Author: LukeSniper

Fox & the Red Hares

LukeSniper

We did it last week, and again this week, so I guess it’s official now: I’ve joined up with Fox and the Red Hares as their new keyboard player!

My first show with them will be December 4th with Paul Hernandez, the Stupid Daikini, and the Fancy Grins at the Mission Tobacco Lounge in Riverside. (check my calendar or the Facebook event page for more details)

We’re working really hard to get a killer set ready. It should have a little bit of everything: rock, soul, country, and a lot of attitude. The show is right after the art walk, so be sure to stay late and check us out.

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Oh… and it’s free! No excuses!

“Let Her Go” intro tutorial

LukeSniper

I recently received some Tusq bridge pins and a new saddle from GraphTech, so I wanted to do a video with my acoustic to show them off. The old pins were cheap plastic, and the saddle was some other synthetic ivory (I think it was a proprietary Ibanez brand). The new setup has a noticeably brighter and more percussive sound, which I really enjoy on a steel-string acoustic.

Anyways, here’s the intro to Passenger’s song “Let Her Go”.



“YYZ” solo & tutorial

LukeSniper

While Neil Peart and Geddy Lee definitely deserve all the praise they get for their playing, Alex Lifeson is criminally under-appreciated as a guitar player. This song is a popular challenge piece for drummers and bassists, but Alex has plays his ass off and delivers a killer solo that’s a lot of fun to play.

Try it out!



Oh yeah, regarding whether it’s “zee” or “zed”… I’m American. I call that letter “zee”. If you’re going to insist it’s ” zed”, then I insist you pronounce the titles to all Rush songs with a Canadian accent.

“Satch Boogie” intro tutorial

LukeSniper

One of my students was a no show today, so I threw down this lesson on the intro to the Joe Satriani classic “Satch Boogie”. I’ve seen countless people attempt to play this song, and VERY few get a real… well, BOOGIE feel to it! The trick is to start with an upstroke, then keep your hand moving. Big, broad, wide pick motion. Watch Satch play it and you’ll see the same thing.

When it comes to this tune, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing!



Pro-fé-cia live show on YouTube

LukeSniper

Our entire set from last year’s Monsters of Mexican Metal festival performance in Mexico City is available on YouTube! It was a great show with a fantastic crowd. This was the night we first released the Death Prophet mask to the public! The video also contains a rare performance of the Nahuatl song “Evolucion”!

I’ll add this to the videos page, but here it is for now!



Mission Complete: Hell & Heaven 2014

LukeSniper

I just returned from playing the True Metal stage at Hell & Heaven festival in Mexico City with Pro-fé-cia. The crowd, crew, bands, and promoters were all fantastic! An extra big thanks to the guys from Cemican, Cephalic Carnage, and Obituary for hanging out and being so much fun backstage!

Pictures are slowly rolling in from fans, crew, and press. I’ll try to collect as many as I can and stick them up here soon.

“17th Century Chicken Pickin” lick

LukeSniper

Impellitteri’s “17th Century Chicken Pickin” is a classic shred tune, but it seems there is only one transcription of it that gets passed around. Everybody learns that version, but I don’t like it.

Most of the notes seem correct, but some of the fingerings are really awkward, particularly the section that starts at the 53 second mark.

I think this is the way Chris actually played it. I can’t be sure, because it doesn’t seem like he’s ever performed the song live, but this way is much more consistent and makes use of more common shapes.

It’s a really fun lick when you get the speed up. Have fun.