Category: RockStar

Band.

mike d. 1 Comment ExtremeWeb, RockStar

Speaking of bands, mine got together this past weekend. Dave (guitarist), Jaime (drummer), and I rocked out for a couple hours yesterday.

I am stoked. I think that this thing has a pretty good chance to get us out to a few bars and such by… say… June-ish. It will also help further justify the purchase of the PRS513. Speaking of which…

I got a call in early January from Guitar center. I picked up the phone to hear: “Your Guitar is here.”

the next night I drove up to Hartford, giddy with the anticipation of a black cherry PRS513. I arrived and the box stood majestically against the PRS desk. Brian came out and greeted me:

“Mr. DiDonato! Come to the desk and open your guitar!”

I walked over to the case. Unclicking the three locks, I braced myself and pulled up the lid… but the guitar wasn’t red. It was blue.

“huh? This isn’t a black cherry PRS513”
“uh oh.”

And as it happens, PRS made a mistake. They’d supplied the wrong guitar. So I went home guitarless that night… and we’re probably still 3 months out.

tragic.

Name That Tune.

mike d. 2 Comments ExtremeWeb, Features, RockStar

Today is going to be super interactive.

I have recorded a bunch of different song pieces with my new PRS513 guitar. Your task is to identify the tunes. Some are alarmingly easy, others are really difficult. Not only because the songs are hard… but also because I play them poorly.

People who have lived in the same residence as me within the last year are not allowed to post answers because they probably already know all the songs that I can play.

At the time of posting this feature post, I only had 21 different rock riffs. That means there might be some pictures of my sweet guitar posted during the day too. We’ll see!

In any case, Good luck!

New Era of Guitar?

mike d. 8 Comments RockStar

Last night before bed I decided to sit down for a few minutes with my guitar. As usual, those few minutes turned into well over an hour. But what made this particular session unique was that I think I made a significant improvement to my technique. It’s not often when something just clicks like that, so I figured I’d write about it.

Last night I switched from left hand control to right hand control. It came in the form of alternate picking. I’ve been trying to increase my speed for quite a few months now but couldn’t comfortably get past say… 210bpm with notes on the up and down beats. As I played, I would control the speed with the movement of my fingers on my left hand. Last night, I suddenly tried just letting the left hand go and instead focused on keeping my right hand fluid.

And just like that, a significant improvement in speed and quality. My left hand did what it was suppose to do without having to really think about it. My right hand increased its speed and the result was one notch closer to rock. I think when I can finally be comfortable with making that left-right transition I will have extreme speed possibilities.

The Quest for Bandage.

mike d. 13 Comments RockStar

I want a band. A real band. First, let’s review the bands of the past

Giant Robots Smashing into other Giant Robots: My first band. I played bass and played it in a mediocre manner. But we still rocked. And of all the bands, this one may have had the best name.

Sammy G and the Mike’n’ikes: We owned open mic nights with our ridiculous antics. Highlight? Destiny child’s ‘Say my name’ complete with Holla Back outfits.

So Tired: Rick Large was perhaps the single best lead man I’ve ever seen… rivaled only by Jim Morison. and maybe Axl Rose. we must have played about 6 to 8 shows and we actually made some money. highlight? WPI’s Novemberfest. Huge turnout and raucous party.

Showers Etc: The weakest named band and entirely acoustic. but we had a trombone and that alone was pretty sweet.

Generally Electric: A band formed entirely of General Electric Co-op students. I think we only played once. But it was fun.

8 of Bass: My crowning achievement. A band made entirely of bass players performing only Ace of Bass music. We only had one show. And we only played four songs. But 200 people showed up and the mood was explosive.

Now that I have the PRS… I’ve started practicing more heavily and the potential for real rock is… well… real. Jesse has suggested he might be willing to play some bass. And Dave Dude of 8ofBass has thrown out interest in dual lead guitarrage.
what I need is a really cool drummer. without percussion we are lame.

I also still need a really sweet name. I could resurrect Giant Robots… but it might be a disservice to the founder.

This band wouldn’t play every weekend. It would be play Quarterly. But those shows would be unstoppable.

These are my band dreams. Yes. It will happen.