Collide & In Your Eyes

Check out music videos from most of your favorite songs. Ok... this is one of my favorites, and so is Jeffrey Gaines, "In Your Eyes". Enjoy!

Why Acoustic Guitars are better than a woman....

I've been so crazy with work that I've been neglecting the blog and my poor Rosie.

I figured I'd torture you with some corny jokes about Acoustic Guitar being better than woman then torture you with my playing in this post!

www.acousticfingerstyle.com/gtrvswma.htm

And, I'm an equal opportunist, there is a link on that page to Why Acoustic Guitars are better than a man....
Enjoy!

In Your Eyes

Yesterday was a very difficult day for the Crappy Guitarist. I had a misunderstanding with a friend, and very stressful day at work, and absolutely no time to practice guitar. Hello... can you say... SUCK ME!!!

The misunderstanding came from the mind of the friend. I would suspect that most disagreements in life are caused by a mis-alignment of thought and words... sort of like playing the wrong cords to the right words in a song that you know very well. It just doesn't make sense and the song ends up sounding terrible. But if you line up the right cords with the right words at the right moment in a song, you have beauty. Usually, it is apparent to the listener that there is a problem right away when it comes to a song. Sometimes, the mis-alignment isn't so apparent. And when one person decides that they are only going to see things through their eyes... you are fucked. Actually, you are both fucked.

So, that led me to find one of my favorite songs and learn it as a tribute to a friend. It is a beautiful song, which is a pain in the ass to play. "In Your Eyes" by Jefferey Gaines. This song is a bitch to play because there is a bar cord in it. Not my cup of tea. Nonetheless, I will work at it until I get it because it is an amazing song.. both lyrically and musically.

I get so lost, sometimes
days pass
and this emptiness fills my heart
when I want to run away
I drive off in my car
but whichever way I choose
I come back to the place you are

And all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside.

In case you are interested in learning it, here is a link to the lyrics and chords:

This is an amazing site with a lot of great guitar tabs and chords for 1000's of artists. When I've got this one sounding somewhat OK, I will probably be ready to post my first podcast. Stay tuned and stay happy... and try to look through life through others eye's once in a while. It will definitely make life happier for you and everyone around you.

Musician or Scam artist???

So, a few days ago, I bring Rosie (my guitar) to the local music store to get one of those little peg things that hold the string to the bridge fixed. Not sure how the thing broke... could have been vodka induced... not sure. Anyway, for about a buck, this young dead head like musician dude easily and quickly fixes the thing for me and even tunes up the low E string (where the peg broke) and confirms my tuning for the other strings as well. No sweat...

As he brings my baby back to me, he's picking away at the strings and looking like he's going to orgasm from it. Now, he sounded way better than I ever have, and I know it is a beautiful instrument, but I felt as if the guy was stroking my wife right in front of me. Ok... so I'm not too freaked out. Then he asks, "Is that authentic Indian Rosewood!?" (So, the guy really does know what he's talking about!). I say, "Yeah." Then he wants to know how much I paid for it. He is in awe over the deal I got. (So am I, the store that I bought it from, had it marked incorrectly by about $100).

He then says, "Dude, you need a set-up", and I say, "Yeah, I've been meaning to get that done," and he says, "It will cost you about $40 bucks and we would have included it for free if you bought the guitar from us. (yeah, and I would have paid $150 more too!). So, bring it back in and we'll straighten the neck, and make that fret board shine like its brand new!"

So, here is my questions: Am I getting played as smoothly as he played Rosie? Does a new guitar really need it's neck straightened, or should I try to bend his a bit? Is $40 bucks a good price for a setup? Should I go back to the store I bought it from, even though I feel like I stole the thing from them? If I let this guy do the setup, which he says will take about 3 days, will he be gizzing all over my baby? When I pick it up, will he have replaced my "authentic Indian Rosewood" with "imitation Wisconsin corkboard" painted to LOOK like Rosewood?

I just wanna play man... not haggle and worry about Rosie. Maybe I can let him have my wife for a few days to set her up? She has been a bit cranky lately! Just kidding of course.

Ok... I'm going to torture my self with a song or two. Ciao for now.

"The Wolves Are Tolerating My Guitar Now"

The wolves were howling only a little last night, so I guess my practicing is getting slightly better. I'm really starting to get into it and I have been trying to adjust my wrist a little more and relax it. I'm still doing something wrong but I'm making progress. Now here's a true friend...he listened to me play and after a few martinis tonight, he felt I'm really improving . Gotta go, take him home. He definitely can't drive.

Technology and The Guitar

All right, I'm a little obsessive about playing Rosie right. Hey, every woman likes to be handled correctly and Rosie is no exception. So I have a friend out in California who is a professional player. So he has agreed to watch me on my webcam to see what I am doing wrong with my wrist. Note: Better ship out earplugs to him tomorrow.

Working on the Podcast

It has been a long time since I've been able to post, and unfortunately, it has been a long time that I've been able to practice. When I was in Maryland this past weekend, I bought a poster that shows the entire fret board and tries to explain movable cord types. Apparently, if you know what you are doing, you are able to play any cord anywhere on the fret board! Ok, for you musicians out there, that seems to be a rather idiotic and obvious statement... to me... it is a revelation! Another revelation is that the strings and notes for each string follow a DO RE ME FA SO LA TI DO pattern. I have been practicing the C Scale and finding different ways to play the DO RE ME all over the guitar. Someday, I will take real lessons from a professional. For now, I kind of like exploring and trying to figure out things by myself. In the end, this may prove to be a big help when I do take lessons. Most likely, it will prove to completely screw me up so the instructor has to UNDO all the crap that I taught myself just to get me to do things the RIGHT way.

Speaking of doing things the right way, I'm not even sure I'm pressing on the strings in the right location in the frets and with the right part of my finger? I generally hit the cords in the center of each fret and seem to use the very tops of my finger. After a few songs, I notice that my hand starts to hurt and gets a little numb. Is there a better way? Am I trying too hard to do something that should be more simple and gentle? I'm open to help from anyone willing to give it.

A weekend torturing my friends

The entire family went to Maryland this weekend for a friends 30th birthday party. Of course I took Rosie with me (Dean Exotica RSE is made with rare Indian Rose Wood). It seems that I started a music craze from the last time I was down over the summer. Two of our friends went out and purchased guitars for their kids (that's four new guitar players in the world, thanks to me!).

It was a ton of fun. I learned a few easy songs and even had a few folks tell me that I've gotten a lot better since the Summer. What amazed me is how few of my friends know who Howie Day is?! They like Collide and Brace Yourself, but I believe they enjoyed my Horse With No Name much better... old farts!

Anyway, I'll be posting a few more songs on the podcast hopefully soon. I'll also put some pics of my guitar up soon. Thanks to my personal web designer, The Kreb Machine, for my new blog look and feel. Now maybe I can get him to do my web site as well!

Welcome to The Crappy Guitar.

You will find a lot of folk guitar music here, and it should be easy to tell if I'm playing or if someone that really knows how to play is playing.

I'm a new guitar owner (about 3 months now) but I just LOVE to play. Ok... so I suck! Get over it! This site and its associated podcast will enable me to practice, and also showcase some of my favorite artists, indie artist from the PodSafe Music Network (Thanks Adam... you ROCK!), and get tips and hints from the rest of you.

Follow along my journey into the world of music, and help save the world from another crappy guitar player. Make me not-so-crappy and you will be doing the world a public service.

Thanks for listening.
Alex.