A song for Grimsby Football club

Sometimes you never know what job is going to come through the door! I was recently contacted by a very devoted fan of recently promoted Grimsby Football Club, whom currently wishes to remain anonymous, with the idea to record a song to celebrate their beloved clubs return to the football league!

Grimsby Football Club : A Song

This to me was a project with a difference, so I jumped at the chance!! There wasn't much time to get this project finished, as it had to be done before the first day of the season. The songwriter had most of the lyrics written and an idea for the style that they wanted it to be in, although we did try a few different styles during our writing evening. They also had a singer with them, and on the first meeting we came up with the style and made sure all the lyrics scanned.Due to my gigging schedule and their work schedule this only really left us with about 5 hours to fully record the song, yes....all 13 verses of it! So once we were decided on the style, I quickly found a basic drum pattern (thanks EZ Drummer!) and set to work recording a guide guitar track. Whilst the style leads it's self to a more live feel, given the amount of verses it would have been impossible to make it through the whole song in one take without and mistakes, or at least the ability to have options. So I recorded a guide and the vocally, we went through verse by verse doing a couple of takes of each....still a large undertaking on the singer, singing over 100 verses in all with all the takes! Everything was done in Logic, once we had all the song completed vocally, we all went through and using Logic's comping tool, made a few comps of the bits were there were on or two small issues.With the vocal track in place, I then went through and recorded a couple of different guitar parts which drop in through out to give some momentum to the piece, as well as creating a building drum part and bass part. Then after a couple of test mixes and fixed, it was mastered and stuck on to YouTube! All in all a very interesting little project and a reminder of how focused you can be when time is against you!It also got a mention in the local newspaper, so some fame at last!!EnjoyPeaceNeil

NPD JHS The AT (Andy Timmons) Overdrive pedal

JHS The AT (Andy Timmons) Overdrive pedal

So it is new pedal day today (NPD!) and my JHS Andy Timmons Signature overdrive has just arrived, so I thought I would do a video blog for no other reason than I am very excited!! I will be doing a review soon, but needless to say it sound AWESOME!!Some just asked me on Facebook...

What are the main differences between AT Overdrive and the Angry Charlie v3?

The main differences are the Angry Charlie has 3 band EQ which closely represents the overall tone stack in a Marshall JCM800. So it is very close to the Marshall Gov’ner pedal. THE AT Drive, has an over all EQ control, which acts a bit like a lowpass filter is used to adjust the overall tone of the pedal (so a bit like a mid control ish!) and the Air is a LP filter too but seems to adjust the HF response. The main difference though is the toggle switch! This give you 3 levels of headroom and is represents a 25W, 50W and 100W power stage. So at 25w you get a lot of compression and more distortion but at a lower level, 50W is a bit more biting Crunch/Distortion, and 100W is a really loud power amp type tone. I have it set at 50W currently and then over compress it by running the EHX soul food into it, this gives gain compression but a boost in the mids which makes it stand out on solos!Any more questions, just shout!EnjoyPeaceNeil

Boss TU-12H Tuner : Oldest Gear I own

>Boss TU-12H Chromatic TunerI thought I would share this picture post of one of the oldest pieces of gear I own, the Boss TU-12H Chromatic Tuner. I brought this when I first started getting into guitar seriously in 1988!! I saved a lot of pocket money to buy this Tuner, after having previously brought a Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal and the thing is about these two items, gear has come and gone but I still have them, I still use them and they still work really really well!! I guess it goes to show, the tuner isn't the most exciting piece of gear you can ever buy, but it is a fundamentally important item. If not the most important item a musician might own!! No it isn't as sexy as an effect pedal, but it is vital to being able to play in tune and with other musicians. At the time, the TU-12H cost a lot of money and there wasn't much choice around at that time, and remember this was long before guitars went total mainstream and the influx of cheap imports!So the moral of this story for me, sometimes it is worth investing in good solid gear, it can in many cases last a lifetime!!What is your oldest piece of gear? EnjoyPeaceNeil

Quick Tip : Using USB Battery pack to power guitar pedals or pedalboard.

Today I thought I would do a quick tip on powering your guitar pedals or pedalboard with a USB Battery Packs. Yes you can do this!! I have been wondering about this for sometime, given how USB battery packs (or recharge packs or powerbanks as they are called) seem to be cropping up all over the places now and they are super reasonable value. The only thing you need to make this work is something like this (Link to MyVolts 5v to 9V usb adaptor) which steps the 5V output of the battery up to 9V to power most pedals. This only costs a few pounds and you can even use it with a USB plug adaptor too, the main thing is it works really well!!I am going to do another video on working out the milliamps and all that stuff soon.Any questions, just ask!EnjoyPeaceNeil

Natural finish Strat Custom build project part 2

Here is another update to my strat custom build/makeover project that is have been working on for sometime! I will be posting a few pictures in the next couple of days, but in the meantime, I am now at stage two, the wood work has been done. The guitar looks amazing, and I have to thank Steve at theguitarworkshop for all his work on this. The neck has been refret and it plays amazingly! I can't actually put the guitar down at the moment.The next stage is to get all the electrics replaced and some of the other bits of hardware. I am opting for black across the board and I am just waiting for some of these pieces to arrive. The other thing I will be replacing is the bridge and that is the last item I have to order.Here is a little video diary from the project!EnjoyPeaceNeil

Line 6 G30 Wireless system battery compartment update

Here is a follow up to my review of the fantastic Line 6 G30 Wireless system, and it's slightly poor quality battery compartment. I did a video to show what happened at a gig to the battery compartment when I opened it. This was NOT a result of it being dropped, I take great care of my gear, and especially this piece as it had already broken the very rubbish plastic clip meant to hold the battery in place (this was the reason for the cable tie closing mechanism!). I do think that this is an AWESOME piece of kit and I wouldn't be without it, but it is such a shame that this couldn't have been made a tiny bit better!!Original review can be found hereEnjoyPeaceNeil

Between the lines EP released

I am really pleased and proud to say that a project I have been working on with my writing partner has been finished and released into the world. Between the lines is an originals project I have been working on, producing thought provoking and emotive music. You can take a sneak listen to some of the songs here.I will be writing more about the project soon, including the recording process, guitars and amps used and an insight into the song writing process. EnjoyPeaceNeil

Profile on onlineguitarlessons.co.uk

I am really happy to say that I now have a profile on the fantastic onlineguitarlessons.co.uk website. So what is the website all about? Well, here is some blurb from the about section "Onlineguitarlessons.co.uk is a website designed to help you learn guitar for free. We have a full range of lessons ranging catering for the beginner right through to the advanced. If you’re struggling to work out how to play, then you’ve come to the right place! It’s our aim to grow this website into a great resource, and unless we get too distracted, a regular stream of great information shall flow!"Onlineguitarlessons.co.uk main mission is "to help people when learning guitar, through tips and providing regular and useful information." It is a really honour to be on the site, so head on over and take a look at some of the great lessons and tutors who are on the site.EnjoyPeaceNeil  

Steve Vai 25th Anniversary Passion and Warfare Show

A big day today!! I am so, so, so excited to be going to see Steve Vai on the 25th Anniversary tour of releasing Passion and Warfare. I cannot state how important that album and Mr Vai have been in and on my life. Sometimes something comes into your life and changes it for ever, for me it has been music and in particular a collection of albums which upon hearing I knew instinctively that my life would never be the same again, Iron Maiden’s Live after Death, Joe Satriani’s Surfing with the Alien and Extreme’s Pornograffiti being but three of many. Three works of art which on the first time listening left me floored, inspired, excited, thrilled and mostly thinking how the f*** did they do that. Passion and Warfare and Mr Vai have probably been the most responsible for a number of major life events, from being fortunate enough to get a Steve Vai Scholarship to study orchestration at Berklee, through to actually studying under Mr Vai on his Berklee course, something which was totally and utterly life changing. I can’t state how strongly his music and his life philosophy play a large part in shaping who I am.

No doubt I will get a bit emotional during this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuX1qwGtLzA“That sounds like noise Mr Vai”Review soon!EnjoyPeaceNeil