"The johnny's"

I have decided by my own accord, to recognize some musicians, bands and people in our scene. I have tons of praise for the jammers in our area. Here are my own categories and who I have chosen. No order or anything.

Coolest CD cover: This one goes to Artemia. I believe their singer Blaine is the one who painted it. It's very cool and original. They also win for coolest fliers too. Look at the one picture from them on Artemia's Spotlight Lick. Pure awesomeness.

Musician to look out for in 2012: This is a tie for me. Both people I have choose are brilliant at several instruments. One is Evan Miller. I met him a while ago. I heard him playing drums and was FLOORED. Heard him play bass, my jaw dropped. Heard him play guitar and was FLOORED again. I was so impressed I hooked him up with Rob Boggs to work with us at Quest Sound. The second person is Greg Warnier. The same goes for him as went for evan. Amazing drummer, bassist and guitar player. The kid has the chops and the passion. Expect great things from these two in 2012.

Band your going to have the most fun seeing: This band is False Flag. You will always have fun going to see them. They gave me the pleasure of sitting in with them once. They released a cool cd this year too.

Coolest "New" Band: She and She. If you have been in the scene you have known Brandy Dougless from her solo work. This is what she is doing now. Greg Warnier on drums, a Kate Anderson on bass and the biggest singing secret in Augusta, Drea Suarez. The band plays with a love for what they do, have great harmonies and have a great sound.

Best Sounding CD: Aretmia. Bar none Eric Rinker has the best ear for recording in our area. If you like their music or not there is NO DENYING how well that cd sounds. He has a gift. He would corner the market for a studio in our area if he wanted too. I have listened to a bunch of tracks coming from our area. There are some good things coming from other people, Eric just takes it to a new level.

Band Whos Time Has Come: Radar Cinema. I have watched these guys for years work their asses off to get a solid line up and sound. They achieved that in 2011. They released a killer and ambitious cd , Bird meets Worm, and really hit their stride this year. Congrats guys. Your hard work paid off.

Band who I am glad did a re-union: JJ Maj. Although I missed it due to being sick, they are a local band that did a re-union that actually should have did one. One of the best local bands ever.

Favorite Place to Play and Hear a Band: The Cork and Bull in Aiken SC. Check it out and you will see why. People pack the place out and LOVE live music.

Best promoter of local music or their own band: Michael "Dork" Dinkins. He promotes, promotes , promotes and does it without over hyping or annoying the hell out of you. He puts his money where his mouth is too. He will go to shows just as much as he asks you to go to his. his bands always kick ass too. he never makes a false promise about "how badass his show is gonna be" or load up your facebook with crap. He does promotion well and actually makes you want to come out to a show.

Best Writers of Augusta Music: Tie between Stoney Cannon and Brian "stak" Allen. Stoney knows the local scene better than anyone and just plain writes good. he keeps you interested in his piece, even if you dont know about local bands. Brian writes well too. His best writing quality to me is his honesty. Most local music writers write only good things about local bands ( i can see why, its a small town and everyone is friends or wants to be) but Brian is honest. If he tells you something it's because he is really thinking it. He doesnt go out of his way to write crap on someone just to fling it. Good or bad he tells you his opinion. I like that. Not everything is good.


Band i Like to See: Electric Voodoo. Riley williams is a great guitar player and his band plays some killer tunes. Big props to them. Go see them. Do it. I tell you, Do It NOW!


Most Original Sound: Sibling String. They are made up of guitar/vocals Jacob Beltz, Bass Deveron Roof, Guitar Mike Baidime, drums Dave Mercer and multi instrumentalist Henry Wynn. They play alot downtown and go see why. No other band plays the instruments that they do and make them cool. Killer band with some of the best players in our area.

These are what I think was the tops for 2011. At least at the moment I was writing this. There is SO MUCH good music in our area. These bands and people are just what tickled my fancy for the past year. I am excited to see what comes out in 2012. Cheers!

Happy Holidays!!!

Here is to another year of great musical happenings. There has been a ton of new students start with me this year and a ton of new readers to our little blog. We have more than doubled our reader ship from last year! The product reviews are, on occasion, getting picked up by the companies they are done on and used on their web sites. We have seen the addition of videos to go along with things this year and had a lot of very cool "Spotlight Licks" done by some very cool people. I would like to thank those people now: Al Moore, Artemia, L.I.E., Ken Gabriele,Michael Baideme, Dave Mercer and Bruce Pennigton. Thank you guys very much for the blazing licks, my students (and many others) have been playing the snot out of them. I had ALL of my students make great strides this year and are very proud of all of you! The student spotlights from 2011 are Christina Naomi, Carter Kight, Grace Dickins, Zeb Shepard, Brian Yonn, Oscar Ystenes, Shane Waldun and Chris Marks. I also had some students in the military that are proudly serving our country and had our lessons cut short due to deployment. Students like Shane Waldun, Rob Cornwell and Robert Wirth. I would like to say thank you to them and all the servicemen and woman i have worked with over the year. I also want to send a shout out to a longtime student named Danielle Parker who's family made the move to New Orleans last month. Keep rockin kid! Our website had some guest writers this year too that did a fine job. "The Bizz With the Buzz" by Stoney Cannon, "The Sound of Music" by Eric Rinker where incredible articles written by music lovers. We had Rockers like Brad Davis, Steven Adler and Chip 'Z Nuff be gracious enough to lend some time for interviews and inspiration. We have some more in store for 2012 too! I am looking forward to 2012. We are going to have some more great guest writers, new subjects to discuss, loads more licks and learnin' and lots more fun to be had. In 2012 I will have a little baby girl born and I am way excited to meet her. Thanks all for reading this year. Have a safe New Year and keep your eyes peeled for the new stuff coming!

Student Spotlight: Christina Naomi

This, the last Student Spotlight of 2011 goes to Miss Christina Naomi. She is a 13 year old Merriwether Middle School student. Christina got into guitar not too long ago when her Grandmother got her a guitar for Christmas. She got the guitar and figured "why not give it a try." Even though her Grandma got her the guitar, that doesn't mean she comes from a musical family. Christina says she can't think of anyone in her family who plays. That just makes it that much cooler that she is playing! A Day To Remember is Christina's favorite band. She cites how well the lyrics are written as one of the things that makes them her favorite band. If she could play guitar for any band in history it would be the Beatles just on the basic fact of how legendary they are. You can not argue with that! If she could play anywhere in the world it would be at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. She choose that because when it comes to playing at a venue nothing tops Madison Square Garden. I can agree with that too. Christina'a dream guitar would be either a Taylor or a Gibson acoustic. Where does she see herself musically in 5 years? Still jammin', being a better player than she is today and having a ton of fun! If Christina could create her "dream" concert line up it would include, in no certain order, A Day To Remember, All time Low, Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift. Her favorite guitar player is Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low. After Christina finishes high school she hopes to go to school in New York City for fashion. Anything to do with fashion is her passion. She is kicking butt in school right now and is a STRAIGHT A student!!! YOU GO GIRL!!!! The thing she feels is the most important thing she has learned in lessons? She says learning all the chords in a bunch of different voicings. With that she says she can learn and play just about any song she wants. She doesn't really have anything she is embarrassed by on her Ipod. I can dig that. Christina has a great personality and is smart as a whip. She is kickin butt and takin names! Here is to you Christina.......Keep Rockin.....Keep Jammin.....and Keep Havin Fun!!!

Jammin Gift Ideas for Christmas

It's that time of year again......The time when you spend quality time with loved ones and buy gifts for them. Every year i get asked what would be some good gift ideas for the musician in some one's life. I am gonna give you some good ones.

For the guitar and bass player in your life some good under $10 gifts would be pick holders that attach to the guitar and look like over sized picks. Also some picks, guitar cleaners and cleaning rags are cool. Some cool gift ideas under $20 are guitar stands. You can always use a guitar stand. Instructional and music song books are always a great idea, there are even some for drummers too! Some head phone and ear buds are an awesome idea for parents who want their kid to play but could use some piece and quiet too! There are a Marshall set of ear phones but they are over $20. Also in around the $20 range is guitar slides, glass and metal ones. They are so much fun to use. A couple packs of strings and capoes are always use full. Close to $20 bucks are some cool old school looking Fender tins. They have awesome pictures of Fender guitars and amps of old and ooze old Americana. They look great hanging in any jam or practice room and are even good looking enough to go in any room of the house! For $14.99 Rock Bottom has some really cool 3 pack of Fender strings that come with a cool fender collector baseball. It is very unique and a present that will make anyone look cool who gets it for someone. Prices from $20 up are some really good guitar/bass cables. We carry top quality Fender and Dimarzio brands. For a big gift for the musician in your life are any T.C. Electronic floor pedals. They are top quality pedals. They have many kinds like delay, phaser, etc. Always a winner are the fender Mustang amps. They hook up to your computer and have a million effects and sounds that are down loadable. The Mustang 1 starts at $99. For the electric guitar player the hot new guitar is the Charvel DC series. They are hot rodded goodness that look incredible and sound killer. They start at $349. They have a finish on them to die for. Also I have heard that Jonathon bought out a music store that was going out of business and we are the only store that has the amount of these that we do. They are not available to retail again until after the new year. Rock Bottom has scored a bunch and they will go really quick so get down and get one! For the acoustic player the new E.S.P.s are really hot. That company has really upped their game and come out with a great product. We also have some good quality guitar packs that have everything you need to get started. Depending on the kind of guitar it has a guitar, amp, strap, picks, tuner and dvd that come with it.

Foe the bass player lots of stuff listed above works plus the hot bass amp right now is a little practice amp called the Ampeg BA112. It is small but packs a ton of power and boom. It has that classic Ampeg sound too! There are also bass packs that got everything you need to get started playing. One thing that is good for a bass or guitar player is a cool new strap. They come in leather, have your favorite bands name on it and come in tons of colors and are made from a ton of different materials too.

For the drummer in your life his favorite type of sticks is always a winner. There is also some cool double stick set holding stick holders that clamp to a drum stand or cymbal stand. That way they can always have a stick within reach when playing that gig! They come in at under $20 too! Any drummer can always use "more cowbell." Cowbells start at $14.99 and go up from there. There is also tons of cool percussion stuff that adds color to any drummers playing. Things like Cabasa or a Guiro.

For any musician a ukulele is a cool little gift. They seem to be real popular right now. Rock Bottom has them starting at $39 and have soprano, baritone and concert sizes! Rock Bottom also has an assortment of hip T-Shirts and Hats that sport your favorite amp, guitar, drum, musical brand and even Rock Bottom!

These are some of what I think makes cool gifts at all levels of price range. Something I think makes a great gift too is GIFT CERTIFICATES for lessons! I got them and they make great stocking stuffers ;) Rock Bottom offers them for the store as well. So while your out Christmas shopping this year come hit Rock Bottom!

Hey Turkey: Maintain Your Instrument!!!!!!!!!

This is a special "Thanksgiving" post. It's called "Hey turkey: Maintain Your Instrument!!!!!!!" There comes a time in every players life when a string breaks or something falls off your guitar. You need to be a little handy with tools and do some "preventative" maintenance along with learning your chops. Let's start with your guitar strings. In research I have done into string companies it seems the average life of a pack of strings is about 20 playing hours. That means when you play your guitar for 20 hrs its time to change strings. I say if your someone who plays everyday for about an hour or 2 change your strings every 2-3 weeks. If you play more adjust it to a shorter time between strings. You can let them go as long as you can stand it too. If the strings are all black, rusted and grimy , change them. If they start not staying in tune and sound stale, change them. I will do a whole piece later on to show you how to do string changing. String changing is a whole article itself. Another thing to check every time before you plug up and play is your input jack. Your input jack is that thing you plug your guitar cable in that goes to your amp. On the input jack is a little nut that comes loose very easily. Before you plug up just check and see if it's finger tight. Even if there is a lock washer on it and your guitar cost $1,000,000 they come loose. It will drive you turkey mad. Another thing that tends to come loose as a thanksgiving goose is your strap pegs. Those are the mysterious things that your guitar strap goes on. They tend to have screws in them. You wanna check them every once in a while. Take your fingers and grab them. if they are loose tighten them up with a screw driver. Be careful not to over tighten, just make them snug. With any screw on a guitar, just make sure they are snug. When you over tighten a screw going into wood you can strip the screw hole. It can be fixed but it is a pain. Next let's move to your tuners. Alot of tuners come loose too. There are 3 spots they come loose. Not every guitar has all 3 spots. On top of the peg ( where your string is attached) is a nut. Grab it with your finger (easiest when your changing strings and they string as already off) and if it's loose tighten it snug with a proper set of pliers. On the back of the head stock the pegs are attached with screws, take a small screw driver and make sure they are snug. On the tuner itself alot of guitar tuners have little screws on the side of them too. Grab the tuner and if it wiggles, tighten the screw. Don't make it too tight or the tuner will be hard to turn. While we are on the subject of screws there are others all over the guitar that vary from guitar to guitar. Just check them, tighten snugly on a regular basis. On your guitar neck you want to check to make sure it stays straight. Look down the neck and if you see a bow take it to a tech who can adjust the truss rod before it gets real bad. Check your frets and make sure they are staying put and are not worn down too bad. Check your nut and make sure it has no cracks and isn't coming off. Check your toggle switch and make sure it still properly moves and is not coming off. Sometimes there is a nut on it too. If it's loose just tighten it. Your volume and tone knobs should turn smoothly and not be loose. Your can normally take the knob itself off and there is a "pole" that sticks up typically with a nut on it too. Take the old gravy fingers and make that nut finger tight. Also when you are playing and turn the knobs there should be no crackling. Next check your pick ups and make sure they are the right height you want. They adjust with screws. Check your bridge area out. Make sure it is the right height and your saddles are in good shape and not worn down or worn themselves to a point where they wiggle. Now to the last thing I can think of is to check the body out. Make sure it is still staying in one piece and all that cranberry goodness. All the things I have went over are for an electric guitar or electric bass. An acoustic guitar has alot less to check over but you can apply most of the things we have went over. Regular maintenance can keep your guitar in rocking shape for may years. If you love your guitar you will take care of it <3. If you have any major problems take it to a qualified repair person. We have a couple great ones in our area. I can point you to them. Have a great Thanksgiving and write me a darn Thanksgiving song!!!!!! I don't know of any!!!!!!

Learn From: Alice In Chains

This edition of "Learn From" is from the 90's alternative/metal/grunge band Alice In Chains. Alice In Chains formed in 1987 in Seattle Washington. They came into prominence as part of the 90's grunge movement along with Soundgarden, Nirvana and scores of other flannel wearing rockers. The original band consisted of Layne Staley on vocals, Jerry Cantrell on guitar and vocals, drummer Sean Kinney and bass player and current "Celebrity Rehab" alum Mike Star. Star was replaced in 1993 with Mike Inez. I guess they just wanted someone with the same name so they couldn't forget what the bassist name was! The band has sold over 35 million albums. They released the albums Facelift, SAP, Dirt, Jar of Flies, Alice in Chains and the new album with new singer Black Gives Way to Blue. Their music was worlds different than their contemporaries in grunge. They were to metal to be grunge and mellow to be metal. Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell wove beautifully dark and melodic vocal harmonies. The likes of which had not been heard since bands from back in the day like the Beach Boys and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. They did them in a way all their own though. It seems like every hard rock band out today has ripped off the way A.I.C. did their vocals. Just listen to any modern rock station and you will hear it. Godsmack, Taproot, Shinedown and way way too many others to list. None can do it quite like Alice and none ever will. There is years worth of vocal study in these A.I.C. albums. The songs take you on a journey. They go from the snarling heaviness of a song like We Die Young http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XtZUWeADM0 to the seductive and hypnotic-ness of a song like "Don't Follow." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBB2OS4IoTs&feature=related
.They have made some of the best most original songs ever.period. Not since the likes of Led Zeppelin has a band been able to be heavy as hell and mellow at the same time. The lyrics were second to n one also. Layne could make you feel what he was singing. Growing up were I did my friends and family were living his lyrics. We related to him. Even if you could not relate, Layne wrote so well you felt his story. The band was amazing together. Tight as any in music history. Jerry Cantrell could play his ass off to. Not only a monster riff writer but a soloist up with the best. Here is some of his licks I am diggin at the moment. The song "Got Me Wrong." While there is no official solo for the song, he weaves some hellfire licks throughout the whole song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkI2W52ut-4
Alice In Chains is one the bands from the 90's that will go down in musical history much the same way as Black Sabbath, Led Zep and the Beatles. They are that damn good. Check them out. Layne Staley died in 2002. Singer William DuVall has replaced him. He is not Layne but is doing a great job. Their last album, Black Gives Way To Blue, is as good as any Alice album. In 2011 original bass player Mike Star passed away. The re-united Alice is everyone but Layne from the 1993 line-up. Do yourself a favor an get all the Alice In Chains albums and get to learning everything you can from them. It will make you a better player, songwriter and singer!

Student Spotlight: Carter Kight

This edition of "Student Spotlight" is on 13 year old, North Augusta middle School student, Carter Kight. Carter has been playing guitar about 2 and 1/2 years and started lessons with me back in the beginning of January 2011. Carter originally wanted to play drums at first, but drums take up a ton of room in a house, so his parents got him a guitar for Christmas instead. Carter is the only one in his family who plays an instrument. His family loves music, they just dont play and are very encouraging to him about his playing. Carter's dream guitar is a vintage K Archtop. He doesn't really have a favorite band or player, he likes to many to choose just one, but if he had to choose one on the spot it would be Son House. If he could be a guitar player for any band in history it would be the White Stripes. Carter loves Jack White's slide work. If he could play any where in the world he would play in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a ship. It would just be really cool. After he goes to high school he would like to go to college and major in music. Carter is regularly jammin with his buddies, two of which are fellow guitar students of mine, Taylor Temples and Brian Yonn. Musically in 5 years Carter sees himself jamming in a band and writing songs, getting out there and performing so he can reach people that would like his music. What is he most valuable thing Carter has taken from lessons so far? He says learning all the chords in all the voicings has been the most valuable. Gets him able to play all over the neck. Carter loves guitar so much he plays before he goes to school and plays everyday from the time he gets home from school until he goes to bed, taking a break only for homework and chores! The most embarrassing thing on his Ipod? It's a bunch of Hannah Montana and Jonas brothers songs that "accidentally" got put on there fro his sister. Carter has some advice for someone wanting to play or just starting. The advice is don't give up. When you first start it's really hard and can get boring. Play every day and you'll get better, have more fun things to play and you will get good. Just stay with it. Carter has really been working hard lately. He has improved a ton over the past couple months. It is obvious that he has a tremendous love for music and guitar. He has shown me a great work ethic on his guitar. he has learned and completed all work I have gave him. His is going to turn into a hell of a player and is sounding good now. He has a love for great music that lets him have really broad musical tastes. He just doesn't like one style of music, he likes music that is good, be it Avenged Sevenfold or Son House. I look forward to seeing good things from Carter Kight as he grows up. So here is to you Carter......keep rockin'........keep playin'.........and keep having fun!!!!!!!!

Rock Bottom Presents: NBC 26 Drum-A-Thon

At 10:00 a.m. on Friday November 11,2011 until Saturday November 12,2011 at noon, NBC 26 and Jay Jefferies will be doing the 26 hour "Beat Cancer" Drum-A-Thon. It will be at Television Park-1336 Augusta West Parkway, down by the Augusta Mall. All proceeds of the event go to benefit the 12 Bands of Christmas, which helps pediatric cancer patients. Everyone is welcome to participate and here is how:

1)Register. You can register by email- director@12bands.org . by fax at 866-626-4148 or by getting a registration paper (at rock bottom) and mailing it in to 12 bands p.o. box 12623 augusta ga 30914.

2)set a goal for how long you think you can play.

3)ask friends, family and co-workers to sponsor you. there is a pledge form on mail in sheet or online.

4)turn in the pledge sheet prior to drumming.

5) the top 10 drummers who raise the most money will get entered into a drawing to win a limited edition Pearl Drumset to be drawn at the conclusion of the Drum-A-Thon. (12 noon on saturday 11/12)

12 Bands, NBC 26 and Rock Bottom Music are doing as much as they can to "Beat" cancer away this holiday season. The drumset that is up for winning is not the run of the mill cheap starter kit. It is a kit a seasoned drummer would love to have. The kit comes with high quality birch shells and heavy duty hardware. Its a Pearl VSX set in strata black. We have a VSX kit in stock at rock bottom that you can come look at(its in gold though and NOT the one up for winning) that can give you an idea how it looks. So do what you gotta do and sign up, get some sponsors and drum! Or sponsor a drummer that is doing it so you can do your part to "Beat Cancer."

Diatonic Major Scale Part 3: Connect The Dots La La La La

In this, the 3rd part of the series on the major diatonic scale, we are going to be connecting the patterns. By now you have built the scales, played them up on one string and then did the 7 three note per string patterns we had to death. Now we are going to connect the scales. What you are going to do is start on pattern 1. Start on the 1st fret (F Note) on the 6th, Low E, string and play through the pattern up to the last note on the High E string (the 7th fret, B note), slide up to the highest note of the next pattern on the high E string. Play this pattern backwards all the way down to the lowest note of the pattern on the Low E string (3rd fret, G note). Slide up to the lowest note of the next pattern(pattern 3) which is the 5th fret, A note. Play this pattern all the way up to the highest note of this pattern. You will repeat this process for every pattern. Going up one pattern, sliding up to the next highest note of the next pattern and playing it backwards. Doing this will get you knowing how all the patterns connect and how to weave in and out of each one. Once you get use to doing this all the way up all 7 patterns, start on pattern 7 and do the whole thing backwards. Become a master at this. Doing this needs to become 2nd nature. Become a Jedi young Skywalkers. Attached is a copy of the patterns. Follow the arrows that help illustrate what I explained for going from pattern 1 up to pattern 7. Have fun you will young Jedi you must. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Spotlight Licks: Al Moore

This "Spotlight Licks" is brought to you by guitar chicken picker extraordinaire Al Moore. Al currently plays in a band from Atlanta Ga called the Joe Olds Band. They tour around Atlanta and south Georgia at the moment. Their new cd has currently been finished and will be out this fall. Check on ITunes or go to http://www.joeolds.com to get a copy.He has been playing guitar for 16 plus years now. He has played in local bands Shiloh and the Jeremy Graham Band and has played with Hank Williams jr, Lou Brian and Dierks Bently. He has toured the country playing to thousands of people over the years. I have not tabbed anything out because the video he does does an excellent job of demonstrating his lick. Have fun with this chickin pickin lick!

Spotlight Licks: Artemia

This edition of "Spotlight Licks" is brought to you by the band "Artemia" by way of their super musician drummer Michael "Dork" Dinkins. Gonna let Dork take it from here.


Greetings from Artemia-land. When we were recording our song "Ghost of the Avalanche," we decided to add an impromptu keyboard lead to the latter half of the instrumental bridge. It was written and recorded in about an hour--- however, because I played drums on the song and there were two guitar parts, we never incorporated into our live set until recently. Because the members of Artemia all play multiple instruments, we decided to play some musical chairs where we would do acoustic/clean/piano versions of our songs to open ourselves up to playing different venues... with our guitarist Eric playing drums and myself on keys. So because the lead was written and recorded on the fly and then never revisited, I had to sit down and learn what I had played. Once that was done, I decided to tab out the lead for guitar so that we could add it to our live set on guitar.

If you listen to the song, you'll hear the main theme which is a melody based off the D minor 7 chord. For the instrumental bridge, we thought it would be cool to modify the main theme and play it in various keys and modes first soft and clean and then repeat it hard and heavy. So the lead actually follows each of these key/mode changes every four bars and eventually works back around to the D minor 7 theme for the final chorus.


For the music nerds, the lead begins at time 4:09 and follows this progression: D minor 7... A minor 7... B minor 7... C dominant 7... F dominant 7... E flat major... F# minor 7... C# minor 7... and then the chorus comes in with the D minor 7 again.



As I am not a guitarist and the lead was initially written on keyboard, I have no practical knowledge of how this will actually translate to guitar--- parts of it may be very easy, but other sections may be extremely difficult. Couple that with the fact that, while the song is actually in 4/4, there is a poly-rhythm occurring to give the impression that there's a loop of 5/4 - 5/4 - 6/4. So if you're looking for a challenge or an experiment or are simply interested in jamming what some of the locals have come up with--- here it is.

First half: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/HeirToRuin/Avalanchelead1.jpg

Second half: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/HeirToRuin/Avalanchelead2.jpg

The song: http://artemia.bandcamp.com/track/ghost-of-the-avalanche

SIDE NOTE: The guitars are tuned to standard pitch with a "drop d" tuning.

On a side note Dork's band L.I.E. is retiring for now and are playing a farewell show at Sky City on 11-11-11 (national metal day). If you are 21 and up you should go check it out. Artemia is Dork's baby now. Check out their new cd.

Jeramie McCloud: Shadow Kill Clan

This is a special piece on a long time student, Jeramie McCloud. He is in a band called Shadow Kill Clan. I like to promote as much student doings as possible. Jeramie is a very promising student and musician. He was a "Student Spotlight" of mine back in October 2010. He has been very busy since then. His band is a hard rock/metal band that is a take on classic, modern and industrial type metal. He and his band mate, Matt Green have been working on the new Shadow Kill Clan cd. I sat down with Jeramie and talked S.K.C. and music.

John Berret: How long has Shadow Kill Clan been together?

Jeramie McCloud? About 9 years or so.

JB:Who all is in the band?

JM: Myself and Matt Green.

JB: Why and how did you two get together?

JM: I enjoy music and growing up and high school and being an angry kid music was my outlet. The band started with many members at first. Matt originally came in as a replacement player. Matt was in the band a year and we never spoke. Never talked at all. We would come to jam and the most we ever said was "hi." After a year we started talking music and just got closer over time. We both figured out we paid for everything and did all the work so we might as well just do it our selves. Now we live apart, he lives in Washington D.C., and we just do all the songwriting and recording online.

JB: How is the new cd different than the 1st cd?

JM: Matt is more involved now. He plays keyboards and dj's so there is alot more keyboards and synths. The songs are more epic, with a more electronic/industrial feel.

JB: What's your goals with the new cd?

JM: To get people who aren't into our style of music listening. Break down more walls and get people into more metal.

JB: Will there be a new cd in the works once this one is done?

JM: We have 40 plus songs wrote and 1/2 are completed. We will have another one for sure.

JB: Any advice for any students looking to release a cd someday?

JM: Have as few people involved as possible. Get yourself involved in the recording process. Don't limit yourself to just one style of music. And also get your self involved in as much of everything else involved with your music as you can. Strive to be as independent as you can.

Here is a link to their website http://www.shadowkillclan.com/

Here is a link to their new song...it is killer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ft0DXBZcxU

The "Ah-Ha" Moment

I wanted to get this little post written before I forgot about it. This is the "ah-ha" moment. I was talking on Thursday to my 430 student Alex Cooke about it when his lesson ended and my next student, Steve Champlin, over heard and actually named this piece for me. The "ah-ha" moment is when something you have been working on and trying to figure out finally comes to you and you get it. You finally understand it and go "Ah-Ha", I got it!. Lots of things we will go over in lessons you wont fully understand until way after we have parted ways. The same thing happened to me. In all of my musical education I had when I was younger I had lots of things I did not get until way way after my schooling was done. One of the big things I never got was modes. I just could not grasp what they did or how to use them , how they worked or any of it when I was getting taught them. I was driving in my car one day many years after having been taught them, not even thinking about them or even music when it finally dawned on me what they did and how to get to them easy. The whole time in between my "ah-ha" moment and the time I was taught them I still did work with them. Still did all my "homework" over and over to try and understand them. It was the countless work I did with them that finally paid off so that I could understand them in an "ah-ha" moment. I had Alex Cooke finally have an "ah-ha" moment in lessons Thursday. We have been working on various licks, changing their keys and "milking" them over and over. We have been doing this for around 4-5 months now. He finally got it in that last lesson. Everyone of you students are going to have these "ah-ha" moments for the entire life of your musical endeavour. You got to keep pushing with "the drive" to keep wanting to get something and understand it. It might take a month or two or even years for you to finally get it. You keep on truckin until you do though. Keep working until that "Ah_Ha" moment occurs.

The Importance Of: " The Drive"

This edition of the "Importance Of" is on "the drive." What is "the drive" you ask? It is that inner feeling of pushing yourself to get better. The feeling of wanting more for yourself as a musician. Every player is going to come across this. It's almost like an addiction. You wake up every day and all you can think about is playing. This is a great thing. Its a healthy release. Every day you will wake up and want to do better and you go for it. I see it in alot of my students and in alot of musicians I encounter. One of which is former columnist Michael "Dork" Dinkins. When you get to practice with him you see it. He gets up early on a Sunday, ready to jam, ready to create something new and ready to improve on something that he has been playing for a while. This drive has made him a hell of a musician. i have watched him over the years go from an ok drummer to a musician with the abilities to hang with the big boys. He could very easily be a professional musician. Another person with the kind of drive is Rob Boggs from Quest Sound and Productions. He has a love for music and mixing like no other. I have watched Rob over the years go from an ok mixer and a weekend warrior soundman to a full blown sound company that mixes for tons of national bands that come to Augusta and around the south east. He is always working to improve his mixes and make a band sound like heaven from a speaker. He does this sometimes with no sleep and nothing but "The Drive" to kick some ass and make a show spectacular. I have watched my students do the same. One example as of late is Blake Sloan. He came with not a song he could play. Through his hard work he is tackling Randy Rhoades solos and improving every time I see him. "The Drive" is something every person must harness and use to make them the best they can be as a player or in any musical endeavor they choose to take on. There might not be a single thing more important than "The Drive" you have. It will make you learn songs, scales, do finger exercises and anything else it takes to be a champion player. The best get to be the best because they put in the time and effort. I have given you a few examples of people with the drive. Its your turn to get it and roll with it.

Student Spotlight: Grace Dickens

This edition of "Student Spotlight" is on 14 year old West Side High School student Grace Dickens. Grace is a mild mannered shy girl who is really kicking some butt as of late. She comes from a very musical family.Her Grandma plays banjo, her aunt plays guitar, hers sisters play piano, her uncle plays guitar and thats just to name a few! I asked Miss Grace why she chose to play guitar. She told me she just wanted to learn an instrument and the guitar was it. Her favorite bands right now are Black Veil Brides and My Chemical Romance. I would say that Grace is the biggest My Chemical Romance fan I have ever seen. Grace's dream guitar is a vintage Fender Stratocaster. She just happened to get her dream guitar too! Her aunt (who must be amazingly awesome) gave her a 1973 Fender Strat! If Grace could play a gig anywhere in the world it would be anywhere in California. Why? Because California is just awesome! Right now Grace enjoys learning new songs and jammin with her best friend and jam buddy Sydney. They jam on My Chemical Romance songs together. If she could play in any band in history it would be .....you guessed it.....My Chemical Romance!!!! My Chemical Romance is also the home of her favorite guitar player, Ray Toro. She loves the way he plays and says "He is just a beast!" In 5 years she hopes to be playing in bands, jammin around and playing a gig or two. In the long term she hopes to be a professional musician. She plays guitar everyday, around 1 to 2 hours everyday. The thing Grace said she has most got out of lessons is how to play the guitar in general. The advice Miss Gracie has for any new players or new students..."Practice everyday, try hard and have fun. And have fun because it is fun." The most embarrassing thing on her Ipod? It's the First Piano Adventures Cd! Grace Dickens is a smart girl with a ton of raw talent. She works hard and is on her way to being a good player. She is makin me proud. Here is to you Grace.....Keep Rockin......Keep Playin'.......and Keep Having Fun!!!!!

The Art of Ear Training: Part 2 Hum In Uh Hum In Uh Hum In Uh

This is part 2 of the ear training series. In part one we discussed putting on the radio and trying to learn a song in the time it plays on the radio. Hope you all read it and had a good time with it. In part two we are going to go over humming a note to pitch and humming the notes of a chord.

Tune your guitar/bass up to standard pitch. What you want to do is play a note and hum that note to pitch. A good note to start on is your 5th (A) string's C note. It is on the third fret. Play the note and hum it to pitch. Once you have hummed it to pitch, sing the note, saying the name of the note as your singing word. Example: You are on the C note, sing the letter C to pitch. You can tell your in tune by listening for the "waves" to go away. You can also use any tuner that has a built in mic to help you too. After you have it right, just start working your way up the string, humming then singing every note. Do it on every string from the low E to the high E that you can. This will get you use to the way a note sounds. Doing this enough will help you be able to identify notes when you are listening to a song in your car or anywhere else you listen to music. It will "pump up" your ear. It will exercise the snot out of it!

The second thing you can do is play any chord, start with the lowest note , hum it. Go to the 2nd note , hum it. Play and hum every single note in the chord. This will get you use to the notes of a chord and how they sound. Do this one enough and you will be able to identify chords in songs like you will the notes from the previous exercise. Play major, minor, dominant 7, diminished or whatever kind of chord you want to do or that you play. This also will "pump up" your ear.

This is it for "The Art of Ear Training Part 2: Hum In Uh Hum In Uh Hum In Uh. work this one for a while and see you soon for part 3!!

Learn From: Guns and Roses

This edition of "Learn From" is on the bad boys from L.A., Guns and Roses. Guns and Roses formed in 1985. They rose to prominence around 1987-88 with the Appetite for Destruction album. This album in my opinion is their best. It and the next one "Lies" were the only two with original members. Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 followed, then Spaghetti Incident and what ever else after that. Appetite broke ground and was an amazing album for songwriting, musicianship, aura and everything else that is important to making a world wide smash and all time historic album. Guitarist of the time Slash and Izzy Stradlin wove beautiful and nasty rhythm's together. They were so in touch with each others playing it is mesmerizing at times. The guitar lines they constructed are some of the best of all time. The lead lines they shared together were like one unit playing. Slash's leads on the album will go down in history as some of the best, most melodic in guitar playing history. Songs like Sweet Child o Mine have instantly recognizable guitar lines. Steven Adler's drumming had a groove like no other and he used a cowbell awesomely! Duff McKagen made memorable bass lines jumped in and out of the pocket and had a snarly bass tone like no other. Every song on the album is a classic and utterly amazing. The second album Lies Lies Lies, was a great acoustic album. Showed them stripped down and sounding like a very different band. It also had cuts oif songs they wrote and played while they were coming up. get both of these albums. They are a must have for any up and coming musician to have, learn and listen to. The next two albums , Use Your illusion 1 and 2 had some good songs but in my opinion had alot of fluff and crap too. You could take and make a mix cd of the Good songs. Slash's solo and tone in November Rain make that song. Estranged, Cival War, You could be Mine and Dont Cry are the best songs of the 2 cds. The band members were on the down slide after this and you can listen for yourself on the new Axl Roses cd that came out 2 years ago. The first 2 albums of G nR are two of the greatest of all time. Get them, listen to them, live them and learn them. It will make you better.

here is sweet child o mine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oobDQ0vdm8M

here is patience http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMmX9G8JP38

here is estranged http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpmAY059TTY&ob=av2e

Diatonic Major Scale: Three Note Per String Patterns

By now you probably have down doing the major scales on one string. You are more than likely bored with it and are ready for the next step. The next step is the scale patterns themselves. I like to teach the three note per string patterns. There are also the generic patterns. We will save them for another day. With the three note per string patterns we end up with 7 patterns. One pattern for every note of the scale. What you want to do with these patterns is attack each one without worrying about the root. Just start on the lowest note of the tab and go up the pattern to the highest note and then back down to the lowest note. This will get you familiar with the patterns. Do it for each pattern. We will do more with them once you get these down. Holla and have a great Holiday weekend! Click on the picture of the sheet to enlarge it.

What's This??? A Grandpa Guitar?

This one is just a little thing for the guys and gals who have never ever picked up or let alone played an acoustic guitar, also known as a "Grandpa Guitar." Sometimes people over look the power of playing an acoustic and think it's wimpy. If you pick up an acoustic and just have yourself and the guitar, you can sound balls to the wall powerful, sad, happy, mean and every emotion known to man without an amp or any effect pedals. Playing an acoustic makes you use your hands to make feelings. Having just the pure sound of wood really makes you make a note count. Your left hand vibrato can sing and scream. Your right hand and make it delicate or make it scream. Even some of the best known electric players had some great acoustic moments. Even the the makers of metal had some beautiful acoustic moments. Black Sabbath's Toni Iommi had songs like "Laguna Sunrise" and nothing is like the acoustic end to "Symptom of the Universe." Guys like Bob Dylan make a career of acoustic songs. Some great delta blues can be played with nothing more than a slide and an acoustic guitar. Check out some of the great blues tunes by the great Robert Johnson. Playing an acoustic can toughen up the ole finger tips too. Playing those thicker strings will make man calluses appear (after some blisters) on the tips of your fingers. Tons of great old time country songs are on acoustic too. Name any Willie Nelson tune. Listen to it. You will hear Willie *cough cough* smokin up that acoustic. You can hear an acoustic sound heavy too. Proof of that is Alice In Chains. Listen to their unplugged album and tell me it doesn't sound heavy. With all these examples of how awesome an acoustic guitar is go get one and get to playing it!!!!

Here is Laguna Sunrise by Black Sabbath http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psm13jUwULo

Here is some Robert Johnson Hell Hound on My Trail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UVgH9JqSnQ

And Alice In Chains Sludge Factory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxxtesggCuY

Major Diatonic Scales:Part 1 Whole Whole Wholey McWholerton

One thing we have yet to touch on here in the blog is the major diatonic scales. There are two ways I teach them to the students. One is the generic patterns and one is the three note per string patterns. All of our examples will be the three note per string kind. Major Diatonic scales are 7 note scales. With our 3 note per string patterns that will leave us 7 patterns/positions to learn. The make up of a major diatoninc scale is whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half steps. Here is an example of this in C major:

C
>whole step
D
>whole step
E
>half step
F
>whole step
G
>whole step
A
>whole step
B
>half step
C

You can use this formula for any key. Just change your root. What you want to start out doing is find a C note on your guitar/bass/any stringed instrument, go up that string going whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. You are playing the scale on one string. You repeat this process for everywhere you have your root. Once you play the scale in said key everywhere you can, switch keys. This is going to get you use to hearing how a major scale sounds and get you use to moving around the neck and knowing where all your roots are. Once you get this down we will move on to part 2 next time.

Spotlight Licks:Michael Baideme

This edition of "Spotlight Licks" is from Rock Bottom Music salesman and guitar player for Sibling String Michael Baideme. It is a lick based in A minor pentatonic. It goes through 3 positions of the scale. It has some whole, half and 1/4 step bends in it. Make sure you execute them well. When I tabbed out his lick I broke it into 5 sections to make it easier to learn. Work on one section at a time then start doing them one after another. Have fun with it and when you got it come down to Rock Bottom Music and play it for him!!!! Click on tab pic to make it bigger.

here is the video to hear it and play along to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aXz_CPRodY

Getting Your First Amp

Picking an amp is really hard to do when you first start playing. There is so many choices out there and alot of them cost a good bit of money. I am going to tell you about two that I recommend for the new player that are decent and cost effective. In your early years of playing your ear is most likely not developed enough to be able to tell one amp from another or even be able to tell a sound you like. When I have a new student interested in an amp I steer them to one of the Line 6 Spiders or the new Fender Mustang amps. Why? Because those amps have decent sounds from the touch of a button. While they are not as killer as a tube Marshall Plexi or a Fender Twin, they are easy to get a sound out of and they are cheap to buy. When you are first starting to play you cant tell the difference between a $2,000 amp and a $100 one. The Line 6 and the Fender Mustang have good clean tones, sounds with a little crunch all the way to blistering distortion. They also have a ton of effects built right in. Delays, chorus, flanger, reverb, tremalo and tons of others. Pedals are another thing you need to know what you like before you start spending tons of money on pedals you don't want. That is another big plus of the two amps I am talking about. They get you use to the different effects and what they do and you can practice on how to use them. It will do you good starting out on either of these two amps. Once you develop an ear for what you want, after a year or two, you go out and try out your tube Marshall, Fender, Peavey, VHT, Rivera, Soldano or any of the other great companies out there making amps right now. We will get into those kinds of amps later on. I have a ton of great tube amps at home and love them. The Fender Mustang and Line 6 Spiders sell for around $100. Get out and check one out.

Product Review: Boss PS-6 Harmonist

This product review is from a company I have believed in for many years....Boss. I have found over the years Boss makes some of the best sounding and reliable pedals. Up until T.C. Electronics started making kick butt pedals, the majority of the pedals I used were Boss. One pedal I have sworn by that is not Boss or a T.C. pedal is the Digitech Whammy pedal. The Whammy revolutionized the way pedals sounded. The pitch shifting capabilities and the note harmonization was never done as good or as amazing as the Whammy did. The only problem with the Whammy Pedal???? It cost a ton of money. Many a company has come along since the Whammy and tried to make pitch shifting and harmonizing pedals. To me they all sound like crap and were horrid reproductions of the great Whammy. Since the Whammy came around 15 or so years ago technology has advanced a ton. Now companies are making some better Whammy-esque pedals. The Boss PS-6 Harmonist is one of the new crop of pedals that does a great job of it. It does so at a fraction of the price and it also does so in a pedal that is the normal size of a pedal. Anyone that knows what a Whammy pedal is also knows how big it is. We are going to get into the Boss Harmonist right now.

The Specs-
1) it is the size of any normal Boss single pedal
2) the current draw is 45 mA, dc 9 volt (can be powered by an adaptor)
3) Blue colored pedal
4)has two 1/4 inch out for stereo outputs
5)has one 1/4 inch input
6)has one 1/4 inch input for an expression pedal (make it work like a whammy)
7) four control knobs
from left to right
knob 1- controls balance. lets you control the direct signal versus the effect sound. when you have the pedal in "s-bend" mode this knob controls the amount of time it is to take to transition to the set pitch
knob 2- when in the harmony mode of the pedal it sets the pitch of the harmonies. when in pitch shift/detune/s-bend it sets the amount of pitch shifting.
knob 3- key knob/fall time it sets the key to play in when using harmonies. when in s-bend mode it adjusts the amount of time it takes for the pitch to transition from the set pitch back to the original pitch (the fall time)
knob 4- mode knob used to switch among the harmony (major and minor), pitch shifter, detune and s-bend modes.
8)the light to tell you the pedal is on.
9) the pedal is turned on with a hit of the foot just like most normal Boss pedals

Now we are get into how a little of each setting sounds. I will break it down by function- Harmony,Pitch Shifter, Detune and the S-Bend effect. I am going to use the setting samples from the owners manual.

First up-Harmony Function.
I had the balance knob straight down the middle, I went through all the 2 part functions on the voice knob (3 part harmonies have an orange around them and are located with the knob all the way to the left, then again all the way to the right) had the key bounce between Eb and I bounced the mode knob between major and minor. The harmony knob takes you through (from left to right) an octave lower, next turn is a major 3rd an octave lower,turn again then a major 6th an octave lower, turn again then a major 3rd, next turn a perfect 5th, next turn a major 6th, last turn before 3 part mode is an octave up. These were all with the mode switch on major by the way. One thing I notice is how clean the pedal sounds. It most companies attempts on a harmony pedal the faster you play the more "soggy" the notes sound. In every harmony switch no matter how fast I played I could always understand the notes. I am more partial to the 5th and octave up harmonies. There is a great reproduction of the notes being harmonized and the original notes stands clear and clean as well. Keep note that the harmony goes with the key. So if you move through the notes of the scale with a say, 5th harmony it will be harmonizing through the scale and wont stay a perfect 5th away from all notes. As you hit the 7th degree of the scale it will naturally be a flat 5th because thats what happens in the scale. This function is cool, you just need to be aware of that.

Next is the Pitch Shifter Function.
I love the pitch shifter mode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This is where you can get your harmonies without worrying about the key. This function is awesome. The notes are clean. Has all the same characteristics of the harmony mode but without having to worry about what key you are in. Home run on this. Love it.You don't have to worry about if its major or minor key. You just go for it and rip it. This pedal would be worth it if it did only this.

Next is the Detune Function.
On the detune function stick the balance on 12 o clock, on the shift/harmony knob you can use the orange spots that are for 3 part harmonies to get different levels of detune. Detune is alot like a chorus effect. I love detune. I like it alot more than chorus. On this pedal the detune sounds rich and full. I love it. Sounds great. Another great feature on this pedal.

Next and last is the S-Bend Function.
On this your pedal works like a wah or a whammy. The effect is only engaged when your foot is on the pedal and is controlled by how much or how little you press down. This function has to many possibilities so I am just gonna tell you about some of the sounds I got. In one knob settings I was able to produce that guitar intro part to Black Sabbath's Iron Man. You know the part where you bend your string behind the nut the raise the pitch on the intro of the song. Another switch of the knobs and I hit a natural harmonic and hit the pedal and it makes the sounds of the space ship doors opening on the original Star Trek show. This function and make it sound like you are bending your string a whole step or a 100 steps! LOL! Your guitar can sound like a space ship or anything your imagination can think of. This function is far out.

The Boss PS-6 Harmonist is a great pedal. Better than most the pedals of its kind out there. You can also get an expression pedal (sold separately) that can make it like a Whammy pedal. I loved this pedal. At only $159.99 at Rock Bottom Music it is a far cry from the price of a Whammy pedal but with most all of the awesomeness of a Whammy. If you are looking for something different with endless possibilities then this is your pedal. Get on down to Rock Bottom and check it out. Imagine hooking up a violin or some other instrument than guitar to this. It will blow your mind. Awesome pedal, great price and Boss quality!

here is the boss demo of it on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu1k2CFcojU

The Art of Ear Training: Part 1....The Shizzle...The Nizzle..... Fo' Shizzle My Nizzle...

This is going to be a series on something very important to a musician, your ear. Having a good ear is at the top of the mountain of things you need to be a good player. Being able to put what's in your head out into your instrument, pick up on a jam without knowing the key, being able to learn songs quickly, being able to know what chord you want to use and how to figure out what you want to solo with are all very well dependant on your ear. We are going to look at a bunch of ways to exercise your ear and get it into shape!

The first thing we are going to exercise your ear with is what I call "shuffle zone." We are going to use being a guitar player as the instrument of choice on this. You can use any one you like though. As a guitar player tune up to standard pitch, plug in and get near a radio. Put the radio dial on shuffle. Whatever station it lands on crank up the music. What you want to try and do is play along with the song and try and figure it out. There is no rewind or start over. You only have the time the song is playing to work with. What you want to do is try and figure out the chords by just doing single notes on your guitar. Once you get an idea of where your at and where to go, start trying to incorporate the major, minor or whatever chords are actually being played. Don't worry about soloing yet. Just try your best to learn the song that's going on at the time. It does not matter what style of music the radio lands on when you shuffle. It can be the crappiest bubble gum pop or a type of music you hate. Your goal is just to be able to get your ear to figure out the song. Once the song ends just start on the next song that comes on. If a commercial jingle comes on just try and play with it too. After a while hit shuffle again and start the whole process over again on whatever station it lands on. You also don't have to use a radio. Pandora, Sirius XM of put random music on from YouTube will work just as well. The point is to get something you are not familiar with and work your ear trying to learn it. It might take a bunch of times doing this to be able to pick up songs quickly but after a while you will be playing along with songs you never heard before! You will also find out most songs sound the same! The same order of structure and beats and a ton of other things! I have used this technique many many times. It has benefited my ear and taught me a ton of songs and also turned me on to a bunch of new music that I would never have found otherwise. So listen playa..... Go get your gitfizzle and git to strumming and pazickin with the "shuffle zone!" Fo' Shizzle my nizzle!


sidenote: and for anyone who has never seen the movie goonies, the picture is of the "truffle shuffle" that the character "chunk" does in that movie....i needed some kind of picture for shuffle and that is the funniest thing i could find!

Learn From: The Beatles

This edition of "Learn From" is from the most popular band of all time, the Beatles. It is hard to imagine the world without the Beatles let alone the music business. The Beatles changed the way music sounded, was recorded, marketed, was wrote and had an impact on the world that went beyond music. They formed in Liverpool England in 1960. They started their professional career as a boy band.....yes a boy band. They had pop songs, dressed the same and were marketed just like a New Kids On the Block or 'N Sync was in our time. The big difference between the Beatles and those crap boy bands? The Beatles wrote, played on the recordings of their songs and played them live. Some of the early Beatles songs like "Please Please Please" and "I wanna hold your hand" were very poppy and catchy but they have stood the test of time. Every young boy and girl everywhere was a Beatle-mainiac. Those early pop songs grabbed ahold of people like Ozzy Osboarne and Tom Petty. The Beatles also grew as a band as time went on. The more mature they got they produced more mature and complex music. You can hear as each album was made how much bigger each one sounded. They had songs like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" that featured blues master Eric Clapton just ripping it up. Songs like "Come Together", while not a blues song, has a blues influence in the main riff. Songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever" are about as psychedelic as any 60's band could be. There is incredible musicianship throughout all of their albums as well. Paul McCartney was an accomplished multi-instrumentalist who could play just about every instrument well. Every member of the band had the gift of songwriting too. Every member of the band also sang as well. They have some of the greatest vocal harmonies on record. Now while the members of the Beatles may have been born with the gift of music you can tell how they worked and honed their craft. With every album being different from the other they were always looking for something new to learn and make them better. The Beatles also changed the way music was recorded. So many new technologies had to be developed to make their albums sound the way they did. While these things might be considered primitive now, they changed the game back then and led the way for the way studios are now a days. The Beatles also led the charge in marketing. They had everything from lunch boxes, t shirts, key chains, pillows, you name it and they had it with their name or faces on it. Those things seem common place today but bands did not do that on a big scale until the Beatles did it. The Beatles broke up in in 1970. All four Beatles released amazing solo records and went on to great things. Their influence is just as big and strong as at anytime in their history. They still continue to sell millions upon millions of records and songs. They still continue to inspire and influence tons of great new artists.(they have probably influence more world class musicians than anyone) Paul McCartney sounds as good as ever in concert and his last studio cd was outstanding. John and George are of course no longer with us and Ringo is ........well......he is Ringo! Go out and get any of their albums or songs and get to learning them. Their songs are part of any musicians learning. If you are plan on playing out you should have a Beatles song or two ready! Go out and "Learn From" the Beatles.

early beatles "twiaat and shout" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA9maAERDAs

mid era "help" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU7JjJJZi1Q

some psychdelic "strawberry fields forever" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3jrWVp2L7U

end era "let it be" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0714IbwC3HA

The Importance Of: Youtube

In this edition of "The Importance Of" we are going to focus on the "new wave" of technology that has come into prominence....Youtube. Youtube is a site where you can see funny videos, movie trailers, music videos, most importantly people playing music and tons and tons of other things. Back in the long long ago, circa the 90's, if you wanted to learn some new licks, a new song, some new technique you had to seek out other musicians and pick their brain. While I still recommend doing this, Youtube has made it as easy as you can get. If you want any song to listen to and learn you type it in and it pops up. Along with your version is a ton of other versions of the song. If you want someone to show you how to play a song you just punch that it. You can even get musical instruction from everything on how to hold your instrument to how to make chords. This has gave any aspiring and seasoned musicians access to many ways to learn songs and about your instrument of choice. I even use it, as you already know, to post the videos used on this site. Your choices and education with the site are almost endless. As awesome and powerful as Youtube is it has its drawbacks too. While using the site to learn songs from other people, sometimes they are teaching you the wrong thing! As you develope as a musician you will be able to tell what is wrong and what is correct. Sometimes when you are learning something about your instrument it too can be wrong. Another drawback is when you put in a song to learn from an artist the pitch of the song can be altered. I have learned this the hard way by learning a song for a student on Youtube and then at lessons they brought in the original song and the pitch did not match. I have even had some people that you can tell really need instruction for an instrument say "I dont need lessons, I got youtube and the Internet for everything." While these are useful tools sometimes you still need instruction for the reasons, at a minimum, listed above for the drawbacks of Youtube. While there are some drawbacks of Youtube the benefits FAR OUTWEIGH the drawbacks. It is a way to access other musicians and get new ideas and learn a ton of new things. Go check out Youtube, most of you have for sure, and get some new ideas and songs. The best yet, Youtube is free!

here's some examples I find cool, usefull or a drawback.

learn some chords for beginners
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHNvUkeREKM

zakk wylde licks


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwBox7hJNgU

something wrong, if you were to learn this way you would end up a little off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aodql0oOviU&feature=related

Student Spotlight :Zeb Shepard

Student Spotlight: Zeb Shepard

Zeb Shepard is a 15 year old student of mine who has been playing about a year of guitar. He is starting Aiken Christian School next year. He plans on going to college for aeronautical engineering. Zeb comes from a very musical family. His dad is a bass player, all his uncle’s on his dad’s side, all his cousins (one cousin even majored in guitar at UGA) and basically everyone he can think of plays! I asked Zeb what got him into playing and he said that there was just a guitar lying around and he decided to pick it up and go for it. His favorite players are Slash and Eddie Van Halen. He cites some of his favorite bands as Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin and the Eagles. His dream guitar is a Gibson Les Paul. He just had the pleasure of getting his dream guitar not that long ago from Rock Bottom Music, a Les Paul Special!!! The amp that Zeb desires more than any is a Marshall stack! He will be killing some neighbor’s ear drums then! I asked Zeb if he could play anywhere in the world where would it be. He said “The White House. Just to get to play there and play for the president, who could say they ever did that! Not too many!” There is also a song that one day, with enough hard work, he is striving to play…..That is “Eruption” by Van Halen. He says “One day I will get there.” That’s what I love to hear a student say. Where does Zeb see himself musically in five years? “Hopefully being able to play Shenandoah!” he says with a laugh “and maybe playing in a band and doing some gigs” he says on a serious note. Zeb sites learning where all his notes on his guitar are and learning how everything connects together as the most important things he has learned from lessons so far. He is currently listening to a lot of good ole classic rock and says there aren’t too many bands that are currently out that he likes. The most embarrassing thing on his Ipod? “Shake it” by Metro Station!!! Hahahahahaha!!! Zeb is a great kid, smart and a hard worker. His is carrying on his family’s tradition of music in a good way. He is oozing with raw talent. He is going to be a monster of a guitar player. I am proud to have had a hand in molding him. Here is to you Zeb….Keep Rockin’…..Keep Playing……and Keep Having Fun!!!

here is video of zeb playing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn50A2tFZCY

Time For a Jam, Buddy!

I have a number of students now who are ready, and need, to get out and jam with some people. There comes a time in every new musicians life when you just WANT to jam with someone. I bet close to 75% of all new students I get say the same thing....I am not really looking to be jammin with people, just entertain myself. While that might be your true intention when you start, the natural progression of your improvement leads you in that direction. What happens is when you first start you get that thrill of making your first notes and chords, then after a while that is not enough, so you start pushing yourself to learning a bunch of songs you like. You jam on them for a while, cranking your amp and stereo as loud as possible. Your rockin out with your favorite bands. After a while that leads to you wanting more. Your not quite ready to be doing the whole band thing or not ready to play gigs maybe. That's when a jam buddy or jam buddies come in. Someone to take that step to the next level, someone to get that next musical thrill from. Once you get some people to jam with you can share ideas, try writing songs, show each other some new licks and riffs. Sometimes finding people to jam with can be hard, even harder if your a musician who does not yet have a drivers license. No matter what you got to find someone to jam with. Places like music stores, school, music venues bands are playing at and now a days, facebook are great places to look. I think Facebook is a great way for people to find like minded musicians to jam with. On my student page I have added all my students I have found so far to the group to try and help you guys find jam buddies. You can even find people in places like craigslist that are looking for people to jam with. In the case of something like craigslist where you are maybe dealing with someone you don't know, make sure everything is on the up and up and you are with someone safe before jamming with them. Finding a jam buddy and taking your playing to the next level is great and rewarding on one hand and agitating and frustrating on the other hand. Those are things you will always encounter when it comes to jamming with people.Many a great band started out as jam buddies in school or answered an ad to find ech other. Bands like the Rolling Stones, Pantera and MetallicA are just a few examples. Take that chance, find a jam buddy and get rockin!!!!

The Bizz with the Buzz: Attack of the Killer P’s…



Yeah I know it’s been a while since we last congregated on the subject of getting that first gig…but that’s cool…plenty of times music can be a waiting game…actually plenty of times I can just be slack…just remember to do as I suggest, not as I do…take this as a lesson…being slack will get you nowhere. With this is mind, it’s time (well, sorta past but screw it…) to get ready for that first gig and as a lover of fine cheese…well actually fine cheesy ala hair metal…I would like to totally cheese out and offer to you a great guideline to follow known as the “Five P’s.” So grab a drink to go with the cheese…here we go:



PREPARE: While you’ve been working hard for this first moment, there is no such thing as putting TOO MUCH work into a gig. Yeah your tunes are tight as all get out but just tossing a buncha tunes together doesn’t make for a tight set. Your set’s gotta have good flow and work well for the gig you’re playing. Now being that this is your first gig, you may not really know who you’re playing for so first off, seeing that this IS your first gig the chances are pretty good that you’re opening for at least one established band. Check that band out online or anyway you can and get an idea what type of people will be coming out to see them and why. This can help in figuring out what to play and how to play it. For example – if you’re a kicking hard rock band and you’re supporting a heavy band it’s always a good idea to come out of the gate with your most thumping, head-bangin’ stuff. Good rule of thumb is a pair or three smokin’ fast tunes back to back (to back) before stopping to give the audience a chance to figure out what just hit ‘em. If you’re only working with a short set (20-30 mins) work up and rehearse a ferocious set of kicking tunes. A little longer allows a chance for more of a rollercoaster ride and even to slip in a ballad about ¾’s of the way into the set. If you’re planning half original and half covers, flip flop them to keep the crowd interested. Most importantly, if the crowd is sparse or doesn’t seem interested early on…be prepared to keep firing as hard as you can. You’re there to hold up your end of the gig and if all you do is impress the venue or the other band or even one or two patrons, it will go a long way as you progress as a band. A legendary singer once said “It doesn’t matter if 100 or 100,000 people pay to get in, each and every single person paid full price to get in and deserve full return on their money.” As a new band you build a following one person at a time…besides…impress one and they will talk you up to their friends which can turn into a few more at your next gig.



PROMOTE: While you may get lucky enough to open for a local band that pulls in fans in droves, the last thing you wanna do is be complacent and just rely on the other band’s drawing power. Sure your promotion may only add a couple of more faces but once again, showing effort goes a long way. Besides, sometimes people miss the memo when their fave band is playing and you may just happen to alert one of them to the fact that their fave local band is playing. It also doesn’t hurt to show other bands and the venue that you’re willing to work hard to get peeps out. Even 2-4 friends can mean extra revenue for the venue which at the end of the day, is what it’s all about for the venue not to mention it never hurts to have a few people in your corner right off the bat. Interest is contaguous, your friends cheering you on may help the first timers get more interested in what you have to play.



PUNCTUALITY: You’re not Axl Rose…if load-in time is at 7pm…be there at 6:50 and not with a “our drummer will be here at 7:30” explanation why your band and equipment are not all there. Why create tension the first time out? The soundman will appreciate it and that could turn into better sound for your set. I’m not saying to kiss butt…just to do your part. The show is a team effort from venue to bands to sound guy to even door person and you’re just a part of the machine for the night. Piss off the sound guy and no matter how hard you rock…you may not be invited back. No one digs a primadonna…especially one playing their first gig. Once you’re all set up…you can chill. Just make sure the entire band is in the vicinity of the stage at least thirty minutes before you’re scheduled to go on. Things can change in a heartbeat. I was once about to put out merch at 9pm while waiting for a 9:30 time slot when I was told “you guys go on in five minutes. At that point there’s no time to haggle, question, argue, and especially hunt down members of your band. You just have to suck it up, get onstage, check your tuning, and roar into your first tune.



PLAY: The time has finally arrived to show what you can do. Yeah there may be some nerves but you have to shake that off and push forward. If you just happen to blow a note, screw it and move on. Dwelling on a mistake can shake confidence and lead to way more mistakes. No one is perfect. Rock your hardest to the best of your ability. It’s your first show and honestly, no one expects you to be all that great so by playing a good, solid, energized set you’ve already exceeded expectations. That’s a win and anything above that is super sweet frosting.



PACK: You’ve worked hard and come a long way since that first music lesson or music book. You’ve just played a solid set…but the job ain’t over just yet. Sure you’re tired and sweaty but now is when you have to step past that and GET THE F**K OFF THE STAGE!!!! Forget about packing every little nut, bolt, etc. Get your gear off the stage so things can stay on schedule. You can tear stuff apart once your gear is offstage and you’ll have plenty of time to relax and bask in the glow of your first show once you’re clear and out of the way. The last thing you wanna do is wear out the welcome you’ve so graciously been given. Everyone will appreciate the extra effort and it will show just how serious you are about wanting to be a serious band.



Congratulations…you’ve just played your first show and can now look forward to many more. What do you do next? I can sum that up in one more word…just not a “P” word.



REPEAT.



Your Brother-in-Arms,

Stoney




check Stoney out at http://www.lokalloudness.com

and be sure to tune into his lokal radio show at http://www.confederationofloudness.com