Uniting The Notes

I was just thinking...if everyone picked out 12 notes, wrote a lick, practiced it for a week, how much better would we be? Write me if you try it. Let's videotape it and you tube it.

My PRS Experience 2010

Friday I got the opportunity to go to the PRS Experience in Stevensville, MD. Being a PRS artist gave me this chance to visit the guitar factory, the private stock office and hear stories from Paul Smith and some guitarists who have been using the guitars for years, like David Grissom (John Mellencamp) and Howard Leese (Heart).

I Put Together This Video of Some of The Pictures I Took Friday Sept 24, 2010.



My trip proved to me that The PRS guitar is a perfectly tuned guitar. The craftsmanship they put into each guitar and the main design are amazing. I know people have said it, and many agree, but this was my realization that these guitars are seriously perfect. There was a showing where David Grissom played Paul's gold Top Les Paul and then a PRS...and I could hear how perfect the PRS was. Personally, every neck I wrapped my hand around that day felt great to me as well.

I really liked the new NFS....I'm a sucker for a maple fingerboard! I hope to hear the nearfields pickups at NAMM as i didn't find a spot where i could try them.

On the "Experience" I saw the way they piece together the 2 piece quilt tops, how they pic the private stock pieces and I even got to tap the neck blocks to hear the ringing of the wood. This is the way you pick your guitar neck in the private stock office. Very interesting to see how they work on the inlays, too. Also, I found the staff on the line were very informative.

Outside there was a staining booth where you could try your hand at making a top (including sanding) and a place where you could set some frets into a neck (i did this). It was a great experience. They do this every September and if you sign up early enough you can purchase a pass and attend. Most of the things I did were definitely on the tour, so if you are a guitar enthusiast or find some of this interesting, I would totally suggest you go. I'll be there next year!

Check out www.prsguitars.com

Old Guitar Makes New Sounds

I just repaired an old guitar today. An old Ibanez RX guitar. The input jack wasn't soldered correctly and it came out of the jack. In the process, I cleaned it up at the studio. Polished the frets, restrung it and set the action a bit lower than it was. It was like a whole new guitar to me. I immediately wrote some riffs on it and I played it all day today, except for Fear The State rehearsal. I think I might track some parts tomorrow with it, and there was talk about doing a video with it as well, due to it's color. Go grab your old ax and recreate it!

BTW...Hard Luck Kings out of Los Angeles has me up on their website as a KING! www.HardLuckKings.com along with the Likes of Jason Ellis of XM Radio! go Check that out! -Marc

Cassette recording in the Digital Recording Age

I love the cassette. I know. It sounds bad, and it breaks and it "warbles", but it's cheap, it's quick and it's amazing at hearing what I just did five minutes ago that I think might be my next big riff!

Ever see the movie Pic Of Destiny? There's a section where they didn't hit record and they missed the great idea. That's what I'm talking about.

This past week I watched Jimmy Page play in the Documentary "This Might Get Loud".
I can't get over how amazing he produces sound from the guitar. I FEEL IT when he plays...on video. (Imagine if I was in the same room? I'd explode from Feeling, for sure.) I spend hours of days of years trying to do what he does.

So This week, I dropped the handheld radioshack cassette in front of the practice amp in the room my daughter calls the "guitar room" and I recorded 30 minutes of guitar music that will eventually morph into 5 or 6 songs for something. Maybe a Fear The State song, or a riff for TV production or for the many Hip Hop people I've been working with in the studio this summer...who knows. But the point is, I captured the music while I jammed through it on my cassette and I think you should too. Don't whine & don't cry it sounds bad. Just get those ideas down and get it done. This might be your next big hit.

The Best Riffs Start With A Beat

Some of my best riffs have come from setting a tempo and letting my fingers play. Often times I find that changing the tempo will help me change my focus and hence make me come up with better riffs and better songs.

Try it today. I'm going to next.

Marc

Try This Picking Trick

Grab a Quarter and Strum your git. It's got one of the coolest sounds. The metal on metal sound makes the notes more pronounced. It's super sweet. I use it on single note runs in the studio. Sometimes as a backup to picks during live sets.

Billy Gibbons used a Peso on some of the ZZTop Recordings. Try some of those licks with the quarter and you'll get the idea.

I hope all you dad's got to play guitar today...or maybe got a new git!!
Happy Father's Day.

-Marc

My Consistency Is Better at Guitar Than Blogging

No Lie...I haven't been consistent with my Blogging. I'm working on that. I have been consistent with my picking hand on my guitar, and isn't that the key to success with guitar playing? Practice with a metronome and work on your right hand.

Need a quick refresher? Write me an email @ marc@marcamendola.com and I can get you in for a quick lesson on metronome practicing.

-Marc

keep up with me at www.twitter.com/marcamendola

Flying Guitars - Travel with Gig Bag or Not -PPLUS- My Secret Space on Each Plane.

I've flown guitars a lot around the US. It seems that if I'm taking one guitar, a thin gig bag as a carry-on works perfectly. I pack mine with my clothes to protect the guitar, since the "closet" on the plane and the overhead bins are always tight. The clothes help cushion the shoving that goes on while getting it in place, or when it's in flight.

I've found that if you're taking one hard shell it has to be checked, so you must Duct tape the case shut. Yes, it will probably ruin the case, but it's to protect the guitar. Guitars out of their cases laying on the runway are not exactly precious guitars. They sort of look like toothpicks. Not exactly easy on my stomach. So duct tape those shut. The tape they provide is usually a bit skimpy, as well.
If I'm taking a couple gits I'll duct tape them together in 2 hardshell cases. Sometimes the skycaps will count them as 1 bag. That's sweet and money saving, as I think it's $20 to ship a git!

I watched a bass player have to check his bass last minute on my last flight. It was in a gig bag with some padding. I'm not comfortable with that.

I always say nicely that I need to bring my guitar on-board, and since the guitar is smaller than a bass, they usually let me find a spot. My favorite spot is behind the last seat. I put it on the floor, so that the last seats can recline. With baggage fees being charged now, and people trying to save time, more roller-bags are on board more than ever and the overhead bins are always full.

This past time I even looked into getting a double guitar bag.
Has anyone ever gotten a "double guitar" gig bag? I've never seen one in person. I'm very curious about those. comment if you've had one.

Happy Flying!!! Protect your git at all costs!

- Marc
www.marcamendola.com

Added New Years Resolution-Slide Guitar

As if I don't have enough to do, I'm taking slide guitar on this year.

So I've played with some Great Musicians in my time. I've recorded a track with Professor Griff of Public Enemy, I've worked with Roger Vasquez of Ill Nino when I was in Coretez and I've had the opportunity to play onstage with Clint and Corey Lowery in Hello Demons Meet Skeletons, I did a session with Tommy Mandel, Keyboard player to Brian Adams with Sony 80's Artist/drummer Hilly Michaels, and I've met RZA on a TV show called Farmclub and I now play with only the greatest musicians in the 3 bands I get onstage with...Fear The State, Drew Stevyns Band and Samarai Cab Co. This is how I find the inspiration for playing my instrument. I get to jam with and hang with these incredible musicians. But this past week....a student brought inspiration into the studio in the way of a slide he got over the holiday.

This week we trekked out on the internet looking for "In my Time of Dying" the classic Led Zeppelin song. Anyone who knows me a bit knows I love Zep. (1st Metal Health Concert I played Zep with Stephen Pearcy of RATT. Opus heard he wanted to play some Zeppelin and grabbed me to bring to him.) I never realized how smooth the slide playing was on this Zep classic. It's amazing. When I break out the slide, it's always a little rough. It's a task to run the medal or glass across the strings and make it sound great. I've owned the brass slide, the glass slide and I've even made a slide with my brother at Amendola Trucking back in the day when I was a kid. (We got behind the work bench in the garage with 18 wheelers, got a piece of copper or lead pipe and cut it for my finger length...I think we used some steel wool and then there it was...my first slide. come to think of it...that might have been my dad who did that. I'll ask my bro and get to the bottom of it.)

So in this lesson, we got in my time of dying on the speakers...listened and played.
Incredible slide line. But I've heard it so many times before I needed a little bit more. And I thought of a story my new tech Max told me about meeting Warren Haynes in NYC recently. So I dialed up nothing else but....The Allman Brothers...and I became a fan of the slide guitar player in seconds.

In minutes I saw the Allman Brothers rehearse Statesboro Blues. I was amazed by Warren Haynes' slide playing. I was so amazed by it, it burned an imajavascript:void(0)ge in my mind I can still see 4 days later. The next thing I viewed was Statesboro Blues live. This live setting had Derek Trucks on guitar as well, where the rehearsal had Dicky Betts on Guitar.

Then we listened to Duane Allman on the end of Layla...it was incredibly sweet, as I'm sure you have heard.

All of this has made me make a new resolution. I'm learning slide this year. I need to have the ability to make that sweet sound. It's that simple.
Once I learn more, I'll pass it on.

Guitar Room is at Full Capacity

Right now I'm in what should have always been my family room...which Cadence renamed the guitar room. we just added her kitchenette set in here, as well as a VCR and her video games to the room, yet she still calls it the guitar room. Yep. My girl knows what's up. Guitars are amazing and they need their own room. Even at 3...she gets it. Actually....give her more credit...she'll be 3 on weds...so technically she is 2.

So we've re-arranged the guitar room to be more "family friendly".

So here's something....does anyone else just get their feed of news on everything via their twitter and/or facebook? I totally do. and I like it that way.
I often read Rev Run's column at twitter.com/REVRUNWISDOM and I just found Butch Walker's Blog via Pete Wentz's tweets. Butch Walker's Blog talks about how they Caroled on Xmas Eve. Kind of interesting, I thought. East Coasters may say " it's too cold to carol" but on the west coast they not only went...they crashed on the beach to watch the sunrise with a bottle of tequila.

Here...we rearrange guitar rooms to be multifaceted so we can have a change of atmosphere while we do the same activities.

Stay warm east coast. I'm going to ship off to LA sometime this month to do more Drew Stevyns Band shows. I'll also be freezing in New England with Fear The State. Check my dates at www.marcamendola.com...they constantly change and are being updated.