SlowerHand

I got my MYP certificate (which should make studying abroad a bit easier, as this is supposed to show I'm as good as a native English speaker), and as a 'reward' my parents gave me a Boss ME-20 multi-effects pedal. I totally friggin love it. The sounds are beautiful, and very varied. The OD/DS pedal can have Overdrive, Blues, Distortion, Metal, Fuzz or Compressor. The MOD pedal can have Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo or Rotary, and the DELAY has a 0-99 ms delay, 100-700 ms delay or Reverb. And there's an expression pedal. Finally I can seriously play along to Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) and all the funky Red Hot Chili Peppers' stuff. And the cool thing is, you can save combinations of pedal settings, so I can switch between a heavy metal set and a softer set simply by pressing a button. I think I'm happy that I don't have all these pedals like John Frusciante does: http://www.guitarplayer.com/pop-up.aspx?content_id =23160&section_code=3 Simplicity is almost always key. And if I really need something extra I'll play around with it Garageband.

I absolutely totally love this thing. It seems to allow me to really tap into what seems to be a continous stream of universal creativity; not just tap into it but really use it to the max. I can't say it's orgasmic, but it's the greatest musical experience I have achieved so far. I guess I'll record a sort of improvised song one of these days. Hopefully it'll sound as good as it feels.

Too bad my friends aren't into the kind of musical expression that I'm so in love with. Using the wah pedal in a way that is so subtle you barely notice it, but you'd notice it if it were gone all of a sudden, or having a modulation effect that goes all over the place and you have no real control over it but you try to make the best of it (which often gives a much more expressive guitar part than without that obstacle), that's really great. But my friends are kind of plain. Simplicity is key. But trying to make the biggest, most complicated sound with as few effects as possible can be amazing.

Oh well. At least I'm in a band with good friends of mine that have great musical talent and the same ambitions.

Aside from music my life has ups and downs, but it seems that the ups are so up I feel wonderful. A bit tired from school, but beautiful things seem to be happening. Or at least, I start to see the beauty in so many things all of a sudden. But I won't bore you with that right now. I'm in a really creative mood.