Monthly Archives: April 2018

Shine On

Posted on by

Long before I became a fan of Pink Floyd, the guitar riff in “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” echoed in my mind all on it’s own. Somewhat like a half remembered dream, familiar yet foreign and mysterious.

Recently I decided to take a go at notating it as part of my “Hearing & Writing” studies and ended up doing the full arrangement of the song’s main theme, right about where the band first comes in. This version is based on the live recording found on the “Pulse” album. While this does not reflect all the various nuances of each individual’s playing (slides, vibrato, bends, etc.) it does capture the main rhythms, chords and melodies.

Guitar Toolkit

Posted on by

I really like this app. I’ve had it on my phone for years and work with it almost every day. It’s well thought out and pretty extensive in it’s feature set (tuner, metronome, chord/scale/arpeggio libraries).

While I mainly use it as a metronome I love the chord finder functionality. Just select the notes of the chord you are playing on the virtual fretboard and the app will tell you the chord name(s) that it can be. This was something that I had wanted for a long time and it’s now on my phone. Super useful!

Om

Posted on by

I’ve always been interested in personal development and consider myself somewhat of a “spiritual person”, meaning that I believe there is something more to our reality than our physical senses can quantify.

I had heard a lot about the benefits of meditation over the years but for some reason found it really difficult to do on a regular basis. Then in 2004 I decided that I was going to see if I could do it for 15 minutes a day, every day, for 30 days. I wanted to do this for two reasons. First to see if there was any benefit from it, either singularly or from a cumulative effect. Secondly to show myself that I could be focused and disciplined when I chose to be.

The technique I chose is simple and somewhat challenging at the same time. I sit in a comfortable place where I am not likely to be disturbed for about 15 minutes. As I breathe in I count the breath, even visualizing the associated number, with the goal of letting go of all other thoughts. This usually works out to about 150 breaths. That being said I’ve never been devoid of all thought for very long, our brains are problem solving by nature and they want something to do. I simply realize that I am thinking a thought and choose to let it go.

The analogy I like to use to describe this process is that it’s somewhat like going to see a baseball game. You are sitting in the ballpark, there are people everywhere, making noise, walking around, etc., but you choose to focus on the game, regardless of the activity in the stadium. Most often you just accept that this activity is part of the experience of going to the ballpark and it doesn’t take away from your enjoyment of watching the game. In this case “the game” is the focus on the breath and “the people all around the stadium” are the thoughts. Make peace with the fact that you’ll have thoughts and that you can let them go just as easily as they come up.

I’ve been meditating like this every day now for over 14 years, and am very happy that I made it a regular part of my life. I feel that it has benefited me in countless ways. It has given me more clarity of thought, balance (emotionally/mentally/physically) and peacefulness. At times it is a subtle feeling, other times it is powerful and expansive. I look forward to “sitting” as part of my day, no matter if I am at home or traveling abroad.

Namaste!

Inner Clock

Posted on by

For years I had heard about people developing their “inner clock” but had no idea what that really meant in practical terms. I just figured it was people playing with a metronome _all the time_. It wasn’t until I started going through this book that I bought a while back, “Bass Grooves: Develop Your Groove & Play Like the Pros in Any Style“, that I started to see one way of developing it.

Along with stylistic exercises this book has a whole section on playing to a partial click. Meaning, the metronome will only sound on certain beats (e.g. 1 & 3, or 2 & 4 or just beat 1, etc.) of every measure. At first the goal is to simply feel the beat accurately, independent of an instrument. The next step is to play a notated exercise against that click, with the goal of locking in with it yet sounding relaxed and musical at the same time. BPM starts at 40 and gradually moves up to 80.

At first this seemed impossible to me, but I took it slow and started getting the hang of it. I’m still in the early stages but can already feel a difference with my sense of timing. Looking forward to seeing what it can develop into.

Demolition Man

Posted on by

Today I chose to notate the bass part of this classic jam by The Police. I love this riff. As I think about it, the bass line _is_ the song. There’s a lot that happens in the way of other parts being introduced throughout the piece (vocals, horns, guitar solos, drum fills, etc.) but the bass line never varies. It’s very hypnotic and beautiful in it’s simplicity. When you got something this cool why mess with it?

Marillion

Posted on by

I love this band. I first got into them with their Misplaced Childhood album (which I listened to repeatedly) back in 1985. Then “life happened” and I kind of lost track of them after the Clutching at Straws record. Then sometime around 2013 a friend told me that they were still at it so I decided to check them out. I ordered their “Sounds That Can’t Be Made” album and was hooked again. Since then I bought a couple of their live DVDs (which I think at times are better than their studio albums, super good!), went to the “Marillion Weekend 2015” in Montreal, saw them play in San Francisco on their F.E.A.R tour in 2016 and recently received their excellent All One Tonight – Live at The Royal Albert Hall DVD.

Their story is fascinating. They went from early massive success to almost complete obscurity to helping pioneer crowd funding to cultivating a large dedicated international fanbase and hosting their own music conventions every 2 years – much of it as an independent band creating their own fantastic music their own way. I’m really happy to see them have this level of success and recognition all these years later. Congrats, guys!

Karma

Posted on by

I believe that I bought my first copy of Karma Moffett’s “Golden Bowls” album back in 1999. Since then I have picked up additional copies as gifts for friends. It’s so rich and beautiful in it’s composition, performance and production. Wonderful to study (some serious harmonic overtones happening here), meditate to or just have playing in the background. Sets a deep, peaceful and serene vibe. One of my all time favorites.

I’m Buzzed

Posted on by

I love Michael Landau’s playing. He comes up with really unusual melodies and chord voicings that sound amazing to me. His playing can be fluid and gentle and then suddenly powerful, fierce and raw.

I decided to notate the main theme of his song “I’m Buzzed” as part of my Hearing and Writing studies. While this does not reflect all the various nuances of his playing (slides, vibrato, bends, etc.) it captures the main rhythms and melodies. To be honest I’m a bit buzzed that I am able to even do this much. Looking forward to what’s next.

While researching the piece I found this great video of Michael explaining how he plays the song as well as this clip of him playing it with his band at the legendary “Baked Potato” in Studio City, CA.