What's going on there people? In this enthralling edition of One Terrible Blog, I'm gonna discuss some muzak with you. What I am going to discuss is this; no one, anyone, should ever cover the following 3 rock artists: Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen, & Pantera. Allow me to elaborate...
First off, all 3 were/are guitar players who cannot be matched. They have a unique voice and style and when others cover their material, it frankly sounds like dog shit. They can't match the vibe or the feel of the originals.
Examples:
Van Halen: EVH is without a doubt one of the most influential guitar players er....ever. The way that he plays off of his brother, Roth/Hager/Cherone, the man with 2 first names/his kid; is unmatched by others.
Pantera: That band just had a groove that cannot be matched or replicated. When ever you see some ass hat on Youtube doing a Pantera cover; it sounds like crap. Also a side note to that...why in the name of all that is good, would anyone, anywhere ever want to hear Zakk Wylde play with those guys? He doesn't have the style to do it. He's all fast stupid pentatonic runs and awful vibrato. Plus if you go onto Youtube you can see him "jamming" onstage with them at the end of Primal Concrete Sledge. One word: supergoddamnfudgingawful.
and lastly....
Hendrix: If you need to know why it should be outlawed covering a Hendrix tune, my only argument is this: search Youtube for Yngwie J. Malmsteen doing a horrendously terrible version of Voodoo Child. That's it. That's my argument.
Anyways, never ever be the guy who covers anyone those bands unless your name is Edward Van Halen, Dimebag Darrell, or Jimi Hendrix.
Showing posts with label guitar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guitar. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Friday, November 11, 2011
Awesome
I've been to my fair share of concerts, and I have some good memories of them. One of them is seeing Guns N' Roses* in 2003 and getting handed a toy by Buckethead. My favorite one though would be the first time I saw Slayer in 2003. I'm not sure what it is that got me thinking about this, maybe it was just deciding to throw on a Slayer album the other day (World Painted Blood) or maybe it just randomly popped into my head during my daily 5 mile journey.
Here's what happened. We were in high school and had bought tickets to see Slayer on the 2003 Jagermeister tour. I went with my best friend and another friend of ours who decided to bring his dumb ass skanky girlfriend along (boo). My friend Ray and I were separated from our other friend and his skank. We were at the front on the left, while they were on the right. Show starts and bam! Craziness ensues.
When I was going there I was totally set that I wanted to see Dave Lombardo, because he's the fucking man, but as the show started Jeff Hanneman was right in front of me. The entire time. I couldn't believe it. Next thing I know, their set is halfway over and then Jeff Hanneman throws his pick RIGHT at me; the one he had played the entire first half of the show with, and some ass face knocks it away. Then the security guard picks it up and it seemed like time slowed down. The pick seemed to be sitting there for minutes. Just sitting there in his hand. I saw it and went for it, grabbed it while the asshole next to me went for it. I then open my hand and see it sitting there. The security guard saw that Hanneman had thrown it at me and when he saw that I got it, he high fived me. Than to top it off, Jeff Hanneman saw that I got it and screamed "YYYYYYYEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" at me.
It. Was. Awesome.
Also Ray got a pick from him also.
Than I had to drive the 5 hrs back home as our dip shit friend didn't (and probably still doesn't) have his license, and I wasn't going to trust his girlfriend driving my car. So that's my favorite concert memory, and I still have the pick!
*As much as you can call it Guns N' Roses I guess. It was still a kick ass concert.
Here's what happened. We were in high school and had bought tickets to see Slayer on the 2003 Jagermeister tour. I went with my best friend and another friend of ours who decided to bring his dumb ass skanky girlfriend along (boo). My friend Ray and I were separated from our other friend and his skank. We were at the front on the left, while they were on the right. Show starts and bam! Craziness ensues.
When I was going there I was totally set that I wanted to see Dave Lombardo, because he's the fucking man, but as the show started Jeff Hanneman was right in front of me. The entire time. I couldn't believe it. Next thing I know, their set is halfway over and then Jeff Hanneman throws his pick RIGHT at me; the one he had played the entire first half of the show with, and some ass face knocks it away. Then the security guard picks it up and it seemed like time slowed down. The pick seemed to be sitting there for minutes. Just sitting there in his hand. I saw it and went for it, grabbed it while the asshole next to me went for it. I then open my hand and see it sitting there. The security guard saw that Hanneman had thrown it at me and when he saw that I got it, he high fived me. Than to top it off, Jeff Hanneman saw that I got it and screamed "YYYYYYYEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" at me.
It. Was. Awesome.
Also Ray got a pick from him also.
Than I had to drive the 5 hrs back home as our dip shit friend didn't (and probably still doesn't) have his license, and I wasn't going to trust his girlfriend driving my car. So that's my favorite concert memory, and I still have the pick!
*As much as you can call it Guns N' Roses I guess. It was still a kick ass concert.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Satch vs. Mustaine
On YouTube, I subscribe to some Guitar Center channel and on it there are some pretty sweet videos. They have this series called In Session or something of that nature. The short and skinny of them is this: get a famous guitar player and have them tell some stories about their tunes, play their tunes, and interact with the audience. Sounds simple right? Well what I am going to do here is compare and contrast two guitarists they had on there; one is Joe Satriani and the other is Dave Mustaine.
So on one hand, we have Satch. Super smart, creative, and a virtuosic player. He also happens to be a nice, funny, and engaging person. He talks about his songs in a technical but very accessible way and also is self effacing about the whole thing. He also cracks jokes, talks to the fans, describes things relating to gear, music, and inspiration. How cool is that?
On the other hand, we have Dave Mustaine. Again, he is creative and smart; no where near the level of Satch (this is not an opinion, it's a simple truth). Yet during his In Session, he couldn't look more annoyed or bothered to be there. It looked like it was such a chore for him to play his songs, talk about them, and talk about them. Also he is not engaging, not even a little bit. That leads me to ask why? Seriously how bad is his life here? All he is doing is answering questions and telling some stories about his songs. He also can't help but bad mouth ex band mates (surprise, surprise huh?). I mean the whole point of this is that you are celebrated for your playing by Guitar Center and the fans, and also have a good time. But he can't just have a good god damn time.
I mean I like them both for different reasons, but these things also showcase what type of person/personality they have. One guy can't be having a better time, while another guy just seems to be dragging a dark cloud with him because it is impossible to find joy in something (when he does, it seems SUPER awkward). I guess if I were able to hang out with one guy, it would be Satch. I've met him and these videos also give an insight into how much a nice guy he is...and what a turd Mustaine is 96% of his day/life.
So on one hand, we have Satch. Super smart, creative, and a virtuosic player. He also happens to be a nice, funny, and engaging person. He talks about his songs in a technical but very accessible way and also is self effacing about the whole thing. He also cracks jokes, talks to the fans, describes things relating to gear, music, and inspiration. How cool is that?
On the other hand, we have Dave Mustaine. Again, he is creative and smart; no where near the level of Satch (this is not an opinion, it's a simple truth). Yet during his In Session, he couldn't look more annoyed or bothered to be there. It looked like it was such a chore for him to play his songs, talk about them, and talk about them. Also he is not engaging, not even a little bit. That leads me to ask why? Seriously how bad is his life here? All he is doing is answering questions and telling some stories about his songs. He also can't help but bad mouth ex band mates (surprise, surprise huh?). I mean the whole point of this is that you are celebrated for your playing by Guitar Center and the fans, and also have a good time. But he can't just have a good god damn time.
I mean I like them both for different reasons, but these things also showcase what type of person/personality they have. One guy can't be having a better time, while another guy just seems to be dragging a dark cloud with him because it is impossible to find joy in something (when he does, it seems SUPER awkward). I guess if I were able to hang out with one guy, it would be Satch. I've met him and these videos also give an insight into how much a nice guy he is...and what a turd Mustaine is 96% of his day/life.
Friday, March 4, 2011
The Brown Sound!
Van Halen. Shit they used to be awesome. I feel unfortunate that I was born too late to experience them in their prime. I mean they had everything. Great songs, great vocals, and obviously great harmonica playing. If you watch some old videos of them playing in the Roth era, man there wasn't thing that they couldn't do. To quote John Mellencamp "...even their bad songs are good..." Hell yeah to that statement.
Of course like any band they went through changes; like from Van Halen to Van Hagar to Van Cherone, finally back to Van Halen...minus a key member who really wasn't all that key I guess. We've seen DLR go from the definition of a rock star to a bald guy. And we've seen Eddie turn into a fricken weirdo. He gets cancer, blames it on his metal guitar picks, does music for a porno, then gets a haircut and gets sober. All in like the span of a weekend.
It's great that DLR is back, but it seems like it's too late. Plus since the man with two first names isn't there to play bass and lend his awesome backing vocals; it just feels.....weird. Anyways this was all brought upon because a) Van Halen is bad ass b) I love Van Halen, and c) I was watching some bad ass Eddie Van Halen guitar videos. I mean he was playing "Eruption" and in the middle he starts to improvise and he starts playing what turned out to ultimately be "Mean Streets". Damn that sucks when one person is that good.
Of course like any band they went through changes; like from Van Halen to Van Hagar to Van Cherone, finally back to Van Halen...minus a key member who really wasn't all that key I guess. We've seen DLR go from the definition of a rock star to a bald guy. And we've seen Eddie turn into a fricken weirdo. He gets cancer, blames it on his metal guitar picks, does music for a porno, then gets a haircut and gets sober. All in like the span of a weekend.
It's great that DLR is back, but it seems like it's too late. Plus since the man with two first names isn't there to play bass and lend his awesome backing vocals; it just feels.....weird. Anyways this was all brought upon because a) Van Halen is bad ass b) I love Van Halen, and c) I was watching some bad ass Eddie Van Halen guitar videos. I mean he was playing "Eruption" and in the middle he starts to improvise and he starts playing what turned out to ultimately be "Mean Streets". Damn that sucks when one person is that good.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Weedely Deedely Deedely Weeeeeeeeee! (Guitar Noises)
One of the few things in life that I know that I am legitimately good at (bordering on genius, okay not that great) is playing guitar. Since I was a little Josh (ages 0-10) I was enamored with it. The first real memory I have of a guitar and knowing it was cool was when my family lived in England or Great Britain or the United Kingdom or....I think that's all of their names. I looked up and saw this bad ass (what my stupid brain told me was bad ass at least) purple guitar; it looked like one of those lame ass C.C. DeVille guitars in retrospect, but I was hooked.
Flash forward to my tenth birthday.
I bugged my parents and finally I got one. It was a cream colored Fender Stratocaster, which I still have and plunk around on when I come home to visit, along with a little Crate practice amp. Immediately I was awesome. By awesome I mean that I made it sound like shit just by looking at it. The first time I broke a string I thought that I was going to get in trouble because I was a stupid child. I didn't tell anyone and kept it in it's case for a while. Eventually I let the cat out of the bag...and caught a beating. Just kidding?
Eventually my mom got me signed up for lessons with my first teacher Ryan. The first thing he asked me was what I knew, my answer: "I can play D." Swish. Well, in my eyes things progressed quickly. I was learning quickly and was one of the few people who legitimately loved to practice. I played all of the standard AC/DC tunes but soon got bored. Around this time Ryan moved to Minneapolis and I took lessons from the guy who taught him, Jeremy. He was great. He challenged and pushed me into newer territory making me better.
Also around this time I began to jam with some people from school, doing the shitty high school band thing. I don't want to say that I was hot shit or anything, but I kinda was. I mean one day the other guitar player's (at the time) was cool enough to give me a ride home and he said this: "...you know you guys are not bad, well those other guys are not bad; but you I can tell, you really like to play and practice..."
Flash forward to my sophomore year of high school.
I played football and broke my god damn knuckle. No guitar for like 6 months. Bye bye callouses, muscle memory, speed, accuracy, blah blah. I did make a triumphant return and I feel that I play better than before even with limited range of motion, just because I had to relearn things instead of just going all guns blazing.
Around this time I also made my first upgrade in the guitar department by winning a music store contest; by being the only one to enter it. Hey $200, is $200. Also my English teacher found out that I played guitar so she hounded me to come in and play for the class; no joke she did. So I did and ended up playing for two classes and missing my lunch. I also did this for a speech class. Needless to say my superstar skills and devilishly handsome looks got me some attention from the ladies.
Our little shitty band made an upgrade by getting my friend Ray to be the other guitar player. We both took lessons from Jeremy and we had a healthy competition between each other which helped us get better.
Flash forward to "real life".
Once college came, boy things changed. Gone were the days of playing for hours on end with out responsibility. It became more of when I could, although I always tried to play at least one hour a day no matter how busy. It got easier to do once I started working at a music store and teaching lessons because I was playing upwards of five hours a day and some of my students were really good. Now that I'm in grad school and inching towards real real life, who knows how much time I will have. I do know that no matter what I will always love to play it is one of my first loves and something that I know I am really good at; there is no doubt about that. The shitty thing is that when school is in session, I can only play maybe 3-5 hours a week if I'm lucky. On breaks "Whoa Nelly" do I go to town. I'd say about 10-15 hours a week. The first few days I suck balls (in my mind), but at about day three or four my callouses are back in full form along with speed, accuracy, and my memory. Side note: I have this game I play with myself. I like to learn tune all the way through, play it about 900 times and then not play it for about six months to a year. Then I try to play it off of memory without the aid of a book. The first time or two I just sort of feel it out, but by take three I have it all the way back.
So as time has gone by I have also upgraded just about everything and gotten rid of almost nothing. I have somewhere around 10(ish) guitars and about 6-7 amps. Even though most aren't really worth a damn or even "sexy" guitars I love 'em all for different reasons. They all have different sounds and feels. I should probably stop getting them because I only have two hands and can only play one at a time, and it gets a bit costly to maintain them. But I love it, it's like crack.
Flash forward to my tenth birthday.
I bugged my parents and finally I got one. It was a cream colored Fender Stratocaster, which I still have and plunk around on when I come home to visit, along with a little Crate practice amp. Immediately I was awesome. By awesome I mean that I made it sound like shit just by looking at it. The first time I broke a string I thought that I was going to get in trouble because I was a stupid child. I didn't tell anyone and kept it in it's case for a while. Eventually I let the cat out of the bag...and caught a beating. Just kidding?
Eventually my mom got me signed up for lessons with my first teacher Ryan. The first thing he asked me was what I knew, my answer: "I can play D." Swish. Well, in my eyes things progressed quickly. I was learning quickly and was one of the few people who legitimately loved to practice. I played all of the standard AC/DC tunes but soon got bored. Around this time Ryan moved to Minneapolis and I took lessons from the guy who taught him, Jeremy. He was great. He challenged and pushed me into newer territory making me better.
Also around this time I began to jam with some people from school, doing the shitty high school band thing. I don't want to say that I was hot shit or anything, but I kinda was. I mean one day the other guitar player's (at the time) was cool enough to give me a ride home and he said this: "...you know you guys are not bad, well those other guys are not bad; but you I can tell, you really like to play and practice..."
Flash forward to my sophomore year of high school.
I played football and broke my god damn knuckle. No guitar for like 6 months. Bye bye callouses, muscle memory, speed, accuracy, blah blah. I did make a triumphant return and I feel that I play better than before even with limited range of motion, just because I had to relearn things instead of just going all guns blazing.
Around this time I also made my first upgrade in the guitar department by winning a music store contest; by being the only one to enter it. Hey $200, is $200. Also my English teacher found out that I played guitar so she hounded me to come in and play for the class; no joke she did. So I did and ended up playing for two classes and missing my lunch. I also did this for a speech class. Needless to say my superstar skills and devilishly handsome looks got me some attention from the ladies.
Our little shitty band made an upgrade by getting my friend Ray to be the other guitar player. We both took lessons from Jeremy and we had a healthy competition between each other which helped us get better.
Flash forward to "real life".
Once college came, boy things changed. Gone were the days of playing for hours on end with out responsibility. It became more of when I could, although I always tried to play at least one hour a day no matter how busy. It got easier to do once I started working at a music store and teaching lessons because I was playing upwards of five hours a day and some of my students were really good. Now that I'm in grad school and inching towards real real life, who knows how much time I will have. I do know that no matter what I will always love to play it is one of my first loves and something that I know I am really good at; there is no doubt about that. The shitty thing is that when school is in session, I can only play maybe 3-5 hours a week if I'm lucky. On breaks "Whoa Nelly" do I go to town. I'd say about 10-15 hours a week. The first few days I suck balls (in my mind), but at about day three or four my callouses are back in full form along with speed, accuracy, and my memory. Side note: I have this game I play with myself. I like to learn tune all the way through, play it about 900 times and then not play it for about six months to a year. Then I try to play it off of memory without the aid of a book. The first time or two I just sort of feel it out, but by take three I have it all the way back.
So as time has gone by I have also upgraded just about everything and gotten rid of almost nothing. I have somewhere around 10(ish) guitars and about 6-7 amps. Even though most aren't really worth a damn or even "sexy" guitars I love 'em all for different reasons. They all have different sounds and feels. I should probably stop getting them because I only have two hands and can only play one at a time, and it gets a bit costly to maintain them. But I love it, it's like crack.
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