trutina...looks complicated..dont know how i'm going to be able to pay you..and get a song copywrighted. and how about getting Joe to put slick on the cd??

OCP - Those are some cool ideas and I think i'm gonna try them out but it's not that I don't have the knowledge of music, although my knowledge isn't so great but it's more the fact that I am sick of my style. I hate the notes and patterns I play. It's very boring. Ideas just won't flow because i've probably heard myself play it before. When I try to sit down with new scales, I become unusually bored aswell.

Clarky - Thanks, i'm actually going on about 2 weeks of no guitar now. Everything's weird now. The thing about guitar is, I rarely enjoy playing it. I find joy in knowing i'm improving. When I do enjoy playing, it's when i'm rehearsing or practicing for a live show or the odd time, writing something.

Jelly Man - Thanks. I've actually been on opposite sides of this where i've heard people saying what i've been saying for the past week and i've given them some advice.

Lol jStrat57 :) I'm gonna have to put my vote in for "love thing" over my own song though...there is just something about love thing that is absolutely beautiful! Thanks for the sympathy votes though haha lol

Richard: -I've often felt the way you're feeling at the moment....... I can't offer you much, that others haven't already. One thing that helped me alot is a book called "Zen Guitar", by Philip Toshio Sudo. It sounds like you're using your head and not your heart. If you truly don't like what you're doing, but still desire to play, try playing acoustic stuff for a while. Listen to completely different music styles. Guys like Michael Hedges, Adrian Legg, Leo Kotke, or try something like Tal Farlow. Get away from the idea that you have to be perfect and original. Don't be critical, for once, listen to what you're doing with your heart. You have to get to the "childlike" stage of just making sound and enjoying it. Our minds are constantly getting in the way. It takes a strong spirit to ignore the shouting of the critical mind. This takes time to develop. I watch my three year old as he plinks on the keyboard or strums the guitar. What amazes me is that he simply loves the idea of making sound. Children are fearless, 'cause they haven't learned about failure. You have to unlearn the pattern of self-criticism. I'm not saying that you can't critique yourself, but don't do it as your trying to focus on playing. If you really focus on what you're doing at the moment, the critical mind cannot be heard. You're in a sense "freeing" yourself to experience the moment. Yeah, we all fail....but even in failure, experience it....don't fear it. I can say, with some confidence, that we artists are very similar in that we share the same fears. We hate rejection. We feel that if we meet this, sometimes, impossible bar we set for ourself, noone will reject us. We have to face the fact that no matter how accomplished we are at our craft there will always be someone that doesn't like it.... SO WHAT!? That's not worth smothering your inner voice from being heard. Try living in the moment of every note you play, even the sour ones. Life is full of ups and downs. Live them to the fullest.

Take it or leave it....I know it's long and states things that you've already heard. But are you really "hearing" what is being said by everyone?

Hey Joe, Heard some rumors that you are slated to perform in India sometime. Is that true? You sure have tons of fans out here. Caught your show @ the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam last year and loved every single minute of the 2 and 1/2 hour show.

Pls do make it to India............

Ahh... no sympathy in THE CAGE!!!!!!

I put my vote because of the 2 faces in your song. its all happy and ladeedaa and then its like blammo at the end and it gets minor and more in your face.

Love thing IS a beautiful song, in its simplicity, emotion, feel, you name it. I really like where you took celestial towards the end of the song, representing the hardships in any relationship haha ( i doubt it meant that, i bet it just sounded cool )

either way both great tunes, i wasnt expecting anyone to actually vote. :)

Jelly -doing something different is very good advice... it's good to spend sometime looking at classical or bee bop, blue grass, Texas blues, Moorish, funk.... the idea is that when you return to your home style you have plenty of new perspectives to add to the old playing...

Narface - US$250 sounds about right for a ticket to see the Stones.

Is it possible to purchase either the MAHOG or a CHROMEBOY?

if so where ? and how much, I really like the mahog, I woudl love to know why Joe had the mahog one made, what it was specifically used for, and on what songs?

any info would be great thanks

Joe,

I would like to use one of your songs in a homemade family video (non-commercial) I am working on. I don’t want to violate any copyrights or intellectual property rights. How do I buy the right to use your song?