Posted by Andrew Wasson
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 232"
This Micro Lesson runs through a Jazz-Fusion Chord Riff in the key of, "F# Major."
The chord progression applies a series of, "Triad Over Bass-Note," chords that operate mostly within the key of, "F# Major." However, at the end of this 2-bar phrase, the progression borrows harmony from the parallel-minor key (F# Minor), to produce an effect in harmony known as "Modal Interchange."
Starting in measure one of the riff we find an, "F# major," chord played with a, "B," tone in the bass. This shifts over to a, "C# major," chord which applies another, "B," tone in the bass. The interesting use of these, "B," tones applied as bass-tones occurs from the octave displacement of the "B" bass tones. One "B" (the second chord's "B") is performed an octave lower.
In measure two, the "F# major" harmony gets extended out to a 7th quality chord on the first beat. The chord is. "F# maj7/A#," and produces a rich color at the start of the measure. The last two chords are "A/D," and "B/E," chords. These chords are not from the key of "F# Major," but rather are borrowed from the parallel key of "F# Minor." This is a very popular sound in Jazz-Fusion called "Modal Interchange."
Have fun learning this riff. The chord fingerings may feel awkward at first, but in time you'll memorize the fingering. Enjoy!
Posted by Andrew Wasson
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Courtesy of Bobby Owsinski
Here are some great tips that that have been floating around various blogs for a while about how to get creative and stay that way.
Regardless of who created the list, it's still pretty good advice and something I wish I would refer to more often myself. Take a look:
1. The best way to get great ideas is to have lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.
2. Create ideas that are 15 minutes ahead of their time…not light years ahead.
3. Always look for a "second" right answer.
4. If at first you don’t succeed, take a break.
5. Write down or record your ideas before you forget them.
6. If everyone says that you are wrong, you are one step ahead. If everyone laughs at you, you’re two steps ahead.
7. The answer to your problem, “pre-exists.” You need to ask the correct questions to reveal the correct answer.
8. When you ask a 'dumb' question, you get a smart answer.
9. Never solve a problem from its original perspective.
10. Visualize your problem as solved before solving it.
It's easy to let a creative block slow you down, but it doesn't have to. Even one of these ideas can get you those creative juices flowing again.
Producer/engineer Bobby Owsinski is one of the best selling authors in the music industry with 23 books that are now staples in audio recording, music, and music business programs in colleges around the world, including The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook, Social Media Promotion for Musicians, Music 4.0: A Survival Guide for Making Music in the Internet Age.
This Micro Lesson runs through a fast and steady 16th-note guitar lick from the key of "C Minor."
The rapid fire lick works across the neck descending through the, "C Minor," scale from 10th position down to the to 6th.
Starting from up at the 1st string, we begin with a hammer-on and pull-off idea. From there we double-back and play a descending sweep through a short 3-note, "G Minor" arpeggio, (the V-chord arpeggio for this key). At the mid-point of the first measure we execute a couple of position shifts using a combination of slides and legato.
Another, "G Minor," arpeggio wraps up the first measure. Into measure two we find our lick ideas become based out of the, "C Minor Pentatonic Scale." These Pentatonic lines operate in 8th position out of the common 6th string root Minor Pentatonic pattern.
The phrases in this lick do not offer too many fingering issues. However, the speed of the lick is what will require time to properly organize. Learn and memorize the parts prior to cranking up the speed. Over time, the metronome can be used to increase your playing speed. Enjoy!
Pink Floyd guitar champion David Gilmour talked with BBC about the very beginning of his six-string journey, singling out late folk icon Pete Seeger's guitar tutoring record as the crucial source of information.
He explained: "My only actual guitar instruction was with Pete Seeger's guitar tutor record. It was an LP with a big book, it had all the chords that you might need.
"It started out with a pitch pipe playing six notes of a guitar, so the most important thing was to learn how to tune it."
"The second band was teaching you how to play a D chord, which is three fingers on a guitar which you then strum, and then he sang some words so you could do a song, instantly, with just one chord.
"So from the beginning of learning the guitar I was learning singing as well. And singing is just as important to me."
Mr. Gilmour recently gave a cool, elaborate explanation on why his guitar playing sounds the way he does. Check it out here.
Pete Seeger passed away last year at the age of 94. He will remain known as one of the all-time folk giants and the author of such timeless songs as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," "Turn! Turn! Turn!", and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)."
Check out the video below for more.
This Micro Lesson explores a classic rock riff in the key of "A Minor."
This riff operates as a two-part idea applying a primary riff along with four separate endings. The primary riff is set off of an open "A" 5th string. The phrase loops around that open "A" idea bringing in chord phrases from the key center. The first ending is covering a "D5 and C5" turnaround. The second idea plays off of the "C5" chord and drops the bass tone down a 1/2 step producing the sound of "B Augmented."
The 3rd phrase uses the unique spacious nature of the, "add 4," sound to produce a very open chord effect just prior to the ending chord. And, the final ending uses the VII-chord as a Power Chord (G5), of the key, to pull the riff back to the top for a repetition of the entire part.
This riff is reminiscent of the Classic-Rock verse structures found in hundreds of songs from the 1980's rock and metal era. Take your time learning each part. Commit the phrases to memory prior to developing speed. Pay careful attention to the chord fingerings. Especially on the 2nd ending. The augmented chord on that ending is a very fast move from the, "C5." Use a metronome or drum machine to build speed. Enjoy!
The Natural Minor scale can function in ways that certainly expand from the Minor Pentatonic approach. But, the interesting part when using this scale will occur more from how we play through the scale runs.
Natural Minor can introduce very linear sounding scale runs. And, this will be a way that differs from the Minor Pentatonic. Pentatonic scales offer us a sound which eliminates the half-steps from the 7-tone Natural Minor and when those half-steps are applied, we generate a sound that is quite unique, and one which covers chord changes in interesting ways.
In this lesson I've composed a 12-bar Nat. Minor solo. It should work well to introduce you how the Nat. Minor can be applied to create lead guitar soloing ideas. Enjoy!
Posted by Andrew Wasson
Thursday, November 12, 2015
by Erin M. Jacobson Esq.
If someone has copied your song or has had access to your song and their song is very similar to yours, then you need to contact an entertainment /copyright litigator to discuss the merits of your case.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational and informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. The content contained in this article is not legal advice or a legal opinion on any specific matter or matters. If this article is considered an advertisement, it is general in nature and not directed towards any particular person or entity. This article does not constitute or create a lawyer-client relationship between Erin M. Jacobson, Esq. and you or any other user. The law may vary based on the facts or particular circumstances or the law in your state. You should not act, or fail to act, upon this information without seeking the professional counsel of an attorney licensed in your state.
A lot of musicians claim they have great cases for copyright infringement. Copyright infringement does happen, but there are more people who "think" they have a case than those who actually do.
(Please note that I am not a litigator and the below explanation is only a general overview of the basic principles in a copyright infringement suit. Actual cases may include nuances not discussed in this article.
In order to sue for copyright infringement, you must have your work’s copyright registered with the United States Copyright Office. You can register your works yourself (the online registration fee is about $35), but I recommend an attorney or service like Indie Artist Resource to file the registration for you, as some of the questions and principles covered in the application can be confusing.
Keep in mind that under copyright law, two similar works can be created independently of each other without infringement. For example, two independent musicians on opposite sides of the country could create original and copyrightable songs that sound very similar to each other, without knowing each other or ever hearing each others music. After all, there are only so many notes and chords that can be played.
However, if you do feel someone has actually infringed your music, you will have to prove that you have a valid copyright and your work was sufficiently original to warrant the validity of that copyright. Next, you will have to show that the alleged infringer copied your work. The analysis for infringement involves examining these three areas:
1. Direct copying
Here, you would have to show that the accused infringer directly copied the first work when creating his subsequent work. There is often no way to show direct copying, so the courts will instead look at the next two areas described below.
2. Access
When direct copying cannot be proven, courts will often infer that copying occurred if it is shown that the accused infringer had access to the allegedly infringed composition. This can be proven by showing that someone had direct access to your work, such as if you gave a copy of the song directly to the alleged infringer, or gave it to someone who had access to that person, like a producer or label executive.
Access can also be shown if the prior work is widely disseminated, such as a famous hit played on the radio and well known by the public. Here’s an example of how access was surprisingly proven in a real case: In Bright Tunes Music Corp. v. Harrisongs Music, Ltd.,[1] George Harrison’s song “My Sweet Lord” was deemed to infringe on the song “He’s So Fine” recorded by The Chiffons in 1962.[2] The court didn’t require actual proof that Harrison had heard “He’s So Fine” before; it relied on the fact that “He’s So Fine” had the top position on the Billboard charts in the U.S. for five weeks and hit No. 12 in England in 1963[3] – coincidentally at the same time The Beatles were becoming famous.[4]
The court concluded that Harrison unconsciously plagiarized “He’s So Fine” when he composed “My Sweet Lord” because “his subconscious knew [the musical combination of notes] had worked in a song his conscious mind did not remember.”[5] The court went on to further conclude that it did not believe Harrison deliberately copied the song,[6] but ruled against him anyway because access to “He’s So Fine” was assumed due to its fame and the two songs had enough similarities to satisfy the court.[7]
Therefore, if you have written a song, but it is not well known by others and you have not given it to someone where you can show a direct connection to the person who supposedly copied your song, you don’t have a case. It’s not enough to write and record a song that only a small number of people have heard, and then try to file a lawsuit when something shows up on the radio that you think sounds similar, when in reality you have no proof to show the other person even knew of your song.
3. Substantial similarity The third analysis looks at the similarities, if any, between the two songs. If the degree of access to the first song is high, the amount of proof required to show similarity between the two songs will be lower than if there was not easy access to the first song.
Here, a court will look objectively at which parts of the first song were allegedly copied, such as the melody, lyrics, etc. A court will also look at the subjective opinion of lay listeners, which is basically whether the average person would think the two songs sounded the same or similar enough when listening to them both.
This point in the analysis is where many people argue that it is supposedly acceptable to copy three notes of an existing composition or sample three seconds or less of an existing recording without infringing copyright. In fact, there are no such rules allowing this practice. Infringement is infringement.
If you have looked at the facts and can truly show that someone has either directly copied your song or has had access to your song, and their song is very similar to yours, then you will need to contact an entertainment/copyright litigator to discuss the potential merits of your case. Keep in mind that these lawyers do expect to get paid for their services, although there are a few who may be willing to take important cases on a contingency. Check with the lawyer on his or her practices.
Footnotes: [1] Bright Tunes Music Corp. v. Harrisongs Music, Ltd., 420 F. Supp. 177 (1976). [2] Id. [3] Id. at 179. [4] Id. [5] Id. at 180. [6] Id. at 181. [7] Id.
Please note that the above is not for specific case advice, and if you have questions pertaining to an issue you are personally experiencing, you should seek a consultation with a music attorney.
Erin M. Jacobson is a practicing music attorney, experienced deal negotiator, and seasoned advisor of intellectual property rights. Her clients range from Grammy and Emmy Award winners to independent artists, record labels, music publishers, and production companies. Ms. Jacobson also owns and oversees all operations for Indie Artist Resource, the independent musician’s resource for legal and business protection offering template contracts, consultations, and other services designed to meet the unique needs of independent musicians.
