Once again, I woke up (REALLY late) this noon  and found another AMAZING Christmas present! My sponsored Visual Sound Effect Pedals for myself (and Greek Guitar Power) had arrived in a nice hefty box ! I did not even have to carry it – my brother dropped it off at my studio… Everything I wanted to use and try out was included – 8 packages all together Many sincere thanks to Visual Sound for trusting me with their equipment ! Stay tuned for photos from the unboxing – Christmas is EARLY this year!!!

I am asked VERY often about the technical requirements for playing contemporary Electric rock/Fusion guitar – so i made a little list for you! ·        Alternate Picking ·        Crosspicking ·        Chordal Picking ·        Legato ·        Sweeping ·        Tapping ·        Pick & Fingers ·        Wide Stretches ·        String Skipping ·        Left-hand Tapping ·        8-Finger Tapping

Let’s get thing rolling , as far as my new Instrumental CD is concerned! Here’s an audio track for your listening & downloading Pleasure! The Promised Land

I must admit, that these last few days have been VERY interesting, at least as far as various Sponsoring and collaborations with major music-related companies! Just received a BRAND new, smashing SCHECTER guitar – to be used by my students during our guitar lessons! I am VERY excited about it – not to mention how excited my students are! Pics are forthcoming!

Ioannis, I am confused! WHERE are YOU located currently? “I am in Greece – specifically in Athens. That’s where I live and teach. Although I enjoy travelling and performing around Europe, I DO have a stable “base of operations”! Ioannis, I was wondering if you could give me some GUITAR LESSONS…. “Probably – at the very least, we can definitely meet, chat and do some guitar playing together. I’ll assess your playing level & discuss your music goals and we’ll either work together or I will refer you to one of my MORE ADVANCED students that teach using my method” Hi! I am a big fan of your music and I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to get REALLY good on guitar… “Yes! GET A COMPETENT GUITAR TEACHER! That’s  [ Read More ]

Woke up (late) this morning and found an AMAZING early-Christmas present! My sponsored EMG pickups for myself (and Greek Guitar Power) had arrived in a nice hefty box ! Everything was included – 81s, 85s, 707s and more ! These are amazing pickups and I honestly cannot wait to install them on my guitars! Many thanks to EMG for trusting me with their equipment ! Here are some photos from the unboxing – Christmas is EARLY this year!!!!  

I am very happy to get my (and Greek Guitar Power) Wah Pedals sponsoring from Jim Dunlop! These are amazing pedals, and I could not wait to get my hands on them!! The specific wah pedals I got are the Zakk Wylde Wah and the Dime Cry Baby from Hell! Pictures from the unboxing coming soon! Many thanks to Jim Dunlop for trusting us with their equipment and to Anastassis Kagmakis for his help!

Just ordered the first posters for the January 2009 GGP festivals. They should be here in a couple of days! Stathis has done  a great job in updating the design of the posters with the new members and it’s good timing that we get them now, just before Christmas season!

Had a very comprehensive and productive meeting with the rest of the GGP gang today! It seems we decided we will be makign a nice banch of custom Greek Guitar Power guitar picks to be giving away at out festivals! As soon as we come up wth a couple of cool designs, i’ll be posting them here for everybody to comment on!

Been trying to figure out the best way to produce some custom T-shirts for the GGP team and fans – we ALREADY have a few requests for them! Theodore seems to think that having a very stylish, ambroidered t-shirt would be the best choice – I am torn between that and a regular heavy-metal style of T-shirt, featuring our handome faces and our guitars! No definitive desicion yet!

One of my favorite contemporary electric guitar artists is Chris Brooks – an excellent Australian guitarist that plays a mean progressive style of electric guitar! Check out his WWW site and tell me what you think of his playing! [youtube=http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=k-vROaEmgcs&feature=channel_page]

This is the suggested CD cover for the Greek Guitar Power, Vol.1 CD!

Well, it is time for some “deep thoughts” and ramblings – fuelled by some amazing quality chocolate (gift from a very very nice student!!!) I keep thinking that even though this upcoming CD is my 4th (or my 5th? I’m losing track here…), it NEVER ceases to amaze me how much hard work and how much micro-management of a million little damn details is needed to produce a final result that reached acceptable standards! Honestly, artists that continuously nag about the “record companies doing nothing”  should really try to produce their own CDs for a change! I can (almost) guarantee that most of them will finish this project with newfound respect of the quantity of man-hours it takes to produce this!

Λοιπον, οι παρακατω οδηγιες ειναι για την σωστη και πληρη αναπτυξη ΡΟΚ Vibrato (στυλ Gary Moore, George Lynch) – Για βιμπρατο κλασικο και jazz η διαδικασια διαφοροποιειται! ΒΑΣΙΚΟ – Οταν κανεις vibrato, τα προηγουμενα δαχτυλα υποστηριζουν! Αν κανεις με το 3ο, το 1ο και 2ο υποστηριζουν! 3 πραγματα πρεπει να εχεις στο μυαλο σου – το ΡΟΚ vibrato πρεπει να εχει 1. Σταθερο ευρος ταλαντωσης (1 τονος ειναι πολυ καλο) 2. Ταχυτητα ταλαντωσης σχετικη με το tempo του κομματιου 3. Σταθερη ταχυτητα στο bend και release Τα 3 συνηθισμενα λαθη των intermediate κιθαριστων ειναι σε αυτες ακριβως τις κατηγοριες:  Oποτε 1. Αποφυγε το να εχει η ταλαντωση μικρο ευρος (ημιτονιο or less) – κανει το vibrato να ακουγεται πολυ νευρικο και αβεβαιο 2. Αποφυγε το την γρηγορη ταχυτητα ταλαντωσης (αρα και μη συμβατη με το  [ Read More ]

I just got my sponsored Elixir string sets for the 2nd part of the year – as well as a few brand new Elixir guitar cables   Strings included 009 sets, 010 sets, Acoustic, and even a few Custom sets for C# tuning and some for my trusty Schecter & Caparison 7-string guitars!   Very happy about getting these – these are amazing strings! Many thanks to Elixir for trusting me with their equipment ! Here are a couple of photos from the the unboxing!  

  CD BABY   – http://cdbaby.com/cd/ioannis2 Guitar 9    – http://www.guitar9.com/suspensionofdis.html   (EDIT: Sorry, Just SOLD OUT ) Abstract Logix  – http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/product.php?productid=23143   (EDIT: Πάλι SOLD OUT – Βρε, κακός μπελάς!!!  ) iTunes       – http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=255588175 Tradebit    -  http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/1835498   (Digital Download Only!!!) Buy.com    – http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204742978&loc=18250 (Digital Download Only!!!) PayPlay.fm    – http://payplay.fm/ioannis2    (Digital Download Only!!!) Στην Ελλάδα, η διανομή του CD γινεται απο την Soundforge  

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX2i-wHraIE&feature=related]

I must admit that almost on a daily basis I will stop and think how lucky I am that I have such an amazing job: Helping young kids reach & realize their dreams, take timid teenagers and help them literally transform themselves to uprising guitar stars! It is an amazing feeling, very fulfilling and very exciting! Sure, the ride is often bumpy and it can (occasionally) be a VERY thankless job… but I wouldn’t trade it for the World!