meandthestereo

My admiration and fascination of guitars and guitar playing goes way back. It was just so cool watching these guys rip through leads, playing ultra-fast or just generally causing mayhem with their guitars. Whether watching a good axe-man live or in a recorded concert, there is nothing more electrifying than watching a great guitar player ply his chosen craft. There are many great guitar players, past and present; I’d like to mention a few of my personal favorites.

For sheer impact on the music community as a whole, I have to go with Jimi Hendrix. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to see Hendrix live, but I have seen many recorded concerts. I also have a very extensive collection of bootleg concerts and interviews. He was one of those musicians who, when he was ripping a solo, would go to another level of being; a whole other place. His impact on music and the guitar-playing community is unmistakable. Virtually every great modern guitar player mentions Hendrix as a major influence on their own playing. His innovation on guitar and in the recording studio will live on forever.

For pure virtuosity of playing, I’ll go with Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was a pleasure to witness this man playing guitar…usually with your jaw on the ground. I was fortunate enough to see SRV a couple of times; both times were absolutely remarkable. When he went into a solo, it was impossible to look away. I found myself fixating on his fingers as he climbed around the neck of 1963 Stratocaster. Pure genius! He too seemed to go to some other place when he was shredding. I once heard Eric Clapton refer to SRV as a channel…music just flowed through him and erupted out of his fingers. At times, I felt sorry for the rest of Double Trouble as they tried to keep time and keep up!

For total innovation on the six string, I’m going with Eddie Van Halen. The first time I saw him play with both hands on the neck, I was completely blown away. What was this dude doing? Where is his pick? I’ve seen VH many times and watching Eddie perform his guitar solo is well worth the price of admission. In my opinion, he brought the use of two hands on the neck to rest of the world and into the mainstream. Many modern guitarists added this style to their repertoire, but nobody perfected it, or plays it better, than Eddie.

I could easily go on and on about great guitar players. After all, there are so many phenomenal ones to talk about. From the likes of Django Reinhardt through Les Paul, great guitar players have spanned the generations. Other modern guitarists who easily deserve mention are guys like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Tom Morello, Jeff Beck, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen…somebody stop me! Let’s all enjoy these guitar virtuosos as they shred their six string things.

The source for the awesome Eddie Van Halen photo is here!

We as humans are always ever revolving. Our minds cannot be in control, but only our inner being and spirit must be in control. The ego can be a detrimental thing if it’s not understood. In order to stay committed to uplifting our lives, we must know who we are. No confusions or uncertainty. We must stay positive and keep looking onward. It’s hard to escape from the past when those choices you made affect you today. There is so much to look forward to, and there are many things that we want to accomplish. We really should put ourselves out there and do all the things we have dreamed of. There is no reason for us not to. It’s time, people. There is a life that most of us have envisioned for ourselves ever since we were little, and it will come to pass. Do less of looking to materialistic things and more digging into yourselves. I am learning that life comes from the inside. Look inside for health, creativity, confidence, and just for life. Take that step now, because you will begin to glow inside from knowledge, from living each day. Read the rest of this entry →

I’m hanging out with some friends:  They are all musicians and we’re philosophizing about the future of music.  This may have something to do with the various substances that are being passed around.  They’re all talking about the artists who influenced them and the rock stars they would like to be like when it hits me.  That’s impossible.  We have come to the end of the rock star era.  There will never be one again.

This past summer, when all the celebrities were dying, everyone was writing about the end of the “monoculture.”  The monoculture is the pop culture that everyone has a shared consciousness of, whether or not they are fans of it.  I don’t agree that is necessarily true.  In twenty years, I think everyone is going to remember being obsessed with LOST and their iPhone apps.  I do believe that it’s true about music though.  I think in 20 years, when people are talking about the music they liked now, they are more likely to get blank stares in return.  And you can already see this happening, now.  I have to admit, until this past summer, I had no idea who Lady Gaga was, which was way later than anyone else.  How did this happen, though? Read the rest of this entry →

Can cause Murder?

Many musicians and rock songs have made mention of recreational pharmaceuticals. Whether it be an overt declaration or a discreet revelation, these substances have made their way into the lyrics of songs of most every genre for many, many years. But one recreational substance is mentioned very frequently. Can you guess which one it is? From bammy to zambi and ganja to weed; cannabis by any other name is still cannabis. And it is the old faithful of recreational drugs…at least according to music.

From the time Stephen Tyler declared he’d be “…sleepin’ late and smokin’ tea!”, MJ has been referred to hundreds, if not thousands, of times in musical compositions all around the world. Although, some songs I find more entertaining in their use and description than others. Read the rest of this entry →

Image is a huge factor in rock music.  For lack of a more articulate term, I typically observe musicians and performers constantly attempting to appear “cool.”  Why bother?  It seems like being a talented musician and performer should be effortless once the musician is confident in his or her career.  Why are people not just comfortable being themselves?

Rock musicians are only suffering on a bigger scale from what we all face.  When we talk to other people, are we constantly thinking to ourselves, “what does this new person think of me?”  The image we project becomes the part of our personality that will be the first impression.  So we try to perfect this impression, and end up sometimes agonizing over it.  We are control freaks who want absolute control over our image.  Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing or controlling what others’ impressions of us will be.  So instead of dropping the whole idea, we hyper analyze and obsess. Read the rest of this entry →

As the old saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…or something like that. In general, I think this is a true statement, but with one little tweak. If you’re going to do something that someone else has already done, you should do it just as well, or better, than the original artist did it. If you’re a musician and you plan to cover a song that was already recorded, particularly if that song happens to be kick-ass already, you better put some serious effort into it and make it sound great. This brings to my rant for this week:

Cover Songs.

I was on the road the other day, and I heard a cover of ‘Hey Joe’; you know, the Hendrix tune. But, it was Deep Purple actually performing the song…and not incredibly well either. I was a little put out by this because I like Deep Purple and I am a rabid Jimi Hendrix fan, but I consider it blasphemous that anyone would cover a Hendrix tune and do it in such a poor manner. That’s not the worst of it; ‘Hey Joe’ has been recorded over sixty (yes, 60!) times since it was first penned and recorded in 1965 (by a group called The Leaves). Say it ain’t so! I haven’t listened to all sixty versions of the song, but I bet that each cover is at a different level of quality. In recent memory, I think the worst version of a song I have heard is Avenged Sevenfold covering ‘Paranoid’; the old Black Sabbath tune. Have you heard this? I think it was recorded for a sound track. Not only is it a piss-poor version of the song, but who told M. Shadows he could sing in the first place. Read the rest of this entry →

Many people want to make certain changes to their lives.  There is a huge self-improvement section of the bookstore, where I can sometimes be found.  From better scheduling to better eating, from more thoughtfulness to more action, change and improvement seem to be popular.

Maybe it’s just me, but people seem to rely on music to unleash some of the emotional neediness that arises in everyday life.  We interpret as we please, and seek reassurance in the cryptic lyrics.  The haunting melodies evoke either energetic times or sorrowful times, pensive times or forward-moving times.  We chose what we listen to, but maybe we can’t always control how exactly a particular song will affect us on a particular day when we listen to it.

When I listen to Mates of State, I feel a lot of energy from the upbeat piano lines and drum rhythms.  I want to feel enthusiastic about something when listening to Mates of State. Read the rest of this entry →

A large leak...kind of...

It has been a big couple of weeks for leaks.  Radiohead and Weezer both experienced song leaks last weeks with varied results.  Radiohead’s song, “These Are My Twisted Words”, was a very good song reminiscent of Kid A, which is my favorite Radiohead album by far.  Weezer’s leak a few weeks ago was less successful musically.  “The Girl Got Hot” was just more run of the mill Weezer from the Green Album rather than brilliant Weezer from Pinkerton (will we ever see that Weezer again?).

More telling than the quality of the songs, though, was the reaction to the leaks or the almost non-reaction.  Leaks have become almost commonplace these days.  Its the price of doing business in these modern times.  And both bands seem to have come to terms with that. Read the rest of this entry →

I’m not naturally a performer, but there is an element of performance to being a musician.  So I have attempted to transform my nervous energy into stamina for singing and playing music onstage.  Usually, the crowd is nonexistent or mostly intoxicated if I was lucky enough to play on a weekend evening.  Perhaps the most nervousness comes from playing at open mic opportunities, when some of the crowd is actually listening!

I can’t say I ever feel comfortable or at ease on stage.  But I still value music performance, because I believe it is an opportunity to share.  I spend a lot of time working on songwriting in the privacy of my own living room with a notebook and a guitar.  The process is not really complete until I share the song with a few listeners. Read the rest of this entry →

What is it that makes an artist truly an artist?

There are some “9 – 5” workers who might not take you seriously if you say you want to make a living off of singing, acting, painting or dancing.  Artists are often made to feel like second class citizens in a world that favors people with concrete jobs.  This could be crippling to an artist’s identity, but never the less, they must succeed. Looking within and being true to your dream is the only way to do it. The actor, dancer, painter, writer, and singer were put on earth to express and stimulate the emotions of their audience. This is such an important task for an artist to embark on.

Being in Los Angeles for these past three weeks has shown me the meaning of faith and dedication to one’s craft. I have been to an actor’s workshop at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, concerts in the streets, clubs and even at Spiritual Centers. Everyone that I have seen and spoken to has extreme passion and confidence in what they are doing. How else are you supposed to live in this world without doing and creating what you love? It does not matter how old you are, where you live or what you ultimately want to do, as long as you follow your journey.  There is always a way out of ‘no way’. Use all the resources you have in your community, seek guidance from the internet, authors and classes. There is always information available for your craft. Read the rest of this entry →