You CAN”T FIND TIME TO JAM OR PRACTICE!

Everyone wants a piece of you and all you want to do is go to that trusty guitar and sail away to nirvana.

Playing guitar for me is more than playing guitar. Playing guitar is a cure for the soul, Man! It is a chance to connect with the spirits.

I LOVE IT!

In fact, this love affair caused me a few……let’s say…..challenges growing up.

You see, when I was a young man – many moons ago – all I wanted to do was play guitar. No, I wasn’t one of those I-can-only-talk-about-guitar dudes. I did know some of those dudes though and they even drove me nuts!! I remember one guy who could not talk about anything else but guitar, guitar, guitar. It drove me nucking futs! Like hearing the same phrase repeated over and over again. I mean, come on, man, you’re 16 - talk about something else for goodness sakes!!! ANYTHING else PLEASE!!

No I wasn’t like that, but I would play as much as possible. This is what caused me problems. I was always late to things because the guitar would call me…..beckon me to come and tickle its strings. It was a never ending voice that kept saying, “Come on over. I look so inviting and sound so good. It won’t take long….just a few minutes. You won’t regret it and we will have sooooo much fun. Come on – STUD!”

It was an addiction!

And I would always give in – no matter what. So I always underestimated time…since when I played – time stood still for me. I would eventually look at the clock, curse, and run into the shower. Only to be drawn back again once the shower was over.

Heck, I am surprised I didn’t keep little guitars hidden around the house like an alcoholic does little bottles!

Ha, to show you how bad it was, I was 2 hours late to the first date with my now wife! She thought I blew her off, when all of the time I was just playing with my mistress – My GUITAR!

 So, the other day when I heard that oh so familiar sound of my guitar’s voice beckoning me….I couldn’t stop. Old habits die hard.

Luckily for me, I know how to warm up quick and get right to it.

AND I DID!

Here’s the lesson….don’t let life’s chaos keep you from doing what you love….no matter what! Keep your number one priority that thing which gives you the greatest gift (as long as it doesn’t ruin you!!).

It is God’s, the Spirit’s, the Gods’, or whatever you belief’s way of leading you towards your true spirit. If you are not fulfilled, you can’t give your all to anybody else.

I guess what I am saying is, just like on an airplane:

Put on your oxygen mask before you go to help someone else or you both may go down in flames.

ROCK ON MY PEOPLE!!!

Well a few weeks ago was a stellar day in the ‘ol Lee household….wait for it….wait for it…..it was my BIRTHDAY!!

By this time in my life I am a mutha to buy gifts for. Hey, I admit it. Outside of the big ticket items – you know…Lear Jet, 2011 fully loaded Benz, VH hand made guitar (just a little more expensive than the Benz!), etc. I just go out and buy it.

Well when your birthday is coming up you gotta kinda chill a bit. Lay low on the outlay and let others have a change to getcha something. So I did…well pretty much anyway!

Honestly there wasn’t much I wanted……UNTIL!

I saw it…..

THE item that I have been searching for since I heard the sonic boom. All guitar players know the sonic boom (ok, those born in the 70′s – the 60′s had their own sonic boom. The nineties – ha, guitar started to die! You got nothing.) The first Van Halen record and THE ULTIMATE guitar solo for generations to come…..Eruption!! Hell to this day, every time I play Eruption people go nuts.

Turns out that Eddie hand-crafted some guitars with Fender and recreated his Frankenstein guitar – pickups and all.  AND the dude painted them himself. Well needless to say, these bad boys sold for about $25k each. Little too m uch for the Lee-man!

BUT the pickups were for sale!!!!! The tone of tones was being mass produced for little metal heads like myself to salivate over

and I wanted one!

No let me rephrase that….

I MUST HAVE ONE….

even if I had to go without eating for a bit (not easy for me to do!)

They weren’t much, but I am on a budget…..what to do…

HEY, IT”S MY BIRTHDAY!!

That is what I wanted.

Now I have been a Tone-Zone guy for a LONG time and have loved those pickups (would like it to clean up some with low volume though), but this was THE tone.

So after some slick posturing and manuevering to make it seem like I wasn’t begging, the day finally arrived when I got my VH Frankenstein Pickups.

I WAS STOKED!!!

I am such a dork that when the box arrived, I gently took out the pickups and displayed the box around the house……like a shrine!

Since I wanted to make sure I got full affect from this, I skipped the usual, “I’ll do it myself”, get solder all over the freakin place routine, I had them professionally put in. I couldn’t wait!

The day finally came when the pickups were ready.

I grabbed old faithful PRS guitar……………….Plugged it in ever so gingerly………..turned the amp on (take my advice – plug the guitar in first!)…………….CRANKED IT UP…………………AND………………………..

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! The sound of Angels gently caressed my speakers.

DAMN – forgot to put on distortion!!

RRRROOOOAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

The sound of DEMONS ripped through my amp like the Apocalypse coming to life!

There it was, the elusive “Brown Sound”.

Sweet highs that weren’t to harsh, wonderful full presence, round sound, with lows that growled enough to let you know not to F with them.

DUDE!

The wait is over! THE sound has arrived and is proudly displayed in my guitar.

Thank you Eddie. You introduced me to blow-me-the-freak-away guitar solos, then beer as you were the soundtrack through backyard parties, and now I can do both with your tone.

Thanks brother!!!

And a special thank you goes out to my Momma who was extra cool enough to get this for me. See….a son is always a son!!

C YA!

Michael Lee

Yes I do have and e-book that I am very excited about for sale and that is really why I started this whole site. That, and I SERIOUSLY want to help some of you who want to FINALLY learn to play lead guitar.

I had a few people in my life when I was younger (see Mac on the “about” tab), but for the most part, Guitar for the Practicing Musician was my only teacher. Thank God for that magazine!!!

Well, I have been thinking – which is never a good idea for a musician!! For the most part I have been giving advice and techniques…..ideas….and the occasional ramblings. This has really prevented me from posting lately because I felt that I needed to provide “real” stuff….some type of lesson. It has caused me to get into a kind of writer’s block and be quite unmotivated to post stuff. I have used being busy as an excuse, but in reality, I just didn’t feel it.

SO, I am going to change this up for awhile and see how it goes. I tell you I have no freakin idea what I am doing with blogs…hey I am a musician not a webee.  I am going to post now whatever comes to mind. What happened that day or week or whatever – without needing every post to be a lesson – just life!

I am going to put it all out there, just like always – warts and all. The White Sox just got Manny Ramirez, so I feel compelled to say, not “Manny just being Manny”, but “Michael Lee just being Michael Lee”!!

I have also included a new tab “Backstage”. There I will put up old pictures of me and whatever else gives a little insight or background.

You wanna know something about me – whatever it is, or about playing, or music, or relationships for a musician, or whatever – just ask, Baby!

It is time to have some fun. Michael Lee is here and I come to ”F-it up” (This is an inside phrase I stole from a friend, who stole it from this dude: …..dang I can’t find it on Youtube!! Anyway, it was the drummer who collaborated with Roadrunner United and King Diamond. Definite switch from the usual F-it Up!)

My All-time Favorite Artist/Band/Mad Man!

This video is of Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big, Solo). Paul is a MONSTER guitar player and a FANTASTIC teacher. Most of his videos are for the more advanced player, but in this video, Paul goes over one of the MOST important aspects of lead guitar – solo rhythm – that anyone can apply to their playing.

It is one thing to fire off a bunch of notes and a whole different thing to fire off a bunch of notes with a compelling rhythm! That is why Yngwie gets such slack – he fires off a bunch of incredibly fast notes, but they are usually with the same rhythmic feel, so, unless you know the intricacies of his playing, it tends to sound monotonous to the average listener.

So sit back and soak up this knowledge from a MASTER player. Even the most simple 3 or 4 note solos can sound AWESOME if you play them with a COMPELLING RHYTHM!!

Next post we will get further into it.

I had just quit my job for various reasons and was counting on my new made fortune to live the high life.

Well the high life had a habit of evading me.

Very Very soon my meager little savings dried up and I had no job, no money coming in at all, no job prospects - nothing! I was married and my wife’s income was all we had – which wasn’t much!

Pretty bleak situation to say the least.  

It was at that time when I took a quick survey of what I did have and quickly found a way to make money – PLAYING GUITAR!

So I gathered some friends together and told them we could start making some “cable money” – you know, just a little extra dough to play with. So, we started playing music out in bars and clubs. 

We didn’t make much, mind you, but we played out 4-6 days a week, which added up to enough to get food on the table, pay for rent, and have some “cable money” to play around with.

In fact, during that time I was able to make enough for us to buy our first house. Let me make this clear, I made enough for the bank to be kind enough to give me a mortgage. I want you to understand that we didn’t get rich, didn’t live in a dream home, and didn’t BUY our first home. But we made it through. We were able to pay the bills, buy some grub, and go out every now and then – all because I had the ability to PLAY LEAD GUITAR!!

The economy sucks right now - we all know that – BUT, if you have a skill – be it woodworking, carpentry, or playing lead guitar – you can make a little extra money.

Wouldn’t that be COOL?!?!

Now odds are you will not quit your day job and start touring the world like the Rolling Stones or anything, but once you learn to play lead guitar, you now have the skills to market to different bands, start to gig at clubs/bars/parties/etc, and make your own “cable money”.

Heck, I know some bands who play weddings (no jokes here), casinos, at fairs, festivals, amusement parks, etc. that make BIG money. You may never get to that level, but then again….someone did it so you can too.

There is opportunity out there, heck, even if you just become an affiliate and sell other people’s stuff (for instance, you can be an affiliate of Rapid Playing Method for Guitar: Solo and make 75% commission on each sale!), there is opportunity out there….if you look and work hard and smart!

Don’t wait! Learn to play lead guitar today

 and use it to go make some extra money. If

you don’t know how, I can teach you –

FAST!!

Check out my Rapid Method for Playing

Guitar: Solo program.

I put together an E-book full of information along with a Member’s only website with instructional videos.

This is the fastest method I know of to get you up and running and soloing TONIGHT!

The program features OVER $100 worth of VALUE. What you do is just click on that little “Blazing Guitar” Image to the upper right and start your journey. Or learn more by clicking the “RPM 4 Guitar: Solo Book” at the top.

Don’t worry, I’ll be right here with you and there is a 30 day Money Back Guarantee

So you got nothing to lose

and people to entertain!

There have been a lot of times that I have compared myself to someone else. Have even been discouraged by the playing of an awesome guitar player.

This is NOT right!

You should never be discouraged by someone else’s ability. EVER!

Encouraged and inspired is all you should ever feel when comparing yourself to anyone.

In fact, you should never compare yourself to someone else -PERIOD. 

Judge yourself against yourself. That is what Champions do.

Strive to get just a little better each and everyday from the person/player you were the day before – because you have no limits!!

It doesn’t serve you to compare yourself to someone else because everyone brings something different to the party. 

I can’t tell you how many times I have been at a gig and thought I absolutely sucked and blew it, only to have a ton of people come up to me and tell me how talented I am and what a natural player I am!

Then there are times when I felt like I nailed it - big time! Just to have someone come up to me and say so and so is better, “it was ok”, blah, blah, blah.

I personally laugh everytime someone tells me I am natural – yeah right!

Little do they know the amount of hours I spent teaching myself guitar, scouring over albums/tapes/cd’s, searching through books just to figure out chords and riffs – HOURS!

Natural? No. Dedicated? YES! 

Ask any player, and if they are honest, they will tell you the same – it takes practice and time. Some people call it noodling, some call it jamming, some call it what it is…practice. Doesn’t have to be formal, just has to include you picking up the instrument and playing – guess what? That is practicing. And to be good, you have to do it. 

The only thing that separates you from the Steve Vai’s, Eddie Van Halen’s, Stevie Ray Vaughn”s, Jeff Beck’s, and on and on and on is they put more into the guitar than you have. And if you are on their level, then you know what you have had to put into it to get there. Heck, Steve Vai used to play 12 hours a day to warm up!!  If you want to be at that level, then you better open up your schedule and put some time in like he did. 

But most important is to not get discouraged if you can’t. It is ok!

Compare yourself to who you are today by who you were tomorrow and enjoy the progress. If you slip back, then GET UP and do what you need to do to get to the level YOU want to get to.   

If you need help getting UP as fast as you can get my Rapid Playing Method for Guitar: Solo and I will help you OR get someone else’s program – there are plenty of ways for you to get where you need to go. No excuses!!

Bottom Line: Enjoy the Journey! Have Fun! and Appreciate what a great player had to go through to get there.

You can do it too. I know you can, heck I did!

With a little time, the right program, and a positive attitude:

YOU CAN DO IT TOO!!

It was certainly great to see everyone and to know that I wasn’t the only one not to age gracefully – except for the bass player – that well preserved S.O.B.! I am just kidding. Truthfully though, something happened that had a profound affect on me.

You see, after all of these years of playing, you develop a certain comfort with your abilities. Yeah, some nights are better than others, but for the most part there is a certain amount of consistency that you are able to do. I am usually pretty damn consistent and competent in most circumstances – except that night. I played like crap!! It felt like the strings were 10 inches off of the fret board. I couldn’t do any of the things that I normally do with such ease. Technique was shot. Timing was shot. Everything. Shot.

IT. MESSED. ME. UP!!!!

BIG TIME!!!!

I honestly thought that I had lost my ability to play well, especially with other people. I was devastated at the thought – truthfully devastated.

Now I had two choices: accept it is what it is OR fight hard to kick that feeling in the ass!

Lucky for me I chose to grab that feeling and whipped it’s butt. Now don’t get me wrong, this was HARD to do.

It is said that there is no such thing as defeat if you learn from it and carry on. Well I had to learn.Let me repeat myself:

This occassion was an OPPORTUNITY, not a DEFEAT.

An opportunity for me to learn – if I chose to do so. I did.

I broke down my playing and tried to analyze what went wrong. Why did I have a bad night? What have I changed over the years? What have I stopped doing?

I kept very clear that it was MY responsibility. Not the bass player. Not the drummer. Not the singer. Not anybody else. MINE. I can’t do anything about those people. I can only do something about ME.

This night caused me to practice more and practice smarter. Playing by yourself is one thing….playing with a band a whole nother story. So I started to jam more with the radio and cd’s. just like I used to when I first started playing guitar. I changed my thought patterns a little and adjusted my technique slightly. Most importantly though is I PLAYED!

Then there came the time where I had to test my analysis. It was finally time to go out and play live again. I have a wonderful friend who got his band to agree to let me sit in for a few songs – most of which I didn’t know and had to learn – FAST!

I did NOT want to do it.

Yeah, you heard me right….I did not want to do it. I was afraid. Afraid that I would suck and look like a fool. Man, I didn’t care if we were playing for 1,000 people or just the bartender, it was mostly that I didn’t want to look like a fool not in front of them – in front of me. I have a certain self standard.

Oh I agonized over this. A LOT!

Luckily for me, my friend pushed and pushed. I relented – mostly because I told him I would go and I try to stay true to my word. So I grabbed my stones and I went.

You know what happened? I screwed up big time!! No, just kidding. I represented myself well. The fact of the matter was, I didn’t care if the audience liked it, if the band liked it, if the cops liked it. I had to do this one for me. At the end of the night, I was able to hold my head up high again. I got the swagger back. For at least one night.

Why am I writing this? Because no matter what stage of the game you’re in, we all get knocked down. To paraphrase Michael Jordan, it is because we fail that we are able to succeed. Champions count the number of wins – NOT the number of losses. This allows them to get back up again and fight, fight, fight until the job is done. Yup, they may be scared s***less, but the do it anyway. Not for anyone else. For themselves.

You have it in you to almost anything you desire. You just have to keep up the fight and learn the lesson from defeat. The difference between Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, etc., etc., etc., and anyone else is they took more swings, shots, chances, and understood anything is possible given enough time.

Now go do YOUR impossible!! If you’re lucky enough you will have a friend push you out of your comfort zone, just like I did. If you don’t have  someone who will….then find someone. If you need – I will be that someone for you.

The world is waiting for YOU to BE GREAT, it is your turn to ACCEPT!

GET UP!

Remember, from my other blog “The Need for Speed” I talk fast and tend to play fast. Don’t feel like you need to play as fast in order to sound good. Sometimes slow playing is WAY better. Just be yourself and take these ideas and make them your own!!!

So, I put another take on here demonstrating some slower playing.  Enjoy!