Merry Christmas all! I'll be back after the holiday with the much anticipated DGW Contender review and video. Until then, enjoy this!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Update: Slow Down Music Player lick naming trick
In my review of the Slow Down Music Player, which I liked a lot despite a few nagging bugs, I commented on the fact that it's extremely difficult to type in a name for a lick without the default text, "no name," becoming part of the name. Well, I found a workaround for that.
What you do is you save the lick first, which will now be named "no name." Then you can edit the lick by tapping the red arrow on the right side and rename it without the headache of the default text.
I found this out by getting really pissed off at it. I added "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush to the player and I was trying to create a lick from the tricky bridge intro and I couldn't name the damn thing. Every time I tried, "no name" would solidify and I would have to clear it out, which would then cause the default, ghosted "no name" text to reappear, then it would solidify again...you get the picture. So after getting to the point where I wanted to throw my iPod against the wall, I said, "Screw it" and saved it as "no name."
For the hell of it I tapped the arrow to edit the lick and I was able to rename it easily. I think the bug happens because there's nothing saved, so the app keeps trying to insert the default text, but once it's saved, it doesn't. The developer should either take out that default text or fix the issue.
With this bug sufficiently worked around, I have no qualms about buying the full app, which I will after Christmas (I have a feeling I'll be getting an iTunes gift card), but I'm still keeping it at four stars until the bug is officially fixed.
What you do is you save the lick first, which will now be named "no name." Then you can edit the lick by tapping the red arrow on the right side and rename it without the headache of the default text.
I found this out by getting really pissed off at it. I added "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush to the player and I was trying to create a lick from the tricky bridge intro and I couldn't name the damn thing. Every time I tried, "no name" would solidify and I would have to clear it out, which would then cause the default, ghosted "no name" text to reappear, then it would solidify again...you get the picture. So after getting to the point where I wanted to throw my iPod against the wall, I said, "Screw it" and saved it as "no name."
For the hell of it I tapped the arrow to edit the lick and I was able to rename it easily. I think the bug happens because there's nothing saved, so the app keeps trying to insert the default text, but once it's saved, it doesn't. The developer should either take out that default text or fix the issue.
With this bug sufficiently worked around, I have no qualms about buying the full app, which I will after Christmas (I have a feeling I'll be getting an iTunes gift card), but I'm still keeping it at four stars until the bug is officially fixed.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Quick update in another slow week
Things have been quiet here in blogger central for the last few days. I haven't had a meaty post since the Slow Down Music Player review. I wanted to let my faithful reader(s) know that I haven't forgot about you.
So what have I been up to? Well, I've been testing the hell out of the DGW Contender that is now mine. Yes, I bought it. I don't want to give anything away that might be in the forthcoming review, but I couldn't send it back. It already justified its place in my rig yesterday. My wife had a doctor's appointment and I went along, meaning I had about an hour to kill waiting in the car. I had an idea to bring the Contender (I might name him "Shorty") along from the ride, and I'm glad I did. I was able to get a good hour of practice sitting in the back of our Honda CR-V, something I couldn't have done with a bigger guitar. It was a great bonding experience. Nothing is better than when you bond with a musical instrument - it makes it yours, in a more substantial way than when you wrote the check for it.
I'm still waiting on the review until I give it a thorough thrashing, plus I still need to figure out how to make a video for YouTube. It may take me a few weeks to get it all together, but I promise you it will (should) be worth the wait.
I'll also be reviewing the Amplitube iRig I'll be getting for a Christmas present. It'll probably be posted about a week after Christmas to give me a chance to learn it and use it. I'm going to buy the full version of the software so I can have access to all the amp models. I'll also be getting the new Joe Satriani CD, so expect a review of that as well.
That's all for now. Happy guitaring!
So what have I been up to? Well, I've been testing the hell out of the DGW Contender that is now mine. Yes, I bought it. I don't want to give anything away that might be in the forthcoming review, but I couldn't send it back. It already justified its place in my rig yesterday. My wife had a doctor's appointment and I went along, meaning I had about an hour to kill waiting in the car. I had an idea to bring the Contender (I might name him "Shorty") along from the ride, and I'm glad I did. I was able to get a good hour of practice sitting in the back of our Honda CR-V, something I couldn't have done with a bigger guitar. It was a great bonding experience. Nothing is better than when you bond with a musical instrument - it makes it yours, in a more substantial way than when you wrote the check for it.
I'm still waiting on the review until I give it a thorough thrashing, plus I still need to figure out how to make a video for YouTube. It may take me a few weeks to get it all together, but I promise you it will (should) be worth the wait.
I'll also be reviewing the Amplitube iRig I'll be getting for a Christmas present. It'll probably be posted about a week after Christmas to give me a chance to learn it and use it. I'm going to buy the full version of the software so I can have access to all the amp models. I'll also be getting the new Joe Satriani CD, so expect a review of that as well.
That's all for now. Happy guitaring!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Exciting developments
If you remember, the Contender was briefly on the Short List but was removed because I couldn't play one to test it out. I was so impressed with the guitar's premise, though, that I contacted the company and requested to be on the demo list. Lo and behold, a few weeks later, a sunburst Contender shows up on my doorstep. Jimmy from DGW has been great the whole time, and I thank him for the opportunity.
I'm also going to try my hand at a video supplement to the review. I've never done a YouTube video before, but I'm looking forward to trying it out. If it works out well, expect more blog/video reviews in the future.
In the coming weeks, I'm going to use the Contender as my main guitar so I can put it through a complete test. At the end of the test, I'll write the review and film the video. My initial impression is pretty good, though. The guitar is very well made and has solid hardware and pretty good pickups. Plus it's just so cute! It's about 3/4 the size of a regular Strat-style guitar. I'm looking forward to playing it for the next few weeks.
Are you as excited as I am? Probably not, but you should be!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Gear Review: Slow Down Music Player - iPhone/iPod Touch App
In my quest to learn more songs, I've been searching for some kind of software that would allow me to slow down songs without changing pitch. I'm cheap, too, so I was looking for something on the free side. While looking for Windows or Mac applications, I came across this iPhone/iPod Touch app called Slow Down Music Player. The price was right (free), so I installed in on my iPod and imported Joe Satriani's classic "Always With Me, Always With You."
The app's interface is very basic as you can see in the image on the right, meaning it's not very pretty, but it works quite well. The small player buttons are hard to hit sometimes, but on the whole it's pretty intuitive and easy to use. The app allows you to both slow down the tempo and also adjust the pitch, so if you're learning a song that's tuned to Eb, you can raise the pitch by a semitone so you don't have to retune your guitar, which is perfect for guitars like my RG that have a floating tremolo.
The crowning achievement of this app, though, is the ability to create "licks," slices of songs that you can use to loop through tricky parts, or just divide a song into sections to learn a bit at a time. This feature allowed me to break down the Satch song and learn some of the more difficult licks easily. In fact, I learned about two thirds of the song in the span of a few hours, which I wouldn't have been able to do without this software.
This is an essential piece of software for any guitarist, especially a beginner or intermediate like me. The free version is limited to three imported songs - for $2.99 you can upgrade to the full version and that limitation is removed.
It's not without its bugs, though. The most annoying bug is in the lick editor. There is a text box at the top to enter a name for the lick. By default it's filled with the words "no name" that are ghosted out once you select it. But if you don't type the lick name fast enough, the "no name" entry will no longer be ghosted out and your typed characters will start appearing after the "e." So I had to very quickly type in the lick name, which meant no capital letters (the shift key takes too much time) and no concern for spelling or typos. And as you probably know by now, typing quickly on the virtual keyboard isn't exactly easy.
It also doesn't do landscape orientation well. At all. The screen moves but the layout doesn't, so the controls at the bottom get hidden unless you scroll up. When I used it, too, it sometimes skipped, and sometimes stopped playing altogether. The skips are annoying, and that may be because my iPod is almost full, but when it stopped playing (actually just stopped producing sound; the app was still playing the song) I just hit the stop button and restarted it and it was fine.
These minor annoyances don't hinder the usefulness of this app, though. But I'm going to stick with the free version until these bugs are worked out. Once they are, the $2.99 price tag is an absolute bargain. Even in its current state, it deserves a place on all guitarists' iPods. I give it a 4 out of 5 because of the bugs; a bug free Slow Down Music Player would be a no-brainer perfect 5.
Score: ★★★★☆
Summary: A must-have for any guitarist, minor bugs keep it from a perfect score.
The app's interface is very basic as you can see in the image on the right, meaning it's not very pretty, but it works quite well. The small player buttons are hard to hit sometimes, but on the whole it's pretty intuitive and easy to use. The app allows you to both slow down the tempo and also adjust the pitch, so if you're learning a song that's tuned to Eb, you can raise the pitch by a semitone so you don't have to retune your guitar, which is perfect for guitars like my RG that have a floating tremolo.The crowning achievement of this app, though, is the ability to create "licks," slices of songs that you can use to loop through tricky parts, or just divide a song into sections to learn a bit at a time. This feature allowed me to break down the Satch song and learn some of the more difficult licks easily. In fact, I learned about two thirds of the song in the span of a few hours, which I wouldn't have been able to do without this software.
This is an essential piece of software for any guitarist, especially a beginner or intermediate like me. The free version is limited to three imported songs - for $2.99 you can upgrade to the full version and that limitation is removed.
It's not without its bugs, though. The most annoying bug is in the lick editor. There is a text box at the top to enter a name for the lick. By default it's filled with the words "no name" that are ghosted out once you select it. But if you don't type the lick name fast enough, the "no name" entry will no longer be ghosted out and your typed characters will start appearing after the "e." So I had to very quickly type in the lick name, which meant no capital letters (the shift key takes too much time) and no concern for spelling or typos. And as you probably know by now, typing quickly on the virtual keyboard isn't exactly easy.
It also doesn't do landscape orientation well. At all. The screen moves but the layout doesn't, so the controls at the bottom get hidden unless you scroll up. When I used it, too, it sometimes skipped, and sometimes stopped playing altogether. The skips are annoying, and that may be because my iPod is almost full, but when it stopped playing (actually just stopped producing sound; the app was still playing the song) I just hit the stop button and restarted it and it was fine.
These minor annoyances don't hinder the usefulness of this app, though. But I'm going to stick with the free version until these bugs are worked out. Once they are, the $2.99 price tag is an absolute bargain. Even in its current state, it deserves a place on all guitarists' iPods. I give it a 4 out of 5 because of the bugs; a bug free Slow Down Music Player would be a no-brainer perfect 5.
Score: ★★★★☆
Summary: A must-have for any guitarist, minor bugs keep it from a perfect score.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Quick Ibanez update
So it's been a few weeks now and the new RG is still in tune. I haven't checked it in a while, so yesterday I plugged in the tuner to check it out, and it was still in perfect tune.
Awesome.
I've been playing a lot and I have about half of "Always With Me, Always With You" learned already. I've been using a new iPod app called Slow Down Music Player which has helped a lot. I'll be doing a comprehensive review on it in the next few days.
I also have an Amplitube iRig coming from Santa, so look out for that review as well.
Until then, keep playing!
Awesome.
I've been playing a lot and I have about half of "Always With Me, Always With You" learned already. I've been using a new iPod app called Slow Down Music Player which has helped a lot. I'll be doing a comprehensive review on it in the next few days.
I also have an Amplitube iRig coming from Santa, so look out for that review as well.
Until then, keep playing!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
John's guitar rig wish list
Now that my guitar situation is under control, it's time to dream about my ideal guitar rig. What I have is great for what I do and what I plan to do - record - but sometimes it's nice to imagine what I'd have if I played with other people in a band setting, whether it's full-on gigging or just garage jamming.
Disclaimer: This is only a "what-if" scenario. It is no way indicative of me wanting to spend money on anything. What I have works great for me now. This list is what I'd get if I had to play a gig tomorrow.
Now that that's out of the way, here's John's dream rig.
Amplifier: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III. Sure, I'd love a 100 watt Marshall stack, but I'm being realistic here. I'm not going to play Madison Square Garden. This is a perfect amp for practice or small gigs. What I love about it is the clean channel. There's no better clean than a Fender clean, and the Hot Rod Deluxe has it in spades. The best thing about a good clean channel is that it takes pedals well, which is important because the distortion on the Fender is very much a bluesy overdrive. To get a good hard rock/metal tone you need to put pedals in front of it. This is why the Hot Rod Deluxe gets the nod in my dream rig - I can get all the metal distortion I need with pedals plus I can get bluesy overdrive with the amp itself. Best of both worlds. Now it's time for the pedals.
Distortion: Boss DS-1 and ST-2 Power Stack. With these two pedals, I can get pretty much any distortion I want. The DS-1 is a classic pedal and should suit most of my needs, but in those times when I need a little more, the Power Stack will do just fine.
Tuner: Boss TU-2. The gold standard of tuners, in my opinion. Nothing else to say here.
Delay: Boss DD-3. Simple, straightforward delay. There are more advanced ones on the market, but this is all I need.
Chorus: Boss CE-2. Seeing a pattern here? Every time I research pedals, Boss is at or near the top, especially a few, the CE-2 chorus being one of them (the DS-1 and DD-3 are the others).
Flanger: Boss BF-2. See above.
Compression: Boss CS-2. See above, again.
Wah: Already have it - my Dunlop Wah/Volume. Great pedal, just never had the right rig for it. I like that it's a combo so I don't need a separate volume pedal. Keeps the board nice and simple.
So there you have it. I don't see me needing anything else. I've learned a few things fiddling around with my DigiTech RP90, mostly what effects I like and what effects I don't like. Whenever I build my own preset, I end up with the same effects every time. I don't need a whammy or tremolo, and unless the amp reverb isn't good enough I don't need one of those, either. I could get any sound I want with what's in this list. If I were a gigging musician, this is what I'd have.
But for now, it's time to get back to the RP to create some more presets.
Disclaimer: This is only a "what-if" scenario. It is no way indicative of me wanting to spend money on anything. What I have works great for me now. This list is what I'd get if I had to play a gig tomorrow.
Now that that's out of the way, here's John's dream rig.
Amplifier: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III. Sure, I'd love a 100 watt Marshall stack, but I'm being realistic here. I'm not going to play Madison Square Garden. This is a perfect amp for practice or small gigs. What I love about it is the clean channel. There's no better clean than a Fender clean, and the Hot Rod Deluxe has it in spades. The best thing about a good clean channel is that it takes pedals well, which is important because the distortion on the Fender is very much a bluesy overdrive. To get a good hard rock/metal tone you need to put pedals in front of it. This is why the Hot Rod Deluxe gets the nod in my dream rig - I can get all the metal distortion I need with pedals plus I can get bluesy overdrive with the amp itself. Best of both worlds. Now it's time for the pedals.
Distortion: Boss DS-1 and ST-2 Power Stack. With these two pedals, I can get pretty much any distortion I want. The DS-1 is a classic pedal and should suit most of my needs, but in those times when I need a little more, the Power Stack will do just fine.
Tuner: Boss TU-2. The gold standard of tuners, in my opinion. Nothing else to say here.
Delay: Boss DD-3. Simple, straightforward delay. There are more advanced ones on the market, but this is all I need.
Chorus: Boss CE-2. Seeing a pattern here? Every time I research pedals, Boss is at or near the top, especially a few, the CE-2 chorus being one of them (the DS-1 and DD-3 are the others).
Flanger: Boss BF-2. See above.
Compression: Boss CS-2. See above, again.
Wah: Already have it - my Dunlop Wah/Volume. Great pedal, just never had the right rig for it. I like that it's a combo so I don't need a separate volume pedal. Keeps the board nice and simple.
So there you have it. I don't see me needing anything else. I've learned a few things fiddling around with my DigiTech RP90, mostly what effects I like and what effects I don't like. Whenever I build my own preset, I end up with the same effects every time. I don't need a whammy or tremolo, and unless the amp reverb isn't good enough I don't need one of those, either. I could get any sound I want with what's in this list. If I were a gigging musician, this is what I'd have.
But for now, it's time to get back to the RP to create some more presets.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
No more excuses
I used to say I didn't have a guitar that could handle stuff by Satch and Petrucci. Now I have my RG.
I used to say I didn't have a computer I could use to find tabs, watch video lessons, etc. Now I have my Dad's old PC.
I used to say I didn't have time, but that's crap. I can make time.
I have run out of excuses. It's time for me to get serious.
First up - learning one of my favorite songs, "Always With Me, Always With You." The song I never thought I was good enough to play.
Then I'm on to some Dream Theater, probably "Pull Me Under."
I feel a sense that big things will be happening for me in the new year.
I used to say I didn't have a computer I could use to find tabs, watch video lessons, etc. Now I have my Dad's old PC.
I used to say I didn't have time, but that's crap. I can make time.
I have run out of excuses. It's time for me to get serious.
First up - learning one of my favorite songs, "Always With Me, Always With You." The song I never thought I was good enough to play.
Then I'm on to some Dream Theater, probably "Pull Me Under."
I feel a sense that big things will be happening for me in the new year.
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