Guitars, tips and great music discussions
Hole shit it’s that time again kidz and I just about forgot! Tonight is NUANCE Soundscape Sundays!
It’s a celebration of everything progressive and art rock all in one location and at the fabulous price of $5 admission!
For more info. please go to the NUANCE Soundscape Sundays site for further info.! Hope to see ya there! Wilton, I hope to see ya …
Keep on Jammin’ Wilton and friends!!!
The name of this popular local tourist festival is known as Tam Tams. This event, that is held in Montreal’s Mont Royal Park, is a Sunday afternoon tradition that originated way back in the late 70’s or early 80’s, no one is quite sure.
It is a gathering of people who just want to hang out and have a good time playing music on hand held drums (Tam tam’s or Bongo’s).
My cousin’s husband just came back from Montreal this past weekend and told me of this great event that he just witnessed. To be honest with you, it sounds like freakin’ blast!
Imagine people hanging out playing music with that communal living feel to the gathering. Very young, old and anything in between sharing a peaceful afternoon or should I say vibe.
Tam Tams Montreal: A Mont Royal Tradition
Urban lore has it Montreal’s Tam Tams, named after the French word for hand drums like the bongo or djembe, started in the 80s, maybe late 70s, it depends on the source. According to writer Susan Krashinsky, it began with an African drumming workshop. For a change of pace, students convened in Jeanne-Mance Park on Mont Royal, beside the angel statue. Eventually, non-drummers joined in, dancing along with the ever changing beats until it became Tam Tams, Montreal’s Sunday tradition in the park. By 1994, the city of Montreal took charge of maintenance, security and marketplace permits.
Has anyone out there been to this gathering of the minds?
Keep on Jammin’ (or in this case Tam, Taming!)
I found this video of this kid, (a Korean kid named Sungha Jung) playing acoustic guitar.
I know, we see video’s of kidz playing weird and wonderful things all the time but every once in a while there is one that sticks out. This kid is definitely a stand out!
I love how mature and developed his playing skills are here. He just has that touch! The sound quality is fabulous but the video is choppy. At first I thought it didn’t add up? You know … Milli Vanilli. Then after viewing the video a few times I realized this kid was the real McCoy!
Hats off to the little guy and hopefully we can all observe this progression into a fabulous guitar player!
Keep on Jammin’
A childhood friend of John Lennon’s son Julian, was the girl who was really behind the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds from the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album!
Lucy Vodden is her name and she was a very important person in Musical history. Unfortunately she passed away this past Tuesday in a London England hospital. She had a long battle with lupus and was 46 years of age.
Vodden’s connection to the Beatles dates back to her early days, when she made friends with schoolmate Julian Lennon, John Lennon’s son.
Julian Lennon, then four years old, came home from school with a drawing one day, showed it to his father, and said it was “Lucy in the sky with diamonds.”
I just found this story today and thought wow, is that really what the song is about!!! I like most people today thought that the song was about LSD trips! It a little bit of Beatles trivia that I found neat!
Keep on Jammin’
The Rickenbacker 331LS is a beautiful looking semi-hollow body guitar.
They produced this model in 6 & 12 string guitars and bass ones as well. With all the lighting effects on this puppy it’s no wonder they called it the “Lightshow Guitar”. It was only in production from 1970 – 1972 so you can see that this is not only a collector’s piece but a very rare bird indeed!
The latest price for a guitar of this ilk was $15,000.00 (US). Originally it cost around $599.00 (US).
The top of the guitar was created out of some semi opaque material. I guess it may look like a super ,full sized pick guard. The manufacturer placed lights (automotive style bayonet mounted bulbs) underneath the cover of it that lit up and changed colours. It definitely reminded me of some right out of psychedelic, progressive rock era. Only something like this could have come out way back in the early 1970’s. Spacemen and women, shields up!
It also came with this weird little silver box that you had to plug the guitar through. It is a fuse basically but I haven’t found out any more details on it.
The colours they used were Red, yellow or green and blue. When the player played certain notes a particular colour would light up! When a bass note was played the blue light would shine. If the guitarist played any mid-range note the yellow or green came on and when treble notes were hit Red lights appeared!
I’ve only played a Rickenbacker once in my life and it was an ok guitar to play, maybe the intonation was off a bit. Anyone out there that has or had a Rickenbacker out there? Better yet, if someone has this vintage guitar in their collection, is it still working?
Here are a few related items that you might be interested in checking out:
Keep on Jammin’
Most music has always had a bass line, be it written or implied, today the bass part is fundamental to most of the music we listen to. Whether it’s the big bowed orchestral bass, the huge bass pipes of a cathedral organ or the ultra low warm sound of a vintage synth bass, the bass line serves as a root and foundation for most music.
We tend to notice the emptiness of when music lacks a bass line or implicit bass line. With rapidly evolving styles of music in blues, jazz, r&b and rock plus an ever increasing need for portability and stronger, louder bass lines prominently featured in musical hooks, there was clearly a need for a new kind of bass instrument. This is how the electric bass guitar era came into being.
Technically, the electric bass guitar was invented in the 1930’s although it never enjoyed a mass popularity at that time. It’s predecessor has existed for many prior years in the form of the double bass or acoustic bass.
The electric bass guitar offered a distinct change from the sounds that people had grown accustomed to hearing from previous upright basses. With it’s guitar like playing position the electric bass guitar differed from the hard to carry acoustic bass, electric bass strings also were not bowed like those of an acoustic and offered musicians a relatively easier to play and use highly portable instrument.
From a distance, the electric bass guitar could easily be mistaken for an electric guitar as the both look very similar with the same solid body shape, however the bass usually has a longer neck. Also, unlike an acoustic guitar which is hollow, with a sound hole to allow for amplification, the sound of a Fender bass guitar is amplified by plugging it in to an amplifier and speaker.
A bass guitar typically has four strings which are tuned an octave lower than the lowest strings of a regular guitar. It is often played by plucking or thumping the strings, unlike other guitars which are strummed. The Fender bass guitar is definitely a rhythm section instrument. When playing and interacting with a good drummer, a good bassist can help shape the flavor and pocket of the music in a way that non rhythm section instruments cannot. The electric bass is a special instrument and much more than a 4 string guitar.
Improvisation is common in many types of music, but is mainly expressed in jazz. The songs that all jazz soloists should be familiar with are called standards. These songs are not usually practiced collectively as they are so well known. A player can expect to build his own solo jazz part upon a standard usually. The jazz standards must be learned by all aspiring players . The structure of the song must be memorized and understood prior to attempting a solo. You will find that if you understand music it can be an invaluable skill when it comes to this task.
The soloist usually will not begin prior to the main melody of the song being played once through by everyone. It is important to know how long this will take as it will be your cue to begin your solo. You will receive a nod by the leader of the band to begin your solo when it is your time in any case. If there is a solo singer, your part will come after theirs.
Only training and a good understanding of musical structure will be the building blocks of a great jazz improvisations. Knowledge of the structure of a song will give you a road map of where your solo should go. This is where all the time you spent practicing scales will bear its fruit. A good jazz improvisation solo combines your knowledge of scales with your knowledge of the chord pattern of the song itself. If you find it difficult at first to build a solo, try playing arpeggios in the key signatures as you move through the song.  A good solo is not simply combining scales one to another. The jazz solo should have something to say after all, so do not just play scales by rote. You cannot know the exact way you will get through your solo, but you can know generally how you will get there.
Most jazz improvisations start with at least a general understanding and statement of the melody. A simple start allows for a greater latitude in expression as you move through the solo. As you go on through your solo you can increase the tension, dynamics and tempo before resolving to the main melody at the end. Listen to some favorite jazz solos that you know and see if the pattern is not the same as what we are describing here.
Listen to other instrumentalists to hear how they do their jazz improvisations. Go to concerts, buy recordings and learn how to build your own jazz musical solo. In time you will know what the pattern of a good jazz improvisation is intrinsically without being told.
I found this video from a unique and talented musician called Jay Wasco. He does a neat take on the old Neil Young classic Heart of Gold. I love how the energy level is cranked up to 11 or maybe even 12! Sit back, relax and enjoy the vibes!
Keep on Jammin’
For all you die hard guitarist’s out there, here is something that may or may not have entered into your mind at least once. The guitar coffin is an idea from the people at Crazy Coffins in the UK. I just came across this thing, really. It’s not like I’m actively looking for this kinda stuff!
I really don’t know what to think about this … coffin thing?
Keep on Jammin’
This is just a little something that I read about the other day in a magazine called CHILL. It makes a good observation about music and what it does for you. Enjoy!
Music: It does more than just get your feet tapping. Music has also been proven to stimulate the brain and improve focus and concentration. Plus, hearing uplifting music when we wake up in the morning can keep us in good spirits throughout the day. At night, soothing tunes can aid in getting a deeper, more restful sleep!
CHILL Magazine
Keep on Jammin’