Another item bought

Seems like i've been spending gazillions of money these few weeks. Lots of guitar stuff been spent on. And this a new addition:

I like pedals which give me the ability to manually control things while playing the guitar. Using this, i can play a note or chord and hold it for a longer period of time, until forever, unless the power supply is cut off.

Anyway, I MUST really stop spending money on pedals for at least two months! Damn it! Really spent lots of money...

29 October 2010

That's the day when i'll officially fly to Tokyo, Japan. It's coming soon. Accidentally blinked an eye and i've ended up 2 months into my japanese lessons. If i were to blink again, it'll be the day to fly.

It's always frightening to go to a country which is unknown to a person. But to stay safely in Singapore is rather boring too. Time for fun and the unknown while keeping myself sane.

A final change of pedals

I think i've finally found all the necessary pedals for the tone i've always wanted. Freakin' spent gazillions of dollars this week. But gotten all the stuff i needed now. I'm ready for anything rock to blues to jazz now.

Time for more practice.

New pedal board

I've finally bought a Pedaltrain Mini after longing for it for so long. It sells like hotcakes. Stocks just disappear soon after they arrive. Bought it at Blackwood Guitar.

Now the whole pedal thing looks neater and less bulky. Just that the wah wah pedal has no place on the board. Gonna bring it around separately.

Paul Gilbert's Fuzz Universe

As a fan of Paul Gilbert, I've bought his newest album. Got it from HMV at $29.95. Guess guitar instrumental albums are hard to find in Singapore. Didn't know anything about him one year ago before i actually went into electric guitar. Spent one year listening to many famous and legendary electric guitarists and Paul Gilbert is one of the few that leaves a strong impression.

As a rock cum metal guitarist he is really interesting. He doesn't have any arrogance air. Likes to joke around too. Talented musician. And this is what was written in the album. Incredible heartfelt words that I love.

This is my third guitar instrumental album. It nearly drove me crazy on many occasions. Do you hear all those notes? First I had to find them. And then I had to put them all together in the right order. It literally took me months. What a job. But I love notes. So I'm happy to show up for work. Now, let's talk about the universe.

I always loved Carl Sagan's analogies involving the universe. Buckets, stars, and sand. Carl was an astronomer, so he liked to ponder the universe. He would say things like, "If every star was the size of a grain of sand... It would fill up billions and billions of buckets. These buckets, if arranged in a line, would stretch far beyond our sun. I don't if he said that exactly, but that's the best I can remember.

If every note on this album were the size of a grain of sand, it would fill up 72 buckets. That's just a guess, of course. But it's certainly not the billions and billions of buckets that could potentially be filled. Is it important to fill up so many buckets? Well, once I get started with notes, it's hard to stop. So I just keep going. 72 buckets full today. Tomorrow, a billion.

And what about the fuzz? Well, every note is not the same. And if you are a guitar player, you know how satisfying it is to have a big, fuzzy sound to bring excitement and power to your notes. Every generation has their own words for it: distortion, overdrive, gain, crunch, drive, break up, saturation, grind, grumpiness, howling hound dog... I'm making them up now, but you get the idea.

Anyway, the first word for this sound that I heard when I was a kid was "fuzz". It has stuck in my head ever since, and like a beaver's instinct to build a dam, I am somehow driven to tinker with my electric guitar and the fuzzy sound it can make. Sometimes I even turn the fuzz off, just to hear the difference. But mostly I live in a fuzz universe.

Play this music through some big speakers.

Rock & Roll.

Thank you.

Paul

Pedaltrain Mini

Thinking of getting a Pedaltrain Mini to arrange all my effects pedals. The current case isn't strong enough as the velcro mat keeps dropping off.

New guitar gear addition

Just bought a new Vox Amplug Cabinet at $32. It's a speaker for the Amplug which i can connect to the guitar and bring around conveniently. Sound wise I can't say it's really good. But at least I can have a portable amplifier while bringing the electric guitar around for practice.

It's Tuesday!!!

Went for Japanese lessons till 4.30pm. Hung around with friend till 6 plus. Reached home around 7 plus. Played guitar for a while...

More or less gotten the feeling for half of Andy Timmon's Electric Gypsy song for the guitar. It's one of the few guitar solo pieces that I'm learning. Hopefully can master it before flying to Japan.

Continued with TV. Tried to learn piano. I realised it isn't really hard to play the piano. Guess knowledge of music theory and another instrument helps greatly.

Continued with FYP design again. Dunno if I'm stupid or lack creativity. Dun seem to have much design ideas...

Felt like putting a picture of the Tibetan Mastiff