Hey gang!
Sorry for the late update. I took a whole week off at the day job (MUCH needed), and I planned to stay away from technology so I didn't bring my laptop home, but that almost meant missing out on a blog update. I'm borrowing one from a house guest now (a perfect excuse to take a break from the pre-turkey cleaning I've spent all day doing!).
I hope you all have a very happy holiday and get to play some music for and with the ones you love. Or alternately, I hope music is a way to escape from and drown out all the holiday nonsense if it's not your cup of tea! I'm truly thankful for each and every one of you. Getting to play music with you every week is a real privilege.
I think the early registration discount code is getting sent out on Monday. CYBER MONDAY! Don't miss it in the midst of the inbox onslaught.
On Thursday night in Guitar 4ever, we kept up with Don't Think Twice It's Alright, adding in the Am/G walk down (just grab the note on the 6th string, 3rd fret by extending your middle finger across), and the G6 to G7 move. G6 is just a finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th string, and G7 is a finger on the 4th fret of the 5th string. Don't worry about freting anything on strings 4-1 because your picking fingers are only playing open strings anyway! And remember to correct the misprint in that section. The split measure is actually from G to G6, and the full measure is of G7. So it should read: | G G6 | G7
We also got started on Time Won't Let Me by the Outsiders. It's a song that's very close to my heart because it's the tune the go go gals danced to the first night I ever came to their class--and boy was I hooked! Apologies again for the brief brain fart about reading my own tableture (that was a major catalyst for me taking this whole week off at the Museum! OOOF.) Your patience and good nature about your absent-minded professor is always gratefully appreciated. The good news is that the tab is correct! Yay! I can't explain the sets or props in this clip, but it's great. http://youtu.be/Qv8vBwt8zw8
On Saturday in Guitar 1 Rep, we discovered that Sloop John B in the songbook is a perfect Thanksgiving song. And also a great platform for practicing the golden strum! And speaking of strumming, we got our reggae on (sorta) by playing ONLY the upstrums on Three Little Birds. It feels like the hiccups--which makes it great practice for learning to count on the off beats. You can add a downstrum on the ones if you want/ need to to help keep things grounded. But remember to lean back, relax, and sink into the vibe! We also tackled Evangeline. It's in 3/4 time, which is a waltz. You're subdividing the measure into thirds instead of quarters, and giving the first beat a little more emphasis. ONE two three. You'll wanna use all downstrums or you'll get tangled up. For added fun and complexity to the sound, pick the root note all by itself on the first beat. The root note is (usually) the lowest note in the chord, so just figure out which string your pick comes into contact with first when strumming the chord. For E, it's the open E string. For A, it's the open A string, and for D it's--well YOU figure it out. :) Here's beautiful Emmilou and The Band. And some unfortunate fog machine: http://youtu.be/hqDqzGG8ba0
And on Sunday in Guitar 4, we finished the walking mania of the Radiohead tune (see last week's update for more). We also started on Alison. Don't worry about the timing of the intro. That's for our next meeting. The main thing you have to worry about are the unconventional split measures. Follow the exclamation points. Sometimes the first chord gets 2 beats, and the second chord only gets one, followed by a third chord that gets one. In the chorus, you have that one crazy measure where you change chords on every beat! But at least 3 out of 4 of them use the same barre position: F#m, F#7, and Bm. Throw in that little stop chord when the lyric says "stop!" for added showmanship!
Keep fresh on Man Who Sold the World so that you'll be ready to revisit it this weekend.
http://youtu.be/C9GlC9GyF4Y
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Session 6, Week 3 Recap -- ALL CLASSES
Hello my folkie friends!
I hope you're keeping your strumming fingers warm now that the weather has turned frightful. Remember to have a humidity plan for your instrument before it's too late! Pop into Different Strummer any time and ask for advice if you're not sure what to do.
And special thanks to those of you that who nice e-mails this week about Patti Smith, movie tunes, and other fun things. It's always great to hear from you all. Hanging out with you guys is the best part of my week, so it's great to get some bonus time.
Now onto the recaps!
Guitar 4Ever on Thursday has a very short recap--in video form!--because it was all about the Travis picking. Take a look at this pleasant young Canadian fellow's tutorial, which is more or less exactly what I presented in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFh-C6upvh8
We didn't get to the slight changes/ fancy filigree stuff he mentions for the intro so don't worry if that's not familiar. Also, he doesn't break down the strumming pattern in as granular a way as I did, so my advice is to always go home to the thumb. Make sure you know where your thumb is going, and make sure it's doing its work on the beats. You've gotta get that down before you add in any other fingers. If you only get as far as the thumb on the quarter notes, you're in GREAT shape! Little bit by little bit the rest will come together. Or, as a wise bard once said, don't think twice it's alright!
On Saturday, Guitar 1 Rep continued to perfect the "Golden Strum." See last week's recap for some more detail on that if you're still struggling a little. That's also where you'll find the clip of Mahalia Jackson singing "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" that I mentioned in class. Golden Strum is where you'll want to be for the new R.E.M. tune this week. Remember to read the riff at the bottom of the page like this: top number = string number, bottom number = fret number. If the bottom number is 0, that means you play the string open (so you could also think of that as an "O" for "open!")
The timing of the riff is: One...and three and. You let the first note ring for a beat and a half. Throw that riff in instead of the first measure of Em in the "FIRE!" section. And don't forget to add drama to other measures of Em by doing a dramatic upstrum or "rake!"
And Guitar 4 on Sunday made some more progress on Man Who Sold the World. We didn't really introduce any new information into the tune, so see last week's post for the details. Guys, this one is going to take time. I know it's a struggle, but it's great training for your hands and brain. Be patient with yourself and with the process. And when it gets too frustrating...stop! (so long as you start up again after you've taken a break). I gave you the whirlwind overview of Karma Police. Don't despair if it didn't sink in. We'll spend more time on it next week. Just remember to use "little" F# and "little" G so that you can do the arpeggios in the chorus part--down on the G, up on the F#. Two strums per measure on everything else because the tune is in 2/4, and mind the split measure in the chord progression. Check out the way-cool music video for the tune: http://youtu.be/9Ay699qcSb4
See you all soon!
I hope you're keeping your strumming fingers warm now that the weather has turned frightful. Remember to have a humidity plan for your instrument before it's too late! Pop into Different Strummer any time and ask for advice if you're not sure what to do.
And special thanks to those of you that who nice e-mails this week about Patti Smith, movie tunes, and other fun things. It's always great to hear from you all. Hanging out with you guys is the best part of my week, so it's great to get some bonus time.
Now onto the recaps!
Guitar 4Ever on Thursday has a very short recap--in video form!--because it was all about the Travis picking. Take a look at this pleasant young Canadian fellow's tutorial, which is more or less exactly what I presented in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFh-C6upvh8
We didn't get to the slight changes/ fancy filigree stuff he mentions for the intro so don't worry if that's not familiar. Also, he doesn't break down the strumming pattern in as granular a way as I did, so my advice is to always go home to the thumb. Make sure you know where your thumb is going, and make sure it's doing its work on the beats. You've gotta get that down before you add in any other fingers. If you only get as far as the thumb on the quarter notes, you're in GREAT shape! Little bit by little bit the rest will come together. Or, as a wise bard once said, don't think twice it's alright!
On Saturday, Guitar 1 Rep continued to perfect the "Golden Strum." See last week's recap for some more detail on that if you're still struggling a little. That's also where you'll find the clip of Mahalia Jackson singing "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" that I mentioned in class. Golden Strum is where you'll want to be for the new R.E.M. tune this week. Remember to read the riff at the bottom of the page like this: top number = string number, bottom number = fret number. If the bottom number is 0, that means you play the string open (so you could also think of that as an "O" for "open!")
The timing of the riff is: One...and three and. You let the first note ring for a beat and a half. Throw that riff in instead of the first measure of Em in the "FIRE!" section. And don't forget to add drama to other measures of Em by doing a dramatic upstrum or "rake!"
And Guitar 4 on Sunday made some more progress on Man Who Sold the World. We didn't really introduce any new information into the tune, so see last week's post for the details. Guys, this one is going to take time. I know it's a struggle, but it's great training for your hands and brain. Be patient with yourself and with the process. And when it gets too frustrating...stop! (so long as you start up again after you've taken a break). I gave you the whirlwind overview of Karma Police. Don't despair if it didn't sink in. We'll spend more time on it next week. Just remember to use "little" F# and "little" G so that you can do the arpeggios in the chorus part--down on the G, up on the F#. Two strums per measure on everything else because the tune is in 2/4, and mind the split measure in the chord progression. Check out the way-cool music video for the tune: http://youtu.be/9Ay699qcSb4
See you all soon!
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Session 6, Week 2 Recap -- ALL CLASSES
I think maybe one of our Songs of the Session has something to do with it. If we haven't played "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" in class yet, we will because I am OBSESSED with it. I've had Mahalia's soaring voice in my head for 2 weeks.
In Guitar 4Ever, we played one of my all-time favorite rock songs (finally!). Here's the boys playing it in Chicago last year during Riot Fest. http://youtu.be/UtlO5qtKYbo I like this clip because you can see J Mascis (another of my rock and roll heroes--the brains behind Dinosaur Jr.) standing in the wings nodding along. He's the guy in the glasses with the long grey hair and the ballcap.
Layer that riff in just about anywhere you please that isn't an A or a G/B chord! Mind the timing on the "Hurry Up! Hurry Up!" bit. You punch those D chords on the 2s and 4s only. And mind the stop chords. Silences are what make songs sometimes. This is one of those times.
This week we're going to work on Travis picking through the Dylan tune. I recommended doing an alternate bass strumming pattern this week (a la Johnny Cash and Guitar 2) to prepare. If you can also start trying to memorize the chord progression, it'll help you A LOT when you have 25 other things to learn once we get into the fingerstyle.
On Saturday, Guitar 1Rep spent some more time working on emphasizing different syllables. We started off with our old friends A, D, and E. Those three chords are often found hanging out together, because they're what's known as the I, IV, V chords in the key of A. (those are Roman numerals, not letters there folks!) We'll talk more about musical keys and what the heck I mean with my fancy numerals in the coming weeks.
We played the Everly Brother's When Will I Be Loved? https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rI0ll5SexV0 (look at baby Dick
Clark in that video!) and added in the timing for the opening bass riff. You'll put those notes on the "and four and one," which means it technically straddles two measures. Continue the rest of the measure with strums on a full A chord, and continue strumming into a second measure, but add the riff when you get to the and of 3. That's how it all loops together. Play the loop 4x at the top of the song, then flow into the verse instead of looping around another time. See if you can find other logical places in the tune to throw the riff in as a transition!
We also broke out a trusty Wilco tune, California Stars. It has a great, simple chord structure that just repeats and repeats and repeats, so you can stop thinking about your left hand altogether. It goes AAEEDDAA. That's it! After a few times through, your fretting hand should start to know what to do automatically and you can focus on strumming instead. For that, we talked about "The Golden Strum," aka the Tequila Sunrise strum, aka the folk strum. It'll become an old friend soon enough!
We broke it down into a couple of steps. For starters, we down-strummed just once on beat one (a quarter note), and then down-up down-up down-up (eighth notes) on beats 2 & 3 & 4. You can stay at that stage if that's where you're comfortable, but when you're ready, try dropping the downstrum on beat three. You'll still play the upstrum on the "and" of three. It feels pretty funny at first to skip a main beat like that, but the secret it to keep your hand moving as if you were still strumming, just don't make contact with the strings. Written with arrows, it looks like this:
V V^ ^ V^
You could also think of it like this:
D DU U DU
Here's Bob Seger doing a nice little cover of the tune at a recent concert. He's using different chord shapes than we are because he's got a little device called a capo on the neck of his guitar. We'll talk more about that later.
(it won't let me embed this one for some reason, but click here for the goods:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOUbxsRlkO8
When you get bored with Wilco, use the Golden Strum on Under the Boardwalk instead! Just remember to break out of it on the "board! walk! board! walk!" part, and play those chords along with the lyrics as single, punchy downstrums.
We also broke out a trusty Wilco tune, California Stars. It has a great, simple chord structure that just repeats and repeats and repeats, so you can stop thinking about your left hand altogether. It goes AAEEDDAA. That's it! After a few times through, your fretting hand should start to know what to do automatically and you can focus on strumming instead. For that, we talked about "The Golden Strum," aka the Tequila Sunrise strum, aka the folk strum. It'll become an old friend soon enough!
We broke it down into a couple of steps. For starters, we down-strummed just once on beat one (a quarter note), and then down-up down-up down-up (eighth notes) on beats 2 & 3 & 4. You can stay at that stage if that's where you're comfortable, but when you're ready, try dropping the downstrum on beat three. You'll still play the upstrum on the "and" of three. It feels pretty funny at first to skip a main beat like that, but the secret it to keep your hand moving as if you were still strumming, just don't make contact with the strings. Written with arrows, it looks like this:
V V^ ^ V^
You could also think of it like this:
D DU U DU
Here's Bob Seger doing a nice little cover of the tune at a recent concert. He's using different chord shapes than we are because he's got a little device called a capo on the neck of his guitar. We'll talk more about that later.
(it won't let me embed this one for some reason, but click here for the goods:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOUbxsRlkO8
When you get bored with Wilco, use the Golden Strum on Under the Boardwalk instead! Just remember to break out of it on the "board! walk! board! walk!" part, and play those chords along with the lyrics as single, punchy downstrums.
Finally, Sunday's Guitar 4 class tackled Man Who Sold the World. Or made a start, at least. I had you correct one note on the tab (it's a 3 instead of a 4 at the end of the C progression), and suggested that you could also play the C progression using open strings if you so chose. Experiment with both ways and see which feels more comfortable to your hand. You'll use the progressions at the bottom to replace the corresponding measures of chords written in the chorus (plus the preceding two measures of C at the end of the verse). Remember the timing of the Db progression is: one and-three four.
The intro can be accomplished with either a bend, a hammer-on/ pull-off, or a slide (which we didn't discuss but it's a solid option). The Nirvana version is a GREAT learning tool: http://youtu.be/fregObNcHC8 He's using more of a "golden strum" pattern than we are (we're playing down-up...up-down-up...up-down-up...with mutes in-between, which is more Bowie-esque), but it's still a great acoustic take on the tune. Plus how funny does Dave Grohl look in a turtle neck?!
I know this is hard, brainy stuff but do have some bits of advice. Bit #1: Look for patterns. Your fingers make certain shapes multiple times when you play scales. Look for those and learn to love them. Repetitive motions make life a lot simpler and there are really only like 3 maneuvers you have to make in that tune. Once you've isolated those motions, you repeat them on different string combos, and there you have it. Bit #2: PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. The only way to take this from confounding to competency is to do it. A lot. Muscle memory is a real thing and your fingers will start to act on their own in the correct way but you've got to train them first and that takes time and repetition. You can't play it once, skip the next 3 days, and expect it to have gotten better. Be consistent and watch yourself improve like magic! I'm making you do the "project" songs early so we've got the whole session to perfect them. Be patient and stick with it.
See you soon!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Session 6, Week 1 Recap -- ALL CLASSES
Hey Gang!
Ahhhh that new session smell. For those of you here for the first time (and your returners too!)--welcome! I try my best to update this page once a week on Tuesdays or Wednesday.
I can't believe it's the last session of 2014 already. How in the heck did THAT happen?
I hope you all voted today and sang songs about America on the way to the polls. I know I did.
Onto the recaps!
In Guitar 4Ever we did the Time Warp again. Well, for the first time actually. It was a spooky Halloween one-off with a pragmatic twist. It gave us a chance to revisit the "boogie woogie" oscillations you can do on open E, A, and D chords. It was also a good lesson in listening and following the singer--since some of the changes don't take place on exact counts and you just have to follow the lyrics in whatever time they're delivered. We also took a superfast, top level look at Can't Hardly Wait, but more on that this week. I mentioned that there are two versions of the tune out there, should you choose to listen in advance. The studio album version (off of Pleased to Meet Me) is the one we'll be working with. That's this one: http://youtu.be/Wigclcg3stc There's also a different, more stripped-down demo version (no horns!) on the expanded edition of the album called Tim. It has different lyrics and some other changes and is a really interesting comparison study. More about that in class.
On Saturday, Guitar 1 Rep got to know each other a little bit and stretched out (as much as is possible in our narrow classroom!) our understanding of timing emphasis. For starters, we played through Jonathan Edwards' Sunshine. Here's a bit more on the singer, who I admittedly didn't know much about (odd for me!). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Edwards_(musician) Our strumming pattern is a little simpler than what he plays (http://youtu.be/ScfUfsUlGro) but the emphasis piece is the same: come down harder on the 1s and 3s while strumming through straight down-up eighth notes. It has kind of a chug-a-chug-a train feel to it. Note the "stop chords," which are indicated by an exclamation mark on the song sheet. You hit those once and then mute them, but continue the counting in your head (and with your foot!) so that you're ready to come back in on the next one.
We also took a very quick look at When Will I Be Loved, which has the opposite emphasis on the 2s and 4s, and which features an opening bass riff presented at the top of the pages as a fraction where the first number is the string number and the second is the fret number. We didn't get to the timing piece of that but we'll put it together in class next time.
And on Sunday, Guitar 4 kicked off with Aimee Mann's Save Me. Other than the little variations on E chords (Em, Emaj7--which is and Em chord with the note on the 4th string moved down a half step to the 1st fret, and Em7--which is a one-finger chord with your index on the second fret of the 5th string), there's not a whole lot of fancy fretwork. Just one little old barre chord in the form of an F.
It's the strumming that makes this so satisfying (in my opinion). Bounce twice just on the bass note on beats 1 & 2, strum the chord on 3, and then snag a little upstrum on the and of 4 on your way to the next measure. It's a strumming pattern that combines the rhythms that the bass, guitar, and drums are all playing on the album version--remember, you're a one-man band in your living room so you have to get creative in the way you arrange songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c48vs4lwgc
You'll also--if you listen carefully--hear some logical opportunities to add in rakes (dramatic, slo-mo upstrums) in a couple of places. We didn't talk about those in class, but we'll add that detail when we get together Thursday. I know some of you love to sing this song, and I love that so I want to take advantage of it. Hear the background vocals? There are some wonderful "ahhhhs" and "do-do dooos" in there, not to mention harmonies. Grab any of those if you feel like it! We don't all have to sing the same part. Let's work on vocal arranging from time to time.
We also began the somewhat grueling work of learning major scales using the worksheet. Remember, WWHWWWH or the weird phone number 221-2221 in order to memorize the intervals that make up a major scale. 1 fret = H, so 2 frets = W. You can play up a single string, or break across strings to stay in one position using either an open or closed scale form. Open scale forms utilize the open strings--hence the name! But they can ONLY be played in one place because open strings are a fixed note/ position. Closed scales on the other hand, are modular and moveable. So long as you know where your root note is, you can use the same finger sequence to from any starting position. Don't forget that the second diagram--the one for CLOSED scales--shows you finger numbers, NOT fret numbers. Very important! It's confusing at first but we'll talk about it more and it'll sink in over time. We'll also put it into further practice with Man Who Sold the World next time we meet.
Finally, here's my new favorite song: It's a Dream by Neil Young. Patti Smith covered it when I saw her perform at the School last Sunday and it was very moving. She dedicated it to her late husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith who was the guitar player for the seminal proto-punk band The MC5. Her son (with Sonic) was playing guitar with her onstage. I was a bawling mess. And today happens to be the anniversary of Sonic's passing in 1996--as well as the first birthday of Mama Smith's grandson Frederick, who was named for his grandfather.
http://youtu.be/lJNB8fXje3I Excuse me, I have something in my eye.
Keep on strumming, my friends!
Ahhhh that new session smell. For those of you here for the first time (and your returners too!)--welcome! I try my best to update this page once a week on Tuesdays or Wednesday.
I can't believe it's the last session of 2014 already. How in the heck did THAT happen?
I hope you all voted today and sang songs about America on the way to the polls. I know I did.
Onto the recaps!
In Guitar 4Ever we did the Time Warp again. Well, for the first time actually. It was a spooky Halloween one-off with a pragmatic twist. It gave us a chance to revisit the "boogie woogie" oscillations you can do on open E, A, and D chords. It was also a good lesson in listening and following the singer--since some of the changes don't take place on exact counts and you just have to follow the lyrics in whatever time they're delivered. We also took a superfast, top level look at Can't Hardly Wait, but more on that this week. I mentioned that there are two versions of the tune out there, should you choose to listen in advance. The studio album version (off of Pleased to Meet Me) is the one we'll be working with. That's this one: http://youtu.be/Wigclcg3stc There's also a different, more stripped-down demo version (no horns!) on the expanded edition of the album called Tim. It has different lyrics and some other changes and is a really interesting comparison study. More about that in class.
On Saturday, Guitar 1 Rep got to know each other a little bit and stretched out (as much as is possible in our narrow classroom!) our understanding of timing emphasis. For starters, we played through Jonathan Edwards' Sunshine. Here's a bit more on the singer, who I admittedly didn't know much about (odd for me!). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Edwards_(musician) Our strumming pattern is a little simpler than what he plays (http://youtu.be/ScfUfsUlGro) but the emphasis piece is the same: come down harder on the 1s and 3s while strumming through straight down-up eighth notes. It has kind of a chug-a-chug-a train feel to it. Note the "stop chords," which are indicated by an exclamation mark on the song sheet. You hit those once and then mute them, but continue the counting in your head (and with your foot!) so that you're ready to come back in on the next one.
We also took a very quick look at When Will I Be Loved, which has the opposite emphasis on the 2s and 4s, and which features an opening bass riff presented at the top of the pages as a fraction where the first number is the string number and the second is the fret number. We didn't get to the timing piece of that but we'll put it together in class next time.
And on Sunday, Guitar 4 kicked off with Aimee Mann's Save Me. Other than the little variations on E chords (Em, Emaj7--which is and Em chord with the note on the 4th string moved down a half step to the 1st fret, and Em7--which is a one-finger chord with your index on the second fret of the 5th string), there's not a whole lot of fancy fretwork. Just one little old barre chord in the form of an F.
It's the strumming that makes this so satisfying (in my opinion). Bounce twice just on the bass note on beats 1 & 2, strum the chord on 3, and then snag a little upstrum on the and of 4 on your way to the next measure. It's a strumming pattern that combines the rhythms that the bass, guitar, and drums are all playing on the album version--remember, you're a one-man band in your living room so you have to get creative in the way you arrange songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c48vs4lwgc
You'll also--if you listen carefully--hear some logical opportunities to add in rakes (dramatic, slo-mo upstrums) in a couple of places. We didn't talk about those in class, but we'll add that detail when we get together Thursday. I know some of you love to sing this song, and I love that so I want to take advantage of it. Hear the background vocals? There are some wonderful "ahhhhs" and "do-do dooos" in there, not to mention harmonies. Grab any of those if you feel like it! We don't all have to sing the same part. Let's work on vocal arranging from time to time.
We also began the somewhat grueling work of learning major scales using the worksheet. Remember, WWHWWWH or the weird phone number 221-2221 in order to memorize the intervals that make up a major scale. 1 fret = H, so 2 frets = W. You can play up a single string, or break across strings to stay in one position using either an open or closed scale form. Open scale forms utilize the open strings--hence the name! But they can ONLY be played in one place because open strings are a fixed note/ position. Closed scales on the other hand, are modular and moveable. So long as you know where your root note is, you can use the same finger sequence to from any starting position. Don't forget that the second diagram--the one for CLOSED scales--shows you finger numbers, NOT fret numbers. Very important! It's confusing at first but we'll talk about it more and it'll sink in over time. We'll also put it into further practice with Man Who Sold the World next time we meet.
Finally, here's my new favorite song: It's a Dream by Neil Young. Patti Smith covered it when I saw her perform at the School last Sunday and it was very moving. She dedicated it to her late husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith who was the guitar player for the seminal proto-punk band The MC5. Her son (with Sonic) was playing guitar with her onstage. I was a bawling mess. And today happens to be the anniversary of Sonic's passing in 1996--as well as the first birthday of Mama Smith's grandson Frederick, who was named for his grandfather.
http://youtu.be/lJNB8fXje3I Excuse me, I have something in my eye.
Keep on strumming, my friends!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Session 5, Week 8 Recap -- ALL CLASSES
Hi folky-folks!
That's a wrap on another fine session. You don't need a recap because you all know how awesomely you performed at the Student Showcases. I just wanted to say that it's such an honor to play music with you, and I'm truly proud of each of you for the hard work you turned out these last couple of months.
I do want to specifically give props to Thursday night's G4Ever for seamlessly pulling off a MEDLEY (though not technically, but y'know). There's video in our facebook group if you haven't seen it yet. Awesome job on both tunes. How'd it feel to perform 7.5 minutes of music?! That's like 20% of a full set list! Getting there!
I also want to give a very warm congratulations to Tim from Guitar 1 on Saturday, who gave a SOLO command performance, to much accolade. I've seen other teachers take a single student up on stage, but that was my first experience with it too so we both did something new! Thanks for your courage! You're a natural. (But I promise you'll have some more bandmates next session!)
And I can't forget the be-wigged Ziggys of Sunday's Guitar 3 Rep! The Thin White Duke couldn't have done it any better. Thank you for putting your hearts into one of my favorite songs. It means the world to me, and the full house on hand to witness it will never forget it.
I've got lots of fun things planned for the new session, so I look forward to seeing you next week!
That's a wrap on another fine session. You don't need a recap because you all know how awesomely you performed at the Student Showcases. I just wanted to say that it's such an honor to play music with you, and I'm truly proud of each of you for the hard work you turned out these last couple of months.
I do want to specifically give props to Thursday night's G4Ever for seamlessly pulling off a MEDLEY (though not technically, but y'know). There's video in our facebook group if you haven't seen it yet. Awesome job on both tunes. How'd it feel to perform 7.5 minutes of music?! That's like 20% of a full set list! Getting there!
I also want to give a very warm congratulations to Tim from Guitar 1 on Saturday, who gave a SOLO command performance, to much accolade. I've seen other teachers take a single student up on stage, but that was my first experience with it too so we both did something new! Thanks for your courage! You're a natural. (But I promise you'll have some more bandmates next session!)
And I can't forget the be-wigged Ziggys of Sunday's Guitar 3 Rep! The Thin White Duke couldn't have done it any better. Thank you for putting your hearts into one of my favorite songs. It means the world to me, and the full house on hand to witness it will never forget it.
I've got lots of fun things planned for the new session, so I look forward to seeing you next week!
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Session 5, Week 7 Recap -- ALL CLASSES
Latest. blog post. Ever.
Sorry (again) for my tardiness. I hope you've heard out in the world that we're opening a brand new exhibition at The Field Museum tomorrow: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/at-the-field/exhibitions/vodou-sacred-powers-haiti
I've been heads-down on that all week with little time for anything else (including eating and sleeping). There is some amazing music in the exhibition though, and some beautiful drums that I'm having a hard time not grabbing and playing whenever I'm out on the exhibit floor!
Anywho...I'm sure you're all equally heads-down on preparing for the Student Showcase this week, so you don't even need me to remind you! But just in case:
Guitar 4Ever -- We finally played the lovely song of the session, fingerstyle! And it was lovely. Did I mention lovely? For tonight's show we're going to do Save Me and/or Thirteen. If there's time for both, we could talk about running straight from one into the other but let's do that work tonight in the classroom.
Guitar 1 -- It's either gonna be Tears for Fears or Elvis. We'll figure it out in class, and we'll have a full hour to polish up before we hit the stage at noon. But pause for a moment and reflect on how far you've come in a very short time. You know a whole host of chords--almost all of the ones you'll ever need--and quite a few strumming patterns. You can read diagrams and song charts, and listen to other musicians and play together. It's truly remarkable to come that far in 8 weeks so I hope you feel as proud of yourselves as I am to have watched your progress. I hope you'll invite friends and family to attend the show. Tell them to grab a seat in the concert hall, and the festivities will kick off at noon with dancers!
Guitar 3Rep -- We roped some Wild Horses. The strumming pattern is more or less the same as on Ziggy, but a little slower, lazier, and less precise. Don't worry about all the little up and downs, so long as you land clear strums on beats 1, 2, and 4. The rest of the doo-dads are just by feel. The split measures feature the root-strum root-strum-root stepping stones you'll hear here: http://youtu.be/UFLJFl7ws_0
Get to that root note! Especially on the Bminor. You've got a little extra time to form the rest of the chord after you nail the root on the one. But for our big show it's gotta be Ziggy. Of course it's gotta be Ziggy! Tell your glittered guests to be seated by showtime at 12:45p.
As always, it's truly my privilege to lead these bands and play music with you all. Thank you for another spectacular session, and keep on strumming!
Sorry (again) for my tardiness. I hope you've heard out in the world that we're opening a brand new exhibition at The Field Museum tomorrow: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/at-the-field/exhibitions/vodou-sacred-powers-haiti
I've been heads-down on that all week with little time for anything else (including eating and sleeping). There is some amazing music in the exhibition though, and some beautiful drums that I'm having a hard time not grabbing and playing whenever I'm out on the exhibit floor!
Anywho...I'm sure you're all equally heads-down on preparing for the Student Showcase this week, so you don't even need me to remind you! But just in case:
Guitar 4Ever -- We finally played the lovely song of the session, fingerstyle! And it was lovely. Did I mention lovely? For tonight's show we're going to do Save Me and/or Thirteen. If there's time for both, we could talk about running straight from one into the other but let's do that work tonight in the classroom.
Guitar 1 -- It's either gonna be Tears for Fears or Elvis. We'll figure it out in class, and we'll have a full hour to polish up before we hit the stage at noon. But pause for a moment and reflect on how far you've come in a very short time. You know a whole host of chords--almost all of the ones you'll ever need--and quite a few strumming patterns. You can read diagrams and song charts, and listen to other musicians and play together. It's truly remarkable to come that far in 8 weeks so I hope you feel as proud of yourselves as I am to have watched your progress. I hope you'll invite friends and family to attend the show. Tell them to grab a seat in the concert hall, and the festivities will kick off at noon with dancers!
Guitar 3Rep -- We roped some Wild Horses. The strumming pattern is more or less the same as on Ziggy, but a little slower, lazier, and less precise. Don't worry about all the little up and downs, so long as you land clear strums on beats 1, 2, and 4. The rest of the doo-dads are just by feel. The split measures feature the root-strum root-strum-root stepping stones you'll hear here: http://youtu.be/UFLJFl7ws_0
Get to that root note! Especially on the Bminor. You've got a little extra time to form the rest of the chord after you nail the root on the one. But for our big show it's gotta be Ziggy. Of course it's gotta be Ziggy! Tell your glittered guests to be seated by showtime at 12:45p.
As always, it's truly my privilege to lead these bands and play music with you all. Thank you for another spectacular session, and keep on strumming!
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Session 5, Week 6 Recap -- ALL CLASSES
Hello folks!
I hope your week is going well. I finally got some antibiotics for this plague I've been suffering, so I hope to be in the pink next time I see you.
Here's a great rockumentary you can watch for free on YouTube, "Mayor of Sunset Strip" :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EDp2oHQaRI
As the description reads--"Rodney Bingenheimer, born December 15, 1947, is a radio disc jockey on the long-running Los Angeles rock station KROQ who is notable for helping numerous iconic bands become successful in the American market...He was the subject of a documentary by late filmmaker George Hickenlooper titled Mayor of the Sunset Strip which told the story of a groupie-turned-kingmaker with a knack for making friends in the music industry."
I've seen is a couple of times. It features Kim Fowley, whose book I recommended recently.
Onto recaps!
Guitar 4Evar worked through Elvis Costello's "Alison" (which has absolutely nothing to do with his wife, Diana Krall, and I don't know why anyone ever would've made that connection :p)
There are some quick-change chords, and some funny timing things but you guys really rocked it. Andrea took better notes that I'm able to recount verbally, so I invite you to head on over to our facebook group and download the PDF she so generously provided! For the record--I'm not just buttering you up. I think you all nailed it and I was super impressed! I hope you find that 4-chord measure as satisfying as I do to pull off.
In Guitar 1, we met up with Am, a very complimentary chord to the C we're getting used to. "Mad World" is great for practice. Just memorize that one chord progression: Am, C, G, D (I think that's what it is--though I'm at the day job and don't have the sheet in front of me...) and play it over and over again until it's time to play the chorus, which is just Am and D! There was never an easier tune to memorize. The strumming is the same John Denver combo of two quarter notes, and two pairs of eigthnotes: Down Down DownUp DownUp. We added some "Stop" chords at the end of versus, which you may have written in with an exclamation point, as well as one towards the end of the chorus before the 'mad world' repeated section. We also looked into D7 and G7 chords, which are tense and bluesy sounding, and can often be swapped out for their major chord counterparts in the right contexts. Try it out with tunes from the songbook and see how you like the results. We've added New River Train to the mix, so start there. And give another go at Mellow Yellow. It was a lot of heavy brainning to do at the end of class, but it does have the word "mellow" in it so let's work towards that tune being something relaxed and fun to shuffle through.
And in Guitar 3 Rep, though it pained me to skip over Tom Jones, it was straight into The Association's "Never My Love," which has some modest riff work. If you remind yourself that the C-shape (or Fmaj7--both work) is home base, and you simply make minor modifications inside that shape, you should be good to go. Also remember that the riff starts on beat 3, so you've got to count in "1 and 2 and" BEFORE you start. Inside the song, you'll be strumming either a C chord or an Am for those two lead-in beats, but in both cases, your fingers are already where they need to be to play the riff (because the C and Am chords are so closely related!) so you don't have to change anything to step right into the riff. We threw in one little walk, just to keep things spicy, and we're using the Golden Strum. It's a lot of work but the song is too pretty not to put in the effort! I hope you'll sing it for someone you love some day.
Keep on strumming, friends!
I hope your week is going well. I finally got some antibiotics for this plague I've been suffering, so I hope to be in the pink next time I see you.
Here's a great rockumentary you can watch for free on YouTube, "Mayor of Sunset Strip" :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EDp2oHQaRI
As the description reads--"Rodney Bingenheimer, born December 15, 1947, is a radio disc jockey on the long-running Los Angeles rock station KROQ who is notable for helping numerous iconic bands become successful in the American market...He was the subject of a documentary by late filmmaker George Hickenlooper titled Mayor of the Sunset Strip which told the story of a groupie-turned-kingmaker with a knack for making friends in the music industry."
I've seen is a couple of times. It features Kim Fowley, whose book I recommended recently.
Onto recaps!
Guitar 4Evar worked through Elvis Costello's "Alison" (which has absolutely nothing to do with his wife, Diana Krall, and I don't know why anyone ever would've made that connection :p)
There are some quick-change chords, and some funny timing things but you guys really rocked it. Andrea took better notes that I'm able to recount verbally, so I invite you to head on over to our facebook group and download the PDF she so generously provided! For the record--I'm not just buttering you up. I think you all nailed it and I was super impressed! I hope you find that 4-chord measure as satisfying as I do to pull off.
In Guitar 1, we met up with Am, a very complimentary chord to the C we're getting used to. "Mad World" is great for practice. Just memorize that one chord progression: Am, C, G, D (I think that's what it is--though I'm at the day job and don't have the sheet in front of me...) and play it over and over again until it's time to play the chorus, which is just Am and D! There was never an easier tune to memorize. The strumming is the same John Denver combo of two quarter notes, and two pairs of eigthnotes: Down Down DownUp DownUp. We added some "Stop" chords at the end of versus, which you may have written in with an exclamation point, as well as one towards the end of the chorus before the 'mad world' repeated section. We also looked into D7 and G7 chords, which are tense and bluesy sounding, and can often be swapped out for their major chord counterparts in the right contexts. Try it out with tunes from the songbook and see how you like the results. We've added New River Train to the mix, so start there. And give another go at Mellow Yellow. It was a lot of heavy brainning to do at the end of class, but it does have the word "mellow" in it so let's work towards that tune being something relaxed and fun to shuffle through.
And in Guitar 3 Rep, though it pained me to skip over Tom Jones, it was straight into The Association's "Never My Love," which has some modest riff work. If you remind yourself that the C-shape (or Fmaj7--both work) is home base, and you simply make minor modifications inside that shape, you should be good to go. Also remember that the riff starts on beat 3, so you've got to count in "1 and 2 and" BEFORE you start. Inside the song, you'll be strumming either a C chord or an Am for those two lead-in beats, but in both cases, your fingers are already where they need to be to play the riff (because the C and Am chords are so closely related!) so you don't have to change anything to step right into the riff. We threw in one little walk, just to keep things spicy, and we're using the Golden Strum. It's a lot of work but the song is too pretty not to put in the effort! I hope you'll sing it for someone you love some day.
Keep on strumming, friends!
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