Eric Clapton has come another step closer to his retirement, after stating that he might not play in Japan ever again, and that touring is taking it's toll on him as he approaches the age of 70...

As Classic Rock Magazine notes, in a letter written to fans that appeared in the programme for the just-completed Japanese tour, the legendary guitarist noted:

"I may not be able to come back again. I've been coming here for 40 years, since before some of you were born. It's the best place I've ever played. Thank you for having me."


The note follows comments made by Clapton last year, in  that he was planning to stop touring in 2015 to coincide with his 70th birthday:

"The bit onstage, that's easy. If I could do that around my neighbourhood that would be great. You have guys in Texas that play their circuit and it keeps them alive...

"But for me, the struggle is the travel. The only way you can beat that is by throwing so much money at it that you make a loss. So the idea is, when I'm 70 I'll stop. I won't stop playing or doing one-offs, but I'll stop touring, I think."

Back in June of 2013, when he was touring in support of his 21st solo album, "Old Sock," he  was forced to cancel two concerts after suffering from severe back pain.The rigors of touring have been anything but easy on the guitar icon since then.

Crazy Train: The High Life and Tragic Death of Randy Rhoads by Joel McIver — featuring a foreword by Zakk Wylde and an afterword by Yngwie Malmsteen — is available now at Amazon.com

Randall Rhoads, born in California in 1956 and cut down in his prime at the age of 26, has been an immense influence on a whole generation of musicians in rock and metal.

He first came to international prominence in 1979, when he was recruited from the cult metal band Quiet Riot to play with Ozzy Osbourne, (who had been fired from Black Sabbath for his drink and drug addictions and was in urgent need of a co-writer to kickstart a solo career). How and why Ozzy and Randy went on to find enormous success is one of the key themes of Crazy Train, named after the first and most famous Osbourne/Rhoads co-composition.

It was Randy's pioneering combination of neo-classical soloing, catchy riffage and unforgettable songwriting which propelled Ozzy to stardom in his own right — even after thousands of Black Sabbath fans had written him off. The two albums which Randy recorded with Quiet Riot and the two with Ozzy showcase the young guitarist's immense ability, although the full extent of his talent may never have been revealed.


In 1982 he died in an airplane crash, the victim of the pilot's cocaine-influenced misjudgment. The parallels between Crazy Train and the author's best-selling To Live Is To Die: The Life and Death of Cliff Burton (Jawbone 2009) are intentional and obvious. Both books deal with a musical prodigy who died tragically in his mid-20s; both men have a vast following and a profile which has risen and risen in the years since their deaths; and both men have a large coterie of friends, family and associates prepared to tell their stories for the very first time.


The High Life and Tragic Death of Randy Rhoads 
Published by Jawbone Press

Courtesy of the Belfast Telegraph - March 04, 2014 

More than a third of UK employees daydream about a career in the music industry while sitting at their desks, according to new research.


Nearly half of the 2,000 people surveyed dream about performing on stage, being a roadie, writing hit songs, or talent spotting the next big pop star...

The research, (commissioned by music education group BIMM), found that 28 per-cent of women have fleeting thoughts of having a musical career, while most people voted the iconic rock group Queen as the band they would most like to perform with on stage, (with Freddie Mercury being a bigger draw than The Arctic Monkeys, Oasis and The Rolling Stones combined).


Rather than fame being the reason for pursuing a career in the music industry, 43 per-cent of people surveyed said that they simply wanted to follow their passion. While 21 per-cent said they did not see music as a proper job, 13 per-cent lacked access to relevant careers advice and seven per-cent said they had been put off any kind of music career by a careers adviser.

Only, 23 per-cent of men said they would pursue a job in the music industry now if they had the opportunity to start their careers all over again.

Vaseema Hamilton, BIMM principal, said: "At BIMM, we want to encourage people to believe in themselves and to believe that their creative and vocational dreams of working in the music industry don't need to remain unfulfilled."

Back in 2009 I did a series on Making Money in the Music Business Playing Guitar...

Buddy Guy is one of the all time Blues greats! If you have never had a chance to see one of his shows I urge you to buy a ticket and prepare yourself for one of the most entertaining gigs you will ever attend.

Buddy Guy tells some great stories in between songs, he’s very funny and I could listen to him talk for hours, as you can hear below, he has had some amazing experiences throughout his career...



GUITAR CENTER:
...We caught up with the legendary Buddy Guy as he sat down with, our Guitar Center Sessions and At Guitar Center Podcast host, Nic Harcourt, for this in-depth and insightful interview of his humble beginnings, musical career, and to discuss - the blues.


Listen to the full 50-minute interview at:
http://www.GuitarCenter.com/Podcast

and be sure to pick-up his latest album “Rhythm and Blues” available at
http://www.BuddyGuy.com

Over the last week I've had a good number of guitar players send questions regarding Ear Training, and in particular, "How to Play What is Heard in One's Mind."

So, I thought that it would be beneficial (since this has always been a hot topic) that I re-link to one of my popular video lessons posted on this very matter.


The original question /answer and video lesson [Apr. 05, 2011] are given below. Hope this helps out players in need of further study in this area. The handout can be downloaded from the April 2011 archives of my GuitarBlog web-site. Enjoy!

Q: I'm a new subscriber and have to start by saying a huge thanks for your efforts, you have awesome lessons! I am really struggling with the ability to play what I hear in my head. I'm fine with a sheet of tab in front of me, but I am terrible at learning anything from a recording, or playing anything melodic off the cuff. I have been learning my scales, doing picking technique and speed drills, but why can't I transcribe and just find the simplest of things I hear in my head on my guitar neck? I am getting really down in the dumps about this, because I know how important it is to do this instinctively as a guitarist. I've asked a lot of online guitar guru's this question, but none have given me a good answer -- Andrew, if there's anyone who I think can help me out there -- I'll bet it's going to be you! Thanks in advance. 
- Michael, Las Vegas NV. 


A: 95% of the guitar players I've taught since I started Creative Guitar back in 1992, generally focus most of their effort on their fretting hand and strumming /picking technique. However, the technique most often overlooked is -- playing what you hear in your head. That is important, but even more important is to do it literally, at will.

So, when a musical idea comes to you -- the idea can get out of your head and onto the guitar fingerboard in no time. And, if you want to become a good improviser (so you have the total enjoyment of thinking or hearing musical ideas and then playing them unrehearsed), this skill is an absolute must. So, how does a player do this? It comes down to rehearsal and daily self-testing. If you do this; you'll get it... if you don't, you won't.

Songcoin Hoping to Save Music Industry...

The music industry might be on the verge of changing for good, as it's just about to get its own virtual currency - Songcoin.

Although still not fully grasped by the public, the idea of virtual currency is very much real and has made people very rich in recent times. One of the charms attracting people to it is the fact that most governments haven't yet figured out how to tax alternative currencies, but the industry also took a big hit after this week's Bitcoin scandal.

The mentioned scandal struck as a software loophole caused the largest Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox to lose about $367 million. The leaked document from the company had grim predictions, noting that "the likely damage in public perception to this class of technology could put it back 5-10 years, and cause governments to react swiftly and harshly. At the risk of appearing hyperbolic, this could be the end of Bitcoin, at least for most of the public."

But back to Songcoin, the musical virtual currency is administered by Pimovi. The company's co-founder and CTO Kasian Franks discussed the fresh currency with Evolver, naming the lowering of transaction and international wire fees within the music industry as some of the key ideas. Franks also expressed desire to enable artists and fans to offer special promotions, leave tips and even buy concert tickets using Songcoins.


After discussing the breakthrough of virtual currency, Kasian was asked about the company's plans to insert Songcoin into the business. "Let's say an artist has a tip jar," he replied. "They can now tell their fans, 'I accept Songcoins as tips, so you can go over to Pimovi and get some Songcoins.' Pimovi will give them away for free, initially, to help with circulation, and then they'll take on their own value, because other virtual currencies have proven that they can do this."

"We have a huge opportunity by focusing this on the music industry, and we can change things a little bit hopefully," the co-founder added.

In conclusion, Franks shared the company's specific future plans. "We're going to be launching and pre-mining for Pimovi in about a week ... once we announce, individuals or companies around the world can begin mining Songcoin," he said.

"Something interesting happens with a new alternative currency: It's put on a list of new alternative currencies that people can now leverage, and instead of just being overly leveraged on Bitcoin or the other alternative currencies, they take a position in new alternative currencies to hedge, and properly spread their risk. So we're looking at that, as well as working with transaction companies to have Songcoin be part of their transaction layer," Kasian concluded.

Article written by Ben Rainey

Guitar is a practice. It’s not something you work on until some magical day when you’ve, “got it.”

It’s a constant teacher, challenging and furthering us if we stick with it.

Like any practice, you actually 'have to practice' in order to learn anything. This is one of the biggest challenges with any skill you want to learn. As soon as we try to start a new habit, all sorts of resistance pops up and creates obstacles to sticking with it.

Being masters of rationalization, it’s easy for us to come up with reasons to skip practice. “I don’t have time.” “I’m too busy.” “I work too much.” “I’m too tired right now.” “I don’t know what to practice.”

There’s nothing wrong with this. Facing these sorts of obstacles and rationalizations is actually a huge lesson that can be learned through guitar playing.

Let’s take a look at a few ways to sidestep the many rationalizations we may come up with.


Start Small:
One trick to get yourself to practice regularly is to start very small. Make it your goal to practice every day for a week for such a small amount of time that you can’t talk yourself out of it.

Five minutes can be a good starting length, but feel free to start out with one minute of practice every day if that helps. Who doesn’t have time to play guitar for literally one minute?

After a week, bump up the time just a little, maybe from five minutes to seven or 10 minutes. It will be slightly easier to play for this longer amount of time because a habit is starting to form. Keep increasing the time each week until you’re practicing for whatever amount of time you’d like, whether that’s 20 minutes, 30 minutes or even an hour a day.

Get Specific:

Being vague about your practice leaves lots of room for rationalization. For example, saying “I should practice guitar more” means absolutely nothing. It’s not going to turn into action.

However, saying “I will practice for five minutes every day this week at 8 p.m.” means something. Then it’s clear whether you’ve actually done it or not. You’ve become accountable to yourself. Even better, tell someone else what you plan to do so that you’re accountable to someone other than yourself too.

Set Goals:
Another really useful tool for keeping practice on track is goal setting. Set long-term goals and goals for each practice session.

For long-term goals, take some time to think about what you’d like to be able to do with the guitar that you can’t do now. Would you like to write an album’s worth of original music? Or sit in at an open jam at a jazz club? Or learn all the guitar parts on a particular favorite album? Once you’ve determined your goals, be sure to write them down.

For each practice session, come up with a few concrete things you’d like to work on during that time. Make sure these practice areas relate to your long-term goals.

If your long-term goal is to play at a jazz club, maybe you could focus on transcribing a standard by ear during your practice session. If your long-term goal is to learn an album, maybe you could focus on just working on the intro to the first song on the album. Make sure you’re being realistic about what you could actually accomplish during one practice session.

Willpower tends to wear off after a week or two, so be sure to share your goals with your friends. Use willpower while you’ve got it to set up a support system to help keep you going when the times get tough.