Recently I’ve felt a big joy, like some kind of balloon suddenly inflated inside me. This happened because I have suddenly felt proud about a particular thing that recently happened! Let me tell you about it:

I was traveling with my wife and a few friends by car a few weeks ago and listening music while driving. My friend was driving the car, his car, that is, and in the CD player it was one of his CDs, so his music, not mine. A bunch of great rock chops so I started some kind of “recognize the song/artist” game that almost all the time I won since none of my friends or my wife are really passionate about music or something. However, I could not stop myself “explaining” them what makes the difference between Santana’s sound and licks compared to Satriani or Slash. I didn’t think it will make much of a difference but I couldn’t help it not to observe one thing or an other related to the music that was playing.

And now the reason that started me…These last days I had the surprise to hear my wife telling me, while listening some music in the car, indeed, Santana has a particular sound that I now instantly recognize!!! Damn! I looked at her with THAT look on my face! Indeed, one of the recent songs of Santana was playing on the radio, I didn’t know the song, my wife didn’t know it either, but SHE RECOGNIZED THE GUITAR!

I should tell you, if this doesn’t seem like a big break through to you, that my wife does not know too much about guitars(other than hearing me playing) and she has no interest in rock music! She couldn’t tell a band from an other one, unless the band is one of the highly promoted monsters of rock that really is different one way or the other (something like Queen, Guns, probably Metallica, etc).

So I really felt like winning a really big battle this time, since she managed to recognize THE GUITAR PLAYER out of a feature song, you know, the kind of songs Santana makes lately, in a different style, with different singers.

I guess I feel like a teacher that realized his students payed attention.

Man, how good it feels!

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Kind of related to the post of a few days ago, I have thought about this reading IG’s last post where he has this guitar noodle as he calls it. Interesting piece, made me ask myself what would I have uploaded in his place?

The song he uploaded there is a nice piece, with 2 tracks, but can not be categorized as solo and rhythm, but more like 2 rhythm guitar tracks playing together creating a nice warm feeling. Now, did you notice that when you ask a guitar player to record something, on his own, he will probably go for a solo over rhythm piece?

I am actually more and more interested these days in lovely rhythm parts, than solo parts. Solo is good, everybody loves solo guitar tracks, I know I do and you probably love them also since you read these lines. But in some cases, a good rhythm piece is way better than the solo part, for the overall weight of the song.

Now, if I would ask you to record and upload something, what would you go for?

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Last night I was at a wedding party. Actually, it was all day long cause a cousin of my wife’s got married, but what made me write this post was the actual party, not the paperwork or religious service.

So, a short overview of what Romanian wedding music means: usually there are 2 main traditional dance styles in Romania that are suited for weddings, a faster one and a middle paced one. Both have speed variations, but basically these are the 2 main, period, both being traditional folkloric dances. There are also other regional variations, but wherever you go in Romania, if you are going to take part to a wedding, you’d better know to dance these 2.

Now, what this has got to do with music? All the (traditional)songs can be adapted to fit these 2 dance styles so you get to a point where no matter what you are singing, it works on one of these 2 styles. Both are 4/4 so it’s not that difficult. If you have seen my previous post about Romanian folkloric music you will understand me better. They both dance in large circles, usually a lot of people participate to these circles.

Now to get to my point: there was this band on stage, playing, when I got there. I didn’t give them too much attention since I was already tired and frankly I was also hungry, after a long day of running around with the groom and bride and barely waiting for the food.

But at one moment, the band managed to get my attention since they managed to play some common songs on a totally different rhythm than the original one. The original song had a rhythm where the singer had enough room to breath. Musically speaking, a song needs breaks, pauses for the voice, a song can not have the lyrics chained one to the other, since nobody will understand anything from it. Well, this was the case with a few songs there. Imagine a fast paced dance, fast measures, where one sentence ends at the end of the measure and the next one starts right in the beginning of the next one, forced by the rhythm.

This was a mistake, since they forced these songs on a rhythm that was not the original one. Honestly I couldn’t understand why they did it since the original songs were quite good, very known and were very “danceable”, which is always a good thing at weddings.

Well, now comes the second part of my frustration: given these fast measures and lyrics that ended at the exact end of the measure, the singer actually didn’t have the time to start the next verse in the beginning of the next measure, on the first beat because she needed to breath, so…she let one more beat to go!! So, instead of starting on the first beat of the second measure, she started on the 2nd or on the 3rd, starting counting an other measure from there!!

For me it was frustrating, even if I didn’t pay too much attention to them, the songs have a fluency and a rhythm that leads you and you start feeling it at one point. When the measures are not well respected, you feel it effortlessly. I guess it has to do with your inner mathematical/musical sense.

After a while I realized this girl that was singing had quite a habit of not counting the beats in measures, even if she had all the time in the world to breath. So, it was quite frequent to start singing on the 2nd or 3rd beat instead of the first beat of the next measure and start counting from there and this happened no matter the rhythm of the song. For God’s sake, woman, count! Damn it!

I remember I had an experience with a girl singing in my band about 10 years ago, we had this song that had 8 measures in the beginning of it, measures that had a particular meaning, a melody that justified those exact 8 measures there! Well, she didn’t count too well, almost each time we played that song, on stage, she counted till 4 or 6 instead of 8 and started singing. The only good thing it was the fact that the chord was the same as the one where she should have started singing so we quickly played along exchanging glances! Damn, woman, count! Damn it!

Well, after a few bottles of wine with friends and family, these things were overcome, since overall, the singer didn’t sing flat or anything like this, she had a good voice, I think her math was not very good(considering counting beats in a 4/4 measure), or breathing sense, but they kept a good spirit for the audience and the songs were good.

I came back in the morning with a small headache, but not because of the music. This was from the Whiskey and wine, I guess. Too many glasses of wine?

But, well, again…who’s counting? Damn it, woman!

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Stage names are usual and after a while using them, nobody actually remembers the real name behind the artist. It would be very interesting to take a little quiz here… Let’s see:

1) Name the English singer, guitar player and songwriter born on 30 September 1947, become very famous in English rock music in the 70’s and died in the year I was born. Well, nobody said it is going to be easy, ok? Real name: Mark Feld, hint: Jurassic Park.

2) Name the guy behind the name Paul David Hewson. Born in 1960 in Dublin, raised in Dublin also, became one of the most influential lead singers of present day. Hint: humanitarian work, involvement, military outfit

3) Name the American singer and songwriter that was born in 1948 under the name Vincent Furnier (that’s funny, his name really does not represent him at all!) whose career spans five decades.The stage show features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood and boa constrictors. Hint: paint,horror,recorded an “aria” of the world famous Jesus Christ Superstar but not being part of the original show.

4) Now that’s old, you fans of vintage things must know this one: born in 1936, died in 1959, pioneer of rock and roll, inspiration source for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The name: Charles Hardin Holley. Hint: Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him number 13 on a list of 100 most influential artists of all time. That must mean something, right?

5) Ooo, this is good: Lars Lannerback. Really good! Guess the man! Born in 1963, icon of rock music, I won’t say the style cause you’ll nail it at once, reports he was “born”(as a guitar player) the day Jimi Hendrix died. Hint: Fender, scalloped fretboard, Speedy Gonzales

6) Another tricky one: Farrokh Bulsara. Would you believe this guy is one of the most famous rock singers!? Born in 1946 in Zanzibar, died, but again, I don’t say the year. Trademarked voice, trademarked band style, stage presence, shows. Hint: not of the stone age, trademarked guitar for his famous band mate, big shows, George Michael, Paul Rodgers, teeth

7) Born 1947, James Newell Osterberg, Jr is an American singer, songwriter and an occasional actor. Considered to be an innovator of punk rock and garage rock, he is sometimes referred to by the nicknames “the Godfather of Punk” and “the Rock Iguana”, and is widely acknowledged as one of the most dynamic stage performers, as Wikipedia says. Hint: bare-chested

After being one of the most famous rock singers around, William Bailey got into a long period of struggling, studio work and re-branding. Turbulent, left the stage more than once, unique, inimitable voice, he is the branded voice of some of the most famous hits in modern rock music. Hint: Dr Pepper,13 years

9) Born in 1958, Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna, Jr. is an American bassist, author, photographer, and the main songwriter for the rock band…na, na, na…it won’t be that easy! He usually plays Gibson Thunderbird Reverse Basses, and had his own signature bass produced by Gibson. Hint: 12-string basses, Playboy

10) Name the guitar player born in 1967 as Jeffrey Phillip Wiedlandt. Tough, rugged look, branded Gibson guitar, unique playing style, a worldwide guitar icon, he is most known for his work with some…let’s say TV reality show star…Hint: bulls-eye,his biggest influence is the very guitar player he replaced in the same band. Now that is interesting…

So, let me hear you! Who are those guys? Do you know your stuff? By the way, Stumble and Digg me!

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I have seen a lot of guitar players that play rock, blues or jazz having not so good opinions about alternative music bands, nu metal, etc. The fact is that I had myself my share of fast judgment related to some bands and honestly I feel bad for kind of rushing into judging them. Now, after this small mea culpa, let me tell you the point of this post: we work since a few days a song that is new and at the same time, old, meaning that it has been composed about 4-5 years ago, has been played a few times, but then kind of forgotten. Now we try to bring new life to it.

The fact is that we used to refer to this song by the name Rolling, as in Limp Bizkit’ Rolling due to drum line. Now, when I started playing the guitar line, I realized I need something new, some new approach, to match the drums and the bass line. Everything must sound new, I need some strange sounds, some interesting chords to dress up a very simple progression, Em, C, D…

I have started to listen Limp Bizkit, Korn, Guano Apes to see how they do it and what makes them sound the way they do. Beside the over processed guitar, in most cases, the chords use some interesting forms and turns, that, again, don’t come naturally to me, but surely provoke me.

I have come up with something that IMO sounds as it should, but I kept on thinking about this.

Actually, modern music, nu metal, alternative music, all these are not simple to create, despite what an experienced guitar player might think at a first glance. I am sure that if you are used to play pentatonic scales, blues and fast solos, you might face a problem trying to put up a simple alternative song, because your brain doesn’t think that way.

The fact is that I was listening yesterday, I think, something on YT, but I don’t remember where or what, I just remember what the guy said: “they don’t have the experience, so young people can not do anything else but being creative!”

I can’t help thinking about Metallica and that album that changed their musical direction a few years ago, I presume it was not easy for them to be creative on a new musical direction, preserving at the same time their branded sound.

So, let’s do the following exercise and then come back and comment here: listen one of the new bands that you hear these days (I don’t speak about Blink 182, OK?), take Guano apes or Korn and try to come up with a few riffs that match their music. Put yourself in the place of their guitar player and try to enrich the song.

Well, do you still think it is easy? The interesting part is that it is not about technical knowledge, even if a good chords theory helps a lot, but it is about creativity and breaking new grounds! And if you think at one moment that if it is just about power chords, listen carefully again

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Since a few months I actively consider buying a new electric guitar since my old was way too much around and can’t handle the stress anymore…

So, lately, each time I open my computer I look for possibilities, I evaluate features, prices, shapes, pickups, tuners, sounds, artists, damn, I feel I am going crazy!

Of course, because there are so too many possibilities out there, I can not make up my mind. Of course, first I should define my needs, this should be the first step.

So, what exactly do I need? I need a versatile guitar, since I play a lot of pop rock music and alternative also, I need a guitar that allow me to go from a clean sound with personality (read sparky Fender Stratocaster) to a sweet and non aggressive distorsion tone for hard rock, to crunchy metal tones for the black side of me…

I would also like the guitar to have “the look” and have a Floyd. Period. Ah, yes, and of course, be affordable!Doh! So, let’s evaluate the possibilities…

How about an Ibanez guitar?

I love Ibanez guitars. I am a fan of Ibanez since my early years. Lovely shapes, fashionable guitars, Floyd, crunchy tone, affordable. I refer here to RG and S models, mostly. Then? Well, they don’t have that sound that only Fender provides, or the sweetness of tone, IMO. They are guitars for hard and heavy guitar player or for Satriani fans (even I am one of them, I don’t play what I preach). Also, after a tone test of an Ibanez RG against a Carvin guitar, I was so disappointed that for months I didn’t want to hear about Ibanez guitar. But, as you see, first love never dies…

Or a good old Fender Stratocaster?

I also like Fender guitars very much. They give me the sparky sound on clean, sweet distortion for rock songs. Also I have always played Fender shaped guitars so I am very familiar with the position of knobs, blade, etc. I realized that when playing a few Fender-like guitars, it came very easy to play them, comparing to playing on a Yamaha, I think, when I even hurt my pinky finger trying to turn down the volume. The knob was too close to where I had my finger and I didn’t realize so I came too hard on the knob. Of course, this is not a reason, it is just something I remember.

What I don’t like at Fender? (I speak about Fender Stratocaster). They don’t have a Floyd. I don’t have one on my current guitar but I consider having one for this next one. There is a model with Floyd but it seems like a model to please the idiot that asks for a Floyd on a Stratocaster. Namely me. So, it is is not a standard, proven solution, but kind of a hybrid. Also, prices for a good guitar, not made in China or Japan are high. But again, Ibanez is so affordable exactly because they make a lot of their guitars in Japan, I think.

Or a Jackson guitar to rock the house?!!

Yesterday I was looking at a Jackson guitar, which I love as shape and feeling. But man, the guitar I was looking at, a Randy Rhoades model, does not represent me at all. Plus that it is hard rock all over it. Too bad, a beautiful guitar. The same for the rest of Jackson models.

Variax. The guitar collection seems better than all the ones above enumerated

The one that I actually set my mind on and I really considered lately is nothing else but the Variax 600 model that I really studied in the last period of time. If it comes to being versatile, I think that we can all agree that nothing beats a Variax. Nothing CAN beat a Variax, really and I don’t think anybody would argue that. The reason is simple: every guitar, as much as you would change it, has a tone range where it can move while a Variax has 28 tone ranges…to put it this way…

Variax seems to be, so far, the one that weights the most in my options, like 70-80%. However, it has no Floyd, even if I can live with that and it is a not yet stable technology, which I am a bit afraid of, since if something happens to it, I won’t be able to fix it. With a regular electric guitar, with a screwdriver, a bit of work and an iron you can do whatever you like. With a Variax guitar, well, not quite…You need to go to the doctor.

I don’t have any problem with the fact it is a “digital” guitar and not a “regular” one. I play a processor and I am happier with it than with any stompboxes I previously owned so I am very open minded when it comes to the digital era products.

I specially love the fact that I can have my acoustic guitar and my electric guitar at a knob position away. This thrills me! Really! I have studied it, I have asked Silviu, my friends who owns one, I was speaking with him about a few of my concerns even when he was not here in Romania but on a beach in Bulgaria. Damn! I have listened to samples, recordings, live takes, the only think I would like to do is to actually play one to feel it, just that I need to take a trip to the store which is in Bucharest and I haven’t managed to find a day to go there in the last months. I must do it, I think.

So, what do you think? I am crazy or what? Considering my “needs” what would be the guitar you would advice me to buy? As you see, I haven’t considered any Gibson or Telecaster here. Even if I like them both, I wouldn’t buy one as my weapon of choice. Both have, in my opinion, too much character to fit what I want.

Any opinion would be welcome! Let me hear you!

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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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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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I guess that childhood memories and heroes always haunt us over time. I guess this is the case with Aranjuez Guitar Quartet playing Pink Panther theme on classic guitars.

After the first smiles, if you have the patience to listen to it until the end, you will see they also transformed the theme a bit and improvise over a blues progression keeping the original idea. Sounds interesting.

Enjoy!

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