CAGED Guitar Method

I’ve been playing guitar for about 10 years now. I get the opportunity to play at church from time-to-time, mostly acoustic. (Love my D-03). About 2 years ago I started taking lessons with a fantastic player. This lasted about a year (up until my daughter was born). We were going through the CAGED guitar methodology. Using the basic chords of C, A, G, E, and D (and related minors, 7ths, etc) as a map, you could theoretically play the entire guitar up and down the fretboard (scales and chords). Basically, the CAGED System simplifies the guitar into a recognizable pattern. Fascinating, and quite logical. After 8 years of stumbling blindly through, this has opened up a new world (of which I am still discovering).

I would love to start up guitar lessons again, and may do so again. I am sure that CAGED is just the tip of the iceberg. While with Tom Finger (my guitar teacher), I also learned some basic theory principals. The difference between a minor and major (3rd and flatted 3rd), the circle of 5ths, and so on. I was a trumpet player for about 10 years, and switched to guitar my final year of playing the trumpet. While on the trumpet, I learned how to read music, what scales were, and much of the common musical terms (forte, crescendo, etc.). I was a pretty decent trumpet player, but I also became a slacker teenager. Hence, my decision to quit the trumpet. Maybe I’ll come back to it someday.

Any of you musicians have any suggestions for this somewhat newbie? Are there other training principals I should be made aware of regarding the 6 string? I am at a plateau right now and want to climb the next mountain, so to speak.

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Homeowners

We closed on Friday!  It is a good feeling to finally own a house.  New washer and dryer arrived today, so we can finally get our laundry done.  I’m sore as can be from all the work we’ve done this weekend, but it is good to remember some muscles I haven’t used for sometime.

The first mortgage payment is going to be scary.

Word Usage: Conservative

In an article which relates the Iranian crackdown on improper attire (here), the following statement caught my attention:

Many conservatives have applauded the drive, but moderates have publicly questioned whether Iran would be better off tackling poverty and crime rather than slack dressing.

I am wondering if that is proper usage of the word. I consider myself a political conservative (though a recent test placed me as a northerner instead of a right-winger), but this does not mean I care about what people wear. I question the use of that, because I think it limits on who these people are. A better word would have been orthodox. In fact, it would have been factually sound to call those that adhere strict to the code of their religious law as orthodox, not conservative.

I didn’t realize that Iran permitted people to be moderate at all. I wonder if liberals are still celebrating the Iminajihad Mood as a great leader. More of this crack down on freedom of expression to occur.

Dream Theater – Sytematic Chaos

I rarely buy new music. Money is too tight. Yesterday I bought the somewhat new Systematic Chaos by Dream Theater. I am enjoying it right now as I sit at my desk copying data over. The favorite so far is “The Dark Eternal Night”. Lyrically: corny musically: fun. I think I am done with depressing music. There is enough depression in the world.  I like to use music as an escape.

I heard some of the new Dream Theater on WSOU, the best radio station in the world!  Two weeks later, I am enjoying the full release.

Is The Seller Scared?

In a previous post I had mentioned we closed on a house. This is untrue. We were supposed to, but through various delay tactics, we are now almost into August without a house. Today was supposed to be closing. She went over there with the real estate agent to do a final walk through. Unfortunately, after given a month to fix things that were contingencies in the contract, the seller has not done anything. Granted, he was sick for the last week, but that does not account for the other 3 or 4 weeks.

The seller and my wife agreed verbally to close on Wednesday depending on what our lawyer says. Well, our lawyer thought it would be fine, but then our lawyer spoke with his lawyer, and said that my wife was being pushy, and that actually, the seller wanted to close on Friday! Outright lie! Anyone that knows my wife, understands that she is not pushy, in fact she is a bit shy. Anyway, now we are agreeing to close on Friday as long as everything is fixed (final walk through on Friday).

The stuff to fix is mostly minor, but there were some safety things he signed to fix, like a railing installation on some steps, an outlet that is not grounded, etc.

I have a feeling this guy is giving us the run around and is simply trying to back out. Just tell us if you changed your mind. We don’t have all of our lives to wait around.

Chavez: Honest Liberal, Dishonest Dictator

“How long are we going to allow a person _ from any country in the world _ to come to our own house to say there’s a dictatorship here, that the president is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?” Chavez asked during his weekly television and radio program.

I love the irony here. Were he to be truly for freedom of speech, he would have no problem with calling the kettle black. Unfortunately, as all dictators are today, he is delusional about who he is and what he stands for. He has quietly shut down radio and television programs that do not go along with whatever the loco Venezuelan demands.

I am no fan of the ultimate liberal, Hugo Chavez. He is a wannabe of the old man from Cuba, but with a lot more capital (oil). While I have no qualms with him calling the President “The Devil”, he did do it on our soil. Should we treat Chavez the same way he treats foreigners who criticize his administration?

The man is immensely popular in his native country. I don’t know how long that can last, but there is such a thing as ignorant majority. This man is paranoid beyond belief that the USA is going to attack his country. Sure, they have a ton of oil, but the oil is here. Citgo is on every corner of NJ it seems. Bush and cronies are capable of a lot, but I would be surprised if they decided to bomb a more local nation.

I would venture that his popularity ratings have a lot to do with his dissing of Americans. People love to do that. Unfortunately, his President (Hillary), will be in power soon enough.

King’s X Summerland

This song is one of my favorite songs ever.  I get chills every time I hear it.  Starting back in about 88 or 89 at the tender age of 9 or 10, I got hooked.  This is the song that got me into the greatest band that has ever existed.

Blood Has Been Shed

Here is some fun metal for your listening enjoyment

Edwards Supports Taking My Money For Your Abortion!

Senator Edwards wants to create a system that would grant people full reproductive health insurance, including terminating pregnancies.

That bastard! I cannot stand such a pompous attitude. Who the hell does he think he is? His love fest with the nazis at Planned Parenthood is enough to make me sick. Mr. Edwards: KEEP YOUR DIRTY BLOOD HUNGRY HANDS OFF OF MY MONEY!!!

In all seriousness, it is unconstitutional to take taxpayer’s money and give it to some pregnant lady regretting her growing alien form. Edwards has no chance at winning the primary, but rest assured, Hillary will do the same.

Oh yeah, that joke of a candidate, Obama Ben Aborting, says he would do the same. Your love and understanding of the Bible must be amazing. Read the Bible. See what God says about harm done to those little ones. Maybe you’ll gain some common sense on what it is to have an abortion.

Plenty of women have gone on to admit regretting their abortion. We live in a society that celebrates “freedom” by killing off millions of human beings. To the women who regret: Take heed that if you repent, God will forgive you. We all make mistakes, some just happen to have larger consequences then others.

Mr. Obama, Ms. Clinton, and Mr. Edwards: To claim yourselves as Christians, and then turn around and support this abomination shows who you really are. Nothing but lying political whores.

Hillary’s Myspace Page

So, myspace is officially old. She has her own profile, of course, if she ever even looked at it, I would be surprised. Her staff probably maintains it, just perusing the comments part, and I didn’t notice any negative comments. Way to be for free speech.

The comments are so irritating. Made up entirely of ill informed followers. Hillary probably won’t do as much damage to our nation as Bush has, but she’ll continue down the road that began with Bush I, continued with Clinton I, and expanded with Bush II.

I just don’t understand these democrats. If you vote for Hillary, you basically get the same war mongering for oil that the Bushies brought. She shows no intention of pulling out, and she supported the stupid war from the get go.

http://www.myspace.com/hillaryclinton – Enjoy the comments. The love feast going on here will rival any Growing Pains episode on cheesiness.

I’m not sure if Ron Paul has a realistic shot, being that the media wants nothing to do with him, but he’ll have a heck of a shot after Hillary has done her 4 years.