The Steely Dan Mu Major Chord [And Beyond] For Guitarists, Part Two

In Part One we discussed the essence of the Steely Dan Mu Major chord - a root position major triad with the 2nd added and voiced adjacent to the 3rd - and possible 3 note voicings on guitar. In Part Two we look at the evolution of the Mu Major concept in the music of Walter Becker and Donald Fagan, and how to apply these ideas to the guitar.
The Steely Dan Mu Major chord evolved in later albums as the music--and the West Coast Studio musicians performing it--leaned more towards a jazz interpretation of the chord changes, where dissonant intervals [major and minor 2nds], slash chords and quartal harmonies abound. Starting with Dr. Wu [from the Katy Lied album], the Mu Major concept expanded to include minor chord function as well. This approach relies on the bass player to indicate the tonality [root], as the chord voicing replaces root and/or 5th with other scale tones [tensions] to add dissonance and richness.
Home At Last, from Aja, is a good example of this. Although played on piano on the recording, these 3 note voicings are playable on guitar. The intro is a G minor root position voicing on strings 4, 3 and 2, with the 2nd degree [A] replacing the G on string 4 [can we call this G Mu Minor?]. The 2nd chord, same strings, is an F Mu Major, i.e. a root position triad with G replacing F. The other 2 intro chords are an A Mu Minor [same as G Mu Minor, 2 frets higher] and Bb Mu Major [same strings, C D F].
Following the G minor intro, the verse section ["I know this super highway, this bright familiar sun"] begins with an Ebmaj9 chord. This voicing is best described as a slash chord, Bb/Eb, i.e. a Bb major triad with an Eb in the bass. This 4 note voicing can be played on strings 5, 4, 3 and 2 [Eb Bb D F]. The bass player is playing Eb. Like the Mu major and minor chords, however, the function of these chords can change if the bass player changes the root. For example, with the bass playing a C root this becomes a Cmin11 Eb/b3, Bb/b7, D/9, F/11]. This voicing is also used in Green Earrings, from Royal Scam. Starting at bar 3 with the Bb/Eb, the voicing moves in whole steps [Ab/Db, Gb/Cb].
Green Earrings also has an example of quartal harmony, occurring during the Am7 vamp which harmonizes the 1st 8 bars of the verse. These are 3 note voicings stacked in 4ths. These voicings were explored notably by John Coltrane [McCoy Tyner's work on Love Supreme, My Favorite Things, Transitions], Miles Davis [the quintet albums with Herbie Hancock], Bill Evans, etc. in the '50's and 60's. The voicing for the Am7, played on strings 3, 2 and 1 is D G C. With the bass player sounding A this voicing sounds like Am11, but with a G in the bass it's a Gsus4 or G11, F in the bass an F13, etc. Quartal chords are built upwards in 4ths, unlike traditional triad- based harmonies [built in 3rds]. When we invert these stacked 4ths, we end uo with mu major and mu minor- type voicings. For example, the Am11 voicing from Green Earrings, when inverted, would be G C D, and, inverted again, C D G, low to high. This creates a major 2nd dissonance between the C and D. This interval is the essential characteristic of the mu major sound.

Christian Wolff Concert Review 4-7-11 at UVA

Christian Wolff is an experimental and classical music composer who was largely self-taught in his musical education. This being said, there are relatively few "traditional" compositional paradigms which he adheres to; creating both a unique and jarring listening experience for the audience. Immediately upon the outset of the concert, his novel approach is blatantly obvious with songs that provide the performer an incredible amount of freedom - so much to the point that not any two interpretations of the same piece are performed, or heard for that matter, in the same way. A manner to approach the music in, from the perspective of a nubile experimental music listener (such as I am), would be strictly avant-garde. As with any pioneering music composer, the music has an exploratory tone to it; there is a palpable pushing and feeling around for boundaries that do not exist.
Periods of silence marked by brief outbursts, both identifiable in source and otherwise, followed by more traditional classical feeling sounds, are all common in the work of Wolff. Certain compositions, such as Play (1968) or Stones (1968) are completely unstructured, providing both performers and listeners with an abundance of freedom that can be overwhelming to those who have little experience with the world of early experimental music. At the same time, there is, paradoxically enough, a very natural feel to many of the compositions that is somewhat soothing to the audience, despite the abruptness of the pieces.
Although what I have been saying about the concert appears to go back and forth between the extremes of musically jarring and oddly comfortable, these, it appears, are entirely appropriate sensation combinations when listening to experimental compositions. In fact, there is an air uncertainty about the performers, looking about from one to another, which helps put the audience at ease with their own internal clashing of feelings and interpretations about the compositions.
The influence of his contemporaries is apparent in his compositions. The open form of Paris (1968) seems to be inspired by Earle Brown. The freely floating, unfocused, and asymmetric rhythms of Morton Feldman as appear to have entered Wolff's compositions. In all of Wolff's works, the autonomy of interpretation associated with John Cage could be felt along with other avant-garde influences from the experimental New York School, of which they all were an integral part.
Influences from abroad are also apparent, as Wolff borrows from the electroacoustic styling of the French based GRM. More specifically, Play (1968) had the influence of Pierre Schaeffer and musique concrete - as the sound was based off many unidentifiable, nontraditional "instruments" and the piece was devoid of any traditional musical elements. Despite the fact that Wolff is not associated with the minimalist musical movement, I could not help but hear some elements of the movement in his music - silence, brevity, directionless or non-goal driven, conceptual aspects. Also, as a matter of statement, although electronic aspects are frequent in experimental pieces, there was a marked absence of those sounds at this concert.

Hard Rock With Ibanez Tube King Tk999 Overdrive Pedal

I really enjoy playing rock and blues stuff on my electric guitar. Every guitarist needs the equipment that helps him with his style. One of my favourite gear parts, is my Tube king Tk999 overdrive pedal by Ibanez.
That's because it gives a crunchy rockish feel to my riffs and solos. When I turn my pedal on I can rock around the universe. I can play endlessly for hours because I enjoy the sound so much.
Ok, the instrument or the gear of a guitarist comes second. Yes! His technique and feel must be his or her most important qualities. But there are are some days which you do not have the courage or the feel to play. These days everything you've got must help you to get up. Here comes the good equipment.
Ibanez Tube King TK999 is an electric guitarist's must have overdrive pedal. Imagine your favourite guitar players, your kings of rock 'n' roll, your absolutely favourite guitar riff! Yes, the tube king can come really close to these sounds.
A every important feature of the king, is the actual fact, that it contains a real tube. Yes even with a very cheap amplifier, even with a cheap old guitar, the quality if this pedal, can save you in a gig or recording.
I have spent so many hours studying, playing and even watching my guitar. The king was a great company on those moments! Those moments of joy, when your hands are in pain from the hard strings, when your heart beats like crazy, when feel so tired yet so full and content inside! In so many of these moments I had the tube king to keep me company, and help me get the results I wanted from my sound.
When I talk to fellow guitarists, about the King most of them feel the same way with me. Of course not all my death metal friends feel the way i do. If someone likes full distortion sounds at top speed riffs, the I don't think the king does the job for him. Yeah! definitely! Don't even think of tk999 overdrive pedal if you are really into death metal.
To cut a long story short, I would like to conclude by saying one thing. In my opinion the the tube king TK999 overdrive pedal is the best thing I got to get the crunchy sound I like on my riffs and solos.
This is what I had to say about this very good overdrive pedal, which I enjoy playing so much. I'll always be proud for having one! Let's not forget that practising and souls makes a true guitarist. Though gear can play a very big role to someone's sound.

Listing The Beatles Albums In Order Of My Preference

As anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of pop history will know, The Beatles released 13 albums during their time together as recording artists, on the EMI Parlophone label in the UK and on their own Apple label, towards the end of their career.
Most people might even be able to list each of these releases in chronological order, such was the pervasive influence of the group on western culture in the 1960s and beyond.
As a lifelong fan, a question I am often asked is What Is Your Favourite Beatles Album? This is akin to being asked, as a parent with three children, Which is your favourite child? Its an almost impossible question to answer, and I find the only acceptable way to approach this conundrum is to try and list a few of the Beatles albums in order of my preference. Performing this exercise at different points over the last thirty odd years would undoubtedly have thrown up differing results, so here goes for 2011 and we'll revisit the question sometime in the next couple of years!

• A Hard Days Night: released 10 July 1964. The first Beatles album to contain exclusively self penned material. All fourteen songs attributed to Lennon/McCartney, their style and execution epitomised the exuberance and joy of youth. Lennon in particular hit a purple patch at this time, with the title track and others such as Any Time At All, I'll Cry Instead and I'll Be Back all from him. Sheer fun.
• Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: released 1 June 1967. A sprawling masterpiece, rated at number one in Rolling Stone magazines 500 greatest albums of all time, it took over 700 hours of recording time and saw The Beatles basic sound augmented like never before. Its finale, A Day In The Life, was considered by some a vision of Armageddon.
• Revolver: released 5 August 1966. Placed at number three in Rolling Stone Magazines 500 greatest albums of all time, a monumental achievement and anecdotally regarded as the bands best album. With mind shuddering songs such as Eleanor Rigby, Got To Get You Into My Life and Tomorrow Never Knows, its grandeur and ambition has rarely been matched.
• The Beatles (The White Album): released 22 November 1968. A sprawling mish mash of songs, mostly composed during their three month stint in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, earlier that year. It is notable for its diversity and stark in its portrayal of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership as, effectively, at an end. Given a lukewarm reception critically on release (by their standards), opinions on it are now much more positive, to the extent that Rolling Stone listed it as the tenth greatest album of all time.

Rockabilly Music Followed a Simple Formula to Create a Revolution - And Also Broke The Rules!

In some ways, different flavors of popular music have been all over the board stylistically. There are big differences between Sinatra and Hank Williams! But in other ways--structurally speaking--it's surprising how closely different pop styles follow similar structural patterns. In that respect, rockabilly music shares much in common with many different genres of popular music.
Having grown out of a combination of country, blues, gospel, and rhythm and blues music of the early half of last century, it shouldn't be too surprising that rockabilly music shares much in common with each of those genres. Specifically, rockabilly songs typically follow the familiar 12-bar blues pattern that forms the foundation of millions of songs that have been written and recorded in not only the blues style, but also country, rock and roll, folk music, and many others.
So, what exactly is the "12-bar blues" pattern? For musicians who play in any of the styles I've mentioned here, the pattern is second nature. Musicians who don't pay much attention to music theory may not even realize they're playing the pattern--it just appears in so many songs that it's been ingrained into them. But many non musicians have maybe heard the term and wondered what it's all about. And for rockabilly fans, why should you care?
Well, you certainly are not required to understand the 12-bar blues pattern to enjoy rockabilly music, but if you're interested to know how it works, here's a down-and-dirty basic summary!
The pattern is simply a structure that the song writer uses to create a song that makes sense to the western listener's ear. There's no law that says a song writer must stick to the structure, but one can't go too far wrong with it. The structure brings instant familiarity to the listener and makes them feel comfortable with where the song's going. The composer applies this structure typically to the verses of the song and--not surprisingly given the structure's name--it is 12 bars, or musical measures, long. The end of those 12 bars leads comfortably into the next section of the song whether it be another 12-bar verse pattern or a variation used as a chorus, solo, or bridge section.
Let's take the classic Carl Perkins song "Blue Suede Shoes" for our example. The song sticks to the 12-bar blues structure and may be the greatest rockabilly song ever written. Think of the first verse of the song where Perkins helps us count out the measures by providing us with the famous "Well it's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go cat go."
The "one," "two," and "three" of the lyrics fall on the first beat of measures one, two, and three of the verse. Add in the "go cat go" and you've already made it through four of the 12 bars in the pattern. Perkins uses essentially the same musical chord for those first four measures. That chord may specifically be an E or an A or any other chord depending upon the key in which the song is played, but generically it is known as the "one" chord. The choice of that chord is related to the 12-bar blues in that a very common chording pattern (one, four, one, five, one) typically works hand in hand with the 12-bar pattern. That's another discussion for another day and starts diving deeper into music theory than most fans want to get!
After those first four bars, the song switches to what's known as the "four" chord and the song's melody changes accordingly. The song stays on the four chord for two bars. In our example, Perkins sings, "Now don't you step on my blue suede" and we're six bars in--half way through the pattern. The word "shoes kicks off the seventh bar of the pattern back on the "one" chord and Perkins fills the rest of bar seven and bar eight with a nifty guitar riff.
Over bars nine and ten, Perkins sings "do anything, but lay offa my blue suede shoes" over what's known as the "five" chord. He finishes off the pattern back on the one chord with his great guitar lick again and then the whole pattern repeats itself as he launches into the "Well you can knock me down..." of verse two.
"Blue Suede Shoes" is a brilliant example of the 12-bar blues pattern in rockabilly music. It's actually somewhat unusual because the song doesn't have a distinct chorus section. Instead, Perkins builds what serves as his chorus right into the last eight bars of the verse so that the two actually share the same 12-bar pattern instead of using distinctly different patterns for each.
"Blue Suede Shoes" is simply a great example of the 12-bar blues pattern used in rockabilly and other forms of popular music. Things get even more interesting when song writers start playing with and experimenting around the standard pattern. There are no set rules about how many bars a song or its individual sections has to have. For example, Gene Vincent's brilliant "Be Bop a Lula" uses a standard 12-bar blues pattern for the chorus (where Gene sings, "Be Bop a Lula she's my baby. Be Bop a Lula I don't mean maybe." and so on.) But his verse sections use an unusual eight-bar pattern and it all works beautifully.
If you consider the 12-bar blues pattern a rule, then songs like "Blue Suede Shoes" prove that the rules make great rockabilly music. And songs like "Be Bop a Lula" prove that, with rockabilly, the rules are made to be broken!

A List Of Good Guitar Accessories To Have

The six string is a wonderful instrument and one that is going to provide you with years of enjoyment and maybe even a career. When you first begin to learn there are certain good guitar accessories to have that will really help you progress faster.
The first thing you will need is a tuner. This is an essential piece of equipment. Learning to tune by ear is an important learning curve that will help you understand tone and notation. But before you do that, you are going to need a little help. A tuner will make sure your instrument is always in perfect pitch. This will help to make the shapes and progressions you are perfecting sound as good as they possibly can.
There are only a certain number of basic chord shapes. A great way to discover new and exciting variations is with a capo. A capo can really turn those basic shapes into new sounds and open up a world of possibility. You basically put it onto any fret of your choosing and strum your basic chords. The only difference will be that the chords will sound higher, fresher and different.
Every guitarist needs a plectrum. This is the tiny piece of plastic you will hold in your strumming hand to attack the strings with. Some players prefer to play without one, but to begin with, a plectrum is going to make learning far easier on your fingers.
Cleaning is very important. Strings will become dirty and avoiding cleaning is sure to snap the strings quicker and have you spending more money. There is a variety of cleaning products on the market, many professionals prefer using lemon oil. It is down to you, try a few out and see which one fits the best.
As you progress, you may want to get into the world of effects. There are lots of different effects out there and it is possible to make a guitar sound like an organ, a human voice, anything you can imagine. Popular pedals are delays, reverbs and of course distortions.
These are just some of the good guitar accessories to have. All of them will help you learn and make the whole process much more fun and easier. Keep practicing, never give up and you may be surprised at how fast you are improving. Who knows, after a few years we may be seeing you on the television and topping the charts.

Cheap Electric Guitars - Some Details For You To Have A Look At Before Parting With The Cash

When you come to buy your first guitar there are some general rules that are going to apply, however the number one is going to be taking your time. There is generally no need to rush into it and it is best to find a guitar that best suits your playing style and pocket.
So, having made the time to get the choice right there are some things that you can add to your list of things to consider:
• The action (or the gap between the fretboard and the strings): if the action is too high, it could make playing difficult, uncomfortable and probably painful for you. If it is too low, you may experience buzzing frets, which believe me is one of the most irritating problems you will encounter.
• Please make sure the guitar's neck is straight. Having a bent or warped neck will make playing difficult. This can be checked by simply holding up the guitar and looking along the fretboard.
• You will also need to check the intonation by playing the Twelfth fret harmonic, and then the Twelfth fret note. They should sound at the same pitch. If they are not, that will require fixing.
• The electrical wiring is vital on any electric guitar therefore you will need to check the tone and volume controls work and also the pickup selector switch works.
You will need to check that all the pickups function and that they sound clean with no crackles or loss of sound level.
Even an online guitar shop will offer a free set-up with each new purchase. This option should always be taken because a well set up guitar will be a joy to play from the outset. A badly set up instrument will be a frustrating and ultimately damaging playing experience.
For your first amplifier a solid-state one (rather than a tube amp) should be considered. Marshall, Fender, Line 6, Vox and Peavey all make a great range of cheaper and very functional starter amps.
Other bits and pieces you will need are a guitar lead and I would recommend that you don't go for one which is too short or even too long. About 3m is perfect. You will also need a guitar strap, picks in a range of thicknesses so you can find out your preference (they are pretty cheap). No matter what guitar you buy you are going to have to change the strings too, again this will be down to personal preference, but please make sure that whatever strings you choose are suited to the guitar you have brought.
A clip on chromatic guitar tuner is also a must unless you have a trained ear unlike about Ninety nine percent of us.
You can part with as much or as little as you wish, but musical instruments are certainly examples of the 'you get what you pay for' statement. The internet provides a fantastic source of information for researching guitars and how well they perform. It should probably be noted at this point too that the biggest selling acoustic in the world is the Washburn d10s acoustic guitar which starts at less than £140. The world's bestselling electric guitar is the Fender Stratocaster which is a little bit more pricey; however there are some great models out there and a couple of hundred pounds will get you a decent and playable example.  need not always be a false view and if you stick to some of the advice above you will not go far wrong.