November 29 and the RSR staff found themselves car pooling to Jon’s home for an amazing pot luck dinner and some quiet drinks prior to the Pearl Jam concert. With full bellies and for some, a mild beer glow, we headed off to the AMI stadium eager with anticipation about the night ahead. Parking wasn’t […]
Year: 2009
Learn like a Real guitar Hero
Last week I had a quick look at some custom guitar hero controllers as well as the YAMAHA EZAG stringless guitar, a “guitar” that falls half way in between a stringless controller and a learning tool with l.e.d.’s to illustrate where you place your fingers upon the neck.
Guitar Rising is a music video game where the player plays a real guitar as cued by the game’s visuals. Following rock music sequences and streaming notes, players play guitar melodies and rhythms. Beginner difficulty levels are designed for non-guitar players and hard difficulties will challenge experienced guitarists.
The great news is Guitar Rising from Game Tank allows you to play a real guitar in a game that combines the Guitar Hero format with guitar tablature. There are six lines on the screen that represent the six strings just like the neck of your guitar. The color-coordinated notes have been replaced with numbers that tell you which fret to finger.
So a number seven moving across the third line or string from the top, means you’ll play a D note on your 3rd string. Guitar players who have spent any time with standard tablature will find this to be like second nature. If you haven’t then this game will help you move away from the stringless controller format into the territory of REAL guitar playing whilst still having fun.
Relics
It’s a funny old world that’s for sure. While some of the population seems hell bent on preserving their youthful good looks, brainwashed by the shallow whimsies of Hollywood`s plastic people, or even their own vanity; the world of the guitar is steadfastly running in the opposite direction. There is currently no botox available for guitar – but Keith Richard’s dermatologist is down at Gibson and Fender charging big bucks to mess up your axe with an old flask of tea, an ashtray of fag-ends, a rusty chisel and a dirty old palm sander!
keith.preview
Let’s face it, guitar design remains predominantly trapped back in the 1950’s -and in this world change is a suspicious and malignant blight that the the guitar stoic must resist!
We’ve had a look at modern materials here, but accepted wisdom holds that concepts such as old, vintage, traditional and classic are the foundations upon which tone, sound and greatness are built.
Indeed, the Fender custom sheep, sorry shop, have taken it upon themselves to introduce the Road Worn(tm) series – guitars that come pre-loved, pre-stressed or what have you!
You can of course do it yourself, but in reality there is no substitute for time tested, genuine, cut your teeth, on the ciricuit wear and tear.
Some fellers on ebay have been pre-loving their guitars and putting them up for sale but the results are often a little over cooked.
One guy even dragged his Strat’ body behind his I-roc – man he must hate guitars.
Let’s face it guitar design alone remains firmly trapped back in the 1950’s -and in this world change is a suspicious and malignant blight that the the guitar stoic must resist! We’ve had a look at modern materials here, but accepted wisdom holds that concepts such as old, vintage, traditional and classic are the foundations upon which tone, sound and greatness are built.
Indeed the Fender custom sheep, sorry shop, have taken it upon themselves to introduce the road worn(tm) series – guitars that come pre-loved, pre-stressed or what have you!
You can of course do it yourself, but in reality there is no substitute for time tested, genuine, cut your teeth, on the ciricuit wear and tear.
Some fellers on ebay have been pre-loving their guitars and putting them up for sale but the results are often a little over cooked.
One guy even dragged his Strat’ body behind his I-roc – man he must hate guitars.
Beginning with the major pentatonic
In the last post called Jamming I I introduced you all to a movable pentatonic minor blues box. It’s the foundation of most blues rock guitar and a really very highly versatile scale that will allow you to play licks, phrases and motifs across the neck.
BUT it’s definitely a scale with a dark and minor character: moody, doleful and chock full of midnight moonlight. What happens though if you manage to shake off those blues shackles and even crack a wry old grin into your sleeve every now and then?
So to complement the minor today I`m going to introduce the Major Pentatonic Box and this has a much more uplifting “major” character. If this sounds a litttle like GREEK to you then “DONT PANIC!” because it’s all about creating a mood, it’s all about discovering the way different sounds and intervals (the gaps between notes in terms of both pitch and space) create, enhance or combine to communicate emotion.
Paul Ubana Jones Fingerpicking
In the late eighties Paul and his family moved to New Zealand, which is still their permanent home. He has continued to perform internationally, to growing acclaim. Concert performances include opening for the likes of Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Taj Mahal, Keb Mo’, Tuck and Patti, and Crowded House.
Understandably Paul’s “off the hook” skills aren’t something that’ll come to you overnight, unless you’re friends with the devil, but, to compliment the awesome Blind Blake style fingerpicking lesson from Jim Bruce, Paul’s approach to fusion expands upon an already eloquent vocabulary.
So, here is Paul discussing one of his clawhammer thumb picking patterns.
Whilst this may be out of your playing depth technically Paul describes some helpful techniques in approaching fingerpicking such as focusing upon a relaxed hand and extracting and concentrating upon the the rhythm of the left hand – it`s well worth spending some time in trying to apply Paul’s advice to your own picking practice regime.
In a world of increasing homogeneity and gratuitous eulogising of the mediocre by the media simply for what appears to be the sake of having something to talking about, it’s a rare sight to behold aberrations to the normal especially in the form of unique and uncompromising talent.
Smokin’ Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo
After last weeks biscuit tin bandolero post today`s magnificent homewares based gutar art comes courtesy of the fine, fine craftsmen at Daddy Mojo!After last weeks biscuit tin bandolero post today`s magnificent homewares based guitar art comes courtesy of the fine, fine craftsmen at Daddy Mojo!
If you have a penchant for the ostentatious and chocolatey flavours of the Republic of Cuba’s most famous export, hand rolled upon the thighs of young Cuban virgins as it is then light up another top ranking stogie because when you’ve finished that box the fellas at Mojo Daddy can turn it into a world of acoustic worhty of any bluesgrass, cotton-pickin’, square dancin’, chicken pickin` jamboree!
Biscuit Tin guitars and Amps
Is there a god? Some people suggest that he`s riding an invisible pink unicorn around the inside surfaces of a giant teapot at the end of the cosmos. Put the kettle on and make a good ‘ole’ cup of tea because….today’s post is all about excuses to gorge out on biscuits, and, eat them as […]
Listening & guitar I
Which is the right way to learn?
With the explosion of the internet and the vast cornucopia of you tube videos, tablature sites and other resources available online it’s easy to forget that one of the key skills for any musician is the ability to listen. Before the internet came along most of us learnt from records – through attempts to emulate or approximate the playing of artists we enjoyed listening to.Not from the internet but through learning songs from records a nd playing along with them.
Eric Clapton has consistently reiterated that he listened and learnt his trade from artists such as Freddie, B.B. and Albert King for example. He didn’t use tabs – he learned by listening. Nuances come across in listening: listening cannot be written down; and while tablature can be a fast shortcut to playing a piece of music there is an invaluable experiential quality to be gained from using your ears.
Because listening is exactly what you`ll be doing when you’re playing along with a group or in the studio it’s a very highly valuable exercise for any guitarist. The particular qualities of any high calibre guitarist cannot be expressed in tablature form. What makes a guitarist exceptional is the combination of technique, timing, phrasing and tonal quality that they bring to their playing – facets that your ear alone can pick up.
It takes a long time but its worth taking the time to train your ear through replicating the sounds that you hear on records. To begin with you`ll struggle and find it difficult, but over time the process will become easier.
Being an imitator is the first step along the road to becoming a creator but there are ways of imitation. Looking up the tab on the internet is the fast easy way, but if you really want to develop then use your ears as well. Remember though the sound you`re really looking to find is the sound of yourself.
BOSS PEDALS
Boss have put together a basic interactive online pedal board that can help you configure and chain together some effects and sounds. If you are new to pedals then this is a great place to start.
It’s no substitute fro heading down to your nearest guitar dealer and playing Stairway to Heaven for four hours but it might help get you in the mood.
Gaining the Edge
Yeah right! The reality is that the Edge redefined rock/pop guitar sounds in a way that was highly distinctive, innovative and non-traditional way that originally fell like machine gun fire randomly across the cannon of guitar – blues, funk, rock, punk, new wave etcetera – that his sounds have now become mainstream and replicated to […]