Tom Petty say's that he had no intention of launching further legal action against Sam Smith after it emerged that they were locked in a financial /legal dispute over gross similarities in their music.
Lawyers for both parties of Smith vs. Petty have agreed that Sam Smith will give songwriters; Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne co-writing credits on Sam's hit song Stay With Me due to overwhelming similarities with Tom's 1989 hit, "I Won't Back Down," which they, (Tom and Jeff), co-wrote.
Britain's The Sun newspaper reported that the trio settled the copyright case out of court, but Petty is adamant there was no chance of it reaching the levels of a full-on legal battle and insists the whole clash was amicable once lawyers for Petty brought the matter to the attention of Sam Smith's label.
In a statement on his official website, Petty says, "About the Sam Smith thing. All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it obviously got by."
"Sam's people were very understanding of our predicament and we easily came to an agreement. And no more is to be said about it."
"Sam did the right thing and I have thought no more about this. I wish Sam all the best for his ongoing career." Listen to a YouTuber's mash-up of the two songs and hear it for yourself...
This Micro Lesson uses the, "A Minor," scale to create a Celtic Style Melody.
The melody has an important "Irish swing" feel played across a rhythmic pattern made up primarily of eighth-notes. The Irish, (or Scottish) swing feel is different than a traditional Jazz swing. The Irish style has a bounce that carries each phrase and without this concept the melody will fall flat.
Aside from the unique Celtic meter, this Celtic melodic idea also employs some sixteenth-note triplets, as well as, a thirty-second note pull-off idea. It is vital that these techniques be executed very smoothly and effortlessly.
Take note that the combinations of these unique rhythmic patterns are highly important to this style. And, they should be studied and rehearsed to achieve the best possible feel.
The fret-board layout of this melody moves between 7th position to the 2nd position using slides and hammer-on pull-offs. Take your time learning fingerings and location.
The most important element of this music is to generate a strong Irish swing so that the feel is accurate to the tradition of the style. Listen closely to the "Up to Speed" example in the video lesson for properly developing this feel. Enjoy! Micro Lesson 067: "A Minor" Celtic Style Melody
Posted by Andrew Wasson
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Composing music with interesting rhythmic patterns is not only a lot of fun, it's excellent practice for learning how to discover new musical phrasing ideas.
When our music applies more complex rhythmic grooves we tend to expand our skills for rhythm into uncharted territory. This is really good work and can be taken to whole new levels if we force ourselves to create charts for everything we compose.
NOTATING CHARTS AND TAB: When it comes to becoming a better composer, there is one thing that I would stress above all others and that's notating your musical ideas. Learning how to write out a chart with the correct rhythms and phrasing subtleties is one of the best practice concepts I can think of.
Being able to notate concepts like strange sixteenth-note grooves and knowing how fast licks and runs look notated with accurate rhythmic concepts is an excellent skill.
Of course, this skill does not appear quickly and easily. This will take a very long time and a lot of practice.
These days I am making music and TAB charts all the time. I create them for my students enrolled in my studio lessons. I make charts weekly for posting on my various; Blogs, my Guitar Micro-Lessons, and for my weekly video lessons. And, I make charts for new guitar eBooks and the curriculum I sell off of my websites shopping cart system. It's a lot of work, but because I've practiced it for 30 years I don't find it very difficult. In fact, it's the opposite. I find myself looking forward to making charts and especially discovering how the rhythms will operate.
NOTATION SOFTWARE: Since the introduction to the two most popular TAB software, (back in the late 1990's), known of as, "Guitar Pro" and "PowerTab," making charts has become a lot easier compared to when I first started. Whether you're using one of the popular guitar notation software systems, or if you're using, "Finale" or, " Sibelius," making charts is a lot easier than when I was starting out.
The main benefit nowadays is an instant test for the accuracy of our rhythmic content. Before this, constant testing, counting with a metronome, and double-checking was crucial. Now, if we feel unsure about a section we've notated, we can simply use the handy MIDI playback functions available in all of these software systems to quickly check the accuracy of rhythmic ideas.
STRETCHING OURSELVES RHYTHMICALLY: As musicians, we are generally trying to push ourselves in order to become better. However, the area of 'rhythmic development' tends to take a back seat compared to more fun practice concepts like improvising, or developing better guitar techniques.
I don't think I've ever met a student who couldn't stand to improve their ability to read rhythms and to better control their sense of; meter, timing and groove on the instrument. This is why we need to balance our practice time between fun guitar topics and more complex systematic learning.
One of the best ways to stretch ourselves rhythmically, (aside from always learning how to become better at reading rhythmic notation), is to compose more complex rhythmic lines and chord progressions.
This is not only fun but it adds a much needed, "extra devotion," to playing better rhythm on the instrument. It also forces a higher level of attention to rhythm. However, when you first start down this path it can feel like someone's thrown a monkey wrench into your guitar skills.
CREATING ISOLATED SHORT RHYTHMIC STUDIES: To help you with getting started in this direction I wanted to suggest a couple of study ideas that will get you thinking about different kinds of rhythmic units and how to use them to become better "rhythm pattern players."
In example one, I have a very choppy sixteenth-note rhythmic groove that leans to the style of Funk guitar. This phrase not only uses several broken sixteenth-note phrases, but it also loops the phrase in a partial segment.
Learning how to both play and notate these types of rhythmic phrases is excellent work that will build better playing skills while also stretching your ability to notate complex phrases in a TAB and rhythm chart.
EXAMPLE ONE: Listen to the audio example and then learn to play the part notated below.
In the next example, I've created a melody that applies a mix of longer sustained note durations along side of faster sixteenth-note fills. There's even a very quick hammer-on, pull-off slide lick that is played in the sixteenth-note triplet feel. Take your time learning the faster sections of this example. And, always use a metronome to build speed and accuracy.
EXAMPLE TWO: Listen to the audio example and then learn to play the part notated below.
Before I wrap up I'd like to mention that learning to compose, perform and eventually notate more complex rhythms will never be an absolute skill. You'll get parts wrong and you'll become frustrated with different sections of music. This is natural for all musicians. We are artists and the musician in us never plays or notates music perfectly (like a robot) all of the time.
When you become highly involved with composing, you'll start realizing that it's a living and changing thing. You'll change parts and play ideas differently all the time. And, you'll be heading back to your notation to make changes until it feels better for you. You might even make changes as you're recording in the studio!
Just realize that it's all good. Composing interesting rhythms is a challenge, but it's a fun challenge and the more you do it, the better you'll get. One thing is for sure. The more composing you do with complicated rhythms, the better your improvisational skills will become.
Remember that composing is still learning to play the music you hear in your head. The only difference is that improvisation is more spontaneous, so you will need to speed up the composing process many times faster to improvise.
Thanks for reading this week's Blogger post. - Andrew Wasson
Musicians, educators and music professionals face a myriad of new challenges today. While the costs of recording, producing and distributing music have decreased, the opportunities to earn dollars through traditional and digital channels are diminishing...
While Taylor Swift recently came out against streaming services like Spotify for giving as much as 70 percent of revenues to labels, and just pennies to the artists, there are many ways musicians and educators can leverage the digital space to share their art and make money.
Music composer and instructor, Dr. David Mitchell is teaming with marketing leader, Jennifer Jones, to share tips on how the online space can be used to create brand awareness for musicians and drive tangible income.
The duo will present "How to Promote Your Music Online: A Guide to Social Media for the Musicians" at the College of Music Society's Southern Chapter Conference on February 20, 2015 at 1:30 PM at the Mississippi University for Women in Poindexter 211.
And, it's not just musicians who can benefit from harnessing the power of digital and social media. Producers and professors can raise their own profiles through content sharing online to demonstrate their knowledge, experience and leadership positions.
"Everyone has a different goal when it comes to creating music," said Dr. Mitchell. "Some people are trying to make a profit. Some are trying to reach a specific audience. Some are trying to brand themselves as an artist or an educator and thought leader. Social media lets you do all of it and we look forward to showing the CMS audience how."
A recent composition for guitar and piano, "Lake Avondale, A Beautiful Day" by Dr. Mitchell will also be performed at the conference by Jay Kacherski, guitar, Lina Morita, piano. The piece recently premiered at the Spectrum in New York City by the Samadi-Keene duo.
Steel Panther's "Satchel" runs through another hilarious Guitar World Video Lesson on the Steel Panther song, “Weenie Ride,” from their 2012 album, Balls Out.
“Weenie Ride” is built around a piano part in the key of A minor. There is, of course, a bitchin’ guitar solo in the song, which Satchel shows in the video lesson. A note about the guitar tuning: Satchel always tunes down one half step. But when he recorded “Weenie Ride,” he played the solo in standard-tuning.
Posted by Andrew Wasson
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 066"
This Micro Lesson uses the, "C Minor," harmony to create a Funk Groove.
The rhythm lesson example works through a funk rhythmic groove that focuses upon scratch rhythms.
Funk grooves are some of the most demanding when it comes to rhythmic ability for the guitarist. When scratches are employed during a busy sixteenth-note guitar part the demand increases drastically.
The trick to developing funk groove playing is that of learning the parts measure by measure. This is due to the similarity of the measures.
Once a rhythm is developed in one bar, the other measures will generally follow quickly. In the example, the groove uses three string triads located on the upper three and mid-three strings.
Posted by Andrew Wasson
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 065"
This Micro Lesson uses the, "E Minor," scale to create a Rock Arpeggio Riff.
This Minor Rock Riff uses arpeggios across several chords from the harmony of the key of "E Natural Minor."
The arpeggios function in a rhythm of steady eighth notes throughout the four measures of this riff. The overall speed of this riff is overly fast, so the degree of technique required to perform this phrase is fairly intermediate.
