Fractal Audio AX8 Amp Modele r& Multi-FX Pedalboard: World's Most Epic J...

The Fractal Audio AX8 floor-based guitar pedal was something I had been coveting for quite some time. My friend and virtuoso guitarist Richie Allen from the Heavy Metal Ninjas and Kora fame first introduced me to the sound of Fractal Audio products. After listening to Richie, doing some additional research, and knowing my own touring and recording needs I realised that the AX8 was going to be a game changer for me.

Propulsion Playthrough - Richie Allan (Heavy Metal Ninjas)

As most of you know I tour internationally for about 11 months of the year. Most of the tours and shows I do have no guitar amps of any kind so I almost always have no choice but to run my rig direct to the PA system. Up until now I'd been restricted to the basic amp modelling provided by my Boss GT10 multi-fx pedal that I purchased back in 2009. Don't get me wrong - it has been an amazing and reliable pedal but I had grown tired of the sound and I was starting to feel really restricted. The AX8 has changed all of that...

Anyway, getting back to the point of this article...I went on the waiting list in New Zealand back in January of 2016. I was really hoping to pick up my AX8 during my one month holiday in February but alas the shipment was late and I found myself flying out to China with my trusty Boss GT10 in my luggage.  I was bummed out majorly because getting products like an AX8 into China through customs is a nightmare. I'd already encountered problems with some of my guitars that I had sent from Bali to China some months earlier. I got them through but it took 2 months and an additional US$300 for import tax to have them passed by customs. Thankfully my employer paid that fee but still it was a harsh and expensive lesson. 

In light of this I decided that it would be better if I could figure out an alternative. It just so happened that a fellow Kiwi virtuoso guitarist/singer extraordinaire Pete Simon was also on tour in Macau at The Bellini Lounge. He wanted to jump on the waiting list with me and suggested that we try sending the pedals out to Macau because Macau has no import tax and a far more lax attitude towards imported goods. We decided that it would be a great idea and in due course the pedals were flown out to Macau in early April 2016.

I only have Monday's off from work so I got up bright and early, packed up a single suitcase and embarked on the world's most epic journey to pick up my AX8!!!

Here's a breakdown of the total journey of the AX8:

USA to Singapore

Singapore to Australia

Australia to New Zealand

New Zealand to Singapore

Singapore to Macau

Macau to China

Here's my journey:

China (Shenzhen) to Hong Kong (immigration both sides)

Hong Kong to Macau (immigration both sides)

Macau to China (immigration both sides)

In total it required:

3 x ferry trips

1 x Hong Kong MRT trip

5 x taxi rides

Stairs

Escalators

Elevators

1 x night in a hotel

I'm not sure how much it cost but I'd say after everything it was probably around US$300 - 400 by the time we'd paid for the tickets, taxis, food, and accommodation. 

Was it worth it?

You're damn right!

Would I do it again?

In a heartbeat.

'Harlem' JTC April 2016 Acoustic/Classical Guitar (Fingerstyle)

Jam Track Central create backing tracks once a month for guitarists to jam over. All they ask is that you video your jam and then post it to YouTube and then post that link on the JTC Facebook page. Doing this not only helps you to improve your chops but it also exposes you to the multitude of great players that share their 'jams' on the page too. 

JTC Jam Of The Month Facebook Page

The April 2016 jam is my second jam that I have contributed to the group. I had fun recording and I used my iPhone 6 to capture the sound and video. My guitar is a Takamine TH5C Hirade model that I have reviewed here:

Takamine TH5C Hirade Review

If you get enough likes or if your jam is considered to be one of the most awesome then it will be combined with a couple of other jammers' jams and posted on the official JTC YouTube channel. 

Have fun checking out the jams and don't forget to head to the Facebook page and join if you want to be part of this amazing group of guitarists.

Let your fingers fly!

Takamine TH5C Acoustic Classical Guitar Review

Here is my review of the Takamine TH5C 'Hirade' model electric/classical guitar.

What can I say? I love this guitar! I purchased it in New Zealand in February 2016 to use on tour in China and I managed to buy it at a very good price because it had some cosmetic blemishes that I still haven't found despite having gone over it with a fine tooth comb since I bought it. 

 My review is based upon playing this guitar for 3 months and using it both as a practice guitar and as a live performance instrument. I use the guitar daily (no exaggeration) and it has proven to be a true workhorse. 

The guitar is made from solid wood with the following specifications:

Top: Cedar

Back & Sides: Indian Rosewood

Neck: Mahogany

Fingerboard: Ebony

Scale: 25"

Onboard Preamp: CTP-2/CTP-3

I don't really use this guitar on my gig as most of the songs we play are more suited to electric and acoustic guitar so I use this as my primary practice guitar and for recording original tracks and/or making my instructional classical guitar videos for YouTube. It records beautifully due to the wonderful tube preamp inside the guitar located on the inside of the upper left bout. You can find out more about the Takamine Cool Tube preamps here:

UP Theme Song "Married Life" : Acoustic/Classical Guitar Tutorial#2

UP Movie Theme - "Married Life" by Michael Giacchino is such a beautiful yet haunting piece of music. Giacchino somehow perfectly captures the exuberance of youth, the joy of a loving relationship, goals realised and unrealised, age, and finally death, all within a single piece of music only several minutes long.

I cannot take any credit for this transcription as I learned this transcription from Kevin Nash's YouTube video. Here's the link:

Theme from Up - Classical guitar

I can however take credit for being one of the few (if not the only) people to have made an accurate transcription of his work into both notation and tablature. A few tablature examples were floating around but I found them to be extremely difficult to follow and often riddled with mistakes. I hope that my transcription is accurate to 99.9%. 

Here are links to the other 2 tutorials:

Tutorial 1

Tutorial 3

My full transcription including tablature and notation is available for free to my Youtube subscribers. So, if you wish to have a copy just subscribe to my channel and leave a comment or send me a message with your email address and I will happily send you my transcription. Be sure to watch my tutorials for the song and have the transcription beside you so that you can learn this wonderful song quickly and easily.

Let your fingers fly!

How Long Will I Love You - Ellie Goulding Guitar Tutorial

How Long Will I Love You?

'How long will I love you?' is a song by Ellie Goulding from her 2012 album 'Halycon'. During one of our shows in China a guest asked me if I could play this song. At the time I didn't know it but I promised to learn it if they promised to come back and watch another show! The agreed to the deal so the very next day I set about transcribing the piano part for guitar. 

As with most of my transcriptions I try to capture as many details and nuances as possible without it becoming unplayable. Thankfully the original key is C major and the piano part wasn't too difficult to transfer across to the guitar. For the most part the chords are fairly basic although the final few chords are quite interesting. Here they are:

C - G/B - Am9 - G - F(add B) - C

My full transcription including tablature and notation is available for free to my Youtube subscribers. So, if you wish to have a copy just subscribe to my channel and leave a comment or send me a message with your email address and I will happily send you my transcription. Be sure to watch my tutorials for the song and have the transcription beside you so that you can learn this wonderful song quickly and easily.

Let your fingers fly!