So I find myself learning and practicing the piano a lot more all week. It’s a fun instrument to learn once you get into it. I just finally wanted to play something different other than guitar. Playing piano and learning to read music is not that hard. I’ve always loved piano ballads.

Whenever I feel I’m good enough at piano, I’ll start learning some piano covers. There are songs I want to learn like John Lennon’s “Imagine”, Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”, Elton John “Tiny Dancer”, The Commodores “Easy”, The Righteous Brothers “Unchained Melody”, Simon & Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, Ben Folds “Brick”, Evanescence “My Immortal” and many others. Those are some of my favorite piano songs and I want to learn them.

I would love to get an upright piano or a grand piano but there’s no room for either of those so I guess I’m stuck with electric keyboards/pianos.  I just love the sound of the piano and want to play that music myself. I will also write original piano ballads myself which is something I’ve always wanted to do.

Another reason I wanted to get into piano/keyboard playing is so I can have the skills to learn MIDI controllers ’cause a lot of MIDI controllers have keys on them and I need to learn how to do that stuff. When I write original rock songs through DAW software, I would like to add in all kinds of instruments like strings, brass and other kinds of cool sounds.

Piano/keyboards is a pretty cool instrument. As long as you are pretty good at guitar and have been playing for a long time, you should already have plenty of music knowledge to get good at piano fast. That’s what happening with me when I learn piano. I’m already learning things quickly. I could get really good at piano in about a year or so. I just gotta stick with it and I will.

Kev

Once again, I find it interesting how when people decide to attack someone and when that someone attacks back, that someone is a bad person all of a sudden. I go through the same thing. What Donald Trump is going through, reminds me of how the local music scene treated me over the years.

You see, local musicians and people involved in the music scene, thought it was okay to criticize me and bash me whenever they wanted. They had no problem to make fun of me all they wanted like through social networking, message boards, youtube, even blogs, etc. I decide to call the local music scene out for this stuff and sure enough they’ll be like, “Oh no, Brock is a douche and a troll. He’s so unprofessional and hurting the music scene”.

Same thing going on with Trump and the media. Media attacks him, Trump calls them out and now they think he’s a bad guy for it.

The local music scene thought it was okay to criticize my music, my singing, myself as a person and all kinds of stuff but when I decide to attack back even more aggressively, they don’t like that. I’m not gonna name names but they know who they are and many of them probably still follow my blog… ya know, the haters in this area. People publicly trash me, I call try to call them out for it and some people say I shouldn’t be doing that. Just ignore them and play my music. Kind of messed up, ya know?

In my opinion, I think it’s a good thing to attack those back when you’re attacked first. Trump has been inspiring me to do that more. It’s called standing up for yourself and there’s nothing wrong with that. I think Trump has been inspiring his supporters to do that ’cause I’m noticing that Trump supporters attack those back who attacks them first.

We should have every right to stand up to things of what we believe in and that means fighting back at the haters & bullies that come after you. When people attack you first, don’t let them think it’s okay. Just don’t sit there and let ’em win. Sitting there ignoring them is not gonna do anything. Usually when you call out people for attacking you, they usually play innocent victim every fucking time. Happens with me each time I call someone out for attacking me. They’re like, “Oh no, I have freedom of speech” and blah blah blah. Just like what’s going on in the media against Trump.

This is all fucked up. I still get haters to this day and I try to ignore them most of the time but Trump is inspiring me that I shouldn’t ignore them. Don’t let people think it’s okay to get away with their bullshit.

Stand up for yourself. Whether you get attacked by liberals. If you’re a musician and if you get haters, fight back at them as well. No matter what you do as a hobby or a profession you’re gonna get your share of haters. If you hit Donald Trump, he’s gonna hit you back harder. He’s inspiring me to have that same attitude and you should too. Fighting back at your haters used to be wrong but Trump is making it normal. Be tough and rise above!

Kev

Listening to instrumental electric guitar music has always been my favorite thing. I’ve always loved listening to instrumental guitar music like Al Di Meola, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, Alan Holdsworth, Eric Johnson and others. I haven’t gotten into Yngwie Malmsteen much but I should get into his music more too. I’ve been listening to instrumental shred guitar for many years and I’m thinking of becoming that kind of artist. It’s why I’m trying to improve my guitar playing chops. Learning music theory, ear training skills, improving my technique and all that stuff. I want to play guitar like those guys I listed and working my way up there.

In the past, I used to make my own instrumental music using MIDI software and want to get back into that stuff again. I would like to make my own instrumental backing tracks to jam killer leads over it. Yeah, I want to make instrumental music ’cause I love that stuff. Doesn’t mean I’ll give up singing for good, though. I’ll make both instrumentals and songs with vocals. I’ll make songs with vocals only if the song calls for it.

It is also why I’m trying to get good with piano/keyboards so I can have the skills to use MIDI controllers and learn how to use the”Piano Roll’ on DAW’s. It is why I’m trying to study and practice virtual drums & timing so I can have the skills to program my own drum tracks.

To be an instrumental artist, having a good ear, knowing music theory and having good rhythm chops is pretty important. I’m trying to get good with all those. It has always been my dream to make an instrumental shred album and one day I will. In guitar playing, I’m not a speed demon and technical god yet but I do want to get there, though. Just taking my time. A lot of guitarists like to rush but I don’t. I just want to be patient and not get too ahead of myself.

Instrumental music is awesome and I would like to start making that kind of music myself.

Kev