Tuesday, December 23, 2008

CHARGE!! Review!!!

Quick news first:
1.Sadly, my posting will be limited until the 3rd of January, because of the holidays and going away for vacation. Hopefully me wrist (and ankle) will recouperate.

2. I will try to finish the third tier before I have to go back the 26th of January, as well as a couple songs from Tier 4. They're getting harder now, so now's the time to buckle down. In an effort to post more frequent updates, I'll post song sections as opposed to whole songs.

3. My choice for Tier 4 DLC is one of my little brother's favorite songs, "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)" by Coheed and Cambria. Reader's Choice DLC picks to come soon.
SETLIST UPDATED

4. Finished putting up the Rock Band 2: The Stars recap. So, check that out.

5. The song I was working on for the Rock Revolution contest is still being worked on.

Now, onto the review:
Picked this one up for $8 at FYE.

I actually found out about The Aquabats (I refuse to use the exclamation points), via a Something Awful webcomic thread. Their TV show pilot surfaced on BoingBoing, and I don't remember what they thought of it, but I shook it off in favor of hilarity. On a wild hair one day, decided to check them out, and liked what I heard. But oddest of all was their superhero "background".

The Goon in me thought "What? Bunch of loving manchildren, trying zany monkeycheese poo poo. That's as gay as gently caress." (Without the filter: "Bunch of fucking manchildren, trying zany monkeycheese shit. That's as gay as fuck")
It's more or less pop-punk, and pop anything is TOTALLY GAY.
AND BATS CAN'T SWIM UNDERWATER

But I'm sure they don't care, and keep plucking along.

Gun to my head, if I were to describe it, I'd say it's like a very upbeat bastard child of the Dead Kennedys and the B52's. Which is apporpriate, given the fact that the lead singer kinda sounds like Bifara and the male vocals on "Love Shack". It's a little punky, little (bit more) poppy, little surf, little synth.

It gets a bit repetitive, most of the songs stick to the same few chords (it is punk after all), but unlike AC/DC there aren't the trademark solos. But after reading a review in my school's paper of their B.B. King's show, it's geared a bit toward "kids", so such a thing is to be expected. And by "kids" I mean it's accessible to kids (more than an AC/DC or Boston, or metal), but just crazy enough to get you listening too.

It's upbeat, catchy, and puts you in a good mood. But I was actually embarrassed to buy this album, for the reasons my Goon side mentioned. The songs are pretty off the beaten path, with stuff about parodying the music scene ("Fashion Zombies!"), nerds rising up ("Nerd Alert"), and random crap ("Mechanical Ape", which I didn't like too much, "Tiger Rider").

BOTTOM LINE: If you've ever said "What The Fuck?" and laughed, at the very least give one of their Myspace songs a listen. The whole Saturday-morning cartoon superhero thing might shake off some people looking for something deeper and more mature but what do you expect from a band that has a song called "Demolition Rickshaw"? If you want something ridiculous, but still has actual entertainment value, give it a try.

P.S. The lead singer is the probably-drug-addled mind behind a children's show called Yo Gabba Gabba! The star of the show is a DJ that sometimes opens for their performances, and has been dubbed "Gay Russian Army Urkel" by Joel McHale of The Soup.

And I mentioned The Soup last post didn't I? IT ALL COMES TOGETHER.

God I gotta get back on the guitar.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Now scram, South Park's "Woodland Critter Chirstmas" episode is on.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Rock Band 2: The Stars

Given my "slow" run-throughs of Creep, it's not hard, just a lot of memorization and finger placement (explaining the last post about the wrist strain), more on that for the update.

Anyway, what I WANTED to post about today was Rock Band 2: The Stars. Remember that?

I ate humble pie (but only a sliver) when I saw the Rock Band Stage Kit in action. Am I wrong again? Thanks to the magic of Cable On Demand, you can read my play-by-play and find out for yourself! (Times are BY NO MEANS ACCURATE)

Episode 1
0:00- All right, 5 minute run-time, this might not be so bad.
0:50- "Rock Band is the pop culture phenomenon that changed the face of music gaming for decades". Yeah, something tells me this is nothing more than shilling.
1:00- Rules given: Sebastian Bach and Alice Cooper will front two bands comprised of the best players in A ROCK BAND 2 SHOWOFF THAT WILL CHANGE THE FACE OF HISTORY FOREVER. LIKE ROCK BAND 2.
6:66- I say "Screw on Demand!" and look up the episodes on Youtube for time codes that are somewhat accurate.

0:00- Hmm... Intro's kind of interesting, going down a black road, like the notes. All right.
0:09- "ROCK BAND 2 THE STAAAAAAAAAARS!!!" Wait what was that? They got Phil from accounting to do his best Rock Star voice. At least we now know that it's said like "Rock Band to the stars", as opposed to "Rock Band 2: The Stars"
0:11- Stryker from... stuff... will be the host.
0:16 to 0:28- Some guys talk. I see they actually went with people who look like they play Rock Band insteasd of the beautiful people.
0:34- Sebastian Bach looks excited... Would now be a bad time to mention I haveno idea who Sebastian Bach is?
0:45- Alice Cooper doesn't look excited.
1:05- First shill: "With 84 BRAND NEW songs added to the setlist, you're going to play songs you've never played before!"
1:11- AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock!"
1:37- Bach- "You're face looks cool!" Trust me, look this shit up for yourself. I'm not gonna link it, for exclusivity sake, but imagine a heavy, nerdy, asian guy try to put on his best rage face.
1:57- HOLY SHIT IT'S JEWPHIN!!!
2:10- HOLY SHIT JEWPHIN STUDIES PHYSICS!!! AT UCLA!!!
2:30- Bach shouts encouragement.
2:36- Some ICP wannabe does a wicked backflip off the stage.
2:56- 5 people get booted off.
3:08- NOOOOOO JEWWWWWWWWWWWPHINNNNNN!!!! (IS IT A MEME YET?)
3:18- Three people off, just like that. Wow.
3:37- Sebastian Bach is concerned about accuracy turns out, and boots off that guy from Balls Of Fury.

FINAL VERDICT: Eh. It's not painful to watch, but it's like, why bother? A. YOu only get to see a few individual performances, and B. Wow, open Dashboard Confessional and Panic at the Disco with fake instruments. There are a couple good things that I wish more reality shows would do:
1. Cut the bullshit. They took out a lot of potential drama (how they interact), which is why there aren't a lot of The Soup worthy moments, and why everything is infinitely more tolerable. Since it's a commercial, there are no commercials to dramatically cut away to, and that's all right.
2. Mix the nerds and the beautiful people. You have a diverse group with obsessive players, sexy people and rock star wannabes who try their hand at the real thing and chronicle all their exploits in a blog. Heh. Losers.

Episode 2
Sebastian Bach was the frontman of Skid Row. I don't listen to 80s hair metal, so that excuses my ignorance.
0:00-0:30- Same BS as before, recap of last episode
0:38-ROCK BAND TO THE STAAAAAAAAARS!!!
0:45- ICP man does another sweet flip and reinstates what I said earlier.
1:04- "Wow, WE GET TO PLAY FOR SEBASTIAN BACH AND ALICE COOPER. You play guitar and your mom's walkin' in and she's like, you want some lasagna?" Man I wish The Soup got on this.
1:10-1:20- 2nd challenge: Two teams of five. One can see, the rest blindfolded, the rest have to make their way to each platform representing a city and play "Go Your Own Way".
1:30- One of the chicks is wearing a bra as a top like that lady in Seinfeld.
1:35- THIS CHALLENGE REPRESENTS THE ONLINE TOUR MODE, A BRAND NEW FEATURE OF ROCK BAND 2.
1:50- AND YOU'RE GOING TO PLAY YOUR BRAND NEW WIRELESS INSTRUMENTS
3:46- One team rocked, the other sucked.
4:18- Asian girl kicked off (she didn't really get the challenge in the first place) and Sebastian Bach smashes her "guitar"

FINAL VERDICT: More shilling. Bach seems more into it than Cooper. Again, more, "Bitch, you out". The premise can't even fill half-hour slots, so the five minute

Episode 3
0:38- ROCK BAND 2 THE STAAAAARS!!! Thank you, Phil from Accounting. By the way, those licensing budgets need to be on my desk by 4.
0:44- I love how everyone just "happens" to be playing when Stryker walks in.
1:16- 3rd challenge- 3 teams. They team up with OLD PEOPLE!!!
1:45- LUCKILY THEY'RE PLAYING ON ROCK BAND 2'S NO FAIL MODE!!
2:36- Old person #1 does pretty well, actually
2:59- Old person #2 inaudibly mumbles the song
3:29- Old person #3 doesn't even sing, just kind of bounces. In other words, it took a reality show to tell us that really old people suck at video games.
4:20- Bach: "Cab Calloway, today it's Cab GoAway" Aw, did he come up with that all by himself.
4:29- And Cab smashes his own guitar.

FINAL VERDICT: HA HA OLD PEOPLE!!! I'm surprised part of the challenge was to listen to their Depression Era stories. But they're keepin' it quick and painless.

Episode 4
0:36- PHIL FROM ACCOUNTING DID WE SECURE THE COCA COLA DEAL YEEEEEEEEET? I mean, ROCK BAND 2 THE STAAAAAARS!!!
0:58- Two teams of 4, playing Ace Of Spades.
1:05- ICP Man has an Ace Of Spades on his face. Clever
1:11- Stryker: "There's a catch, with ROCK BAND 2's BATTLE OF THE BANDS MODE YOU CAN PLAY ANY BAND IN THE WORLD!!!" Seriously, The Soup, get on this.
1:27- HOLY CRAP, HAL SPARKS! Speak of the devil! (Hal Sparks used to host The Soup's predecesseor, Talk Soup)
1:58- Douche.
2:48- Nerdy, Heavy and Asian sings and actually does well.
2:59- "Is it pleasing to listen to him? No"
3:23-Both bands blow away Hal.
4:25- Hot girl goes home, face paint guy stays

FINAL VERDICT: I CAN PLAY AGAINST ANYONE IN THE WORLD? EVEN HAL SPARKS? WOW... Phhbt...

Episode 5
0:35- ROCK BAND 2 THE STAAAAARS!!! Thanks Phil. Say, did you sign up for the company basketball league? Accounting could really use you as a point guard.
0:41- I can't tell the difference between Stryker's voice when talking normally, and when it's being dubbed over.
1:01- They don't have the Rock N' Roll Look? They do have a point, as I see a distinct lack of skinny jeans and messenger hats.
1:13- YOU'RE GONNA FLIP THROUGH THE ROCK BAND 2 OFFICIAL ROCK SHOP, THEY GOT MORE ACCESORIES AND CLOTHES THEN EVER!!
1:29- They play dress up.
1:30- "They do have fishnets!" THANK GOD!!
1:43- Facepaint Guy is the first to go after the skinny jeans, and I quote "Almost castrated [himself] on them."
1:45- "I'm not going to be able to have kids after this" Darwin? Is that you?
2:17- Cooper and Bach pick the bands. Jewphin doesn't need a band. His solo carrer as a physicist thank God this is almost over.
2:24- Facepaint guy on bass for Coop- WOW that wig is ridiculous.
2:33- Hot chicks on drums and guitar
2:50- Down to the two nerds. How will they decide?
3:03- A HEAD TO HEAD SCORE DUEL COURTESY OF THE ROCK BAND 2s COMPLETELY ORIGINAL SCORE DUEL MULTIPLAYER MODE.
3:04- Judas Priest's "Painkiller", the only hard song all competition.
4:02- Nerd that used to have glasses wins.
4:13- "Even though I got eliminated, I'm still gonna play Rock Band. I'm gonna go home and keep on doing Rock Band 2, and HAVE FUN WITH IT." BECAUSE ROCK BAND 2 IS A FUN GAME.

FINAL VERDICT: Eh, kinda pointless. Again, if they wanted the focus to be on the game, then show more footage of them playing the game, but then again, reality show.

Finale
FINALLY
0:21- Watch as the two bands COLLIDE IN AN EPIC BATTLE OF ROCK BAND 2 FOR ROCK BAND 2 SUPREMACY.
0:33- ROCK BAND 2 THE STAAAAARS! Phil, you've been stealing office supplies? No, I don't care if you're wife left you, YOU'RE FIRRRRED!
1:08- Whichever bands performs the best in ROCK BAND 2 at THE WORLD FAMOUS VIPER ROOM gets open on the ROCK BAND LIVE TOUR for DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL AND PANIC AT THE DISCO.
1:21- The judges: Some DJ I've never heard of, some writer I've never heard of, and DIO!!! How'd they rope him into this?
1:49- Sebastian Bach With A Vengence is up first with "Hello There".
3:03- DJ I've never heard of: "Your singer could really make a living out of this!" Reality TV or singing?
3:15- Alice Cooper's First Blood with "Pinball Wizard"
3:47- Alice Cooper cannot look anymore bored
4:06- NO! HIS WIIIIG!
4:25- Judges deliberate. Looks scripted. Dio says nothing.
5:00- Sebastian Bach wins.
5:13- "I'm opening for Dashboard, I'm opening for Panic! I'm so stoked"
5:46- ROCK BAND 2 AVAILBLE NOW.

FINAL VERDICT: I feel sorry for Alice Cooper. He looked like he didn't want to be there. But Sebastian was kinda getting into it. Maybe because he's been in less commercials and cameos and stuff, he has more energy to do it.

FINAL FINAL VERDICT: While not being an entire show (i.e. 30-60 min ecah episode), it was kept quick and (almost) painless, but it could have filled an hour special and be a bit more satisfying, showing more people kicking ass at the game. However, by keeping it so short, it isn't focused on gameplay, just the game. This is every episode of RB2:TS in a nutshell.

-Recap of last episode
-ROCK BAND 2 THE STAAAARS! (Courtesy of Phil from Accounting)
-Stryker: You're going to do some challenge based on COMPLETELY ZOMG AMAZING NEW FEATURE FROM ROCK BAND 2, THE VIDEO GAME.
-*30 seconds of gameplay*
-Alice and Sebash kick a guy off.

I think the difference is that with the Rock Band Mockumentary, the premise didn't lend itself to "Hey guys, we're going to play Rock Band", it was a parody with a band that played Rock Band and everyone treated them like a real band. It was an ad, but it was still a complete show. Not that it was very good, but other than the pre-commercial cuts, it wasn't a blatant advertisement.

TL;DR: Prize sucked, premise whatever, Phil from Accounting is trying to jump of a ledge outside my house. (runs)

Friday, December 19, 2008

God Damn It, Activision, You're Killing Me!

You're sticking a little knife in my heart AND KILLING ME...

December 23
Hinder - "Use Me" (single)
Nickelback - "Because of You" (single) <--- DAMN IT!!!
Rev Theory's "Light It Up" (single)

On the other hand...

January 15 - Travis Barker Track Pack
Blink 182 - "What's My Age Again"
+44 - "Lycanthrope"
Flo-Rida w/Travis Barker - "Low (Travis Barker remix)"

That and for some reason my wrist is messed up. Curse you "Creep" and your bar chords! CURSE YOU YOU GODDAMN SWINE!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Christmas Tunes

Another day of me not working on Creep (which I am), another blog post.

Here's a look at what I'm listening to, to get me in the holiday mood:
Akira The Don's Christmas Mixtape
Granted, if you wanted to listen to Akira's actual music, you can head to his site, and you'll be hooked. His song "In The Morning" is pretty Christmassy if that's what you're after.
The mix itself has some pretty interesting stuff, like Family Guy Christmas song, but also has a couple essentails, like "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and "Christmas In Hollis".

The Kinks- "Father Christmas"
Ah yes, The Kinks. The bastards that started it all. My Christmas wish is this song in Rock Band DLC. Pretty hard rockin', with a post-chorus solo going for it, not once, not twice, but three times. TL;DR: Some guy plays Santa (or "Father Christmas" as he's called in the UK) and gets assaulted when some punk kids try to rob him.
It carries a very strong message that we need to take away this season:
"Have yourself a very merry Christmas, have yourself a good time. But just remember the kids who got nothing, when you're drinking down your wine."

The Waitress- "Christmas Wrapping"
First, AWESOME video. Second, number 2 choice for some DLC (until they release Ska Hero, and even then this comes way behind Reel Big Fish and Aquabats on requests, and it's not even a ska song). Poppy, but worth it. The story of a girl trying to meet her sweetheart all year long, until Christmas comes along.

Homestar Runner- "Hooked On Decemberween"
A collection of 6 songs:
Dethemberween Thnikkaman- A traditional holiday, story-in-a-nutshell, song about Bub's alter ego. Download and mix it up with your usual holdiay mixtape fare.
Cheer Up Coach Z- Not very Christmassy, but very funny. Download.
Seasonal Sweaters- Eh, sucks, but I think that was the point. Filler track, don't have to download.
O Decemberween- Parody of "O' Christmas Tree!" If you want a summary of the H*R cast, download, otherwise not worth it.
Homestar Runner Presents: Presents- Only download if you've seen the accompaning toon. Or if you REALLY need to apologize for getting crappy presents and everyone is hip to the Homestar.
If I Don't Get Video Games... By Brainkreig, a parody of crappy teenage bands. Pretty cool song on its own merits, and all the more worth it if you've seen crappy teenage bands.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Black Ice Review

Finally got AC/DC's Black Ice at the MTV/Rock Band store yesterday.

Good News? Money well spent!

Bad news? Reinforces what I've feared for a long time: AC/DC's songs all sound the same. Granted, they're not as bad as Nickelback, but one can't help get deja vu.

Instead, what I like is the feel of an AC/DC song: Loud, energetic and heavy. After listening to the tracks, I can tell that while it isn't anything earth-shattering, it's still awesome.

A couple songs bled together, like "Smash n' Grab" and "Spoilin' for A Fight", and "Wheels" feels reminiscent, and this kind of thing is expected with AC/DC's consistency. "Rock n' Roll Dream" changes things up considerably, but still feels a bit awkward.

But there are a couple standout songs: "Rock n' Roll Train" isn't necessarily their most "uinque" song, but goddamn it just blasts out the speakers, and just feels good. "Skies On Fire" takes it down a bit with an almost celtic sound, with Cliff Williams (the bassist) getting something fun to do in chorus, and solos are blasting all throughout. "Anything Goes" is a bit more poppy, and "Stormy May Day" adds a little Southern slide guitar to the heavy blues.

Do I agree with Something Awful's take? Yeah, somewhat. There are a lot of songs with the word "Rock" in it (a similar reason to the name of Electric Six's "Fire"), and there aren't any fast paced songs like Heatseeker or Thunderstruck.

BOTTOM LINE: Still rocked my face off, just wish it was in a different way.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

When We ARE Young, Please?

Fine, fine, fine:

WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG
Main verse: (all major barre chords)

E (022100), G (244322), A (466544), C (799877)

Hardest part: The verse-

D------6------7----8-------9---------2--
A----6------7----8-------9---------2----
E--4---4--5----6-------7---------0------

Hold your hand in power chord position, arpeggiate, and slide up and down.

Not that hard a song, actually. Shame, since I'm putting off the real bastards like Limelight and Creep.

SETLIST UPDATED

Friday, December 12, 2008

Guitar Hero Arcade Setlist

THIS IS THE FULL GH:ARCADE SETLIST! NO MORE SPECULATION!!! THIS IS IT!!!

Tier 1- Starting Out Small
"Slow Ride" by Foghat
"Talk Dirty To Me" by Poison
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benetar
"Rock And Roll All Nite" by KISS
"Sabotage" by Beastie Boys

Tier 2- Your First Real Gig
"Sunshine Of Your Love" by Cream
"Mississippi Queen" by Mountain
"School's Out" by Alice Cooper
"Closer" by Lancuna Coil
"Bulls On Parade" by Rage Against The Machine

Tier 3- Getting The Word Out
"Barracuda" by Heart
"Helicopter" by Bloc Party
"Paranoid" by Black Sabbath
"Avalancha" by Heroes Del Silencio
"Lay Down" by Preistess

Tier 4- Out On The Road
"Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones
"She Bangs THe Drums" by Stone Roses
"Anarchy In The U.K." by The Sex Pistols
"Reptilia" by The Strokes
"Cherub Rock" by The Smashing Pumpkins

Tier 5- Welcome To The Big Time
"Rock You Like A Hurricane"
"La Grange" by ZZ Top
"Black Magic Woman" by Carlos Santana
"Same Old Song And Dance" by Aerosmith
"Pride And Joy" Stevie Ray Vaughn

Tier 6- The Hottest Band On Earth
"Cities On Fire With Rock And Roll" by Blue Oyster Cult
"Monsters" by Matchbook Romance
"Holiday In Cambodia" by The Dead Kennedys
"In The Belly Of A Shark" by Gallows

Tier 7- Turning Out The Hits
"Black Sunshine" by White Zombie
"Don't Hold Back" by The Sleeping
"Knights Of Cydonia" by Muse
"Stricken" by Disturbed

Tier 8- The Axes Of Legend
"The Metal" by Tenacious D
"Cult Of Personality" by Living Colour
"Cliffs Of Dover" by Eric Johnson
"Take This Life" by In Flames

Ahem.

Yeah, thought it would be fun. This isn't what I'd call the Quinessential Guitar Hero songlist, just predictions, knowing Activision and where they've taken GH.

First one I thought of:
"Through The Fire And Flames" by Dragonforce- Hard as hell, and all music arcade games need an "ooh!" or a quarter muncher (dollar muncher, nowadays). Also, it will be based on GH3, so it would be safe to assume it has a few songs.
"Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple- Really? Did you have to ask?
"Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne- Again, hard as hell, and in GH:WT
"Miss Murder" by AFI
"Lay Down" by Priestess- New songs
"Helicopter" by Bloc Party- Used in EVERY non-main GH iteration
A Pat Benetar Song- For all the moms out there
"Spiderwebs" by No Doubt
"One Way Or Another" by Blondie
"Rock And Roll All Nite" by Kiss
"The Middle" Jimmy Eat World- All syndicated with a DS game or also on RB2

4 out of 10 right :(

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Bonked With The Jousting Stick

If you too were a fan of this recently revived show as a kid like I was, you'd get the reference. Especially if you notice that some of the ladies are actually...um... hot, this time around. Hooray, science!

Even with this being the busiest week I have ever experienced so far, I managed to eke out a new song update. Technically I finished this Wednesday night

CRUSHCRUSHCRUSH
I first heard of this band when my friends brought me to Warped Tour 2007. I hadn't really heard of any "new" punk bands at the time, but I figured I'd go anyway, see if anything tickled my fancy. Not a whole lot did, except for Paramore. They sounded like the punk/pop-punk I listened to (Blink 182, Offspring, Green Day) only going a teensy bit into emo. Just enough to intrigue, but not enough to turn me off. Anyway here's the lesson kids:

It's in Drop C# tuning. Tune everything 1/2 a step down, then tune the low E-string one step further. I'll provide tabulature for standard tuning.

Hardest part:
The end-

e-12--11--12p11--9--11--12--11--9--9-----------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------------9---6---------
D----------------------------------------------------6-----9--6 ----------------
A----------------------------------------------7--7-----7-----------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

e-----------------------------9\-------
B---------------7-9-7-9---------------
G-8-9--8--9----------------------------
D---------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------
Index finger on 6th fret, pinky on 9th.

Now, for the sake of it, here's the chorus in standard tuning:
e--------------------------------------
B--------------------------------------
G---------------4~----2-2---------4--
D--0-0---2-2---4~----2-2---2-2--4~-
A--0-0---2-2---2~----0-0---2-2--2~-
E--0-0---0-0----------------0-0------

e------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------
G-----------4~--2-2-2-2-2--2-2-2-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4--
D-0-0--2-2-4~--2-2-2-2-2--2-2-2-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4--
A-0-0--2-2-2~--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2--
E-0-0--0-0--------------------------------------------
Pretty easy, would be easier is you tune it down first, but it sounds good in standard tuning as well.

Now for something insignificant:
-Next Team Fortress 2 Update is the Scout. Hooray for bonking! Boo for Red Sox fans!
-Guitar Hero: Arcade coming soon! My setlist speculation coming tomorrow!

SETLIST UPDATE

Monday, December 8, 2008

A Report On Jerry Brown By The Rhythm Bastard

I know I'm supposed to be writing about stuff like thermocouples and galvanic series for school, but I figured I'd write about a great man in history: Jerry Brown.

Jerry Brown is the attorney general of California (2007-present) and used to be the governor (1975-1983). There's other crap about him, but all that matters is this:

CALIFORNIA UBER ALLES
I am Governor Jerry Brown,
My aura smiles and never frowns,
Soon I will be president.

Awesome. California Uber Alles in the bag!

Very simple song. just fast. The hardest part is these bridges in time:
e----------------------
B---------------------
G-8-88888-666------
D-8-88888-666-77-4-
A-6-66666-444-77-4-
E----------------55-2-

And for the part where it slows down ("Now it is 1984..."), just play the root notes (the ones toward the bottom of the tab)

And this part at the end is tricky:
e-------------------------
B-------------------66---
G-8-8888-8886-666666-
D-8-8888-8886-664466-x3
A-6-6666-6664-44--44-
E------------------------

Another part I had to re-tab because it didn't sound right.
Strum up and down for this last part, just like the Fake Plastic Rock games we all know and love.

I "beat" this to the tempo on Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death album, which is slower than the version on Fresh Fruits For Rotting Vegetables (also on the Tony Hawk's American Wasteland Soundtrack, where I first heard the Dead Kennedys).

Also just found this: an updated version with Schwarzenegger as the object of "affection". Hear it here.

SETLIST UPDATED

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Weekend Of Hell: Sunday

Mission: Impossible

Everything more or less worked out, up here (points to head) but sadly, it sounded like garbage whenever I tried to record it. I'm back home now, so I can't really work on it, at least not in time for the contest. Plus homework kinda got in the way, like.. lots of things.

I really hate to promise then not deliver. So much I have planned, but until I get a coupe of actual readers, I'm just going to keep on plugging away at Tier 3. Should have a double update for ya tomorrow.

On the other hand, I finally saw Superjail and liked it.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Weekend Of Hell: Saturday

Dam. Woke up late, wrote some more of the lyrics did some homework and mapped out the song.

It's coming together, but I'm going out with friends now, so it's going to be a close call.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Weekend Of Hell: Friday

Hey, you know how I decided to call this three-day clusterfuck a "Weekend Of Hell"? My fretting wrist ain't feeling so hot, and my guitar's high E-string is broken.

HOWEVER!

There is still work to be done! That I can do! I have Power Tabs! And...uh... lightning...! And...Team Fortress 2! For those of you who mysteriously stumbled upon my site, this is being posted in that weird time at night where I'm just starting to feel creative and ready for hard work, but I'm also feeling a little sleepy.

Last weekend I came with a good riff to work around, sort of AC/DC-ish. I have some ideas, I'll plug them in Power Tabs, see how they come out. Hopefully my hand is feeling better tomorrow and I have a chance to go to a music shoppe. I could plug in the Rock Band drumset for the Drum Fills, and testing it out Hammerhead first.

So I guess tonight it's just working on lyrics. Time to get...uh...inspired...



I'm good to dri- what? BOOM HEADSHOT!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

They May Not Be Satan's Best Knights...

Hey!

DETROIT ROCK CITY
Quick one this time. Fun songs, some good stuff in there. The solos aren't too hard, and are actually kinda fun to play when you get them memorized. Only thing I hate is that this songs has a lead and a rhythm, so while it may be easy to switch between the two on a Fake Plastic Guitar, the two parts are too far away on the fretboard to combine easily. It's possible, but tricky.

Surprising the solo wasn't the hardest part about this song. It actually feels natural once you play it a time or two.

Anyway, hardest part is right here at 1:29-
e|------------------------------------------
B|------------------------------------------
G|-----------------------------------------
D|---------------------------1---------1---
A|----3--3-1---1-3---3-1-3---3---1-3---3-
E|------------3------------------3----------


Easy enough, right?
Play that one and a half times (11th note) then go into this:
D--10-10-10-10-8------
A-------------------10--

Repeat for another one and a half times, then take it up one full note:
e|---------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------3-------3---|
A|----5--5-3----3-5----5-3-5---5---3---5-|
E|------------5------------------5-------|

And the kicker:
e|--------------------------|
B|--------------------------|
G|--------------------------|
D|----------3--------1------|
A|----5-3-5---5----1---3----|
E|---------------3----------|

Looks simple, but switch positions at the speed the song is played is pretty tricky.

SETLIST UPDATED

Tomorrow I start a series I call "Weekend Of Hell", where I try to write my song for the Rock Revolution contest. I might get a couple songs knocked out of the way while I'm already on the guitar.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Tasty

All right, I don't have a song for you today. After I finish "Detroit Rock City" I'm going to work on "Creep", since I HATE that song.

Open Mic Night was a bust.

Figured I'd try to break my record of consecutive posts, and give a little info on what CDs I'd get given the money/asking for Christmas:
"Black Ice"- AC/DC
"Runnin' Wild"- Airbourne
"Charge!"- The Aquabats
"Fire"- Electric Six
"When We Were Young"- Akira The Don
"The Colour and The Shape"- Foo Fighters
"JoCo Looks Back"- Johnathan Coulton

Granted, this is outside my usual COMPLETELY LEGAL downloading shenanigans, I figured If I had the money to buy these CDs, I might as well be decadent and just get whatever BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL THAT SPECIAL.

Not my most eloquent posts, but I got stuff to do.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Go Wit It

Wow. That was a longer break than usual. Anyway, here is a song lesson:

GO WITH THE FLOW
I hate these songs because it requires a rhythm and lead guitar part.

Rhythm part here: E, C5, Amin
B------------------1-----
G-1--------5------2-----
D-2--------5-x8---2-----
A-2-x16---3-------0-----
E-0----------------------

It never stops.

LEAD part: EASY AS HELL. You know that scale I showed you in the Mississipi Queen update?
Move it down a bit, and you get this:
e-------------------------------------------12--14--15----
B--------------------------------12--13--15---------------
G------------------------12--14--------------------------

Exactly all the notes you play over the chords is some where in here.

There weren't any really tricky parts, I guess it's this high because the chords come at you so fast.

For a bit of extra spice, toward the end, these three notes are played:
e-15----------17--------16--------

Because I'm such a bastard, play it with tremolo picking.

"Crushcrushcrush" is the Reader's Choice DLC song.

SETLIST UPDATED