Happy Ramadan!

Today officially marks the start of Ramadan.
To all my Muslim friends and readers, have a blessed, holy and happy Ramadan to all!

Hello all part 3

Back to my ramblings. Ok, I am sorry to all my readers who find this dragging but this blog is after all about my pain. Isn't this what it's really all about? Ok, enough with the mindless ramblings.

So, previously, it was about nu-meta. Korn and Slipknot. Now, there was this once that my friend happened to be playing this Nightwish song, "Over the Hills and Far Away". Well, it wasn't exactly their song, but it got pretty famous thanks to them. It was originally a Gary Moore song and that song just blew me away. Well anyway, click at the link below and hear for yourself!



So, the combination of the Celtic-ish licks and the speed of it, combine with the chugga chugga just blew me away. I was sold to it. From then on, i decided that I wanted to learn how to play that. Well, it was the first song I ever learn on the electric guitar actually. This was the first step towards power metal and metal. The lightning fast licks and the power of the electric guitar just blew me away and sold me to it.

For a longest time, I was listening to Nightwish, following their every new album. With their soprano singer, it was one of the most unique bands out there. Well, they just changed their singer about 2 years ago. To something more pop-ish. Ain't the same but I like her none the less. It's the band that I like, not the singer. Anyway, do take some time off and listen to the band, I am sure it will do magic to you as it does for me.

To be continue...........

My guitar Idol Part 2

One got to have more than one guitar idol right? Else not, we'll be stuck only knowing one style. For the readers who figured me out there, I do have a taste for Guitar virtuoso music. Meaining, I like complex music with technical playing involve. I particular like shredding style of playing and nothing turns me on talking to others about it. However, that doesn't necessary mean that I can shred. I can by no means shred.

Now, enough about rambling. The second guitar idol that I like, will definitely be Yngwie Malmsteen. Now, who is this guy with name that is so hard to pronounce (Ying-wei Mum-steen by the way). If you haven't heard of him, do yourself a favour, go to youtube, type in his name or rather, watch the video that I posted within this thread.



He is the guy who started the movement known as Neo classical and the first guy to actually use classical motifs and riffs within his playstyle. Claimed to be inspired by classical composers such as Paganini and Bach, his licks and riffs definitely leaves the listener a familiar after taste. However, being influence by classical composers aside, he is also famous for speed. He has a unique (or what was unique) style of squeezing a lot of notes within a given bar making his playing sounding furious and is fond of playing a series of diminished arpeggios and what is known to him as the woah effect.

Hello to all! Part 2

Well, back to the story on my passion on the guitar. For those who didn't read the first half of the story, please do so. If not you will definitely be feeling lost and then comes a hooded man carry a scythe asking you to follow him into the night (Ok, I just made that up). Anyway, please do so, I will greatly appreciate it.

My second revelation came when i was first introduced to the concept of the electric guitar. For years, I stuck with playing just basic classical guitar and simple strumming stuff. As a matter of fact, up till today, I didn't even bother to improve my theory to the point that I can't even count the timing, beats, tempo and whatever. So, back to the electric guitar. I was studying in Lasalle SIA College of the Arts back in 2000. At that time, I had really cool classmates whom I already lost contact with. Now, what happened was they introduced me to a form of music which I never thought was pleasant before. Metal.

Now being a kid from a conservative society not knowing what I should and should not believe in, I was told that Metal is music created by the worshiper of Satan. Can you believe that bullshit? Well yea, I was that dumb. But anyway, I didn't explore listening to metal, not until my classmates introduced me to it. For the first time, I heard KoRn and Sklipknot. No, I ain't a fan of emo scremo (Sorry for the pun) stuff but KoRn actually do. Look for "Blind" and "Adidas" up on youtube.

So after that, I decided that I needed to learn the electric guitar. It's the coolest instrument ever. It does this Chugga Chugga kinda sound. I happened to have this electric guitar that my classmate from my secondary school days sold me for real cheap. However, it ain't working anymore, so being a dumbwit that I am, I just decided to get it fixed up. So, I brought the thing to Bras Brasah complex, and headed down to Sweee Lee. Now, every one knows Swee Lee right? Never mind if you don't. It's just this huge musical instrument shop in the complex. So I needed to buy pick ups and switches and stuff, for the guitar. So my friend showed me this section called "Dimarzio". What is Dimarzio? Well, it's a brand that is famous for electric guitar pick ups that is being used by artists worldwide. However, they aren't cheap. So the salesman pop over and asked me for my model preference. This was exactly how the conversation went.

Salesman: "Hey Bro, what model you want?"
Me: "I don't know leh."
Salesman: "Which guitarist you like? What kind of sound you looking for?"
Me: "I don't know leh."
Salesman: "Ok Bro, you want power power sound is it?"
Me: "Ya. Power good. I like power."
Salesman: "Ok. You buy this one. Evolution. You know Steve Vai? His sound damm power one. We got one set somemore. This one good!"
Me: "Ok".

There you have it. Gullible me. So, I bought the pick ups home, bought the electronic parts that I needed, and got the salesman to install it for me. It took a while but got it all done up. At that point of time, I still had no idea what setup and stuff meant. Well, looking back, I can safely assure you all, that guitar was unplayable from the way it was setup. But anyway, that isn't important at this point of time.

So I didn't actually knew what i bought, nor did I had any idea what difference would it made. So for a while, I was jamming with my classmates, playing Chugga Chugga stuff with a really crap guitar but super pick ups. Imagine, Proton car with Ferrari Engine (Not that it can really work, just an analogy). So that was fun for a while.

To be Continue

My guitar Idol Part 1

Alright. Everyone has a guitar idol. You got to have one right? No one can admit starting playing the instrument without an idea who they would like to be able to play like until they decided to break off from it and the desire to create something of their own. Well make a guess, I still do have one and still would hope to be able to play like him. He is the almighty STEVE VAI!

Now, "why him" you might ask. Let's put it this way, his creativity level is through the roof and his playing style and choice of notes are so unique. He doesn't sound like a typical shredder and neither does he sound like your typical rock guitarist. Does he have "feel"? I'll argue, of course. Listening to Steve Vai is like having your first taste of Durian. You have your first one and you wonder, "What's this thing that I am eating and it smells so wierd" and once you tried it the second time, the meat is rich, creamy and sweet. Same goes for his style of music. Well, I can't begin to explain to you about his music but I'll embed a video for the benefit of all of you out there. Enjoy!

Hello to all! Part 1

Hello Everyone and thank you for stumbling into my humble little blog about what I love most. Now I don't claim myself to be an expert in this subject and neither do I claim to be an expert in playing the guitar. As a matter of fact, I aren't either. But what made me want to start a blog about guitars is the passion for the instrument. Allow me to further explain myself.

My encounter with the instrument started when I was a secondary school kid in a class full of boys who knows how to play the guitar (Strumming). In fact, one of them went on and became a professional performer in one of the pubs here. I picked up playing the guitar, basic strumming and such. Well, I actually started with playing the classical guitar, completing the basic classical guitar course from Yamaha. Being a kid, I didn't bothered in theory and stuff. I just wanted to play. Theory is boring. It wasn't needed. Or so I thought. That was the first revelation for me.

My second revelation came after hearing "Hotel California", the hell freezes over version. Now, my first reaction to that was, "OMG I MUST LEARN THAT" and well, so I did. Took me a while but note that I learn the whole thing from tabs. At that point of time, I still didn't understand the meaning of theory. I still didn't bother the importance of it. Hey, I can play Hotel California, I was the Guitar King of the class. Or so I thought.

To be continued