These two “holidays” should be abolished from history books because they narcissistic as fuck and falls under the category of Valentine’s Day, aka all commercials day, a day when candy and card places get together to make you buy unnecessary crap, because you were too self absorbed the rest of the year to appreciate your lover.
There’s nothing wrong with loving your parents or even appreciating them, however, just because you forgot to pull out isn’t a good enough excuse to party. Nor should your kids be forced to worship you. If you’re a good parent, you kids will, at minimum, mostly appreciate you during the year.
Can kids be moderately ungrateful? Sure! I know there were times I might not had been the most grateful, but that doesn’t make the kid bad. Any level of appreciation for what you do for them is better than none, but it still doesn’t deserve a day to itself.
If the day was for the government to appreciate the family unit, you would not have woman fighting for paternity leave and you would make it a bank holiday and make allowance for it, whilst giving people the day off. We do it for Veterans Day and for Memorial Day and isn’t family equally as important?
Speaking of which, ever notice it’s called paternity? It comes from the Latin, pater, or father. It’s all about us men, which is interesting, because some people consider kids a legacy, and well, wouldn’t a woman potentially desire that too? I doubt they wanted to be over glorified incubators for nine months out of the sheer pleasure. Although, I’m sure they enjoyed the nine months of judgement free eating that comes with it. Much like weddings are all about the woman, because it’s called holy matrimony. Which, as you guessed, comes from the Latin “mater” or mother. Because historically, within our nation, it was socially acceptable to parade your future gendered slave in front of each other’s families before you chained them to the house to basically be an over glorified surrogate mother for the boomer man-child.
Instead of caring about just the mother or father’s, I think we should consider combining them into family day. It’s like Thanksgiving, but without the historical bugaboo of slaughtering an entire race of people, like the fuckin Nazi’s, to celebrate it.
I know some of you will say “What about people who are family displaced?” To those unfortunate few, appreciate your friendships more, because that’s your family.
A riff that goes heavy. Iron Maiden were probably the ones that popularized the metal gallop in guitar, however, Heart used it, in this 70s hit, combining that with high strings, you got something iconic. Apparently it’s based around a Nazareth song. There is slightly a bit of truth that they sound the same, but legally they’re vastly different. This one definitely gets the nod for giving you a dank riff to satisfy that metal craving.
4.) Neil Young, Hey Hey, My My
Moody, atmospheric and dark, this song is a key change away, or a distortion pedal away, from being one hell of a metal song.
3.) One more time, Brittney Spears
Ok hear me out before you scoff. New Found Glory already showed this song could fit into the rock category, but could you imagine the chugging with distortion on the opening beat? It would have made nu-metal dudes creaming their pants.
2.) Taylor Swift-Look what you made me do
Leap Frog Studios already proven this song could go hard as fuck! That how I even found out this song existed. The dark lyrics with straight up gansta vibes, would be having people starting mosh pits in the streets. definitely should have been in the genre from the start.
1.) Coolio Gangsta’s Paradise
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this song was never rap and always in line with the metal genre. Gritty realism, deaths, loss and more and you got a song that sounds like it could have been part of the Melodic Swedish death metal music. plenty of YouTube guitarist have proven this correctly.
So back in 2004 I got this from the local Walmart. We were spending the summer “camping” from place to place. What really happened was the landlords were atrocious alcoholics, and were about to go through a horrible divorce that my family and I got accidentally caught up in. So I spent my 18th year listening to a lot of music that summer. This is what is left of those and what I bought up until 2014.
Insane Clown Posse Hell’s Pit.
I found ICP, accidentally in the 90s. Never a big fan of rap, but I enjoyed the styling they did. I’ve had most of their albums over the years. This one was awesome. 4 stars
Coolio Gangsta’s Paradise
Bought this just for the title track. Gangsta’s Paradise is a metal song done in rap styling. The rest of the album is so-so. I don’t like rap much and the LA vibe was even worse than the east coast. Never been a fan of laidback sounds for the most part. Misfits and Black Flag are an exception to this rule. 3 out of 5 stars
Ozzy’s greatest hits
I had we sold our soul for rock and roll in the 90s, and I even saw the reformation of Sabbth in the 90s when my family and I went to OzzFest 99 for my 13th birthday. Naturally, the prince of darkness was right up my alley. I loved the 2001 album he did with Dreamer. This is all the best in one place. 5 out of 5
Dream 2001
Ok, So pop isn’t my thing. However, back in 2001 Sprite had points. You saved so many you got something. Well, after upteen nose bleeds from Sprite up’ing my blood pressure, this was the only album they had that seemed ok. It wasn’t worth it, but it’s not a horrible album. I haven’t had a sprite since then for a reason. 3.5 out of 5
Rob Zombies Hillbilly Deluxe
Second time I bought this album. Loved it in the 90s, dug it even more in 2004. Saw him at Ozzfest 99 and he upstaged sabbath. Not an easy accomplishment. 4 out of 5 stars.
Iron Maiden Number of the beast.
First heard of Iron Maiden thanks to the Tony Hawk games. Bought this in 2004 and loved it. Sadly I haven’t listened to this album since, just Run to the hills and Number of the beast. Interesting side note, We were at the Wendy’s in Saco, Maine and I had this album playing. I turned around while my family was ordering the food and when I turned back around, a bunch of ambulances were across the street. In between the time I started listening to the album and turned about some guy on a bicycle was hit by a semi truck. Horrible tragedy and still sticks with me to this day. 4 out of 5 stars on the album though.
Van Halen Best of both worlds
Can’t pick between Hager and Roth? Well, now you don’t have to. Besides, no one bought this album for either, well, if you’re a guitarist anyways. You bought it for Eddie’s guitar playing. Great album. Fun fact, this album almost had a tour for it. Roth and Hager could not get along, so even though I had the money to go, it never manifested. Leaving me with a 80s style sad musical story instead of the “I was there one.”4 out of 5
Lynard Skynard Thirty
I never listened to much Skynard back in the 90s. I knew of them because my parents liked a few of their songs. So expanding my musical horizons, I bought this. Lots of really good tunes and a few are more fun to play on guitar than it might seem. 4 out of 5
Best of The Rolling Stones
Another I didn’t listen to much in the 90s. Great stuff. 4 out of 5
The Ramones Greatest hits
My sister bought this and she ended up giving it to me because she got another copy. It’s the Ramones, do you really need a reason? Nothing but bar chords and down strumming on every song, but it paved the way for the genre. Gababa hey! 4 out of 5
Life after Death, BIG
Big up to Brooklyn! Gave this a listen back in the 90s, bought it again in 2004. Not a horrible album and a dark concept is so metal. Haven’t listened to it since though. 3.5 out of 5
Dre 2001
Listened to this a couple times in 2001. Not horrible, but i also haven’t listened to this or many tracks out it since. My favorite being Murder Ink, for sampling the Halloween theme. John Carpenter is great even in Rap. 3 out of 5
Rammstien
It’s a Rammstien. Du hast is an epic song! Couldn’t understand any of it back then, and now that I know German, thanks to Duolingo, it’s even better. 4 out of 5
Marylin Manson Smells like children
First Manson album I ever bought. Not the last. Sweet Dreams was dope. Kinder grinder remix went hard as fuck. If you weren’t moshing, you weren’t paying attention. 5 out of 5
Marylin Manson Antichrist superstar
Another album I bought twice. Worth it in every single way. Varies from Smells like Children, but interesting nonetheless. 1996 is my favorite from the cd. 4 out of 5
Marylin Manson Mechanical Animals
The cover was worth buying this to see the look on the Best Buy employees face. First got it for my 12th birthday in 1998, along with a copy of Parasite Eve that I would play on my brother’s PlayStation. Good album, but not his best. 3.5 out of 5
Eminem The Eminem Show
One of the very few rappers I actually have enjoyed over the years. Eminem’s various stylings in the key of rap has always made for him to be relevant and interesting to us non rap folk. 4 out of 5
The Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium
Never been a fan of the RHCP. It’s was too laid back for my taste. I did like Flea from Back to the Future. Caught a single off the radio in 2007 and bought this. My first and only RHCP album. It’s a magnum opus. Nearly every song is a hit. Still a 5 out of 5.
Lord The Arocklypse
They won Eurovision and boy was it amazing. Naturally I had to run to eBay and buy some of there albums from Europe. This is the 2008 American Release that I bought day one. 5 out of 5
Van Halen 5150
Police code for a crazy person. Had this on vinyl as well, which I picked up at a yard sale. Got it on cd too. Very good, albeit pretty retro synth. Still fun. 3.5 out of 5
{OG text. I’ll update this later with the link as my phone is running super low on battery.}
Not pictured because I lost them over the years, Metallica The Black Album, Guns and Roses Greatest Hits, Tom Perry’s Greatest hits. Bought all those around 2004 and I bumped The Black Album the most and now I can play a majority of the album on guitar too.
Overall an interesting time frame.
Edit: minor update to the text, corrections and added said link.
INTRODUCTION: Jimi doesn’t need a introduction, but this review needs to be prefaced by something, because this isn’t really an album, so much as an audio scrapbook of Jimi’s various attempts at creating his music. As such, this can’t really be reviewed in a traditional sense, since we have the complete versions of most of these songs already released.
ALBUM: This album is for anyone that is interested in Jimi. However I think the primary appreciative audience of this album is musicians or budding musicians that want to learn more. Listening over the course of three days gave a small glimpse into a great mind and some of what he was thinking when it came to music. A lot of the changes to songs are very subtle. One of the more interesting aspects of this is the small snippets of Jimi and his crew bantering before laying down a track. While an interesting look behind the man who captured audiences for generations, it would be time and money better well spent buying the deluxe edition that comes with a dvd detailing more on Jimi. Just the album alone, while worth the $29.99, will leave you wanting more like I did. Overall a cool concept in general.
So I’ve mentioned before that I got my 1st guitar at 12 years old in 1998. It was a Christmas gift and fantastic! Interestingly enough, my parents accidentally bought me a left handed guitar, not a right handed one. Since Jimi Hendrix was the biggest reason for learning, that didn’t deter me from trying to learn.
I ended up selling that guitar when we moved to New Hampshire, which is interesting, because it was originally purchased in New Hampshire. The internet was still in its infancy and there was no good resources around to learn anyway. Not like I could have started a band, as I come across so few people in my age range that know how to play any instrument, never mind the typical metal quartet of Drummer, Bassist, Rhythm Guitarist/Lead Guitarist.
Fast forward to 2004, I bought a nice guitar off eBay for about $80 dollars shipped. It was pink and goth style, but it looked so killer. I got to play around with some things here and there, like a wash pedal for the first time. I got tired of just being able to emulate certain things I had seen Rock Stars do, but not really understanding what I was doing. I wanted to really be a musician and not a hack that could chug and play the odd one finger power chords.
So I sold that guitar and picked up a $60 dollar acoustic guitar at the pawn shop and said “I’m becoming a musician”. 2008 would be a year that would drastically change my life for the better.
From 22 to 25 I played that thing non stop. Morning, noon, night. I didn’t care, I spent at least one hour a day learning.
Then like most people I hit the learning plateau that stops progress. So I took a short break from playing, so I could access the problem and find a way back to getting better.
Back then, you didn’t have all the fancy YouTuber’s you had now. You had Justinguitar.com and Marty had only just Started his YT channel. Basically you’re alone on this journey and for me, I would not have had it any other way. I mean, did Jimi have it easy? No, so why should I? I may not become a rock god, but I would become a musician. The latter is the most important part.
So the reason I write this is because I got offered a job interview at guitar center to teach guitar in Portland. I was the only one who applied, but due to conflicts with scheduling of bus routes, could not make it. Let’s be honest, it was a welfare gig from the start as most people learn online.
Hell, when I first started at 12, finding anyone to teach you was a pain in the ass, prior to the internet. My dad managed a band, locally and I could have asked there, but I didn’t want someone to take time to teach me, when it could service them better to make music. Regardless, like I posted above, I preferred the harder route, like many successful guitarist before me had walked.
So you know I would have probably been fired from Guitar Center before Christmas even showed up, unless they needed one more sales man, which I doubt. This isn’t to knock Guitar Center, rather understand the current climate we’re in and that local teaching isn’t exactly appropriate nowadays, since, as I said everything is driven by the internet.
Let look at the whose who of online guitarist
Justin Sandercroe
Marty Swartz
Music is win
Brandon
Rick Beato
And about a million in between all of those. The smart idea would be to build a curriculum on those people and branching out into certification for people who have passed their prerequisites in order to accommodate for people who cannot have access to these people personally like when they first started there channels as the volume, no pun intended, is probably a logistical nightmare.
My style for videos is very concise, too concise I would argue, as my entire series would probably only have about 10 videos total.
However, there is a list of things I noticed over the years that I wish I had known when I started playing in the first place.
Anchor fingers is something I wish I had in the 90s. I might have become a decent player sooner. Look at Justinguitar for more one that. My favorite take away from his lessons.
Music Theory. I never liked the name, as I’m a science guy and was an idiot who was like “if there is evidence for it, then it’s a theory.” As it seemed like the name was used informally. Since the guitar is over a century old, it should be music pragmatism. However, some understanding would be helpful. It helps creativity and doesn’t dash it.
Finding a way to make analogies to the notes on your fretboard. This is a must in the beginning!
Knowing what notes make up a chord. It be simpler to make chords on the fly than rote remembering them all. Also Don’t get bogged down in BS like the caged system.
Tabs suck! If they work for you, all the power to ya. Learning by ear has been so much more beneficial to me than tabs ever have been. I only feel like my ear has recently become well developed and needs to be more attenuated . I have started, recently, learning Hendrix by ear and have made real progress. Something I would not have dared do in the early days of guitar playing.
That’s a small but very important list.
So, here is my structure for learning guitar since 2008.
Kirk Hammett
David Gilmore
Slash
Jimi Hendrix
The idea was to start at Metallica and learn what we could from Kirk. In this case, light solos, a decent pace to strive for and really good for developing your ear. I learned more Metallica accidentally than I ever did intentionally.
David Gilmore is the next logical step. Very long solos, use of whammy, learning when to slow down and when to speed up.
Slash is up next, as he is undoubtedly the hardest to play on this list, before Jimi. Dexterity and speed are very important here.
Once you learn from them, we would approach Jimi Hendrix, the man himself and this would be close to a Ph.D in music in my mind, for those learning on the outside of a musical theory course.
The point isn’t to be able to play all their songs perfectly, but rather develop the muscle memory to be able to play better. You can replace any guitarist on the list with your personal preference for players.
I’ll leave it here for now. Good luck with your own musical progress. Rock on!
I know that’s a bold claim to make, but hear me out on this one. So, since I have very electric taste in what I follow for various reasons, sometimes a bunch of similar things will get caught in my feed at the same time and for different reasons. So a lot of “how to defeat a narcissist” clips have been showing up in my feed and they’re disingenuous for a lot of reasons. As someone who has tried a lot of these tactics with people that might have NPD, I have noticed they never work and also always exacerbate the problem. I’m not sure if it’s because the tactics are outdated or because these idiots are wising up the narc to go beyond we’re they used or, or what.
One case in point was when I was 22 ish and a woman who I bearly knew, was on the verge of a divorce, wanted to get to know me and none of these things seemed to get her away from me. She just kept at it. I knew back then it was an obvious red flag when she ask me to tell her I loved her when I had barely known her. I was also talking to another woman I was interested in at the time and wanted to see where that went, since she wanted to wait until the divorce was finalized before proceeding with fully putting out. She was open to light “cheating” though.
So naturally I looked some stuff up to see various ways I could broach the subject, since my gestures weren’t deterring her from badgering me.
Having tried all these things they put into the videos, I find they’re a boon. So my logic is, if you suck at your job that badly, should you really still get to have it? I mean these are people that are giving people sound advice, by their standards, claiming they’re degreed in this and if you had paid for the advice, you would have a malpractice suit against them. So what gives that these continue to go unchecked and the American Psychiatric Association hasn’t put them out to pasture yet? Cause if you have ever tried any of this, you know by now they’re making large sums of money off you continually losing to the potential NPDer. So where is the gain for anyone to actually win? Cause much like the narc, you have to go back to these people and they get their not toxic supply. It’s like the circle of violence for domestic abuse.
Maybe you have had a different experience here, but from my point of view, it seems like the real narcs are in these videos.
Best in Your Girl 