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

The Ultimate Finger-pick?

This may be a good news for flamenco guitarists and classical guitarists as well. I think we all ought to check this out:

The Ultimate finger pick

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO!

From the video, what I understand from it is that this Ultimate Fingerpick is an alternative for finger picks and the standard flat plectrum. I don't really know how it replaces the standard plectrum but it is definitely a good alternative to acrylic nails. Some people are born with really soft nails (like me). And we often have to rely on acrylic nails. The common problem of gluing acrylic nails is the fungus growing under them. For musicians who play other instruments like piano aren't supposed to keep their fingernails long. So when they switch between their guitar and piano, it could be a problem. This ultimate finger picks definitely solves that. 

As for my doubt regarding it being able to replace the flat picks, it is more because many people may already be used to holding the pick and play. The grip of the pick also provides the strength you need for fast alternate picking. 

Yet, again I have never try and thus, I don't know how it feels like. 

Single Invader

I haven't been unable to update anything for quite sometimes. Things have been crazy and I just couldn't find the time for blogging. 

Anyway, perhaps any of you are a fan of Synyster Gates from Avenged Sevenfold? And I assume that you know the Seymour Duncan Invader pickups on his signature Schecter? Well, good news here is that... there is now Single coil Invader!

What's new in 2013: Episode 1

Happy new year, everyone! Maybe some of us would wish to start our new year with a new gear. I would want some studio equipment instead though. Anyway, these are the new guitars in 2013 thus far.

Schecter:

The 006 isn't exactly new. It is more of a revival actually. It's been on the catalog some times ago. And Schecter decided to include it in this year's catalog. Recently, seeing a Sustainiac on Schecter guitars is a very common sight, with a few notable Sustainiac users among Schecter artists. Now you can have a Hellraiser C-1 FR S (with S, needless to say, acronymizing Sustainiac. Another attractive inclusion would be the Damien Platinum series which is available in 6, 7 and 8-strings model. TSH Classic features the lipstick-style pickups. I don't have much interest in them but if given the opportunity, would definitely love to try. (If only I can readily find all the retailers easily... and if only they let me try in peace).

PRS:

Here are the new PRS for 2013 (PRS and PRS SE)

SC-245

 C-22

Grainger's 4-strings and 5-string basses

and SE-245 with Soapbars (hmmmmm)

What really interest me are these two guitars:

Brent Mason Signature PRS

and Paul's guitar (said to be designed after the very guitar PRS plays in his studio). This guitar has been quite popular and discussed on various forums and the new brushstrokes inlays are rather unique. 

To be continued

Your new studio consideration?

Hey folks! Guess this would probably be my first proper post.

I'm a person who's rather obsessed with in-ear monitors (musician level earphones). Ever since I bought my first one, I've rarely listened to the music on my MP3 players with regular earphones. In ear monitors are especially useful to musicians. A well designed in ear monitor comes with a great noise isolation capability, allowing the musician to pay attention to his music as he plays without having it muffled by the noise from the crowd. While those with bigger wallets go for custom acrylic moulded in ear monitors, the rest of us prefer the universal ones (fits all ears). I am a huge fans of the Westone's in ear monitors. I've tried every one of their models, the UM3x being my favorite. When I listen to my music with Westone's monitors, it's so much easier to distinguish each instrument in a song. For entry level musicians, or a person who's looking for a dynamic sounding, comfortable earphone, I recommend the UM1. To those wearing these for the first time, you'll be surprised at how well these fit in your ears (after a minute or two to figure out how to wear them properly). The sound quality for these, well worth the price, they're built for clarity, detail, precision. Listening to these I found that the dynamism in my music was enhanced, or to say it simply, made more "fun". The UM-1 comes in various colors, and now they come in packs of 5 too, Westone calls this the Jamhub (above). I love this idea. For those of you who wanna get your monitors as a band or build your own studios, these're probably a good option. The color variety makes it easier when you link up your earphones to the various ports, avoiding mix ups here and there (a huge time waster when you're jamming). You can check Westone's website for more details.

Well that's all from me for now, Happy New Year!

LTD Elite

ESP is coming up with a new range of LTD called LTD Elite. (In case you don't know, yes, ESP, LTD, Grassroot, Edwards, they are all by ESP.

Notable features are that these LTD Elite are Japanese. The regular LTDs are made in various places; China for most of the non-deluxe models. Deluxe ones, I believe, are Korean. 

And of course, they have a totally new headstock logo.

They won't be officially introduced until January 2013 though. I am interested in the basses. Since bass and workstation are the next on my To-Buy-List.

HACKED

My gmail got hacked. I don't know how and why did that happened but because of that I was unable to post anything for a few days. My sincerely apology to all the readers.

Anyway, I'm planning of writing more about effects, multi-effects in general though some of these ideas are applicable on analog ones, too. It's nothing much really. Just my personal understanding of different types of effects and tips and tricks I'd learned over time.