Ok fellows. It's that time of the year when we should post a round up of something and tell how successful the year was, and what could you expect in the future. So what we've got this year...
1. Most good tablature websites get closed
2. A dozen of new tablature websites has been started
3. We've got a threat letter from MPA requesting us to grab our stuff and go away
4. We faced the threat and said "No, Sir"
5. We started a development of new UG, ver 6.0
6. We almost ended it. It should be ready by spring 2007
7. We moved servers once again. More servers, more power. We've got no significant downtimes
8. More people joined UG Team - we have professional writers and editors now. And they are not Russians
9. We grew to something more than just a hobby. We feel the importance of the website as we never felt that before. Awesome
10. We've got more people joined UG in 2006 than in the past 3 years.
Before I jump to something else, I'd like to thank all our users for steady support, your contributions, your priceless ideas and never ending list of suggestions. No matter what other people say or think, we love
UG Community the way it is, and I hope we can make it bigger and stronger next year, when we will make UG more friendly for all your guitar needs. Also, I'd like to thank our staff members that make the thing running:
medick (majority of programming and server administration, currently working on UG 6.0),
till from kenig (he has made lots of in-house tools that makes our lives easier when we work with UG, and he's another guy who work on the next version of the site),
Dyuha (no Dyuha, no tabs! you know the guy lol. He's in charge of reviews and contests too!),
Matter (he keeps UG in-house writers and artists connected, besides of doing news and columns updates),
Cosss (new guy, helps me with design - what you see on the main page is his first work for UG),
h0spid (sometimes I run off of brain power, that's when I need h0spid),
Dad,
Zina,
Vetal and
hawas.
Amy Kelly (our in-house reviews and interviews writer),
Steven Rosen (interviews writer),
Joe Matera (interviews writer),
Kosh (interviews and reviews writer).
Pick N' Grin (the guy who started the whole video thing on UG),
Kristofer Dahl (shred master and another video lessons contributor),
Nolan Whyte (the most popular articles series on the site ever!) And ofcooourse, our
moderators,
admins and
supermods as well as the team members that help make all the articles on the site much more spam-free!
You guys ROCK!
Thanks guys! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
"Hey!" you would say "where are answers on all the questions I've sent thru the form on the main page?" Even if you thought it's gonna be a joke and we will never read them (or post them on the site as an April's joke) -- you're wrong. We've got them, we loved them and we gonna answer them. Frankly, we were a bit surprized to see that there were no negative comments in entire list (and it was loooong, more than 3000 questions!) Thanks for your comments, suggestions, and ideas. The list below is entirely made by YOU.
Let's begin...
Ultimate-Guitar QN'A: 2006
* Are you ever gonna put tabs for anything other than guitar?
Yes, here is the list (tabs will be added in this particular order): Accordion, Huluhu, Xylophone, Guan, Horn, Tromboon, Saxophone, Flute, Drums.
* When are you going to make it so tabs can be sorted multiple ways... i.e. by alphabetical order and rating at once... (so you can get all songs bu an artist and the highest rated of each in one step).
Early next year. Seriously.
* Will you have more competitions open to non-US citizens next year?
Majority of our contests are open to non-US citizens.
* Will there ever be "Backing tracks to jam to" section? ;]
Yes, at the time when UG 6.0 arrives backing tracks will be also available.
* When are you going to get rid of all the banners/pop-ups? :)
Straight after we will be acquired by Google for $3 billion. Or when you donate enough to buy me Ferarri Enzo. Seriously, we gonna reduce amount of popups in January. Get ready for safer browsing.
* When is UG going to organise a big UG event with a concert of famous guitarists and maybe after the show UG'ers could show of their mad guitar skills or even can play together in a band (with those famous guitarists)?
Green Day, Metallica, Eric Clapton and Joe Satraini have already agreed to play for us. It's gonna be a secret show with a tickets for those who have been banned at least twice. Me wasn't. So I won't go :(
* Is there gonna be an UG musician jokes page?
Read the article.
* Are we really gonna have to start paying for this site?
Yes. You need to pay with your attention.
* When you will have russian version of site ?
We consider the current version as a Russian one. Sometimes people complain so much about proof-checking that we think we forgot to translate the article into english.
* When are you guys gonna add your own online metronome to the site?
It's been done this year. We gonna add Chords and Scales generators and then upload everything to the site.
* When are you going to add a section in the forum just for girl rockers?
We gonna split the entire site into several sections: for boys, girls, dogs, cats and dolphins. Stay tuned.
* Are you ever going to have an online shop were people can buy CD's or equipment?
Nice idea. Though... are you seriosly buying guitars online? CDs sounds reasonable.
* When are you going to update the sites layout?
Straight after we release UG 6.0. 2007. Spring.
* Are you gonna change the look of the site any time soon?
Yes, see above.
* How many people does it take to run this website?
No people were involved into the site. Just monkeys. Sorry.
* When will you get an interview with Steve Vai?
We already interviewed him as well as John Petrucci and Joe Satriani. It's gonna be live Jan 13th, 2007.
* When someone searches for a band on UG, can you all possibly show the current status of every band (i.e. recording, writing, touring)?
Only if you can give us idea where we would get this info on more than 10,000 bands in the database?
* I just want to say one thing, Have you always been this sexy?
Yay! No comments =)
* Can you make Christmas songs in Power tab that aren't so damn hard to play?
If you will start learning songs for xmas 2007 now, you won't consider them hard next time ;)
* When are you going to realise Santa isn't real?
And Santa was going to send you Les Paul... Don't expect anything good from him now!
* Are you killing off the lawsuits to shut down tab sites? I will call Chuck Norris in to help you if you need backup.
Chucky is already on our side, but thanks for your desire to help anyway! I'd appreicate if you can make Pamela help us here in the office too... you know, we need a secretary.
* Can you play every single song on the site?
There is nothing impossible when you backed out by Chuck, Pamela and enough vodka.
* Why do you tilt the camera for every single photo you post on the site?
Our heads are tilted that way. Sorry for the inconvenience.
* Did you get all the beer i sent you?
NO! We never get enough. Resend please.
* I want to see picture of the UG office and Zappp's pretty face!
Oh finally! We expected this question. Boys and girls, it's time to show where we work and how we look. Ready? Click the links below!
* When is Zappp going to run for President in Russia?
Zappp is one of the main candidates on the President Elections of 2008. As you probably know, it's gonna be online election - please vote for me.
* Does drinking vodka make a better person?
It depends. The short-term effects of drinking alcohol can cause numerous adverse effects on the user, including: slowed reaction times and reflexes, poor motor coordination, blurred vision, slurred speech, confusion, anxiety, restlessness, heavy sweating, nausea and vomiting, dehydration – a leading cause of condom breakage, coma, death from respiratory arrest. Over time, heavy drinking can cause permanent damage to the user’s body and brain. The physical damage caused by sustained alcohol abuse includes: high blood pressure, brain damage, bone damage, reduced sperm count and mobility, as well as sperm abnormality, early menopause. Now forget this and go get a bottle (I hope you are old enough, right?).
* When are you gonna remove the hyphen from your web address?
It makes the site name looks longer. We love everything long and big. oh.
* When will you develop your own tabbing software which is UG exclusive, so only UG members can use our tabs?
Just after our programmers complete writing a new Vista update. It will be a built in feature in all Microsoft product.
* Where is this "Kenig" that Till is from?
Here it is...
* When are we gonna get some inside look at Metallica's upcoming album?
Play St.Anger in reverse order. That's what it's gonna sound like.
* Do any of you UG team actually play the guitar?
Yes, some of us were in a band at once. Remember this "...and nothing else mattersss..."? That's our stuff. We sold the lyrics and music to then unknown band though :(
* Do you have to pay a guy to read all of these?
No comments.
* Do you think you could be greater than you are?
We are ultimate people, remember?
* are you people real, or are you a computer generated myth?
Ah, now you know...
/ my profile 
