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Elvis Costello playing Town Crier

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I saw Elvis Costello perform his song called Town Crier on his TV show Spectacle January 2010 and after hearing it for the first time I was hooked!

The song is a beautiful ballad that is so soft on the ears that it is difficult not to like it. He had the tables turned this time in playing the part of the interviewee? Mary Louise Parker is the interviewer that just sits there and melts for all to see. I know I did when I heard it.

I love how he just strums the strings on his acoustic guitar, a Stella I think, that gives off such a warm and inviting sound to the piece. This is a perfect example of how not using a pick can create a very intimate sound to a song. The chord structure and bridges that Mr Costello uses are simple and to the point.

In the beginning part before he starts playing, Elvis makes the point of saying that he would love to hear Barry White sing this one but with no disrespect to Barry, I think only Elvis could pull this one off. Mind you, it would be an interesting version for sure!

So sit back, turn down the lights, fire up a candle or two, OR if it’s raining outside get out your notebook and watch it while the rain is hitting the roof just right and enjoy!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c74V89CA8Y

Keep on Jammin’ Elvis





John Mayer says I Don’t need No Doctor

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As a guitarist who loves to show who and what has influenced his style over the years, John Mayer surely isn’t hiding his love for that Motown sound!

In the song I Don’t Need no Doctor by Motown songwriters Valerie Simpson and Nick Ashford while made popular by Ray Charles (1966), he pays a reverence to this genre. It’s also from his live performance DVD in LA titled Where The Light Is. The intro that he does for Neon is a real nice. Now back to my post!

Many bands have attempted to play this great song like Humble Pie, New Riders of the Purple Sage or W.A.S.P. (remember them?). John Mayer’s interpretation of this song closely resembles that of John Scofield, which features guess guitarist Mr. Mayer. In Ray Charles adaptation, he has a more upbeat rhythm were as John Mayer’s is performed with a slower tempo with a swampy bluesy swagger.

In I Don’t Need No Doctor, which is a classic 12 bar blues song in the key of E, John hooks his distinctive chording in it. The trumpet player Brad Mason and saxophone player Bob Reynolds fill out the song rather fittingly.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXWKMwnWP4Q

Here are some neat chord inversions that John Mayer plays in this one. For this song, I will provide you with the chords in TAB form that I think he uses. Please be patient with this new TAB tables that I am using here folks. I’m just seeing how it comes up on some people’s screen. Please tell me if there is a problem viewing this post, thanx!

     C#m7b5     Dm9     Cadd#4     A7sus4     B7sus4  
E  X X 0 5 7
B  4 4 2 5 7
G  2 3 0 7 9
D  3 1 3 5 7
A  1 2 1 7 9
E  X X X 5 7

Keep on Jammin’

The Crystal Method’s Double Down Under

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One night last week my wife and I saw a video on AUX TV from The Crystal Method performing their hit Double Down Under. It was a mix of many performances over many nights at the infamous Electric Daisy Festival. The band was on it’s Divided By Night Tour at the time and by the look of the 10,000 in attendance, it was one of those shows that you wish you had been there.

Heralded as ‘one of the best live dance acts on Earth,’ by the Village Voice (USA)

It was a very moving video. I found myself taking apart the song section by section in my mind, I’m always doing that to any music that I hear. It also got my heart a pumping and adrenalin a racing with the strong beats and bridges that it had. The visual effects that the band uses is not for those with the faint of heart. It could trigger an epileptic seizure for those afflicted with that disease if exposed to, for too long. It makes one wonder how much it costs the venue in electricity for a show like this, just a side thought.

TCM belongs to the style named the American Music genre. The band consist of two members, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland. Both of them were born in and local DJ’s in the Las Vegas, Nevada. Their studio albums are as follows

* Vegas (1997)
* Tweekend (2001)
* Legion of Boom (2003)
* Drive: Nike + Original Run (2006)
* Divided by Night (2009)


Rolling Stones (R.S.) call them a pair of basement beat scientists. This is a reference to where the band started off in, while perfecting their trade. As the story goes, they bought a home in Glendale, California, which had a small underground shelter beneath the front lawn. R.S. says the techno kings as comfortable on the dance floor as on rock radio, and just as wildly uneven. They also add that the band’s live performances throb with raw inspiration and intense sexual energy.

From a musicians point of view, dance music doesn’t seem all that much challenging at first glance. I use to share in that mindset until I was introduced to it by an old friend Rick Jones from the now defunct G-Force Media of Toronto. It was quite the exposure to this new genre of music that I did not appreciate up until then. He was also the guy that brought to my attention the Tone Port Line 6 and the APEX 420 microphone. The guy was a wizard sitting behind his massive sound board deep inside his recording studio.

Rick is a natural keyboardist with tons of other technical talent to boot. He showed me how he used loop effects, how to program them, then bring them up to be used at the drop of a finger during any song.

I have only a general interest in this form of music because it brings me to a place that I would normally in the past not appreciate. I am referring to the level of musicianship that I thought went along with it, that is. I now think of this type of music as very challenging in it’s own right.

So what do you think of The Crystal Method and their classification of music plus do you listen or play this school of playing?

Keep on Jammin’

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