What’s different in my arrangement”

First of all tempo, I wanted to give this song wings, speed it up to make more groovy, dancy tune. Second major change was giving this tune “latin” feel and when I found this awesome Apple drum beat I knew it was gonna be fun to play along. I am attaching original version and my so you have comparison of what I did, hope you like it.

Original “Kiedy mnie juz nie bedzie” by Seweryn Krajewski

My arrangement of “Kiedy mnie juz nie bedzie”

We’ve recently submitted our Seven Second Chase “tracks to the Bon Jovi Contest to open up for this big band in Edmonton, AB. So far we’ve end up 4th among all bands which is pretty cool and now we’ll get our tunes heard by Bon Jovi . Top band will be chosen based on Youtube/Video performance.

Bon Jovi Band Contest

We’re looking forward to take on this awesome opportunity to promote Seven Second Chase music and open up for big boys. Keep your fingers crossed .

I’ve had really good response from my old youtube Taylor DN3 sound test that I thought this guitar deserves a post. This time sound quality is much better: one DI track through k&k western standard pickup and one through mic (very cheap mic). Everything through Digidesign Mbox2 and Logic Pro 8.

My Taylor acoustic guitar review – DN3 dreadnought acoustic guitar:

I bought this guitar ar. 2,5 year ago and I have to say I totally stay away from my electrics when I’m at home. It feels and sounds really nice, intonation is great, same with the string action and tuners. It’s just a simple, pro sounding dreadnought acoustic guitar and that’s what I love about it.

If you can live without pretty inlays, exotic woods, cutaway and you’re in the $1200 budget frame but still want that pro acoustic guitar this is definitely the choice to consider.

LIKES

+ great full rich, big body guitar sound
+ real wood components, great tuners
+ very good tuning and intonation
+ comfortable to play, low string action
+  great for finger style playing
+  very dynamic guitar

DISLIKES

- no cutaway meets to be tough with solo playing, especially higher positions
- low frequencies seem to be hard to control in the studio, I use feedback buster even when mic’ing

I’ve tested this guitar live and studio and all I can say that this is one of my best purchases ever. Big body, taylor acoustic sound, very comfortable and loud! This guitar is really loud compare to other acoustics I’ve played but can’t complain, sound is beautiful, clear and great for strumming or arpeggios like I played in my VIDEO, check it out!

Second of all:  I love Yamaha guitars, there’s absolutely awesome value for the money. For years I’ve been using my awesome Yamaha MS 410 and it’s still one of my favorite guitars, especially live.

Combining those two I’d like to introduce Yamaha RGX A2 electric guitar, totally new body resonance technology. Check this video out and definitely try Yamaha EGX A2 next time you’re in store.

I’ve decided to download trial version and give it a shot. Installation process went very smooth and I was ready to go. I went through couple of Amplitube 2 amps (as they said they improved them) to see if I can notice the difference. Yes, I could  . Then I went through some new amps like Orange, Vox, Roland, Hybrids and I was totally speechless. Way better sounding amps, beautiful clean tones, pedals especially overdrive/distortion section sound amazing. New awesome rotary speaker is another big addition but my favorite were changes in the CABINET section. Wide selection of awesome speakers and 2 mic cabbing gives Amplitube totally different dimension, it’s awesome!

Amplitube 3 by IK Multimedia is a great software for home and studio quality recording. Many different sound dimensions and very good sounding amps without a hassle and you can play all night. You will not get real tube amp feel but on the other side you would never get a such a big inventory of amps that easy. I decided to make an ‘Amplitube 3 Sound Test Video. Check it out!

Black Powder Toys

• Feb 10, – 3:00pm North Vancouver, Olympic Torch Relay
• Feb 16, 2010 – 7:00pm, Plaza of Nations (beside Edgewater Casino) outdoor gig
• Feb 19, 2010 – 8:00pm, Pub 340 (340 Cambie St.,  Vancouver, BC) with guests including my other band Seven Second Chase, Stef Lang and Tara Crowther
• Feb 24, 2010 – 7:00pm, Plaza of Nations (beside Edgewater Casino) outdoor gig

Both Plaza of Nations gigs expect 10 000 people so it should be fun, however if you’re busy come down to 340 Pub .

Signal is very weak, thin and too transformed sound plus very noisy single coil, with tons of annoying feedback. My advice is don’t do what I did and safe yourself $70.

Anyways…, my next step was to actually find someone who knows some stuff about acoustic pickups: installation, sound, options, etc. and pick the best system. I also did my research going to some acoustic gigs, open mics to check what other players use and how it sounds. Most people complained that their acousticdoesn’t sound “acoustic” when they are plugged in. One of the guys I thought had a great sound, sent me tomyusual music store (L&M) and after talking to the guy for about 10 minutes his #1 choice was K&K (I’ve never heard of this brand before). He also help me to pick Ultra Pure Western Standard pickup and after a week of waiting I got my acoustic guitar back with apparently great sounding system, woohoo!

I came back home and did my sound test review: K&K Ultra Pure Western Standard vs Apex 180 Condenser Pencil Mic, and here’s my video:

K&K Acoustic Guitar Pickup Review

At the beginning I’d like to apologize for not posting for a long time but I’ve been fortunate to be musically busy and travel a bit. I just came back from my second Canadian tour with – Seven Second Chase and I’d like to share some of the cool venues we played at.

#1 Very first and definitely one of the better shows this tour was Blind Beggar Pub in Calgary which first impression is more of a place to drink than listen live bands, however as soon as we sound checked we were pleasantly surprised with acoustics and great sound system. Even though there’s no actual ’stage’ Blind Beggar sounds pretty big, we did not have any feedback problems and most importantly drummer could play he’s tracks with a decent volume, not over-powering the whole band, so we could adjust perfect mix.

#2 After AB we headed down east to Brandon, MB (University Campus), Winnipeg, MB (University as well), London, ON ending up in Toronto where we played few all ages shows at Reverb known as “Big Bop”. This was definitely my favorite stage, big and spacy drums sound, so I could actually crank my amp and get the perfect tone. Reverb has a really nice PA system that just does the job in combination with a cool room Reverb is definitely good venue to check.

#3 Last Ontario and the whole tour show we played at legendary Horseshoe Tavern, where you could see performing acts of big boys like: Bryan Adams or Rolling Stones. The Horseshoe Tavern is a really cool, “underground” place where you can go for a beer, chat with a friend or enter big sounding room at the end of the pub and listen to some good music. Tavern’s stage is half of the Reverb’s size but it’s very nicely set up, again you can go full band volume without hurting your audience ears and actually sound good. Having smaller stage we could actually hear ourselves very good without monitors turned on, the only concern was some minor vocal mic feedback in the front of the stage.

Anyways, now I’m back in town getting ready for Vancouver 2010 olympics to play couple gigs with some local musicians. Last tour was definately some good experience and new friends connections. Cheers

Acoustic Riff Idea1
Acoustic Riff Idea1 is a simple 2 chord progression (C/a) with an additional G note as a bridge to the next loop. I’m playing Cmaj doing bar on the 3rd fret and Amin by just lifting the bar finger up and holding on G note on the D string 5th fret and C note on the G string, 5th fret. To get the right sound you have to make sure your A open string is ringing, otherwise you’ll loose the root note.

Electric Guitar Riff Idea – “They Try” Black Powder Toys

Another riff I wanted to show you is a short intro with the main riff subject I came up with to one of my band’s songs – “They Try”. Riff is based on oriental scale (1,b2,3,4,b5,6,b7) which sounds very open, spiritual, great for creating “a mood”. Here the main notes of the riff are: G,F#,C, D. With this riff it is also good idea to change your regular tuning to drop D and while playing riff melody keep your open D string ringing.

Acoustic Song Idea
A last piece I’d like to show you is one of my instrumental ideas I’m working on. It’s a simple E progression with an open ringing E string underneath the pattern:  Em, F#m, Gmaj, F#m, Em, Dmaj, Cadd 9, Em. All chords should be played as 3 notes (ringing E and 2 note chord pattern) starting from the Em (A string: 7th fret – E and D string: 5th fret – G) and then moving up to Gmaj and back. This riff again is very open, monogamic sounding since the root note E rings through all the pattern. I find these kind of riffs hard to combine with vocal line, however they’re great for intros, breakdowns or bridge parts. You can hear more developed version – “Demo2″ at www.myspace.com/tomlawreszuk.

That’d be all for today, if you have any suggestion, comments or your ideas that you’d like to showcase, fire me an e-mail: tom@myguitarmusic.net.