Guitar tabs,electric guitars,acoustic guitars

As you may already know, I am not a fan of stompboxes, I rather use digital processors, multi effects, “all in one” boxes, like the BOSS I currently own…

That is why I try to keep an eye on the “toy store”, and I mean BOSS here…But not only as I started to get interested more and more in solutions from Line6, to match my guitar.

So, this time I said to introduce you Micro BR , the smallest PRO studio!.

Well, what can I say? It is just a bit larger than an iPod, has 4 playback tracks and plus 32 V-Tracks, an SD Card slot, onboard multi-effects, built-in rhythm patterns, a tuner, MP3 compatibility, USB, and more.

I guess it’s the perfect guitar accessory to take with you on the road, next to your guitar, if you have that magic idea that you don’t want to miss. I know I have been there a lot of times, and I just use my mobile to record it, which is not always the best thing…

Trying to learn more about it, I landed on this site here, BR for guitarists, and what do you know? Micro BR has siblings (see for example BR1200CD), bigger and better.

As for the price, as listed by Amazon, BOSS MICRO-BR comes at $186(aff).

And a simple search on YouTube brings you an interesting set of videos about how to record, mix and master your recordings. Cool!

Any of you owns such a toy? Any personal, hands-on review?

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We have this international music festival here, Golden Stag, which is a brand in our area. Well, it is a music festival oriented to interpretation, so I don’t give too much attention to it. However, each night there is a special guest and this year, the special guest in the final night was …the very Mr Steve Vai! Sweet!

I wanted to be there, really, but I had a very busy weekend that required my presence here. So, I watched his show on TV.

I must say that I was a bit disappointed at first because he was alone, no band, nothing, only himself, his guitar plus a backing one and 2 Legacy amps. That’s it. Ah, yes, and the backing tracks…

During the first song, I must tell you I was asking myself why did they bring him here because somehow this very festival had not the audience for his music, I was afraid of a cold response from the public. Man, I was wrong! After the first song, the public was already hot and when he started Tender surrender, I was amazed to see people reacted!

I can say I was again impressed by the strange music he makes, even if I knew the songs (well, I must admit I didn’t know the first one); Tender surrender was cool and Build the church has such a great and interesting theme, specific to Steve Vai…

The sad news for me it was that he only played 3 songs. That’s it! 3 songs! Glad I stayed home…

Now, my thoughts after this, and you be my guest and answer them if you want:

1. Why did he only play 3 songs? Could it be because the festival was not a rock one and they tried not to piss off the public?
2. Why didn’t he bring the band? Could it be because he wanted just to test the market? If I think about the 3 songs above, it may be so, testing the audience, to see if he has a public here. Hmm, but he was here in Romania before, playing a full concert…Maybe this was all he could do for the money he got…
3. Does Steve Vai ever miss a note?
4. If Steve Vai ever misses a note, can you actually tell that? I mean he could integrate it immediately into something else, I guess that you couldn’t even tell…

What’s you take on that?

By the way, here’s a piece of the show in Brasov, tonight:

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I have a CD in my car that I keep listening these days, a country mix with Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. I really enjoy that CD, honestly.

While listening Johnny Cash, I realized on some of his songs he doesn’t actually sing much, me kind of tells a story on a particular rhythm and on a musical background, like for example The Cadillac song or Big Bad John. I couldn’t actually help myself comparing it to modern hip hop…

If you think about it, they do the same, tell a story on a musical background. Even the themes of the songs are a bit “outlaw-ish”(is there such a word?!). Listen the following song and pay attention to how JC puts the words in there, just like an authentic hip-hop, the measure of some lyrics forces him to end a sentence in the middle of the verse and start another sentence that will be finished somewhere later on an other verse. Pretty familiar…

I really think that if one of the hip-hop artists would cover one of the songs of JC would go great, word by word. Plus a lady on chorus…

What do you think?

Later edit: take a look at this version of Big Bad John, sung by Charlie Daniels Band.

Interesting…

By the way, the initial theme, on guitar sounds so much like Cats in the cradle of Mr Big. Is this some kind of traditional theme in country music or what?

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Last night, Madonna had a concert in Romania.

Now, is it me or Madonna tries to look like Slash?

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Lately, thanks to my baby girl, I took the habit of getting out more often, in the evening, when the heat is gone, to take evening walks and, to my surprise, I found there some old friends who have the same habit. What do you know?!

So, I found one of my old university mates, walking his baby boy in the evening. Well, time for a chat, don’t you think? From one thing to another, from what’s your life these days, from cars and jobs, we reached a common topic: music, rock music, that is. While in university we both had long hair, we both were rock fans, even if our tastes were not necessarily common.

So, we started a discussion about rock, concerts, made fun about the fact that the very moment we had that chat, Madonna is in concert in Bucharest, 100 km away from us. Who cares?

We’ve got to progressive rock, to Dream Theater, we both agreed on the fact they are “there”, then he told me he listens Tool quite a lot. I must admit I didn’t listen Tool, I knew about them but well, never listened them so far. I promised I will, because I am always open to new rock music.

Following the thread of the conversation, I asked him if he listened Vanden Plas, a band that I really enjoy listening, German progressive rock. He was not very familiar with Vanden Plas so I suggested him listen a few tracks with attention.

So, today I remembered about this and started to listen to it myself, I used to have a couple of albums of Vanden Plas, now it’s just YouTube, but it will do.

So, I just wanted to bring it to your attention, Vanden Plas, a band that is clearly for melodic progressive rock fans, great voice, great riffs, great music IMO, if you like progressive, of course.

By the way, I didn’t yet make an educated opinion on Tool, I need more time to digest it, I guess…

Here’s Tool

Here’s Vanden Plas

What’s your take on that? Any other progressive bands you’d recommend?

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Jack Pribek from Pribek.net has the habit of posting a song as the best song in the world at that very moment.

Well, I don’t have this on my site, but today I feel like posting this song here for the exact same reason…

Since I have discovered it a couple of years ago, I have considered this song as one of the greatest songs out there, also sung by one of the greatest pop voices of our time. I am not a big fan of George Michael’s music, but his vocal skills are just perfect for this kind of music.

So, brother, can you spare a dime?Lyrics by Yip Harburg, music by Jay Gorney (1931), a song that is, as they say on the internet, the symbol of the Great Depression.

Can we borrow it for today’s crisis? How about it?

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I was listening some Chet Atkins (man, I love that man, I am going to post something about him here, since I have nothing on him here for the moment) and I stumbled upon this guy, Joscho Stephan, a guitar player based in Germany.

I didn’t know about him, and probably you haven’t heard about him also, but his music will remind you of somebody you know, his music will remind you of Django Reinhardt, for sure, actually he admits it also.

Pay special attention starting 1:40, you’ll see something interesting…

Also great bass player, don’t you think?

PS: Check Joscho Stephan’s MySpace page

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From one thing to another, from Dave Weiner’s channel on YoutTube (Got Riffs?), from his Twitter account and site, from Slipknot and John Petrucci, I’ve reached this video of Steve Vai.

I have also loved the way Steve Vai knows to make a show, beyond the music which is great and at the same time, a bit too much for the “regular” listener, it’s more like music for musicians.

Steve Vai is such a great entertainer beside being a wonderful musician, the show brings the music closer to people.

So watch this video and enjoy the show!

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I was wondering: what’s the point of rating a video on YouTube somewhere in the middle?

I mean I think this is a general question that applies to any voting system. Personally I only rate a video if I love it (I give it 5 full stars) or hate it (0 stars or 1, depends what I am allowed there).

I think I have never given 2 or 3 stars, I mean what’s the point? To show that you liked a song so-so? Why rate it then? It’s not like it’s mandatory or something.

Whatever…

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Costin, my friend and my band mate sent me this video below.

Interesting, I wonder how many of the singers out there would have recognized this on stage in font of so many people?

I am still trying to make up my mind, was it good, was it not? I mean from one point of view, the guy was honest, he could not sing anymore that night, so he called it off. But on the other hand, my first thought was he’s not what he used to be…

What do you think?

PS: I still enjoy every bit of sound David Coverdale makes with his voice

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