By Mike Casey Raise your hand if you’ve heard this cliché before: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Well, as cheesy as that sounds, I happen to believe it’s right on the money. After all, advanced musical devices, concepts, and patterns are usually just a slew of basic fundamentals stacked on top of one another, inverted,…
Although a lot of songwriters have at least a basic sense of either the guitar or piano, there are still quite a few who rely solely on their voices when writing melodies and lyrics. While that’s a perfectly fine place to start, songwriters could gain a lot by expanding their instrumental horizons, especially when they…
The next time you’re writing a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching tune, try using this handful of chords to drive your sadness home.
Go beyond your standard stable of chords and explore a whole new world of alternate tunings to make your songs stand out.
Okay, so there’s no such thing as a “happy” blue note, I made that up. But if you’re curious as to why I did that, read on. To start, if you don’t know what a blue note is — or what the difference is between a “blue note” and a “blues scale note” — you should…
Welcome to the latest edition of Song Kitchen! Well aren’t you in for a treat, because today we’re gonna be heading down to the City of Angels, the Big Orange, Tinseltown, that’s right — Los Angeles! This city is Americana through and through, home to some of the greatest music ever recorded. We’re here visiting the resident…
Tired of constantly glancing down at the fretboard during your solos? Having trouble singing while you play? Maybe you’re just out to emulate all your favorite blues musicians, like Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, or Sonny Terry (also blind)… none of whom could even see their guitar, let alone the fretboard! But for…
By Brad Allen Williams Rudy Van Gelder died 25 August, 2016 at the age of 91, having made some of history’s most enduring sound recordings. If you’ve explored the variegated tapestry of 20th century recordings lumped together under the criminally reductionist banner of “jazz,” you probably know the name. If you’ve dug through crates and slid…
“Perfect – fourth / Perfect – fourth / Tri – tone / Tri – tone” “Perfect – fourth / Perfect – fourth / Tri – tone / Tri – tone” Can you hear it in your head? If you did, you’re funky enough — go do something else, smarty. If not, feel free to help me…
