Jam Band latest

The Jam Band practices are getting better. I have suggested we learn some new songs. Doing this will keep me at the same level as everyone else. I will learn the songs they already know on my own time. The songs we are working on are: Ocean Pearl by 54-40, Better Now by Collective Soul, and Steady As She Goes by the Raconteurs.

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny

I am a Jack Black fan. Though not a fan of his movies. My favourite is Nacho Libre. JB is a very funny man and yet I find his movies have only three or four 'bust-a-gut' hilarious moments. They are on the whole disappointing. The same is true of his latest offering, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. The film starts out brilliantly - just wait til you hear Kickapoo!!!! It slows in the middle with some purile drug related humour. The Sasquatch scene lost me. However, it picks (no pun intended) towards the end.
2 1/2 out of 5. Worth renting and the music is fun.

Ultimate Guitar

I have to sing the praises of one of my favourite guitar sites on the web: ultimate-guitar.com

This site is the best resource for tabs for an amazing array of tunes. Beginner of veteran guitar player this site is a great resource.
My hat off to ultimate guitar and my thanks for providing such a service.

Guitars - Under Construction

I will try not to use my neck injury as an excuse for not getting anything done but it is slowing me down. Anyway, I am gathering parts and plans for the construction of two guitars.

I have drawn two plans for modified SG and Explorer shaped guitars. I have two blocks of mahogany and two blocks of red fir waiting to be planed (mostly by hand). For my birthday I received some much needed cash which went towards buying a 9" bandsaw and some clamps for glueing the pieces of lumber together.

The next step is to transfer the plans on to a piece of hardboard and to cut these out and sand them. These templates will be used for transfering the body shape to the pieces of wood and will also be used as router templates for the pickup and wiring cavities.

I will post some pics of the templates when completed.

Hopefully service is now resumed as normal...

Hi, I am back. The herniated disc is still there but the pain is subsiding and I now pop a few Advil as needed - no more narcotics!
What is new? Well, currently I am listening to The Michael Schenker Story Live 2CD set. This set covers some of his best live performances. I am reading the last copy of Guitarist, a UK mag that costs way too many dollars, and I am watching Barbie's Fairytopia DVD (my daughter is sick and it is her movie du jour).
Hope all is well with you and as my sick daughter would say, "rock on!"

Another Year Older...Another Year Older

Since the last post I am another year older. Not much to add in a week. I have read the latest Guitar World Legends magazine (a great read!). I have not done much guitar playing (practicing) and had to miss my lesson and probably will miss my jam band session today due to a herniated disc in my neck. The disc is pressing against a nerve that creates pain in my shoulder and down my left arm. Thank goodness for drugs: Tylenol 3s during the day and Oxycodone (really knocks you on your ass) for the evening to help me sleep. The pain is definitely subsiding but still there.

Hope to be fully recovered soon.

Jam Band Song List

I have been emailed the Jam Band's song list. It is as follows:

Fortunate Son - Creedance Clearwater Revival
Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Creedance Clearwater Revival
Long Cool Woman - The Hollies
Nice Legs, Shame About the Face - The Monks
Wild Thing - The Troggs
Can't Get Enough - Bad Company
Your Daddy Don't Know - Toronto
Here For A Good Time - Trooper
Wipe Out - The Ventures
Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple
Big Gun - AC/DC
and
Steady As She Goes - The Raconteurs

While I am only a beginner and need songs that are relatively easy to play, there is a little too much 70s overdone rock tunes for me. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the songs, but they are not my faves. CCR and the Hollies are in the same vein. I suggested Steady As She Goes (already an idea of Brock's) and will be coming up with some more as time progresses. This promises to be a fun venture and I am sure these songs will be a good base from which I can build on my limited guitar skills.
Any suggestions on other songs we might play? Easy but good please.

The Jam Band

I have signed up for a jam band at Lee's Music. A jam band is just that, a band of musicians that jam together. As mentioned before the people at Lee's have a small stage, sound system and lighting rig in the basement of their building.
Last Saturday I went to meet the band. So far, it consists of Chris on drums and Brock on bass, and of course yours truly on guitar. I walked in early and saw three guys on stage jamming to an AC/DC tune. The guitarist was a young guy wailing on his Jay Turser SG guitar. I thought they were another band. Turns out they were my fellow band members. The guitarist was Chris's son who has been helping out while they waited for a more permanent guitar player (me). I am sure I will slow them down for a while but hopefully I will get better as time goes by. We played (or rather, they did and I tried to) Fortunate Son, Big Guns and Daddy Don't Know. I have some of it down but without a vocalist to follow it is hard to know when the verse changes to the chorus and to the bridge etc, etc...
I am not sure whether it helped having three accomplished guitar players there and me. The three were the son, my guitar teacher who was taking a break from teaching and Sean the jam band 'tutor' from Lee's music. They wailed while I tried to keep up!
Still it promises to be a lot of fun.

Under Construction

I now have most of the components for the first guitar build and some for the second. The Lovett Guitar Company intends on producing two prototypes.

PROTOTYPE Number 1: The Fatboy DC

This model will be a double cut - similar to an SG shape. It will have no shaping to the body front and just some shaping on the back, hence Fatboy. The body will be made from mahogany with a bookmatched quilted maple top. The finish used will be an amber dye stain. The neck is maple with a maple fingerboard. It will have two humbuckers - Powered by Lace - and a hipshot baby grand bridge design. The hardware will be black - still looking for black tuners.

PROTOTYPE Number 2: The Flyboy GBR

This model will be similar in shape to a Gibson Explorer. Its body will be made of red alder and the neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. Pickups and bridge, undecided. Thinking of going with EMGs or maybe Seymour Duncans for the pickups. Still debating on whether I should go with a tremelo. The body will be custom painted with an RAF circle design and lettering (see picture of the Supermarine Spitfire below for my insipiration), hence Flyboy.

Metal Mickey

Michael Schenker is probably my all time favourite guitarist. The majority of Schenker's work has been with MSG (under its different guises), UFO and the Scorpions (his brother Rudy is a member). I found it strange that my rock guitar teacher had never heard of Michael Schenker, especially as there are many of today's guitarists that note him as one of their inspirations. He does not have the flash of an Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads (the Flying V was his signature way before Rhoads even picked one up) or Don Dokken but his style, guitar playing and attitude has always been cool (imho)! For his best work, listen to UFO's live album Strangers in the Night.

Lesson Number 4

Again some review, followed by two new songs. Both AC/DC: Highway to Hell and Back in Black. Matthew also gave me some exercises to improve my fingering. This past week has been busy and I have to concentrate on my thesis writing so I have not had much time to practice.

Next week (this week), I am taking a couple of songs and tabs to Matthew to let him look at them so that I can learn some of my fave songs. The songs are Rock Bottom, Only You Can Rock Me and Armed and Ready. The first two are by UFO and the third by MSG. All feature Michael Schenker.

Lesson Number 3

Lesson 3 involved some review, some discussion and a new song, Paranoid by Black Sabbath. While the song is quite simple the hammer-ons need some work, especially the timing and the strengthening of my fingers.
Matthew is the tutor for the jam band I have signed up for. A jam band is a group of musicians at similar skill levels who get together and play songs - jam. Lee's Music has a stage with sound board and lighting for us to imaging we are 'rocking the Paradise' or even better rocking the Hammersmith Odeon. Should be fun.

My first neck arrived. It is maple with a rosewood fingerboard and dot inlays. It has a paddle head so I am looking to shape that into a nice design. The design so far is similar to the Peavey and Ibanez style. The pickups and bridge should arrive this week and I will pick up the wood on Tuesday.

Which route to choose?

It is hard to relate how much I am enjoying learning the guitar. Simply put, it is great! Now, if I am to become an axe wielding god I need the image. I figure there are two routes to take: I could go the Randy Bachman portly route or the more lithe Randy Rhoads route. I choose the latter. After all I have a two year old and I am not getting any younger. I really should do my best to be around as long as possible.
With the choice made, I face another dilemma. I could become the skinny guitarist through conventional, or traditional, means by drinking, drugs and cigarettes or by the less conventional method of working out. Again for the same reasons I choose the latter.
And so, I have joined a gym (into my second week of workouts). I have my MP3 player loaded with tunes. These are up tempo rock songs to help me as I pound the treadmill and as I need that extra bit of power to lift weights.

The song list includes:
Land of Confusion - Disturbed
Joker and the Thief - Wolfmother
Under the Sky - The Answer
Lights Out - UFO
Steady as She Goes - The Raconteurs
You Really Got Me - Van Halen
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
and others

I am always experimenting with songs and often find myself flipping past some that don't seem to have the right rhythm. Any suggestions are welcome.