Guitarist, Composer, Instructor
Here is a link to a previous post I wrote about Jose Feliciano’s interpretation of the National Anthem. I first heard this version this year and personally really enjoyed it. Jose suffered serious career implications from the reaction to his anthem. So my goal is to give Jose, a great musician, his props and share the version 40 plus years later…actually now comparatively a very tame version.
Previous post on Feliciano’s National Anthem Interpretation.
Happy 4th of July everyone! Please make sure you have a great, fun and safe holiday!
Here is Jimi Hendrix’ iconic version of the National Anthem from Woodstock in 1969.
I am not usually a fan of embellishing the “Star Spangled Banner,” however, this version has become an historic interpretation of the Anthem. Jimi was certainly playing to the correct crowd as well.
Enjoy!
It has been 30 years since Ozzy’s groundbreaking guitarist Randy Rhoads left us much too early in a tragic plane crash at age 25. Over those last 30 years nothing has diminished his musical legacy as he is still regarded as one of the best and most influential guitarists in rock/heavy metal of all time! Certainly on par with names like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen and Michael Schenker.
A new 7 lb. full color photo biography has just been released on Randy and his place in music history. Looks like a great book and a must collector item. I cant wait to check it out.
http://velocitybooks.org/shop/randy-rhoads/
There are more than a handful of living legends in the music world. Icons that transcend music and have become woven into our society. When the great Ray Charles passed away in 2004 I sadly realized that I would never see him perform live.
Since then, I started thinking who are the musicians I really want to see live, not to sound morbid but, before it is too late? Recently I saw Willie Nelson an American music legend. It was like listening to a living piece of Americana, so glad I went! There are so many more to see; Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry, Paul McCartney…
So I decided to start a new series called, “My Concert Bucket List,” highlighting a different icon in each post.
BB King, truly the “King” of the blues guitar.
Posted is a video of Mr. King from a 2001 concert at age 75 and he was in rare form. He is currently 86 and still touring with his sidekick, Lucille(his guitar) so go see him and show him some love.
Enjoy!
At risk of appearing self promoting of my own song, this was a typical beautiful weekend in San Diego…as the saying, and song, goes…“Sunny & 70.” Perfect weather for performing and that’s just what I did. Two awesome events!
First, Saturday evening I played Estancia La Jolla an incredible hotel & spa overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean, a rehearsal dinner for a really nice family and their friends. Enjoyed a nice chat with one of the patriarchs of the family a musician who loves Spanish guitar especially the composer Joaquin Rodrigo. Wish I had a symphony with me so I could play the “Concierto de Aranjuez” for him although I did play him a little of the theme from the second movement and blended it into some other songs, as well. Very fun gig, I got to represent a lot of different genres playing a mix of classical, Latin jazz, flamenco and pop.
Sunday, I got another chance to enjoy playing in the San Diego climate, this time across town, North County Inland, at Orfila Winery in Escondido. Played classical guitar for a wedding ceremony overlooking the scenic vineyards including pieces by Handle, Bach and Scarlatti. Added bonus…I got to hear San Diego guitar legend Peter Sprague play some jazz with a band featuring his brother Tripp on winds, Duncan Moore on drums and Gunnar Biggs on bass. Wish I had more time to stay and enjoy their set!
Congrats to both couples I wish them the best and hope to see them at some performances in the future. Hopefully play for their anniversaries years down the road.
For you beginners out there learning to play chords you are going to love this!
So you’re struggling making that dreaded change from C to G!(or any tough change). What are your options….practice over & over & over…best option! Practice slow and keep your rhythm…great option. Get frustrated and throw your guitar against the wall…not recommended, condoned or liable if you do try it!!!!
The not so secret is if you keep practicing you WILL get it!
The secret is there is a ‘cheating’ technique, although it is not cheating because guitarists do this all the time. Even arguably the greatest rock song of all time Stairway to Heaven employs this method.
Use a strum that ends in an eighth note, i.e., 1 2+ 3 4+ where the numbers are strummed down and the +(ands) are strummed up.
On the very last strum, the up stroke of beat 4, take your left hand off the neck and strum the open strings. Use this ‘free time’ to get to the next chord on rhythm for beat 1.
So the strum would go 1 2+ 3 4-(open strum), 1 2+ 3 4-(open strum)
Try it out it makes life much easier to change your chords and sounds stylistically correct.
Good luck and keep at it…it WILL come!
Really bummed that I had to miss out on the festivities this evening. The Scorpions have proven to be one of the best live metal acts over the years and the addition of Tesla as opening act is a bonus.
I was lucky enough to see the Scorps on their World Wide Live tour in 1984 supporting the Love at First 
Sting album. To this day it was one of the best shows I’ve seen. I’ll never forget the energy they pack into a show. My favorite was the live version of Coast to Coast with the iconic image of Klaus Meine standing up on the guitarists’ legs while they were jamming. Of course Rudolph Schenker’s guitar slinging act throwing his Flying V way in the air, wonder if he has ever dropped one? He always seems to catch it. Let’s see the opening act back then was at the time a one hit wonder…Bon Jovi. Yeah I guess they did alright too.
Looking at the setlist there seemed to be a good mix of their classic late 70s-80s period as well as some of the 90’s-millennium music they’ve put out since. Personally, I would like less of the newer stuff and more of the old. Not to mention they don’t play any of their pre-Matthias Jabs music…for us loooong time fans.
San Diego Setlist Click here for current setlist
Well…since I missed it I cant review the show…please feel free to leave your thoughts below if you made it…for all those of us who couldn’t.
Share anything you like about the concert… Tesla, Scorpions, setlists, the venue, the crowd, the vibe…your call.
Last night was the big show I’ve been looking forward to for basically 28 years.
It has always been a regret of mine having never seen the original Van Halen lineup with David Lee Roth, even though, I have seen them a handful of times with Sammy Hagar since.
After going to the concert last night my first thought is….I really wish I would have seen them with DLR back in the day!
The Bad:
They have lost their fastball. The show lacked a rockin’ forward motion that I have seen in their past shows. They have also had some recorded tracks in the background(unless they have musicians behind the scenes)
David Lee Roth is a nut job. Good to see him back in the band but he looked like he should have been in a Broadway show…and glad he loves dogs but didn’t really get the video montage of his dogs herding sheep.
The crowd! They should have started the show at noon cause I think everyone was asleep. I have never seen so many people sitting down at a rock concert. There are still plenty of bands in Van Halen’s age group that the fans are up on their feet.
The Good:
The sound!
I could hear all of Eddie’s guitar riffs and licks clearly and although Dave didn’t really have anything important to say you could definitely hear him.
The whole band sounded great, instrumentally!
Eddie played guitar the whole time…no keyboards (although as mentioned before they were recorded or played by someone behind the scenes)
The setlist was awesome! “Beautiful Girls,” “Romeo Delight,” ” Women in Love,” “Hear About it Later,” etc. It was great to hear lots of the old songs! View Setlist
I like the fact that they have dropped some of the Rockstar histrionics and focused more on the music.
Even with Roth’s antics it was good to see the original lineup together.
Smart idea to have Kool & The Gang as opening act. I think it made the concert more fun for the wives of all us guitar geeks.
The GREAT!
The greatest thing for me was to see Eddie! He looked and played really good. He has been through so much the last several years with the cancer, addictions and crazy cat lady pictures. He just looked healthy even put on some weight.
10 Van Halen facts, some you might know, some you might not…in no particular order.
Eddie and Alex Van Halen’s dad was a professional musician and played clarinet on the song “Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now,” from the Diver Down album.
Drummer Alex originally started on guitar and when he was gone his little brother Eddie would play it.
In their early days the band had a contract rider that specified there was to be M&M’s in their dressing room, but there was to be no brown M&M’s.
Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” on his mega hit album Thriller.
In the early years Van Halen toured as the opening act for Black Sabbath and to the dismay of Ozzy and the rest of the band rabid Van Halen fans booed Sabbath off the stage.
Eddie’s signature guitar of the 80’s was named ‘Frankenstein’ due to it being pieced together or ‘created’ in his lab. 
Also used as the cover art for their 2004 greatest hits CD, Best of Both Worlds.
The numbers on the song title, “316” from the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge CD stand for Eddie’s son Wolfgang’s birth date, March 16. The song is now part of Eddie’s live extended solo that includes bits of “Eruption,” Cathedrals,” and “Meanstreets.”
Before the band was discovered, Eddie used to turn away from the crowd when performing his trademark right hand tapping technique to keep others from figuring out how he was making those sounds.
The Van Halen boys grew up in Pasadena but were actually born in the Netherlands.
“Hang ‘Em High,” from Diver Down was influenced by the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name.
My friends we are facing an epidemic! It’s brutal some would say unnerving!
If you play guitar with a pick, you know what I’m talking about. You go to your local guitar store drop a few bucks and, in theory, have enough picks to last you for awhile.
You know you bought a few of the cool ones with skull designs on them, a few heavy ones for fast picking and that one thin one for strumming some folk songs.
Get home and it’s time for a practice session. You start jamming then a distraction, maybe the doorbell rings. You put your new skull pick down in a precise spot on the coffee table so you remember exactly where you left it so you don’t lose it. You dispatch the salesman at the door only to return to your rockin’ out and cue the theme from “Psycho” as you look down and that shiny new pick is gone.
“What the heck!?, I left it right there on the coffee table…right there in the corner!” Too late! …It’s gone…like a swimmer in “Jaws”, like a camper in Mike Myers’ neck of the woods, like one of Sigourney Weaver’s buddies in “Alien.”
Get a glass of water…Bam, another one gone! Go to the bathroom…ChaChing, your thin pick is gone! Picks disappear like crazy. Where do they go? It doesn’t make any sense.
Over the years I’ve come to one conclusion. There are Pick Gremlins amongst us. It doesn’t matter where you live or how careful you are with your picks they are gonna disappear on you. You can even check your pockets and the laundry, but, they’re gone! It’s the pick gremlins no other possibility.
For those of you who play guitar you KNOW what I’m talking about. For those that don’t…well you probably think all guitarists are nuts anyways.
Beware of the Pick Gremlins!
Mike Slayen ~ Guitarist 