15 - Changes

Please bear with me as I try to hone the overall look and feel of this site. I'm still new to the blog thing, and I want to change up how this site works.

thanks,

- diego

14 Stevie Wonder - Golden Lady

Stevie Wonder - Golden Lady

This transcription is inspired by the Jose Feliciano post from yesterday. This is one of my favorite songs to play. It comes from Stevie Wonder's Innerversions album (which in my eyes is a perfect album). So, Tune up. It's a very simple song to play and fun to sing along to. Looking around the tab sites, they're not exactly right for the most part. I'm also skipping the piano intro, for lack of time. This should also work with the Jose Feliciano version, but his version would be played samba style w/ bossa style bass alternating.


Intro x2 - Verse 1 x2 - Verse 2 - Chorus 1 - Verse 1 x2 - Verse 2 - Chorus 1 - Verse 1 x2 - Verse 2 - Chorus 2/outro*

4/4 standard tuning

Intro/Verse 1

E-3-1-3-3-5-
B-3-1-3-3-5-
G-3-1-3-3-5-
D-1-1-3-3-4-
A---3-5-5-5-
E---1-3-3---

Verse 2

E-3-1-4-2-2-2-0-7-
B-3-3-4-2-2-2-1-7-
G-3-2-4-3-2-2-0-7-
D-1-3-4-2-2-1-2-7-
A---1-6-4-4-2-0-5-
E-----4-2-2-------

Chorus 1

E-3-3-3-3-4-|6-4-----3-3-1-
B-3-3-3-3-4-|----4-6-3-1-3-
G-3-3-3-3-5-|--------4-1-1-
D-5-4-3-2-6-|--------3-1-3-
A-----------|--------5-3-1-
E-----------|--------3-1---

Chorus 2/outro

E-8-4-4-4-4-5--4-4-4-4-5-|-5-5-5-5-6-
B-8-4-4-4-4-5--4-4-4-4-5-|-5-5-5-5-6-
G-8-4-4-4-4-6--4-4-4-4-6-|-5-5-5-5-7-
D-8-6-5-4-3-7--6-5-4-3-7-|-7-6-5-4-8-
A-6----------------------|-----------
E------------------------|-----------

*The outro repeats twice, then slides up until song fade out.

13 - Blind guitarists

People often tend to think of the handicapped or cripple as less than equal to them. However, Music is an art form where some of the great masters have had great problems. Beethoven suffered a severe form of tinnitus causing him to be for the most part deaf. Django Reinhardt was severly burned and 2 of his fingers on the left hand were permanently curled towards the palm. Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder proved through there blindness there abilities to create amazing songs. Rahsaan Roland Kirk is probably one of the most talented blind multi-instrumentalists.

What is it that allows these musicians to not only overcome there problems, but to rise above most other musicians?

Wikipedia has a very interesting article on this subject. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_musicians

I want to touch on a few specific guitarists who have inspired myself and many others.

Such as JOSE FELICIANO, Puerto Rican born musician who was blind since birth. His family moved to Spanish Harlem when he was five, and at 9 he taught himself how to play Merengue on the Concertina.

"I would've been a musician, I think whether I'm blind or I can see. It's just something that was my destiny to do. " - Jose Feliciano

After being influenced by his uncle he later took up the 4 string guitar-like instrument called, "The Cuatro." Which led him to play the Guitar. He listened and emulated rock and jazz guitarists such as Elvis, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Byrd and Andres Segovia. He later studied classical guitar, started his own ensemble, traveled as a folk artist, and eventually became a household name in Latin America and The United States. He's one of the first artists to have a Spanish and English albums on the charts at the same time. He's world renowned and is one of the biggest selling latin artists of all time.

"How do you feel about the fact that you are a hero to many blind people?

Feliciano: I do what I can. It's not my main goal in life in that sense, but I do encourage people who are blind. And if my music encourages them to be independent and do things, I'm happy about that." - an except from here


The Blues is a genre that is not too far removed from it's roots of slave hymnals, and spirituals. This healing music has the most mentionable Blind artists. Such as: Blind Lemon Jeffereson, Doc Watson, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell. The musician is a good role for the busking blind, and the south had many poor folk who fully embraced the blues. Not only have they inspired whomever was able to see them, but they have been influential for guitarists all over.

"Most people take their hearing for granted. I can't. My eyes are my handicap, but my ears are my opportunity. My ears show me what my eyes can't. My ears tell me 99 percent of what I need to know about my world." - Ray Charles

I recently had this upcoming guitarist brought to my attention by my mother. She told me, that he sang in the style of Eric Benet with the soul of Donnie Hathaway. I'm partial to him, because he also shares my nationality. Born in New Mexico half Argentinean and half African American, Raul Midon, and his twin brother Marco were blinded as infants. Not only has he done backup work singing for Julio Iglesias, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, even Jose Feliciano. He eventually Pursued a solo career as a Jazz improvisationist, singer, and guitarist. If you've never heard of him. You should take a minute and check him out.

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn't mean he lacks vision. - Stevie Wonder

12 - Cissy Strut Lesson

Talk about a perfect FUNK lesson. From the New Orleans funk god himself, LEO NOCENTELLI. Explaining how to play CISSY STRUT.
If you want to learn a little more from the man himself Listen to this brought to you by Rock house method.

11 - Makoto Kawabata

I've been semi-obsessed with japanese psychedelic music for a while. Julian Cope's Head Heritage site kept recommending all these amazing things I've never heard about. In passing he mentioned about the Acid Mothers Temple.

"Kawabato Makoto is a beautiful and bearded longhair who has been making music since the late 70s." - Julian Cope

One day I got a phone call from my friend Keil from the band, "The Weirding Way" (now The Vulcans). "Hey Diego you like the Acid Mothers Temple band right? They're going to be playing at my house at 9." Apparently they called his roommate Cody at the record store he works called ZIA, and said, 'We're here from japan and would like to play at your store'. Zia has all this red tape with bands being able to perform there. So, Cody basically said, "Well you can't play here, but you can play at my house."

We were blessed with the current lineup: Tsuyama Atsushi on bass, Higashi Hiroshi on synths, Shimura Koji on drums, and Kawabata Makoto on guitar.

So, I invited everyone who was willing to come, ended up sitting directly in front of Kawabata, and literally had my face melted off. They RIPPED through Pink Lady Lemonade land which they used as the main theme of the set, and they heavily improvised into several other jams. At one point it was ambient, and organic then the focus would change to Tsuyama tearing through bass scales.

"Music, for me, is neither something that I create, nor a form of self-expression. All kinds of sounds exist everywhere around us, and my performances solely consist of picking up these sounds, like a radio tuner, and playing them so that people can hear them." - Kawabata Makoto

When it was finally time for Kawabata to solo, His guitar was squealing with controlled Feedback, He was making sounds I have never heard a guitar make before. It was at times Coherent, and precisely thought out, and at times the guitar seemed to control him. He lifted the guitar over his head now a roaring beast, and swung it around the room, the feedback was creating SWIRLS of sound he turned on the pitch shifter and slid his foot on the guitar, and the beast let out a hundred screams of delight.

This was definitely an intense learning experience for me. I was most shocked at how SPARSE his pedal board was. A wah, a vintage Big Muff, broken Zoom pedal (possibly modded?), Boss Digital Reverb, Boss Pitch Shifter w/ expression pedal, Fender twin blackface amp. How could this be? How were the sounds I was hearing congruent with this gear? These and many questions I wanted to ask him, but after the show our language barrier was hugely noticeable. I told him that was the greatest guitar experience of my life. He smiled, nodded, handed me a t-shirt and said, "10 Dollars."

At this moment it was clear that I was merely a visitor to the world of psychedelia, but I knew from then on I wanted to be a resident. The Acid Mothers Temple has a huge discography, but to be honest not a lot of it is easily digestable usually they are 20 up to 60 minute jams and freakouts. In fact I had to think of which song to share with you all today. The recordings are usually small sounding, digital, almost live productions, and they just don't hit you with the intensity that the live show does. Here's to hoping they can soon get a proper analog LP produced by someone like Gustav Ejstes or Rick Rubin even Nigel Godrich.


http://www.divshare.com/download/2685376-f1e

I highly reccomend the Myth of the Love Electrique album.

http://www.myspace.com/acidmotherstemple

10 - Gear - Diago Amp

Wow.

A 20 watt British amp with a built in attenuator, and my name misspelled at the top.

I have got to try this amp.

http://www.diago.co.uk/

9 - song analysis - Crosby, Stills, Nash - Guinnevere (cont.)

So.. let's finish up this analysis up tidily. Previously we discussed how to read the tab, the finger picking method, and a bit of the intro and main verse. I'm going to give you a trade secret here, this is a method of tab I use mainly for chords and finger picking. It is easy to read, efficient, and can be stored in a text document. These tiny tabs should gives you every chord fingering needed for the song. If you were wondering "Courier" is the font that allows you to tab, and keep everything straight. I guess my last note to you is the order goes like this:

Intro - Verse - 1 - Verse - 2 - 3 - Verse - 1 - Verse - 2 - 3 - 4 - Verse - 1 - Verse - 2 - 3 - Intro - end or Verse fade out (Album)

Intro

D-0-0--0-0-0-0-0--
A-0-0--5-0-0-0-0--
G-0-0--6-6-5-4-2--
D-4-6--7-7-4-4-2--
B-0-0--0-----0-0--
E-0-0--x-----0-0--

Verse

D--0-----------0-----------0-----
A------0-----------0-----------0-
G----------0-----------0---------
D--------------------------0 h 2-
B-------------2------------------
E--0-----------------------------

1

D-5-3-2-0-
A-3-3-3-3-
G-3-3-3-3-
D-5-3-2-0-
B-3-3-x-x-
E-3-3-3-3-

2

D-5-3-5-3-
A-3-3-3-3-
G-3-3-3-3-
D-5-3-5-3-
B-3-3-3-3-
E-3-3-3-3-

3

D-0-0-0-3-0---0---0---12*
A-0-0-0-3-------0-----12
G-0-0-0-3-------------12
D-x-x-x-3---------0---12
B-x-x-x-3-0 h 2-------12
E-7-5-3-3-x-----------12

* harmonic chord (barely fretted)

4 - Bridge

D-0-0-0---0-0-0-
A-0-0-0---0-0-0-
G-6-6-6---4-4-4-
D-----7-------5-
B---7-------5---
E-7-------5-----

8 - First lady of Bass, Carol Kaye

Speaking of Bass Players, one of my Favorite Bass Players of all time is about to have a little documentary made about her.

Mrs. Carol Kaye who's recorded Bass and Guitar probably more than any other woman ever.

You know her bass lines, but you probably don't know about her.

Good Vibrations, Hawaii 5-o, Mission Impossible, Doors - Light my Fire, *Stevie Wonder's I was made to love her.

She even did the guitar for Ritchie Valens - La Bamba. Impressed yet?

Here's an excerpt from the documentary FIRST LADY OF BASS.

And for anyone still too dumb to recognize the power in this lady's hands. Listen to this.



This song has a long story behind it, but it's basically Axelrods favorite lineup taking the place of the Electric Prunes. Which includes:

Carol Kaye - Bass
Earl Palmer - Drums
Axelrod - Conducting/arranging
Howard Roberts - Guitar
Don Randi - Keys
and others..

I think I've stated enough of my case, for this unappreciated virtuoso.

*There is still arguments on whether this is Carol or the also much under appreciated James Jamerson of the Funk Brothers. I know both players catalogs quite well, and by ear I'm hearing Carol Kaye.

What do you think?






ps. I'll get to the Genius of Howard Roberts later.

7

My expedition for more guitarists proved to be quite fruitful. I found a forum called the Guitar collective forum which has projects for recording guitarists. I might just join in when I get some free time. I also noticed that most guitarists are into the Youtube video thing. I'm not quite sure why, but there is interesting stuff to be found. I'd give it a shot, I'm just not sure I have the free time.

Besides this blog, and work, and life. I've been preparing a bunch of new songs for my band. So far the Genres we cover are Funk, Soul, Hip Hop, Psych Rock, Bossa, Samba, and Latin Disco. I'm trying to just use this band project to experiment song writing in as many genres and eras as possible.

Right now I'm preparing a Hendrix-y blues jam with Minor chords, an 80's punk funk dance track, and a Billie holiday style 20's ballad. I've been blessed to be able to work with open minded and incredibly talented people. I guess the only problems I've been running into is finding a solid Bass Player. That's a very common problem here in Vegas, keeping a solid bass player, but we'll see what happens when my drummer comes back from Chile.

In December it's Studio time!

6 - MICHIO

You need to hear this song.



This is America's introduction to Michio Kurihara a veteran psych guitarist from the bands, Ghost, White heaven, Damon and Naomi, and The Stars. This song is very reminiscent of one of my favorite bands CAN, with Damo-esque vocals and a Guitar solo that would make Michael Karoli blush.

For me this is the song of the year.

In my mind i see a Tarantino-esque short yakuza film with a torture scene involving Lucy Liu and Dennis Hopper.

If you dig this check out the album Rainbow

5 - Where are the real Guitarists?

yikes.. talk about a long lunch.

I'll have to continue that one when I get a little more time.

So, my goal of this blog is to be a tool to help me meet some other guitarists, and hopefully learn some stuff myself. So, I'm going to dedicate the night to finding some other sites that deal with guitar.

I'm a member of Harmony Central. I go to Vintage Guitars forum from time to time. However, I never really see anybody with blogs worth visiting.

I think there was a site that had like projects with different guitarists.. I'm going to look into it. 

Sometimes I feel like I know more about film and music then guitar.  

I always feel like with the guitar I am a beginner.

I think I'm going to write about some of the guitarists now who influence me.

be back soon..

4 - song analysis - Crosby, Stills, Nash - Guinevere

I'd like to take a moment and share with you one of my favorite songs to play.

It's by the band Crosby, Stills and Nash and taken from there S/t LP. As you will see in the following passages this song makes use of many open chords and and the alternative tuning EBDGAD.

Brilliantly written the dissonant nature of this tuning makes this song very unique sounding and simple to play. You will have to have some experience with finger picking. Or this can be the song you learn to finger pick with.

There are many sites that offer tabs for this song, personally I'm not a big fan of Tab inscriptions. I mean, they are invaluable sometimes, but most of the time they are completely wrong in places that have problems to do with timing or even listening.

For anyone starting out on the guitar here's a quick how to read tab:





D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------

The scale represents the 6 strings of the guitar. The letters represent the tuning. Standard tuning is EADGBE. It should be read from top to bottom with the highest line representing the little E string. The corresponding numbers represents the fret hands finger position. With the number 0 meaning Open string. If there is more than one note to be played at the same time then the numbers are written on top of each other. That's enough of that, for help with alternate tunings I recommend this tuner. http://www.chordbook.com/guitartuner.php

Hopping right into it. A tab can be found here:

http://www.fretplay.com/tabs/c/crosby_stills_nash_and_young/guinnevere-tab.shtml

Now I'm going to go through the song with you.

Intro. 4/4 ex. 1
-0-----------0-----------0-----|
------0-----------0-----------0-|
----------0-----------0---------|
--------------4-----------6-----|
--------------------------------|
--0-----------------------------|

The important part of how to play this passage is understanding how the finger picking pattern works. Most people will explain to you about PIMA:
Pulgar = Thumb
Indice = Index finger
Medio = Middle Finger
Anular = Ring Finger

Which is probably the proper way to explain this, but it's easier for me to explain if I use this.
T= Thumb
I= Index finger
M= Middle Finger
R= Ring Finger
P= Pinky

The first note of the passage is the 2 outer most strings played at the same time. You can achieve this by using T for the lower E, and any finger for the high D. I personally use my T and R on my right hand so that i can easily walk the next couple of notes with my M and I finger respectively. When it gets to the "4" on the 4th D string I play the lowest note with my T and the open D with my R followed by M and I finger for the 2 following open strings. Slide the left hand up to the "6" on the 4th D string and again repeat the pattern with lowest note T and the open D with R this time ending on M.

Now take a second and try to understand that this passage is a continuous loop. Take some time to practice looping that passage paying close attention to the notes I highlighted.

Intro (continued)
ex. 2

--0-----------0-----------0-----|-0-----------0-----------------|
------5-----------5-----------5-|-----7-----------5-------5-----|
----------6-----------6---------|---------6-----------6-------6-|
--------------7-----------7-----|-------------7-----------7-----|
--0-----------------------------|-0-----------------------------|
--------------------------------|-------------------------------|

So the pattern stays the same, but the fretting hand changes. The first note would use T and R , second and third would use M and I respectively. It follows the same pattern as the previous example, with a fingering change with the left hand, and on the second sequence the it changes slightly as indicated with the light blue notes. As you follow the tab, play along to the song there are many subtleties that you can't achieve with only 1 guitar.

My final example is the Verse loop.

--0-----------0-----------0-----|
------0-----------0-----------0-|
----------0-----------0---------|
--------------------------0 h 2-|
------------ h2-----------------|
--0-----------------------------|

This is super simple, but a little tricky at first the "h" stands for hammer which is an essential technique for all guitarists. The idea is to move the finger (of your fretting hand) down sharply onto the neck so that the note is heard but not picked. The note you will pick is going to be the Open string. So to practice this hit the open string once with your T and with your fretting hand "hammer"the "2" on the 5th string B. With your fretting hand this only requires one finger it's comfortable for me to use my M finger. Now to get the second hammer all you do is move up one string to the 4th string D.

I'll continue this when I get back from lunch.

3 - Arthur Verocai

Arthur Cortes Verocai at age 62 is a living master. A wonderful composer/songwriter/producer who comes from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His self titled album which has been recently reissued stands as one of my favorite albums of all time. In his words, "I always wanted to compose soundtracks in great style, as in the cinema, but this wasn't possible with television work," he says. "My opportunity came when I was recording this album. I created a rhythmic cell in the acoustic guitar with the harmonic line. I added bass and the non-conventional drums and the percussion with a very smooth orchestration in blocks (four trumpets and a flute) plus the delicate touch of the strings (12 violins, 4 violas and 4 cellos). At the end of the song, Oberdan Magalhães played and sang with his flute."

I highly recommend this album as an overall classic.

Recently Arthur sat down with Redbull Music Academy. Not only has age improved his playing, but he gives a ton of insight to the era of his music.

Arthur Verocai pt.1 68k 256k
Arthur Verocai pt.2 68k 256k
Arthur Verocai pt.3 68k 256k

Definitely worth your time.

2

While I'm still trying to get the ball rolling on the overall look of this site. Let's just get started into the site.

The URL Demonfuzz comes from a favorite album of mine.

The name Gypsies, Gods, Beggars, Poets represents some of the natures of guitarists:

The Gypsy needs to travel, and live an unconventional way of life.

The God is one that is to be worshiped, idealized, or followed.

The Beggar lives by asking others for money.

The Poet is blessed with the perception and expression of verse.

To keep myself humble I think of these roles and how they apply to myself as a musician. Sometimes I am the beggar trying to survive. Sometimes I am the gypsy longing for the road. Sometimes I am the poet reaching for the deeper meaning. Sometimes I am the god full of ego and pride.

I'm sure there are more roles that are traits of guitarists specifically. These roles are what I use to judge other guitarists, and I think about them whenever I'm researching some of the people who came before me.

Try to ask yourself, What role do you play?

1

well.. this is the first post to this blog thing.

I guess I've been quite removed from the internet for a while, so bear with me.

My name is Diego. My nickname is Spidey

I live in Las vegas.

This blog is about Guitar, and hopefully it will attract people who want to share ideas about music.

That's all you need to know so far..

- diego