The world of Rock & Metal is in mourning this week after one of  it’s greatest Rock singers sadly passed away.

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.

The Moon And I is the newest track from Steve Vai.

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

Hi Guys (and gals)

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

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.

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