Subject: Live a Little - Go See a Show!
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, Yesterday was a great day of music and sun. My daughter and I went to Van's Warped Tour at Blossom Music Center. She had won a pair of tickets after we bought hers so she invited her cousin and a friend of his to come along. While my daughter and I have been to Warped Tour before, it was the boys first time - and they're already talking about going next year.In the past I've talked about the need for musicians to expand their musical experiences by stepping outside their normal tastes in music. Like my friend and guitar player "Razor" (who has over the last couple of weeks gone to see Ted Nugent in concert, an orchestra playing the music of Romeo and Juliet and Yuja Wang, a concert pianist), being willing to sample diverse styles of music not only helps you gain a greater appreciation of music, but it can inspire you to try different things when creating and can make you more well-rounded. Imagine this... You find yourself in a rut in your guitar playing. You practice your scales and progressions. You do your picking exercises and learn new songs, but you feel like you're hit a plateau. Your playing feels stale and uninspired. Then you go to a concert. It could be a rock show or a full orchestra. The music surrounds and consumes you - you feel the rhythm and the sound resonates within your entire body. As you listen, you begin to hear little riffs or rhythms that get you thinking about how it would sound on your guitar. Or maybe it's not subtle at all - you get slammed with a wave of sound that sucks you in like undertow. The next time you pick up your guitar, you're going to approach it from a new vantage point. You've enriched your musical experience. Even if you can't consciously remember little details of the sounds, your sub-conscious is going to take your concert experience and start transferring musical ideas into your playing. Warped Tour, like many festival-like shows, is a great venue to lay out a smörgåsbord of different musical styles that you can sample from. Each artist plays for a half-hour, so you get to hear some of their best work to date (best foot forward, don't you know). The styles ranged from pop and acoustic to rap and metalcore, although the vast majority of the bands tend to be alternative rock (which basically means stuff you don't hear on Top 40 radio). People usually go to Warped Tour because they want to see many of their favorite bands, and my daughter and I are no different. We were there to see Bowling For Soup, Mayday Parade, We Are The In Crowd, We The Kings and Yellowcard. We also got to take in a number of other bands that we'd never go to see to under normal concert circumstances. Bands like Crown The Empire, Echosmith and Bayside. The biggest challenge you have is prioritizing who you're actually going to watch. With nine different stages spread across the venue and 93 bands playing, there's bound to be acts you're going to miss. We certainly missed out on a number of shows we wanted to see. While we didn't get to see We Are The In Crowd perform, my daughter was able to get a picture taken with the entire band. In fact, because of the proximity of the artist's tents to the stages, we were able to watch Mayday Parade while waiting in line for a signing and photo-op with Grammy nominated Bowling For Soup (one of my all-time favorites). BFS recently celebrated their 20th anniversary as a band, and you'll never meet a group of guys so humble and thankful for the support they've gotten over the years from their fans. They were gracious enough to sign CDs, t-shirts, take picture with just hang with the fans. Both my daughter and I got pictures with the band. I even had a nice conversation with Chris Burney, the guitarist, about his Les Pauls. They've always been like that - five years ago my daughter and I saw them at a House of Blues show (she was 11 at the time) and they were as cool then as they are now. Jaret Reddick, the lead singer, gave my daughter a big hug and we got a picture at that show as well. In case you've never heard of Bowling for Soup, you probably know their music, especially if you have kids (or are a kid). They wrote and performed the theme song for the Disney cartoon, Phineas and Ferb, and Jaret is the voice of Chuck E. Cheese. They've also had their music featured on a number of movies and did a remake of the Modern English song, I Melt With You for the movie Sky High. Proof that "old" guys still rock, of all the bands we saw yesterday, the kids said Bowling for Soup put on the best show by far. Between the classic hits, the friendly comic banter with the crowd and the humble thanks, everyone watching them perform had a great time. There's something to be said for not taking yourself too seriously! The nice thing about these types of show is the artists are usually very approachable and easy to talk to. We tend to put "public" people on a pedestal because of how the media portrays them, but most of them are very cool, down-to-earth people who appreciate that they get to do what they do because of the fans, not in spite of them. Since we're deep in the heart of summer, if you get a chance to go to any of these all-day events and festivals happening all over the world, I encourage you to get out and try some different music on for size. There are alternative/punk shows like Warped Tour, festivals for all sorts of different musical styles and shows happening in a city near you. You might surprise yourself and find music and bands you really like - Rock ON! Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. If you buy a product based on my recommendation, I will receive a commission. However, my emails also contain links that don’t require any investment on your part and are jam-packed with "juicy, guitar learnin' tastiness". We don't rent or share your name with anybody. Feel free to forward this issue to any friends you think would enjoy its contents. They will thank you. So will I.
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