charliehiphop's blog

Having taught myself, I often rue the fact that I did not learn how to play guitar in a more structured way. Unable to afford lessons, I borrowed a book from the library and practiced the scales and chords until I could play them without thinking about it. The result was that I developed a distinctive style of playing because of a lot of bad habits. Don't get me wrong -- learning the chords and scales is enough if you practice like mad. But if I had started out with some idea of proper chord fingering, picking, and so on, I'd be a totally awesome guitar player, not just the distinctive one that I am. As it is, unlearning 25 years of bad habits is proving difficult, but I'm giving it my best shot.

If you want to learn to play guitar or want to get better at it, take these free guitar lessons and practice like mad.

(Disclosure: Your purchase of Jamorama through those links helps me pay my rent. Thanks!)

Nothin' hurts a man like a woman leavin' -- except maybe when Google spurns his website, causing his traffic to fall off a cliff. I wrote one of these for my wife when she left me. It didn't work on her, and I doubt it will work on an algorithm, but here goes.

"Come back to me, darlin' Google!"

Fat cats stole $100,000,000 every day from suckers like you and me

If that's not a racket, I don't know what is.

(First of all, I want to give props to this guy, who called this at least a week before the story broke. He needs to take the word "legally" out of the headline, though. There is nothing legal about what Goldman was/is doing.) Read it all

It seems that somehow I have brought the wrath of the Google upon this site yet again. I can tell you something interesting about the Google algorithm (akin to the secret formula for Coca Cola) as it stands at the moment of this writing: Read it all

...on all my brothers and sisters from the Earth Mother

We all know who you meant when you blamed "bloggers," Sarah

Sarah Palin, bless her heart, will officially resign as governor of Alaska. Praise be to Jeebus! America has officially shed one of its most embarrassingly corrupt, clueless politicians. (She is hot, though, I'll give her that.) Read it all

OK, OK, I admit it -- I'm a rich bastard.

What's the point in trying to hide it? If by "rich" you mean, "do what you want, live where you want, go where you want, and don't answer to nomufuggin'body except the tax man," I qualify. If by "rich," you mean, "travels the world, romances lovely women, eats well, creates and appreciates beauty," I qualify. Read it all

Small victory for justice

The old fraudster, Bernie Madoff, is actually going to spend the rest of his life in prison for ripping all those people off! It's a Fourth of July miracle! Read it all

Eulogy for the King of Pop from a grateful fan

I am incredibly sad as I write this. One of the greatest entertainers, one of the true shining musical geniuses, one of the most iconic American cultural figures of the past 100 years, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, has departed from this world. Read it all

The service and asset based "New Economy" didn't work out so hot

Now what?

It sounded good on paper: Globalization meant that un-developed economies could become developing economies by manufacturing the things that would be needed in developed economies. Developed economies would provide services and capital to manage and fund new manufacturing and resource extraction enterprises in the Third World. A rising tide would lift all boats. The theory behind the New Economy made some sense. Read it all