alter_ego_of_joe, no problem dude! Also, if possible listen to some Paul Gilbert music and then listen to Joe.....that will give you a great indication of the difference between Staccato and Legato.

Staccato is short, stabby notes which are restrained from running together. In guitar playing terms this generally comes out as speed-picking, or synchronised picking, as I prefer to call it. This basically entails always using down-and-up-strokes with the pick and picking every note that you play with the left hand.

Legato playing invloves much less picking - the transition between notes in lead/solo sequences is much smoother, so there's more of a sense of the notes running together with a more fluid sound. Getting a good Legato technique together, one where the sound is fluid without the notes obscuring each other, requires having good strength, posture and control in all four fingers on your left hand. It also requires good independence, ie. you can use all 4 fingers independently from each other.

Flamenco is not a technique but a style/genre of music. It's a traditional style of Spanish and Portuguese music from the same era as the European classical guitar that you've been studying. If you can find some samples of Paco De Lucia then he would be worth checking out, he's the world's best renowned Flamenco player and he is distressingly good!

As for your chord playing and improving on the stretches - the exercises I'm going to send you should help. Playing modal scales for practice purposes would be good too as they're stretchy.

Hope everything's cool with you hombre. How's your aunt doing, is she ok?

njbeast & webmaster

I was a winner of the contest too.

I received my cd and DVD about 2 weeks after hearing I won. I had to verify my address for the webmaster (forgot exactly what I did though).

I did not receive my poster yet.

The webmaster emailed me and told me that more were being printed and I should receive it soon. That was about 2 months ago.

michelle: Great to hear the little new one is getting along with Stew and vice-versa
:-) Sounds real cute, and if you dont like bubbah (lmao) maybe Fire would be a good name, lol, I'm in a Steve \//\| mood ;-) Oh, and hey.... How bout' 'dem STEELERS baby!!.... Congrats!!!!....

marimariSRV: How goes it mar :-) The weather here is like summer one week, and then winter the next, lol, I've never seen this much fluctuation in the weather before!.... Thanks for the info on Dr. \//\| and his kuul shirt..you ROCK!! :-)

962: Hell yeah bro, I feel the same way about the Dramagods album, and it really makes me understand where Extreme got their musical songwriting and talent from, lol, Nuno is a musical tidal wave!!.... Awesome....

michelle: Now that I think of it, how 'bout Morris, lol, remember the commercial?!?!.... He is so cute, and hey.... Did I say STEELERS baby!!!! :-) Congrats again!!....

marimariSRV: Just checked out the shots, and I gotta say that you amaze me every time!!.... You have such a great knack for shooting the right moment and timing.... I'm sure the \//\| camp is impressed, and please keep us updated on what they say!!.... Congrats mar, you are a true talent, and it really shows in your love of music, because your pictures capture that love! :-)

Delfino ,

Stevee T:

Yes, a Floyd would be nice on a JS6. I would definitely make good use of it! Maybe on the next one. For this first one I wanted it to as close to Joe's Mohog as possible. Cheers.

Good Morning Satchland...... What Up ?

Kayla.......I'm doing great....thanks. How's things? So Joe was in the chat. Missed him again. What was Joe saying? Did you ask him about the CD? Let me know. Hugs.

Mari..... Thanks again for the Vai pics. They're awesome and so is the photographer. Hugs to you.

Band Update..... Updated the site with bio's of the new members with pics. Also have the gig dates listed. Anyone in the Chicago Land area is invited to go. I'd love to meet you guys. That would be great. Peace.

Joe...How was NAMM? Did my buddy Gary Gand make it over to you? I hope so. Well, anyway hope the mini concert went well. I can't wait to see it and to hear the new CD. Do you have a release date set? What's the Title? Say HEY ! ! ! to the family, band and crew. Take care.

Have A GReat Day Everyone ! ! !

Jenister

Thank you for your reply,

I remember seeing that someone gave one of their guitars a mirror finish, either someone from here or on Vai's site. They used some sort of mirror-like wrap that they bought off ebay. Anyone know what I'm talking about? I'd like to try this out on my old strat that I don't use. I can see how it looks and if I like it enough to do to one of the guitars I use. I know I'll be doing some modifications to the strat (I want to change a few things on it anyway, maybe put humbuckers in and a new neck) and sand down the finish, it's alittle beaten anyway. I'll see if a search on Vai's site brings anything up... I think the person said there were other types of 'wraps' you could pick from, like marble and other different and uncommon types of finishes. How cool would it be to have a guitar with a mirror finish on it (even if it isn't really a real mirrow finish.) If I find what I'm looking for I'll post it up so you can see what I'm talking about.

-EDIT: Found what I was looking for.... Check out what this guy did, I'm going to do it to my old Strat (practice) and then if it comes out realy nice I'll do it to one of my guitars I use. Then I can work on another custom finish on the strat for whatever project I decide to start on for another guitar.

http://www.vai.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14015&highlight=mirror+finish

njbeast & webmaster

You are welcome.

I hope you get your package sometime soon. I can't wait to laminate the poster - or mount it - on the wall. Maybe someday, I will get it autographed.

82DeanZ...you did a superb job on Mohog....

Keniko...checked your tunes again, and it seems I cannot listen...is it functioning correctly?

Rite in all seriousness I'm very interested 2 know , r there anyVietnam vets on this site - or any ppl with fathers , brothers or uncles that were in the vietnam war . I ask only cus i'm interested in that part of history and i also wochd PLATOON 2day and thought it wud b ace 2 talk 2 a real life veteran !

I feel really really ill bad stomach and throat threatening 2 get bad bin in bed most of the day ! gotta go

DC Slater ; yeah its always a salute from me to you man!

962 : hey yeah i heard paco de lucia ... flamenco eh??..... sadly i dont get to learn it till 5th grade....thats a long time man!!!! But its legato i prefer more and not just joe or steve but u know legato style in general any solo which goes smoooooth down your soul like november rain....

thanks anyways dude !!!

peace and guitars

man the 11 things was real gr8 and intriguing HOW DID U COME UP WITH IT??? WAS IT FROM SOME WEBSITE??? WHATEVER IT WAS IT WAS NICE!!!!

PEACE AND GUITARS

AND Q33 NY TO WINGDINGS THING IS MIRACLULOUS ITS A MIRACLE!!!!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW?? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?? MS WORDS WAS NOT MADE AFTER 9/11!!!

alter_ego_of_joe

wo wo , I dont know anythin pal , i jus found it on the net . It was not ment 2 cause offence . bigest sorrys .

NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!!!!

The CHAT is BROKEN again!!!!!!!! JOOOOOONNNNN....

Stevee T I'll definitly try it out on a few pieces of wood 1st to make sure I have the process down pretty well. Then I'll try it out on my Strat, see how I like it. Then, I'll work really hard and be very precise doing it on one of the main guitars I use. I'd like to do it to my Ibanez RG, but I like the all white finish with white perloid pickguard, looks like FLO or EVO. I'm thinking about maybe buying another guitar and giving it a mirror finish, because I don't really want to put a mirror finish on either my Les Paul (red sunburst), Ibanez RG (all white w/ white perloid pickguard), or Peavey EXP (shiny gold flake). I like the finish on all of them...so, I guess I'll just buy another guitar, or put my own custom guitar together and give it a mirrow finish... I'd like to find an Ibanez JS body. Or, I've been wanting an Ibanez JS, maybe I'll pick up a JS100, give it a mirrow finish and change the pickups and it'll be one kick ass guitar!

Hi all,

Thanks for the music JOE.

ALL- Everything and everyone in my life is falling apart at the moment...so goodbye T2J..hello depression...could be gone some time...

Hugs to all

alter_ego_of_joe, hey thanks for your interest! You can use the following link - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=259685 - to check out some of the tracks on my soundclick page. The further down the list you go the older the tracks get, and thus, the crapper the tracks get! haha. I might invite you to check out "The Jester" and "Silver Rain" though 'cause I'm fairly happy with those!

Hey Satchland...