Viva Hysteria, April 10, 2013

The Hard Rock Hotel, Resort and Casino,
including concert venue, The Joint,
Las Vegas, NV



My first overnight in Las Vegas was miserable.  It was one of those rooms where the temperature seemed impossible to regulate.  It was either Antarctica cold or pulsing out heat like a blast furnace.  If that wasn't bad enough, I'd been so worried about staying hydrated in nine percent humidity, (Nine!!) I'd had way too much water and was up every hour to pee.

Welcome to Las Vegas, indeed!

When I woke up at 4:30 Vegas time, I was a little peeved until I realized it was 7:30 at home.  But given the lack of rest I'd had, I stayed in bed and may have slept some, getting up about 7:30 or so.

After showering in the aesthetically beautiful, but poorly designed shower, I went in search of coffee.  The hotel was quiet, but not deserted by any means.  It was the perfect time to wander about and look at the exhibits.

Almost immediately, I found The Joint and its box office.  Duh.  It was right where everyone I'd asked, said it would be.  ((shaking my head and rolling my eyes))



The hall with the box office also contained a long display wall, the entirety of which was dedicated to the various awards--gold and platinum albums, vinyl, CDs and even cassette tapes--that had been earned by Def Leppard over the course of their career so far.  They had been donated or loaned by drummer, Rick Allen, and lead guitarist, Vivian Campbell.    (Sidenote:  While I waited alone in this hall for the box office to open, a man and a woman wandered in and began to look at the Def Leppard exhibit, perhaps casually.  On several other walls of the hall, they had displayed vintage--and I mean "vintage" tee shirts from all kinds of different concerts.  Clapton, Allman Brothers, The Cure, etc, etc.  It was fascinating.  Some of them were like, forty years old.  So cool.

At the far end, away from me, I heard the woman say, and honestly, I thought my head would explode--"I wonder who the woman is?"  I wanted to scream at her--I wanted to SCREAM at her--"Vivian Campbell is a MAN!" [Oh, and my God, he is ALL man!]  "And one of the most incredible guitar players on the face of the earth."  Dumbasses!  Okay, I'm taking a deep breath here.) 

Backing up, timewise--still early, still coffee time, in the hall, being blown away by the incredible, major awards these guys have racked up over the years and wondering why American radio abandoned them so completely throughout most of the 90's (yeah, yeah, grunge and all that--really?  Is that really rock and roll?  [ahem] No! Again, Corporate America rules and brainwashes its subjects.  Sorry, I get carried away on tangents.  If you know me--you know me.  If you don't, much as I love you, get used to it.  You never know where it might lead.)

Anyway, before all that--when I wandered into the hall the first time--there was another woman already in the hall, taking pictures of individual pieces of the display and, of course, we struck up a conversation.  Her name is Sarah and she was from Indiana, also on her own, sent by her hubs.  I'd say we got a couple of winners, all in all, eh?

She'd had a baby seven months ago and her hubs knew she wanted to go to the show--didn't we all--and he bought her the Meet and Greet package!  She was so excited!  She's only thirty and could not believe I had never seen Def Leppard in concert.  She's seen them, like fourteen times now.  Wow!!  (I'm not sure if we discussed Eric Johnson or not.  It was early.  Seeing as how I've seen him in concert about twenty+ times--well, you know.  But he's played in places I've been or have had four to six hour access to.  The DL summer date in Charlotte, 2012 doesn't count.  I was completely indisposed for anything during that time.

So, we got to know each other and hung around together all morning and afternoon, getting more coffee and a muffin or whatever, taking in all the Def Leppard exhibits and others.  We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the Culinary Dropout, but then she had to get ready for her Meet and Greet and I wanted to go to the Bellagio for the Dale Chihuly glass atrium in the conservatory and to Caesar's Palace for Rick Allen's "Electric Hand" exhibit at the Martin Lawrence Galleries there.  Wow!!

Rick Allen's
Electric Hand Exhibit
Martin Lawrence Galleries
Las Vegas.

Okay, this is long already.  Here are a couple of pictures.  Please stay with me.  There's more to come.

Chihuly Glass Atrium at
The Bellagio
Las Vegas



Happy Birthday to Me!

 

Rick Savage

Previously:  Some sort of Bold took over me.  Sounds like a song lyric, doesn't it?  I approached Rick Savage, the extremely talented bassist for Def Leppard and showed him my pick necklace.

At that point, I left him to his conversation and talked to the woman, Nancy, at the bar.  We got along fine, she didn't think I was creepy and I joined her. 

During our second glass of wine--a very nice Petite Syrah--I wondered if I could get a picture with Sav, since I had my iPod in my pocket.

He politely declined for the moment, as he was deep in conversation with his companion, but perhaps when they finished.

I accepted that graciously (I hope) because really, I know they must get tired of being approached by strangers.  Didn't I recently finish a novel that deals with just this sort of thing?  Yes. 

So I returned to the bar where Nancy and I continued to converse.  A company of three, to whom she had been talking before, were on the other side of her and they were a lot of fun.  As they were leaving, Nancy told them I was on my own, and it was my birthday.  One of the three was having her birthday as well, and none of us were exactly reticent about it--right in front of Sav. 

But I did have the sense to sit with my back to him and I didn't turn around to look at him while talking with Nancy.  He could've easily slipped out and I wouldn't have known.  I almost expected it, and I wouldn't have thought any less of him.  I may have been disappointed, but such is life, eh?

My conversation with Nancy covered many different subjects including dogs, pets in general, husbands and aging parents among other things. 

Imagine my surprise when a touch on the shoulder revealed Sav's companion who said, "Let's do this thing, but discreetly."

Wow!  We went into an adjacent, but unpopulated area and Sav's friend took two pictures with my iPod.  I wanted to squeal and jump for joy, but I didn't.  For once, I didn't become a victim of my unbridled enthusiasm, a la Billy Mumfrey.

"Do me a favor, will you?" Sav asked me.

Anything, I wanted to say, but "Sure," came out of my mouth.

"Keep this to yourself, okay?  I don't want to see it on Facebook."

Being a part of the Lepp Nation on Facebook, I certainly understood that.  I told him I hadn't even been able to connect with the Internet from my room and he was glad to hear it.  So, he didn't actually ask me to promise I wouldn't, but to me, it was a promise and I will not post the picture on Facebook.  I won't post it here, either, because inevitably it will find its way to Facebook.

(Sidenote:  One of my friends used his Photoshop to exchange the original background of the pictures with a picture of Def Leppard onstage, making it look like Sav and I are standing in front of the stage.  My friend didn't know about the promise and it was on Facebook for about an hour before I saw it and panicked.  He took it down when I called him.  *grin*  He did a great job though, and an 8X10 print of it will look fantastic in the stairwell going up to the gameroom, next to the one of me and Eric Johnson in 2005.  That was another smile I held onto for weeks afterward.)

Eric Johnson and me
2005




Vegas, Baby!

Elevator door at the
Hard Rock Hotel in
Las Vegas, NV

Previously:  I got to Vegas on my birthday and began to explore the hotel. Without the meet and greet package, I knew I wouldn't see any of the band members except onstage.  But really, I told myself I would be happy to share the same building with them for a couple of hours.

My body told me it was past time to have supper, and having had only a salad for lunch, albeit a very nice salad, at Chicago Midway, I was hungry.  The map of the hotel was fairly useless to anyone over forty, as the names of things were printed in teeny-tiny letters and I probably should, but don't carry a magnifying glass around with me as a general rule.

And, I wanted to find the box office right away to pick up my ticket.  How exciting!  My first Def Leppard concert--ever.  I wanted to physically hold the ticket.  On the elevator down, I figured out the "casino" floor was the first floor and, surprisingly, I didn't get too lost, too often.

But man, I could not find that box office.  And you know me, I asked for directions.  Like, twice.  Jimmy Buffett would've said, "It plum evaded me."

I did, however, find the Hard Rock Store and saw they had some of Claire Jane Vranian's shirts, as worn by Joe Elliott onstage.  Check out her website, www.ICJUK.com or on Zappos at http://www.zappos.com/inspired-by-claire-jane.  They also had some of her incredible feathered rock and roll handbags.  I looked around but I left empty-handed 'cause I needed to eat.

Right next to the store is a restaurant/bar called "Culinary Dropout" (www.hardrockhotel.com/las-vegas.../culinary-dropout ) and it looked like a fun place, even at the early Las Vegas hour.  I went in and sat at the bar.  I ordered a glass of wine and hoped to strike up a conversation with someone other than the bartenders.  Not that they weren't a lot of fun, 'cause they were, but you know.  They get busy.

Presently, I noticed a woman who I thought was sitting alone and sort of kept my eye on her, in what I hope was not a creepy way.  Hahaha!!  (I'm cracking myself up, as I have everyone else to whom I've told this.)  Really, I just wanted to see if a companion showed up to join her.  None did, and when she ordered another glass of wine, I got up to see if we might hit it off.

I had been sitting beside a large square, cement-like column, of sorts, so I had an obstructed view of the long table behind it.  When I walked around the column, I got the shock of a lifetime.  In one of those seats obstructed from my view was Rick Savage, bass player extraordinaire of Def Leppard!  He was having a conversation and a pint with another guy.  Afterwards, I had the thought that this other man was someone important to the tour, but at the time, I was basically unconscious, so he'll have to forgive me.



Rick Savage, bass player
extraordinaire for
Def Leppard

Honestly, I hope I didn't gasp and drop my jaw, but I can't swear to it.  I had on my Hysteria pick necklace and just dropped by their table quickly to point it out.  I can't even believe I did that!

"See what I'm wearing?" I asked Sav.

It took him a couple seconds, but then he recognized it and smiled.  Fortunately my feet and legs held me up. 

"Are you coming to the show tomorrow?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah.  That's what I'm here for," I answered.

"Fantastic," he said.

Stay with me,
there's more

 

Mary O, Vegas Virgin

Ded Flatbird, Def Leppard's
"opening" band in Las Vegas
2013

Man, what a trip!  I can't even believe I went to Las Vegas by myself.  I literally, (yes, Sheldon, literally) lost sleep trying to decide whether to go or not.  I had tons of encouragement, but it was my brother, Jim Ogden, who decided it for me.  He said, "If you don't go, you'll regret it."  And I knew it was true.

Here's the story.

When the announcement came out last November that Def Leppard would be doing a residency at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, I was so excited!  Excited until I realized I didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of attending.  Not only had I never been to Las Vegas, I had never been to a Def Leppard concert in thirty years of fandom.  They were in Charlotte in June (? I think) of 2012, but we were sort of indisposed during that time, and I couldn't even think of going.

Oh, and then the excitement began to build within the Lepp Nation online.  The mania of Viva Hysteria hit Facebook, Rock Brigade Fan Forum, plus the myriad of other Lepp pages.

I became more and more melancholy with each new posting of someone getting their tickets.  It seemed as if no one was getting a regular ticket.  It seemed like they were all able to afford $750.00 per ticket for the "meet and greet" with the band.  Or, they could afford one M&G plus several other regular tickets for multiple nights.  WTH?

Color me sad.  And the more I talked about it, the less likely it seemed that I would get a chance to go.  Christmas came and went.  No tickets in my stocking. 

The new year began the online countdown to March 22nd, the date of the first show.  Color me depressed.  As the date approached, as well as my birthday, the more despondant I became.

Hubs noticed.

And finally I brought it to him.  Keep in mind, this was after I had repeatedly told him "I didn't expect to go."  I mean, airfare from Charleston, hotel, ticket--even a regular one--not to mention merchandise, of which, if I got to go, I planned on purchasing a LOT--would probably run upwards of $1000-$1200--in the middle of the "sequester" scare.  So I hadn't seen any possibility.  However, we talked about it and it came to pass. 

Wha-a-a-a-t?!  Hubs would not get to come with me because of work, but he wanted to see me happy, so I started planning.  Yes, I know I have a great husband.

My review of the concert, beyond the adjectives "awesome," fantastic" and "loved it!" will be in a separate blog.  You guys know I rock hard, right?  Just checking.

So I gathered my courage over travelling alone to a place I'd never been--a BIG obstacle--and arrived in Sin City and the Hard Rock Hotel, on my birthday about four o'clock.  The excitement had worn me out somewhat, but I was pretty wound up.  I called home to let Hubs know I'd made it and then put on my exploring shoes, so to speak.

Stay tuned

"The Guitarist"

Vivian Campbell of
Def Leppard

As you may or may not have noticed, this blog is morphing into less about me taking guitar lessons and more about me writing and learning about guitarists.  I finished the first-ish draft of my novel, "The Guitarist" on Valentine's Day.  I actually finished it a day or so earlier, but couldn't quite say goodbye to it, so I waited till February 14th to write "The End."  Silly girl.  The first draft logline is "Famous guitarist finds love and family despite his troubled past ."  I can start the first round of revisions on April 14th.

Several people on Facebook said it would be okay to write a sequel.  I was like, eh, I don't know.  I had an idea (thank you, muse) for another story, this one about a singer.  No, it's not called "The Singer."  I started that one and, thank goodness musicians hang out with other musicians, because my guitarist and his girl, and several other characters from other stories are making an appearance.  I like their world.

Sean Ashe

I finally got a Twitter account-- @maryfersner --and found some incredible young guitar players.  Well, one found me and I found others through him.  The first one is Sean Ashe, shredder extraordinaire.  Find him at www.SeanAsheGuitar.com and www.Youtube.com/SeanAsheOfficial.  He actually makes music.  It's not just going fast, there's melody involved.  Essential in my book.  And some gig Sean's got too.  Guitar manufacturers send him guitars to demo.  I mean, c'mon!



Martin Miller

Sean turned me onto a German guitarist, Martin Miller who can be found at www.martinmillerguitar.com and I bought his full-length cd called, "The Other End."  Wow.  Part shred, a la Satch, part jazz guitar, part sweetness and part "tearin' the roof off the emeffer," yet tied together being all Martin.  Check it out.  I've got it on my "Writing Music" playlist, so that says something.

Okay, finally, because this is starting to get long and you know how I can go on.  Hahaha!!  So for my birthday, and seeing them for the first time ever, I'm going to Las Vegas to see Def Leppard in their Viva Hysteria residency at Hard Rock's The Joint!  I'm so psyched!  I've been a fan for decades, but seeing them in concert is so gonna ROCK!!  Oh, yeah.  www.defleppard.com

Def Leppard
Hysteria Album Cover

Recording Studio

Okay, so this was written in December of 2012.  Not that long ago, so I'm putting it up.  I'll get you caught up on what's been happening in 2013 in the next one.  Thanks for you patience:

I had a great time this morning with Ed Blanton of Encore Music in Mt. Pleasant.  I had stopped into his shop a couple weeks ago to check it out and purchase my nephew, Conner Fersner's, Christmas present.  When I got there, I noticed there was a recording studio associated with the shop, but when I got in there, I got too busy talking to him, the other clerk, checking out the stuff they had, etc. to remember to ask about the studio.  But I went back the next week and we made an appointment for me to take the tour.

What fun.  I felt like if there was going to be a recording studio in The Guitarist, I should probably have stepped foot in one in my lifetime, eh? 

Anyway, the Encore studio is not a big place, but it's big enough to get a good idea of what goes on and how it works.  They do strictly digital recording there with a computer but as Ed and I talked, he was able to tell me quite a bit about the history of guitars and recording.  I evidently know what an analog sound board looks like, so I'm good. 

I had several questions and came up with more as we talked which he answered willingly and with a smile.  He didn't act like I was bothering him too much, so I'll take it.  And he said I could call anytime with other questions that might come up.  I'm sure they will.

So if you're looking for anything in the musical instrument or performing departments check out Encore Music.  Also, my guitar teacher, John Smith, Jr. who has been mentioned in this blog before is teaching there now.  So that's a plus, obviously.

Well, here we are.  It's about a year since I hurt my shoulder the FIRST time and had to give up playing for a while.  I never really got back to it through the holidays and then the Year of Guitar was over.  AND I hurt my shoulder again, plus . . . other happenings in our house and I'm finally picking up my beautiful red pet that I love so much.  I'm still not very good, but I'm still trying and I haven't forgotten everything I learned.  My calluses are back in pretty good shape and my muscles are back up to power chords again.  Whew!  That one hurt for a couple days.

But my main news is I started a novel in April or May that I'm calling "The Guitarist."  It started out as a stress reliever for some of those previously mentioned "other happenings," but I'm getting good feedback about it and currently have over 72,000 words, so that's exciting.  My guitarist is not based on any one person for which I'm quite proud and although I've gotten a lot of inspiration from the lyrics of some Def Leppard songs, none of my characters are based on any of their members.  Man, they do rock though!

Obviously, the book is about rock and roll with some romance, mystery and action thrown in.  I'm having a blast writing it!  I just hope my muse stays with me till the end.  I believe he will!

New Lessons, New Amp, New Post

I'm amped for my new amp.
Vox 4W Class A Tube Amp.
Lovin' it! 

I just love sayin' it!  "Four watt, Class A tube amp."  Sounds like I know what I'm doing, doesn't it?  Hahaha!

For our 19th anniversary, Jeff came through on his promise to buy me a new amp.  He's such a good guy!  I became more and more disenchanted with the Peavey Blazer the more I played on it.  My teacher John, played around with it when I took it in with me and he concluded it was just a cheap amp.  Being as how it was ten years old in September, that doesn't surprise me.  We spent a good deal of money on the guitar and at that time knew even less about amps than we know today.  But the Blazer wasn't giving me consistent sound and it has too many knobs for somebody like me.  The one good thing about the Blazer is that it has a "headphone" connection that the Vox does not have.  Sometimes those headphones comes in handy.

So Jeff and I headed up to Hanahan to see Michael Davis at Ye Olde Music shop.  www.yeoldemusicshop.com   John had told me what a nice guy he was and that to get what you really want, that's the place to go in the Chucktown area.  Michael knew exactly what I was looking for and though he had to order it, I got it in a few days for a great price.  He even threw in a DVD lesson and some picks!  He's got some nice guitars up there.  (pant-pant-drool)  But he's right--I've already got a nice guitar!

So now I'm set, right?   I've been studying major and minor scales, trying to pick them faster, all with the intent of teaching me how to play lead guitar.  John and I tried this a while ago, but I'm just not hearing it.  And I told John so.  "That's okay," he said.  "I didn't expect you to, yet.  You will, though.  In time."

(sigh)  All right.  Whatever.  He's trying so hard to make a "real" musician out of me.

In the meantime, I watched Michael's DVD lesson and he had some pretty good tips on rhythm, stated in a way that made sense to me.  You may remember that's one of my weak spots.  And he taught a section of "finger picking."  One of the songs was "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas.  Man, I just did not get it!  I asked him about it when I went to pick up the amp and he wrote it down for me.  It sounds so pretty, and it's one of the goals I had set out to master, but it "plum eluded me," as Jed Clampett would say.

I started taking hour-long lessons in September.  John and I talked about the new amp (which I took in to show him the next week--he loved it!) and that brought the conversation around to Michael, the shop and the DVD lesson.  So we went directly into a lesson on finger picking with an exercise to practice.  That gave me a better chance of success because there was no hint of "Dust in the Wind" in what I was doing to Michael's lesson.  Hahaha!!  Sorry, dude.  Hahahaha!!

Eventually I got it and with a little warm-up, I can play it pretty well.  And isn't that what's been happening all year?  I think John's completely over-reaching my skill level and voila!  On the third day or so of practice, I start getting it.  It's encouraging.

For now, during breaks in the picking lesson, I continue practicing all my songs.  I have a great time with AC/DC's "Hell's Bells"--that's so much fun--and Eric Clapton's "Cocaine."  I easily get the chords on "Cocaine" but I still lack any filler skills.  As in, chunka-chunka.

Gotta love the chunka-chunka!

Bending Lead

I think I've mentioned the pentatonic scales.  If you want a definition, you'll have to look it up.  But I have been practicing them and though I'm not very fast I've gotten some faster.  More importantly, however, is practicing the down and up string strum technique.

Stringstrumstringstrumstringstrum.  Hahaha!!  That's hard to say.

Anyway, John wanted me to practice listening to the relationship between the notes so he could start teaching me "lead."  Now, the nephew Conner, achieves this seemingly without effort.  He's all up and down the scales, bending strings and filling in the blanks with good licks.  Me?  Not so much.  Again, I will attribute this to the difference between a "musician" (that would be Conner) and a "technician" (that would be me.)

Eric Johnson

Knowing what a fan of Eric Johnson I am, John told me that he plays a lot of his leads in these scales so that afternoon as I chopped vegetables with the stereo on in the background I was able to hear EJ playing lead within those scales and I thought, Cool.  It's sort of the way a writer begins to read differently because they're not only reading the story, they are also able to pick out particularly good or bad writing.

I recorded myself playing a blues phrase over and over and then played it back to practice lead scales on, but I didn't feel I was very successful and honestly, the whole idea doesn't interest me that much to begin with.  I'll leave that to the true musicians.  I can bend strings pretty well, but my rhythm-deficiency limits my success with that too.

I am, however, making some progress with "Johnny B. Goode."  The epiphany I had while writing a previous post of this blog related to the string-strum method mentioned above.  The last three notes of the second bar (and the same phrase thereafter) were being executed neither with rhythm nor skill.  And then I realized I should be strumming down and up instead of just down.  It's made a lot of difference.  I'm still not very good at it, but it's coming along.

Chuck Berry

I also changed picks for "Johnny B. Goode."  I looked for my Joe Bonamassa picks because I knew they were small and heavy but I only found one.  WTH?  I know I gave Conner some, but did I have to give him nearly all of them?  Sheesh!

New Chords with Jimi and Duane

Jimi Hendrix

Okay, so now I'm gonna go back and pick up some of the stuff I skipped.  There were some interesting lessons in there--chords I not only didn't know, but a few of which I wasn't sure my fingers would perform for me.  As with all the other things I've learned along the way, practice proved to be helpful.  Duh.

These lessons brought me a new chord that looks difficult but one I managed to learn quickly.  Turns out, this was one of Jimi Hendrix's go-to chords.  If you think of "Purple Haze" or "Foxy Lady," you'll know which chord I mean.  It is E7#9 and I thought it would take me forever to be able to get it, but I haven't found it that hard--thank goodness.  However, since I've only learned that lick in "Purple Haze," I can't say I wouldn't find a different chord change to it more formidable in another song.

Duane Allman

When I played it for John the next lesson, he said, "Good.  Now remember just what you did there and apply it in this week's song.  How about "Melissa" by the Allman Brothers?"

Well, who doesn't like that song?  I mean, what a great song, right?  There were several chords in this song that were new to me, but I was up to the challenge.  There were two new E-shaped chords with odd (to me) fingering, two new barre chords, a chord I'd played before but didn't know the name of, and B7, the relative (finger-wise) of E7#9.

So, "Melissa."  John wrote out the whole song and I do alright with it, but the chord changes between the A and the Bm trip me up as does the change between the Cmaj7 and the B7.  I'll keep working on it.  It really is a great song.
The following lesson we changed direction and he showed me a technique I had watched guitarists do and thought, How do they do that?  This is where they use their thumb to press the 6th string (See John?  I do listen.) while playing a chord with the other fingers of the left hand.  Eric Clapton's "Lay Down, Sally" is the one I got for this and if I can keep from overthinking it to get ahead of myself I'm not doing too badly.  And let's face it, it's a fun song to play.

Eric Clapton, early days

P.S   If this posting looks funny and not quite right, you'll have to forgive me.  It looks totally different in "edit mode" than it does in "preview."  Too many pictures, I know, but whaddaya gonna do?  As usual, I totally don't know what I'm doing here.  D'Oh!

"Dirty Movies" and DADGAD

Well, it hasn't been quite two months since my last post, but a lot has been going on and I'm going to skip over some stuff.  Actually, not all that much has been going on.  I often find myself in a heat-induced coma after I walk the dogs.  I wake up to find myself on Facebook playing a mindless game as the hours tick by.

I'm still taking guitar lessons and still having fun with it, though I admit I'm not practicing enough.  When I first started, I made it a point to practice at least an hour a day.  Sometimes I got in more, sometimes a little less.  Mostly, pretty close to an hour on-the-dot.  Now when I practice, I still strive for that hour, but there are some weeks that I only practice five days.  I think I had one week where I only practiced four days.  That's not gonna get me anywhere.  And I might as well quit paying someone to teach me if I'm not willing to put the work in.

But I am still having fun.  Learning new songs.  Learned a bunch of Zeppelin which is way fun--"Whole Lotta Love," "Heartbreaker" and "Livin' Lovin' Maid."  Now we're studying alternate tunings and I got "Kashmir."  It's in DADGAD.  When John showed it to me, he said, "Man, I could play this all day."  And now I see why.  I swear this song is addictive.  It's not all that hard to play, (once you practice it a while) but it is hard to stop. 

And I must move on.  The next week (that would be last week) we went to Drop D tuning which is DADGBE.  The song is a deep cut from Van Halen's Fair Warning album called "Dirty Movies."  I thought I might have the song on the Best of Both Worlds CD, but it's not there.  I knew, however, that I had the vinyl.  So I pulled it out, uncovered the turntable and played it.  It didn't sound anything like what John had played.  Certainly not anything like what I was coming up with from what he'd written in my practice book.  Oy.  "Mean Streets" sounded more like what I was playing and of course, I told him that at my lesson this week.

He was like, "No, this is "Dirty Movies.  Listen to it again."
Van Halen's "Dirty Movies" played by some guy on YouTube. The part I'm learning starts at about 1:10.


So I did.  Over and over, until I finally thought I maybe heard it.  That sounds convincing, doesn't it?  The truth is, I could hear part of the riff, but the main part eluded me.  I couldn't get the rhythm of it and just couldn't hear it through the vocals.  I tried to tape it on my digital recorder, but I sure couldn't hear it any better with its sorry sound.

So I had lunch.  I must've needed the nourishment because as I ate, the thought occurred to me that I might be able to find a video on YouTube and actually see EVH playing the song.  Well, you know, (shrug) I thought that might help.  And there were videos of the song.  (Turns out there aren't any videos of Eddie Van Halen playing the song, but check out the link above.)

But I didn't click on them.

Because--and thank you Google search--there were actual lessons posted on YouTube for this very song!  The one I clicked on was by a guy named Doug Steele who seems way cool, into metal and goes slow enough that even an old broad like me can catch on to what he's doing.

Now, he teaches most of the whole song and I'm only learning the main riff at this time, so I brought my little recorder and "taped" several loops of it in order to be able to listen to it in my practice room.  Man, what a help it's been.  I've been able to get the rhythm better and figure out fingering to get me ahead.

Which brings me back to practice time. 

Have I mentioned that John wants me to perform onstage at the Windjammer in the Autumn Showcase? 

I may not have.  I don't want anyone to get their hopes up.  A funnier comedy show, I cannot imagine. 

I told him "no way" right off the bat, but of course, he blew smoke up my . . . (ahem) butt till I started to consider it.  The song--Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."  I've got the blues part down, no problem, but that first riff--while it's not the hardest thing I've ever tackled--it's sure not the easiest either. 

Huh.  I think I just thought of something that might make it a little easier.  I'll have to try it out later. 

But I digress.

So this week, I've started putting in some extra practice time.  I've had to in order to get this Van Halen song.  And in the meantime I've been working on "Johnny B. Goode" as well.  Guess what?  Yes, I'm getting it a little better too.

I'm not saying I'm definitely going onstage at the showcase, but if I step up my practice time and then decide to, it will only be my nerves screwing up my fingers. 

Horses and Harmonics

Souvenir guitar from
Virginia Beach

John introduced me to the pentatonic scale--Gm and A (or is it Am?) to be specific.  This takes a good deal of coordination just to play it as in "scale exercises," nevermind trying to improvise a lead phrase of my own.  So one night during practice, my husband asks, "What's  that you're playing?  It sounds like 'My Girl.'"  Yes, that's right.  The Temptations song from 1964.  I was like, "What?"  I couldn't think of anything I'd practiced that sounded like "My Girl."  I kept trying to hear it, but as far as I could tell, it wasn't there.  I asked John about it at my next lesson and he showed me the phrase I was listening for.  Okay, maybe I could see how they were related.  And now I can play it for my husband.  He's my biggest supporter.  (:grin:)

I continued (and continue) to practice "Funk 49" and scales.  Then John added in harmonics and the galloping horse sound, as in the beginning of Heart's "Barracuda."  Admit it, you can hear it in your head right now!  He was pleased that I even knew what he meant by "harmonics" and I think he's been pleased with my execution of them, but the galloping horse sound was a bit more difficult for me to master.

Now, I know all you real guitar players out there are probably laughing out loud at my clumsiness, and I felt like an idiot trying to get my small, heavy pick to do this.  I thought, Hmm . . . maybe I need a more flexible pick.  I looked through my pick dish and found a nice, medium Fender pick that I've had forever and  -- voila! -- there it was!  Yea!  John told me I'd have to use one pick or the other, though.  I couldn't be changing picks out to suit the song.  I'm back to a heavy pick, but it's larger than the original one.  Hahaha!!  You should've seen the look on his face when I reached into my pocket for the other pick. 

The next stop on the harmonics train was the first few bars of "Roundabout" by Yes.  It's mostly recognizable when I play it and I'm proud of the harmonics work but, as usual, my rhythm execution leaves much to be desired. (sigh)

We all know what the musician says when asked how to get to Carnegie Hall . . .

Next up:  New chords, "Purple Haze" and "Melissa."

The Year of Guitar Continues

Conner's picture in the frame
Gayle gave me.

OMG!  I knew it had been a long time since I blogged, but sheesh!  Two months?!  It’s actually been a pretty productive year so far.  Not in writing, of course, but in other things.  I did submit “Douglas Decides” to The Petigru Review, but I haven’t heard whether or not they accepted it.  They extended the deadline after I rushed to get it in on time, but that’s okay.  I needed the push.

And it's not like there hasn't been anything else going on.  I'm still practicing "Funk 49" but haven't quite gotten it yet, so we've moved on to pentatonic scales, harmonics and lead exercises among other things.  John says I’m doing pretty well.  I think I’m doing okay as long as I practice, which I mostly do.  I talked to Joey (brother-in-law and Conner's dad) recently and I guess he finally went back to lessons, which he’d been going to sporadically at best.  It seems John is teaching us the same thing right now and Joe was like, “Yeah, but I’ve been taking lessons a year longer than you have!”  Hey.  What can I say?

For my birthday in April I got a bunch of really cool guitar-related stuff.  My friend, Gayle gave me that great picture frame (shown above) and I finally put Conner's picture in it.  I thought about inserting my own picture, holding my guitar of course, but nobody really wants to see that, eh?  Hahaha!!

Jeff's co-worker, fellow West Virginian and our friend, Lisa loaded me up on guitar gifts!  The book to the left is Guitar Trivia by Michael Heatley.  Really fun book with a lot of information, not only about famous guitarists, but also about guitars and amps.  From this book I learned the difference between single coil pickups (like John's studio guitar) and humbuckers, like mine. This led to one lesson getting somewhat off-track as we discussed pickups.  In another lesson we discussed amps.

Lisa also gave me this book, Guitar Gods (Consulting Editor [whatever that means], Rusty Cutchin, with forward by Mick Taylor).  I haven't gotten into this one yet except to make sure Eric Johnson was well represented--which he is--as he was only mentioned once in Guitar Trivia.  But it looks really good and I know I'll enjoy it as well.  All of this plus Lisa went to the trouble of making a gift bag by taking a solid red (how did she know?) gift bag and glued pictures from guitar magazines on it.  I was like, "Oh my God!"  It was a really good birthday and I know I've forgotten some other things Lisa brought although she did turn me onto Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat beer which is really tasty stuff. 

Joe and Conner did not give me a guitar related birthday gift, but I found a cool SG mouse pad at Shem Creek Music and I tell myself that if Joe had been paying attention, that's what he would have gotten me.  I desperately needed a new mouse pad.  I'm glad I waited.

Actually, I've learned so much--or at least have covered so much material in the last couple of months, I'm going to split up the blog posts so that none of them are too long.  (Thanks to Dave Moulton for that advice!davesbikeblog.squarespace.com/ )

Girls Rock!

As usual, it's been a busy couple of weeks.  Went to two concerts, been dealing with this crazy, destructive dog, and learning a bunch of great new stuff on guitar.

Cool stage design at Prince concert
Get it?

 I went with a friend, my nephew and brother-in-law to see Prince and his crew at the North Charleston Coliseum on March 30th.  What a great show!  I had never been that big a Prince fan even though I know some of his music from the radio.  But there's no denying his showmanship.  Lalah Hathaway opened the show with her voice as smooth as silk and after a short intermission the Welcome 2 America tour got underway.  The Post and Courier said there were over 10,000 people there and I believe it.  Not only that, but nearly all of us were on our feet the entire time.  It was an expensive ticket, but well worth it!



Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi

 On April 5, Derek Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi came to the Charleston Music Hall downtown.  Wow!  Another great concert albeit of a totally different type.  Derek works the slide on his Gibson as well as Duane Allman ever did--some say better.  And Susan, proving she has chops of her own on her turquoise Fender Strat, sang with a voice which was rich, rough and raw, whatever the song called for.  I was not expecting the band to consist of so many members, but the stage was full of veteran musicians who were also characters in their own right.  A full horn section really surprised me, as well as two drummers, a keyboard player and two backup singers.  All of them were crazy-good!  If any audience member left disappointed, it was their own fault.  Great show, great venue.

Girls Rock!
On to my own guitar adventures.  I was really excited when John gave me the intro to Boston's "More Than a Feeling."  I figured if I could do the intro to "Bristol Shores," I could do this one too.  And I have.  Thanks to some advice from the nephew.  I was having some trouble transitioning back to the beginning of the phrase and he told me not to move my third finger.  Oh!  Duh!  It made all the difference.

I also got Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" which includes a "pull-off," a technique I'd never done before.  But it wasn't difficult and I mastered the first part easily.  The concept of the second one confounded me a little but I finally got it.  When I played it for John, though, I was way off on the rhythm.  Hahaha!!  Have I mentioned I have a rhythm problem?  Hahaha!  Yeah. I think I've got it down now.



My practice book

 I reorganized my practice book and made things a little easier to read.  I put a couple of songs on a single page since many of them are no more than a line or two of tab or chord names.  John saw "China Grove" underneath "Sweet Emotion."  He said, "Oh, China Grove . . ." and before he could saw anything more, I played it.  He was like, "Yeah!  That's just what I wanted to see."  Kind of a drill for finger coordination with power chords. 

This week, he was going to give me the intro to "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas. It includes bending which I'm anxious to learn.  But on the phone with my nephew the other night, he mentioned "Funk 49" by Joe Walsh--also one of my favorite riffs.  So I told John that Conner had suggested it.  Now, here's a technique to master.  And it may take me a while.  It's a two fingered "hammer-on."  O-o-kay.  Hahaha!!  And he played me a bunch of songs that use this technique. You may recall I have practiced the hammer-on with the "hip chords" and I've played one for years on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," but to do it with two fingers--at the same time?  Well, let's just say, I'd better go practice.  Hahaha!! 

Oh, I'll get it eventually.  I got the power chords and the barre chords (well, just the E-shaped ones so far) and I'll get this too.  It's amazing how many new tricks this old broad can learn.  Having too much fun along the way!

"There's a whole lotta things I never done, I ain't never had too much fun!"   --Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen



Strings and Things

Gosh, yes, it's been over two weeks since my last post. Boring, busy life intrudes.  But I've been thinking about guitar-related items to post and this cloudy, rainy day seems the perfect time.

Despite my better judgement (and my own advice) I changed the strings on the Tetomas acoustic.  Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't do it.  I know I said I'd leave it to the professionals, but (shrug) eh, whaddaya gonna do?  It was almost a challenge I couldn't resist.  Besides, I had the strings.

The first thing I did was inspect the pawnshop Fender and see what I did wrong.  I knew I'd wound one side wrong and John said I needed to have more string winds around the posts.  I made a diagram:

Making the diagram, I got the fundamentals pretty well entrenched in my brain and I went for it.  I removed the old strings and polished up the wood as well as I could.  It's an old, scratched up guitar but it looks better for the effort.  The neck in particular.  It was nasty-dirty! 

I started with the 1st string, what I call "e."  I wasn't sure how much slack to leave, exactly, in order to have enough for winding around the posts so it was purely trial and error.  Mostly error, I'm sure.

Do overs


At first, I didn't think I'd left enough so I took it apart and started over, and on a few I knew I had too much.  I'd have to take it apart and start over again.  It got to be pretty funny, actually.  That's one good thing about being able to laugh at yourself.  This isn't a life or death situation. 

Of course, the more I took the strings off, the curlier they got and more unmanageable they became.  Patience and humility were my friends in this project.  Eventually, I got them all installed.  Some have more wound around the posts and some have less, but I think they at least all have enough. 

Before trimming

The large-wound bass strings, D, A, and E definitely have the most string wound around the posts.  Honestly, it's comical.  Hahaha!!  Eh.  (Shrug)  Whatever. 

Tuning

So now comes the tuning.  I'm not too bad at tuning since I have a keyboard which I can use for reference.  The trouble I've always had with tuning is breaking the "G" string.  It's ridiculous.  I've got a couple of packages of strings that are missing the "G" because of breakage.  Duh.

I've discussed this with John and he showed me how to stretch the strings while tightening them up during the re-stringing process.  As the slack becomes less, you push the strings to the side with your fingers, not too much--don't pull the pegs out-- but enough that tension is evident.  Do this often during the process and breaking a string while tuning shouldn't be an issue. 

For lessons, John tunes my guitar to match his using a Korg electronic tuner.  Turns out, either my husband or my brother gave me one exactly like it years ago, but I was never very confident using it.  After seeing John utilize it, I've used it a little more, though I still prefer my ears and the keyboard. 

The way the Korg works is, one end of the cable is plugged into the guitar and the other end is plugged into the tuner.  As each string is struck, an indicator needle and lights tell how far off, or on, the note it is.  Since I've been using it the nights before my lessons, I've been pretty close to perfect when I get there.  It's a neat little gadget.



Plug-in end of the Korg electronic tuner

So I got the Tetomas cleaned up, strings changed and tuned.  It plays pretty well, but it's a lot smaller than the pawnshop Fender, and for all the abuse the Fender took before it came to me, it has the better sound, by far.  

So there ya' have it.  I trimmed up the ends of the strings to about an inch/inch and a half, and it sure does look a lot nicer.   I haven't thought much about changing the strings on the electric.  Probably a good thing. 

By the way, I used strings that had been around here a while, but were still sealed up in their original plastic bag, so they were still good.  I'm not sure how I came to have so many full sets of strings--I guess one of the music stores was having a 3/$10.00 or a BOGO sale.  They are all D'Addarios.  There is one set of Martin acoustic strings--missing the "G" of course.