Remembering with Gratitude...

As Memorial Day approaches, I am ever more conscious of the freedom we have in our great nation. I am aware that I can enjoy my musical instruments and so many other things in life because of those who,throughout the generations, have given the ultimate sacrifice of their lives in military service to this nation. Our freedom is currently being protected by our men and women in uniform--many of whom are presently in harm's way. We in the United States of America have so much to be thankful for: God has blessed this nation so greatly!

As I think of those in our armed forces, I am reminded of how, in perilous times, our nation has come together to support our troops. During World War I, the Gibson company of Kalamazoo, Michagan, was committed to helping to win the war. In 1918, Gibson introduced a new product: The Army and Navy Special mandolin (style DY). This mandolin was a radical departure from the elagant mandolins with carved tops and backs that Gibson was noted for. The Gibson Army-Navy Style DK was an inexpensive mandolin with a flat top and back. The above photos of the style DK are used with the kind permission of http://guitarandbanjo.com/.

The price tag is hard to believe. Walter Carter, on http://www.gibson.com/magazines/amplifier/1997/8/archive/ said that "Gibson had already been doing its patriotic duty by making inexpensive mandolins for military personnel. The 'introduction' of the Army/Navy ... was an introduction to the general public, who could buy it for $15, while soldiers could get it for $12."

I've played a few of these mandolins ans they sound great! Thay don't bark like the Gibson A and F models with the carved tops, but economy was the idea with the style DK--and while these intruments were bare-bones mandolins, the integrity and quality of Gibson manufacturing was still there.

I own a Gibson "Alrite" which is similar to the Style DK, but a bit more elaborate, having purfling around the contour of the top. It was owned by a U.S. sailor who carved on the back the details of a WWI voyage he was on. Read about it and see the photos at http://flatpickpost.blogspot.com/2006/10/gibson-mandolin-tells-story.html

A Capo is a Wonderful Thing

A capo is a clamp with which you can change the pitch of the open guitar strings, simply by placing the clamp behind different frets on the fingerboard. With a capo, you can change the key of any song quite easily. I love to use a capo, for a number of reasons.

The thing I do most on the acoustic guitar is play old-time fiddle tunes. Many fiddle tunes are played by fiddlers in the keys of A and D. However, when picking these tunes on a guitar, they sound the best, and are played most easily, in the keys of G and C. Now say that I wanted to jam with a fiddle player who wanted to play "Black-Eyed Susie" in the key of D. I would want to alternately play back-up for him while he played the lead, and then play lead on the guitar while he backed me up on the fiddle. All I would need to do to accommodate his key (D), yet play with the same fingering that I am used to (in the key of C), is to place a capo behind the second fret of the fingerboard. We would then be playing in the key of D, but I'd be using the fingering I always use when playing in the key of C without the capo. If he was playing in the key of A, I could keep the capo on the second fret and play the tune as I had learned it in G.

By using the capo, you can more easily play with musicians who play in keys that are different from the ones you are used to. However, I like to use the capo (usually behind the second fret and sometimes behind the fourth fret) even when I play the guitar all by myself. One reason is that the higher pitch allows the separation of the individual notes to be heard more clearly. Each note seems to ring out a bit more crisply and distinctly than it would at the lower pitch. Another virtue of using a capo is the ease of playing. The higher on the fretboard you use the capo, the less distance between each fret, so your fingers don't have to stretch as far. And the action becomes slightly lower, so the strings are easier to press down. And, you don't have to place the capo way up the fretboard to feel the difference. Just placing the capo behind the second fret results in playing that is noticeably easier.

One caution is important to mention. Do not leave the capo on the instrument when not playing it. The capo, when clamped on the neck, holds the strings down on the fretboard and creates extra tension on the neck and the top of the guitar. All acoustic guitars are destined, at some point in time, to have problems due to the tension of the strings. Why hasten the process by leaving a capo clamped on your guitar?

As to the best capo to use, there are a number of different kinds. I used to use the kind that is a bar with an elastic belt that is adjustable. In recent years, I have found the Shubb capo to be the best. It is easy to use, and clamps tightly and quickly behind any fret. Check with your local guitar dealer and determine what is best for you.

Capos make things much easier for the guitarist, and they provide many benefits. If you have never used a capo, you owe it to yourself to experiment with one!

To find out more about the Shubb capo, click below:
Shubb Original C Series Steel String Capo Nickel

Practicing with a Metronome

The picture to the left is a of 75 foot tall, functional metronome overlooking the Vltava River and the city center of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

A metronome is a device that produces a regulated pulse, and is used to establish a steady beat, or tempo, measured in beats per minute (BPM). Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel is credited with inventing this device in Amsterdam in 1812. Ludwig van Beethoven was the first major composer to use the metronome. Of course, with the advent of electronics, and then the internet, there are a wide variety of metronomes today that are in many respects superior to the old wind-up models!

If you want to be a fast and clean flatpicker, one of the smartest things you can do is to practice using a metronome. You might say, “I don’t have a metronome.” Well, I will not allow you to use that as an excuse--because you can now go to a online metronome any time you wish, and it doesn’t cost you a cent! Just go to:

http://www.metronomeonline.com/

So, now you have a metronome. Now you may wonder, “Why do I need a metronome?” You may think you have a perfectly good sense of rhythm. Be prepared to be shocked when you start to practice with a metronome. Though you think you are playing those bluegrass licks, fiddle tunes, or lead guitar breaks quite well, you may discover that you are playing some of the parts well, while you are quite sloppy on other parts--and you didn’t even know it--until it was exposed by that nasty, mean metronome!

How do you begin to practice with the metronome? Decide which tune you want to practice and adjust the timing of the metronome until its rhythm is at a pace that is much slower than you would ever play the tune. Yes, that’s right--much slower! By forcing yourself to play slower you are really getting in touch with what is actually going on in the piece of music you are playing. You are becoming intimate with it. Plus, you are establishing the pattern by which your fingers will learn to obey your brain, and your brain will learn what to tell your
fingers to do. Rob Gravelle, guitarist for Ivory Knight, suggested, “In my opinion the purpose of practice is to fine tune the muscle memory so that the muscles obey the brain with a minimum of conscious intervention - whether the practice is for music, sports, whatever...”

When you are playing your guitar at an abnormally slow pace you will find out that you didn’t really know those licks as well as you thought you did. You were fooling yourself. Now, after this humbling experience, and after you have played the tune many times at that painfully slow cadence, kick it up a notch (as Emeril would say!). Set the metronome one step faster and repeatedly play the piece at the new setting. Then take it up another notch. And another. However, never set the metronome at a speed beyond which you can play the whole piece you are practicing cleanly and with perfect timing.

Before you set the speed too high, listen to the notes you are playing within each measure. Consider the context and richness of each note. Experiment by accenting several notes in each phrase. Then play the same phrases and accent different notes. You are setting the stage to express some great dynamics that you had never considered!

Gradually, take the metronome to a higher speed. This is where it gets to be fun! You learn to play the whole piece (including the most difficult licks) perfectly at one pace and you reward yourself by graduating to the level.

I have found the metronome to be a most valuable tool in terms of instilling confidence for playing acoustic guitar solos. Practice with a metronome and don’t take shortcuts: The reward will be well worth the effort!

The Riffmaster Pro Version 2

So many times I have tried to listen closely to a lick by Norman Blake or Doc Watson, so that I could learn how to play it--but they play it just too darned fast for me to hear what is really going on. That problem is now solved with a simple download of an inexpensive piece of software. Man, I love this thing--I am personally very excited about this nifty tool. First let me tell you the price: It's $47. There--now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you what $47 will get you.

For $47 you can own the instantly downloadable software for Windows, RiffMaster Pro Version 2. This program allows you to instantly slow down the guitar solos (or solos of any instrument) off of any CD without changing the pitch! Slow the solo way down, so you can learn it note for note and play right along with your favorite artist. Rock artists. Jazz artists. Bluegrass artists. Any artists! Master any solo, lick or riff! The RiffMaster plays Mp3, Wav, Mp4 (ipod/itunes), Ogg Vorbis and AFF files directly from your computer. And you can rip audio directly off a CD and save as an Mp3 or Wav! In other words, capture and slow down the riffs, note for note, of any player of any instrument!

A zoom feature allows you to find the phrase you want to work on (down to the note), and a loop feature allows you to clip a particular phrase and play it over and over again! You can finally end those hours of frustration you have experienced when you’ve tried to work out a solo or a riff by ear, but the part you were trying to learn was just a little too fast (or a lot too fast!). There are lots of other features as well (including the ability to transpose any solo to another key!)--and some nice bonuses. To check it out:
Click Here!