the twilight zone

Recently I've been watching the original run of The Twilight Zone from 1959 through 1964.

As a kid, I very vaguely remember seeing one episode of the original 1959-era TTZ, and that was the episode The Fever, which is about gambling. The image of a slot machine following a guy around and terrorizing him stuck in my head for whatever reason.

There was a 1980s revival of TTZ, which in my opinion has the creepiest theme ever for a television show. It literally scared me as a kid. Whenever I saw it, I would change the channel. There was also Rod Serling's Lost Classics in 1994 and a second revival of TTZ in the 2002-2003 era, canceled after one season. I've not seen anything from the 1980s, 1990s or 2000s era of TTZ.

But anyway, this is about the late 1950s/early 1960s TTZ.

Summed up: It's awesome. And this is a lot coming from me considering I normally can't stand 1950s television.

The stories are fantastic, and I really dig the fact Rod Serling and crew took a lot of risks with TTZ. A lot of it is dark both in look and theme. People do get shot, and often - and you even see blood (which for the 1950s was a big deal).

The cinematography is beyond fantastic. Shots are clear, concise, precise and amazing. TTZ is as good as it gets for black-and-white television. Just about every single episode is a work of art. While the acting is at time a bit on the campy side, the stories told more than make up for that by leaps and bounds.

I'm a little more than half-way through season 1 and there hasn't been a single bad episode so far. That in itself is amazing; the stories are that good.

Here's the kicker however when watching TTZ: When watching this, I guarantee you're going to say to yourself, "Wait a second.. I've heard this story before.." at least a few times. Why? Because so many movies and other television shows have ripped off TTZ it's ridiculous. Sci-fi movies/tv, drama movies/tv, action movies/tv, you name it - a whole bunch have lifted material directly from this show. Sometimes in little pieces, other times in very obvious lifts, but you'll know it when you see it. I suppose you could call what other program and movie makers lifted from TTZ "recycling", but seriously.. a lift is a lift. :)

In many respects, TTZ is "space crazy"; it was filmed at a time when the space program in the US was huge news and everyone was talking about it. A ton of space program influence is in the show, no question. But it's cool.

Another thing is that TTZ was filmed at a time when America was at its most prosperous. The whole country had oodles of money, our dollar was worth quite a bit, everything was cheap and many were living the good life - literally. You could leave the door to your house and car unlocked. You could talk a walk at night and not worry about it. The nuclear family was in full effect in the late 50s. And yeah, people miss that. A lot. We haven't seen nuclear families in America for many years.

Anyway, a huge thumbs up to TTZ. Amazing show.

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Everything you ever wanted to know about guitar picks

When I first tried Dunlop Tortex picks in .88mm size, I was hooked. I've tried many picks over the years, and I always go back to the Tortex - but I have very specific reasons why I do.

Originally, I started using Tortex picks because the special textured DuPont plastic it's made out of (which is called delrin) does not slip in my fingers. Later on I continued to use them because of what's called "pick memory". This is a weird term, but accurate. Basically, what it means is that Tortex picks always wear the same way; it won't be the situation where you use one pick and the tip wears off quick and with the next the tip wears off slow. The Tortex has the most consistency of wear of any guitar pick I've ever used. And they feel right to my fingers.

No, I'm not telling you to use Tortex picks. I use them personally, but you can use whatever you want.

Understanding plastics

This is something most guitar players don't pay attention to, but should.

First I will say that the plastic and thickness of plastic does affect the tone of the string. I'll talk about that more in a moment, but first, these are the types of plastics picks are made out of:

Celluloid

The "original plastic" for picks, so to speak. You know these as the "cheap picks", but some players really like them. The tips wear out really fast, and harder players can actually snap these things easily.

I describe celluloid picks as very "flappy" because you can literally hear a flapping noise when strumming with a celluloid pick.

Nylon

Lots of players like nylon picks specifically for the reason that they can be made very, very thin. As in less-than-wafer thin. They also have friction coating that makes them easy to grab and hold on to. They also bust fairly easily, so if you buy these, buy a bag.

Acetal (Delrin)

This is what the Tortex picks are made out of. Most who read this simply know these as "textured picks". Very durable and very difficult to snap/break. The tradeoff is that they typically produce less string ring/vibration.

Ultem

This is a very stiff pick, no matter the thickness. Very good for acoustic instruments like mandolins and ukeleles. Also very good for those looking for that old-school "tortoise shell" pick feel. When you want your acoustic strings to ring out loud, clear and true, ultem material picks are what you use.

Delrex

This is probably the "most grippy" pick you can use. It's what Dunlop Gator Grip picks are made out of. Most of you know these as "the 'chalky' looking pick". That chalk-like whiteness is the delrex material. The tradeoff to delrex is that you basically have to buy these in thick sizes. Metal players love these things because they never fall out of the fingers and can take a lot of punishment.

Other materials

Metal picks: Picks specifically made out of metal. Some call these "mirror picks" because they have a mirror finish to them. Cool to have, but noisy as hell because when the metal plucks the strings, it can create unwanted harmonics because the pick literally acts as a fret since it's metal.

Glass picks: These things are heavy in the hand, however, you may find that you can get your fastest picking speed ever (if speed is what you're after) with that extra weight. Like with the metal picks, they can create unwanted harmonics.

Wood picks: I only recommend using these to those who want a pick that has the "deadest" sound possible. No "flap" and no "clack" whatsoever from these things. I would only use a wood pick on an acoustic instrument where it was absolutely required to hear no pick noise whatsoever.

Things picks do that affect your sound

Flap

If you've ever used cheap picks, you know the flap sound. It's especially heard when strumming chords, even lightly.

Celluloid picks as mentioned above are the "flappiest" of the bunch. This is because they flex easily, so what's happening is that the pick is literally flapping from one string to the next when strumming.

Some players really like flappy picks. Sometimes when you're trying to get that "perfect vintage rock full power chord", you need a flappy pick to get it. Just about all the famous rock guitarists of years ago exclusively used flappy celluloid picks because there basically was little to nothing else around at the time.

Smoothness

No, not smoothness of tone. Smoothness of the plastic.

Smoother picks are in my experience better for soloing for one simple reason: They don't scrape the strings as much on the tip.

For example, let's say you're trying to perform a slower solo, but when plucking those high notes you can hear a lot of pick scraping noise. Sometimes this can be fixed easily just by using a smooth, non-textured pick - OR - using a pick that's not textured on the picking side (the top is textured for your grip, but the playing side is non-textured for plucking).

Flex

The flex of a pick isn't all about flap, because it can affect your entire playing style. For strummers, a pick with more flex is much more comfortable. For metalheads, thick picks are pretty much mandatory for crunching/chugging power chords. For those "in the middle" of all that (such as myself), a pick with some flex works best.

A list of picks all players should have (or at least try out)

Fender Classic Celluloid

This comes in a bunch of different colors, although you'll probably find them in white, black, "tortoise" or "confetti" as shown above. These things have been around forever, they're cheap, every guitar store has them and they'll be around for a long time.

Every guitar player should buy a 144-count box of these. They're nice to have around just for something different, or to give to friends (who always seem to forget their picks, so you don't mind giving these away), or if you genuinely like the old-style celluloid pick, you might as well get the Fender-branded kind because they look cool.

These things are easy to drill holes through and easy to make decoration with. They're so cheap that you could buy a few boxes of these and make a "pick curtain" (similar to a bead curtain) out of them. Or if you have plastic blinds for your windows, take off the knob end of the pull string and replace it with Fender picks. There are many, many ways of using these things as decoration.

Dunlop Jazz III

If you're going to buy a nylon pick, you might as well get this one. Jazz III's are preferred by many players (even ones that play heavy metal). When browsing through the listings, bear in mind there's the regular version of these and the "Max Grip" that have tread-like material at the top of the pick for better grip.

Dunlop Gator Grip

This delrex material pick one I specifically recommend to metal players because you can even get these things in super-thick 2.0mm sizes while still being the "grippiest" pick you've ever used. The Gator Grip will never drop out of the fingers, I can pretty much guarantee you that.

Dunlop Tortex

Of course, I have to mention the pick I use, the Tortex. While true there are other pick-makers who use acetal/delrin material, this one in my experience has the most consistent wear and "memory" as I said above.

When you find "that pick" you like, buy a bunch of them

Something I see happen to a lot of guitar players is that they're always running out of the picks they love simply because they didn't buy enough of them.

When you find the pick that suits you best, buy in bulk. You'll probably have to go on eBay to do that, but it's totally worth it because otherwise you'll be spending more for less in the long run.

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How to make a "Bare Rig" that works for live guitar playing

A "bare rig" means a setup that uses the absolute least amount of gear to play live. It's good to come up with something like this so you're not "that guy in the band who's tweaks his settings for a half-hour just to play".

An ideal bare rig setup is something you can plug in and be ready to play in less than 5 minutes.

If I wanted to - and this is no joke - I could bring nothing but:

• One Squier guitar
• One guitar strap
• One guitar cable
• One power cord (for the amp)
• My Fender Frontman 212R

...and be able to perform club gigs with just that gear and nothing else.

The 212R comes with a pedal to switch from A (clean) to B (overdrive) channel easily, and in addition has a "More Drive" setting (also switchable via the floor pedal) for even more gain. And while on the clean tones, the built-in reverb does the job adequately.

Now I'm not saying I prefer to gig that way, but if I had to, I could get by with it. The above setup is as bare as you can get.

My personal opinion is that the most effective bare rig setup uses no more than four pedals at the most. Some guys have a floorboard with a ton of pedals on them, but for me that quickly turns into wasted money from all the 9V batteries you have to buy for all that stuff. It's either that or you have to bring along a bulky power strip to handle all those power adapters and extra wires.

Using one pedal to get the most

When you want a do-it-all, you get a DigiTech RP255. Everything is built-in to that pedal. Compression/sustainer, reverb, overdrive, distortion, chorus, wah, noise gate, flanger, phaser, pitch, vibrato/rotary, EQ, delay, and can act as a volume pedal to boot.

The RP255 basically does everything, with the only drawback being it doesn't run on battery and requires a power adapter to work.

Using separated effects

Personally, I don't think there's any way to accomplish this without using at least six pedals, which are (and yes I'm listing mostly BOSS pedals purposely because you can usually get them cheap and they're good and rugged for stage use where you'll get your money's worth):

• Compression/sustainer (BOSS CS-3)
• Delay (BOSS DD-7)
• Chorus (BOSS CH-1)
• Overdrive/distortion (BOSS DS-2)
• Wah (Dunlop Cry Baby)
• Noise gate (BOSS NS-2)

...and if you include an A/B channel switcher for the amp, that's seven pedals.

You could eliminate the delay, chorus and wah, but you'll miss them dearly.

Although I've said this before, I'll say it again: You cannot beat the price of a DigiTech RP255 considering all you get in a single unit. If you were to separate everything in the RP255 into separate pedal effects, you'll easily spend $500 or more and be required to have a massive pedal board to control it all.

While it is cool to have separate effects pedals, it really hits your wallet hard and that's why the RP255 is much more of a cost-effective solution. Believe me when I say you will not regret buying one. Yeah, I know, I sound like a sales guy for DigiTech, but seriously, if you go the all-separate-pedal route, you will spend way more than you should.

Using built-in amp effects and external pedals

Some amps (like Fender G-DEC series) have a bunch of effects built right in.

Are these any good? Well, that depends on how you use one.

Typically, if you stick to using just the amp's effects, you'll get mostly the sounds you want and it will perform just fine.

Mixing outboard effects in with amps that have their own effects however sometimes just doesn't mix.

The general rule is this when it comes to mixing pedals with an amp's effects: Only use digital.

The built-in effects to the amp are digital. If you mix in analog pedals with that, what usually happens is "mud" or digital "screeching". Trust me when I say that it sounds like crap.

Purposely use digital pedals on the other hand, and the signal will retain a much "cleaner" sound and won't mud out or screech on you.

Is it usually true that all-analog or all-digital is better?

Typically, yes. But you can mix analog and digital if you go about it the correct way.

For example, if you have an analog distortion and analog wah pedal followed by a digital delay pedal as the last effect in your setup, that will work fine because digital delay pedals usually don't muck up a signal hardly at all.

If on the other hand you have a digital chorus followed by an analog spring reverb, that will sound like crap because the high-treble/flat (by design) signal of the digital chorus doesn't "agree" with spring reverb at all. It sounds awful, and no matter how much tweaking you do it just won't work. You would literally have to put an EQ pedal in between the digital chorus and the spring reverb just to get the correct control over the sound, and that's a total waste when you could just switch over to an analog chorus that the spring reverb would agree with much better.

Experimentation is required when it comes to mixing digital and analog. But said honestly you can save yourself a lot of headaches, time and money if you just decide on which side of the fence you want to stay on and stick with it. Either go all-digital or all-analog, commit to it and you'll get the sound you want a whole lot easier.

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Dirt cheap project guitars for under $200

(Note: Since publishing this article I've had to change it slightly because it's very tough to find guitars under $100 new these days, so now I'm listing the best you can find for under $200. Times change, what can I say...)

Cheap guitars are fun for several reasons. You can beat the crap out of them, try your hand at custom painting a guitar (whether it works out or not doesn't matter, it's fun to try), rip them apart and figure out how to do wiring, pickup installation, etc.

There are a few standard things to know when buying guitars this cheap:

• The guitar may be "creaky", as in the body, neck and tuners among other things will make creaking noises. Over time these creaks should go away once you break the guitar in.
• You will have to spend at least an hour setting it up because it probably was never set up properly before.
• It's probably true you'll have to file off a few sharp fret edges. Have the appropriate file ready.
• The neck will probably need a truss rod adjustment.
• The nut may need to be replaced, but fortunately they're cheap even if you pay a tech to install one.
• Most important: What you get will either be GOOD or BAD, and there is no in between. There is no such thing as a "sort-of-good" guitar in this price range.

Good NEW solid-body electrics for under $200

Squier Bullet Strat

The Bullet Strat is one of the most underrated guitars out there, no question. It has vintage style Strat look and feel, and the best part of the guitar is without question the neck. Most cork-sniffer types would never even think about even touching one of these, much less playing one. But once you feel that smooth "C" shape 60s profile, oh yeah, you'll buy one on the spot. And then you can at laugh at all the morons who spend hundreds more for the same thing while you got yours for next to nothing. Yes, the necks on the Squier Bullet Strats are in fact that good.

Epiphone Les Paul Junior

This guitar may have only one pickup, but if there was ever a Les Paul guitar you wanted to thrash around and not care about, pick up a Junior. And to note, "Junior" does NOT mean it's a little guitar as it has the same scale length as a standard Les Paul.

If you know how a Les Paul feels and plays, you already know the Junior. My recommendation is to get one, throw in a DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup in Creme color (it works nicely with the Les Paul shape and has ridiculous amounts of output compared to the stock pickup), and you've got yourself a kick-ass rock guitar.

Peavey Raptor

Strat-like guitar, but has more of a "growly" sound with its HSS layout (and for rock/metal players, you'd probably like it better than the Squier Bullet HSS). Simple, straightforward guitar, easy-to-play, easy to work on, and of course, cheap.

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How to deal with YouTube as a guitar player

YouTube has, without question, the absolute worst community on the internet. However YouTube is the #1 video sharing web site there is, so you're pretty much forced to use it if you want to get any attention as a guitar player.

There are many players who purposely don't post videos to YouTube for the simple reason the audience there is so unbelievably hateful. I've been on YouTube since 2006 and have pretty much received every type of nasty comment you can possibly imagine. And yes, there were several times I wanted to say "SCREW THIS", close my YouTube account and never bother posting videos on that site again. I stayed with the site because I learned how to deal with the crowd over there.

These are my tips on how to deal with YouTube as a guitar player.

1. Disable all email notifications

I receive no email from YouTube whatsoever because I don't need my email inbox flooded with hateful stupid comments every day.

When logged into YouTube, go to the account notifications area, and that's where can turn off all the emails. Believe me when I say that doing this is a huge relief, because otherwise your inbox will be flooded with hate every day, depending on the traffic your videos get (and mine get quite a bit of traffic).

2. Let the hate flow

Hate comments are going to happen on YouTube and that's just the way it is. You have four ways of dealing with this.

1. Don't allow any comments on your videos at all.
2. Allow comments, but only the ones you approve of.
3. Allow all comments, but delete/block anyone that ticks you off.
4. Allow everything.

The proper choice is D. Allow everything. All of it. There's an old saying that there's no such thing as bad publicity, and this is a true statement. Leave all comments enabled, leave all ratings enabled and don't block anybody.

Fun fact: People who make it a point to post hate comments everywhere on YouTube will eventually get kicked off the system by other users, so you don't even have to do anything to get them booted from the system. When a specific user gets their comments flagged enough times, their account gets disabled. Happens all the time.

3. Be very selective about how you reply to comments

The easiest way to deal with YouTube comments is to ignore them all. Just post your videos and don't bother looking at your YouTube inbox.

If however you want to participate in commentary, just be very selective about it.

What I used to do on YouTube was blast back at anyone who posted a hate comment in my direction, then block them. I don't do that anymore because that's a complete waste of my time. Instead, I employ the "treat a YouTube commenter as a customer" approach.

How this approach works is like this:

• Never post a negative comment. You're going to want to fire back at someone when they post a negative comment from time to time. Don't. If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.
• Only reply to positive comments. When someone posts a nice comment, and it's something you can reply to, reply back in kind.
• You can't fix stupid. Some people just post really stupid comments. Don't reply to these, but let them be posted. Don't try to "educate" them, either. Just let the stupid happen, because that's how YouTube works.

4. Remember that ratings mean absolutely nothing

Originally, YouTube videos had a 5-star rating system, then later changed this to just "like" or "dislike" because most of the time people would only rate a video a 1-star (worst) or a 5-star (best) anyway.

At right are the ratings for one of my videos. Out of 624 ratings, about 33% of them are "dislikes". Do I care? Nope. And neither should you for your own videos.

There are some people who take dislikes very seriously. They see that red line (soon to be replaced with a lighter-gray line) and just freak out about it. As for why they do, it's a psychological reason. People don't want to be hated, and when they see dislike ratings, that makes them feel bad.

Also, any video creator who complains about dislike ratings in the form of a comment or video is a complete idiot, because he or she should be happy people even bother to rate their videos in the first place.

If you're a company trying to make a good image and purposely disable video ratings, that I can understand. But for guitar players, it's like I said above, just let the hate flow.

5. Understand that hate happens on YouTube just for the sake of being hateful and nothing else

It doesn't matter how many positive videos you post or how much you try to be a good person online, because someone is going to hate your guts. And they'll hate you for the dumbest reasons.

In the way human nature works, it is always easier to complain rather than compliment. Everyone has something to complain about, and complaining is easy. Complimenting on the other hand takes actual effort.

A common complaint is that there are no more nice people in the world. Not true. There are plenty of nice people out there, but most of them aren't on YouTube, so all you see there for the most part is massive amounts of hate spread through the site like some incurable disease.

This is incidentally why I think it was a genius idea for Facebook to not have any ability to "dislike" anything, because if they did, everything would be "disliked" and nobody would use the system.

YouTube should have the option on every video uploaded to "Allow dislikes in ratings?" so the video uploader has the choice of what type of ratings are allowed. Will that ever happen? Doubtful, but one can hope.

If as a guitar player you dare to post videos on YouTube, you're going to have to deal with the ever-present waves of negativity on that site. This does require courage and a high level of tolerance on your part. You can make the site work for you and get known as a guitar player through your videos as long as you don't let the hate get you down.

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