Study what came before.
Create what comes after.

"That's what life is all about:
not dying yet!"

All my best work
seems to be done
when there's a task
that oughtta be done.

I started playing guitar when I was 14.
I didn't take it very seriously until I was almost 17.
That's when I made time for at least an hour of guitar a day.
Now, six years later, I literally play about eight hours a day when I can.

My exposure to playing music before guitar was the Piano, but I rebelled when it became forced. That's just how I roll. I'm grateful for that musical icebreaker, though. I want to get back into playing keys. For now, I'm focusing on making the guitar into even more of a playground.

I use a 150-watt Ibanez Tone-Blaster head on a 4x12 cab. It's on the clean channel with the levels at 5 and the Overdrive on, with a gain of about 4. The hue is cranked, though. Gotta love that brightness.

I have a Boss ME-70 multi-effect pedal.
I must say, those types of things are great for sampling different sounds, or having watered-down versions of lots effects available at any time. But, if you find one tone you really like, you're best off buying or building the individual pedals to provide you with a higher quality version of your preferred tone.

Anyway, I have the hall reverb at about 5, and some 'classic' overdrive set to 5 for level, tone, and gain. That's all I need. I sparingly use light chorus or uni-v, or maybe a wah for certain parts. I believe simplicity is best in terms of effects.
Although, tasteful delay makes an alright solo into a ****-dampening solo.

I have many axes:
1 nylon 6-string
1 acoustic 6-string
2 Washburn electric-acoustics; a 6 string and a 12 string
2 B.C. Riches (Beast, Stealth)
an LTD KH-602 Superstrat
an Ibanez 'Artcore' series semi-hollow electric Jazz guitar
then, I also have a Roland Ax-Synth keytar.

In my opinion, guitars sound better tuned down.
So, naturally, I tried out drop-D, which was cool.
Then, I wanted all the strings to be lower, so I tried Eb-Standard.
I liked that. There was more body to the sound.

Of course, I tried playing in a drop-style tuning from there and discovered Drop-C#. This tuning stole my heart for a while. That is..
..until the voluptuous redhead D-Standard came along,
arms linked with her **** black-haired sister: Drop-C.

Tuned a step down, bends and vibrato are much more wild beasts.
However, this lower tension will trash your harmonics and stuff,
so I play 10-52 strings: 10, 13, 17, 30, 42, 52. Typically called 'LTHB,' or Light-Top Heavy-Bottom. This helps to keep the tension more similar to as if it were strung with normal strings in standard tuning. That translates into more overtones, which, in turn, means better tone.
More overtones means more pinch harmonics, too. Aww, yeah!

I need to get my hands on a decent electric baritone.
Maybe I'll just make one.

Oh, and another thing:
I just got some brass nuts. ;)

Thank you to all of you who have joined my group "Perturbations."
I sent out a rather large number of invites to a rather small population of the writers I respect rather much with whom I've had the pleasure of interacting; a few of them have taken the bait, and for that I thank thee.

"Perturbations" is a collection of my own works which I wish to become a book, most likely by the same title.

I welcome all constructive feedback. If a piece is weak or needs a tweak, please speak your mind freely and with respect. :)

If any of you would have an interest in following/joining the group who haven't done so, you are so much more than welcome to do so. I would consider it a compliment.

Personal Disclaimer:
This isn't intended to be an ego thing for me, it is meant to show people who enjoy my work/style the works I feel best about. I'd also be verily interested to see similar collections of other people's own favorite pieces.

We are here
to have a good time,
not to have a long time;
however,
if it lasts a long time,
all the better.
Plan accordingly
but do not lose sight.

I wish
schooling nurtured natural creativity
and personal skill
rather than
mere curriculum;

I understand
a sense of direction,
but I understand that everyone's path is unique
and that perhaps North to one
is South to another,
or vice-versa;
not to instill a hierarchy of preference,
but that it may lead to finding oneself very much lost
by following what genuinely worked for another.
(That is, assuming a lack of manipulation,
which seems to assume a nonhuman subject.)

Nurture thy own skill;
therein is thy salvation.

I know there was One,
but, then:
Two.

I was told
Three,
but, I'd venture to guess Four.
Or, maybe, Five.

But, I don't know, man.
I can't quite tell.
How many would you say?

"Hail unto thee, unlikely Champion!
If I may inquire; to which school do you belong?
Your technique is most impressive and dynamic;
I've never seen anything quite like it in all my years."

"Hail unto thee, Philosopher-King.
Indeed you may inquire!
I belong to no school:
I belong to each and every
however much any
would chose to have me,
and I, it."

"Wise beyond your years, I see.
I've got something to show you.
A book from a distant land. I think you'll dig it."

We turned and walked down the torch-lit vaulted hallway of the King's palace toward the Archives. The King hummed some resemblance of a melody as we descended a rather long spiral staircase.

A distant sound of glass shattering broke the monotony of the decent. We looked at each other and I could see his dark face grow pale.

"The marauders.. I knew this would happen sooner or later. Come, Champion. We must ensure the Queen's safety! Make haste!"

"How can it be
that some things are all wrong
and some things are all right?"

"It is what it is.
Deal with it or be dealt with."

Whatever it is
that gets you
out of your bed;
do that all day-
do that all day.

Whatever it is
that keeps you
out of your bed;
you'll find a way-
gotta find that way.

If it is
something you love
it is a part of you,
just as you, now,
are a part of it, too.

Work so hard
at what you love
that your idols
become your rivals.

"Hard work puts you
where good luck can find you."

Leave things better than you found them.

That's the only way
to make the Eden manifest
we've too long denied
ourselves and each other.

Every step taken towards your dreams today
is a step taken away from regrets tomorrow.

You cannot change other people.
Regardless, it's rude to try.

Would you really want that kind of control, anyway?
To castrate the potential of a Mind you do not understand?

Maybe you should free your Mind, instead.

"From a very young age, I've thought
some videogames can be a little too reminiscent of 'Enders Game.'"

"Yeah, it could easily be a real war and you'd possibly never even know it."

"Especially when the games are basically an interactive recruitment tool. Call of Duty and the later Halo games leap to mind."

"Actually, my cousin-in-law just signed up for the army."

"Hah, did he cite Call of Duty as his reasoning?"

"Pretty much."

"Hah. I ******* knew it.
It's lamentable that it works.
The sad fact that it isn't a joke
make the jokes that much worse,
but, yet, the jokes aren't as bad
as the atrocity, itself,
yet it's the jokes that incur social wrath!

This adequately exemplifies Society's priorities, methinks."

"Well, ****!
I know more now than I did five minutes ago.
I like that."

"I'm gonna take the moral high ground
just so I can look down at them;
'cause, after all, that seems to be
what moral high ground is all about."

"I can understand the reservations
some of us obviously have
when it comes to turning attention inwards:

it takes great courage to face those inner Beasts
from which we've all run and hidden;
but just imagine the crazy freedom
were they to be tamed and ridden."

"Oh, I'm so sorry;
I didn't intend to interrupt
your self-loathing boredom.
Please, do carry on;
I can see how very important it is to you."

For anyone who's interested,
I just recorded a bit of a jam
in the key of C minor (blues)
and it's also in 5/4 time.

https://soundcloud.com/apexparadigm/jam-in-5

Some people just aren't happy
unless they have something to be unhappy about.

"The unexamined Life is not worth living."
-Socrates

"It's okay for them to do it differently,
they're from over there.
If you're over here and you don't do it like us,
there's something wrong with you."

Why cant we just agree to do it differently?
Why does it have to matter?

Thinking of a Flower as beautiful
and then killing it so as to possess it
is a symptom of our destructive vanity
and greed.

Let it be,
and it will live it's life,
and it will still be there to see tomorrow.

And/or, better yet,
replicate it via Art:
thus can it be elevated unto immortality.

A chief reason
Polyamory isn't for me
is that I am lucky
to have the Time
one Love deserves.