Posted on

The Rhythm of Writing

When you’re in the midst of writing something, you settle into a natural rhythm.  The words set the backbeat and the fingers follow the melody in your mind.  Yesterday, when I sat down to write about the sun, there was a lot of racket outside my window as four corners of an intersection were being torn up to replace the sewer drains.  I decided to put on my closed-ear headphones, crank some iTunes music to drown out the heavy machinery, and write my article.  I discovered, to my dismay, that something had changed as my natural writing manner was out-of-sync with my eye.  My fingers couldn’t find the melody.  My words had no natural backbeat.

Continue reading → The Rhythm of Writing

Posted on

Why the Bass Player is the Second Most Important Player in a Band

I was told many years ago by an orchestra leader in New York City that the most important part of any band or orchestra is the drummer.  “The drummer,” he said, “is the steam in the engine.  It is the drummer who sets the beat and everything else flows from that rhythm.  Without a good drummer, you have no direction, no impulse leading you forward.”

The lesson I took away from that conversation is that the beat the drummer sets is what forces everyone into the same context.  Without that anticipatory thump, everyone else makes their own time, and you end up with chaos.

A few years ago, I remember something Late Night with David Letterman Sadowsky bassist Will Lee said in an interview about how having a bad drummer can sink a session, and how he then has to step up as the bassist and take over the role of the drummer.

Continue reading → Why the Bass Player is the Second Most Important Player in a Band

Posted on

JazzRiff.com and RhythmRiff.com Belong to Boles Blues

Today, in the spirit of our previously acquired domain name — DevilNote.com — we are pleased to announce we have added two more spectacular music domains that point right here to BolesBlues.com.  The first domain is JazzRiff.com — and if you click on that domain name you will be routed right back here where you started:

Continue reading → JazzRiff.com and RhythmRiff.com Belong to Boles Blues

Posted on

Lick Me Up, Lick Me Down, Lick Me Outside

I love Licks!  Learning licks is a great way to quickly feel confident learning the guitar.  There are all sorts of Licks book available, but the best one for a beginner is — “Hal Leonard’s Lead Licks” — because that book will give you 220 Licks and five playing styles and a CD to help you study.

Continue reading → Lick Me Up, Lick Me Down, Lick Me Outside

Posted on

The Gretsch Electromatic Guitar Strings Review

My $10.00USD a set Gretsch Electromatic guitar strings arrived yesterday.  I immediately installed the slighted rusted .11-.49 “Rhythm – N – Blues” gauges on my Gretsch G5120 — even though the factory installed strings were D’Addario EXL115.  I wonder why Gretsch guitars don’t arrive installed with Gretsch stings?  Is it because the Electromatic strings cost twice as much as D’Addario?

Continue reading → The Gretsch Electromatic Guitar Strings Review

Posted on

Robben Ford and Rhythm Blues Guitar

Robben Ford has been around The Blues forever and he’s written lots of guitar books about The Blues and he has a deep and rich teaching catalog on DVD.  In “The Art of Blues Rhythm” Robben teaches us that not every guitar needs to play the lead.

Continue reading → Robben Ford and Rhythm Blues Guitar

Posted on

Blues You Can Use with John Ganapes

If you want to learn how to play Blues Guitar — you can go free, or you can pay — but there is really only one Blues master teacher.  His name is John Ganapes and his Blues You Can Use series is phenomenal in the entirety of the teaching.

Continue reading → Blues You Can Use with John Ganapes