Rain

I studied classical guitar for a few years, so I had to learn. For the audition, I had to borrow an acoustic (steel strings) and I played Diary of a Madman (the intro) with a pick. A few months later, my teacher handed me handed me charts saying "I think you'll like this one". The piece was Leo Brouwer's Etude No. 6.

It's Sunday morning for the rest of the world, but Friday night for me. Meaning I get to relax, listen to music and look up stuff on YouTube. I am embarrassed to admit I'd never heard Lenny Breau before now. But I'm even more embarrassed to have referred to myself as a guitarist...

I see this picture and all I can think of is how cold, even for this Canadian.

At first glance, the cheese selection down here was a little underwhelming to say the least. That's compared to Québec. France would be a whole other level. But I've managed to find some decent ones. Asking mayonnaise instead of ketchup with French fries can also provoke reactions ranging from curiosity to mild annoyance to exasperation and disgust. And for some reason, dijon mustard is frowned upon - especially by people who use the word patriot a lot. Those folks would probably have a heart attack if they heard of dijonnaise. One of the hardest adjustments to make was to learn to properly mispronounce "croissant". I really wish they would call it "crescent" and make everyone's life easier. Other than that, I agree with Bob concerning people being mostly nice, with a sprinkling of jerks. And of course, there's the herd effect, which is universal, so even nice people can easily be manipulated into being complete *****holes, no matter the nationality. I always remember my few months in Russia very fondly because of the people, and how friendly they were. I also had some of the very best meals of my life there - which was a surprise. I went there expecting 3 months of potato soup, potato ice cream, potato bread... How wrong I was! I still miss the food. If I judged the country by the political circumstances when I was there, with the tanks on the streets and military personnel everywhere on election night, my opinion might be a tad different. Not to mention historical events and the current situation. But the people? They were great, and would go out of their way to assist and speak a few words of English.

That sucks. Guess I was lucky - FedEx has always been reliable here. UPS however... Late 2 times out of 3. I've seen packages allegedly out for delivery that were then delayed for days and ultimately never arrived.

The bane of my life for the last decade. The one thing that tremendously helped ironically came about as a result of the breakup with my ex-wife in 2020. It messed me up so much that I could barely eat - usually maybe a quarter of an oven baked chicken breast with some greens, at most. Decreasing portions so dramatically seem to reset my stomach. I had been chewing antacid tablets like candy for years. I went on for a few months without any reflux at all, even when I drank wine on the weekends. Even the food that used to trigger reflux was no longer a problem. The other thing that helped was not taking antacids. Sometimes putting up with a bit of discomfort for a bit is preferable to the quick fix. I've started using them a lot more sparingly and it seems to work better for me. I can go entire weeks without using any. That being said, and almost back on topic, I still have a favorite coffee mug...

I got myself addicted to coffee on purpose when I started college. I needed some kind of routine to help me get out of bed in the morning. Well, it worked. I would drink two or tree pots a day, plus a couple of bottles of cola. Eventually I reached a point where I didn't enjoy the taste at all. I managed to switch to tea a few years ago. It works great for me. With coffee, when I needed a little upper, I'd get that initial jolt but I would crash shortly after. But if I went to bed I couldn't sleep for more than 2-3 hours. Tea has less of a kick but the energy is more even. To me anyway. Not the most exciting beverage, but I developed a taste for it. It's also less tempting to load it with sugar and all kinds of stuff. Another advantage is that it's a lot easier on my stomach. And lastly, it's a lot cheaper. That being said, the smell of coffee is like nothing else. Really makes me miss it, but I'm not sure I would actually enjoy it. Part of me does wish, though.

I realized that I had put a list of 10 of my favorite rock/metal solos a while ago. The guitarists are obvious choices, but I tried to pick solos that were not their most iconic (with an exception or two). I’ll Wait, Eddie Van Halen. So effortless, so loose and yet so tight… His sense of swing is unparalleled. Tonight, Randy Rhoads. Rhoads going Mick Ronson on us. Emotional commitment. No Quarter (live), Jimmy Page. Painting a picture, taking you places. Tooth and Nail, George Lynch. The missing link between EVH and Rhoads. The Duellist, Adrian Smith. Smith doing what Smith does best, providing Maiden’s music with an emotional anchor. Strange Ways, Ace Frehley. Ace spacing out. Texas Flood (at El Mocambo) Stevie Ray Vaughan. Pulling all the stops… Comfortably Numb, David Gilmour. Ok, this one is obvious. Quadrant 4, Tommy Bolin. If anyone came close to EVH in terms of swing, that kid was it. Moonage Daydream, Mick Ronson. See Tonight and Comfortably Numb... With the exception of Tooth and Nail, these aren't really shredder-type solos. I can appreciate the fast stuff and younger players like Tim Henson, or those two kids from Unlucky Morpheus (the whole band is amazing), and I too get tired of hearing the same pentatonic licks over and over. It's one of the reasons I limit my playing, because I feel I don't have the talent or the imagination to think outside of that box as a guitar player. But ironically, most of my favorite solos are rooted in blues. But that's just a handful in one genre. I could do a list of Charlie Christian's, Django Reinhardt's, and Wes Montgomery's and all those guys, or actual blues guitar players...

I agree with them. Actually, I had not heard Machine Gun until these guys mentioned it as the best guitar solo ever in a guitar magazine 30 some years ago. My knowledge of Hendrix was still very superficial at the time. But I sure made up for it afterwards. I remember playing that song every chance I got when I was a DJ. And the other DJ (who also happened to be my roommate) was the biggest Hendrix fan I have ever known, so he did the same on his shifts. We'd both do the air guitar thing together when the solo started and go completely nuts... I'll need to put a bit of thought into a list, though.

Not sure how I missed it but, as always, terrific job, brother. And keep 'em coming!

Well, they're in their 70's, and as the article states, others like Dylan and Springsteen have sold their catalogue. Gene Simmons is staying active too - lots of shows booked for the summer already. I'm almost 25 years younger than he is and you couldn't pay me enough to travel that much...

I can swear in 5 or 6 languages, but there's something particularly cathartic about swearing in French Canadian... When my French speaking former in laws visited last fall, I realized that I was inadvertently using a lot of English words when speaking with them, which is only normal because I live and work in English, rarely get to speak French, and 90% of the movies and tv I watch are in foreign languages. But if I injure myself and get angry, I return to my French Canadian roots in no time. Back home, swear words are rooted in Catholic worship and practice. And there's something perversely satisfying about cursing in French because it's like having a plethora of words that have the same intensity and the same emotional charge as the F word in English, allowing one to sustain the paroxysm of their anger quite effortlessly for vast periods of time.

I was going to say fairly stable, but I realized that it is far from true. Although that's over long periods of time. Last summer, I spent 2 weeks without AC, and the temperature at over 100 in the house. (I really do not recommend that to anyone). And in the winter, I rarely turn on the heat unless I have guests, so it's regularly in the lower to mid 60's. (I don't really recommend that either, but I grew up in Canada so my definition of cold is a little skewed. As long as the pipes don't freeze, we're good...). But the guitar never leaves the studio, unless I'm playing it in another room or downstairs, so no sudden changes...

Slept in my Elvis t-shirt and woke up in Las Vegas. Really! Too bad it isn't 1970...

I slept in my Misfits t-shirt and woke up in a London Dungeon. True story: Woke up last Saturday, grabbed the first t-shirt on the pile and ran downstairs to prepare tea. At some point I realized that I was whistling the Hockey Night in Canada theme song and wearing my Captain Canada t-shirt... To my defense, it was Saturday - which is indeed Hockey Night in Canada.

Robert Lamm says it was 25 or 6 to 4.

They're actually cheap reprints of the golden age era comics.

Don't let the damage fool you, I'm not much of a guitar player, despite spending so much time on it and ruining the paint on so many guitars. But love to learn. This dates from few years ago when I was trying to learn one of the solos that made me want to play electric guitar when I was a kid. Captured by the laptop mic so the quality is horrendous (but the goal was only to track my progress). I kind of cringe at some of the sloppiness in there now but it's the only "shredding" type of video I have...

Neck joint is fine. And it has been played a lot. But almost exclusively in the studio. I should not omit to mention that my skin does something to guitars. I burn through cheap bridges and pick up covers on Epiphone in no time. Here's an example, a Epiphone LP Traditional. You can see that it's not just the finish of the screw - the metal is actually eaten away. Here's my Gibson SGJ after 3 months. After 5 months. And after 5 years.

And I thought I had done a number on my Strat... Of course it's black, but still... Spilled beer and wine on the electronics countless times, played it out in the rain, threw it around on the stage, stepped on it with my boots, smash it against a tombstone, and it was kept in a small room where I used to chain-smoke for almost 2 decades. I did sand the upper part a little to make it more even because there were deep dents there and it wasn't comfortable. I've also sanded the back of the neck a bit last year and adjusted the truss rod for the first time. Other than that and cleaning up the pots and switch using deoxit a couple of years ago, no work was done on it since I bought it in 1996. It has the mandatory cigarette burn on the headstock and the fretboard finish is chipped in several places but not that bad. It's hard to believe that it is now older than the very first Strat I ever played when I was 12 was back then - a black 1957 with a white pickguard which became my holy grail and one of the reasons I eventually bought this one. 1957 seemed like ancient history to me at the time (1984)..

My guitars rarely see the light of day, but every time I take my white Les Paul out of the studio and downstairs in the daylight, I am in for a surprise. This morning I realized that the lacquer had started to crack on the back as well as around the knobs on the front. It'll be 9 years next month, and it's been kept in a smoke free environment. You expect Stratocasters and Telecasters to get all beat up and worn, it makes them look cool - and my old Strat has seen a lot of abuse. But Les Pauls and Gibsons in general are a different thing, what with the set neck and all. So I’ve always taken great care of this one. Seems to me that it's aging rather quickly. But that's ok I guess. Gives it character.

Thank you for that!

If we were to think strictly in terms of quantities, statistically speaking, I'd have to say that I hate music. Especially in this day and age when so much is being released... The idea actually occurred to me on a few occasions in recent years, when I was subjected to some particularly horrible music song after song after song. Music is like people - I intensely dislike the majority of it, but I love and care deeply for a bunch of exceptions. I guess that's what getting old is all about - seeing the number things that annoy you increase exponentially every year until you're just too anxious to leave this crazy planet behind.

Western music history seems to demonstrate that until very recently, few people if any would have thought to ask that question. Actually, the most mind-blowing creative musicians were typically well versed in theory - from Bach to Beethoven to Stravinsky to Miles Davis and Oscar Peterson to Zappa. It seems that it's often people with a more limited set of skills that feel that knowledge can endanger their creativity. I say that as someone with very limited skills and knowledge myself, and as an huge fan of some of those same musicians, such as John Lennon.

I'll get an idea for a few notes and words, just a bit of something and then keep repeating that part over and and try to add to it. The outline of the words is discernible in the notes, so to speak. It's all in there, I just work on revealing it. I feel that you recognize what works and what doesn't, the song tells you. Fortunately, I am not under contract to write music or lyrics, so I can afford to do things that way, and to let the songs come to me. Which doesn't mean you don't polish your skills in the meantime. Some songs are like mere exercises. But unless it is one of those exercises, I never sit down and think about what I want to say. If there's anything meaningful that I need to say, it's been marinating in my old brain for long enough, it should come out a little more "organically". It's almost like pulling on a thread. Otherwise things tend to sound a little too self-conscious. I studied literature so that part of me always needs to try to impress people with its fancy words and references to literary works, and to try and sound clever. That never works. Well, it works, but it's cringeworthy. That being said, I've written songs strictly based on title ideas, but the title was connected to a mood, it already was, eh, more than words. Anyway, by the time I get out of the shower, which is where I get most of my ideas, I usually have a good verse ready to dictate on the phone. 😁 I wonder how many gallons of hot water it would take me to write a whole album worth of lyrics... I'm sure there's an equation for that.