Six Strings and A Dream

Yes, thank you very much Mr. Van Halen for breaking out in the late 70's and showing the world just how musically slow paced they were. Yes, thank you for incorporating finger tapping into nearly every single guitar solo you dished out. Yes, thank you Mr. Van Halen for providing the world with the razzle-dazzle display of guitar virtuosity that is the song, Eruption. Because yes, you did just that Mr. Van Halen, you erupted into the hearts and minds of many guitarists, and now everyone is finger tapping, and that is a great thing!  While many argue that Van Halen was not the first guitar player to incorporate finger tapping into his or her music, he sure was the first to bring it into the mainstream slow paced world at the time. There were many bands out in the 1970's, but none in my simple minded opinion made an impact quite like Van Halen. See, the beauty of it all, is that no one at the time had heard guitar playing at this breakneck speed. Many wonder after listenin...

                      Everybody loves playing the electric guitar with all its fancy tones, effects, and rock n roll vibes, but everybody should appreciate what inspired that electronic wonder; the acoustic guitar! (Well in this case the classical guitar tricked out with nylon strings, but we're keeping thins simple here) There are many astonishing acoustic guitar players out there, but my favorite is hands down is the blissful pairing of Rodrigo y Gabriela!                These two had a very adventurous start in their music careers, beginning in Mexico City where they met each other after joining a local heavy metal group. One of their biggest inspirations is the all mighty Metallica, which drew the pair closer to each other in their song writing conundrums.(the duo are indeed married, which is...

                                                         The Magical Joys of Effect Pedals                     Guitar players truly have an obsession with a term known as "tone." (Strong emphasis on those quotation marks there) Check out any other blog, guitar archive website, or music store provider, and you will see a discussion about tone in almost every single one of them. Tone is like the flavor of your guitar's sound, and how you mold that flavor is derived from many MANY factors such as: your pick-ups, your strings, your amplifier, playing a stratocaster, using a rosewood or maple neck, is your guitar's body solid or hollow, do you have a bolt-on neck or set-through? (This could be an entirely different blog on its own) The gear we use is important, but above all; practice! practice ...