YOUR Guitar Diary for 2012

[ChrisBuono]

No doubt, but I've been thinking about a fretless more and more since last December. A local dealer said he could score a Godin fretless for me to check out. I show up three days later in the middle of a snow storm only to find that it is a Godin multioud instead of a guitar.

The first fretless I had for a while was a Godin nylon stirng fretless. What a KICK ASS guitar - very cool! It was a perk when I was teaching at Berklee. Wish I could have kept it when I left...

But, of course it's a totally different animal than the Vigier. That axe just screams. I have the new model on order and will move the one I have as soon as I get the new chrome neck model.

[ChrisBuono]

Today was all about my boys and myself shopping for Mom's possible Mini Cooper birthday present. Won't bore you with the raw details, but I came to find out there's a chance my wife was trying to buy me a 2010 Dodge Challenger for my upcoming 40th in June! That's my dream car for sure and that would be incredible, but a bit complex if we both took out car loans for two not-so-cheap cars we both don't need. Not good.

That brings up the subject of watching the bank. I do that EVERYDAY. I run the money in the house and I keep a very tight watch on what comes in and out of our hands. Have to be. In my line of work you just never know when things can go south. While at this point some big lumps of cash come in when a project is done, I have to budget it as there's gaps as to when the next one will. We invest, we have college funds, life insurance, a savings account - all the right stuff. When it comes to gear I keep that separate from all other funding. At this point in my career I've got it to where if I need something, I sell some of what I have to get what I need. Rarely do I need to shell out "new" money. Artsit deals and endorsements helped build this arsenal as well. It all took a LONG time to build up to. Part of that is buying high quality pieces, vintage pieces and the like and taking care of it. I keep all original packaging and manuals. When I'm ready to sell I do it right in eBay and work very hard to maintain a 100% seller rating. Same goes for PayPal where I not only accept my eBay payments, but also my Skype revenue. I need all that flow to be always, well, flowing. The product support part calls for me to do my part and help promote whatever it is I'm playing. And, I do to the best of my ability. While this is a good place to be it takes a lot of work to stay relevant enough to be considered for these opportunities. Much of my social networking is dedicated to keeping myself out there and promoting myself and people/companies I work with.

Hopefully I'll get some time to shed tonight, but not likely since I'm home with everyone. Will most likely lounge with my kids in the living room until they pass out and then hang with my wife and have some laughs. She's the best

[wvgman]

I am absolutely loving this stuff! Loved the toys, love the stories of life in the Buono household, love it all! I remember when you were seeking that Lego Falcon!
Great insights into the real life world of a real life pro-guitarist!
BRAVO again!!

[sjtaylor147]

Chris, before all this I'm sure we all imagined you noodling away all day every day in an ivory tower of guitar based goodness but this actually sounds a little bit like my life!
Minus your ability to play kick*ss guitar of course
Thanks for the insight and keep it coming!

[ChrisBuono]

I remember when you were seeking that Lego Falcon!

Yeah man! I put out an all point bulletin for that set. I found it in ALASKA on a national craigslist search engine. Totally got lucky. Recently I've been hot on the UC Imperial Starship. It's almost 4,000 pieces. Totally killer! The boys are loving their first R/C car you saw a few days ago, but they're eyeing the Traxxas cars - faster and more durable. There goes another $400 on toys.

BAH! They're only snot-nosed boys once and they work their butts off for their allowance and school work. And, yes, I get off on all this stuff, too!

[ChrisBuono]

Chris, before all this I'm sure we all imagined you noodling away all day every day in an ivory tower of guitar based goodness but this actually sounds a little bit like my life!

Yup, I'm a husband and a Dad first and foremost. I met my wife when I was 17. At the same time, she truly gets where I'm coming from and there's plenty of weeks where I need to be in that ivory tower. I chose this week to give you a glimpse because I knew it was going to be more like the real stuff.

[ChrisBuono]

OK, Wed. (today) is another Skype marathon with a night shift to follow and a private student that starts it all off. Been up since 7:30 - woke up to my boys bouncing around with their cousin who slept over who will hopefully keep them busy while I do this:

9:00am - private lesson based on Melodic Minor 7-Tone. Killer stuff for us to play and I do it on fretless to shed that axe. Total challenge.
10:00 - California
11:00 - Japan
12:00 - Michigan
1:30 - Ireland

I've already...

-Went thru Sherpa messages and designed one Workout Schedule. More to do today though.
-Shot through random email BS
-Served and cleaned up after breakfast
-Helped clean up the sleep over. Want no trace of that when my student is here.
-Made sure the boys are dressed and doing something
-Followed up on promo for the guitar show this weekend including pointing out spelling errors on their site and Facebook page
-Coordinated driving with the singer tomorrow.
-Fed the dog and kissed the wife goodbye for the day. Love that lady.

Will need to Sherp some Workout Schedules today, watch more videos and maybe design a new, what we call, a Silverton Music Moment for a later post. The latter is totally optional and not necessary, but always good to stay ahead. Actually I already have an idea. At the same time, I'm trying to find time to drive that Challenger! But I'm not done teaching until 2:30 EST and I have the cousin pickup around then AND I've been instructed to load the oven with a turkey at 3:30. Wife gets home at 5:30 and we usually eat dinner. Oh yeah, I cook most of the meals during the week and I've gotten pretty good at it. Maybe after I start that turkey I can tear it up in the Challenger for a minute and see what's what. Maybe.

In regards to the above private lesson where I play with the fretless - that's an important example of compounding my time. Whatever opportunity I can muster to get two or three done at once I dive for it. Especially when it involves something where I'm learning something new. I need that to grow as an artist and also to keep my sanity. I need constant change in my existence as a musician and this is one way I can do that with the very limited time I have. Plus, I get paid to do it! That's one reason why I still write. Every book I've ever done had a huge learning experience for me involved. So, I got a fat advance to write a book I was learning to write. Dig?

That all said, I'll let you in on another secret. I'm an alien when it comes to sucking up knowledge. Always have been. I learn fast when I'm zoned in. I learn deep, too. Deep enough to write books for one of the most popular technical reference publishers in the US. This first popped up when I started learning music theory. I loved it and ate the knowledge like candy. Before long I was teaching my HS class while my teacher nursed his hangover from the previous night's gig. See? Learning while I work. And, the rest is history...

As for TrueFire courses: Many of those were/are brainstorm ideas between Brad Wendkos and I. I have limited time to get those together, especially back in the day when we did the first 10. It was friggin' insane and thankfully the alien skill was pretty sharp by then. Not that I was learning how to do what I was playing and teaching, but I needed to be in that zone to memorize the material so I can teach like you all know I do and pump out 3-4 months worth of work in 4 weeks. Learning Power Tab like at ninja level as well as how to design and produce a course was in there, too. Plus, I was and still am writing books, doing gigs here and there and other side projects all at the same time. That's my life gig and I love it.

Off to rock Melodic Minor 7-tone, Skype, lunch, Sherpa and hopefully throw down with a 6-speed Dodge Challenger R/T Plus! And, I need to find Karsh Kale - we back on the road this year or what?! AND, need to follow-up with Lehle. They got back to me on my MIDI idea that onvolves the Fractal. It can work with a 3@1 SGoS. Now I need the price and delivery to make this guitar show happen. Did that exchange at baseball practice while my youngest was on deck. I never miss an at-bat. If those parents only knew what was going on in that iPhone of mine such as going back and forth with Keith Carlock (drummer of Steely Dan) for an upcoming TrueFire course together ... oops, did I just let that out of the bag

More later...

[Jestme]

Yeah man! I put out an all point bulletin for that set. I found it in ALASKA on a national craigslist search engine. Totally got lucky. Recently I've been hot on the UC Imperial Starship. It's almost 4,000 pieces. Totally killer! The boys are loving their first R/C car you saw a few days ago, but they're eyeing the Traxxas cars - faster and more durable. There goes another $400 on toys.

BAH! They're only snot-nosed boys once and they work their butts off for their allowance and school work. And, yes, I get off on all this stuff, too!

I remember that, I gave you the 'lucky' link to globally search Craig's list. It was pretty expensive as I recall. Nice to see it built... glad no pieces were missing!

[Jestme]

Chris

Very interesting insights into your busy life. Thanks

You've made me curious though, Before you got to where you are, way back, when you were a guitar slinger wannabe... what did you work on then? What things helped you to become an alien guitar monster? How did you develop the chops?

Maybe a better question is, if you were a wannabe today, what would you be working on to elevate your playing? Mostly scales, or jamming, or theory, or writing, Listening... all of the above...?

Thanks again!

[ChrisBuono]

In a few minutes I will start the Wed. Night Shift, which consists of:

7:30 - Massachusetts
9:30 - NYC

Both students are doing Skype 7-Tone with the first being a Melodic Minor 7-Tons guy. MM 7-Tone has never been completed and I think these two guys (my in-person guy in the morning and this Skype student) can pull it off.

In-between I'll hit Sherpa and close up business for the day, run through random emails, pay some bills and other loose ends.

As the day went on today I drove that Challenger (incredible!!), but passed on buying it; went back and forth with Lehle in Germany and their distributor in LA (Dana B. Goods) and nailed down a unit, a price and got it out here for the gig on Sunday. Now I can switch between the dual guitar inputs I was telling you about giving me the back up I need. I'll use this rig this year with Rodney Holmes and Karsh Kale. In regards to the latter, we texted back and forth but have yet to actually talk.

As for Rodney: I should have a day long session come up at the end of the month where I go out to his place in Northampton, PA and put in an 8-10 day on rehearsing for this summer's gigs and writing/shedding/tweaking sounds for the new record I will play on. It's a 2.5 hour drive, but it's an easy one and he lives out in farmland so it's quiet. Great place to take the R/C car next time to have some laughs when we break.

After the Skype lessons it's final prep time for the rehearsal tomorrow in Brookyln with the band. Can't wait! Haven't played with these guys in too long and Eryn (singer) is so killin'! I gotta shed the tunes, get the charts ready, decide on a rig. If I go Axe-Fx I have to program some sounds. If I go pedals I got configure the board. Fun stuff. So, total guitar tonight!

I'll be on the road 8:30AM sharp to meet Eryn on the road to make the 10:30 or so meet time in Brooklyn. Rehearsal is 11-2 where we'll play straight through with a short break. I'm a task master and we gotta get it all done as this is our only time to meet. It will - these always always come in well prepared and kill it!

More later...

[ChrisBuono]

Before you got to where you are, way back, when you were a guitar slinger wannabe... what did you work on then? What things helped you to become an alien guitar monster? How did you develop the chops?

Maybe a better question is, if you were a wannabe today, what would you be working on to elevate your playing? Mostly scales, or jamming, or theory, or writing, Listening... all of the above...?

Well, first, let's clarify the "alien" part. Remember I was referring to my sponge-like ability to learn and apply quickly. By no means do I consider myself an extra terrestrial guitarists with otherwordly abilities. Clear?

When I first started playing I was hooked and always played. I just took on whatever came at me: Tunes my older brother was feeding me (Yes, VH, Santana, Aerosmith, Deep Purple), licks from the [then] emerging Shrapnel guys (Gilbert, Becker/Freidman, Howe, Moore, etc.) as well as Vai/Satch/Yngwie, all the stuff my teachers were giving me in lessons, anything theory, etc. All of it. I got into playing in bands fairly early so I had cover tunes as well as originals to work with. I even started recording early with my own 4-track my other brother had laying around. And, of course, there was the pedal factor. I've had effects in front of me early on, too. LOVED IT (can't you tell?)

For chops it was copping VH, Satch and Vai as a kid. Just hacking at those solos and getting them note for note. I transcribed most of it myself, but I would go for an accurate transcription anyday. If I had to do it again I would have learned to read earlier, worked more on jazz and played with a metronome more religiously. I would also have stepped out in bands more. I was a bit timid and could have been more aggressive like I am now. I also would have fought more to go to a college like Berklee or G.I.T. I went to a great music college but I should have been in somewhere more to what I wanted to do. But, hey ... things tunred out OK for the most part.

One very cool thing I'm so psyched to experience is a lot of the sources I was intently diggin into back then I've had the honor and pleasure to interact and even work with. I've worked alongside just about every major transcriber I worshiped as a kid including Andy Aledort and Jesse Gress when I was with Guitar One and GP. I taught alongside so many of my early idols at Berklee including Mick Goodrick. Some of my heros are now close friends such as Dave Fiuczynski, Ron Thal and Vernon Reid. I've hung with Holdsworth, Paul Gilbert and Mike Varney and others and I'm getting ready for a possible summer's worth of gigs with my first guitar teacher, Frankie Cicala. A lot of those days has come full circle and I love it. I always tell those guys how much I owe them for all the inspiration. Andy Aledort's reaction to my praise was so genuine and humble: He turned to the bartender and bought me Heiny. I was on cloud nine.

[murrayatuptown]

"By no means do I consider myself an extra terrestrial guitarists with otherwordly abilities. Clear?" 'Saeth the Buonoman'.

OK, Chris, we'll grant you some humility, but I, and surely some others, would disagree.

Cover your ears for a moment, Chris. Eyes, whatevah.

(The guy is freakin' brilliant. Not just his playing. His teaching. A musical intellectual of the highest caliber. You know, like the kind of people Brad W. pulls into the Truefire nucleus. Even if you have a good excuse to not check out Chris' courses yet, make a serious mental note to keep him in mind. If not now, at your nearest opportunity).

Dang, I oughta put that in a Writers' Rock post too!

[ChrisBuono]

OK, I'm going in the shed hard guys and will be on the road tomorrow for the rehearsal. Will try to get some pics and maybe video to post here. The plan is as follows:

-Load the Amazong Slow Downer with the nine tunes
-Set the pitch up a half step
-Loop them a few times
-Let it fly
-Take notes on last minute fixes
-Chart simple arrangements for the rhythm section
-Decide on the rig
-Load the iPhone with the addresds to the joint
-Get cash out of the ATM tonight to pay Shape****fer Lab (cash pnly place at this point)
-Get the gear at the doorstep so I can load easily

While I'm doing this I'm reviewing some Sherpa Newb videos from my upcoming Sherpa teachers. Jeff Scheetz and I are the guys out there recruiting and producing the new guys coming in now. It's a very cool project and I'm trying to hustle some great cats. One of my very best past students is putting together a very cool fundamental class and another old college friend from my WilllyP days is doing some nice with varied styles. I have two girls on deck that will do some great work including a bass player who's designing a class in four different languages! Amazing!!

Until tomorrow...

[Jestme]

Chris

Great posts. Thanks for sharing the background... Sounds like you got off to a great start as a kid. Did you brothers stick with playing? Ever get together and jam with them?

How long were you teaching at Berklee? Did you know Jon Finn and Guy Van Duser? Great players!

Thanks again

[PosterBoy]

Wow I'm such a slacker

Chris has really made me think about how I use my free time. This prompted a conversation with my wife and she is thinking the same way.

Over winter we tend to hibernate and live life by default rather than by design and nothing really gets achieved. When I look at everything I want to do, I wonder why I even switch the tv on, but it tends to be the first thing that happens when we get home from work.

We're going to timetable our free time, so I get time to work on guitar and music, continued learning Portuguese, she can continue learning English, driving, we can both get back into the gym etc

[Cameron_Mc]

For playing I'll load the nine tunes in the Amazing Slow Downer (ASD), set the pitch up a 1/2 step, set to loop and play the tunes 2-3 times each with no charts. The week of an event I better have the charts off the table and memorized or I consider myself behind and in trouble. I'll chop the files up in section to jam out ideas I know I'll want to stretch on and just play. Fun stuff!

Hey Chris

Have you heard of song surgeon. I used to use ASD but found song surgeon was a little better in it s replay especially at slow speed. Plus chopping up songs and manipulating pitch then exporting all to an mp3 or wav is easy.

Cameron

[sjtaylor147]

Yesterday I spent an hour and a half of focused time on Dorian Dominance, trying to burn the interaction of the scale degrees into the old noggin and playing along with the Jam Traks. I also managed 15 mins of noodling with 50 Country licks, some easy and some I'm going to have to work pretty hard to get. I'm spending some time during lunch at work today drawing out a practice schedule for the next month or so.

[ChrisBuono]

Yooooooooooo,

Just got back in from NYC where I rehearsed the Jimi Fretless Experience for the first and only time before the gig on Sunday. Was out the door by 8:30AM (or so) and met the singer, Eryn Shewell, on the GSP in NJ. We shot into Brooklyn via the Verrazano and caught 3rd Ave all the way down to 1st St. where Matt Garrison's ShapeShifter Lab is located. What a great place to do anything. So great I told Matt I'll never go into Manhattan again to rehearse without calling him first. I have a CD project that includes Karsh Kale and Tony Grey that I'll bring there as well as the TrueFire course(s) I'm doing with Tony and Keith Carlock. It's all going there to work themselves out.

So after Steve Jenkins and Tobias Ralph got in and settled we got right to work and basically played the entire three hours. It never ceases to amaze me when you put four musicians in a room who never played with each other and have them sound that good. I take it for granted as that's how it's supposed to go at this point, but man, I had to step back today and just listen to Eryn dig in on Red House as the rhythm section roared under her. We went through eight of the nine tunes cutting Wait Until Tomorrow - too goofy! Playing fretless was a LOT of fun and I'm hooked big time. Big challenge though - holy ****! So, here's we arranged the tunes:

=-=-=-=-=

May This Be Love - We dumped the intro. We play the first two verses over an open vibe where Tobias plays brushes and Steve plays a lot of counter lines under my Frisell-like glisses on the fretless. Then, I take a solo where I play Jimi's melodies. That rolls right into the 3rd verse and then the bridge. The bridge is bumped to a pumping R&B feel where I dirt it up a bit. From there we roll into a final verse and then I solo out to a fade of sorts.

Fire - We rock this basically as is except the final solo is stretched out and on Q we go back to the intro octave riff with Tobias playing half-time under it. The tunes ends tight on the verse riff played once.

Little Wing - I bring the intro in clean (no small task on a fretless) and then we lay into to vibey verses. I play a solo afterwards much like Hendrix. The next two verses Eryn sings like Sting and I play with a little more dirt on the chords. That rolls into a solo and then we end it like Claption ala Derek and the Dominoes.

Voodoo Chile - We rip this one up good with Eryn vocal phrasing more like SRV then Hendrix. It basically as is with me playing the intro lick, verse/chorus, solo, verse/chorus, solo and then I Q the chorus riffs. We double the C7 and D7. We end with the main riff played twice.

Red House - Eryn tears this one up good. After the intro licks we lay into the 12 bar two times around with Eryn and I trading, I rock a solo that I Q out. We play through two more choruses with a stop on the second one that rolls into a standard walk-up ending.

Crosstown Traffic - This needed some TLC. We play the tunes as is until we get to the part where the G7 is stretched for four bars. From there I solo over the verse changes into open-ended chorus change. I Q one more round of verses changes with the descending cycle 5's and then we roll into the chorus with Eryn singing. Finally, we play out into with four shortened choruses that Eryn sings over and we out. It's all about Q'ing on this one.

Little Miss Lover - I love this tune. This was the first Jimi tune I dug. After Toby brings it in we ROCK the two verses/chorus sections. After the second chorus we lay the man riff down twice and then get into the 4-bar segue riff to the solo in Am. I solo over Am to F#m and then Q to the riff that's played to get out of the verses. That gets us back to the verse/chorus sequence and we ride that RIGHT into the 4-bar segue riff and out tight.

Wind Cries Mary - Straight up from start to finish. Love this tunes, but man is it HARD to play all those chords. Worth it though.

=-=-=-=-=

Now that I'm home it's time to do some stuff around the house before my wife and kids get home from their own adventure in NYC. They hit Central Park and other Times Square spots for a fun day while I had my time with the crew. Will get down with programming the Axe-Fx now that I know what i want to sound like. I'll get video of this for sure and stills as well. Can't wait!

I'll hit some Sherpa, listen to the final mix of a tune from Steve's upcoming CD I played on with Adam Deitch and John Shannon, review the new logo for Rodney Holmes' Lithium Tree, which I'm a member of as well as some other biz including a shout to Matt and his new place on Twitter and Facebook. Tomorrow I gotta program and get some chapters to the publisher for the next Line 6 book as well as clean my mud room. It's real bad.

[ChrisBuono]

How long were you teaching at Berklee? Did you know Jon Finn and Guy Van Duser? Great players!

5 years - 2003-2008. I did a short stint for Fuze as a sub in the spring 2003 semester, which was really unorthodox. But, they let it go. At the time Fuze was new and they let it slide and honored his commitment to me. The summer after that I got a call from Berklee to do Guitar Sessions. That's a summer program they do much like NGW except WAY better. I had a meeting with the chairs that week to network a job there as I was HOOKED. The head chair of the guitar department assured me there was no room on the roster. The assistant chair though said I had very high recommendations from Fuze and Wayne Krantz to get the gig. So, I went home hoping something would open up the following year...

I got the call a few weeks later to start the fall semester as an Instructor with one full day of students and a lab! It was surreal to say the least. And, it couldn't have come at a better time. My wife and first son were living with my father-in-law here in Toms River to save for our first house. We shoved a bunch of stuff in storage and took the essentials in ONE bedroom. Our son John was across the hall getting into a bed for the first time. It was tight, but a moment in time I fondly look back on for the most part. And, yes, I drove form NJ to MA once a week for almost three years.

In the spring of 2005 (my 4th semester) I applied for an early rank advancement to Assistant Professor. When I came back that fall I got it! I was promoted fours years early and was in a good place. We made the move to MA in spring 2006. My wife wanted back in on the work force and scored a job at UMass Amherst. We moved to Belchertown, MA in the Pioneer Valley and went for it.

In those five years I worked with many guitar education luminaries on various projects such Joe Stump on a Metal Lab and Randy Roos on testing the then new Line 6 gear coming in. I was given the honor of managing the Effects Lab and was given the task of redesigning it. I adjudicated many 'a proficiency exam with guys like Jon Finn, Garrison Fewell, Brett Wilmott, John Baboian, Jack Pezanelli. Berklee had a program where you can spend a semester with Mick Goodrick as your mentor - I was all over that. It was also a great time to reconnect with guys like David Gilmore, Dave Tronzo, Fuze, Sheryl Bailey and make new bonds with Jon Damian, Don Lappin, Scott Tarulli, Thaddeus Hogarth, Jim Kelly and so many other great players. It was awesome. I didn't get to know everybody as guys taught on days you didn't, but I made sure I connected with whom ever I could. Such great people.

By the fall of 2007 I was getting burned out. Never thought I would, but living in MA had taken it's toll on me. I'm a shore guy and I love NYC - both were out of my life and I couldn't take it. I wasn't gigging, interacting with the type of music that fueled my existence and I severely missed shore life and the water. That and teaching the same classes over and over again just did me in. I resigned in the summer of 2008 after securing a deal with a great bunch of folks in St. Pete's that changed my life...

[ChrisBuono]

Have you heard of song surgeon

Huh! I'll have to try it out!! Put a link up here. It'll be tough to pull me from ASD as I lnow it very well, but you're right, the slow down algorithms are not so great. I used Transcribe! for a second but didn't like it all.

Thanks!

[ChrisBuono]

Gotta scattered day today. Already did a Skype lesson at 9AM with a Massachusetts student and all the other things that go with kids home for spring break. BTW, the summer has them busy with camp, classes, the beach with cousins and all that. We try to take a family vacation each summer if we can swing it, but at the very least we do weekend trips a lot. They have a great time and I get to work! This week is very unique and tough, but hey.

Got a lot of Sherping to do as I was out of the loop yesterday with the rehearsal. Need to catch up on video submissions, messages, new assignments while programming the Axe-Fx, dealing with the Lehle MIDI idea and shedding the tunes. Got some more shed time in last night waiting for the family to get back from their NYC trip. Was good to solidify the new arrangements. That's key! You should all come back from a private lesson and get right to work to solidify what you just learned and map out what it is you need to do for the next lesson. Wish I did that more back when I was studying with Vic, Fuze and Krantz. You get so much more out of the lesson and the teacher as they're PSYCHED to see you come back prepared and ready for more.

So I sell on eBay. Been doing that for a long time now and I'm a top rated seller. That's part of how I keep the gear funding away from my household budgets and savings. Sold my last Parker guitar [finally]. Gotta take it to get set up as I made that part of the deal. It's in a different tuning I used on tour with Karsh Kale all last year. I've since severed my ties with Parker and moved on and I don't really like the axes I had/have. So, they go. The Unks you guys see me play in TrueFire courses are going, too. Already sold the Floyd one and the fixed bridge is next. Just not inspired by those guitars anymore and I need to move on to the next phase. Maybe more with Vigier, may have Rick Toone build me something, may have David Myka build me something - not sure yet.

Off to work! More later...

[ChrisBuono]

Since 2009 I've been doing fly dates with Karsh Kale. At times it's been the most rewarding gig I've ever done. I completely love the music, I highly admire Karsh and the people he works with are outstanding and always keep me on my toes. It's what prompted me to go with Fractal as touring with my pedals became impossible. I've been blessed to have played with some incredible musicians from around the world. From beat-box masters to Sitar masters - it's been a great ride. We've played theaters such Royce Hall to outdoor concert venues like the Hollywood Bowl (18k people!), sold out festivals across the US. Like I said, a GREAT RIDE.

KK has been in India for the last few months with his Indian lineup. It's just cheaper for him to do it that way. Sucks, but that's the biz. But, he's back and the summer is coming. Already hearing of dates in CA and CO as well as redesigning our plans for a trio record.

This gig has tested my patience and taught me to hold back on my usual freight train way of handling things and it's paid off. Tony Grey, the touring bass player, helped me get to this sorta Zen-Buono place. We'll see how long I can hold on

[ChrisBuono]

Just got my first South American Sherpa student! Finally! Now all I need is someone from Asia, Africa and Antarctica and Guitar Gym will be completely global in terms of continents!

[ChrisBuono]

The weekend is here. I DO NOT teach on the weekend outside of doing clinics here and there. Actually I have one coming up. Check it out!



Today will be lots to do with my family as we're redoing a lot of the house. Off to IKEA to look at our options there. Nice to live near one of the warehouses. When I get a sec I'll program some sounds, shed some more Hendrix on fretless and set up my backup plan in case I can't the time I need with the Axe-Fx. ALWAYS have a backup plan!

[gadlaw]

Sorry I haven't been online as much and have missed these brilliant posts by Chris Buono - hey Chris! A fascinating look at the life of a musician and one of the hardest working dudes associated with TrueFire. And of course I haven't missed them because here they are.

I had not heard of Karsh Kale before and so I've gone to YouTube and searched for this fellow, - Indian from India music with other things in there, new age world music stuff. Pretty cool, the kind of stuff I like to listen to which many of the people I know wouldn't be able to dig. Not what I would have expected from Chris Buono though. Which just goes to show how little I know.

You know Chris the thing I wonder about is how you can keep all the different styles of music in your head and then practice and teach and play and all of that as well as keeping track of all the technical aspects of music not only for yourself but to be able to write books about those things and then on top of all that running to do clinics. Seriously, that's a maddening amount of work it seems to me and it also seems that you have to be have every minute of your life organized. What keeps you going?

[rjbasque]

First off..
Chris I'd like to thank you for sharing a glimpse into the life of a real live working musician. Most of us here on the forum have music as a hobby (or some might say obsession), so to see how someone who makes a living at music goes about "life" is a real treat. So good luck at the "fretless" gig this weekend.

One quick question. You said the Unk guitar is going. Is that the forked headstock, splated guitar that has been your "signature"?

Anyway back to "Guitar Diary". Any of you that have been following this from the beginning will notice a lapse in my postings the past month. Just all kinds of "life" stealing practice time, haven't been able to string 2 consecutive days of practice together. But thanks to Chris' posts I see the only excuse is really just me. So tonight I decided to mix things up a bit and had a very enjoyable session on acoustic. I reviewed the basic E and A patterns from Fretboard Epiphanies, and worked on getting the beginnings of the Creative Applications under my fingers as well.

I finished up with some structured noodling. Thanks to the warmup exercise I lifted from Chris' Guitar Gym, of linking the pentatonic patterns. I worked on pulling double stop melodies out of Dmaj pentatonic on the 3 high strings against a mostly droning open D string. Working from the nut all the way up to the 12th fret.

[ChrisBuono]

Today is the guitar show and my headlining gig with my fretless Hendrix thing. Am I ready? Pretty much, but I could always use more time. As you can see this week was not in my favor, but that's how it rolls. I do the best I can with the time I have and I rely on having a strong foundation in what I do as well as balls the size of coconuts that allow me to just go for it no matter what. Throw that all in the pot and it all works out somehow. Do I ever fall on my face or take on too much? Sure. But, I'd rather get a little dirt on my face than allow a situation to arise where I start to get disconnected from being a producer. That's part of what happened in MA and part of why I left the greatest gig in guitar teaching history.

It's 7:30am and I'm not up prepping for the gig; I'm up to take my youngest son, Wil, to baseball! He loves the game and I love watching him play. We all do. I'm a little fried from a late night out with my wife where we hit a birthday party in town and then shot down south to see a friend's band that's going to let me rock some fretless with them this summer. They were pretty damn good!

When I get back I'll have enough to time ****, shower & shave; pack the car and go rock.

More later and I'll hit your questions, too

[ChrisBuono]

The gig was KILLIN'~

More later... and, yes, I got video of it.

[Jestme]

Chris

Thanks for the insights. Interesting tale re Berklee... Looking forward to seeing the video of the gig...

[ChrisBuono]

You know Chris the thing I wonder about is how you can keep all the different styles of music in your head and then practice and teach and play and all of that as well as keeping track of all the technical aspects of music not only for yourself but to be able to write books about those things and then on top of all that running to do clinics. Seriously, that's a maddening amount of work it seems to me and it also seems that you have to be have every minute of your life organized. What keeps you going?

Gad!

In short: I really love what i do. Sure, there are days where being a full-time musician and family man is near impossible to do right by everyone. But, more often than not, it's incredible. I've seen various parts of the world, regularly work with incredible players and incredible artists, can hold in my hand over 30 real pieces of media that my grandkids and beyond can look upon with pride and so much more. That's what keeps me going.

Someday I'll shut it all down and just build Lego's with my grandkids, but I feel I just got my groove on.

Look out.

[ChrisBuono]

You said the Unk guitar is going. Is that the forked headstock, splated guitar that has been your "signature"?

Yes. That's the one. Time to move. I just shot three courses for TrueFire and that guitar was not used and never will be again. I used Brad's very sweet 339 for two of them and a Line JTV 89 for the third. You'll see...

Just sold the last Parker and the last Unk is next.

[ChrisBuono]

Sooooooooo,

Just laid the boys down after a movie while my wife is out with her sister for a birthday hang. Mrs. B. is the oldest of her siblings and plays the role well. Her family is very tight knit and does a lot with each other. Speaking of, my oldest brother Louis came out to see his little brother play some Hendrix. I always love seeing him out there as he was not only the guy who started it all, but he's my ultimate idol in life.

The gig...

Damn, that was fun. Tobias, Steve and Eryn just KILLED it. They were all amazing. I can't wait to see the footage. Here's how the day went...

After baseball we got back to the house and I had to initiate plan C. Plan B was my trusty '64-mut Deluxe and some choice pedals, but while my kid's b-ball team was doing their pre-game BS I went to my studio and put together a rig that consisted of:

-Line 6 DT-25 head/1X12
-Line 6 DL4
-Boss DD-7
-Z.Vex Fuzz Factory (early 90's)
-TS-808 (the real thing, boys)
-Ernie Ball VP, Jr.

I sent the delays with volume pedal in front thru the effects and sent the FF and 808 to the front end. I used the A & B channels for clean and dirty. The clean was the II voice that features a Vox AC-30 "voicing" and the B channel was I believe a Dual Rec. voicing. It sounded AMAZING.

When a rig comes to me from nowhere I always go with my instincts. They've never failed me and today I prolonged the streak. I cut thru like a mother****er and had the beef I needed.

I ran into Andy Fuchs and the Fuchs AR rep. For those of you who don't know I was a Fuchs endorser up until I jumped on FAS. It was a clean break and we're totally cool. Andy actually came to see me play, which was a great honor. Just wonder what he was thinking when he saw my DT-25 ;) Ah, he knows I'm a nutcase and I always have something up my sleeve. Honestly, the rig was perfect but I missed the Axe-Fx. But, at the same time, I needed to get some live time with the DT for the upcoming book.

We played 7 of the 8 tunes - I wasn't feelin' Crosstown Traffic all day so I dumped it from the set before we went on. Actually, I warned the band I would make the call when the time came. They rolled with it. As for the rest of the tunes, while not everything went as planned - I forgot the Clapton ending on Little Wing, for instance - we rocked hard and the endings were tight. They were no train wrecks, every Q was executed smoothly - the works. That's what I expect from Adrian Belew's drummer and Vernon Reid's bass player, not to mention my area's hottest blues singer.

Every seat was filled and then some - not that there were that many. Most important attendees were my wife and kids. I always love having them come. The boys love Steve and Tobias as they've known them they're entire lives. They also love all the faces they say I make - HA! Good stuff. The rest of the crowd was very kid and flipped over the fretless. Lots of questions after the gig and thankfully the Vigier AR guy came down from Long Island to support and film. He fielded the technical questions, while answered the other stuff. I sold some TrueFire courses, gave out the flyer I showed you yesterday and made some new connections with local bands that may call me to play some fretless on gigs. Need as much time as I can get on stage.

Once the last man standing left I packed up, got my family together and walked off into the sunset. And, that's what I'm doing now...

=========

Time to close shop on this one. Guys, THANK YOU. Been cool to be on the forum again, but don't get used to it ;) I'm going back into hibernation to:

-finish the second Line 6 book
-write the Hal Leonard book on reading
-final work on the three new TF courses
-start the next batch for TF
-move along the trio of TF courses with Tony Grey and Keith Carlock
-keep doing pre-pro and gigs with Rodney
-finally finish my CD with Tobias and Steve
-massive programming on the Axe-Fx
-beta test some new Source Audio products
-SHED
-finish the Articles page on my website
-get the Gear page done
-take some guitars in for long over due setups
-start Harmonic Minor 7-Tone
-deal with the yet-to-be known opportunities that will present themselves

I'll let you know when you can see some video from the gig. Until then...

GET BACK TO WORK!

[emeryr]

Chris,
Thanks for Hosting and sharing with us. Glad the show went well. Can't wait to see the new Truefire courses. Don't know how you get it all done, but most of all I am impressed that family is so important in your life.

[wvgman]

Chris,
WOW! A totally awesome week ( actually about three weeks crammed into one for most of us ) of activity and insights. I was away for a few days celebrating our 35th wedding anninversary so I am catching up here today. Awesome!!!!! We really do appreciate you sharing your time, your talents, and you life with us. These things not only teach us, they motivate, encourage, and inspire us as well! Hats off to you for all you do!!!
Hard to find the words, but THANKS, BRO!!!!

[gadlaw]

I can't help but be impressed by Chris and his drive and determination to be the best musician, teacher, husband and father he can possibly be. Chris Buono has given us a week long look into what it means to be Chris Buono who is only the Hardest Working Guitar Instructor in the Business! Thanks very much for a glimpse behind the curtain into your busy life sir. It's one thing to see you in your courses or in your course blogs here on the forum and it's another thing to see and hear what's going on behind the scenes and importantly - what it takes to do the things you do. Thanks to Wvgman for this thread, this idea and how it's grown into something more than perhaps he thought it was going to be. Your Guitar Diary for 2012 includes you and me and Chris Buono as well as Robbie Calvo and it doesn't get any bigger than that. It's really pretty cool how everything comes together through TrueFire to bring us closer to what we all have in common - the music and the learning and the real personal interaction with all these great musicians, instructors and fellow guitar/music friends. So does that make us the "Fellowship of the Strings?"

Thanks again Chris! Thanks again Wvgman!

[PosterBoy]

Thanks for hosting the diary Chris

I'm worn out just reading your entries.

[Monkfish]

Hi music lovers,
Here I am for the first of my scheduled hostages of the Guitar Diary for 2012 thread, and I already feel like im in trouble,

Mr Chris Buono, take a bow, that was an awesome insight into the everyday life of a real working musician. Thankyou.

First off I have been missing from the forum since mid february when I went on holiday. I make no apology for that as I have been rather busy trying to sort my finances out because on the return from said break I was met with the news that my main source of income had called in the liquidators and left me high and dry, hey ho!!!

I think maybe I should do a quick recap of my musical year thus far,

16 gigs with the classic rock covers band since mid January.

4 gigs with the Bill Bailey Jazz band. A dixie style band where I guest for a few numbers as my repetoir is not huge at the moment.

Around 140 guitar lessons, this is my main source of income at the moment, its not that great but fortunately we own our property outright so we are getting by ok.

Courses I have done/started this year.
FV's Modern method. I stopped this after a couple of months because one day I realised one day that I had stopped being musical and that i was just drilling. However what i had done with it has made me more fluent and it is still part of my long term plan.

Howard Morgens Fingerboard Breakthrough. I love this course and Howard teaches wonderfully here. He is greatly missed, RIP. Ive compleated the first 9 lessons and am currently letting it rest, to sink in so to speak.

I've done the Blues in Bb from Mimi Foxes Jazz Anatomy. A really useful key to play in as Bb is to the horn players what A is to us guitarists. Very usefull for the jazz band.

Caged Cracked.....a superb course. Its done and Im just letting it come to me naturally before I start looking at the other caged courses

5 of the 50 Jazz licks
10 of the 50 progrssive blues licks, really loving this one

40 day swat camp. I did them in a day but I can only remember one of em

Ive dipped a toe or two into many others. Jumping about like this really works for me as it stops me from getting bored with one style and its really expanding my musical vocabulary.

On to today.
Just like Mr Buono I have made music a large part of my life but he, unlike me, is rather more succesfull at it

I got up late again this morning...11am after yet another night of insomnia.

The 2nd job of the day was to remove the back of my 4x12 and stuff it with foam in an attempt to deaden some of the mids and highs that are makeing it sound fizzy. It has tamed some of them and it does sound a little better but the cab, a modern basket weave with vintage 30's in is a turd that will not be polished.

The 1st job was to make a brew of tea, i cant do owt without a brew first thing.

My first lesson arrived at 1.30. A new player of 3 months and in her late 40's. She's great, getting in a couple of hours every day. she is getting a good handle on the open string chords, use of a plectrum and fingers and always turns up with her guitar in tune. Today we looked at squeeze box by the who. A feel good 3 chorder and a great tune for the covers band to do.

Next up at 3pm was a young man who is one of my longest standing students and it now at music college. We started studying Fives by Guthrie Govan (one of my faves). We got 40 bars into the piece then the tapping started. Im not a tapper, I dont particularly like tapping. I consider it as stunt guitar and I really dont have an interest in such things but I really need to get better at it for the sake of my students who are interested. Can anyone point in the direction of a course that deals with tapping as I hav'nt found much yet?
Having said that, guthrie is one of the more tasteful tappers out there.

Another lesson and we were mainly studyin 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 note rhythms with some guitar setup ideas thrown in for good measure. We also looked at Babylon's Burning by the Ruts... Top tune, I'd love to cover that one but the rest of the band are boring

The last lesson on a Monday is always a struggle for me. A young lad who spends about as much time with his guitar in a week as it takes for a kettle to boil, and as such he barely treads water let alone makes any progress. His father is regularly informed of his lack of progress as he pays the fees, what more can i do? Its frustrating as i can see potential in him to be a decent player if he put the time in.
Tonight was a little different. I could tell that he had put a little effort into a lick I gave him a month ago so I got a backing track up on youtube and asked him to play the lick and mix it up over the track. while he was doing this I came up with a few simple licks and wrote them down and then proceded to play them and the one he was doing to for a solo. He 'got the licks in a short time and was soon mixing them up and he seemed suitably pleased with the result. Maybe we have turned a corner, maybe!

Well thats that for today, 3 lessons tomorrow if they all show up

C'ya tomorrow
andy

[wvgman]

Monkfish, you are off to a great start! Sorry to hear of the job troubles, but I pray things will all work out well. Glad you have some good things like the band gigs and the lessons to help you out in this leaner time. A load of great courses you have gleaned from this year. Thanks for being our guest host this week. Keep on plugging along, my friend. Looking forward to more of your posts.

[gadlaw]

An interesting start there Monkfish. The prospective from the point of view of the instructor with regards to a student is very important for us as potential students. I was glad to read that regardless of how tired you were you still found the burst of energy to get that young fella more of what was interesting him with the licks there. Trying to find that opening for someone to feel like they are getting something out of it while giving them encouragement to try harder. That can't be easy.

Great insights Monkfish. Thanks much for taking the time!

[rjbasque]

One last thank you to Chris, and a hello to Mr. Fish, off to a great start here. As a self proclaimed perpetual hacker, (not a closet player anymore) I do enjoy reading how (semi)professional musicians approach everyday life.

Meaning no disrespect to you at all, but you outlined your obligations for today as an instructor. Did you practice anything new for yourself?

Well for me, tonight was actually a 3rd consecutive night of guitar practice in weeks. I'm keeping with the acoustic theme for the moment (I really do love this guitar) and the past 2 nights, while only shorted 30 min sessions, have been exclusively Fretboard Epiphanies. Mostly drilling the Creative Applications section, trying to get fingerpicking and fretting fingers coordinated. I've also been working hard to keep noodling to a minimum as well. I haven't forgotten about the Swamp Funk from Blues Alchemy, I think I'm gonna try it on acoustic for a while.

I need to keep reminding myself of the analogy made at a time management class. If you want to fill a bucket with rocks, gravel and sand, you need to put the big rocks in first. I need to make music a big rock again.

[ChrisBuono]

Hey guys!!!

As promised, click HERE for the goods.

Hope you dig! And, please, spread the word. A new fretless sheriff is trying to come to town A comment or just a Like would go a long way!

Next up: A Punch-In blog on how the hell to to do this fretless thing. Keep an eye out!

[Monkfish]

Thanks for the comments chaps, i'm glad its of some interest.

WV, its a pleasure to host for a week and thankyou for sorting us out with some uber guest hosts for this thread. The job will come good again at some point but in the mean time there will be no luxuries in our home for a while which includes no motocycling ... that hurts!!!

Gadlaw, very rarely do i come across a student who cannot 'do it' however hard they try, progress will be made if they put the effort in. I have noticed that some new players take to it very well for the first month or so and then plateau for a very long time whilst others progress in a more linear way with much shorter plateaus. As for myself, I have to play every day. A week off say for a vacation and I feel like I have gone backwards. I only have the one student that doesnt practice and I have asked him if he enjoys playing and is he coming for lessons because he is being made to do so. He ejoys playing and is'nt being forced into it so all i can do is be an enthusiastic music lover and teacher and try and find a way to pass this on to the student in a way that will make them want to play.
kids are very busy these days with parents wanting to fill all there time with organized activities and often the guitar gets put on the bottom of the list.

RJ, No disrespect taken. yesterday apart from noodleing away to myself for an hour or so to check out the sounds of my modified 4x12 I didnt do any playing for myself, it was all teaching.

Today didnt go as expected but it was lovely all the same.
My 2yo grandaughter showed up early this morning and stayed until 9.30pm so I had a great time chasing her around the place but I did manage to sneak away every so often for some guitar recouperation time.

I set my Pedal board up as hav'nt used it a while. At the moment, whether it be a home or at gigs, I am relly enjoying just plugging straight into the amp with no fx although I do miss my delay at the gigs


I then started setting up my strat for giging. We tune a semi tone down to give a heavier sound and to help the vocal range. still some tweaking to do but its getting there


I started Messin with Delays, one through the fx loop and one through the front end, withsome interesting results. Got some cool 1/4 note triplet bouncing going on


I spent a while blasting out some maj7, Dom7, minor7, minor9 Arps and linking scales, the 7 modes, in a few different keys. i wasnt practicng each individually, but shredding with the focus on all of the above


i came up with a cool progresion usung some Finger board Breakthrough Ideas and I looked at the first lesson from the caged dominant course, although it didnt really grab my attention as I felt that I am already there with a C shape C7 chord


should have had 3 lessons today but only one of them showd up.
We jammed through the material we covered last week and then attempted to work through a tune called Worry by the Little Comets. Dont know if I wasnt in the zone today but I struggled with that one. What sounded like a doable tune ended up being an exercise in extreamly hard listening. I managed to send the student home with an approxemation of the main riff and an outline of the chord structure.

This evening I had another look at the tapping section in Guthries tune Fives and then the insanely long and fast run that follows it.. Im still non the wiser. I then practiced the tune from the start to the tapping section working on the pace of the piece.

To finish the day I had a go quickly at the first 5 licks from the 50 blues rock licks. I couldnt memorize them in that time but I got some memorable move from them that Im sure will pop out in my playing when I least expect it.

Thats all for now.. untill the morrow zzzzzz

[sjtaylor147]

This will be brief and to the point, as the browser on my phone is not great for writing on this forum. Chris, thanks for the video links. The gig looked and sounded great! Monkfish, great first posts, I'm looking forward to more.
Me, I've dived into a couple of 50 licks courses including Robbies R&B one which is great. More structured playing will have to wait for a few days with other things going on.

[wvgman]

Hey, at least all those 7s seem to like they should be lucky!
Just kidding of course, but what a cool approach to look at the 7s in that way.

[rjbasque]

Last night should almost not be considered practice. About 15 mins, a couple of scale exercises, and some noodling. Just kinda tired and not feeling it. But tonight was much better. About an hour. Continued with the acoustic, and jammed with some mp3s. Then did a quick bit with the scale exercises. And dug into Fret Epiph again. Went back to the beginning and worked through all the E & A finger picking exercises. Repeating each a couple of times. Need to spend a bit more time on the A string ones. Then attacked the first Creative Idea section. Worked on each phrase individually, trying to get the timing and dynamics even. And then worked on adding the appropriate accents.

Tomorrow is probably going to be a no practice night like Fridays. I'm covering someone at the second job, so 2 days of full 7-4 followed by 5-10. Usually too fried to concentrate on playing.

[Monkfish]

WV lucky 7 I guess. I never even saw that.

My practice lately has been more of a rip em up than a drilling of disciplines. I find that if I get hold of an idea then I want to use it in a musical manner right away. For me, I cant see the point in drilling somethig that when I come to use it on stage just sounds like an exercise. The 5 blues rock licks I looked at briefly yesterday pretty much implanted themselves in my mind straight away and my own interpretatons of them keep popping up in my improvisions, and finding a place for them at my next gig will cement them in my mind, and the great thing is that when I revisit them next time they will bring forth more new ideas.
Give it a try, pick a few licks learn them roughly, say 5-10 mins each, put them into the same key and jam them over a backing track for a while and listen to the magic happen. I find that having a lick barely under my fingers and then putting it to use straight away bears all sorts of musical fruits.

Todays lessons went well
first one at noon found us talking about modes and the use of. I had covered this before with the student and he was doing well with it all but then he stopped thinking about it and that skill was lost, untill today that is, when we ended the session with some cool dorian and lydian jams.

Next lesson found me showing the student a tune by the Wombats. Its strange how things happen as one of the chord voicings in the wombats tune is the same as one in Govans Fives that I had learned only the day before.

Third lesson of the day is the one bass lesson I do eack week. A lovely 15yo lad with concentration problems. Day tripper was playing as he walked into my music room and he loved the riff, so we spent our time going over the variouse parts that make up the bass. Because of his tendency to just drift off into another dimention at the drop of a hat we have to work on things quickly then move on. We had a jolly nice time of it and concentration remaind at 100% throughout the hour....result

The last lesson of the day found the student struggling to remember the note names of the low E and A strings, so I set up so I set up a slow 12 bar in the key of A, and we spent a while finding all the A, D and E notes on the above strings then building E and A shape barre chords based on the target root notes.

All in all a great teaching day. I love it. Not only do I get to share my passion of music with others but also it fills me with pride when a student overcomes a difficult passage or when they pass a graded exam. I guess that I have put students through about 70 exams and have had a 100% pass rate, with the majority of thoes receiving distinctions (85% or more) and the remaining few with merits (65% or more). I've had 3 student go on to music college. They are all still there and one of them is really pushing to get into the industry. Not to say that the other two dont want it but this guy is doing shows with backing tracks where ever he can and he is making lots of contacts... good luck to them all

As for playing for myself, well I didnt get much time for it. I did an hour of tapping scales and then having another go at the section in Fives... man thoes finger streaches are huge and my fingers are short and fat, but I shall persist

catch ya laters

[wvgman]

That in itself sounds like a heck of a practice to me without all the teaching that you did and to me teaching is a great learning experience if you know what I mean. I always think a teacher gets more out a lesson than any of the students. More on that some other time. Sounds like a great guitar day to me!

[PosterBoy]

Did a lot of right hand picking exercises working on tidying and speeding up my Alt Picking.

If I can't play the same note at 120 bpm with 16ths, why do I expect to be able to run sequences and scales at that speed right!?


Also working on my scales in invervals and focusing on the awkward g and b string parts

[Rgalvez]

Excellent posts fish, and Sarge Buono, thank you so much in reappearing here!

[PosterBoy]

At church the keyboard player was talking with me about keeping the flow going from song to song and finding new ways of moving between different keys seamlessly, knowing how much I love learning all things musical.

Look what I found

http://www.berklee.edu/bt/192/lesson.html