RUSH GETS A STAR

Recently, the legendary group, RUSH had received one of the greatest honor that an artist can get. They have recently been added to the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of the Musicians Institute on Hollywood Boulevard. Both artists were pleased with the honor they received. Only remarkable and legendary celebrities from all fields of art are given a star.

Drummer Neil Peart was missing in action, probably doesn’t want to be exposed to media again as he is notoriously known for his press – shy attitude. Rush was inducted by no other than Smashing Pumpkins singer Bully Corgan and Former Music Director Donna Halper.

Such an honor to be presented with a star to this prestigious Hollywood walk of fame.

Meanwhile, I just downloaded a free music EP called anti music. And I was expecting something Indie or even something not so mainstream but good but here I am utterly disappointed and loss for words listening to the crappiest thing I have ever heard, more badly than Bieber himself. What had happen to real music of the 90’s, can’t seem to find anything like it anymore. Please help us revive the real music scene and bring back real rock music in this world.

How to Learn Techniques Effectively

Learning should be systematic. No matter what you would learn, it is a good thing to be gradual and systematic. Never rush things. There are no shortcuts in this life and luck is not applicable in learning guitar techniques. You won hear a person say that he is so lucky he learned this and that. No, sir. Learning a technique comes from constant practice and discipline. You must have the patience to start small and gradually pick up the pace. That is how it is done. You must have the humility to accept the fact that you are now a newbie. But after some time, you would grow out of this status and can call yourself a full – pledged guitar player. Only if you are patient enough to discipline yourself to maintain a regular dedicated time for practice. I am always stressing on practice, always emphasizing the word, practice. Why? Because this word can make wonders. This word can be the catalyst of something great and legendary. The word practice is as significant as your lives. Practice is the only thing that could lead you into perfection. Guitar playing is no exception. Even the legends dedicate most of their time, practicing, to give you that feeling of awesomeness that you feel every time you watch them.

What Makes a Guitar Good

What are the factors that make a guitar good? Is it the looks? The finish? The wood used? The hardware? Yes, these are all the factors that make a guitar good but however, you can also find cheap guitars that won’t disappoint you. Always keep in mind that the price doesn’t always matter. It is always the usability of the guitar. usability means, the comfort that you experience when playing it and the satisfaction that you feel whenever you perform with it.  You can be with a three thousand dollar guitar and yet be uncomfortable, that’s not good. Not all people go along well with every top of the line guitar. the ES 355 is one of those top of the line guitars. Great tone, great looks, high price but the guitar could wear you out after four songs or less, why? It is so damn heavy. The Gibson robot guitar is every guitar players dream, auto tuning, auto intonation and all those mouth watering futuristic features of the Gibson Robot guitar are enough to make any guitar player drool, but some aren’t comfortable with it. Why? It is delicate; you can’t spin it around because you’re afraid you might screw something up. So it all comes down to the comfort that you feel with the guitar. there is a certain connection between the guitar and the guitarist and that alone could not be replaced, that is why when choosing a guitar, look for one that you know would be a part of you until the end of your days.

The Fender VG Stratocaster

The Fender VG Stratocaster was developed in 2007. It is a high – tech guitar that features 37 various fender guitar sounds including the Stratocaster, telecaster, humbuckers, 12 string and acoustic and also 5 alternate tunings that can be accessed on a twist of a knob.  It isn’t similar with the Gibson Robot Technology where and is quite different in many ways, like for example, the VG doesn’t use piezo electronics.  The secret with the VG is the Roland Pick up near the bridge. The pickup enables it to digitally change tones, sounds and even tunings.

The VG was developed by Greg Koch and Jeff Kollman. There are 2 extra knobs on the Fender VG, the mode control knob and the tuning control knob. The mode control can select sounds from a Normal Fender American Series Stratocaster, a Modeled Stratocaster, a modeled Telecaster, a modeled humbuckers and a modeled acoustic guitar, all complete with different variations which are accessible in a flick of a switch.

The tuning control knob on the meantime features various tunings such as the Normal Standard Tuning, Dropped D tuning, Open G tuning, D Modal tuning, Baritone, and 12 strings. The VG doesn’t twirl the tuning pegs during tuning change but rather modify the output sound of the guitar digitally and as authentically as possible as long as the guitar is in standard tuning. This allows you to instantly change tunings.

The VG is powered by 4 AA batteries and costs around 700 US Dollars but was discontinued in April 2009.

Heavy Metal Guitar Techniques

Heavy metal is one of the most difficult to play genres in the world. Most metal riffs require high – speed picking and squealing and stuff and really require an impressive amount of skills. That’s why most metal musicians are admired because of this. Not only on the field of guitar playing but also in bass, drums and piano playing as well. Metal is all about speed and brutality. Metal fans always look for those qualities in a song that’s why you can’t just go around playing metal if you don’t have sufficient skills.

That is why today, I will give you some of the techniques that metal music uses so that you would know which direction you would take and you could start practicing these said techniques. Mind you, this is not only applicable to metal music but to other genres as well.

Pick Scream – also called as the pinch harmonics. It is the simplest technique in metal guitar playing. How to do this? Simply pluck the string to produce a certain note and while plucking it, make a scooping motion that would enable your thumb to barely touch the string that you picked. This would produce a high – pitched screaming note, especially when plugged into a distortion pedal.

Economy picking and Alternate picking – alternate picking is picking the strings alternately. Hitting two notes. Economy picking is also a variant of alternate picking except when you are about to go to the adjacent string, you sweep down to the first note of the adjacent string instead alternately picking it up or down again.

Sweep Picking

Sweep picking or economy picking is a technique that allows you to play numerous notes at a pace impossible with just alternate picking. Again, this is all about speed. If alternate picking could double your picking speed and lets you hit 2 notes on one go, sweep picking could allow you to hit 4 to 5 notes or even more in just one sweeping direction. Ideal for jumping into octaves a compressing several notes in a beat or a measure.

How do you do this “Sweep Picking” technique? Well, basically, the idea is to hit 2 or more notes on adjacent strings with one swipe or sweeping action. Guitar shredders often use this technique to acquire insane speed on their fretboard making them sound more awesome. That is the basic point of sweep picking but it has more uses other than the sudden speed rush.

Here’s an example of how to do a sweep picking over the Dm arpeggio:

-------------------------5-------5----------------

----------------6-----------------------6---------

---------7------------------------------------7---

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First, we have the Dm chord arpeggio. The involved notes are D, F and A. to sweep pick this, start with the D note and sweep down your pick to the F note and down to the A note. Glide your pick smoothly across the surface of the string without lifting it. Now sweep back up starting with A note up to D note and back to the D note. You just hit 6 notes in two swipes. That is sweep picking.

Rhythm Guitar

Rhythm guitar is all about strumming, basically. Learning how to strum it in a proper manner is as important as learning guitar itself. Knowing how to strum makes you an effective rhythm guitar player and this could make you play a guitar as an accompaniment for vocalists, making you number one pick on gatherings and stuff. But of course, we don’t want to learn just to impress people, right? That is not the right attitude. You should learn playing the guitar for the sake of learning and for the sake of music. Anyway, learning rhythm and lead guitar creates a perfect balance in your guitar skills. A good rhythm guitarist that could do guitar solos as well as he does rhythm is the ultimate guitar player.

Strumming is not an easy technique to do; it is as difficult as learning the guitar itself. You should no how to maintain tempo while strumming and your patterns should be consistent. Knowing the basic time signatures is also essential in strumming. Usually, pop songs are in the 4/4 time signature, meaning, in each bar, it has four beats. Try counting from one to four in a regular pace, at the number four, that is the end of the bar. 4 bars and four beats each, that is 4/4 time signature. Rhythm guitar is heavily based on that. The strumming pattern is based on the time signature. For example: in a 4/4 time signature, there are also four strumming. But it depends on the song.

Try and listen to some songs and learn it yourself.

Art and Professionalism

There is a big difference between art and professionalism in the field of music. Everyone can be a professional or can be called a professional. The definition itself is: a professional is a person who is an expert on a certain field and using it as his profession or a job. That definition hit the spot. If you are a professional musician, you play music as your profession, as a job. Who are these professional musicians? The house band in American Idol, the session instrumentalist in Lady Gaga or Usher’s concert, the Jazz band that backs up Crooners in Vegas. A professional does his thing to satisfy the demands made by the employer. Professional musicians are easy to replace, specially by machines and computers. These are the musicians that play under a record labels hands. There’s no such thing as a “Professional Artist”

Artists on the other hand, are these musicians who can’t go on without creating something musically. It’s like a part of their system, they want to make music for the sake of artistry, and they never fail to experiment for the sake of improvement. These are the Da Vinci’s of music, the Thomas Edison’s of guitar playing. If you can see the difference then you are smart enough to understand. Now, the question is, where do you belong?

Different Guitar Problems and their Solutions

When we practice guitar, it is a good practice to start with the easiest stuff. We shouldn’t skip to the advanced level and end up disappointed that is very wrong. Anyway, here are some common problems that beginner as well as the intermediate player face and their possible solutions.

1. Barre Chords

- The mistakes beginners make is they play the Barre chords using the tip of their fingers. The right thing to do is use your finger bones. Also, if you find it really difficult, try using the small Barre, usually covers only three high strings.

2. Scales

- Can’t memorize the patterns? Try starting it with the box positions. There is a certain sequence of patterns, starting with the simplest up to the more complicated scales. This certain sequence makes it easy for you to memorize it since it is all connected. Try searching it on the net.

3. Speed

- Can’t seem to speed up you’re alternate picking? Here’s a tip; the thing with speed picking is to play it as lightly as possible. Keep your fingers close to the fret board, small movements are good. On your right hand, don’t make large swipes, let the tip of the pick do the work.

These are just some of the solutions to some of your guitar problems. What’s important is; you follow a regular practicing schedule. It’s all about practicing.

New Slash Les Paul Models

Gibson has recently announced that they will be releasing two more new Slash Signature models of the Les Paul: The Slash Appetite for Destruction Aged and The Slash Appetite for Destruction VOS, all available in Butterscotch finishes. Both are limited editions.

These limited edition Les Pauls are created to relive and re experience the classic feel of the Les Paul Standards back in the 58’s up to the 60’s. there are only 300 of these VOS babies and 100 of the hand – aged type. Phew, better get your hands on them if you really want them.

The hardware? A PAF sounding Seymour Duncan Signature series pickup. The Alnico II Slash Zebra – coil Hum bucking pick up. The body is made up of a two – piece maple woo. Neck is a Grade A mahogany that is slim. Rosewood fretboards. 22 – Jumbo Frets. And lots more. How’s that?

It has independent tone controls for both pickups using the traditional 3 – way pick up selector thru a Switchcraft toggle switch.

Now, with only 400 of these babies, the price will be kind of sky high but if you really want it that will not matter.

The VOS model sells for 9,174 US Dollars and the Aged Model, a whopping 12, 468 US Dollars. However, street prices will be a bit lower.

Rage Against the Machine New Music –Possible

The recent Download Festival has proved to be life – changing in various ways, whether positive or negative. Same goes to premiere rap rock band, Rage Against the Machine who headlined the tour on Saturday. Despite of the brief unwanted chaos that erupted and was also put under control with the help of Rage against the machine front man himself, Zach de la Rocha, everything went on well. They were also overwhelmed by the way the crowd reacted to their performance. And because of this, they are reconsidering their latest decision not to make new music but just do the same stuff all over again and might make another album.

Rage Against the Machine has a full schedule this year and they said once they are done with the things that they need to do, they might talk about making an album,. They wouldn’t be ruling it out.

Rage Against the Machine is one of the most anticipated bands in Download Festival, they broke up back in 2000 and reunited around 2008 and surprised the fans. They were the pioneers of rap rock and rap metal, fusing activism with rap and coating it with heavy rock goodness and some funk toppings.

Let us hope for the best.

Thom Yorke Makes a Prediction

The eclectic Radiohead front man Thom Yorke has made a prediction recently. The prediction is directed at the music industry. Music industry means the corporate moguls that hold the industry nowadays that makes it impossible for real musicians to penetrate the music scene because these said monsters (moguls) are controlling every bit of it and blinding the people with Pop icons that totally suck or too commercial and forgetting music completely. This is the music scene that we refer to nowadays.

The brit rocker that gave us the hits, Creep, Karma Police, and High, warns us that the music industry is on the verge, and it would crumble down any moment soon. He also added that up and coming musicians should not sign record deals with any major label because in moths, it will collapse completely.

Radiohead part ways with their Label, EMI, in 2007 and went digital in music production selling their 7^th album, In Rainbows, online and allowed the fans to choose the price.

He recently encouraged new artist not to affiliate themselves with major labels but instead go indie.

Personally, if the Music Biz do collapse, it won’t be a big loss for musicians, and we will see the rise of real musicians, real music. This is actually a good thing for indie artist for they would be able to release their art without getting blot out by a Justin Bieber or a Lady Gaga.

The Art of Performing

Guitar is an art form, no doubt about that but performing is art as well. There are certain things that you should learn before you go out there and perform to people. Whether it’s just 10 people or ten million, the rules are the same. So before you pick up that guitar and rock out, try and read these following tips that would help you to get up and get going.

1. Conquering stage fright

a. Stress and anxieties can affect your voice, persona and performance in a negative way.

b. Be mentally and physically prepared.

c. Take your mind off it. Just be natural.

2. Make your band noticeable.

a. Perform like you mean it.

b. Perform as a group, not just a single person. It is your show.

c. Connect to the crowd. The connection is important.

3. Be a Rockstar. (in a good way)

a. Be a real Rockstar. Put some attitude in your performances.

b. The crowd is the gauge if you are doing well. If the crowd is dead, there is something wrong with your performance.

c. Create an A set list. An A setlist is the compilation of all your good songs in one set.

d. Have a backup plan just in case the A set doesn’t click.

There are lots more to learn about the art of performing and most of them are best learned through experience

A7X Drummer Died of Accidental Overdose

After months of toxicology tests, experts found out that the late legendary drummer died of accidental drug overdose and alcohol. Toxicology tests results indicates that James “The Rev” Sullivan suffered from acute polydrug intoxication. The Rev’s heart was somehow enlarged and this evidence was the main reason for the drummer’s death. They went through five to six different tests just to verify the true cause of death.

James Owen Sullivan or much popularly known as The Rev Plague Tholomew was the drummer for California Heavy Metal band, Avenged Sevenfold. He died last year of unknown cause in his house at Huntington Beach, California but is now confirmed that his death was due to accidental overdose. His family, friends and most especially, his band mates says that they don’t care about the results and all they know is on that unfortunate evening of December 28 2009, they lost a brother, a son and a friend. The Rev was a nice guy in person, always true to himself and his friends. He is also one of the founding members of Avenged Sevenfold and is the brains behind most of the songs and its arrangements and helps also with the vocal harmonies. Sullivan will be temporarily replaced by no other than Mike Portnoy of the Dream Theater. Legends can only be replaced by Legends.

Sir Paul Gets Gershwin Prize

The Gershwin Prize award is the highest award a man could get in the United States for popular music. Named after George and Ira Gershwin whose collection is housed in the White House. This award was recently given to Sir Paul McCartney by President Barrack Obama himself at the White House followed by prestigious White House Tribute Concert which also featured other famous artists such as Stevie Wonder, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dave Grohl and many more. Paul McCartney sang the Beatles classic, “Michelle” and personally dedicated it to the First Lady Michelle Obama. This was a splendid night for all that was in there.

Paul McCartney himself said that he was itching to perform there in the White House since and he’s got all respect to the current president of the United States. President Obama was all praises saying Paul has been a part of the American culture as well.

The whole night was dedicated for the awarding of the Gershwin Prize award and the First Family as well as other guests rocked out and enjoyed the rest of the evening, ending it with the song, “Hey Jude” which got the whole house singing along to the words of the song written by the legendary Beatle.

Gig Essentials

Tonight is the night of all nights. You’ll be performing in a gig tonight together with your band. Everything is set, lots of people will be there. This is a memorable evening for you and you don’t want to mess it up. To make things run smoothly, you should double check some important things when performing in gigs, whether it’s a stadium or a bar, same procedure applies.

- Check your personal equipments. (guitars, strings, gadgets, cords) If you have your own guitar tech, which would be his problem, but let’s just stay on the lower level. Let’s just say that you are a band who’s starting out.

- Check your effects gear. You should double check your stomp boxes, see if everything is in order or check if it’s working. If you are using a digital multi affects processor, double check the effects patches that you would use if it’s configured to your preference. You would want to sound as professional as possible, so things like unbalanced effects and stuff are not signs of professionalism so you should check this one out.

- Do a sound check. Always go to the venue early, about several hours before the gig. This is a must for every band. This is to determine your sound mix, and other preferences that your band needs.

These are all important things that you should consider when doing a gig. This would not only make you look good but will make you sound good as well.

Limp Bizkit Postpone US Tour

The newly re-grouped rap metal band, Limp Bizkit has recently postponed their “comeback US tour” and moved it on the fall of 2010. The reason? Simply because they wanted to re-locate the amphitheater venues of the tour. They say that amphitheaters will not provide total Limp Bizkit satisfaction and they wanted to give the fans total chaos.

Limp Bizkit has an album coming up entitled, “The Gold Cobra” and don’t ask me why it is named that because I don’t have an idea. It Is the fifth full length album and in my opinion, like Deftones and Korn, they’re going back to their rap metal roots. Add up Wes Borland’s return to the Limp Bizkit pit equals total chaotic goodness.

Limp Bizkit has been an icon of rap metal, selling over thirty five million albums worldwide and being involved in lots of different events. Fred Durst has returned to his rapping and Wes Borland to his weird outfits, he’s not using the Ibanez 7 strong anymore, I’m still yet to confirm which guitar is he using now.

I’ve listened to the leaked version of “why try”, the band’s single from the Gold Cobra album. It’s like listening to the old Limp Bizkit album, but the bad thing about this is that this genre no longer rocks. Let’s just hope that all goes well for them.

Gibson Tom DeLonge Signature Guitar

Here’s one of my most favorite guitar that I never had the chance to get my hands on. I know most guitar aficionados will surely not disagree with me since this guitar is not really for the hardcore guitar virtuosos. This is a Gibson Tom DeLonge Signature Guitar. Yes, that is surely on my list of favorite guitars, next to the vintage Fender Telecaster. Now, what makes it likeable? Well, it’s simply because it is so simple, it rocks.

The Tom DeLonge Signature basically, it looks like a vintage Gibson ES 335. What makes it different? Well, except for the fact that it now sports a chocolate colored body with white racing stripes to add more attitude, it has a vintage Gibson Dirty Fingers hum bucker Pick up and one control knob. The dirty finger was produced on the 70,s and was discontinued because of its loud and slightly distorted tone as a result of an over wound potted pick up. Since it has only one pickup, it has no pick up selector, no tone control knob, it looks large and clean.

The sound? Awesome for riff-based songs and down stroked strumming which I personally like. Tom Delong is Blink 182 and Angels and Airwaves front man, he basically wanted a vintage American guitar but with a bad ass, uncomplicated attitude, thus, the Gibson Tom DeLonge Signature Guitar.

Brand New Eyes of Paramore

Nothing can be said of this young band that made it to the top of the charts with their honest to goodness pop punk music that is rushing to the ears of young people from all walks of life like water. Paramore is the force that pushes these kids to rock in a good way.

Paramore members Hailey Williams and the rest of the group started out way too young, around 16. Their first single, “Pressure” out of their debut album, All We Know Is Falling, back in 2005 was the National Anthem of scene kids all over the world. Their success was wide spread with the help of technology. Even in the Philippines, female – fronted bands sprouted like mushrooms everywhere.

The thing with Paramore is, they have proven themselves that they are not just “fad” bands or just another Emo band, they do have the talent and formula to make hit after hit. They are not just another Emo band, or another spunky girl like Avril Lavigne, they were honest to what they do and their music is as genuine as their age. The ebb and flow of emotions were mirrors of what they feel as a person and not something they fake.

Listen to these kids and you’ll see what I mean.

Screamo Kids

Do you know what kind of music kids listen to nowadays? They call it “Screamo” and from the term itself, it does involve a lot of screaming. Personally, I don’t abhor this type of genre since I am an open – minded person when it comes to music and I listen to any genres, except for that Bieber boy who’s ruining everything nowadays. And kids, a friendly warning, don’t listen to Bieber.

Anyway, back to the screamo thing, basically, it was birthed from the D.C. Emo scene in the 90’s but is less emotional and more brutal. It still talks about emotions but not in a wimpy way. Bands that play screamo are much hardcore than the typical Emo and the arrangement of screamo songs are much technical and much complicated than the typical Emo song. Screamo bands often include synthesizers and techno beats on their music.

Metalcore is sometimes associated with Screamo because most screamo bands have transcended to the metalcore genre, leaving behind the Emo scene and transferring to a more aggressive form of screamo. Metalcore puts emphasis on breakdowns and synchronized moves and the fashion statement.

The genre spawned cults of followers as well as critics, going as far as stating that these kind of thing should not be considered music and that these bands put fashion first before passion. That is their opinion about it. For me, all is cool as long as their playing their stuff, as long as there are technicalities, everything’s cool with me.