This morning, Cosmin, my band colleague (bass player) sent me some links to a few YouTube videos, asking me something like “Uuh?What do you say?!” All the videos were oldies, like for ex Wonderful life from Black. Man, this song is old and used to be on heavy rotation here about 17-18 years ago (?) when our TV stations didn’t have too much to play so they played the same old stuff over and over again. I remember from that period Cars with Drive. Man, I liked that stuff back then, but it stuck so deep into my brain that I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy it again. Also Stevie Wonder’s I just called to say I love you! Damn, and it was an other one, Stevie B, Because I love you. This one I had it on tape…

Now, listening to this song that Cosmin showed to me on YouTube, I asked him why does he show it to me? Well, how about we play it? What?!! I started to laugh! He then showed me some Al Bano and Romina Power, that made me feel suspicious, he is a Iron Maiden fan, for God’s sake! Man, wake up!

(Obtuse mind reflection:)Wonderful life seemed to me so anti-guitar that I couldn’t even imagine us playing it on stage. Where would you put an electric guitar in there? But because he says he would love us to consider it, I looked some more on YouTube and there it was: I found a cover, Hyperchild playing Wonderful life!

Man, I really enjoyed that one, it comes closer to rock, love metal, I think, HIM style music…

So I say, OK, we could do this . No solo, no keyboard, well…no problem!

The very interesting that I was thinking about is the fact that it is the same dusty song (please excuse my appreciation of it, I like it but to me it is dusty) and just changing the way of expression, you get a totally new song, with a totally new life… Adding a guitar in there opens the minds of guitar centered guys (like me for ex, I put myself on the top of the list because before listening the cover I said no, but after listening the guitar version I said, hell, yeah, why not?!)

Now I also think of something else: since a few days we try to cover Bon Jovi’s Living on a prayer which is a great song. Just that it doesn’t quite work on us. Now I think I know why: we try too much to match the original and we will never match Jon Bon Jovi’s way of singing or the energy the record transmits. What we should do instead is to find a better way of expressing us over the same song, to represent us and respect the original song also. Like that cover of Wonderful life for example…

So, just look at the same think from an other angle. Should not be difficult…right?

Here’s the cover:

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After watching some of those giants of music behaving totally unpredictable and missing concerts when everybody was expecting them on stage (as an example I had the happening with the lead singer of Velvet Revolver skipping a show when the others were there) my mind jumped to some rehearsals when we were waiting on our drummer and he was not coming.

Calling him at home, his sister tells us he’s sleeping. Well, wake him up!!! She comes back 1 min later to tell us that he said he won’t come! He is tired! Fuck! At least warn us before we come here!

Well, this is a little example where no money were involved, we had nothing to lose than our time cause without the drummer you can’t do much, if you think about it. However, when money are involved it is an other thing. So I was wondering what would come first? (to stick to the subject, I speak about guitar players):

• a guitar player that is just unbelievably creative and a technical monster but (as it happens in most of the cases with gifted people) thinks too high of himself and is not reliable in terms of respecting appointments, shows, etc
• or a reliable guitar player, not the best in the world but somebody to count on?

Don’t rush yourself to judge, saying that such “unreliable” person would die soon, artistically or socially speaking! Not quite! Think of all the musicians who went up on stage stoned, drunk (see recent events with Eddie Van Halen), think of Axl Rose leaving the scene in the past or not coming to shows, think of Nirvana bass player who is said to have been awaken just before some shows from all the alcohol he drank, etc…

However, in artistic environments, I think that the individual value of an artist is highly appreciated and if you look around, people, managers, everybody around “stars” tolerate some degree of “rebelliousness” if what they receive has a great value in terms of artistic production.

So, how much would you tolerate/accept and where’s your boiling point where you just say stop, up to here, no more? Would such a guitar player be looking for work or his artistic genius will always keep him popular and asked for on long term?

What’s your take on that?

By the way:stumble this!

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There is this guy on YouTube that sings and plays an acoustic guitar so beautiful and peaceful that I couldn’t help not to become a fan as soon as I have heard him. He gives me such a warm feeling and I would listen to him for hours. I just imagine this guy has such a beautiful, rich and accomplished life because you could only sing this way if you have inner peace and you are happy with who you are…

He covers various songs, sometimes using a harmonica too, has a very beautiful calm voice and he never shows his face in those videos. Some of you may already know him from YouTube, but I don’t think it will be a problem listening him again, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, as much as I would have loved to embed a video here, he disabled this feature so I can only point you to his channel and wish you a nice audition! Here’s a short list out of his currently 96 songs:

• You’ve got a friend(James Taylor)
• King of the road(Roger Miller)
• A song for Adam( Jackson Browne)
• Let it snow

And his channel here: FretKillr

Is this guy great or what?

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About three weeks ago I have posted about a great guitar processor that I really want to make my own, BOSS GT 10. I am a long time user of BOSS and I like their effects and how they operate, how usable and tough they are. Really, they are kind of a tank, no kidding!

Today I have been pointed to another one that I didn’t know about, Roland GR 33, which is an other kind of toy. It is not a guitar processor like GT 10 but a guitar synthesizer, works on MIDI and boy, it rocks! Well, not rock is the word here, but for those of you involved in playing some electronic influenced music, new age or just want to sound strange, complex or just play around, well…that’s what you need: Roland GR 33.

Later edit: very interesting how you get the sound from your guitar. There is a specialized pickup which actually work as 6 pickups in a row, one for each string. The “normal” pickup gets the sound from the strings as a whole while this pickup gets the sound for each string feeding it to the MIDI synthesizer. Because I couldn’t find a similar video for Roland G-33, here’s one for GR-20 but I think the video tells enough to figure out for yourself about GR-33 also (click on video tab to watch the promotional movie).

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Did you ever happen to see a (once) good guitar player that didn’t practice for a long time? I guess most of you did(probably in yourself too), because usually guitar playing, when not a profession or a serious hobby, happens in young age. Then life rolls over us. It happens! Or to put it an other way, “life’s a bitch and then you die”(well, that is the pessimistic point of view that does not define me, just that I like how it sounds).

So, if you look at this guitar player that now plays like a 14 years old, it’s quite embarrassing. For someone at 14, sounding flat works. For someone who’s supposed to have some experience and history in playing the guitar, sucks!

I have seen such persons. Damn, I have even seen myself! I have seen how some good player that I used to look up when I was a teen, couldn’t solo anymore…

But, at one point this guitar player started to practice seriously, and man, what a learning curve he had! Soon, in only a few months he became again someone to look up to! What happened? Nobody really learns that fast, right?!

Dr J spoke on his guest article here a bit about muscle memory, and boy, he’s right:

“We musicians rely so much on muscle memory and I firmly believe that the most productive time you can spend teaching your brain to remember the movements is really only the first 15-20 minutes of a practice session. After this amount of time, the brain is no longer interested in storing muscle memory information and if you continue to practice without taking a break, all you are doing is exercising your muscles.Give your brain a rest and go do something else for a while, then get back to practicing.”

When learning to play the guitar, you actually store patterns in your brain and in your muscles. It happens in music practicing, but it also happens in domains that have less to do with skills, but with capabilities, like in lifting weights. Really! This is why you find yourself taking some automatic actions in some particular situations, without “thinking” about it before. Like if you practiced box, wrestling, etc, if attacked, you will find yourself reacting fast and precise without recent previous training. It’s in you, sleeping, people!

So, when starting again to practice, your muscles start to remember things they were used to before! And if you really enjoy what you do, it comes so fast to you that you will be amazed. What the 14 years old will need to fight and struggle for a few years in a row, you will get in only a few months with a good, relaxed but constant practice!

All it takes is will, because the skills, you have them in you! Start practicing and you will see how fast you will learn it again.

I can not tell you how I felt when after a longer period of not playing constantly I started again and after only a few weeks I gained that joy and feeling of knowing my way around the neck. In the first days I had the impression that my fingers were some kind of cucumbers while after a while I started to feel the guitar neck as very comfortable and friendly.

If you find this familiar, let me hear you, guys, don’t let me feel alone out here

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I came back from today’s rehearsal and I only have one thing in my mind: I was surprised by how well my old combo is working, how good the sound it. Until now, because of commodity, I played on the combo I had there, brand new, but still, a cheap one, Harley Benton.

I tried hard to fix the sound, worked on my processor EQ settings, I though the pickups of the guitar are the problem but no matter what I tried, I could not make it sound well. Today I brought in my old combo and God, I was surprised by how it sounds. My combo is not a brand one, it is an old(and quite cheap, I bought it second hand about 9 years ago and didn’t fix anything since then) Russian combo, Accord is the name and it is …a bass combo, or at least this is what I think it writes there, even if I have no damn clue of Russian language, is writes something like “bass”. Well, I can tell you that it has such a rich and fat sound that I just love it. I have 1 general volume, 1 gain, treble, bass and 2 mid-range knobs and it looks like it survived a war, but when I play it I love it! Or maybe is just me, but it gives such a fat sound that makes me feel playing on loose, low tension strings, even if I have medium strings.

Today I felt that everything went better, suddenly my fingers obeyed me, I didn’t suck (that much), and everything because my amp gave me THE SOUND!

I guess that the person who said that “sound makes the music” was damn right!

That person surely was a guitar player and he had a good amp! For sure!

PS: On similar topic, also read Jack Pribek’s We are the seekers of tone

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I was reading on a website that in Mexico, several hundred metalheads and punkers “joined forces” to banish some emo kids from a city center. I think that this is pathetic. Really! And pitiful!

This is what is called a “religious war”, something that leads to nothing more than people getting hurt! It is a battle of mine is bigger than yours, nothing more!

I don’t think that music should ever lead to this kind of manifestations! Music starts a lot of passion and a lot of emotions, and when these get in the way of reason, this kind of events take place.

I remember we also had a place where we used to meet while in highschool, a place we used to call “to stones”, which is actually the main square of the city. There were some stone ornaments there, with flowers, where we just used to sit and..actually do nothing for a few hours. Only talk, meet, socialize. This place was the main point of meeting for rock fans all over the city! You used to see there only long hair, boots, leather and jeans jackets, etc.

I think that it was something that belonged to 2 generations, mine and the one before me, because I found it there, but I realized that after I finished highschool kids didn’t go there anymore, even if when I was in the highschool that place was full of 15-18 years old rockers! This was kind of a surprise to me! However, I think that after I finished highschool, rock was not a trend anymore, but that’s an other story.

However, I don’t remember that we’ve ever faced such events while there! In 4 years of going “to stones” I have never seen such manifestations of force or stupidity. I can only imagine that if something like this would have happened it would have been a bloodshed ’cause this was a social thing already!

That is why I reacted very emotionally to this news, I think that people overreact when it comes to emotions and passion and that learning a bit about freedom of expression should be a must in everyone’s life.

If you think for a moment, isn’t this what the music is all about?

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No related to guitars, even black music, but, man, what a beautiful live performance of Phil Collins’ “In the air tonight” in the …subway!! A must see! Via funhouse.bubble.ro.

And now, stumble that, people!

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(Picture courtesy of rachel)

Yesterday I have found on GuitarNoise.com forum a very interesting topic that made me think. One guy there was complaining about reaching a plateau as a guitar player and not being able to grow anymore in the last years. He asked for suggestions to overcome this.

Being a forum, people answered. My first thought was that people will give guitar related suggestions, but it was not like this. The answer he received was on an other level, was about feelings, music, expressing…

I will try to reproduce here the original question and the answer that got me started:

“I feel that I’ve reached a plateau the last 3-4 years and I’m hoping someone can give me some advice that will help me move my playing up the ladder. I suppose I don’t really know what to do with all I’ve learned, or perhaps I’m not aware of what I’m missing.

I’ve been in bands, studied college level theory, know all the technical stuff (ie bends, tapping, harmonics, sweep arpeggios, legato, etc), know tons of scales and modal patterns in all keys, and I can learn reasonable songs by tab or by CD.

I have not attempted to learn shred soloing, just because I’m in a modern rock band and don’t have a use for it. My original music just seems so bland and boring, and my lead improve seems to all sound the same.

Suggestions?”

And an other guy answered:

“Okay, first of all, props to you for learning all that, you definitely have all the musical tools you need. Now take the final step: express yourself. This might seem obvious but it’s really a whole new skill to learn and it comes with a whole new group of exercises. Here are some ideas:

• Write a chord progression using just two chords. Make it interesting so don’t come up with C-G7.
• If you did a progression in a major key do a new one in a minor key and vica versa.
• Get out a piece of paper and write down ten events of your life that are really important to you. Things that literally changed your life and made you who you are now. Don’t be a wimp so be honest.
• Take one event of that list and describe it in twenty lines.
• Take a look at those lines; every phrase and sentence should reflect how you feel about it.
• Write a melody that reflects the general feeling of that event and text.
• Write a chord progression around that melody.
• Fit the text you wrote to the melody, make sure the emphasis is on the correct words.
• Post the song here and await the criticism.

You’ll probably learn a lot in this process, not just about guitar but also just music in general and even about you yourself. Listen to what people say and repeat the process. Your only goal is expressing yourself better then you did last song. Do this ten times.

Think about a logical way to sequence these ten tracks. Maybe chronological, have it start with the oldest event and end with the most recent event. Or soundwise: start with the softer songs and slowly build to the rock tunes or vice versa. Use your imagine.

Okay, now you’ve completed a full album and we’re probably a few months down the road. Remember you as a person have a unique background. Your mission as an artist is to turn that into your own unique music, and that’s very, very difficult. It will force you to use the correct music tools to create a coherent musical experience, and you’ll have to be extremely honest to yourself.”

The original thread is here so you can enjoy it for yourself.

I just loved it and I think that is a true example of thinking outside the box.

Just that I ask myself, beside being a very interesting answer, does this help overcoming such a “plateau”?

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This post is brought to you by John Jinright, aka Dr J. from jinright.edublogs.org. John is Ph.D. in music education and currently teaches music theory, applied oboe and bassoon, audio production at TROY University.

Before that, John worked in the music business, started a music store and finally decided that teaching fits him best.

Dr. J played vibes in a Dixieland band (Jack Marshall and the Alabama Dixiecats), and piano in a big band (Tony Marino and The Checkmates) plus filled in on percussion with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, studied mixing with Charles Dye, Ed Seay and Roger Nichols, three Grammy-winning engineers/producers and film/tv scoring with composer/sound designer Michael Wynne.

Quite an impressive history, reason for which I am more than happy to introduce Dr. J to you.

So, here we go:

Howdy, Ya’ll.

I’m honored to guest blog on GuitarFlame.com. Frankly, I don’t think of myself as a great guitarist, but I’d like to share my best tips on performing and learning music in general. I happen to be a music teacher and I rarely resist the opportunity to share what I’ve learned so far. So, without further ado, here are almost all my secrets (10 of them) from 39 years of music study and performing:

1. You must play each note as if it were the only one which you would play. My sainted teacher repeated this mantra over and over, mimicking the thick German accent of one of her teachers. It’s talking about understanding each note’s value within the phrase, not just rhythmically, but dynamically and emotionally as well.I’m still bad about “faking” the fast stuff; to get it right I know I should practice it slowly in the beginning and pay attention to each note. That’s where secret #2 comes in:
2. Invest in a metronome and use it. I own one of the non-electronic kind; –sort of a pyramid affair with a weight that slides up and down to make tempo changes. I’ll take a sloppy passage and slide the weight up (slower) until I can execute it flawlessly, then slide the weight down a notch at a time, gradually speeding things up.It takes a great deal of patience and I have to be in the mood for this kind of practice.
3. Practice for short periods of time and take frequent breaks UNLESS you are practicing to increase your endurance. We musicians rely so much on muscle memory and I firmly believe that the most productive time you can spend teaching your brain to remember the movements is really only the first 15-20 minutes of a practice session. After this amount of time, the brain is no longer interested in storing muscle memory information and if you continue to practice without taking a break, all you are doing is exercising your muscles.Give your brain a rest and go do something else for a while, then get back to practicing.

   Repetition is key.If you don’t get back to practicing within a day or so, the learning that took place is flushed from short term memory and you start all over again.

   Frequent recall (with breaks in between) teaches the brain that this information is something you’re going to be asking it to do over and over.When this occurs, that learning is transferred from short term memory to long term memory and then you’ve really “learned” it.

4. Relaxation is key. Playing an instrument involves the recall of distances and building a “feeling” of where your hands are at all times. Tension is the enemy of muscle memory and awareness.When you sense that your muscles are tight, concentrate on relaxing them. Take a break, if necessary. Continuing to practice while your muscles are burning is neither pleasant nor productive, so do something to end the tension. You might analyze your posture, breathing, and/or finger position.

   Strive to eliminate wasted motion and find the easiest way. Relax.

5. Students, don’t practice music you don’t like. Many of you may find this statement amazing, but the reason I didn’t become an organist was because my pipe organ teacher insisted that I learn to play French organ music. I decided to quit pipe organ because I hated the pieces so much.If your teacher gives you something you absolutely can’t stand to practice, ask them to give you something else.There’s so much good music out there, it’s pointless to waste your time on things you don’t like.

   There’s more than one path to performance. If your teacher won’t budge and insists that you learn a certain piece, then find a different teacher. I was blessed to have a teacher that let me decide what I wanted to work on.

   Since I was part of the process of education, I felt a sense of ownership in practicing and worked much harder on my music than most of my peers. I’ll confess that I hated practicing scales; –this may have slowed me down temporarily in developing some aspects of technique, but when I found a piece I liked that had scales in it, I worked those passages and mastered it. To this day, I still hate practicing scales, but within the context of a good piece of music, it’s really not so bad.

6. If you want to be the best in your field, learn to sightread. If you aren’t the best music reader, it’s OK….we all begin at the same place. The key is to avoid frustration and develop a sense of adventure. And don’t stop trying!Develop a love for discovering new music and feed your habit. I look for new music ALL THE TIME and while I still encounter things I can’t play, I can read most music the way you’d read a newspaper. I’ve had students that were not good at sightreading, but with encouragement, they’ve become sightreading monsters.

   If your musical education continues to the point of graduate school or conservatory study, you’ll find that this is the skill that separates the best from the rest.

7. Discover the “zone.” There’s a state of concentration that good musicians develop that allows them to be totally aware of the music yet oblivious to outside distractions.Many beginning performers have to deal with stagefright; those “butterflies” in your stomach that cause you to make mistakes that affect the performance. That inner voice of self-doubt is something that you can will yourself to turn off, but it’s a very difficult hurdle to overcome.

   One trick I use is to ask my students to play a piece they’re very familiar with, then ask some other students (strangers pulled from out in the hall) to come into my studio and listen. Then, they’re instructed to do everything they can to try to break my performer’s concentration; –they can talk to them, make fun of them, even touch them to try to break their concentration.

   With a little bit of practice enduring these kinds of distractions, most students get in touch with their powers of concentration and “will” themselves to get through the piece. The next step, of course, is to practice this newfound concentration skill in front of a real audience.

   I’ll admit that finding the zone can be very difficult for some, but with determination, they will master it.

8. Get behind the music. Learn as many things about the original performer(s) and composer as you can. Imagine that performing this song is like reciting lines from a play or a poem. Your job as musician is not only to recreate the song, but to “own” it.Some music requires flawless attention to the original style and sound; other pieces may allow you to change the style, improvise, or even remix it.

   I love to hear great cover tunes that reflect the musicianship of those performers who can remain true to the original intent of the song, but still color it in their own unique way.

9. Learn from others. Years ago, some professors wrote about a great conversation. It’s like you’re at a party and you walk up to some people who are actively talking about a subject. You listen a bit, then you add your voice to the conversation. This is what we do as musicians; –the musical conversation has been going on for centuries before we ever entered the room.The reasons we create music have changed little over the centuries, but we all have the opportunity to learn from the ones who have come before us. And the performers that surround us all have different backgrounds and are at different stages of their respective musical journeys.

   Always respect that and listen carefully to what they have to say. You’ll be glad you did.

10. Find your spiritual side in music. Music is supernatural. Natural sounds occur in the course of everyday life (i.e. dogs barking, telephones ringing, people talking).Guitars are not a natural instrument; they are extraordinarily constructed to sound unlike anything else in nature. Singing is not ordinary speech; it is extraordinary, i.e. supernatural. Be aware that every time you sing or pick up an instrument and play you are creating a sound that’s unlike anything found in nature. It is innately a spiritual thing that we musicians do.

    Be aware of that and develop an awareness of music’s connection with the human spirit. It’s what separates us from all other creatures. Pardon me for preaching, but we also have a responsibility to be aware of the impact of what we do on others. Music conveys meaning in a more powerful way than ordinary speech. It can lift us to new heights or push our spirits down to the depths of despair.

    While we can certainly argue the point that music is a universal language, that part of humanity that it reaches is certainly universal. While I don’t wish to begin a debate over what music is bad or good for us, I do hope that you’ll try to make the highest quality of music that you possibly can. And be the best influence you can be on others…you might just make a difference with your music.

How about it?

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