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I was listening to a YouTube video from a studio/session guitarist who was explaining about absolute perfection in playing. If you are a professional, you must play the part.
Twanging a few wrong notes or messed up a timing is costly to the rest of the recording session if the engineer stops the recording take and makes everyone start again. Retakes get to be expensive. Some studio engineers will allow the song to continue and only retake the guitar part and not involve the rest of the session players.

Let's say you flubbed a solo note... one stinkin' note.
Years ago, everything was done on analog tape. They play the song again and the guitarist plays along repeating the part. At the very second where the mistake occurred, they 'punch-in' the new part to over write the mistake. It's only a second and not re-recording the entire solo.

Session players who aren't the best don't get called back for more work.

Now, nearly every studio is digital. No tapes. Everything goes directly to a computer.
The leading software workstation specially designed for recording studios is Pro Tools.
The beauty of that is doing a recording session in New York and sending the raw data to a studio in California to add vocals or other instruments.

Cowboy Chords are the most basic chords played in the first position, usually with a steel string acoustic guitar. Reminiscent of the early days of Western and Swing music, Cowboy Chords have lots of sustain due to the open strings. Guitars are tuned to E. If the song needs to be in a different pitch... let's say in the key of G, The guitarist would need to transpose and lose the sound of the Cowboy Chords.

Enter the capo. A capo is a device that straps around the guitar neck and placed in different locations to easily transpose music. The guitarist can still play like he was in E and strap a capo getting Cowboy Chords starting in the key of G.

For all the years of playing and listening to music, Cowboy Chords is a new term for me

Over the years, there have been several stories about guitarist Duane Allman and a bottle of Coricidin brand of cold tablets. There is a style playing where blues guitarists have used cutoff necks of wine bottles as a slide. It's different from a Hawaiian guitar or Western steel guitar as those instruments use a heavy bar of steel (often chromed steel) to create clear ringing tones. The glass slide has a totally different sound. It's not as bright as steel and often brings harmonics for a different texture or more colorful sound.
In the old days, they literally cut the necks of bottles using a file to score the glass and heat to temper the glass.
Worn on a finger, the 'Bottleneck' slide is a mainstay with blues-style guitarists.
Drawbacks to this are it's fragile. When dropped, you can be sure of it shattering... so keep a few handy when gigging. Or... buy one made of metal. It won't have the same sound as glass, but you won't be buying them every time you get careless and have one roll off your amplifier and break.
As legend has it, Duane found the empty bottle of Coricidin to be a perfect match for his style of playing.



This photo shows the original design and years later the bottle was changed to support child-proof caps. Coricidin is now sold in boxes of blister packs... no more glass.

The amazing thing is original Coricidin bottles fetch prices upwards of $150.
Replica bottles were also available.




Photos of Duane playing slide show he wears it on his ring finger.

Here's a short video of Jeff Massey explaining some of the techniques used by Duane. He's using a slide made from porcelain used on his pinky finger.



The trick wasn't the pills... it was the bottle they came it!

I'm back to watching musically oriented YouTube videos (among other things) and came across a few musicians who were said to be 'gifted' and after hearing their stories, I see that at an early age of 5 or 6 most (if not all) were enrolled in music training, usually classical.
Many of the 'gifted' adult guitarists, started in their teens and fit guitar lessons into a life full of other things. The turning point was 6 hours of practice daily. Eddie VanHalen dedicated hours upon hours of practice to get to the level he achieved. Hard work of 40 hours or more each week practicing guitar is what did it... not being gifted.

I'm rethinking the word 'gifted' when it applies to famous musicians.

Hard work?
John Petrucci of Dream Theater discusses his background and going to Berklee College of Music.
Accomplished, yes. Gifted... no.

Today is Paul's birthday and the final week of another North American tour.
80... amazing.



Many more years to you Paul... many more.
For one of the richest musicians in history, I'll always remember him and his iconic Hofner bass!

There are loads of great songs performed by less-than great artists when judged solely by their personalities or lifestyle.

I'm starting off with David Lee Roth, the on and off front man for the mega rockers Van Halen.
David would walk in front of (upstaging) other members during interviews. Talk about a big ego... Like a rock star with a cocaine high. He was always over the top and extremely annoying. His attempt of a solo career had lots of highs but mostly lows. His voice wasn't lacking, I'll guess it's probably due to his personality.

Teamed up with Steve Vai on guitar, this song rocks!
Just Like Paradise

Using my 60 days of free Satellite Radio has me listing to music I never heard before.
They advertised a B.B. King special so I thought I would listen for a while. The channel is blues... the real stuff.
I grew up on British Blues as they had a fascination for American Blues with some shared licks, but a different vibe.

The announcer played a song by Robin Trower... yeah, the same guy who mimicked Hendrix.

It was blues, but not as bluesy as I expected.

You’re Still the One
Song by Shania Twain
OverviewLyricsListenOther recordings Videos.


When I first saw you, I saw love
And the first time you touched me, I felt love
And after all this time
You're still the one I love, mmm, yeah-yeah
Looks like we made it
Look how far we've come, my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we'd get there someday
They said, "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
We're still together, still going strong, mm
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(You're still the one)
You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss goodnight
Ain't nothin' better
We beat the odds together
I'm glad we didn't listen
Look at what we would be missin'
They said, "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
We're still together, still going strong
oh
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(You're still the one)
You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss goodnight
You're still the one
Yeah (you're still the one)
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life, oh yeah
(You're still the one)
You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss goodnight
I'm so glad we made it
Look how far we've come, my baby
Source: LyricFind.

For some unknown reason, I didn't develop a taste for Southern Rock in the 70's.
I did get to see the Allman Brothers Band in 1971... up close and they were terrific.
Extended jams did get boring, but it's the easiest way to make 5 songs last a one-hour set.

My favorite Allman Brothers song is (the 5 minute version of) Whipping Post.
The extended version is monotonous for my ears.
In this song, the Southern Rock label is shared with Blues Rock.

It's been said that ,

"The best place for a Soldier to Die is on Battlefield on the line of duty .."

Just as ,

"The best place for an Artist to Die while Pouring his Heart and Soul in the Performance .."

Mr. Krisnakumar Kunnath , Popularly known as K K , the heart-throb Mucisian of new age ,
Has been died yesterday evening , right after his Last Live Public Performance at Kolkata ..


It was really shocking and totally unexpected for millions of his die hard fans ..
He was only 54 years old ..

The most touching thing was that , he fully Completed his Last Performance on stage even though he was feeling very sick during the whole time ..

He proved his Dedication towards his Art ..
He proved , what does it mean to be a real Artist , a true Showman ..

REST IN PEACE Dear K K , The Showman ..