This morning, while driving to the office I was listening on the radio Aerosmith and Run DMC with Walk this way. I love this song and the guitar riff is one to always remember, in my opinion. Joe Perry is one creative guy, I won’t discuss this.

Just that when the song reached the solo, I asked myself the same thing I keep on asking each time I listen Aerosmith songs: does Joe Perry know his solos? Can he play the same solo twice? I asked myself this question when I listened Crying, Crazy and now Walk this way because his solos always seems improvised right the very moment he’s in the studio, recording.

I can imagine Aerosmith recording a new song: OK, guys, let’s go. Hey, Joe, did you have time to work on that guitar solo? Aaaa..uh…yeah, I tried like a couple of times…don’t worry, I’ll work it out there as I do all the time…

I realize that maybe this is the exact thing that makes his solos recognizable. Not necessarily the solos but his musical style, his way of feeling the music, but I could bet that he can’t remember the exact solos he played on the record.

The fact is that the structure of his guitar solos is not fixed, we don’t speak here about a short, fix form solo like let’s say, Bon Jovi, for ex.

However, the question still remains, does Joe Perry know his guitar solos or is he’s just working around a theme every time he faces the moment? It must be interesting to improvise over the same theme for over 30 years…

What do you think?

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I was thinking these last days about a particular topic: guitar players that studied music with keyboard players. Here I think about two guys. Two, because nobody else comes to my mind at this point. I am thinking of Frank Gambale and Joe Satriani.

Frank Gambale is quite famous for his strange way (I would call it) of playing riffs. I know, he plays fusion jazz or whatever you want to call that music and to a metal head or at least to a rock addict or even to a blues guitar player, it may seem strange, because in all the above enumerated styles, patters are more obvious, while in fusion/jazz, well, not quite.

Do I make any sense so far? Judging by my standards, Frank Gambale, which I like, by the way, plays strange. At least to my ears and this is exactly what makes his music interesting.

I asked myself at one point why and how could he think of those patterns and lick. The answer came from himself: he studied music by listening to keyboard players! He said it, not me! This is a very interesting way of learning to play the guitar, don’t you think? When you study guitar music to play it on guitar, patterns are more likely to match your finger possibilities, you can easily stretch your fingers to reach those notes, because the original song is played that way, but when you try to match keyboard music on your guitar, man, I can only imagine how difficult should be to play the licks, because they are not designed for guitar!! They are designer for 10 fingers reaching notes in particular fixed positions.

I had a class mate who used to play piano since he was a child and I remember him saying about guitar that it is a strange instrument. Why? Because I can not imagine why you can find the same note in more than one place! On piano I always know where that note is, he said! Guitar is a very stupid instrument! Right!

Ok, we could use this to our advantage, right? When you can’t play a note in one position, you can always play it in an other position, there is the same note. It may have a different flavor depending where you play it and how, but it is the same note in the end.

Personally I have tried only once to play some piano music on guitar, OK, twice, and actually just a few arpeggios, because I liked how they sounded, but this can not be called playing the guitar by piano music. What can be called like this is Frank Gambale’s music. I can not tell if the way he sounds is only because of his piano music education or because his further education in fusion/jazz, but it does sound strange.

Also, if you have the curiosity to study his picking style, you will see he does it differently, he even has a guitar method oriented towards this, but that is an other story, not related to his piano music background, but does contribute a lot to the way he sounds.

On the other hand, when I listen to Satriani, if I wouldn’t have seen it on Wikipedia, I would have said he always studied guitar by listening to guitar, which is not true.

So, do you know other guitar players that studied music by listening to players of other instruments? Frankly I can not think of anybody else right now? How about you?

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That made me smile, it is something else compared to the crunchy, mad metal of Metallica! That’s just Kirm Hammett goofing around

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A few days ago, I have received an email on behalf of Deep Purple, offering me an open door to Pandora’s box: information about Deep Purple’s Summer Tour 2008 straight from the source.

At first I was thrilled, you know, I don’t receive everyday direct emails from people representing monsters of rock, even if I understand this is part of a marketing campaign oriented to promoting Deep Purple’s Summer Tour 2008. Then, after a bit of thinking and browsing their website, I realized I don’t know what to ask them. What could I possibly ask that hasn’t been asked before so many times in the last 30 years?!

And to be honest, I don’t think I have the heart of an interview journalist…

So, I thought that maybe you could help me here and together we could put up a list of relevant questions regarding the Summer Tour 2008, questions that I will forward directly to Deep Purple.

Come on, how often you have the chance to speak directly to Deep Purple? Free your dirty minds and let it all out, people!!! Let the games begin!!

So, what questions would you ask Deep Purple about their 2008 tour?

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I find via PRWeb that Joe Satriani is going to teach guitar on WorkshopLive.com website.

For the moment I couldn’t find this news on WorkshopLive.com site or on Joe Satriani’s website but sounds like a good idea. Sounds to me like a “give back” thing, a man who received so much from life, trying to return something to his fans. I like that.

Ok, Satriani is well known for his guitar teaching history due to the fact that he has such famous students, no need to count them again here, so this choice may have come natural if you think about it, considering he has experience in teaching guitar.

And with his reputation and fan base, I think WorkshopLive.com has done it this time!

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Seems that these days I am obsessed with performances that are not in the usual range of an artist. Yesterday we had Joe Satriani playing a Gibson Les Paul, today I have Michael Angelo Batio playing jazz…that’s right, people, Michael Angelo Batio without his 2 hand taping, without speed licks, Michael Angelo Bation playing jazz…

Of, course, again, a professional guitar player has more tricks in the bag, right, Jack?
But how’s that for an unusual performance?

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Speaking of iconic images, everybody is used to see Joe Satriani playing his signature Ibanez electric guitars, right?.

Well, how about this picture with Joe Satriani playing a Gibson Les Paul?

I must confess it came as a surprise to me since I have never thought about this.

Of course, as Jack Pribek(pribek.net) says, professional guitar players have more tricks in the bag, right?

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Warning: This post may be a controversial one!

Yep! Since a few days I keep on thinking about difficult to play guitar solos. And guess what! I am not thinking about Malmsteen or Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. Hell, no! The song that keeps on running through my head is “It’s probably me” of Sting and Eric Clapton. Did you ever try to play that solo? I know I did some time ago and I just couldn’t get it right. I don’t speak about the notes, cause there are not that many or that fast, but man, those note are so full of soul that you just can’t reach them!

The solo is so warm and Clapton plays it with so much feeling that it makes it so difficult to play it right…

And you know what? I remember in the high school about this guy that managed to nail the theme solo of Wonderful tonight with such feeling that nobody could play it the same. Again, there are only a few notes and I think this song (Wonderful tonight) was one of the most played song when I was in high school, but this was the only guy that managed to play it right.

I think that the most difficult to play guitar solos are not the fast ones, but those solos that requires feeling, interpretation, understanding for the notes you play and a lot of soul.

I think that as in life, or even more than in life, in music, the most difficult thing you can do is really express yourself.So, what’s your most “difficult to play” guitar solo?

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Probably because I have listened a couple of Poison’s songs today, my attention suddenly went to Richie Kotzen and his music…

I remember I’ve got fascinated by his way of playing the guitar after watching a couple of his guitar tutorials. I have seen one where he was using an Ibanez guitar and he was shredding like there’s no tomorrow. I had that video on a video CD and I remember I was thrilled at that time. That one was great, but what actually convinced me was his video tutorials where he was using a Telecaster and played some bluesy licks. Man, I really loved that video!

He actually was the first rock guitar player I have seen shredding on a Fender Telecaster(See here what I mean). That is somehow a contradiction of my article on how guitars should match the musical style, if you think about it cause Tele is more for blues. I have never looked at Fender Telecaster as being a rock guitar, but Richie Kotzen’s put this guitar among the rock axes. At least his custom designed model.

And beside being a great guitar player, he is a good singer and he owns one of the most popular recording studios among artists, as GuitarPlayer.com says:

“He owns Headroom-Inc., a stunning Southern California studio where everyone from Gene Simmons and Blu Cantrell to Toto and Me’Shell NdegéOcello record.”

But actually I have understood he is not that popular in USA, he has his fan base mostly outside US.

Is that right?
(More about him on his website, richiekotzen.com, also see this video)

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I know Eddie Van Halen had problems with his health since a while, he had drinking problems and in the 90’s he was diagnosed with mouth cancer but in 2002 he announced he got well. Now he is again in hospital, for an illness that has not yet been made public. Doctors say that tests need to be done.

I don’t know, it feels like something breaks inside me every time I hear such things. Eddie Van Halen is a legend, an icon. He was one of the guitar players that influenced rock guitar playing very much, if we consider tapping techniques, beside his huge contribution to what rock means.

I am not a big fan of Van Halen, like as in having all his albums or knowing all his songs, but I appreciate his contribution to worldwide rock culture and to what guitar means.

Van Halen has postponed concerts this week as guitarist Eddie Van Halen undergoes medical testing for an undisclosed condition.

“According to Eddie Van Halen’s physician, he is undergoing a battery of comprehensive medical tests to determine a defined diagnosis and recommended medical procedures,” according to a statement released Monday by Van Halen’s representative and the tour promoter, Live Nation.

Eddie Van Halen has had medical setbacks in recent years, including a battle with cancer and a trip to rehab. A representative for Van Halen did not return a phone message or e-mail from The Associated Press seeking further information about his ailment. (Yahoo news)

Some things in this world should never change, artists should always stay young, healthy the way we knew them in the first place. Ugly events should not take place, people should not become mean, old or…dead.

Just an utopia but what a beautiful one!

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