I was reading this post on IG’s blog and suddenly a question hit me: why people stop playing the guitar? Why do they forget about the instrument that meant the most for them at one moment in life?

If you think about it, it is not just about the guitar, it is about music, about art, about hobbies in general, if you want, no matter it is about music, theater, photography, dance, etc.

I think the most intense period of our life, from this point of view is the University years. At least for me, this was the case. While in University I used to live, eat and breath music. Rock music, that is…

We had 3 rehearsals/week, I had no money but still managed to buy a brand new electric guitar and the BOSS processor that I use even now. The price for the processor was high for me at that time but still managed to save money and pay for it, plus trade a speaker for the money I didn’t have. I went with my band to play on the seaside and for a multitude of reasons we slept on the beach for 2 nights, just to play. I think I have spoken about this before so I won’t insist on it.

The whole idea is that it used to burn me inside, I would have done anything to play, being on stage was the highest possible reward.

We didn’t have money but we managed to get the money for recording songs and believe me, it was not cheap for us at that moment.

Then at one point I had to get a job, but I remember negotiating my employment conditions based on my band needs. I discussed with my employer the fact that I need to leave once in a while with the band here and there. The employer must have been a wise person since I’ve got the job, I guess he knew something…

After a while, it stopped being so important. I think at that moment something happened. Life happened. We took a break and get together only for short periods of time. The bass player left the country for 1.5 years, I think, for a job in Italy, and strange, it didn’t seem so important at that moment. I mean I didn’t see it as a terrible bad luck for the band. Then the drummer left the country for 1.5 years for Mexico and again, it didn’t feel like a very big thing.

Now since a while we’ve got together again and play on regular basis, we found the pleasure and the desire and I enjoy every moment spent together with the band.

And you know what? This blog and YOU helped me a lot. In the last 6 months, the constant contact with you and the music made me again aware of what music means to me and why I started to play the guitar in the first place.

Now I just ask a rhetorical question: why dreams die? Why we lose the passion on the way and that flame inside us that keeps us going on? Is it the fact that we are not 20 years old anymore? Is it because we start working, because we need money? Is is the fact that when we get home we are in most of the cases too tired to dream and sing and play and live?

And if it is so, why do we come back to our love for music at one moment in our life ? Because, unless you made a profession out of your music, you probably lost it on the way and fount it again later in your life stronger than ever…

Am I right or what? Why did you lose it at one moment? What made you come back? Huh?

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These last days I’ve got interested again in Guitar Idol competition. While I am a fan of Gustavo Guerra due to 1000 reasons that I will discuss at a later time(and I hope he win the competition), I listened to every one of the guys presented there in the final. I must say that in many cases, the video they entered the contest with was not the best choice if you also look for them on YouTube because, in my opinion, most of them have other pieces that are better.

But OK, I understand the reason for the songs presented there: they needed songs that show a broad range of skills and I can say that you could see in 3-4 minutes from speed picking, melodic sense, creativity, control, tone, tremolo bar works, 8 finger taping, slap, finger style, whatever else they could think of that I can not even imagine…

This morning I was looking on YouTube for this guy, Chris Feener, who is on the 3rd position considering the number of votes, but didn’t quite impress me.

In the beginning, his Ibanez K7 guitar was what set me back because it immediately made me think of a pattern: the young shredder, Symphony X fan that will drive me crazy with fast notes from moment one to the end of the song without understanding anything of the actual melody (if there would be any). Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Ibanez electric guitars and a 7 strings Ibanez guitar has been something I have dreamed of for a while, until I understood that you don’t need 7 strings to play well. You need something else…

However, listening him on YouTube, I have discovered a 20 yo guy with a great collection of skills and techniques, with pieces far more interesting than what he presented for the contest.

So I have decided to put here one of his covers, Andy Timmons Groove or die song which I like very much, by the way, as almost all the songs of Andy Timmons.

So, without further comments, I give you Chris Feener and Andy Timmons’ Groove or die:

Question: considering the notoriety that YouTube builds to these guys, where do you think we’ll see him in a couple of years? In what band?

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Thanks to yesterday discussion about locking tuners vs Floyd Rose systems, Jon of GuitarNoize.com pointed me to this video. It is very interesting to watch a custom process of how a guitar can be particularly tuned/prepared for playing, after a solid analyze of the neck, strings, etc.

It’s a process of very fine tuning and I am not speaking here about tuning the strings to a particular note, but tuning the guitar itself. Seems that it doesn’t matter, electric guitars or acoustic guitars, they can all go through this process.

What do you think? Is it useful or is just a fancy thing? Would you do it? I wonder how much such a custom fine tuning process costs?

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Considering the interest I have developed lately for Variax modeling guitars, I started to look at reviews and user opinions. Seems that the 600 model has some issues with strings going out of tune when using the tremolo bar. Well, this is no surprise, if you think about it. I wouldn’t expect anything else. If you don’t have a Floyd Rose system or a similar locking system, then using the tremolo bar is not the thing to do.

But, looking at the 700 model, it comes with Gotoh locking tuners. Indeed, this seems to be a good alternative to regular tuners. Locking tuners have a back screw that locks the tuner to not go out of tune,so I think it is way better than having no locking mechanism, but I have no idea how this would compare to a regular Floyd Rose mechanism. I have never used a locking tuner so I don’t know how good it actually is.

I guess that it makes the process of actually tuning the guitar a bit more difficult since they have those screws but comparing to the Floyd Rose systems I guess it is easier, anyway.

So, if you have experience with both Floyd Rose locking systems and locking tuners similar to Gotoh tuners, please share some of it here, I would really be interested to know if they are worth. Because if they are, changing the regular tuners to locking tuners would be the thing do do on such a guitar, in my opinion. They cost around $100 and they could save you on stage.

Silviu, my buddy that owns the 700 version, told me yeah, it has no Floyd Rose and it was a bit difficult to get used to not having one in the beginning, but it has Gotoh tuners so it’s OK.

Does this mens the locking tuners do the job when using the tremolo bar? Anybody using them?

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I’m no shredder. And I don’t say that as a proof of “man, how cool I am, shredders are bad, I am no shredder!” No, I don’t say it like this, I just say that in my instrument education, I have never found the pleasure, determination and “usefulness” to learn how to shred.

I think it is due to the fact that in the last 9 years I have never played metal or hard rock more than a song, for fun, even if I love to listen power and heavy metal very much. Due to the fact that I have played mostly pop rock and alternative rock, the guitar solos were different (I speak about pop rock solos, not alternative) and I had no need to practice my shredding capabilities.

Anyway, as an exercise, shredding is good, I guess, even if you don’t play long and fast solos, even if you are not the guitar player of Symphony X, shredding capabilities may come handy here and there because they can help you solve a particular soloing situation in a very interesting way and opens interesting possibilities.

So, just as a curiosity, how many of you, reading my blog, can actually shred? I mean, maybe you don’t like it, maybe you don’t play a style that ask for fast solos, but can you actually shred?

Of course, some of you, may say that this post is something like that fox that says the grapes are not sweet just because they are out of reach. But I like to think it is not.

So, let me hear you: despite of your current musical style, country, blues, rock, jazz, CAN YOU SHRED OR NOT? Huh?!

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Because I had a few articles about Line 6 Variax guitar, Silviu, a friend of mine (ex-band colleague, proud Variax owner and reader of this blog) pointed me to a few videos with his band (Spin), where he plays the guitar at a concert here in Pitesti, a concert that I totally forgot about a few weeks ago, reason for which I consider myself an idiot cause I really wanted to see him playing this guitar live.

So, here’s one of the songs, for the rest search “trupa Spin” on YouTube! I really like this song. Plus that, when this song was released, the guitar player was an other ex-band mate of mine, so I felt connected to this band at that moment and I feel connected to it now too!

Enjoy!

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Man, I have just seen this picture, I think this is the funniest thing I have seen lately!

Now this line sounds so much not right!! Damn!

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There are days when you don’t feel like writing, isn’t it? This is one of those days, or has been, I think, it’s 9:46 PM here. This was until I received a message from my StumbleUpon buddy Corey Koehler who pointed me to one his latest podcast. I must say that it was enough to start listening one of the songs there and everything changed, I think this song turned my happiness hormones on, I don’t know (I’ve heard this on the radio today and stayed in my mynd, so don’t blame me, OK?).

So, just a short post that has not that much with the guitar:

• Today I found myself driving in parallel with a brand new no-top red Ferrari! Damn! It is not like the first time I see one in Romania, just that it is the first time I see one IN MY CITY, BRAND NEW and HALF A METER AWAY from me. I could have just opened the window and touch it. The driver owns a large company here so he can afford it but he didn’t look to me to be the type to own a Ferrari. Just as an observation: Romania is not a poor country, you can see here a lot of the latest and hottest cars, but we still need to work on our roads so this car is not for our roads. Period. If you come to Romania, better take a 4×4. Damn, but it was beautiful!
• While waiting for my wife today in the car, I surprised myself lowering my car seat, with my sun glasses on and with rock music playing loud. What a great feeling! The song was Bon Jovi’s Dead or alive. Man, I love that acoustic guitar! I think it has to do with those hormones of happiness I was speaking earlier.

And to finish my short post about nothing, here’s the song that started me:Firewind, Falling to pieces! Enjoy!

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At the last rehearsal with my band we decided to try ACDC’s song “You shook me all night” so yesterday I found a little time to listen the song carefully and work it a bit. I was amazed of how easy the song is. The guitar riffs are almost folk-like, just that played on an overdriven guitar. Nothing difficult there, plain G, C and D just that in a particular sequence like for ex G C G C G D, G D G D…

But I got annoyed the first times when trying to learn the sequence, because after a few tries, my mind slipped away when trying to sing along and I started to make mistakes in the sequence. That made me actually think of this post, because I realized that this song does not come naturally to me, like other songs do.

I should tell you I don’t like those songs where the song is based on a sequence of fast and repetitive chords where you need to change something at a given moment, I just don’t like them. I remember hating the song “Proud Mary(Rolling on a river)” because I needed to remind a particular sequence that didn’t come natural to me. I work better with songs that have more air. It’s not a matter of technical skills, obviously, it’s a matter of preferences. I guess everybody has a way of doing things that is preferred over the others.

I guess some of you love full chord songs, like this song, or Beatles’ songs. Others love songs with power riffs, like Megadeth or Metallica while others love Deep Purple’s style of riffs, like in Black Night, for ex, I think you know what I mean.

So, how do you feel about those sequences of chords? Love them or hate them? What’s your preferred style? Let me hear you!

PS: after playing the song a couple of times, the sequence comes natural now, but the idea of this post still stayed in my mind and decided to write it here.

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