Guitar Licks

Guitars, tips and great music discussions




You are here: Home / Archives for musician

Ball Media Productions

by

This is a company that is owned and run by an old guitarist buddy that I use to play with way back in the day. His name is John Ball and what a success story his is.

John and I always played together but not in the same band. We hung around the same circle of friends and musicians and to make a long story short, we had different playing styles that never really over lapped. He gravitated to the harder speed metal sort of arrangements while I was under a more Progressive Rock, Jazz and to a lesser extent Pop genre.

My sister and John were closer in age and they both were in the same grade at St. John’s College. Boy did both of them get themselves into a little bit of trouble as kids during those years! Then again, I was no angel either.

His company is called Ball Media Productions and he had his humble beginnings in our home town of Brantford, Ontario. He at first started his empire with a recording studio in the basement of a well known Brantford music studio called Music and Sound. Over the years he has branched of into different area’s as he sees fit.

Now his company has a jaw dropping amount of specialized services that can now compete with the big guys!

Ball Media includes Printing/Bindery, Packaging, Branding/Indentity, CD / DVD Replication, Graphic Design and Web/Multimedia plus video area’s of expertise. Take a look for yourself and if you do need his services for anything no matter how small, just tell him “Stickman” sent you!

I wish him well with all of his company’s future endeavors but I know that he doesn’t need it!

Keep on Jammin’ Johnnie!




Indie Update – read about up and coming Indie Bands

by

You just have to love Indie music! Since the turn of the millennium Indie bands have been using the Internet to promote their music and they’ve been quite successful. Their success of course is directly related to consumers use of the internet as a medium for listening to new music, gathering current information about bands and of course buying the music produced by these bands.

Another great thing about the success of Indie music on the internet is that these bands don’t have to bow down to the rules of the big labels. They can stay true to their music. Some of these brave souls just like to create music to be appreciated and listened to while someone else takes the spot light, no biggie for them.

I recently visited the indie music blog. It’s official name is Indie Update. On this site you’ll find honest articles and opinions about up and coming Indie bands.

One of the write ups – The onerepublic review – talks about how this indie band has had great success on MySpace and how Myspace is offering Indie bands a great new way to gain exposure. I believe that each of the Indie band articles on this blog have a link to each bands MySpace page where you can listen to samples of the bands music and learn more about the band members.

I was captivated by the Indie Music history series. In this series of post you can read how Indie music came about and how it’s evolved from the 1960’s to the present day. The author has really done their research for these Indie Music History posts. I’m sure you’ll be fascinated when you read them.

If you enjoy Indie Music I think you’ll want to bookmark or subscribe to the Indie Music blogs rss feed so that you can keep up with the latest Indie bands on the scene.

The Guitarist

by

Mark Goffeney is definitely in the running for my vote for the most unique guitarists to have come around in quite some time.

I saw this somewhere and when I saw it I knew that I had to post about it.

I mean have you ever tried this feat, no pun intended!

It is hard but this guy makes it look just plain old easy? Check out his site and enjoy the show!

Mark also has a great myspace account.

Keep on Jammin’ indeed!

G & L Guitars

by

Has anyone out there heard of this guitar maker? I found out about these guys through a patient that I was taking back to their room after a procedure. The patient was a bass player and said that it was the pride of the collection. So curious about it I went and googled it.

To my amazement the makers were none other them Leo Fender – Maker of all pre-CBS Fender as well as Music Man instruments – and George Fullerton.

Leo Fender, we all know who he is but, the other guy, not so much. George Fullerton is the co-creater of the Fender Stratocaster. Not a bad thing to have as a lasting legacy of a man now is it!

G & L was the result of Leo having to sell his company in 1965 due to health problems that he was having in the early 60’s. It was started up in 1980 at the same location that had housed his Clarence Leo Fender Research (CLF) facility.

Some of the musicians who use these beauty’s are personal favorites of mine. For example:

Carl Perkins, Canada’s own Gord Sinclair (The Tragically Hip), Peter Frampton and Bob Mayo (Peter Frampton Band), Neal Schon (Journey), Davey Johnstone (Elton John band), Gary Hewitt (Gary Allan Band) and all the guitarists from Aerosmith and INXS. Just to name a few.

If you happen to come across this post and own one of these beauty’s PLEASE write a comment here about your experiences about your axe. We’d really like to hear from you, please?

Keep on Jammin’

I just came back from Dominic Troiano’s house – his old one that is

by

I had tried in vain to locate exactly which house the Legendary Canadian guitarist, Dominic Troiano, lived in ever since my neighbour’s son had told me. I kept asking him if he could remember and he kept saying that he’ll someday soon he’ll go around there to try and jog his memory. I’m still waiting on that one Johnny.

A fellow employee in the hospital that I work with was a great friend to my neighbour’s son John. He too also said that he remembers his brother Dominic trying to play guitar. He had told me that they hung around Domenic’s brother and played cards with him for when they were young. I had met him at work one day after John had told me about our previous neighbour and asked him the same question. He had gave me the same response that John gave me.

I, being the very introverted person that I am, talked to everyone in the area that looked liked they lived here for ages. With the same question that I had for John and his buddy in hand, I obtained the same answer over and over again.

Now 5 years later, I stumbled upon the answer on line by chance. My jaw dropped, I grabbed my wife’s Canon camera and got in the car. In case your wondering I took the car because I didn’t want to be seen taking a picture of someone’s in secret. The owners may have thought that I was casing the joint!

Now I’m finally in front of the ex-home of Mr. Troiano. Like a kid at Christmas, I get out of the car and just stare at it. I just can’t believe that I’m there.

dominictrianox400.jpg

He lived at the house on the right hand side of the picture. This is the type of home that is quite common in our area. It’s a semi-detached white house with brown trim. Small front yard with a small parking pad but just knowing that he lived and grew up here made it fell bigger then what it was.

In the front yard there was a middle aged man with his little dog talking to a neighbour. The man looked like a jazz musician and approachable. So what the heck, I might as well get out of the car and talk to the guy.

It turns out that he really is a jazz musician and very well aware of the history of the home. He told me that he has even approached the Troiano family through e-mail to see if they wanted to re-visit their own home! Now that’s a real gentleman.

He said that the home has not been renovated that much and that the feel of the home was almost the same as when he got it. He also told me that he bought it from the Troiano’s. The molding floor and ceiling was original and so was the front door.

After talking for a while, I asked him if I could take some pic’s for this post and he said yes. The thing that got my attention the most was the door. Imagining Dominic going up to that door and opening it sent goose bumps all over me, wow!

So now I know a little bit more about the history of our great neighbourhood and can share it with you all.

Mr Dominic Troiano R.I.P.

Keep on Jammin’

Guitar side ports

by

guitarsideport1.jpg The one thing that I see in the evolution of the acoustic guitar today is its link with the past from Canada’s own, Glenn Gould.

He used a unique approach while playing in his later years, around 1983, when he took away part of the piano body to let the sound come out of the instrument in a unorthodox way.

First of all, the guy was way ahead of his time. What he did was to remove the wooden cover section that is used to cover the piano keys. He removed this part entirely. He would also close the piano lid on his concert piano, allowing the sound to be sent through the missing cover section of the piano.

This allowed him to hear the subtle tones while playing his music.

This was best shown in his 1980’s work of the gloomy nature of life. The slowness of some of his canon’s reflect the need for this type of sound exposure that the musician needs to fully understand what the audience hears, but as a very unique approach.

Second of all, the guy went to places that no one probably ever thought of venturing. I wonder if the person who thought of the guitar side ports ever watched Glenn Gould Hereafter? If he did, I bet this is where he may have got the idea, but then again I could be dead wrong.

darksideport.jpg

I have been toying around with the idea of putting in a new state of the art pick up system in my Larrivee. The system is called the LR Baggs iMIX. It captures a lot of the character in my guitar with an active response to it. That means that the pickups pick up the aggressive or passive playing of the strings on the guitar.

Now in order to place it in there, I must have it installed inside the body above the sound hole, closest to my face. That’s fine with me. The next question is what in the world do I do with the hole that the factory installed system sat in? It would look mighty funny just viewing a rectangular opening right there in my face. Do I just leave it there or what should I do with it? Here is my best option, I think.

I have always wanted both of my acoustic guitars to have pick ups so I can have a back-up on stage. So why not put my old pick up from the Larrivee into my old Aspen acoustic guitar. Perfect, I think? Unfortunately if I do this I will have this opening on the side of the body near my chest where the old system was. It would look so odd and out of place that I would be reluctant to let anyone look at my guitar. So while talking about my problem with the guitar tech at the 12th fret, he gave me this fabulous idea of the side port!

lightsideport.jpg

They could change the look of the old hole and create a fancy looking design in it’s place!

This will allow a small portion of the sound to come up directly to me acting like another sound hole or a monitor if you will. This will not effect the tonal qualities of my baby I have been told. The tech had one in this part of the workshop that he made and let me try it out. Not only did it look very cool and original, but it was nice to have some sound coming from a part of the guitar that I have never heard it coming from in the past.

Now all I have to do is convince my wife about this one, wish me and my Larrivee luck will you all?

Keep on Jammin’

The Bassist

by

The Rick Wakeman concert that I saw a couple of weeks ago left me in a state of music appreciation overload. The level of musicianship at the show was in a realm that only a very talented few ever get to venture into or near.

They were so tight that it just made R. Jackson’s and my head just shake thinking to ourselves that this just can’t be happening right in front of our eyes and ears. When they played a staccato’ed note and then stopped for 2 or more seconds, the whole hall went eerily quiet. Now that’s scary! These guys have a kindred spirit/musical ability all rapped up into one.

Mr. Rick Wakeman was his usual stellar self but his supporting cast took a while to bring it up to his level. The only stand out in both of our eyes was ‘Pearly’ Lee Pomeroy the bass player and when he got going it turned out to be a night to remember!

His regular gig is with this band called Tar Babies.Their site is a MUST to check out in it’s entirety, but don’t let the Tom foolery misguide you. He comes across on stage of the perfect band mate. Always smiling and with positive energy to burn!

leepomeroy.jpg The one thing that caught my eye maybe half way through the show was that he was a left handed bass player and here’s the kicker, he had it strung upside down. He places the thick strings that normally go at the top of the neck on the bottom part.

Now to put it in a way that non musicians can understand, just envision this for one second, imagine using your keyboard turned upside down and having to type that way. It’s almost like walking backwards, you could do it, but when it comes to running it’s a whole new ball game.

So to give the nod to the best player in the band besides Rick Wakeman, Mr Jackson and I would have to give it to the guy above … really you had to be there!

Keep on Jammin’

Fellow Brantford guy does well

by

A great friend of the Power family’s son Jessie, is truly the apple of his father’s eye. In a recent article about Jesse from the Brantford Expositor this past Thursday, July 19, 2007, pretty much sums up the bright future ahead for this Brantford Musician. I really wish him the best of luck!

I fondly remember many stories about this man’s son and his guitar playing ability. I recall many stories about him doing the things that kids do over the years but never ever met the guy. He, along with his father, was a player whom I had always wanted to jam with but never had the time to do so. I hope that I can jam with him now that he is a star in the making, LOL!

I just checked out Jesse’s Myspace and LiveVideo and found it quite refreshing. He is just an honest guy doing a honest man’s gig in my home city of Brantford! I hope that this is not his Last Song!

Keep on Jammin’ Jesse

Nice Finger picking on this guy

by

Boy is this guy good. His name is Steven King and I will be watching out to see if he will be playing in Toronto any time soon! Also, check out the positioning of his middle pick up on his guitar, neat huh?

He may come across to some guitar players as the typical technically perfect musician with a lack of feel, but that’s ok, he’s really good at what he does. The best part comes at 1:02 of his performance.

This was the feeling that I got when listening to this type of player when I was 13 – 14 years old. I couldn’t get my thick head around the idea that this was great or, to a greater extent, cool music to play for audiences.

Then again, I was in a Kiss tribute band at the time, see earlier posts from this era of my career. Once again, my best and most influential guitar teacher was looking out for my development without me even realizing it.

He started teaching me little ditties to play that were both cool and technically satisfying for me to play at the time, and also some kids my age thought that it was good to listen to as well. Later on, I started to play “Suite Case” blues by Rik Emmett of Canadian Super Group Triump, from the Just a Game album. This direction of guitar playing has truly stood the test of time with me.

So take a little listen to this style of guitar picking. You might even try to decide if this is a style that you may want to add it to you own repertoire of techniques. Also go to youtube and input his name to find more of his work. You’ll envy this guitar guru!

Keep on Jammin’

Disco is

by

Gotcha thinkin’ you dancing fool!!!

BTW,are there 2 bass players in this, or is it just an illusion from the short exposure to disco tunes during my formative musical years? See, my brother Tim always told me that this shit would rot my brain even if exposed in short bursts! Always listen to your brother, always!

Keep on ah …


Meta

Archives

Pages

Tags

Acoustic amp band bands Brantford Bruce Cockburn Canada Canadian concert Entertainment fender funny General guitar Guitar Equipment guitarist guitar player guitars Home house Humor humour instrument jammin jazz John Mayer keyboard Live Music musician Musicians play playing Progressive Rock Pylis rock RUSH Songs to play sound strings Technology Toronto tour Video YES