100th post of the year

happy new year, people!

Charlie Christian is the guy now...

sorry, BB, but there's a new guy in town.  Another one-note wonder.  Charlie Christian.  Now that I'm moving towards jazz he's the one I'll be studying outside of the lessons.  Single note leads are always my main interest, and he's the jazz guy for that.  My objective during the break is to buy a book of transcriptions to study.  tally ho!

251 jazz back track -- nice!

so in the afternoon i tried out a 2-5-1 backing track with the ipod touch through the amp.  plugged in the vg strat and had some fun.  played major scale.  nice!  gonna add it to my list of stuff to do.  the "set list" for the imaginary gig.  also gonna transfer a back track to garage band and record an improv with it.  jazz videos!

thurs. morn vid

ok, here's my thurs. morn vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt4Wi5qaRS4

this one is special.  better than my previous.  i felt more comfortable, more confident.  finally got moving between minor and major pentatonic.  really started working those positions.  I like fifth position minor and major to mess around in.  those two shapes really work for me.  gonna focus on that for improving major/minor soloing.

also in this one i'm better at holding back, letting the backing track breathe a little.  stopped myself from just doing a flurry of notes.  more of a phrase pause phrase pause thing going on here.  enjoy!

wednesday morning blues improv

ok, a little thing after breakfast:

wed. morn. blues improv

the blues forever!

more vids

check my youtube channel.  more vids.  one with day tripper chords.  one a test of octaves ala wes but with way too much signal.  like metal octaves for the sound windy, from the 60s, by the association.  i tried to upload another video of hotel california with a piano rhythm section, but youtube keep deleting the audio -- it was a copyright violation!  yet there are many covers of hotel california, including my first one, that aren't deleted or silenced.  what gives?  GONNA try and upload it tomorrow.  weird!

windy ala wes & octaves

working on Windy with octaves like Wes does.  fun fun fun!  Also, figured out how to use my keyboard with garage band, so i can really expand my backing tracks.  gonna make my own.  already did "hotel california" and am now working on Day Tripper.  and the wes thing.  onward!

first video of xmas break 2011

ok, here's my video:

improv over hotel california chords

so, gonna use chords of rock songs to improv over.  so the listener has something familiar to grasp onto.  hope to make more over the break!

great lesson on jazz octaves ala benson

ok, here's the link to the lesson:

george benson style octaves

the dude looks like a convict, but he knows his stuff!  this is one technique I'm gonna practice during the break.  octaves!  sound great with vg strat in humbuck 12 string mode!  also i like how he plays minor pent and natural minor together for improvs.  cool!

semester of lessons is over

ok, the semester is over for lessons.  started with spike drivers blues and delta fingerstyle gittar, and ended with "first solo" from a Berklee book and a move towards jazz, with no delta blues in sight.  still playin' blues at home.  also learned to read notes finally, so tabs are long gone.  yesterday i got out my bb king book, covered up the tabs, and learned the first page of a song.  not so hard, now.

not so sure about the roland pickup on humbucker for the vg strat.  felt my ears were ringing a little.  gotta use another modeling for that gittar, or the normal single coils.  they still sound good in pairs, like bridge and middle.

hope to make some videos during the break.  blues stuff.  and wanna get a set up for my new strat, "surfy".

I'm off of tabs!

yeah, no more tabs for me!  I can work on this new piece and just read the dang notes, like Tom would say.  I'm not going back!  At least for the first position on the neck i'm fine.  Later I'll learn more.

working with my new fender has been great.  I really like the humbuckers on it.  in fact, fender is pretty good at hb pups.  Now, in comparison, I think I'm really an hb guy.  the single coils are just a little too sharp for my ears.  luckily both my fenders can do humbucks -- the vg strat has a great humbuck mode. i can even do 12 string humbuck with the roland pickup!  super cool.  i'm humbuckin' all the way!

chord melody solo piece

So, Tom gave me a chord melody solo piece from his big book of guitar stuff.  no tabs -- standard notation only.  well, it's not too bad so far; i'm taking it slowly and getting the hang of reading staff (is that what to call it? staff instead of tabs?).  the piece is mellow, a little jazzy at the end with an 11th chord i think.  we're moving away from the blues, it seems, towards a more jazz oriented playing.  good.  i can do my bb king back track stuff at home on my own and study the solos in my book.  tom's stuff will get me into staff reading, theory, jazz directions, etc.

also, got a new guitar!!! a fender pawn shop 72 -- surf green body, mint pickguard, rosewood fret board.  you can see it at my youtube channel.  two humbuckers, semi hollow like a tele thinline, hard tail, tele headstock, p-bass pickguard.  a real monster!  sounds great -- the humbucker at the neck is airy and jazzy.  a good change from the woody sound of my 339.  and different from the roland synth humbucker on my vg strat.  i'm turning into a humbucker guy -- fender single coils are just too sharp for me.  i prefer the humbuck warmth and thickness.  so this is the last fender i'm gonna buy.  it fits the old case, so now my fender collection is complete.  i got a 15% black friday discount at GC, and ordered it online.  it arrived in great shape, with a gig bag.  needs a little set up, but not much, so no rush on that. the stock strings even sound good!

back on track with backing tracks

yeah, this is working out really well.  I"ve got one ipod with only backing tracks that I can connect to my amp.  38 tracks so far -- plenty to work on!  I got the vg strat on the syntesizer -- neck pickup of a humbucker strat.  great humbuckin' tone!

I'm working on a BB King song, Sweet Sixteen, from my tabs book.  Now I can read enough that I can work through the song.  And I got the backing tracks for all the songs in the book on my ipod.  so with the sheet music and the backtracks I can make some progress here.  I'm at the point where I can understand how the song works, moving in and out of major and minor pent in that bb king style.  so good!  I'm back to my original inspiration for guitar lessons -- BBK.

I feel back on track with backing tracks!  Gittar has a focus now, a goal.  forget jazz and delta blues.  I'ts back to blues lead solos!

low and slow works

low and slow works.  got the gain on very minimum.  no reverb, no effects at all!  Tone around 4 or 5.  Jazz emulation setting.  guitar tone set on 5 or so.  using various pickups with strat -- overall a good set up and no ring a ding ding.

my current form of 12 bar:  I chord is a 6th (like an A6 on the second fret -- that form - bar the 4 high strings), and IV and V chords are ninths (with root as lowest note on 5th string -- that form).  I play major pent in the I chord, and mix major and minor in the IV and V.  Mostly play major pent.  gives it that uptown feel.  trying to use chromatic chord changes, like T Bone Walker.  Like a 9th in this way: C-C#-D for the IV chord.  sliding up and down to the I IV V chords.

low and slow

OK, next experiment.... play it low and slow.  quiet slow blues.  i'm tryin' it.  seems to work OK.  call it smooth blues, whisper blues... low and slow.

ring a ding ding

So I've been playing guitar with my amp the last few days.  Been careful as usual: jazz setting, low gain, moderate tone, moderate volume.  Only a little reverb.  Still got some ringing.  Man, what's the deal?  I know it will go away, but I can't even use the amp a little without some ringing?  How am I supposed to play guitar???? I can't use my classical nylon stringed gittar -- that thing makes my ears ring!  Am I limited to unplugged electrics?

Is this another reason to move from blues to jazz?  blues tends to be loud, more percussive, more aggressive in tone.  Jazz can be more mellow -- like smooth jazz guitar.  So many more colors in jazz, too.  The pentatonic palate, even with some added scales (I've messed with mixolydian) still has its limits.  Plus the I IV V pattern 12 bar.   Yeah, there are 8 bar blues and other chord patterns, but the core is the 145.

liken' the t-pick!

yeah, the thumbpick is working well so far.  feels good -- no thumb joint pain yet.  and no new pains!  also it sounds good with the strings.  it's heavy!  maybe heavier than most jazz picks!  so a good tone emerges.  feels good that it stays on with no effort.  why don't more guitarists use them as picks? will something else come up to rain on my parade?  new pains?  weird side effects?  who knows!  for now I like it, dude!

Maybe the only downside is on an upward pick there is a chance to get the pick caught on the string, depending on the angle.  Hasn't bothered me so far.  I even did my scale triplet practice with the t-pick and had now problems like that.

got a thumbpick....

trying out a thumbpick to use as a regular pick, or plectrum...!  Also wanted it to go with my metal finger things for picking.  what do they call those things?  banjo dudes use them a lot.  anyhoo, i have some, but didn't have the thumbpick, so I got one today.  A National medium.  I'll see it works as a pick for blues.  So far I like it -- just gotta get used to a different feel.  Maybe it will eliminate the pain in my thumb joint I get after using a standard pick for too long.   ah, the aches and pains of gitar!

Pullman Green: BackTracker

so now it's gonna be back trackin' that's my thing.  Unless I get really good -- not likely -- I can at best achieve decent mediocrity.  Hey, most of us are average, by definition!  So, what can an average gitar playin dude to make himself sound better?  backing tracks......

I downloaded a bunch more blues tracks.  Now I've got almost 30 -- way more than I need right now.

the plan: for each track, develop the lead guitar part.  Specific themes, riffs, etc. to improv with.  Make it structured.  Also, I'm gonna use all the sounds from my vg strat.  Gonna choose a tone for each song. I'll write this all down and prepare a set list.  then I'll have the product I"ve been yearning for -- the ability to perform for an audience.

ear trouble?

well, it's close.  i notice my ear ringing is slightly increase with today's playing.  neck pup?  probably!  i cut the gain a little, and that might help, but it also cuts the bell like tone.  leaves it more flat.  maybe i should just go back to bridge/middle combo.  it's safe and effective.

yeah, just a/b 'ed the two, and bridge/middle wins, as usual.  neck pup is bellish -- those are the frequencies that ring my ear.

likin' the neck pickup

yeah, since I've had the strat (sept. 10) I used the bridge/middle pickups.  Yesterday while messing around I tried the neck pu and with the right amp settings I finally found a great tone that doesn't ring my ears.  This is the strat lead tone that so many like to use.  rich, full, bell-like.  In the past when I've tried for it my ears couldn't take it.  I think the trick is to have the amp in "jazz" mode which tones everything down, and to have the gain set very low.  Tone is at 5 or 6 on the amp.  A little reverb is there too. 

just when i'm thinkin' about jazz, the blues comes back! 

jumping from box to box

one thing I started doing is to jump from box to box, skipping a few.  so, if i start in box one of the pentatonic, i jump with a slide to the fourth or fifth box.  looks and sounds dramatic.  then i have two points to slide back and forth from.  start at 1 and slide to 4, solo a little,then slide back to 1, solo, etc.  Just need two boxes in a solo, far apart, and the sound really improves.

just did a nice blues improv

yeah, just did a nice blues improv.... somehow different from what I usually do.  a little more loose, a little more wild, a little more all over the fretboard.  Gettin' me interested in blues soloing again.


Another thing I changed is to play in major pentatonic, with a switch to minor in the IV chord.  It changes up the mood of the piece.  So, playing major pent and getting a little bolder on the neck..... seems to give good results!

gonna do this some more.  Gotta a get a little more physical, more unrestrained.  play that dang gitar!

a little of both

so I'm thinking of pursuing two tracks at once.  I'd like to stick with my delta blues lessons for this semester, and next semester.  I still like to play them, and fingerstyle playing is valuable.  For now I'll start studying some jazz theory on my own, and improvise at home starting with the major and minor scales (ionian and aeolian).  I'll teach myself some more scales, too.  I think that if I learn a scale, even in only one pattern that covers part of the fretboard, that will be enough to get started.  I don't need to know a scale for the whole fretboard to move forward.

I'm back to thinking of the backing track as the basis for my playing.  I'm not an incredible talent, so a little help from a track makes sense.  Me soloing over tracks, both jazz and blues, will create a sound that is achievable and sounds good.  plus i'll throw in a little delta blues instrumentals!

This is the best site I've found for self teaching:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/

bitten by the jazz bug again!

oh jazz, just leave me alone!
so, in my thoughts about a post-blues study, i've been searching for an instrumental solo guitar destination.  Well, it's not strictly solo, but with backing tracks.....jazz.  tonight I put on a II V I backing track on the computer and improvised with the major scale -- now that I know that scale.  Man, it sounded good to my ears.  Much fuller than using the pentatonic scale.  More notes... jazzier.

So it this the place I'm going?  I envision myself improvising to jazz backing tracks in an upscale restaurant somewhere.  Just me and a guitar, an amp, and backing tracks.  Throw in a little instrumental blues now and then.... no singing required!

OK, i will learn more scales.... no problem.  I'm eager to study the bebop scale, and the other modes.  I enjoy practicing the major scales.  I know them in two positions, that cover about half the fretboard in the first octave.  And yes, more theory.... well, it can't be helped!

Tom is teaching me to sight read, so that will help.

Anyhoo, I"m not a sweaty emotional bellowing blues guy staying up late at night.  I've watched a lot of blues bands on youtube -- it's not really me.  But a smooth jazz guy, or cool jazz guy -- less sweaty, and non-bellowing... that's more like my temperment.

And now I've got more confidence that I can, with enough time, learn jazz.  And, truth be told, I"m getting a little tired of the I IV V blues structure, and the pentatonic scales.  I want do more.  I won't give up the blues, heck I know it moderately and will still play... but I want to expand.  jazz.

And my 339 is a perfect jazz guitar, so no new stuff needed!

more than the blues?

well, here's the deal.  Even if i study delta blues -- it's not a complete product of guitar music.  there's that danged singing.  maybe what i want is pure  instrumental solo guitar -- in whatever genre.  i'm not a singer by nature.  I started this thing to play guitar.

so, maybe i need instrumental pieces.  think chet atkins, but not so complicated!

Spike Driver Blues: got it

so, Tom said I got it down.  Not perfect, but I have the syncopation in the right place, right time.  Gotta refine it more and work on the nuances, but it can be checked off.

Now working on "Make Me a Pallet."

Also working on sight reading exercises!  Gonna break my addiction to tabs!

the rick, not the sg

so i'm back to the rick for my  next gittar, maybe around the end of 2012 or spring 2013.  Either a 620 or a 350.  It's just more different from my 339 and strat than an sg would be.  I'd have a guitar from the big 3, in a collector's sense.  Anyhoo, I"m in no rush.

still working out the syncopation of spike driver blues.  and working on the next piece, Make Me  A Pallet, another Misssissippi John Hurt piece.

the stuffed 339 is working great and is my main axe now.  The strat is taking a break.

Make Me a Pallet

that's the next song I'm working on.  Another Mississippi John Hurt piece.  Still ironing out the kinks in Spike Driver blues.  And, trying to sing and play at the same time!  Hold on to yer hats, people!

So, I'm back to favoring solid body guitars.  My 339, when I'm playing fingerstyle, gets loud enough at the right frequency to get my one ear ringing.  Well, I mostly solved that by stuffing the top f-hole with a hankerchief.  I was playing my strat more, but with the Spike Driver piece the stretch with the fender scale length got in the way.  So now my mind is thinking of an ideal guitar for me would be a solid body with Gibson scale length.  A Les Paul or an SG.  I'm favoring the SG -- it's solid, lighter, not chambered or otherwise overly resonant, and has double cutaway.  So my next gitar might be an SG -- maybe a white 60s tribute with p-90s.  That would be at the end of the school year, in 2012.

For now my modded 339 (just did the hankerchief thing today) seems to be working well -- ear not ringing beyond the usual.

Spike Driver Blues exercise

Spike Driver Blues exercise

my youtube video

give it a listen.  got to work on bass notes and syncopation.  sure is fun to play!

Mississippi John Hurt

My first delta blues piece is Spike Driver's Blues, by Mississippi John Hurt.  It's only 10 bars long, and stays in the G chord.  A good beginner's piece!  Here's a great instructional vid that shows how to play it:

spike driver's blues

give it a try!

acoustic style blues exercise

2nd syncopation exercise

here's a youtube video to show a little of what i'm working on.  getting the hang of syncopation and fingerstyle picking, delta blues style.

fingerstyle blues has begun

this semester i'm starting to learn fingerstyle blues -- on my way to delta blues.  got my first textbook, and i'm working on the thumb bass with finger picking parts, with some syncopation.  I've done two years of improvisation, and now i want to learn songs, blues songs, for solo guitar.  that would be delta blues.

Yellowstone Summer 2011 Tour

Sunday, July 3: Crystal Lake to Sioux Falls, SD.

Monday, July 4: Sioux Falls to Rapid City, SD. Badlands state park.

Tuesday, July 5: Mount Rushmore, Custer State park.

Wednesday, July 6: Rapid City to Cody, WY

Thursday, July 7: Cody to Yellowstone, back to Cody

Friday, July 8: Cody to Yellowstone, then to West Yellowstone, Montana.

Saturday, July 9: West Yellowstone to Yellowstone, then to Cody.

Sunday, July 10: Cody to Bismarck, ND

Monday, July 11: Bismarck to St. Cloud, Minnesota

Tuesday, July 12: St. Cloud to Crystal Lake.

added ninths to my blues

I"m comfortable with ninth chords now in my I IV V. I put them in the IV and V position, and use a seventh in the I position. It's a good combination this way; the ninths are right in the same area as the seventh. It has a little Stevie

Ray sound to it.

still haven't made a video... too busy with summer stuff.

today i played the blues

maybe for the first time. I had all the elements there. The intro, the major minor riffs, the turnarounds, the end, the 12 bars, 7th chords, etc. It sounded like the blues! took me 2 years to get here. Still got lots of refinement to go through, and many more elements to learn. But the basics are here. This is what I wanted. Some kind of acoustic style blues, with chords, using a pick, not fingerstyle. Solo instrumental blues. gotta make a vid soon.

mixing major and minor pentatonics

so, I feel I have made a step forward in mixing major and minor pents. It occurred last night -- you how these things are, they just occur out of nowhere. I picked up the guitar, thought about it, and there it was. I was going between major and minor riffs much more smoothly than in the past. I am better at visualizing the overlapping patterns and making the shifts from one to the other. It just sounded better than in previous attempts. Now I've got something to work on this summer! It feels good -- mixing major and minor sounds better than doing sequential riffs in major and minor or vice versa. What I'm doing sounds more like The Blues. I'll have to do a video soon to provide an example.

May 28 blues improv

OK, here's your daily dose of vitamin blue:

may 28 improv in E

best taken with a stiff drink. I prefer scotch.

may 27 improv vid

OK, another tech test. I made a backing track on the big laptop with garage band, then sent it to i tunes. just a basic 12 bar blues in A. then i put that on a jump drive and put it in the little laptop. i plugged that into the amp, along with the fender, and played a 2 track thing. I did this because I didnt't buy a looper pedal today. so i figured out how to make my own loops and run them on the little apple ibook. now i don't need no pedal!

blues improv

the miked amp is too distorted. mike placement and volume is critical. still working on it.

may 26 blues vid

OK, here it is, a major pentatonic improv in G

may 26 blues vid

i feel like doing more major pent blues......

may 25 blues vid

ok, I got this one done in the morning, to make sure it gets done

may 25 blues vid

improv in G. why do I sound better when i'm not making a video???

may 24 electronica vid

didn't have much time today, so here's some electronica

may 24 electron

enjoy............

May 23 vid blues

OK, here's a morning blues vid, done around 10:15 am. gotta get up and play!

blues vid in E

I think the mike is working; it's just weak and needs to be right up against the amp. i need a new mike!

enjoy.........

May 22 blues vid

ok, here it is. the mike wasn't working so the sound is crappy.

may 22 blues vid

enjoy!

May 21 blues vid

yeah baby, the blues is back!

may 21 blues vid

es 339 and miked amp.

May 20 vid electron mix 03

now i'm on a techno kick -- i figured out how to to it with garage band. enjoy~! the blues will return later on.... variety is a good thing......

electron mix 03

go

more electrons !

yeah, i'm onto something!

more electronica...

this stuff is fun!

electronica !

OK, i asked for more variety; here it is:

electronica

garage band !

may 19 vid

ok, here's a quick solo

may 19 vid

i need to work on some variety. maybe a different rhythm for a 2 guitar vid.

May 18 vid with 4 tracks in A

OK, this one is a little rough, but it's 4 tracks. drums, 2 guitars, keyboard. didn't really keep the beat so well. it's a mix of direct input and mike. sounds like a bad practice session of a garage band! oh well, it's all practice, that's true.

may 18 vid 4 track

the video if from 1975. guess who they are..

May 17 vid in G, 2 track

OK folks, here it is:

may 17 vid

2 tracks. for the rhythm I recorded a 12 bar section and copy/pasted. you can hear the seem between them. rhythm guitar is east coast wah. lead is heavy blues. a good combo. fender vg strat for this one.

second vid of the day May 16

ok, here's another one. one guitar, one video clip:

second vid of the day

nice clip, right?

May 16 improv, 3 tracks in G

OK, here it is: 3 tracks in G. one drum loop, one rhythm guitar, one lead. 339 and garage band.

may 16 improv

OK, listen up people!

May 15 improv in G

after you read the sunday paper, take a listen to my daily vid. guess the film clip used for the video. garage band was set on texas blues, the fender was plugged straight into the computer. that eliminates the annoying hiss from using the mike. next time i'm gonna plug the amp into the computer and record the drum loop, then play the guitar on a second track.

sunday vid

enjoy!

May 14 improv in A sort of

ok, this improv was done with some distraction, but that's OK. family first! so I'm in A mostly, with the amp drum loop. i like the drum loop; it keeps me in time and it's a second instrument to work with.

may 14 improv

i'm feeling better about recording my music -- and that's one point of these daily vids.

may 13 vid 1

ok, gotta re post this one too!

may 13 vid 1

am i going nutty koo koo or what?

May 12 improv

OK, here's another one that got lost in the internet.

May 12 improv

don't know why the post isn't here. what up?

May 11 improv

i posted for this video, but it's not there, so here it is again:

may 11 improv

ok, i'm doing one a day!

another vid today

ok folks, here's what you get when I have free time: 2 vids a day!

guitar piano combo in A

miked the casio keyboard. 339 for guitar. garagaband for the mix. it's OK, a first experiment. wanna do that more. add a drum track next time.

enjoy!

12 may vid

ok, here's your daily dose of vitamin blue:

12 may vid

339, g dec junior, and a little reverb. dat's all, folks!

may 11 vid with 339

ok, here it is

today's vid with 339

got it in just under the wire. storm delayed my computer use, and I was at school most of the afternoon. an improv in B with the Gibson, miked amp.

multitrack vid today!

here is today's vid, in glorious two track:

vid of the day

so, track 1 is the g-dec beat loop and me on rhythm guitar. track 2 is me on lead. both are miked from the amp. no garage band effects this time. At one point you can hear me move the mike!

may 9 vid

still goin' strong!

vid of the day

this one uses 'british invasion' on garage band. can't hear it, really.

OK, I'm done for the day!

today's video

yeah, still at it! another vid!

vid of the day

this one is in A. working with a different rhythm, strum pattern. the sound effect is "bright country." not too impressed with it. but well, it's something!

vid of the day

here is the vid of the day:

improv in E, May 7

I knew a guy back in the 80s who tried to write a poem a day. i'm puttin out a vid a day, good or bad, better or worse. watch me improve!

this one had a few glitches. i like the big wheels effects. not my best playing. lately i've been favoring the epiphone. so next vid should use that one. go epi dot! I put new strings on it, ernie ball 10s -- slinky! my fave strings!

today's video

ok, here is today's video

todays video

improv in E, using "barroom lead" in garage band. too much distortion! i'm using the 339 but you can hardly tell. anyway, i'm going thru all garage band guitar effects -- good or not so good.

anyhoo ---- enjoy!

today's vid

ok, here's today's vid

may 5 improv

a little improv in G with the drum machine from the fender gdec amp. used a mike on this one, straight into garage band. video is from spanish station -- cinco de mayo!

enjoy!

May 4 improv in G vid

OK, here's my morning vid:

morning vid improv in G

ok. garage band is set on "classic rock." just me, one guitar, no dubs or multi tracks. trying to get more comfortable playing/recording. video does not match audio. improv in G. maybe i gotta play a little faster. anyhoo, here it is

another video quickie

ok, here's the second vid for the day

second vid for the day!

this is one take, one guitar. garage band effect is "sixties texture." oh, and both vids today use my fender vg strat. rock on!

OK, here's a video quickie....

today's recording

just gettin' back to makin' some vids. Pretty rough playing, but what the heckle.

last lesson of the semester

we worked on Day Tripper. Reviewed the rhythm guitar part. Worked on the solo. Took turns playing lead and rhythm.

For fall semester we will continue with classic rock. I will still study my blues books for techniques.

Once this semester is over I can start on my summer guitar plans, and try to make more videos and do some multitrack recording. and work on that Pullman Green persona!

My Blues Persona....

The name is Pullman Green.

Which is a color used on old train cars, I found out. google it.

I'll grab a hat, put on some shades, wear a nice suit, and play my git-tar.

Today I got out my Robert Johnson CDs and started writing down the keys the songs are played in, and played along -- just simple 7th chord strumming. Humming along, too, in the background.

Well, why not? I can't depend on my virtuosity!

yesterday's lesson

Tom and I worked on the rhythm guitar part of Day Tripper. I got the hang of it, after a while. I enjoy working on rhythm because I'm not so good at it, and it's a change from working on lead sections. I need to work on rhythm.

this week's lesson

so the rock song Tom chose is...... Day Tripper. Not what I had expected -- he likes Clapton, Cream, Zeppelin, etc. So anyway, we'll work on both guitar parts for DT; I already know the classic riff. I will work on the rhythm part, and also the lead solo. Tom said the song is a good example of minor pent in E.

He also showed me how to play 9ths, llths, and 13ths with a barre shape. And we talked about how those augmented chords are formed.

He also explained how dominant 7th chords in blues are different from major 7ths. There is a difference in the flatted 7th, I think.

played guitar in the back yard

yeah, the weather was so nice, low 70s and sunny, that we all went outside in the back to play. I brought out the epiphone -- perfect for outside. Had a great time just playin' basic 12 bar blues. The Epi will be my backyard guitar.

today's guitar lesson

We didn't go over a specific song today -- he didn't bring one in! Instead we talked a little more about theory. We also reviewed 9th chords - one form with the root note and the other without. We also looked at a chord substitution chart for I IV V. He explained what a "dominant" chord is and how in blues it's a little different than in classical theory. We looked at 11th and 13th chords, on a chart, but didn't practice any. Our playing was focused on 9th chords, and the talking ranged around those areas in theory i mentioned above.

enjoying modal playing

isn't that what I'm doing, modal playing? Really, it's basic, for the blues. In the key of A, for example, play the a scale for the I, the D scale for the IV, and the E scale for the V. To mix it up a little more like A minor pent for the I, D major pent for the IV, and E minor pent for the V.

My guitar teacher taught me to use a method where you stay in the same region of the neck. So if you start the I with first position in A, then for the IV use the position for D that's right in the same area (the 4th position). Then for the E scale in the V you use the nearest pattern of E (the third pattern.)

You can also start in the 3rd position for the root scale in I and the scale boxes that are in the same area. Same for starting in the 5th position for the root scale in I.

And, he said you can play the I with the first position, the for IV go up the neck to the first position for that scale (D, if your root is A), and up two more frets, 1st position for the V chord (E, in this case).

What I like is that more than 5 notes will be played with the 3 scales. I'm not sure how many, but more than 5. More notes = more sounds, more variety.

I played the fender and gibson today. i was favoring the fender lately, but today both felt pretty comfortable. i prefer the 9 gauge strings of the fender, but the gibson's 10 gauge felt fine.

also lately i haven't been using a pick, because of some thumb pain in the right hand. but now i'm holding the pick differently, trying to use my hand in a way to distribute the force more evenly so the thumb doesn't take so much. seems to reduce the twinge of pain. still gotta work on it.

moving towards rock

so today in my guitar lesson we decided to look at some rock songs. my teacher suggested Cream's "sunshine of your love," Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" and the allman brother's "Rambling Man." I"m all for it. As much as I like the blues, these classic rock songs are a part of my past -- we all grew up on this stuff. It resonates more with me than the blues songs which are mostly pretty new to me. Plus, these rock songs use major and minor pentatonic, which I Know, and they use more than I IV V chords! Gotta admit I"m a little tired of that one chord progression for every blues song.

So, now, it is time to rock!

learning about modes!

so, we have finally come to modes. My guitar teacher started me off with this: for the I IV V structure in blues, we can use first position (minor) of the I chord, the fourth position (minor) of the key for IV for the IV chord, and the 3rd postition of the V chord for V. So, for A minor blues, it works like this: for I chord use 1st position of A, for IV chord use 4th position of D, and for the V chord use 3rd position of E. This keeps the hand around the fifth fret area -- these chord positions are chosen to be in the same area of the neck. Plus certain notes are emphasized in the IV and V chords sections, but I forget which. Something about the three notes they all share, like

A, D, and G or something.

Am I right about this?

inspired by acoustic blues guitar

i find myself more and more listening to acoustic guitar blues, and less to bb king and the other nightclub bluesmen. I get more inspiration from old fashioned acoustic blues -- more of it seems relevant to what I"m trying to do on guitar. For one, it's solo. those nightclub dudes have backing bands. I'm solo instrumental, so I gotta do it all. And, I just like the sound of old time blues. But, I have no interest in getting an acoustic guitar or playing one. I still like my electrics! And, i'm not into learning the fingerstyle picking... too hard! So I"m a hybrid dude, playing a modified electro-acoustic barre chord blues.

puttin' a few things together

so this weekend a few elements came together. I figured out the placement for a Robert Johnson like chromatic seventh chord intro, the one on the top 3 strings GBE in the shape of D7 that goes from high to low 3 frets. I found where to start and end in relation to first position minor pentatonic so I can use it in any key. I also located a few other acoustic blues riff elements in terms of minor pent position so I can use them in any key. Finally, I started adding some notes outside the minor pent boxes and I'm getting an ear for which work and which don't. My guitar teacher, Tom, is right that blues sound better with added notes in the scale.

So my goal is approaching: to make myself a solo instrumental blues guitar player. I'm not an acoustic blues player -- I don't know that fancy fingerstyle picking. I use barre chords and quick riffs to play. I'm trying to take all the songs I know and put them in this style so that I have a set list of pieces to play.

Some of the pieces I'm transforming:

You Shook Me, the Willie Dixon/Led Zeppelin thing I played at a recital;

the Lake of Fire piece (meat puppets/Nirvana/Tom) I played at the last recital

a blues piece in E I'm developing

another one in A I'm working on

an exercise in my Blues book I wanna transform, in B flat

and other improv stuff I do. I want something in B also. E, G, A, and B, and B flat -- these keys, both minor, major, and mixed pent.

I also got out the epiphone dot for this weekend. I like to play it every now and then. I think in the summer it will be a great backyard patio guitar -- Fendy and Gibby stay inside!

quote

I don't play a lot of fancy guitar. I don't want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean licks.
John Lee Hooker

shoulder feels better

ok, so today i played without the pick, and my shoulder is feeling better. guess i just gotta limit the pick time, and play more fingerstyle. oh, and i figured, as you can see, how to embed my youtube videos.

latest jam in E

sore shoulder

so, my right shoulder gets sore after some time of guitar playing. am i holding my pick wrong? i use only the two fingers. are my muscles too tight? am i playing too much? it hurts more when i sit and play, so i mostly stand and play, and it doesn't hurt so much. some how the sitting position makes the same area in the back shoulder hurt, on the right arm. maybe i'm too tense. gotta work on this.

i have no rhythm!

a tough lesson today. i just don't have a well developed sense of rhythm. we're working on this piece, and just the basics of swing time seem to be beyond me. just getting that intro grace note thing, the one before the first measure -- not easy. my guitar teacher is comping and i'm doing the lead from the textbook. Then, a long pause -- i hate long pauses! So easy to lose count or miscount. Then a measure that starts with a rest, and the lead begins on the second beat! screw up time!

i do not have swing in me! maybe i should study something in straight time. what would that be? folk? country?

i have a lot of fun improvising, but playing sheet music is just hard! of course my improvving needs more variety and more riffs, and I gotta learn them.... well, learning to play sheet music is just part of the game -- but not a part i'm very good at!

15 bucks from guitar center

so GC gave me a 15 dollar gift card. cool! I bought two sets of ernie ball strints, 9s and 10s, and a 12 pack of my favorite dunlop nylon .73 mm picks. thanks, gc!

it was part of their big weekend presidents sale. our GC here didn't have any amazing guitar deals, just the usual stuff. fenders were 15 % off and gibsons were 10% for 2 hours this morning, but their on site stock wasn't very great.

anyhoo, i don't need any more guitars, right? who needs more than one? i've got two great ones, so i'm holding back the GAS for as long as possible. a year or two. and really, do i need more? don't they just sit there and gather dust? I'm not a pro, i'm a home player. my vg strat and gibson cover a lot of sonic territory. what else do i need? nothing really.

ok, stay strong!

clean strat sound

so now that I'm into my strat lately, I've developed a sense of the tone I like. Distortion is bad for my ears, so it's a very clean Fender sound I'm after. After fiddling around with my amp I've settled on the Jazz setting, which emulates an Fender Jazz King amp, and medium reverb. I have the tone somewhat more than half, so around 6 or 7 on the amp, and maybe 7 or 8 on the guitar. I minimize gain and max out the volume on the amp -- that gives the volume I want with the least gain.

This gives me a great clean Fender sound. I use the bridge and middle pickup, and I get a good fender "quack" or "spank" in the tone. Overall I hear it as a sort of 50's tone, before distortion took over -- maybe a Buddy Holly strat sound. I like it -- it has that 50s retro-future feeling in it -- just like the design of the strat has those 50s curves. It's a sound a Gibson can't mimic. My gibby gives me another great tone that the Fender can't do.

Too bad my recording equipment can't do it justice on youtube.

Certainly the amp matter quite a bit. The other settings on my amp can create an entirely different clean tone. I like the jazz clean tone, with more tone than a jazz guitar might use.

a secret of nightclub blues

so, I've wondered why I couldn't sound like some of the blues guitarists I listen to. I call this genre nightclub blues: BB King, Son Seals, Luther Allison, etc. There was something in their songs I just couldn't seem to imitate, even at a lower, beginner's level. I had my 7th chords and the minor and major pentatonic scales, but it wasn't the same. Adding the major pent certainly helped to sound more like BB King, but still I wasn't there. So in this week's lesson I asked my guitar teacher about minor blues (among other things we discussed). He played a I-IV-V in minor 7ths, and there it was. I played minor pent over those chords and I got that "nigthclub blues" sound -- more mournful, more soulful. That's what I was missing. It was the rhythm guitar, not the lead.

so of course now I'm working every day with minor 7ths and trying to put together some rhythm/lead switching so I can approximate it in one guitar.

Rhythm guitar is so important in blues, I'm finding out. It's equal with the lead in many ways. the lead by itself is sort of out there, somewhat skeletal. It needs the muscles and bulk of the rhythm to play against, for color. that's why you gotta learn about minor 7ths, power chords (5ths), 6ths, 9ths, etc. The same lead played over these various chords will create different songs.

another reason i like my strat

so, another reason i like my strat is the scale length as a challenge. if i can play it in 25.5, then it will be easier in 24.75. simple. so far the 25.5 doesn't pose any problems; i've outgrown my earlier dislike of it. Now I can reach better, my hands are stretched out more, etc.

tone: strat vs. 339

the strat tone is metallic. i use the bridge and middle pickup, and it's got a good "quack" to it. i like the metallic quality of the strat tone -- it sounds like a 50's tone, again the retro-futuristic mood like in the body design of the guitar. the tone is metallic, sharper.

the 339 tone is, as i said before, rich, thick, creamy, woody, deep.

i like both tones. both are great blues tones -- just depends which flavor of blues you want at the time.

here's my latest video:

latest video

here's the description:

some riffs using 5th chords in E. bluesy stuff like zz top or something. i like 5th chords. they are a nice change from 7th chords. and i'm liking my strat tone!

why I'm a strat rat again

surprising to me, but I've really gotten to like my vg strat. OK, so here's why I play it more often than my Gibson:

1. It's tough. The 339 is a beautiful instrument, and has a better tone than my strat. But it's a little bit delicate! I can't casually put it down on the couch or bed and run off to do something and then come back. It has a few minor dings on the side from me bumping into furniture. The strat is built like a tank. I just feel more comfortable playing around the house with it.
2. 9 gauge strings. I like the feel of 9's on the strat. the 339 has standard 10's, which I also like, but for string bending 9's are just great. To put 9's on the 339 would take a trip to the tech guy for a new set up, and I don't wanna do that.
3. maple fretboard. crazy, 'cause I never thought much of maple boards before, but I've come to really like it. Visually it makes the strings very easy to see.

OK, here's what makes the 339 a better guitar:

1. Tone. It sounds so amazing. Creamy, woody, with depth. It sounds like I think an electric guitar, semi-hollow, should sound like. Something like an electrified acoustic with more sustain and a rich creamy tone. And really, we're trying to make music here. These guitars are made to make beautiful sounds. Gibby wins the tone award.
2. Ease of playing. The Gibson scale length is just easier and more comfortable to play with. The fender 25.5 is something to be dealt with, but I don't find it the most comfortable. Whatever I play on the strat is easier on my hands when I switch to the 339.
3. Style. I like how the 339 looks. Classic semi-hollow, but a little smaller -- best of both worlds. The strat has a cool 50's retro-futuristic look, but it's also very very common. Also, my strat is black with a white pickguard and a maple neck. Not a fan of black guitars. the 339 is beautiful antique red.

So there we go. 3 points for each. I still play the Gibson almost every day, and I like to record with it. but I must admit most of my guitar hours are with the Fender. comments, anyone?

any good sci fi out there on TV?

STOS & STNG: so, we're watching an episode of star trek (orginal) and star trek next generation. in those two shows we get a reference to Shakespeare (Tempest), a discussion of consciousness as an emergent property, and a discussion of how truth and beauty do not coincide. Where in current TV programs can I get this type of content?

new strings

got tired of the fender super bullet 9's on my fender. they were heck to bend! so stiff -- way harder then the 10's on my gibson and epiphone. so i put on a set of ernie ball 9's on the strat and now it's much better. easier to bend like 9's should be. i also bought a set of ernie ball 10's for the gibson. i'll put them on some time in the future. the EB strings are the slinky ones.

early blues guitarists

trying to get a handle on the history of blues guitar...

1870-1948 Henry Sloan

1891-1934 Charlie Patton

1893-1929 Blind Lemon Jefferson

1902-1988 Son House

1910-1975 T-Bone Walker

1910-1976 Howlin' Wolf

1911-1938 Robert Johnson

1912-1982 Lightnin' Hopkins

1917-2001 John Lee Hooker

1925- B.B. King

I know there are tons more, but I'm not going to list them all! I'm dealing with the names I'm familiar with at this point. I'll add more over time.

the jazz thing must wait

no time for jazz now. guitar lessons have started, and I've got my blues piano to work on. also, the 3 volume set of books on blues guitar arrived last week. it's the set that my teacher has been xeroxing for my lessons. now i've got the complete set. It gives me a sense of what needs to be done in blues guitar. i'm glad to see that. i like to have the big picture when i'm working on something. so jazz as an interest will be put on hold.

more guitar practice. tom is having me work on switching from minor to major pentatonic in solos. and he's having me read sections of the blues books. also I gotta practice piano. I don't expect to record anything until summer time, or the end of the semester.

i'm getting better at bending string a full step. it's a little tough with the fender -- the strings are really stiff. much easier with the gibson. odd, 'cause the fender should have 9 gauge and the gibson should have 10 gauge strings. they both still have the original strings, and both need new strings.

Blues piano !

yup...... I got out the old Casio keyboard I got in Japan in 98. Looked at a few youtube videos on boogie woogie piano and C minor pentatonic scale, and I'm staring to mess around with blues piano. I think it will be a nice addition to playing guitar - and I can use my old piano knowledge and muscle memory. I'm thinking that I can record a piano bass line with the keyboard on the apple garageband and then solo over it with the Gibson.

Makes me wonder about the combination of piano and guitar. Wouldn't that make a good duo? but I don't think I've seen that... at all. both instruments can do rhythm and lead pretty well. A jazz trio can be piano, bass, and drums. Jazz guitar works with a jazz band of various sizes. But just piano and guitar. Does anyone do that much? I can see them exchanging riffs and comping each other. It would sound great!

Well, I've got plenty of work to do. My boogie woogie lines are pretty slow, and my improvs on the keyboard are rudimentary at best. I need to see some more video lessons and pick up some common riffs.

Anyone else out there play guitar and piano? C'mon, people -- put something together on garage band and post it on youtube! blues, jazz, whatever.

jazz improv with wah!

ok, here's a sunday morning improv with wah

jazz improv with wah

i like the wah! i need to get some more backing tracks to work from, but i can still do a few improvs with this one.

new jazz improv video

ok, here it is:

jazz improv video

it's an improv on a ii v i in C from a youtube backing track. done with apple garage band and my trusty 339. next time i'll change the settings for the guitar input and give it some more character. west coast wah or something.