Monthly Archives: December, 2009

Pearl Jam concert a stellar evening!

December 9, 2009 — 1 Comment

November 29 and the RSR staff found themselves car pooling to Jon’s home for an amazing pot luck dinner and some quiet drinks prior to the Pearl Jam concert.

With full bellies and for some, a mild beer glow, we headed off to the AMI stadium eager with anticipation about the night ahead.

Luis brought the guacamole

Luis brought the guacamole

Parking wasn’t a problem thanks to Dan’s Dad’s business being situated only two blocks away from the venue and the Rockstar Recipes crew efficiently joined the steady wave of concert goers as the South Island grunge collective ascended upon the old Lancaster grounds.

Approaching the gates, the atmosphere intensified and you could tell that underneath the notorious Christchurch conservative exteriors there were a heck of a lot of rock ‘n’ roll fans bursting with excitement.

Liam Finn opened up while we found our seats and his energetic, indie rock felt very appropriate and really set the whole tone for the evening. Within the first three songs Eddie Vedder appeared on stage and performed alongside Liam much to the delight of the congregation.

By the time we found the right stand and got settled in Ben Harper and Relentless 7 were just kicking off and the show really did kick into second gear.
Once again it didn’t take long for Eddie Vedder to arrive on stage and together they performed ‘Under Pressure’ by Queen/David Bowie.

The crowd responded really well to Ben but as the sunlight began to fade and Pearl Jam came on stage and erupted into their set the stadium really did come alive.
The night grew colder but the light drips and drabs of rain didn’t seem to affect the crowd’s enthusiasm.

Eddie was a real gentleman and charmed the pants off the critical New Zealand audience with some well placed, locally geared anecdotes and a genuine concern for mosh-pit safety.

Ed Vedder Rocked the Stage

Ed Vedder Rocked the Stage

A real crowd pleaser, Eddie announced it was Matt Cameron’s birthday and thirty thousand fans all sang Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs.

The show rolled out like clockwork and Pearl Jam performed exceptionally well, musicianship was absolutely in the pocket and the set list was a very sensitive mix of old and new tracks.

This was the final show of the tour and after a good couple of years on the road these seasoned pros showed no sign of fatigue or lack of passion.
Pearl Jam live in Christchurch 09 definitely goes down in RSR history as an awesome team field trip and an unforgettable experience for the whole crew.

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Posted in Concerts, Jamorama team, Rock, music

Learn like a Real guitar Hero

December 2, 2009 — 2 Comments

BK mockup small1 300x122 Learn like a Real guitar Hero

Last week I had a quick look at some custom guitar hero controllers as well as the YAMAHA EZAG stringless guitar, a “guitar” that falls half way in between a stringless controller and a learning tool with l.e.d.’s  to illustrate where you place your fingers upon the neck.

Guitar Rising is a music video game where the player plays a real guitar as cued by the game’s visuals. Following rock music sequences and streaming notes, players play guitar melodies and rhythms. Beginner difficulty levels are designed for non-guitar players and hard difficulties will challenge experienced guitarists.

The great news is Guitar Rising from Game Tank allows you to play a real guitar in a game that combines the Guitar Hero format with guitar tablature. There are six lines on the screen that represent the six strings just like the neck of your guitar. The color-coordinated notes have been replaced with numbers that tell you which fret to finger.

So a number seven moving across the third line or string from the top, means you’ll play a D note on your 3rd string. Guitar players who have spent any time with standard tablature will find this to be like second nature. If you haven’t then this game will help you move away from the stringless controller format into the territory of REAL guitar playing whilst still having fun.

At this point, GameTank is still unsure whether to implement full chords and polyphony in the final game (that is playing more than one note at a time) – right now the game recognizes notes only one-at-a-time basis and neither can it recognise slides, bends, rakes, triplets, diads etcetera.

This could develop into a really useful and versatile learning tool for those of you who enjoy the Guitar hero format but want to move above and beyond the unrealistic paddle switch clicking of the guitar hero controllers.

You will need a USB interface for your guitar such as the Line 6 guitar port – click here to find out more!

So if it’s time to ditch that amateurish controller toy guitar machine then here is the suggested method, but make sure you listen to Pet Sounds first; and why not?

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

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Posted in computing, gaming guitar hero rockband, gear | Tagged , , , , , , ,