Full Circle

A year or two ago, I decided to buy a certain wah pedal that one of my personal guitar heroes used to use. Unfortunately, it didn't do everything I wanted it to. More accurately, it didn't sound anything like when my guitar hero used it. Maybe it was just the way it interacted with the rest of my guitar rig, or maybe I just didn't know what I was doing. (Both equally possible, I'm sure.)

I decided to sell it, snapping a picture and posting it on numerous message boards. It ended up selling for not much less than I bought it for, so it worked out ok.



Yesterday, I read a blog post by that same guitar hero. He was recounting his early guitar rig and talking about how he used whatever he had but made it work, even if it was cheap off-the-shelf stuff. As he listed off his old guitar rig, he linked to pictures of the various items for general reference. I clicked on the link associated with "wah pedal" and what did I find? My picture.

The irony was great. My guitar hero steals a picture I took of the pedal I bought solely to steal his sound.

still here

Music Set Recaps... where are they?
Well, I haven't been keeping up with the music set recaps... I've been able to put together quite a few sets over the past few months, and have had a great time doing it. I have been forcing myself out of my normal patterns, which, though not always easy, is usually positive in the end. I have learned a lot about myself and about my previous church experiences. I have come to realize that for all the great teaching I've enjoyed, there are some startling deficiencies... things I don't remember being taught at all. I am starting to realize how I have been shaped by both the things taught and the things not taught. That's not to throw stones at my old church from a distance; it's an honest assessment of the holes in my own thinking that's long overdue.


Learning about worship
I've also been taking in a lot of information from the likes of Bob Kauflin, Kevin Twit, Harold Best, and Keith Getty. If you know anything about any of those guys, you know that they're all pretty different and come at things from very different angles. That's a good thing. I'd love to distill some of their wisdom, but if you've had at least one conversation with me sometime in the past six months, I have most likely referenced something they said (even if I just paraphrased it incognito-like.) The enormous amount of learning I've done from these men has raised a huge question in my mind: Why is this the first time I'm hearing this stuff?! That's obviously related to the above paragraph as well. It's silly to point fingers and blame other people. I'm just happy that I'm starting to learn some of these things now.


New acoustic guitar
Hey, I got a new guitar. That's probably old news to many, but it's worth mentioning just the same. I've been a Taylor 712 player for just about 10 years now. For the past few months, though, something wasn't cutting it anymore. I'm not sure exactly what it was... I think changing churches did have something to do with it... getting into more roots-oriented music (i.e. bluegrass, alt.country, singer/songwriter, etc.) probably had something to do with it as well. Something about the Taylor just wasn't happening. It was too mellow, had too little low end, and could be a little thin. Granted, some of those traits are what make a Taylor a Taylor; I think those things were exacerbated by the smaller body of the X12 series, particularly in models as old as mine. I know there are a lot (a lot!) of diehard fans of the Taylor X12 series out there on the internet. I still think it's a great guitar... it just wasn't what I was looking for anymore.

Two guitars "got away" before I found my way to a message board posting advertising a 1992 Santa Cruz OM for sale. It sounds shallow, but the cosmetics were what drew me in at first. Everything was exactly what I was looking for, from the blank headstock to the lack of fretboard markers, to the naturally aged finish, to the pickguard, to the company logo inlay at the 12th fret, and to the fact that it was a smaller company. And that was all based on a pretty poor picture. When I saw it in person, it was even better. And it literally took a single strum for me to realize that this is was "the one." That was back in mid-October, and it's only gotten better. I've been fortunate to have a lot of "best gear decision ever" moments over the past year or two, but this has to be near the top.

Two weeks ago I was playing the guitar on Sunday morning. We introducing a song called "Jesus, I Come." The song starts with just an acoustic guitar, and has a really cool Fmaj7 chord shape that my friend Clyde taught me... it's really sweet sounding voicing. As I was playing the first Fmaj7 in the song, I tried to suppress a grin on my face. I simply could not believe how good the guitar sounded. Right then and there, I offered up a quick Thanks so much for letting me enjoy something this nice prayer to God, the giver of all good gifts. We all need reminders to thank God more for things like undeserved salvation from eternal hell. Just as often, I think we need to remember to thank the Lord for the little things... finding a close parking spot when we're late, eating an amazing hot pastrami sandwich (I like sandwiches), laughing yourself silly in the company of friends... we just need to be more thankful period.

The Taylor went on to live with a good friend of my friend Daniel, who plays bass at my church. He seems to like it a lot, so happy endings all around.


New guitar amp
I don't know if I've ever talked about my newest guitar amp on here. The story of how I came by the amp is pretty entertaining, and probably warrants a telling in the near future. One of the other recent "best gear decision ever" was the purchase of a Mesa Boogie Lonestar Classic. This is Mesa's take on a fairly straightforward American classic guitar amp... Fender in heritage, so it's got that huge clean sound that a 6L6 amp can give you. It's got beautiful cleans, amazing reverb, and stupendous... pardon me for waxing hyperbolic. It's pretty much the best amp I've ever had, it really is. And now I'm trying to sell it. As much as I love it, it's simply too big and heavy for my current needs. It's gotten to the point where I loathe having to take it anywhere, even though I'm always 100% satisfied when I use it.

But after about 5 years of serious tone-chasing, I'm starting to realize that there's really no such thing as "the one" when it comes to gear, at least not for me. Once you reach a certain caliber of gear--price having nothing to do with it--you may start to realize that there's not really a single right "one," but rather a certain combination of things that make something "work" for you. Sometimes more than one piece of gear possesses that same potion of qualities that speak to you. To stretch the analogy, it's kind of like looking for a spouse. There's not so much the right "one" to be looking for as much as there is right type of "one" to be looking for. Whoever you choose becomes "the one," by default, and then it's up to you to stick with your choice until the end. I guess that's where the analogy falls apart. I guess to boil it down, if the Lonestar were smaller and lighter, I would keep it and would probably never look back. But since those things are becoming a problem, I'm taking the opportunity to look elsewhere, hopefully for something equally beautiful, amazing, and stupendous.


Wrapping it up
Boy, that's a lot of writing about "stuff." I've been fighting materialism a lot lately, and hopefully these words convey the balance I've sought to pursue: enjoying blessings without becoming attached to them. Even the apparent contradiction between calling the Santa Cruz OM "the one" and talking about how there's really no such thing... at the end of the day it's just stuff, and it's not that important.

"Renounce material captivity; proclaim the kingdom of Jesus Christ." - Crashdog, from the song "Proclamation"

Tone Factor's YouTube Contest

I know it's been a while, and I've been meaning to get back to blogging more regularly. I just wanted to give props to my favorite pedal vendor once again: Tone Factor. I've gushed plenty about Tone Factor in the past, so I won't do it again here. Right now, Brad (Tone Factor head honcho) is running a contest right now, where contestants post their favorite demo video. This one blew me away. The playing is great, and is that really a Digitech pedal? Yikes. I'm seriously considering springing for a Digitech pedal (either this one or the Metal Master) because it's been too long since I filled the house with the brootalz. Ha ha. Enjoy, and for all you guitar players who read this, support the best pedal vendor around.

fantastic song & pedalboard update

"Throwin' Shapes" by Minus the Bear is such an amazing song. If you already knew that, go listen to it again right now and bask in the greatness. If you did not already know that, or if you're thinking, "What's a Minus the Bear?" go listen to their song "Throwin' Shapes" and bask in the greatness.

Also, here's a shot of my newly downsized pedalboard that I mentioned yesterday.



The signal chain is as follows:

Barber Tone Press
Barber LTD
Tone Factor Huckleberry
Red Witch Moon Phaser
MJM Foxey Fuzz
Skreddy Top Fuel
Ernie Ball VPJR
Line 6 Verbzilla
Line 6 DL4

If you don't know what a signal chain is, you have more of a life than I do.

Wow... blogging on two consecutive days. Feels like it's been years since that happened. Hopefully it's a taste of things to come.

long time, no posting

Happy inauguration day (I guess). It's interesting... I didn't vote for Obama, but I kind of wanted to see the ceremony. And I don't want to keep picking on the guy, but I certainly would have no interest in watching it if "that other guy" had won the election... unless "that other guy" was the guy I actually wanted to vote for. But not to get off on that tangent. Suffice to say that I'm curious and hopeful to see how the next four years go. Oddly enough, I've been praying for Obama more than I ever did for Bush. Not sure why that is...

Speaking of that, I don't consider myself a huge fan of our previous president. Some things were good, but some things left me thinking, "Um, I don't know about that." And then there were those, "What were you thinking?" moments. But I've gotta say that the way he has handled his exit and the transition of power has really endeared me to him in a way I haven't been since 9/11. And his commuting of the sentences of former Border Patrol agents Ramos & Compean was just icing on the cake. I applaud you, sir.

Other than that not much else is new. The weather outside is warmer, but my office is still freezing.

I've started using V-Picks. There's been a lot of talk about them on various message boards, a lot of it overblown hype, but I decided to give them a try. It's a little early to tell, but I'm liking them so far.

I also decided to ring in the new year with a smaller pedalboard. (yes, that's right.) Since I don't play that much anymore, I decided to downsize to my old pedalboard. I liked being able to have all my pedals in one place (on the gigantic PedalTrain) but it was just so big. I narrowed it down to essentials and extra flavors, if you will. The blessing and curse of my pedal choices are that most of them are some form of dirt (overdrive/fuzz/etc.). This means that I can swap those in and out at will and still maintain a similar sound... sonic differences but functional sameness. I will readily admit that I spent a lot more time last year buying gear and fooling with it than actually playing. So this year, it's time to simplify and actually play guitar.

Speaking of which, I used some money received towards the end of last year to buy a new guitar. It's crazy, isn't it? I barely have time to play one guitar, and I keep getting more. What a strange sickness music gear is. I think I will devote an entire post to the subject of guitars, especially since the way this came about is kind of interesting (to me at least). But to tide you over (since I am certain you all like looking at guitar pictures and/or pictures I have taken as much as I do), here it is:



I'm still playing drums in Mainstream w/ Brian, Dave, and Clyde. Sunday was probably our most fun set to date. I don't know what it was, but something just seemed to click. The creative juices were flowing like crazy. I did make a few bloopers, but actually kept enough wits about me to cover them up and make it seem like I did things on purpose. I had a blast sitting behind the kit and worshiping at full volume.

I cancelled my emusic.com membership because I decided I didn't need to spend the money. I've been listening to a lot of old Jesus Music from the 70s. Kind of random.

And on the odd chance there's someone reading this who likes music on the slow and dreamy side of the spectrum, check out Au Revior Borealis. I've been spinning Dark Enough for Stars a lot lately and enjoy it more with each listen. Moody, ambient instrumentals are mixed in with more traditional slo-core/post-rock songs that feature just about everything I like about that genre—lazy vocals, solid but subdued drums, and dreamy guitar soundscapes full of atmosphere. Good stuff.

new amps are fun

Many, many years ago, my friend Kyle gave me his old guitar. He had upgraded from a Squier Stratocaster to an Epiphone Les Paul sometime before this. He had installed Sperzel locking tuners on the Strat and wondered if I wanted to take them and put them on my guitar. "Sure," I said. He just gave me the whole guitar since it wasn't working anyway. Some problem with the electronics. I popped the hood, as it were, but didn't see any loose solder connections or anything, and that was about the extent of my knowledge. And yeah, that's pretty much still the extent of my knowledge of electronics.

Long story short—relatively speaking—it has been sitting in my closet for the past... probably 10 years at least. I had plans to fix it up someday, but that day never came. Maybe someday I'll get a vintage white maple-necked guitar and get to put a black pickguard on there like I planned to do with the Squier. Maybe not. I decided that it was not happening anytime soon, so I put it up for sale. I figured someone could either part it out or fix it up themselves. I learned that it was a 1993 Korean-made Squier Strat. This meant that it wasn't worth big money, which is pretty much what I expected. I took a quick look on ebay to price the parts separately, then came up with an asking price and posted it on a couple message boards.

It received more interest than I expected. The first guy declined because he was looking for a particular model, but the second guy wanted it. He didn't have enough cash to meet my asking price, but he offered a trade to compensate. I preferred a sale, but the trade offer intrigued me. The piece he was offering was a mini amp head, made by one of the guys on the message boards. I'd previously been interested in these mini amps, but didn't think spending the money was justified. Maybe I should have gotten one a few months ago when the guy started making them, since the price, though still a great deal, has already doubled. I thought about it, and went for it. I figured, cash plus mini amp for a guitar that lived in my closet... in my old room at my parents' house. Yeah... definitely worth it.

The amp is a 1 watt solid state head, powered either by 9-volt battery or power adapter. The front panel, if you can call it that, has an input jack, a gain knob, and a power switch. The rear panel, if you can call it that, has a speaker out jack. It's capable of driving most speaker cabinets. The videos the builder posted online sounded really good. Outstanding, even. And to top it off, it sits inside a small pedal enclosure.

Here's a picture of the test rig:



I wanted to see how well it took pedals, and the Top Fuel was handy. Besides, since it is a solid state amp, I figured it would take fuzz pedals better than overdrives.

I ran my Fender American Strat Deluxe into the Skreddy Top Fuel into the Noisemaker Effects Mini Amp into a Mesa 2x12 speaker cabinet.

The volume is perfect for home use, and I could see myself using it for those non-drummer settings. At maximum gain, it's about the level I use at home with my other amps. The base tone is nice and neutral, not overly bright or dark. And the gain range is perfect for pedal usage; it goes from pretty clean to a medium amount of drive.

For what it is, it sounds really good, and I don't mean that as a backhanded compliment. It's doesn't just sound good for being a mini amp. It sounds good period. I always thought it'd be cool to show up to play with my speaker cab and a tiny amp. Now I get that chance.

And now that I think of it, Kyle has always struck me as being generous. That's cool.

weekend and then some

Friday - Our Bible Study has been studying Romans. We most recently discussed the doctrine of original sin. It was a great time and a very clear presentation by Ryan D., our shepherd. To prepare during the week, I pulled out one of my old textbooks from college (A. Hoekema's Created in God's Image). As such, lots of the material was familiar by Friday. Additionally, it corresponded very nicely with some of the music I've been listening to (which is a discussion for another time). Suffice to say that God is amazing in His grace and love and holiness.

Saturday - I grilled burgers and corn and we had a picnic on our front lawn. It was pretty warm, but it was really fun. The burgers looked a little iffy but they turned out great. The corn was not as good as last time I made it, but it was still pretty tasty. I was going inside to get silverware when I felt something hit my hair. I heard a loud buzzing so I instinctively whipped my hand over my head to clear away whatever was there. Turns out it was a wasp. Thankfully, it was already gone by the time I flailed at it. I was happy to preserve my lifelong streak of never being stung by an insect. I did see it flying away, which prompted me to look around. There under the eaves of the roof was a nest about the size of a golf-ball. Some half a dozen wasps were on the surface; a couple others were flitting about. I laughed to myself since I had recently been discussing the fact that I had never even seen a hornet in real life with some message board friends who were asking how to get rid of them.

Sunday - I was privileged to help with music at my friend Ryan P.'s church. It was a blast. The body of Christ is by no means limited to our church, and times like Sunday remind me of that. The church is quite a bit smaller than our church, which was really nice. Everyone seemed really friendly too. I ended up seeing and briefly talking to Brian A. It was kind of a what are you doing here? moment, although I figured Ryan invited him.

Last week I was telling my co-worker Byron G. about the arrangements for the weekend but didn't tell him where it was going down. On Monday, he came into my office and asked if I was at such and such church on Sunday. I confirmed and wondered how he knew that. It turns out the maintenance guy for the building where I work goes to the church with his family. He saw me on stage and was like, "Hey, I seen that guy at (name of my work)."

It was a special treat to help out since Ryan plays guitar for my favorite band. In all honesty, I was a little intimidated by that at first. After all, it's not every day that one gets to play music with one of their musical idols. But I had a wonderful time worshiping with the musicians with whom I shared the stage, and I trust, with the rest of the congregation.

We had lunch @ Stonefire Grill with Ryan and his family, and also with the guest speaker and his family. It was a lot of fun. I saw one of my favorite college professors there with his family, but I always feel weird about talking to old professors. "You probably don't remember me... and that's okay because you shouldn't really remember me because I was pretty quiet in class... etc." And of all the things I learned from Dr. C.W. Smith, one thing that always jumps to the front of my mind is him telling our class, "You should never ask someone, 'Do you remember me?' Why should they remember you? That's kind of an arrogant thing to ask, don't you think? Instead, you should just introduce yourself as if you haven't met them, and then let them remember you on their own." (paraphrase)

Later, Ryan saw him and chatted for a bit. And it turns out that Dr. Morley was also the mentor for the guest speaker who was eating with us, so I ended up being the only one not to talk to him. Oh well; should'a, could'a, would'a.

During lunch, Ryan told me that a member of one of my other favorite bands was also in attendance. I guess he was friends with the guest speaker or something like that. So there I was... in the same room as two guys who play guitar for two of the bands that have influenced me more than any other... and they're listening to me play instead of the other way around! Humbling for sure. It's funny because after the service I saw him and thought you know, that guy looks kind of like F____ K_______, but it's probably not him.

Speaking of guitar, I would not be myself if I didn't talk about the gear I used. That serves as a warning to those of you who are bored to tears by this stuff. You can stop reading now... the rest of the post is just gearhead nonsense.

My new guitar made its live debut on Sunday. I also changed around my pedalboard (yes, again) because there was just too much on there that I wouldn't be using in a church setting. I'll probably still wire up the big board again, if for no other reason than that it's really, really (really, really) nice to be able to put power strips under my Pedaltrain and leave everything connected. Because of size limitations, I had to unplug a handful of cables before putting my board away.

My revised rig was as follows:

Agile Harm 3 - This is my new one. I've not yet divulged a whole lot of info about it, so here it is. It's sort of a semi-hollow guitar. I say sort of because the only hollow section is the upper chamber. The center is solid, as is the section featuring the controls. Because of this, it has a bit more openness than a solid-body guitar, but it's definitely not a ringy as a "full" semi-hollow (like a Gibson 335 or Epiphone Sheraton or Epiphone Dot). It has a short-scale neck so it plays more like a Gibson than a Fender. It has no fretmarkers except for two dots at the twelfth fret, which I think lends it a sleekness not often seen. Indeed, it looked, well, amazing sitting on stage under the lights. It has three mini-humbuckers that actually sound great. The five-way selector switch puts them in different combinations just like a Fender Strat, and every position is very usable. Furthermore, the body shape is an original, designed by a few individuals from the Harmony Central message boards (hence the name "Harm 3"). And best of all, it was cheap. I think it cost $350. It's certainly not up to par with a guitar that costs two or three times more, but without a doubt you get more guitar than you pay for (that comment is what drew me to this guitar in the first place).

and

USA Fender Strat Deluxe - This is still my #1 guitar. It's really versatile and can cover all the ground I need it to. If I'm ever not sure what will be asked of me (happens quite often playing church music), this is the guitar I bring. In addition to the standard 5-way switching of Strats, the Deluxe model has an additional 5 settings available. Honestly, I don't even remember about the alternate settings unless I'm just messing around.

into

Ernie Ball VPJR (volume pedal) - Normally I have my volume pedal after all the drive pedals so that I can control the gain with my guitar volume knob and raise or lower the overall volume with the pedal. I couldn't fit this pedal on the board, though, so I just put it first. Not a big deal. It was crucial for all the swelly atmosphere I needed to play.

Barber Tone Press (compressor) - I really only used this one to smooth out the U2-style delay parts that are oh so prevalent in modern worship music.

Tone Factor Huckleberry (fuzz) - I didn't use it. I'm still not sold on using fuzz pedals through my small amp. Maybe there's not enough headroom. Not sure. They usually end up sounding to... boxy?

Skreddy Top Fuel (distortion) - This is my go-to pedal for solos, but since I didn't have any... it didn't get used either.

Fulltone Full-Drive 2 (overdrive) - This was my main drive sound for the two "big" songs we did ("Let Your Kingdom Come" and "Beautiful One"). I also kicked it on for a lot of the atmospheric volume swells to give them a little more character.

Tone Factor Sugar Baby (tremolo) - We did the Anathallo version of "Before the Throne of God Above" which meant I needed less space and more roots. I know that this is the favorite guitar effect of a certain sound scientist who reads this once in a while. Too bad he wasn't able to hear it.

Red Witch Moon Phaser (phaser... duh) - I also used this one for "Before the Throne." I had the rate set pretty high, and the depth backed off a bit. If that doesn't make sense, think of a fast tremolo with some warble and that'll get you pretty close.

Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man (delay) - This was on for a lot of the atmospheric stuff. Feedback turned up quite a bit, long delay time, decent amount of vibrato. Very atmospheric.

Line 6 Verbzilla (reverb) - I used a long plate reverb for all the atmospheric parts. I really like this pedal... it sounds great and can pull off normal and "out there" sounds.

Line 6 DL-4 (delay) - I used this one for all the U2 parts as well as some of the atmospheric sections. Some people like them and some people hate them. I like it but don't love it. Still, it's very intuitive and works for me.

into

Crate V1512 - Class A tube amp made by St. Louis Music, the same company that owns Ampeg and Crate. It has 3 12AX7s and 2 EL84s stock; I recently switched out the first 12AX7 for a 12AT7, which lowers the overall gain. Since the amp is only 15 watts, it would start to distort pretty early. Swapping in the 12AT7 means I can turn the gain knob up about halfway before it gets noticeably distorted. Previously, I could only go about 1/3 to 1/4 of the way up which meant I'd have to run the master volume that much higher. Mine came with a Tone Tubby hemp cone 12" speaker, the same configuration as the one I tried in my local shop. I was really surprised about this amp. I agreed to try it out to humor the sales guy who was trying to offer a modern alternative to the Fender Champ I asked about. I was surprised that it actually sounded really good. Crate/St. Louis Music has since changed the amp significantly and has moved production to Vietnam. Mine was made right here in the USA.

Monday - I don't remember much about Monday except that I was introduced to the music of Matthew Perryman Jones and Blake Aaron Guthrie. Some of you are no doubt familiar with their music but I wasn't until Monday. I'm a bigger fan of the first than the second, but both are pretty good. All right... I'll amend that. M.P.J. is quite good and B.A.G. is pretty good. Oh, and I was thinking a lot about the sermon from Sunday (at the church we were at), which deserves its own post.

Tuesday - This was free hot dog or ice cream day at Wienerschnitzel. Unfortunately the closest location is in Canyon Country. After driving there, we found that (by all appearances) they were only offering hot dogs, not ice cream. And the line was long. So we ended up going to Foster's to get not-free-but-not-expensive ice cream. The kids each had a jr. cone and Andrea and I split a Nutter Butter twister. I liked it but Andrea said she'd have picked a different flavor. Andrea also made falafel for dinner, which was great. I had fun getting crazy with the kids too. A couple of clowns are what we have.

Which brings me to today, Wednesday - Today was a good music day. I listened to these albums:

Andrew Peterson - "The Far Country"
Matthew Perryman Jones - "Throwing Punches in the Dark"
Exeter Flud - "Exeter Flud"
Jeremy Enigk - "World Waits"
Midsummer - "Inside the Trees"
Midsummer - "Driftwood" film score
Yo-Yo Ma - "Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone"
Surrounded - "Safety in Numbers"

More could be said, no doubt, but I'm tired and ready for bed.

joining the fold...

How have I not posted these yet? This is the guitar that replaced my BC Rich Warlock and my Mandolin. I happen to like it quite a bit.

moving on

Out with the old...







In with the new...

For Sale

Interested?

Huck!

Nope. Not that guy running for a certain political office... a guy I did NOT vote for (in case you care, I didn't vote for John McAmnesty either... that's all I'm saying).

I'm talking about one of my most recent pedal purchases: The Huckleberry. It's basically a Fuzz Face-type circuit with an EQ knob that blends between germanium and silicon transistors. That probably won't mean anything to anyone except me. The important thing is that I'm falling in love with playing guitar again. I seriously cannot remember the last time I had this much fun with a new pedal. I played for over an hour last night just on one pedal setting. It's really sparked my creativity and is moving me into guitar styles I don't normally visit. Worth every penny.

Photo credit: gururyan

I'm in process of redoing my pedalboard as well. I still need to work out some ideas, but there have been lots of new acquisitions in the past few months. This means that I really need to start selling gear. I'll probably be putting the following items up on ebay:

BOSS DS-1
DOD FX69B
BOSS GT-3
Tech 21 Power Engine 60
Effector 13 Never Drive Plus
Toadworks Death Rattle 2
Ibanez S470
BC Rich Warlock

My Crumar Performer is already up, and is the only Crumar Performer you'll find on the 'bay at this time.

I hate to see some of those pedals go, but they need to leave so I can recoup the costs of things like this:

Ah yes, the Ultra-Lord from Sinister Analog Effects. It's evil, and I like it.

orkney tuning - i'm in love

Unfortunately it looks like I'm still averaging only one post a month... how sad. I was all set to force myself to finish the "ancient history" series before posting anything new, but that's not looking too promising. Thank goodness for post labels (it's about time).

I figure a little random post never hurt anyone, so here we go.

I've been experimenting with different tuning, namely Orkney tuning. I don't remember why it is called Orkney tuning except for something about CGDGCD not having an easy-to-remember name like DADGAD. Besides the different chord voicings, perhaps the neatest thing about alternate tuning is that it forces me to be creative.

A couple weeks ago, I was telling someone that guitars are tuned standard for a reason, that reason being standard tuning yields the most versatility. While I still believe this to be true, something can be said for sitting down and learning a new tuning inside and out so that every song doesn't sound the same.

For example, it's really easy to tune your guitar to DADGAD and then play every song in D (or D form adjusted with capo). It's a little more interesting and difficult to tune to DADGAD and learn how to play songs in G, songs in C, songs in A, etc. It's not always practical per se, but it makes you think harder and make every note count.

I liken using a different tuning on my only acoustic guitar to my habit of using a very minimal drum kit every once and a while (a tip I learned from Peter Erskine's book The Drum Perspective). The theory is that you force yourself to be more creative by limiting your options. Instead of having five or six different things to hit, using only a bass drum, snare, and one cymbal (as I liked to do) forced me to try new things and kept me from falling into old habits.

In the same way, not having the option of chords and chord voicings that I tend to fall back on has forced me to re-think the way I play. It's been tough, but satisfying.

new pedalboard

music musings

It's August 15... do you have your Forestry EP yet?

I've had it for a couple weeks now. I got one from... an inside source. It's different. It's better. Buy one. Future of Forestry. Rock.

Here's a collage from the last Something Like Silas show ever. It was kind of an anti-climactic way to go out, what with most of the other acts on the bill being rappers and gospel groups (and Godspeed, but we didn't see their set). I'd estimate maybe 50 people tops in the audience when Silas/Forestry played. The sound was pretty crummy, but the guys put on a good show. Time permitting, maybe I'll put up some video captures since those turned out a lot better than the still pictures. Andrea and I got to hang out with the band (and Eric's wife) for a good amount of time pre- and post-show. I'll never forget Nick and Luke spontaneously hi-fiving when I told them I liked the new stuff better than the old stuff. And it was really cool to hear Spencer's perspective on playing his best no matter how many people showed up. And to top it off, it didn't cost us a dime to get in! I love guest lists. The only real bummer was that I spilled Carl's Jr. spicy sauce on my Appleseed Cast shirt. Grr!

Speaking of guest lists, I was also privileged to take in these other free shows in July:

Nickel Creek @ the House of Blues
Amazing show... no other way to put it. The highlight was probably hearing Sara sing Bob Dylan, though all in all, Andrea and I walked away inspired to make music. Too bad that wore off already... or maybe reality set in.

The Sleepy Jackson @ the Troubadour:
Amazing in an entirely different way. Brian Wilson meets the Who meets Sonic Youth. Very weird and very loud. Probably the biggest guitar sound I've heard since seeing Autolux in the very same room some years before with Dave Studarus and Bob DeLateur. Hearing them live made me want to go back and listen to the album that didn't really impress me. The songs were still somewhat less-than-impressive, but the live sound was incredible.

I think in the last month, I've seen more concerts than in the entire last year. It's been kind of fun. Working in the industry definitely has its perks. It's funny, though. Part of me loves to be able to work for musicians and occasionally go see them play. The other part of me wishes it was me on that stage. Oh well.

Speaking of being on stage, it was a lot of fun to play in Crossroads on Sunday Morning. I love the way Mainstream sings and I also love the way Crossroads sings (usually). The band was Morgan on piano/vocals, Brian on bass/vocals, Chris on acoustic/vocals, Robert on drums, and me on electric guitar. In addition to the blessing of helping to lead God's people in worship, I learned that a 1967 Fender Mustang + Mesa/Boogie Nomad 100 on Channel 2 running at 60 watts + Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man equals more atmospheric swirly guitar than you can shake a stick at. I've never been happier with my sound... except for 1) Resolved: 2005 and 2) band practice in Nestor's garage in July 2005. And I got to play the guitar part from Don Peris' song "Clement" during the song "Indescribable." Well, not exactly the same part, but close enough for jazz.

random photo update

It appears the natives are getting restless, so here's a teaser entry. We got a new camera not too long ago, so here are some random pictures to tide you over.

Here's the dinner I made for Andrea on February Fools Day... ah, I mean Valentine's Day. And I should say that though I was intending to make the soba noodles w/ broccoli and toasted sesame, Andrea made it while I was at work. I did make the fried hoisin tofu and for dessert, black sesame tangyuan (not pictured). Tasty! I must say that 99 Ranch is worse than Costco for me... it takes real discipline to not walk out with more than I planned to buy. The only impulse buy that I didn't put back on the shelf (told you it was bad) were the tangyuan. Buy one, get one free at $1.59 each. Worth every penny. I was planning to make nori-wrapped mochi, but I couldn't find any non-ice cream mochi. Ice cream mochi was tempting, but that's one of the few things in 99 that's actually not that good of a deal.

I got tired of my mammoth-sized pedalboard. It was difficult to use on cramped stages (like Rolfe 1200 or the GCC stage when the baptismal is set up, not that I anticipate playing either of those venues again). It was also difficult to transport and store because it just took up too much space. It was better than a square-shaped board, but not better than two smaller boards. Since I don't gig (at all), I decided to go for the cheapest and lightest multi-board option I could find. One board features the GT-3 and footswitch and the other (pictured here) features the stomp boxes I'm currently using. I used the foam I bought for the big board and cut it to fit these small ones.

Signal Chain:

Guitar
Fulltone Fulldrive 2
Toadworks Death Rattle (ver. 2)
Loooper Custom 3 Loop
* Loop 1 = Red Witch Moon Phaser
* Loop 2 = ElectroHarmonix Deluxe Memory Man
* Loop 3 = Boss GT-3
Amplifier

My small(er) electric guitar rig.

Here's me experimenting with some of the camera's color options. Maybe I should sell this one to Nalgene so they can use it in an advertisement. Admittedly, this is an overdone technique, but it's cool to be able to do it for myself.

Finally, here's a pic of Trevor playing drums. He tends to favor cymbals over drums. Like father, like son.

Christmas 2005 - the album

The Story
We originally intended to give our relatives a Christmas CD in 2004, but Trevor's birth pre-empted that. After some thought, we resumed the process for 2005. In the midst of our recording, our computer's sound card died. A new one didn't make too much difference so we borrowed a Boss BR-8 from Darby Hughes. I wrestled with the idea of starting over from scratch but eventually decided to salvage what we had already completed. We had to be creative to get everything to fit into only 8 tracks, but we managed. Clyde loaned us an SM58 for vocals. He also loaned us a 57 but we didn't end up using it. He also gave me some instant coffee that may or may not have kept me awake all those nights I got 2 or less hours of sleep. I don't think caffeine affects me per se, but the process of drinking something hot will usually do the trick. As far as coffee goes, it wasn't great, but I don't like coffee in the first place, so I'm not a good judge.


The Songs
Angels We Have Heard On High: The bulk of this song was arranged by Bob Delateur. I added a bridge and wrote the guitar parts, and Andrea arranged the vocals.

I tried to make the guitar leads sound like something Bob would play. For the most part, I double tracked them and panned them to opposite sides.

The hand claps on the bridge are a nod to the Who's "Magic Bus" (and perhaps a slight nod to Sean Lennon's "5/8").

The first few takes of vocals sounded great... I was really surprised... almost good enough, but not quite. The subsequent takes weren't that good, but I had already erased the "good" tracks. I've never claimed to be a lead singer. I've never claimed to be a singer, period, for that matter. I know I sing incorrectly and am very pitchy. That's just the way it is. As far as other vocals, Andrea's harmonies were nice.


O Come All Ye Faithful: I strove for a mid-nineties dream pop feel for this one... single coil pickups with lots of reverb, delay, and compression. Guitars are panned L-R again. I incorporated influences from Midsummer (left guitar) and Something Like Silas (right guitar on the instrumental sections).

I had to manipulate the vocal effects in real time. The "angelic choir" section turned out pretty well, but I couldn't turn down the delay and reverb fast enough afterwards. The measure after the "angelic choir" was supposed to be a dry signal, but I had to choose between lowering the amount delay or lowering the amount of reverb. I chose to reduce delay.

On the bridge, I pulled out all the stops and went for as much of a shoegaze feel as possible, really trying to get that early nineties "shhh" guitar sound. The left guitar is a grittier fuzz. On the right channel, I increased the time between the original signal and the reverb. I also boosted the high frequencies of the effected signal to give the feeling of movement, almost like waves of sound cascading onto each other. This produced some really high feedback. I wondered if it was too much, but when compared to "classic" shoegaze like Slowdive, it decided it was just fine.

The key change (and back again) on the outro was a spur of the moment decision that got stuck in my head.

Finally, I ripped off the Cure ("Inbetween Days") with the lead on the outro.

Andrea's vocals sounded great (as usual).


What Child Is This?: We made this one sound as much like "Lie in the Sound" (by Trespassers William) as we could. That's where the slide guitar comes from. On the leads, I was really going for a Mike Roe (77's) type thing... that "Fender through a Fender" sound.

Using a glockenspiel (real or keyboard simulation) is getting pretty overdone... off the top of my head, I can think of songs by Something Like Silas, The Violet Burning, Sigur Ròs, and Eisley that do this. That said, it still seemed to fit perfectly on the outro. As the outro progresses, it reminds me more and more of Starflyer 59... I'm not sure why that is; it's probably just the hypnotic minimalist feel.


Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: The timing was so bad on the percussion/drum tracks that I broke down and took drastic measures. I recorded a track of metronome into the computer and then lined up the drum tracks piece by piece, sound by sound, and in many cases, note by note. I'm thankful for digital editing, though I think I spent more time than I should have. On the other hand, this one is more "in time" than all the others. Real drums would have been so much easier. Maybe next time.

We emptied out our bag of tricks on this song. Each verse is in a different style, and there are quite a few time signature changes and/or irregular measures.

I had a lot of fun on the intro... on the right side I ran my guitar into my Red Witch Moon Phaser into my Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man directly into the recording unit. I turned up the delay modulation a bit and set the feedback level just on the verge of self-oscillation. You can hear the chords almost pulsing if you listen close enough. It's very fun to play with delays that can self-oscillate. Strum too hard and you'll be pushed into full self-oscillation - uncontrollable (but tasty) noise. Play too softly and it will sound like a regular delay. Split the difference and you'll teeter on the brink of chaos. It's great.

The out of tune slide lines on the left channel betray the fact that I don't really know what I'm doing. Since you don't actually fret anything with a slide, you have to position it just right. I think this is also the case with most non-fretted string instruments (violin, etc.), which probably explains why most inexperienced string players seem to have tuning problems.

Underneath all of this, there is a drone what was done with maybe two guitar tracks. I don't think there were any keyboard parts on this particular drone.

Verse two uses a feel I lifted from Whence He Came's song "Finer Lights and Fairy Tales."

On the bridge I started with a keyboard lead that hints at an east Asian feel. The solo is very influenced by some of the Cure's more atmospheric tunes as well as "I can be Her Man" by the Lassie Foundation (which is probably influenced by the same tunes).

On the outro, I went for a completely over the top 80's solo. The very last phrase is a nod to the Top Gun theme (the epitome of this guitar style).


Stille Nacht: I went with a slo-core feel on the first pass... big-time Coastal influence.

On verse two, I again looked to Slowdive and Midsummer for primary influence with lots of chimey guitar lines.

I used my Fulltone Fulldrive 2 on the melody lines: overdrive on the first half and overdrive with boost for the second half.

The outro was influenced a little bit by Fine China. It doesn't really sound like them, but they influenced my choice of electronic percussion and clean "Fender through Fender" guitar lines.

Originally, I wanted to make the track last 4 minutes and 33 seconds, even though the song itself is only three and a half minutes long. If you know what that's referencing, congratulations. If not, look it up. I settled for 3'44" because the CD burner was automatically ending the tracks after only a few seconds of silence.


The Presentation
As far as wrapping up the project, Andrea took care of all artwork, doing a wonderful job. If I had my way, I'd give myself a whole week for mixing instead of only a few hours. At the same time, I'm glad to be done with it. If time is money, this is the most expensive Christmas gift anyone will ever receive from us.

Unless we do it again.

The end.

gear pics galore

*disclaimer #1: the original pics were 1200x1600 pixels, which is pretty big. I've re-sized them but as a result, the pictures have suffered some quality degradation.

*disclaimer #2: if I use the flash on our digital camera, the pics are too bright. If I don't use the flash, the colors are a lot better (in my opinion) but the slightest movement makes the pictures blur. As you can tell, my hand isn't as steady as it needs to be. Some of them are VERY blurry. Sorry for that.

Ready for the tour? I haven't included everything... just what I currently use. Also, this is my electric rig so the Taylor will not be discussed. Finally, I've gone on enough about my amp (and Tim's) so amps will also remain undiscussed.

Shall we proceed?




Guitars (Left to Right)
1999 (?) Ibanez S470 - All pickups are stock, which means Axis humbuckers and an Axis single coil. The bridge is a Floyd Rose type, but I don't remember if it's an official one or just licensed. That means that I can divebomb to my heart's content and it won't go out of tune, but string changes are kind of annoying. I'm now to the point where I can work a Floyd Rose and tune it up after string changes, but it's still kind of annoying. Basswood body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Jumbo frets (I think) and medium action. Made in Korea. I purchased this one at Guitar Center on sale. It only ended up costing me less than $250 out of pocket because I had recently sold my Jackson Performer.

Overall, this is a pretty fun guitar to play. The neck and body are very thin so it's very light but not as ugly as a Parker Fly (I don't care how light they are... those things make me sick). The sound quality isn't too bad either, especially running through a tube amp. It also responds pretty well to my pedals and it's nice to have a some passive pickups as an alternative to the ones in my Peavey. According to Young, they have yielded better note clarity. For a long time, it's also been one of my few guitars with no problems, so it's had its fair share of use. It covers medium to low gain really well and is OK for high gain. There's a small dent in the headstock because I forgot about the ceiling fan in Morgan and Darby's old room.

1995 (?) Peavey Predator - This is the first guitar I ever owned... still my favorite for most applications. Poplar body, maple neck, maple fretboard. Medium frets (I think) and very low action. It's very easy to play and it's only real weakness is note bending. Made in the USA.

After the stock pickups died (literally), I replaced them with an EMG81 in the bridge and an EMG85 in the neck. The most common complaint with active pickups is that they sound like the pickup, not like the guitar. If I had an expensive guitar, I would never think of replacing the pickups with active ones. Since this guitar originally cost $199.99, however, I'm not missing much. Although I must say, the tech who installed the EMGs was impressed that though it was a cheap guitar, the quality was far better than the Squier equivalent. Ha! Take that, post-CBS Fender!

This guitar easily covers low to high gain and everything in between.

I'm on the third pickguard and there are dents and scratches left and right. Since it was my first guitar and my first band was a punk band, I basically threw it around. It's fallen off onto the ground, bumped into walls, cymbals, amps, etc. It's probably seen at least 20 stickers over its lifetime, though only 6 remain (Whence He Came, Midsummer, Extol, Focused, Unashamed, Boot to Head Records). The frets are starting to wear. The neck is worn down near the body (strap side) because I used to strum there.

I never plan on selling it.

1967 Fender Mustang - I purchased this one in 2000 or 2001. It's post-CBS, but American-made. It's mostly original hardware minus 1 tuning peg, 1 pickup (I believe it's a Seymour Duncan), ground wiring, and knobs. I verified the serial number and headstock and it's a legit '67. Fender Mustangs were smaller-scale guitars that began production in '64 (similar to the Fender Duo-Sonic). They were somewhat limited, and not really that popular until Kurt Cobain re-introduced them (also Jaguars and the dreaded Jag-Stang) to mainstream America. Maple neck, rosewood fretboard.

The paint has been stripped off as well ('67s were only made in red, white, or daphne blue). This one was originally blue, so I think I might leave it as is. As the story goes, the previous owner found this guitar in a dumpster. After getting it back in working order, it was used by the old guitar player in the High School music team. Some time later, it was returned to the owner, who eventually advertised it in the Student Lounge of the Seminary Library. I was working custodial on a Saturday night and saw the ad. Hmm. 1967 Fender for... $100? The next week I went to the seller's apartment to buy it and, as it turned out, I already knew him. A few weeks later, he said that if I ever got tired of it and wanted to sell it, tell him and he'd buy it back. I don't know if he had seller's remorse, or found out what it was really worth (not that much, in my opinion, but definitely more than $100), but I'm happy with it and don't plan to sell it any time soon.

Before Resolved:, I had some clean-up work done... complete setup (cleaning and polishing, new strings, re-setting action, checking neck, etc.) and repaired the Mickey Mouse ground wiring job performed by a previous owner. Here's a tip... when you're working with guitar wiring, try to keep the wires inside the guitar (that problem is now fixed thanks to Tina at The Amp Shop). This guitar is now my other favorite. It's not as good for high gain, but it covers medium to low gain very well.


Here's my pedal board. Everything is velcroed to a piece of plywood. I don't remember what size, but it's durable yet slightly flexible. And not too heavy! It's been sanded down and spray painted black because nothing is as offensive as a pedal board made of unfinished plywood. The original plan was to put rubber feet on the bottom and handles on top, but that hasn't been done yet. I've determined that it's not a necessary expense.

This pedal board fits snugly into a 76-key keyboard case. The board was purposely cut to those dimensions. Once I add the packing foam, it doesn't move around much at all and is well-protected.

left half (close-up)

right half (close-up)

Boss LS-2 Line Selector - I'm not sure exactly why I bought this, other than the features sounded cool. It basically manages effect loops, but it can also run multiple guitars through one amp, run one amp through multiple amps (I did this at Resolved:), and power other pedals. Right now, I'm using it only as a power supply... it's not even connected in the signal chain.

Boss DS-1 Distortion - The classic orange box. Probably the most maligned pedal that Boss makes. Also one of the most misunderstood (tied with the Ibanez Tube Screamer). The bad thing about sites like Guitar Geek and guitar magazines is that when they review a player's effect pedals, they don't usually discuss how the artist uses them. Instead, everyone says, "Aha! The Boss DS-1 is used by everyone from Kurt Cobain to the Edge to Joe Satriani. If I get one, I'll sound like them!" As you can imagine, they're often disappointed when their dreams don't materialize.

The most important thing to determine is how effects are used.

Many times, players use the DS-1 to boost already distorted amps to push them over the top (more gain, more sustain). The same can be said of Tube Screamers. Ever wonder why a Tube Screamer sounds so bad when used as a normal distortion? Because it's not designed to be used that way. It's all in the name - a pedal designed to push amp tubes harder and make them distort (and compress signal) more.

So, where does the DS-1 fall? It's still pretty brittle when used as a distortion pedal, though running it through a tube amp helps a lot. You can always get them modded by Robert Keeley or Analog Mike (or others). But it really starts to come alive when it is used with an already overdriven amp. As you can guess, this is how I use it, and I'm satisfied. I got this one free from someone who thought it sounded like garbage. He got it from someone who thought it sounded like garbage. And so on. If nothing else, I was determined to find a good use for it... and I'm pretty happy with it.

I used it most noticeably for the leads on "In Christ Alone" at Resolved:.


Fulltone FullDrive 2 - This is a boutique overdrive pedal hand-built by Mike Fuller. I was especially happy to get one with cream-colored knobs, since I think the black ones are ugly. Left switch is overdrive ON/OFF and the right knob is boost ON/OFF. Boost only works with overdrive ON. The switches are close enough that you can hit both at once if you so desire. This is one of the newer models, with the 3-way selector switch that alternates between CompCut, Flat Mids, and Vintage modes. The first two are great for boosting an amp, with the boost greatly increasing the volume. Vintage mode yields a nice overdrive with the boost function not as noticeable. The pedal is true bypass, which means a lot less signal degradation when the pedal is off. It wasn't cheap, but I got it at cost when Andrea was working at Guitar Center (oh the horror). I'm surprised they even carried it. Tim's amp plus this pedal equals "pick your jaw up off the floor" tone.


Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man - Analog Delay/Chorus/Vibrato. In the olden days, the Edge used a couple of these. It's one of the more popular analog delays. It's only 550ms of delay, but the notes swim if the settings are right. You can get some really dreamy notes out of this box. On the downside, the casing is huge and eats up a ton of pedalboard real estate. On an even sadder downside, there's a very noticeable volume drop when you engage the pedal. The "Level" knob should fix this, but unfortunately, increasing the "Level" raises both your volume whether or not the pedal is on. There's no real way to reduce the ON/OFF volume discrepancy. It's still a great pedal, though perhaps better for recording, unless you find a way to cheat the system. It self-oscillates, which makes it nice for noise jams.


Red Witch Moon Phaser - boutique phaser/tremolo pedal hand-build by the Kiwis at Red Witch Analogue Effects (New Zealand). I bought this one off a guy named Steve for a reasonably fair price. It features 6 different settings - tremolo, tremolo/phase combo, and 4 different phasers. The phasers vary in terms of modulation and "swirly-ness." You can adjust the speed and depth of the effect as well. Unlike some phasers, the slowest speed is really slow. It's true bypass which preserves your tone. It's also possibly the prettiest box on my board, as it's chrome-plated. Unlike many tremolo pedals (especially Boss), there's no volume drop when the effect is on. Instead, the volume increases slightly when the effect is on, bringing the line signal up to unity. When I requested an instruction manual, Ben (Mr. Red Witch himself) e-mailed me a copy. +1 for good customer service.


Loooper Custom 3 Loop - true bypass effects loop hand-made by Davey Boggs at Loooper. It's a fairly simple design... you can dump your non-true bypass or noisy pedals in the individual loops and then isolate them from your main signal chain, protecting it from unwanted coloration that badly buffered pedals usually provide.

Loop 1 contains the Boss DS-1
Loop 2 contains the Electro-Harmonix DMM
Loop 3 contains the Boss GT-3

I use the Loooper (among other things) to cheat the DMM's line level problem. Since it's isolated in the effects loop, it's ON all the time. I introduce and remove it from the signal chain via the Loooper. This way, I can adjust the "Level" knob to bring it to a unity gain while the OFF line level remains the same.

As far as the footswitches go, #1 turns Loop 1 ON and OFF. The red LED indicates ON. Switch #2 toggles between Loop 2 and Loop 3. Yellow for 2 and Green for 3. Switch #3 turns Loops 2 and 3 ON and OFF. The blue LED indicates ON.

I got to pick the pedal setup, paint, and LED colors. I also added a 9-volt battery clip in case I go that route, and chose certain modifications from Dave's list of options.

Dave was incredibly helpful in helping me decide what configuration to use, as well as explaining the pedal so I knew what I was getting into. The pedal was not completed on time, but he explained the situation (sickness, then car accident) and didn't take offense at my inquiry. I highly recommend any business dealings with him. (EDIT: Loooper pedals are currently not in production because Mr. Boggs has carpal tunnel syndrome. Bummer.)


Boss GT-3 - In some ways, this unit is the crazy uncle of the family. He doesn't really belong, but you can't throw him out since he's family and all. It's the lone multi-effects unit that is still in use. It's really finicky about what amplifier it's running through. It really dislikes solid state guitar amps (like Morgan's old one) but smoothes out with tube amps. It's really useful for getting sounds that analog pedals can't accomplish but not as good at sounds that imitate analog effects.

The main reason I keep it is to have tap-tempo effects and reverb. I also use it quite extensively for ambient soundscapes like the ones I overused used at Resolved:.

There's an entire world inside once you get into the programming aspect of this unit. Almost any parameter can be modified in real-time with the CTL and Expression pedals. You can even set effects up to occur after you've initiated the sequence... *push pedal* ... *wait for programmed amount of time* ... *effect engages*. For example, you can set up certain effects to be controlled by the expression pedal with different positions and times. With one simple sweep of the pedal, you can begin playing and as time progresses, the individual effects will turn on and off automatically.


Isn't it pretty?

resolved: 2005 recap - music

Things got off to a rough start. I arrived shortly before 5pm, only to realize that we were supposed to be there at 4pm. One thing I hate more than just about anything else is being late. I'm of the opinion that 9 times out of 10, being late is your own fault. Last Friday was no exception. For some reason, I had "5:00 sound check" in my head. Granted, it's tough to get anywhere on time once you have a baby to account for, but if I had remembered the correct time, we would have been fine.

Unfortunately, this was only the start. I sent my Mesa/Boogie ahead in one of the other vehicles, and I couldn't find it. I had to track down one of the sound guys to ask him where it was. When I got to the part of the stage I was to occupy, there wasn't much room at all. I saw that Mark was helping out the sound guys so I asked him where my amps were to go. Then he had to have a conversation that no sound guy wants to have with a musician.

"See, since the stage is so small, Derek was thinking of putting your amps behind the stage facing the wall."

My face outside:
My attitude inside:

If there's one thing I hate, it's being late. If there's another thing I hate, it's the sound of an electric guitar through a monitor when you can't hear the amp itself. 10 out of 10 times, the sound from the amp will be nice and warm while the sound from the monitor will be thin and brittle (based on my past experience) To make matters worse, not having my amps on stage left me with a dilemma - the amps were doubling as guitar stands/supply shelves. This meant that someone had to make a run to Guitar Center for another guitar stand. Furthermore, I bought ear plugs specifically because of the stage diagram we were shown at our previous practice. "Hmm," I thought. "If my amps are going to be directly to my right, there's no way my right ear can survive." See, I had been practicing with the amps directly behind me.

To top it all off, there was someone else's "junk" (wallet, phone, jacket, etc) in my corner of the stage.

In MY Corner!!!

Things definitely were not off to a good start. Of all times for this stuff to be happening... this was our ministry's biggest event ever. Why did things have to be so last-minute?!?! Some really strange things crossed my mind like doesn't God realize that I need to have a minimal amount of pre-performance distractions so that I don't lose focus? It seemed like one thing after another was going wrong.

Sound check started. My monitor was way too loud. For all those years playing in garage bands at full volume, I think my ears are more sensitive now than they were back then. I'm not really sure why that is, unless I've stripped away some of the protective barriers in my ears. Is that even possible?

So after asking the sound guys repeatedly to turn it down, it actually started to sound good... really good. I found it amusing that even though one of the "benefits" of having the amps off-stage was to reduce stage volume, the monitor was louder than both amps combined would have been. Go figure.

Between the first and second songs, I was supposed to switch guitars. I made sure to tell John this at the practice we had 6 weeks prior, and we planned for a short 15-20 second break in which to do this. But now, things had changed.

J: "I thought we were going to have a short break between 'Soli' and 'Your Great Name We Praise.'"

Other J: "Well... now there's no break."

J (thinking): so it's like that, huh?

But then God changed things. Slowly, my attitude began to soften. I stopped beating myself up over being late. I'm a perfectionist, which is a nice way to say I'm always fighting with myself over being prideful. So after those things were dealt with, I went into survival mode, which for me, is improv mode... take whatever you're dealt and deal with it. And for crying out loud, have a good attitude. It's the Resolved (colon) conference.

We were told kind of last-minute that we needed to come up with an intro piece to kick off the whole night... something that would really create an atmosphere for the whole weekend. My ears perked up. Did you say... atmosphere? For the past oh, I don't know, 3 or 4 years, I've basically classified my guitar playing as very atmospheric. I like to color things up by using effects and write guitar parts you can space out to (or at least parts I can space out to). You can tell when I'm playing one of those parts because I tend to do just that. It's not for show. It's just a habit I developed. If a guitar line takes your heart to the breaking point, it's the right one. And since the only barometer I have for that is my own opinion and emotion, I usually end up enjoying my own playing more than other people do*. Upon first glance, that sounds incredibly arrogant, but it shouldn't. I'm not saying I'm better than others, or even that I'm that good. I just enjoy the emotional journey I experience when I'm able to incorporate dreamy guitar lines, especially in the context of worship.

* My guitar playing has Easter eggs (hidden meanings). What that means is that many times, I'll throw in a riff from another song just to spice up the song we're playing. Usually no one notices except for me. That's one reason I enjoy my playing more than other people do. That's one thing I immediately loved about Something Like Silas... "Hey, that's almost the same riff as Sunny Day Real Estate's 'Waffle'" or "Hey, that drum beat is the same as such-and-such Violet Burning song. Cool."

For example, did you know that at my solo for "Rise Up and Praise Him" has, at different times, been the theme to "Top Gun," the melody line to Michael W. Smith's song "Lamu," and the "Star Wars" theme? Or that the last 4 bars of the solo for "Cry Holy" this weekend were lifted DIRECTLY from Whence He Came's song "Here's to Hope?" Or how about the fact that the main guitar lead to the Smashing Pumpkins' "Today" was used multiple times throughout the weekend, just for the fun of it?

Well, now you know, but hopefully you're too busy praising to notice these things... unless such knowledge enhances the worship experience, in which case, I'm glad you have the same response I do.

For our "Intro," we settled on a D~E~A~D~E~f#m chord progression with 3 sections:

I - very mellow with minimal percussion
III - full tilt with lots of cymbals and loud guitars
II - a happy medium between I and III

Though I've used an EBow for years, it took on an entirely different dynamic when I used it in conjunction with a guitar slide. It was a ton of fun. The song was supposed to last for about 5 minutes, but I could have played it for 25. There's something hypnotic about chord progressions that keep repeating themselves, as long as the instrumentation keeps things interesting.

We ended on the A chord and after a short pause, jumped right into Soli Deo Gloria. When it was all said and done, I had an awesome time worshipping. As late as our sound check, things sounded iffy, but when we walked off stage after the set was over, I had a huge smile on my heart. There's no explanation other than that the Lord helped us out A LOT. Despite all the distractions that had been building up, when it really counted, it came together. There's no way we can take any of the credit... it's all the Lord's.

Hearing 1500 people sing God's praises in your direction is very humbling. I'd imagine it's pretty cool to be a popular band and have people sing your songs (loudly) at concerts. I mean, they're songs that you've written. What a neat connection with the audience. How much more amazing is hearing people sing songs at a conference such as Resolved. Though we didn't write any of them, we still had that connection with the audience... we're all praising the same God. An incredible experience.

Ultimately, I should have had a good attitude whether or not circumstances changed. That's the way it goes: circumstances can't dictate our response. But in this case, the Lord saw fit to improve circumstances as well:

~ I was able to get another guitar stand before we started.
~ The sound of the amp through the monitor was incredible. I've never played through a good monitor, so this was a real treat. It felt like having the amp right there.
~ I did have time to switch guitars between songs 1 and 2 after all.
~ We got to do an atmospheric intro, which really excited me.
~ I was able to worship distraction-free. I was trying not to weep up there on some of the songs.
~ The stage looked stinkin' amazing. I mean, you'd hope so for the amount of money they spent. But yeah, it was great.

The biggest, and really the only bummer of the weekend was "Jesus I My Cross Have Taken." The first time we played it, I chickened out on the solo, so I did some cheesy one to guard against hitting wrong notes.

I planned to make up for it on the second time, except the second one was played in attempts to appease CJ Mahaney. Since this was totally un-practiced, I again messed it up and didn't get a chance to play the solo I spent so much time writing.

It's influenced heavily by someone whose music I dislike so much that I won't even type his or her name. But on his or her live DVD, he or she plays a solo that features a riff high on the guitar neck, then an identical riff an octave lower on the lower part of the guitar neck, and so on. That's what was supposed to happen. It didn't. I was pretty disappointed. But the jam session that ensued more than made up for it.

The plan was to have each person do a solo after we'd gone through the progression for a while. I started with a lead similar to what I'd played on Friday night. I was fairly happy with it. It wasn't blow-you-away amazing, but at least I didn't hit any wrong notes (that I remember).

Then it was Morgan's turn. I felt a little bad for him because his keyboard was set to play ambient string pads, which aren't that conducive to soloing. He ended up throwing in a few organ lines and that was good enough for CJ.

Then CJ came over to me and stood there. I was a little puzzled, since I thought I had already soloed quite enough. Some have asked me what I was saying to CJ on stage. It went like this:

CJ: "You're next."

J: "Huh? I thought I was first."

CJ: "No, we're going right to left."

J: "Um, okay."

and then...

CJ: "You play and I'll strum. Show me where."

J: "Ok, here." (gives CJ guitar pick)

J: "1, 2, 3, 4, NOW." (CJ strums)

Then he got excited (I don't think it takes much to get CJ excited).

He strummed hard and fast and knocked the tension out of my E-string. It didn't actually break... it just came loose.

Then it was John's turn, then Joe, then Tim, then Pat, then Matt.

Special props to Joe for playing a tasty drum solo that stayed pretty under control but was still impressive. And props to Matt, who hates playing solos, especially on the bass, but still played some nice riffs.

In a spot of irony, I've spent so much time researching boutique pedals recently. I'm proud to say that my 3 latest purchases have been hand-wired, hand-built pedals that you can't find at your local guitar center. And much to my chagrin, the picture of my pedal board that's decorating the Xroads site only shows the mass-produced non-true bypass clunkers.

Let's say you own 3 cars. Now, many of you would probably be happy owning one, but let's say you've got 3...

1. A nice SUV fully decked out... nice stereo, tinted windows, rims (but please no spinners), etc.
2. A nice luxury car... also fully decked out. A ton of fun to drive.
3. 1985 Buick boat-type car. You hardly ever drive it. It just sits there taking up space.

One day, your friend makes a website. You visit it only to see your 1985 beast with this caption: " (your name)'s car." Yeah. It is your car... no denying that. It's just not the one you're necessarily proud of. So in honor of that, here's more techie garbage. I'm surprised people have actually admitted to reading these, but I'm glad.

This was the official rig for Resolved. Everything is listed in order of signal chain. (duh)

Peavey Predator (EMG81 bridge, EMG85 neck)
Ibanez S470
1967 Fender Mustang

into

Fulltone Fulldrive 2
Red Witch Moon Phaser
Loooper 3
loop 1. Boss DS-1
loop 2. ElectroHarmonix Deluxe Memory Man
loop 3. Boss GT-3
Boss LS-2 (used as signal splitter)

into

Mesa/Boogie Nomad 100 Head w/ Mesa/Boogie Rectifier Cab (2x12)

and

Fender Blues Deville 4x10 Combo

I rearranged everything on the board, so I'll post pics as soon as I can upload them.

That sums up the music review for Resolved: 2005.

Listening to "Castlevania 3" by the Minibosses