The blues is the most overlooked and ignored genre of music but it is an important genre. Why? Whether you all listen to the blues or not… the blues has influenced all of us in many ways. The blues is where rock and metal originated from pretty much. That was how Black Sabbath invented the heavy metal genre ’cause Tony Iommi was very blues influenced. Sabbath started off as a blues band originally. All the rock guys we all love started off playing blues that includes Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, etc.

I’ve listened to blues music pretty much my entire life. All my favorite bands that I love: Led Zep, the Allman Bros., Joe Satriani, Neil Young, Eric Clapton… they are all blues influenced musicians.

Of course, I do listen to real blues music like Robert Johnson, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson, Buddy Guy, T Bone Walker, Lightning Hopkins, etc. I’m a huge fan of SRV too.

If you notice with my own songwriting, a lot of my originals are blues influenced.

Blues maybe boring music to listen to but if you give it a chance, you would love it. Many of your favorite bands and artists wouldn’t be around today if weren’t for blues music.

Whenever I play lead guitar, my lead guitar playing always seem to sound so bluesy. Can’t help it. That’s how I seem to always play.

I just think listening to the blues a lot will help you become a better rock guitarist. A lot of musicians today would slam the blues, accusing it of being boring and just guitar players noodling. It’s just a bunch of bullshit. A lot of the blues guys can be very talented and a lot of blues stuff can give you pretty big goosebumps.

Forget listening to fuckin’ John Mayer. John Mayer maybe a talented blues guitarist but that’s all he is, in my opinion. You should listen to real blues artists like the ones I listed above.

If you haven’t heard Robert Johnson, then you really need to get educated with music. Most of the classic rock bands we all know and love was because of Robert Johnson. Eric Clapton picked up the guitar because of him. Led Zeppelin was Robert Johnson inspired too. Same with the Grateful Dead, Cream, etc.

I think every music lover needs to listen to the blues. I think I would wanna play more blues music on the guitar myself more. Blues will help you become a better musician and songwriter. It shouldn’t be ignored. Listening to Robert Johnson is recommended. Once you do, you would see why so many famous rock legends look after him.

Kev

Another one worth re-sharing.

The tough thing about being a blogger and all that stuff is that you will have to deal with all kinds of drama, spiteful criticisms and misguided opinions about you. I’ve dealt with all kinds of shit from people over the years. I’ve dealt with all kinds of crazy shit from musicians and non-musicians. I’ve wished I’ve known about this advice years ago. I’m usually blamed for “starting stuff” but it’s not true. It’s just that people can be crazy lunatics in this world. Period. End of story.

This should be helpful to others so definitely worth re-sharing.

Kev

I know I’ve been posting quite a bit today ’cause I had a lot to say but I think this will be my final post for the night.

Earlier this afternoon I decided to finally re-string my hollow-body electric guitar and then re-tuned it. Plugged my electric into my amp and I’ve been noodling around. Just playing electric riffs and some leads.

Ya know, I think I am capable of playing good guitar solos that will be pretty face-melting. I know the scales, the techniques and all that stuff but the only things I need to practice and work on are the phrasing and ear training. In lead guitar, you don’t even need to be all technical about it. You don’t need to learn over 20 scales. All you need is just a few scales… the basic ones like the Minor/Major Pentatonic, The Blues Minor/Major Pentatonic, the Major Scale, and the Modes. I already know most of that stuff but I still have a lot of learning to do on the Modes which is getting worked on.

One thing I’m admittedly not very good at yet is the improvisation and ear training but I’m working on that too and practicing really hard. Once I improve my music theory knowledge and improvisation skills… pretty soon… you’ll hear me do some face-melting guitar playing that other musicians (and hopefully non-musicians) will enjoy.

I believe I’m pretty good at rhythm guitar and riffs but lead guitar I wanna get improved on and that’s what I’m most focused on. I love guitar solos and long jams. That’s the kind of stuff I prefer to listen to and that’s the kind of stuff you’ll hear if I ever get my own band going. I love listening to music where the band plays a song and it extends into a long jam. That probably explains my obsession with music artists such as Led Zep, Hendrix, Neil Young, The Allman Brothers, and Joe Satriani.

I like to write long songs between 7 – 10 minutes sometimes ’cause I can’t help it. I get that by listening to those artists above. I try to write short songs but I can’t help writing the long ones. That’s how I always play. It’s amazing what music does to ya. If you’re the type of musician who plans ahead of how long a song should be… then you’re doing it wrong. You should never really be able to tell how long a song is. A song stops when it wants to and that’s the end of it, ya know what I mean?

Kev

Another good facebook meme worth posting. Like I said before, I seem to attract a lot of negative people and haters. Avoiding them is the best way to go. Why is it that you attract a lot of negative people and haters? Probably because they know you’re a talented person, smart, and a good person. They just want to see you fail at life. I think that’s pretty much it. Whatever you do in life, and if you’re a successful person… if you got all kinds of negative people coming after you… they are probably jealous. I’m sure you’re good at something whether you play music, an artist, carpenter, writer or whatever hobby you have… people are gonna attack you out of jealousy ’cause of your talent. The same thing with successful people in life. If you have a good family and good job and all that stuff… people will still attack you out of jealousy. People will be jealous of you of being happy and staying strong. Don’t let that stuff get to you.

Ignore negative people. When people treat you like garbage for no reason, pretend they’re dead. Act like they don’t exist to you. It works for me all the time. I used to defend myself from negative people but it’s pointless ’cause you’ll never win. If you have heated conflicts and drama with your friends and even your own family members… lose contact with them immediately. Get negative people out of your life.

In facebook, you see so many people complaining and ranting about negative people in their lives and that isn’t gonna make things better for you if you keep defending yourself from negative people.

Avoid the negative people and surround yourself with the good ones. That’s what I do. Surround yourself with people who do care about you and have your back and loyal support, 100%.

When I talk about this stuff, I don’t just do it for myself… I do it to try and help others… thanks to the Ultimate Warrior for this inspiration.

You don’t need to get yourself involved in drama of any kind. Like Warrior says life matters. Make the best of it in life.

Only support the people who love and respect you in return. Believe me, I’ve got plenty of kind people who have had my back throughout the years. Don’t focus on the negatives and enjoy life.

Kev

What are some ways to improve your ear training and improv skills? Not only you have to have some music theory knowledge — you have to do a lot more work than that. Having a good skill at improvisation requires having a good ear. Having a good ear is tough to do but I’m trying my best. Here are some simple tips on improving your ear as a musician:

• Ear training instructional material – There are all kinds of great books, CD’s, DVDs and Iphone/Ipad apps that can help you improve your pitch in music. I try to go through this as much as I can and being self-taught at ear training is good stuff.
• Singing along to each note you play – To get the note memorized in your head easier, singing along to it is key. You don’t necessarily have to have a good singing voice to sing along to practice your pitch. I do this all the time and it works. You may have a shitty singing voice but doing this helps.
• Record yourself playing notes and see if you match it with your guitar – This helps too. Play anything random and see if you match the note without even looking at the fretboard.
• Jamming along to backing tracks – If you want to jam in a band playing along with recorded backing tracks is good practice. You can find all kinds of backing tracks in youtube. If you’re good with MIDI, you can even create your own backing tracks if you want to. Another good idea is get a loop pedal and jam along with that and I’m thinking about buying one of those sometime in the future.
• Jam along with your favorite recordings, try to copy solos off that song – Trying to figure out solos to your favorite songs without looking at tablature really helps too. Don’t look at guitar tab. Guitar tab is for babies. Be a real guitar player and figure it out by ear!
• Jam with actual musicians – Jamming with other musicians really helps your improvisation skills greatly and I’m gonna start doing this soon. Get yourself together with a guitar or bass player and just jam for fun. Or even better go to your local open jam night at a bar and I’m sure you’ll find plenty of musicians willing to play with you. Playing with as many musicians as possible will help improve your skills and I gotta start doing this myself.
• Just listen and think – You can even improve your improvisational skills by not even touching the guitar at all. Listen to as much music as possible. Listen to your favorite guitar heroes. Another good tip, don’t listen to any music at all and you can still hear music in your head. Listen to music in your head and try to copy what you hear in your head. I think the correct word I’m looking is “visualization”. “Visualizing” really helps too.

I’m sure there’s more tips and advice but those are some of the big ones.

I really want to become great at improv. That has always been my goal as a guitarist ever since I picked it up 19 or 20 years ago.

Kev

I think it’s important that every musician should learn music theory. It’s not that hard to learn really. It’s all a piece of cake to learn. Pretty easy stuff. It just takes quite a while to memorize that stuff by heart and I’m getting there.

If I want to learn improvisation, learn how to write songs better and stuff… I gotta learn this stuff. I’ve been playing guitar for 19 – 20 years now and I really need to sound like that I’ve been playing for that long. My goal in guitar is not necessarily to become a shredder. I just wanna to be able to play everything I hear in my head. My head is like a radio 24/7. I’m always hearing songs in my head and I wanna be able to get that stuff out of me quickly. To do that, you must have a good ear.

Memorize the names of the notes on the guitar fretboard. Know how intervals work. The major scale, the circle of 4ths/5ths, key signatures… so on and so forth.

I’ve been trying to learn all kinds of different scales. Learning various finger exercises for building up my speed. When I do finger exercises and scales, I like to play along with a metronome. Playing along with a metronome is pretty important. It’s to help you learn to play fast. I do wanna play fast lead guitar but only when the solo calls for it so I’m probably not gonna be obsessed with fast notes. I just wanna play good guitar solos. Speaking of the metronome, I also have been playing rhythm guitar along with it too ’cause I really need to learn how to play in the pocket and play real tight if I ever wanna play in a band someday.

I wanna play good lead guitar. I wanna be able to learn to improvise and learn phrasing. All that stuff. Trying really hard.

I just wanna become a real “musician”. I wanna be able to jam with other guitarists and maybe even other bands too. I’m trying all I can to become a more advanced musician. It takes dedication, patience, and hard work.

A lot of people mistakenly wants to believe that Jimi Hendrix never knew any music theory but they are all wrong. Hendrix was a music theory master, he knew all of it.

It’s important stuff to learn. Honestly, I’ve been focusing a lot on learning guitar more than songwriting. I just wanna play like all of my heroes that I look after (Page, Hendrix, Satriani, etc.).

Pretty soon you’ll see me on youtube playing guitar solos over songs when I’m ready.

Guitar playing is really in my blood. I really love it too much. Just wanna get better and learn how to play like a pro. Getting there the best I can. I just wanna get better at guitar so I can write better songs.

Kev

Yes. I know I can be a bit of an asshole online. I have no regrets. Have no problem with it. However, though, I never saw myself as a negative person online… I always saw myself as brutally honest. Yes, I know people aren’t gonna like me because of it but that’s their prerogative. I’m a brutally honest person ’cause that’s who I am and who I’ve always been. If something sucks or if I don’t agree with it, I won’t be afraid to say it.

It doesn’t make an honest person a bad person, though. If you dislike a person ’cause they tell the truth… that’s just your opinion. If you think this person is a bad person ’cause of his/her honesty, that doesn’t exactly mean everyone else will think so.

Being honest is good for ya. There’s nothing wrong with it. In this day and age of the internet, honest people are usually looked at as “trolls” or just a trouble maker trying to get people fired up.

Good things can come out of being honest. Over the years of my social networking and blogging, I’ve had a lot of people come up to me in person telling me that they enjoy reading everything I post. Not everybody dislikes me. Agree with it or not, I’ve got a lot of followers and supporters of my online web presence. People have followed me online throughout the United States and I even have some followers from other countries (mainly the UK). Plus in 2006, I’ve got a nod from the Metroland twice on my online blogging and that local newspaper are still fans of my online web presence to this day which is awesome. I also continue to get decent blog views and hits.

Even if people dislike me or what I call them “haters”, they are still following everything I do ’cause they can’t wait to read what I post next. Don’t lie about it “haters”, I know you do. Deep down inside, I know they enjoy reading the things I post even if they don’t wanna admit it, ya know?

People will respect you for your honesty. I know I’ve ranted about this before but I have no problem doing it again. The best bloggers are the ones who are brutally honest. People who aren’t afraid to tell the truth no matter the consequences.

I like being this way because it bothers me that I hold my thoughts in and a blog is a good opportunity to get it all out. That’s what a blog is for to write what’s on your mind. I don’t like being a fake person and like to keep it real. Doesn’t matter the topic, I’m honest in everything. Music, movies, politics, the entertainment industry, life, etc.

If  people don’t like your thoughts and opinions… don’t let them think it’s okay to control you ’cause I never allowed people to control my thoughts. I make an opinion on a topic and I stick with it no matter what anybody says. That’s how you don’t let people win. Never change your thoughts and views ’cause others don’t agree with it.

As for the local music scene, I’m honest with that too. I know I am pretty dislike-able in local music but agree with it or not, I’ve got a lot of musicians who have supported and respected me over the years. Some of them are fans of my web presence too. I thank them for that.

It’s good to be real ’cause nobody would pay attention if you aren’t. There are people who don’t take everything you do personally or seriously. If you don’t take it personally or seriously… you would find what I do enjoyable and entertaining. That’s part of why I do what I do. I do it to entertain people. Whether people like me or not, I do it for my entertainment and for my own amusement as well.

Never change who you are ’cause others don’t like you. You can’t ’cause it’s crazy on the internet. You don’t have to satisfy every person on here.

Kev

I hate facebook memes but sometimes I come across a real good one that will be worth re-sharing.

Yes, I don’t have time for any drama, negativity, gossip or bullshit of any kind. I try to avoid negative people and drama queens the best I can. It’s never been my thing really. I don’t care about negativity…. whether online or off. Why? It’s because I’m on a path of purpose. My life is great and that’s all I’m worried about. I just wanna live a happy, strong, and positive life.

When people are gossiping about pretty personal stuff like relationship problems with couples & family and all that stuff, leave me out. I’m not interested. I also try to stay away from dramatic people the best I can.

When people get all negative and dramatic over me… they’re done. They don’t exist to me anymore. If someone decides to give me bullshit, I’ll pretend that person is dead to me. I’m very good at ignoring people like they don’t exist. I can go through years of ignoring this person and they won’t hear from me again. No contact. No nothing. I’ve done it to plenty of people before. When people decide to stab me in the back when I thought they had their love and support, I get them out of my life completely. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if it’s someone I know really well, a local musician or if you’re a famous celebrity… I don’t care who the person is… I’ll get that person out of my life. That’s what you must do if you wanna live a happy life, ya know? Ya gotta get rid of negative people.

Negative people is sometimes hard to avoid ’cause they are always coming around. That’s why I am strict on my online moderating. Just my way of eliminating negative people in my life.

When you decide to be negative and dramatic, just think what that is doing to your own life? Like this meme says, it’s disconnects you from your purpose and meaningful goals in your life. Why are you being such a negative and dramatic person when you should have better things to do?

Some people may not think it but I’m on a purpose in life. I’m focused on my music and bodybuilding. I don’t really care for anything else really. Sure, my life still needs to get improved. There are so many goals and dreams I wanna achieve like get myself a job, I wanna get my drivers license and all that stuff. That stuff is getting worked on.

I know I’m a big target for internet trolls and cyberbullies for whatever reason but I don’t care about that stuff anymore. Haters are gonna hate. I can’t please everybody. They’re not worth my time. I try to get rid of them all and stay above them the best I can. It’s amazing how people think it’s okay to talk shit about me whenever they want to. I ignore it all. Don’t care about any of it. I know I get all kinds of hate from a lot of people. That includes a lot of local musicians who still pretty much hate me but don’t really quite give a fuck, ya know?

I’m about living life to the fullest and being happy. That’s all I care about. Fuck people and their opinions about you, ya know? Just live life and that’s all there is to it.

Kev

I try to click through some places on my blog and I come up with a strange orange screen with an error saying that “somebody is trying to get you to access a harmful version of kbrocking.com”. Pretty strange. I NEVER got that error before Microsoft killed Windows XP so this must be the beginning of virus attacks and other security problems. I know my site “kbrocking.com” is not hacked, it never was. It’s just the Windows XP issue. So I gotta get rid of Windows XP and update to the recent version, Windows 8.1., I think? I know someone in my life who is good with computers so I’ll talk to him about it. I gotta trash XP and go for something different. The security problems will probably get a lot worse, the more I continue to browse the internet. Damn Microsoft.

I know The Ultimate Warrior just died and I’ll post the obit a little later.

Kev

I may have showed this app before but I’m showing it to you again… “Musicopoulous” from the Itunes app is probably the best music theory instruction you can get:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/music-theory-practice-by-musicopoulos/id319290362?mt=8

I’ve been trying to learn music theory for a long time now. Most instructional books make music theory tough to learn but this app I showed above makes it all seem pretty easy. Because of that app I pointed out above, learning music theory have been much easier for me and I’m getting the hang of things. I’m really starting to understand intervals, the major scale, the circle of fifths, and I’m just starting to learn key signatures. I’m just learning a little bit at a time. I’m hoping to soon become a wizard at music theory and that’s my goal. I’m learning but slowly getting there. Small baby steps.

I want to learn music theory more so I can become a more “advanced” musician. I want to prove to others that I do know my shit musically and know what I’m doing. I’ve been accused by a lot of people over the years that I am a hobbyist and amateur kind of musician so I’m gonna step-up and prove ’em all wrong.

More importantly, I just want to become a better songwriter and guitarist. Learning music theory will help. Learning music theory will help my improvisation skills to a new level and that’s what I want. In order to become a master at improvisation gotta know music theory. Learning music theory will help understand what other musicians are playing. When musicians are telling me what notes to play, the chords, scales, intervals, etc. I’ll be able to understand what they’re talking about. Learning music theory will also take my songwriting to a new level by adding unique chords and scales to the music. I’ll be able to write songs a lot more professionally.

That app I pointed out above is a lot of fun. The app makes music theory learning fun. It’s recommended buying and it’s real cheap. It’s only $2.99. That app has everything a musician of any level need to know. Whether you have an Ipad or an Iphone, you should definitely check it out. I’ve been addicted to that app ever since I bought it about a month ago.

I really want to become a well-rounded advanced musician and really trying to get there. I’m sure you guys can notice that.

Kev