Music Blogs (1,259)

Somewhere in the 1960's VOX (Jennings Musical Instruments) created a rocking style foot activated effects pedal. It had a controllable tone circuit that allowed a guitarist emulate the sound of a muted trumpet. As you press the pedal like a car accelerator, it made a 'wah' sound rocking forward and back. Thus the Wah-Wah pedal was born.

Innovation leads to copy and many other companies followed with their versions of the wah pedal. I'm not sure of the patent rights, but I know each company had to be different enough to avoid lawsuits. A lot has happened over the years and one of the most famous wah pedals are manufactured by Dunlop. Their precise circuit tuning can make a guitar sound like it's crying... because of this, it's called the CRY BABY.

Demo of the pedal:

Did Paul McCartney really die way back in the late 60's? Most will say that this is all a complete sham ,But there are some facts that cannot be put to rest , The one thing that cannot be explained away is the book that was written telling how he replaced a Paul McCartney
Mind you all that this is just a Neutral point of view here
But since that book written saying that the author had replaced McCartney ,I have just one question to ask
If Paul McCartney had not really died way back in the late 60's
How come after someone writes that he replaced Paul McCartney can get away with telling his story and not one Law Suit has been Filed against him?
If I was the one that was being smeared all over the pages of a so called book about Me being dead
I most certainly have filed a Lawsuit against the Author
Wouldn't you have done the very same thing?
Of course you would have
And then I must ask ,Why is it that This Paul McCartney has chose to remain silent?
Maybe this Paul McCartney doesn't want certain things to be brought to light?
You be the judge

Bad news for a 22 year old woman tourist in Florida was sitting on the front of a pontoon boat dangling her feet in the water. When the boat hit a wave, the motion pulled her under and to the back where the propeller caused deep lacerations to her arm requiring a tourniquet and transport and emergency medical services.

Terrible news for a 22 year old British man who vacationed in Greece and exiting a chartered helicopter in route to an airport to fly back to the U.K., when he stepped back into the turning tail rotor and killed (almost) instantly.


Story links:

Blog 70,000
The music I most listened to was Rock. It wasn't until Riverdance came out in 1994 that I started listening to Irish music. Actually, that's Irish music 'watered down' and not real traditional Irish music. From the video, I was blown away by Uilleann Pipes and wanted to learn that instrument.
Since I didn't have any background my research was extensive and after a few thousand in vested in handmade pipes, I started a journey. the one thing I ignored was 10 years or so playing a tin whistle. That would have been the essential basis for the ornamentation to make the colorful sound heard on Irish music.
Prior to that, I had some woodwind experience in oboe and saxophone, and none of those instruments were considered traditionally Irish!.
After 5 years, I decided to give up pipes and head back to something more familiar.

I hit a link today that reminded of the pipes played in the Irish style, with a touch of metal sound. But first a tutorial on getting the ornamentation parts they describe as Cuts, taps, pats, rolls, crans.

A while back I bookmarked a video of a Japanese metal band called Yousei Teikoku and I again listened to it tonight. Their genre is a cross over of Gothic Metal, Dark Wave and Symphonic Metal.
Having seen a few Japanese performers, they are unlike American Metal artists who appear noisy and sloppy. The Japanese players are fast, precise and very articulated.
Mostly sung in Japanese, a few videos have some phrases in English.
Always tastefully done with the set, filming, lighting, props, clothing and instruments. It's something I would listen to again.
I followed a few of their social media and website links, but there isn't too much to be found. Nearly all of it is in Japanese.

I was listening to a YouTube video from a studio/session guitarist who was explaining about absolute perfection in playing. If you are a professional, you must play the part.
Twanging a few wrong notes or messed up a timing is costly to the rest of the recording session if the engineer stops the recording take and makes everyone start again. Retakes get to be expensive. Some studio engineers will allow the song to continue and only retake the guitar part and not involve the rest of the session players.

Let's say you flubbed a solo note... one stinkin' note.
Years ago, everything was done on analog tape. They play the song again and the guitarist plays along repeating the part. At the very second where the mistake occurred, they 'punch-in' the new part to over write the mistake. It's only a second and not re-recording the entire solo.

Session players who aren't the best don't get called back for more work.

Now, nearly every studio is digital. No tapes. Everything goes directly to a computer.
The leading software workstation specially designed for recording studios is Pro Tools.
The beauty of that is doing a recording session in New York and sending the raw data to a studio in California to add vocals or other instruments.

Cowboy Chords are the most basic chords played in the first position, usually with a steel string acoustic guitar. Reminiscent of the early days of Western and Swing music, Cowboy Chords have lots of sustain due to the open strings. Guitars are tuned to E. If the song needs to be in a different pitch... let's say in the key of G, The guitarist would need to transpose and lose the sound of the Cowboy Chords.

Enter the capo. A capo is a device that straps around the guitar neck and placed in different locations to easily transpose music. The guitarist can still play like he was in E and strap a capo getting Cowboy Chords starting in the key of G.

For all the years of playing and listening to music, Cowboy Chords is a new term for me

I'm back to watching musically oriented YouTube videos (among other things) and came across a few musicians who were said to be 'gifted' and after hearing their stories, I see that at an early age of 5 or 6 most (if not all) were enrolled in music training, usually classical.
Many of the 'gifted' adult guitarists, started in their teens and fit guitar lessons into a life full of other things. The turning point was 6 hours of practice daily. Eddie VanHalen dedicated hours upon hours of practice to get to the level he achieved. Hard work of 40 hours or more each week practicing guitar is what did it... not being gifted.

I'm rethinking the word 'gifted' when it applies to famous musicians.

Hard work?
John Petrucci of Dream Theater discusses his background and going to Berklee College of Music.
Accomplished, yes. Gifted... no.

A Rabindrasangeet to Celebrate the Rainy season !!!

Song - " Shawana Gagane Ghora Ghanaghata "
Lyrics & Composition - - Rabindranath Thakur

Do not say anything ...

Just Enjoy Listening ...

Today is Paul's birthday and the final week of another North American tour.
80... amazing.



Many more years to you Paul... many more.
For one of the richest musicians in history, I'll always remember him and his iconic Hofner bass!