Thursday, April 23, 2009
Rosa Balistreri
I have only discovered Rosa Balistreri for the first time yesterday after a friend of mine asked if I would accompany her on guitar so she could sing a few Rosa songs at an upcoming party. I'm definitely gonna be checking more of her stuff out. If anyone knows where to find anymore good stuff of Rosa's leave a comment.
Music practicing
If we wanna play (or at least play well) we all gotta practice. I think the key is to make practice enjoyable. Have fun, noodle around, play a song you like but maybe do a few exercises too. I found this wee site that has a few good tips on it playpiano.com
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sly and the Family Stone
Do you wanna hear the greatest bleedin' band rehearsal ever?
Then listen to this! Fantastic!
Then listen to this! Fantastic!
More on the Martin D-15
For more info on the D-15 here is a link to an article/video on Gearwire.com.
http://www.gearwire.com/d-15-lab.html
If you want to check out a few more Martin videos then you can try MaurysMusic.com
http://www.maurysmusic.com/martin_guitar_video_clips
and the Blueridges are worth checkin out too:
http://www.maurysmusic.com/blueridge_video_clips
http://www.gearwire.com/d-15-lab.html
If you want to check out a few more Martin videos then you can try MaurysMusic.com
http://www.maurysmusic.com/martin_guitar_video_clips
and the Blueridges are worth checkin out too:
http://www.maurysmusic.com/blueridge_video_clips
Martin D-15
I have always loved Martin guitars. Neil Young plays them for one, as does Jackson Browne, Dylan...in fact just about every great folk artist has played one at some point in their career. Martin have been making acoustic guitars since the 1800's and the company has remained in the family since it began (with each head of the company having the initials C.F. just like the original founder) so you know they might have caught on how to make a decent guitar in that timescale.
So they make great guitars..but they also make bloody expensive guitars and let's face it, most of us musicians are poor. Now I have always wanted a Martin acoustic so last year I decided to start saving and bite the bullet.
Well I finally got one a few months ago. It's a D-15 and I couldn't be happier.
Now to be fair it is the poor mans martin, its the entry level all solid wood Martin.
There are cheaper Martin's but they are made of a combination of laminate and solid woods and utilise stratabond necks yada yada (some of them are really nice guitars too if you are not a wood snob).
The D-15 is made of solid mahogany or sapele (I think mine's is sapele), it has a mat satin finish which goes all shiny in the bits that you tend to touch more so it starts to look all beat up quicker.
After months of saving and researching and playing different guitars I decided that I wanted a D-15. Number one because it was a good few hundred quid cheaper than the other solid wood martins, 2 because I wanted a dreadnaught (d stands for dreadnuaght which is the body size/shape) and 3 because they look cool (I like hog guitars).
I played a good few different Martins and other guitars and while it would be nice to have bought the phenomonal D-35 I played it was just way over my price range.
So I fell in love with the 15 series. In fact I found it hard to make my mind up between the D-15, J-15 and the 000-15.
I decided to stick to my guns and get the D.
Then just before I went to buy it when I had all the money saved I came across a great deal in the window of a second hand store - I saw a 1 year old D-28 with a Fishman Ellipse Blend pickup system for only 1100 quid. I played it and it was really feckin nice too (the D28 is spruce top over rosewood back and sides, tasty), I talked the guy in the shop down to 1000 so it was a steal.
But I didn't buy it...
I dunno why because I probably could have sold it at a bit of profit too. But as nice as it was it didn't grab me the way the D-15 I had my eye on did, there was a certain character that wasn't there. I dunno if it was just that particular D-28 but there was just something I really liked about the 15.
Sometimes you gotta go for the underdog...(or the underhog in this case :p)
But thats what guitars are like, some of them speak to you, some of them don't, it's all personal and relative.
So they make great guitars..but they also make bloody expensive guitars and let's face it, most of us musicians are poor. Now I have always wanted a Martin acoustic so last year I decided to start saving and bite the bullet.
Well I finally got one a few months ago. It's a D-15 and I couldn't be happier.
Now to be fair it is the poor mans martin, its the entry level all solid wood Martin.
There are cheaper Martin's but they are made of a combination of laminate and solid woods and utilise stratabond necks yada yada (some of them are really nice guitars too if you are not a wood snob).
The D-15 is made of solid mahogany or sapele (I think mine's is sapele), it has a mat satin finish which goes all shiny in the bits that you tend to touch more so it starts to look all beat up quicker.
After months of saving and researching and playing different guitars I decided that I wanted a D-15. Number one because it was a good few hundred quid cheaper than the other solid wood martins, 2 because I wanted a dreadnaught (d stands for dreadnuaght which is the body size/shape) and 3 because they look cool (I like hog guitars).
I played a good few different Martins and other guitars and while it would be nice to have bought the phenomonal D-35 I played it was just way over my price range.
So I fell in love with the 15 series. In fact I found it hard to make my mind up between the D-15, J-15 and the 000-15.
I decided to stick to my guns and get the D.
Then just before I went to buy it when I had all the money saved I came across a great deal in the window of a second hand store - I saw a 1 year old D-28 with a Fishman Ellipse Blend pickup system for only 1100 quid. I played it and it was really feckin nice too (the D28 is spruce top over rosewood back and sides, tasty), I talked the guy in the shop down to 1000 so it was a steal.
But I didn't buy it...
I dunno why because I probably could have sold it at a bit of profit too. But as nice as it was it didn't grab me the way the D-15 I had my eye on did, there was a certain character that wasn't there. I dunno if it was just that particular D-28 but there was just something I really liked about the 15.
Sometimes you gotta go for the underdog...(or the underhog in this case :p)
But thats what guitars are like, some of them speak to you, some of them don't, it's all personal and relative.
Feckin' Paul Brady
Well to start the blog off I'm gonna stick a wee video up which a friend of mine who sings a lot of Irish traditional music brought to my attention. I've been playing guitar for about 18 years now and being Irish and all never took a blind bit of interest in playing trad music... Until now when I realise that it's actually feckin' class and I need to learn more of it. So I enrolled in a wee Irish trad guitar course a few months ago and have been strumming along happily in DADGAD since (I'll maybe explain this in a later post). Anyway, long story short if you want to see some amazing guitar playing and a great performance of a traditional song which the man himself has made his own, look no further. It's only feckin' Paul Brady singing 'Arthur McBride'! (or 'Arthur McBride and the Seargent' whatever it's called).....
For all you guitarist's out there notice his fantastic hybrid picking technique (meaning he combines pick and his fingers of the right hand to pick and strum) he surely is a master. I think its open G he is playing too so the strings would be tuned from the bottom up DGDGBD
For all you guitarist's out there notice his fantastic hybrid picking technique (meaning he combines pick and his fingers of the right hand to pick and strum) he surely is a master. I think its open G he is playing too so the strings would be tuned from the bottom up DGDGBD
Hello, hello!
Hello folks, welcome to Shaky Music. This is a blog where I post my ramblings about all music related topics and any cool stuff I find on the net relating to music. Enjoy!
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