So, One of my students was recently asking do I use/recommend any books for  Guitar or Music Production?
The answer is yes but not many so i have put the links to them on the Recommended Reading Page with a link to and short description of each book AND put the quick links to them over on the right in my Amazon Widget…

Happy Reading.

JD

Coming soon we have A new ear training section with free downloads to help get your ear in tune….WATCH THIS SPACE!

In the meantime, thanks as always for your continuing support and comments.

JD

This was a truly emotional night for everyone there not to mention exhausting for Lez who played four 4 HOURS straight (Truly a Machine!)!

Lez Sadly passed away in January and those of us who were at the gig decided to make it an annual tribute to Les and Fund Raiser for Cancer Research.

SO….

Friday,  October 1st
9pm
Hebden Bridge Trades Club
In Memory of our mate and in aid of Cancer Research

Tickets are £7.50 (75p added for postage)
and you get to see 4 great Bands

Kellys Heroes
All 3 Cylinders
Noddys Puncture
P*Starr
And some very special Guests!

Not many tickets left so click on the Buy Now button to order yours

Kelli from Obsessive Compulsive is one of my past students from a few years ago.
They are honestly the hardest working band i know and Kelli is the driving force.

When i used to do more commercial work in my studio i had the privelege of mastering one of Obsessive Compulsives EP’s ‘A demon for every occasion’ and it’s still on my playlist!

This is one serious band that you have to check out,

They have just released their debut album ‘Dreams Of Death & The Death Of Dreams’.

This is independant music defined, the band have done everything themselves without any record company backing so check them out and if you like what you hear, show some support for the hardest working band in the U.K!

Click here to Buy “Dreams Of Death And The Death Of Dreams” on CD

Click here to Buy “Dreams of Death and The Death of Dreams” MP3 download

Enjoy!
JD

I honestly believe that if there were no judges on ‘The X-Factor’ most people would not have a clue what to think of the person audtioning.

This may be less about having an ear for music and more about not wanting to offer an opinion in a social situation where they may feel foolish if they end up ‘being wrong‘ but either way it poses an interesting question;

Do the general Public have ANY idea about music?

I am aware that this may sound like the ravings of a music snob (which i’m not, well maybe a little bit…) but having played for public audiences and taught members of the public for nearly 20 years i get a lot of people asking me what i think of ‘this band’ or ‘that guitarist’.

The truth is that my opinion is mine alone, music is about taste, personal preference and hearing music before we judge it! – The following story says it all!

_______________________________________________________________________

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.  During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.  After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing.  He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly.  The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time.  This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without exception – forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:

The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed and no one applauded.  There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.  Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story.  Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

__________________________________________________________________________

Even though as musicians its easy to be over critical (of ourselves and others)  we should learn to listen to music without any preconceived ideas or prejeduces and just ‘let the music do the talking’.

If you really like it – nobody elses opinion will change your mind
If you really don’t – nobody elses opinion will change your mind

I’m just as guilty of this as everyone else which is why i’d thought i’d share this story/lesson with you!

You can listen to Joshua Bell for free on Spotify or click here to buy his album from Amazon

Before joining Black Sabbath he sang in Rainbow – formed when Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple – and later in Heaven & Hell and the self-titled band Dio.

If you haven’t heard any Dio check out the video below.

You can listen to Dio free on Spotify or click here to buy DIO-’The Collection@ from amazon

You can also leave a message on Ronnie’s Facebook page and give some of his music a listen.

Did you know that Steve Vai jams with his band for a good 5 or 10 minutes at soundcheck?
Did you also know that he Records all of these soundchecks?
The Moon And I (VaiTunes #2)

The Moon and I is the second one of these soundcheck born tunes to be released,The first was Without Me (VaiTunes*)
, here’s some of what Steve had to say about “The Moon and I”;

One of my favorite experiences while on tour is when I first walk into soundcheck. We have a policy that by the time I get there the band has done their soundcheck and are ready to play. Before we do our final tweaks for the house sound and monitors, I walk in and my guitar is sitting on a stand plugged in and ready to go. I pick it up and just start playing and the band follows and we record whatever happens. I usually have no idea what’s going to come out. Sometimes it’s a mess but many times cool things happen. Usually these jams go on and on and on. Eh… they’re jams. After massive editing this one came in at around 7:18.

When it came time to do the solo I wanted to play things I had never played before so I really took my time and built this solo idea by idea. I set out making sure that virtually every riff had some kind of variation to what I might normally play. For instance, this is the first time I pulled and bent octaves with the whammy bar into workable and diatonic target notes, or used fast picking on the fret just above the notes being fretted. For me, discovering new riff concepts like this is what it’s all about. It’s the most fulfilling aspect of being a musician.

If your not familiar with Steve Vai gamers amongst you may have heard is playing on the Music from the Xbox game “Halo” (click here to buy mp3)

You can buy The Moon And I from Amazon buy clicking here.

Please comment and let me know what you think of it,
Cheers,
JD

Just found out about the U.K tour dates for Joe Satriani, here’s what the email had to say;

Six new dates have just been announced in the UK in October for the fall
Joe Satriani tour.  We just got the word that presales happen tomorrow
May 12th at 9am- this will be your first chance to see Joe playing material
from the new studio album he's recording next month so pick 'em up while

you can!

Me & Satch...

Sun Oct 17 @ Manchester Apollo Theatre
    Mon Oct 18 @ Bristol Colston Hall
    Tue Oct 19 @ London Hammesmith Apollo
    Thu Oct 21 @ Newcastle City Hall
    Fri Oct 22 @ Glasgow Clyde Auditorium
    Sat Oct 23 @ Birmingham Symphony Hall

    http://minisite.ticketline.co.uk/joe-satriani/

These tickets are going fast, i bagged a second row ticket
but i don't know what seats are still available.

Don't forget, the more tickets you buy in a group
the worse the seating options.

If your not aware of Joe Satriani then check him out on Spotify,
If you need a reference, he taught Steve Vai and i f you don't know who he is then you
have a real treat in store.

Hopefully see you at the gig 
JD

And sorry i’ve not posted for a while but i think you will understand.

Until recently i taught all my classes at Spectrum Music but Steve (the owner) has bigger and better things in store for the little lesson room so I had to relocate, and I have!

I now have my own teaching premises on the top floor of the shop right next door to Spectrum Music.

The ground floor shop is a Dog grooming parlour of the highest order called ‘Doggy Style’ (I know! brilliant!).
I take my own pooch there when she needs fluffing and they do a great job!.

All the same classes are available as before and in addition there will be a new bass class, a music technology class (Reason, Cubase, Pro-tools etc) and a GCSE Music club to help students with Theory & Performance.

The new facility will be kitted out with individual line6 pods and mp3 players so the students can work on there own or they can play through the in house sound system when we have a class jam.

There will also be a small studio set up for Music technology tuition, a waiting area for parents with a comfy sofa and a coffee machine!

I’ll be posting a timetable on the website soon and there will be an official grand opening in the next month or so.

Now Then… many of you have asked me who the ‘best guitarist in the world’ is which is a pointless question as its not about best, it’s about what you like and thats the end of that…. sort of,

If by the best you mean technical excellence, awesome speed, unbelieveable control, incredible knowledge, mastery of many styles, a cheeky grin and massive hair…..

I would say Guthrie Govan.

Guthrie Govan

Now i dont know that Guthrie is the ‘best’ guitarist in the world but if i was making a list i’d start with him! HE REALLY IS THAT GOOD!

If you dont believe me it will cost you £5 to go and see him in Manchester when he’s doing a demo for Suhr Guitars on December 9th.

Check out some of his videos here to see what i’m talking about.
I’

Thanks for the support of everyone who has helped me get the new school off the ground especially Tracy (It’s her shop), The Monkeys, The Fantastic Four (Yes guys, Dave’s coming back!) and My wonderful Martine for Bringing chocolate & Hugs!

More Big news next week!

keep posted,
JD..

I’ve taken all your suggestions on board and tweaked the website until i ended up with the new layout which has;

• Clearer Video
• A New Lesson browser
• Less scrolling (tried to fit it all on one page)
• Cleaner look

I hope you find the new layout better, please let me know by either posting to the blog or dropping me an email to john@guitarod.com

Thanks as usual guys and hope your enjoying the “summer”.

JD