After college, I returned back to my home, trying to get a foothold onto this thing called life. Coincidentally, my brother also moved back home after realizing that a future life in academia was not what really cared for either.…
Blog Archives
“I Stand Neath The Marquee Moon..”: Tom Verlaine and Television
Tagged with: CBGB, Marquee Moon, New Wave, Punk, Richard Loyd, Television, Tom Verlaine
Posted in Classic Rock, Improvisation, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Classic Rock, Improvisation, Music Appreciation and Analysis
The (Musical) Games We Play: (Musical) Exquisite Corpses and Terry Riley’s “In C”
This past weekend, as part of the MakeMusicNewYork festival, I took part in a interesting “game” entitled Exquisite Corpses. The term refers to a artistic technique invented by the early 20th century surrealists in which players write in turn on…
Tagged with: "In C", Exquisite Corpses, Improvisation, La Monte Young, Minimalism, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley
Posted in Classical, Improvisation, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Classical, Improvisation, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Beauty Is A Rare Thing. . .”: Ornette Coleman 1930 – 2015
It’s a depressing sign of one’s own mortality when you hear that yet another of your musical heroes has passed. Last week, Ornette Coleman, the alto saxophonist, composer and musical revolutionary passed away at the age of 85. As I…
Tagged with: Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jazz, Ornette Coleman
Posted in Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Hot Rats” : Frank Zappa’s Early Jazz Rock Masterpiece
Hot Rats by Frank Zappa. I can honestly say that this was one of the records that had a major impact on my life. I think I was around 12 years old when I was first heard it, an advantage…
Tagged with: guitar, Hot Rats, Ian Underwood, Improvisation, Jazz Rock, Mothers Of Invention, Zappa
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now”: Guitar Fretboard Logic Part II
In my previous post, I discussed how one could use octave shapes to learn the notes on the guitar fretboard. I would like to continue by talking about chord shapes. The layout of the fretboard allows you to play a…
Tagged with: chord shapes, Guitar Fretboard, Music Theory
Posted in Guitar Logic, Improvisation, Music Theory
Posted in Guitar Logic, Improvisation, Music Theory
Work Song: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band/Cannonball Adderley Quintet/The Animals
As I continue to practice on my Chapman Stick guitar, I have a list of tunes that I am currently working on and a list of tunes that I plan to work on. One of the songs that just went…
Tagged with: Blues, Canonball Adderley, Elvin Bishop, Eric Burdon, Jazz, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Animals, Work Song
Posted in Blues, Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Blues, Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Groove Is In The Heart: Charlie Hunter Video On The Importance of Rhythm
I’ve made no secret that I’m a big fan of Charlie Hunter. What he does is amazing and unique (please check out my previous post on Charlie Hunter here: https://roymusicusa.com/2014/08/22/bing-bing-bing-bing-the-awesome-guitar-of-charlie-hunter/). The video below is from Premier Guitar magazine during which…
Tagged with: Blues, Charlie Hunter, Groove, guitar, Time Feel
Posted in Blues, Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz
Posted in Blues, Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz
“Please, sir, I want some more.” . . Grant Green Part II
This is a continuation of my previous post about the great Grant Green. One of the points I made during that post is how Grant Green’s playing is an excellent source of coping lines (or if you prefer, licks), especially…
Tagged with: Blues, Grant Green, guitar, Improvisation, Jazz
Posted in Blues, Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Blues, Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
A Different Kind Of Blue: A Video Transcription of Miles Davis’s “So What”
Miles Davis. Kind Of Blue. This is one of those seminal moments in the history of 20th century music. In jazz, this was certainly one of those before/after things. Many of the concepts popularized by Kind Of Blue were not…
Tagged with: Jazz, John Coltrane, Kind Of Blue, Miles Davis, So What, Solo Transcription
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
ManRoy Music 