Wow guys thanks for the warm welcome! you certainly know how to make a guy feel at home.
One thing I should clarify I guess is that even tho I started playing in the early 80's I have not been playing solid thru all those years, In the early 90's I discovered watersports, Wakeboarding to be more specific, My brother and I purchaced the first of 2 different boats we have had over the years and music took a back seat to that ,(Yeah I know shame shame) altho I still played every now and then I never kept up any kind of serious practice regimine so even tho I started playing way back then I am definately not a guitar virtuoso of the 80's shred era, I guess I would consider myself an intermediate player. My first book that I learned out of was The Heavy Guitar Bible, maybe some of you know this one ,so the songs I was learning were really blues based rock and roll rather that metal really, such as AC/DC ,Floyd, Clapton, Zep,Rush, Nugent, Sabbath,Santana,Van Halen of course, of and my bad for not mentioning EVH and Randy Rhoads, as influences, Those guys almost single handedly changed the direction of Rock guitar in my view.
As the 90's rolled in I got a lesson from a friend/fellow musician fresh out of GIT who introduced me to the modes and 3 note per string blues scales incorporated by Paul Gilbert, and not long after that I was turned on to Greg Howes Introspection, WoW!!
All that being said I never really delved into the mechanics and techniques of high speed improvisation or theory which is my main focus for about the last 3 years I guess.
Ok with that out of the way let me try and address some questions and comments in your responses to my intro.
Todds video chats are awesome!! like I said I have been sitting in on them as a guest for at least a year and its like the ultimate warm up and get your hands limber exersizes, One thing I like to do is find a harmony to his runs and play along like that , sounds awesome, when I am done with one of his sessions I am ready to throw on some kinda backing track and jam away.
Also I have been trying to get into Ivans and Bens chats as well as the rest of the guys that have lessons there,(Thanks for the heads up Adrian I will definately try and join your chat as well and I am sure you could teach me a trick or two as well as any one of the instuctors could , I am sure I could learn something from all of you) just gotta get the time conversion thing down,(oh yeah is Ramiro going to do anymore vid chats?) I really enjoyed Ivans lesson the other day on using recording software.And to address Ivans question as to my guitars , currently I have an Ibanez S - series S470DXQM that I got off of craigslist for 300 bucks, the previous owner had installed a couple of EMG active pickups in it and it has a pretty good tone I think , not bad for 300 bucks anyways lol. Also I have and early 80's Kramer Focus with a Warmoth neck and Mighty Mite PU's.I was actually considering doing a scallop job on the neck. any of you guys play a scalloped neck? I keep that one setup in Eb tuning and the Ibanez in standard E. I need to get a hardtail that I can quickly change the tuning on for some Zep stuff and other stuff I like to play like When the levee breaks and Kashmir for example. also I wouldnt mind picking up a 7 string and have kinda been keeping an eye out for a used one.
Ok I think I have rambled on long enough for now
Man there is a wealth of info here and I have alot of work to do.Oh looks like there is a lesson in session in the vid chat too as I type so gonna jump and and see whats shakin'.
Peace! AK-Rich...