Jack's Utopish social media and recording a Quip

Gotta love what Jack Conte tries to do. All the creatives out there, feeding the social media beast which has turned into a piece of crap algorithm driven attention seeking advertisement focus killing machine so billionaires can make more billions...creatives don't stand a chance of being truly creative if they need to feed that machine or are creative as a hobby with the day job pays the bills. I like my day job, but I also love creativity and I have been dabbling in sharing my creativeness with the world via the internet for more than two decades now. When Jack started up Patreon several years ago I jumped onboard - it's a way for fans to support artists.

So he's just released a bunch of updates which included the concept of "Quips" - shortform videos on the platform, with the idea that they are just quick and not overproduced. Behind the scenes style. I can get onboard with that! I have been making Jawmunji Talks videos on and off for years, generally I go longer form, but I have also done a few Youtube shorts. Seeing as I'm a recovering perfectionist it's good for me to be less-producey, so I just recorded a Quip and popped it into Jack's machine. Will that machine turn ee-vil? Maybe, but I want to say no. People will game it for sure, but will it intentionally be made ee-vil like the social medias? I want to say no. Will it get traction? Maybe! It will if we feed it! Can Patreon be the vehicle where fans can actually support creatives? I kinda think it already is! I love the "1000 Fans" notion - that you "only" need 1000 fans to pay you $100 a year and that is a decent income. I think of my youngest daughter in her various bands, I know she has followers, and she sells merch at gigs, and it gets devoured. I helped her make 30 high quality CDs for Hyperfest - all sold (note to self - write a blog about that). The lino print cheap t-shirts she makes move easily at a greater profit...heh, I think the CDs are much better value for money, but there you go!

The point being that she is already supported by local fans who show up and buy merch at all her gigs. So that, applied world wide on the internet seems like an obvious step. But the current social media, the streamers, all the internet machinery for it - designed to make the maximum amount of money for shareholders and if the creatives got nothing from it then that would consider that great.

Stepping off my soapbox, I decided to post a Quip. I love to talk about creative stuff that excites me. I love to engage with people who also love to talk about the creative stuff that excites me. I don't need to make a living from being creative, but I wouldn't stop people who want to support me as well! I do have a bunch of mates already on Patreon - in the early days I used to offer stuff so I amassed a number of supporters - but I stopped offering stuff (it was in a very very grey legal area) - and encouraged supporters who were expecting stuff to cancel their subscriptions - but offered cheap tiers for anyone who wanted to keep supporting me. Some did! Thank you supporters - it is great to engage with fans but when someone supports financially it changes things...people making a sacrifice because they believe in something. They don't have to sacrifice but they want to.

Let's switch to tech talking.

I would dearly love to have a dedicated room with cool gear set up to make it super easy for me record a video whenever I am in the creative mood. I do not have that. So just now I spent more time setting up the gear than recording the video. Shame. So here are some notes to Future JAW to help him out:

• OBS Studio: still amazing. Keep using it for this sort of thing.
• Web cameras: I'm running a classic Logitech C922 Pro and a C920. Both are dated - I'm going to buy a more modern replacement for the C920. Important - don't saturate your USB bus with webcam feeds, try to make sure each one is plugged into a different USB bus...currently I have one on the laptop and one on the dock.
• Microphone: my ever-useful Zoom H1D. Turn it on a set it into audio interface mode. Plug it into USB, it's low bandwidth so it will be fine. In OBS Studio go into Settings->Audio and point a Mic/Auxiliary Audio to it.
  Remember! Windows->Sound Settings for Input and Output definitively show what is connected. All apps refer to the devices there including OBS!
• PeSonus Studio 1824 interface, via Reaper DAW: this is the complicated bit. Guitar instrument cable -> PreSonus interface -> USB to laptop -> Reaper DAW -> OBS + headphones. I use the 1824 in ASIO mode, which is the best way to interface with an interface, and Reaper can apply fx and send them back to the interface, so I plug my headphones into the front of it and get near-zero latency. HOWEVER that isn't shared on the Windows laptop I use UNLESS you turn on Loopback=virtual in the PreSonus Universal Control application. Once you do that, you will see in Sound Settings an input for PreSonus Virtual - which you can then add to OBS as another Mic/Auxiliary Audio.
• OBS Studio again: brings it all together. I've tried different picture-in-picture/split/shifting/etc methods for the webcams, I went for portrait this time, one webcam on top another on the bottom. In Settings->Video I went Base of 1080x1920 (ie portrait HD). Then it is a case of adding the two webcams, cropping and moving them to fit. The Zoom HD1 microphone I initially added a gate filter, but the electric guitar acoustically was getting through the gate when I dug in. If I increased the gate I had to shout to trigger it. So I added a mute/unmute hotkey and remembered to deal with it. Not great.

When in doubt, just talk through your problems with a chatbot - that's what I did. General life tip with chatbots: you have to have some basic knowledge of what you are trying to achieve, you have to half know the answer or they will lead you down a never ending garden trail to nowhere. You have to have  a year's worth of built up a knowledge of knowing how to get what you need from a chatbot, accumulated from trial and error...hence I wrote the notes above to help Future JAW when he forgets things.

What I need to do to be a little better for next time (and there is always a next time, I have been doing "behind the scenes" videos for 20 years) - at least one better webcam, and a microphone stand that puts a microphone close to my mouth so I don't have to worry about mute/unmute, so I can just use gating.

Oh and I played Pink Floyd Learning to Fly. I was aiming for a more "Pulse" live feel, so more bassnotes, wasn't quite getting it, still undecided whether I should be hitting it that hard. The G string rings a bit too much, wasn't happy with my playthrough. BUT THAT'S ALRIGHT...if you want perfection use AI slop.

Shine on you crazy tab

I saw Yoni play Shine On You Crazy Diamond many years ago, thought it was such a good interpretation, Ioved the idea of trying it, decided it was too much of an undertaking. Around May last year I had started noodling with it and even recorded a youtube short playing part I. Well I have been plugging away at it in the background. Yep, it is a massive undertaking. Heavily influenced by Yoni, there are a few bits he had taken out and I added in, a few bits he played I didn't. I also gave up at the start of part V whereas he took it a little bit further. I play my arpeggios different, more classical like maybe? I pay it different enough to warrant my own tab for it, otherwise in a years time I will have completely forgotten how to play it.

This very morning, on a sunny Labour day in Australia, I finished the tab...well it will need several more play throughs and tweaks - sooo many articulations. 6 pages. I kinda regret starting but it's so iconic and so nice to play. I play it through around twice a week to really push it into muscle memory, and at over 8 minutes, with a lot of complicated chords it's challenging. It's been more than six months, and it has kinda pushed out any other arrangements I have been working on, it would be at least three if not four of my normal arrangements worth. I practise parts on my electric, but my full playthroughs are usually on a classical. I think it sounds better on the classical, even though I run out of frets on a classical. On one calm day when I'm feeling chill and relaxed I'll try recording it. Then I can release the tab to you all. And get back to the backlog of all the other arrangements and recordings I have queued up :-)

Constant improvement is the enemy of standardisation

That's a quote often spoken at work, along with its converse "Standardisation is the enemy of constant improvement". Both are good in their own way - constant improvement - who doesn't like improvements that makes things better? But standardisation - who doesn't like it when things are expected, dependable, working fine and don't change?

In the past coupla decades I have been playing guitar I have honed down a number of techniques/sounds that I use all the time. That's my standardisation shining through. Not only does it make arranging new songs easier - just go to my existing bag of tricks - but it also means I have a signature sound. Dependable, expected. In my arranging of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (quite an undertaking) there has been a few tricky parts, for instance the chord 5-4-4-x-2-x (a B7 variant) I had already played in another song - but you'd always go for the much simple 2-0-2-1-2-x for B7 except where you want the high A on top for the melody. It's quite an unnatural chord shape, but doable.

There is however one section, right at the start of Part iii (on the studio recording it is at 6:33 mm:ss) where Dave plays this unique little riff underneath Rick's synth work (occurs again at 6:44 and a few more times after that). Looking at it, there is nothing sinister going on, it's just this unusual actually quite haunting 4 notes. Dave really did some amazing stuff on that song. In the context where he is using it, over a minor chord, it is essentially b7(below)-1-6-5. It is feels related to those four famous notes, which are 1-b7-3-6. Looking at it in tab, with a hammer on and pull off, it's straight forward:

But now let's look at it in context. First up, the key signature is 6/4, I've put my usual style into it, bass note on beat 1 and snare/flick chord halfway through the bar. This is interesting because this is establishing a polyrhythm already, bass->snare on beats 1->4 grouping together 3 beats rather than a 4/4 grouping 2 beats. 

(Notice that I put in a one beat pre-bass note in, gives it some groove, but also that tiny chord fragment in an eight note before it (in yellow) which for me is like a dreamy echo from the "snare" hit.)

Let's add in Rick soulful synth work. This is right at the start of Part iii so it is establishing the vibe, coming in with just a few notes, but each one punches hard. I've noticed throughout this song that both Rick and Dave use beats 5 and 6 a lot in their expression. It's what makes this such a great song. The start of many bars is unassuming, and then there is a busyness in the end, carrying you into the next bar.

So now let's look at it in context. Dave comes in on beat 6 and the four note riff ends in beat 1 of the next bar. What on earth is that? I can't explain what is going on here musically, but it is sooo good! There are two quite separate, distinct parts that are sitting on top of the bass/rhythm, really playing up on the polyrhythm making it sound so rich:

Ok so we know what is going on, what's the problem? Well it's so unusual it doesn't fit in my standard techniques, it's not a standard chord spacing or even a standard melody feel in a chord. It's just weird and hard to play. It requires constant improvement.

To start with I omitted it altogether, but it was sorely missed. I put in the second two notes, while weird it was pretty easy to get under my fingers.  But those first two notes just really really needed to be there.  It completes the feel.

I have played the two bars over and over.  It's not sinking in.  Because constant improvement is the enemy of standardisation.

I will keep trying.

I won't be doing it on the second iteration, that involves a slide and a hammer on at the same time. I had a crack - nope, that is not something I need in my toolkit.  At least not yet.  The third iteration I have omitted -except that bar is pretty quiet so I shifted it to begin on beat 5 rather than beat 6, very easy to play and in fact I quite like it there because it really stands out.  Shifting melodies in time is 100% okay as a fingerstyle arranger, you either come in early and space it out, or come in late and speed it up, I do both all the time to create a bit of variation in otherwise repeated melodies.

(Yep, my desire is for constant improvement but my laziness and pragmatism usually ends with standardisation.)

Shine on you crazy Partscaster

As per last two times we spoke, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is coming along nicely, it's actually really addictive. I'm roughly following Yoni's version but I have different artistic directions, a different style and different ability...so a casual listener would say it is the same, but it's not. There is one thing him and I do agree upon - the second Gilmour solo in Part iii is not worth the effort! A lot of work, and by then only the diehard Floyd fans would still be listening. So I have also cut Part iii in half and launch into Part iv straight after Rick's minimoog solo. It's so nice that solo by the way, it could be my favourite part. It's quiet, understated but packs an emotional punch. Funny, it's only when you are studying a song like this that you notice the artistic differences between the soloists - Dave and Rick. It stands out!

The Partscaster is underway, I am quite committed. I spent time cutting and glue pieces of wood into the cavities I'm no longer using, it was an interesting exercise in 3D. Took about 3 different gluing sessions. Then I hit the areas with builder's filler, which is pretty much the same as automotive filler, just a two part sandable filler. Came up really nice. Which led me to believe - I won't need to put on a layer of spray putty (high fill primer). Let me shout this out loud for Future JAW and anyone else listening: YOU ALWAYS NEED TO USE SPRAY PUTTY. I'm three coats of paint in and I can still see where my repairs are in a few places. Even thick primer style paint will not be enough to cover up repairs. If the only thing you are doing is repainting, okay, sure, don't worry about spray putty. But for anything else, SPRAY PUTTY.

It will be fine, it doesn't need to be perfect, but I know I could do better. I'm still vaguely thinking about applying a coat or putty and restarting the paint layer again. Not all the guitar parts are in yet so I still have time for more paint, wait, sand, paint, wait, sand...

More photos to come as I continue the work!

Tabs into Musescore backlog

For years I have been tabbing out my arrangements and transcriptions. It's part of my music arrangement process. I don't need to do it so much anymore, especially on songs that aren't complex. So I have around 70 tabs from the last 15 years of effort. In the early days I used PowerTab version 1. It was fast and I knew it well. But it had known bugs, was no longer in development, and as Windows moved through versions it was increasingly less supported (I have a Windows XP virtual machine I use if I ever need to make PowerTab changes).

So I switched to Musescore a few years back. It is fully featured, I'm talking fully. So fully that I barely remember how to achieve all the different things I want. I'm constantly googling it, and saying "oh, that's right". Which says to me that it is a tool that you need to use regularly, and it is not completely intuitive. I still struggle with the hotkeys, I find myself pressing escape a lot and "starting again". Its concept is great (it is more "strict" than powertab) and the flexibility is outstanding and the scores are beautiful.  So I'm sticking with it.

But now I want to convert 50 of my old tabs from PowerTab to Musescore. Musescore does not support old PowerTab, but GuitarPro5 supports both. So I managed to PTB->GP5->MSCZ. Unfortunately I need to spend at least 10 minutes on each to standardise templates, fix errors, that sort of thing.

"JAW, why haven't you been using Guitar Pro all these years?" I have tried each version, but I always liked PowerTab more. Maybe I was being a bit anti-change and too used to PowerTab. I've scored out a few multi-instrument parts in the last few years and I have more planned, Guitar Pro is very guitar oriented, so it suits me even less these days.

So there you have it. I've got probably ten hours of effort to get all my tabs into Musescore up to a standard I will be happy with. It's only my OCD that will eventually drive me to do it - I don't need those tabs anymore, and I don't get paid for producing them, so I don't need to!

But it is really nice having them all up to date :-)
JAW

After a lesson, the boys light up

Since the "issue" from the other day, I found another couple of hours I could spend with the guitar.  A quick test to see if I could re-record some audio, nah, "tone" won't be back for another week.  So, what have I got to work on?  Hmm...

I've been asked by several people after playing "Reckless" "Do you know any other Australian Crawl?"  I don't.  My mate Jono, when we catch it usually ends in a few beers, maybe a whiskey or two, he sings and I play guitar.  Last session he was super keen for more Crawl, particularly "The Boys Light Up". "I have the whole internet here on my phone, let's look up the chords."  After strumming, with some embellishment, I mentally noted it was a good fingerstyle candidate.

So here I am, "The Boys Light Up"

First challenge was putting the chords into fingerstyle - Bm, G, A.  Pretty much the entire song.  Hey, it's 80's Aussie Pub Rock, keep it simple.  I didn't like the idea of having to do stuff while hanging onto a Bm, so I shifted it down two steps to Am, F, G.  Better, I could work with that.  It is a seriously backbeat song, which made it both challenging and interesting.  I developed a pattern quickly, bass-pick-rest-pick, similar to my current standard, but with a rest instead of body slap.

Harmonica solo at the start.  I pulled apart a midi file I found on the internet for ideas for the whole song, there wasn't much in it but the harmonica solo was pretty clear.  It went easily onto the pattern.  No problems there.  The verses were slightly problematic, 'ole Reyney sings pretty radical (nobody has deciphered some of his lyrics) and the melody was difficult for me to work out.  But it seemed essentially in chords so I just winged it, trying to sing it in my head.

Sadly still, the melody is midrange, which puts it smack bang in the backbeat chord fragments I was going for.  If it was up high you can put it up there out of the way, but in the middle, again, makes it more challenging.  The whole song being down two steps from Bm to Am it also sounded "flat".  Capo on the second fret, ha ha, back to normal, still with open chords, yah!

There are a lot of lyrics in the verse structure, which makes it kinda boring for fingerstyle.  So I aimed for "variation" to not bore the audience too much.  There's a little bridge which follows the verse structure which is signature for the song and very cool, then it is chorus, which is same as verse.

It was just about a wrap!  A nice easy one, bit of interest, very simple phrases to remember.  I was sad to put aside some of the groovy bass and distorted guitar, which didn't immediately fit, but I slipped in a nice bend on the beat before the start of the main phrases which made up a little bit for the loss of the groovy bass.

Not my best work, but an easy three minute song to fit into the repertoire, and it is 80's Aussie Pub Rock, a personal fave.

Here, have a listen to the demo I just recorded:

Never heard the song?  I love this super-early recording where they stuffed up the backbeat for the first 20 seconds, even Reyney looks back "what the heck are you doing?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtniUXtDY6M

Or, much more recently, and this one has cowbell!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7luJhTELfI

A look into progress on "Get Back"

I owed you all a video talking through an arrangement, so since I'm still playing around with "Get Back" I recorded this after doing a successful take of "Heart of Gold" for YouTube. I put the camera in autofocus (new camera) and it hunted around for focus a lot which is quite annoying, my apologies. I didn't spend a lot of time in post production, sorry if the content and the continuity is a bit poor. As always, I'm rambly and sometimes don't make sense, I really should plan my videos before I hit the record button. One day, when I'm good at it, and I make instructional DVDs for a living hey! :-)

JAW

DSOTM update

Never to go away, my Dark side of the Moon fingerstyle arrangement/cover is medium warm active at the moment.  One thing that has re-sparked the interest is the many full album covers of Dark Side of the Moon I have been listening to over the past few months, while driving or doing really tedious database work.  Let me give a summary of what I have studied so far:

Listened to more than once:

• Easy All Stars - "Dub Side of the Moon".  Reggae, really well done.  Have listened to more than ten times.  Note there is also "Dubber Side of the Moon", I found that one too hardcore, more house music than reggae.
• The Flaming Lips - "Dark Side of the Moon".  Psychedelic/Alternate Rock.  Took me a while to "get it", but it has become good stuff for me.  A few songs didn't work, but overall, two thumbs up.
• Poor Mans Whiskey - "Dark Side of the Moonshine".  Bluegrass cover.  The voilinist -oops- "fiddler" and banjo players are great.  Surprisingly well done, and you can actually listen to it more than once, it's silly but still musical and pays tribute.
• Dream Theater - "Dark Side of the Moon".  Only just makes this list, a bit too close to the original, but was well done.
• "Return to Dark Side of the Moon".  Hit and miss - various artists, some with great covers, others not so much, worth a listen though.  Time/Breathe Reprise I really liked.
• "Moon8" - Brad Smith.  NES (yes, Nintendo) cover.  Well done, cheesy, some really impressive touches considering the limitations of the NES, but you know what, I've listened to it a few times.
• "Dark Side of the Moon" - Roger Waters live in 2007.  I didn't like his singers much but you can't argue with The Man.  Worth a listen or two.
• "Dark Side of the Moon" - Pink Floyd 1974.  A recording of a live show at Wembley Stadium.  Really good insight into what they were doing with the album after it was recorded and they took it on the road.  Great stuff.

Listened to only once:

• The Squirrels - "Not-So-Bright Side of the Moon".  Aiming for comedy, but started to come over as a piss-take.  Didn't like it.
• Out of Phase - "Dark Side of the Moon". Slightly Ambient, I wasn't a fan.
• "Any Colour You Like" with Alan Parsons.  Old school rock feel, not bad, but the sound recording is too dodgy.  A little bit hacky in the singing and guitar department as well.
• Trance Remix "Dark Side of the Moon".  Just couldn't get into trance style.
• "The Moon Revisited".  It was okay, but I didn't feel the need to listen to it again.
• Phish - "Dark Side of the Moon". Again okay, but only listened to once.
• String Quartet - "Dark Side of the Moon".  Look it was true to form, it was just what you'd expect from a string quartet.  I guess it's not my thing, I was hoping for more "DSOTM" than "string quartet".
• "Dark Side of the Moon a Capella".  Yeah, nah.
• "Dark Side of the Moon" Acoustic.  I didn't like it.  The guitar work and the singing were not my style, and too much layering over the original recording. 
• The Problemaddicts - "Dark Side of Oz".  Hip Hop.  Yeesh.  Please no.

There is a heap of stuff on YouTube as well which is worth a listen to but I haven't yet ripped the lot to mp3 for my mp3 player, all these reviewed here were only from a list I found of "proper CD albums".

For my own cover I have touched every single song.  I owe you guys this year another youtube video of where I am.  The project won't be finished this year, but hold me to another video.  This is where I'm at:

1. Speak to me - currently just tapping guitar body.  I'm going to have to get more creative.
2. Breathe - Done.  There are a few ways I play it, and I add lib so the "final", like all my covers, will vary from where I am toady.
3. On the Run - I have ideas and I've played with some concepts.  It has moved from "don't include" to "will do".
4. Time/Breathe Reprise - all but done. All concepts are in but I haven't done the Time solo.  I will.  Lower priority, I don't "need" it, but I "need" it :-)
5. Great Gig in the Sky - Done, pending.  The work for the piano was done years ago, the skeleton is in place for Clare's oo-ah, just needs to be finished.  At the moment I just shorten it a lot.
6. Money - Concepts are done, except for solo.  I struggle to play it, it's the newest one on my progress sheet.
7. Us and Them.  Done, no solo though.
8. Any Colour You Like - All concepts in place.  I struggle to both play it and remember it.  Solo not quite finished.
9. Brain Damage - Done.
10. Eclipse - Done.

There you have it, still a long way off, but never forgotten!

JAW

Play to your own style/laziness

I have mentioned in the past that tabs are good for you where I talked about how to digest and play a tab.  I've seen a couple of YouTube messages recently asking me about my latest tabs, and if they are all there, that some notes seemed to be missing, that sort of thing. My answer - "play to your own style/laziness".

On the other end of the scale, some people ask me why I don't include chords.  Mostly I just forget to add them and really I should always remember to add them, they are pretty important.  Not so much that it shows you what chords to strum (you can get chord/lyric sheets anywhere, much easier for following) - but again it helps you to play to your own style/laziness.

What do I mean "play to your own style/laziness"?

If you had a note-for-note tab transcription of a really stylish player like say Tommy Emmanuel (and I've seen those types of tabs) then you will notice be a lot of notes.  And even as you try to follow timings, and picking patterns, an attempt to perfectly emulate his style, you will struggle and it will take a long time.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of hard work, but tabs should be a guide.  Your ear will hear the subtleties and inflections when you listen to the recording, trying to track it note for note is not a good use of your time.

Maybe there will be little sections that a really accurate tab is important, but generally, you only need enough notes (or chords!) to get a feel for what is going on, and then develop it into something that you can play.  That is, into your style.

And your style will be as lazy as you want it to be.  If you are note-for-note learning then you are pushing your style out to match the arrangers style.  That's fine but it would be better to find the happy medium between playing the piece note-for-note and how you would play it if you arranged it yourself...that is, make it as lazy as you want it to be!

Drop notes, add notes, do everything as a tremolo, convert it to alternating bass.  Only play the bass note on beat 1.  Play a one fifth down bass note before each in-chord bass note.  Flick chord fragments on the 2nd and 4th beat.  Make it your own, take it (only) as far as you like.  I still believe, as a hobbyist,  it is better to be able to play 10 good pieces of music than 1 excellent piece of music.  Life is short, perfection is bad.  But don't be too lazy, always challenge yourself just a little bit, always move forward.

The other side of my "is the tab all there?" question is when I've only included the skeleton of the song.  I've noticed some songs only have maybe 20 bars of actual "information".  It might be a 5 minute song, but it is the same 20 bars of information played over and over, in different orders, with perhaps some subtle differences (that your ear will notice and you can improvise).  All you need is that 20 bars of information and you can work out the rest!  Imagine, just one piece of paper for a whole song!  You can make your own structure of verse/chorus/verse/chorus once you know what they are.  A bridge or a solo adds more information, but perhaps you don't even want to weigh yourself down with that.
 
It annoys me to see two pages of a tab where there are maybe 4 notes difference between them.  That sort of over-tabbing looks daunting when you first pick it up, and really, it is making stuff more complex than it needs be.  I'm all about simplification, about giving enough to get you started along the road, and letting you choose your own destination.  There will be times when you need to be 100% spoon fed, (in fact some of my tabs are indeed like that), but sometimes I'm going to give you a rod and teach you how to fish.  And sometimes, you should go make your own fishing rod...

JAW

What's happening June 2013

Welcome to the Pilbara!  This is my home two weeks out of three for the foreseeable future. It is an area in Western Australia responsible for about 20% of the worlds iron ore production.  I've been working in the iron ore mining game on and off for 20 years, and have spent the last couple of years engineering software for an expansion of an iron ore port facility at Cape Lambert.  Now it is the pointy end of the job - where we commission the facility, which means a lot of time away from home.

(Here is the Birrabira camp where I am staying, and here are a couple of stackers in the facility I'm working at.)

What this all means is that since I don't work more than 12 hours a day I get a bit of free time between meals and sleeping...which I have been filling with guitar playing.  I've been running through my set list most nights to several mates who are happy to listen, and I put in time working out new songs.  Good news for guitar!  Not so good news for my family.  But, it is the nature of my work, good pay in return for being away from home.  Make the most of it me thinks.

I decided I'm not going to take the Esteve on the plane up and down every roster, so I looked in the classifieds for a good classical banger that I can leave up here.  I think I have mentioned I have a soft spot for 70's and 80's Yamahas.  Probably because that's all I had for the first ten years of playing.  I found a nice example of a G-55, circa 1974 vintage, so pretty much the same as my first guitar.  It was in fair condition so I grabbed it for $AU100 (2013).  I ditched the strings and went to take out the saddle for a looksee...which I discovered was glued in (sheesh) and when trying to pull it out shattered in my hands.  Lucky I have spares!  I cleaned up the saddle rebate, filed a new one down and popped it in.

Although the neck is ever-so-slightly bent in giving an ever-so-slightly high action, it plays fine and sounds great.  I think my audience is surprised when I tell them it is a $100 banger that I'm going to leave up here forever!

(Note, if you are interested in old yamaha guitars - when they were made, out of what - Yamaha's excellent "Guitarachive" Guitar Archive was closed but has found new support here:  http://yamahavintagefg.boards.net/thread/8/yamaha-acoustic-guitar-archive)

I'll let you know of my progress.  It's overwhelming what to tackle first!  One of my mates who'd like to learn to play said "can you play Lean On Me?"...quick internet search for the chords, quick improvise...then an hour or two later in my room and I have made a really nice fingerstyle version.  I think you will like it but I didn't bring any recording equipment...this time.  But since I mentioned it, here, have a quick look at the main riff:

Note the strum/finger flick indications on the bottom of the tab section.

Anyway, I'll be in touch! :)

JAW

I'm Still Here November Update

Hey I ran a poll recently (if anyone has a burning question they'd like to see polled, let me know) "Where do you place yourself in your guitar journey?" From 195 votes we had:

6  ( 3%) Expert
18 ( 9%) Just Started
22 (11%) Advanced
61 (31%) Beginner
88 (45%) Intermediate

Only 3% call themselves an expert; I'm going to put that down to (a) "Aww shucks, I'm no expert!" and (b) Experts don't need help from the internet.  Look I don't even want to call myself an expert, there is so much about guitar and music theory I don't know, but if you are talking cover arrangements in fingerstyle, OK, I will begrudgingly call myself an expert.

"Just started and Beginner" was purposely broken into two to provide an escape hatch - "Just started" is a real beginner, but some people who have been playing for 10 years might still be "Aww shucks, I'm just a beginner" so they need the "Beginner" option.

"Intermediate" at nearly half is to be expected.  I would consider most guitarists who have mastered the basics, and have access, would search the internet for ideas and inspiration.  My humble site here hopefully offers ideas and inspiration, so welcome! :)

"Advanced" was also offered as an escape hatch for "Expert", I would have thought there would be more.  I was thinking there would be say 25% in the Advanced/Expert class, 25% in the Just Started/Beginner class and 50% in the Intermediate class.  However it's not like this poll is a true cross section of the community, it is roughly a cross section of solo acoustic fingerstyle. At best.  I imagine a similar poll on a learners site would have the results skewed quite differently.

Anyway, polls are fun.  I'm not sure how much to read into this one.  Must be time for another!

Meanwhile, I recorded another Billy Joel cover and posted it on youtube, you can see it here: http://youtu.be/wHwSqIG12wM  I liked this one because the bass line challenged me a little bit - root notes on beats 1, 2&, 3 and different (but in chord) note on beat 4.  Chuck the simple melody on top and finger flick some chord fragment fills in where you can.  Because of the reasonably busy bass line I didn't find much room for flicked chord fragments.  As you know I like my arrangements less regimented - the fragments add a dimension of "feel" unlike pure alternate bass style picking which is clever but, erm, clinical?  Mathematical?  I was forced down that line somewhat in this song which to be honest is often a good thing - too much flicked chord fragments "muddies" a song, the distinctions are lost, the melody is not clear and the arrangement approaches strumming.

There is a fine line between "Clinical but clear and distinct" and "Muddy but warm with feel".  And a balance to be found.  You can't go clinical for 20 bars, then go muddy for the next twenty...well okay you can, but only when it is balanced.  I think I got a reasonable balance with this arrangement - I was strict on the bass line in places, but loosened off when I needed to.  I'm still learning! :)

I haven't decided what arrangement to focus on next.  I've got a few unfinished to get back to sometime, I've also got a few songs to re-learn.  Gigging is going to be back on in the next few weeks (not that I have time for it, but you must make time!) and I like to have a solid two hours of material, with maybe only a few that I play with trepidation in the fear of botching it...when some nights I'll have a crack at it when I'm feeling good, some nights I'll leave it alone.

However as of today, I haven't picked up the guitar in five days!  It is terrible!  And even then five days ago I only played for an hour!  I've been working 50-55 hours a week, and I'm laying some flooring at home and other renovation work.  Yes; it doesn't sound much like a guitarist...working big hours at a day job doing engineering, and in the evenings DIY home improvements.  I think that is the reality for most of us hobbyists.  Sometimes life gets in the way...priority can't be the guitar.  But it is always there, waiting for when life isn't quite so demanding :)

JAW

Video Blog: Disco fan confession with Funky Town

I talk a bit about thumb independence, and play a bit of "Funky Town"...and admit to being a Disco fan. I'm a bit rambly in this one, sorry, I need to plan what I'm going to talk about more!

JAW

JAW - Can you arrange (insert song name here) into fingerstyle for me?

No.  Sorry.  But that's a good thing.  Let me explain.

I won't arrange for you for several reasons - I'm already arranging the songs I want to arrange, I think there is a 0.01% chance that you have picked a song I'm already arranging or one that I want to arrange in the future.  Arranging takes me a long, long time.  Very long time.  If it were my business...well let's just say nobody would want to pay the price I'd have to ask.  Arranging is "personal" - I put my own flavour into them, in the style I'm comfortable with.  There aren't many songs I arrange these days that are "universal" - that someone else could or want play the same as me - normally people who do tackle one of my pieces will change them into their own style, which is great, I love seeing what other people do.  My mate Naudo, who is a huge inspiration to my style of playing, I can play at least ten of his arrangements, and none sound like the way he plays them.

But all is not lost with that arrangement you seek!

Now if you are asking this question, and you do have the skills to play a fingerstyle arrangement, there is hope.  If you are asking this question and you don't have the skills to play a fingerstyle arrangement...well don't ask the question until you have already learnt a bunch of other fingerstyle arrangements.  And even then, well...

First up get guitar skills.  Maybe you already have some skills, are keen to get into fingersyle and want to know where to start.  One of the most important things I believe you need to develop, which doesn't often occur in other styles of guitar, is thumb independence.  Go and play the riff I mention here and you will suddenly understand what thumb independence is all about.  At this stage, learning lots of songs from good quality well thought out tabs from good fingerstyle arrangers isn't bad for you at all.  It's even better when there is a video corresponding to the tab. And really push your skills - to be a great player doesn't mean just being able to put your fingers in the right place at the right time, it means doing the hard work and getting to those last little things that make the difference, like holding on to that bass note even when you "don't have to".

Next, start transcribing fingerstyle songs you enjoy that no tab exists for.  I recommend transcribing from a video.  Look at hand positions for clues to chords, loop sections in repeat while trying to play along until you get it.  Type it into tabbing software such as tuxguitar or powertab (the days of pencil and paper for that sort of thing are over, you get so much more flexibility and functionality from tab software). Get all computer nerdy and try out programs like Transcribe! to help find those tricky notes (I don't use it myself) and slow down the video.  And don't necessarily try to play it exactly the same as the arranger, simplify sections, change parts, mix it up.  You're starting on the path to arranging now!

So now, armed with playing skills, and having a good understanding of what other fingerstyle players are doing from your transcribing efforts, arrange!  I've mentioned concepts on arranging in the past a just a primer, there would be books devoted to it, it's a huge area not just limited to the guitar. By the stage of arranging you are into your own realm, you do what you want to do.  Arranging is where you let your style and feeling come to the fore, you are making the music become your own.  Of course it's good to read about tips and techniques such as how to work a bassline into your arrangment, so research!

Now there is a good compromise between just using tabs, transcribing and arranging.  I live in this area a lot:  use music score and midis to base arrangements on.  Music score (such as piano music) and midis are both already arrangements, but are for instruments with a lot more flexibility than the guitar.  With the piano, all the notes are laid out in front of you and you have two hands to attack them with.  Midis don't even have that as a limit!  Armed with the wealth of musical data both (can) contain, you can chip away on the guitar re-arranging into what is possible, here's a video of me pulling apart a midi for clues.

And a final note on transcribing and arranging - by the time you have come up with a full arrangement (depending on how far you take your arrangement) - if you haven't already learnt to play the song reasonably well, you will be pretty close!

So you sure you still want me to arrange a song for you?  No way?  Good for you, that's the spirit.  Get to work!


...and who knows, after all the playing and tabs and transcribing and arranging, perhaps you will want to go to the ultimate in musical expression; cast off the non-original - and write your own songs.  Let me know how you go!

Video Blog: Any Colour You Like (how to look inside a midi for clues)

You didn't know that I love Pink Floyd?  That I've been working for, um, let's say a decade on a full fingerstyle cover of the album "Dark Side of the Moon"? You must be new here then, welcome :)

In this video I talk too much as usual, but I fumble through what I've done so far on "Any Colour You Like" and how I dissabled a midi to find out what is going on it because my ear isn't all that good...

JAW

Video blog: More Stupid Girl

I kept going on Garbages "Stupid Girl", I more or less have it complete. Made a lessony type video for my mates, I'm still enjoying the song a lot. Sorry that the tab doesn't exactly seem to line up with what I'm playing in places, but I think you'll get the drift. Sorry to Nil - too much talking in this one. Melvin however, you are in luck!

If you don't know Garbage "Stupid Girl" you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HBxUWSxcq8

Video blog: Early arrangement in progress - an insight?!

Sometimes I hear a song on the radio that I think "that'd fingerstyle nicely" and then it gets stuck in my head, and then I have to have a crack at it. Someone mentioned (could be an urban myth) that they'd like to see an arrangement in progress. I remembered that after I'd already done a bit of ground work - listened to the song a few times again, had the chords sussed, ripped open a midi to see what was going on inside it, realised it would work better if I transposed it up a semitone...about an hour of that occassionally with guitar in had but mostly listening, and then I had a crack at playing it. Then half an hour later I flicked on the video.

I don't recommend anyone watch it, I almost didn't want to put it up - but I noticed looking back something about how I work - I just kinda freestyle on a song for a while, in chords, searching for the sound. Stopping and replaying bits here and there that I didn't quite get right, listening, and then getting it smoother next time through. Nothing written down yet (probably will write something down next week), just an organic/fluid exploration.

Sorry about the video production values, I just threw it on and pressed record...kids are playing in the background (I set up painting for two of them, one came past and put their hand in front of the camera being a wise guy...you might notice the deleted section :)).

Anyway, I quite liked the feel of this one, so I suspect I will complete this one! Nineties song! (I didn't give up on music in the Eighties, contrary to my covers list...)

How far do you take your arrangements?

Anyone who has arranged a song for fingerstyle guitar will tell you it is a labour of love. Generally, particularly for rock and pop, you work out the chords. If there is a signature bassline for the song then you'll make a resolve for that...if the bass isn't prominent you might just fall back onto some bassline that fits the genre - or one that you know you can play easily and reliably without thinking! Add on the melody, which generally involves forcing some crazy thumb independence into your brain on the right hand, and then some bizarre fingering solution for your left that you've never used before. Fill it all out with something in the mid, arpeggio or a finger flick, just something to give it a bit of fullness. Sometimes a distinct plucked melody on bassline works fine; the options are endless, the end result is "you".

Initially you are pleased to get out anything, and to be actually able to play it too. Then you start getting increasingly trickier. Yeah, okay, you pat yourself on the back for coming up with an amazing resolve that "no one else could ever have thought of" - don't get too much of a head swell, there will always be the next guy who will come up with a better arrangement than you.

Now this might be coming down to a quantity-versus-quality discussion, or at least a trade-off between the two...but I'm in the final throws of another arrangement and I'm not sure how far to go. For instance, for a standard verse-chorus rock song, each verse is identical except for the singing. You could play the same verse identical and maybe nobody will notice (except for you) that you missed out some subtlety. Some subtlety might be easy and worthwhile, like there are some extra syllables of the some note - not hard to do. The other day I found a verse that dropped one note down a tone in the lyrics...the note forced me to go behind a barre chord, which meant I had to reform the method without the barre, which then disrupted my left-hand right-hand craziness that I had burnt into memory...

A lot of work for one note!

Now I Naudo would do it...however this time I don't think I will. When I look back at earlier arrangements they were verse-for-verse chorus-for-chorus identical. As I started to get a bit better at creating and playing crazy fingerstyle arrangements I discovered I was more able to mix it up a little between verses without any major re-learning/disruption. It's a carefully paced progress...if I try too far beyond my skill level at any time I might lose interest, be left with incomplete arrangements (ha, got a few of them)...if I don't push the boundaries a bit I won't be improving my skill level.

Perhaps there needs to be a time rule. Each arrangement may only take two months from start to fluently playable. The two months may be stretched over a year...noting that "two months" for me means about 3-4 hours a week for 8 weeks on the job at hand.

That way, whatever you can fit in two months is what you should aim for. To start with, it might not be a lot. At the end, in two months, you have captured every subtlety, solo, inflection, nuance of the song!

What's happening video July 2011

Another video blog!  I got excited when my "present to self" came in today, a Zoom H1 audio recorder, so I knocked up a what's happening video to test/celebrate.  I say nice things about the Zoom H1, hint hint if you want to advertise with me Zoom...ha!  Nah, on that front, well let's just say I can buy at least one set of strings per month, so although I can't give up my day job, there's enough left over for a few beers and a pizza :)

Again with the text, bring on the video!
JAW

Video blog: Arrangements in progress June 2011

In an effort to try and improve my videoing skills, I've put together a video blog. I talk a bit about two of my current arrangements, "Us and Them" and "TNT", the sort of stuff I'm putting into them. From the video production point of view, it's my new webcam hooked into my laptop now running windows 7, but still captured with virtualdub. Took me a while to get the webcam and windows 7 to agree, I still have work to do in the area. I managed to put some bits of tab in as overlays using some other software, see what you think, I reckon it worked alright.

I noticed playing it back that I'm still a bit camera shy/awkward, I'm getting better at it, but I do say too often "this bit is easy, you'll work that other bit out, it's all simple" etc etc - sorry, I think it is a nervous habit. It's not actually easy, I'm not trying to be condescending. Really!

Anyway, this is a video blog, so enough text already!
JAW

Q&A: Basslines

"The system" told me this comment was posted on my last post, but when I looked for it, it was gone.  I thought it was a great comment so I decided to Q&A it!

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Hello JAW

Just wondering, how often do you stay true to the original bass line of a song while creating fingerstyle arrangements. If things get too hard, is it alright to simplify it as in leave a few bass notes here and there from the original bassline?

The importance of bass has really got to me the past few days. Great article.

Kris

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Hey Kris, great comment.  No straightforward answer though, it comes down to "as much as you can be bothered with" :)  The likes of Tommy Emmanuel or Adam Rafferty will aim for pure perfection.  Every subtle nuance of a song (including the bassline) will be carefully planned, highly polished and presented.  It's brilliant stuff, but if you're like me then life is too short for that - I'd like to have 50 good arrangement than 5 perfect arrangements.  Don't tell Adam or Tommy I said that though, the world needs people who strive for absolute perfection!  Fingerstyle arranging is all about time, with skill permitting.  Maybe after 50 "good" arrangements we are already starting to come up with close to perfect arrangements anyway?

Anyway, the bassline should represent as much as possible, and within reason, the original bassline, even more so where the bassline is a prominent feature of the song.  An overriding factor is melody.  Melody is more important than bass.  I reckon it's better to trade more accurate melody for simpler bass.

For instance, one of my current works in progress "Howzat" has a very distinct bassline in the verse.  I had to get that right, with the melody.  It makes the left hand a finger twister, but it's worth it.  The chorus bassline is not so distinct, it has a slight 70's disco feel to it, so I kept it prominent where the melody was not busy, but once the melody got busy I simplified it to, as you say, a few bass notes here and there.  It keeps things easier (back to life is short) and casual listeners will hear the bassline when the melody is quiet, and not notice when the bassline is simple because their attention is turned to the busy melody.

Now that's all when you are staying true to the original.  There is no rule saying you need to; stylising a song your own way could mean a completely different bassline - for example, there are plenty of alternating bassline fingerstyle covers of songs.  I tend to stick true to the original firstly because I think people want to hear that, and secondly because I haven't developed a distinct style of my own, it's all just generic "fingerstyle" :)

Bass is indeed important and should be treated (almost) as carefully as melody.  As I go my basslines are getting more complicated; it's an evolution.  You start with simple arrangements, get the hang of it, and each arrangement gets a bit better as you build on skills.  I'm starting to think my arrangements are actually getting pretty cool these days :)  I've mentioned before, and will mention again, but step 1 of fingerstyle is to learn arrangements from tabs to build initial skills, step 2 is to transcribe your favourite arrangements by others where no tabs exist (eg Naudo or Iggy) - changing them slightly to suit your style and what you are capable of doing - and finally step 3 is building on the previous steps to tackle your own arrangements.

JAW