RJoseph133

I was thinking about offering my (mediocre) drumming services, too. I'd be happy to split drumming time or at least give you a few breaks during the jam. I am a very mediocre drummer...the same beat over and over again. But I do have fun...maybe I'll sit in for your breaks?

Should be there. I'm thinking about playing drums only this time...is this a bad thought?!

The big companies don't care about any of our musical satisfactions therin, just their revenue and bottom line. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is cool by me; everyone's gotta make a living. The reason companies like Gibson, Costco, Guitar Cencer, Sam Ash, or whatever have become huge is because the CONSUMERS have made them this big. There isn't some kind of huge government orchestrated conspiracy to drive small businesses out of existence! If you don't like what GC, Costco and their ilk do, the solution for US, as educated consumers, is to patronize smaller, knowledgeable retailers. If everyone who complained (not implying anybody here does this, it's just a generality) actually bought their $2000 guitar at "Mom and Pop Music" instead of buying the shiny new Lester at GC and then bitching about the quality of service they received, you'd be amazed at how quickly this "problem" would rectify itself.

Gotta be honest with you, how much different would Costco be than Guitar Center is currently? Chances are that a stock clerk at Costco has just as much guitar-based knowledge as 99% of the GC yahoos...sad but true.

Brother, I've been on this board since its inception (1997-8 or so?). My lack of posts is only due to changing servers awhile back. You might want to ask a few people around here about what I know...!!!

I'm not slamming his style of play, I'm just saying (in a roundabout way) that unless you happen to either play guitar or happen to be a fan of shredding, this type of music would clear a bar out of paying patrons faster than a can of mace. I don't want to rehash any number of flame wars that always are inherent in "guitar" boards, but 99% of the people who see live music (non-musicians AND musicians) want to hear a song that they recognize, not see a soloist blow their nut all night. I belong to the group of people who want to hear a song they recognize. I couldn't even tell Lynch was playing a Hendrix song until the guy started singing. Come to think of it, nothing that Lynch played within the context of ANY of the songs chosen could have been identified by itself. If that's what he wanted to do, why bother with the singers/guitar players? Just plug in and go. I have plenty of repect for Lynch's playing. Play away, Georgie...but just don't mask your wanking in the context of "oh, I'm playing stuff that was a huge influence on me..." and proceed to jerk off all over whatever "song" influenced him WITH NO CONCERN FOR ANYTHING THAT HAD TO DO WITH THE SONG. Sorry.

Totally incredible guitar playing. Of course, Lynch didn't play anything that even remotely complimented the songs. George Lynch always struck me as a "Guitar Center shredder," the kind of guy who can play circles around anyone else, but can't play "Mustang Sally" twice the same way. Or, for that matter, play "Mustang Sally" and make it sound like "Mustang Sally." But I'm sure he'd insist on bringing his JCM900 stack to the jam night... Can the guy play his weenie off? You betcha. Is he totally gawd-awful when it comes down to playing within the context of material presented? You betcha.

Watching these clips and thinking about what Ed looks like/does today is just sad. What a pathetic waste.

Does that make him a Dave-era rocksucker? Cherone would have probably found Dave a little more attractive...um, I mean appealing than Sam.

Hahahahahahahahaha! THAT's the best one I've heard in a while...but if that's Sammy's classification, how does Gary Cherone fit?

All is cool, brother...just stirrin' it up a bit, but with a smile!

Agreed. I was attempting to head off the argument: "Playing with your (guitar/bass) too low affects your technique." It has nothing to do with listening, per se, it has to do with seeing a rock band. And as incredible as Dream Theater may be as musicians, they are an absolute snooze for a NON-MUSICIAN (read the caps again, DT fans, before you get all pi**y with me) to see live. The great unwashed in just about any bar on a Friday/Saturday night want a crazy dude/dudette running around looking like a punk, not Andres Segovia.

Low, low, low, baby! At least for my basses...as MCChris so thoughtfully approximated;"the way to get laid, son." Basses played high up on the chest look, to put it mildly, not rock'n'roll; or to put it harshly, dorky. Gee-tars? I guess a little bit higher, but not much. I usually don't play guitar outside of the house, so I usually don't "wear" one unless I want to look cool in the mirror. Come to think of it, the last time I played guitar in front of anyone other than my cats was at last year's MWJ...I think I had my guitar on pretty low then. Example in point: look at Steve Howe. Nobody can say the man is not an incredible guitarist. Not just incredible...the man is fan-friggin'-tastic. But I think that just about eveyone here can admit the man looks like a total dweeb with his axe hanging under his chin...it just ain't right, kiddies! I honestly don't care to hear about how hanging my bass/guitar low affects my "technique" (not that I have much of one!) after all, I'm playing "My Sharona" not some obscure classical etude. It's all about how you look when you are playing in front of an audience. People like to see a rock band look like a rock band, not to look like Dream Theater. But, to each his own. Some people like to SEE Dream Theater, too. Dunno who, but some people look at them when they play, I guess...

I love my PRS guitars as much as my Hamers. I have 3 Custom 24's, one "pre heel" and the other two "heels." The "heels" are much nicer guitars. The entire "heel" issue has been done to death here...sorry, it makes aboslutely no difference. Well, I shouldn't say that. Ed Roman will charge you upwards of $1000 more for a smaller heel. You know, it's "more collectable." It never ceases to amaze me how many people rip on Ed Roman, yet take every bit of sales hype he posts on his site as gospel.

Snicker, snicker...what I didn't say in my post is that I have something that I'm dreaming up that I really...well, quite bluntly I don't have the balls to even ask for! One of these has been made before, too... I will say that it will (maybe) have 12 strings, be a bass, and have points... It won't be pink snakeskin, though. Hint.

I'm reiterating an old post here; it seems like I end up repeating myself over and over, but here goes... Hamer will do anything you would like. They will build you a quadruple necked bass with 18 strings running into quad pickups all tuned differently if you so desire. The problem here that most people seem to have is they request an oddball custom and then are astounded at what it will cost. I'm sure that Jol and Frank get quite tired of fielding such goofball requests like: Customer X:'Can you build me a Scepter?' Hamer: "Why sure. That will be $4000, just for starters. We will have to do it totally by hand, as this isn't a standard model anymore..." Customer X: 'Wow. Why so much? I can buy one on eBay for $350..." And you wonder why Hamer just cuts people off by saying "no." Here's a foolproof way of getting what you want from Hamer. Call BCR Greg, Alpep, or any of the other fine Hamer dealers who are regulars on this board. Give them a large amount of cash. If they tell Hamer you're serious, they will do anything. How do I know? Every oddball custom that I have bought, or anyone else on the board has bought, starts life in this fashion.