You Should Probably Learn To Read Music Guitar Man

Some good sight reading materials...

A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 1 - http://amzn.to/2rCneTL
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 2 - http://amzn.to/2sKqfkF
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 3 - http://amzn.to/2sKAeWT
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 1, 2, & 3 - http://amzn.to/2rrChLI
Melodic Rhythms for Guitar - http://amzn.to/2teQmgH
Reading Studies for Guitar - http://amzn.to/2teBi2O
Advanced Reading Studies for Guitar - http://amzn.to/2scWLuA
Advanced Jazz Conception for Saxophone: 20 Jazz Etudes - http://amzn.to/2sBPt41
Tommy Tedesco - For Guitar Players Only - http://amzn.to/2sBSlh9

ALSO be on the hunt for 25 cent Flute, Trumpet, Sax etc. studies at thrift stores.

Recent Session - Mercury Plains, composer Austin Wintory

I played acoustic guitar, mandolin, electric guitar and baritone electric on this film....

The Wrecking Crew - Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell

Released in October of 1968, this was a hit written by Jimmy Webb for a former member of the Wrecking Crew, Glen Campbell.

Players on this track include Glen Campbell, James Burton and Al Casey on guitar, Carol Kaye on bass and Jim Gordon on drums.

The Wrecking Crew Movie site

The Wrecking Crew Wikipedia page

Recent Session - J Rand - GOLD

I co-wrote and played guitar and piano on this track for the Miami artist J Rand. Check it out!

Cool Tool - Squier Bass VI

The Wrecking Crew - Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel

Recorded February 1st, 1968 on the contract listed only Hal Blaine, Larry Knetchtel and Paul Simon.

The Wrecking Crew Movie site

The Wrecking Crew Wikipedia page

The Wrecking Crew - Twistin' the Night Away - Sam Cooke

This Sam Cooke classic was recorded 52 years ago on December 18th, 1961. Some of the musician's include Tommy Tedesco and Earl Palmer.

The Wrecking Crew Movie site

The Wrecking Crew Wikipedia page

Banjo Claw

Tracking banjo today...

Saw somewhere, probably on Youtube, a trick to lesson the scraping sound when playing banjo, use a pair of pliers to slighty twist the tip of the picks to make them strike the string more straight on and less along the edge.

Goodtime Banjo

Banjo Picks

The Wrecking Crew - MacArthur Park - Richard Harris

Released May 11th 1968, 45 years ago today.

The epic seven plus minute song features the best musicians in LA at the time, including but not limited to Tommy Tedesco, Hal Blaine, Al Casey, Larry Knechtel and the young writer Jimmy Webb.

The Wrecking Crew Movie site

The Wrecking Crew Wikipedia page

Recent Session - Justin Bieber's Yellow Raincoat

Co-wrote and played this song with Justin. 1990 Gibson Dove and AKG 451 mic.

The Wrecking Crew - Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys

The Wrecking Crew played all the instruments on the Pet Sounds record by the Beach Boys. The most well known track is "Good Vibrations"recorded on this date 45 years ago...

Check out the Wrecking Crew.

The AFM contract here.

Rare footage here...

Inside the Hey St. Jude Session

For those of you who aspire to do session work, here's a little view from the inside with some comments. I'd say this is a typical session, but every session is different, and some are very different. In this one we were hired to replace a karaoke track of the original tune that had already been sung over, by various artists, actors, athletes, and other, and edited. This posed some very unique and complex issues which the arranger and engineer handled flawlessly. I played bass, acoustic and electric guitar and even helped out with handclaps. here's my inside look...

Here's the final product...

The Wrecking Crew - California Dreamin' - The Mamas & The Papas

Another song from the Golden Era of the LA session scene.

Featuring Wrecking Crew mates Hal Blaine on drums, Joe Osborn on bass, pianist Larry Knechtal and acoustic guitars by P. F. Sloan who came up the picked intro. An important skill to have as a session musician is creativity. The ability to create a great part will make you very valuable.

See the union contract here.

A Past Session...

Funky Tamazula - Nortec Collective

The Wrecking Crew - The Lonely Bull - Herb Alpert

This was a track recorded by the Wrecking Crew by Herb Alpert. When he did the session at Conway Recorders in Hollywood (where I record "Turn To You" with Justin Bieber) 50 years ago on this date, he didn't have a lot of money he paid the sessions musicians $15 each. A few months later when the song had become a big hit, Herb went to the union and paid the fines and paid the musicians full union wages.

Check out The Wrecking Crew.

A Recent Session

I did this one last week. It was fun to get the Beatle bass out, as well as the Epi Casino and my ol Gibson Folksinger to try to replicate the sounds and parts of the original.

Is This Right?

Having a skill set in some form of chart preparation software like Finale or Sibelius can come in handy for many things but I learned this week it can be a help when trying to replicate a sampled guitar track.

I use finale every week to create hymn lead sheets from hymnals for the hymn service at my church, so my chops are fairly tight and ready to go. Recently I was working for a client who had sent me a track to play on. He sent me an mp3 of the track sans guitar plus a sample guitar mock up of what he wanted the guitar track to do.  The problem was that his samples had some strumming effect on them that made it pretty unclear as to what pattern he wanted me to play.

I didn't know how unclear it was until I sent him what I thought was a finished track and he informed me that it wasn't what he wanted. Usually we don't have a problem with my interpretation of his guitar parts, but in this case he was really married to the sample he sent me. Upon a closer I was even more confused. But I figured out the pattern. Or what I thought was the pattern. Opened up Finale. Created a mini chart. Took a screen shot of the chart (command-shift-4). And sent him the jpg through iChat. With the question, "Is this right?".

"Yes" he shot back immediately. I was tracking within seconds and had the files sent to him within the hour. Here's the chart I created on the fly...

How I Played "Turn To You" by Justin Bieber

Here's the tune...

And here's the lesson...

..

Verse chords...

Capo 5th fret...

x24430 - Em4

x02200 - D2

Chorus chords (two takes of the Martin and two takes of the high-strung)

No capo

x35050 - C

x79080 - Em7

x35050 - C

x57070 - D2(add 4)

Bridge chords (no capo) - Am, Em, G, D/F#, Am, Em, G, D

Recent R&B Session...

Some of the guitars were my $99 Squire...

And beware, I just picked up an $89 used Squire, it's already appearing on some tracks.

Me and My Writing Buddy Jeff

Here we are having fun writing and Jeff is having fun with Final Cut Pro...