Back In The Saddle Again

Long time ..... no posting from me. I know, I know .. but I've been super busy making music with my band. I love to say that. My band. It's got a great ring to it don't you think ? It's about time this "old geezer" got off his ass and started getting serious again. It's been a lifetime coming and it's finally here. About a year ago I was, and still am, "recovering" from a serious spinal injury as a result of wrecking my Harley Davidson. It's been a little over 3 years now since my accident and I think I'm about as good as I'm going to get.

I was in the hospital a little over a month altogether being pieced back together little by little. I had to have my jaw fixed too as a result of trying to eat my speedometer and tachometer. I also have some titanium hardware in my back attached to my spine. I don't recommend this path to anyone either. It can really put a hamper on your guitar playing abilities. Especially when you are in pain 24/7/365 ...

It can be downright depressing when you can't do things that used to be simple to you. Things you always took for granted before. To be honest about it, I really thought my music days were all over with, and any aspirations I might have had about being a performing musician flew right out the window at first. I was, and still am to some degree, and old crippled ass fart. But I can still sit in a chair and play a guitar. I can even stand up and play now with my new 4 inch wide soft leather strap. My collar bone is pretty messed up and the doctors didn't bother to try fixing it unfortunately..

An old friend of mine came to see me one day not long after I had gotten out of the hospital following my big crash in 2009. Everyone, myself included was and is amazed that I lived through that crash. It was pretty bad, and to this day I still have almost zero recollection of it happening. I just woke up one day and realized I was in a hospital between 3 and 4 weeks after I ran my Harley Davidson off the road. I ended up having "Harrington Rods" placed between T-4 and T-11 in my spine because I had blown to bits and pieces 2 of my vertebrates. Needless to say it was a long road to recovery after that.

I was, and still, am in a great deal of pain from my injuries. I broke my jaw too and had to have a plate put in to hold the bones together so it could grow back. There's a lot of depression that come with all of this and I was looking for a way to help kick it's ass. I thought maybe if I got back into my guitar playing it would possibly help me beat the funk.. That's when I decided to give my old friend a call and have a good long talk with him about guitar playing. We had both played music together somewhere in the 25 years ago neighborhood and we even took it so far as to get a drummer (we both play guitar) and try building a band. The band thing quickly fizzled and we all kinda drifted apart doing the "raising a family" thing when the kids started coming along.

After this good long talk, we agreed to get together and have us a little jam session. Just myself and my guitar playing friend. It only took a couple of times of us getting back together before we started talking about giving a band another try just for the hell of it. We started getting together 3 or 4 times a week at first. Right away we started making leaps and bounds. We decided we needed a drummer right off, so my buddy went out and bought 2 drum kits (one Ludwig, one Tama) from a local "swap shop" type of group on facebook. Neither set was complete but a few pieces from musicians friend changed that real quick. It just so happened that my buddy has a son who was interested in playing drums so we put him behind the killer Ludwig kit and the rest is history with him. Our drummer started mentioning a guy he knew of that could sing. The more we heard, (my friend and I) the less we thought he would fit. One thing was his age, 22, and another was that he was a "cowboy" type of guy.. And here we were 2 old hippy type older farts. I'm 48 and my buddy is 45. It didn't even sound good on paper. Especially considering the age of our drummer (12 years old). But we were determined this time to go for it. Both of us are "All In" on this project so we decided to contact this guy. The next weekend rolled around and this singer came over and sang a few songs for us. Then he did a couple of his own songs and we were sold on him.

Two weeks later our singer brought a bass player to practice with him. A 19 year old guy that works with him building trailers for 18 wheelers. OMG this guy can sing ... and the bass player is a natural at playing music. He's also pretty good with a 6 string and backing vocals too. So here we are now 3 practice sessions deep as a full 5 piece band. Session number 4 is today, October 13th and I can hardly wait to get set up and start playing.

It's getting a little late for me (almost 2am) so I'm going to sign off for now. I will come back soon and let everyone know how tonight's jam session goes. I'm anxious about using my new toy. It's a tc electronics brand "polytune" tuner of the "stomp box" variety. It is GREAT so far and I still haven't used all of it's features. More on that in my next blog post. Take care people, and don't forget to put a little music in your ears. It's a beautiful thing. Until next time .... Namaste'

Blues Legend Robben Ford to appear at a Guitar Clinic in Southern California March 11th 4pm

If you've never heard Robben Ford play, your missing out on a great axe grinder. The latest from our youtube friend and guitar teacher Marty Schwartz talks about it in this video.



See More @ http://www.robbenford.com/clinics.html

Check out the buttery sweet tone of Robben Ford below and check out some more of his videos/music at Youtube.com

The Grammy Awards of 2012

Every year at this time the music industry has an awards show to recognize outstanding achievements in the music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a widely viewed televised ceremony. It is the music equivalent to the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Award for stage and the Academy Awards for film.

The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. Following the 2011 ceremony, NARAS overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 54th Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Thanks to Wikipedia for the hyper links above.

As a self proclaimed musician and music connoisseur I must say we are scraping the bottom of the barrel these days. If this is how you spell success in the music industry, I want no part of it. Not that I will ever win a Grammy anyway. The music industry has always consisted of a pack of hungry wolves exploiting people for a buck. It doesn't matter one bit that they destroy the lives of so many artist's along the way. They chew 'em up and spit 'em out like yesterdays garbage. They don't give a rats ass about the well being of them either. As long as they are bringing in money everything's hunky dory. The minute a problem comes up and keeps the artist from making a few shows it "toodles toots" and "Hit the Road Jack." A lot of them end up in an early grave when it's all said and done. Whitney Houston was the music industries latest casualty. I won't even go into it since the internet is already about to blow up with it already.

Imagine (if you can) the weight that is put on your shoulders if you are a "signed artist" in the music industry. I doubt most people realize what a demanding and fast paced world they live in. They are literally ran ragged by the record companies traveling all over doing interviews, photo shoots, sponsor obligations, you name it. I think the idea is to keep 'em hot after they "arrive" on the scene. I'm reminded of a scene from the 1976 farewell concert for "The Band" and something Robbie Robertson said during the documentary "The Last Waltz". When asked the reason for their departure from the road and music he replied (paraphrasing) ... "16 years is a long time to be on the road. We started out in little clubs and after 8 years of that we finally hit the big time and done stadiums and large venues. The road is an impossible lifestyle. It's taken many of the great ones like Jimi (Hendrix) and Janice etc .. if you keep it up it's bound to get you too. Unfortunately he didn't know he was speaking prophetic words back then as Richard Manuel , a member of "The Band" ended up being taken by the road.

Personally I didn't care a lot for Whitney Houston's music, but damn .... the lady could sing her ass off, and for that I give her much respect. Rest in peace Ms. Houston. A lot of people are going to miss you greatly. Hopefully people will remember you for the voice and not the other things you ended up getting so much publicity for in your final years on this earth.

Guitar Slinger

It really is all about the music for me. Music can sometimes be the best medicine for what ails the soul. It can take you high, it can take you low, it all depends on where you want to go. I've been thinking for a long time about starting a music related blog. It's what I like more than anything else in this world. I couldn't imagine a day of life without music in it. Welcome to my new blog. I've been playing a 6 string since I was about 12 years old. I have a lot of relatives on my mothers side of the family that play, so I guess it's in my genes. I've never had any "formal" musical training except for the normal music classes in grade school. Do they even have music class anymore ? When I was in grade school it was required of everyone to take a semester of music. We all had to purchase a recorder and lean a few basic songs on it. I think the idea was to find out who had the natural talent so they could be recruited to play for the school band. I was never interested in band music in school. I wanted to play the guitar and there was no such thing in a marching band, so I ended up going it alone with a Mel Bay instruction book. Mel has been teaching the world to play since 1947 and his work is still going strong today.

Reading music was something that never interested me. After 35 years I still have a hard time making heads or tails from it. I'm a self taught player aside from those old Mel Bay song books and chord charts. I was told that if I learned my chords and scales I could eventually play anything I wanted to play. That's pretty much the truth too. You can also learn to play things you may not necessarily want to play, but playing what you like is a lot more interesting. If you get stuck having to learn things you don't like to hear, music will never be fun for you. Chances are, you'll put your instrument down and quit playing after a while. It has to be interesting and fun if you want to play well. At least that's the way I see it.

I'll be writing about a little bit of everything in this blog. As long as it's about music, it's all fair game to me. I'll be writing about music from a guitar players perspective. I might write reviews of songs, or instruments, amplifiers, effects, you name it. If it has to do with music and playing it, I'll be writing about it. So sit back and enjoy the journey with me as I take you through the music world from my point of view.