soooo basically an Ovation is like getting a lap dance???

Glitzy - thanks mate! I have been lucky enough to be on holiday for a few days staying near Mr Skippy's sister so I have had 3 lessons with my brother-in-law and I can't tell you how much it makes a difference to actually sit with someone who can play...I have to say my BIL is amazing as a player and a very patient teacher (I think he must be a bit like Joe, a natural teacher).

Can you believe he plays electric, (but moved on from that LOL), country, blues, classical, flamenco, Brazilian and Argentinian and lord knows what else....he is amazing. He's played with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, as well as the bass guitarist from John Butler Trio (who just got fired apparently) and heaps of other musicians. He is recording some material in January that is classical piano stuff arranged for guitar.

Anyhoo, he's sitting there with his hugely expensive Condes Hermanos guitar and he got me to play a series of chords with a certain strumming pattern and then he just starts playing the "lead" part and it turned out to be Norwegian Wood, so all of a sudden I'm actually playing a proper song and the smile on my face is a mile wide. Such a great feeling. Then we went on to a couple more Beatles songs and I'm playing barre chords and picking out bass notes and all sorts of things.

It's so good to sit with someone and talk guitar and ask all sorts of idiotic questions and not feel like a dick. He's also really patient when I struggle to work out the strumming or a chord he just breaks it down and plays it r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w until I get it, without making me feel stupid.

So the new year resolution is to get lessons cos clearly the learn-from-the-book-and-internet is real slow LOL!

My other resolution is to get fitter.

I hope you have a wonderful NYE, I see you kicked up your heels and had a screwdriver at Xmas huh? Any more races coming up?

Scuby - sounds like the birthday went off well, congrats on the pedal setup, when do we get some video ??

Al - the blue moon is NYE, I'll be thinking of you all night :0)

Anybody lucky enough to be going to the Davy Knowles show in Philly on new year's eve? I'm still waiting on my DVD to arrive :(.

Pippy - wassup buddy? What's the plans for new year's eve?

Axe - congrats on the use of your videos in the Chickenfoot vid, one day I hope I'm in them :0)

Happy new year everyone!! Joe - I hope you celebrate in style.

Happy birthday, Jeff Campitelli...! :-)

And happy nine year anniversary to Live In San Francisco! I wasn't in line for another eight hours or so still, but MegaBoyd's brother was almost already waiting at the Fillmore this early in the day...haha.

That was such a great show, as we can all tell from the CD/DVD, but it doesn't come anywhere near SWTA from 12/28/00. That song from that night is on my short list of best Satch moments ever.

Anyway...

Thanks for the reminder Austin....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPPUCINO JEFF!!! And many more :)

Austin, I don't even know him and yet....now I love Mega Boyd's brother, LOL!!! Chris and I would fit in nicely with him in line all day :) Wish we'da found Joe years before we did, missed soooooo many good shows.

Happy birthday to Scubz too, hope it was a good one.

Chelle, was Alan starring in The Hangover? If not, he shuda!!

Happy birthday Jeff!

Hello sir,

I felt in love with the guitar the day I heard Surfing with the alien (it was several years ago...). Now, Santa Claus gave me "Guitar Secrets" the lessons book from my favorite song writer and player. I'm going through it and I have 2 questions about these exercises: 1/ what is the speed limit for an exercise? Should I spend several hours to play it quicker and quicker or is it waste of time and it's better to play it slowly? 2/ Should I spend 2 hours on each exercice or is it better to spend 10 minutes on each?

History of the Ibanez JS as told byJoe Satriani

Evenin all.....

Must be Chrismtas due to stuffing face with turkey, chocolate, various soft drinks & crisps... I'll soon be Lard55 (right chelle?). Someone remimd me to train extra hard to make up for the week of indulgence - after 31.12.09 please

Wooleyman - thanks, I'll try & pop a few more jems up now & again

Blue Moon - you are more than welcome! Sorry to hear about your Mum, things seem pretty positive from what you've posted though so good on her. Positive vibes to her & you!

Cheese - your Bro & the present wrapping. FAF. Good story there!

Axeshredder - I forgot about the whole drum pass fakeout thing, seems like a very long time ago already!

Do The Stu - you know you can talk about problems here any time, no matter how trivial. Hope you're having a great break with the family! Music related gifts - got a cool guitar pedal & really nice t-shirt. Pics to follow : )

Cosmic Ape - nice 1000th post! What the hell did that guy have for tea beforehand.....

CappySteve - many congratulations to your daughter. That's great news. Tit for Tat seems like a reasonable alternative pricing scheme

Skippygirl - oh oh, I see the pippy thing lol! Down girl. You can play Turkey Man? cool, congrats, mission accomplished (although wasnt it Satch boogie you were going for originally?)... you should have posted a party aftermath pic lol

Is Norwegian wood anything like morning glory?

Scubadaz - late Happy Birthday from me (I did HB you somewhere else too). Nice pedal collection there... time for a vid : )

I think the Bentley for Veyron trade might see you short by "a coupla" quid. But def the right idea!

Elpp - nice axe's, cool!

Peace - thanks for the links they were great. Glad bubs is home and you can give her loads of cuddles now.

Pip - aww I like Pippy, but OK back to Pip....no I can't play Turkey Man very well, it's just that my brain finally caught on to the pattern and I can do it atm only really slowly, so a few more months practice and I can hopefully play it in time, without any dead notes etc....my BIL showed me the position changes which made it easier. And we are talking the intro only of course.

And, er, you know those Norwegian blokes right? teehee.

Al - remiss of me not to mention that I was sorry to hear about your Mum going through that but it sounds like it's good now, hope you gave her lots of cuddles and kept your room tidy, cooked dinner etc...? (j/k)

I'll try to take a pic of the blue moon tomorrow night and post it for you.

Realising the excess of Cherry coke and chocolate (via way of presents) before bed time was probably not the wisest... hence 2am catchup

Skippygirl - it's ok, you know I love pippy really lol (here comes the flood of pippy usage)... if you're playing it, you're playing it. That's really cool. Now plug into the Spidey sense amp, and give it some delay too : ) How's the music room looking?

It's a bounce along....

... bounce with meh peeps

Bounce bounce bounce Ice 9 bounce

Joe musta had some of that Turkish coffee....lol . That's a cool clip.......

Blue_ Moon-Hope you get over your cold soon, sounds like you have all the required remedies except for chicken noodle soup. Another thing I swear by is Emergen-C. Don't know if you have that in Ireland or not. Its 1,000 mg vitamin C with 24 nutrients & antioxidants Electrolytes &7 B vitamins. You mix it with water and its kinda fizzy. It does a body good..... Best wishes for your Mom' s health.

Jayzus Pippy, lookit him go! That's the shit right there! Joe's super jacked up for that show. lol! Check out that move at 1:06. He's a feckin rock star I tells ya! LOL!

Happy Birthday Jeff Campitelli!

Skippygirl: Yes, I did have a Screwdriver (only one) at one of my Christmas parties and I was also having a blast dancing. I'll have one more party to attend, which will be after the New Year (my Dad's side of the family). Speaking of New Year's, I'm working New Year's Eve & New Year's Day so I might not be celebrating a whole lot. As for running, I did about 20 or more races for 2009. I know I'll be doing a lot again in 2010. I'm already signed up for two races (half-marathons), plus my points races for the Fort Wayne Track Club. You can find my runs on fwtc.org or runindiana.com (check them out). I already bought two new pairs of running shoes (on mark down plus discounts) so I'll be ready for the upcoming runs. I probably put in about 1,000 miles of running this year. Speaking of running, I'll be attending my FWTC Banquet in January 2010 and I'll be getting the chance to meet Bill Rodgers, who is a U.S. Runner & Former Record Holder in marathons. If you're curious about him, look him up. AYE!

Fatape: Have you heard of Bill Rodgers? If not, look him up. AYE!

Cosmicape: Congrats on surpassing 1,000 posts.

Do The Stu: Thanks for the info on Jeff's B-Day. Hope you had a good Holiday Season.

Blue_Moon: Al, get better man. I also have a little bit of the stuffy head/sniffles right now, but I'm doing better.

PIPPY - yep that's a ripper vid! Joe is one disco duck that's for sure - he'd be great at one of my parties, dancing is compulsory :0) and the way he moves he'd be a hit with my friends....

Chelle - and the move at 2:00, pretty cool also.

Al - *hugs* hope you feel better for NYE Al, you can't miss that.

Peace - thnx, yes, lessons = rapid improvement. I've spent most of today practicing strumming exercises cos I'm pretty hopeless at the moment. I'll be seeing my BIL again in 2 weeks when we go on our beach holiday and I know he is expecting me to have practiced so we can play some Beatles songs together.