Intrigued? OK, let me go on…

I was listening on YouTube some Dream Theater songs; I am not a big fan or something, but I do like some melodies very much, like for ex. Another day, or Through her eyes or The spirit carries on. I think that all these can be considered ballads, so I guess I like Dream Theater ballads, even I am not sure that when you speak about a progressive rock band you can definitely say that this is a ballad and that one is not because of changing the rhythm when you least expect it (not the case here but still). But that’s not the point of this post.

The point is that reading a few of the comments made on YT, I was surprised in an unpleasant way by how easy people judge artists.

James LaBrie is not good, man!The band would sound way better without LaBrie in it! James LaBrie can not sing!

Ohh!!Really?!! How is that? Now think about the fact that these guys built a whole career behind them, together, putting one brick at a time, playing and most of all THINKING every damn note together, each of them bringing his contribution to the whole, to the band. The band would not sound the same without any of these guys.

I am not defending LaBrie (because it is not the case), even if personally I like the way he sings. If it would be my call, I would lower his vocal line with about 1 tone, but this is just my personal opinion. I think that he likes to push his voice to the limits of his vocal range , giving him that particular tone.

I told you I am not a big fan of Dream Theater, but I do have a great respect for them because they know music, they’ve studied music, I think they should be treated with respect by everybody considering the way they’ve built a career in music, by studying hard, learning music theory and rehearsing to the level where each of them is a master of his instrument. And next time you hear any guitar hero saying that he does not really know scales or chords, well, remember the guys in Dream Theater…

It is very easy to jump to conclusions and judge one artist or an other. He’s no good, man! He can not play!

Now ask yourself how many hours did that artist study for being in that place where frustrated people be able to judge him and tell him he’s no good and the band would sound better without him.

I personally consider that the band Dream Theater is great because of it’s members and because each artist knows why the others play a particular note, each artist in this band understands and loves the complexity of their music.

IMO there is no better lead singer than LaBrie for Dream Theater , because he UNDERSTANDS their music better than any other singer. I don’t think that Dickinson or Michael Kiske or any other famous singer would sing better Dream Theater songs than James LaBrie.

For all the bullies out there, did you ever try to perform on the other side of the stage you usually find yourself when going to a concert? So, think about it next time when you’ll jump to judging someone for not conforming to your questionable standards, OK?

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This morning I found myself visiting again the page of Sungha Jung, because I just felt the need of listening him again…

The truth is that I was charmed by how he plays the guitar. It is the admiration of somebody knowing that what he sees is out of his reach, and so it is. He plays at 11 better than me, I am not embarrassed to say this in any way. I don’t play fingerstyle guitar and for me what he does there is so fresh that I just can’t stop watching over and over again.

The fact that he is very young and playing with such dexterity makes people consider him a guitar wonder. And if I think about it, why not? I think that Sungha Jung may be considered this way cause I don’t know any other kid of his age to play the way he does fingerstyle guitar.

Keep in mind that he developed this dexterity in only 2 years of playing the guitar!! This is amazing, I don’t want to remember where I was after 2 years playing the guitar cause I wasn’t too far from the starting point…

I was going to embed here a video of Sungha Jung playing More than words of Extreme, first because I love that song and second because Sungha plays it lovely. However, after listening him covering Rylynn of Andy McKee, I had no other choice but to put this one here.

I promise myself to watch this kid in a a few years when probably he will join Andy McKee on stage playing at the same level. Sungha Jung, the professional fingerstyle guitar player, his dream…

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Even if I love hard, heavy and power, I totally fall for inspired jazz-rock or blues-rock guitar music. So, when I have seen Guthrie Govan playing, on YouTube, some chops in Robben Ford and Larry Carlton style I couldn’t say anything more than “Amazing!” and so it is. Beside his work as Asia guitar player, I couldn’t say I know him too much, so in a way he came as news to me. And what great news!

The only thing that does not match this blues-rock/jazz-rock songs is his hair…

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This post is again about blogging in this crowded world of music and guitars. It is crowded, you know…I think that one of the most popular things a teenager wants to do is to become a music star. Now, think about it, among all those teenagers in your life or around you, how many have no dream about this? Well? Not many, I presume.

Also, one of the most crowded places I know is that of blogging. Of course, the new trend is to have a blog, everybody’s got to have one! Even if you don’t know what to write on it, just have one!

Most of the people blogging write about themselves and what they do. And most of all, they write whatever they feel like writing. Well, this is not always a good thing to do, it may give a feeling of spamming your user with meaningless content (meaningless to them, not to you)

I know this because I am also in danger to do it when I don’t have inspiration . That is why I have thought of a small but effective filter of things to blog about. Each time I want to post something on my blog, I ask myself if the post I am going to make can be described as (at least) one of the following:

1) Useful to my readers

Is what I am going to write useful to my readers? Are they going to feel they have earned something after reading the post? Because if they don’t, there is a big possibility to not come back to my blog again so all that great information I have about how to play the guitar will be wasted cause nobody will be reading it.

So, next time you are going to write a post, ask yourself “is that going to help my readers or not“? If the answer is no, move on…

2) Funny

An other reason for which your audience is coming back to read your blog is that your posts are funny and make them laugh or at least funny!

I know this because I have 2 friends telling me they have subscribed to my RSS cause they found some articles on my blog funny! Well, of course, remember that your post should be in the limits of the subjects specific to your blog, don’t post a funny thing just because you know it and you can post it. So, if the post you are going to make is not useful, IS IT FUNNY?!

3) Personal

Well, this criteria is kind of…personal, because I blog about my experience as guitar player, I also have posts about what experiences I had while in the studio, on stage, etc. This kind of posts, even if they are not funny or useful to my readers, may help understanding me better. This way I hope to create a better and closer relationship with you, people reading my blog.

These 3 criteria make that little filter I told you about.

Now, honestly speaking, I hope that THIS VERY POST to be added in the category “Useful to my readers” but I also hope you enjoyed reading it (even if it is not necessarily funny), because it is part of what I do and part of my experience.

Well?! Is that so?

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I stumbled upon this kid a few minutes ago! Man, is this guy great or what?!!??! What are they feeding these kids?! He owned me for good!

“Hi, I’m Sungha Jung from South Korea. My dream is to become a professional acoustic fingerstyle guitarist.

I had been watching my dad play the guitar for awhile before I finally jumped on it myself two years ago. I just turned eleven in September, 2007.

Currently, I am taking weekly classical guitar lessons and teaching myself fingerstyle guitar.

I used to not have tabs for the music that I played in my videos. I just listen and pick them up directly from the sound source in videos available on the internet. However, recently, I have started playing with original tabs whenever they are available to me by courtesy of the authors.”

(Taken from his MySpace page)

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If you still ask yourself where are we going to, look here!

Are we going nuts or what?!! What really happened to those Manowar or Metallica t-shirts I used to wear?

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“I could say that this post is not about guitars since what I am going to write further is more about blogging than about playing the guitar”

This is how I intended to start this post, but after a few seconds I realized that I would be wrong in more ways than one. This post IS about blogging AS MUCH AS IS about playing the guitar and being part of a band. And I will tell you why.

As you probably know, I have started a dare with myself a few days ago, to reach 5000 unique visitors per day in the next 6 months on this blog. Due to that dare, I have started to think what would make me reach my target. I have plenty of ideas,to be honest, I only wish to have the time to put this in practice since this blog is not the only thing I do, as you probably imagine. So, beside social networking, which may be a double edge knife, crushing your server and leaving no real value behind, I asked myself what would make a blog stand out of the crowd?

1) First thing I could think of is to FIND A VOICE

As you probably imagine, it is not THAT voice everybody thinks he/she possess when singing in the bathroom. No. It is about the voice you blog with. Such a voice gives you personality, is part of your branding process, makes your readers know you better and builds a place for you in your reader’s consciousness.

You may be the angry guy over the music store, picking on every band ever appeared. Of course, you hate Metallica, you don’t like Clapton, Bon Jovi is a sissy, while the last album of Sting sucks! (Sorry, man, I really don’t think so!)

Or you may be the tech guy, giving information about everything, you may be the reviewer that just uses a colder and objective position when reviewing.

Some speak using the third person (a bit strange, IMO, but it works) some plural form of the first person. It is nothing but a way of finding your own voice in this already crowded blogging world.

2) Find your OWN POSITION

Or niche, or point of view, that specific something that identify you, just don’t follow masses. It may be cool to speak about something popular, but if everybody speaks about it you will be just a drop in an ocean. Not easy to get noticed, right? Instead, find your position, find that special something that you can give to the public and give it in the best possible way. You may want to speak about how to buy an electric guitar and offer tips to support this.

Or maybe you review electric guitars. Good one! A stronger one? Review very expensive, rare guitars. That’s even better!

Now think about it. It may be cool to play metal the way Skid Row used to do it. It may be cool to jam with your friends over some Megadeth songs. Rock on! But don’t ever try to make it big this way cause you won’t! They made it big, the song is already played! Instead, find that special something that identify you as a band and stick to it.

Did you see Bon Jovi play about politics? Well, I haven’t, if he did, I don’t know about it. He sings about loooove!!! Remember? Never say goodbye, never say godbyeyeyeeee!! Do you like Gamma Ray?! Politics! Politics and…social politics. Whatever that means! Manowar?! Brothers of true metal!! Hail, hail, hail and kill! We are not afraid to die!! (I am a big fan of Manowar, but, man, if I am going to hear this one more time I am going to hail, hail, hail and kill!!!) By the way, did you know that Joey DeMaio, the bass player and main man of Manowar worked as a pyro-tech for Black Sabbath during their “Heaven and Hell” tour? He liked that music, but do you see him playing it? No, he found his own place!

All these bands stick to their theme and rolls it over and over again because this is what keeps their audience in place. Do it when blogging and you will see the results!

3) Branding!!

Now, that’s a bit more complex. I am not marketing educated, I am engineer (yep!) by education, programmer by profession and web developer/marketer only by hobby, but if I know something about blogging is to brand yourself!

Remember? Brand yourself! Make your blog and your name a brand. And here I would count a good domain name, well designed, unique logo, a motto! (You find it, I wasn’t yet able to find one for myself!), colors that are consistent through all your site, THAT VOICE I was speaking about early, your blog theme, a CUSTOM SKIN! Yes, that is a must. Don’t try to impose yourself on the market with that default skin cause you won’t make it too far! Instead have a custom blog skin that make a big impression on your readers!

You know, it is like with women! I know she is smart, but God, couldn’t you make it a bit more beautiful to make me come closer and see how smart she really is?!! That’s true with blogging too. A custom skin will make your visitors pay more attention to your blog and get to read what you actually have to say.

Of course, this goes the same way with a band. Branding for a band includes a custom logo (I don’t know about the motto), theme of the music and lyrics, the image the band imposes to the public (think KISS, think ACDC, think Manowar), a particular way of behaving on the stage, this is also part of the brand, the sound, the musical style, etc. Think about it!

4) Start a BUZZ

That is something that goes a bit further, it is something that we all desire but not everybody succeeds in doing this. In order for your blog to make it big, you need to start a buzz, to make some waves, to have people notice you. It is in close relationship with No 1. If you go with the wind, you won’t be noticed. Instead, also as part of your voice, you may just be the NO guy! If everybody speaks in a good way about a trend, YOU start screaming and buzzing and making a big fuss about it. Somebody big will finally notice you and argue with you, probably he will point to you, others will join to kick your ass and all of a sudden you are somebody in this crowded world.

You are that particular SOMEBODY that EVERYBODY would like to beat up! But you’ve got noticed!

If you don’t believe me, think of actors that built a whole career from being the bad ass everybody hates. Think soap opera. Well, of course, I know YOU don’t watch it, you probably are the dominant male around, ok, I see, but your girlfriends, mothers, wives watch them so there is a big chance YOU know what I am speaking about. I know I do…

5) Create SOCIAL PROOF

This is like when you get in touch with famous bloggers and they start speaking about you. If they speak about you, you must be good, right? Even if you bought a review on some famous site or on some famous blog.

How is this similar with being in a band? Well, very easy! Didn’t you ask why unknown bands get together to play with big bands on the same show? How do they come to the same TV shows? Exposure in well known places, in the company of a famous somebody! You must be also somebody! I will buy your CD!!!

6) Build an audience

Well, this is one of the most important things to do and I let it as a last resort! Build an audience! When blogging, you use RSS, email, fan base. When playing, your fans are the most important assets of yours. That is why I hate bands not treating fans right. They are there because WE put them there. THEY live as a band because of US! Damn, I got a bit too passionate about it, I think! Whatever!

That is about all for the moment. It is very late in the night and I think I need some sleep, this was a long post and I find it already difficult to focus.

Also, please keep in mind I am aware of everything I have written here. However, if you will see that I missed implementing some of these things on my blog, well, remember that you should do what the preacher says, not what the preacher does…Or how you put it in English…

Now, Stumble that!

This article has got a quite big push on StumbleUpon (thanks, guys!!), so if you are here, why don’t you also give it a push on Digg?

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Every rock star, every guitar legend becomes a parent when time comes. Joe Perry of Aerosmith was no exception. He is the proud father of 2 out of 3 members of “TAB the band” members, namely Adrian Perry and Tony Perry. Adrian is the vocal and bass player while Tony is the one who continues the family tradition as the guitar player. “Pulling Out Just Enough To Win” is the name of the album they released.

The interesting thing (and at the same time a fact that honors them) is that,even if following a musical career, they didn’t want to use their daddy’s fame to get through this tough business and managed to built their own way. I think that it is better like this, to prove yourself that you have your own identity and that you’re not just a shadow of your famous father, because this will be something that a lot of folks will throw in your face over time.

However, when asked by Joe Perry to help him with a concert, they didn’t say no, so they’ll be together on February 8th at Fox Theatre at Foxwoods playing together. By the way, if you want to win a ticket to this show, hurry up and get one here!

You can find more about them on their website here and on their MySpace page.

By the way, here in Romania they are not known at all, how known are they in USA? Beside being daddy’s kids, I mean.

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I was reading this morning on From The Woodshed blog about how Joe, the guy behind the blog, works his way on the guitar by structured techniques and not just by ear. That kind of made me think for a minute. I remember when I started programming, I didn’t know a lot of stuff, but I used to keep a paper and a pen on my desk and used to write down all the new terms I was hearing around me and then searched for them on the internet and in the documentation. That helped me a lot since I learned a lot when doing this. If I think about it, this is a form of organizing yourself, which, to be honest, is not one of my forms of expression, if you know what I mean…

I proposed to myself to also be more organized in this area of music and guitar. It is not difficult to do it, just that you need a bit of dedication. I think I should also write down what I want to learn or practice and take it one at a time. I want to practice more scales, well, put it down on paper to see it and remember it.

Personally I would like to work more my tapping techniques. I am not a tapping and arpeggios guitar player. I love power metal and heavy and Satriani and stuff, but I was never able to put enough time to study this properly. The fact is that while at a party in my university years, I had a stupid accident that left me with a cut tendon on my left hand.

I had surgery for this (the doctor say that if it wouldn’t have been my guitar playing she would have let it like this since it is not a major thing! Damn it! It’s good I play the guitar!!). After the surgery I had to recover but my little finger on the left hand didn’t fully recover the same mobility like before so I couldn’t manage to use it properly for arpeggios so I just managed to play an other way.

So, to those thinking that guitar playing is over in such cases, well, trust me, it isn’t!You just need to find other way of expressing yourself. Music is not just about technical skills but about expressing yourself.

Regarding this thing with my finger, in that period I was in the studio with my previous band, Kapela. We were recording a demo album that was never released,unfortunately. However, I felt terrible, I was really pissed off about this thing with the surgery. I had a large (literally: LARGE!!!) bandage on my hand with a wooden stick inside it, to keep my finger on the right position. Well, imagine me going to the studio with this thing on.

I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to record anything since I had only 3 fingers to use (I don’t count the thumb so even at that time I had 5 fingers, really!) My part in the band was rhythm guitar and the guys were really cool to understand me and support me back then. I managed to record my parts after more takes, with a bit more attention.

I do have some pictures from the studio back then, with my monstrous bandaged finger, all my friends used to laugh at me back then, I was the only one not feeling like laughing, really.

Anyway, time passed and now I am loving every moment playing my guitar, even if I don’t do those elaborated arpeggios. But I don’t stress myself about it, music is about feeling and expression. By the way, I do solo guitar and I don’t complain, my fingers work very well, thank you! Including that little finger. However, no arpeggios, OK?

PS: This post started in a direction but led me to an other one. That’s OK for me. OK for you?

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“Q: What do you do when you don’t have inspiration to write anything on your blog?

A: Go and play the guitar.”

Your’s truly

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