Prog Album Must Hear & Download

Have you guys been bored listening to the same old stuffs, I know some hardcore genre fans will denied the fact of being bored at the favorite genre but HEY, come on. Will you? be bored? sometimes? Hearing that same riff with some alteration in the next song? Same stuff with different ways?

I do, for me Music is VERY BIG, Why Limit it? Yes i have my favorites, but it don't stop me from listening to others and understanding them. It sometimes make you love your favorite genre more.
I start listening to Oldies then to Boybands, to Pop songs in the radio until i end up in Grunge. After that I turn to hardcore in Metal genres. But i turn to Blues and then Jazz, from there i got to Bossa Nova and new age, the classic fingerpicking blues to environment music. I even have cds of sitar and Tabla recordings, the middle east folk songs. Man i can go all day all night. My ears have been very good taken care of.

SO what i'm going to share with you guys today is a bunch of old cds i took off my old rack. Oh yes. The prog years.... I have been so crazy for them...Prog is the ultimate time where musician taken composition to the highest limit, shows you where no man can go, or thought possible. My vocab for Prog maybe ain't that big but i can share with you some to start off with.

Opeth - Watershed

Man i love this album, It's sophisticated, mature and dark. Mikael's dissonant chords in a major is dark and gruesome. Don't even mentioned his vocals in this. The songs are well arranged and i really love the classical guitars in this. The whole album is a killer.

Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon

70's great album, what can  say about pink floyd? Legendary, starting off with the clocks ding aling... I can't forget it all. It's like a journey when you listen to this album, David's bending makes me goosebumps... 

Dream Theater - Trains of thought

Students from Berkeley Music school, form the best band of all time. Portnoy's drums and Petrucci's shredding, change my world completely. John Myung's bass is amazingly awesome. If you listen to this with earphones you might not want to take them off until you have reached the end of this album, superb sounding with time changes and super shreds!!

 
YES - Fragile

STEVE HOWE ! I really love classical guitar arrangements here, it makes me smile everytime i listen to this album, "we are heaven " Is one of my favorite tracks here. If you're lost in life This album will bring you back in track and go along, really i tried it!

Tool - 10000days

Yes! poly rhythmic guitars and wonderful vocals, everytime you listen to it, it'll be different. it just blow my mind away. 

Well that a little to start off listening to strange music, easy to understand then to straight off listening to bands like, Genesis, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf and all...

Listen and blow your mind!  

The Journey Begins

Since I have decided to take the 
New Grade 8 Guitar exams from Rockschool,
(which is a difficult decision before of my tight scheduled of running MSA, teaching my students and being a superdad & husband.)
Why not share my journey here, so you guys can see my results and preparation. The journey will be fun and we will learn along the way. SO if you guys are up to the challenge ,

  Go GET A Grade 8 book and LET's ROCK 'N ROLL!!!!!

SO first, as my style of completing this exam i'll go by my WAR PLAN..lol (gangnam style!)

So here's the plan, 
1) Set the goal .
 2)Set the time range & plan the strategy to achieve the goal . 
3) Prepare for war according to strategy set. 
4) WAR!

Simple? haha Sun Tzu Art of War!!! Now it's all about achieving the goal, nothing personal needed.

OK! let's see what is our goal.

I can choose to have Graded Exam or Performance Exam, Graded is more overall and performance is just "performance i guess" as graded exam you need to have technical exams , Quick study pieces and ear test which for me it's more challenging than to just play 5 songs and call it done. It's better to kill the bigger boss if we want to proof something right?

SO my decision: Graded EXAM.

Graded Exam:
3 songs
Technical Exercises
QSP
Ear Tests
GMQ

So the goal is to have distinction!!
In order to have distinction- i need to have 90+ for marks.

Which is 18 marks for each song
13 marks in Technical 
9+ in QSP
9+ in Ear test
5 in GMQ.

THAT"S The Goal.

SO what's after this?

SOng selection!!!

You can do it, If you believe YOU CAN!

-Dennis

MUSIC STAR ACADEMY - 1 YEAR 8 MONTHS

If Music Star Academy is a baby, she can now walk and run. Jump and scream, swipe ipads and dance around to nursery songs. She can eat rice and take solid meat. She will enjoy nature and point at birds.
So many achievements did Music Star Academy done, I'm like a proud father looking at it. Even the road is still far and more to come, the confidence to sprout like a giant tree.
If you guys still remember in November 2010, Melaka flagged a new music school. Now It's all grown up, now let me update you with what we have done, (ps: we're not lazy guys sitting in the shop waiting for customer to come...lol...)

1) We opened another branch in Bukit Beruang, now we have centres in Malim Jaya and Bukit Beruang.
2) We grew from 5 students in November 2010 to 145 students in July 2012. yay!
3) We  grew from 3 music Teachers to a total of 15 teachers. (feel the power)
4) We now holding Tanglewood , Spear & Woodies guitar Hanger in Stores.Pairing with Music Master Studio.
5) We are providing our own syllabus for Guitar, Bass , Ukulele & Drums.
6) We have our in house examination.
7) We hold Rockschool exams in Melaka.
8) We held School tours all over Melaka.
9) We give talks on Guitars and musicianship topics to schools.
10) We make you believe in us and grow together.
11) We provide corporate's music clubs lessons and certification.
12) We provide group & intense lessons to Universities.
13) We did a contest and giving free guitars.


These are what i can think of what we did so far.... I guess we did more than this.
What will we do in future?

Not promising anything right now, but it's all a secret. LOL....

But it all come down to you guys, ever supporting, ever believing in us. This is what makes us going and make us standing strong to provide you guys and future musician the true and unique guidance from all of us here in MUSIC STAR ACADEMY.

We will 

We WILL

WE WILL ROCK YOU!!

Thanks a million.
-Dennis Y

Being a Music Teacher

People thought being a music teacher is the same as being a academic teacher in school, but yes for the teacher who teaches music theory in school where everything is in the textbooks and corrected via an answer book. What I mean is a Music Teacher, the ones that teaches Piano and guitars,instruments…etc.

Music teachers need to be different, because music is very sensitive; it’s very hard to put to words when you want to teach something to the students that relate to emotion. 

How can you tell your student what emotion they should be feeling when they are playing Ode to Joy?

 The feeling of Joy? How will you describe the feeling of joy that you intended for them to feel? The joy of love? The joy of victory? The joys of having your enemy destroy? Do they even know how to feel when they play a tune like “Now & Forever”? as for a 12 years old kid, do they even felt a heartbreak with a girlfriend/boyfriend when they are playing some sad love song?

Everything needs to be very personal; a music teacher needs to get personal with their students. They need to know how they feel things if not 100% but at least 56% on their point of view in things. Because what the teacher teaches or educate will affect the student’s whole journey in learning the subject. If the teacher starts on a bad foot, the student will even hate the guitar.

For me, the most challenging part to teach is the groove, in playing music in any instrument. If you don’t get the groove, you don’t get anything even if you can play Beethoven’s moonlight Sonata perfectly that you don’t miss a note. If you don’t have the groove you missed it all. Getting someone to have groove is the upmost important thing that a music teacher needs. But unfortunately, most of the teachers that I find here, neglects that. They teach what is in the books and make the student pass exams without even telling them who is Bob Marley and the history of Reggae when they are playing a reggae tune for an exam. The student may have passed the exam, but they pass with an empty heart. Only on the outside you may see them playing music but in the inside… There’s nothing. This will always lead to giving up on music and do not care at all for the students when they reach a certain point. But for a student that contains the meaning of music, they will have music in their life until they breathe the last air in this world. 

Hand Craft Guitars

Looks like i'm getting hot on the weird guitars...LOL...well i guess it's just me..I Love weird things.
Hence weird guitars!!..
When i was 4 i favorite cartoon hero is Skeletor or Mumm Ra

Skeletor from He Man

It's not the hero i am interest in but the villain...why? coz there rocks! How cool is a skull face man? haha
WEIRD right?
ok today i am about to show you hand crafted one of a kind guitars. The one that few factory will mass produce coz it's weird to be commercial.
They have to be hand crafted to put in more soul...creepy?

Mumm Ra from Thundercats

SO
you
GUYS
Ready?








In Malaysia it's hard to get people to craft the guitars if you know any hardcore crafted that got passion about crafting guitars and it's good.. Drop me a line.. ok?

Chlutu?

Alien on your guitar?

I think i would take months to craft this if he is doing it for part time. LOL..

This is the famous George Lynch skeleton guitar. He mentioned that this guitar is not playable. HAHAHA

Some Fantasy stuffs can be put on.

Ok, Enough?

SO here's the last thing..

Can anyone tell me how to PLay this thing?

CHEERS!! 

Must Hear & Download May 2012

Ok, I always wanted to do this but it doesn't come to mind.
Yesterday my student ask me to recommend for hearing and it just "POPS OUT"
Well here you go, the top 5 ..
You guys may leave a comment or send an email to include your recommend track which i'll post in the next
"MUST HEAR N DOWNLOAD"!!!

Number 1)

Al di Meola - Race with Devil on Spanish Highway

Number 2) 

Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn

Number 3)

Animals as Leaders - Cafo

Number 4)

Freak kitchen - Nobody´s laughing

Number 5)

Peter Green w/ John mayall's bluesbreakers - The Peter Green - The Stumble

Well Hope you guys enjoy the Guitar Stuffs!!

More next time!!

TA TA!!

How Many Necks do you Need?

Guitarist Are somewhat weird peoples, They like more than they need. They eat more than they can chew. 
And the greatest thing is, They Want more guitars then they can play... But to get more weird ...even
back to the Renaissance... They made multi neck lutes.. SO today we have 12 neck guitars?

I mean can you imagine playing this thing? How are you going to hang it around your neck?

CARZY? MAD? AMAZING? WEIRD? RIPLEY?

Believe it or not ? Guitarist is crazy to this level... Like Pantera said, "A WHOLE NEW LEVEL"

Ok, reality is guitarist want more than 1. so we have 2 necks guitar, 3 neck and the it goes...

Some may have 12strings for 1 neck and a 6 on  the other, some may have a mandolin on the upper part and a bass on the lower.

Imagination may go wild with this stuffs, you may just need a RM10k Credit Card to customize. LOL....

Heavy? Well this guy from CHeap Trick don't mind playing it for years on stage.

Just more photos that i found on the net to keep your mind go wild just for this once... Pamper yourself...ok?

this is Vai's thing...WOW WOW WOW T_T

This is FAMOUS, Michael Angelo Batio!!

Now the question is, will you have once for once in your life?

Will I Have one??? gotta ask my wife...lol....

FB COVER DESIGNING CONTEST!!!

YES THIS GUITAR YAMAHA F-310!!!!!

Brand NEW!!

Here's How to Win This Guitar!
All you need to do is to design a Facebook Cover For Music Star Academy.
Rules are simple.
1) Like Music Star Academy
2) Design a BMP/PNG/JPEG file in 850 X 310px.Must Include Music Star Academy wording or Logo.
3) Send over to musicstaracademy@gmail.com
4) Ask all of your friends to like MSA FB pages and like the design when we post it here.
5) The Design with the most "like" will take the guitar home.
6) No copyright infringement. Please make sure that all elements strictly adhere to international copyright law.
7) No advertisements should be contained in the template.
8) Keep it kid-friendly and “safe for work”.
9) This contest end on 1st June 2012, 11:59pm.

10) Employees of MSA and hired freelancers hired by MSA are not eligible to enter this contest. By submitting a design you are agreeing to license your work to MSA, and MSA have all rights to use it for any purpose. Designs submitted after June 2nd, 2012 at 12:00 am EST will not be eligible for this contest.There will only be 1 winner for the prize mentioned. The rules, judging criteria, and other items may be adapted, edited or removed without notice.

Acoustic Guitar FAQ..

Dudes!!

How r you guys....??
Doing good? Rocking out? or Having a blasting time playing your Guitar?

Well, i have a story to tell. One of my students here in MSA is so into his guitar that he broke his guitar's neck during the night, lol.. because he slept with his guitar.....Fell and there you go....
HAHAHAHA funny, (i do slept with my guitar when i was young,oppss...)

OK, i have many questions about acoustic guitars lately...

How to buy a good acoustic guitar?
What is Solid top?
What is Quilted maple?
IS the bigger the body the better?
What is jumbo size?
What are nylon strings?
What is Parlor guitar?
Is there a 12 string guitar?


So i hope i can clear some of these things out, coz yes i answer all of them because i 'm consider a Guitar freak that take the guitar trivia very seriously... I mean VERY VERY SERIOUS.
HA HA HA..OK!

Solid Top:
SOlid top means that the top of the guitar body i mean the soundboard is made of a solid wood, which also means that it is a whole piece of wood originally and not laminated wood. Laminated wood = plywood of woods that glued together. So solid spruce ( wood from a pine like tree) are the famous tops that is used for acoustic guitars. The longer you use solid tops it will likely to have better tone as the wood gets older like wine... So the glue of laminated wood will cut the mid of tone sounds and imagine if you have an all solid construction of guitar. You'll move a tree when you play the guitar!!...

12 strings:
The mystery of the 12 strings, No you do not need 8 fingers to play the 12 strings. It is just 6 strings divided into 2 finer strings. So you will fret 2 strings together as you would fret 1 string in a normal 6 string. You will get a chorus like sound when you play the 12strings.you Dig?

Jumbo body & Parlor:
We have a few famous body type of acoustic guitars, we have a Dreadnought, 38" , Cutaways, Jumbos and Parlors.. Of course there are more, but these are the famous ones. Jumbos will have a big bottom body and parlors are small medieval type of guitars. SO every different shape will give you a different tone.

Quilted & flamed Maple Tops:
Just like solid tops, it is a decor top of the guitar. Just like the ones use in PRS's electric guitars. Like Tiger stripes = flame maple. Some guitars have quilted maple sides and backs and uses a spruce solid top. A very very beautiful combination. Makes any GAS infected personell drool over each guitar they see and hope one day of a huge guitar collection.

Truss Rod:
A metal stick inside your neck , you use it to setup the neck's tension. When your guitar go buzzing like a bee, it's time for a setup and adjust the rod. But pls bare in mind if you make big adjustments you might break a neck...Ouch..!

Tips on buying a Good Acoustic Guitar:
1) Make sure the guitar is not pregnant when you are going to buy it.- Some guitars are poorly kept or being kept too long with high tension on the strings.The bridge may seems like being pull off,hence the guitar body looks pregnant.

2) Low Action: -Pls do not buy a high action guitar. Might hurt your fingers and it will be like fighting Tyson when playing it...

3)Look out for the solid top if it mentioned, Look at the sides of the soundhole. You can see the grain all the way in if it's a solid top. If Not , Dont Get Conned!!

Well ...Thats all i can help on the input of buying and clearing some Acoustic Guitar WOnders...

Hope it helped and if you have any more questions pls do drop me a mail here...

musicstaracademy@gmail.com

Or just post it at Facebook...

So long!!

  Ok check this out...
You GOT SEE BEFORE 
7 string Classical guitar meh???
Kena pawn right???

UKULELE STILL NOT OVER!!!!

Hi FOlks!!

How has it been? You guys tried out an Ukulele yet?

I have been posting about ukuleles last month and yes i do apologized that it is not ENOUGH!! lol..

Anyway it's because of MSA's heavy heavy metal duties and task on hand... but i promise you guys i will

I WILL keep posting blogs on time...!! if not i'll slap myself ...lol

joking..

Oh rite!!, today i am goin to let you know that we have tons of ukulele in store for you guys...

So do come and test....

Yes, beautiful ya? I put on the hangers myself... oh well you know me.. I like to DIY my on shop not because i don't wanna pay someone else to do it, but i do like to build anything from 0%. (workaholic!!)

and yes if your asking i took the photo myself too with my 30D EOS DSLR.....

So what are you guys waiting for???

Come on DOwn to MUSIC STAR ACADEMY!!!!!!!!!

UKULELE GRADS!!!

Everything a teacher wanted most is his/her student to love and excel in the subject they were taught..

After every 30-45 min of hard work... The adult class of Ukulelists completed their Debut course...
And this group class only have 3 months to do it and they nailed it!!

Congrats!!!!

Holding their Certs.....with full of joy!!

NEXT????

Starting Ukulele All Girl band????

- Dennis Y

UKULELES WHY UKULELES!!!!

Hi folks....!

How are you guys doing? miss me? i have not blog here in MSA for more than 3 months and now i'm back.
Before we go any further i would like to introduce a new blogger to MSA, JJ Phang !!!!
From now on... we will sign off on our blogs so you guys know which dude is blogging!! The more the merrier!!

Ok.... Now my new Instrument of Choice!!!!!!

UKULELE

Why? well you guys know how i love art...and crafts... Ukulele have not being my favorite until i discover the arts on one... I mean OMG... have you guys seen any ukuleles with art on it???

Now you guys get what i'm saying???

Look at how cool this Ukes are!!! I do not own these ukes but i would love to share it to you guys...

I even dream of owning ukuleles like this after seeing all these on 1 night...

After that i got uke and go crazy learning it, and because i'm a guitarist, i picked up the Uke pretty fast...

and oh yeah...stop crapping and look at these babies...

You what guys i'm just going to shut the hell up and you guys just relax and enjoy the lovely ukuleles that i collected(picture only) so far.... 

By just these photos i'm sure i get you inspire to get one Ukulele and start strumming some songs...

-Dennis Y