String Bending

I ran into a few problems with reading tabs recently - there was notation for something I'd never learned.

It's string bending!
If you push a sounding string left or right with the finger holding it down, it makes a
whammy bar - sounding noise.

personally, I don't care for the whammy - it deadens the sound too quick, and it makes your strings wear out faster. With all the technique out there, A whammy push is really not worth the trouble in my opinion.

But this trick, however.... is awesome. Very bluesy in certain contexts.
It's not particularly difficult, and has a lot of application.

I discovered it in Welcome To The Jungle tabs - something from GHIII.
I happened to hear it on the radio on the way to the Red-and-White Ball tonight... lol...

That was a lot of fun - that dance was youth and singles, so I got to spend time with my many friends old and new...
On another note, I actually people I can label friends now.
Life isn't so bad, I guess.

I am still dreading V-Day.

The Brush Technique How-to

I have had trouble coming up with good Christmas-themed works.
I've been working on this pathetic little ornament, but I still don't like it. I hate to go without a new picture, but I've come up with a solution. I'll have several next time around. I promise.

It's not very hard to make sparkles and ornaments and ribbons - all you need is a little creativity. That's where I have trouble - I'm a total robot when it comes to creativity. I hate doing things from scratch. I hate it. It drives me nuts if little things aren't perfect or if they're permanent. I like to keep my options open.
Oh well. I'm just going to have to get over it - and the sooner the better.

Today I'll cover brushes and technique.
You need to know this definition- I didn't until recently.
Jitter = a randomness generator
a size jitter makes the same thing in different sizes randomly.
an angle jitter rotates things to different angles randomly.

The brush menu (top right, window>brushes, or F5) has magical properties. you can do all kinds of things with it. Open it with the brush tool selected...

---Brush Tip Shape - an expanded version of what you see when you right-click.
Here you can flip it over the X and Y axes and rotate it to any given angle. You can change the spacing, which spreads a scattered(read on) brush out.
---Shape dynamics - contains jitters of size, angle, and "roundness"
Along with spacing(see Brush Tip Shape), size/angle jitters can be your best friend.
---Scattering - scatters the brush everywhere. Great for sparkles, etc.
You can toggle whether both axes are scattered, and can increase the count (w/ jitter) of the brush.
---Texture - applies a texture (image pattern) to a brush.
You can control the properties of the texture, particularly the scale.
---Dual Brush - applies a brush-to-your-brush.
Using it is a bit tricky - It's best to find a bigger or smoother brush and set a smaller or more random brush as dual. If you succeed with it you'll get wild results.
---Color Dynamics - a color property jitter.
It has Fore/Back color jitters with Hue, Sat. and Brightness. The Purity jitter is the most important with the latter two - it regulates the amount of blacks and whites.
---Other Dynamics - the opacity and flow jitters.
They'll randomize how solid it comes out.
---Noise, Wet Edges, and Airbrush -These are pure property-less special effects.
They come in handy, too, so experiment with them as well.
---Smoothing - makes a drawing tablet's strokes less sharp
---Protect Texture - ensures that all of your different brushes use the texture that you specified.

Techniques On the Strings

I've had to work hard to get to where i can play the new song I've been working on.

I've never had too much difficulty with sliding up and down, but now I'm having to do it with switching on the E and A strings.
Sliding and jumping on the low E is a pain; I do it on the high e all the time, but when you drop from A to E or try to slide down on E, the finger wants to slip the string off the neck.
It's my fault; I need to stop hitting it at an angle, and hit it straight down.
Practice makes perfect! Anyways... The song is going well, and I hope to have it done soon.

If anyone has ideas as to what I ought to learn next, I'd be grateful.
I was going to learn Cookie Jar, but I've had trouble getting a hold of good tabs... either that or I'm doing something wrong... I know enough Jack Johnson songs for now, anyway.

I still need to write a song, but haven't found inspiration yet... I have a few chord ideas, though.

can't you see that it's just raining...