This is my first post since coming to China; not because Ive been too busy, but perhaps Ive been having too much fun. After six months here, I can safely say that this truly is an amazing country and like India, it has so many places to discover.
I really dont know when Im coming back, but I guess Ive just started getting used to this place, and you know what? It really isn't all that bad..:)
P.S will be posting more often now. Dunno how many people actually read my blog anyways..:P
Monday, September 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Decisions, Decisions.....
Every once in a while we come to a stage in our life when decisions must be made, commitments have to be kept,some have to be let go of, all for the so called Great Master Plan. And all this is to be done while a million other things weigh down on you.
I guess life wont let me be a kid anymore....
I guess life wont let me be a kid anymore....
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Influences
People have always asked me who my favourite guitarist is.. Well, although i cant answer that, I can write down a list of guitarists who I have always listened to and still do. These guitarists have greatly influenced me and my style of playing ever since i picked up the Guitar at the age of 16... :)
1. Joe Satriani : My first ever guitar album was G3 with vai and johnson and i was blown away. I remember really liking "for the love of god", "summer song" and "Manhattan". The very next day, i went and got 2 more album of Joe, Flying in a Blue Dream and Joe satriani, and i loved every bit of it. Although i dont like his latest releases, his earlier albums like Extremist, Flying in a blue dream, Surfing with the alien are classics.
2. Marty Friedman : There was a period when the only thing i listened to for 2 months straight was Cacophony's Speed Metal Symphony. It took a while to first like it, but once it got into my system, I couldnt stop rewinding and playing on my cassette player.
Then came his solo works like Dragon's Kiss which is a brilliant album. Also worthy mentions are "Scenes" and "True Obsession". And as for his works with Megadeth, well i dont think i need to mention that... :)
3. Jason Becker : Man o Man, this guy was a prodigy. Perpetual Burn just ripped my head off when i first heard it, and this is the album which i tried to play on my guitar the most when i started learning. Everything about his playing and sound and technique was just so cool.
4. Paul Gilbert : Ah, the Mr. Big days. When i was learning i got every single instructional vid of his cause unlike other videos, he was actually a good teacher and a fun one too. I still play a lot of Mr. Big songs in my spare time. And lets not forget Racer X... Damn
5. Eric Johnson : Cliffs of Dover, thats what got me hooked. After hearing the song, i set out to learn to play the song the very next day and had it in a week. Everything about this song was perfect just like his technique and tone. I feel that after cliffs of dover, i never really listened to much of his songs, because he tends to get repetitive with his pentatonics, and songs generally tend to sound the same (Take malsteen for example ). However, one of the greatest guitarist I have ever seen or heard.
6. Yngwie Malmsteen : Who has not been influenced by this ego maniac?? Far Beyond the Sun, Black Star, Rising Force are the songs that got me other than his speed and the scalloped guitar. However, i find that i can listen to malmsteen only for a maximum of 10 mins, beyond which i get bored with his harmonic minor runs...:P
7. John Petrucci : For me, John petrucci is the most technically capable guitarist I have ever heard. He can transcend to every genre with great ease, but with Dream Theater, he just took progressive rock to a whole new level from where Rush left off.
Take the Time was one of the first songs i learnt to play, and i remember it being damn hard..
8. Michael Romeo : Lead Guitarist of Symphony X. His tapping is just insane, and his use of modes and chord structure is very very kewl... I got as many songs as i could of Symphony X. Loved them...:)
9. Tommy Emmanuel : This guy is like the most brilliant entertainer. An amazing guitarist and he never ceases to amaze. I like to take pride in calling myself the No. 1 Tommy Fan in India.. haha. The only thing I play on my Acoustic are his songs, thats it.
10. Nuno Bettencourt : Pornograffiti is one of the most perfect albums Ive heard. The riffing and solos and guitar work just blew my head off. III sides to every story is also a good album.
11. Steve Vai : If you realize, every Vai album has one or two really really good songs and the rest are just like "eh, wht the hell was that"... IMHO But i really learnt a lot listening to songs like FTLOG, touching tongues, Alien love secrets album, G3, and so on. His new stuff is mostly bleh... :P
And also the whole stable of virtuosos like Vinnie Moore, Ritchie Kotzen, Allan Holdsworth, Greg Howe, Bret Garsed, Shawn Lane, Craig Chaquico, and so on have really really helped me in getting my music sense right. I listen to 99% instrumental guitar music and the rest 1% music with vocals.. heh.. Genre is not a prob for me, everything from Japanese Pop to Metal I like. More than anything, Id like to think of myself as a mulitigenre guitarist, and I have all of the above to thank for this.. :)
1. Joe Satriani : My first ever guitar album was G3 with vai and johnson and i was blown away. I remember really liking "for the love of god", "summer song" and "Manhattan". The very next day, i went and got 2 more album of Joe, Flying in a Blue Dream and Joe satriani, and i loved every bit of it. Although i dont like his latest releases, his earlier albums like Extremist, Flying in a blue dream, Surfing with the alien are classics.
2. Marty Friedman : There was a period when the only thing i listened to for 2 months straight was Cacophony's Speed Metal Symphony. It took a while to first like it, but once it got into my system, I couldnt stop rewinding and playing on my cassette player.
Then came his solo works like Dragon's Kiss which is a brilliant album. Also worthy mentions are "Scenes" and "True Obsession". And as for his works with Megadeth, well i dont think i need to mention that... :)
3. Jason Becker : Man o Man, this guy was a prodigy. Perpetual Burn just ripped my head off when i first heard it, and this is the album which i tried to play on my guitar the most when i started learning. Everything about his playing and sound and technique was just so cool.
4. Paul Gilbert : Ah, the Mr. Big days. When i was learning i got every single instructional vid of his cause unlike other videos, he was actually a good teacher and a fun one too. I still play a lot of Mr. Big songs in my spare time. And lets not forget Racer X... Damn
5. Eric Johnson : Cliffs of Dover, thats what got me hooked. After hearing the song, i set out to learn to play the song the very next day and had it in a week. Everything about this song was perfect just like his technique and tone. I feel that after cliffs of dover, i never really listened to much of his songs, because he tends to get repetitive with his pentatonics, and songs generally tend to sound the same (Take malsteen for example ). However, one of the greatest guitarist I have ever seen or heard.
6. Yngwie Malmsteen : Who has not been influenced by this ego maniac?? Far Beyond the Sun, Black Star, Rising Force are the songs that got me other than his speed and the scalloped guitar. However, i find that i can listen to malmsteen only for a maximum of 10 mins, beyond which i get bored with his harmonic minor runs...:P
7. John Petrucci : For me, John petrucci is the most technically capable guitarist I have ever heard. He can transcend to every genre with great ease, but with Dream Theater, he just took progressive rock to a whole new level from where Rush left off.
Take the Time was one of the first songs i learnt to play, and i remember it being damn hard..
8. Michael Romeo : Lead Guitarist of Symphony X. His tapping is just insane, and his use of modes and chord structure is very very kewl... I got as many songs as i could of Symphony X. Loved them...:)
9. Tommy Emmanuel : This guy is like the most brilliant entertainer. An amazing guitarist and he never ceases to amaze. I like to take pride in calling myself the No. 1 Tommy Fan in India.. haha. The only thing I play on my Acoustic are his songs, thats it.
10. Nuno Bettencourt : Pornograffiti is one of the most perfect albums Ive heard. The riffing and solos and guitar work just blew my head off. III sides to every story is also a good album.
11. Steve Vai : If you realize, every Vai album has one or two really really good songs and the rest are just like "eh, wht the hell was that"... IMHO But i really learnt a lot listening to songs like FTLOG, touching tongues, Alien love secrets album, G3, and so on. His new stuff is mostly bleh... :P
And also the whole stable of virtuosos like Vinnie Moore, Ritchie Kotzen, Allan Holdsworth, Greg Howe, Bret Garsed, Shawn Lane, Craig Chaquico, and so on have really really helped me in getting my music sense right. I listen to 99% instrumental guitar music and the rest 1% music with vocals.. heh.. Genre is not a prob for me, everything from Japanese Pop to Metal I like. More than anything, Id like to think of myself as a mulitigenre guitarist, and I have all of the above to thank for this.. :)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Independence Rock
Seems just like yesterday when we played at what was one of the biggest shows ever. Im going to let all you guys in on how this happened and what exactly went on before and on that day.
Like i said, it was very important for us to win competitions, but in this case it was I ROCK. Playing at this show would not only not only have given us the opportunity to save more for the album but it would also have given us that much needed exposure and experience.
It all started out with a song called "Opportunity Denied"....
I played very little part in writing this song, but when i heard it, i was like "wow, we have another good song". And since we had already done a rough recording of Brute Force and also tried to record it in a studio in Pune, we wanted to record OD in a professional studio with live drums and all. The main reason behind this was that we would have a professionally recorded song which could be our passport to all the major competitions and also act like a promo of sorts.
So we headed down to Mumbai and recorded it at Empire Studios and Over The Top Studios with Mr. Fali Damania as our sound guy.
And would you believe it... this song got us into IROCK XXI!!!
If you ever plan to enter a competition, you should always have two things in mind :
1. Practice, practice, practice... Cause practice makes perfect. And we did jam a lot before IROCK.
2. Strategy matters : Now I dont know if this is supposed to be a secret but we have always made a playlist which would best help our chances. For IROCK, there were judges who were into metal, and others who were not so keen on metal. SO how in the world do you please both?? Simple.. Enter "Return to Serenity"... hehe. This song not only gave our playlist a balance but also gave us the chance to showcase the bands flexibility.
And mix that with two originals and a cover of Megadeth's Holy Wars and Voila, Crowd goes wild and judges are also pleased... :)
What I really treasure about IROCK was the first time we were able to play on such an awesome sound system with one of the best sound engineers handling it. I could not even begin to describe the adrenaline rush on stage when i could hear every instrument clearly and that just literally fueled us to go crazy without bothering about guitar levels, or bass levels or feedback, and so on. With this out of our minds, we were able to concentrate on our playing 100%...
Seeing the crowd go wild to our music is just the best satisfaction ever. This is what we play for... I remember very faint glimpses of Anand headbanging like his head was gonna fall off and me trying to make sure I dont screw up.
A lot of people have said that Anand;s vocals are not good and all. I agree with that, but when you put him in a live situation, I seriously doubt few other frontmen in India could match up to his stage presence.
Akshay was on fire that day, so was Sagar, although he kept forgetting his backing vocals.. haha..
Before the show at Dinku's Place:
Akshay doing what hes does best before the show... If you thought it was drumming, then you're wrong... :P
The Main Stage :
The sheer thrill and the rush playing live gives you is unlike anything, and it all gets over before you know it...
Well, we did win IROCK like we planned, although being joint winners was quite a surprise. But you know what, even if we had not won, I would still treasure every minute of that day. The big stage, the huge crowd, the awesome sound, great bands.. What more could one ask for?? heh
What more? well, NLS strawberry fields was hovering on our minds and so was IIT Livewire.. More to come on these two. So stay tuned!!!
"Playing live is the Be All and End All"
Paul Gilbert
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Brute Force Journey
It seems just like yesterday when I went to audition for the position of a lead Guitarist at the Altekar’s jam room. I have very fond memories of that first jam, with Anand and Akshay playing a very incomplete “Brute Force” and a nice rendition of “Sweating Bullets”. (And every now and then they joke that it was actually I who auditioned them… ) Although to be honest, they were not very good technically at that point of time but something told me that these two funny looking brothers combined with a Indian Chinese could actually make up a good band. Funny thing is, at that point in my life I had no guitar equipment, no guitar, no processor, just a borrowed tansen electric guitar. Yes, that was my condition just in case you thought I started out guns blazing with ESP’s, Ibanez’s, POD XT’s, Marshall’s, etc..
We had set our goals in the first few jams. I remember us talking about winning competitions, be it big or small because the ultimate aim and the main goal for us was to record and release our own album. Competitions meant money, exposure, experience, and Fun too!! No money borrowing, no hassles. We wanted to do it with all that we could call our own.
Nothing really quite hits you as much as your first ever win, and our win at the Campus Rock Idols Pune Finals was just that. It was just 11 days after having formed the band, and being our first ever show as a band, about 4 thousand people being there didn’t make it any easier. I remember my legs shaking and Anand forgetting his lyrics (he was singing just about anything that came to his head!!). But we did do well, and that win for us will always be the most unanticipated and most joyful… I don’t know if any of you remember the four of us jumping around with excitement, thinking “Hey, you know what, we just might make it..!”
And so continued the competitions, one after the other… I will be writing about all the competitions we played and what I remember of them, so I can share with you the experience of being there and doing that…
Heh…
But we have come a long way since then. I finally have a guitar btw, and a POD XT live too…
And we also have an album Finally! Nothing is more satisfying than setting a goal and reaching it not matter how much time it takes or the obstacles. Its funny thinking about the album and the songs because every song has a history of how we wrote it and under what circumstances over a period of about two years…
Looking back, Brute Force has given me a lot. It gave me good friends, it gave me the drive to play my guitar and it gave me the platform to be heard. If I were to do it all again, I wouldn’t have done anything different.
NO REGRETS for this one. Cheers to Akshay, Anand, Sagar, Aniket, Naveen… Its been a good journey so far, and here’s to our upcoming album and lots more music and fun in the sun….
Rising from the Ashes Into This World We are Born
In A World filled with Anger, We’re Fighting Hate and Scorn
Gaze in through my eyes, this World on which you stand
Listen to your Soul, Why don’t you take my Hand……..
Brute Force
We had set our goals in the first few jams. I remember us talking about winning competitions, be it big or small because the ultimate aim and the main goal for us was to record and release our own album. Competitions meant money, exposure, experience, and Fun too!! No money borrowing, no hassles. We wanted to do it with all that we could call our own.
Nothing really quite hits you as much as your first ever win, and our win at the Campus Rock Idols Pune Finals was just that. It was just 11 days after having formed the band, and being our first ever show as a band, about 4 thousand people being there didn’t make it any easier. I remember my legs shaking and Anand forgetting his lyrics (he was singing just about anything that came to his head!!). But we did do well, and that win for us will always be the most unanticipated and most joyful… I don’t know if any of you remember the four of us jumping around with excitement, thinking “Hey, you know what, we just might make it..!”
And so continued the competitions, one after the other… I will be writing about all the competitions we played and what I remember of them, so I can share with you the experience of being there and doing that…
Heh…
But we have come a long way since then. I finally have a guitar btw, and a POD XT live too…
And we also have an album Finally! Nothing is more satisfying than setting a goal and reaching it not matter how much time it takes or the obstacles. Its funny thinking about the album and the songs because every song has a history of how we wrote it and under what circumstances over a period of about two years…
Looking back, Brute Force has given me a lot. It gave me good friends, it gave me the drive to play my guitar and it gave me the platform to be heard. If I were to do it all again, I wouldn’t have done anything different.
NO REGRETS for this one. Cheers to Akshay, Anand, Sagar, Aniket, Naveen… Its been a good journey so far, and here’s to our upcoming album and lots more music and fun in the sun….
Rising from the Ashes Into This World We are Born
In A World filled with Anger, We’re Fighting Hate and Scorn
Gaze in through my eyes, this World on which you stand
Listen to your Soul, Why don’t you take my Hand……..
Brute Force
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
To Be or not to Be......
Today I had a chat with my friend Jared(which i why i started blogging in order to counter his blog and hence balance the forces of nature) who is in Malaysia pursuing a degree in music. Funny thing is, every time I talk with him I feel that I am wasting my talent by not doing what I really think I should be doing. Pursuing a Career in Music that is...
Im sure a lot of us have gone through the feeling of having a sense of responsibility to be true to ourselves and do what we are best at.However, I always think it over every time and every time I am brought back to where I am. No matter how much or how often these thoughts come to me, Im sure, at least for now that I wont be pursuing a career in music. Reasons are :
1. I love playing the guitar and I know I am pretty capable. Would it make a huge difference for me to pursue an education in something I am already well versed in? Yes, theory matters, but even that can be learnt on my own.
2. Should I just drop everything i have right now and give it all to music? Is it worth it? for me, no its not... Thinking it over, music has always been a hobby to free, something to escape to, free from all the deadlines or stress or hassles of "work". I just like to play...simple.. :)
3. Again, family is important and being born in India, career opportunities are virtually non existent, unless you plan to go Bollywood..
4.Finance : Have you ever calculated the ROI for a music course to MI or Berklee??
The only reason I still dream of going to MI or Berklee is the pure experience of being immersed in Music 24/7, surrounded by the best musicians in the world, working with each other. At the end of it all, its all for the experience and what i take back from it.
As the saying goes "Ten years from now, we will regret the things which we did not do rather than the things which we did do".
Ive always tried to live a live without regret, and hopefully I wont have to regret this decision.. CHEERS!!!
Im sure a lot of us have gone through the feeling of having a sense of responsibility to be true to ourselves and do what we are best at.However, I always think it over every time and every time I am brought back to where I am. No matter how much or how often these thoughts come to me, Im sure, at least for now that I wont be pursuing a career in music. Reasons are :
1. I love playing the guitar and I know I am pretty capable. Would it make a huge difference for me to pursue an education in something I am already well versed in? Yes, theory matters, but even that can be learnt on my own.
2. Should I just drop everything i have right now and give it all to music? Is it worth it? for me, no its not... Thinking it over, music has always been a hobby to free, something to escape to, free from all the deadlines or stress or hassles of "work". I just like to play...simple.. :)
3. Again, family is important and being born in India, career opportunities are virtually non existent, unless you plan to go Bollywood..
4.Finance : Have you ever calculated the ROI for a music course to MI or Berklee??
The only reason I still dream of going to MI or Berklee is the pure experience of being immersed in Music 24/7, surrounded by the best musicians in the world, working with each other. At the end of it all, its all for the experience and what i take back from it.
As the saying goes "Ten years from now, we will regret the things which we did not do rather than the things which we did do".
Ive always tried to live a live without regret, and hopefully I wont have to regret this decision.. CHEERS!!!
Blog World Here I come!!!
Finally, i venture into the blog world. I have contemplated being part of a blog many times, but hardly ever got around to doing it. As it is, I hardly ever talk, and most people have the notion that I might be slow or retarded... :p
While I do agree i don't talk much, I do think a lot all the time and I feel this is a perfect place to put down some of the things which i keep going over in my head, or rather just passing thoughts.
So in case Ive bored you with a very heart warming first post, please do return as i do intend to write something constructive very soon. Till then, Toodles... :)
While I do agree i don't talk much, I do think a lot all the time and I feel this is a perfect place to put down some of the things which i keep going over in my head, or rather just passing thoughts.
So in case Ive bored you with a very heart warming first post, please do return as i do intend to write something constructive very soon. Till then, Toodles... :)
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