Dolphinstreet Guitar Blog

Canon DM-100 Review

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Canon DM-100 Directional Stereo Microphone

I have noticed a bit of noise and unclear sound with my Canon HG-20 camera, and in order to improve on this, I bought the Canon DM-100 microphone, which is made specifically for Canon camcorders. It fits nicely into the mount (hot shoe) on top of the camera.

This mic provides three sound acceptance patterns (shotgun, 90-degree stereo and 120-degree stereo spreads), and comes with an effective windscreen. This windscreen looks like squirrel tail or something, and some people refer to it as a dead cat.

The DM-100 is a big improvement in sound. It makes the DG-20 and similar video camcorders quite a bit more effective and professional.

My video camera (and most budget camcorders) have built-in stereo mics that work well, but are sensitive to the slightest wind, and they are often producing a bit of white noise. This external mic solves the wind noise problem - by using the windscreen/dead cat, the wind problem is virtually a non-issue. It works very well for outside filming.

The switchable polar patterns and superb frequency response add depth and dimension that is simply not possible with the on-camera mic.

As a result, my videos will from now sound better and clearer, and there will be less white noise in the background. If there still is noise, I will blame it on my tube amps! :)

Other microphones worth having a look at would be the Sennheiser MKE 400 and the Rode VideoMic - both get very positive reviews. I decided on the Canon because I know it will fit, it has good reviews and is the most affordable of the three. I am not sure if these other microphones mentioned are a lot better or not, but they would definitely be worth checking out. They do cost more though.

Final word - the DM-100 is a bit expensive for being just a microphone. I guess is somewhat typical - you get a video camera for a decent price, but most accessories you buy for it will cost you. That's something we've all seen before!

In summary, this is a nice microphone for Canon video cameras. I will absolutely recommend it, since the sound quality, versatility and windscreen improves the sound dramatically over the built-in microphone. The only drawback is that it's somewhat pricy. However, the improvement in sound makes it worthwhile.

Buying tip - check B&H Photo Video for buying the DM-100, as I find they have very good prices and are great to deal with. Highly recommended place to buy camera equipment!

Video Review Test

Small guitar rig works too

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Minimal Guitar Rig for a Gig

On Friday, Myra, Brandon, Al and I played for about an hour at Jaywalkers Jamboree in Camrose. I had brought my Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow, my Reverend Hellhound and my Pedaltrain 2 loaded with some cool pedals. This type of setup I often bring to gigs when I don't want to haul my 2x12 and a head along. For this gig, I had to carry my stuff quite a bit, since I wasn't able to park close to the stage.

When I got there with my gear, it was time to set up real fast so we could get started. The sound guys even helped me set up my gear. Nice fellows. As we were getting the pedal board out and took away the flight case, I realized - I had forgotten the 1-Spot Adapter at home! Think quick - what do I do? My Hellhound doesn't get enough distortion for all the stuff we do with this band. Some dirt pedal would be necessary.

They sound guys offered me power, but I don't think that would have worked so well since I have so many pedals hooked up. I could have used that power adapter they had for just one pedal I guess, but I then remembered that I had a Cool Cat Distortion with a fresh battery laying in the cabinet of the Hellhound. That would just have to do. So, the Pedaltrain was packed up again and taken away.

So, I hooked up the Cool Cat Distortion and a volume pedal between the MK and the Hellhound, and this setup rocked. I got really good tone, I thought. The MK has high output pickups, and with the volume pedal to "wimpify" the distortion when needed, I had a set up that was minimal, but worked well.

I may have missed some delay on some tunes, but to be honest, it was fun to play with just this distortion pedal on the whole time, and using the volume pedal to dial back the gain and volume. I used it on ballads (I sometimes rolled off the volume knob on the guitar too) and I turned everything on 10 for leads. The sound guys took care of boost the volume for my solos.

People came up and said my guitar sounded great. I really enjoyed the gig, and I have to confess, I really dig humbucker guitars now and then! The fatter gain the MK gives me is fun for blues and rockier stuff. My hand kept searching for the tremolo bar though... there is no doubt my Suhr is my #1 guitar, but the Michael Kelly is no slouch either, and makes for a good alternative for different tones.

So, this was a good example of how a minimal rig can work so great for a gig. It's fun with cool pedals for a variety of sounds, but there is also value in one basic tone and a lot less to carry, set up and tear down. If you haven't gigged with a minimal rig recently, I recommend you try it, just to see how it feels. It made me focus more on dynamics with my volume knobs and volume pedal, and it kind of made me feel a little proud that I really don't need a bunch of pedal in order to sound good. If I may say so.

The drawback for this gig was actually a band aid, which made playing a bit difficult. You see, I cut my left index finger a bit with a knife earlier in the week, while trying to slice a dried up bagel. Note to self - don't be an idiot! Cutting bagels with a bread knife is usually not a problem, but when the bagel is a bit dry, do be careful! Or just get one of those bagel holders - very simple innovation that makes the procedure safe. I hope I learned my lesson... :)

How to lose 5 pounds in 2 weeks

Mon, 25 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT

How to lose 5 pounds in 2 weeks

I want to share with you my experience of losing 5 pounds in 2 weeks. Here's how I did it.

In order to lose weight, we need to take in fewer calories than we use. The result will lead to a loss of overall weight. Pretty simple logic, and I am sure we all know this. There is of course more to it. For one thing, we can add exercise to this picture, which means more calories are burned and the weight loss comes sooner, at least in theory.

We need to keep in mind that a quick, temporary weight loss diet isn't necessary a good thing. We lose some weight, just to gain it back when the old bad habits creep back upon us. What we should aim for is a day-to-day habit of eating healthy food and not too much of it either. Cook your own food, use fresh ingredients, and get a little bit of everything. It's not rocket surgery - eat normal amounts of lean meat, carbs, fat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, bread, etc. Easier said than done?

So how did I suddenly lose weight, and why?
Well, I am a runner, and a few weeks before a marathon, I noticed I had actually gained some weight. Not a big problem; I am pretty lean overall, but I wanted to see if I could drop a little bit before the race. I don't recommend doing what I did, but here goes.

First of all, I cut down the size of my meals. My portions were about half the size of what they normally are. Naturally, this leads to cravings and feeling hungry all the time. I have realized that when I get hungry in the evenings, I often end up eating chips, cheese, cookies and other fattening stuff. Sounds familiar?

So, here's my secret - I curbed my cravings by eating apples, grapes and carrots. I ate half size lunch and supper meals. As well, I drank lots of water. That's it! Pretty simple, huh? As an afternoon or mid-morning snack, I would eat an apple or some grapes. Perhaps an orange or a pear for variation. These kinds of fruits have low amounts of calories.

Interestingly enough, I did not find this whole process as difficult as I had imagined. I had been worried about feeling starved. Well, for one thing, I was determined from the start, and I made a conscious decision to skip food with lots of calories and fat. As I ate smaller portions, I was just thinking, "I'll just drink lots of water and have some fruit later". And it worked! I was not feeling starved all the time.

For me, this was just a temporary experiment, so to speak. I am not overweight to start with. However, I learned some things from this too. I realized how easy it is to eat too much all the time, because I think it's in our nature to eat until we are really full.

The thing I will take with me from this experiment is that I will skip the unhealthy snacks in the evenings, and go for fruit and vegetables instead. Eating calorie-rich food during evenings has sometimes lead to sleeping difficulties for me, as I my stomach would be really busy during the night, and I often woke up as a result.

Eating less in the evenings, and eating low-calorie snacks if i do, means I can then eat regular size meals during the day and I will sleep better at night.

If you decide to try this, please don't go overboard, and think long-term. A quick loss of weight is usually not a good thing, and I do recommend developing good, healthy eating habits that will over time lead to a normal, healthy body weight.

Learn more about the best way to lose weight over at Nahanni River Herbs website.

Best stratocaster for the money

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Best stratocaster for the money

There are many options today for getting a good Stratocaster. I am a Stratocaster guy. I have always loved these guitars, and not matter what other type of guitars I play, I always come back to the Stratocaster. It is for me the ultimate guitar. Here are my thoughts on the matter of the best Strat for the money you spend.

Mass-produced guitars are usually hit and miss. Fender have made many good Strats over the years, both cheap and expensive ones. The thing is, there is usually a gem among the lot. My best advice for buying a great Strat is to go to a well equipped guitar store and try all of their Strats. Take your time, you may end up with a cheap, great Strat and find yourself shaking your head at some of the expensive, dull Strats...

One real issue here is that Fender raised their prices recently quite a bit. There are many disappointed guitar players out there after that happened, but what can you do? Look for used ones, I guess.

The American Standard Stratocaster is usually a good buy. They cost from around $1,200 and up. They have good parts and good pickups. However, not all of the Am Strats I've played have been great, although you've got pretty good chances of getting a good guitar if you go with one of these.

The Custom Shop Strats are of course awesome. They are perhaps the best Strats Fender offers, but they sure are not inexpensive. Over 3 grand, in many cases. Still, have a look at these if you want the best Fender Strats available.

The new RoadHouse Strats are interesting. They cost $740 - $790 or so, and they are quite nice. They look cool and have Texas Special pickups. Worth a look.

The Highway One Strats are USA made, and although some might not dig the big 70s headstock, fat frets and the available colours, these guitars are a lot of bang for the buck. I almost bought one once. Price is around $890 or so I think.

The Deluxe Player's Stratocaster is another nice Strat. It's about $800 and it has Vintage Noiseless pickups and a really nice 12" radius neck. I think it's one of the better Strats for the money. It is made in Mexico.

The Custom Shop Artist guitars are absolutely amazing, but also amazingly expensive. I've for example tried the Jeff Beck Strat, and it was fantastic. Stayed in tune exceptionally well too. It's about $3,500 I believe. The Eric Johnson Strat is really nice too. However, some of the Custom Shop Strats can cost as much as 12 GRAND! Eek!

The last Strat I want to mention is perhaps the best bang for the buck. The Standard Strat, which goes for about $500 - $550. The reason it cost less is because it is made in Mexico and has less cheaper hardware than the American made ones. However, I think this Strat can be a great one, but you MUST try several of them and try to find that gem among the turds. It is sometimes possible to find a great Standard Strat that plays better than a US made one, but you'll have to be patient and keep looking.

There are other models too offered by Fender, for example, the Classic Players 50's and 60's need mentioning as well - they are really nice for the money and also worth a look.

Final word - my Suhr Classic is obviously not a Fender, but it's a Strat design all the way and honestly, I think it's better than any Fender I've ever played. It costs a lot more than a Fender Standard Strat, so if you are on a budget, definitely consider the Standard Stratocaster from Fender.

You can buy one from Musician's Friend

Fender Standard Stratocaster

The Fender Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar is the guitar design that changed the world. New features include a tinted neck, parchment pickguard and control knobs, and a '70s-style logo. Includes select alder body, 21-fret maple neck with your choice of a rosewood or maple fretboard, 3 single-coil pickups, vintage-style tremolo, and die-cast tuning keys. Standard Strat guitars now feature a thicker bridge block for increased sustain and a more stable point of contact with the strings. At this low price, why play anything but the real thing?

Fender Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar Brown Sunburst Maple Fingerboard

Red Deer Marathon 2009

Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Red Deer Marathon 2009

I finished in 1:14:57 and placed 2nd in the half-marathon. I am happy with that performance; it is almost 3 minutes faster than last year.

The weather for the race in Red Deer was fabulous. Perfect temperature, and just a light wind. The race start was not crazy fast this time. I stayed behind the eventual winner Brian Torrance for about 2 km or so. At that point, I felt the pace was a bit slow, so I figured I should just go to the front and help with the pace. So, I went to the front and suddenly I noticed I got a bit of a lead. This kind of surprised me, since I know Brian is faster than myself. I kept going at a pace I thought I could keep for the whole distance, and I knew pretty well Brian would catch me later on. I figured it would happen going around the island at 11 - 12 km or so, and sure enough, that is what happened. I find it hard to run on that gravel stuff around the island, but Brian is a great cross-country runner and he kept a good speed going around this part. I had trouble keeping up with him.

Matt Norminton, the fastest runner in this field, was running behind us at a slower tempo pace intentionally (he was pacing the lead marathon runners for the first 10 km or so), but apparently he was picking up the pace and was chasing us down. Brian knew this, and ran like a bat out of a very hot place, and I did my best to keep up with him, but could not quite do it.

I was not too far behind at about 14 km, but at about that point, my legs started to give up a bit and I had to slow down, while Brian actually picked up the pace. Up until this point, the pace had been about 3:32 per kilometre, and as I was starting to slow down, Brian went even faster. Impressive.

I was worried Matt would come from behind and blow by me towards the end, but fortunately for me, he didn't. I probably slowed down 10-15 seconds per km on the last 3-4 km due to fatigue, but I tried hard to keep up a decent pace even though both lungs, heart and legs were exhausted.

Right at the end, there is a "famous", fairly steep hill that always seems so hard to run up. Because it comes so late in the race, it seems tougher than it really is. I stumbled up it, and at the top I looked behind me, expecting to see Matt come up it like a locomotive. Nobody there, sigh of relief! It's just downhill from here to the finish, which is nice.

A few minutes later, as I am running towards the finish clock, I see I will at least go under 1:15. I am happy with that. With a taper and a flatter course, I think I could go under 1:14.

Next is Calgary full marathon in 2 weeks, and I have no idea how that is going to go. Realistically, I am think 2:48 to 2:45 is doable. There will be many fast runners in this race, and a top 5 finish won't be easy! I just hope I can have a good race where I don't totally crash at the end. We will soon find out!

Photo from the 2008 race

8 km road race

Sat, 16 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT

8 km road race

Puffin for a Muffin

This is a local race here in Camrose that I'm involved in organizing. On May 3rd, we had an 8km race, 3km and 1km fun run/walk. There was also a Kids' Fitness Challenge, where kids were doing fun things under supervision, while their parents ran/walked.

This race is organized by the Camrose Family Resource Centre Association "A Parent Link Centre" and the Camrose Running Club.

All in all, I think it went quite well. The weather was okay, although there was a very strong wind this day.

I had a good run, and placed first in a new course record time of 27:13. David Arial was 2nd, Nathan Erickson was 3rd and David Ball 4th of the men. The wind was quite fierce on the way out, but having the wind in the back as we were running back towards the finish felt nice. I was very happy with my time. The course has one long hill, and with the wind as well, really fast times would be hard to accomplish.

The top 3 women overall were Kathryn Stone, Emily Cole and Paddi Grant.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the race, we'll do it again next year I hope! And yes, we NEED to have porta-potties, I know!

Video clip from the race!

The background music was written and recorded by myself. Thanks to Kevin Nagy for doing the filming.

A very late gig

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A Very Late Gig...

I just have to tell you about my latest gig. I guess we can call it "interesting". My friend Jaron and I had a gig up in place called Fox Creek, and it was a fundraiser for breast cancer, which meant only women in the crowd. Sounded good to me. :) This place is a 3.5 hour drive one way from here.

We were told there was a PA available, but the organizers didn't know if it was powerful enough for us to run our instruments through it, so they were going take pictures of it and email us.

I hooked up with Jaron at 11am at the local music store. The photos showed a minuscule system that would never work for us, so we had to rent a sound system. Problem was, our local music store had rented out all their gear. So, we drove an hour to the bigger city (Edmonton) and rented a decent PA. Now it was time to go north so we had time to get set up before all the women arrived to the venue.

My pal then realizes he forgot all his CDs at home. He usually sells a lot of CDs at gigs, so it's understandable he wants to get them. So, we drive an hour back home again, pick up the boxes of CDs, then head north again for the 3.5 hour drive.

When we finally get there, the event is well under way. We try to sneak in the side door while there are emotional speeches taken place, and I feel a bit awkward hauling gear while they are talking. The curtains on the stage are down though, so we head up on to the stage and start setting up. There are 250 women sitting out front, listening to various speakers and having wine and dessert (we missed the dinner too by being so late). Needless to say, we can't do a sound check.

We plug in the gear, and make sure it works at least. I have no chance to test my guitar rig, so I just hook it up and hope I will get a good tone. At this point, I'm thinking they probably want us to start playing pretty soon. We are told everything is a bit delayed this evening. We head to the hotel room, check in, make a set list and grab a sandwich at Subway. Thus, the waiting begins...

It's been a long day already, and we haven't played a note yet. It's about to get much worse. The event goes on, long emotional speeches, bra contests, an auction, etc. More than once, we're almost falling asleep since it's been such a long day. Jaron hardly slept at all the day before either by the way.

I look at the watch, and it's well past midnight! But suddenly, it finally seems like we are going up on stage after waiting for hours and hours. I brought my video camera so I set it up, and we plug in and start playing. It is now 1am in the morning.

Guess what? Everybody left! The 250 women had been there since 4pm, and after all the events that took place throughout the night, I can understand them for wanting to go home - I mean it IS 1am in the morning!

The handful that did stay wanted to dance... like we are a dance band. Okidoki, we did what we could and played some jumping tunes best we could as a 2-piece. We sucked, big time. I mean we were exhausted and had hardly anyone to play for.

So, we struggled on for an hour and a half, sounding worse for every tune I think, but at this point, who cares? We just want it to be over so we can go to sleep.

Last thing is we are getting a ride back to the hotel with a limousine. Cool, never traveled much by limo. So we wait and wait and wait for the limo to show up. It finally arrives, and we get to go to bed at about 4am. A few hours of sleep and back to load all the gear back in the van and drive 3.5 hours back home...

What a gig! I won't forget this one any time soon. Ahh, the glorious life of being a gigging musician....

Youtube Guitar Lessons

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Youtube Guitar Lessons

So, I have decided to use Youtube as the main source for my guitar lesson videos from now on. I've been using Revver for quite some time, but that ain't working to well anymore. Too many problems with Revver means I'm fed up with their service.

Don't know what happened to Revver. Well I know they wre acquired by LiveUniverse, and ever since - things have sucked big time over at Revver. Uploading videos often result in errors, getting a video approved takes several days, the site is down half of the time, etc. Enough of this! Ok, rant over.

So youtube, here I come. I have a good HD video camera now, and youtube supports HD video, which is really great. That means you can watch future guitar lesson videos by me in fantastic quality on youtube. I have also figured out a way to embed the youtube videos on this site in HD version. The drawback is the videos don't fit into the width of the design of this website, so I guess I will have make the website layout wider to accommodate for this.

My youtube channel is at youtube.com/user/rotren - feel free to subscribe!

One drawback with abandoning Revver in favour of youtube (the only drawback really), is that there won't be an option to download my videos any more. Youtube doesn't have such a feature, and considering how huge the HD videos are, that's probably just as well.

I have had a busy winter and my guitar lesson productivity has been low. I have had so many other irons in the fire. This year should be better. I'm finishing a room in the basement, which I will use as a studio where I can record videos and music. However, until this is finished, there may not be so many new videos, but hang in there - good things come to those who wait!

Since I started with my little guitar lessons a few years ago, many other have started to do the same thing on youtube. The "competition" has grown incredibly.

Today, I looked at the number of subscribers to my youtube channel, and it's at currently 4,649. That's amazing to me - that so many people are interested in my little guitar videos! I'm flattered and glad that people enjoy checking out my videos.

Hopefully, my subscribers and viewers will enjoy all the future HD guitar videos I am planning to post. I just bought a new external hard drive so I can store all these huge files that the HD format produces.

Oh by the way, a question for you. What do you enjoy more - the guitar lessons I make, or the gear demos (pedals, amps, guitars) I do?

Here is an HD video demo of the Cool Cat Distortion and the Maxon SD-9. It should now play back in High Definition.

Puffin For A Muffin

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Puffin For A Muffin

Hi, if you are a runner or walker in Alberta, here is some important info. Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary runners - everyone is welcome!

If you are interested in runnning/walking an 8k, 3k, or 1k, this is the race for you. You can bring your little kids too - there is a supervised kids "fitness challenge" while you run or walk. Great family fun!

Please come and run our local race in Camrose - Puffin For a Muffin. All the details are on the website - www.camroserunning.ca.

The race date is May 3rd. Register now - the price goes up by $5.00 (3k & 8k) on April 20!

You can register online on the website, and all major credit cards supported and the transaction fee is small.

Sign up today, and maybe see you there! Please spread the word in any case - we are hoping for a good turnout on May 3rd.

www.camroserunning.ca

Thanks,
Robert

Learn guitar fretboard

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Learn guitar fretboard

How can you best learn the notes on the fretboard?

Well, what I recommend to my guitar students, is to learn shapes and patterns. That is how I make sense of the 6 strings and all these frets. Since the fretboard is a grid, we can navigate it by using patterns and shapes.

When I started playing guitar, I practiced scales up and down a lot. What I later realized was especially good from this was that I learned to "see" a scale. The Aeolian scale looks a certain way on the fretboard, and by practicing it over and over, I started to know it really well. Same with any other scale. After some time, I was able to "see" the notes before I actually played them, and I also knew what they were going to sound like before I played them, due to this visualization.

This is really nothing special. It is about practicing, and spending time with something until it becomes transparent. You can do the same.

I find it works well to look at notes as a group of 3 when are learning them. We can also do this on the next adjacent string. By playing 3 notes on 2 different strings, we have 6 notes - almost a complete diatonic scale!

For example, start with the C major scale. If we play F - G - A on the low E string, and B - C - D on the A string, it creates this pattern: E|-------------| B|-------------| G|-------------| D|-------------| A|---2--3--5---| E|---1--3--5---|

This pattern can be memorized. Make sure you know which is the root note especially, but do learn the names of the notes too. Say them out loud as you play them.

Now what we do next is to move up to the next available notes in the C major scale, using the same 2 strings. Then we get this: E|-------------| B|-------------| G|-------------| D|-------------| A|---3--5--7---| E|---3--5--7---|

You can see how the first 2 notes on each string were the last 2 notes in the first example. All we are doing is adding on one new note per string (fret 7 for both strings). This creates a new pattern. We are now playing a pattern with 2 identical shapes - what I mean by this is that we are playing frets 3 - 5 - 7 on both strings - a symmetrical pattern that is easy to remember. Make sure again you know which note is the root note.

This same concept can now be continued. Move on to the next 2 shapes. There will be just one new note for each string - can you tell which note and which fret?

Now, take on just a few patterns at the time, and practice them in different ways, play the notes in different order, etc. Just make sure you play them slow and focus on learning them. In fact, I think it's a bad idea to try and play them fast at this point - it will make it harder to memorize them.

Go back and forth between new patterns you learned, and the previous ones you think you know. It's amazing how quickly we forget some times... but it's normal. I'm the same. Just take it slow and easy and take your time. After all, we want to enjoy playing guitar for a life time, don't we? So take your time and play slowly and accurately.

You can use this tool below for finding which notes to play next. There are many tools like this available on-line, just Google "fretboard", "fretboard generators", "fretboard layout", etc.

Fretboard Generator

If you want more help and assistance, take a look at the recommended resources here below. These are proven methods by highly qualified instructors. It is good to have a book or DVD to help guide you through fretboard practicing. When I started playing, there wasn't much good video instructional material like this available. How times have changed, eh!

Recommended Resources

Musician's Friend has a great selection of guitar resources - here's three good ones.

Bill Edwards Publishing Fretboard Logic Special Edition Book

A bound combination of Books I and II in the Fretboard Logic guitar lesson series. Volume I explains the guitar's unique tuning and a basic set of fretboard patterns. Volume II integrates this foundation into an exploration of chords, scales, and arpeggios.

Hal Leonard Fretboard Roadmaps for Acoustic Guitar Book and CD

By studying these fretboard roadmaps, you'll learn to play lead and rhythm and chords and progressions anywhere on the fretboard, in any key and in a variety of styles. You'll expand your chord vocabulary and learn to think musically, the way the pros do. Each chapter presents a pattern and shows how to use it, along with playing tips and guitar insights. An absolute beginner can follow the diagrams and instruction from the beginning. Intermediate and advanced players can use the chapters non-sequentially to increase their understanding of the guitar. The CD includes demos of all the exercises as well as six practice tracks to help you learn six different soloing techniques.

Rock House Fretboard Autopsy- Scales, Modes & Melodic Patterns, Level 1 Featuring Rusty Cooley DVD

Rusty Cooley was named one of the top 20 fastest shredders of all time, and has been an influence to many guitarists including Mark Tremonti and John Petrucci. In Fretboard Autopsy- Scales, Modes & Melodic Patterns, Level 1 Rusty teaches you his unique fretboard visualization through shapes, patterns, and years of modal knowledge. Learn how the modes are covered across the neck, 5 and 6 string root modal patterns, extended and split patterns, and single and double string techniques. Rusty shows you the modal sequences he uses, and then challenges you to play the scales and modes. Apply all these techniques and develop your own style over the full band backing tracks included in this program.

Marshall Line Out

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Marshall Line Out

The Marshall JVM410H has a speaker emulated line out that is automatically engaged when the amp is in standby mode. This is a very interesting feature. I made a short and quick test of this feature the other day.

I ran the emulated line out from the Marshall into my Line 6 Toneport USB interface. I loaded up the GearBox software and turned off amps and speaker cabinets. This way, I was just using the Toneport as an audio interface and nothing more.

There are 3 guitars on this clip. The rhythm guitar is on Clean channel, green mode. The bass line and the lead guitar is on Crunch channel, orange mode.

It's really useful to have an amp that has a good sounding line out. That way, you can record any time you want without worrying about disturbing people. I can rarely crank up any of my amps and record clips, because of amount of noise that creates...

How does it sound? Does it sound like micing a real amp?

Marshall JVM Emulated Line Out Demo

The guitars were recorded without any effects, but I added reverb and delay later in GarageBand.

Marshall JVM Series JVM410H Tube Amp Head

Best Distortion Pedal?

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Best Distortion Pedal?

What is the best distortion pedal? A question that may enter the mind of a guitar player from time to time. I am, like many other guitar players, interested in getting good sounding gear, and since a distortion pedal is one of most frequently used effects pedal, it is a good question to ask what the best distortion pedal might be.

Best distortion pedal? Well, this is of course a loaded question, since as always, it is a matter of preference. When it comes to guitar equipment, there is really no single one "best" of anything, since we all have different ears, taste, and preferences.

What we can do, is discuss what commonly used pedals are out there, and why we like them.

First of all, I think a good distortion pedal is a great addition to a guitar players arsenal of gear, and it is often the first pedal a guitar player purchases. I like distortion pedals, because good ones can be very versatile and useful. For example, a distortion pedal is essential if you have a cleaner sounding amp, but you want some fat rock tones without having to buy a new amp.

Many modern amps have a lot of sounds of them, and often they pretty much eliminate the need for a distortion pedal. However, even if your amp has a distortion channel, you can still make good use of a distortion pedal. For example, you can set the amp up to be " semi-dirty", and then add a distortion pedal for extra gain and volume. Perfect solution for playing solos, when you may need a bit more bite and volume.

You can also use the distortion pedal this way - set the gain low and turn up the volume knob on the pedal. This way, you get more volume happening, but not so much extra gain. This is how I personally set up my distortion pedals. I like having a bit extra hot signal going in to my tube amp, which tends to bring a better tone out of my amp. I then use the volume knob on my guitar to control how "hot" my tone gets. How much gain to use is again a matter of preference. I aim for a sound where when the volume knob on my guitar is halfway up, the sound is fairly clean, and when I roll the volume knob up almost all the way, I get a nice distorted tone.

Lastly, you can run one distortion pedal into another distortion pedal. Caution is needed here though, because depending on the amount of gain on each pedal, you can get some over-the-top distortion happening... meaning uncontrollable feedback as a result. I do use this technique quite often though, with one pedal gives me a rhythm distortion sound, and adding the 2nd distortion pedal produces a high gain solo tone. I am of course careful with the amount of gain used on both pedals. This is a trick that many players use; Eric Johnson and Michael Landau being examples of this technique.

Ok, so let's list some distortion pedals that are popular and nice sounding. There is no way I can mention all pedals available on the market, so I'm focusing on the ones I have tried, most of which you can purchase in most guitar stores. The first one that I think most players have tried at some time or another is the Boss DS-1. It has the classic distortion tone, similar to Marshall amps, and it's definitely a nice pedal. It's also been around for ages and has stood the test of time.

The Cool Cat Distortion by Danelectro is a great distortion pedal and it's attractively priced. It's true bypass.. You'll find some videos of me using here on dolphinstreet.com. This pedal delivers the classic rock tones of yesterday and today, and it is quite versatile too, since it has a treble and bass knob. The Wasabi Distortion pedal by Danelectro is a fat sounding distortion pedal for low dollars.

I also like the Maxon Sonic Distortion SD-9. It is true bypass, costs a bit more than other pedals, and it sounds very good. It works especially well with tube amps and humbucker guitars. It has a very powerful tone knob, which can make the pedal sound almost like a tubescreamer or a high gain lead solo pedal, depending on how you set it.

Fulltone makes many great pedals, and the Fulldrive, Fulldrive2 and Fulldrive 2 Mosfet are great, well built, delicious sounding pedals. Very much worth a look at the Fulltone line. The OCD is also much liked by many players.

The Vox Joe Satriani Satchurator Distortion is a cool pedal for getting that signature Satriani tone. Joe is closely involved in any product with his name on it.

The Hot Head Distortion by Digitech is quite similar to the DS-1, and I personally like it even better. It has a useful eq options, and is a very versatile pedal. Not true bypass. Digitech has a new line of pedals out called Hardwire, and although I've yet to try one, I have heard the new SC-2 Valve Distortion pedal is very, very good.

Many players like the ProCo Rat - a pedal that has stood the test of tim. John Scofield uses one of these, by the way. Great pedal.

A more aggressive sounding pedal that many players like is the Boss Metal Zone. I like it too; it's very fat sounding and has tones of gain and is great for heavy metal and "meaner" sounds. The Metal Core by Boss is also woth a closer look.

Another good Metal pedal is the XMM Metal Master Heavy Metal Distortion pedal by DigiTech. If you want rage out of your amp, try this one.

Radial Engineering makes very nice pedals too, and the Trimode, Plexitube, Classic and Hot British are worth taking a closer look at. Very nicely made and great tones.

MXR Distortion+ is a classic distortion pedal that many players seem to love. They work well into a overdriven amp, for getting a good lead tone.

Line 6 has many interesting products, and the DM-4 Distortion Modeler gives you 16 models of great pedals (some are not distortion models). This would a good option if you want one pedal with many different sounds, instead several pedals in a row. Their M13 Stompbox Modeler is another great unit by Line 6.

There you have it, a selection of good distortion pedals of different flavours and at different price points. Which is the best? Well, that is up to YOU to decide! Try as many as you can and see what works for you. Remember that amp, guitar and other effects will have huge impact on how the distortion pedal will work for you. Testing, testing and testing is the only way to figure out what is best for you. Trust your ears! In the end, that's all that matters - that you like what you are hearing.

This overview of good distortion pedals is by no mean complete. There are many pedals out there that sound good; many I haven't even heard of. Please add your suggestions to the list. Maybe this can become the best distortion pedal list on the web!

Here are some good ones available at Musician's Friend

The Guitar - Strumming Away Your Blues

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Guitar - Strumming Away Your Blues

This is a guest article by Holly McCarthy.

Of all the musical instruments that have been invented, the guitar is by far my favorite. I know I should have a better word to describe it, but the one that really fits is “cool” – yes, any man who knows his way around this stringed wonder is sexy and cool in my eyes; you have to admit that a guitar adds dollops of sex appeal to even the most normal of men.

Well, getting on to the music that comes from a guitar – the only kind I’m not really fond of is the heavy metal kind. But I do love rock and roll and blues. Eric Clapton, Bryan Adams and Jon Bon Jovi are among my personal favorites. And if you’re looking at the more recent additions to the music hall of fame, I kinda like David Cook, last year’s American Idol winner – now he could do things with a guitar that added more effect to his soulful voice.

A guitar is more than just an instrument for those who play it; it’s an extension of their hands. And for listeners like me, the sounds that come from these instruments are an extension of our emotions. Tears roll down my eyes and I have a lump in my throat every single time I hear Eric Clapton sing “Tears in Heaven”, plugged or unplugged. I’m really not sad, but the song makes me connect with my softer emotions. And each time my iPod rolls around to playing Bryan Adams’ “I Wanna Be (Your Underwear)”, my feet find a mind of their own and begin to dance with the beat.

It’s not just the men in the music world who have a way with guitars – my favorite female guitarist is KT Tunstall. This enormously talented musician blew me away the first time I saw her perform, and even now, I’m still as much in awe of her talent as I am in love with her music.

My biggest regret in life is that I didn’t learn to play the guitar; I did try at one point in my life, but I was going through a bad personal phase and my heart was just not whole enough to give the attempt my wholehearted efforts. Now, even though I still have the inclination to give the instrument a shot, I have too much on my plate to be able to handle another hobby or passion without compromising my other responsibilities.

And so mastery over the guitar still remains my holy grail, they one I hope to achieve at some point in my life. Till then though, I’m so grateful for all the wonderful artistes out there who bring soul and joy to my life with their amazing music.

This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of a recognized online university. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com.

A good distortion pedal - Cool Cat Distortion

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A good distortion pedal - Cool Cat Distortion

I just got this red Cool Cat Distortion, and I had high expectations, since I just loved the FAB Distortion pedal that Danelectro put out earlier. The Cool Cat however, is a much sturdier and higher quality pedal, and not surprisingly, it also sounds really good.

This pedal is not for metal, no it is more old school rock tones that you can expect to get out of it. It works really well with a clean sounding amp, whether it's tube of solid state.

The Cool Cat Distortion is in some ways similar to a tube screamer, but it is fatter and has less pronounced midrange. It does however clean up nicely as you roll off the guitar volume knob a bit. If you like to control the amount of dirt just by how you set your guitar's volume, this pedal is for you.

This pedal is also true bypass, which I like. The casing is made out of solid metal and the switch is heavy duty. Quite the upgrade from the previous plastic flimsy things Danelectro put out (although they sounded good too).

If you are tired of the tube screamer sound, give this pedal a try. It sounds fatter and richer than a tube screamer, in my opinion.

Get a Cool Cat Distortion at a good price from Musicians Friend

Danelectro Cool Cat Series CD-1 Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal

Video Demo

Cool Cat Distortion video

Marshall 100 watt tube head

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Marshall 100 watt tube head

A 4 channel tube head with 3 modes for each channel. What is it? It's the Marshall JVM410H!

This amp is awesome. It's a fairly new offering from Marshall, and I was not expecting it would sound anything special. Well, it does sound very good. It's got 2 rows of knobs, so it looks complicated and I'm a simple man. However, it turns out it is really easy to dial this amp in. It's basically just 4 channels, each with their own EQ. Not that hard to figure out.

Marshall JVM Series JVM410H Tube Amp Head

I've been testing Marshall DSL amps and other similar amps lately, and I have to say this may be the best Marshall amp purchase you can make today. It's got its own sound, but you can get very close to JCM 800 sounds, as well as scooped metal tones, blues SRV tones and of definitely Plexi flavoured goodness. It's all in there, however unlikely it would seem. The clean channel is the cleanest Marshall tone I have ever heard. It's really, really clean, if you want it to be. Amazing.

I have to admit, when I see a lot of buttons, knobs and LEDs, I get doubtful of getting really nice amp tone. I guess this amp proved me wrong. It has fantastic tones in it, and it's modern - it has 2 effects loops, several speaker out options, and lots of TONE.

The other nice thing is that the master volume design works really well. I can get really fat and rich tone even a very low volume. Kinda a weird to have a 100 watt powerhouse and create high gain distortion and whisper volume... ;)

So, there you have it. If you are looking for a versatile Marshall head that sounds great and have a lot good things going for it, this would be it. From the research I have done, I haven't found many complaints about reliability, something I have heard regarding some of the earlier Marshall offerings.

As with anything, don't take anyone's word for it (mine included); go and try one and see what you think. All I know is that I am very impressed with the amp, and I can't think of a style of music it wouldn't work for.

Video demo

Here is a video demo from yours truly.

Features

# 100-Watt valve head # Valve complement: 5 x ECC83 (12AX7s) in preamp, 2 x EL34s in power amp # 4 independent, footswitchable channels-Clean, Crunch, OD1 & OD2 # Each channel boasts 3 footswitchable modes Green, Orange & Red # Studio quality, footswitchable digital reverb with level controls for all 4 channels. # 2 footswitchable master volumes # Two FX loops Series/Parallel & Parallel # Series/Parallel FX loop is footswitchable # Emulated line out # 6-way, 7-LED footswitch with memory capabilities # All switching can be done via MIDI
Marshall JVM Series JVM410H Tube Amp Head

For more JVM talk, check out the JVM forum.

Rock'n Roll Backing Track

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Rock'n Roll Backing Track

Johnny Be Goode is a classic rock'n roll song that everyone has heard, I bet. It's a great and simple tune to play as well. My latest backing track for practicing is very much inspired by Johnny Be Goode.

As a lame joke (I have many of those), I gave it the title "Billy Was Bad"... :) I know, it's bad.

The track is very simple, it's just a 12 bar blues progression played similar to how Johnny Be Goode is played. The track doesn't have any fancy drum fills or a lot of variation, but again, it's just for practice.

I have used this track with my students, and they enjoy playing it very much. I have some lead ideas I first demonstrate to them and have them learn to play over this track. It's a fun way to learn some simple lead riffs that you can then later use in other songs too.

This rock'n roll backing tracks is now posted on my blues backing tracks page. Look for the cheesy title "Billy Was Bad"!

Let me know your thoughts on this simple backing track. I think it may be useful to have a slower version of it too? It might be a tad fast for someone who is new to this.

Minor jazz blues

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Minor jazz blues

I used GarageBand only the other night to create this minor jazz blues backing track in C Minor. I love playing minor blues, whether it's straight blues or swinging jazz.

Maybe you want to grab this jazz backing track and have a go at it too? I have set up a new page for
jazz backing tracks so have listen and give me some feedback.

The form for the progression is: Cm7 | Cm7 | Cm7 | C7 Fm7 | Fm7 | Cm7 | Cm7 Gb7 | G7 | Cm7 | G7

For my improvisation, I used mostly Dorian and Melodic Minor for the minor chords. For the C7b9 chord, I like to use the Altered scale. For the Ab7, I use the Lydian Dominant (or Eb Melodic Minor). For the G7, I use Altered scale or Diminished, starting with a half step.

I try to not just play scales though, but I probably do too much any way. I'm not much of a jazz guitarist really, but I have an idea what can be done. Executing it is the hard part though...

Basically, it's about playing great lines, whether you use modes and scales as helping tools or not. I know some incredible jazz guys who never think in terms of scales and modes - they just play want they think fit. Now, that's probably the hardest thing to do well. Most of us need "helpers" such as scales, arpeggios, triads, etc.

Let me know what you think, again, the page is at http://www.dolphinstreet.com/jazz_guitar_backing_tracks/

I used my Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow into a TonePort with GearBox loaded with a AC30 Top Boost for lead, and on my solo, I added some 1987 Jazz Clean for rhythm. I used mostly my high output humbucker pickup with the volume and tone knobs rolled off slightly. Pretty nice tone I thought.

Sonny Landreth King Of Slide Guitar

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Sonny Landreth King Of Slide Guitar

I've been catching up on Sonny Landreth for a bit now, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on his playing. Sonny Landreth is not that well known (yet) to the general public, but many guitar players interested in blues and roots music are well aware of fantastic playing.

Landreth is from southwest Lousiana and has worked steady as a session player as well as touring with well known names. Some of the artist he has worked with would be Eric Claptoon, John Hiatt, Jon Mayall, Gov't Mule, Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Buffet.

What I think is so interesting and cool about Sonny is his phenomenal technique when using a slide. He often frets notes behind the slide to create more "advanced" chords and melodies. Since he has the slide on the pinky, he can use the other 3 fingers for fretting if he wants to. His right hand technique is also very interesting. He does slapping and picking in unusual ways, and the result is a very interesting sound and way of playing. His technique is nothing but mind-blowing.

I also love that he plays Stratocasters. He uses an old Fender strat and for amps, I think he uses Dumbles and Demeter amps. For effects, he uses delay a lot and he also has some chorus/leslie effect here and there.

Check out Sonny Landreth's website for more information about his gear and setups.

Now, I'm not a fan of guitar players who always try to show off, and even though Sonny has ability to stun with his technique, he plays music first and foremost, and he uses his technique in "mature" and musical ways, if that makes sense. I especially like players who think musically first, and tecnically second. Maybe that's why I like Sonny so much. He's got such control over his sound and you can instantly tell when he is playing. Such is his style and technique, that he sounds like no one else.

His music is very blues oriented, and you can also clearly hear the Cajun and Zydeco influence on his material. I think Texas blues and Texas rock is in him quite a bit too. He writes beautiful ballads too, where his slide work really shines.

The albums I have that I like the most are Grant Street and The Road We're On. The newest album is good too, but it features guest guitar players and as a result, the album seems a bit fragmented to me. Don't get me wrong, it's great fun to listen to, but if I had to pick one album to get, I would say Grant Street. It features a three piece band completely cooking. Sonny's vocals are good too, and he's got some very nice grooves happening with his band.

You should also check out his work with John Hiatt and the Goners. That my friend, is some fantastic music and great guitar work. I think John Hiatt is one of the best song writers who ever lived, so with Sonny playing, the result is some fantastic music.

I found some videos on youtube that would give you an idea of the greatness of Sonny. Have a listen if you haven't heard these before and let me know what you think. When I think of Kings of modern slide playing, there are only 2 names to come to my mind. Derek Trucks (I'll cover him some other time) and Sonny Landreth.

Videos

Guitar players - protect your ears

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Guitar players - protect your ears

So, we had a gig on Saturday. Now, 2 days later, my ears are still ringing. Sounds like a crappy old amp buzzing in my head. Man, I should have wore ear plugs!

The gig itself was fun. I played with Jaron Rovensky at Boston Pizza here in Camrose, and a big crowd came. I thought we were really rocking the place, and I had a great time. I used my Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow as well as my Suhr Classic. Both delivered good tones.

One thing I noticed with the Michael Kelly guitar is that even if you roll off the volume knob down to 1, it's still plenty of volume and grit coming through. The pot seems way different than what I'm used to from my Strats and Teles, where you can roll down the volume knob and get less grit and also a bit less volume. I messed up on a few spots because of this, since I expected I would get a nice, mellow tone with volume at 4, but uh uh - it was a dirty loud tone coming through still. Oh well, this is how some of us learn (the hard way). Other than that, the MK guitar was fun. My Suhr is my number 1 guitar though - make no mistake.

Back to the topic. Damaging ears. Well, for the last few years, I've played with should I say, mellower bands, where the volume was not much of a problem. This time though, the band hit it hard, and apparently it got really loud by the end of the night. I didn't really notice until after the gig was over. I was wondering what all that noise was, when I realized it was "all in my head"...

So my advice to anyone starting to play in a band. Get some cheapo ear plugs, and have them ready at a gig and/or rehearsal. If the drummer goes nuts or others start cranking up, get those ear plugs out and PROTECT YOUR EARS. Believe me, you will thank yourself later, when you have to yell at all your old buddies you played with, because they have trouble hearing...

I do have some decent ear plugs made for musicians, but I never thought about bringing them. I had forgotten how loud this band can be. I use some cheap ones by Hearos (www.hearos.com) and they do the job. Any ear plugs will take away a bit of clarity of the sound, and it can take a while to get used to them. Still, I strongly recommend using them when the volume is loud. You can never repair serious damage done to the ears, as far as I know. The only solution to improve upon hearing loss due to exposure to high volume "noise", is to get a hearing aid. How fun is that? They are not exactly cheap either.

As for me, that's probably the road I'm on - getting a hearing aid. I'm not yet 40 years old, but I often have trouble hearing what people around me say, and I have to ask people to repeat what they are saying. Makes me think of guys twice my age.

So, to sum it up - rock'n roll is not worth going deaf for! Get some ear plugs first, and then you can crank it. I'm bringing some ear plugs to the next gig, you can count on that. Huh? Sorry, what did you say?

I bought a Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:01 GMT

I bought a Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow!

I couldn't resist any more. I bought the Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow, and I'm glad I did. It's an inexpensive guitar, but it rocks. I am still impressed, and as a Suhr owner, I know what a decent guitar looks and feels like.

The neck is so nice, smooth frets and fretboard, and it has just the right neck shape for me. It's fast but not superthin - just right. The scale length is the shorter, Gibson-style scale length of course, so bending is easier than on a strat. I guess you can play faster on a guitar like this.

The pickups are hot and fat sounding. I don't find them overly agressive though to the extent that they would only work for metal sounds. No, on the contrary. I can get very nice bluesy tones too, or I can easily add a distortion pedal to get heavy rock tones. Fun stuff.

I recorded a few quick test clips the same day I got it.

First clip is heavier rock style. Two guitars were recorded playing the same riff, then I panned them left/right. The "amp" used is TonePort Marshall Super Lead with Distortion stomp box model added.

Heavy Rock - 1st test

Next clip is slow blues. Here I use the Super Lead model again, but without the distortion stomp box modeling. One rhythm guitar. The lead guitar plays on the humbucker at first, then halfway through, I switch to the neck pickup in split coil mode, in order to get that "hollow" sound.

Bluesy Marshall - 2nd test

You can also listen to a Michael Kelly Patriot Video here.

As a Strat lover, I think this is the perfect combination for me at this time. This guitar looks fantastic, and it sounds really good, and it's a humbucker guitar. This gives me great tonal variety for gigs and recording. I guess the only thing I'm missing at this point is a hollow-body guitar, like a 335 kind of guitar. Well, a Hagstrom might find its way into my home one day, who knows.

I have a gig this Saturday, with Jaron Rovensky. Come see us if you are in the vicinity of Camrose on January 24, 2009! It should be a fun night and I'll be using both my Suhr Classic and my new Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow. The gig is at the Boston Pizza lounge.

I'll be writing more details about his Michael Kelly guitar soon, along with videos of course. I must recommend this guitar. Simply because the quality is very good, and the price is low, at least I think so. Under $400 USD for a great Les Paul type guitar is nothing the complain about. If you need a LP style guitar, take a close look at the Patriots - they are definitely nice guitars.

Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow Electric Guitar Ebony Satin

It's dark! It's clean! It's the Shadow! The Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow Electric Guitar is the perfect instrument for a walk on the dark side. It's all-satin black finish is in stark contrast to the standard high gloss electric guitar. The matte black looks great under stage lights and its all black hardware continues the Patriot Shadow's understated appeal. The tone on this ax is loud and bold. Equipped with hot dual PAF plus pickups, each is coil-tapped for a single coil option.

In summary, a rocking axe worth having! You should definitely try one out, if you are interested in a rocking axe with fat sounding humbuckers.

Greg V - great Nashville player

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Greg V - great Nashville player

I stumbled onto Greg V one day. I think it may have been because of an ad in a guitar magazine, I'm not quite sure. However, I took a look at his website and bought his album Tailgate Troubadour. It is an instrumental album, and I think it's a must have if you are into Telecasters and Fender amps. The tones Greg is getting on this album are gorgeous.

Greg V resides in Nashville, and does many sessions. He has worked with people such as Wynona Judd, Double Trouble, Buddy Miles, Rascal Flatts, LoneStar, etc. In other words, he is a very versatile player. He is not just a country picker, no he plays a variety of styles, and it's quite a treat to listen to.

The album Tailgate Troubadour is Greg's solo CD debut. There are twelve soulful instrumental songs that are all very interesting to listen to. They have a rootsy vibe and feel, and Greg give us a "tone road trip" by using Nocasters, Telecasters, Gretsches, Dobro, Lap Steel, Baritone, Mando-guitar and sweet sounding vintage amps.

He seems to favour Fender Pro Reverbs, as well as Super Reverbs and other vintage Fender amps. Swart amps are highly regarded by Greg as well.

On Greg's website, there's plenty of information about the gear used for each song on the album. I found it both fun and educational to read the recording notes for each song on his website, while listening to those songs. There interesting sounds and effects which you don't have to guess what they are when you hear them - it's all explained on the website.

If you are like me - interested in rootsy, twangy, lap-steel, emotional Americana soundscapes with fantastic vintage guitar sounds - get this album. I think you will enjoy it a lot.

Learn more about Greg V at http://gregv.us

Michael Kelly Patriot - nice axe

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Michael Kelly Patriot

I'm on a hunt for new guitar. You see, we had a raffle on www.thefret.net and it so happened I won the pot! I never win stuff, so I was very surprised. Now, the deal is that I have to spend the money on guitar gear, and while I didn't win enough to cover the total cost of a new guitar, I'll chip in some savings so I can get a nice but affordable guitar.

I will make my purchase at Music Centre Canada here in Camrose, and I've been spying on the guitars there for the last week. My mind has been set on either a Hagstrom Viking or a Swede, but then the other day, I tested a Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow guitar sitting there plugged into a Peavey Vypyr. So I tested it. Whoah, this thing rocks! I was very impressed. It has a very good sound, and the humbuckers are fat and hot. I usually prefer low output pickups, but on the other hand, maybe I should get a guitar that is very much the opposite to the ones I have. This would be such a guitar.

I played it with high and medium gain amp models, and boy, it just screams. I had so much fun playing 80's rock stuff and some of my lame shredding attempts. Since the pickups are high output, you get a soaring sustain with this thing. And that's fun sometimes...

I figure I can use this a LP substitute. It will give me more crunch and gain than a regular LP, but I noticed it sounds nice with the volume knob rolled off a bit too. My amps are quite clean sounding by default, so this guitar would give me some fat, distorted tones without much help of pedals. Sweet!

I think it looks awesome too. All black and mysterious... I love the looks of it.

I also have to say that the workmanship impressed me considering this is really a cheap guitar. It doesn't feel cheap though. On the contrary, the neck is very nice and smooth. No fret ends sticking out, and the ebony fretboard makes if fast and fun to play. I definitely think the sound and feel of this guitar is a step or two above the norm for a guitar at this price point.

I'll soon decide which guitar I'll get. I very much think it will be either a Hagstrom Viking or a Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow.

Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow Electric Guitar Ebony Satin

In summary, a rocking axe worth having! You should definitely try one out, if you are interested in a rocking axe with fat sounding humbuckers.

Guitar Backing Track - Wreck Me, Baby

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Guitar Backing Track - Wreck Me, Baby

Earlier this week, I sat down one evening with my MacBook Pro and GarageBand with the intention to make a blues backing track before the evening was over. I recorded 2 rhyhtm guitars and I used my SX bass for the bass groove. Drums are EZ Drummer. I did get it finished in about 2 hours, not too bad. The drums are a bit boring, I know. I'll probably go back and add some fills here and there to liven up the track a bit.

I called the tune Wreck Me, Baby and feel free to download it and record your solos over it. Maybe I will too... ;)

If you don't mind, maybe you can help me out here. I'd love some feedback about the direction I'm heading here. These blues backing tracks I'm working will be used in guitar video lessons, and my intentions are to show how to play the rhythm guitars as well as some solo ideas/licks for each track. Thoughts on this? Any suggestions?

I figure that a beginner or intermediate player will be interested in solid rhythm guitar playing, as well as lead playing. I haven't seen too many blues guitar lessons that cover both (although I've not been looking very hard).

The thing is, being able to play solid rhythm guitar is soooo important. I often see players at jams that do not have this down very well, and I'm always thinking they should really work on timing and chord inversions - it makes a huge difference. You have probably heard the term "playing in the pocket" - basically it means to play very tight and solid together with bass and drums.

I will also make available all these backing tracks on my website of course, and if you use them and publish them somewhere, I would love to hear what it sounds like. Please send me a link to any recordings you make from my backing tracks. For commercial use, you must get my written permission.

Now, how's this first track sounding? I intentionally made it very simple and I just copied and pasted a 12 bar progression over and over in GarageBand. When I show how to play the different parts in an upcoming video lesson, you can play along with the track and have no surprises. The track might get boring that way, but there won't be any surprises when you listen to it. The purpose is for practicing only, really.

Again, the track is here -> Wreck Me, Baby.

Added a guitar solo to a friend's tune

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Added a guitar solo to a friend's tune

My good old friend Mathias contacted me the other day and asked if I could add a guitar solo to a tune he recorded. Sure, I said! Mathias and I used to play together in a fusion band called Local Gossip, back when I lived in Sweden. He's a great keyboard player and musician, and this time he added some vocals too.

I fired up my Line 6 Toneport, my Suhr and my MacBook Pro. I use GarageBand for recording, mostly because it is so simple and easy to work with. It doesn't have a lot of fancy things to it, but I like that. I'm a simple man...

This song is called "Give Me" and it has a key change halfway through the solo. I realize I've been so much into blues for last few years, so that playing lead over a song like this was quite difficult. I had to try a few takes to see what kind of stuff would sound good.

I used a Marshall Plexi model on the Toneport together with the tube screamer model. It seems I lean towards that amp model anytime I want some good rock tones, although I like most of the available amps on the Toneport. Most of them can be tweaked to sound pretty good. Well I guess I'm not a great fan of the Insane Distortion stuff, but it can be cool too!

Have a listen and let me know what you think of my solo!

Listen to the tune Give Me by Mathias Aberg.

It might sound a bit different that the stuff I usually play, let me know your feedback. I hope to do more collaborations with Mathias, and perhaps other musicians too. It doesn't really matter where people are in the world - the Internet connects us nicely for musical collaborations like this.

Music Dictionary

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Music Dictionary

Have you ever wondered what Acciaccatura means? How about a Half cadence, Eclogue or a Darabukka? And what does Pianissississississimo really mean? Ever seen a Wurstfagott? Me neither.

I found this well done multimedia music dictionary so I thought I'd share this discovery with you. It's really done, and it was created by the Virginia Tech Department of Music.

There are of course lots of obscure terms here, many of which I've never heard of. However, sometimes, I forget what a term like Decrescendo or Diminuendo means when reading over some sheet music. At such times, this dictionary can come in handy.

Another cool thing is that all of the musical terms in the glossary have AIFF files associated with them, so you can listen to the pronounciation of the term.

Take a look at the Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary and see what you think.

How to learn guitar scales

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:00:01 GMT

How to learn guitar scales

I hang out on several guitar forums and I also get a lot messages through my website. One thing that I've noticed in messages lately are ideas of "better" ways to learn scales. I want talk a bit about this.

Take the A minor pentatonic scale for example. The notes are A - C - D - E - G, that's it. Five notes. I've seen many different approaches in trying to teach people how to play these 5 notes. We have the 5 "pentatonic boxes" of course, and they are a good way to start. The point I'm always mentioning to my students is to practice the different boxes together, in a myriad of ways.

You don't necessarily need to learn this scale by using these boxes only though. You can practice the scale on one string to start with, then focus on the next string, etc. You can analyze it further and focus on how you can stay in one position on the neck as you are playing different keys, just to minimize hand movement. I'm sure there are several other ways to practice this scale too.

Anyway, the point of my little rant here is the same as I tend to repeat quite often - there is no silver bullet. No "tricks" or "secrets" will ever replace practice. It's that simple. If you want to know a scale inside and out, you HAVE to spend time with it. Get to know it all over the neck, figure out what fingerings work best for you - there is wrong way to do it.

I just see so many hoping there is a way to replace hours and hours of practice with some "magic formula" or silver bullet as I call it, and I'm happy to say - no sir, no can do. Only by practicing something over and over can we master a skill, whether that is knowing a scale really well or learn the multiplication table.

Don't be afraid of practice. Embrace it, and realize the more you devote time to practice and learning something, the better you will be able to play.

Finally, practice can be done in different ways, and my advice is to take only a certain amount of difficulty in one setting. Perhaps it's learning A minor Pentatonic in 2nd position. Next time you play, practice combining 1st and 2nd position, perhaps. Maybe you then try do the same thing, but now in the key of G minor, to force you to really learn this well.

Play the scale in different ways, not just all the notes back and forth. Make little melodies. Play just one note in each position, then 2 notes, then 3, etc. Skip every 2nd note, or perhaps you can play 3 notes in a row, then play 3 more, starting for the 2nd note in the first sequence. See, there are many ways of practicing a scale. Take advantage of this! Soon, you will internalize the scale, meaning you won't have to think when you play it. You'll start playing little motifs, phrases and melodies out of scales, and it's happening unconsciously. It will come naturally if you stick to practice habits and don't look for the silver bullet that doesn't exist.

Ok, rant over - hope this makes sense and that I didn't completely bore you!

Disneyland & Tone Merchants

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Disneyland and Tone Merchants

Happy New Year!

Wow, this year went fast! I have a New Year's Eve gig tonight at the Player's Club here in Camrose. I've got some new toys I'll be using tonight. Looking forward to it!

This year has been good for me, and I have gotten more (mostly positive) feedback than any other year about my website, lessons, gear demos, etc. It seems people get something out of what I put on this website, and that makes me glad. Thanks for hanging out on dolphinstreet! I have the intention to make more good material for this website, and I do try, but forgive me if the wait seems to be long at times regarding new content. Work, family, marathon running and other things make it hard to have enough time to work as much on the website as I would like. More good things will appear here in 2009 though - be sure about that!

I'm back home again after spending the holidays at Disneyland with the family. It was a lot of fun! There are a lot of fun rides for both kids and adults. The California Screamin' roller coaster had me smiling big time - it's so fast! Christmas at Disneyland is an exciting time. They have so much stuff going on at that time. We were also lucky that the weather was a bit cold and wet the first time, because that meant hardly and line-ups for the rides. The last day we went, it was sunny and nice, which meant very long lines and way too many people.

I also managed to sneak away for a bit to do some guitar-related visits. First, I located my friend Mark Wein, who is a guitar teacher in Orange, California. We spent some good time together talking about guitars and we also jammed a bit over some blues and funk grooves. It was a lot of fun. I have gotten to know Mark via various websites but this was the first time I had the opportunity to meet him in person. He has a teaching studio where several other teachers also teach music, and it was very interesting to see his studio. His website is at www.markwein.com - check it out because he has some great lessons there.

Then, the next day, I went to a very interesting guitar store called Tone Merchants - a veritable candy store to be for a guitar aficionado like me. They have a lot of great amps, guitars and effects, and I tried as much as I could while I was there. And there was a lot.

There weren't a lot of people in the store on that Saturday I was there. Good for me - I could try anything I wanted without having to wait for others to be done in the amp room. I can't even remember all the gear I tried, but I took lots of photos.

I tried a few Suhrs, and they were great as I would expect (I have a Suhr Classic myself as you probably know). I also tried Nash, K-line and Grosh strats, and they were also really nice. I also tried a Tyler strat, but I didn't connect that much with it for some reason. Same with the Nash strat - was not that impressed. Now, the K-line strat felt and played really fantastic. It felt like the best vintage Fenders I've ever tried and was the winner in my book of all the strat type guitars I tried. Well, the Grosh was a close second.

Regarding amps, I have to be honest and say I fell in love with the Custom Audio Electronics OD-100. Man, what a great amp! I also tried Germino amps, Blankenship, Goodsell amps. The Germino was interesting but I didn't connect with it - maybe the guitar I used didn't work so well with it or something. I am sure it would sound terrific with a Les Paul. The Blankenship amp sounded like the best Plexi clone I've ever heard. Very impressive amp! I tried a big Goodsell with 6L6 tubes that sounded completely amazing for cleaner tones. Fantastic tone, and a very good choice if you want a big, cleaner sounding amp for blues, jazz and country.

The CAE OD-100 however, impressed me the most. It is incredibly versatile to say the least. It has Fenderish cleans with some Marshall flavour, and the gain channel sounds big and fat even at lower volumes. I found the distortion very pleasing and fun. Sort of a more modern Marshall tone but still able to get Plexi flavor with the gain turned down a bit. I was surprised it could do so many great tones so well and at lower volumes. They had 2 versions, Standard+ and SE+, and both worked great with a strat. I probably liked the Standard+ more, but I would honestly love either.

Lastly, I felt I should buy something after being there for hours and playing fantastic equipment. I saw a Scott Henderson signature RC Booster, which I had read about. It's a little upgrade from the original RC Booster - more or better bass frequency or something to that effect. I tried it through the OD-100 and Blankenship, and it was very impressive. I got a good deal on it too, it comes with a signed photo of Scott, and one of his CDs (one I actually didn't have!). Needless to say, I got myself another (late) Christmas guitar present!

I had a fantastic time at Tone Merchants, and I highly recommend going there if you are in the Anaheim area. The staff is incredibly friendly and knowledgeable, and they have the most amazing guitar gear you'll ever see in a guitar store.

Season's Guitar Greetings

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Season's Guitar Greetings!

It is that time of year again, Christmas is almost upon us! I don't know about you, but I tend to get that extra need to buy guitar gear around this time of year... so, I have a little guitar Christmas present in the mail and it should show up any day now. Curious?

This year, our family is going on a trip to Disneyland during Christmas. We are looking forward to getting away from this crazy weather we've been having here. It's been minus 26 to well over minus 30 degrees Celsius most of December! That's around -15 to -25 Fahrenheit, by the way. As a runner, this is terrible. Luckily, we have an indoor track that I'm able to use quite often. I can't let the cold weather stop me from running!

Now, I don't know if there are any interesting guitar stores around Disneyland, but I'll keep my eyes peeled. It's always fun to check out guitar stores when you go on a trip, isn't it? You never know what you might find... I am also hoping to meet up with my friend Mark Wein, since he's in that neck of the woods, and he'd know any guitar store locations, I'm sure.

Last time I posted the tab and GP5 file for The Christmas Song, and I'd love to hear if anyone has tried my arrangement. I had Chris Isaac's version in my head as I wrote that arrangement, so you may want to check out his version. He released this Christmas album a couple of years ago, it's really nice.

I received a comment about playing The Christmas Song with a chord melody arrangement. Well, I'm not the best chord melody player, but I tried it and I managed to struggle through the tune playing chords and melody at the same time. However, I find it is really difficult and I would definitely say it's not for beginners... it takes many hours of practice to get it right, and honestly, I prefer just singing the melody as I play the chords. Maybe I'll write down the chord melody arrangement for next year - I don't have any time to do it now before I go.

So, I wish you a holiday season full of joy and guitar happiness. Stay healthy, spend quality time with your loved ones and enjoy this time of year. If that guitar gets a bit of rest during the holidays, that's okay too.

Thanks for taking the time to hang out on dolphinstreet.com and thanks for all the feedback! It's great for me to hear what people think of this website. I am going to work hard on making it even better in 2009.

Happy Holidays!

Learn The Christmas Song on guitar

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Learn The Christmas Song on guitar

Soon Christmas is all over us again, so what better can I offer you than a nice Christmas tune?

I made an arrangement for the popular song, The Christmas Song, you know, "chestnuts roasting on an open fire...". My students love the challenge of playing this tune, and I also play this tune with my friend Myra sometimes. Maybe you'd like to learn it too?

It's got a lot cool chords in it. Take a look at the PDF of The Christmas Song.

I would definitely recommend the Guitar Pro 5 version, since you can much easier follow along with this excellent guitar learning program.

Here is the Guitar Pro file of The Christmas Song. Let me know if you find any mistakes.

Download Guitar Pro

I highly recommend you buy Guitar Pro - it's the best software I have found for learning guitar tabs and chords. I try to make all my lessons available with Guitar Pro files. You can download a trial version on the Guitar Pro website to see if you like it (I think you will).

Brossard Picks Review

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Brossard Picks Review

You can call me picky about picks (pun intended), but I really prefer thick picks that give me a good tone. For my style of playing, thin picks just don't work. I find that the pick material is also very important for the tone. So, I'm always on the lookout for interesting picks.

I saw Brossard Picks advertised in Guitar Player, so I went to their website and took a look. They sure look interesting but of course they cost a bit more than regular picks. Some people think it's a waste of money to buy picks like these, because they are easily lost. Well, I keep pretty good track of my picks, especially the expensive ones.

After browsing through the website, I ordered the The Bone and Dirty Blond Horn Set, since that seemed like a good deal. You also get a little pick pouch with the two picks.

A bit later they arrived, and I was excited to try them. I got a bone pick and a horn pick. Both picks are very shiny and smooth, and a bit larger than a normal pick. They also both have a very pointy edge, which makes them great for fast speed picking. I was surprised at how accurate my picking was, and how easy it was to play alternate picking.

The bone pick is very hard, and has a "sharper" tone than the horn pick. They are both comfortable to hold and very thick, which I like. The picks taper down significantly toward the pointy edge.

The horn pick is my favourite of the two. It sounds a little softer and give me a slightly smoother tone. It is also very hard but must be a little bit softer than the bone pick, I presume.

Drawbacks? Well, picks are a very personal thing. I prefer picks that give me a round and smooth tone. These picks are a bit on the hard side, which means the tone is a bit sharp for some of the styles I play. However, when I want to play more alternate picking and country style guitar, I find they work very well. I also have not had them that long and I'm still exploring the tonal options they give me. Another thing I noticed is that if you sweat a bit when playing, they get slippery. The material is very shiny and at the last gig it was hot on stage and I noticed the pick was sliding around in grip.

In summary, I think they are very interesting picks and they definitely have a place in my world of guitar playing. I use them regularly and find they sound different from most other picks, and they are great for fast picking. They cost quite a bit more than regular picks, but if you are like me and think that the pick is an important aspect of playing guitar, I recommend you try these. I only regret that I didn't get some Brossard picks made out of wood, because they would likely sound smoother. I guess I will need to go back to the Brossard Picks website some day soon and order some of those!

Randall RM100 head

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Randall RM100

A friend at the local music store just bough this amp, the Randall RM100 MTS Series 100 watt tube head. I tried it yesterday. I must say I am impressed. Randall amps have never appealed to me, but I must say this thing impressed me.

This amp has a lot of features. Incredibly versatile. You can use 6L6, EL34, EL34L, 5881 tubes and you can even bias them yourself. You can buy and plug in all sorts of cool modules - 13 to choose from. This means mean you have the ability to have 13 different channels to pick from, although only 3 at a time.

There's also a density control for adjusting the low end and a presence control.

I used a Dean Michael Shenker Flying V through this amp, and I tried the Plexi and the Dan Donegan modules. Very impressive tones. The Plexi I really didn't try enough. I'm not sure about that one yet - hopefully I get a chance to try it again soon.

The Dan Donegan module (1086) is fat and crunchy, and also very tight sounding. I turned up this 100 watt head to 3 or 4, and that was plenty loud. The matching 4 x 12 cabinet together with this amp did a great job of getting that thick, dynamic amp distortion that you get with a quality amp. It reminded me of a high gain Marshall. I usually don't play with this amount of gain, but I have to say it was a lot of fun to just hit some power chords and get that big OOOMPHH as you hit the strings.

I'm not planning on getting one of these, since I prefer simple one channel amps for the stuff I do. However, who knows, if one of these shows up for sale used somewhere locally for a decent coin, it might be worth getting just for the fun of it.

If you are looking for a very versatile and loud 100 watt head, where you can buy specific modules for a variety of sounds, this might be just the ticket. Incredibly versatile I must say, and the tones sure are impressive.

For an overview of the available modules, check the Randall website.

Players Club Gig

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Took my Suhr Classic out to a gig at the Player's Club

Last weekend, I got a last minute gig at a local bar called The Player's Club. I also brought my Mack Heatseeker 18 and some good pedals attached to my Pedaltrain. Good tones were happening.

The stage is quite nice at this place. It has a lots of soft material around it, quite good for sound. Myra and I and Rocky started out doing some softer tunes. My Suhr sounded great of course. Nice clean and huge tones came out with little effort.

For cabinet, I used my Avatar 2x12 with Eminence Wizards. It is a bright sounding cab, but I like it that way. I tend to turn down the tone knob a bit on my gain pedal so that the overdriven tones are not too bright.

For the second and third set, we had a good drummer by the name Jim join us. We did a few rockier and bluesier tunes, and I kicked in my Maxon SD-9. Sweet tone! I am noticing big time that the SD-9 sounds more natural than ever with my Suhr Classic. It's like I can't get a bad sound, no matter what I do. It's fat and juicy but not harsh at all. Very organic. Very nice combination, the Suhr, the Heatseeker and the Maxon SD-9.

I also like to use a Boss Blues Driver for some semi-gain sounds, like SRV tunes and similar. Works great for that. My BD-2 is also modded, and I keep the tone on it rolled back a bit.

I was not imagining that I had a good sound. Several people came up and told me I sounded better than ever, and I would have to agree. At least about the sound (never mind the playing...) but I probably play better too when I enjoy my tone. I kept the Heatseeker fairly loud, and that is a GOOD thing. A tube amp like this, with no master volume, needs to be pushed hard. Even an 18 watter can be loud when pushed, but for this gig, it was just right.

I had a lot of fun, and my daughter and later a friend took some good photos. Here they are.

Gig Photos

iPod Classic 120 GB Review

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

iPod Classic 120 GB Review

Just got me my first ever iPod. I have been using a Creative Zen Micro for years, but it's starting to show its age. So, the obvious choice was to get an iPod.

I decided to go with an iPod Classic 120 GB, mostly because of the storage capacity. I have more music than I can fit on a 16 GB iPod Nano, so the Classic 120 GB was a natural choice. Finally, I can have all my music in one place and bring it along where ever I go.

My iPod Classic is the black one. It looks really nice, and the size is a bit bigger than my Creative Zen Micro. It has a good screen on it, and perhaps I'll get some more videos on it in time. Definitely want to add some cool guitar pics and family photos to show off to friends! On this screen, it will look great.

I took it along for a jog today, and it fit snug into my running jacket's breast pocket. It's not very heavy, even though it is not a small unit.

iTunes and iPod goes hand in pocket. The integration between the two is very slick. Of course, iTunes has a lot of great music, and it is so easy to find it, which also means it's VERY easy to buy music! I have to be careful so I don't go overboard with buying music on iTunes. Once you go on a search and find some gems, you can't help yourself and those Buy buttons are like magnets...

There are of course games to be bought on iTunes too, but I doubt I'll be doing much of that.

I also like the coverflow feature, the calendar, alarms, and watching photo slideshows. You can even hook up the iPod to a TV! That's pretty slick. The stopwatch I'll definitely use sometime, since I'm an avid runner and running coach.

I am very happy with this iPod so far. It is easy to use it, and it both sounds and looks great. What more is needed? I guess FM radio would have been nice, and voice recording too (oops - it has that already). The metal back got scratched easily, although I don't really care much about that. But overall, I highly recommend the iPod Classic if you want to store, listen and bring along lots of music with minimal hassle.

Technical Details

Brand name: Apple iPod Classic 120GB
Generation: 7th
Storage capacity: 120 GB
Color: Black
Drive type: Hard drive
Compatibility: Mac/Windows
Width: 2.4 inches (61.8 mm)
Depth: 0.41 inch (10.5 mm)
Height: 4.1 inches (103.5 mm)
Weight: 4.9 ounces (140 grams)
Audio controls: Hold switch, click wheel
Supported audio formats: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
Song storage capacity: Up to 30,000 songs
Display size: 2.5 inches diagonal
Display type: Color LCD with LED backlight
Display resolution: 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch
Supported video formats: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
Video storage capacity: Up to 150 hours of video
Supported image file types: Syncs iPod-viewable photos in JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG formats
Image storage capacity: Holds up to 25,000 iPod-viewable photos
Battery: Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
Battery life: Music playback time: Up to 36 hours when fully charged; Video playback time: Up to 6 hours when fully charged
Battery charge time: Fast-charge time: about 2 hours (charges up to 80percent of battery capacity); Full-charge time: about 4 hours
Headphones: Earphones
Headphones Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Headphones Impedance: 32 ohms
Input: Dock connector
Output: 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
Mac system requirements: Mac computer with USB 2.0 port; Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later; iTunes 8 or later
Windows system requirements: PC with USB 2.0 port; Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3; iTunes 8 or later
Operating temperature: 32 degrees to 95 degrees F (0 degrees to 35 degrees C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4 degrees to 113 degrees F (-20 degrees to 45 degrees C)
Relative humidity: 5percent to 95percent noncondensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
What's in the box: Apple iPod classic 120 GB Black, Earphones, USB 2.0 cable, Dock adapter, Quick Start guide

New guitar - Suhr Classic

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

New guitar - Suhr Classic

Big News - I am very excited to finally have a Suhr guitar! I have been planning, for a long time now, to get a Suhr some day. Some weeks ago, I tried out a few nice Suhr guitars at a music store in Edmonton. I was mighty impressed, but they were out of my price range. Last week, I spotted a very interesting used Suhr for sale on a guitar forum. Long story short - it worked out great and I now have a 2004 Suhr Classic!.

This Suhr is in great shape. Only a couple of small dings, otherwise it's in mint condition, pretty much. I was worried about buying a guitar unseen. It's not like me to do that, because I want to try before I buy. However, this Suhr is just perfect for me. The neck feels just right, it is easy to play and it sounds better than any Fender Strat I have ever played.

The colour is Olympic White; it has stainless steel frets, parchment pickguard, Suhr V60 LP pickups (sound fantastic), rosewood fretboard, alder body, Gotoh 1088 bridge, Sperzel locking tuners, and a 10"-14" compound radius neck.

It is very easy to play, this guitar. I use 09-42 strings on my Fender Strat, but this Suhr has 10-46 strings on it, and I don't think I will go back to 09s. The fretboard is flatter on this guitar, which makes it easier to play.

I wrote up a Suhr Classic Review as well.

If you haven't heard about Suhr guitars, go take a look at the Suhr Guitars website. John Suhr has been building high quality guitars for a long time, and he definitely builds some of the finest guitars available anywhere. I am very, very impressed with the build quality. To me, it is the perfect Strat.

Gig photos from last night

Check out a photo slide show from yesterday's gig at The Player's Club. I played with my friend Myra Marshall, Al Chomlak and a drummer whose name I've forgotten. My guitar tone was very, very good. I used my Heatseeker by Mack amps, and a variety of pedals. Several people came up and asked about my gear and said the tone was great. They were surprised when I said the amp is only 18 watts! It is a great amp, but it has never sounded this good with my other guitars. The sound is richer, fatter and more balanced than ever with this Suhr Classic - the guitar I completely adore at this point... :)

My Suhr Classic video - first time I plugged it in!

Teach yourself guitar

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Teach yourself guitar

Is that even possible? Don't you need a guitar teacher in order to have a chance of getting anywhere?

Those are good questions. Let's take a look at them in more detail.

First of all, I think having a guitar teacher is the best possible situation. Teaching yourself to play guitar can be done - I did it that way. The main drawback is that it will probably take longer to get anywhere. You have no skilled teacher to ask for feedback, or to ask "what should I be working on?".

Teaching yourself takes extra discipline. You will need some sort of guide, whether this consists of books, DVDs, audio, computer software, etc. Personally, I learned by listening to tapes of the Beatles and Heavy Metal bands from the late 70s. I kept listening to a short part of a song on the tape, playing a long with guitar at the same time. I tried to figure out what chords and/or notes were being played. Listening for 3-4 seconds, imitating, rewinding, playing along, thinking, repeating over and over. Getting anywhere this way took a long time, but in the process, I also developed very good ears for hearing notes and combinations of notes. This, I realize now, was VERY rewarding for my future guitar playing.

However, if I started from scratch again, I would try and find a good guitar teacher. With a good teacher, you can progress much quicker than by yourself, not only because of the instruction part, but also because the teacher will be able to give you very constructive feedback. When teaching yourself, this can be difficult. How can you be sure what you are doing is good, correct, etc?

It can be hard to find a teacher that works great for you, but don't give up. Talk to several teachers and see if you can start out with just a few lessons. Try to get a feeling for if this teacher communicates well with you and you see the potential for good progress. If not, try a different teacher.

If you do decide to teach yourself, ask on web guitar forums and check reviews of Guitar DVD's and books. Amazon has a good selection of material which is user-rated, so that you get an idea of useful people find it.

Above all, you must realize that practice is what will make you improve on your instrument. Whether you have a teacher or you are teaching yourself, set aside as much time as you can per week for practice. It's really only during practicing you are really learning; the rest of the time you are taking info in some way. I would say try and play an hour per day, at least, and set aside at least 3-4 days per week to practicing. Otherwise, most people will not progress as quickly as they would like.

Now, if you can't find a teacher where you live, I can perhaps help you out with my web cam guitar lessons. The way this works is we do one-on-one lessons, using a webcam and necessary software. It's almost like having a real teacher in your living room.

You probably know that I also have blues/rock guitar DVD material on this website. There are lots of blues licks, scales and exercises on these, as well as song snippets and intros.

Whatever you choose to do, have fun with it, and remember that you have to spend time practicing your guitar in order to really progress. Don't let that discourage you, however. Practicing can actually be fun! The more you practice, the more you improve, which motivates you to practice more! If you are serious about improving your guitar playing, practicing won't be a problem for you.

Peavey Amps

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Peavey Amps

Peavey amplifiers have been been making guitar amps for a long time. Since 1957, to be exact.

Peavey is known for making amps that are reliable workhorses. One of my first guitar amps ever was a Peavey Special. It was a very good sounding combo amp for its time and price point (yes I am old!).

I eventually ended up with a Peavey Deuce for a while too, and 2x12 combo, but this one had some issues and blew fuses all the time.

With the birth of the Classic series amps, I think the sound quality of the Peavey amps went up a bit. I got a 20 watt Peavey Classic which sounded really good. I had to sell it when I moved to Canada, otherwise I would still have it today.

I have played the Peavey Classic 30 and 50 several times at gigs, and I am always impressed by how great these amps sound. In fact, I often recommend the Classic 30 to people who ask about a versatile combo that doesn't cost a fortune. This amp continues to be one of the best deals you can make, if you need a tube combo for playing blues, country or jazz.

More recently, Peavey have put out several interesting and good sounding amps. We have the Windsor, ValveKing, Vypyr, 6505, JSX, Bandit, Delta Blues, Classic, Rage, Envoy, Audition, Valve King Royal, Triple XXX, Transtube, Penta, Jack Daniels 30. Phew! I probably missed some too, but that's quite a few models of guitar amps! Anything from practice amps to screaming half-stacks, Peavey makes them all.

I haven't personally tried all of the different models, but I have tried quite a few, and not surprising, the more expensive the amp, the more impressive it is. For metal heads, the Vypyr is an incredible deal, since it costs so little but have such great metal sounds.

Perhaps Peavey used to be known as the budget line of amps, a few steps below Fender and Marshall in tone and quality, but I don't think is true anymore. Peavey has improved and matured, and their best amps can hang with any of the major amp manufacturers out there. If you see a Peavey in a store, try it out. The are usually cheaper than Marshalls and/or Fenders, and you might be surprised at the quality of tones you can conjure out of Peavey amps.

Peavey amps summary

Here are some of the amps in the Peavey line. I'm not saying this is a complete list either; it's just a few of the amps I've heard of, and several of them I have enjoyed playing.

Peavey Valve King Royal 8 5W 1x8 Tube Combo Amp Black
Peavey Classic 30/112 Tube Combo Amp Tweed
Peavey Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 60W 1x12 Guitar Combo Amp Black
Peavey Vypyr 30 30W 1x12 Guitar Combo Amp Black
Peavey 6505 120W Guitar Amp Head
Peavey ValveKing 100 Head
Peavey Windsor Studio 20W 1x12 Tube Combo Amp Black
Peavey Penta 140W Guitar Amp Head
Peavey JSX Joe Satriani Signature Head
Peavey JSX Mini Colossal Guitar Amp
Peavey Delta Blues 115 Tube Combo Amp Tweed
Peavey Windsor Tube Amp Head
Peavey Triple XXX 120W Guitar Amp Head
Peavey Envoy 110 Guitar Amplifier with TransTube Technology
Peavey Bandit 112 Guitar Amplifier with TransTube Technology
Peavey ReValver MK III Amp Modeling Software Plug-In

Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster

The Squier Classic Vibe guitars are getting some very favorable comments from a lot of people. The reason is obvious - it's and inexpensive but very good guitar. The options are the Classic Vibe Telecaster '50s, the Classic Vibe Stratocaster '50s and '60s and the Duo-Sonic '50s.

They look great too. The Tele especially has been getting a lot of attention. It's got a blonde finish and the body is made out of pine. That's the first time I've heard of a pine Telecaster. The neck is maple and has 21 medium jumbo frets. The radius is 9.5 inches, with a modern C shape.

The pickups are Alnico III, and they do sound very good. I don't think it's necessary to upgrade the pickups, unless you need noiseless perhaps.

The bridge is a Vintage style string-thru body with a 3-Brass Barrel saddles.

It's a vintage looking guitar with a cool vibe - the black pickguard makes it look quite awesome I think!

I have an older Standard Telecaster, but if you are looking for a good Tele for not much money, I'd say get this one. Many people think it's as good or better than the Mexican Fender Telecasters, so I would recommend trying both and see what you think. It sure isn't a big investment, so I would highly recommend the Classic Vibe guitars from Squier to anyone looking for an old-school type of guitar with high quality for low dollars. Great sound, fantastic value, great vintage look. What else would you want?

Get one right away from Musician's Friend

Vintage Electric V6 Icon Series

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Vintage Electric V6 Guitar Icon Series

I tested a cool looking strat copy today, called Vintage V6 Icon. It's yet another inexpensive guitar that impresses. It recently arrived at the local store, so I had to take it for a test run.

What stands out right away is of course the aged look. These guitar look fantastic, that is you like that relic'd look. It's all about relicing here - the body, neck, hardware, pretty much everything is "aged". I like it, I think it's hip.

The guitar sounds good acoustically. It has a little dull sound, a bit mellow and not so much snap. It could be because of old strings, perhaps.

Plugged in, the pickups impressed me somewhat. I need to repeat again this guitar is cheap, so I wouldn't expect it to sound like a high end guitar. It doesn't, but it's not bad at all. I enjoyed all the tones I could get out of the 5-way switch. I played it through a Roland Cube-60, and it was fun. The neck feels great, very much like a vintage Fender, except the wood isn't as good and the one I played had some buzzing problems. I quick look along the edge of the neck showed why - it was not completely straight.

It has Wilkinson hardware, which surprised me considering the price point of these guitars. I would imagine Wilkinson must have lower-end parts as well as higher-end manufacturing. The guitar did stay in tune fantastically well though, but I did not use the whammy bar either.

In summary, the guitar has an incredible vibe of coolness. It looks awesome with that relic look, and it sounds more than decent. The neck feels nice but I can tell that overall the quality control is so-so. I bet that if you play a dozen of these strat copies, you may find one that it really kicks but. That's one thing to keep in mind when buying guitars, especially cheaper ones - not all of them are created equal. Test many of them, and eventually you might find that gem where every part is great and the whole guitar becomes a few notches better than it's sisters/brothers. If you want a cheap strat copy that sounds and looks great, take a good look at Vintage Electric Guitars. There are more models than the V6, so look around. I would give this guitar a 6 out of 10.

Features

Body: Eastern Poplar Neck: Hard Maple – Bolt On Fingerboard: Rosewood, V6MRBK Maple Scale: 25.5"/648mm Frets: 22 Neck Inlays: Pearloid Dot Tuners: Wilkinson® WJ55 E-Z-LOK™ Vibrato: Wilkinson® WVC Pickups: Wilkinson® Single Coil x 3 (N)WVS (M)WVS (B)WVS Hardware: Chrome Controls: 1 x Volume/ 2 x Tone/ 5-Way Lever

Country guitar picker in Ontario

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Country Guitar Picker

I had a great time in Kingston, Ontario this last weekend, where I spent the the weekend at the CCAA National Championships (I'm one of the coaches). Our teams did well on the Fort Henry course. It was a European-style course, very open, no trees, short hills, and soft grass. The main loop was 2.5 km and had many turns back and forth, which made it terrific for watching. The women did the loop twice and the men ran it three times, plus a 500 m loop. It had been raining all night and all morning, but finally quit raining just before the women's start. Because of the rain, the course was soft and not at all easy. Our women did a great job and finished 4th out of 17 teams, and our men finished strong as well and came in at 5th place out of 18 teams. It was the toughest field I've ever seen at a CCAA National Championship race. Well done!

The same evening, we went to a few pubs. The musical treat I was about to get was actually quite amazing. We went to three pubs within two blocks from our hotel. Those pubs were all in a row. The first one had a band called "The Firm" playing there, and they were very impressive. They played 70s, 80s and 90s music, anything from Bee Gees, Village People, Santana to Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. They were great players, and they were a 6 piece band - drums, bass, two guitars, vocals and keyboards. Anyone listening probably knew 90% of the tunes, and people were dancing and having a good time. The sound was great - they had their own sound engineer and effects were used in a very good way, so that it would sound close to the original tunes. Very professional band, and it was clear that everyone in the band was a pro at what they did. I noticed that one of the guitar players had a nice looking Suhr guitar, while the other was playing an Ernie Ball "Luke" guitar.

Next pub had a three piece band playing louder and heavier. They were more like the typical bar bands I've heard. Lots of punk and rock influences here, and a fat sounding Les Paul through a Peavey 5150 made people jump with joy. I got bored pretty quick though, since there weren't really any dynamics and everything started to sound the same after a while. I'm also not a big fan of punk music.

The last band I found in between the first to pubs we went to. I could hear some interesting swing coming from inside this place which looked like it was closed for repairs. I tried to get in but I only found locked doors. Weird. After a while however, I found the entrance (although it didn't look at all like the door into an establishment). In a small, strange looking place, I found a jazzy sound band consisting of drums, bass, soprano sax and two telecaster players. They were mostly jamming and they sounded alright. Great bass player and sax player. However, one of the guitar players, a smoking country picker, just completely BLEW MY MIND! Unfortunately, I only heard a couple of songs, since the band was at the end of their last set. However, I didn't need to listen very long to his playing to realize this guy is a monster player. He had and old Tele, a Boss ME-50 and a volume pedal into a Fender Hot Rod DeVille. His tone was good.

I looked him up on the Net, and his name is Steve Piticco. He is one of these players who make it look sooooo easy. Chicken Picking, steel guitar style bends, fast and ultra-cool legato runs that made my eyes pop out - this guy can do it all, and with style. I've heard plenty of Albert Lee, Brent Mason and other fantastic player, but I'm here to tell you - if you like that style of guitar playing, do check out Steve Piticco. He is one the finest Canadian country guitar players I've heard. Some videos:

Check out his myspace page here - Steve Piticco - he also has CD's for sale.

Tom Cochrane in Camrose

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Tom Cochrane in Camrose

I enjoyed a concert with Tom Cochrane last night here in Camrose. The World Junior A Hockey Challenge is on here in Camrose from Nov 1 to Nov 9, 2008. Yesterday, after the opening ceremonies, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider performed. It was pretty good. Big sound and great show. Tom seemed full of energy. The played some of the big hits - Life Is A Highway, Lunatic Fringe, Big League, etc.

The guitar player in Red Rider had some great tones happening. He played a guitar with TV Jones pickups; it may have been a Guild, not sure. He also played steel guitar and he had a huge sound on that thing. Very cool.

The Encana Arena should have been more filled though - it looked a bit empty, considering a big name like Tom Cochrane performing. Camrose is a small city though and getting people to come from far and wide is not always so easy.

The guy who opened for them was really, really good (Shaun Verrault). He is most known for playing and singing in the band Wide Mouth Mason. Yesterday he did a great job with just acoustic guitar and his voice. I was very impressed by his talent and his show. See him if you ever get the chance!

Life Is A Highway

Lunatic Fringe

Big League

Difference between distortion and overdrive

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:00:01 GMT

What is the difference between distortion and overdrive?

Distortion and overdrive pedals are both sometimes referred to as gain pedals, or perhaps dirt or crunch pedals. These types of pedals add extra grit to your guitar tone, and in the process they can also boost the volume a bit, if so required. Whether it's called gain, dirt or grit - the idea is the same. There is another type of gain pedal that should be mentioned here as well - the fuzz pedal, as it also belongs to this family of pedals. However, I'm leaving fuzz pedals out of the discussion for the rest of this article.

Depending on who you ask, you might get slightly difference answers to this question about the difference between distortion and overdrive. I find it is hard to describe in words the difference between the two. The easiest way to get an idea would be to start by having a listen yourself. Here is a video clip of each type of pedal:

Maxon SD-9 Distortion Pedal

Cool Cat Drive Overdrive Pedal

If you still insist on a description, I would say think of distortion as a crunchy, edgy type of gritty sound with plenty of sustain. It is the basic sound of the classic rock bands as well as heavy rock bands all the way to metal bands. Many guitar amps can create a fat, rich distortion by themselves, and then a distortion pedal is often not needed. However, there are also many amps that don't produce much distortion, so adding a distortion pedal can then give a player a lot of versatility by transforming the clean sound to a fat rocking tone.

Overdrive, to my ears, has a more hollow sound, usually less sustain and a more "bluesy" sound. There are many overdrive pedals out there, but the one with the most fame attached to it would probably be the Tube Screamer, by Ibanez. There are nowadays many companies making tube screamer type of pedals. Stevie Ray Vaughan used Tube Screamers throughout his career, and partly because of the huge influence he continues to have on so many people, you often find a Tube Screamer of some variation or another on most guitar players' pedalboards.

The difference in sound between distortion pedals and overdrive pedals can sometimes be very subtle. I find I can set my distortion pedals to sound very much like an overdrive pedal, by turning down the gain a bit, while also turning back the tone knob somewhat. Turning those knobs in the opposite direction however, would create a more typical high gain distortion sound on most distortion pedals.

Getting an overdrive pedal to sound like a distortion pedal is harder though. I find they sound best on medium gain settings through a clean or semi-clean amp. Again, have a listen to almost any bluesier or rockier Stevie Ray Vaughan song, and you can often hear how he kicks in a Tubescreamer when he takes a solo. The tone gets louder, and changes from semi-clean to rich, dirty and gritty.

How to use distortion or overdrive pedals

A gain pedal can be used in several ways. You can use it with a medium gain setting through a clean amp tone in order to get a good gritty rhythm guitar sound. You can use it as a boost, with a low gain setting but the volume turned up through an already semi-dirty amp. This will make the signal into the preamp a little "hotter", which will lead to increased sustain and fatter tone. Maybe you have good amp distortion already, but you want more crunch - kick in a distortion pedal of your choice and you're rocking! Experiment - try different variations and combinations to see what interesting tones you can get. There are no rules for how to use pedals - as long as it sounds good, your're on the right track.

Using two gain pedals together

Here's a little trick you should try if you haven't: using two gain pedals together. It's an interesting way to get versatile tones, and I often do this. I may use my Maxon SD-9 for distortion, then add my Boss Blues Driver for additional gain and volume. Perfect for plaing lead stuff. Again, there are no rules - try both overdrive and distortion pedals together and see what you come up with. You can for example have them both set up low amounts of gain, but together they deliver lots of gain. Or, you can have one set up with a fair amount of gain and the other with just a touch of dirt and perhaps slight volume boost. This way, you have the perfect setup for playing solos and leads.

If you are thinking about getting a gain pedal and don't have much experience with these, I would recommend you got to a well equipped music store and ask to try a decent overdrive pedal, as well as a decent distortion pedal. Have both of them hooked up together and try all combinations and settings. See what tones YOU like out this gear.

Here are some recommendations for pedals - just remember that there are so many people making great pedals today, and these recommendations are by no means meant to represent the best pedals available - they are just some examples that came to mind as I am writing this up.

Suhr guitars are fantastic

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Suhr guitars are fantastic

I recently went to RKM Music in Sherwood Park and Mill Woods (Edmonton), and I had the opportunity to play 3 Suhr guitars. I have read about Suhr guitars, partly because guys like Scott Henderson, Mike Landau, Guthrie Govan, etc, work with John Suhr. Look the list of Suhr artists - quite a few killer players there!

A Suhr guitar is one fantastic instrument. I am a Strat guy as you probably know, and a Suhr strat is really the best strat you can possibly buy, from my perspective. These guys are fanatical when it comes to detail and quality. A guitar from Suhr Guitars won't be shipped out if it doesn't meet the stringent quality tests, so you can be certain you will get a fantastic instrument.

Just from strumming the first chord, you can tell this is a GREAT guitar. The ones I tried all oozed quality and finesse. Without plugging in the guitar, it was very resonant and inspiring to play. Then when you plug it in, oh my gosh! These Suhr pickups are fantastic! Well, the guitar just sounds fantastic, and I'm sure there's more to that than just the pickups, but I was floored by the strat tones I could get out of it. Very, very addictive and I really did not want to stop playing these guitars. Apparently, a lot of time is devoted to picking out the best possible wood for the guitars Suhr make. All is hand-built, assembled by one guitar builder. Quality is what Suhr is all about.

The Suhrs I tested were all different. The first one was a Strat with humbucker/single-coil/humbucker configuration. It had a fairly fat neck, but still fun to play. The frets were so nice. The intonation all over the neck was impeccable. Sounds was great, even the humbuckers made me smile. The Buzz Feiten Tuning system seems to be a great tool for perfect intonation. Next, I tried a Suhr strat with all single coils. Wow, the sound was a dream. The guitar was very light, and extremely easy to play. It had a beautiful birds eye maple neck, but I hear it's a soft wood and I would prefer a hard maple neck for durability. The last Suhr I played was a butterscotch Tele. It has a chunkier neck but still not hard to play. The sound again - fantastic tones all over. Tele lovers, take a close look at the Suhr telecasters!

So why don't I have one then, if they are so good? Well, all this talk about how fantastic these instruments are aside - they are expensive. Most of them are around $3,000 USD and above. Compare to a Fender Strat - the American Strat Deluxe is less than half of that. Now, I have played several Fender Strats, including the Custom Shop ones, and none of those were anywhere close in feel, looks and sound compared to the Suhrs I tested. The Suhrs are just in a different league, in opinion. Thereby the price... I don't have that much money to spend on a guitar at this point. However, I am still looking at ways to fund such a purchase. I am trying to sell off some things in order to raise funds.

I have been playing guitar for, well let's see now - over 26 years now I think. I have had some nice guitars over the years, Hamer, Steinberger but nothing close to a high quality guitar like a Suhr. So, I'm considering ordering a Suhr. Yes, they do design the guitars according to your specifications. Pick and choose the parts and specifications so you get exactly the guitar you want. No need to compromise. Can't get anything like that with a Fender!

For me, there is no immediate hurry though to get a new guitar of this caliber. I don't play that many gigs these days anyway. There are also other options for good strats. Anderson, Grosh, Nash come to mind. I'm sure there are others too, but I can tell you that after playing those Suhrs, my current guitars seem like firewood!

Suhr Tele and Glasstone amps

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Suhr Tele and Glasstone amps

Today I took a trip to RKM Music in Millwoods, Edmonton. I found some really nice gear, and what stood out the most for me was the Suhr Butterscotch Tele and the Glassworks 30 watt head.

I played a Suhr Tele and a beautiful Suhr strat with birds eye maple neck and quilted maple top. A beauty. That Suhr tele - wow, it was drool time again - tone, feel, looks - this thing impressed me a lot. It was very very articulate and the sound was so much better than all the other teles I played there. The Suhr strat was very nice too, but it actually had some very minor buzzing problems. Could be because of that bird's eye maple made the neck need some adjustments. The sales guy said nobody has really played it for a long time and it hasn't been adjusted in a year. Probably an easy fix with a truss rod adjustment.

I tried some G&L guitars - Legacy, Comance, ASAT Classic. Only the Legacy was fun to play, but it sounded pretty crappy compared to the Suhr. Decent neck though - but completely unfinished wood.

I played a couple of Blade guitars, and they were quite nice. Well made and nice to play.

Ever heard of Cole Clark guitars? Me neither. I played one, but the neck just wasn't for me.

The amps I tried were good. 65 amps - always nice big tone, but I want a bit more gain, so I tried a El Diablo Genz Benz next. Very versatile amp, and many cool sounds. I wasn't quite getting any drool happening, and it could be because I didn't play it loud enough.

I found a Marshall DSL 401 in there and of course I had to try it. Yeah baby! It sounded awesome! Very nice tones with the Suhr. Plenty of gain, but worked great for bluesy overdrive stuff too. Man, this would make for a fantastic combo. This means I am still in full drool mode for a DSL100 - I think I will have a lot of fun with one of these. Heck, even that combo would do it for me, but I do prefer head and cabinet setups.

I tried a Blackhearts 5 watt amp too, and it impressed considering the price. Crank that sucker and you get a fat juicy tone. Nice bottom end too.

The last amp I tried was a Glasstone Legend 3015. Wow, that is a great amp! It's built locally in Edmonton. I got some serious tone with the Suhr when I cranked up that 30 watt head. It's a dual channel, all-tube guitar amp head. Both channels are fully independent (including preamp tubes) and include gain and volume controls, as well as 3-band passive tone controls. The power amplifier is a non-feedback design using a pair of EL34s configured in a push-pull class AB circuit, with power output switchable between 30 and 15 watts. A series tube-driven effects loop allows you to patch-in effects between the preamp and power amp. The Glasstone 4x12 with V-30s sounded sweet, my friends. See their website - glasstoneamps.com.

Ahh, Gas - what a feeling! I am not sure what I will do next. I guess I will go where GAS takes me.

I'm selling guitar gear

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Guitar gear for sale

I've decided to sell off a bunch of my guitar gear. If you are interested, let me know. I would prefer to sell locally but I'll also ship anywhere. I don't know shipping costs for all of these things, but shipping a pedal to the US would be about 10 bucks.

I am selling off extra gear I don't think I really need. I have come to realize I use my tube amps most of the time anyway. My Heatseeker and Hellhound are both very nice, and using them with pedals is what I do all the time. I am keeping my Squier Tele just because it sounds so great. I will replace the Fender Strat with something similar.

Here is the list. Use my contact form to send me a message if you are interested in any of these things.

PB J Delay $30 DOD DFX91 Delay/Sampler $40 Ibanez TL-5 Tremolo $25 Chicken Salad $15 DOD FX80B $25 DOD FX64 Ice Box Chorus $20 Squier '51 $150 Vox AD50VT $280 Squier Strat (Mexico, from the 90s) $140 Fender Deluxe Players Strat $490

What guitar pedal to get?

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:01 GMT

What guitar pedal to get?

After getting a guitar and a guitar amp, many guitar players start looking for options for getting a variety of sounds out of their gear. I think the most common way to do this is by getting a guitar effects pedal, sometimes called a stomp box. These have been around for ages, and probably the first brand people would think of would be BOSS, because they have been extremely successful in promoting the guitar pedals over the years.

There are so many options out there these days. When I started playing, pedals were expensive and there wasn't much to choose from either. These days, we have cheap, mass-produced pedals (many of which sound great) and we have boutique pedals, carefully crafted by hand by small companies wanting to offer nothing but the best. It can sure be confusing to know the differences between all the alternatives available.

What kind of guitar pedal do I recommend?

Well, I think the first pedal most guitar players look at is a distortion pedal or an overdrive pedal. The difference between these two effects is subtle, yet important. Both type of pedals add gain to the signal, and transform the sound in a way that is great for rock and blues, and especially lead playing. Many guitar players have both type of pedals - I do. Overdrive sounds more "bluesy", and distortion is more "rockier", and some pedals are somewhere in between.

You may not need an overdrive or distortion pedal if your amp has good gain. By gain, I mean natural overdrive/distortion from the amp itself. Most amps start to produce gain as you turn them up. Amps geared toward heavier rock have lots of natural gain. Mesa Boogie, Marshall, Soldano, Line 6, Randall, for example, all make amps with lots of gain. If you have such an amp, you may want to try a Booster pedal. What a booster pedal does is to increase the level of the signal going into the amp, and it usually brings in a bit of gain at the same time. The result is a pedal perfect for solos and lead playing. The pedal will add more volume and produce more gain as well. Some examples of booster pedals - Dunlop Micro amp, RC Booster, ToneCandy Big Boost, Keeley Catana, Keeley Java Boost, Dirty Boy Ball Buster, 19 Sixty 3, Behringer PB-100 (very inexpensive), etc. I could go on and on.

The next type of pedal you may want is a Delay pedal. This kind of pedal adds an echoing effect to your sound, and I pretty much always use a bit of delay. You can set it to long repeats to get a big, majestic sound, or you can set it to short repeats and get a rockabilly slapback sound. A player who uses delay as a big part of his sound is the Edge from U2. Many country players will use a short delay in order to get the right sound for country picking. Remember to put the delay last in your effects chain or even better, in the effects loop of your amp (if your amp has one) for the delay to sound the best. I use a BOSS DD-20 which I really like. Other good delay pedals are MXR Carbon Copy, Maxon AD-999, Line 6 Echo Park, Digitech DigiDelay, Ibanez DE-7, Behringer DD400 and Danelectro PB & J (both inexpensive).

If have both gain and delay covered, some sort of swirly effect is fun. By swirly, I mean modulation effects like Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Vibe, Tremolo or similar. These effects can be a lot of fun if you use them right. Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus, Tremolo and Vibe, Digitech CF7, Line 6 Space Chorus, MXR, Behringer UF100, Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus and Tremolo, Boss CE-20 Chorus Ensemble. The list goes on.

If you have gain, delay and modulation effects togeter with good basic amp tone(s), you can cover a lot of bases. For me, this covers most of what I do live. I may add some other type of effect like a wah or octave pedal once in a while, but the effects previously mentioned cover 95% of my needs.

Distortion, overdrive, booster, delay, chorus, etc

Here are some good pedals you may want to take a look at.

guitar, pedals, stomb box, pedal, effect, chorus, delay, distortion, overdrive

Good guitar lessons are hard to make

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Good guitar lessons are hard to make

So I had some free time tonight, and I thought I'd try and whip up a short little guitar lesson. I ended up just noodling for over half an hour, not getting anywhere. I have learned over the years that it's not easy to create good guitar lessons, and trying to throw together one on a whim like that is really not a very good idea. I'm just wasting my time and I get frustrated. Should have used that time to plan a good guitar lesson for another time! Arrghh!

I actually do have a plan, which will be a series of blues lessons. However, those are not ready enough to make videos of yet. I keep thinking I can throw together some cool little lesson in a short time by improvising, and it just does't work.

From all the feedback I have gotten this last year, it seems a majority wants to learn to play lead better. Usually it's blues or rock they mention. I'm starting to think the more I do this stuff, the harder it gets. For example, playing lead is hard. It takes a lot of different type of skills together with experience to make it sound good. I don't really know how to teach this well. I am talking about right hand/left hand techniques, sound and tone, style, attitude, confidence and experience. There's also a million ways to do it.

I also want to gear more lessons towards beginners, since I think I could reach more people that way. The problem is, I find it harder to do the beginner material compared to more advanced topics.

This is turning into a pessimistic post, isn't it? Hmm, I'm sorry. I guess I need to go do something else for a while.

I do appreciate any and all feedback you might have about my lessons and learning guitar in general, so drop me a note if you have ideas or feedback.

Crate V-18

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Crate V-18

These are very popular of late - many retailers have been dropping the prices a lot on the V18 amps. They are pretty good sounding, and would be a great buy for anyone wanting an 18 watt amp with EL84 tubes.

I tried the V33 a while ago, and I was frankly disappointed, due to the weak sounding gain channel. The V18 doesn't have a gain channel. It's a class A amp, and the one I tried had one 12 inch speaker.

The knobs are - gain, volume, treble, middle, bass and reverb. The reverb sounds okay at low settings - does the job just fine that way.

The amp doesn't have a lot of headroom, but for semi-dirty tones, it works fine. Many people report the speaker should be swapped and better tubes installed (I hear that a lot about new, cheap combos).

The Crate V18 is a great little blues and rock amp. I would highly recommend it for someone wanting a simple and decent sounding 18 watter. It's not as good sounding as my Heatseeker, but it's also way cheaper. $149.99!

Crate V Series V18-112 18W 1x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp

The Crate V18-112 combo features a single-channel 18W Class A design with gain and master volume controls, 3-band EQ, and spring reverb for awesome tone and versatility. Its dual cathode-biased EL84 output tubes pump their searing mojo into a single 12" speaker.The V18's Class A design delivers the hot guitar tones of early British valve amplifiers with smooth clean sounds and thick, meaty overdrive. Take a simple cathode-biased Class A tube circuit, add a tone stack and 12" speaker, and you've got a small recording/practice amp with some lead in its pencil. Tubes! Just the smell of those glass bottles blazing with fire gets amp aficionados to perk up and lose their cool. Giving our all for the evolution of all-tube tone, Crate's V Series combos and stacks produce the sweet cleans and earthy distortion that can only come from tubes. Roadworthy construction, modern features and genuine value are causing legendary players and novices alike to develop a thermionic love-Jones for the Crate V-Seriestube amplifiers.

Cool Cat Vibe and Tremolo

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Cool Cat Vibe and Tremolo

I finally received my Cool Cat pedals I've been waiting for since April - the Vibe and the Tremolo. I have not played them enough for a full review, but so far I am liking them.

The Vibe is similar in sound to the old classic Chicken Salad, but it has different knobs. It also sounds much clearer. I love it!

The Cool Cat Vibe has an Intensity knob, a Speed knob and the very useful Mix knob. With the mix knob, you can blend the effect tone with the clean guitar tone as much or as little as you want. I love this feature. This way, you can get a lot of different sounds. Really fun pedal. You can make it sound Hendrixy or really trippy and far out.

The Cool Cat Tremolo is a nice tremolo pedal and it's already made itself a good home on my pedal board. It has a Depth and Speed knob, as well as a switch between hard and soft. The hard setting makes it very "hard" - a choppy, stuttering type of tremolo that is cool but I probably won't use it that often. The soft setting is more musical and warm, but who knows what I'll end up using. This pedal is just so fun to play with the knobs with!

Both these pedals are true by-pass and have a sturdy metal casing as well as quality jacks. I don't notice and bad tone sucking or messing up of the original guitar tone.

I highly recommend these Cool Cat pedals. I now have 4 of them, and I dig all of them a lot! They are cheap enough that most people can afford them. The do sound very good.

I'll be back soon with more comments and of course videos.

Update: Here is a Cool Cat Vibe demo!

Marshall DSL 100 demo

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Marshall DSL 100 demo

I am starting to look around for (yet) another good tube amp. I believe the time has come for me to get a righteous Marshall amp. Marshalls have a way of making me excited. After all, they were the amp choice for Jimi Hendrix, and a numerous other more or less legends.

I played a 70s Marshall Super Lead 100 at a gig once, and I still remember how exciting that was. That amp was pure magic, man! I won't find one just like that one in my neck of the woods. However, there are many Marshalls that sound great.

I've been researching Marshalls for a while now. The model I'm closest to getting is the DSL 100. There's also a 50 watt version, and probably either of them would make me happy.

So what's the Marshall DSL100 all about? It's a fairly simple 2 channel amp, and I like fairly simple amps. I don't like too many options, to tell you the truth.

Features

• 100% pure valve signal path using Svetlana EL34 valves [when not using the Reverb or Effects Loop].
• Two channels - Classic Gain and Ultra Gain.
• Crystal Clean to massive Crunch switching on the Classic Gain channel.
• Lead 1 to Lead 2 switching on the Ultra Gain channel.
• Tone Shift switch to reconfigure the way the tone section [particularly the
• Middle control] works.
• Deep Switch which introduces unique Marshall resonance circuitry for increased bottom end.
• Effects Loop with level selection switch.
• Technical Description
• Output: 100 watts
• Channels: 2
• Modes per Channel: 2
• Reverb
• Tone Shift
• Deep Switch
• Effects Loop
• Pre-Amp Valves: 4x ECC83
• Power Amp Valves: 4x EL34
• Dimensions: 748 x 297 x 214 mm
• Weight: 19 kg
• Footswitch: PEDL-00001 (supplied)

For a good idea of what this DSL 100 is all about and what it can do, take a look at these demos:

Video

Based on the clips above, I think I will like this amp. It has lots of good tones in it, and it has all the features I need. The only thing I am not so sure about is reliability. I have heard mixed reviews in this area. If you know something I don't - let me know.

I did actually own a couple of Marshalls way back in 80s. Stupidly enough, I traded them for something I can't even remember. I had a little 50 watt tube combo that was really nice. I should have kept it!

I will go and try a few good Marshall amps some day soon, or I might just buy a DSL used if I find a good deal. I've just got to get myself a Marshall, don't you think?

Tech Tags: marshall dsl dsl100 amp

Rocking at the Casino

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Rocking at the Casino

Our band played at the casino this weekend. The music we played is mostly similar to the material Myra and I do as a duo, but with a drummer and bass player it sounds better.

We played both Friday and Saturday night. The first night had less people, but people seemed to enjoy our music. On Saturday night, there was a pretty good crowd and they liked us. As a band, we always play better when the crowd response is good.

I used my Heatseeker 18 watt tube head with a 2 x 12 speaker cabinet. I brought my Pedaltrain 2 loaded with some pedals. I learned that my Cool Cat Drive is an excellent choice for my amp. I set it to be "semi-dirty", with the gain halfway up. Then I use rolled down the tone knob a bit for cleaner tones. Worked very well for the material we do. I tried the Cool Cat Fuzz on a few tunes, but it didn't quite fit into the music we do. The Maxon SD-9 always works great too for rockier and bluesier material, so I ended up using that one a lot too.

I also took some video footage of our gig. I put up my video camera on a tripod at the corner of the stage. The camera angle wasn't that great, but hopefully the sound is okay. I'll have to go through it and see if I can get together a few video clips for you to take a look at. With several hours of video footage, there must be at least a few moments that sound okay! At least, that's what I'm hoping...

Tech Tags: casino music blues guitar gig

I was Interviewed by Premier Guitar

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Interviewed by Premier Guitar

Yesterday, I was interviewed by the assistant editor (Theresa) at the magazine Premier Guitar. It was quite neat. The main reason for contacting was because she had found the story about my home made pedalboard that I made out of a suit case. I explained why and how I created it, the material I used, etc. I have used this pedalboard for years, and it served me well. I have discontinued it now, as it started to fall apart.

We also talked a bit about myself and this very website, as well as the other site I run, www.thefret.net. I am not sure what of all the rambling I did they will actually print, if anything. I am quite eager to find out though! She said they will let me know about what happens. They may even send me the article before it gets published.

If you haven't checked out Premier Guitar, you should. It's a gear-centric guitar magazine written for serious guitar players. Lots of good interviews with pro guitarists. They also have guitar news and instructional material and lessons. It's a good one, I recommend you take a look at it. They also have over 52,000 readers.

A great thing about Premier Guitar is that they offer the magazine for free online. Yes! To read the magazine for free online, go to http://www.premierguitar.com/magazine/default.aspx - it uses graphics, so it can be a bit slow, but at least you don't need to pay for it.

If you read the article about me in Premier Guitar, let me know what you thought of the article!

premier guitar magazine interview

Vox VT amps

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Vox VT amps

Vox just came out with a new series of Valvetronix ™amps called VT Series amps. Models are VT15, VT30, VT50 and VT100. It looks to be a perfect continuation of the great ADxxVT amps, which had 11 models not much for storing settings. The VT amps have 22 amp models and 12 effects. The reverb is said to be very good sounding.

With 3 banks for each amp model, you get a whopping 66 preset programs. There are 8 programs you can save for yourself - should be enough for most people - plus they are footswitchable.

The VT amp also has song presets, where the tones are set up to simulate the sounds of some famous guitar players.

The ADxxVT amps got a lot of complaints regarding the line-out option. It didn't have any good speaker emulation feature, and I have always found the sounds out of line-out were pretty bad, whether using headphones or straight into a recording device. The VT amps changes this, thank you Vox! These amps have a built-in speaker emulated headphone/line-out jack which will improve the direct recording sounds tremendously, compared to the original Valvetronix amps.

The VT amp has the power level control, just like the first Valvetronix. This is a great feature and these amps will sound great even at low volumes.

The VT50 and VT100 have an external speaker output, in case you want to use a bigger cabinet. The VT100 also has an effects loop.

The footswitch is not included with the amp. That always bugs me - why don't amp manufacturers include a footswitch these days? I guess it's so the can make it seem like the amp is very inexpensive... since these footswitchs usually cost a bit.

I have yet to try this amp myself, but I will seize any opportunity I get to try one out! The 22 amp models have me very interested. I am expecting this amp to sound even better than the first Valvetronix amps, which I do like A LOT.

The Vox VT amps are supposed to be available sometime late 2008, and expected prices are $280 for the VT15 and $375 for the VT30. Sounds like this could be another winner from Vox!

Regina marathon 2008

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Regina marathon 2008

2:52:56 was better than Quebec but not good enough. I bonked pretty bad at 35 kilometres. I had been having very sore legs for 2 weeks before Regina and probably should never have registered for this one. Oh well, I wanted to anyway, because 2 of my friends here in Camrose were going to run it, and we've been talking all summer about this big battle between the 3 of us - the only time this year we meet in a marathon. I guess I lost. Brendan was 2nd in 2:43, Ian 5th in 2:51 and then me.

I am a bit disappointed about the fact that I have trained well this year, done more miles and good speed too; my 16:27 on the 5,000 is no shame for me. So I'm a bit miffed that the marathons have all been crappy. Bad timing with the last 2, I could say. Super hot in Quebec City, then not enough time to recover for this last one.

I'm changing gears now and hope to get some good cross-country running in this fall. I think I can get my speed back up again fairly fast. The fact is that I feel much better after this last marathon, and I think I will be able to get back into regular training very soon.

I'm not sure when my next marathon will be. Maybe I'll leave it open for a bit. If I get some good training in over the winter, I may try a spring marathon. There's lots of them in May.

I guess I'm not sure about my goals. I know I'm not going to get the same leg speed happening compared to 10 years ago, so it would seem like a better idea to do longer races. The only problem is, I seem to suck at longer races, plus it takes so much time to train for them, compared to 10k and half-marathon races.

Oh well, we'll see how it goes. Maybe PowderFace 42 would be a cool thing to try. Or some 50k+ ultra - that would be a new thing for me. Gotta look for new things, right!

Jazzblues and Funk jam

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:00:01 GMT

I recorded a couple of backing track jams over the long weekend. It was actually quite fun this time. I often get really hard on myself when I record something; I guess I just need to do it more.

I used my Line 6 Toneport for both of these clips, and the guitar of choice was my Fender Deluxe Players Strat.

For the jazzblues clip, I used a clean amp model with a bit of tubescreamer stompbox model added in for extra grit.

Dolphinstreet jazzblues in F

On the funky jam, I used the Marshall Super Lead model with gain cranked and a distortion stompbox model added for more gain.

Groovin with Dolphinstreet

Let me know what you think of these clips. I think the lead tone on the groovin clip could have been turned up a bit perhaps?

The backing tracks can be download at:
http://www.eddegenaro.com/Anton/GroovinWithJesusBT.mp3 (right-click to download) and
http://www.freshbt.com/backing_track/download/Jamtrack_Blues_Jazz_in_F.htm.

I used Garageband with my MacBook Pro to record this. The software used with the Line 6 Toneport is called Gearbox - I like it.

I hope I can find more time this fall and winter to do more recording. I would really like to get proficient at getting stuff done fast when recording. Usually drums is the biggest pain. I know I can tweak the drum loops in Garageband, but I haven't really tried it much. My plan is to get used to working with the drums in Garageband, and then hopefully I can get some of my own material recorded.

Crate V-33 H head

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Crate V33H

Tried a Crate V 33 head with matching 2x12 cab recently at Music Centre Canada in Camrose. It looks really nice, this thing. With the matching 2 x 12 cabinet, it would look awesome on a stage. I was stoked to plug in and crank it up.

It has nice features too:

33 watts RMS Class A, all tube circuitry Two channels 4 x EL84 output tubes, cathode biased Spring reverb Footswitchable boost function

I started with the clean channel. Nice, nice. I could get some really fat and shimmery tones with both a humbucker guitar as well as a strat. The tone reminded me a bit of an AC30. It has plenty of volume too, and this channel with some pedals would go a long way.

Then for the crunch channel. I expected some nice, saturated gain tones to be found here. Truthfully, I was disappointed. The distortion was dark and muddy - not exciting at all compared to the clean channel. I set the bass on zero and drove up the treble a bit. On a humbucker guitar, I could that way get some decent tones, but then the clean channel would be way too bright. No matter how I fiddled with the controls, the gain channel had me disappointed.

The reverb is really nice for a relatively cheap amp like this. I was able to get some "surfy" tones and rich reverb guitar tone by some quick experimentation.

In summary, if you want a 33 watt head with a nice sounding tube Class A British tone and you don't need a gain channel, by all means - this ain't a bad amp. But if you want good distorted tones, I think you would need to hook up some good pedals on the clean channel and forget about that you have a 2nd gain channel. It's really that bad, in my opinion.

I don't know what Crate had in mind when they designed this gain channel. It's not gonna work for many. I have also played the Palomino amps in the past, and I must say the gain tones on those amps were much, much better than what this 33 watter has in store for you.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Have you ever heard of the Hawaiian musician "Israel Kamakawiwo'ole"? Neither had I, until I stumbled onto this wonderful recording. You may have heard it featured in commercials and/or films. This song is a great jazz tune which I have played a few times over the years. When I heard this version, I was immediately impressed by the beauty in this performance. It's played with an Ukule, and the voice of this man was truly something else.

This man was heavily overweight and died in 1997, only 38 years young. It's sad when talented people die so young.

Sometimes you hear a song that affects you in some "deeper" way - I think it happens to most of us, and it's hard to say why - it just happens. I had that happen to me when I heard this recording. They way he is phrasing the melody when he sings is so classy and beautiful. That voice is something else.

I am posting this song just because I like it. Maybe you will like it too - let me know.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Israel Kamakawiwo Ole - Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Uploaded by Ar-Pharazon

Tommy Emmanuel playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Here is the fantastic acoustic player Tommy Emmanuel performing this tune in completely different way, yet also very beautiful and inspiring. Tommy is a true master of the guitar.

Quebec City Marathon was hot

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Quebec City Marathon was hot

I ended up in 14th place, but my time was slow - 2:58. Read on to find out what happened.

The race went really well in the beginning. There was a slight head wind, and we started at 8:30 on the south side of the river. I ran according to my plan, at about 2:45 projected pace. Then between 22 and 27 km was a long climb up to the bridge. It was quite hard, since this climb was 5 km long, but I still felt good and passed others. At this point, I believe I was around 5th place actually.

Then on the other side of the bridge, I was beginning to feel a bit tired, but not too bad. With 12 km left to run, we were now suddenly in direct sunlight, and that faint wind was in our back, which means there was effectively no cooling effect at all. I had to slow down, as the heat index was getting towards 34 degrees and beyond...

From here, on it quickly got progressively worse. I had to slow to a jog, as the heat became unbearable. There was water every 4 km, but that was not enough. I needed it every 500 meters! I saw several people who had bonked and were being treated by EMS on the side of the road.

So, my hope for a good finish time was out of reach. At this point, it was all about getting to the finish without collapsing. At the end, I was not even able to jog at 5:30/km.

This was the hardest last part of a marathon I have ever done. It was just too darn hot. Tip - don't run marathons in extreme heat!

The weather had been rainy and miserable all summer, the locals said. Go figure - just my luck. They were happy for the nice weather. I'd take the rain instead of sun and heat any time when I'm running a marathon.

I am going to try a marathon again a week and a half from now, in Regina, Saskatchewan. I want that sub 2:50 marathon!

On a sad note, one person passed away this day, probably due to the extreme heat.

1114 Participants ran the marathon.
Complete results at http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?racecode=42929

Going to Quebec City

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Going to Quebec City

I am going to Quebec City this Friday. On Sunday, I am running the Marathon! Should be fun (or bloody painful...). This will be my 2nd marathon so far this year, and I may also run another marathon in Regina 2 weeks later. I am expecting (hoping?) to run under 2:49 this time, but I have heard this course is fairly hilly and not fast. I guess I will find out the hard way whether that is true or not.

So I am wondering if anyone has any tips on what to do in Quebec City besides running a marathon? :)

There must be some good guitar stores around, and some good live music to catch in the city. I am looking forward to this trip a lot, as I've never ever been to this city, and I hear it is a very beautiful place. Last year I went to Montreal for a few days, and I really enjoyed spending some time there.

I love jazz, and I am sure there must be some good jazz music being played in Quebec City (although Montreal may be the "mecca" of jazz in Canada). I would LOVE to go to a blues jam or something. I've never done that while on holidays.

I am going home on Tuesday. If someone in the area would like to hook up and talk guitar or something, let me know. I'll be checking my email once in a while during my stay. I am staying at this place - Auberge Michel Doyon‎

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Auberge+Michel+Doyon,+Quebec+City&sll=46.78866,-71.22282&sspn=0.086271,0.123425&ie=UTF8&attrid=&ei=h7WsSN-KOJrKjAPbnYC6Cg&sig2=_oyJR0gnFfb5-rWw7mwAIA&cd=1&cid=46796356,-71250841,3693772499149648482&li=lmd&z=14&iwloc=A

I am going with 2 running pals, and I think we'll be interested in some sightseeing and tourist stuff as well as live music and beer. If you have any suggestions on attractions and things to do - let me know!

Wish me luck in the marathon. I am in really good shape right now, but I have never had much success in the marathon. I guess I would say I'm not much of a marathon runner, but I would like to try and prove myself wrong!

Improve your guitar playing by transcribing music

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Improve your guitar playing by transcribing music

I receive many questions in email, as well as general feedback and comments. The question I get asked most often is how to play better. The same question appears in different variations; how to play better blues leads, how to play more interesting licks, how to not sound boring, etc.

Well, in my view, there is an easy answer. Transcribing. Transcribing, as I see it, is really just the process of copying. Yes, that is right - copying someone else's playing. Now listen, there is nothing wrong with this. Some people think this is a bad thing - copying someone else's playing? Isn't that stealing? Also, won't I sound like some other player then?

Those are good questions. However, let me clarify. When I say you should spend time transcribing, I mean take little pieces of musical ideas from a variety of sources. A variety of sources means you get a mix of good ideas under your belt. By doing this, you develop a larger musical vocabulary, a vocabulary from which you can draw upon in different situations.

Also, I recommend taking an idea and learn it inside out, but make your own version of it. For example, I may take a Stevie Ray Vaughan lick and change the rhythmic structure of it, or I may keep the rhythmic structure but change the choice of notes, or perhaps I play it over a completely different chord progression than the original, etc.

We should not be afraid to learn from others. Learn licks and lines from many different players, and not only guitar players either. Learn from piano players, horn players, heck even tuba players if you want!

Compare it to reading books. The more you read and learn through reading, the better your vocabulary becomes and so does your reading skills. From this, you will likely become better at expressing yourself. The same goes for guitar playing. The larger your musical vocabulary becomes, the easier you can express musical ideas at any moment.

Practically speaking, this process of transcribing means listening closely to a set of notes, a chord, a rhythm, etc - until you know it by heart. If you like, you can write it down in notation if you know how, but I wouldn't bother. The point is to learn it so you can play without having to think about it.

If you have never done this before, try with a simple blues lick by one of the blues greats. Maybe there are 3 notes being played from the pentatonic scale, but for some reason it sounds better than your own blues licks. So, you listen back and forth, you try to copy it verbatim at first, and you play along with the volume set so you can clearly hear both yourself and the original source. I like using WinAmp for transcribing ideas like these, because when you hit the arrow key on the keyboard, it jumps back 10 seconds, which is perfect for learning licks and shorter lines.

Repeat until you get it. From now on, try using this lick in several kinds of blues tunes. Change it around a bit, timing-wise perhaps or something else, so that you make it part of you.

The more you transcribe, the more you will sound like you. You can't help it - it just helps you improve overall and you will inevitable develop your own voice by this process.

Another very important skill you will improve as you do more transcribing is ear training. You will "force yourself" to listen closer to music, and after some time, you'll realize you can actually figure out what chords and notes people are playing by just listening to them play. This is a great skill to have. I can learn simple songs extremely fast, because I can hear what chords and grooves are being played, often without even picking up a guitar. The reason for this is all the transcribing I've done over the years. If I can do it, YOU can do it.

Brian Mazza Memorial run 2008

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Brian Mazza Memorial run 2008

I managed to win this race around Crimson Lake once again - my 4th time placing 1st! My time was 35:41, which is quite good for me. This course is up and down and there's lots of big gravel, which I find hard to run on. It is hard to get a good grip on those rolling rocks. When I was much faster, back in 1999, I ran this race in 35:00. Note that I ran 5000m in the low 15's back then, so considering that, this time is quite good for me.

My friend David Arial stayed behind me and had me scared up until about 8 km, when he suddenly experienced some breathing problems and had to shut it down. He still did a good race. I am also coaching David, who is a very talented runner and he has improved immensely this summer already.

My wife and youngest daughter ran the 3 km loop. Mostly everybody were given the wrong directions and ended up going quite a bit farther than 3 km, but my wife and daughter have done this one before and knew where to turn. Amalia is only 4 years old, but this was her 3rd time running this race! Impressive, I think.

Our 14 year-old daughter Karly did really well too and ran the 10 km trail run without any problems, even though she hasn't been doing much running lately. She is very talented.

Other Camrose runners ran too - Gerhard, Wade, Robin also ran and enjoyed this event. This race used to be called the "David Thompson Trail Run", but has been renamed because of the passing of the organizer Brian Mazza some years ago.

Photos

Request a guitar lesson

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Request a guitar lesson

I'd like to get your input about new guitar video lessons by me. I have created quite a few different kinds lessons on this website, and every time I am about to create a new one, I get stuck. Maybe I think too much about how to perform the lesson, and often I end up with nothing but a lot of lost time and no video. :(

So, I'd be glad to hear what YOU think. Tell me what you would be most interested in learning from me. I can't guarantee I can fulfill all requests, but the feedback would help me get an idea what my visitors/readers tend to be interested in.

For example, I can do simple lessons or advanced ones - short ones or long ones, lesson with lots of talking and lessons without.

I can do blues, funk, jazz, rock, theory, etc. I prefer to stay away from copying other guitarists material note for note - I find that just boring and I could be infringing on copyright issues by doing so. However, a few lines or overall of style of some players, I might be able to do, but I am no expert on playing in the styles of all the famous guitar players of past or present.

I also never copy a complete solo from another player. That is just way too much work and makes me feel like a complete copycat with no imagination of my own. No, instead I recommend taking small parts from many players, whether it's a few notes, one note, how the note is being played, how the string is attacked, the attitude of playing, etc.

So, if you are hoping to learn some particular "thing" or whatever we call it (lick, riff, scale, chord?), just reply to this post, and be as specific as you can. Please also tell me how long you've been playing and if you are a beginner/intermediate or more experienced as a player.

Best instructional guitar DVD you can buy

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Best instructional guitar DVD you can buy

I often see people ask the question - which instructional guitar DVD is the best one? Of course, there's no easy answer to that. It depends on your current skill level, what style you are playing and what your goals are.

If you are like me - you like blues, jazz and improvisation, and you want get better at it - here's what I think is the best instructional guitar DVD ever - Jazz Rock Mastery by Scott Henderson. I am of course saying this from my personal and subjective point of view, because what is "the best", is very subjective. However, I can tell you from my experience that this DVD has taught me the most of any instruction I have ever received. Yes, it is that good.

Who is Scott Henderson?

Scott Henderson is a fantastic player, who has played with Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, among others and he is also an instructor at Musician's Institute in California. He plays a Strat through a Marshall-type amp, and he mixes high gain jazz-rock guitar with jazz improvisation. In my opinion - one of the finest guitar players alive.

Alfred Jazz Rock Mastery - Scott Henderson DVD

Scott Henderson studied arranging and composition at Florida Atlantic University and later studied at the Guitar Institute of Technology (G.I.T.) in Hollywood California where he is presently an instructor.In the Jazz Rock Mastery DVD Scott reveals his unique approach to improvising. You'll learn how to play guitar solos over major pentatonic melodic minor diminished and whole-tone scales along with modern uses for arpeggios and triads all in the context of melodic and rhythmic phrasing. The instructional video also nails the hard-to-teach subject of improvisational phrasing. Includes printable companion booklet.

I have played guitar over 25 years now, and when I was younger, I always found improvisation to be some sort of mystic gift that some people just seemed to have. Well, I can tell you that "skills from practicing" is what it is mostly about. Talent sure makes a difference, but practicing and knowing your instrument is the major part of being a good improviser.

This becomes very apparent when you learn from this DVD. Scott is a master and jazz/blues improvisation. He explains, in a very good way, how to practice phrasing, how to play interesting ideas over different kinds of chords, how you can use the simple pentatonic scale in a myriad of cool ways, as well as arpeggios, chords and scales.

Now, I want to stress once more the importance of practicing. This DVD gets difficult pretty quick if you are a beginner/intermediate player. You need to really sit down and work on you instrument so that you can get the most out of what Scott is talking about.

If you are serious about getting better at improvisation, I strongly recommend you get this DVD. It may take years before you are able to absorb it all, since there is so much amazing material here. I still learn things from it today! Don't let this discourage you, it is a good thing. There are no shortcuts to becoming a master of an instrument, that is something I have said many times on this very website. Scott's DVD will demystify a lot of things about improvisation, and help you get a good understanding of how you can develop strong improvisation skills.

If you would ask me what instructional DVD I would take with me to that desert island, the answer is easy - Scott Henderson's Jazz Rock Mastery - without hesitation.

Alfred Jazz Rock Mastery - Scott Henderson DVD

Dark Knight was good

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Dark Knight was good

I guess everyone must have seen this movie by now. The Dark Knight, by Chris Nolan, is a huge success. It has broken almost every box-office record know to man already.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Batman movie. Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is as good as it gets. However, some credit must also go to the script writers. This character is complex and brilliant and crazy, and it's marvelous to watch.

Another thing I like about the movie is that very few special effects are made with computers. Nolan likes to do it the good old fashioned way, and kudos to him for taking that approach. The fight scenes in this movie aren't quite as impressive looking as some other movies I've seen, but they feel more real, because they are. The car scenes and the stuff that blows up are right on the spot - big, impressive, loud and realistic.

It's a long movie, but I didn't even notice. The movie had me captured the whole time and there are many twists and interesting turns of the story. It is a good story, and it's not a Cinderella story either. No, this movie touches on some bigger questions, and that is also impressive to see, since so many movie productions these days are focusing on the visual effects, while forgetting about substance.

The actors are all very good. Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, etc - these are all VERY good actors in my book. It is a joy to watch them all in this movie.

Batman's voice is a bit silly though, don't you think? It does make sense he speaks differently in order to avoid revealing his identity, but I couldn't help smiling when he was trying to "speak tough", so to speak... oh well, not a big complaint, in any case.

I personally get a little tired of all the talk about Ledger being awarded the Oscar statue when the time comes for the Academy Awards. Let's enjoy the movie and not worry about awards just yet. I also think that this talk is fueled by the fact that Ledger died not that long ago. I bet the Oscar talk would be less emphasized, had he been alive today. Don't get me wrong though; he might very will win this award, and his performance is nothing but amazing. It is really too bad he had to go at the age of 28.

It is also interesting to see that hardly any critics have had anything negative to say about it. That is unusual. There have always been quite a few critics that don't like these types of movies, but this time there were not many who spoke up against the Dark Knight. That points to the fact that this movie is indeed worth watching.

Sven Zetterberg - Swedish Blues Guitarist

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Sven Zetterberg - the B.B King of Sweden

Sven is a phenomenal bluesman from Sweden. Some people call him the B.B King of Sweden. Yes, there are similarities for sure. He also reminds a bit of Albert King in his style of playing, great bends and tasty phrasing.

Sven is fantastic bluesman. He can sing with such a feeling - he has an amazing voice. You would never think he is from Sweden if you didn't know.

Of course, he can play blues guitar like most people only dream of. His tone is usually fairly clean, and he plays hollow-body guitars.

Have a listen to this Swedish blues master and let me know what you think. Hope you like Sven! I think he is awesome at this style.

Walking the Back Streets and Crying

That's What Love Will Make You

From Sea Festival 2006

Digitech EX-7 is my latest pedal

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Digitech EX-7 Expression Factory

So call me a pedal junkie if you like. I don't care! haha! I can't say no to a great deal on a good sounding pedal - especially if it's a pedal that does sounds different from what my current herd of pedals can do.

Fact is, I got a really good deal on this pedal - under hundred bucks in the States. A friend of mine was nice enough to run down to Guitar Center and buy me one and ship it to Ol' Canada.

I haven't played around with it that much yet, but I am impressed so far. I mean, any kind of multi-effect pedal will always be a compromise. That's why I've always settled for separate analog pedals - because it's more fun and you get better tone and more flexibility (as long as you have lots of pedals).

However, this thing has several effects I can see myself using live. It has 2 wah models (Vox Clyde and Dunlop Crybaby) - both sound really good. The travel of the pedal is by default very short compared to my Fulltone Clyde Wah, but it's possible to adust this. Truth is, I might just put away my Fulltone for a while. Yes, to me it sounds very close in quality and to save pedal board space, I think I'll use the EX-7 for wah stuff from now on. I have even 2 wah pedals in 1 this way! I ran my distortion pedal into the EX-7 and I must say I like the wah tones I'm getting.

Maybe the coolest effect of them all on this thing is the Space Station effetct. It's wicked, man! I sound like a symphony of synthesizers with the EX-7 Space Station effect. Really cool. I am not sure HOW I will use it, but I think I can come up with something. In any case, it's just a blast to toy around with.

The uni-vibe sound is pretty good too. I need to tweak it more, but it's not bad. Not perfect either. Thing is, I have a decent uni-vibe on here if I ever need it.

The Whammy pedal is awesome too. I love the octave up effect! I had been thinking about getting a Whammy pedal, but now I don't have to! The EX-7 does the Whammy effect just as good to my ears, and again, I'm saving pedal board estate.

The rotating speaker effect I haven't really bonded with. It sounds too fake to me. Maybe I need to tweak it more. It don't matter though, because I love my Arion SCH-1 for this type of stuff anyway.

The AD/A Flanger is very, very good sounding. I am impressed. Problem is, I never use flanger. I have never liked it and have never found a use for the effect. Still, I must say this pedal does the flanger effect very, very good.

The EX-7 also has distortion models, but you have to engage both the expression effect AND the distortion effect at the same time. Kinda stupid. However, I am not impressed at all by the distortion effects, and probably will never use them live.

The one thing I don't like is that I must use the supplied power supply - it's AC power and most pedal adapters are DC, so my 1-spot adapter won't work with it. I hate that. This means I have more cable clutter happening on my pedal board.

Does it suck tone? Not that I can tell. I haven't done any A/B testing, but it seems very good in this department. I don't hear no tone suck. I will not have a problem hooking this pedal up for live gigs without running it via a true bypass loop.

In summary, a very cool pedal for 100 bucks. Is it perfect? No. But it has several very nice sounding effects, and it's all in this one pedal, which I think is great - it saves space. The sounds are mostly very good, and you can tweak the pedal quite a bit, since there are lots of knobs to play around with. You should be able to make it work for you because of the flexibility it offers.

I think it's just great to play a wicked wah solo in one song, then in the next song play the Space Station effect. Maybe in a third song we'll have some wacky Whammy effects going, or perhaps some nice, old-school uni-vibe for some tunes from the 60s. You can do all of this with this ONE pedal. Isn't that cool?

Oh another thing - if you want to switch between the effects during a song, you'll be in trouble unless you have a separate pedal for switching between the effect models. The way you change models is by turning a knob. However, with an external "switcher" pedal, you can move up and down between the effects, while you play live.

Olympys E-410 - nice camera!

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Olympus E-410, 10 Megapixels - great DSLR camera

I recently bought an Olympus E-410 digital SLR camera. It is my first DLSR camera, and I am glad I finally bought one. This one seems to have been a good choice.

This camera is very small, for being a DLSR. Usually these kind of cameras are really big and heavy, but this one is small and light. This means I can take this camera with me to gigs and events without feeling like I'm hauling a big beast around.

I got a 8 GB memory card so I can store thousands of pictures before I have to unload them. So far, I've been getting great results of camping trips and running events.

This Olympus comes with a 14-42mm Zuiko lens. I think it works very well - it seems like a very good quality lens to me.

What I like best about this camera is the easy of use, the responsiveness and the quality. It is not hard to take good shots. I can use the pre-determined settings for Children, Portrait, Landscape, etc, or I can use it in a more manual way. Either or, most photos turn out great, and it is easy to quickly make changes to settings. The playback features are also quick and easy to use.

It is quick and very responsive. I took some great photos of fast runners with a fast setting on the camera. That was fun. Click, click, click - very fast response from the camera and great shots. It starts up quickly and anything you need to do happens quickly (I hate slow cameras where you have to wait for things to happen.)

The quality of the photos are fantastic. I have used good quality Canon cameras before, and I feel this camera takes just as good, if not better photos. 10 megapixels is big enough, and the quality of this lens and the camera is more than enough for any hobby photographer of my caliber. I am extremely happy with the photos this camera takes.

I will take lots of photos of my guitar gear and from gigs, and post the photos here on my website, so you can see what the camera can do. I am really happy with how easy it is to take good photos with this thing.

To read a more detailed review of this great little camera, check out this Olympus E-410 review.

Cool Cat Fuzz surprisingly cool

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Cool Cat Fuzz surprisingly cool

The Cool Cat Fuzz from Danelectro is an interesting, inexpensive fuzz pedal.

You can't go wrong with the price either - it's only $29.00!

I am very impressed with these Cool Cat pedals. This fuzz if fat and wooly and full of cotton tones. It's not as extreme as, say a Big Muff. It's not quite as Hendrixy as the Fuzz Face either, but to me it's somewhere in between. That is a good thing in my book - you can get a lot of tonal variety out this pedal. The tone knob is effective. If you turn down the fuzz quite a bit, you can get kind of like a smooth overdrive.

This pedal also has plenty of output. Turn up the volume knob and run it through a quality tube amp. You can't go wrong!

I made a video last night, showing what kind of tones this thing can do. Check out the Cool Cat Fuzz demo.

Danelectro Cool Cat Series CF-1 Fuzz Guitar Effects Pedal

Here is a Cool Cat Fuzz video demo

Cool Cat Drive sounds good

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:01 GMT

The Cool Cat Drive sounds good

I just got a Cool Cat Drive, and so far I am quite impressed with it. As with all the Cool Cat pedals, they are true bybass, have a metal casing, and metal jacks.

The controls are the usual ones - Volume, Tone and Drive.

What is extra interesting with the Cool Cat pedals is the price - they are inexpensive. This nice Drive pedal goes for only $24.00!

Cool Cat Drive at Musician's Friend

Danelectro Cool Cat Series CO-1 Drive Guitar Effects Pedal

The Cool Cat Drive sounds great. Quite transparent, and crips and good for blues and rock. No high gain metal sounds to be had here, of course.

I'll be back with more review details soon. I like this thing a lot!

I made a Cool Cat Drive video demo

Hagstrom Guitars

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Hagstrom guitars are great

My local music store, Music Centre Canada in Camrose, has several Hagstrom guitars, and I have to say I like them. Hagstrom guitars originate from Sweden (so do I!) and the 60s were great times for Hagstrom. Performers such as Elvis Presley were using Hagstroms. No wonder they gained some popularity.

Production stopped in the early 80s, but since 2004, Hagstrom is back again and putting out some nice axes. They are not like the original ones though, but still very much worth taking a closer look at.

Many music stores these days carry inexpensive instruments, and it's easy to understand why. They are easier to sell of course. Fact is, that inexpensive guitars can be quite good indeed. Things have changed a lot since the 80s!

I have tried most of the models Hagstrom carry, and I like them all. They are priced right, and there is sense of quality about them that some of their competitors lack, in my opinion.

The current Hagstrom models are:

Ultralux
Select Series
Super Swede
Swede
Deluxe
Deluxe - F
F-20/F200
F200P
F300
Viking
HJ 500/HJ-600
HL-550

The one I like best is the HJ-500, although I have not tried the HJ-600. I have a feeling I would like it even better. This guitar sounds amazing, either for jazz or blues. It's on my wish list... Check out my Hagstrom HJ-500 review.

Hagstrom Jazz Model HJ-500 Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Natural

The Viking is another great jazz guitar. It's thinner than the HJ-500/600 and very versatile. Easy to play and good tone.

Perhaps the most famous one is the Super Swede. Check out the Guitar Edge 2007 review. I almost bought one of the originals in the 80s - I should have! These are now solid body guitars, and somewhat reminiscent of a Gibson Les Paul in feel and tone. The body is made of mahogany with a 10 mm carved maple top. Beautiful. It's a really versatile axe well worth the price.

Hagstrom Super Swede Electric Guitar Vintage Sunburst

The Swede is very much so also a versatile and cool guitar, with mahogany body and top. I love jamming on this guitar. See the review from Guitar World 2007.

Hagstrom Swede Electric Guitar Wild Cherry

If you are looking for a good humbucker guitar that doesn't cost boutique or Gibson prices, do check out Hagstrom guitars. They are beautiful, well built, good sounding and has a cool vibe about them. I know I just should have one, since I am Swedish myself! Don't worry, I will likely buy one soon. In the meantime, I like going to the local music store and try them out and smile at the goodness of these guitars.

Go and try one for yourself and let me know what you think!

3rd place in K-100 relay 2008

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:01 GMT

3rd place in K-100 relay 2008

Our running team 2run.ca placed 3rd in the K-100 relay. That was a lot of fun! We had tough competition, as we now ran in the open category for the first time. In previous years, we have done it as a mixed team, which means having 4 girls. We couldn't find 4 girls though this time, so we entered in the open category.

I was the team captain, and I put myself on the starting leg, the longest of them all - 18.6 km. It's also one of the flattest, which suited me well. I ran quite well I think; I placed 2nd, a minute or so behind the fastest guy. I stayed with him until more than half way I think. I felt good, but the steady climb took the energy out of me.

The winning team was way stronger than everybody else, but we kept in 2nd place for a good while. The battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th was exciting, and we actually placed 4th, but one of the teams ahead of us ran in the Corporate category, which gave us 3rd place in the Open category.

We had a great time together and the weather was really nice. A bit on the hot side later in the afternoon. There were problems with dehydration and a really sad event was that a man died of a heart attack. This happened just in front my my wife and daughter. Shocking.

Next year we will be back for sure. We will see about how we enter next time, if it will be in the Mixed or Open category I don't know at this time. In any case, the K-100 relay is the finest running relay you can find around here. Well there is Jasper-Banff relay too, but that one isn't the same, since there are 2 starts (it's more like 2 relays as far as I understand it). The Kananaskis K-100 is the relay I look forward to every year. For us, it's a must to do.

Vox Black Diamond

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Vox Black Diamond

Vox has a new guitar modeling amplifier out. It's called Black Diamond. This looks very interesting. I was wondering what Vox is up to when I noticed the AD120 VTX was gone from their line of products. Looks like the Black Diamond is taking its place.

This amp is the flagship of the Valvetronix series, and it's designed to sound very much like a tube amp, while using amp modeling technology. It is powerful too - 200 watts (100 + 100 watts in stereo)!

There are 32 different amp models, although I don't know at this point which amps are being modeled. My guess is most of the classic Marshalls, Fenders, Soldano, Vox, etc, as well as newer and more rare boutique amps.

Plenty of effects are built in as well - 25 types (76 models) and this should be more than adequate in the effect department. The effect options is one thing that feels a little limiting in the entry-level Valvetronix amps. The Black Diamond have pedal effects of many kinds - distortion, compressor, wah, pickup simulator, spatial effects, modulation, reverb, noise reduction.

There are plenty of room to save your sounds. 128 programs should be sufficient. Up to 6 effects models can be used simultaneously.

Another nice feature is the automatic chromatic tuner with strobe-type operation. There is also a MIDI IN/OUT connector available.

The amp has Neo Dog 150 watt speakers especially made for Vox by Celestion.

You will most likely need the VS-12SV foot controller too - it is an optional extra, but with an amp like this, I think that is a must.

So really, what we have here is the top of the line modeling amp Vox currently offers. Improvements all over the line has been made. I have not yet tried this amp, but I am a big fan of the Valvetronix series amps, and I have no doubt that this will be the best sounding modeling amp Vox has ever made. If you see one somewhere, take it for a test and let me know what you thought of it!

See the offical Vox Black Diamond product page.

Need a good pedal board? Get a Pedaltrain

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Need a good pedalboard?

Get a Pedaltrain pedal board! I just got one, and I really like it.

You may have seen my old pedalboard that I made myself out a of a suitcase. It has performed quite well for my over the last few years. However, it started to fall apart; the lid wouldn't close properly so risked losing all my pedals when I left the gig. No good. I have a page detailing my old pedalboard made out of a suitcase if you want to go that route (it sure doesn't cost much!)

I did some research, and found that a lot of guys talk about the Pedaltrain pedalboards. The nice things about these boards are these 3 things:

Inexpensive
Light weight - made of aluminum
Versatile

That's what my board looks like today. You can fit in quite a few pedals on this board.

MusiciansFriend has Pedaltrains of course

Pedaltrain PT-2 Pedalboard with Hardshell ATA Flightcase

I know a lot of guys like Pumaboards. These boards look awesome and are of course great. They won't be as light though.

Trailertrash pedal boards are also high quality boards.

Yet another good custom pedalboard maker is NYC Pedalboards.

Pumaboards, Trailer Trash and NYC pedalboards make custom boards, so if you want someone to put together the perfect board for you, check these guys out. They will customize your board for you.

For me, the Pedaltrain was a no brainer, based on the 3 things I've mentioned - price, weight and versatility.

Check out the official Pedaltrain website for more information.

Blues and rock gig - Jaywalkers Jamboree

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Blues and rock gig - Jaywalkers Jamboree

On Friday and Saturday, Myra and I played at the Jaywalkers Jamboree here in Camrose. On Friday, we played with a full band, with Dean playing the 2nd guitar. We did some blues tunes (Sweet Home Chicago, etc) and some rock songs (Midnight Special). It was fun. Brandon the man on drums and steady Al on bass. We never rehearsed - we just went up and played. It sounded alright for not being prepared.

The local tv station filmed it (channel 10) and they will be showing it now and ten on that local channel. I'll have to keep an eye out and see if we pop up on there some day. Maybe I could even record a little of it and post on this here website.

I played my SX Strat copy, with the nice maple neck I traded with Tremoloman. It's really nice. It doesn't stay in tune so well though, I need to set the crappy bridge to not float or else it goes out of tune way too much.

On the Saturday, we played as a duo on a different stage. It was a huge stage with just us two - Myra singing and playing acoustic guitar and myself on the Fender strat this time and background vocals. It was fun as always, and a big thanks goes out to the Jane Cherry-Lemire at the Arts Centre in Camrose, for their support of the local musicians. It is great to have such a great organization pushing for local talents (and non-talents like myself :)....) and we will probably be back again next year.

Peavey Vypyr

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Peavey Vypyr amps

Peavey is coming out with an new, interesting amp called VYPYR. It is a modeling guitar amp, and it is priced very attractively. The VYPYR amps are based on 32-bit, floating-point SHARC processors and patented TransTube analog circuitry. There are 24 amp channel models - both the clean and distorted channels of 12 popular amps.

There are also 11 editable preamp "stomp box effects" and 11 editable post-amp "rack effects" with dual-parameter control. You will be able to use up to five effects at the same time.

The VYPYR amp also acts as its own audio interface for your computer. It has a built-in, studio-quality USB 2.0 output.

I have not yet tested this amp myself, but my friend who owns my local music store will be bringing them in soon. At that time, I will go and try them out and report back here what I think of them. They sure look promising on paper.

Peavey Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 60W 1x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp Black

Features

VYPYR™ Tube 120 and VYPYR™ Tube 60 · 120 watts (60 watts on VYPYR Tube 60) · 4 channels with 3-band EQ, master volume and pre- and post-gain controls · Real 6L6 tube power · Two 12” custom-voiced modeling loudspeakers (single 12” on VYPYR Tube 60) · 11 editable rack effects · 11 editable stomp-box effects · Up to 5 effects SIMULTANEOUSLY · On-board looper · On-board chromatic tuner · Up to 400 presets with optional Sanpera™ II footswitch · Studio-quality USB computer interface · MIDI In/Out · Tap tempo button · Studio-quality headphone output · MP3/CD/Aux input · Patented TransTube® technology in the preamp · U.S. MSRP $799.99 ($599.99 on VYPYR Tube 60)

VYPYR™ 100 and VYPYR™ 75 · 100 watts (75 watts on VYPYR 75) · 4 channels with 3-band EQ, master volume and pre- and post-gain controls · Two 12” custom-voiced modeling loudspeakers (single 12” on VYPYR 75) · 11 editable rack effects · 11 editable stomp-box effects · Up to 5 effects SIMULTANEOUSLY · On-board looper · On-board chromatic tuner · Up to 400 presets with optional Sanpera™ II footswitch · Studio-quality USB computer interface · MIDI In/Out · Tap tempo button · Studio-quality headphone output · Exclusive Power Sponge™ attenuator · Patented TransTube® technology in preamp and power amp · U.S. MSRP $699.99 ($399.99 on VYPYR 75)

VYPYR™ 30 · 30 watts · 4 channels with 3-band EQ, master volume and pre- and post-gain controls · 12” custom-voiced modeling loudspeaker · 11 editable rack effects · 11 editable stomp-box effects · Up to 5 effects SIMULTANEOUSLY · On-board looper · On-board chromatic tuner · Up to 400 presets with optional Sanpera™ II footswitch · MIDI In/Out · Tap tempo switch · Studio-quality headphone output · Patented TransTube® technology in preamp and power amp · U.S. MSRP $279.99

VYPYR™ 15 · 15 watts · 4 channels with 3-band EQ, master volume and pre- and post-gain controls · 11 editable rack effects · 8” custom-voiced modeling speaker · On board chromatic tuner · Tap Tempo · Studio quality headphone and record out · MP3/CD/Aux input · Patented TransTube® technology in preamp and power amp · U.S. MSRP $169.99

Peavey Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 60W 1x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp Black

With double the processing power, models and effects of competitive modeling amplifiers, the VYPYR dramatically redefines the power and scope of modern guitar amplification. VYPYR amplifiers are based on powerful 32-bit, floating-point SHARC processors that enable highly detailed, accurate modeling as well as vastly enhanced flexibility and features than ever before available in guitar amplification.Featuring 24 amp channel models-both the clean and distorted channels of 12 popular amps for the first time anywhere-plus 11 editable preamp "stomp box" effects and 11 editable post-amp "rack" effects with dual-parameter control. Players can use up to five effects simultaneously. When used with the optional Peavey Sanpera foot controller, the possibilities further expand from 12 in-amp presets to 400 programmable presets, with an on-board looper and more. The VYPYR also acts as its own computer audio interface, with a built-in studio-quality USB 2.0 output on most models that is recognized by computers as an audio device. The entire six-model VYPYR Series features the easy-to-use Peavey WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface.

John Mayer can play the guitar

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:00:01 GMT

John Mayer can play the guitar

If you hang out on several guitar forums like me, you can't help but notice that John Mayer is often bashed as a guitar player. It's like some people can't admit he is a tremendously good guitar player, and I think that is because of his softer hits he wrote earlier in his career. I guess in some sense, I can understand it. I mean, he used to mostly have young girls as his fan base, so when he starts playing blues and gets recognition for doing so, some blues lovers ("purists?") frown upon it. I assume he is not "worthy".

You know what? Screw that. The boy can play! I am impressed, not only by his guitar playing abilities, but also by his attitude and guts to go from Your Body is a Wonderland to playing in a blues trio. It's also a good move for us blues lovers - he is introducing the great music of the past to a whole new generation. That is a great thing.

Mayer has great tone and gear of course. He uses some good quality equipment - take a closer look at his gear. I am sure he's just a big fanatic about tone and gear as most of us.

He is no beginner to this kind of music either of course. He didn't just pick up blues guitar after writing pop songs. No, Mayer grew up like many of us, listening to Jimi and SRV, etc - learning that good stuff on guitar. You can really tell, if you just listen.

Have a listen at Mayer playing some Hendrix:

"Gravity" is a really good song written by Mayer. Great lyrics and great guitar playing. You can tell this guy has great feeling. Just have a listen yourself:

"Belief" is another song I really like. It has strong lyrics, and features both great guitar playing by Mayer himself, plus some nice slide parts from some other (don't know who's playing that part).

Mayer can play the blues too. Oh yeah. Have a listen to him perform with Eric Clapton:

John Mayer may have risen very fast towards the top of current famous guitar players. Maybe too fast, in some people's opinion. So what if that went fast? He plays great, and he's inspiring a lot of people to appreciate good guitar based music. He writes good tunes, he plays classic tunes by Henrix and SRV in a great way. He's got good tone and gear, he makes playing guitar look hip, and he's not afraid to throw in a good guitar solo in any song. What more can a person ask for? Let's appreciate what he is doing. To all who criticize him in public, I say, let's hear you do better!

Barbecue guitar gig in Edmonton

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Barbecue guitar gig in Edmonton

On Friday, I played at a private bbq party in Edmonton. I brought my SX acoustic, my Tele and my Squier '51. It was a lot of fun!

I played mostly slide guitar. I play my slide stuff in open E tuning, and my '51 works great for slide. I just need some heavier gauge strings on it, but the sound is sweet. I have raised the action on it quite a bit, so that I don't get so much rattle when using the slide. I used the Tele for some regular guitar picking, just to have some balance in the material I was playing.

For amplification, I brought my Vox AD50VT. It works great for this type of gig. It can produce good tone at low volume. For this gig, I was more background music, so a loud tube amp would not have worked as well. I just find the Vox extremely handy for some situations. I don't I'll ever get rid of this amp!

I've been using brass slides for a while, but now I have rediscovered the glass slide, and I think I dig it better, at least for now. I'll experiment more with slides. The benefit with the brass slide is that it's heavy, but if they action isn't high enough on the guitar, it can cause some issues with pressing down the strings too much, which leads to rattle and noise.

The evening was nice and warm, and not so many bugs either. I got some bug spray to keep the few present mosquitos away. The food was great, and people seemed to like what I was doing.

I have not played slide at a party before, so this was sort of a new experience for me. I played mostly improvised stuff, although I took some inspiration from old classics and some Ry Cooder songs.

My SX acoustic isn't perfect for slide. I should get a dedicated acoustic slide guitar some day. Maybe a Dobro? Those things sound sweet.

In all, it was a great event for me. I got good feedback and I had a good time, plus I got to practice my slide guitar skills!

Hopefully I'll find the time to add a slide guitar video to my website soon, so you guys can get an idea what I sound like when I play slide.

Camrose Casino Gig

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Played at the Camrose Resort Casino

Myra and I (Fundamental Things) played at the Camrose Resort Casino on May 9th and May 10th. We had a good time!

This was the first time playing a gig at a casino. This one in Camrose is really new, and it is really nice. Smoking is not allowed in there, which of course is nothing but great. Nice, clean air.

Each of these evenings, we played between 7:30 and midnight, which is longer than we usually do. It wasn't a problem though, we have plenty of songs in the backpack. We just needed to dig through them all.

Our repertoire has material from many different sources. We have old country tunes, rock, blues, jazz, ballads, roots, etc. Quite a few people came, and it seemed they really enjoyed the show.

I find it's quite tiring to play for so many hours. At the end of the night, I was pretty pooped out. You wouldn't think it's so much work to just stand there and play and sing, but it is. There's a lot of concentration and hopefully inspiration at work, and that takes it's toll on your body and mind after a few hours.

We hope to go back and play more gigs there in the future. It's a real nice place to play at, and the crowd response was good.

Sue DaBaco & Wise Fools

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Sue DaBaco & Wise Fools

I recently discovered a talented female blues guitar player from the mid-West, by the name Sue DaBaco. I've been listening to her CD "Voodoo Juice" lately, and I am impressed.

This woman has great blues guitar chops, although her sound is modern. She uses effects in a tasteful way. Vocals are also handled by DaBaco, and she has a good bluesy voice, that also works great for the more rockier tracks on this CD

The CD "Voodoo Juice" has quite a bit of variety to it. I hear influences from Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Clapton, but there also seems to be country guitar and jazz vocalist influences. I even hear some old Venture-like lines in some places. This album is fun to listen to due to all the variety of tunes, as well the versatile guitar playing DaBaco showcases here.

Take a listen to DaBaco and Wise Fools at their website - Wise Fools download page.

DaBaco has a fat Stratocaster sound, and I believe she uses Peavey Delta Blues amps. Often her tone is semi-dirty, meaning some overdrive happening but not totally saturated gain. Very nice sound.

I ran the fastest Half-marathon ever in Canada!

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

I ran the fastest Half-marathon ever in Canada!

Yes, it is true. Sort of. My time was 59:37 and the race was the 2007 Devon Turkey Chase. That's a pretty fast time by a Swedish old guy, don't you think?

What, you don't believe me? See for yourself! Half marathon Results - isn't that an impressive time by me?

This race was very interesting. It started and ended in a campground by the river in Devon. I talked to the guy who set the course before hand and he said it should be well marked. I figured I'd be by myself at the front, so I hoped he was right.

I got a good pace going, ran strong up this first big hill from by the river. I ran around a church and followed the instructions the the volunteers. Maybe I shouldn't have. Turns out, they had no clue where I was supposed to be going. I ended up going down to the start area again, so I thought it was a loop course.

I asked at the finish area if I was supposed to run 2 laps, and they just looked at me funny. Oh well, I kept going. I ran quite well too, I thought.

Another lap, and I started realizing something wasn't right here. I asked every volunteer if they knew where I should be going, and none of them knew. I saw no other people any more either, so obviously, the must have taken to a different direction.

At the finish, I stopped and asked what was going on, and they said "the half-marathon is somewhere else". Great... So, I was getting pissed off, and I had run for almost an hour by myself, completely misdirected so there wasn't much I could do but stop.

I wasn't alone in being lost though. Turns out, about 80% of all runners were lost. Some came in towards the finish area when we left an hour or more later!

The race director apologized, and the guy who set the course felt really bad for us. It turns out they had set the course the day before, and some kids had taken most of the signs away. As a result, the volunteers did not know how to direct me when I came running, asking where to turn. They should of course have been given instructions for their course marshaling job, but apparently they didn't know.

Oh well, it was an interesting race anyway! I took with a smile, but I noticed there were some runners who were really upset and wanted their entry fee back.

Not sure if I will do this race again, well see.

The "good thing" about the whole story is that I got the fastest "half-marathon" time ever recorded in Canada! Haha! In truth, I probably only ran 16 kilometres... but shhh, don't tell anyone! :)

Puffin for a Muffin 2008

Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Puffin for a Muffin 2008

This was a fun race. I ran the Puffin for a Muffin 8 km road race in 28:10, but we were directed the wrong away, and subsequently ran 123 meters too short. The race was interesting. I'm coaching a talented young guy here, David A (enormous talent), and he basically just started training. He was on my tail from the start, and I figured he wouldn't last the whole way, because of not enough training. I was wrong.

He was like a blood-sucking leech on my tail the whole way! He was breathing hard like bronchitis patient, but he never let go, no matter how much I tried to break him over the 8,000 meters. He used to be a 400 meter runner, so when I couldn't get rid of him during the last kilometer, I was sure that was it. He's gonna smoke me big time on the finish stretch.

We turned around the corner, I saw the finish line a couple of hundred meters away, and I kicked all I had. I was waiting to see a fast, young guy with talent show me how to finish a race, but no, he never came! I kept my strong finish going and won by a couple of seconds. My friend was tired at the end after all. He had to go so close to maximum effort the whole way, that when the time came to kick, he didn't have that extra gear.

I enjoyed this (obviously!), and I am quite confident he will pass me in the next race, and I am okay with that. I am his coach, and with all the training I'm having him do this summer, I expect him to kick my butt pretty soon.

Our middle daughter Karly, who I am also coaching for track, ran really well too and won her age category. She's only 14 but a great runner and I'm very proud of her. She has a big track meet coming up at the end of the month, where she will run 400, 800 and 1500 races. We're currently working on getting her fast for these races.

All in all, it was a fantastic day! Sunny, nice temperature, lots of good snacks at the end and strong family performances.

John Scofield - huge inspiration

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

John Scofield always inspires me greatly

I get asked once in a while about my influences. Number 1 would be Jimi Hendrix, but in the next breath I need to mention John Scofield.

When I first started getting into jazz and fusion (a long time ago), there were quite a few guitar player I took notice of. One of them was John Scofield. I have many of his albums, but I still remember the first time I heard him. It was when he was playing with Dennis Chambers, Robert Aries and Gary Grainger on "Pick Hits". Wow, that blew me away. Now this wasn't really jazz, but more funk with jazz on top. I still love this stuff. "Blue Matter" is another great album from this era, and so is "Still Warm". The song "Protocol" is such an ultra cool song! Back in the day, we even tried to play that bad mutha with our band (with mixed results, to put it kindly...).

Scofield really comes from a rare breed. He is a completely mind-blowing improviser, in my opinion, and he is not limited to funky grooves. On the contrary, I find him to be one of the finest jazz guitarists I have ever heard. The most inspiring jazz combos with guitar I've ever heard have been a Scofield band.

It is interesting to follow his career too. He seems to do jazz for a while, then funk, then something in between, then jazz, then funk, etc. And there's nothing wrong with that!

Funky! With Avi Bortnick on rhythm guitar

Blue Matter

Listen to this funky band! Dennis Chamber is one bad mofo drummer - insanely groovy. Scofield is playing melodic yet funky and with great feeling. Notice how he makes every note count.

His strength, in my view, is that he has great taste. He NEVER over-plays. He's not on stage trying to impress you, by showing off fast bebop licks and such things. No, he plays with dynamics, with control, with taste and with experience. I hear some many guitar players trying to show off, and I just get tired of it all. Sco is different. When he plays, I get drawn into the harmonies and rhythms of his improvisations. He makes each note mean something meaningful musically speaking. Learn from this - make each note count!

Phrasing is key for improvising well. Scofield's phrasing is fantastic. He plays very tasty phrases that are so expressive and also with perfect timing of course.

Another reason I like him so much is because you can feel all that blues in his playing. He's approaching jazz from a blues background, and anything he plays just has that bluesy groove that I personally love. I have always been a blues man at heart, and that could be why I appreciate Scofield more than many "traditional" jazz guitarists. Scofield doesn't play "simpler" or less jazzy; it's more about the little things - bends, how notes are approached, pick attack, sound, etc.

The Chicken with Jaco Pastorius

This is pretty old clip, but it's real cool. Jaco was of course another master (I'll write another blog entry about him someday). Scofield is playing very bluesy on this clip.

Many jazz guitarists have a very boring tone, in my opinion. They are great at harmony and technique, but they sound boring because they play these fast 16th notes all the time, with hardly and pauses in between. They are impressive for sure, but guys like Scofield, who can do both that fast stuff as well as tasty phrasing gets my nod every time.

All Blues - jazz standard

Here John is playing some very creative lines over this classic standard jazz tune. See how he can play fast yet with great taste? I'll let you think about why I like Scofield's playing here so much more than any of the other guitarists on the clip.

There Is No Greater Love

This is a beautiful jazz tune that I like to play once in a while. Listen to Master Scofield show you how it's done. This is jazz guitar at its finest, in my opinion.

Scofield borrowed my amp

Yes, it happened back in Sweden at the jazz festival in Umea. The festival organizer called me, since John wanted a Mesa Boogie and I happened to have a Studio Preamp and 295 Stereo Power amp. The amp had a bad tube I think, and the sound engineer mentioned it to me later when I picked up the amp. I reckon John noticed too, but hopefully it wasn't too much of problem. When I saw him play that night with my amp on stage, I had a big smile the whole time. He played amazingly well as always, and he sounded just like he always does. In any case, it's not the gear that makes the player, as well all should know by now.

I wrote the settings for each knob and saved newspaper photos of Scofield playing my amp! I have lost them by now. At the time, I thought it was the coolest thing ever that Scofield wanted to use my amp for a gig. Well, I still think that was pretty darn cool.

This fall, John Scofield is coming to Edmonton Jazz Festival, and I plan on going to see him. I don't think he'll need my amp this time! I don't have my Boogie amp anymore, and I think he uses Vox AC30 amps nowadays.

How to play guitar like a pro in no time

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

How to play guitar like a pro in no time

Would you like to know the secret all good guitar players share? The secret that makes them sound better than the average Joe?

I am sure you have seen these types of ads online. There are many sketchy people out there trying to sell you some magical learning DVD's; DVDs that promise you will sound like a pro in just a few days.

Well, I'm here to give you the "secret". I have learned this secret. I have spent nearly 30 years of playing guitar, and I do believe I've learned a few things along the way.

This secret I am about to tell you is free. You don't have to pay me for it. This secret makes a lot of sense, once you know it. Once you are aware of what this secret entails, it is up to you to decide if you want to continue along the path this secret will take you, if you are willing to follow.

Enough suspension? Ok, here it goes.

The secret is...

Well, sorry to disappoint, but there isn't really a secret at all. I will tell you the truth though - there are no shortcuts. People who are trying to sell you some product that will make you a great guitarist in no time are nothing but scammers. Learning how to play guitar like a "pro" (whatever that means) will take time, effort and patience. That's the real truth.

However, please don't get discouraged. I think just about anyone can learn how to play guitar really well. In short, all you need is determination and motivation. You need to think long-term; you are learning a skill for life, so do think of this process as a journey, not a destination. It can of course be very exciting and rewarding to learn how to master the guitar. You can play for/with friends or perhaps eventually get gigs. However, it can also be very personal thing, where you use guitar playing as a way of relaxing or just for fun.

Let's stop and think for a minute about the "quick-fix" syndrome. There are numerous books that promise way more than they deliver; there are pills and products that say they will make you fitter and/or lose weight; there are university degrees you can buy; there seem to be an almost unlimited amount of "get rich quick"-schemes, and so on goes the list. Do you see what is wrong here?

I feel that we currently live in a time where people are used to being able to buy whatever they need. Money is often a "solution" to many problems, and we are used to this way of living. The problem here is, that a skill can't always be bought. A skill like playing guitar takes time and effort to develop, and the same goes for many other skills, like for example playing basketball, learning how to read, becoming a pilot, etc. Do you remember when you learned how to ride a bike? It probably was a long ago, but it probably took you quite a few attempts before you got it. Once you learn it though, it stays with you for life. Same goes for guitar playing.

So what's a guy or girl to do?

My advice is to first of all realize this may take some time. If you are willing to set a side some hours per week to practice and grow as a player, you will be well on your way. In more practical terms, I suggest going to see an experienced guitar teacher. You may need to try a few different teachers until you find one that is right for you, but having a good teacher is invaluable. As you get better and better at playing guitar, you will likely find the need of a teacher decreasing.

A good guitar teacher should be able to give you instruction, tips and feedback. Such a teacher should also be able to provide suggestions for books, CD's and DVDs. All these tools are only helpers though, that's important to realize. Even seeing a guitar teacher every week does not mean you are automatically going to become a good guitar player, unless you are willing to put in the work.

I do think there are many tools available these days for the budding guitarist; tools that can be handy to have around as you progress as a player. One theory book I recommend is Edly's Music Theory for Practical People. This is a good book about music theory. It's easy to read and quite funny too. Having a book like this around will be very valuable for long time.

There are also many good DVDs for different purposes, so do your research before you buy. The difficulty is getting the "helper tools" that are right for you. Here is where a teacher can give you good suggestions, because your teacher will know where you are in the learning process, and can therefore narrow down the search for a good book or DVD that has information at the right difficulty level for you. My own DVDs are a mixture of different styles. For a beginner, I can honestly say there are better DVDs available out there. The Hal Leonard material, for example, is good. Here is a beginners guitar DVD that many like.

Another book I highly recommend is Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, by George Leonard. This book is appropriate for someone wanting to become a master at something, whether that means being a pilot or playing blues guitar. The book is about understanding the different "keys", as the author calls them. I think most people can learn a lot from this book. There are, however, many books that teach similar things - how to stick to what you are doing and enjoying, while also realizing this isn't a quick fix. It's a road with no fixed destination - the journey in itself is what it's all about.

I hope I didn't bore you with all this. To summarize - there is no silver bullet, no "secret" that will make you a great player in a week or two. That's just a complete lie. If you are a beginner and you really want to become a good guitar player, seek out a good teacher and plan on sticking to the guitar for a long time to come. Most of all - have fun. This whole idea about playing guitar is about having fun. I know I love playing guitar; if I didn't, I would a have quit a long time ago.

Power calibration error burning DVD's

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Power calibration error burning DVD's

Recently, my Lite-On DVD external burner has been giving me problems. I have been unable to burn my regular guitar DVD's - every time I've tried burning one the last week an error has occurred. I looked closer at the error message today, and it says "power calibration error" when I use Nero to burn a DVD. I have been using the same brand of DVD's for quite some time, so I found it hard to believe the discs suddenly became faulty.

I did some research today, and I found some other people have been having the same problems. Some of them had tried to update the firmware, so I went to the Lite-on website and found an updated driver.

After downloading the correct driver in a zip file, I simply unzip the exe file inside and started the update process. A short while later, the process was finished and I had to reboot my machine.

Needless to say, I tried burning a DVD again, and lo and behold - it works like a charm again! I was beginning to think the burner was dying and that I had to replace it. Good thing I tried the firmware update. It saved me both time and money.

If you have been getting the "power calibration error' with your DVD burner, you should definitely try updating the firmware. It must just work for you too.

Boston Marathon 2008

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Well, the Boston Marathon was a great experience. I finished in 3:01:33, my second slowest marathon I've ever run. My legs were just not working very well today. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes. I was on track for 2:48 or so for a good while, but halfway through the race my calves were tightening up, and I just had to focus on finishing the race.

I still had a great time. This race is just so amazing. There are people everywhere. They cheer and scream like you wouldn't believe. I wore my Swedish shirt which has the letters "Sweden" and "Sverige" on it in big letters, and I felt like the crowd favourite. Everone seemed to cheer "Go Sweden!" all the wah from the start to the finish. Amazing experience.

Lance Armstrong ran just under 2:51, and reading the splits on the Boston Marathon website, I must have been ahead of him for a while although I never spotted him. He started ahead of me, with the elites. I was in corall 1.

Anyway, this race was a fantastic experience, and I highly recommend this marathon to anyone who is fit enough to qualify. I have never seen such a crowd along a marathon, simple unreal.

There were over 25,000 people running in this race. The second highest number of runners ever in the race, after the 100th anniversary in 1996.

Photos from the 2008 Boston Marathon trip

Going to Boston for the marathon

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Going to Boston for the marathon

I'm off now to have some pleasant days in Boston, before I line up for the most prestigious of marathon races - Boston Marathon. I am pretty excited about this. I am probably not in very good shape for it, but I'll do okay I think. I am also not so worried about my performance in this race.

It's the most classic of marathons, and many runners would cut off a finger for a chance to be on the start line for this race. I didn't have to that though; I qualified in Las Vegas in December with the time 2:49. I am likely to run slower this time, but that doesn't matter. I'm just glad to be in this race, to finally have done the one most runners hope to do at least once in their life.

I am also excited to just be in Boston with my wife and some friends. It's a great place with lots of stuff to see, do and eat. We are meeting up with 2 good friends we have known for years here in Alberta. They moved to Nova Scotia, and are coming to meet us again. That will be a great time.

I am also hoping to meet up with my guitar friends Scott and Ted. We have been hanging out at www.thefret.net and now we have a chance to get together and talk guitars in person. I can be reached through my contact form, for those wanting to have coffee and guitar chat while I'm in Boston. I may be very busy to have much time to leave my company of friends, but feel free to leave me a message and we'll see how it goes.

If you are interested in how I'm doing in the race, here's some info. My race number is 1538. You can go to www.bostonmarathon.org on April 21st, 2008 and punch in my number. You will be able to see my running split times at certain parts of the race - live on the website as I pass these spots. Check the Boston Marathon website for more details. The race starts at 10:00am Boston time.

After the race, I'll post my thoughts on the event here on my blog. A marathon is always hard, but for some reason, runners like myself want to do it again, no matter how painful it was last time. Go figure. I guess we're not that smart, are we? :)

Korg Pitchblack Tuner

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Korg Pitch Black Tuner Pedal

I finally received this Korg pedal tuner I've been waiting for. It's called Pitchblack and it just came out. I ordered it quite a while ago but as it often is, it took quite a bit longer than expected to get it shipped. My local music store here in Camrose, Music Centre Canada, got one in this week, so I immediately bought it once it was delivered to the store.

The reason I wanted the PitchBlack tuner was after reading the specs -

100% True Bypass
Four types of display modes:

Full Strobe
Half Strobe
Meter
Mirror

Compact size
Large LED
Calibration adjustment
Sleek, black and tough aluminum die cast body

Korg pitchblack tuner

I started by adding it to the end of my pedal chain. I am using 6-7 pedals at a time, and they are not all true bypass. Sometimes this can make it difficult for a tuner to get a strong clean signal coming through this long chain pedals. However, this was not a problem. The pitchblack worked very well at the end of the chain. No wobbly indicators jumping up and down. No, this tuner locked into the note right away and made easy to see if the notes was sharp or flat.

It adjusts quickly to the note you are tuning, and it is easy and clear to read the LED. There are 2 arrows on each side of the big LED, and these help to indicate if the note is sharp or flat. The big LED itself glows green when the note is in tune, so you sort of have two indicators of the tuning stability of the note you are playing. Very handy and nice, I have to say.

Musician's Friend has them

Korg pitchblack Chromatic Pedal Tuner

MXR Carbon Copy Delay Pedal

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:01 GMT

MXR Carbon Copy Delay

I hear a lot of buzz about the new MXR Carbon Copy Delay pedal. It is a basic analog delay pedal which apparently sounds very good.

It is true bypass, and it doesn't take up much real estate on your pedal board. Reports say this pedal is also very quiet.

It has 600ms of delay time, with optional modulation. This really cool. The knobs are

Delay time
Mix (dry/wet blend)
Regen (delay repeats)

The size of the pedal is like the well known Phase 90. It uses 9-volt operation and the LED shines purdy blue.

This is a pedal to check out, if you are looking for an analog, true bybass delay pedal without much noise.

MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Guitar Effects Pedal

The MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay features a completely analog audio path for the ultimate in rich, warm delay made possible only by old-school bucket brigade technology. This design boasts an amazing 600ms of delay time with optional modulation via a top-mounted switch and a simple, three-knob layout that controls Delay time, Mix (dry/wet blend), and Regen (delay repeats) all in a pedal no bigger than a Phase 90. In addition, two internal trim pots offer user-adjustable width and rate control of the modulation for even more tonal options. The Carbon Copy will take you from crisp bathroom slap echoes to epic, Gilmour-esque delays with a twist of a knob. True hardwire bypass, single 9-volt operation, and stage-ready blue LEDs round out the package.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Camrose

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Camrose

Yesterday was the last show of this play in Camrose, and people really liked the performance. I would say it was a success. I shared the duties as guitar player with one of my guitar students, or more precisely, I played the last two shows because my students was unavailable for those.

This musical was written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. You can read an overview of this play over at Wikipedia.

The set-up wasn't the best for the band. We didn't have any microphones on our instruments, and we were located behind some displays so we wouldn't be seen by the audience. Needless to say, it was not easy to know how loud to be in order to be heard out there where the audience were sitting. I turned it up pretty loud on my amp anyway, and I had a fairly bright sound so that it would cut through better.

I used my Tele the first night and my Strat on the second night. Both worked just great. The amp I used was my Vox AD50VT. It cuts through well on the Tweed 410 or AC30 settings, and I didn't need anything else than guitar, cord and amp. For this type of music, no pedals were needed.

The show went through in less than two hours, and it wasn't that hard to play either. Well, there were a few tricky spots, but nothing major that the audience would pick up on.

I enjoyed being part of the last two performances, but I gladly stood aside for the rest of them, so that my 16 year-old guitar student could get some invaluable experience by playing with a band for a musical like this. I know that when I was at that age, any time I played with people, I learned so much and improved as a player as a result of the experience. I hope and believe that so will my young student after all the rehearsals and shows he now has under his belt.

Live Guitar Lessons!

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Live Guitar Lessons!

You can check my new guitar lesson channel at http://live.yahoo.com/dolphinstreet - I am trying this out to see if it work for live guitar lessons.

This is sort of an experiment, so feel free to be a guinea pig! Yahoo Live is a fairly new thing, but it seems well designed. I am wondering how well it will work when there are a lot of people online with video at the same time. I guess time will tell.

My idea with my live guitar lesson channel is that it's a bit like open counceling. You go to the channel, I sit there and show people how to play certain things asked. It is possible that some things will be beginner stuff, like how to play a certain popular song with strumming technique, but the next guy might ask for tips on improvising with the diminshed scale, etc. The point here is that we'll have to expect the difficulty level to be all over the place. There could be beginners mixed in with experienced players in the audience.

If you try this, I think for this to work well, you use the text chat to ask me questions or give me comments. Do not use your microphone to ask me questions - it will become very difficult to follow as there may be several people talking at the same time. No, use the text chat instead. I will then respond by talking and playing guitar as asked of me.

I haven't really planned how this will evolve in the long term. This whole thing is just a test, and it can go anywhere. If I don't think this idea is of much use, it will just fade away as another experiment in Dolphinstreet history. If seems to work well, I might continue to do sessions on a regular basis. Time will tell.

Another thing, I am not sure when I will be available. I have so many things on the go, that it's hard to schedule time slots well in advance. What I can do, is to post a message here on Dolphinstreet when I am available on the Live Dolphinstreet Guitar Lesson channel. Then you just go there and try this thing out.

Disclaimer : I am just a guitar player who enjoys sharing what I know. I don't know everything, so keep in mind I might not be able to answer or explain every question asked. I'll just do what I can.

It's probably best to sign up with a Yahoo account on the chat. I am not sure if that is a requirement or not, but I would recommend it regardless. Then I'll be able to know who I'm talking to, in case I know you from emails or forums, etc.

Now go and take a look! http://live.yahoo.com/dolphinstreet

Pub jam at Uncle B's

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Pub jam at Uncle B's

Last night, I went to the local jam Uncle B's here in Camrose with my Fender Strat and my 18 watt Heatseeker. It was fun to get out and play some music. Myra and my buddy Dean are hosting the jams here on Thursday. If you are in the neighbourhood, come out here on Thursday and jam with us!

I like to try new pedals and gear when I go to jam sessions. Last night, I used my Fulltone Wah and my Das Fuzz. Got some decent tones, but I'm not quite happy with my distorted tones yet. I need to experiment a bit more. My Maxon SD-9 is my chosen dirt pedal, but through this rig, it seems to sound best with not so much gain added. My fuzz pedal is not always easy to mix in with other pedals. When it works, it sounds fabulous, but sometimes it doesn't like its environment. Maybe it's those germanium transistors that are upset...haha.

I often use my Blues Driver and my ZYS as well (tube screamer clone), and I get a great blues tone with these. However, I am trying to get a little different sound, because everyone and their dog use the typical tube screamer sound for blues. Nothing wrong with that, I just try to be a bit different, that's all. I guess I just like to experiment, that's part of the fun of playing guitar!

Here are some photos from last night's gig. I think it looks like we had fun, and we sure did! Having 3 guitar players on stage at the same time can be scary.... but it worked out well. Only "drawback" - the songs were really long, because each guitar player needed one or two solos for each song!

Go Organic gig

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Go Organic Conference gig

Myra and myself (www.fundamentalthings.ca) played a gig at the Go Organic Conference on March 6, 2008. We had a great time!

Agricultural producers from all over Alberta had gathered in Camrose at the Norsemen Inn to discuss the latest trends in organic food produce. Members in Going Organic range from farmers to retailers, chefs, processors, gardeners and businesses related to the food industry.

Myra and I had learned a couple of new tunes for this gig, and one that particularly well, I thought, was "Fields of Gold". Great song by Sting. We also played "Waiting For The World To Change", by John Mayer. We have a few jazz tunes in our repertoire, and we noticed these went over really well. It all depends on the crowd.

We try to read the crowd and play the kind of music they respond best to. Often that is country music, but tonight the jazzier, more mellow stuff seemed to do the trick.

I love these kinds of gigs. We played for a short while before suppper, then we got some great organic food for supper, then we played for an hour and a half after the meal.

The audience seemed to like us. Several people came up to use and complimented us on the music. We also had a guy from the crowd come up and play with us. Turns out he was very experienced musician in bluesgrass and other styles. He was very funny too - he played and sang some songs with hilarious lyrics.

I learned that my Boss DD-20 works really well live. I had a very nice, big sound through my little Hellhound and the DD-20 GigaDelay. Next time I'll bring out my Heatseeker and my 2x12 cab.

Not sure when we play next - we have some leads so we'll see.

We are planning to record some original music this spring. If it turns out good, the songs will be available on the web of course. We really need some demo recordings, and with my new MacBook Pro, I think this will work out great.

Good acoustic guitars

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Good acoustic guitars

After my teaching session at Music Centre Canada yesterday, I stopped by the acoustic room and took pretty much all the guitars there for a spin. They have brands like Martin, Crafter, Yamaha, Washburn, Ovation, etc. I liked the Crafter and the Yamaha sounded surprisingly good - the rest were okay or so-so.

I have a decent grab and go guitar in my SX DG-50. Some day I might want to get a really good sounding quality acoustics, and I know where to look...

Because I played a couple of Martins at the store. There were the "cheap" Martins. $900 or so. But Wow. All guitar players knows the fame that surrounds Martin guitars. I haven't tried their high end models, but the "cheaper" Martins I tried in the store blew all the other 10 or so guitars I tried away. Martin obviously know how to build good sounding acoustics. I played a Martin DR and it resonated so beautifully and full, all over the neck. The lesser quality guitars just don't have the full sound, so I guess you get what you pay for in acoustic guitars.

I will see if I can find some Taylor guitars to try. I know they are really good too, but I am sure there are many other brands worth checking out. If you have any suggestion, add a comment will ya?

It seems it is more costly to make a quality acoustic guitar, compared to electric guitars. I mean, just look at the many low cost guitars made in Asia today. Many of them are quite good sounding to start with, and can be made even better by upgrading the pickups and and some hardware. That isn't quite the case with an acoustic.

I am no luthier, but I realize that the selection of wood and combinations of wood make a huge impact on the overall sound. Not to mention the techniqe used to put the whole thing together. So the effort to create a quality, good sounding acoustic is obviously much higher than for an electric guitar. At least this is my personal view on this. I am well aware of the fact that a high end Suhr, Fender, Tyler or similar guitar will be a way better guitar than a Squier or Jay Turser, but the huge differences in quality between high-end electrics compared to average costing electrics are not as apparent as they were, say 15 years ago. As for acoustics, I argue that the differences between higher-end acoustics and average costing acoustics are still quite apparent, just as they were 15 years ago.

For now, I'll do fine with my SX acoustic, but down the road, a nice Martin would make a fine companion for me.

Wiring strat bridge pickup with tone knob

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Wiring strat bridge pickup with tone knob

I like Fender Stratocasters, always have. There is one thing that always bothered me, however. The bridge pickup. The default wiring of most Strats makes it so that there is no tone knob for the bridge pickup - only for the middle and neck pickup. Why? That is STUPID! I don't think many people do use the middle pickup very much - I know I don't, because it tends to sound a bit thin (regardless of what you do with the tone knob).

There are some Strats that come with a tone knob for the bridge pickup, but my Deluxe Players Strat certainly didn't. I decided the time has come for a tone knob for my bridge pickup!

I started googling for info about how to wire the bridge pickup with a tone knob. Found some schematics and some descriptions. I opened up the belly of my guitar and took a look.

It is very easy to do, really. You don't really need any schematics, if all you want to do is to have your bridge pickup use the tone knob your middle pickup currently uses. Here's what you do:

Find the wire that goes from your middle pickup to the tone pot, via the 5-way switch .
Desolder this wire at the 5-way pickup switch.
Solder the wire to the where the wire of the bridge pickup is attached at the 5-way switch. Done.

You see, it is just a matter of moving one wire from one spot on the 5-way switch to another. It is very logical, I would say.

Why do this in the first place? Well, man - you can really use the bridge pickup now! I roll off the tone knob half way or so, and I get a great, fat tone without that ice-pick sound I always had before.

I think this is a mod that everyone who owns a strat should do. It is really a must for myself. It's quick and simple to do, and it makes your strat so much more usable. The bridge pickup on a strat CAN sound great and be a great asset in your playing, but without the tone knob, it's very hard to use the pickup well.

I used to roll off the volume knob a bit to tame the highs on the bridge pickup, but then I get a lot less gain and grit - a compromise I don't worry about any more. I keep the volume knob almost, or all the way up and set the tone knob to 5 or 6.

Great tone is now within my reach - all I gotta do is to start playing something that sounds good. Which isn't always that easy, as we all know. At least, I can't blame it on the bridge pickup any more...

Just bought a new Macbook Pro

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Just bought a new Macbook Pro

After years being a Window user, I am now taking the leap over to the other side... I just ordered a Macbook Pro!

I have always liked Macs. I used them at the University in Sweden. For some reason, I never ended up getting one for myself. Well, that just changed. In a week or two, I will have a brand new powerful Macbook Pro - 17 inch with a 7200 RPM hard drive.

Can you believe I've never had a laptop before? It's true. I have been wanting a laptop for a good while now, so I can take it along when I go traveling. Another reason is so that I can just move around more freely in the house. I hate being locked to one dusty computer spot any time I want to update my website or answer emails.

Nice and thin!

A Class Act!

Even the box it comes in is classy!

Yet another reason is for music and video. I can use it to record songs and backing tracks with ease, and I can finally get some good quality videos produced. You see, one of the reasons it is currently taking me long to make videos is because my computer is outdated. It takes forever to work with video.

Why didn't I buy one sooner? Well, good question. I started thinking about a Macbook last fall, then I did research, realized I wanted a Macbook Pro. Then people told me there would be new ones coming out in January, so I've been waiting and waiting. But I'm good now!

Finally, maybe the best reason is because I believe a Mac is superior to a PC with Windows. Why? Because I believe the Mac operating system works better than MS Windows XP or Vista. It makes the machine run faster and more efficiently. I am a power user, and I am quite experienced with Unix and Linux, and the Mac Leopard system suits me well. I find it so much better than any Windows version - window management, keeping apps open in memory without bogging down the whole machine, caching, etc.

So, I would say you can expect much better videos within a few weeks. Likely you will see more backing tracks and other good things being added here as well, thanks to my new Macbook Pro!

MACBOOK PRO 17/SD Configuration: * Processor 065-7729 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo * Display 065-7472 MacBook Pro 17-inch Widescreen * Memory 065-7475 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB * Hard Drive 065-7485 200GB Serial ATA @ 7200 rpm * Optical Drive 065-7480 SuperDrive 8x DL * REMOTE 065-7483 Apple Remote * Keyboard/Mac OS Language 065-7487 BkLit Keyboard/Mac OS * Country Kit/AEX 065-7490 Country Kit

Getting a delay pedal?

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Getting a delay pedal?

So, I've been wanting a good delay pedal for a while. A pedal that can do tap tempo, can store a few delay settings, have different types of delays, not suck tone when not on, and not cost a fortune.

Why a delay pedal? Well, I have always liked a little bit of delay when playing leads. I have used a PB & J and a DOD delay for a long time, and although they are okay, most of the features mentioned are missing.

I narrowed things down to either a Eventide Timefactor, a T.C. Electronic Nova Delay or a BOSS DD-20. After asking questions on forums and doing my research, I was mostly interested in the Timefactor. It seems like a terrific pedal. However, it's quite expensive. The Nova is a good pedal too, and most feedback I've seen for this pedal is usually positive.

I bought a BOSS DD-20

I also noticed a of happy users of the DD-20 on guitar forums. So, cutting to the chase - my local music store Music Centre Canada had a BOSS DD-20 in stock - the price was right, so I bought it.

BOSS DD-20

Boss DD-20 Giga Delay

It's a nice pedal! Wow, it is a lot of fun. It's the first time for me to have such delays at hand in a pedal. Some people find that it's very limiting that you can only store four settings, but I doubt I will have much issues with that. I'm used to only one setting anyway, so four favourite delays saved should be oodles for me.

I have yet to learn the ins and outs of this thing, but the first thing that struck me is how clean the delays sound. It really sounds a lot better in general than my old delay pedals.

There are a total of eleven effects in this thing. You can create 23-second long delay, which is cool for loop playing and sound-on-sound recording. You also get seamless switching - the delay you are using continues to ring out, as you switch to a new delay setting. No abrupt cutoff off that way - very nice function.

I'll be back with a more in-depth review and some videos once I've familiarized myself more with the unit. My initial reaction is that this delay pedal is very good.

Guitar players with talent

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Guitar players with talent

I don't have natural talent. No, really. Hear me out. I know I can play guitar quite well, and I know why. It is not because of some natural gift I happened to have. No, it is because I spent a lot of time practicing and learning stuff when I was younger. I am a believer in hard work.

Some background info: I started out as a terrible player, and there was a very competitive atmosphere at my school when I was a teenager. Other guys also played guitar, and they were way better than me. The reason was mostly because they had been playing longer than I had. So, I decided to practice a lot. After a while, I was beginning to catch up, and people noticed. I started getting offers to play in bands. This kept me going, and it has ever since.

I have seen guys with real natural talent. Scary. I've played with such guys; players who could learn very complicated stuff on the fly, and play it brilliantly. It made me feel like throwing away the guitar. As a matter of fact, not that long ago, I kind of quit playing for a few years, mostly because of my University studies and other "life reasons", but part of the reason was that I didn't feel that confident in my playing any more, and subsequently, I kind of lost interest for a while.

However, when I moved to Canada in 1999, I got back into playing, because people encouraged me a lot to play. That gave me back my motivation, and nowadays, through this website and all the positive feedback I get almost daily, I have fun playing guitar.

Now, the whole point with this post is to tell you that I believe you can get almost anywhere you want with hard work. You see, I didn't have this talent as some of my natural talent peers had, but in the end, I arrived at about the same level of musicianship and skill as they did. The reason is I worked hard for it. I spent more time practicing and studying music theory, I listened more to different styles of music, I transcribed more solos and musical ideas than they ever did. At the end of the day, I could play with these cats and not feel inferior.

There is another element of being musician I want to mention too. I am talking about the ability to express musical ideas that are inspiring. The kind of playing that is artistic and creative. There are players with limited technique and limited knowledge of music theory who still can express themselves musically in amazing ways. You might have noticed this in blues music, where sometimes really great players are the ones who lived a hard life and they likely didn't take any music lessons. However, I bet they still spent a lot of time just playing, becoming a master of their instrument in their own way.

To wrap this up, my advice to players who are starting out - focus and work hard! You can become a great player, whether you have "natural talent" or not. It may take you longer than those with more natural ability, but don't let it discourage you. I was in the same boat and I turned out ok. Spend time practicing, spend time transcribing music, spend time playing with others, spend time listening to music.

Remember, hard work will always pay off! This is true for anything, not just regarding playing the guitar. Don't be afraid of doing the work it takes to get you where you want to be. It is very rewarding.

Very nasty weather

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Very nasty weather!

Boy, the weather here in Alberta is far from hot... yesterday morning, the car would not start. I checked the temperature once I got to work. Minus 43 degrees Celsius! With the wind chill, it was minus 50 Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit). I think this the is the coldest day I've ever experienced in my life. I'm not exactly laughing either.

When I did my military training back in Sweden at the age of 18, we were out in the bush when the temperature reached minus 40 Celsius. I remember that clearly, it was so cold and all was quiet. Same thing here yesterday morning, the world just stops when it's this cold. Dead silent (except for me cussing about that car that wouldn't start...).

It was hard to not notice the comments from my friends on thefret.net; these guys who live in the south. They were of course quick to point out how nice and warm it was there. Walking in shorts to pick up the mail, yadda, yadda. Just wait until July, when it gets really warm and balmy down south... Oh well, warmer days will come here too!

I've been working on some new scales videos, some really fundamental lessons about scales and what they are. This chilly weather has kind of frozen my inspiration away and of course, I got a nasty cold on the weekend.

I plan on doing some videos with some theory basics - hopefully well explained - I am working on making my videos better. I am thinking this should be useful to players who never learned these things or beginners who want to learn some basic theoretical concepts.

Waiting for warmer weather and new toys!

Cheap guitars

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Cheap Guitars

These days, there are many good options available for those who are looking for a good but cheap guitar. When I was starting out playing guitar, a decent guitar cost a fair bit. Things have changed. You can REALLY get a fairly decent guitar under 200 dollars!

Many have written to me and thanked me for demonstrating that cheap gear can sound good. I am glad to hear this. You see, my point of view is we should listen with our ears, not with our eyes... so many people look at the brand name and make their judgment before they've even heard the product. Not surprising, that's the kind of society we live in. The brand names you buy (car, clothes, brand of camera, etc) to some degree define how people around you perceive you. Same with guitar gear. I say screw that! Trust your ears. If it sounds good and works good for your needs, it is good. End of story.

So, what cheap guitars are there out there worth buying? Well, by no means have I tried all of them, so feel free to add your comments below on guitars you think are great for the money but still consider cheap. What is cheap to me? Well, I think under $200 is a fairly cheap guitar, so let's keep the talk around that number. First, I'll mention the guitars I have played myself, then I'll list guitars that I have heard are quite decent (but I have not played them myself).

SX guitars

I have several SX guitars, and I think they are fantastic value for the money. I have a Strat, a Jazz bass and an acoustic. The bass is the best of the three I have. They are made in China and I suspect the quality control is not always top notch, but I know several players who have bought several SX electrics and they are very content with them. Definitely worth a look.

Fullerton guitars

I got this $44.95 guitar from music123.com when they had a blowout sale. It's a really good guitar for that money. It's your basic Stratoster-type of guitar, but they also had guitars with humbuckers. I upgraded the nut and set the intonation, and it makes for a great backup guitar or a beginner guitar. I don't know where these can be found anymore. Maybe they are discontinued?

Jay Turser guitars

They have been around for quite some time, and some of the early ones I tried really sucked to be honest. However, more recently I have tried some Jay Tursers that were really nice. Much better attention to detail, and better pickups and hardware.

Squier guitars

Squier seems to have a bad reputation. Many of my youtube videos get comments about how bad a guitar I'm playing. Well, I don't think that needs to be true. I have played old Squiers that were pretty bad, but the ones they are producing nowadays are sometimes surprisingly good. My Standard Tele sounds just fantastic with my pickup upgrades, but even completely stock, it was a more then decent guitar for a couple of hundred bucks. Of course, the '51 was a huge hit for low dollars, so much that it was continued. I bet it was selling more than Fender wanted!

Other cheap guitars

Epiphone
Daisy Rock
Dean
Washburn
Yamaha
Agile (many of them are above $200 but there are some just under)
Douglas
Xaviere (from Guitar Fetish)

Rondo Music

You can get Agile, SX and Douglas from Rondo Music - Click the image below.

Musicians Friend

Most of the other brands mentioned can be bought from Musician's Friend. Click the logo below to go there.

Cool Cat Pedals

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Cool Cat Pedals

Danelectro is coming out with some really interesting pedals. The line of pedals is called Cool Cat Pedals. They are definitely worth a close look.

The website for these pedals is CoolCatTone.com.

Danelectro have 9 new pedals out, and they are indeed interesting. What special about them? Well, for one thing - they are true bypass. This means there is less tone loss when you have a bunch of pedals connected together. True bypass is usually something you find in expensive boutique pedals, but now us cheapies can get true bypass pedals for peanuts!

Yes, they are inexpensive, around 50 bucks, but they come with boutique pedal features.

But wait there's more! They also have metal casing. That is good, because I like the sound of the small pedals they already have, but I never dug the plastic casing. Call me old school, but I want pedals with metal casing.

What else? Well the jacks are also metal! Plastic jacks are pretty useless - they will eventually, you can bet your fanny on it. So, these metal jacks are a great feature.

There are also some interesting type of pedals available. I am big fan of modulation effects, and I'm getting me some. The pedals available are the following 9:

Vibe
Tremolo
Metal
Fuzz
Drive
Transparent Overdrive
Distortion
Metal II
Chorus

Check out a Cool Cat Vibe video demo where I compare it to the Chicken Salad vibrato pedal.

Go and get yerself a few while quantities last. I bet these little buggers are gonna sell like hotcakes.

I already ordered the fuzz, vibe and tremolo pedals! Of course I will post video demos as soon as I get a chance.

Blackheart amps

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Blackheart amps

There are some relatively new amps on the market, called Blackheart Amps, and they are sure getting noticed. They look cool and they are inexpensive. That is good recipe.

The last ingredient is of course about the sound. How good do they sound? Well, I have not tried one myself yet, but I have heard some sound clips and I was not disappointed. However, you know how hard it is to judge an amp based on someone's mp3 files. You have to try an amp yourself, if you want to avoid surprises.

It also sounds very cool that these amps are designed by a Russian amp genius by the name Pyotr Belov, and he builds them in a garage. Information like that are also bound to make people interested!

Will this be the Epiphone Valve Jr killer? I guess we'll find out. The price point is similar. The Blackheart amps look way cooler though. They also have really cool names! How about Handsome Devil, Killer Ant, Little Giant?

The Handsome Devil is available as a head (BH15H, $299.99 street price) and as single 12-inch combo (BH15H-112, $399.99 street price). This is a 15-watt, Class A amplifier design.

The Killer Ant ($139.99 estimated street price) is a 1 watt tube amp, likely to be perfect for recording. It is a Class A, single-ended circuitry amp.

Probaly the most well known of the Blackheart amps is the Little Giant 5W, a single-ended, Class A amp powered by an EL84 and voiced through a 12AX7 preamp tube. The head version sells for around $150.

I am sure we'll see these amps more and more in music stores. They seem to me to be doing the right thing. Low-cost, awesome looks and good tone. Durability? Who knows, I guess time will tell.

I know for sure I wouldn't mind picking one of these up if it sounds really good. I mean they come in a price of a stomp box, for crying out loud! If they indeed sound as good as I hope, then getting one is a no-brainer.

These amps are available from Musician's Friend!

Little Giant

Blackheart BH5H Little Giant 5W 120V Tube Guitar Amp Head Black

The BH5H Little Giant amplifier head has a truly classic boutique design delivered in a robust, stylish package. With a switchable pentode/triode selector and 3-band EQ controls, you get the only amp head in its class to deliver true tonal range from instantaneous punch to deliciously greasy overdrive and with precise control over output volume.

Every feature of the Blackheart Little Giant 5W 120V Tube Guitar Amp Head represents zealous dedication to true quality in tone, looks and ruggedness. Under its sexy exterior you'll find a 16 gauge steel chassis, 1/2" corner radiuses and meticulous tolex work insuring years of reliable performance. Powered by an EL84 and voiced through a 12AX7 preamp tube.

Little Giant Half Stack

Blackheart BH5H and BH112 Half Stack

Blackheart BH112 1X12 Guitar Speaker Cabinet Built around a 12" Blackheart by Eminence speaker in an 11-ply, classically joined, void-free plywood cabinet, the Blackheart BH112 1x12 Guitar Speaker Cabinet makes a perfect pairing for the Blackheart Little Giant 5, or use it to maximize the tone of any amp in your arsenal.

From its incredibly well-crafted construction to its surprisingly clean tolex work, this speaker cab is a great value in a portable, powerful, and boutique quality extension cabinet. The closed back tuned design and Blackheart by Eminence speaker are the fruit of extensive research involving Crate and Eminence and the result is a very tight and responsive cabinet. All of the 112's cabinet joinery is based on classic, proven design for tone and roadworthiness.

The 1x12 Blackheart cabinet only

Blackheart BH112 1x12 Guitar Speaker Cabinet Black

Sicko

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:00:01 GMT

The movie Sicko, by Michael Moore

Watched "Sicko" by Michael Moore the other night, and I was quite stunned by what I saw. I live in Canada, a country where health care is publicly funded and administered by each province. My home country Sweden has a perhaps even broader health care system, where the entire population has an equal access to health care. I am not saying these systems are perfect or without problems, but compared to the health care system the U.S.A seems to have, it's quite the bees knees.

The way Moore demonstrates what he believes is corruption and decay is very persuasive and shocking. Doctors are getting bonuses for denying coverage, people die as a result, the health care companies' profits are soaring. It's saddening to watch, to say the least. What the movie shows is completely immoral and if this information is true, then I think what is happening is on par with war crimes.

Michael Moore often gets accused for propagandizing, and even if that were to be true, there is no denying that there is a problem. In the U.S., is saving money is more important the health of the general population? For us non-US people, this movie reveals disturbing information and it is hard to understand how this all came about (Moore tries to explain this too).

I kept shaking my head when I watched the movie, wondering how it's possible that the health care situation continues to stay this way in "the land of the free". If you haven't seen this movie, you should. It is very well done, and regardless of how you feel about Michael Moore, there's no denying there are people suffering in this system. Perhaps this movie can get an honest discussion started towards improving the health care system in the United States of America.

Video comment feature available

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Comment on my videos

I was working on this website a bit over the holidays. I added the comment feature to my video lessons pages and vide clips pages. I've wanted to do this for quite some time, since I often get questions about certain videos.

Check it out (just go to a video clip or video lesson) and try it if you like. It works just like the comments on this blog. You'll have to put in the anti-spam code, and this feature is needed because otherwise I will get just too much spam. The problem with spam isn't getting any better - only worse.

Other than that, I can report that I am about to get a new Macbook Pro, which I am going to use to use a recording tool. I will also use it to do all my video work - editing and producing the clips. I've decided to wait until after the MacWorld Expo, since I've been told there is a chance there might be new products out at that time. It would be a little annoying to buy a computer and then 2 weeks later, a faster and better machine is available for similar or lower price.

The big job I have for 2008 is to finish the Blues DVD I've been planning. Many have asked me when it's going to be ready. Well, I can't say an exact date, but I am hoiping this spring. It's been slow going because I want it to be really good and I've been busy doing other things, like running a marathon! With the new Macbook Pro, I will have the tools I need to produce better videos.

My free online videos will likely take a back seat for a while. I just don't have time to create a really good Blues DVD as well as work on the free online videos. Producing this kind of material takes a lot of time and effort, and I'm hoping I'll be able to sell a few DVD's to make it all worthwhile.

Finally, I am going to have my quick country lick video lesson featured on Veoh on Friday January 3rd, so go there and take a look on that day! You can give my video a rating and maybe a comment if you like.

Happy New Year to you from me! Let's have a great 2008.

Best fuzz pedal?

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:01 GMT

What's the best fuzz pedal?

There are many good pedals out there, and many of them are sweet fuzzy fuzz pedals. Which is the best one? Well, let's name a few! I'll include links to the manufacturer page, if I find one.

I love the sound of a good fuzz. I am currently using the Das Fuzz GE, and I use it with a distortion pedal or with the Bad Monkey. It gets noisy, but the tone is very sweet. I am also very interested in getting a Fuzz Factory, just because it sounds so crazy! It's like the ultimate fuzz pedal, since it can produce so many different sounds. It can be made to sound more "normal" too.

There's so many more out there, I know! Post your fuzz pedal comments if you think I missed any top notch fuzz pedals!

Allan Holdsworth the genius

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Allan Holdsworth the genius on guitar

I've always been a big fan of Allan Holdsworth. I think it was my old friend Fredrik Thordendal from Meshuggah who got me interested in Holdsworth a long time ago. Since then I've gotten in and out of many different styles of music, but I still love listening to Allan Holdsworth.

Holdsworth has a technique most guitarist would slit their own throat for, yet he's not very happy with his abilities, from what I've read about him. I guess he is very self-critical, like so many artists tend to be.

As a guitarist, I try to pick up ideas for chords and legato lines, but Allan's playing is so advanced, that I rarely have the patience to really sit down and put in the huge effort needed to really learn something from him. He is not very mainstream. You'll never hear him play Chuck Berry licks over a blues. No, Holdsworth goes his own way, he always has. That is something I admire. Someone who is true to himself. No compromising. Granted, he may be losing out on fame and fortune to some degree, but I think a true artists will follow his/her calling and not the dollars.

Getting into Allan Holdsworth can be a bit of a jump for someone not used to very improvised music. I would suggest you give it a chance and listen to Allan's amazing improvisations. His style is hard to define. Some say it is jazz and some say it is rock. I say scrap the labels - it is music with a strong element of improvisation - you call it what you like.

Holdsworth on Youtube

I found some great youtube videos with Allan Holdsworth. Have a listen to a Master at work.

From Tokyo, way back in 1984

Two-handed chording - Tokyo Dream

This is a very beautiful piece. I love this song.

Holdsworth during the Atavachron tour, with a SynthAxe

Metal Fatigue

Another old clip. This song was somewhat of a commercial success, and it's a really cool song with vocals.

My personal favourite albums by Allan Holdsworth are Secrets and Sand. The latter has a lot of amazing guitar synthesizer work. The older Atavachron is also very nice, but anything with Holdsworth will be worth a listen.

It's been a while I've listened actively to him. I guess I should check out some of his more recent work. The last Holdsworth album I bought was Wardenclyffe Tower, which I would not hold as one of his best recordings, but there are still some killer tracks on it.

A story of stuff

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:01 GMT

The story of stuff

Here's a really good video you should watch. It's the story about "stuff", looking at the patterns of production and consumption of this "stuff" we use in our lives. All this stuff affects all of us, regardless of where you live.

The story of stuff - well worth watching!

Wonder what the world is going to be like when I'm a senior?

The resistance against environmental issues we see from many "leading" countries today is just depressing.

Watch this video and let me know how you feel about this.

Thin Lizzy - a great rockband

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Remembering Thin Lizzy

I was cruising youtube for a bit and stumbled on one of my favourite rock bands ever - Thin Lizzy. What a great band they were. Truth is, they were one of the reasons I picked up the guitar at the age of 13.

My friend had all this Thin Lizzy albums and he would play this awesome songs for me when I was over visiting. The pictures of the band were great too - Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson just looked so darn cool with those Les Pauls. I was hooked. It wasn't long after I got a real shoddy Les Paul copy; I think the brand was Stagg.

You can read more about the history of the band at the Thin Lizzy page at Wikipedia. It was sad that band leader Phil Lynott had to go so early. He was a fantastic song writer and he always surrounded himself with fantastic guitar players.

Live and Dangerous is probably my favourite album. These boys sounded terrific live - they could really play, which wasn't always the case with some of the lame rock bands of the 80s.

All their albums are worth a listen though. Jailbreak is a great album, and so is Bad Reputation, Chinatown, Thunder and Lightning, but as I said, all them of them are worth a listen. You must hear Live and Dangerous, if you haven't.

Guitar hero Gary Moore worked with the band now and then, and I'm sure him and Phil Lynott would have created some great stuff if Phil hadn't left us so early.

Here are some great videos I found on youtube. I miss this type of guitar-based rock music. There is really not much music you hear today that has this honest and raw sound. Boy, I do miss the rock bands of the 70s! There were others too, but today I'm saying CHEERS to Thin Lizzy!

The Boys Are Back In Town - Live

One of the most popular songs they wrote. Great song.

Dancing In The Moonlight - Live

A softer song, but oh so nice. What a great song.

Bad Reputation - Live

This is very cool song, with some tricky guitar riffs in terms of timing. Most rock bands played simple guitar riffs, but Thin Lizzy often stepped it up a notch and had very clever guitar lines and riffs, especially the harmonized leads.

Cold Sweat - Live

Here's a real hard rock riff. At this time, John Sykes had joined the band, and I think he gave them a more "Metal" sound. Great guitar player.

There's my little mini-tribute to one of the best rock bands ever - Thin Lizzy!

Crate V Series amps V-18 v-50

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Crate V Series amps V-18 V-50

While I was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, I tried out some good guitar amps at Guitar Center. One of the amps I really liked was the Crate V Series amps. I also loved the Crate Palomino, but I don't think they make that one anymore.

Crate to me has in the past mean "cheap solid state crap". Well, obviously that ain't the case any more. These new amps are still fairly cheap, but boy they have TONE!

I grabbed a Strat and plugged into one of these Crate amps. I was stunned by the big, fat tone. It was astonishing to hear such a good tone from an amp for under $400. It sounded somewhere between a Vox AC-30 and an old Marshall. Amazing.

I ended up sitting there playing for a good while, and customers came up and asked what I was playing through, the tone was really good. If I didn't have enough amps already, I'd be all over one of these.

For me, the amp sounded the best when the gain setting was fairly low, but the amp was turned up quite a bit. I got that big tube tone that I usually associate with much more expensive amps. I am the kind of player who looks for a good clean tone, and then adjust the gain to taste by using pedals. This would work really well with this amp, but you can also get some crunch from the amp itself, should you want to.

In summary, if you are looking for a good sounding tube combo at a really good price, check out the Crate V Series amps. There several models to choose from. I think there are 5, 18, 33, and 50 watt versions available, so you are sure to find something that suits your level of noise-making... :)

Crate V18 1x12 tube amp

Description

Tubes! Just the smell of those glass bottles blazing with fire gets amp aficionados to perk up and lose their cool. Giving our all for the evolution of all-tube tone, Crate's V Series combos and stacks produce the sweet cleans and earthy distortion that can only come from tubes. Roadworthy construction, modern features and genuine value are causing legendary players and novices alike to develop a thermionic love-Jones for the Crate V-Series tube amplifiers.

Features

18W power
Class A tube circuit design
3 - 12AX7A preamp tubes
2 cathode-biased EL84 output tubes
2 special-design vintage British-voiced 12" speakers
Lightweight switching power supply
Gain and Level controls
Treble, Middle, and Bass EQ controls
Spring reverb
Power and Standby switches
27-3/4"W x 21-1/4"H x 10-1/2"D
50 lbs.

Crate V-50 1x12 tube amp

Description

The Crate V50 112 two-channel combo loudly announces Crate's all-tube V Series amplifiers. With dual 6L6 fixed biased output tubes, this amplifier produces the sort of sparkling cleans and warm, thick overdrive that can only come from tubes pushed to their limit. It pumps 50 watts through a single 12" speaker, creating a muscular low end perfect for club gigs and recording sessions. Presence control, spring reverb and foot-switchable boost make sure you can dial in your custom tone from anywhere.

The Crate V50-112 combo is based on a classic American all-tube circuit, delivering brilliant cleans and crunchy overdrive sounds.Tubes! Just the smell of those glass bottles blazing with fire gets amp aficionados to perk up and lose their cool. Giving our all for the evolution of all-tube tone, this Crate V-Series combo produces the sweet cleans and earthy distortion that can only come from tubes. Roadworthy construction, modern features and genuine value are causing legendary players and novices alike to develop a thermionic love-Jones for the Crate V Series amps.

Features

50W power
Class AB tube circuit design
3 - 12AX7A preamp tubes
2 fixed-bias 6L6GC power tubes
Lightweight switching power supply
Single special-design vintage British-voiced 12" speaker
2 footswitchable channels (Clean and Overdrive)
Clean channel Volume control
Overdrive channel Gain and Level controls
Master 3-band EQ
Spring reverb
Boost switch (footswitchable)
Presence switch
Power and Standby switches
24"W x 19"H x 11"D
48-1/2 lbs.

Las Vegas Marathon 2007

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:00:01 GMT

We ran the Zappos.com Las Vegas Marathon 2007

My wife and I went to Las Vegas and we ran the Las Vegas marathon there on December 2nd (I finished in 2:49:11), as well as a 5 kilometer Santa Run. We went with another couple, and one of my running friends showed up the night before the marathon. It was a lot of fun, this being my first time to Las Vegas.

The whole trip got off to a rocky start though. Our plane was scheduled to leave on Thursday night. Technical problems delayed the flight and after a couple of hours of waiting in the plane, they crew had been working to long so they needed to find a new crew. They let us off the air plane and told us to wait until the new crew arrives. Then closer to midnight, the told us the US customs wouldn't be working when we arrived there, so the flight need to be canceled. Great. Oh well, they put us in a hotel and next morning at 6 am, we were there again. This time we got out of there.

When we arrived in Las Vegas, it was raining big time. This is not that common in Vegas, and it was pretty cool weather. The cab drivers thought it was super cold, whereas us Albertans thought it was balmy. We had minus 20 Celsius when we left Edmonton, you know. Some difference.

We stayed at the Excalibur, a somewhat decent, huge hotel in a good location. Mandalay Bay, the Luxor, New York, New York, etc, were really close by. You end up doing a fair bit of walking in Vegas, since all the hotels are so huge. We went and looked at the 5 star hotel The Wynn - very impressive! They have a staff of about 7,500 people, a cab driver told us. They had many cheap stores in the hotel, like the Rolex watch store, where you could snag a watch for only $45,000 or so.... :)

On Saturday, it was time for the Las Vegas Santa Run, an attempt to set a new world record for the largest Santa gathering ever! Crazy, huh? Wel,l this is Las Vegas! It was hilarious to see. We all got Santa outfits when we registered, so at the race, there were 7,269 Santas in a big group in downtown Las Vegas. I ran the 5 kilometer race, wearing the red suit, in under 21 minutes, although I think the course must have been a bit short. The famous Sigfried and Roy were there too to kick off the "Santa party". It was a lot of fun. Although I won't break any world records personally, I was part of setting a world record this day!

Las Vegas Running Trip 2007 Slideshow

But wait, the crazy stuff doesn't end there! There was also an Elvis world record attempt, of course! What else would you expect in Las Vegas?! My wife and her friend made up some really cool Elvis costumes and ran as Canadian Elvises (or Elvi, in plural). It was a complete hoot. My wife used pictures of my guitars and got them printed up in almost real-life size. She then glued the pictures on some kind of foam material and cut around the guitar body shape. Worked great! My Fender Strat and my Squier Tele ended up as Elvis-guitars... :)

The Las Vegas Marathon Expo was really good. I bought a lot of running gear, probably too much. I got a pair of Brooks Trance, a very nice shoe. Shoes are way cheaper in the States than in Canada, so all of us bought a few pairs of shoes.

Running the marathon was great fun, well except for the last 2 miles... :) It was very exciting to run down the strip during the sunrise, and there were fireworks in the air as the starting gun went off. There was a lot of good entertainment along the whole course, and I ran the whole first half of the race with a big smile. After, it started to become more hard work.

I ran most of the race with my friend David Ball, who ran his first ever marathon. This was my 5th one, and I was a bit worried if he had trained enough. He is a great runner thought, and he did really well, finishing in 2:55. He pulled away from me at about 2:15 into the race. My legs were starting lose their spring, so I fell back quite a bit. With 2 miles to go, I passed David, who was cramping. At the end, some guy passed me with with 80 meters left to run. I summoned some extra powers I didn't know existed, and I came back and passed him just before the finish. Oouch, that hurt my groins though... and unfortunately, his chip time was still 1 second faster than mine. Oh well, how could I have known?

Not being much of a gambler, I did try the slot machines a few times, mostly just because that's how you get a drink in a casino. I played the 1 cents slot machines and won a few dollars, but I kept playing of course until the money was gone. As long as you play, they bring you drinks for free.

I intended to check out some music stores too, but the one I had in mind to go to, Ed Roman Guitars, was hard to find. The store had moved somewhere else, so the cab driver took me to a newly opened Guitar Center instead. It was noisy in there. Like 7 kids all playing metal at the same time through real amps.

I grabbed a strat and a Crate V30 Palomino, head and cab configuration. Wow, this amp sounded great! I was quite impressed. It has 2 channels, and even though I didn't quite like the distortion cranked up, it sounds really good with the distortion set low and the amp turned up. It's a class A amp, and the tones I got out of it were really inspiring. In fact, a customer walked up and complimented me on the tone. It was cheap too, and would be a great purchase for someone looking for a reaonably priced class A amp with good tone.

I also plugged into a used 1979 Marshall JMP 50 watt head and old Marshall cab. Dude, that was a great tone. Loud of course, and the juicy Marshall tone I got created a big grin on my face. That head cost more then twice as much used as the new Create head, but the sound is quite different. More ballsy and fatter. Those older JMP Marshalls are fun to play, but they sure are loud and wouldn't work so well as a practice amp for someone like myself.

In all, this was a great trip and I wouldn't mind coming back. There is a lot to see and do in Las Vegas, and I'd like another chance at running a faster time on this great course.

Las Vegas Video Clip from 2006

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Guitar Pro

Here's a nice Christmas song for you to learn! Ugh, a lot of work to make this.. Took forever...

I was going to make a video lesson for this song, but I don't have time for that at the moment. Hopefully you can work with this file and learn from it.

Anyway, download the Guitar Pro file here » Have yourself a merry little Christmas

This song is a good exercise, whatever the season may be. Learn the chord progression so you know it in your head. Tthen play the single string melody. Sing along too! Great way to learn.

Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph - point and shoot!

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph 7.1 Megapixels

The Canon SD1000 Digital Elph is a joy to use, and it takes fantastic photos!

The camera I've been using the last few years, a simple Casio, dropped on the ground one day, and it was busted. It was good timing I think; it was old and slow, and indoor photos never turned out very good.

Canon PowerShot SD1000

Click for larger version

I went online and did some research. I have heard people talk about the Canon Digital Elph series of cameras. Turns out that our local Staples store has the Canon SD1000 Digital Elph in stock. The reviews were very positive, and the price was right ($218 I think). I went and picked one up, and a 2 GB memory card as well.

Features

I am very impressed by this camera. It is very simple to use. It has great automatic features, but you can also use some manual settings for more control. 7.1 Megapixels, good speed, great photos in almost any setting - I am a happy camper.

The camera is thin, light-weight. It fits well in my pocket of my pants. The preview window is big and fast. It's also very accurate. On my old camera, the pictures in the preview window often did not look like what I would see on the computer after downloading the photos, but the SD1000's preview window is very accurate compared to the final result. It has 230,000 pixels of resolution, which is very impressive.

Speed is an issue for me with cameras. The SD1000 is fast. One day I will get a quality, super fast SLR, but I can't afford one yet. Until then, this one can fulfill my needs most of the time. If it was even faster, I would be even happier, but I can't really complain. Compared to other cameras in the price range, it's a quickie.

Another thing I have to mention is the face recognition feature. It's awesome. It detects faces very quickly, and puts its focus here automatically. This is very handy when taking photos of people. A white little square shows up around peoples faces when you just aim the camera at them. How cool.

Battery life is also good. It has a small rechargeable Lithium battery, and when using the LCD, has a CIPA rating of approximately 210 shots on a fully charged battery. You can recharge the battery fairly quickly - an hour and a half and it's fully charged.

Slim, stylish 7.1 Megapixel Digital ELPH with 3x Optical Zoom lens
Chic modern minimalism in the ELPH's classic Box & Circle design in two color variations to suit your personal style
DIGIC III Image Processor with improved Face Detection Technology and Red-eye Correction for sharper images and improved functionality
Vivid, high-resolution 2.5-inch PureColor LCD with scratch-resistant anti-reflection coating for easy on-camera viewing
ISO 1600 and High ISO Auto to reduce image blur and expand low-light shooting capability
Five movie modes including 30 fps VGA, Time Lapse and Fast Frame Rate
Print/Share Button for easy direct printing and downloading, plus ID Photo Print and Movie Print with select PIXMA Photo Printers, CP and SELPHY Compact Photo Printers

I've never been too interested in using video on cameras such as these, since I have a Sony DV camcorder. The test I've done with the SD1000 are pretty good though. Can come in handy I'm sure.

In summary, I love this thing. It is so easy go get good results - it's impossible to not like it. I take it almost everywhere now, since it's small and does a great job under almost any conditions. If you want a point and shoot camera that delivers satisfactory results - check out the Canon Digital Elph series. There are more cameras in this line of cameras than the SD1000, and all of them are worth a close look. I'm keeping this one until someone drops it on the sidewalk again ...

Chick Corea Freedom Band in Edmonton

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Saw the Chick Corea Freedom Band in Edmonton

Chick Corea Freedom Band played last night at the Winspear Centre in Edmonton. It was a very good show. The band was phenomenal, as I had expected. The sound in the Winspear Centre is very good and there are no bad seats in there.

This is an all-acoustic quartet featuring past collaborators Eddie Gomez on bass and drummer/percussionist Airto Moreira with an old friend but new musical associate flautist Hubert Laws.

They started out by playing "100 Miles High" and "Waltz For Debbie" - just an amazing start of the night, and it just continued in this fashion. Chick said he had always wanted to play "Waltz For Debbie" with bass player Eddie Gomez, who played for many years with Bill Evans. Eddie Gomez played so good on the bass - my jaw dropped several times. These guys aren't teenagers anymore, and it's inspiring to learn you can play incredibly well even though you're way past middle age.

Chick went back and forth between piano and electric piano, and even used some synthesizer sounds sometimes. He played mostly piano though. Man, Chick is unbelievable. His timing is so perfect, and it seems nothing is impossible for him to play, musically speaking. A true master.

During the encore, Chick played the electric piano and he could not hear himself in the monitor, so he waved the sound engineer gut onto the stage during the song to try and get it fixex. Chick tried to play the electric piano a couple of times during that song but he just waved his hands at the electric piano, a gesture that seemed to say, "ah, screw that", and went back to piano.

It was very obvious that the band had a lot of fun together, this being their first time ever they all played together. Chick said in the beginning, "Have a good time and do whatever you want. Take photos, sing along, talk on your cellphone. Enjoy yourselves - that's what we are gonna do". And so they did. It was very impressive.

They ended with a very inspirational version "Desafinado". Standing ovations of course. The drummer/percussionist Airto Moreira was also incredibly inspiring to watch and hear.

Guitar tuner online

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Guitar Tuner

See the Guitar Tuner

Are you like me - you end up playing guitar in front of the computer? Well, if so you may find use for this nice little guitar tuner I just discovered.

It is really simple to use and has a nice web interface. It's not Rocket Science or anything, but I thought visitors to my site might like it too. A good one to have bookmarked. There's really not that much else to say about it other than it's a handy dandy online tuner.

Go to the Guitar Tuner online.

Speaking of tuning guitars - I have not yet found my perfect tuner. My Rocktron X-tune does a fine job, but it's a little bit big on my pedal board. I have been told that the Peterson Strobe Tuner is the one to get. I'll see what the future holds for me!

Other good tuners to consider would be the Korg DT-10BR and the Boss TU-2. There are sure to be other good tuners out there. If you know of one you think is great, please add a comment here and let us know about it.

Korg DT-10BR Chromatic Pedal Tuner

The DT-10BR Digital Foot Pedal Tuner features an LED-type meter for rapid response, accurate detection, and fast, hands-free tuning. The 16-segment note display provides excellent visibility even on dark stages, and the rugged body is designed for years of tough use.

Rapid response and accurate operation for smooth tuning
The LED-type meter indicates the difference between the reference pitch and the input signal, and delivers rapid response and accurate operation for stress-free tuning.

Tough body designed for onstage use
The tough, solid-feeling body of the tuner is built to withstand years of onstage use and touring.

Power to the pedal
The included cascade cable allows you to power the DT-10BR tuner and other effects pedals from one 9-volt adapter. Connect the cable to an AC adapter with an output of 9V DC (center pin negative), then connect one plug to the DT-10BR and the others to the pedals. The cascade cable will supply power to all connected guitar pedals without the need for separate adapters.

Excellent visibility even on dark stages
Note names, flat settings, and calibration values are shown by a 16-segment display and high-brightness LED-type meter for excellent visibility even on dark stages.

Support for seven-semitone flatted tunings
The DT-10BR tuner provides a flat tuning mode that supports dropped tunings in a range from one to seven semitones. Low-pitch performance techniques are also supported.

Adjustable calibration setting
Calibration can be adjusted to accommodate different reference pitches, allowing you to precisely match any song or key.

Dual outputs for a variety of applications
The DT-10BR provides two output jacks; a bypass jack that always outputs the input signal, and a separate output jack that can be muted while tuning between songs. This gives you flexibility to meet the needs of a variety of situations.

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Stompbox Tuner

The TU-2 Chromatic Stompbox Tuner can power up to 8 other pedals when it is used with the optional PCS-20A power cord and optional PSA-120 AC power adapter. The Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner lets you shift to bypass mode for silent tuning with a single stomp. An eleven-point LED stream meter makes it easy to see when you're in tune (the movement of the meter slows the closer you get to pitch). Seven different modes provide options for both bass and guitar and a seven-segment display makes string and note names readily visible on dark stages. Footswitchable Tuner Off mode preserves battery.

Big Bends Nut Sauce - no more tuning problems

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Big Bends Nut Sauce Review

Improve the tuning stability of your guitar

As a lover of the Stratocaster guitar, I love the whammy bar too. I use it for vibrato effects or to make cool effects on chords and single note playing. I also like vintage style tremolos - I have never been a fan of Floyd Rose systems. So, a vintage style tremolo can be a little tricky have stay in tune, especially if you have it set to float, which I do.

One trick that works well for improving tuning stability is to use pencil lead in the nut grooves. I've done this for a long time, and I hear Eric Johnson has the same habit.

Nut Sauce? What the heck is that?

The Nut Sauce (gotta love that name!), by Big Bends, is a lubricant that stops problems with string breakage and tuning problems. It's easy to apply accurately andthe Groove-Luber applicator avoids creating a mess. The size of each tube is 1.5cc.

It works really well! My Strat stays in tune way better now. My main problem was the nut and string trees. With some Nut Sauce applied, I have more confidence in grabbing the whammy bar during a gig, without being scared of having to finish a song being way out of tune (I hate when that happens!).

You can use it in several ways - put it in the groove of the nut, on your saddles, and it works equally well on both electric and acoustic instruments. Lubricating the contact points for each string will help get rid of the pinging sound you have heard when you tune the guitar. Put some on your string trees as well. Just put it all on contact points!

It's also likely that your strings will not break as easily, since this stuff lubricates and allows for movement - hence less risk of sudden string breakage.

Summary

This is a great product. Not exactly rocket science, but it works well and what more can you ask for. I recommend you try it if you have problems with your guitar staying in tune, or if seem to break a lot of strings. One tube will last for a long time, since you don't need to apply much of it at a time.

See the Big Bends Website for more information.

Get some Nut Sauce from Musicians Friend

Big Bends Nut Sauce Tuning Lubricant

Smoking ban in Alberta!

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Hey musicians - smoking ban in Alberta!

This is great news for musicians - no more toxic gigs from Jan 1, 2008. I have no anger or hatred against people who smoke; it's their own choice. However, I do mind going to play a gig at a bar where the smoke is thick like London fog. Why should I have to risk my health? The only choice I have is to either play the gig or not. I often find myself hoping it will be a warm night so they will open more windows. More fresh air for me.

As musicians playing in bars, we have had to put with the smoke and the health hazards that come with the job. Soon we won't have to, and I am very proud to be an Albertan today. This has been long overdue, though.

So what's the real problem - I am just whining fool? There are numerous studies that show the health risks related with second-hand smoke. I just read this article which shows that non-smokers can absorb a major cancer-causing carcinogens immediately.

In Canada, the Government reports "More than 45,000 people in Canada will die this year from all tobacco-related diseases and many of these deaths will be caused by lung cancer. Although other factors can cause lung cancer, smoking is responsible for 85% of all new cases." and they also mention that "Tobacco smoke contains at least 50 known cancer-causing agents.". Second-hand smoke is no joke. From the same source - "This year in Canada, more than 300 non-smokers and an estimated 13,000 smokers will die from lung cancer caused by tobacco smoke." [Lung Cancer (November 16, 2007)]

If you live in a place where there's no smokin ban in sight and you are worried about the dangers of second hand smoke - stand up and fight! Raise your voice, talk to others, sign a petition, do what you can. If enough people speak up loud enough, things can happen.

Finally, here is some more tobacco information from the World Lung Foundation - "Tobacco kills 4.9 million people every year, and the number of people smoking in the developing world tripled from 1970 to 2000." Now that's seems like we could do a lot better than this.

Have you played at these foggy bars and clubs, where your clothes and hair stink so much that you need to shower before going to bed? Where your significant other goes "phew". Where your guitar gear smells like smoke and ash for what seems like a very long time? What's your thoughts on this whole topic?

I'll stop ranting now. :)

If you are a smoking trying to quit, see the quit smoking tips on this website.

Read more about the Alberta Smoking Ban:

Alberta Health & Wellness - Tobacco Reduction Legislation

New 18 watt EL84 amp - tube bliss!

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:01 GMT

New tube amp - 18 watts of goodness!

So, I finally got my Heatseeker HS-18 hand-wired tube amp from Mack Amps. It actually arrived November 5th, so I have had time to play it quite a bit. Honey moon is almost over... what can I say - it is sweet and sounds great! It has a rich, touch dynamic tone. Roll off the volume knob a bit and the tone cleans up beautifully. Crank it up and you get a loud and Marshally grind, but not JCM800-like. No, it's more old school, like the old Plexi Marshalls.

It looks a little different, I would say, but I like it. You can see them purdy little EL84 tubes light in thar when you're playing. Nice touch with that design!

This amp makes me smile. I took it to the jam last week and it sounded great. People were saying I had a Clapton tone. Could be. I used my Maxon SD-9 for the jam, and I guess it was a bit loud... what can you expect when a guy like myself gets a new amph!

You might think this is a quiet little amp, but in fact, it's quite loud. Don't let the 18 watt label fool ya - you can cause some damage with this little beast, especially if you boost up the signal a bit with some pedal.

The amp is light, and together with my Avatar cabinet, it sounds pretty huge. It has a definitive Marshall flavor to it, but there's also a lot of Vox chime in there, IMO.

I'm going to the jam again on this Wednesday, and I'll try my Telecaster a bit then, I think. I used my Fender Strat last week, but I am noticing that all my guitars sound great with this amp.

Video clip

I made a quick video demo the first day I got it. Here it is, with my Fender Deluxe Players Strat. No pedals used at all.

Sweet tones? I think so! Let me know what you think. I know for sure this amp is a keeper for me. I will still keep my Hellhound, which is also great sounding but a little different in tone flavour.

Eminence Wizards in my Avatar Cab

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Eminence Wizards in my Avatar Cab

The Avatar cabinet I bought used had Celestion Seventy-80 speakers in it. Sounded okay I guess, but I have found the bass response not quite as I like it. I have heard a lot of good comments about the Red Coat Eminence speakers. The Eminence Wizard seemed just like what I need. Needless to say - I now have a pair of Wizards, they are 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel to 8 ohms.

I have read the Wizard is a efficient speaker with a British flavour. It should fit my style of music that I play.

Last night, I took my Avatar cab apart. I unscrewed the back (lots of screws used) and the Celestions were sitting there waiting to be tossed out for something new and red.

I needed to take off the front grill cloth in order to unscrew the screws that holds the speakers. For a moment I was thinking "how the heck do I get the grill cloth off"? Trying to bend it off was to no avail. So after that Blonde Moment, I realized the grill cloth was fastened by screws from the inside of the cab 6 of them, in fact.

I took off the grill cloth, heated up my soldering iron, removed the Celestions and put the Wizards in. I had to print out a schematic of how to connect these 16 ohm speakers in parallel in order for it to be 8 ohms. I need them to be 8 ohms, since my 18 watt head will soon be here, and it is designed for an 8 ohm load. I am not a very talented modding guy - I just read instructions and try not to screw up things. I think I got it right this time though... :)

After finishing the soldering job, I screwed everything back together and it was ready to be tested. I wanted to play this thing loud of course (!), but by now it was 10:30 and everyone in the house were going to bed.

I did hook it up to my Reverend Hellhound for just a few minutes anyway, at very low volume. Even so, I immediately noticed a very clear and articulate tone. I have the feeling these speakers may also be louder.

In the end, the installation went really well, and I can't wait to crank up the volume and give these Eminence Wizard speakers a chance to show me what they can do!

Ultimate Guitar Chord

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Ultimate Guitar Chord

Is there such a thing? Sure there is! I have a few favorite guitar chords, and some of them I tend to use quite a lot. Why? Well, just because I think they sound darn cool.

They are ultimately cool! I'll mention two of my ultimate guitar chords here. These are chords I find very useful and fun to use in my own playing.

Am9(maj7)

The first chord is a minor chord with a twist. What is different about it is that it has a minor 3rd but also a major 7. This makes it sound quite a bit more "exotic". I often use the minor chord with a major 7 in it. These types of chords sound really nice and different when there's supposed to be a normal minor chord. This example also have the 9 added, which add to the beauty. Try playing this Am9(maj7) chord while the A string is ringing open.

Am9(maj7) e |---7----| B |---9----| G |---9----| D |---10---| A |--------| E |--------|

It sounds sweet. I think I first remember hearing this chord in some old film noir movie. It makes for a great ending chord. If the song you are playing ends with a minor chord, try throwing in this one instead.

E7#9

If I had to pick my ultimate guitar chord, the it would be the E7#9. Some people refer to this as the "Hendrix chord" and some think of it as a jazz chord. I just love the sound of it. I often "shake" the strings while I'm playing this chord, basically like applying a vibrato to all 4 strings that I'm using. E7#9 e |--------| B |---8----| G |---7----| D |---6----| A |---7----| E |--------|

The E7#9 is my ultimate guitar chord, and I'm guessing I'm not alone in thinking so. I hear many players use this chord over and over, and I think it's because it has such a cool vibe to it.

Part of why it sounds so "ultimate", is that is uses the major 3rd, as well as the #9. The minor 3rd and the #9 is the same note - the only difference is that the latter is one octave higher. This almost creates a clash between these two notes, but not quite. Since there's an octave between them, it just works beautifully. With the b7 in there as well, it just stands out really well.

Remember, you can play these chords in any key you want. I just used A and E as examples. It doesn't matter what key you use them in - they will still sound just as awesome.

So there you have it, my favourite and ultimate guitar chord! I have many more variations on both of these that I could write more about. Let me know if you want me to show you more interesting chords like these. There are many, many chords and chord inversions I could go on about...

Contact form problems

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Contact form problems

Hi everyone, I just realized my contact form has not been working for a while now. I fixed it, so you can use it with confidence now.

However, if you used the contact form recently for sending me a message, and I didn't get back to you, please do it again. I reply to all messages, and my apologies to you if you used it and it seemed like I was ignoring you.

I made some changes to my site a little while ago, and I forgot to test the contact form at that time, so that is probably why it stopped working.

60th Anniversary Fender Stratocaster Neck

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:00:01 GMT

I bought a 60th Anniversary Fender Stratocaster Neck

This was intended for modding my SX Stratocaster copy (SST 62). However, it didn't fit on the SX so I put it on my Deluxe Players Fender Strat - and I'm very happy with the results!

I do like the stock Deluxe Players neck, in fact it is gorgeous and it looks like a bit more solid quality than this 60th Anniversary neck. However, the difference is the radius. This new neck is 9.5 inches, while the Deluxe Players is 12 inch which is a little fatter and chunkier for the hand. I have kind of weak hands, so I want to play a 9.5 inch radius neck for a while to see what I like best.

Here's what it looks like on my blue Deluxe Players Strat:

The 60th Anniversary neck is maple, and so is the fretboard. The 60th Anniversary Strat was made in Mexico during 2006, and I have actually played one of these guitars recently. It's very nice for a MIM strat. It's very easy to play and bend the strings. The wood on mine is unfinished, so I am contemplating adding a few coatings of Tru-oil, which works great for treating guitar necks.

My neck is almost new. It was played very sparsely by a friend of mine. He didn't need it, so I figured I'll help both him and myself by buying it off him. The frets are medium jumbo but they don't seem to quite as nice as the frets on my Deluxe Players. Still, they are fine enough for me.

The nut has been upgraded with a Tusq nut, which is great. These nuts I really like. They help with getting a good tone. They are hard, like real ivory, but they are made of what they call "Man Made Ivory", whatever that means. I guess we can call it fake, but that doesn't mean they are not good.

My SX copy already has a Fender Custom Shop '54 pickups in it, so with this neck it's almost a Fender! Maybe I'll call it "Robert Renman Custom Shop" - heh...

Marshall Vintage Modern Head

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Marshall Vintage Modern 2266 Head

Now, this is a cool new Marshall amp! This new Marshall amp is getting rave reviews.

The Marshall Vintage Modern 2266 is a 50-watt single channel tube guitar amp with lots of old school vibe. It has a 3-band EQ, a Presence and master volume, and there is also a two dynamic range input which can be switched by using either a footswitch or a push button. There is also a Mid Boost, a Digital Reverb, an effects loop, and two new controls, labeled "Body" and "Detail".

There are only 8 knobs and 2 push-switches on the front plate of the amp. One great feature of the amp is the effects loop, which is even switchable between rack gear and guitar pedal input levels - very nice feature.

This time Marshall decided to go with two KT-66 power tubes and four 12AX7 preamp tubes. The KT66 tubes are probably not as common as EL34's in Marshall amps. They are less agressive sounding, but the they deliver a smooth but ballsy tone as you turn up the amp.

The Dynamic range is another really great feature. When the Dynamic range is engaged, an extra preamp tube kicks in, which gives up to 30dB more of gain. Without the Dynamic range enganged, the tone is towards JTM45 and Fender Bassman sounds. With it engaged, you get a higher gain and more distorted sound, which brings the mind back to the big stacks of the 70s.

I think it's great Marshall has the guts to build an "old fashioned" tube amp. With this I mean the amp is kinda old school. It doesn't have a million features and lots of knobs. No, instead it's a one channel amp with a really useful Dynamic range feature. This effectively makes the amp work like a 2 channel. Well maybe not quite - it's more like a 1.5 channel amp, since all it does is to engage an extra preamp tube. A bit of a surprise - they threw in a digital reverb in the amp. I guess that's the "modern" part. I am not sure I like this part that much.

This is an amp you should play loud. At low volumes, it's hard to get that big, fat Marshall tone that you know is in there. But crank it up a bit, and boy, things start happening! If you dig the old school vintage Marshall tone, take a serious look at this amp. It's a great amp for getting the old school plexi tone of the 70s.

Dimensions: 29-1/2" x 12" x 9" (750 x 310 x 230 mm)
Weight: 39.6 lbs (18 kg)
50-Watt valve head
Valve compliment: 4 x ECC83 (12AX7s) in preamp, 2 x KT66 in power amp
Master Volume with two Gain Controls Detail (highs) & Body (lows)
Two footswitchable Dynamic Ranges Low & High
Mid Boost switch
Footswitchable Proprietary digital Plate Reverb
Series FX loop with level switch and bypass
Made in England

You can get one from Musicians Friend

Marshall Vintage Modern 2266 Tube Amp Head

Wedding guitar gig

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Wedding guitar gig

I got a call the day before yesterday from a girl who had desperately been looking for someone who could play guitar for her wedding. So I asked, when is the wedding? Tomorrow, she said. Wow, that is cutting time short, I thought. Thinking it over a bit, I figured I could possibly swing it, if I can learn some appropriate songs the night before.

Since I often perform with my friend Myra, I asked if she would want some nice vocals to go with the guitar, but she said she only wanted guitar music. I agreed to do it, knowing I would be putting some pressure on myself, as I had a cross-country running event the whole morning before the wedding.

I decided to use my JamMan to record basic loops, using my SX acoustic guitar for finger picking and flat picking the chords for each song. I scanned the Internet for some ideas for wedding music, and I came up with:

From This Moment (Shania Twain)
Everything I Do, I Do It For You (Bryan Adams)
Stand By Me (Ben E. King)
Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)
The River Knows Your Name (John Hiatt)
Remember When (Alan Jackson)
Look At Us (Vince Gill)

It took a few minutes to learn all the songs (I know 3 of them already) and then I went to recording them directly onto my JamMan. I made it simple as possible, since I did not have much time available. Therefore, I skipped bridges and other things - just sticking to verses + chorus. With a looper pedal, tt is sometimes hard to get the looping feature to end exactly where you intend to. I had to quite a few attempts for each song before I got it right.

So far so good. The plan will be to run the JamMan through my Vox AD50VT on a clean setting. I just need to play the melody on top of the loop, using either the acoustic or one of my electric guitars. I decided it would be with my Telecaster, since the gig is outside and the acoustic goes out of tune easier than the electric.

I packed up all my stuff, and headed off to the wedding. I knew it was in a park close by, and I saw a wedding party on the grass when I got to the park. I went over and talked to them, and they were just wondering who I was. "What guitar music? You must be at the wrong wedding!" Oh, darn it.

Jumping back into the van, I wondered what to do now. The park isn't that big, can't be too hard to find. After driving around a bit, I saw some signs. It didn't take long to find, but I was a little bit behind schedule by now. You don't want to arrive late at a wedding!

Turns out there was no big panic time-wise. However, there was no power anywhere. This was a park, after all. So, I could forget all about the JamMan and using any electric stuff. Oh, man!

I had no other choice but the bring out the acoustic guitar and try my best at playing songs "naked" - with no accompanying loops, etc. I am really terrible at playing chords and melody at the same time - have never really learned any of that. Would have come in handy today!

It was cold too. Freezing cold, and I had only a thin shirt. I played the songs mentioned, plus random ideas that came to my head. I tried to hint at the melody here and there best I could.

The biggest problem was the delay of the arrival of the bride. It took way longer than advertised, which meant I had to keep playing and playing for the crowd sitting there waiting. My acoustic has high action and pretty thick strings. I don't play it very much either, so needless to say, my fingertips were burning after a while. I tried to play stuff with as many open chords as possible; any chord that would make it easier on my fingers.

In the end, it all turned out good. I was cold and fingers were going numb, but the couple seemed happy with the music, and thanked me and said it was very nice and appropriate music.

This was a tough gig for me. I usually have Myra there to save my behind, and it was too bad all that preparation with the JamMan was of no use. However, I would do this again, but I would make sure I have access to power so I can use pre-recorded loops as mentioned. I think that would work really well, and I could make it sound like a "mini-band", with percussion, bass lines, chords, etc.

Now I have already learned some new songs that would fit a wedding, so if the opportunity comes again, I'll be ready for it.

Need wedding guitar music?

If you want me to come play at your wedding, I have put up a wedding guitar music page, where you can read more about what I can help you with.

New iPod

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:00:01 GMT

New iPod from Apple

Apple is now cutting the price on its iPhone, they introduce a new iPod which looks similar to the iPhone and there's a new iTunes version coming out.

I'm not an iPod lover, but I think I'm in a minority here. I use a Creative player, and think they work just great. Mostly, it's the iTunes software that bugs me with the AAC audio codec and the way that software works.

The new version of iTunes will download directly to the player instead of the computer. My wife and kids use iTunes so I'll take a closer look at it soon.

The new iPod called "Touch" looks similar to the iPhone and apparently the 8 GB model will sell for $299 and the 16 GB model will go for $399.

It has a nice slick 3.5 inch touch screen with much of the same touch screen features found on the iPhone.

I will soon need a new mp3 player - maybe I'll look into the 16 GB model. It could be just what I need!

The new iPod is more of a hand-held computer really, because it has a Wi-Fi antenna which makes it possible to connect to the Internet. You'll be able to download music directly to the player wirelessly. Pretty cool.

What does Microsoft do at the same time? Cut the price on their Zune of course! The price for the 30 GB Zune is now $199.

Apple is having some tough competition from Microsoft and others, and I guess we will see if Apple can stay ahead of the game. They've done pretty good so far... :)

Youtube feedback & Spam

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Youtube feedback & comments

Most of you probably know that I post videos on youtube as well as here on my site. I do that as a way of "spreading the word" about my website. After all, youtube is the number 1 video site as of current.

It has been interesting to view the comments on my videos over the last year or so. I get all sorts of comments, and I do my best to try and read them all, unfortunately that means the spam as well.

Most people commenting are really nice. They compliment my on my playing, my sound or the way I teach a certain topic or song.

Many want me to play complete songs, and I often get requests like "please send me the tab for [..]". I don't have much tab of anything I ever do, since I have a good ear and learn everything that way. I encourage everyone to work on this. It's so much more useful and better than reading tab.

Sometimes, I get people arguing with each other in the comments of a video of mine. I find it quite amusing, and I usually don't remove those comments. After all, if I can be the source for a heated discussion between people who are interested in what I do, I'm all for it as long as the discussion is somewhat civilized.

It's also interesting to watch what happens when someone attacks me. They might say "you suck, you loser", or "learn to play before you try to teach", etc. Usually, I get some people defending me, and they defend me really good. That's so nice of people to take the time to defend me! I don't get discouraged by negative comments. Everyone is different, and I know not 100% of all youtube viewers will love everything I do. That's okay.

Spam is getting worse on youtube though. It's really annoying for me. There is a somewhat new feature available now where a person can give thumbs down to a bad comment, or mark it as spam. Still, the comment hangs around and that really sucks to have to go and remove these stupid comments about nudity sites and whatnot. I wish youtube could come up with a better solution. There is an option as a publisher to set comments to be moderated, but it still requires me to sort through the junk and approve the real comments and delete the bad ones. Youtube - come up with a better solution, please!

This brings me this question to you: do you think I should continue posting videos on youtube? I don't really need to - in fact I don't post all of my videos there because I want people to hang out on my site instead of over there.

The other question I have: should I add a comment feature to my videos and video lessons here on my site? I have a feeling I should, so viewers can comment or ask a question related to the video right as they are watching it.

What say ye?

Music Centre Canada Camrose gig

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Gig at Music Centre Canada in Camrose

My friend Kris recently opened up a music store here in Camrose. It's a franchise business called Music Centre Canada. They have some really good products and it's great to finally have a decent music store in this town.

Here is the contact infor for Music Centre Canada Camrose: 4863 51 Street Camrose, AB T4V 1S2 (780) 672-9901 Location on Google maps

Today was the Grand Opening, and country star George Canyon was there to sign autographs and whatnot. Before Canyon's scheduled appearance, my friend Myra and I (Fundamental Things) performed for about an hour.

Since the store is shock full of guitars and amps already, I figured it would be a good idea to use the store's equipment. I picked out a Hagstrom Viking Deluxe NAT, a really nice hollow-body guitar. I used a Roland Cube-60 for amp. Myra used a nice Ovation and a good sounding Crate acoustic guitar amp.

It's been a while since I've played a hollow-body axe, and I really liked this one. It's got 2 x Hagstrom HJ-50 Humbuckers, and the body is made of contoured laminate flamed maple. The set neck comes from North American hard maple. It sounded great with the Cube 60! For jazzy tones, as well as dirty blues, it worked really well. We do some twangy country songs sometimes, and for this it didn't work quite so well, as to be expected - it's not that kind of twangy sounding guitar.

Hagstrom Viking at Musicians Friend

Hagstrom Viking Deluxe Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Cherry Sunburst

The Roland Cube-60 is definitely a good amp. Since I already have a good modeling amp, the Vox AD50VT, I don't need another one. However, if you are looking for a good modeling amp, look at both the Roland and the Vox - they are both very, very good sounding amps. I noticed my pedals did not work as well with the Roland as they do with my Vox, but the Roland's OD/Distortion sounds were very nice, so pedals are not needed really.

The gig went well, and we had a lot of fun. We picked up a new song in our repertoire, the beautiful " People Get Ready", and Myra more than does it justice, with her beautiful voice.

I am going to look closer at the Hagstrom guitars. They are very nice quality, and I recommend you check them out if you haven't. They make some Les Paul-looking guitars that I got interested in. I played some of them briefly, and I noticed the quality immediately. Good resonance, nice neck and excellent playability.

Learning scales and modes

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Learning Scales and Modes

I have noticed that a lot of guitar players have sketchy knowledge of the 7 musical modes. Sometimes you hear people say the " modes of the major scale". We are talking about the same thing - the seven musical modes.

The 7 modal scales have funky names. They are called Ionian mode, Dorian mode, Phrygian mode, Lydian mode, Mixolydian mode, Aeolian mode and Locrian mode. They got their names from the good ol' Greeks.

Does it sound complicated to learn all this?

Hey, it is actually pretty easy! The fact is, all the 7 modes can be seen as using exactly the same notes. For example, let's look at the C Major scale. Starting from the root note going up to the octave, we have the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. This is the first mode, and it's called the Ionian mode. We can play all the modes by using the exact same notes:

C Ionian mode - C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
D Dorian mode - D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D (look at how we start on the 2nd note in the C major scale and play eight notes!)
E Phrygian mode consists of E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E (look at how we start on the 3rd note in the C major scale and play eight notes!)
F Lydian mode consists of F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F (look at how we start on the... well you get the idea?)
G Mixolydian mode consists of G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G
A Aeolian mode consists of A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A
B Locrian mode consists of B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B

When we look at the modes this way, it's not so complicated, is it? We see that all of the modes consist of exactly the same notes - in this case the notes of the C Major scale. The difference between these modes is where the tonal center is. Look at the D Dorian mode. You can view it as the C Major scale where the tonal center has been shifted to the D note, instead of the C note. Because of this shift, we now have a minor scale mode called the D Dorian mode. However, the notes are identical to the notes of the C Major scale.

This is a really cool thing! If you know the major scale shape all over the neck, you can play all the 7 modes of the scale by just moving this "scale shape".

For example, if you play C major over an F Major chord, you have F Lydian. Here are the different modes and how the C major scale relates:

C major scale over C - C Ionian
C major scale over D - D Dorian
C major scale over E - E Phrygian
C major scale over F - F Lydian
C major scale over G - G Mixolydian
C major scale over A - A Aeolian
C major scale over B - B Locrian

In order to hear how these modes fit in over chords, try playing the modes over these chords:

Cmaj7 - C Ionian
Dm7 - D Dorian
Em7 - E Phrygian
Fmaj7♯11 - F Lydian
G7 - G Mixolydian
Am7 - A Aeolian
Bm7♭5 - B Locrian

Notice how you can play C Major over all of these chords? Awesome! I know some people who prefer to look at it as playing the major scale over a certain chord, but others may want to view it as a different mode. It doesn't really matter how you view it, as long as you know how it all fits together.

I hope this makes sense to you. Feel free to ask or comment if I was unclear!

Vanderbilt 33 - Top Hat Amps Test

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Top Hat Amp Test

I went to Avenue Guitars in Edmonton briefly yesterday, and tried three nice sounding Top Hat amps. Their store is filled to the brim with really cool guitar gear. Like a candy store for me! I grabbed a Fender Am Strat and plugged into these:

Club Royale - 16 Watt Class-A 1x12 Vox Blue with EL84's
Club Deluxe - 20 Watt Class-A 1x12 Combo with 6V6's
Vandrbilt 33 - 33 Watt 2-Channel Head,26LG,GZ34

The 16 watt Club Royale sounded British. It had a nice and fat tone and turning up the amp a bit gave me grit. The amp was on the quieter side for me, but as a recording amp I think it would be awesome.

The Club Deluxe had more punch, and the 6V6's made the amp a little more American sounding, but still with a British grit to it when you turn up the amp. I really liked this one. It had a deep cab design, and the bass response was nice and tight. This would be a great club gig amp.

My favourite of all them was the Vandrbilt 33. Great tone, and very versatile. It easily went from big, clean tones to gritty British punchy grind. It cleaned up the grit good if you rolled back the volume knob a bit. This amp has a lot of headroom and would be a great fit for any gig for a blues player like myself. It was great fun to play with all these amps, but the Vandrbilt 33 gets the nod from me.

Read more about these nice amps at the Top Hat Amps Website.

Next time I go there, I hope to try a Divided by Thirteen amp. They had one there, but I didn't have enough time to test it. I've heard lots of raving about these amps. They'd better be true, since cost a small fortune.

C.R.E mosquito gig!

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:00:01 GMT

C.R.E mosquito gig!

Our band played at the Camrose Regional Exhibition grounds last weekend. This was my "first time out" with my somewhat new blue Fender Deluxe Players Strat and as usual I used my Reverend Hellhound tube amp.

I was surprised at how good the Fender strat sounded. I had just gotten my Telecaster back from the guitar shop, and I played it as well on some songs. The difference in good tone between the guitars surprised me a bit. The Tele did have old strings, so that would have something to do with it, but it has great pickups. For this gig, I stuck with the Fender most of the time since it gave me a much richer and meatier tone.

Another thing I did during this gig was to use my Das Fuzz a bit more than usual. I kicked it on for "Sweet Home Chicago", and it worked great with the strat. I got some saggy, rich fuzz that wasn't over the top, but just right for some dirty blues.

The worst part of the night was the mosquitoes. They were terrible, to say the least. I was waving them away as I tried to play, and I sprayed myself with repellent twice. The mean mosquitoes just laughed at that, and came at us with a vengeance.

Apart from the mean insects, the gig was fun and we ended sooner than planned since even the organizers of the event thought the little buggers were biting harder than we could handle.

Next thing I am doing is trying a new opamp chip in my Zonkin' Yellow Screamer (a BYOC tube screamer on steroids). My friend Duhvoodooman sent me a new opamp that I'm gonna put in the pedal and see how I like it. This pedal is great for bluesy overdrive sounds.

Wiring of Telecaster

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Wiring of Telecaster done

I finally got my Squier Telecaster back from the guitar repair shop. I had handed it in because I couldn't get rid of a nasty humming problem myself.

The guitar has DiMarzio Virtual T pickups, and these are great sounding noiseless pickups. Well, for me they used to be noiseless... lately my guitar had developed a crazy hum and I tried to fix it myself by re-soldering everything, to no avail.

The guy at AXE music in Edmonton however, made my day. He rewired everything from scratch, and I took it directly to a gig here in Camrose last Friday night.

The Telecaster was back in its old form, no noise or hum and just good tone. This was the first time I've played my Fender Deluxe Players Strat at a live gig. I alternated between the Fender and the Squier Tele. I was surprised at how much better the Fender sounded through my Hellhound tube amp. I've always loved the Virtual T pickups, but the Fender clearly had a better tone tonight.

This could partly be because of old strings on the Tele, but I have to admit the Fender is a better guitar overall. It should be of course, since it's twice the money.

In the end, I am happy with both guitars, and I am glad I got my Tele fixed, even though it cost me an hour of shop time. I'd gladly pay that anytime to get something taken care of that I have trouble with myself.

Next project will be to install a Squier '51 neck on my SX Strat copy!

Back from the K-100 Relay 2007

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Running the K-100 Relay in 2007

The K-100 relay is a fabulous mountainous running relay in Kananaskis country in the Rocky Mountains. I have run this relay 2 times before, and this year I had trained better and was excited to be the team captain of a very strong running team.

We had a fabulous time in Kananaskis country. The weather was sunny and warm, but not crazy warm - just right. We arrived in Longview on Friday afternoon and hooked up our tents in the campground. After a good night's sleep, the race started at 6am with the slower teams. My wife's team, the Blue Paper Clip, started at 6am, while our team, 2run.ca started at 7am.

I ran leg 5, an extremely hilly run of 17.6 kilometres. The elevation gain on this leg is a whopping 450 meters. Take a look at the profile of this leg. I ran this one 2 years ago, and totally bonked after 13 km or so, and I struggled to the finish at turtle speed with the total time of 1:20 something. This time, I had trained better and I didn't really have any trouble. There was an annoying head wind that slowed me down early on, but after 10 km or so, that wind changed direction a bit. I would have run faster if it wasn't for th wind, but I am stil happy. I placed 5th on the leg, with the time of 1:17:07.

Some trees had fallen over the trail on leg 10, so it was shortened to around 13 km instead of the usual 18 km. David ran strong on that one and placed 3rd overall on the leg.

After the race, there is a huge barbeque with good hamburgers, salads, etc. You can imagine there are quite a few hungry runners dining then!

We camped in Peter Lougheed Park after the race on Saturday, and on Sunday we went on a challening hike, trying to climb Mt. Indefatiguable. On the way up, we took a wrong turn and ended up climbing it the "wrong" way. It was scary! I am afraid of heights, and both my wife and I decided we'd better head down. That was easier said than done, since there were lots of loose rocks and it was very steep. We did survive in the end, it was still a lot of fun and a memorable experience.

This year's race was a success, a great experience and a lot of fun. This was my first time being a team captain, and I think I did okay. I should however had some cool signs on our vehicle and maybe some t-shirts made up or something. That would be both fun and practical, since it would be easier to spot people in the crowd.

Telecaster Hum & Noise

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Telecaster Hum & Noise - ground problem?

I have been tearing my hair out over this one. At a recent gig, my Squier Telecaster in which I have Virtual Vintage Noiseless pickups, suddenly started to hum or buzz terribly. It sounds like a ground hum problem, and I figured it must have been the input jack that went haywire.

Well, after a replaced input jack, replaced 3-way switch, blood, sweat and tears plus a few hours of wasted time, I haven't gotten anywhere.

I kind of gave up. I was fed up with it, so I had my wife drop it off at a guitar repair place in Edmonton. It's currently there waiting to be fixed by next week. I talked to the tech, and he said it would just re-wire everything and it should be fine.

I am not a professional guitar tech, but I have learned quite a few things over the years, and installing pickups and soldering has never been any problems for me. This one though, had me stumped. I check everything, or so I think. I must have missed something, obviously.

It is so frustrating to have malfunctioning gear! The Squier Tele is a cheap guitar, but with these Virtual T pickups, it is very sweet sounding and it also plays perfectly. It is my #2 guitar, after my Fender Strat.

Here's to a sigh of relief when I get it back from the repair guy! He'd better fix it good!

Hand built 18 watt amp

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Ordered a hand-built 18 watt amp!

I have been looking at getting a good head, and I found a website a while ago about hand-built boutique amps that are somewhat affordable.

The website is www.mackamps.com and the amp is called the Heatseeker. The amp is based on the Marshall 1974x, with some twists.

I always wanted a Marshall type of amp, and this looks like it will be perfect. I ordered mine with an effects loop as well, since I want to be able to use reverb and other effects that way.

The main reason I ordered this one was the fact it is hand-built, it is produced by a small company in Canada, and it has a very reasonable price for a hand built amp. It is scheduled to arrive in my eagerly waiting hands in August.

I have been thinking I would get a Dr Z Maz 18 Jr non-reverb, but the waiting time for one here in Canada would be 5 - 7 months. I don't want to wait that long. Plus, the Dr Z costs quite a bit more than the Heatseeker.

The amp is 18 watts, and even though that might not sound like much, 18 tube watts is LOUD. From what I have read, the amp is very dynamic and cleans up nicely if you roll down the volume knob a bit.

I can't wait for it to arrive! I will of course create a few videos demoing the amp, as soon as I can.

I may even use two amps at gigs in the future, if I can! I could run the Reverend Hellhound as my clean amp, and the Heatseeker as my Marshall growl amp. Or both at the same time - Yeay!

Can you tell that I am a little big excited to get a quality amp like this? :) August, please come soon.

Jaywalkers Jamboree 2007

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Jaywalkers Jamboree

Myra and I, Fundamental Things, played at Jaywalkers Jamboree in Camrose today. The weather was fantastic today, very sunny and around 27 degrees Celsius. We haven't done any duo gigs for while, so it was fun and good practice for us today. I hope to be able to incorporate some new tunes into our repertoire soon. My new Fender Strat sounded and looked great!

Lately I have been running a lot, and it's been going great. I ran a good Half Marathon race in Red Deer recently, where I placed 2nd, some 5 minutes faster than my time in 2005. Running is good for my guitar playing - it keeps me in great shape and I feel more energized when I play gigs.

I have put up a new discussion board - the old one had problems with spammers but this new one looks and works much better. Feel free to join in and share your thoughts on guitars or whatever!

My friend DuhVoodooMan built a really cool tube screamer type of pedal, but with all sorts of options. Incredible pedal actually. I will write up a review of it soon, but I can say I am one of the lucky few who have one of these babies, the Zonkin' Yellow Screamer! (ZYS)

Lately, I have been using my Maxon SD-9, my ZYS and my Das Fuzz for dirty sounds through my Hellhound. I find that the SD-9 is really incredible, especially if I keep the gain down a bit. All these pedals mentioned do fantastic things, and my new Fender Strat make for a much better sound than I had expected.

I got a Squier '51 neck sent to me by a friend, and believe it or not - but I managed to get a crack in it! The holes didn't quite line up with the holes on my SX Strat body, so I tried a little to hard and 'CRACK'! I am going to have to get some glue and some hardwood to plug the holes and start over. Some friends sent me lots of good luthier info that I will THIS time...!

Purchased a new Stratocaster

Tue, 08 May 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Bought a new blue Stratocaster on the weekend

I went to Axe Music in Edmonton and looked at Strats. They had quite a few, and I pretty much tried them all. Some of the American strats were awesome - the Eric Johnson strat is a beauty! They cost a little more than what I could afford though.
» Read my Deluxe Players Strat Review

The Mexican strats were of mixed quality it seemed and for some reason, some of them had neck issues. They felt great to play but there were buzzing problems and even a warped neck or two.

I soon noticed the Deluxe Player's Stratocaster, and they were available with both maple and rosewood fingerboards. I usually like maple better, but this time the rosewood ones seemed to play better.

The Highway One strats were also very nice. They cost about the same as the Deluxe Players Strat, and they have big fat jumbo frets. The Deluxe Players Strat looks much nicer by the way, with it's gold hardware and transparent blue color on the ash body.

I tried most of the guitars through a Fender Blues Deville, and they all sounded good to me. A little hard to tell, since there were 4 metal head kids playing their meanest metal riffs in the practice room. The Deluxe Players has Vintage Noiseless. This appeals to me since I often end up with hum and noise problems when playing live.

I am still in the "honeymoon period", so I'll wait a little bit with my formal review. So far, I am having a lot of fun with it. It is a quality Stratocaster, that's for sure. I can definitely tell the quality difference from my cheap Squiers, and that is as it should be for an instrument that costs about twice as much (or perhaps more).

Check out the blue strat video for an idea of what it sounds like.

Played at the Leland Hotel in Ponoka

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Played at the Leland Hotel in Ponoka

The Myra Marshall Band played in Ponoka last night - at the Leland Hotel in Ponoka. Not a huge crowd, but we had a pretty good time anyway. The place is nice and roomy, and the people who were there said they really enjoyed listening to us.

I played my new Fullerton Strat copy all through the night, and it sounded really nice. This is that supercheap $45 dollar guitar (recently discounted down to $30!). For the first time at a gig, I used my Avatar 2x12 cabinet with my Hellhound, and it gave me a nice big sound, much more air being moved compared to the Hellhound combo only.

My Squier Tele is having some issues. I'll have to inspect it closer. The problem is the noiseless pickups make A LOT of noise. Probably a soldering problem and/or a pickup switch issue, I suspect. Since I had the Fullerton, I just stuck to it throughout the gig.

I taped the gig with my video camera, and some day I'll post some excerpts (only if it sounds decent!) from the night. I think I got some nice tones on some songs. I used my new pedal from my friend Duhvoodooman, a BYOC tubescreamer with some twists, called the Yellow Zonkin' Screamer, very nice overdrive. The Maxon SD-9 continues to impress me. It has such smooth gain and it's a joy to play with the pedal.

I am saving my gig money so I can buy a higher quality guitar. I guess I can say I deserve a good guitar, although I am quite happy with many of my "cheapies". The guitar I long for the most is a Suhr Classic. They are pretty pricey though, so I think I'll settle for a decent Fender for now. Who knows, maybe I'll sell off a bunch of stuff some day and raise enough money for the Suhr. Still, in the end, it's what you play that matters, not what brand you play. Remember that.

Not sure what gig will be next, but I know there's a chance of playing in Mirror again in June. There's also Canada day, July 1st. We'll see how it works out.

Another thing I want to mention is that I'm getting very inspired to play more slide guitar, after buying the two most recent Sonny Landreth albums. Man, that guy can play slide! Fantastic stuff, and it makes me drool listening to him play. If you haven't heard Sonny, RUN to the somewhere where you can buy is albums (Tip - you can buy them at www.sonnylandreth.com

Looking for a good but cheap guitar?

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 00:00:01 GMT

So you want a good, cheap electric guitar?

Well, you probably know by now that I like buying cheap guitars and upgrading them bit to be decent guitars. I have had success doing this with my Squiers, and my SX guitars. Recently I ran into a crazy deal on Music123.com - a Fullerton strat copy for $44.99 with free shipping! Talk about insane deal. That exact deal is now gone, but do check what is available at Music 123.

I don't really know much about the background of these guitars, but I do know they are a sweet deal! I took it to a gig the same day I got it - I set the intonation and lowered the action a bit - it rocks!

It is a typical Frankenstrat - doesn't look exactly like a Fender Stratocaster, instead it's a bit more pointy looking.

Mayb you are thinking, "I can imagine what kind of crap guitar that must be". Well, I can tell you right away that I had those thoughts too, but I was blown away with the quality for this price. Good electronics, tuners and the neck is wonderful. It is easy to play, it stays in tune and it looks really cool. The obvious drawbacks would be the pickups and the cheap plastic nut. Replace those and you have an excellent backup guitar to your expensive Fenders, or what have you.

Fender Stratocasters

Talking about Fenders - I went to the music store to try out some Fenders. Cheap guitars in all their glory aside - I really want to get a high quality Stratocaster some day. The cheap guitars I have are all good and sweet, but they are of course not of the same quality as a guitar that cost 7 or 8 times as much - simple logic.

So I tried out a few Fender Strats, and I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't so many models to try out. I tried an Am Standard, a VG Strat, a Highway 1 and a MIM Standard. The ones that felt the best to play were the Highway 1 and the VG Strat - nice, big jumbo frets, just how I like frets to be. The MIM Standard had a horrible set up, but it was also very nice. It was the only one of these that I actually played through an amp (a Traynor 100 watt head), and it did sound quite good. With a good set up, I would be happy to strut around with one of these MIM Strats. The Am Standard did actually not excite me as much. The one I tried just didn't feel very interesting or fun to play.

So, the conclusion is I will keep eyes and fingers out for Fender MIM Strats, or maybe the Highway 1. There are other models I would like to try as well, the the Deluxe Players Stratocaster, or the 60th Anniversary MIM Strat. I don't really feel like spending the bucks on a American-made strat, since I felt the MIM strat sounded and felt just as good, if not better, than the American.

I do realize that I need to try quite a few guitars of the same model to be able to have a chance of making some sort of fair judgement. There is always the case that one guitar might sound and/or feel much better than the other 6 guitars of the same model. Try a lot of guitars of the model you like, and pick the one that feels the best - that's my advice!

Stuffed animals and talking deer heads

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Interesting Gig in a small town called Mirror

We had an entertaining night on Saturday when we played at a small bar in a hotel in Mirror, Alberta. There were some hilarious moments.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was a used syringe in the gutter outside the hotel. On the other side of the street kids were playing...

The place where we played has an interesting look to it. On the walls, you can find a talking deer head, stuffed animals like a beer-drinking coyote and a mole with the sign "No Gamoling" next to it, as well as other kinds of animals on display.

The crowd was small but very interactive. When Myra said, "here is a song by Sheryl Crow", a guy yelled, "Hey, I shot a crow today!". It went on like that between songs - quite hilarious! Some of the comments were too obscene to post here.

I played my Reverend Hellhound and my usual pedals, mostly the Maxon SD-9, Fulltone Clyde Wah, Bad Monkey and my Lexicon LXP-1 reverb. I had really good tone, and I was miking the amp so there was guitar everywhere.

We had some new country songs we tried out (songs by Sara Evans and Trisha Yearwood) and it sounded promising. We just need to rehearse them a bit more.

I had the video camera set up, and hopefully I'll get some good clips from that night I can post on this website. I'll try and get that done this week.

This Wednesday we are hosting the jam again at O'Shea's Eatery and Ale House - come on over and jam with us!

The F-1 Guitar Pick

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:00:01 GMT

The F-1 Guitar Pick

Innovations when it comes to guitar picks aren't really that frequent. I do admire those people who can come up with new creative ideas for something quite basic as a guitar pick. I have tried the innovative F-1 Guitar Pick for a few days now, and I figure it's time for a review.

What is special about this guitar pick?

What is different with this pick? Well, it has a unique design. Imagine you had a normal guitar pick, except it's longer, and you fold it over. This creates a fold, and the fold is shaped so that it follows the shape of your index finger. This means you get a good grip on the pick.

I have now tried two different thicknesses of the F-1 guitar pick, a thin and a medium version. Here are my thoughts.

I find that it is a very different way of using a pick, and for me, it works best when picking over chords, or arpeggiating chords. It seems to provide more accuracy when jumping from string to string, playing one note per string. It also works well for alternate picking on one string.

However, I found it did not work as well for me when playing funky grooves and rhythms. I have noticed that when I use a normal pick, I turn it slightly in my grip to create different sounds and textures. I do this automatically without thinking, and this is probably because of playing guitar for so many years. This is an area where the F-1 guitar pick gave me problems. Turning it in my grip was not so easy, since it is designed to sit firmly at one specific angle.

Summary

My conclusion is that the F-1 guitar pick may work for some, and may not work for others. I think it works best for picking note by note on either one string or arpeggiating chords one note per string.

The recommendation I give is to give it a try, especially if you are somewhat new to guitar playing. Old dogs like myself may be harder to teach new approaches like this, but don't take my word for it - try it, you may like it.

See www.bigrockeng.com/ for the F-1 Guitar Pick website.

Black Tie Event cocktail gig

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Cocktail Gig for the Black Tie Event

Fundamental Things played this last weekend at the Norsemen Inn in Camrose. It was a fundraiser by the Rotary Club in Camrose. There were silent auctions and a live auctioneer, and the evening was quite entertaining.

Speaking of which, Myra and I was the entertainment for the beginning of the evening before dinner. We played 1.5 hour set of jazz, blues and country, while the guests mingled and had cocktails. We looked goooooood! Right?

I used my trusty old Squier and I played my Reverend Hellhound, this time with a new speaker in it - an Eminence Red White and Blues - a very nice speaker for this amp.

Next we have a gig in Mirror on April 14, and after that I don't know. I am trying to find time to work on some compositions of my own, but time is hard to find. I getting out of guitar teaching for a while - it just has been taking up too much of my time lately.

Recently, I put up some video clips from another gig this month. Check out my video clips page to get an idea of what we might sound like at a small club with a tiny PA.

My Hellhound now has an Eminence Red White & Blues

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Installed an Eminence Patriot Red White & Blues in my Hellhound

A friend of mine asked me if I wanted this Eminence speaker he had taken out of his amp. Since my Reverend Hellhound Alltone speaker suffers from cone cry problems, I was very excited about this offer so of course I agreed. The Eminence speaker had a little hole in the paper along the edge, but it wasn't very big apparently.

Well, the speaker arrived last week, but I was too busy gigging to have time to install it. I should found some time then, because now I know what I was missing out on!

I installed the speaker last night, and I am quite impressed with the tone I am now getting. However, I did run into a bit of a problem. The hole for the speaker in my Hellhound is a tad too small for the Eminence. The screw holes fit just right, but it would go down flush with the wood. Instead, it's sitting 1/4 of a inch above, but the screws were long so I torqued it down pretty good without using too much force. I think it will work.

Get your Eminence Patriot Red White & Blues at Musician's Friend

Eminence Patriot Red White and Blues Guitar Speaker 12 Inches

The hole in the paper is along the edge, and I don't know if it's going to make a difference or not. I still haven't played it very loud, so I guess we'll see. So far so good.

The sound is much more to my liking than what my somewhat faulty Alltone had to offer. The Red White & Blues has less of a scooped midrange, and it has more sparkle and bite on top as well. My amp now sounds more like a Fender than before.

I need to play it more, especially at louder volumes to see how it behaves, but I am happy so far. The amp sounds better to my ears, and it seems to react better to dynamic playing, like when I don't use a pick, and go from hitting the strings soft or hard.

I also noticed that the amp overdrive tones sound much better now, and I seem to get more amp overdrive than with the Alltone speaker. I just get the feeling that this speaker is better suited to the amp, compared to the Alltone. I'll babble more on this later after I've played it more. Now I feel like I really should upgrade my Celestion Seventy-80 that I have in my Avatar 2x12...

St Patrick's Day Gig and Merchants Gig

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Saint Patrick's Day Gig and Coffee House Gig

This week has been busy - first the Wednesday gig where we opened for Trooper; then Friday we played the local coffee house Merchants; then yesterday we helped the local Irish Pub O'Shea's to celebrate Saint Patrick. We did so by playing some Irish tunes we managed to scramble together, mixed with our usual mix of blues, rock and country.

I had expected to see more people at Merchants than we actually saw - it's usually quite busy there on Fridays. I like playing there though. The atmosphere is nice and relaxed, and the sound is quite good in there. Must all them coffee beans sound proofing the room!

The other thing worth mentioning about Friday night is that I had our daughter run my Sony camcorder, so we now have some actual live footage of what we sound and look like. I don't know if that is a good thing or not... I haven't watched it yet. I plan on putting together some short demo medley of some sort, if it's good enough .

The Irish celebration night at O'Shea's went really well. People seemed to like us and they were dancing and drinking and being jolly, just as it should be on such a night. The Irish songs we just learned very shortly before the gig, so we weren't all that prepared but I don't it mattered that much.

Some friends came over to jam with us later on during the night, and that was fun and made it a very relaxed gig. Lots of jamming. I had a brief moment of panic, when my guitar died. I believe my guitar fell of the stand at one point, and somehow the 3-way switch got bent a little. When I realized that was the problem, I just bent it back and voila, it was working fine again.

It's been a bit of a tough week with gigs and learning lots of new songs, but hey, being busy is good too. Now it should be a little less stressful with gigs. We have a duo gig on March 24 and then a gig in Mirror on April 14.

Trooper Gig in Camrose

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Opening for Trooper

The band Trooper came to Camrose last night, and guess who opened for them? We did! We played for about 30 minutes, around 8 songs I think.

Our band is called Myra Marshall Band, and we are 3 guys and 1 girl (Myra of course). It was a fun gig, and I had the pleasure of playing Trooper's guitar player's amp - a Marshall Super Lead 100 watt - a vintage plexi Marshall. Wow, what a tone! My jaw dropped a bit when I plugged in. A very mature sounding amp, boys and girls!

I am guessing the amp was a 70s model, but I am not sure, could have been even older. Thing is, it sounded awesome. It had that punchy, responsive touch that good tube amps have. You hit strings hard and boom! It's hard to hide your mistakes with an amp such as this, but I see that as a good thing. Fantastic sound, and unforgiving. Like the amp is saying, "if you're gonna play me, make sure you can play!" - so true!

The gig went quite well. We screwed up a few endings and beginnings like usual, but oh well. We have hardly practiced and this was a first real gig, so it should only get better from here.

I played my Squier Tele, and in front on the Marshall, I used a Maxon SD-9 and a Fulltone Clyde wah pedal. Those two pedals are certainly quality pedals, and I'm glad I have them.

People were coming up after the gig and asking us where they could buy our CD (we don't have one of course). One guy asked if we were from California, and one lady wanted our autographs. Whew.

It was really great that the crowd appreciated us that much. We don't play the same style as Trooper - our stuff has more blues and country style to it, but it seemed to go home well with the crowd.

Tomorrow, we have a gig at Merchants and on Saturday, it's time to play some Irish tunes for Saint Patrick's Day at O'Shea's!

Purchased an octave pedal and lotsa gigs

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Purchased an Arion octave pedal

An octave pedal can sound pretty cool if used in a good way. So, I decided to get a cheap, analog pedal that could give me the low octave notes.

The Arion MOC-1 is an octave pedal of low cost. I got it dirt cheap off of eBay. It actually does the octave thing down to two octaves, which is pretty cool. The sound is dark and way cool. The tracking is so-so; low notes don't work so well. It sounds like it's starting to oscillate and the amp sounds like it's broken... but it sounds cool for some things. I'll post a video clip soon.

Whew, we have lots of gigs coming up. We are opening for the band Trooper here in Camrose next week, on Wednesday. Then on Friday, we play at Merchants coffee house, and on Saturday, it's off to O'Shea's to play for St. Patrick's day. A whole week of rest after that until we play at the Rotary Black Tie Event in Camrose. Busy time ahead!

Get an Octave Pedal from Musician's Friend!

Boss OC-3 SUPER Octave Pedal

Needless to say, I'll be busy practicing songs, especially some new songs that we are doing. I haven't played any Irish songs before, but I'm in for a week of learning up ahead. Should be interesting.

Web app workshop & guitar playing in Banff

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Web application workshop in Banff

This weekend was spent in Banff, where I was participating in a workshop on building web applications.

Some good speakers were there, and I enjoyed it very much. Networking with other web design and development people is very exciting for me. I have been in this field for quite a few years now, and being able to connect and share experiences with other developers was very rewarding.

Banff is of course a wonderful place to be at - the scenery is fantastic with the majestic Rocky Mountains all around you. I did get some running in too, although it is hard to run normally in the mountains - it's hilly!

I also brought my guitar and played a bit in my room. I even recorded a couple of clips on the laptop, using the Line 6 Toneport. The Toneport continues to impress me. I haven't had it very long, and have only begun scratching the surface of all the things it can do.

Practice Gig at O'Shea's & Audition for Amalia

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Practice Gig at O'Shea's & Audition for Amalia

The previous weekend was quite busy, but I have to mention a couple of fun things that happened.

Last Friday, my friend Myra and our new band members Ray and Sawyer didn't have a place to practice last week. A friend of ours checked with the new Irish pub in town, and they said yeah come on over! They didn't mind us coming over and practicing in their pub. This was our first time playing all 4 together, so they were pretty bold to take us in.

We are not entirely beginnners though, so it wasn't a huge gamble. In fact, we sounded really good.

The idea was to practice, but with a pub packed with people, it was hard to not play song from start to finish. The new guys had to do the hard work since we played songs Myra and I already knew. It was fun though, and hopefully we'll be back there soon with a real gig.

Audition for Amalia

Our 3 year old daughter Amalia got a chance to do an audition for a TV commercial. We showed her the script, and she was supposed to lay down and pretend to be sleeping. She practiced at home and was excited about it.

We drove on Sunday to the hotel where the auditions were held. Amalia was excited. However, when it became our turn, she got very shy and didn't want to do it. I think the main reason was the lady who instructed her was quite unfriendly and I think Amalia felt uncomfortable.

Oh well, it was worth a try. It is not easy to do auditions when you are only 3 years old! I'm sure there will be more opportunities in the future.

Line 6 Toneport - guitar recording tool

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Line 6 Toneport

So, I bought a Line 6 Toneport UX1. One of the reasons I bought a Vox Valvetronix last year was that I had hoped it would work to use the line out feature into my sound card. Well, it didn't do that too well. It doesn't sound good to my ears.

I have been thinking about how to get my guitar recorded in a simple and effective way. Micing my amps sound great, but I end up bugging everyone else in the house and the microphone picks up the dog barking, etc.

Using my pedals line in into the sound card doesn't sound great either. They don't have speaker simulation features, so it's less than ideal.

My thoughts have been to get a amp modeling unit, like Line 6 POD XT, Behringer V-Amp, Vox Tonelab or similar. I didn't really want a big, clumsy unit made for playing through and amp - I just wanted something for recording only.

The Line 6 Guitarport seemed liked an interesting alternative, and then I heard of the Line 6 Toneport. I asked people for advice, and it turned out one guy had a Toneport he didn't use. So, I just bought it. I haven't received the Toneport yet, but I am looking forward to trying it out!

Why did I buy it? Well, there are a few reasons:

It is small, doesn't take up much space on my table
I only need it for computer recording
It is inexpensive
It has good guitar tones, like the POD family units all seem to have
It will be hooked up all the time, so whenever I want to, I can record my ideas without hassle
It supports playing bass guitar through it as well, which will want to do

I'll write more about the Toneport once I get it. Being able to get down guitar tracks quick and easy is something I hope I will be able to do with this unit, and something I really look forward to.

The Line 6 Toneport UX1 can be had from Musician's Friend

Line 6 TonePort UX1 USB Recording/Modeling Interface

Clean Boost Pedal

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Clean Boost Pedal

I have a new clean boost pedal - it's called 19 Sixty 3 and it is very nice indeed. A booster pedal can be used in a few different ways, but mostly it is for boosting your signal from your guitar, before it goes into your tube amp. The booster pedal can also be used for purpose of bringing up your lead volume when it's time for a guitar solo.

What is really cool with the 19 Sixty 3 is that it mimics a 60s Fender Blackface preamp circuit. I love the sound I get when I through this pedal into my Hellhound set clean. I turn up the level on the boost pedal quite a bit, and my amp just livens up like you wouldn't believe. The notes just jump out of it!

It does sound good with overdrive and distortion too. With a slightly dirty amp setting, you can get a great lead tone with lots of sustain and punch to it, when you kick on the 19 Sixty 3.

It is built by Todd over at Guitar Works, and it is well worth the price.

I have been using a MXR Micro Amp for a while now, but it is being replaced by the 19 Sixty 3, because it has more clarity and better tone.

I have a couple of video clips you can check out.
Here is an SX Strat boost pedal video clip you can check out, and here is a Tele with Bad Monkey clip.

Slow Down music programs

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Slow Down music programs

Slowing down music while still keeping the pitch has become a common tool for musicians these days. Software to slow down music can be real handy, not only for a guitar player but for piano and horn players too, of course.

I have tried a few of these, and although I don't use them that often, they do have their use when trying to pick out really fast lines. I have a pretty good ear, but sometimes my ears aren't fast enough to hear all the notes of a cool bebop line, or a fast blues lick. Using a slow down program can save you a lot of frustration and time.

Here are some of the slow downer tools I have tried:

Plug-ins for WinAmp

Chronotron II - free, very nice and simple. Even at 50% speed, it sounds really clear. The version 3 is commercial and I don't know if version 2 is still available. I've had it on my computer for years. Sound quality wise - this is my favorite.
PaceMaker - this one is cool - even lets you remove vocals. Can also change the speed, meaning that the pitch will change, like speeding up an LP player. When you start it, it reminds you to register if you haven't.
Slow Me Down is a very simple tool as well - lets you slow down the tempo, or change the pitch. It is also free. Sounds better than PaceMaker to my ears. Can also play back in mono.

Software

What seems to be the most well known software for slowing down music is The Amazing Slow Downer - a commercial product that many people seem to like. I have tried it, and it worked great. It has many more features than the plug-ins I've mentioned. Well worth the cost if you do a lot of transcribing of fast players.

One of the best is perhaps the program Song Surgeon. You can try a demo on their site.

Do you know any others worth mentioning? I am sure there are a lot of other good tools for the purpose of slowing down music. Let me know!

Top 5 TV shows

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Top 5 TV shows

I am a big movie enthusiast, indeed I am. Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, The Wachowski Brothers, Woody Allen, etc, are film makers whose film making skills I admire. I think the super hero movies of the last decade for the most part have been quite good. The Spiderman movies are fantastic, and so are the X-men movies. I even liked the Incredible Hulk movie!

TV is a different matter. I don't watch TV that much. I was thinking about TV shows today and my conclusion is that there are far too many reality TV shows. I mean - Survivor, rich bachelors, talent shows of different kinds, Big Brother, etc, it's just too much.

I do however like a few TV shows, and I try to watch these if I have time. Here they are in order of greatness:

Corner Gas - What is life like in Dog River, Saskatchewan? This is comedy of the decade, believe you me.
Man Tracker - the chase is on! A real reality show! Send off the prey into the bush with a compass and map. Give them a head start, then send out Man Tracker to hunt them down! Great show.
Heroes - well made US drama show.
Prison Break - another impressive US drama show, although they probably should have stopped after the first season.
Survivorman - One man... no food, no water, no nothing but a camera. Another Canadian show that is great!

There you have it, my favourite 5 TV shows! I probably forgot some, and I probably watch more TV than I care to admit... Oh yeah, Family Guy is very funny, and Simpsons of course. Gotta have a smile now and then!

Recording drums for guitar backing tracks

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Recording drums for backing tracks

How do you record your drum tracks on your recording equipment? I use Cubase and I am alway struggling with recording decent drums.

For me, to quicker I can get down the basics, the better. If I have to struggle with programming drums for any length of time, I lose my inspiration to record anything in the first place.

I have an old Roland drum machine, an R-5, but I don't have the correct power adapter for it (I have a Swedish version), but it was quite nice to use, since it has nice and big, pressure-sensitive pads. If I had the correct power adapter, I could use it again, either with its built-in sounds (quite decent) or for MIDI.

Currently, I sometimes use a little kid keyboard that has MIDI, and then I use a drum module that came with my Cubase, it's called L7 I think. It sounds pretty good, but I am not very good at programming drums in Cubase and I get frustrated easily.

I have created some free drum loops for download, using this technique.

What I started doing a while ago is to use a freeware program called HammerHead to create simple loops. The sounds are not that great, but what I like about it is that it lets you get something done fast - that's what I need. To get a simple but decent groove going within the shortest amount of time possible, that's my goal. HammerHead lets me do that. Check out HammerHead Drums - try it and let me know what you think. You can download better sound banks on that site, so that the drums sounds are more suited for the kind of music I am interested in.

Another program I tried that was quite promising is Groove Agent, a virtual drum machine that I should probably try again. The version I tried, version 1, didn't have so many, to me, useful grooves. Now that there's a version 3, I bet they improved it a fair bit.

Do you have any suggestions on creating quick, decent drum loops so a guitar player can focus on guitar playing?

I will probably post a few video clips soon, of me jamming along to some drum grooves.

Peavey Windsor 120 Watt Tube Amp

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 00:00:01 GMT

Peavey Windsor 120 Watt Tube Amp

Peavey seems to be hard at work creating new interesting amps these days. The Windsor looks like an awesome amp.

With three 12AX7 preamp tubes and four EL34 power-amp tubes in a single-channel configuration it seems like a great rock amp with lots of power.

Peavey make really good tube amps (Classic Series are great) and this sure looks good on paper. The Peavey Windsor features the patented Presence and Resonance controls. These controls adjust speaker damping from tight to loose in the high and low frequency ranges, respectively.

The Peavey Windsor has another interesting feature - a texture circuitry for adjusting the response characteristics from modern Class A/B push-pull, to vintage Class A sounds, which should give the amp a very versatile sound.

You can get a Windsor from Musicians Friend

Peavey Windsor Tube Amp Head

Features

120 all-tube watts
Three 12AX7 preamp tubes
Four EL34 power amp tubes
Single channel
Footswitchable gain boost
Three-band EQ
Footswitchable effects loop
Master Volume
Patent-pending Class A-A/B Texture control
Patented Resonance and Presence control
High and low inputs

This looks like a killer amp, and I'd sure like to try it. It is not overly priced either, at about $399. Still, I'd love to see this type of amp as a small head, like a 15 - 20 watt head, that would have been awesome for smaller gigs!

Christmas Toys 2006

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:01 GMT

Christmas Guitar Gear

Did you get any cool guitar gear for Christmas? I bought myself my toys, like the Lexicon and the Maxon SD-9. The Maxon arrived right after Christmas, and man is it ever awesome! Love it.

My dear wife got me a fabulous Henckel chef knife, from the Professional "S" series. It is very sharp and cutting up onions with it is like slicing butter. I love to cook, and a quality knife makes all the difference.

Christmas is a time to relax with one's loved ones. Giving each other time and love is important - it's the "bestest" gift you can ever give or receive!

A new year is about to start. My guitar-related plans are to make a Blues DVD that covers both leads and rhythm playing over some common blues styles. I'm a long way from having it ready, but I'll keep at it and eventually I'll get there.

Hope you enjoyed your holidays and that you got some rest and some guitar playing in!

Eva Cassidy - fantastic - amazing

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:00:01 GMT

Eva Cassidy - Amazing Artist

Lately, I have been listening a lot to Eva Cassidy. In case you never heard of her, I want to suggest you take a listen. Eva passed away in 1996 at the young age of 33, after battling cancer.

Eva Cassidy was a remarkable vocalist and acoustic guitar player who was virtually unknown outside her native Washington DC. She paid her dues playing local bars and pubs that were often half-empty. She deserved so much more appreciation. Today, many people all around the world discover her, just as I recently did, and want to learn more about her. EvaCassidy.Org is a good place to start at.

When I hear Eva sing, something touches me inside. This may sound corny, but there was something about her music and singing that speaks to me in a way I can't explain. It may also have to do with the fact that she died so young, and this fact makes me feel sad she could not be with us longer so she could continue to create wonderful music. However, the music she did create is worthwhile listening to. It may affect you too, just as it affects me.

Eva had a voice like an angel. Her rendition of Fields of Gold gives me the goose bumps every time. Equally impressive was her ability to sing blues and jazz. She could sound like a afro-american lady who has been singing blues for 40 years, yet she could sound so gentle and sweet. This ability to go between blues, jazz, ballads, pop, whatever - with complete mastery is something I don't think I have ever heard before. She is my favourite vocalist right now.

Perhaps less known is that she was a very good acoustic guitar player as well. She was a very solid picker and accompanied her self with versatile and tasty chords and finger picking technique. I am having trouble trying to copy what she played on her acoustic.

Her choice of guitar was a Guild Songbird, from what I've read.

To learn more about Eva, check out EvaCassidy.Org.

Essential listening: Live At Blues Alley, recorded at Washington, D.C., in January 2nd, 2006. But really, anything she recorded is recommended listening.

Sankta Lucia 2006

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 00:00:01 GMT

Celebrating Sankta Lucia

Our family went to Wilhelmina Church, about a 25 minute drive from Camrose, for the Sankta Lucia celebrations they have there every year. It was very nice, and it's especially great to see for me, since Lucia is a strong tradition back in Sweden.

Our oldest daughter Jessika played the Lucia song on her flute, as the the Lucia walked to the front of the church, with the little star boys trailing. We had a great time, and there were lusse-bullar and goodies afterwards for everyone.

The drive back was scary though. There was a fierce wind that blew snow on the road and reduce the visibility to sometimes nil. A couple of times, I had to stop the van completely, because I could not see where I was driving. Unpleasant to say the least! We made it back fine eventually, and it took almost twice as long as usual.

Lexicon LXP-1 Maxon SD9

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:00:01 GMT

Lexicon LXP-1 and Maxon SD-9

I just had my birthday on the 13th, and I've been missing reverb on my Hellhound for about a year now. It just stopped working one day and I never replaced the reverb unit. So, I thought a good studio reverb would be fun to have. Lexicon makes good stuff; even the old units are superb. I scored an old LXP-1 on eBay, and I'm thinking it will be a great addition to my gear "collection".

I've also been looking at getting a Maxon SD-9, hopefully the end of all distortion pedals (yeah, right!) for me... so eBay helped me out once again, and both the Lexicon and the SD-9 is on its way over here.

Do you use reverb much? I use a bit of reverb on my Vox AD50VT and I love practicing with a good reverb. Live, I use it more carefully. The tone can get drenched and disappear if I use too much reverb live. A good reverb is key for a good recording too. I'm hoping I can use the Lexicon with my computer recording gear.

If you need a good reverb for your guitars, for vocals or whatever, take a look at the LXP-1. They are old units, but they can be found cheap on eBay and they do sound STELLAR!

See video clip of Hellhound, Tele and Lexicon LXP-1

Played a gig at local coffee shop

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 00:00:01 GMT

Myra and I played a gig at Merchants in Camrose

Merchants, in Camrose, is a nice little coffee house with a European style. We had a bass player, Ray, join us for the first time. Neither Myra or I had ever played with Ray before, but it went pretty good. We are hoping to put a band together with Ray one of these days. Our friend Rocky also came and he played his djembe drum, which was nice.

I used my SX acoustic for the first set, but I was having some feedback issues with it, so I switched to the Squier '51 through my Vox AD50VT. The '51 sounds really good now after I changed the bridge and nut on it.

I even tried using my JamMan looper pedal, but it didn't go well with a bass player and percussionist. They couldn't hear the loop well enough, and we were having problems being in sync with the JamMan so I turned it off. I think if it's just Myra and I, it might work, as long as we can hear the loop clearly enough.

I just bought a Maxon SD-9 on eBay today, so I am looking forward to getting it and trying it out. I have so many pedals, but it's great fun to have a lot of variety. I am looking at getting a good rack reverb for my Hellhound next.

My lavacable guitar cables should be here any day now - I really need them since a couple of my current cables are beginning to give up on me.

Chicken Salad pedal by Danelectro arrived

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 00:00:01 GMT

My Danelectro Chicken Salad arrived

I recently bought this Danelectro pedal on eBay. It looks well used, but that don't matter. As soon as I got home I plugged her in and wow, it's got some cool sounds in it!

It is called a vibrato pedal, but it sounds more like a vibe to me. It can do a fairly decent Uni-Vibe imitation, although to my ears it doesn't sound quite like Jimi's - I can't say I expected that from a $18 dollar pedal. Still, it's a cool sound and I dig it!

The sound is really fun to play with, especially with some overdrive or distortion. I could sit and play for hours with this pedal. It has a very nice swirly sound. It is not for just any song, but just for improving it's very inspirational. If you like vibe and leslie sounds, check this pedal out. It doesn't cost much but can be a very handy effect in the right situation.

I'll try and find the time to record some clips so you can hear it.

You can get one of these from Musician's Friend

Danelectro DJ15 Chicken Salad Vibrato Pedal

SX Strat bridge upgraded!

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:00:01 GMT

SX Strat bridge upgraded!

This weekend, I performed some SX Strat bridge upgrade work - I put in the vintage style tremolo bridge I got from Guitarfetish.com. I has a much bigger steel block, and it's quite a decent bridge upgrade for a cheap guitar like this. Not expensive either, somewhere around $25-27.00.

I ran into a problem right away. The six screws on the new bridge did not line up with holes in the body from the old bridge. Well, I grabbed the electronic drill and made 2 holes only, for the outer screws.

The way I installed the bridge makes it stay in tune better. Here's how:

Use only the two other screws.
Carefully tighten the two outside screws down until they are flush with the top of the bridge plate

The bridge will now pivot on the outside screws. The difficulty lies in getting the exact height on these screws. Too loose and the bridge can travel vertically, too tight and the bridge will bind and pull at the screws. It is hard to get it right - take your time and be patient. You will need to have a good nut installment also for the guitar to stay in tune well, which I don't have yet. I still have the cheap plastic nut so I need to replace that one.

Next thing I need is a new nut - I am going to find a new neck for this guitar - the stock neck has some buzzing issues and I'm not too fond of the feel of it - too "fat".

Got my Squier '51 bridge replaced

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:00:01 GMT

Squier '51 bridge replaced

So I got my parts from GFS (guitarfetish.com) and it looks like pretty good parts. I started with my Squier '51. First step was to install the new replacement bridge. Both the old and the new bridge is fastened to the body with 5 screws. However, two of the screw holes for the replacement bridge does not line up with the holes left from the old bridge. No problem though, I just took my electric drill and made two small holes. The new bridge was fastened and ready in no time - very easy to do!

Next, I had bought a Graph Tech Tusq nut (PQ 5000), so I started removing the old, crappy plastic nut. I used a rubber mallet to hammer gently on the side of the nut, and it started to com loose pretty quick. I gently wiggled it until it came off completely.

The new nut is a Strat nut, and I noticed it's slightly longer and the string spacing is not the same as the old nut. Oh well, that is all I have for now. I'll order a different nut and leave this one in here for now. I need to file it down a bit, because it's too high. I won't do that until I get a new nut, though. These nuts seem very good and hard - a huge improvement over those horrible pieces of plastic they put on cheap guitars.

Then it was time to replace the push/pull pot. I opened up the '51, took a look at the old pot that I didn't like (the tapering of the volume is not to my liking). Low and behold, the new "improved" pot is IDENTICAL to the old pot! That was a surprise. GFS claim this is a good pot. This lead me to believe my old pot could have been just fine, but instead maybe the way it is wired makes the volume tapering that way it is - which I don't like. I prefer a volume knob like on a Strat, where you can roll it off down to 5, and the volume is pretty much the same but it cleans up the tone. I do this on my Tele and I can have quite a bit of overdrive going but if I turn down the volume knob to 5, it's a semi-clean tone great for rhythm playing.

I went ahead with finishing the soldering of the push/pull pot anyway, to see if there would be any difference. Turns out there is no difference - the knob works the same way. I am no electronics guru, so if you know anything about this, please let me know. I'm gonna try and find out how get this wired correctly so I can get the darn volume knob to work like I want it to work!

In the end, the guitar sounds better. The bridge upgrade did wonders - less of that brittle, rattly tone and more guts. I highly recommend this bridge upgrade if you have a Squier '51 - the bridge is like 11-12 bucks - definitely worthwhile doing!

I will work on the SX Strat next, once I get the neck I am waiting for. The SX Strat will receive a new quality vintage-style bridge, and new electronics. That's for a different day though.

Bought some Mogami 2524 Guitar cable from lavacable.com

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 00:00:01 GMT

Bought new Mogami 2524 cable from lavacable.com

I am fed up with crappy guitar cords. I have had George L cable for my pedals, but frankly I don't like them. They sound fine, but their giving me grief with loose connections and the plugs seems to have a more narrow diameter than other plugs. They don't work properly for 2 of my pedals because of this.

So, I bought a bunch of patch cables, and some longer guitar cords too. I have heard many good things about lavacable.com, and their prices seem really good. I went for Mogami 2524 because some players I respect a lot are using them. Lavacable makes the cords by hand to your preference. Their website is easy to order from (uses PayPal). Lavacable uses quality plugs for their cables. Neutrik 1/4" Gold or Silver (Straight), G&H R/A Gold (Right Angle) are the option.

I will report on how I like them once I've tested them a bit. I can't wait to get them! Most of my guitar cables are cheap and of poor quality. This should make my whole rig sound better and eliminate my frustration with loose connections and noisy cables.

Dec 22 2006

Well, I have tested them now, and wow - they are great! They are very silent - no noise and quality of tone has improved since I started using them. I think it has a lot to do with me using so many pedals. Going through my lavacables, all the way from the guitar to pedals to the amp, it has taken care of much of that loss of tone you experience with many pedals.

They also look great with the gold plated plugs. They are super sturdy, and they sure look like the will last a life time. I bet they will too.

From now on, I will buy ALL my cables from Mark at lavacable.com. He makes some of the best cables you can possibly get, and I whole-heartedly give Thumbs Up for these. Highly recommended. Just tell him I sent you there!

The Marshall Super 100JH Handwired Jimi Hendrix Stack

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 00:00:01 GMT

The Ultimate Marshall amp?

Marshall Super 100 JH Handwired Jimi Hendrix Stack (Limited Edition)

The Super 100JH is based on a Marshall Super 100 once owned by Jimi Hendrix. I have not had a chance to play this amp, and I probably won't, since it's a very expensive amp (around $8,000 retail, $6,400.00 at zZounds.com) and the production is limited to 600 amps.

Marshall engineers analyzed the original Hendrix stack and faithfully reproduced the amp, as closely as they could. The head looks very close to the old ones; it has the gold-colored Perspex (Plexi) front panel, and the head cabinet is made out of Baltic birch plywood. The black covering, logos, gold beading looks the same as the original.

The cabinet is taller than a standard Marshall cab, and it looks very cool with the gray pinstripes and with the numbers "100" in the front top left corner.

Features

100 watts RMS
Dimensions: 741 x 270 x 210 mm
It has 2 channels, Normal and High Treble. You can combine the 2 channels if you want, by using a short jumper cable going from the bottom input of one channel to the top input of another.
Dual input jacks for each channel.
Shared Presence, Bass, Middle and Treble controls
Four JJ 12ax7 preamp tubes
Four KT66 power tubes
Handwired circuitry
Weight: 22kg (46.5 lbs)
Voltage Selector
Cabinets: 1982AJH (angled front) and 1982BJH (straight front) with 4 Celestion G12C (25 watt speakers)

I can only hope I run into one of these in a music store one day so I try it and hear what it sounds like. That is, if they would let me plug it in. An amp at this price point isn't likely to be sitting ready to use in the amp room...

Reports say that this amp has a fantastic, dynamic response and you can go from clean to big, powerful rock tones by just adjust the level on your volume knob. Who wouldn't like an amp like this?

Traynor Custom Special 100 Head YCS 100

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 00:00:01 GMT

Traynor YCS100 Custom Special 100 Head

This is a cool head by Canadian amp manufacturer Traynor. The head is a muscular 100 watt head and it is very flexible.

The YCS100 head has a true three-channel all-tube architecture with a complete control of each channel. Not only are there invidual gain and volume controls on each of the YCS100's channels - the same goes for a three-band eq, tone shaping, boost level, effects and reverb settings.

Four EL34's power the YCS100, and there are two user switchable power levels, a 100 watt class AB mode, and a class A configuration at 30 watts - perfect for recording or smaller gigs and for practice.

There is also a "preamp send/power amp return" for line-in effects, plus a side chain effects send with individual effects return level controls for each channel.

The YCS100 has a Master volume, Presence and Resonance control and these work globally for all channels. The resonance control makes it easier to dial in and customize the bass response from the amp.

An XLR direct output with speaker simulation is a cool feature which is handy for feeding into a PA for live gigs or for recording direct.

Another great feature is a headphone out with speaker simulation, and it also has it's own volume level control which is not dependent on the amp's master volume.

It comes with a foot switch with a fourth button, one that controls the overall master lead boost - perfect for getting that extra volume for leads.

Features

Selectable 100-watt / 30-watt all tube output
Powered by four EL34EH's and four 12AX7A's
Auto-matching tube circuit maintains bias balance as tubes age ensuring hum free performance throughout tube life.
3 completely independant footswitchable channels
Master Volume, Presence and Resonance controls
Long Accutronics Spring Reverb with seperate level controls on all 3 channels
9 different voicing switches including Scoop, Modern, Bright and Boost
DynaSound speaker compensated headphone and DI outputs for silent recording and practicing
Black Nubtex covering, all plywood cabinet construction
All metal grille, bar handles and corners
Custom 4 button footswitch for channel and Solo Boost functions included
Classic Traynor logo and Vintage styling "chicken beak" knobs

I haven't played this amp yet myself, but I hope to get the chance soon. Traynor make solid guitar and bass equipment, and their pricing is usually very competitive. Long & McQuade stock their stores with Traynors, so I should run into one these babies soon and take it for a test drive.