Guitar tabs,electric guitars,acoustic guitars

Today is 19 so it is again one of those days when I publish here the stats for the previous month, what I did and what I intend to do in the next month.

This month I can tell you it was full of surprises and things to learn. I am not a big blogger, even if I work in this business, I am an IT person, but as much as I love the domain, blogging was not quite a hobby for me so far and I discover a lot of things while blogging here. I can tell you that blogging is a special kind of “art”, not like a regular site, where you would offer a particular service. In blogging you need to have that “special something” to catch public attention day by day. Blogging, is based on social awareness, I think that the main source of traffic for blogs is direct traffic. When direct traffic becomes your main source of traffic, I think you can call yourself a successful blogger. I learn this day by day and I still have a long way to reach that point. So, coming back to my stats…

This month was kind of a crazy one for me. One of my articles, funny top 10 rules for a power metal band was stumbled hard and I suddenly received 1525 visits in one single day! This was until that moment the highest peak for this blog. I was a bit curious why this happened since this article was on Digg and did quite nothing and was on SU since 1 month and again, did almost nothing. Well, it generated about 400 page views when it was submitted and then I thought it was over.

Boy, I was wrong! Suddenly, it received 1525 visits over night! I was thrilled! But wait! The second day I received 3587 visits for the same article! I couldn’t believe my eyes! And then 2429 in the next day! The traffic went a bit down after the first days, but still went on for 10 days with a media of 1200-1300 hits per day for this article! I was just thrilled seeing my stats like this for more than 10 days! Read the rest of this entry »

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While playing in Kapela, a Megadeth-like rock band, in 97, I had big problems with how new songs came to life there. The way we created new songs (not composed, because it’s hard to call “compose” when I refer to this way of doing things) was somehow a strange one, however, explainable if you think it was a guitar-based band.

In 99% of the cases, everything started with a guitar riff, a hard, distorted riff, then the bass and drums came in, kind of in a jam. If the feeling was good, then we used to say that OK, until here we have the intro, then lyrics come in, then chorus, solo, etc. After everything was in place, the lead singer usually had to come up with a melody and with some lyrics. And so a new song was born!

This way, an album and a demo came to life, a demo that I put my guitar on in the studio, too. The album was released before me joining the band so I can not tell very much about it.

The songs weren’t bad at all, if you think about it, they had very complex guitar parts, were very elaborated, just that I have always felt we were doing something wrong. I had a discussion with my guitar colleague back then, the lead guitar and it remained something like well, this is how things go, there’s nothing wrong with it!

I left the band after 1 year and I have started the current band with a high school friend playing the bass. Soon, Costin, lead singer in the former band I have just left joined us and after a while also the drummer. We have started it in an other direction, where we used to seek things. We were looking for more commercial music, we were trying to make our songs heard.

As compared to the previous experience, the way we compose things here is what I like to call “the normal one”: one of us comes with a song, plays it to the others, and if we feel it is right, we start working on it.

Sometimes, happened that lyrics were not quite the best, ok, so we can change them if you have a better idea! Sometimes, what initially was a ballad turned out to be played as a fast paced song. Sometimes, we only take a part of the song and come up with a different chorus. It works!

But in all these situations I think we follow without really thinking about it, a few things:

1. the voice part is the most important, not the guitar! (And that comes from a guitar player, OK?) If your voice needs a different guitar part, even if your riff is the most beautiful you have ever created, change the damn riff, people will finally listen to the voice, OK?
2. respect the original idea of the composer/song
3. collaborate, work together! I strongly believe that synergy is the best thing one can have. (Synergy is when the result of the band working together is better than summed results of individual players, there, I had to say it!). In such cases, there is no place for false pride. Working together brings out the best in each of the band members and I think that this way everybody will feel it brought something to the song, even if there is a credited composer for that particular song.

I don’t know why I wrote this post, I think I have just thought about it these last few days and I had to say it here.

Anyway, I think that for some of you, the first way of creating songs may sound strange, but I think that those playing metal will recognize themselves there. And also I think that there are people having musical education, reading notes very well, who will come up with a written down song, well…

By the way, how do you do it in your band?

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I was reading on a website that in Mexico, several hundred metalheads and punkers “joined forces” to banish some emo kids from a city center. I think that this is pathetic. Really! And pitiful!

This is what is called a “religious war”, something that leads to nothing more than people getting hurt! It is a battle of mine is bigger than yours, nothing more!

I don’t think that music should ever lead to this kind of manifestations! Music starts a lot of passion and a lot of emotions, and when these get in the way of reason, this kind of events take place.

I remember we also had a place where we used to meet while in highschool, a place we used to call “to stones”, which is actually the main square of the city. There were some stone ornaments there, with flowers, where we just used to sit and..actually do nothing for a few hours. Only talk, meet, socialize. This place was the main point of meeting for rock fans all over the city! You used to see there only long hair, boots, leather and jeans jackets, etc.

I think that it was something that belonged to 2 generations, mine and the one before me, because I found it there, but I realized that after I finished highschool kids didn’t go there anymore, even if when I was in the highschool that place was full of 15-18 years old rockers! This was kind of a surprise to me! However, I think that after I finished highschool, rock was not a trend anymore, but that’s an other story.

However, I don’t remember that we’ve ever faced such events while there! In 4 years of going “to stones” I have never seen such manifestations of force or stupidity. I can only imagine that if something like this would have happened it would have been a bloodshed ’cause this was a social thing already!

That is why I reacted very emotionally to this news, I think that people overreact when it comes to emotions and passion and that learning a bit about freedom of expression should be a must in everyone’s life.

If you think for a moment, isn’t this what the music is all about?

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Dr J posted this morning an article about an astonishing product for studio engineers, one that kind of opens so many doors that is just frightening. To make an idea about it, I will tell you this: how about if you can do with your recorded guitar tracks what you can do with a MIDI? Move notes(in an already recorded chord), tune them,shift them, etc! Tune a guitar after the tracks have been recorded!!! Curious already?

Well, this software seems kind of a Pandora’s box for some. You realize that you could just take a classic song and re-make it totally just with this tool? And, as they say in the movie, the quality of the sound remains the same!

Unbelievable! Check the post here!

Later edit: after I published the post, reading it again for mistakes, I have realized that my previous post was about how guitars can not ever be tuned. Funny, if you think about it, this post kind of fixes the problem, doesn’t it?

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Browsing a few guitar related websites I have found this website speaking, among other things, about tuning problems, especially for rock bands.

Some of them I already knew because I have observed them myself but others never crossed my mind. I must tell you the article is not a short one, but very informative, the information there is a gem and a must read for anyone who’s ever held a guitar in his hands and tried to tune it.

The man(Jack Endino) has a lot of years behind him as a rock music player and as a studio engineer and he speaks from experience. Here’s a quick extras from his website, just to open your appetite for reading further:

You know how when you plug a guitar in and pluck a string, sometimes the tuner needle (or LED display) wavers back and forth and drives you crazy? And you have to pluck it every which way before getting a “good reading” which finally “settles down?” Do these three things:

1. switch your guitar to its rhythm (neck) pickup, if it has one;
2. roll your guitar’s tone knobs all the way off, to remove all the highs; and then
3. pluck the open string right over the twelfth fret, not over the pickup. Try it; you’ll be amazed.

Read the whole article here and then come back and let me know what you think!

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Today was one of those days when I didn’t feel like writing anything on my blog. I just didn’t feel like it. I was kind of not in the mood…

Now, I have just returned from the rehearsal, and I think I was somehow happy with how it went; finally we were all there, all the guys from that period when we used to rock.

For the first time after 1 year, I think, I had the impression that something goes well there. In this formula we had the best results, best sound, best songs and best energy.

You know what I mean? Didn’t you have the impression that, on your music journey you had such a “golden” formula somewhere that once changed something is lost? I speak about the feeling you have when playing, about the fact that you feel each other and that you produce the highest quantity of “musical energy” on stage?

With this formula we were awarded 2nd place on a national rock contest and we signed a 1 year contract with a manager that got lost on his way somewhere, were on TV, radio…

Now we’ve got together again, I think that the only thing that is not there is the feeling of some years ago when everything was looser and easier to take.

Is this feeling lost forever? Will it come back? Or am I just tired and in a bad mood and the feeling is actually still there, just a bit rusty?

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No related to guitars, even black music, but, man, what a beautiful live performance of Phil Collins’ “In the air tonight” in the …subway!! A must see! Via funhouse.bubble.ro.

And now, stumble that, people!

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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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(Photo credits the.voyager)

I’ve got inspired for this post while reading Jack Pribek’s blog (which proves how ideas go around on the internet). Jack was speaking about his guest post on my blog, and about a few words in my “about” page that actually started this post.

The reason for which I said those words (”you can not close the soul of an artist between limited boundaries“) is the fact that I consider that there are only a few cases where an artist expresses himself only in one domain of art. For example, personally I have developed an interest in digital photography, even if it sounds boring these days, due to the ever growing accessibility of digital cameras. Everybody started taking pictures, which actually I consider a great thing because we should all explore our artistic sides one way or an other.

Long time ago I took hand drawing classes and recently I took a 2 years class in photography, just for my general artistic culture. I don’t consider myself a photographer and I don’t consider my photographies good. This is not false modesty, just that in that photography class, I have seen at least 2 guys that had a real eye for it, catching images that I just could not see. But this is an other post that I have in mind.

From my point of view, my photography class was a real success. I don’t consider myself a photographer, but I think I can tell, mainly, when a photography is good or not, when it lacks somethings and most of all, I have developed even more my interest in this bohemian and classy art form. I consider it a success because I think it enriched my personal view on art in general, and this is always a success.

See here a few of the photos I took for this photography class.

This serves my other hobby/passion: I love developing websites and website graphics, even lately I lack the time and patience to do a proper design, the way I used to do it about 2 years back. But the photography class helped me in seeing stuff in this direction too, so one more point for me.

As an other example, my band colleague and friend, Costin Tanasescu, beside being a great lead singer (don’t get cocky on this, Costi, OK?), a very interesting composer (I always find his songs different than how I would do it, which is always lovely and fresh to me), and an “official” poet with 2 published books and a third one on it’s way! At the same time he has some interest in photography; Cosmin, the bass player, has a very soulful way of composing songs and I remember him having the ambition of publishing a poem book a few years ago. I think his ambition has lost somewhere on it’s way, but his way of composing lyrics for our songs, not. And I do have more examples that feed my theory, I have just enumerated 2 in my closest neighborhood!

I think that you, while reading this post have already recognize yourself in what I say.

So, I dare to ask you, do you express yourself using only one art form or more? If so, which other art forms?

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(Photo credits,cbcastro)

For a few years, every year, I used to go with my band to a national rock/jazz/folk contest open to students, that takes place in Romania since 20 years or so. This show had actually 2 parts: one where various bands play in a contest and the second part where famous Romanian bands come and play as guests.

I enjoyed both, but to be honest, I enjoyed the first part more. First because I was in that contest and I was competing against the other bands. Second, because the famous bands were no news to me, while the underground bands were always a source of fresh music and musical styles.

I am not speaking about fresh songs, of course, every band had their own songs, new to me; not the songs were what interested me but the diversity of musical styles. It is amazing how creative underground musicians are! You could see there a lot of styles, from Led Zeppelin’s followers to death rock musicians but everyone of them had something that made their playing unique.

I loved that. I loved every minute of that show and the whole environment. We used to be hosted at a small hotel, a beautiful facility of the place where the show took place, a hotel just for us, musicians. I can not tell you what was there in the middle of the night…Guitars, keyboards, screaming voices outside the hall, a lot of drinking and smoking, girls and a lot of fun! The whole building was breathing rock!

I loved every second of this festival of rock, but what I loved the most was the fact that such an event showed me we were not alone on this planet and most of all, that we were not the best!

Playing for a lot of time in your rehearsal room can give you a distorted image of yourself and of your music. Exposure to various other musicians can correct you that image, without slapping you in the face. You just need to get in contact with the rest.

Having a concert is never the same. You play with other few bands, probably they also play things that you already know, so there is no big dare in this. But playing with 50 other bands, it is, trust me!

I remember that each year we came back from that contest I felt motivated to change something in our music, to come with better ideas and listen more underground music. I knew we were not alone and, again, we were not the best band in the world.

A very interesting part is the fact that you can compare what others are doing, it is kind of a workshop. I could see there, beside musical styles and performances, how one band can transmit such an explosion to public and how others just can’t. I could see how interesting one band composes, with strange rhythms, tensioned chords and bass lines and how straight forward other bands are playing the C-F-G thing. It was a thrill!

I could also see there a guitar player that, without being the fastest or the most technical one, had something in his guitar that made me listen and remember him even today. He played very easy, allowing his solo notes to be heard and understood, without crowding the solos with way too many notes. Very musical and technical at the same time, very good tone and feeling, he was the one that was as close as possible to being a professional guitar player, in my opinion.

We went there for 4 years in a row, if I well remember, for 3 years we didn’t do too much, while for the 4th year we were awarded the second place which was a very happy moment for us, back then since we knew we had it going with the band in that formula and with that musical style.

I am still sorry I can not participate to that contest anymore for the joy of it. Also, you can not be sure you would win anything, cause music there is always new and you can not tell what you will face there and how good your contestants would be.

Such shows are the best events a young musician could participate to. Such events show you where you are on your musical journey, show you what the world is playing around you and how you relate to the rest. And most of all, such events show that you are not the best, which in my opinion is always a good thing to know cause in artistic environments, this thing is often forgotten! Knowing you are not the best gives you an other perspective and allows you to listen to what the others are saying.

This is my personal view of it, if you don’t agree, well, let me know!

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