Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
There's different levels of where we do well throughout Europe. Fortunately, for us, it's pretty great all throughout it.
It's hard to answer that from my own perspective because when I'm playing I know where it is coming from and the sources.
As teenagers, we used to listen to entire Rush albums, entire Pink Floyd albums and shut down the lights and it was great.
We have a storage close by where I live, that's very organised. My guitar tech, Matty organised it all, labeled everything.
Early on in my career, I was really into the volume pedal techniques that somebody like Steve Howe or Alex Lifeson would use.
When I think of a lot of the players I admire, they could always play their parts without hiding behind distortion and sustain.
Just because something is melodic or catchy doesn't mean that it doesn't have depth and substance and progressive sensibilities.
Songs like "Spirit Carries On" really gets the audience moved and on the same page. It's challenging and all so much fun to play.
Rush is one of the common denominators in our band as far as a band that everybody loves and grew up with and was a big influence.
It's much better to play the guitar a half hour a day, every day, than not practice for a week and then jam for five hours one day.
Dream Theater music, there's a lot of background and context to the songs, as far as the subject matter and the albums they come from.
I've always said that there's a huge progressive rock, progressive metal audience out there, in the world. We see it when we're on tour.
Since I'm in a band, and I'm not usually in situations where I need to read, it doesn't come up as often, and I don't rely on it as much.
I would say the more the better when it is comes to development and marketing. It's actually fun. For some it can be a frustrating thing.
The only thing I had in my mind [when I was 17 ] was that I was going to be a professional musician. So it was just the right environment.
If someone is feeling out of sorts or detached it's a great time to bring them in and restate why we are here and what we are trying to do.
Obviously the best way to retain the most profit is to not give any of it away. That's something that you certainly learn through the years.
The best way to learn sweep picking is to first isolate the right- and left-hand techniques, master them separately and then coordinate them.
For anyone who doesn't know his work, Andreas Vollenweider is a harpist who creates very atmospheric, new agey music that's totally beautiful.
As far as bands doing that in a way where they think they're going to fight the government, the only people they're really hurting is the fans.
I know we play a part in the story of progressive music, but for us those influences are the real fathers, the ones that we were interested in.
I'm realizing this more and more that it's one thing to get involved with your own political beliefs and stand behind you believe in personally.
Almost 15 with music, we have so many guitars that we developed over the years. The latest one is 'The Majesty' guitar, which I'm really proud of.
When you use a metronome, you'll start to notice where the notes are falling, if they're on the beat, behind the beat, between the beat, and so on.
I spent a lot of time developing my chops when I was younger. In doing so, I found that one of the hardest things was dealing with what to practice.
Music is a communication. It's a two-way street. You need people to play to in order to make that connection complete. That's the way we look at it.
I'll never forget when I heard Steve Morse and the Dixie Dregs for the first time. I was just blown away, and it changed my whole approach to guitar.
With all tools at my disposal, I'm 100% into chasing tone and checking out new equipment and "geeking" out during sound check by taking too much time.
When you watch your favorite guitarists play, notice how little their hands and fingers move sometimes. The economy of motion can't be overemphasized.
I wanna go in the studio and just go back to the same amps and stuff I'm so comfortable with the sound of. Which I think is important to stay original.
I listen to somebody like Shawn Lane, and unfortunately he is no longer with us, but I hear him playing and I am like, 'That is just absolutely ridiculous.'
My main objective with a home studio - I could get into doing full band demos - but my first objective is to cut things like guitar tracks and solos at home.
I have a lot of guitars. Yeah, I'm not like a guitar collector, I don't have all vintage instruments. I don't even own a Strat or Les Paul. I don't have one.
Jordan Ruddes does [have a home studio], but it's all self-contained. I'll be the only guy with a fully built recording studio. So they'll have to come to me.
The style of music that we're playing, this progressive metal style, has always been an upstream battle for us. We don't usually get a lot of commercial exposure.
Of all the things that can frustrate a guitarist the most, it's the nagging feeling that he's not reaching a certain level of proficiency as quickly as he should.
I somehow always found the right people on my own to jam with as well as playing with all my buddies. I didn't get to a point where I was auditioning for any bands.
I'm grateful that as part of the Ernie Ball family, I'm able to connect with my fans in such a meaningful way and hopefully inspire guitar players to up their game!
In order to become a well-rounded musician, you have to master the three major aspects of guitar playing: the technical side, the musical side and the creative side.
I see every new album as an opportunity to start over. To either build or improve upon a direction that has been evolving over time or to completely break new ground.
Just because you have developed the craft on your instrument doesn't mean that you don't have the ability to be expressive emotionally on that instrument, or vice versa.
A violin neck is much smaller than the guitar's, so it's much easier to play wide intervals on one violin string. On the guitar, you really have to stretch to play them.
Guitar players get inward and analytical about their playing but when you start to get positive feedback from other players it makes you think that it is coming together.
I almost rely on other people to say, "Hey, you ever hear of this band?" And I'll say, "Oh, I've never heard of that!" And I listened to them and thought, "What the hell?"
Where I lived, on Long Island, you had the radio stations that always played Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and AC/DC and all that. I grew up on all that stuff.
I used to have these reoccurring dreams that I played guitar, which I thought was so bizarre. It all sort of fit together at some point, and I said 'I want to play guitar.'
I experimented a bunch with Ernie Ball in getting the strings to not flop around too much, but at the same time not to be too thick to where you're playing telephone cables.
You're about to walk on stage and play together for the next few hours so you want to feel connected and make sure that everyone is in the same head space; a good head space.
I do remember one of the first great experiences of going to Europe was playing in Rome hearing the people sing our music so loud. It was louder than the music we were playing.
It's a balance between getting the right string gauge that's thick enough where it sound good, and not rubber bands - but not too thick where your hands start to get real tired.