Robert leroy johnson..the king of the delta blues lives on

Probably the most enigmatic Singer and Guitarist of the twentieth Century is now one of the most revered and respected of all Musicians who make up the Genre of the “Blues “. I speak of course about the wonderful Robert Leroy Johnson. Born in 1911 in Hazelhurst Mississippi, in a Deep South plantation, he, in his pitifully short life has become one of the founding Fathers of the Blues. He recorded only 36 sides over a period of a couple of months between November 1936 and June 1937 in San Antonio Texas. These remarkable recordings still bring tears to the eyes of Blues aficionados the world over and shaped the face of the music of today. The post-war Blues of Chicago owe a great debt to Robert Johnson and it is sad to think what might have been had he lived! In just a few short years he matured from a young black guitarist into a superstar of his day. The often repeated legend was perpetuated by his contemporaries that he sold his soul to the Devil in return for his amazing guitar techniques. His story is one of hardship tinged with great success in his own locality of the Delta and women were said to be rendered helpless as he sang his compositions. His death at the hand of a jealous husband at the age of twenty seven robbed the world of one of Americas finest ever Musicians and Blues artists. Years after his death in 1938, a photograph was unearthed, one of only two in existence. It shows not only his inimitable style of dress but quite remarkable slender fingers which helped him to achieve his unique mastery of the bottleneck guitar technique. He is pictured in a chalk–stripe suit which would have been somewhat overstated for a man in his position at that time. When I first saw that photograph the one thing above all else, that stood out were his beautiful long fingers that enveloped the guitar fingerboard and obviously caressed it as though it was a Woman helpless in his arms! What about his subject matter… well nothing much has changed in the passing of time; the age old, painful process of unrequited love; of restless yearnings to move on down the line to pastures new; to unfaithful liaisons; and of course much sexual innuendo . Robert Johnson’s skill as a poet of the time and place is absolutely unsurpassed in my estimation! For sure he borrowed words, phrases, and guitar licks from his peers, but moulded them into something quite unique that not only stands the test of time but has a relevance to today’s Rock music. There cannot be any Blues Band on this Planet that has not been influenced by Johnson and his music and this is a testament to the greatness of the man! The list of recordings of Johnson’s songs by modern artists is endless and forms the backbone of the resurgence of the Blues in the early sixties in Britain and continues to this day! Most of the long lasting Bands of the R, n,B revolution of 62, 63, and on into the seventies have recorded several of Roberts songs. Notable amongst these would be The Rolling Stones, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Elmore James, and many more. Johnson’s songs transcribed particularly well to the new Electric guitar line-ups of the fifties and on into the sixties. Probably one of the most popular of his songs, which I can’t imagine anyone not having heard in a modern format, is of course Crossroad Blues. This song was recorded live at the Fillmore in San Francisco in 1968 by the great Eric Clapton and his two buddies, Jack Bruce on bass and stickman, Ginger Baker. This song also featured in Cream’s farewell concert at the Albert Hall in London in 1969. I doubt whether Johnson envisaged this treatment of his song when he wrote it or that his poetry would one day be the cornerstone of the Blues Revival of the Sixties. It is a poignant end to his story that the great impresario John Hammond, who later went onto sign – up a young Bob Dylan in 1962, was just too late when he searched for Robert to appear in the momentous concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938. Robert Johnson was dead but his spirit and his music will live on for ever in the hearts and minds of the lovers of the music we call THE BLUES . © Robin Piggott 2004 Key to the Highway Publications.

Are we moving back to the future sheet music

: Sheet music is hand written upon paper or printed form of musical notations. In other words, sheet music is the written representation of music. It is also known as score and is used as a guide or means to perform a piece of music. It is very helpful for a musician who is preparing for his upcoming performances. Except in the case of solo performers who need to memorize the music notes, classical musicians usually have this sheet music in their hands while they are performing. It is used to give basic indications of melodies, chord changes and arrangements in jazz music. It is a platform where a new musician can write the music down and serves as a visual record of music. Different types of sheet music includes full score, miniature score, piano score, vocal score, short score and lead sheet. In the 15th century, western music was mostly hand written and preserved as manuscripts. Later, in the 18th century, music was being printed. By 19th century and later, sheet music was available in computer readable format. Then Music OCR, software to read sheet music that could be manipulated made the process even simpler. A music notation program or score writer software is used to automate the task of writing and engraving sheet music. Such score writer allows you to input, edit or print music notes to different specifications. These score writers range from programs that can write simple programs to programs that handle complexities of orchestral music and music engraving. What is digital music sheet? Digital sheet music is very much similar to the printed version of the sheet music but it has certain advantages over the print version. It doesn’t goes out of print so it can be offered in titles that are unavailable anywhere else. These titles could be downloaded for guitars, piano, vocal, violin and other instruments. Find more information at our recommended website music-future

Guitar success 101 your worthy ideal

The great motivator Earl Nightingale came up with the following definition of success... "Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal." I love that definition! What does this definition mean to you? Let's take a closer look at the worthy ideal part of it... Please spend a few minutes writing down what the words "worthy ideal" mean to you. To me it is my vision of perfection...a vision of how I would ideally like things to be. It is a vision that I find inspiring and energizing! If your success with guitar is totally dependant on working towards a worthy ideal, doesn't it make sense that you first need to figure out what YOUR worthy ideal is? How can you progressively realize something if you don't know what it is? Let's do some exercises to figure your one out... Please invest at least a couple of hours doing the following exercises. They will really help you to build a picture of your worthy ideal in your mind's eye... Exercise 1: Imagine how would ideally like to play. Try and imagine what your guitar playing would sound, look and feel like. What guitar techniques are you a master of? How does your improvising sound? What about your composing? Please write your answers down now. Exercise 2: Imagine your ideal guitar playing career. Would you be a master guitar teacher? What about an amazing performing artist? Or what about performing as part of a highly successful band? How about being an in demand studio guitarist? What do you TRULY want to do? Please write down your answers now. Exercise 3: Write down your worthy ideal. Write it down in the present tense, as if you have already achieved it. Try to condense it down into a one paragraph statement. Exercise 4: Invest 5 minutes every morning and night to read your worthy ideal. This will help you to stay motivated and focused on what you TRULY want. Clarity is essential. Without it you won't be able to start developing an effective plan to work towards your worthy ideal. You may find as you answer the questions that self-doubt starts to creep in. You may doubt whether or not what you write down is even possible! This is normal. Just write down your answers anyway :) You don't need to know right now HOW you will achieve your worthy ideal. All you need to do is figure out WHAT it is.

Drum tips why didn t you get the gig

Have you been auditioning for different bands and not getting the gig? Musicians are very critical of the other musicians they play with, although they will probably not be brutally honest about what they see and hear. We don’t want to hurt your feelings so we say something nice and then never call you again. I have auditioned many, many musicians who never got a call back. Here are some the most important aspects of an audition - mistakes musicians have made when auditioning for one of my bands: 1) Skill - can you keep up? I have auditioned many guys thought they could play but couldn’t keep proper time or didn’t know what chord changes were going on, got lost in every song – just couldn’t keep up musically. 2) Listening – are you paying attention? I have played with a few really skilled musicians who paid absolutely no attention to what was going on around them. It was like they had spent years practicing by themselves in their bedroom. They could play amazing things but what they played made no sense in the context of the band. The notes you play should complement what everybody else is doing and the song should work as a whole. 3) Personality – are you a nice person? This is a big deal – I have played some shows with great players who live their life a sentence or two from a punch in the face. Remember when you were a kid and folks told you “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I have met many great musicians who desperately need to revisit that concept. They were so full of negativity that it was really hard to be in the same room with them for very long.

Guitar lessons hammer on pull offs

One of the primary legato techniques all guitarists must learn is the hammer-on, pull-off. This technique is important because it allows for nuances in tone and expression, and it allows the picking hand a “break” since it does not have to pick the notes on the hammer-on or the pull-off. This results in a faster progression of notes, sometimes called licks. The hammer-on is accomplished when you pick a note and then using another finger hammer down on the same string. The sound of the hammered note is less pronounced than the picked note. For example place your first finger on the 5th fret of the 3rd string, and the hammer down your third finger on the 7th fret of the 3rd string. Don’t use your just quickly strike the second fret position with the tip of your 3rd finger. This would be described in guitar tab as 5h7 or 5 hammer 7. Keep your first finger on the 5th fret because you are going to pull-off of the 7th fret in the next example. The pull-off results when you release a plucked note with enough force such that the second fretted note rings. This may require a slight side way motion to create enough friction to cause the string to ring out. The sound of the pulled-off note is less pronounced since you aren't using your pick to create it. This would be illustrated in guitar tab 7p5 or 7 pull 5. If you combine these techniques you can create very fast note runs or licks. Imagine how this sequence of hammer-on, pull-off’s would sound when played very quickly 5h7p5h7p5. In deed the hammer-on, pull-off technique is the cornerstone for legato and most speed playing techniques. It takes time to perfect the technique but it is worth the effort.