Old Guy

Happy B-Day, Steve!!!

Thanks, brother. That really means a lot to me!

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. Probably going to go with an HX Stomp into my studio monitors for now. I won't have space to crank a tube amp for years, LOL.

That is truly the first step to guitar excellence. Playing with others will expand your repertoire, teach you timing, and build relationships. If you can't already, I would highly recommend learning the I-IV-V progression using any key. This progression is the foundation for pretty much all Rock and Roll you've heard since the 1950s and is a great way to break the ice with people to jam with. Look up "I-IV-V chord progression" on YouTube and you'll finds thousands of examples to learn from. The other thing to learn is the 12 Bar Blues, which is a variation on the I-IV-V that you've heard anytime you've heard blues. This is what 90% of people do for rhythm, when playing the pentatonic minor scale. An easy way to practice for this upcoming event is to jam with backing tracks on YouTube. There are thousands. Here's a nice slow, easy 12 Bar Blues in E backing track that you can jam to from my channel:

Sadly, I'm not sure I can finish the build. We had a massive flood in our basement, which I put up a post about, and it got so humid that the guitar took on a lot of moisture. I'm still drying it out to see if I can continue the build, but it looks like all the hardware and electronics were damaged in the flood as well. Still working on drying everything out to see if I can finish up. Sorry about that, folks.

Sorry I've been away awhile. We had a huge flood in our area, and for the first time ever, our basement took on A LOT of water. Completely wiped out my home studio. Some of my gear survived, some didn't. Guitars and my amp are okay. Will be years before I can redo the basement, as our home owners didn't cover the cost of the cleanup. Pumping out over 1000 gallons of water out of a basement, removing all carpeting, cutting out most walls and spraying for mold costs a lot. I had no idea. Thinking about going back to all digital, as I have no space to record analog the way I'd like to, and some of my recording gear was damaged anyway. Super bummed, but no one was hurt, and I'll rebuild with time. Hopefully soon, I can get my channel up again.

I put together a short video of some of the guitars on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the "Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock" exhibit. If you can, GO! Enjoy!

Wow, awesome groove!!!

Tru-Oil video is up!

I really think that at the price point of the PRS SE line, there will always be compromise. Be it Epiphone, PRS SE, The Player Series Fenders, there will be things to love about them, and things, well...not so much. For me, the most important aspect of any electric guitar is the way the neck feels in my hands. Then, how the body is weighted. If I get past those two things, the rest is gravy and at a certain point, I also like to mod my guitars. Case in point. Last year, I went looking for a Telecaster. I had $1500 in hand to buy whatever I could find off the shelf, new or used. I had to be able to try it. My heart was set on the Richie Kotzen Telecaster, but I have little hands and the neck on that guitar is HUGE. As soon as I picked it up and tried to play it, I knew it was a no go. For the next couple of months, I tried probably 2 dozen Telecasters. I kept coming back to one of the less expensive Player Series Telecasters, and brought it home. I love it. Amazing feel on the neck and it feels like it was built for me. I have since replaced the tuners and pickguard and have a new set of pickups to install, and still came way under budget. Review and mods on my YouTube channel if you want to take a look. Best advice is decide on a budget, and then try every thing out there within that budget. You'd be surprised.

I have a guitar in every room I tend to relax in. My basement is my studio, so when I am down there, I have all my gear. The family room has my acoustic guitar. The Katana 50 rotates between my family room and the living room, and then one of my electric guitars tends to be where the Katana is, so I always have an instrument handy. I have a Ukulele in my family room, too, LOL. For me, the inspiration has to grab me. I work a lot, and am generally quite tired when I'm home. Three kids, too. So I know that if my brain tells me, "HEY! Let's play guitar!!", I don't have to go far to have one in hand. I'm also at a point where I don't call what I do "practice". If I get a melody in my head, or am thinking about a track to lay down, I play that, and then work on what goes over that, notes/solo wise. I am not schooled in theory, so I don't practice scales and such. I also find that sometimes my greatest inspiration comes after a break from playing. I know that about myself, so if a few days go by without playing, I don't stress about it.

Top is done!! Have to let it cure for a week and then tape comes off and build continues. Full video of Tru-Oil process coming soon.

If you are looking for some blues to listen to, Matt Schofield is AMAZING.

Wow! Gorgeous instrument!

Congrats on a cool new pedal!! Tube Screamer type pedals work best when your clean channel is barely on the verge of break up. Especially if you are looking for a SRV type blues tone. Here's a great video Pete Thorn did on setting up a Tube Screamer.

I love this guitar!!

The intro jam to my next YouTube video!

Very cool!! I always loved those Nighthawks. Enjoy it, brother!!

You're welcome! If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to DM me. I agree that it seems like many people do move on to other DAWs very quickly, and I really can't understand why. The DAW is really just the tool, and with Garageband, it can get very deep if you want and have the know how. The part where I discuss the sampling rate is where many people get hung up. I am learning that the real industry standard is 48Khz or 96Khz mostly because of the video conversion issue. Garageband is stuck at 44.1Khz and doesn't give the option to change the sampling rate at all. To pay $200 just for the ability to do that doesn't seem reasonable to me. I'm just a home hobbyist, though.

I put together a short video introducing Garageband, a very powerful Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that comes with every Apple computer, tablet and phone. Enjoy!

Wow, thank you!!

I've been looking for a practice amp for some time that I could just carry around the house, plug in and jam away with. After spending some time with various little amps that really didn't do it for me, I took the plunge and got the Katana 50. Totally blown away. I have it at the 25W setting with the Master Volume cranked and use the regular volume to really adjust things, but the amps sound great and the effects really sound authentic. It does everything from sparkling clean to driving metal distortion. You can record direct into your computer. Has headphone jack to play silently. Highly recommended for beginners to pros alike. Just a great little all around amp. And the price can't be beat. At $230, it's really packed with features.

If I can offer another piece of advice, rather than record yourself with a device, get an inexpensive looper pedal and practice with it. That will really accelerate improving your timing significantly. Pair that with a metronome, and you'll be "grooving" in no time!