Guitar.com: bensokol

G3

bensokol

in less than a month i will be going to california (with an aching in my heart), but seriously, i am heading to California in early march to go see the likes of Joe Satriani, or according toDave Martone, Joe Saturation, John Petrucci, and Paul Gilbert play in the Berkley Community Theatre on the 2007 G3 tour! to see john petrucci and his drummer, mike portnoy, play songs from suspended animation will be amazing, also satriani and gilbert are fantastic as well! i am upset about steve vai not joining the tour for the second year in a row, but paul gilbert is great.

IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bensokol

In less than 2 hours. Systematic Chaos, the new Dream Theater album, will be released. Here is the official Dream Theater Systematic chaos EPK

\m/
~Sokol

Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun

bensokol

hey, sorry i haven't posted any blogs since march. i have been meaning to get a camera so i could record an audition vid, and also do some video lessons via blog. And when i finally got the chance to buy a camera last weekend, my parents offered me an alternitive, hold off on getting the camera until the beggining of summer, and instead, get a recording studio. i, wisely chose the studio. i got the presonus firepod stuio package, with a few alterations. instead of the fostex studio monitors, i got KRK RP 5s, and instead of the ATH-20s i got ATH-30s. I strongly recomend anybody short on cash who needs a recording studio to get this, it's onle $800. the best recording studio deal you will find... EVER!!! I would post the recomendation that i wrote for it, but do to some errors with guitar.com, i was unable to, because it says that i recomneded the line 6 pod 2.0, something that i would never recomend, unless the question was: what would you recomend i throw off my roof, and then run ofer with a monster truck?

anyway, here is a moment of enlightenment from my good old friend, charlie the unicorn. enjoy!!

~Sokol

John Petrucci

bensokol

personally, i feel that JP is the best guitarist ever. i love his amazing licks, extensive knowledge of theory, which he incorporates into every one of his amazing songs, and yes, his ability to transform into a bear overnight. i love everything about him, and think what you will, some consider me the ultimate JP fanboy,and i am, but he is AMAZING!! i have now seen him perforrm both in G3, and as a member of the greatest 21 year old band around, Dream Theater, and will be seeing him again on August 21. He is the ultimate guitarist. Also, i love what adam02 has done with his rock disciplinnnne video and other vieds on youtube! here is my favorite.

enjoy!

~Sokol

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?

bensokol

this guy is crazy insane, and insane crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all i want to do is eat your brains

bensokol

this guy is hlarious!!! thanks tiim for the link.

easy skankin'

bensokol

i have got to party with this guy!

audition vid is finally here!!

bensokol

yea, so i finally finished my audition vid, and put it up, enjoy!

funniest frickin' thing i have ever seen!!!

bensokol

i have honestly never laughed so hard in my entire life. this is really fitting seeing that i just finished watching the ringer with johnny knoxville. anyway, dispite his joke lyrics, Stephen Lynch is a pretty good musician. he plays nice guitar, and has a great voice. anyway enjoy... at the special Olympics!!

what the hell?!?!?!?!?!?!

bensokol

this is a crazy mix between dominoes and pool... and me likey

crazy lady gets tazed... it's friggin hilarioius

bensokol

just watch

Something serious for a change

bensokol

I know the majority of my posts are funny things that I have found on Youtube. Seeing that this is Guitar.com, and not funny vids on youtube.com, I thought I should actually write something about guitars and music and such. I was searching youtube, and came across this guy, Dominic Fresca. When I first saw this video of him playing the 10 string, I was speachless, and motionless, excluding one or two areas. this guy is truly amazing at guitar. He is gifted. Enjoy!

crazy 8 year old!!

bensokol

This kid is only 8 years old, and he kicks ass at Guitar Hero II. Psycobilly Freakout is a really hard song, and this kid is got it down near perfect on expert. I hate to admit it, but this kid is way better than me, and he is less than half my age!! It's ridiculous!!

Bohemian Rhapsody for classical guitar

bensokol

this guy shows you how to play Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody on the classical guitar. he plays it great, but his teaching isn't the best, but what he doesn't teach you, you can easily pick up. It sounds great, enjoy!

lionel loueke and Gilfema

bensokol

I had the oppertunity to go his show last summer when I went to the Berklee summer guitar sessions. When I saw him, I was blown away! After he finished his set list, he answered questions from the audiance. One of the questions was how does he come up with his rhythms and time signatures, and he reploed, "You know, people always ask me about what time do I play in? Or where do these rhythms come from? And I can't explain it. I don't think like, 'oh, let me play a song in 4/4, or 7/8, or anything like that. I just feel the rhythm, and play it. A lot of the time my band gets lost because they don't know what I'm playing or what they're playing. And I tell them, just play what you feel, just listen to what I play, and play something! And you know what, it always sounds great!"

Anyway, Lionel Loueke definitely is one of the best guitarists I've seen. He was the first performer of the week at Berklee, and he was the best. the other performers were, in order, Gary Hoey, Tim Miller Trio, and Joe Stump Group. Lionel just has some of the best rhythm ever, and it really got to me. enjoy!

one of those that will make you say...holy %$#^

bensokol

when I saw this I seriously exclaimed "HOLY S#*T"! I then read the explanation and laughed. This guy is seriously amazing, though I wouldn't want to touch his guitar!

Zappa on Crossfire

bensokol

In 1986, Maryland proposed the idea of censorship on music lyrics and videos. Frank Zappa was an advocate for not censoring music, and as a result, he was invited to appear on CNN's show Crossfire. In this clip, Zappa states that music should not be censored because the musicians are given the right by the first amendment. John Lofton, an advocate for censorship, argues with Frank and tries to get his point across, but fails o do so, mainly because he doesn't have one. In this clip, Frank Zappa tools on John Lofton and the other commenatators, who constantly cut him off when he is making a point. Anyway, Zappa is amazing in this clip, and John Lofton should burn in hell!

Obviously most, if not all of you agree with Frank Zappa on this, but I am interested to hear any justifiable arguments supporting censorship in music today. 21 years later, some of these issues are still present. I agree with Frank that they are just words, and should not be censored at all. Music does not lay down the laws, it is an art, and the lyrics should not be picked apart word for word, but are just there. They are the musicians works of art, and should not be tampered with. Please feel free to argue with me and Frank, or support us.

\m/

~Sokol

sweet progression

bensokol

If you ever want to fuse a 12-bar blues with jazz, and have some sweet chords in it, check this out.

| I713 | IV79 | I713 | % |
| IV79 | IV#°7| I713 | VI+7 |
| II-9 | V713 | I79 VI+7 | II-9 V713 |

so in C, it would be,

| C713 | F79 | C713 | % |
| F79 | F#°7 | C713 | A+7 |
| D-9 | G173 | C79 A+7 | D-9 G713 |

chord diagrams for these chords

Root 6 Dominant 7th 13

e|---|---|---|-x-|---|
B|---|---|-x-|---|---|
G|---|-x-|---|---|---|
D|---|---|---|---|---|
A|---|-x-|---|---|---|
E|---|---|---|---|---|

Root 5 Dominant 7th 9

e|---|---|---|---|---|
B|---|---|---|-x-|---|
G|---|---|-x-|---|---|
D|---|-x-|---|---|---|
A|---|---|-x-|---|---|
E|---|---|---|---|---|

Root 5 Diminished 7th

e|---|---|---|---|---|
B|---|---|-x-|---|---|
G|-x-|---|---|---|---|
D|---|---|-x-|---|---|
A|---|-x-|---|---|---|
E|---|---|---|---|---|

Root 6 Augmented 7th

e|---|---|---|---|---|
B|---|---|-x-|---|---|
G|---|---|-x-|---|---|
D|---|-x-|---|---|---|
A|---|---|---|---|---|
E|---|-x-|---|---|---|

Root 5 Minor 7th 9

e|---|---|---|---|---|
B|---|---|-x-|---|---|
G|---|---|-x-|---|---|
D|-x-|---|--|---|---|
A|---|---|-x-|---|---|
E|---|---|---|---|---|

try it out, it sounds great, especially with a swing feel.