I’ve not finalized the design yet, because I’ve had to set it up in a few spare minutes here and there while on the road for the Promo tour. It will be prettier later.

The idea of being any kind of “manager” is massively daunting, to say the least, and because I rate Arjen so highly as a person I’ll be under a lot of self-imposed pressure not to screw up! But luckily I thrive on learning new things, so I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Arjen’s previous manager, the unquenchable and extremely talented Yvette Boertje, was effectively the manager of Stream of Passion when I was in the band, so I know about the high standards people have come to expect from Arjen’s management. Here is her official statement from the Ayreon website:

“After working for Arjen for as a manager for nearly five years, I decided it was time to move on and, among other things, pursue my screenwriting career.

We’ve looked for a replacement and are happy to announce that Lori Linstruth will be taking over my tasks. She recently moved from Sweden to the Netherlands and, after a short transitional period, is now ready to take on the job! Please welcome Lori as the new personal manager, webmaster, messageboard administrator, and shopkeeper for Arjen!”

I wish Yvette the best of luck with her new adventures!

Because everything is so new for me and there is so much to do leading up to the release of 01011001, we’ll actually be making the transition gradually throughout December. But after Jan 1, 2008, the training wheels come off and I’ll have to balance on my own. EEK!

Of course all of this anxiety will (hopefully!) blow over soon. Before you know it I’ll probably be running around in cheap lounge suits, smoking a big cigar…

You can find the listing here.

The guitars for sale are the pink and blue ones in the photo below. I’ve also created a page with lots of photos.

Specs

Both guitars recently had the frets dressed.

Pink HM Strat

Make bid

Bridge pickup: Joe Barden
Neck Pickup: Duncan JB Jr bridge, white. I can put the original pickup back in if you prefer.
Middle pickup: The original single-coil installed by Fender. Not sure what it is.
Trem: Kahler Spyder, all parts work but they don’t all match because I’ve had to retrofit spares.
Trivia: Used on SoP tour and in “Out in the Real World” video.
Neck: Overall condition of the frets is very good. Neck has clear varnish on back, like a standard Fender.

Blue-green HM Strat -SOLD 601 Euros

Bridge: Not sure — probably a Tom Anderson
Neck Pickup: Duncan JB Jr neck, black and missing top cover. I can put the original pickup back in if you prefer.
Middle pickup: The original single-coil installed by Fender. Not sure what it is.
Trem: Kahler Spyder, all parts work but they don’t all match because I’ve had to retrofit spares.
Neck: Overall condition of the frets is good. Neck has finish sanded off on the back, feels very smooth.
Trivia: I used this guitar to record all of my Demo 2004, all of the guitar work with SoP, and guest solos on Mountain of Power

More photos and details available on request.

Note to potential US Buyers: I will be in the US between 26 October and 5 November, so I can ship from there which will drastically reduce the shipping costs.

Interested parties please email me: lori at feminoise dot com . The guitars will go to the highest bidders, as the only main reason I’m selling is because I need to raise some cash.

Sorry for the lack of real articles lately — major life changes are going on here at the moment so I’ve had to put blogging on the back burner for a while. I’ll be back soon…with a vengeance!

But just because I have the technology, I doubt I’ll be able to resist posting the odd Twitter update from my phone…

Stay inspired this weekend, and practice hard! I will be trying to do the same…

I don’t even worry
about it happening again

Instead I wonder
Was it just another day?
For all of them?
Just more of the same?

Just another day
Like all the others before
Like all the others yet to be
No need to say
No need to ask
No need to do
all those things that (seem seem so simple but)
are so damn hard

And I wonder how many of them thought
…Maybe one day soon
I will be strong enough
brave enough
thin enough
secure enough
smart enough
good enough
or just plain fed up enough
to just say:
WTF!!!!!!!
Rejection
ridicule
failure
disappointment
(even success, go-figure!)

But I’m going to do it anyway
Some day…

It’s terrifying
Living life afraid
perpetually waiting for “the right moment”
(that never seems to come)
Waiting until circumstances
make it abundantly clear
that it’s not

just

another

day

Desperately trying
to get it right
in those last few moments
with the help of cellular technology
(which is a lousy bet at best)

This is fine for developing basic coordination between your left and right hands, but it’s not exactly musical.

Life is short: if you’re going to spend time working on technical exercises, it makes more sense to design exercises that at least have some potential for musical application. Making an exercise more musical makes it more fun to play as well.

With some slight changes to the warm-up exercise above you can turn it into a true chromatic scale. This gives you both coordination practice AND the benefit of musical applicability:

Chromatic exercise 1 PDF ::: Guitar Pro 5

Make sure that you stick to strict alternate picking, even on the slides — every note should be picked.

I encourage you to experiment with variations on this exercise — for example, playing it with a triplet feel instead of straight sixteenths. And make sure that NO MATTER WHAT you play it clean. If it’s sloppy, you’re playing too fast. Pay particular attention to fingers 2 and 3 — for me those tend to be the troublemakers.

Have fun!

Beginnings
Rachel started begging her parents for a violin at the tender age of three, after having been entranced by the sight of “older girls in beautiful dresses who were playing violin at church.” But after setting bow to strings for the first time, it was no longer just about the dresses: “Initially, it was the sound of it I loved,” she says. “Its voice spoke to me as if this were preordained somehow. By age five, I knew this is what my life would be about: I was already defining myself by my instrument.”

Imagine having such clarity of purpose by the age of five!

Formative years
Rachel’s family opted to home school her, giving her enough time to do schoolwork, practice eight hours a day, and still have a social life. Her family struggled to make ends meet, but their choice to let Rachel pursue music paid off: by the time she was 14 her her violin playing was responsible for the lion’s share of the family’s income.

I was responsible for the mortgage, the utilities, the groceries, and there was so much pressure, growing up like that. … When I was 17 or 18, even if I had gotten a full scholarship, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to be in school and continue to work enough to … support the family.

Rachel first performed as a soloist at age seven, and by age 10 she had appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her teen years saw her win loads of prestigious international competitions. For example, at 17 she was the youngest person (and first American) to win a gold medal in the J.S. Bach International Competition in Leipzig, Germany in 1992. Since then she has enjoyed a successful career as a concert soloist and recording artist, playing one of the world’s most important violins, the 1742 “ex-Soldat” made by Guarneri del Gesu.

Overcoming setbacks
Rachel is also an inspiration for the way she bounced back after “the Metra incident.” As she was exiting a Metra commuter train one day in early 1995, the train’s doors closed on the strap of her violin case. Remotely controlled and lacking safety sensors, the doors remained firmly closed. Clutching her violin — a 400-year-old Amati valued at about a half-million dollars — Rachel was dragged 366 feet before she was pulled under and run over. The accident severed one leg above the knee and severely injured the other.

But did this stop her? No way. After taking two years off to recover from her injuries, Rachel successfully resumed her professional career. In 1999 she took Metra to court. Metra’s defense argued that it was her own choice to not let go of her valuable violin, so her injuries were mainly her own fault. However, the jury didn’t buy it, and awarded her $29 million in damages. (Metra subsequently changed the door mechanism on its trains and revised its conductor safety procedures.)

Recommended recordings
Rachel has recorded numerous CDs, but there are two that may be of particular interest to P.L.A.G. readers:

Stringendo: Storming the Citadel contains Rachel’s original arrangements of rock and metal classics, including Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Metallica’s “One.” Rachel’s notes on this recording include the following observations:

The rock world is not as far removed from the classical world as many people assume…Many rock artists were trained classically, and classical heavily influences their compositional style. Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammett, and Slash, among others, listen often to classical music. (Marty told me that his favorite instrument is the violin!)

Many metal musicians (Van Halen, Man O’War, King Diamond, Rainbow, Judas Priest, Accept, etc.) include actual classical quotes in their compositions…The harmonic influences come from sources including blues and classical, and the structures of tunes like “The Spirit of the Radio” and “One” are quite sophisticated, much more so than in a typical pop tune.

My favorite rock bands always fully express the emotions they are portraying with their music and try to share those feelings with the audience. These musicians inspire me to reach for that level of communication in my performances of classical music, with its more varied emotional palette.

Instrument of the Devil is a classical follow-up to “Stringendo,” featured a collection of diabolically dark pieces for solo violin, such as The Mephisto Waltz, The Devil’s Trill, and Danse Macabre. On her website, Rachel explains that “The album’s liner notes tell the fantastic stories behind each piece and describe the violin’s centuries-old associations with the macabre. It was said that Paganini must have sold his soul to the devil to gain the ability to play all of those fast notes. But don’t worry, I just practiced a lot!”

You can learn more about Rachel Barton Pine by visiting her website, her Myspace, and her Youtube channel. Make sure to check out the photos of Rachel and her rock idols in her photo album.