Crunchy goodness

My sons and I have a great time playing Guitar Hero II. My hat's off to the designers of the game. As they get better, I'm starting to think it really does improve their hand-eye coordination and rhythm. And, they're getting a "rock music appreciation class" for free.

I left the Foreigner/Styx/Def Leppard concert on Friday... with a great emptiness... an emptiness which can only be filled by something more solid to replace my strictly "air guitar". I did something really spontaneous (for me) on Saturday... walked into a couple of music stores, and found my first love all over again. Her name is Les. (And she's Pam approved!)

To your right is a portrait of Les... the Epiphone Les Paul Special II, to be exact. She's a bit hefty, with a distinctly pear-shaped figure, but pretty. My first electric guitar.

I took a couple of years of acoustic guitar lessons before I was old enough to understand much about music. Later on, at college, I took a classical guitar class which I enjoyed immensely. So why have I waited this long to go electric? I like rock. I like metal. I like weird sounds. I must have one.

My first revelations on the electric guitar world are:
1. Power chords... simple, yet effective!
2. Distortion... covering multitude of faux pas!
3. Hammer-ons and Pull-offs... made possible thru amplification.
4. Feedback... not necessarily a bad thing!
5. To play strong... you have to be gentle (but look violent!)

Perhaps Drew's reaction summed it up best... "Grummmmmm..... That sounds great... now what do I have to do to really play it?"