A lot lately, I’ve also been listening to a lot of jazz music other than the blues. I love to listen to jazz as well. As some of you know, I’m a pretty big Al Di Meola fan. I also love Miles Davis and Wes Montgomery. About a week ago, I finished listening to all of Allan Holdsworth albums (who is awesome by the way) and I’m trying to make my way to listening to other jazz artists. I like jazz ’cause I want to study some jazz guitar as well.

Someday, I want to start making instrumental music that is kind of jazzy so I’m gonna start studying jazz guitar as well and I already have. It’s good to play both blues & jazz. I want my guitar playing to be as good as possible and want to melt peoples faces. Trying all I can to get there too. Jazz music is awesome and I’m trying to get more into that too.

I’ve been listening to Al Di Meola for the most part ’cause he really is my favorite jazz musician. If you want to hear face melting guitar playing gotta listen to that guy. I have a total of 8 albums of Al Di Meola in my music collection so I can proudly say I’m a die-hard fan of his. I kind of would like to play guitar like him. Allan Holdsworth just became my second favorite jazz musician.

I’ve been listening to a lot of both blues & jazz ’cause I’m trying to do whatever it takes to improve as a guitar player. I want to play more than just basic stuff… I want to branch out and explore. Play more difficult chords and play different scales.

In order to play this kind of music, you gotta have technical ability and have a good ear. Be good at improvisation and I’m working on all of that. I’m also trying to speed up my guitar playing in hopes of becoming a speed demon, a shredder type of guitar player is what I’m after. I’m not a speed demon or a shredder yet but I’m getting there, though. For now, I just play guitar moderately fast around 110 bpm is all I can do so far but I would like to play up 240 bpm but taking my time. In order to play fast lead guitar, you gotta start off slow and build your way up. Using the metronome will help build up your speed with a lot of practice.

Jazz music is awesome and it’s what I like to listen to when I don’t feel like listening to loud rock music. Sometimes I need to relax and calm myself… listening to jazz helps that.

Kev

I’m always getting people telling me how I’m not liked very much by other people. I’m always getting people telling me that I’m rude, negative, hateful, spiteful, a troll, etc. blah blah blah At the same time, I’m always getting people telling me I’m a good guy. I’ve always gotten badly judged like I’m a horrible person online. The thing is, you either like me or you don’t. I don’t care either way ’cause I can’t please everyone, ya know? You shouldn’t apologize for being yourself and you should never change who you are even if other people don’t like it.

I’m always getting people thinking it’s okay they can change me and dictate how I speak or think. Not happening. Last thing you wanna do is give a shit what people think of you. Be yourself and if other people don’t like it or can’t appreciate of who you are then you can give them the middle finger. Tell them to fuck off.

I’ve always gotten a mixed response to my online web presence and that’s okay. I’m always flattered to get a negative response or a positive response. I’m just being myself. What you see online is who I am on and off the computer. Being yourself is not a crime but unfortunately there are gonna be some people that will think it is a crime. Always telling you what you can and can’t say, blah blah blah. It’s getting old and tiresome… I’ve dealt with this for years too. I don’t have to please every person on this planet ’cause the world doesn’t work that way. Just be yourself and never apologize for it.

Yeah, there are plenty of other people who I don’t like. There are other people who I think is a total asshole and douchebag but I’m not gonna try to change and dictate of who they are. People can be who they wanna be. No matter how angry or pissed people get at you, never change for anyone. No matter how mad people get, they can pull their hair out or bang their head against the wall… never change for anyone.

There will be people who won’t like you but who cares. It’s not the end of the world. Just keep being you, continue to smile and enjoy life. I’ve always believed I’m a good person and if other people don’t think so, that’s okay. I’m not here to please everyone and that’s all there is to it, y’all. Fuck what everyone thinks and just be yourself ’cause haters are gonna hate.

I’m just an honest man who is trying to keep everything real and unfortunately, it’s not gonna make some happy but that’s what I do it for, though. I like to upset and offend people with the truth. I’m just a very honest guy and can’t help who I am. I don’t regret it either. For me being honest makes life easier.

Kev

When you want to play an instrument, write your own songs, play solo or play in a band do you have to be a professionally trained singer in order to sing? The reality is, not really. They say you can’t be a self-taught singer ’cause it doesn’t work that way. A lot of singers recommend voice coaching if you wanna sing but in my opinion, that’s a load of bullcrap. I think they say that just to get you throw in a few bucks to buy their online products. You don’t need to be a professionally trained singer at all if you wanna make your own music.

I mean think about it, right? A lot of famous singers out there admitted they were never professionally trained especially singers like Neil Young. Neil admitted plenty of times in interviews, he was never a great singer even though most of us think he’s amazing… Neil just went what he had. Neil always sings in that high pitch falsetto like voice which is what I like about his singing. There are too many singers who were never professionally trained like Ozzy for example. Billy Corgan is another one. Lou Reed was never the greatest singer either, he just did it anyways ’cause it’s what he loved to do. Bob Dylan wasn’t much of a singer but he did it anyways ’cause he was a storyteller & poet. There are tons of singers out there who has made a big name for themselves and they’ve never had professional vocal training. They sing because they love it. If you wanna sing then do it.

When I first started playing guitar, I started singing right away. I knew I was gonna be shit and knew that I didn’t know what I was doing but I did it anyway just to get started. When I first started singing, I knew my voice was gonna get badly criticized but I just wanted to sing my own songs that I wrote. Back then, I wasn’t confident with my singing. Back then, I didn’t take my singing seriously and just did it. Just wanted to get my start playing open mics and regular gigs. Back then I used to get real nervous singing but I learned to build more confidence in my singing as years went along.

In singing, you don’t need to be a perfectionist. Just be yourself and sing from the heart. There are too many rock & metal singers out that weren’t professionally trained. I’m not professionally trained and never had any vocal coaching but I find ways to get better on my own. As you can see, I’ve gotten way better in my singing. I have more head voice and more range now which feels good. I feel I’ve gotten okay with my singing but still gotta lot of work to do, though.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to learn how to sing when you can teach yourself. I prefer to be self taught myself ’cause if I work with a live and in person vocal coach, I could get their style and I don’t want that, ya know? You get your own original sound in your voice when you don’t learn from anyone else.

Don’t listen to those online vocal coaches that claims you need “vocal coaching” ’cause they just say that just to promote their products. Be careful there. If you wanna sing then do it. You may not like your own singing voice but hey like I said, Neil Young admitted he didn’t like his own singing voice but he made a successful career over it… you just need to stay humble.

Other people may not like your singing voice either but that’s their problem. Kudos to all you singers out there that wanna sing ’cause you enjoy it and not listening to everybody else ’cause that’s the way to be.

I remember back in the old days people trashed my singing like crazy but lately though, I haven’t seen anybody say anything negative about my singing at all which feels amazing really. I sing because I enjoy it. I love singing and sing everyday that’s how I’ve gotten better over the years.

Only thing though, I’m not the best at writing lyrics but I want to improve that too and I will!

Kev

A lot lately, I’ve been listening to so much blues. I just love blues music, man. It’s such great music. For the past year or so I’ve been listening to a lot of blues… everything from BB King to Joe Bonamassa to T Bone Walker to Buddy Guy to John Lee Hooker to Hendrix to SRV and the list can go on and on and on. For a long time now, I’ve been thinking about becoming a blues guitarist. Switch to blues music and really thinking about doing that. To be honest, my guitar playing has always been kind of bluesy in case you haven’t noticed. That’s what I get for listening to too much Zeppelin & Hendrix, I guess.

If I ever form a band someday, I’m thinking I’m gonna wanna play blues-rock. Kind of like the stuff that Joe Bonamassa and SRV did. I’ve studied blues guitar for a long time now and thinking I wanna get back into it. I enjoy blues jams. It’s really fun stuff to listen to and fun stuff to play as well.

I’m beginning to think I’m getting too old for loud rock n’ roll & hard rock and thinking that blues would be the right fit. I just love blues, man. I’ve listened to blues music pretty much throughout my whole life. I’ve been listening to more jazz music too and kind of wanna get into that as well.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love loud rock n’ roll and metal but lately I’ve been staying away from that stuff and listening to a lot of blues. It’s why I’ve been listening to the Allman Brothers a lot ’cause no matter what you think of the Allman Bros. they’re a blues band and always has been. A lot of people like to mistakenly look at the Allman Bros. as “Southern Rock” but they’re not at all. They’re a blues band, in my opinion and always were.

I also want to learn how to play slide guitar ’cause I have a glass slide that I bought last year so I can learn how to play blues on that. I also want to get into playing harmonica ’cause I have a harmonica too.

I’m just a huge fan of blues music and wanna get into playing that music myself. Yeah, I’ve been listening to so much blues music lately, not sure why. I just dig the music and it’s maybe because I’m getting older.

Kev

I know as a songwriter that you want to make sure that your music is good or not but should you listen to honest critique by other musicians of your songs? In order to improve your songs, I used to think that listening to advice from other musicians is a good idea but now that you think about it, I don’t think it’s a good idea for other musicians and songwriters to critique your songs. You know the deal… they give you honest criticism to your songs like, “The intro of the song should be shorter”, “This part should go here, this part should go there”, “Shorten that riff or make it longer”, “The song is clipping and the sound quality is crap”, “The lyrics don’t rhyme and they don’t make any sense”, etc. Yeah, I believe you get my point now. I think it’s a bad idea to get criticism and honest feedback from other musicians.

The goal is you want non-musicians to be giving you feedback on your songs, not other musicians. You know your songs are good when you get non-musicians giving you positive feedback on your songs and I’ve had gotten positive feedback by non-musicians on my songs before. Those are the people who you want to get honest feedback from ’cause why? It’s because they don’t know anything about being a musician and when they say that they like your songs, that’s when you know your songs are good. That’s who you should be trusting are the non-musicians. The regular music fans who don’t play an instrument. Their feedback is more trustworthy and more believable.

You can’t trust feedback from other musicians ’cause even if they give you advice on how to improve your song, they’ll always find something else to criticize it on. On top of that, you don’t want your songs on how they want them to be. You don’t want to please them, you want to please yourself. If you’re happy with your songs and if you think they are good enough, that’s all that should matter. So next time I put out a new batch of songs, I’m no longer going to listen to criticism from other musicians. I’m just going to leave my songs right where they are. If other musicians like ’em, fine. If they don’t like ’em, that’s fine too.

Don’t ask for feedback from other musicians ’cause it’s a bad idea, really. I used to think it was a good idea to do but all they’re gonna do is make you feel bad with their honesty after all that hard work you went through. Whatever other musicians say about your songs is just entitled to their own opinions so don’t ever listen to them. I mean so because they have more experience in recording than you do does not necessarily mean they are good at it and it doesn’t mean they know everything either. You don’t want to listen to anybody else.

You got to be your own worst critic. When you record your songs and they make you happy, if your songs make you smile then chances are your songs will make other people smile too. Once again, don’t ever listen to other musicians ’cause they’re always gonna be assholes about it. Again, if the songs make you happy that’s all there is to it.

I’m gonna start writing and recording again soon.

Kev

I think it’s pretty clear that women are obsessed with facebook memes for sure. You see women posting them all day and everyday. Some memes are positive and some are negative. They usually flood their walls with facebook memes when shit goes down in their lives like for example… 1) Having feuds with their former friends 2) They post memes as a way to attack their ex-boyfriends/husbands… you get the deal. They usually do that stuff when drama happens in their lives and I guess this is their way of “venting” and getting things out of their system.

I don’t post too many facebook memes. I only reshare the ones that catches my eye. Most of my posts in facebook are mostly political stuff, movie reviews and music. I don’t use my personal facebook page to post “personal” things.

When women get obsessed with facebook memes, you can immediately tell what’s going on in their life like having arguments with friends & family, attacking their ex’s or whatever. When they start posting that stuff, you know something is not good in their life.

Facebook drama. That’s all it is. I try to stay away from facebook drama as much as I can ’cause you know how “gossipy” and “dramatic” people can be in facebook. I don’t have time for that garbage. I got better things to do. If I wanted to vent about something going on in my life, I’d write a song about it… that’s better in my opinion.

Kev

A lot of people like to rail at those who stay single for a long time or worse been single throughout their life but is there anything wrong with that? No not at all! It’s actually really good to live the single life ’cause it ain’t that bad. Being single sucks and it hurts, yes but you gotta learn to enjoy it, ya know?

Like the meme says above, it really is better being with no one than being with the wrong one. So true if you think about it! Like I said in a post before… women complain and bitch about how horrible men are at relationships but don’t let their lies fool ya… women are just as bad. They accuse men of being “manwhores” and sleeping around a bunch of different women but make no mistake about it… there are some women that sleep around too. Women can also be “serial cheaters”. They’re just better at hiding it then men are, ya know?

It’s better being single ’cause once again, why risk getting cheated on and being heartbroken or destroyed? Why risk getting women pregnant or getting STD’s and all that stuff?

Not all women are “cheaters” or “sluts” or whatever you wanna call ’em but even if she isn’t, she could still be a big drama queen and be a big nightmare for you. Not all women out there are good… there are a lot of crazy women out there, indeed.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of “good” women out there who will love you for you and accept you for you who are no matter how you live your life, you just gotta find her and get lucky.

With that being said, being single is not really all that bad as I enjoy it. The single life is safer, healthier and drama-free. I understand where other singles are coming from ’cause I agree the “dating” scene is bullshit.

I’m still gonna look for Ms. Right, though. I deserve a nice girlfriend too and will get her somehow!

Happy V-Tines Day and stay warm.

Kev

If you’re a beginner guitarist or just starting out and want to get real good… you don’t need to spend a lot of money on learning how to play guitar at all. In this day and age of technology, it seems like all the pros wanna make lots of money by teaching people to play guitar. Before the internet came around, we had to look for guitar teachers by looking up in the advertisements through your local newspapers. Now that the internet is so huge, there are tons of online courses that are being owned by pros which I’m sure will costs hundreds or thousands of dollars in order to join their course. Before the age of the internet, I admittedly learned by working with two different guitar instructors. Then I gave up guitar lessons so I can become self-taught.

To be good at guitar, you don’t really need to spend any money at all. I’ve learned by taking a few guitar lessons with two different instructors then I stopped so I can get my own style of playing. I’ve also learned by reading guitar magazines like Guitar World for example. I’ve also learned by watching other guitarists play. I’ve also learned by playing my favorite songs by ear… I’ve done that a lot and still try to play songs by ear sometimes but need to do it more.

To get good at guitar, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars at college. You don’t need to do all of these online courses either.

All you need to do is play along with your favorite songs and just watch other guitarists. That’s how I’ve learned mostly. I never took guitar lessons too much. With those two instructors that I worked with, I only had a few lessons with them and that was it. I’ve spent the last 20 years teaching myself.

I feel I’m an okay guitar player now but still got a lot of work and learning to do. I don’t really want to learn from other guitarists. I prefer to be self-taught for a lot of reasons. If you have someone else teach you, you’re going to get their style and their vision. I’ve always been worried about that and that’s why I refuse to be taught by other people. You learn to play guitar by listening to your favorite music and jamming along to your favorite songs which is what I used to do all the time.

As a guitarist you don’t really need to play by the rules either. In my opinion, all the guitar masters are the ones who don’t play by the rules… they just play by feel. That’s how Hendrix and Jimmy Page played… they played by feeling… not worrying about all of this music theory and scales stuff. They just played from the heart. That’s how the guitar should be played. Playing by the rules is lame and I never did that. Just play from your gut and play whatever makes you feel good. You don’t need to be a “perfectionist” as a guitarist so you can forget taking expensive lessons. You can quickly become a guitar genius or a guitar god without any of that shit. Just be yourself and be real… that’s who the real guitar masters are.

I am studying music theory and stuff but I’m just learning the basics so I can figure out how to stay in key when I’m soloing but I’m still not gonna play by the rules, though.

If you want to play guitar and can’t find a teacher, you don’t fuckin’ need one. Just sit there with your guitar in front of your stereo, put on your favorite CD and play along. That’s how most of the guitar gods got so good like Page, Hendrix, Clapton, etc. All they did was sit there in front of their record players trying to figure out songs note by note. If they can do it, you can too. It won’t really cost you anything either.

I love being a self-taught guitar player. I’ve learned so much about guitar playing and I didn’t pay a whole lot to learn that stuff. Most online courses just wanna make a quick buck, they don’t care about you at all.

Kev

I’m always getting people judging my life. All the time. I don’t know why people get interested in my life of how I live it off the computer, in the real world. Yes, there are some things in my life that aren’t perfect but your life isn’t perfect either so get over yourselves, assholes. Some people like to call me a pathetic loser but I don’t listen to ’em. My life is a good one, thank you and I’m happy. I try not to talk about my life publicly ’cause it’s called a “personal life” for a reason and I try my best to keep it off the public internet. What I do in my life or how I live it is pretty much none of anyone’s business.

When people start judging you then you should start asking about their life and they usually don’t answer most of the time because why? Simply because they’ll never admit that their life isn’t perfect either. They’ll never admit that there are some things wrong in their life as well. I’m not perfect. You’re not perfect. Nobody is.

I’m just a normal guy living life, playing my music and doing the things that I want to do. Never explain your personal life to anybody. So before you accuse someone of having not much going on in his/her life, you should look in the mirror and look at your own. You are probably a loser yourself and will never admit it.

Kev