Guitar tabs,electric guitars,acoustic guitars

So I have this Accept compilation CD in my car and I keep on listening a few songs on my way home or from home. I was curious about a few things so, reading on Wikipedia about the history of Accept, I found that the song I’m a rebel was initially composed for ACDC. Hmm…

Even more curious, I wanted to know what was the relationship between ACDC and Accept, because one of the songs I like the most from their discography, Hard attack, seems like made for ACDC. Even the way the guitar is being played makes me think of ACDC. Actually I have always seen Accept as being ACDC on steroids so…

Well, coming back to I’m a rebel, here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

“I’m a Rebel” is an unreleased song written by Angus and Malcolm Young’s older brother, Alex Young, and recorded on 15 September 1976, during sessions outside Albert Productions without George Young and Harry Vanda. Reportedly, Bon Scott was very drunk when the song was recorded. The recording remains in Albert Productions vaults. In 1980 the German heavy metal group Accept covered it and the original is said to be close to Accept’s version.

Anyway, honestly I couldn’t see ACDC on this song, but man I would hear them on Hard attack…

So, here’s Accept version of I’m a rebel

UDO’s version, meaner, I’d say

And here’s Hard attack…

Now, tell me if you wouldn’t see Brian Johnson on the chorus of this one…Even the guitar screams ACDC…

Bookmark It

This blog is about guitars, rock music, blues music, this kind of music, not pop or dance or whatever.

But I do remember the period when everybody in the neigborhood was listening Michael Jackson’s music, was speaking about Michael Jackson and was waiting for him to come to Romania. And he did come and it was madness. All those girls screaming like crazy the famous “I love you, Michael!!!”, fainting on his concert, crying and acting crazy, all those things my mother couldn’t understand and honestly, me neither…

But I had a copy of Thriller and I did listen to it a lot back then, I used to like it, it was new, it was crazy…

It was, for Romania here, a change, from the communist political regime  to “liberty” how everybody called it. Michael was the first big name that came to Romania, if I well remember, it was a symbol at that moment, it was the sign we are heading to something new and that the world is open to anything.

Then it appeared more and more obvious that he had issues, news came from all over about his problems with money, children, health etc. I always wondered (and probably you too) why he tried so much to change his appearence…

Anyway, we should not care about this at this moment, we should care about the fact that he meant a great deal for the music worldwide. How many could brag for getting the name “king of ” some musical style? He was named king of pop and nobody could take that from him and probably nobody will for the next period of time.

But now Michael Jackson is dead.

I found about it this morning reading a e-newspaper. Strange, considering I understand it’s all over the TV and radio news, I didn’t have time to get them. I was wondering this morning in my car(listening a radio station) what’s that buzz with Michael Jackson, I presumed he released an album or something.

But not. He is dead. King of pop is dead.

So, it made me think and write this article.

Rest in peace, Michael, your problems are over now…

Bookmark It

I guess we all know the song Stand by me, right?

You can’t say no, really, this movie here proves it without doubt.

Take a look here, enjoy and comment!

Well?

Bookmark It

I have discovered www.teachwombat.com a few days ago, by being pointed to it by Ken, one of the guys behind it. How do you say that in English? I think you’d say I’ve been pitched, right?

Well, I started to look at the site, to see what it is about, Ken also handed me a copy of the material there for this review and I can tell you he managed to get me interested…

TeachWombat.com is actually, what I could name “the starting guitar teacher resource“. The material on the site is actually a great collection of guitar chords, progressions, scales, all in a graphical form, all marked on a guitar neck, a wide range (250, they counted!) of student handouts that can be printed over and over again. Complexity ranges from first position 3 notes chords to extended jazz chords, has exercises, patterns and modes. Pretty much all you need to start teaching guitar. Handy…

The whole site is aimed actually to provide materials, “how to” and guidance for the guitar player that wants to start a guitar teaching business. As I was saying, very handy if you consider that you get all the materials for $15, in pdf format, so you can print them over and over again to give to your students. The fact is that with such materials, anybody that knows how to play the guitar can start teaching guitar.

I enjoyed the fact that you also get “blank necks” that you can draw on, to show your students how to play and the materials for bass players. Yeah, they rule! I will show them to my bass player buddy, he’ll enjoy them, I’m sure.

Also, I liked the materials about how to plan your lessons, what to tell your students or about how to manage the whole activity.

And all these come in a $15 package…

Now get there and see for yourselves, maybe some of you will discover a hidden vocation! If so, let me know, I will feel proud for making the teacher in you come out in the wild!

Bookmark It

I’m not a big fan of Accept. I do like their music, but it’s a long way to go to the fan status . However, Amamos la vida is one of the songs that I will always keep burried somewhere deep into my heart. It’s because of the memories it brings back to me…

I remember listening this song while climbing a peak with my friends, on heavy rain, with a large backpack on my back and with an improvised  rain coat covering me and the backpack. Under all this I had a walkman playing rock music and from all the songs that I listened at that moment, Amamos la vida remained strongly marked in my head; for me Amamos la vida will always mean heavy rain in the mountains when there’s nothing dry on you,  cold, best friends and then a hot cup of tea at the chalet…

That’s Amamos la vida for me…

However, a few days ago I gave a Hammerfall CD to my buddy drummer and got an Accept CD to listen in my car. I must admit I didn’t know a few of the songs there, like for example Mistreated, which is a lovely ballad, not quite Accept, but OK, a rock ballad typical for those times.

But my ear told me something’s fishy there, that’s not Udo, man, who’s the guy singing this?!

Again, I am not a fan of Accept, I didn’t know about the fact that Udo and Accept split at one moment because the band wanted to pursue a more “commercial” path. Well, seems that David Reece replaced him for only 1 album, sounds to me an interesting replacement, however, again, turning the band into something else.

You know, it made me think to Iron Maiden and Blaze Baley, but David Reece is better here, probably because he was allowed to sing like himself. Hmm, I’m mean…

So, to conclude, here’s Accept with David Reece and Mistreated

and Amamos la vida.

By the way, what’s that thing with Mistreated? Everybody felt the need to make a song named Mistreated or I’ve been mistreated or similar?! I think I know at least 3 already…

Bookmark It

I guess everybody in this line of interest knows about the fact that Guitar Idol 2009 announced a winner: Jack Thammarat, from Bangkok, probably you have also listened his entry already, but I will take my chance and post it here also, because I really enjoyed it, a very inspiring and lovely song.

What probably you don’t know is that a Romanian was part of the contest, his name is Marius Pop, he is the son of the lead singer and guitar player of a known band here in Romania (for “connoiseurs”, not mainstream, Celelalte Cuvinte - “The other words”). He is the guitar player of a pop singer that I know, we used to be kind of friends at one moment, pop singer that is from my town(Smiley is the name), we used to meet in the studio here and I also recorded guitar for 2 of his songs while here. Now he is famous all over the country, what do you know…

So here’s the entry of the winner and the entry of Marius Pop.

Enjoy!

Bookmark It

News in a local newspaper, in my city: last night, the artist (name doesn’t actually matters) played without a capodaster.

…aaa…OK.. I guess…?!!

I must tell you I was a bit surprised at first, WTF is that of any interest for any of their readers? I mean, I know that technique of writing the title as catchy as possible, to make people read the article, but still, that’s a stupid title in the whole context of the article.

The idea was that the lady (folk singer/guitar player) couldn’t find the capodaster so she had to play only those songs that she could actually play without trying to transpose them.

However, that was not a news, I was angry for losing time after reading this article and I was also curious, do people actually know what a capodaster is? I asked a coleague here. Nope! So I guess using such a “technical” term in the title of a generalist newspaper is also a mistake. Or it is not? Maybe people get curious to find out what she played without…

Say 10 times in a row: capodaster, capodaster, capodaster…

Now, again, what’s a capodaster?!

Bookmark It

I was in the mood for Megadeth today, so I looked up for Symphony of destruction, I love that song, it is one of my favorite songs from Megadeth, I think next to Skin of my teeth and A tout le monde, I guess..

So, when listening to it on YouTube, I found a version of Nightwish, cool, I didn’t know Nightwish covered Symphony of destruction, I must say I liked it very much, it has a bit of a particular flavor, the keyboard in particular, sounds interesting and the voice of the bass player matches both the song and the band.

So here it is, Nightwish with Symphony of destruction!

By the way, if you also are in the mood for Megadeth, here’s the man himself teaching us how to play the song:

Enjoy!

Bookmark It

Since Pandora closed the gates for Romanian listeners (shame on you, Pandora!), no rights to broadcast here they say, I was looking for a new radio to listen once in a while.

I can tell you I have tried a few, I have also posted something here about it, but this time I am kind of excited about this one.

So, I was looking for some lullabies on the internet, to play for my newborn baby girl so I actually searched for “kids radio” or something like this and there I found it. Kids radio allright, but not only that! Actually, as they say, 350+ news, sport, talk and music stations! More than enough for me.

So, here’s the kids package where you can choose between lullabies, anime, whatever (I usually listen the lullabies station, you should check it out, slow country music, but also Metallica on bells and whistles. No kidding, I had the time of my life playing Fade to black and Nothing else matters to my daughter, everything on ding ding dongs…). 

But, beside the kids package, you should check the Blues channels, where you can choose between Acoustic blues, Blues women, Electric blues, etc. Or how about the jazz package? Jazz fusion, jazz latino, swing, bop, etc.

Or if this does not set you free, then let me tell you what turned my world on: the metal channel! Yeah! Hair metal station, power metal station, classic metal station (I actually asked myself what “classic” means in metal, it means Megadeth, Ozzy, Testament etc)

Don’t you dare try the rock package cause there are too many stations there to pick from.

How about country, baby?! All 70’s, all 80’s, all 90’s? All 2000’s?! Or folk!! Love country or outlaw country (I didn’t know this branch actually exists)

Ah, one more thing: commercials are in the beginning, so before starting the show you need to listen to a commercial about hair loss or something then here you go, no commercial for a very long time, so don’t panic! 

So I guess I’ve already spoken too much instead of pointing you to the package!

So here it is: AOL radio! 350+ stations, I love it, I bookmarked it, I listen to it all day long on my computer!

By the way,I am now listening to “Sinatra style” station. Cool!

Bookmark It

Well, my dear friends, let me tell you that on 26th April, 5 days ago a new “artist-to be” was born into this world: my little daughter, Alesia Maria.

My wife gave birth to a beautiful little baby girl that is going to be a great artist and a great person when she’ll grow up. Says me.

I only posted about it today since this period was really crazy for me, my wife was in the hospital in Bucharest for a few days and I was driving between cities, leaving the very first thing in the morning and coming home late at night, only having the time and mood to take a shower and fall asleep…

But now, when everything settled down a bit, I can tell you I have a wonderful baby girl, named, as I was already told you, Alesia Maria Oprescu, very cute and most of all…very quiet! I can actually sleep, you know!!

I can tell you I am very proud of my little baby girl, she only cries once in a while, she usually stays and looks at me, she has a lot of hair, which is more than I can say about me and she is also a great music critic, you know, she actually falls asleep while I sing to her. I must be really good at this…

So, here she is, Alesia Maria Oprescu, born on 26th April 2009, great artist-to be, daughter of a very proud father!

Bookmark It