The Ultimate Silly Hat Contest Winner is...

Aretha Franklin. Sorry, Shirley, Brad, and Evan!

Wow, oh wow! We've got a new prez! Rockin'!

A few points I got from watching this exciting and very historic event:

1. No Bailout for Atlantic or Epic

Let's hope that the government doesn't take over the music industry. They do not know how to work a crowd. (I couldn't believe nobody said to the millions of screaming fans "Let me hear you say Hope!" or rile 'em up anyways!)

2. She wasn't much like a beauty queen, or a movie scene

Let's hope the government doesn't take over any beauty pageants. Dianne Feinstein for MC? Really, Gus? Out of two million in attendance? I mean...Let's at least get someone who isn't shriveled, grating, and who has absolutely no sense of humor or personality to introduce my main man, dig?

3. In the question of "who's da man"
The answer is Yo Yo Ma.

4. God gave us humor, so we could laugh at
The main preacher man sounded who like a homophobic Bill Murry. Who put him in there?

5. Some preachers do rock
At least the old guy who gave the benediction had a cool voice, AND he tried to work the crowd with a "say amen!" I really thought the fella was gonna fall over. But he didn't!

6. Legato. Is. Not. Just. For. Steve. Vai.

Connecting phrases is sometimes a good thing, even for a poet.

Despite my sarcasm, it was pretty darn cool. What a neat day.

And, STOP THE PRESSES!

I found the tone I've been looking for.

Yo Yo Ma has it. I must steal his amp. Did anyone see him play? I was practicing my guitar as I was watching the show, but I put it down when he picked up the cello. For years now, I've been struggling with the dilemma of sound vs. nature. I love how open, pure, and uncluttered the Earth's tone is. The wind can rip, yowl, whisper, and roar. But it's never got lousy tone. Streams can babble, chatter, flow, and rush, but they don't sound cluttered.

Music is beautiful, but it sounds stifling sometimes. I think that some music with birds and frogs in it is lame. I want that pure sound, but with a man-made instrument.

I have never seen it done. Coltrane came pretty close, as did Bird when he played "Summertime."

But the Yo Yo had it! So did his violin playin' pal...oh, what's his name, yeah, Itzhak Perlman! DARN! Those cats had it DOWN! Their sound cut through me like a knife. Or...the wind.

I now know it can be done. So, I'm off to find that sound. That pure, real, merciless, honest, transparent, cold, flowing sound. The tone of a stream fueled by snowmelt in Vermont. The quality of the wind rushing up the side of the Shenendoah mountains to greet you as you stand at the top, as it cleanses the dust of the world from your hair and your mind.

And when I do, I will certainly stand up before the crowd, and say "I can't hear youuuuuuuu!"

Football chicks weird me out

Oh yes they do. Not the cheerleaders, silly. The girls who always know more about football than I do. I got to thinking about the time I was in Panera and...Wait, this is a music blog!

Sorry, I get distracted sometimes. Oh look, a chicken!

And...it's wearing a jersey, too. Weird.

But down to business. I was boring one of my students yesterday with a neat latin jazz song called "Oye Como Va." (Santana covers it, too.) My client is a death metal guitarist. So he brings in his axe just outfitted with an EMG 85 and tuned down two steps and what do I do..."Dude, you gotta check out this groove!"

But I always think learning from different styles can only help. Sure, not an in-depth study of 'em if they're not what you're interested in, but just a skimming. One thing I was telling him was that "non-white" music is usually better at hitting the off-beats than us fellas that glow in the dark and wear hats with horns.

So, if you like playing viking metal, great! So do I! Rock on. But checkin' out some ethic grooves can really sharpen your sense of groove and time.

Check out this vid of "Oye Como Va." The changes are Am7 - D9. See if you can nail it.

Rock on! (er....groove on!)

- Josh

What would Jesus play?

Hey Rockers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Whew! Sorry I've been so darn quiet. I've been moving! But now I'm sitting in my new studio, with a bowl of pasta, listening to some Van Halen.
So, expect some more blogs!

On a serious note, I just found out that my aunt was diagnosed with cancer today. Talk about her world exploding. Holy smokes. It made me take a minute at the gym, and really appreciate how well my body was functioning. Sure, I didn't bench quite as much as I wanted to, but at least I'm up for trying. My thoughts are with her.

So, with that sense of perspective, things seem a lot clearer for me. These next few months will be a crazy journey, indeed. I think I'm gonna write a song for her.

Whew. Switching gears a bit, we'll take our next question from a fella who we'll just call "Jesus." OK, his name isn't really Jesus, but trust me, it's realllll close. (No, it's not Jimi, either.)

So, J-man dropped me a note, and said:

Dear Mr. Urban,

My name is Jesus and I'm a college student from the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. I'd like to interview you through email regarding your expansive knowledge on guitar theory (emphasis mine) and guitar-playing in general. I'm writing a research paper where I am trying to prove that all guitarists should learn music theory on the guitar instead of being limited by only learning tab. You see, I'm also a guitarist and after reading "The Crusade" from ultimate-guitar and learning from them some months ago (and actually still learning), I chose to try and prove theory as a better learning tool when I was faced with the task of choosing my topic for my research paper. Subsequently, I chose you as my interviewee since you were the one who wrote the series of articles where I learned all of my theory and inspired me to write about something relevant to us musicians.

Here are the questions I'd like you to please answer:

1. If there are, what are the advantages of learning through tab?
2. What are the advantages of learning guitar though music theory?
3. What are the disadvantages of learning guitar though music theory?
4. As a professional musician, which of the two do you prefer and why?
5. Most people nowadays begin with tab. If you were to choose the learning method they would begin with, which would you choose and what are your reasons?

I would appreciate any and all reponses you could give to my questions. Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Jesus

Heh...I like that "expansive knowledge" part. Here's my answer:

Where I'm coming from:

I'm a guitar instructor and musician hailing primarily from the American rock school of thought. My style is a mix of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, James Brown, and Charlie Parker.

1. If there are, what are the advantages of learning through tab?

I always teach tab first. I feel that it makes the guitar instantly accessible. Advantages over traditional notation would include: Ease of use, popularity, and the ability to be specific. The guitar has the same notes in multiple places, which is both a blessing and a curse. If the score calls for the E above middle C, a piano player is faced with only one choice, while the guitarist, several. Tab eliminates any confusion in such regard, especially helpful as to which is the most convenient position to play a particular passage in.

2. What are the advantages of learning guitar though music theory?

For me, this is a two part question. The advantages to learning the guitar through traditional notation, or sheet music, is the fact that it's a universal language. If the guitarist wishes to perform a rendition of Beethoven's 9th symphony, and especially likes the viola part - no problem! That music is readily available in viola format, and is easily arranged for guitar. However, the most striking benefit is the ability to efficiently notate rhythms in the music. Tab usually contains no such provisions, and when it does, it's very clumsy. The beat of the song is arguably more important than the notes, and notation contains that mechanism to convey that. If you bury the score in a time capsule, and dig it up hundreds of years later, you can play it note for note! Just think - Mozart didn't have an 8-Track recorder, but we can still play his music exactly as it was intended to be played!

Part two of the question is the theory. If tab and notation are the ways to write the words of music, theory is the grammar, science, and usage of the language. While it's not essential to learn, I've found it extraordinary helpful to my personal quest. I've found it helpful as a compositional guide, a way to take a very educated guess at what scales to use over what chords, and speaking of chords, as a way to understand them better. Instead of being slave to the chord, the theoretician can, through an understanding of the function of the chord, find a place to suit it the best. I like to think of music theory as chemistry. I can randomly mix up chemicals with my chemistry set, and stumble into a glorious explosion, or I can know the formula for TNT. I like to know where to jump off.

4. As a professional musician, which of the two do you prefer and why?

I use, and teach, tab the vast majority of the time. A third way to communicate music has not been mentioned - the chord chart. I use these a lot, too. I'm not as fluent as I'd like to be with my sight reading, so I usually use tab for the rock songs. However, when I want to play a classical or jazz piece, I always prefer the notation. I like to start from the original composition, and work my way out. They're usually written in standard notation.

5. Most people nowadays begin with tab. If you were to choose the learning method they would begin with, which would you choose and what are your reasons?

It would depend entirely on my goal. If I aspired to be a jazz musician, play on a cruise ship, or do session work, I'd go more with notation. For the rock and blues, I'd stick with the tab, while learning notation, too.

On the subject of theory, I consider it not to be essential, but extraordinarily helpful. Theoretical shortcuts have been a waste of time for me. I'd like to compare it to language in general, and speakers in particular. While it is true that not all great grammarians are inspirational public speakers, it is true that most great speakers have a command of their primary language. For me, music theory helps tremendously by: - Knowing how the chords and scales relate in a song - Determining the key of a song - Choosing a scale to use as a jumping point for a solo - Compositional means - Understanding different styles and sounds.

However, it's just one means to an end. My favorite guitarist ever, Stevie Ray Vaughan, didn't know theory. I know more than he did in that regards, but compared to him, I'm lousy! It's just a tool that I've found helpful.

- Josh

Look at meeeeeeeee!

Check it out, folks! I made the paper!

Step one in a music career

Guitar instructor sets up shop ‘on a whim'

Friday, Dec. 26, 2008

On the Job with Josh Urban, guitar instructor

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by JAY FRIESS Guitar instructor Josh Urban, left, shows Aram Gyure of Accokeek how to play "Ironman" by Black Sabbath. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

New noise in town: The buttoned up collection of companies incubating at the Southern Maryland Small Business Center in Waldorf recently got a little more rock ‘n' roll with the addition of Josh Urban.

Urban, a guitar instructor, recently migrated across Route 925 from Hot Licks music store to set up his own shop.

"That's sort of where my brand got started," said Urban of his employer of the past four years. The energetic 23-year-old said he aims to infect his clients with his sheer love of the guitar.

"My two loves are playing guitar and teaching," Urban said. "That's really been my only career."

Urban said he explored setting up his own shop at the center "on a whim" and the process snowballed from there. He said he was glad to see his former Hot Licks clients follow him across the street.

"It was pretty scary," Urban said of starting his own business.

Given his proximity to more studious neighbors, Urban has to keep his amplifier turned low, but his room is a shrine to all the rock and jazz gods.

All are welcome: "I'm a salesman for the instrument," Urban said, defining his style.

As a salesman, he believes the customer is always right. He said he tells his clients "they are my boss and I work for them."

Urban said his clients are "people from all walks of life" and range from "6 to 60." He estimates that he sees 40 clients a week.

"It's really fun, and anybody can do it if they put their mind to it," Urban said. "It's not nearly as hard as people think."

Unlike some music snobs, Urban credits the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" video games with inspiring a new generation of kids to pick up an axe. He said the games have also introduced his young clients to a library of classic, easy-to-learn rock songs that he can use to teach them on a real guitar.

Urban hopes that his younger clients will fall in love with music itself and gain an appreciation, like his older clients, for jazz standards and orchestral classics.

"I want to make musicians here," he said.

Three legs to success: While his teaching business has allowed him to buy a home in Accokeek and set his own hours, Urban says he sees it as one of three parts of his musical career.

Urban also writes instructional columns for Web sites such as GuitarNoise.com and Ultimate-Guitar.com. This doesn't pay well, he admitted, but it does give him name exposure.

Urban also plays live and is working to put together a band. His first recording project is under way, but it has been put on hold momentarily while he moves into his new house.

But Urban said he is now chiefly focused on his new business.

"I want to keep growing my client base," he said.

Jay Friess

Got an idea for someone to profile in On the job? Send your suggestions

to Kayleigh Kulp at kkulp@somdnews.com or 7 Industrial Park Drive, Waldorf, MD 20602. Call

301-764-2851.

The Sounds of the Season

Vrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooom! Goes the Camaro through the night. An H3 is being pushy, and shining it's bling bling lights too close to the Z28 emblem on the back bumper. A tap on the gas pedal takes care of that. Splash, and it rolls through the puddle at the end of the driveway. It sits, growling menacingly in the dark and foggy night, steam billowing up from the water striking the exhaust system.

Wait, if you look past the lurid glow of the tail lights, and if you listen close...over the burble of the LT1, you'll hear...Jingle Bells? And is that Bing Crosby crooning away? What?!

Yes, yes, it's true, rockers. I've been crusing around town in my mega-mean-pedestrian-scaring-machine listening to...XM 36 - Holiday Traditions. Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, you name it...Sure, I was born in '85, when the musicians always looked like a Christmas tree made out of spandex, but I get sentimental sometimes, and I like to listen to cheesy carols of yesteryear. I can just picture my grandparents out on the town as young people, dancing to this. It makes me think two things. 1. How did they find the beat to these songs? And 2. No wonder it took me so long to become a funk musician with that in my ancestry.

But all good-natured jokings about my whitness aside, there is a musical point.

I was listening to one of the white guys sing a carol. Man, they're right on top of that beat, and not letting it breathe at all. Cracker!

But then I heard Nat King Cole doing the same thing. Oh. Ok, I was just being ignorant of the style.

Nat's known for his really great crooning. If you haven't heard him, you should check him out.

I noticed something really interesting. He was cutting the notes off big time, and singing short notes (probably quarter notes, but I didn't count.) Yet, he made each note sound soft, lush, and rich.

I have always equated a melodic, lush sound with longer note values. You know, really let 'em ring, and add a bit of vibrato at the end, a la "For the Love of God" (Steve Vai.)

I'd never heard anyone playing, or in this case, singing, short notes, but making them super sweet at the same time.

We've all had to suffer through the cheesy R&B remixes of christmas carols in the store, where the lady is just shreiking at the top of her lungs about how cliche the standard greeting of the season is, and then drop it down to an annoyingly breathy whisper with a floyd-rose dose of vibrato almost as bad as this run on sentence, BUT...That's not how "lush" always has to be done!

Check out some of the old cats singing holiday tunes for some great tone ideas. Can you make your fast lines sound as great as Nat singing "Frosty the Snowman?"

Shred that!

You killed it, Joe!

Rockers! That title is a Terry Tate quote (office linebacker.) But I think it applies here!

So, what do y'all think of that Satriani/Coldplay lawsuit? It's gonna be a ruckus! For those of you just tuning in, Joe Satriani is claiming that Coldplay ripped off his tune "If I could fly" and turned it into "Viva La Vida."

I must admit, parts of the songs do sound similar. But - only a very small part. Before I go on, I'd like to state that Joe is one of my favorite guitar players. I've seen him live a few times, and not only does he seem like a cool dude, but man, can he play! What tone! What style! What technique.

Here's the thing - regardless of who ripped who off, I think the thing that Joe should be most mad about is that he wrote a Grammy-winning, smash hit, mega millions melody - and buried it under a bunch of other licks.

Granted, I wish I could bury my melodies under musical noodlings of that caliber...!

But I think the theme got lost. Coldplay, regardless of where they got it, took one theme, and played it to great effect. And look, they're up for how many awards?

Coldplay is probably guilty of plagiarism. But if I were Joe, I'd be most upset about not letting that beautiful melody stand out in my own song.

Did he overplay? That's not for us to decide. That's like asking Picasso to paint his pictures normally. BUT - I think the smashing success of Coldplay's take paints an interesting picture, and gives a lot of food for thought.

So, here's a challenge: Take a song - any song. Play the vocal line on your guitar! In other words, take Viva La Vida, do a Coldplay, and play the vocals on your guitar. And don't look at tab. Figure it out by ear!

Not only will this help tremendously with your ear training, but it will lend a singing quality to your lines. Additionally, you won't be constrained by any guitar habits you might be entrenched in, such as only playing in shapes you know.

Give it a shot!

Custom Painted Guitars in Waldorf!

Hey Rockers!

If you're like me, you like custom guitars. Additionally, you might not know where to get 'em, or think they're too expensive. Well, check it out:

I've got this client named Dave. Dave is cool. He works at an auto body shop for a living, and he's just decided to start a custom guitar painting business. He brought a guitar by that he painted, and my jaw hit the floor! Have a look:



(It's a flip-flop paint job, and it's the bomb. I need one.)

The name of his company is TFP Customs. So, my brother has built him a site, and that rocks, too: www.tfpcustoms.com

(Noah's site is www.bfg-productions.com, by the way.)

Check out some of Dave's work. He can build you a guitar, or paint one of your existing ones. That's what I'm going to get him to do. I've got a mid-80's Charvel that's a nasty color. I think I'll get it painted Lime Green!

He painted another client's 70's Gibson L6-S, and it turned out awesome! It was an ugly butcher block finish, and the client had always hated the color. Check out the result in the "Gallery" section of the site.

To top it off, Dave is a quality fella, just like his work. I had a minor incident this Sunday involving repeated pages over the home improvement store's intercom for the wrong license plate, the announcement of "A red Camaro is on fire in the parking lot", and an overzealous fireman breaking my driver's window to extinguish a minor source of smoke in the engine compartment. I called Dave up to ask him if he knows a good glass guy. He calls me back, and tells me he'd take care of me, and fix the darn thing himself. I dropped off the car around 1:30 at his work, and he fixed it after-hours, had to take it to his house to finish it, drove it back, and handed me the keys while I was teaching. He looked exhuasted, and Dave's a tough guy, so I know it was a lot of work! It was probably close to two hours of driving for him. That's a quality fella! Man, I'm lucky to know folks like Dave.

I'm really excited about his business, and I'm telling everyone about it. It's great stuff, and your guitar can look like a million bucks, too (without costing that much!)

So, again, check out his website, and give him a holler if you need a guitar (or anything else) painted!

Rock on, Dave!