Good Chord/ Bad Chord

For those of you intrigued by all of this music theory business, here's a little light reading.
To start, check out this article on the perfect fifth--an interval we've talked about a little bit in class. It's familiar if you're a movie fan (confidential to Phil from Thursday nights: this is the one that quotes Bear McCreary of Battlestar Galatica and lots of other sci-fi scoring fame). It's not just music...it's SCIENCE!
http://io9.com/5883406/the-physics-behind-your-favorite-science-fiction-theme-songs

On the other hand, charges against rock and roll calling it "the Devil's Music" aren't just rubbish, if you look at music history. The "tritone" is a classically evil sound that genuinely terrified the Medieval church-goers that heard it. Black Sabbath may or may not have known that when they co-opted it, but in any case, there's something not quite right about it. BBC explains:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4952646.stm

I Won't Let You Down

Oh boy do I have blogs to catch up on!
Later today I'll post a recap of the songs we've covered so far this session, and the strumming patterns to go with them. I'll also post an interesting article about minor intervals, and also a link to the Bowie documentary on Vimeo.

But first, in case I haven't mentioned it 100x already--music is good for kids! Those of you who have children of your own, I can't encourage you enough to get them into lessons. Even better still, play music WITH them! Bring home what we've learned in class and share it together. (Sometimes they even write their own lyrics, like Tom from Thursday class's genius offspring who rewrote 'Sons & Daughters' to be about 'Sons & Otters.' I love that!) I firmly believe that all kids have an intuitive grasp of music that, with the tiniest nurturing, can blossom into great things later in life, like superior math and science skills, self-discipline, creativity, empathy...it's a long list.

If you don't believe me, just look at this little guy...

Discount Code Expires TONIGHT

Oh dear what a terrible blogger I've been. I'm so sorry, friends. That business trip last month threw off my mojo and I can't apologize enough for not updating this page in over 2 weeks. I'll do better.

But there's important news now. You'll save $15 on the next session if you register TODAY and use the code: SUMFUN13 when you check out. You must do it today because the code expires at midnight.
Click it! http://www.oldtownschool.org/
Let's have some summer fun together in Guitar 2!

Confidential to Sunday Students

Hi gang!
I just arrived in Baltimore, where I'll be attending a non-musical conference for my OTHER job until Wednesday. Tomorrow you'll be in the capable hands of Carlos Chacon, who'll be subbing for me.
You may remember his Lumineers Twin Spin from last session's Second Half, or his class's rendition of "Summer Breeze" at Graduation.
In any case, he is talented and capable and will show you a great time.
Feel free to message me with any questions. I'll still be on mobile comms during the conference.
Keep strummin'!

Space Oddity...in SPACE

Well this is officially the best thing I've ever seen. Check out Commander Chris Hadfield performing "Space Oddity" from on board the International Space Station!!!
I wonder if barre chords are easier in zero gravity...

G1R Week 1 Recap

So we're off and running!
The key takeaway from week one is THE GOLDEN STRUM ("ooooh!" "ahhhhhh!")

Remember, that's the one that goes down, down-up, up, down-up, or V V^ ^ V^ if you prefer.
Try to keep a continuous up-down motion with your strumming hand a wrist as though you were playing all the 8th notes--in fact you can start out by just playing all eighth notes to help get you into the swing:
down-up, down-up, down-up, down-up.
Then, practice NOT connecting with the strings when you come up on the "and" of the first beat:
down..., down-up, down-up, down-up.
If you can do that, you're most of the way there. All you have left is to omit the down-strum on beat three. (and by "omit" I mean don't connect with the strings. Please DO make the motion of a down strum on that beat, but just don't connect with the strings. That way, your hand will be where it needs to be to come up on the "and" of the third beat):
down.., down-up, ...up, down-up

California Stars is a great song to practice this on because you don't need to think too hard about the chord shapes you're making with your left hand. It's just AAEEDDAA over and over and over again. Easy! (and isn't it cool that you've reached the point where switching between three different chord shapes is "easy"?! Congrats!)

Here's Tweedy-n-co doing that tune just for you.

Shiny and New!

A new session is upon us! We're going to have a lot of fun together in G1R. Pinky swear.
If you're new to my classes, a warm welcome! I'm very happy to have you in the band, and hope you'll let me know if there's anything you need. The e-mail lines are ALWAYS open. (in fact, the only time I don't have my smartphone on is when I'm teaching your class!)

In the spirit of  trying new things and being brave--two qualities that you have all shown by signing up for guitar classes!--I am doing something today that is very hard for me. I am listening to The Eagles. When I got this teaching gig, I swore that I would be well-rounded and bring tunes to class that would appeal to diverse tastes, not just my own--but with one exception. No Eagles. I don't know what it is about that band, but they've always caused me to have a violent mood swing.

I'm not alone in this. (Beware of bad language in this clip)

But now, only two sessions into teaching, I already find myself considering breaking my own rule because Mark from Thursday night said he loves The Eagles. And if they're good enough for Mark, then maybe it's time for me to confront my phobia.

So I hereby swear that I will make my best effort to find a G1R-appropriate Eagles song to bring in. I can't promise I'll find one, but I will try. Who knows? Maybe I'll discover that I don't hate them after all.*

That's how much I care about you all and want you to be happy in my class. Now go practice!
[End of motherly guilt-trip]

*Actually, one of the nice side-benefits of guitar classes at the Old Town School is that you get exposed to music you might not have otherwise heard. I'd never really bothered to listen to Squeeze at all before I played one of their tunes in Steve Dawson's class--now I'm a big fan!
Of course sometimes it turns out that the acoustic versions we work on together sound better than the originals to me. And how cool is that?!