Happy 2012!

Wishing everyone a good year ahead! 2012 is going to be a cool year!! 

New challenge! New guitars! New effects! New musics! New movies! and New stories!

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS WE SHARE OUR OWN MADE CALENDAR WITH EVERYONE HERE!!

Everything will have its GOOD start and it will be the GOOD thing if you perceive it with a GOOD sight !!

Let us roughly recap what we had done in 2011:


1.

Music Learning Camp Tour to Schools!!

2.

Provided group Classes in other Institutions such as MMU and also companies such as Cargill and etc..

3.

OUR NEW BRANCH IN BUKIT BERUANG IS ESTABLISHED!! 

address: 669 F1, Jalan Bukit Melaka 1/1, Taman Bukit Melaka, Bukit Beruang. 75450 Melaka.

 CONTACT US FOR THE INFORMATION:
Dennis : 012-3607139
Teck Chai: 012-6293706
JJ: 016-6683956

GOOD YEAR AHEAD! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

NEW SHOP COMING TO TOWN

Ok, It’s been a while I know… and I apologized for it. I have been buzy preparing stuffs for our!!!

 1   2  3  4  5!!

NEW MUSIC STAR ACADEMY !!!

Hurray! Hurray! We have not been ayear and yet we open a new branch? Are you guys crazy? Lots of people said that….You guys must be nuts!

Actually we’re not, this business is so good no one even trust it! They say Dennis, you need to do lots of stuff you know in order to survive a music store , you need to have this you need to have that, it’s lot of hard work, you need to do 2 jobs for security and etc etc etc etc etc etc…..

Oh well, Teck Chai and me have no problems dealing with the hard work and doing all the stuffs and 2 jobs and maid’s work, instead we feel pumped up in doing so!! We loved to be over work , we love it so much it blasted our adrenaline so hard we shiver the whole time through and end with a good tea Tarik!!

NOW, we are open in Bukit Beruang!!! YES we are now in MALIM JAYA and also BUKIT BERUANG!!

Bringing all the gears and accessories closer to you guys and the most important, we are bring value to you nearer than what you can imaging!!! The lessons we are giving, the pure musicianship we are bringin to you, The Guitars! The drums! The Bass! The piano! The rock ! the Blues ! the jazz! And if I follow anymore I will used up all the space!!!

So you guys that have been living in Bukit Beruang!! Yes you!! Wanna rock like Van Halen or just play the blues like John Mayer!!! Or even Play classical guitar!! Come on over to

MUSIC STAR ACADEMY

Contact us!!!!

Dennis – 012 3607139  

Frank Marino - Reborn Jimi?

Born Francesco Antonio Marino in the 1954, Blues Rocker Guitarist - Frank Marino of a band he named himself after the vivid sensation of LSD effects " Mahogany Rush" is claimed by most people "REBORN" again as Jimi Hendrix !!!!

???????????????????????????????????

Never heard of this story ya? Yup ! That's why MSA blog is here to inform and educate you loyal MSA dudes of any and every guitar stories around ....so you can show off your knowledge in school or university or workplace and be proud of it.. ROTFL!!!!! 

Alrite Alrite..... I'll cut back to the story...

I have heard many stories of come back of great guitarist that experience near death in life. All the stories are about the same, a dude that don't play well , a nobody and suddenly some accident  happened and suddenly he can play like a Guitar God.

Ok, Frank Marino..... a nobody that is addicted to LSD like most hippies are at that era of 60's or 70's . Got too much and have to depend on hospital medical care to survive, and at that time while he was semi awake, he saw the spirit of Jimi Hendrix walk into his ward and jump right into his body, later the next morning he woke up and began to play the guitar just like jimi hendrix and don't even understand how or why?

Jimi Hendrix really in him? true or not i will choose to be true.

Coz i'm a person that like icings on the cake, it's more meaningful and exciting rather then the boring truth. 

Anyway true or not, Frank Marino's skill on the guitar is unbelievable, he shreds and influences many great guitarist such as The Mighty Zakk Wylde!!!!

Watch these videos to check out!!!

Guitars and their Stories - Hofma HM-33

After servicing so many guitars....I found out 1 thing.
Every Guitar has a story of it's own. Cheap or expensive , New or old..
Every guitar is unique in it's every way even the same model, just like us Humans, 
same but different.
Guitars even the same model are made from different trees and also different parts of the tree.
Like every human, they have a story of their own....

Click on this video for the sound !!!!

This recording is solely recorded with this guitar, without any plans.
This 1 shot tune just came out directly from the guitar's soul. I'm just a messenger. You can hear the sorrowfulness of good bye as it need to depart with it's owner......

Recently i got an old Hofma electric guitar from a friend.
He sold it to me because he wanted to change his life, leaving everything and start new.
When he looked at it for the last time, i can see it in his eyes. The sadness behind, it was the sadness moment for him that day leaving his first acoustic guitar, his Red Hofma electric guitar and his beloved Samick Bass.
When i got the guitar, it was beaten down. The strings are rusty and some are lost.

It got neglected not because of none use but time....the owner's time prevent their partnership.
Faith is done with them and it's now handed over to me, i clean it up , stringed it and adjusted it to it's perfect form.

When i plugged it in, it was perfect. I was shocked how good this guitar is.
Now awaiting for it's new owner,yup we thought we were the survivor... but these guitars see us come and see us go. I wonder how short we have in life now....

 The model name was HM-33 , Hofma brand.
Serial number 9821001 on the back of the neck, the frets are still in good shape.
24 frets?? This guitar is awesome.
Candy red finishing with ding and dang here and there of it's age.
3 single coil pickups and an unusual pickup selector , 3 on/off switches.
1 Volume , 1 tone and a tremolo bar still in good shape.

Now this guitar is waiting for a new owner, even if i'm letting this Red Hofma go, i would need to know who and is he worthy of having this Red. 

Guitarist's Ultimate EGO - The Guitar Solo!!

When i was in my teen's... the only awesome thing to do is The Guitar Solo!
When jammin' the only time that gives the juice of it all is the time to execute this ultimate skill.
When done, you will be loved and be treated as a god if your guitar solo ROCKS.
The whole band doesn't matter any more as long as you got a great guitarist that can solo, because his solo can save the band.....

This is when everything screws up...

When the guitarist is treated special becoz of "HIS SOLO" he will be the most arrogant person the world can lay eyes on. 
He will then spend more time on practicing Tech and Circus stunts rather than practice as a band and do his 20% role in a band, "in his mind , he is the 100% of the band".
The most important Guy in the band, without him the band is unless...becoz beside him... everyones' a noob.

Conclusion? 

The band most likely failed and disband. The other players hate him and even not his friend anymore or they would kick him out of the band when they realize the Guitar Rockstar attitude is comin and they foreseen a disband.


The guitarist is weak in playing songs becoz he is spending too much time practicing tech's like sweeping picking, alternate picking etc....until he got no time to learn and write songs which are the most important thing in playing music... what he wants is public attention that he is a great guitarist.....
This guitarist might be enemy of others, because of the "I'm the only best guitarist Attitude"

We can all learn from this situation....
A band = A team
to succeed and being the best winning team you need no Rockstar.
in every team sport, there's no one rockstar that can win the game alone.
It takes the whole team working together to able to get to the top.
Richie Blackmore got kicked out from Deep Purple because of the Ego of his virtuosity.
Malmsteen kick a grandmother in a plane because she is in her way.
Guitarist is that Bad?

Anyway you guys can think of it.... true or not... I'm still guessing (finger crossed)

A collection of Guitar solo's from the greats....

    

Exploder - by Akira Takasaki (Loudness)

Eruption - by Eddie Van Halen 

Frenzy - by Paul Gilbert

Zakk Wylde Acoustic Solo

So What is YOUR SOLO?

Guitar Servicing

This has happened many times…..

Most guitars that I get from customers or students are DIRTY!!!

Strings are rusty that you can use as a weapon to kill someone in SAW movies…,

 The fret board is covered with mud made up of the accumulations of sweat from the hand or whatever parts of the human boy.

The guitar body is either oily or full with finger and hand prints, the bridge collecting dust like it’s in an old library for 1000 years..

The neck is bowed to an extend that you can play bow and arrow..then you can join Robin Hood..

COME on Man!!!!! 

Come on Guitarist!!!! 

Have you ever clean your guitars???

It’s like you put it under a tree and leave it there to rain and glared at the sun….

When you buy…. You are taking out YOUR money from YOUR wallet Right?

SO??????

Oh I see….. it’s like a boy courting a girl and neglect her after successfully being her boyfriend?

As a Guitar Freak myself…. I’m very VERY particular in maintaining the GUITAR…

It’s the most beautiful thing MAN ever create in my opinion of course …(the next is The Internet)

So I polished my guitars(25 of them now) every week… regardless of using it or not…

I make them look pretty all 365days a year…

BUT I have to say….. Thanks to the neglecting….. I get to service So many guitars!!!

In MSA I services at least 5-10 guitars per day…. Man……..

I’m so happy…..(I could cry)…when cleaning them, adjusting them to the optimum performance that they truly are…. When they are looking great and ready to CHEONG (attack in cantonese) I’m like a proud father….lolz

So what do guitarist paid me for???

It depends on how worst the scenario is… but normally I would…

Clean & Wax the guitar’s finishing…

Change the strings and oil them..

Oil the tuning pegs as well as the bridges or tremolo and set them up to perfect positions…

I do the intonations…checked the action… adjust the trust rod…

Adjust the pickups…. And check some grounding issues /wiring/electronics

Check frets if needed..

And see if any modification can be done that can be recommended to the guitarist….

Many more issues that I can help solving, like minor scratches ….and stuffs like that…

So if you guys have no time to take care of your beloved guitar but want it to stay in tip top condition… you guys just need to send it to me… You pay, I do the rest… win-win situation…

How much I’m charging?

Contact me for more detail charges.. meanwhile the normal change string and wax only cost RM15…

Django Reinhart - 2 Fingers Shred??!!

It was about 8pm when all of the usual dudes of MSA will hang around in the lobby of MSA chatting and talkin' bout guitars and stuff, but that day was different. Django's music was on then the usual FM.
One of my friend ask, "This guy is pretty good". "This guy is Django!" WHO IS DJANGO?
To Me, Django is the father of all shred!
Born 1910, in Belgium ( The best place for Beer, i'm goin there with my dudes later in life, the mission is to test all of the beers around the country ..:) )
Jean " Django" Reinhart, invented The Gypsy Jazz Genre. 
One of the most high levels of shred i can say, the genre is simple.
1 Violin , 1 or 2 Guitars.
Violin plays melodies , guitar emulate the drums as for beat/groove. Guitar Shreds! from time to time.

(Check this out)

He was a Banjo player before he dig guitar, after some accident of a burned house, he suffers from 3 degree burn and relearn to play the guitar , then HE SHREDS LIKE HELL WITH ONLY

TWO FINGERS

OMG!!! Can you believe it?

 He shreds better then anyone with more than 2 frettin' fingers. (Of course in that era)

Who can beat Michael Angelo Batio and Rusty Cooley? Japanese Guitarist??!! haha Look Out!!

Other than that super stuff, I like the way he is, He is so cool, the cigars and the trimmed mustache. The attitude of a rock star which he only cares of his own feelings.Damn!! 

If you guys can dig vintage songs, Django is a must! 

The One i like most about him is his GUITARs... haha guitar freak alert!!!!

 

D hole and Oval hole guitars, i've check the price of these guitars and MAn are they expensive!!!! We are talkin' bout a few K's here!!!

Alrite for you Django fans wannabe here's the list of the disco i get from Wiki,

Discography

• 1945 Paris 1945
• 1947 Ellingtonia – with the Rex Stewart Band – Dial 215
• 1949 Djangology
• 1951 Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club Quintet
• 1951 At Club St. Germain
• 1953 Django Reinhardt et Ses Rythmes
• 1954 The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt
• 1955 Django's Guitar
• 1959 Django Reinhardt and His Rhythm
• 1980 Routes to Django Reinhardt
• 1991 Django Reinhardt - Pêche à la Mouche: The Great Blue Star Sessions 1947/1953
• 1996 Imagine
• 1997 Django Reinhardt: Nuages with Coleman Hawkins
• 1998 The Complete Django Reinhardt HMV Sessions
• 2000 The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order (5 CD boxed set)
• 2001 All Star Sessions
• 2001 Jazz in Paris: Swing 39
• 2002 Djangology (remastered) (recorded in 1948, discovered, remastered and released by Bluebird Records)
• 2003 Jazz in Paris: Nuages
• 2003 Jazz in Paris: Nuits de Saint-Germain des-Prés
• 2004 Le Génie Vagabond
• 2005 Djangology (Bluebird)
• 2008 Django on the Radio (radio broadcasts, 1945–1953)

Last and not least, The Genius Of Jazz Guitar!! If you wanna play Jazz then you need to Check him out!!

CHEERS!!!!

Adults Can't learn guitar? True Or False?

One lovely evening, 1 man around his 40's came to MSA with his young 6 year old daughter asking for music lessons. First he ask for the usual thing.... Hey do you guys give piano lessons for 6 year olds? how much? how long? which day? can be on a Sunday?
Usual questions that i will encounter in everyday life in Music Star Academy.. kinda like i can have a few template on answering them,but this little encounter strike me a question that put me into thinking mode...

Man: Hi kawan, ini kedai ada ajar orang macam saya ini tua?
Dennis: Ajar apa kawan?
Man: ajar ini gitar la...ini kayu punya saya minat dulu muda...sikalang tua susah belajar...
Dennis: Bolehhh..... kenapa tak boleh...Encik mahu belajar... Saya boleh ajar punya...
Man: Ada orang macam saya ini tua belajar ka?
Dennis: Ada...... yang paling tua punya student saya ajar umur 75 tahun... Dia cakap tak dapat belajar dia mati pun tak kamwan.
Man: Ini macam ka....bagus bagus....

Thinking mode:
In my opinion.... any adult of any age can learn the guitar or any musical instrument.
All the reasons of hard bones or inflexible fingers are all BS to me. To me the reasons we give ourselves because we are either lazy or too close minded. Seriously, do you think a kid will have flexible fingers before they ever learn to play the guitar? No...they are as inflexible as adults are. The differences between adults and kids learn guitars are that adult knows too much which put them into a position of denial.They "Thought" they know.. but actual in reality are just make believe. To me, i always say to them " Why not? You have not try, how would you know you can't?" 

The only thing that is really really important to learn to play any musical instruments regardless of the skills is this.


                     P  A  S  S  I  O  N


Without this, any one of any age, any background, any state at all... can't learn anything.
When you have passion... you can achieve anything....Django played with 2 fretting fingers..
Tommy iommi played without fingertips.. The drummer of Def Leppard played with 1 arm only..
Beethoven is deaf.. 
With or without talent is another story... PASSION needs to be there...
I have taught over 30 adults ranging from age 30 to 75. All of them ended up playing the songs of their teens and enjoyed it.... I'm proud of it too...

Some updates of MSA?


We now got a wall of guitars!! YAY!!
We Got so many Students and we are not afraid to have more!!
We Got new Teachers for guitar/piano/vocals!!
Dennis is BZ, Teck Chai is BZ!!!


Sorry for the slow blogging!!! 


We Love you guys!!!! Meanwhile enjoy this song!!!!

Guitarist Not A Guitarist?

Taking guitar lesson for 2 years, memorize all common chord shapes, practice scales up and down the fretboard everyday. Still not a guitarist? Still can't perform or telling people you're good at playing the guitar?

Still doubt with yourself about if you really can play the guitar after all this? Thought about you're not born to play it?

Have you ever run those words through your head sometimes?

recently i have a student, just came to me about a few months ago. He have been changing guitar teachers because he thought that the problems he is having is simply because the teacher is just not good enough.

Partly true , i saw him as a guitarist with many musician problems.

As mentioned, he is well equip with chords , scales and some pop tunes. But as i look into those musician eyes, i saw him trapped.

Trapped by his own mind. After the few lessons i gave him, is not to improve him but for me to analyse his problems. the problems that is preventing him from excelling to be better, to improve.

I found out and i told him in the previous class,

I told him, the problems is not with your teachers. All that they taught you , you can perform well. The only stone stuck in your drain is your mind. I also found out that he have no favorite music, he does not listen to music much and only listen to the radio once in a while while in a car.

How can you play music if listening to music isn't one of your hobby?

All those are major problems, you may need to feed your ears in order to be creative and musical. Music IS a listening art. Why would you want to even play the guitar if you don't listen to music?

Ah HA!!!

I found the answer...... He said he saw a guitarist in a concert on television  , soloing his best on the guitar. That inspire him to pickup the guitar, and now he realize that he have forgotten about it when started learning.

Your first inspiration on picking up the guitar is very important, that determine and keeps your desire running while learning and playing music in your life.

He start learning and listening to music since that day, i expose him with many guitarist and different genre of music. He improve rapidly and most important he enjoyed more than before.

In MUSIC STAR ACADEMY we don't only give lesson, we cared if you don't enjoy the way you should in music. 

SO call us : 0123607139 - Dennis , 0166322678 - Teck Chai

We are always here to help you!!~~

Pedal Or Not??

Pedal? Multi-effects? StompboX? Wah? whammy? Delay?........
Ok, i'm very sorry i didn't update the blog and keep you cool guys waiting and wondering where have MSA blogger went. I was kinda BZ with MSA, more customers = more time needed to spend = less time to blog..LOL
Back to Topic before i go wander around to other stuffs....Oh ya... PEDALS!!
You may have 2, you may have 5 or you may have 50...
It's all the gadgets guitarist or bass player need to satisfied their lust to have the PERFECT TONE!! The Perfect SOUND! the Perfect Whatever the creative music hears in his or her head..
How many do you have?
Me? i used to have 25 of them.... sold them off...down to 5 and wanting more...LOLZ

Ok...what's the big deal about this post??

I recently got a question on MSA's Facebook, A guy named Lim Mingqin ask about "Bass Muff or Bass Blogger?" 

So i am going to answer that question in this post and share with all of you coz i think it's an interesting subject. Most people i know bought effect pedals even they don't know what it can do and what it's doing. They bought it for the sake of buying it, coz it's a trend to have some of these...

Well that's a sad thing to know.

1st we need to know what it is? It a box containing electronic components to change or alter the sound impulses to a desire Freq or any modification of the sound wave that it's unusual. Like a distortion pedal, emulate a burst/cracked up amp sound by expanding the sound wav to high and over the normal freq causes it to crack. then you have modulations like chorus/phaser/flanger and stuff which they control and mod the sound wav.

2nd we need to that in the real world we have tons of pedal available for purchase, but the questions is always which is the BEST PEDAL? There's NO BEST PEDAL, every pedal from every brand is unique. It all have certain tone or sound, coz the components used are different , the PCB board design are different . unless the China ripped of pedals...LOL.

SO for your answer my good friend, i can only let you know what Big Muff is and Bass Blogger have to offer and you need to make your decision, Big Muff is design based on the legendary overdrive sound of the British Big Muff for guitar, as if you use it on the bass you will get the bottom cut of, so Electro Harmonix build one for the bass like a big muff but with the bottom end uncut, so bass player can enjoy the sound of a big muff bass guitar.(= overdrive sound like a British amp/dirty) Bass Blogger in the other hand is a new tech from Electro Harmonix, this pedal you get both overdrive and also a fuzz, as they will not build the same sound pedal as both is from the same brand, this pedal is more boosted and able to crack and fuzz higher than the bass muff(=overdrive & Fuzz/dirty + higher driven sound). EZ to say that the bass muff is a vintage car and bass blogger is the modern sport car. Both is high in price and in trend but the different is the people that like it.. Some people like vintage cars and some like sports car, both is great but you need to know what type of bassist you are, metal? rock? or versatile?

if for me, i'll get the Bass muff this week and Bass blogger next week, the reason is that I'M a JUNKIE....

Anymore QUESTIONS? ask ask ask.....

   Check out some pedal boards i googled....

Wendy Wednesday - MSA Featured Local Hero

Yup , MSA is now having a local hero Demo/Album/Single/EP section to expose to all of you loyal readers and customers and musicians or fellow friends to all the great music we have here in our sweet home. Some musicians that you might not know maybe have more great songs of the usual MTV and commercial radios.

So if you have Music for sale ( like a demo or EP) bring it up to MSA or contact us for more details.

Today we are looking a good friend of mine in the journey of music, Wendy Wednesday.

For a girl, i can say she done alot than many mens should be doing.

 Her "Some Songs" cd are available here in MSA.  

But what we really wanna know from her is.....

MSA:Wendy Wednesday.What's the origin of that name? Have you changed the 

band's name before?

WENDY:I was sent to IT camp by my school. We had to open an email account. Couldn't think of what ID name to use; then I thought - hey, it's Wednesday today, it looks kinda similar to my name. And it stuck with me ever since. A few years later I found out I was born on a Wednesday, so I thought, yea, the name's meant to be.

MSA)Could you briefly describe the music-making process?

WENDY:When things happen which make me emotionally abnormal, I'd write out my emotions in paragraphs which would turn into lyrics. I'm the type who writes and writes and writes till I get tired and I'll forget whatever that's happened. And then comes the difficult part - thinking of the melody to fit the words. It's so difficult that most of the words end up as poetry rather than songs.

But I figured another way, which also makes a song sounds better. Hum out a melody with a guitar, and when I'm done with a group of melody, then I'd sing out whatever I felt, and it's a much easier process.

MSA)Which bands have influenced your own personal style?

WENDY:Oasis. And not to forget Jewel and Fional Apple, for their lyrics.

MSA)What's your ultimate direction for you? Are you seeking fame and fortune?

WENDY:Good question. First, it has got to be, having a documentation of me as a proof I existed in this world when I'm no longer around, especially for years to come, if I have descendents. And the way of documentation I thought of, is to record an album. Secondly, I'd like to do what Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) did for me, speak to me through his lyrics. I'd like to be able to color people's lives with my music. If someone feels happy or connected in times of crisis by my music - well, that's what I would want to achieve.

Fame and fortune - if it comes along, I'd be glad to receive it, I won't lie. But, it's not the most important thing. How do I know this - even if I don't have it, I'll still keep writing.

MSA)How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?

WENDY:Currently, the EP 'Some Songs' can be found:

digitally - www.myspace.com/wendywednesdaymusic and www.facebook.com/wendywednesday

physically - Music Star @ Melaka, and Ice Music @ Melaka

My album will be arriving soon this year, will keep you updated via my facebook page, via my blog wendywednesday.blogspot.com

MSA)What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?

WENDY:There's no wrong or right reasons to be in music. Even when people say you suck, it just means you need more practice. If you feel like doing it, do it. And if you don't feel it's fun anymore, don't force yourself doing it. If it doesn't work out in bands, don't give up, you can always go solo (like my bro told me once - listen to Bryan Adam's Summer of '69)

One of her Tracks on Youtube.