Tag Archives: guitar

Playing with Odd Times

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I’ve been messing around a lot with odd-time signatures in my music lately, and that’s gotten me thinking about how I count and feel them when I play.

When one plays in 4, it’s common to change how one feels the beat, i.e. double-time, half-time, etc. This depends on the groove itself and what makes one more comfortable. For example, once the music starts getting too fast, it’s easier to count in half-time, which usually leads to a more relaxed feel for the musician.

But when you move into odd-times, like 5 or 7, things get tricky because the bars don’t subdivide neatly.

The way I’ve been counting them up till now is by sub-dividing them into groups of 2 and 3, which I think is pretty common. For example in my song We’ll Always Have Siberia, I’m counting 2+3…basically two beats, with the second one being a little longer.

The problem with this, is that the rhythm itself has a very strong momentum and I tend to rush. A lot.

So i started experimenting with counting it in different ways. First, you can count it in quarter notes, which means that what was 2 bars of 5/8 becomes one bar of 5/4.

The advantage here is that your counting straight quarter notes, so it’s easier to keep a solid tempo. You could even go further and count in half notes, which means you have to go through 4 bars of 5/8 before landing back on the 1.

This one is bit trickier, but once you get the hang of it you can really get into the groove. Plus, it really helps when playing in faster tempos.

So basically these are just different ways of feeling and subdividing the rhythm. I’m practicing switching between the different feels while playing to a metronome to really get it internalized. Fun times!

Influences: Joe Satriani

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I’ve been thinking a lot about my influences lately. Not only bands or artists, but also very specific moments and songs that have had a strong impact on me.

I haven’t heard many of them in a very long time, completely unaware of what a big influence on my music they’ve become. Going back and listening to those moments/songs/artists really helps put things in perspective…and makes me realize that my musical roots are always present, no matter what kind of music I’m making.

My first subject? Joe Satriani, simply because I was listening to his music yesterday.

When I was around 15, I got my first Satriani album, The Extremist. To this day I still think it’s his best work, great songs all around. Having Andy Johns produce it probably didn’t hurt either.

What sets Joe apart from his shred-peers is that apart from being a crazy-good guitarist, he also writes good melodies. He seems to be genuinely concerned with writing good songs and not showing off how good he is. Well…most of the time.

And yet, there’s a certain weirdness to his music (in a good way). He’s always sneaking some exotic scale or strange guitar technique into his music.

One technique that really caught my attention were those whammy-bar harmonic dives. The one he does on New Blues is particularly awesome. Listen between 2:10 and 2:25. (Urgh, just realized the grooveshark widget doesn’t show the time. Well, it’s about halfway through the song, right where the solo kicks in…)

It sounds eerily human, like somebody screaming. I spent a lot of time trying to recreate it…never succesful. There are other great moments in Satch’s music, but this is the one that’s forever etched in my brain.

I don’t listen to Satriani’s music much at all anymore, but when I was 15 I listened to The Extremist day and night, trying to learn all of the songs on it.

Emphasis on trying.

Changing Strings

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changestringsI love playing guitar, I really do. But there’s one aspect of it which I don’t find very exciting, and that’s the thought of changing strings. 

By itself it’s not that big a deal, really. It’s only 5 bucks and 15 minutes of your life. But having to do it regularly can get quite…annoying. Sometimes I envy our bass-playing brethren, who can go years without changing strings.

We aren’t so lucky. At most I can go a month without suffering too much. But if you’re gigging or recording on a regular basis, then changing at least every week is the norm. Otherwise the tone starts to suffer.

I don’t even want to think about how much money and time I’ve spent on strings in the 20 years I’ve been playing. But what really gets me is that every time I change them, I hurt myself in some way…a poke, a cut, a scrape. Look closely at that picture, it was taken this morning. Notice the band-aid?

But after the blood, pain and time wasted, I’m left with the guitar sounding better than ever, full of life and resonance. Is it worth all the hassle?

Totally.