Guitarist, Composer, Instructor
Thank you to everyone who has stopped by the blog this year!
Thanks to all who follow the blog, Facebook and Twitter!
Thanks also to all my students, clients and colleagues for everything over the years!
It’s been great to chat with you all about one of my favorite things…MUSIC.
Here is to you!
Mike
I have a had a blast sharing some different styles of guitar based holiday music with everyone over the past week. Hopefully, you all found at least one new piece out of the bunch. I did! The Jimi Hendrix medley is a new one to me.
This last one is performed by legendary classical guitarist, John Williams and written by Agustin Barrios. It’s not a recognizable Christmas tune like the previous posts. It is a beautiful classical piece.
Previous, A Guitar Christmas posts.
Wishing you all the best holiday! Enjoy!
This is one of my favorite Xmas songs to break out and listen to each December. I love the big band rockabilly treatment Setzer gives to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite with just enough guitar in there to make it rock.
Even if you think you are not familiar with the Nutcracker you will definitely recognize most parts if not all. Unfortunately, our commercial society bastardizes great classic music into cartoonish soundbites to sell products.
Enjoy yourself a swingin’ Merry Christmas!
Sad day in the music world! Jazz legend Dave Brubeck passed away on December 5th just one day shy of his 92nd birthday.
A pianist and composer, Brubeck was known for writing in odd meters. Two of his most famous compositions are, “Take Five,” and “Blue Rondo A La Turk.”
One of the first jazz tunes I ever performed was the aforementioned “Blue Rondo A La Turk.” It is a piece penned in an odd 9/8 meter; 2+2+2+3 alternating with measures of a compound 9/8 meter 3+3+3. The rhythmic drive of Brubeck’s music was rare in jazz, but, easy for listeners to feel and relate to the strong beat.
For a young musician like myself who grew up influenced by Heavy Metal and Hard Rock genres the composer’s music was a natural fit. Any fan of the Progressive Rock band Rush would be familiar with the odd meters Brubeck employed.
Godspeed to Dave Brubeck, Rest in Peace and thank you for all the music!
Some of you may have heard of Animusic, but if you haven’t you’ve got to watch this!
Unlike many projects where music is written to fit the animation or vise versa, Animusic uses computer programs to drive the animation from the music.
As creative as the instrument in this video is, there are real life ‘versions’ that are similar like the 42 stringed guitar in the picture below.
Eleven years? I can’t believe it has been eleven years since George Harrison left us!
My apologies this post is out a day late to recognize the day of his passing, November 29, 2001.
I came relatively late to the Beatles party. Never really liked them as a kid, they were old and silly looking and I wanted to hear my Van Halen, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. It was not until I got out of high school that their commercialism was replaced in my mind by how incredible of musicians they truly are. One year my mom gave me Rubber Soul as a holiday gift and I was totally blown away!
George quickly became my favorite Beatle. Sure there’s the guitarist connection, but, his songs always struck me musically. There’s a grace and style about his tunes. He penned some of the greatest melodies of the Rock and Roll era. To this day I truly believe, as beloved as he is, George is an underrated guitarist
Some of my favorite Harrison tunes include, Here Comes the Sun, Something, Blue Jay Way, If I needed Someone and the epic While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
When recording my first CD, Reflections of San Diego, with the Slayen & Fox Guitar Duo, I even ‘borrowed’ one of his melodies. Well actually I infused the melody into one of my songs. Meaning it is relatively hidden but means something to me having it included. That said if anyone ever thinks they have found it let me know I would be VERY impressed!!
RIP George Harrison
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving vacation. Getting back to the work grind is going to be tough this week especially for those of you lucky enough to have had some time off for the holiday. Once again my friends I am here to help you chillax and set an aural soundtrack to get you in a groove for the week ahead.
I was first introduced to this piece when I just began ‘serious’ study of music in college. There was an arrangement for a guitar quartet that I was lucky enough to be a part of and have loved this piece ever since. There are several arrangements of the Pavane for a variety of instrumentations including solo piano and guitar. My favorite , in the video below, is a symphonic version. Ravel was a master of instrumentation as can be heard in this piece and his other compositions such as, “Bolero.”
Ravel along with his contemporary and French countryman, Debussy, were the leaders in the music of the Impressionist movement. A period in music history that generally stretches from 1875-1925.
In my previous Music to Relax Posts, I often mention the words open and space when describing the music. I thought I would expand on that here. Both terms ‘open’ and ‘space’ are multifaceted in musical analysis. They can refer to the rhythm, harmony, melody, texture and orchestration, as well as, any musical parameters. In order of the previous parameters this could mean; longer slow notes, chords that extend over the octave with little dissonance, stately themes and a lush character. This certainly does not mean that relaxing music can’t be dissonant, fast, chromatic, etc. Or that music that doesn’t follow these ideals can’t be relaxing. They are offered as generalizations which are often employed in music widely regarded as relaxing.
Perhaps a good illustration would be in visual arts. If you see a painting that is very busy and confusingly draws your focus in multiple directions it might be considered to raise tension in a viewer. Conversely, a portrait of a pastoral landscape with flowing soft colors and a subject that catches the eye easily would be more relaxing.
Enjoy and relax!
Thank you all for following my blog! I appreciate all of you who follow and chat about my favorite subject…..MUSIC!
Thank you to all my wedding and performance clients, fellow musicians and students….it is a pleasure to share music with all of you!
As a musician, I am not one to pay close attention to lyrics. My brain is much more content following the shapes and construction of the musical patterns, although, I do think really great or really bad lyrics can make or break a song. For some reason, however, the opening lines of Queensryche’s song, “London,” have always stuck in my mind. They are generally benign, but, I never forget them.
“It was November 4, I Last Held Your Hand.”
See nothing special. Maybe it’s the way singer Geoff Tate phrased the words that etched them in my memory. That would make more sense that I picked up on the musical phrasing of the words. Funny thing is other than this line I have NO idea what the song is about!
Anyway, if you are looking for something new to put into your ears I recommend the first four Queensryche albums. The first is actually a self-titled EP followed by “The Warning,” “Rage For Order,” and their watermark, “Operation Mindcrime.” Expect a touch of the theatrical mixed with a heavy metal edge, well written progressive music and my favorite…great guitar playing. All members in the band were musically minded. You will find lots of operatic vocals, thumping but musical bass and drums and crisp creative guitar lines and solos. Some fans are drawn to their lyrics especially the concept album, “Operation Mindcrime.” It’s ironic that my friends used to analyze the lyrics and story behind the album and I barely know what it is about other than the music!
Hope you find something new to listen to in these four titles. If this sounds great but you are looking for something a little less edgy, try their 5th release, “Empire.” Great in its own right but more poppy, overproduced and a little forgettable over the years, their ‘Jump the Shark’ album, although many would disagree.
Enjoy!
Charles Ives was an American Composer from the turn of the 20th Century. His music was very different than other composers of the time. He tended to write things that he heard. In daily life not everything we hear is pretty sounds and Ives always tried to capture those ideas.
This piece was a recommendation from my Halloween Playlist Ideas.
Enjoy Ives, “Hallowe’en”
Mike Slayen ~ Guitarist 