Earlier today I posted a few songs online that are rough mixes from my upcoming album and I figured (after a conversation with a friend on Facebook) that it would be fun to detail the gear we used on each song.  Instead of just setting up my live rig in the studio and letting it rip we decided to match the tone to the song, which meant that I’ve been able to pull a bunch of older gear out of retirement and play some borrowed axes from my buddy and producer Scott.

Someone Else’s Fool

On this song I played Scott’s 1972 Telecaster through my 1964 Silvertone 1484 into an Avatar 2×12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Greenback speakers.  Fot the leads I ran through a Suhr Koko Boost and a Wampler Ego Compressor.   Tommy Harkenrider played his Dunham tele-style guitar through his ’58 Tweed Pro.  We cut the rhythm parts at the same time to get more of a “band” vibe and then I went back and did the solo afterwards.

I’m Gonna Leave

This was my Suhr Classic strat-style guitar with the Suhr Koko Boost, Suhr Badger 30 head into the Avatar cabinet for me and Tom played the rhythm guitars with his Dunham and ’58 Pro.  Seeing a pattern here?
Life is Good

I’m playing my Suhr tele into the SIlvertone/Avatar setup.  I think I’m using the compressor and Koko Boost combination too although thats hard to distinguish because I have the amp tremolo running the whole time too.  No Tom on this one or on Pop!

Pop!

This song is my 1979 Gibson The Paul with BG Pure 90 pickups through the Silvertone 1484 although I’m using my 1×12 cab with a Celestion Classic 80 speaker.  For the solo I just added the Suhr Koko Boost to make it a small amount bigger sounding.

The Suhr Badger 30 and the 1×12 cab with a Celestion Classic 80 speaker.

Tom’s ’58 Fender Pro is on the right.

Amps lined up and ready to go. Could have left half of them in the store room.

My pedalboard during recording (it’s changed a bit since then)

1964 Silvertone 1484 and 2×12 Avatar cabinet

Playing Scotts 1972 Telecaster on “Someone Else’s Fool”

1979 Gibson The Paul with BG Pure 90 pickups

Tommy Harkenrider with his Dunham guitar.

I play in a couple of bands these days, but there is only one (my solo project) that I actually get to be creative in. The rest are cover bands of various sorts and while I’m happy to be playing music and getting paid for it I really live for the chance to play my own music.

I’ve been working on my first album of new original music for nearly a year at this point…I started writing and rehearsing the band last June and we started recording in December although we’ve been averaging a day of recording time every 4 weeks or so because of everyones “real” work schedules as well as my bronchitis last month. Until the day that I have a batch of songs finished enough to share I don’t have a demo to shop around for gigs so we’ve only played the new music out twice, once at our Winter NAMM event last January and this past weekend at a show we put on for the students of my music school. At some point we’ll play a “real” gig where I’m not running around after students and setting up PA and whatnot. These events DO give me a chance to play my own music with my best friends though so I really look forward to the opportunity…

This weekend I decided to shoot some video of the show to see what I sounded like after months of woodshedding technique and trying to “own” my own music performance-wise. I have a hard time remembering lyrics (even my own) and I’ve been trying to keep from playing the same guitar solo in every song so while there is an element of improvisation in each solo I also keep a few “landmark” licks that I hope make the solo more a part of the song and less of a jam.

After a crazy day of teaching and recital prep and all that other stuff by the time I stepped on stage to play my own music I was both exhausted and a bit frazzled, but it was showtime so I tried to pull it together. I was incredibly unhappy with my performance for the first set (which was recorded to video) and by the second set I had settled in and played what I thought was pretty good. My biggest issue was those damn lyrics. But I wasn’t able to settle in and be comfortable for the first set mentally either. Watching the video I can tell that I’m tense with my rhythm guitar in places and my solos are incredibly notey…when I don’t know what to say I tend to say too much. I have a trio of videos from the night that I felt were the most presentable but the rest are going to stay on my hard drive at home to be studied and notated for the next opportunity to play.  Kind of like a football coach reviewing game films.  Hopefully I’ll be better prepared for the next show.  This is my first original blues project and I’m finding that its a different animal in terms of performance since my rock music had much less improvisation and much more hard and fast structure.  With the music that I’m making now I’m trying to combine the energy of the rock vibe with the more “in the moment”aesthetic that I try to play blues with.  Balancing those two ideas will be the trick.

Here are three songs that will be on the album when its finished from that show:

“Someone Else’s Fool”:

“The Last Time”:

“Can I Take You Home?”:

If you’d like to keep up with my live and recorded exploits on Facebook check me out here:www.facebook.com/markweinlive

I’m about halfway through recording a “blues” album.  I put blues in quotes because what started as a straight ahead attempt at playing traditional blues turned into a mishmash of my favorite grooves and styles loosely arranged around blues chord progressions and song forms.

I’m actually very excited about how the album is turning out because there is a sound that has been distilled by putting the music that I write with the playing of all of my buddies, who are fantastic musicians.  And no one is very precious about how they play a style of music, either.  Everyone knows the basic vocabulary of pretty much every style after years of working as professional musicians here in town but they aren’t afraid to try something new or put their own stamp on a riff.  The producer is a long time friend that I went to high school with and have played in a ton of bands with over the years and the music is being filtered through his sensibilities as well.  And his B.S. detector.  The end result so far is an album with a “sound” of its own but lots of variety stylistically.  I’m very stoked.

Another “ingredient” in the whole stew is that I needed some challenges.  I quit working as a player for a period of close to 5 years and when I came out of my self-imposed retirement it was right back into the same band and songs.  And a half decade of playing guitar all day with just my students didn’t leave me very sharp as a player.  In some ways I had even regressed so this album was also a chance for me to climb a few musical mountains under the microscope of the recording studio.  And boy has it been an eye opener.

As a guitar player I’ve discovered that my rhythm guitar playing is much better and much more consistent.  One thing that I did spend a ton of time doing was playing through Ross Boltons’ Funk Guitar: The Essential Guide (Private Lessons) book with many, many students and always with a metronome going.

My lead playing had improved quite a bit too.  Over the last few years I’ve been very influenced by Tommy Harkenrider who teaches here at my studio (Premier Music) and plays all kinds of roots and blues music that I had never delved that deeply into over the years.  Tom has opened me up to a whole world of West Coast Blues, Western Swing, Rockabilly and Chicago blues players that were not on my radar.  My blues playing moved from a scalar approach to more emphasis on chord tones, which is how I originally learned how to play jazz.  And while I’ve always loved country guitar players like Brad Paisley, Don Rich and Brent Mason our producer has been pushing me to play more of that stuff infused into my blues lines.  We’ve even kept a handful of scratch guitar tracks with solos and rhythm parts because I didn’t think I could improve on them and keep the vibe.

A few songs ended up torturing me though.  ”Jacks Jump”, which is not going on the album is a jump blues that killed me with phrasing the lines with the proper swing.  I’ll repost the rehearsal solo that I based a lesson on a few months ago….the melody is not on the recording but you can hear the tempo.  I WILL conquer this one and the song will be finished for another project.

A song that I recorded yesterday is kind of a train feel rockabilly sort of thing.  I’m playing a total Scotty Moore rip off rhythm part and the solo has a bunch of my favorite Albert Lee and Brad Paisley inspired licks. I play some banjo rolls in the beginning of the second chorus of solo that took a lot of practice and I ended up punching that part in so many times that I have a blister on my picking hand ring finger.  I haven’t had a blister on a finger since Reagan was in the White House.

Some of the solos are longer than I’m used to recording.  There is one song in particular that has a long “ride out” solo that will end the album and trying to keep that many bars of guitar solo interesting was a challenge.  I’m pretty sure Producer Scott wanted to bash me over the head with my shiny guitar by the end of that day.

Vocals are another challenge for me as well.  I’m not a very trained singer although I need to sing on pretty much every gig I play.  And since this is my album I’m singing everything.  There is only one instrumental so I have plenty of yodeling to do.  Yesterday I sang the first song and I was really happy with my pitch and support but the dynamics and “musicality” I guess we’ll call it took some work.  The end result was worth it but it was a bit harder than I thought it would be.  I think that I have a better idea of what to work on now but it definitely wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

In any event, the writing, rehearsing and recording process for this album has been huge for me as a player.  I get to play music with my buddies that is fun and challenging and its been a great “reality check” for myself as a musician.  I hope everyone who hears it enjoys it as much as I have making the damn thing :p

If you are interested in following the progress of the album I have a diary with pictures and whatnot here on the forum: http://markweinguitarlessons.com/forums/showthread.php?39049-My-quot-making-a-record-quot-diary

This ends up being one of those things that can really hang up a rock guitarist who is just getting started playing leads.  It is also something that can mess with many more experienced rock players that have come up through a more “classic rock” upbringing.

The reality is that most of us start with a Minor Pentatonic scale in our bedroom and we learn it as just a shape…no actual theory behind it.  Most of us learn that scale long before we ever learn a diatonic major or minor scale or the arpeggios that make up the chords that we play over.  And when we do move on to “Major” sounds it is by moving the minor pentatonic scale pattern down three frets and playing the same minor licks…hopefully it sounds good.  Usually it sounds like we are searching for the right place to end a phrase or even though we are playing the “right” notes it still sounds out of key.

The two videos below are examples of me playing solos in major keys.  The first one is a Prince song from a recent gig in the key of Bb and the second one is a Jackson 5 song from a class I was teaching last week and the key is C major.  Give them a listen while you read the rest….

Here are some things you can do to solo better in Major keys:

1. LEARN YOUR MAJOR SCALES.  It seems silly to have to put this here but most people don’t actually learn their major scales all over the fretboard.  On my site I have a whole series of lessons starting with the CAGED system root patterns, scale fingerings, how to harmonize and analyze major key centers…the whole thing is here: Major Scales and CAGED
2. Learn the chord tones for the I chord in your major scale. This provides a “skeleton” for you to hang your solos on.  Being aware of the chord tones for the I chord (“C major in the key of C” for example) gives you a better sense of where you can resolve your ideas and it turns the scale into the sound you are trying to play…not just a collection of notes that you spray on top of a chord progression.  Once you are comfortable with that you can start targeting other chords…this is a big part of how Country, Bluegrass and Jazz musicians improvise.  Chord tone lessons can be found here: Intervals and Chord Construction
3. STEAL STEAL STEAL. Whenever you hear something you like in someone elses’ solo learn it and try to integrate the lick into your own vocabulary.  Eventually it just becomes part of your own unique voice.
4. LISTEN. This should always be #1.  Many guitar players are just repeating sequences of finger movements they have learned by rote and they never actually listen to what is coming out of the speaker and how it works with the chords they are playing over.
   
5. Bends should be specific. Another of those things that we don’t really spend enough time on as beginners.  A bend is simply a way to articulate the movement of one note to another.  It always needs to be in tune and in this situation it needs to be to a specific note in the scale.  Practice Half Step and Whole step bends until they are automatic and you hear in your “minds ear” what you are bending to.

The advice above seems like it should be common sense but as a “culture” Guitarists don’t learn the same as other instrumentalists.  We generally don’t start off with note reading, technical exercises that get scales and arpeggios under your fingers or a clear understanding of basic music theory.

Anyhow…enough of one of my favorite soapboxes to stand on…next week I’ll be back to complaining about drunks stagediving off my pedalboard.. .

Sometimes it’s just not possible to have an instrument with me or even to have the instrument making sound (like when everyone in the house is sleeping).  Or I’m driving someplace.  I still can get some constructive music time in though…

On the way to gigs one thing that I always do is just talk through the lyrics to songs that I need to sing  I know for a fact that my memory sucks when it comes to lyrics and doing that little bit of review is hugely helpful.  If there is a new song to play that night I’ll also talk my way through the chord progressions or arrangements.  If I have it straight in my head before my hands are on the instrument I stand a much better chance of playing the tune when I’m onstage.

Another mental exercise I’ll do it to visualize my fretboard and work my way through an instrumental passage on the guitar or some theory issue.  Or sing the melody of the part that I’m trying to learn.  Or clap out the rhythm while tapping my foot to quarter notes.  Or write an idea out on paper.  Or any way I can possibly work a musical idea without an instrument in my hands.

Music for me is so much in the brain that when I try to learn something first on the guitar I can struggle since I’m spending my attention on the physical element of making sound on the instrument.  Sometimes the music doesn’t get as internalized as I need it to be.  So I work on that first.  Then try to play it on the guitar.  Or review the music internally before trying to perform it on the instrument.  This is just how it seems to work best for me but I think you should give it a try the next time you are struggling with something new!