It's a Long Way to The Top

king of the blues

2009-07-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

I just bought a new issue of guitar world sept 09...i came across the contest for king of the blues 2009. It's my first time listening to tis contest. In the guitar centre's contest website there are 25 backing tracks to be downloaded and played over. The tracks are either created by a grammy-strudded Pete Anderson or by the musically inclined employees of guitar centre. Mostly drawing inspirations from muddy waters, chuck berry, duane allman and stevie ray vaughan.

Too bad it's only a american competition or else it's these kind of things tat will let other countries musicians put their country on musical map of pop music derived from western cultures no matter how you look at it.

However the consolation is tat we can download the 25 backing tracks for free(yes!) and work out our own composition or interpretation of the blues...

Late night thoughts

2009-07-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Recently got a few new songs, one of them which caught my attention was "Still got the Blues" by Gary Moore. After listening to it, I didn't like it at all, it wasn't calling out to me. It had great technique and sounds but it wasn't the type of blues i was wanting to play. It didn't make me feel what jimi hendrix did when he played just the intro of hear my train a-coming in acoustic. Maybe it wasn't the so-called delta-blues.

I guess as much as i'm influenced by Jimmy Page and Slash(for bending), the roots of the music i play is mostly delta blues, but really not much people can even differentiate blues from jazz or lounge music.

I'm gonna start covering them as much as I can, playing it well is my best way of paying tribute to those who created such great music and feeling. Although it is not popular, but I'm sure it will be one day. Just awaiting for a really catchy blues song to go on pop radio.

EFFECT-ive?

2009-06-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

i was nv really a user for pedals for various reasons mainly being the fact tat my amp is a modelling amp and wif a unimaginable amount of drive(for a blues player it's alot, but not for metal). I didnt always get how people can get so into effects, if it's delays n wah i can understand, u're getting a different sound but i think some people should really try their best to understand pedals and effects before buying them by the endorsement of their favourite celebrities. Some just use pedals for the convienence sake of adjusting the amp to stepping on a medal box on circuitry. Many guitarist don't really know the difference of how similar sounding effects affect their signal differently...

1) Distortion and Overdrive (even some guitar reviewers on youtube don't know the difference)
2) Tremolo and Vibe (Hendrix dun use tremolo, he uses vibe)
3) Chorus and Phaser and Flanger and Harmonizer (i don't know what each really sounds like)

There you go, learn the effects or else if you put it through recordings and mikes, if u use a tremolo it affects volume and a noise gate in chain will kill the sound abit and sound totally different from what u intend to hear.

Publicly speaking...

2009-06-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

I was working at a electronics store today and my boss told me that I could put watever music i wanted. HAPPINESS!! So i quickly ran a shuffle through it. Songs from AC/DC, Johnny Rzenik, Joe Perry, Beatles, Led Zeppelin n a few others. When The Rain Song and Stairway to Heaven was playing, the staff asked me about these 2 songs(particularly interested in these 2 also got ask other songs).

Then I realised one thing, these song being more than 7 mins each and concerts version lasting 8-10 mins, did they ever made it to the radio to be played for the public enjoyment? Many people don't know about Led Zeppelin the others because they didnt enter mainstream pop culture. Or perhaps because led zeppelin refuse to let others access their mastertapes.

I guess that's why only people who really follow rock music would come about these range of musicians which weren't played into the wireless...If one day, i can master(really play the shit out of the song) I'll set up my gear in public and play it off. Really gotta get these music out into the world even it is 30 years too late.

2009-06-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

World's favourite crouch grabber (allegedly children's too) Michael Jackson rushed to the hospital after collapsing in front of somewhere, i think his house. Apparently he died of a Cadiac Arrest(cadiac: heart, arrest: captured by sumthing usually police).

1958-2009. greatest 50 year old the world ever seen, really the greatest.

He's so great, if he's british, he'll enter knighthood alrdy. Think about it, how many people can sing songs and build a amusement park or to be known by children from the age of 3?

Ironically, since it happened, I'm glad i lived to see a famous guy die and feel the sadness of the community. Call me sadist if u want.

So there you go, greatest pop star in the world dead+upcoming tours(wat happens to tix bought?)+connspiracy theories+books+music compliations+movies about him (and the homealone kid will get interviewed like crazy)+another crazily decorated tombstone...who says when u die it's over?

The Rose

2009-06-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

come about tis song from bette midler(very nice name) still alive tho. titled The Rose, it's one of those melodies tat you listen to it and weep on the inside, touching ur heart saying, "It's beautiful..." You then listen to it over and over again.

Heard: main melody, C, F, G...simple...it's a 3 verse, no chorus song, b4 the last chord sequence, it has a Em n Am...so damn simple to play along to...

it ends with a C chord...u can strum it rhythmically to make it sound "ended" or u can do a simple pinky trick to capture the feel...

either (V for downstrum, A for upstrum)
V V
----0----0~--
----1----0~--
----0----0~--
----2----2~--
----3----3~--
----0----0~--
Tis here is really easy, just lift ur index, strum half speed and shake the entire guitar.

or
V A
----0----0~--
----1----3~--
----0----0~--
----2----2~--
----3----3~--
----0----0~--
Some might find going higher abit weird to end but it covers up nicely as the B string is at a different set of intervals. Think of tis ending as if wif piano accompanied or if wif drums, it ends wif a roll on the cymbals, whereas the first ending is for those bassier drum endings or voice shouts.

Quickie
Another tip i picked up from Mr Justin Sandercoe from youtube. When u play songs on chords, try this tuning

f---
C---
G---
D---
A---
E---
And play barred chords instead of open tunings. when you are playing where the root note is on the low E string(eg: F to B chord usually), let the bottom 2 strings ring. and when you are playing wif the root note on the A string(eg: B to E chords) play it tis way...
g c
f-0--0-
C-0--4-
G-4--5-
D-5--5-
A-5--3-
E-3----

This way, the notes will have a nice acoustical ring to it.

Back to Our Roots

2009-06-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

Looking back in the past has been something I've always done in my tonal pursuits. Although I try to be as Bluesy as possible, I've always look into licks deravated from Surf (wipeout, walk don't run, rock lobster), Rockabilly(bill haley).

I've been really enticed by the fact tat the music we hear today are infact taken from bits and pieces of the past really no matter how hard u try to sound new. Which is why, music is always best sounding when simple.

To those who created the music, thank you.

blue or blur?

2009-06-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

I recently stumble upon a complexion, whether am i really playing songs the way it should be played...for example, the song Knockin on Heaven's Door by Guns n Roses, i seem to be unable to grasp the groove of the song...wonder if i'm really musically-retarded or talented.

As much as i would not wanna pursue a musical career, I hope to one day play in front of a big audience, get in perfect sync wif my band mates(which i still dun have), improvise all my songs tat will puzzle guitarists for decades to come and get my own interview lessons for magazines and utube.

But now as i come closer and closer to national servicehood, i really wish tat my passion now will not dwindle together with my guitar playing time.

Ernie Ball Vs Daddario

2009-06-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

Today, i made a cheap yet impulse purchase of the food-packet ernie ball gauge 9 strings. My guitar had a Daddario 10s on it and the unwounded strings lost all it's coating and starting to hamper the playability of the guitar. I'm quite a avocate for daddarios but this time, i decided to give E Ball a shot, and I'm converting from today onwards. When the strings were placed in, it felt really dry n matt compared to the more glossy feel of daddarios. After playing non stop for 5 hours, i really liked the way Ernie Ball performs.
Tone wise was really different perhaps of my habitual listening to gauge 10 sets. Unfamiliarity doesn't mean it's bad. But it's starting to grow on me.
The strings durability will be tested in time to come. I noticed one thing about my guitar strings which is peculiar from wat other's have described.

My string treatment
1)I change my strings once a month
2)I play everyday clocking at least a hour a day on good(bored) days till 5 hrs
3)I always get wet palms when I play.
4)I do not use any form of conditionals or make any attempts to dry-wipe my strings after playing.
5) I do not store my guitar in a case, I just let it rest along my amp.

Yet I do not seem to experience wat other guitarist mention on my local internet forums where strings do not last 3 days of gigs or starts rusting ard 2 weeks after stringing it to the guitar.

Shoutout to my best fren Kang Xue Ming. Happy 20th Bdae. and tat if i'm fat or unfit, i wouldnt be able to say tat at tis point of time due to civil enslavements.

Led Zeppelish

2009-06-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

I discovered this led zeppelin fansite (or rather jimmy page's) tat covers his guitars(page had a strat too) together with his gears (amps, effects, misc) used. It even went to great details to explain the push pull pots page had on his #1 n #2 as well as photos...

There's beardy jimmy page right there is 1970.

Great website for page fans, not to improve your skills or techniques but this website can only offer gear knowledge of Jimmy Page, read on and i cannot understand wat's wif him n his guitar jacks?

Knock yourselves out!

PC show

2009-06-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

At the start of the 2nd half of 2009, PC show was organised in suntec again. The crowd wasn't to much till around late afternoons especially with students on their mid year breaks (how much i miss school only for holidays). Anyways, amidst the immaculate amount of people, stores on the 4th and the alternate higher level and papers that carpeted the entire grounds of the exhibition hall.

Epicentre this year decided to put up a stage to demo Garageband as part of their new products coming FREE! with mac notebooks and PCs. I didn't bring along my camera but there was a brief cover of Jason Mraz's number (you know which one) by just using a modelling instrument against the Garageband 09 version. The demo showed that the software was simple and they will sync in beat no matter wat kind of drums you mix with the guitar sounds.

Obscured slightly by the stage (which set up bowling pins and alley markers on the ground) was a small booth I supposed is operated by Citymusic. They were selling effect processors, miniature keyboards that can be hooked up to computers as well as using a normal guitar line-in to a computer. Very cool. Apart from a bunch of recording products and line 6's recording gear, i saw a series of Korg effects processor whereby you run your fingertips through the touch pad area and it alters your sound, similar to a expression pedal except in all directions. Not sure of the functions but be sure to see it's demo on youtube. Product details and check out related products.

Anyhows, the citymusic table has picks thrown all over, so my liking for free stuff made me grab abit.

The picks commemorate citymusic's 40th anniversary. Jim dunlop's pick was there to compare size. The white picks were actually glow-in-dark rather than what my crappy digi-cam took.

Do take some time to visit PC show, perhaps due to the downturn, prices might be really deep south to make you wanna boost the economy a little, ya?

After that, go to Marina Square to continue on the account of GSS.

My Marshall Stack

2009-06-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

Recent addition into my hardly changing gear. Defintely worth a try in every guitarist's arsenal.

The Marshall MS-4 (MS for micro stack) was purchased after much consideration for a smaller amp that is very portable and also under a $100. For $70, this amp is ok if one dun expects much after such a compromise. It's basic features such as the tone knobs do provide bass ends but the trebles isn't very audible especially in driven modes. The amp at 3/4 louds will display abit of drive which is sumting similar to valve amps but still not quite similar. On low volumes the amp will not produce great sounds so do crank up the volume abit and lower the gain for sweet bluesy tones.

Not sure of the amp's wattage but it has 2 speakers running thru it. A input for guitar/pedal together wif a 9V power supply and outputs for headphones for private concerts to self.

If i had abit of electronical knowledge, i'll probably try my best to add on speakers to it. But nothing like a boost of volume using my trusty Danelectro Cool Cat distortion to make it louder, but wait. dun i have a larger amp for that purpose?

Songs I Learn

2009-06-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

I'm till today still slow even at the simplest of guitar solos. However, i can play stairways to heaven by led zeppelin and i feel that every guitarist should have a song to tat can train them in certain techniques. Not a expert to speak of but i seriously learnt chord changes(basics, i know), strumming(basics too), timing changes n most importantly helped alot wif my finger picking. Another good thing about songs is tat it helps us refine our tone, the way our guitar sounds and also when i was learning this long song, it has 5 parts.

-Intro + first few verses (finger picking)

-Verse and fills or interludes to chorus and pre solo (strumming + picking)

-Solo (Serious picking)

-Power chord where plant screams to the last few verses (strumming + chugga)

-Ending sung slowly (I dunno wat technique it's called tat holds 2 notes but bends 1 of them)

Most impt of all stairways is 7.5 mins long in studio and 10.5 mins long in The Song Remains The Same(TSRTS) Movie. The TSRTS version is the one where Page famously played his Gibson ED-1275 double neck.

The movie version provided fans with wat we would call a extented cover of the original. And I think it succeeded in sounding better than the album version.

Songs i would recommend beginners to learn the whole thing to get started on their musical journey.

Back in Black by AC/DC

Iron Man by Black Sabbath

For The Love Of God by Steve Vai (maybe not exact beginner but starting section is really a cool lick)

Knocking on Heaven's Door by Guns N Roses

Basically songs that cover a wide range of techniques and still sound nice even if you're playing one small part of it.

Jack Black

2009-06-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Tis time, Black shows us abit of rock from his self charactered game, Brutal Legend.

In tis game, a freak incident transports roadie Eddie (Jack Black) to the fanatasy world of metal where he meets tis hot chick n battles glam metal headbangers. Weapon of choice, an axe and another axe-flying V. typical god of war or devil may cry games where u toggle mini games or solve puzzles and the melee weapon (the axe) and the magical staff (flying V). One of the funny things i read about tis game is a part where the minions of the ultimate boss are called headbangers and they literally headbang. Hence one of the things is to ride the motorbike Eddie built to lure these headbangers to take down a statue wif their headbanging, what a headache!

Obviously the character himself is made to look cool and very very fit as above shows. But not really the case for the voice actor Jack Black himself. This game is really just a different way of Black showing his love for heavy metal and rock as shown in movies, School of Rock and Tenacious D as his hate for goth and emo as potrayed by the monsters he slay in-game. Songs in tis game will be a definte hit and guest starring singer Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford.

Cool things to know that Eddie the game character was actually modelled after red neck metal head Lemmy Kilmister wif his Beard and vests and all. And Jack Black's real name is Thomas John Black! Wat a name...

Review AMP: Line 6 - Spider III

2009-06-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

This digital modelling amp here is manufactured by Line 6.

Things that matters
It is a 75W amp. Big and heavy to transport around. It basically has everything a person needs. And affordability would probably fall under $500 for a second hand one. It has 400+ presets inside as well as presets which you can set on your own. It comes with a foot switch that switches around the channel banks that you can preset. the presets includes modelled song settings, artist settings from various artists such as maroon 5, slipknot, razorlight, scissor sisters and mh ore.

Details
The Manual tone controls are Clean, Twang, Blues, Crunch, Metal, Insane. Each having a red and green light which gives it 12 different amp sounds. It captures 12 different types of famous Amp brands and famous sounds over the time, from Vox, Marshall and Fenders in the early days to Mesa Boogie and Plexi for heavier stuffs. On Clean, Twang and Blues channel, it's green lights sounds muffled when played at soft volumes. Do not toggle the tone controls when starting to familiarise with this amp, you can just go through these 12 channels and play anything that comes to your mind and it'll sound great. Altho effectively, from Clean progressing to insane basically seems to follow a pattern of increasing distortion and each green channels is to provide the extra bass into it, the crunch channels(red/green) are really different sounding to be placed between Blues and Metal, it is by far my favourite channels at the moment to play most rock songs through. Every channel on this amp here plays every song you can suit it to. And the tone controls aren't exactly world class but it has a wide spectrum of tone variety. If you think slash sets about 9 on bass on his marshall and try to follow suit, u might end up with a bass guitar.

This amp is also good for it's effects as it's tone. It comes with Chorus Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo and Delay, Tape Echo, Sweep Echo and Reverb. the fragment of this sentence is representative of the 3 knobs, for the grouping of effects by each comma. One can only adjust the effects for more or less rather than the pedal with a variable other settings, so at minimal, i assume it to be the effect pedal with each knob on lowest setting and gradual increments. Same wif the delay/echo knobs however with the addition of a tap tempo. Not a fan of delays but i find myself excessively using tape echo as it sounds really nice. Reverb is a knob of it's own (rejoice for U2 fans worldwide) to get the big room sound. Things can get really spacey when u put a overdriven setting with alot of Chorus Flanger, Sweep Echo and half reverb.

This amp can be called smart. It has hidden settings such as distortion(not drive), noise gate and a chromatic tuner. But my favourite part is the part where you can learn the manual setting of each presets. After selecting the song preset, hold the tap tempo button and start moving knobs around there will be a indication whether if you need to turn clockwise or counter-clockwise to acheive similar settings. Good for jamming sessions outside so you can literally bring the artist own preset amp settings out. even tho each tone control is different from amp to amp but at least the amount of eq mixing is almost similar.

The amp will automatically adjust it's tone controls and effects in accordance to the tone modeller's or artists' settings and also, whenever you on the amp, it'll be sounded according to whichever artist setting that is on when you last switched off the amp, but that can be bypassed if you hold the channel D button switch it on. It can also allow the user to save their presets onto the banks as well giving it your own name. You can also return the presets to default whenever you like it but keep in mind that there is no recycle bin.

I can go on days explaining this amp. For 75W solid state, it's loud and the dynamics of the amp can alrdy be heard at half setting and the feedback is sweet sounding as well thanks to the 12 inches of celestion.

My complain of this amp is that i think for digital amps, it is unable to have any flip switches you'll find in analog amps and it behaves differently from these amps as well. I got to used to this amp tat when i feel uncomfortable looking at analog amps wif so many knobs. And half the time I play, my parents are home, so i'd like it to have a power meter knob like most amps have where you choose between 75w power or 15w, as certain sound dynamics can only be obtained on a amp turn full up.

Ending on a good note, i think if you have $500 and dunno wat amp to buy, take tis, firstly it's so loud that in my room, i nv go past 3 and 4 for clean undriven sound. And I stay near yew tee mrt, so if you happen to be there and hear a guitar from 12-5pm, it's me saying hello in rock language. and my favourite part of this amp?

look at that, these go to eleven! right across the board, amazing isn't it?

if anyone knows where i can buy the wire for the FBV2 lemme know. thanks

Wiki-ME

2009-06-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

I'll try to keep variable details of myself to myself like age, address, work place, girl fren's name, mobile number, current fetishes, wat underwear i'm wearing now...u get the point.

Plays anythingstudies the Led Zeppelin, Jimi Page, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai

genre: blues

associated acts: none

I started classical guitar in apr 2008 as part of a elective module in my polytechnic. Didn't learn much but enough to get me to figure the rest out by myself as my teacher was a soft-spoken gentle man but the rest of the class wasn't which really hindered lessons from progressing. And during the tests where we are to play a piece, I chose Fur Elise but mostly the others were playing pop songs, and strumming away on the nylons. Even better was this guy who keeps playing his ovation in class which was very distracting.

After the classes which lasted 6 mths, i decided to go electric as i couldn't even handle tension of classical guitars to perform barred chords at will not to mention it's steeled string counterpart. I procured my electric guitar from my dad's customer whose son didn't wanted to rock and roll like him. I was given free of charge a Yamaha ERG121 and a Line 6 spider iii 75w amp. I'll try my best to review the amp soon. The guitar got traded away and after trades here and there plus topping up. I ended up with a Black Les Paul Standard which I've used for abt 3-5 mths only.

My "rig" at the moment

on the first picture is how i rest my guitar. And the only distortion pedal i use is Danelectro cool cat distortion pedal. My first pedal as I'm not a real fan of pedals and also due to the fact tat my amp has all the effects i need. Even it's overdrive can be set to include a distortion pedal ontop of the drive. I'm in such spirits right now at this hour of the day. I'll proceed with the amp review.

y tis?

2009-06-06T02:37:00.000-07:00

This blog is quite a copire of Subversion's Blog which is very good. He is a guy whom I keep reading his blog the simplest of all thought, I find it interesting that he has these little sections of photos where he measures his guitars against his growing daughter and also all the fun stuffs his daughter does. nothing freaky or wat, just like children and admire him for that. Nothing Michael here if that's wat u're thinking.

COPIRE is just a word i made up to combine copy and inspire. It has the meaning of the abovementioned w0rds, but mainly because i cannot find a word to describe wat i'm doing, i see sub's blog is great, i have plenty to say, so y not blog like him. Think of the time u see someone play guitar and u started doing the same.

My blog mainly comprises of me and my progress as a guitar-hobbist. I feel that I have the greatest interest to play guitar but nothing to go pro with. Some ppl read when they r free, sum exercise, but i play guitar...