Kid's gear

Some kids at work did solo performances this morning. One of them played this guitar & sang. Kids these days are fortunate to have good gear at their disposal for such indulgences. By the way, the parents came down to help set up the gear prior to the performance proper. Salute to parents who dedicate their time & effort in seeing their kids blossom in other aspects of life. Life is too short for merely an academic inclination, kids should be given opportunities to pursue their passion in equal measure at the very least. 

NGS

Ending the week on a good note - New Guitar Sunday...

Kitty custom?

Came across this one in the after market 😑

It seems that someone took the trouble to manifest this frankenstein; a Fender Mexican body with a  customized pick guard (obviously) & a Fender Japan Strat neck. The seller duly reminded that it's  not that lowly Squier version which did exist along the way.

A $980 (neg) asking price- would you? 

Scientific tunes

Was at the Science Center recently. Saw this music machine. Actually, the entire contraption didn't need the guitar there to work. It was included as a musical backdrop. Hmm.

Playable damage

Guitar tinkerers, Devil & Sons, are taking the 'relic' understanding to a new level of acceptability. The guitar above is absolutely playable. The question is, would you spend your good money on one?

Gone green

Green is good.

So green it is.

Knowing who you are (& what you play)

“Because sometimes it’s a little bit sad to see people who are good players, but haven’t actually gone beyond the thing of imitating. At some point you figure out what is you, and it’s not just about what you do but what you don’t do; the things you avoid.”- Bill Steer, Carcass. (MR, 2015)

There's nothing wrong with imitation. That's how many of us started learning. Through familiar tunes, we tend to gravitate towards our identity as time goes on. Perfectly fine. 

It becomes a cause for concern when all you do is imitation. I know people who can play Iron Maiden & Metallica songs like the back of their hands. Put them in a free jam situation & they'll disappear into oblivion. Dear friends, this shouldn't be the case but if your ultimate goal in life is to play cover songs & nothing else, I'll humour your indulgence. On a personal note, I've been into arguments with such individuals. We agreed to play but they insisted on doing covers exclusively. I'm not about doing covers exclusively or otherwise. I'm just more me playing my ideas. Yes, sometimes I do cover tunes to explore ideas- Sesame Street, James Bond, Mission Impossible theme song, X-men animated theme song, etc. but these get mutated into my own manifestations. Others aren't comfortable doing covers as such. They have a purist perspective when it comes to this. This is the reason I don't play much with them.

If you are a music proponent, you'd make it a point to manifest your ideas. Chances are, these transcend beyond your comfort zone & across genres. When you struggle to figure things out, that's the true meaning of education, the true meaning of music rigour. If you are content playing hit tunes, songs of the moment, landmark anthems- you're hype & most probably will be exposed of much inadequacies. 

Poll: Guitar & bass ownership

Greetings, everyone. Thank you, once again for taking part in the recent poll. It's interesting to note that many guitar players own basses as well. I'm one of them & bass ownership came much later in my playing days. Here're some implications:

1. The recording enthusiasts. Many of us are bedroom recording champions. We own several instruments to attend to our recording needs- guitars, drums, synths, basses, percussions, etc. We may not be specialists in every department but we do things ourselves for maximum satisfaction.
2. The need for perspective. Many guitar dweebs can relate to this; we need another stringed instrument to offer fresh perspectives to ideas. We also believe that the bass can offer us more finger dexterity due to that longer scale length.
3. Teaching music. Some of us are music teachers, we own the bass to accompany our students' guitar parts.
4. We collect. Em, that's right, some of us buy for keep's sake. It's that simple.

In this light, the stores out there would do well to (maybe) offer guitar-bass bundles at a more competitive, bundled price. It'd be wise to also include the bass counterpart when a dealer introduces a certain guitar brand. These are some suggestions of course. I'm seeing things from both the buyer & seller perspectives. As always, I advocate for a win-win situation :-)

Schecter Custom PT... only if

Should I be given the chance to customize my own Schecter, this is how it'd look like & it would cost me USD2.4K... that's a lot of money & I still can't get what I really want- there's no custom electronic options. I only need a bridge humbucker & a volume knob.

Three for the Sunday

I am no longer intrigued by speed; if you are a good player, speed is optional. Phrasing & feel are everything. If you regurgitate the stuff you learn from magazines/ videos, you are a nobody. Whatever you have acquired, you need to apply it in an original context, start creating because only creation makes you a somebody. It forces you to think of what to play, how to play it, when to play & who to play it to. The who factor is the least crucial because you create music for yourself, first & foremost. The audience comes later after you have made a statement for yourself, then your playing will take a turn for the perspective, you are more sensitive to how critical others are of your compositions.

Your gear plays an important part in defining your music. We often hear tone is in the fingers- I'm not one to embrace this mindlessly. You can't carbon copy feel for sure; the same material you play on a Strat will not have the exact feel blueprint should you replicate it on a Les Paul. You are bent on playing that same material your way regardless of whichever guitar you embrace because you are you but tone, underlined by feel, won't manifest an identical outcome. We also forget that our fingers are nothing without our gear.

So today, I salute the 3 factors that help me the most in sculpting my ideas & the intended tone (based on the ideas of course) each & every time I play: My amp, my guitar & everything in between- for today, that will be my pickups.

Spector-cular Arc6 Pro!

I've acquired myself a Spector ARC6 Pro after being much attracted to Stuart Spector's basses.

As documented on the headstock, the manufacturer's name & brand emblem. The design in whole is devoid of any sharp edges/ protrusions, the headstock included.

The ARC6 Pro is a reflection of its bass siblings, sporting a curved top...

... & rear. In my opinion, this is the signature Spector feature making it less ordinary & very attractive.

6 bolts to secure the neck to the body, a little overkill but these add much to sustain.

A pair of Tesla VR-60s; these give off a mixture of vintage growl but they are not averse to high drive/ distortion settings.

Please visit Musicark @ Parklane shopping mall to check out Spector basses & guitars. Thank you Mr. Lance for all the considerations in acquiring this instrument. Not forgetting brother Firdaus (aka SicBarney) for the stellar customer service. Kudos!

Take That: The Ultimate Tour

I own one of Take That's compilation album which features a live track from their Manchester Tour. I heard a backing band in there so the chances of seeing live musicians performing in a DVD offering is real.


True enough, there's a live line-up of very competent musicians, Lee Pomeroy (bass) & Milton McDonald (guitar) among others; the extended solos in the selected songs are reflective of the musician's capacity- great, to say the least.

Stock check 2009...

Above are some of my singlecut guitars... but it's time I keep stock of what I own (as at 4 Jan 2009):

Ibanez:

1. RG321
2. RGR321
3. RGR08 LTD
4. RG560
5. RG1550
6. RG2610
7. RG7620
8. RG2228
9. RGA121
10. SA2020
11. SZ2020
12. TM71
13. AF105
14. S540
15. S1620
    
16. SV5470
17. SZR520
    

Fender:

1. American Series 50TH Anniversary Stratocaster
2. American Standard Telecaster
   
3. Highway1 Stratocaster
4. Highway1 Telecaster
5. ST-72

Gibson:

1. Les Paul Std (60s neck)
2. Les Paul BFG

ESP/ Edwards

1. Eclipse II
2. E-LP85-SD/P

The rest:

1. EBMM SUB1
2. BC Rich Ironbird Body Art series
3. Smash S2 Lite
4. Kramer Vanguard S440-S
   
5. PRS McCarty

Bass:

1. Fender Mustang
2. Yamaha BB414

Not too keen in buying more guitars this year, looking forward to some basses instead...

Little helper

I received a call after playing last night, while talking, my daughter picked up a rag & helped wipe down my guitar.

Thanks darling...