Lesson – Django Circular Arpeggios [Video]

Just spent my morning with a Django Reinhardt gypsy jazz lesson by the inimitable Mr. Patrick “Romane” Leguidcoq. He has some great ideas, and Figure 5 is a fun little arpeggio piece featuring a very nice use of diminished triads.

 

I’m Overhauling.

I’ve begun overhauling the website, something which I’m sure you’re obviously very excited about.

Not only will the old articles be revised for clarity, and organized, but I’ll also be adding notation & videos for the references & examples.

You’re stoked.

Odd Time Signature Wars – Episode I – A New Hook

Dale Campbell is a talented solo musician, with great technique on an acoustic guitar. In this video, he makes a few salient points about counting out odd time signatures as a means to expand your writing base.

Yeahhhh; counting? I’m pretty against counting. And you can be too. 

Undermining Musicology & the Legacy of Barre Chords

So I don’t even know why, but I seem to have found myself beginning to read into some thesis & lectureal documents on alternative rock. Papers with names like Exploring modal subversions in alternative music (McDonald, 2000) and The Influence of Guitar Distortion on Harmonic Construction in Alternative Rock (Driesprong, 2011). I guess it’s fun to take everything you’ve learned whilst working on your Ph.D in music, and try to apply it to music that wasn’t written by people with Ph.Ds, but the results probably won’t be, um, good.

It’s a Celebration, Bitches.

It’s official.

I’ve now been writing music for 18 years.

 

 
Ummm…

Interview – GOODBYE APATHY

Nashville's Finest

Goodbye Apathy is:

Brett – Vocals
Kyle – Bass
Dave “Divebomb” – Guitar
Ian – Guitar
Gary – Drums

Goodbye Apathy @ Myspace
Goodbye Apathy @ Twitter
Goodbye Apathy@ YouTube

Tell everyone a little about yourselves, and about GOODBYE APATHY. Where are you from, how long have you been together, what kind of music do you play, and how long has the current line-up been formalized.

Goodbye Apathy was created in May of 2007. We play melodic hardcore, metal, Just melodic heavy music in general. The current line-up has only been together for a couple of months, Brett (vocals) and Kyle (bass) are the two original members out of the five. Divebomb (guitar) came in late 2009, Ian (guitar) followed late 2010 and Gary (drums), the newest to the band, by March of this year. We have had a lot of ups and downs as well [as] member changes in the four years of being a band.

Celebrity Alignment – Engage

On the advice of Mr. Gary Ewer, Senior Instructor of something music-related at Dalhousie University, I have decided to align myself with celebrities.

Starting…. eventually, I will be interviewing bands about their approach to the craft of songwriting. I’ll try to get a hold of some non-local bands too, either in town on tour, or using Skype or a question form.

If there are specific questions you would like me to include when talking to bands, drop me a line.

This could be really fun.

D

If I Were A Rich Man [MP3], and the Epiphany

What a day. My house is both spotless & dreadfully quiet right now, and I am exhausted. I dropped my iPod this afternoon, and now when I turn it on, it greets me with a frowny face and a URL for Apple Support. Oh Apple, how cheeky.

I have a new recording to share. I actually finished it late last night, but a strange thing happened before I had a chance to write it up & post it. You see, we had a really wet snow last night. And when I went to fold my laundry, I found that a portion of that awesome wetness was dripping in through my exterior wall into my bedroom. Needless to say my attention was required until the wee hours of the morning, and I slept on the couch. Likewise, today was spent rendering my home impeccable such that I might host representatives of the condominium management company for review about what to do. But I digress.