Rant: Jimi’s legacy (not only related to Jimi though)

The above video got me thinking… while on the one hand, its of course very cool for avid Hendrix-fan to have yet another “never before heard, recently discovered” song or collection of songs to be released, it makes me think about what Jimi himself would say about all this.
Remember, he was a big perfectionist in the studio, very specific about every detail of a production, every bit of a song and its sound. I wonder whether he would appreciate all those “official” releases of demos, ideas, unfinished or even discarded songs. I mean, he was unhappy with certain aspects of the actual albums released during his lifetime (I think he was quite unhappy with the sound of “Axis: Bold As Love”, for example).
While I of course see how fascinating that is for a Hendrix-fan, imagine this: youre an artist and you really are very specific abotu what you want the FINISHED product to sound. You put a load of work and thought into your albums and songs, the writing, the production, the mix and mastering. Then, you hear how some of your songwriting ideas, demos, and songs you simply discarded cuz you considered them inferior, are made publically available.

I am not only talking about bootlegs, either. Some of those sure sound pretty good and might have some extra-special performances, some breath-taking renditions of a particular song. However, some do not sound very good at all, and I wonder whether Jimi would like to have those for sale. I also am thinking of some of the “official” releases, like the CD of recordings from the Isle Of Wight festival, one of his last performances ever. Jimi was very much under the influence of drugs during the show, and if you see footage, you can tell. During some songs, especially “Machine Gun”, you can hear the security guys talk on their walkie talkies, which was bleeding through the PA and/or guitar amps. I kinda doubt Jimi would want people to hear those performances.
Same goes for some of the demos or unfinished recordings. Maybe he would be ok with the “New Rising Sun” releases, as those songs were, AFAIK, almost done. Then again, who is to decide, other than Jimi? Would it be better to just let this stuff rest in those reel boxes, to not put out what isn’t done, to not put on sale what wasn’t meant to be sold yet? Eddie Kramer got a lot of flak for taking rough takes from the studio and having studio musicians add drum-, bass- even guitar parts that were missing, then having all that officially released.I wonder how Jimi would feel about that… whether he would appreciate that someone finished what he couldn’t finish because he passed away way too early, or whether he would want those demos, outtakes, alternate takes etc. to be kept in storage or even destroyed.

Would he like to be represented by way of those recordings? Imagine some kid wanting to get into Hendrix, getting one of those bootlegs at first, or one of those “never before heard studio recordings” compilations with unfinished ideas… shouldnt an artist be represented by the recordings he decided to be published, instead of stuff thats being dragged out of the studio vaults after he passes away?

So… even though as a Hendrix-fan, one might LOVE to hear some never before heard stuff, but then again… wouldnt it be kind of a question of respect for Jimi to not listen to it? What would you feel like if suddenly, youd find some of your bedroom-recordings or unfinished songs or studio jams with out of tune guitars available at the store?
I dont really have an answer, but I am thinking about those things occasionally, wondering what he would think and whether he would be happy about all this… whether he would appreciate fans going out of their way to hunt down that stuff and his family releasing those things… just my opinion though…

New GUITAR issue (May 09)

The new issue of GUITAR is out. Other than a lot of cool articles, TABs and lessons, it features my review of the new Mesa Boogie Mark V, two LTD guitars and a new episode of my “Talking Hands” series, this time dealing with the mixolydian scale and how to use it. So check it out!

Another NP-list

Yet another NP-list, stuff I currently am listening to a lot. As always, I added Amazon-links so you can listen to samples there or purchase the CD (some of them are available as digital downloads as well).

Derek Trucks Band- Already Free

The more I listen to it, the more I get into it. Derek is one of the most interesting players of the current generation of young players, I love his attitude (guitar straight into the amp), his slide-playing and how fresh and unpredictable his lines are. This is a very alive sounding album with lots of great playing, with a serious 70s vibe. Amazon-link

Wilson Hawk – The Road

Wilson Hawk is Richie Kotzen’s new band. Richie seems to focus more on Soul and R´n´B with this band… music he has always loved. I remember old interviews with him where he talked about how much he loved the Stevie Wonder albums from the 70s like “Talking Book”. Also, one of my favorite RK-performance is his singing on the song “I Don’t Wanna Be With Nobody But You” from Stevie Salas’ “Electric Pow Wow” (awesome album!!), very soulful. This album has great songs, great singing and some great guitar-playing. Perfect soundtrack for a nice spring! Amazon

Gov’t Mule – High & Mighty

I just rediscovered this album… great songs and some insanely tasteful playing by Warren Haynes and his band. I remember reading some rave reviews of this when it came out, and I checked it out and enjoyed it a lot. Just started listening to it again, and its just a great album especially for relaxing in spring- or summer weather. Amazon

Joe Bonamassa – You & Me

This is an older album by Joe… I enjoy pretty much every album he did, and I also listen to “Live From Nowhere In Particular” and “The Ballad Of John Henry” a lot too, but right now, I prefer this one. Great songs, and I love Joe’s playing and singing. Amazon

Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know

I was lucky enough to get a promo copy of this, and I find myself listening to it quite often. I didnt know what to expect, but as soon as I heard the opener, I loved it. You can tell its Dio, Iommi, Geezer Butler and Appice from the sound, but then again, they don’t sound outdated or whatever… its a very powerful-sounding production with some very cool, Sabbath-like riffs, not sounding old-fashioned at all… the guys sound as if they have a lot of fun. I think not only Sabbath- or Dio-fans will enjoy this one. Amazon-link

Supergroups

Seems like it will be an exciting summer for rock-fans… on the cover of the most recent issue of Guitar World, you see Chickenfoot (a super-group feat. Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith), who are releasing their debut album in early June, and also, according to PaulGilbert.com, Mr. Big has reunited and will tour too!
Awesome, quite exciting, I cant wait to hear the album, and it would be great to see Mr. Big live again, saw them in the mid 90s, and love their classic line-up, especially the “Lean Into It”-era. So there’s a lot of great music headed our way!

RIP, Hiram Bullock (1955-2008)

I just read that Hiram Bullock passed away… this is so sad. He was such a great player, I always enjoyed listening to his playing.

RIP, Hiram…

Quote: “Hiram Bullock, the original guitarist in Paul Shaffer’s “World’s Most Dangerous Band” for the Late Night With David Letterman show has passed away at the age of 52. Bullock had been battling a throat tumor since January. In addition to his numerous solo albums, the New York-based funk-fusion heavyweight had a prolific studio career that included recordings with Steely Dan, Jaco Pastorius, Paul Simon, Marcus Miller, and many others.”

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Bullock

Home studio walkthrough

One of the questions I get asked alot by email or at workshops is what recording gear I use at home. THe stuff I use for demoing and songwriting, overdubs, recording most soundfiles for the “Talking Hands” soundfiles on the monthly CD accompanying the magazine etc.

So I figured Id make a quick walkthrough… =)
Sorry about the low audio- and video quality, I think it should be ok though to see what I am using. Below the video, there is a quick list, too…

Zoom G9.2tt digital modeling preamp/effect unit
Marshall JMP1
Dunlop EVH Phase 90
Keeley-modded Boss DS-1 (Ultra mod, All Seeing Eye-Mod)
Keeley-modded Boss

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me by email (eric@ericvandenberg.net)

Thanks to Dan for putting the vid up at his youtube-site

Chet Atkins

It’s a bummer that a lot of younger players aren’t familiar with Chet Atkins anymore. Sure, I understand that if you’re into Vai and Satriani, at first it might seem as if Chet’s music might not be comparable, but… he was an incredible player, and there is a lot of awesome music to be discovered in his discography.

Also, Chet apparently was a truly wonderful human being, and a true gentleman, and I wish I could have had a chance to meet him.
A couple of years ago, I saw a performance of Chet on TV, and he played this beautiful tune about his father, and I remember being very touched by the beautiful song and the whole performance. Unfortunately, I didn’t memorize the title.
Later on, I tried to find a recording of the song, but couldn’t. It wasn’t until recently that, by the magic of google and youtube, I found out the title of the song… “I Still Can’t Say Goodbye”.
And I found a video of this on youtube. If you haven’t heard this tune before, I really recommend to check it out… it’s beautiful.
And there is so much more to be found in his music. I am currently working on his version of “The Entertainer”, and it’s not only quite challenging, but also a bunch of fun to work on that. A truly amazing player he was… RIP Chet…

watch?v=8590o8A4iU8watch?v=8590o8A4iU8

PS: In case that the youtuve player does not appear in the blog-entry, just click the link above to go to the video at youtube. Apparently, WordPress changed their coding a bit, and it seems as if inserting a video into a post does not work the way it used to anymore… a bug?

Musikmesse

The 2007 “Musikmesse” Pro Light & Sound is getting closer, another week and a half. And I am really looking forward to it. It´s always fun to attend, hang out, check out new gear, watch other players do workshops and presentations etc.
I haven´t played at a trade-show in some time, maybe again next year, would be fun again. Playing at such an event has a very different vibe from an in-store or even a regular concert, but it´s an interesting thing to do nevertheless, and I do like the whole scenario, even though I of course prefer playing shows etc.

So… I hope to meet some of you guys there. If you see me, say “Hi”, I always enjoy chatting!

Email

I really do appreciate each and every email I get from readers of my articles or book, and from people who have listened to my music and wanna share their opinions on it. Also, there are quite a lot of people who send in questions regarding gear, techniques, theory etc, and I am quite honored that those people trust me enough to ask for my advice and opinion on stuff.

I do try to answer any email as soon as possible. Occasionally, real life gets into the way, meaning scheduling and other stuff I have to take care of. And… there´s the procrastination element… I usually try to avoid to reply in cookie-cutter type one-liners, and would like to take my time with the reply.
And of course, that usually leads to a load of mails that stack up in my inbox, the pile keeps getting bigger, and it takes longer and longer to work through it etc.

I really am sorry if you have written to me and haven´t gotten a reply yet. Please also remember that curse of the internet called “spam mail”. I do have a spam filter in place, and even though I do keep an eye on mails that were filtered out, it IS possible that some mail gets caught and eventually deleted, without me seeing it. So that might be another reason.
Anyway, just figured I´d try to explain why sometimes a reply takes a long time, or why certain mails might go unanswered. I hope you don´t feel insulted if that happens, and I hope this doesn´t sound like some cheap excuse… it isn´t.
Thanks so much for taking the time writing to me to share your thoughts on my work or other music- or guitar-related things!

Merry Axe-Mas !

I recently sent out a load of emails with an xmas-message, but I am positive that I forgot a few people… I apologize for that, but it´s really tough to keep track of everyone.

So instead, here´s to you:

Merry Axe-mas and a happy new year !!!!

Also, thanks so much for the support, for writing to me, checking out my music or book, and listening!

Repost: Quick Mailbag

I guess I am going to use this blog for several different purposes… mini lessons (if you wanna call them that), posting some of my g9.2tt presets (thanks for the feedback so far, glad you like them!), random thoughts and ramblings (I will try to keep them music-related though, don´t worry!), and, like with this post, in order to reply to a few questions I have gotten by email. So here goes….
Q:You mentioned using DiMarzio pickups. Which ones do you use?
A: I have been using DiMarzios for many years now, and I have used many different ones. For example, one of my favorites used to be the Double Whammy, which isn´t available anymore (actually, it is, but only on custom-order). I am currently getting into replacing all my main guitars, and the new ones I am using don´t have DiMarzios, but regarding all previous guitars, here are some of my favorites: ToneZone (prolly my favorite DiMarzio… I have one in the “stripped” Vandy guitar), PAF Pro (often use one in the neck position, but also used to have one in the bridge position of a Strat I used to use), Fast Track II (I love that one, too. Have been using those for about 8 years now), Twang King (great pickups for Teles), FRED (very nice for lead guitar), Super Distortion, and the list goes on…

Q: …and what picks do you use?
A: Even though I usually go by “f it works, don´t fix it”, I occasionally go from one type of pick to another. I have been using Dunlop Jazz IIIs for many years, and then switched to Jazz III XLs. I still have a lot of those stashed away, and they´re a favorite of mine.<br>
However, my current favorite is the Ibanez Paul Gilbert pick. I discovered those a few years ago, but at first, I didn´t like their tone too much (quite trebly), and also I wasn´t sure whether I could get a constant, reliable source of supply for those (I´d hate to fall in love with a pick and then be in a situation where I couldn´t get them anymore).<br>
However, the tone issue works now, after slightly adjusting my attack and the angle of the pick, and I´m a happy camper with them. They work amazingly well for fast picking, love that. They wear out quite quickly, but I constantly have enough of them around, so that´s not an issue either.

Q: When are you gonna write new articles for ibreathemusic.com? (or: Could you write an article on…)
A: Tough to say. I love writing for the site and hanging out at the ibreathe-forums (lots of great people), but right now, I really have a hard time finding enough time to finish new articles, with all the stuff that´s going on.<br>
So I can´t tell how long it´s gonna take, but yes, I will still write new stuff for them. Regarding requests: I appreciate any suggestion or request for new topics to cover, but please don´t mind if it takes a while. Or if I choose not to write about certain topics. Also, I decided at some point to not write any more “player profiles”, because there were a load of requests coming in, and I recommend to do a search instead… most of the players mentioned in those requests were written about by others anyway, and I also recommend to try figuring out some of your favorite players licks, too… it´s a great way to learn and train your ear.

Q: What´s your opinion on TAB?
A: I guess that´s based on some posts I made at the ibreathe forum, or some comments at workshops I conducted. You see, I have no problem with TABs at all… with TAB itself, that is. I usually write out stuff in TAB for lessons and workshops, use them in articles etc. Also, I of course used TABs in magazines back when I started out (no internet back then).
And I like the fact that these days, people can find TABs to their favorite songs, so even without having to transcribe a full song (which is tough at first), they can learn tunes.HOWEVER… it seems to me that the over-abundance of TAB has led a lot of people to neglecting their ears and working on them. When that lawsuit came up and TAB sites were closed down, I heard people say “What am I gonna do? I NEED TABS”
Which, in some way, I understand. On the other hand, it´s kinda scary, because it seems as if most people don´t even try to figure out stuff by ear anymore. Sure, there often is no need to anyway, because it´s easy to find certain TABs and get right to work on learning the song anyway.
But training your ears, developing your relative pitch and being able to pick out melodies and chord progressions, even simple ones, IMO is an essential thing for any musician to do.
Simply because good ears are essential for a musician, and when you play with others, or write songs, or improvise, your ears are important.
I know perfectly well that at first, having to figure out stuff by ear can be very very hard. I had that too, and it´s not like these days, everything is a walk in the park… some chords that guys like Holdsworth or Krantz use, for example, still are really tough to figure out by ear. However, back when I started, I didn´t have other options (other than magazine TABs or asking my teacher to figure out the stuff), so I kept working on it, and eventually it started to become easier.
And I am glad I was forced to do this, because I benefit from my relative pitch pretty much every day, whether it´s for teaching or writing or improvising.
And I don´t mean to say “Well, back then we had no TABs, so you young ´uns don´t know what it´s like” or something. I simply am concerned when I see that some people never even tried to figure out simple melodies or chord progressions, and are lost without TABs… as I said, it´s tough to get started, but after a while, it becomes easier, and it has many advantages.

Repost: Ted Greene

A couple of days ago, a student sent me a link to a video on Google-Video. It was footage from a clinic Ted Greene did at the GIT in 1993. Of course I knew Ted´s work, after all I had worked on some parts of his legendary “Chord Chemistry” book, like many other players.

But that still didn´t prepare me for seeing that vid. It´s one of the most inspiring vids I have seen in a long time. The stuff he plays in there is simply beautiful, and insanely inspiring. While watching, I had to pause the video several times in order to pick up the guitar and try some of the things he suggests in there.

Not only does he have a beautiful tone and sound there, but the chords and little lines he is playing while talking are really pretty, and to think that he´s actually just improvising those is humbling. So is his take on “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”. Even though he didn´t get some of the chords right (and mentioning it too, while still playing), it´s so impressive to see him improvise that version on the spot.
It´s really inspiring, and it´s also a great way to be reminded that there´s so much more you can do besides playing fast licks etc.
Here is a link to the video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7821531272280033510&q=ted+greene
Enjoy!