Guitarist, Composer, Instructor
5 year old daughter has been singing a tune this evening.
I knew what it was but not sure where she had heard it from. It is the Friday wake up song on my iPad alarm.
She keeps repeating the intro to this Michael Schenker song…and pretty accurately too! Proud!
A fitting way to kick off the blog on GuitarGuys.com with a tribute to guitar legend Randy Rhoads. Today marks 32 years side he was killed in a plane crash. Impossible not to wonder what music he would have offered up. With only two huge releases as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist there was not a lot of material. However, what an impact he had on all the guitarists of my generation and those who have followed.
RIP RR
As San Diegans we don’t always have a lot to root for in the sports department. So let me toot our own horn!
Congrats Aztecs Mens Basketball. Mountain West Champions! Take the conference tournament and March Madness run.
Are you still scrambling to get your 2014 Oscar picks in and win that pot of gold or at least bragging rights among your friends?
I am here to offer some help…at least in the music department.
Sadly, I have to say my favorite was not even nominated… Mark Orton for Nebraska his music made the movie. I love the sounds of Americana. Coupled with the cinematography Orton hit the nail on the head!! The harmonies and orchestration had more depth than any of the nominees in my humble opinion.
Following is my breakdown of the nominees for Best Original Score…
The Book Thief, John Williams
I thought John Williams deserved the Oscar last year for, “Lincoln.” Perhaps the Academy is looking away from the maestro just to get some new blood…well that theory doesn’t hold weight regarding perennial winner Meryl Streep. For this film Williams went back to more of the Romantic Period style we expect although a bit more pastoral than Wagnerian.
Gravity, Steven Price
Should have been John Williams penned! Williams and outer space = Oscar!
Her, William Butler, Owen Pallett
The soundscape is kind of cool and fits the quirkiness of the film. Although minimalist and slightly boring. Nice sounds though!
Philomena, Alexandre Desplat
Compositionally strong although a bit repetitive. We’ll see how the Academy reacts to the film in general, could take home the gold!
Saving Mr. Banks, Thomas Newman
Another minimalist, new-agey piano score. I think it will suffer from comparison’s to the mega hits of the Sherman’s legendary Mary Poppins songs.
My pick; Philomena, Alexandre Desplat
Click for past Oscar Picks and 2014 Best Song
Are you still scrambling to get your 2014 Oscar picks in and win that pot of gold or at least bragging rights among your friends?
I am here to offer some help…at least in the music department.
Following is my breakdown of the nominees for Best Song…
Happy-Pharrell Williams, Despicable Me 2
Pharrell Williams is as hot as it gets since the Grammys. Could strike Oscar Gold while the fire is hot. “Happy,” is a cool funky groove song.
Let it Go-Demi Lovato, Frozen
Lovato may sell to the younger female crowd which would hurt her chances for an Oscar. Although “Frozen,” was created for the same demographic and this song drives the mega popular film home with said audience. A good song and worthy of Oscar buzz.
Ordinary Love-U2, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
A match made in heaven. An aging supergroup with world-wide mass audience appeal. A movie with a cause and one that U2 has held dear since the 80’s. Won the Golden Globe.
The Moon Song-Karen O., Her
The movie is a bit campy and so is the song. In my opinion the least deserving of the four nominees.
You could make a good case for “Happy,” and “Let it Go,” but I don’t see them beating the mighty U2 and Mandela.
My pick; Ordinary Love-U2, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Click for past Oscar Picks and 2014 Original Score
Fell asleep on the couch last night. Woke up to head up to bed but checked my iPad first and saw the extremely sad news. One of the guitar world’s heroes has passed away.
Paco De Lucia IS an amazing legendary guitarist. A flamenco guitarist who crossed many boundaries which furthered the genre’s cause. He played with Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin in THE Guitar Trio, marking his crossover into the jazz/fusion world. His long hair and rock look, coupled with his amazing guitar chops, piqued the interest of the heavy metal and rocker guitarists. And his association with greats like Los Romeros gave him notice in the classical realm.
I was lucky enough to see him in the 90s in San Diego. We had front row seats(directly in front of the Romeros) and will never forget that show!
RIP the guitar world has lost a giant…
(Paco is not the one pictured in the video capture below, he is on the left of your screen)
Yep, “Smoke on the Water,”… Deep Purple, the metal band…relaxing! Remember to some heavy metal IS relaxing in itself. This song, however, is not very heavy at all and its sound would be generally accepted by anyone as relaxing. Your mom would like it! It gets a wee heavy in the middle but that ‘contradiction’ highlights the subtleties within.
The song starts out with a simple guitar line interwoven with an exceptionally emotive keyboard patch. In fact it is the ‘intense simplicity’ in the interplay between guitar and keys throughout that unclenches the distended soul.
The way in which keyboardist, the recently deceased, Jon Lord and guitarist Steve Morse play off each other sets up an incredibly concerted sonority only two Master musician’s could offer. Listen for the interplay throughout even the heavier parts to get the most out of the song.
Additionally Steve Morse masterfully plays off his initial motive even in the solos to give the song a connectivity from beginning to end. Steve’s use of delay and splitting the channels adds to the calmness of the guitar sound.
Enjoy!
Anyone who works out with their headphones knows how awesome it is when you get a big lift from your favorite song. Or hearing a cool tune you would have never picked shuffle through on your picturesque jog… With 1000s of songs on my iPod I almost always shuffle.
I’ve always thought it would be cool, interesting, perhaps even motivating to write about each playlist and the music’s effect on myself and the workout. Then I thought that might be kind of boring. Then I thought, “Yeah,” I was right…on both counts. 
Really just another chance to talk about music!
Feb. 14 & 17
3 mile runs
Michael Schenker’s, “Bridge the Gap.”
“Neptune Rising”
“Where the Wild Winds Blow”
“Horizons”
“Lord of the Lost and Lonely”
“Rock N Roll Symphony”
“To Live For the King”
“Land of Thunder”
“Temple of the Holy”
“Shine On”
“Bridges We Have Burned”
“Because You Lied”
“Black Moon Rising”
“Dance for the Piper”
“Faith” w Don Dokken, vocals
If you have read any of my previous “Run Playlist,” entries you know I shuffle through my workouts…almost exclusively! I rarely listen to one album straight through.
Another thing I hardly ever do any more is buy CDs. Sure songs here and there, but, not many full CDs anymore. However, I recently received in the mail Michael Schenker’s, “Bridge the Gap.”
With the new piece of ear candy in tow I turned off the shuffle feature and went to town dissecting my new sonorous treasure. My last two runs in fact were entirely devoted to the German guitarist’s newest release.
I won’t give the album a full review here cause it is just too early. I will share my first impressions, however.
GREAT!
Great production, great sound, heavy well composed songs, great vocals(not always a trademark of MSG music) and of course great guitar work. In fact Michael has never sounded better. Part of it is the production of the music. I also think part if it is Schenker seems to be enjoying life as much as ever. Props!!
A couple other quick hits…
-The keyboards(Wayne Findlay) are integrated really well on this disc. Perhaps even a sonic tribute to the recently passed Jon Lord of Deep Purple?
– Doogie White easily slides to the top of the class regarding Schenker vocalists over the years. Then immediately has to kind of battle it out to hold serve with Don Dokken who also sounds great on the bonus track, “Faith.” Major Kudos to Doogie on this disc and recent tours, sounds great!
-Dokken may be one of the top vocalists to work with Schenker. On the flip side Michael easily becomes the best guitarist to work with Dokken. Sorry to George Lynch fans. He’s a good dude and pretty good player just not even close to the same league as Schenker.
– The song format of this disc may lead to a better response from the average fan as some of Schenker’s recent music has been sort of through composed super-works. Most music fans are accustomed to block songs for easy digesting. Personally I liked when he stepped out of the box a bit. Even naming the songs on his MS 2000 disc the by the spelling of the CD title, “Dreams & Expressions.”
1 D
2 R
3 E
4 A
5 M
6 S
7 A
8 N
9 D
10 E
11 X
12 P
13 R
14 E
15 S
16 S
17 I
18 O
19 N
20 S
Bottom line- check out, “Bridge the Gap,” if you are a fan you won’t regret it!
Check out previous Run Playlist Posts.
I was really looking forward to this game. The #1 Defense vs the #1 Offense of all-time. How could the matchup not provide a great sports battle?
Wow, the game was anything but! Jumped the shark at :12 into the game…it was over!
You know what else has jumped the shark? Superbowl commercials! Well, not the hype and people’s expectations…but the crazy, catch your eye, LMAO type commercials. People love to talk about the commercials the day after, but, that’s about it. Theres no WAZZUP or Bud-Wei-Ser frogs or Cindy Crawford.
Like everything, it is now a formula, of being extremely stupid, overly sentimental, over the top selling sex to sell whatever…
None of those are that bad of advertising approaches in general. But, the art of creating a Superbowl commercial has reached an all-time boring low!
My favorite? The only one that actually stood out?
T-Mobile! They used the late, great Roger Miller’s, “Whistle Stop.” When I was a little bitty Mike cutting my teeth on music this little ditty put the first music wrinkles on my brain.
Kudos to T-Mobile, except for the new studio created/edited ending to the song/commercial, they get my vote for best commercial of the day.
Here is the whole tune:
Let’s hope the game and commercials can step it up a notch for Superbowl XLIX
Mike Slayen ~ Guitarist 