Music Diaries: Stage Fright

In September of 2011 I made a promise to the band that played my wedding. As the members are all Microsoft employees, it is a tradition that they play our annual Christmas party which is known as the Holiday Wine and Cheese. The name refers to the original party back in the days of DOS and 5¼ floppy disks when it was literally a wine and cheese shindig. These days it is of course a three day bacchanal resplendent in tales of our market exploits drenched in flagons of ale and the blood of our enemies. But I digress.

One of the cool things about the band is that they allow other musicians to come and rehearse new songs with them that they then play at the party. The promise I made to them last year was that I would be one of those guest musicians in 2012. Little did I know then that the earth would not be depopulated my Mayan gods by now, so it appears I have to honor my promise.

Since my motto is Cur deficiat semel cum multis faciam which means roughly, "why screw up once when you can screw up a bunch of times", I will be playing not one but three songs with the band next week.

The first of these is one of my favorite songs of all time and so I asked to play on it. Here is what it is supposed to sound like:

 

 

 

The 4:00 minute mark of that video is still one of the coolest things I've seen in a music video this side of Tool. The second song is one I suggested to the band:

 

 



 

 

That of course is Jack White fronting the Raconteurs. Awesome band, and unlike his old band The White Stripes, one that doesn't owe me a concert. Side note: the Stripes canceled a date in Fargo because Meg White had a bad case of can't play the drums anxiety. The group broke up before they could make the date up. If they ever play a reunion show, that show better be in Fargo, Jack White.

 

The last song in my trio is one that I was only asked to play on last week so I haven't had much time to prepare:

 

 



 

Now, for the bombshell you never saw coming: I'm actually playing the acoustic parts on this song. Mind. Blown. You're welcome.



Music Diaries: Happy Birthday to Me

My old SPS acoustic guitar does not sound good. It's not really its fault; I bought it for a about $100 back in 1989 or so. Although I've taken pretty good care of it, it's simply a bottom of the line guitar. Since my birthday is coming up, I thought I'd treat myself to a new one. My requirements were that it sounded at least as good as Donna's Yamaha and that it be electric.

So I headed out to a couple of music stores in town. I sensed a pattern early on; if it was really cool looking it was really cheap and sounded like it. The best sounding guitars I could find were all pretty standard looking natural finish bodies. In the end I paid a little more than I was planning but I found one that sounds amazing. It's a Breedlove Passport Plus C250/SBe. I got it for $599 at Schmidt Music in Fargo. You'll notice, if you click that link, that I got it for $200 under MSRP. Finally, the recession pays off!

Anyway, it sounds incredible -- it's amazing how much better a $600 guitar sounds than a $300 guitar; I don't understand the hows and whys, but it's true -- and is even a bit easier to play than the old SPS. I'm not going to get rid of my old one, by the way. I still like the way it looks, and hey, nostalgia and all that. I think if we can ever get this house fixed up enough to sell it, the SPS would make an awesome piece of wall art.

Music Diaries: Muscle Shoals It Ain't



I've got an amp; the netbook is for
reading tabs; the atlas is for killing
spiders. No, really.

I have been plugging away at the guitar for about, what, ten weeks now. I am definitely making some progress. The next logical step after learning some chords and working on the transitions is to find some songs you want to learn -- some simpler ones -- and start practicing. Basically I find tabs on the internet, print them off and go down to my makeshift studio in the basement. I listen to the song on my mp3 player and play along until I get the feel for it. I ignore the solos, because well, I'm learning to walk. Flying comes later.

About my "studio": it's really a couple of chairs and a table in the basement (which is in the middle of repairs). It's far from clean, or comfortable, or, you know, nice. Oh well. It'll do for now. As for the playing, I'm not ready to headline Red Rocks yet, but I could probably make enough coin for a beer or two if I set up shop in a subway somewhere.

Music Diaries: Amped Up

I finally broke down and bought a small practice amplifier for my old electric guitar. I bought the guitar back in 1988 or so. It's an Ibanez EX series. I got it for about $200 which back then was like a gajillion bucks. It still sounds pretty okay though, and it holds its tuning alright. That's pretty good considering that guitar didn't see the light of day very much between 1990 and 2011. I did take care to store it properly, so good on me.

Anyway, now I can hear the licks I'm trying to play and I can tell better if I'm getting it down. Cat Scratch Fever doesn't sound the same on an acoustic, and it's not much better on an unplugged electric. I got a nice little amp at Schmidt's Music after I tried to go to Marguerite's only to find out that they close at 6:00 pm on weekdays because, well, shut up, that's why. Anyway, it's a nice little Fender Mustang I which is rated pretty highly as a practice amp. It can crank at 20 watts even though it's the size of a paper shredder (no, seriously -- it's sitting on the floor right next to my paper shredder and they're the same size). My guitar couldn't be happier.

Now I can start learning some of the dulcet riffs of my childhood. Stuff like Judas Priest, Heart, and Krokus. Yeah, Krokus kinda sucks but I always liked that one song. Sue me.

Music Diaries: Today I am a Man

The guitar playing has been going well. Even though I took a week off to go fishing the callouses on my fingers were still pretty much intact when I got back and one of the first things I did when I got back home was get a little practice in (Donna was not yet back from a trip to her parents' home).

Banging away on chords is fun, and I'm getting better at the transitions. But I have to admit that after a few weeks I started getting the itch to, you know, play something. Something other people would recognize (not that anyone is going to hear it anytime soon). So I began looking on YouTube for some famous riffs so I could at least practice these chords on songs I like. That software is great, but I don't share the same level of affection for Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead and Tom Waits that the author does. Yeah, yeah, they're all important to the canon, I get it. But still...

So I found a few videos and wrote down the chords. I can pretty much play the entirety of Hotel Yorba without screwing up too badly. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being "the beginning of Chopsticks on the piano" and 10 being "Any Yngwie Malmsteen solo", Hotel Yorba is about a 2. But it's something, and it's a fun song.

But last night I go to a point where I could play something meaningful, something that all creatures of the Earth respect and love. Something that every guitarist must be able to play before ever dreaming of entering the pantheon of musical greats.

I can play the intro to Cat Scratch Fever.

Today I am a man.

Music Diaries: Getting Started

So I'm learning the guitar. My first step was to find some software that would help me learn the basics. If I felt the need later to get some personal instruction, at least I wouldn't be a total newbie, right? I finally settled on something called eMedia Guitar Method. (I see it's going for $49 right now -- funny, I got it for $39 last week). I've gotten through the first three chapters and it's pretty fun. I recommend it if you're in the market for such a thing.

The more important thing is that both MJ and Donna want to learn as well. So this weekend we've been huddled around the computer learning chords and terminology and 3/4 time and 4/4 time and all that fun stuff.

But I'm getting ahead of the story. I told MJ that if she really wanted to learn and if she stuck with it, I would get her her own guitar for a birthday present. I needed to go to the local music store (Marguerite's) to get some strings for my acoustic guitar along with a couple other little things. But since Donna is interested too, it seemed we were short a guitar. So when we went into the store on Friday and I told the clerk that I was looking for a starter guitar for a nine-year-old, somebody's eyes got really wide.

So MJ has her very own guitar now. She's really into it (I hope that lasts) as the learning software starts off at a very easy pace.

Then we had another issue; Donna doesn't like either of my guitars. The electric is too heavy and the acoustic has a round back which made it hard for her to keep it in position. So on Saturday we went back to Marguerite's and Donna picked out a really nice-sounding Yamaha for herself. It's like we're starting a band.

That's MJ's starter guitar on top. My very old not-so top of the line SPS
is in the center (hecho en Mexico!). Donna's new Yamaha sounds awesome.

So far so good. I've got the dozen-plus chords I've seen so far down pat (though I can't transition to a C-chord to save my life). I'm having a lot of fun with it. My immediate goal is to be able to play some simple songs from beginning to end. My medium-term goal is to get good enough to justify buying a new electric. That's a bit off in the future though, Maybe a small practice amp for the Ibanez I have now is a little closer to reality. We'll see.