Stuff

C.B.I Artist Cables
Very reasonable price, Durable - I have one ten footer with twenty or thirty gigs under the belt and it is in like new condition. They sport two types - HS - Hot Shrink - which is just a shrink wrap cover and the G - Artist Gold. They also have lengths available from one to twenty five feet.
Ten feet of HS will run you about $15.
Disclaimer - I absolutely do not put any credence into cables that proport to transmit more signal such as Monster or low (insert hot topic element here) cables. The human ear has enough trouble without trying to hear the difference between "Bandwidth Balanced Construction" and soldered cable. It's snake oil.
My Father sold tubes for more than fifty years, you think you can hear the difference between tubes? I know you can't - having shown in blind "taste tests" that the coveted tubes of yesteryear produce power in the exact same fashion as todays Russian or Chinese versions and with labeling removed, the ear cannot tell one from another.

Ernie Ball Super Slinkys
The Summer I went to camp and attended Woodstock, I was determined to get a guitar. My Father found some Gibson arch top that was in horrid shape (although today probably worth a fortune). One of the first "improvements" I made was slapping on a set of Super Slinkys. One of my friends told me about these marvelous things - light gauge strings. .009s to be exact. I think the beast had .011s when I got it and with the high action, it was murder.
I still, forty years later use Ernie Ball Super Slinys - Regular Slinkys now and again...usually on the Jaguar.

Elixir Strings
I was not satified with the D'Addarrio nor the Martin strings I tried on my Ovation, so I sprang for some Elixir Nanoweb Strings. I haven't put them on but felt the need to mention when strings run  $18 a set, they had better be superb.Breakage is not much of a concern. It seems to be the strings selling point. But I had heard and read many raves about tone being remarkably bright & remaining true that I decided to try them out. Strings rarely break for me but tone fades...usually quickly. I am lucky to get three gigs out of a set.

Friday night I saw Rich Pagano and the SugarCaneCups.
What a great show. The melodies are Beatle-esque. Which is not surprising considering he is the drummer for the Fab Faux, the premier Beatle tribute.
His lyrics are thoughtful and thought provoking. I think they got seven or eight songs in the one hour set.

Highly recommended.

It Is All In The Fingers

As musicians we chase tone. We argue tone. We revere tone.
And we miss the point.

It is, without a doubt, the right hand - the picking...the inherent rhythm we carry.
The left hand can learn the notes, but it is rare that we chase down the same rhythm or even try to emulate the picking technique involved.

Hendrix, Santana, Beck, McLaughlin - it is all the picking!
In the cases of Beck and Santana it is painfully and visually obvious - Carlos uses a huge pick and up picks most of the time. Beck...no pick at all. But have you ever seen a guitarist drop his pick when launching into a Beck tune?

Al DiMeola started as a drummer. His main emphasis with me in the beginning was rhythm. One of the two must have books was Melodic Rhythms For Guitar.
It is a subject glossed over. Given much lip service.
But it is absolutely essential to the mastery of tone. Mute picking, finger picking sweep picking...tools.
But the ultimate goal is playing those same four or five notes one hundred different ways. Being able to change gears - change rhythms is the only way. There are only eight notes. All the possible combinations of order or sequence have been done.
Rhythms are infinite.

I was listening to McLaughlins 4th Dimension project and I noticed his tone was similar to Inner Mounting Flame - a record released thirty years ago? But the rhythms in his picking had subtly changed - it sounded different.
That is when it hit me. Tone - what we perceive to be changes in tone are merely rhythmic changes.

B.B. Kings tone is very similar to Albert Collins in harmonic content...a clean non overdriven ringing sound, even though plays a Fender and the other a Gibson - completely different in rhythm.
And as easy to distinguish as day from night.

I need to take drum lessons.

Let It Rain

Yesterday we had a four birthday bash at Characters after the nominal weekly band thing.
Sylvia who is the girlfriend of Steve the bass player was celebrating as well as John the manager of the tavern and two of the regulars.
All four had their actual birthdays on Saturday.
So Jerry serenades Sylvia at one point...we did Happy Birthday for all of them while they were seated front and center...a good time was had by all.

Then it began to rain. I'm not a fan of electrocution. Where the stage is situated, our amps are just sticking from under the overheard awning. Exposed...getting wet. We pushed everything forward a few feet and soldiered on.
Wind began to blow. We pushed the amps another couple of feet under the overhead protection.
But now, I am beginning to get cold.
It is difficult if not impossible to play when cold, let alone wet as well. The fingers stiffen and the brain begins to shut down. Creative juice become viscous sludge.

But we can't stop now. The crowd is there for a reason, they don't have the same perspective as we do. We play.
"Ernie, do you know 'Let it Rain?', " asks Jerry.
"Well enough to wing it..."

"Let it rain...Let it rain..." The light bulb goes off over the collective head of the audience.
"Hey guys, it's raining...maybe you should take a break?"

It was a very long day. I am glad it's over. It was fun, but now I am thinking of heaters as band equipment.

This Friday, October 22nd - Rich Pagano of the Fab Faux and The SugarCaneCups will be at Room 5, Mid Wilshire, Los Angeles.
KRISTIN FLAMMIO (7pm), ALL ON SEVEN (8pm), RICH PAGANO and the SUGARCANECUPS (9pm), JASON LIEBMAN (10pm), SAMANTHA BEHYMER (11pm) | $8
Room 5

Bluegrass, Folk...Flatpicking

I saw Beppe Gambetta tonight. A charming, disarming man with talent to spare. He describes himself as an Italian Flatpicker.
His role model is Doc Watson. A legendary icon in American music. There are few indigenous forms of music in this country. We are, after all, an amalgam of peoples making one nation...

I had recently been thinking how todays music seems so much more fractured than when I was growing up. There are just many more types, styles, pigeon holes with which to classify music. Or so I thought.

What I found was my age showing. I am a firm believer - there is nothing new under the sun. Nothing, Not one iota. I'm mid fifties and I feel the embrace of high school antics on a daily basis. So too, nothing changes.

Doc Watson may be a flatpicker, or a bluegrass player...it is enough that we take the time and effort to classify it and then argue over it.

So there may be Trance and Ambient and Death Metal or this or that. It is just the anthem of the next generation; I was not meant to follow completely. But the debate will rage on. And people will continue to  neatly arrange all taste and opinion.

As to Mr. Gambetta and his utterly charming wife, Frederica...I was in a word, enchanted. Not that I will rededicate my existence to flatpicking but it certainly will offer things to be incorporated into my own playing style. I heard refrains from my childhood reverberating across a small and intimate setting.
He revers music that on the surface has little to do with Italian melodies...The Mediterranean melting pot.
But if you exclude the instrumentation, he very much resembles a Renaissance man of the highest tradition. Beppe plays the guitar exclusively...but he plays banjo pieces or pieces that sound as if they were made for a lute with equal aplomb.

His English is charming, as are his anecdotes and tales. He was eager to share whatever we wished to know. He uses a 1.5 mm pick.(I use a 3.0 mm). What type of wood made up his guitar. I wanted to know the story behind the red shoes and guitar strap but felt that would be a bit much.

His play was flawless. Polished to the extreme. He easily captivated his small audience for the entire two hours.
He went between straight flatpicking to some limited fingerpicking - his main strength lies however, in his left hand.
He can pull the notes and need not rely on the precision of his picking. This is also something Al taught me to do. Play a piece with the left hand only...no picking at all.
Whether there were lyrics or not, I felt a story being told. I heard a tale being spun.
A definite must see. His tour is extensive and far ranging.

On Thursday October 7th my West Coast tour starts. See you there! Here is the schedule: Oct. 7, San Diego, CA - Oct 8, Culver City, CA - Oct 9, Covina, CA - Oct. 10, Fullerton, CA - Oct. 12, Berkeley, CA - Oct. 13, Newcastle, CA - Oct. 14, Felton, CA - Oct. 15, Berkeley, CA - Oct. 16, Sutter Creek, CA - Oct. 17, Minden, NV - Oct. 21, Bozeman, MT - Oct. 22, Whitefish, MT - Oct. 23, Sandpoint, ID - Oct. 24, Seattle, WA

If you get the chance I highly recommend this gem, no matter what label he uses.

Stray Far Afield

If we stay within our comfort zones, progress is minimal. If our perspective never changes our outlook becomes stale.

If I am working a piece I tend to work it until completion - I dislike leaving loose ends. I immerse myself in the work. My view doesn't change and it becomes a race against my internal clock. Most of the time I finish my work before stasis sets in. But there are times when I pass that barrier and lose my vision without realizing it.

How does one restore perspective? Some will walk away from the work to regain balance. I don't have that luxury. If I don't grab my guitar for an extended period of time, a very integral piece of myself begins to slumber.
Sure, drop it for a day. But I can't just leave it for a month while I work on myself - the two are very much related.

I play a different genre - instead of jazz, maybe some blues for awhile. Or I'll go to shows that I would normally not notice. Take in bands that I had not paid attention to before.
I liken it to buying clothing - expanding your wardrobe makes you feel as though you've added a new dimension to yourself. I might buy a cheap tchotchke like a new slide or some new picks - just enough to change the feel of the guitar. A subtle shift in view that maintains a fresh perspective so vital to creation.
The trick is to stay for just long enough to fix the original dilemma and not further skew the creative juices by taking the new road for too long. It'll just end in another rut.

I have listened to C&W or Opera. Neither is my cup of tea. I have always been able to appreciate the talent, but I don't really enjoy either form. Usually it is more than enough to spend a day or so listening or playing with these different genres to bring my mind around.

Recently I found "Crossover" - what is it with all the labels for styles? - mental note...write piece concerning Freankonomics application to musical labeling -  my new discovery is Andrea Bocelli. Although he's been around for years, world renowned...I had never noticed him before.
I was watching The Sopranos when I became aware of this haunting melody being used to exaggerated effect. When I heard it, I sat up. I thought it was operatic music and I thought how odd that I was enjoying it.
Online I found that he is considered a "Crossover" artist. Then I heard the duets he did with Sarah Brightman.
Still sounds like Opera to me, but this Crossover was more than enough to wipe clean the film that had been covering my sight.
What was refreshing was that I found only one or two songs that piqued my interest. No danger of a rut in this.
His signature song title - Time To Say Goodbye - is a wonderful melody line with a slow syncopated beat.
Incredibly easy to play. Very difficult to sing. His voice is a marvelous instrument. I worked on the vocals - playing my guitar along with his voice. What a shift it proved to be!

So listen to something new, squirrel those suggestions given by friends for when you really need them.
As we used to say as kids - "Forward...never straight."

Tomorrow night I will see Beppe Gambetta playing at a local guitar shop - The Fret House in Covina.
The Fret House
Wonderful venue for intimate music. Join me.