There are no wrong notes…only opportunities
Hey hey, thanks for being here for Six String Sunday. I can’t say enough how appreciative I am that you read this each week, it means a lot.
It’s September! I hope you had some time to learn something new in August, but we should close out the Fall and Winter even stronger! I’ve been truly inspired lately, and have so much great stuff coming to you guys on the site in September. Let’s get right to it.
The Song In September Challenge — August was all about announcements on Chasing Sound. Not only did we try the 15 minute guitar experiment, but I also listened to your feedback and started the Back to Basics series, which has been getting rave reviews. August was all about learning or trying something new.
For September we’re going to try something different. For the next four weeks I want to challenge you to write, record and mix one song. I’m going to be doing the same, and dedicating at least 1 post per week to the challenge on the site. Check out the details here. I hope you’ll join me in September writing and recording one song. It’s less overwhelming than an EP or full album, so let’s do it!
Chord! Review — I’ve ben doing a bunch of reviews on the site lately for products or apps I enjoy using. Chord! is an incredible app that’s like one of those old Guitar Grimoire books you would have seen back in the day. If you want to learn alll the scales and chords, Chord! is an easy way to do it all from your pocket.
Check out my review of the app here, and stay tuned this week for even MORE reviews of cool stuff.
Quote I’ve Been Loving — I was recently listening to the latest episode of the No Guitar Is Safe podcast, where Jude Gold interviewed Jimmy Herring. Jimmy’s played with a number of folks, and he brought up a great quote from Phil Lesh.
Phil said “There are no wrong notes, only opportunities”. This quote ties in to so many other quotes, like if you play a wrong note once it’s a mistake, but if you play it twice it’s jazz. The other one was from Victor Wooten, who said you’re always only one note away from a “right” note. I love reading this type of stuff. What’s your favorite guitar or music related quote?
Guitar Album of the Week — This week’s Guitar Album of the Week is Zero Order Phase by Jeff Loomis. Jeff is such a beast on guitar. Whether that’s with Nevermore or Conquering Dystopia, he’s such an interesting player.
Zero Order Phase is one of the better debut solo albums of the past decade. Start with songs like Jato Unit, Race Against Disaster and Miles of Machines. If you’re in a heavy mood, this is a great album to listen to that’s also still musical.
Jeff also has some great tones for the Bias apps that I’ve recommended in the past. Check out this video where Jeff is joined by Keith Merrow (who makes up Conquering Dystopia). They break down what types of gear they used to get such great tones and how to do it with the Bias apps. It’s never a bad idea to start from a preset, and tweak to your taste!
Awesome interview with Vai — I’ll admit it, I can’t get enough of Steve Vai. He’s been one of my favorite players for the past 20 years or so. In a fantastic video from Guitar World, Brad Tolinski interviews Vai for over an hour! He talks about making albums, old bands he was in, his history, playing guitar of course, and lots more.
Thomas McRocklin — Speaking of Vai, I’ve been working on a riff from Thomas McRocklin. I wasn’t sure who McRocklin was initially, but he showed up as a guest teacher on Dave Weiner’s Guitopia site.
It turns out that Thomas was young Steve Vai in Vai’s music video for “The Audience Is Listening”, and also part of Bad4Good back in the day.
He disappeared from the scene, but now he’s back. He has two songs up on YouTube, looks like he’s recording an EP, has cool stories about Vai and his awesome collection of Ibanez guitars and lots more. Go check out his channel here.
That’s about it for now friends! Have a great week, and have fun playing guitar.
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If you have any questions or comments, you can reply to this post, let me know on Twitter or by posting in our Facebook group. I also have a fun Instagram channel where I post fun guitar pictures throughout the week, and do a guitar radio show called Amped Up!
Brian Sutich is a guitar player, audio engineer, podcaster, teacher, and hockey fan. He loves learning, helping people, and drinking way too much coffee.
