Guitars & Games

Rocafuerte Reassembled!

2011-07-18T02:49:00.000-04:00

Quick post here - I'm very happy to announce that Rocafuerte has found a new drummer! We welcome Ricardo Villarroel to the family, expecting some fantastic beats and creative energy for our existing and upcoming material. I would post a picture, but we haven't taken one yet. We're working hard to bring him up to speed on our album tracks so that we can play some shows for the tail end of the summer and the start of fall. We should have something photo-wise before then, which I'll post in kind.

In other news, my birthday's coming (Wednesday, in fact) and I'm getting older. End of story. I feel like I'm doing pretty well on finishing video games (9 out of 20 for the year so far) but I need to knock some out in rapid succession. It's been too hot lately to play games; quite frankly I find myself sweating mildly while doing anything in the apartment, but especially while playing games and guitar. I also went to see Vernon Reid play at City Winery (near the Holland Tunnel) on 7/12 -- phenomenal show! It's always a pleasure to see him play and I just learned that he's got solo albums dating from the 90's. I must get them soon and add them to my rotation. I started this blog because watching guys like him play on stage motivate me to improve and I can't help but reiterate that fact. Every time I see a concert with such high caliber guitarists I feel the urge to learn something new or work on playing faster. Life always seems to get in the way of realizing those urges, though.

This week I will receive the final disc in the Rhapsody of Fire "Symphony of Enchanted Lands" saga, entitled From Chaos to Eternity. Their recent albums have been really great and I'm looking forward to the epic ending of this 8-album and 2-EP long story. I'm hoping for an excellent production and some crazy riffs and solos to get my head banging. I'll have more on that for my next post (promise!).

Meager updating

2011-03-30T23:47:00.000-04:00

Work is hectic. Sleep schedule is screwed up. I managed to fit some cool things into my schedule, though. I did manage to meet Vernon Reid from Living Colour (see last year's Central Park blog post!) at a jazz club last week. We had a chat about several musically related things and I have learned much from the wise guitarist. I hope to present some of these new ideas in future blog posts and videos... I have been seriously negligent on making videos. For now, though, a picture:

I've been listening to a lot of Rhapsody of Fire this month; I caught up on their newer albums because they're finishing up the concept they began with way back in the 90's, 10 albums (!) ago. I can't get enough of their style of writing and Luca Turilli is a monster on guitar. If you like high fantasy and old school battle hymn style speed metal, definitely give it a try.

I bought a Nintendo 3DS on launch day, March 27th. You've got to see it to believe it, but you will probably either come off amazed or unimpressed. The 3D effect is really cool and I hope that the platform matures quickly. I'll probably have more info on that later.

Off I go then, off to work. April shall see an update early! I promise!

Another new year arrives...

2011-01-02T15:33:00.002-05:00

2011 is here! Happy new year to you, my reader. I hope that, as everyone usually says, the new year brings new opportunities for greatness and success for you. I also hope that I may achieve some greatness and success myself while achieving some (make that many) goals I have set for myself. Before I look to the future, I would like to share a little bit of the past.

December 19, 2010 marks the release date of Rocafuerte's album, entitled Vuelo Letal. It consists of 8 tracks that the guys and I have worked on since the creation of the band. The album is available in a limited run disc format (only 300 copies right now, selling fast) and in MP3 format. The disc is available by request for only $5 (contact me or visit Rocafuerte's website or Facebook page for details) and at least the following music vendors:

During the same weekend I recorded some guitar for a Michael Jackson tribute track sung by my cousin E.R.I.C. The song sports a pop/R&B flavor and I throw in some bluesy licks and a rocked-out solo to color it further! The video for the song Crazy Love has been released and is available on YouTube. The EP, "GROOVE" will release March 2011.

The future holds quite a few things for me. Rocafuerte is searching for a new drummer as our original drummer had to part ways to pursue his career. I hope to play many shows to raise awareness of our new album. I will also be practicing heavily this year to improve on my technique and learn jazz guitar method. I also have quite a large and much-desired task of learning much of G.F. Handel's Messiah in time for this year's Christmas season. Non-musically, I will be learning UNIX and Linux while refreshing and improving my database administration skills.

Here's to a prosperous 2011 for all!

Awaiting the Rocafuerte album release

2010-12-07T04:44:00.000-05:00

It's December, and as promised, the Rocafuerte album, titled "Vuelo Letal" (Lethal Flight) will be released in the coming weeks. The master has been created and sent off for duplication. We're also working on getting the online distribution set up and generating some buzz about the album on Facebook and Twitter. If you're on Facebook, "like" the band Rocafuerte (found at this link) and if you're a Tweeter you can follow RocafuerteMusic. Once everything is finalized and ready for release, I'll drop the album art and ways to purchase or stream the music!

For the time being, you can find the first single off our album entitled "Pensando En Ti" (Thinking of You) on our Facebook page (http://listn.to/RocafuerteMusica takes you directly there) or the band's website. You can stream the song off the web site by clicking "Escucha A Rocafuerte" in the lower left of the main page. Share the song with friends and family!

A sad bit of band related news comes in the form of the departure of our drummer. He's gone off to Maryland to pursue his career in chemical engineering, a field in which he's worked hard to obtain a PhD. We wish him well and much success. We are in the search for a new drummer and hope to make that a quick and easy process. Finding a suitable drummer never is quick or easy, though.

This month is proving to be a very busy one. I have some other things I'd like to share but it's just not the proper time yet. Until next time!

A November Update

2010-11-19T03:31:00.000-05:00

October has been a very busy month. Rocafuerte finished mixing the album and moved on to mastering. Currently, the mastering process is just about finished and our release bracket of mid-December 2010 is still in place. I've been doing a lot of overtime at work. Games are movies are piling up at home. I had the sudden urge to finance a PC upgrade because Final Fantasy XIV ran terribly on the configuration. As of now, my PC upgrade is complete and everything runs ultra-smoothly on it. I yelled like a mad man when I saw FFXIV going between 40 and 60 frames per second (smooth-city baby), so you could say I'm pleased. I spent just over $300 on a new motherboard, a memory upgrade and a larger and faster hard drive along with a newer model DVD drive. With any luck, I will recoup those costs by putting all of my old equipment into another case and selling that!

For the past 2 weeks I've been listening to reference versions of the Rocafuerte masters and everything is coming together really well. I can't really say much because I want the experience for all listeners to be fresh, but I will say that it sounds absolutely amazing. We should be starting the replication process just after Thanksgiving.

In other news, I'm working on building a low-power, low-cost computer to practice some database management and improve my knowledge of UNIX (via FreeBSD) so that I can expand my career knowledge and make some crazy money (not by driving a crazy taxi) in the near future.

Ahh this probably sounds boring. I'll have more exciting news once the album is released!

Recent Musical Reflections...

2010-09-07T03:11:00.001-04:00

My Zune's Car Pack (the car-lighter adapter plus RF transmitter) died on me a few weeks ago, so I've been restricted to listening to CDs in the car on my commutes. I used this as an opportunity to put some quality time into some new CDs I purchased over the month of August as well as become more familiar with Judas Priest, a band that I truly feel I have a musical connection with. I've been using my Zune Pass song credits to buy Priest albums (thank goodness they're mostly 9-10 songs minus the bonus tracks, which I'm not wholly interested in) and those albums have been subsequently burned to CD-R for my listening pleasure.

In addition to Judas Priest (which really doesn't need any explanation; their music is really good) I have been listening to the new Maiden album, the two recent Disturbed albums (Indestructible and Asylum - released 8/31/10) and Chinese Democracy - you know, that album by Guns n' Roses that is probably still a Best Buy exclusive on disc.

The Final Frontier (Iron Maiden) has grown on me and I really like the album now. Sometimes it takes a little learning to get into a complex piece of work. I've always liked Disturbed since the Ten Thousand Fists album (wasn't too much a fan of their earlier, more vocally rap-infused work) but now that I've concentrated on listening to the music I'm starting to appreciate the band more. Indestructible is arguably very heavy compared the the albums that come before and after and Dan Donegan (the guitarist) shows some serious fingerwork in his solos. Asylum, the new album, is rather melodic (no problem there) but the production job makes the guitars super-thick. I haven't listened to it through headphones yet, but I feel like the music was mastered too loudly and distorts very distinctly; a very big negative.

Chinese Democracy was released by Guns n' Roses in late 2008. I bought it when it released and gave it a few listens, but overall I felt like I had better things to listen to. After the past couple of days of giving a new ear to it, I really wonder why I didn't give the album the respect it deserved. While it is a hodgepodge of different styles of music written and played by a myriad of musicians, every track on the album has its own identity and contribution to Chinese Democracy's overall personality. I definitely will be listening to this album more in the future.

There aren't any upcoming albums in the near future, so I will be listening to more old stuff that I may have neglected due to the massive amount of content that was on my Zune.

The Rocafuerte Album...

2010-08-18T12:59:00.005-04:00

is almost done! The guitars, bass and most of the vocals are done. We need to re-record one song on drums. Next up will be mixing and mastering and I'm hoping that we can release this baby by the end of September.

Our first run will have 8 songs - the songs we have had on tap from the birth of the band. Shortly after we will have a limited run with a bonus track that I will not announce yet! I do promise that it will be chock full of epic, metal goodness.

In other news, I'm currently absolutely obsessed with Dragon Quest 9 for the Nintendo DS. I bought it the week it was released (week of July 11) and have logged 70 + hours in as of today. I'm near the end of the game but there's so much content and so many goals I want to achieve that it will take a crowbar to pry me off this game!

I also bought a couple of new CDs lately. A few weeks ago I bought Nightmare from Avenged Sevenfold, featuring Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater. The songs are very catchy, great to listen to and Mike absolutely kills it on the drums. Today, I bought Iron Maiden's The Final Frontier (Mission Edition). I haven't listened to the whole thing - half the album so far - but it sounds like I will have to get used to it. It's definitely not a commercial effort (nothing immediately catchy so far) but the music so far sounds like it desires attention. I'll try to set some time up to just listen on my earphones to dig the details.

Oh yeah, and I turned 30 last month. Yay for me!

Here's to hoping I can update sooner!

Living Colour @ Central Park SummerStage 6/5/10

2010-06-06T12:00:00.006-04:00

It was a bit of a rough day for me but I ventured out to Central Park (first time in a while... I really need to go there more often!) to catch Living Colour play for the SummerStage free show. I was expecting to see hordes of people and not be able to truly experience the flavor that is Vernon Reid and the boys; to my surprise, there were just enough people to be a huge crowd but not so many that I couldn't get close to the stage. I took some pictures and some video of solos and whatnot that I'll post on the blog soon.

Although just being in the environment was amazing, I was absolutely stunned at the quality of Vernon Reid's guitar skills. Guitar Hero 3 fans -- all that crazy mess in the solo of the newly recorded Cult of Personality is but a figment of your imagination until you see him play it in person. That and the other songs that were performed - admittedly, I know nothing of their catalog but am starting to play catch-up as I write this - were really pleasing to the ear. The music was sometimes fast, sometimes groovy, sometimes really low and heavy. The variety really inspired me to continue what I've been doing as of late; some of the new riffs I've been working on have departed from the old derivative metal formula.

UPDATE: Pictures and video are now available!

Living Colour Central Park 6-5-10

A sneak peek of what's in store... Album TWO

2010-04-03T04:53:00.006-04:00

We at Rocafuerte haven't even finished our first album but we have little nuggets of joy planned for our second record already! Have a listen at a song that doesn't have a title, nor any lyrics! The FUTURE of Rocafuerte!

Mini Solo Reel @ Rocafuerte rehearsal

2010-04-03T04:35:00.003-04:00

Rocafuerte Recording Outtakes, part 1

2010-03-31T23:44:00.004-04:00

While recording some solos, I decided to chronicle how "easy" it is to get a perfect (YMMV) track done. First up to the plate is the ending solo to Inyectame which is really a 7-8 second finger tapping run. Being that I finalized the solo say... that morning, I wasn't exactly a pro on doing it when it came time to do the deed. Enjoy the video below, and look forward to the new version of Inyectame (that's for all those Xavier fans who have heard it before) coming soon!

Recording the new Rocafuerte Album, Day 3

2010-03-22T09:50:00.009-04:00

It's time to bang out the solos! I must admit it was a bit tougher than I expected (as was everything else, lol) but I managed to knock out a majority of the work. I also spent a good amount of time doing all the guitars for our ballad "Dame Otra Oportunidad." Some of the more involved solos include the ones for Inyectame and Para Todo Hay Remedio. The songs are really gonna come out great, and I can't wait for the album to be released so the music can be shared with everyone! More pictures are below. I also have some video of myself completely fudging up solos, but they will take some time to be edited. I'll post them for your outtake enjoyment when they're done.

Recording the new Rocafuerte Album, Day 2

2010-03-17T12:50:00.008-04:00

March 13, 2010 - braving one of the "worst" rainstorms in history, I hit the studio to record more of my guitar parts for the album. More rhythms are laid down; 7 of the 9 songs are pretty much done with rhythm guitars. I am finding it much easier than ever, thanks to our excellent recording engineer, Gerardo. I feel very comfortable and able to truly rock out with very few mistakes. Some of the tougher parts took a bit of time, but thankfully there weren't so many of those. I started out with the harder edge songs since they needed fewer guitars recorded; I ended with Inyectame, which involved a whopping 12 guitar parts! A lot of progress has been made, and I will be returning this coming Saturday to do our ballad, Dame Otra Oportunidad, clean up some of the lesser desired parts and begin THE UNDERTAKING -- solos! Enjoy the pics!

Recording the new Rocafuerte Album, Day 1

2010-03-01T20:32:00.008-05:00

February 27, 2010 - Day 1 of tracking guitar for the new Rocafuerte album. During my session I laid down some awesome rhythm tracks for Pensando en Ti, Terminara and our instrumental entitled Para Todo Hay Remedio. Need some help with the spanish titles? Run it through a translator! Anyhow, I worked on some solos as well but wasn't completely satisfied with them. I will certainly be preparing to tear those thangs up for a future session. Please enjoy a few choice pics taken by my fearless band leader, Xavier! More to come later.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T16:47:00.003-05:00

It's 2010... a new year, of course. I got some new guitar equipment and some recent repairs to make them feel all new as well. I hope to master some new techniques or at least be good enough at them to sound fantastic this year. Finally, Rocafuerte will be giving it all we've got to make it a VERY successful 2010! Look for a debut album and some new material. Everyone, be well and make the most out of the time ahead!

What's new?!

2009-12-07T22:41:00.003-05:00

I've been busy with work, being a husband and trying to relax through it all. I have been playing games and have certainly been playing some guitar. As a matter of fact, I picked up (no pun intended) some new guitar pickups for my ESP M-207! The ones I got installed in my 7-string guitar are the John Petrucci series from DiMarzio called the CrunchLab 7 and LiquiFire 7. These produce some really great tones ranging from metal/thrash chunk (on the crunchlab pickup especially) to warm, melodic, sustaining flows. I took a little time to poorly improvise in the studio to show off these pickups, the results of which you can find below. Enjoy!

I have also been trying to learn and perfect the rhythms (so far) of one of my favorite Dream Theater songs - The Dark Eternal Night. Here's a short video of how "well" I can play the introduction. It is actually pretty good, but in a few weeks I should have a much better performance!

Dream Theater pix + 1 video 8/9/09

2009-08-25T22:27:00.002-04:00

Went to see Dream Theater at the Beacon Theatre August 9th. They headlined the tour with Zappa Plays Zappa and it was a phenomenal performance. I was absolutely blown away. I wish I could have captured more video, but the security was tight down there. Enjoy!

Dream Theater 08-09-09

Rocafuerte!

2009-08-03T23:14:00.006-04:00

Yes, it's been a few months. A quick update of my life since the end of May:

* I got married on 7/18 (yes!)
* I turned 29 years old on 7/20
* Rocafuerte had two shows on the streets of Queens and Brooklyn on 6/21

Speaking of that last bullet point, here's a video from one of the shows. This is one of our harder edge songs, entitled "El Gran Escape." I like the groove of it and it's standard but non-standard structure: it has "no" chorus! Technically it does but there are no vocals, just a guitar melody of sorts.

It also started raining as we did this song, visually telling the story and making it feel even more epic!

A May update! I play guitar! I finish games!

2009-05-24T17:55:00.004-04:00

I finally found some time to play guitar at home again. I made some videos, but a lot of them were just of me screwing around with a new solo I'm writing for the Rocafuerte song, "Para Todo Hay Remedio." That would be our instrumental. Below, though, is a song I wrote that was never recorded during the Soulstream era. Actually, I never got around to teaching it to the guys before we disbanded. I really like the hectic pace of the song and will one day want to fully arrange and record this song. The lyrics are based in a fictional word where an "angel" is sent to purify the souls of evil men, mounted on his gigantic, flying, blessed holy gun.

Side note: I finally finished Xenogears, clocking in at 66 hours roughly. I enjoyed the game, but some of the dialogue near the end was just nonsensical filler. Lots of big technical words that could easily confuse someone who isn't quite tech savvy. There are also loads of psychology terms that were easily confusing. I got the gist of the story, which really sums up to what most RPGs lean toward - defending against the world's annihilation.

But I digress.

Here's me fooling around with some improv soloing and mindless strumming!

Endurance: Viewtiful Joe 2, Guitar Hero Metallica + RocaFuerte news

2009-03-30T02:38:00.015-04:00

Sorry about the long gap between posts. It's tough living my life and having relevant things to post. This blog ain't exactly about my personal life, you know!

Recently, I finished Viewtiful Joe 2, a tough, exciting and cute beat 'em up on Nintendo Gamecube. This game starts out manageable and fun. As the player gets further into the game, the difficulty ramps up and some pretty lofty challenges are presented. Below is a set of three videos comprising about 25 minutes of the final challenge before the end boss to the game. It's just the pinnacle of Clover Studios' (the developer) expectations of the player. I am not sure I've seen such a massive requirement to finish a stage in a while, and I've been playing some very difficult games! The content provided in the 3 videos below must all be completed in one set of lives and you start out with three; if you lose a life you will have to start at the beginning of the section, which equates to the beginning of the video. At the end, the game clocks me in as taking 12 minutes to finish the level, but you will see for yourself how long it took based on these videos. I assume it took 12 minutes outside of traveling between challenges and the ratings but I'm not sure.

Yesterday I purchased (via pre-order) Guitar Hero: Metallica. Being that this is the band that takes half of the credit for me playing guitar in the first place (and 100% of the credit for me being a lead guitarist), I was incredibly interested in this game. There are 25 songs from the band, spanning all the albums. The offerings are a bit uneven between albums, but wisely chosen. The game is touted as being very hard for people who aren't experienced in the world of Guitar Hero, and for them I must agree. I did manage to finish the career mode after having completed 23% of the songs in the list. The songs open up based on how many stars you get, as opposed to how many songs are completed. It's safe to say that I got 5 stars in most of the songs I've played so far. I did play some of the higher tiered stuff, including one of my favorite songs, "Dyer's Eve." The first song I failed in my play through, this is a beast wanting to be tamed. It took me several tries to finish it and I scraped by with 3 stars. Below is a video of me playing it on Expert. I was so happy that I finished the song that I started singing along near the end. Pardon my being off-pitch; this song is very tiring!

I'm disappointed in two things with this game; the first is that the final song in the game is not a difficult one, but it is preceded by some of the toughest songs in the game, including "Dyer's Eve." It did fit with the venue where I performed it, which opened up solely for the final song. The other disappointment is that the Rock Band drum set does not support the double bass functionality. I honestly think it's a software related thing (Activision hatin') since all the hardware connects properly. I'll have to purchase the Guitar Hero World Tour kit on a deal some time in the future, as I just don't have a Benjamin to pony up for extra equipment I won't be using all the time. Anyone wanna donate to the cause? j/k

Finally, some RocaFuerte news: the songs in our demo have been complete for some time, but my singer finally e-mailed them to me in their final form. Enjoy!

1 - Terminara (3:58)
2 - Vuelo Letal (3:50)

We're also working on a new progressive-type song to go with our heavier tunes. I'm pretty excited about what we're working with and hope we come up with an amazing song. More info later!

We have a Facebook page up in addition to our mySpace page. If you've got a Facebook account, search for RocaFuerte and become a fan! We should be playing some gigs soon so if you're in the NYMA come out and see us.

Why I'm late on Metallica footage from LAST MONTH...

2009-02-26T05:52:00.007-05:00

Been very busy with my unorthodox work and sleep cycle. I moved to my new place in early February and have also been working really hard with band activities. I think we've got a lot of exciting things in store for our opening year and I hope that it garners a respectable success.

Apologies in advance, I suppose: we were sitting kinda far away, in comparison to other shows. It was really dark as well for most of the show. As a result, the images are a bit gritty, blurry or fuzzy. Sue me. The sound on the videos can be easily described as one long fart, but you can figure out what's going on if you're a true Metallica fan (lol).

Enjoy!

Metallica 01-29-09

I'm also going to make a video of my sweeping progress (what little of it there is) since the start of this blog. In April, I hope to show some kind of decent improvement; not quite what a year's worth of training should have provided, but better than nothing. If the pressure of my life's daily pains will ever let up, I'll be able to focus more of my time and effort on my guitar work.

Rocafuerte in the studio... and many more books.

2009-01-28T22:36:00.004-05:00

On Tuesday, January 20th, the band entered a studio in the foothills of Harlem, near Washington Heights to record two songs for their debut EP. The recording environment, located in City College and manned by seniors majoring in audio engineering, was a high-tech and excellent quality studio. We recorded drums from a recital hall on the ground floor while watching from a spy camera-like interface in the recording hub. The mixing system was intricate and the band recorded using Pro Tools for Mac. From the hours of (roughly) 6PM to 4AM, we toiled away and successfully laid all the tracks for both songs, "Terminara" and "Vuelo Letal." I'm very proud of the work we've done so far and can't wait for these songs to be mixed and mastered! This will be the first big near-professional job we've done and we ensured that it would be of the best quality. Below, I've got some pictures and videos of the recording in progress for your enjoyment!

Studio Session 1/20

In other news, Metallica is playing at Nassau Coliseum tomorrow! I'm so amped about this, as this will be the third time I've seen them live. The new music is great (imo) and I can't wait to hear it in person. The Guitar Hero: Metallica game will be out two months to the date after that, with an amazing set list. This makes me very happy and I can't wait to break my wrists (lol) when the game releases.

On Saturday, I will be moving to a new residence. I hate moving. All the heavy lifting and transporting back and forth is just a big pain to me. Alas, it must be done, and I hope that one day soon I will find a permanent residence (i.e. house or condo or something) so that I won't ever have to move again!

More on the games front, I've been occupied with playing Prince of Persia, the recent release for Xbox 360. I'm really enjoying the game, perhaps because I've never played the Sands of Time trilogy much. I think I put about 3 hours into the original Sands of Time, but never played Warrior Within or Two Thrones. The acrobatics are fun and haven't gotten stale after about 4-5 hours of play. The dialogue is witty; the prince is extremely sarcastic and even cynical at times, which makes his conversations with Elika (his ally) humorous and entertaining. The graphics are wonderful; it's cel-shaded, but the high resolution (I'm playing on 1080p) makes things look Disney-esque. It's a joy on the eyes.

Next month is "Bad Ass Brawlers" month! I will be playing six games (and hopefully finishing them!) in this short month that feature pugilists, ninja and swordsmen of the most high. Ryu Hayabusa will be featured in both his Ninja Gaiden games for Xbox 360. Kratos will have a stab at his fellows in God of War II for PS2, while Gene knocks foes into the sky in God Hand. Sieg Wahrheit battles "hideous monsters" in Chaos Legion. Joe returns to cel-shaded, quirky action in the sequel to the previously completed Viewtiful Joe. Details to come soon!

And the new year rolls on

2009-01-04T12:23:00.005-05:00

Happy new year, reader(s)! Yes, I'm lazy. Yes, I'm busy. No, I still don't have any videos to post. Eventually, I will. Maybe I'll grab videos from my grandfather who has recorded me play (terribly, in my opinion) at church over the holidays just to sate your appetites. In any case, videos will come one way or another...

Oh, the New York Jets. It looks like the season ended right about in the middle. No 1-15 record, no 15-1 record, but a rather impressive 9-7 record (compared to last year). Maybe the Madden curse took it's toll this year on Brett Favre. He is indeed injured, but not like previous Madden cover artists - he and his torn biceps tendon roughed it out for the entire 17 weeks, really showing some terrible play in the last 5 games, 4 of which were big "L's." Yeah, they should have benched him. I guess that's why Señor Head Coach Mangini got the big "F" right after week 17's loss against the (now Division leader) Dolphins. Who led that team to the playoffs? None other than "Ol' Chaddy Boy" Pennington, the ex-Jet QB who was a part of a 4-12 record last year and who brought the Dolphins from 1-15 in '07 to 10-6 this year. Que será, será.

2009 will hopefully be the year Roca Fuerte comes out of the dark recesses of the studio and rises to the top of the world. I'm working hard along with the other talented members of this group to make this music sound better than anything we've worked on before! We should be recording our EP within one to two month's time and once that is done, I'll have some more content on the blog. Solo takes, anyone? :) Wish us the best!

2009 will also be the year I make some big dents in my gaming backlog. In '08 I finished a grand total of 11 games, starting in July. I finished one game so far since the new year; I had actually been 1 hour or so away from its full completion since about 2004... how shameful! I am going to set up a gadget on the sidebar to show a tally just for kicks. See it? Love it!

So now I'm off to start my new year of music, gaming and makin' that cheddar. I just wanna give a couple of shout-outs before I go, though. All my love goes out to God for making everything possible and blessing us with our talents. Big ups to my fiance E'vy, my mom and dad, local family (grandparents/aunts/uncles), my best friend Sonzer and his wife and twins, the band, MrCHUP0N and NYCShogun. Finally, I wanna give a big shout out to Barack Obama, our new President starting January 20th. I believe that we're all headed for a world of positive change in the coming years.

Until next we meet!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T09:10:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone reading this either is enjoying their Christmas Day, adding me to the list of stunning and exciting (yeah, right) web sites they view today or just sharing some after-holiday cheer on the ol' blog.

Jetswatch Week 17: Them boys have screwed up so much in the West Coast - they lost to the 3-11 Seattle Seahawks of all things - that they've lost their #1 spot in the AFC East, now competing (tooth and nail) with the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots in a triple-threat situation. In order for the Jets to make it to the playoffs next week, they will need to win against the Dolphins Sunday and hope that the Buffalo Bills claim victory over the Pats. There's so much hoping and wishing involved that I just don't think this will end favorably. To simply hope that the Pats lose to anybody these days is stretching things. We'll see what happens on the 28th.

Joy to the World: This spot reserved. ETA most likely December 26th.

Bye-bye, Xbox: My 360 was shipped to the repair center this past Tuesday. NO it's not a red-ring. Rather, it's a bad DVD-ROM drive. Just a few weeks ago, it just stopped reading discs to the point that maybe after 10 attempts I'd get a game or movie going. I already miss it and hope that I can finish something for another console (friggin Baten Kaitos!) before it comes back. I want to get back at Caprici Di Diablo!

Happy holidays!

Playing a little Rock Band 2...

2008-12-17T05:36:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, I was testing out my newly shipped guitar controller that actually was a replacement for a defective one. The guitar controller in question is from Guitar Hero World Tour; you know, the one with the touchpad on the neck. After playing a bit of World Tour with satisfying results, I decided to try out my newly downloaded (well, it's not exactly new since I got it about 2 weeks to a month ago) songs for Rock Band 2. I downloaded the Yngwie Malmsteen pack with songs from his new album (that I'm enjoying very much, thank you) and wanted to see just how hard Caprici Di Diablo is. It's a helluva song that just explodes with flurries of echoed guitar mayhem throughout, so I was expecting to fail within the first 2 seconds.

On my first try, I did get about 10% into the song! I was amazed at that because I simply didn't know the opening blitz of notes off-hand. I practiced for about 10 mins and just took a shot at the song again, still rusty. My results are in video form, below. 21%! Once I get better at the verse (where I failed) the song should be manageable, as it does slow down a bit before going back to the verse. By the way, the lovely lady in the framed photo is my fiancée.

PS I'm working on some holiday music to perform with the choirs at my church on Sunday. I'll post a video of a rendition of "Joy to the World" in a few days.

Dragonforce Live 11/25/08

2008-11-25T10:58:00.002-05:00

Updated 11/27/08

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dragonforce played at Irving Plaza two days ago. The show was amazing! These guys, if you don't know, have a history of playing live drunk as all hell and being out of tune, among other things. I went to this show a bit skeptical and thinking that it might not blow over so well. Boy, was I wrong; And thankfully so! Herman Li and Sam Totman were nuts; they knew their guitars so well that they could pretty much do their taxes while playing. They talked to each other, made funny faces, jumped around, ran around and interacted with the crowd (Herman crowdsurfed while playing a solo) to make things very entertaining while listening to music so fast, it could get a speeding ticket. ZP Theart sounded very good and there were many people who knew the words to the songs so he had a nice back-up from the crowd. Near the end of the show he was showing signs of fatigue but he sang well overall.

Vadim Pruzhanov was also very entertaining to watch. He pulled out a neon green keyboard ax-thingy (I have no idea what the real name of that thing is) and rushed stage-front to play solos alone or with the guitarists. He and Frederic Leclercq (the bass player) spent some time playing solos in the middle of the set. Only thing is, Fred was playing some killer lead guitar! I thought his multitalentedness was especially intriguing. The drums, played by Dave Mackintosh, were mindblowing. I really can't grasp how people can play so fast, precise and for such a long time! The set was 2 hours long and included many hits from their three most recent albums. They did an encore which comprised of "Valley of the Damned," the single off their first album, and "Through the Fire and Flames."

Images and videos abound below! Enjoy!

Dragonforce 11-25-08

Victory over the Fully Loaded KFC Guitar Hero Crossover Box of Food

2008-11-24T06:51:00.004-05:00

Achievement unlocked:

That's a lot of food!

Date: 11/19/2008

Sides: Corn on the Cob, Mac & Cheese. That certainly made consumption much easier!

I know it's been a few days but I've been lazy in sending this image from my cell phone to the blog.

Jetswatch - Week 12

2008-11-23T22:03:00.003-05:00

Oh my, what accomplishments have I to tell about the 2008 New York Jets! After a somewhat disappointing first few weeks and surprising losses (e.g. to the Raiders, WTF?), the members are starting to come together and show some real hunger. Victories over their division superiors - the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots - in weeks 9 and 11 have been only the prologue to their most recent achievements. Those would be week 12's dethroning of the Tennessee Titans from their undefeated status in an amazing (in my opinion) 34-13 win, tying for 2nd place in the AFC with the Pittsburgh Steelers and cementing a 1st place spot in the AFC East division. That pretty much all happened at the same time, too.

Brett Favre is certainly forming a fantastic connection with his receivers, in particular Lavernues Coles, resulting in stunning TD catches and some excellent short and long-range connections. Leon Washington is a joy to watch as he shuttles down the field, evading opposing tacklers. Thomas Jones is quite simply a tank, charging into the line and blasting through the pocket to make some yards or simply eat away at the clock. The Jet defense, while I can't really drop any names, is performing much better than many previous years that I've been watching the team. They're forcing fumbles, stopping drives and making interceptions. Sometimes, though, they let the opposing teams just run all over them and make quick points late in the game. Maybe they just get really tired after all that earlier ownage. Really, though, the attention is on the offense and their growing communication and utilization of their combined skills to get the ball down the field.

I'm feeling proud of the new Gang Green, and I hope their continued success brings them Super Bowl rings, or at least a spot in the big game. Oh, what the hell... to victory!

Me vs. The Guitar Hero Fully Loaded Box Meal

2008-11-12T05:35:00.012-05:00

Last night (actually Tuesday morning), after not eating anything the entire day I decided to grab some grub from KFC. Remembering the blog on Kotaku about the Guitar Hero meal, I decided to give it a whirl. As you can see, it's rated T for Teen. A healthy teen boy could certain make short work out of the meal which includes two original recipe strips, one dark meat piece (I received a Thigh), one KFC snacker (which is essentially half a strip with mayo and shredded lettuce on a teeny bun), a biscuit, two sides and a large soda. I have read that this box meal is "a lot of food" and from someone who eats quite a bit, I can somewhat agree.

Ready, set, GO!

Mind you, I ate nothing for probably 18 hours before eating this meal. My two sides were mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese - not too filling if I may say so myself but it's got some weight to it. My drink of choice was Dr Pepper, but I like a good Dew any time. I got about this far into the meal before finally calling it quits.

That's half a biscuit, half a strip, snacker bread and half of the mac and cheese. All very, very cold. Makes me a little sick just looking at this pic now (lol). I'm no fan of original recipe and I think I would have cleaned up if it were extra-crispy. I also didn't feel much like a guitar hero before, during or after the feast.

What do I rate this box meal? A hearty 7/10. I wish I had vegetables with this, but KFC isn't really known for its greens, yellows and reds. They were out of vegs that night, so maybe them greens are quite popular? Anyhow, would I buy this again? Sure, but I just wish they had it in extra crispy. Does this make me want to buy Guitar Hero World Tour? Nahh.

Yngwie Malmsteen Live 10/26/08

2008-10-26T16:45:00.003-04:00

Updated 10-29-08

Wow. Just, wow. I was blown away by the epic skills displayed by Yngwie Malmsteen Sunday night. Like a stark, raving mad man I howled my lungs dry as I marveled at the speed of his hands and the wail of his guitar as he powered through song after song. Energized by a quite mind-swaying mix of beer and liquor, I managed to shrug off four hours of sleep and the heat produced by the standing crowd to snap several not-so-great pictures (it was really dark and the lights heavily saturated the scene) and some pretty awesome (in my opinion) videos. Here, I will share these with you, so that you can take part in my witnessing of a man who 90% of guitar players (or more?) can't measure up to!

Yngwie Malmsteen 10-26-08

You may notice in the videos some utterly insane character screaming and possibly singing along with a song or two. That would be me; yes, I will be blushing each time you hear me go "Wooooo!" in each video.

Life, as it is, is good

2008-09-28T14:40:00.004-04:00

Working 13 days straight can be a nightmare if you do it once. If you're like me and have to do it until January, it's like the dream never ends. This would be the reason why I haven't made an update. The job isn't so bad - essentially I watch television shows to ensure good audio/video quality - so I can handle it. The sleeping isn't so regular since I'm working overnights and still want to have a regular life. Now on to the good stuff!

The band has a new drummer and we're working hard to get two singles out by the end of the year.

Death Magnetic is absolutely awesome. I tip my hat to Metallica and Rick Rubin for coming out with their hottest metal album in 12 years!

I'm all set to see Yngwie Malmsteen in October, Dragonforce in November and Metallica in January!

At the time of this writing, the NY Jets are owning the Arizona Cardinals (4 mins left in the 3rd Quarter) and are reaffirming my hope that Brett Favre will get the team somewhere this year. Unfortunately, the Cards are rallying in a comeback attempt that I believe will fail (score is now 34-15 Jets)

I'm going to be writing some more solos in the coming weeks and will have some video to present very soon; provided that I have enough energy, that is.

In Memory of the Events that Occurred on September 11, 2001

2008-09-11T08:21:00.007-04:00

Real fact: I could have been there when the towers were struck.

I used to work at 43 Park Place, a small building near the 2 and 3 train station of the same street name. It was located adjacent to a bar and a bit further down was Burlington Coat Factory. The World Trade Center was about three blocks away, give or take a street or two. I worked in web programming for a fashion news web site. Being that I was a college student, I didn't have to work every day; things revolved around my school schedule, naturally. This day, though, I was previously scheduled to come into work.

I'm not sure as to whether I was supposed to come in but called out or was told that I could work from home that day, but one of those reasons put me home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn instead of on the streets of lower Manhattan. I recall receiving a phone call shortly after the first tower hit from my mother, worried that I might have been there. I quickly turned on the television to see the second tower's impact and from there the story has been set in history.

This event did affect me like it affected many hard-working citizens of New York City and beyond who survived this tragedy. Thousands were without work and income while having to provide for themselves or loved ones. I managed to receive some aid from the Red Cross after a long, cold and lonely winter's night wait at a Chelsea pier to be one of the first in line. Things certainly have permanently changed for me as a result of this event and has for countless other people. My heart goes out to those who have lost and have suffered as a result of reckless and selfish individuals.

Many months later, I (and my singer, Tyrone) wrote a (heavy metal) song about our abstract feelings related to the event. It's called Diary of Disaster and for your ears only I will share our collective efforts with you. Special thanks go to the bass player of my old band, Rene, who laid down the bass line in this recording.

Only because not everyone has seen it...

2008-09-06T08:38:00.003-04:00

Here's a somewhat older (about a year older) video of me playing something that some consider pretty hard. This would be the fast solo near the end of Metallica's One, played excellently by a young Kirk Hammett. It's a tough solo to nail and I would say I did 98% well. I used to do this so much better when I was 18... /cries

Enjoy! Leave comments, dammit!

Cyanide + Day That Never Comes video

2008-09-02T18:50:00.003-04:00

I was really feeling this newly released "Taste of Death" from Metallica today. It's got a hot groove to it. I can definitely see this song competing with the latest from Mustaine & Co. The solo is nice and long; very bluesy with a great harmony line at the end. I could probably play it (lol) but that doesn't mean that it's not good.

Also on the Metallica site is their music video (or short film, as they say) for the song The Day That Never Comes. The point of the video slightly escapes me - it seemed to revolve around war in the middle east but the first half focused on a hardship and the second (I think?) focused on perceptions between soldiers and civilians. I like the quality of the presentation and the song definitely rocks for me now. The actual point though... confusing!

My Apocalypse

2008-08-26T19:07:00.001-04:00

Now this sounds more like the Metallica I know and love! Fast, heavy, brutal. I can see this weighing very heavily against Megadeth, only because this sounds more like it came straight out of the 80's. Very relieving; possibly classic even.

The Day That Never Comes

2008-08-24T18:39:00.002-04:00

If you're unfamiliar (as I was until last night), this is the name of the first Metallica demo. If you're interested, you can find it on Metallica's home page or on the radio. With every new Metallica song I listen to, I can't help but compare it to Megadeth's most recent effort, United Abominations in terms of speed and heaviness. So here are das impressions:

It's a damn near 8 minute song that, while a very good listen, just doesn't give me that blast to the past that was claimed by the band. It could just be that this song isn't super-fast, of course. It's a bit on the heavy side musically (later in the song) but every track on UA would trump this.
I was really hoping that the first single out of these guys was going to show up all the naysayers. I don't really see that it will have that effect. It sounds very St. Anger era but has the potential to be an awesome live song. Lots of clean, moderate guitar and a good vocal melody.
The last 2 minutes, as stated by many, are really great to listen to. I loved Kirk's solo and look forward to hearing some great stuff on the album. Harmonies rock too.
It could just be the sound quality (low) from the stream but the song itself seems to just lack in power. I'll peg it up to the low quality of the stream and make a final decision when the album releases.

All of this is from listening twice. On this second listen (which I am doing as I speak) it's doing a good job of growing on me. That certainly means a lot because there are really 3 kinds of songs to me: songs I instantly attach to, songs that grow on me, and songs I just can't stand. I'd rather the new Metallica songs be in that first category as just about all of their previous material has.

The NFL this year will be interesting...

2008-08-07T07:54:00.003-04:00

I will certainly be following the Jets for 2008-2009. Imagine the possibilities! Seriously!

So many things can happen with this team... actually, only three things:

* The Jets will win many games, making this trade mentioned in the link above a wonderful choice.
* The Jets will lose many games, making this trade mentioned in the link above a disasterous choice.
* The Jets will do much better than they have with Chad, but won't garner much attention.

It is August, and...

2008-08-01T10:30:00.004-04:00

Rock Band 2's a month away.
Summer's done in about 51 days (34 days unofficially).
I'm hitting vampire status (working overnights).
Metallica's new album, Death Magnetic, is a month away.
The Summer of Finishing Games is in full swing.
My guitar is still not fixed.
zOMG Too Human is actually going to come out this month! It's been in development for what, 10 years?
Leos are out of control. As of this writing, I count eight birthdays of family and friends to celebrate.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a month away.

That is all. It's time to save up some money, if that's even possible with the state of the economy!

Death Magnetic, and many more books...

2008-07-17T09:52:00.005-04:00

Is looking to be pretty good so far... just reading up on some stuff on their site missionmetallica.com and watching a few of the more recent videos with teeny-tiny samples of their work in progress. They've also got a load of old live stuff that is very fitting with my musical flavor of the month!

Guitar status - still haven't sent to the shop due to financial issues. I feel like buying another guitar but you know... financial issues! Que sera, sera.

My birthday's coming up! Sunday, it is. I hope that I can enjoy my birthday weekend in a relaxing and stress-free environment, with lots of fun attached!

Err, umm... my band still rocks. We're hastily working on getting our live thang together and I think we could actually have our first show next month. We have also a majority decision on a name, but I'm not sure if it's going to be official, so I won't drop it here.

That's about all I got for now. I hope to add an update before my birthday. With video.

UPDATE: Here's a video of me playing the solo I wrote for one of the band's new songs - Vuelo Letal!

New Occupation

2008-07-02T01:13:00.002-04:00

Hello all! I'm happy to say that I have found a new job! I'm working for Rainbow Network Communication as a Duplication and Quality Control Technician. The short of my job description is that I watch TV! The long of it is that I duplicate, quality check and archive television shows and movies so that when it's ready to show them on TV, they look and sound right. I also put pre-programmed closed captioning on the shows that don't have them and ensure that they match up properly after applying them. It's a wonderful learning experience for the past 2 days I've been working and I look forward to a long tenure here.

PS - I'll be getting my guitar fixed by next week, the latest! Videos will come soon!

Iron Maiden at MSG - Awesome show!

2008-06-16T12:46:00.003-04:00

Last night the band and I went to Madison Square Garden to see Iron Maiden perform (for the first time in 25 years, they say!) and it was one of the best and most energetic performances I've seen out of middle aged men. Ever.

They played songs from 1980 - 1989, although they cheated and played Fear of the Dark, from their 1992 album of the same name. All of the songs were great hits with the sold out crowd. I personally screamed by vocal chords weary and had a great time.

The pictures below are from the show. The camera died before the end of Powerslave, which was smack in the middle of the show. Basically if you were to loop these images another time, it would practically be the second half of the show anyway as there wasn't much else to see (except a great redux of the Eddie Sphinx and mummy from the Live After Death tour (circa 1984-85) and a monstrous cyborg Eddie (from the cover of Somewhere in Time - see below). Enjoy!

Steve Harris, the band's founder and kick-ass bass player, put his daughter on the stage as the opening act and while her group wasn't bad, it just wasn't something you'd see me listening to. I took a couple of pictures of that show (literally two, I think) just as test photos.

Iron Maiden at MSG 6/15/08

No videos for a while...

2008-06-06T22:08:00.002-04:00

I need to get my guitars set up. Basically once a year or so, guitars need to get their necks straightened and the heights of the strings fixed so that they can be played well. I don't think I set my guitars up last year. It will cost me a little bit but I'll at least do my Les Paul (the orange one in the vids) soon so that I can get back into sounding good when I practice.

5/30/08 - On traveling to Virginia - an Adventure

2008-06-01T16:17:00.007-04:00

I was to visit a benefactor of mine who provided a scholarship that damn near assumed half the cost of my full college tuition on Friday. The organization NACME provided the air transportation from Kennedy International (JFK) to Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) Airport and would pick me and the other scholarship recipients (past and present) up to travel to the home in McLean, Virginia by van. All those plans for me were dashed as the night before, my car's window regulator broke, leaving my window partially open. I couldn't leave my window in such a state over the weekend, much less during the day when I was in another state, so I took the car to the mechanic before I went to the airport.

I must admit that I had trouble waking up in time to comfortably make it to the airport for my flight, scheduled for 12:15PM. I work nights and must balance sleep and after-work activity. I did hope that I could squeeze in as I had no luggage and only a Zune and cellular phone to pass through the x-ray scanner. Unfortunately, I arrived at the check-in line at 11:55AM, putting me in front of a representative at about 12:03PM. Our conversation went something like this:

Delta Rep: "Hello, there!"
Me: "Hi!"
Delta Rep: "Where are you going?"
Me: "Going to Washington, D.C. ..."
Delta Rep looks at the Itinerary for a second
Delta Rep: "No you're not."
Me: "Uhwhat!?"
Delta Rep: "This flight has already boarded."
Me: "It's boarding?"
Delta Rep: "It's boarded."

I panicked for about 0.09135 seconds, then thought: "Well, I'll get there somehow. It will be a bit late, but I'll get there!" We managed to work out an alternate flight for no extra charge to Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport, leaving at 12:45PM and arriving at 2:00PM. It seemingly worked out for me because I was to land in DCA at 1:45PM and the Delta rep told me BWI was the closest airport, "not too far away from Reagan." The next flight to DCA was at 3:50PM which would land me at the time I'd have to be flying back. I promptly contacted the guy who was to pick us up at DCA but he didn't pick up; I left a voicemail during one of the six or seven hastily re-dialed attempts.

I decided that I wouldn't miss this substitute flight and just manage when I get to BWI. The flight was 40 minutes long - I couldn't even finish an Iron Maiden album (Somewhere in Time) before we touched down. I even thought they turned around and went back to JFK! After landing, I got in touch with him and determined that BWI was, in fact, too far from DCA to pick me up and make it to Virginia on time for the event. the solution was to get a van from BWI to take me to McLean. I never thought I'd be doing such interstate traveling but I just had to make it. Found a SuperShuttle, plopped fitty-five on the ol' CC and waited 20 minutes for it to arrive. An hour and 40 minutes and two passenger drop-offs later, I arrived in McLean.

During those 100 minutes I enjoyed the "sites" of Washington, D.C. - the street traffic, crazy cell-phone using drivers and long, narrow highways. I saw on one highway that there was a divider on which a train passed over; very cool! I also took a nap as I had very little sleep the morning of this trip. I was called several times to give updates on my trip; I felt really bad about being late and really thought that I was being a nuisance as a result of being in this circumstance. They at the home took it very well and were eagerly expecting me to arrive before the event ended.

When I arrived, there were two elderly ladies who had been on the van for longer than I (almost 3 hours) who commented that I had "rich friends." I let them know that they helped me get through college and promptly exited the van. I was pleasantly met at the door and finally united with my peers and members of the NACME team! (cue Final Fantasy battle fanfare music here)

I downed a hefty glass of merlot, discussed details of my trip and caught up with everyone while taking pictures. I felt kind of special when I arrived because of the very positive reaction to my appearance, and I thank everyone for their kindness. 20 minutes later, it was all over. We returned to DCA and flew back home (1 hour flight - seemed like 10 minutes).

Overall, I enjoyed my day and didn't really mind spending the extra money to get there. It was completely worth it. I enjoyed talking with everyone and had a great time!

Rough waters ahead

2008-05-26T15:34:00.003-04:00

I haven't spent much time practicing or doing anything really cool for the past week or so. Work's been very hectic over last week, I've been spending a lot of my free time outside the house and I just picked up a new game over the weekend.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a pretty fun game so far. It's a massively multiplayer online RPG (adventure game) set in the world now ruled by Conan (played in movies by the Governator formerly known as Arnold Schwarzenegger). It's similar to other games of this type where you run errands for people, kill monsters and the like. What makes this game unique is that battles are real-time. Instead of clicking on an enemy and waiting for your turn to attack, you press keys on the keyboard to slash downward and toward the left, right and center. Later, you can open up the ability to slash upward and left or right if your class allows it. It really makes the game more interactive and entertaining. Graphics are very purty and the inner workings of the game are pretty complex. I also like the world of Hyboria a lot, while not being a fan of the Conan series.

I should find some time to get some practice in and post some videos. Maybe I'll finish up the Phantom of the Opera cover and pretty it up. Just gotta learn the solos.

Stuff I did back in the day

2008-05-16T10:08:00.003-04:00

Dammit Matt! You're always making me steal ideas from you! After listening to your track, I decided to look through my old files and give a listen to some of the stuff I used to mess around with. Now I'd like to share that with all of you!

Here are a few things that I fooled around with, live and with MIDI.

First, here's a short orchestral track I wrote containing trumpets, violins, a viola, cellos, a tympani and a flute. This was inspired by the many beautiful scores written by Nobuo Uematsu, primarily known for his compositions used in the Final Fantasy games of the past. Written in March '02.

This one's an introduction to a concept song that I wrote in 1999 and would still like to publish. It's tentative title is "Crusade" and is based on a medieval fantasy land where a war is waged between an overworld kingdom and demons of the underworld. The drums and bass are MIDI and I recorded two guitars on this. The intro depicts a battlefield scenario - it feels very intense!

"2 Your Memory," a short song in remembrance of all those who have passed on to the next life, afterworld, or any place we believe our loved ones go to when life ends. Recorded with four guitars. If I ever record this song for real, it would be played with three guitars and a bass and drums. Kind of like the original MIDI, originally written by my best friend and I in 1998.

Finally, I've got a "controversial" track from 2005 called "I Am He (Messenger of Satan)." It's really just my take on songs from bands like Slayer, Mercyful Fate, Venom and what not. It's got a nice groove to it, I think. The ending is very Mercyful Fate-ish (<3 Hank Shermann). It's only recorded with MIDI drums and a guitar, but with bass this song would sound so much better! I also have some "funny" lyrics for this song.

Ah, memories.

Day 5

2008-05-13T03:23:00.006-04:00

On May 8, I did some practicing, but was unable to provide the videos taken due to the below PC upgrade. Below you can find a bit of sweeping I did at 100 BPM. I couldn't believe I did as well as I did!

I also did about 10 minutes of a jam along with the backing track that Matt of Genetically Different did earlier. It's on my cheap guitar because I was short on time and needed a guitar with standard tuning. I think my playing was pretty good, but could certainly be better and use a bit more variety. Here's a minute or so sample of the jam.

Welcome to the Limit

2008-05-11T13:48:00.003-04:00

Finally, after all these years, I got a new PC! I'd like to thank the US Government and it's President George W. Bush for funding the project. I'd also like to thank Paul Engemann, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte for producing the fine music I accompanied this video below. Enjoy the making of my new PC!

For those who can understand, here are my PC specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (3.2 GHz Dual Core)
eVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
2.0 GB DDR2-800 RAM (Kingston brand)
Sound Blaster X-Fi (Xtreme Fidelity) Xtreme Audio
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA2 Hard Drive
Lite On 20X DVD-RW drive
CoolerMaster Centurion+ 534 case with CoolerMaster 500W power supply

Day 4 (May 6) - A frustrating day

2008-05-08T13:41:00.005-04:00

I suppose it was due to a lack of time in practicing. I did have to go to work earlier and things just didn't work out with the guitar. Rest assured; the next video will be much better than this.

Practice from Day 3 (May 5)

2008-05-06T13:44:00.006-04:00

May 5 involved more sweeping exercises and I felt like I was doing a lot better... until I practiced today. I'll update the post with today's exercise in frustration after work. For now, feast your eyes on improvement!

...And half an Iron Maiden cover.

Snakes on a Band... Practice

2008-05-03T15:26:00.009-04:00

First thing's first. Practiced with the band yesterday, and came up with a new tune! Here's a clip:

Also, I managed to catch Snakes on a Plane and have time to watch the thing in almost its entirety - I missed the first 17 mins (boo hoo). My impressions and observations:

Note: Edited due to wanting to expand my audience (lol)

- A girl got bit on her nipple, much like a baby would attack a teat. Hilarious.
- An old lady got her eye bit off. Hilarious.
- This one woman went to barf into a bag and a snake jumped out and bit her tongue. Ultra-hilarious and unexpected!
- A man went to pee, got bit on the junk from a snake hiding under the rim of the toilet. He proceeded to bash his head on the mirror above the sink and wipe his bloody head on the wall as he died. Hella funny.
- This one cold-hearted businessman decided that to save everyone from a python (fell out of a light fixture), he'd throw this girl's annoying toy dog to it for lunch. After berating the old fogey, he said something like "It's just a dog! It would do the same thing to us!" Moments later, he was the python's dessert.

People who didn't die from snakes:
- This dude got trampled and a woman's high heel got lodged into his ear! Nasty and painful!
- People started getting impaled after falling off the stairs (stairs on a plane!?) when the banister broke off. This one guy got paled in the jugular! Raw! (lol)

Samuel L. Jackson said:
- "Well, that's good news - snakes on crack." After hearing about the snakes possibly aggro after being exposed to pheromones that women may be wearing.
- "Turn left! Turn this big mother****er left, Troy!" Yelling at Troy (played by Kenan of Kenan and Kel fame) when he had trouble stopping the plane after landing.
- "All praises to the Playstation!" After landing, thanks to Troy's flight sim game skills.
- Of course, there's the ever-famous: "Enough is enough! I've had it with these mother****in' snakes on this mother****in' plane!" That was said approximately 1 hour and 27 minutes into the movie.

One thing I didn't know about snakes: they can climb stairs! I'm not talking about any old stairs, but those that are disjointed, like spiral stairs. Let's just forget for a moment that these were CG snakes.

Finally, no black people (i.e. African-Americans who had lines in the movie) died! Is this a first for the horror genre?

What!?

2008-05-01T11:11:00.003-04:00

Footage from Practice days 1 and 2

2008-04-30T02:56:00.006-04:00

Feast your eyes and ears on the first and worst days of my advanced guitar skill training! This first video includes excerpts from my sweeping exercises that I learned from Rock Discipline (refer to post below for name-droppage). The actual notes played are chromatic in nature, meaning that the notes are theoretically right next to each other. Since I'm moving across the strings, I'm not playing notes that are exactly next to each other. It makes for a very boring sounding exercise, but it's always good to see where you came from. I can't wait to make this sound wild and crazy! I hope it doesn't take too long.

The next video is of an exercise also from Rock Discipline. It is a left-hand speed and accuracy exercise based on the fourth inversion of the A major scale. The lesson involves slowly fitting the notes into the spaces of the metronome as eighth notes (two per click), then moving to eighth note triplets (three per click) and sixteenth notes (four per click) which I do in the video. I started slowly, of course, and hope to dazzle by playing 16th notes as fast as 180 BPM. John Petrucci does them in 208 BPM in his video and it's absolutely mind blowing!

Still working...

2008-04-29T16:23:00.004-04:00

But I did some more practicing today. I worked on some sweeping and some speed and accuracy exercises. I'm using the John Petrucci - Rock Discipline DVD for exercises and little ditties to drill with. It's a fantastic video and worth every penny.

OK - I'll pick that name back up.

I'll upload some video tonight of me completely screwing up those exercises. I'll also post a compilation of my work from April 24, practice day #1.

Until then...

Birth

2008-04-27T17:09:00.000-04:00

I'm at work right now so I got nothin'. This will be the home of my guitar skill progression and any details on games that I choose to discuss! I will be posting videos of my daily practice in sweep picking, speed and accuracy training. I hope that my growth will serve as an inspiration for people of any age to improve on something they love to do!