustrated you get. Allow me to explain. When I first learned piano, I was introduced to the art of practicing (oh yes, it's an art in itself). It's also how I began developing my ear way back when. Then I learned trumpet. All my piano ear training from piano applied to trumpet, but with trumpet it was taken to the next level. What I'm trying to say here is that a musician has an ear for things that non musicians don't. Why am I ranting on about this? Because it's a problem. Why is it a problem? Because now I'm aware of sounds coming from my guitar that drive me utterly insane because my technique is still developing.
When you play the guitar, there are two causes of buzz that can be traced back to the musician: One is because the guitarist isn't pressing down hard enough (something that gets fixed over time as finger strength grows), and the other one is because the fingers aren't placed right on the fretboard (not being close enough to the fret). My fingers are still developing so every so often I get annoyed with myself. The reason I'm posting this? Because I want everyone to know why my headed exploded before it happened. I blame it on the buzz.
When you play the guitar, there are two causes of buzz that can be traced back to the musician: One is because the guitarist isn't pressing down hard enough (something that gets fixed over time as finger strength grows), and the other one is because the fingers aren't placed right on the fretboard (not being close enough to the fret). My fingers are still developing so every so often I get annoyed with myself. The reason I'm posting this? Because I want everyone to know why my headed exploded before it happened. I blame it on the buzz.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Too. Many. Pedals. And a guitar test.
It's Wednesday, March 9th and I'm going broke. Because my pedal board now has five pedals! I got a Weeping Demon Wah and a Boss NS-2 Noise supressor. I almost have all the pedals I could want. The only problem is, I don't think I'll be able to use all of them at once. My amp, which is just a Fender Frontman 25r, is a practice amp. Too many pedals equals an angry amp. But, I'm having way too much fun to notice. I just don't plug them all in at once...Okay, so sometimes I do. But I turn all the effects down (especially my distortion) and I am able to get it to work.
Also, I had a guitar test today. I forgot about it and didn't study, but I actually feel like I passed the test. Not just passed it but got an A, too. Yay knowledge I learned previously from piano and trumpet!
Btw, I would just like to apologize for all I said about those two dentists earlier, Steve and Dan. Your kids aren't ashamed of you and you aren't a Green Day loving, MTV watching jerk. I went way too far. Again, I'm sorry.
IT'S LENT AND I'M STARVING LIKE THOSE RANDOM KIDS IN CHINA YOU ALWAYS HEAR ABOUT!!! OH. MY. GOSH. FEED ME!!!
Also, I had a guitar test today. I forgot about it and didn't study, but I actually feel like I passed the test. Not just passed it but got an A, too. Yay knowledge I learned previously from piano and trumpet!
Btw, I would just like to apologize for all I said about those two dentists earlier, Steve and Dan. Your kids aren't ashamed of you and you aren't a Green Day loving, MTV watching jerk. I went way too far. Again, I'm sorry.
IT'S LENT AND I'M STARVING LIKE THOSE RANDOM KIDS IN CHINA YOU ALWAYS HEAR ABOUT!!! OH. MY. GOSH. FEED ME!!!
Monday, March 7, 2011
And all the angel's joined the Chorus. The Rocktron DeepBlue Chorus, that is.
It's been a couple of days since I posted, and I still haven't posted any pictures yet. I have had a hard time finding a suitcase for my make-shift pedal board, and I accidentally slept through guitar class. In other news, I now have three pedals... :)
The pedal I added today is a Roctron DeepBlue Chorus. It's pretty, and it sounds pretty. In fact, 4 out of 5 dentists approve of this pedal, which is saying someting, because only 3 of them know anything about guitar. The other 2 are MTV watching corporate sell-outs with no souls and who listen to Green Day and think they are such musically intelligent people but don't know their children regret their upbringing because of all the horrible music they've had to listen to growing up...
Anyways, I haven't added the pedal to the others yet because I am at a location in which they are not present. I won't be able to get home till about 4:00 or 5:00 because I already made commitments to do things for a friend. This is why I miss being a loner... So I'm going to plug everything in today and choose one song I really want to learn that encorporates this pedal (or all of them) and just practice until I get it down, or my fingers bleed. Whichever comes first.
I know there are other, better chorus pedals out there, but I chose this one specifically because it had the sound I wanted. Period. I've tried others, listened to others via Youtube, and when it was all said and done this pedal just hit the sound I've been looking for out of a Chorus pedal. It fills out my tone a little bit more but it stills keeps a really tight guitar sound. I haven't tried it in conjunction with the other pedals, but it definitely adds to what I hope I achieve with my sound. My only concern is that my guitar doesn't play clean very well. It only plays the heavier, dirty stuff. It may be a while until I get a guitar that can really utilize this pedal in the way I'd like, I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out to get a unique sound out of my current set-up with just a little bit of creativity and patience.
The pedal I added today is a Roctron DeepBlue Chorus. It's pretty, and it sounds pretty. In fact, 4 out of 5 dentists approve of this pedal, which is saying someting, because only 3 of them know anything about guitar. The other 2 are MTV watching corporate sell-outs with no souls and who listen to Green Day and think they are such musically intelligent people but don't know their children regret their upbringing because of all the horrible music they've had to listen to growing up...
Anyways, I haven't added the pedal to the others yet because I am at a location in which they are not present. I won't be able to get home till about 4:00 or 5:00 because I already made commitments to do things for a friend. This is why I miss being a loner... So I'm going to plug everything in today and choose one song I really want to learn that encorporates this pedal (or all of them) and just practice until I get it down, or my fingers bleed. Whichever comes first.
I know there are other, better chorus pedals out there, but I chose this one specifically because it had the sound I wanted. Period. I've tried others, listened to others via Youtube, and when it was all said and done this pedal just hit the sound I've been looking for out of a Chorus pedal. It fills out my tone a little bit more but it stills keeps a really tight guitar sound. I haven't tried it in conjunction with the other pedals, but it definitely adds to what I hope I achieve with my sound. My only concern is that my guitar doesn't play clean very well. It only plays the heavier, dirty stuff. It may be a while until I get a guitar that can really utilize this pedal in the way I'd like, I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out to get a unique sound out of my current set-up with just a little bit of creativity and patience.
Friday, March 4, 2011
No warm-up. The pedal board.
Here we are! My third blog to date! I plan on deleting one of my other ones, but so far I'm pumped about this one. An entire blog journaling my growth as a guitar player, and some of the fun gear I get a hold of or make myself.
There's really no warm-up into this blog. No introduction, really, or fanfare. I'm just getting started with our topic today, which is a pedal board. I will cover what guitars I have when I get there, and I'll talk about my experience/skill likewise. Just remember that this whole journal is talking about someone who's relatively new to this whole thing.
So...the pedalboard! I don't have many pedals yet. I only have a DS-1 and a Danelectric Tuner pedal. I'm currently trying to find a good Metal Overdrive, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, and I'm looking to replace my Danelectric with a Boss TU-2 eventually, and maybe even find a good digital delay before I die. But for now, it's just these two pedals.This list clearly excludes a Noise Suprression Pedal, volume, and Wah pedal, but I'm too early on to get a hold of these, I think.
I plan on making my own pedal board. A ghetto rig requires a ghetto pedalboard, right? I really want to put the board inside a suitcase, for some reason. I can't explain why, but I just kept coming back to this idea so I'm giving in. I want to have the board itself suspended in the case some so I can get some sort of general power source running underneath whatever platform I find to get the pedals running. I got my Danelectric pedal today. Tomorrow, I'm buying an old suitcase, velcro, and Dr. Pepper. By the end of Spring Break next week, I will have a pedal board!
Sorry it was a super simple blog today, but in the next two days I'm going to try and get the actual pictures posted of my gear and the materials I'm using to make the future gear happen.
There's really no warm-up into this blog. No introduction, really, or fanfare. I'm just getting started with our topic today, which is a pedal board. I will cover what guitars I have when I get there, and I'll talk about my experience/skill likewise. Just remember that this whole journal is talking about someone who's relatively new to this whole thing.
So...the pedalboard! I don't have many pedals yet. I only have a DS-1 and a Danelectric Tuner pedal. I'm currently trying to find a good Metal Overdrive, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, and I'm looking to replace my Danelectric with a Boss TU-2 eventually, and maybe even find a good digital delay before I die. But for now, it's just these two pedals.This list clearly excludes a Noise Suprression Pedal, volume, and Wah pedal, but I'm too early on to get a hold of these, I think.
I plan on making my own pedal board. A ghetto rig requires a ghetto pedalboard, right? I really want to put the board inside a suitcase, for some reason. I can't explain why, but I just kept coming back to this idea so I'm giving in. I want to have the board itself suspended in the case some so I can get some sort of general power source running underneath whatever platform I find to get the pedals running. I got my Danelectric pedal today. Tomorrow, I'm buying an old suitcase, velcro, and Dr. Pepper. By the end of Spring Break next week, I will have a pedal board!
Sorry it was a super simple blog today, but in the next two days I'm going to try and get the actual pictures posted of my gear and the materials I'm using to make the future gear happen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)