Happy birthday to my wonderful wife!

Today is my beautiful wife's birthday. It's the best day of the year for me, better than Christmas, or New Year's Day, or any other day. It's the day when I celebrate the life of the person that means more to me than anything. She's been there for me through everything, and put up with all my musical escapades.

I love you sweets! Happy Birthday!

(This song always reminds me of her.)

New incoming gear and a new series

This weekend, my wife and I completed our Christmas shopping for each other. We do things a little different than most people - we order our presents online, together. That means there are no surprises, but it also means there are no disappointments either. It works out quite well.

We usually get one big-ticket item, and this year, my big ticket item is a bass. Or more accurately, a Fender "Stop Dreaming, Start Playing" Bass Pack, complete with a Squier bass, a nice Fender Rumble 15 amp, and a wad of accessories like a gig bag, cord, strap, and tuner. I have to say, I haven't been this excited about a new gear purchase in a long time.

I decided to go with the Jazz Bass instead of the P-Bass, despite the fact that I think the P-Bass looks a lot better. There's just something about that shape that just looks right to me. Still, the Jazz Bass has the kind of tone that I prefer, plus Geddy Lee plays one, so what else do you need?

I'm also going to start a new series to coincide with the new bass that will chronicle my bass learning experience. I'm trying to think of a good name. I was going to go with something cheesy like "Bass Emotions" but I may just call it "John Learns the Bass." When I make my first post, you'll know what I picked.

Since buying the bass, I've also been listening to music differently. It's like a whole new world is opening up to me. I listened to my "guitar" playlist on my iPod - the one that has all the songs I can play on guitar - and the songs sounded different to me. I heard the bass, not the guitar. Sure the guitar was still there, but it moved to the background. I was locked into the bass lines and I heard things I've never heard before, even on songs that I've heard hundreds of times. I hope that my actual experience playing the bass is as good, because I feel like this may be My Thing. I feel like I may have missed my calling all these years. Perhaps that's why it has taken me so long to improve on the guitar. Perhaps I was meant to be a bassist. At least I'm a prog fan. I can't think of any other genre except maybe funk in which the bass is given such a prominent role.

The bass pack will arrive in the mail within the week, but I won't open it until Christmas. I really don't know if I'll be able to wait that long. Shortly after, I'll start the new bass series. I'm looking forward to re-learning the songs I already know on guitar, and beyond.

I was wrong. I do know that I won't be able to wait until Christmas. Help!

Coming soon: Retro Reviews

I'm sure many people are like me in that they discovered Progressive Rock fairly late in the game. Many of the great prog albums were made 20, 30, even 40 years ago. Sure, you can Google the album and maybe get a review from when it first came out (providing it's new enough), but you won't get a sense of what it's like to discover them now, long after their release date.

That's why I'm starting a new series called Retro Reviews. In this series, I will review some of the great prog albums that you may have missed along the way. I'm going to avoid some of the obvious ones - everyone knows albums like Yes' "Close to the Edge" or Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" - and focus on ones that are perhaps a little more obscure but still worthwhile. And I'll do it from the perspective of someone discovering it today and seeing if it stood up to the ravages of time.

I'm also going to branch out in both my Retro Reviews and my standard reviews beyond my progressive rock comfort zone. Although it's my favorite genre, progressive rock isn't the only one I like. I'll branch out into rock, metal, blues, and even review some albums that may surprise you.

I have two Retro Reviews coming up - one of an album that I consider a template from which all concept albums should be based, and one surprising album suggested by my wife - and a regular review of a greatest hits album from a popular YouTube personality. Stay tuned!

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.

Gone but not forgotten

It's been over two months since my last blog post. I guess it's about time I write another one.

So why the long break? I got a new job. I'm not proud to admit that I composed a lot of my previous posts at my last job. Even though I wrote them during break times, I wrote them so I had something to do throughout the day that I actually liked doing. See, I hated my old job. I moved from administrative IT work to programming because I thought that was the next logical step after finishing my degree. I was wrong. I hated programming and longed to be back doing server administration, network administration, hell even help desk would've been better.

Fortunately I found another position with a great company as a systems administrator. It's work I love doing, and there's a lot of it to be done, so I haven't felt the need to spend my breaks writing blog posts. To be honest, I really haven't had a lot of break time at all.

So the blog has suffered. I still enjoy it, but since I would rather spend my free time playing guitar instead of writing about it, it's sat idle for some time. I have no intention of abandoning it, but the posts will be fewer and farther between.

Even though I've been neglecting my blog, I haven't been neglecting my guitar playing. In fact, just today, I accomplished one of the goals I set for myself last year - I can play the entire first side of Rush's Moving Pictures. I've known how to play Tom Sawyer forever, but now I can go right through Red Barchetta to YYZ to Limelight. There are some rough spots but the fact that I can just start the album and play along is a tremendous boost to my playing confidence. Sometimes you go along thinking you're not going anywhere with your playing, then one day, things just click and you know you've reached another level. Today was one of those days for me.

I also got a new guitar stand. I know it seems like a simple purchase, but now I can have all five of my electric guitars out at the same time, so whatever guitar I'm in the mood to play is right there, ready for me to just grab, tune and play. It's important to match guitar with mood - anything to get you playing more is a good thing. Now I don't have to waste time putting one guitar away and taking another one out before I sit down to play. Sometimes I just didn't feel like going through the hassle and ended up either not playing or not putting my all into my playing time. Now I don't have to worry about that at all.

I also don't have the urge to buy new guitars anymore. Sure, there are tons of guitars I'd like to have, but none that I feel I need to have. There's a difference. With my current rig I feel like I have everything I need. The latest Ibanez purchase is going well. I don't miss my Gibson at all - in fact I never think about it. The only thing I need to do now is update my amp. I've outgrown the Line 6 and I want to finally have a good amplifier. I've always had nice guitars but I always had crap amps to go along with them. My wife and I talked about it and when my 40th birthday rolls around (it's a lot closer than I'd like it to be) I'm going to get a good amp. I have a few in mind that I'd like, plus something new might come out in the next few years. I definitely want a tube combo amp, nothing too powerful but not a lightweight, either. The ones I like now are the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and the Blackstar HT20.

I don't know how many watts of power I'd need - the Fender is a 40 watter and the Blackstar is a 20 watter (hence the name). Tube wattage is much different from solid state wattage - a 5 watt tube amp can blow away solid state amps up to about 60 watts depending on the amp. All you get with higher wattage tube amps is more headroom - the higher the wattage, the louder the amp can go and still sound clean. Who knows, maybe a 5-watter is all I'll need, in which case I'd be looking at either the Blackstar HT-5 or the Marshall Class 5. When the time comes, I'll have to just play as many as I can and see which one speaks to me.

Sounds like fun.

Weekly update - what's on the way

I've been a bad, bad blogger. I haven't written anything of true substance for a while. I think I just put so much time and effort into the review of Shorty (DGW Contender) that I needed a breather. I also really enjoyed making the demo video. I plan on doing a lot more of them in the future.

Which brings me to the meat of this post - what's coming up. Well, like I said above, there are plenty of videos on the horizon, including an in-depth demo of Triumph, my Ibanez RG4EXQM1 that I purchased recently. I'm also going to do similar demos of all my guitars, with the hopes of getting on the press demo list for some manufacturers. I'm also going to do some play-along videos where I play along to some of the songs I'm learning. I'm doing this both for myself, as I can use the videos to critique my playing and see where I need improvement, and also for the public as I'll be using all my guitars and gear so I can have more tone samples. YouTube was indispensable to me when I was shopping for a guitar, and the more demos I can do for people the more information they'll have when they go to buy a guitar.

I was also contacted by a new progressive metal band who wanted me to review their new EP. I've downloaded it and I will be writing that review shortly. Also, I'm going to introduce a new series of posts that I'm going to call Retro Reviews. I, like most people, have discovered a lot of my favorite music long after it was released. My plan is to write reviews of older albums, but from a modern perspective. Anyone can Google an album and get a review from when it was released, but my reviews will be from the perspective of someone discovering something old. I think this will give a different take on these older albums, as I've already heard the music that was influenced by them, plus I will see if they stood the test of time, as it were. These reviews are going to be more informal than my regular album reviews. For those, I try to follow the rules of journalism and make them as impersonal as possible. But for the Retro Reviews, I'm going to use the first person and try to inject more humor and anecdotes into them.

There's a lot to look forward to, so check back often!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all! I'll be back after the holiday with the much anticipated DGW Contender review and video. Until then, enjoy this!

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!

Exciting developments

I have some exciting news today. I just received a Durango Guitar Works Contender short scale guitar to review on my blog.

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!