Dean

The album's alright. Just not the same Jimmy Eat World I fell in love with, but music changes with the artists so it's expected I guess. Still a respectable album that I'll spin for a little while, I'm sure some of the songs on there will grow on me. A little disappointed about the closing track, they have such a good history of closing tracks and this one just feels like it's climbing towards something but never actually gets there.

Would love to hear you do one for "Stay" by Onelinedrawing.

Thanks guys Definitely check him out, he's great.

The song is "Wind and Walls" by The Tallest Man on Earth, if you haven't heard him check him out! Fun song to play, open C tuning is the best.

I love that EP, and it's probably fair enough to include it. I'd put it 3rd, just behind Futures for me. It's the direction I wanted them to keep going, which is probably why I was initially so disappointed by Chase This Light.

I like Damage more that I Will Steal You Back. Very poppy though. While everyone's posting their favourite albums in order: Clarity > Futures > Bleed American > Static prevails > Invented > Chase This Light

These are not bad at all man, I actually really really like your songs. Your voice really suits this stuff too. If I had one thing to say, it's that I'd love to hear you push your voice more. You have good tone and it just sounds like you're restraining yourself, which works in some instances but there's some spots where it would've been great for you to open your throat right up and belt a few notes out. Please post anymore you do, I actually love these. Would love to hear final versions of these if you ever get a chance to lay them down

What he said. Song's good, but nothing special. After the masterpieces they've done in the past, they should be writing songs that are so much better than this.

Love that finish. Looks real nice man

Yeah I'm sure there's a story there. It will come out eventually.

Exactly. Another drummer could tour with them and it would be fine, but it's his drumming style that gets written into the songs that really makes a difference, and it's just hard to imagine it's going to work with him gone.

I am actually really upset by this. In fact this has got to be close to the most upset I've been about anyone leaving a band ever. I'm not a drummer, but any time I listen to MCS I drum along to every song because it's always been so perfect. Saw them play last month at Soundwave in Melbourne, and were without a doubt the act of the day for me. Hopefully whoever they get as their permanent drummer can keep things fresh and fun.

Pre-Meds Placebo is amazing. Meds was alright, but after that they just went totally whack and I think they ruined it. I saw them play a couple of years back and any older songs they played they completely changed to the point of butchering them, which really upset me because I'd waited years to see them. Their 2003 live in Paris DVD was them at their prime, and Black Market Music is such a brilliant album.

Barre chords are really hard to start off with, I don't think people expect them to be as hard as they are because the theory behind them is so simple. They were easily the most frustrating thing when I was learning guitar. Can guarantee with practice that it just comes after a while. Worth the commitment!

You win.

Only one I know of from Geelong is Magic Dirt, but I doubt anyone would know them except for Aussies. Here's a few from Melbourne - The Living End, Temper Trap, Cut Copy, Rogue Traders, Augie March, Cat Empire, Gotye, TISM, Jet

I'd recommend taking a couple of songs you know with just power chords, figuring out what the chord is by looking at the base note and then trying to translate that into a 'full' chord. it can be a challenge, but it's a good exercise. For example, when I play Dammit I use the full standard chords for the chord progression - C, G, Am, F If you want someone closely as they play chords higher up the fretboard, you'll tend to find the chord shapes are identical to many of the chord shapes played in the first couple of frets. Mostly this is done with a barre chord, which means you actually put one finger across every string and then build the chord shape around it. As an example, you would play an E major chord like this usually: e - 0 B - 0 G - 1 D - 2 A - 2 E - 0 You can use this same shape to do, for example, a G major like so: e - 3 B - 3 G - 4 D - 5 A - 5 E - 3 To do this, you'd lay your index finger across the entire third fret and then use the remaining 3 fingers to hold the other notes. This can add a lot of dynamics to a song, because there are so many different ways to play any chord and they all have their own flavour. Keep in mind that if you haven't played with barre chords before that they are HARD. It takes a lot of practice to be able to quickly and effectively use a barre chord, it can be really tough to hold down all 6 strings on a fret with a single finger and still be able to construct a chord around it. I don't know what you're playing on but this is obviously a lot easier on an electric as you don't need to apply nearly as much pressure to the strings, but I would recommend practicing until you can pull them off on a steel string acoustic.

So long as you know your chords, you'll pick it up just by practicing and paying attention to the notes and chords used in various songs. You'll begin to understand what works and what doesn't, so if someone tells you to play in the key of A major, you know which chords will fit so you can start throwing them into a pattern. Same goes for lead, with enough practice around the fretboard and knowing which frets/strings are which note you'll begin to be able to just play. Start with a base note of A and use the notes in the major scale up and down the frets. I'm not great at random jamming, but I mostly put that down to my lack of imagination. I find the hardest part of coming up with something on the spot is trying to think of something different. Also take what I say with a grain of salt, because I've never actually had any lessons so a guitar teacher would probably have some much better advice.

Had that baby custom made, wouldn't ever get rid of it!

Restrung my 12-string this weekend. It is sex to my ears.

For just a quarter pounder burger, I think it's about $5. A cheeseburger I think is like $2.50.

I would feel empty without guitar.

I honestly can't think of 10, for me it hasn't been a great year for new albums. 5 that come to mind though: 1. Anais Mitchell - Young Man In America <- Amazing album, anyone who loves folk music needs to listen to this. 2. Sigur Ros - Valtari 3. Sun Kil Moon - Among The Leaves 4. Grimes - Visions 5. Cat Power - Sun

no

That's a bit shit. What'd they play?