Customer Service (8thstreet.com)

I recently got a new job. I’m still working for Alcon, but am on direct, no longer a contract. People celebrate things like this in different ways. Obviously one of my ways of celebration relates to guitars. And no, I did not get another.

My current tone enhancement efforts are to upgrade my cables. People will contest the notion that there is any difference between types of cables, but I can hear the difference. It’s subtle, but it’s there. I’ve been using Monster Standard cables for ages now. They work really well and are reliable, but a few months ago I picked up a Monster Acoustic cable… and wow. The difference is subtle, but the difference between good and great is achieved subtly.

So I wanted to pick up another. I’ve got an input and an output to my board, so it would make sense that I would want two.

I turned to amazon. As it turns out, they’ve got the best prices on most guitar equipment. I won’t buy a guitar off amazon …ever, but strings, cables, etc.; yeah that makes sense. My preference is for 10-15 ft cables, so of the 12 or 21 ft options, I chose the 12.

A day later, I get an email from 8thstreet.com. They’re the company that I bought the cable from, through amazon. Turns out the 12 ft isn’t in stock and will take a few extra days.

Thanks for telling me. Seriously, it’s nice to know when a delay is expected. I don’t want to wait day after day for something that won’t come for another two weeks.

But they take it a step further. Because they know that the customer is more valuable than the product. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling if you don’t have customers. They take it a step further by offering me a second option. I can either wait for the 12 footer or they can send me the 21 ft cable at no extra cost. The 21 ft cable retails for twice what I paid for the 12 ft cable.

I opted for it because I want the cable sooner rather than later. And I always like to have extra cables. And because I like having extra cables, I will likely pick up a 12 ft cable later. And it will be from 8thstreet.com.

And here’s a quick review of the cables on amazon!

Video - Debris of a Brainstorm

To continue with the song explanations, here's Debris of a Brainstorm. This is off of my debut album, Deconstructing the Temporal Lobe, along with one of the earlier videos, Ice Mountain.

The idea behind Debris is that it's sort of how most of my compositions have been written; that is, phrase by phrase, pieced together. So often in the process there are tons of little experimental licks that don't make the cut. Most of the time those are lost. And I don't care. I believe that the best licks, the best songs, the best albums are those that you remember. Those you forget? You lose them. So what?

This song is a culmination of parts and ideas that weren't quite lost. It's in a different tuning from anything else I've written (C-G-C-G-B-E), but really builds off of ideas from previous brainstorming sessions, primarily those from Horse in the Clouds. If you're familiar with that one, it was my first lap-tapping song and is the first track on the debut, largely inspired by the movie, August Rush.

While writing Horse in the Clouds, I had lots of ideas and just no great way to cram them into one song. So I went back and forth between the two different tunings and worked on them simultaneously, really only intending on finishing one piece. After Horse in the Clouds came, when a second tune came, it was obviously the "debris" of the "brainstorm."

Because nothing else I've written is in this tuning, it doesn't get much play time these days... But I do really enjoy playing it and usually, I like to think, other people like it too.

Enjoy!

Video - Muscle Memory

So this one has actually been up for a while... But I want to give stories behind all of my work, ya know, make them a little more real. What better way than to explain the song and give you a point of view of me playing it? I'm convinced that it would be easier to learn to play guitar this way, but that's not what this is about.

This is actually one of the songs that will be on album 2, but one that's familiar enough to throw up here for everyone. As a matter of fact, this almost made it onto Deconstructing the Temporal Lobe, my first album, but it wasn't in a polished form at that point. And actually, this had a different name at that time as well.

So how did it make it to the second album and get a new name? It started roughly a year after the first album, when I went back for another recording session with Jeremy Bentley at MR.STUDIO. I recorded the song in that session and ...that was it. Fast forward a year and I'm thinking about the next session and a full album. So I go back to listen to what I already have ...and have no recollection of this song?

It was bizarre. I had a general idea of what tuning it was in, but that's it. So I had to basically deconstruct the whole song and reteach myself. It was difficult, but eventually I remembered the shapes I was using, how I was plucking the strings, etc. Hence, Muscle Memory.

It's nothing technically dazzling, super complex, or obtuse like much of my work. Instead, it's just a well rounded, very agreeable composition. Easy listening without needing to think to appreciate it. Hope you enjoy!