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it has been awhile

| guitarbeau

Don’t know why, or won’t admit why it has been awhile.

speaks for itself me thinks

It will always be awhile.

Ah expectation the provocation of so much everything.
The multitudinous plausibility of possibility.

Amongst the plethora that is potentiality,
there are many capabilities that vie for attention.
The least of which given my proclivities is ironically,
vying for attention.
Before going too far off the intended trajectory of this post,
this is what seems pertinent to efforts here on the blog.
where the mission statement reads
MUSIC AND MEDIA TO INCITE INSIGHT AND INVIGORATE INNOVATION
the music and media are to be had in the gif above
feel free to use it to point out to those of us who are of the avoidant variety
that we are so inclined.

on the invigorating innovation front…

LEFT HANDED DRUMMING

The reasons for making a shift from dominant hand preference in creative pursuits are manifold.

The foremost it would seem is to become ambidextrous.
To have an equal capability in both hands.

Such as with the guitar.

Unlike the piano keyboard or drum kit where both hands are basically doing the same thing.
Each of the guitarist hands have a specific and unique role in producing sound from the instrument.
One hand picks plucks or strums the strings whilst the other hand fingers the strings above the frets on the neck altering the sound the strings are able to make.
Both hands have an impact on the pitch rhythm and dynamics possible with the instrument
but as mentioned are performing different functions to accomplish this.

By virtue of learning an instrument such as the guitar
the left and right brain hemispheres integrate & can possibly coordinate better in other areas.

The initial reason to drum from my non dominant inclination, right handedness,
was to increase left hand ability on the piano keyboard.
To have a more natural flow from that side.
As I write this, it seems to be the side that provides the most difficulty.

It not being able to demonstrate the competence I would like it to as does my right dominant hand.
Of course my right hand misses the mark but not as often, as it has more accomplished dexterity than my left.
Of course it is a matter of coordination betwixt both hands.
And the goal is to improve capabilities in both.
So I take to drumming such as it is to,
make it so!

however

It is impatience that provokes the desire to manifest more quickly a skill set
or technique that takes as long as it takes.
Depending on our ability to focus on development of said skill set, time lines and results will vary.

something for you to try

So to be more conscious of the processes inherent in expressing musicality.
Try turning things around thusly to see if it offers an advantage in reaching that goal.
One does not need a drum kit to practice drumming from the non dominant side of your preference.
Try tapping your non dominant foot to the beat of the music you play or listen to.
Endeavor to open up new neural pathways so that the mechanics of musical performance can be better understood and applied.

Some of the other manifold extrapolations of trying to do things outside of the dominant hands dominance
or to put it another way cause who does not like to read more words than are necessary
Activities I’ve employed the left hand to do that normally the right does relatively easily are:

Writing with a pen or pencil,
Sketching,
Using power tools, handy when certain physical constraints are imposed on the body to reach the target.

While my intermittent efforts have been less than stellar
the results are beginning to bear fruit.
An immediate benefit is the ensuing patience it takes to recalculate how to accomplish the activity thusly.

So the main take away here as I experience it is.
Any effort applied to a specified end can deliver results.
By practicing alternative methodology one can find additional pathways to progress.
These will not all be immediate but with patience judiciously practiced,
we can and will see progress.

mission statement

| guitarbeau

So whilst working on a video for my friend A.C. Hampton, Sr. View ‘rumble bugs‘ here and ‘morning fog’ here. I got to the end of the project and wanted something to indicate my efforts in this regard. As I was doing my amalgamation of animating techniques I realized I do not have a suitable card to acknowledge my efforts. The above is a screen shot of a portion of the video end credits that I was quite pleased with generating. My animating techniques are still some what in the developmental stage but I have fun doing it!

This has been my mission statement ever since I decided to pursue a business. I was already busy but have bought into the notion of capitalizing on my busy-ness! I generated the simple but effective thought pictured above as an over arching intention so I would have a reference point if I get lost along the way.

“No man is an island but some are peninsulas” (Woody Allen)

As my efforts here on the blog suggest, I get lost along the way, a lot! I think the main reason is, I don’t have the confidence to really just go for it. The ‘so here I am deal with it, or not‘ motif. Ironiquely it is both, the dealing with it or not, that puts me off. On the one hand, if others are interested then I feel obligated to do more of the same and being somewhat commitment phobique (Yes I do francify a lot of my linguistique platitudinalness, as well as obfuscate words behind my wordinesss but that is what makes me literary!?) This despite being very committed to…

I don’t want to have to do anything! On the other hand, I don’t have to be miffed that nobody cares if there is nothing there to care about!? Having a diluted and deluded sense of self. I saunter and spend the hours and days and weeks and months and years in an off hand way. So much else is really just another effort at dilution and deluding. And what is life but spending the time we have as best we can irregardless and irrespective of any other as we are all only accountable to ourselves? I say this despite having a fairly well rounded education regarding biblical statutes as well as a growing interest and study of buddhism. Which has lead me to the self accountability assessment. Of course that is not entirely true. We are dependent on and depended on by others unless we have fallen off a cliff that suggests otherwise, at which point I mean we are dead! “No man is an island but some are peninsulas” (Woody Allen) So accountable we are, its just to what degree are we willing to commit to that, and this despite no one caring whether we do or not! See, it is self accountability in certain contexts.

So what was my point? Clarity is over rated, and half if not all the fun in life is about being surprised by the next thing coming around the bend! Despite some of that resulting in a collision of sorts that leads to…?

Nevertheless, I do manage a bit of consistency for the dependability principle to stay in effect, both outwardly and inwardly.

dorkin in the dorian in c

| guitarbeau
the sonique spiderweb

what else is there to say?

And then some me thinks.
Yes there is more to say somehow despite the plethora of what has already been said.
Do you find an inane distractability in just about everything there is to do?
Maybe during practice, reaching for a beverage instead of maintaining focus on the difficulties of what we’re trying to learn!?
What I’m asking is, is it really thirst?
Does dehydration occur sitting at the keyboard learning to read music?
Enough berating of my anxious concerns about managing to get things done for the moment.

I’ve berated B flat Major in a previous post and as this is something of my paradigm to go through all the modes in all the keys as a project.

We come to Dorian in C.

A natural minor scale comprising all the notes of a Major scale but the root pitch begins from the Major 2nd interval.
In the case of B flat Major, the Major 2nd interval is C.
What makes it a minor is the 3rd note from this starting pitch which is E flat.
The 6th interval in Dorian in C is an A, this is a half step higher than would be in a natural minor scale where the 6th would be A flat.

I know, fascinating right.

All so we can find and play the right note on demand.

So knowing what we know about Major scales and B flat in particular, see if we can parse out or deduce the other pitches in C Dorian.

Fill in the blanks, in your head, on your instrument or on a separate sheet of paper if you like.
The pitches previously mentioned are filled in. The intervals are relative to the root C.

Root C, major 2nd___ , minor 3rd E flat, perfect 4th___, perfect 5th___ , major 6th A, minor 7th___ .

Keep in mind it should be alphabetic. So if there is a C and there is an E flat there must be a..?

Now go and find them on your instrument.

the dorian mode in various positions on the fret board in tablature

When to use the Dorian in C.

What chords are available given the pitches we’ve deduced above?
Find one or 7 and strum and then improvise using the scale over the lingering memory of the chord you played.
The obvious choice is of course C minor as a jumping off point.
Let us find some of the other possible chords that can be built from the sequence of notes we find in the mode.

Here is one way to find chords in a scale/mode

As is my custom, here is my take on mixing up the playing of the scale to challenge our fingers.

inverting the mode/scale to make it interesting to play

Merci

enchanté

| guitarbeau
en fin

anatomy of a song

enchanté

Really its more of a history.
Developing a guitar technique led me to the intro of the song.
I repeated it thrice in case it was missed.
Discovered when transcribing that all the pitches in the 12 tone musical scale are contained with in its bewildering array!
I did not intend that, just happened, a happy accident!?
Found a chord structure to turn it into something more.
Smudged those in a few places.
The melody was apparent but the lyrics were a long time coming.
Could not commit to who or what the song was to be about / for.
Found some words that made sense with the original verbiage construed at the beginning.
It is for everybody now.
Recording was its own morass of try, become dissatisfied, leave it, try again.
Transpose it to the keyboard, learn to play the keyboard, so it sounds like music.
Become dissatisfied with the result, leave it, forget how it was played, relearn it, try again.
Let recording equipment go out of date, lose functionality.
Struggle to get that to work again, ignoring other alternatives.
Find that other recording alternatives can work!
Try, fail, try again, fail. Keep trying, failing as learning.
Accept it won’t be a grammy winner regardless, but is close enough for rock n roll.
Well Pop, Rock, Jazz as I am want to classify it.
Realize the process is as involving if not more so than the result.
Let it glow so the next one can come to fruition.
Perhaps it won’t take 17 years to complete!?

locating the locrian

| guitarbeau
More Extraction Abstraction

So I was thinking about writing about Locrius who lived in Locria amongst the Locriites during the Locracious period but thought better of it and decided to stay with some of the more technical aspects relating to guitar playing and such!

THE LOCRIAN MODE

Primer on locating the Locrian on the guitar fretboard video

A very odd sounding scale that can evoke notions of the mysterious or ambivalence.
Is interesting because of the proximity of the m2nd right next to the ROOT and the 4th has a diminished or flat 5th rubBing up against it so to speak.
Who is the naughty one here!?
In relation to the Ionian in A Major, the Locrian has as its root G# / Ab.
By beginning the mode with this as the root point, the interval relationships change as they also do in the other modes.
No less than 4 minor intervals in this mode. m2nd, m3rd, m6th and m7th.
Plus the 5th is diminished, (a type of minor pitch relative to the ROOT) so there is technically 5 minor intervals!

playing in the Locrian mode

So much is off when compared to the relative Major that it practically begs for resolution.
That is to say it builds a sonic tension when expressed.
You don’t have to begin on the Root of course. But it does show its color when played against a chord based on it the intervals it contains.
Fingering such a chord does get the mind involved if we are not familiar employing the intervals in the mode in this way.
EXERCISE: Make up a chord with as may of the pitches in the mode as possible without repeating one i.e. an octave.
EXERCISE: Play the mode or a portion thereof against the chords suggested from the other intervals.
EXERCISE: Using the sonique spiderweb Dial in the intervals to the LOCRIAN MODE. You can reference the actual intervals on the outer perimeter of the SSW
ROOT, m2, m3, P4, dim5, m6, m7,

OR;
Knowing that the notes of A MAJOR are also the notes used in LOCRIAN G#/Ab find which intervals to display that way.
A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#

experiments

Experimentation is involved to get to the usefulness in expressing this mode in our playing.
Remember to develop our technique in the various modes by not just playing them forwards and backwards, but crossways and slideways!
The creative muscle is strengthened by searching out ways to make it relevant to our musical expression.
I discovered whilst generating a fret board diagram of the Locrian / Ionian in the key of A that, across some frets on all strings an associated pitch could be found that is in key . See Diagram.
I point this out as an additional exercise that does not demand too much mental effort looking for ‘pitches in key’ to make playing around with the scale an exercise in exploration and finger gymnastics without the associated ‘is that a relative pitch to the scale’ thought process.
So in this case the relative pitches are found on all strings at the 2nd 7th and 9th fret.

Try that on for fun!

MERCI

axercising the aeolian

| guitarbeau
2021 11 28 j’ART Original Digital Art by BEL

Did you see what I did there? Combining exercising with ax, a term some people use to describe a guitar, clever no?
Not certain when that terminology came into use, or when the riffs musicians played came to be known as chops? But as a species we do like to change things up, to keep it interesting. It was very probably someone trying to be clever that brought about such changes to descriptive analogies amidst the mix of humanities linguistic propensities. I personally don’t think things ever get boring, and this post is about the need to be interested in order to make progress.

About the image

Why is there an interest to share the vicissitudes of my life thusly? I don’t know, but there it is, a mangled morass of my mental ambiguity modified for mass consumption.
I multitask to make this.
First as a digital journal entry of my scatterbrained thoughts and then, by further manipulating that output I can express my experience of life to the light of day.
The thoughts rendered thusly can then be considered processed by me and leave something of interest I feel comfortable sharing.
There is also video of the process, to add as a visual backdrop for music I generate.
That will be available when the next musical composition is finished.

If you like this digital distortion of my thoughts and would like to see it in full, without the ‘Sonique Spiderweb Title’ obscuring the image, email me and I will send a .jpeg.

In the mean time here is another strand from the Sonique Spiderweb.

So I have been demonstrating the Sonique Spiderweb within the framework of the Ionian in the key of A. I have went through all the basic modes thus far now leading to the Aeolian in F# a natural minor scale.

So once again as with all modes Ionian, we have all the notes in A major but F# is the root making the A note the minor 3rd in the sequence.

The natural minor is remarkably fun to play in, and offers so much to use in any number of corresponding chord sequences, in whatever key we are playing in of course.

This is a fundamental skill that can best be appreciated by applying it within our practice.

The point of learning to use the scale to develop improvisational skill is demonstrated here in this short video about the mode.

FINDing THE WILL TO MAKE PROGRESS.

What is of interest when we imagine reaching our musical goals?

Performing a song perfectly, proficiently, painterly?
That term ‘painterly’ I mean as a painter paints, the brush strokes they use to express a tree or mountain for example, may not look like that at all, before the picture is complete. The same with playing a song, we may not hit every note exactly but we have sufficient grasp of the piece to convey it satisfyingly!

this could also be interesting.

Being on stage performing, playing in a band
Your music being streamed online and you’re banking some bucks.
Conveying a deep emotion to a significant other.
In a recording studio, comping some riffs for another musician you admire.
Writing music to inspire, to incite insight, to invigorate innovation.

options require CHOICES be made

Regardless of our level of interest though, the consistency of pursuit remains the determining factor in a sense of accomplishment.
What are we willing to do so that we can be the musician we want to be?
There is a lot of advice available to encourage action in accord with our aspirations, but such motivation can be short lived. I know this to be true, as my blog posting schedule seems to suggest. That is, I don’t really have one!?

Thus in anything we want to do, it helps if the thing that interests us is also compelling enough for our best effort to be engaged.
Consistent, constant, constructive, instructive, these are all words that are part of a vocabulary of attempting successful accomplishment. But wait there is so much to…

We CAN DO ANYTHING (+/-) we CANT DO EVERYTHING.

It is problematic to want to do everything. The wanting is possible, the doing is not.
There is always something else to pursue or is perhaps easier or more fun to do.
Distractions likewise abound and confound, challenging us to try to continue to make any real meaningful progress.
If we focus on why we want what we want then we can put in the effort needed to attain the level of success desired. To be a musician this effort will take many forms, practice, study, listening, recording, to name a few. So if we cant do one, another is available. Or we can distract ourselves and do such things later.

What matters and why? To me its all about being interested and involved, and that can have many degrees of intensity and attention. Given time we will become the musician, artist, idealistic aspirant we want to be!

So whatever the goal or task at hand then, please, prudently and patiently pursue the process of making proactive progress possible that are pertinent to your proclivities!

merci

Treize

| guitarbeau

treize original musique video here

how

So this song has been with me awhile. I generated it using ‘the sonique spiderweb’ whilst working at the keyboard. By confining myself to the notes with in a key I was not particularly familiar with, and to aid in improving my always wanting to be better mind set. I recorded this. Was I successful? You will have to make that determination for yourself if you feel so inclined.

I did some guitar overdubs in one of the DAW’s (digital audio workstations) I have available. As well as taking apart duplicated MIDI keyboard parts to add interest. That involved subtracting notes at random and assigning different synth patches to those tracks.

what

I am pleased with the results for the most part. I call it a demo because of some imprecise improvisation I hear on the guitar tracks. Also audio engineering is a skill set that also gets the ‘I want to be better at this‘ mind set. The video also is a recent amalgamation of artistique enterprises combined with video expressions to add interest and make it post-able to youtube.

When

As it is, projects get started with one intention and then other ideas crop up to impact the process. Not the least of which is ‘I can do better’ but then that gets difficult to pursue and then nothing gets done, sometimes, for a long time. Treize has been on the shelf so to speak, for years. Perfectionism is a hazardous road to walk on especially in comfortable shoes!? So barefoot forward I will proceed and avoid the rough spots as much as possible.

Where

By collecting, creating, modifying, recording images and ideas, all the time. Intending to compile such into a result like ‘treize’ linked to above and thereby adhere to my mission statement.

“musique and media to incite insight and invigorate innovation”

why

Why not?

Who

Me. I realized after tracking my time, how much of it I spend creating multimedia compositions. So that is what I am doing right now, being a practicing multimedia artist. Amongst of course, all the cacophony that life has to offer, my 2¢ is now also on the table.

merci

What difference does a schedule make?

| guitarbeau
Dorian and Phrygian Video lesson links near end of post.

A photo of the recent lunar eclipse. The moon is on some sort of schedule so why not me?

So I track my time rather diligently but don’t schedule it so much, so a lot of what could get done does not. 

How is that working out as respects making music and media to incite insight and invigorate innovation?

Well my music skills are accomplished but also some what stagnant. 

And the hit and miss that happenstance provide as a means of adding to my catalog of artistique endeavors also suffers want.

A schedule can help to build a regimen of activity commensurate with the ideal of making progress as a musician.

Practicing, writing, recording, editing and so on. 

It can be a struggle to parse the latest song and fine tune the timing of all the parts as well as learn to play it and write lyrics for it.

Struggle though it is, it can also be enlivening to do

So help to maintain some momentum is of course needed? 

I find a lot of encouragement on Medium a writing forum that infuses me with enthusiasm, but the follow through is muted at best.

So can accountability help?

I endeavour to some accountability by way of this blog, a youtube channel and recently set up a patreon page (still needs work though)

Begin where you are don’t stay where you are.

Good advice in practically any endeavor, as for making musical advancement a matter of course, here is this.

As can be seen in the strands of the sonique spiderweb the major scale contains 7 common modes within it. 

Out of one many

So by learning one we can have many available. As there are the 7 primary modes we could schedule one for every day of the week

A is at the beginning of the musical alphabet. It seems suitable as the starting point to promote understanding of this useful aspect of music theory.

That is, by knowing all the notes that make up the A Major scale one can deduce:

  1. The Dorian scale in B (a video can be seen here)
  2. The Phrygian scale in C# (a video for your edification if you so desire)
  3. The Lydian in D 
  4. The Mixolydian in E 
  5. The Aeolian in F# 
  6. The Locrian in G#.

This is because all the notes in these modes are found in the A Major Scale!

Go ahead and try to do that

So what to do with this knowledge? Parse the other modes in the A major by referencing the notes and finding them on your instrument. 

I also recommend playing the scale in a variety of ways so as to improve working knowledge of your instrument and provide technical proficiency through shifting ones view of the possibility that scales can be a rather interesting provocation to inspire music making. 

One question that comes up is how can we employ these various modes. 

What options does this knowledge afford us to add interest to our musical expression?

Stay tuned!

merci

Too many options!?

| guitarbeau
Octavio playing my guitar

Music and media to incite insight and invigorate innovation

My mission statement such as it is. This is so I can focus on something that will lend cohesion to this effort. In that regard I have recorded another video to demonstrate making scales more complicated and possibly more interesting to play. Still within the key of A Major and slightly altered from the previous post. The intention of developing technique thus is as away to focus the mind on the goal of improving ones musical vocabulary and afford new abilities of expression.

but wait there’s more!

There is always more, more to say, more to combine, a related but presently irrelevant trajectory to take, so much more!

It is easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about all the options possible to develop and express oneself, and bewildering to wonder which ones will have the most impact.

This happens a lot when I try to learn new things both on the guitar and the keyboard, as well as in my video and recording efforts.

Then whence once engaged, the questions flood in. ’Is this clear?’, ‘should I add this?’, ‘what of saying that?’

Should I over explain in my effort to simplify the subject or limit my fear of being misunderstood and let the reader viewer take what they can from my expression.

This is ultimately all that is really hopefully going to happen.

For the most part its all going swimmingly!

So when feeling overwhelmed by the gimungous hunormities of potential possibilities I sometimes revisit that which I know well and put off leveling up to use the parlance of the gaming world. Having reached a certain level of competence it can be comfortable to leave it at that and merely imagine a time when progress will be made instead of doing something about it now.

However, often times I find that after putting forth the effort to move beyond my current abilities then returning to the well trodden paths of been there can do that I have improved there as well!

Now if I can just find the will to produce more content…

Underwatermelon soup outro