My one and only rule

Not my studio, but not want I want it to look like either!

SO... here I go trying to figure out how to better do this at home. I'm very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with a relatively cheap (free with my iMac) application (Garageband) for the past year. But, unfortunately, I don't like it.

I'm also very fortunate to have a well built, fast Apple iMac 27" i5 processor with 12gb of ram and 1tb of drive, so plenty of room for full screen apps.

My problem with garageband isn't the application itself it's with me. Not to be confused with the cliché'd breakup line: "Oh, no, it's not you, it's me!" I started my recording education at a professional recording studio back in 1994 at Trimble Production Studios. Built in 1976 with a state of the art MCI 24 track console, MCI 2" 16 track recorder and a full compliment of some of the best racks, mics and headphones money could buy (at that time). And all day to learn how to use it in a pro-built floating floor studio space the size of most peoples' first homes!

Well, I sold the Juno-G due to it being really really complicated to use and my fear that the LCD screen would die and it would be expensive to replace. The Gi was a good solution for me. Is it the best? Well...No, but it's faithfully reproducing roland and other sounds that I like. The onboard 8track recorder is nice and the drum patterns work pretty good too. It's a far cry better for me than the G. The only thing that keeps me from having buyers remorse is that I got it in new condition for exactly HALF PRICE!! Thanks to buying it used from someone on Ebay! :)

An extremely well done place that I finally made my way into a week ago or so. Gerry Lambert, barman and co-owner, is a great guy ready with a suggestion for drink or dinner and a generally all around great guy!

The food is authentic and tasty. I always try the fish and chips first at any Irish or English restaurant I visit. Theirs is lightly beer battered, seasoned cod. Not over fried either. The chips were a surprise! Round cut and fried dark, lightly salted. The tartar tasted homemade. Combined with a guinness, heaven on earth!

They have traditional Irish curry and, of course, black and white pudding!! I'm looking forward to sampling their menu more in the future!

I can't wait to come up and play guitar or piano. Maybe some Van Morrison!

http://www.hiberniairishtavern.com/
You can also find them on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/gerryathibernia

Gerry pulls a Guinness Stout for a customer.

They are located off Rodney Parham in West Little Rock

9700 N. Rodney Parham

It works great when you do it, even though at the time it usually seems painful and futile. Unfortunately, I have not been doing very well at making the time for practice. By the time the evening is done, dinner is made, eaten and dishes are washed, kids to bed and settled in, there is little left of me to practice.

I think about it all the time. Every song I hear I mentally pick apart. But by the time I get down to play, it's gone, whatever inspiration I thought I had that would ignite my playing again, that impetus to start practicing more and more, AND more effectively. Promises, promises... all broken.

Without practicing there will be no way I can move this love of music and playing to the next level by playing with others. In my head I hear a symphony, or a great old song at the very least. But out of my mouth and hands comes hesitation and, frankly, drivel.

I was hesitant at first to accept it, but it's really hit my inner "showtune loving" self right where it hurts...sentimentality!

I was fortunate enough when I was in high school to get into trouble, so much so in the 11th grade they asked if I could go to another school. I hated Bryant High School with the only exception being that I met and dated my future wife there, it was oppressive. Fairly standard mentality of rednecks: homophobe, xenophobe, ignorance, racism, etc. No one cared if you were bullied, or talked to/treated harshly by admins if you were outside the norm, even slightly. It was conform or go home.

My one and only rule

From the Barney Stinson Blog:

My one and only rule

Written on February 28, 2011 by Barney Stinson in My blog

I am, if nothing else, a man of integrity. I choose to live a life governed by strict morals that are often difficult to remember. That’s why I’ve simplified everything into one simple, easy-to-understand rule:
Never date a girl with a hook for a hand.
For me, it’s just that simple. Whenever I encounter an ethically gray situation, that one rule almost always guides me in the proper direction.
After you’ve discovered your own “one rule,” you’ll need to commit it to memory. I find it helps to take out a piece of paper and simply write your rule over and over, like this:

There really is no better feeling for me than giving a child an instrument! It helps that the child is my younger step-daughter, Corey, and that she really appreciates it. She's an awesome kid, smart, quick study and sweet. Talented too! She plays violin, uke, sax and now a little bass. I'm enjoying playing the bass as well! Being primarily a guitarist, this thing is so easy to play.

This bass is the new Squier (by Fender) Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass Special (short scale). It may be inexpensive but it plays and looks like way more than it cost! Right out of the box, perfect, well nearly. I'll still do a full set up, but it was set up well enough that we just tuned it up and started playing.

The only niggly things that I will have to correct are the back of the neck's skunk stripe needs a little sanding, the knobs weren't aligned and really, that's it! Even the strings are nice.

SO...Go Fender/Squier for making it easy to put a smile on a kids face (and mine too!). Go Corey for learning the bassline to Garbage Truck by Beck from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World so quickly! You rock!

My piano teacher needed a new site, I needed lessons... MATCH! I'm enjoying working with her on both! She's learning how to post to her new blog and I'm learning how to play Kansas City Blues!

Bookmark kathycooperstudios.com and check back as we update regularly. Much to come in the future. AND If you need to hire Kathy to play at your event or know someone that wants lessons, I can't recommend her enough!

I have a tendency to head in many directions at once. I can't help it. Call it ADD, call it extreme curiousity...

Whatever it is, occasionally I calm down enough to try to sit and learn just a few things at a time and not try to "eat the whole elephant". Taking a "bite at a time", I decided I needed to start learning a song on the piano that I love, that others enjoy hearing, one that I can conceivably play and sing at the same time (and sound good!). I decided Van Morrison's "Someone like you" was a good match.

It's coming along well. I've got the song's main motif down now. Now it's just a matter of learning the rest.

NO I'm not brave enough to share a video of my playing just yet, but I'm getting closer. For the time being, please enjoy the man himself playing this wonderful song:

I'm also working on Moondance by Van, as well as, Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now, Run To You, some Chris Isaak songs on guitar, some Elton John, as well as continuing to work on The Luckiest by Ben Folds, and attempting to learn some Kansas City rag style blues licks. Too much again, but I'm taking it slow this time... yeah, right!

That’s right! I sold one Roland and rolled the money into another. This time, it's more than just a synth, it's a workstation with the Juno name. Albeit not like a real Juno (I loved my friend Buddy's Juno 106 back in the 80s), but has some similar sounds PLUS much more.

It's a 16 track midi sequencer, a 4 track audio song recorder, a sampler, an expandable synth that you can add waveforms and patches to, and even write your own using the USB connection and editor software on Mac/PC!

The keyboard lives up to my expectations, so far, although I would have liked to have had the wonderful keybed of the RS-9 I just sold on it, the keybed on this one lacks some Oompf! The sounds are fun, amazing and with the clarity and warmth I've always loved about Roland products.

This thing is complex though. It will take me the better part of a year to learn it!

Nothing makes me happier than sharing the love of music with kids! I was so happy when I met my wife again after 22 years (we dated in high school) and her two girls, that she played guitar and Corey, the youngest, played violin. I felt good knowing I was involved with people who loved music. Rachel, the oldest, had an appreciation for music but just what she heard on the radio. I think she didn't know she could play something. So we encouraged her to pick an instrument. After a while we helped her make the decision, “how about drums?”

So a year after we bought an electronic kit and getting her started in lessons with the great Rocco Blake at Carolyn’s Keyboards (where at the time, Stacey, Corey & I all took guitar, uke and sax lessons) we decided it was time, if Rachel could prove to us she was ready, to get her a "real" set.

Her proof was getting more engaged with her lessons, requesting from Rocco to learn Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now”& “Run to You” drum parts. Rocco found a set that was being sold by one of his customers, a gentleman that has been playing for many many years, that was in near perfect condition. A 6pc. Gretsch Catalina Birch kit with Evans heads, Zildjian cymbals and hi hats.

She loves them! She immediately got on them and rocked out on them! She seemed to come alive....

and that makes me happy for sharing my love of music. Even if I never get as good playing as I'd like, I know that Corey, with her saxophone in school band, picking up the bass occasionally now, and Rachel with the drums and whatever good times are ahead for them both playing, I hope they find happiness, too!

Since the 80's I've enjoyed Chris Isaak’s music. I've owned several albums over the years as well, Forever Blue being one of my top-5 all-time favorites!

I ended up purchasing a standard double-X style stand by On-Stage Stands.

Easy, cheap, sturdy enough for one keyboard. The 2nd tier is terrible, as I'm starting to realize with all keyboard stands, they just can't get the upper tiers right for my needs. So I give up, I'm using the stand for my Korg SV-1 with it's music stand and that's it! I rearranged my keyboards into more of an L shape that allows me to play left hand on my 2nd keyboard.

Which brings me to new keys:

I bought a Roland RS-9 from my local guitar center. It was mislabeled as an R59 and priced way under value! A nice 88 key design from 2001. 500+ patches, fairly standard Roland sounds. Great key action, better than I ever expected. But this thing is LONG! Taking up almost 60 inches of desk space. It is just too big. I occurred to me right after getting it home, it would have to go. Plus it whet my whistle for a board that had more options with rhythm and sequencing abilities, a larger LCD screen and more expandable options.

So on ebay it went and 24 hours later it was sold to a nice lady from Canada (by way of New York shipping!) and I placed my bid on a Roland Juno-G workstation.

I loved Crowded House when they got popular around '86 or '87. "Don't Dream it's Over" will forever be an anthem for me of those years. Back when music wasn't overtly sexual, violent but positive, uplifting and fun. Back when music videos were an extension of the artist's creativity and were fun to watch. It's nice to see Neil Finn, of Crowded House (now solo), still enjoys embracing that.

Neil's latest album Try Whistling This is a testament to me that good songwriting still exists. Along with guys like Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and soundtrack work on films like "That thing you do" and Music and Lyrics, they keep that spirit alive.

It's been a confusing month or so, I've been heading in a direction, trying to learn as much as can with the limited time I have to practice and play. It's been a little depressing as well. The more advanced I get, obviously, the harder it gets. So I've had to take a step back from piano right now and re-evaluate what I'm trying to accomplish. I think I had hoped to magically become a songwriter and I know that the first step is to just jump off that ledge, dive in, etc. But I can't seem to find the inspiration.

I often wonder, "what is it these people (songwriters) have that I don't have?" It boggles my mind, but that is only because I stand on the outside thinking how easy they make it look. I'm sure it's hard for them too. I sure they agonize and struggle and worry that others will think it sucks. It takes a lot of ego, somedays I just don't have it in me. :(

So I hope to get inspired by my latest muses: Neil, Adam, E, Van Morrison and a few more. They help me realize where I came from so that, hopefully, I can figure out where I want to go. I hope I get there someday!

– Train in Vain, The Clash

The search for the “perfect” keyboard stand.

While looking for and trying many of the currently designed keyboard stands available, I can't seem to find one that will work for my needs. None of them are “flexible” enough in their design to allow the following things:
1. Must be low enough to be comfortable while sitting but adjustable for standing
2. Must have room for pedals
3. Must be easy to break down and move
4. Must be stable on a variety of surfaces
5. Must be attractively designed
6. Must be a safe perch for two keyboards
7. Must have enough room to use my lower keyboard's music stand comfortably
8. Would be nice if it had attachments for rack modules, music stands and microphones.

Maybe I should use an ironing board like Ironing Board Sam?

Ironing Board Sam – courtesy of Blues Access, Winter 1996, No. 24

That's right, I said BADASS! And it is.

A couple of years ago, I thought it would be nice for all of us to buy new bikes and start riding as a family. We had a couple of false starts (i.e. one teenager didn't want to get a proper geared bike and couldnt' keep up or didn't want to be "seen" with us, ha ha). But this time, in our new house surrounded by nicely paved trails, we're making it happen.

I bought a Trek Pure Deluxe in 2009 thinking I wanted a cushy seat, relaxed riding position. I never bonded with the bike, didn't feel like I had any pedaling power with it either!

So earlier this year, I decided I'd like us to try riding again by getting me a proper bike and something for our teenager that she would like but also be able to keep up with us on.

Turns out she loves my Trek Pure (it's orange, her favorite color!) and I found that a more road style bike suited my needs better.

So, I got a 2011 Trek 7.2FX, thanks to the wonderful folks at Chainwheel. Love it! So easy to ride and I really feel I have all the power I need. I also got some toe straps to go with it. This is another great advantage for me as I can add to my pedaling power on the upstrokes as well!

So as we went out riding as a family (me on my FX, my wife on her Trek Navigator, the girls on their Trek Pures) my wife continually was getting left behind. At first we all thought maybe it was her just getting used to riding again, then she started to think she was more out of shape than she thought, but it turns out, her bike is just too heavy, tires too small to keep up with all of us!

So I went to my favorite bike shop here in Little Rock, Chainwheel, talked with Bruce, one of the co-owners. He had some great advice and helped me find my wife a new bike for her.

It's also an FX (fitness) bike. The 2010 Trek 7.2FX WSD. I knew she would love it because it's the same color as her Mini Cooper S! It's in my car right now, but she has yet to give it a try...with her schedule and working too far away from the shop to make it in during their hours, they gave me the guarantee: buy it, if she doesn't like it for any reason, bring it back!

I can't recommend Chainwheel enough now. They have great people, excellent service and fair pricing.

So go get on your bikes and ride!

It's true, I just finished assembling #27, the newest guitar in my collection, and my third custom built. This one is more "custom" than the other two though. Thanks to Marc Rutter of Rutters Guitars for making the body out of a sweet (sic), lightweight piece of Sugar Pine (#27) and for custom creating the chopped tele bridge with intonated brass barrel style saddles. He also did the finish for me (as previously stated in other blog entries here).

So here it is in all it's glory:

Courtesy of James Hill & Kala Ukulele.

James Hill is a quite famous hybrid-bluegrass (I guess you could call his music that) ukulele musician. He has championed the resurgence of the uke over the last few years as well! I appreciate that, I've tried to do my part by being un-afraid to play my little instrument and show as many people as I can how it has the power to make people happy! I love to see him holding my favorite uke from Kala Ukulele!

My lovely wife, at my urging (more like pleading/begging), bought me this wonderful Kala Uke in 2009 for my birthday. I love it still to this day, and although I've been concentrating on so many other instruments the last few years, I still play it as often as I can.

It's summer time again, though, so it's traveling with us as we go north to Gainesville, Mo. and wherever! Can't wait 'til we have a boat again, ukes and boats just go together!

Although my Kala came from MusicGuyMic on ebay, it appears his store is down. You can find one here though: theukulelesite.com

Make people happy, play a uke! Peace Love Ukulele!

Original Thread

Originally I started calling this build my "baby bastard" as a tribute to the Fender La Cabronita Especial it was based on/inspired by, then I started calling it the "bastard" for short but now, I think I need to rename it. When I first contacted Marc about his Sugar Pine tele bodies, he sent me a gallery to select the one I wanted. This body was #27. That's a rather lucky number for me, so I think this guitar will forever be known as "#27" and I'm thinking about adding some graphics to that effect at some point. We'll see.

Well, I got the body back from Marc Rutter ruttersguitars.com yesterday. It was a long wait but WOW, worth it! I told him that I wanted a translucent vintage blonde and left the rest up to him (i.e. satin, gloss, relic'd or not) and he delivered! It looks and feels fantastic. It's easily the most comfortable guitar I own to hold. I can't wait to play it!

Right now, I only have this pic of this body fresh from Marc. I took it home and started the shielding process. I taped off the pickup holes and painted some Stewart-Macdonald Conductive Sheilding Paint. 3 coats does the trick!

I then started the wire prep by cutting to length all the jumpers and leads for output I'll need using 24 gauge wire from guitar fetish. I'm also using some mogami shielded cable for the output.

I'm wiring this guitar according to the Fender La Cabronita 2 pickup wiring diagram complete with the S-1 switching and grease bucket style tone choices. When the switch is up, it's running a set tone circuit of .001uF & .0033uF Sprague Orange Caps. Switch down, it's a set tone circuit of .0033uF & .0033uF Sprague Orange Caps. I'm using the Gibson style 3-way switch, as well.

More to come...

Today will be my 9th lesson with Kathy Cooper of Kathy Cooper Studios. So far so good!

As with all lessons, of any kind, there are those disheartening moments where you wonder "what's it all good for, anyway?", a quiet act of desperation built from years of self-doubt and self-deprecating behavior.

Then I go have a lesson and Kathy asks how it's going, I tell her this, and the next thing I know I'm talking about all the music I love, showing off the things I've learned and how good I'm getting at things I just started learning 9 weeks ago...then I'm BACK! I know why, once again, why I'm doing this thing. It's not to impress a girl, although I'm always wanting to impress my girl (girls if you count my step-daughters!), it's not to be a rock star (although if I could get into a band of like-minded folks again, that would be great!), it's not to win awards, or get attention or any of those other things. It's because it makes me happy and I enjoy it!

Get your towels ready you hoopy froods everywhere, Wednesday is Towel Day! The day that we celebrate our love of Douglas Adams and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

From chapter 3 of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

As a long-time fan, I'm so glad to have a way to show my love and appreciation of what this great, genius of a man, writer, comedian and thinker did in his life's work.

One of my step-daughters is in love with the series and is on her third book of the "trilogy" (as he called it but there are actually 5 books!)

So, if you're a "believer", grab your towels and show the world that you are clearly a person to be reckoned with!

Towel Day Wiki
towelday.org

I picked this up on a lark. Truly! I don't even remember how I found it. I was actually buying some Elvis Costello sheet music and ended up on Buy.com. I guess it was listed as a suggestion...Well, it worked! I bought it.

It was a "discount" house that had this one for a much lower price that is listed elsewhere, PLUS Akai is running a $20 rebate right now! It looks like the only reason this one was "discount" was due to some of the screen printed words were smeared. No biggie and doesn't affect operation = DEAL.

I just got this, FREE, from square after I heard that Apple is fully endorsing it. Currently I don't really have any use for it, but if I start doing Guitar repair or custom design again, website building that isn't barter or if my wife decides to sell some of her sewn, quilted, felted wares at Gainesville, MO's Hootin' n Hollerin' Bluegrass festival this year and someone wants to pay with debit or credit, we can take it right there!

It also allows you to take a picture of the invoice, person or product as you make the transaction!

The little device is super lightweight, requires no batteries and is easy to use!

— "Impatience" from North by Elvis Costello

Please forgive these quick pics I took last night in my excitement, I plan to rewire and get everything situated and then replace these pics this weekend! :)

So, as the little pin taped on my computer, that my wife got me, says "Patience is such a waste of time", I ordered my Korg SV-1 88 key Stage Vintage Keyboard last week and it arrived yesterday!!!

Life is short...I work hard...Only so many years to enjoy my health and sanity...etc. :add excuse here: I've said them all though, and they are true. Of course I should be more prudent with my money and keep the debt to a minimum for our future BUT....

Today I can learn so much faster that I ever dreamed thanks to forums, video tutorial, computer tutorial and sheet music all over the place! 28 years ago when I started playing an instrument (guitar) a few magazines were available but certainly no internet.

Okay, admittedly, there's that part of me that's jealous of new generations having these tools. Sure I wish that I'd had them, but I didn't and I still have learned how to play decently well. Alright, that's a cop out, I know it.

I love the art and skill of making music myself and love to share that with anyone. Nothing I like better than encouraging kids to get involved with playing any instrument...expressing themselves, a creative outlet, what have you.

So I come across sites like this that I'm happy, and equally, amazed they exist:
onlinepianist.com
pianotte.szm.com
Music Theory

Love it! I can't wait to dig in and really accelerate my learning!

I met with Kathy Cooper, pianist/keyboardist extraordinaire, yesterday for my first weekly lesson. First lessons are always more of a conversation, getting to know each other, finding out what kind of learning and teaching styles of each, etc.

Yes, I succumbed to G.A.S. once again :( I'm trying my best to patiently await getting a new keyboard but couldn't pass up a deal on this one. My lovely wife was so kind to buy me a fairly inexpensive and decent sounding "screamer" type of pedal last year but I've yet to fully bond with it or get the sounds I really want out of it. I hoped this Green Rhino, from what I've heard online, will get me there.

Well, it succeeds! What a great sounding overdrive. I was able, within minutes, to dial in every kind of OD I could think of, from bright boost, to tejas grunge, to SRV, smooth OD, ballsy OD (thanks to that 100Hz boost and the mid curve pots!). It's fairly configurable to just about any kind of OD you can think of. It's crisp and clean too, well what I mean is, although its distorted/overdriven sounding, you can still hear all your notes. Not muddy, no weird oscillation and great, almost RAT style, harmonics!

Also, you can really count on the build of this thing. It's lightweight but very strong enclosure is made to perfection, solid feeling knobs and the switch is a short throw, easy "click" type. Great on socked feet! :)

I've barely spent any time with it at all and I already love it! It's replaced my MXR Classic OD pedal already.

Love it, recommend it! Great deal!

So, 27 years ago, I was riding home on the bus from school. That day I had made a decision – I was going to ask my Mom if I could take piano lessons! As I got off the bus and walked towards home, I spotted a truck in our drive-way. There were men loading up the piano from our den – my Mom had sold it that day!

Soon after, she took me in to Benton and bought me my first guitar, a red metallic Lotus LP copy from ????? & Loftis on Military Rd. (Can't remember the other guys name). She also signed me up for lessons that day.

But all these years, I really have always been attracted to playing the keys and, over the years, taught myself to play based on my guitar lessons. I had a friend named Buddy that was an amazing piano player that put quite a damper on my playing. He was so good and often made fun of my "guitar player" playing, my choice of keys to play, etc. that I gave up trying.

WELL....Better late than never! Starting March 29, I'm starting those piano lessons. I'm going to be working with Kathy Cooper, a well-known keyboardist in these parts for many years. I spoke with her yesterday about what I want to accomplish and she seems to think it's easily doable... with a little practice, of course!

I want to start by working on my sight and manuscript reading skills, basic scale/key fundamentals (much I know from guitar already), and very specific musical styles/techniques such as Soul, Funk and R&B.

I'm excited and will post back as I progress, hopefully to the point that I can record some audio or video to post. All this is leading up to my hopes of purchasing a Korg SV-1 this summer!

I'm so impressed by this model. I really think that, after researching stage pianos, controllers, etc. for several weeks now, this is the best of the best!

There's a lull between making fun purchases, part of my musical hobby that I really enjoy. I know what you're thinking "man this guy is just all about the acquisitions and not about playing" schtick. Well, save it! I enjoy playing, making music and learning just as much as I am in love with researching, searching and buying new equipment.

In one of those deals that I "just couldn't pass up", after Xmas, Guitar Center had a massive clearance sale. 60% off on many items. I walked in the day that the Lexicon I-Onix U22 was on for 50% off and the M-Audio BX5a Monitors, store demos, were for 60% off. These were two items I had long wanted to create a nice little desktop recording studio using GarageBand '11 on my iMac but had put off due to regular price cost being way too high.

I appreciate that my wife understood and knows a good deal. I'm also fortunate that we had the money in the budget to splurge so soon after Xmas. I am a lucky man!

We cut our cable about 4-5 months ago. No one missed it much. Sure we had to sacrifice the last season of Dexter (although I fear it's jumped the shark now :( ). But I was able to utilize our local library for many free titles to keep everyone happy. Our girls are very much movie watchers, not really TV show watchers, so it's been a little easier. I feared they would not be able to chat as easily with friends, not knowing what happened on that show last night, etc. It's not like we are that family that got rid of all the TVs period. But I don't think they suffered. I know I didn't suffer paying the $200+ monthly bill to have 400 channels and a DVR I never had time to watch.

So we got an Apple TV ($99) after Xmas. We added the Netflix service ($10/mo.) and upped our DSL internet to 12mbps for only $10/mo. more.

If you ever buy an SKB PS-55 Stage Five Pedal Board, be prepared for how huge and heavy this thing is! I got it set up last night with only one issue, otherwise, it's ready to rock.

As I suspected, the actual pedal board surface is not as big as I'd like, but it's much bigger than what I did have. I was able to put my amp's channel switch pedal back on the board and give things a little better spacing.

All the power plugs worked just fine including the 9VAC for the M9. Nice to have it all taken care of with one power cord.

Well, all of you out there that love effects pedals know that a guitarists pedal board is always in a state of flux. G.A.S. (gear acquisition syndrome) is always lurking, ready to inflame our lust for that elusive tone we hear in our hearts and heads!

My board has changed a little since the last posting and is about to change again. Here it is as of now:

But I have since removed the GFS tuner pedal and replaced with a TC Electronic Polytune. At first I was skeptical about the Polytune but after trying one....well, I said "oooh, I have to get me one of those!"

But my board is cram packed and falling off. Plus I have no room to add or move additional pedals in from rotation. depending on what my mood and projects are.

I've had a set of these since last year when Dunlop sent me a gift package of a tshirt, strings, stickers and about 100 picks. I have been playing Star Picks pretty exclusively for a while now but decided to go through them and try some options.

I tried the .73 version of this Ultex pick first and liked the feel, especially the sharp tip. Then I tried the 1.14, a thickness I usually stay away from…I LOVE THEM! That sharp point makes my note accuracy jump right up. Nice crisp yet mellow sound. Tone just jumped out of my fingers.

Link to website

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

My one and only rule

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Monday, September 19, 2011

Friday, September 2, 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Monday, June 20, 2011

Thursday, June 2, 2011

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