TapperMike

I'm with ya Tom, I keep a blog and every time I mention it I think I have to get back to it. I used to be a web designer, then got into writing tutorials on web design and backend and flash. It eventually led to a job working for a multimedia software company. I'm thinking of going back to one of my earlier loves. Cooking.

Message in a bottle - The Police

Let it Be - The Beatles

Midi recording records the midi data not the audio. It's like a transcription. Imagine you are playing a song and a transcriber is sitting next to you writing the notes down on sheet music. Once the music is written on paper then someone can read the sheet music on the paper and play the music. That's how midi works. Midi stands for Multi-instrument-digital-interface. One instrument converts the notes played to a format that can be sent to another instrument to play back. Like a telegram for the computer as opposed to a telephone.

Heart of Stone - Cher

Hi, I took a peak at your blog. I don't know how minty fresh it is but...speaking as one blogger to another. You are going to need a lot of content If you want to drive people to it. It's very easy to lapse out of blogging and not come back. I've had about 7 different blogs thru the years and first I gave up promoting then, then I gave up writing for them. I wish you the best of luck with yours.

I never was really in love with albums but I'd always listen to them in one setting. It's all Steely Dan for me. I had to stop listening to Steely Dan and stop playing Steely Dan covers because I was so addicted to it. Aja and Katie Lied The rest of the stuff...I like Nizar's list but I'd have to follow with ...The Beatles. Back in the day if you played guitar your first songbook was a Beatles songbook. Everyone had one and when ever I'd sit down to play with someone it was usually a Beatles song. Those were songs I memorized for life 10 20 30 and more years after I learned them I still can pull quite a few out of my hat. They are always a crowd pleaser to play and I still play my beatles cd's from time to time. I had most of the Beatles collections on vinyl as well as all of Steely Dan. Crosby Stills and Nash (the album) - I was a big fan of Crosby Stills Nash and Young collectively or apart or in there previous works (Buffalo Springfield, The Hollies. The Byrds) Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends They've got so many great songs a greatest hits would be the easy answer. In High School even before learning to play the guitar I worked at our high school radio station. We had a 20,000 record library with music from the 30's to the 70's and we had production rooms where you could take an album or two and simply listen to it if you had an open hour, during lunch, or afterschool. I'd go into one of those production studios put on some Paul Simon and do my homework. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Funeral for a friend is prolly the greatest rock instrumental of all time. Van Halen (1) It changed rock forever. Thriller - Michael Jackson Breezin - George Benson I'd always hated that doubling scat and instrument thing before I heard his cover of Leon Russells "This Masquerade" If anything the album shifted my attention away from vocal music to instrumental music. Prior to that I could barely tolerate more then two instrumentals in a row. These days my musical tastes are all over the board. The last "album" I bought and listened to was Sheryl Crow - (Sheryl Crow) I'll usually buy mp3's on amazon more so as a pat on the back or a lift up for the artist then something that goes into a library for later listening.

I actually just like side chaining to get my tone back. The more effects you add the more it washes out the instruments tone. If you want clarity and control think about making two copies of your original track then panning those hard left/right You'll be able to control the spread and it won't rob your processing power as well the "reflected tracks will have all the clarity and punch as the original.

Just something to add..... Phil Collins had a minor hit with "I wish it would rain" featuring the guitar work of Eric Clapton. EC had a not unusual treatment for playing the solo which seems to be lost on some.... You don't have to be playing or singing all the time. You can set it up so that if your trying to figure out what to play over just play over a measure or two and then leave a measure or two empty or hang a common tone on the end.. It will make what you say(or play) stand out a bit more and may be easier to manage for those who don't modulate easily.

E - D - C - D - E Key of G Em is the relative minor of G a common principle in jazz is to make the vi chord a dominant7 Such as in the every popular I-VI7-ii7-V7 Stormy Weather, More and countless other standards use this progression. Yes I know E7 does contain G# not G. In Rock we use a lot of power chords. In the traditional sense power chords are not really chords because chords require three distinctly separate notes. What they are is diads or double stops if you are a violinist. However we treat them as chords, and due to the ambiguous nature of the chord being neither major nor minor It allows greater supplication. Rock and blues often mix and match major and minors in our "licks",. Quite a number of Steely Dan Songs have a C-D-E progression. I used to know them all by heart but cant recall which ones right now. Earlier today I was playing some Brian Adams on the guitar. (don't shoot me) This Time. The Chorus is A-D-G-E which doesn't fit nicely into one key either. I'm not a professional musicologist but I did notice a dramatic change in how progressions were implemented during the 60's/. First in the works of Eric Clapton then by others. If you look at all the chords in "Sunshine of your love" D-F-G-A-C You get the minor pentatonic scale The verse goes D-C-DD then G-F-GG The turn around as it were is A-C-G. He took the minor pentatonic and applied all major chords to form his progression. He's not the only one. Back in the U.S.S.R the verse goes A-A-C-D. Rick Derringer's Rock and Roll Hotchie Koo and several songs from the 60~80 employed this method of deriving chord progressions by modes of the pentatonic scale. So the question becomes how do you treat a progression that does not conform to our traditional sense of key? There are two paths. One involves dissonance and consonance as a form of resolution and the other involves modality as defined by Charlie Parker's take on bebop. Consonance means all sounds well together. Dissonance means "Something that's not right" or a "blue" note. Blue notes are not limited to the blues scale. With dissonance you have tension. Since things are moving along in time it's easy to make dissonance become consonance because the chord changes to something that supports the underlying note. Ever notice the first few measures of Stairway to Heaven. It starts on an Aminor chord which is consonant then moves to a chord thats G#CEB which is dissonant then goes to a C chord C-E-G-C which is consonant. The same can be done with writing a melody that agrees with certain chords then has a slight disagreement because the chord changed (not the melodic line) then has a resolution because the chord changed again to something Connosant and the melody resolved itself by doing nothing. There is much disagreement on the term Modality and modes. What I'm about to present is not in the classical definition of modality. Charlie Parker took a direction that stated.... You are never that far from an arpeggio and while you don't want to strictly play arppegios during a solo you want a connection to the chord movement. In order to do so you can use "chromaticism" Though not in the same sense as Say Beethoven's Carmen. Instead he postulated neighboring and passing tones. Tones that were near chord tones or that connected chord tones from one chord to another. His concept was sound enough and even though his own interpertains may seem rough lets remember that he was the pioneer. A more prevalent example would be the B section of Take Five by Paul Desmond as made famous by his bandleader the great Dave Bruebeck. In it he uses chromaticism to connect the dots of the arpeggios to one another. Even today a great number of students in jazz and fusion study outlining chord tones (Usually the third and the 7th of the chord) as a means of constructing fluid solo's. I did a tutorial on constructing "more fluid" basslines by this paint by numbers connect the dots method here - http://www.tappermike.com/?q=node/4 While the lesson was about bass and therefore focused on landing on the root of the chord on beat one it can easily be applied to any instrument. Another thing to think about is simply committing a note here or there in a solo. Then it can become a target note to resolve things at the end and stand out more when it is finally played because of it's previous absence. Let's assume you have something in the key of C. If you use the E minor pentatonic scale you've got a nice five note range that is easy to sing will support the song,,, employ consonance/dissonance while working over the ii and IV chord and still have something to hold out from so when you finally do play that C note over a C chord you will have built up a sense of longing for it and a sense of resolution when it finally arrives. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat and at first a new way may seem odd and you may be uncomfortable with it. However the more you play in a new way the more comfortable you will become with it which will increase your confidence while playing it and make you sound better as a result. note: No cats were harmed in the writing of this post E - D - C - D - E Key of G Em is the relative minor of G a common principle in jazz is to make the vi chord a dominant7 Such as in the every popular I-VI7-ii7-V7 Stormy Weather, More and countless other standards use this progression. Yes I know E7 does contain G# not G. In Rock we use a lot of power chords. In the traditional sense power chords are not really chords because chords require three distinctly separate notes. What they are is diads or double stops if you are a violinist. However we treat them as chords, and due to the ambiguous nature of the chord being neither major nor minor It allows greater supplication. Rock and blues often mix and match major and minors in our "licks",. Quite a number of Steely Dan Songs have a C-D-E progression. I used to know them all by heart but cant recall which ones right now. Earlier today I was playing some Brian Adams on the guitar. (don't shoot me) This Time. The Chorus is A-D-G-E which doesn't fit nicely into one key either. I'm not a professional musicologist but I did notice a dramatic change in how progressions were implemented during the 60's/. First in the works of Eric Clapton then by others. If you look at all the chords in "Sunshine of your love" D-F-G-A-C You get the minor pentatonic scale The verse goes D-C-DD then G-F-GG The turn around as it were is A-C-G. He took the minor pentatonic and applied all major chords to form his progression. He's not the only one. Back in the U.S.S.R the verse goes A-A-C-D. Rick Derringer's Rock and Roll Hotchie Koo and several songs from the 60~80 employed this method of deriving chord progressions by modes of the pentatonic scale. So the question becomes how do you treat a progression that does not conform to our traditional sense of key? There are two paths. One involves dissonance and consonance as a form of resolution and the other involves modality as defined by Charlie Parker's take on bebop. Consonance means all sounds well together. Dissonance means "Something that's not right" or a "blue" note. Blue notes are not limited to the blues scale. With dissonance you have tension. Since things are moving along in time it's easy to make dissonance become consonance because the chord changes to something that supports the underlying note. Ever notice the first few measures of Stairway to Heaven. It starts on an Aminor chord which is consonant then moves to a chord thats G#CEB which is dissonant then goes to a C chord C-E-G-C which is consonant. The same can be done with writing a melody that agrees with certain chords then has a slight disagreement because the chord changed (not the melodic line) then has a resolution because the chord changed again to something Connosant and the melody resolved itself by doing nothing. There is much disagreement on the term Modality and modes. What I'm about to present is not in the classical definition of modality. Charlie Parker took a direction that stated.... You are never that far from an arpeggio and while you don't want to strictly play arppegios during a solo you want a connection to the chord movement. In order to do so you can use "chromaticism" Though not in the same sense as Say Beethoven's Carmen. Instead he postulated neighboring and passing tones. Tones that were near chord tones or that connected chord tones from one chord to another. His concept was sound enough and even though his own interpertains may seem rough lets remember that he was the pioneer. A more prevalent example would be the B section of Take Five by Paul Desmond as made famous by his bandleader the great Dave Bruebeck. In it he uses chromaticism to connect the dots of the arpeggios to one another. Even today a great number of students in jazz and fusion study outlining chord tones (Usually the third and the 7th of the chord) as a means of constructing fluid solo's. I did a tutorial on constructing "more fluid" basslines by this paint by numbers connect the dots method here - http://www.tappermike.com/?q=node/4 While the lesson was about bass and therefore focused on landing on the root of the chord on beat one it can easily be applied to any instrument. Another thing to think about is simply committing a note here or there in a solo. Then it can become a target note to resolve things at the end and stand out more when it is finally played because of it's previous absence. Let's assume you have something in the key of C. If you use the E minor pentatonic scale you've got a nice five note range that is easy to sing will support the song,,, employ consonance/dissonance while working over the ii and IV chord and still have something to hold out from so when you finally do play that C note over a C chord you will have built up a sense of longing for it and a sense of resolution when it finally arrives. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat and at first a new way may seem odd and you may be uncomfortable with it. However the more you play in a new way the more comfortable you will become with it which will increase your confidence while playing it and make you sound better as a result. note: No cats were harmed in the writing of this post

I'm thinking of a few that have been sitting on the back burner of the backburner of my brain. Okay maybe they fell off and are between the oven and the wall. I'm sure someday I'll need to pull that oven out for something and there will be my idea ready for a rework. But I'll prolly forget why I pulled the oven out in the first place.

Young Girl - Gary Puckett and the Union Gap

If you haven't' you might be interested in Krome which has been just recently introduced to the market. Krome is a little brother to Kronos and borrows much of the rich tones from it.

Aren't we all. Witchy Woman - The Eagles

whoops wrong thread.

I don't know about intuitive it took me forever to figure out what it did and how to do it. I too did the two cassette thing. the original four track, went to audio engineering school to boot. Had Cakewalk and Cubase back in the days of win 3.1 Thought I knew my way around daws till I got Live. though I did have an emu command station. Finally after seeing all the fun everyone else was having I started watching youtube instructional videos so I could use the damn thing. Now it's great but when I first got it I'd go insane.

Time of the Season - The Zombies

Who would be watching to see it? Teen and preteen girls watch CW the shows are geared for them. Preteen teen and 20 somethings are more interested in video games. They won't be watching the CW or television in general (at least not as much) If your demographic isn't out there viewing it's harder to target. I don't watch conventional TV it's all youtube and hulu for me. There is no sense advertising if no one who would be interested is going to be watching tv to catch the commerical in the first place. As well, I like to go out but I also live on a budget. I really would have a hard time justifying spending 100 on a ticket not to mention parking, to see a concert no matter how good they are or how much I like them. I'm more inclined to watch the free shows that are everywhere around here during summer. Great covers and originals in a park with a family friendly environment. (not that I have a family) Rather then say... find a sitter and pay her too. Or go to a pub a relaxed atmosphere I won't have to fight my way out of or pay an outrageous cover and pay high prices for drinks (not that I drink anymore) It's a saturday night. The only thing on my mind is....coffee have to get to the supermarket before they close.

This Time - Brian Adams

Wow Layne, Really good. really really good

Wow Tom, You certainly know how to spawn some memories. Every time you post in the Song Title Association thread I have to go thru my cd's and youtube.

I belong to a forum where in lays a thread called "Your next guitar" I'm a recovering afficianado at one time having over 60 guitars. At that time playing was my life and collecting was my hobby. Every month I'd buy one or two simply because I could. Now I've got 7 guitars and four dedicated midi guitars. Two are just for show but two are my work horses. I still think of buying more. My two dream electrics are a Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster and a Parker Fly Supreme (or at least a custom) Which is odd compared to my logic of yesteryear. I already own an 80's strat and a Parker P44 Here is my dream strat And here is the dream parker

There is no rule that states you must play with a pick if you are playing electric. Although my teacher often got after me for exactly that.... using my fingers on an electric solid body for hard rock.

I bought a yourock. I was one of the first people to buy one. I placed my order a year before I got mine even though the kept on saying "sorry for the delay, next month" The string to string consistency was terrible. Hit one string soft and it plays loud hit another string hard and it plays soft or even medium and it disappears. The b and g strings would hang you could hit them once and maybe they'd make a sound maybe they wouldn't. then they'd get caught and not return to zero so I'd have to figit with it to get the strings back in place (very very poor workmanship) The neck was extremely fat and round. The string sensors that layed over the frets were like glued dental floss it was hard to target them and really really rough if you wanted to play barre chords of any kind. Whenever anyone would give an honest critique of problems with the hardware at the yourock forums they would get an insta ban and posts were deleted. We had pages and pages and pages of posts complaining about what was wrong with it and the attempts by you rock employees to silence us everywhere. They'd threaten us like mad. Then they started offering firmware updates alledgedly to fix problems that where hardware related. I tried it once and it permanently disabled the product from operating....Others tried later versions and not only was nothing fixed by the firmware some reported viruses in it. If you want to go midi guitar.. Ztars especially the Z55's are a great deal. Yes they still will cost you some money. If you don't need 24 frets and have an older ipad (1,2) then I'd suggest an ion. It can't do even a third of what a ztar can do but it is prolly your best non starr labs/misa digital instrument on the market.

I've been playing guitar since the 70's and midi guitar since the 80's. I tried playing the piano. I'd play for hours and no magic would come from it. then I'd pick up a guitar and instantly have a very close if not better thing happening in seconds from a guitar. So I went midi. I played almost ever midi guitar thing I could get my hands on. They all fell short of the mark in one way or another. I'd always have to play very very stiff to get anything out of them and even then it was rough getting it to work like I wanted it. As well I began to fall in love with "chord clusters" groupings of notes not attainable on a guitar. I saw this video and I was very impressed though not the direction I really wanted to move in Then I saw some of Michael Bianco's video's and that was more where I wanted to go. He's tapping the melody with his right had while supporting the rest of the arrangement by tapping with his left hand. That's the direction I wanted to go in and I'm still not fully there yet but it told me all I needed to know. I saved my pennies and saved and saved even though money was tight for my first ztar. It fulfilled most of my expectations but because I bought a baby z I didn't have the range. Baby z's as opposed to the rest of the line up only have 16 frets. Eventually I got a z6 that was used and seriously abused. But it does allow me to get all 24 frets tapped.