These are a few of my techinques for playing electric guitar sans plectrum

This is an informal demonstration of referencing notes from the chords when soloing. Enjoy!

I was recently approached by a young musician who was having trouble sounding her best when performing in front of others.  While her skill level was more that sufficient she seemed to suffer from a mild form of stage fright.  This is very common among begining performers.  The following are some suggestions for getting used to playing in public situations.

Find opportunities to play in front of people as often as possible. Play for friends, and family.  Tell them that you are struggling with playing in front of people and that they would be helping you a lot by letting you give them an occasional mini performance.  Explain to them that you aren’t looking to have your playing critiqued.  Let them know that this is for the purpose of getting comfortable performing.  This is important.  Having your playing criticized when you are simply trying to learn to perform properly will just make you feel discouraged.  Let them know that you will know if you made a mistake with the song.

Here are a few suggestions:

Consider playing a song before or after dinner each night or maybe a few times per week.  Holidays are also a good opportunity to perform for family. Who knows?  You might start a new family tradition. 

Get a group of your closet friends together one or two days a week at lunch and play a song for them.

If you take lessons ask your teacher to organize a recital.  It wouldn’t have to be anything formal. It could simply be a gathering with your teacher and a few other students.

If you attend a church inquire about playing along with the choir. A lot of churches do a “contemporary” service with modern sounding music performed on guitar bass and drums.  This is often a great way to get regular practice playing in front of a very receptive audience.

It is always best to start out small and with very low pressure situations.  When I started fronting my own band I only booked us in small out of the way clubs until I could develop my “stage legs”.   I am glad that I did.  I learned a lot.  While you may get comfortable playing guitar in front of people there is a lot more to performance than simply playing all the right notes, but that is a  discussion for another time.

Happy Jamming!

Lou Lombardi

www.yourgutiarist.com/bog

www.LLStrangelove.com

This question was posted on the Harmony Central forum (http://acapella.harmony-central.com) 

I see songwriting courses advertising all over the place and always wonder if you can actually be taught to write good songs or is it something you either can or can’t do. I’m sure none of the great songwriters ever took a course on how to write songs. 

This is a great question!  Songwriting can most certainly be learned.  Most people even, “the great ones” were not born with songs spewing from their pens, lips and guitars.  Actually most of the great songwriters DID take a course in songwriting.  They studied the songs of the artists that came before them.  If you want to be a great writer read lots of books…not only read but devour them, re-read them, memorize parts of your favorites. Learn where the author got his ideas. Dig up all the references.  Learn who your favorite authors read and read those books too!  The next step is to write, write, write!  In time you will become a good writer.  That doesn’t mean you’ll be rich and famous but you will master this craft.  This process can be applied to songwriting. You may start by learning the songs of your hero’s.  For instance if you love the music of John Lennon, learn as much of it as you can.  Learn the words and the music.  Pluck out the melodies and learn to strum along with the chords.  Copy down the lyrics and learn to sing the songs the best that you can.  When you see a reference to something specific in the lyrics look it up.  This will help you to further get inside his head. Then learn Chuck Berry because he influenced John Lennon.  If you really want to dig down deep learn some Robert Johnson. Since he influence Chuck Berry and probably just about everyone else.   Do this same process for other artists that you like.  If you feel competent on your instrument give some lessons and teach songs to students.  This will further solidify your understand.  Join a cover band and learn lots of other people’s songs. 

The next step is to start writing.  You will want to jump into this as quickly as possible.  That means don’t wait until you’ve learned the entire John Lennon song book before you sit down to write something.  

Here are a few tips to get you started: 

1. If you can’t think of anything to write take a song that you like and write different lyrics to it.  Conversely you could take the lyrics and write a different tune.  This just an exercise to stimulate creativity.  If you rewrite someone else’s song you’ll have to credit them.
2. Start out by sitting down with the intention to write a song.  Be quiet and “listen” to what comes to your mind. Do this daily.  Give it at least 10 minutes.
3. Set aside the same time each day to write.  This will condition the mind to turn on the creativity and make it easier in time to write on a consistent basis.
4. If you get an idea during the day, in the shower, while driving, in a dream, etc… do what ever you have to do to capture it.  Call your voice mail and sing or say the lyrics. Pull over and write it down…whatever you have to do!
5. If you feel really blocked relax and enjoy playing and singing some of your favorite songs.  Very often you will find yourself inspired to write your own song while doing this.  Also be aware of mistakes you “accidentally” play while doing this.  These “mistakes” can often be disguised inspiration.  Keith Richards once remarked that when the Stones sit down to write they’ll often start with playing the Buddy Holly songbook and wait for some one to make a mistake.
6. Don’t be too worried if sometimes you write songs that are very close copies of other people’s songs.  That is just part of the process.
7. You may find yourself going through a phase where you feel like all your songs sound the same.  There are a couple of things that you can try when this happens.  You may simply need to write that song out of your consciousness. Your mind may just be trying to get it out of your head.  The theory is to keep writing it and in time you will come up with something new. If you don’t have the patience for that go back to one of the other techniques.  Keep trying until you find what works for you.  However, keep in mind that creativity doesn’t usually thrive when forced.
8. Don’t stress out if you feel like your songs suck.  Just stick with it.  A lot of the “greats” have written their fair share of shitty songs.  Most never see the light of day.  Just keep writing.
9. Live your life!  Get a girl friend, take a vacation, go on business trips, make lots of friends, learn a sport, have hobbies, get divorced, change jobs, read more books, see more films… The greatest songs communicate real life in some way.  Get out and live!

Song writing is a skill; a craft that you will develop like your singing or guitar playing.  It takes practice and time for most people to develop.  Take your time. Work on it and you’ll be writing cool jams before you know it. 

Lou Lombardiwww.yourguitarist.com 

www.llstrangelove.com 

Was reading a post on the sputnikmusic.com forum.  A guitarist was asking if he/she should concentrate on songwriting or soloing.

 My Response:

Why can’t you work on both? You should do what you feel most drawn to. If it’s songwriting then make that number 1, and if you still want work on “soloing” make that number 2. However, if you really love one over the other that one will always win out. 

 It is almost impossible to make a “practical” decision, when your talking about passion.  Most people make decisions based on emotion rather than logic anyway.  From a practical stand point song writing may provide you with more opportunities, but if you feel that it is laborious and uninteresting then work on your soloing.  Keep in mind that soloing. (improvisation) is really just another form of writing or composing.  Soloing may be a “back door” to songwriting for you. Even if it is instrumental (non vocal) music.  Most important of all is to follow your passion no matter what!

I was unaware of Autumn Ayers until a few days ago when I was “put wise” by my vocal coach Beth Clausen.  I quickly found her on myspace.com and took a listen. Intrigued by what I heard I decided to attend her CD release.

The show was held at The Shadow Lounge.  This was my first visit but I was very impressed with this venue.  It is well set up for live music.  Stage at one end; the bar at the other; simple yet ideal. 

There were two “opening acts” before Autumn took the stage.  Both were very good. Bill Eberle performed a solo acoustic set, followed by Martha Jane and Her Fellows who added a slightly electrified sound to mostly acoustic evening. 

Autumn Ayers and her band took the stage around 9:30.  The first thing that struck me was the unique instrumentation which included cello and double (acoustic) bass, in addition to the traditional guitars and drums. This proved to be the perfect combination for Ms. Ayers’ talents.  I was not privy to a set list which makes it almost impossible to mention each song that she played by name.  The over all sound was what I would call ethereal, moody at times and at times playful.  Autumn has an AMAZING voice, and knows exactly how to push those emotional buttons.  I found myself moved and singing along with songs I had never heard before.   Each song was met with enthusiastic applause from the almost capacity crowd.  Throughout the evening she was occasionally joined by guest performers including Martha Jane on vocals and Brad Yoder on soprano sax.  This added to the rich textures already coming from the stage.   

Personal highlights for me included “The Liar” and a bluesy/swinging number (I wish I knew the name of it!) which she stood and sang with only the bass and drums,  momentarily taking her away from the Joni Mitchell, Beth Orton influence. This showed some versatility and broke things up nicely. 

I must say that really enjoyed the show.  I will have to keep my eye on Autumn Ayers!

1.  Micro manage.  It’s good to get your hands dirty but you have to know when to let go and let others do what they do best.  You may think you are helping, but this builds resentment among the others that you work with.

2. Mixing business with pleasure (part 1).  This can backfire.  You want to be social and cordial when meeting with managers, club owners, agents, etc… but be careful not to go into “party mode”… they may have second thoughts about working with such a party animal the next day.

3. Mixing business with pleasure (part 2).  Dating, marrying, or have casual sex with band members or others in your organization. This can be disastrous.  Neil Geraldo and Pat Benetar are the exception, not the rule!

4. Mixing business with pleasure (part 3.)  Your stage persona may be “the stud”, but watch out!  Too many “girlfriends” at the show and you could end up with a drink thrown in your face on stage…or worse.  We want to be nice to the ladies but keep that monster on a leash!

5. Don’t be a whore.  I like the green stuff too, but sometimes playing any gig, any where, for any amount of money can cost more than you’ll ever make.  You could get a rep as a “bargain band”.  I have seen this happen.  And all the band members scratch their heads asking, “Why can’t get more money…or why are we still playing these “redneck” joints instead of the more happening places in the city.”  Not every opportunity is really an opportunity.

6. Teaching band members.  It’s hard enough to get a band up and running.  The last thing you need is to have teach someone how to play or sing to be in your band.  This will drain your energy and your time.  It will also frustrate the other members. 

7. Apology Energy.  Okay, you got a good record and you hand it to someone to listen to and you say something like, “Here’s my CD…It’s not too bad, for something I did myself.  The production is a little weak and I couldn’t get the drummer to play in time but…blah blah blah”.  You think you’re being humble but you’re not.  You are basically insulting someone by asking them to be nice to you even though your record really sucks.  If it’s really that weak why are you even giving to someone to check out anyway?  Let’s assume it is actually good.   Hand it over with confidence and pride.  Say something like, “Check out my new CD… I am so proud of everyone’s hard work on this.  I think you’re really gonna love it!”  Remember, “Apology Energy” invites (attracts) Criticism.  Always hand your work to someone with an attitude of confidence.

8. Putting out something that is not ready.  Everyone is busy and sometimes deadlines don’t get met.  While it’s very important to be a person of your word, it’s just as important that everything you put out be totally pro.  If you’re hot to put a new tune on your website but the vocals need a little work…then it ain’t ready!  Work on it until it’s right.

9. Not knowing when to move on.  Let’s face it some things don’t last forever.  If a band, gig, teaching position , etc… is no longer moving you toward your long term goals then it’s probably time to leave it behind.  Make sure that you aren’t staying in something for the wrong reasons.  I’ve done this many times, and it never gets easier the longer that you wait.  It’s always better to come clean and let people know in an honest and kind way that it’s time for you to do something else.

10. Burning bridges.   This is sort of part 2 to number   When you need to make a change in your organization, always, always, always, be kind, and respectful.  Whether you need to quit the band or ask some one else to leave,  DO YOUR BEST to NOT burn bridges.  Sometimes it’s unavoidable.  No matter how kind and respectful you are some one may be pissed off at you.  That is THEIR problem.  Do your best to keep good relations with former band mates, ex managers, agents, etc…  You never know when you may need each other in the future.

People always ask me, “How do you get to be a really good guitarist?”   I always say the same thing.  ”It’s simple…” that answer usually surprises the crap out of ‘em.  The rest of it is “…play, play, play!”  Once you got the basics, play every chance you get. 

Practice:    5 or 10 minutes before work or school in the morning, 20 minutes when you get home, maybe 30 minutes a little later or before bed. 

Get out of the house:   Go to jam nights, even if you don’t feel that you’re “ready”.  Don’t be afraid to suck.  Yes that’s what I said.   If ya fuck up get up there and do it again anyway. 

Go pro:  Join a band, even if they’re bad.  Once you get better, quit and join a better band. 

Reach: If you are a rocker join a country band, or an “oldies” band. Listen to blue grass, jazz, and klezmer music.  Pick up any “licks”, melodies, or chord progressions  that you can.  All of the truly influential players learned at least a little bit about various styles.  It’s usually the melding of various styles that gives some one their unique sound.

Take a couple of lessons:    I’m  talking about  beyond the basics.  if you hear a guy in your town who ya like ask him to show ya a few of his/her tricks.  Offer to pay. It’s only polite.

The internet is a music school:   search the net for your favorite players, chances are you’ll find tons of tips, techniques, tricks and licks from your “heros”.  Youtube is great for this.

and… play play play!!!

This is a very cool application.  It takes up no room on your hard drive, and doesn’t seem to slow your computer or connection down at all.

After you sign up simply pick an artist and Pandora automatically creates a “radio station” based on that artist or group, it’s influences, followers, and sounds.  While not completely perfect,  (some of the artists that it picks are a bit of a stretch)  you’ll get to hear bands etc… that are very cool, that you’ve probably never heard before. FYI  The application seems to be more accurate with older artists, than newer ones. 

Right now I’m listening to the Ana Popovich “station”.  Some of the songs I like and some I don’t.  The cool thing is if something comes on that’s really crap, you have the option of giving it thumbs down and it will not be played ever again.

Stations I recommend:

Derek Trucks Band, Ana Popovich, Led Zeppelin, Lettuce, John Hiatt.

The link is www.pandora.com  Enjoy! LL