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The Inner Geek (and the New Office)

The move from Midview to church: Some shots of the sanctuary (the pews haven't been brought in yet): And once we settled into office: Maybe it's part of my training as an engineer, but when I saw things that were not being used lying around the house and in office, I just had to make use of those things and decided to put together...

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My Acoustic Rig

I'm an unconventional acoustic guitarist. Rather than going through the traditional route of drilling and installing an acoustic preamp on my "purely acoustic" acoustic, I decided to go with a Seymour Duncan Woody pickup: Contrary to what your pre-conceived notions of acoustic pickups may tell you, it doesn't sound bad at all going through...

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Over-reliance

I have an iPhone 4 and I stuck on an anti-smudge screen protector as soon as I got it. I thought that it was absolutely necessary to have that additional layer of plastic. It gave a heightened sense of security. It gave more confidence to me as I handled (or manhandled) my phone with wet hands still drying from washing up, dirty hands from cleaning my car, and oily hands from checking my phone while eating my meals. Two days ago, my sister gave me a new cover as a birthday present. It was...

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How to Play By Ear

The following is from a forum post by a beginner musician seeking help on figuring out chords by ear: Puffia: I need help on doing covers!! i cant really figure out the note in the songs i want to play Trying to do a cover for this (Everybody Talks by Neon Trees)->  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tMsH...el_video_title Can you guys give...

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Going Fender

Fender guitars used to bear the brunt of my guitar manufacturing criticisms. For a design which has essentially gone without much significant revision, I concede that Leo Fender got part of the formula right. I use the term "part" because the design isn't perfect. There are obvious flaws with the solid-body electric design: early '50s models ...

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The Responsibility of Followers (1Cor4:6-14)

What do you do when your young ones in the faith have severe disciplinary problems? Look to Christ. ...

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Bitter Water Made Sweet (Exodus 15:22-27)

As an inaugural post about bible study, allow me to divulge that bible study is one of the few things I am passionate about. I love it and I want to make freely available my devotional and bible study material for you. I hope this blesses you!...

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Going Acoustic in a Church Setting

Being an acoustic guitarist for church can be challenging. I had the privilege of playing for Pastor Anthony for the recent LCEC Planning Retreat, and it was the first time in a long while picking up the acoustic for official duty as a guitarist. Nothing too difficult: 8 songs, all mostly of the same contemporary genre. However, I realized that...

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11 Years Together

I speak, of course, about my Yamaha AES820. (What else were you thinking?) Steve Mazur of Our Lady Peace, one of my favorite Alt Rock acts of all time, uses this exact model, and Frank Gambale based his signature model off this beauty of a guitar. It features two DiMarzio custom pickups, a three-way pickup selector with a 3-position rotary coil...

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Bridge Over a Troubled Tele

My telecaster came fitted with a "vintage" style 3-piece saddle, which looks like this: I'll admit, it looks really good and contributes to the allure of a vintage telecaster. It's colloquially known as the ashtray bridge--so called because the full bridge came with an outer case assembly (to keep a streamlined look) that players would take off...

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Tone Revision 3 (aka The Never-ending Story Part 20-Something)

There's a very high turn-over rate of pedals on my pedalboard. I've downsized from this:  Mounted on a Pedaltrain Pro, mid 2011 To this:  Mounted on a Pedaltrain 3, late 2011 I got rid of the Biyang pedals, not that they sounded bad, but I just didn't need two choruses and two delays (my Deluxe Electric Mistress can achieve tones from...

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The Curse of Canaan

Why did Noah curse his grandson Canaan? Taking a cursory glance of the passage, it reads that this boy’s father, Ham, saw Noah’s nakedness, and as a result, Noah cursed Canaan, who became the patriarch of Israel’s enemies, the Canaanites. The story seems capricious on the surface, in contrast to the largely reasonable historical account of Genesis. The key to understanding the passage lies in understanding the cultural context in which this passage is written, and the phrase that seems to make little...

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Dotted Eighth Delay Studies

Dotted eighth, the magical note integral to music of U2 and modern Hillsong. I've come up with several videos to properly explain how to set this up and apply this in a variety of situations: with a proper delay pedal, in the time signature of 6/8, and with a small practice amp that doesn't have displays. Some background: Here's a diagram to illustrate...

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Platypus Test Kitchen

It is a rarity for me to find Christine for lunch on a weekday, so when the opportunity presented itself (in the form of an exit clearance medical examination I had to do at a clinic nearby), we decided to go with something slightly pricier than the norm: and hence our trip to the Platypus Test Kitchen at Crawford Centre, a place known for its hand-made...

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Sarnies

I was able to meet Christine for lunch near her work place, and I soon discovered that the CDB is riddled with little cafes, eateries and restaurants that command higher prices than elsewhere. On first glance, it can appear absurd to pay $15 for a sandwich (that's nearly two Subway meals put together!), but don't let that dissuade you from trying...

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Return of the PEN

I learnt a valuable lesson when handling cameras, and I learnt it the hard way. I wanted to do a self-portrait for the purposes of updating my resume and professional profiles, so I used a tripod to prop my Olympus PEN up. Unfortunately, I must have extended one of the legs shorter than the others, and as such, when I released my grip on the...

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First Impressions

I'm a tech geek, so naturally, as and when there are promising pieces of new tech for me to play with, I'd be the first to jump right in. DraftCraft seems to have multi-platform publishing, so I'm trying this out. Maybe my ultimate iPad blogging experience will be actualized with this. Ready, steady, blog...

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Over the Top?

I moved my main pedalboard to clean that particular spot of the room (I do suppose my board is getting a little big if there's a substantial amount of floor that doesn't see the light of day). It happened to be in front of my practice rig consisting of my Line 6 gear: the PODX3 and the Spider III. "Hey, since everything's together, how would it...

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