Jon, thanks for the ITLIS clips. I like the variety. If I Could Fly is a good melodic song... looking forward to hearing the whole cd.

Joe, hope life if fun, xo.

For acoustic over electric, I wouldn't say that just playing an acoustic demonstrates someone's ability. I think the real skill factor is simply playing without the use of effects (including distortion/overdrive).

For instance, I can't afford to spend a fortune on a really good acoustic guitar with a nice action, but on the other hand an electric guitar with a nice action can be relatively cheap. Many people with cheap acoustic and electric guitars who don't have much money to spare, such as myself, will also likely choose to settle for a cheap acousitc and buy effects for their cheap electric guitar instead of choosing to splash out on an expensive but better acoustic.

I can play my electric guitar with no effects and a clean tone to a standard that truly reflects where I am with the instrument. If, however, some blinkered purist were to say 'that's no good, you're nothing on the guitar unless you play unplugged' and then asked to hear me on my acoustic guitar, it wouldn't reflect my ability fairly, because my cheap acoustic guitar, unlike its similarly priced electric counterpart, has an ultra stiff grip on the strings to make fretting a note feel like you're cutting your fingers with cheesewire, plus the gap between the strings and the fretboard seems wide enough to be able to climb through it!

I still play acoustic as well as electric, it's good to play both just to vary your playing even if your acoustic's action is horrible like mine, but frequently I have to tone things down on the acoustic. My friend has a really nice acoustic, and when I play his I play just as well as on electric, because with his acoustic it's fine just to play freely without inhibitions over the action or tension. Those two aspects are more important, I think, than just being plugged in or not (as long as effects aren't being overused).

If all things were equal in terms of action, tension and so forth then acoustic use may be said to reflect true ability, but usually people's acoustic and electric guitars aren't equal. Different if you're Joe, or Vai, and can afford the best of both, even having them customised to your tastes, but for many of us, we can't do that.

What I find funny is that if you play your electric guitar with no amplification at all, so that you're only playing the bare guitar except without the acoustics, then play something well, some people still dismiss it as 'that's easy because you did it on an electric guitar', as if it did everything for you! I don't know why it bothers some people so much. Mind you, people who get that wound up about something like that are often the sort of people who if you do what they ask to the letter, they try and find some way of picking that to bits or insisting on something else being important that they hadn't told you they wanted, then look at you like you should be ashamed of yourself and apologise to them!

JAZZY BOY- i think joe's "fastest" playing, is on either surfing with the alien, where he does that super fast tapping stuff with the pic... or for straight playing it might be Crushing Day, theres some real fast leads on there... and when joe played it live a couple tours ago it looked like he was having a bit of trouble with it, he didnt fuck up or anything but you could see his face grimacing as he stretched all over the fretboard...no wonder they dont like to do the song, it was awesome though! we might not ever hear that tune live again....but we all chanted for it and joe delivered after months...maybe years of hounding, rock on joe.

edit: check it out, guitar world 1999 reader poll... BEST HARD ROCK ALBUM - Metallica, Garage Inc. ---BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT - #2 Metallica - Garage, Inc.... says volumes.

Granola, Granola, go, go, Granola!

Greyfox 88: I think some guys get away with bad pick tone on an electric because of dist and such, but I've also seen many great acoustic players that sound bad on electric. This is because many acoustic players are not used to having to string damp to the extent that electric players do. I feel like I'm more of an electric player because I have better touch and finese because of the lightler strings. my tone still sounds smooth playing an acoustic though. Also, a lot of guys are used to letting the electronics of the guitar "help" with legato or tapping. If guys do the techniques right though, they should be just as doable on an acoustic. I think too many guys are using Tripple Recto Mesa amps to do all the work for them.

Artanis I : The correct pronunciations are BIZ-un-teen and Bye-ZAN-tium

Powerslave: is that British or American?

Woohoo! Congrats to UConn! :-) They're the first Division I school to win both the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments in the same year.

TheBob - Practice. :-)

Austin, I have almost 1/4 the posts you have...take that!

austin haha thanks

Those are correct pronounciations for either nationality.

Hello people. Howis everyone? Good I hope!

JonRobertQuin Do you have anywhere i can here some of your music or playing? I have tried clicking your link but it says not authorised? Do you do any other work other than music?

Edit: - Got into it now!! cool

Bought a couple of books, Giants of Rock and Giants of Blues. Haven't delved too much into the Blues one but the Rock one is pretty cool. You get a track in the style of an artist e.g Aerosmith with a solo and a backing track! pretty cool!!! apart from the first song has a page missing from it! how annoying is that!

Stu Clone roflmao man !! coughING - heh heh, subtle dude, almost like a ninja character assasination - ;-)

Mike SB Hatfield and the North Jeez man, there's a name that I would never expected to show up on here, esp. in connection with Steve Stevens. Useless Connected Fact The band name was taken from a road sign just outside London - probably off the A1.

Michelle Granola ?!!! What the hell are you talking about ? ;-)

JS Song Tournament

Click here, read the rules, and click the link to vote in Round 3.

I have about 20 responses so far. I received over 30 responses for each section of the last round... Come on, people...vote! ;-)

EDIT - I spelled "received" wrong.

"I" before "E", except after "C". We live in a weird society.

... when the sound is "ee" ...

austin ha, ha about the traffic thing. I do travel through L.A. on occasion, my point being: it's better to travel around noon than at rush-hour ( early or late ) if i'm lucky, the two hour drive won't turn into a four hour trip.

artanis According to my dictionary you can pronounce it both ways. Byzentine is therefore [bi'zaentain] or [bai'z-] and also [-tain] or [ti:n] (teen). Byzentium is pronounced [bi'zaentiam] or [bai'zentiam], and you can also pronounce the ending using the sh-sound from ie 'shower' : [bi'zaensham].