Delfino, try just walking into some bars and asking if they want staff......in some twisted "we're so cool" kinda way they may not have responded because you wrote to them! That's all I can suggest I'm afraid dude.....employers are assholes. I had an interview once and was told one of the reasons I didn't get it was 'cause I don't cope well with change, even though I told the person "yeah, I think I cope well with change. I started a new college course a month after my dad died, I'd call that coping fairly well". I'm not bothered, cause I didn't want the job anyway, but it's the principal of it.

I'd guess you're being very polite and stuff, as one should be when applying for a job? Maybe you should start being more aggressive?

Either way, keep your chin up dude, and nag your parents....it'd be great to get you down here for Mr Gilbert in a few weeks!

cheese 101, "he really is the sweetest duck"....hahaha! although that is probably the most unusual thing I've ever read, I somehow actually know what you mean!! My neighbour had about 30 ducks, and we used to look after them when she went on vacation, and some of them had real character!

Anyway, He Really Is The Sweetest Duck has got to be used as the title for a song! And "CHELLY!!! Put on yer BAT SUIT and run fer the hills"....I almost fell off my chair reading that!

Master Yoda, ah ok! haha, yeah it did look rather agressive! hehe, oh well. I can understand it's difficult to come up with a catchy title, and it depends on the DVD content. I mean, Paul Gilbert's "Terrifying Guitar Trip" was a cool, funny title, but it was a funny video.

I dunno man, I'm just thinking that if I saw something titled "Creative Virtuosity" on the shelf, by somebody I'd never heard of, I'd think "who the hell is this?!" What other names did you consider, what's on the shortlist?

juju, congrats to your bro and sister-in-law, and to you on being an auntie! How's it feel?

haha, yeah 1% can seem huge sometimes :-P

Delfino, oops, something I forgot to mention in my email:

Shredinator, "Bloom" is a cracking album......I dunno about itunes, I'd just buy the CD, it's well worth it. I got a Bloom tour shirt too, which is very nice indeed.

The album is a beautifully, tastefully crafted masterpiece. My absolute favourite track on it is "Columbia", which is dedicated to the crew of the space shuttle of the same name. The melody and tones and tear-jerking key-changes are the sort that only EJ can craft, nobody else comes close. The great variety of stuff on the album will make you smile, it's definitely interesting to listen to.

You could probably lift some cool textures for the text on the head (as in the words and numbers printed by all the controls) from the marshall website, or carvin or laney or whatever!

mikesb, yeah katie did a special release of the Call of The Search album with a DVD packaged along with the CD album. It's cool, it follows her on tour in some places and she talks about all sorts of stuff, says a message in Georgian to all her friends in Georgia, and then says it again in Russian, that bit is well worth watching :-) Seriously though man, it's a cool DVD!

But like I said, it's different! haha. Ah hell man, just buy it, you'll love it! There's some amazing arrangement and playing on this album, along with some amazing refinement and subtlety.....I guess tha's why I think it shares a similar vibe to Souvenir!

Delfino/DCK, maybe it should read "anal sex with other men is for queers"? hehe.

Delfino, any news on whether or not you can make it on Friday? Call me if you like, but leave it till after 8pm, or before 4pm!

Delfino, nicely done bro, nicely done. A and two C's is a nice bundle of points, and all that matters is that you've got what you needed to get on the course you want to do! Speaking of which, did you make a decision yet?

I personally think you should make the transfer to film work, cause CGI is what you really want to do, more than game-design, right?

I've just been helpfully informed by amazon that I can now preorder my X-Box 360 for 210 pounds! bastards.....I know I shouldn't, but I can't resist!

SlickPotatoHead, hell yeah brudda, X-Box 360 is going to be so worth paying out for. I've been looking at the 3 available screenshots of Project Gotham 3 and it's amazing, they're really putting effort into the architecture. Can't wait to see Halo 3!

Last night's Paul Gilbert clinic was held, in association with Guiar Mania and Laney Amps, at the Layard Theater at Canford School. Canford (where my sister works, yay!) is a very old, very exclusive, and very beautiful boarding school. It's theater is pretty new, and is a cracking venue. It's like half an octagon, with fairly steep terrace and a balcony, and a total of 300 seats. It makes for a pretty close, intimate, and relaxed environment.

Paul was on stage with his Laney GH100L head and cab, and his PGM300, the prototype for the commercial PGM301. There was a bunch of other Laney amps and a PGM301 on stage, all with price tags on! He used a DS-1, a flanger, a delay and a tuner, but almost all of his tone was straight from his guitar and amp.

He talked about a whole lot of stuff, covering technique, some theory, influences, favourite music, his experience of learning at the age of 6, and then again aged 9, being on TV in Japan.....he covered a lot! His playing was just heartbreaking, it was all so real. Paul is in no way arrogant at all, he's a modest, normal guy who happens to be an amazing musician. He said nothing profound, but said a lot of really hilarious sh*t (as you'd expect) and lots of really useful stuff. He played some Racer X songs using backing tracks, and played some stuff solo as he was demonstrating the stuff he was talking about. He took requests and questions, and when asked about his classical music covers, played a Bach piece he'd transcribed. Not B.R.O. as can be found on "Technical Difficulties", but something else.

He finished up saying "I'm going to play a medley of my three favourite british bands - Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, and The Spice Girls". Obviously everyone cracked up and thought he was taking the p*ss, but he proceeded to play "2 become 1", which he'd transposed down to a lower key 'cause he can't sing as high as "Mel C". The way he played and sang it actually made it into a really nice song, with a seamless transition into the Led Zep/Sabbath arrangement. And with all that done he took a five minute break before going out to the foyer/bar to sit behind a table and sign 300 (or more) autographs.

I figured if you can't beat 'em join 'em, so I got his name added to my 'signature scratch-plate', along with Mr Sheehan, and Joe and Jeff and Vai and Igor, of course. I just gotta get Nuno, EJ and Andy T added and I'm all set!

I got 65 cracking photos of Mr Gilbert playing his ass off, pulling a variety of great faces. I can't upload the lot, so I'll look through them and find the best ones, and let everyone know when they're up for public viewing!

OCPS470, yeah....it's just there was so much, I don't know where to start! haha. He demonstrated some exercises that can also be found on his tutorial videos, for practicing synchronised picking across strings. He used a lot of legato as well though (to my surprise) and talked about starting a pattern with an upstroke rather than downstroke, as it helps improve the ability to synch-pick across strings.

The pattern he used started off with just 3 notes, then he added an extra bottom note, then another note in the middle. In this way he was demonstrating that the best way to learn to play fast patterns is to first start with patterns with less notes in. Then when you're comfortable with it you add an extra note and keep going at the same tempo, and so on.

He said the most useful thing he learned in terms of note-choice/playing a good solo, was the harmonised major scale. He then played it in it's chordal form, which it think is going to be very useful for anybody who's been teaching themselves for a year or two and needs some help to step up a level. The sound of intervals is something I'm working on with some of my students, although studying and knowig the harmonised major scale is something I should work on also. This was all in response to the question "how do you choose which modes to use?".

Paul said "the more notes you play, the less it matters which notes you play, so it actually gets harder when you slow it down. For me the most useful thing is knowing intervals and how they sound, and the biggest step was learning the harmonised major scale". Or words to that effect.

He said his favored bit of advice for everyone was to learn songs. And he said "don't take some amazing song with terrifying guitar playing in that you love, and try to learn it, if you know you can't get there yet.....instead take something more simple. I learned a lot of Beatles songs, which had some great chords in them". He made it very clear how important it is to learn all sorts of different chords and chord types, and how much they will help with other areas of playing.

I'm trying to pick out the things he talked about which I found useful. A lot of it, like I said, was aimed at people of a beginner-to-intermediate level, who need to be given some direction.....in hindsight, I wish I could have taken a couple of my students along, especially the one who thinks Tom Morello is an amazing guitar player! ehem.

I gotta run now, but if I think of more I'll add it!

Suzie, haha, thanks, it's the thought that counts!

Also, yeah, I really ought to buy these Vai tickets otherwise I'm gonna miss out! Oops. Nearer the time we'll sort out some way to get in contact when you're over here. Also, thanks for the e-mail, those snake pictures are crazy!

Delfino, haha, you crack me up dude!

infidelinc, sweet, do you know what Geoff/Jeff Tyson is up to these days? And do you know where we can find an original copy of "T-Ride"?! hehe. Tyson's a great player....what was he like as a teacher?

Also, have you been looking at the Project Gothem 3 screens? It looks great, but I was amazed to see the rear lights on the Lamborghini Murcielao were just textured, and not fully modelled. They should build the little creases between glass segments in 3D, especially since the back of the car is the bit you'll see most. On the upside, they're building 3D interiors! Yess!

Zinc Master, Sum 41 are of the same set as Blink 182, so no, they're not very good.

On another, altogether different note, I'm sorry to hear about the latest f*ck-up in your uni-enrolment process. And I bet their excuse is some "well we have a lot of these applicatins to sort through" bullshit.....it's not rocket-science, a-holes, so do your damned job properly! Haha, sounds like they've never been told it's okay to 'think outside the box'. I hope it all gets sorted anyway dude!

infidelinc, hahaha, this - "Sort of like a cross between Obiwan Kenobi and Tyler Durden" - is hilarious! And in my book of 'tyler's best lines' you will find those immortal words, "Bob had bitch-tits". hehe, great movie.

Anyway, where can I find his "Stimulator" stuff? I don't particularly want to do a web-search on "stimulator" cause I'll have to sift through 12,000 pages of sex toys and porn before I find Mr Tyson!

I did find T-Ride on amazon-usa, but living in the UK that makes it tricky to get hold of.

edit: I found stimulator. Google turned up Tyson's personal website rather more easily than I expected! Looks like he's doing pretty well for himself. I checked out an mp3 sample and it's kinda cool (stimulator, I mean) but I'm not sure I'll buy it. What was Snake River Conspiracy like?

Austin, yeah Bloom got international release on the same date. I didn't get the "free poster" with mine, but it's a truly beautiful album. I love the three parts to it, although the first part is clearly my favourite. "Columbia" is the most emotive tune I've heard since I first heard the melodies in the Venus Isle album.

I think Eric's writing and arrangement on the new record is really interesting, and he seems to be doing more work in the production/post-production process than he has done before. As a result, some tones and sounds have a slightly clinical feel to them, but not in a bad way, as you can clearly hear that that's how everything is meant to sound.

His singing, as always, is spot-on and his playing is remarkable. The only track I'm unsure about is 12 to 12 Vibe....I'm so used to the way he played it (Intro Song) on G3 '96, that hearing it sounding different is going to take some getting used to. I think I prefer the G3 '96 recording, it's got more balls, and it's got the added bonus of Brannen Temple playing drums.

I like the liner-notes and all the CD artwork are great, and Eric finally getting his new Favored Nations contract is a real blessing....finally, some freedom! Also, did you check out the video on his site of the live performance of "My Back Pages"? Definitely worth downloading!

Hey folks, I just uploaded my 5 favourite photos (out of 76) from Paul Gilbert's clinic just over a week ago.