15 posts tagged “guitar”
Today I went to a music shop, Dawsons to be precise. They're a chain and sell all sorts of musical instruments. I knew exactly what I wanted and had done research for prices online. I made a spreadsheet. I took a printout of the spreadsheet into the shop with me.
If you could perform alongside any artist (actor, dancer, musician, etc.), who would it be, and what would you perform?
Submitted by Kristin.
Jimi Hendrix, Red House.
I thought about Eddie Van Halen, but I'm not sure what we'd play, You Really Got Me maybe. I'd probably be gawping too much and feeling rubbish. With Jimi and some blues though, that would be fun.
The other day I had a real needy urge to play my guitar. My fingers felt restless, the inside of my head felt itchy, I needed to hold a guitar.
I think maybe it's Jonathan's Guitar Noize blog that has inspired me (no change there then that it's my little brother inspiring my guitar playing). Maybe it's just been far too long? It has in fact been 6 years since I was in a band and playing at least once a week. In that time it has sometimes been months between playing.
So I picked up my guitar and played. My fingers hurt, but I instantly felt better: fitter, happier, healthier etc. I'm very rusty but brain still remembers those blues licks.
Yesterday I bought a copy of Guitar Player for the first time in many, many years. It has Brad Paisley on the front, with talk about his gear inside, and also lessons from Paul Gilbert. I tried to play the PG licks last night and got that old feeling of trying to force my brain to move my fingers and hands in ways they didn't want to. It was like mental exercise, tiring, but addictive.
Also the Guitar Player website is rather good now.
The downside is that I've done no writing because I've been playing my guitar instead.
I went to see Steve Vai at Hammersmith Apollo last night with Robin. It was a brilliant gig, with a cabaret guitarist as a support act, a band with two violinists who did a duelling solo, a drum solo and of course lots and lots of awesome guitar playing.
The crowd took a while to warm up but then loved it. He played for 2 hours 45 minutes, with quite a lot of old stuff from Alien Love Secrets and Passion And Warfare. Steve was entertaining, talked to the crowd a lot, had about 3 or 4 costume changes, played an acousticy section, told a story about his Frank Zappa audition and bantered with his drummer. At the end of the gig the band had gone off and he was still shaking hands with the crowd down the front, he seemed quite delighted.
I expect there'll be some videos on YouTube soon and some photos on Vai's site, here's one:
From Jonathan Guitar Noize!
Jonathan told me about John Mayer who he went to see recently, and I've found a few clips on YouTube. Firstly at the Grammys with Corrinne Bailey Rae and John Legend...
...but best of all, testing an amp....
Jonathan reckons he could be the next Stevie Ray if he concentrates on the blues and stays away from cheesey Clapton-esque pop excursions.
