Damian Erskine on Arpeggios

Damian says knowing how to play arpeggios in all the inversions is a good thing.

If you were wondering how to use the Transmogrifier to connect and join chords, check out Damian breaking it down in this video.

Damian Erskine on Chord Scales - Part II

Damian Erskine has done some lessons discussing how to create and determine chord scales based on a chord progression. He uses the Miles Davis tune "Blue In Green" as an example and breaks it all down chord by chord. Good stuff.

Another Transmogrifier Update

No more frames, now it is all one page, and it reminds you what 4 notes you used, just in case looking up .034 degrees to see the drop downs that have the notes in them was too taxing.

That is all.

Checked it in FireFox 4 and Safari and it works. IE8x mileage may vary.

Happy B-Day Ray Riendeau

Ray does some crazy slapping all-righty. But he does it in a very musical way. In this video he breaks down how to play triads and other arpeggios with his techniques, and he doesn't just do it E Minor either!

Rumor has it he has an instructional DVD coming out...

Happy B-Day Ray, and thanks for being willing to share what you know with all of us.

Pollici de' Ridiculoso!



He takes THAT and turns it into THIS:

Daily Licking 40: Syncopated Emin to Amin Groove

It has been several weeks since the last one of these, but hey, what can I say, those episodes of "Barely Legal Icelandic Bikini Teens Gone Wild" don't download themselves, ya know. These things take time.

But, returning to things musical, ya can never have too many of these, the ol' i-iv funky bass line. This one is maybe in kinda a Carol Kaye-esque super-syncopated groove style. Kinda busy, but the trick is to not make it sound like it is.

bass lick tempo 88 4/4 | Emin e-8 e8~ e16 f#16 g16 g#16 e16 g8 b16~ b16 e16 b16 e16 | Amin a-8. a16 a8 e16 a16 c16 d8 eb16 eb8 e8 |

How Music Works: Bass - From the BBC

This if part of a music series The BBC - yes, Rule Britannia and all that my good man, carry on - did about the physics and mechanics of music back in 2004.

From their description:

How Music Works 4 - Bass
Music is usually broken down into melody, rhythm and harmony. But what about the very lowest notes in music, that can have an impact on all three? In this film Howard looks at the abiding fascination musicians and composers have had with the bass. For half a millennium instrument makers have been trying to construct instruments of all shapes and sizes capable of thudding, sonorous low notes. Only with the arrival of the synthesizer did they succeed in producing a rival to the mighty organ. With disco, dance, and drum 'n' bass, the bass has arrived centre stage. But bass notes have another, crucial role. Far from just plodding away in the background, bass lines can have a critical effect on the whole structure of a piece of music, helping to drive the chord progressions. Howard looks at the dark horse of the musical family, and its use in the hands of such diverse musical talents as Johann (and Richard) Strauss, John Philip Sousa, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Albinoni, Bach and Motown's resident bass maestro, James Jamerson.

All I can say is.....they have yet to invent the synthesizer to rival MY mighty organ. Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk.

Anyway, check it out. YouTube user TimeGrinder has been nice enough to post the entire episode.

Pat Metheny Plays Girl From Ipanema

Sort of.

It's in there, and you can hear it, but he plays around with it quite a bit. It's still pretty but he makes it sound a little ominous as well.

Just him and a baritone guitar.



Here he is talking about his new record "What's It All About". The entire album is all other peoples tunes - Carly Simon, Beatles, Jobim - and just him and the baritone guitar and that nutty Picasso guitar contraption he plays sometimes. It looks like he is going to tour as a duo with Larry Grenadier on bass for this record so that will be a pretty amazing show if you can catch just the two of them together.