Anyway- there were three bands on the bill, missed the start of the initial warm up act, they started before the queue to get in had dissapated. They were a band called Logan, a local outfit by all accounts and from what I heard of them- dead excellent. Will definitely be looking out for them. There website is here. 

The next “act” up was Hot Leg. Jeez! I have been to a fair few concerts in my time and I have been to a few that were less than briliant, but usually at worst a band gets no reaction. This is the first time I have seen a band boo’ed from the first song. Hot Leg were seriously crap!  Hot Leg are fronted by former “The Darkness” front man Justin Hawkins. I was never a BIG Darkness fan  but they had some catchy AC/DC alaike riffs and were obviously popular with mainstram radio etc, and never took themselves too seriously. But this was appaling- I still don’t think they take themseleves seriously- but then neither can anyone else. Listening to the shrill ups and downs of Hawkins and his flatulent guitar breaks that seemed to speed up and slow down, it was soooo BAD.

He was like some 70′s glam star who wasn’t even very good then! At one stage they asked the crowd to wail along ( whoo oaah) getting no reaction he then said- it’s OK you can use the word boo like ( booo oooh)- it really was this bad and cringe making!

This was bad, they told the crowd you can down load their latest single from their website free. They should be paying you to take it. You can check out their website here if you really must, if only to see how sad they really are. Be very careful when looking for the website- use this link, don’t guess at it like the usual .com address type thing – thats a pr0n site! ( yes I guessed the url thats how I know! ) Do you think they chose this name deliberately for this reason?

After a long set up time the headline act Alter Bridge came on, they were excellent. My son was with me at the concert and its the first time I have seen or heard him sing along to anything in his 13 years! I have to say I think the sound set up was not terribly kind to the band- it sounded a bit screechy at times, and while I am not averse to loud- it was maybe a tad too loud for the size of the place- my ears are still screaming now, usually the day after it starts to fade before I am out my scratcher.

None the less the bands set was brilliant, they played most of the songs (maybe all) from Blackbird and a fair few from One Day Remains, plus one other song I had not heard before- it might be new or maybe its an original pre albums song- I dunno. But the crowd were bouncing, and singing along. Myles Kennedy is an awesome vocalist and guitarist and of course band leader Mark Tremonti is outstanding on the lead guitar.  Backing up on Drums and Bass Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall were solid. 

A couple of outstanding parts were when they played the slower “In Loving Memory” and at the very end when Myles played a bit slide guitar to “The Lemon Song” the Led Zepp classic before rolling into Rise Today.

Excellent.

Hot Leg were just so bad though!

Even got two requests played (Atreyu and Breaking Benjamin) – that has to be a first (and a second for me!). Thanks so much guyz,  you rock! and you’ve earned a new listener- You can tune in by clicking the banner on the right of the blog main page.

Bullet for My Valentine – “Tears Don’t Fall”

Trying to learn to play (at the very least- the intro to this- seems so simple- so why am i fekking struggling!!!!

I have been learning to play gutiar for nearly a year- started at the back end of November 2005. While I never thought it would be easy (this is the 3rd time I have tried to learn!) I really never thought I would be finding it so hard after this amount of time. I thought at least the basics would be sticking by now… but no!

Can I hit the right string…. nope.

Can I hit chords cleanly every time, in simple practice yes- when trying to play something- even simple stuff- nope.

Can I do scales smoothly and “automatically”. nope

Can I play anything from start to finish, well. Don’t make me laugh!

God I am so CRAP!

The daft thing is I really enjoy it but I am seriously getting pi$$ed off with the lack of progress. I do pretty well an hour of practice most days sometime a lot more at weekends, but its jsu not happening.

The guy I go to for lessons, I think is fed up with my lack of progress though he hides it well! But each time I go the list of things I do wrong seems to get longer.

I over strike the stings (thus hitting the string beside the one I want too)
I don’t bring my left hand round the neck far enough
I have “bouncy” fingers on my left hand- i.e lifting them too far off the frets which slows me down.
My picking action is crap- I can alternate pick but tend to be inconsistent with it, and apparently I use too much hand and not enough finger action- though I am struggling to relate this to what I am doing wrong. I can’t seem to change the way I do it.
Strumming- don’t even go there- shite.
I can’t play standing up at all!
I can’t smoothly change between simple chords.
Don’t even discuss barre chords!
Anything I can do right?- apparently the posotioning of my right hand relative to how I hold the pick is spot on!- Thats reassuring at least I’ll be able to throw the picks in the bin accuately when I finally give up!

P.S none of this is Gordon’s fault, he is a phenomenal guitarist and musician, and a pretty good teacher. If he has a fault its that he has been doing it so ridiculously long that his hands are able to get into weird shapes that for a beginner like me, I can’t even come close to emulating so he is hard to copy. (and he is only 24 or 25 !)  its just me I am obviously not musical at all!

I suck at guitar. Goign to give it until November and if I really am not getting anywhere, and I am starting to feel I won’t be, I think I will have to admit defeat for the first time in my life and quit.

They have a website at http://www.sevendust.info/

Sevendust “Ugly” Music Video
Description:
Sevendust “Ugly” Music Video from their album entitled NEXT.

If you’re having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your browser:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-4237913843211015392&q=Sevendust&pr=goog-sl

This link takes you to the original with Breaking Benjamin on Google Video.

Hollywood Records: Breaking Benjamin – So Cold

If you’re having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your browser:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=4683399794446875827&q=So+Cold&pr=goog-sl

I believe the book of music to the album We Are Not Alone is actually available but I think its USA only so rather than go to the expense of buying one right now (bit strapped for cash!) I trawled sheetmusicdirect.com and turned up the track!

One of the big benefits of getting their music is that you can play it back in their online player thing- uses a plug in called Scorch, so though its a midi thing (i.e it sounds rubbish) it does let you heare the tempo, rhythm etc and you can play it over and over to get close (especially helpful when you can’t read music!).

Actually there’s two problems- as my guitar instructor will testify, I am really rubbish at guitar- not just saying that to illicit some kind of sympathetic “you’re not that bad” kind of  response- seriously- I am truely awful. Though I am improving very slowly- after the time I have been at it I am probably about the 3 month stage! And thats with at least an hour a days practice since I started. In my defence however- I did lose a month with holidays and my guitar being away for a set up and in that time my fingers softened up so it was like starting over when I came back to it. Oh .. and I am no youngster to be picking up an instrument for the first time.

Anyway I have learned all the intro bits to the track over the last two weeks  up to where it uses the so called “Leslie effect” in the music- ie. the really loud bit. I can actually play some of the rest of the song but it seems to be a bit of a 3 or 4 guitar arrangement ( the bands only a 4 piece with a drummer and bass). So there must be a bit of additional artistic licence used when the original was recorded IMO. One player many tracks etc.

I decided to “lay down” my first recording of me trying to play the intro. Now I have to say its not flawless and its not perfectly in time- I reckon I am a bit slow with the very first bit you hear, think I need to raise the tempo a bit.

Also this is my very first attempt at using Cubase LE though my Zoom G2.1u effects pedal. I am finding laying down the tracks really hard, ‘cos I can’t play along to my own played tracks as the latency knocks the timing out. I need to get some advice how to overcome this. I have a mate down south who is big into home studio stuff so will ask him later.

So Cold Intro by Kenny- its a 1 Meg download if you can stand the pain- try not to laugh!

Half Life 2 Breaking Benjamin

Description:
This is a machinima music video of Half Life 2 and Breaking Benjamin. Coolest music vid ever!!

If you’re having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your browser:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=5152793688943085959&q=Breaking+Benjamin&pr=goog-sl

Breaking Benjamin “The Diary of Jane” Music Video

Description:
Breaking Benjamin “The Diary of Jane” Music Video

If you’re having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your browser:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-6993193233817531817&q=Breaking+Benjamin&pr=goog-sl

Its brilliant- its only a shame they are not getting air play this side of the Atlantic, not entirely sure why though the record company Hollywood Records don’t appear to promote them here. I think it might be to do with the alledged fear of flying of their lead singer Benjamin Burnley.

Anyway- I still think they are great- would love to see them live. You can get more info at their fansite shallowbay or at Myspace