Gain!

I'm now contributing to this site for guitarists called Gain!  Bookmark it and check it out from time to time there will be many great contributors adding their, um, contributions.

Mo' Picks...

I can never have enough different picks; heavy picks, thin picks, cheap picks, expensive picks, red picks, blue picks, old pick, new picks.

It's the quickest way to change the sound of an instrument. Especially acoustics. 

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

A Rare Regret...

Even in Indiana in the 70's I'd heard of Ted Greene. I bought these two Ted Greene books...

Chord Chemistry and Modern Chord Progressions

... while I was still in high school. Both hugely influential on my growth. Once I was in college I picked up these two tomes...

Jazz Guitar Single Note Soloing Volume One and Volume Two

... both deep and thorough treatises into single line phraseology. Not quite as influential on me, but still important.

And I bought his record "Solo Guitar".

Flash forward to 1983, and I'm jamming with some friends. One of the other guitarists told me he was taking lessons from Ted Greene. "The Ted Greene?" I asked and indeed it was the same TG that authored my now dogeared and well-worn books aforementioned. He told me he was taking lessons from him for $15 an hour. Really? I was charging $10 and hour myself. I should take lessons from him I said. I didn't.

Flash forward another ten years. Another friend was studying with him. Still only $15 a lesson. I should take some lessons. And again I didn't. So many great players studied with him. What skills and knowledge would I have attained had I shelled out a couple hundred bucks for some tutelage.

Well, now, post-mortum I can study with Ted a little through YouTube's amazing Ted Greene Archives` are an amazing collection of guitar lessons filmed by former students. Here's an example of one such lesson...

Jam Tracks for the Modes of G

Here are seven jam tracks in the seven modes of G. Click on mode name to open a jam track at Youtube.

G Ionian (Major)
Scale tones - G A B C D E F# G
Chords used - C/G and D/G


A Dorian
Scale tones -  A B C D E F# G A
Chords used - C/A and D/A


B Phrygian
Scale tones - B C D E F# G A B
Chords used - C/B and D/B

C Lydian
Scale tones - C D E F# G A B C
Chords used - C/C and D/C

D Mixolydian
Scale tones - D E F# G A B C D
Chords used - C/D and D/D

E Aeolian (Minor)
Scale tones - E F# G A B C D E
Chords used - C/E and D/E

F# Locrian
Scale tones - F# G A B C D E F#
Chords used - C/F# and D/F#

Cool Site - Fretboard Heatmaps

Select a band/artist to see what frets they gravitate towards at Fretboard Heatmaps.

Cool Tool - The High-Strung Guitar (revisited)

This, so far, is my most popular Youtube video. Also referred to as a Nashville-tuned guitar or "Poor Man's" 12-string, the High-Strung guitar is very fun tool for recording or writing. Basically you string the guitar up with the high six strings from a 12-string set. On my Larivee Parlor guitar I use half of an Elixir 12-string light set. It's still tuned, EADGBE, so you can play it just like a regular guitar, but the bottom four strings are tuned up an octave. You can do this to any guitar, but would I use a cheaper, back-up instrument just to be safe, and you are going to want to leave it tuned that way for ever, trust me. Even basic open chords sound magical on this axe. Seventh chords especially sound very piano like, because the tunings allows for very tight voicings, something that would be very difficult on a normally tuned guitar.

You won't find any one marketing high-strung string sets, although I will talk to Elixir about this, but if just buy an Elixir 12-string Set, you can split it up into two sets, a high strung set and a normal light set.

Cool Site...

http://readgain.com

10 Truths for Every Songwriter

Click here.

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

Great Letter to Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered

Letter To Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered

The String Skipping Exercise