50 More Miles

"Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious cunsumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio" - Hunter S Thompson

I've been listening to a lot of 90's music lately. Stuff like Failure, My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Music you would only find in the last half hour of 120 Minutes or in the bargain bin of the local record shop. Maybe you would hear about it from a cool friend, but often times you would just see an interesting album cover that caught your eye. Much of it was experimental and meandering without the pretentiousness of progressive music. 

I've also been rewatching some of my favorite 90's movies. Killing Zoe, Kaliforna, Best Laid Plans. It was always funny to me because at the time they were considered "ultra-violent" when really they were trying to be the next Pulp Fiction. Often times the violence over shadowed the story when talked about in the press but I've always enjoyed the story of a desperate guy trying to get out of a bad situation. These and heist films are my favorites, Killing Zoe is both. 

The other day I was out with the family and this idea came to me that I sang into my iPhone. I was thinking more Smashing Pumpkins and when I got home and started jamming on this droning meandering idea. The original melody became the chorus of the song, but immediately I had a very different idea that became the verses. I picked a drum loop that fit the feel of the song. I grabbed my seven string guitar and came up with more ideas. I plugged in my Keeley Monterey Fuzz and that's when everything came together. Experimental, meandering music driven only by the guitar and drums. 

I started picturing someone driving across the desert at night trying to finish a journey. Exhausted, cranky, they just want to get to their destination. How much longer... about 50 more miles. Boom. That's what reminded me of my favorite Hunter S Thompson quote. 

ADHDguitarist · 50 More Miles

Experimental, droning, fuzzy feedback in an amp that sounds like it is melting down.... all good things. I did three takes on the guitar and most of what you hear is the 2nd one. I changed up parts of the drum loop to play to the music. As I did the mix down I pushed the hell out of the buss compressor and at a couple of points in the song when I hit a low G on the seven string it sounds like the limiter chokes, this giant blooming sound obliterating everything in the mix. It's glorious. This is not commercial music. I don't care. I write and record music for me and anyone else that might enjoy it. 

If you'd like to buy me a drink my music is available on Bandcamp here: https://adhdguitarist.bandcamp.com/track/50-more-miles

Looking for Singer Songwriters

Over the last few years I've gotten into recording and music production. While I'll be the first one to admit I've still got things to learn, I've think I've come a long way. One of my favorite things to do is collaborate with other artist, specifically artist that are a bit outside of my Hard Rock leanings. Recently I took a song from an artist that was just his vocal and an acoustic guitar. It's pretty obvious it was written as a soft quiet ballad. 

ADHDguitarist · JG Lies Demo

Originally I thought I would try to lean into the ballad, a few layers of acoustic guitar, a nice in the pocket guitar solo, maybe some vst strings.... But then I added drums and I double timed it. Suddenly the song took on a whole new life and I wanted to make an upbeat rock song. After a couple of days of playing around with the guitars I had an entirely different song. I added bass and tweaked the drums, then I took his vocals and layered them to create some harmonies and vocal effects. 

ADHDguitarist · JG Lies Full2

This is some of my favorite stuff to do and I'd like to do more of it. So if you or someone you know is a singer songwriter that wants to take their songs and turn them into something more reach out to me here, or on social media. 

The Lapse

 While I have mostly been a rock guy most of my life, like many of us I also enjoy exploring music outside of my normal genre. This is a short Ambient Guitar piece I wrote a while back and decided to pull in some stock video footage and drop it into a video for it. Enjoy 

Shake It Down

 Soooo I haven't been post as much lately because I've been working on learning to record music, then trying to remember how to write songs..... anywho.... I should probably redo parts of this but here is something I wrote recently. 

ADHDguitarist · Shake It Down

Coming Undone

 Sooooo I've been learning more and more about mixing and recording. I think I still have a bit more to go but I thought I'd share a recent acoustic cover I did of Korn's Coming Undone. I was actually going in a different direction but as I worked on it this is what came out. I need to work on my vocals a lot but I'm pretty proud of how this turned out. 

ADHDguitarist · Coming Undone

ADHD thoughts on Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion

I've been spending a lot of time lately learning and listening to production. I went down this rabbit hole thanks to Rick Beato's YouTube channel. He has a series of videos called What Makes This Song Great where he takes a hit song from a band and breaks down the tracks and talks about the song writing, the production techniques and the sounds of different bands. He covers classic rock, grunge and even some pop. It got me thinking about albums that I love the overall sound of.

Two albums that, in my mind, changed how things were recorded and produced were U2's Achtung Baby and Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion. There is a shift in how things are approached that you hear a lot more in the mid to late 90's on. This now makes sense when I learned that both albums were engineered by famed producer Flood. Flood also made the jump to producer on Faith and Devotion.

By today's standards it's not a particularly dense album. But there is a depth to it that we don't hear a lot of today. Up to that time Depeche Mode was known for using drum machines and keyboards but SoFaD brought in acoustic drums and has guitars all over it. It's known as being a bit more of a "rock" album as far as synth pop bands go. The looser feel of the live drums contribute to this and the songs them selves seem darker and more driven than much of their earlier material. Live versions of Stripped and Black Celebration had pointed to earlier potential of this.

SoFaD is an album that so many bands from Linkin Park to the Deftones have listed as heavily influential. While some of my rock friends turned down their noses at "that keyboard band" I've spoken with a lot of other musicians who agree with me.

Dave Gahan with a Jackson into a Marshall

I was listening to it last night and was surprised to hear just how much guitar is on the album. Some times just laying down textures in the back ground. Listen to Walking in my Shoes which has what sounds to me like a guitar filtered through a wah and into what I'm guessing is a JCM900. It's panned left with the reverb on the right and at times there is a second guitar on the right with it's reverb on the left. I've often thought of doing a cover of the song Rush in a rock band format of guitar bass and drums.

If you've never checked them out spend some time listening to SoFaD and Achtung Baby from U2. While there are a few before them the influence of electronica on rock albums really comes from these two albums and you'll hear sounds and patterns that influenced a lot of modern rock albums in the last 20 years.

An ADHD Find: The Charvel Pro Mod Guitars

We are living in an incredible age. Great guitars can be found at most price levels. And I'm always on the lookout for a good gear deal. I was surprised when a friend of mine called me (not text or email) freaking out over these guitars.

Here is the back story. He and I are both big Van Halen fans, he bought the black and white striped EVH guitar almost as soon as they were released. After we ran a setup on the EVH Striped Guitar we were both impressed with the fit and finish and play-ability of the guitar. It's a very comfortable guitar to play. I remember saying to him if Eddie wants to expand this line he should put out this same guitar with solid colors and dual humbuckers. I'm not sure who at Fender corp was listening in on our conversation but Charvel has done just that with the Pro Mod series. I had no idea how close these guitars were but a friend of his brought over his new Charvel Pro Mod Guitar and they both couldn't believe it. Everything is identical! The neck carve, the fretboard, of course the standard body shape ect. The only real difference are the dual humbuckers which are a Seymour Duncan JB/59 set and a tone knob that disconnects if you roll it all the way up. And of course the finish options. There are solid colors, see through quilt tops, and metallic flake, with and without a pickguard. There is even a hardtail version. Apparently these are made in the same factory in Mexico along side the EVH guitars.

These aren't for everyone but this is a killer guitar for the $500-1000 price range. Check the Charvel Pro Mod Guitar

Sunday Morning Noodling

So I was noodling this morning and it sounded really good so I videoed a few minutes and this came out. This is my JD Strat with Seymour Duncan APS2's into the amazing Mojo Hand FX Zephyr, into my EVH LBX with the Visual Sound H2O in the loop for Delay. Hope you enjoy.

ADHDguitarist plays: Dancing in the Dark

I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do next musically. I've talked about before that I listen to a pretty wide range of guitar driven rock stuff as well as some electronic music and other things. One day I stumbled upon a lesson from Mike Hermans on youtube on his take of Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark. I really enjoyed it and set out to learn it. After a while I found myself changing certain things about it and slowing it down a bit. Then I decided to record it. I found a drum beat to fit what I was doing and came up with this. Enjoy!

Puerto Rican Cuatro an ADHD Find

Yesterday I found a new instrument I didn't even know existed and it's perfect for guitar players who are looking for a unique yet familiar sound to add to their music. The Puerto Rican Cuatro is a 10 stringed tenor instrument that falls somewhere between a 12 string and a mandolin.

With a little bit of googling I found there are quite a few variations on this theme including shapes and other countries being quite different but I'm going to focus on this one.

The Puerto Rican Cuatro Technically falls into the lute family. It is small bodied like a parlor guitar and thin so very easy and comfortable to hold. The violin shaped body is immediately familiar and while typically played with a pick I also used finger picking. There are electric versions but most of them are acoustic or electric/acoustic.

What makes it incredibly cool for guitar players is that the chords and scales you use are easily transferred over because the tuning is very similar. The strings are tuned like a 5 string bass so BEADG with the bottom B and E having an octave string and the A,D and G string being doubled. The B starts at the same B as your 2nd fret of your A string on the guitar. And the scale is about 20".

Immediately ideas are popping out of my head for uses. 1) Doubling an acoustic for 12 string type sounds. Strumming cords will sound perfect but also picking notes out sounds amazing.

2) Mandolin type sounds, if you need to play Maggie May, or Losing my Religion in a set this thing could easily fill in. It doesn't sound quite as twangy like a mandolin but it gives you the double string sound and it is not as full bodied as a 12 string.

3) If you enjoy running around in phrygian on a nylon string the cuatro immediately sounds familiar and yet different. This is the first thing I did and while you have to think about the difference a little it's not so far removed from the regular scale patterns.

4) If your a roots player or bluegrass player running scales in mixolydian will also feel immediately comfortable. It really is that easy.

The Cuatro is the national instrument of Puerto Rico. I found this youtube video that you can really hear the sound of the Cuatro on it.


There are quite a few cheap Chinese built versions on the market. Be ready to take these to a seasoned luthier for a good setup. This is what I played yesterday and it was very well built. I also found a few artisan built Cuatros that were in the thousand dollar range. Not bad considering artisan built guitars can easily be over five grand. If your looking for something that sounds unique but familiar check out the Puerto Rican Cuatro.

Billy Joel Quote

Billy Joel isn't a guitar player but he is an amazing song writer.

Creativity and why I'm going to write a bunch of bad songs

I haven't been creative in a while. Haven't written any original music in several years. I haven't been writing much on this blog this year. I started a new job a few months ago that is taking up a lot of my time and energy. This has been a bit depressing. Sure I'm still noodling during most evenings and weekends but I haven't been "working" on the guitar. I've been learning the basics of quite a few songs over the last few years, and even spent some time diving into the styles of guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. Some of that was learning but I thought maybe I would derive some sort of inspiration from it. I didn't.

I was listening to a podcast from someone last year (an author, I can't remember who it was) and he was talking about how he writes books. He was talking about the fact that he shuts the doors, and even blocks his internet for a certain amount of time everyday. But he said something very interesting. He said that he tells his brain to work on things, and his brain will work on it in the background. He never says "I don't know what to do with this" when he thinks that he tells his brain to get rid of that thought and to figure it out. So last night I started thinking about that idea in terms of songwriting. I also watched an interview with David Grissom a bluesy roots rock player with an incredible resume. He said to write 100 songs and by the time you've written 100 of them you'll START to figure out what works and what doesn't.

I remember the first few songs I wrote were pretty awful but at some point I wrote a handful of songs I was really proud of. So I'm starting over, taking the two pieces of advice from above. I'm going to write 100 songs. I don't care if they are good or not. This will hopefully kick my creativity into gear. It will force me to learn about mixing demos and how to build drum tracks (which I suck at). Not sure if I'll try to add vocals at any point, for now they will just be instrumentals.

So here is the first idea, just a guitar track, nothing else. I screw up in a few spots, even the most simple part because I realized I hadn't decided what to do with that part. Maybe I'll try to rerecord it. Maybe I'll try to write a different riff. I'm not sure yet but it feels good to do something.

Introducing HACK42

So I've shared this music before. Along with playing guitar, learning songs, blogging, and everything else in life I also like to create Electronica music that has a bit of a rock n roll influence. So I've created a HACK42 page on Reverbnation. I've always enjoyed bands like The Crystal Method, Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Front 242, and Depeche Mode. It's just a different side of stuff. I've tried for years to marry it with the hard rock and classic rock stuff that I love playing but it really doesn't work well for me. The writing is a different process. I'm also hoping to have some new guitar music up soon and I'll share that when it's ready. I haven't felt this creative guitar wise in a while so that is very exciting for me. In the mean time if your a fan of electronic music check out HACK42.

Audiophiles, High Fidelity, and Why Sound Quaility Should Matter to You as a Recording Artist.

I just stumbled on this interesting documentary, which in my experience, is mostly true. Distortion of Sound is a documentary put together by the high fidelity audio company Harman. It talks about a few of the problems in our record industry today including the sound quality of mp3's, streaming audio, and consumers who don't know any better. But I've heard the difference and not only is it mind blowing, once you hear it, you can't unhear it.

Many years ago, in the late 80's and early 90's one of the popular things in stereo were high fidelity component sound systems, you bought a receiver, tape deck, record player (that's vinyl for those of you who aren't familiar), CD players all separately, Some of these systems could easily cost in the thousands of dollars. But you could buy very high quality components for around two hundred bucks. I did a lot of research and decided on a Kenwood system. It sounded better to my ears, was well made, and received high marks in audiophile magazines. I also had a walkman for portability and convenience . I made many mix tapes and spent hours listening to albums. But at some point in the digital revolution I stopped listening to it, I got busy and the stereo got put away. I tried selling it a few times but no one would buy it. I've looked it up on eBay and found the different components selling for fifteen or twenty dollars (people ask more but seldom get it).

Then a few years ago I was talking to a customer of mine, who told me he had spent a large sum of money designing some new high end audio speakers. I was intrigued. He asked me to bring three CD's that I had been listening to, that I thought sounded like they were recorded well. I have a pretty large selection of CD's in various genres so I grabbed a couple I thought would be interesting and brought them to his house. This guy had designed his own audio amplifier and showed me and a couple of other guest some differences that the speaker could make, as well as the room. Then we started with my CD's, the first one, a local band that was a mix of the Stones and punk, sounded just awful, it was actually painful to listen to and we turned it off before the first song was over. I was floored, it sounded fine in my car and on my computer, what happened?!?! The next CD I put in was a different experience, it was a string quartet that had recorded instrumental versions of Tool songs... it was amazing! I heard details I had never heard before, and everyone in the room was swept away into the song. We all sat there listening to this track with our mouths hanging open. It was magic. As the song finished my customer and one of the other gentlemen as me for a copy of the CD.  He then played a couple of CD's he felt were recorded at well and you could almost hear the band in the recording room. Later when I jumped back in my car to leave, I heard it. I couldn't unhear it! While not as pronounced as sitting in his living room the one album sounded awful, and the other album sounded great. I pulled my old stereo back out when I got home, it still sounds great.

So here is the Harman documentary The Distortion of Sound. Below I've made a few notes where I agree and a couple where I don't.


At 3:30 in they talk to the artist about how much time they spend getting those sound right only to lose them to mp3 compression. But as I mentioned above, a lot of albums really aren't recorded well. The sound quality just isn't that great, and when I throw a CD on my stereo it's very apparent.

I think this documentary get's it right for the most part, one of the things they don't do a good job with is comparing audio compression with digital compression. It's not the same thing but at 9:35 they explain how mp3's digitally compress audio files. WAV files that CD's use do a much better job and there are other lossless audio formats out there. Still we've discovered that WAV files could be improved upon.

 At 15 minutes in the guy talking about the "head-bob-test" is dead on about the problem. People don't know it but subconsciously your missing something. If your familiar with the better quality version your brain fills in what isn't there. But if your not familiar with it, you can't replace it. He says four times more people get into the song! What! Yeah, I totally believe it, because I've seen it.

Lastly the irony of listening to the this documentary on YouTube is rather amusing. YouTube has increased it's quality but it still compresses the sound quality quite a bit. Andy Timmons is one of my favorite guitar players, I love his style and tone. A few years ago when he released his Beatles tribute Andy Timmons Band plays Sgt. Pepper, I listened to a few tracks on YouTube. I wasn't that impressed with what I was hearing, I liked the playing but the songs didn't blow me away. Then someone gave me the CD and one day I threw it in my stereo, once again I was floored! It's a breath takingly beautiful sounding album.

If you want to find out more about what Harman is doing to make audio quality better start at http://www.distortionofsound.com/

I think this documentary points out a small part of a much larger problem that I'm not ready to tackle in this already lengthy post but for now, just listen.

Video Game music video.

Wow, just came across this video and I have to say I'm pretty blown away. I haven't said that about a video in a while. My favorite movies are 90's movies like Reservoir Dogs and Killing Zoe. This reminds me of those. It also reminds me of some violent video games. Dont' let the girls fool you, it's a pretty intense ride.


Biting Elbows - 'Bad Motherfucker' Official Music Video from Ilya Naishuller on Vimeo.

Can an Artist Create Music in Different Genres

Most of us listen to a variety of music. But most artist only seem to put out one type of music. Actors are often put down for putting out music. I have, in the past, done a few "electronica" or "techno" type songs. It's not my favorite music, but I enjoy certain bands like The Crystal Method, Massive Attack, and New Order. What I'm not sure about is if I should "create" a separate online persona to market this music or not. Most of what I've put out there has been modern rock stuff. And that's pretty much what I'm known for. But maybe I should just start calling myself a multi-genre composer? Or an ADHD composer? Here is an example of some loop based electronica type music.

The Eclectic Experience of Free Music

I've gotten quite a bit of free music downloads in the last couple of weeks. Google Play gives away stuff everyday and has a lot of free music available. I've found free music from Radiohead, Buddy Guy, Jeff Buckley, Jane's Addiction, and a free live album from Pearl Jam! If you don't know about Google Play its a free cloud service for their Android system. Books, Apps, Music, even Movies. And if you have an Android phone you have access to all of this stuff on the go. You can also just sign up on your computer, I do a lot more music listening on the computer than on my phone but its nice to have access to it other times too. I also discovered a new band named Marillion. I've never heard of them but apparently they have quite a following. They are their own record label, and do very well for themselves. If your in a band hoping to get a record deal, checkout what these guys are doing on their own. Besides everyone I know in bands hates "labels". Check them out here.  http://www.marillion.com/ Another place I've been getting music is from Joe Bonamassa who gives away a song every so often for being on the mailing list. Everyone complains about the music industry being dead, Nope Artist are still creating great stuff everyday. It's now your job to find it. All this music tends to get eclectic so open your mind to the experience and enjoy.

Orianthi in a Cat Suit?

I've always liked Dave Stewart, the Eurythmics were pretty cool. Annie Lennox had an amazing voice and Dave was always an underrated songwriter. Apparently he is remembering his more successful projects by bringing in Orianthi. I'm not a huge fan of Orianthi, when she first was brought to my attention everyone was raving about her and my thought was "She's Ok". But in the last couple of years I've seen some live clips of her jamming and wailing that make me think she's getting a lot better.  While she still has her detractors, she seems to be putting in the time and focus that most people on message boards could use. This song is cool, very bluesy vibe, cool crazy circus video. And Ori sounds like she's been listening to Santana. I like it, I keep playing it over and over and I'm interested to hear the rest of it.  Good job guys.

St. Patricks Day

Most people who know me know I'm proud of my Irish heritage, and today is the one day out of the year that we stop and celebrate it. Several years ago we went to see Flogging Molly for the first time. If you've never been to Flogging Molly show it's amazing. There is so much going on and while the guitar work is more punk than shredder, it's a great time.  It's punk, it's rock, it's traditional Irish music all wrapped into one. And the best part is they love what they do. Every second of it, and you can just feel it. Seeing a video just doesn't seem to do it justice but here you go.