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Recommendations go far
So here’s a couple
03
Feb
2022
23:35
Author: Heath
29
Jan
2022
19:03
Immersed In The Beatles
The Beatles have always been my #1 band for as long as I can remember since childhood. They are in my DNA and my biggest influence. So it makes me silly excited and happy to be sitting in on keyboards with the legendary Austin Beatles tribute band, The EggMen at the end of February on 2 afternoon gigs where we will also be accompanied by 2 different orchestras.
I’ve been doing nothing but practicing and getting my sounds and other technical stuff sorted and it’s been bliss. In all my years of playing music I had never sat down and learned “The Long And Winding Road.” I love all the beautiful chord voicings Paul chose. I decided to notate them in case I needed to easily remind myself later, so if you want some very basis sheet music that basically goes through a verse and the bridge but covers all the chords you will encounter, then here you go! Enjoy and play it yourself! That’s actually been refined a little bit to be more accurate since I made this video of me practicing it.
I also was surprised that of all the songs I’ve been learning, “Piggies” has challenged me the most. It’s got some really intricate parts, played by producer, Chris Thomas. As challenging as it is, it’s also a lot of fun.
29
Jan
2022
18:57
10
Dec
2021
23:02
Tremmory Review
If you play a guitar with a floating vibrato unit (commonly known as incorrectly Tremolo units as Tremolo is the modulation of volume while vibrato is the modulation of pitch), then you probably know that involves a lot of compromises. Because these units strike a balance between string tension and springs in the back, you can’t change tunings, if you break a string everything else goes out of tune, and if you do a double stop (bend one string while fretting another) the fretted string will be pulled flat by the bending of the other string.
Continue reading…
10
Dec
2021
22:12
23
Nov
2021
19:42
Dream Theatre 71
This one isn’t quite as vivid as usual, as when I woke up, I tried to push it from my mind and not think about it instead of dwelling on it, but it lingered with me the rest of the day and night and so I felt it deserved to be chronicled here.
This dream started with me hanging out with a childhood friend, David Presley (IRL, he friended me on FB for a while but later unfriended me so we haven’t really been in contact since my teens). We were at a bar or a party somewhere and he said he had a surprise for me. Then, there was my ex. She had a fresh new short haircut, dyed red and looked beautiful, fit, and happy in a casual, stretchy black dress. She had come to reconnect with me and catch up.
Then the scene changed. I think we were at her house now. Her husband may have been present or maybe just somewhere else in the house (or maybe not present at all, I can’t remember exactly). It was a big, wonderful house. Very modern, with lots of glass and a view of the city. She was sitting in the corner of a room with a harp. She had learned to play in the years since we knew each other and wanted to play something for me. She was wearing some kind of cardigan, or overshirt which she wanted to remove now before she started playing, and in pulling it off over her head, it got a little stuck and comically struggled with it. In this moment I laughed and smiled because something about it was just so charmingly and endearingly “her.” It somehow just nostalgically reminded me of some aspect I had loved about her.
When she finally started playing and singing her song, I realized it was a kind of summary of her life in the years we hadn’t been in contact. A musical “catch up.” It was just a simple, sweet moment, and I was so happy to once again be in contact with my friend, to have her in my life even we weren’t together as I felt it should have been.
Then I woke up. It was 4:30am and there was a hollow pang in my chest realizing it was all a dream. That we were still completely removed from each other’s lives as if we had never known each other. I tried to shake it off and go back to sleep, the latter part of which at least I was a success. Throughout the rest of my day though it poked at my mind and wanted to be chronicled here, and so here it now lives. It was a nice, warm reunion though, even if only in dreams.
23
Nov
2021
19:23
21
Nov
2021
16:06
Pedantic Music Nerdery
I was just discussing with my Yacht Z band mates how I have a strange and irrational hatred of doing songs in keys other than the originals. I know this will likely get me some flack as so many bands do it, usually to make it easier for vocalists. Now to be clear, this is not meant as any kind of attack on anyone as this is just my personal preference and it is a subjective opinion that is not “right” or “wrong.”
Firstly, if I can’t sing a song in the original key, then I just won’t do it. I subscribe to the school of thought of only doing songs I can do. I find it interesting that altering keys for vocals is a standard practice but yet it would not likely be cool if someone was like “Eruption is too hard to play. Can we do it 20 BPM slower? That will make life easier for the guitarist.”
Secondly, often altering the key makes life hell for other instrumentalists, especially guitarists where chord voicings are often very key dependent. Especially if they use open strings or such. Sure you can use a capo if you’re going up but if you take a song down (usually the way it goes) a lot of guitar parts become impossible to play without completely retuning (a MAJOR issue if you have a floating vibrato system) or using some artificial digital detuning which never sounds or responds quite right.
Thirdly, and this is probably the most subjective of the bunch, different keys just literally have a whole different sound, feel and vibe. I’m always amazed at how altering even a single half step can make something suddenly just feel completely different and off.
One caveat here is when a band plays in a different tuning. For example Guns N’ Roses, Stevie Ray Vaughan and other liked to tune a half-step down, so in those instances if you are in standard tuning , you will actually be playing the song a half-step up if you play the correct chords, voicings, lead lines and such. While that will still be affected by my third point, that’s the least important and it’s far more important to be able to play the parts as they were played. For example SRV’s “Pride And Joy” has lots or low E string and open strings in the leads and such, so playing that in Eb in standard tuning is a ridiculous and impossible prospect. In instances where a band detunes, the playability far outweighs the sonic differences of playing it in standard tuning.
I will admit that one recent gig had a song lowered by a half-step which made the piano part WAY EASIER for me, so I just counted my blessings on that one.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk on Pedantic Music Nerdery.
21
Nov
2021
16:04
18
Nov
2021
16:45
The Minutiae You Miss
Let me begin by saying that in general I’m totally fine being single. I’ve never been someone who needed someone else to feel complete or happy or who felt this desperate NEED to find a relationship. I try to focus on the benefits of whatever my current situation is as both have their perks. Going years between relationships is not unusual for me.
That being said, sometimes I’ll miss the most strange and random things. I’m sitting in a hotel lobby waiting to be seen for a fitting that’s running late, and I just found myself missing that constant connection that’s always there when you have a partner. Someone you maybe text/chat with throughout your day and just that feeling of always being connected even if you’re not actively communicating.
So yes, basically it boiled down to missing someone to text mundane boring fluff to. “Still waiting. Love you. I need to go get an oil change.”