AC/DC Competition

I wrote about Justin Sandercoe's awesome AC/DC contest a few weeks ago (see Guitar Lessons: A New Challenge). I had a great time trying to learn AC/DC's Shoot To Thrill and, although I could barely play the opening two riffs, I decided to post a video anyway:

I will keep plugging away and hopefully post a complete version at some point in the future.

At the closing date there were 186 entries for this awesome competition. I haven't looked at them all (yet) and I don't envy Justin and the other judges' job: the standard is exceptionally high and choosing the winners will be extraordinarily difficult.

Before I tell you my favourites, I think it's worth noting how few women have entered - I've seen two so far. Also interesting is the number that appear to have been recorded in bedrooms - presumably family rooms are not ready for novice renditions of Rock classics! However, what's amazing is the number of very young guitarists that have recorded astoundingly good versions. (Although it's fair to say there are a reasonable number of fat old baldy blokes like me too!)

There are four prizes on offer. The main prize of a customised Iron Man themed Gibson SG is for the Best Performance. Choosing the best will be very difficult but my favourite so far is probably MyTwangyGuitar's version. His solos are especially impressive but I think it's a shame you only see the guitar. For that reason, I might be tempted to go for someone like FrankSenese who seems to be playing all four parts himself.

The Most Entertaining category might be easier as I have yet to see anything that comes close to billbailey88's mini soap opera:

I don't understand why more people are not watching and commenting on this video. For a runner up, I'd go for a real underdog: clickthelink92. They are clearly having a blast in this video - great fun!

The next category is Best Dressed. Many people have worked hard on the Angus Young look but I think I'd go for stouder18 for the sheer energy he puts into the performance.

Finally, Most In Need Of Encouragement. I hope this goes to one of the really young guitarists (assuming the rules allow them to enter). For example guitarman98100 who has only been playing ten months and yet he puts my efforts to shame.

So what do you think of the entries? Who do you rate and who would you have in the top spots?

Guitar Lessons: A New Challenge

I announced some time ago my intention to teach myself guitar using online and computer based resources. I even got as far as posting some video to show my progress so far (see Teach Yourself Guitar: Progress So Far...). That was in October 2009 and the more astute among you will have noticed a deafening silence from me about my progress since then.

The main reason is that I was pushed for time around Christmas and then I kind of lost heart. I am still finding the lesson in GarageBand on barre chords too tricky. I decided that part of the problem is that I am trying to get motivated but with no real goal in sight. I had decided that using some of the things I've already been practising but applying them to learning a tune might help.

I was on the point of buying one of the Artist lessons on GarageBand (Alex Lifeson on Working Man to be precise) when I saw a Tweet about an Iron Man 2 competition.

The idea is that Justin Sandercoe will teach you how to play AC/DC's Shoot To Thrill using video, guitar tabs and a specially recorded backing track. You video yourself playing the track and then submit your performance to YouTube. The winner receives a customised Gibson SG. Very Cool!



Now, I don't think I have any hope of winning. But. learning a tune, a recognisable tune, could be the incentive I need.

I'll keep you posted.

P.S. I don't know why I haven't been spending more time at Justin's site as it is a fantastic resource for guitarists of all levels.

The guitar prize that keeps on giving...

One of the best prizes I have ever won was from Rock Radio who gave me the chance to build my own guitar with Bailey Guitars (see for example Accreditation for prior learning?). Well, my prize guitar has won me another prize!

078/365: I win!
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

One of the immediate side effects of winning the guitar was it re-kindled my desire to learn to play (as I've mentioned before Teach Yourself Guitar: Progress So Far...). The desire is still there and half-hearted attempt to learn continues - another post about my progress (or lack thereof) is long overdue. As part of the learning process, I visited a number of online/tech based teaching schemes - one of which was LickLibrary. There is a staggering amount of stuff and a fairly active online community on the LickLibrary site. It has: video lessons; tracks to jam to; discussion forums; books; DVDs; competitions; ... I haven't purchased anything from there yet but I think, if I get better, I will eventually download some jamtrax and/or some lessons.

Although I didn't download anything, I did start following their Twitter feed and a couple of weeks ago I noticed a message from them asking people to send a tweet about their favourite guitar. The idea was, they would choose their favourite tweet and the winner would get "goodies worth over £100". So I sent the following:

@licklibrary My favourite guitar is the one my daughter made: http://is.gd/agr65 It's gorgeous: http://tweetphoto.com/14050920
11:48 PM Mar 11th via TweetDeck in reply to licklibrary

The winner was announced twenty minutes later:

Congrats to @DavidDMuir you win tonight's Twitter Goodie Pack. Direct Message me your name and address and we'll get it sent out to!
0:10 AM Mar 12th via web

Result!

To be honest, I'm not sure what a Pod is or why I'd need a bible for it and the books all look a bit to tricky for me at the moment. However, the Blues and the Nineties Rock books have stuff that I'm just about able to have a go at, so I'm looking forward to stretching myself and (hopefully) rising to the challenge.

Question:
What's the best competition win you have ever had?

Logan need your vote

This is a follow up to the last Free Music Friday (Free Download Friday #16: Logan). Earlier this week I got an email from Logan... well, it wasn't just to me personally, asking if I would vote for the video on the worldsings site.

This wasn't a site I'd heard of but they are running a competition at the moment. Logan's email said:

We are also currently involved in the Worldsings competition which gives us the chance to play in Las Vegas next year if we make the final - so if you could help us out by voting for our video entry of When I Get Down, it would be much appreciated - check it out here.

The admit they started a bit late and with 75 votes at time of writing, they are miles away from wining. However, I had a listen to the one that's currently at the top of the chart and I thought it was poor. Both the Logan video and song blow it away.



So if you like what you heard of Logan, head over to worldsings and give them your vote!

Dream Theater Competition

I told you about the free download of the Dream Theater track in I know it's not Friday.... It was only available from the Roadrunner Records site for twenty-four hours but last night I got an email encouraging me to pass it on. They are want everyone who gets a copy of the track to add a pin to a map saying where they live. Everyone who puts a pin in the map is entered into a competition to win CDs and other goodies. They say:

To enter the competition click on the image below and pin where in the UK you're from. Then help spread some ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ by sending the track to as many of your friends and asking them to add their location/details as well.

We will then put all the people that have “pinned” the map into a prize draw.

So if you missed the twenty-four hour download period but want a copy. Let me know and I'll send you the track. And if you want to enter a competition to win a bucket load of prizes, go to the map and add your pin.

Music Maths Monday

I meant to post this yesterday since The Guardian has started doing a Pop Maths feature every Monday. However, things got a bit hectic yesterday and I didn't have time to check the Grauniad or write my blog post. When I finally got around to it tonight, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I won last weeks competition! When I say "pleasantly surprised", read ridiculously pleased. |:-)

If you want to have a go, at time of posting, they are on Pop maths: Week 14. The idea is quite simple - you are presented with a three arithmetic problems involving bands with numbers in their name. For example, one of the ones I got last week (did I mention I won?) was:

(zero x timbuk) - tet =

Now it has to be said that these are not the most well known of bands but I had a guess at Zero 7, Timbuk 3 and Four Tet. That made the calculation 7 x 3 - 4 = 17, so I ventured Heaven 17 as an answer. See how it works? (I'm not sure I should admit this, but Heaven 17 is a guilty pleasure of mine from the 1980s. One day I'll get around to getting the Luxury Gap as CD or download since I can't easily play my vinyl collection any more.)

Let me know if you have a go - especially if you win. (Did I mention that I won last week?)