Ok... so I played... well... more like murdered

I was fortunate enough to be invited to sit in with a band here locally on Friday Night.
They, however, werent so fortunate.
I was literally shaking I was so nervous!

The sound sucks, the camera was shaky as hell, and of course I flubbed enough to embarrass myself.

The Evidence:

And then.... the bitch that started this... Elizabeth Reed.

I just gave up on imitating Dickey Betts and Dwayne Allman after what? TWO months of playing guitar? A lofty goal indeed... however the reason Elizabeth Reed lives in memory is because I killed her!

More Incriminating Evidence:

But... in the end... I didnt back down from the challenge and I suppose that is all that matters, right? I got experience playing guitar on stage in front of people with some really great musicians backing me up! I had a blast... even though I looked like a deer in the headlights!

Played like a deer that had already been hit! LOL!

Make mistakes, learn the lessons, and move forward!

Shipping Woes

Man I have been really LAX in my posting.... some 365 huh?

Point to ponder...
why is it that when you sell something on ebay the buyer wants it yesterday and you feel oddly obligated to somehow comply.... yet when you are the buyer... its always on an auction that the seller says.... "I ONLY SHIP ON DAYS WITHOUT A Y IN THEM!"
You always win those auctions and are at the mercy of lazy fat bastards with incomprehensible shipping fees.
Welcome to my world.
ugh.

Muahahahahaha!

I was working in the lab.... late one night... when my eyes beheld an eerie sight!
My monster from its slab began to rise... and suddenly... to my suprise...

He ran off to a patent attorney.
Sheesh!

Im working on it. Slaving on it. Refining it. Expanding it.
P e r f e c t i n g

Coming soon... VERY big announcement!

Epiphany!

Ever have one of those.... "Holy Shit! That might work!" moments?

I did last night! This is going to revolutionize seeing the fretboard in low light!
And STAGE PRESENCE if you wanted to utilize it that way I suppose.

Its so simplistic it counfounds me why no one has done this before!

I will prototype this for my next update to the blog and you will see for yourself!

Just know..... (insert spooky music here)... something WICKED this way comes!

Shhhhhh... Its a SECRET!

I could tell ya... but Id have to kill ya!
Secret Alien Technology..... Or something. ;-)

Different Tree.... Different Problem

No update recetly... WAY too busy in the garage!

Here is a little... "What I think I wanna do" movie.

Remember the UGLY routing accident? I have done some Triage.... we can rebuild him.... we have the technology!

Let There Be Light!

I havent been Slacking! Honest Injun!

I been twiddlin and fiddlin and cussing up a storm on this end, trust me!

This is the finished neck off of the green monster I paid 20 bucks for. I put maybe another 20 in materials into it. The labor I have no clue about... but I see why those dudes in england charge $500 american to custom install a setup like this. Frustrating as all hell... but in the end I like the changes so I guess it was worth doing just to prove I could. And too... learn a whole lot in the process.

Check out the vid!

Still have a couple of problems to work out but overall Im stoked!

Transitions....

Okay... so needlees to say I got distracted with fiddling around in the shop.

However, my guitar playing hasnt really suffered... just me making movies of it and posting them for you to laugh at has.

Though I did manage to get THIS little piece of eye candy together...

Its a prototype. Fiber optics arrive tomorrow by 3pm so I can start meddling with that.

Maybe its just me... but Im thinking that I will appreciate side markers that light up far more than fingerboard markers. Guess we will find out tomorrow!

On the guitar PLAYING side of things... I believe I can stumble through all 7 modes of CMaj now without too much fumbling.

I will probably have to post an Elizabeth Reed Moment here soon.... just bear with me.

Fretboard v1.2

Took the Green Meanie out to the woodshed to iron out our differences.
Here is the highlight reel!

More Pathetic Sheep Being Led To Slaughter

Just a quick video of some new "victims" for my neck lighting project.

Enjoy!

Guitar Destruction 101

Not much to say... learned 7 positions for CMaj... and trying to remember their greek mode names. Who the fuck was Phrygian anyway? Wouldnt some kid named Phrygian get his ASS beat by the other kids in the school yard?

The new video isnt about my guitar PLAYING progress... but it IS about guitar progress.
I have come to the conclusion that I am going blind in my old age and need some OTHER method of seeing fret position than pearloid inlays in a darkened environment... soooo....
WELCOME TO GUITAR DESTRUCTION 101!
This video very sloppily covers my forray into options for better sight of fret markers.
Oh The Horror! I use power tools and all KINDS of implements of destruction!

Cringe and Press Play!

Garage Cleaning Day

Not much to say except where does all of this SHIT in your garage COME FROM?!?!?!

Here is a movie of some NON GUITAR MOMENTS from today....

Anyone got a Q-Tip?

I am trying to figure this damned song out by ear. I think I need the wax blasted out!
The challenge for me is to be a better guitarist in 365 days.
I can already hear I am a better player after an hour a day practice for just 10 days.
But Dear God, or whatever you hold holy, I will NOT cheat this and look at tablature.
This will be MY work. MY improvement. Hell I should not only be a better player in a year, I should have a better trained ear as well... right? RIGHT?!?!?!?
Sorry... cant HEAR you.... DUH!

Get ready to point and laugh! Its Movie Time!

Damn you Elizabeth Reed!

I should post another movie... I know... I know... but what would be the point?

Theres this lick I cant seem to get past.

I can "hear" it. I can even play it at around half speed.... but at full speed it flys by so fast you would think the allman brothers were spider monkeys on crystal meth!

Good news though... I ordered a new toy....

Yes dear friends... this little gizmobox will allow me to run my hexaphonic pickup in the strat to TWO guitar synths!

Which... I just happen to have!

Beats carving up the strat to try and shoehorn some other pickup thingy into it huh?

Then again.... I should probably learn to play one freakin guitar before I start adding TWO synths to the chain huh?

EPIC FAIL!

Damn Im Tired

Not much to write... practice, practice, practice!

This song is killing me!

Good news though?

Picked up a Roland GR-20 for half price!

Yeah yeah I know... already have a GR-33.... but the GR-20 was half freakin price!

How will I manage to play BOTH of these monsters?

*sigh*

I will figure something out.

Movie tomorrow!

Why THIS song?

The first song I am trying to tackle as a guitarist is by no means a walk in the park. Quite the opposite in fact. Harmony Leads from Duane Allman and Dickey Betts? What the HELL was I thinking?!?!!? Oddly... I will tell you about my introduction to this piece.... Al's Crossroads on 3rd Ave West in Birmingham Alabama. I was all of 17 at the time. There was a trick I figured out early on about Al's place. If you were IN the place before the guy showed up to start charging a cover charge... he just assumed someone ELSE had checked your ID and left you alone.
So I would show up on Fridays as early as 5pm sometimes just to beat the ID check and get to hear a live band.
This one night... 4 long haired hippy types come straggling in with equipment for the gig and set up these dooziwhatsis things I had never seen before.
I later found out they were rotary cabinets for the hammond B3 organ.
They must have smoked a pound of dope each before the gig... but good GOD could they play! And play they did.... for HOURS! It would seem like a single song that lasted the whole set of 45 minutes!!
That was the first night I ever heard In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed and got Idlewild South the next day.
Okay I really shoplifted it from the Woolworths... but Im fairly sure the statute of limitations has long passed by now.
If you are wondering who the hell Elizabeth Reed is... check this out if you want.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Memory_of_Elizabeth_Reed



This is day THREE of my attempt at this song.. and remember... Im NOT a guitarist!

Moving.... UGH!

Spent all weekend relocating the humble abode.
Downside? Relocating the humble abode!
Upside? I get my own office/guitar room/ManCave!

Picked up one of those high tech LG front load washer and dryer things.... RTFM! Okay? Dont say I didnt warn you! When it sounds like someone has started a harley in your laundry room and you rush in to find the goddamned washing machine has danced a full 4 feet from where you left it.... remember I warned you to read the fucking manual ok? The tub spins at 1200 RPM on spin cycle and if you didnt balance the bastard... you got Disco WashOmatic baby! No worries. It made me RTFM! and figure out you either need a fucking gyroscope and someone to operate it to balance this bastard... or a leeeeetle aluminum doohicky wrench thing that any manly man would toss the fuck out immediately. I retrieved it from the trash and balanced the bitch.

On to Guitar Stuff.... 365 Guitar Project Officially Begins today... err tonight. Sunday August 9th, 2009. I made a short video even in this disarray and am in the process of uploading it as I type this. Its chocked FULL of fumble fingers... but hey... thats what this is all about! Being a better guitarist in 365 days! So watch and enjoy my feeble attempts... they can only get better... I got dedication... and rockin assed gear baby!

Down to the wire

I wasted an ENTIRE day yesterday waiting on UPS!
Seems they deliver up to 7pm... annnnnnd at 6:55pm the knock comes at the door.
Sheesh!

But... the toys came in at least 50 lbs of bubble wrap, so the guy did a great job.
Now I get to put them right the hell back in the box.
Moving to the new place tomorrow.
Then maybe I can get this project underway.
And Rob will stop giving me crap about not posting a movie of my epic suckage yet!

What can Brown do for you? Tick Tock!

Remember the days when someone said they were shipping you something and you would just have to wait for it to arrive? You didnt get a tracking number of any use unless it didnt show up.

Now... you get one in your email... and you start hammering on the link like a convict on a conjugal visit! Wanting to know how much closer it is to your doorstep!

JACKSONVILLE , FL , US 08/03/2009 11:39 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
HORSHAM , PA , US 07/31/2009 11:15 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

PHILADELPHIA , PA , US 07/31/2009 12:10 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
PHILADELPHIA , PA , US 07/30/2009 11:53 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
TINTON FALLS , NJ , US 07/30/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

US 07/30/2009 2:46 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Im like a kid at Christmas waiting on Sanny to being me my Guitar Synth!
Tomorrow is the big day! Guess I will clean the garage tomorrow
so I am sure to see the big brown truck huh?

And get this... I was just informed the Moving Men will be here on Thursday to cart our happy asses off to the new house. UGH!
Upside? I will have my own music room in the new place!

Inspiration comes in the strangest ways

Rob is one of the greatest people I have ever known. I am a better person for having known him. But enough ass kissing.
He began this 365 photo project.... and it made me think... he will be a much better photographer in a year if he does it every day. Hmph... I bet if I played guitar every day for a year Id be a better guitarist.

And thus... we begin.

Tools... gotta have tools.

So I picked up a guitar... well two actually..
Fender Roland Ready Strats because I have always wanted to play a guitar synth as well.

http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0144660306

I needed a synth to noodle with so I got a Roland GR-33

Yeah I know the gr-20 is the new model, but I tried it and didnt like it.

The GR-33 is geared more towards my need to learn and explore.

Then I needed some effects. I could have gone with the POD XT or something... but BOSS has been making guitar effects for as long as I can remember and their latest and greatest is the

BOSS GT-10

Now I know you would have to be thinking... this guy has some serious skills or he wouldnt be buying pro gear!

BOOOONK!

Wrong!

I can barely play.

Here is the fun part... Im going to post videos of my progress.

From the kid at christmas opening up all of these pieces of gear.

To the noodling around looking for the right tones.

To the excruciating attempts at playing.

YOU WERE WARNED!