Mr. Vai Plays Pretty Well.
These books are probably worth a review.

New Stuff

Last 30 days or thereabouts

Updated March 15th, 2019
That's right oh ye of little faith, something relatively recent. Oh My!

Not too bad

How long does it take to tune a 12 string guitar?
Nobody knows.

My son asked me to quit practicing the Oasis song 'Wonderwall'.

I said Maybe….

Letter(s) to the Editor

Hey,
How you guy's doing?
I get home from work each day, feeling tired, mostly on account of the fact that I deal with the public all damn day. Can you even imagine? I'm 'bout done with people. Extra guac my ass.

Anyhow, I most always walk in the door, grab a beer right away and chug it down to settle myself. Then I cook up a Swanson's Hungry Man in the microwave and then settle in to watch whatever the hell game in whatever the hell sport might be on TV. I’m partial to the NFL but they don’t play all year, so I watch the NBA, MLB, and even the NHL once in a while. I watch some NASCAR on the weekends too. Go fast, turn left and rub some paint. I love the good ol’ boys going round and round that track. I’ll tell you I don’t like those stages they have now. Ain’t the whole point to get to the front and win the race on the last lap? The stages just seem to take away some of the excitement. Don’t it seem so? I watch some golf like the Masters, Open, US Open, the PGA, and some of the lesser tournaments when Tiger is playing. I started watching the no hands English soccer and that got me going on MLS.

I don’t mean to drone on so here is my question. Way back when I used to like Guns N’ Roses - the real Guns N’ Roses not the facsimile - a lot and would like to play guitar like Slash. I like the way he plays Sweet Child O’ Mine. Just classic stuff.


Oh now, I guess I never did ask my question so here goes. How do I do that? Should I take lessons? Do I have to play every damn day to get good? I mean I guess I might have a little time in the evening but not much. I’ve probably had 4 or 5 beers by the end of whatever the hell game is on, and I don’t feel much like doing anything ‘cept going to bed. I guess I could play a little on Saturday or Sunday before the sports come on the TV, but I don’t like to get up too early so that might be a problem too.

Well shoot, can you recommend a book that would help me play like Slash? I got 10 fingers just like him so it clearly isn't outside the the realm of possibility. Let me know if you can help me ‘cuz I’m really jonesin’ to play that Sweet Child O’ Mine tune. Oh, and why do ya’ think they have the O’ in the title instead of and of? I guess that’s just Rock N’ Roll. Look there, I done it too. Ha!
Jake from Ohio

Hey Jake,
We don’t like those stage in NASCAR either. Go fast and stop for a bit? Doesn’t make sense. Where’d you go Bobby Allison?
" facsimile" Now that's a good word for sure.
Our best suggestion is to get this book posted right below this reply.
Couple of weeks and you should be able to tear through not just Sweet Child O’ Mine – we don’t understand the O’ either – but most of the other tunes as well. And check this, that book is one of a two book set. Rock on my friend, rock on. Plenty O' tunes in that collection. How 'bout that O' there Jake? We just couldn't resist.
Enjoy that beer and Swanson's Hungry Man. Sounds like a damn good meal.
No need to hurry, Amazon won’t run out of stock anytime soon.
Start Pickin'
Hi,
I purchased a guitar book with tab (didn’t know what the hell tab was) that shows some guitar songs of Jimi Hendrix. So now I’m over a month into this and I still don’t sound anything like Jimi Hendrix. Not even a bit. I couldn’t even guess I’m playing ‘Red House’ and I’m the one playing it. You can bet your bottom dollar that my wife doesn’t think I am either. Calls it goddamn noise and she’s tired of hearing it.

So here’s my question. What am I missing? Do I not really get that tab shit? My hands are pretty small in case that information helps. Any help you can provide would be great. I mean right now my wife has about had it with this.
Thanks,
Bill

Hey Bill,
Sorry to hear of your struggles. Jimi can be quite the challenge. Don’t forget it took Jimi a tad more than a month to develop his expertise. Jimi did have reasonably sized hands. Not sure what to make of that.

Stick with it for a couple more months and if you still can’t tell your playing ‘Red House’ while you're a actually playing 'Red House', you might want to pick up an introductory Mel Bay book. Jimi might be just a tad beyond your current capabilities. You also might want to listen to your wife.

Remember when Clint said, “A man’s got to know his limitations,” in one of those Dirty Harry movies.

Ponder that.

Keep pickin’

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