Guitartropolis

TOTAL IMPROVISATION

eyes and ears.Being a member of “A NEW BRAIN BRAIN FOR ARNIE ” band has been one of the best musical learning experiences i ever encountered.it’s my favorite job if one could even call it that.it is total freedom. the key to this project i believe is listening and watching. the musicians in this project are diverse and eclectic and able to time travel from one musical genre to the next with the lift of an eye brow or less.bassist and leader Kim Stone knocks down a groove worth all the gold the reserve has hidden and can harmonically dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee.Dewey Steele’s drumming will lay you up as he lays down a rock solid groove that has liquid fluidity .Lava man.Like all the players in A NEW BRAIN FOR ARNIE he is able to acutely observe while maintaining his own performance. listening across the stage with these players will surprise even the most casual observer .this is the only band i have ever been in that sports three guitar players. i feel lucky to be on that list. Wayne Hammerstadt has super keen ears and knows when to set sail.His electric guitar playing style can be any thing from the quirkiest to the most beautiful on the spot melodic compositions  imaginable .he also wins best hair in band award.Tommy Gallagher plays a Les Paul creating very natural sounding rhythms in one passage ,the next thing you  here from this very adaptable player might be sounds from the planet io.Bryant Jones……on keyboards, or maybe a better description…..in keyboards.Bryant is the most totally connected player i have ever performed with . he is the subtle genius.he understands the ultimate importance of enhancing the over all sound of a team performance. the amazing thing is that he can do this and sometimes you’re not even aware of his musical presence!subtle genius.when he does emerge to the front his skills are a force to be admired . any way what a blast to play music with such talented friends.know ,when you listen to the music of A NEW BRAIN FOR ARNIE ,every note of our live and studio recordings are all spontaneously composed. this is the essence of our goal. total improve. thanks for taking your time to read this and visit guitartropolis….your dedicated stringstretcher michael reese

ALL THAT FROM 12 NOTES

As complicated as music theory may seem sometimes it really does allow a musician to look at music as very simple with a lot of different ways to approach the twelve notes. take any major scale for instance.there are seven notes in this scale that have seven triads or chords that correlate with these notes and seven modes that relate to each of these.i know that does not sound that simple , but as you learn some basic theory it will become evident. applying these three basic music theory concepts will exponentially open different avenues for your musical creativity. how an artist approaches and uses music theory is totally unique to the individual. when i first began to study music theory it seemed very ominous. as i understood more about it i realized two almost contradictive facts.there are only twelve notes all this theory is based around. the creative possibilities with these twelve notes  are infinite….theory is the mathematics of music, the science of sound and vibration, but as apposed to numeric math ,these formulas translate as combinations of different tones vibrating at different frequencies ultimately received by the human ear and hopefully creating an emotional response for the listener. you may notice that almost every endeavor i take is improvised.it may be partly due to a lack of regiment or the amount of freedom i feel this allows .please bare with me.my goal with this blog is to hopefully inspire any musicians who may have thought about learning some music theory to take that leap. one thing to keep in mind as you learn this science,especially if you have a fair amount of time in as a musician already,be patient.for me it took nine months to a year before i started reaping the benefits of this knowledge.when the flood gates opened i was amazed! that's all i have time for now.thanks for taking the time to visit guitartropolis,your dedicated stringstretcher,Michael

Jeff Beck performing this week… Live on your DVD player

Tuesday I picked up the Blu-ray DVD of Jeff Beck’s new project Jeff Beck performing this week… live at ronnie scott’s. (DVD, Blu-Ray, CD, mp3 download).I loved it, loved it, loved it! In my book guitar players don’t come any better than Jeff Beck whose music I thoroughly enjoy and admire. If you’re at all a Jeff Beck fan then you’ll love this DVD too.

The sound quality was excellent and it was great to see how Jeff and his band adjusted their large stage show and sound to a small room, club venue. It was very close to the music Jeff performed when he visited and performed his concert in Denver last year. That concert was voted “concert of the year” by one of the local papers, and I totally agree. We were sitting in row six or seven and it was a mind blowing, music immersing experience.

Back to the new DVD… The video was as up close and personal as it gets. Lots of great shots right on top of Jeff’s guitar, watching his fingers produce sounds, tones and music no other player makes.  Jeff does a lot of his greatest songs, from ‘Led Boots’ to ‘Nadia’. Oh, and did I mention (again), LOTS OF CLOSEUPS of Jeff playing. You rarely if ever (never, actually) get to see this kind of detail.

There are some great extras and goodies in this DVD too. Guest appearances include Imogen Heap (Rolling and Tumblin), Joss Stone (People Get Ready) and Eric Clapton (Little Brown Bird and You Need Love). The DVD extras section includes a pretty lengthy video interview with Jeff, followed by a shorter interview with the band (Vinny Colaiuta, Tal Wilkenfeld and Jason Rebello), and a rock-a-billy set Jeff performs from an earlier tribute album. This was probably the most words I’ve heard Jeff speak, a glimpse into getting to know him a little bit better.

I’d recommend the Blu-ray version if you have a Blu-ray player, and even if you don’t, you still  need to get this DVD. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Laying Down the Rhythm Before The Solo Chops

I’ve been watching one of my Robben Ford videos and I came across this online video of he and Larry Carlton playing “talk to your daughter”. It strikes me in this video how Robben is delivering on the rhythm part for this blues tune. He’s not worried about throwing in a superfluous guitar lick here or there but just lays down a very solid rhythm guitar track. Later Robben gets his turn to do some talkin’ with his guitar but even that is fairly basic guitar stuff and that’s a big part of what makes his part so good and a great complement to what Larry Carlton is playing.

Another thing I noticed is the difference in styles of playing rhythm between Larry and Robben. Robben's doing a really straight right hand and Larry changes to a more open, accent oriented rhythm style. I got a lot just out of watching/listening to these two guys on stage together.

Also, there’s a lot of power, drive and excitement in this song. It just makes you  feel good. An upbeatness and drive to it. The drummer delivers this really well and part of it is also Ford’s playing of the rhythm part. And I like how the organ player pretty much lays out until the first chorus and then really amps up the energy. Very cool.

Watching this video was a reminder to me about how much more important it is to deliver a solid rhythm part before you ever get around to laying down any solo chops.

Check out the video and I think you’ll see what I mean.

Larry Carlton & Robben Ford - talk to your daughter
Uploaded by popy27

just so you know

My mama always reminds me that i have truly great friends.and that makes life worth loving……way

the musical universe

…improvisation is an open invitation to the musical universe.as one takes there knowledge in to this unchartered zone the rewards for an artist are endless.there are so many concepts and directions it can be mind boggling.the more basic knowledge acquired on your  musical journey,the more paths will appear on your journey.the world of musical improvisation is truly exponential after reading my blog titled total improvisation my good friend Mitchell Ashley suggested i blog about how i approach improv. that is a great suggestion considering i enjoy that subject so much . so i will do my best to share some of my approaches and concepts in future blogs.your dedicated stringstretcher ,michael

Vision Meets Reality - a vision unfolds

I love it when a plan comes together. It’s Easter season and for me that means planning, playing and helping execute on all the stuff that goes into putting together Easter services. You may have read on my bio that I’m a worship leader, lead electric and band leader of God’s House Band (GHB) at Broomfield United Methodist Church (BUMC). During Easter and Christmas we move our contemporary services from our sanctuary (seats around 350) to our gym (called the FLC and holds around 625 or so.)

One of the songs I identified early on for Easter was Michael W. Smith’s Prepare Ye The Way from his most recent CD, A New Hallelujah. The song opening starts with what almost sounds like a drum line from a marching band. It’s a 32 bar intro that builds up to a big entrance by the band with what I’d describe as a mystical guitar line – it’s echo’y and and floats on a synth pad with a strong, but slow and open, drum beat.

I wanted to do the song but not have to compromise and create a lesser version of it during the drum intro. I wanted something close to the CD version but done in a way that’s true to GHB. After talking with Rich Guess, one of our really talented drummers, it was pretty clear we could pull this off. He’d write up a drum chart and Cody and Bruce, two of our drummers in GHB, would all play it together. (Rich is the primary drummer on kit for Easter.) Kewl… step one: share the vision. Step two: recruit talented people to grow and fulfill the vision.

We’re doing Prepare Ye The Way for our opening song. This song will make for a very powerful opening. My goal for attendees, both members and visitors, is to have them go “Wow. This is church? Cool! I want to come here.” In describing the opening to our set and lighting directors (both extremely talented and gracious people, btw), I described it as a “Pink Floyd opening” with backlighting silhouetting the three drummers opening the song. Dave and Kevin were already planning to use big lights timed to accents in the music, and adding the backlighting fit in really well. I just wish we had some smoke – I’m going to email David to see if we could have some. I can just hear and see the opening song in my mind’s eye, and how the whole thing will unfold. It’s so very cool we all had similar and complementary visions for the song.

Today we had the first of three band and vocal rehearsals before Easter next Sunday. It was also the first time the three drummers got together to practice their opening. We’ve been trying to see if we could borrow a big bass drum and marching snare from one of the outside instrumental groups that use BUMC for rehearsals. So far that hasn’t panned out and I was worried we wouldn’t have the needed drums to rehearse today.

Cody showed up early and started pulling out and tuning up some of the drums from an acoustic set we have. Bruce then showed up asking, “Do you guys need a marching snare? I have one that I bought years ago but never knew if I’d get to use it.” I said, “I think you bought that drum for just this moment.” Kewl – We’ve got the tools to pull this off. Then they rehearsed Rich’s chart he’d created. Wow, wow, wow! I cannot wait to do this song.

Following the drum entrance on this song, the band comes in with a powerful but ethereal sound. Layered on top is the sparkly electric line I described earlier that flows over the music. I was so looking forward to playing this part, but I’m singing this song and it’s better that I not sing and play on a really tight guitar part. I could probably do it but it would never sound as good. So, Dave stepped in, a guitarist who has a fantastic ear for playing together with other guitar players. He’ll deliver that guitar line while I’m singing so while I don’t get to play it, I’ll have the pleasure of singing on top of it and the rest of the music, enjoying it all the same.

I can’t wait. I love it when a plan comes together.

late night intro

hi',I'm Michael.this is a new venture that i am very exited about ',Guitartropolis.this is an opportunity for six string  enthusiasts to share thoughts,ideas,pretty much any thing having to do with guitar. to be honest this is the first blog i have ever done and need to formulate my ideas a little before i really dig in.hopefully i have some concepts regarding playing techniques ,chord scale relationships  that might be useful to some of my six string brothers and sisters. it is late now, but before i sign off i want you to welcome you ,send your thoughts to michael@Guitartropolis.com

Playing To Your Strengths

One of the things I experienced while sitting in, making music with my friends on Saturday night was admiration. I really admired the talent, skills and sweet tones coming from the other two guitarists. There are parts of what both of the other two guitar players offered that I would love to be able to play.

Now, this was a venue and type of music I don’t have a chance to play nearly as often as what I play in my regular weekly gig. So it’s not like I was playing guitar on my own home field, if you know what I mean. It’s okay to be envious, because it really was admiration for the music both those two guitar players could create.

The side effect though was that I felt I didn’t play as well as I might, largely because I was comparing myself to the other players, and changing my game to try and move closer to what they were playing. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a huge pleasure and fun time sitting in, making music with my friends. And I’d jump at the next chance to do it again.

But what I realized is I didn’t let myself play my kind of guitar playing, I was too busy thinking how I might play something like the other two players (though my skill level is far from theirs.) It was the admiration thing again. I didn’t fully allow my guitar playing to play to my strengths. I’m much more of a Gilmore-ish and Clapton-ish type player, not so speedy but concentrate on very passionate, tasty tones, lines and licks. I’m very happy with my playing when I do that well. Speed isn’t my strength. By not allowing myself to play to my own strengths, I wasn’t as happy with my playing as I could have been.

I’m not beating up on myself, but just thinking back about what I learned from the experience, and how I could have offered my best to the band and the music. And what I come to, something I already know but don’t always practice, is everyone is best served when you offer yourself… you, to the music.

Bring to it what you have to bring to it. Bring to the music your voice, your style and your way of saying it. “Say what you have to say, and then get out,” my friend Michael likes to tell me. (There’s a lot of treasure hidden in that one line of advice.)

It makes you more confident in your playing when it’s you you’re offering, and not something that’s trying to match or come close to what others are doing. Keep your spirit, and keep the soul alive, the source of what you are bringing. And make sure it’s authentic to you.