A Monk's Musical Musings

Encore Transcription Milestone: All of My Pieces Entered w/Fingerings

2009-12-01T19:27:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm entering every piece in my set into Encore so I'll have Encore files, MIDI files, and MIDI to M4A files of every piece in my set. That way, I'll be able to practice along with MIDI files versus just a metronome while reading the music. This will greatly facilitate memorization as well as precision execution of the music.

Well, I've chosen the path of least resistance: First I transcribed all of the preludes in my set, because I had old PDF's of those, and every suite in my set begins with one of my Figuration Preludes (That was 13 pieces, right there), and then I did all of my Axial Studies, since the second piece in most of the suites are Axial Studies (That's another 18 pieces), then the rest of my miscellaneous pieces (Another 12 pieces), so I've completed Urtext and Fingering versions of 43 pieces (86 files total). Whew!

Next, I'm going to transcribe all of the standard repertoire classical pieces I play - Urtext and fingered versions - and then I'll do the contemporary pieces, both versions, as well. After all of the pieces are entered, I'll go back and create a third version of each with the string and position indications, and finally I'll add the performance indications and expressions. So eventually, there will be four versions of each, for a total of over 250 Encore files!

I haven't been so absorbed by a project since I finished composing my first guitar sonata at the end of 2007.

Encore 5 renders absolutely gorgeous PDF files:

This is a 700 pixel wide maximum resolution JPG screen cap I did. For the original PDF, look here. If you have a wide screen monitor like my 23" Cinema HD Display, you can fill the screen up with your browser and the resolution will still be perfect. That's pretty amazing. Encore 4 was not WYSIWYG, so what you ended up with was a bit of a guestimation, but Encore 5 is WYSIWYG, so what I see in the application window is exactly how the PDF turns out. Infinitely superior.

As I do each version, I'm tweaking things like measure widths and note placement, so for the third and fourth versions, I'll tweak the fingering indication placements. This is a great way to work, as each version gets better, and the final ought to be close enough to perfect for even me.

I believe I'll relax with some beers and watch DVD's tonight... which reminds me, Terminator: Salvation, The Director's Cut is available now. I'm ordering it!

It's been a while since we had a redhead.

Mega-Project: Transcribing My Entire Set into Encore

2009-11-23T17:27:00.000-06:00

Five years ago this September just passed, after seven years away from the guitar, I decided to pick it up again with the idea that I'd prefer making less money performing and teaching, than making lots of it and just composing on the side. Since I found myself at 45 with no wife, kids, pets, or girlfriends, why not? My goal was very specific - get 3.5 hours of music memorized so that I could perform a four hour gig with a 30 minute break - and I didn't want to waste any time on anything that wouldn't get me to that goal.

Well, there aren't any books on how to do this, so I was on my own, which is fine by me. I knew I could figure it out by experimentation, and I had many years of playing under my belt previously, so I just went to it. The first thing I did was to re-memorize all of my own compositions for solo guitar, which number over 40 now, and while I was doing that, I broke the monotony by re-memorizing all of the classical standards I'd known previously. All I was doing was memorizing and playing the music, nothing else: No exercises, no scales, nothing.

I took my first gig exactly six months after I got started with the project, which was probably too soon, but it was a friend's art opening, so it was a zero-pressure first gig. A month later, I took my first restaurant background music gig, and did that for a few months and got comfortable in front of an audience again.

Then I got the idea to re-learn some more contemporary pieces that I used to play on steel string, as well as to make my own arrangements of other "crowd pleasers," to broaden my appeal and increase my marketability. Within two years after I started, I was getting into some complex syncopated stuff, so I realized I'd have to do more than just memorize and play the tunes, I'd have to practice them slowly with a metronome as well. That's when I first got back into some technical work.

I realized at that point that I'd learned too much music too fast, and in a haphazard manner, so I eventually had some memory failures and had to go back and re-learn sections. As my set got larger and larger, this started to happen more and more, and I was unable to memorize new pieces as fast as before. So, I started getting my practice routine more and more organized and efficient, and I also got to the point where I realized I needed some regular scale practice to improve my right hand accuracy for some pieces, so I added that in too.

Well, by the end of last year, when I moved, I had over 60 pieces memorized, so my pace was more than one per month, but I was constantly consulting many different sources - books, compilations, &c. - when I wanted to refresh my memory on some pieces. Then it hit me: I should put every piece in my set into Encore so that I have everything in my four computers - two laptops and two desktops - and can access them at any time whether I'm home or on the road.

Of course, as I got more and more into the contemporary crowd pleaser thing, I was putting my arrangements into Encore anyway, but when I actually looked at my set, I was amazed by how many of the pieces existed only in my memory: Stairway to Heaven, Classical Gas, Desert Song, and Spanish Fly. I actually learned Desert Song from an ASCII TAB I found online.

Needless to say, I can't do anything half way, and so I decided to make fresh copies of all of my own pieces as well. Some of those files date from the late 90's, and Encore has been through several major revisions since then, so some corruptions have crept into the files as the program's parameters have been redefined (Especially as regards to MIDI playback). By doing this from scratch - as a virtuoso Encore user now - I can finally get all of my music into a publishable form. I actually have some guitarist friends bugging me to do this now, so there you have it: I'm making fresh files of over 70 pieces of music.

I'm doing several stages of each as well: An Urtext version of the notation only, a second version with the notation and r/l hand fingerings, a third version that ads the position and string indications, and then a fourth and final version with expressions. This is a monumental task that will take months, but at the end of it I will have rebuilt my set from the beginning better than ever, and when I do metronome practice I'll be able to play along with the MIDI file. I actually exclaimed, "Woah!" when that realization hit me.

So, the technology that I've picked up gradually over the past years is now going to be completely involved in my new practice method, just as it has been in my composition method for many years. And, I might add, when I decided to master counterpoint back in 1986, it took me exactly seven years to get to what I considered a virtuoso level with it: I could compose a J.S. Bach Art of Fugue style piece by 1993. When I got to that point, by the way, was when I was using my first version of Encore. Well, I figure two more years and I'll consider myself a virtuoso performer as well. It's a good feeling, because I now know and have control of all of the elements I have to master to accomplish my original goal: To have 3.5 hours of music residing perfectly in my memory, and the ability to efficiently maintain that, and to be able to play it all with a solid level of technical mastery.

BTW: I've worn out my old Kensington Orbit Optical Trackball, and so I've had to replace it.

I've used trackballs exclusively since 1993, when I got my first version of Encore and was trying to enter notation with a mouse. Total insanity. I had an early Logitech then, and got an Orbit mechanical version when I switched to Macs, but this is the best trackball ever made for music notation entry. You don't need a dozen little buttons, just two big ones, and it fits my hand perfectly. Plus, the optical tracking with the Mouseworks utility software is adjustable to an amazing level of fineness, all very intuitively. The old one on the left lasted about four years. You can see that the paint has been worn off by my fingers! Eventually, the clicking got spotty, so it had to go. Not bad for a device that costs less than $25.00! yes, I've tried more expensive ones. They suck because there are too many buttons and they are too small. This is the most perfect trackball ever made, IMO.

Georgia agrees.

As of now, I've completed the Urtext and Fingering versions for 31 pieces, so I'm ripping through it, but after I have all of the first two versions in for all of the pieces, I'll go back and do the final two versions for each piece. What I'm doing is, I'm reading the music as I practice for the completed pieces as I go through my four-day practice routine, and each time through I'm adding the new ones I complete. I really only need the fingerings, so that's why I'm not worrying about the position and string indicators or the expressions at this time. Of course, I'm also catching and correcting errors. I found a notation error in a fifteen year old piece the other day! Fingering errors I can understand, but how that wrong note survived for so long is beyond me. By the time I get the music entered, I will have re-memorized my entire set. Tres cool, non?

One of the readers I communicalte with via email set me a missive the other day with the title, define: virtuoso. That's what I'm working on for my next post.

Last Word on the Blackbird Rider and ErgoPlay (Promise!)

2009-11-13T02:27:00.000-06:00

A quick look at the sidebar, "Hucbald Endorses" section will tell regular readers all they need to know: I have deleted Godin and added Blackbird.

As far as the guitar support - and playing the Rider Nylon while seated without one is virtually impossible - I first tried the regular sized model and found that the Rider's sound chamber was too shallow for both front suction cups to adhere. Then, I got the idea to try the "Kid Size" unit and it worked much better, since both front suction cups stuck, but the shorter frame, though seemingly inconsequential, made more difference than I though it would.

Well, while I was looking at the two units, I thought, "Hey, there's nothing keeping me from putting the "Kid Size" front slider piece on the adult sized frame!" So, that's what I did.

The "Kid Size" slider piece is dark blue, and the regular frame is black, so they don't match, but the difference is subtle enough that I don't really care. The main thing is that it works perfectly, and I'm a ruthless perfectionist... If you don't believe me, I can get you in contact with my ex-wife. LOL!

Of course, most people wouldn't spend almost $80.00 to get this setup, but since I am a perfectionist, I bought two of each size so both of my guitars feel the same. Yeah, my gear addiction factored into the divorce too, I'm sure. LOL!

My roving eye probably factored in there somewhere as well.

Going "All In" With the Blackbird Rider Nylon/RMC

2009-11-02T19:27:00.001-06:00

This is an interesting moment for me - probably of no interest at all to others, however - because after exactly thirty years of experience with electric nylon string guitars, I've finally found one that is above the magical (to me) 90% satisfaction point. If you've hit this blog in the past month, you know that the guitar in question is, the Blackbird Rider Nylon with the optional RMC Polydrive II hexaphonic pickup system (Which is Roland 13-pin synth compatible).

In the beginning, I tried one of the first Ovation nylon string guitars that could be amplified back in 1979. I didn't like it at all, but I was admittedly ignorant about how to amplify a nylon string: I plugged it into my MESA/Boogie Mk I and couldn't understand why the tone sucked and there was monstrous feedback. LOL! That was the last time I tried an electric nylon string for ten years.

Then in 1989 I decided to try again with the Gibson Chet Atkins CE and CEC guitars. I had put my rock band days behind me by this time, and was playing only solo acoustic nylon string. I'm just not an acoustic guitarist, and that's all there is to it. When I quit my last rock band to go solo in 1988, I was playing a Steinberger GL2T-GR guitar through a pair of MESA/Boogie Mk III's - in stereo thanks to two 10U racks worth of gear - and a Synclavier! I got bored without my effects and synth in a hurry.

Well, I wasn't that interested in playing the Synclavier with electric nylon string guitars, but I was interested in trying to get beautiful clean sounds like I had with my high tech - for then - rock rig. I was also interested in downsizing: Hauling two Simul-Class Boogie combos, two 10U racks, and a Synclavier around - which pretty much filled up an 8' bed in my old Chevy pickup - was really, really old by this time.

The first piece of 19" rack gear I ever bought was a Lexicon PCM-41 back in 1981. Over the next 8 years I went from all pedals to all rack gear. By 1989, there was a 1U Marshall Valvestate power amp, MIDI-Verbs, and even a MESA preamp that was rack mountable, so I went that way. I did better with the Chet and that rig, but it still wasn't good enough sounding for me. I knew I was missing some essential understanding, but I also wasn't going to waste any more time on the project, because the gear wasn't up to my standards anyway.

I tried again in 1999. This time with a 6U rack with a MESA Stereo Simul-Class 2: Ninety power amp, a MESA/Boogie Tri-Axis preamp, and a then-new Lexicon MPX-G2 Guitar Effects processor (And a Furman AR-1215 with a blank vent panel), but still with the Chet. I was getting somewhere, but I was still draging around my old electric steel-string guitar mentality, especially concerning cabinets.

Then the breakthrough came in 2004: Ditch the guitar cabinets, ditch the guitar preamp, and go with a mini-PA. The Simul 2: Ninety weighed a ton and had the annoying habit of burning up tubes at the worst moment, so I replaced that with a solid state Bryston 2B-LP. The Tri-Axis was also problematic, being as it was EQ biased for steel string guitars, so I ditched that too and went to using the MPX-G2 in stand-alone mode. With the Furman and a vent panel, that got me down to a manageable 4U. I still use that rack to this day, but there's now a Behringer BTR-2000 RackTuner in the former vent space.

I was using MESA 1-10" cabinets with EV 10M's at that time, so I replaced those with a pair of Yamaha AS-108 Series II mini PA speakers. Eureka! Then the old Chet went to eBay and was replaced with a Godin Grand Concert Duet. This was the first electric nylon string rig I gigged with, starting in 2005: It was finally "good enough."

At this point, I realized that the Baggs system in the GC Duet was holding me back from getting the sound I wanted, because the sound system was working great and sounding excellent. A good friend in the guitar biz suggested I try the Grand Concert SA with the Polydrive IV. I had dismissed that option because I wasn't interested in running a synth at the time, but he said the sound was clear and neutral, so I tried it. I upgraded the Yamaha monitors to Turbosound TXD-081's, but from 2005 to 2009 that became my main gig rig.

The Godin wasn't a... "magical guitar" from a player's standpoint, so I was still in search of the primo ultimo ax. As regular readers know, I then found a Parker Nylon Fly, and spent another grand getting a Polydrive put into it. It played like a Stradivarius, but didn't have the "openness" of a semi-acoustic, so it really wasn't a viable main gig ax.

Enter the Blackbird Rider Nylon: The openness of an acoustic, the sustain of the Parker, and a playing feel right smack dab in between the Godin and the Parker. I'd say it's 92.5% of what I'm looking for. The only major technical flaw is that the fingerboard has a positive radius, whereas a classical guitar ought to have an infinite radius (It ought to be billiard-table flat, IOW). The reason this is the case is that classical guitarists make lots of big stretches, putting lateral pressure on the fretted strings. A radius makes having the high and low E strings slip off the fingerboard more likely: This is still vexatious, after a month of playing the Rider exclusively. I've gotten much better with it, but if Blackbird only flattened the fingerboard, we'd be talking about a 95% satisfaction level.

Nevertheless, I've eBayed off all of my other electric nylon string guitars to go with twin Rider Nylons.

They look identical, but they're not: The original on the right has an action 1/64" higher than a traditional Flamenco guitar, while the "new" one on the left has an action 1/64" lower than a standard Classical. I figure the higher action will give better synth tracking, but I haven't tried it out yet. The lower action tracks magnificently compared to my old Roland GR compatible axes, mind you, but I have to be easy on the dynamic range to avoid string rattle, which causes tracking errors (I like to dig in hard, though, so most probably wouldn't ever notice what I do).

Lastly, I find it interesting that my steel string electric guitar evolution started with a Gibson Les Paul - a traditional wooden electric guitar - and ended with the Steinberger GL2T-GR - so far as I know, the first composite electric guitar in history - while my nylon string evolution really started with the Gibson Chet Atkins and ended with the Rider, also a composite guitar. I've come to the conclusion that wood is bad.

BTW, I fell into the "new" one because a dealer was going out of business, so I got it cheap and had Blackbird install the Polydrive II and still saved a few hundred dollars. Somebody up there likes me.

there's the angel who likes me, right there.

Original 8GB iPhone versus 32GB iPhone 3GS

2009-10-31T11:27:00.000-05:00

I ordered my original 8GB iPhone the morning they became available to order at the online Apple Store, so I had it for nearly two and a half years. Yes, I paid $599.00 for it along with all of the other drooling early adopters, and was then offered a $100.00 Apple Store credit when they quickly lowered the price. I never took Apple up on the rebate because... well, have you ever tried to spend only $100.00 at the Apple Store?

Anyway, my iPhone was my trusty companion for two plus years, and it was going so strong that I skipped the iPhone 3G generation entirely: The battery life was still excellent, and I had very few freezes in that time: I'm guestimating maybe four freezes in two years. Shortly after the iPhone 3GS came out, however - after my warranty and contract expired, of course - the screen developed a dead band right across the second row down of app icons. Through some creative rearranging, I was able to put apps there that I didn't use, but it was still a PITA within apps when I couldn't activate certain functions that appeared within that dead band of pixels. Mind you, I could see everything, it's just that within that band, the iPhone did not respond to touch commands.

My goal was to see if I could hack it with my limping-along original iPhone until the rumored tablet device came out, but recently - within the past few weeks - the old iPhone developed truly bizarre battery life variations. Most of the time it charged up fine and worked for days, but every now and then a charge would only last for a few minutes before going dead on me. Yesterday, the iPhone woke up and went dead within seconds, and that was the last straw. So, I hopped in the old pickemup truck and drove out to The Apple Store at La Cantera. Since I live on the north-east side of San Antonio right by loop 1604, that's only about a fifteen/twenty minute drive for me.

The store was slow, as you'd expect for mid-day on a Friday, and after looking around and drooling over the new 27" iMac - for a couple of hundred dollars more than a 30" Cinema HD Display, you get the same horizontal resolution and a quad-core computer! - one of the service reps hooked me up with Amir. I chose the black model, and with his little hand-held device, he had it up and running within five minutes! That's a far cry for the three day debacle that I went through with the original iPhone: An AT&T rep had to call me back a couple of times before we got that sorted out. So, I now have four times the memory, GPS, and all of the wonderful apps that only work with 3G or 3GS iPhones available. Best of all? My entire iTunes library fits in it with much room to spare!

Oh, did I mention that it was only $299? Freaking amazing.

They look the same from the front, but they feel entirely different. The beveled edges curve back more smoothly now, giving the new phone a sexier feel. Plus, the new one has a bit more heft to it. Things must be tightly packed in there! Feels like a silver ingot, or something.

I restored the phone from a previous backup when I got home and synched it with my G5, and everything including my Jesus wallpaper came through the process perfectly. But now, like I said, it's synched with my entire iTunes library instead of just selected playlists.

The look is also sexier, and the totally smooth back also has a lot to do with the sexy feel. It's a major finger smudge magnet, though. One nice thing about being a guitarist is that I wash my hands several times a day before I play, so I don't smudge up stuff too bad, and I also hardly ever get colds or the flu (I think not having a wife and/or kids has a lot to do with that too).

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Nothing scary there. Well, scary beautiful and scary sexy, maybe.

Sonicbids is a Rip-Off

2009-10-27T08:27:00.001-05:00

Don't join Sonicbids. If you are already a member, quit now.

Like many Berklee alumni, I was offered a six month free Sonicbids membership. At the time, I really didn't know Richard Johnson about it, but I decided to try it out. Big mistake. The entire paradigm is wrong: Musicians pay to bid on gigs... as if musicians and money problems aren't already the stuff of legend. I was expecting a place to post a resume and some MP3's and have the gigs come to me - that's the way it should work - but I was expected to bid on gigs in addition to paying membership fees. I try not to swear on MMM, but that's bullshit, that's what that is.

Not wanting to go full-on and declare Sonicbids a scam, I decided to do some Google searches. There were some interesting and humorous results. Well, if you call making a business out of ripping off musicians amusing. I don't.

Well, I cancelled my account... after a couple of "Why?" and "Are you sure?" warnings I got a "Bummer" message. I thought that was the end of it, but no. They offered me a six month extension... FREE! via email. Oh, brother. So, I had to "opt out" to cancel that, and to make absolutely sure I responded to the email too, and told them I thought Sonicbids was a rip-off. I wish I was confident this will finally be the end of it, but I'm not.

Here's the shyster who runs this scam: Panos Panay. Avoid him like he has H1N1.

"Bye Sonicbids!"

ErgoPlay Solution for Blackbird Rider Nylon: "Kid Size"

2009-10-17T20:27:00.000-05:00

Just for giggles I decided to order a "Kid Size" ErgoPlay Guitar Support to see if both of the front suction cups would adhere to my Blackbird Rider Nylon guitar without it being too small to use. I figured since they are made for 3/4 size guitars, it might just work.

Not only does it work, but it works perfectly!

As you can see, both of the front suction cups adhere with only millimeters to spare. Though the Kid Size ErgoPlay is only about an inch shorter than the standard sized one, the suction cups are smaller and closer together. That's the standard size model on the floor there - only one of the front suction cups would stick with that one. Oh, and the white dust on the ax is from my acrylic nails. LOL!

Here's the front view.

With the standard unit in the foreground, you can see that, other than the cup size and spacing, there is very little difference in size. The only bummer is that the Kid Size unit is dark blue and not black, so it doesn't go with the ax quite as well. No biggie, I guess. The original unit is now my spare.

Concert Review: Kazuhito Yamashita at Northwest Hills UMC

2009-10-11T19:27:00.001-05:00

UPDATED: Scroll down for updated information.

The Austin Classical Guitar Society scored a major coup by having Kazuhito Yamashita open their 2009-2010 concert season. I have no earthly idea what Mr. Yamashita asks for in terms of compensation for such an appearance, but it must be quite a tidy sum, as the diminutive Japanese guitarist only performs a few concerts each year, and he almost never plays in the USA anymore. This was his first appearance ever in Austin, and his first concert in Texas in exactly twenty years; since the 1989 GFA in Lubbock. I also attended that concert, and my retrospective about the experience is the single most hit post in all of MMM history (And, that's over four years now).

Of course, I was very excited about the prospect of seeing Mr. Yamashita play again, but I must also admit to a bit of trepidation: How would he have changed in twenty years - two decades! - and, would I still be so impossibly wiped out by the man? Certainly, the way I listen to guitarists today is nothing like how I listened to them twenty years back. I was a thirty-one-year-old MM student back then, and I'm a jaded fifty-one-year-old performer/composer today. Seriously, I'm bored into somnolence by even great classical guitarists anymore, so would Kazuhito Yamashita still be the near singular exception?

In a word, yes.

I went for the $60.00 "preferred" ticket and arrived early enough to get a second row seat behind another Yamashita fan who I previously knew only from internet correspondence. I love it when that happens!

The first part of the program was Jr. High and High School ensembles, both of which were better than I expected, but I must admit that I just wanted to see Mr. Yamashita take the stage. When he did, he played Sonata No. 1 for solo guitar "The Blue Flower" by Keiko Fujiie, a female composer. The slightly overwrought program notes said that it was inspired by German Romanticism and dedicated to Mr. Yamashita. That's really all that needed to be said, so that's all I'll pass along.

*****

UPDATE: My friend Stephen Swender, who was the guy sitting in front of me at the concert, has reminded me that Keiko Fujiie is Kazuhito Yamashita's wife. He told me that at the concert, but I had forgotten. In this light, I'm fairly certain that the sonata amounted to at least a partial collaboration between them, which probably accounts for how well it worked. She is a keyboard player, and the guitar, as an idiom, is so restrictive that nobody who doesn't actually play the guitar can write for it to save their lives. At least, that has been my experience 100% of the time so far. Regardless, it is a wonderful piece of music and a worthy addition to the guitar's repertoire. And hey, nothing wrong with a little musical nepotism: I would if I could. LOL!

*****

Since I was completely unfamiliar with this work and the composer - and, okay, I'll admit to a little bias against female composers - I had no idea what to expect, and what expectations I did have were quite low. Well, in one respect, it was exactly what I expected: The old familiar harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic language of German Romanticism, but it wasn't overly heavy or overburdened with Sturm und Drang. It had just enough of each - weight and drama - to be effective, and man, was it a MF of technical demands. I really like this guitar sonata better than the Jose one, which has become a competition favorite. I'm sure it will be dismissed by the avant-garde crowd though, because of their prejudice against anything remotely musical or communicative, but I also expect audiences to adore it. Call me old fashioned, but I play to and for audiences... and am an audience member from time to time myself. So, my verdict on the sonata itself is, I'd give it an 8.5 out of ten (That's ridiculously generous for me).

As for Mr. Yamashita's performance, well, I need to set this up properly. The twenty-eight-year-old transcendental super-virtuoso I heard play Dvorak's 9th twenty years back is no more. Back in '89 I was so on the edge of my seat because of Mr. Yamashita's wildly abandoned - but perfectly controlled - bravura that I thought my eyeballs would melt, my eardrums cave in, and I feared for my life that the guitar would shatter into itty-bitty bits, with shards of wood and lengths of string flying off into the audience (No, that's not over the top). Last night was nothing like that... well, almost nothing like that.

Also, back in '89, Mr. Yamashita's tone was hyper-aggressive and "naily." That's changed too, and for the better. Not only that, but the young Yamashita had a dynamic range that had him over-playing the instrument to the point of string-rattle-induced distortion regularly: Really and truly, it was the loudest I had ever heard an acoustic guitar sound. Well, that has moderated too.

Now, when you combine these evolutions that Mr. Yamashita has gone through with the evolutions I've undergone, well... it was abso-fu¢k!ng-lutely pluperfectly amazing. His tone is much warmer today, and his tonal range is better than ever: He plays from a few millimeters from the bridge all the way to the middle of the fingerboard, effortlessly and with sublime interpretive appropriateness. I heard pianos, I heard harps, and I heard every kind of guitar, from steely to subdued.

He also takes chances. Lots of them. No net for this tightrope act... and it's obviously no mere act; the guy is really inside of the music and speaking out through it. Yeah, there was a consummate master of showmanship on the stage in front of me, but it was a very mature master who utilized the elements of showmanship he has so finely honed - I was reminded more than once of other Japanese art forms like Kabuki, Sumo, and the martial arts (Remember, I lived in Japan and know, love, and have experienced the culture first hand) - to bring the most out of the music and have it hit the audience with maximal impact.

With all of the chances he took with the performance, you might expect at least a few crushed notes, and I did notice a few, but I'm thinking that twenty years back my ears were not so hyper-trained and so that may be nothing new. In any event, Kazuhito Yamashita is the only completely acoustic classical guitarist I've cared about enough to actually, you know, give up a perfectly good evening of practicing, composing and/or synth programming to go out and experience for the past twenty years. That is the one thing that hasn't changed a jot or tittle.

Oh yeah, the second half of the program was Mr. Yamashita performing his transcriptions of the Bach First Cello Suite and Third Violin Sonata. As I said to my bud sitting in front of me, "I thought I was familiar with that music." Er, no. It's like he re-composed the music for ultra-virtuoso guitar. Magnificent.

Now, if I could only get him to play just the finale of my first guitar sonata. I still think he's the only guitarist alive who could pull it off.

Gotta sign off with the same anime babe too. LOL!

Yamaha FS1R: Finally, a Synth Worth Learning (Updated)

2009-10-09T21:27:00.001-05:00

UPDATE: Vintage Synth Explorer is back up today, so here are some links to the synthesizers mentioned below:

1] NED Synclavier
2] Yamaha TX816
3] Yamaha TX802
4] Yamaha TX81Z
5] Yamaha DX1
6] Yamaha FS1R

These are better than the Wikipedia articles, for the most part, though there are no external links.

As I've mentioned here previously, I was a pioneer in guitar synths and MIDI guitar back in the 80's and 90's - I was into guitar synths before MIDI was invented, actually - and the Synclavier II was the first guitar synth that interested me, because it was, IMO, a real musical instrument as opposed to a gimmick or toy. What I mean by that is, the Synclavier had enough depth that I could explore it for years and constantly have it follow me as I evolved, versus the Roland GR series synths and the like (Notably, the Arp Avatar, which ended up bankrupting the company).*

Though it cost me a fortune to get a toe in the game, $14,500.00 for an 8-voice mono guitar system, if memory serves, this turned out to be a very wise decision, as not only was I right about the Synclavier being a real musical instrument, but the combination of additive and FM synthesis in the Synclavier's voicing architecture allowed me to figure out why music works (Yes, I'm still working on the book that is outlined in the sidebar series). Not only that, but being part of an exclusive club, I got to meet a lot of interesting musicians: Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Laurie Anderson, and many more.

I got so good at programming timbres on the Synclavier, that a lot of my "imaginary instrument" and sound effects patches were actually distributed by New England Digital with the Synclavier. For an idea of where this lead me over the course of ten years, here's a 1994 Synclavier electronic music composition I did that has bunches of my sound effects in a no-holds-barred- tour de force.

Electronic Nightmare

This was my "digital calling card" whenever anyone asked what I could do with a Synclavier: It's just a 32-voice stereo FM/Additive system recorded directly into a DAT deck - no external effects at all/nothing but the Synclavier's balanced outputs into a Sony DAT recorder (Hey, that was high tech in 1994). I still hear some of these sounds and their derivatives (A timbre programmer can always tell) in sci-fi soundtracks to this day.

*Sorry for the lame Wikipedia links, but Vintage Synth Explorer was offline as of the writing of this post. For better info, look there.

*****

I have provided this background so you'll understand where I'm coming from as I get back into MIDI guitar: I have impossibly high standards, and am a ruthless perfectionist (For some reason, my perfectionism ticks off a lot of manufacturers when I point out deficiencies in their products, which is exactly the wrong response: They should hire me as a consultant! LOL!).

Back in the Synclavier era, I paired it up with a Yamaha TX-816 via MIDI when MIDI became available, because I also thought the TX-816 was a real musical instrument. It amounted to eight DX-7's in a 4U rackmount chassis, and I programmed it with a program I can't remember the name of that ran on a Commodore 64 (That program was the first primitive GUI I ever worked with, btw, because the then-new Macs were not really interesting to me... yet). So, when I began to look for a synth to get back into the game with, the TX-816 was the first thing to cross my mind. I soon ruled that out because of the size and weight of the thing, and the old memory backup batteries are no longer made, so I'd have to modify one for newer batteries or get one already modded. Nope.

Well, the later DX-7 II based TX-802 was only two spaces, had eight-part multi-timbral capabilities, and so that was a better possibility, but I really wanted a 1U devide. That left only the 4-operator TX-81Z. Not bad, but, meh. Know what I mean? It just didn't float my boat.

Well, it turns out that just after I got entirely out of the synth thing in 1997, Yamaha introduced a super-synth in a 1U chassis called the FS1R: 8 operators, like the original DX-1, real actual onboard digital effects processing, and formant sequences which are a lot like the Synclavier's timbre frames. Perfect!

Well, just try to find one. After looking at several beaters and 220v foreign units on eBay, I caught a brand new one that had never even been in a rack! Bought it immediately, so here's the newly completed guitar synth/MIDI rack:

Top to bottom: Bryston 2B-LP, Behringer BTR-2000 RackTuner, Lexicon MPX-G2, Axon AX 100 Mk II, Steinberg MIDEX 8, the Yamaha FS1R, a Behringer EuroRack RX 1602 mixer, and a Furman PS-PRO Series II power monitor. Yeah, yeah: 8U! Because re-tuning the electronic devices to the A=432Hz tuning standard I like is such a monumental PITA (Easy for the Axon, actually, but not for the Yamaha), I'm thinking about going back to A=440Hz. If I do that and put the Steinberg USB MIDI interface into another rack, I could get it down to 6U. I'll have to wait and see, but right now I need the Steinberg by the FS1R to program it, because operating from the faceplate is an exercise in self-flagellation.

*****

As with all of these Yamaha rackmount FM synths, the only practical way to program them is from a computer. Well, this being a pre-OS X device, the old Yamaha program is for OS 9. Though Unisyn will work for most features, it won't allow for editing the formant sequences, which is the most powerful feature the FS1R offers. Fortunately, a Japanese programmer and code jockey has a freeware solution for OS X that allows full control over all of the FS1R's features.

This is going to be a long term project - just like learning to play a new instrument - so I'm going to dive in and spend most of my late night and post-practice time on this. So, don't expect any test recordings anytime soon: When I get to the critical mass point, I'll record something, but not until then. First thing I need to do is, you know, figure out how to scroll through all of the unit's presets. Seriously, it is not at all obvious how you do that from the faceplate controls! LOL!

Blackbird Rider Nylon w/RMC Polydrive: Test Tracks 2&3

2009-09-29T02:07:00.000-05:00

Now we're getting somewhere. In the previous post/test track, I was using my main recording rig, which has a Lexicon Signature 284 amplifier. I've never been happy with the bass response of that amp, and the highs have always been a bit on the harsh and grating side as well. So, I got a MESA 20/20 several months ago, but with the move and all the other stuff I've been doing, this is the first time I've been able to get a chance to record with it.

Here's my backup system that's in my bedroom:

Top to bottom is the 20/20, a Behringer BTR-2000 RackTuner, another of my four Lexicon MPX-G2's, a blank vent panel, and a Furman AR-1215 line voltage regulator. Though you can't see it behind the monitor, my backup computer is a Mac G4 Cube running OS X 10.4.11 and ProTools LE 7.4. You can just see the top of the original M-Box in the lower right of the photo.

Here's Prelude No. 4 in G Major from the 24 preludes in every key for the guitar:

Prelude No. 4 in G

I had the MESA wide open: Volume and presence on max.

For the second piece I reduced the presence to 75%, and this is B-Axis Study No. 5/Axial Study No. 11 in E Major from the 18 Axial Studies I wrote, which are open string etudes. In this one, the open B string is every other note in the melody.

B-Axis Study No. % in E

This is much, much better to my ears than the recordings I've done with the Signature 284 - everything else is the same between the two systems, down to and including the EQ profiles - so I've decided to sell the Sig and replace it in the main recording rig with a MESA Stereo Simul-Class 2:Ninety power amp. It will even be better than the 20/20 because of the class A-A/B voodoo that MESA does with it, plus it has a "Deep" setting that is just earth shattering.

One thing the 20/20 is not and that is, it's not as quiet as the Sig: The noise floor is just a tad higher, but still superb for a wide-open tube amp.

I've only ever had one GF who looked that good first thing in the morning. Yummy.

Blackbird Rider Nylon w/RMC Polydrive: First Test Track

2009-09-08T04:27:00.000-05:00

I have to go to Indiana for several days, and I wanted to get a test track recorded before I left, so here it is.

Here's my main recording setup:

The preamp and effects unit I'm using is a Lexicon MPX-G2 Guitar Effects processor. 2009 marks ten years that I've been using these exclusively, and there is still nothing anywhere near as good, despite the fact that they have been discontinued for several years now. Because recording the MPX-G2 direct results in a too-clean and clinical sound, I run it into a Lexicon Signature 284 All Tube Class "A" Stereo Recording Amplifier. I bypass the Sig 284's preamp entirely by just running the MPX-G2 into the effects returns, which allows me to use the class A power section only for just the tube dimension and warmth.

The 284 has balanced recording outputs and a very low noise floor for a tube amp, so those outs go into my Digidesign Digi 002 Rack Firewire recording interface. I have a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.3GHz machine running Mac OS X 10.5.8 and I'm using the Digidesign ProTools LE version 7.4.2. it's not freakishly up to date, but more than good enough.

Unfortunately, one PITA aspect to using the Signature 284 is that the recording outputs are ungodly bright compared to the speaker outputs - and no, I don't have the bright switches depressed - so I never know exactly what I'm going to get until I play the track back. This has resulted in an initial test track that is far too bright, even for me, and so the next round I'll dial back the highs... a lot.

Nonetheless, this demo shows how incredibly finely balanced and even the Rider is, as the texture of this piece is five-part harmony (!) and every voice is perfectly clear. The Godin is clear too, but not as well balanced, and the Parker is fairly well balanced, but nowhere near as clear due to how dark the cedar sounds. The Rider really is in a class by itself.

The piece is, Prelude No. 23 in D Minor from my Twenty-Four Preludes for Solo Classic Guitar, and it's in drop-D tuning [D, A, D, G, B, E]. I wanted to record a contrapuntal piece to contrast with the prelude, but I simply ran out of time.

When I return from Indiana, I'm going to try out my new mobile recording rack, which has a MESA 20/20 class A/B tube power amp in place of the Signature 284. Though the slave outputs on the MESA are not balanced, I'm hoping they'll match the speaker outputs better. If that's the case, I'll probably sell the 284 and replace it with a MESA Stereo Simul-Class 2: Ninety power amp. If I do, it will be another fully circular evolution for me, as I sold a 2: 90 five years ago when I decided to perform with Bryston solid state amps. I always loved the 2: Ninety, but I was unwilling to risk tubes going out on me at the time - and the 2: 90 was always losing tubes at the worst possible moments - so I sold it. Oh well.

ErgoPlay Review/Further Blackbird Rider Thoughts

2009-08-23T18:27:00.000-05:00

My initial review of the Blackbird Rider Nylon is here. The Rider came with a NeckUp support - and I now now why they did that - but the ErgoPlay works much better for me.

Here's the situation in a nutshell: The NeckUp has a single large suction cup, and it fits on the Rider's shallow sound chamber, while the ErgoPlay has three smaller suction cups, only two of which will adhere due to the shallowness of said sound chamber. Nevertheless, the leather NeckUp is too flexible, and I was not able to hold the guitar securely with it, while the ErgoPlay works fine, despite the fact that the third cup does not adhere to the ax.

As you can see, from the front all looks well with the ErgoPlay.

But if you look at it from the rear view, the third cup will not stick.

This is neither the fault of Blackbird or ErgoPlay, as the Rider is simply not a traditional classical guitar, and the ErgoPlay is obviously designed for a traditional ax. A model with a single cup front and rear would be best, but it isn't strictly speaking necessary.

Since I have the oversized suction cup from the NeckUp, I'll probably just fabricate another slider piece out of sheet metal and put that one on... or not. It works fine, and as I said, it is far more stable than the NeckUp in any event.

These are just the kinds of things you deal with on the bleeding edge of technology. LOL!

*****

Now that I've played through my entire repertoire on the Rider a couple of times, I can definitively say that I love this guitar. I'm already thinking about getting a second with the RMC Triple Source Polydrive - it has the hex pickups, a condenser mic, and a ribbon transducer - and then I could sell the Godin and the Parker. That's right, sell the Godin and the Parker.

Back in the 80's when I got the Steinberger GL2T-GR to use with my Syncalvier, it totally ruined me for traditional wood electric guitars. They just felt very low tech and primitive in comparison. Well, the Rider has done exactly the same thing to me. The Godin feels positively archaic and even the classy Parker is just not in the same universe at all. This is one of those things I didn't see coming, but probably should have.

I'm currently programming my four Lexicon MPX-G2's for the Rider - I have both performance rigs and one recording rig done - and as soon as I have the sounds in the bag, I'll record some test tracks and post links to them here.

One great fringe benefit of the fact that every note on a given string sounds exactly the same with the Rider, and that every string is perfectly in balance, is that any EQ setting will work with it. Think about that, for a second: Any EQ used is purely for tone control with the Rider, since there aren't any quirks to iron out, and no matter how radical you want to get with the EQ, it will work!

This carries over to effects programming too: With the Godin and the Parker, very short delay-based effects, like phasing and flanging, could lead to unfortunate resonance peaks and valleys that the guitar's quirks would accentuate: Not with the Rider. This is great!

Blackbird Rider Nylon Has Arrived

2009-08-15T02:27:00.000-05:00

I misread the dates - I often forget what day it is (Typical musician) - so the Rider arrived Friday morning. It took only a few minutes with it to realize that it will replace the Godin Multiac Grand Concert SA as my go-to main gig ax, and that I also like it better than the Parker Custom Shop Cedar Nylon Fly I've spent so much time and money on. Here's why:

1] The intonation is perfect on the Rider. The Parker is perfect too, but the Godin is quite poor in this department, mostly because I needed to loosen the truss rod a lot to get the action usably high.

2] The action is perfect on the Rider. The Parker's action is user-adjustable, so I was able to raise it to where I wasn't getting too much rattle when I play forte, but I had to cut some additional shims to do it, so the guitar is really out of the range it was designed for. As mentioned previously, I got the Godin workable, but at the expense of intonation accuracy. Joe tells me the lower-than-classical "Flamenco" action I ordered is actually 1/16" higher than a traditional wooden acoustic Flamenco guitar. This is exceedingly valuable information, as this is the absolutely perfect string height I've been searching for the past twenty years.

3] String balance is perfect on the rider. Both the Godin and the Parker have problems in this area - and the problems are different between the two - which is simply the result of resonance inconsistencies in the woods used in those guitars. Since carbon fiber is consistent and neutral, those problems do not exist at all with the Rider. The only other guitar I ever had that was this perfect and neutral was the Steinberger GL2T-GR steel string electric/synth guitar I used with my Synclavier back in the 80's. The Steinberger was made of an epoxy resin composite, if I remember correctly, so this is no surprise. Wood is just a crappy material to make guitars out of.

4] Sustain is supernaturally mind-bogglingly long on the Rider. The Parker has amazing sustain too, which is what you'd expect out of a solid body guitar, but the Blackbird's sustain is actually longer and better, because it's more consistent. This is not at all what I expected, as the Rider is acoustic, but Joe says the hollow neck does not dampen the sound like a solid one does. Quite interesting! The Godin is kind of half way between a traditional wooden acoustic classical and the Parker, but it's nowhere near as consistent.

5] The Rider sounds more "natural" than the Godin or the Parker. Because it is acoustic, and despite the ridiculously eternal sustain, the Rider actually sounds more like an acoustic classical guitar when amplified than either the Godin or the Parker. Of course, the Parker was my attempt to get a solid body electric nylon string guitar, so I don't care that it doesn't sound acoustic, but the Godin never sounded particularly natural to me. I remember mentioning this to Richard once, and he said it was the guitar, not the Polydrive. Well, he was right. My pursuit of a solid body electric nylon string guitar may be over. I'm beginning to think nylon strings and solid bodies may just not be meant for each other. Or, then again, perhaps a solid carbon fiber guitar would be less problematic than the Parker.

6] The Rider can take full advantage of the possibilities of carbon fiber treble strings. A carbon fiber guitar with carbon fiber strings: Match made in heaven. Carbon fiber treble strings are the greatest advance in classical guitar strings since nylon replaced catgut. They are brighter, they project better, and they settle into tune faster. Problem is, wooden guitars expand slightly - they actually grow - as the performer's body heat warms them up. Since CF strings don't change dimensions with that range of heat, they tend to go sharp until the ax is fully warmed up. This happens a little with nylon too, but to a lesser extent. So much less, that acoustic classical guitarists may not even notice it. However, with a wooden semi-hollow guitar like the Godin or a wooden solid body guitar like the Parker, this tendency is exacerbated. Nylon trebles are pain enough, but the G string on the Parker will go nearly a full 1/4 tone sharp in the first 15-20 minutes of playing if I use CF trebles. I had to give up using CF trebles with those guitars because of this problem. Well, with the Rider once CF trebles settle in, they stay dead solid stable in tune. This is because the Rider doesn't grow with the absorption of my body heat. Truly, an excellent development.

So, after twenty years of trying to find the "perfect" (Nothing is ever absolutely perfect: I wish the rider had a full cutaway, but the 14th fret join is workable) electric nylon string guitar, I have. It is surprising to me that it's also a competent acoustic! It's not as loud as my 1979 Anthony Murray guitars, but they are spectacularly loud and very, very fragile because the tops are so thin.

The only thing I didn't like at all was the NeckUp guitar support it came with. It's made of leather, so it's flexible, and that makes the guitar go too face-up for me to play because of the Rider's rounded sound chamber. I hate it so much I ordered an ErgoPlay support after wrestling with the NeckUp for only fifteen minutes. LOL! The ErgoPlay is rigid, so it will be more like a solid extension of the guitar, which is what I want. Plus, the NeckUp prevents me from locking the Polydrive II's cable onto the receptacle because the leather is too hard and thick. The ErgoPlay won't get in the way.

As for that RMC Polydrive II, I'm really glad I got this guitar before I finish the fretted Glissentar project, because it's basically the same Polydrive IV that's in the Godin, but with only the pickups inside the guitar and the controls located remotely. The PD IV has all the tone controls, which are missing from the PD I as installed in my Parker, and that is just a lot more flexible for gigging, where you never know what the acoustics of a venue are going to be like. The PD II gives all of that control without putting heavy stuff inside the ax that would deaden the sound. So, the Reynolds-fretted Glissentar will be getting a PD II.

Well, that's it for now. I'm not playing the Rider any more until the ErgoPlay arrives. LOL!

Legendary Guitarist and Inventor Les Paul Has Died

2009-08-13T14:27:00.000-05:00

Les Paul, the man responsible for creating one of history's most iconic guitars, as well as overdubbing and multitrack recording, has died. He was a ripe, old 95 years of age.

"Paul was a guitar and electronics mastermind whose creations -- such as multitrack recording, tape delay and the solid-body guitar that bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul -- helped give rise to modern popular music, including rock 'n' roll. No slouch on the guitar himself, he continued playing at clubs into his 90s despite being hampered by arthritis...

Guitarists mourned the loss Thursday.

"Les Paul was truly a 'one of a kind.' We owe many of his inventions that made the rock 'n roll sound of today to him, and he was the founding father of modern music," B.B. King said in a statement. "This is a huge loss to the music community and the world. I am honored to have known him."

Joe Satriani said in a statement: "Les Paul set a standard for musicianship and innovation that remains unsurpassed. He was the original guitar hero and the kindest of souls. Last October I joined him onstage at the Iridium club in [New York], and he was still shredding. He was and still is an inspiration to us all."

In a statement, Slash said, "Les Paul was a shining example of how full one's life can be; he was so vibrant and full of positive energy."

Lester William Polfuss was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on June 9, 1915. Even as a child he showed an aptitude for tinkering, taking apart electric appliances to see what made them tick."

Like literally generations of guitarists, my first electric guitar was a Gibson Les Paul. Modern guitar playing, rock and roll, and modern studio technology would not even exist except for this man's life body of work.

RIP and Godspeed, Les.

Les deserves an eleven.

No makeup, no hair coloring, totally natural, and absolutely perfect.

My Blackbird Rider Nylon Has Shipped!

2009-08-11T02:27:00.000-05:00

News so nice, I'll say it twice: My Rider Nylon has shipped!

It might even get here later today!

A dark, sultry guitar can only go with a dark, sultry woman.

Where Music Distribution is Headed: The App Store on iTunes

2009-08-08T00:27:00.000-05:00

I'm an optimist by nature. Always been that way. The empty part of "the glass half full" is just an undiscovered water source to me. You can drill a well in the desert, you know, you just have to dig really, really deep.

So, while many people who I consider foolish have been lamenting everything from the fall of free-format FM radio through the decline of the major labels, to... well, just about any music industry change they can't fathom the ramifications of, I've been smiling and cheering the "pedestrianization" of technology, because it has been taking power away from knot-headed elites - many of whom are lawyers (glorified accountants, in my book) - and giving it ALL back to the artists. Remember: First-class citizens create things, second-class citizens produce things, third-class citizens provide essential services, and fourth-class citizens provide optional services: Lawyers and many in the music "industry" are fourth-class leaches. So, being, as I am, a radical libertarian individualist, I'm all about letting tech put these leaches out of bee's-wax!

What I, and every other pundit I'm aware of, have not foreseen is the emerging paradigm. What will it be? There will be one, that's for sure, but exactly what it could look like has escaped our grasp. No harm/no foul, because there just hasn't been enough information to reach a conclusion... until now.

Perhaps a deeper thinker than I could have seen this coming with the advent of iTunes and the iTunes Store, but selling single tracks a la cart really didn't trip the trigger for me... or, anyone else. What paradigm is going to replace the venerable album? Not single tracks and ring tones, that is obvious. To really replace the album in the internet age, you're going to have to offer MORE, much more. Just offering fourteen tracks with high-resolution album art isn't going to do it.

Well, the lightbulb just lit up above my head: The successor of the album in the digital on-line age will be the app, as in apps from the iTunes App Store for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the forthcoming Apple Tablet Device!. Wish I could claim full credit for this moment of enlightenment - this epiphany - but the much more tech savvy Eliot Van Buskirk at WIRED beat me to it.

"The iTunes music store sells single songs at approximately the same price, with artist presented in more or less the same way.

Apple’s app store, however, is still somewhat like the wild west (at least as far as music goes), where the rules are being made up in real time. Artists and labels can sell music alongside other digital offerings through the app store at any price from zero to $999.99.

As we suggested last summer, this creates an opportunity for artists and labels to distribute a new type of product, especially because the app store concept is spreading to other mobile phone platforms.

On Monday, six of the 20 most recently submitted music apps to appear in the App Store featured a single artist: Jason Carver, Jessica Harp, Jimmy Cliff, John Butler Trio, Kadence, or The Cribs. Each showcases music videos, photos, news, photo-jumble games, concert listings, and/or community features that let fans share photos with each other. And all of them were made with iLike’s iPhone app toolkit — as was Ingrid Michaelson’s app, pictured to the right.

Since iLike launched the service in May, about 250 of the over 300,000 artists with access to iLike’s dashboard feature have launched customized iPhone apps through the system."

See that - hey, look past the super-cutie - Music, Videos, Photos, a Twitter feed, Gig Schedules, and even Games.

That's it, right there: Musicians can now record, engineer, and produce their music at home, distribute it through the iTunes Store, and provide massive amounts of additional content through The App Store. No blood-sucking leach middlemen from a label involved, and there's already an intuitive program available to design the apps. Now this I absolutely love.

This calls for a redhead!

Regular Tuesday/Thursday Gig at the Wetmore Smokehouse

2009-07-30T20:14:00.003-05:00

Well, it only took me seven months - LOL! - but I finally found the pluperfect situation for one of the two twice-weekly gigs I've wanted. Starting next Tuesday the 4th of August, I'll be performing at the historic Wetmore Smokehouse and Saloon, which was The Wetmore General Store from 1891 until the sixties sometime. That's right, it's the same building that was built in 1891, and Willie Nelson used to play there when he was young, and I mean young: Before he left Texas for Nashville! There was a railroad station there in the old days - the tracks still go by there now - and so the store and cafe were a landmark rest stop and watering hole.

Wetmore was long ago swallowed up by the ever-expanding San Antonio - when we moved to SA after dad retired from the Air Force in 1972, the deed was already done - and technically my new house is in what was once Wetmore. That's right, this gig is less than two miles from my house!

Like many opportunities like this that present themselves, personal relationships and interactions had a lot to do with it. I had a deep need for a burger and fries the other night, so I stopped in to eat. The waiter, Eric, asked if I'd been there before, and I said no. Well, the bartender yelled, "Welcome!" and I told him I'd recently bought a house in the neighborhood. Turns out the bartender was actually the General Manager, Steve Girard, and not only that, but he was two years behind me at the same high school, MacArthur, that we both graduated from! Really cool deal.

So, The Wetmore has a stage and music Fridays and Saturdays, and I asked Steve if he'd ever thought of live music for the dinner crowd. Well, one thing lead to another, I dropped of a demo CD, and he called back very into the idea. So, there you have it.

Oh, their food rocks. I had the California Burger, but the real hit was the Jalapeno Corn Bread. WOW! I won't mind eating there twice a week. I Will Play for Food! LOL!

New Ax: Blackbird Rider Nylon String w/RMC Polydrive

2009-07-18T13:27:00.002-05:00

I have been looking at this guitar and scratching my chin for quite a while. Many, many months. Blackbird Guitars kind of promotes their Rider Steel String and Rider Nylon String guitars as the ultimate in durable go-anywhere-with-no-worries travel instruments, but they also mention that, although they are small, they sound full-sized.

So, you can forgive me for thinking that the Rider Nylon was a small guitar - as in shorter than normal scale length and narrower than normal nut... but that isn't the case: The scale is the standard 650mm and the nut width is also standard at 2.0". The only thing small is the body, and since I play electric nylon string guitars - including a Parker Nylon Fly - I actually like that.

Well, as I began to look into them with more than just idle curiosity, I discovered that not just the body, but the entire guitar... is hollow! Being, as the Rider is, made of hand laid molded carbon fiber allows this. There are several advantages to a hollow neck and headstock: The entire guitar is a sound chamber, the neck isn't heavy - a heavy neck is a problem if you stand to play as I do sometimes, because the guitar's neck wants to inch down as you perform - and the rigidity of the carbon fiber means you don't need a truss rod. The guitar weighs only 3.25 pounds, which is lighter than my Nylon Fly!

The clincher for me is that the Rider Nylon is available with the same RMC Polydrive that I use in my Godin and Parker guitars. I gave up on acoustics for performing a few years ago because my concert classicals were just too valuable to schlep around, and the less expensive ones weren't as fun to play as my electrics. I do miss having an acoustic for some situations though, and this small and nearly indestructible ax could be just the ticket. So, I put a deposit down on one last night... after a few beers to work up the nerve. LOL!

Besides, it's 2009 for crying out loud: Why are we still killing trees to make guitars?

It looks funky, but it's grown on me.

Yet more Georgia, because... wait for it... here it comes... Georgia Rules.

Arranging for Guitar: Guantanamera - "Joseito" Fernandez

2009-07-17T10:27:00.000-05:00

This is one of those songs I've loved since I was a boy. The version I first heard does not seem to be on YouTube, as I was living in Panama at the time, and it was on a local Spanish language Panamanian AM station that I first heard it. Probably the most familiar version to those in the US is the classic version by The Sandpipers.

However, the real classic version seems to be this original version, which Joseito played on Cuban radio.

There seems to be more than a little confusion over the provenance of this song, and the "official" lyrics are actually written by Jose Marti. You can read the whole story at the Wikipedia entry.

In any case, the music I found is of a solo piano arrangement by, of all people, Pete Seeger. I can't post it because it's still under copyright, but a Google search will reveal it to you, though it's way out of the top results, so you'll need some determination.

The only solo guitar version of this I found on YouTube is by Edgar Cruz, an acquaintance of mine - his brother Mark and I were in the same graduating class at Texas State when we got our Master of Music degrees - but Edgar takes more of a Flamenco/Rumba approach to it.

Well, I don't play that Flamenco strumming style at all, so I wanted to stay true to myself and try to get Seeger's piano version onto the guitar as much as possible, but in a key that would work well for my instrument, and with a little of what I remember of my favorite versions from years past.

The piano music was in D major, and I thought of a drop-D version, but I already have Eu So Quero Um Xodo in drop-D, and I really need a crowd pleaser in E major, which works for the guitar as well, so that's what I did.

Here's the MIDI to m4a (AAC) version I made in iTunes: Guantanamera

Our four measure introduction is just a comp figure of parallel thirds with a bass line underneath. Seeger seemed unable to transcend his inner white guy, and so the syncopations I added at the end of measures one and three are not in his version. I thought that sounded hopelessly square, so I added those.

This is an interesting song, for one reason, because it starts with a chorus, and not a verse. I tried to add as much of the background as I could - which I incorporated into the bass line - to keep the groove going, and I think it came out quite nicely, though there are some tricky moves at the end of measure six. What you have to do when you write difficult things, is to ask yourself, is the musical payoff worth the effort? I'm not entirely sure yet, and won't be until I, you know, actually learn how to play it. So, this is very much a v1.0: I only did this arrangement a couple of nights ago.

I wanted the chorus dark and brooding, so it is in a low register, and I have the seconds there at the end, which is an effect I really, really like. The anticipatory syncopations are again something I added to get a cooler, more Latin feel. For the verse that starts at thirteen, however, I moved the melody up an octave from where it is in the piano version, which allows me to put the B, C-sharp, D lick in the middle, which you often hear in the background singing, or other instruments in the various arrangements. The eighth note thirds I have in fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, and twenty were quarter notes in Seeger's version, but again, that didn't sound authentically Cuban/Latin to me, so I went with the eighths.

At the last eighth of eighteen is a low F-sharp with a seventh-fret B in the lead. This is a heck of a stretch, and another one of those things I'll have to see about. It sounds cool, but it may not be worth the effort. Keep in mind I want to perform this. LOL!

Another interesting thing about this song is that the verses end with a modified version of the second phrase of the chorus. I had to return to the lower octave with the melody here, and fortunately - much good arranging involves happy accidents - this works excellently. The verse then repeats, and is followed by another full chorus. The Dal Segno takes the piece back to the head of the verse. In performance, I'll skip the repeat the second time through, but there's no way to instruct MIDI to do that (That would be a nifty update for Encore), and I wanted to keep this on two pages for this post. So, just pretend the second repeat isn't there in the m4a.

There are several good ways to end this piece, as listening to any of the good arrangements of it will reveal, but I chose to exit with the opening vamp, since it was only heard at the beginning, and it's really cool and quintessentially Latin. Not sure when I'll get around to this arrangement, as I'm going to start on some G major pieces next week, one of which is an arrangement of Bach's Jesu that I did over two years ago!

Absolutely must have an hispanic babe for this post; with freckles, no less!

Arranging for Guitar: Cancion Mixteca- Jose Lopez Alaves

2009-07-15T22:27:00.000-05:00

First the OT news: I had my first "real" gig in San Antonio yesterday, so I've broken the ice. It was for a function at the Menger Hotel, which is right next to the Alamo on ground where much of the fiercest fighting took place. For some reason, I thought that was an appropriate location for my first gig back in The Alamo City.

I didn't blog about that gig or the preparation for it because I didn't want to jinx it. It's not that I'm superstitious, you understand... I just didn't want to jinx it. LOL! Anyway, it was for a lady's organization and I played excellently, if I do say so myself, but with all of their talking, I wonder how many even heard. I had my poor little Bryston 2B-LP/Lexicon MPX-G2/Turbosound TXD-081 rig turned up to maximum, and it still wasn't quite loud enough! Those ladies could talk!!! Next time I'll have to take the Bryston 3B-NTB/Lexicon MPX-G2/Turbosound TXD-121 rig: The difference between two channels of 60 watts in stereo to two channels of 120 watts stereo is ginormous, and the Turbo 081's 8" LF drivers compared to the 121's 12" drivers is really no contest. I really was lost in that gigantic ballroom.

*****

OK, on to the business at hand. Cancion Mixteca is one of those pieces you've heard a gazillion versions of all of your life if you live in the Southwest, even if you don't know the song's title. This version is bassed on an arrangement by Tim Sparks, but there are literally hundreds of versions of this, many of which you can check out on YouTube.

Ry Cooder's arrangement from the old film Paris, Texas is particularly nice, plus there's the added bonus of classic Nastassja Kinsky:

I didn't want anything so fancy, in fact, I wanted a more straight ahead version so that it would be instantly recognizable. For that, using Tim's simple arrangement was perfect. I changed nothing in the lead part or the form at all, but I made the accompaniment richer and more active in an effort to capture something of the vibe that a guitarron player would add to the piece.

Here is the MIDI to m4a (AAC) version of the arrangement: Cancion Mixteca

Tim just had repeated B's in the bass of his version for the first three measures, and just the skeleton of the G major chords. Though I can't come through in the MIDI to AAC conversion, I'll start this out with some moderate finger-roll strums, which is something I do a lot with my five-finger right hand technique. For the bass I just alternated the third and root of the G major triad, which is something our imaginary guittarron player might do.

After four measures of five voices, the texture reduces to four voices in measure five, and then three voices in measure six, which makes a smooth transition into the more spare texture. Here the bass is playing alternating root and fifth of the D dominant harmony, which is our bass player in action again.

In measure ten the voices are further reduced to two for the parallel tenths, and the last two beats of eleven sound like a single voice in the bass leading to the concluding dominant harmony. Note that the final phrase is five measures. This is common in this style, and it's where the singers take a dramatic long note before launching back into the tune. Knowing this kind of stuff is indispensable, because mucking about with the form in a piece like this will confuse people familiar with the song, who will want to sing or hum along, trust me.

The next phrase starting at fourteen is really nice with the high thirds and the alternating open G and D strings. G major really is the perfect guitar key for this. Note again how elastic and organic the phraseology is: From fourteen to 24 is basically a six measure phrase followed by four measure phrase. I love this kind of thing, and strive for elastic phrasing in my own writing.

The elastic phrases continue on page two, and not that the pitch climax of the piece is a very high minor sixth from F-sharp to D, which is at the tenth fret. Only in G major could this work so well, because the D and A bass notes are open strings.

Not only is the phrasing interesting, but the form is too: The opening A section never returns. Rather, there is a D.S. to the second section, and a leap to the ending after that. Of course, the original version is a song with lyrics, so the singer would be returning to the top for another verse. If people start singing along, as I'm sure they will given the right circumstances, I'll do that too.

How hot is she? She's so hot the countryside spontaneously combusts whenever she walks by.

Robert Plant, Commander of the British Empire

2009-07-12T00:27:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Robert Plant, as he received a CBE from Prince Charles the other day.

I hope I look that good when I'm his age!

Anyway, I knew he'd eventually sell out to the establishment, but The Who did it first. LOL!

Nice use of light and shadow. The rest of the pic makes her look like Zebra Woman, or something. I likey.

The iPhone as Recording Studio

2009-07-03T10:27:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine, and occasional commenter here, emailed me an amazing link the other day. It seems that there is an app for the iPhone called Four Track that turns the iPhone into a digital multitrack recorder.

So, The 88 used the iPhone/Four Track combination to record their song, Love is the Thing.

As you can see, they did the editing and mixing in Pro Tools but they used the iPhone and the iPhone's built-in microphone to lay down the basic tracks. That's pretty incredible.

Long time readers know I have a "Jesus Phone"...

... with Jesus as the wallpaper, natch, but mine is the original 8GB EDGE iPhone, and I've never gotten into the whole app thing. Well, my contract is up on my two-year-old iPhone, so I'm going to get a new 32GB 3GS iPhone, which will allow me the memory and functionality necessary to use Four Track and some other apps that I find interesting, like the Tom Tom turn-by-turn GPS navigation system.

There is also a pretty decent music notation/composition sketch pad app called Composer that requires a 3G or 3GS iPhone I'd like to get. When I got the iPhone, I just wanted a phone that would allow me to email, surf, and listen to my iTunes library. Now, it's turning into a music production device. Unbelievable.

Hat Tip to John!

RIP: Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett

2009-06-26T12:27:00.000-05:00

Hell of a day, yesterday; the world lost "The King of Pop" and the "Queen of the Seventies."

I must admit that Michael Jackson's music was a guilty pleasure of mine back in the 80's. Considering the genera of pop music, it was just so amazingly well executed, both in terms of the arranging and the production. I'm thinking specifically of Rock With You and Beat It (Links to original videos on YouTube/No embeds available). I especially like Beat It because, 1) The opening synth hits are a Synclavier, and I was a Synclavier programmer back then, 2) The track has Eddie Van Halen on it, and 3) it's just a great song (And not a bad video for the time either).

Some of the studio engineers and programmers who worked with Michael are friends of mine, and everything I ever heard about him indicates that, yes, he was a very strange person - in that way many impossibly talented people are - but that he tried to be a sweetheart, and often failed. Also, his hangers-on didn't help matters, and I won't be surprised if it turns out that they enabled his untimely demise.

All that aside, Michael Jackson was one of the greatest musical showmen of the modern era; he made over-the-top cool.

Damn, I wish I could move like that. His physical grace was preternatural.

As for Farrah, what a pity. Damn cancer. Being fifty-one means I was a freshman in college when "the poster" became such a phenomenon, and though I didn't have one myself, over half of the other guys in the dorms did.

RIP and Godspeed, Michael and Farrah.

Stefano Barone: Genius Solo Guitar Pioneer

2009-06-21T11:27:00.000-05:00

Italian solo guitar virtuoso Stefano Barone just sent me a Friend Request off of my MySpace page. Long time readers know I play some tap tech on my electric nylon string guitars, and that the Tocatta from my first guitar sonata is a tap tech piece, so I really love this kind of thing.

Check out this epic mix of acoustic guitar and electronics. I think that's even an eBow sustainer he uses!

Bravissimo!

Seriously, I'd rather pay to see this guy in concert than any traditional classical guitarist I can think of, and I plan to get into that kind of minimalist mood music two-handed tap within the next year or two myself. Very compelling.

Ventures Guitarist Bob Bogle Dies at 75

2009-06-17T04:27:00.000-05:00

Bob Bogle, the red haired guitarist for The Ventures - the most popular instrumental group of all time - has died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was 75 years old. Not bad - beating the Biblical "three-score and ten" - for a musician, and he leaves generations of guitarists in his debt.

Walk, Don't Run.

Wipe Out.

More recently, with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Tequila (My favorite hard liquor!).

The Ventures induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bob was ill, and not there, but he lived to see it.

Needless to say, I had Ventures albums growing up, and was hugely influenced by them. RIP and Godspeed, Bob.