Dolphinstreet Guitar Talk 2006
Nov 25, 2006
I have now set up a blog page that is better suited for blogging than this page.
Go to the blog to read more rants from me. Ian - check out Albert Lee, Brent Mason and Danny Gatton - great stuff.
Nov 18, 2006
I finally took the time to order some guitar parts for my guitars. I put in a big order at GuitarFetish.com - pots, a '51 replacement bridge, screws, wire, etc, just a whole bunch of useful parts. My friend Scott sent me an SX guitar (how nice of him!) and it needs a few parts. I want to improve my cheap guitars a little, and a decent bridge, new nut and some fresh pots can make a big difference for overall tone and playability. Gig wise, Myra and I have a little gig coming up on Dec 8 at Merchant's coffee house in Camrose. I am planning on going crazy with my JamMan!
Nov 15, 2006
Just got 2 new CDs, Scott Kinsey's "Kinesthetics",
and Mike
Landau Group's "Live" -
both were just released. I am digging them both a lot. The Kinsey album is
quite world-music-like, and I think most of it is improvised. A very interesting
album that doesn't follow any specific format, but really inspirational.
Scott is having a lot of fun with his synths, and the Joe Zawinul influence
is apparent - in a good way. Some of the guest players are Scott Henderson,
Gary Willis, Vinnie Colaiuta, Mike Landau, Steve Tavaglione, Jimmy Earl.
Mike Landau is a fantastic guitar player. I actually just recently starting paying attention to his solo stuff. I heard him lots on pop albums in the 80s, but that kind of music isn't quite so interesting for me these days. Mike's tone is among the best guitar tones I've heard, ever. He's tasteful with the use of effects, and his playing is top notch. His playing has lots of Hendrix influences as well, and you can also hear quite a bit of jazz in his vocabulary. He also sings on some tracks, and even though I don't think he's a great vocalist, it fits his music well. If you haven't heard Mike Landau Group yet, this is the album to get. Awesome guitar tone and fabulous playing. Scott Kinsey, Jimmy Johnson, Gary Novak are some of the players on this album. You can get both these albums at www.abstractlogix.com.
Nov 4, 2006
The JamMan finally showed up. It took a while to figure out how to use it - there's a lot of buttons and lights on this thing. I like it! I got some nice grooves going, and the auto-record feature is awesome. I was jamming with myself - a lot of fun and I couldn't stop smiling. This will be a GREAT tool for me for a long time. I think I may have great use for it for my video lessons and for my guitar students. I think every guitar player out there should have a looper pedal. Get one! It can really help you become a better player faster.
I also put up another blues rhythm video lesson. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Nov 2, 2006
Still waiting for the Digitech JamMan to show up. Sometimes it takes a few weeks; I imagine the customs people have a lot to do now and then. I had a gig with our duo Fundamental Things on the weekend. We played at Cobbler's & Craftsmen in Camrose - a clothing and shoe store. A bit unusual! It was fun, and I played my SX acoustic through the PA for the first time. It has an anti-feedback feature, which turned out the be useful, as I could tell the guitar wanted to feed back a bit. Sounded great on both settings actually, but especially on the "normal" setting. A bass player showed up, and we are looking at forming a "real band" together, with drums and all. We are seeing how it works out all of us together this Friday. If it's all good, well then I guess we have band, finally! If not, well I guess we'll have to see what we want to do. With my JamMan, I imagine we can sound pretty good just the two of us.
Oct 23, 2006
I couldn't resist the urge any longer, so I bought a Digitech JamMan on eBay. I will write up a thorough review once I've put it to the test. I expect a lot of fun out this thing. I think I can be my own jazz band! I think I will actually practice more with it. It seems so easy and quick to create a groove on it, and that's the motivation I need to practice. I don't practice enough, not at all. So, we'll see how what it can do for me.
Oct 16, 2006
I am now seriously considering getting a looper pedal, and I'm down to either the BOSS RC-20XL or the Digitech JamMan. I think one of these will be a great tool for several things - the duo project Fundamental Things, practice, and teaching guitar students. Heck, if I could learn to sing better I could be a one-man band! I could of course play instrumental stuff only as a one-man band too. It's hard to decide between the JamMan and the RC-20XL, but the JamMan stores the data on Flash cards, which is nice so I can get some ideas on my computer, maybe even put on this website. It doesn't have a fade out feature though, like the Boss one, and there's no reverse feature either. If you have any suggestions for me about which looper pedal to get - let me know your thoughts!
Oct 6, 2006
I noticed today my website was mentioned on Digg.com and Del.icio.us, really cool! It's encouraging to see that many people like my site.
The Arion SCH-1 pedal is still really fun to play with. I think I like it best without so much distortion or overdrive. It does a really nice leslie sound.
I had a struggle with my pedalboard patch cables this week. I would get weird noises and staticky sounds. I use George L cables, and I thought I had a bad connection so I redid a cable more than once. I later realized it's actually the George L connector plug itself that is too narrow for some of my pedals! Really strange how that can be, but I used an older cable and the problem was gone. I am not so impressed by George L cable connectors. I think I'll get some Planet Waves or Bill Lawrence patch cables instead. If have recommendations for good pedal board patch cables, let me know.Sep 26, 2006
I got my Arion SCH-1 chorus pedal today. Wow! Wow again! It is fantastic. I have heard a lot about this old pedal, and when I found one on eBay Canada, I had to bid on it. Well, I won and am one fantastic pedal happier. So what's special about this pedal? It gives you this fantastic, lush Leslie sound that is killer! I love it for blues, but it works on almost anything. I gotta be careful not to overdo it when I gig next time - it's just so inspiring to play through this pedal. It's definitely my favourite pedal besides the dirt boxes.
Sep 17, 2006
My SX Acoustic came. I am impressed. Very nice instrument for the money! It cost me only $159.00 and dang it is fun to play. If you are looking for a good all-around solid top acoustic, try the SX DG-50 or the DG-30 - affordable but with great tone and excellent playability.
I recorded some wilder rock tones with my Hot Head Distortion pedal, check out the Hot Head Video Clip.
Sep 7, 2006
I ordered an acoustic guitar with cutaway, a DG 50CE, from Rondo Music. It's an acoustic electric with a German Shadow P7 pickup with EQ and active (9v) preamp. It should be here next week, so I'll make a video demo of it at that time. The main reason I picked this one is because it is inexpensive and gets good reviews, plus I had a free shipping offer from Rondo due to an issue with a previous order, so I figured I'd better make use of that.
I have more lessons up on the guitar video lessons page, so check those out. Thanks to all of you who send me encouraging messages for my website and lessons - it inspires me to create more video clips and lessons!
Aug 27, 2006
Bass player wanted! We are starting a band, and we are in desperate need of a good bass player. We need a bass player who can learn fast, one who likes to play a mixture of blues, country, rock and folk-rock. Ability do sing background vocals a big plus. Must be experienced and able to learn 5 new songs or so for next rehearsal. Must also be able to rehearse in Camrose, we are thinking every other week or so. Contact me if you have any tips!
The Avatar cab I got is great! I've been playing it a bit more now with my Hellhound, and I am very happy with it. I highly recommend this cabs - they sound good and are affordable.
I made a AC/DC video lesson for Back in Black. Let me know if any good.
Aug 21, 2006
I just came back from a camping trip with the family. We went to Crimson Lake, near Rocky Mountain House, where we also ran in the David Thompson Trail Run. I've been injured most of the summer, so I couldn't defend my win from last year. I was 4th this year.
I managed to find some time to go to the music store in Edmonton. I have been exploring the options for an external speaker cabinet, and today I saw and bought a used Avatar 2x12 (closed back) for just over $200 CDN. The speakers in it are Celestion Seventy 80, and I am not sure how good these are, but from what I've read, they are quite decent. I believe that that speaker in the Vox AD50VT was custom made for Vox by Celestion, and is not quite the same.
I tested this Avatar cabinet with a Dr. Z KT 88 (wow what an amph!) and with such an amp, some great tones were immediately available. The cab is in 16 ohms (two 8-ohm speakers can only be in 4 or 16 ohms impedance) so it will not work with my Vox AD50VT, which expects an 8 ohm external speaker. However, I can use it with my Hellhound, and this is the main reason I bought it. I may also change the speakers in the cab to 2 4 ohm speakers so I can run the cab at 8 ohms. The cabinet is very light. I am impressed. I was concerned about hauling a heavy 2x12 cabinet around, but this one is no problem. I am sure I'll have a lot of fun with this cabinet, and for two hundred bucks, I thought it's a no-brainer. The other cabs in the store were really nice - Dr. Z's or Soldano, but they were heavy and cost almost 4 times as much!
I also tested some American-made Fender Strats, including a Deluxe, and I wasn't that impressed to be honest. They sounded great but didn't feel that superior to my cheap guitars. Maybe it's because I spend time setting mine up real good. I WILL get a great Strat one day, but I'm not so sure it will be a Fender... G&L is an option, or maybe even a Suhr. Or maybe a Rockinger?
» Please check out the Guitar Discussion Forum TheFret.Net, a fine place to talk about guitars and bass. It has a very friendly atmosphere and is filled with really nice people.
Aug 14, 2006
My friend Mattias in Sweden sent me an old recording we did together on a Fostex 4-track recorder. These were my days of trying to be a shredder! Listen to the Shredder In Me from 1988! I was still a teenager back then! Ahh, brings back memories of guitars with pointy headstocks and Ibanez guitars with monkey grips.... I had completely forgotten about this piece when it showed up in my email inbox. Have a smile on me, guys!
Otherwise, I'm still looking around for a decent electro-acoustic guitar. My next thing on my list after will be a good guitar speaker cabinet. I am thinking about a 1x12 Avatar cab. If you have any suggestions on good cabs, please let me know. I could possibly go with a 2x12, as long as it's not too heavy and awkward to haul around. I keep on my gear in the basement and my old 2x12 was almost impossible to get up and down the stairs.
Aug 8, 2006
I put my Fender Custom Shop '54 pickups in my SX strat, and it is sounding very sweet indeed. I have new video clip coming soon. The neck is suffering from a little bit of fret buzz, but it's not much and I can live with it I think.
So people have been recommending the Fender Highway One strat to me. What's special about this one? I have my eyes set on Fender's Mexican made 60th Anniversary Standard Strat, how is the Highway One better? I am interested in a quality Strat that doesn't cost the shirt off my back.
I am also looking for a decent acoustic. I found a Walden guitar in a local music store, and I must say I was impressed. Nice, big tone and price was really good. If you have tips on good acoustics in the $200-$500 range, let me know.
If you want to see my play, come to Festival Place in Sherwood Park on Aug 16 - I play there in Jaron Rovensky's band. (edit: no, I didn't play there, after all...)
Aug 3, 2006
Well, my SX strat showed up yesterday. After playing it for a few minutes, I realized the fretboard was rosewood and not maple, like I had ordered. Turned out I was shipped a different model - the SST 62 instead of the SST 57. Not a big deal though. It also came in a different color than expected - yellow. I like it this color! To read more about this story, read the SST 62 review I wrote up.
July 30, 2006
Eagerly awaiting my SX SST57 Stratocaster! It should be coming beginning of August. I hope I now have a decent strat. My Squier sounds great but it's not of much quality and the neck isn't my cup of tea. I am sure the SX will be much better. So, to hear more of my CS 54 pickups (which I may put in my SX, I have another video clip for you - Strat with CS 54 pickups clip. I also have a sweep picking lesson up now too. See what you think.
July 24, 2006
I hate my Xbox. Bad Xbox. We play some games on the Xbox now and then, and we just got the super cool games "Half-Life 2" and "Odd World, Stranger's Wrat". This stupid Xbox machine must have something wrong with the the laser reading thingy, because 80% of the time, it fails when loading a new scene in a game. Very frustrating. Even just turning on the darn machine with a game in it often ends abruptly in "cannot recognize this disk - make sure it is an Xbox game, music CD or a DVD". So I yell - "Hello! It's an Xbox game - what part of 'XBOX GAME' don't you understand, you &*%$#@!!"? Oh well, if I could copy the games on the hard drive somehow, I would have to worry about loading from the disk. If you any tips, let me know. Did I say I hate my Xbox? Stupid Xbox.
July 23, 2006
The Pride and Joy Lesson has been updated today. Compared to the previous one, this one has more instruction, is more accurate and shows the turnaround riff as well. Let me know if you like it.
I have started to look for acoustic guitars with built-in electronics. The Washburn D-10 SB look interesting, and I there are some great Seagull guitars that would fit me as well. If you have any suggestions for me, let me know, kay?!
July 21, 2006
I've been learning some more SRV songs lately. Actually, relearning songs I kind of new, but this time, I'm doing a more thorough job. The songs I've been working on are, Scuttle Buttin, Lenny, Rude Mood, Tightrope, Change It, Honey Bee, and some of them I'll try and turn into video lessons.
I also plan on doing the Jimi Hendrix song Hey Joe and Manic Depression, among others. Hard to find time though.
Hey, maybe you can help me? We are planning on putting a band together, and I'm trying to find good cover material, you know, stuff that people want to hear. The styles we want to cover - country, some blues, some lighter rock - material that people can dance to. We are trying to avoid the heavier material. Some songs I want to do are hits by artists like Keith Urban, Elvis Presley, Eagles, John Hiatt, Bonnie Raitt, Beatles, Melissa Etheridge, Amanda Marshall, Sheryl Crow, Credence, Eric Clapton, Jo Dee Messina, Tanya Tucker, Martina McBride, and so on. Do you have any ideas for me? Thanks! Use the Contact page if you have any suggestions.
July 16, 2006
My friend Scott in Massaschusetts sent me a guitar for free - what a nice guy! It is an SX but looks like a heavy rocker's Ibanez. I guess it's modeled after the Ibanez. I got it in pieces, and I need a few more things before I can assemble it. It should be fun to play with - it has a Floyd Rose tremolo and locking nut - not really my thing but it could fun anyway. If I don't like it, I am sure one of our kids would have fun with it!
Otherwise, I am really interested in getting a decent stratocaster. The SX strats get great reviews and they are only a hundred bucks! Insane! If you were me, would you get a Fender Made in Mexico or the SX strat? I need noiseless pickups, so I'd likely need to switch out the pickups on either model.
July 11, 2006
Ohh, I have my DiMarzio Virtual T pickups installed now! Listen to my DiMarzio Virtual T pickups here! Do they ever sound sweet! Fantastic, I am very impressed. And there's no freakin' humming happening! I love that. I'll be back soon with video clips and a thorough review, but for now, I say thumbs way up. They are clear and articulate, well balanced, no hum (haha, surprise), and no muddy bass or ice pick in the ear. I couldn't put the guitar down once I started playing last night.
July 08, 2006
Played a little "gig" last night - a birthday party. It ended up being only myself on guitar, first time I've done only that. It went pretty good, and as you can imagine, quite a few party goers like to sing along after a few drinks... it was a good evening.
Still waiting for my new DiMarzio Virtual T pickups - they should be here next week. In preparing for that, I removed the stock pickups from my Tele neck. I also removed the neck and sanded it with fine sandpaper. Then I put some
Tru Oil on it, and let it dry for 2 hours. It creates a fantastic finish! It is made for guns stocks, and is therefore extremely durable.
I am also very close to buying a new SX guitar, this time a Strat. They seem terrific for the price, and I like having a variety of guitars, so most likely I'll soon get one of these.
Get a good SX guitar to a great price at Rondo Music!
June 28, 2006
The BP gig was great! I had a lot of fun. I got to play more solos and it felt great to stretch a bit more. I got lots of compliments on both tone and playing - fun!
I have a set of DiMarzio Virtual T Telecaster pickups on the way. I am getting them used, and I am very excited to try them out. I like my current pickups as far as tone, but there is a hum problem when playing live. Most of the stages I play have lights and lots of other power sources that creates a very annoying hum from most single coil guitars. The DiMarzio Virtual T's are different - they are "noiseless" - meaining they are hum-cancelling stacked single coils. Not sure how different they sound from a regular single coil pickup, but I will soon know!
June 22, 2006
I had a gig with Jaron Rovensky last night in Coronation, and we are having another tonight at Boston Pizza in Camrose. His new CD - "This Feeling" is now out, so these gigs are "CD release parties". I used my Vox AD50VT for the gig, and it performed excellent. I found that using the Bad Monkey OD pedal on the AC30TB model works great for light rock or blues. I left the pedal on the whole gig, and just rolled off on the volume knob for cleaner tones. I was even a bit surprised how well it worked! I don't have the footswitch for the amp, but this way sure works great for me.
June 11, 2006
I am starting to add more content to the guitar lesson section on this site. Feel free to suggest! The chords page shows tabs of how to play some common, cool sounding movable chords. Check it out!
June 8, 2006
I rehearsed with Jaron Rovensky and some other guys last night; he's putting together a band for a few shows this summer. It was fun and sounded pretty good.
There was a great amp sitting in the rehearsal room - a Fender Deluxe Reverb, a fantastic amp. I played it through the rehearsal, and frankly, I need to get one of these. I have played them several times, and each time I fall in love all over again. It's a fabulous amp, at least for my needs.
June 4, 2006
This weekend, we had Jaywalkers Jamboree happening in Camrose. Great weather, nice and sunny the whole weekend and a lot of people out and about. Myra and I (Fundamental Things) played for 45 minutes on one stage, and we enjoyed ourselves. Her guitar went way out of tune towards the end, but that's quite common with acoustic guitars outdoors.
June 2, 2006
I tried to play the blazing fast Steve Ray Vaughan song Scuttle Buttin' - it is very hard! It's a struggle to try and play this thing, but my attempt is here if you want to check it out - Scuttle Buttin' Video Clip
May 31, 2006
I sat down and transcribed a Jimi Hendrix tune the other day for a student. Manic Depression - very fun to play, both on bass and guitar. I've been thinking about doing some Hendrix video lessons soon. Anyone interested in that?
May 26, 2006
Guitar Video Lessons - 2 of them this time. See Guitar Video Lessons for the fun!
May 21, 2006
GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! - Sweden won the World Cup Hockey tournament! Awesome. Sweden made history today, by being the first team in history to win both Olympic Gold and the World Cup in the same year. I quite proud today... Go Sweden!
May 19, 2006
Posted a short video clip of some kind of Rude Mood improvising. The tone from the clean Hellhound is pretty sweet, if nothing else :) - enjoy!
Rude Mood Messin'
May 17, 2006
Today would have been my father's 83rd birthday. Today I miss him extra much.
I fixed my Squier '51 the other day - the intonation was off, so I fixed it. It is quite simple to do, here is how you do it:
- Tune the string with the tuner so it's completely in tune (for me, a green light indicates when it's right on). Then, press down you finger at the 12th fret and see if the note is sharp or flat.
- If it is flat, turn the saddle screws so that the bridge saddle moves towards the pickups. This will make the overall string length slightly shorter.
- If the note is sharp, do the opposite. Make the bridge saddle move away from the pickups, making the string length longer.
- Adjust until the note is right on both when playing the string open and when you press down the string at the 12 fret.
- Repeat for all strings.
It makes it so much more enjoyable to play the guitar! Playing chords higher up on the neck still sounds in tune - what a joy. Mine didn't do that before.
May 12, 2006
Yet another video clip - this time of shredding techniques like sweeping, string skipping and alternate picking. Check it out on the Video Clips page.
May 9, 2006
I published another video clip today. It's a clip of me having fun with the delay setting on my Vox amp. See the Video Clips page.
May 6, 2006
My wife and I bought new cell phones recently, Sony Ericsson W600i. Believe it or not, but it's my first cell phone. I really like it. It's a Walkman phone, so I can have 256 MB of music and video on it. Very nice unit. The only thing I'm missing is voice commands - it takes time to enter text messages on cell phones. The Sony Ericsson phones are great, very good quality to them - I highly recommend them.
May 1, 2006
The Danelectro PB & J pedal I got is a nice little unit. I like the way it sounds. It's small, which is good, so that it fits in on my pedal board better together with all the other million pedals I have.
I've bought two new albums recently. Prince 3121, which has some cool songs on it, especially Fury - great song! The album is a bit all over the place though, and some songs are not my style. Overall, an interesting album. Next CD I got is David Gilmour's latest. Wow, it sounds great! I highly recommend it if you are a Pink Floyd fan. It is probably just about as good as any Pink Floyd album ever made. The production is excellent - incredible sound all through. David's guitar playing and guitar tones are fantastic. Very inspiring - go have a listen. See davidgilmour.com/island.htm
April 24, 2006
Sitting at the airport in Stockholm, waiting for my flight back to Canada. It has been a stressful time here in Sweden, with my dad's funeral and all the arrangements surrounding this. I think it will be good to get home to my "ordinary life". I may be a few years until I go back to Sweden next time.
I have been reading about the Peavey Valve King amp in a Swedish guitar magazine, FUZZ. It seems like a really nice amp to a bargain price. I have enough amps already of course, but you know how it it is - the grass is always greener on the other side. I did buy a Danelectro P & J delay pedal on eBay while I was away, and it should be waiting for me when I get back. One thing I for sure should get is a decent bass amp. With my new SX Jazz bass, I need an amp to practice and perhaps even gig with. It is a lot of fun playing bass, actually. Oh well, we'll see. Now back to the current 25 hour trip...
April 8, 2006
My SX jazz bass arrived yesterday. It is sweet! I am going to look around for a decent bass amp for practice and small gigs, but initially I'll use it mostly for recording direct. Other news is that my friend Jaron Rovensky will be around this summer, and there will be some gigs to play. He's got a new CD made, and I hope he can get some good success with it.
April 5, 2006
My dad passed away peacefully today at the age of 82, five weeks away from being 83. I am sad - we were very close. I am going back to Sweden for the funeral. I am his only child.
March 18, 2006
Just got back from a gig with Fundamental Things (Myra Marshall and me). We played at a local event at the Norsemen Inn - it was the Rotary Club of Camrose's Black Tie Event. We got very positive response from the crowd, so we were pleased with that. We could have played better, but overall it went pretty good. We hope to get some more gigs from this.
March 13, 2006
My wife, me, Karly and 2 year-old Amalia went to an audition yesterday for a tv commercial. It was my first time at an audition. We even had to speak! We will know within a few days if they want any of us for the filming. They wanted a family for this commercial, and they may pick different dads/moms/kids if they think they have to. This was actually Amalia's second audition, I think that's pretty cool!
March 4, 2006
Came back from Sweden last week. It took quite a while to adjust from Jet Lag. I have a gig with Fundamental Things coming up on March 18; it's for the Rotary Club Black Tie Event.
A friend from theFret.Net sent me some interesting music. The Flower Kings, Neal Morse, Porcupine Tree and other cool bands. It is quite inspiring to listen to, since I haven't been listening to these types of bands in a long time. It's never too late!
February 5, 2006
I'm Sweden now, just arrived. It's cold, minus 17. I'm here to see my dad who is ill. I'll be back in Canada by the end of the month. I'll be checking out the local music stores and maybe even do some jamming with my old music buddies. Just before I left, I made some progress in getting some tracks down with Cubase. I'll post some clips next month. I have also made a video lesson about my picking technique that I'll post some parts from. I realized I had a lot to say about it!
January 17, 2006
My tuner problem is resolved for the moment - I am using a 9 volt battery instead of my One-Spot adapter. This solved the problem and it now works really well. I'm impressed! It doesn't seem to use any battery life when it's turned off, so I'm hoping the battery will last a good while. I guess we'll see.
January 14, 2006
I got my Rocktron X-tune tuner pedal the other day, and it works great by itself. However, when I use my One-Spot adapter, it goes berserk. Weird. Not sure what to do - I really need it on my pedal board and I don't want an extra power adapter to haul around. Hmm. Maybe rechargeable batteries would work. Or else I'll find a different tuner pedal.
I've made more lessons on the Video Lessons page, check them out. I'm getting good feedback on them, which encourages me to make more of them.
January 3, 2006
I showed a guitar student of mine how to play the intro to Brown Eyed Girl, and I made a video clip of it that has now been posted on my video lessons page, in case you are interested. It's a very common song to play at jams, and this is how I play it.
January 1, 2006
I brought my Hellhound and my Vox AD50VT, and I used the Vox the whole time. Since I don't have a footswitch for it, I use pedals. The Bad Monkey works wonderfully with it, especially for rythm guitar. The Vox is becoming my main gigging amp, something I didn't initially think would happen. The reason it's my main amp now is that it sounds good at low volume, something that is harder with the Hellhound. It likes to bark loud. I have some speaker problems with it too, which is another reason I don't use it as much. I will exchange the speaker in it soon though with a Celestion speaker, so that should help.
