My good friend and Stellar Ego frontman Guy Prandstatter is on a mission to write 100 songs in 100 days to inspire others to make a difference.
Few people I know have pulled themselves through adversity the way Guy has, and every day he tries to inspire positive change in the world. Lucky for us, we get to watch him work for 100 days.
Writing a song is pretty hard, it sometimes takes me weeks, so to knock one out day after day is incredibly tough. To help keep the creative juices flowing, Guy has recruited some of his friends along the way to accompany him. Yesterday, for song #26, Stellar Ego got together and came up with “The Skin I’m In.” Guy is on guitar and vocals, accompanied by Danny (the drummer) on electric ukulele, Russ (the bassist) on piano, and yours truly on mandolin. Here it is:
I’m working with guy on another song today, and will hopefully be involved more over the next 72 days. Learn more and follow along by taking any of these links:
For this week’s Woodshed Wednesday, we’re going to take a different approach to playing scales. Typically, guitarists play scales in a linear fashion–play two or three notes on one string and then continue on the next string. Today, let’s try playing scales across the strings, like you would arpeggiate a chord. Done properly we can create lush, harp-like ringing, legato scales.
I first used this technique when studying J.S. Bach’s Suite No. 1 for cello (BWV 1007), which is also a popular piece for classical guitar. Two-thirds of the way through the Prelude of Suite No. 1, there are a few measures of scales, starting with Examples 1 and 2 below. These are simply D Major scales, starting on G.
In Ex. 1, we play the scale in a traditional, linear fashion.
In Ex. 2, we play the same scale but play only one note per string (use the TAB for proper fingering). Pay attention to the 3 note groupings.
To get the best harp-like effect, hold down each note as long as you can. Use the open strings to position your hand for the next two fretted notes. I think of the open strings as pivot points between each grouping of notes, allowing me to shift my left hand up and down the neck to the best place to play the next group of notes.
Open strings are very important when using this technique, but sometimes the right notes aren’t available as an open string. This is especially true once you start using scales with several accidentals. The first two examples utilized the open E, B, and G strings. What happens when the scale allows for fewer open strings?
In Ex. 3 we look at an E Major scale that uses natural harmonics to add open strings to our scale. Ex. 3a is a little easier to play. The harmonic for A can easily be played with your left hand. Ex. 3b rings out a bit more, but it trickier to execute. By moving your left hand down to first position to play the G# and F# you allow the A to ring out longer, and playing the final E harmonic with your right hand creates a rich, ringing cluster chord.
Finally, Ex. 4 is a more complex use of the technique as I used in an arrangement of Elliott Smith’s “Everything Means Nothing To Me.” The original recording is done on piano with a sustain pedal, allowing each note to ring out. I wanted to recreate that on the guitar. Here’s the opening line:
First, notice that there are actually two voices in this line. On piano you might play one voice per hand. Guitarists, however, have to figure out how to allow one voice to ring while the other is being played, otherwise it will just sound like a single line. This is another reason the harp technique is handy.
Example 4 is perhaps more tricky on the right hand, requiring some odd finger picking patterns that are anything but intuitive.
Here’s a video of me playing “Everything Means Nothing To Me” by Elliott Smith. Throughout the entire arrangement, I tried to sustain chords and play open strings whenever possible to create a harp-like effect.
Calley Bliss and I will be performing a last minute show this Saturday, January 14, at Brooklyn’s Goodbye Blue Monday.
We’ll be playing music we’ve been writing for our latest project, When We Were Six. Our last show was in July, just before Calley took an opportunity that pulled her out of the city. Chances are, this will be our last show until we organize a summer tour. If you’re free, we’d love to see you!
We’ll be joined by Russ Flynn on bass and Dan Cray on piano.
I’m excited about 2012. Jill and I visited family and friends in St. Louis over the holidays and had a wonderfully exhausting time. We capped off the trip with a 17 hour drive with our cats, Grandma’s piano, and Grandpa’s rocking chair in tow, all successfully unloaded at 4am in chilly Brooklyn.
The pipeline is already pretty full for the beginning of the year…
In December I started playing with Shotcafe, a Spanish rock band that performs at least once a week way uptown, and I’ll continue to work with them well into 2012.
Collaborations! I’ve started some long distance co-writing with drummer Travis Whitmore for what we hope will be a new album this year. Additionally, Calley Bliss and I continue working on the project we started last Summer before she moved to Boise. We’re working on a tour for this summer.
Finally, I continue working with Dave Hahn on MusicianWages and a myriad of related projects. A couple of my articles will even be published in books this year. Once they’re in print, I’ll let you know!
Thanks for stopping by and for all your support in 2011. I wish you the best for 2012.
It’s that time of year again! As many of you may know, I’ve recorded a few Christmas albums in the past. There’s nothing new to the catalog this year, but in case you haven’t downloaded these in the past and need to add something to your playlist this year, here are some options. They’re all destined to be classics, so you might as well be among the first of your friends to own them, right?
Like the rest of the music I sell, all of these albums were independently produced and distributed. When you pay for this music, most of the money goes directly to the musicians involved. The little bump in Christmas album sales helps us travel home for the holidays and spend time with our families. It’s sort of our way of earning a paid vacation.
Closer to Christmasby Montgomery Bruce (2009)
Available for download at: iTunes / Amazon
Jazz fans will probably enjoy the jazz and bossa nova style of Montgomery Bruce. Closer to Christmas built upon the style of the Bruce’s debut, Bossa Noel,and created a wider variety of arrangements. Highlights include “The Christmas Song,” “O Tannenbaum,” and “Good King Wenceslas.”
Bossa Noelby Montgomery Bruce (2007)
Available for download at: iTunes / Amazon
The first Christmas album I recorded, Bossa Noel found a good deal of success on iTunes when it was first released. It quickly made its way up the jazz charts before being the only independently released album in 2007s jazz Christmas feature. That same year the opening track, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was added to iTunes’ Essentials Instrumental Christmas playlist.
Christmas from the Heartlandby Dunham Van Durham (2008)
Available for download at: Bandcamp / iTunes / Amazon
If you’re a fan of Americana or folk music, give this one a try. It’s entirely instrumental, with a chorus of guitars, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, and more playing familiar melodies over rich reharmonized accompaniment. My personal favorite is “Hark, The Herald Angles Sing,” and I think you’ll also like “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and a very nostalgic take on “Auld Lang Syne.”
Sounds Like Snowby Be Still (2009)
Available for download at: iTunes / Amazon
Be Still was a side project for myself and Lauren Zettler, aka Lightyear. The first track we recorded, and possibly my favorite, was “Silent Night.” That set the tone for the rest of the arrangements, all a little melancholy and nostalgic. Along with the classics we recorded one of Lauren’s originals, the title track “Sounds Like Snow,” and Ray Charles’ “That Spirit of Christmas” which we all know from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
