Grand Weepers and Grim Reapers

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The Purpose of Scales
2007-10-03 23:01:00
For a modern guitar player scales serve a few definite purposes. I think that it is important to establish the purpose of scales before we consider how to practice them. I have listed those purposes in no particular order.Establishing the sound of a certain key/scaleUnderstanding theoryKnowing the notes on the fretboardTechniqueA framework for improvisationThese are the things that proper scale practice will give you. It seems to me that often the practice of scales is done in a very ineffective way simply because guitar players do not understand, or simply do not consider all of the reasons behind scale practice.My own experience helps to reinforce this. I have spent a great deal of time learning scales in a completely ineffective way. I eventually quit playing scales altogether other than to warm up my hands. Still, I thought that I knew my scales. I mean I could tell you the notes in any scale or any mode. When I wanted to learn to improvise at a proficient level I found that I h...
More About: Scales , Purpose

The "Start with an Acoustic" Myth
2007-10-01 02:05:00
There is a myth out there that has been stated by many well-meaning guitar players for years. It goes like this; If you're going to learn to play the guitar you should start on an acoustic guitar first and then switch to an electric if you so wish. I'm not sure where this comes from, but lets call it what it is; a myth.There is no reason to start with an acoustic guitar if your desire is to play electric guitar. Start out with the instrument that is most interesting to you. Learning to play any guitar is challenging. The techniques used on each instrument are different in subtle ways, but switching from one to the other does require an adjustment on your part. So, why learn one way, only to have to change your technique when going to you instrument on choice?There are reasons that are cited by the "start on an acoustic," crowd. They usually go like this, "If you start on acoustic then electric will be easy for you," or "Acoustic s are cheaper, so don't wast money in case you don'...
More About: Myth

Paradis Avalon Guitars
2007-09-28 20:52:00
While stumbling around on the internet looking for fretless guitar designs I came upon this website. It showcased a guitar that I’d never heard of. It is called the Paradis Avalon model guitar. It caught my eye for a few reasons. First, the Avalon model has nylon strings on an electric guitar. There are other models that use steel strings. The second reason was the ergonomic design. I’m quite the fan of the D extender and the tuner placement.The guitar was designed by Rolf Spuler in collaboration with a few other luthiers and technicians, specifically, Matthias Grob. The main goal of this collective seemed to be to create polyphonic pickup and amp systems for guitars. They teamed up in 1986, and by 1990 were producing the Avalon guitars, as well as their own line of amps and pickups. By 1996 they had sold about 250 Avalons’ and had created a mountain of debt. And so production on the guitars ended.Rolf has since started producing the guitars on his own, with a few tweaks. The ...
More About: Guitars

Polytone Mini Brute
2007-09-28 16:15:00
In many ways I’m not the typical guitar player. I’m not quite sure what the typical guitar player is, but it isn't me. One of the popular trends in amps these days (and really for quite a while) has been the tube amp. Tube Amps are often preferred for their warm tone, but mostly because of the way that they overdrive without the full fledge crunch of distortion. It seems that most guitar players want at least a touch of dirt in their guitar sound. Not me. I’ve always favored the cleanest sound possible. I prefer solid state amps. I tend to play a lot of chords that would sound too mushy on an overdriven amp. I need the clarity of a solid state amp.My first high quality combo amp was a Poly tone Mini Brute V. I sought out this amp in part because that’s what Joe Pass used to play, and because it had a reputation for being very clean sounding even at high volumes. This little amp is LOUD! I mean, really loud. At 140 watts in a small fully backed cabinet with one 12” speaker ...
More About: Tone

Michael Manring - Teen Town
2007-09-26 20:40:00
Here is Michael Manring testing out the quality of your computer speakers with a funky fretless version of the Weather Report classic, Teen Town .

Choosing a Guitar Teacher
2007-09-25 22:13:00
There are probably a million really good guitar players in the world. Maybe more. I've met some amazing guitar players, and worked with several who blew me away. But most of the really prodigious talents that I met were not very good teachers. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, but the general statement that I am trying to make is this; a persons talent at playing the guitar doesn't equate to them being a great teacher as well. I know several very talented players who are also good teachers, but just as many great players who don't teach well.There are several reasons to choose a teacher. You could be ready to persue your career in professional music or ready to devote years to the canon of the Baroque period. But most likely you are fairly new in the game and need someone to get you off on the right foot without imparting any bad habits.So, how do you find a good teacher for this situation?As with most things, the best way to find a good teacher is to start asking aro...
More About: Guitar , Teacher

You Don't Know How Lucky You Have It. An IBM Story!
2007-09-25 05:44:00
Vietnamese Blogger Nguyen Tien Trung, like most recent graduates was excited when he was offered his dream job. In Nguyen case the job was with the America based computer giant IBM. He remained excited up until he received a phone call from an IBM Human Resources worker asking if he was a blogger who had written articles for a Blog that were critical of communism. Nguyen stated that he had indeed written the pieces and was then later informed that the job offer from IBM was rescinded. Nguyen's blog can be found here, though it is written in Vietnamese. There was no explanation given for the retraction of the job offer but Nguyen suspects that it was due to his political involvement and his blogging activities.This story is just one of many incidents like this that are going on in countries where freedom of speech is not a right granted to citizens. In fact in some cases have a much, much worse ending. Take the example of a Chinese man named Shi Tao who, according to a BBC Report is...
More About: Story , Lucky

Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz
2007-09-23 19:48:00
Still working on this one. I can't seem to get from the bicycle to the timpani to the cattle enclosure in 7/4 time.
More About: Death , Erie

MyBlogLog and Yahoo
2007-09-22 06:07:00
MyBlogLog has just switched to a system by which you have to have a Yahoo ID in order to use the service. That is frustrating to me. I have one ID and one account through which I do all of my blogging. That account is ran through google. Sorry, MyBlogLog. At least for now you won't be seeing me anymore. Perhaps in the future but right now its not worth it to have a completely separate ID just to you your service when there are hundreds of similar ones that don't have that requirement.
More About: Yahoo!

Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing - Old Grey Whistle Test
2007-09-21 20:29:00
Another Old Grey Whistle Test classic!
More About: Swing , Dire Straits

Seagull S6+ Folk Acoustic Guitar
2007-09-21 14:21:00
I was in the market for an acoustic guitar after my first one that I ever own had been stolen from me. I was looking for something with a smaller body, good tone, and good playability. At this point the playability of an instrument had become very important to me as this was after I’d been through several bouts of Tendonitis and Repetitive Motion Injuries. I was mostly playing fingerstyle guitar at the time so the string spacing was critical to me.Christmas time was upon us, and I had no idea that I was about to get the perfect gift. My in-laws had bought me a Seagull S6+ Folk Acoustic Guitar . Now, it’s pretty hard to buy an instrument for someone else. They enlisted the help of a family friend who is also a guitar player and he did a marvelous job. This guitar was everything that I wanted in a guitar and is my main acoustic today.This is a small bodied but full sounding instrument. It comes with a solid cedar top that gives it warmth. It comes out of the box sounding like an in...
More About: Agul

Warwick Thumb 5 Bolt On
2007-09-20 22:26:00
When I first started to play bass I borrowed an old clunker from a friend of mine. It was a BC Rich Thunderbolt bass. I played that thing for a couple years and that’s what I used whenever I played bass. Eventually I joined a gospel band when they needed a bass player. They gave me a Fender Mexi Jazz Bass to use. An upgrade over the BC Rich for sure.It was about this time that I decided I needed a bass of my own and I wanted a 5 string. I’d been saving money for months and had a tidy sum, Mr. Bigglesworth. This was going to be a major purchase so I spent months researching what I wanted. After reading many reviews and playing many basses in stores I had finally decided that I was going to purchase a Peavey Cirrus 5 string neck through bass. At the time I was playing a lot of Jazz and Gospel, and the tones that I needed were in that bass….or so I thought.So, I went to Chuck Levin’s with cash in hand and a mind to buy a Peavey Cirrus. When I got there I told the salesman what ...
More About: Thumb , Bolt

The Wailers - Stir It Up live Old Grey Whistle Test 1973
2007-09-17 23:35:00
The Old Grey Whistle Test was a BBC show that was sort of like the British version on Austin City Limits, but without all the glitz. They had great acts and some very rare acts as well. This is a Bob Marley performance that I found on YouTube.
More About: Live , The Wailers

Grand Weeper's 2007 NFL Preview: The AFC
2007-09-16 20:45:00
Here is the second part of my football preview. Last time we tackled the NFC. This time we take a look at the AFC. The AFC has been the dominant of the two conferences for quite a while now. AFC teams have won eight of the last ten Superbowls leading back to the first of Denver’s two Superbowls. That is likely to continue this year as well. On to the predictions.AFC EastNew England – The most Current NFL Dynasty since the addition of the salary cap and league parity. These guys just keep finding a way to win….even if it is with the use of a video camera! The Patriots are incredibly talented and have great success at using the draft to find quality starters. This year they went out and bought a bunch of flashy free agents. Will the experiment work or will it become like the Redskins of 2000? With this team I doubt that. This team is going 13-3 and straight to the Superbowl.J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets – Another improving but overrated team. The Jets had a great season la...
More About: Preview , Grand

To Tab or Not to Tab
2007-09-15 22:55:00
No, we aren’t talking about a soft drink from the 70’s. C’mon, you know what tab is. It’s short for the word tabulature and is a shorthand way of notating music for stringed instruments using numbers to represent where a note is located on the fingerboard. Tabulature should not be confused with a standard chart which only shows the chords for a given piece of music. It has actually been around for centuries, but it has boomed with the proliferation of the internet. Now, people everywhere are posting and freely downloading tabs for all kinds of popular music. Though it’s just another way of representing music it has received a bad rap in recent years.As a teacher I get this question all the time from parents, and students. “Should I use tab,” or, “If my son/daughter uses tab will it hurt their ability to read standard notation?” So, should you or shouldn’t you use tab?Standard notation is the superior form of notation. There is no question about that. The practice...

Workforce Reduction Day
2007-09-15 04:20:00
Thanks to my recent lack of employment I had sometime to spend with my family today. So, my wife and I took the kids to the zoo. It was something that had been planned, but it wasn't expected that I would be able to come. This was the first zoo trip for my kids who are two and a half and four months old. We piled into the car along with Grandmom and Great-Grandmom and headed to the zoo. We had built the event up with my two year old daughter by telling her about all of the exciting animals that she was going to see. Like any two year old she wanted to see the animals now.....as in right now. Waiting 45 minutes while we drove around the area looking for the entrance wasn't making her happy. But we made it in one piece. It was a great day to go to the zoo. It wasn't crowded at all. The weather was cool and the sky was slightly overcast but not too much so. We had the run of the place. But the kids were cranky when we first arrived and rather than try to get then in a s...
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Guitar Picks
2007-09-14 22:49:00
When people want to change the way their guitar sounds they have a tendency to fiddle with the amp, buy new strings, or even go so far as to replace the pickups. But, sometimes the thing that can really make all the difference is the smallest part of your guitar playing arsenal; the plectrum!Its not that changing strings, tube, etc. won't change your sound. It will. But, is it really necessary? One of the chief advantages that the guitar has over the piano is the ability to change your sound at the point of attack. With a guitar you have so much control over tone at you picking hand. Palm mutes, rakes, digging in, lifting up on the strings, etc. All of these things have an effect on your sound and the pick is at the forefront.Picks come in all shapes, sizes, and materials. I've tried plastic, metal and even wooden picks. Ironically, each material sounds about like you would expect it to. The metal is bright, the plastic is versatile, and the wood is warm sounding. Then the actual ...
More About: Guitar