Guitar Talk @ Jason's Blog

Bookmarks: From Demo To Delivery

2011-04-11T10:11:00.003+08:00

Pre production
Song dynamics. Width, depth n height
Preprocessors - frequency, dynamic n time
Prep work - composition, pre, artwork, website asap
Excerpt sets for different genres
Written plan - composition n mixing
The codes
DDPi
Parametric EQ - gain, freq & Q
Shelving EQ
Master on the loudest section first
Macrodynamics - taking care of the relative dynamics of contiguous soft n loud passages

http://www.amazon.com/Demo-Delivery-Mastering-Music/dp/0240811321

Ingredients to a music artiste success

2010-08-17T00:31:00.001+08:00

The following points on key ingredients to an artistes success came up after discussing with a friend on difficulties that a local artiste face.

1. Accessibility to good production

2. Having a good promotional team

3. Good artiste management

4. Good distribution network

5. Proximity to fans

It's not that Singapore doesn't have all the ingredients but rather most local artistes have some of the ingredients missing. Eg. A band invests 17k on producting a cd, leaving no resources to promotion and artiste management.

Some might argue the need to base oneself in your target market to have proximity to fans but I would propose that with cheap air tickets and ability to reach out to audiences online through *casts and *streams, there's a need for a paradigm shift; we've living in a level playing field like never before where distribution has gone global and it's easier than before to go niche for the long tail.

Electric Bridal Chorus

2010-08-12T11:47:00.000+08:00

My friends Royston and Briony asked if I could do an electric version of the Bridal Chorus like the one done by Queen for their wedding in October.

So I suggested to them that I'll do a version that was ringing in my head. Here's the end product.

Electric Bridal Chorus (Here Comes The Bride) by jasonong

I hope to do more versions of this popular wedding march song in time to come.

Guerilla Music -- songwriting

2010-07-24T15:32:00.001+08:00

Have an original tune burning in your head? Always wanted to write your own songs? In this Guerilla Music series, we'll explore some practical ways to get that song from idea to soundbite.

Record on your phone

Have a melody ringing in your head but not around a computer? Use your phone's voice recorder to capture those lines before it fades into memory abyss. For those who dont have any composition tools can also use this method to capture raw arrangments. Eg. Sing n strum recording or simple sequencing using available iPhone apps.

Pairing up with an arranger

Although you may have gotten melodies and lyrics down it is by no means complete. Pair up with a person that you know who can help you do arrangements -- adding/editing musical parts so the songs becomes more polished and dynamically interesting.

Collaborate with a band

Instead of having to handle all musical parts yourself, why not consider collaboration with a good band? Depending on the members, having more heads can boost creativity.

Learn to use a DAW

This is my favourite but it requires prior knowledge of sequencing basics. Softwares like ProTools, Cubase, Logic have lite versions that are affordable. Some of them even comes packaged with an audiobox which is an essential hardware to record vocals and instruments into your computer. Computing power and memory capacity have come to a point where alot of things which were traditionally done on dedicated expensive hardwares can be done on softwares.

Collaborate with others online

The the web becoming more social it has never been easier to find collaborators if you're open to not having full control and full ownership. With high bandwidth becoming more ubiquitous, things that are traditionally bound to desktops are shifting to the "cloud". Dont be surprised to find garageband served up to you as a web application in the near future.

Make up of a music sale -- where the money goes to?

2010-07-23T23:23:00.000+08:00

CD ($18.98)

Label $5.00
Distribution $1.80
Design/Manufacturing $1.00
Artist Royalty $1.50
Mechanical Royalty $0.80
Recording Costs $1.00
Marketing/Promotion $0.90
Retail Profit $3.00

Digital Download ($0.99)

Label $0.47
Distribution Affliate $0.10
Artist $0.07
Producer $0.03
Music Publisher $0.08
Service Provider $0.17
Credit Card Fees $0.05
Bandwidth Costs $0.02

Wow artist do get paid little. At least in the dying CD trade sales of a million copies would generate $1.5million for the artist. But digital download of singles would reap only $70,000, that is if one can rack up a million purchases at all!

The Big 4

2010-07-23T23:11:00.000+08:00

That is the term for the major labels which over the last 10 years have consolidated from the Big 6.

Universal merged with Polygram to form UMVD in 1999. Sony and BMG in 2004. Here are the Big 4s are some labels under their belts.

UMVD -- Universal Music and Video Distribution

Interscope
Geffen
Island/Def Jam
Universal
UMG Nashville
Hollywood
Disney/Buena Vista

Sony BMG

Columbia
Epic
Arista
J Records
RCA
Jive
LaFace
Razor & Tie
WindUp
RCA Label Group Nashville

WEA -- Warner Music Group

Warner Brothers
Atlantic Records
Bad Boy
Roadrunner
WSM/Rhino
V2 Records

EMD -- EMI Group

Blue Note
Capitol Nashville
Capitol Records
Virgin
EMI Latin

Will be interesting to see how these guys can reinvent themselves with the changing tides of digital singles music consumption.

Maximizing Volume In A Song

2010-07-13T20:04:00.002+08:00

Have you ever wondered why volume of music on your cds sounds roughly about the same? Certain types of songs sounds slightly louder? This is because most albums are professionally mastered to achieve maximum volume and punch for airplay. Recently I've been trying to use my Studio One to master my remix of a song written by my bandmate. Still learning but seem to have small success at it. Here are the "before and after" samples of the track.

Before: http://cl.ly/1dNS

After: http://cl.ly/1dYt

Here's some things that I learnt.

1) Have a reference track

Take 1 or 2 songs that you like as reference materials. Watch out for tone and volume of individual instruments.

2) Pan thy instruments

Audio has got spatial components - stereo and frequency. If all instruments are centered in the stereo spectrum then everything gets muddled. Sorta like everybody queueing up in one straight line. Can't see all of 'em yeah? Spread them out over left/right space and they can all shine together.

3) Find the frequency hoggers

I'm using a multiband equalizer to analyze frequency spectrum. Instruments played at a certain octave will use certain frequency range. If there're a few instruments using the same range then you might have to sacrifice volume of some/all of them. Maybe it's better to change the octave of one instrument?

4) Use limiters to overcome clipping

If you look at the waveform of a song, they'll be spikes even after attempting to balance everything out. Good idea to use a limiter which will "push down" the spikes to unity (0 db).

5) Tone & feel of instruments gets excited with volume

Surprisingly without touching the EQ of the individual instruments, balancing the volume of individual instruments brought out the tone of those which has previously been overshadowed by a hogging instrument. Check out how the guitars and drums sound before where the bass was hogging the spectrums. Then feel the difference after the bass has been toned down and volumes leveled!

Music Concerts - It's also the singles market except maybe Singapore

2010-06-30T20:36:00.001+08:00

According to the Music 3.0 blog, music fans in the US are favoring music festivals over regular single act concerts. Why? Festival match the new listening habits - music fans no longer listen to an entire album, they listen to singles. Quote: "There are usually multiple stages, so if you don't like one act, go find another that suits you."

That may be the case in US and Europe but in a music deprived country like Singapore, it's not necessary true. Recent music festivals that I know of only includes WOMAD, MOSIAC, SingFest & Baybeats and I seem to recall more concerts of artistes & bands, courtesy of eventful's weekly emails. In a country where it's hard to get large scale quality concert it's no wonder we're seeing old acts flying in to cash in on fans of yesteryears - old school mega hair rock outfit Firehouse comes to mind with their scheduled concert on this 30th June.

Music Publishing - It's back to the singles market

2010-06-30T19:39:00.002+08:00

Reading an interview except with a music publisher was enlightening. http://music3point0.blogspot.com/2010/06/interview-with-publisher-richard.html

Licensing Fees

There are 3 main types of income in the music industry - Mechanical royalties, Performance income & Synchronization licences.

Mechanical royalties are derived from direct sales of a "physical" copy of music. Eg. sheet music, vinyls, cds, mp3s.

Performance income are derived from playback the music. Eg. live renditions, radio, tv.

Synchronization licences are derived from using music commercially with moving pictures. Eg. soundtracks for movies & tv shows.

Apparently mechanical royalties have been on the dive ($13billion in 1998 vs $8billion in 2008) while synchronization licences have been on the rise. This is due to the increase in tv/cable networks over the years which results in more broadcasts and more shows produced, thus more music used.

It's Back To The Singles Market

Gone are the golden days of buying an album just to get the piece of music that you like. Even if you ignore the fact that most music can be downloaded for free via torrents, digital distribution of music as a business model isn't doing too well as each music stream/download pays too little. The opportunities in the cloud are great but also presents great challenges in monetization. It'll be interesting to see how things evolve in the months/years to come. Needs a google-adsense like tipping point.

$money - Where art thou inspiration?

2010-06-29T20:26:00.002+08:00

A saxophonist that I respected once said to me that "There are no new melodies under the sun, only reused ones...".

That really stuck with me till today. So when I hear an "original" piece of music in my head, it's most probably credited from some songs that I've heard somewhere before. I'm the kind who'll listen to any music that you throw at me so that could have helped amassing a catalogue of tunes & grooves in my subconscious.

50 cents change in my pocket

It was a nice Saturday afternoon when I was listening to a random playlist of music stored in my personal locker in the cloud (http://mp3tunes.com). The playlist went on to play 50 cent's "In Da Club" and I went "Ah ha! That's where all the armchair gangsta rap inspiration come from!". I have this folder labeled "Hip Hop" within my mp3 collections, courtesy of a nice friend and I must have went through the songs inside somewhere back in time. But I'm also pretty sure that song's one of 50 cent's more popular tunes so I might had heard it over on the radio, in a friend's car, at a home party etc.

Google makes us a genius

That's just one piece of the puzzle. What about the Jay Chou inspiration? Wouldn't need to leave that to chance because all I had to do was to type "Jay Chou rap" in google search and walah! Jay Chou's "Checkmate". Once again I must have heard this song some in the publicsphere because I don't have a habit of listening to JC's song.

So now that I've nailed down 2 pieces of music that I've subconsciously referenced with, I'm beginning to feel that the beats that I laid down were too busy when compared to these giants. Hmm... I might tone it down but I might also just leave it as it is. Let's see how I take this song further in the coming days.

$money - The Verse

2010-06-24T21:22:00.001+08:00

In my last post I've added bassline to the skeletal loop of this song. Here's a recap of how it sounds like.

Chorus drumloop (with meaner bass) by jasonong

Now usually I'll envision the chorus of a song first. It's usually the high point of the song so naturally when I'm jotting down memorable melodies of a song it's gonna be the chorus. So let's set the bars above as the chorus.

The Loop

Now it's time to extend the track beyond just a loop into a verse. Using the beats created in the chorus, I've managed to tone it down to a similar but simpler version that seems to complement with a "Jay Chou-ish" (JC) rap that I'm hearing in my head.

The Bassline

Using the "rap" as a focal point, I was also able to write down a simple 4 bar melody for the bassline. This bassline is very much more melodic than the chorus. Reason being I wanted a a-tonal "gangsta" rap in the chorus juxtaposed with a melodic rap in the verse where the latter was made famous by JC in chinese music (I THINK, SO DON'T QUOTE ME).

Here's an unpolished product of 8 bars verse + 8 bars chorus and a little DJ scratch in between. Good enough for real looping ;)

Money - Verse + Chorus (1st draft) by jasonong

$money - Big Bottoms

2010-06-14T20:03:00.003+08:00

Bass is the unsung hero of any song. It's there, you feel it but it doesn't sticks out trying to grab your attention. When was the last time you hum out the bass line of a song?

Putting the bass line for my skeletal loop was easy. Most of the notes should coincide with accents in the song to help give some punch. The rest are just fill ins to help drive the rhythm along.

Here's the drum track with a simple bass line using a bass sample that I thought sounded mean.

Chorus drumloop (with bass) by jasonong

But it's a bit too vanilla so I'll just throw in some EQ and compression to boost the lows and give it more punch. I'm not the best person to speak on the audio manipulation techniques because my strength's are in music arrangement, not audio production.

Chorus drumloop (with meaner bass) by jasonong

$money - The Stabs

2010-06-13T17:37:00.000+08:00

In my previous post I was laying down the skeleton of a "gangsta" wannabe loop ringing in my head. But it's just a vanilla loop at this point. Let's make it more "gangsta" sounding with some stabs (pun intended).

Browsing through the midi keyboard sounds on my Studio One's Presence plugin, I found an orchestral keyboard that would sound rad as stabs. Here's my initial draft.

Chorus drumloop (with stabs) by jasonong

It was fine till I started nitpicking at the sustained stab section which although sounded nice with this vanilla loop, didn't quite go well with the rap syncopation that I've been hearing in my head. Thus I decided to tweak it to have more hits.

Chorus drumloop (with stabs) 2 by jasonong

$money - The Skeleton

2010-06-12T14:03:00.000+08:00

And so begins my journey with $money.

When the inspiration first hit me, I was hearing blurry rap in my head - syncopated garbled lyrics with a clear sense of rhythm. The drums were the most distinct so it became the skeleton to work my ideas on.

So I started with basic snare + kick on my PreSonus Studio One. Since I had a gangsta rap in mind. I chose the "Hip Hop" drumkit on a Presence track (midi).

The track below shows the syncopation that was ringing in my head. Notice the slight tinge of hi-hat sound in that sampled kick offered by the kit. Love it.

Money - chorus drumloop (snare + kick) by jasonong

So based on this snare + kick combo, I've decided to lay regular 4/4 hi-hats with a section that actually syncs with the kick. Thought this helps to add color to that rhythmic section.

Money - chorus drumloop (snare + kick + hi-hat) by jasonong

And then I proceeded to add a tamborine just to push the 4/4 beat along and make the loop sound fuller.

chorus drumloop (snare + kick + hi-hat + tamborine) by jasonong

Naked Music Production - $money

2010-06-12T13:31:00.000+08:00

Inspired by my friends doing a startup and journaling their experiences weekly at their blog.

http://nakedstartup.com

So here's a new series that I'm devoting to this blog - Naked Music Production. The first installment will be on a chinese "gangsta" rap that I'm currently working on. The title as of now is "$money". I'll be documenting how the song evolves as I work on it.

The inspiration hit me when there's a recently online controversy regarding how churches spend their devotees donation. Wanted to write something contemporary to reflect the philosophy and motivation behind these donations as well as the church expenditures.

I choose to go with gangsta rap partly due to the ill connotation associated with the genre. Actually I think it'll probably end up more like a Jay Chou-ish rap since I'm hearing chinese lyrics in my head. Thought it would be interesting to see how "gangsta" sounding it can be on a chinese rap.

It's also interesting that I saw a program on Nat Geo on this Shaolin monk (Shi Yan Ming) who defected from China to America on the inaugural Chinese Shaolin Monk tour in the US. He's manage to blend in with commoners, celebrities and hoodlum rappers all at once by accepting their cultures by having a non judgemental attitiude and a quest to spread Buddhist philosophies in the west. Kinda like East meets West.

http://www.usashaolintemple.org/

Hopefully all these gives a feel of what I'm trying to achieve with the song. Okay think that's enough of a introduction. Time to work on my first post - $money's skeleton.

The Good Librarian

2010-03-29T03:35:00.000+08:00

Being a good musician is as much about being a good librarian... ok point taken!

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-good-librarian/

Midi controller plug and play?

2010-03-29T03:34:00.000+08:00

I bought a nifty little 2 octave usb midi controller Akai LPK25 recently. Expected it to be "plug and play" which in a way it did in how its drivers were installed automatically by WinXP but my PreSonus Studio One needed to "setup" or "reconnect" to the controller whenever I plugged it in.

Optimizing PreSonus Studio One performance on an EeePC netbook

2010-03-21T09:41:00.002+08:00

When playing sequences on the PreSonuc Studio One Artist on my EeePC netbook, I found the following:

- adjusting the netbook performance to "High Performance" causes some jitters during play back.
- switching netbook performance to "Power Saving" mode eliminates the jitters! But this will cause all other applications to be sluggish.

Power Saving mode's better than High Performance for audio stuff? Wierd. Maybe it's the spikes in CPU or the internal fan that's causing problems.

== UPDATE ==

Seems like the problem's solved after upgrading the stock Studio One from installation cd (v1.0.0) to the latest (v1.0.3). No more jitters experienced yet.

Fixing Presonus Audiobox USB problem on Windows XP

2010-03-20T14:49:00.000+08:00

Scenario:

Installed Presonus Audiobox USB drivers from CD and Presonus Studio One. Sound was totally unstable from the get go.

Fix:

Download the latest driver from Presonus website. Apparently there's problem with the old drivers with USB. When installing the new driver, select "Uninstall old drivers" first before trying to install the new ones, else you'll get "blue screen of death". Sound from Audiobox was much more stable after installing the new driver.

Band name origins

2006-09-05T18:37:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Ever wondered how some band names come about? Check these possibilities out! :)

ABBA - Abba is "father" in Hebrew but the band claims that to be unintentional - rather it is an acronym for the first names of the band members: Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid (Frida).

AC/DC - 1) It is said that one of the band member saw it on an appliance and thought it had something to do with power. (It does mean "alternating current / direct current".) The band used it not realizing it was also slang for a bisexual- the band claims NOT to be bisexual.

2) In the vogue of other anti-everything bands it stands for Against Christ/Devil's Children.

ALICE IN CHAINS - a funny rumor is that they were named after a lost episode from The Brady Bunch series!

AMBOY DUKES - Ted Nugent's original band - taken from the title of a 1940's book about street gangs by Irving Shulman.

ANTHRAX - A dangerous bacteria that used to infect many cattle in Europe & could be used for terrorism.

ASPHALT BALLET - The name came from a motorcycle accident Julius was in where the motion of the bike rolling over on the asphalt road was termed an "Asphalt Ballet."

AQUA - suggested by a Danish AQUArium poster that was hanging in their recording studio.

BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY - this neo-swing band takes its name from what legendary bluesman Albert King wrote as an autograph for the band's leader, Scotty Morris... "To the big bad voodoo daddy."

B-52's - The beehive hairstyle popular in the 1950's (worn by band members) was called a B-52 after a type of large US Air Force bomber plane with that designation.

BACKSTREET BOYS - The Backstreet Market was a store in Florida where the guys used to hang out.

BAD COMPANY - A 1972 modern cowboy movie starring Jeff Bridges.

BAD ENGLISH - One day the band members were playing pool and thinking about a name for the band. John Waite went to take a shot and missed. Someone made a comment on how bad his "English" was - English referring to the spin you put on a ball according to where on the ball your stick hits.

BAUHAUS - an artsy name, after a style of graphic design and famous school of architecture.

BEASTIE BOYS - According to Michael Diamond, BEASTIE stands for Boys Entering Anarchistic Stages Towards Internal Excellence.

THE BEATLES - 1) original member Stuart Sutcliffe came up with THE BEETLES , as a play on Buddy Holly's group THE CRICKETS who they loved. They were using the name THE QUARRYMEN and sometimes THE SILVER BEETLES - later it became THE BEATLES emphasizing the BEAT aspect of music (and poetry?).

2) Lennon lists the influence of the film "The Wild One", which featured a motorcycle gang called the Beetles (unconfirmed). John Lennon is generally credited with combining Beetles and Beat to come up with THE BEATLES spelling. Lennon was also fond of saying he had a vision as a child of a flaming pie in the sky that said "You are Beatles with an "A"

JOHN CAFFERTY and the BEAVER BROWN BAND - did the classic soundtrack to the movie Eddie and the Cruisers. The band from the Cranston Rhode Island area was practicing in one of the band member's garages when they saw a Dutch Boy paint can that was called Beaver Brown.

THE BEE GEES - the 60's soft-rockers now best known for disco. "Saturday Night Fever" - some say the BG comes from "Brothers Gibb" since they were brothers named Gibb... however an article on the group suggests that they used the names of 2 friends that helped them get started: Bill Goode and a DJ named Bill Gates... I'll go with the first version.

BELLE and SEBASTIAN - was a French T.V. series in the early seventies about a little boy and his dog, a Saint Bernard named Belle. Belle was put to sleep after she injured another child.

THE BLACK CROWES - it was originally named Mr. Crowe's Garden, after a favorite children's book. They sang under that name until they signed with Def American Records in 1989. They renamed themselves at the suggestion of a producer.

BLACK SABBATH - from a 1960's cheap horror movie starring Boris Karloff , suggesting a holy day of witchcraft.

BLACK UHURU - Uhuru is Swahili for freedom, therefore "Black Freedom".

BLIND MELON - slang for an out-of-work hippie (Weren't they all?) - they were called that by Shannon H's dad - also recalls an old blues singer, Blind Lemon - Melon being an anagram for Lemon.

BLINK 182 - Blink 182 supposedly has NO meaning at all but the band fosters stories on origins. Sample: used to be just "Blink" but was threatened by a lawsuit from a little known Irish band with the same name, so they added the 182 which is the number of times the f-word was said in one of the members favorite movies.

BON JOVI - from the New Jersey bandleader Jon Bon Jovi, whose real name is John Bongiovi, Jr.

DAVID BOWIE - born David Jones, he changed his name to avoid confusion with David (Davy) Jones of THE MONKEES.

CHEAP TRICK - they say the band members asked a Ouija Board what they should call themselves.

CHICAGO - Their first album was released as "Chicago Transit Authority", but the city of Chicago sued them because Chicago Transit Authority is the name of Chicago's public transportation department so they shortened it. Don't record companies check these things before they release them?

COLLECTIVE SOUL - a term used in the popular novel "The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand.

COLOR ME BADD - Sam Watters said the name was an attempt to remove racial, sexual and musical overtones - "If you want to color us as anything, color us as badd." Originally called TAKE 1 (but another group was using the name), Jon Bon Jovi asked them to open a Bon Jovi / Skid Row concert with "Daddy's Home" sung a capella. Jon said, "You guys think you're pretty bad. Let's see how bad you are in front of 15,000 people."

COUNTING CROWS - Comes from old English nursery rhyme which had to do with predicting the future from the numbers of birds seen. Originally the rhyme was about magpies, but as people came over to America, crows were used instead. From the song "A Murder of One" one of the versions of the rhyme goes "one for sorrow, two for joy, three for girls, four for boys, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told..." Adam Duritz liked the rhyme...

THE CRANBERRIES - originally called Cranberries Saw Us ( a joke on Cranberries SAUCE) they changed it to the shorter form later.

CREED - This popular Florida band was named after former bassist Brian Marshall's
earlier band Mattox Creed. www.creednet.com

THE CULT - Goth/Rock band 'The Cult' were once known as 'The Sudden Death Cult', then
shortened to 'Death Cult', then finally just 'The Cult'.

DEF LEPPARD - Joe Elliot, lead singer, wanted to use the idea provided by the band Led Zeppelin's logo and transformed what he originally had as deaf leopard.

THE DEFTONES - Because when they started out, people thought they were so bad
that they called them tone deaf - transposed to def tones.

DEPECHE MODE - from the name of a fashion magazine, meaning hurry up fashion

DMX - Dark Man X

DOOBIE BROTHERS - a doobie was 60's slang for a marijuana joint.

THE DOORS - Jim Morrison read poet William Blake who said "if the doors of perception are cleansed, everything would appear to man as it truly is, infinite. "He was also influenced by author Aldous Huxley who referred to the same line when he titled his book on drug experimentation The Doors of Perception. "There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors" Official Doors web site is at http://www.thedoors.com/

DURAN DURAN - named after a character in the Jane Fonda movie Barbarella.

BOB DYLAN - His real name is Robert Zimmerman - he liked the poet Dylan Thomas.

THE EAGLES - originally called TEEN KING AND THE EMERGENCIES , they liked the American sound of Eagles and the way it was aligned with THE BYRDS who had a great influence on them.

ELTON JOHN - Real name: Reginald Dwight. Created from two other British musicians: Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

EMINEM - from his real name Marshall Mathers he took M&M and rewrote it phonetically as Eminem.

EVERCLEAR - Named after the "Everclear" brand of 190 proof grain alcohol used to make dangerous alcoholic drinks.

EURYTHMICS - a method of music instruction from the 1890's that emphasizes physical response to the music..

EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL - from an ad for a British clothing store that would sell you "Everything but the Girl" that you saw in the ad.

FOO FIGHTERS - a term used by World War II pilots to describe strange flying fireballs they sometimes saw.

FLEETWOOD MAC - a simple one. They just took the last name of drummer Mick Fleetwood and a form of bassist John McVie's last name.

FAITH NO MORE - named after a race horse they saw listed on a racing form.

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE - the name of a garden center on Route 46 in Wayne, New Jersey. http://home.earthlink.net/~johncw/fow/html/gen_info.html

GARBAGE - Either lead singer Shirley Manson's father yelled down to the band at one of their basement practice sessions, "Play more quietly - you sound like garbage." or from a friend of Butch Vig (the drummer of Garbage), who said "This stuff sounds like garbage!" check their site at http://www.garbage.com/

GENESIS - The first book in the Bible - their first album's title was "From Genesis to Revelation"

GIN BLOSSOMS - slang for the "blossoms" (burst blood capillaries) on the face particularly the nose from drinking too much alcohol - in the late 1800's gin was a popular cheap alcoholic drink.

GODSMACK - The metal band "Godsmack" was much thought to be named after the Alice in
Chains song of the same name. But according to the band they arrived at the name after one band member made a particularly inappropriate comment and another remarked "God will smack you for that one". Hence forth one would receive a "Godsmack" for bad behavior.

GOO GOO DOLLS - used to be called the Sex Maggots, and when they were told that local newspapers wouldn't print that name, Jonny Rzeznik picked up a magazine from the early 60's with an ad for a doll that cried Goo Goo when you turned it upside down.

GOLDFINGER - after the James Bond movie.

THE GRATEFUL DEAD - originally called The Warlocks, Jerry Garcia found out that another band had the same name. Supposedly, he looked in a reference book at random and found a folk tale about a troubled soul who is put to rest by a traveler. The spirit then helps the traveler with his own quest.

GREEN DAY - 1) It may have come from the sci-fi movie Soylent Green when they said "Tuesday is soylent green day." Soylent green was a food produced by a corporation to feed the way overpopulated masses; turns out they were also making it from the masses!

2) Another story is that when they dropped out of school to be musicians, their principal said "It'll be a green day in hell before you make anything of yourselves".

3) Some say that in drug slang - if you smoked pot and goofed off all day, it was a "Green Day."

GUNS 'N' ROSES - originally two bands L.A. GUNNS and HOLLYWOOD ROSES. Hollywood Roses was headed by Axl Rose, Tracii Guns headed the other band which also featured Slash. The two frequented clubs and played there and were friends.

HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH - from the nicknames of two friends of singer/guitarist Darius Rucker - one with owl-like eyes (Hootie), another with the puffy "Blowfish" cheeks.

JANE"S ADDICTION - The band got it's name from a girl (Jane) that Perry Farrell knew back in L.A who was a prostitute and called it her addiction.

JETHRO TULL - popular 70's band that is named after the rather obscure inventor of the farmer's seed drill.

JUDAS PRIEST - originally a mild curse said to avoid saying "Jesus Christ" - also from the Bob Dylan song "The ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest".

KMFDM - KEIN MEHRHEIT FÜR DIE MITLEID, loosely translates as "no sympathy for the majority." Founded by SASCHA KONIETZKO from Germany. When Englishman RAYMOND "PIG" WATTS joined the band he never pronounce the name so he just started calling it by the initials.

KING CRIMSON - from the official website http://www.elephant-talk.com The band's original lyricist, Peter Sinfield, created it as a synonym for Beelzebub, which is derived from the Arabic phrase "B'il Sabab", meaning "the man with an aim." (Another, more common etymology of "Beelzebub" is that it is Hebrew for "Lord of the Flies.") In John Milton's 'Paradise Lost', Beelzebub was Satan's chief lieutenant among the fallen angels. Often seen as a red (crimson) figure, he is King of the underworld.

KISS - According to Paul Stanley, Kiss just sounded dangerous (kiss of death) and sexy at the same time. Kiss denies the rumors that the name stands for "Kids In Service of Satan" or the saying "Keep It Simple Stupid."

KORN - There are many stories as to how the name originated, however the most believable is that Korn starts with Kern County which is where Jonathan worked as a Coroner. From that came "KoRn". It was then decided that it would be written like a child would write it, hence the K
instead of a C, and the backwards R.

LED ZEPPELIN - Jimmy Page was drinking with Moon and Entwhistle, who were bitching about their band mates Daltrey and Townshend. They joked about the two of them starting a band with Jimmy, and one of them said "Yeah, that will go over like a lead balloon". When Jimmy formed his own band, he remembered this and thought "Lead Zeppelin" would be good, both from that conversation and the heavy/light contradiction similar to the band named IRON BUTTERFLY. They decided to drop the "a" so Americans wouldn't mispronounce it.

LEMONHEADS - a type of candy.

LEVEL 42 - 1) From the supercomputer in the great & hilarious novel The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, (part of the "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" series) computed the meaning of life to be 42

2) Also a possible reference to a sign in the strange film Brazil that says "Level 41".

LIMP BIZKIT - Got the idea from Fred Durst's dog Biscuit who has a limp.

LL COOL J - for "Ladies Love Cool James".

LOS LOBOS - Spanish for "The Wolves"

LYNYRD SKYNYRD - Named after Leonard Skinner, an annoying gym teacher/coach some of the members had in high school. Leonard is said to have moved on to sell real estate in Jacksonville, Florida.

MEGADETH - Dave Mustane was inspired by a government pamphlet he saw after leaving METALLICA. A Megadeath is a military term for one million dead (making World War II an 80 Megadeath)

METALLICA - Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fanzine. The choices were Metal Mania and Metallica. Metal Mania was chosen for the magazine & he used Metallica for his band.

MISFITS - A 1961 movie starring Clarke Gable and Marilyn Monroe.

MONSTER MAGNET - 1) Dave Wyndorf, lead man in Monster Magnet, collects sci-fi/Horror collectibles, one is a model called "The Monster Magnet"

2) The Mothers of Invention's first LP Freak Out has that title as its first track.

MÖTLEY CRÜE - A friend said "What a Motley looking Crew" - motley meaning "of great variety" and once describing the appearance of a court jester. The re-spelling was their own invention using the umlauts (those funny dots over letters) came to them while they were partying & drinking Lowenbrau beer.

MOTORHEAD - British slang for a drug user who uses a lot of speed

NIRVANA - In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained through the annihilation of the self.

'NSYNC- Justin's mother came up with the name. N is the last letter in Justin, S is the last letter in Chris, Y is the last letter in Joey. N is actually from James Lance Bass because Chris gave him the nickname 'Lansten'. Since Lance doesn't end with a N, they used his nick name,
Lansten. C is from J.C. That's how they came up with 'NSYNC. (info from T.J. Gernon, Illinois & Andrea in San Diego) The whole thing is, of course, a play on In Sync - a term which comes from the movie industry - meaning when the picture & soundtrack are properly aligned or synchronized.

NO DOUBT - a favorite phrase of John Spence, it became the name of the band prior to his suicide.

OASIS - local British origins: a Manchester cab company, a chain of women's clothing stores, a local Indian restaurant and more likely a local club that The Beatles played in during their early years (the band are avowed Beatles fans)

PANTERA - Spanish for Panther and also a pretty cool car.

PEARL JAM - 1) Eddie's grandma supposedly made a peyote (hallucinogenic drug) jelly/jam , which as kids they called pearl jam.

2) I've heard a couple of times that "Pearl Jam" comes from NBA player Mookie Blaylock -- it's his nickname. Band members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament
were huge fans of Blaylock, loved his peculiar name and wished to just call their band "Mookie Blaylock" but Blaylock protested, so they used his nickname "Pearl Jam" instead.

PINK FLOYD - taken from the names of two Georgia bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council - from the early days when the band saw itself as a blues band.

PORNO FOR PYROS - 1) Perry Farrell was reading a fireworks catalog on tour when a friend said the magazine looked like "porno for a pyro(maniac)" - a pyromaniac being one who loves fire.

2) Perry Farrel was up one night late watching the TV coverage of the LA riots and the fires and
couldn't take his eyes off the screen. He said it was like "porno for pyros".

PORTISHEAD - The name of their home town in England.

RADIOHEAD - Named after a Talking Heads' song called "Radio Head."

RAMONES - Paul McCartney used to call himself Paul Ramone. The Ramones all use the last name Ramone even though it's not their given name.

REO SPEEDWAGON - the name of a fire engine made by Oldsmobile in the 1930's. "R.E.O." was the initials of Ransom Elliot Olds, the founder of the Oldsmobile Car Company.

R.E.M. - in the study of dreams, the abbreviation refers to rapid eye movement or that time during sleep when an observable movement of the eyeball occurs indicating that the person is in a dream state. Band member Michael Stipe has said that this is not why the band picked the name.

THE RIGHEOUS BROTHERS - The Righteous Brothers supposedly changed their name when a fan at one of their appearances yelled "That's righteous, brothers." I don't know what they called themselves before. Righteous being a late 1950's slang for great, cool etc.

THE ROLLING STONES - from the Howlin' Wolf blues song "Rolling Stone" - Keith Richards was a fan of the version recorded by Muddy Waters.

SAVAGE GARDEN - a phrase from an Anne Rice novel "Interview With The Vampire"

SEPULTURA - the Brazilian death metal band Sepultura name is the Portugese/Spanish word for a grave or burial tomb.

SILVERCHAIR - 1) The Silver Chair is one of the titles in C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" in which Prince Rilian of Narnia is held captive under the spell of the witch who killed his mother.
During brief moments of returning sanity he is restrained in a silver chair. He is rescued when two children magically transported from earth, and a dour resident of Narnia find him and destroy the chair thereby lifting the curse.

2) A combination of "Sliver" by Nirvana and "Berlin Chair" by You Am I. They were requesting the songs from a radio station and the name was inspired by notes a band member made to himself to remember the song titles while he was calling the station. * Original name of band: Innocent Criminals.

SIMPLE MINDS - taken from a line in the David Bowie song "Jean Genie".

SISTERS OF MERCY - A tribute to the Leonard Cohen song of same name; also an order of nuns.

SKID ROW - Slang for a rundown inner city neighborhoods where alcoholics, junkies, street people can afford to live.

SOUNDGARDEN - A garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when wind blows through them... a sculpture in Seattle called "Sound Garden".

SMASH MOUTH - football players use this slang term in any game with a lot of blocking or tackling.

STEELY DAN - taken from William Burrough's book Naked Lunch. In it Steely Dan is the nickname given to a giant steam-powered dildo (see cover photo on their first album)

STYX - named after the river of death found in Greek mythology and in Dante's Inferno.

10,000 MANIACS - extension of an old horror movie called "2000 Maniacs".

TESLA - from the largely unknown but important inventor Nikola Tesla who did important research in alternating current, radio, fluorescent lights, X-rays, microwaves...

THIRD EYE BLIND - Our third eye is the imagined one that gives us a kind of sixth sense (telepathy, ESP, etc.) and the band felt that most of us are blind in that sense. There is also a symbolic third eye (all knowing eye) that appears on the back of a U.S. dollar bill.

TLC - nicknames of band members: Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez and Rozonda is "Chilli" Actually Crystal was going to be the C of TLC, but when they auditioned for Laface, an exec didn't like Crystal's voice, so they replaced her with "Chilli". TLC was going to originally stand for Tionne, Left Eye and Crystal. The idea of "Tender Loving Care" must have worked for them too.

TOAD THE WET SPROCKET - A skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus which is about a weird rock band.

311 - "One of P-Nut's friends (Jim Watson) was arrested, cuffed (naked) and taken home to his parents. He was issued a citation for a code 311 (indecent exposure). We thought this was funny, so we took it as our band name. After the humor of the name wore off - we still kept it because we liked that it was just abstract and that it did not define us in anyway. The name did not describe our sound or our politics, it just let the music speak for itself. Since most interviewers always ask us "What does 311 mean?", we have come up with lots of different answers over the years. Some include.... Nick - "five friends making music", Tim - "a number dictated to me by a higher intelligence", P-Nut - "knowing a little numerology and studying a little magic, which I do; in some factions, three is man and 11 is magic. So 311 is like male magic." from their official site http://www.311music.com

U2 - Three possibilities: 1) A type of spy plane used by the United States in the 1960's - made famous when Gary Powers' U2 plane was shot down over Russia and he was taken as a
prisoner during the Cold War. 2) U2 as in "you too" referring to the audience and its role in the musical experience 3) a U2 is an unemployment form in Ireland (see UB40)

UB40 - Code number of a form people in Britain have to fill out to receive public assistance or welfare. Known in the UK as a signing-off form when you get a job. Hence the title of their first album Signing Off.

URGE OVERKILL - The name of a Parliaments' funk song.

VAN HALEN - after Alex and Eddie Van Halen - suggested by David Lee Roth as being better than their original name "Mammoth." They might have been called 'Daddy Longlegs' if Gene Simmons of KISS had gotten his way - he partially financed and produced one of their original demo records and suggested names and artwork.

WEEZER - Band member Rivers Cuomo had the nickname Weezer in school because of a breathing problem.

WHITE SNAKE - from a white albino ball python snake owned by David Coverdale while in DEEP PURPLE.

WHITE ZOMBIE - An old horror "B" movie.

WINGS - Paul McCartney's band - 1) in the Paul/Beatles song "Blackbird" you'll hear "Take these broken wings and learn to fly" which is what he did in his next album - a solo effort.

2) When Linda McCartney was giving birth to their daughter Stella, Paul was pacing around hoping everything was going well and he was praying and started thinking of angels and wings. Wings just stuck in his mind.

ZZ TOP - taken from the name of a Texas Blues man ZZ Hill. Though a rumor is that they got their name by combining Zig Zag and Top, two well known brands of "cigarette" rolling papers.

Tags: band names

Welcome to JasonGuitarTalk in concert!

2006-09-05T18:18:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Check out my upcoming concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium... not! heheh...

Stumbled upon a ticket generator at this website

url: http://www.says-it.com/concertticket/index.php

Fancy a record of your own? ;)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: ticket generator

Web 2.0 logos!

2006-08-14T11:44:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Web 2.0's all the rage now. Everything new website seems to be in beta and following a certain style.

Time for old logos to be redesigned! Check out these great suggestions in the following thread.

http://yh.yayhooray.com/thread/90661/yh-collab:-redesign-famous-logos-in-web-2-0-format

In the meantime. Check out some suggestions of old band logos redesigned!

Metallica:

"Old"

"New"

Nine Inch Nails:

"Old"

"New"

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: web 2.0, logo, metallica, nine inch nails

Rockstar Supernova's turning up the heat!

2006-08-11T13:15:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Yes it's been long... no excuse, just plain laziness on my part...

This week's Rockstar Supernova blew my mind! For those uninitiated, Rockstar series is a reality program whereby talented singers are auditioned to be in a highly publicised rockband, aka the rock version of American Idol.

The last season saw a guy by the name of J.D. won the competition and ended fronting the band INXS, a legendary rockband from australia. This season's a rock outfit by the name of Supernova's looking for a singer to front their band. This outfit consist of heavy weights from the rock scene:

1. Gilby Clarke: He used to play alongside Slash in Guns n' Roses.

2. Tommy Lee: Drummer of Motley Crue fame. Famous for his marriage with Pamela Anderson too.

3. Jason Newsted: The no-nonsense bassist of Metalica fame.

The band are the judges for this gruelling competition, alongside Dave Nevarro who played for Red Hot Chilli Peppers at some point in his career.

Why do I say this week's episode blew my mind?

The quality of the performers are responsible for the blow. I have never seen a better bunch of talented individuals fighting it out in the singing arena. At this stage, EVERYONE of 'em are sooooo good! I would hate to the one choosing which of them to eliminate every week!

That being said, I do have my favourites; Magni and Lukas. Magni for his great character off stage and commanding presence on stage. Lukas for his out-of-this world performances on stage. They're the dipolar opposites in my opinion. Lukas's spontaneity and unstableness is contradicting to Magni's discipline and composure. I think either one of 'em's gonna win. It'll be interesting to see what the judges themselves think. Enough said. Check out these spine chilling performances by them both below!

Lukas with a rendition of Radiohead's creep:

Magni with rendition of Dolphin's Cry (encore):

Watch more performances by them and the other contestants at YouTube.

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: rockstar supernova, magni, lukas rossi, dave nevarro, gilby clarke, jason newsted, video

Paul Gilbert instructional video

2006-06-30T13:01:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Revisited Paul Gilbert's instructional video on Google Video. For those uninitiated, he's the man behind Mr Big's awesome guitar work. His claim to fame was in playing very fast & furious stuff in Racer X. Somebody told me a long time ago that he held the world record for the most number of pick in a second! Think the figure quoted was 16 picks/sec. That's really fast!!! Now don't quote me on that. I ain't gonna verify that statement. However, watching the video below might justtify abit of that claim...

I never really understood what's the big deal about him in the past. Met so many ppl who has him as their favourite guitarist. I think I'm beginning to appreciate him better after watching this video. Reason being that he doesn't take himself too seriously. He's not concerned about looking cool or out of this world. Just a regular dude who's good at what he's doing and might even make a joke out of it once in awhile. Not to mention that he knows exactly what's in his playing so he's able to teach out what he's able to play in a clear manner.

There are alot of video of him in Google video. I respect that too coz it means that he's not overly protective of his materials. The saddest for a musician is to kick away potential fans just because somebody told you that it's bad to give away things freely!

Before you watch his instructional video, check this tongue twister of his out! :)

runtime: 40secs

Instructional video
runtime: 17mins

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitarist, paul gilbert, video

Guitar-slinging singing sensation

2006-06-23T01:37:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

It's been long since my last post! Sorry, was busy doing programming and practising for gigs and such... I promise I'll get back to posting more regularly from today onwards! :)

Saw this on my sister's laptop.... a flash video of an amazing bird singing Scorpion's "Still Loving You"! Got me into such a laughter that I thought should share with you wonderful people. :)

Right click below and select "Play" to begin. Turn up volume for a fuller experience! ;)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: scorpion, still loving you, video, bird singing, funny

Tooltips on GuitarTalk!

2006-05-26T16:01:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've implemented tooltips into GuitarTalk. Hope this will serve all of you better in reading and understanding my posts! :)

Demo (hover your mouse over the words):

PRS

Strat

Palm mute

Gibson

Highlight

Blessings,

GuitarTalk

Yet another test... Scriptaculous effects!

2006-05-26T13:49:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Just another test of javascript effects... from Scriptaculous library which is rich with many combinational effects! Hope to be able to implement this in my blog post...

Test: Toggle American Idol 2006 Taylor Hicks with slide effect

Test: Toggle him now with appear effect

Test: Give him a shake!

Test: Abracadabra and off he goes!

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

DreamMusician.com

2006-05-25T12:02:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Read about this website on Yahoo! Music news... They provide downloads of WMA of our favourite music tracks but with a twist... with one instrument of your choice removed! Great for practising musicians! Much like how karaokes are great for vocalist, I'm sure these tracks will be great for guitarists! In the past, the only way for us to practice in the past is to get a tight-enough band to play alond with ya... now just turn on your pc/laptop that's connected to your hi-fi and click on 'em tracks to start bobbing your head and fingers away! Way cool! :)

Click on image above to read about them...

Link: DreamMusician.com

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: website, wma, dreammusician

Lightbox in GuitarTalk

2006-05-25T11:31:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Lightbox has been implemented in GuitarTalk! Check out the following demo :)

Click on picture to view in Lightbox:

Click on the pictures below to view them in a group:

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Punk Rock with a funny attitude

2006-05-24T12:09:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Punksters from Google Videoland... MTV overkilled? How many more characters and plots can they come up with? :)

1. Kissing Tigers - "So Stay in Love"

4 min 18 sec

Not only is Kissing Tigers an up and coming band with solid music, but the video has hamsters in it. Who doesn't like videos with hamsters in it?

2. From First to Last - "Note to Self"

4 min 32 sec

Where you'd least expect it - punk rock inside a retirement home...

3. Millencolin - "Fox"

2 min 3 sec

A story about a boy and his bike...

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: punk rock, kissing tigers, from first to last, millencolin, mtv, video

Pic of the day

2006-05-18T12:14:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Watch out Creative... don't put your R&D money in the wrong bag... There's a reason why Ipod's are selling so well...

Man, they look sexy no matter which angle you look at 'em...

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: pic of the day, ipod

Taylor Factory Fieldtrip @ GuitarTalk

2006-05-09T14:48:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Heard of Taylor guitar? If not then you mustn't be a guitar player... Taylor's famous for producing great acoustic guitars (so-so only in my opinion)... How do they do it? Thru fine engineering apparently... Check out the following steps that they're products go thru from zero to hero! :)

Step 1: Roto-shaper                       Play video

Step 2: Side-bending                     Play video part 1 | part 2

Step 3: Binding                               Play video part 1 | part 2

Step 4: Rosettes                             Play video

Step 5: Bracing                               Play video

Step 6: Blocking and Kerfing      Play video

Step 7: Killer Koa                          Play video part 1 | part 2

Step 8: Finishing                          Play video part 1 | part 2

Step 9: The Taylor Neck             Play video

Step 10: Tooling                             Play video

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitar, taylor, video

Road to the Promised Land Reloaded

2006-05-08T01:07:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I was looking through some of the videos that I had of Trio when I was reminded of this one that was taken when we happened to hang around Esplanade. Seems like we were trying to break the sound barrier, alas...

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: Trio, Road to the Promised Land, Video

Songbird: A replacement for iTunes player

2006-04-29T00:30:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Am trying out an open source media player, Songbird. It is based on the Mozilla Firefox engine so I'm guessing there will be lesser security issues (iTunes have to be updated regularly for security bugs)... olus during installation I realised that Nullsoft is behind this player too... for those uninitiated, Nullsoft's the company behind the long forgotten Winamp that helped kickstart the mp3 revoution...

Songbird installer >> "Pigeon egg"

Songbird shortcut >> "Pretty Nightingale"

Songbird in full flight >> "Media Player cum Browser"

An interesting feature of the player's is its ability to find media files links (audio & video). The picture below illustrates me surfing GuitarTalk using the inbuilt browser and it automatically shows the downloadable file links on my blog! Cool! :)

Seeing is believing... for more information, watch this screencast. :)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: songbird, itunes, media player

Johnny Hiland - Blind Guy Made Chicken Pickin' Good

2006-04-28T12:05:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've read about Johnny Hiland in guitar magazines. He seemed to be much talked about as an awesome country guitarist.

Read about him again in a online article and realised some inspiring facts about him...

1. He's blind!
2. Musical prodigy
3. Studied to be a teacher but switched to music career later on.
4. Part time motivational speaker
5. Wrote & illustrated a children's book called "Tuff the Special Bear"
6. Released Chickin' Pickin' Volume 1 and Strictly Rhythm DVDs
7. Touring the globe with Johnny Hiland Trio

All these while being handicapped! An awesome testimony of never letting anything put you down... it is in the midst of bad circumstances that we have the opportunity to emerge victorious! :)

Here's a video of him playing his PRS signature guitar. Enjoy! :)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: johnny hiland, guitarist, prs, video

Count on me JBBB...

2006-04-27T12:28:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

It was quite an eventful day for me on the Hollabackcrew finals coz besides getting to see Click Five in person (unfortunately I didn't bring any camera so no pictures) but also had to rush off to Johore Bahru for a short Trio performance at Boys Bridgade thanksgiving dinner.

The first thing I noticed about the dinner was the MC who was very bold and confident in his delivery and not to mention the singer on stage who belted out fine classic tunes with style (love his pitching). It wasn't till after the whole event when our host brought us to a cafe to enjoy some snacks when I found out that the MC is actually King Kong in Phua Chu Kang! No wonder he looked ao familiar... I was even more amazed when I was told that the wonderful singer's Clement Chow who is the composer and singer of Count On Me Singapore! For those of you living in the days when MediaCorp was SBC will remember that song that we sang our hearts out during national days! What an honour and priviledge to meet the man himself too! Spoke to both of them and they were really friendly and have such a sanguine personality. Couldn't in my life imagined a mr. funnyman like Clement to wirte such a touching song...

Anyways here's a pic that I took with them both at the cafe.

Clement Chow, myself & Charlie aka "King Kong"

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: trio, boys bridgade, pck, clement chow, count on me singapore

PFF test part 3... this time playing with tags... ;)

2006-04-27T02:22:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've created this using Performancing plugin for Firefox... looks good... allows me to post very easily minus all the hassles of logging into Blogger... it even supports del.icio.us tagging! That's way cool and I'm trying the tagging in this post! ;) Gee if this goes on think I'm gonna be a full fledge Firefox convert! :p

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: performancing, firefox

Testing Performancing for Firefox (PFF) part 2

2006-04-27T01:11:00.000+08:00

Testing image drag & drop...

The images below are dragged and dropped into my Performancing browser from their website

Testing out Performancing for Firefox

2006-04-27T00:42:00.000+08:00

Testing testing....

I'm blogging from a Firefox plugin. :)

Progressive rock videos

2006-04-25T12:26:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Yup it's been quite some time since I've posted here regularly! Well good news is I'm finishing most of my performance commitments for this half of the year so I'll be able to blog more! :)

In this post I shall open up world of "Progressive rock" to my readers. As the name of the genre suggest, it's rock with a twist >> progressive movements/cadences throughout the songs. My first contact with this genre was thru the long-defunct "Rock, Rip & Roll" hosted by then 98.7FM DJ Anne Neo. She was like the only rock chick that I knew of then. Here's a GuitarTalk salute to her for shaping my sonic tastes! :)

Anyway as I was saying, it was during that show that I got to know about THE KINGS OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK "DREAM THEATER". Just ask any prog rock fans and if they don't know them >> they are fakes! And so Anne Neo played "Pull Me Under" on radio and I had my little tape recorder on standby to record any great tracks on that show. Those were the days... the only cheap and viable way for me to know about great music... these days we're so blessed with audio downloads, videos, google, etc.

And thanks to Google video, I've managed to catch the MTV of "Pull Me Under"! Man, this song still gives me the chills after all these years! It's so early nineties! And the reason why I was looking for that video was because I did a search for "Sonata Arctica" (Dream Theater's predecessors) videos...

After watching these videos, I made some observations:

- Though both videos are made a musical generation apart, they're theme and videography didn't really changed much.
- What's with prog rock and ghostly themes???
- They always feature the vocalists whining away first and climaxed with the guitarists showing off their chops.
- Long hair and more long hairs!
- Double bass for drums is a must!

I think though these guys makes great music, they aren't backed up with a great budget for a great video for the masses... that's just my 5 cents... heh... Catch their videos below and judge for yourselves! :)

Dream Theater:

Sonata Arctica:

P.s. Many thanks to Alvin and my larling Angie for letting me listen to S.A.'s version of "Wing Beneath My Wings"! :)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: progressive rock, dream theater, sonata arctica, video, pull me under,
wolf & raven

May Day Concert 2006 poster

2006-04-19T13:26:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I came back home one day and my dad asked me if the Kelly Poon's show that my group Trio's playing in is part of the May Day Concert. I replied, "Should be" and he took out a poster of the concert and showed me Kelly Poon's pic. I remembered that we as Trio had to go for a photoshoot for the show which will be used in posters so I wasted no time and scanned through the poster and saw my group in it! The funny thing is that my dad didn't even noticed it before as he probably was distracted by all the big names in the posters... hahaha....

This picture of us for this poster was probably taken from here...

Here are more fantabulous pix that could have been on it... Thanks Michael for the wonderful shots! You're the man!

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: may_day_concert, trio, poster

Hollaback Crew 98.7 interview

2006-04-19T12:46:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Wanted to share with all of you an interview that some of us from my Hollaback team Adestra did at 98.7FM after our auditions. We went there not knowing that it's gonna be on the airwaves 'live'...

Was an interesting experience as I had never seen how radio studios looked like... As it turns out, all the MediaCorp owned stations are nothing more than just bedroom sized studios that are located side by side. Thus while walking to the 98.7 studios I actually got to see local DJs like Flying Dutchman from Class 95 doing their mornging shows! They were pretty friendly too as they waved a big 'hihi' to us as we walked by...

The studio for 98.7 was very homely with its mini fridge, red sofa, curtains, shelves and even a guitar. I like the very relax atmosphere that the DJs had doing their work. No wonder they could sound so bright and cheery on air!

Justin aka 'Muttons', myself & Vernon A.

Anyways so there we were talking away with 98.7 Morning Show with Justin 'Mutton' & Vernon A. when they asked us during the interval to do some impromptu thingey. So we took out a water bottle, dustin bin and a guitar in the studio and whipped up a song that my group Trio had written some time ago... Thank God for that! Heh...

Here's the audio except of the interview. Enjoy! :)

Click on link to play in Windows Media Player or right click to download:

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: hollaback_crew, 98.7fm, interview, trio, audio

Hollaback Crew

2006-04-03T02:00:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

As said in my update, I'll be doing more post on the Hollaback Crew competition. It's quite a big event as can be seen from the sponsors of this event!

Did a radio interview on 98.7 after the auditions. Interesting experience. Will do a post on it once I get my hands on the photos that I took there. In the meantime, check out the rountine that we churned out last min for the auditions below.

My team Adastra at Hollaback Crew auditions

The semi finals was at the Padang. The finals for the competitions will be at the Indoor Stadium. Apparently MTV will be filming the event! What's more ClickFive will be at the event too and the winner gets to play with them! Cool!!! :)

Click on image to watch Click Five's "Catch Your Wave"

God bless,
GuitarTalk

Tags: hollaback_crew, adastra, click_five, video

Updates: 3rd April 2006

2006-04-03T01:38:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of posts. Once again I'm having a busy bout so decided to tend to more important stuffs. So what have I been busy with? The list are as follows:

1. Web development
Am creating a website from scratch. Still learning all the hard coding though so alot of things to learn!

2. Hollaback Crew
This is an inaugural competition organised by 98.7FM. The basic idea is to have a group that consist of dancers, cheerleaders, rappers and musicians >>> rojak. My team got into the finals which is gonna be held at indoor stadium! First prize of $10000 up for grabs! So must understand why I'm concentrating on this yah? ;)

3. Kelly Poon
My group Trio was asked by MediaCorp to play with Project SuperStar 1st runnerup Kelly Poon. Gonna play the first two tracks of her just released album at the Padang on the 30th April. Exciting!

4. Istana
Trio's been asked to play at the Istana in the month of May too. Might be playing in front of our President! What's more I've never been to the Istana before! Double cool! :)

That's all for now. Will update ya more, especially on the HollabackCrew competition! :)

God bless,
GuitarTalk

Guitar of the day: Guitar with cd player

2006-03-09T16:01:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

You might think this concept's zany... a guitar with a built in cd-rom! Actually it's pretty useful. Like I can teach my student some parts of a song on my guitar while listening to it on cd... Come to think about it we could add a dvd-rom instead and mount a LCD screen to the back of the guitar and we have a portable mediaplayer/music-intrument. Good for watching those inspiring concert dvds with your "handy" guitar near ya to just strum & play when inspired!

Click on image to watch short video demo.

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitar

The Arctic Monkeys live video footage

2006-03-09T12:53:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I think the band Arctic Monkeys from Sheffield, UK have a good chance to makeit real big, what with this current rage for post-punk-dance-electro acts. They're already no.1 in UK Singles chart. I kinda think British music scene is avant-garde than their American counterparts. It was traditionally the British that gave us a glimpse into the future with the likes of Pulp, Suede, Blur, Radiohead, Coldplay etc. Then comes the Americans who followed up with bands like The Killers.

The whole band uses Fender guitars. Bassist on a Precision-bass, vocalist on a Stratocaster and guitarist on a Telecaster (one of my favourite). That's kinda cool when you come to think about it coz British bands using American made guitars to come up with something refreshing.

Hmm... guess music is indeed without boundaries. No matter where ya from, all it takes is a willing heart and a quiet spirit to write that fantstic one fantastic song! I'm still working on it! Heh...

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: band, arctic_monkeys, video, fender

A Brief History In Time: Music Mediums

2006-03-06T10:56:00.000+08:00

Gramaphone (grand-ma-phone)

Vinyl (v-nail)

Cassette (care-sad)

CD (see-this)

iPod (eye-pop)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: gramaphone, vinyl, cassette, cd, ipod

Nirvana: A tribute

2006-03-03T13:38:00.000+08:00

Hi all, this one's for Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame who killed himself while suffering from serious depression. Quite a tortured soul from what I read about him having low self esteem and not handling his fame well. A gentle reminder to us all the importance of harmony between our body, mind, soul & spirit. Seeing the video below brings back memories of my secondary school days when Nirvana was hugely popular. I remembered telling my friend that he's crazy when he told me the news of Cobain's death...

Note: The music in the video below's by Foo Fighters, a band formed by Nivana's excellent drummer Dave Grohl on guitar and vocals after Cobain's sudden departure.

and here's a tribute to the song that changed the face of music forever.

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: nirvana, kurt_cobain, guitarist, drummer, dave_grohl, foo_fighters, band,

Of guitars & movie stars...

2006-03-03T12:40:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Found this on somebody else's blogs. Apparently Steven Seagal (action movie star) and Kiefer Sutherland (The Lost Boys) are avid guitar collectors, the former collecting vintage guitars while the latter Gibsons.

From this...

to this?

And from this...

to this?

Well at least they have put their stash out of 'em movies into good use! ;P

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: fun, steven_seagal, kiefer_sutherland, vintage, gibson

eMusic: Free 25 song downloads!

2006-03-02T12:10:00.000+08:00

eMusic's the 2nd largest online music download store after iTunes. The neat thing about them is that they offer only indie labels and their mp3s do not have any DRMs (digital rights management) which means you do whatever you like with the mp3s that you've downloaded. ie. duplicate, burn, share, short of calling the song your own that is... What's more they're offering 25 FREE downloads for no obligation 2 week trial! Very neat indeed! :)

Click on image to visit eMusic.

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: website,
indie,
music, mp3, download, free

Jam session: Improvisation in A blues

2006-03-02T01:35:00.000+08:00

Another attempt at a improvisation. This time using a backing track provided at the Guitar4Christ thread. Did it in one take and thought it sounded quite ok so didn't try to improve it. Enjoy! :)

Press play or download here

Blues: You just gotta feel it! :)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: jason_ong, jams, audio, blues

Custom guitar stand

2006-03-01T15:46:00.000+08:00

I like! Maybe should try making one myself someday! Strangely I don't really have a guitar stand. Have a habit of having my guitar with its front lying against the wall. Find it a good way tonkeep my strings' action low as the gravity helps to bend the guitar necks backwards.

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: custom, guitar_stand, tips

Jam session: Improvisation in Cmin

2006-02-28T23:25:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Recently did a post for Guitar4Christ forum thread on Blues Jamming. Did all of this on my laptop which required quite abit of routing of cables... anyways it's mostly based on Cmin Pentatonic scale with abit of alteration here and there. Enjoy!

Press play or download here

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: jason_ong, jams, audio, pentatonic

Guitar of the day: Parker Fly P-42

2006-02-28T17:24:00.000+08:00

Parker Fly guitars are absolutely beautiful in my opinion. It's really light in weight and has a nice smooth neck too. It's my dream electric for performances. The good ones are really expensive but their low-end P-42 is pretty affordable at USD$520 (SGD$800+). Another guitar to work towards! :)

Here's a nice track in the style of Toto by legendary composer Hans Zimmer featuring the high-end acoustic/electric Parker Fly! :)

Click on image or download here

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitar, parker_fly, p-42, hans_zimmer, audio

Guitar of the day: Gibson ES-335

2006-02-24T13:22:00.000+08:00

One of my favourites & must haves even though I've never played one before. That's because my fav guitarist Lee Ritenour plays it (along with many many other great players)! :)

Lee Ritenour doing his smooth thingey with his ES-335

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitar, gibson, es335, lee_ritenour

Female Power! Part 1: Sheila E

2006-02-24T12:36:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I love the drums. Nothing catches me more than a great groove! Whoever says that females can't be good drummers? The video below is a great example of power drumming with a feminine touche.

Click to watch video in new browser

Visit Sheila E's website at www.sheilae.com

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: drummer, female, sheila_e, video

Interview with Lildrummergie

2006-02-23T22:08:00.000+08:00

Click play button to listen

Interview with drummer Angie Tan aka "Lildrummergie". Recorded on my laptop without any edits using Odeo.

runtime: 3:00min

Tags: drummer, female, angie_tan, interview, audio

Nu-Song on Da Blog

2006-02-23T16:15:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've finally come around to putting up just pure audio on my blog. Seems like a regress? Well not really as I think audio has a place in our lives that video can never give; the realm of the imagination. What the video gives blatantly, you can see it in your head creatively with audio.

This is an idea that I had while toying around trying to figure out a Sting song. It suddenly hit me that the first 2 bars of chord progression sounded like my band's original song "Turn It Around" written by Ryan Wong. Went ahead to include more chords, according to what I head in my head and came up with something like this. Unfortunately the recording only allowed 3 mins max so the song was cut off after a buildup at the end. Thank God that the ending was just some licks that had gone wrong. Heh… :P

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: song, original, jason_ong, composition, sting, turn_it_around, audio

Gorillaz "Dare" music video

2006-02-23T11:40:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've always been fascinated by the "pseudo" group Gorillaz even though I've never given their music some serious listening. It's very electropop. Anyway that's the trend these days with "postpunkelectropoprock" on the rise as seen by the likes of The Killers, The Bravery, Muse, etc.

The intersting thing about Gorillaz is that it's marketed solely on music videos with eyecatching cartoon animations. one of its member's from Blur too! I wonder if the guy inside the video below is him...

Click on image to watch video

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tag: virtual, band, gorillaz, blur, video

Guitar of the day: Michael Kelly's Valor electric custom

2006-02-23T11:06:00.000+08:00

A beauty to behold, except for the headstock, which looked abit too big for it's slim body. I always tell my students to treat the guitar like a human coz it's got a head, neck & body too! :)

I think Michael's Patriot custom looks better!

Visit Michael Kelly's MySpace to hear his guitar in action.

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitar, michael_kelly, valor, electric, custom

Guitar of the day: Seagull acoustic S6

2006-02-22T17:00:00.000+08:00

Godin Guitars actually manufactures Seagull guitars! Like most great luthers (guitar makers), they're from north America! :)

a Godin fan,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitar, seagull, acoustic, s6, godin, canadian

Jason Mraz live video

2006-02-22T16:32:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've never heard Jason Mraz's music though I've definitely been introduced to him by association (my name's Jason if you don't already know!). Caught this live video of him performing. Nice. Reminds me of John Mayer though. Who's that guy playing the harmonica? I love the sound of a harmonica! :)

Click on image to watch video

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitarist, singer, jason_mraz, video, pop

Jazz some shredding duel

2006-02-21T20:24:00.000+08:00

"Video, video, on the blog. Who's the shreddest of them all?"

I'm not talking about some paper shredding machine but of some insanely fast jazz players who does the musical equivalent (tearing up musical phrases).

Here are two of the best that I know of. Watch the videos below to believe it.

John Mclaughlin

Jimmy Bruno

Phew... that was REALLY FAST. Well I'll just take heart that these players looked pretty old. That means I'm relatively young and have the chance to catch up! :)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitarist, john_mclaughlin, jimmy_bruno, shredding, jazz, video

Guitar of the day: Godin Multiac special edition

2006-02-21T18:53:00.000+08:00

The nylon Multiac by Godin's one of my favourite and must have in future! Putting a picture of this beautiful guitar here brings me one step closer to owning one! :)

A Godin fan,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitar, godin, multitiac

Quotes of the day

2006-02-20T21:23:00.000+08:00

"I don’t play with an open string mentality. That’s very limiting. If you think about playing just open strings, then you live in a world of Am, Em, A major."

"He’s (George Benson) so ridiculously good, and he used to work terribly hard. When I used to work in his band, he’d get off the bandstand at 2 a.m. and continue practicing until six or seven in the morning, on a regular basis."

~ Earl Klugh

"I’ve listened to everything from Black Sabbath to Zeppelin to Creedence, Elton John, and Neil Young. When I’m lifting weights I’ll listen to Meshuggah and Ministry, and when mellowing out on the bus I’ll listen to Coldplay."

~ Zakk Wylde

Tags: quotes, earl_klugh, zakk_wylde, george_benson

Feature: Nuno Betterncourt's "extreme" funk!

2006-02-20T14:08:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Here's to one of my favourite guitarist of all time: Nuno Bettencourt.

He used to be the guitarist of the now dyfunct band Extreme, who gave us the pop ballad hit, "More Than Words". Don't be fooled by the gentle and soothing guitar playing in that iconic single as Nuno plays superb blend of rock & funk guitar like no other. His sense of funk rythym has influence my playing very much.

Someone once asked, "What effects do I use to get Nuno's sound?". To which a magazine column answered, "It's not in the effects he used. It's in his picking.". This mantra has stayed with me till this day. I'm convinced that with a good picking hand, one can produce all kinds of tone from a guitar using just a simple distortion.

Besides having great funky tone, Nuno's got amazing riff ideas too! Check out an amatuer playing one of his best known rock solo from "Get The Funk Out" in the video below.

As if that isn't enough, I was quite amazed to catch a video of his live performance. (Watch video below) Awesome energy on stage! I'm puzzled as to how he plays with such accuracy and timing with his guitar hanging so low? Guess that's why he's Nuno and I'm not! :)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitarist, nuno_bettencourt, video, funk

Jason Becker: An inspiring story

2006-02-17T14:03:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Today we're gonna look at an inspiring story of passion and perseverence.

The main character's Jason Becker. Some of you might have already known about him. Jason's a absolutely brilliant electric guitarist who inspired countless guitarist during his peak and all these happened at a tender age of 20+.

But life for Jason took a twist when he was diagnosed with a rare degenrative disease which took control over his body slowly...

Watch a documentary on him below. The video's divided into 3 parts. 2 articles on his story and 1 footage of him playing in high school.

Here's another video in tribute to Jason's amazing talent.

To Jason:

You'll always be loved no matter what your condition is. Keep rocking!

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: guitarist, jason_becker, documentary, video

Maintenance: Humidity

2006-02-16T14:31:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Guitars are made by man. And like all things not sprung from nature, care must be taken in order to prolong its lifespan. This is especially true for acoustic guitars where a protective lacquer is minimal so as not to inhibit the resonance of its body to get a full sound. Electrics on the other hand are usually coated heavily so easier to maintain. In the video below, we shall see how dry conditions can spoil your precious acoustic guitar. So think twice if you're thinking of placing your guitar in a dehumidified environment!

Click on play button to watch video

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: tips, video

Line6 Variax vs iGuitar by Brian Moore Guitars

2006-02-15T11:51:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Technology for guitar hasn't changed much for ages. With the relatively recent advances in computing, some companies have tried harvesting it's power to link the analog nature of the guitar into the digital foray.

Line6 comes to my mind as they're the first guitar product company that I know of that made such products. They're major breakthru was in the form of their Variax, which boast an inbuilt synthesizer on the guitar. There's no traditional pickup here. The signals are converted to digital ones via a midi pickup and converted back to analog to be output into an amplifier. Check out videos on the amazing versatility of this instrument!

Click on image to visit Line6's video galleries:

I've found another guitar that tries to merge technology to the guitar in a fuss free manner. This time it's in tihe form of iGuitar by Brian Moore Guitars. Brian Moore guitars are really beautifully constructed but cost a bomb... These days the i's are added to make a product sound cool, all thanks to Apple's iPod. The interesting things about this guitar is that it's able to connect to your laptop/computer via an usb connection. Though this is nothing really new as there are already modules that guitars can connect to that allows pc access via usbs, this is I think the first that attempts to give you a usb connection straight out of the guitar! What's the big deal about connecting the guitart to a pc? You see once your guitar's connected to one with decent computing power, you can use your desktop to process your guitar sounds via sythesizer softwares. You have also the ability to record your playing straight to your pc! Check out some of these features in the video below.

Click on image to view video in new browser window:

Tags: guitar, line6, variax, brian_moore_guitar, iguitar, video

Fantastic "virtual" drummer!

2006-02-14T14:29:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

3D animation has come a long way. This time somebody has animated drumming great Neil Peart from the progressive rockband pioneer Rush. Neil's drumming is legendary. This animation takes his playing to a whole "new" level! :)

Quote from creator Bobby Standridge:

On a technical note, the video was created with 3D Studio Max R3 and hand
keyframed using a video reference of me air-drumming along to the song. Being an
older version of the software, the inverse kinematics tended to bog down after a
few hundred frames, so I had to break the video down into many (un)manageable
pieces. Adobe's Photoshop CS and Premiere Pro played key roles during the
compositing and authoring phases.

Click play button to watch video in new browser window

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Tags: drummer, neil_peart, video

Taylor guitar through a distortion?

2006-02-14T00:48:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I have come across many people who has the preconception that you can only get those fat distorted guitar sound using an electric guitar. We shall see from the video below that we can get those power chords riffing using an plugin acoustic guitar too! I've tried it myself many times before but have found feedback to be an issue which the video gives us an insight into eliminating it. Enjoy!

Click play button to stream video

Tags: guitar, tips, video

Happy Lunar New Year! New lessons blog.

2006-01-28T17:26:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Happy lunar new year! Time to work out those legs and arms and go visitng to get those fabulous red packets!

As you may have already noticed, I've changed the look of this blog and lost some of my customizations in the process... Well I'll definitely try to get the tagboard up asap.

Another thing that you may have noticed is the frequency of my post. The thing is i'm managing multiple blogs... I've created another blog specifically to highlight some things that were taught during private lessons with my students. Please feel free to come visit that blog at

http://jasonguitarlessons.blogspot.com

As such, guitartalk will be focusing more on highlighting certain techniques that some artiste employs or simply just a place to introduce and share some thoughts on some artiste/websites/tools that i've stumbled across. So do come back to check out for any updates.

For those of you who are more techno-inclined, you can subscribe to my guitar blogs rss feeds below:

GuitarTalk
http://jasonguitartalk.blogspot.com/atom.xml

GuitarLessons
http://jasonguitarlessons.blogspot.com/atom.xml

With blessings,
GuitarTalk

Feature: Steve Vai - Tender Surrender video

2006-01-19T13:37:00.000+08:00

Tender Surrender Music Video courtesy of Google Video

Note: Pause the playback and let the video streamed into your computer first before playing it again for smooth uninterrrupted playback.

This is one of my all time favourite song from Mr Vai. It's got this great build up from the beginning to the end so don't get bored in the beginning. Mr Vai's really an entertainer at heart which can be seen in his expressive (literally) playing...

An interesting to note about the song is that it's played mostly based on Pentatonic notes which has it's roots in Chinese music. Trying singing some chinese lyrics over the melody line and you would have translated it into a chinese ballad. ;)

Enjoy!

Tags: guitarist, steve_vai, video

Problems with YouTube videos

2006-01-17T12:54:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of updates. I actually got Steve Vai series all planned out but as you can see from my last 2 post, the videos are missing! Aw man... must be some copyright issues... sometimes these copyright thingey's so frustrating. These videos actually help promote the artiste by distributing some of the materials through fans who're enthusiatic about letting others know about him/her...

Anyways, rest assured that I've got alternative posts coming up! Cheers! :)

Blessings,
GuitarTalk

Feature: Steve Vai - For The Love of God

2005-12-23T20:20:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of updates. Had a trip to Vietnam and was busy with a school camp after. Vietnam's an interesting place I must say. More about it next time. For now I would like to share with you a great video of Mr Steve Vai playing one of my all time favourite instrumental piece, "For The Love Of God". This song was actually the first instrumental that I've heard when I was 12 yrs old and it just blew my mind away with it's arrangements and awe inspiring licks. I happened to be at his concert here in Singapore a year ago and it was fantastic. Mr Vai just teased us with the way he danced around his electric guitar! The video gives us a good idea of his virtuosity, though I think he performed better in his Singapore concert...

Note:
If the streaming's abit slow, pause the playback & wait for the stream to finish before hitting the play button again.

But wait a min... it seems like the guys who caught him at Croatia got a better deal! ;P

Tags: guitarist, steve_vai, video

Guitar duel - Steve Vai vs "little boy"

2005-12-02T02:42:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Happen to find this video on YouTube... it's from a relatively unknown movie called "Crossroads" and it's about a boy who later became a great blues guitarist. .. don't count on my sypnosis, i haven't watched the show yet... heh

This is a classic good vs evil scene where the real life guitar virtuoso Steve Vai [link: bio] acting as the baddie fighting it out with a reel life blues-based "boy genius".

Most of the guitar parts were recorded by Steve himself save the awesome slide guitar works, which were done by bluesmaster Ry Cooder [link: bio].

Enjoy! :)

note:
- download rate's abit slow, so be patient
- pause the playback & wait for file to be fully downloaded before playing the video
- don't chew food in yr mouth, least you get choked :P

Tags: guitarist, guitar_duel, steve_vai, ry_cooder, little_boy, video

Fingerstyle: Majesty (Here I am)

2005-11-16T02:05:00.000+08:00

Was sitting around waiting for my guys from Trio to arrive for a practice when I felt the inspiration to zip out my handy Sony Ericsson k300 and start shooting of a take on Delirious's "Majesty (Here I am)"... My church has been singing this song of late and I just love the simple yet sweet melody that builts to a climax in the chorus... Nice choice of chord progression too :)

Basically I just incorporated the melody line along with the basic chords of the song. The trick is not in the notes in the left hand but rather the ability to catch the right strings with the right plucking hand... So if you're interested in fingerstyle do consider really practising your right hand fingers in terms of accuracy...

That's all for now folks... Got great plans for this site! Just need to wait till my exams end before I get down to work! :)

God bless.

Website: Mr Fastfinger

2005-11-12T20:08:00.000+08:00

This website gave me a good laugh. Very innovative use of flash movie. It encourages interactivity by offering you the option of triggering the featured riffs on your keyboard. Once triggered, Mr Fastfinger will start "playing" it out on the screen. The riffs covered are not easy! There's even a "jam" duel with the evil accordion! haahaha...

Check it out and be amused/inspired! :)

http://www.guitarshredshow.com

With blessings,
GuitarTalk

Music jokes

2005-11-07T14:01:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Haha... heard this on Oprah. Thought it was quite funny coming out of a 6 yr old piano prodigy. Didn't get the exact words but you get the idea... :)

Many blessings,
GuitarTalk

I Love Guitar4Christ.com

2005-11-06T17:06:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

God bless:)

Feature: Viva Flamenco! - Victor Moraito part 2

2005-11-04T21:10:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

My video host just got going for me so as promised I've posted a video of Victor Moraito in action. Love the haunting tune that he played. Great sense of timing. Vidtor might not be the most technical flamenco players around but I really love how much feel there is in his playing; look at how he grooved with his guitar! :)

God bless.

Victor Moraito at a flamenco festival

Coming up: More of Victor Moraito

2005-11-04T16:21:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of post. Been busy with my exams which will extend to the 23rd Nov. Do stay tune for more exciting videos and news then. In the meantime, I've planned to post a video of Victor Moraito as a followup to the previous post (Feature: Viva Flamenco! - Victor Moraito). I'm having a little problems with my video host so do bear with me for awhile till I get it sorted out in a few days time yah? Keep rocking hard! :)

God bless.

Mobile videos

2005-10-18T21:32:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've finally got upgraded my phone to one that can take pictures. Bought it primarily because it's cheap. Paid a grand total of $55 (with handsfree) for it and it has proved to be worth every single penny and more. I was quite apprehensive about the lens that comes with it as I wasn't impressed with cameras on phones (i still don't actually) much less the video recording function that came with my phone. Nevertheless I toyed around with my mobile gadget and actually found the video to be of pretty decent quality. And there starts my journey to mobile videos! It got even cooler when I found out a way to post them unto my blog. Just to show what I mean, I've posted a video of me playing some tunes on my Cort electric. My student was the cameraman and it was thru him that i realised you can zoom in while videoing... heh... the video made my Cort sound like a Gibson Les Paul! Enjoy! :)

God bless.

Remember this tune? It's a very very old Janet Jackson's track called Blackcat!

Feature: Viva Flamenco! - Victor Moraito

2005-10-10T18:25:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've been wanting to share with you all the world of flamenco music. It's a strange world, where people don't really speak english and they tend to deviate from the major scale. Nevertheless, with a bit of analysis, one will find that the genre's very unique and exciting, with it's pulsating rythym blended with melancholia. I tend to think that it's a music of extremes. When it's sad, it's really sad (think Bryan Adam's "Do You Really Love A Women"). When it's happy, it's really chirpy (Gypsy Kings anybody?). When it's dark, it's really dark (gypsy music).

So I shall start by letting you watch this promo of a flamencao instructional video. I think the essence of flamenco is nicely illustrated in that short 1 min clip. The flamenco player's Victor Moraito, whom I feel that he really has alot of feelings in his notes though it's not as technical as some other players. Enjoy!

God bless.

Flamenco video featuring Victor Moraito aka "The Humble King" on guitar.

Ps. More coming up! :)

Feature: John McLaughlin plays Cherokee

2005-10-07T01:37:00.000+08:00

Someone in a forum wrote this:

Jason_Ong wrote:
It is easier to bend on steel strings then it is on a nylon string. That's why most people substitute bend notes with slide notes when using nylon stringed guitars.

Reply:
so true, 1 reason why i dislike playing classical guitars

Hmm… maybe he should check this video out. He might just change his mind…

John McLaughlin plays Cherokee!

Wow that was fast! Just how did he pick so fast on a nylon guitar? I suspect the key lies not with applying more strength but rather picking lightly at the right angle. Notice how his fingers are not clasped up? That shows he's applying minimal force on his index & thumb to hold his pick. He's using quite a small pick so that helps alot too. Try one & you'll see what I mean...

His approach to soloing is really one of improvisation. From the video we can see that he was playing in a rather scalic fashion. At that kind of speed I think it's really quite difficult to think about harmony. I think he was feeling the harmony through getting feedback from his ears as can be heard from some of the notes that he was readjusting to harmonise with the underlying chords.

Anyway John’s one of my favourite guitar hero. He can play and has played all types of contemporary guitar conceivable. Amazing! I think nowsadays he's more into guitar education. His new dvd instructional set called "This is the Way I Do It" looks real tempting until I consider the price... heh

God bless.

Lesson : Major scale - first things first

2005-10-06T11:49:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I've in mind a series of presentations on the major scale. Hope it will shed some light on this simple yet powerful scale for beginners to learn. First up will be a video presentation on a short introduction to the course.

Enjoy & have a blessed day! :)

Major scale - First things first part 1

Major scale - First things first part 2

Lessons : String bending

2005-10-04T02:11:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Here's a post in response to a forum topic at Guitar4Christ.

Click on play button to watch video

Perhaps one of the most famous string bending riffs is the melodic line in Eric Clapton's classic "Wonderful Tonight". Here's my take on the song. Enjoy! :)

God bless.

Wonderful Tonight

Lessons : Scalic improvisation

2005-10-04T00:53:00.000+08:00

Hi all, just trying out a video response to a forum topic at http://www.guitar4christ.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=6779

Click on play button to start video

Here's an example to my improvisation played over a chord progression. I try to incorporate both scalic and chordal ideas but it's predominantly scalic. :D

Noodling over key of B minor (or D major)

God bless!

Features : Just a little fingerstyle!

2005-09-20T15:41:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Went to The Living Strings (behind Peninsula Hotel) yesterday. Was very fortunate to have spoken to the owner Timothy. The last time that I met him was a few years back when the shop was at Bras Basah (now taken over by Guitar Workshop). Nice guy. He played me some awesome impromptu fingerstyle and was even happy to share with me some of his fingerstyle techniques!

Was so inspired by his playing that I decided to record my version of "Every Breath You Take" by Sting that I figured out recently. Did this in a rush before going out so pardon the mistakes. And also I recorded it using a webcam so the quality's not too good. I know it looks very unglam to play in green shorts but hey, don't you all practice in shorts at home too! ;P

My take on the now classic "Every Breath You Take" by the brilliant songwriter Sting

Events : Battle of the Bands highlights (heats)

2005-09-20T15:17:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

The World Battle of the Band competition's finally over. Even though my band didn't win, we still felt a sense of achievement as a band for working hard and putting on a good show. Wanna share with you all some of the highlights of the competition. I've some problem with the videos captured in the finals as my videocam decided to die on me. Gonna send it for repair on friday. Hope to me able to show you the footage. Anyway just enjoy these clips from the heats! :)

God bless.

Dream Factory playing "Sk8ter Boi" by Avril Lavigne

Dream Factory playing "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence

Features : Zakk Wylde - Don't be sly on me! Part 2

2005-09-13T12:35:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

This is a follow up to what I've posted something on our Singapore idol runner up Sylvester Sim using a Zakk Wylde signature Gibson Les Paul for his photo shoot.

Zakk Wylde : Don't be sly on me!

Was at Swee Lee Music (Bras Basah) yesterday trying out some of the telecasters there when I saw a Epiphone copy of the guitar mentioned above. That's when the shop assistant was kindly enough to give me some insight on the Sly experience.

Jason: Beautiful guitar. How's it from the original (Gibson)?

Saiful: Good. Sylvester bought the original one though.

Jason: He bought it??? (thought he borrowed it for the shoot) Must be expensive!

Saiful: Yah man. Dunno why he didn't buy this copy instead.

Jason: He plays guitar ah?

Saiful: Yeah. (hands strumming an air guitar, probably trying to say that Sly just sing and strum)

Profile

Name: Zakk Wylde
Birthplace: New Jersey, USA
Claim to fame: Guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne
Current band: Black Label Society

Here's a video of Mr Zakk that I've pieced together. Enjoy!

Hi I'm back again! :)

2005-08-25T10:34:00.000+08:00

Hey ppl,

Sorry for the lack of post. I know I've said this a gazillion times but I've been busy with bands and stuffs. Was doing some subtitling for a DVD recently. Subtitles been around since the dawn of TV but I never knew how much work went into presenting those lines of words on your TV screen till I'm actually involved in the whole process.

Joined the Workd Battle of the Bands competition and got into the finals. Hope to be able to post up some videos of it soon. It's not my first time in a competition but this one's pretty unique as it allows the contestants to play a 30 min set. In my opinion, this really stretches the band and is a test of the band's chemistry and capabilities.

Anyhow, I've been wanting to post this video for quite some time. This guy rocks. Don't know him personally but I sure love the energy in his playing! Enjoy!

God bless.

Mr Jerry's Canon in D

Events : Marty Friedman Guitar Clinic

2005-06-20T11:47:00.000+08:00

Hi all.

Should have posted this a long time ago.

Attended a guitar clinic in May by ex Megadeth lead guitarist Marty Friedman. He's pretty famous in the metal scene and is well known for his melodious playing in his former band. He's got an uncanny sense of melody creation which goes out of the box, at least according to my opinion... which is a nice contrast coz Megadeth's like all fast and furious so Marty's soloing gives a breath of fresh air to the cocophony of banging drums and scratching guitars.

Marty doing his thing on his new custom Ibanez

Marty jamming with Paul Daniel (S'pore). Paul's a very seasoned player and he certainly did give Marty a run for his playing!

My friends and I with Marty! Thank God you can't see the platform shoes that he was wearing...

Another striking feature of Marty's his hair... think he shares the same hairstylist as Kenny G... watch the video below and you'll know what i mean... heh...

God bless.

Kenny vs Marty video!

Features : Canon in D

2005-06-14T21:35:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Sorry for lack of updates. Been busy with church conference.

This week I'm featuring the progress of one of my student John Julius aka JJ Mangosteen (that's what I call him affectionately). Below is a video of him playing a classical piece called "Canon in D" using his Ibanez electric guitar running through his Korg multieffects and Samick amplifier.

"Canon in D" by JJ

Profile
Name: John Julius
Age: 15
Location: Bukit Batok
School: Assumption English Secondary
Experience: 2+ yrs

Am so proud of him. He has improved tremendously since I first taught him about a year ago. He learns fast and practices hard. A rockstar in the making! Go JJ go! :)

If he can do it, you can do it too! ;)

God bless.

Features : The Trio - Road To The Promised Land

2005-06-01T01:06:00.000+08:00

Running in tandem with the Parade of School (see previous post) is the Talentine which is one of the hightlights of my church's 3 day long youth conference. There are many categories in this competition such as solo (vocals), group (vocals), solo (instrumental), group (instrumental), drama and dance. I managed to get into the finals under the group The Trio in the instrumental group category.

A typical Trio practice

The story of the Trio traces back all the way to 2004 when Jason Ang (Erhu) and I formed the Double J to try audition for the talentine. Unfortunately there wasn't any intrumental category so we weren't selected. This year there's an inclusion of Paul T. (percussion).

Jason Ang's amazing in his erhu. Just hum him any tune and he's able to play it for you on the spot! I'm always buffled by how these players find those notes without any frets??? Hahaha. Paul's another amazing musician. Give him any surface and he can tap out interesting rythyms for ya! We've even tried letting him play on a Ikea paper basket and it still sounds good! Paul's from India and spent a few years learning Indian music so he's also able to come out with many tunes that's simple on hearing but complex on inspection. The complexity's got to do with the pitching and timing of the notes. The next time you watch some Bollywood movie do take note of the music! It's more than just about bollies running around coconut trees! :P

Anyhow, the video below was taken during our practice just before the audition. We had lots of fun playing this piece! It has evolved to much longer than this to date. Would love to show ya a video of it someday. Check out this audition version for now! :)

The Trio practicing "Road To The Promised Land"

Events : Bring It On @ GuitarTalk!

2005-06-01T00:14:00.000+08:00

Some of you must be wondering just what on earth is Mr Jason so busy with that he can't even spend some time posting his O' so lovely blogs??? The answer can be found in the videos below.

I've been activated to help out in my church's youth conference by taking part in the Parade of Schools (just a nicer name for cheerleading competition). Yes, Mr guitarman has yet again took on the challenge of being a cheerleader. For those of you who thinks cheerleading's all about pom poms then I can only conclude that you're from Mars & beyond. Ever since the enlightenment of the show Bring It On, cheerleading has been a showcase of many high level stunts that are limited only by our imaginations. Just in case you ARE from mars, take a look at the videos of a Magnum Force (national champion team from Ngee Ann) demonstration.

Magnum Force demo part 1

Magnum Force demo part 2

These guys are amazing. There are only six of them during a demo for the participants and yet their stunts, energy & spirit are more than all the latter combined together!

My team's suppose to represent NTU (Nanyang Technological University) and we've been training ever since after exams. We worked hard with trainings on all the weekdays and I'm happy and proud of what the guys had achieved. Check out the videos of our routines below.

NTU routine part 1

NTU routine part 2

There were many mistakes made and some of the stunts didn't take place due to some of us who got lost in the timings. Nevertheless, considering that we had only practiced for a month I would think that it's already pretty impressive. Must really thanks those coaching us for pushing us beyond our own limitations. Some of the routines made our jaw dropped when we tried it for the first time. But the impossible is indeed possible and all it took was some guts from the girls and abit of strength from the guys.

Another highlight for my involvement was the music. I had a great time piecing in the music. It went through many many nights of editing before the music was finalized. Brought some interesting perspective to the cheerleading genre. If you've noticed the Magnum Force video, their music had lots of accents using bells, gunshots, alarms, whips, etc. Not to mention the layered drum loops behind giving that fast & driving feel. These are not easy to emulate. I take my hats off those people who came out with these music. RESPECT!

Welcome to the new & improved GuitarTalk weblog!

2005-05-31T23:33:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Due to the constraints of friendster blogs, I've decided to switch to blogspot of its greater flexibility and reliability. As such, future GuitarTalk entries will be found here.

You can still access the archived entries at http:\\guitartalk.blogs.friendster.com.

Cheers,
Jason