Monthly Archives: October, 2009

Beginning with the major pentatonic

October 31, 2009 — Leave a Comment

Almost everybody uses the pentatonic minor blues box. It’s a fundamental building block for alot of  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 moonshine. 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?

Happy Blues Beginning with the major pentatonic

Happy Blues by Jen Jacobs @ www.type1diabetesart.com

Happy Blues
Jen J.
www.type1diabetesart.com

Well you must be feeling the good vibrations so it’s time to play a little happiness into your life!

So to complement the minor, today we are going to have a look at a simple Major Pentatonic Box and this has a much more uplifting “major” character. If this sounds a little 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.

IF you enjoy the inimitable sound of B.B. King then this post is also just what the doctor prescribed!

majorpent1 copy

Remember that you can of course combine elements of both the minor and major pentatonic scales so experiment away and see how much fun you can have changing the mood!

This is a great scale shape to start exploring that major feel, but do remember there are a whole host of related shapes:

If you have a look at the GUITAR LICKERS website then you’ll see that the scale I’ve illustrated above is just one of five others that you can begin to learn and experiment with. Each shape is slideable and will help you create exciting and interesting tone colour moods when soloing and improvising.

DONT FORGET THAT CRUCIAL VIBRATO!!

In the videos below have a close look at B.B. King’s vibrato technique – he predominantly uses his first or index finger to create a fast, fluttering vibrato through very rotational, almost circular and fast left hand movement. Idiosyncratic but also awesome and inspiring in its uniquity!   COOL!!

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Paul Ubana Jones Fingerpicking

October 29, 2009 — 1 Comment

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 talk about, it’s a rare  sight to behold aberrations to the normal especially in the form of unique and uncompromising talent.

Paul Ubana Jones Fingerpicking

When the marketing machine itself seems to become more a part of the product it promotes than the product itself, when the inherent qualitites of individuality have been crushed under the weight of commercialism and when all the corners have been knocked off, rounded down and filed into a useless dust by the “machine” then what is there left of real, intrinsic value?

Luckily some artists are born with a respect for their art and instrument and a no holds barred approach to quality control,

When it comes to modern acoustic fingerstyle guitar Paul Ubana Jones is one of the highly regarded champions, perhaps even a pioneer, of a unique and highly expressive, soulful approach to acoustic guitar that he effortlessly combines with song.

Paul fuses a bold approach to tunings, percussive harmonics, and melody with a highly fluid picking technique and soulful intensity to deliver a wonderful mixture of an almost funky, Hendrixy and blues-rock approach to the bass end of the groove with European flavoured folk and progressive classical motifs, leads, lines, hybrid arpeggios, blues picking styles and more. It`s a very modern and expressive mix of technique, soul and talent.

Born in London and playing guitar by the age of 11, Paul graduated from a London music college, where he studied guitar and cello, and began to forge the solo acoustic style that he has stuck to and developed over the years.

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.

wp New Zealand 1680x1050 Paul Ubana Jones Fingerpicking

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.

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

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Posted in blues, classical, fingerpicking, folk, learning, music | Tagged , , , ,

Smokin’ Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo

October 27, 2009 — Leave a Comment

cuba cigar 350 Smokin Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo

smoking kills

Gangstaz…..they`re getting older by the minute!

After last weeks biscuit tin expose today’s magnificent “homewares” based guitar art comes courtesy of the fine, fine craftsmen at Daddy Mojo!

DMheader Smokin Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo

If you have a penchant for the ostentatious and chocolaty flavours of the Republic of Cuba’s most famous export, hand rolled upon the thighs of young Cuban virgins then light up another top ranking stogie because when you’ve finished that box the fellas at Daddy Mojo can turn it into a world of acoustic delight worthy of any bluegrass, cotton-pickin’, square dancin’, chicken pickin` jamboree!

Just in case you’re wondering, the cigar box guitar is a primitive chordophone whose resonator is an empty cigar box. Because the instrument is (more traditionally) homemade, there is no standard for dimensions, string types or construction techniques.

14 cigars reg cigars Dec2006 300x182 Smokin Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo

Many early cigar box guitars consisted of only one or two strings that were attached to the ends of a broomstick that was inserted into the cigar box. Other cigar box guitars were more complex, with the builder attempting to simulate a traditional string instrument such as a guitar, banjo, or fiddle.

Cigar boxes in their current form did not exist exist prior to the 1840s when cigar manufacturers started using smaller, more portable boxes with 20-50 cigars per box.

The cigar box guitars and fiddles were also important in the rise of jug bands and blues. As most of these performers were black Americans living in poverty, many could not afford a “real” instrument. Using these, along with the washtub bass, jugs, washboards, and harmonica, black musicians performed the blues.

blueswashtub bass Smokin Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo

Each Daddy Mojo Cigar Box Guitar has it’s own unique sound and personality; they are made by hand one at a time in our small workshop in Montreal, Canada. They’re small, portable and almost indestructible…and let’s face it, they look cool as hell and attract major attention!

Daddy Mojo is proud to offer Paypal as an easy way of purchasing your custom cigar box guitar online — you do not need a Paypal account to take advantage of this new feature.

The Daddy Mojo Blog is here and the website is here.

Just to whet your appetite here are a couple of you tube videos from the Daddy Mojo website and they’re as strange as a fish!

hobos Smokin Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo

Now,
if you’re a road rebel, a rouseabout and a rollingstone or just a good old fashioned hobo riding the rails then get your laughing gear around these sweet babies…

Smokin Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo

That`s right, when you wanna throw down The Chew Tobacco Rag around the old campfire, these smoking weed tins are ‘jes’ what you need! Smokin Guitars with Daddy Mojo Smojo

SMOJO,

who are based in the U.K., make a a great range of smoke tin amplifiers just for the blackteeth connoisseur.

And they also make a few cigar box guitars too for that fashionable black lung look! These things sound absolutely SMOKIN’…like an egg fryin on a hot rail !

Well Folks, that’s just about all for now, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and it has inspired you to consider
looking into some more unusual guitars or instruments as well as given a little insight into the early history of the jugband blues phenomenon. There are some amazing modern day jugbands on you tube so check them out.

Even better though, I recommend looking out for an old gramophone player and getting yourself a collection of 78`s – they offer some of the hottest jazz and blues on the planet. As well as Doo-wop, Rockabilly and the humour of big band leaders such as Phil Harris, Spike Jones,

Here are Benny Goodman and Lightnin Hopkins cookin’ up on the shellac!!

Cheers,

Jake Edwards.
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Posted in amplifiers / pickups, gear | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Biscuit Tin guitars and Amps

October 24, 2009 — Leave a Comment

teapot6bk1 Biscuit Tin guitars and Amps

will your coffin be a teapot..in space?

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.

263px Invisible Pink Unicorn.svg Biscuit Tin guitars and Amps

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 fast as you can – in the name of acoustics, music and guitar tone!!

And, with Christmas fast approaching there are sure to be some awesome biscuit eating opportunities in the form of  highly classy and wonderful biscuit tins. Furthermore there are plenty of classic, vintage tins available on the web as you can see from some of the pictures below. What I wouldn’t give to have some of these beautiful tins for amplifiers or guitars?

SO, never take your teapot for granted. Rob Collins at www.tinguitars.com specialises in building one-of-a-kind musical instruments, hand crafted in the West Yorkshire Pennine town of Hebden Bridge from biscuit tins!

They are properly usable acoustic instruments with a unique metallic (!) sound somewhere between a banjo and steel-bodied guitar. They are made to be played and are well suited to strong plectrum and strumming styles or slide guitar playing. The accuracy, intonation and playability are all just as you’d expect of a standard instrument.

So, now you can have your cake and eat it too.

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

800px RusselGhoori Biscuit Tin guitars and Amps

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Posted in gear | Tagged , ,

Listening & guitar I

October 23, 2009 — Leave a Comment

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 and playing along with them.

Eric Clapton, no fool when it comes selecting his musical sources, 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.

GiantBabyEarClean Listening & guitar I

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.

Remember if you have purchased Jamorama you’ll also have the GUITEARIT ear training software specifically designed for guitarists and it’s a great place to start training your ear in preparation for rocking out to your favourite songs and records. Groovy.

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

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Posted in guitar zen, learning | Tagged , , ,
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