Or at least, I like to think so. Anyway, as with most other things in life, there are two sides:
my side, i.e. the music I like to play wherever I find some spare time. I currently own a 6 strings green Yamaha Pacifica, a low end guitar, sort of, but pretty versatile and reliable.
To drive the neighbourhood crazy, I have a Peavey Blazer158 little screamer (ok, ok, the sad truth is that I often use headphones), and then recently I also bought a digital multieffect from Korg (ToneWorks AX1500G) which allows me to cheat quite a bit, if you know what I mean ;-) I also have another 6 strings Yamaha folk guitar, but currently not really used.
So far for my side of it, then there is the real thing, aka, music from professionals, music I can hardly let few days pass by, without listening to at least some of it.
To put it simple, I do love all kind of music, from Santana to Steve Vai, from Joe Satriani to Simon & Garfunkel, from Al di Meola to Porcupine Tree, from Yngwie J. Malmsteen to Inti Illimani, from S. Ray Vaughan to Mike Oldfield etc etc.... But I have a special place for the following folks: they have my outmost gratitude and respect for their astonishing work!
Dream Theater - I believe these guys are simply not human. They are able to play
any kind of music, every single one of them is a master of his
own instrument. No further description would render justice to their
genius, you've got to listen to them!
Nightwish - A mix of metal, opera and symphonic rock. Amazing stuff from
Finland: Tarja is a wonderful, astounding singer!
Rhapsody - Where heavy metal meets medieval court jesters and
is masterfully mixed with symphonic compositions. Other worlds, beyond
imagination. Another rather unique ensemble of great musicians. Hat's off!
Symphony X - This is a very recent discovery: symphonic power metal at the
highest levels!
Therion - Well, sometimes I wonder what have I done wrong to miss this band (they
are around since a couple of decades). Another hat's off
Ayreon - The man is a genius, period! :)
I saw the first three live in 2002, and I have to admit the best act I've ever seen was the one performed by Nightwish, I was simply astonished! I then saw also Therion in 2004, very good show, but I guess that a complete orchestra is really necessary to fully deliver the musical experience.
If you share the same passion feel free to contact me, I am happy to exchange CD's and to discover yet new musicians, even if I am afraid one lifetime won't be enough!
Finally, I would like to contribute circulate some important informations around digital music: I would like you to be aware of a couple of issues that (IMHO) do not have enough public recognition yet.
First shot: do you know that there are CD's, on sale out there (put your favourite local music store here), that are intentionally corrupted by the record companies to make it harder for people to get them to play correctly on computers? see here and here and find out ...
Second shot: do you know why the mp3 format should better be replaced with Ogg Vorbis format? Don't know about Ogg Vorbis yet? Here is an interesting article from Forbes that pretty much sums up patent issues about using mp3 format for digital music. Hence enter Ogg Vorbis: a couple of very good informative sites here Why use Ogg Vorbis? and here What the hell is Ogg Vorbis and why should I care?. Finally the official Vorbis site .
