Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 140" This Micro Lesson works through a fast-paced 16th-Note, "A Minor" scale lick that crosses over into the sound of "Harmonic Minor."
The sound of Harmonic Minor can be applied in a guitar lick by many different means. Sometimes we can target chord tones to generate a strong connection to the raised 7th degree of Harmonic Minor. However, there are other times where the raised 7th can operate in a way that is more subtle.
This is the way we find Harmonic Minor applied in Micro Lesson 140's lick. In measure one, the initial phrase adds in a 13th fret "G#" tone from "A" Harmonic Minor.
Across measures two and three we move through our remainder of scale tones using only "A Natural Minor." The contrast between tones is extremely subtle, but it creates an interesting effect at the start of the lick.
Work with a metronome to develop the speed and take care to ensure good finger patterns. Enjoy!
How to handle a four-string as a six-stringer...
Many guitar players will end up purchasing a bass and some might even moonlight with a band that needs them to pick-up bass guitar duty. So, if playing bass is a little foreign to you, this article should help you to get going on 4-strings from your current comfort zone of six....
Playing with a pick or playing with your fingers - let the style decide! Generally, guitar players will always use a pick. And, for some bass styles like hardcore punk rock, or some Heavy Metal the pick may be the only way to play fast enough.
However, you will get a softer sound and lighter note attack when you play with your fingers, but everything comes down to being appropriate for the kind of music that you're playing.
Blues, Jazz and Soul, R and B music will generally sound better played with fingers. Ever certain rock songs really need those fingers involved. We must learn to compensate when things need a softer, rounder sound. This can be where a guitarists exposure to classical guitar or finger-plucking will really come in handy. But, on the flip-side, we also need to be able to have some skill for playing bass with a pick as well. The song and the style ultimately needs to make the "finger or pick" call.
Don't get too busy Bass parts are generally fairly straight-forward. They connect well to the underlying harmony and focus a lot on the chord tones. So, keep those bass ideas really simple. remember, you're not playing a solo! And, above all - play for the song. Bass parts need to connect with the percussion and not fly all over the place. If there is a strong melody or vocal part, the bass needs to underpin that melody or vocal line. This is what makes the song compelling and what makes the bass anchor a firm platform within the piece.
Try to come in on the bass with more of an understated approach. Learn what the chord tones are, and remember that when it comes to bass - less is more!
Gear's not everything - but it is important
Don't get too bummed out if you haven't got a nice P-Bass and a killer 1000 watt bass-rig. Many practicing bassists end up playing very simple gear set-ups for many years. Over time, you can invest and build your set-up upon the style of music you generally play the most. In rock music, you'll want something that's going to create a solid tone at high volume. And, most times, the instrument is less important than the amplifier, (generally speaking). So, get the type of bass that's comfortable and within your financial budget, and save your cash for the power you'll require in the amp and speaker cab.
Keep in mind that the Bass requires a lot of power to push those lows. So, a min. 450 watt amp, and at least a 2x10 cab will be what's needed for most music styles. You need to push through, and the amp, (more than your bass), will be what does the job. Play with as many drummers as possible
The most important relationship a bassist has is with the drummer. An experienced bass player learns the difference [between drummers] - this also keeps a bassist on their feet. Some drummers are like a force of nature. Others are really opinionated about their drum feel and how the bass needs to interact. As a practicing bassist, learning to work around different drummers is a real eye opener. Learn to produce a feel with different players and pay a lot of close attention to what each drummer does differently.
Some of your best learning experiences will be from working with drummers who alter what they are playing on the drums. Changes to the meter, and to the beat can help the bassist to produce really strong ideas, and vice-versa. This is why playing with different drummers is so valuable.
Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 139" This Micro Lesson covers a Country Rock style guitar riff in the key of "A."
The riff operates from a traditional blues boogie idea pushing the riff along through measures one and three.
This boogie idea is combined with a 3rd string bend and a 4th string pull-off. Measure two adds a sus4 concept around the "A" chord with a double hammer-on idea that brings in an "A" tone on the second fret of the 3rd string.
In measure four there's a fast turnaround phrase that uses slides to travel along the 4th and 3rd strings up into the 2nd string. The final phrase is a Pentatonic lick that resolves into the root of "A" on the 4th string seventh fret.
Watch the fingering across the phrase. Pre-plan how each idea connects across the string sets. Use a metronome to build the speed on the final fourth measure as the line resolves. Enjoy!
This weeks GuitarBlog covers a few of the basic ideas involved with playing rock lead guitar and Rock music in general.
It goes without saying that most rock songs will almost always have a guitar solo. And, although we probably won't be performing a busy technical solo (like Eddie Van Halen might play), we will have more going on (in even the most basic of Rock solo), as compared to the way that we'd play a solo in perhaps a blues piece.
Use the various ideas discussed in this lesson as a way to begin bridging the gap between playing basic Blues lead guitar, and how you'll make the switch toward playing Rock. Enjoy the lesson!
Songwriters are getting angry...
The disparity between the money paid by streaming services to record labels (plus artists) and publishers (plus songwriters) is, as Sony /ATV’s Martin Bandier puts it, threatening the ‘entire livelihood’ of his clients.
It’s leading to public outcry over Pandora, for instance – notorious for paying Pharrell Williams (pictured) just $2,700, as a songwriter/producer, for 43 million spins of his uber-hit Happy.
But insider industry experts have explained to MBW that there are also other, less obvious factors gnawing away at the earnings a songwriter takes home in the digital age.
We’re here to tell you about them.
The easiest way to explain this monetary erosion is by theoretically tracking a single premium streaming payment from a customer of Spotify in Europe.
A month of premium action on this service would cost you €9.99.
That’s our gross revenue. Lovely, lovely gross revenue.
Savor it... It doesn’t stick around for long...
The first deduction from our sum total is taken direct from Spotify and is very upfront: Value Added Tax (or equivalent).
In the UK, this would be a 20% cost, but in other European countries, it’s higher: Spain at 21%, for example, or 25% in Spotify’s home country of Sweden!
With the tax paid, our subsequent net revenue now sits at around €8.33.
Time for the next deduction: Spotify’s own charge of 30% of the remainder – with 70% given out to music rights-holders.
Bingo! The music industry now has €5.83 to share.
Songwriters, you are permitted to start licking your lips.
Oh no. Here comes the really painful bit: when the lion’s share is gobbled up by artists and labels...
Sources close to Spotify tell us that just under 1/5th of this €5.83 works its way to the publishing side of the music business, leaving ‘musical works’ owners with a mighty €1 to share between them.
This €1 equates to around 12% of Spotify’s post-tax revenue (€8.33).
We’re told that is actually a higher share than songwriters/publishers would have received from leading download sites, where they were typically passed 8% of post-tax revenue.
Okay, come on, we’re left with €1. It’s not so bad. Chin up.
This money is, of course, collected and distributed by a collection society (CMO) – which naturally takes its slice in commission.
Although these CMOs are usually ‘not for profit’, they certainly have admin costs. Some more than others. Much more!
This is controversial territory...
A good CMO will use this commission to hire more staff, for example, to call up businesses that use songwriters’ music and obtain licensing fees (yay!).
A… less good CMO might use it for pension plans and rent payments on large fancy offices.
Very much not yay.
We’re told that at an average rate across Europe, a collection society’s cost-to-income ratio will sit at around 14%.
In the case of our Spotify payment – now at a single Euro, remember – that equates to €0.14.
Disclaimer: this is a very rough average commission rate calculated across the EU based on standard industry practice.
Things vary according to many factors, especially whether a given collection is from abroad or domestic.
Some publishers tell MBW that they have seen their income savaged to the tune of 20%-25% when it comes to certain collection societies on occasion.
The reason for this discrepancy is because CMOs often won’t charge commission on collected money that is passed to them from abroad – handily bringing down their average cost-to-income ratio.
BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch told MBW in a recent interview that the CMOs “need to feel some economic heat”.
“These very important industry players effectively charge you what they need in order to cover what they spend. That’s the wrong way round,” he commented.
Sadly, that’s not the worst of it.
The €0.86 left in our pot hasn’t even departed the collection societies before another cost can hit.
And for songwriters, this one’s a real stinker: ‘Social and Cultural Deductions.’
What the heck are S+C Deductions, and why do they exist?
Good question – and one the likes of PRS For Music (UK) and STIM (Sweden) will certainly echo, refusing as they do to skim this money off their members’ revenue.
Yet elsewhere, in territories like Spain and Denmark, good ol’ S+C removes somewhere around 10% from the ever-decreasing (€0.86) songwriters’ paycheque.
(S+C is definitely applied to non-digital revenue, and our sources tell us it’s likely to apply in these territories on digital income too.)
This cash is supposedly reinvested into a country’s ‘serious’ artforms (opera, classical) and cultural standing – although many question where it ends up in reality…
Back to the Spotify cash chain...
If you’re unfortunate enough to have had to cough up S+C, that leaves you with around €0.77.
Phew!
Finally, after 93% of that Spotify customer’s original €9.99 payment has been taken by other parties, you’re in the money!
Ah, no. Not quite...
If you’re signed to a publishing deal, it’s time to pay the piper.
This obviously comes down to a wide variance of contractual agreements, but an 80% /20% split isn’t outside the realms of many modern contracts – equivalent to €0.15 of our weedy-looking €0.77.
Now, once a royalty statement has been issued (however long it takes), it really is time for songwriters to collect their cash!
Your change, ma’am: €0.62.
What’s that? You co-write your songs with three other people?
Erm. Let’s deal with that one tomorrow. You’ve had a hard day.
IMPORTANT: Here is a key talking point in this very feasible value chain: rewind to the point after Spotify and the taxman took their cut – and then 1/5th of the remainder was passed to a collection society.
Quite understandably, that part of the process is currently attracting the most public outrage.
As a consequence, though, we still had €1.
Yet by the time the money landed in our bank, nearly 40% of this sum had just… disappeared.
At a time when songwriters are apparently struggling to make a living, this must burn.
Was it all – collection society commission, S+C Deduction, publisher share etc. – worth it?
Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 138" This Micro Lesson covers a double-stop riff in the key of "A."
The riff begins with ascending and descending slides on the upper strings covering the harmony of an "A Major" chord.
In measure two, we have more double-stops covering the harmony of an "E and D" major chord. Measure three changes things up slightly by applying an arpeggiated idea covering the harmony of an "A Major," chord.
Measure four breaks down further use of the double-stops by pushing in a "G" Major chord. The riff is a relatively easy one that doesn't require fast playing or highly developed technique.
Take your time building the phrasing and the fingering. One strong recommendation is to use the ring finger of the fret-board hand to play the initial slide in measure one. Most of all have fun and work to develop your timing so the riff is smooth. Enjoy!
Recently, the rapper Jay Z relaunched the subscription streaming music service Tidal, which includes the option to listen to high-definition audio for $19.99 per month.
Tidal's HiFi, with its uncompressed audio files, promises a better listening experience than any other streaming service on the market.
Many listeners cannot hear the difference between uncompressed audio files and MP3s, but when it comes to audio quality, the size of the file isn't (ahem) everything. There are plenty of other ingredients to consider, from the quality of your headphones to the size of the room you're sitting in to, well, your own ears.
Can you hear the difference? Take this quiz to find out. One hint: Turn your volume up.
