Guitar Lesson 3

Motherfucking barre chords time.  Holy crap do these things hurt.

Autumn Leaves is 90% down.  Just need to work on that F#min7 b5 chord.  Everything else is there.  At consistent metronome speed.  This has led Tony to tell me I'm ready for barre chords.  So we've started on the FMaj chord shape.  Specifically using it to play Radiohead's Creep.  What a bitch.

However, I'm pumped to get it, as it will let me rock out the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go," which is my current side project, now that Closing Time is mostly down.

Also working on my first ever lead guitar line, the intro lick from "Surfing U.S.A."  Man, I am not ready for this lead stuff.  Still, gotta get it down eventually, and it will sound so good on my Danelectro.  Which I still need to name.

I've also started working on ear training.  I suck unbelievably at interval identification, but I'm getting better at singing them to a keyboard.  This will probably be a long process, but I strongly believe that ear training is pretty much the most important thing to musical development.  What does it matter what your fingers can do if you can't hear what they're doing?

Guitar: Week 2/3

Week two was a bust, due to social and dance commitments.  Week three, however, has been progressing well.  I have been able to practice at least thirty minutes every day.

Most of my work has been centered around practicing chord changes.  I can now strum quarter notes for "Mr. Jones" and "Closing Time" chords at 96 bpm pretty consistently.  My new goal is to begin incorporating strumming patterns, so I can actually sound like the songs.  If I can just improve this slightly more, I'll be where I need to be to play a full song at speed.

The finger drills are more difficult than I would think, but they are progressing nicely.

I have yet to practice my reading or really dig into "Autumn Leaves," but I still have four days to do that, so we'll make it happen.

On a side note, I also want to start working on some surf guitar stuff.  This guitar would just sound so good playing it.

Greatest success - metronoming.  I now barely consider it practicing when I don't have one out.

I'll try and get another post up Sunday or Monday detailing where I am before the lesson.

Guitars, Canadians, and Spaniards, oh my!

So I picked up a shiny Fender amp for my shiny new guitar yesterday.  I am pleased to report that I think this thing sounds pretty freaking good.  Or at least it does in my entirely uneducated opinion.

Unfortunately, my playing still sounds like crap.  Despite knowing them pretty damn well - I no longer need to consult any chord charts for any of the open chords I've been working on - I still take way too long to switch between them to naturally play any kind of strumming pattern.  I can do quarter notes at 70 or 80 bpm alright, if I stick to the D, G, C, Am, A, E, Em type chords, but I realize that's not really the pace music is made at.  This will probably take some time.

But then, expecting instant results is a bit ridiculous.  If I keep practicing half an hour to an hour a day, I'm sure I'll get there.  Fortunately, I'm hyper motivated right now.  I want to be playing basic songs in time by mid September.

A pleasant diversion arrived last night in the form of a car full of Canadians and Spaniards.  We enjoyed some dorky dorky dorky lindy hop related conversations and a drink or three.  It was a pretty great night.  I'm taking them to Swing 46 tonight, which is pretty exciting.  Almost as exciting as figuring out how four more people and all their things would fit in my apartment.

The answer?  Surprisingly well.

Guitar Two: Electric Boogaloo!

Or, I Impulse Buy my First Electric Guitar!

Yeah.  Maybe not my best decision, but she was super pretty.  And RED.

Mine is red.  This one is blue.

And it was only $290, with tax.  It came into the office this morning, and I've been basically incapable of focusing since.

In fifteen minutes, I get out of work, and then it's straight to Guitar Center to get the best amp I possibly can for $200.

And then I'm going to play it till my fingers bleed.  Or till my four French Canadian couch surfers get in tonight and drag me out dancing.  Whichever comes first.

Home from Lindy 500

And, as expected, Baltimore delivered on the dance front.

Lots of new friends, lots of old friends, Gordon Webster, some brutal but useful classes, and some kickass waffles.  Overall a first class exchange.  Especially for the price range.

The highlights:

• Kevin and Jo's ILHC routine.  Yeah, we saw it a week early, and wow.  That's really all I have.  Wow.  I don't think I can begin to describe how much ass this routine kicked, but I will say that I will be very very shocked if they are not placed in the top three.  All you folks who are actually going to ILHC are in for a treat.
•  Gordon Webster delivers, as always.  I mean just writing this feels redundant.  It was an especially special treat to see him with this set of vocalists, who, besides being absolutely phenomenal, allowed him to revisit some old favorites, like "Bei Mi Mis Dur Shein," "Long John," and "Twenty-Four Robbers."  A good time was obviously had by all.
• Congrats to Dan Repsch for winning a crazy awesome jack and jill.  I mean, the results were kind of a forgone conclusion, because it was an audience judged competition in his hometown, and Baltimore is famously loud, but that doesn't take away from Dan, who pretty much out-danced everyone there anyway.
• Michael Seguin is the best MC, largely because of his tendency to MC whilst drunk.
• The Koreans were incredible dancers.  The whole lot of them.  I need to visit Korea.

And now onto the classes.

Kevin is really a great teacher.  I'd seen Jo present this same material on her own before, and it was practically indecipherable.  I was getting it right off the bat with Kevin's explanations.  The material was incredibly interesting: basically a mega in depth look at leading and following the very basics of lindy hop - triple steps, rock steps, single steps, etc.  I was able to manage it fairly well in class, but as soon as it came to the social floor, or putting it all together to music, it fell apart.  I will need to work on this.  A lot.

New goal: insert one very closed led chorus into every song I dance from here forward.  Keep it small and close to make it manageable.  Don't go too crazy till totally comfortable with it.  And insert that rise before the start of every single triple step.

When I get home, I will post pictures of epic waffles.

We are less than seven days from new ILHC videos hitting the net.  My interest in dance has been a bit stymied lately, but I imagine it won't be this time next week.  I'm such a dork, I'm actually counting the days till these competitions hit youtube.

Guitar Lesson 2

Guitar Quest 2012 continues with my first full length lesson.

Fortunately, I got a bit more practice time in the night before, including some metronome work, so I was feeling pretty good about where I was on last week's material.  This was validated when I went through the warm up exercises and chord work quite well with my teacher, henceforth to be known as Tony, even doing both at a much faster tempo then I'd been doing them in practice.

My teacher was pleased and possibly a little insane, because he started me right away on some jazz work.  Specifically, "Autumn Leaves."  This is wonderful, as it's easily one of my favorite standards, and a super pretty song.  This is insane because the chord voicings are significantly more challenging than the Counting Crows song he had me on last week.  Apparently he's pushing me in the deep end and hoping I can make myself swim.

I had no trouble physically voicing the chords, which impressed Tony but not me; just making shapes is easy enough, but the real meat of the challenge is moving between them at tempo.  And these chords are not going to be easy to change between at any level of constant speed.  So I've got my work cut out for me.

Also we're starting sight reading.  I'm less than enthused about this, but it will help me learn where the notes are on the guitar, which can't be a bad thing.  It's also a more manageable than I'd previously attempted, as we're focusing on just two strings a week - basically six notes.  While I'm not a fan of the reading aspect, learning where these notes are is going to be pretty key to figuring out chord voicings for myself - one of the skills I was most pumped to learn.

And we're continuing with the mindless finger exercises.  I'm kinda antsy to get to scales, but I think there's definitely a value in developing my technique more evenly across fingers and fret board initially.  If I'm still really bummed about it, I can work on it myself.

No lesson next week; the school is closed.  This is actually pretty fortunate, because I don't think I'll be able to practice again till Sunday or Monday due to dancing / work / social life.  This whole having a life thing might need to stop soon.

Since I will have some extra time, and I kind of want to be impressive, I might try and learn both the melody and chords to "Autumn Leaves," but we'll have to see how quickly the chords are going.  They're first priority.

To do for the week:

• Continue finger exercises.  Practice with proper finger technique or a pic, rather than just Wes Montgomery-ing everything with my thumb.
• Continue practicing already known chords:  G, C, D, F, A, E, Am, Em.
• Begin learning "Autumn Leaves" chords:  Am7, D7, GM7, CM7, F#m7 b5, B7
• Begin reading training.
• Increase metronome usage to all the time.
• Stop being a bum and actually tune my guitar.
• If time permits, begin working on basic strumming patterns.
• If time permits, learn the melody to "Autumn Leaves."

Of note: I finally played till my fingers bled.  Well a finger bled.  Regardless, awesome.

Hey, I just heard this, and this is crazy...

... But here's a song, so like it maybe?

"Call Me Maybe."  Though my love of all things Muppets had already let the Cookie Monster parody worm its way into my ear, I'd been doing my best to avoid this song.  After all, it was everything I hated about music - a shallow exercise in top 40 commercialism created for easy mass consumption by a third place Canadian Idol finisher.

And now that I've actually heard it, I have confirmed my suspicions that I'm a pretentious ass.  This is the best pop song since Bruno Mars' "Marry You" of last August, and the best chart topper since Cee Lo's "Fuck You" two years ago.  Yes, I'm on the record with that.

"Call Me Maybe" has that kind of pop magic where the only natural response is to smile.  I often get caught up in the intellectualism of analyzing and critiquing art - what does it say about the world, what does it say about me, etc.  So it's wonderful when a piece of art comes along that bypasses all those analytical centers of my brain and just hits my emotions.  And really, isn't connecting with your audience on an emotional level one of the most important tasks of successful art?

So why do I, general hater of cynical, slick Top 40 cash grabs, completely love this song?  Well, because it is impossible for me to think of this song as cynical.  It crosses the line of bubblegum pop cliche so thoroughly and completely that it bypasses the territory all together, landing in that rare zone of pop music that feels plain honest.  Like Meat Loaf's absurd teenage rock and roll angst of Bat Out of Hell, it's delivered with such unabashed conviction that the cliche becomes charm.

This is a time honored tradition of pop.  Think Paul McCartney.  Or the Beach Boys.  Or the Four Seasons.  None of them were afraid to sound cheesy, silly, or uncomplicated.  It's part of their charm.  It used to be part of pop music's charm.  In this age of Patron posturing and Gagaesque over-dramatics, the simplicity and honesty is the breath of fresh air that I hadn't realized I needed. 

And it's catchy and dancey as all fuck.

Before you came into my life I missed you so bad.  I missed you so bad, and you should know that, I missed you so so bad.

Guitar Journal: Week 1

Week one is almost done.  Lesson number two is tomorrow.  And I'm basically Jimi Hendrix now.  Now that I'm done with the wishful thinking, I am both pleased and disappointed with my progress.  

I am, of course, nowhere near Jimi Hendrix.  This is not disappointing.  It wasn't expected.  I've done this whole music thing before, and I know that achieving rock godhood is more than a week or two of work.  Hell I've been at the drums in some capacity, granted, mostly a fairly limited one, for the past sixteen years.  I consider myself passable.  My ambitions are to be a better than passable guitarist, but, then again, I always wanted to be a better than passable drummer as well, so we'll see what happens when I get to that stage.

The main thing I'm pleased with: I actually played every day.  Even if I didn't sit down for real diligent practice, I did pick the thing up every day.  That on it's own is a big success for me.  I was also shocked at how much I remembered - off the top of my head, I could still make G, D, C, Em, A, and F chords.  I have since added Dm, Am, and E to my vocabulary.  Nine chords in a week is pretty decent.

Less pleasing?  I'm still nowhere near speedy at moving between these chords.  I've gotten okay at moving around the chord progression of the Counting Crows song my teacher  assigned me, but I still struggle with adding a metronome and keeping the changes even.  I expect this to be an ongoing struggle for quite a while, especially with my high rhythm standards from my drumming background.  I'm also not pleased that I didn't spend much time with my metronome.  Or the general chromatic finger exercise assigned by my teacher.

Fortunately, I have some time today after work to revisit these areas.  I intend to spend at least an hour to an hour and a half working on them tonight.

My goal for next week, even before I hear from my teacher?  Metronome metronome metronome metronome.

The Guitar: Third Time's the Charm

Ah, the guitar.  My old nemesis.  We meet again.

I remember the first time we met.  You were so alluring, so promising.  You seduced me away from my beloved drum set with your promises of fancy solos and recognizable tunes.  Together, we played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," the intro of "Stairway to Heaven," and "Take it Easy."  You were polite; you didn't even comment on how cliche and boring my tastes were.  But you sensed I lacked commitment, always gravitating back to the old steady, Drum Set.  It was only a matter of time before I pushed you away for some cheap John Bonham fills.

You of course remember the last time I dusted you off.  It was two years ago.  We had some good times learning some open chords, half a Tom Waits song, and "Goodnight Irene."  But you defeated me with an F chord and delayed gratification. You're a cruel and demanding mistress. 

Well I'm back.  And I will master you for real this time.  Maybe.  I hope.

On 8/6/12 I dusted my old Epiphone - a gift from my sister, likewise defeated by the guitar - off and dragged you to a real guitar lesson with a real teacher.  At the Queens guitar school, just down the block.  I asked them for the biggest theory dork they had and bought a pack of five lessons.

This was a while coming:  The Queen's Guitar School?  I'd walked past it every day for almost a year, and I'd spent months entertaining lessons.  My inability to get a drum set into Queens meant I'd not played music seriously in a year.  I had always identified myself as a musician, but I recently had the startling epiphany that I was now at best a dancer first and a musician second.  At worst?  A former musician.  I had gone to college for music, but I sensed that all the amazing theory I'd learned was slowly draining from my head.  Use it or lose it.  I needed a melodic instrument to play, stat.  And Phyllis - that's the Epiphone's name, as of four seconds ago - was right there in my living room.

This blog was started in part to motivate me to really give this a solid go this time.  I'm going to track my progress here and, hopefully, use this place to keep me honest.

My short term goals:

• Basic instrument proficiency.  Duh.  I want to be a solid rhythm guitarist, able to jam with friends asap.
• Ear training.  I want to be able to hear all the things I learned in Jazz Theory class, not just conceptualize them.
• Expansion and recovery of my theory knowledge.  I have too much knowledge to lose, and not enough to use.  It's an awkward position.

My long term goals:

• Expert proficiency in rhythm guitar.  I want to be able to play with anyone, and I want them to want to play with me.
• Extensive harmonic theory knowledge. We're talking Paul McCartney / Bernie Worrell level here.
• Freddie Green, Slim Gaillard, David Gregory, Nick Drake, Marc Ribot, Eddie Hazel, Django, George Harrison, Prince, etc.  Well at least I don't have a problem aiming high.

I will log my general progress at least once between each lesson and once after each lesson.  I also think it will be interesting to record some of my musical opinions now, at the beginning of my journey, and track how they change after a year or two of guitaring.

Stay tuned for my first lesson and practice report.

So what's this blog thing all about?

So I'm getting on this blog bandwagon thing quite late in the game, I'm aware.  I'm not sure anyone will ever read this thing, but I need some place to organize my thoughts, and a journal doesn't fill my need for external attention and discussion.  I'll try and be entertaining and interesting, but I imagine my interests are a little specific, so I imagine this will be populated mostly by friends and blood relatives, but regardless, comments are welcome.  If you have a topic you want me to discuss, tell me.

So here we go.

Topics I'll probably feature here:

•  Music.  Specifically my own personal progress as a guitarist, drummer, and musician; commentary and analysis on musicians and their works; and sharing things I think are neat.  Expect geekery.
• Dancing.  I'll focus on my own development as a dancer, as well as the lindy hop and blues dance communities on both a national and local level.  Hopefully this will expand into hip hop as I do.
• Sex and relationships.  And the politics and ethics of both, in the modern dating world.  Think Dan Savage but less articulate and flamboyant.  You might as well just go listen to Dan Savage.  Not really.  There will be an ongoing series about how to not suck at online dating.
• Art criticism.  Other than music, I'll probably write my thoughts of other notable works, including films, television, and literature.  Possibly even the occasional video game.
• Political Punditry.  With an emphasis on the puns.  
• Miscellaneous thought experiments.  These will range from attempts at humor writing to philosophical arguments on the nature of art.  I'm sure they'll be my most popular posts.

The goal?  Update this bad boy at least three times a week.  Maybe I'll get more ambitious later, but that seems reasonable for now.

Good luck, me.