Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Kissology Vol. 1

February 1, 2007 by john No Comments »

Kissology Vol 1Back in 1975 I became aware of KISS for the first time. At the age of 11 it was pretty much a perfect combination of forces: loud, scary, and completely parent-disapproved. There was also something really cool about the four characters in the band. Overall, it really resonated with me.

I freely admit that I still think KISS is pretty cool. And for pretty much the same reasons as before. Ultimately, either you get it and like them, or you don’t. No amount of explanation will convince you either way.
read more…

 

Adventures In The Land Of The Preons

January 8, 2007 by john No Comments »

In December 2006 I began to rehearse with a new band called the preons. The band has been around for a few years and has released some music on CD. It’s a bit of a new experience for me since I’m playing bass in this setting. The music is an interesting mix of pop, rock, jazz and earnest folkiness. My first objective was to learn the existing material, so I transcribed the bass parts as recorded by the band’s former bassist. I consider it my responsibility to perform these parts very closely to the recorded versions.

We also started right in on some new material, which is coming along nicely. The band has an interesting collective musical sense that often manifests itself in unexpected chord substitutions and harmonic structure. One of my bandmates, Brad Nelson, is a friend from work who also has a degree in music. I’ve been impressed with his trumpet and keyboard playing, and it’s a lot of fun to play together.
read more…

 

Prince At The Superbowl

December 12, 2006 by john No Comments »

Today I found out Prince will headline the US Superbowl halftime entertainment on February 4th. I, for one, applaud this choice. He’s a stunningly talented musician / songwriter / performer. I have long been a fan of his royal purple funky weirdness, and this will make the Superbowl all the groovier. It’s up there with the year KISS played during halftime… the Superbowl is a high-definition entertainment extravaganza, and the halftime show should be as over-the-top as humanly possible.

 

Working On Bass

December 11, 2006 by john No Comments »

Beginning in early December I started putting in more time with my basses. It’s taken some time to become accustomed to the longer scale length of my five string. And I’m still working on my intonation on the fretless. But overall it’s going pretty well and I am beginning to feel pretty comfortable with it. I have always really preferred the tone of (right hand) fingers on the strings rather than the sound of a pick. One small advantage is that I play classical guitar, so I have reasonably good right hand technique for the three main types of plucking strokes. In addition, I know how to slap and pop, so I have some choices for timbre.

 

Bass Amp

November 29, 2006 by john No Comments »

Behringer Ultrabass BXL3000AUp to this point, I’ve been playing my basses through my trusty guitar rig, but it’s really not ideal. This week I am going to order myself a bass amp. I’ve been looking at specifications and asking other players for advice. I am planning to order a Behringer Ultrabass BXL3000A. With 300 watts and built-in compression/limiting, it should handle my needs easily.

 

Einstürzende Neubauten

October 23, 2006 by john 2 Comments »

Einstürzende NeubautenEinstürzende Neubauten first performed on April 1, 1980 in Berlin. They’re generally considered an “industrial” band, and that is a reasonable description of their sound, although most people think of industrial music as having more of a techno beat, e.g. Nine Inch Nails or Skinny Puppy. I would be tempted to classify their music as being similar to the futurist style of Luigi Russolo, in which the music is inspired by the sounds of human industry.

EN employs wide array of instruments of their own construction, along with found objects and some traditional instruments. Their music has a complex compositional style and the band has invented its own notation system for internal use when arranging and recording. The band’s name Einstürzende Neubauten means “collapsing new buildings” or “new buildings falling down”. Their logo is reputed to be an ancient Toltec design, and it happens to be tattooed on my right arm.

 

Buckethead

October 19, 2006 by john No Comments »

BucketheadBack in 1988 I was a subscriber to “Guitar Player” magazine. In the back pages of each issue, the editors would review musical submissions from up-and-coming guitar talents. One of the big mentions that year was an enigmatic guitarist who called himself “Buckethead”. It’s generally believed that his real name is Brian Caroll, but he is something of a mystery. Buckethead wears a white plastic mask covering his face and a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on his head. He is 6’6″ tall (over 7 feet tall with the bucket) and never speaks when on stage. And he claims that he was raised by chickens and lived in a chicken coop. Moreover, he is fascinated with Disneyland, particularly the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. His web site is essentially a strange haunted amusement park full of monsters and robots. Many of his CDs carry this theme as well.
read more…

 

Guitar Setup

September 25, 2006 by john No Comments »

Last week I took my favorite electric guitar to Mike Lull for a set up. On a stringed instrument like a guitar or bass, a “set up” involves things like adjusting the action, intonation, neck relief and other mechanical aspects of the playing geometry. Generally, I do my own guitar work since I have a pretty good idea of how I want things to be on my instruments. But I wanted to have this guitar get a detailed shop setup from Mike. He’s considered to be one of the best – if not THE best – luthier in the Northwest, and his shop rates are actually fairly reasonable considering his reputation for excellence. All in all, I’m delighted with the results, and feel the money was well spent.

read more…

 

TC Electronics GForce

September 6, 2006 by john No Comments »

TC Electronics G ForceMy guitar rig is really pretty simple. I’ve got a preamp, a processor, and a power amp. The audio processing (modulation/delay/reverb effects, equalization, filtering, etc) is all handled by one smart black box – a TC Electronics GForce. The technical specifications on this device are impressive. It has a 24-bit 128x oversampling processor with over 105 dB of dynamic range, 20 Hz – 20kHz frequency response and 0.005% THD. I ordered my unit before the first shipments had even left Denmark. I had used TC Electronics gear in the studio and knew the company’s reputation for high quality, so when they announced the release of a new guitar-centric processor, it was an easy decision. It replaced a fairly expensive multi-effect unit that I was reasonably satisfied with, but I knew that the GForce would have that legendary TC reverb and chorus. From the first day I received it I was delighted with the audio quality and lush effects. I’m 100% satisfied with it, and no other piece of equipment in my rig can make that claim.

read more…

 

Fralin Guitar Pickups

September 5, 2006 by john No Comments »

I’ve long been one of those mad scientist musicians who modifies equipment to improve sound or extend functionality. Whenever I get some new piece of gear, it’s just a matter of time before I fire up my soldering iron. My main Stratocaster is a mid-1990s “Ultra” model, which came equipped with a set of Seymour Duncan pickups installed. It sounded good but I suspected it was possible to squeeze a little extra mojo out of that great guitar by installing a set of Fralin pickups. Lindy Fralin custom-manufactures some of the very best (and therefore expensive) electric guitar pickups available. His approach to pickup making is to recreate the most desirable tonal characteristics of vintage models, using the same materials and construction techniques, but by applying much tighter quality control. The result is a newly built pickup that sounds like an ideal vintage model.
read more…