Wired as Hell.

Man I've been so ADD about my practice habits lately... like I just want to learn everything and keep finding new songs that I want to play. For lessons sake I've decided to learn Master of Puppets because it's going to allow Jake and I to work very well together. He knows every measure of that song and will be a lot more effective at teaching it than Anastasia, even if I still love the guitar part in that and want to learn it. Slash might actually be a little too difficult for me right now.... I relistened to that song and it sounds like a massive challenge. Of course Master of Puppets will be too, but I've grown more and more used to Kirk Hammit's style so it will probably be easier to learn than Anastasia.

Here's a picture of Kirk Hammett when he was about my age-- maybe a little younger. 

It's funny to listen to some of Metallica's interviews because Hetfield says that during their first important performances and even subsequent performances for years to come their minds were more set on "Don't mess up, don't mess up...." than the actual music (which I can totally relate too with my recent recitals) and now that they are more experienced musicians today they can fully enjoy it without the stress of messing up. 

It takes years and years of intensive practice to get to this point. I don't have any long term goals of trying to be some famous musician because that's a pipe dream. I just want to get good enough to experience the complete euphoria of having THAT degree of freedom and clarity while playing... The kind Luke Jaeger has, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Joe Satrianni, Dimebag, etc etc etc....

Speaking of Luke, he's moving back to San Diego. I don't know if Jake and him ever talked again about coming to the tri cities to do a pro lesson but he's been in California. If he comes to the tri cities when I'm in ellensburg out of the blue and gives a lesson to jake's other students I'd be so pissed.... lmfao. 

Okay enough guitar bullshit for now.. I know some of you that read this blog don't care about any of that.

I've been trying to make progress on my roommate search... though unsuccessfully thus far, and hope that my two ads-- both the index card one and the online ad, will get me a few calls and then I'll pick who
I want to live with next year. The girl I tried texting yesterday didn't get back to me and I haven't really gone through the ads on the page today but should. 

School starts on the 25th... I move out on the 22nd. That's abouuuut... 2 weeks before I'm out of here. Wow the end is definitely in sight. My Mom mentioned this morning that it was hard to believe that our birthdays are coming up again and I'm going to be turning 22. Dun dun dun.... 

Haven't thought about what I want for my birthday yet... A new guitar that I can actually tune without having that stupid locked bridge would be nice. I've really wanted to play some coheed and cambria but half of their songs are tuned down. I realize that Keeping Secrets Silent Earth is actually in Standard though so I'm chugging this energy drink and gonna have a blast learning this tonight. 

peace. 

To be the hero is all I ask.....

I've loved this song for years.... Literally I remember listening to this album back in 2008 in highschool when I'd have to run for miles on end at soccer practice. I adore Coheed and Cambria and always will. This will be soo fun to learn too. Like I said, ADD I've got stacks of paper everywhere and it annoys the shit out of Jake. He says I need to get a box to file everything in and I totally agree with him.. I just haven't gotten around to doing it cause I'm too damn lazy. 

Metallica is in my soul

Hello.

Well it's 10:25. I had a pretty good day at work and came home and got in some really solid practice time. My practice sessions have become more structured like they were last summer and I am able to fully focus on what I'm working on. Unfortunately there are a lot of songs that I want to play around with but
I should really be focusing on Master of Puppets. I don't know when that recital is but I hope not any time too soon... It's been super fun to learn so far.

Today work was rather tedious and slow paced but it gave me a better chance to get a hang of the register. I got two credit card apps today so I'm pumped. There's incentive for me to do well because it gets me more hours. More hours = more money. My Dad likes to buy his t-shirts at jcpenny anyways so I'm going to have him do a "Findmore" and have it shipped to the store... lol so silly. The way I see it the company doesn't care who's buying the stuff and he'd buy the damn things anyway.

Here's me looking goofy this morning before work. dur dur dur... 

Anyway went into work this morning at like 11'. There's nothing up saying where I need to be so I went to Kids because that's where I was hired originally. I met a couple of the ladies that also worked in kids who honestly weren't as talkative to me as my previous coworkers I've met which is kind of nice. 

No hating though, seriously!! I want to go back to working downstairs in Women's dresses. But being upstairs has let me get used to the register. So that was a good choice today I feel even if I did miss working with my buddy Kevin, ha ha ha.

Lmfao, I need to tell you guys about Kevin.

He's this kid that got hired at the same time that I did. I added him on facebook and this is the picture that stood out to me the most... ha ha ha. Yeah he was a male cheerleader back in the day. That's intense though, that's a real sport. I mean check that girl out on top, that takes major athleticism. Anyway he's 17 and just graduated highschool. Very sweet person and apparently really smart. He's kind of goofy though and we crack eachother up.

ANYWAY. We both showed up to work kind of early so we were just chatting about whatever for about 20 minutes. I told him a little about myself and my hobby and tried to guess what he was into. He told me that he Didn't really have any hobbies because he was always sort of shadowed. I was like seriously? Idk, I guess I was sort of in the same boat. I immediately told him that he should take up an instrument with A sharp and went on about a schpeel about how it's helped everything in my life and yadda yadda yadda...

Seriously when I'm talking about where I get guitar lessons I think people might get the impression I'm trying to get them to join a cult. I'm just so serious about what people like Jake have openned my eyes too. I feel like musicians like Luke Jaeger, John Petrucci, Kirk Hammitt, chimp spanner, John Satriani, Michael Romeo, etc etc the list goes on and on.. All these guitarists have metal running through their blood and it brings together souls that know real pain. And even if it's not metal-- I mean most great guitarists play loads of genres just for the Hell of it.... guitar is just something magical. It's complete euphoria for me to be able to just be able to practice all day lately.

Luke actually lives in Seattle, so there could be a possibility of getting in touch with him.

I don't actually know him aside from through Jake. He's an outrageous guitar player. like Insanely blow your f*cking head off good. I want to know all about his story and how he got to this point and eventually would like to get some lessons from him if I move up that direction. It's not likely that he's going to stick around Seattle for that long though. He gives Skype lessons like Jake but he probably charges higher because I'm sure he doesn't even like teaching.

No, okay lemme back up... I'm not saying he wouldn't be a crazy good teacher. I'm just saying a lot of guitar players actually don't like teaching the basics. I've only been playing for two years and Jake has taught me a ton and still has a lot to teach me. Like before I stop taking lessons with Jake I need to know all the notes on the fretboard like the back of my hand, know way more scales, go back to working on arpeggios, different types of chords... There's still a ton of stuff that we haven't covered that I know Luke would probably be bored with. Luke teaches only other professionals. Jake enjoys teaching students that are more experienced as well. 

I've just been consumed by guitar and work lately. That's it guys. 

peace.