My First Love

2006-11-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

Its my 12th day here and for the first time I felt being at home, cozy, comfortable and to my usual self. Though a little lonely but things change for better as I suppose. As I write this listening EC sing

“When I’m sad she comes to me, a thousand smiles she gives to me free”

This line is perhaps the most touching line Hendrix wrote for his most treasured ballad.

Went to the guitar center today to check out a few Stratocasters, tried as many as I could, I liked all of them

Again tried the EC signature series, I played like a dream. Nearly brings tears.

So still confused among these 60th anniversary issue, the American strat, the American deluxe & the Polka Dot Buddy Guy Strat

Enlightened!

2006-04-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

Was down for a week with chicken pox :(

but today i got a really nice fatty blues tone, almost near to a strat tone... I enjoyed every bit of it...

I'm attaching pics of my blues driver setting & the amp setting... I'd love if anyone tries this setting & send me his comments...

The wah wah was in between the guitar & the blues driver i.e. guitar -> wah -> blues driver -> amp

beg your pardon, I'm a real bad photographer :-)

Break From The Blues

2006-03-25T10:40:00.000-08:00

To me playing the blues was something very natural to me. Pick up a scale, stick to a tempo & simply play the notes for the scale.

Even today, I got the best of the sound (& feeling) from my acoustic while playing a little blues solo in E. But, now I need something that can make me feel easy, for a few days I want to play some easy feeling music, not just those desperate maddening blues solos.

Got an old Don Williams song from a friend. Its so sweet :-)
I suspect it might decay my teeth :-))

For a few days I'd like to listen & learn to play some country music...

Break from blues. Still get a feeling that It just might be a great experiment to mingle the two styles to some extend (if I can)

Mood: Thoughtful
Current Music: Don Williams - Some Broken Hearts Never Mend

2006-03-22T05:14:00.000-08:00

Just trying to use the upload pic feature

Change

2006-03-13T22:21:00.000-08:00

From few days the wah wah is off the hook. Plugged the axe into the amp though the blues driver, it sounds good with a heavy gain on the amp!

Tried new ernie ball strings on my electric, they sound too good. Still I crave more more mid range in the sound. I guess using heavy gauge string might work or a new heavier amp ;-)

As of now, I'd rather try heavy strings.

1 regret

2005-04-14T03:59:00.000-07:00

I should have learned more about music theory...

Mast!

2005-03-23T03:58:00.000-08:00

This happened on saturday afternoon. As everyone is away celebrating in Tokyo, my home is unusually quite. I was listening to Abida singing Dama Dam Mast Kalandar. I dont know how it appealed to me. Just as that ended I picked up my acoustic.

Strummed C G C G and a bit of D and it was right!

Its hep to play. It peppy, punchy and comes out really nice on a full bodied acoustic rhythm. It was bliss.
Nothing technical about it. Just simple rhythm in three chords.

For while I rediscovered the joy of playing acoustic. I had been messing up with my electric, effects chain, amp etc etc and I had lost the fun of playing guitar.

Its cool. If any guitarist comes across to this blog, I'd request to try it.

The chords are C G & D.

Blues Driver

2005-01-03T01:02:00.000-08:00

So last night I got the chance to fiddle with new Boss BD-2 Over Drive Pedal (BigBro's New Year gift!). Its a compact single effect pedal, easy to use and highly effective. It gives me the whole range of overdrive tones at low volumes (neighbours can sleep now), before this I had to fight with the amp tone settings to get the right over drive tone. At times, I had to crank the amp too loud to get the right tone and the harmonics. And in conjunction with my Crybaby Wah its more effective. It compliments the wah-wah effect very well. When I set the amp to the overdrive channel with a little gain, I got nearly the tone of the White Room solo n also got a first few bars right ;-).

Next Buy Planed: Boss or Behringer Stereo Chorus Pedal

Love With Volume

2004-12-02T05:11:00.000-08:00

I wonder why all guitarists love playing at high volumes. When I was new to the electric guitar I used to keep the volume at the quarter of my amps capacity. But now Its normally at level 8. May be then It was dificult to control sound at high volume (not tyring to boast) :-)

Controlling Overdrive From Guitar

2004-12-02T04:50:00.000-08:00

A few days back i got the trick of controlling the overdrive gain from the guitar itself. Its a good substitute for a overdrive pedal if you want to change tone on fly. It was a new thing for me. I dont like many effects chained into the tone (I like only a mild overdriven amp). I guess its the same technique by which the greats used to control the tone when sound processors were not there.

I gave my amp a very high dose of overdrive, bass and volume and kept the volume down from the guitar, and most amazing tone i get when at low volume, it gives a very bright clean sound with a lot of sustain and feedback. Also i get the harmonics at low volume (no probs for neighbours & parents), the amount of crunch increases as volume is turned up from the guitar.

Finally Met!

2004-12-02T04:37:00.000-08:00

So I got my acoustic back from Pune, but its in not a very good condition :(
The fret board is bowed.
Action is horrible and the tone has died :-(
Got to get it mended but I think i myself will try some trick on it, that folk in Pune made a mess of it.
Thinking of getting a Takamine Jasamine or an Indonesian made Fender Acoustic, but will wait for a few months before shelling out 15Ks.

Longing

2004-10-28T04:50:00.000-07:00

Just waiting to meet, on the convocation day :-)

My First Love

2004-10-19T06:36:00.000-07:00

Its still going strong!