Does the Guy Fall Off?

Petrucci, interviewed by UltimateGuitar.com, on Hugh Syme’s cover art for “A Dramatic Turn of Events.”

His artwork implies movement, it implies meaning. You want to know what’s gonna happen… What’s happening? Where is the plane going? Does the guy fall off? Why is the guy up there?

I Stumble on Chords and Go With Them

Andy Partridge, whose timeline has been pretty active lately:

Wataru-I stumble on chords and go with them,every time I sit with gtr I try to play something i've never played before,chords or runs—
XTC (@xtcfans) October 23, 2011

Pretty Much Self-Taught

Eric Johnson, interviewed by Jas Obrecht in 1982:

Did you take guitar lessons?

I did for a while. I guess I was a little bit in touch with the guitar because I’d taken so many piano lessons. I’d learned some theory over the seven years that I took piano – I know your basic 2+2 stuff. Once I acquired a guitar and played it, I didn’t accelerate knowledge-wise on the guitar, but I was able to transpose theory that I learned on piano to the guitar. In other words, I knew the frets and what the notes were, and I just sat down and figured that out. And once I figured that out – although there was still a big veil over trying to really break into the guitar as a soloist – at least I understood why I could do certain things and I could grasp why I couldn’t do other things. So at that point, it was just a question of discipline – you know, sitting down and trying to uncover all the many veils. I took lessons for a few months and learned “Walk – Don’t Run” and stuff like that.

So mostly you’re self-taught.

Pretty much. Just listening to a lot of records.

It Won’t Last

So REM broke up, saying that “we walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished.“

My call is that they’ll be on tour again within the next five years. Not sure I’ll be blogging that long, but if I’m right, I’ll make a note of it.

Nice Work

AP:

Phish’s benefit concert raised more than $1.2 million for the Vermont victims of flooding from Tropical Storm Irene.