Donovan Banks

I purchased a set off books recently that I think I should tell you about. They are a short series by David Mead and while I cannot vouch for the author, nor the accuracy of the content in the book, I always feel that if I learn one thing that improves my playing or attitude, then it is worth it.

I have the Basic Scales for Guitar, Basic Chords for Guitar, Basic Kit Repair and the Basic Guitar Workout.

Now I am very impressed with the Guitar Workout as it gives you some very good practice techniques which are very important.
The book works on a simple principle that 10 minutes of good practice here and there is better than not practicing because you only have 10 minutes. How he structures the sessions is that you randomly open the book to any exercise, and spend 2 minutes doing it. He gives a guide on how many repetitions you should be able to achieve in those 2 minutes but the aim is to do as many as you can, while maintaining clear tones.
Some of the exercises are rather tricky though he has split them into three categories, Warm-up; Co-ordination; and Ear Training. They really work your fingers and force you to practice real techniques that matter, not just speed but clarity across all available fingers.

I do like to buy little things like this. My main aim is to learn as much as possible, from all sources possible. That was my first and biggest lesson.

I am starting to think it is easier to get a great tonewith a les paul than it is a strat.

Go to my myspace page and listen to Leap to life (done with the Les paul) and War in the back alley (done with the strat) and tell me what you think.

It is no secret that I am a HUGE John Mayer fan. Not so much because I am fat, but that I love his work.

I have been trying so hard to get his tone right. I played a little bit with my GT8 and VOX VT50 and came very close to his tone in "Somethings Missing." but now I am very stoked.

I was playing around with the sound of  "I dont trust myself (With Loving You)" and found the Boss Slow Gear on the GT8 can get you fairly close.

This is what My guitar sounds like so far. I am trying to get it as close to the original as possible. I don't even know why I just want to conquer this...

Using the GT8 and the Slow gear effect, quite a bit of EQ as well but the slow gear is set with Sensitivity at 47, and rise time 79.

here's my sample...
http://www.box.net/shared/dt7isgqi09

its a little louder than the backing track.
If any GT8 owners can get it closer let me know.
For the record the Preamp was the Tweed, gain 22, bass 83, mid 60, treble 43, presence 7, level 48
and added some reverb and very slight chorus in.

I took a chance and bought a no-name strat copy. I bought it on the premise that maybe someone was stupid enough to remove the real branding. I guess someone was clever enough to because it isn't anything if interest. Except a really cool beginner guitar.

Everything feels cheap to me but if this were my first guitar I would have been stoked. It also came with a Marshall MG15DFX which is surprisingly cool.

Here is a little recording I did using this guitar into the Boss BR600...


Feel free to comment, let me know about cool stuff or subscribe to this blog...

Basically I pan two tracks left and right to make it feel like a wall, but here are the videos...





Enjoy.
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I wanted to see how different the Epiphone Les Paul and Epiphone Flying V sound.



I don't hear much major difference due to the distortion. Next time it will be clean. But the Les Paul has EMG pickups in and the V has Alcino Classic humbuckers in.

They both sound very usable to me.