Clarky - I hate to nag, but did you listen to 'Daybreak' yet? It's here.

OCPS470, haha, man that's so true. These JJ tubes are divine. My GIO is my only playable guitar at the mo, and in it's current state it's nothing special - it has it's standard Ibanez neck pickup installed. Even so, I rolled the tone off, switched on the 'Lead' channel, and it was smooth as a baby's ass!

It sounds so much better, and I now realise, with the fully-working reverb, that the amp's valves have been half-buggered ever since I got it. Unfortunately, i'm about 2 or 3 months over the 12 month warranty, so the dealer isn't going to be particularly bothered about it.

I got the Van Halen double CD the other day - was onsale at Best Buy for 13.99 or 14.99.

I like the 3 new songs and I like, how for the most part, how each song trades off - one from Van Hagar, the next from Van Roth, ect ect.

Happy Belated Birthday to my dawg... Andy Timmons!

Michelle - You'll get double the dryer sheets when it really is your birthday! lol... I'll even get customs ones that will leave your clothes smelling like freshly brewed Guinness, haha. I know only you would appreciate that! ;-).... oh crap, you watch MAD TV sometimes right? I switched channels to it on Saturday, and they did a skit of Kenny Rogers' Jackass. Roflmao!!! I dont think I've ever cried laughing so hard! Have you seen it? Its too funny not to see, lol! I had to download it so its on my computer now.

Alexandre - Hope you had a good time at the fair, it looks like it would be a blast! Thanks for the regards, and you take care as well!

RIP: Carlos Paredes

Ovation - hey Mike, sorry I'm a little late, but welcome back!

MarimariSRV - Right on! You're gonna have a new car, lol ;-)... hmm, names? Rockin blonde/pearl ivory? lol, lets see... how about... the Oyster Cruiser!! or maybe even just call it Pearly in honour of one of Joe's guitars ;-)... lol... well.... I tried at least! lol

Pete Mulas - Thanks for posting some new tunes man, I was really diggin' them. You've gotten insanely good, songwriting and technique wise... did that solo cd you were trying to record ever materialize, or got put on hold? Have a good one... oh, and by the way... glad the Vai concert was blast.

Awww dammit, the site reset which post I set as the last one read =(...

YEAH!!!! happy happy joy joy... gotta love it when you get your guitar 9 package in the mail :)... i got goncalo pereira- upgrade, john scofield- the best of, and al dimeola- anthology.... gotta go and get back to listening :)

Hope all in Satchland have a good afternoon....

cuthbert

i make crappy websites!

http://www.redhotroses.rocks.it my bands one, everythin was done by scratch, and crappy html scripts! but oh well feel free

Powerslave, I have one LTE cd. I can never remember if it's 1 or 2...

mick, I can get my clothes to smell like Guiness without dryer sheets. lol! You can send me some anyways. lol! Goat milk, cows milk, (assorted dairy products), and Jack Daniels. lmao!! I was diggin' the cattle prod & other weapons they were beating the hell out of each other with. My son was watching it with me. He liked the guy in the airport who spoke dumbass. UH-OH - HOTDOG! lol!!!

Clarky: Right-On man, I agree, when learning guitar you can be focused so much on a particular technique that it (the particular technique) is all you have.... Nothing to back it up, nothing to transition to and no chordal structure to save your life.... To me, that is what seperates the men from the boys, and IMHO, no one does it better than Eric Johnson!!.... He's got it all, fingerstyle acoustic, beautiful chordal voicings and changes (most shredders cant handle them, lol) and he can go all out with the best of them when he wants to.... That's my perception of the all-around player....

Your advice on timing, vibrato and transition (this one in particular is probably the hardest for most) are spot on man, I couldnt explain it any better!!....

You really do need to put out Clarky's Rules Of The Fretboard after Shredz is completed, cause I know it will be a bestseller, seriously bro!!....

TASTEY: haha, lol, my vote for alexandre was for him hooking me up, lol, when I try to thank someone for something or see something unusual posted, I do the .... for G3 line, lol!! ;-)

....That said....

Jimmy Dunlop 2.0mm Stubby's for G3!! (They are guitar picks Tastey, lol)

Clarky: Right on man! I couldn't agree more. The biggest problem I have with intermediate students of mine is that they learn the individual techniques but don't put in the time to connect all the dots....their playing ends up like "here's my bend..now for a legato run....now I'll tap etc etc" I think that most guys would be well served to work on technique, then spend as much time or more improvising over a bed track. This seems, to me, to be the only way to figure out how and when to use the things you know in music...it also puts you in postions you can't prepare for with an exercise, like: "uh oh I need to go there but I'm on the wrong finger" Improv forces you to make it sound perfect even though you're making it up to an extent. I think most kids spend too much time learning solos and techniques instead of understanding them so they know how to acheive a similar sound in any song.

It also seems that for many kids fast and sloppy is good enough....when I ask them to slow it down, they have trouble controlling there picking and things ring out and sound sloppy. One of the interesting things is that my teacher left me picking strictly down for about a year, which caused me to work on things like tone, feel, and vibrato, because I couldn't play fast...then later he switched me over (which ws hell) to alternate. Even though he is an amazing teacher, I don't reccommend this, but it forced me to get good at the other things than tricks and plain speed.

mick87: Thank's bro!! :-)

....Off for work....

Tool

You bet I have it right, They play; Montreal Aug 10 Quebec City Aug 11 Dallas Aug 29 LA Sept 4 Vancouver Sept 11 Calgary Sept 13 Edmonton Sept 14

Stace - ha.. so do you have any specific requests for the bribe or is cash ok??? lmao...

even feeling the tiniest of pricks will cause scaring to your masculinity.. lol..

yoda - nag?.. ha.. I just listened to it.... it's very pretty.. it's difficult to play that kind of stuff because you're so exposed... like no band to hide in amongst.. lol... so it's a brave choice you made..
the performance: is mostly nice, tight and solid but you lost it just a hint right at the end.. but it's not easy and for that sort of music a drop-in is pretty tabboo.. so one pass is the only way.. so given the fact that solo playing in this setting is a fucking nightmare.. you're well forgiven.. lol... so yes.. very nicely played overall...
the tambre: I think I see what you're aiming for.. but listening to even the best recorded music over the internet is not exactly flattering.. nice idea with the effect being so strong too [flanger???].. here's an idea.. ever thought of trying it on a steel strung accoustic with a ton of compression, the nice flanger / phaser [or what ever it is] and a nice large reverb... I think that an accoustic will make it sound less 'brittle' and warmer.. it may suit the mood better..
the harmony: nice use of voicing.. has hints of a prelude from the Bach cello suites.. nice though.. in the main theme though I'm not over keen on the function of the 2nd chord.. C to Dm?? to my ears chord I to chord II all in root inversion and with consecutive 5ths don't offer much from a harmony perspective.. a bit of a no no to my ears [and the great masters would agree with me on that one.. lol].. the alto note moving from G to A along with the soprano moving from E to F is nice.. so maybe choose a better chord... how about I to IV/C.. so the bass is static [C to F/C... Bach would like that... lol].. you could opt for C to F/A but it's not as nice because the note A is now played twice so in 3 part harmony [which is essentially what this is] it sounds a little bare.. also, given that the 3rd chord is V, making the second chord IV instead of II is a better choice.. I - IVc - Vb.. here's a top tip from Bach.. "if you want to use chord II, never use it in root inversion cos it sounds like shit.. use it in 1st inv [IIb] so it becomes a substitute for chord IV.."
form: thought of making it a Rondo??? come one degree boy.. get that mental finger out and dig a little deeper.. it's definately in you.. I totally know it is... Rondo: ABACADA where A is your main theme and B,C and D are where you go exploring and introducing fresh material.. or Sonata Rondo: ABACAB'A where B' is a recap of B with modifications for the sake of symmetry...
I was goofing with it and found a nice transition into a variation by playing the first 4 chords of section A, then making the 5th chord a Neapolitan 6th, then V7 in 4th inv [G/F].. .then to Cm/Eb [shwing...] which by moving the C to C# makes a nice Eb7 [perf cadance coming.....] then Ab... aaahhhh... lovely... new vibes in Ab or Abm which have to wind their way back to a G7 to spring back into the 'A' section....

overall comment... very very nice.. nice vibe.. pretty.. lovely idea.. very well performed

overall opinion... you are bigger than this... bigger by far... no fucking question... dig deeper... and when you do.. you will realise how much more you can offer...

you have the knowledge... no question..
you have the creativity... stacks and stacks of it...

so combine the two.... and there lives your true potential...

but all this aside... I like it... nice one.. lol..

oh yeah.. are you busy this Sunday?

maybe one day I'll do that... write a book about shredding.. I'd have to do it different to all the rest though.. maybe put some porn in it...

ocps - roflmao.... so you've seen all this shit too... lol...

I'm not a guitar teacher [never have been] but I still see the same old problems.... over and over...

Improv - totally.. you'd have seen me talking to Nick weeks ago.. learn your albums.. then jam over them.. even the vocal parts... improv has always been a huge part of my learning process... basically - find something new and jam it to death.. experimentation is king..

Sloppy - yup.. which is why some guys can't play slow... because legato can mask many evils.. but at times where the note lengths are longer [themes and ballads].. you got to play it.. you got to be tight.. you got to be 'on the one'... and legato spurts won't bail you out.. so you have no where to hide...
sloppy at slow tempos means no definition at speed...

legato is easy to become over dependant on to impress the chicks.. lol..

your final paragraph - there's nothing odd about it at all in my view.. that is pretty much how I learned... and how I'd teach.. and the NOW thing is exactly what I try to get across to newbies.. there are no cheat codes.. you can't buy a $50 technique plug-in.. it's all about learing the right stuff in the right sequence.. and working real hard at it...