Wishing a very MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Well, fellow six-stringers, the tab that was posted yesterday -- Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like An Eagle" -- will probably be the last tab of the year. It's not very likely I'll have time to do much in the way of tabbing between now and Christmas. I'll work on one in the week after Christmas so I can hopefully have one posted early in the New Year. I've worked a bit on the Intro of one already. In the meantime, in the week between Boxing Day and New Year's Day, I'll try to get a riff posted on the blog page.

You might have noticed some minor design changes that took place on the site yesterday. I moved all the page links up to the top of each page. The idea was to make it easier to navigate around within the site. Having the page links at the bottom of each page, a person wouldn't even know they were there unless they scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page. With those links at the top of the page, site visitors can immediately see that every page on the site has a link to every other page on the site.

Today, a little Doobie Bro rock'n'roll. The song is from the band's second album Toulouse Street (1972), and this one rocks out pretty good. Since the guitar part for the Intro is fairly short, I've included the 1st Verse, as well.

For the verse, I've only put in very basic chords. I like to be as accurate as possible, but I ended up spending a lot of time second guessing the chords, the exact variations being played. (On the record, it doesn't sound like a simple D Major in the verse, in the live version below it does). So eventually I decided, it's a riff section anyhow, and I've got the riff, so I won't worry much about the chords, and I just put in the basic changes. Close enough for rock & roll.

THE DOOBIE BROTHERS - "Jesus Is Just Alright"     (A. Reynolds)

https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/varriffs.txt

There's some live footage of the song here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ClBlp9crA

Today we riff on the first single (and first hit) of Winnipeg band Harlequin. The song is from their debut record Victim Of A Song (1979). The Intro tabbed here features the kind of guitar and keyboard harmonies that were (and probably still are) a trademark of the band's sound. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to come up with an audio clip of the song. While searching for one, though, I did come across an interesting fact or two about the band, things I didn't know before. Like the fact that Denton Young (former lead vocalist for Zon) played drums in one of the later Harlequin lineups.

I've seen Harlequin live twice, several years ago in each case. Both times they were the opener for another band, and both times they were better than the headliner.

HARLEQUIN - "Survive"     (no writing credit available)

https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/canriffs.txt

Yesterday I posted a tab of The Guess Who song "Albert Flasher" on the site. So for today's blog entry, I'll post the story of where the song's title came from, as told by Randy Bachman. It's from an interview done in 2003.

Do you need just a little something extra for that guitarist on your Christmas list? Here's an idea: an all-in-one peg winder/string clipper/bridge pin puller made by Planet Waves. These have been around for awhile, of course, they're not new on the market. But I love these little gizmos. I bought one earlier this year, and they are the very definition of convenient.

I ordered mine from L.A. Music in Toronto, and the ones they sell look like this:
http://www.lamusic.ca/default.asp?szNav=Product&PID=10872

But I think Planet Waves may have updated and changed the design a bit, because on most U.S. music sites they look like this:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Planet-Waves-Pro-String-WinderCutter?sku=360253

But both are called Planet Waves Pro Winder Cutter DP0002, so essentially they're the same thing.

Obviously, it's the built-in string clipper that sets this model apart. Afterall, all peg winders will wind string and have a bridge pin puller. But clipping the strings was always the inconvenient part for me. To change your strings, you need to have something around which can clip wire...and I didn't always. Sometimes I'd use scissors, which works okay on the unwound strings, but becomes more of a problem with the wound strings. Or often, after winding the string, I'd remove the excess string at the top just by bending a spot on the string back and forth until the string broke. It works, but it's a bit time consuming. To be able to just grab one tool and do the whole job with it -- wind the string, flip the winder around, clip the string -- is great.

The winder part of it has a nice snug, but not damaging, fit. The clipper makes a nice clean cut, and does it easily. I imagine the clipper probably gets a bit dull after a lot of use, but I haven't run into that problem yet. I haven't used the bridge pin puller, so I can't comment on it. (There are lots of buyer reviews of this item on the Musician's Friend page linked to above.) I know I probably sound like a commercial for Planet Waves, but I really do think these things are great...like a Swiss Army knife for changing strings!

Most viewed tabs for the month of November 2007: 

2 - Trooper - General Hand Grenade

Total tab views for November: 53  (Girlschool-25, Canadian-14, Various-14)

4 - The Guess Who - Bus Rider

*Only tab views made by people (excluding my own views) are counted here. Webcrawler/bot views are excluded.

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When you see the actual tab view numbers, you start to see the futility of doing a site this small, don't you? Not to mention a site no one can find by search engine. It's worth pointing out, though, that the overall stats are only for the past two months (that's when I started getting page view stats from Angelfire). So the tab views from the first eight months of the site aren't included in there.

Page views for the overall site (excluding tab views) are actually up from the previous month. But tab views are down (53 for November, 102 for October). I guess fluctuations like that should be expected for various reasons. And it depends a lot on whether people are interested in the new tabs being posted each month. 

I wouldn't expect December to be a high traffic month. People are pretty busy with other things. Maybe some more people will visit after Christmas to find tabs to use for trying out those new guitars they get for Christmas?  Well, despite what I said about futility, the tabs will continue to be posted. If people are meant to find them, they'll find them. And I appreciate the small but mighty band of regulars who visit the site now. You guys rock.   (Of course you do, that's what you come here for, right? )

Today's riff comes from a song that never made it onto an album. It was the B-side of Girlschool's (original) "Emergency" single. It's always been a favourite of mine. If it had been up to me, I can think of a song or two I would have ousted from Demolition in favour of this one.  But over the years, the song has always been available on a number of different compilation albums and CDs. And it was added as a bonus track to the Sanctuary Records re-issue of Demolition in 2004. Catchy guitar riff, great song.

GIRLSCHOOL - "Furniture Fire"     (K. McAuliffe/K. Johnson)

https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/gsriffs.txt

A lot of GS fans seem to particularly like this video footage of Kelly (who sang lead on this song), and I agree with them. She could certainly own a stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9i_NtkOGYw

Party it up, Canadians and anyone else who watches our big game, and enjoy the Grey Cup game today!

Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I suppose I should pick a team, but I'm really undecided. They've been talking all week here about how the Roughriders have something like 16 former Ti-Cats on their team. That's a point in their favour, but I would have preferred those players had made it to the Grey Cup game while still wearing black and gold! And I also have nothing against the Bombers, a team I often feel bad for because they're always getting bounced back and forth between the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference, depending on whether there's a team in Ottawa and/or Montreal. (Personally, I think there should be a team in Halifax, too, or somewhere in the Maritimes.) So I'm not leaning toward either team, may the best one win in this all-West final.

One thing I do have a preference for, though, is the elements (whatever they may be) being part of the game. I always like it more when the Grey Cup game is played outdoors. At the end of November you never know what you might get. But that makes it interesting! Last time the Grey Cup was held in my hometown (1996, was it?) they got a foot of snow on game day! They had to keep sending out little street sweeper type vehicles to clear the snow off the yard line markers during the game. That's the Grey Cup! But today's game will be played indoors in the Rogers Centre in Toronto. (Well, it's my guess that the roof will be closed.) But that's okay, I'm sure the people who are actually there will enjoy not freezing to death! 

Last time the Grey Cup came to Ti-Cat town (by winning it, not by its residence here in the CFL Hall Of Fame) was in 1999. One of my neighbours worked for the Tiger Cats, and on the day they had their turn with the Cup, I was invited over to the Open House they held, to see the Cup, take pictures with it, etc. That was pretty cool, and very nice of them.

So today I'll be donning my #82 Darren Flutie Ti-Cat jersey, watching the Roughies and the Bombers in the big game...and hoping the Ti-Cats are back there soon (one can always hope).