HYPERAXE

This is one cool guitar lesson I found at YouTube which I would like to share. This basically helps you to run down your scale through different fret positions and make cool licks.

Sample Image from Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

Aphilo and I had a stroll at a mall this afternoon and passed by one of the Canon Stores. We weren’t really intending to buy something but she just wanted to look around and see what are the new things Canon has to offer for her photography hobby. We managed to talk to one of the sales person whom we have known for quite some time and I tell you, we are really impressed with this guy for he really knows the stuffs he sells, especially when it comes to Canon DSLR lenses. He’s also very enthusiastic to answer customers’ questions and explain their products’ features whether you’ll buy it or not. Read the rest of this entry »

This is quite an interesting post I stumbled upon from Yahoo’s website. It’s entitled “Music lessons pay off in higher earnings: poll“. You can click HERE for more details.

I am not really sure if this is true here in the Philippines, as I was a band member before and most of the people I had played with either didn’t finish their studies or somehow finished their studies but weren’t lucky enough to land a good job in the corporate world. Then again, I couldn’t disagree completely with this post since there are a few musicians I know who actually did good in their chosen careers (aside from music), and are great thinkers. They actually have good analytical and logical skills, and as the post suggests they know how to interact with other people very well. Maybe, those unfortunate musicians didn’t do good in life not because they lack the skills to succeed but rather they had just been overwhelmed by the band era and their hopes on making it big in the music industry didn’t took off at all. But I must agree that if they just made the right choices and made good use of the intellect and skills they have, they would surely succeed in life.

One good example would be this childhood friend of mine who was really good in playing keyboards. He can play any song by ear and a good composer as well. When it comes to his studies, I really admire the way he balances studies and having fun. I was surprised to see that the he has an average of between 1.25 - 1.5 in his college days and he wasn’t a nerd at all. You’ll never really expect such grades for someone, who plays in a band, goes bar hopping during weekends (and sometimes even weekdays), and who’s the happy go lucky type of person. This guy is the only person I know whom I can brand as “COOL” in its real sense. A fun loving person who lives life to the fullest but responsibly. He’s now taking over their family business, and got millions of pesos at his disposal.

Another good example would be a New Wave music lover classmate back in college who did some DJ mixing sidelines after we graduated. This guy didn’t really do good in college but he was a fast learner and his logic was way above average. He’s now working abroad but he was already a manager in his previous job and earns a lot. I look up to this guy as he never tires on learning new IT stuffs and he got to the top because he belongs there.

My last example would be a manager in Nokia Philippines who was my rhythm guitarist in a band I founded in my college days. This guy was also great thinker and if you argue with him on networking and servers, you better know what you are talking about as this guy eat those stuffs for breakfast. He’s a well-to-do guy now who recently married and earning an above-average income as well.

I am a musician before .. and now into an IT career … hmmm ..

I’ve been jamming around with my guitar and decided to record one of my practice sessions. Actually, this is no serious guitar lick or something, and I’m sure it’s not impressive to many as well. This is just an instantaneous guitar solo done in the A Major scale. Actually, this is how I do some of my guitar exercises; create a riff or rhythm section and then jam around with it. The purpose of this exercise is for me to hit different fret position of the A Major scale and to implement some skip notes as well.

Here’s the file for those who just wanted to listen how a Yamaha electric guitar, GuitarPort, and RiffTracker would sound:

A Major Jam MP3 - 64kbps

I’m not sure how to call the song so I decided to just call it “A Major Jam” since it’s a jam session done in the A Major scale. Maybe one day, if I get to complete this as a song or something, then that’s the time I can give it a proper name.

For those who downloaded the file, hope you enjoy it. Ciao! 

In one of my previous post, I was thinking of buying a new laptop, but Aphilo made me realize something that I should have thought a long time ago, and that is to pay attention to my other love.. “MUSIC”.

A couple of months ago while Aphilo and I had dinner at some restaurant, we passed by a Yamaha Music Store and I can’t help but stop and watch in awe at all those  guitars and other musical instruments hanging by the display window. Aphilo then approached me and told me,  “Don’t you think you have more than enough gadgets and techno stuffs at the moment? Instead of buying a new laptop or another gadget, why not buy a guitar?”. Her words struck me and made me realize that aside from those geeky stuffs, I am also in love with music. Moreover, she’s right, I really don’t need a new laptop since my old laptop is still serving me well.

So to make the long story short I bought all those stuffs in the picture:

• Yamaha Electric Guitar Package
• Guitar Multi-Effects Processor (the blue device above the guitar amp)
• Line6 GuitarPort w/ RiffTracker PC Interface (the red device above the guitar amp)

It felt so good to finally have an electric guitar again. My last electric guitar got broken  around 12 years ago, and I never bothered buying a new electric guitar back then, since those were they days that I started not being that active anymore on band gigs. If there was a gig during those times, I rather borrow a guitar than buy one. I just bought some cheap acoustic guitar for my personal jamming sessions and that was it.

For those who are not aware of what the GuitarPort is,it’s actually a Guitar to PC USB interface. It allows you to connect your guitar to your PC and with the included software you can record songs or just jam with some riffs. What’s so cool about it are the included guitar effects and amp models that makes your guitar sound really good. I really enjoyed using it and GuitarPort Online also offered a 30-days free trial account that would allow you to have full access to its offerings of guitar riffs and tutorials download.

I was really so happy with my new guitar and gadgets gear. I spent a lot of hours trying to soften up those rusty fingers, and it took me around 2 days to bring back the finger speed and dexterity I had during my band days. Right now, I’m trying to record some  original compositions and guitar solos, and I’m glad I still haven’t lost that musical skills I had way back then.

[tags]Line6, GuitarPort, Electric Guitar, Music, Yamaha, Guitar[/tags]

It’s been a while since I last played a guitar infront of a large crowd, and today I got that chance to do it again.

This afternoon, we had a singing contest in our company which has been patterned after the American Idol. Prior to the contest, I was asked by one contestant to accompany her with a guitar for her piece on the contest which is “Get Here” by Oleta Adams since she can’t find a minus-one for it. It wasn’t an easy piece considering that the song was played mainly with a piano, so I had to do a bit of classical guitar finger picking just to liven up the acoustic guitar version of the song. I only had last night to practice, and I asked Aphilo to help me out with the practice. Aphilo did a great job singing the song, so I also got the chance to put some cool stuffs on how I played the song especially on the guitar solo part. During the practice session with the vocalist for the contest, another contestant asked me to play for her as well, and she asked me to play “Falling” by Teri DeSario. It was good that I know the song pretty well, so I didn’t need time to learn the chords.

During the contest, I was so nervous seeing so many people watching the show. At first, my fingers were so stiff that I had to shake it several times just to warm it up. Moreover, the guitar that they asked me to use wasn’t really that great since the space between the strings and the neck were quite large. Nevertheless, it only took me a few moments to adjust to the guitar, but I could have played more fluidly if I brought my own classical guitar. Anyway, I think I did pretty well and it was quite a nice feeling to be admired and appreciated by people because of my guitar skills. Though it’s been a while I guess, my guitar and music skills are still good enough to please a lot of people.

Oh, by the way, the contestant who sang “Falling” won the contest and I’m very happy for her.

[tags]Guitar, Get Here Song, Oleta Adams, Falling Song, Teri DeSario, Classical Guitar, Singing Contest[/tags]