One of the rules of blogging says that after a good traffic spike you need to post good content so your returning visitors read something interesting and come back for more.

Well, this is the theory. In my case I could just not apply this since I needed to leave the city on a long time planned WE holiday in the mountains. So, even if I felt I could have done more to my blog on Saturday morning after the 3587 visits I had on Friday, I had to pack my clothes, take my acoustic guitar and together with my wife and best friends, we headed for the snowy mountains.

I could only say it was beautiful. A warm hotel in the middle of the mountains, cold and clean air, grill at below zero degrees (Celsius that is ) a lot of beer and best friends. What more could you ask for?

Well, in the middle of the night a blizzard suddenly started and we decided to go out for a snow fight, even if the snow stopped us from seeing clearly, while the wind was blowing us away.

(that’s me on the left)

After the snow fight we went to play some pool, drink some wine upstairs and play a bit of guitar. In one word? Fun!

Coming back was not as easy as we were expecting since the snow made the road almost unusable, as you see in the above picture (even if the hotel administration cleared it this very morning), but we made it. And it was fun cause I’ve sung and played the guitar all the way back (of course, it was not me behind the wheel). We came home with our batteries full and eager to go again. Actually, our wives have already proposed an other one 2 months from now. Well, why not?

But until then, back to blogging to reach 5000 visitors per day, right?!!

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A few days ago I asked myself when my guitar processor was built. So I went to BOSS US site and there I found it. My guitar processor, a BOSS ME-5 was built in 1988!!! Damn! It was their first multi effect, it is 20 years old AND IT STILL WORKS LIKE A CHARM! The only thing I fixed on it at one point was the input jack that was slightly moving. I soldered it a bit and THAT WAS THE ONLY FIX IN 20 YEARS for it. Now, considering it was dropped, had beer all over it, stepped on, has dust and other stuff on (you step on it, right?), is this thing a tank or what?

Now coming back to the point, looking at what is new there, I discovered the new BOSS GT-10 and I AM IN LOVE! Guys, I want it! I need that! Somebody pleeeaaase!!! Well…

I watched the video presentation on BOSS site and then on YouTube and I can tell you I am just thrilled. I recorded this song with a GT-8 processor that was not mine, but it remained in my mind. Now, this GT-10 is even better! You can even record 40 sec loops and play over, has some “smart” behavior, like if you set it to a certain mode, if you pick you get a clean sound and if you use power chords, it gives you distortion without switching pedals! Yeah, for the lazy ones! Even if I am not convinced it works every time, music is more than mathematics, it is about nuances…

Also a smart delay that changes from picking to soloing. I love this too! You know what I really loved about my ME-5 back then when I purchased it? The fact that the delay stays over pedal switching, which I didn’t hear in other cases, like in DOD, DigiTech or Korg, for ex. With my model, when I solo and let’s say I finish the solo on a long note and then I switch to picking with a clean tone, the delay of the long note comes over the picking part, making a bridge between these 2 parts. Man, I loved that, compared to other experiences where the solo part ended as soon as I pressed the pedal, no matter the delay I had on…

The guys in the video said the case is like a tank, which I would have considered marketing bla bla, but, considering my previous experience with ME-5, I believe every word they are saying about it.

So, what more to say? I have my eyes set on BOSS GT-10 and I am thinking on making it mine! Mine, all mine!!! Ha, ha, ha!!!

Here’s the promo video. On my headphones I can only hear one guitar, but on BOSS site I hear both. So if it is the same on your side, go to BOSS site and listen it there.

Here’s the promo video on BOSS site listen it there, I removed the embedded one cause last night traffic hit me like a train.

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OK, wizards of guitars and rock music lovers!! How well do you know your classic guitarists?

If you think you are good, then pay attention! Guess the song or the artist by the guitar solo!

Huh?! How does it sound?

And let me know how you’ve been it cause I kind of sucked!

Click here for the quiz

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I got inspired by Zack of guitarvibe.com to write about Jonathan Coulton, the guy who used to be a software engineer and quit his day job to become a rock star! Damn, he made it!!! He started by composing one song a week, recording it at home and posting it on his website for free. Giving it away for free didn’t quite make him money, but after a while when he decided to make some money out of it, he asked his fans either to buy the songs or to donate something.

The reaction seems to be a positive one, now he is making more than he used to make as a software programmer.

I think this guy should be an inspiration for everybody having a dream, not only about becoming a guitar player but for anything you dream of. I think he is the best example somebody could have. In this article here he says that his wife gave birth to their little girl and he realized he needs to be an example for her so it made his choice even harder.

Well, I think that he gave his daughter the best possible model to follow in her future life: follow your dream! And this is always a great example!

What do you think?

By the way, on my business card it says software engineer too and I do play the guitar, I ask myself now, should I quit my job to start playing the guitar for a living?

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MusicThing has an interesting article today about playing kora. I should tell you I am not a big fan of ethnic instruments, I love rock music, that is why I enjoy the sound of the guitar the most. But hearing how this “kora” sounds, I couldn’t stop myself from posting it here. If you think about it, it sounds similar to a guitar in a way.

What do you think?

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I think everyone of us has it’s own perception of what quality music means. Did you notice that each time you speak with someone about music of high quality vs music of low quality your music and the music you listen and appreciate come as quality music?

I have even heard of really bad, kitsch music singers saying they make quality music, being proud with what they do and sing. They are artists, making good, quality music. Not like the others…

I ask myself if is there anyone out there, making music, saying that he/she is making low quality music. Really, if there are so many making quality music, not like the others, there must be somewhere “the others” making bad music…

So, what is bad music? Who could actually say which are the criteria used to judge this low quality music? Classical music artists and critics? Technical rock artists? By the way, ask Malmsteen what he thinks about Nirvana or Smashing pumpkins…go on, ask him!

Is complexity a criteria? How about Knocking on heavens door then or No woman no cry? These could not be considered very complex from a technical point of view, right?

The easiness to reach audience? Well, is it being commercial a sin? Actually I think everybody would looove to sell million of records by night and to make it big. They will probably say that they sold so many records cause their music is good. Right! So being commercial is not it. What is it then?

Man, I feel like in Seinfeld, it was one evening when he was speaking about doctors, something like “go to my doctor, he’s the top of his class!” Everybody will say the same about his/her doctors, right? But (Seinfeld was asking himself) “what happened to those finishing medical training on the last position of the class. What happened to them? Nobody will say go to my doctor, he was the last of his class!!” 

Let me hear you people!! Say it! What makes good music and what makes bad music?

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Yesterday I started to pay more attention and study the song Living on a prayer of Bon Jovi since I discussed with Costi about playing it. The song is one of those that put a mark on my rock life, it is an icon of the music of the 80’s, nobody could deny this. The whole song is sustained by the bass line and by the voice of Jon plus the “uha,uha, uhuhuha” effects of Richie Sambora’s talk box. That’s what gives life to that song. And the good melodic line and the expansive way of being of the young Bon Jovi.

Then I have listened more Bon Jovi songs on YouTube and I couldn’t miss the very big difference between what Bon Jovi used to play and what they play now. I don’t know, I love them with both of their musical directions, however some won’t consider what Bon Jovi plays now as rock. Maybe pop or pop-rock the most, but not rock.

So, I was thinking, is this selling out? Or is just adapting yourself to what the market asks. If you would remain to that initial sound of energetic songs, will you still be here in the music business?

The music changes day by day and if you make a living out of playing music, then you need to adapt yourself, even that most of the fans will consider you are not the same you used to be when you started.

I actually think it is something else…

The mot active period of a music fan is the one between 14 and 20(something). From this period we retain the most from music: taste, bands, songs. This is the period that define our musical personality.

Of course, later in our lives we refine our musical taste, we find new things, we become more complex, but nobody can deny the fact that the most important period from the point of view of forming a musical taste is this one.

On the other hand, the bands that we like need to follow trends in order to match the musical preferences of the ever-changing teens that find something new as being cool every few years, so the music they listen will be changed every few years. Bands can not stay “true” to the music they used to play 20 years ago in order to be loved by their 20 years ago fans because 20 years ago fans are now grown people with kids, jobs, responsibilities and tend to give less and less importance to music and of course, spend less and less money on it.

That is why I think that no band should be accused of selling when adapting to follow trends. They follow music evolution, adapting to new waves of teens hungry for love and music, the ones who can not change is us, fans of music played long ago in our teen life.

So I think this is not selling out. It’s evolution and it’s us who don’t follow it.

What do you think?

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I guess I’ve been hit again by the featuring-mania, I don’t know. And damn, it’s again Slash,after writing that post with Slash top 5 featuring acts, I seem to find him everywhere. But I have never thought I will find Slash playing with Ozzy.

The performance itself is nice but there are a few things I can not stop myself making fun of.

• I love Slash’s “pose”, his image when being on stage, that shaking of his guitar when holding a power chord, the same I know from GNR’s times (at 2:26).
• I smiled when I saw him balancing and making that spread-out-legs “rock icon” pose, bowing over his guitar while picking the notes of a simple clean chord, like in a very demanding solo, even if this song…has no solo!! So I didn’t quite understand what Slash contributed with, beside him being on stage…
• The concentration of round sun glasses is way too high there…

What do you think?

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I remember while in high school, our English teacher, a totally original and kind of rebel teacher used to try to teach us English in various ways. One of these ways was gathering us to watch a movie that had no subtitle, for ex I remember watching like this Dickens’ Great expectations. There were many ways she tried to teach some stubborn teenagers a language that will later serve us in so many unexpected ways.

So, once she brought a cassette player and she played 2 songs asking us to reproduce those songs after that hour. Nobody managed to reproduce those songs, if I well remember but those songs followed me to this day!

I didn’t know who was singing there and I couldn’t tell the lyrics either, I only remembered a few of them that didn’t make sense in English, the melody and the warm feeling they started in me each time they came to my mind.

It was I think 5 years later when I identified the first song, after searching it on the internet for those 2-3 verses I remembered and with a little help from some of my friends who listened me singing them. The song was Those were the days of Mary Hopkins, a song that will always hunt my memories and will always bring me back to high school, not for the meaning of the lyrics but because my history with this song started there.

The second song I hasn’t been able to identify..until today and this is the very reason for which I have started this post.I remembered a slow ballad on some acoustic guitar and some mirror lyrics kind of a “Jonny was the girl who lived next door/Jimmy was the boy…16/24″…well,that started the confusion…

I didn’t manage to find that song cause the name was not Johnny, even my ears seemed very convinced, something about that Johnny name who was supposed to be a girl told me I was going wrong…until today.

Searching again for those lyrics, I have actually found that the name is not Johnny, but…Joni and the song is Don’t cry,Joni of Conway Twitty and seems to have been a hit around Philippines at one moment. Well, I haven’t been there so I hope to be excused for not knowing it.

I just want to say I feel like I have conquered my personal Himalaya peak today, after I have found and listened again this song that brings back so many memories and feelings. Here’s the song and I hope you will enjoy it, even it may not mean anything to you.

By the way, Steluta Istratescu is the name of my high school English teacher and I feel that I owe her a lot.Beside the English language, back then I didn’t have a proper guitar but I was involved in a lot of musical things there, so she gave me an acoustic guitar that was my acoustic instrument of choice for more than 10 years.She is a Lady and a great teacher and if by any chance she’ll get to read this blog, PLEASE EXCUSE MY ENGLISH!!!

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This weekend I was invited by Costin, long time friend and lead singer in the same band as me (he comments from time to time here on this blog under the name of axlfuckingrose), to a private party with some of his friends. I didn’t know what to expect, but he told me it involves playing the guitar so I brought my acoustic guitar with me, in case I would need it.

Well, seems that it was some kind of getting together of old friends that didn’t see each other for some time now. Everything happened at the headquarters of a private company that one of his friends owns. This friend had the pleasure of throwing this party for his friends in this building he arranged so they could spend the weekends there: gym upstairs and table tennis and offices downstairs.

To my surprise, he had also the pleasure of buying some instruments so they could all jam there during weekends: one electric guitar, one bass guitar, 2 combos, 2 microphones, 2 bongos and a mini PA system(with mixer, power speakers, etc), so, beside a drum kit, you had there everything you wanted in order to jam along!!

Since they were all bought from Harley Benton, it looked kind in a promotional party: the brand could have been seen everywhere and the instruments had the price stamp still hanging on. I remember at one moment somebody came with a cutter to cut down the price stamps (while I was playing) and I couldn’t understand in the beginning why is he coming with that cutter to me?!

During a lot of hours, we sang, played the guitar and bass, ate grilled steaks, drank beer and had a good time, considering that we stopped seeing like this since a while.

At the end of the party I could tell you the following:

• I’m rusty!
• Rocking with the band is way harder than solo rehearsing, doh!
• Nothing removes stress better than jamming and a beer
• Too much Vodka is bad for music! (one guy there put one microphone inside his mouth while singing so you can imagine…)

I remember we played a lot of Romanian rock songs and also songs like Wonderful tonight, Don’t cry, Knocking on heavens doors, some Take that, etc. One thing I can’t understand is why it is so hard to remember songs you used to know by heart. We used to sing these songs at almost every party and they came so naturally to us. Not this time…Well, time goes by, right?

After getting home I have payed some thinking about the party and what lies behind it. You know, I would also love to afford the luxury of arranging a private club for my friends to meet them there every weekend. It would be great! Don’t you think?

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