Ok, how often have we heard someone say this? I never really knew what that phrase meant until I became the head of the news department at a national TV network (in Canada I might add - I'm not rich so don't break into my house).
After a brief flirtation with the electric guitar when I was a teenager (so brief, I don't think I got to second base guitar-speaking) I put the hobby aside for a couple of decades until I picked it up again in my late 30s as a means of keeping my head from exploding under the relentless pressures of my job. And hey - it worked!
If you're stressed or your brain is so full of personal and professional flotsam that it keeps you from seeing clearly - playing a musical instrument is for you! It helps you focus on something unrelated to your worries. It can also provide a social group (namely a band) in which you can bond in a way like no other.
Seriously - in a band setting you can be surrounded by people you would otherwise never associate with (because of their politics, smell or habitual heroin use) and then feel strangely incomplete without them when you're finished jamming and sitting in the car, surrounded by your gear, on that lonely ride home.
Before continuing, I should stress that none of my band mates from The Natural Disasters does heroin, nor do any of them emit a strong odor on a regular basis.
So what will this blog have to offer readers? I plan to have gear reviews and observations for guitar geeks, but also more general posts about music and life. I also plan to talk a lot about my days as a music writer for a magazine that no longer exists and which went belly-up owing me money.
The great thing about the demise of PULSE magazine is that I can scan funny, odd or quirky parts of the magazine and post them online. Believe me - the best way to describe PULSE was funny, odd and quirky - although not always on purpose.
As for the name PULLOFFS - well it's an allusion to a guitar technique where you finger a note on the fretboard, hit the string then release your finger. I view this blog as a way to release many of the stories and observations I carry around with me before they are lost to the ages. That's why I have used this as a title to my blog - that and the fact Guitarman, GuitarGuy, FretEnds, Headstock, MachineHeads and all the other guitar-oriented words and phrases were already taken.
Take care my friends. Until next time...
After a brief flirtation with the electric guitar when I was a teenager (so brief, I don't think I got to second base guitar-speaking) I put the hobby aside for a couple of decades until I picked it up again in my late 30s as a means of keeping my head from exploding under the relentless pressures of my job. And hey - it worked!
If you're stressed or your brain is so full of personal and professional flotsam that it keeps you from seeing clearly - playing a musical instrument is for you! It helps you focus on something unrelated to your worries. It can also provide a social group (namely a band) in which you can bond in a way like no other.
Seriously - in a band setting you can be surrounded by people you would otherwise never associate with (because of their politics, smell or habitual heroin use) and then feel strangely incomplete without them when you're finished jamming and sitting in the car, surrounded by your gear, on that lonely ride home.
Before continuing, I should stress that none of my band mates from The Natural Disasters does heroin, nor do any of them emit a strong odor on a regular basis.
So what will this blog have to offer readers? I plan to have gear reviews and observations for guitar geeks, but also more general posts about music and life. I also plan to talk a lot about my days as a music writer for a magazine that no longer exists and which went belly-up owing me money.
The great thing about the demise of PULSE magazine is that I can scan funny, odd or quirky parts of the magazine and post them online. Believe me - the best way to describe PULSE was funny, odd and quirky - although not always on purpose.
As for the name PULLOFFS - well it's an allusion to a guitar technique where you finger a note on the fretboard, hit the string then release your finger. I view this blog as a way to release many of the stories and observations I carry around with me before they are lost to the ages. That's why I have used this as a title to my blog - that and the fact Guitarman, GuitarGuy, FretEnds, Headstock, MachineHeads and all the other guitar-oriented words and phrases were already taken.
Take care my friends. Until next time...
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