Mistaken iTunes Purchase

Damn! The other day I had the TV on and in the background I heard a song playing at the end of a news show about the Hurricane, and they played a song that I'd heard before, but didn't really know who it was.

I guessed that it was Sheryl Crow, and a quick search revealed that it was her song Safe and Sound, from the album C'Mon C'Mon.

I decided to purchase the song through iTunes, and I was in a hurry, so I put it on the iPod, and off I went. It was only in the car, when I turned it on, that I realized I'd purchased the song C'Mon C'mon by mistake (it's the song ahead of Safe and Sound), and I'm not sure if I got messed up in the heat of the moment by the title, or whether it was because I had trouble entering the password correctly and had to reselect the song after resetting the password and just miss-clicked.

Either way, I ended up buying a song I didn't want :( Oh well. I guess I'll have to pay more attention

Busking

Wednesday late evening, walking down Boylston with my friend April, we encountered a guy playing guitar on the street. It's not uncommon to see buskers in Harvard Square and other places, but this is the first time I have every seen someone playing on Boylston Street.

He had his speakers up on the top of the cab of a truck (I'm guessing it was his) which was another first. And he was playing in a weird way - okay, an unusual way; he was fretting using his left hand over the top of the neck (most people usually play with their hand coming up underneath the neck)

I'm guessing he was playing in an open tuning, and he was mostly just barring the strings with one finger.

I said to my friend April that it was 'weird' and then ended up in a short discussion on the 'rights' and 'wrongs' of how you play. The reality is there is no right or wrong way; if it sounds good, who cares how you make the noise?

And he sounded pretty good; at least for that song. If he played everything the same way it might get a bit repetitive fairly quickly, but we didn't hang around to hear the rest of his set...

Curse You Steve Jobs!

Apple went and did it again; they have announced another cool new gadget that I want...

Well actually, it's not really a 'new' gadget; it's the iPod Nano, which is a smaller, thinner, sexier, more likely to go through the wash in your pants, version of the iPod.

I already have a regular iPod, and an iPod Shuffle which I bought because I thought it would be more robust than the regular iPod; particularly at the gym where I'd already dropped the iPod a couple of times. The Shuffle has proved to be great for that purpose; it has very little mass and no moving parts. Also, I just hang it around my neck using the lanyard. Probably looks kind of dorky, but it never gets in the way, dropped, or forgotten as I walk away.

The iPond Nano is a cross between the Shuffle and the regular iPod. It's smaller, thinner and flash-based like the Shuffle, but it's shaped more like the regular iPod and has a color screen and a click-wheel controller. In most respects it is more like the full-size iPod.

The Nano is limited to 2GB and 4GB (500-1000 songs) and costs $199 and $249 respectively. I think it's pretty neat, and I'm torn since I already have a Shuffle.

Perhaps I'll give the Shuffle to my daughter.

iTunes Phone

Not unexpected, but Motorola and Apple also announced the Motorola ROKR. It's an iTunes enabled phone.

Unfortunately it's only available through Cingular and I just signed up for a two year Sprint plan *sigh*.

Also, the phone is limited to 100 songs (allegedly Apple was concerned that the phone would take sales away from the iPod.)

MP3 Players Cause Hearing Loss?

Well no, but maybe the headphones they are often shipped with can contribute to hearing loss according to a study published last year in the journal Ear and Hearing by Dr. Brian Fligor of Harvard Medical School. A short piece in the New York Times covers this.

It seems that the in-ear headphones are the worst offenders.

I'm not sure this is exactly news. And the word has gone out about headphone use; my daughter has told me several times that 'if you can hear the music from someone's headphones, then they have it too loud.'

Glad I have my Sony MDR-7506's, though they don't look that cool at the gym...

The British Are Coming!

HMV and Virgin have both rolled out online music services in Britain. They are clearly gunning for Apple:

'"How many customers know that in buying an iPod, they're effectively locking oneself into a walled garden?" said John Taylor, HMV's director of e-commerce.'

It seems that they are both offering a purchase option, as well as a subscription service where for about $30 per month you can download as much as you like, though songs are only useable while you continue to pay the subscription fee.

Bob Dylan - No Direction Home

David (my jam mate) is a big Dylan fan, and is looking forward to the upcoming Martin Scorsese biography No Direction Home. It gets released at the end of this month, and will be played on PBS (and BBC!) and released straight to DVD.

Oh! I see the DVD is released September 20, and goes on TV on the 26-27.

Fats Domino

11:49am Just heard on the radio that Fats Domino is missing after saying he was going to ride out the storm.

KSAT: Fats Domino Missing In New Orleans Floods

UPDATE

Fats Domino was plucked from the flooded city by a helicopter late Thursday. He was reported to be in good condition.

Walk The Line

First there was Ray, and now Johnny Cash gets the big movie treatment in Walk The Line starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Man In Black. You can see a trailer at the link above. It's due in theaters November 18.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of biographical dramas; often they are changed drastically from reality, leaving you unsure whether you're watching a biography or fiction. It's like the difference between News and Entertainment. So I'm not sure I want to see this.

But hey, they have some nice graphics on the website, and there should be a nice soundtrack...

Katrina

More than two days later it's still impossible to imagine the scale of the devastation caused by Hurricaine Katrina. I'd like to encourage everyone to consider making a donation to the Red Cross.

On the T.V. tonight a guy was standing in front of a destroyed house holding a guitar and he said "I ain't worried about the house, I got the guitar."

Unfortunately, there's little to laugh about right now.

Problems Ahead For Online Music Services

The record companies want to change download pricing to increase the cost of new/popular songs (maybe $1.49 per song) and lower the cost of some other songs. Reports suggest they are putting pressue on Apple to accept new pricing. The article has an interesting note:

A sore point for some music executives is the fact that Apple generates much more money selling iPod players than it does as a digital music retailer, leading to complaints that Jobs is profiting more from tracks downloaded to fill the 21 million iPods sold so far than are the labels that produced the recordings.

I don't know if I like the idea of $1.49 songs. I think I'll buy less music if the songs I want cost that much. I'm sympathetic to some of labels concerns, but then again, we're at the beginning of the cycle; I'm not planning to buy a new iPod ever year, but surely I'm going to buy new music...

Meanwhile, it looks like clouds are forming over the subscription based systems (Yahoo, RealNetworks and Napster) because of an impasse over license negotiations between the companies and music publishers over royalty negotiations.

The National Music Publishers' Association has asked for nearly 17 percent of subscription services' gross revenues, while the services have offered 6.9 percent instead. Seems like a bit of a difference.

The World is Safe from Lip-synching

...or some of it.

Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has ordered a ban on lip synching across the country, citing "a negative effect on the development of singing and musical art."

"Unfortunately, one can see on television old voiceless singers lip-synching their old songs," Niyazov told a Cabinet meeting. "Don't kill talents by using lip synching... Create our new culture."

Niyazov banned opera and ballet in 2001, claiming it did not conform to the national mentality. We can only wonder if karaoke will be next.

[Well that's something I think we can all get behind -Ed]

Robert A. Moog 1934 - 2005

When I was a kid the Moog synthesizer was the cool - but unknown - device that seemed to be the ultimate answer for the musically untalented. Of course, since I had no idea what this thing was or how it worked (other than it made cool noises) I didn't really understand that you still needed to know what you were doing to make beautiful noise with one.

For several years the name Moog was synonymous with synthesizer. The Beatles were one of the first main-stream groups to use the device. It appears on several songs on the album Abbey Road including, Here Comes The Sun.

Robert Moog, the create of the Moog synthesizer, died last Sunday.

While My Ukulele Gently Weeps

Jake Shimabukuro is one hell of a ukulele player. This site has a QuickTime video of him playing George Harrion's While My Guitar Gently Weeps and it's simply amazing.

The really interesting thing about this is that George was evidently a big ukulele fan. So said Paul McCartney last time he came through Boston on tour. He had a ukulele that Goerge had given him, and he played Something in homage to George. It was quite a performance, though his ukulele playing didn't rival this video!

Lori McKenna, Mark Erelli & Jake Armerding

Lori McKenna, Mark Erelli & Jake Armerding performed a night of cover songs at Club Passim Thursday, Aug 18, and it was a great show! I've seen Mark and Jake before, but this was my first time hearing Lori, and what an amazing voice she has. Whether singing lead or backup it just comes out and grabs you. Very country sounding in a way, but wow; it knocked me out.

It was a fun, almost laid-back evening, as each artist took turns performing different cover songs, with the others providing backup or just listening with the rest of us.

It opened with Jake performing a Gordon Summer song (that's Sting to you and me) I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying, which, dammit, I wasn't even familiar with. Other highlights included; Lori's rendition of a Johnny Cash song -the title I didn't catch- and Bruce Springsteen's One Step Up. The audience laughed through much of Mark's performance of Randy Newman's Political Science, and Richard Thompsons I Feel So Good really rocked.

Jake did a hilarious cover of I LIke Big Butts (not sure of the exact title,) and a great performance of Michael Jackson's I Wanna Rock With You. Two songs that aren't thought of as folk or acoustic standards!

New Toy

It was a sales tax free weekend here in Massachusetts, and I went a little silly. I was at the local guitar store and they had a Hercules stand and I was taken with the fact that it has an auto-grab system; the weight of the guitar pulls down the frame on which the neck sits about an inch, and little fingers rotate up, keeping the guitar in place. You have to lift the guitar to release it. Pretty cool.

I spent several minutes just pushing down on the top and watching the little fingers rotate to keep the guitar in place.

Of course, I had to buy one. I already have a guitar stand, but you can always use a second one, right? ;)

Samson C01U

This USB condenser microphone, which I ordered about three months ago, finally arrived. I thought it would be fun to use with my iBook to make quick and easy recordings.

I first tried it hooked up to a machine running Windows XP. As soon as I plugged it in the system recognized the device (even knowing it's name and model number!) and when I went to the Sound Recording application it worked just fine. Couldn't really tell how good it was as there was a lot of noise in the office environment.

I had a lot more trouble getting it to work with the iBook.

There's a driver you can download from Samson's website and it said to simply install and away you go. Except that it didn't; the install went okay, but when I selected the mic nothing happened other than the small green light going on. I was worried that I might have damaged the mic by putting the cable in wrong (you really have to watch those USB cables!) but I tried it on another Windows box and it still worked fine. Back to the Mac.

It turns out there's a small application installed in the Applications folder (nothing that I saw in the installer talked about that!) Tried that; still nothing! Restarted; nothing. Unplugged, and replugged. Just about to give up when; suddenly it was working.

Only problem; I have no idea why it started working!

Anyway, it's working, and I tried it with Deck, and it seems to be working well. A bit of noise but I need to do some experiments to see how it compares with other mics.

NazFest Preparations

I've been looking forward to going to NazFest this year, however, as always it has kind of snuck up on me and I'm not sure I'm ready for it! If things go as planned, I'll head out Saturday morning for the 6 hour drive down to Nazareth PA. But in the mean time I have so much to do; have to get various projects completed, get stuff packed, and decide which guitars to take!

I really need another month or two to prepare!

NazFest is a get together of the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum. A bunch of Martin guitar enthusiasts in other words. Two days of playing, as well as a tour of the Martin Factory and assorted fun. I went to this a couple of years ago and enjoyed myself a lot.

Now if I could just get everything done before Saturday morning.

Sounds like...

There's a new Herbie Hancock/John Mayer song (Mayer sings!) that's started to get some airplay here in Boston. It reminds me a lot in style of some of Stings songs; can't quite put my finger on why; maybe it's the arrangement and the 'stitch me up' refrain. Sounds very Stingish.

And there's another song that's been getting some airplay that sounds really like something of George Harrison's; it even sounds a little like him.

Note that this is necessarily a bad thing, it's just what stood out when I first heard the songs.

OMG! Dolly Parton on the radio. I'm bouncing around the radio presets and I hear Dolly Parton! Or at least it sounds a lot like her. Now that's just not normal (for me) and I'm seriously wondering if I need to reprogram my presets when I discover that it's a duet....but I had to leave the car before I found out any of the details; and a quick search on the web hasn't turned up anything.

Oh, the song seemed to grow on me after a bit...

Beatles News: a news item on the radio; Paul McCartney recorded a two hour event in Abbey Road studios where he played some songs and talked about the recording process. Supposed to be released on DVD sometime...

A more accurate(?) report can be found here.

Harvard Sq

I got to play with an HD camcorder on the weekend, so I took it down to Harvard Sq to shoot some video to test it out.

I walked around shooting various things; there were a bunch of street performers of varying quality. One of the biggest problems - it seemed - was the quality of the amps they were using. By necessity, everyone was using small battery powered amps, but some definitely sounded better than others! Not sure whether it was EQ problems, or the sound of the amps themselves. A lot of people seemed to have the Crate Taxi; and again, some sounded good and others didn't.

If I get around to it I'll try and post some of the video (now that I have figured out how to put video on the website.)

Getting The Cold(play) Shoulder

The Boston radio station WBOS is running a competition this week. Be caller number seven and you get tickets to Coldplay's concert. The grand prize winner gets a press pass to take pictures at the concert (usually this means you can only take pictures for the first three songs, but you can stand right in front of the stage.)

I'm not the biggest Coldplay fan, but it would be cool to be able to take pictures at the concert.....of course, you have to win first, and it's not easy even getting through. But I heard the ads and I got all excited and figured I'd give it a go; it's been a while since I've won something from a radio station ;)

But the problem is that the concert is this Saturday; and I'm not going to be in town that day. *sigh* Well, I guess it's not even worth trying....

Howie Day Video

This is video from the Howie Day concert. The sound quality isn't that great (big surprise) but I really wanted to post this because I've been meaning to put together a little Flash Player that would make it easy to post other video.

So here it is. As I said, not the greatest sound, but you get the idea...

Howie Day in Boston

Saw Howie Day at The Bank of Boston Pavilion last Saturday [July 24]. It's the second time I've seen Howie live; the last time was at the Orpheum. That show was solo, but this show he had a band. Personally, I think Howie is best solo. He's okay with a band too, but if I had a preference I'd rather see him solo.

The show was still great, and the Pavilion is an interesting place; it's like a huge tent, and it's right on the harbor, and if the weather is nice (as it was this day) it really adds to the whole experience. I'd much rather see an act at this location than the Tweeter Center or the Fleet Center (or whatever it's called now.)

Not a whole lot to say about the show; I'm terrible at writing reviews of these things anyway. But the highlight for me was the one song he did solo; She Says which was the first song of the encore. He didn't do Madrigals, which is another favorite, but you can't have everything. I hear he did a cover of Don't Dream It's Over at the 7/29 show; I would have liked to have seen that.

He worked hard and sounded great. Not a whole lot of between song chat, but some people like that.

NAMM News

You can read about NAMM news at Harmony-Central. Not a whole lot so far has caught my attention. Taylor has a set of Fall Limiteds with some interesting woods.

Martin has announced (drum roll please) the George Martin, Martin. A guitar for the 5th Beatle. Now George Martin is a wonderfully talented, yet modest person, but while he's pretty good with the piano, he's hardly known for his guitar playing. In fact, this guitar was - and Martin acknowledges this - not designed by George at all. Rather "George Martin detailed his preferences for a namesake Martin Signature Edition guitar to fellow musician and record producer John Kurgan, his specific goal was to create an instrument uniquely suited to the studio."

It has a funky headstock, with a kind of art-deco feel 'M' on it, that almost has me wanting one ;)

It's a shame that Martin won't be doing a Paul McCartney signature edition (Paul recently did something with Epiphone) so this might be the closest you'll ever get to a 'Beatle' Martin.

The Ever Changing Internet

I love the Internet, but sometimes it can be frustrating. For example, just recently I wrote about the Street Musician website I had stumbled across.

Well, it's suddenly disappeared. Gone. Nada. 404 Error and all that. No idea what happened to it; though the guy mentioned that he'd recently lost his job...I wonder if he lost his Internet Service as well?

Well it's really unfortunate that it's gone, as I thought it had some interesting info.

NAMM

I've never been, but the summer NAMM show runs July 22 - 24, in Indianapolis. NAMM is the show for the music industry, and it's where manufacturers announce new products. Of special interest to me are the announcements from guitar makers such as Martin, Taylor et. al. Both companies historically announce new products at this show.

I wonder what might be coming?....

NAMM happens just before Nazfest (part of the scheduling of Nazfest has to do with avoiding the run up to NAMM at Martin), so an exciting time is ahead..

CariPod

The Harman Kardon Drive + Play is an iPod docking system that can be hard wired in an automobile. It consists of three components:

• A backlit LCD pivoting display, which is designed to be mounted where the driver can easily see the screen while keeping their eyes on the road;



• a five-button navigation control unit – the navigation wheel is similar to BMW’s iDrive wheel, but mimics the iPods controls;



• a unit that connects everything together.

Looks pretty cool, as the screen is large; anyone who has tried working with their iPod while driving know's how dangerous trying to read the iPod screen can be. On the other hand, it's $199, which is a good chunk of change.

Concert Prices Down

...that's what they just said on the local news. Concert attendence is down 12% this year, and prices are down 6%.

Ring Tones!

This article; "Insight Out: Album sales tell partial story" covers the 7% downturn in album sales, but also looks at new forms of revenue for the music industry. It projects $104 million will be made by the labels from the download of singles in 2005. That's not a trivial number, but what shocked me was this:

The U.S. ringtone market was $300 million in 2004. Labels split the revenues with cellular carriers pretty much down the middle. That’s roughly $150 million in ringtone revenues.

So more money is being made from ringtones than from downloads?! Wow!

Wish You Were Here

Jammed with David last night. When we get organized we can accomplish quite a bit!

We decided it was time to murder Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. I’ve always liked the song, though I have never bought any of their albums, and I don’t exactly know the song by heart.

I was having trouble with a couple of lines in the chorus,

Running over the same old ground,
what have we found - the same old fears?

I was messing it up badly, and then I remembered that I’d bought the song a while ago through iTunes, and I had it on my iPod. Hasty scramble to get speakers out of the office so we can play it, which worked okay, though something’s up with the cable I was using to connect to the iPod as I had to jiggle it a little to get the sound right.

So played that, and did a bit better, but have to work some more at it.

Meanwhile, David had learned the Guitar 1 riff and I was just strumming along, and he suggested I learn the Guitar 2 riff. But then (lucky me!) he decided that he should play the Guitar 2 part, and I should do the Guitar 1 part, so that’s my homework for the week!

E----------5--3-----------|-------------------------|
B----------5--3-----------|-------------------------|
G-------------------------|-------------------------|
D------0--2-----3p2p0-----|-------0--2---2--0-------|
A---0h2---------------2-0-|----0h2-----------2--0---|
E--3----------------------|--3----------------------|

DMB at Tweeter Center

Dave Matthews, 2003 at The Tweeter Center
Originally uploaded by mchgtr.

I made my annual pilgrimage to the Tweeter Center to see Dave Matthews Band. I think I am getting beyond jaded. Not that it was a bad show, but having been nine rows from the front a couple of years ago (see picture) everything since just hasn’t measured up!

I also discovered that I was actually over dressed for the occasion. The weather the last few days has been all over the map, and so I put on a shirt and khaki pants and it was only when I got there that I realized I was basically dressed in business casual. If I’d been wearing shorts or jeans I would have been okay, but I was over dressed – or at least I felt that way. And this from someone who never overdresses for anything!

I made a point of getting there early as I wanted to see Dave introduce the opening act; not that I wanted to see the opening act, I just wanted to see his introduction. I got there about 6:30, read a book in the car for a while, then made my way inside, and was just in time to see Dave make the introduction.

As he had for his Howie Day introduction, Dave alluded to working on a hang over. He also revealed the secret to a good Margarita; cheap Rum. He sounded drunk; which I couldn’t figure out if it was an affectation, or he actually was. When he spoke later – if only briefly – during the concert, he didn’t sound drunk; but then he didn’t say a whole hell of a lot either. Is Dave Matthews the Dean Martin of this generation? Should someone stage an intervention?

The show itself started with Everyday, then moved into their latest single (the one after American Baby) and a mix of their catalog. They did #34, which I’ve never seen them do live before, and they covered Time of the Season, originally performed by The Zombies, which was amazingly faithful to the original.

I did the encore skip and dashed for the car at the end of the set. Got out of the parking lot in about three minutes flat (not counting the time it took to find the car!)

Oh, noticed that Dave did not play the Taylor T5, which is used in the American Baby video. I read that he used that for the video because they were just about to leave on tour and his other guitars had been shipped off to Australia already.

It's the time of the season
When the love runs high
In this time, give it to me easy
And let me try, With pleasured hands
To take you and the sun to
Promised lands
To show you every one
It's the time of the season for loving

Still Waiting

Gotta love the guy at Sweetwater. He just gave me the monthly call to update me on the status of the Samson USB microphone. They should have them in a couple of weeks...

DMB Tomorrow Night

Dave Matthews Band is playing at the Tweeter Center tomorrow night. I hate the Tweeter Center. Getting out of the parking lot is impossible (figure on an hour and a half wait.) About the only way to get out in a reasonable amount of time is to skip the encore. I hate doing that, but I hate waiting in the parking lot for so long too...

Last year I went and I ran (do not walk) to the car after they left the stage (before the encore) and was out of the parking lot in five minutes flat (I timed it!) Not too sure what I'll do tomorrow. The weather is so miserable tonight; if it's like that tomorrow I might even consider not going! Geez! What a kill-joy I'm becoming!

Nazfest 2005

Nazfest 2003
Originally uploaded by mchgtr.

I finally started to work out some of my summer schedule, and I've decided I'm going to Nazfest 2005.

This is the annual get together of the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum, and it's basically a big get together of Martin guitar fans and players.

I went in 2003 and had a blast, so I'm looking forward to it this year.

DMB

It was a repeat, but Dave Matthews Band was on Letterman last night, and I hadn't seen it, so I stayed up to watch.

I wish I hadn't.

Well, Ray Ramano was pretty funny, but DMB gave a rather lackluster performance. Dave seemed into it, but the rest of the band didn't seem that excited. Maybe they need a longer set to stretch their legs?

It might have been worth it if Letterman had actually interviewed Dave (or anyone!) afterwards, but nope...


On a related note: I have a recording of one of Howie Day's performances opening for DMB. Dave came out and introduced him (I think it's great that Dave comes out and introduces people that open for him; that's pretty classy, and rather rare.)

Anyway, Dave sounds like he's three sheets to the wind. He admits to having a hangover, though it sounds like he's working on one, not trying to get over it. Then he makes some joke about Howie's band being entirely made up of fudge. I have no idea what that is about...

Denon Does iPod

Denon Electronics has announced the S-301 and S-101 home entertainment systems. Features include: front-panel USB port, integrated DVD and receiver, remote control, dual satellite speakers and subwoofer. A “Connect iPod” cable provides access to the iPod’s menu on the home theater screen. All basic iPod features, including volume control, menu navigation, play, stop and skip, can be operated using the Denon remote control. The cable also charges the iPod.

That's the good news...

The S-301 retails for $1,599, while the S-101 system costs $999. Both systems are expected to ship in August.

Eric Clapton - Acoustic Classics DVD

Just picked up the Eric Clapton - Acoustic Classics DVD

It covers a bunch of songs I'm interested in learning, including Malted Milk and Walkin' Blues. I actually have the tab from the unplugged sessions but it's kind of nice to have the visual reference as well. And there's some interesting tips for bits and pieces that just aren't obvious from the tab.

There's also his version of Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out, which I already know how to play, but the version on the DVD is a lot more complex than the version I know.

So far I'd give the DVD a thumbs up (am I allowed to do that, or is it a copyrighted term?) And it's not that expensive; $19.95, though I got it from Elderly for a little less.

Crooked Still

Crooked Still played Club Passim last night. They play bluegrass traditional I guess you'd say, though they jazz it up a lot. This is the second time I have seen them, and they are really great. Aoife O'Donovan has a wonderful voice, and Rushad Eggleston is a great cellist (cello!) and has a really warped sense of humor. Actually they all seem to have a pretty weird sense of humor and the shows are wonderful musically, as well as entertaining and often hilarious!

Check their site for info, as well as to see a photo with an interesting promotional write-up for them:

Crocked Still CAJUN BAND (from Boston) A fantastic 4 pce band with a complete sound

Hand Over Fist

Last night was jam night. David and I are almost getting organized; well I started writing the songs down in a book and now we go back to the list and start with that. So maybe those songs will improve over time.

David said he saw a girl playing Hey Hey My My in the subway the other day and she was making a bunch of money. I guess the classics are popular with people with money. He also said she did a really good cover of it.

We did some Dylan stuff (including Knocking on Heaven's Door and You Ain't Going Nowhere.) David is a big Dylan fan, and I think has a copy of just about every recording that's available. He mentioned that Starbucks is releasing a CD of some early Dylan concert tape.

Tried Sympathy For The Devil but I don't think we did it very well. Not sure it really works on acoustic guitar!

Messed around with changing chords and keys for a few songs. A couple we were doing I found it a lot easier to sing if I moved it up; put the capo on and play it a little higher (like You Ain't Going Nowhere.) I don't think my voice has much of a range. We experimented with playing different chord shapes too (like I played with the capo and he played without, and changing the chords)....easier to do for some songs than others depending upon what chords you have to play!

Podcasting

Hardly unexpected, but Apple today released an update to iTunes (v. 4.9) that adds support for Podcasting.

Podcasting is radio your way. Defy programming schedules and listen to whatever you want, whenever you want — and on your iPod — wherever you want. Podcasts are radio-style shows — some from major media, others from passionate individuals — delivered over the Internet to your computer. Unlike streaming audio, which requires you to listen in real time, podcasting lets you control how and when you hear your favorite shows.

I downloaded the update to iTunes here at work, but I haven't down anything with it yet other than stumbled around trying to figure what they have (and how to find it.) Some stuff is easy to find, and others maybe not so. I think someone should do a podcast review site. Or maybe a podcast review podcast...

Probably someone already has.

Street Musician

Stumbled across a great site today; Street Musician which is by a guy that plays on the street. Just looking at some of the first posts there's some great stuff; performance tips, changing keys, alternate tunings and much more. I might spend all week reading this!

Harmony Central

Harmony Central is a great music news and info website that's been around for some years. I use it mainly to search for guitar tabs, but it also has user reviews of guitars and equipment that can be interesting, and a long list of manufacturers.

Well they've just announced that they have been purchased by Musician's Friend and though they say they will remain "an independent publisher and forum" you have to wonder; then why are they being bought?

Eh, well not that I care that much about it...

Did Someone Yodel?

Listening to WBOS this evening and just happened across an interesting song The Way I Am by Martin Sexton which I kinda liked......but is that yodelling I hear?!

Oh, oh, and now Jason Mraz is doing an acoustic version of Summer Breeze. I think I am entering the Twilight Zone.

Happy Father's Day!

Gibson Ad

Happy Father's Day!

Gibson has been running a Father's Day campaign. It started with a TV ad with a father tutoring his daughter in the history of rock guitarists. After several tough questions, he says 'I think you're ready.' Cut to the girl and her mother in a guitar store and the daughter points to a guitar and says 'He wants that one!'

I also saw a Gibson Ad in Time magazine this past week.

The real question; did any father get a guitar today?

Back Order

There's a Pedal Board and a USB microphone in back order limbo that one day will find their way to my door.

I hope I remember why I wanted them when they get there.


This weeks car song: Standing in the Sun, Howie Day

Jam Night

David and I are trying to get more organized. We've been getting together every couple of weeks and just jamming for fun. We've tended to do songs we're interested in each time, but a song might be done once and then forgotten.

So I suggested we make up a kind of set list, and play through the songs each time - adding new songs as we want. Since David had liked Hotel California and we had done that last time, I suggested (via email prior to getting together) that we start with that one.

So that was the plan, except we never did Hotel Clifornia. Instead, we started with 16 Tons, then moved to The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and I took out the Last Waltz DVD and we watched that to try and figure out the beginning and what happens at the end of the chorus.

I also like Helpless which is also on the DVD, so we watched that, then I found the chords. It's a good Neil Young song; three chords. The listing on Olga said it was D - A - G, but when we played the DVD it was obvious they were playing it: C - G - F. I think I like that better.

David then mentioned that he had read somewhere on the web that you can see that Neil Young snorted Cocaine prior to going on stage as you can see some powder on his nostril. According to Wikipedia

The release of Martin Scorsese's movie of the concert was delayed while Scorsese re-edited it to deemphasize the lump of cocaine clearly visible hanging from Young's nose during his performance of "Helpless".

David just bought a Zoom multi-effects pedal via Craigslist. We spent some time playing with that; I liked the more subdued stuff than the way out effects that make an acoustic guitar sound like Jimi Hendricks is playing it.

Finished the evening with Loneliness House by Greg Brown. Pretty simple but captivating song; might be interesting to do with a looper.

Guy Davis

If you like Blues, Guy Davis is a special treat. A great guitar player with a voice like it comes from a gravel pit, he's both a great story teller and a talented bluesman. Some of his pieces start out as stories simply told with a musical accompaniment, that then lead into a song.

Captivating.

He also did a great harmonica piece which involved a story about a train traveling along, passing chickens, a chain gang, hounds and pigs, each part of the story imitated on the harmonica. Cool.

If you get a chance to, don't miss him.

Festival 47

Jake Armerding
Originally uploaded by mchgtr.

A while back I wrote a little about the concerts that Club Passim organized to celebrate their 47th anniversary. One of these, the Festival 47, A Concert for Cambridge, was held on a wet Saturday in May.

It was so wet that the last three performers played in the tent behind the stage to the 100-150 people that had stayed despite the weather.

I saw Christopher Williams and Jake Armerding perform on the main stage in the rain, and was tempted to stay for Chris Smither, but I had a party to go to and it was cold and wet...

I've posted a few of the pictures I took; photography was kind of ham-strung by the white tent over the stage, and the rain pouring down.

Keeping In Tune

Peterson makes a range of tuners that are expensive. The VS-II costs more than $200 and for that you'd figure it would change the strings as well as tune the guitar for you.

They have now announced a software version called Strobosoft that runs on Windows XP/2000 as a stand-alone application. A plug-in version is planned, and a Mac version will be available soon.

Standard Version $49.99; Features fully adjustable controls, several preset temperaments. Accuracy: 0.1 cent.

Deluxe Version $79.99; Includes Peterson Sweetened tunings, exclusive Buzz Feiten open string and intonation settings, full Sweetener and temperament package with unlimited user preset locations, user interchangeable tuning presets, oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, MIDI note number output. Accuracy: 0.1 cent.

Now personally, I'm not a big fan of software tuners; they can be cheap (some are free!) but the problem is that you have to drag your computer around to tune your guitar and that can be a pain even with a laptop.

A friend - whose a bit of a computer geek - was learning to play guitar and found a computer based software program to use to tune his guitar. He was really excited about it and spent forever setting it up and using it to tune the guitar. I think he was more into the geeky-ness factor. My reaction; buy a damn tuner and save yourself the time and aggravation!

Where's Mic?

Samoson C01U

Sometime ago I came across the Samson C01U, a "Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone" that has a USB plug at the opposite end of it's business end. It's only $80 so it seemed like an interesting little thing to experiment with.

I ordered one about two months ago from Sweetwater, and was told they expected dellivery "at the end of the month." Three weeks later I get a call; they hadn't arrived, but they expected them in a couple of weeks.

Of course they called yesterday; still haven't arrived, but they expect them in early July.

Now, had I been really jonsing to use this thing, I'd be pretty pissed by now. The fact that I was getting it out of curiosity means that I'm kind of ho-hum about it. Part of me is hoping it takes a long time to come....then I'd have a real story.

The Mammals

The Mammals played Club Passim last week. They play traditional music, though they jazz in up a lot. Or as The Boston Globe put it:

"The Mammals play old-time string band music the way Jack Kerouac wrote novels - with an abandon born of a deep understanding of structure and form. Their sound is wild, mirthful, and masterful."

Why are music reporters so much better at describing musical acts?

I've seen them before and enjoyed their show a lot. They do a version of Richard Thompson's 1952 Black Vincent that, even though not as good as the original, is pretty damn good.

At one point they mentioned how they had become the center of a small storm over censorship after singing a song about George Bush and people complained and the organization asked them not to do the song again.

There's a description of what happened in an article at The Independent Weekly Don’t Play it Again, Sam

...Ungar’s band, The Mammals, played a set at the Community Coffee Scène Lafayette stage at Festival International on Saturday, April 23. For its encore, the band performed its song “The Bush Boys,” which contains lines such as:

Listen up folks the votes are in
It was anyone’s guess who’d win
Democrats had the higher amount
But they lost ’cause Florida could not count …
You won’t believe what the Bush boys bought.

Ungar was milling about the hospitality tent the following day preparing for The Mammals’ next performance when Festival International VP of Programming Jimmie Duhon approached her and asked her not to play “The Bush Boys” again...

I see on their website that they'll be playing some shows with Arlo Guthrie on his "Alice's Restaurant 40th Anniversary Massacree Tour."

G.A.S.

G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) is a dangerous and expensive addiction. I’ve battled it (unsuccessfully) for several years.

It’s interesting – and almost satisfying – to watch the affliction infest others.

David and I have been getting together for the last few months and jamming. He originally appeared with a red acoustic guitar of unknown origin.

A couple of months later, he bought a Fender acoustic from someone that advertised it for sale on Craigslist. It was a good deal, despite the fact that he spent an additional $75 or so getting it set up.

He was pleased with the new guitar, as unlike the red guitar, it stayed in tune for much longer periods (he later discovered that humidity – or the lack thereof – was one of the reasons the red guitar didn’t stay in tune.)

Flash forward about three months and I get an email from him that reads:

I have my eye on a martin, and wanted to ask your advice on something. This martin does not have a glossy finish on it, so it smells like a carpentry shop. I know it will pick up scratches real easy. My question is, does this make it less stable of a guitar? Is it more likely to warp in severe weather? Or is this a cosmetic thing that won't necessarily affect sound?

He included a link to a page on Martin’s website that didn’t work; it loaded a page that basically was blank, but had the letters D-28 as part of the title, so I assumed he was looking at a D-28.

So I sent this reply:

The link seemed a little broken; it was labelled a D-28, but none of the details came up for some reason. Is that the model you are thinking of getting? The beat up old Martin I have is a 1970 D-28. They last a long time if a little care is taken with them (a guy in Allison Kraus's band Union Station plays a 1930's D-28.)

I don't know about the relative merit's of finishes, but the finish on these will withstand most normal wear and tear.

There's a thread at the Martin Guitar forum about the finish on these guitars; actually the thread is about a rumor that martin was changing the finish – which turned out to be untrue - but there's some interesting info there..

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll take a stab at them. The Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum (not affiliated with Martin Co.) can be a good source of info! www.umgf.com

I also included a link to the thread, but that is now gone as ezBoard was hacked and lost a lot of messages. Ahh, the joys of the Internet; we managed to exchange broken links with one another!

I didn’t hear from him until next week, when he showed up with a new guitar case. Turns out he bought a 000CX1E which he bought at Guitar Center. We did some searching and couldn’t even find the model on the Martin website (they had a black version only.)

Turns out he traded in the Fender.

“You traded it in? But you just got it!”
“Yeah, but it had a buzz. Only I could hear it but it drove me nuts.”

I could understand. I have a guitar with a winter buzz. Despite humidifying it, during winter months it develops a faint little buzz that I find annoying. Can’t do a thing with it other than wait until the spring.

Others might get rid of it, but then I’d just be tempted to buy something else.

David’s new guitar is a nice little box. It’s a cutaway with built-in electronics. Wonder why it was discontinued.

I can't help wondering though; how long until the next purchase?

We ended up getting dinner at the Bollywood Café, and while waiting walked down to The Music Emporium. We didn’t stay lone; I didn’t want to expose David or myself to too much temptation. They have some great guitars, including one I have had my eye on for a while. If it was half the price I’d buy it in an instant; isn’t that always the way?

I wonder if they’d take a trade-in.

The Ticket Gods

I’ve had front row tickets twice in my life. Once was to a James Taylor concert, and those weren’t really mine. A friend had them as part of a season package and couldn’t go that night, so swapped my seventh row tickets (which were for another night.) The other time wasn’t even a concert.

Of course, these days, just getting any seat to a popular concert is a feat in itself. And new technology doesn’t help; if anything it can make for more frustration. How many times have you tried to get tickets to a popular show on the day the tickets go on sale and watch in frustration as your browser fails to connect, load or generates errors in the middle of the transaction?

I thought I had a ticket to the U2 concert this year; and then after entering all my information, and waiting ten minutes on a ‘processing’ screen, an error screen appeared. And when I tried again, there were no tickets available.

Didn’t get tickets to Bruce Springsteen or Dave Matthews Band in Connecticut this year either; though in those cases I didn’t even get to select a ticket.

So I found out that tickets were going on sale this afternoon at 5pm for a summer concert I wanted to see. I checked the accuracy of my clock and had the web page set, just waiting for 5 to roll around.

I hit refresh about ten times, and finally got the ticket screen. Selected the number of tickets, hit the Okay button and got an “index error” screen. Damn! Tried again; same message. Switched to another computer; same thing!

Tried once more on the original browser, and it worked! Entered the details, and got a ticket. Much excitement. It was for Section 2, Row A, which didn’t mean anything; I got excited about getting Row D tickets once, and then found out that the theatre had rows AA, BB etc in front of row A.

But checking the seating chart revealed - assuming that the chart is correct - Section 2 is the center of the theater, and row A is the front row.

I’m excited; even if I had to pay $12.50 in handling and postage charges.

Out of curiosity, I tried again a couple of minutes later to see what row I’d get, and it offered me row E tickets, so you have to move fast!

iTunes Royalties And Other Things

A friend and I were recently discussing the iTunes business model, and trying to figure out who made what on each song. This was partly prompted by the whole Pepsi free song deal and how that all worked financially, but I digress.

At the time I did a web search and found some information, but wasn’t sure how accurate it was. A recent suit over royalties for Tom Waits early catalog provides some interesting information.

The suit itself is also interesting because it centers on what royalties should be paid to Third Story (the publisher of Wait’s early catalog) for downloaded music.

[...] under the terms of the two contracts, Waits was entitled to royalties of either 25% or 50% from revenues derived from third-party licenses. Third Story maintains that digital music downloads constitute a form of third-party license, and that Waits is entitled to payment at that level.

In 2003-04 royalty statements to Third Story, WMG computed royalties from Waits' digital download sales at the same (and much lower) rate as royalties from the sale of physical product. Under the terms of the '70s Asylum contracts regarding album sales, Waits would be entitled to either 9% or 13% of the 67 cents received by WMG from each 99-cent download.

More On iTunes Royalties

An interesting post:

If you are an independent artist and would like to have your music on iTunes you can, for example, sign up with cdbaby.net who will then get your music on a number of distribution services, including iTunes. The royalty you get from them is 59 cent (they get 65 from iTunes and keep 9 % of it), MUCH more then any signed artist would get.

...of course, you have to do all your own promtion...

Mark Twain Played A Martin

I've seen this before, but I thought it was kind of interesting;

Mark Twain, one of America's greatest literary legends, was a passionate guitarist and singer during the 19th century's Romantic era [...}

Twain obtained this Martin guitar, style 2 1/2-17, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. It was built by C.F. Martin Sr. in 1835, the same year that Twain was born[...]

Audio Interfaces

I've been looking for a USB audio interface to use with my iBook. I really want to find something not too large or expensive, but it seems the more I research, the more confused I get!

I'm currently looking at the Tascam US-122 and the Edirol UA-25, but as I said, I'm getting more confused as I go; and I have found other products too!

Some of the music instrument sites have reader comments, which can be a way to find out more about devices; or it can just end up confusing you more.

There's an interesting resource at the "Audio Field Recording Equipment Guide"

Recording Tip #1

When using a side-address condenser microphone, it works much better if you identify the 'front' of the microphone, and point that side at the audio source.

Seriously! Doh!!

Pedal Board

SKB PS-45 Pedal Board

I've been thinking of getting a pedal board to keep some pedals together rather than have them floating around in a bag. There's quite a few to choose from, and they aren't inexpensive. This one looks good as it has a built-in power supply, a hard top (SKB makes some cheaper pedal boads but they have a soft bag, not a hard cover) and hey, a life-time warranty. I have generally been happy with SKB cases I have bought.

It's been interesting reading the user reviews for different pedal boards on some of the music supply sights. Pedal boards seem to be something that really provokes the emotions of users. I just have to measure my pedals and see if they will fit in the space available (27" x 15").

Ouch!

Since I don't write my own songs, I guess I can be considered a cover artist (if I can use such grand a term for jamming away on songs I like.) And because of this, I have developed a fascination with covers that "real" artists do of songs I like.

For example, I really like the cover of Wall of Death by REM. Got it playing on the iPod right now...

Yesterday the sound track to I Am Sam arrived. It's a movie that I never saw, but the sound track has a bunch of artists performing Beatles songs*; so I had to get it.

If you are thinking of getting a copy for yourself, note that there's at least three different versions of the album out there; the original with 17 tracks, a foreign import with 19 tracks, and an 'extra tracks' version with 20 songs. I bought the latter, but quite frankly, I don't think you gain a lot with those extra songs...

The first playing of the CD was somewhat of a bust. Sarah McLachlan does her usually excellent work on Blackbird and Eddie Vedder's You've Got to Hide Your Love Away is spell binding, but Ben Harper seems to be channeling Cat Stevens on Strawberry Fields and Golden Slumbers never worked for me as a song on it's own; it needs Carry That Weight to finish it off. It might have worked had Ben Folds version been drastically different from the original; but it isn't.

It seemed that for the last half of the album, each song was worse than the preceding one; Nick Cave's Let It Be, just about broke my heart.

Most disappointing (though not the worst song on there by a long shot) was Howie Day's cover of Help!

I have a live tape of him performing Help! solo, and despite the poor quality of the recording, it's phenomenal. The Beatles original - despite the title and lyric - is performed as an upbeat, fast rocker. In the live performance Howie slows it down, simplifies the accompaniment, and his voice really makes it sound like he's in therapy looking for help, rather than singing a rock song.

But either someone over-produced the cut on the album, or Howie's on Prozac, as the CD version - though it starts almost as slowly - adds in electric guitar and way too much "stuff" so that it loses all the charm of the acoustic cover. Howie almost sounds happy.

Okay, I'll quit complaining as I know I couldn't do anything half as good, but still; 'Uggh.'

By the end of the CD I was thinking I'd file it away and never play it again, but I gave it another go this morning. On second hearing, things weren't quite as bad as they seemed; but that may just be damning it with faint praise.

If only you could buy You've Got to Hide Your Love Away and a couple of tunes that you like (if you do) from iTunes; but they only have the partial album available, and none of the songs I'd have bought....hmmm.

*Full disclosure; yeah I am a big Beatles fan and that might color my attitude to these songs, but I can think of lots of cover's of Beatles songs I have liked.

You Know You're Old When...

Your daughter asks you what "LP" stands for, and you not only know what it stood for, but why it was called that...

You work with someone who didn't know what 'Side 2' of an LP is/was.

May 25th, Towel Day

Tomorrow, May 25th, is Towel Day.

You sass that hoopy Douglas Adams? Now there's a frood who knew where his towel was. You are invited to join your fellow hitchhikers in mourning the loss of the late great one. Join in on towel day to show your appreciation for the humor and insight that Douglas Adams brought to all our lives.

What do I do?: Carry your towel with you throughout the day to show your participation and mourning.

When do I do it?: May 25th, 2005.

Where do I do it?: Everywhere.

Why a towel?: ...any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

What's With The Weather?

Saturday was the Concert for Cambridge on the Cambridge Common.

It was overcast, cold, breezy and wet...in other words, just like you'd expect the weather to be in October...but not the end of May! Something is seriously whacked with the weather.

I went down for a couple of hours and saw several people including Chris Williams and Jake Armerding. Then, due to the weather, they abandoned the stage, and the hundred or so hardy souls that had remained moved to the tent behind the stage for an unplugged performance by the remaining performers. I saw just a bit of Chris Smither perform.

Well, damn the weather! Though in some ways it was kind of appropriate; a little Club Passim annex set up on the common.

I Keep Losing Things

...and then it takes a month or so to find them again...

Just re-found the Clapton UnPlugged Sheet Music book that I'd been looking for the last two months. There's several great songs on thereI want to learn...

Just have to get around to it before I lose the book again...

Living Legends Award Concert

Cool concert on Friday night. I was volunteering for part of the show so mainly saw the second half. Richard Thomspon was in fine form (someone called out for "Wheel of Death" and he said that was a fine request, and if he had time he'd do it; but he didn't...[damn]) He was playing with Danny Thomas (I think his name was) playing double bass. Sounded like the word of God...

As usual, he played one really funny song, which I think was titled I want a girl with Brains or something like that, filled with dreadful rhymes and it went on for many many versus, but the crowd ate it up.

David Grisman played with Old School Freight Train, which is actually a bunch of young guys who play old-time music.

Then Alison Krauss & Union Station closed up the night. The show ran late, but it was a good time.

Professional Performer Tip #1

After the show - as we were tidying up - I saw one member of Old School Frieght Train carefully folding up the shirt that he'd worn for the show and putting it into his backpack. I was tempted to ask how many shows you can go without washing a shirt...

In a similar vein, here's a tip from Howie Day; To survive on the road, pack "Febreze. You can do all your laundry -- just spray your clothes with Febreze"

47x47, A Retrospective

Last night was the 47x47, A Retrospective part of the festivities celebrating the 47th anniversary of Club Passim.

Hosted by Tom Rush, the concert featured performances from Tom, Lori McKenna, Ellis Paul, Catie Curtis, Dr. Al Kooper & the Funky Faculty, the Silver Leaf Gospel Singers and Sarah Borges. Held at Saunders Theatre, it was a surprise that the show wasn't sold out, though perhaps this was partly because a second show is being held tonight; the Living Legends Award Concert which will feature Alison Krauss & Union Staion, Richard Thompson, David Grisman & Old School Freight Train and others. That show is sold out.

The Silver Leaf Gospel Singers were amazing; they have been going for close to 60 years, and the leader of the group is 84! They sounded great and really got the stiff New England crowd on their feet! I think being active keeps you young.

Or as Tom Rush later said, just because you grow old doesn't mean you can't be immature.

Tired from too much work I didn't stay to the end, but what I saw was awesome, and I'm looking forward to tonights show.

Jammin

Daivd and I worked on a few songs last night. Spent a fair amount of time on Wall of Death, which is a Richard Thompson song. REM covered it on the Richard Thompson tribute album Beat The Retreat. That album is out of print and I haven't found REM's version on any other album, so I bought a used copy of the CD through Amazon.

Anyway, it's a pretty easy song to play, though we are futzing with some of the chords at the beginning...

We also worked on Bob Dylan's Abandoned Love, which is an interesting song. I guess there are two recordings of it; one on an album that isn't very good, and the other is a live recording that appears on a bootleg. The latter is the version to listen to.

Some notes:

The first known recording is from the Other End club, New York, 3 July 1975. Dylan performed back-up for Jack Elliott on two songs (Pretty Boy Floyd/How long) then performed Abandoned Love, solo, a song which Clinton Heylin says (in Stolen Moments) he probably wrote that week.

I found this post on the net from Joe Kivak:

I agree with this as i was at that show an i was the one who taped it. I was sitting right under Dylan. At my table was Paul Siebel, Larry Estridge & Mayer Vishner. I can never forget the power that came out of every line in that song. Every line was better that the last one...It was an amazing moment that will stay with everyone who was in that room the rest of our lives.

When Dylan came up he was very nervous an for the first 2 songs he had the capo on the guitar crooked an it was buzzing the strings but he never noticed. He nervous an shy. Then after the second song (which Dylan never sang on,near the end of the song Jack looked at Dylan to sing a verse an Dylan shook his head no an then the song ended) For the first 2 songs they where both sitting down. Then Dylan asked Jack if he could use his guitar ("Can I Use Yours?"). An they switched guitars..An Dylan stood up for the next song an Jack diddent know what was coming an was gonna play with Dylan..But once Dylan started the song Jack moved to the back and just listened, Amazed like everyone else..And after Dylan sat down Jack started to do his next song an then realized he had the other guitar..That's how much in awe he was at what he just heard. Dylan had just out of nowhere blew everyone away with this song an then walks off an sits back down. An now its up to Jack who like ever one else couldent believe what he just heard.

After the show was over we took the tape up to WBAI where Mayer Vishner was doing a show an played at about 4 in the morning.. Then the sun came up an it was now the 4th of July... A night i'll never forget.

Like A Rolling Stone

Ron Wood quoted in Guitar World magazine:

"We were doing drugs in the dressing room [at a concert in the early '80s]. Suddenly the tour manager stuck his head around the door and said, 'The police are here!' We all panicked and threw our drugs in the toilet. Then Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland walked in."

One Of Those Things

You know the nightmare; the one where the class is having an exam, but you don’t know where the classroom is, what the test is on, or even what the subject of the class is.

All you know is that you’re going to fail miserably.

I kind of had one of those moments last night when I took a Dobro/lap-style guitar class with Stacy Phillips last night. I’d taken a class a few months ago, but hadn’t touched the damn thing in two months. You might get away with that if everyone else is just starting out, but it turned out that the other eight or so participants already knew their way around the guitar. Geez, I wasn’t even in the right tuning.

On the other hand, it wasn’t a complete disaster; I actually picked up some stuff along the way (though it was far to fast for anything to really sink in as we rushed on to the next part and I’d forgotten the part we just did.)

Fortunately I recorded the event (using the Marantz; which records about 4 hours on a 256MB CompactFlash card using MP3 format) and I have tabs for one of the songs and he promised to send tabs for the other three he covered, so with a bit of diligence, I should be able to find my way through these.

Really, if you can record the session, and get tabs, then it doesn’t matter how fast things go as you can go back and absorb it all at your own pace.

He kept asking if I had any questions. The only problem was, I had so many it was impossible to know where to start.

Edirol R1

Edirol R1

While I recently bought the Marantz PMD660, a friend bought the Edirol R1. He actually ordered his months ago when it was first announced, and it then took months to be delivered. I don't know when the PMD660 was announced, but by happenstance we both took delivery of these solid state recorders within about two weeks of each other.

They are somewhat similar in functionality and application, yet they are also very different. The R1 is much smaller (though not as small as my Sharp mini-disc recorder) and records at 16 or 24 bit, while the PMD660 only records at 16 bit. On the other hand, the construction of the Marantz appears to be a little more solid, it has XLR connections (and phantom power) and separate level meters.

Both also have built-in microphones; that's right, two for stereo recording, though given the mics are only two or three inches apart, you aren't going to get great stereo separation!

My friend used the Edirol to record a recent concert using the built-in mics and was impressed with the quality of the recording. It certainly didn't seem too bad given the situation.

I think the big question is how important the 24bit recording is to you. If it wasn't for that option, I don't think I'd consider the R1.

Accessories

Shubb GS

Bought a couple of accessories today for the class on Monday (hey, if you can't practice, buy an accessory, right?) Bought a new steel, a Shubb GS, because the one I have at the moment I find rather slippery and difficult to keep a hold of. I thought the wooden handle on this might make it easier to use.

Also bought a Beard capo for use on the lap guitar (a capo on a lap guitar is very different from the kind used with arm-pit guitars...)

Lap Style

A couple of months ago I took a lap-style guitar class. I got quite excited about the whole thing (I even practiced!)

Lap-style – sometimes erroneously called Dobro, through a Dobro guitar doesn’t have to be played lap-style – makes for an interesting counter-point to regular acoustic guitar playing. It’s kind of similar but very different; both in the way you play, as well as the sound you get out of the thing.

Anyway, I took the class, and then…well a month has gone by and I haven’t done anything.

Now there’s a one evening clinic being help at my local guitar store next week. I hummed and hawed about going, but finally decided that I really should do it if I want to keep this up.

Of course, this means that I should practice before then…

Lego Harpsichord

From the "what will they think of next" department:

With the exception of the wire strings, this instrument is entirely constructed out of LEGO parts--the keyboard, jacks, jack rack, jack rail, plectra, soundboard, bridge, hitch pins, tuning pins, wrestplank, nut, case, legs, lid, lid stick, and music stand are all built out of interlocking ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene) plastic bricks and related pieces.

And is playable.

You can see pictures and hear an mp3 file at this site.

The Dreaded F-Chord

Someone posted on an online forum that they were having trouble learning the F-chord and this was my answer to them:

Here's some things that really helped me:

1) If you aren't using them at the moment, try putting light strings on your guitar. It will make it easier while you are practicing.

2) Rather than practice at the end of the neck, try doing the F-chord shape further up the neck (like at fret 5, which is actually an 'A' chord.) You'll find it a lot easier to do the F-chord shape there.

3) By making it easier to practice the barre chord, the more you'll do it. The more you do it, the sooner your hand will a) do it properly, and b) you'll get faster at getting your fingers into the right position.

4) A great song to practice with is Psycho Killer (Talking Heads) but play the A and G chords as barre chords up the neck (A is an F chord shape at fifth fret and G is an F chord shape at third fret, and the first part of the song is A-G-F!) There's Bm further on, but don't worry about that!

And don't be surprised if it takes you a few months to really get good at it...that's what it takes!

Good Practice, Bad Practice

The problem with practicing is that you have to do it regularly. Better to do a little every night than do two hours once a week or so.

The other problem is that there is good practicing, and bad practicing.

Bad Practicing is getting out the guitar and playing a medley of the tunes you know best; all four of them.

While it’s good from the point of view of keeping your muscle memory up (so at least a year from now you might still be able to play them) you aren’t really learning anything.

Good Practicing is taking a song you don’t know, or a riff you haven’t mastered, breaking it down into manageable bits, then starting out slow and l-e-a-r-n-i-n-g how to play it. This requires both patience, and the application of some brian power.

It’s the only way to get any better.


Damn, it’s hard to keep up with though.

The Story So Far: Part I

...as a kid I took piano lessons for about a year. Maybe more, maybe less; since I didn't like practicing, the total time is immaterial. I can still play chopsticks, but other than that it's all gone

Fast forward several years and I'm not too sure how I got the idea in my head, but I decided I wanted to learn how to play guitar. I was living in Somerville at the time, and there was a guitar store on Mass Ave and I went in and looked around, and the guy there showed me a Yamaha acoustic that wasn't too expensive. He played Blackbird for me - I guess he knew I was a Beatles fan - and it clinched the deal.

After spending some time with several self-teaching books that got me a few chords and not much else, I signed up for a class at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education, taught by Chris Breen.

There were about eight of us, and we sat in a circle and played along with Chris. It was a little intimidating, but fortunately we played together, rather than individually.

Chris had a great handbook he'd put together of easy to play songs, running from simple chords, to tabs for a few songs.

One of them was Blackbird...

After about six months, I had Blackbird down pretty good, and a few other bits and pieces. The F-chord was still a struggle.

But then two moves, a succession of job changes, and other things got in the way, and I pretty much didn't touch the guitar for seven years...

Vermont Diary Part 2

The rest of the weekend goes well...despite the food poisoning.
* * * *
I was, it appears, a week early. It seems that next weekend Peter & April’s neighbor has an exhibition, or an installation, or something, featuring various musical instrument constructions. We wandered over and saw one device under construction; it looked like something they use to draw lotto numbers. There were two large wooden cylinders, which will be painted with strips of different colors, then you spin the cylinders and hold up some kind of sensor and the pattern of the rotating colors causes different sounds to be generated.

I think.
* * * *
Get a few middle aged people together on a saturday evening, add a little tequila, and they start talking about rock and roll and the concerts they went to in their youth. These are the kind of stories that - if you have your own children - make you think ‘I’m never letting my kid go to a concert.’
* * * *
Peter asks me if I’ve heard of Howie Day. “I told you about him last time I was here!” I say.

“Oh, yeah.”

Peter is always asking me about what I am listening to. He had just ordered and received Australia and Stop All The World Now, but I suggested he should get the Madrigals EP as it has a DVD.

“I don’t like music videos.”

“Yeah, but you see how he creates these songs using a sampler and layering over different riffs and things. It’s really cool.”

“Okay.”

He then gives me a Guster DVD that he got by mistake; he thought he was getting the CD and DVD combined. He likes Guster, but for some reason he finds he can’t watch them playing. The lead singer isn’t much to look at.... ???
* * * *
Somehow the subject of ‘What was the first concert you attended?’ comes up, and I realize I have no idea.

I don’t really even have an inkling. In a way, it's kind of disappointing not being able to remember

It might have been Elton John in Sydney, but I’m not sure of it.

Vermont Diary Part 1

Lured to visit my friend’s Peter & April on the pretense of going to a concert by a lap-style guitar performer (which, after some consideration, we decided to skip) I find myself in Vermont Friday night doing Karaoke Revolution.
I hate Karaoke.

But Peter wants to play, so here we are.

Karaoke Revolution has this interesting thing that ‘rates’ your singing; it shows the words, along with a bar that goes up and down to match the changing notes the singer is supposed to sing. A little arrow represents your singing, and it can be above, below, or on the line. It seems to be based purely on whether you are making a noise that matches the expected tone at the expected time. So if you can grunt in key, you can do quite well even if you don’t know the words.

I don’t do too badly with Sweet Home Alabama, but I crash and burn on It’s The End of The World As We Know It. Of course, that song is damn hard to sing (just try it!) But then I don’t do much better on the next song I choose (the title of which, now eludes me.)

As you perform, the software rates your performance as Good, Poor or Lousy. A succession of lousy’s and the crowd starts to boo and walk away. Do really badly and your avatar collapses in dejection and a ‘Song Failure’ message appears. Talk about rejection.

I don’t know that this will help much with stage fright.

April creams both of us, getting through all three of her songs successfully and consistently scoring well. Peter and I do okay on one song each but don’t manage to complete the next too. I was doing pretty badly on the second one when Peter observed “Maybe we should switch to the easy mode,” at which point we all burst into laughter and I was hosed.

I partly blame the poor song choices; I'm just not doing Like A Virgin, sorry.

Seen & Heard In Harvard Sq

Two guys playing guitar on the corner. One is playing acoustic; he’s tall with long straggly hair. The other is shorter, playing an electric archtop and looks like Mikey from American Chopper. They’re enthusiastic, but it doesn’t make me want to stop and listen...
* * * *
Another two guys, also working the public, but they do it by advancing up the street side-by-side with paper cups in their hands and vigorously asking for money. I’m walking behind them in the same direction and try and slip by one of them and the other rounds on me and yells “Hey! Where you going? Got some spare change?!”

I say ‘No’ and walk faster.
* * * *
The Harvard Bookstore has “Guitar: An American Life” in stock, but they want $24 dollars (full list.) Amazon sells it for $16.32. Mental calculations ensue. Do I want the book now, or do I wait and get it next week? Since I’m going away for the weekend I decide to buy it.
* * * *
Pass the two guys again. The acoustic guy starts playing a riff that sounds a lot like Ants Marching, and I keep walking, but it somehow turns into House of the Rising Sun.
* * * *
The mice at Passim are getting brazen. Hanging out in the back with Jim, the other volunteer, I see one under one of the tables, seemingly unconcerned that there’s a concert going on around him. I tell Jim, “if that runs up my leg I’m gonna scream like a girl and run right out of here.”
* * * *
Pierce Pettis plays. Singer songwriter with a warm sense of humor. Plays an inspired cover of Dylan’s Down in the flood and breaks two guitar strings in the process.

Tell’s how Garth Brooks covered one of his songs, and how unnerving it can be to hear a familiar voice singing ‘oh so familiar words.’

“And then the big checks start coming in,” he continues. “and we go from renting to paying a mortgage. We went from nothing man, and now we owe thousands.”

He allows that musicians are kind of like outlaws, and that they think of themselves as “getting away with something. We get to sleep late, and people actually pay us to do what we love.”

Guitar: An American Life

A book I haven't read yet, but looks interesting is Guitar: An American Life by Tim Brookes.

The publisher's site is a pain to navigate and link to (hence the link to Amazon) but here's the blurb on the book:

Shortly before his fiftieth birthday, baggage handlers destroy Tim Brookes's guitar, his twenty-two-year-old traveling companion. His wife promises to replace it with the guitar of his dreams, but Tim discovers that a dream guitar is built, not bought. He sets out to find someone to make him the perfect guitar-a quest that ends up a dirt road in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

As Brookes awaits his dream instrument, he explores the guitar's mystique: freedom, the open road, protest and rebellion, the blues, youth, lost love, and sexuality. Arriving with conquistadors and the colonists, the guitar found itself in an extraordinary variety of hands: those of miners and society ladies, lumberjacks and presidents' wives, Hawaiians, African-Americans, Cajuns, jazz players, spiritualists, singing cowboys of the silver screen, and Beatles fans. In time it has become America's instrument, the rhythm of its soundtrack.

With adoration, Brookes tries to unravel the symbolic associations a guitar holds for so many of us, musicians and non-musicians alike. His quest takes him across the country, talking to historians, curators, and guitar makers including the amiable curmudgeon master-guitar-maker, Rick Davis, who takes a rare piece of cherry wood and creates Brookes' new companion.

Dinner Conversation

Went to dinner last night with people from an agency I do work for. It was an interesting mix of tech people, media designers, and project management staff. Just before dinner the conversation turned to medical operations and whether anyone had ‘sat in’ on one. I had worked on a project involving surgery video, and I described integrating the video into the project while avoiding looking at the video.

The good story was from the person that had witnessed a heart operation. The heart for the transplant arrived frozen (or seriously cooled) and was placed on a table to warm up. He described his shock, when after a little while; it started to beat on its own…

Later on the conversation at the other end of the table (it’s always frustrating when an interesting conversation starts at the other end of the table) turned to music and whether anyone played or was into music.

This was started by the senior partner who, it turned out, plays guitar and is into folk music. One of the techies plays flamenco guitar and talked about learning that style and how it was mainly passed from one player to another, rather than from reading tabs or music.

I admitted to playing guitar and when asked what kind of music, spent several seconds trying to come up with a coherent answer.

Another person was then asked whether he was into music and he said ‘No, I don’t play an instrument.’

There was a long pause and then he added; “but, I was the lead singer in a heavy metal band once.”

How Many Guitarists Does It Take To...

Q: How many guitarists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: Dude, the talent doesn't do lights!

Didn't Win...

...the Taylor T5 they were giving away. :(

Tuning Your Guitar: Method 1

Extract From: "THE GUILD OF AMERICAN LUTHIERS data sheet #45"

Tuning the 1st and 6th strings: The E, open 1st string, must be in pure unison with the harmonic of the E, 6th string at the fifth fret. When these two strings have been properly tuned with each other, continue as follows. Tuning the 4th string: Play a harmonic on the (in tune) 6th string at twelve, and as this harmonic sounds, adjust the 4th string until the tone E on the second fret is in pure unison. Now you have the E, open 1st string, 1st on the 4th string at two, and E, open 6th string tuned pure (permissible because they are octaves).

Tuning the 2nd string: Play a harmonic on the (in tune) 4th string at twelve. As this sounds, adjust the 2nd string until D at the third fret is in pure unison. As you have used two fretted tones for references and as the frets are positioned for tempered intervals, you now have the open 1st, 2nd 4th and 6th strings in tempered tuning.

Tuning the 3rd string: As it is easier to adjust a string while listening to a continuous reference tone, you may first try the following: Play a harmonic on the (in tune) 4th string at twelve and as this sounds, adjust the 3rd string until D at the 7th fret is in pure unison.

Double check: Now make this check to see if you have been accurate or if the instrument plays tune when fretted at seven. Play a harmonic on the (now tuned) G string at twelve, and as this tone sounds, play G on the 1st string at three. The two tones should be in pure unison. If they are not, either you are at fault or the instrument doesn't fret tune at seven. Go back to the beginning and carefully check each step up to this point. If the tones are still faulty, then readjust the 3rd string until the harmonic at twelve is in unison with the 1st at three. Do not tamper with the 1st and 4th strings because it is the 3rd string you are trying to bring in tune. When you have the 1st, 6th, 4th, 2nd and 3rd strings in tune, in that order, continue with the remaining 5th string.

Tuning the 5th string: Play the tone A on the (in tune) 3rd string, at the second fret. Listen to this pitch carefully and now adjust the 5th string until the harmonic at twelve is in pure unison. When the foregoing steps are followed correctly, the strings will be tuned perfectly to equal temperament. No further tuning adjustments are permissible.

The complete document can be found here.

Tuning Your Guitar: Method 2

Intellitouch PT1

1. Attach the PT1 to the instrument
2. Pluck string
3. Adjust tuner until all arrows on both sides of the note are displayed (see illustration)
4. Repeat

Close enough.

The Taylor's Are In

Taylor T5
Originally uploaded by mchgtr.

Having called and discovered that Guitar Center in Boston actually had three Taylor T5’s in stock, I kind of felt compelled to go and check them out.

So after work, I took a trip down town; fortunately, Guitar Center has it’s own parking lot, so going there isn’t the major aggravation that you have to endure going to most other places in the city.

The first question was; where would they be? I went to the high-end acoustic room (where the other Taylor’s are displayed) but found no sign of them. I then spent about ten minutes or more wondering around trying to find the damn things. I could have asked someone - I was just about to when I did find them - but I hate to talk to salesman unless I absolutely have to. You know; you don’t want them to think you might be interested in something; it gives them an unfair advantage.

Well, it turned out they were hanging on the wall right where you come into the store. I hadn’t noticed them. In my own defense, they were way up high, and easy to miss; they looked kind of like the other electric guitars...

Next shock; the price. They had a black one, a red sunburst maple one, and a koa top model. Now I’d checked the prices before going and found suggested list prices of: $2598 through $3498 (depending upon model.) Usually, you can pay about 70% of list (even less for mail order), which translates to $1818 for the base model. Guitar Center was asking $1999. You could probably haggle (but I hate doing that.)

Since I’m not 10 feet tall, I had to ask one of the salesman to get the guitar down for me. And also ask if I could plug it in. He asked if I wanted to plug it into an electric guitar amp or an acoustic guitar amp. I said I had no idea, but we ended up going into the acoustic room.

Unfortunately, two guys were already there with another T5, playing their complete repertoire of Dave Matthew’s songs to impress their girlfriends, who they’d brought along for some unknown reason. The girls pretended to be interested. I pretended to be interested, but it made it damn hard to hear what the guitar I was holding sounded like.

Things I noted: They’re thin and fairly light. The neck feels very like a Taylor acoustic guitar. There’s two neck strap buttons on the bottom (no idea why.) There’s a large plastic cover over a cut-out in the middle of the back (something to do with the pick-up the salesman said.) There’s also a socket on the back under the neck joint with a screw that takes an allen key that I take it is for adjusting the neck. I didn’t try it.

If you look through the top f-hole (when holding it to play it) you can see a small Taylor label. I wonder how they got that in there?

The salesman said that they had only opened them up after the store closed the day before; which seemed wrong as I thought May 1st was the first day they could sell them. I wondered if he was mistaken, but I didn’t press it.

As expected, they aren’t very loud when played unplugged. Didn’t sound too bad, but they were very soft. There’s three pick-ups; one under the bridge, a humbucker under the strings, and something under the neck, and a five-way switch for picking between them. I played it a little bit plugged in and I didn’t notice a hell of a lot of difference between the five settings; but then I’m not an electric player, didn’t have it plugged into an electric amp, didn’t have it cranked up, and didn’t really know what I was doing, so I can’t really judge the damn thing.

And besides, the Dave Matthew’s concert was still going full steam.

In the end - and this wasn’t a surprise - I decided that I didn’t need one. I don’t play electric - heavy duty for me is a few Blues tunes - and I don’t think I’m the intended audience, and that’s cool.

Actually, it’s kind of a relief; I don’t think I can afford a new guitar right now!

Bad Call...

Damn! Usually I hate calling places. You'd think there'd be no big deal; they don't know you, so why not just call and ask if they have the XYZ spigot in stock, rather than hop in the car, drive half an hour, and then spend 20 minutes searching the store shelves?

But no; I'll drive rather than call. I don't know why, just an odd phone aversion I guess.

Anyway, figuring that there was no way that Guitar Center would actually have a T5 (and it would make a good blog entry) I gave the local store a call...

They have 3 in stock!!!

Damn!

Now I have to decide if I want to go take a look at them...

I Was Going To...But I Didn't

The Taylor T5 was supposed to be available at Guitar Center yesterday. I had planned to make a trip down to see what they were like, but work got in the way.

I hate work...but then, how else could I afford to buy one?

So I was going to go today, but after seeing a couple of postings about other Guitar Centers selling their two guitars almost immediately, it occurs to me that there probably won't be anything to see at Guitar Center.

I guess I could call and ask...

Or just assume that they don't have any and not go. That way I avoid the risk of wanting to buy one.

Diddie Wah Diddie

By: Blind Arthur Blake

There's a great big mystery,
and it sure is worrying me
This Diddie Wah Diddie
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
I wish somebody would tell me what
Diddie Wah Diddie means

A little girl about four feet four,
go on papa and give me some more,
of your Diddie Wah Diddie,
your Diddie Wah Diddie
I wish somebody would tell me what
Diddie Wah Diddie means

I went out and walked around,
somebody yells, "Hey look who's in town"
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
I wish somebody would tell me what
Diddie Wah Diddie means

Went to church, put my hand on the seat,
lady sat on it said,
"Daddy, you sure is sweet"
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
I wish somebody would tell me what
Diddie Wah Diddie means

I said, "Sister, I'll soon be gone,
just gimme that thing you sitting on"
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
I wish somebody would tell me what
Diddie Wah Diddie means

Then I got put out of church,
'cause I talk about
Diddie Wah Diddie too much
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
Mister Diddie Wah Diddie
I wish somebody would tell me what
Diddie Wah Diddie means

Recorded by Blind Blake in 1929. Ry Cooder covered it on the album Paradise and Lunch (though it's titled Ditty Wah Ditty on that album.)

A transcription can be found in the June issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.

Taylor T5 Released

Taylor has officially released the Taylor T5 on their web site. Maybe I'll go to Guitar Center today and see if they have one...