Mixture of flavors and influences on this one, hope you like it.

Please also visit www.mindsband.com

Since Craig Ross plays the solo live note by note I decided to do a lesson of what I think is the correct solo.

When playing live they have a 4 piece band but for small venues they perform as a duo with acoustic guitars and acordeon, here is their song “Survival” played live in Acatife, Lanzarote.

It’s going to be an excellent show full of new music played by great musicians, is also a rare opportunity to hear the song “Suenhos” played live by a full band.

The concert will take place in the Tias theater, Lanzarote at 9:00p.m 15th of December 2011.

See you!

Manuel Becerra did the arrangements and will be in front of the orchestra formed by Kovacs (piano) Tzabo Mate (double bass)  Ariel (percusion), Alex (drums), Carlos Perez (soprano sax), Ayoze (clarinet) Yasuyo (flute) and Pedro Mejia (guitar). The mixed choir is the San Gines choir and the soloist include the great Beni Ferrer.

The concert will start at 9 p.m in the Teatro Insular, arrecife, Lanzarote (Spain).

Hi there, here’s the cool page I was talking about in a previous post, you can buy my album Calidomusic for a reasonable price and directly from the source, that’s me again.

Now some stories about the album.

“I never had in mind the idea of an entirely instrumental album, just for practical reasons (where are you going to play instrumental music? who’s going play with you?. I’m more involved with the music and the instrument as a medium not as the end, and instrumental music falls very much into virtuosity and lack of ideas, plus a lot of extra technical work that only a 10% of the audience will notice. Of course, you can have a good balance between the instrument and the music as some many good artist have achieved, just like Jeff Beck and Eric Johnson for example.

“I saw a guitar contest in a Spanish magazine (not worth mentioning) for the best instrumental album, and apparently they were judging music instead of control of the instrument, so I decided to record 5 songs and give it a try. After the 3 fist songs I decided to include an acoustic, very soft piece that people around got to like. I noticed the interest of these non musicians in the soft songs and the interest of the guitar player in the virtuoso songs, so I ended recording 5 electric and 5 soft to please everyone. At the end the magazine forgot to mention that the contest was for Spanish people only, so I ended recording my fist instrumental album without knowing I was going to.

Astralophytekus was meant to be an album opener from day one due to the powerful riff in it. The song gravitates on this riff mostly, and the melody of the guitar is more like counterpart phrases rather than the theme, which is of course, the riff. The solo section is also the bridge of the song, just a change to refresh the listener from the riff.

Tocoyma is the name of the music academy where I was teaching in Lanzarote, Spain. So eventually I recorded a rhythm section for my students to solo over and I ended liking it. I recorded some melodies in octaves  and the song just started asking for more. I was recorded in one day with bass included, then I added some keyboards, mixed it and left it there waiting  months for the rest of the songs.

Pern Sugar is an old idea a had recorded in Medellin, Colombia, and was supposed to become and song with vocals and everything, an ode to my addiction: chocolate. But then I remembered that in Colombia, the most horrible sugar, full of chemicals and…..sugar, has a big label on the bag:  XXX sugar, so that’s more like Pern sugar!!!.

La Hora Negra can be translated like the darkest hour and was the time to record a very guitarist-like song, full of tricks and chops. Started with the melody and a contrast melody with few changes here and there but keeping the main melody coming almost intact till the very end. The middle section is where the fast runs come, and I got my hands over a RP90 pedal (I wouldn’t recommend buying that thing  if you ask me) which comes with a Wahmmy effect, that is a bender that makes the guitar sound in the very high octave and beyond just with a push of the pedal, so you can hear that effect squealing all aver the song.

Limbo is a more orchestrated song with many up and downs, a became a song after some improvisations with a church organ sample. Then came the hard riff very much as a tribute to Dimebag Darrell. The songs doesn’t have a melody with a lead guitar and it’s more based on riffs and ideas as a band playing together and the and orchestra making a counterpart. It is not the Limbo that everyone is afraid of, it is really a shortcut to what was my main source of energy during high school: cereal, cerealimbo or just limbo.

Natkey is the first song of the oft part of the album, is also a place in the Pacific coast of Colombia, a place in the heart full of good memories and friends of quality. Listen carefully for the oceanic guitar! A good opportunity to record a small solo with my nylon Spanish guitar and adding percussion hitting it’s back, as it should be.

Suenhos comes from a chord progression I used to play back in university during recession time between classes, and it used to calm me down, so I though it may do the same for others and tried to record it, but it happened to calm people to the point of sleeping, so I finally decided to add some contrast parts to keep them awake.

Adios is not forever, is for a while since I had just left my homeland for a long time and due to gear limitations I recorded this song in Czech Republic with headphones and the guitars connected via line which is not very orthodox , I tried to re-record the full song but at the end liked the sound and with some electrics recorded in Lanzarote, the song rised again.

Cumbiamber was meant to be the Colombian track, and it is!. Is based on the folkloric colombian music called Cumbia, very binary, very rhythmic, very african, I tried to record a version for one guitar but at the end it kept calling for more instruments, what can you do?

Mar was composed in Lanzarote watching the volcanoes and of course…the ocean!, Played on piano, was intended to be the incidental music for a video for the Island, but never did. Started fooling around guitar lines over it and then came the idea of the strings supporting the piano, it’s more atmospheric that melodic but I belonged in the album for sure.

The music is composed by Jose Julian Villa a.k.a “El Gordo” and the songs take their way with the band performing them live in a very traditional way, just like the traditional Colombian bands.

For more information check out their site and music is worth thetry!

As for the music, there’s plenty to say without falling in technical language. Hearing the intro you will find a cool interval within the chord which is called Diminished Fifth ( the distance between A and Eb) in Medieval times was known as the Diavolo in musique (the devil in music) and was avoided by all means leading at the end to the foundation of  common rules in classic harmony, but that’s another story. Now hear the main riff and you’ll be facing one of the most mystic melodies in rock music, with very particular phrasing and use of the minor scale is difficult to deny that the riff came in a altered state of mind for a person not very fond in atonal music.

Anyway, even if you are not interested in guitar playing this song is a very well crafted piece of music set to fit the pop standards for radio broadcasting at the time, Hendrix had help from many sources including producers to achieve this more accessible art rock.

Regards.

The problem with selling your own music to the public may differ from band to band, but one thing is clear: records are too expensive. If the buyer has to choose between paying 10 euros or downloading for free…. it’s not really a choice no matter how cool the artwork may be or the 24 page booklet included in the download. Now, if you think about it from the 10 euros that the album cost, the artist only  gets about 3, the rest is for iTunes or whoever is doing the digital distribution.

So what about selling the record for 3 euros and getting 100% of the selling? after all, that’s what you were getting from the deal of an almost impossible album to sell, Let’s face it, 3 euros for a digital download is right  and knowing that the money is going directly to the artist is more than right.

How does it work? all transaction are managed with Paypal to avoid direct credit card transaction and assuring that the transaction goes directly to the seller artist. The artist will upload the songs in lossless audio format (WAV) and Vibedeck will make 320kb mp3 for the buyer. The album can be posted in social network and pages via embed and other cool features include  that the artist can set the price as wanted or exchange the album for the buyer’s email.

For people selling your own music is definitely a site to visit and use, because is totally fre by now!

Hi there! It’s time to cover one of my favorite solos of all time: Sweet child o’ mine.It’s one of the songs that really got me into playing guitar back  in 1988 or something when I saw the video on TV an it just blew my mind!, fell in love with it and specially with the solo, the sound, the wah…it’s just special.

Lately I found out by reading Slash’s autobiography that when he recorded the solo he was only 19 years old…not bad, but he had be playing guitar for only 4 years!. These days you can see a lot of young people playing with great technique and ideas but this solo is legendary, a masterpiece, and you need something else to create such thing.Everything about the solo is sensational, leave alone the interpretation which is incredible, the actual sound of the guitar is unique.Slash himself says than he couldn’t  get that sound again anymore since it was recorded with a modified amp that he rented and  the secret of the sound was lost when they returned it to the rental company.As he tried to steal it (so says the autobiography) claiming that someone stole it from him with knowing that it was already back with the owner, they decided not to rent it back to him thanks to his band intentions.

I know some people say that Slash’s playing is overrated, but let me a sure you that is not. If you think that his technique is not good enough (you cannot deny that he’s got melodies at least, well, try to play this solo properly, specially the fast part with the wah, you’ll be surprised how technical it get’s in order to get the notes right, and now, try to put soul in it, that’s something else. Say what you will, Slash will be remembered by history for this solo and many others.