Below is an actual
letter sent to the Man via woohoo mail on 12th November 2012. Some
parts were edited to protect the Man’s current location and identity, and mine.
It was an intense
weekend. Plenty of musical and personal reflections…..and iStomp!
Dude,
It’s 2.45pm and I figure out you should be in the airport
down south. By the time you start reading this, you should already be in that
5-star resort your mum was raving about. Hope you had a good flight.
There are quite a number of things I want to address here
but maybe let's start with Robben Ford.
I know Robben through guitar mags but did not bother to
check him out until the recent purchase of the two DVDs. I started with the
earlier gig, and after the first track, like you, I died. I don’t think I need
to explain further.
One thing about Robben that I found through the DVDs is that
he doesn’t seem to like playing long sustained notes. There is a lot of vibe
and tasteful melody in his playing, and definitely a great balance of good lead
and rhythm playing – hence the “tuition material” tag on the DVDs. I wanted at
one point to rush out and get my hands on his CDs but I think I got the best of
Robben Ford in that 2 DVDs. That will do me for now.
Somehow, I prefer him to Bonamassa…….
Good review on the Yamaha. The guitar is quite a beauty
visually. It is as Pelham Blue as it can get. I thought it was a really good
description of how it sounded. Hope someone from Fender can read it.
Sure, you can argue that Fenders are now giving more options
to the budget conscious crowd, given the China Fenders and the new line of
Indian Jackson. But to produce something that sound THAT good at such low price,
maybe not yet. Maybe even not, not with the big giants….(Cort, Dean, Schecter
is capable….as long as they are made in Indonesia ).
Alright let’s move on (‘cos that was discussed in lengthy
details in one of our conversation).. Let’s talk about the 8th
member in my arsenal – The Cort Garage 1.
Since the last time I plugged up at home, I didn’t really
have the chance to play on it. I did take it out and wipe it as well as
admiring it for a while before putting it back. For some reasons, I connect
well to this guitar both on the musicianship and emotional level.
I have not felt like that with any of the guitars I had.
Maybe because it’s a present from my wife and the whole
story of how this was planned and how you tech the guitars and how it finally
landed in my hands…maybe that really overwhelmed me. I don’t know dude. It’s a
funny feeling but I like it.
In addition, the fact that it is the “many first” guitar I
have adds to the whole connection. The effect is still rather vivid, especially
when I see Matthias’s signature at the back of the headstock.
I have always thought that at this point in time, there
couldn’t be any more chances of me having another guitar –given all the
commitments – but you and wifey somehow made it happened. I am bad with words
so you will never understand how much this means to me. I think the best thing
to do is to do justice to it by playing more metal stuff.
This brings me to the next subject. I know I may sound like
an old long-winded grandma, but I have to talk about the jam session again.
There is something different about your playing. Of course,
your mark is still there but in terms of precision and phrasing, it was a huge
progress forward. Your metal chops have gotten more solid. But what is really
interesting is that your melodic side is really prominent. This is something a
little different (yes, you can play melodically but to do a whole song like
that, especially during the slower A-F-G progression, dude, that was scary!!)
I think you are faring well in your journey to become the
complete guitar player. I can see the versatility and diversity of style is
getting wider, stronger and technically more proficient.
I look forward to the next jam session because as of all the
previous sessions, that Saturday morning was highly educational and inspiring.
The past two days was a real treat for me…. The jam session,
the DVD watching, mamak, dim sum and BIG SHOP was really great. I was really
happy to see you again after our failing to catch up the last trip. And of
course, the Garage 1.
When you said you were taking up the Overseas posting, I
felt a little sad. There is no another person who is so willingly listening to
my guitar crap and understand how much passion I have for the blues and why I
love Rush and EJ so much. Not to mention, sharing the same passion.
Of course, it was a great career advancement for you. I
encouraged you to take it up because you are still young and this is a great
opportunity….If you remembered, I mentioned to you early this year – “Make sure
they make you a director!!”.
And I am damn happy the plans are in for that. It means I
get more emails on your guitar purchase and when I eventually end up in THERE,
I get to shred on whatever that’s lying around at your place. This is
self-invited, so you have no choice but to surrender your axes for a
while…muahahahaha…. (cos I don’t know anybody else who have 2 signature
LTDs!!!)
At this point, I am contemplating to make a trip next year
for THAT exhibition!
Dude, I finally understand – albeit a little vague – some
determining factors for you to take up this job on Saturday.
And put everything together, I am thankful and happy for you
that you took that job.
I hope it helped to extinguish some demons in you and of
course, everything in life is work in progress. So, take one step at a time.
I see great progress of you in your work (although it’s
quite crazy with the schedules and datelines) but dude, honestly, I am damn
proud of you mate.
Musically, I think we started a new chapter in playing and
guitar hunting ( I can feel the fun in your mails and all those phone calls, I
can’t imagine how it is like to be there). A whole new world has opened up for
you there……..(I am still in shock with iStomp….gosh, the technology!!)
With you coming back much better as a player, and with all
the videos, it sparked the flame in me to want to play much better as well,
re-approach/fine tune my style and finding that lost love for metal again.
All that because you went to THERE.
Continue to challenge Fate and Life (the toughest 2
motherfuckers which without them, Murphy would have had so smooth of a journey
that he need not have to coin up his stupid law of how we can be screwed by the
two bastards….). It’s not easy to do it alone but always remember there is
someone here who may be as crazy as you (given sufficient resources). You have
probably been in much bigger and more difficult situation than me, I have all
the faith in you to tide through all the shit.
And if you need a push, you know who to get to.
All that said, with you continuing to get better as a guitar
player, and me having a new badass, kickass metal guitar (Matthias Jabs rocks,
but that will be another story); and with both of us continue growing up as
human being, I am definitely, positively and very certainly certain and sure,
that the best is yet to come!
Stay strong and take good care.
PS: I still remember your challenge on the metal track. Will
find time and get down to it.
After the Saturday
morning session, I have defined “shred” as “playing brutally emotional and
emotionally brutal”
