Hi friends, for those that did not get to watch Ameican Idol last night, I thought I'd post the video of last years second place winner's guest appearance on last night's show. Lauren Alaina is still only 17 years old but she has come so far since her auditon and her journey until now. I thought she looked beautiful and very mature for her age.

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Amanda,

I almost missed this but I did not know you played the Guitar.

I started when I was ten years old. I learned and played

for years than the drinking and addictions took over

my life for many years and my interest and what was important

seemed to have been drowned out.

That is over and my new life is here. I play and proactive everyday

and for some reason I cannot stop writing new songs.

Just yesterday I pick it up and started another new one.

I love it. Do you have any recording up?

I use to play piano the way I was taught, so I played the way the music was written and kind of wooden and I heard other people play they brought in a rhythm of their own which I liked.

I had a friend whom was teaching piano and guitar as well as theory which was her strongest. I went along to learn to play guitar and borrowed a spare of hers for a few weeks and decided I liked playing so bought my own. During the course of learning it opened a whole new window because I learned to transpose music as well as using a kapo (bar that you place over the fret so you can keep playing the chords that are easiest and you don't have to learn the difficult chords)

I had to sing while playing so my confidence grew and different temposdeveloped in the 6 weeks I took the lessons, I did not have to learn music as I already knew how to read.

I was able to change my whole outlook playing piano, keyboard or organ and bring in that natural rhythm I had desired.

My first few poems was set to music. I started when one of my girlfriends back in NZ showed me her book of poems and I really like a couple of them and sat down and wrote music to them.

Then I wrote a couple of my own lyrics and setting them to music.

I have a love for music and mostly the guitar and working with soundtrack recordings.

I have studied Jazz, but would not call myself a jazz guitarist. I also work with Spanish,

Flamingo, Classical, and Mexican styles.

There is a Blues and Rock sounds that may at time, seep into some of my playing.

The type of music I play comes a lot from the mood I am in, or inspired by something,

someone, what I heard, or what I have seen. For many years

I listened to fusion jazz from people like Jean Luc-Ponty, Al Di Meola,

Stanley Clark, just to name a few. I did not want to be just another one playing

someone else's music so I started writing my own and working on my own style

of playing. I play hard, I play fast, I play soft, and I play with feeling.

Project: "Mark's Guitar Works"

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Hello Mark

I play the guitar, too, and I am not that good at it. I am not a great singer either. I do it just for relaxing and such. Some people actually liked my singing like at parties. I wouldn't record it except for posterity, perhaps, so they had something to remember me by :))

But I do have a question. Is my guitar worth a lot of money? I bought it in 1964 or 1965. It's a Yamaha. Inside the guitar is the number 20 which I presume it was the 20th guitar that Yamaha made. It has a wonderful tone almost as good as a Gibson.

The bridge that was glued on is now loosened. I will have find a good guitar repair guy and get that fixed before I can play it again.

Speaking of writing songs, I wrote a few spoofs on people but nothing serious.

I used to go to a coffee shop where an obnoxious man also came. One day he sat there grumbling about the new girl working in the office where he worked. Apparently she was obese and I guess he wanted someone slimmer so he could come on to her. The company probably hired her knowing it would be a turnoff for him because he was a constant woman chaser. :)) One day he referred to her as a whale. I said, "Look who's talking! You aren't exactly slim yourself!" He was obese, too.

He sat there rather proudly and said, "I'm built for comfort." His name is Donnie and this is the song I wrote about him and sang it to a tune similar to "I'm an Okie from McSkogie (?).....

Donnie tells me he's built for comfort
I am trying to figure out just what that means
So I looked it up in Webster's great big book
And nowhere did it say that comfort means obesity.

I wrote another verse but have forgotten it now.

Below is a great video about an incident involving guitars. Maybe some of you have heard it before. It had 11 million hits. No wonder! I listened to it over and over again ...about a dozen times. The lead singer is not hard to look at either.

Helen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Quote:

Amanda,

I almost missed this but I did not know you played the Guitar.

I started when I was ten years old. I learned and played

for years than the drinking and addictions took over

my life for many years and my interest and what was important

seemed to have been drowned out.

That is over and my new life is here. I play and proactive everyday

and for some reason I cannot stop writing new songs.

Just yesterday I pick it up and started another new one.

I love it. Do you have any recording up?

I use to play piano the way I was taught, so I played the way the music was written and kind of wooden and I heard other people play they brought in a rhythm of their own which I liked.

I had a friend whom was teaching piano and guitar as well as theory which was her strongest. I went along to learn to play guitar and borrowed a spare of hers for a few weeks and decided I liked playing so bought my own. During the course of learning it opened a whole new window because I learned to transpose music as well as using a kapo (bar that you place over the fret so you can keep playing the chords that are easiest and you don't have to learn the difficult chords)

I had to sing while playing so my confidence grew and different temposdeveloped in the 6 weeks I took the lessons, I did not have to learn music as I already knew how to read.

I was able to change my whole outlook playing piano, keyboard or organ and bring in that natural rhythm I had desired.

My first few poems was set to music. I started when one of my girlfriends back in NZ showed me her book of poems and I really like a couple of them and sat down and wrote music to them.

Then I wrote a couple of my own lyrics and setting them to music.

I have a love for music and mostly the guitar and working with soundtrack recordings.

I have studied Jazz, but would not call myself a jazz guitarist. I also work with Spanish,

Flamingo, Classical, and Mexican styles.

There is a Blues and Rock sounds that may at time, seep into some of my playing.

The type of music I play comes a lot from the mood I am in, or inspired by something,

someone, what I heard, or what I have seen. For many years

I listened to fusion jazz from people like Jean Luc-Ponty, Al Di Meola,

Stanley Clark, just to name a few. I did not want to be just another one playing

someone else's music so I started writing my own and working on my own style

of playing. I play hard, I play fast, I play soft, and I play with feeling.

Project: "Mark's Guitar Works"

Instead of filling the page with past quotes I am pretty

much replying to all. For the last couple of years I could

not even imagine not picking up my guitar. One is a classical

with nylon strings that may last a couple of months because I

ware the strings in half and they break. I cannot get to the store

quick enough to replace them. I have been so gifted with my new

love of my life, living a better, and inspired so much that new

ways to play just keep coming to me. It is funny that I bet most

of your where at a lost when the site was down. I spent the time on a

couple new files that i will show you, and now my girl friend (Julie)

wants me to take her logo that is on the site I showed you earlier,

that has a butterfly in it and make it fly around.

Enjoy your days.

There is no name on the Birthday Cake as it is free to use.

Quote:

Hi Mike, yes how true, that our world revolves around computers and computer chips. I don't know about you, but yesterday when this great community was off line for several hours, I realized just how much it has become a part of my life and what a tragedy it would be if it is ever lost forever. As I told one of my friends I felt as though I was having withdrawals. :)

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Hi everyone,
In today's society we all rely heavily on computers and computer chips. Computers allow us to communicate with people instantly all over the globe. Computer chips provide communication satelites to operate, cell phone towers and even the newer model automobiles are computerized. A lot of factories rely on computers and automobile manufacturers have computerized robots that do most of the work. In short, without computers and computer chips, we will all be lost. Even water purification plants are computerized. The reason that I'm bringing all this up is because we are seeing much more activity occuring on the Sun's surface than during any time in history. When a Solar Flare occurs, particles from the eruption bombard Earth. The radiation and other elements from these particles are capable of knocking out anything that is computerized. My question is, with this increased activity that is occuring, just how soon will one of these eruptions be big enough to send us back into the dark ages?

I am hoping that it will not be too soon, because I have met a lot of wonderful people in this community and I would definetely miss listening to the Peruvian Casanova singing. I cannot imagine a world without such wonderful friends, although with the increased activity I do not believe it will be that far in the future.
GOD BLESS YOU
~Mike~
http://www.countryvalues65.com
(P.S. The latest Solar Flare was March 6th, and today our Earth has been bombarded, and will be for 24 hours. We dodged the bullet this time, but there is always a next time.)