Kirkyard

I only say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I really think it's at the same level as the best of what the 70s had to offer. It's a total blast to play and lyrics... What the hell are those!? The cat sound. I CAN make those, and pretty well. This one stunk so badly I HAD to leave it in. @reptalien per our earlier discussion.

You never know where the inspiration will strike, or from what direction. Keep your ears open, lads!

You never know where the inspiration will strike, or from what direction. Correction - Vai lick that is similar was on "Two Fools Born A Minute" from David Lee Roth's Skyscraper. The "Call it Sleep" lick will also be addressed along with a similar Petrucci lick. Keep your ears open, lads!

No lesson, or musings, just reheated noodles!

Here's a couple of extended pentatonic shapes upon which to mess. Nothing meaningful, just having fun with it.

For Joel... you know who you are. Words cannot express how much I love this tune. Great stuff! Whimsical, majestic, sad, and creepy at the end. The texturable elements are fascinating. I'm fairly certain they are using Adamas, or Ovation acoustics, but sadly since I have neither of these, I corrected my sound as best as I could in post. The thing that's been throwing me in figuring this out up 'til recently is the altered tuning of the primary acoustic. It's essentially DADGAD but up a whole step. EBEABE. If it wasn't this, I would think it's an 11-string (a 12-string without the low E). But EBEABE just makes too much sense. Also, since recording this this morning, I now think I'm playing one note in one chord wrong. Too late to fix it now! In 1992, I'd often imagine Insanity as the soundtrack to someone skydiving and realizing they forgot a 'chute after they jumped. Resigning to fate what has happened, they just enjoy the ride to the calamitous end. Some imagination, huh?

Joe Satriani, one of my oldest influences on the guitar. The finale of Surfing With the Alien, I chose to play this song because of its nuance and introspective nature. Not quite melancholy or whimsical, it offers an atmosphere of anticipation and emotional complexity. It's challenging in many decidedly non-shreddy ways. One of my favorite songs on another one on my very short "perfect albums" list. I used the ultimate edition backing track on this. All the leads are yours truly. This also gave me an opportunity to unleash the latest in my GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) powered 6-string armada. A Squire Affinity Strat. Stock. The cheapest whole, nearly new guitar I've ever bought at sub-$100.00. I just wanted to get across that the price of the instrument is largely irrelevant, but it's the playing that matters. It does play pretty great though, I have to say. I said Joe is one of my oldest influences and I meant it. I was listening to Surfing with the Alien before I started playing guitar. Joe was a special guest on the Headbanger's Ball in 1988 (hosted by Adam Curry at the time) and from the very first Phrygian Dominant intro lick, I was hooked. It also happened to be the first Headbanger's ball I'd ever seen as it was shortly after my little town finally got cable and more than 9 channels to watch! Heard the debut of Satch Boogie that night and learned about "guitar faces". That's quite a segment, and I think everyone should watch it: • JOE SATRIANI IN S... He has a great vibe. Humble, witty, smart, and good humored. Unapologetically himself. It shows in his music. I will be forever a fan. If you're out there, Joe. I hope you can forgive my playing here and there in this. It ain't easy copying anyone exactly, let alone a genuine master.

Feeling a bit empowered by the tentative success of the copyright dispute, I've decided to re-approach where I really began on youtube in 2019, but was denied at the time. S.A.T.O. and Diary are probably my favorite Ozzy tuned from that era. I can't begin to express the amount of love and respect I have for the material. I only hope I've done it some justice. Heck, I even doubled the lead.

More than anything, this is a test for Ozzy. Really, a test for the youtube auto censors; In in 2019 I uploaded a performance of S.A.T.O. and Diary of a Madman, only to be globally blocked instantly. This is a test, this is only a test. Randy Rhoads was my primary driving guitar influence since before I played. Sure, I liked EVH and Def Leppard, but it wasn't until 1987 when I heard a radio interview (KPLZ was hard rock back then) with Ozzy about the Tribute album that I started looking at guitar and thinking I have to do THAT! Of course they played Crazy Train (live) which was my first time hearing it. It was so ALIVE! His were some of the first songs I learned. Fast forward to 1994. I was 20 and had been playing for 6 years. I (like all other aspirational guitarists) thought that maybe if I learned the entire Osbourne music catalogue back to front, I might have a shot at an audition. Well, then they hired Vai for a while and then Joe Holmes. I just gave up. What's another Rhoads and Lee freak gonna bring to the table? Besides, I was too about Prog/Death Metal and Atmospheric Death metal at the time. I wouldn't have been a good fit. I still play some of the classics now and again, but haven't touched this one in almost 30 years. Blocked, btw. Disputing. Am I the ONLY guy NOT allowed to play an Ozzy cover?

This was recorded over two non-contiguous days, Christmas Eve for the bulk of it and on the 27th just to finish it up. You'll notice the wardrobe change. A brief note about the guitar tones. I really didn't want to use the tones that I was using because I have much more modern sensibilities. I need more roundness and beef in a signal for my own satisfaction. The guitar tone I used for Jim Matheos is closer to my liking than the one for Frank. All I was trying to do is be as correct to the album as I could between the two. If they were to redo this, if they left out the ice pick edgy scooped tones, it would sound better and we would all be better off. Performance notes? Of course. I'll start with Frank. Frank's lead playing is as alien to me as Frank Zappa would have been to Beethoven. His entire approach and choice of tones are completely out of my vocabulary. Thus, I find learning his parts just as challenging in its own way as when I learned a Paganini piece for my 20th anniversary. Where Frank is an alien space baby, Jim's playing is much more up by alley. It's much easier to pick up and emulate, but that doesn't mean it isn't challenging in its own right because you have to get his inflections, which are numerous. Both also have distinct vibratos, which I tried to emulate, but I still wound up vibrattoing mostly like myself. Please forgive me. Oh, and the intro and outro guitars are just me, replacing the original ones in their entirety. I cannot express how cathartic this was to learn. It is a type of Mount Everest in scope for the sheer Marathon of music that this represents. The fact that they used to play this live is a testimony to how good these folks were, and are. For the recording, I played Frank's parts first, which are more difficult in many ways. All the electrics for this were played straight through as if I were playing it live. I ran out of time with Jim's parts and I also decided I wanted to play their Harmony lead with rhythms in the background. That had to be done the next available day which was the day before this was uploaded. At any rate, this is also the last of the myriad of tunes from my youth that I had decided to finally put my fingers to and learn. If I have wanted to learn it, I have or I know that I can. So this is kind of a epic send-off to my covers. Oh I'll still do one on Halloween and probably for Christmas or New Year, but I think it's time I go ahead and hang up the hat. Of course that doesn't mean I'm giving up the channel, I'll just be playing more my own things and playing the guitar coach now and again. Doing this will probably allow me to be more active on the channel anyway. Being serious about covers takes work! Even if I don't take myself too seriously which is why I keep the mistakes in. And oh yes, there were a few. I'll catch you all in the next go round...

Howdy out there in guitar land. Yes, I fat-fingered Thank to "Thanl", but I'm more pissed I missed the start of a rhythm in one spot BOTH TIMES! And played a G harmonic instead of an F# during Pete's lead... call it a senior moment. That out of the way, let's chat. I'm a day late this week on just about everything. I should have recorded and released this yesterday, Halloween, but family always comes first, and so does trying to figure out the quirks and features of these pesky guitar solos by Pete Blakk. Don't get me wrong, Andy's really aren't easy to do at all, in fact I'm kinda killing myself over a mistake I made during his, but Pete's are harder to figure out for two reasons. One is that he's a substantially more random player - that is he is more feel-based. If you watch clips of him play stuff like this live, he does not play what's on the record completely. He touches some of the right spots but seems to improvise in a similar fashion as opposed to his counterpart. And two, Pete black really likes to play in non guitar centric keys. That is to say, a lot of his solos seem to be centered around A-flat minor or B-flat minor. They're uncommon keys to guitar players because they're not really compatible with open strings. Most guitarists don't use them. Thanks Pete. Now for the history/impact stuff. I picked this up in 1990 although it'd already been out for a bit. Conspiracy has within it my all-time favorite guitar tones. And I mean of all time. To this day I'm still trying to capture some of the spirit of Andy's lead tones on visit from the dead (the clarity, specific EQ frequency, and power), or Pete Blakk's general juiciness. The rhythm tones on this were quite seriously the foundation of most of my personal tones. In the liner notes of the album they say that they're using PJ Marx pickups and Metaltronix amps. So naturally I've been chasing those too and that tone for years. As you can hear on this recording I'm getting closer, but I've never quite been able to capture it except I have gotten damn close using the amp and cabinet setup I've got in my living room. I think it helps that I built the cabinet specifically to try to get those sounds... A lot of it's in your speakers, you know. But here's the secret, the rest of it is in your hands.

This is my attempt at a more complete demo (than my cover of Battery) of the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah. In this I play using 10 of the myriad combinations of sound that you can get from the various modes dials and switch on this beast. The pedal itself is near perfection. It's easy on and off meaning you don't have to stop on it to get it to come on and the modes have unique feels and could be useful in many different circumstances. It will definitely let you find your voice for whatever you're doing. Grab one... IF you can find one at a reasonable price. It was certainly worth the list price. Personal performance note:. I AM NOT A BLUES PLAYER. I'm a classically influenced, decently studied, Rock and Metal guy. I like to play fast. I figured I could use this opportunity in testing the wah as an exercise in restraint and improvisation. No shred. No arpeggios. No crazyness. I didn't write anything out, just trying to play whatever comes to mind that seemed to fit the music the time within the predetermined constraints. I made mistakes and explored. Just like jamming to a backing track. I just happened to write the backing track that feels like it moves between really C# minor and A major. One note different, but it makes a difference when you're playing over particular chords.

A request from a good buddy of mine. Here you go Jon. Not at all perfect, but I hope you find it satisfactory. What can I say about these good boys that haven't already been said by me or by others. So I'll take this time to give some performance notes instead of anecdotes. This song consists of harmonies, dissonance, and vicious triplets. You're picking hand must be in good condition to apply and maintain the ferocity required to play this properly. I've been playing this for the better part of 33 years and although it gets a little easier with time you still have to put the effort in to get it right. There are no shortcuts. Also, don't use the tabs. The tabs did help me start to learn this when I was 15 or 16, from the official book even, but still much of it seemed wrong. It is. Use your ears for a far better result. During the acoustic section, absolutely none of what you are hearing is Metallica. It's their music, but all of it was played by me. So that part is not karaoke, but a legit cover. This video also marks my embarking on a new journey with a wah I just got in the mail. The Fulltone Clyde Deluxe is one badass piece of hardware. Highly recommended, if you can find one for a good price since they've reportedly closed their doors for good.

About time I did some guitar karaoke of Helloween! I got Keeper of the Seven Keys parts 1 and 2 on the same day - week of Halloween 1988, (it was also the same day I got my first Slayer tape, South of Heaven). This awesome group of Germans hit just the right balance of Iron Maidenesque melodies and the speed of thrash at just the time in my life... almost immediately after I picked up the guitar for the first time. I was hooked! I saw them live right after Kai left. I touched on this in another video, but I can say they put on a good show! I'm sorry to say it was the audience that made it memorable for their politeness. They were there to see Exodus and Anthrax and stayed seated, politely clapping between numbers. More like going to a symphony. Yikes. But that what you get for promoting a thrash show and have a power metal opening act. Politeness. Both Kai Hanson and Michael Weilkath's playing are difficult to emulate. Many of their lines are intricate and technical, but others are brutish, though played quickly - almost like flailing. I did my best learning it all today, but know it probably could be better with time. But time is something I ain't got as freedom day comes but once a year. Eagles! Eagles everywhere! Happy Independence Day, America!

Final day? Nah. Tomorrow. All this rushing made me remember I'm supposed to be on vacation. I'm poooooped! At least I kept this one to about an hour.

Day 2 of the Shadowcaster and things are moving along and taking shape. I reduced the total size of this video from nearly 6 hours by creative acceleration to just about 2, I'm leaving these in long form to better document what the process. Lucky you all out there I wasn't feeling as chatty today. Well, a little.

Let's build an electric guitar and chat in my super messy shop! I have a few days off and the weather's nice so now is a great time to build "The Shadowcaster" so named by a friend of mine. It will be a shadow copy of one I built for him, but also black on black instead of a violet fade. Charge!

Me covering Metallica covering Diamond Head. Originally released as a B-side to One, this tune is a BLAST to play and contains just about the fastest playing of Kirk Hammett on record. Seriously, that lead in the intro has passages so quick, Yngwie would wince at the thought of having to play them. I know HOW he plays it... I just don't know how HE plays it. XD. I've noticed he doesn't try to pull it off live. Really though, Hammett gets a bum rep in certain circles, but that guy can play! Probably better than you. Try the intro lead and find out. I'll defend that dude's contributions to guitar until my end. Also, what about that rhythm in the middle? Very tricky rhythm for the right and left hands, but sounds so simple. Major props to James for being able to destroy at that speed. The original is NOT this fast. I've been doing a bunch of writing and recording lately. Sorry for the potato quality of the widescreen vid. My bad. The test footage looked better.

A protest song. I ask you to consider the lyrics and think of how it might apply to today. The P.M.R.C. was the enemy of free speech when I was a teenager. The head of it was Al Gore's wife, Tipper. The left have been the puritanical nazi control freaks this whole time, but the left scoffs at this and tries to cover it up. Youtube (google), Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, You're all guilty. This is a time of choosing. Get pissed and get political or the choice will be made for you. In the case of the inevitable, follow me on minds, BitChute, and/or Rumble. Minds: https://www.minds.com/kirkyard2/ BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/Of0K808Hr9wV/

I was studying the old Testament earlier and decided to finally set about learning this absolute killer opening track from their first album - The Legacy. Alex and Eric's music made a huge impact on my playing; effects lasting to this day. It was a pleasure to learn and just trying to play this. It's very challenging in places! A true testament (hehe) to their skills. (Required skill/class: Level 50/Thrash guitarist) To give you an idea how I work: From start to finish (learn, record, edit, upload) was about 3 hours. I know the freshness shows in the playing, but I leave in my mistakes intact to manage expectations. I'm certainly not as energetic as a bunch of thrashy teenagers anymore. I think it's good enough for live work though. ;)