Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Ellivis?

At Iolani, I always admired the guys who could sing -- Andre, Emmett, Mark, Howard, etc. I enjoyed going to the "Show of Stars" and watching the rockers perform. I even went to a press conference with Elvis, representing Imua!

In college, I learned to play the guitar, but, alas my lack of musical talent and a good voice kept me from stardom.

However, in my old age, technology (like Viagra) is helping me achieve my dreams. Linda made me an Elvis jump suit. I bought a Karaoke mic which has pitch correction -- I call it vocal Viagra. You can talk into it, and it will sing on key -- just what I needed. And I bought a Fretlight guitar. It has LED's embedded in the fretboard which shows you where to put your fingers when playing EZ chords, rhythm or lead guitar. It plugs into the USB port of my computer, which is connected to my 52 inch LCD TV and 7.1 surround sound system. There's a comprehensive set of video and other lessons which go with the system. I'm trying to learn the lead solo to "Johnny B. Goode", but it's a slow process. Fortunately, I can slow the tempo and loop phrases. But my favorite activity is jamming with the band. I've purchased a bunch of MIDI files which have the original artist soundtracks and the guitar fingering. I love cranking up the volume and playing along with the Stones to "Satisfaction".

I was a geek in high school. And now I'm a techie geek. If it's technology or a gadget, I probably have it. More examples in future posts.

Ellivis Lum

Fretlight guitar info:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So the next time we get together, I expect some "Elvis-sing" from you! Aloha, Emmett

Mike Chun said...

Maybe Emmett can get you a gig at Diamond Head Theater

Anonymous said...

Hi Elliott,

I just linked up to this site for the 1st time in probably a year or so. Great to see what you guys have written. We need to get together to sing... I have done a little guitar also from college days so all my songs are from the folk song era...

Chuck Leong (cdleong@aol.com)