What I am going to say now stayed in my head for a lot of years, even it may seem of low importance for some. Acoustic guitar players, however, may know better what I mean.

I happen to  see a very good electric guitar player playing the acoustic guitar in an one on one session. Very good electric guitar player, classy shredder, out of my reach, he took the acoustic guitar, (a large and beautiful sounding box) and started playing.

You know what? Something didn’t sound right, he was playing it like an electric guitar!

Even perfectly played from a technical point of view, the notes were too sharp and sparky, taking away exactly the feeling that acoustic guitars give. The guitar didn’t sound the way it should, the notes didn’t work well  together.

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Since a long time I am trying to make up my mind about the ideal electric guitar but, of course, there is no such thing.

The fact is that I don’t even have one single guitar that for me would be the ideal one. No, it depends on the mood I’m in.

Like for example, I love Ibanez guitars, reason for which I would love to own one, to be more precise, an Ibanez RGT320Q, this one below, which I consider absolutely beautiful! All those Satriani and Vai melodies I have listened made me an Ibanez fan forever…

Of course, because I can not make up my mind and I would also go for an Ibanez RGT220A…

They are both gorgeous, mean and at the same time fashionable, however they don’t manage to satisfy my need for a Fenderish sound, reason for which I would like to also have a Fender Standard Strat HSS Electric Guitar w/Floyd Rose Tremolo.

This is not usual at Fender guitars, but I do want one, because it is my dream, and I do have the right to dream whatever I want. So, beside the two Ibanez RGT guitars above, I would also love to have this one here. It is not a very expensive one, but it is the only model with double locking tremolo, beside Richie Sambora model. OK, that one works too!

I am not sure about the color, I think I would go for an other color, maybe a sunburst, i don’t know!

I would also want a Gibson for Gary Moore and Guns. I am not asking for much, just for a Les Paul. Of course! The reason would be the feeling this guitar gives me, the sustain and the particular tone that can not be copied by any other guitar.

And why not, I would want a Carvin guitar again for the feeling I had playing it and for the sparky-fenderish tone. This one here! With Floyd Rose, of course!

Now, am I asking for much? I don’t know, if I would add those few that I have enumerated here I guess they would cost about $8000, hmm…That is if I don’t go for Sambora signature model, which alone is about $3500 so…

Anyway, I think that I am not the only one unable to make up his mind about the ideal guitar. I think that each guitar player, depending on the mood feels like playing one guitar or an other.

So, what guitars would you love to own? Let’s start somewhere:

• Robert of buildingtheergonomicguitar.com
• Jon of GuitarNoize.com
• Ignatio of igblog
• GLW of Guitarz
• JP of Stratoblogster , somehow I think I know the answer to this one

Anybody else who would like to join?!

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Do you know what I like the most at the internet, music and culture?

The fact that there is so much out there of any of these that you can discover something new each and every day, no matter how many things you have seen, there is always something that can give you the thrills when you least expect it.

Today I was reading something about Sungha Jung that led me to something about Andy McKee and then…Phil Keaggy.

Well, I have listened a few songs of Phil Keaggy and beside the fact that, even if missing half of his middle finger on the right hand he managed to become a great guitar player, with over 30 albums, what amazes me is his music quality, his feeling for those little things, details that make or break a melody.

I posted here Salvation Army Band because I could not believe my ears how beautifully he makes use of those live loops, creating such a beautiful song with just one acoustic guitar. For what he does here you don’t need skills. What you need is pure talent. Listen to all those nuances and shades of his guitar.

You know what? After listening this, I can not call him guitar player anymore. I will just call him AN ARTIST.

Please have patience to listen to the whole song since he managed to surprise me every 60 seconds

It is said that Eric Clapton was asked once what it feels like to be the best guitarist in the world. His response was simple, “I don’t, know ask Phil Keaggy.”

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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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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)

Well?!!

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If you are like me, and I guess you are since you read these lines, you often felt like playing the guitar in the middle of the night. I know it used to happen to me quite often. And also, you probably know that it is not a good idea, unless you live by yourself. If you don’t, well…then you know what I mean.

But how about playing a guitar that is…silent. I know it sounds somehow like playing the air guitar, but it is not about the air guitar (that one still makes noise when turning up the volume on your CD player, you know!!) but about Yamaha Silent Guitar! Yep! You probably know it, I know about it for some time now (was released somewhere in 2002, I think), but I haven’t had the opportunity to test it personally yet. However, I know I would like to own one for those sleepless nights when I feel like playing.

The interesting thing is that, at least in the video below, it sounds quite interesting (OK, through a sound processor). Also, Yamaha SLG 100N model comes with nylon strings and the fact that you can plug in a CD player makes it great for rehearsing since you can play over your own previously recorded material.

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This will be a short one. I remember when I started to get interested in guitars that something started to burn me inside, I just needed to learn to play! I had a high school class mate that used to bring the guitar to school back then and each time I used to see him playing, I felt such a strong urge to learn it myself.

He usually brought the acoustic guitar, a big one with a full and warm sound. Once he brought a Fender like electric guitar that it looked sooo  damn good! Red, if I well remember…

So I wonder: what actually makes us want so much to play the guitar? Why do YOU started to play the guitar?

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Dr. J brought to my attention this guy, Michael Kelsey, that of course, I didn’t know about! I found him to be a great acoustic guitar player, as his website (michaelkelsey.com) says:

MICHAEL KELSEY cannot be limited to a simple description. When you listen to his music and see him perform live you’re witnessing more than a just another singer-songwriter. You’re watching a rhythmic, inspired guitarist and performance artist who brews soul, funk and even a little bit of the blues into a guitar festival of organic sound. Multi-instrumentalist Kelsey has been known to blend many musical genres with fervor and grace. When he hits the stage to perform, he plays every inch of his guitar and makes it sing, soar, pop and ping–by strumming it, pounding it and pulling every part of it or anything else an arm’s length or foot kick away. He has created a style that he described best as “progressive-aggressive acoustic guitar,” and he has only begun to make a first impression.

He sings, plays the rhythm, solo, bass guitar and drums at the same time on the same acoustic guitar. But beyond words, there is music so I suggest you the same video Dr. J suggested to me, Slow movin’ train.

Enjoy!

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Well, this post is about Chris Broderick of Nevermore. There is a rumor on the internet that he is going to join Megadeth, Glen Drover wishing to leave the band due to family reasons. At least this is what some say…

However, this is not the reason of this post. The reason is an other one. After reading this news and watching a short movie with Chris Broderick playing five-octave arpeggios, I wanted to watch more and I did on YouTube. Of course, he can play electric guitars like hell, this it is what he does. He is a rock guitar player, he knows to shred and play both hands arpeggios, right?

OK, fine!!But now comes the thing that made me write this post! Man, this guy really knows how to play the guitar, beyond rock boundaries! He plays classical guitar and I am not speaking about dark arpeggios or futuristic sounds like Satriani does on his acoustic guitar, no! I am speaking pure classical guitar! Bach!



What do you know?Also see some jazz slap but I can not tell if he is good or not since I am not into jazz, but if you are, let us know what you think!

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I don’t know what it’s happening to me but this post is again about Paul Gilbert! And I didn’t even intend to write again about him, I was actually looking for some materials of Ritchie Kotzen and I stumbled upon this video on YouTube where Gilbert plays a 3 string acoustic guitar, all 3 strings being tuned to E… (by the way, skip the 5 seconds electric guitar shredding in order to get to the interesting acoustic part)

Don’t ask me what he wanted to do with it, he says it works well for arpeggios due to open strings. Anyway, here’s the video.

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