" Star Of Bethlehem By Three Days Wait
Just last week I
opened my mail one morning and discovered a Cd by a band called “ Three Days Wait “ ,
mmm I thought interesting name there , so I opened the package and found it to
contain a Christmas based Album, very fitting and just in time too after all it
is November and the Christmas season is just around the corner. Could be very
handy for my Christmas shows I thought.
So being of a curious nature I
placed it in the Cd drive on my trusty Dell
and waited for the customary Christmas like sounds to appear WOW was I
wrong THERE LOL none of your wishy washy
tried and tested tunes here this was Christmas music with teeth , it made me
sit up and take notice that’s for sure.
Track 1 Star Of
Bethlehem the title track starts quietly enough with a nice single guitar then
the bass kicks in and you got a good solid rock based track that’s really quite singable this leads you effortlessly into Track 2 "We
Three Kings" strains of a nicely picked funk guitar the band gives this Classic
the ROCK treatment really had me moshing in my seat LOL .Good stuff Guys. Track
3 is "Caroling "very very Commercial track
kids today will love this very reminiscent
of the style of “ The Rembrandts “ with a touch of Van Morrison in there for
good measure I liked it. Track 4 “ Snow Blues “ good solid Blues track not
really my forte’ but I can appreciate Blues played well and this definitely was
.Now Track 5 “ The Greatest Gift “ an obvious pick for the
single release in my opinion .Nice treatment of the
whole nativity theme I see this being played all year long not just at
Christmas I certainly will be playing it for certain, a really nice track . The
next track Track 6 “ Beautiful Baby “
for me this was the STAR TRACK the story
of Mary & Joseph beautifully told with a truly simple acoustic feel that
just WORKS and works so well again totally all year playability gets my vote for the BEST track on the Album
wonderful stuff. Track 7 “ Sled Riding “
basically sound rock track yet holding its own in the commerciality stakes if they still pressed 45’s this would
be a great B sideTrack 8 “ Red Guitar”
starts off kinda like dueling
banjo’s but that’s it 30 secs of guitar then BANG all out ROCK big sound , lots of heavy guitar driving bass
and thumping drums not usually found on a Christmas Album eh ? Track 9 This I didn’t expect some honest to
goodness Country Bluegrass and good Bluegrass at that , “ Bluegrass Christmas “
really shows the bands versatility this will get played on my Christian Country
Show for sure and my wife Dixie will certainly play it on her regular Country
show nice one guys. Track 10 “ Snow Day” this could be the kids anthem for
winter LOL you can almost hear the
school buses reverberating to the strains of this one. Track 12 after snow day
Jam’” comes “ Christmas Hero “ Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer meets “ Santana “
Funk wah guitar and
all very very listenable . Track 13 “
Glimpse Of Heaven “ Bluegrass meets Rock with bass vocals and harmonies nice
treatment of the song here love the harmonica and mandolin with the Silent
Night Stansa in the middle it works guys really it DOES . The final track Track
14 “ Merry Christmas “ all I can say is this tells it all it’s what Chrismas is
all about certainly has that Christmas feel good factor and leaves you in just
the right Spirit for remembering just what Christmas is ( No not Santa’s Birthday
) LOL
My final conclusions
on the CD , well contrary to popular belief I do like a bit of rock people don’t
realize I’ve played in rock bands in my youth so it’s in the blood LOL. I liked
this CD a lot and I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone , if you want something
different to give as a present this Christmas make it “ Star Of Bethlehem “ by
Three Days Wait . Visit their website or click the link here and just buy it
you won’t regret it I promise you.
Reviewed by Derek
McCorkell ( The Ageing Rocker )
For
True Spirit Powered
Radio.
Three Days Wait are
Based in Ohio, this high-energy,
life-inspiring band continues to break all the rules by bringing Christmas to
the front of the page all year long. Lead guitarist, Jim Ledford states, “this
is rock with a purpose. “ With Nate Wagner, lead vocals; Mike Jessup, drums;
Mark Ledford, Keyboards;, Glen Wilson, bass; and Jim Ledford, lead guitars,
Three Days Wait are following what they believe are warm footprints laid before
them, in the midst of every season. Three Days Wait continues to be
“groundbreakers” in the avenue of solid rock music, enticing audiences with a
holiday edge !
Band Website www.threedayswait.com
Other Places where you will find the band.
www.myspace.com/threedayswait
www.myccm.org/threedayswait
www.shoutlife.com/threedayswait
Buy The Album using the link below
http://cdbaby.com/cd/threedayswait/from/irllc
Guitar Lessons -- Do You Really Need Them?
by Joe Clements
Send Feedback to Joe Clements
More Details about how to learn to play the guitar here.
I
grew up listening to some amazing guitarists. I don't have enough space
to list them all, but a few of my favorites were Jimi Hendrix, Stevie
Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, the highly underrated Robby Krieger, and all
the blues playing Kings. These guys were phenomenal guitarists and, to
me, were nothing short of inspirational. The more I heard, the more I
wanted to learn to play the guitar like them.
I became obsessed with the idea that I could learn to play guitar as
well as these guys. However, at the time, resources were limited. I
didn't know anybody who played the guitar, there was no Internet, no
guitar lessons at school, and no money for expensive lessons. It was up
to me to grope my way toward my goal. I was like a blind man searching
for a light switch. I didn't know where enlightenment would come from.
When I was about 15 years old, I acquired my first acoustic guitar, a
cheap no-name with bailing wire strings. Then, in a second-hand store,
I found a book that contained guitar lessons for beginners. From the
book, I learned to restring my guitar with some decent strings and how
to tune it. I learned some basic major chords and some old simple
classics, like "On Top of Old Smokey" and "Greensleeves."
However, my most useful resource was my collection of rock and roll
records, LPs, wax disks, or whatever you want to call those old vinyl
anachronisms.Once I figured out how to tune my guitar to the same
frequency as my turntable, I could listen to the music and try to
reproduce the tones on my guitar. And that is how I acquired the guitar
fundamentals. By trial and error and determination.
I don't believe that there is a right way or a wrong way to learn how
to play the guitar. I do believe that, with determination and
persistence, anyone who is serious about it can do it, regardless of
what resources are available. The most important piece of advice that I
can give to the aspiring guitarist is to practice, practice, practice.
Learning to play could be considered hard work, but to the serious
student, it is not work at all. It is more like an extraordinary
learning experience.
Next, to save time, find an instructor or a good book from which to
learn music theory. To be a well rounded musician, it is essential that
the student learn to read music and tab and to discover how the two are
interrelated. Technique will come with practice, and eventually the
fundamentals will become second nature and you will develop a distinct
style that you can call your own.
From experience, I can tell you that you can learn to play the guitar
without guitar lessons. However, it behooves you to find some source of
instruction. It will save time and a good instructor will steer you
away from time consuming mistakes and bad habits.
If you would like to hear more, visit my blog at http://joe-guitar.blogspot.com/
Joe Clements has been playing the guitar since he was
15. He has played rhythm and lead in several bands, strictly for fun.
For the last couple of years, he has taught guitar fundamentals to
aspiring guitarists. You can find more info at:
http://www.joe-guitar.blogspot.com/
Contact the Author
Joe Clements
jwarrenclements@yahoo.com
Not a review this week but an interesting article that I've borrowed from Ideamarketers.com . an intuitive and very useful article on Finger Picking Style Guitar Playing Enjoy !!!!
Using
finger picking techniques to play guitar makes your music more
interesting and varied. Flat picking does not give the guitar player
the chance to pick several notes at the same time, to play in octaves
or explore the possibilities of the finger style technique known as
Travis picking. A skilled finger picker can create the illusion of the
sound of more than one guitar being played. Playing the guitar finger
picking style is said to have originated with ragtime music. This was
part of the early blues music era and was very popular played on the
piano. It was not long before guitar players were using their fingers
to pick out melodies in imitation of the ragtime pianists.
When you use finger picking guitar playing technique you can use the
flesh of your fingertips to pluck the strings, or you can grow the
nails slightly longer on your right hand to give a sharper sound which
is similar to that of flat picking. You also have the option of fitting
a thumbpick and/or fingerpicks on your picking hand. This is the best
option if you are playing an electric guitar or a steel string acoustic
because steel strings can be hard on the nails.
Travis Picking was developed by a country guitarist named Merle Travis.
It is a simple technique that sounds more technically demanding than it
really is. As a general rule the thumb plays the bass strings which are
the fifth and sixth strings using an alternating bass pattern. The
index finger plays the third string, the ring finger the second string
and the third finger plays the first string. Or you can simplify your
playing by using the index finger or the index and ring fingers to play
the melody notes. Assigning strings to particular fingers is just a way
of starting off your finger picking in a disciplined way rather than a
hard and fast rule. You will find as your technique and your confidence
progress that you will want to use chords where your bass notes might
be on the fourth and third strings so you will be varying your
technique accordingly. To get the hang of Travis picking just fret an A minor chord and start
picking an alternating bass on the fifth and fourth strings.
Here is your chord . . .
E -0---------------------------------
B -1---------------------------------
G -2---------------------------------
D -2---------------------------------
A -0---------------------------------
E -0---------------------------------
. . . and here is your picking pattern on the fifth and fourth strings:
1 2 3 4
D ------2----------2
A -0----------0-----
Now you can use your index finger or the middle and ring fingers to
throw in random notes that fit in with your alternating bass pattern.
To start you off, here is your alternating bass with a few notes thrown
in. Just use your index finger to pick the melody notes on the first
and second strings. Note that you start this pattern with a "pinch"
where you play your bass and melody notes simultaneously.
1 2 + 3 + 4 +
E -0--------------------0
B ---------1-----1-------
G -----------------------
D ------2------------2---
A -0----------0----------
E -----------------------
As you begin to see what can be done with finger picking guitar
techniques, you will also see that your playing of single note runs
will be slower than if you were using your plectrum. This limitation on
speed of playing can be overcome by working on your thumb picking. The
thumb can be quite fast if you use the "rest stroke". This is technique
used in flamenco and classical guitar where the thumb picks a note and
comes to rest on the string below it. The resulting note will be much
stronger than if you simply used free stroke where your thumb moves
outward from the string. As you become more familiar with finger
picking you will develop the confidence to use pull-offs and hammer-ons
to augment your finger picking.
Ricky Sharples has been playing guitar his whole life, and is presently engaged in building a blog called Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free.
The Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free blog features free tools,
lessons and resources for guitarists of all ages and stages. Ricky
updates the blog regularly so if you are interested in learning to play
guitar there will be an enormous variety of tip, tools and tutorials
for you.
Contact the Author
Ricky Sharples
Guitar
ricky@playaguitarforfree.com
More Details about finger picking guitar here.
Karen Shadbolt “
Better Day “
The first thing that strikes you about this Album is the
cover art Karen is just a very
photogenic lady this is a good thing LOL
, The album contains ten tracks all written and composed and performed by
Karen. This in itself is a rare thing these days to find a totally original
album for there is usually at least 1 cover track in most Albums these days.
The Album is
released under the Rushing Winds Records label and the production of the album
is impeccable it’s very evident that time was taken to ensure the best
production on every track vocals and harmonies and instrumentation are
faultless throughout. A real credit to the engineering of Gary Rushing.
The Album opens with
“ Jesus The One And Only “ a nice mid to uptempo praise song that’s
immediately lets you hear the quality & timbre of Karen’s voice. This leads
into a slow acoustic feel with the second track
“ I won’t Let Go” which is a soothing acoustic ballad that Karen sings
effortlessly. Track 3 “ God Of Endless
Grace “ Shows the soft rock side of Karen with
good use of vocal harmonies and a good driving bass this one gets your
feet tapping. “ Broken Bridges “ track 4 takes you back to a more mellow mood
with a meaningful piano based ballad. My second favorite track on the album
is “The Road Less Travelled “ track 5
A good song lyrically and has a light almost Celtic feel to it especially
with the flute intro. Track 6 “ Rock Of
Ages “ sees Karen rocking it up a little
Good vocals here and nice use of the Hammond type organ really fills this track
out. Now my personal pick for best track on the Album track 7 “ Keep On Living “ it catches you right from
the start with an interesting guitar based intro Vocals are excellent
throughout and keeps you interested
without being too busy, the chorus chord progression wise reminds me of Eric
Clapton’s “ Knocking On Heaven’s Door “
maybe that’s why I like this one so much I’m a big fan of Clapton LOL. Track 8
is “ Close To Me “ an intimate ballad
that works well. Then comes track 9 “ Who You Are “ which to me is the most
commercial track on the entire CD and if released as a single to radio in my
opinion would do very well. The Final track
number 10 is “ Good And Faithful
One “again a good track both lyrically and musically and provides a fitting end to what really is
a most engaging CD. This being my first
encounter with Karen Shadbolt and her music would definitely lead me to wanting
to hear more from her.
All
in all this is a well produced and excellently performed CD and would easily
grace the collections of most good
discerning Christian music fans .
Karens CD’s are available from her website at http://www.karenshadbolt.com/
Affilliate Marketing What Is It ?
September 19th 2008
Not so much a review this week but more of an explanation, someone asked me earlier in the week "Del just what is Affilliate Marketing ?"
Well affilliate Marketing has gotten some bad press over the years " making them out to be the shysters and bad boys of the business world " and in many cases rightly so , there are a lot of shady programs out there , fleecing the unsuspecting of their hard earned cash, this I won't deny. But the same is true of practically every other form of business too. From Wall Street right down to the stall on the street corner everybody is out to make a buck.We can't deny people the right to make a living but lets do it honestly.
This site is openly an affilliate marketing site that we don't try to hide it's there for all to see, what we aim to do is give you the customer the opportunity to comparison shop " meaning see who is giving the best value for your buck "We get a tiny little piece of commission everytime one of you buys something from one of our links and I mean TINY usually no more than a few cents here and a few there so no fortunes are being made otherwise Id be writing this from a beachfront in the Caribbean instead of Grey Minnesota LOL.
You know believe it or not Affilliate marketing surrounds us in lots of ways that people don't realise, for instance every TV commercial you see is a form of Affiliate marketing, every newspaper or magazine ad you read is too, in fact most forms of advertising wether they like to admit it or not is associated with affilliate marketing only the big companies make a lot more bucks than you or I . So my friend who asked the question I hope this answers it for you. Till next time have fun be good and spend loads of money LOL
Rogue Guitars
The Ageing Rocker Reviews September 4th 2008
My product review this week should strike a chord (forgive the pun) with budding guitarists out there because this week my review is of Rogue Guitars , at first glance they look a bit like Peavey Guitars as does their Logo " Intentional Who Knows " but there the similarity stops price wise at least.Sound wise they are as good if not better than most other guitars in their price range which is belive me incredably affordable for most of us. The manufacturing quality for a mostly Korean made Guitar is fairly decent , some models need a little tweaking to get the best action from them but hey even the most expensive guitars out there need that at times. For the beginner or intermediate guitarist they are ideal not sacrificing playability for price at all, and even the experienced guitarist the purist even could do worse for a second or third instrument.
They cover the wole gamut of styles from basic Acoustic to 12 string to electro Acoustic to Solid body electric and electric & acoustic basses too.They don't stop at just guitars though the manufacture some pretty decent Banjo's, Mandolins, Resonators, Lap Steels and a host of accessories to boot. In my opinion it's about time a manufacturer came on the scene offering Instruments of good Quality at an affordable price . Rogue Guitars certainly fill this slot nicely. Check out their page here at U-Ni-Que-Music.Com and judge for yourself.
August 27th 2008
This week for my product review I'm choosing a piece of Audio Software that I personally find invalueable in my own recording studio. It's not Pro Tools ,or Propellerhead or even Cuebase , but a much more reasonably piced piece of software with exceptionally user friendly options, I'm talking about Magix Music Maker 14 . It's features compare favorably with the programs mentioned above but where it really scores highly is in its user interface,the learning curve is really much lower than the others, meaning that even the novice to computer recording , can and will achieve results almost immediately.And for the beginner this is a very important factor as it gives them encouragement to experiment further. For with so many computer based recording engines the new user is oft times so bewildered by all the functions that after hours of trying to create something he gives up in frustration packs it all away uninstalls the program and never looks to trying it ever again , I know I was that person many years ago when confronted with just that senario.
I'm no computer whizz kid far from it I'm a bit too long in the tooth to say that LOL at 55 years of age with only a basic education and no training in computers if I can work a program successfully then it really has to be user friendly.So I personally would reccommed Magix Music Maker 14 for anybody new to the recording scene, it may not have all the bells & whistles of the aforementioned software programs which are I admit state of the art purpose designed software used in studio's worldwide to great effect but for the home or hobbist recorder you could do a lot worse than purchase Magix Music Maker 14 . Give it atry theres even a trial download .
