I'm not pretending to be a rocker just to write a rock blog

If your blog is about a certain topic, lets say like my blog about music, you should really be a musician. I have seen blogs without their own content. But me? I write my own things. I don't just copy an article on the net and then paste it in my posts. It's really not bad to research on other websites. As long as you put citations when directly copying it into your blog. I believe I have the right to say "I'm a real rocker who plays real rock music" and "I'm a real blogger who writes my own stuff". As a proof, here's our rendition of Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns & Roses during a band competition in our school... And guess what?? WE WON!!!

In this video, you can see me playing a white electric guitar. I did all the guitar solos and sang on the "where do we go now" part. We raised the pitch a half step higher making the first chord a D natural instead of a D flat.

Can you see now? I don't really have a badge that says "Im a genuine rocker". But if such an item does exist, I'll probably have one.

Guitar String Rust Prevention

The number one enemy of iron is rust and your typical electric and acoustic guitar string is made from steel. And guess what? steel is primarily made up of iron! Your guitar strings are very prone to rust. Some guitar strings are coated with a thin layer if rust-preventing chemical. It costs more than your average strings but in the long run, you'll be saving a lot more since you won't be replacing your strings that often. These strings does work for some people. But if you are like me, who has very acidic sweat, it's a pain in the pocket! The acid in my sweat probably just melts away that anti-rust coating!!! But following my few simple tips can prolong your string life and maintain a high quality tone.

1. Always wipe your strings with a clean dry cloth after playing.

2. Keep your strings away from moisture. Humidity can pretty much hurt your strings so always keep it inside your gig bag or guitar case.

3. Wash your hands with soap and water before playing. Of course, let it dry first! Water + Iron = Rust!!!

4. Buy some string cleaner. I personally prefer "Dunlop 65 Ultra Glide String Cleaner and Conditioner". Apply it before and after playing. It doesn't just clean and protect your strings, it also lubricates the string surface so that you can play easier and faster.

5. Never use WD40 on your strings! WD40 is specially formulated for rust. But it might damage the wood on your guitar.

So that's it. My steps for prolonging your strings. If you have your own tips, just comment on this post.

Guitar Hero #1: Joe Satriani

Joseph "Satch" Satriani (born July 15, 1956 in Westbury, New York, United States) is an American multiple nominated Grammy Award multi-instrumentalist, best known as an instrumental rock guitarist. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor, and some of his former students have achieved fame with their stellar guitar skills. Some of his notable students are Kirk Hammett(Metallica), Marty Friedman(Megadeth) and student turned colleague Steve Vai. Satriani has been a driving force behind other musicians throughout his career, as a founder of the ever-changing touring trio, G3, as well as performing in temporary positions with other musicians. Satriani is not just an outstanding guitarist but also an outstanding mentor.

Joe Satriani is probably my greatest influence amongst all Rock Instrumentalists. When we are talking about shredding (playing very very fast), speed and accuracy is always the primary requirement. Satriani has that and a lot more! Other than his "thousand-notes-per-second" ability, he is very skillful in creating very catchy melodies with the use of conventional and exotic scales. No wonder why some of his songs has the titles, Belly Dancer, Oriental Melody and Mountain Song. Boy! back then, I never knew you can turn Arabic Music into Rock Music!!!

He is heavily influenced by famous music icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. Since 1988, Satriani has used his own signature guitar, the Ibanez JS Series, which is widely sold in stores. He also has a signature series amplifier, the Peavey JSX, and a signature Vox distortion pedal, the Satchurator.

My favorite Satriani song is, "Always With You Always With Me" and "Mountain Song".

I'm sleeping with another girl

A letter to my girlfriend:

Dear honey,
Im really sorry for what I have done. It was never really my intention to fall for someone who I thought would be as wonderful as you. It was just an accident. I was alone with her in my room doing some work. I've been alone with someone else before, but this one is different. She dragged me into this. I'm just a man with weaknesses. It's just that, her body and the sound of her voice, captivates me almost the same way as you do. I never really wanted this. It's pretty hard to explain why this happened. But someday, I hope you'll understand. After what happened, I've realized that no one can replace you. I love you honey and I hope you can forgive me.

P.S.

Her name is Ibanez S470

Waking up with my Ibanez S470

Stop!!! or i'll shoot!!!



World's most advanced tremolo system.
Zero Resistance Tremeolo.
Mahogany Body.



I'll slice you with my axe!!!

The Choir and I

Here's my attempt on a Swedish pop song. It was performed during our concert last May 10,2009 in the Philam Life Auditorium located at Manila, Philippines. The name of our choir is Coro de San Sebastian and I've been in this group since 2006.



Our conductor gave me the male solo parts. I really liked the song during the first few rehearsals. But after they raised the pitch about two semitones higher, I was not really comfortable with it anymore. But what the heck?! The show must go on so I just have to deal with it!!! I think I did a pretty good job.

Do rockers need to learn music theory?

One should not disregard the importance of learning music theory. Why? Because music theory is one of the essential tools needed to be learned in order to fully understand how music works. I know it's quite boring if you don't know its importance. But take it this way... Learning music theory is like learning the A,B,C's and the 1,2,3's of music. When I first opened a music theory book, I thought I was going to learn how to write music and how to harmonize a melody. Well, it's partly true since you'll be dealing with a lot of music lingo.

Music theory is just an introduction to a very broad world of music. It doesn't teach you how to harmonize a melody or what chord goes best after another chord etc... etc... But it does teach you how chords are formed and where do scales come from and a few dozen other things. You might be asking if you really needed to learn music theory to be a rock star.. My answer is Yes and No..

YES because before you can learn the subjects Music Harmony (art of harmonizing a melody using chords) and Counterpoint (art of interweaving melodies), you need to have a solid foundation in music theory.

And NO because some rock stars are just full of crap. So it really depends on what direction you are willing to take. If you are thinking about writing some good music of your own some day, then you should start learning some music theory. But if you are just one of those who would like to play some of the latest licks without actually asking how did the artist came up with that, you don't really need music theory. You just needed a guitar tab downloaded from the internet and go on with your thing.

I know a very helpful site for those who wanted to learn music theory. Go to http://www.teoria.com/tutorials/index.htm. Each topic here is presented in flash animations with sounds. It also has some exercises so that in a few days or few weeks time, you'll have a solid foundation in music theory depending on how much time you put into it.

Can a deaf person be a composer?... Guitarists, beware...

Musicians always consider their hearing as the most important among all of their senses. But a deaf person writing some music? This may sound crazy but there is one person in history (you may already know) who lost his hearing but still writes music. And he's not just an ordinary musician.He's one of the most prolific classical composers of all time and his name is Ludwig van Beethoven. Still can't remember him? "Moonlight Sonata"? "Fur Elise"? Can you remember now? No? Hahaha! If you have a Casio keyboard or any portable keyboard, I'm very sure some of the built-in songs are his compositions. It's really hard to believe for him to write music without actually hearing his work. He's probably just imagining all the notes, the sound of the violin, chords and other stuff all in his head? Pretty amazing right?


Beethoven suffered from an illness called Tinnitus and probably, you are among the 90% who suffers from it. Tinnitus is the perception of a ringing sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound. So dude, protect your ears. Keep those volume down. Playing great doesn't always mean playing loud. Don't make it a habit to listen to very loud music.If you do this, Tinnitus can get very severe to the point that all you hear is RINGING!!! No more music!! No more Rockin'!! Well... It wouldn't be that much of a problem if you're as gifted as Beethoven. :-)