LOOPZ - Music Game ($30 @ Wal-Mart)

LOOPZ™ Game

Loopz™ is an interactive memory game consisting of four independent semi-circular rings, or “loopz.” Combining music, motion and memory, this game really gets people moving as they match the patterns of light and sound by motioning their hands through the rings as different patterns emerge. As each ring pulsates, players must quickly put their hand through the lit loop to keep the music sequence going. Sound tones and lights continue to lead to more difficult and exciting challenges. An internal counter keeps track of time, completed levels and rates overall performance. Loopz has seven different games and can be played solo or as ”head-to-head” competition.

ARP: $29.99                         Ages: 7+                  Available: June 2010

PASSION! ----When does It Start & Where Does It Come From?

You know, we're asked all our lives as children and then young adults in High School, "What Do You Want to Be, When You Grow Up?" and for some - its logical. It's safe. It's a chess game. It's structured. That's not wrong or bad at all. Because, to me, you can have all that stuff...   AND... have your "dream job".

So each of these guitars pictured above is like each of us. We're so unique, even the one's that are the same color or brand. But God made us each from exactly the consciousness that we have and think with, right now. Either we can use  our minds and bodies to achieve greatness, or we can trade our spurs in for the worthless money that we "need". Sometimes, we even trade in our dreams or guitars for something that seems SECURE, but it's so backwards. Sometimes, i wish our "fun selves" could help our "play it safe sometimes, current selves" and get the understanding of life and love and passion that we had when we were born. I learn more and more about this as my son Zeke grows.



SO, Having chased PASSION down in my life and other people's lives, this is what I've found after candidly interviewing with a select few that "have it" to include, John 5, longtime guitarist for Marilyn Manson.

His first musical memory was, "Heehaw". Pretty honest and warm answer, right? :o) He's learned Travis Picking, Folk music, and practical can emulate ANY other genre of music known to man. He's a great lead guitarist to and in our private Guitar Center clinic in late 2008, he showed us his PASSION.


It's like "they" say, "Either you HAVE IT - or, you DON'T". I'm not talking about this natural talent that people speak of when they see someone doing what they love to do, and all the while never letting the curve of their smile drop. I'm talking about LOVE.

LOVE! It's the key to the world. We have to give it out first, then people that are unsure b/c of the heartache they've felt in the past goes away. It doesn't matter if it's a business deal or your second grade teacher. EVERYONE, needs to feel loved. And what better way to get love than to give it unconditionally.

It's reminds me of a quote, "It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care of gets the credit."

So GET THE PASSION, MUSTERED DEEP INSIDE YOU, THEN GIVE THE LOVE, AND WATCH DOORS START TO OPEN.  

PEOPLE SOMETIMES MISUNDERSTAND US...
...WE LIVE OUR PASSIONS!

Choosing a Brand of Strings, Guitar Shopping Basics & Tuning Facts:

I LOVE, D' Addario Strings!



They come in a vaccum-sealed package so they're as fresh as if you picked them up from the string factory after being made! I've seen a popular large music store taking old Ernie Ball guitar strings and mixing them with a new shipment that came in. totally not cool. so with D'Addario, that will never happen; if the sealed bad is open, you'll know! AND THAT'S, A SWEET DEAL!

So THAT'S why I play exclusively D'Addario Strings on both my acoustic and electric guitars.

When i first started playing guitar (on electric), i didn't know the first thing about when or how or even how often to change my strings. Also, what gauge and how many sets should i buy?

These were some of the beginner's questions i had.

So when i went to a store in Clearwater, FL...they gave me this canned answer of, "well it depends what you what to go for." To me, that didn't make any sense. I tried brands like GHS Boomers & Ernie Ball, but i wasn't really satisfied with the high end pingy overly brightened sound/tone they had. It just didn't sound natural to me.

Maybe it was just that i was just getting started learning guitar and i didn't know WHAT sounded good. but evenually, i was able to tune a guitar up and tell whether it was just that the factory strings has been old or if the guitar is a lemon and might have some factory defects. that's sometimes the cause of these huge deals for hundreds off a guitar that usually costs 1300 bucks; it's got some stuff wrong with it. And usually the strings are the least of what we should be concerned with. We can easily fall for the markdown as the deal-finding consumers that we tend to be. It's easy to think that it won't matter if the guitar is "a little, off", but in all actuality, it real DOES matter - and it can do some major damage on your musical progression and as an artist.

Bottom line? Our ears will be misinformed - as we train our hearing towards picking up on these small changes and nuances, they develop into a solid knowledge of what sounds right and wrong. Which is why it's so vital to always use your electronic tuner. And it's a given that after you finish your 15 min.- 2 hrs. of practice each day, chances are that when you pick up the guitar the next day, it'll be slightly out of tune. And that still matters. So! - just as seasonal changes bring out new critters, they also bring about temperature changes wherever/however you store your instruments. Going back to the ear training. if you don't tune you're guitar as perfect as you can get it, your ears are hearing the wrong notes and pitches.

So in the beginning it's best not to rely on what you THINK you remember an E note sounding like b/c it could be an Octave off or even be the wrong note. As much as i want people to be able to quickly and effectively learn to tune their guitars without a tuner using relative tuning, if you're just starting out or have gotten to a point where you want to take on some serious practice and find a teacher for some lessons, you can't trust your ears to be perfect - 99% of the time, they'll fool you. They even still fool me sometimes on some of the strings. Mainly the 2nd (B) string. :o)

=======================================================================================

IN CLOSING, HERE'S A GREAT TUNING PEDAL FROM PLANET WAVES WHICH IS AFFILIATED WITH D'ADDARIO STRINGS (TRANSFERRED FROM WWW.ULTIMATE-GUITAR.COM):

Planet Waves does it again with the new Tru-StrobeTM Pedal Tuner. The Tru-Strobe Pedal Tuner, the answer to the Tru-Strobe Table Tuner, enables the musician to fine-tune any stringed instrument using the most clear-cut method on the market – the strobe. The new tuner offers true strobe accuracy (not a simulation) that will ensure precision tuning up to +/- .1% of a cent.


Featuring a heavy-duty, die-cast design and convenient pedal housing, the new tuner will prove ideal for studio use or on the road where accuracy competes with clutter, noise, and poor lighting. To that end, the readout is exceptionally bright compared to competing units with its large back-lit LCD display that can be seen on dark stages and equally well in full sunlight. The tuner also features an extremely simple, user-friendly design to promote additional ease-of-tuning. Utilizing the Buzz Feiten Tuning System Offset for guitars to ensure tuning accuracy, it also employs six de-tuning modes for players using drop-tunings. In addition, the Planet Waves Tru-Strobe Pedal Tuner incorporates True Bypass wiring that will not affect the original instrument’s tone.

"The release of our Tru-Strobe Desktop tuner brought immediate requests from artists and fans that we should offer it in a pedal version," says Planet Waves Product Design Specialist, Robert Cunningham. "We chose to make other adaptations, as well, to meet the market needs, such as the backlit LCD which addresses the need for many players to see their stage tuner in daylight, and the addition of the Buzz Feiten programming, which is more popular than ever. We view this as our ultimate design achievement and based on testing feedback, players are going to flip when they try it!"

The Planet Waves True Strobe Pedal Tuner will be available mid-August 2009 and will retail for $159.99.

For more information on Planet Waves products, visit www.planetwaves.com.

POSTED: 08/10/2009 - 08:59 am