George Lynch in Green Bay! And Premier Guitar!

[marnold***]

I just got my copy of the latest Premier Guitar. They have a big extra section on my hero, George Lynch. Much to my amazement, the Hal Leonard ad in there said that he was going to be doing a workshop in Green Bay on October 19! Nobody comes to Green Bay! I just got off the phone with the music shop where he will be and registered. I think I'm going to bring my copy of "Sacred Groove" for him to sign. I'm way more excited than a 40-year-old man should be.

[tunghaichuan***]

I got my copy yesterday. I was leafing through PG on my lunch half hour. I thought of you when I saw the George Lynch insert. :

Let us know how the workshop goes.

tung

I just got my copy of the latest Premier Guitar. They have a big extra section on my hero, George Lynch. Much to my amazement, the Hal Leonard ad in there said that he was going to be doing a workshop in Green Bay on October 19! Nobody comes to Green Bay! I just got off the phone with the music shop where he will be and registered. I think I'm going to bring my copy of "Sacred Groove" for him to sign. I'm way more excited than a 40-year-old man should be.

[Katastrophe]

Sweet! Lynch is one of my heroes,too. Please take pics if allowed and post a full report!:

[Spudman***]

Cool! I'd love to go to one of his clinics. Don't apologize about being excited. I'm excited too...for you.

[rkwrenn]

Very Cool! I am with you. George will be in my area on Oct 28. I can't wait.

Cheers,

Bob

[marnold***]

Tonight! W00t!

[warren0728]

Tonight! W00t!

enjoy....are you skipping sunday night services to go? :

ww

[Spudman***]

enjoy....are you skipping sunday night services to go? :

ww

What do you mean? That is Sunday night service.:

[marnold***]

Well, here's my quick after action report. It couldn't possibly have been cooler. George can just flat out play. He's a very humble and self-effacing guy to boot. I was in the third row, about 10' away from him so I got a bird's eye view (with slight hearing loss). Note that the Lynch model guitars behind him are not his! They are all owned by one of the guys that owns or works at the store. Pretty amazing collection. George had his beat up HSS ESP Strat and signature Tiger. Here's a couple of pictures of him in action and one of him with some dork. I also took a couple of videos that aren't the greatest quality, but they're the best my Canon PowerShot A80 can offer.






(Like my "I'm a total fanboi" smile?)

I also took a couple of shots of the Marshall he was playing through to try to cop his tone. Beyond that, he had an MXR script Phase 90 and a couple of higher-end overdrive pedals. He basically soloed over about 8-10 pre-recorded backing tracks. Some of them were familiar to me, some weren't. He played a new version of "Mr. Scary" that he called "Son of Scary" that apparently is going to be on the next Guitar Hero and a new Lynch Mob album due in February.

I noticed that his fingers were very Polish-sausage-like. He generally played with his thumb firmly on top of the fretboard. He played that fast lick from the end of "In My Dreams" solo. I saw it from 10" away and I still can't imagine how he did it. It's like his pinkie suddenly became prehensile. Totally amazing. However, like when I saw Joe Bonamassa, my initial reaction was wanting to come home and play instead of burning my guitars.

I asked him how many nastygrams we'd have to send to Don to get a reunion tour going. He sounds like he'd be on board if Don would agree. He said they could call it the "Beating a Dead Horse" tour or the "See Them Before They're Dead" tour. Once again, very self-effacing. I also asked about "Tierra del Fuego." He said, "I hoped no one would ask me to play 'Tierra del Fuego.'" Mainly I wanted to know where the flamenco influence came from. He said his father got him started in classical guitar, so it was sort of an homage that way.

Stupidly, I left my copy of "Sacred Groove" at home. I realized it when I was gone 10 miles. Crap. I got his autograph nevertheless. All told, a great night. I don't think you could knock the smile off my face with a brick.

Cost for the clinic: $0
Ability to see and meet your hero: priceless

[Robert****]

Heh, you two look like brothers!

[warren0728]

sounds like a great time there rev.... :

ww

[Spudman***]

Awesome. : I'm so happy for you that you got to meet one of your heroes. Cool!

[marnold***]

I'm such a geek. I was dreaming about the clinic last night.

A couple of other random thoughts from the clinic:
1) He has a sweet "I'm turning Japanese" guitar face. Krash would have been proud.
2) He apologized several times for playing so poorly. The only time I really noticed was on one track where the store guy didn't get the level on the backing track up enough so he was a bit out of sync with it. I wish I could play so poorly.
3) It was a Hal Leonard event, but his new DVDs aren't out yet. They also didn't have his Hal Leonard tab book, which I would have purchased. I would have thought that the would have had a few copies of that one on hand. The store guy said they'd keep some in stock now because of the turnout. We'll see.
4) He talked about making instructional DVDs even though he couldn't play a major scale if you put a gun to his head. I think that might be hyperbole but he's definitely not a theory guy. I'll probably be getting the DVDs just for further insight into his technique, most of which still mystifies me. I was paying particularly close attention to his whammy technique which was quite impressive. My whammy technique sounds like someone who has been given a guitar to help deal with a serious brain abnormality.
5) One nice thing about him not being a technician is that the answers he gave to questions were far more practical rather than blowing everybody away with theory. I know a ton of theory, I just have issues putting it into practice.
6) The fact that the room was filled even though the Packer game was just getting over was pretty remarkable. The Packers take precedence over everything here--even respiration. I thought the crowd would be mostly guys like me, but there was a good cross-section: some older guys, a bunch my age, and a number of kids. One girl was wearing a t-shirt from Dokken's "Under Lock and Key" tour, although she certainly wasn't at that tour. She was maybe 20 tops.

My lasting memory of this will be the fact that while he is my guitar hero, he didn't act like a Guitar Hero with an ego to match. He was very much a down-to-earth, self-deprecating guy who just so happened to be blessed with a ton of talent.

Looks like I've got a new avatar

[Spudman***]

Looks like I've got a new avatar

And signature line.

My whammy technique sounds like someone who has been given a guitar to help deal with a serious brain abnormality.

[marnold***]

Here's a few videos that I captured on my Canon PowerShot A80 that I slapped up on the YouTubes. Not bad, considering it's mainly a still camera. The first two are him jamming with a backing track. The third is him playing excerpts from "In My Dreams." Lastly we have him giving some insight into "Mr. Scary."

[Tone2TheBone]

Wow that's way cool Marnold! A dream come true!

What Marshall was he using? Did you tell him about the Fret?

[Robert****]

That is so cool - congrats on meeting your hero! Amazing what music can do... bringing people together.

[marnold***]

What Marshall was he using? Did you tell him about the Fret?

I don't think that Marshall was his. It was a JCM 2000 with a 1960 slanted 4x12 cab. He commented that he normally plays through his Randall Lynch Boxes but it "couldn't be here tonight." Pity, as I really wanted to hear one in person. FWIW, his EQ settings (using the numbers on the JCM 2000) were:
Presence: 5, Treble: 3, Middle: a little past 5, Bass: 6. I can't tell from my pictures which channel he was using. The reverb was around 5. If he was using the ultra gain channel the gain was at 7. If he was using the classic gain channel it was dimed.

Sadly, I had a brain fart and forgot to mention the Fret. I had every intention of doing so. The dumb thing is that I was pretty much the last in line for pictures/autographs so I could have said something. Oh well.

[Spudman***]

Sadly, I had a brain fart and forgot to mention the Fret. I had every intention of doing so. The dumb thing is that I was pretty much the last in line for pictures/autographs so I could have said something. Oh well.

Oh you slacker.:
Great videos though. I'll bet that was just a fabulous time.

Oh, and what did your friend tell you before you left?

Have thefret.net down on a piece of paper about a half sheet that says "guitar forum the www.fret.net and your name" on the forum. Ask him to stop by and inspire us. Just hand it to him. He'll stick it in his pocket and dig it out later.