The tone in your hands VS the tone in your head.

Guitarists are always chasing tone. Whether it’s a new amp, different pickups, a new pedal, tubes, cables, magic dust, whatever.  We seem to have an idea of what the perfect tone is but we never seem to have it.

For some, the perfect tone is that of a famous player.  Some have an idea that they want their tone to be (insert adjective here). Some just don’t know exactly what they want but they haven’t found it yet. 

For a lot of us, I think it comes down to being honest with ourselves and assessing how our playing effects our tone. Our pick attack, how we fret chords, how we phrase things, all contribute to your tone.  Maybe all of these things work for you, maybe some of them work against you.

  I grew up listening to George Lynch and Jake E. Lee and as a result I picked up some of their techniques that just became part of my playing DNA. As a result, I have a sharp pick attack that seems to accentuate mid range frequencies. Rather than fight this, I embraced it and found gear that worked with my playing style. My tone is a little mid heavy but not honky or weird, it’s just me.

I could try to change my technique if I wanted to but I don’t feel like relearning guitar at this point.  I just go with the tone that’s in my hands.  For some, this may not be their thing and they will have to adjust and accommodate to get the tone in their head instead of the tone in their hands.

Songs that make you wish you were dead.

Following up on my post earlier about songs that make you kill, my wife suggested I post about songs that make you wish you were dead. You know them. The songs that get stuck in your head and you can't get rid of. So here they are in no particular order.



Oh Mickey
Once this chant is in your head you are in trouble. Anything less than a frontal lobotomy will not cure you.



Who Let The Dogs Out
I don't care who let the dogs out. Who let this single out, and can you please lock it back up.



Blister In The Sun
I know that this is an underground classic. It just screams gouge your eyes out with a spoon to me.



I'm sure I could come up with more but as it is I now have three songs ricocheting in my head killing brain cells because of this post.

Six String Bliss Announces the Release of "Scales of Horror"

sixstringbliss.com

Worldwide Launch - Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Six String Bliss, the longest-running guitar-centric Podcast on the Internet announces the release of Scales of Horror, a collaborative effort by members of their listening community. This project differs from the past Six String Bliss Albums in that it is comprised entirely of original, Halloween themed music written and performed by various listeners. Scales of Horror will feature 10 songs performed by an international community of artists, with submissions coming from 5 countries. Each of these submissions is the work of members of the Six String Bliss listening community. This is the fourth such project produced by Six String Bliss, the first being 2007's A Blissful Christmas, which was followed up last Fall with Stay Tuned (a collection of TV Themes), then this Spring with Big Screen Bliss (a collection of songs featured prominently in movies). According to PT, co-host of the Podcast: "We weren't sure what to expect when we requested original tracks from our listeners. But what they delivered was beyond our expectations. This album is a true testament to the talent of this community, and I'm sure it will be freaking out trick or treaters worldwide for years to come!"


All guitarists are welcome to join in the fun of the Six String Bliss Forum. Projects like this will continue to thrive so long as there is an active community to make these happen. So please come by, introduce yourself, and join in the next project! Podcast Episode 169 which will feature Scales of Horror will be up on the RSS Feed (http://sixstringbliss.libsyn.com/rss) and on iTunes at 11:00PM (CDT) Tuesday, October 27th, with the show notes added to the website soon hereafter at www.sixstringbliss.com.



About Six String Bliss

Six String Bliss is the longest-running guitar-centric Podcast on the Internet. Co-hosted by guitarists PT and Pipes, the weekly show caters to players of all ages and abilities, and features segments including Email of the Week, Guitarist of the Week, Guitar News and general discussion of all things relating to the guitar. Interviews have featured internationally renowned guitarists as well as luthiers, store owners, and manufacturers of pickups, effects, and recording software. The website includes an active international forum.

Heavy Halloween (or songs that make you kill)

Halloween is just around the corner. The spooks and goblins are creeping through the bushes, the ghosts are drifting through the walls, and the maniacs are sharpening their axes. With all this scary mayhem approaching I thought it would be appropriate to put together a play list of the heaviest songs that will make your All Hallows Eve a little scarier.


Bark At The Moon

The title track to Ozzy's fourth solo album is a howl,literally. With lighting fast guitar work by Jake E. Lee and menacing lyrics about the moons effect on the animal in us, this song was destined to be a classic.




Number Of the Beast

This Iron Maiden classic scares you right from the start. The eerie voice warns us all of the number of the beast. The intro of just guitar and vocal give you no warning that you are going to hear one of the greatest screams in metal history.




Welcome To My Nightmare

True that this whole list could be made up of Alice Cooper's entire catalog but this song always stands out as one of the coolest, creepiest out there.




Enter Sandman

This track of Metallica's landmark Black Album is chock full of things that go bump in the night. One listen and you'll be hiding under your sheets.




God of Thunder

This ominous song the platinum Kiss album Destroyer has one of the heaviest riffs in Rock and Roll. That combined with Gene Simmons vocals makes this one of the scariest songs on the planet.

Hello….anybody there?

Hey guys, I know RGL has been kind of sparse lately.  I've been recording and I just haven’t had the time to post regularly.  Rest assured RGL will continue.

I’ve been working on a ton of new material, partially instrumental, and some standard vocal tunes.  I have a few instrumentals about 80% done and just mixed a Halloween Song. I hope that this will all come together in some sort of package that makes sense to everyone and I will get it out there probably by the spring of 2010.

I’ve also got a few small gigs coming up with the cover band that I play with so I have been making sure I shake the dust of a few tunes and learned a few new ones they wanted to do. 

I will try to get some stuff posted in the next few weeks, until then, thanks for keeping up with RGL.

Rock Anthem of The Week: October 3rd

It's fall again and the leaves are turning. The wood pile is stacked and the fireplace is burning. If it's warmth and comfort that you seek, check out the Rock Anthem of the week.

This weeks Rock Anthem is by five lads from England who's reputation truly precedes them.

The Rock Anthem of the week is Cant always get what you want by the Rolling Stones.




The song starts off with an angelic choir singing the chorus. The mellow acoustic guitar interlaced with horns takes over. Mick comes in with the first line and has you at attention.

The song picks up the pace with the first chorus and then the whole band kicks in. The second chorus takes it up another notch and keeps going.

There are so many textures in this song. From the tasteful guitar licks. The subtleties of the B3 in the background. The backup singers. This song as simple as it is in structure is a phenomenally complex track.

Charvel San Dimas custom colors batch 6

Charvel has released their 6th batch of the custom color San Dimas models.  They have done away with the Tele style body this time.  The new Kandy Magenta is pretty cool.  As always, they are made in the USA and at $1099 these are an awesome buy.