The Silicon Valley Geek

Okay, so I picked up enough courage to put together this video of me playing Green Day’s Basket Case.

Don’t laugh…

I’ve been playing the same old Green Day songs on the guitar for something like a year. So it was a relief, especially for those around me, when I finally learned another song.

The nice thing about playing power chords is that if you have the right tabs (”tablature” for you), it’s quite easy to pick up a new song. I found the tabs for All-American Rejects‘ Swing Swing on Ultimate Guitar and was off and power chording in less than 5.

Of course, the solo parts still need some work. Well, to be honest, a lot of work. But the basics are there.

Some songs are simply easier to play on the electric guitar, especially if you lack skills of any kind. My Chemical Romance is especially difficult because of the way their songs are mixed. Even their live concerts don’t sound like they do on their albums.

Green Day is easy. My favorite, Basket Case, is one song that looks like it was written for the newbie power chord player. The lyrics are fun too.

Maybe when I’m especially brave (or foolhardy), I’ll do a youtube video playing and singing Basket Case.

The pic below is from last year, when I was in the throes of my Green Day craze (and Finance class).

All right, so I admit it. I am old enough to have listened to The Police. That was even before Sting became an actor and starred in a version of Dune.

So I think I am well qualified to say that there are songs on Maroon 5’s latest album “It won’t be soon before long” that sound like they could have come from The Police.

The songs I am thinking about are: Won’t go home without you and Not falling apart.

Perhaps that’s why this album is such a good seller on iTunes: all those middle-aged dudes who were Police fans.