Runes of Rock and Roll

Which Guitar Is Right For You? Have you ever been to a music store wanting to buy a guitar, but not sure of which one to pick? Ever felt that the guitars you own sound or look out of place? I'm writing this blog to guide you guitar players in choosing the right guitar for you.  The Pickup War   Top: Single-Coil Pickups; Bottom: Humbucker Pickups In an electric guitar, a major part of the sound differences between each instrument is the pickups wired to them. Pickups pick up - hence the name - the string vibration and sends an electronic signal into the output, projecting sound; think of it as a microphone for your guitar strings.  There are two major types of pickups: single-coil pickups and humbucking pickups, or simply humbuckers. They differ in the way that they are wired, with single coil having one magnetic coils inside and humbuckers having two magnetic coils inside. These wiring differences contribute to their tone, producing differe...

Yes, I've Fallen in Love! Now the title is not what you think it might be. I'm still young and it's way out of my time to find a significant other, but I've fallen in love: with the guitar. People ask me all the time, "Why the guitar?" "Why didn't you choose other instruments like the piano?" I've tried piano once; I took lessons in a music school, but I did not really enjoy the lessons, neither the instruments; piano was not "cool" enough for me ( no hate to all the piano players out there. ) I really wanted to play music, but I did not know what to take. I always loved the electric guitar since a child; I loved watching people rip melodic and "rock n' roll" guitar solos on stage, with the headbangs and all, but I figured it would be too hard if I tried.  Then I reached 7th Grade; I was 13 years old. During one of our teacher introductions, it was the turn of our music teacher. The teacher pu...

Is Music Theory Important? Let's face it: music theory sucks. There's nothing more discouraging to us than learning scales and seeing all those nauseating pieces of sheet music, but is music theory really worth all the hassle? I used to be one of those people that completely hated music theory. I would rather learn new tricks, riffs, amd arrangements than sit and memorize scales and shapes. It wasn't when I was 14 years old when I hitted a brick wall in my guitar playing, that I realized there was something missing . I tried almost every new technique, but none of them seem to make me feel like I'm making more advanced music. Then I came to realize that I have been lacking in proper musical knowledge since day one. I started small and learned scales and their relationships to chords in a song. I was shocked in how learning and harmonizing the major scale granted me the ability to figure out a song's tune by ear! I realized mu...

Influences Musically, someone can be influenced by different artists and genres of music. The greatest musicians always cite their idols or their musical roots.  I, myself am influenced by multiple genres. I grew up with alternative pop and a little bit of rock; my early teens are spent with pop music and nü metal, and I rooted on blues in my beginning stages of guitar playing.  There are a lot of guitar idols that I admire. Eric Clapton, SRV, Jimi Hendrix, and Synyster Gates are some of them.  However, I find myself mostly influenced by John Mayer, a pop blues guitarist and singer. His signature style is truly unique and sophisticated, while also sounding extremely hip at the same time. John Mayer, circa 2013 I've implemented some of his playing habits and I definitely learned a lot from him. I absolutely love and support his music and I hope that his career continues to be successful in the future. John's one of my major in...

INTRODUCTION  Welcome to the blog! The name's Maeyer Benjamin and I'm an aspiring musician and a fan of rock and roll. I'd consider myself to have a very... unique taste in music. Most kids my age are into contemporary pop and top chart hits. I'm more of a vintage-eared person. Pronounce any rock, metal, pop, blues or jazz artist/band and there's a high chance that I listen to them. As a guitarist, rock and roll is considered as the benchmark for a kick-ass stage guitar performance. I've continuously worked to perfect my technique and groove in every genre, but rock and roll always catches my ears first. The best thing about perfecting guitar groove is because you only need to enjoy music often! I'm writing this blog to all like-minded (or eared!) people who love classics and probably even musicians like myself. For all you pop-heads, I'm pretty convinced that I can convince you to listen to ACDC, Queen, Deep Pu...