Random Sunday post: Flight cases, plus I hate tremolos, redux

Thought I'd post a quick update today as I laze around on a Sunday afternoon. I'm excited because I will soon get to experience an NGD (New Gear Day) - I picked up an SKB flight case today for my upcoming trip to Vegas.

My wife is going to Photoshop World so I get to tag along. I'll also have a lot of time on my hands to do whatever I want. Last year I brought my Strat with me as a carry-on, but I got too many nasty looks and bitchy comments so I wanted to check it this time. Good thing we're not flying United:

I just have to decide which guitar I'm going to take. I'm about 90% sure it'll be the hardtail RG, but I still may change my mind and bring the Strat again. I've been playing the RG a lot lately so unless things change it'll be making the trip with us.

Speaking of RGs, I'm having issues again with the Edge III tremolo on my other RG. I absolutely love that guitar, but I just hate tremolos. The only one I've ever liked was the one on my old Charvel. That thing was a rock. I'd go weeks without having to tune it. I changed strings recently and after much frustration got it set up and working again. But one day, I picked it up, played it, made one dive bomb and the whole thing went out of tune. Badly. I just put it back on the stand and grabbed the hardtail RG. I know I could get it back to working condition with some effort but I just hate tremolos. I'm glad I have a guitar with a locking tremolo so I could play songs that need it but I will never own another. My own personal sound - whatever that is, I'm still working on it - will not feature anything that requires a tremolo. It's hardtails for me.

So that's it for today. Until next time, keep playing!

Another practice video: Me and YYZ

After I made this video Saturday morning, I have to admit I wasn't pleased. I really didn't like the way I played and I was rather bummed. But after watching it a few times, I've realized that it's not nearly as bad as I thought, and a lot of the problems are from the way it was put together.

I tried something new with this video. For my other practice videos, I played through my amp and let the built-in microphone pick everything up - that includes the backing track, which I played on my iPod through the amp's MP3 input. This time, I plugged my DigiTech RP90 right into the laptop input. Originally, I recorded the final prodct in GarageBand and planned on replacing the audio. But when I played the captured video in iMovie, my guitar sounded pretty good so I decided to add the backing track in and sync it with my playing.

That's the big issue with this video - I don't think I synced it perfectly so I'm a little off the whole time. It makes my playing sound much worse because it seems like I can't play in time with the music. The backing track, too, leaves a lot to be desired. I wanted to use a backing track so that I wouldn't be fighting with Alex's guitar playing - I wanted to hear how I sounded on my own. The free YYZ backing track I found on the 'Net is extraordinarily horrendous, but it does the job.

So now, for the good and the bad. The good: I nailed the solo, which I've had issues with in the past. The bad: I screwed up two parts of the song. I messed up one of the reggae-inspired chord progressions and I hit the wrong opening note in the post-solo bridge. In the end I didn't do a bad job, but you can be the judge!

New look

I've decided to change the look of my blog. The original design was looking too dour in my opinion. I want this to be a happy place, but the vibe was quiet melancholy.

So I've changed the template colors to brighten it up. My lovely wife is working on a new graphic for me, so as soon as I get it I'll customize the colors to match. I'm ditching the tag line, too. It's just going to be called The Pantomime Horse Music Blog. I'm envisioning a sort of 60s-ish graphic, something lively and colorful.

I already think it's easier to read. There's something about white text on a dark background that makes your eyes water.

So stay tuned, soon this will be a happier corner of the Interwebz.