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!

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.

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!