I picked this up in a music shop. I went in looking for something else, and this squier telecaster was hanging there looking a bit battered. It was £59, and I guessed it had come in as p/x on something. I tried it, and had to buy it. I'm really getting into the tele sound and feel. Gigged it for the first time last night, and plugged it straight into the amp. I don't know if this is true of all teles, but the variation in tone is huge. Never had a guitar change character so much with just one flick of the selector. This is a relatively cheap guitar, and it reminded me of a story. When I was about seventeen years old, I had been playing guitar for around one year. I had taken a few lessons with a local teacher, and I had accumulated some basic skills. I stopped the lessons and went to drama school, where I started taking music classes and also got a great opportunity to jam with other players from different backgrounds. Many of these players were well trained and much further along with their instruments than I was, while others were completely self taught and had the idiosyncratic approaches typical to that type of musicianship. During this time, I had reached some kind of stumbling block with my playing - one of those frustrating times when you can't see any improvement in your instrumental abilities or your musicianship. I was somehow under the impression that the fault lay with my guitar. I thought that the reason I couldn't play 'well' (which at that level of experience probably meant 'fast') was because my guitar was a cheaper model, and therefor harder to play. One evening after classes, a few of us had a jam set up. Another guitarist from the year above came along. He had his guitar with him. It was a plywood thing, paint chipping off, no name, really cheap hardware. The bridge had fallen off, and he had replaced it with a magic marker wrapped in gaffer tape. The wiring was shot through, so he had rewired it himself without solder (and without a proper grounding). It was a real piece of shit, and it looked un-playable. We got to the jam, and he played ten times better than me on that thing. Lesson learned. I don't know who made this, but I had to share it!
C, E-flat and G go into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve minors," and E-flat leaves. C and G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished and G is out flat. F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. D comes into the bar and heads straight for the bathroom saying, "Excuse me, I'll just be a second." A comes into the bar, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor and sends him out. Then the bartender notices a B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and shouts, "Get out now. You're the seventh minor I've found in this bar tonight." Next night, E-flat, not easily deflated, comes into the bar in a 3-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender says: "You're looking pretty sharp tonight. Come on in. This could be a major development." Sure enough, E-flat takes off his suit and everything else and stands there au naturel. Eventually, C, who had passed out under the bar the night before, begins to sober up and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. So, C goes to trial, is convicted of contributing to the diminution of a minor and sentenced to 10 years of DS without Coda at an up scale correctional facility. The conviction is overturned on appeal, however, and C is found innocent of any wrongdoing, even accidental, and that all accusations to the contrary are bassless. The bartender decides, however, that since he's only had tenor so patrons, the soprano out in the bathroom and everything has become alto much treble, he needs a rest and closes the bar. Really digging these guys at the moment. Huge sound from a quintet. Really intricate arrangements. Love it. I know it is crass to make comparisons, but if you're not tempted to click on the pic to link to sounds, I hear Zappa and Bitches Brew-era Miles, amongst other things. Well worth checking out! KS3 Music students studying blues may find this short introductory presentation useful. Enjoy! :) This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. When you quote content from this site, please link. Copyright © 2012 Ian Hartley. All rights reserved. Certain projects, images and products are trademarks of and/or copyrighted by their respective owners, used here for non-profit educational purposes only.
Dave King is my favourite drummer, and Happy Apple are my favourite band. I've seen Dave King play with The Bad Plus a few times in Japan, and they were fantastic. I spoke to Mr. King a couple of times after the shows, and he is humble, gracious and funny - an all-round nice guy. I asked him if Happy Apple are going to tour internationally any time soon, and he said there was nothing on the cards. His banter between tunes on Happy Apple bootlegs is hilarious. It is hard to know how serious he is, but in one aside he promised that the 2007 album "Happy Apple Back On Top" was part one of a trilogy...unfortunately they have released nothing since that album! I think there is a hardcore of weirdos who love this stuff...I hope they get another album together soon! Dave King's other projects include The Bad Plus, Halloween Alaska, The Gang Font and Dave King Trucking Company. His solo record is great too, but none of it offers quite the same thing as Happy Apple with Erik Fratzke on bass and Michael Lewis on sax...come on, make another album already! This video sums it all up really. Lydian is the mode that starts on the fourth note of a major key. In the key of C Major, the Lydian mode starts on F, and the notes are F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F.
This has always been one of my favourite scales. The raised fourth sets the first four notes of the mode whole tones apart. This gives a suspended feeling when you run the scale, and often creates unexpected resolutions in melodic lines. To me, it always creates a buoyant quality, notes glide against the harmony, and seem to be constantly searching without reaching a cadence. Writing and improvising around this mode is one of my favourite approaches to the big note. It is also one of the most recognisable sounds, and when done right, it creates a beautiful haunting quality. According to Wikipedia, Lydia (Assyrian: Luddu; Greek: Λυδία) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian. So if Lydia was east of Ionia, can we say that the Lydian mode is east of Major? Seems fitting. the zen lounge live @ Calendar Cafe, Hiyoshi Thursday, December 30th 7:30pm - late The Zen Stance will be joined by novelist Dave Hoenigman and DJ Taka for the next installment of The Zen Lounge. Live music, DJs, and poetry. 1000 yen entrance fee (with 1 Drink)! live: the 禅 stance: - anthony magor : alto sax - ian hartley : drums and samples + Dave Hoenigman (PYT / Burn Your Belongings) + Taka - DJ + Guests TBA BIG BLD 3F 1-19-18 Hiyoshi honcho Kouhoku-ku Yokohama-city JAPAN Tel. 045-628-9120 www.calendar-cafe.com the zen stance live @ Heaven's Door Sunday, December 12th 7:30pm - 11:00pm the 禅 stance: - anthony magor : alto sax - ian hartley : drums and samples the zen stance myspace heaven's door |
never odd or even
the unofficial official blog of musician ian hartley. archives
January 2015
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