Arnel’s Journey

Pardon the pun.  The title doesn’t denote possession of the band.  Hahaha.

Over at my former office, my colleagues opened an intranet e-mail thread about creating own songs as better than just playing covers.  A friend who occupied the workstation next to mine even remarked that cover bands/musicians lacked talent (really?).  I kept silent, not wanting to argue on the floor.  Well, now that Arnel Pineda is with the famous American band Journey, this just proves that doing covers isn’t necessarily a crappy thing; in fact, it paid off for Arnel — and I guess for many others too.

If you were an actor, it would be like doing impressions.  With music, you learn from playing covers (not necessarily in a performance — could be in your bedroom), then take your knowledge to new heights.  I believe all the great guitar players started copping someone else’s riffs/lines and then developed their own signature stuff.

The last time I saw the dude personally was when we alternated at Camelot Hotel’s Dungeon Bar in Quezon City in 1986 or 1987.  I was with a showband that played everything from Broadway (ugh!) to Starship, and we wore identical clothing (C-O-M-B-O, man!).  Arnel was with the rock band Amo.  Yes, I remember very well the way he sang Chaka Khan’s "Through the Fire" in the original key that Ms. Khan sang it.  That dude Arnel definitely has the pipes!

Well, from his days playing at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor to taking the stage with Journey at Santiago, Chile, it sure was some voyage for Arnel.  I can’t wait for June when their album comes out.

Here’s Arnel and Journey doing "Separate Ways."

Neil Schon: Who Doesn’t Know Him?

I remember watching a black-and-white video of Neil Schon playing with Carlos Santana.  Then a teenager, Mr. Schon nearly blew Mr. Santana off the stage with his melodic phrases and rapid-fire runs.  Just imagine Neil Schon the kid playing in Devadip’s band.  Well, Mr. Schon has physically become much wider (sorry, Neil) but man, his playing still rocks.

I’d have to admit that during my rock-jazz days (nearing my mainstream/bebop phase), Steve Lukather, Eddie Van Halen, Larry Carlton, Neil Schon, Craig Chaquico, G.E. Smith, Buzz Feiten and Jamie Glaser were my heroes.  That was after discovering Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Randy Bachman, Tommy Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore, David Gilmour and Carlos Santana.  Funny but I got my first Jimi Hendrix tape much, much later.

Well, I actually got bored and sometimes even frustrated (owing to the difficulty of some of the runs) when trying to learn an entire album.  So, what I did was to snip off a little bit of this, steal a little bit of that.  This gave me more time to learn the styles of the other axe wielders whose playing I really liked.

Anyway, here’s Neil Schon playing "The Star Spangled Banner."

Connect with Jamie Glaser

Jamie Glaser, best known by most for his work with Brian Adams, is posting on YouTube.  You can get in touch with him there.  Here is his Web site:

http://www.jamieglaser.com/ 

Here is his YouTube channel: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/jglaser333 

I can’t help but recall the days when I would check out Jean-Luc Ponty’s albums and play the songs that Jamie played in.  Yup, I guess he’s influenced my playing a lot even if it may not seem that way.

Here he is soloing with Jean-Luc Ponty.

Here’s something I just found out.  Jamie Glaser with The CCEB!  By the way, the title’s "Rumble" with a "u" — don’t mind the way it’s spelled in the video.

Scott Henderson Plays "King Cockroach" with The CCEB

CCEB?  It means Chick Corea Elektric Band.  "King Cockroach" is my favorite CCEB tune, and I’ve heard three versions so far:  the studio version, the one played live in Madrid sometime in 1986, and this one.  I like Scott’s performance in that Madrid video the best.

Look at Scott’s Strat-type Charvel.  That’s one of my dream guitars, but I’d like it to have a Floyd trem that only allows dive bombs like Eddie Van Halen’s setup.

Brian Wampler’s Boss SD-1 Mod: The Lovepedal Eternity

Here’s Brian Wampler’s way of converting a Boss SD-1 to sound like the $200+ Lovepedal Eternity.

http://www.indyguitarist.com/news-lovepedal1.htm