Keep an Ear on the Road

Rockers!

You know I'm always railing on and on about the importance of ear training...It's like chefs knowing what's in the soup by tasting it. "I say, Pierre, this must be rosemary." That's an important skill to have!

Lately, some of my clients have been knockin' my socks off with their superior command of the skill of listening. I've got one dude who's just rockin' away figuring out Avenged Sevenfold songs and even some classical stuff by ear.

However much we'd all like to practice, or for that matter, know we should, time is at a premium. Driving along today, I invented a new way to practice ear training. It's bound to be world famous! Maybe.

I was rumblin' along in the Camaro, and...I heard the tires meeting the street. Haha, not the usual muscle car sounds of "screeeeeeeeeee vrooooooom!", but just 'em rolling along at 4o miles per hour, saying "Hello, Street, my name is Michelin."

I've always been a paranoid mechanic, and have listened incessantly to random engine noises..."Dude - think that's the engine pinging?"

Well - I thought - what a great way to practice both ear training, and awareness. Music is really about both. The more aware one is, the better the results.

So - listen to your car, and learn all the sounds! Not only is it good practice, it's good mechanics. And the cool thing is - the more you listen, the more you hear. Quick story for y'all (unfortunately, my student isn't showing up, so I'm rambling...)

A student gave me a cool alarm clock once...It was a drumset, and it would play a swing/big band song that went "Come on, wake up, daaa daaa da da da da daaaa da da, da da da da...." One morning, I was just so tired, and I dozed for a long time just listening to the darn thing. After about twenty minutes, through a groggy alpha state, I said to myself...."Hey man, there's a xlyphone part in there!" And so there was.

See! The more you listen, the more you hear.

But do get up on time.


- Josh

New Song, yo!

Hey hey!

What's UP, rockers? It's been a little while. I've been holed up in my studio, writing songs and watching The Daily Show. Jon Stewart is a funny, funny man.

Anyways, I recorded an instrumental to submit to The Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest. Wish me luck! As some of you know, I took a trip north recently. I bought myself a ticket to the train, and boy, am I glad I did. It was so much fun! I've always loved trains, so it was a great opportunity to do some railroad watching, and get nifty ideas for songs. I've got one in the works about a laundromat I saw in Jersey. Seriously. But back to this instrumental...The intention is for it to sound like a train - dig the bass line kinda throbbing along, and the lead guitar hook sorta sounds like a train horn.

So, check out the new tune called Northbound. It's on my myspace. Tell your friends, add the song to your profile, and turn it up!

The lesson today comes from one of my students. He was sharing his aggravation about how one of his soccer teammates refuses to pass the ball once he gets it. The story reminded me of how musicians do the same thing - once they get the spotlight, or a cool riff, they don't want to give it up. If they don't have it in the first place, then they'll try to make it up. I'll point a finger at BASS PLAYERS putting too much slap bass in everything, guitarists trying to play lead between ever stinkin' vocal phrase, and well.......the list goes on! Step back, evaluate the situation, and if need be - pass the torch.

Rock on!

- Josh

5 Years!

Rockers!

It's been a little crazy over here, hence my silence. I just got back from NYC, and boy oh boy, I've got some catchin' up to do!

First off!

Today, besides being the start of World War II, marks the Five-Year Anniversary of being a guitar teacher. Whew, time sure flies! I just ran some rough calculations on my iPhone, and according to those complex equations I've run, I've taught over 7,000 lessons. That's a lotta rock 'n roll! Thanks to everyone who's taken lessons over the years! It's been fun. I really appreciate it, and I've learned so much. Here's to the next 7,000 lessons!

Second off!

Tickets for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra go on sale TOMORROW, September 2nd. You don't want to miss these guys 'n gals. Buy some tickets!

Third off! Two wonderful musicians I have the privledge of knowing are going to be putting on a fablous outdoor concert. Be there! Here's the info:


Saturday, 9/12/09, 8 PM
Ferguson Amphitheater, Hard Bargain Farm, Accokeek, MD.
Adults--$12; Members/Students--$10; Kids under twelve--$5

Grace Griffith, multi-Wammie Award winner, and singer/songwriter Lynn
Hollyfield share the stage for an evening of beautiful music. Grace is a critically acclaimed
interpreter of songs and long a favorite of DC area folk and celtic music fans. She has 3 solo albums and two CDs with her former trio "Connemara" on the Blix Street Records label,

and recently was featured on Jennifer Cutting's "Ocean" recording project.
Lynn Hollyfield's original songs have well-crafted melodies, stand-alone lyrics and striking emotional depth. In addition to being a gifted singer and songwriter,
Lynn is also quite accomplished on guitar. She has two CD's with her duo "Hollyfield & Spruill"
and is currently finishing up work on her first solo recording.
This will be an evening of sparkling settings of contemporary songs and traditional ballads. Together, Grace and Lynn promise an evening of vocal delights with polished harmonies, rhythm and fun. The pair will be joined by Jimmy Brink, percussionist.

http://www.seamaid.org/ and http://www.lynnhollyfield.com/

These ladies are great! I was helping out with the sound system while they were playing one time, and their version of Summertime was so good, I forgot to mix! I just listened. Playing a mix of celtic-tinged folk, they're an interesting contrast to the high voltage music I usually listen to. (I've got System of a Down playing right now....."Pushing little children, with their fully automatics!")

And the venue is really cool, too. It really is a concert in the woods. Check it out!

Forth off:

I've got some new random weird videos: My interviews of things that can't talk back.




Rock on!

- Josh

The Last Sorcerers

Rockers!

What is UP, good people?

Hey man, for starters, dig the race war. Anyone else notice it?

I was just talking to an aquantance who's immersed in politics, and I mentioned how I've been hearing openly racist remarks lately. She articulated the idea of how, given the current events, folks are not reacting to just policy lately, but the changing of the status quo. I feel like I'm in baseball right after Jackie Robinson started playing, and my kids are going to look back on my generation with disgust, aversion, and disbelief.

I've seen figures that hate crimes are up against Latinos, have heard anti-black sentiment, been around so much flippant anti-gay remarks that it's staggering, and I've even felt like my own paleness has been resented.

So come on, people! What's all this about? Didn't we leave this behind? I was talking to a black client of mine who grew up in Jim Crow Virginia, and I asked him "have you noticed that racism is really getting bad lately?" His respose was a surprised "Getting? It's never gone away!"

This really, really floored me.

I've been discussing, ruminating, and talking some more. And I've got an idea.

Music is transcendent not only of different types of language, but of language itself. It's understood without words, and even deaf people dance to the vibrations. (Next time you're in DC, check out the Galludet University dance company.)

In a way, we're sort of magicians, sorcerers, if you will. We cast spells that all understand. Let's try to spin some understanding.

We can start by understanding, or at least learning.

Dig - the hispanic population is the fastest growing minority in the United States. This means two things for me. 1.) it really reminds me that I should learn Spanish! 2.) I can't wait to learn about Latin music. Talk about some complex grooves! It's mind-shattering stuff. I hear the fiery dance of a hard-working, so-non-white culture at play.

When I listen to delta blues, I hear a person working in the sun all day for almost no money, descended from people who didn't get paid at all. That gives me a small glimpse into the history of Black America.

Bach makes my abs feel tight in sympathy for the ladies in the classical era. Corsets must have hurt. It's probably also the only music that vaguely moves me to go to church. Imagine that.

The bossa nova floats through the air, and I can picture exotic Brazillian jazz clubs where the flowers are all unfamiliar and the girls aren't from Charles County. How nice.

And then I get ready to sail off to war and kick some butt while I'm listening to "Poser Viking Metal." It's cold outside at the viking port!

So, if I can hear and understand this, and differences are resolved by understanding, and music creates understanding, then...

Cast that spell, rockers! And learn, learn, learn. And don't be hatin'.

Peace,

Josh

The fine line between genius and insanity

Is probably in the eye of the beholder.

The more time we spend avoiding that line, analyzing that line, and diagramming that line, and the less we spend blurring it -

The safer and more hopeless our art will become.

And security seems to be such a curse.

Don't be cursed, bro!

- Josh

Breaking up

Rockers!

I hope you guys have been rockin' an' shockin', and generally showing folks how cool musicians are.

I've been reading a few books on songwriting and the music industry. One of those, Six Steps to Songwriting Success by Jason Blume, has given me a wayyyyy cool idea.

Mr. B states the following (paraphrased by me):

Melody is vital.

The first melody that you invent might sound blah.

Rewrite it.

By doing this: Say your line is: A B C D E F (The A minor scale, played for six notes.) Notice how it's evenly spaced.

Next, let other notes ring out longer. In this example, 'cause the blog formatting is getting the best of me, we would let the note A ring out, and the rest would be played normally. In the second example, B would ring out, or have the greatest duration, and the rest would be played normally:


A

B C D E F

---------------

A B


C D E F

--------------
A B C

D E F-
---------------
A B C D

E F
----------------

A B C D E

F
---------------

Try it! It's cool!

OK, so how can we use this for the ultimate goal (word domination?) Like so: We all get stuck in the same boring patterns to shred and kick butt. Try breaking up your typical lines by the method outlined above.


Dominate!

- Josh

Help! Input needed

Readers!

I need your help. I'm stumped.

I'm trying to learn to sequence drums, and frankly, it's not going so well. Here's the situation.

I've got Cubase 5 (awesome!), Superior Drummer 2.0, and the Korg padKONTROL midi controller.

I'm having trouble sequencing beats. I can play 'em live on the padKONTROL, but boy, that's a horrible off beat sound. (My fault, not the machine's.) Sequencing in Cubase is incredibly cumbersome.

I can sequence cool beats in Hydrogen, but can't import the midi file properly into Cubase. The Hydrogen sounds are fine for jamming, but just don't cut it compared to Superior Drummer.

SO - does anyone have a favorite sequencer/program? I'm looking for something cheap or free. I don't care about the sounds, I just need to be able to program a song easily to import.


Help???