Most Liked Music Blogs (1,259)

But each day, when she walks to the sea, She looks straight ahead, not at he...
Lyrics from the song The Girl From Ipanema, a 1960's Brazilian Bossa Nova international hit.

It's in the song list of music I'm learning, for an upcoming gig. Rehearsals at a rate of 2 per week puts me in a pinch, as it's not enough time to comfortably learn all the arrangements and play more than one set as a trio. My cousin will duo with the guitarist and do the other 2 sets without me. No choice. it's agreed. The venue is a open bar at a restaurant and the management only wanted a duo to play low-volume anyway. I'll be introduced as a guest musician and play a few songs. We are bumping the regular entertainment... a woman who sings to pre-recorded music.

At this point, I'm expecting to carry on my day job working 2 large projects and 1 small one already on the books. I asked for a short break from sales for a few months. That didn't go as planned, three new sales leads are on my calendar.

I'll make it happen... I always do.




Brazilian jazz singer, Astrud Gilberto, 1940 to 2023 died at the age of 83.

Whenever I speak to a former band mate, my opening line is from the move The Blues Brothers as we are always joking about about putting the band back together.
It's getting harder to make that statement when so many of my musician friends are gone.

Phil... disappeared.
Chuck... hasn't been seen in years.
Harold... murdered.
Bill... died of a heart attack.
Larry... died of lung cancer.
Frank... died of pancreatic cancer.
Bob... died in his sleep.
Billy... drug overdose.
Danny... heart attack.
Paul... retired, not interested.
Jay... undergoing cancer treatments, would attend a jam if possible.
Carlos... full-time job, does studio work and weekend gigs.

Interestingly, I called a cousin who recently moved to South Florida to update him on my brothers kidney transplant and we got to talking about his retirement and that he and his younger brother still play music. I got the invite as they need a bass player because they are getting a band together!

Occasional parties and social events. They don't play Rock & Roll and chances are, I'll need to buy a tuxedo!

I've increased my YouTube music obsession lately. The channel Drumeo came up on my suggested list. They offer drum lessons and do detailed videos on many famous drummers, breaking down equipment, background and a little documentary of the drummers they feature in each episode.

Stewart Copeland was one I enjoyed watching.

Best known as the drummer for the British rock band Police, I knew he had a unique style of syncopation and drumming rhythms that was key in the success of Police. Other than an American musician in England, I didn't know his background.
He's very open about family travels, his exposure to music from different cultures and very down-to-earth of his success as a drummer.

It's a 20 minute video and will probably watch it again a few times.

Boy they sure don't make them like this anymore.

The Guzheng is a multi-stringed instrument from China that dates back more than a thousand years. Moyun is a young woman who plays pop songs on the Guzheng and posts videos on Youtube and the Chinese equivalent site Bilibili.

Guzhengs come in several sizes, vary in the number of strings and depending on the sound desired can be metal or nylon strings. Plucked with finger picks similar to a Western Zither, the Guzheng has a series of bridges dividing the strings with high notes on a short side and low notes on a long side. This allows for more resonance in the sound and gives the player a full range of high and low notes. Typical of the style, pressing one string on the long side gives a vibrato or pitch bend sound typical of Chinese music.



Here is a short introduction of Moyun and her Guzheng:

I watched a rare interview from 1993 of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts who died this week at the age of 80. Initially, Charlie was a graphic artist (who did some record sleeves for the Stones) interested in jazz and became friends with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones.

Charlie had played rhythm & blues in clubs around London before becoming a Rolling Stone in 1963 when asked to join the band. That gig lasted 58 years and he performed every concert and played on every album!

It must have been difficult for Charlie as he was very shy and avoided interviews and media coverage with the only exception for his love of fashion and owning some 200 bespoke (custom) suits.

Mentioned in the interview, Charlie was self-taught and learned by listening to records of other drummers. Pair of diddles... is a funny takeoff for a basic drumming rudiment called PARADIDDLE consisting of four even strokes played in the order left-right-left-left or right-left-right-right.

He died in a hospital and had undergone some earlier unspecified emergency procedure. No other details to his death had been provided.

I'll start with Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb

I have taught American line dancing for many years and though I never bothered about real dancing when I was much younger, I was so glad that I discovered this form of exercise. I enjoyed it so much that I started to teach it and it opened a world of appreciation of all kinds of dance and music. It is a great form of mental and physical stimulation and enables you to express yourself and escape the restrictions of life. I enjoy watching all types of dance and listening to the music that accompanies the steps.
Are there any dances that you have performed and what type of music and artists do you appreciate?
Are there any films you have watched and enjoyed the dance moves?

This is a blog I've wanted to do for a long time.
Some famous guitarists have used the same old instruments for years. Why... when they could have anything they desire? There is no one answer for this but some guitars have the 'magical' mix that their owner feels that they cannot get with another guitar... even if it's of the same model.

Fender guitars come off an assembly line and technically should be the same for ones made in January to the ones made in July. There are small variances in the materials. The thickness of the neck being the same, but one neck has a slight difference in grain or density of the lumber it was machined from. The same with the body parts. All kiln dried lumber most likely harvested from the same forest. A guitarist trying out 10-15 guitars in a music store wouldn't know if the neck wood came from a tree that faced sunlight or grew in the middle of the forest. He just knew that one of those guitars had a slightly different resonance, enough to make a decision to buy it.
I've seen lots of YouTube video interviews with musicians who discuss their trademark style and sound that comes out different when they play another model.

Players like Joe Bonamassa has a never ending collection of Gibson Les Paul guitars, each special but favors a few that he tours with. I've seen him play a Fender Stratocaster and it's a slightly 'different Joe' with the Fender.

Pink Floyd's guitarist David Gilmour used to play a Fender Telecaster that was lost on his flight to an American tour in 1968, ended up with a black Stratocaster he purchased at the (world famous) Manny's in New York City and kept it for over 40 years.

In the short video David explains some guitars that spawned a few iconic riffs and songs that came about from these guitars. Axes that define your sound.