Conference napalm::guitar

    
    	I have to try it and get back to you on that one...

    When you make a mistake on the scales,.. do you try again pedaling
    slower to get it right?
    
    
    :-)
    
    If you pedal fast,.. do you sound like Eddie Van Halen?
    
    Who do you sound like when you pedal slow? Johnny Cash? 
    
    						/Bill_who_thinks_this_idea
    						may_have_some_potential
    
    

    have you written a 30 min song yet? I am trying to picture that you
    might be able to get your own cable show /espn TONE UP and TUNE UP or
    SCALING that FAT AWAY ..  keep puttin the pedal to the metal . ok ill
    stop at least your practicing  good job !and staying fit I have a stair
    master I will let you know how it goes 
    scotty..

     If you rest your guitar on your leg, it must be hell trying to
    keep a picking reference, with the guitar moving up and down.
    oh well, maybe its good practice to help you find a reference
    no mater if hair wip'pin, stage jump'in or snake crawl'in.
    
    :^)
    
    chuck

    
    How about this enhancement. Use a drum machine or metronome to set a
    rhythm and then not only will you play your scales in strict time BUT
    you will be able to pace your legs as well thus adding a new level to
    the degree of scalar fitness you achieve! You could even up the tempo
    as you get fitter.
    
    Richard
    
    Disclaimer: The Author accepts no responsibility for damage to fingers
    and overall health when speeds in excess of 240 beats per minute are
    achieved!
    
    

    
    
    	Brilliant Idea!!!  Love it... Up here in the country we hook
    ourselves up to milking machines while we practice!!!  Never thought of
    riding a stationary bike... dang I could get down to 300 pounds in
    about a week, as much time as I spend practicing... Seriously, doesn't
    the perspiration impact the practice negatively???

    Yes u!kO, the perspirat does get in the way.
    
    I was just polishing the back of my Martin and was surprised at the
    fact that it did not come so clean. I now lay a handtowel over it
    before working out....and that's only 30 min.
    
      Paul
     

    I have a question that may fit this note. A while back, I contacted a 
    teacher conserning lessons for the bass. I mentioned that I had
    previously tried to play six string but with little sucsess, not
    mastering more than the basic cords and very short slow leads.
    To make a long story longer, this guy said he wanted to teach me
    guitar first because so much of what I'd learn could be carried over
    to the bass. How true is this? If some on really wants to play bass,
    shouldn't that be where he starts? Another bit of advise I need is,
    how do I go about becomming more fluid on the neck. Are there exercises
    such as scales that can help someone become more inventive or
    improvisational. Thanks in advance.
    
                                                       Jim

    Re: .8
    
    Learning guitar first when you want to play bass is like learning to
    ride a bike so you can go scuba diving.  Sounds like a real jerk, go
    find some other teacher.
    
    						Brian

    Well...the notes of the lowest 4 strings on the guitar are the same,
    you could carry that part over... 
    
    I guess if your objective was to learn both with the minimum effort
    then you could start with guitar, but why bother if you only want to
    play bass?
    
    Greg

	I agree with Brian...

	Bass is bass and guitar is guitar. Few things are as lame as
	a guitar player playing bass. Find somebody that knows that
	they are two very distinct instruments. You mught start yourself
	by picking up Chuck Rainey's "Complete Electric Bass - The Method"
	and start getting familiar with the instrument.

Somebody help me get out of this rut !

We've been writing a lot of originals lately.  I find that I get frustrated
too easily.  We'll pick up some sort of hook, jam the snot out of it, write
a bridge or soemthing and just shrug at each other after a few minutes.
I feel like I'm in a rut lately, writing wise.

Helpful hints ??

jc

    
    Coop, heres what I do :-
    
    o Just noodle with riffs. Just sit and play around, without intending
      to write. I used to pick up a guitar and solo all the time - now I
      experiment with different intervals, string skipping,root-fifth-octave
      (or power chords) to open chords, muted stuff, harmonics etc..
     
    o Try playing with stuff that isn't scale related (don't get
      into the rut of thinking "I can't play that coz its in a different
      key" - if it works do it).
    
    o Tape Everything!!! Even if your riff is shabby and five seconds long.
      It could be that missing link between the verse and chorus in your
      next number 1 hit.
    
    o Don't force it. On average, all the *great* songs I write for the 
      band take about 15 minutes. All the *bad* songs (and there have been
      loads of 'em) take days and are a throw away job at the end of it.
    
    FWIW.

    re: -1
    
    "Few things are as lame as guitar player playing bass."
    
    Be careful...this kinda sounds all inclusive...as if there are no
    guitar players out there that are not accomplished bass players.  There
    are exceptions to everything!!  I know a blues guitarist in Greenville,
    SC...one of the best I've ever heard in a local or otherwise
    scene...the guy has killer chops, style, phrasing, he's just plain
    great.  I ran into him in a small night club and saw him playing bass
    in a jazz trio...the guy is...again....just plain GREAT at bass!
    
    For Greenville (GSO) noters....his name is Kim..he was Mac McCloud's
    axe man after Kevin left.....
    
    Later,
    
    Steve

    RE: Coop n writin' bluez
    
    I try and hear the fiff(s) in my haid, first.  Then I transfer em to
    the git.

	When there's no inspiration it's best to turn to perspiration.
	Do some technical exercises. Do wierd beatnik stuff like trying
	to find music on the front page of the local paper. Turn your
	name into a chord progression. Make a list of musical styles
	and try to deliberately write songs which fit the styles. Try
	to write songs which are pathological hybrids (Egyptian & Western?).

	Build a synthetic scale and find all of the chords that fit
	the scale and use those. Experiment with meter. Find some novel
	time signatures in your social security number. Do some timral
	experiments - set up a bizzare multiFX patch and use the resulting
	tone as the hook.

	Try to emulate the sound of birds with your guitar rig. Emulate
	other sounds.

	Leave your guitar in the case for a few days and listen to
	no music at all. The mind revolts by riffing ceaselessly.

	Take songs you already know and make stylistic overhauls - do
	a motown-esqe version of Crazy Train.... A reggae version of
	School's Out.

	Hope that stirs to pot....

	

Yeah Tony, thats IT exactly.  We noodle around all night, adding all these 
intricate changes and stuff, and come back to it the next night and shitcan
the whole thing.  Perhaps we need to keep it simple...

Thanks for pointers!

jc

	Coop, *maybe* part of the problem is expecting your group to
	come up with songs together during a rehearsal.  Perhaps you'd have
	better luck with each of you working out ideas before practice 
	and then trying it out with the band when you get together?
	If the idea clicks, then the band could work out the missing
	pieces.  Seems like this would remove some of the pressure and
	allow for some individual creativity.  I'll bet that many 
	successful bands do it this way.

    To second what someone a note or two back said, I have more musical
    ideas if I don't listen to any music for a day or so.  I've found that
    my mind is satisfied by listening to a tape of one of my favorite
    bands, but if it doesn't hear anything, it starts making things up to
    entertain itself...

    Since I *like* listening to music, and don't have ideas of my own all
    the time, I alternate spending a few days listening and and few days of
    outside music deprivation.  Seems to help me.

    I don't think I would ever have found this out if I hadn't been forced
    to start driving a vehicle without a stereo (or even a radio) for
    awhile.

    Another thing that helped me develop different types of ideas was to
    start with words, or humming a melody, rather then jamming on a chord
    progression.  I find I come up with much more creative things that way. 
    The ideas in my head are much different (and better, I think) then what
    I come up with just playing the guitar, probably because I fall into
    the same old patterns when I have a guitar in my hand.

    I take a little tape recorder with me in the car for my commute and
    sing ideas into it.  I used to hate my 40 minute commute, now I view it
    as one of the few times I get to be alone and think up ideas like this!  

    Another thing that might help, since you mentioned having an inability
    to finish songs up after coming up with a part or two for it, is to not
    *worry* about finishing them up.  I think trying to force yourself to
    finish a song every time you work on writing makes you put things in
    that you don't really like because you can't think of anything better
    at that moment.  If you save what you have that you like when you run
    out of inspiration and come back to it another time, then maybe coming
    up with accompanying parts will be no problem.  

    Make tapes of your ideas and listen to them periodically to see if
    there's one you have new inspiration on.  Another thing you may find is
    that some of the ideas you accumulate like this may fit together, a
    verse you though of in June may be perfect for a song with a chorus
    you though of in December...

    I've also found that my creativity drops off like a rock if I start
    getting frustrated, trying to force myself to finish an incomplete song
    when I'm having trouble thinking of something to go with it makes me
    frustrated.

    Until a few months ago, I never actually finished writing a song
    because I didn't do these things.  I thought I was just not creative or
    something, but I think it was more that I hadn't ever found ways of
    developing the ideas that I had that worked FOR ME!  It's a very
    individual thing.  Now I've done probably 10-15 more or less complete
    songs in the last couple of months.  I'm not saying they're great or
    anything, but they're original ideas, all mine, and they're complete. 

    The experiences I've had would say that sometimes it's very difficult
    to write music with a lot of people involved during the initial
    creation phase.  You might try pairing off people in your band and
    working on things with just one other person or two and see if that
    helps.  Some people write well together and some don't (and sometimes
    it changes over time).

    Greg

YEah the individual creativity thing is something we're gonna have to do.
Here's what typically happens.

Coop:  Hey man, check this riff out (and I play a chord progression)
Tom/Guido:  Hey!  Thats cool...

    ...And they join in for a bit...

Tom:  Hey man, check this riff out (and HE plays a chord progression)
Guido/Coop:  Hey!  Thats cool...

    ...And we join in for a bit...

We do this - get 2706 riffs (all "cool").

Then we try to take 8 disjointed ideas and make a song.  This went on
for 4 hours last night.  Ack!  I was climbin' the walls.  "Hey Man, lets 
play WarPigs or something...THATS COOL!"

Finally we quit at 11pm...  We're sitting around, smokin' and jokin'
when Tom picks up his guitar and starts doin' this really pretty thing...
Guido starts singing these cool lyrics, and it's a song.  

I'm like "Hey!  Thats cool"

Tom/Guido:  Oh, we ame up with that last night sitting around the house.

<insert sound of thud as jc hits the deck>

Coop:  Boneheads !!  Why didn't you play me that BEFORE !!

So, the individual thing is CORRECTAMUNDO.  Thanks.  I'm leaving work early 
to go ride around in Gregs van whilst singing into a sony walkman.

jc

>So, the individual thing is CORRECTAMUNDO.  Thanks.  I'm leaving work early 
>to go ride around in Gregs van whilst singing into a sony walkman.
    
    Man, the van is inspirational!  Just don't let the sound of your teeth
    chattering get on the tape...
    
    gh