Full bandversion of Rockin’ Machine, there will be a better video (and recording) when the time is right, for now just enjoy what there is here today:

Hope to see you soon again!
Eddie 

For this article a short lesson on how to bend strings on the guitar. I will have a look at the double bend (bend one string while you play a second string).

First check out the riff we will use before we play the actual bend:

             C               C                  Em           Am

              /               /                   /              /

  E  ——8—–5—————————————————————————–

  B   ——————8——5—————————————————————

  G   ———————————-BEND FROM THIS POINT IN SEQUENCE!! ———–

  D  ——————————————————————————————-

  A  ——————————————————————————————–

  E  ——————————————————————————————–

  In this tab I did not notate the bend, I do mention where you actually bend. check out Part Two to check for details if you are not sure.

 I think, if you observe the tab, then watch both videos you should be able to get a good idea of how this particular piece works.

Here are both videos:

 

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Thanks!!
Eddie

For this article a short review for Keith’s book “My Life” which came out it 2010.
First check the interview here for Keith’s motives why writing the book:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/alternate-take/keith-richards-on-brian-jones-mick-jagger-and-the-new-memoir-life-201019

If you are new to Keith Richards and the Stones, this book will send you off to a journey of checking out all the Stones’s older songs.
If you are well-read upon the Stones and Keith Richards, the book will give you additional insights in particular issues such as “Death of Brian Jones”  “Who is who on a lot of Stones Recordings?” “The Drug Years, and Why Keith actually got into using dope” “The Anita Pallenberg period” “The Magic of the Exile on Main Street Period” ect. ect.

If you do not fancy reading the whole book (almost over 600 pages) but are interested in the period where the Stones became the Stones what they are known for today skip to chapter 6 and 7 and you get the “Beggars Banquet years up and till Exhile on Main Street period”
Stangley enough —but not so strange really– you get nothing, absolutely nothing about “It’s only Rock and Roll” album. Just a mention about the single and that it was Mick’s idea with added riffs from Keith. No mention about any of the other songs and what went on during that time.
My feeling is, a lot of those songs were recorded during the “Ghost Head Soup” period, very similar sounding songs, very similar back-up musicians ~the usual Stones crew such as Billy Preston (organ and electric piano), Nicky Hopkins (keys) and Bobby Keys (horns)~ 

The keen Stones listener (just listen!!) will have noticed that a lot of songs come from similar periods: Songs were recorded over a period of time, because everyone was around, they were in the right location ect. ect. but a lot of those songs appeared on different albums which are sometimes years and years appart from each other.
You can find this out by listening and looking at the notes on the album. I agree, you need to know a bit about the Stones, their recording habits ect. but you can see it, also the music is quite similar in some cases.

An acception to this rule is “Some Girls” and again you can hear it: Album sounds fresh and new. It was a new period for the Stones: Ron Wood is now full time Stones member, and this album is his first full album he plays on. They used a new engineer, were recording in a new Studio ect. ect .
What is interesting to read is that “Start me Up” —from “Tattoo You” (1981) was first recorded during the “Some Girls” sessions in 1978, although the “Tattoo You” album does have a  very,different, overal sound.

When you read the book you find out that friendships are quite important for Keith, it may well be one of the reasons why the man plays guitar in a band.
The book is full of pictures about his family, his children and of course, the Rolling Stones. Most of those Stones images you will have seen before, from other books or somewhere Online.

Maybe something you should check out?
Enjoy,
Eddie

More rehearsal recordings: “You”, without backingvocals, but new arrangement—–

This one here still sounds good. “What is this?” you may wonder, I was going for Smiths sound with the Twin. Basically what you hear is a guitarsound based around Twin Reverb and my Guya guitar, but Guya does sound like a mix of Les Paul and Strat, so you will not really recogize the sound as guitar does have its own sound.
I will get a “proper song” around this sound as I do like how it came out even though everything is just first take and a jam really………………..

Next one is “Easy” without backing vocals.

Most of these songs now sound better with new backing vocals and some other details, but no recordings yet………..
There will be rock songs later on, as the ones you hear here are more “easy listening” type. There will be some “White Stripes” kind of things, really just R and B in Stones vein as that what White Stripes and so many other bands are. The Stones did it all, and so many copied and changed the sound. Stones borrowed a lot as well, and changed it and………..but that is the story of life, modern music and pop culture.

My aim for now is to get some good sounding melodies and wrap them up into songs which have their own sound.

Enjoy playing your music,
Eddie

It has been a while since I created last blog.
It is my intention to create more videos where I will play through some well-known cover songs. Songs whihc do have the beginner in mind, since the starter needs most inspiration and ideas to get his/her playing up to a higher level.

When you look at what I mentioned earlier in the year you will see that I still have to do some work on the Bosspedals: There will be more videos related to creating sounds with particular pedals, also overviews of certain pedals which may not be well-documentated on YouTube.

There will be more rehearsal songs and scratch ideas, but that is an ongoing issue. Will upload more rehearsals later on.

Keep revisiting the blog as I will update it regularly.
Cheers,
Eddie

For this article a few points how to improve your solos, which I back up with the uploaded video.
The video is not about how to play some of the riffs and ideas I play here, it is more about your approach, and the kind of ideas you can use in imrove your own solos.

The first idea I use is Chordtones: Whenever you play over a song find out first what the chords are. It may also be a good idea to play the rhythm guitar part of the song you want to play solos over. Good solos come from understanding and being able to play rhythm well. It all starts with the groove, check out those chords first, get to known what tones are in each chord, find out where those notes are on the fretboard, and start making melodic ideas with those tones.
Broken chords are called arpeggios, it is possible to play all your solos in arpeggios. It will give your solos are certain sound, but it is worth working on this approach. It will also help you to get to known the fretboard much better, which is a must for all guitarplaying really.

The second idea I use is Scaletones: To get more variation in your sound you can mix the chordtones with scaletones. Play your scaletones over the song you want to play, to check how they sound. Some of the scaletones may not sound good, but if you mix them well with your chordtones you may get some great results.
Work with the scalepatterns you know and check out different scales to find out about different musical flavours: Each scale has its own sound, over time you will learn what you like and works well in the songs you want to play your solos over.

The third idea I use is Melodic Phrases and Ideas: Try to sing musical ideas over the song you want to play. Once you can sing some ideas try to find those ideas on the neck of your guitar. Singing ideas will improve your solos, it will also free you up and get you out of: “What Kind of Scale Do I Need to Use For This Song” mentality. Once you get comfortable with this approach you will never be stuck for ideas. If you cannot hear anything to sing you can always fall back on your scalepatterns!

The fourth idea I use is Rhythm: Try playing your scales with 1 note on the beat, then play two notes on one beat, then try playing on the off-beat of the rhythm. Try also to hold on for one note for a while. Do not be afraid of the space this will create. Music is all about space, harmony and tension. If you play all the time you may want to create some space. A lot of this will depend on the style of music you play, but a lot of possible. Try to practise first with a metronome (or drummachine) to see if you can keep time, also try to hear what the effect is of playing these different rhythms. You can clap the beats while your song is playing, so you can hear the rythmic effect of the beats you are going for.

The Fifth idea I use is Double Stops: Double stops are basically small parts of chords—you can harmonise a scale with all the intervals available Maj. 3rds, Perfect 4ths Perfect 5ths ect—–  Try to play a scale by using powerchords. Most of you will known what powerchords are and what they look like. Just play first scaletone and put a 5th underneath it. Two tones will do for your powerchord. Play whole scale in this way and you will be there. Now try playing some solos in this way. You probably end up playing a handful of riffs, but that is a start. Keep at it, and try also some other intervals to get more variation in your sound.

Just keep working on some of those ideas and after a while you will start to notice a different in your sound.

 

If you enjoyed this article and video, why not subscribe to the channel? Please do not forget to like and share the video. Thanks!!
Eddie

I play this song on acoustic guitar.
Check out both videos at bottom of this article!!

First attempt was false start, yes it does happen from time to time
Second video is the full version without any mistakes apart from slight hesitation, which will only bother Radio 4 listeners:

 

Here a link to full band version:https://soundcloud.com/#bobbyzero/rocking-machine/s-df26G

Was working out on the spot how to get a good sound with the two guitars, anyway……………….and we all need to still learn how to harmonize. If I only could sing the same harmonies each time.

Another link here to better verion of “You”: https://soundcloud.com/#bobbyzero/you-just-keep-me-waiting-25th/s-tHB7c but as you can hear, it only does contain two versers and then……………..oh well, next time we will get a proper recording engineer who will man the machines.
Ah well, next time better as they say.
There are a lot more songs to come, and hopefully they will be full versions…………….. stay tune if you like ’em.

If you like the videos why not subscribe to the channel? Please do not forget to share and like the videos. Thanks!!
Eddie

Since the last few months been playing with some new people to play some of my songs. All the songs you hear are recent. More recordings will be added over time.
All of these recordings are rough, including mistakes, talking, coughing ect. Things you would expect from a rehearsalroom recording.

There will be better, quality, recordings, but for now it will be just basic recordings which display some of the songs.

Here is a link to a better recording of “You’re So Easy”: http://soundcloud.com/bobbyzero/youre-so-easy/s-gprwH   Similar rehearsal, recorded on different device giving different results.

Hope to see you soon again,
Eddie

When you are creating your songs you may have some parts which do not work for the song you are working on. What to do? Leave it out! But you may want to keep that part for another song, especially for those of you who find it hard to come up with  new music. Some of those parts may work very well on their own, you may be able to create a new song around that part.

Some of you may be so happy with all these parts that you may feel you need to use all you have created, but be careful: A song which contains too many parts may become cluttered and may loose its original meaning.
Listen to some songs you like to see how many parts those songs have to get an idea.

Once you have all your parts together it is time to ask youself how often to play certain parts: Should you repeat a bridge a few times or just go back to the chorus and finish the song?. Again, these are matters which depend on the song and you own perception of what you want the song to do. Often playing a song over and over again in various orders may help you to see what kind of order works for you song.

Enjoy your writing and hope to see you soon again,
Eddie

For this article a few ideas how beginners can improve the sound of their open chords.

It is a common problem for beginners not to be able to get a good, clear sound from some of the open chords. Usually G and Em proof not to be much of a problem whereas C, Dm and Bm cause issues: Often strings will not ring out and the overal sound of the chord is not clear.
Most of these problems are related to the angle of the wrist in relation to the neck of the guitar: The straigher the wrist can be the easier it is for the student to play the chord.
Using a Capo at higher positions of the fretboard (for example 5th Fret) will improve matters.

Once you can play most of the open chords without too much struggle, try the capo in lower postions such as 3rd Fret and see how this feels. After a while go back to the open position without using a Capo to find out if your chords now do sound any better.

  Playing at Higher Postions Only For Beginners?

No, often intermediate students only use certains areas of the fretboard, try playing more in the 12th postion and above this area. Usually this is easier on electric guitars. If you have not played much in this area you will feel you may need a bit of practise to get the sound of your playing better. Why is this? Similar as for reason mentioned above: The angle of the wrist is diffferent, therefore it feels different. Work on it so you get as smooth as playing in the 5th position (the easiest position to the play the guitar!)

Playing in higher positions is useful to extend the range of your solos and melodic ideas: You can start playing in the lower postions while ending up in the higher positions. Listen to Slash of Guns ‘n’ Roses. A lot of his solos use these kind of ideas. Ideally you want to use the whole fretboard without having any trouble.

See you later,
Eddie