A Brand New Modern Guitar Method?

Greetings from the planet "2 Much 2 Do"! Guitar Methods posts have been rather sparse lately, as our subscribers have so eloquently mentioned. This is because most of us here in the guitar methods blogosphere have been abducted by a coven of sex starved amazon-ish female aliens with three brea... well, you know the story. Actually we've been gigging at a truly alarming rate lately so there's really been no one around to mind the store (so to speak).

BTW Dwayne, the amp simulator review is coming!

One thing I have always found some time for is cruising the net from hotel rooms across this great and vast planet. Lately, somewhat thanks to this blog, I have been on a veritable quest for knowledge as it applies to all things musical, and I recently discovered something that gave me a "Eureka!!!" moment. We won't mention that the concept has been around since the '70's, the phrase coined by Tony Buzan. Shhh.

What I have jumped on recently is the concept of "mind mapping". If I'm the last one on this boat sue me, but in case I have made some major discovery that can integrate smashingly with musical minds, then I'm very glad to share it here. At the very least I always hoped this site would be best represented by ideas and concepts that could give us a creative style and flow, or a fresh perspective, and here's another one.

I'm fairly certain that I can't explain it as well as the following video - so I leave it for you to watch and judge accordingly. It may seem boring on the surface but try and think outside of the box and apply it to the many things we do as musicians. It is really a nice tutorial and if you really dig deep it's quite obvious how "mapping" your creative ideas can help you in everything from your practicing routines all the way through to your songwriting and studio sessions.

It's a right piece of brilliance and I hope you get as much from this as I already have - in the few short weeks of applying it to my music. You can click this link to pick up some free mind mapping software - that's where I ended up. There is a more elaborate mind mapping software program of doom here, but I would suggest trying a free or trial version first to see if it's to your liking. I have no affiliation to these links BTW, just sharing some love.

Add quicktips -mindmapping a to-do list to your page

If This Is The Last Video You Ever See...

...consider yourself lucky. Our illustrious and temperamental guest columnist sent me this on the almighty Facebook today and thus I am sharing the love to you.

My opinion? This is one of the sickest rhythm sections in the history of sick rhythm sections. Enjoy! (The last drum n bass solo section is off the chain)

Need Strings?

Chitika | Owna

A Touching Message

The video I want you to see here has nothing - and yet everything to do with music and modern guitar methods. The message contained has so much insight into how we live our lives, and why it's important that we never forget our purpose, nor our priorities. This is why I am taking the opportunity now, on my first visit back in a week, to post a video seemingly unrelated to guitar or music. I had planned to bomb the blog with the articles I've been writing for the last week, products reviewed, e.t.c... but this video just seems so much more fitting.

I like to find inspiration where I can, in fact I think we all HAVE to find inspiration wherever we can these days. Looking at the state of our world, well let's face it, life can seem very bleak. Sometimes it takes just one courageous person to shake our brains around, to rock the boat and loosen our grip on the negativity that surrounds us. It is so easy to lose a proper focus in life, and equally as hard to remember why a good perspective is crucial to our success. This man's final message to the world is evidence for why it is paramount that we not lose site of our reasons for being here, for being alive, and for being creative and beneficial human beings.

Size No Longer Matters... To "Pod" People

10 years ago I would have had a better chance spotting a Unicorn than seeing a guitarist use a computer for anything (besides emailing their sisters for money of course). Computers were that lowly thing that other lowly musicians needed to compete and create, while us axe men were left digitally unscathed thanks to the organic methods from which our sound was produced. Back in the day, when even drummers had to learn how to plug something into a wall, we still had our cold steelesque logos, our big hunks of wood, the mesh grills that hid at least four 12 inch “Wimp Killer” speakers, and a rack of effects that looked like it could detect alien life forms if we pointed it at the sky. Companies with names that sounded as if they accessorized the Death Star equipped us with our ammo and we loved it. God bless Mesa Boogie and the Groove Tube and long live the Marshall stack.

Although there were innovators at the time that did a reasonably decent job introducing amp modeling technology, it was often pricey and in the end, not the most appealing solution for guitarists who loved their “rigs”. The original SansAmp was nice enough, and combined with a nice multi-effects processor you could get away with a very nice recorded sound. In terms of “live” performance however, it just never cut the mustard like a nice rack/amp and some great speakers. Before SansAmp I remember the Rockman by Tom Sholz. (yes I’m that old) This little unit was also fairly cool at first, but the more I used it the more irritating the sound became (think fingernails and chalkboards). In the end I remember hearing our neighbors cat in heat one evening and it reminded me of the sound of my Rockman. Needless to say I chucked it in the bin along with my unsolved Rubiks Cube and begged my parents to buy me a Mesa Boogie. (They never did)

Factoid: Parents never cooperate when the thing you want is louder than their need to scream at you.

Enter the POD.

When Line 6 decided to market their creation, the POD, everything changed. With the introduction of the POD I was forced to realize that the digital age was upon me, and that holding onto tradition would become hazardous to my musical health without at least exploring the brave new world to which I belonged. In the beginning I wanted to hate that little red “eye sore” - after all, it reminded me of an over-sized Mexican Jumping Bean. Now that I think about it I guess that was the point, hence the name "POD". It was on my second tour of Asia where I completely realized how important Line 6’s cool little “amp killer” would become. I found that I could walk on stage night after night not suffering from the various life threatening spinal chord injuries my guitar rig always gave me as I lifted it through hundreds of airport security checks. I mean, my “amp” was in my bloody carry on luggage. How cool is that?

Now I can’t live without my POD. Of course on big shows I still utilize my Death Star rig, but when a gig comes along that requires quick set up, no sound checks and lots of in-between travel “sans roadies” the Pod still can’t be beat. Also, how can I knock a device that lets me close my eyes and hear a wall of 100 watt Marshall Stacks turned to 11, while my wife sits 3 feet from me comfortably watching Desperate Housewives?

How does this relate to computers you may ask? Well, as amp modeling hardware progresses, amp modeling software is never far behind. Latency and that age old digitally "thin" sound we all loathed is fast becoming a thing of the past. With these negatives becoming less of an issue one will find that more and more guitar tracks are being finished and mastered in a completely digital environment. This is reason enough to get involved with the progression of guitar amp modeling. In future articles we will be reviewing most of the current choices for modeling software, and believe me, there are some solid choices available.

Meanwhile, 10 years later if you haven't placed this inexpensive and quirky device on your list of things to get, forego your long awaited 3 day drinking binge and grab a Line 6 POD on Ebay. Better yet, go to the Line 6 website and see what else they have to offer because they have a great deal of coolness and they are a dedicated company worth checking out. I shouldn’t give up a link here because they haven’t paid me any money yet to rave about their company, but if nothing else I am a philanthropic sort.

this post is a reprint from a few days back. Sorry if you are reading this twice but my last entry was kacked by some kind of blogger ghost.