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Music

Steve Vai in Guitar Player Magazine

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A couple of weeks ago in Borders I found the latest issue of Guitar Player Magazine, which had a great interview with Steve Vai. One quote completely stuck out to me and I’ve been mulling it over in my head since. However, I couldn’t remember what it was specifically in order to put it up here.

Well, I went out and bought the magazine last night so that I had the quote and then found this morning that the whole interview is already online.

The article is essentially Steve being interviewed about how he does what he does. How he became original.

The first quote that was interesting to me was this. Steve was asked “How do you create effective music”, to which he responds:

It’s just the muse. It’s that elusive, creative juice we all have. I would venture to say that if you asked Jimi Hendrix or Beethoven or Trent Reznor why they did what they did, the answers would be, “I don’t know.” I don’t think they did know. They had no choice. They were who they were. Danny Gatton had no choice—you know what I mean? He couldn’t help but be who he was.

I really liked the concept that these great musicians (Steve included) “did what they did because they had no choice”.

The next one is the one that actually stuck in my head. I think it’s pretty self explanatory. Steve is asked a question regarding musicians who can’t visualize their music too much past whatever their favorite artists are playing:

Steve replies:

I watched this documentary on how the brain works, and it stated that when Christopher Columbus approached the new world, the natives couldn’t see his ships. They were right there in front of them, but they couldn’t see them, because their brains couldn’t register what they couldn’t comprehend. Finally, a shaman came along who noticed the water was moving differently, and he stared out into the harbor until the ships became visible to him. I think some very rare guitarists are like that shaman, and we need them. For example, there was a time before Hendrix and Stevie Ray and Satriani when people couldn’t even conceive of the things they ultimately did. But once these pioneers came along and made their voices known, the new musical vocabulary they developed became assimilated into popular culture. We need visionaries and leaders to constantly show us what is possible.

The last few interviews I’ve read with Steve, (and even at the EVO Premium Meet and Greet) he has been talking at much more of a philosphical level than I remember him doing in the past. For some reason I really like this “meta level” talk about what he does much more than the scales and legato run talk that you normally get in the guitar magazines.

Take some time to read the article.

There are also interviews with both Steve and Billy Sheehan in the June 2005 issue of Guitar & Bass magazine.

Recording Progress While Learning The Guitar

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After my two guitar related experiences this year, both being able to meet Steve Vai in person and my visit to the grave of Randy Rhoads I guess you can say I’ve been more inspired than previously to continue learning the guitar. Both were life goals that actually were able to have a leveling effect on me mentally as to what I wanted to accomplish by playing the guitar and making me realize that it was more for personal satisfaction than to actually do something with it. This shift has helped a lot to relieve the sense of personal failure I used to have every time I picked up the guitar.

However, once I got leveled mentally, the physical world kicked in. Over the last few months I have had more than the average trouble with arthritis / tendonitis flare ups (a problem I’ve had since my mid-twenties), which have made it hard to even think about practicing. So I haven’t been able to do it as much as I had originally wanted to.

This aside though, I’m getting more pleasure out of it now than I used to and decided it was time to start taking snapshots of my progress as I learn new things. I can’t trust myself to keep backup tracks on the GNX4, as I keep doing new takes over the old ones, so I decided periodically to grab the files off of the GNX4 and create mp3’s out of them and put them somewhere.

Now the question is where to put them. I decided it might be a good thing just to throw them up here as a place outside the house where I know they will be backed up. Now, once I do that, I might as well make them visible, just for the hell of it.

So here is my latest project. Since the visit to the Rhoads grave site in May, I have basically been living on steady diet of the Ozzy Tribute album, which has also renewed my awe at the song Mr. Crowley, so I decided to start learning it.

I’m starting with the outtro solo, since that probably one of my all time favorite solos. I currently have the first 41 seconds down in a state suitable as a snapshot of where I am. I hope to do this periodically so that I can come back and listen to them as I progress.

Before you listen to it, let me just say that I know the first part isn’t right. I’ve talked before about how my speed just isn’t where it needs to be, so I took the liberty of modifying the first part into something I can actually play. Rather than the fast triplets on the album, I’m adding an extra note to the end of each phrase, so that I can actually play it.

So, here it is. My first public snapshot of where I’m at. Overall I don’t think it sounds too bad, and am actually quite proud of this one. It’s probably the first time in a long time that I can actually listen to something I’ve done and go “Hey, that’s me!”.

For the record, this was recorded using my Ibanez JEM on the GNX4, again sitting on my bedroom floor. I haven’t mastered the whole punching in / out thing, so this was all done in one take.

Diary of an Axeman – June Download

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For those Randy Rhoads fans out there, the Diary of an Axeman site has Suicide Solution as their June video download.

Unfortunately, I missed May’s download, which was ‘I Don’t Know’ from the Blizzard of Ozz album. I checked the site sometime in May but I guess it was updated later on in the month. I’ll have to be a little more diligent in checking the site out if I want to keep building the Rhoads video collection.

This site is great and I think it’s really cool that the guy running it is keeping it up despite the bandwidth problems and cost that it takes to make this stuff available.

Actually, as I was writing this I found that the maintainer of the site has a Yahoo Group you can subscribe to to get updates on when the site is updated. Needless to say, I signed up.

Off The Rails – My Adventures in the Land of Ozz Available for Preorder

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Dio and former Quiet Riot and Randy Rhoads era Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rudy Sarzo has a new book coming out called Off the Rails – My Adventures in the Land of Ozz, which is available for preorder from Amazon.com.

According to this article, the book is culled from Sarzo’s detailed diaries and journals that he kept while on tour. In it he also attempts to describe the details of what happened, from his perspective, on March 19, 1982 – the day of Randy’s death.

The book is due to be released in September 2005. Billboard.com has an article about the book as well.

Diary of an Axeman

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Randy Rhoads Grave Site - CloserPiggybacking on yesterdays post, I found a great site called Diary of an Axeman that has rare audio and video downloads of Randy Rhoads.

The April video download is Mr. Crowley (rated #1 in my top 10 guitar songs last January). I have to say, it’s pretty damn cool actually watching him play.

The site also has some radio interviews in multiple segments which are pretty interesting to listen to.

They’ve had some bandwidth problems recently, and are limiting downloads to one video / audio clip per month.

The Randy Rhoads Grave Site Excursion

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Randy Rhoads Grave Site - Closer

Tom and I are in Anaheim, CA on a business trip. Since we were somewhat in the neighborhood, we thought we would initiate a pilgrimage to the grave site of Randy Rhoads, one of my favorite guitarists. This visit, like the Bruce Lee grave visit three years ago was another one of those “things I need to do before I settle down for a dirt-nap” list items.

We did all of the pretravel prep and flew into Anaheim. After checking into the hotel, we hit the road to visit the site.

When we did the initial mapping of our route, we mapped the name “Mountain View Cemetery”, printed out the directions and never had a second thought about it. Until we got to Beaumont, CA, just outside of San Bernardino, CA.

Well, after a lot of driving and asking of directions we finally found the Mountain View Cemetery in Beumont, CA (there is one), but Randy Rhoads wasn’t buried there. We then figured, “well, maybe there is another Mountain View Cemetery in town”, so we asked around, stopping at a fire station (which was empty), and finally querying a local policeman after he finished issuing a ticket.

There was indeed another cemetery, and Tom put the pedal to the metal to get there before we lost daylight for picture taking. We got to the cemetery at the end of a dead end road, and, once again, Randy wasn’t buried there.

At this point, we needed someone with an internet connection so we called my lovely wife to figure out where the hell we went wrong. She confirmed that we were, indeed, in the wrong town. Since daylight was gone, we started the 60+ mile drive back to Anaheim. Needless to say we were a tad disappointed that our quest went unfulfilled.

On Sunday, after the conference sessions, we embarked on another attempt to find the grave site, this time with directions that Jonna was sweet enough to email to me last night. A short 50 minute drive later we pulled into the cemetery in San Bernardino, CA, found the monument (which is right inside the gates) and paid our respects.

The grave was something to behold, most of all because it’s quite obvious as you look around that people visit there pretty frequently. It was reminicent of the Bruce Lee grave visit, as we found incense and fresh flowers there as well. This monument was covered in lipstick left by fans (I’m assuming female), and there was even a note left inside the monument under the bench. It was a very cool experience.

As we were heading back to the car, after taking all of our pictures, a car drove up and stopped in front of the monument. A young couple got out of the car with their small son, and walked up to the grave and also paid their respects. I just had to take a picture of it from the car, I thought it was so cool. After 23 years, people still stop just to pay their respects to this young guy who made such a mark with his playing, and his love of the instrument.

We got some great pictures, which I’ve posted in a photo set on Flickr. We also learned a valuable lesson:

Make sure you know where you are going, EXACTLY, before you print out directions. If you aren’t 100% sure, ask your wife. Left on our own, the original road trip that Tom and I went on was extremely reminicent of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.

Update on August 7, 2005

Find the site on Google Earth.

Kelsi’s New Photo Album

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Kelsi Blogging Two things Kelsi is into right now is music and photography. Apparently there is a pretty cool local music scene in St. Charles. Kelsi has put together a new photo album on Flickr where she melds her love of music and photography.

The three bands she photographs are Fallacy, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Caulkin.

Kelsi can explain more about who the bands are later. In the meantime, check out the pictures.

Meeting Steve Vai – The EVO Experience

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Ron with Steve Vai Last night Steve Vai and his band The Breed (Billy Sheehan, Tony MacAlpine, Dave Weiner, and Jeremy Colson) hit Chicago on the Real Illusions: Reflections tour.

This time around Steve put together a special package for his fans in which, for an extra fee, you were able to attend a meet and greet with him, where he would hold a Q&A session with you, and then you would attend the soundcheck before the concert. The package is called the EVO Premium Experience.

It was absolutely amazing.

The total number of people to purchase the package looked to be about 20-30. This made for a very intimate environment in which we could ask Steve questions and just sit and listen to him answer them. The whole discussion was fascinating, especially around one question asked about inspiration and how he comes up with the music he writes. Steve tried to explain the process, in which he visualizes the song in seconds, and in some cases it takes months to realize the original vision. Listening to him describe this process was incredible. You constantly wanted to pinch yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming.

Steve is a very gracious host and consistently attempts to make eye contact with everyone he is talking to. The Q&A was extremely intimate and worth the extra money in and of itself.

As an added bonus, the people in the room now know the “secret” to the Secret Jewel Box box set we had bought in 2001 and have been collecting as the CD’s come out. I’ll leave that for you to figure out though.

Once the Q&A ended, we were escorted to the main stage where we were allowed to watch and take pictures of the soundcheck as it was happening. This included the whole band and was really cool to watch. I’ve never seen a soundcheck before and I was amazed at a lot of the things that go on during it. What is most amazing is that as Steve was on the stage, he was telling the sound guy the exact adjustments to make to the sound board. I guess that just shows the ear that the guy has.

Autographed Ultra Zone CDWhen the soundcheck concluded, Steve signed autographs on guitars and CD’s. Jonna had bought a special copy of Ultra Zone for him to sign (pictured to the left), as our wedding song was “I’ll Be Around” from this CD. She told him this as he was signing it and he said she was the third person to tell him that they had used that song for their wedding.

Once the EVO portion of the day was over, we took a break, where we had to take the camera back to the car and wait until the concert started. The opening act was Eric Sardinas. I’m not a big fan, so I was rather impatient for the Vai band to get on the stage. Eric played for about 40 minutes and then the stage went dark as we waited for the band to come out.

The concert was incredible. They did a perfect mix of the material off of all of the albums (except Ultra Zone). The highlight of the show for me was finally being able to see “Whispering a Prayer” and “Lotus Feet” live. These beautiful songs are, in my opinion, the essence of Steve Vai as a musician and, after the experience yesterday, as a person as well. Being in the front row just capped off the experience.

I need to also add that the band that Steve has put together is the “Dream Team” of music. You couldn’t dream of a better band than the five guys that were running around that stage.

There are very few times in life when dreams come true. I have idolized Steve Vai since I was a sophmore in high school and had my first exposure to him through a release of “Blue Powder” in a Guitar Player Magazine insert. I have followed him through the David Lee Roth days, through Whitesnake, and through all of his solo albums. The thought of ever meeting him was one of those things that I never thought would have been possible.

Actually meeting him was surreal. Rather than having an image built up of someone and meeting them only to have the image crushed, Steve Vai lives up to the image. He is a very sweet, humble, down to earth guy who is extremely appreciative of his fans and recognizes the importance they hold for him in their lives. The importance of music in his life is also something you cannot walk away from him without seeing.

This experience is something I will never forget. I have now completed another one of those “things to do before I die” items on my list.

Thanks Steve, for the great memory.

Alternate Picking – Mine Sucks

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Yesterday, browsing through the Borders magazine section, I came across the March 2005 issue of Guitarist – The Guitar Players Bible. Paging through it I found a complete transcription of No More Tears, another song from the Ozzy / Zakk Wylde albums that I always just loved the solo from. Since there was a complete transcription of the solo, I bought it and sat down yesterday afternoon to work through it.

While ultimately I want to learn the whole thing, the final passage of the songs solo is the one that I wanted to get under my fingers the most. It’s a pretty repetitive pentatonic pattern that just sounds completely cool. I can play it at some semblence of speed when hammering or pulling off, but Zakk picks all of it. The sound of the pick is what makes it sound so cool. The tab looks like this:

Ending Passage of "No More Tears" solo (Zakk Wylde):

---------------------13-10-13-10-------13-10-13-10-------13-10-13-10-----
--------------------------------13-10-------------13-10-------------13-10
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


-13-10-13-10-------15-13-15-13-------15-13-15-13-------15-13-15-13------       
------------13-10-------------15-13-------------15-13-------------15-13-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------


-15-13-15-13-------17-15-17-15-------17-15-17-15-------17-15-17-15------
------------15-13-------------18-15-------------18-15-------------18-15-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------


-17-15-17-15-------18-15-13--18-15-13--18-15-13--18-15-13--20-17-15---
------------18-15----------15--------15--------15--------15--------17-
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                B^^^
-20-17-15--20-17-15--20-17-15--20---(20)-----------------------------
---------17--------17--------17---------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

(section extricated from this full tab of the song)

So, I started trying to play it without the hammer ons to find that my alternate picking skills are really lacking. This is a pretty hard skill to learn. I tend to do alternate picking by default all the time. The problem is that my practicing has always used alternate picking on three note per string patterns. I don’t deviate very much from the standard routine when it comes to picking excercises. Any deviation from the three notes per string pattern sounds completely sloppy.

The other piece of playing this, aside from the picking that I am struggling with is whether to barre the bottom two strings with the index finger in order to make the finger changes easier. The struggle piece of it is that I feel like it’s cheating and that the left hand should be able to do this type of action without barring. I guess I’ll have to sort that one out on my own. What I do know is that my left hand doesn’t move quickly enough between the strings to do it without barring.

I really need to spend some time and force some patience on the idea of picking starting slowly and building up speed. I think part of the problem is just that I rush into this stuff without really focusing on quality vs. shredding. I have to keep drilling into my head that it is the accuracy of the picking that counts. Speed without accuracy sounds like crap.

I read a book a while back called Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within by Kenny Werner in which he described an exercise that one of his instructors showed him that took five minutes a day. It was a five finger excercise in which the pianists goal is to release his fingers “effortlessly”. This excercise was to be repeated for five minutes and gradually incremented over time until the pianist could “practice effortlessly for as long as one wanted”. The focus of the book is a lot about releasing the tension we put ourselves through to “be the best” and just focus on playing, because, as the author states in the book over and over again, “it’s only music” and “there are no wrong notes”. I really have to read this book again and start applying it, because my head tends to get in the way too much.

Now, on the bright side, while I was searching around the web for picking explanations and exercises, I found some great Randy Rhoads links that I had never come across before. To end the post on a high note, here is a list of the links I found:

Randy Rhoads / Ozzy Issue of Guitar Legends Magazine at Newstands

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Randy Rhoads - Guitar Legends I found the latest issue of Guitar Worlds Guitar Legends magazine at Borders this weekend. It’s a full on issue about Ozzy Osbourne and his career. The best part about it, however, is that there is a ton of content about Randy Rhoads, Osbournes first guitarist, who died in plane crash on May 19, 1982. Along with two great articles, one on Rhoads himself and the other with former Quiet Riot basis and Rhoads childhood friend Kelly Garni, this issue also includes a transcription of a guitar clinic Rhoads had just before his death.

Also included in this issue are transcriptions of the following songs:

  • Flying High Again – Osbourne / Rhoads
  • Over the Mountain – Osbourne/Rhoads
  • Mr. Crowley – Osbourne/Rhoads
  • The Wizard – Black Sabbath
  • War Pigs – Black Sabbath

Being the first day of my vacation yesterday, this issue came out just in time. I spent most of the day upstairs with my guitar just noodling through the tabulature. Aside from Vai, Randy Rhoads has always been one of my favorite guitar players (Mr. Crowley, if you remember, rated number 1 on my top ten guitar songs).

If your a Rhoads fan, this is definitely a magazine to pick up.