superflea

I'm feeling very musical today. Not necessarily musical in the way that I want to write something, but instead that I'm inspired to improve on my own musicality. I have an absolutely excellent instructional video by John Petrucci (guitarist for Dream Theater) that I should really throw on and work through seriously (and a couple of absolutely useless ones by Dave Navarro and Yngwie Malmsteen that deserve to collect dust on the shelves) and really try to bring my playing to the next level. I've been stagnating with the same set of chops for too long. I don't necessarily want to become a shred guy or anything like that, but I'd like to think I have the tools and the vocabulary to physically perform anything I may hear in my head, and I'm not there yet. Too much time lately spent wandering familiar streets, so to speak.

I'm absolutely hooked on the new single from Velvet Revolver. For those of you who might not have heard of them, it's Duff, Matt, and Slash from GnR (along with another guitarist) with Scott from STP on vocals. It feels good to be excited about rock music again. A lot of what I hear on the radio puts me in mind of Hard Core Logo frontman Joe Dick's infamous critique: "You don't know shit from good chocolate, babies." And while these guys aren't breaking down any doors (despite the mandatory "fresh direction" rhetoric in the bio), they still have a stomp and swagger that you just can't fake.

And for all their "brand new direction" stylings, they sound... well, they sound like GnR would sound if they were fronted by the guy from the Stone Temple Pilots. No surprises there. But what I did find surprising was that while Axl was busy jackhammering the GnR legacy into oblivion and fans prayed for him to bring the old lineup back into the fold... those other cats didn't even really need him.

It's good to feel inspired.

Tell me about the last thing that inspired you in any regard.