Post #280960 by tiki mick on Thu, Jan 25, 2007 2:25 PM

Not too shabby. Unfortunately, the clip skips too much so I gave up after a while.

For me, I am so over the sound of distortion guitar. In my humble opinion, it is such a crutch, as the sustain makes things a lot easier to pull off. But, having said that, a lot of these "shredders" are indeed able to pull off the same licks on a clean guitar or acoustic.

NAMM is the kind of place where there is always a bigger fish, and long ago I gave up trying to beat these people. I used to want nothing more then to be the next Jaco or the next Geddy Lee, and I think at one point in high school I came pretty close. But, as I matured musically I developed a greater insight into the beauty of just one well placed note, and learned that a great musician always plays what is "just right" for a song and nothing more. To this day I far more appreciate the sound of Stan Getz to the sound of Michael Brecker (RIP) though like anyone else, I am intellectualy stimulated by Brecker's playing.

Recently I was listening to a Gonzalo Rubalcava album, and although there were many songs where he displayed a mastery of piano similar to Hancock or Corea, there was one song called "promendade" which was so sparce and laid back that it instantly captivated me. I find myself listening to that song over and over.

One guitarist who I think really 'gets' it is Pat Metheny. He is capable of almost mystically good shredding, but often plays gently and unhurried, almost smooth jazzy type stuff. But he can become Mike Stern at the drop of a hat if he wants. I guess I just prefer it whe he sounds more like Jim Hall!!

as far as the pass, Squid, I tried to get a few of them, but was only able to get one. On sunday, they started asking for photo ID as some fool got busted selling them on EBAY. So, even if I had gotten more I would have needed the names ahead of time.

Next year I am going to try real early to get them, so talk to me Bruddah!!