It was only a year ago that Chris Arellano

of Albany stood on a stage at Guitar Center in Eugene, tied for first in a store-level

“King of the Blues” competition.

It ended for Arellano in a playoff with another contestant, who took the title home and advanced to the district competition.

The tried and true adage that history repeats itself doesn’t apply for the 2007 King of the Blues.

On April 3, Arellano nailed the store competition in Eugene with a five-minute improv solo after he once again tied for first.

He advanced to the district competition to be held Wednesday at Guitar Center Seattle.

The difference between this year and last year for Arellano was in his solo.

As a first-time contestant in 2006, he wasn’t expecting to have to improv for five minutes as a tiebreaker.

After experiencing what he did the year before, Arellano came into the finals prepared.

He started with a basic idea of how he wanted to play and knew he also wanted to use a slide — a cylinder piece worn on a guitarist’s left hand that alters the pitch by “sliding” instead of pressing the strings against the frets.

However, using the tool meant he would have to figure out how to get back into key when he was done using it without stopping play.

He managed to keep going without pausing to tune and that impressed the judges, he said.

King of the Blues is more than just a competition for Arellano, who teaches and runs MusiCafe Rock School in Corvallis with his wife, Lisa Landucci.

“It gives me a chance to work on my playing,” he said. “I love teaching but a lot of times I get into a rut. This gives me a chance to really get my playing up to par. ... It’s fun because it’s completely out of my comfort zone. It’s good to be out of your comfort zone.”

Here’s how King of the Blues works:

Thirty contestants compete at the store level. Each person has a choice of one of 22 songs with its own unique blend of blues. The contestant also writes a guitar solo to perform along with the rhythm track.

One winner from each Guitar Center store is chosen to compete at the district level. The winner from each of the district competitions will advance to a regional final on May 9. The winners from the regional finals advance to the grand finals in June.

The key to getting through the rounds is to find some way to stand out.

In the Eugene round, Arellano was the only slider, which gave him an edge, but in a competition that is “stiff,” even the best player won’t advance if he doesn’t have some way to connect to the audience.

“A lot of what helps in the competition is stage performance,” he said. “My daughters and wife have me (practicing) in the kitchen, telling me what looks good and doesn’t.”

For more information about the Seattle competition, visit www.guitarcenter.com or call the Rock School at 738-ROCK.

Heather Crabtree can be

reached at 812-6090 or heather.crabtree@lee.net.

MY LIFE: THE SEQUEL

n CONTACT US: Last month, the Democrat-Herald published its annual Focus edition, and the theme involved telling the interesting stories of roughly five dozen “ordinary” mid-valley

residents. What we found was their stories were often not so ordinary at all, and we’d like to continue telling those types of stories. If you, or someone you know, would be a good candidate for a “My Life” story,

please contact Associate Editor

Steve Lundeberg at 812-6110 or

steve.lundeberg@lee.net. And remember: You are likely a lot more interesting than you give yourself credit for.