Guitar World.

Guitar World. ?

Monthly Theory!

Play This!

A quick lesson on the sixth string and what notes go where!

Two easy pages to learn one of the most iconic intro’s of all time.

Amp Basics!

Learn about those ever important knobs today!

Volume 19.

March 27, 2011.

What Next Guitar Review!

In a world where it seems everything has been done, where does the player go next to not only be unique but a legend?

Is that brand new Gibson Les Paul worth all that money? Read our article before you

Read our feature story on the future of guitar music and guitars themselevs to find out!

CD review!

Read the review before you buy Coheed and Cambria’s brand new album!

Guitar Center.

Power to the player.

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Table of Contents.

Page 4: Play This.

Page 6: CD Review

Page 8: Feature Story

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Page 14: Guitar Review Page 16: Monthly theory Page 20: Gear Breakdown Page 24: Letter from the Editor

Writer: Shane M. Souther

Designer: Shane M. Souther Editor: Shane M. Souther

Photographer: Daniel McDonald

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Play This

C

By Shane Souther razy Train is an iconic song that guitarists around the world have learned and taught to others. In this article text and pictures will help show you the way so you can get it down without having to read boring old tabs.

The beginning riff is easy but fun. If you keep these few basic ideas learning it will be a snap. First off you only use the sixth and fifth string. Second off all you need to use is your first, third and fourth finger. And finally, you never go further than doing a 1-3-4 scale and you only use the second, fourth, and fifth fret.

Now, before we get any further remember it’s not just about memorizing where your fingers go but also when your fingers go there. Timing is very important to songs, especially when it comes to leads, riffs and solos.

So while you play this remember to keep the song playing in the background and rewind to the spots you mess up on so you can fix them.

At the end of the lesson all that was taught will be also written with their correct musical names so you can begin to learn which notes are where.

The first step is to make sure you have your sixth 4

Crazy Train Step by step tutorial:

This can be achieved by placing the bottom palm of your picking hand on the bridge of the string(s) you wanted muted. You will know when you have that sound right because it will give it a muffled sound. If you have it wrong though it will sound bad. The picture below shows you a good look on how your hand should look against the strings.

For the whole riff you palm mute the sixth string.

Now you start on the second fret with your first finger and pick the string twice and with using your third finger place that on the fourth fret on the fifth string and pick that. Then back up to the second fret on the sixth string and down to the fifth string on the fifth fret with your fourth finger.

Then you go back up to the second fret, sixth string then just flatten your first finger and pick the second fret, fifth string. Then it’s fifth fret, fourth fret and fifth fret again all on the sixth string and down to the fifth string again on the second fret.

Then you just go back up to the sixth string and pick the fifth fret, fourth fret and then open string.

For the end of the intro riff you just do sixth string on the second fret, twicagain, then on the fifth string with the fourth fret, hit the sixth string again with the second fret, down to the fifth string with the fifth fret, up to the sixth string with the second fret, down to the fifth string with the fourth fret and then up to the sixth string with the second fret once more.

Now for the final part of the song (right after you hit the second fret on the sixth string) you need to do two chords. On the fifth fret, from the fifth string down flatten your first finger.

Don’t worry about having it completely flatted over the strings, just make sure that the three top strings are solid. Then with your third finger flatten from the fourth string down on the seventh fret.

Your chord should look like the one in the picture.

The important part to strike with your pick is the top three strings (fifth, fourth and third).

You just strum that chord once then keeping your fingers in the same position.

Just bring your chord up two frets to where your first finger is flatted over the

seventh fret and your third finger is flatted over the ninth fret. And there you have it, the full introduction to Crazy Train!

On the next page is all the notes and how your fingers should look when playing those notes. I suggest readng through the whole article first.

While reading the article try to see if you can get the sound yourself. If you think you have it come back and look at the pictures.

This way when you look at the pictures as you are playing it you can make sure you are hitting all the correct notes.

It is best to read the article and then try to play it first because you are causing your ear to decide if what you are playing is in fact correct.

Developing the ear to make sure everything sounds right is just as important as being able to know where each note is located.

Without the ear, the guitarist is nothing more than some average Joe playing what he was told.

A computer can do that.

Above all else though, remember to do what guitar was made for: having fun.

Play This

5

CD Review

Coheed and Cambria:

Black Rainbow

By Shane Souther.

C

oheed and Cambria return with their fifth studio album, Year of the Black Rainbow, the prequel to the rest of the story. The album hosts 12 songs with the title track rounding out the 12th track.

Like their past albums, their latest adventure sounds nothing like the previous four. While they are a progressive rock band they have continued to do more of a rock to hard rock oriented style. This album is the first one to use a lot of effects however in their playing.

Just like the other four albums, the first track is an instrumental piece to start of the flow to the album. The feel to it is haunting, like something is on the horizon.

It lasts almost two minutes (1:54 to be exact) before going straight into their first single: The Broken.

If you had to know which album this one was most like I would have to say that it is most like No World for Tomorrow but that is simply because of how rock driven

6

it is. I can’t emphasize how many effects they use this album compared to past ones. This is an album that might take a listen or two to appreciate all of the layers to each song.

Like every past review I will give you, my opinion, on the best and worst songs.

The worst for me is easily their third track: Guns of Summer. I just don’t like the sound of the drum intro and Claudio’s vocals over it. It just doesn’t harmonize for me.

My favorite tracks are without doubt: Far, This Shattered Symphony, Pearl of Stars and World of Lines and When Skeleton Lives being my two favorite on the album.

The premise of this album, as stated earlier, is a prequel to before The Second Stage Turbine and thus this one focuses on Coheed and Cambria before they are killed.

The final track leads basically straight into the first track of their first album The Second Stage Turbine, allowing the story to come full circle.

Pearl of the Stars might just be their best acoustic song to date which is saying much as Claudio is famous for his acoustical songs.

The intro has a melancholy feel that he harmonizes over so easily with his voice it is ghostly.

You can feel the pain in his voice which quickly turns into the voice of loving man.

Travis’s solo is very well done and compliments the simple progression well.

Speaking of solo’s don’t be expecting Welcome Home type elaborate scaling solo’s. They have scaled them down which is good as many of the songs don’t call for those loud, Guns N Roses heavy type leads and solo’s. This album is definitely more centered around the rhythms and harmonies of the voices and instruments.

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Feature Story Feature Story

Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald.

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Feature Story

What Next

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In an ever changing world of guitars and guitar music where it seems everything has been done, where does the

player go next to not only be unique but to become a legend? We are here to try and find out not only where guitar

es Paul, Flying V, Flamenco, Twelve Strings, Fenders.

Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Dave Mustaine.

Over the last 50 years, guitars and

guitar music has changed drastically.

From the early days of swinging jazz to Robert Johnson and his bars of blues.

To the likes of Jimmy Page and Slash taking us on a journey through their blazing but soulful solo’s to the most modern day of shred with Dave Mustaine.

L

But one thing has always been the same over these last years.

Evolution. In the days of hair metal where you couldn’t hear a song without solo’s to the days of grunge when solo’s were extinct, the music has always changed, taking something with it to better the art and furthure the evolution.

But with the coming time of synthesized and pedal-galore sound effects, one must wonder what could be next.?

More importantly though will guitar players lose something far more important with the ever changing future of music?

9

Feature Story

By Shane Souther.

To predict the future you have to understand the past. Guitar music has had a long and winding road from times of monotony to moments of greatness.

From memorable solo’s to cookie cutter guitarists.

When jazz guitar truly started can’t be known for certain because of no recorded record. A lot of what’s known from this music is thanks to the help of hearsay and later recordings. Interestingly enough, in the early days the banjo was the more popular instrument thanks to its “percussive penetration.” Guitars were later adopted by the players for their rhythm playing.

In the earlier days of jazz, Eddie Lang created a picking technique that combines jazz and classical giving it a bluesy sound.

The music was known for having big bands unlike today’s music, one of the most famous ones being Duke Ellington Orchestra.

When big bands came around guitarists were put

Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald.

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section alongside basses, drums and piano’s.

The main difference between jazz and other forms of music is the sound.

It is known for the swing vibe. The get up and dance music. It wasn’t until Teddy Bunn came onto the scene that any signs of soloing came about. Now Bunn wasn’t out there playing Stairway to Heaven, but he did show early signs through some of his single note plucking.

Interestingly enough, the call-and-response part of music came from African roots. There lines would be repeated twice or more times. This form would later evolve to a line repeating twice and then finally on the third time there would be what was called an “answer line”.

Before it was the cool thing to be blues influenced, it used to be known as the “poor man’s blues” since all of the songs were about “hard times,

oppression from white folk, cruelty of police, gambling, economic depression, floods, magic, farming and dry periodsMany famous guitarists who have been influenced by the blues genre such as Jimmy Page , Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan help molded a new genre known as BluesRock. Their solo’s had a mix of slow progressive lines that had the feelings of blues but also the up-tempo, speed and aggressiveness known for with Rock N’ Roll. Cream is one of the most known for this.

In the 1970’s came about bands such as Kiss, AC/DC and Van Halen that created Hard Rock. Hard Rock is defined by a heavy use of distortion with guitars, bass guitar and drums. When the 80’s rolled around it became the most popular with such bands as Bon Jovi and one of the most, if not the most, popular Hard Rock band of all time: Guns N’ Roses.

You could still hear the Blues-Rock influence in Hard Rock but it was much

more aggressive. Slash defined a sound with his overdrive pedals and use of wah-wah that defined a sound many try to emulate today. The aggressive licks were music to the ears of many but with any great thing it must be done in moderation. The 80’s turned into a time of repetition and overabundance and it was because of that Hard Rock died for a bit and gave birth to Grunge.

You could still hear the Blues-Rock influence in Hard Rock but it was much more aggressive. Slash defined a sound with his overdrive pedals and use of wah-wah that defined a sound many try to emulate today. The aggressive licks were music to the ears of many but with any great thing it must be done in moderation. The 80’s turned into a time of repetition and overabundance and it was because of that Hard Rock died for a bit and gave birth to Grunge.

Feature Story

Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald.

Grunge music was the answer to everyone who couldn’t connect with the music of Poison and Warrant. A music that was heavily edited to make it sound too clean and perfect with lyrics that just didn’t say much to them. Grunge music changed that with such bands as Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald.

Blazing solo’s didn’t exist to them. Nirvana had a few but they weren’t the minute to two minute epic everyone seemed to be producing.

Grunge was based around muddy sounding guitars and basic chord progression with lyrics that cut deep. It was through the melodies and lyrical content that a generation was defined

with such songs as Jeremy, Smells like Teen Spirit and Plush that are still vigorously learned today.

Heavy Metal is one of the hardest genres of rock music there is to follow. It has been sprinkled throughout history with many debating if some bands truly were heavy metal. Then you have the problem of the literally,

the 60’s, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden of the 70’s and Metallica and Megadeth of the 80’s and 90’s. Heavy Metal is loud, aggressive and fast. But it can also be slow with a gloomy feel as is evident in the Doom Metal genre.

Heavy Metal is constantly evolving. In the 80’s Thrash Metal came about with such bands as Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer and the most popular of them all: Metallica. They combined the elements of Punk-Rock and Heavy Metal. Their rhythms were even more aggressive and their leads and solo’s were faster.

And now today, metal is marketable. There are radio stations just centered on this and bands sell out stadiums all the time to play their head banging songs.

Today’s metal is defined by such bands as Avenged Sevenfold, Children of Bodom, In Flames and Iced Earth.

Through all of these progressions emerged another form of metal, one that took it farther by not pushing the guitar farther but their voice. They tuned their guitars lower and screamed higher and longer.

This form of metal became better known as hardcore.

Alexisonfire, Protest the Hero, Mastodon and In Flames are some of the most proficient and widely known in this genre.

But with so many different paths taken over the years, where does that leave guitarists to venture to next?

Is there even a place to go to? There have been literally 11

Feature Story unoriginal bits and pieces of music from the music programs to help when recording.As a musician it is sad to say, but with technology becoming easier to use and easy to access it will be easy for anyone to be great, which will result in no one being great.”

If all of these advances are just causing what Mark suggests then why isn’t anyone changing it?

Money. It’s because of money nothing is changing.

When you are a millionare muscician and living the dream of going up on stage and playing to a coliseum of fans it is hard to decide to stop everything that worked and start from scratch.

Even harder is convicing your managers of that too. Because remember, a very small percentage of muscicians were able to get there by themselves.

So what should happen?

In an ideal world people would go back to the way it was before and play guitar for the pure love of it and make enough money to get by and live comfortably.

Unfortunately, that will never happen. So we have to be realistic here. What is needed is an innovator like Jimmy Page and his band Led Zeppelin.

Someone to come out that is both popular and extremely talented and bring us back to the glory days of talented muscicians who care.

Hopefully that person is you or one of our other readers. So pick up your guitars and bring us into the future with pride as a muscician.

“

With new technology and programs coming out to assist studio musicians the ability to play the guitar will eventually become a Mark Lombardi-Nelson rarity.

“

What hasn’t been done?

Mark Lombardi-Nelson, a musician of nine plus years chimes in. “I believe that guitars and guitar music has been at its peak in the past ten years and will begin to decline. Being a musician in the 21st century is so much different than anything ever experienced in the past. I read a statistic the other day that half of all households in America have a guitar in them. That displays the interest of guitar music, but I believe we are about to go through a shift.”

What possible shift could that be? “With new technology and programs coming out to assist studio musicians the ability to play the guitar will eventually become a rarity. Concerts are a large part of music as we know it and there will always be a special connection between a live band and an audience, but the entire concept is changing.

With new styles of music becoming more popular, like dubstep, live musicians as we know them will not be needed. Alls that will be needed is a tech master to make sure that everything is executed properly. Guitars will always be around and something that people will always enjoy, but I think that there will be decrease in guitar use in the next 10 years.”

More importantly though what does all this mean to Mark?

“I predict that there will be more technological bands forming with little artistic vision, but an ability to piece together 12

Have you ever seen Jimmy Page’s fingerprints on his guitar?

Have you seen Stevie Ray Vaughn’s extra period on his signed Stratocaster?

Have you ever seen Slash’s hair’s left on his iconic top hat?

At Rock-A-Lot Museum in Tampa, Florida you can!

3914 West Hillsborough Tampa, Florida 33614 813-801-9290

Guitar Review Guitar Review

914

Guitar Review

By Shane Souther.

2

1

Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald.

The Gibson Les Paul is an iconic guitar that every guitarist dreams of having one time in their life. But with the new idea of taking some of the weight out of the guitar does that change anything?

The brand new model of Gibson Les Paul Standard Guitar runs a player around $2400 to $2700.

The guitar is a 24 fretted, six strin guitar with gibson humbcuker pickups.

The neck is the normal Gibson sized neck and fell which means you can’t possibly expect a neck

Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald. where you can fly up and down it like a Fender Stratocaster.

The biggest difference a player should expect to experience is the difference in weight. Gibson has made it their life passion apparently over these last few years to drill holes into their guitars and take the weight out.

Those changes can be depicted in picture one with the black glosed pieces screwed into the red back of the guitar.

While Gibson got their end desire of a lighter guitar

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Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald.

The pictures depicted are of the Gibson Les Paul at every possible angle. The picture to the far left is the back showing the weights removed.

The bottom picture shows the thickness of the neck and the one to the left here shows the beautiful guitars front.

Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald.

I can’t help but feel they lost a little bit of their “magic” from choosing to change their style.

The first thing anyone is bound to ask is, did Gibson lose their heavy. bluesy sound by making it a lighter guitar.

Honestly, yes, a bit. I don’t think anyone would honestly notice it though unless they have used an older Gibson Les Paul before.

Because you have to remember, Gibson has been doing this for a long time, they know what they are

doing.

At the end of the day, it is a beautiful sounding guitar that is fairly price. While $2500 isn’t cheap, it also isn’t a $4000 or more guitar.

If my friend had $2000 to pay and he asked me what they should do, because they wanted a bluesy and or great guitar, I would tell him to save the extra $500 and buy this guitar.

At the end of the day a Gibson Les Paul is a Gibson Les Paul.

The final grade I give to the Gibson Les Paul Standard an: A. 15

Monthly Theory

Wanna Solo?

By Shane Souther.

I

n this section of five minute theory we will go over bare-basic (we’re talking barely scraping the surface here people) note theory so you all can have an understanding of where to be so you can play lead to your favorite rhythm’s.

Keep in mind, as stated in the very beginning this is very basic and while it will provide you with a new level of understanding that will allow you to play lead to basically anything; it is not the only thing to know if you plan to play lead.

The first part you have to understand is what notes are what on the top string/ sixth string. Starting with the open string it is an e, then the first fret is an f, the third fret is the g, the fifth fret is the a, the seventh is b the eighth is a c, the tenth is the d and the twelfth is an e once again.

Now that you know the low note it is time to find the middle and high note.

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Because when playing lead you have to start in the same key and end in the same key.

To figure out what key you are in (and what notes go with that) will be in the next issue, so for now I am just keeping it to just playing the same note(s) as the chord(s).

So say you are playing with a G chord over you.

You would go to the third fret and go into maybe a pentatonic scale or even a major scale or whatever you are in the mood for. But what if you wanted to start at a different point? Well the mid note is on the fourth string on the fifth fret and for the high e that is on the first string on the third fret.

If you go from one e to the next you can hear how they sound alike.

Quickly play that to make sure you hear what I am talking about. Now that you understand that let’s take a basic G bar chord and just do a basic up and down

rhythm. If you want you can either record your rhythm or just play with someone else or even just do it like the old great Jimmy Page and play lead without the rhythm of another guitar.

So you have the G chord going and you aren’t really sure where to start?

Well don’t fret, it isn’t as easy as guitarists make it seem. It takes practice to get comfortable with just sliding into some lead. But the best approach, for me at least, that I did in the beginning was to always slide into the middle note (in this case the middle e) and go into a pentatonic and then slide up into a minor scale.

In the issue after next I will explain to you how you can connect scales and why you can but for now just know that if you are in a pentatonic scale you can slide from the third string or first string into the minor but just sliding two frets up.

So say you are on the

third fret on the middle e just slide up to the fifth fret and you are in the same key. The most important thing with lead is for it to fit the rhythm, the reason why Stairway to Heaven is regarded as the best solo of all time is because the lead fits the song.

If you want to learn anything at all with lead, learn that control is the most important trait. Far more than speed or anything else.

Control is what makes the legends.

On the next page is the neck of the guitar from the first string up until the sixth. All the notes are depicted so you know where they are located.

On the right side is where the sharps and flats are located.

Try to not memorize but learn where all those notes are. Because by knowing those notes you will know all the bar chord that can be done and where for the twelve frets.

Monthly Theory

F F# Gb G

A

B C D E

G# Ab A# Bb B# Cb D# Eb 17

Wang’s Guitars 12401 Twinbrook Parkway Rockville, Maryland 20852 301-231-6100

Photo by: Daniel Mcdonald.

Gear Breakdown

20

Gear Breakdown

Amp Basics.

The guide to getting that perfect sound out of any amp.

By: Shane Souther

In this issue of Gear Breakdown we take a look at the basics to fine-tuning your amp to get the most perfect sound you can. regardless if it is a Marshall Tube Amp that costs in the upwards amount of $2000 or more. Please remember

that the more expensive amps do make a difference.

This guide is for the bare basics just to make sure you are at least enjoying the sound you are producing.

With that in mind continue on to the next page and begin reading the basic

concepts accompanied by the pictures.

This section should answer all of your basic questions on not only where to begin but also, to hopefully, one day find your own sound. Without futher ado please continue on.

21

Gear Breakdown

Y

ou hear that? It’s not nails running down a chalkboard or a car crashing into a house. It’s not a cat screeching or a television set being dropped from a three story building. It’s the sound of a first time guitarist adjusting his/her amp. Unfortunately for many, it’s not as easy as learning the first few chords or for that matter ever truly understanding how each setting works on an amp. This guide will scratch the surface so you no longer have to keep your electric guitar unplugged to save your ears.

Keep in mind that many things add to producing the sound and just because you understand the basics don’t mean you’ll have Slash’s smooth lead sound. The guitar, strings, whether the amp is a tube amp or not, the type of affects and other settings the amp provides, affect pedals and even the acoustics of the room makes a difference. But with these steps and information provided you will have everything you need to get you on your way.

It is an absolute necessity that you understand the basic bells and whistles to your amp.

Those are the: treble, middle, bass, and eq/filter/tone/contour knobs. The treble (the knob depicted to the right) knob gives the ability to give your guitar a sharp and crisp sound, but don’t be fooled. Just because it gives you a crisp sound means you can have this all the way up. Apply too much and you will get a very undesirable sound.

Find your

Perfect Written and Picturesby: Shane Souther.

If you talk to any guitarist, the middle (or mids as they are often nicknamed) is the most important knob. With that being said pay close attention (it is pictured above) and really let your ear decide what is best. A quick way to understand how this knob works is this: the lower settings can give you that classic rock-n-roll sound while the higher you go the bluesier you get.

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Gear Breakdown The next knob is the bass one. The knob is pictured to the right. The heavier you go with the bass the deeper, booming, sound will be achieved. However keep in mind that the size of the amp itself. The bigger it is the fuller your bass sound will be. Either way though, the bass and treble work hand and hand so when adjusting the bass try to keep the treble in mind before turning the knob all around on just the bass side. The two work in unison and can really add a full sound.

Sound!

The final knob is basically a quick switch that controls all of the three previous knobs (all three depicted to the two right pictures) with one simple turn. That doesn’t mean to just use that one and not use the other three, it is there to add the final layering to your overall sound.

23

Letter from

the Editor:

Music is always evolving.

It’s evident with the drastic change in just a period of 50 years from the likes of Led Zeppelin of that time to Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for My Valentine and so on of today.

We live in a world today where bands are no longer best friends from school who just want to make music. Music in every sense of the word, is a business.

The days of expression isn’t gone but it isn’t as prominent as many people want.

With such sites as Facebook and Youtube helping acts get discovered, the famous stories like Guns N Roses has of how they got a record deal don’t exist anymore.

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A week ago I was emailed a Youtube link of this girl called Rebecca Black.

Her video, apparently, was making the rounds around the internet and my girlfriend decided it was something I had to see.

Long story short, it was a 13 year old who could barely sing in a terribly made video alluding to doing stuff a 13 year old wouldn’t do.

Now it wasn’t drugs or anything crazy like that but it was her hanging out with a guy that apparently had his license even though he barely looked like he was in high school.

That’s what music is coming to unfortunately. It is all auto-tune produced songs with videos that are neither fun nor creative.

But at the end of the day this music sells. Why? Because people connect with it. When I was growing up I enjoyed music my family gaffed at. It was terrible to them, but to me it was the greatest. Then around middle school and high school my tastes changed like an epiphany had happened; I suddenly enjoyed rock n roll and when I picked up that guitar at the age of 13 I fell in love with blues, blues rock and classic rock.

Music is just like anything else. It is a coming of age or maturing affect. There will always be those terrible bands, the ones that have no talent but millions of dollars to show for it. But is it really bad? Because at the end of the day music is all about self expression and people connecting with it.

Who are we to judge who likes what band or artist?

I have a friend who loves terrible music. I mean it’s bad. But he likes it and he enjoys it. He thinks the music I listen to is horrid, but I enjoy it and I connect with it.

People don’t have any obligation to like one form of music or one artist/band over another. Someone isn’t pointing a gun to our face

So why should we hold such a ridiculous standard of who likes who. You like Nickelback? More power to you.

Music is a passion for many. So why ruin it? At the end of the day all that matters is what sounds good to your ears. After all, it is music to the ears isn’t it?

Until Next Time,

Shane M. Souther

Ibanex

Largest selection of acoustic guitars in all of Boston!

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