The first single off John Mayer's new album Battle Studies was just released and is entitled "Who Says." If you don't know, John is my favorite musical artist right now. I'll start off by telling you the back story to why he is my favorite artist. I used to be a classic rock and blues purist believing that the only good music was made before the year 1990. When John started playing the blues with his Trio, playing licks from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, I knew I would like the guy. After listening to his blues I decided to explore his other music. His first two studio albums were standard pop-tunes, but with the complexity of a great musical talent. His third studio album Continuum regenerated the blues in a whole new modernized pop format. Not only is the music phenomenal, but the lyrics are beautiful pieces of poetry. Thanks to John, my musical spectrum has been broadened tremendously and am now listening to and playing all different kinds of music, and I am very grateful. If you want to check out the new single visit http://www.johnmayer.com/whosays

I am very excited to see how John has evolved again as an artist. He has also been blogging throughout the production process of Battle Studies and showing his fans how a record is made and how songs evolve from their conception to the final product. Battle Studies comes out on November 17 and it couldn't be a better release date. It will help provide some extra motivation for me to push my musical creativity as I pursue my goal of an album.

If you don't know, I am a completely self-taught guitarist, and have had no professional training. This is special to me because I learned to play music and express myself on my own. Now the reason I decided to make a record is to push me as a musician. I can play a mean guitar solo, but when it comes to song writing, the past hasn't been so fruitful for me. My goal will push me to better myself not just as a guitarist, but as a musician, and as an artist. I've already started to get deep into learning music theory and the "academics," I guess you could say, of music. It is really exciting when you record a rough demo of one song, and then when you play it back, billions of ideas flow through your head on how to improve on it. This is going to be a fun journey for me. I don't plan on sharing any spoilers with you on the way unlike John, but I will share with you the experience of making the record.

The most exciting part of this is that I am in complete control and I will be doing everything from the mixing and recording to the artwork myself. Who says I can't make a record?

"Who says I can't get stoned / Turn off the lights and the telephone / Me and my house alone / Who says I can't get stoned."