Comments for EasyGuitar Blog

Comment on Your Guitar “Must-haves” by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:41:44 +0000

Great suggestions. I LOVE live music DVD’s. As a musician, it has helped me learn songs I probably couldn’t have using people’s crappy tabs online.
A tuner is always a great gift. Favorite picks maybe. Those cheesy guitar cleaning kits. and last but not least, I’ve seen these on ebay, for exactly 30 you can get miniature replicas of famous guitars. Kinda cool but you can’t play them…

Comment on The Writing Code by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:36:10 +0000

Definitely Jamiroquai. I mean, she’s JUST a cosmic girl…..

Comment on The stuff of legends… by admin

admin — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:45:54 +0000

Those are definitely great shows, and I’m still a little bitter that I missed 3EB when they were in Dallas. My personal goal, however, is to see U2 next time they come through Dallas. If I were to miss that again, I really don’t know what I would do with myself.

There’s some other concerts worth mentioning that I’ve seen - Counting Crows (Adam Duritz was D-RUNK, but that made the show hilarious), Caedmon’s Call put on a really cool show, and probably the best local show I’ve ever seen was a band called Stellamaris (now called The New Frontiers).

Comment on The stuff of legends… by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:37:26 +0000

#1 would have to be THIRD EYE BLIND! I saw them a few months back at the House of Blues in Dallas and it was an unbelievable show! Even if you don’t like them they put on a hell of a performance, I think partly because they said they were recording that show for their first ever Live DVD. You heard right my friends. If you missed it the first time do not fret, it will be out on DVD shortly
From here on its hard to say who gets 2,3,4 and so on. Coldplay put on an AMAZING show both times I saw them while John Mayer was more musically entertaining. Maroon 5 was also very cool but was the opener for Mayer so they didn’t play as much as they would have if they had opened.
I’ve seen many other good local and popular bands in my time that shouldn’t go without mentioning but still don’t deserve top 5 recognition: Journey, P.O.D., Delirious, Tomorrow’s Rescue, Desperation Band (although it was worship)…ok now I guess I’m just bragging. I’ll stop.

Comment on The Good ‘Ole Days by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 06:41:59 +0000

Although analog does rule when it comes to tone, digital has its place in the area of accuracy. You can always depend on a digital effect to be accurate in tempo, consistency, and reliability. If one were to use a tube amp and at the same time use a digital delay, the listener would never know the difference. Now, trying using delay again only replace the digital delay with analog. Lets say with an EchoPlex. First they are VERY expensive, they use tape which won’t last forever, and they also use tubes. The upkeep alone isn’t worth having the thing, not even to mention how delicate those are.
My last example takes us back to the year 1985. Big hair everywhere, lots of make-up-wearing freaks in spandex, and the birth of digital rock. If it weren’t for the digital age we wouldn’t have been able to strap a piano around our necks and rock out right next to the guitar player or the bassist with our Keytars. Granted, it is another year until I’m even born but I’ve watched enough “I love the 80’s” on VH1 to know enough about my birth decade.
Digital effects do have their place in guitardom but it is important to know how to balance between analog and digital.
oh and Ibanez RULES!

Comment on Guitar Hero? by Joshua

Joshua — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:57:51 +0000

Haha, nice. Yeah Guitar Hero is pretty big, its got a following that apparently rivals Halo. To rival that game, thats pretty amazing.

But yeah, my biggest compliant about Guitar Hero is when I play songs on it, that I can actually play properly on real guitar, and I can’t on the game…is well just frusterating.

Comment on Guitar Hero? by Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:33:02 +0000

Thats awesome. I thought the story would end differently, I wasn’t expecting a kid to be starting a business. I figured you were going to say he played guitar hero and went on to win some championship rather than become a great guitarist because he sucks….

Comment on Versatility by Brett

Brett — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:15:11 +0000

Great to hear from you and glad to see you are staying on the front lines of progress. I have been terrified since you quit teaching, afraid I would once again fall victim to my own inabilities to be creative and flexible in growing my playing skills. I have been playing almost daily and keep adding more songs to my list but, after reading your blog post, a few of your comments reminded me that I am getting better with the same things but not growing much. As long as the song has most of the same chords, I can play it and I pick up a few new chords along the way.

But at the end of the day, the music sounds much the same, only the words change.

The good news is that I am still playing and haven’t regressed. The bad news is that I have not moved that much further along.

This past August, I purchased an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I tried to get myself to by a Fender but after much trial and sampling, I was about to pay at the counter for the Fender and I just didn’t feel right about the feel. The salesperson led me to try the Epiphone and it immediately scratched the right itch. I added a small Line 6 15W amp and later some headphones (I was running the family out of the house).

After just a couple of times strumming the Les Paul, I picked up the acoustic and was surprised at how much better I was playing – weird!

Anyway, I have no idea what I am doing and really miss not having you to lead me along. I really need to get connected with another teacher, just haven’t made the effort (still grieving over my last loss I guess).

Keep up your postings as you never know when what you have to share will make all the difference to someone out there.

Comment on Versatility by admin

admin — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:45:10 +0000

My favorite acoustic tapper has GOT to be Andy McKee. He is on the same label as Don Ross, and I actually heard of Andy first. The guy is so creative and so melodic, plus every now and then he plays on this amazing harp guitar. Andy and Don are actually on the same record label, and they tour together.

Comment on Versatility by Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:38:56 +0000

He is quite amazing. My favorite acoustic tapper is Don Ross by far. He is not only the cleanest and most technical player of them all but his acoustic stuff is actually melodic and fun to listen to. There are few guys out there who can truly move tapping past the technical and into expressing a feeling, like Matthias. Not just a talent to appreciate but music to enjoy!