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A few days ago I was writing about that pig bleeding party, if this is how you call it in English(thanks, Sammy!). I have observed a very interesting fact while being there, something that made me think about it for a few days. Remember I said that when I arrived, there were already some guys playing on stage, guys that we teamed up with, to make a band for the evening. Most of them haven’t played since a few good years, but all together, we managed to have a good “show” that evening.

Also we took breaks, because after all, it was a party with friends, we had lunch, had a couple of drinks, chit-chat with everybody around, etc.

Well, in those moments, the stage usually got full of other people that used to play an instrument at one moment. Well, one of those moments is the reason I write this here now…

It was that guy there, fan of SRV and John Mayer, that loved to play Lenny (and it sounded really nice, plus that I listened Lenny that very morning so I had it fresh in my mind). He approached me at one moment when I went for a coffee and we had an interesting conversation about guitars (mine especially), SRV, Satriani, Vai, you know, the usual chit-chat guitar players come up with when they get together, he’s a very interesting guy,we even exchanged phone numbers and asked if he can come to one of our rehearsals sessions one day. Well, yes, I guess.

Then it was this other guy that was totally addicted to metal. He asked me if he could try my guitar. Yes, no problem. He told me he has a Gibson Les Paul at home and if I am not mistaken, also a Strat. Nice, I don’t have any of these. Well…

So, he started to play some Maiden, then a few riffs of a local underground metal band in Romania, a band that I also like to listen once in a while (but probably I am the only one in the 100 people that surround me that even know about that band). Well, I liked to hear those heavy riffs, I knew the songs, I have them on my laptop, but the people there didn’t know them…

At the same time, on stage it was the SRV guy with his guitar. But he couldn’t play metal under any circumstance, he was the Lenny guy…But the Maiden fan didn’t know blues…

I was looking at them, one trying to play metal and the other trying to play blues. Didn’t work. Didn’t work at all. They seemed like 2 guys speaking two different languages, they didn’t have any common grounds to rely on…

Do you know what I’ve thought at that moment? I have thought about my post of a few months ago about being original in blues. You commented there saying that blues actually offers the common ground that both musicians and the audience know, gives everybody an international language to speak. This is so true, with only 3 chords, basic “blues culture” they could have had a great time jamming together. Probably the Lenny guy could have put it together, but there must be 2 to play tennis, isn’t it?

I still have that image in my mind of two guys, each of them being able to play the guitar pretty good, but not being able to communicate and play together at the same time.

And here I remember a movie that I’ve watched a lot of years ago on TV, with a jazz trumpet player, I think. He wanted to play in a band, it was a jazz band playing down the street, he went there to speak to them about it. The band leader listened to him, told him about learning scales and sent him back home to come back later after learning scales. He came back a few months ago, I know to play this.

OK then, now go back and listen those songs and learn them. When you can play them, come back and we’ll speak about it. He came back a few months later playing the songs.

OK, NOW YOU CAN START LEARNING TO PLAY WITH A BAND.Go back and…

I don’t remember how the movie ended, if the guy joined the band or not, I just remember the idea. There’s more to it that learning to play the guitar, it is not enough to know the chords or the notes, it is not enough to know the song, you must learn to work with the others in the band and listen to them…

Don’t you agree?

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A quick and last one, for this year: HAPPY NEW YEAR, GUYS!!!

May all your dreams come true in the year to come, stay healthy, find more time for your guitar and…rock on!

Happy New Year!

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I will start by describing an old tradition in Romania that you, if not familiar with it, you may find it less pleasant and why not, a bit barbarian.OK, I’ll take my chance. So…

Each year, on one of the days around Christmas, people in country side, kill/cut/sacrifice a pig that is grown usually in their own backyard farm. This is something that goes back a very long time, I guess, and I am not able to tell you the origin of this tradition. Romania is a Christian country. Well, this tradition I bet it’s not Christian, but pre-Christian. The fact is that it blended so well with Christmas that it became part of it, without anybody asking about the origin anymore.

Coming back to the point, this usually goes like this: the family gets together in the country side, kill/cut/sacrifice the pig, then prepare it on top of a fire, then slice it and prepare it for storage for the months to come. Because it happens on Christmas, usually a cold period, with snow, local Romanian drinks are also part of a tradition (think Whiskey or Vodka as more famous alternatives). Actually, if you want, you can look at this as a big barbecue, because actually a barbecue is always part of the process.

I was part of this tradition a week ago, at my parents in law. OK, I came in a bit later, to skip the part where they actually kill the pig, because I don’t like it…

OK, why am I telling you this? You may ask yourself where’s the relationship with playing the guitar?

Well, two days ago, Costin, the lead singer in my band invited us to …play at such an event. What?! Yeah, it’ll be fun, he says, you’ll see! Some friends of my brother invited us, yadda, yadda, yadda…

Aaaah…yeah, I guess…we’ll see…

OK, the fact is that we all spoke about it, but only 3 of us were available for that day, the other 2 were away for the holidays. So I packed up the guitar, took my gig bag thinking this might be like the strangest place I’ve ever played…

The fact is that I didn’t know where this will take place, Costin only told me the general coordinates, so I had a bit of trouble finding the location. I called the guy: do you have the cars outside? Will I see your car at the gates? Well, he says, there’s actually no gate, how to put it, it’s a large property near a lake, a small hotel…

OK, after a bit of search, there I was. A nice hotel and restaurant near a private lake…And I was expecting a backyard of some guy in the country side…

I entered the restaurant where everything took place and I was a bit overwhelmed at first. There were about 50-60 people there, a stage, drums, amplifiers, some guys already playing on stage, and a few familiar faces.

OK, but where’s the pig? I was expecting something different, you know…The fact is that this friend wanted to throw a party for his friends, so bought a pig, already sacrificed by the owner, brought it to the restaurant(that his uncle owns), then gave it to the chef to prepare it for everybody. Drinks and the meals were on the house. OK then, a real party!

I can say that we came in for 2 hours and we stayed there for about 6 hours, canceling other things we had planned for that evening, because we’ve felt very well there. The fact is that after all, from the band, only me and Costin, the lead singer, managed to get there, but hey, after all, we’ve been to a few parties together and can play a few good songs with only a guitar and voice.

As I was saying, there were a few guys there that could play a bit, a drummer that said he didn’t play drums in the last 12 years and that the one that taught him to play drums is our current drummer. What do you know?! My wife told me this, I didn’t know about it, she talked to the guy for a while, interesting story, too bad Coco, our drummer was not there to meet him. My wife told me he was explaining to her how he and his band of 12 years ago were opening for Kapela back then. Well, imagine when my wife told him that me and Costin used to play in Kapela…

The fact is I can say I was impressed how things went along when we’ve got together on that small stage, we started to play songs after only one minute of preparation for each of them, I knew the song and I was telling them the chords as we played. But in the end, everything went well. At one moment we also played a few “acoustic” songs, just me and Costin, the way we used to play at parties.

My Variax guitar proved to be the star of the evening, I can only say it was great and that if I would have a rack of guitars to chose from, for a cover songs party, between a Gibson Les Paul, a Strat and a Tele, I would pick a Variax anytime since I had there everything I wanted, just a knob away!

We played blues on my “Tele”, solos on my “Gibson” and balads on my “acoustic guitar”, and I can say it rocked the house!

I think that you couldn’t spend Christmas better than this, partying with friends playing the guitar!

Christmas rock parties rock, don’t you think?!

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As I find verry little time to blog these days (and I am sure you have the same problem), I just want to wish you a Merry Christmas, have a wonderful Winter Holiday and have the time of your life together with your loved ones!

May all your dreams come true!

Ho, ho, ho!

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Starting today I will start a new category, “Scrapers (the wall of shame)”. This is because today, Mad Stratter sent me an email pointing me to www.discountguitarsinfo.com, informing me about the fact that this site scraps our content. I can tell you I recognized there a lot of the articles we all post day by day, a lot of articles from Mad Stratter’s blog, from Jon’s GuitarNoize, from Stratoblogster, and a lot more blogs I enjoy and read every day.

This is not the first time I see this. A couple of weeks ago, Danny from GuitarPlayersCenter.com sent me an email complaining me about the same thing, but about another site.

A couple of good months ago, Jon started a conversation with me and IG about another site scraping content.

I guess we all know how difficult it is to come up with original content each and every day so this kind of situations should not go unpunished. There are ways to fight this. I know a few and I am sure you also know a few. I will tell you my best one, IMO: the only reason this kind of websites exist is to build content for AdSense or similar advertising systems. Content builds search traffic. Traffic means money, the reason this kind of sites exits. Google gives you the possibility to report such sites for duplicated, scrapped content, terminating the account associated to the site. No money, no reason for the site to exist.

OK, there are other ways to make money, but in such cases, AdSense is a very important one.

You add here your own methods, let’s see if we can fight this! And when you find other sites scraping our content, share it with the rest of us, we might be interested…

I think that we join our forces, we might just start a movement here: “Say NO to scraping!”

What do you say?

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You know, I dig the stage outfit thing, it’s not big deal, we all remember the shiny clothes, KISS with the painted faces, the blood thing and the spikes on leather, OK, you know, but man, I was looking for something today and I suddenly stumbled upon this image with Slipknot.

I don’t know, I’m not into Slipknot, but I do like some heavier music once in a while (like in heavier than…heavy metal)  but I find it hard to understand this. Honestly, I think it is a bit too much.

Now, according to my survey of a couple of weeks ago, probably you will also find it strange, because it seems you are not into Slipknot either…

I understand it is a marketing thing, they created an image and they have to stick with it, but, I can only ask myself if I would have been asked by a producer to be part of this and wear such a hideous mask on my face…would I have said yes? I guess you need a particular personality to be part of it, don’t you think?

I ask myself how these guys are in real life?

I mean picture this : mom, I want to introduce you to my boyfriend, he’s an artist, he’s part of that band you are scared of…

Hmm…

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OK, this post could start a few controversies, I guess. It all started with a talk show here, where an analyst observed that in our elections of a few days ago (for the parliament and senate) a lot of artists were involved, as it happens every year, but without taking a side.

I mean, they asked a few good and well paid artists here if they had political preferences, if they played everywhere where they were invited or they turned down some offers because they don’t buy their crap.

Well, without any reserve, everybody said they played…everywhere they were invited and paid. Pretty fair, I’d say…

However, the analyst observed that this is a marketing mistake actually and it will hurt the political parties more than the artists, who, after all, are hired to do whatever they know to do, to perform.

But the political parties will get hurt on the long run. If they would sign some contract of exclusivity with a particular band, let’s say, then when that band would participate to a particular meeting, playing there, people will know which party is involved. Pretty straight forward. It’s part of a branding process, after all.

Think of Intel. Remember the sound? If not, here it is:

That’s a sound logo. It is unique and communicates the brand on audio channels. Without it, the brand would not be complete. Also, the sound won’t ever appear on other brands, because …it’s part of Intel’s brand. And, because you have heard it so many times already, when you will be in another room, not watching TV, but hearing the sound, you’ll immediately think of Intel. That’s branding.

It’s the same with a political party. If a party manages to associate itself with the sound of a band, it will all become part of a brand. Otherwise, if the band will play for no matter what party in no matter what place, it won’t be any branding, it will only be a big mess. The way it happens here now.

However, in order for this to happen, I guess the band must have strong political beliefs and stop running for money wherever it can find them.

I have another example here, that already happens since a while: smarter than political parties, and more marketing oriented, TV channels already signed up particular artists that appear 99% on their channel and can’t be seen on other channels so if you listen that artist somewhere at a public performance, you’ll immediately think about the TV channel they appear on. In return, the TV channel will heavily promote their artists because building the artist’ popularity will also build their channel popularity on the long run. It’s simple.

If you don’t believe me, think about your TV channels and about your (recent) elections.

Can you tell me you what I say here does not match your elections as well?

Well?

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These days, in Romania, everybody prepares for Christmas. You already get to hear Christmas carols all over (by the way, my wife already overexposed me to such carols), people start to come up on your door singing…

I guess it is the same everywhere, isn’t it? Groups of young people come singing on your door Christmas carols. The fact is that I like it, no matter if the groups is composed of small children barely knowing the lyrics or young adults singing  on more voices, as a result of some religious music studies (it really happens here since people studying to become priests often go singing Christmas carols during winter holidays)

All these give you a nice feeling of Christmas, of winter, of holidays, man, it feels good.

The fact is that I used to sing myself such carols, with a couple of friends, every year, for a lot of years, it all started when I was a small boy in the neighborhood, it was a habit there, all the children did it. I was raised in an area where there were only houses, not blocks or apartments, so going from one neighbor to another was simple. We only needed to beware of dogs…

I even remember after a while I started to take my guitar, we were not children anymore, but we kept on going for a while, singing and playing the guitar, you know, we used to make some money for Christmas presents and for spending during the winter holiday. It was cool, plus that we really loved it, it was Christmas!

So, is it the same the same where you live? Did you ever go singing carols with your guitar? Or your children? Or it is a tradition that only remained in some parts of the world?

By the way, here’s a traditional Romanian Christmas carol. Enjoy!

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I was reading on MusicRadar.com (via GuitarMX) an article about why Chinese Democracy was not a commercial success.

OK, first of all, I must admit that after writing here a couple of posts about it and listening the tracks on YT, I totally forgot about it so, pardon me but I wasn’t aware of the fact that it was not a success, especially after the album generated that big buzz right before being released. I presumed that, even if I don’t like it that much, other people like it and buy it.

Interesting that after all, it didn’t go that well. Personally speaking, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for Axl and his work of 15(?) years, I presume that when you work that much for a record, you put every single hope in it so, it is not something to joke with.

However, reading the reasons MusicRadar listed on that article, reasons for which the album failed to become what Axl planned, I must admit that some of them were quite pertinent.

I mean, the fact that out of the guys in the office of MusicRadar, none could name all the musicians involved in recording the album, it is a sign that there is no band there.

Come on, GNR was a brand, each guy there was a brand, I mean you knew them, you could name everyone of them, the brand was strong, had continuity and personality. When you can not name the band members, you have a marketing problem, I guess.

They also list there the fact that Chinese Democracy isn’t a masterpiece and people calling on the radio didn’t ask one single time the new song but…old hits like November rain, Paradise city, etc. Sad, but true after all. Is there a song on this album to compare to November rain? I don’t think so.

But the most important reason, and one I have always named here on this blog, is the fact that GNR isn’t GNR anymore. I know it, you know it and maybe the most important, they know it. And they didn’t buy it either…

I already said it but I will say it again: I am sorry about it, I would have liked that, against all odds and against my previous posts and feelings, the new album be a success, for the sake of rock music, for my nostalgic feelings of a long gone period and for the fact that I turned to rock thanks to Guns and thanks to Patience.

The fact is that I don’t know what to say more about it, so, the rest is silence…

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Statement: In this world full of Guitar Hero fans, anything that could convince one more person to learn to play guitar is a good thing. Right?

I really believe this, and honestly, I try to explain this to my friends who have children, I tell them that encouraging a kid to learn to play an instrument or to sing, or, as a matter of fact, to get engaged in any artistic activity, will open the universe of the little one to tones of new possibilities, helping him or her to build a creative mind.

The fact is that a lot of people say that hey, I don’t want my son to be an artist, let him learn and get formal education, forget music, that’s bullshit!

No, man, that’s no bullshit! And I have arguments here, so pay attention cause I’m going to say it only once:

1. If a kid will learn how to play the guitar, or piano, or how to draw or paint, this will not necessarily mean that he or she will follow an artistic career. No. It is his or her choice in the future, the grown up kid may end up being a lawyer or a doctor, or a manager, or whatever you think best for your child. But playing the guitar(if guitar is the chosen instrument) will always be a part of his life…
2. Any kind of artistic activity will stimulate your kid to be more creative and active, to stand out of the crowd. Suppose you have in mind that great career as a manager for your kid, right? Do you know what makes the difference between a good manager and a great one? Creativity. The capacity to think out of the box, to come up with fast solutions to problems, to come up with solutions and plans others couldn’t think of. That’s creativity, you know? And being creative is something you can teach your child.OK, some are gifted, think Mozard, for ex. Or let’s forget about music and think about those little guys you see on TV that at 6 years can count better than a computer. That’s something else and honestly, that’s not something you plan, but for the rest of us, real people, creativity can be stimulated.
3. You may not think about it this way, but playing an instrument is one of the best way to relax in the evening. Trust me, I should know. Computers, spending time in the office, all these things may be stressful and may get you to a point where you can just snap. Just play the guitar, have a beer, sing along, bring some friends over, you can not imagine how well you’ll feel! I think that only for this, it is worth to spend money on teaching a kid to play the guitar.
4. Playing the guitar will help your kid be more sociable in school, make friends easier, feel cool, more sure of himself. I guess all of us know that being a teenager is not the easiest period, right? Playing the guitar really helps here.

And you know what? Point 4 can be extended to all your life, no matter your age. I was reading a few months ago an article on one of the blogs I regularly read (unfortunately I don’t remember which one so if you recognize this, scream out loud and I will add a link to you here) where the author was saying that it is easier to start a conversation in some cases on guitar basis. Hey, you play guitar? Me too! What do you know?!!

Or for those of you that are more pessimistic out there: OK, don’t allow your kid to take guitar lessons, because soon you will see your child doing drugs, alcohol, hang out with dubious people, wearing long hair and all kind of ugly looking clothes. Boooo…

OK, I can also add a link here to a site that I stumbled upon a few days ago, www.arealguitar.com, a clever way for children to inform their friends and parents that they want a real guitar

How about that? Do you second me here about the benefits of teaching a kid how to play the guitar?

By the way, if you’re a StumbleUpon user, give this site a thumb up! Thank you!

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