Guitar Lessons by Chip McDonald - chip@chipmcdonald.com

Going to Sleep to a Metronome

2011-06-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

I recently had this discussion with a student about gaining an intuition about tempo ranges, and refining one's awareness of specific tempos.
I recommended something that I know Steve Vai apparently did, which is to go to sleep with a metronome on. The purpose being, to be able to memorize a specific speed in bpm (beats per minute) and recall it at will.

Having said that, I will say that while I have tried that long ago - just for the sake of it - I can't do it for no other reason than I've always been an insomniac. I suggest one try a tempo deliberately slower than 60 bpm, to avoid the "clock ticking" phenomenon, but to also try to use a tempo that is a subdivision of a song one is very familiar with.

While I never successfully managed to sleep with a metronome on, I would recount that as a kid I would often "mainline" songs that I like. As in, as a 12 year old in those days set my cassette player to repeat a particular song I liked over and over and over and over. Not with any kind of intent - I didn't consider myself "a musician" then - but because I really liked the music. I looked forward to hearing exact moments in a song - later to realize the things that happen on a time scale measured in milliseconds - a bent note, a snare accent, any number of things. In doing so I believe the familiarity of being able to ponder the rhythmic events in a song on a minute scale helped me later on as a professional musician.

"I Could Get Used to This" - original song by student Ben Lowery

2011-05-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

"I Could Get Used to This" - Ben Lowery

Reality and Expectation

2011-01-26T03:25:00.000-08:00

I've noticed a recent phenomenon: students comparing themselves to other people playing on YouTube.

I hear (paraphrased) "I'm not as good as this guy playing this online", or "this guy can play this online so well, why can't I?".

I think I know the root cause of this, and I'd like to diagram why it's flawed, and an unhealthy attitude.

There was a time when "art", as a concept, was universally known as something that was inherently "limitless". Which is to say that, while one could practice the craftsmanship of it, the result was beyond the scope of human comprehension: what came out contained so many variables that it had to be the combination of so many factors it couldn't be readily quantized into a purely formulaic approach.

There is the concept of theory, which merely explains the components and their interactions. The theory itself does not create the result. The result is a purely human thing. Likewise, the mechanics and technique in pursuing a result doesn't automatically create the result, either.

YouTube does not show those two aspects: what went into attaining the knowledge of what created the result, and what effort went into acquiring the technical/mechanical skill that occurred before it went on YouTube.

That process (which is a part of taking guitar lessons) is something that there is no clearly defined analogy for. It's kind of like studying to be a doctor. It's kind of like learning the craft of sculpting, or painting. It requires "anthropological" study, like history - one has to know what came before. In other ways it's nothing like those things at all.

The modern day thought that a process to do something can't be tidily broken down into defined, component parts with a defined, predictable outcome, is non-existent. In the 21st Century, one can take a class to learn to do anything, and in a given amount of time, and with a clearly defined outcome. It's how everything works today: you do not do anything without formal training of some sort, and that training always, automatically imparts exactly what you need to know.

Playing a musical instrument doesn't work that way. Thankfully, it doesn't - or else it would be quite boring. You shouldn't take guitar lessons expecting to be able to do exactly what you see someone on YouTube doing. You probably don't have the exact same motivation, the exact same background, the exact same experiences. Which isn't to say one shouldn't try; because the pursuit of it will create it's own unique outcome. The problem occurs when one sets preconceived ideas into motion about how long it should take, and how much effort is involved.

One should have an appreciation for the variety of results that comes from different musicians, and know that time invested is the only common factor. That time investment can be spread over a week in 1 hour increments, 5 hour increments - or 30 minutes per week over years. As a field of study, there are countless avenues; you can't devote yourself to everything at once.

There was a time when, if a person could make a musical instrument do anything resembling "music", it was looked upon as an accomplishment. There are billions of people on the planet; that on YouTube there are thousands demonstrating different things on musical instruments in varying degrees should not deter someone from pursuing their own musical interests. Once you start playing an instrument, on whatever simple level, you are playing an instrument. You are now different than you were before, and different from the Other People on the Planet that Can't Play an Instrument. That should be a worthy accomplishment in itself; being concerned that there's a 10 year old kid in Taiwan playing a VanHalen guitar solo double speed should not enter into the equation.

Fallan and Emily Play "In My Life" by the Beatles

2010-11-20T00:02:00.000-08:00

The Secret Galaga Phrase

2010-11-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

The daily auditory sensory overload, courtesy of Josh Timmerman. "Two Guitarists + Fingerboard Symmetrical Diminished/Altered 9 licks":

David Bash Plays Original Metal Music (with Xylophone)

2010-11-19T23:56:00.000-08:00

The Secret Galaga Phrase

2010-11-19T23:49:00.000-08:00

"Two Guitarists + Fingerboard Symmetrical Diminished/Altered 9 licks":

Josh and Chip Invaded by Galagans

The Strange and Abstruse World of Guitar Pickup Descriptions

2010-09-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

I recently installed a Dimarzio Area 58 and EJ Custom pickup in one of my guitars. They're great. That amazes me because it's the first time I bought pickups I've never heard before, just based on the specifications/inductance figures.

Almost. I did temper that with a lot of anecdotal descriptions. Which is a dangerous thing in the guitar world, because people have very different ideas about how to describe what they're hearing - or think they're hearing.

I think pickup manufacturers (and gear manufacturers in general) take advantage of that a little bit. The following are some excerpts from different pickup manufacturer sites, descriptions of what their pickups sound like:

"The result is an almost vocal, three-dimensional sound that jumps off the string faster and stays true as it sustains. "
"They’re bright and have great presence without sounding thin. "
"The highs are actually bigger and smoother than either model."
"are not polite-sounding, and they’re not for the inexperienced, but if you’ve got the chops and a hot amp your sound will burn."
"Its treble response is warmer and smoother while bass response is tighter and brighter."
"a unique mid-range growl that’s a result of a hand-calibrated magnet structure. "
"a deeper sound from the low strings without losing any punch"
" It has a warm, smoky sound, fattens up "
"Single notes have weight and presence, and chords have detail and dimension. "
" organic and open tone while still maintaining the clarity and response"
"beautiful round tones"
"sound is full and expansive"
"it's louder and the highs have more depth. The lows and mids are more open"
"big, open sound with just a subtle hint of glass"
"The tone is big and percussive without being too harsh."
"vintage-style punch and ripping tone that will sear through almost anything"
"design retains the depth and the sparkle that is the hallmark of vintage tone."

If only it were that simple.

Student Robert Long plays "Creep" by Radiohead

2010-09-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

Former student Walker Howle's band _Dead Confederate_: the making of "Sugar"

2010-09-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

Improv with student Tyler Willing

2010-09-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

Student Mike Posada plays "More Than a Feeling"

2010-09-04T05:46:00.000-07:00

Student Demo (old)

2010-09-04T05:42:00.000-07:00

Student Ben Lowry Plays "8 Second Ride" by Jake Owens

2010-09-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

Student Ben Lowry plays 8 Second Ride by Jake Owens

Put a new kit guitar together...

2009-12-16T23:50:00.000-08:00
Warmoth parts. Metallic Jovian Thai Tea Borealis color. Stainless frets. Now for some decent pickups...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="The backside of the guitar (before I ruined it....)"][/caption]

Prince Says Learn How to Play Real Guitar

2009-05-15T14:16:00.000-07:00
... instead of Guitar Hero:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/sidebar/909182374/26865888/prince-kissed-off-guitar-hero-deal.html

Windows of Attention

2009-05-15T01:22:00.000-07:00
You never finish learning how to "do" music.

Which goes against all conventional thought.   Let me explain:

When my parents went to school, they had "math class".   They didn't change subjects every semester, and per grade they did not go from "Algebra I" to "Geometry I" or some such. Because it was all considered "math".

In my continuing series of harangues about motivation, I'm going to suggest that in the effort to streamline "education", by compartmentalizing monolithic concepts ("math") into smaller ones ("Trigonometry II") people are unlearning the notion of both how to view undertaking learning a very large concept and the time/effort required to do so.

It's occurring to me that most new students arrive with preconceived notions of "how long this is going to take". For adults today, it seems that the expectation is based around "semester" long lengths of time.   Things that may have taken Eric Clapton years to work out, by hours of daily ardent study and practice, are expected to be "mastered" in a couple of months.

It doesn't work that way. "Playing an instrument" is like math, or grammer, or physics. It's as big of a subject as the medical field, astronomy, or anything you care to think of - Einstein credited playing and instrument to giving him insight into discovering the properties of E=MC^2.

Which is why learning to play music is FUN!

It can't be summed up in one book ala "Guitar for Dummies", or the experience of getting through all the levels of a video game, or buying a "Learn at Home" DVD.   It goes on and on and on and on and on.    It is not close-ended; it is the math of the number of notes in existence x every human's subjective opinion of how you arrange those notes.

Which is endless.   The pursuit of music appreciation requires more than a few seconds of concentration, more than a few minutes every day for a couple of months.    Which isn't to say that if that is all one can presently one can afford one shouldn't do it, but that the process of learning it should start "now", and that because it's such a deep subject the reward of studying it is equally deep.

Why Doesn't Fender Fix Input Jacks on Strat-style Guitars?

2009-04-07T14:11:00.000-07:00
I've seen a lot of guitars, and how they age.

The number one problem I see is that the input jacks on Strats go bad.   The nut comes loose, the jack itself twists around, and ultimately breaks a wire going to it, or the component itself.

Fender is a funny company. They've sold untold thousands of that classic model guitar, and it's seemingly infinite variations.   Which is why I find it remarkably ironic - and dumb - they don't take the initiative to fix something they have to know is broke!

It can't be because they're "preserving a classic design" - because frak knows they've changed it enough times. I can think of many simple ways they could easily fix the situation in tooling, and while it might seem expensive to make a completely "new" part, it would be smart:

they would set a precendent in the industry, that is besotted with countless uses of that same dumb design;

it would be an obvious improvement pros would recognize;

it would prevent the syndrome of a beginner guitarist, having purchased or been given one of their cheaper models from basically quitting because "the guitar is broke" (and likewise, not buying anymore Fender products)

it would prevent people like myself, guitar teachers, from having to explain why their $120 cheapo Strat needs maybe a $50 bench fee to resolder a wire on a $.10 part.

I know I will be explaining this to many people in the future. It won't make sense to them.   It's like GM using the same bolt for a common auto part since 1956, that always works loose and breaks, and never fixing it.   For the longivity of a company that manufactures something for retail, that may not be a good idea from a QC perspective.

Gig Entropy: Playing Live Is Always a Compromise

2009-03-14T06:50:00.000-07:00
Unless you're playing with Sting or some such.

Your sound will never be "right" live. You'll always be fighting something.

You will be too loud on some songs, too soft on others.   Some solos will feel like you've got enough gain, other's not enough, then you'll end up with too much.

Maybe your amp will be in a weird place, and you'll have to step around something delicate to get to it. Your cable will keep wanting to get caught on a nail on the stage. You wore the wrong shirt, and it keeps interfering with your picking hand.

Suddenly midway through a set the singer's monitor is blowing you away.   Or it starts ringing.   The cymbals are piercing.   Or you can't hear the bass player who cues you on a part in a song.

Maybe people are dancing too close to the front of the stage, and now and then they bump into your pedal board. Maybe a fight breaks out between a pair of Ultimate Fighting Champs, and somehow a 150 lbs. wooden table lands on your wah pedal.    Maybe the neat "rain" stage effect that is supposed to blow away from the stage starts blowing onto your guitar and gear.

The venue you're at likes the temperature to remain a steady 65 degrees. Which makes it closer to 60 at times, and your fingers don't want to work right.

Or you've got to walk on stage during a song to get ready for your part in said song, and your guitar has gone out of tune.    Or the weather is constantly changing, and your guitar doesn't want to stay in tune at all.

Somehow, the set list changes and a song is counted off that is 10 patches away on your pedal board, meaning you've got to figure out how to make the song work with a completely foreign sound.   Somehow, the band decided to change the key of a song at the last moment and you practiced it in a different key (with different fingerings/chord voicings).   Somehow, a song has been added to the list that you haven't played in months.
I've only recently come to terms with this phenomenon:

gig entropy.

I'm a notorious perfectionist. That doesn't work in reality, which I've always known. The trick, I think, is to alter what "perfect" is. Having a proclivity for perfectionism has a more evolved meaning for me now. It now includes the pragmatic expectation for "disaster", AND the reality of knowing one can't absolutely prepare for it.

Which is aggravating, but mentally more freeing.

I have not played as well as I would like because of the above mentioned annoyances/problems. I couldn't realistically have prepared for them, and wasting mental energy doing so is actually a less "perfectionistic" approach to a gig. Learning not to have expectations is a bizarre mindset, but one that actually makes sense in that unless you think in a generally vague way (I don't), you'll NEVER meet your own expectations. Thereby short-circuiting the possibility of a "positive" outcome.

You aim for "good", and try not to think beyond that. Very difficult, but makes for a better mindset - as opposed to "frozen with possibility, good and bad".

So, what are the chords to "Revolution" by the Beatles?

2009-02-26T00:59:00.000-08:00
Intermodulation distortion does some interesting things to perception.

There's a G#/Ab on the bass, it then goes to an F#/Gb.

The guitar is so distorted that it's easy to imagine you're hearing other notes in the overtones.   The ironic part is that to mimick that sound you need really bad and nasty solid state distortion - the sound of a guitar direct into a mixing board.

Which makes it one of the harder sounds to emulate live.   It sounds "wrong" to just do power chords on the root, but there's no alternative. Unless someone has an EMI REDD console they can loan me...?

Motivation: the most important element in learning guitar

2009-02-18T04:23:00.000-08:00
Unfortunately, something I can't "teach".

The biggest obstacle I see students have these days is the lack of pure, simple motivation.

It's one thing to "want" to play guitar.    It's another to have to play guitar.   Like anything else, iIt comes easiest to those who are most motivated - who want to do it the most.    The problem is that modern life impedes the process of "getting motivated".

There's 1,000's of people that can play guitar fast these days, right? Plenty that can cop any lick you might hear, people that can play with their toes, upside down, every Nintendo video game theme song, anything.   You know it, because you can see it on YouTube.

Which is stultifying. What can you do that hasn't been done before?

You can attempt to be yourself, which is the most difficult thing of all.   It's the only way today: the chance to be unique by default.

Marketing guitar lessons and how I think the Shamwow Guy is Chris Walken's meth-head nephew

2009-02-10T00:22:00.000-08:00

I try to watch tv like a good citizen. It doesn't work; I have to time shift BSG or catch Bourdain's show when it happens to work out.

On the other hand, I've learned something new and apparently important about tv advertising, which somehow I can't seemingly avoid:

1) You have to have a spokesperson with a curious accent;

2) He has to be manic, and speak sort of like the voice-over announcers for the warnings in pharmaceutical commercials - the verbal equivalentofnothavingspacesinyourspeech;

3) The item you are selling must be $19.95;

4) Along with this, that price must reflect either a 50% discount, or include an extra item that has absolutely no relevance to the item being advertised;

5) (this is the important part!) - YOU CAN ONLY SELL IT FOR 5 MINUTES AT A TIME!

It's the Shamwow Marketing Formula. "It sells itself, right". I've since seen a couple of commercials for other items that follow this exact premise. Theycanaffordtoadvertiseontv,soitmustwork,right? <g>

MaybeIshouldjusteliminatespacesinmywritingaswell,toemulate
thisShamwowspeakingeffect?

So what I take from this is that I really need to change my answering machine message at my office.

"Something" Deconstructed

2009-02-05T01:56:00.000-08:00
I get asked "what style of music do you listen to?" a lot.

I don't have an answer for that question, because I don't listen to just one genre.

I have favorite music.

Having said that, there are songs/pieces of music that I think are fairly transcendent and/or worthy of being given the moniker "Close to Perfect".

Of which "Something" by the Beatles/George Harrison comes to mind at the moment.

As I think of it:

The theme melody is brilliant in it's simplicity; but also because it's a chromatic theme. Unlike such things usually are, it doesn't sound clownish or self-important. It's immediately recognizable as a lone melody (the height of accomplishment as a musician IMO) and even better it starts the song.

The intro drum roll is perfect as well IMO. As is the production; the dry, not to dead not too ringy tom sound. Not too hurried, not sluggish, not too hard, not too soft touch.

The choice to leave out cymbals on the first verse is brilliant. Makes it very understated, focuses attention on the vocal, of which again Harrison's voice sounds perfectly soft and executed. The lyric itself - something in the way she moves - is a simple musing that is simultaneously profound.

The strings are not overbearing, and are perfectly mixed. The washy Leslied guitar sound builds and recedes perfectly; the sweep is also timed perfectly (something I can't really replicate when playing this live).   McCartney's overly-fat woofy bass sound fills out the spectrum in as "warm" of a manner as possible, without being intrusive.

The little warbly/tremoloed guitar accents on the bridge are a perfect touch, very subtle as a contrast to the timing of the vocal. Everything to that point is a delicate balance of being *almost* too sparse of an arrangement. Wonderful.

Then the recapitulation of the main theme: the strings suddenly swell, great dramatic contrast, perfectly arranged/mixed.

The middle 8: bombastic, which complements the lyrical shift to a sort of confrontational content. It also sets up the solo -

which I think is in my Top Ten Guitar Solos list. It's perfect IMO.

The tail-out section following the solo bookends nice, with the little brash descending chromatic phrase right before the last repeat of the theme - fade to the strings.

About as perfect as it gets.

Ed VanHalen Likes Stainless Frets

2009-02-02T12:10:00.000-08:00
Also just saw VanHalen raving about stainless frets, about how it's the greatest invention for guitars in recent history.

Which is true IMO. I presently don't have a guitar with stainless fret wire, but wish I did. I'm always having to meter-out fret wear by making sure when I do an absent-minded vibrato exercise that I do it on frets that are less commonly used than others.   Although I'm not sure why this is a problem for Eddie, since he probably can have a new guitar every day if he chooses.

/ I need a new neck

One Finger Pentatonic Scale Exercises?

2009-02-02T12:05:00.000-08:00
I just saw a video of Paul Gilbert demonstrating position shifting tips.

He recommends practicing pentatonic scale patterns with one finger at a time: I do, too, and have been for YEARS now.

In fact, it's sort of surreal how similar how he went on about the subject compares to what I've been saying (as some students know).   IMO it's very methodically logical, and for some players at a certain point in their ability it's exactly what they need to do.

I'm on tv: Check out my band on Comcast OnDemand

2009-01-28T03:15:00.000-08:00
Go to "Get Local" "Beatles Special".... The audio level is a little low (I don't know why it's always like that?) so you may have to turn the volume up a bit....

/ I've yet to have a chance to watch the whole thing so caveat emptor