So, after I uploaded my latest riff, a guy I know from www.sevenstring.org took it, put it in a blender with a can of whoop-ass and added some drums. Suffice to say I was insanely impressed with the end result.

It should be the first track that plays when you visit my page. ;)

Anyway, I'm about to record some more of my music for him to work his craft with. This is going to be amazing, if I can get a full track recorded soon. Prepare to be underwhelmed with my writing skills.

Check out Abominodium in my top friends.

Yeah, just got rid of a load of music. Told you it'd be gone soon. Most of it was crap anyway, out of time and out of key, not very musical really, just recorded with the intention of  perfecting my recording skills. I'm definetly getting there, and I'm sure those of you who've been listening in since I started uploading samples would agree that the sound quality is definetly getting better.

Uploaded a new sample riff though, this time it's a part from Death's "Flesh and the Power it Holds" so I hope you enjoy.

Still messing around with recording, and figuring out the Pod XT Live, which is a complicated little beasty. Made some horrible fumbles with it before, and spent 6 hours last night tweaking the hell out of it, and another hour tonight before I was happy with the sound I finally got.

It's only up here temporarily, as I need to show it to some guys on a website for criticism's sake.

Yeah, I know it's out of time, and I've more than fumbled it up towards the end, but I was concentrating more on the sound than the playing. I've just been banging some things out quick to get some feedback on the tone, help me really nail things.

I'll probably delete the riff in a couple of days anyway.

Yep, I really should get something decent recorded soon, but I'm still working hard on not being such a newb to the whole recording dealio. In other news, I've attempted to run a bass through my Pod, to see what would happen, and the results have been excellent. So hopefully I'll have something good up soon.

I'm getting there. :D

Well, another month, another period of no new music here. What can I say? I keep meaning to record something, but any time I've got a guitar in my hands I'm either practicing, learning or writing something, and recording never seems to get a look in.

Opeth are playing in Ireland on Monday, and I've seen them every single time they've played here going back years now, but this time I'm giving them a miss. I've gone and nabbed myself a second hand Ibanez K-7, and I'm quite poor so it's no concerts and beer for me for a while. I missed seeing Exodus too, which sucked donkey balls, as Biomechanical were supporting and that would've added up to one great show.

But yeah, sacrifices must be made, and I wanted a new guitar too badly. Hopefully it should arrive next week.

I'm still improving, which is always a good thing, but the past few days I've been practicing chromatic excersizes with the metronome and steadily working up from 80bpm by increases of 8 untill I reach 200. Today I went past that to 216, but couldn't really hold it together for long. What's more amazing is the fact that I've been repeatedly hitting the 200 mark over the last few days. I've hit 200 before, but it was pretty much a rarity. I'm happy now.

I believe I've further refined my picking technique, which has not only made this possible, but I seem to be even more accurate and steady.

I've also been working a lot on my lead technique, and I've got some pretty cool solo chops now. Not only that, but I've been getting awesome screaming harmonics lately that sound like absolutely nothing I've been doing before. The tone's really in the fingers!

Any absolutely no news whatsoever.

Well, I've been playing around a lot with my Pod XT Live, trying to tweak it a lot, getting things to sound right. I've also been practicing a lot of new stuff lately, aswell as writing some new riffs, which seem to be coming together to form a coherent song, sort of. Very Death Metal sounding indeed.

Hopefully next time I'll get some bass recorded, and see if I can't get any drums in there too. I don't know when that'll be though, I'm very lazy.

Well, I got my Pod XT Live, and over the last few days I've been learning how it all works, messing about, creating some patches, and of course, recording! What can I say? It sounds fantastic, and I'm glad I managed to buy it, even if it did mean missing out on one of my favourite bands when they played in Dublin last week.

Anyway, it's a fairly simple clip, but this is the first time that I've recorded something that consists of lead and rythm. I recorded the underlying riff first, then improvised over it. Sounds pretty evil doesn't it? It might be a little suprising, but that's just in standard E tuning.

Well I hope it pleases a few listeners, because right now it seems I've got nearly 2000 listens for my music, which is pretty overwhelming but I hope my stuff pleases a few of those listeners.

Well, first of all, sorry there's no new content lately.

I have actually been recording, just not something I've any intention of posting up. I've been attempting to record some bass, which is working out rather ok.

I've been practicing a hell of a lot lately, mostly trying to build speed with the metronome doing 4 note per beat chromatic excersizes. I've really pushed myself lately, and managed to finally hit 200bpm. Still rather sloppy at that speed though, I'm much more comfortable at 160bpm, which is still extremely fast when doing 4 notes per beat.

I'm also trying to scratch enough cash together for a Pod XT Live, which would be absolutely brilliant for recording purposes, aswell as loads of other applications. Alas, I'm broke as fuck. Got 10 to my name.

Alright! I attempted using my fairly shitty PC mic in order to record with my prized Engl Fireball. Now, it sounds pretty thin, and honestly nowhere near as full and heavy as the amp sounds in person, but considering the mic used, I call this a success!

The sample itself is pretty crap as usual, there's some mistakes, and it's pretty out of time, but I think it does give an idea of some rythm stuff I've been doing. Anywho, I'm just happy that I've actually got the Fireball recorded finally, even if it does sound pretty thin.

I've also reached my 4 song limit here on myspace, so next time I get something recorded, the fairly shitty "Example1" is going to be gone forever.

Yep, I've now got an example up demostrating my clean playing. I'm actually very happy with how it sounds, it's a lot clearer and defined than my lead clips. Tweaking levels and such probably helped. It seems I'm getting used to this whole recording deal, and I've got a few more mp3s now, but mostly it's just mucking bout.

Incidentally, this is the first track I've recorded using my baby, a BC Rich USA Stealth 7 String. Basically like the one Chuck Schuldiner played, but with an extra string. God it sounds amazing, doesn't it? A real tight piano-like low-end, not muddy at all. That baby into my Engl Fireball is quite easily the best sounding combination out there.

It's tuned B flat, the same as Nevermore.

I hope to have another rythm track recorded with the 7 String very soon. I've been noodling about all day, and I think I've got a very decent recorded sound for it, so we should be rocking soon! I'm also thinking I'll whip out the old PC microphone and see if I can record my Engl.