people_____the number of dead is rising by the second......help is needed ...donate generously...god is watching us.....let us be thankful to god for sparing us from such natural disasters and give all that we could.god will bless yu all for yur generosity.

joe____g3 and all......how about a concert for the tsunami victims.....it would be great...joe,vai,petrucci,gilbert,brian may,knoffler,fredman,wes borland,kirk hammet,jason newsted,van halen,rudess,portnoy,,,,,,,,,,,,,jimmy page,aldi meola,,,,,,,all the great musicians together....imagine the amount of money that can be generated from such a concert..............this is a noble way of thanking god for the talent he has given yu.........hopefully in the very near future we are going to see yu organising a concert for the victims of the disaster.........any god damn artist will do as long as yu are the leader....c'mon joe...take the initiative.............believe me,,,,,GOD WILL BLESS YU EVEN MORE,,,,,if yu perform such an act.......heed my words...it would be wonderful if joe can come and perform in india for the victims...in this way he will be helping the needy and also enhancing my chances of seeing him perform live.....c'mon joe,,please come and perform in india...we need yu.

Schumacher donating 10 million dollars....bettering even Bill Gates..........what can we say.........well done schumi.....there is no beating yu anymore......2005 would surely once again belong to schumi if not for anything,,,for his kindness and generosity ........schumi rocks!fullstop.

Stevee T, thanks for checkin it out man, I appreciate the feedback!

Also, I didn't know Shcumacher had given 10 million! Good for him....I'm not surprised it's more than Bill gates gave!

The JS1000 has the same pickups it's had for years - DiMarzio, PAF Pro in the neck and Fred in the bridge - and new ones get the new design of Ibanez Floyd Rose-licensed bridge, the Edge Pro, which allows all the whammy abuse it can take. Unfortunately, this isn't as much as it used to be, cause the new bridges have a tendancy to shatter. That said, they've been making them over a year now, so maybe they've ironed out the problems?

The JS1200 is a slight revision of the JS1000. Same bridge, same body, neck, fretboard, everything. The only physical difference is it's neck pickup - it gets the new PAF Joe, which aparrently suits the Fred slightly better. Interesting cause the PAF Pro suits the Fred so well, you wouldn't think it'd need changing. The only other difference is aesthetic - the JS1200 is red with chrome hardware, the JS1000 is burned blue with metallic black hardware, kind of like very shiny gunmetal!

vfr - Picture at an Exhibition by ELP is their own reworking or the original by Mussorgski - which is largely the same as the orchestral original, but with drums, bass and keys...

1 - the higher the guage, the greater the sustain and the thicker the tone - also, from a tuning point of view, they are generally a little more stable
2 - the lower the guage, the less resistance is offered by the string in the form of tension.. so they feel easier to play... especially with techniques like bending and legato..

so... to answer your strings question.. it's a trade off between what you feel most comfortable playing against the tone / sustain you need.... and this is considered against what your jog is as a guitarist... riffer [medium to heavy guages]? shredder [lighter guages]? both [lighter / hybrid guages]? jazzer [medium to heavy]? metal moshpit maniac medium to heavy - to regain some tension due to the drop tuning]? bluesman medium to heavy]? classic rocker [light to medium]?.. and so on... note that guys with a cleaner tone will generally for for a heavier guage.. [apart from the drop-tune nutters]...
generally, 9's or lower are considered 'light', 10's / 11's 'medium' and 12's and above 'heavy'

in fact, these days, lead guitarists use so much more overdrive / distortion / compression that sustain is less of an issue than it used to be....

in general, 009 guage are most common and are fitted as standard by pretty much all guitar manufacterers...

you my want to try a set of 10 guage to see if you get on well with them... personally I find the plain strings [1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings] a little too stiff for my playing style...

me - I use Ernie Ball "Skinny Tops, Heavy Bottoms" this is a hybrid set... the plain strings follow the guages from a set of 9's, the wrapped strings follow the guages from a set of 10's
makes for a nice slinky feel for the solos and a slightly tighter and thicker tone for the riffing.... [best of both worlds - and you don't need to touch the truss rod]

I think Satch uses a standard set of 9's

hey Joe

How are you dude? I think i have had simpathy pains, since the 2 of jan i have been in bed not being able to move, i have had the flu, Man its awfull I have hated it. Today is the first day i have been in work for about a week and a half.

Plenty of rest and flueds thats what i have had and im up and about, hope you are two dude.

Get Well soon dude,

962________schumi is rich,,,,very rich and he has proved that he is not only rich but also has a very big heart........also why do yu say that yu ae not surprised that it is more than bill gates donated..............i think bill gates is very kind...........he and his microsoft is financing a lot of poor kids schooling in india.......... also i wish yu lived near me...i have some tracks by steven which he sent to me.........his album,,,rotating sky.....i have it...per his kind favour...it rocks...his music is very different....it is almost as if he plays his music back to front.....i wishi can explain how his music really sounds.....try to get a copy of one album of his..............i can say this.....he is amazing....his music is very original......with a capital O......period......

dck - do you have any modules for the Trton yet? I'm toying with the idea of getting the orchestral modules...

Date :April 22 and 23 (Fri and Sat) Gigs
19:00 door open, 19:30 start on the 22nd
18:00 door open, 18:30 start on the 23rd
Place: Asahi Hall

early stage times or what..... but then that means more time at the bar after... wooohooo....

I've got no idea what Asahi Hall is like... for all I know it could be a Scout Hut... lol...
it can't be a big place... DC is just not well enough known..

I've decided on a slightly different tack for the DC set... I intended to use Avarice.... but I've decided to try Lust [RG470] and drop the tuning by a whole tone...
why? the 7-string feels really bulky for all the Crimson stuff.... but works great on the DC stuff [cos it's all on 7 anyhow.... I don't need to get down to the low B that often.. but low D is common and needed.....
so I'm going to retune and try to relearn the set....
I'm going to try it out Saturday.... if it don't work I'll go bach to using Avarice..

how am I faring in life...??... compared to the poor bastards on the rim of the Indian Ocean I have absolutely nothing to complain about.... so I'm faring very well thanx...
how's things with you??

I know what you mean though... Last April [funny.. a few days before St Georges Day] I almost check-out for good...
nurse told me that in surgary there was a little spell when things were not good at all...
and now I'm back...
the new improved Clarky... uglier and stupider than ever..

"I'm from Texas.. so what I think is big and what you think is big is a whole different sorta big"

brother al - I'm a leftie too..... I'd recommend taking a good look at the leftie Ibanez RG series guitars... there is at least one leftie available... it's nice to play.. has an edge bridge .. etc...

hoiguy,

Joe's exact Guitar setup specifications can be found in VAULT section then Guitar Shop, then click on setup in the Chromeboy picture.

Hope that helps!

962,

A pleasure to listen to your tunes.

Isn't it great for us all to be able to join in one place & share our thoughts, music & common interest in Joe....

cuth / kev88 - I wrote "me - I use Ernie Ball "Skinny Tops, Heavy Bottoms" this is a hybrid set... the plain strings follow the guages from a set of 9's, the wrapped strings follow the guages from a set of 10's"

ha... a lil' mistake there....

Ernie Ball 'Skinny Tops, Heavy Bottoms' are:
plain strings from a set of 10's
wrapped strings from a set of 11's
I used to use these on my Strat.. I got on very well with them, but when I started playing RG's they just weren't doing it for me... so I needed to drop a guage...

noe I use Ernie Ball ' Hybrids' which are:
plain strings from a set of 9's
wrapped strings from a set of 10's

and I loves 'em I tells yer... I loves 'em

But to be sure, guitars do sound/work better with strings!! By the way, nylon strings sound like shite on an electric guitar...

zen - yes I'd agree... string choice is about the style of music you play, your roll [rhythm, lead or both], your own personal playing approach
guys like SRV / Rory Gallager use huge strings but the have a hard 'attacking' style...
guys like me, Vinnie Moore, Jan Cyrka [possibly Malmsteen] have a surprisingly gentle approach [dispite what is sounds like.. lol].. so skinny strings are best for us...
someone once told me that Malmsteen uses 8's... ad on a scaloped fingerboard too..??.. I don't know if there is any truth in this.... but if this is true, he must have an amazingly soft style... ultra light strings, tnued to Eb?? very little tension.. you'd expect him to be 'squeezing them sharp' due to the scallops... IMHO it sounds like shit to me... but this is what I was once told...

You're also right about the Rape and Our Blood... those two tracks show me playing as I do in a 'band' setting... the rest of the IUMA stuff is me having a little fun.. all completely improvisational [which is still valuable to work on].. however, those two tracks are more composed and structured...
if I learned anything from Malmsteen it was "do not hold back.." 100% passion, even at the cost of accuracy [to a limited degree] is the only way.....
I would much prefer to hear something exciting and passionate that is a little rough around the edges, then something that is technically perfect but bland and lacking any passion...
and sometimes that means I have to play right on the limits of my technique.... but if the delivery makes someone's hair stand on end the I feel that I met my objective...
which is:
capture my own passion and transfer it to the listener

if anything, the tracks on Shredz are even more neo-class than The Rape.. think of The Rape as the 'entrée'... from then on things get more intense and much more compositional...
today I played The Baptist to a pal at work on the CD player in my car..... and When the guitar representing Salome was singing "bring me the head of the Baptist" is made my hair stand on end.....
for me it is very very cool that my own music did that to me....

so have you played my music to any of your friends??
if so, I'd be interested in what they had to say...

it's a shame that you can't just try them all out easily first and then decide..

if you want a chrome scratch plate go to a custom builder and have one made.... I bet it's not as costly as you'd expect..

Clarky and I am surprised that we never heard about more finger tendon probs with guys like SRV, KWS, Gallagher, Gary Moore et al with their hard attack wide bends high action and taut gauge... At my age my fingers get "bent out of shape" carrying grocery bags for cripes sakes!!!

It was once reported that during his heyday, Alvin Lee used banjo strings say 6 or 7's on his guitars!! Don't think I could even see that!!!

Another guy who epitomizes your "gentle" approach and sounds vicious is of course Tony Mac, possibly the most "economical" shredder out there!!!

.....

...One of the friends of my family who was at my brother's baptism, cheated on his wife... so she left him... he got pissed of...he couldn't take it... he killed her, their two youngest children, one a toddler, the other i don't know, and then killed himself. The only ones left are the older sons, one 23 and the other, i dont know either... my God... i just don't understand how people can bear to kill their own flesh and blood......

Chaos, nothing to add but prayers for the older sons and all others affected by this senseless tragedy.....

**Get well music for Joe**

Song Of The Day ~

PRIMAL CONCRETE SLEDGE by PANTERA

crank it UP!!

Chaos, some people are just effed up beyong belief! I'm so sorry this had to happen. My heart goes out to the family and friends. May God hold the two remaining boys in his light and help them through this nightmare. The father will pay in the afterlife. How can people kill their children? I just can't comprehend that.