Cool - things are really starting to take off with my band now. We have at least one gig a month for the next seven months. Nice. I love gigging...

Clarky - lol... I have no idea how much a hitman is these days. I prefer to take business into my own hands... lmao

Clarky - lol... "Fire in the hole!!!!"

Sammy - To play fast legato lines you need to be able to do three basic techniques: hammer-ons, pull-offs, and finger slides. Legato is not a technique, but a type of phrasing. It simply means 'fluidly'. The way to build up speed, as with anything, is to practice it constructively. Try this exercise: set your metronome or drum machine to a pretty slow tempo, around 70bpm, and trill between your first finger and the open string using even sixteenth notes for one minute (or as long as you can before your hand aches). A trill involves hammering-on and pulling-off repeatedly, ie. you'll only need to pick the first note, if that. Then repeat the exercise using all possible fingerings, on all frets, and on all strings. Do this everyday and you'll notice an improvement in your stamina and dexterity very soon. Regarding the Time Machine line, you may want to start a little simpler. Satch's legato figures are some of the best, using complicated rhythms and fingerings. Although the majority of these rhythms (like quintuplets, septuplets, etc.) are probably down to feel rather than rigidity. Joe often uses the analogy of rolling a ball of mercury around when describing his legato lines; they constantly change shape and have no definite stucture at any given time. Also a bit like falling down the stairs, if you will.... Start simple, and then build up to this kind of stuff. I hope yhat helps you, dude!!! If you want to hear some insane legato then check Brett Garsed and Allan Holdsworth.

Sammy -Well, just practice playing scales without using the pick. At all. Another good source of legato is just about any jazz sax player. Also, 'Another Day' by Dream Theater has an amazing sax solo and the player does this killer legato line right at the end - it sounds like he's floating over the top of the music, if you know what I mean? I don't know if you like Dream Theater at all but you should definitely check that song out, even it's just for that passage....

I'm going to get my second tattoo today!!! Yay!!! About time - they're so damned addictive...

John Petrucci's guitar is an Ernie Ball Music Man loaded with a Piezo transducer in the bridge. It acts like a pick up in the saddle, giving you an extremely convincing acoustic sound. As far as I know, it can be turned on and off using a switch similar to a normal pickup selector.

Tastey - I've met Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Frank Gambale, Ritchie Kotzen, Ace (from Skunk Anansie), Pete Friesen (Alice Cooper's ex-guitar player), Saracen (from old-school TV show 'Gladiators'), and Roger Black (British Olympic runner). I think there's more, but I can't remember them...

Clarky - Good points about legato! I didn't realy think about those things, but now that I have - you're so right!!! I remember I used to be pretty dependant on my legato to make me sound good. Only within the last year or so have I been poilshing my picking. I don't know if you remember that from our first jam, but I think you noticed...

Clarky - WOW!!!! Thanks for your kind words. Whilst you still can - you mean I'm going to have to endure your brutality for at least the next ten years? That sucks...

Quite a slow evening in Satchland then, eh?

Clarky - Thanks again, man. I only wish I was as encouraged by my progress as you seem to be. It's painfully slow from where I'm sitting...

Clarky - Yeah, I guess. I was talking about more recently though. Like, after the first term at ACM I'd noticed an insane improvement. But towards the end of the first year, and especially recently, it feels like I've been sitting on top of a plateau with my thumb up my ass. And I hate it.

Yes, happy birthday Nick.

I forgot to mention - I got another tattoo yesterday!!! They're slowly building up. Slowly but surely... \m/

NM

Anybody in or around Hastings, south England, on the evning of Thursday 22nd January? Come along and check my band out at Heroes Bar, near the train station.

mischievous - lol... Well, thank you. Maybe I am good, but I'm certainly nowhere near as good as I want to be, or even as good as I think I should be, all things considered...

Clarky - Encouraging words, man. Thank you. I was getting worried that I'd reached some kind of physical limit - like I can't get any better, no matter how fucking hard I try. That was really worrying me, actually...

1=) Chris Cornell, Jon Bon Jovi 3) Daniel Gildenlow 4) Mikael Akerfeldt 5) Skin

Clarky - Of course - Stevie Wonder!!! How on earth did I forget him? On another note, being told how to overcome those annoying plateaus (or should that be plateaux? lol) would be very useful. I look forward to it...

Dream Theater on Saturday!!!

Clarky - I have actually heard George Benson play. He's fucking badass. I'm really getting into Pat Metheny lately, too. There would be a bit of inspiration there, if I could understand at least half of it a little better. At the moment, all I know is it sounds fucking cool...

Clarky - Absolutely. It's just the theory involved. Like, how the hell did he come up with that? All the outside stuff, you know? Sounds awesome, and I really want to be able to do it, but I need to know how - I don't want to just blag it. That's not me. I'm not gonna go "I think I'll just a stick a few chromaticisms in here and there and with a bit of luck it'll sound like jazz". You know what I mean?

Ovation - I've only heard little snippets of his stuff, but yeah. What I heard blew my doors off...

IceZer - If you don't feel like playing guitar, then don't. You don't actually have to play guitar all the time. Keep listening to music, etc. and one day you'll want to pick it up again, and it won't be long. Never let your art turn into a chore.

Clarky - I downloaded 'The Rape...' today. That is one fucking awesome tune, dude. Kudos to you. Lots of it... lol

The Prez - Yeah. That's, er, pretty much what I said... lol

Of course!!! Michael Jackson!!! How did anyone forget him? Sheesh...

Clarky - Oh yes, I'm well aware of pentatonic substitution. I know all five pentatonic shapes in all twelve keys, and I undesratnd thst when you use a substitution you can't just play blues licks because with certain subs, they'll sound pretty fucking ugly. The sort of thing I love is when you hear this massive line that sounds like it's falling down (or up) a flight of stairs and the notes just seem so totally random, but then BAM!! It resolves, and you're like "Fuck me, that was sexy!" Brett Garsed does it a lot too. It's what scales to pick that stumps me. I know a few of the ways in, like the altered scale over functioning dominants, but there's a whole shit load more to get my head around. The sort of player I really want to be is a rock type shredder dude, but with a slightly more jazzy approach than most. Kind of like Brett Garsed, but a bit more 'inside'. I don't know if you know what I mean... And I'm sure I'll love the album, if that track is anything to go by!!! \m/ lol

IT'S AFTER MIDNIGHT!!! That makes it officially my birthday. I'm 20 years old. Oh, God - I'd better start growing up soon... Nah, fuck it! lmao

So yeah - a triple post. But I don't care. Because, not only is it my birthday (did I mention that?), but this is my 400th post. And in this post I shall type an awful lot, but not actually say anything. Because it'll be funny, don't you think? I do. I really do. Are you laughing yet? You'd better be, or I'll unleash the focking fury. How could you not be laughing, anyway? This is sooo funny. I can tell. You're impressed with my ability to type many words and say absolutely fuck all, aren't you? I would be. You wish you could be like me. You wish you were me, don't you? I've heard it all before. Did I ention it's my 20th birthday? Did I mentin it's my 400th post? I'm annoying you now, aren't I? Mwahahaha!!!! Guess what? It's my birthday today.

Yes, I'm a little drunk...

Thanks, crushing day!