It’s nice to see that people are starting to notice that I’m pretty dedicated to guitar playing ’cause I really am! Guitar playing and making music is pretty much all I want to do in life, ya know? It’s in my blood. I’m pretty dedicated and committed to becoming like one of the greats someday.

Do I want to make a lot of money and get famous off of my guitar playing? It would be nice but I don’t really care if it happens or not ’cause I just play guitar for fun. It’s what I do. It feels nice that my guitar playing has been getting a lot of positive feedback as of late, though. Maybe I should seek a bigger career in music, I don’t know.

I am dedicated to taking my guitar playing to the next level, though. I’m hoping to become a little more technically skilled. Honestly, I can never tell if I’m good or not, I just let the music speak on its own. That’s the way it should be.

When learning to play guitar better and studying music theory, I’m taking everything seriously. Looking at every aspect even if it’s small. I want to become a guitar wizard but it’ll still take some time to get there.

It is nice to hear that people notice my love for music ’cause I really do love music. Whether playing an instrument or listening to others music, it’s what I do. Music is what makes me happy. I don’t know what I’ll be like without music. We need more people who shows love for music ’cause there are too many musicians out there that look bored doing it and don’t have any confidence at all. Most musicians are in it for the money. I’m probably one of the very few who has a strong passion for music.

Music is my life and that’s the end of it.

Kev

In the past, I used to struggle with jamming over chord progressions. I love jamming so much. I love playing lead guitar and I love soloing! It’s what I picked up the guitar for to begin with ’cause I wanted to play lead guitar like all the greats! I am finding that playing scales over chord progressions and making it sound good is actually pretty easy. That’s why you gotta learn your music theory, ya know? I’m so glad I learned it ’cause it is helping me a lot.

However, though, I won’t learn a lot of scales. The only scales I’ll use are probably just the major/minor pentatonic scales and the modes. I enjoy modal jamming too!

I just wish I have a good ear in music and that’s improving too. I’m starting to get the hang of what a lot of notes sound like and memorizing sounds. I’m doing all I can to master the art of “improvisation” and become a wiz at music theory but I’m getting there, though!

While I think I’m an okay lead guitarist, I also need to work on the phrasing and try to sound more melodic. When you want to become a great lead guitarist, sounding musical is key. When soloing, you don’t want to sound like you’re running up and down scales in every song. You gotta sound musical and that’s my goal.

I’m not a shredder yet but that is my goal. I would like to play 200 bpm or more but it’ll take a lot of practice to get there.

I’m doing all I can to improve my guitar playing and take it to the next level. It’s fun and I love learning music and love playing guitar.

Kev

If I really want to improve my lead guitar playing and take it to the next level… I need to do more than just studying music theory, practicing ear training and figuring out songs by ear. One way that WILL really help your lead guitar skills is just by simply jamming with other musicians. Jamming with other guitarists, bass players and even jam with other bands which I plan to do all that really soon. Jamming with other musicians will really help your playing overall, though.

I jammed on guitar with other musicians in the past before but I really need to do that a lot more. Jam at open mic nights and things like that. Jam with other musicians just for fun and nothing more.

Before I decide to form a band of my own, I need to jam with other musicians to test out my improvisation skills. I’ve heard that jamming with real musicians will really help your playing and I need to start doing that soon.

Kev

A lot of people make the mistake that you can’t play rock n’ roll and metal on the acoustic guitar. You can. As a matter of fact, most of my original acoustic songs were metal inspired as you can probably tell. Actually most of my songs are kind of metal a little bit ’cause that’s how I originally heard those songs in my head especially songs like Mr. Tough Guy, Suicide Or Murder, Time Bomb, Backstabbers, etc.

When I write a new batch of songs, I plan to make a lot more music like that. Songs with aggressive guitar playing and making some rockin’ riffs.

Why is my acoustic playing always pretty tight? It’s how I always played. I can’t help myself. It’s just the way I play. I just play whatever comes out and let the fingers do the talking. That’s what I get from listening to too much rock & metal over the years of my life. I don’t play the acoustic like a country or folk guitarist. I try to play that way but each time I pick up the acoustic guitar, I always want to rock on it. I’m not the type of acoustic guitar player that will be looked at as a folk singer if you know what I mean. I want to be a rock n’ roller. I wrote dark lyrics to my songs ’cause they were metal inspired… most of ’em.

I may listen to all kinds of music but rock, metal and prog would always be my main genres. Although I’m trying to get into jazz and blues more too and I have.

I’m a big fan of ballads and slow songs yes but mostly I just wanna rock most of the time. That’s how I am. I just don’t really want to sit there and write sad songs and love songs. Not me. I still do love writing ballads but mostly I want to rock out.

You can play rock & metal riffs on the acoustic guitar just like you can with the electric. On the acoustic, you may never be able to get distortion through it but you can still rock on the acoustic for sure. Like I said before most people look at the acoustic guitar as a country and folk instrument. I look at it as a rock instrument. The reason I play a lot of rock on the acoustic is ’cause I don’t have a band really. That’s why I write rock songs on acoustic first.

I am having plans in forming a band of my own someday ’cause I want to rock with an electric guitar.

Kev

When I first started playing guitar at 18 years old, I never learned music theory until now. For the past year or so, I’ve been studying really hard on music theory. I’ve learned so much of it:: the scale degrees, the notes in the chords, the circle of fourths/fifths, intervals, key signatures, rhythm/timing, etc. That’s all the basic music theory you really need to learn. In the past, I was always lazy at learning music theory and didn’t really understand any of it until now. I think I understand a great deal of music theory now ’cause it’s not that hard. Music theory is actually surprisingly easy.

If you want to become a good guitar player, a good songwriter and even a good lead guitar soloist then you gotta learn music theory. It especially helped with my own songwriting. Music theory will make it a lot easier to apply scales to chord progressions.

I’m doing my best to become a more professionally skilled musician. Trying to take my musicianship to the next level is what I’m doing.

I’ve also been working on my guitar playing chops a lot as you can probably hear. I’m trying my best to become better at lead guitar ’cause I want to be good at both rhythm guitar and lead guitar. I love playing lead guitar and I love soloing so much. I want to do a lot of that for my own music. I just want to play lead guitar after years of listening to my heroes: Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Satriani and Clapton who are a few of my favorite guitarists. They’re my biggest influences really.

Is it my goal is to become a virtuoso kind of player? Not really. I just want to write good songs, man. That’s all I care about. I’m trying to improve my guitar playing and songwriting skills is all. I have been getting a lot better as you can probably hear. If you want to become a better musician then you got to learn and practice.

I still need to improve my ear training and improvisation skills, I’ve been working hard on that too.

Kev

I have been using the Acoustica Mixcraft 7 (the Home Studio version) on my PC for like 4 songs and so far, I’m pretty impressed with Mixcraft 7. I think it’s the easiest DAW I’ve ever used. In the past, I used to use Cakewalk and the old ProTools but they were very challenging & confusing DAW to use so I think I’ll stick with Mixcraft after all. Now that I like Mixcraft 7, I think I’m gonna upgrade to the full version which I will soon. The Mixcraft 7 that I got was just the Home Studio version which only costed me $50 but I can upgrade to the full version for an additional $40 which I will pretty soon.

In Mixcraft 7, I’ll be able to do MIDI with this stuff so I can figure out a way to add drums and bass to my songs & other instruments. Mixcraft 7 is pretty similar to Apple’s Garagaband but Mixcraft 7 is even better, in my opinion. Now that I have Mixcraft 7, I no longer need Garageband or Amplitube on the Ipad.

If I need guitar effects, Mixcraft 7 will have all that. They have built in guitar effects I would think. Mixcraft 7 is pretty easy and simple to use. Probably the best DAW out there. If you’re looking for a DAW, you should look into Mixcraft 7. Don’t waste money on expensive DAW like ProTools, Reason, Ableton Live and all that garbage… they make recording too complicated. Mixcraft is the way to go.

I need the full version anyways so I can convert to MP3.

I’m still pretty new to Mixcraft 7 so if I make a lot of mistakes with the recordings, it’s not my fault really. I need to re-record two songs over again ’cause I noticed the tempo slows down by itself in the middle of the song. That’s one cool new thing that I’ve noticed with the DAW. Mixcraft 7 allows you to change the tempo of the song… I’m sure all DAW’s allow you to do that but Mixcraft 7 makes it easier. I can now record songs in a different tempo like if I want the verse slow and make the chorus fast/upbeat, I can do that.

Only thing though, I can’t use these PresSonus speaker monitors for mixing ’cause I need those TRS cables which I will order soon also.

The best thing about Mixcraft 7 is that it’s not just a DAW… it’s also a mixing and mastering program. You can mix and master your own music on here which is cool. You can also make videos on here.

So will I ever one day make an MTV/VH1 styled music video like so many unsigned bands & artists have been doing lately? I used to disagree with making music videos for my songs but I’m thinking of giving it a try.

Anyway, Mixcraft 7 is good shit and I think I’m gonna keep it.

Kev

Ya know, admittedly I’m having a blast looking back at my older songs for the “Greatest Hits” album. Earlier today I just recorded guitar parts for an old song I wrote back in 2006 called, “Suicide Or Murder”. I recorded guitar solos and all. I’m noticing I’m really not that bad at lead guitar solos actually so I’m hoping I know what I’m doing and staying in the right key. I hope I’m using the right scales and all so I think I’m doing okay.

As far as my older songs go, I’m really liking the older acoustic rock stuff that I did and for the new songs, I wanna get my into that. The acoustic rock stuff with the dark lyrics. For my new material, I’m gonna get back into that for sure. I’ll mix it up with rock songs and mellow stuff ’cause I’m a huge fan of ballads.

I used to think that I was gonna stay away from the dark and controversial lyrics but now I’m thinking that’s not a problem at all. I’m noticing people are enjoying my dark & controversial lyrics so I should keep writing them. Tell dark stories about certain stuff. I’ll continue to write positive & family friendly songs too, though. I feel that I’m best at writing dark lyrics anyways. The darker songs get more attention than the positive ones.

Yeah so I’ve finally started the internet album that I’ve been talking about for years. I’ve waited this long ’cause I was waiting for the right recording equipment and stuff. Soon I gotta get some kind of photoshop software for my computer so I can design an album cover but I gotta do a photoshoot for the album cover, though and I will soon.

I’m pretty committed to this thing. It’s a long wait but I’ll make sure the long wait will be worth it. Trust me, y’all. I’m trying to make this album a good one.

When I do finally get this album out sometime in the future, I’m hoping to do a few radio interviews to help promote it like Crumbs Cafe maybe. I’ve always wanted to do a Crumbs Cafe interview and I’m sure the guys at Crumbs always wanted to do an interview with me so when I get this album out, that interview will be a great idea to help promote it and get it out there. I’ll have to make the album and release it first though which is gonna be a long while.

Kev

I don’t think I’m the best lead guitarist so I think I’m getting the hang of things, though. For my internet album, I’m planning on having guitar solos on all of my songs. You heard me play guitar solos on my songs “Mr. Tough Guy” and “Be On the Run” well that’s just the beginning. I plan on having guitar solos on most of my songs.

Only problem is, I’m not the best at applying scales to chord progressions but I just discovered a neat little trick that will handle that. What I do is write out all the notes in the chords that are in the chord progressions and find the scale that goes with those notes. The scale that would have those notes would work. For scales I would probably mostly use the minor/major pentatonic scales, the blues pentatonic scales and all the modes. Jamming lead guitar over my own songs is great for practising anyway so I’m gonna keep doing it.

I’m not the best improviser yet but I’m really getting there, though. I want to add guitar solos to my songs on the internet album ’cause like I said before, I want it to be a “guitar” album. Make an album that guitar lovers would love. Try to make it a face melting guitar album is my goal. I only got 3 songs for the internet album so far but I got a bunch more coming.

Notice the improvement of sound quality of the songs so far? I told ya, I wasn’t make it up. My songs sound really good with this new recording rig especially the vocals.

Yeah, I love playing lead guitar and I want to do that more especially for this record that I’m making. It’s nice that these songs are getting great feedback so far. I remember in the past, my songs used to get so much negative feedback but these days people have been saying nothing but positive things about my music which feels amazing really. I’ll have more songs coming.

Kev

I remember back in the 80’s and early 90’s blank cassette tapes were a big thing back then. They used to sell blank cassette tapes everywhere in stores. Before compact disc came around, blank cassette tapes is where I used have my music collection.

I used make mixed tapes all the time for my own listening enjoyment. I would collect as many songs as much as possible by making copies from other friends or recording them off the FM radio by using a boombox. Yeah when I was a kid, I used to have a boombox with a record button on it that allows me to record off of FM radio. I remember I used to listen to FM radio all night and record my favorite songs off of radio. Whenever I want a full album from someone, I’ll make a copy of it on tape.

I also used to use blank cassette tapes for my Tascam 4 track machine where I used to record acoustic songs on.

Yeah, I remember I used to buy a lot of blank cassette tapes back in the day. I used to have loads of them.

I sort of miss these blank cassette tapes because today, music is done digitally these days with the likes of Itunes and stuff. Blank cassette tapes were better ’cause they don’t take up disk space on your computer, lol. I do miss those days, though.

I hate when technology changes but there’s nothing you can do about it. Technology changes and evolves, that’s the way it is.

Kev

Admittedly, I kind of would like to get fame and get recognized for my music sometime down the road but if it doesn’t happen at all, that’s okay. Some people wonder if I would ever get famous for my music but to be honest, I don’t really care whether I do or not ’cause I just do music for fun. Just trying to stay humble as best as possible and leave my ego at the door, ya know? I would like to get recognized for my music and get heard like everyone else, sure.

I don’t think I’ll ever do those singing competitions on TV (like the Voice, America’s Got Talent, Idol, etc.)… not my thing. I won’t even sign a record deal to a major label either ’cause I hate major labels but would I one day sign with an indie label? Ya know, I actually would sign with an independent label if I can find the right one and if I get any offers. An indie label would be kind of cool but the only thing though, a lot of indie labels are no different than major labels. What I’m saying is that indie labels can be just as bad as majors so you gotta watch out for ’em so I may as well stay unsigned.

I definitely would like to get more fame & more recognition with my music like performing the bigger stages, get more interviews with radio, do interviews for music magazines and do TV performances on late night talk shows. All that would be fun for sure.

If none of that happens then that’s okay. I’ll just continue to do what I do and stay humble. Just play my music for the enjoyment of it and make music for the fans who enjoy it. It is flattering as hell that I continue to get positive feedback with my music whether it’s my covers or originals. I’m glad people are enjoying my originals too. I like to entertain people too and that’s what I do it for. I want to entertain you and put smiles on peoples faces with my music. That’s all I pretty much care about really. I enjoy playing music for people.

All the positive feedback that I keep getting with my music is inspiring me to keep it going. That’s the whole point of my “Greatest Hits” album ’cause I want to celebrate my music with the fans.

Kev