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A great guitar intro to play

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The best guitar intro that I never did play live was the one that belongs to “Feels so good” by Chuck Mangione! I can appreciate some people saying OMG, what the hell is this guy on? But honestly, playing this one is a great feeling!

I have some fond memories with this one. I was around 13 years old, playing in a KISS tribute band called Deuce. Brain M.(guitar/bass/singer) and Eddie K. (drummer) were great guys to hang around with. The tunes we played were fun, but not that much challenging to me at the time.

My guitar guru/teacher the great Chris P. from Brantford, was always trying to direct me in very subtle ways towards Jazz AND GOD BLESS HIM FOR THAT!!! He started to introduce me to this neat form of music and I really liked it!

He showed me these chord progressions that just blew my mind! Imagine, who would have thought that there were more chords out there to play then just the ones I played. I was one of those kidz who picked up the guitar very easily. Everyone was always looking at me because they thought I knew everything … boy did this prove them wrong!

Then there was this song that was on the radio that I thought was JUST GREAT, the beginning and the solo part of it that is! The other parts were ok, but these were the parts I wanted to play. I let my buddy’s listen to it and you can only imagine what thy thought of it. This song was called Feel so good!

It was the first song that I started out listening to it and closing my eyes and concentrating on every little chord that the guitar player played. I tried to figure it out, I was always good at figuring out song but this was way out of my comfort zone. I then brought it up to my guru and he smiled at me and said that I’m ready!

His way of teaching me a song was to show me just small sections of a piece and would send me home to practise it over and over again until I mastered it and ONLY THEN would he show me the rest of it! To this day, THIS IS HOW I FIGURE OUT A SONG TO PLAY IN A BAND! Chris showed me to take a part song inside out before going on to the rest. It just makes sense to approach a song in this manor, got it CounterPoint! This is how I play!

So here is the solo part of the song that I fell in love with so many years ago and I want to share it with you. I only wish that I had the opportunity to of heard the late great Coleman Mellett’s interpretation of this master piece!

RIP Coleman Mellett, Keep on Jammin’





A Drummers ultimate Throne

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So this is where some drummers get their ideas from!

I recall one night while with some of my band mates and we were just sitting back watching the TV after practicing and hearing this weird tapping noise. At first we thought that it was water dripping from a tap and left it at that. Then after a short period of time I walked to where the sound was originating from (the john) and then I found out that is was the drummer going over a certain bridge of a song that we wee working on that night. He actually had his sticks with him!

Just a word to the wise here kidz, never handle a drummers sticks.

Keep on Jammin’

The Indaba Musician Networking scene

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The other day my beautiful wife was searching through the net when she came across this musical networking site. This site is called Indaba Music. They state that it is basically a on-line studio that anyone can upload their songs and let other musicians join in to play on it, that’s pretty awesome!

I can see real potential for musicians using this type of exchange/forum. Especially when they are looking for that elusive missing bridge or maybe an end to a chorus you just can’t finish. The opportunity for the real distinctive exchange of ideas for songs and their individual sections are endless! Remember that old saying, like minded people tend to gravitate towards each other. Really!

The networking aspect is great. Indaba stresses to Be Yourself, which has that nice warm, fuzzy feel to it. Like the atmosphere in your favorite coffee shop. The site seems to be set up for the average musician but, there is room for those diamonds in the rough to be found. You never know who you might find on here.

It must be nice to be a musician now a days because of the internet. I distinctly remember having to listen to a drummer over the phone, YES OVER THE PHONE, to determine if it was worth my while driving a fair distance to jam with the guy, to see if he would cut it being in a band with me. In today’s faster evolving musical world, specifically with advent of the internet, no phone is require for band auditions!

The best aspect of this site is the on site forum. You can learn a lot about looking at forums. Upon quickly skimming it, I found that the techies are hard at work. They seem to be answering almost all questions and it seems very active!

While searching through it, I found this psychedelic, Pink Floydish tune called Vibrate, check it out. There is also a list of those who helped out on it and you can contact them if you wish to invite them into your study on a certain song you have in your profile. On this one, there is a female vocalist who helps bring out a beautiful aspect to the song, that was missing in the beginning.

All though I haven’t signed up yet, I think it might be worth the gamble. I might even find someone on the site who is looking for that certain style or sound, that they might require to fill out a song. That’s where the fun of it is, for me that is!

Has anyone out there tried a site similar to this one? Better yet, is someone out there currently using this service and can shed some light on it for me/us?

Keep on Jammin’

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