MusicalGeeks.com

Musician’s Friend broke my heart today

So today, I decided to take my son to “Mecca”, aka the Musician’s Friend Clearance Warehouse in Kansas City. Normally, there’s a HUGE selection of damaged, cheap guitars, B.C. Rich’s galore, that silly Paul Stanley Sovereign, low end Fenders, and a smattering of Gibsons, which are not much cheaper than new. Not today though… Today was [...]

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium

The Red Hot Chili Peppers released Stadium Arcadium this week, and man do I love this album. It’s the best thing they’ve done in years, easily, and I am bopping to it. Darla Sasaki (my girlfriend) wrote a great review of it for iPodObserver.com, if you want more info. If you want to hear some [...]

Zakk Wylde working on “Mafia” follow-up “Shot to Hell”

Zakk Wylde signed his band Black Label Society to a new record deal with Roadrunner Records to do the follow-up to their hit album “Mafia.” Zakk is currently working on the album, which will be called “Shot to Hell.” The best guitarist in the world is busy these days. In addition to working on his new [...]

Bruce Horn is still changing things

A few years ago, I was at the Apple WWDC, and a friend of mine, Dave Every walks up and says, “Hey, come over here and meet Bruce Horn”. Well, duh, of course I’m going to do that, Bruce is the man. I mean, he made the Finder and created so many concepts that still [...]

Don’t learn on cheap crap

So yesterday, as I was out and about shopping with my roomie, and erstwhile MG.com member, Jenny at Sam's Club, we passed the section where they have the cheap instruments. Now, I don't mean cheap like Epiphone or Squier. I mean, stuff that makes those brands look like top of the line gear. She of course, being possessed of perfect pitch and just a touch of OCD has to tune them. It was...amusing to watch, although I think there are some kids with a rather expanded vocabulary that their parents would have rather they not learned.

Motley Crue concert was pathetic

After spending a lot of time on the road over the past couple of months, I finally made it home. I got here just one day before Motley Crue took the stage in Halifax. Just two songs into the song, the PA system blew up so there was no sound at all. It’s funny watching 40-something [...]

Some guy named Dalrymple

‘Sounds like some guy named Dalrymple had an incredible experience at Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. He does a pretty good job of relating the experience, so I’ll just link to the post here. Gee, if only we could get him to join this site. Nah, it’ll never happen. —Chuck

7 Seconds of Love

Without question, my favorite band right now.

Guitar Hero

Okay, so it may not make me able to play guitar, but a PlayStation 2 game called Guitar Hero lets me live out my rock and roll fantasies, anyway.

GAS - I got it

Having gotten 1 friggin day on the floor of NAMM, I have a condensed case of GAS - Gear Aquisision Syndrome. If you own guitar, you know what this is. Here’s my list – what’s on yours? Eyeland Guitar Straps – the coolest leather straps I’ve seen. Reverend Guitars – cool retro designs and a [...]

The man is a monster

Alright, so check out the video of the Christian McBride Band doing Weather Report’s “Boogie Woogie Waltz”. Everyone’s amazing, of course, and the drummer, Terreon Gully, takes this hi-hat/bass-drum solo while keeping time with rim clicks on the snare that’s just so subtle and yet smokin’ at the same time. Wow…

My ten favorite guitar players

Now, just to (futilely) forestall the But what about... questions, this isn't a list based on technical skill. They're all technically competent. If all I cared about was technique, I'd have Yngwie, Vai, and Petrucci on here. But they aren't, because as far as I'm concerned they're technicians. They can play 85254872459598 notes a second, but who cares. It's all sterile. These are guitarists whose work makes me want to listen to it over and over and over. They all have melody, rhythm, and most importantly, they all write and play really good music. Some may not be technically the best, but they all make my favorite music. From the top:

An iPod ad that speaks to me

Apple's latest iPod "Silhouette" ad features Wynton Marsalis. It's a nice departure from the run of rock and roll, hip hop and dance music that's dominated the ad campaign.

New Gibsons!

So, after seeing Jim's article on the Gibson announcements at NAMM, I of course, being the Gibson Whore that I am, dropped all that boring work I was doing, and leapt like Tigger on speed, (Okay, I just opened a new browser window, but every fiber of my being was on fire when I did, so it was like leaping, but in a less Oh crap, John's destroying the cubes again kind of way) to the Gibson web site, and the page talking about the new models. There's a bunch of them, and I've not played any of them, (Hint to the nice folks at Gibson...you know, KC's not that far away, and I'm good about returning review hardware, really. Or buying it.), this isn't technically a review, but more of an impression.

Technorati Tags: Guitar, Gibson

Jamming with the All Stars!

The All Stars played last week at Macworld, and man did it feel good. This, despite the fact that I forgot how to play "Brown Sugar." :-)

The band played very well, and everyone sounded great, and w00t! You can see a photo gallery from the event at TMO.

Johnny Ace- The Blues Groove Bass Master!

I NEVER go out for music “cold,” to see a group I’ve never heard of, but it was my birthday and no one we know was playing that night… My wife thought it was a better idea than just sitting home, so she drug me off to Biscuits & Blues in San Francisco to hook up [...]

Oh my God, Metal Health!

I’m sure everyone remembers the Quiet Riot tune, Metal Health. Unfortunately for me today, I am remembering it over and over again. I found myself walking around this morning singing the song in my head. At one point, when I came to my senses, I said “what the hell are you doing, stop that!” Sadly it’s 12 [...]

Meshuggah: The Vicious Spirit

Take five Swedish guys, give them instruments, turn on amplifiers and hide yourself in a bunker. This won't be an easy ride.

My band playing the Blues

Okay, so I don’t have a band. Actually I’ve never played in a band. And I’m not so sure I can play the Blues. Piss off!! My band consists of a drum loop from Bandmateloops, a simple Blues track that I put down and then me just kind of sitting back and feeling the music. Besides [...]

It’s all for…well…for me, really

I put together a demo for another song in the last couple of days. I wanted to try out the ART TPS II I mentioned last week, so I chose another one of my simpler tunes that I wrote a very, very long time ago. It's called "It's All For You," and I've always been fond of it. :-)