Hey, you wanna go take a piss for me?

THE STUDENT Doken was told to go on a long journey to another
monastery. He was much upset, because he felt that this trip would
interrupt his studies for many months. So he said to his friend,
the advanced student Sogen:

"Please ask permission to come with me on the trip. There are so
many things I do not know; but if you come along we can discuss
them - in this way I can learn as we travel."

"All right," said Sogen. "But let me ask you a question: If you
are hungry, what satisfaction to you if I eat rice? If your feet
are lame, what comfort to you if I go on merrily? If your bladder
is full, what relief to you if I piss?"

Anybody notice anything weird about the koan? Both of the names are Dogen with one letter changed.

When Doken asked Sogen to come along, Sogen would have been making the journey for Doken, because Doken would have continued to use the excuse that Sogen is a better monk than he is. Doken was trying to get Sogen to take control of his life and actions for him, which if you know anything about Buddhism is a big no-no. Sogen says that Doken needs to do his own work and he gives three example. If you're hungry I can't eat for you, if you have no feet(Or they don't work) I can't walk for you, and if you have to piss I can't drain the lizard for you. Sogen was teaching Doken that he needs to take control of his own actions, because the only person responsible for your actions is you.

My summer is finally over.

So, after getting a little too much into Guild Wars, completely ignoring my own whims to put out my own CD in November, starting school, and doing the musical I've decided I'll try my best to keep up a blog when I remember it.

Today I'll start out with a rant on a certain teacher who bothers me because of his closed-mindedness.

My teacher, who will remain nameless for privacy purposes, had us do an assignment on the Summa Theologica and how it proves that God definitely exists using logic. Logically, God shouldn't exist because there's no concrete proof. All those "saints"? Yeah, they're just nutjobs that the Catholic Church took and put on a pedestal. Don't get me wrong, I don't not believe in the divine and good, but I'm saying faith means believing in something that shouldn't exist naturally. I find it hard to believe in something that I haven't seen, because of this koan(A zen story) that says at the end, "I don't know about Buddhas of the past, present, or future; but I know cats exist, and I know cows exist." Pretty much the dude that said that meant he couldn't tell you about anything he hadn't seen for proof. He had seen cats(Around the temple) and he had see cows(Out in the fields) and therefore he knew they were real, but he had never met Buddha and had no proof that Buddha even existed or wasn't some looney-tune with a towel on.

Now, I'm not saying don't believe in God, Allah, or whoever else you worship, but what I'm saying is take everything anyone says with a grain of salt. You don't need to believe someone just because they have a fancy degree or they stand up in front of the class and tell you "how it is." The assignment we had to do was so obviously wrong I had decided I would actually do the assignment, just to see some counter-arguements. Well, the assignment wasn't collected, looked at, or hardly discussed in class, but I did input on one part of the Summa Theologica, and that's what I'm going to leave here so that you can come up with your own arguement to return to me, since apparently, "That's not true," is the only answer I was able to pull out of said teacher.

God exists because he is the only thing that is necessary to exist for us to be here in this world. (Starting arguement)
My reply was, "But this world wouldn't be the same without me in it." This the class laughed, thinking I was trying to be funny. I then said, "You see, I shape the world around me just as much as the world around me shapes me and therefore, without me this world would not be THIS world, but a different one." The teacher responded with, "But the world would be the same, that's not true." And I repeated myself, only using the teacher as an example in hopes of furthering his understanding. "The world would be the same because God changes the world how he wants. That's not true." So apparently, God can act outside of cause and effect, can change the world however he wants independent of people, and is all-powerful. Why does he need us? Oh yeah, he's lonely. Therefore, the world WOULD NOT BE THE SAME if we(the human race) were not here in this world*.


*The word world I'm referring to would be this moment and time in the universe, every planet, every star, everybody, and everything, even that itch on the side of my face I'm going to scratch after I send this post in.

You can Say Anything you want in the comments below!

So I'm going to do the band Say Anything today. I'm addicted to their CD "Is a Real Boy..." and my favorite song is "Wow, I can get Sexual Too."

I don't know much about them, so this is going to be a short one. I know their lead singer's name is Max, which I FREAKED OUT when I found out about it, because my name is Max too. =P

Their music is pop-rock ish. Their lyrics are mildly comical and the best i could compare them to is Bloodhound Gang because of their style and lyrics. They really have some great music and they do have serious songs if funny stuff isn't your style(But what kind of a life is that?) all in all I think it's a good mix for the CD, I go through highs and lows in the music point, and that's what music is supposed to do. It's supposed to make you feel the feelings the artist was having when he or she wrote the song.

Embedding was disabled on the video, here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ1nZG_ovCw
(Un-hyperlinked for your convenience.)

Advanced Bass Lesson Pt. 1- Tapping

So after slacking off for over 12 HOURS I decided to finally do this. I'm gonna start with one of my favorite advanced techniques, tapping. Tapping involves playing a note by hitting the fret without plucking. It's basically how it sounds in other words. You need to hit the string hard enough that it can be heard but it can't sound out of place with the music or with your other hand(I really struggle with keeping my two hands at the same pitch. It's really hard to learn at first.) A good tap line uses a decent amount of musical theory. You have to know a root note and use your knowledge of the scales and modes to find a melodic line that goes with whatever music you're playing. If you tap along chords with your left hand you can accent those chords with your right hand by jumping around on notes. It's really fun to do once you get good at tapping and know your scales, plus it helps you get comfortable with the top of your neck quicker.

I know many of you don't follow The Roving Cesereans but we have this psychadellic song where I do a pretty sweet tapping line.(This is where I would plug our new CD and give you a link to where you can listen to said song, but it has yet to be released) I'll even go so far as to tab out the tapping line for all of you avid followers of mine.(Haha!)
E ------------------------------------
A --8~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
D -----15--17---------------------15-
G ------------14--15/17--15--14-----


E ------------------------------------
A --6~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
D -----15--17---------------------15-
G ------------14--15/17--15--14-----


E ------------------------------------
A --5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
D -----15--17---------------------15-
G ------------14--15/17--15--14-----


E -------------------------------------
A --4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------
D -----15--17-------------------------
G ------------14--15/17--------------

As you can see the right hand is playing *pretty* much the same line while the left hand holds a root note. It sounds fantastic alone and when thrown in with 2 other guitars playing something straight out of the '70s you get quite the acid-trip feeling.

Other fun tapping lines include "The Kangaroo Song" and "Noel" by Grasshopper Takeover.

If you hate tapping, find it hard to do, or just don't think it's cool I ask you to stay with it on your own and just bust it out every once in a while. The skill takes forever to learn well(I'm still practicing) but as you get better at it I find it's one of the most usefull skills to learn on bass besides fingerstyle, slapping, and popping.

Hey you! That beginner bassist!

Hello, are you interested in learning how to play bass? Well, I'm your new best friend!

To start off we'll start with something basic, the major and minor scales. Assuming you've never heard of music at all scales are 8 notes that sound good together. As a bassist it is your job to make sure everything sounds good. You are the link between the drummer and the guitarist. Where you sit is called the pocket, and if the pocket is your desk and the bass is your pen then the scales are your ink for any good walking line. If you play punk, rock, or pop you'll probably just want to do what the guitarist does because that's the cool thing to do nowadays. If you're playing a funk song your best bet is octaves and clicks with slap and pop(Will be thoroughly discussed next week.) and fingerstyle it's best to go with a major scale. Ska is based around a major triad.(1, 3, and 5 of a Major scale) Jazz can be anything from major to minor to any of the modes in between. You need to know your audience, music style, and your scales to get anywhere in the business.

Major Scale

A Major scale(Written with a capital M or Maj) is played starting with a root with numbers 2 through 8. A major scale in A would be A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A. If you're reading tab that's
E-5--7---------------------
A------4-5-7---------------
D------------4-6-7---------
G--------------------------
Now start playing this slowly and get used to using all your fingers. If you start only using the first three(pointer, middle, and ring) you're missing out on a ton. Your pinky finger is a much-needed finger in every style of music and is actually a lot easier to use once you get it strong enough to hold down the strings. You will have much more trouble with your ring finger later on in your lessons anyway, so start using your pinky now.

Minor Scale

A Minor Scale(Written m or Min) is the same as a major only the shape is changed a bit. A Minor Scale in A would be A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A and for those of you that read tabs:
E-5-7-8-------------
A-------5-7-8-------
D-------------5-7---
G--------------------

Again, use your pinky! I can't stress this enough, pinkies are one of your most important fingers and I love using my pinky, it was really tough to get used to at first and now it's second nature.

That's all until next time. Good luck playing!

Philosophical Thought of the Week!

Before I start in I got this from Facebook a ways back in my Notes area. I wrote this a while ago and I still love the things I wrote, because I can read them and see how I changed as a person. Putting all these thoughts to text really helped me through a struggle and I loved doing it, and I still do, which is why I'm writing this here blog.


So after a recent spring in my philosophical insights I've decided that every week I'm going to come out with some philosophical thought and write it down in note form here on Facebook. I'll be like the Plato of the Sophomore class more or less. Here is where I'll explain my reasoning typically, most of it will be, "I had this random thought during [insert random class here.] or [insert song lyric(s), name, and artist here] got me thinking. Today it's more or less a mix of the two. I'm thinking about how people relate to each other, and how relationships can form without knowing the depths of someone. I realized that some of my friends who make up the "outer circle"(To take from Mrs. lenz's description of the Church and its inner-workings.) are people who I know literally NOTHING about. I don't spend time with them outside of school-sanctioned activities either, so how can I have these "amazing" times with them? I mean, I won't deny, high school has been one of the greatest times of my life, and not just because middle and grade school was sheer torture for me where every day I lost a bit of myself and learned to like myself less and less, but because it's just amazing. The people for some reason or another are a joy to be around, and I can't quite understand why, other than the fact that it's some sort of fake mask we put on. Yes, you out-of-the-loop kids who think you're not fake, you're fake too. Just because the pops are more open about it doesn't mean you're not equally as fake. Don't believe me? Next time you go to smoke weed or whatever you do together ask yourself, "What is the person on my right's favorite color?" Now do that for everyone in the circle. See? Not as real as you thought.(Mine is black, by the way.)

Now, I say this with one person in mind over the holiday weekend I couldn't wait to see them, even though I had their phone number and could have texted them, I wanted to see them and jack around in class with this person. I can't quite explain why other than the fact that the beginnings to these friendships have turned into a sort of "drug" or "Addictant" for us for lack of a better word, and we feel the need to continue superficially having a good time with these people and then hanging out with the next group. The preps, druggies, goths, nerds, and even the jocks do it. I know you've seen it happen and thought, "How could they be so fake?" Well, it's because you are too. It's part of everyone's life to be fake, and the few that aren't are doomed to live their life in mild happiness as a philosopher. I'm by no means saying I'm not fake, but I'm saying there's certain points where sitting there with someone and having nothing to really talk about gets old, and I think that everyone should have these experiences, even if it's their fate to end up in a mental hospital, because it's a great experience to get out and be able to be fake amongst other fake people, even though you know those people probably don't like you or know anything other than your name and the girl your dating.

I hope you were able to follow the chaos through the forest of err, the 9 rings of Hell, Mount Purgatory, and into the enlightened Heaven that is these final sentences. I promise that my next week's philosophy will be a bit more planned out, I sat down and did this in one sitting and my head hurts a little as well as the fact I'm exhausted due to a lack of sleep. Have a nice week, and I'll see you next time. =D

A 12 hour tour.

Well nothing new today. I'm working 12 hours (9 to 3 and 6 to 12:30) today. For those of you who have friended me on Facebook(Max Begley is my name, just in case you forgot.) I am going to be holding a contest. Every Friday right after I post my blog about a band/song/video I will post lyrics to another song that is next week or a song by the band next week. Whoever can successfully comment with the correct band and song title combination first will be mentioned in the next week's blog on that Friday.

First Day of my Life.

Well this is the first day I really talk about my life on the internet. This week was decent, I didn't get anything done. I did a whole lot of nothing but play video games(To check my gaming list, see below) and hang out with friends. I meditated 3 out of 5 days for about 10 minutes and I ate sort of healthy. I really wanna start eating better, junk food doesn't sound good and veggie corndogs just sound fantastic right now. My life is a blast, isn't it?

Video Games (Bold are ones I do not own, Italic are downloadable PC games.)
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Too Human
Gundam Wing
Halo 3
Mercenaries 2
Bioshock
Dragonica
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Wii Fit
Rock Band
Runes of Magic
Pokemon Platinum*



* To those of you who have Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum I am currently looking for a ditto, I don't care what level, and you'll be mentioned in the next blog post. =D

Eye Alaska

Hello everyone, and welcome to Band Day! This week I'd like to start off with an alternative/pop band called Eye Alaska. If any of you saw Ludo in Omaha, NE I know for a fact they opened up. I fell in love with this band immediately after hearing them. They have a pianist, guitarist, bassist, drummer, and a lead singer. I would best describe them as a scene band, they're playing what a lot of the kids want to hear now and they have some great potential. Everyone should go check them out on their album Yellow and Elephant which I've seen at Best Buy and Homer's.

My favorite song is off Yellow and Elephant called The Cheetah and the Tiger.

Welcome to the blog!

Hey everyone, so, this is my first time doing a blog. I'm going to be having a lot of different things during the week. I'll eventually post a schedule so it's always on the top of the main page, but for now it'll sit here. I'll probably start blogging this Saturday or Sunday(July 11/12) and do one typically every day unless things get in the way.

Monday - Food for Thought/Magical Saying of the Week(MSotW)
Tuesday - Beginner Bass lesson(Scales, modes, things to practice)
Wednesday - Advanced Bass Discussion(Advanced techniques and bass lines)
Thursday - Zen Article of the Week(I talk about something that I encounter in every day life and how I deal with it in a zen way or an article/reading/teaching I found that can help with every day life.)
Friday - Band Day(I review/introduce new and upcoming bands, songs, or videos.)
Saturday - Life Update
Sunday - Life Update Pt. 2 or my day off