I've got the power.

I can certainly tell I have a new job. I have money. Money to spend on a BOSS DS-1 Distortion pedal. The TO100, you see, is actually a Tube Overdrive pedal.. not distortion. Although I can create a bit of a distortion with it, it's not enough. I need some serious, serious distortion. TheWife was most impressed with the sound I was producing with the small orange box.
I was actually hoping to find another cheapie Behringer at Macaulay's, but alas it wasn't meant to be. The BOSS wasn't a bank breaker though, retailing at $70. I didn't feel like driving up to Long and McQuade's, as the roads were a rink. Hopefully I didn't get hosed.

So, after unboxing the mutha and finished just toying with it, I started playing Fire, Water, Burn. Courtesy of Grindy's "power chords" lesson the last time we jammed together, I was able to get a little bit of a groove going. I'm not fast enough to keep up with the actual track yet, but I have a good handle on the theory behind it. Hopefully it won't take too long to get a complete handle on.

Lastly, I've continued trying the position provided by Philipi Hii (see my last post), and that does seem to help. It's taken a bit of the pain away-- which is a good thing. I'll try fiddling with barre chords again later. For now, I'll just enjoy the tasty sounds of my distortion pedal.

Technorati Tags: guitar, guitar theory, Pedal, BOSS DS-1, Review

12 Pains of improvement.

Catchy title huh? It's just that though. Well.. not completely.

I was looking at what Grindy was working (ie don't speak, which led me into trying out power chords and more barre chords. I decided to investigate what Ultimate-Guitar had to say about the subject, as I'm all about the self-edumacation. I went from

-----
-----
--5--
--5--
--3--
-----
to
-----
-----
--5--
--5--
--3--
--3--


and experienced new pain. Sure, it looks similar, but I moved my left third finger in such a way that a sudden shock up pain run up and down through the digit. I tried to do it again, and blammo, it happened again. Once again, I believe that I have to be schooled in hand placement. It's one thing to get pains in your wrists (which I did), but getting them in your fingers too? Something has to be wrong. And as I once heard someone say, "pain is nature's way of telling you you're doing something wrong."
I continued my edumacation by looking for proper techniques. The best I could find was this by Philipi Hii. Something about this doesn't feel right though. I may have to try it out a little more and see how it goes.
To sum up, I didn't really get anything accomplished today other than pain. Perhaps tomorrow will be less pain and more gain.

Technorati Tags: guitar, guitar theory, Pain

Don't Speak: A Spain in my ass

Don't Speak by No Doubt is a very cool song, I would say one of No Doubt's better joints fo sho. I thought the guitar in this song was catchy and sounded like a good Intermediate tab to sink my teeth into.

This song is actually finger-picked which is definitely a skill I need to work on. This is my second finger-picking song in a row which is a personal best. Anyway I got the verse down without too much difficulty :

---------------------------------------------------------
4-4--3---3--1-1---3--3--3---3---4---4----1---1---3---3--
4-4--3---3--1-1---3--3--3---3---4---4----1---1---3---3--
-5--5--5--5--3--3---3--3--5---5---5---5----3---3---3---3
--------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------

The 445 progression is immediately identifiable as the "intro" and when you play through it a few times the rythm comes pretty natural. The chorus is comprised of everyone's favourite: barre chords

-8-------------------------8----
-9--------6------------6---9----
-10---6---8---8----6---8---10---
-10---8---8---10---8---8---10---
-8----8---6---10---8---6---8----
------6-------8----6------------

Once again not too difficult. The strumming is unique but it comes natural after a little practice. Then comes the solo (booo)

E---------1-3-1--------------------1-3-1--3------1-3-1-----------
B-4--1--4--------3---------(1)-1/4-----------1-4--------3--------
G-------------------3-0-1----------------------------------3-0--1
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------

When you start playing this you think, "Ya I think I got it." Then you hear the actual recording and think. Oh crap I'm screwed! The pacing is incredibly fast. Not only that it's set to a flamenco-type cadence. It's basically fast intermixed with flurries of turbo-fast. I have a long way to go to get this down, I hope it doesn't end up on the cutting room floor like my other horrible failure this year.