Hi guys,
I wrote an article on how to make your blues solos more interesting by adding notes outside the blues scale. The article got published on GuitarTricks.com. Here's the link:
Spice Up Your Blues Playing
Enjoy reading!
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Duo Concert: Irida and Scuff Jack @ Stage Music Café Eindhoven
Hi everybody, I'd like to announce a concert:
Irida & Scuff Jack @ Stage Music Café, Stratumseind 25, Eindhoven
EASY Sunday, 27 September 2015
19:30 Scuff Jack: Singer-songwriter with guitar and scuff-board!
20:30 Irida: semi-acoustic R'n'B from Austria!
Irida - vocals
Shidhi Bouwman - backing vocals
Rebecca Lydia - backing vocals
Huseyin Demir - backing vocals
Peter Huber - trumpet
Mathias Lang - guitars
Bob Willemstein - bass
Marco Toro - percussion
Irida & Scuff Jack @ Stage Music Café, Stratumseind 25, Eindhoven
EASY Sunday, 27 September 2015
19:30 Scuff Jack: Singer-songwriter with guitar and scuff-board!
20:30 Irida: semi-acoustic R'n'B from Austria!
Irida - vocals
Shidhi Bouwman - backing vocals
Rebecca Lydia - backing vocals
Huseyin Demir - backing vocals
Peter Huber - trumpet
Mathias Lang - guitars
Bob Willemstein - bass
Marco Toro - percussion
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Melodic Theme Guitar Contest
Hi guys,
I entered a guitar contest by David Wallimann. It's about coming up with a good and catchy melody over the backing track provided by David. It's not so much the competitive element that attracts me to such contests, but the fact that they are always good for meeting fellow guitarists. It's very interesting to see and hear how others approach such a task, and it's also good to get feedback on your own work. Please check out this post of mine for more deeply philosophical thoughts about guitar contests ;)
I thought it might be interesting to share with you how I come up with ideas for what to play. I work the same way when I do studio jobs for other people. So I get a mix-down of the song I'm supposed to play on, sometimes accompanied by a lead sheet showing the song's structure and the chords. Then I would just listen a few times, but without consciously concentrating on the music, more like listening to background music. I keep on doing this until some phrases and ideas pop up in my head. Sometimes this goes quickly, other times I need to listen a lot of times. But for me it's important to just "let it happen" without trying hard to find something. This will usually give results that I'm more satisfied with. After filling up my head with ideas I start playing along with my guitar to see how I can realize those ideas. I will discard some, come up with new ones, and as soon as I think that I got something good I start recording. This will definitely not be the final take. At that point I'm just collecting ideas for listening back and choosing. I would usually record 3 to 10 takes, and the higher the number of the take, the more similar the takes become, that's at least the normal development. Depending on how much time I have, I would listen back and then just sleep over it, listen back the next day, record a few more takes, and ultimately decide which one will be the final take. Of course, sometimes I would combine several takes, if I only like certain parts of the different takes. I don't do this, however, when I record videos (such as for the guitar contest), because with the video I prefer a single take. In that case there are always things that could be improved, but it's also healthy to give up perfectionism in certain situations. Of course, for expensive studio productions you get paid to be a perfectionist!
Anyway, here's my entry. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Sebbe, one of my students, also entered the contest. Check out his version!
I entered a guitar contest by David Wallimann. It's about coming up with a good and catchy melody over the backing track provided by David. It's not so much the competitive element that attracts me to such contests, but the fact that they are always good for meeting fellow guitarists. It's very interesting to see and hear how others approach such a task, and it's also good to get feedback on your own work. Please check out this post of mine for more deeply philosophical thoughts about guitar contests ;)
I thought it might be interesting to share with you how I come up with ideas for what to play. I work the same way when I do studio jobs for other people. So I get a mix-down of the song I'm supposed to play on, sometimes accompanied by a lead sheet showing the song's structure and the chords. Then I would just listen a few times, but without consciously concentrating on the music, more like listening to background music. I keep on doing this until some phrases and ideas pop up in my head. Sometimes this goes quickly, other times I need to listen a lot of times. But for me it's important to just "let it happen" without trying hard to find something. This will usually give results that I'm more satisfied with. After filling up my head with ideas I start playing along with my guitar to see how I can realize those ideas. I will discard some, come up with new ones, and as soon as I think that I got something good I start recording. This will definitely not be the final take. At that point I'm just collecting ideas for listening back and choosing. I would usually record 3 to 10 takes, and the higher the number of the take, the more similar the takes become, that's at least the normal development. Depending on how much time I have, I would listen back and then just sleep over it, listen back the next day, record a few more takes, and ultimately decide which one will be the final take. Of course, sometimes I would combine several takes, if I only like certain parts of the different takes. I don't do this, however, when I record videos (such as for the guitar contest), because with the video I prefer a single take. In that case there are always things that could be improved, but it's also healthy to give up perfectionism in certain situations. Of course, for expensive studio productions you get paid to be a perfectionist!
Anyway, here's my entry. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Sebbe, one of my students, also entered the contest. Check out his version!
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Donna Lee
Hi guys,
I'd like to share with you my transcription of the theme of Donna Lee by Miles Davis. I know it has been transcribed a zillion times and you can also find it in the Real Book, BUT there are two reasons why I still did it:
I based my transcription on the 1947 recording of the Charlie Parker Quintet.
So, why on earth would anybody want to learn that song from almost 70 years ago? Well, first it's a great technical work-out. It's not easy to play the piece at the original tempo (around 220 bpm) and make it sound good at the same time! Second, it teaches you a lot of great bebop licks that you can use for your own improvisations. But in order to be able to re-use those licks, you must try to understand over which chords / chord progressions they are used. So try to find the II-V-I's and all other characteristic progressions that also pop up in many other tunes, and see what Miles Davis and Charlie Parker came up with.
As usual, start slow, and always listen how it's supposed to sound, because the notation doesn't show everything. I recommend you take the original recording, slow it down, and play along until you nail it, then increase the tempo, etc. Anyway, here's the tabs, have fun!
You can also find a pdf-version in Tabs&Sheet Music.
I'd like to share with you my transcription of the theme of Donna Lee by Miles Davis. I know it has been transcribed a zillion times and you can also find it in the Real Book, BUT there are two reasons why I still did it:
- There are some errors in the Real Book
- The fingerings for guitar are tricky, and it's very important how and where you play it to make it swing
I based my transcription on the 1947 recording of the Charlie Parker Quintet.
So, why on earth would anybody want to learn that song from almost 70 years ago? Well, first it's a great technical work-out. It's not easy to play the piece at the original tempo (around 220 bpm) and make it sound good at the same time! Second, it teaches you a lot of great bebop licks that you can use for your own improvisations. But in order to be able to re-use those licks, you must try to understand over which chords / chord progressions they are used. So try to find the II-V-I's and all other characteristic progressions that also pop up in many other tunes, and see what Miles Davis and Charlie Parker came up with.
As usual, start slow, and always listen how it's supposed to sound, because the notation doesn't show everything. I recommend you take the original recording, slow it down, and play along until you nail it, then increase the tempo, etc. Anyway, here's the tabs, have fun!
You can also find a pdf-version in Tabs&Sheet Music.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Neal Morse + Mike Portnoy in the Effenaar Saturday 18 July
Mike Portnoy is one of my favorite drummers, and he comes to Eindhoven next Saturday! I guess I can't miss that. I've last seen him in Cologne with the Winery Dogs, this time he comes with Neal Morse. They'll be playing in the Effenaar. See you there?
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