Soundscape: 2 hrs Rain Olympia WA

DIY Folding Compound Miter Saw Stand From Shop Scrap

A apparent lack of talent...

     Maslow's hierarchy of needs states that once our basic needs are met, we as humans have no loftier goal than self actualization. I would submit that as a guitarist my highest needs is to fit seamlessly into a group of musicians... and to get paid now and then.
     A fellow I met a few years ago has been hounding me to come audition for his band. They play adult oriented classic rock, and since I like a lot of the songs I told him that if my schedule ever relented long enough I would indeed come and audition. In March my schedule changed and I now have time for music again.

     Based on what the band leader told me, I brought my "mid" sized amp (Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10) to the audition. It's not as loud as my half stack, but louder than the Bandit or the practice rig. Seems like a nice neutral setup for versatility yeah?

     The practice area was in a loft above a very crowded auto shop. There are always stairs, and I have come to accept this as a truth about auditions. The stairs have only the wall on the left side going up, and nothing on the right side, there is of course a 90 degree turn halfway up, so yeah... When I opened the door to the practice area I was shocked by how much junk was in the room. There were the usual things you see in a practice space, but there were empty boxes, food containers, and just general junk that should have been taken out after practice. It reminded me of a teenagers room rather than a work space for a working band of mature adults, but artists are a different breed and you encounter all manner of odd things during your "career". 

     The rest of the band sort of trickled in over the the next half hour, and much to my irritation were more interested in getting their cocktails together rather than setting up for the audition, but hey, this aint my party, I'm just looking for a job right? Once everyone finally has their cocktail, we are ready to play. 

     I am not a snooty musician, I have very humble roots musically speaking, and I have a very clear image of my ability as a guitarist. I am not a gun-slinger looking to show everyone how wonderful I am on the guitar, but I have played with a lot of bands all of the country in the last few decades. Usually there is a sound check to set levels. We didn't do that, we just charged right in. 

     To be fair, the band already has a guitarist, which had been discussed in detail before the audition. The idea explained to me was that both guitarists would share rhythm and lead guitar roles.  During the audition though, no one had really thought about the song as guitar parts. The other guitarist seemed rather insecure about his place in the group and would play the same figure in the same register as me, even if I switched it up and tried to move out of his range so I could leave room for him and the keyboard. Either way he would follow me into whatever inversions I tried to use. It was almost like he was saying, hey look man, I can do that too. 

     As the evening wore on the band was getting pretty drunk, and the keyboard player decided that I was playing too loud and had me turn down. The volume was below the baseline of the room so you couldn't hear what if anything I was playing. Ok, no worries. Some auditions are pretty awful and it's better to get that out into the open up front. The band went into SRV's Pride and Joy with everyone taking a turn at a lead. When my turn came they realized that maybe they had turned me down too much and couldn't hear it. We re-set the levels and had another go at it, and I felt like I did a reasonably good improv, stealing bits from Jimi, Creedence, BB King, Albert Lee, and Eric Clapton. It was sort of a texas/delta/chicago mashup, but people seemed to dig it, and I felt it was a decent off the cuff improv. 

     We finished the audition and the guys had a conference about the audition. They told me that yeah, they felt like it would work out, and invited me to leave my gear until practice the following week. I told them great, and said I would see them the following week.

     When I got home O talked with my wife and some friends about how the audition went, and the more I thought about it, the more it felt like I was not a good fit with these folks. I view music as a job, and work very hard to give the best performance/show I can. I am not a big fan of bands that want to party while they play. I think it looks tacky, and it puts you off of your best game. With all of this in mind I decided that I would go to the practice and if it still felt the same after were had worked through the set list, I would graciously beg out as non judgmentally as possible. Seriously, if you want to party as a band go for it. It's a free country no? 

     The day before practice I received a phone call from the keyboardist telling me that I needed to come get my gear out of their practice space because they had another guitarist coming to audition. I was kind of surprised by this, but they said that the band wanted to try out another guy. When I went and picked up my gear I talked to the guy a little more, and he admitted that while the band thought I had some "chops" they felt I suffered from "an apparent lack of talent". This actually made me laugh. I've been sworn at, saw a band flame out into fisticuffs, been told that I was not quite the style of player the band was seeking, but never that I had no talent.

     I was probably going to quit the band any way because of the drinking on the job, and the weird sense of priorities, but  nobody wants to hear someone say to them that they are musically incompetent. Even if the person telling you that is probably a functioning alcoholic who can scarcely remember what happened at the audition.

     But hey, that's show business -- lol

Worship Guitar: Group Ettiquette

     Whether you've been playing worship guitar for years or just starting out, there are basic expectations that you can and should observe to get along as part of a worship team. Most are common sense and almost all of them are available elsewhere on the web, but they are important enough that I think we should go over them.

     1.  Show Up On Time: Seems easy enough, but people who are late eat up valuable rehearsal time. Worship is serious, and you should treat it like it is important. If talent call for rehearsal is at 0730 on Sunday morning you should be in place with your gear ready for sound check before 0730. Don't be that last guys who comes bumbling in and disrupts rehearsal.

     2. Be Prepared: The boy scouts have it right. Be prepared. Check to make sure that you have everything you are going to need for the rehearsal or service. Everyone's rig is different, but you should have at a minimum:

• Guitar
• Effects
• Power Supplies for effects
• Cables (having a backup cable is a plus and takes up very little space.)
• Extra set of strings
• Extra picks (if you use them).
• Tuner (Tune before your turn at sound check!)
• Music/service order for the worship set.

     3. Tuning: Nothing is more annoying to the group than someone who is out of tune. You can get a Snark tuner like the one here on the right for less than $15 and they work really well. This particular tuner has a built in metronome. You can just clip it on to your guitar and tune up, which brings me to another point. Turn down your volume while you are tuning. Clip on tuners work off of vibrations and do not require the volume to be up while in use. I have a volume pedal in both of my rigs that I use a LOT. This is a very good use for one, but if you don't have one, you can still turn the volume pot down and get a good tune. I've used my Snarks to tune guitars (electric and acoustic), basses, mandolins, even violins.No fooling, they are that good. 

     4. Riffing/Jamming: It's really annoying when people are trying to set levels on the monitors or work out the timing on a passage and someone is working on a riff they just learned. It's not as bad if it's from a song that you are doing at this rehearsal, but it is inconsiderate of other team members time, and it will sometimes create a colorful outburst from the worship leader. 

     5. Maintain Your Gear: Stuff fails. It's a fact of life as a musician, but knowing this we can have a spare cable in our bag. Most larger cities have a music store that can turn you onto a luthier. I recently took and old Frankensteined Telecaster in and had my guitar guy go through it. He set the action, dressed the frets, set the intonation, and set the pickup height to factory spec. The guitar sounds great, and it stays in tune all of the way up the neck.How much did this wizardry cost me? $65 and worth every cent of it. Even if you buy a new guitar you should consider having someone set it up. It will blow your mind, and you won't be out of tune when playing inversions up the neck!

     6. Pay Attention: In a good worship team there are a lot of talented people, and you can learn all sorts of stuff if you pay attention. If someone does something tasty, ask them to show you what they did, or explain why they did it. Most of the time people like to share what they have learned with one another. 

     7. Be Flexible: There are commonly two other guitarists on our worship team. The leader plays an acoustic, and the other guitarist plays an electric. Depending on who is playing each week it could be a solid body or a semi acoustic jazz box or a hybrid. Sometimes people don't show up and it's just me and the leader with the acoustic guitar. In any configuration I need to be ready to play one of several parts on the recordings that people are familiar with hearing. Sometimes I am asked to come up with a lead that sounds vaguely arabesque. Who knows what you are going to encounter. It's our job as guitarists to know a couple of different parts, and to be able to play something similar to what everyone else is playing, but in a different voicing so it doesn't turn into a big ball of goo. Knowing how to play inversions helps in this regard, but then again so does transposing the song a fifth above where the band is playing it and capo up so that you can use other chord shapes to get the same chords.  Flexibility is huge. Sometimes the best flexibility is being able to sit out for a song. 

     8. Remember Why You're Here: Worship is service to our holy and living God. God has given us an amazing gift in the salvation offered through Christ and the miracle of his resurrection, the least we can do is honor and praise him with our feeble gifts. Remember to love each other and have fun. We serve an amazing God and it is a rare opportunity that should really be appreciated. 

     I have probably missed some really important points, so if you have something I should have included, please add it to the comments below! Peace and God Bless!

Guitar String Beta Test?

Looks legit...

     So the D'Addario string company has decided to revamp their guitar string making process. They've revamped the coating, mettalurgy, heck - they even go so far as to say that these are the strongest strings out there, but are they?

     So the other day I get a kraft paper envelope from D'Addario in the mail. Opening it I find this stealth looking strings packet inside. I waited until this morning to put the strings on because I am a busy guy. (Actually I have been fighting a wretched cold.)

     I generally like D'Addario and their strings, so I was sort of excited to get the packet. I recently wrote about how their EXP strings compare to Elixir's on my Taylor 414e ltd.

     I put the strings on my Frankentele. It looks like a tele but has dual coil humbuckers and all of the pots have been swapped out. IT sounds more like a Les Paul these days than a Tele. It's a solid chunk of over driven tone with a slug of sustain and a face built for grunge. She's my second most used electric so I thought she was good candidate for the string beta. How did it go? I'm not so impressed with the performance of the strings or the tone, but rather than ramble, I will attempt to address all of the manufacturer's claims.

     Strongest set of guitar strings ever made. It's 30% stronger than any of it's predecessors: When I pulled the high E string out of the package I noticed shiny spots on the string. These are almost always nicks in the string that can cause strings to snap. While tuning the high E, the string broke halfway between the nut and the machine head. I was at D# and worrying that the string didn't sound right. You can usually hear when a string is getting ready to go. Based on where the string broke, I believe it to be a manufacturer's defect.

     Settles to pitch and holds pitch better: This seems to be correct. The strings did seem to settle out pretty quickly which for me is usually only an issue if I have to change right before a show or during a break, so for those limited instances they would be pretty good.

     I suppose this is as good a spot as any to mention that they have gone with a tin coating on these strings. This is to aid in corrosion inhibition. They also have a really good grippy feeling to them. You can play pretty fast and not have to worry about pull off slipping at all.

     The strings have 6% more magnetic permeability resulting in higher output in the 2 - 5 khz range for punch, crunch, and bite. Yeah... they don't sound that great to me. If a string is going to sound great with distortion it should sound great clean. I thought the tone a little on the dull side, and definitely not better than the original strings.

     Bottom Line: I probably won't buy these strings, nor do I think they will transform the industry. The company has a contest going on that invites people to put up a YouTube video of their "hardest fastest, best solo playing", and label the video with #XLFORMULA3. So far all I have seen is teens playing in their bedroom, which is the likely demographic for this product. For a good laugh go check out the dude who wears a cold weather face mask, and a hat with chicken bones all over it who calls himself "Bones The Guitarist". But hey whatever works for you eh?

*Update* I called the company and spoke to customer service. I wanted to let them know about what i saw on the high e. They sent me out another set of strings. Great job of Customer Service!

 Let me know if you have had a different experience with them, or if I overlooked something.

Tab: Red Dirt Road - Brooks & Dunn

     There are songs that I really like, but never got around to learning. Red Dirt Road is one of those songs. It has some great riffs, a really clean lead, and follows the ever popular "4 chord pop song" model, and the song is well executed. That being said, why learn it now? Because I was up all night trying to readjust my schedule to work Grave Yard shift after vacation. Depressing...

     Anyway, I learned the song in F, but have transcribed it here in D. It's easier for young fingers to play in this key. If you want to play along with the CD you will need to put a capo on the 3rd fret. It's my arrangement and hopefully you like it.

     I also uploaded a copy to http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ but wanted to include a copy here. If you are interested in my UG profile, you can see it here: http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/Gruntfish/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Red Dirt Road - Brooks & Dunn

NOTE: This arrangement is not in the same key as the recording. If you want to play along with the recording move everything up to F major. 

Intro:
    D               A  
 e|----------------------------------|
 B|-3-2-3-5-3-2-3---3-2-3-5-3-2-3----| Hit each shape twice with palm 
 G|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2---2-2-2-2-2-2-2----| muting. 
 D|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0---2-2-2-2-2-2-2----|
 A|----------------------------------|
 E|----------------------------------|

[Verse 1] (With intro riff over D and A)
      D                             A
I was raised off of rural route 3, out past where the blacktop ends,
D     
We'd walk to church on Sunday morn
        G       
and race barefoot back to Johnsons Fence
D
That's where I first saw Mary,
A
On that roadside picking blackberries,
Bm                           G                      
that summer I turned a corner in my soul
         A         D        
down that red dirt road,


[Chorus]
D
It's where I drank my first beer,
A
It's where I found Jesus,
Bm
Where I wrecked my first car
  G
I tore it all to pieces,
D
I learned the path to heaven,
C#/A
It's full of sinners and believers,
Bm
Learned that happiness on earth,
      G
Ain't just for high achievers,
     Em                    F#m                       
I've learned, I've come to know,
               G            
There's life at both ends 
A                D                
Of that red dirt road,

e|---------------------|
B|-/10-----------------| This is played at the end 
G|-----11--11h12p11----| of the chorus and fore shadows
D|------------------12-| The lead coming later in the 
A|---------------------| song.
E|---------------------|
  
[Verse 2] 
Her daddy didn't like me much,
In my shackled up GTO,
I'd sneak out in the middle of the night,
Throw rocks at her bedroom window,
We'd turn out the headlights,
Drive by the moonlight,
Talk about what the future might hold,
Down that red dirt road,

[Lead Over D A Bm G] 
e|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
B|-/10-----------------------------------|-/10----10-12-12-12-15-15-17-19-|
G|-----11--11h12p11-----11h12--11-\9-7-7-|-----11-------------------------|
D|------------------12-------------------|--------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------|


[Bridge]
     Em             F#m
I went out into the world,
      G      
And I came back in,
Em     F#m
I lost Mary,
     G       
Oh I got her back again 
Em               F#m
And driving home tonight
                    G          A    Asus                    
Feels like I found a long lost friend,
D
It's where I drank my first beer,
C#/A
It's where I found Jesus,
Bm
Where I wrecked my first car
  G
I tore it all to pieces,
D
I learned the path to heaven,
C#/A
It's full of sinners and believers,
Bm
Learned that happiness on earth,
      G
Ain't just for high achievers,
     Em                    F#m                        
I've learned, I've come to know,
               G            
There's life at both ends 
A                D                
Of that red dirt road,

[Ending Lead] 
e|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
B|-/10-----------------------------------|-/10----10-12-12-12-15-15-17-19-|
G|-----11--11h12p11-----11h12--11-\9-7-7-|-----11-------------------------|
D|------------------12-------------------|--------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------|

Reflections of the world we live in...

 

I have fascination with music which I express mostly guitar. I am not creating order out of chaos or anything so nob I wish I could see and feel color like Monet, or taste the absurd post modern world like Dali, but I can't. I can make sounds on the guitar. Slightly more articulate than the inchoate grunting of a base savage, constrained by the shortcomings of my own misunderstanding of the universe and my limited ability to make sense of it all. It is with this rustic  pallette that i try to communicate the beauty, pain, anguish, love, anger, and absurdity thataI see within the world. When i play a song it is my hope that I can share some of the passion and depth that I feel when I hear and play different pieces of music.

Communication is not as easy as it sounds. Even among musicians there are disconnects. Obviously divergent genres of music have a certain commonality, just as there is a commonality in the language of music theory. How complex is music a  a language if we need an entire lexicon to describe the concepts of this unspoken form of communication? The communication I speak of is less defined and more a reflection of the world as fractured and broken down into its component parts by the prism of my mind/soul.

I have been working to develop an acoustic version of Led Zepplin's Kashmir. the original recording is in a DADGAD tuning. My version is in a standard tuning which necessitates some fast chord changes, but it has the advantage of being one less tuning i either have to do on the fly, or bring a pretuned guitar in order to play it. My version also has a distinctly lonlier flavor than the original due to the generous use of sus2 chords.

While relating this to an aquaintance who also plays music I was surprised to hear him ask 'Dude, do you like do bong hits and then play guitar all day?" I'm still unsure exactly what he meant by the comment. 

Maybe that's why I dig music so much. English is such an imprecise language, and music seems to connect on a very base level, even with people who a not musicians.