Pseudoscience Rubbish #1

Normally I hate to waste my time with stuff like this.  But this video is so embarassingly trashy (and apparently effective against the people of Facebook) that I had to take a minute to smash this nonsense.

Look, telepathy may or may not be real.  Perhaps there is a species far out in the universe that can detect the subtle brain waves you emit and understand your thoughts.  Humans are not that species.

That besides, the thought that anyone could read your mind at whatever time you happen to watch a YouTube video is just...

Here's the full set of options, which took approximately two minutes to sketch out.  Unsurprisingly, every possibility leads to one of three numbers through simple math.

I find mental tricks often fascinating but one founded on misunderstanding elementary math makes me feel vicariously embarrassed for all of humanity.

I'll leave you with this appropriate George Carlin quote:

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

Adventures of a Squier Strat Episode V

"Matt, we're sick of hearing about the stupid things you do to this guitar, just leave it in peace!"

Too bad if you feel that way, I just had to go and mess it up a bit more!

New pickup covers, a botched clear coat, silky satin finish, and a wimpy relic incoming.

Adventures of a Strat Part IV

While I'd love to be able to call this "Episode IV: A New Strat", that simpl ain't so today.

However, refinishing is pretty cool too.  And may I add that relic'ing a guitar you handpainted is a hella good time, or at least I thought so; your mileage may vary.

Episode I

Episode II
Episode III

Project Pics!

 

Got a bunch more projects in the works (and some from the past); here are some pics and updates before the full updates and writeups come out:

Stairway to Heaven on PVC Flute

How could one of the most famous songs of all time sound on a $20 instrument budget?

Add a PVC flute to a flea market acoustic guitar, and it sounds better than my playing could express :P

More on the flutes here: 

http://mattwins.blogspot.com/2016/01/building-homemade-pvc-and-cpvc-flutes.html

1957 Fender Bel Air / Chevy Stratocaster

Fun with Photoshop and some crazy ideas today - Is it a Fender Bel Air or a Chevy Stratocaster?

2000 views!

I know it's not a huge landmark, but the growth rate of this blog has been pretty stellar in just two months and I'm pretty stoked for the future, so thanks again viewers!

Flanging effects

Just trying out some heavy flanging for fun, sounds interesting anyway!

Some Neoclassical noodling!

A bit of playing in harmonic minor that I wrote tonight in my pajamas, might have potential!

Are Rondo Music guitars any good?

If you follow my posts much, you probably already know that to me, the name on the headstock is nearly meaningless compared to the quality of the instrument itself.  If you agree with this to any significant degree, you'll definitely find Rondo Music a lesser-known resource worth checking out.

The Political Spectrum as Spaceship Doodles

Now for something fresh in the musty world of politics, here's the (American) political spectrum represented in terms of spaceship doodles. 

A lighthearted representation of a serious analysis of the fundamental reasons that people tend to support one side or another politically.

[Note that the key term is "tend".  Perhaps you are a young urban conservative, or an old backwoods liberal.  That's fine, you're free to break the bounds of what is average or most common.  Of course, however, if we spend all our time analyzing the outliers, we will never find the common trends that unite people, and naturally we need some degree of generalization or we will never get anything done at all.]

The key theory here is that liberal and conservative politics, at least in modern America, represent a continuum based most predominantly on a spectrum ranging from fear to optimism.

This is not to say that one is right and the other is wrong; optimism drives us into the future with goals, while fear keeps us safe from being destroyed or destroying ourselves in the process.  I posit that a radical imbalance of either force is unhealthy to the development of any nation in the long term.

Discussion is always encouraged, bring your A game in the comments section below!

Some more funk and blues guitar backing tracks

And if you haven't already, check out the full permanent Backing Track Jam Page:

http://mattwins.blogspot.com/p/official-backing-track.html

The Edicts of The Dictator Survey

A little research project I started - a very simple survey that asks you to rank a set of rules laid forth by a dictator in the order that you believe to be most ethical.

https://qtrial2016q1az1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1Mq30azxoM6Ha2V

Preliminary results from a small sample size - no peeking until after completing the survey, please!

"Suga Suga" guitar riff cover

Quick cover of a popular guitar riff using my new SX Callisto and breaking out the wah pedal for the first time in a while.

Official Backing Track Page Launch

After publishing a half dozen or so separate backing track posts so far, I have put together a new universal page with every backing track so far organized and in one convenient location.

http://mattwins.blogspot.com/p/official-backing-track.html

Now it's easier than ever to jam along for hours to a variety of high-quality jazz, blues, rock, and more tracks to hone your improvisation skills.  Rock on guys.

1,000 Views!

Just passed the 1,000 view mark - under two months since the blog launched!

This is my fourth blog, and the previous three have over 90,000 combined views, but this is an unprecedented rate of growth, let's keep it up, thanks viewers!

SX Callisto CUS Review, Mods, and Demo

After recently receiving an SX Callisto Custom, I've had the chance to tinker with it a bit and really judge it for what it is.  And I must say, I'm damn impressed for what it is.

I did find some room for improvement though, and some tweaking and modding has turned it from a good guitar into a great one for under $200.

Read on, sh**load of pictures after the break!

SX Callisto Custom Demo - "Hotel California" solo

Playing the solo to "Hotel California" by The Eagles to demo the overdriven tone from both pickups on my new SX Callisto custom, expect a full review with mods and pics tomorrow!