The Official Blog Of THE ELMS.

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO RAWK:

I bought AC/DC's new record last night for $11, and only just now got the opportunity to sit down and listen to it.  I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, and if you hear this thing yourself and don't like it, you're a socialist.

Once again, they remind us that their albums are the vade mecums for how guitars should sound.  The songs are cool, there's lots of good guitarin', and it's got that beat that I like. 

All of the tough, minor pentatonic-y riffs are still there, but they break out of that here and there and explore some attitudes that I've not heard out of their band previously - most notably on "Anything Goes." 

Back in the day, I had a youth leader who was absolutely convinced that their name was an acronym for "After Christ, Devil Comes," and that the bolt symbolized Lucifer plummeting to the earth's surface at the speed of lightning.  If I am ever able to speak to them about this in the future, I'll be embarrassed explaining that rock bands from the 80's found certain kinds of imagery cool, like... electricity.

Anyhow... this is the first time in awhile that I bothered to go to the store and buy an album, and it's nice to not feel disappointed.

They're coming to Indianapolis in a few weeks, and Owen and I have tickets! 

I saw them in Kansas City back in 1996 on the Ballbreaker Tour, and it was positively the best rock experience of my entire life.  Hoping this show at Conseco Fieldhouse will restore my faith in rock & roll, what little there is left in 2008.

That is all.

-- Thom

PRACTICAL THEORY FOR GUITAR

It was asked in the comments section of another post what I'd recommend to anyone who is stuck in their playing and would like to move to the next level.

To that end, I recommend this book, Practical Theory For Guitar by Don Latarski.

I ordered this during my sophomore year of high school to help me get a handle on all of the weird chords and scales I was being asked to play in the high school Jazz Ensemble.  All of the info here completely changed the way I look at the guitar's fretboard, as well as the way that I "hear" music. 

You don't need to know all of the things he's talking about to make music that "sounds right", but if you'll take out the time to dig in to what Don is saying, I guarantee you things will all of the sudden get a lot easier, and maybe even more interesting. 

If you've ever taken Music Theory in high school or college, don't be intimidated away from this.  Those courses are usually confusing, and you're loaded up with a bunch of superfluous info that you'll never be able to use.  THIS BOOK IS THE ANTIDOTE TO THAT.  Exactly what the title says:  all of the stuff that you can actually USE if you're a guitar player.

If I had to guess, I'd say that I've probably sold about 25 copies of this for Don over the years.  He really needs some kind of Referral Program so I can start benefiting from all of my PR on his behalf. 

I'm sure most musical instrument websites like GuitarCenter.com will have this title available, but I'm guessing Don will make more money on the sale (recommended) if you purchase it directly from his website:  DonLatarski.com.  (click and scroll down)

Comes with a CD so you can hear all of the different scales and modes.  (Very helpful!)

Check it out, and let me know how it's working for ya. 

-- Thom

JON McLAUGHLIN

Tonight, I drove down to 4th Street Live in Louisville to see Jon McLaughlin play.  Jon, his bass player Luke, his guitar player Dylan, and I were all roommates a few years back.  That's a lot of talent underneath one roof.

Good to see my boys.  They were effing fantastic. 

Jon sings and plays his ass off.  Total control over his voice, and he absolutely rips up the keys.  I remember coming home some nights to the sound of Jon playing "Flight Of The Bumblebee" or something else equally ambitious, and wondering to myself how many other people got to experience that.

Luke and Chad (drummer) lay it down like a rhythm section should, and Dylan heads to the front of the stage several times to break you off a little somethin' somethin'.

Luke in particular sounded MASSIVE.  Their new FOH guy earned his keep.  Mix was nice and loud.

Jon put out a record last year on Island/Def Jam Records called "Indiana" (represent!), and will be putting out his follow-up record within months.  Head now to Myspace.com/JonMcLaughlin to hear one of the new tunes - "Beating My Heart", as well as a few songs from "Indiana."

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Before the show, Chris and I met them for dinner at The Pub in downtown Louisville, where I had fish & chips and some ale called... well, I don't remember the name now.  Vanilla Porter, I think.  Had a hint of chocolate in it.  Sounds wrong to put chocolate in something like that, doesn't it. 

But it was GOOD. 

Good to hang w/ Chris, too.  I don't make it down to Louisville to see him and his wife Karen often enough.

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Be on the qui vive for Jon McLaughlin in your town.  And if he shows up, pay the money and go see him.  You'll love it.

And before I go... Happy 30th Birthday to my friend Dave Weir.  Good to hang out with you tonight too, bro.

G'night.

-- Thom

P.S.  Apologies for the crappy phone pic above.  When I get the iPhone 3G next month, I'm sure the quality of my shots will go up a few notches.  And I'll further solidify my Apple Hipster status in the process.  I can't wait.

TYLER BURKUM

It's 5:47AM.  It's ridiculous that I'm up right now.  In fact, I've already slept tonight for 2-3 hours.  That's clearly not enough, and don't worry... I'm going back to bed soon, but I gotta explain something first.

I'm not a snob, but there are only so many guys in this world that I feel like I can have a real conversation with about guitar.  I'll talk about guitar w/ ANYONE, anytime.  I love it.  But when it comes down to feeling like there's someone out there who really "gets me" and vice versa (guitar-wise), that's rare, and that's alright.  Owen and I talk about it a lot, and even though Nate and Chris aren't guitar players, they still follow along rather well. 

Another such person is an old friend named Tyler Burkum from Minnesota.  We toured a little back in the day with a band he was hired to play for, and we logged some serious hours talking about guitars, amps, writing parts, solos, theory, which kitchen utensil was coolest to smack the strings with, etc.

Everytime I'd see him, he'd burn me a CD with 17 demos of new songs he'd been working on.  And I'd always tell him how, even though they were just demos, they were so good, and - no joke - I'd listen to them every single night for months-on-end until he'd burn me a new batch the next time we ran into each other.  And it'd usually end with, "Tyler... you gotta do something about these songs.  I know playing for other people pays your bills, and that's great, but you owe it to the world to let them hear this stuff."
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My phone started buzzing tonight.  Said, "Tyler B.  Accept call?" 

After talking shop for about an hour, he says, "I went and recorded several of my songs proper, and I'm going to shoot some of them to you tonight." 

"Cool, man.  Looking forward to it."  I stay up till 2AM waiting.  No nothin'.  Got in bed and clocked-out for the night.
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I woke up about an hour ago to get a drink of water, and was excited to see 8 of his tunes sitting in my inbox.  Figured I'd listen to a little of the first one - "Blue As The Sky" - and then go back to bed.

But at this point (5:58AM), I've already listened to all 8 of them twice from start to finish.  After the first 30 seconds, I think I realized that I needed to hear these songs more than I needed sleep. 

"Hurricane" is my favorite of the bunch.  The first line of the song absolutely ripped me apart.  I WANT TO FEEL THAT WAY, TOO.  And I believe that it's possible, because I believe Tyler when he sings that line himself.  In fact, I believe everything that Tyler just told me (twice) in the past hour.

When you get a chance today, visit Myspace.com/TylerBurkum and give "Hurricane" a listen, as well as everything else on his player.  Then visit TylerBurkum.net to order your copy of his long-awaited record, Darling, Maybe Someday.

And then... leave me a comment letting me know what you think of it. 
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Now that that's out, I can go back to bed. 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

-- Thom