The Times They Are A'changing

Hmm.

Today, I managed to find some time to go down to Bras Basah to get some spray paint, some foam material and also to pop by Guitar Workshop and give Lawrence a little visit. So there I was walking into the shop and there's this guy who's playing this out-of-tune guitar... ouch.

So I wave a greeting to Lawrence, who's busy with another guy, and I grab a guitar and tune it up. I do believe that the moment I finished tuning up and strummed a chord, the other guy knew he was out of tune... that happens so much to so many musicians out there.. they don't even know whether or not they are out of tune.

I just noodle around the acoustic guitar until Lawrence finally finished up his conversation with the other guy. Lawrence and I know what sort of equipment I'm shooting for, and he also knows my budget range, which comes in handy whenever I ask him for the price of certain instruments, and he smiles knowingly whenever I grimace at the price. It's good to have a pal like him.

I've been eyeing this Vox 15-watt amplifier which has been sitting in that shop for a little while, and I was very much impressed by the sound it produced. Lawrence then asked me to try out this 10-watt practise amplifier, which I did using a Les Paul. Soon enough, as I am just noisily noodling around playing blues riffs and solos this secondary school guy walks in and starts up a conversation with Lawrence.. he also stared at me as I launched into a new flurry of heavy blues and rock n' roll. The practise amp plays okay, but it doesn't provide me with the sort of tone I desire.

In any case, it was apparent that this secondary school guy was surprised that a bloke like myself (wearing a rolling stones tee, baggy jeans and playing heavy blues) wasn't into something which was either metal or punk. And I wouldn't be surprised... younger musicians nowadays are just so caught up with current music changes, they forget to step back and see the bigger picture.

It took me only a little while to get the conversation going between myself and this secondary school fella (whose name is Brian) and I notice his rhythm playing wasn't too bad, in fact he only started playing one year ago, and he's already got three guitars (one Yamaha electric, one acoustic Applause, and one classical) and he's not too bad a rhythm player.

Sad thing is, his playing and musical interest is just too stereotyped: for crying out loud, he's into Simple Plan! When he picked up an electric to play, all he could churn out was power chords and I personally don't feel surprised because 1. he's a beginner and 2. he's just emulating the people whom he idolises.

Then he turns around and asks me how I manage to learn to do solos.. and my answer is simple: listen to good music which allows you to understand and learn from the instrument player him/herself.. and then try and play the song, but in my own style. The end result is pretty good and more often than not, the music I listen to influences me and allows me to stand out from the rest of your metal-heads and mat-rockers and punk-rockers and punk-whiners.

Have you guys ever wondered why all of Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 100 best-selling albums of all time, those albums came from before 1980? I mean, the best-selling album of all time was the Beatle's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and I'm not remotely surprised.. how many songs do you hear on the radio nowadays (originals, not covers of old songs) can be considered classics of the day? The stuff zooming out of your radio speakers are simply commercialised crap which have been over-produced, over-processed and over-sold.

Oh and FYI, Led Zeppelin five albums within the top 100... kiss my ass, you crappy little punk-whiners.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy