Guitar tabs,electric guitars,acoustic guitars

Since a few days my car CD player is locked (since I removed the battery for a quick fix on my car) and because I am moving into a new apartment, I can not find car’s support leaflet with the unlock code. That’s why I use a portable mp3 player. This gives me an other point of view on the music I listen.

For example, this morning, I realized that there are particular bass guitar sound for specific bands, a bass guitar sound that defines the band’s sound in general. Some I could easily spot were Iron Maiden and Manowar. If you take Steve Harris’ bass sound and style of playing, I think you can not miss it. If you listen carefully, his way of playing, with his fingers gives a smooth, “puffy” sound for the bass (yes, this is my perception of it, despite the musical style,Harris would probably kill me for this), while it also sounds like the strings are loose, like he is somehow tuned 2-3 tones below. Also consider that “riding” style of playing and you have Steve Harris’ unmistakable bass sound! Read the rest of this entry »

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Did you ever notice that famous guitar players have their own way of producing the vibrato? Take for example Eric Clapton, he has some fast, almost one finger vibrato. Also if you consider the fact that he has also an unique way of keeping the guitar neck in his hands, when soloing, I would say that if I would only see his hands playing the guitar, I would know it is him. Pay attention to his solo here.

OK, let’s take Steve Vai also: when  I have seen Vai vibrating a note, I was confused, he has some large, round way of vibrating a note. His (looooong) finger does at the same time a vertical and an horizontal moving, kind of a circle; I could say that he massage that particular string, like when your head hurts and you press your forehead circularly. See here in order to understand. It may be a show thing, it is more interesting for the camera, but this also gives him a low frequency vibrato that is “sweeter”.

To also consider a third  type, take Malmsteen, which has his violin like vibrato, probably because of his violin backgrounds. If you have never thought about that so far, pay attention next time you listen Malmsteen and also listen a violin player after listening Malmsteen.

Any other examples you could think of?

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You know, I have asked myself if those guys in a punk rock band, or in an alternative rock band, are just that bad guitar players or they just follow the “lousy guitar player” trend in this musical style.

If taken out of their bands, would they still be able to play a decent tune or they would just go na nanan na until you crash the guitar on their heads?

By the way, I used to play alternative rock due to a 1 year contract but before that I was in pop-rock. And before that on hard-rock. Does this count or I have the alternative stamp all over me?

By the way, that’s me with my band playing alternative rock music.

Later edit: since this post generated quite an amount of interest, here’s a link to a post of mine on BandAMP website where I put an approximative translation of the above song lyrics. By the way, the song was ranked 4th for that period contest.

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I was watching a video of Michael Angelo Batio after somebody reached my site looking for some of his guitar tabs and I was just wondering: why would you need Michael Angelo Batio guitar tabs?

You would probably not be able to do anything with them. I think that no matter how many guitar tabs you will have from Michael Angelo himself, you will not be able to shred the way he does. He did it his whole life and beside that he plays with his both hands at the same time so…

Later edit: it sounded bad. I meant to say that it is not easy to play both hands, if not impossible (for me). If you can do it, you have all my respect. If you can do it the way Michael Angelo Batio does it, then you must be great, so send me a CD and a couple of tickets to your concerts, I will be there!

Anyway, this is not a reason for you to stop trying, just that you should not put all your trust in these guitar tabs you find on the internet! Instead, practice, practice and again…practice!

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I was reading this post here about top 28 most recognizable guitars. I must say that I just love this topic, even if I have never thought about it. I will not post here again the same top that the other guys posted on their blogs, just that I must admit that there are some electric guitars, mostly, that made a strong impact on the way the artist’s image was built. Indeed, think about Prince with his Purple Glyph Symbol Guitar, think about Zakk Wylde circle guitar, think about Michael Angelo Batio with his The Reverse Double-Neck guitar, etc.

I had only one thing to object to that top. I don’t see the Red Special model of Brian May and that’s one recognizable model, I think that every guitar player in this world knows it and some also know the legend of how it was built.

I would also add Steve Vai’s cut through guitar to that list and maybe a few others too. However the list is great.

Man, I just observed now: no SRV no 1 model either?!!

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A few days ago I was thinking about how Eric Clapton’s music evolved over time. I don’t say “evolved” as in “it was bad-now it is good”, far from me such an idea, just that Clapton’s music changed over time as the music business itself. I am not a big fan of Clapton,not in the way I could say about other artists or bands. I can not say that I know all his songs and everything he does or did, but Eric Clapton always had and always will have a special place in my heart.

My first contact with Eric Clapton’s music was when I bought 2 tapes, one with Metallica and one with Eric Clapton (as you may see, my taste in music was not quite oriented at that time as Clapton and Metallica had nothing to do one with the other). The tape was kind of a best of, at that time, so it offered me kind of Clapton’s best works. From that tape I remember Layla, the electric version, and Bell bottom blues. I kept this second song till now in my memories, without listening it again for a long time since I have lost that tape and I can say that it left a strong mark on my musical path. Read the rest of this entry »

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Judging by my personal experience, I think that there is no guitar player in this world who never dreamed of being rich and famous. I think we all dreamed and wanted it with all our heart. I know I did! From high school to the end of the university years I have dreamed about this. I was ready to make sacrifices for this, to go anywhere for this and do (almost) everything.

I remember that at one point there was this show on TV, organized by a national television channel, where bands all over the country came and play on a professional stage on the beach, being broadcasted all over the country. Of course every band in this country wanted to get there and play. So we wanted too!

We went there, we tried on the first day but there were too many bands and we came in late, so we didn’t succeed. Because it was already too late (in the night) when we realized we will not make it for that evening, we couldn’t go anywhere to rent a room for the night(private rooms at the local people, cheaper than at the hotels). Of course, we were young and with no money so we didn’t afford a hotel so…we slept outside, on the beach. Read the rest of this entry »

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This article could have been named “How to buy an electric guitar” but it isn’t. It isn’t because I have no clue about which would be those great things to check when buying an electric guitar, because I consider that no matter what, the sound comes before anything. I just know that I tried to find out from the internet, I have tried to follow my heart and still I can not make up my mind. So I have named my article How NOT to buy an electric guitar! So:

For a long time, I am a big fan of Ibanez electric guitars. I just love Ibanez guitars, for me they are like the best thing a guitar player can have. Of course, if you love electric guitars, you have such a fetish too for some brand or an other

So, after fantasizing about Joe Satriani’s models and about Vai’s JEM 7V I lowered my expectations a bit and I kind of made up my mind about what guitar should I buy. I decided on Ibanez RGX350DX, white as milk and beautiful. It won in front of Ibanez S520EX which was my next choice. However, I could not just buy it without listening to it. Unfortunately, here in Romania, there are not too many places you can go to really test an electric guitar before buying and more than this, to test a particular model would be kind of a great chance. Read the rest of this entry »

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As you have already seen, I love strong screaming voices, I am in constant search for new and old ones. Also, I am looking for anything new that I can find out and even, at one point, I imposed to myself that each and everyday to find something I didn’t know(in most of the cases this means to find out about a rock band I didn’t know about).

One of those days I was looking on YouTube for some music and I have found about a great voice that, to my shame, I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT!!! When I have started to listen it I felt shivering down my spine: how could I not know about this band? How could I not know about Steelheart when they play since so many years and when Mike Matijevic has such a great voice that is just made for electric guitars?

I was looking for more and more and I can only say that for 3-4 days I played on and on “She’s gone” and “Can’t stop me loving you”. Steelheart’s “She’s gone” is one great power ballad that shows the voice of Mike Matijevic in it’s full power and shows his easiness to get those high notes. I was just amazed, really! She’s gone is great but the voice of Mike Matijevic gives it the real value. When I have found Can’t stop me loving you I thought that these guys just needed to be great, they had such a great music, but just unknown here in Romania, at least from what I know.

Looking for more information, I have found their website, www.steelheart.com. What I have read there turned me upside down and to be honest I have perfectly understood why they didn’t make it big even if they had what it takes and most of all, they were on the wave at one point: life is what that hit them, fate, call it however you want. I am not going to get into details but Mike Matijevic, or Miljenko Matijevic by his real name had an very ugly accident in the beginning of their career and that was what cut them from the start. Despite the difficulties he faced, he seems to recover after some time. I have found some songs after Steelheart came back on stage, about 4 years later, losing the exact period when the musical style they play lost ground before other musical genders. Anyway, Today, Steelheart goes on tour constantly, which can only make me happy and Mike Matijevic seems to have the same love for live performances that I have seen in his early days videos, which is great. However, seems that,even if the electric guitars remain somehow the same,the musical style changed a bit to match today’s musical taste, which is not quite good from my point of view, but I guess everybody’s got to eat.

I can only say that at this moment, my favorite videos list on YouTube contains Steelheart and I am trying to get some recorded materials on CD for my car CD player since I became somehow of a fan. Steelheart rules!!!

I couldn’t stop myself thinking what would have Miljenko Matijevic been if it wasn’t that stupid accident he had on stage, where would he be today? Maybe next to Ozzy? Maybe next to Dave Coverdale? Steven Taylor? Anyway, Steelheart became one of my favorite bands of that great period which was ruled by hair metal, heavy metal, hard rock and electric guitars!

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Personally I consider a musician should be good in what he does from a technical point of view. I mean, if you put an electric guitar in the hand of a guitar player he should know his way around it. This is because I listen to bands that have skilled musicians. I like Joe Satriani, I like Vai and I like bands like Helloween, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Vanden Plas, etc and the music they play is sharp, clear, with elaborated musical phrases, with a lot of instruments and a lot of those speedy glitters that we all love.

But this is just a point of view. If you take Kurt Cobain for example and his almost famous out of tune notes and his proverbial lack of technical skills and judge him by this scale, then there would be have no place for him on stage, but if you judge by the fact that he was part of a movement that totally changed the music in only a few years then we should pay him the respect he deserves.

The only observation I could make here is that I am not convinced that Kurt Cobain was aware of his creative process, I just think that he did what he felt and it all probably came naturally to him, without thinking too much about it. I think that this is the essence of the music he made and of the feeling he transmitted. Actually if you think about it, the feeling is what really counts when you consider music such as Nirvana used to play. When you take a band such as Dream Theater there is so much you could appreciate so even if you find that a song doesn’t quite transmit a strong feeling you can always find some technical thing that makes you love it.

So, is Dream Theater better than Nirvana? Is Steve Vai better than Cobain?

I think there is no way to compare musicians. There is one for every one of us. That is what makes the music so beautiful, the fact that you find at any moment something that moves you, depending on your mood. Do you think that Joey DeMaio, the bass player of Manowar, well known for his passion for “true metal” and his disrespect for
”posers” doesn’t listen blues? My personal opinion is that he also has his moments when Steve Ray Vaughan or BB King put him in that state where nothing else counts but blues.

I posted this because I had a discussion with a friend of mine some time ago about a band here, Vama (Veche) is called, and about the lead singer which is an actor before being a singer. Or is he a singer before being an actor? Well, personally I think that exactly this duality gives him the possibility to express himself the best on stage; he has the potential and the training to express a large scale of feelings and this makes it easy to communicate with the public even if sometimes he can not control his voice very well.

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