May 2013
1 post
Be back soon...
check back next week kiddies!
March 2013
8 posts
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Thursday Theory
Thursday Theory To continue with the last theory posting on the pop-punk chord progression, I’ll talk about some of the variants. The I-V-vi-IV (Major 1, Major 5, minor 6, Major 4) chord progression does have a few notable variants changing it from the “pop-punk chord progression” to: The Sensative Female Chord Progression: This variant is vi-IV-I-V. A classic example is Joan Osbourne’s “One of...
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Tuesday Profile
Tuesday Profile
Fall Out Boy
Named after the plucky sidekick from the Radioactive Man comics in “The Simpsons”, Fall Out Boy are considered emo boy wonders. Formed by bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz and guitarist Joe Trohman, Patrick Stump would later join as the singer/guitarist and Andy Hurley on drums.
“From Under the Cork Tree” released in 2005 would launch this band to an unprecedented level...
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Monday History
Monday History Lesson: Fueled by Ramen Records
A subsidiary label of Atlantic Records and Warner Bros., Fueled by Ramen is most famous for being the label most associated with Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz.
Started in 1996 John Janick and Vinnie Fiorello, the first major release from Fueled by Ramen was a 5 song self titled EP from Jimmy Eat World. The band would go onto bigger and better success as...
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Tuesday Theory
Tuesday Theory
Haven’t done a theory lesson in a while, and I thought I’d break that bad streak.
I’ve talked about chord progressions. Some of the more prominent chord progressions in music by traditional theory are V(5)-I(1), IV(4)-V-I, ii(minor 2)-vi(minor 6)-V-I, and ii-V-I.
But what’s more there has become a progression known as the “pop-punk” chord progression. This chord progression goes...
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Monday History
Monday History Lesson: Van’s Warped Tour
Started in 1994 by Kevin Lyman, the Van’s Warped Tour has been the premier punk/skate summer tour.
Since 1995 one of the primary sponsors of the tour is the skateboard shoe manufacturer Van’s.
Inspired by the “Vision Skate Horizon” and “Holiday Havoc” out in California, the Warped Tour was always intended to be a fusion of punk rock music and...
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Thursday Technique
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Thursday Technique
Double stops and chords are (on the bass guitar) more confusing than it sounds. The term originates from the upright bass, and other stringed instruments...
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Tuesday Profile
Tuesday Profile Green Day. Like ‘em. Love ‘em. You know who the hell they are, and they are probably the biggest and most popular of the pop punk bands. They certainly are one of the more influential of all the pop punk bands (at least of the 90’s). Drawing as much influence from 80’s alternative bands like The Replacements and Hüsker Dü as they did from the Who, the Rammone’s and the Clash,...
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Monday Music History
Pop Punk
Pop Punk. We all have heard of it. Now that we’ve run a gauntlet of different areas of the punk rock genre (garage rock, straight up punk, hardcore, ska and the like), it’s best if we end it with the most popular and easy to digest form of the genre.
It is at it sounds, a fusion of punk rock with popular music. The chord progressions, the song structure, but most importantly...
February 2013
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Monday History Lesson
Monday History Lesson: Musicians Who’ve Acted.
In honor of the Oscar’s last night, I think it would be prudent to mention some of the more noteworthy music based movies/musician’s who’ve acted.
Probably one of the more noteworthy movies about a musician within the last decade was “Ray”. Jamie Foxx won the Academy Award for his portrayal of the legendary blind R&B...
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Wednesday Technique
Wednesday Technique
Counting is an ever important technique for any musician. There are plenty of times when it’s easy to count out a piece, but more times than you’d think, it’s tough to count and count out a fairly difficult passage.
I’ve not talking about shifting from 11/8 to 16/32, we’re going to look at delaying the start of a musical passage.
This example is lifted from the June 2005...
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Tuesday Profile
Tuesday Profile
Sublime is one of the big indie ska punk bands of the 90’s. Formed by bassist Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh as exclusively a punk band, Bradley Nowell joined the band in 1988 introducing the band to Reggae and Ska music. So, what would a band of kids who were still around the age of high school seniors with the case of Nowell dropping out of college do with a wide palate of musical...
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Monday History Lesson
Monday History Lesson: Ska Punk
Ska Punk is one of those whimsical fusion genre’s combining the straightforward approach of punk with the R&B influence Jamaican style of music.
Ska originated as a genre in the 1950’s, so it pre-dates reggae music (take that Bob Marley). Many stylistic approach’s from R&B and jazz music would influence ska, as Jamaican’s were buying radio’s so that...
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Wednesday Technique...on Saturday
Wednesday Technique… on Saturday
The second part about sweeping that is the more difficult aspect is the coordination between your right and left hand. To paraphrase from a sweep video with instructor Herman Li of Dragonforce, this is what you need to know about sweeping:
Sweeping is like playing an arppegio (that’s why I use chordal arpeggio shapes in sweeps) but instead of playing all the...
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Tuesday Profile
Tuesday Profile
Rancid is considered one of the leading bands who helped revive interest in punk rock music in the beginning of the 90’s along with Green Day and the Offspring. But unlike either of those bands, Rancid kept more true to a certain punk rock mentality wherein they didn’t sign to a major label, and kept most of their underground following (probably as a result of that).
Formed from...
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Getting back on track
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Tomorrow we begin talking about ska music with a bio on Rancid!
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Tuesday Profile, Super Bowl Addition
To continue with the Super Bowl theme, I thought I’d shed a little light on the Super Bowl Champs Baltimore Ravens. Well, I don’t know a lot about the Ravens. The last time the Super Bowl was held in January (January 28th, 2001) it was my 12th birthday, woke up with a stomach virus, and the Ravens beat the Giants (whom I was pulling for). I’ve learned to pull more for the...
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Super Bowl Halftime Shows
This has become one of the focal points of the music and entertainment industry (for some reason). Why we need an extended halftime to wheel out a stage, set up the equipment, and watch a band/performing artist probably lip synch along to a vocal track wherein nobody can hear said artist to begin with, so what’s the point?!?! (Oh yea! T.V.!)
Anyway, the halftime show wasn’t always...
January 2013
12 posts
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Tuesday Profile
Tuesday Profile
Apologies for the brief and unplanned break from doing these posts. But we’re back!
Bad Brains are (as I mentioned) one of the bigger names in the hardcore punk movement, largely considered to be one of the pioneers of the genre, and was a band that consisted entirely of black men.
Originally started as a fusion band, the band became a big hit in D.C. (where they started)...
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Wednesday Technique
Wednesday Technique.
Sweeping is an overtly obnoxious yet at the same time awesome technique that has been abused by guitars for years. Bassists are now just starting to catch up to the six string menace (joke) and incorporate sweeps of our own. But there are just so many damn interpretations on how to do it that it can get really freaking confusing.
Well, you’re paying attention to what I...
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Tuesday Profile
Tuesday Profile
Death is a Punk band comprised of all African Americans. It seems only appropriate to talk about the first all black Punk band so shortly after MLK day, but I sadly know very little about Death. I can tell you that this band is drastically different from the band fronted by Chuck Shuldiner (that of course being the pioneering Death Metal band).
Below is a wikipedia link about...
4 tags
Special Monday History
In leu of my usual monday music history lesson. I thought I’d try to honor today a little bit. Today is the national holiday recognizing the life of Martin Luther King Jr. I have refrained from doing much of anything even remotely political on this forum, but with all the crazy that’s going on in the world today, it seemed appropriate for today.
No matter where you stand on gun...
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Thursday Theory
Thursday Theory
The Motive (pronounced Mo-tive or Mot-teef) is essentially a riff in rock/metal music. It’s defined as a relatively short musical idea that “functions as a cell or basic unit from which phrases and larger structural units are constructed”. What does that mean? This was lifted after all rom the text book I used for Music Theory I and II in college.
The absolutely best...
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Wednesday Technique
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Wednesday Technique.
Ghost notes are a simple, percussive element to add to your playing that millions of players have been utilizing for decades.
The difference...
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Tuesday Band Profile
Tuesday Profile
Black Flag
Black Flag was largely considered to be the one of the first Hardcore Punk bands. Whereas one of the largest components about the lyrics for the Dead Kenndy’s was left leaning politics, Black Flag voiced similar political messages as well as devling into social isolation, paranoia and just being alone and angsty.
Greg Ginn serves as the primary songwriter/lyricist...
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Monday History Lesson
Monday History Lesson: Hardcore Punk and Politics
Hardcore Punk was greatly influenced by politics. Mainly seen as a leftist form of music, there was a minority of artists and bands who adopted more conservative viewpoints politically and weren’t ashamed to scream it from the heavens.
The chief political policies of the 80’s were heavy influenced by the precidency of Ronald Reagan....
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Thursday Theory
Thursday Theory
In order for us to fully explain how artificial harmonics work (pinch harmonics) you need to know a few key components and how they relate to the PHYSICS of music:
Nodal Point: A point along a standing wave where the wave has minimal amplitude.
Overtone: any frequency higher than the fundamental frequency of a sound.
Fundamental frequency: the lowest frequency of a...
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Wednesday Technique
Wednesday Technique.
Pinch harmonics, or artificial harmonics, have long been associated with the electric guitar. You know it from that highly distorted squeal that you hear so predominantly in cheesy 80’s metal music, and for those who are adept to just popular music, metal guitar is where you hear pinch harmonics the most.
Well, I say that this is a false assumption. Pinch harmonics are...
20 tags
Tuesday Band Profile
As always, I’m available for lessons (in person or over the internet) and would love the opportunity to work with you. E-mail is at the bottom.
Tuesday Profile
The Dead Kennedy’s
Jello Biafra, East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride, and D.H. Peligro. Regarded as the classic lineup of one of if not the most influential hardcore punk bands of all time. The band would set a standard for what most...
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Monday History Lesson
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I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!! Hope you had fun, I did! But now back to business
Monday History Lesson: Hardcore Punk
Hardcore Punk begins our decent into many of the sub-genre’s of Punk Rock music as a whole. Whilst we...
December 2012
11 posts
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Putting it all in perspective:
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve talked about Blondie’s “Call Me” and talked about ways to make the bassline a little more interesting. Well this is me showcasing all that I’ve been talking about.
The are times when the bassline does enter some fun and interesting parts, but there are times where I do follow what the original line called for. Simply because of...
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Dangers in overplaying
Overplaying your part is one of the most, if not the most, dangerous thing you can do as a bass player! Yesterday we talked about how dangerous your rhythm interpretation can be. Today is about how dangerous overplaying can be in note choice. The tricky thing about how “Call Me” is set up structurally, is that there is some room to explore harmonically when you listen to it. But down...
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Don't be a jerk
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As bassists, the very difficult task in crafting a bassline is finding a bassline that can artfully play between the melody, harmony and rhythm. But the one thing to remember is that the MELODY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE SONG! YOU...
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Merry Early Christmas
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With one week exactly till Christmas Day, I want to wish all of you a merry Christmas early. Friday I will post a video talking about all I have been for the last few days, and that will be my last post till the new year. Enjoy a really...
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Monday Music History
Again, looking at some stylistic approaches
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Monday History Lesson: Style
Again, just trying something different.
With the song “Call Me” from Blondie, there is a rather ridged way the bass is played. In time with the kick...
7 tags
Difficulty
Last night I had some problems with Tumblr. I couldn’t log on to do my post. The lesson however is available on my Facebook page:
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Feel free to go back and explore what I had to say in regards to chord progressions and what have you in learning a song faster. I’ve done in before in previous lessons, but it’s an...
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New fun stuff!
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Tuesday Profile
These next two weeks are going to be a break of what I have been doing. Talking about style, there’s something to be said about how one can go about learning a song.
Music theory helps a lot in this regard. Music theory covers the...
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Let's talk about style
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Monday History Lesson: Style
Style isn’t really something that you can historically track. We can track some of the stylistic advances to bass guitar, but that’s about it.
The important thing about style is really self discovery. Self discovery of who you are...
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Dual Lesson Thursday
Making up for my missed post yesterday. nicksbass128@gmail.com for lesson info.
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Wednesday Technique.
Tapping is a very easy technique to learn, but a difficult technique...
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Tuesday Band Profile
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Blondie
Derived from the nickname that front women Debbie Harry got from various truck drivers trying to get her attention, Blondie is one of the more influential Punk/New Wave bands from the CBGB scene during the Punk explosion of the mid to...
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Monday Music History
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Monday History Lesson: New Wave Music
New Wave is a hard thing to pin down. You look at the history of it all, and New Wave and Punk music came out at the same time. Hell you look at the bands that...
November 2012
9 posts
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Thursday Theory
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Thursday Theory
Inversions. They are a simple yet very effective tool in constructing fancier basslines. The video lessons goes more in depth on how to construct chords and invert these...
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Wednesday Technique
E-mail me at nicksbass128@gmail.com for more info on bass lessons. I’d love to work with you guys more personally than just this forum!
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Wednesday Technique.
Plectrum Approaches
I’ve talked about the pick before a couple times....
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Tuesday Profile
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The Talking Heads
The Talking Heads is the band most famously known for “Psycho Killer” (which according to and interview with NWA was an influence of their song “Cop Killer”) was an avant-garde/ art band from New York City.
They’re not as punk...
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Monday History Lesson
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Sorry for the break in the week last week. Holiday Madness took me. But we’re back again.
Monday History Lesson: Fretless Bass Guitar
The fretless bass guitar is quite simply a bass guitar without...
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Monday History Lesson
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Monday History Lesson: The Plectrum
Plectrum. It’s the fancy (and technically correct) name for the pick. We commonly associate the pick with the guitar, but it’s dated well back throughout history.
The...
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Thursday Theory
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Thursday Theory
What is a tetrachord? A tetrachord is a sequence of 4 notes that span the space of a fourth. A fourth, as we’ve discussed in the relation of a scale, would be the fourth note in the...
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Wednesday Technique.
Developing speed.
We all want to play faster. The only tried and true way of accomplishing this is to be able to play...
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Tuesday Profile
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Tuesday Profile
The Ramones
Working boys from Queens. Without their first album, most of what we call Punk rock will not have happened. They understood the importance of Jimi Hendrix and the virtuosity emerging, but felt it was over...
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Monday History Lesson
It’s good to be back! E-mail me at nicksbass128@gmail.com for questions, requests, and concerns.
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Monday History Lesson: The First Amplified Instrument
AAAAAAAAAAAAAND we’re back! As I said, we were adversely affected by Hurricane Sandy here in my neck of...
