Hello!

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..

Well i finally got it done!

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

So here’s the deal…

Like my new twitter avatar?

I’ve taken the month of August off to get some serious time into the website.
I might even catch up to the target of a lesson a week i set myself a few months ago.. you never know.

What I need now though is for you guys to suggest some lesson topics and tell me what you would like to see covered in the next batch of lessons.

email me @ john@guitarod.com

A few of you have come up with some great suggestions already but i need more so keep those ideas coming.
Anything goes and i’m up for a challenge so don’t be shy

Big thanks in advance guys.

JD

PS. I’ve just started on twitter so if your a tweeter click my avatar picture (isn’t it cute   )

I finally got hold of the new cleverly titled ‘Naked’ Steve Vai Backing tracks  and i have to say i’m very impressed.

Playing Along with these tracks is excellent fun and as far as my ears can tell Mr. Vai has just taken the guitar off the original album tracks to give us the authentic sound of these fabulous musicians to play along with!

He hasn’t just muted the guitar off though,  guide parts have been left in over introductions so you know when to come in and the whole thing sounds like it has been re-mixed/mastered to give a fuller sound in absence of the lead parts.

Listening to these tracks without playing along has an unexpected bonus as you can hear all the little intricate parts that get lost in the mix behind the lead guitar.

It also certainly gave me a greater appreciation for how much Vai does with his guitar playing as the tracks do indeed sound very naked without his Vai-ness

There’s a new section coming to the www.guitarod.com website in the summer  called “The Style File” Where im going to take well known guitar players and show you how to do play in their style using techniques, riffs & phrasing common to there playing. Not just playing one of their songs but becoming a  “soundalike” so you play any song in their style.. Guess who’s going to be one of the first?!?…

Vai has once again pulled a marketing masterstroke and become the first guitarist to really capitalize from backing tracks using his own website www.vai.com and www.Itunes.com for electronic distribution.  Some guitar players have attempted this before but not with the marketing and branding that Vai has ironically made his trademark.

In summary; A must buy for any Vai fan and well worth the money!

This JD reporting for GuitarOD.com, playing ‘Tender Surrender” with my foot on the coffee table pretending its a stage monitor and i’m playing to a packed Wembly, not just my dog

If your a fan of Steve Vai and have always fancied jamming with his band then look no further as he is about to release a “Naked” series of Guitar-less remixes from his classic albums.

At last, The holy grail of guitar backing tracks!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mr. Vai’s work, ‘Passion and Warfare’ is probably the most important guitar album of its time if for no other reason than it ‘moved the goalposts’ for guitar players and redefined what was possible  on the instrument!

Go check for yourself as you can find
ALL Steve Vai’s albums on Spotify for free!!!

It looks like they will be available on Itunes,  Napster and a few other music distribution websites as well as from www.Vai.com directly.

Other Vai titles to Recive the “Naked” treatment are;

Passion and Warfare
Sex and Religion
Fire Garden
Alien Love Secrets (my personal favorite)
Alive in an Ultra World
The Ultra Zone
& Real Illusions:Reflections…..

I expect the sonic quality of these tracks to be excellent and I will post a review as soon as they become available…..

JD