The Big Night

So tonight I played my first show live at Charlie's. I was so nervous going into but looking back the nerves all went away right before I played. I am so proud of how I performed and I want to perform again soon.

I received a lot of complements tonight and honestly makes me proud of how far I have truly come from when I first began playing guitar.I have put up a videos and some pictures of my special night.  I will always remember this night for as long as I live. It will be one of my favorite memories of my college career.

My Last Name

You're Not Sorry

You'll Think Of Me

                                                        Chances Are

                                               Me singing Free with Aaron Abel.

Me and Aaron singing at Charlie's.

Me at Charlie's singing.

Not A Moment Too Soon.

Tomorrow is the big day. I will be performing at Charlie's from 8-8:30. I will be playing songs that I have learned in the last couple weeks and months. I am still so excited to show how far I have come with my guitar but am also really nervous for this event. 

 Sometimes I think I am too critical of myself and believe that everything has to be perfect. I think for how much I have practiced tomorrow will go great. I have been waiting for this moment since the time I started playing guitar. I have been counting down the days for this moment. I am just ready to perform. 

I want to show how good I have become since I first picked up my first guitar and sing a little bit too. 

Wish me luck!

Leading Up To The Big Day.

So this week is very important to me. Thursday night will be the first time that I have ever played for anyone public outside of my own house.I am opening up for one of my good friends at Charlie's. I am nervous but I am also very excited at the same time.

As I was thinking about what songs do add to my setlist I came up with a list of 30 songs that have been stuck in my head lately. Some of them inspire me and some are just so catchy that they are stuck in my head.

You can find the playlist on the right side of my blog. Hopefully you enjoy the songs as much as I do. Check back on my blog for some photos and videos of what is sure to be a special night for me.

Fragile

Finally, at Dave's show was Matt Preisendanz who is also a very good guitar play. I've heard him the same song, but for his voice I think it works. His voice is very fragile but the pitch is very good. He played one song that wasn't planned before the show but the song was good.

I think I've heard it somewhere but I don't know where. My guess is that Dave called him up on stage because he didn't know what to do. I heard him play when he hosted a Taize worship service in our fraternity house. He took the lead for most of it but I liked the songs he played.

I look forward to hearing him play again sometime and here is a picture and a video from tonight.

Matt playing guitar.

                                               Matt at Charlie's

Not My Style

Tonight also at Dave's show was Greg Cwik. We don't listen to the same music genres but seeing him solo tonight on electric guitar was amazing. I knew he had played for a while but I give him mad props for his skills on the guitar tonight.

It was almost as if he made it look easy as his fingers went up and down the fretboard. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of him, but I did get a video and it shows his talent very well. I aspire one day to be as good at playing guitar but also soloing like him.

Here is a couple videos from tonight.

Greg Cwik at Charlie's.

                                                                  Greg Cwik soloing.

Dan Saunders

Along with Dave was Dan Saunders. He is a freshman and what a voice he has. His voice reminds me of that of the lead singer of Maroon 5. He sang a song he wrote himself and it was pretty hard to tell if it was a cover or his own was how good it was.

We talked on the way over to the show and I mentioned that his old beaten up guitar had character. He said to me that usually he has to tell people this. My own guitar personally doesn't have enough scratches.

I was impressed by his playing tonight.

Here are some pictures of Dan and a video of him.

Dan Saunders playing guitar.

Dan playing guitar again.

                                          Dan Saunders playing guitar.

Saint Patrick's Madness

So tonight I went to my friend Dave Foster's show at Charlie's. I think it was one of his last shows but I think he went out on a good note. I liked the sound of each song he did because none of them sounded the same.

I had heard him play because we live in the same fraternity house, but I had never heard him play anything other than an acoustic bass.

 I was unfamiliar with most of the songs he had played which I thought was good because I had no previous judgment of how the song had originally sounded. Dave's voice is unique in the sense that it is not really a deep deep voice but it is also not a very high pitch voice.

here are a couple pictures and a video from tonight's show.

Dave Foster playing guitar.

Dave Foster at Charlie's.

Dave Foster and Greg Cwik at Charlies.

Dave Foster Singing.

Dave Foster playing guitar.

Country Legends

Today I decided to blog about a couple country legends. They are one of my all time favorite country groups and one of the reasons why I fell in love with country music. Their name is Brooks & Dunn and they came to Hershey, Pennsylvania last summer. Brooks & Dunn is made up of Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks.

They announced earlier last year that they were calling it quits after 20 years. I made it a point to see them before they called it quits. They weren't as good as I thought they would be but they were still pretty good.

One part that stands out to me is that during a portion of the concert Kix Brooks came out with the Calder Cup, A trophy given to the team that wins the American Hockey League and said "does this belong to anyone?".

The Hershey Bears had recently won back to back Calder Cup titles and some of the players came on stage to claim it and the fans cheered.

Here are some pictures from the concert and a video from Brooks & Dunn.

Ronnie Dunn Singing.

Kix Brooks playing guitar.

Kix Brooks holding the Calder Cup.

The hockey players from the Hershey Bears.

Brooks & Dunn honoring the armed forces.

Again honoring the armed forces.

The streamers from the end of the concert.

My Inventory

Today I thought I would reconnect my blog to me and talk about some of my guitars that I own. I own six guitars. I have bought or inherited in some sense. Each one of them is different in the own way. That is one of the things that I try to consider when buying them.

I have three electric guitars and three acoustic guitars. Each one of these is special to me in their own way. Here are some pictures of my guitars.

My electric Ibanez guitar.

My Classical Washburn guitar.

My electric Fender guitar.

My acoustic Takamine guitar.

My acoustic Palmer guitar.

My electric Washburn guitar.

Here is a picture of all of them.



Show at Emma's.

Tonight I went to a local place in town and heard some great music from some people I know and some people I had never met before. First I saw a good friend of mine Louie Land. He was amazing as usual. I enjoy the way that he sings because he doesn't try to force it.

Next I saw a girl named Claudia. One thing I really liked about her was her style. After her I saw Aaron Abel who always puts on a good show. Finally I saw a girl by the name of Janet who had a beautiful voice.

Here are some pictures and a couple videos from tonight.

Louie Land at Emma's

Claudia playing guitar.

Aaron Abel at Emma's

Aaron and Louie at Emma's

Janet Carey playing guitar.

Claudia singing.

                        

Aaron Abel.

Aaron and Louie.

                         

Aaron and Louie again.

Janet Again.

Genres Collide

This past summer I also went to see the Zac Brown Band. They are a country band, but don't let that scare you off because they are not the typical country band.They opened up for the Dave Matthews Band in Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

In my opinion, they were much better than DMB, but both acts were still pretty amazing. I only wish that they would have played a song or two together because that would have been great. Here are some pictures from the concert and a video of Zac Brown's below.

Zac Brown Band

Dave Matthews on the big screen.

Macon, Georgia

Another person I got to see at that Keith Urban concert was Jason Aldean. One of the things I love about him is the hype that he brings to his live show. The intensity of his show is perfect for an opening act of a concert.He is from Macon, Georgia and is quickly becoming a rising star in country music.

I hope he comes back to Pennsylvania because his set at the show was unforgettable.

Here are some pictures and a video of his below.

Jason Aldean in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Jason Aldean singing.

Jason Aldean singing in Hershey

Jason Aldean banging the drum

An Australian Role Model.

Today I decided to do something different and blog about one of my all time favorite guitar players.He was born in New Zealand and his name is Keith Urban. I saw him last summer in Hershey. I was skeptical at first, but after the live show I am considered it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

I plan on seeing him this summer when he comes back to Hershey. Here are some pictures of Keith and a video of his below.

Keith Urban in Hershey,Pennsylvania

Keith playing a light up guitar.



Dylan Roth And The Dirty Mudders!

I went to Charlie's again last night to support some of my fraternity brothers. Among them were Louie Land, Chris Hooker, and Peter McCall, Dylan Roth and Aaron Abel. They are part of the band Dylan Roth and the Dirty Mudders.

I played earlier that day with Louie and I have to say he is just amazing when it comes to doing guitar licks. We talked about playing a song or two together sometime soon.

Chris Hooker played bass and had an outstanding bass solo. I found out he has been playing for 6 years. Peter was good but due to the difficulty of balancing out all the instruments it was tough to hear him.

On a final note Dylan Roth has a fantastic voice and is an amazing songwriter as well.I really recommend seeing this band if you haven't heard about them. Here are some pictures below.

Peter McCall and Louie Land

Louie Land

Dylan Roth

From left to right: Peter McCall,Louie Land, Aaron Abel, and Dylan Roth.

Peter McCall and Louie Land playing guitar.

Chris Hooker playing bass

The First Time I Ever...

Last night I had the opportunity to play a song at open mic night at Charlie's. I have never played anywhere other than my room and I was very nervous. I played with a good friend of mine, Joe Sherlock.

We decided to incorporate me playing guitar about a half hour before we played. Joe played mandolin and the two instruments seemed to mesh together very well.

Joe is a very well rounded musician. I also found out he plays a handful instruments including the violin and guitar as well. Looking back I am so happy I took a risk.

Here is a picture from last night.

Joe Sherlock and I  playing at Charlie's

Guitar Players!

In the next couple of months, I will be looking at people that share a hobby of mine-playing guitar. I am not sure how many people I will include in this blog but I will do my best to keep it interesting and not so vague.

These guitar players will range from people around the Selinsgrove area, to maybe one or two in my hometown area, to people that have already made it big and are up the big stages in various cities.

In the first few minutes of this process I have thought about where to begin and I thought what better place to start then myself. I am at no means a guitar genius but I am not starting to learn to play guitar either. I am somewhere in the middle. I am learning new things about the guitar every time I pick mine up.

Me Playing Guitar

My First Post Ever!

Hello everybody! This is my first post in my first blog ever. The main subject of this blog is to give you my opinion of people who play music, mainly guitar players. I am new to blogging so don't be too critical of me. In my New Media class, we were asked to keep a themed blog of something that interests us.


For those of you who don't know I will give a little background information of my musical talent.I have played guitar for a little over three years and have my fair share of people I consider role models of mine who play guitar.I started playing guitar my sophomore year of high school.

Stay tuned for my next post!

Below are a picture of my New Media class and a picture of my guitar.

My New Media Class

My guitar