I spent the afternoon editing my “Ritchie Valens” tribute video. I am really proud and happy with this one. Chances are, I think a lot of other people may like it too. I just kept videotaping myself performing the songs over and over again until I was happy with the take. The video is about 9:46 long. It’ll have 4 of Ritchie’s most famous songs. I figured out a way to add guitar solos and back-up vocals for my movie edit software. I’ll just use my USB microphone and overdub that stuff with audio. You can do that in that software and works nicely! Just added guitar solos to “La Bamba”. Still need to add a guitar solo to “Come On Lets Go” and back up vocals to “Donna” which I will do all that stuff tomorrow. I want to take a break from this now.

I think my singing has improved greatly and I’m proud. I used to never take vocals seriously and think the voice in music was unimportant but now I disagree. I take singing very seriously now and I’m sure you can tell! I wanna become a great singer as well as a great guitar player.

Can’t wait for you to hear this tribute video on Feb. 3rd. I’ll get the video uploaded first thing early in that morning.

Kev

I figured out the problem of my “Movie Edit Pro Software”. There was nothing wrong with the software but there was something wrong with the USB port on the front of the system unit. So I plugged the video camera in one of the USB ports in the back of the system unit. My computer has a lot of USB ports and one of the USB ports in the front was bad. So I had to use one of the back ones. Since I used one of the USB ports in the back of the system unit, the CPU went straight up to %100 and the video plays perfectly fine! The way it should be. I knew it had to be an easy fixed.

Don’t you hate that shit? After all that googling and trying to figure things out, it ends up being an easy fix.

Glad I got the youtube choppy issue fixed as well. Now that I got all of these taken care of… now I can get back to editing and recording!

Kev

So this  morning, I decided to uninstall Chrome and go back to Firefox. Seems that the playback in youtube works like a charm so I guess I’ll have to stick with FF browser instead of Chrome. FlashPlayer works better with FF. Chrome was a horrible browser anyway.

However, I’m still having choppy/lagging issues in Magix Movie Edit Pro 16 in the playback which I’m still trying to figure it out as well. I’m doing all kinds of googling trying to find a solution and trying everything I can. I’ll figure it out, though. It’s probably an easy fix, anyway, I just gotta figure out what it is.

Kev

I’m having playback issues with youtube and my Magix Movie edit software. Can’t figure out what it is. I tried everything. Going through instructions with forums online. Tried disabling the pepper flash in the plug-ins menu on Chrome, tried disabling the Hardware acceleration, etc. Nothing. My computer has plenty of memory. CPU should be okay. Not sure what to do at all.

I’m still doing all I can to fix the problem. Adobe flash player is garbage. Sick of the updates and the technical issues that goes with it.

I would like to get this fixed so I can work on that Valens tribute video.

Kev

I don’t think I’ll bother doing, “Ooh my head”, the Ritchie Valens tune. I think I will make the tribute a medley just like I did with the Buddy Holly one. For the Ritchie Valens tribute, I’ll just leave it as 4 songs ’cause I don’t want to make the video too long. I’m going to work on video taping myself performing: “Come On Lets Go” and “We Belong Together” today. After that, I’ll start editing the video together. This is gonna be a special tribute and I think everyone is gonna like this one. Hopefully, this will be the video that WILL get a lot of views. I’m trying to do my best to make the singing really good.

Kev

Been working on videotaping myself performing Ritchie Valens tunes. I recorded two today. “La Bamba” and “Donna”. “La Bamba” was actually kind of a challenge for me to sing but with practice and if you don’t give up,  you’ll nail it perfectly. I think I got “La Bamba” down pretty good. I gave it a different feeling and version, though. I didn’t want to make it sound like the Valens/Los Lobos versions… I’ll make the guitar solo a little different too.

The other songs are gonna be, “Oooh my head”, “Come On Lets Go”, and “We Belong Together”.

I’m probably gonna separate the videos instead of making all of these in a medley. It’s better that way I think.

I’m hoping these videos will get more views ’cause I think people are gonna like ’em. If not, either way, I’ll have fun performing them anyway. I’m planning to add backup vocals and guitar solos hopefully if I can figure it out on the editing software. I’m almost 100% certain that Magix Movie Edit Pro have a picture in picture kind of thing. I gotta learn how to do it. You see musicians in youtube jamming with themselves with that kind of technique, I wanna start doing the same.

I’ll have the Ritchie Valens tribute up on Feb. 3rd. It’s gonna be a good one.

Kev

A lot of guitarists make the mistake that when you play guitar solos that means you need to “shred” and play fast notes all of the time. I disagree. Don’t get me wrong, though. “Shredding” and playing fast licks is great. I like shred guitar myself but to be honest, I think it’s overrated. Whatever happened to the music? A lot of guitarists these days just wanna be show-offs… it’s like, “Hey, look at me, I can play faster than you can”.

In my opinion, to be a great lead guitarist, you wanna make your solos sound musical and tasteful. You wanna feel it when playing lead guitar. You wanna make your guitar solos sound like they’re singing a song. That’s my goal as a lead guitarist. I really need to improve the lead guitar as I’ve been trying to do that ever since I picked it up about 19 years ago. That’s the reason I picked up the guitar so I can become a great lead guitarist someday inspired by my heroes like Jimmy Page, Hendrix, and Satriani. That’s the kind of guitarist I wanna be and I’m slowly taking my time and working my way up to it.

Someday, I would like to get a band together so I can record guitar-driven rock songs with big riffs and tasty guitar solos. A guitar album is something I’ve always wanted to do and someday I’ll do that when I’m ready.

You can melt faces with your “fast shredding” yes but you’ll melt faces even more when you make your guitar solos sound musical and memorable.

In my mind, I prefer improvised guitar solos over written solos. Improvising is the way to go. I believe I’ve gotten much better with the ear training and improvising skills. Still got work to do but getting there. Improvisation is not that hard as you think. It’s very easy to learn and quick to pick up.

I just learned the solo for “La Bamba” note for note and that’s actually an easy solo even though it sounds tough to play. I used to never agree with playing guitar solos on cover songs note for note but I guess it’s a good thing to do to help with your lead playing.

I’ve been playing guitar for almost 20 years now, I believe and still got a lot of learning to do. I maybe good at rhythm guitar but I wanna get good at guitar solos too. Don’t always be a show-off. You wanna play music. People get bored of fast notes all the time.

Kev

Most dating coaches in youtube are mostly bullshit… not all of them… some of that stuff can actually be very good and very helpful. I only post the videos on my site that I think is worth it and only post the ones that are very good and helpful. I post ’em on here in case other guys out there like me are struggling to get women.

Most dating gurus are full of shit ’cause chances are, they make stuff up as they go along as a way to help promote their products that they sell. A lot of dating gurus try to promote their products like their dating coaching advice on CD/DVD sets which they sell them at ridiculous high prices. They make up advice as they go along to get people excited about them hoping they will buy their products in their online stores. So watch out who you take advice from in those youtube channels.

There are a lot of dating gurus in youtube who are kind enough to never sell anything and give their advice for free… those are the dating gurus you wanna follow.

Some of those guys in the youtube dating community make it seem difficult to get women when it shouldn’t be. They make you go through all of these ridiculous steps in detail… telling what you can and can’t say to women and what you can and can’t do. It’s bullshit. I’d say ignore all of that bullshit and just be yourself. That’s what women want you to be, they want you to be yourself.

They also give you all kinds of ridiculous steps when you want to get their phone number. That’s all bullshit too. It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to get her phone number when all you have to do is simply ask her for her cell number/home phone or whatever and she’ll gladly give it to you. Most women are willing to give you numbers ’cause they like that attention of being popular with their friends and stuff, ya know?

Watch out who you take advice from online whether it’s through youtube dating sites or online e-books. I gotta stop looking through this stuff myself and think I will. It has become an addiction for me.

Just be yourself in the dating world. Women are easy to talk to and down to earth people… you start talking to her, she’ll make you feel like you already have known her for years. I’ve had conversations with many nice women over the years but never had the guts to ask for their phone numbers. It can’t be that hard at all.

You don’t have to go through step by step dating bullshit. Once again, just be yourself and do the dating thing how you want to. They all have different ways of giving advice. You don’t need to be coached by somebody else. It’s all a waste of money and time. I’ll still take some of their advice ’cause some of that stuff really did help me become more confident with women than ever.

Watch out for these guys, they just wanna sell something and take your money. You don’t need to pay for someone to help you.

If you’re struggling with women talk to other guys with a lot of experience with women and I have been doing that too. Talk to your friends and family to help ya. I would forget the internet bullshit when it comes to dating advice.

I think I learned enough about women. I’ll go out there and start working on it. Next time I go to the gym or the store, I’ll have to start talking to women more. I’ll start talking to guys too even though I’m NOT gay, talking to guys will help my social skills. I gotta improve my social skills and start talking to people more ’cause I’m shy and quiet person and gotta knock it off. One trick that will help me improve my social skills is that I’m thinking about starting video blogs in youtube where I’ll speak my mind on any topic or I could start my own podcasts (without the use of scripts to read off of). I gotta make more friends and be a part of this world more. I’m not an anti-social person, though.

Kev

Here’s another interesting dating advice video from a woman’s perspective.

Do you see an attractive woman you may think you might like but you’re afraid to approach her in public places? Are you afraid that you might bother her? This nice woman by the name of Marni Wing says don’t worry about it. If you like her just walk right up to her and talk to her right away! She won’t be bothered at all.

You could see her in a parking lot of a store, you could be walking around the mall, the grocery store, the library, the gym, you could see her just by walking through the city streets/towns, maybe even at your work place, etc. You shouldn’t have to be afraid to just walk up to her and say, “Hi, how are you”. That’s probably the best and only pickup line you could use. If you wanna tell her that she’s gorgeous/beautiful — go for that as well as it’s recommended. She’ll be interested in talking to you after you told her compliments about her looks.

When you approach women in public places and if she gives you this nasty look and walks away which you will probably get sometimes, don’t worry about it. There are a ton of women out there willing to get approached ’cause they want to be approached. If she has a boyfriend/married, not too worry about that either ’cause she’ll still be willing to talk to you as a friend ’cause I know that women like their guy friends.

Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of women that I was attracted to and think I might like but didn’t have the guts to walk up to her and talk to her. I gotta knock that off. If you see a woman you might like in public places, go up to talk to her right away ’cause chances are, you may never see her again after that. Don’t miss the opportunity as I had plenty of missed opportunities myself. I’ll admit it that I used to get nervous around gorgeous women  but I don’t think I am anymore. I still need work on the confidence a little but it’ll take a little bit at a time ’cause it’s a learning skill.

I agree with this comment in this video: “You’re right Marni, the longer you leave an approach the more women see you as “that creepy guy that keeps looking at me.”

Guys need to stop being so outcome dependant and just focus on living in the moment. If she’s not interested in talking to you, so what. Next!”

If you’re shopping at a store at the mall or just walking the street and you see this gorgeous woman you can’t get your eyes off of… it shouldn’t be that difficult to walk up to her and say hi.

Women won’t bite. That’s all there is to it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5EXhMdlrsc

Kev

Now that I finally figured out how to get a decent studio-like sound with my audio tracks… my next step is trying to find the best MIDI software which is what I have been trying to do for the past several years. Finding the best MIDI software that is easy and simple to use is hard to find. I know nothing about MIDI controllers or MIDI keyboards and all that shit. I want something simple like on a software or something.

The reason I would like to use MIDI is ’cause I would like to add more instruments to my songs… especially to my acoustic folk songs and the slower ballads. I would like to add more cello, violin and maybe even some brass instruments. I think I would do pretty good if I sing songs with an orchestration in the background… I’ve always wanted to do something like that.

I would like to maybe experiment writing techno/pop/electronica songs too. You all know how much I love to dance and I think I wanna write dance music like you hear in the night club. I think it would be pretty cool.

I think it’s important to try every genre of music. Some people suggested I try hip hop/rap before but I think I would be a terrible rapper so no gangster rap from me, ha ha!

Neil Young and David Bowie switches genres of music all the time. I figure I would do the same. It’s important to switch it up. It proves that you can perform every genre and sing every kind of music.

I love rock n’ roll and hard rock the most but I like to listen to a little bit of everything else even rap, classical, and jazz.

Kev