Many of us have heard of the KISS principle: "Keep it simple, stupid." It's an old principle that reminds us that simplicity should be our goal. In many ways, the KISS principle applies to music, but I would modify it to say "It's the song, stupid." For example, I was listening to some music the other day, and while the guitarist was playing great licks, there wasn't a whole … [Read more...]
Netflix
I've mentioned lala several times on this blog, and I've enjoyed trading CDs on lala. In the same vein, I thought I'd highlight another online service that I've really enjoyed over the past few years: Netflix. (Netflix is an online DVD rental service.) Although most people are aware that Netflix carries pretty much all of the recent movie releases, you may not be aware that … [Read more...]
Metal Helps Guitars
BusinessWeek Magazine recently featured an article about how the resurgence of heavy metal has helped some guitar makers. The article highlights several niche, unique guitar builders that make guitars typically used by heavy metal guitarists. The three guitar makers discussed are Halo Custom Guitars, Inc., Minarik Guitars, and B.C. Rich Guitars. The common thread among all … [Read more...]
lala – 6-Month Review
It's been about six months since I signed up with CD-trading service lala, and overall, I'm still pleased with the service. I've made almost 90 trades so far, so I thought I'd give another review since I've had a chance to get a pretty good view of how the system works.* As I mentioned above, I'm still pleased with lala overall. However, I do have some nits to pick. … [Read more...]
Magazines Put Out To Pasture
Guitar World has recently, and quietly, shut down operations on several of their magazine properties: Guitar One, Guitar World Bass, and Guitar World Acoustic. As a former subscriber to Guitar One, I figured the magazine had been shut down when I started receiving Guitar World issues with the "best of Guitar One" included, although they never indicated the magazine had actually … [Read more...]