Organization

I ordered this a week or so ago.

A guitar? Apparently, I am not rich enough yet to buy a new guitar. Plus, what I have right now is enough for the time being. 

It's simply a guitar stand. Rockstand (by Warwick) 5-guitar stand. 

So what's so special about this guitar stand? Well, nothing except that it's a guitar stand in a hardcase. It includes a few bars of Velcro-able Styrofoam to prevent your guitars from slipping sideways. And of course, you have a key to lock the box.

I guess it would be more useful for travelling guitarists who have more than 2-3 guitars and need to switch between them on the same night. In that case, taking the guitar out from the hardcase/softcase, putting the other one back and again would prove to be too much of a hassle. So this road-ready guitar stand would be useful! Simply open the hardcase and unfold the stand. Just two effortless steps. It isn't that heavy as well!

Don't like the hardcase? Fret not! They have the foldable version without the hardcase.

Sadly, from what I know, these products have been discontinued at least for the ones with the hardcase. So if you are looking for this, you have to get it before it's gone. 

I like Rockstand and Rockbag by Warwick because it is affordable and whatever you get from them is a value for money. For a bag that costs $25, you get a nicely (but not heavily) padded bag to protect your instrument. If you want more protection, you are free to buy those that are over a hundred... that is if you deem that a necessity.

John Mclaughlin & The 4th Dimension @ Bangkok: Rig

So here is the rig John Mclaughlin used on the concert on 18th of March at Bangkok.

Simple enough? Indeed it's simple. Korg Pitchblack to Seymour Duncan Twin Tubes, followed by MXR Stereo Chorus. All these are powered by Dunlops DC-Brick. Well, this all I can say: Simplicity

And below is a picture of his rig from his website. 

Yes. MXR Carbon copy delay is missing. I am not sure why though but prior to that, during the sound check, he had technical difficulties and said that his rig was not 'behaving'. That could have been the reason or he just simply didn't want any delay on board. 

He uses Line6 Relay G-30 wireless system so that he could free move around without the risk of trampling onto cables if he is using one. Then again, I realised something else during the concert:

(I had to 'steal' photos from others because I was bestowed with neither a mighty Canon EOS nor the photography skills)

He wasn't using the Line6 but instead, a cable. It could have been all due to the technical difficulties prior to the concert. Oh, as you can see he is using his PRS. I was expecting this Godin though. 

And yes, he doesn't use amps in his live setup (for those who don't know about it). According to him, it's about 20 years since he had stopped using amps. In a Premier Guitar Rig Rundown, he said that he wasn't trying to achieve a specific tone with this setup but it was basically to make the life of sound engineer easier. He said:

"The louder the volume is on the stage, the harder the job of the (sound) engineer upfront to get a good sound out of it"

So once again, Simplicity.

John Mclaughlin Guitar Clinic @ Bangkok: My Opinions

On Monday, Bangkok has the rare privilege of having a guitar legend to hold his one-and-only guitar clinic in his Asian tour with a reasonable price for the tickets. 1500 bahts is merely USD 50 and I wouldn't complain about spending such an amount for this guitar clinic!

The clinic started off with Mclaughlin and Gary Husband (on the left) playing Miles Davis "So What". It was definitely a good start for the night but what follows the beautiful music was a bombardment of many ridiculous questions by the crowd. I can't imagine anyone asking a musician a question such as:

"Do you listen to other artists' work? If you do, please name two."

John Mclaughlin (puzzled) replied:

""Do you need me to write a list?"

Honestly, to ask such a redundant question on the ONE-AND-ONLY clinic in his tour (or in the last 5 years) is unacceptable. It goes without saying that of course he listens to other musicians' work. It would have been better if he'd tweaked his question a bit. Otherwise, I would say this is totally a waste of the precious 1 hour of the clinic.

And there was another guy who got all his facts wrong. Mclaughlin studied and played veena. Apparently, he thought he studied sitar and he insisted that he was correct (despite John himself correcting him). There is this another guy who wants to ask a question but goes beating about the bush until Mclaughlin was lost.

There's one other guy who asked him a pretty good question, if only that question was asked to an educator, not an artist.

I am not saying not all questions are ridiculous but many are. I am not making a fuss out of this because my money was wasted (50 bucks is hardly any trouble) but the rare opportunity to ask a question to a legend! You may say I might be exaggerating but I do think that for the benefit of yourself and the rest, you should have crafted your questions beforehand not just for this guitar clinic but all the others as well.

Now I wonder if I will ever have a chance to ask him about his rig idea. Why rig? Well, I am a guitar maniac NOT without a reason, isn't? :)

Loki

Picture credits to Enlightened Planet

Album of the Month: G5 Project 2013

Probably my last attempt in reviving this blog!

Whenever I mention the name "G5", many people tend to ask me questions such as,

"G5? I think you mean G3"

"So now G3 has become G5?"

"What's G5? Something like G3"

Firstly, it isn't G3. It isn't made up of a group of Caucasian guitarists/artists (I apparently don't have any better way to describe them). Some may say that it is the Japanese version of the famous G3 (and I can't disagree with that). Some, mostly who worships their favourite artists from G3, even said this is probably a cheap knockoff version of their 'gods' without even listening to them. This is what I would call as 'fanaticism', not a mere idolization.

Tracklist

01  Dying to survive (Yamato)
02  Emergency (nike)
03  Kamuy (a2c)
04  Flounder (Takajii)
05  Virus (Godspeed)
06  Fragile Seasons (Takajii)
07  Journey (Godspeed, John Graham and Koyo Sonae)

As a short introduction to G5, it is actually a project by 5 Japanese guitarists to showcase their music. This is not the first G5 album and in fact, there are already a total of 4 G5 albums which were released every 2-3 years. I just bought my copy just a few days ago. And here's what I have to say about the album as a whole.

The previous albums have never disappointed me, and so is G5 2013. Comparing to the previous albums, there are more 'contemporary' elements. For instance, in the song "Virus", it has been seasoned with elements from dubstep music. While I am not a huge fan of dubstep, it is nonetheless a much interesting form of music among the rest of contemporary music. So the idea of a typical modal rock song spiced up with dubstep makes it indeed an interesting, at least for me. Some may find it repulsive but we are all entitled to our personal opinions, don't we?

I also feel that there are songs that has much of a film music (or trailer music) feel to it. "Fragile Seasons" sounds like a background music which would fit perfectly in a Japanese movie while "Journey" would seemingly bring you to an adventurous tour inside a Hollywood movie. After all, the latter was co-produced by John R. Graham. If you don't know him, you only need to re-watch the trailers of Avatar or The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to hear him at work. Even "Dying To Survive" could possibly be used in an a trailer of an action movie.

My personal favourite in this album would be Dying to Survive and Journey. Studying jazz and playing it is fun but at times, it always feels good to listen to music which you truly like, no?

Personal Rating: ♠♠♠♠♠

And I am thinking of starting up a new monthly entry "Album of the Month" in which I would talk about what I think of the album as a whole. In other words, it is some sort of a review.

Loki