Pickstroke

I apologize for not posting anything for a while but please bear with me. I’ve been working on my other site (I’ve installed a new theme and I’ve been trying to get it like I like it) and I’ve also been working on some other things for Pickstroke.

I’ve picked up some new sponsors and made some arrangements to have some guest writers so I’m excited about that.

Also, I’ve secured some other donations for Pickstroke’s next Giveaway! I’ll be launching that in a couple of weeks.

I also have a ton of new sites I need to get posted and several more Guitar Pro files.

I’m neck deep in things to do and the days just aren’t long enough. Please be patient and I’ll get everything geared up and going soon. Hopefully by the weekend.

It’s 11:30 but it’s not too late for Santa to drop by. It is still Christmas day!
I just got an e-mail notice from Stevie Snacks saying he has posted five new backing tracks for our holiday enjoyment.
Thank you very much. That was the only gift I received today.
Merry Christmas!

I’ve closed the last Pickstroke Poll and as you can see, Guitar Pro was the editor of choice. Tux Guitar came in second. I thought that was interesting. I guess I’ll have to play around with Tux a little more since it’s being used so much. I believe it will play Guitar Pro files, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, thank you for taking part in the poll. It was up for nearly three months and there were 57 unique votes so I think that offers a fair evaluation of who is using what when it comes to guitar tab editors.
Now, to the new poll.
I also maintain a personal blog, The Irvins, and it has kept me busy the last couple of weeks. Wordpress has released version 2.7 and I wanted to try it out so I decided to apply the update to my blog first to avoid possible disasters on Pickstroke. The upgrade was smooth sailing. I had no troubles at all (knock on wood) and I’m very impressed and pleased with the new interface.
I was using the same Theme on my blog that I use here on Pickstroke and I was (and still am) bored with it. Since I upgraded Wordpress I decided I might as well try out a new Theme as well. You can click on the link to check it out if you would like. I’m using a Magazine Theme on my blog and I like the way it looks. I also like some of the other features that aren’t available with the Theme I’m using here.

So, my new poll asks the question: Is it time to update the Pickstroke Website? By this I mean the way it looks. Would a facelift improve the appearance any? Are you completely bored with it? They say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and I have to admit that the site has served me well. I could keep it like it is and be pretty happy for another year but everything needs a face lift from time to time.

Let me know your opinion. Also, if you have any suggestions that would make the site more user friendly, those would be welcome as well. You can leave a comment here.

Thanks,

Merry Christmas

My wife and I aren’t very decorative. We haven’t put up a Christmas tree, we have NEVER put up Christmas lights and there’s not too much hanging on our walls. There might be a total of six pictures of the kids scattered around the house and these are no larger than 5×7’s which sit on dressers or shelves in various places.
We’ve always thought about purchasing some prints or paintings to hang in the Living Room, or elsewhere, but have never gotten around to it. All that might change in 2009!
Graphic Guitars is a very nice site featuring the artwork of Paul Chase. He has some very nice guitar artwork. When you visit, be sure to browse through the galleries and not just the front page.
I wish I had discovered this page a month or so ago and I would have requested a print for Christmas. However, you don’t need a holiday to buy anything that’s guitar related! I do have a birthday coming up in January though. Hmmmm… “Hon, come look at these!”
Merry Christmas!

I thought I had linked to the Fretboard Journal in an “On The Side” post but I couldn’t find it when I went looking for it so I guess I’ll kill two birds with one stone here. I signed up for their monthly newsletter, which I received today, and here is a piece of the news they sent:

PRS giveaway … know a good cause?

PRS SE Custom
On Friday, Fed Ex delivered a guitar box came to the Fretboard Journal business office. We assumed it was a really big fruit cake as we sadly rarely get guitars mailed to us out of the blue (hint hint!).

Lo and behold, the generous souls at Paul Reed Smith Guitars mailed us a new, PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow Soapbar electric guitar in natural finish and with a gig bag. There was a note inside from Paul, asking us to “pay it forward” and donate the guitar to a charity, young adult, child or someone less privileged this holiday season. I have no idea how many of these were sent to publications, but we’re grateful to Paul Reed Smith for including us on his mailing list.

Rather than limit our choice to folks we already know, we’re opening this up to you, our faithful newsletter readers!

Tell us in a brief email if you know of a worthwhile charity or individual for this guitar and what impact it would have on them. Humor us, make us cry, do whatever you like. We’ll try to pick a single entry worthy of this thing (though I’m sure it’ll be hard) and get it in the mail so it reaches the recipient for Christmas. Just reply to this email with PRS in the subject line and a brief description in the body. Please submit it by midnight Thursday, December 18. We’ll keep this giveaway anonymous.

If you want to enter, you can email Jason by clicking HERE

Mike, from Dy-sphoric, sent me a link to a site I’ve never seen before called the Interactive Circle of Fifths. It’s pretty cool and extremely functional. Thanks Mike.

If you’ve never been to ReverbNation then click the link and check it out. While you’re there, check out Tommy Emmanuel’s video to his new song, “Locomotivation” which is very cool.
Tommy will be appearing at both shows at the Grand Old Opry taking place at the Ryman Auditorium this Saturday night. The show is covered live by GAC (cable TV). If you live in Nashville or surrounding areas, you can get tickets via the Ryman box office. Ricky Scaggs will also be appearing.

I can’t think of anything else right now. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions regarding the Links page. I’ll be working harder on updating it and making it more accessible next week since I’ll be on vacation for the holiday.

Check back often.

There’s no denying that the Internet is the greatest invention of the 20th century. Computers have come a long way since the days of the Vic-20 and the Commodore 64! (I still have one of these if you want to buy it.) The Internet, too, has come a long way since the first days of AOL and ICQ.

I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that the greatest addition to the Internet in the last 10 years has been video and it seems that YouTube has cornered the market. This is good news for guitar players because there is no better source for instruction than YouTube videos. All that remained was for someone to come along and organize these videos for us.

I’m a stickler for organization and I think I try to get things so organized that my organization becomes a tangled web of confusion. I would be wise to follow the advise of this simply acronym: K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid).

Keeping it simple is what TubeStreamer does. Everything is cataloged and organized in user friendly links. You can find what you’re looking for here. The only thing that puzzles me about the site is the LINKS section. If you’re a regular reader of Pickstroke then you know the pains and worries I’ve been struggling with to organize, categorize and manage my links. It can be a chore but I think it’s worth the time and effort. So, I’m a bit confused by the links page at TubeStreamer. But, we’re not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater!

We now have four links in the directory, two that I’ve placed there (including this site) and two submitted by visitors. I’ve been thinking about my Links page and the Links that are found on my front page. Every person that has a web site wants it to be visited by others and most website designers want to provide something that is useful.

One way to improve the number of hits (visitors) to a website is to have others link to it. I enjoy providing links and my “On The Side” column is devoted to posting new links that I’ve found while browsing around. I also have a “Pick of the Week” which usually generates more clicks than listing a site in the sidebar. My sidebar list of links was growing too large, for my tastes, and I wanted to move the Links to a separate page. I’ve decided that I’m going to continue displaying links, on the front page, in the Links Box, to those sites that display a link to Pickstroke. So, not only will those sites be listed on the Links Page but also in the “Honorable Box”.

If you look at my list of Archives you’ll notice that I’ve been maintaining Pickstroke for 18 months. That’s a year and a half! I’ve linked to literally hundreds of guitar sites and according to Google Analytics there are only 8 sites that link to Pickstroke.

So, if you operate a guitar related website you are welcome to supply a link to your site on my Links page. You might notice that only the top four sections are required in the Submissions Form. The other information is optional, but, by supplying more information you improve your ratings with search engines and make easier for others to find your site. Once you’ve submitted a link to your site, I’ll check it out and if there is a reciprocal link to Pickstroke, I’ll add you to the front box as well.

I plan to continue the “On the Side” feature and the monthly roundup. I’ll also add all of the new links to the Links page. In addition to this, I’ll be adding links that I’ve already acknowledged to the Links page as often as I find the time. If you want on there sooner then take a second and fill out the form.

Here is the Links Page.

Here is the Submission Form.

I’m experimenting with a new plug-in to create a Link Directory and I need your help. I don’t know if I’m going to like this plug-in but I’ll give it a try and see how it goes.

You can view how it’s going to look by clicking HERE.

To submit your site to the Directory, click HERE and follow the directions found on this page.

I’m not going to create a permanent link to this Directory until it gets pretty full and I can look it over to see if I like it. I have a couple of other plug-ins I’m looking at as well. I would like something a little more automated but I also like the idea that visitors can submit their sites to the directory in the event that their site is one I’ve not discovered or that I’ve overlooked.

Thanks for your patience. Please help me make this the most comprehensive Guitar Directory on the Internet.

Tim

If I were a younger man I would beg, borrow and (well, probably not steal but definitely pawn) to purchase one of these guitars. Not simply to play but to leave to my children and grandchildren because this guitar will probably begin to go up in value as soon as it hits the market. This is a limited edition guitar. Only 400 stores will be privileged to carry it and no store can have more than 5.

Craig Anderton is the mastermind behind the software and engineering of this guitar. I own a GNX4 and Craig Anderton wrote the book on it so I know that whatever package comes with the DarkFire will be sweet.

The Darkfire will hit the market on December 15th.

I’m not going to spend any more time on it here but if you want to read more you can visit the Gibson page HERE. Or you can click on the image or any of the other links.

Let’s Not Forget This One. It Looks Good Too! Click on the Image.