GuitarFlame.com - Electric guitar stories,rock cul GuitarFlame.com - Electric guitar stories,rock cul Guitar stories from a semi-pro guitar player, electric guitars and rock music, guitar tabs, guitar videos, lessons and inner view of a guitar surrounded life Articles
Why I love my guitar
2008-05-07 08:41:00 It may sound like a elementary school homework but I have really thought about this these last days. I have realized why I love that much playing the guitar. It is not (only) because I love rock music, it is not (only) because of the beautiful sound or the energy when you hear the overdrive… The reason I love playing the guitar is the fact that it opens infinite possibilities to my music. Think about it: every time you pick up your guitar you can come up with something totally different, something new and beautiful. I love the fact that my guitar is the door to infinite possibilities of expression. Think about is this way: me, you, Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen, Hendrix, May, Segovia, Dimebag Darrel, Paco De Lucia , Frank Gambale, we all have the same damn thing: a 6 string instrument, but each one of us makes it sound different. I love the fact that the same 6 strings are able to produce music that is so different: rock, jazz, blues, funk, classic music, flamenco, folk, damn, th... More About: Love , Guitar
Korean girl kicks ass on electric guitar! Yeah, baby!
2008-05-06 10:26:00 Without wanting to hurt girl’s feelings in any way, I haven’t seen that many good girl solo guitar players so far. Again, Jennifer Batten is a great exception that kicks ass! Yeah! But while looking around (of course, for something else) I have seen this video on YouTube of a Korean girl playing the electric guitar. Man, she is good and plays very clean so I said it would be a good thing to share it with you here! So, here it is: And let me hear your opinions on this! Does she kick ass or what?! Bookmark It More About: Baby , Guitar , Girl , Electric
Beautiful Romania
2008-05-05 11:05:00 These days I have been away but now I am back to my computer, so, I will try to catch up a bit with everything that happened while I was away. I took a short 3 days holiday with my wife and a couple of good friends and we headed for a well known resort in Romania , called Lacul Rosu (Red Lake). We managed to see in only 3 days, a lot of places and came back with a lot of photos. I have decided to only put here a few of them, because this is not the subject of this blog, but because a few days ago I have decided to add a new category called Romania, I think it will fit just fine. So, here it is: Red Lake was formed around 1837 where it used to be a forest and now you can see tree parts coming out of the water, kind of spooky. We rented a boat and sailed to a couple of them, to see for ourselves how they look like! This is an area where the concentration of people of Hungarian origin is high so every sign there was AT LEAST in 2 languages: Romanian and Hungarian. Plus German, English, ... More About: Beautiful
Line 6 Variax modeling guitar, the sound of the future?
2008-05-02 00:43:00 Yesterday I was speaking about the fact that I haven’t found much time these last days to spend in front of my computer and about the Easter grill party that we threw at the rehearsal room. There, I met an old band mate that I haven’t seen since, I don’t know, maybe 6-7 years (OK, I think I have seen him a couple of times on the street but this doesn’t count, cause we’ve didn’t talk too much). He currently plays in a band here that is quite known, Spin is the name, that had, I think 2 hits, and is doing fine, he says. The previous guitar player of the same band was an other band mate of mine, from my previous band, Kapela…man, WTF am I doing, my ex band mates have good music contracts, I think I must be a lucky person, I definitely must be the reason they are doing well, don’t you think? I think I am some kind of a talisman of some sort, who knows… By the way, an other ex-band mate, drummer, is also doing fine and has been in a... More About: Guitar , Future , Sound , Modeling , The Future
The busy days of Easter
2008-04-30 11:02:00 These last days have been kind of slow for me. Slow, from the point of view of blogging, otherwise they have been crazy. We celebrated Easter (I am Christian Orthodox by religion, like probably 90% of the people here) and these last days me and my wife visited every possible relative because, of course, everybody was inviting and expecting us. Which is a wonderful thing, just that a bit demanding after a while… And of course, the guys from the band asked their share, so, Costin, the lead singer, called to invite me to a barbecue at the rehearsal location (I don’t dare to call it room, cause it is not just a room, it is a building with a big yard). After 2 visits that day, I took my wife and my guitar and went to the rehearsal studio. I can only tell you that I was part of the “team” handling the mixed grill (my wife says I still smell like smoke after taking like 4 baths) and Costin was part of the “team” handling the lamb cooked over the fire (w... More About: Days , Busy
Electric guitars and underwear just don’t fit together, don’t you think
2008-04-26 09:50:00 Well, speaking about stage outfits… I think this will do just fine, if you think about it, people came in for the music, right? Or not… Bookmark It More About: Underwear , Electric , Electric Guitars , Guitars
SynthAxe, the mother of all MIDI guitars?!
2008-04-25 09:59:00 Looking again for some information on Roland GR33 guitar synthesizer, I found THIS THING, cause I have no idea how to call it. It is some kind of guitar-like instrument because it has a fretted neck and a guitar like “modus operandi”. OK, actually it is called SynthAxe and it consists of a MIDI guitar like controller. Seems that SynthAxe was invented somewhere around 1984(?) by Bill Aitken. If you ask yourself who would use such a thing, well, think again, my friends! And wonder! Al Di Meola had one, Allan Holdsworth had two such things!Yep! Two! He must have had a nephew in love with guitars, I think it makes a great gift for birthdays. Look, buddy, I’ve got you a present! And it really plays! And I couldn’t resist the temptation and I’ve got one for myself too, now we could play together!! (Damn, here play has such an overloaded meaning!!!) Here’s a video demonstration of how it actually sounds. I don’t know how playable it is, but I do a... More About: Mother , Midi , Guitars
When you pick your guitar, do you practice or play?
2008-04-25 08:40:00 I’ve found via Dr J’s blog about a Seth Godin’s post, that I consider to be quite an interesting one. I used to read Seth Godin’s blog everyday some time ago, not that often lately, but still… I will try to summarize here the main idea of Seth’s post, but in a guitar oriented way: what you do everyday helps you improve your playing or musical knowledge or is just “playing around”? Personally I love to take my acoustic guitar and play a bit when I get home in the evening, it relaxes me, I think I am some kind of Einstein playing his violin in the evening. OK, I am not an Einstein, but I like the comparison… So, when you pick your guitar, you just play whatever comes to your mind, or you play scales, try to work on some stubborn lick or just love the sound of your guitar? I know that this is heavily dependent on many things, that must be considered, like the mood, how tired you are,etc, and nobody says it’s wrong to play ... More About: Guitar , Play , Practice , Pick
Learn to master the guitar to play slow…
2008-04-24 08:19:00 It is vital to have the right technique when playing the guitar, there is no doubt about it. The question is what can you actually do with that technique? Or what is the best thing to do with that technique? Shred? From my personal observation, I can tell you that the lately I am more and more interested in artists who achieved a high level of technical skills BUT DO A LOT TO AVOID OVERUSING the techniques they master. And here I think about Joe Satriani and, the reason of this particular post, John Petrucci. It is great to master the guitar like nobody else, but think of showing those skills everywhere, everyday, on all your songs. Think Malmsteen, for example. Doesn’t get boring for the audience after a while? OK, I know, people know you for something and comes to your shows for that particular something, so you need to give the people what the came for, right? Bread and games, or how was the ancient Roman habit(more familiar to European readers) for keeping people under con... More About: Guitar , Play , Master , Learn
Does Joe Perry know his solos?
2008-04-23 08:32:00 This morning, while driving to the office I was listening on the radio Aerosmith and Run DMC with Walk this way. I love this song and the guitar riff is one to always remember, in my opinion. Joe Perry is one creative guy, I won’t discuss this. Just that when the song reached the solo, I asked myself the same thing I keep on asking each time I listen Aerosmith songs: does Joe Perry know his solos? Can he play the same solo twice? I asked myself this question when I listened Crying, Crazy and now Walk this way because his solos always seems improvised right the very moment he’s in the studio, recording. I can imagine Aerosmith recording a new song: OK, guys, let’s go. Hey, Joe, did you have time to work on that guitar solo? Aaaa..uh…yeah, I tried like a couple of times…don’t worry, I’ll work it out there as I do all the time… I realize that maybe this is the exact thing that makes his solos recognizable. Not necessarily the solos but... More About: Solos
I dare you again: guess who this guy is?
2008-04-22 16:22:00 That is right, I dare you again to guess the guitar player in the left image. Somehow looks like him today so there may be a great chance to guess right. Well, what do you say? Bookmark It More About: Guess Who , Guess , Dare
What’s the use of a Floyd Rose system with no lock?
2008-04-22 09:49:00 A few days ago, my wife asked me to tidy a bit my “office room”, where I keep my desk, computer, etc. Looking through the stuff there I have found a promotional brochure of Carvin guitars, brochure that I have received when testing a Carvin guitar some time ago. I was very happy about this so I sit and started to browse it. I saw this guitar, I am not sure what was the exact model, but I found a similar one on the internet, for the sake of the example. I found it very strange that the guitar (of course, a Carvin model) had a Floyd Rose installed on it, but no lock on fret zero (see the picture). I am used to the double locking tremolo to have both parts, the lock and the floating bridge, but this one had no lock! I ask myself how efficient could it be and what is the actual advantage of not installing that lock? It is considered that a floating bridge gives a weaker sustain, while through body strings give the stronger sustain, thing that I don’t dare to argue caus... More About: System , Lock
Frank Gambale and his keyboardish music
2008-04-21 20:36:00 I was thinking these last days about a particular topic: guitar players that studied music with keyboard players. Here I think about two guys. Two, because nobody else comes to my mind at this point. I am thinking of Frank Gambale and Joe Satriani. Frank Gambale is quite famous for his strange way (I would call it) of playing riffs. I know, he plays fusion jazz or whatever you want to call that music and to a metal head or at least to a rock addict or even to a blues guitar player, it may seem strange, because in all the above enumerated styles, patters are more obvious, while in fusion/jazz, well, not quite. Do I make any sense so far? Judging by my standards, Frank Gambale, which I like, by the way, plays strange. At least to my ears and this is exactly what makes his music interesting. I asked myself at one point why and how could he think of those patterns and lick. The answer came from himself: he studied music by listening to keyboard players! He said it, not me! This is a ver... More About: Music
Speed picking world record
2008-04-21 15:03:00 I don’t think it has anything to do with music, but I think this might be the world record for right hand speed picking! That reminds me of that joke with some guy stopping two police officers on the street asking them something in English, then in French, then in Spanish, then in German, without the policemen being able to understand anything. After they guy leaves angry at the two officers, one of them asks: Did you see how many foreign languages this guy knew?! Yes, answers the other one, but what was the use?! So, does this have anything to do with music or not? Bookmark It More About: World , World Record , Speed , Record , Picking
Kirk Hammett goofing around
2008-04-21 14:48:00 That made me smile, it is something else compared to the crunchy, mad metal of Metallica! That’s just Kirm Hammett goofing around Bookmark It More About: Kirk
Ask Deep Purple directly about their Summer Tour 2008!!
2008-04-21 07:57:00 A few days ago, I have received an email on behalf of Deep Purple , offering me an open door to Pandora’s box: information about Deep Purple ’s Summer Tour 2008 straight from the source. At first I was thrilled, you know, I don’t receive everyday direct emails from people representing monsters of rock, even if I understand this is part of a marketing campaign oriented to promoting Deep Purple’s Summer Tour 2008. Then, after a bit of thinking and browsing their website, I realized I don’t know what to ask them. What could I possibly ask that hasn’t been asked before so many times in the last 30 years?! And to be honest, I don’t think I have the heart of an interview journalist… So, I thought that maybe you could help me here and together we could put up a list of relevant questions regarding the Summer Tour 2008, questions that I will forward directly to Deep Purple. Come on, how often you have the chance to speak directly to Deep Purple...
My 3rd report on my 6 months goal of 5000 visitors per day
2008-04-19 18:17:00 Today it’s 19 again, so it’s one of those days when I share my past month statistics for my dare of 5000 visitors per day. I haven’t had the time to do it properly yesterday or today until now, because I keep on cleaning windows and furniture since yesterday evening. Easter is coming and my wife launched the operation “spring cleaning reloaded” and in such situation there is no much room for negotiations, computer or playing the guitar. Damn! So, shortly, here is what happened: I’ve got ’stumbled upon” again! Via Guitar Mx, I found about a top of “the greatest” guitar riffs of all time, put together by Telegraph.co.uk. I didn’t want to publish again the same top, but I have observed a few songs that didn’t make it on the list, even if they have famous guitar riffs. Among these, Satisfaction (of Rolling Stones). So I shared my thoughts about that top and you know what? It made it on StumbleUpon and that particu... More About: Report , Goal , Visitors , Months
Guy playing the guitar with a spoon!
2008-04-18 16:18:00 You can not argue that this guy developed a strange talent… I can’t help myself asking what actually determined him to learn to play the guitar with that damn spoon? Now, stumble that and digg!! Thank you! Bookmark It More About: Guitar , Spoon
I am Jimi Hendrix
2008-04-16 09:22:00 At least that’s what this short quiz says! If you regularly read this blog you know that it doesn’t quite fit my music taste, but I do respect the man and his influence upon guitar music. So I won’t contradict such a result, because it goes well in my guitar playing CV, right? Now, let’s see who feels like arguing with me on this blog, I will only ask one question: Who did you say you are? Bookmark It More About: Jimi Hendrix , Hendrix
Michael Angelo Batio playing jazz, everything is possible now!
2008-04-16 07:39:00 Seems that these days I am obsessed with performances that are not in the usual range of an artist. Yesterday we had Joe Satriani playing a Gibson Les Paul, today I have Michael Angelo Batio playing jazz…that’s right, people, Michael Angelo Batio without his 2 hand taping, without speed licks, Michael Angelo Bation playing jazz… Of, course, again, a professional guitar player has more tricks in the bag, right, Jack? But how’s that for an unusual performance? Bookmark It More About: Jazz
How about Joe Satriani playing a Gibson Les Paul?
2008-04-15 12:08:00 Speaking of iconic images, everybody is used to see Joe Satriani playing his signature Ibanez electric guitars, right?. Well, how about this picture with Joe Satriani playing a Gibson Les Paul ? I must confess it came as a surprise to me since I have never thought about this. Of course, as Jack Pribek(pribek.net) says, professional guitar players have more tricks in the bag, right? Bookmark It More About: Les Paul
Most difficult to play guitar solo
2008-04-14 09:22:00 Warning: This post may be a controversial one! Yep! Since a few days I keep on thinking about difficult to play guitar solos. And guess what! I am not thinking about Malmsteen or Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. Hell, no! The song that keeps on running through my head is “It’s probably me” of Sting and Eric Clapton. Did you ever try to play that solo? I know I did some time ago and I just couldn’t get it right. I don’t speak about the notes, cause there are not that many or that fast, but man, those note are so full of soul that you just can’t reach them! The solo is so warm and Clapton plays it with so much feeling that it makes it so difficult to play it right… And you know what? I remember in the high school about this guy that managed to nail the theme solo of Wonderful tonight with such feeling that nobody could play it the same. Again, there are only a few notes and I think this song (Wonderful tonight) was one of the most played song when ... More About: Guitar , Play , Solo
The craziest guitar project ever?
2008-04-11 17:04:00 I asked myself which would be the craziest guitar project you could think of? To be honest, so far, the craziest I could think of is to adapt a regular Fender Telecaster in order to add a Floyd Rose. How about it? Fender Telecaster with Floyd Rose! I would like to see one! I have seen there is a Heavy Metal Fender Tele, custom made, but however due to the color and the way it is painted, doesn’t quite look like a Tele. I speak about a “normal” Telecaster. Like this one! So, any guitar project crazier than this one? Bookmark It More About: Guitar , Project
Girls play the harp,boys play the electric guitar!! It may be in our nature
2008-04-11 14:15:00 BBC News today featured an article called Why don’t girls play guitar? Let’s ignore the fact that it is a “journal style” headline, and some girls do play the guitar, and some of them actually kick ass, if you think about Jennifer Batten, for ex, (she was always an icon to me, from this point of view, because indeed, girls do play the guitar but how many play solo electric guitar? At that level, I mean!) So, this post is not actually about Jennifer Batten, even if I proposed to myself to cover something about her, soon, but about the preferences that boys and girl have when it comes to picking up a musical instrument. Here’s what the study that BBC uses says when it comes to learning an instrument: Boys play: electric guitar 81% bass guitar 81% tuba 77% kit drums 75% trombone 71% This sounds like a pretty decent rock band. What are the tuba and trombone doing there?!! Girls play: harp 90% flute 89% voice 80% fife/piccolo 79% oboe 78% Well, it may be... More About: Nature , Guitar , Play , Harp
Revolutionary dynamic arc ultra guitar cable combines superior audio enhanc
2008-04-10 21:49:00 Because lately I have started to receive press releases to publish here, I have decided to give it a try, if I consider them as being of any interest to my readers. So… (Los Angeles, CA) Solid Cable s new Dynamic Arc Ultra Guitar Cable outperforms any other pro guitar cable on the market. Solid Cables C.E.O., Nial McGaughey, engineered the Dynamic Arc Ultra Guitar Cable with a formidable task - to please a musician with a highly critical ear and an ability to survive any gig. Solid Cables was born out of McGaughey’s desire to create “a cable that was extremely rugged, gig friendly, abuse proof and offers exceptional tone.” The Dynamic Arc Ultra combines the strength of Jack Lalanne and the sleekness of a luxury designed car. Sophisticated wiring is a key element to the guitar cable’s design. The defining characteristic of this cable is its rugged design. Billed as the world’s toughest cable, it can literally pull an object weighing six to ten thousand pounds without... More About: Audio , Revolutionary
Pachelbel’s Canon in D guitar madness
2008-04-10 10:49:00 If you are reading this there is a big chance that you have watched on YouTube some great performances of Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D. There are a few great interpretations of this piece of music on electric guitar because lately it became the song of choice and the speed test of young guitars all over the net. So here’s Gustavo Guerra’s version of Canon song, a version that I adore, since compared to other versions, he has that easiness of playing the guitar that allows him to play around and add value to the song itself. From the first notes, using the whammy bar puts him above the rest. But believe me or not, the version I loved the most is this one, (nothing can beat this version) A? Am I right or what?By the way, here’s the original version if you ask yourselves how it actually sounds… Bookmark It More About: Guitar , Madness
What do you do when you find yourself repeating the same things?
2008-04-10 10:10:00 Nothing relaxes me better when I get home in the evening than a short session of playing my acoustic guitar! Just that I have observed lately that I have the tendency of repeating myself from time to time. It became kind of a overused record. Most of the time I play some improvisations, nothing planned. And I find myself repeating some of the licks and, frankly, I don’t like because sometimes, instead of being relaxing it annoys me. In this situations I do my best to seek links I have never played before, to learn a solo of some particular song, because in my opinion, playing other people’s music forces you to think on an other direction than your own. Do you find yourself in the same situations? When starting to improvise, do you recognize overused patterns in your playing? What do you do to overcome this? How do you exit this situation? Now, be honest, don’t you dare telling me that you never repeat yourself, OK?! Bookmark It More About: Find , Things
100 diggs and no front page?
2008-04-09 20:15:00 This is a fast one: I have reached 100 diggs for the article here and I was waiting for the main evet: getting on Digg’s first page. Well, it didn’t happen! I am somehow frustrated and I can tell you that waiting for it to happen generated a lot of adrenaline. You can imagine the disappointment in the next morning when I saw it didn’t happen. 100 diggs in a bit more than 24 hours and no front page? Man, I wanted to say it here since I needed to let it go! Damn! Bookmark It More About: Page , Front , Front Page
Do you feel ready to teach guitar?
2008-04-09 12:56:00 A few days ago I was reading on Jack Pribek’s blog about the fact that he decided to give guitar lessons (again). That made me think of the fact that I have been often asked questions like “will you tech me to play the guitar?”, “how long would it take me to learn to play the guitar?”, etc. To tell you the truth, I have never given guitar lessons. One of the reasons is the fact that I don’t have time to do this and I don’t think I really find the pleasure for it, but it is not the main reason. The main reason is that I don’t consider myself a guitar teacher. I know how to play the guitar and I play it since a while. I love both the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar and I would probably manage to teach somebody to play. But I think that this doesn’t quite qualifies me as a guitar teacher, because there’s more than meets the eye in this, as far as I can see. One of the facts that I don’t feel comfortable with is t... More About: Guitar , Feel , Ready
Bruce Dickinson in Romania again!
More articles from this author:2008-04-08 09:09:00 Reading DragonLady’s blog, where she pointed to Bruce Dickinson’s birthday(By the way, I had no idea DragonLady is the wife of my blog friend, Dr J, is this a small world or what?!) I remember again that Maiden is going to visit Romania this year. Maiden will be in Romania in a few months from now and I have’t yet bought a ticket! Am I an idiot or what? It is the second time Iron Maiden comes to Romania, this time with Bruce Dickinson, the first time it was with Blaze Bayley and I haven’t been to the show either. Actually this year is pretty mad for Romania’s rock scene. Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, John McLaughlin, Judas Priest, Queensryche, Lenny Kravitz, Linkin Park, Manowar(hail, hail, hail and kill), man this is a long time wish of mine!!!, Nightwish, Testament and Whitesnake, they are all going to be in Romania this year! Tibi from LostArtOfBlogging.com reminds me of Metallica. Indeed, Metallica too! I don’t know what happened, seems that this... 1, 2, 3 |
|
 |
|
 |
