Riff Journal | Summer 2018 | Issue 15

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LESSONS: SONG REPERTOIRE

18 Instrumentals to Learn with Video Breakdowns + Jam Tracks

6 - F O R E WO R D

TABLE OF CONTENTS "Knowing a person is like music, what attracts us to them is their melody, and as we get to know who they are, we learn their lyrics."

- Anonymous

lesson section

BY JEFF SCHEETZ

SONGWRITER VOCABULARY Be inspired with new chords and voicings SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

80

WORDS TO THE WISE

Our panel of artists & educators answer the fundamental questions on songwriting

98 SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

RIFFAGE: JAM TRACK JUNCTION

We all have them…our educators share their most memorable concert experience. What’s yours?

Volume 2 comprises the MP3 files from our Repertoire Section and the Jam Tracks to practice with

118

133 RIFF

SONGWRITING FROM START TO FINISH Recording Artist Adam Levy gives a master class on songwriting

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84 RIFF 3

RIFF BAND ALISON HASBACH Editor-in-Chief

BRAD WENDKOS Publisher

JEFF SCHEETZ Educational Department Editor

AMBER NICOLINI Creative Director

TOMMY JAMIN Studio Department Editor

ZACH WENDKOS Technology Department Editor

KYLER THOMANN Music Editor

@riffjournal

riffjournal@truefire.com

facebook.com/riffjournal

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONGSTERS UNITE! I n 2016, Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature joining the ranks of Steinbeck, Camus, Hemingway, Hesse, Yeats and a long list of other literary giants. Dylan was honored “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Never before had this distinguished award been bestowed on a singer-songwriter, which reflects very positively on the art and craft of songwriting.

Songwriting is no easy thing. One has to juggle melody, harmony, rhythm, and lyrics simultaneously, put all those pieces together seamlessly, and then connect with an audience to evoke an emotional response. No easy thing for sure, but anyone can learn the craft. No guarantees on writing a hit song, but anyone can learn how to write a song and that’s a start.

This special edition of Riff is designed to help get you started, especially if you’re a guitarist. And if you’re already writing songs, you’ll find many pearls of wisdom herein from songwriters who have been there, done that, and proudly wear their tee shirts.

We open the issue up with a repertoire of instrumentals from many of our top artists and educators. Think of these songs as studies in rhythm, groove and melody. Next, Jeff Scheetz serves up a chord vocabulary designed to spark your creativity — pick one or two and write a song with them!

Our featured master class from songwriter and recording artist, Adam Levy overflows with guidance, inspiration and harmony applications that will take your songwriting skills to the next level. And this we do guarantee!

A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER

Darkness at the break of noon Shadows even the silver spoon The handmade blade, the child's balloon Eclipses both the sun and moon To understand you know too soon There is no sense in trying Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn Suicide remarks are torn From the fool's gold mouthpiece The hollow horn plays wasted words Proves to warn that he not busy being born Is busy dying

There’s more! Fourteen TrueFire artists and educators each give you their top three tips for songwriting. Other TrueFire artists share their most memorable concert experience. Plus, this edition’s Riffage includes MP3 versions of all of the songs featured in the repertoire section, plus all of the accompanying backing tracks for you to work with on your own.

OK ready to dig in? Grab your guitar, pen and paper and let’s write some songs — this Riff’s for you!

Temptation's page flies out the door You follow, find yourself at war Watch waterfalls of pity roar You feel to moan but unlike before You discover that you'd just be One more person crying So don't fear if you hear A foreign sound to your ear It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing —It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

Brad Wendkos || Head Smoke Jumper

RIFF 5

song Repertoire

riff journal

lesson section

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ongs are at the very heart of why we want to play music. Nobody picks up a guitar for the first time and says “I just want to run up and down scales all night because that is so cool.” Songs make people dance, smile, cry, sometimes all at the same time! We want to be a part of that.

So it is with that in mind that we present you with a plethora of song lessons from the TrueFire library. Many styles and various teaching and playing techniques, but the common thread is the song!

It is extremely helpful for students to study different styles of songs, especially styles that are a bit out of their comfort zone. That then allows you to absorb a different viewpoint that you can then bring back to your style. Each genre of music has its own little nuances, and drinking those in will make you a better songwriter – and a better musician in general!

Work through each song and listen to how the instructor presents it. That can give you a ton of clues as to where their inspiration comes from so you can tap into that in your own world. Some songs are “mystical” and some are more “craft,” but either way, the song can be an amazing expression of what you want to say to the world. It may be as a whisper, or as a scream, but the right song can not only emote what you feel, but can stir that feeling in others as well.

At TrueFire we approach learning songs in a variety of ways. Sometimes it is a “note for note” version, other times it is a chord melody interpretation or even just examining common chord progressions that are used in countless songs. Fingerstyle arrangements for solo guitar can help you see what is possible, and playing through the chord changes of jazz standards can open your ears up to new voicings. So whatever method of working on songs hits the right note for you – dig into these lessons and fire up your internal songwriter!

Jeff Scheetz, Director of Education

RIFF 7

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

BRAZILIAN JAZZ GUITARRA

BY DIEGO FIGUEIREDO

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

TODO LO QUE ERES

BY DIEGO FIGUEIREDO "All the Things You Are" is a song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. The song was written for the musical Very Warm for May (1939), introduced by Hiram Sherman, Frances Mercer, Hollace Shaw and Ralph Stuart. It later appeared in the film Broadway Rhythm (1944) and was performed during the opening credits and as a recurring theme for the romantic comedy A Letter for Evie (1945).

The song ranked in the top five of the Record Buying Guide of Billboard, a pre-retail listing which surveyed primarily the jukebox industry. Recordings by Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Ella Fitzgerald and Frankie Masters propelled the song during its initial popularity and later Barbara Streisand, Carly Simon, Yanni, Joe Pass and Oscar Peterson Trio.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

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SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

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LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

335 HITS

BY LARRY CARLTON

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

ROOM 335

BY LARRY CARLTON I ran across the original lead sheet for this song recently. It was called "Room 314" - Why? I have no idea. I don't know if that was a hotel room I was in when I got the idea for the melody, I have no idea. But anyway it was kind of funny to see that we had crossed through the "14" and made it "335". The first recording of Room 335 was for a project that I was doing with the great composer Michel Colombier.

We were assigned to do a duet album and the first band to ever record Room 335 was Michel Colombier on keyboards, Jaco Pastorius on bass, and Steve Gadd on drums. I don't have a copy of it and I've never heard the final mix of it, and it wasn't released on Michel's album, we saved it for my Warner Bros album.

As most of you know the classic version of Room 335 was Greg Mathieson on keyboards, Abe Laboriel on bass, Jeff Porcaro on drums - that's the one we all kind of fell in love with.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

ROOM 335

JAM TRACK

ROOM 335

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE JAZZ

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Music by Larry Carlton Transcribed by Glen Morgan

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BE SURE TO VIEW THE FULL TABLETURE ONLINE AT RIFFJOURNAL.COM

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15

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

FINGERSTYLE JAZZ SURVIVAL GUIDE

BY SEAN MCGOWAN

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

REASSURING RESPONSE

BY SEAN MCGOWAN Based on the Charlie Parker standard "Confirmation", and featured on my solo guitar recording Indigo, this étude combines a number of exciting harmonic concepts such as reharmonization, tritone substitution, and bitonality together with double stops and rapid fire single note bebop lines, harmonized lines in tenths, counterpoint, and multiple parts in a solo guitar context.

“Confirmation” is an interesting tune because according to Spellman (NEA), it catches Charlie Parker at a time when the basic kinks had been worked out of bebop, but it's still very, very fresh. Bird is still in his twenties, and he's working with other musicians, for the most part, who are still in their twenties. And they're all very much alive.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

REASSURING RESPONSE

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

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19

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

MELODIC IMPROV

BY ALLEN HINDS

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

FALLING UP

BY ALLEN HINDS There are more guitar players today with incredible technical chops then ever before. Yet, so many of their solos and improvisations sound a bit dry and lifeless. This is often because they’re too focused on developing technical skills and strictly following harmonic rules and rhythmic approaches rather than letting their ears and emotions guide their note choices and phrasing.

Of course, it's important to learn harmony and theory, but you can't let that part of it override the musicality. It's easy to forget how much fun playing guitar can and should be. That's what we’ll focus on in this performance.

One thing that's very flattering is that there are several versions of this song on YouTube. I really wanted to walk through "Falling Up" because it's a tricky song, and there aren't many of them that are played correctly! It kind of started off with a guy I heard playing at a guitar store I used to go to, who'd pick out one note in a chord and bend it, kind of like a pedal steel player would. I started playing around with it, and it lent itself to the melody. So, here I'll perform "Falling Up" in its entirety.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

FALLING UP

JAM TRACK

FALLING UP SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

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LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

KENTUCKY THUMBPICKING HANDBOOK

BY ALONZO PENNINGTON

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

CANNONBALL RAG

BY ALONZO PENNINGTON "Cannonball Rag" is known as The Thumbpicker's National Anthem (or so it's called in the picking circles). There have been a lot of versions of this recorded, but we'll be looking at the Merle Travis Version in this performance. Kennedy Jones originally composed the tune, but when Travis recorded the tune in the 1940s, the latter received the credit.

Merle Travis was the son of a coal miner whose family lived on the brink of poverty. Travis began playing 5-string banjo as a child and switched to his older brother's homemade guitar at the age of 12.

Travis became enamored by black guitarists such as Blind Blake, the foremost ragtime and blues guitarist of the late 1920s and early 1930s, and the Western Kentucky finger-picking traditions of guitarist Arnold Shultz, who had taught the style to several local musicians, including Mose Rager and Ike Everly (father of the Everly Brothers), neighbors of the Travis family.

The technique utilized a thumb and index finger-picking method, creating a soloing style that blended lead lines and rhythmic bass patterns picked or strummed by using a thumb pick. Ranger and Everly passed on this unique picking style to the teenage Travis, who soon grew astonishingly proficient at it, applying it to an early repertoire of blues, ragtime, and popular songs.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

CANNONBALL RAG

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE AMERICANA

Cannonball Rag Performance

Music by Alonzo Pennington Transcribed by Glen Morgan

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Copyright ©2015 TrueFire Inc. & Alonzo Pennington All Rights Reserved - International Copyright Secured

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SONG REPERTOIRE AMERICANA

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SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

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BE SURE TO VIEW THE FULL TABLETURE ONLINE AT RIFFJOURNAL.COM RIFF

27

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

FINGERSTYLE BLUES ROOTS

BY JOHN HATCHER

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

RIGHT ON TRACK

BY JOHN HATCHER This is an 8 Bar blues tune in C with more advanced use of alternating bass techniques. There's a cool B section that gets us moving around the neck a bit as we use some of those cool bluesy chord shapes we covered earlier.

The main takeaway in this number is the heavy use of a syncopated melody. You'll find yourself picking in between the beats quite a bit, which will really help you build independence between your thumb and fingers on your picking hand.

Let's look at a performance of "Right on Track".

Be sure to spend some time on the Picking Workouts in Section 2 before tackling this tune. You'll use alternating basslines under a heavy syncopated melody that will give your fingers a workout. Go slow at first and make sure the notes fall in time before increasing the speed on this one.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

RIGHT ON TRACK

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

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31

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

MUSICARIUM SONGBOOK

BY ANDY MCKEE

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

DRIFTING

BY ANDY MCKEE The first tune is "Drifting", inspired by the playing of the guitarist Preston Reed. The song features some unusual percussion, and the left-hand is playing above the guitar neck through most of the tune to play chords as well as facilitate some of the percussive ideas on the upper part of the guitar body.

This piece is in DADGAD (from low to high), so the sixth string goes down to D, second string down to A, and first string down to D. This creates a Dsus4 chord, and is somewhat of a common alternate tuning, used exclusively by guitarists such as Pierre Bensusan.

During much of this song, the left hand is above the guitar neck, similar to something Preston Reed would do. This allows you to hammer on chords, similar to how you'd play power chords while in drop D tuning. Place your thumb on the back of the neck and stack your index and middle finger on top of one another to get more strength, and just hammer them. This may look cool, but the main reason to do it is so you can hit the top of the guitar body as well to take advantage of the great clapping noise it makes. The right hand is also doing some percussion and tapping on the bottom of the guitar.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

DRIFTING

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE

Drifting

FINGERSTYLE

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35

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

FINGERSTYLE REVISIONIST ADAGIO SONGBOOK

BY ADRIAN LEGG

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

KAREN

BY ADRIAN LEGG This piece, called "Karen", is named after Karen Carpenter, who I'm a fan of. She did things that were considered pop that I actually grew up with, using 50's pop song structures (1-6-4-5). I unconsciously absorbed a good deal of these songs, so I've tried to write a lot of this kind of thing for guitar. It hit me one day, by dropping the fifth string down to G you can get an open structure with a good range of 6ths up the fretboard that makes it more accessible.

This song is fairly easy to play and understand, but it does have a few tricky parts that you'll learn by spending time with it. You may have to focus in on a few parts especially hard to fully grasp them, but after a few weeks of practice you'll be able to get it.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

KAREN

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

Karen

A

° # ™4 Œ œ̇œ œ œ ‰œ & ™4 ˙ ˙ . .

Intro

q=120

A

SONG REPERTOIRE

œœj œœ œ œ œ œ œœ ˙˙ œ ˙ œ™ œ ˙ J ˙ ˙ ˙ . . .

KAREN Karen

S w w œœœœœœœ

Adrian Legg FINGERSTYLE

œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙ .

œ œ ° # ™4 Œ œ̇œ œ œ ‰œ œœj œ˙ œ œœ ™ œ œ œœœ ˙˙˙ & ™4 J ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ . . . . .

˙ .

™™

˙ .

wS w œœœœœœœ

Adrian Legg

œœœ œœœ œœœ œ ˙ .

™™

of intro with bend - G with D shape bending to E minor, or, as in ossia, using l.h.4 hammer-ons Intro First part q=120 and pull-offs

˙ .

˙ .

Hammer l.h.4.............pull l.h.4 & reach over for the B on 4th at fret 9........hammer,pull, hammer, pull l.h.4

9 9 7 using l.h.4 7 9 hammer-ons 7 9 7 First ™™part of intro with bend - G with D shape7 bending 7to E minor, or, as in ossia, 9 0 0 and pull-offs 0 0 0 0 7

E B G D G E

¢⁄

™ ™

¢⁄

7

7 8

8

7 8

7 8

7 8

7 8 7

full

7 8 7 0

7

10 7

8 8 7

7

0

0

10 7

7

full

7 8 7

.

0

0

7

9

0

full

7

0

7 0

Hammer l.h.4.............pull l.h.4 & reach over for the B on 4th at fret 9........hammer,pull, hammer, pull l.h.4

™ ™ E B G D G E

10

7 0

™ ™

10 7

7

8

7 8 9

7

0

7 8 9

0

7

7 8 7

9

0

9

0

0

7

10 7

8 8 7

7

0

0

5 B œ œ œ œ œœ ° # ™ Œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ & ™ ˙ ˙ . .

10 7

7

7 8

.

0

0

œœœ œœœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ˙˙˙ œ

˙ .

full

7 8 7

˙ .

˙ .

7

0

œœ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œ ˙ .

7

7

0

™ ™

™ ™

™ ™

full

7 8 7

9

9 0

full

7 8 7

7

™ ™

7 0

œœ œœ œ œ ™ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ ™ œ œ œœ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ . . . .

1.

2.

1. œ œ œœ œœ œœ high œ œ œ ˙ œœ œ strings 5 B œœœ œœ part œ œœœ œœopenœœAœœshape˙˙ and open œ œœ œœœ œœ in E minor œœ œœ ° # ™ Œ Second œ œœ œœof œintro, Gœusing œ ™ & ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ 10 .10 10 10 10 10 10 12 12 . . . . . .

10 12 12 12 12 0 12 10 12 13 12 ™ 12 11 12 12 12 11 12 12 12 12 12 11 14 14 12 ™0 0 0 0 ⁄ ¢ 0 0 0 Copyright © Adrian Legg

œœ œœ ™™ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ .9 7 ™ . 11 .9 7 00 9 7 12 9 7 ™ 2.

0

0

0

Second part of intro, G using high open A shape and open strings in E minor

¢⁄

™ ™

10 12 12 0

10 10 10 12 11 12 0

10 13 12

10 12 12 0

10 10 10 12 11 12 0

12 12 12

12 12 12 12 12 14 0

0

Copyright © Adrian Legg

0 12 14

11 12 0

9 9 0

7 7

™ ™

11 12 0

9 9 0

7 7

0 0

RIFF

37

SONG REPERTOIRE F I2N G E R S T Y L E

KAREN (CONTINUED)

C

° #Œ œ œœ œœ bœœ̇ nœ & ˙ . .

10

. œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œœ w Œ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ b˙˙ œœ̇ œœ œœ œ w w ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ nœ nœ #œ œ ˙ ˙ . . . . . . .

œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œ ˙ ˙ . .

Low final part of intro

˙ ° # b˙ & ˙ ˙ .

16

¢⁄

13 0 13 0

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

3 3

1 0 1

œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙ .

0

13 0 13

12 0 12

0 0

2

0

1 0 1 0

0

œ œ. œ

˙ ˙˙ œ™™ œ ˙ . R.

∏∏∏∏∏

0

1 0 1 0

∏∏∏

¢⁄

0 0 0

12 0 12 0

15 12

0

0

1 0 1

0 0 0

0

0

1

2 3

0

8 0 9

10 12 0 10 12 0

Œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ b˙˙ œ bœœ̇ nœ œ œœ œœ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ . . . . .

.

10 0

0 0 0

1 0 1 0

3 3

1 0 1

0 0

2 0

0

1 0 1 0

10 0 10

8 0 9

0

10 12 10 12 0

.% al Coda œœ œœ œœ œœ w w œ̇ œ œ œ w ˙ ˙ . . .

0

1 0 1

0 0 0

0

0

SONG REPERTOIRE FINGERSTYLE

3

KAREN (CONTINUED) D 22 ° # ™ Œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ & ™ œœ œ ˙ ˙ . .

. œœ œœ w œœ œœ w ˙ ˙ ˙ . . .

œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ . . .

Œ nœœœ ˙ .

1.

. œœ œœ œœ œœ w œ̇ œ œ œ w w ˙ ˙ . . .

A (first) section of main tune

¢⁄

™ ™

8 0 9

.

0

10 12 0 10 12 0

.

10

8

10

8

7

8

5

10

9

10 0

9

7

9

5

.

0

. ° # Œ œœœ œœœ̇ œœœ œœœ œœ w œ w w & ˙ ˙ ˙ . . . .

28

¢⁄

.

7

8 7 9

.

7

8 7 9

7 7 7

0

.

0

.

.

.

.

0

œ ™™ Œ nœœœ ˙ .

2.

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5

8 6 5 7

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.

5

.

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8 6 5 7

. œœ œ œœ œœœ

8 5 5 5

w w w w ˙ ˙ . .

.

5

.

5

0

.

5

6 5 7

6 5 7

.

5

œ Œ œœœ ˙ .

œœ œœ œœ̇ œœ .

10 8 7 9

10 8 7 9

.

7

.

7

BE SURE TO VIEW THE FULL TABLETURE ONLINE AT RIFFJOURNAL.COM

5 5 5

. œœ œ œœ œœœ

10 7 7 7

.

5

.

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w w w w ˙ ˙ . .

.

7

.

7

RIFF 39

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

LITTLE BY LITTLE SONGBOOK

BY TOMMY EMMANUEL

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE

Lesson Selection

HABA NA HABA

BY TOMMY EMMANUEL The words Haba Na Haba are from a proverb, which translates to "little by little your pot will be filled." Essentially, the saying means if you take things little by little or a day at a time then you'll get what you need.

My inspiration for this song came to me through Liz Watkins, who told me about a story that she had seen on The Oprah Winfrey Show about an orphanage in Tanzania, and how they turned their lives around thanks to a missionary lady who taught them how to weave, sew, and dye products. They turned this place into a little factory of things they could sell around the world, and it gave those children great hope and gave their life more meaning.

I purposely wrote this song in a way that would really reflect African music and African culture. I've been to Kenya and listened to quite a lot of African music over the years, so I tried to use those experiences to help me write this song in a very authentic way. The lyric that I wrote in the chorus, "Haba Na Haba, Haba Na Haba, La La Salama. La La Salama" means sweet dreams. In other words, "do not be afraid, little by little you'll get what you need. Sweet dreams, your dreams will come true."Â LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

HABA NA HABA

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE FINGERSTYLE

Haba Na Haba HABA NA HABA

Standard tuning

= 104 G

D/F#

G

D/F#

G 1

Capo. fret 2 0 0

0

2

2

3

3

Em

0 0

3 2

0 3 2

0

0

0

0

0

3

3

D/F#

0 0

0 0

0

0 3 0 2

3 2

0 0

2

2

3

3

0 0

Em

D/F#

Em

0

3

(0) 0 0

0 0

2

0 0

0

0 0

2

0

G

2 0

2 0

0 2

2

2

0

0 0

0

0

0

0

0

2

2

0

0

G

D/ F#

2 0

2 0

0 2

2

2

0

D/ F#

G

5

0

0

0

2 3

0

0

3

3 2 2

3 2 2

0 0 3

0

(0) 3

0

0 0

0 0

3

0

0 0

3 2

3 2

0 0

2

2

3

0

0

1/15 Written by: Tommy Emmanuel, Pamela K. Rose - Published by: Universal PolyGram Int. Publishing, Inc. on behalf of Universal Music Publ. Pty. Ltd.

RIFF

41

SONG REPERTOIRE FINGERSTYLE

HABA NA HABA (CONTINUED) Em

D/F#

Em

D/F#

Em 7

(0) (0)

2

0 0

0 0

2

0

0

0 0

2 0

2 0

0 2

2

2

0

0

2

0

0 0

2

0

2

0 0

0

2 0

2 0

0 2

2

2

0

(0)

Am7

9

3 0 5

5

5 0 5

5

0

3 3 5

5

7

5

7

5 5 5

5 5 5

0

0

0

G

5

0

5 5

5 X 5 5 X 5 5

X 5 5 X 5 5

0

0

5 5

8 5

0

0

D/F#

5 5 X 5 5 X 5 5 0

G

D/F#

G

11

5 5 5 0

75 58 5 0

0

3 0

3

3

0

0

3

3 3 2

3 2

3 0

2

2

3

3 0 0 0

0 3

3 0

3

0

3 3 0 2

3 2

3 0

2

2

3

0 0 0

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

2/15 Written by: Tommy Emmanuel, Pamela K. Rose - Published by: Universal PolyGram Int. Publishing, Inc. on behalf of Universal Music Publ. Pty. Ltd.

SONG REPERTOIRE FINGERSTYLE

HABA BA HABA (CONTINUED) Am7

14

3 0 5

3 3 5

5 0 5

5 0 5

5

0

5

7

5

7

5 5 5

0

0

5 5 5

5 5

5 5 5 0

0

G

5 X 5 5 X 5 5

X 5 5 X 5 5

D/F#

5 5 X 5 5 X 5 5

0

0

G

5 5

8 5

0

D/F#

G

16

5 5 5

75 58 5

0

0

3 0

0

3

Am

3

0

0

3 3 2

3

2

G

3 2 2

3 0 3

Am

0

0

3 0

3

0

3 0

3

0

3 3 0 2 2

3 2

3 0

2

3

0

0

N.C.

19

0 0 0

1 2

2

1 2

1 2 0

0 0 0

1 2 0

3 4

3 4

5

1 2 0

1 2 2 0

0 2 3

0 (0) 2

0 (0) 2

0 1

0

BE SURE TO VIEW THE FULL TABLETURE ONLINE AT RIFFJOURNAL.COM

RIFF

3/15 Written by: Tommy Emmanuel, Pamela K. Rose - Published by: Universal PolyGram Int. Publishing, Inc. on behalf of Universal Music Publ. Pty. Ltd.

43

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

TEN GALLON GUITAR

BY JOHNNY HILAND

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

COUNTRY ROCK

BY JOHNNY HILAND Well alright everybody, let’s solo over a modern country track in the key of C! This one has a real meaty feel to it and I think you're going to have a lot of fun with this.

We’re going to have an opportunity to incorporate some of the older style steel bends and chicken pickin’, mixed with a little rock edge to where you can actually take elements from the blues track, rock track and you can add some of the older country style to it, and just add a little dirt to it and have some fun.

Playing country music gives guitarists so many opportunities to mix in various styles of guitar ranging from blues to jazz to rock. As far as popular music is concerned, country is one of the only styles that still features a lot of guitar solos and fills.

Here's a performance over a modern country track in the key of C - have fun with it!

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

COUNTRY ROCK

JAM TRACK

COUNTRY ROCK

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE COUNTRY

C Country Rock Performance Music by Johnny Hiland Transribed by Jeff Pouring

C COUNTRY ROCK

= 122 C

F

1

2

3

full

3

3

5

7

5

5

full

5

7

8

full

full

full

6 7

7

5

6 7

6

5

8

5

7

G 4

5

6

3 full full

(8)

8

8

full 85

6

7 875

C

8

7 5

8 7 6

7

6 5

7 6 5

45 4

7

G

7

(10)

8 8

full

10

8 8

full

10

8 8

4

7 6 5

full

10

7

8

7 10

9

full

10 8

7

5 7 9

C

8

full

7

10 10

10

8 8 9

12 14

10 8 10

13

14

15

15

full

15

full

13

15 13

15

13 11

13

F 10

11

full

11

10 9

9

8

12

full

8

RIFF

full

½ 10

10 (10) 8 10

½ 10

45

SONG REPERTOIRE

full

full

COUNTRY

3

3

5

7

5

5

5

7

full

full

full

6

8

7

7

5

6 7

6

5

8

5

7

G 4

5

6

3 full full

(8)

8

8

full 85

6

7 875

8

7 5

8 7 6

7

6 5

7 6 5

45 4

C COUNTRY ROCK (CONTINUED) C

7

G

7

(10)

full

8 8

10

8 8

full

10

8 8

4

7 6 5

full

10 10

10

7

8

7 10

9

full

10 8

7

5 7 9

C

8

full

7

10

8 8 9

12 14

10 8 10

13

14

15

15

full

15

full

13

15 13

15

13 11

13

F 10

11

12

full

11

10 9 13

9 11

8

8 10 10

8

8 10 9

8

full

full

10

8

10 12

Copyright ©2014 TrueFire Inc. & Johnny Hiland All Rights Reserved - International Copyright Secured

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

½ 10

8

10 (10) 8 10

½

9

10

10

1/2

SONG REPERTOIRE COUNTRY

C COUNTRY ROCK (CONTINUED) C

G

13

14

full

½ (10)

8

8 11

8

8 11

8

11

8 10 9 8

10

7

8 7

10

9

8

7

6

8

5

6 5

7

6

5

7

4

6

C 15

16

½

5

7

5

3

½

5

3

1

3

1

3

1

3

RIFF

47

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

SOLO FLATPICKING HANDBOOK

BY ROBERTO DALLA VECCHIA

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE

Lesson Selection

EIGHT MORE MILES TO LOUISVILLE

BY ROBERTO DALLA VECCHIA This is an old traditional tune I learned from the listening to Tony Rice and Norman Blake. In the late 80’s they released two albums together with guitar and voice (great stuff). If you don't have them, please check them out. We are in drop D tuning, key of D. As usual, we'll be using slurs to add smoothness to our playing, but honestly, the right hand will be making the difference between a poor performance and a good one.

Here’s the lyrics to this classic bluegrass tune: I’ve traveled o’er this country wide seeking fortune fair Up and down the two coast lines I’ve traveled everywhere From Portland East to Portland West back along the line I’m going now to the place that’s best, that old hometown of mine Eight more miles and Louisville will come into my view Eight more miles on this old road and I’ll never more be blue I knew some day that I’d come back I knew it from the start Eight more miles to Louisville the hometown of my heart There’s bound to be a gal somewhere that you like best of all Mine lives down in Louisville she’s long and she is tall But she’s the kind that you can’t find a traveling through the land I’m on my way this very day to win her heart and hand LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

EIGHT MORE MILES TO LOUISVILLE

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUEGRASS

Eight More Miles to Louisville Performance

EIGHT MORE MILES TO LOUISVILLE Tuning: Drop D

&

D

## C

&

##

3

œ

œ œ

C

H

0

œœ œœ œ 2 3 2

0

2

D

5

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œ

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& 7

0

4

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2 3

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5

1

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4

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4

≥

≥

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3

2

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9

7

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0

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1

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≤

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4

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0

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2

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2 3

A

Traditional, arranged by Roberto Dalla Vecchia

9

1

œ œ 7 7

1

œ 7

1

œ

œ

7

7

© 2015 Roberto Dalla Vecchia (SIAE). All rights reserved. Used by permission.

œ

œ

œ 0

7

9

RIFF

49

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUEGRASS

TRUEFIRE - Eight More Miles to Louisville

2

EIGHT MORE MILES TO LOUISVILLE (CONTINUED)

&

G

##

9

1

1

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SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15 15

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2

9

1

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0 0 5

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œ SONG REPERTOIRE

3 2 0

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7

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2 0B L U E G R A S S

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5

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6

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EIGHT MORE MILES TO

##

13

D

œ 0

& 15

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œœ œ

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2 3 2

2 3

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6 2 7 LOUISVILLE 0(CONTINUED)

D

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2

0

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4

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2 3 2

RIFF

51

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

BEGINNER METHOD FOR CLASSICAL GUITAR

BY ANDREW LEONARD

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

MILAN PAVAN

BY ANDREW LEONARD Luys Milán lived in Spain during the Renaissance. "Pavan 1" was originally written for the instrument Milán played, the vihuela, a Spanish instrument similar to the lute. The guitar did not exist during the Renaissance or the Baroque period. Thus, the only way to play music from these eras on guitar is through transcriptions or arrangements.

"Pavan 1" has become favorite among professional classical guitarists and audiences.

When watching and listening to my performance of Milán's "Pavan 1”, analyze my playing. Study my classical guitar technique. Look for the left hand positions, as well as the right hand rest and free strokes including P (thumb).

Listen to how I shape the musical lines. Can you hear when I gradually become louder (crescendo) or when I gradually become quieter (decrescendo)? How do I end each strain? Also, what is the mood of the piece?

Is my tempo consistent or does it fluctuate? One hint: in Renaissance music it is best for the "tactus" (early music term for beat or pulse) to be consistent. Remember this is dance music. In other eras of music, the Romantic for example, it is best use more "rubato" (slightly speeding up and slowing down) when playing.

Here's a performance tip to keep in mind: When I perform, I like to associate a passage or piece with one word to capture its mood. This helps keep me focused, allows me to breathe with the music and stay in what I call the "groove of the piece". For this piece, the word I think of is "solemn". When you hear the piece, do any words describe it's mood to you?

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

MILAN PAVAN

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE CLASSICAL

MILAN PAVAN

*

+

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LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

SLOW BLUES GURU

BY COREY CONGILIO

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

TEARS FROM ABOVE

BY COREY CONGILIO "Tears From Above" is a Texas blues inspired solo with plenty of nods to Stevie Ray Vaughan. As with all ten of these solos, there's plenty of call and response phrasing to be found here. I've added healthy doses of SRV style vibrato, some aggressive and emotional bending, pre-bends, as well as and step and a half bends.

I'm using the neck position here on my Strat style guitar. I like to use a model of a Soldano SL-100 for sounds like this as well. However, a blackface style Fender amp and transparent "tube screamer" style overdrive pedal should get you in the ball park for this kind a tone. You'll really want to make sure you have a handle on all of your C minor pentatonic scale shapes for this solo. Since there are a lot of bends, I would look at those separately and practice getting them in tune.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

TEARS FROM ABOVE

JAM TRACK

TEARS FROM ABOVE

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

TEARS FROM ABOVE

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SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

TEARS FROM ABOVE (CONTINUED)

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

TEARS FROM ABOVE (CONTINUED) E13sus4 21

2

Gsus2

3

4

1

15

2

3

16

0 2 2 2

6

X X

0

X X

0 2 2 2

X X

0

4

5 5 5

Dadd9 9

1

0 0 0

0 9

X X

0

6

7 7 7

X X

Dadd9 9

2

17

1

2

18

0 9

0 11

11

0 0 9 0 9 0

9

9

(0) (0) (9) (0) (9) (0)

0 0 9 0 9 0

Dadd9 9

1

0 0 9 0 9 0

0 0 9 0 9 0

0 0 9 0 9 0

0 0 9 0 9 0

0 0 9 0 9 0

0 0 9 0 9 0

11

Dadd9 9

2

19

0 0 9 0 9 0

1

2

20

¼ 0 9 9

11

0 11

9

0 0 9 0 9 0

(0) (0) (9) (0) (9) (0)

0 0 9 0 9 0

0 0 9 0 9 0

11

0 9

3/13 RIFF

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LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

ESSENTIALS: FINGERSTYLE BLUES

BY DAVID HAMBURGER

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE

Lesson Selection

SLOW FUSE

BY DAVID HAMBURGER I love how the call-and-response approach allows you to reference more of an ensemble sound. More than just putting a few licks over a steady bass, you can start to sound as if you were two or more people, one of whom is laying down a groove while the other drops in all sorts of cool single-note commentary in between.

Imagine yourself as a harmonica-guitar duo, a band with a horn section, or even just the left and right hand sounds of a barrelhouse pianist, and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll begin hearing all sorts of possibilities for combining the steady thumb, your single-note licks and various kinds of double-stop- and chord-based riffs.

There are two more great things about playing in this kind of call-and-response vein. One is that it serves as a kind of automatic taste enforcer: if you're spending half your time laying down the vamp figure, you're never going to find yourself overplaying in the licks department. It's hard to go on too long when you only have a measure or two at time in which to improvise.

The other benefit, particularly if you're relatively new to improvising, is that it sets up some pretty finite spaces in which to do that improvising. I like to think of it as taking a wide-open field, where you could run anywhere, and setting up a relatively narrow set of cones to thread your way through.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

SLOW FUSE

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

SlowSLOWFuse FUSE Performance

Music by David Hamburger

= 72 3

E 3 1

3

3

¼ 0

0

2

2

3

0

0 0

2 0

3

0

2 2

2

3

0

0

0

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3

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3

3

0

2

0

(2) 0

0

3

4

2

4

0

2

0

2

(2)

0

0 0

2

0

0

2 2

3

0

0

2 0

2

0

A7 3

3

3 4

3

3

5

(2) 0

2

0 0 0

2 2

0 0

1

2 0

0

2

3

2

3

0

2 0

0

0 0

1

2

0

2

0

RIFF

Copyright ©2015 TrueFire Inc. & David Hamburger All Rights Reserved - International Copyright Secured

1/2

59

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

SLOW FUSE (CONTINUED) 3

E

3 6

3

7

7 8

7 8

5 7

0

3 5

2

0

4

3

4

0

2

0

2

0

(2)

0 0

2

0

0

2 2

3

0

0

2

0

2

0

C7 3

3

3 8

3

3

3

9

(2)

0 0

2

0

2 2

0

0

1

0

F m

0

2

3

2

3

3

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3

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3

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B7 3

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3

3 3

10

11

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4

2

0

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(2)

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3

0

0

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12

13

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

¼

2

0

2

7 8

7 8

5 7

0

3 5

2

0

3

4

4

0

2

0

2

0

(2)

0 0

2

0

SONG REPERTOIRE

0

2 2

3

0

0

2

0

2 BLUES

0

C7 3

3

3 8

3

3

3

9

(2)

0 0

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1

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3 SLOW0 FUSE (CONTINUED)

B7 3

2

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10

11

0

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4

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0

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¼

(2) 0

2

0 0 0

2 2

0 0

2

0

0

0

3

0

0

2/2

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LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

TWISTED GUITAR BLUES SOLOING

BY OZ NOY

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE

Lesson Selection

ICE MAN

BY OZ NOY There’s a real art to playing rhythm guitar. Creating the perfect rhythm part, staying in the pocket with the rhythm section, staying consistent throughout the song, and knowing when you can, and when you cannot improvise parts -this can all be very challenging.

In this performance, we’ll work with a track called "Ice Man". It's a medium-tempo funk groove over an A7 chord.

Harmonically, there's a lot that can be done with it - we'll being taking it in and out with some diminished sounds.

It’s heavily inspired by Albert Collins, hence the name of the song, especially his work bringing the funk into the blues.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

ICE MAN

JAM TRACK

ICE MAN

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

Solo With Licks Ice Man: Performance Music by Oz Noy Transcribed by Glen Morgan

ICE MAN

= 100 3

A7 1

2

¼ 5

7

(5)

5

7

5

3

7

5

5

7

5

4

7

4

3 full

½ 7

full ¼

7

5

5

7

8

7

8

5

5

5

8

5 (5)

8

5

5

7

8

7

6

½ 5

5

7

7

(7)

5

7

5

9

7

8

7

9

7

5 7

5

8

½

(5)

3 5 (5)

X 3

4 7 5 7 3

4

7

7

(7)

5

7

5

7 5

5

Copyright ©2017 TrueFire Inc. & Oz Noy All Rights Reserved - International Copyright Secured

1/3

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SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

ICE MAN (CONTINUED)

3 9

10

full

full

5

7

7

5

full

½ 5

8 5

8 9 8 6

11

6

8

8 6

8 5

6

5

3

5

3

4

7

5

7

5

12

5

5

5 8 5 (5)

8 5

5

8

8

6

7

8

6

8

8

6

13

7

5

3

5

7

5

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7

(7)

7

9

14

3 full

½

7

7

(7)

5

5

5

15

5

5

(5)

8

19

17

17 (17)

19

16

3

12 14 12

15

12

15

12

13

14

13

14

18

14

15

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

2/3

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

ICE MAN (CONTINUED)

17

18

3 (15)14 12 11 14 12 11 10 12 9 12 9

10 9 8 12

8

9

19

7

8

7 9

9 7 6 96

7 6 5

4 7

9 8 6

20

3

3

7

7 7

5 6

9 7

7

6 7 10

7

21

8

8 8

67

10

13

13

13

1112

15

22

3

3

½ 17

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17 15

17 15

15 13

14

23

13

(13)

14 12

14 12 14 10

12

10 11

24

14

25

3

7

6

7

6 7

7

8

7

9

7 8 10

9

8

8

11

10 10

9

10

10

11

10 13 12 13 12 10 9 12 10 9

12

10

RIFF

65

LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

URBAN BLUES REVOLUTION

BY ROBBEN FORD

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE

Lesson Selection

ROLL WITH IT

BY ROBBEN FORD Everybody knows that the blues comes out of the south, and was played on acoustic instruments. Then the blues migrated to the cities, and the urbanization of the blues brought about a lot of changes with all the influences that were there.

The most radical was the electrification of the blues - the use of amplifiers and electric guitars gave rise to a variety of tones and signature voices.

My Urban Blues Revolution course examines this modernization of the blues with rhythm and soloing examples, both of which illustrate traditional approaches followed by a more contemporary approach.

With this Roll With It performance study, I'll play rhythm guitar on a track, which is just a one chord jam in A. Making your rhythm part sound interesting when working over just a single chord can be challenging but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so many different approaches that you can take.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

ROLL WITH IT

JAM TRACK

ROLL WITH IT SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

ROLL WITH IT

*+ &

&+

,$ $

,$ $ &+ - &+

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RIFF

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SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

ROLL WITH IT (CONTINUED)

,$ $

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SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES

ROLL WITH IT (CONTINUED)

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BE SURE TO VIEW THE FULL TABLETURE ONLINE AT RIFFJOURNAL.COM

.

RIFF

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LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

SOLOING THE CHANGES

BY JEFF MCERLAIN

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

HIGHLANDS

BY JEFF MCERLAIN This tune is called "Highlands", and it's from my record I'm Tired. It uses one of the most common chord changes in popular music, the I-V-VIm-IV. It shows us how important melody is when composing. We could stick to an E major pentatonic scale on this tune and be fine, in fact I largely do, as I think it works nicely.

I always try to think about melody and it's never a problem if someone refers to me as a melodic player. I take that as the highest compliment. It's what people remember. Why were the Beatles songs so successful? Melody.

It was a real revelation when I realized that melodies are made of chord tones, and the best note to play on a chord is one of the notes in that chord. The scale it comes from is important, but not nearly as important as the notes of each chord.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

HIGHLANDS

JAM TRACK

HIGHLANDS

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES ROCK

HIGHLANDS

!

$

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/

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1

2

&

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3

%

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RIFF

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SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES ROCK

HIGHLANDS (CONTINUED) !

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0

1

2

&

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3

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SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE BLUES ROCK

HIGHLANDS (CONTINUED) !

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$2

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$3

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RIFF

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LESSON PORTFOLIO B L U E S G U I TA R

Selection From:

ELECTRIC EXPRESSION

BY ANDY TIMMONS

SKILL LEVEL - LATE INTERMEDIATE Lesson Selection

ELECTRIC GYPSY

BY ANDY TIMMONS I'm basically going to be playing over the changes of Electric Gypsy. D major, A major, B minor, G major, and that just keeps repeating. When I play it live that loops ad infinitum, and I get to have some fun melodically over it.

In this example, I'm going to start off by playing some open harmonic melodic ideas, which can be very effective and it's a nice chimey tone. And then like we talked about earlier, the tapped harmonics, I play some melodic ideas with that. And then just some basic single note soloing, and I actually replicate some phrases from the original recording of Electric Gypsy on the Ear X-tacy CD. The chord progression is D major to A major to B minor to G major. I'm considering each section two times through those chords as one section. The first section is just open harmonics, which is the natural harmonics produced. Like if you have the note D and you play it harmonic on the 12th fret, it's called a natural harmonic. Where on the 7th fret you get the note A. Then the octave above that, D. So what I did was I constructed a melody using purely open harmonics.

The easiest frets to produce these harmonics are the 12th, 7th, and 5th. But every now and then you might need a melodic note that isn't produced on those open strings in those sections. Like over the note A, over the chord A, I played a melody that I wanted to hear the third of that A major chord and that's C#. And you can produce that note by playing harmonic on the A string in the 4th fret.

LEARNING TOOLS PERFORMANCE TRACK

ELECTRIC GYPSY

JAM TRACK SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

ELECTRIC GYPSY

SONG REPERTOIRE ROCK

Electric Gypsy Progression Performance

ELECTRIC GYPSY PROGRESSION

Music by Andy Timmons Transcribed by Glen Morgan

= 90 D

<12> <7>

<7>

A

(<12>) <7>

<12> <7>

Bm

(<12>)

<7> <7>

<7>

<4>

<7>

<12>

<7>

<12>

(<12>) <7>

D

<7>

A

<7>

<12>

<7> <7>

(<12>)

<7>

<12> <7>

Bm

<7>

G

T.H.

(<12>)

<7>

G

<4>

(<12>)

(<7>)

<7>

<12>

<7>

(<12>)

<4>

7

T.H.

7

T.H.

8

RIFF Copyright ©2014 TrueFire Inc. & Andy Timmons All Rights Reserved - International Copyright Secured

1/3

75

SONG REPERTOIRE ROCK

ELECTRIC GYPSY PROGRESSION (CONTINUED) D

A

T.H.

(8)

7

Bm

T.H.

T.H.

6

4

(6

D

T.H.

(8)

7

Bm

T.H.

(7)

9

7

10

(10)

10

12

2/3

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

SONG REPERTOIRE ROCK

ELECTRIC GYPSY PROGRESSION (CONTINUED)

D

A

12 (1

Bm

15 (1

D

3

12 1

Bm

7

(7)

9

7

9

7

7

3/3

RIFF

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song Repertoire

riff journal

artist directory

ADRIAN LEGG

ALLEN HINDS

ALONZO PENNINGTON

ANDREW LEONARD

ANDY MCKEE

ANDY TIMMONS

COREY CONGILIO

DAVID HAMBURGER

â&#x20AC;&#x2018; FIGUEIREDO

JEFF MCERLAIN

JOHN HATCHER

JOHNNY HILAND

LARRY CARLTON

OZ NOY

ROBBEN FORD

ROBERTO DALLA VECCHIA

SEAN MCGOWAN

TOMMY EMMANUEL

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

| ONLINE LINK DIRECTORY | RIFFJOURNAL.COM/LINKS-V15

RIFF

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- F O R E WO R D

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

BY JEFF SCHEETZ

"A GREAT WAY TO ACCOMPLISH THAT IS TO EXPERIMENT WITH A FEW OTHER CHORD VARIATIONS. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DEEP DIVE INTO THE WORLD OF CHORD THEORY IN ORDER TO COME UP WITH A NEW COOL WAY TO TACKLE TONALITY"

f you Google “G, C, D Songs” you get 325,000,000 results. Now I don’t know if that has anything to do with how many songs there are out there comprised of just those three chords, but it is probably a reflection of just how many songs are comprised of those chords! If you take that one step further and Google the simple “cowboy chords” like G, C, D, E, A and so on there are countless more using these chords. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

However, as a songwriter, sometimes you might need a little extra inspiration. You might need to break free from the norm and stretch out a bit. A great way to accomplish that is to experiment with a few other chord variations. You don’t have to deep dive into the world of chord theory in order to come up with a new cool way to tackle the tonality of a G Major for example.

RIFF

81

Check out some of the chords we have put together for you. Play around and try and substitute a Cadd9 for a C – or just strum through that cool F#m11 a few times and see if it doesn’t inspire you in a different way. Sometimes when we go beyond simple Major chords we can hear new melodies or envision a different harmonic structure to the song, or become aware of a different chord we can follow up with.

There is certainly a big benefit to really learning and understanding chord building, chord scales, chord substitution, inversions and various voicings. But for now – just grab a few new chords and light a fire under your creativity!

Aadd9

Am11

Asus2

Asus4

Bm11

Bsus4

Cadd9

Csus2add#11

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

Dm6

Dsus2

Dsus4

Eadd9/G#

Em9

Emadd9

F#m11

Fadd9

Fmaj7sus2

Gadd9

Gsus2

Gsus4 RIFF

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SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

RIFF

85

PHOTOS BY AL ISON HASBAC H

Adam Levy

'' When writing a song that rhymes (some don'’t, you know), there’'s no best or worst scheme. ''

I recently posted a note to aspiring songwriters via my Instagram account.

It began simply, with these four words of advice: Finish what you start.

I then asked those reading my post to consider the classic songs we all know and love. (Take a moment to contemplate a few of your favorites.)

What’s interesting, when you think about it, is that the great songs have little in common. Some are written alone, some collaboratively; some feature personal themes, some universal; some are built simply, some are labyrinthine. There is, however, one trait that all of these songs share in common: They’re finished.

If you’re a songwriter and you find yourself stockpiling unfinished verses and abandoned choruses, this article is for you. It’s chockfull of lessons that I’ve learned along the way, and you’ll hear from esteemed writers like Theo Katzman (Vuflpeck) and and James Valentine (Maroon 5) as well.

I hope this article will help you overcome whatever’s keeping you from finishing your songs. From my own experience, I can tell you this: By continually practicing putting the pieces together, and by being honest with yourself throughout the process, you’ll become a stronger and more nuanced writer as your songs get done, one by one. So, if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and get some real work done, read on.

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

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Adam Levy

Beginner'’s Mind As a songwriter, I was a late bloomer. I didn’t really start writing until my mid 30s. (On a dare from Norah Jones, with whom I was touring at the time.) By then, I’d already been playing guitar professionally for 15 years. That gave me some advantages. I had learned to play hundreds of songs, in a wide array of genres, so I had a good understanding what songs were made of—musically, at least. The one thing I hadn’t paid much attention to before was lyrics. I was like a guy who’d regularly been hitting the gym for his upper body, but completely ignored his legs. When the light bulb finally popped on and lyrics were suddenly all I cared about, I had a whole lot of catching up to do.

My first step was to ask the best songwriters I knew to recommend some of their favorite lyricists. My writerly friends suggested Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, John Prine, and others. In the timeframe I’m talking about—around 2003—Google wasn’t yet what it is today. Still, one could easily look up Dylan’s lyrics on the internet, and I did. Reading the work of the Old Masters, if you will, was so helpful. Yet I soon discovered that I learned much more by transcribing the lyrics myself. The two-fold act—listening intently and then writing each word longhand, in a notebook—helped me really get the lyrics on a deeper level.

If you’re not doing this sort of work already, I’d highly recommend it. You could even make a daily practice of it, choosing one song per day and transcribing the entire lyric, top to bottom. In doing so, you may discover an unexpected word choice or odd turn of phrase that inspires you to think differently about the way you use language; you may find that one of your favorite lyrics has a lot more words—or a lot fewer—than you’d thought, which could lead you to put more (or less) into your own songs.

Harmony Central Everyone’s songwriting pathway is unique, of course. Maybe you’ve already got loads of experience writing lyrics, but are stymied when it comes to crafting compelling chord progressions. If that’s where you’re at, I’d recommend doing similar sort of work. As a daily practice—or as regularly as you can—transcribe chord charts for all sorts of songs. Once you’re sure you’ve made an accurate chordal roadmap of a song, the next step is to analyze its sections (intro, verse, chorus, and so on) individually. Which chord does each section start on, and where does it go from there? Is the harmonic progression a typical one (like I–V–vi–IV), or something more surprising? After breaking down each section, look at how the pieces fit together. If, say, the chorus is immediately followed by a verse, look at how these two sections connect, harmonically. How does the end of the chorus set up the beginning of the verse?

By way of example, let’s examine Bruce Springsteen’s song “The River.” Example 1 is modeled after the song’s intro. It’s an eight-measure phrase that starts on Em, then moves quickly to G (the home-base chord in this key). After a couple of other simple moves, the progression ends with two measures of C. Ending on C, and hanging there for a moment, keeps the mood open. It’s a great setup for the first verse, which begins on Em. The verse section (Example 2) is also eight measures long, comprising two nearly identical four-measure phrases. The subtle difference between the two halves is worth noting. Em–G–D–C feels like an unanswered question, because it ends on C. Em–G–C–G is more complete, because it ends on G. That G dovetails nicely into the pre-chorus (Example 3), which starts on the C chord. What’s most interesting about the pre-chorus is that the chordal pacing (also known as the harmonic rhythm) slows down. In this song’s other sections, the chords generally change once per measure. Here, Springsteen sits on C and Am for two measures each.

This downshift makes the chorus (Example 4). which follows, feel more urgent and kinetic, as it returns to the faster one-chord-per-measure clip.

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“The River” is just under five minutes long. Here’s how it breaks down.

Organized Rhyme Let’s now return our focus to words. Earlier, I encouraged you to learn by transcribing the lyrics of writers you enjoy and admire—looking for inspiration in their word choices or phraseology. While that’s a great way to develop your lyric-writing skills, it’s not the only way. Another is by experimenting with rhyme and meter.

Look at the first stanza to the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The rhymed words are found at the end of lines 2 and 4 (snow / go), while lines 1 and 3 do not rhyme. So the rhyme scheme here is ABCB.

“"Mary had a little lamb

Its fleece was white as snow And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go“ “Humpty Dumpty,” on the other hand, follows an AABB scheme. “Little Jack Horner” is AABCCB. I’m using these childish examples because they’re commonly known. You absolutely should, of course, study the schemes of grown-up rhymes too.

When writing a song that rhymes (some don’t, you know), there’s no best or worst scheme. The important thing to be mindful of, as you craft more and more songs, is just how frequently you rely on the same formula. If the last five songs you wrote have AABB verses, challenge yourself to do something different next time. Even within a single song, each section type (verses, choruses, and so on) may be molded differently.

Study the rhyming schemes of a few song verses that you love, then write several original verses, using the same constructions.

You should keep track of the meters and forms that you use frequently, as well. (In lyrics, as in poetry, the number of lines in a verse—and the number of syllables per line—is the meter.) As with rhymes, there’s no be-all-end-all meter that you should use all the time. The work to be done in this area—as you may have guessed—is to study the forms of some of your favored songs and then write a handful of songs in those same forms. Practice each form until you feel you can write creatively and juicily within it.

Before wrapping up this passage on lyric writing, there’s one more thing I need to mention: Take your lyrics seriously, but not too seriously. While fellow writers may appreciate keen wordplay and unorthodox rhymes, the average listener is more interested hearing a good story, well told. What’s more, many listeners don’t take the lyrics literally at all. Instead, they’re tuned in to the sound and shape of the words. In his book Life, Rolling Stones guitarist/songwriter Keith Richards talks about the importance of this, in terms of “vowel movement.”

Richards ssserts that using the right sounds at the right time (or not) can make (or break) a song. What is “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” actually about? Does it matter?

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the river bruce springsteen

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'' While fellow writers may appreciate keen wordplay and unorthodox rhymes, the average listener is more interested hearing a good story, well told. ''

The Toppermost of the Poppermost You may have noticed that I haven’t said much about melody yet. That’s because of the way I typically work in my songwriting process. I’ll usually finish a lyric first—without a melody or a chord progression. What I’m going for at that point is a clear storyline, told with conversational language and colorful imagery, adhering to whichever meter and rhyme schemes I’ve chosen. Once I’m happy with my lyric, I’ll read it out loud—listening for inherent rises and falls in the words, as well as natural phrase lengths and breaks. This, for me, is where the melody begins to form.

Many writers, on the other hand, prefer to start with melody—perhaps using meaningless syllables like la-da-dee, or place-holder lyrics. (The Beatles’ “Yesterday” began as “Scrambled Eggs.” Paul McCartney worked on the song for months, apparently, before completing the now-famous lyrics.) Some write melodies a cappella, with no particular backing chords in mind. Others may build a progression or riff, then sing over the top of it, improvising wordless vocal melodies. They’ll record their improv, then listen—searching for anything that sounds like a particular word or cohesive phrase. Once there are some strong anchors in place, the rest of the lyric can be constructed around those.

If you’re curious to know how some of the legends do it (words first? music?), check out Paul Zollo’s book Songwriters on Songwriting. In it, Zollo talks process with Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Tom Petty, and other powerhouse writers. Their insights may inspire you to come at the craft from some different angles. Over time, you’ll find one or two approaches that reliably help you move forward—turning your glimmering ideas into fully formed, ready-to-record songs. At the end of the day, that remains the goal. Finish what you start.

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Harmony 2.0 For those of you who already have a solid grasp of chord-movement basics and are looking for ways to write more colorful progressions, here are a couple of concepts that will expand your palette. The first idea is relatively simple, using diatonic harmony and the close relationships between I, IV, and V. In the key of C major, for example, the native triads are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, and Bº. The most cogent progressions we can make from these seven chords would include just C (I), F (IV), and G (V). Countless classic songs—in so many genres—have been written using just these fundamental harmonies. Now, watch what happens if we consider each of the diatonic triads as a I—or i, for minor triads. (We’ll discard Bº, because diminished harmonies are generally used as passing chords, not as temporary tonal centers.) Then we can use its IV and V as well, keeping these guidelines in mind: For major triads, the IV and V will also be major; for minor triads, the iv will be minor and the V will be major. This introduces some new chords, as you’ll see in the table, below.

As you may have noticed, there is some redundancy. For instance, G’s IV chord is C—a chord we already have in the key of C. But there are six fresh sounds here: D, E, Gm, A, Bb, B, and B. That lets us build progressions like Example 5 (similar to Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay”), or Example 6 (like to Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay”), or Example 7 (similar to James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”). Next time you’re writing a song, and feeling bored with the same-old-same-old chord changes, try folding one or two of these chords into your verse or chorus. (If you’re writing in a key other than C, you’ll have to transpose this table.)

The next concept is similar, but uses parallel key centers. C major and C minor, for example, are parallel key centers. (This is not to be confused with relative key centers—like C major and A minor, which share the same key signature.) Check out the table, below, comparing the native triads from the C major scale and the C harmonic minor scale.

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'" ' What I'’m going for at that point is a clear storyline, told with conversational language and colorful imagery, adhering to whichever meter and rhyme schemes I’'ve chosen.''

As before, we’ll discard the diminished triads. The useable new sounds here are Cm, Eb, Fm, and Ab. These can be used to build progressions such as Example 8 (similar to the Beach Boys “Warmth of the Sun”) and Example 9 (like Santo & Johnny’s “Sleep Walk”). Things get really interesting when both sets of new chords (from the I-IV-V axis as well as the parallel minor key) are utilized. That’s where Example 10’s twisted progression (à la Nirvana’s “Lithium”) comes from.

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A Pro’'s Perspective

Q&A with Vulfpeck's Theo Katzman Theo Katzman wears many hats in the soul/funk band Vulfpeck. Drummer, guitarist, singer, songwriter—whatever the song needs, Katzman brings it. He also releases his own original music. Heartbreak Hits is his latest full-length album.

How do you use the guitar in your songwriting process?

Occasionally, I’ll be playing guitar and an idea will come up. A lot of times, though, instruments have nothing to do with the writing. I’ll work to get the core of an idea, then use the guitar or the piano to accompany it.

I usually start with a lyric and a melody. It could be just words and rhythm while I’m fleshing out the lyrics. Sometimes that leads me into a funny position where I have two verses, each with their own pre-chorus, and then a chorus—and yet I have no actual music. I’ve been working on something like that this week. I think it’s a cool song, except it’s not really a song yet. I still need to find the notes, melodically.

Which song do you wish you’ ' d written?

If I have to choose just one, I’ll say “Lakes of Pontchartrain”—an American folk song recorded by Irish singer Paul Brady. That song kills me. It’s about a guy who sets out on his own. He meets this girl who’s super kind to him, even though he’s a stranger. He falls in love with her and asks her to marry him, but it’s not meant to be. She has a man who is away, at sea, and she’s waiting for him to return. So the guy leaves, but he never forgets her. In the last verse, he sings:

“"So fare thee well, me bonny young girl, I never may see ye more But I’ll ne’er forget your

kindness in the cottage by the shore And at each social gathering, a flowing glass I’ll drain And drink a health to me Creole girl by the Lakes of Pontchartrain“" It’s a beautiful way to say, basically, “I had this moment with someone, and that’s all. But damn, that was cool.”

Which of your own songs are you most proud of?

“Good to Be Alone,” from Heartbreak Hits. There’s a little sarcasm in the title—like, is it really good to be alone? But it’s not a sarcastic song. It’s a country song, with just three chords. I’m proud of it because it feels kind of classic and universal, but I also discovered a unique way to say what I wanted to say.

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A Pro’'s Perspective

Q&A with Maroon 5’'s James Valentine Guitarist/songwriter James Valentine is a founding member of the socko pop/rock band Maroon 5.

How do you use the guitar in your songwriting process?

Guitar was central for the first part of my career. Songs like “She Will Be Loved,” “Never See Your Face Again,” and “Wake Up Call” all started with guitar riffs. Later on, during the making of our fourth record, I got into experimenting with programming beats and using synthesizers, which was a refreshing change. I’m more limited as a keyboard player, but sometimes those limitations inspire me to write differently. “Sad” was written on piano. It never would have come to me that way on guitar.

Lately, I’ve been gravitating back towards the guitar as starting point. When I go to songwriting sessions, I like to start with just an acoustic. It’s crazy, but that often seems very novel to songwriters who are used to writing to tracks or beats. I think it’s good to change up your process to keep things fresh, no matter what your instrument is.

Which song do you wish you'’ d written?

Any Steely Dan song—especially “Any Major Dude” or “Deacon Blues.” These are perfect songs, to me. Lyrically, Steely Dan’s songs have a sense of humor, while still being emotionally heavy. I think that’s hard to do. Musically, they’re just insanely brilliant—but everyone knows that.

Which of your own songs are you most proud of?

“She Will Be Loved” will always be a really special song to me. It opened up a lot of doors for us early on in our career. It’s surreal to see how the song has become a part of the soundtrack of people’s lives. I hear it’s played at weddings and proms. I love that!

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A Pro’'s Perspective Q&A with Mike Viola

Producer/musician/songwriter Mike Viola is best known for his work with Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis, and Fall Out Boy. If his name isn’t familiar to you, his songs most likely are. You may have heard them in the films That Thing You Do! or Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

What’ ' s something you learned about songwriting in the past year, that you wish you learned sooner?

I learned that my first idea is likely the most authentic, the closest to the inspiration. So, when the song starts to happen, you have to abandon reality right away in order to capture its authenticity, and keep writing till your hand cramps up. I still use notebooks. I like to see the trail behind me and the blank pages ahead. I like to feel the rip in my wrists, rather than in my eyes from looking at a screen.

Big lesson, that one. Dan Bern taught me that without telling me, just by doing, by his insistence on using the crazy shit we came up with while driving around in his car, writing together—never changing it. That’s our only chance to access the subconscious without a heavy does of psychedelics or writing in your sleep.

A Pro’'s Perspective Q&A with Lisa Loeb

Lisa Loeb is a singer-songwriter, producer, touring artist, author and philanthropist who started her career with the platinumselling Number 1 hit song “Stay (I Missed You)” from the film Reality Bites.

What'’ s something you learned about songwriting in the past year, that you wish you learned sooner?

I wish I knew that collaborating was as fun and easy as it is.

It took me a while to figure out that you have to find the right partners and collaborators with the right energy and work styles.

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nyone who has ever dived into the deep waters of songwriting will emphatically agree that it’s a highly personal, introspective and complex craft.

One can learn the fundamental tools of the trade relatively quickly, but creating compelling, evocative melodies, lyrics and grooves can take a lifetime to truly master.

Jon Herrington knows this well, “By most definitions, a song is a short bit of music designed for someone to sing. Singing is vocalizing in musical tones, usually with intentionally fixed pitches. With that in mind, a writer of a song must deliver at least two elements: a rhythm (the single essential ingredient for any bit of music), and a melody (a pleasing succession of musical tones), which is to be sung. Words are the optional, but an overwhelmingly common third element. Thus, their inclusion, along with rhythm and melody, constitute the basic essentials of song. So in one sense, that’s all there is to it: the three fundamentals of songwriting are rhythm, melody, and lyrics. But in another sense, there’s much, much more.“ Songwriters have insatiable appetites for any bits of wisdom and insight that they can acquire from other songwriters. But what works for one writer will not necessarily work for the next. Songwriters must discover their own creative process and path.

“There’s no roadmap to being a songwriter. It often feels more like guerrilla warfare than a road. You’re hacking away with a machete, trying to create a path for yourself. You can feel isolated and lonely, despite the inspiration of the music,” says Ellis Paul from a long history of experience.

The art of songwriting, similar to all of the fine arts, is embraced by writers for any number of reasons.

Some write to document and celebrate their life

experiences. Some write to exorcise their demons.

Some write to articulate their innermost emotions.

Some write for the art of it. Some write for the money. Some write to connect to the world. Ask a hundred songwriters why they write and you’ll get a hundred answers.

Andy Timmons writes for a variety of reasons.

“Songwriting, at its core, is the pursuit of writing something that I really want to hear. Repeatedly.

Something that moves me in some way emotionally.

Something that makes me feel something. A place to express joy. A place to express sadness. A place to energize. A place to relax. Something that lives up to all the amazing songs that I’ve loved during my life.

I feel the really great songs are kind of “channeled” from a spiritual place. Probably from inside us.

Maybe from outside of us. But most certainly informed from all that we have taken in through our ears during the course of our lives.”

What makes songwriters distinctive from one another is their individuality; their personal experiences, their perception of the world around them, their loves, their heartbreaks, their joy, and their sufferings. It’s the songwriter’s individual experiential background that powers the songs they write.

Pat Pattison, a very well-respected lyric and poetry professor at Berklee, tells his students: “You are absolutely unique. There never was, nor ever can be anyone exactly like you. The proof lies in the vaults of your senses, where you have been storing your sense memories all your life. They have come cascading in through your senses, randomly and mostly unnoticed, sinking to the bottom. Learn to dive for them. When you recover one, when you rise with it to the surface and hold it aloft, you will not only surprise your onlookers, you will surprise yourself.”

On the following pages, you’ll find songwriting tips and creative insight from many of TrueFire’s artists.

Whether you’re already writing songs or just planning to start, we hope that some of these bits of wisdom will resonate with you. If you’ve never written a song before — start one today, and remember Adam Levy's advice, "Finish what you start."

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songwriting tips andy timmons

1. Learn as many of your favorite songs as possible. Of course I highly recommend doing this by ear, and not by reading. I’m convinced we internalize very differently through our ears than our eyes. This also further strengthens our ability to imagine music and transfer it to our instrument more readily. I cover this idea at length on my upcoming TrueFire course, Melodic Muse. Really investigate why the song moves you the way it does. A certain magic chord change? A specific note over a certain chord?

Analyze every aspect. This will give you so many ideas when it comes to creating your own music. Lennon and McCartney were such great writers because they learned hundreds of cover tunes in the early Beatle days. Not just straight rock n’ roll, but show tunes and classical pieces. This greatly honed their instincts.

2. Write frequently. Like anything in life, the more you do something, the stronger you will become doing it. That being said, I’m not suggesting “forced” writing sessions, but I’m always at the ready when an idea strikes. In the old days, it would be documented on a portable cassette recorder (I have dozens ands dozens of cassettes of song ideas from those days!). Now we all a digital recorder in our back pocket thanks to the iPhone.

Usually my most inspired time of the day is first thing in the morning when I just begin playing, before the mind kinks in too much. Writing can certainly be intellectual, but I greatly prefer when it’s “auralectual”, meaning your ear and instinct are guiding you, not your conscious mind.

ngwritingTip 3. Realize that every song may not be your masterpiece. That’s ok. Brian Wilson could only write “God Only Knows” once. McCartney had “Yesterday.” So much of their subsequent work is scrutinized through the lens of the greatness of those songs and certainly some of their work DOES reach that high bar. Some does not. But that certainly didn’t stop them from releasing mountains of material that we still continue to discover and marvel over to this day. They kept exercising their craft and didn’t get bogged down worrying about “is this as great as…” So what are you waiting for? Go be creative!

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Songwriting, at its core, is the pursuit of writing something that I really want to hear. Repeatedly. Something that moves me in some way emotionally. Something that makes me feel something. A place to express joy. A place to express sadness. A place to energize. A place to relax.

Something that lives up to all the amazing songs that I’ve loved during my life. I feel the really great songs are kind of 'channeled' from a spiritual place. Probably from inside us. Maybe from outside of us. But most certainly informed from all that we have taken in through our ears during the course of our lives.

- Andy Timmons

songwriting tips cathy fink

1. Study other songs that you love. Study “classics” in multiple genres, even those that are not your favorite genre. Pay attention to rhyme scheme, meter, how the story unfolds. How does the melody and chord progression work with how the song unfolds?

Map a lot of those songs out and consider them as possible roadmaps for good songwriting.

2. Think about the difference between a song that is meaningful to you personally, and one that will resonate with others. Write as many songs as you can and want to and be prepared not to sing them all. Good writers have lots of songs in progress and lots of songs that they write and move on from. That’s part of the process. The more you write, the more you will have to choose from.

3. Edit, edit, edit. Are there better word choices? Is it too long? Can you strengthen the hook? When you speak the words, do they speak easily? Can you skip the first verse and still have an excellent song? Can you combine two verses? If you have a chorus or refrain with a hook, can that hook be stronger?

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songwriting tips christie lenée

1. Find the part that sticks in your head the most, and keep returning to it. Your songs will keep getting better, and you might be surprised to find hidden gems in the flash ideas that you almost threw away.

2. Build a story line. If you’re writing a song, build a form and story line and be sure to finish it. Even if you don’t think it’s any good, finish it and write another one.

3. Go deeper and trust your voice. You’ll know it’s right when your body tells you. Stay present with what you create, go deeper, and the possibilities are endless!

The most important advice I can give to a songwriter/composer is to trust your voice of intuition. Thoughts of fear and self-doubt are common and learning to battle them with courage can bring some of the greatest breakthroughs in your music. Remember that “nothing is impossible, for the word itself says “ I’m possible!” (Audrey Hepburn) – Christie Lenée

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songwriting tips corey congilio

1. Establish a groove. The groove, beat or feel of an idea is the musical engine in my opinion. Not sure how to do this? Try using a drum loop generator of any type to give you inspiration. You can use an app, physical drum machine or pedal device, as well as sophisticated drum beat creating software. Again, this is so important because the groove dictates everything! When I co-write with a songwriter, they often aren’t considering the groove or the motion and direction of the song. Have you ever jammed with your friends in a garage or basement? The jam almost always starts with the drummer playing a beat. Establish this first and you’ll have good tracks to run on!

2. Melody is king. Melody and groove work hand in hand. They influence each other and the melody is THE thing that we’ll find ourselves humming well after the song is written.

Don’t feel like you have to have lyrics before you write the melody. Paul McCartney used to sing “scrambled eggs” as his lyric while he was establishing a melody. I think that method worked out well for him. Like the groove, a melody will dictate so much about the song’s direction. As a guitar player, I lean on the melody when it comes to writing a solo and guitar parts too.

3. Have no fear. I think one of the most difficult artistic things anyone can attempt is writing a song without fear! It’s easy to fall into mode of thinking where you’ll say to yourself “that sounds stupid” or, “I’ll get laughed at if I say those lyrics.” You know what… your lyrics might be silly or nonsensical! So what! Get them out and get them down.

If you make someone laugh…cool! My point here is, don’t be afraid. Take the leap. Say what’s on your mind and get it on paper or on your computer. My favorite songwriters take risks (big ones in my opinion)! Jason Isbell, Butch Walker, Taylor Goldsmith, Lucie Silvas, Kelsey Waters, Brandi Carlisle and Theo Katzmann are some of the songwriters I’m listening to lately. I’m sure they go through moments of fear when writing but, you’d never know it when you listen to them because they put it out there. So to recap, feel the fear in lyric writing, lean into it and get it recorded.

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Songwriting Tips

Melody. harmony. groov songwriting tips henry johnson

1. Melody - The melody is one of the most important aspects of a song. And, a good one can stick in people’s heads indefinitely. These are the songs that end up being “hit” recordings; once people are exposed to them, they can’t seem to get them out of their heads. So, if you find yourself humming or singing a melody to yourself, record it on some app you use so you can keep a log of melodies that come to you. Start keeping a notebook that you can have as your reference point. You never know what you will come up with from your sources.

2. Chords/Harmony - The second important part of a song is the chords or the harmony used with your melody. Experimenting with your melody and harmony together will allow you to tinker with and refine your song until it sounds just the way you want it to.

As you do this, you will start to find a balance between the two. For example, a simple melody can have a more complex set of chords, or, a more complex melody can have a simple set of chords. Then there can be mixture of both in one song. There are no rules or boundaries here; it all boils down to what ends up sounding and feeling good to you, which is what makes it unique.

3. Rhythm/Groove - This part of a song is what can define what genre it is, or maybe what genre you intend it to be for. Some songwriters will write songs with artists in mind from different genres, just because they have learned how to make their songs fit into other genres. The rhythm and groove of the songs allows this to happen. So, the more you learn about the rhythms and grooves of other genres, the more expansive your songwriting skills will become.

Lastly, if you have limited skills playing a guitar or keyboards, it will make writing songs a lot more difficult. But fortunately, there is technology available to help anyone wanting to develop their songwriting skills. The most fantastic software available on the market for accomplishing this is called, Band-In-A-Box, made by PG Music. It is what I have been using for the last eight years. I’m not doing a sales pitch here, I’m just sharing my main tool for songwriting and practicing. Having said all that, now go write some hits!

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songwriting tips joe robinson

1. Having a solid melodic, rhythmic and lyrical structure is essential. It’s hard to come up with something that hasn’t been done before, but I believe it’s worth persevering.

Study the great songs and their writers to learn about these elements and find your own style using their influences.

2. It has to connect with people. In my opinion it is a mistake to get caught up trying to sell a song that people don’t seem to resonate with. You’re better off trying to write a new one and throwing it in the pile of “not quite good enough”. By the same token if you have songs people keep asking for… play them! But keep persevering to get better.

Songwritin 3. Caring about the craft. From what I’ve observed, the great writers take enormous pride in their work and really try to make every element count. Writing consistently and striving to be more truthful and expressive is necessary if you want to create a catalog of meaningful songs. This may sound like a given, but many make the mistake of prioritizing production and gimmicks over the craft of writing.

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songwriting tips john knowles

1. When something catches your ear/eye, write it down in a Notebook without worrying about what you’ll do with it later. When it’s time to write, you’ll have a bunch of ideas…I call them Song Starters.

For example, a while back, I noticed some stuffed animals, including a chicken in a raincoat, in a shop window. I wrote “chicken with raincoat” in my notebook.

2. When you sit down to write, flip through your notebook. You’ll notice that some phrases suggest rhythms or melodies. Others might tickle your funny bone or evoke a feeling.

Convert your Song Starter into a Working Title that summarizes what you’ve got so far.

I decided “Chicken in the Rain” had potential.

3. Now it’s time to grab your guitar in order to bring your idea to life. Sing Your Title as you look for tempo, groove, etc. Follow your song in new directions rather than down well-worn paths. Don’t worry that you can’t play what you’re writing. You can practice later. Be ready to toss a lick or chord that is not moving your masterpiece forward. You’ll know when you get there.

As I worked on Chicken in the Rain, I held onto that wet chicken. It took me a few days to write it and a few more days to learn it.

Postscript: I went back to the gift shop to buy that chicken and saw that it was a duck. A duck in a raincoat would never have caught my attention. Oh, well…

Extra Credit: Search YouTube for James Corden Paul McCartney. You’ll see all of these ideas in action as they drive around Liverpool.

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songwriting tips johnny hiland

1) First, your song has to have a good melody and hook. That is the most important part of the process. If you have a good melody and hook, everything else will fall into place. I remember back when I was preparing for my first record with Steve Vai and Favored Nations. I was writing like a madman trying to impress the maestro himself.

As I submitted my first song ideas, Steve taught me that to create a great instrumental, you need that perfect hook that draws people in to your song. It has to be recurring, and be a melody that is addicting. It has to stick in your mind, even when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not listening to it or playing it. That is how important the melody and hook really are in the overall perfection of songwriting. Then, you can determine how many verses and choruses you need and so on.

2) The second most important part of creating a great song is that the song has to tell a story, and lead you on a journey. It has to have a great intro, verses, a chorus or two, a lead section, and then offer an outro that leaves you wanting to hear the song again and again. The outro could also just bring you to a perfect landing spot which leaves you feeling fulfilled. Song structure is very crucial in how the song flows. Always pay close attention to this part of it.

Now, if you are confused on what separates the difference between a vocal song or an instrumental, I can help clear this up for you as I write both styles of songs. The major difference is that a vocal song tells a story to go along with a great melody. An instrumental takes you on a journey using that melody. There have been many times where I have written a great melody, finished it as an instrumental, and then found that words came based on that hook line and melody later. That is the true beauty of music.

There are no boundaries or fences. There are endless options and an open roadmap for you to use to be creative.

3) The last thing that I would say is most important in writing a great song (after you work out a killer melody and great song structure), is now you need to make sure that your song suits the theme of where the rest of your record will take you. The songs that you place on a record have to fit together well. This is not an easy task. In fact, most writers just write for the song itself, writing one song at a time. Over the years, I have found that I like to write songs that fit the album project that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m working on. It seems to bring more direction for me as a writer. This just may be something new for you to keep in mind during your writing experience. Often, here in Nashville, writers get together and even write songs to suit certain artists. That is pretty cool as well. That brings up another great point. Never be afraid to turn to other great writers to help you finish your songs. Rick and Justin Bowman, Ron Lutrick, my own sweet Kimmie girl, and others have helped me write through the years. I am always thankful for their input, and sometimes, a whole new way of looking at things when I write. Needless to say, the art of writing a song is incredible! Never give up on a song! If it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel good one day, put it in the drawer until the next day. Some songs take years to write! Never give up on it! When you are finished, you feel a sense of completion and satisfaction.

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£ songwriting tips Jon Herington

1) Write a lyric you can believe in. I trust we all are too familiar with the songcraft of so much pop music out there that fails to move us. I sincerely hope you’ve all discovered lots of music of real integrity, which, though clearly in the minority, makes permanent impressions on serious listeners. It is only those songs with that real integrity that can inspire genuine lyric writing that will have universal appeal. Identify and immerse yourself in that great music.

For some, lyric writing comes easy, for others, great patience is required. For everyone, however, it seems helpful in the beginning to try to create conditions that allow for a kind of “flow” to occur. Find a way to open the faucet. Also for everyone, it seems important to be able to switch gears at a later stage in the writing and do serious editing. Many writers fail to realize how much of a difference great revising and editing can make in the quality of a song.

2). Make the melody compelling. Please don’t settle too soon when considering the effectiveness of your melody. There are too many songs that remain mediocre only because a songwriter failed to make that extra effort to ensure that the melody was as compelling as possible.

Consider range over the course of the song, with a particular concern for how the chorus might differ from the verse (if your song is structured that way); make sure there is the right blend of repetition and the introduction of new material to keep the listener engaged; and make the melody and lyric natural and easy to sing, as it’s the best way to make sure your lyrics get heard.

3) Find the best musical milieu for your lyric. Work diligently to marry your words to the right music. Though occasionally an ironic pairing can work (“Every Breath You Take”) by contrasting the character of the music with the lyric, a great song typically has music that works in tandem with the lyric to create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. There’s nothing greater in a song than when the music creates a context which both directs the attention and opens the heart of the listener in such a way that the lyric acquires an emotional power it could never have had on its own.

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By most definitions, a song is a short bit of music designed for someone to sing. Singing is vocalizing in musical tones, usually with intentionally fixed pitches. With that in mind, a writer of a song must deliver at least two elements: a rhythm (the single essential ingredient for any bit of music), and a melody (a pleasing succession of musical tones), which is to be sung. Words are the optional, but an overwhelmingly common third element. Thus, their inclusion, along with rhythm and melody, constitute the basic essentials of song. So in one sense, that’s all there is to it: the three fundamentals of songwriting are rhythm, melody, and lyrics. But in another sense, there’s much, much more.

- Jon Herington

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songwriting tips kelly richey

1) Write! Practice the art of writing for at least 10 minutes each day. Set a timer and write without stopping, without editing, without thinking about what you’re writing!

Writing is great for the creative soul. Writing is where we learn to listen. Writing is a safe place to explore what we feel, to sort things out, and to cultivate our ideas and our dreams. As a writer, I’ve always found that a piece of paper always listens and if you pick up a pen and write, the words will find their way to you.

2) You don’t need words to write! You can create instrumental music, and you always have the option of adding lyrics later. Some of the most powerful songwriting experiences I have are when I go into my studio, open up Ableton Live, create a beat that inspires me to want to play, hit record and jam for as long as I feel like it. When I allow myself the freedom to play without thinking true creativity seems to happen. If I record what I play, I have the security of knowing that no idea is ever lost. And when I record to a loop then anything I play can be used to build a song.

For example, I might record for 20 minutes straight and find that there are a halfdozen powerful riffs that I can build a song around. Sometimes I come up with a chord progression or a melody line that I like. I use a Pigtronix Infinity Looper because it’s clean and it allows me to midi sync to Ableton Live, giving me the flexibility to create a rhythm track that I can play a lead over on the fly. Remember, if you don’t record it, you won’t remember it, and if you don’t record it to a time source, you’ll have to do it again, and something’s are hard to recreate.

3) Make friends with your Muse! Never, never, never let an idea slip past you; write it down, capture it on your voice recorder, something! We all get hit with a great idea for a song, we think that we’ll remember it, so we don’t capture it, and then we forget it, and it’s gone. Our ideas and our inspirations come from our Muse -- our Muse is very real. If we ignore our Muse and don’t take the time to capture the ideas that come to us, the Muse will go away. Our Muse has feelings. Our Muse is an actual part of who it is that we are and we need to build a healthy relationship with it IF we want to have a healthy creative life.

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songwriting tips robben ford

1. It’s necessary to have an idea of what the song is about and not just be fishing for words that rhyme. I find that searching for a rhyme is a great obstacle to fleshing out the idea; so don’t worry about the rhyme too much at first and stick with the substance of the story.

2. Try as many permutations of the way you say something and a variety of chords and chord voicing as you can. Take your time, no need to rush.

3. Your first line should have some imagery built into it, be provocative or evocative.

songwriting tips sheryl bailey

1) It starts with a melody. Without a melody, it’s just a bunch of chords, or maybe one chord if it’s just a vampy jam. So to me, what makes it happen is a good melodic line, the phrase that you go away singing in your head all day, the haunting aspect of a great tune. If you have a good line, everything falls into place underneath it.

2) Understand the fundamentals of good harmony, because a melody can imply many different harmonies, if you’re open to hearing them. In general, my philosophy of composing is that the song already exists in the universe and I’m just taking down dictation, transcribing it from the ethers, so quieting my mind to listen closely to what the song really is, not what I THINK it is, makes the process move along, without my opinions or judgments. Once I hear my melody, I clear my mind and open myself up to the harmonic possibilities that can go along with it and that can really lead me somewhere I often never expect.

3) Don’t judge it. Let it be. The worst thing you can do is to force a tune or song into being. I write a lot of music, I’m writing all the time, and the thing that keeps me going is that I’m not putting the weight of the world on each tune. If I write a tune and it’s not the “most amazing song ever written in the history of music” I’m ok with that. There will be another opportunity just around the bend to write something else, so with this in mind, it encourages me to just keep writing. The more you write, the more you develop your style and flow with writing. To get good at something, you have to do it A LOT, so by not judging it, I stay in the game. So for instance, maybe it doesn’t NEED a bridge, maybe it doesn’t NEED a modulation, maybe it doesn’t have to be 32 bars, etc. These are often guidelines that we feel we need to fulfill to finish a piece of music. Let the song be itself.

Listen closely and you’ll hear what it truly is.

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songwriting tips marcy marxer

1. Lyric Writing - Study the craft of lyric writing by studying words, word play and poetry. A love of words is the most important part of lyric writing. Write or print out the lyrics to songs in the genre you of your choice. Read them through a few times so you get a feeling for the way they were written. Are they concise? Do they tell a story? Do they appear to be well edited? How do the sounds of the vowels and consonants fit into the lines?

If you Jazz, look at the lyrics of Sammy Cahn and Johnny Mercer. Print out the lyrics and look at the rhyme schemes. Are there unexpected rhymes? Are there rhymes in the middle of the lines? Studying the great writers teaches us to appreciate every detail. If you write in the Folk and other genres, try looking at the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton. In the country music genre, which cover a huge range of music listen to Cindy Walker, The Carter Family, Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard.

When ideas flow, write down everything. Don’t count on remembering them on the fly. Have lined paper and a pen or a pencil with an eraser ready at all times. Paper makes it easy to see where you’ve been. There’s a clear paper trail. You might make changes in a line and decide later it was better a month ago. Leaving a clear trail makes it easy to revisit older ideas.

After writing down every idea it’s time for the most important work of songwriting, Editing. Edit out everything that doesn’t fit or get the point across. Change wording for clarity of meaning and to fit the rhyme scheme.

Make sure syllables fit the meter. Make sure your song says what you want to say.

2. Melody and Instrumental Music Writing - There are many ways to approach writing a melody or an instrumental piece of music. The more types of music you listen to, the more inspiration you may have. The more types of scales you’re familiar with, the more melodic ideas you’ll have. The more types of chords you know, the more musical settings you’ll create.

I write both songs and instrumental music. I personally find that nothing inspires writing better than homework. An assignment is a turbo charger to writing. Give yourself an assignment and keep working on it until you’re happy with the final result. I work on soundtracks for National Geographic, MSNBC and PBS. In that circumstance, the assignment is provided. The challenge is that there is a very tight timeline for the final product. I’ve provided instrumental music to sharks swimming toward prey, amorous Giant Chinese Panda Bears, hornets, kids, buildings, neighborhoods around the world, planets, news stories...the list goes on and on. The skills that are most useful in composing music are a working knowledge of chords, scales and tune structures.

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Quick Start Guides Here’s a very easy way to jump-start your songwriting. There are two books that I highly recommend. Get a copy of “A Poetry Handbook - A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry,” by Mary Oliver. “A Poetry Handbook” is 130 pages of brilliance with references to classic poems.

The other book that will provide endless inspiration is “The Complete Rhyming Dictionary” by Clement Wood and revised by Ronald Bogus. The first 100 pages of Clement Wood’s book explains rhythm, rhyme, types of meter, correct and incorrect rhymes, stanzas, couplets and more. The rest of the book is the best rhyming dictionary on the market with monosyllabic rhymes, double rhymes and triple rhymes. “The Complete Rhyming Dictionary” is a feast of words and inspiration.

–Marcy Marxer

Jamming is another way to kickstart tune writing. Jam until you hear a concrete idea or phrase. Stop and record the phrase in a way that doesn’t interfere with your flow of ideas. Use a phone or other easy to operate device. This is just a reference for you. It doesn’t need to be high quality. Continue jamming until another sweet line shows up. Arrange your phrases into structure. Jamming endlessly is great!

If you’re writing for your ears only, do what ever you like. If you are hoping to play instrumental music for others you’ll need a structure that the audience will be able to relate to. That structure could be as simple as a beginning, middle and end or AABA. Take your people along for the ride.

3. Build your Writer’s Toolbox - Chords, scales, riffs, stories, jokes, rhythms, rhymes and meter will all be elements of your “writer’s toolbox.” Keep track of ideas and even fragments of ideas. Keep songs that aren’t quite working, they might be useful later. Keep newspaper articles that might inspire a song.

Develop the art of giving yourself assignments. Try writing a song from a point of view that’s far from your own. Write from the point of view of a child. Write a Jingle for something. Write an instrumental dance tune. Try a waltz. Try and try again. Writing is a lot like playing an instrument. Put the right practice pieces in place and you’ll see the results.

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A solid story, a singable melody, and just enough ambiguity for folks to read themselves in to the song.

- Stephen Mougin

songwriting tips vicki genfan

1. Ask “why do I want to write this song?” Do I want to share a personal experience?

Connect with others? Do I want to comment about some external situation? Do I simply want to have fun? Do I want to make people laugh? Relax? Feel something?

Hide something? Am I writing for another artist? Connect with yourself. Feel whatever’s there. In my 30 + years of writing both songs with words and instrumentals, I find that when I write from a “connected” place, it feels more authentic (I happen to like authenticity, but it’s not a requirement for songwriting). Also, it can sometimes help to quiet the internal “editor” who loves to tell me why what I’m doing is wrong, sucks or is generally non-inspired. If I know for instance, that I’m writing a song for a country artist, I may chose to use certain chord progressions, melodic aspects and song forms. If on the other hand, I am writing for my own enjoyment and self expression, I may follow an inspiring progression, melody or lyric and just go where it takes me…giving myself permission to be more “free flowing.”

2. GROOVE! Does your song have a good groove? Groove refers to “feel.” Can you move to it? Then it has groove. If you need help with this, try listening to some of your favorite songs...songs that make you move. See if you can identify what makes that song groove. What’s the rhythm section doing? Guitars? Keys? You’ll find a lot of information about groove coming from the bass, drums and rhythm guitarist in most bands. Or, if you’re listening to John Mayer or Ed Sheeran playing solo, check out their strumming or finger picking patterns. Can you do something similar?

3. Synthesis of song form, lyrics, phrasing and melody. (Or just song form, melody and phrasing if it’s an instrumental). There’s a lot to this, and feel free to have a private lesson with me to go deeper into each of these songwriting “essentials”!

People love repetition. But if you repeat something too many times, we get bored, zoned out, sleepy...so make your melody interesting, use some repetition, but throw in some surprises too. Make sure your lyrics sit well on top of your groove. Learn about metaphor and simile in your lyric writing. Decide what structure or form works best for your song. Some songs don’t have a chorus, some rely heavily on the strength and “hooky-ness” of the chorus. Phrasing refers to the way you shape your lyrics, melody or notes to express a particular feeling, mood or idea. We do this by altering the tone, inflection, rhythm, volume, tempo or other aspects. Play around with this and record yourself using a few different variations of phrasing to see what you like best.

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

Songwriting £Directory ANDY TIMMONS

CATHY FINK

CHRISTINE LENÉE

COREY CONGILIO

HENRY JOHNSON

JOE ROBINSON

JOHN KNOWLES

JOHNNY HILAND

JON HERINGTON

KELLY RICHEY

MARCY MARXER

ROBBEN FORD

SHERYL BAILEY

STEPHEN MOUGIN

VICKI GENFAN

| ONLINE LINK DIRECTORY | RIFFJOURNAL.COM/LINKS-V15

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carl verheyen carl verheyen

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

I’ve been in the British band Supertramp since 1985. At one point during a concert at the Roman Coliseum in Nimes, France, the full moon rose between the ancient arches.

On that balmy summer night I realized I was in a venue that’s been a GIG for over 2000 years. I’ll never forget that magical sight from the stage...and I wonder how many performers (or gladiators!) saw it throughout the years?

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Adam Miller Adam miller

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

Seeing the Charlie Hunter Trio play at a little festival outside of Rochester NY. I’d been a fan of Charlie for over 10 years and living in Australia had never had a chance to see him live. The first time I went for a trip to the USA I made sure to organise my trip around seeing one of his shows. It was a mission to get there from NYC - 10hr bus trip and my bag got stolen from under the bus (another story). I expected this festival to be huge with thousands of people and when I turned up there were about 70 people there. I was able to sit right in front of the stage and take in everything. Charlie and his trio were on fire (Mistico album era). Being able to see & hear Charlie up close was absolutely mind blowing and completely inspiring. Changed my whole musical life. I got the courage up after the set to give him one of my albums that had a song I wrote in dedication to him. After a brief chat he offered to drive me back to the hotel I was staying as I had no way of getting back! We had some dinner and became good friends after that!

chris buono Chris buono

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

Genesis Mama Tour, The Spectrum, Philadelphia 1983. This was my first concert. I was 11. My two older brothers and some of their friends took me.

These guys were Gods to me - my brothers, their buds and Genesis. Thanks to all these guys, my whole life was music already, including a LOT of prog rock with Genesis at the forefront. I’ll never forget seeing those lights and hearing the sound of a concert crowd for the first time. I was completely hooked on live music. Every time I hear Home By the Sea I think of that show.

Every time I hear Mama I think of Phil’s face in the single light they shined on him from the bottom when he did the cryptic laugh. To this day, I try to sound like Tony Banks. Yes, the keyboard player - have you met me? HA!

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david wallimanN david wallimann

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

This one goes way back to 1995. I was 18 and my buddy and I skipped school to go see Joe Cocker in Marseille, France, which was a 30-minute train ride from where I grew up. This was my first real concert. Such a great show!

frank vignola frank vignola

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

George Benson at the Concord Jazz Festival around 1997. A singer, who shall remain nameless, stayed on the stage way too long for her set. She was so bad the crowd starting leaving, while the hardcore fans kept yelling, “Bring on George”. When he finally came onto the stage, the crowd of 10,000 had dwindled to about 1,000. He invited everyone to the front of the stage and played a slamming 90-minute set that even had me dancing! Wow, what a guitar player, singer and entertainer.

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doug munro doug munro

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

The most memorable concert I ever attended was seeing the Young Rascals at the Armory in Yonkers, NY in the summer of 1967. The Armory was not a performance venue; it was a military building on North Broadway with a large open space on the first floor. For some reason, it was decided that this would be a good venue for a show, which it was! A two-tier stage was put up that was high enough so everyone in the space could see. Felix Cavaliere’s organ and Dino Dinelli’s drums were set on the second tier with Eddie Brigati and Gene Cornish in front of them on the first tier. There were no seats. We all crowded into the Armory and filled it to over flowing. I was so young my mom drove and dropped me (and a friend) off to see the gig! We were one of the first there so we were right up front against the blue police barricades that separated us from the stage. It’s funny to think back realizing there was no security or any way to exit from where we were. It was just 1,000 kids packed as tight as possible to see this band from Long Island. The place was full of musicians and fans. All the musicians were there to see a local band that had made it big. “Good Lovin’” was a bonified #1 hit song. The gig was like a giant celebration of their success. Of course Gene had his trademark Gibson Barney Kessel guitar that never left his side. I wasn’t even playing guitar yet! I was playing drums in a band called “Jack”, named after the father of the kid whose basement we practiced in. He hated us making all that noise in his basement until we named the band after him, then he loved us! I was super focused on Dino Dinelli, I copied how he set up his drums and cymbals.

Everybody had champagne sparkle Ludwig drumsets like his. Mine was actually burgundy sparkle because they ran out of the champagne color! I was 14 years old and playing my first paying gigs around Yonkers, Mt. Vernon and New Rochelle. Seeing the Rascals live cemented my desire and sealed my fate to be a professional musician. I will never forget it.

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jennifer batten jennifer batten

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

Brad Paisley’s H20 Tour - there are only a handful of players that exude that unspoken cream of the crop energy you can’t put your finger on. Others can take elements from it, but far from reach the same level of emotional connection. I hadn’t been to a big stage show in quite a while and I found all the elements of his show so fresh, cutting-edge and satisfying, I’ll never forget it. I’m typically not much of a country music fan, but Brad’s quirky creativity (and sometimes comedy) caught my ear years ago. He is one of those rare talents that shine in multiple disciplines. His wicked guitar playing is a given, but he also sings really well, writes engaging memorable lyrics, creates animated film, and creates a show with such a variety of textures and visuals, you feel like you’ve gone on a two-hour rollercoaster of thrills.

justin schroder justin schroder

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

My most memorable concert is George Thorogood in Roanoke, Virginia. It was the first big-name concert with my daughter, and George has the best Rock-and-Roll Parties!

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pierre bensusan pierre bensusan

What is the most memorable concert youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever attended, and why?

TAKE 6 in Paris, France, at Theatre du Chatelet. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always loved Gospel, but when mixed with R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Latino and sang in an out-of-this-world, exhilarating way like only Take 6 can do, the audience of 1,800 people that night came out with a communicative joy and smiles pouring out.

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Raymond Nijenhuis Raymond Nijenhuis

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

Status Quo, Feb 18th, 1979 Zwolle, The Netherlands. My first ever rock concert. I was only 11 years old and dad took me to see this band. It made an everlasting impression on this youngster. Rock n’ roll and telecasters galore!

Rob Garland Rob Garland

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

A few come to mind, but I’d have to go with Prince. I’ve never seen a performer so completely control an arena crowd the way he could and the musicianship of his band was just so good, so tight and yet able to jam and change direction based on Prince’s cues. I saw two nights at the Forum in L.A. and the set lists were completely different, the guests were different and yet both shows were equally mind-blowing. From full band arrangements and extended funk jams to an intimate mini-set featuring just Prince with an acoustic guitar, in terms of a concert experience those shows would be hard to top. at the Forum in L.A. and the set lists were completely different, the guests were different and yet both shows were equally mind-blowing. From full band arrangements and extended funk jams to an intimate mini-set featuring just Prince with an acoustic guitar, in terms of a concert experience those shows would be hard to top.

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Scott Allen Scott Allen

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

The most memorable concert I ever attended was my first one.

It was Great White and Tesla in the summer of ‘89. It was my first big outdoor rock show. Tesla shot the video for Love Song at that show. 12 years later I found myself in the studio with Frank Hannon from Tesla producing my first record! Memories!

maurice arenas maurice arenas

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

I would have to say that the most memorable concert I have seen has been within the past two years. The small concert was at Blues Alley in Washington DC and the headlining act was the legendary jazz pianist McCoy Tyner. Blues Alley is a small intimate nightclub and seeing McCoy Tyner play that evening was absolutely breathtaking. I must’ve literally been 15 feet away from his piano that whole evening.

When the show was about to start, his son gently helped him walk up to the stage, because he’s getting up there in age (please bear in mind that he is the last living member of the enigmatic John Coltrane quartet). It was amazing having a senior of his age transform before my ears into a fiery virtuosic young man. Everything he played that night, from the first song to the last was brilliant. He played ballads, he played fast tempos, he played Latin Jazz. I felt indulged, and yet privileged, to be in the audience and you could literally hear a pin drop due to the attentiveness of everyone listening there. At the end of the evening, his son once again walked up the stage and helped him down. McCoy once again transformed into a kindly old gentleman with a friendly smile and a sparkle in his eye. I met him afterwards and thanked him for the wonderful concert and for being an inspiration to me musically. That night reminded me of the first time I heard jazz, the first time I heard John Coltrane’s quartet and I heard McCoy Tyner. There was wonder and amazement, beauty and passion. It was magical, and he still had that magic and shared it with us all.

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Sean McGowan sean mcgowan

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

Wow, there are just too many amazing and memorable concerts over the years to mention, so I guess I’ll start with one of my first: B.B. King! I’ll never forget this concert in Portland, Maine. I was about ten years old, and the great Duke Robillard (then with Roomful of Blues) was the opener, and was fantastic. Then B.B. came out with his incredible band and just blew us all away for the next 2.5 hours. I still get chills thinking of his stage persona, larger than life singing, and unbelievable guitar tone!

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Tony Smotherman tony smotherman

What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended, and why?

It was the summer of 1998 and I was 19 years old. I was a huge Yngwie fan, I listened to the guy day and night trying to figure that stuff out. On my way home from a store, I heard a radio advertisement on a rock station that “the guy who’s name you can’t pronounce, Yngwie Malmsteen” would be performing at a local club very close to my house. Excitement filled, as I couldn’t believe it. I called the venue the day of the show to check on the start time and could hear Yngwie blasting through his Marshall full volume unaccompanied and it was mesmerizing!

I thought maybe if I got there early I could watch the soundcheck and get my guitar signed. I got there really early (as in 4 hours early) with my guitar, hoping to get someone to hear my story and see soundcheck. So after being turned down by a few roadies, I waited the 4 hours and walked in with everyone else at admission time for the opening band. Long story short, I ended up talking to a lady who was selling Yngwie merch. We had a great conversation and I asked her if she knew Yngwie and she said yes, she was very close friends with the family. Just as we were taking, out comes Yngwie’s wife at that time (Amber Dawn). The merch lady called her over and asked her if I could meet Yngwie and get my guitar signed. Amber Dawn walked to the backstage area and in less than what seemed like 20 seconds summoned me to come back. I walked back there and there he was, The Maestro, sitting by himself. I remember having a KISS shirt on that said “KISS Army.” A puzzled Yngwie looks at my shirt and yells really loud “KISS??? KISS SUCKS!!!! and continued with this loud Viking laugh! He then welcomed me back to join him and signed my guitar and told me that I really needed to be playing Fender Stratocasters not Kramers, immediately he summoned his manager for “The Duck” his famous yellow Strat on the cover of the Rising Force album. Amazingly, he brought it on the Magnum Opus tour. Yngwie proceeds to hand me the tattered Strat plugged into a small Crate amp and tells me to “play”! I followed instructions from the Maestro and began playing all my harmonic minor and diminished licks. Yngwie, like a superhero, grabs the guitar from me and begins doing his long shreddy phrases literally 1 foot from my eyes.

I was in complete awe of witnessing this so close! He played a few licks, showed me a few things that he does and then handed me the guitar back and told me to “keep playing.” We just traded back-and-forth for about 40 minutes. I noticed an odd sticker of a prancing horse on the back of the guitar and asked him what it was and he said “that’s a Ferrari emblem, I’ve got 3 of those, a Maserati, and a Jaguar.” I think, at that moment, something happened to me, like a light bulb went off, that it’s possible to make a living playing guitar and MAYBE even drive a Ferrari! At this point, band members started coming backstage as the opening band was beginning to wrap up.

A security guard walks backstage and points right at me and says “You! Out!” I’m packing my stuff up, because I don’t want to over stay my welcome. Yngwie hears this and stands up and says, “why does he have to leave”? The security guard says, “well the crowd’s really starting to drink and he’s not 21, so he really shouldn’t be in here in the first place.“ Yngwie stands up right next to me and he put his arm around my shoulder and looked at me and said, “you cannot miss this show! You just can’t miss it. I want you to see this!” He looks at the security guy (after a few expletives) says, “well then, he sits on the side of the stage.” He proceeds to take the All Access Pass off his neck and put it on my neck and says, “you’ll enjoy the show from the stage as my guest.” I’m once again in complete disbelief. Could this night get any crazier? So I actually watched the entire show from the side of the stage with Yngwie doing an occasional nod of approval to me throughout the entire performance. Talk about a mind-blowing concert experience!

RIFF

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summer concert series artist directory ADAM MILLER

CARL VERHEYEN

CHRIS BUONO

DAVID WALLIMAN

DOUG MUNRO

FRANK VIGNOLA

JENNIFER BATTEN

JUSTIN SCHRODER

MAURICE ARENAS

PIERRE BENSUSAN

RAYMOND NIJENHUIS

ROB GARLAND

SCOTT ALLEN

SEAN MCGOWAN

TONY SMOTHERMAN

SUMMER 2018 | ISSUE 15

| ONLINE LINK DIRECTORY | RIFFJOURNAL.COM/LINKS-V15

RIFFAGE: JAM TRACK JUNCTION VOL. 2 Something special for you this issue! Included in this special edition of Riffage are the audio mp3 versions of the songs presented by the educators in the Repertoire section. We also have an accompanying Jam Track where they are used by the artist for education purposes. This way you have both tracks - one to hear and be inspired by and the other to help you in your own practice regime. Dig in and click the download button below for your personal copy of RIFFAGE Jam Track Junction, Volume 2.

Karen - Adrian Legg Falling Up - Allen Hinds Cannonball Rag - Alonzo Pennington Milan Pavan - Andrew Leonard Drifting - Andy McKee Electric Gypsy - Andy Timmons Tears From Above - Corey Congilio Slow Fuse - David Hamburger Todo Lo Que Eres - Diego Figueiredo Highlands - Jeff McErlain Right on Track - John Hatcher Country Rock - Johnny Hiland Room 335 - Larry Carlton Ice Man - Oz Noy Roll With It - Robben Ford Eight More Miles to Loiusville - Roberto Dalla Vecchia Reasurring Response - Sean McGowan Haba Na Haba - Tommy Emmanuel

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RIFF

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