So, when I was a child, in elementary school, my gym teacher decided she needed to enact her facism tendencies on the whole of the 5th grade class with an atrocious Christmas play. She was never overly fond of me and unlucky for her, I ended up with the student of the month write up from it.
However, I done acting very few times in my life, I’ve come to appreciate some things about acting that I couldn’t really appreciate in my youth and that is a form of method acting, albeit slightly lesser in scale because I don’t go about getting acting gigs or forcing your fellow thespians to only refer to said person as said character to their utter annoyance.
So it started in 2008, when I was looking for ways to get deeper into the headspace of things I didn’t particularly understand, specifically crime. This was to help with cultivating my “book”, Pre-Crime. However, I used it to help create characters in my novel ideas, or screenplays. Whatever I was writing at the time. I then turned to using it to get better at guitar and I find it works very well.
So what I normally do is I will shave my beard or facial hair similar to the artist in question if they have any.
Jimi Hendrix style mustache
Next thing I do is go to Amazon and look at clothing styles similar to the ones said artists have and cultivate a look that is closer to them in the time frame and then try to modernize it, as if they were walking around today, assuming they’re still alive or not.
I go back to Amazon as often as I need to in order to get my minds eye in direction of the “character” so to speak.
This is a new touch, but I used to photoshop if need be, however thanks to the AI I can create images that help me better interpret the artist in question.
I listen to their music as much as possible and attempt to get into that headspace. I may try and create similar riffs or something as well, in order to get a deeper understanding.
I try to visualize how a movie or biopic could look, starting said individual musician. This helps to get a better feel for how said person is interpreted via different mediums like interviews.
I may buy myself a new guitar that is similar to said individual, because sometimes having said style guitar can help you facilitate a deeper connection to the musicians you like.
If you can get pedals to work on a tone, that is helpful too.
You don’t have to restrict yourself to just people that play your instrument. I improved my bass line playing on guitar by doing that same with Lemmy as I did with Hendrix.
I’ve done this about 4 or so times over the years and I personally think it helps.
At worst, it’s a fun waste of time, trying to better put yourself into the shoes of another human that’s deeper than just understanding where they’re coming from. It’s black like me, that documentary from the 1970s but without the benefit of it helping others integrate into society.
If anyone decides to try this, let me know if it works for you.
I may not be that old, however, I’m still old enough to have seen come pretty cool shit in my lifetime. One of which was seeing Gen X in their attempt at fame. Gen Z should take notes,, because your parents generation did it right when it came to fame.
Never has this song probably been more accurate
So I didn’t grow up where the conditions to aspire to being worthless like most people in my age range apparently. I mean, acting sucked and I found that out the hard way because my lesbian gym teacher had to force her play down our throats at school. No one in my age range could play and instrument, so even trying a band was out of the question. Short of porn and what teenage male wouldn’t have thought of it, Hollywood desires were really lame.
Then along came YouTube in my 20s, which gave way to a whole bunch of autistic nobodies that craved social acceptance and well, entertainment hasn’t been right or worthwhile in decades.
However, while I’ve always been the anti-celebrity guy, even in my youth, there was a time when I found myself impressed with relative unknowns making an attempt at being part of the privacy challenged brigade and that was Gen X.
I know most people have confused me for a Gen X’er 99% of my life and never really got why, however, I don’t make the criteria for more than just being an Xenial at best. So we can rule out relatable aspects making me more accepting here. As a general rule, I don’t have to relate to someone or something to appreciate it or them. It can happen from time to time, but not necessarily the a big factor.
So the internet was in its infancy back in the 90s and analog equipment still ruled. This is important to understand, since a vacuous imbecile couldn’t just share an ignorant opinion and get dozens of likes for it. You had to want it and you had to mean it.
I appreciate their hustle, a drive which I could never relate to back then. I still can’t relate to it, because it is a far better work ethic than my own, as I go for low hanging fruit and prefer it. If you ever seen my sex life, you’d be like “oh he ain’t kidding.”
Live footage of me with anything that I think is beneath me /sarcasm
That’s young 20 somethings, at the time, knew how to take what was historically 30k or more in 1970s equipment and in the 1990s turn it into better than a Misfits recording. They still weren’t perfect, but had I been a boomer executive in Hollywood, I would have been flabbergasted at how people so young with no professional experience could exhibit such a high degree of learning. Remember, this is how Insane Clown Posse and Eminem made their way on to the scene.
Even upwards of 2005, right as YouTube started, I found myself hanging out and listening to the Celtic punk sound of possible flogging mollys or drop kick murphies that could become huge. Too bad that’s when Gen X dropped everything and became family men. While there is nothing wrong with that, I’ve been plagued by the idea that had Gen X managed to figure out social media, the landscape of music would be so much better than it became, which is the complete opposite of how I thought on the 90s of how many Stephen kings could exist if there was a better set up or even better bands than the Beatles.
You have some decent millennial YouTubers out there, still though, nothing out there is quite right, as it should be. Maybe it has to do with being so young and everything was new. Going out late at night and getting home late or other things that helped to increase the times in which I would be exposed to this, which is a small part of it. However, I don’t think it’s the sole reason for all of it.
I wish I still had access to those mix tapes some random Gen X band handed out in the parking lot of Ozzfest, promoting a potential promising rookie band.
Now that Gen Z has had some time and are producing some promising things, it’s kinda changing, but not drastically enough. Maybe some of them need to get their parents to break out their old analog gear and teach them how to utilize it. I know I learned a bit from them, that part of the reason I can mix sounds pretty well, taking an Interest in what they were doing. Could give Gen Z an edge over the talking heads of idiot millennials that failed school, but still need to ADHD clip their way to an opinion that offers nothing. it’s not too late to take it back and move away from the idiocracy that entrainment has become. Threads is filled with some of this, so I know it’s true. Just up to Gen Z to figure out how to do it better.
“You damn right I’m a sell out, I’ve sold out arenas”-Triple H Monday Night Raw from like 20 years ago.
So if you know anything about me, you know I’ve been against unnecessary drug use since I was young. I was mostly straight edge up until 25 when I decided to actually drink. I did, however, have a few drinks with my best friend before then.
However, in today’s day and age, one cannot be overly picky in applying to jobs, which is why I figured I would write about this. I’m selling out and applied to a job at a weed dispensary.
To be fair, this isn’t really my first time around this shit. My father owned a bong shop in Salem Massachusetts in the 1990s. It started in 1995 to be exact and last til about 1998. So I went from 9 to 12 years old by the time it was all said and done. However, it afford me a pretty good childhood at times, so who can really complain?
The stories I have about the era make Hollywood seem tame by comparison. I mean, one time a radio station went to my dad and a bunch of other local business men to get them to sponsor having Marylin Manson come to Massachusetts before he was banned. So let that sink in. I don’t really know how close this was to ever happening to be fair, but it was 90s and Manson was a young rookie in the industry, so it would have been substantially easier to make happen with a young 20 something than a man who would command more now.
However, that ran into a snag, because of local police corruption. Which is another article entirely.
Now, the USA is on the verge of full legalization, which is nice to see, given that much like my dad, I believe it’s use is a personal choice and up to the sole user. I don’t approve of all drugs, nor would I choose to partake in such myself, for a lot of reasons, but marijaunna is the least offensive on the list of scheduled drugs and I’ve been in favor of it since at least 2004.
Maine has been decriminalized with weed since 1999, so getting used to people smoking, vs in Massachusetts where it more recently has been decriminalized, was something I had to get used to and fast.
Now even Trump is looking at a weed and possibly changing its destination. So maybe in this case, I’m not so much selling out as adapting to the changing landscape.
It’s definitely not the most ideal job for me, truth be known, but I mean, I’ve hung out with the weirdos my whole life and beat the shit out of the popular kids in school, so it’s kinda fitting. Ironically, with the exception of a couple times in my life, historically the popular kids were druggies in my youth. Shit, I recall one time in school, the popular kids claiming they were doing cocaine. Not people I wanted around me, even with his bong shop: said kids also brought vodka to school once. I digress though.
Regardless, I’m sure I could excel at this job. I’ve made dozens of sales over the years and been very good at everything I’ve touched, plus I’m no longer at the age where people will pay me to keep my clothes one, it’s now expected or it “sir, you’re scaring the Walmart guest.” So Onlyfans is out of the question. I guess the only thing left to say is, who wants to buy some weed?
This was going to be a review, but instead it’s going to be a rant. So I bought an item that was €41 plus shipping from the UK. About 18€ extra. Then on top of that, it was supposed to be duty free.
It went up since August 4, 2025 when I got it for $41
So I check my card a few days later after
Not sure why they charged me $83
So they at least told me that they could be a duty so to look it up before I buy. Obviously, government lies and clearly even though there’s not supposed to be a duty based on the HSS code. However, I got hit. DHL basically extorted me to deliver my package. Which is bullshit! However
I finally got me the pedal that has been sold out for months. Normally I would not give in to trendy items. However, this is the only pedal I’ve heard on YouTube that genuinely has the retro sound I’m going for on my Hendrix kick. Maybe a lawyer out there can start a class action lawsuit against customs for this flagrant behavior of lying about bs, but where would government be if they told the truth? All in all, I basically paid full price for a pedal with too much shipping and handling. I will review this in the future.
———————
Review Here:
Already this thing has proven to be worth the hassle that it became. It’s sturdy casing, excellent buttons and does exactly what it is supposed to. Already attached to my rig and my sounds emanating from it are very old school. It’s easy to set up and get going and would probably be even better if I got a pedal for it. The downside to it is that, it’s going to be a pain in the ass if you’re a gig’er and you make different songs using different dials to really direct a sound. So if you fall into that camp, make a playlist of your music that you can keep the controls the same all night. If you’re like me and just love playing the guitar and don’t gig, you’re going to love this little puppy. It’s the right tone and price to play your favor to songs and is filled with ao much versatility in styles, it will be months before you exhaust a quarter of its settings. It’s the perfect thing for me. Not to mention, unlike other products, this one’s dials go to 11. Nice!
INTRODUCTION: So I’m not a fan of the biography genre. I’ve read very few of them. Probably about 10 in my 39 years on this planet. Most people don’t intrigue me enough to want to know about their background. Normally it’s trite experience anyways, regardless of skin color. It’s normally birth, shit happens, some people you meet are good, some are bad, other adversaries apply, maybe a lover or two and then the person is famous or dead, one of the two. I went wanting to know more of the psychology of Jimi Hendrix, since I’m learning his music, it only makes sense to get deeper into a man, whose music I’ve heard my whole life, but never thought to learn more about. So this is my first real biography review. Not really sure how to do one, but we will try.
WRITING STYLE: Fair. From my understanding the author isn’t a non fiction writer, he was a creative writer and did this as a favor to Jimi. However, I’m reading the kindle version and the slightly wonky style could be from a bad transfer. It’s not unreadable though. There is a small bias on the authors part, as they were friends. So keep that in mind as well.
lIFESTYLE: So this biography is different than no others, as it’s basic structure as above. To be fair, Jimmy was so unique that the basic structure works here. That’s not what I’m here for though. There’s going to moments you sympathize with him and the occasional WTF moments. If you like that, this is for you.
HISTORY:This book was written in 1978, and it shows. However, the author takes great detail in explaining to you the events of the era, so people like myself get an idea of the world around him. Not necessarily a unique trope for such, but necessary for future generations who will need this context to understand Jimmy or anyone really.
MUSIC: Now this is what I’m here for! Oh god did Jimmy and his family have amazing taste in music. Songs and people I’ve never heard of. Bad bad Wiskey, live, being my favorite of all the songs I’ve listened too.
Amazing!
CONCLUSION: if you’re coming here for something salacious, you’re going to be disappointed. Sure it has its moments of “very 60s” bullshit, however it’s a very conservative portrayal of such. If you’re interested in a man and how he developed his style, you won’t be disappointed. It also offers up and otherwise interesting perspective on Jimi’s death that should not be discounted as being accurate. That’s an article for a different time, though.
5 out of 5 for Jimi fans and 4 out of 5 for a person who may just want a biography of an otherwise, interesting person.
So you want to be a guitar guy,uh? Well, it’s a long way to the top of you want to rock and roll. Maybe you’re a bored teen and want to play heavy metal to vent your frustration, or maybe you’re middle age, have a great IRA and want to retire to become a hippie playing 60s folk songs, regardless of your reason for picking up a guitar, you made a great choice in expanding your horizons in musicality.
Remember, learning is always a positive and it’s never too late to start a musical journey. The rewards along the way are endless. From the joy of playing your first chord, to the joy of playing your first full song;the first time you’ve played a chord progression or note progression and felt the natural high of creating something more than yourself and that will give you the drive to continue.
You’ll meet some interesting people along the way as well. Some you meet may stay a while and others a short time, but it will hopefully help you grow as a musician as well.
This isn’t an entire guide to play guitar, but will it assist you in the beginning to become more than just a four chord, “baby baby baby” player. Unless you want to be Justin Beiber, nothing wrong with that. I’ll even help you,
A, D, E and G make up a backbone of a lot of music. Pick any one or more and you’ll be Bob Dylan in no time.
A Chord “rock version”
Place your index finger on all three, informally referred to as the rock star A or place you index (1) on the D string (third string down from the thickest string, AKA the “High E String”) middle finger (2) on G string and then your ring (3) on the B string. APEGIATE(pluck each string starting with just the string above the one your index, this is the A string. Once each note comes out clear, no muting, strum down. If that rings out clear, congratulations! You’ll have panties in your face in no time! *Claims of panty throwing, unsubstantiated*)
The E Shape
The E shape. This is going to play an important role when we look at barre chords. So your index goes where the single red highlight is. Then your middle and ring where the double red highlight is. Arpeggiate from the high string (thicc est one) down to the thinnest. All clear? Strum down on all strings. If that sounds clear, congratulations! You’re now two chords in. Justin Bieber will be running scared of your musical prowess and Zombie Elvis will come back from the dead to reclaim his throne.
By now, your hands are feeling the burn! Unlike the 27 club you can’t burn out now. You got two more chords to learn!
The G Chord
It sounds heavenly and makes chord progressions in these 4 more rounded. It’s a tad bit awkward but once you get it down, you’ll be good. I put the numbers above. Once you place them and arpeggiate them for clarity and then strum down. Everything sound clear? Congrats! That’s three chords? *Richard Simmons Voice* Don’t you just feel like a pop star when you three chord?
The D Chord, the one ya momma loves!
The D chord! It’s bigger than Justin Bebier. More hit songs use the D even more than the G chord. At least the internet tells me. See the string with the redl line and use the numbers for your fingers to depress them. Arpeggiate from the string just above the index to the final. All clear? Now strum. If that’s clear, than you completed our first level of lessons. Like the Real Men of Genius song, here’s to you Mr 4 chord pop star. For giving us all, a slew of trite hits. This is also a moveable cord. Go up one, you get the D7. Keep going down and you get a plethora of others.
What we learned!
A, D, G and E chord. ✅
Arpeggiation ✅
How to strum ✅
The notes of the strings (E-thicc est, A, second thicc est, D, third thicc est, G, first thinnest, B second thinnest and the last one, E again. Good to remember it as E ddie A te D ynamite G pod B ye E ddie! ) ✅
Any questions?
*Raise hand*
What if we don’t want to be Justin Bebier and just pick up girls at the local bar?
KAGE: learn those for chords, then see INDEX (future link when full version releases)
Psst…now that the pop star posers are gone, we can have a real chat. You’re not like the Beiber guys, wanting to pick up chicks. You love guitar and you want to learn more, but you want to your rhythm to have a pair of balls? Well, you might not be a rock star, but at least it’s more than jeans and a top hat to get people to notice you. Not that there’s anything thing wrong with jeans and top hats, they practically built the 1980s. So buckle up and hey hey, you’re gonna be a rock star!
Right now you’re going to be having more 5th’s than 90 % of 1970s-1980s rockstars. Don’t drink to victory yet! We need to be more precise in playing.
The E minor chord. Kinda like a 5th.
So a 5th is any two notes you depress like the above. You can move this shape pretty much everywhere and it sounds powerful. When you strum, only hit the two strings that you depressed the notes on. Although not the full gambit of power chords, this will surely allow you to cut the line to clubs you never get in and maybe, maybe, even that person at the bar that everyone knows, will compliment you. That’s almost a celebrity!!!!! A 5th of a celebrity, if you will. (KAGE NOTE: This is why I didn’t excel in comedy. Also the fact I hate entertaining people, but, yet, I still like to be clever. 🤔)
The reason I point out the E minor, is two fold. 1st, phrasing is everything and telling you how to put your hands on minors will probably red flag you. The second is they don’t sound great on electric guitar and that’s why you’re here, to be a Jukebox Hero, with stars in their eyes…hopefully they’re stars, otherwise I might recommend a doctor.
If you made it this far you have learned
The A, D, G, E chords. ✅
You have learned to Arpeggiate ✅
You have learned to strum ✅
You have learned 5ths ✅
You have learned playing guitar hurts your fingers ✅
You have learned patience, my young padawan ✅
But most importantly, you learned the most 1980s hero movie lesson of all time, to believe in yourself and never give up til the freeze frame. ✅
In the end, they’ll see you how they want to see you. A pop poser, a punk leader, a rockstar or a pesudeo celebrity-Sincerely, The 5th players Club
Only shit, you’re still here? Woha! Here I taught you enough to have parties and sex with practically nobody worthwhile, but you want to learn more? You rebel you! That obviously because you’re unpretentious. You must be some, well, punk. Your music is going to end aprtihid. Save the whales and even make Micheal Jackson hold hands with random celebrities without gloves. damn!
So here is your sobering lesson. It’s the F chord and no, I won’t teach you the hacks. You’re already proved momma didn’t raise no quitters. Get your index finger ready, cause it’s going to be used more than a lesbians.
The E chord, again. This time, you need to visualize your finger as the white part on the neck (aka, the nut, oh no, you know a dirty word and If You Know, You know!)
So essentially the chord is the E shape, down one fret to put us away from the nut. place your index near the fret. Find what’s most comfortable to you. Your finger is acting as a sorta capo/nut thing. You’re really going to feel this one, but no pain, no gain. Other basic barre chords follow similar shapes to the open chords. just get the index part down now, it’s the most necessary part of these chords.
Arpeggiate and check that each one rings out clear. Unless your like me, where one is almost always muted and gives it a percussion like sound, you show them strum from
If you find yourself getting the percussion fx, try laying down with the guitar. I’ve gotten perfect bar chords by doing this. Then try to adapt it to sitting up and then finally standing.
Once it’s clear playing consistently, move up a fret and get it perfect again until you run out of frets to move up. Hint, that’s fret 12, unless you want really cramped fingers.
And unlike Bieber fanboy, still playing What’s on OnlyTabs….er, UltimateGuitar, you can try this list of songs
Cult of personality -In Living Color
Strawberry Fields Forever-The Beatles
Smells like Teen Spirit-Nirvana
Shenna is a punk rocker by the Ramones
As a few examples.
So here’s what you learned.
A, D. G, E chord ✅
5th chords ✅
If you’re just a pretentious dick or a real guitarist ✅
Indexing technique, plus using open chord shapes with it to make new chords. ✅
Dealing with an insufferable sarcastic bastard like myself. ✔️ ☑️ ✅
Congrats! thank God, that much like YouTube, guitar playing has no real formal authority like real organizations that give credentials to relevant people. Closest we got is a music theory degree, but that has less to do with an instrument. So you’re getting what you pay for.
However, since you have stuck with it this far, you are now a guitarist. Sticking with it or any instrument is what matters. Here’s to show the world you officially made it, ma.
Mama always said life is like a Xbox achievement, you never know what you’re gonna unlock.-Forrest Gump, maybe.
Now some unsourced, internet words of encouragement that may or may not have actually been said by the musician.
“Some days playing guitar is going to suck, but if you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded”-Jimi Hendrix
And now that you made it this far and are officially a guitarist, I guess ima have to teach you what Biber boy forgot, which is, tuning. Ugh! Probably should’ve put this in the beginning. Besides, some ass clown out there is saying “but Jimi Hendrix didn’t tune!” He did, in fact, tune, and made a rousing joke of having Clapton doing it for him too. That said, you’re not Jimi Hendrix and neither am I!
These things are called tuners. Sometimes three to a side or all going up at an angle.
So we need to 1. Buy a tuner from a place like Sweetwater, Guitar center or Amazon, which would the recommended way to tune or 2. Go to the App Store and find the fender or another free version you are comfortable with.
There is a 3rd way, until you develop the ear for it (note, been playing since I was 12 and I’m 39 now and still not great at ear tuning.) use a piano, find the notes and tune the pitch to the piano. This will help develop your ear.
And now, here’s what you won! A free link to Google looking for videos on how to restring!!! Harley Quinn Voice: Woha! Ain’t you the lucky one, eh?
Psst, go to Google and type it in like the picture. Stay away from those other types of sites though.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk the last piece of the learning puzzle. Pedals! They used to be expensive and now they’re affordable. So affordable in fact, that I’m contemplating quitting the cigs just to get more, especially if certain people aren’t mad though.
It’s not necessarily to use them, but they are kinda like stimulants. They can enhance the mood of your guitar playing if you will. However, you don’t need to buy them to get good at guitar. Just play ”from your fuckin heart“-Bill Hicks
Thanks for coming to my Kage talk. Hopefully you learned something. If not, well 🖕you too!
Best in Your Girl 