2 lines on ...... compression#5

1. Knee controls how quickly the compressor gets up to the ratio. Does it start at 4:1 (or whatever you have set) or does it ramp up, for example starting at 2:1, then 3:1 then 4:1. 2. It's like how fast your car accelerates to full power.

2 lines on ...... compression#4

1. Attack sets the time in milliseconds it takes the compressor to start squashing your sound after your volume hits the threshold, and Release sets the time it takes to stop working after it starts (how long it will compress for). 2. Set the attack to a long duration, and you'll hear your peak volume for a moment and then the squashing starts.

2 lines on ...... compression#3

1. Ratio controls how much your sound/signal gets compressed, once it hits the threshold. 2. A ratio of 2:1 means for every 2dB of volume your input signal is over the threshold, the compressor outputs 1dB.

2 lines on ....... compression#2

1. Threshold sets the point (volume) at which the compressor will start to affect the signal - nothing will happen to any signal that does not hit the threshold. 2. Set it low and everything gets compressed, set it high and only the loudest parts get squashed.

2 lines on ....... compression

1. Compression smooths out the peaks in your recording or live sound so things don't SOUND like BITS are in CAPITAL LETTERS. 2. Compression lowers the peaks in the loudest part of your sound or track so that you can push overall volume to get a richer sound or mix without distorting.

The 11,426 mile recording session - Day 50ish. The song lives.

How this all started

The whole sorry tale

Well here we are at Day 50.  This week we've completely re-recorded the guide track with the new structure and arrangement. I've just finished loading and mixing Ed's bassline into the guide track for As Good As Ordinary Gets. And it is sounding great.  It's actually a song.  (The vocals are for guide/comedy purposes only. No autotune here).

Now we've got the structure and guidetrack finished, it's time to record drums. I've never done this before but the plan is to have Bungi (drummer) play along to the guide track while we record it. We'll mix it all down on to a stereo track and then it will be like traditional recording, bass first then guitars and finally vocals. Sounds easy.

Except Bungi's never played to click tracks and I've never recorded drums. What could possibly go wrong?!

Bungi - left handed drummer plays right handed kit.
















Current likelihood of success = UNKNOWN.

Here's the guide track of the song.

The 11,426 mile recording session - Day 44ish

This has been a busy week. I've had to squeeze recording in around work and other projects. But thanks to recording to a click track, we've been able to turn around changes to the guide track of the song in next to no time.

Two easy lessons here:

1. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use a click track when recording a song with someone on a different continent.  It's essential for programming drums and assembling tracks recorded separately in Protools or Cubase etc. (I know people who say it detroys the feel, but you only really get 'feel' if you're all in the same room and you can work on that in other ways).  And it makes it possible to punch in and out automatically to make changes to the track, which means you don't need five pairs of hands.

2. GET SOMETHING DOWN. Getting versions of the track recorded that you can listen to and then change/edit helps to understand how the song works.  It's a very different way of working and while it may seem a bit clinical (Record - email - edit - email etc.) it's actually organic in it's own way and has the advantage that you can keep all your ideas and versions.

So far we have done 3 complete versions of guide tracks from:
3 rough ideas tracks
2 or 3 vocals tracks with harmonies
4 complete guitar tracks (3 x electric, 1 x 12-string acoustic)
7 guitar overdubs
3 or 4 bass tracks
3 drum tracks

This is my hi-tech reverb shield for recording in a glass conservatory


Here's how it is sounding 

To me it has echoes of The Cure but that is mainly down to the guitar effect preset I chose on the desk. We'll see how it develops...

This week's task is to figure out the middle 8. (It's after the 1st chorus on the track). We've had a few goes at this and now have 5 potential options. And I've just recorded them all back-to-back on iRig on my phone to hear how they work. In 4/4 strum through these to hear the different tension they create

D C D C D Bm Bb A
D C D C D C D Bm Bb
D C D C G Bm Bb A
D C D C D Em Bb A
D C D C Em Bm Bb A

The good thing is that writing/recording this way has highlighted a weak/lazy link in the song. But it's also the first time in the project, that I've felt stuck. I've thought I need Ed here....

Learning scales: six scales in two patterns

I've blogged before about learning scale patterns quickly using the two-pattern approach.

Here's a cheat sheet that you can download that will help you apply the two-pattern approach

Read these blog posts to find out more.  Leave a comment if you have any questions.

The major scale in two patterns

The minor scale in two patterns

Learning scales: the two-pattern approach vs CAGED

Remember, the aim with scales is to learn the patterns as quickly as you can while playing them accurately and then start using them to make music.

Ask www.justinguitar.com

The 11,426 mile recording session - Day 37ish

This week has all been about the drums for the guide-track. The pre-programmed patterns in my BR600 desk, of which there were 300+ to choose from were rubbish. I don't think I've ever heard a drummer play like that.

It has been a little challenging as neither me or Ed are drummers but Ed came up with the patterns and I embellished (?) them.

Working with a track map has been essential to do this quickly.  Here's how we did it:

1. Found the tempo. Sounds simple but one track I did was the same speed as Ed's original track but because the drum pattern (P134 V1 on the BR600) was dull it made it sound ploddy.

2. Wrote a basic pattern that worked under the whole track.

3. Listened to some hits to hear what real drummers do. The reference tracks were There She Goes (The La's) and Not Nineteen Forever (The Courteeners).

4. Wrote different variations for verses and chorus.  Drummers don't just play a beat for 3 minutes. If yours does, have a word!!

5. Wrote variations on the verses and chorus patterns to punctuate the ends of vocal lines etc.

And watch out for volumes. If it's all programmed loud it doesn't sound human. Listen to any death metal band.

Programming the 2-bar patterns was the fun bit. Programming them into an arrangement for the song was really hard until I used this....



Each section of the song has a column showing how many bars it is, and the number of the first and last bars in that section. It makes navigating on screen really easy.  The drums aren't finished but they are moving in the right direction.

When I've put the real timing against the song chart, Ed and I have been able to see how quickly vocals come in, when the first chorus is, and how long the outro lasts etc.

Being on different continents, this means that we can talk about the song structure really clearly. If we were in the same room we'd be able to busk it out but Skype is good but not that good. It's much more like a producer's way of thinking, and has really made me think about how I write.

If I'm honest, I pretty much go with whatever presents itself - I don't really review and edit myself. I will be doing so in future.

So this week we've got two guide-tracks done with drums, guitars and vocal.... here's the latest.

Have a listen.... 

The 11,426 mile recording session - Day 30ish

This post could easily be a moan about procrastination.  It's taken four weeks to actually get started. The thing about working in opposite timezones is that far from having double length days on the weekends, getting together is really hard.

But it isn't a moan, it is a celebration.  At 7am uk time this morning, I was playing my guitar and singing with Ed on the other side of the world.  Gotta love Skype, it was good enough to carry guitar, vocals and chatter. Some minor time lag but then guitarists and bassists get that when they are in the same room.  It really was just like old times 20 years ago.

First job was remembering the structure of the song. Then agreement on arrangement for guide track. Being apart really makes you apply discipline. The photo shows a song chart showing bars etc. I'll build a rudimentary drum track using this. Then we can use that to finalise the arrangement and record the final version.  

I'll post the drum track when it is done and you'll be able to hear how we build the track.

Here's a taster. https://soundcloud.com/dave-id-1/agaog-tasterhttps://soundcloud.com/dave-id-1/agaog-taster

Guitar Gods - Justin Sandercoe

I stumbled across www.justinguitar.com about five years ago. I was embarking on a regime of "learning to play properly" and "fixing my self-taught bad habits". Justin's videos were appearing on YouTube and that led me to the site and video lesson heaven.

Justin's teaching has a calm clarity to it, that, mixed with (un)common sense practical tips, humour and occasional dodgy vocals, just works. He is my first stop, default source of guitar wisdom.

I started with 'Master The Major Scale' and Practical Music Theory For Guitarists, and it was like a light switch.

The thing I find most inspirational about Justin is that he makes everything feel possible with the right kind of effort. He is the Burt Weedon of the 21st Century.

My favourite tracks

How to play Sultans Of Swing

Blues (Lead & Rhythmn)

More

www.justinguitar.com

Justin on YouTube

Tab be or not tab be

Do you write guitar solos or improvise them?

I'm in the process of learning the setlist for a new band (again - a long story). It's soul/blues/rock thing which is new for me after spending years in pop/indie/rock and acoustic outfits, and I'm also the only guitarist (alongside drums, bass, sax, keys and multi-vocals) which also new for me.

I was working through a couple of arrangements which needed guitar solos, and I did my usual thing of plugging into the looper (Digitech Jamman original) and improvising over the chords to get the juices flowing.  I pinched this approach from David Gilmour who records two or three solos for new Pink Floyd tracks and then selects the best building blocks from each. (Or so I read).

A couple of the songs in the setlist are close in key and progression, as you'd expect from the repertoire, and playing them side-by-side made me notice how similar my guitar breaks sounded.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't playing the same two or three licks over and over, I was focusing on doing something that served each song. But still, on playback over a coffee, the similarity jumped up and bit me on the a**e . And being the only guitarist, I know I'm going to have be able to deliver a varied style. I can't rely on a second guitarist to provide something different.

So I decided that I'd change my approach. I'd already written out song charts, so I decide to actively write and tab my guitar parts and solo. The results were really surprising. I ended up with two or three solos that sounded like me, but were a much better fit for the songs AND sounded very different from each other.

Here's how I did it.

1. I put the guitar down.
2. I listened to each song 3 or 4 times, really focusing on how it was flowing, where the tension and release was, what the other instruments were doing, and understanding the lyrics.
3. Then I played the songs in my head verse-by-verse, chorus-by-chorus. While I was doing this I sang the phrase I thought would fit. Not 64th note triplets with two handed tapping, but the key melody notes.
4. I made a conscious effort to come up with two or three options, and tried to include notes and timings that were outside the obvious. (At this point, my wife decided to go shopping).
5. I picked the guitar up and started to put it together bar-by-bar, tabbing it out as I went. This made me much more conscious of how I wanted to play the changes, and of using different voices on the guitar. I made choices rather than adopting a trusted approach.

Here's what I learned.
1. Some songs need more care and attention. Others will bear just letting the dog bark.
2. Playing these songs now feels very different, I get ideas and my cues from more than just the vocals or drums.
3. I'm actually fluid as a player within quite a narrow range. This helped me broaden what I was doing  I actually got to apply some of the techniques my teachers have shown me.
4. I am now able to focus on the quality and feel of the notes I am playing - I guess it really is not just what you play but the way that you play it.  I'm playing with more space.  I think this is because I have programmed the songs in at a deeper level.
5. The notes in my head, are not always that well connected to the ones under my fingers.  This means I'm probably playing quite visually using patterns. The singing thing helped.
6. Tabbing the solo helped me memorise things more quickly.

Better than that, the band noticed the difference and they liked it.

I could go on, but there's dozens more songs to do.

I know it's only rock and roll...but that's not right.

Every so often something happens that makes you take a step back and look at what is going on.  This post isn't about the usual practical tips for the fret-wrestling population.  It is about prejudice. It was dressed up as something else, but that is what it was - plain and simple. I just didn't think it would ever happen to me.

I am writing this, because in my day-job I work with companies to help them make their workplaces free of discrimination.  I am also writing this as an emotional safety valve.  So here's the story.

I'd been playing with a successful covers band for about nine months. The band gets 30-40 bookings per year, and most of them are weddings and parties. There are a few pub and charity gigs thrown in which normally lead to more bookings.   Things were really rolling this year and, for the first time in a long time, playing music was paying for itself. But we wanted to step it up a notch. None of us had any illusions about giving up our day jobs, but we wanted to see how far we could go.

We responded to an ad from one of the UK's largest agencies and they listened to the demos, checked the website and some testimonials, and then invited us down to play a showcase. On offer was some investment from them to make the band one of their flagship acts. The deal included studio time, show-reel videos, online marketing, and performance coaching.

We rehearsed like mad and during the showcase we played all out. It was 30 minutes of sheer joy for us. After they were really interested, excited even.

A couple of days later, they contacted the lead singer to say they wanted to take it forward and start working with the band.  Well, we all got very excited until the 'BUT....'

The agency had concerns. Namely, that having 'an older face' in the band (a.k.a. me) meant that we would not 'look like a band' and that, in turn, would put people off. This would make it difficult to market us and to get a return on their investment.  It was something they were not prepared to discuss.

At the time of writing this I am 46. My profile pic on this blog was taken two years ago.

I don't know who it was harder for - me listening to it, or the singer having to tell me. Curiously, it happened the weekend after there was outcry in the UK when Simon Cowell told a street dancer on Britain's Got Talent that he was too old (at 28) to be in the dance group he set up and ran! I am sure it is a coincidence, and nobody could be so easily influenced.

Anyway I decided to take a bullet for the band and move on.

But this article is not about me or whether the agency are right or wrong factually. That is irrelevant - ultimately, they could have blown off the whole band and told us we weren't what they were looking for. Or even the classic "We'll call you".  It is their money and they can invest it anyway they like.

This article is about the bias that drives our thinking and behaviour. And what is causing the sour taste in my mouth.

We are all biased - a polite word for prejudiced. Wow! That's a hell of a statement.  But like it or not we all are biased, to one extent or another. That means that we have preferences. Some of these are innate and some are conscious. These biases are built and reinforced by our families, traditions, culture, and the world around us as we grow up. They might be about the music we listen to, the work we want to do, the places we go, the food we like and a whole host of other things including the people with whom we like to associate based on their accent, their behaviour, their weight, religion, politics or the colour of their skin. What is important is what you do about your bias.

I grew up in the seventies in Britain. Back then newspapers and TV shows portrayed shocking stereotypes of 'foreigners' as stupid, difficult or untrustworthy, often using offensive language. I lived in a place where everybody was British and white, and I had no way of learning about people who were different to me.  So if it hadn't been for my teachers and my parents I'd have been exposed to a very one-sided view of people.  It would have been easy to mature into a bigot. (A bigot is a person who takes harmful actions based on their own unfounded bias and prejudice, and then justifies it as some kind of world view). And it would have seemed very natural, and no one would have noticed.

Unchecked and unquestioned, our biases will drive our thinking and choices without us knowing, prompting us to make irrational assumptions that can drive our behaviour and harm others. It is a chain reaction. The danger is that it is like the carbon monoxide of morality - it creeps up on you.

Here's how the chain reaction works:

1. An assumption is made on bias.  It is often disguised and rationalised.

For example, if I am only used to seeing 'young' people in bands, then it is quite likely that I will develop an innate sense that this is the norm.  When I see a band that has someone who is 'older', this will feel different.  I may associate this feeling of difference as 'wrong' and I may unconsciously intellectualise this in a statement like 'this not how bands are supposed to work'.

In fact what I am saying is "I don't feel comfortable with this, it is different. I want it to fit my view of the world. I want it to be the same because it is easier for me."

2. A decision is made on the assumption as 'fact'.

For example, "proper bands only have 'young' people in them, and people won't like or book a band that don't all look the same age".  What is actually going on here is rationalisation.

The problem here is not disproving the rationale or revealing that it is just an assumption - that's easy. In this case, simply ask "How many times have you seen an 'older' person in a band and it has ruined your night/party/event?"

The problem is getting people to let go of the assumption. Under questioning, it will often transform into more rationalising about the special requirements of the situation often dressed up as "You don't understand how it works..."

In fact, what they are saying is "I think the world thinks like me and I am afraid/unwilling to challenge the status quo so I won't work with you. I am choosing to reinforce the prejudice."

A decision has been made. A shitty one more often than not, all dressed up with 'facts'.   The decision is "I'm going to do what everyone else does because that feels comfortable. I will not not rock the boat (even if it is an imaginary boat floating on a sea of nonsense)."

Of course, don't forget the "It's not my fault", "I don't make the rules" defence.

3. Action is communicated on the decision. 

The action is often indirect and/or relies on a third party or the wronged party to deliver the message. Effectively the victim is blamed.

This may often be dressed up as a practical solution to "a difficult situation we all wish didn't exist, but it does." Sometimes, where a group of people is involved, it may be dressed up as some kind of magnaminous opportunity to "make your own decision amongst yourselves".  In fact, the bigot is simply protecting themselves from an uncomfortable situation and shielding their own world view from challenge.

So in the end, a singer and a guitarist who have been playing music together on and off for twenty years have a conversation based on love and respect, to make the best of the situation.  

In Britain in the sixties, many hotels displayed a sign saying "No Irish, no dogs" and the landlady refused to open the door. The signs are different now.

So I feel compelled to take a bullet for the team. They need it more than I do. It felt like I didn't have a choice.  But the part that is troubling me is that I may have just colluded in the whole thing.  As long as the bigot is safe, and can deny what they are doing.

By not challenging it directly, have I just become part of the problem?  Maybe that is what is making me feel so bad. Not the 'harm' inflicted on me, but my own bystander apathy, my acceptance of powerlessness.

This is not unusual where prejudice is at work.  One thing I can be sure of is that the agency in question are not feeling like this.

"I'll take the quiet life. A handshake of carbon monoxide. No alarms. No surprises."
No Surprises. RADIOHEAD

Check yourself.

Kitshare: mind your p's and q's

We were playing a beer festival on Friday with a local band, and there was handbag action when it came to sharing kit. Here are my top tips for a happy, calm kitshare at a gig.

1. You don't have to share. If you don't want to don't.  Just say "I'd rather not". Definitely don't agree begrudgingly and then be a pain.

2. People don't have to share their kit with you.  It's expensive and you are a stranger. You wouldn't expect them to loan you their car. If someone declines that's ok. Be an adult. You don't know what crappy experiences they've had in the past.

3. Ask how things work.  Don't screw around with the eq without checking.  Equally, it's only eq (see what I did there?) so setting it back the way it was, is no issue.  If it is, then just decline politely.

4. Be polite. Someone is loaning you something valuable, you don't have to buy them dinner, but a name and a handshake goes a long way. And in my experience drunk strangers don't get favours.

5. Don't turn up without everything you need to play your gig. There is NO EXCUSE.  Kitshare is about making things easier, not making up for your poor preparation/attitude.

Finally, once you've played clear down the stage quickly, leave it tidy and say 'Thank you'.

How songs work - the obvious stuff

Surely trying to explain how songs work is like analysing a joke - if you explain it, you destroy the magic? Well, yes and no. 

There is a spark of inspiration that distinguishes a great song but equally, for the learner (like me), there is a whole set of building blocks that are common to almost every song. (Prog fans look away now).

Understanding these building blocks will help you to:

• work out songs by ear more quickly because you know what chords might come next
• recognise similar song structures so you can expand your repertoire more quickly 
• write from a position of knowing what works rather than just trial and error
• improvise more fluently over common chord changes in any key.

What's not to like? Here we go.

1. KEY

A song is a melody sung or played over a bunch of chords that sound good together. So what makes it sound good? The melody and the chords work well together because they are built from a family of notes called a key.  Key is another name for a scale - a series of notes connected in a specific pattern. When you ask "What key is this song in?" you are asking "What scale (series of notes) has been used to write the melody and build the chords?" So Key = Scale.

Knowing the key of a song is the first step in understanding how it is played.

2. SCALES

Musical notes are arranged into scales (families?) that produce a specific sound or feeling.  The notes in a scale are separated by specific gaps (called intervals or steps).  On a guitar these steps are made by the frets on the neck: two frets between notes makes a whole step (W) and one fret makes a half-step.  It is the pattern of intervals that gives a scale its unique sound or feeling.

Let's start with the major scale. The major scale is the root of all western music, from rock and roll to pop, folk to classical, blues, jazz, etc.

You'll be familiar with the major scale if you've ever seen The Sound Of Music and sung along with the song "Do-Ray-Mi".  The steps in the major scale are:

W - W - H - W - W - W - H   or  2 frets - 2 frets - 1 fret - 2 frets - 2 frets - 2 frets - 1 fret. Play this pattern up any string to hear this. Start with an open string, then play the second fret, then fourth etc.

So scales are notes played in a particular pattern. Melodies are made by playing notes from a scale one at a time (not in order).

3. CHORDS

Chords are notes from a scale played/strummed/picked at the same time. Songs use melodies and chords built from the same scale. So how do we make chords from a scale? It is really easy.

For simple chords, take 3 notes each separated by two steps in the scale.

The C Major Scale - C D E F G A B C

Take C E G and you have a C major chord, take D F A and you have Dm.  Keep writing this out starting on each note of the scale and you'll get the chords of the C major scale:

C major   D minor   E minor   F major   G major  A minor   B7b5   C major
I              ii             iii            IV           V           vi             viib5         I

This applies to any scale in any key. The pattern of chords in a major scale is ALWAYS:  major-minor-minor-major-major-minor-diminished-major. Remember this it is useful.

Once you've got this in your head, your good to go in any major key.

So if you have a melody in C major, all of these chords can be used to accompany it. Equally if you have a song or piece that uses this series of chords, you can use C major to create a melody (or solo) over it.  The viib5 chord is not used very much.

The roman numerals are a shorthand for writing out chord progressions in any key. So if you see something like this written down:

Key - C  Verse | I / / / | I / / / | I / / / | I / / / | IV / / / | V / / / |

It means play 4 bars of C major followed by 1 bar of F and 1 bar of G.

4. HOW SONGS WORK

We know how to build chords from scales so that we can put melodies with chords that work. The final part of the 'how do songs work?' puzzle is which chords to use.  Certain combinations (progressions) of chords produce well known sounds and feel, and these get repeated in thousands of songs. This means learning or writing songs is easier if you can recognise common structures.

For example, almost every blues song ever written (and consequently lots of rock and pop) use the progression:

| I / / / | I / / / | I / / / | I / / / | IV / / / | IV / / / | I / / / | I / / / |V / / / | IV / / / | I / / / | I / / / |  In A the chords are
 A       A       A        A       D          D          A        A       E        D          A       A

This is the 12 bar blues. In pop the number of bars may be different but I - IV - V is incredibly common.
Lots of pop songs also use I - ii - IV - iii - V. In the key of D, this progession is Valerie by The Zutons/Amy Winehouse.

What to do next?

1. Complete this simple song grid using what we've covered.  Then you can use it to help find out the next chord to use when writing or learning songs.

Major Scale Song Grid
Chord	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	viib5	I
	Major	Minor	Minor	Major	Major	Minor	Flat5	Major
Key	C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	B7b5	C
	D	Em	F#m	G	A	Bm	C#	D
	E

2. Listen to songs and use the grid to help you work out which chords come next.
3. Listen to how some songs have different verse/chorus/bridge patterns and some have a single progression that repeats over and over throughout the song.

NOTE:  Many songwriters 'borrow' notes and chords from outside the scale to create a specific effect. This is a topic for another time.

Guitar Gods - James Dean Bradfield

The first time I saw James Dean Bradfield was on Top Of The Pops on BBC1 a gazillion years ago. The Manic Street Preachers were playing Roses In The Hospital, and he must have had an fx pedal called RAGE. It was one of those red or blue pill moments for me - tune in or miss out. Since then I have heard plenty more rage, but also achingly delicate acoustic.

He seems to have a brain that allows his voice and his fingers to work entirely independently of each other on even the most complicated rhythmns.

My favourite tracks 

From Despair To Where (from Gold Against The Soul)

This Is Yesterday (from The Holy Bible)

She Is Suffering (from The Holy Bible)

Raindrops (from the Warchild album)

More

http://www.manicstreetpreachers.com/uk/james-dean-bradfield

@MANICS

Why play?......#1

Sweet Child O' Mine came on the radio while I was playing guitar at the breakfast table.  I started playing along with the riff and a flash of something, maybe not "Wow!" but definitely not "Daa-ad you're embarrassing me", flashed across my eight year old boy's face. For a split second it was there. It felt awesome.

And THAT is why I play guitar.  It used to be for girls and kicks, but now it is for that thing. That look. However fleeting.

Thank you Slash. Thank you BBC Radio 2.

Guitar Gods - Adam Rafferty

Guitarist, composer, teacher and all-round guru - I came across Adam on YouTube about 6 years ago, playing an awesome acoustic groove of Stevie Wonder's Superstition .  And he has done track after track of amazing covers and original tunes, all with three voices soaring from his Maton.

Live, he can keep an audience captivated (enraptured?) all night and it is a rare solo performer that can do that. He's played with Tommy Emmanuel, Clive Carroll and loads more, and his arrangements have been covered by loads of people including Sungha Jung.  He is known for producing the definitive fingerstyle arrangements of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson tunes.

I stalked, pestered and nagged him for a while online and ended up booking him some gigs in the UK and putting together a small tour a few years ago.  People travelled hundreds of miles to see him play and at Oxford Jazz they had to lay on extra gigs for him to play.

My fee was guitar lessons while he was staying with me, and years later I'm still learning from what he showed me. And as a special treat he showed me how to play his arrangement of Billie Jean - well he let me video a personal lesson of it (all except the moonwalk).

So if you're one of the hundreds of people who ask him for tabs, I have it all on tape.....

Watching Adam and Clive warm up Minor Rag backstage at The Stables in Milton Keynes, is one of the highlights of my guitar-life.

Go see this man.

My Favourite Tracks

Superstition 

Chameleon

Rolling With The Ashes
(This was inspired by being stranded in the UK when the Icelandic volcano erupted, and the mad overnight dash by ferry and train to get from my house to Berlin for a gig the following evening).

More

http://www.adamrafferty.com/

Guitar Gods - Richard Thompson

Some of my best festival moments have happened while watching Richard Thompson at Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival. I have gaped open-mouthed in wonder as he simultaneously teases bass, melody and harmony out of a single guitar using only five fingers on each hand.

His fingers move, at times, with the speed and precision of some kind of sci-fi android (think of the film AI) and yet they produce a music that caresses both ears and soul. And he sings while doing it.

There is no other explanation - this man must be cheating.

My favourite tracks

1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Feels So Good (I'm Gonna Break Somebody's Heart Tonight)

More

http://richardthompson-music.com/

The 11,426 mile recording session - Day 3

You may be asking what happened to Day 2. Well, Day 2 was lost in a cloud of procrastination.

I was struggling to remember anything about the 20 year old song I've agreed to record with a man on a different continent, so in true guitarist style I blogged.....And listened to old demos of other tunes and posted them on soundcloud. Very useful.

Beyond that, I found an old lyric sheet and had a private cringe at them. So we have a title "As Good As Ordinary Gets", some lyrics (partly questionable) and a promise to get my arse in gear.

Speaking of gear I did dig out my Boss BR-600 and some Rode microphones so I can rough out a guide track. I'll get on with that as soon as I'm back from Cropredy Festival this weekend.

I'm sure it's got Em in it......

Guitar Gods - Paul Rose

Paul Rose takes blues-rock playing to new levels. He plays with jaw-dropping vibrato, tapping and that violin volume-swell technique you can do on strat.  But the thing that sets him apart is his FEEL. Check out the link to Summertime below to see what I mean.

He plays LsL Strats through a Hughes & Kettner amp and cabinet with NO effects, and creates a vast array of tones by using the volume, tone and pickup selector on the guitar.

Rory Gallagher described Paul as "a hot player with a hot future", and Seymour Duncan (yes THAT one) rates Paul in his top 5 players (between Jeff Beck #1 and Roy Buchanan #3).

I saw him a couple of days ago in a tiny venue with his 3-piece band (Kenny Huchison - bass, Ted McKenna - drums). It was spectacular. I was grinning all night. And I still am.

My favourite tracks

Summertime (click for youtube)

Get Carter (from the album Note To Self)

All Along The Watchtower. (The first time I heard this I was listening on headphones walking to pick the kids up from school. The second solo made me find a bench to sit down to listen again and again).

Home (from the album Note To Self)

More

www.paulrose.co.uk 

www.youtube.com/user/stratfanatic

The 11,426 mile recording session - Day 1.

How do two people separated by 11,426 miles and 20 years, record a song that was never written down?

Twenty years ago I was in band called 'PretendFriends'. We were an indie-pop band based in Oxford, and riding on the boom in the Oxford music scene.  It was an extraordinary time. Lots of bands were successful locally, with the likes of Radiohead and Supergrass going on to international success.

We recorded two demo EPs - you can find some of our tunes here.

(Demos used to look like this).







Our claim to fame was that the local music mag 'Nightshift' included one of our songs in their Christmas Top 20 of 1995 alongside Radiohead's 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)'!


Ego, beer and delusional behaviour (mostly mine) put paid to PretendFriends, but I stayed in contact with Ed the bass player.   After a Facebook chat the other night, we have decided to record one of our old, vaguely remembered tunes.

Now it's the cold light of day and we're wondering where to start. Oh and Ed now lives 11,426 miles away in New Zealand. Hmmm. Ed suggests we both do acoustic demos of how we think the song goes.


11,426 miles away, Ed smirks at the thought of me trying to remember 20 year old guitar parts.

Learning scales: the two pattern approach vs CAGED

Learning scales is a key building block for any aspiring guitarist. It is the equivalent of a child learning to talk.

The trick is to spend the MINIMUM amount of time memorising scales, and the MAXIMUM amount of time learning to make music with them.  So choosing an approach to start learning scales, for you or your student, is really important.

People often talk about using C-A-G-E-D (see Mastering The Major Scale by www.justinguitar.com) or the two pattern approach.

But actually these are essentially the same. Here's how C-A-G-E-D and the two-pattern approach relate to each other.

Here are the two-patterns of the major scale.

 

If you play pattern 1 and then pattern 2 across the neck you get this.

This is the two octave E-shape major scale from C-A-G-E-D. It is built by stacking Pattern 1 (root note on the 6th (E) string) and Pattern 2 in the same position (fret) across the neck.

If you stack Pattern 2 (root note on the 6th (E) string) and the Pattern 1 across the neck, you will get the two-octave G-shape major scale from C-A-G-E-D.



These are the only full two-octave patterns in C-A-G-E-D. All the others have one full octave and fragments of other octaves.

C is Pattern 2 with the root note on the 5th (A) string followed by part of Pattern 1 on the other strings.
A is Pattern 1 with the root note on the 5th (A) string followed by part of Pattern 2.
D is Pattern 1 with the root note on the 4th (D) string followed by part of Pattern 2.

Which approach should you use?

My preference is for the two-pattern approach. I think it is simpler and more complete. For instance, there is no part of the C-A-G-E-D system with a root note on the 3rd (G) string.

Here's a cheat sheet for six of the most important scales for guitarists

However, many self-taught guitarists start by learning chords so C-A-G-E-D makes a quick introduction to scales and how they relate to chords.

So, pick the approach which feels best and remember - memorising scales is only 10% of the job!

What kind of rehearsal is it anyway?

Playing in bands for 25 years means I've done a huge amount of rehearsing - easily more than 5,000 hours. And as a part-time musician, all of that has been squeezed around a job, family, study etc. Finding the time is challenging and often requires trading things off against each other. 

So rehearsal time is really precious and making the most of it is vital. You'll definitely get more out of them if everyone in the band turns up expecting the same thing.  You'll get less frustration and things will move along more quickly. 

I reckon there are 5 different types of rehearsals and I always ask "what kind of rehearsal is it?"

Here they are:

1.  The learn and polish session.

For this kind of rehearsal it is important that everyone does their homework in advance. This session is about learning to play new songs together, not you learning your individual parts.  With that done, here's how it works:

• Play-through the track once or twice (no more). Then stop and agree which bits breakdown or need polish.
• Polish the parts that need it. Don't keep playing the whole song. Count in the bars that need work and focus on them. It's better to do a difficult 8 bars 10 or 20 times, than play the whole song 5 times and not get to fix the broken bits.  Brass bands and orchestras use this approach.
• Once you've finished polishing, play through the entire song 4 or 5 times to cement it. If it is clear that the polish hasn't worked then stop and go back to that. Bear in mind it might be the transition into a part that might be the issue, if you can play it fine in isolation.

In a two hour rehearsal, typically we'll do two maybe three songs like this.  Obviously, it does depend on the proficiency of the band, but I am a guitar mortal, not one of these musical sauvants who picks anything up at the drop of hat.

If there is no new material to work on, take the first 3 songs on the setlist and start there.

2.  The writing session.

There's two main approaches here. The first is the jam. I used to play in a rock band where somebody would start and the rule was that you didn't stop until there was a repeatable song thing going on.  The second is more show, tell and play - somebody comes with an idea or a song written and the task is to finish it off. At this point, you might come back later to polish it. Either way, recording this type of session makes sure you capture great ideas when they happen.

3. The run through.

If we haven't gigged for a while or if we have been focusing on other sessions, a run through session helps get the tunes back under your fingers, and knock the dust off. It makes sure you don't end up at a gig thinking "How does this one go again?".  My experience is that many bands do lots of these sessions and often put new material into these too early.  

4. The dress rehearsal.

For big gigs, we always do a full dress rehearsal. Set up the PA, count off the first song and play like it is in front of an audience.  The singer even does the talkie bits....

We normally do this two rehearsals before the gig, so that we can have a polishing session to clean up any glitches. 

5. The goof around.

Sometimes you just have to let the dog bark.  This is basically hanging out with musical instruments, after all being in a band is fun right?  As often as feels necessary.

So ask 'What kind of rehearsal is it?' and prepare accordingly.

When you train for a marathon you quickly learn that if you go out every day and try to run as fast and as far as you can, you get nowhere - except tired and sore. So you have a mix of long runs, easy days, speed sessions, hill work. 

If you want to accelerate your band, you need to take the same approach.

If you want to make it talk.... first you have to sing a little

When you're learning to play guitar these days, it is very easy to become very focused on videos and tabs as ways of improving your playing. You can search for almost any song on YouTube or Ultimate-Guitar and somebody, somewhere has saved you a bunch of effort and time by working it out for you. You learn the song more quickly and that's really good, right?

Hmm...yes and no.

What if all that work you have been saved is where the real learning is?  The video or tab may give the mechanical chops but does it develop your ear? What if the listening and transcribing is the important bit?

It is really important to learn new music with your ears not your eyes.

If you want to be able to make the guitar talk, you have to use your ears. All three of them - left, right and inner. It's about connecting the sounds in your ears with the notes your fingers play. If you don't then, just like mine, your playing can end up dominated by patterns, licks and tricks that you've learned by rote and which bypass your ears. It can sound great, but does it sound like you?  It is a bit like learning lots of individual Spanish words but not being able to string them together and speak the language.

This is where I got to. And here's a few ideas that I tried to give my ears a workout and get out of the boxes.

1. Learn to sing scales.  Can you sing the major scale? In different octaves and keys? Without playing a reference not on guitar? WHOA! Are we talking about perfect pitch? No. But I am talking about using notes from songs I know well.  The opening notes of 'You Shook Me All Night Long' by AC/DC are so ingrained in my memory that I can sing them at will. One of them is a D. Using this I can sing the D major scale.

Now I've got that down, I'm learning to shift keys and octaves. And singing the minor scale. I'm finding it really tough but it is definitely helping. I'm going to move on to pentatonics next. My wife and kids are finding it hilarious.

2. Play a melody you have never played before. Can you get it right first time? You'll need to go really slow. played. Justin Sandercoe did a video on this. www.justinguitar.com . Try playing the melody to Happy Birthday, Ding Dong Merrily On High or just some pop tune on the radio.  I was amazed at how little I could play with out the need for trail and error, or relying on visual patterns.

3. Sing and jam. Put on a backing track. Sing a lead phrase and then play the same phrase. Can you match it? Recording this is hilarious and revealing.

None of this is about being a great singer. It is completely about being to play the sounds in your head. I was surprised how bad I was at this, having played for so long.

Do you play with your eyes or your ears?

What's the quickest way to learn new songs?

Top tips to expand your repertoire fast

Earlier this year I joined a great covers band called Fraudio. They have been playing for about five years and have an enormous repertoire of songs. It's a four-piece with two guitars, bass, drums and lots of vocals. They play stuff that makes people want to sing-along and dance. My job was to fit in fast!

Fraudio gigs come thick and fast - at least once a week - and run to 40 songs. New songs are tried and added all the time, so after a few years playing my own stuff, it's been a great challenge getting so many songs learned in a short space of time.

Some tunes are played pretty standard and others are tweaked and arranged, so there is a lot to learn and get comfortable with so we can perform them, not just play them. 

After the first two weeks, I realised that staying up all night was not going to work - I needed an approach.  Here's what I do to learn fast.

1. Be clear on the version we're playing.
   Radio edits are often very different to the album version. Rehearsal time is precious, so make sure you've done the right homework and listened to the same version(s) as everyone else. Agree the song structure and any changes to the arrangement - you don't need to be in rehearsal to do this. These days its not uncommon for me to get sent rough outlines of songs or passages recorded and emailed on a smart phone.
   
2. Listen, listen, listen and then cheat.
   I always start by working stuff out by ear. Each song is a step on my musical journey, so I use it to develop my ear as much as I can. I listen to a song two or three times without trying to play it, and start to sketch out a song chart (verse, choruses, etc). I have a guess at the key and chord progression. It is important to learn using your ears not your eyes.
   
   Then I scan YouTube and guitar tab sites for short-cuts when I start playing it. There is a health warning on this stuff so be sure to check it with your own ears.  Pay special attention to strumming patterns, counts into key sections and chord voicings.  WATCH OUT for 'easy' versions for solo acoustic guitar that don't reflect a full band.
   
   These days production is often so full that it is difficult to tell what chords are being played on guitar 1 vs guitar 2 vs keyboard so listen hard. 'Greatest Day' by Take That is a prime example.
   
3. Do a song chart. 
   Even if you don't use it live, doing a song chart helps you memorise the progression and structure much more quickly.  I used to use lyric sheets but I find that unless I am singing lead vocal they are too difficult to read quickly. Here's a blank song chart sheet.
   
   You should be able to recite the song structure out loud without the guitar or a sheet as a prompt. If you can't, then the risk is that you actively remembering structure as you play, rather than playing it and doing two conscious things at once causes cognitive dissonance (aka screw ups).
   
   Writing down the progression (e.g. I - IV - V  ii)  will help you spot similar songs and learn them a whole bunch quicker.  Don't forget key, time, strum pattern, riffs too.
   
   And song charts are also useful if you don't play the song for a while, after all you're investing time in it, don't lose your work and have to start again. My song chart box has upwards of 300 charts.
   
4. Tab the solo and analyse it.
   The first thing with solos is "Does it have to be like it is on the record?" Some do (e.g. Alright Now, Beat It) and some don't. If it does, I tab them out note for note by ear if I can (or find a good vid or tab if I can't).
   
   If I write a solo that works really well, I tab that too. It's a useful discipline, especially when you need to be able to reproduce the same thing every time. I tab the notes and the chords they are played over. Just like a song chart it helps lock it in memory. I almost never refer back to solo tabs so I'm sure they do change and evolve a little over time, and that's ok - it creates feel.
   
   I also analyse what scales are used, like they do in the guitar mags. That way if I get lost one night, I at least know if I'm in pentatonic minor, mixolydian etc...
    
5. I know all of that sounds a little intense but in fact that is just the preparation. It doesn't have to be forensically detailed. The best bit is obviously playing it and polishing it.  It is essential that you move from getting it in the thinking part of your head, and into your inner ear and your hands. And that is just repetition, but I have found the more I do steps 1-4, the quicker the whole process becomes.
   
   I use loopers, phones and a Boss BR-600 to record backing tracks to practice over so I can polish the parts I need to play, and dial in the eq and effects needed. Practicing to a backing track is more fun and I find if makes me tighter.
   
   Spend practice time focusing on the bits you CANNOT play - don't keep playing from the top if you can play the intro well. That is groundhog practice and you'll end up with very polished intro and verses, and a flaky middle 8 or solo.

Rehearsal time is precious. Nobody wants to hear me fumbling around the chord changes, making a complete mess of the solo, or asking "How does this one go?". I can't tell the bass player or the drummer how to play their parts - why should they learn my parts for me?  

Rehearsals are for learning to play the songs as a band, not to learn the songs from scratch. Do your homework - it isn't like it's not fun.

The minor scale in two patterns

Books offer loads of patterns for each scale. And all of these need to be memorised.

The best memory people simplify things to make them easier to remember, and the C-A-G-E-D system is one approach to doing this with the major scale. But that is still five patterns. And it doesn't translate very well to minor scales.  What if you just needed to memorize two patterns?

Well here it is.

The minor scale is constructed like this: W-H-W-W-W-H-W.
(W = whole step/tone or 2 frets. H = half=step/tone or 1 fret).

On any fretted instrument, this will form a repeatable pattern. This is how a one-octave minor scale looks with the root at any fret on the 6th string of the guitar, the 5th string and the 4th string.

You can see that it is the same pattern. 

With the root note on the 4th string, the reason it looks different is because the 2nd (B) string is tuned differently. To make up for this the last 2 notes of the pattern have to move up the neck by one fret.

Now to prove it, move the root over to the 3rd string and move notes 4, 5 & 6 up by one fret on the 2nd (B) string. Move notes 7 & 8 across to the 1st (E) string.

So that's Pattern 1 of the minor scale.  What about Pattern 2?

Pattern 2 works in exactly the same way. The root note is played with the 4th finger of your fretting hand on the 6th (low E) string.

The pattern is the same whether the root note is on the 6th, 5th or 4th string. When part of the pattern moves on to the 2nd (B) string, those notes move up the neck by one fret (one semitone). You'll know when you've got it because you'll be able to hear the Sugar Plum Fairy of the minor scale.

There is no Pattern 2 starting with a root on the 3rd string.  There are not enough strings.

Try this. Play the minor scale in A using both patterns with roots on all strings.  Once you have got these two patterns under your fingers, you can start to extend these scales across all strings. Two octave and extended major scales across the neck use a combination of these shapes.

If you get stuck go back to Pattern 1 on the 6th string and use the sound of that as a reference to copy elsewhere on the neck.

The major scale in two patterns

Books offer loads of patterns for each scale. And all of these need to be memorised.

The best memory experts simplify things to make them easier to remember, and the C-A-G-E-D system is one approach to doing this. But that is still five patterns. What if you just needed to memorize two patterns?

Well here it is.

The major scale is constructed like this: W-W-H-W-W-W-H.
(W = whole step/tone or 2 frets. H = half=step/tone or 1 fret).

On any fretted instrument, this will form a repeatable pattern. This is how a one-octave major scale looks with the root at any fret on the 6th string of the guitar, and the 5th string.

Root on 6th string  The root note is played with the 2nd finger of your fretting hand.

Root on 5th string.

 Root on 4th string. Now this looks like a different pattern but IT IS THE SAME.  You know this is true by the way it sounds.

The reason it looks different is because the 2nd (B) string is tuned differently. To make up for this the last 3 notes of the pattern have to move up the neck by one fret (one semitone).

Now to prove it, move the root over to the 3rd string and move notes 3, 4 & 5 up by one fret on the 2nd (B) string. Move notes 6, 7 & 8 across to the 1st (E) string.

So that's Pattern 1 of the major scale.  What about Pattern 2.

Pattern 2 works in exactly the same way. The root note is played with the 4th finger of your fretting hand on the 6th (low E) string.
The pattern is the same whether the root note is on the 6th, 5th or 4th string. When part of the pattern moves on to the 2nd (B) string, those notes move up the neck by one fret (one semitone). You'll know when you've got it because you'll be able to hear the Do-Ray-Mi....

There is no Pattern 2 starting with a root on the 3rd string.  There are not enough strings.

Try this. Play the major scale in A using both patterns with roots on all strings.  Once you have got these two patterns under your fingers, you can start to extend these scales across all strings. If you get stuck go back to Pattern 1 on the 6th string and use the sound of that as a reference to copy elsewhere on the neck.

Two octave and extended major scales across the neck use a combination of these shapes. For great information on the CAGED system and the ultimate major scale programme (Master The Major Scale) check www.justinguitar.com.

3 reasons every guitarist should make video lessons

I've been playing guitar for 25 years or so. I'm at the stage where I can pretty much work out a song before it's finished playing on the radio (solo and complicated bits aside) and I play 25+ gigs a year.  I can twiddle a bit but I'm not one of those 'can-play-anything-at-the-drop-of-a-hat' guitar-sauvants.

I've always had a full-time job and a family, so music has always been the third part of an equation, and at times it's pretty low on the to-do list. So this year I decided to celebrate my silver jubilee by studying what I was doing and seeing how far I could take it. 

I've applied myself, drawn on what I do for a living, and become my own teacher. I use a lot of structure and use a lot of ready-made help. I bought the RGT Grade Books and started working through them alongside everything that Justin Sandercoe, Marty Schwarz and Andrew Wasson can throw at me online.  They have improved my guitar life. Check them out on YouTube and at

www.justinguitar.com
www.guitarjamz.com
www.andrewwasson.com

And then today, I stumbled across the most obvious way to improve my playing faster...

One of the covers bands I played with last year have a new guitarist and he is struggling to decide on what to play over the acoustic rhythm guitar on Stuck In The Middle With You by Stealer's Wheel. They asked me to do a quick video to help as "we'd quite like it to be the same as you used to play". So that's what I did.  It took me three attempts to get a loop done, and four takes to video my parts over the top.  Here's what I learned from doing it and watching it back :

- I rely hugely on the vocal for my cues in the song, rather than knowing how it goes
- my strumming is messy and noisier than I thought
- I don't move smoothly between positions in the solo

If this is how it sounds at home with no pressure, how must it sound in a gig with crappy foldback?

So here's three reasons why I'll be videoing my playing regularly from now on and how it can help you too.

1. You will know the song better.  The structure and the chord changes. The key, time signature, scales for the solo etc. Especially, if you write a song chart.

2. You'll get to see and hear exactly how you play in a safe, controlled environment, when you know a song well.  This will help you see if you are playing the way you want to. There's nowhere to hide on this.

3. Thinking about how you explain what you do to someone else, makes you focus. If you can explain it clearly, you'll play it better.

Here's how.....

• Write out a song chart.
• Record a loop to play over.
• Practice explaining the song structure and key etc and what you are playing over each part before you record it. If you can't explain what you are doing are you making it up as you go along?
• Record it and watch it back. The recording doesn't have to be complicated - I used a Bloggie.

The most important thing is to ask yourself the question, "Would I be happy sharing this on youtube?" It is not about being too self-critical. But it's a great way of checking if you are playing to the standard you want to be, and identifying things to improve.