So I’ve just started collecting guitar pedals. The reason is that I want to get all the right sounds that would be good enough for me to play heavy rock music on electric guitar. In the past, I always used to be against sounds effects and never were for those pedals at all but now I’m all over them. I’m realizing that pedals can be useful for guitar sounds. I want to get pedals that would be right for both my rhythm playing and lead guitar playing ’cause I do both. I’ve been playing lead guitar a lot more than rhythm, though ’cause I’ve been trying to improve my lead guitar playing and take it to the next level.

When playing lead guitar, you don’t want to play lead guitar with a clean tone all the time. You need effects to give it some additional color like you’ll need wah, chorus, flanger, delay, etc. Effects will make your guitar solos sound interesting. I do have aspirations to be a lead guitarist and I’m working my way there. I love playing guitar solos so if I ever made my first heavy rock album, there’ll absolutely be a lot of solos on it.

So far the pedals that I currently own myawld are a wah pedal, a few distortions, an overdrive pedal, a delay and now a chorus. I still need a few more pedals, though. My goal is to get a fuzz pedal next and I’m probably gonna go for the legendary fuzz face which I always wanted. I’ll save up for it in 2018. Fuzz pedals are important ’cause they create a cool sound with your rhythm and lead. I also want to get a Flanger, tremolo, echo and maybe an EQ pedal too.

I’m not gonna go too crazy with guitar pedals, just get all the simple and basic ones. Try to get the right sound for badass heavy rock. I also plan on buying a pedalboard soon so I can hook all the pedals together and create my own pedal setup which is the goal.

I’ve been focusing on electric guitar more than acoustic now which feels real good. I spent most of my life playing acoustic and want to branch out; do something different.

Kev

I know it may seem weird, but I find myself listening to a lot of black & death metal like the title says? Why? Not sure why. I guess there are many reasons why. 1) It’s because the music is good and I enjoy it… 2) I listen to a lot of it for guitar inspiration. 3) I listen to it ’cause there is no other good music out there.

In the past, I used to be scared to death to listen to this kind of music but if you actually listen to it… listening to extreme metal isn’t that bad. Some of these bands actually write some of the best music ever. I’m noticing that extreme metal like black & death metal makes some of the best guitar riffs. Plus, the lyrics can be intriguing as well.

I’m tired of people knocking black & death metal… people say all kinds of crap like it all sounds the same and all the singers do is scream/growl. Listening to the screams, growling and gritty singing can be quite enjoyable actually. I’ve been listening to bands like At the Gates, Venom, Amon Amarth, Ensiferum, Burzum, Opeth and bands such as those. I don’t know, I just keep listening to this stuff as this kind of music is becoming addicting to me.

I’ve just started getting into the band Mayhem… ya know that legendary band from Norway. I bought their first album, “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” from ITunes today. I’ve always wanted to get that album ’cause I really love the song “Freezing Moon”. If you’re into metal, you probably know that song. It’s a great tune!

I also love the band, Burzum which is Varg Vikernes project and I bought their album, “Filosofem” which is my favorite album by them. I had to get it today off ITunes.

There are still more metal bands I want to get into. I just love this stuff. A lot of these guys really are very talented and amazing musicians. I really wish they would get more respect in the industry.

Funny thing is, a lot of people don’t see me being a metal head but I am. I just like the music. I’ve always listened to metal ever since I was a kid. As a kid, I started listening to bands like Twisted Sister, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, etc. My love for metal never stopped. The whole reason I picked up the electric guitar is that I’m hoping to become a metal musician someday and still have that dream.

Kev

Merry Christmas to all of my blog readers. It doesn’t matter who reads my blog, Merry Christmas to all of you! Even to all the trolls and haters, lmao!

Lets be positive today! No political discussions. No rantings. No negativity.

Here are some of the gifts that I got from the family today.

I got a new stereo receiver for my Ipod and vinyl player. I’m going to start collecting vinyl in 2018, I think. I will still continue to buy albums on CD and digital from ITunes, though. I like to listen to music in all formats.

Got a new chorus pedal for my electric guitar. A few bluray movies, Game of Thrones – Season 7 and a Dictionary.

Hope everyone is enjoying your day! Rock on!

Kev

I know a lot of unsigned musicians out there want to get heard and try to make a name for themselves locally which is all good and cool, but that’s my goal admittedly. I too want to get heard by as many people as possible and make a name for myself like most musicians ’cause that’s what we all do this for pretty much. If you want to play music and get yourself out there, you gotta have balls and be ready.

Keep in mind though, when you do get yourself out there and playing your music publicly, you WILL go through all kinds of bullshit and negativity in your music life. You WILL get doubters, haters, critics and backstabbers. You will also meet some other musicians and promoters out there who can be big time prima-donnas and pompous assholes too. Knowing from my own experience dealing with all this myself, you will get other musicians and promoters thinking they’re more superior than you and they’ll try to make you think you’re nothing musically.

If playing music is what you want to do then you gotta be brave, have balls and ignore all bullshit and negativity completely. You gotta have that “Don’t give a fuck” attitude. You need to care about you and your music and that’s it. Sure, it may sound a bit selfish to only care about you but that’s what you must do if you want to play music successfully and positively. There are gonna be people out there who are gonna have negative thoughts and feelings about you but the secret is, you don’t care. Only care about you and the supporters/fans who really like you.

There will be jealous assholes out there that just want to see you fail musically and they’ll try to destroy your dreams and goals. Don’t let that happen. Only concentrate on your music and only that. Just keep making music and that’s all you need to do. If you can’t take any negativity then maybe being a musician isn’t for you. You’ll have to learn to accept that not everything is gonna be positive and not everyone is gonna like you. I know there are some musicians out there who can’t accept that not everything is gonna be positive and not everyone will like them but fuck them. Those are the prima donnas that I’m talking about.

When I got myself out there, I dealt with plenty of bullshit and I almost gave it up ’cause of it. Don’t give up music ’cause that’s what they want you to do.

Just stay humble and keep playing. That’s all you gotta do really. That’s what you wanna do is to piss people off and make people jealous. If you’re getting all that then there’s gotta be something about your music, right? Good music and good talent are gonna make people jealous of you. People are never gonna admit that, though.

Kev