Archive for category Uncategorized
Putting Log In Blog
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on April 27th, 2010
Some of you may have noticed a mysterious absence of my on the site. Good news is I haven’t been kidnapped by “Spectre” (British spelling…I think). Bad news is I have been I haven’t had a decent internet connection in about a month. This has made it increasingly difficult to write and edit articles and posts.
My solution: putting the Log back in Blog. I’m going to be writing in more of a journal format for some posts. What is a “journal format” you ask. It’s a fancy way of saying that there will be more spelling errors, post will be more varied in length, and I will just write about what I’m thinking about at the time concerning worship, guitar playing and gear. Please give me grace.
The articles and Pedal Profiles will come as I get more time and figure out what I’m going to do about choppy internet access. In the mean time, I hope little rants, blurbs, and tweets not on twitter will interest you…hmm…this site may be doomed.
Keep sharp…even if my writing isn’t.
-Jed
Pedal Profile: Xotic Gold AC Booster Limited Edition
Posted by Jed in Gear, Pedal Profile, Uncategorized on March 31st, 2010
BACKGROUND: Where the BB Preamp is supposed to be a cranked Marshall, the AC is supposed to be more like a cranked American amp (Fender). The Limited Edition Gold AC Booster is the same thing as the regular, just gold with only 500 in existence.
GUITARS: PRS Standard 22, 1986 Fender MIJ Tele ’62 Reissue
AMPS: ’97 Rivera R-55, 65 London
FIRST IMPRESSION: When Q brought it over the first thing I thought was “It’s gold!” I like the way it looks. Gold may be the new silver. It has really good-sounding low end, not too punchy and not too sloshy. It just sounds natural and you can feel it through a wood floor.
It is a very smooth-sounding pedal, very Tube Screamer-esk. It emphasizes the mid-range of the guitar tones;this characteristic is always welcomed in my book.
PROS: When you roll the bass down and turn the treble up (3 o’clock), it doesn’t sound brittle. It is still a very usable tone.
When set to a clean boost setting (volume maxed, drive at its lowest), it gives the tone more attack and a pinch more sustain than the clean tone.
CONS: Q tried the Booster through the 65 London and said the two didn’t play well together. For whatever reason, when I plugged it in through the R-55, it sounded amazing. Through the London, it was less smooth and more sterile.
FINAL THOUGHTS: This pedal is like a top quality Tube Screamer that won’t sound bad. I messed around with the EQ and couldn’t get it to sound bad. Obviously I preferred some settings over others, but for the most part this pedal was just giving me usable to amazing tones. This pedal doesn’t play favorites with its settings. If you’re sick of the Tube Screamer you bought at Guitar Center, seriously look into this pedal.
Keep Sharp,
-Jed
Some of the Best Worship/Guitar Online Recources
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on March 23rd, 2010
We can’t stay sharp on our own. Some of us may not be in a local community of guitarists who would teach and challenge us. Enter the internet. It has a wealth of information to keep us up to date, informed and motivated. Here is just a sample.
How To Play It
1.Chad Tipps (Tippys) is one of the guitar players for Desperation Band and New Life Church. Starting with Desperation’s “Everyone Overcome” release, Tippsy has been featured alongside Erik Todd in every New Life Church album. His tones and parts are rich http://www.chadtipps.com/
2.So it’s Saturday night and you still don’t know the riff for Hillsong’s “God One and Only” yet. It’s late; it’s crunch time. That is when you just need someone to show you how the riff is actually played. No sketchy tab, no vague chord chart–you need an actual video. Go to http://guitarpraise.blogspot.com/ for a wide range of songs. If it is modern worship, it’s on this site.
3. http://www.verticalmusic.com/-is a website produced by Integrity Music. This is a great place not only to find out about the latest music Integrity is putting out as well as finding authentic chord charts. Check it out.
Making Life Easier
4.http://www.planningcenteronline.com/ is a web service that my church discovered last year and it has changed everything for the better. Transposing chord charts just takes a couple clicks. Scheduling, a couple clicks. Getting plans, set lists and order of services…you guessed it, a couple of clicks. If you or your worship leader is stressed out keeping everyone on the same page, show them this site and video.
Introducing Planning Center Online from Planning Center on Vimeo.
Heart Checks From A Musician And Pastor
5.Glenn Packiam is a worship leader/song writer/associate pastor/author/New Life School of Worship Director/Former Desperation Member and lucky for us, he blogs once a week. He can be deep yet simple and has an honest motivation to seek the heart of God. Go hear for a good heart check. http://www.glennpackiam.typepad.com/
Good Old Guitar And Worship Talk
6.http://guitarforworship.wordpress.com/ is run by Karl and his blog is splendid (hehe). He is prolific, honest, thoughtful and funny, and his blog is worth reading regularly. His posts range from useful how-to information to great gear demos to humorous yet thought-provoking posts. Give this blog a read, unless you become insecure every time you see a bigger pedal board than yours; then don’t visit here 
. To see even more links visit Karl’s post http://guitarforworship.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/bringing-back-the-blog/
When You Want To Kill Time
7.http://pedalboardplanner.com/ I have spent way too much time on this website and I hope you do, too.
If you have some other resources, please share them with us by telling us in the comments.
Keep Sharp,
-Jed
Health Report
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on March 3rd, 2010
After about a week of silence on this blog I think you all deserve to know how I’m doing. I’m happy to report that I’m doing just fine. Once every four years I get a case tendonitis in my left hand usually due to over playing, typing, gaming, etc. After wrapping it up and taking it easy for a week, my wrist is feeling 99% better. Thanks for praying and being patient with me. Another blog post is in the works and hopefully will be up today.
-Jed
State of the Blog
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on February 23rd, 2010
Last week was a great week. I did three activities I love more often than normal: 1. Played guitar. 2. Blogged (typing). 3. Gaming (Wii to be exact). Although some of these activities are more virtuous than others, I am now paying for it in a very unfortunate way: a dull but nagging pain in my left wrist.
What I’m Doing About It
1. My hand is now wrapped.
2. Ibuprofen for the inflamation (not the pain of course, I can handle the pain. Don’t think for a second I can’t handle the pain.)
3. I’m going to buy a wrist brace tonight to keep my wrist even more stable to help the healing process along.
What does this mean for the blog? I won’t be putting up as many blog posts this week or even maybe in the weeks to come. Please be patient with me.
I have to stop typing now. Please pray for me. You’ll hear from me hopefully sooner rather than later.
Keep sharp,
-Jed
“Worship Music Sucks, Why Bother?”
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on February 11th, 2010
This is a guest post from my friend David Lee who has played keyboards for Ross Parsley, New Life Church and Desperation Band. Being involved with worship music on both the congregation side and the creation side, he has some interesting and opinionated perspectives on worship music, which is sure to make for some great conversation. Read, enjoy and comment. -Jed
I hear this ALOT! I used to ask myself this a lot too! But now, I don’t ask that question anymore!
First off, I’ve heard that the OBVIOUS answer is that “religious people” don’t spend alot of time focusing on playing tasteful music.
As “good” as this sounds, to me this is an ABSOLUTE farce! Two things make a load of crap:
1. EVERYBODY believes in something! Even Atheists. Even is you don’t believe in the absence of a God, that’s STILL a belief, and you’ve still chosen a side!!! Either way, what you believe has NO bearing on your ability as a songwriter or a musician. Your not a bad writer because your religious, your a bad writer because your a bad writer!
2. What someone believes is GOOD music TOTALLY objective opinion!!! I know ALOT of non-religious people that LOVE christian music, there just all 30-50 years old. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just that people from there teens to 20’s don’t get it! Besides, the only reason why there isn’t christian music for teen’s through there 20‘s is because no christian in that age group buys music (Ask EARTHSUIT about that). There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a free market and that’s just how it is!!!
HOWEVER, this is when it gets weird: when “christian raised” teens are FORCE fed this type of music growing up. All that really comes out from that are public school teens that have NO sense of musical reality, and try to show “normal” kids christian music. That’s why people ask “Worship Music Sucks, Why Bother?”
This is MY personal belief on writing and performing music. You should write and perform what you believe in…PERIOD!!! People who write great love songs have had LIFE CHANGING experiences with the opposite sex! People who write good fight music had ISSUES with work, growing up or whatever!
I write worship music! Here’s a couple reasons why:
1. Nothing’s impacted my life more than God! Period. If you need an explanation for that, read JOB 38-41 (Yes…three chapters, in fact, read the book)
2. The difference between Worship music, and every other music, is that Worship music is centered around the Love of God. If you don’t know what the God is capable of, then you should look into it. God has the ability to move mountains, split seas, and smooth the valleys(Read JOB 38-41), but instead of being so dramatic, God would rather spend his time being MADLY in love with us! I couldn’t think of ANYTHING else that would be worth singing songs for!
Here are three verse’s from Job:
Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”Job 38:1-2, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said, ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?’”Job 42:5-6, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
-D. Lee
Pedals, Pedals, Pedals!
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on January 14th, 2010
I’m going to start posting pedal reviews of pedals starting tomorrow. The first one will be on the Hermida Zendrive which will be up tomorrow to start off.
Let me know if there any other pedals you think I should review. This should be fun; please join in the discussion.
Life Lately
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on September 3rd, 2009
It has been busy. A sister getting married, rearranging the stage at church and overall work duties has given me little time to write and post like I would like to. I promise I have not fallen off the face of the planet or forgotten about the joys of playing guitar as worship. More post will come.
Thanks,
-Jed
More Cool Pedals You Should Know About
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on August 19th, 2009
Here is another look at the cool, strange and unique pedals that are out there.
Tortuga Neptune Opto-Vibe
This pedal is a modern two channel Uni-vibe equipped with an optical sensor. That’s right: an optical sensor. It makes for some really interesting on-the-fly expressions of the Vibe. This combined with the two independent channels makes for a very flexible pedal.
Seymour Duncan Deja Vu Tap Delay
This is a tap tempo delay with some interesting features. You can switch between a digital delay, an authentic bucket brigade driven analog delay and anything in between. The tap-tempo makes for flexible on- the-fly use and the “Ratio/Time Delay” knob makes it a cinch to get dotted eighths. As shown in the video, the Deja Vu has its own effects loop so you can add on an effect to the delay signal itself while leaving your tone dry.
Molten Voltage TOGGLE
I still do not know what this pedal does. Apparently it does everything. If you know please let me know.
G-LAB Wah Wah
This is a pressure sensitive pad for you wah pedal. Instead of clicking the pedal on you just put your foot on the pedal and away you go.
Full-Proof Strategy for Escaping Your Rut
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on July 15th, 2009
Perhaps I’m just picky, or perhaps I have unreasonable expectations,
If you have followed this blog or just read the about page you can probably tell that I don’t like ruts. I despise them.
Ruts are those times in our guitar-playing-life when we seem to be stuck to certain (and old and boring) patterns of playing. They can be creative ruts. For instance, using the same box of tricks over again until even the young mother of eight who sits in the front row can predict every lick and effect you will use.
Or they can be technical, like never being able to play certain riffs and solos as well as they should be.
These periods of stagnation are awful. The only thing worse than a rut is the feeling that you will never be able to get out of them.
What we need is a strategy for improvement, so even though we may still be in the rut, we at least know there is a way out.
Here are some tips.
Face the Obstacle
Take a good look at what part of your playing you are dissatisfied with. Is it soloing, a finger-picking, or are you just dissatisfied with your tone?
Take a good look at what you feel you are lacking. Sometimes this can be counter-intuitive. Some of us would rather just ignore it for a while, look at it every ten days or so, then hope that on some lucky day we will magically be free from our rut.
This never works.
Have the courage to face the obstacle in front of you. Once you do that, then you can beat it.
Write it Down
Try to describe your rut. Identify it in the clearest language you can. This will demystify your rut, making a plan of attack more clear.
When you clearly identify the source of your frustration, it has less power over you.
Find a Solution
Sometimes a solution will present itself once you have clearly outlined the rut.
Other times it won’t.
Have no fear. The answer is out there. You are not alone in your rut. In fact, the more you look around, you might see that your rut is more like a Motel 6 rather than a Pit of Despair. Others have checked in and the good news is they have also checked out.
Here are some posts to get you started.
If your rut is more technical click here.
If your rut is more creative click here.
Start a Checklist
This checklist is your plan of attack for demolishing your rut. Once you have found a solution, the next step is to take action. Start a check list of things you can do on a regular basis, whether it is once a day or once a week. That will help you climb your way out of the rut.
Why a Checklist?
Because it is a practical and easy reference to keep track of your progress.
How To Treat a Checklist
A checklist is like a hammer; they are both tools. You can use a hammer to pound nails into wood or you can use it to pound nails into your foot. You can use a checklist to help you or you can use it to beat yourself up. Don’t do the latter.
The checklist is meant to serve you, not the other way around. Don’t serve the checklist. Use it to get yourself out of the rut.
Be Encouraged
Allow yourself to be encouraged by the little steps you take. Every step in the right direction is a step you can be proud of. Letting yourself be encouraged by little steps will fuel the bigger steps to come.
Keep sharp.
-Jed