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Captain Beefheart we’ll miss ya!

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Captain Beefheart aka Don Van Vliet, passed away early this morning in California from complications of multiple sclerosis. He was 69. He was definitely an American original that simple cannot be replaced.

While most of Don Van Vliet’s work was considered too off the wall for most listeners, I thought it was gutsy and creative to see a musician push the envelope where not many have gone before!

Early on his music helped me think about playing guitar in different way. Don’s approach to music was very different from what all of the guys around me were playing and listening to while growing up in a small town. When I put an album of his on the record player, my buddies would sit there and say nothing … really. I guess they didn’t know what to think about it. His music didn’t always have a familiar rhythm to it I think.

Don’s drive was blues based music, with a big twist. He never was looking for commercial success, just like his good friend and fellow band mate Frank Zappa. He left the music scene in 1982 and tool up painting.

Go to this link for a fabulous article about the man.

I will have Captain Beefheart and his family in my prayers tonight.

Keep on Jammin’ Don where ever you are!!!





Time Flies when you listen to great music

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I just happened stumble upon this great tune called Time Flies by Porcupine Tree. Chris Noto, the best prog. rock bass player that I’ve ever had the opportunity to play with, told me about this band.

I was on facebook a couple of weeks ago and Chris did a little post about this band. I had to see what Chris was talking about so I clicked on the video.

The first thing about this video is that it was visually striking and it flowed so naturally. My Consciousness instinctively relaxed in some unique unexplainable way. I honestly found my mind floating away. Us musicians, we’re truly an odd bunch now aren’t we? No wonder non musicians have trouble figuring us out!

The hypnotic guitar intro was what grabbed my attention right off the bat. The strumming, with it’s slight delay on the 2nd channel/track of the guitar, created the ideal full sound that I look for in playing a tune. I knew right away that I could pull Time Flies off fairly effortlessly. I love some of the dischord(s) that they use, hidden deep inside the chord structure. It’s the subtle things in songs that get me going!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8jm61vk2Ao

Now after listening to the song a number of times, I do a youtube search ( 1st, 2nd, 3rd) on how other guitarist’s play it. I then grab the best ones and incorporate all of them together. i find this as easy as getting up in the morning and putting on a pair of pants. To some musicians, they might find the journey a little more difficult.

Here is the chord progressions in basic TAB (tablature) form that I use for this tune. I use a Capo on the 5th fret in standard tuning. Try them out and see if I’m onto something here?

A7sus4
E A D G B E
x 0 2 0 3 0

A7sus2
E A D G B E
x 0 2 0 0 0

FM7/A
E A D G B E
x 0 3 2 1 0

FM9/A
E A D G B E
x 0 3 5 5 3

FM7/A
E A D G B E
x 0 3 2 1 0

G6
E A D G B E
3 5 5 4 0 0

CM7
E A D G B E
x 3 5 5 0 0

Keep on Jammin’

Mohan Veena is where East meets West, musically that is!

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Through the eyes of the average North American, the Mohan Veena appears to look like a modified acoustic guitar with a generous sprinkling of the Sitar added in for good measure. At first glance most guitarists wouldn’t know whether to look for the strap on this thing or just lay it across their laps.

The name, Mohan Veena, is drawn from it’s creator Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

The basic form of the Mohan Veena is taken from a modified Archtop acoustic guitar. It consists of 20 strings, three strummed and used for melody, five drone strings strung to the peghead, and twelve sympathetic strings strung to the tuners mounted on the side of the neck. The next part of the instrument is directly taken from the sitar.

Pandit took a tumba (made up of your basic gourd) then attached it along the back of the neck with screws. The neck itself is hollow. This allows the sound travel up from the body towards the head of it. By having a greater hollowed out, wooden area, which gives the sound more area to vibrate, it helps create a much warmer, distinctive and improved sound quality to it.

You hold the Mohan veena just the same as you would any slide guitar, on your lap. The strings on the Mohan Veena has excess of around 500 pounds of stress between the tuning pegs and the lower body of it, when it is properly tuned that is. Also, the player uses metal finger picks and a metal slide to create a very interesting musical sound.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I have an old sitar upstairs, but it has definitely seen better days. The bottom of the sitar is beginning to split so I have to keep the strings loose on it, the screws that hold the tumba or the gourd on the neck needs attention, but it still looks awesome!

I just became aware of how beautiful this multi-stringed wonder is today and I felt that I had to share it with someone! So enjoy. If you’re curious about what this instrument looks like, please take a peek at this video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50gpwxARSrA

Keep on Mohan Veenan’!

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