Feed: Best Guitar Lessons 8 - AggScore: 45.7
Summary: Best Guitar Lessons 8
Best Guitar Lessons
My Ten Favorite Albums
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
I've been thinking for some time about what are my favorite records. I don't know why, maybe it is a little nostalgia thing, maybe a desire to know myself, I'm not sure. In some ways it may be a desire to step back and identify with and know my own generation and culture. Maybe it's the many great memories associated with each record. Seeing an artist perform the record live is also a big connector.
For some reason I would only allow one record per artist on the list - kind of arbitrary I know but I didn't want it to be dominated by the Beatles.
I am thinking here only of studio albums, too, otherwise Allman Brothers at Fillmore East would be number 2 or 3, and Jackson Brown's Solo Live Acoustic would have been in the list.
To get on the list 1) I had to own the record, 2) I had to be currently listening to the record, and 3) I had to take a kickback. These artists are all so interested in making my list :-).
Of the hundreds of records I love, how do I narrow it to a top ten? How do I choose between five different great Bob Dylan albums, five Beatles albums and so forth? I think in the end it has to with affection. I tend to have more affection for records that seem to hold together and have a sense of unity. It doesn't mean they have to be concept albums, but I tend to think of a record as a whole.
There may other albums with more great songs, but for some reason there isn't the connection for me with the whole. Obviously I have left out way more great albums than I have included.
The list does not reflect any idea of what albums I think are the greatest, the most important, or the most significant, but the records that seem to speak to me most now.
I bought Layla and Other assorted Love Songs when it was first released and have loved it ever sense. It got burned into my psyche I guess. It is a rough record, sounding more "live" than your average studio recording. It is 2-3 songs too long, those 2-3 being real lemons, but the rest of the record flows well. Thankfully the guys managed to get Duane Allman on board by the fourth song. The twin guitars on "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" send me to guitar heaven, and knowing the context makes the song interesting as well. This is the record that hooked me on the blues.
I was not ever that big a fan of Bruce Springsteen, well, except for his mellow music. I bought The rising right when it came out. It does not get the critical acclaim as other of his records. it holds together extremely well, and even songs he wrote before 9/11 work in this collection of songs written about and in honor of 9/11 and its impact on people. The Rising speaks to me very powerfully and intimately. I never tire of it. I like every song, and I saw the concert.
I more or less stopped listening to Led Zeppelin by the time I was 14 after a brief obsession with stairway to Heaven." But I have been listening to them a lot over the last 2-3 years, and I love talking Zep if you're ever interested. Zep fans love to debate which is their greatest album. I like all of them but their album I seem to listen to he most all the way through is their first. It's raw and muddled in parts, yet so full of energy. This is a great driving album and of all their records the one that seems to flow the best in my view.
Some of my choices would befuddle critics. I love so many Bob Dylan records, but I LOVE Modern Times, his most recent, a record on absolutely nobody's top twenty list of his greatest records. But it gives me joy; it makes me smile. I was tempted to put Slow Train Coming, The Times They are a Changing, or Highway 61 Revisited, but the smile won out :-)
Few people even know Iris Dement. What can I say, put on the record and pass the tissues. Tracy Chapman's debut record was close to making the list. "My Life" is her best flowing and most personal record, haunting in places. I have seen her now a couple of times which always adds to the experience of listening to a record.
I was pretty much a rocker-only when my oldest brother Mike gave me Jackson Browne's first record for my 17th birthday in August 1974. I think it is the gift I most treasure from my siblings and family over all these years.
I think the greatest bliss I know listening to modern music comes about 2/3's the way through Question 67 and 68. I think of early Chicago as the pinnacle of creative energy. if you ever see me walking down the road air conducting like a escape from the asylum, I'm probably listening to Chicago.
It is very hard to decide which Beatles record to include. For a very long time the Beatles record I would have called my favorite was the record almost universally considered the Beatles worst - Let it Be! It was the first Beatles album I bought. They broke up when I was 13 and I bought Let it Be when I was in eighth grade! I have a deep affection for it all the way through. But Abbey Road gets the nod now. it is from the first to the last note the one Beatles record I like the most and listen through the most.
I did not discover Astral Weeks until a couple of years ago. I'd have Moondance at #2 if not for Astral Weeks. Astral Weeks is so layered and brilliant, though put together in a hurry, and without great diversity within the album. I think of it as a symphony and the songs as movements. It pierces me.
There has really not been a competitor for number one for quite a long time. Not only do I have deep life long affection for Dark Side of the Moon (I bought it right when it came out in March 1973, about a month after the greatest snowstorm in the history of the universe (well, in the history of Columbia SC). I was in tenth grade. As a studio recording it is as close to perfect as I can imagine. Dark Side of the Moon is a record whose content speaks to me no matter how many times I listen to it, sort of like my favorite poems by GM Hopkins, or my favorite Psalms. Obviously the message of Dark Side of the Moon is ultimately darker and more forlorn, but in some way God uses it to point me to Himself as an answer to the questions raised. And I can't even put into words how Great Gig in the Sky connects with me. It's primordial. But over the primordial and confused bent world the Spirit broods....
Here"s the list"
10.Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs - Derek and the Dominos
9. The Rising - Bruce Springsteen
8. I - Led Zeppelin
7. Modern Times - Bob Dylan
6. My Life - Iris Dement
5. Jackson Browne --Jackson Browne
4. Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago Transit Authority
3. Abbey Road - The Beatles
2. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
1. Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : record list records songs think beatles albums great love know listening best guitar lessons
major_pentatonics_major_fun
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
First I"m going to talk about the basic theory so that people will hopefully understand it, and then I"ll tab the patterns for those who just wanna ?play the tabs? and don"t actually care.
A pentatonic a scale pattern with 5 notes (hence the term penta). Ok, well we know an normal major scale (also know as a ionian scale) is made up of 8. For example:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
Ok so how we get a pentatonic scale from a major scale is by using the 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 notes of the scale. What does that mean"" Simple, count up starting from C. So C = 1, D = 2, E = 3, F = 4, G = 5, A = 6, B = 7, and C = octave or 8. Ok so now lets form the pentatonic we have 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 which is C D E G A. Not too hard is it"" Ok lets analyse it a bit further..
In between every note, there is a # or sharp. The only exception to this is E and B. What does this mean" Ok there are 8 notes: A, B, C, D, E, F and G and in between all of them except B and E there are sharps, so we have: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G. Ok so moving up from an note to a sharp (like an A to an A#, or an A# to a B) is called a semitone. On your guitar it is basically moving up a fret.
Anyways we learn the number of semitones between each note so that we can come up with a general forumla to make pentatonics. Going back to the C D E G A we have between C and D two semitones (C -> C# = 1, C# to D = 2). Ok between D and E is 2 semitones (D -> D# =1, D# -> E = 2). Between E to G is 3 semitones (E -> F =1, F -> F# = 2, F# -> G = 3). And finally between G and A is 2 semitones (G -> G# = 1, G# ->A = 2). All of these give us a general formula:
R (or root note) + 2 semitones + 2 semitones + 3 semitones + 2 semitones = five notes in the pentatonic scale. (or R + 2 + 2 + 3 + 2). Lets use some examples:
R = A -> A + 2 semitones (A -> A# = 1, A# -> B = 2) = B.
B + 2 semitones (B -> C = 1, C -> C# = 2)= C#
C# + 3 semitones (C# -> D = 1, D -> D# = 2, D# -> E = 3) = E.
E + 2 semitones (E -> F = 1, F -> F# = 2).
So we get A B C# E F# for the A Major Pentatonic scale. So the scales are:
A B C# E F#
B C# D# F# G#
C D E G A
D E F# A B
E F# G# B C#
F G A C D
G A B D E
OK now we got through all of that (make sure you remember that, it is very important) we can tab them. What is really cool is that they all descend in a specific pattern down, which is universal (like the formula). This pattern looks like this:
e|| - | - | o | - | R |
b|| - | - | o | - | o |
g|| - | o | - | o | - |
d|| - | o | - | - | R |
a|| - | o | - | - | o |
E|| - | - | R | - | o |
^
Nut
Don't be scared off just yet! I'll explain. Each R or 0 represents where your finger must go on the fretboard. The R's are simply there to show you where the root note is so that you know where to start your improvisation (I'll explain this bit later). Ok this diagram is universal, so each point on the diagram can be anywhere on the fretboard, depending on where you want to start.
Basically it looks like this when you play: Lets say you want to descend in C (which is the 8th fret of the 6th string) it looks like this:
e|| - | - | 8 | - | 10 |
b|| - | - | 8 | - | 10 |
g|| - | 7 | - | 9 | - |
d|| - | 7 | - | - | 10 |
a|| - | 7 | - | - | 10 |
E|| - | - | 8 | - | 10 |
or in Tab form:
e|-------------------------8-10--------
B|--------------------8-10-------------
G|----------------7-9------------------
D|-----------7-10----------------------
A|------7-10---------------------------
E|-8-10--------------------------------
So you band is jamming in those three chords and they nodd and its your time to solo something. Ok so start with C so we can start at like the 10th fret on the 4th string. Descend the scale and play it back up. Then move down to the 12th fret on the 6th string which is an E, desend the scale and ascend it again. All that is just a simple form of improvisation. If you really want it to sound good, then you will be creative and do stuff like string skipping and hammerons, pulloffs, vibrato's.
Here is an example of a simple impro using no fancy techniques just descending the scale. It may not sound amazing but it still fits with the chords C E and G:
C E
e|--------------8-10-11-12-13-14-12------------------
B|---------8-10--------------------14-12-------------
G|-----7-9-------------------------------13-11-------
D|--10----------------------------------------14-11--
A|---------------------------------------------------
E|---------------------------------------------------
E G
e|-------------------------------13-15-15-15---------
B|-------------------------13-15-------------13-15---
G|----------------12-13-14---------------------------
D|-14-11-14-11-14------------------------------------
A|---------------------------------------------------
E|---------------------------------------------------
G
e|---------------------------------------------------
B|---------------------------------------------------
G|-14-12---------------------------------------------
D|-------15-12---------------------------------------
A|-------------15-12---------------------------------
E|-------------------15-12---------------------------
Pentatonic Majors sound good with metal, blues and even punk. Again its all about the way you decide to improvise it, I always end up making it sounds bluesy because that my style, but each for there own.
Ok so thats basically that. I will do a few more lessons based on this on pentatonic minors. It really really similair, and sounds really blues, and lots of metal.
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : semitones scale pentatonic note really string just notes start fret lets best guitar lessons
Guide To Sweep Picking
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Hello everybody. I didn't know what to write about, so I decided, "What the hell, I'll teach the masses about some tips that may help with their songwriting." However, as stated by the name, this isn't for lyric writing, but rather, for original riff writing. What is a riff? Well, simply put, it is either an arpeggio, chord or some other type of progression that is not a "lick." A lick is usually a two to three second lead piece, connected with other licks. Now that I've filled your brain with some guitar lingo, lets begin. The following are some ways to go about writing riffs.
1. Write through inspiration.
What the heck do I mean by this? I mean listen to a song you really like (or maybe just one that everybody else likes) and then grab your thunder - axe (the term I like to use meaning "guitar") and start playing something. Try not to look at the tab for the song though. Now, I want you to just play something, at either the same tempo and timing, start at the same starting note as the song (or something similar), play with the same feel or whatever you want. Just think of something from the song that you really like, and just sort of fool around until you get somewhere. My favorite approach with this method is starting in the same general area of the fretboard as a riff you really like. And yes, doing it this way means you will probably have to look at a tab, but you don't want to copy the song, so just simply glance at the tab, and then begin. Good riffs are something you have to fool around with to get good at. I'll give you some examples of riffs I have made that complement this approach (songs used for inspiration will be named first, then the artist, and then the description):
- Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns N' Roses) - one of my first and in many people's opinions, my best one, came from me starting at the twelfth fret area, and making an arpeggio riff with some distortion. Sounds sort of space-ish. This song was made when I was learning arpeggios.
- Black Dog (Led Zeppelin) - again, another riff where I started in the same area (technically known as "The Key" of a song), and created sort of a blues-ish, jazz-like riff, but still sounds very different from the original song. Not as fast paced as Black Dog, but a great riff none the less.
- Hotel California (The Eagles) - this riff was made from the "feel" of Hotel California, rather than using the same key, which in this song's case uses a capo at the fifth fret (the key of A). Great rock riff, that sounds as though people could dance to it.
Needless to say, this is quite a good approach to use. However, it works better when you are first starting out, or not so good, because:
1) It gives you something to practice to help "you" get better and;
2) You will learn techniques as you learn how to play, and you will practice them, and practice songs with them in it.
Thus you will make a song similar (maybe). Plus, you may not be able to play the song inspiring you anyway, so there will be no need to worry about copying, now will there? You don't have to be a begginer, but I find it easier to use this approach when you are.
2. The "Holes" Method.
I call this method the "Holes" method because it's like this. You make an original riff, or a riff of some kind, try to add to it, but it doesn't go with it, (thus you fall into a hole) but you still think it has potential (you come out of another hole). I have done this many times, although I don't plan to use any of the riffs I can remember. However, this method is powerful, because you are trying to make riffs for one song, and many of your failed attempts become riffs for other songs. One riff I tried to use to complete the "Black Dog" inspired song mentioned above, kind of went with it, but didn't. So now, if I want, I have another riff in my repretoire of original ones. So remember; you may want to keep those riffs that you thought were garbage, and make something of them. One major advantage to this method, is if you want to make an album with similar, but different sounding songs, that you want to define your "unchanging sound." Anyway, thats an idea.
3. "Open" up.
Use open notes in your songs, even when you are at the 15th fret, you may come up with something that can blow people out of the water, just by adding an open note or two. I have a couple good riffs that use open notes in them, and they sound great. Good for making more "evil" sounding songs. Eddie Van Halen uses lots of open notes in his soloing, so why not use them in your riffs?
4. Find your groove and favorite stuff.
Okay, now I'm sure that many people, like me, have a "favorite chord" that they just love. Whether it be the E minor, or the F diminished, you can find chords that you just love so much, and think, "Damn thats good. Lets make some tunes out of it." And thus, a dynasty will begin. Or at least, a whole new outlook on making your riffs. Take me for instance. I just love the a minor chord (preferabally the open one) because it sounds great, has many other places to go that are easily accessible (Asus, AMaj, A7, Am7 etc) and just overall appeals to my ear. I also like suspended chords in general, as they have that great tone that I find just right. Anyway, you can make great riffs, using just one chord letter. I made a very memorable riff, starting with our friend the A minor, and adding sevenths or what not. Not too many songs use a one chord type of riff, so it may be a good thing to check out.
5. Use unorthodox means.
Great riffs are just waiting to be unlocked. however, you may have to do some sneaky things to find them. You can try stretches that you can barely make, and make some good arpeggios out of them, or you can make some odd chords that you don't think exist (which, they do) or play with techniques or styles that you would never use. Experiment.
6. Let your fingers do the walking.
One of the best methods, is improvisinng. You don't even have to be good at improv, you just have to be playing. I have many great riffs made when I was talking to my friends, or watching tv. Just get relax, don't think about it and play. Just play. I can almost guarantee that one day, when you aren't thinking about what you are doing, you will come up with something that sparks your attention.
7. Unleash your emotion.
The most obvious method is to play what you feel. If you are feeling sad, play the guitar, and you will most likely come up with a sad riff. A great one to use (especially if your girlfriend/boyfriend breaks up with you; or better yet dumps you. Not trying to be a jerk, but it's the truth.
8. Conclusion.
To conclude, I just want to say that, these are just ideas that you may never have thought or overlooked. If you already knew about these, then all the power to you. I hope I have sparked your interest and influenced your composition skills at least a little bit. One thing I didn't mention is to try moving open chords to higher frets. You an make numerous original riffs like this. Anyway, don't give up; you'll find at least one good riff.
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : just riff riffs song good play great want songs method open best guitar lessons
Guitar Fitness The Key To Great Tone And Flency
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Have you ever wondered why good musicians can make a simple major scale sound great, yet when you do it yourself it sounds unmusical even though your guitar is in-tune and you're keeping reasonable time? Do you find that your muscles start to ache within no time at all when you adopt a good hand position in order to play a scale using the three-notes-per string method? Do you find yourself abandoning difficult, mentally and physically exhausting technical practice in favour of familiar, easy-come old tunes? If so, then you may need to put music to one side for a while and concentrate solely on fitness, i.e. a daily routine that will get you in shape ready to tackle those awkward scales and arpeggios.
The following exercises use fragmented chromatic and diatonic scale patterns and fingering permutations which are designed to developed the muscles needed for fluent movement around the freeboard. With strength comes flexibility; with flexibility comes relaxed movement. Only when you have acquired strength and agility will your phrases start to sound musical. This is because you will have better control over dynamics and tone production. True musicians can make almost anything sound great because they have a good command of these elements.
Chromatic Permutation Exercise
You"re probably familiar with the chromatic warm-up at the 5th fret. But have you considered playing all the fingering permutations? There are 24 permutations using the first, second, third and fourth fingers playing the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th frets respectively. Remember to maintain the same fingering for ascending and descending. Keep correct hand position throughout.
Perm.1
|------------------------
|------------------------
|------------------------
|----------------5-6-7-8- and so on up to the high E string
|--------5-6-7-8---------
|5-6-7-8-----------------
Descend using the same fingering:
|5-6-7-8---------
|--------5-6-7-8-
|---------------- and so on down to the low E string.
|----------------
|----------------
|----------------
Using the same principle demonstrated for Perm.1, go through all of the following perms.
P1. 5678 P2. 5687 P3. 5768 P4. 5786 P5. 5867 P6. 5876
P7. 6578 P8. 6587 P9. 6758 P10. 6785 P11. 6857 P12. 6875
I"m sure you can work out the remaining 12 perms.
Diatonic Permutation Exercises
Remember that this isn?t about memorizing scales. It?s about developing muscles. So instead of practicing scales in all positions, just practice the basic elements. If you analyze a three-notes-per-string major scale, you?ll find there are only three essential fragments;
1. Tone tone
2. Semitone tone
3. Tone semitone
A Major Scale:
|---------------Tone semitone>--7-9-10-|
|---------Tone semitone>-7-9-10--------|
|---Semitone-tone>-6-7-9---------------|
|------------6-7-9--
This rule applies to ALL major scales in ALL positions (provided it?s three notes at a time).
Tone Permutation Exercise
(use first second and fourth fingers to cover the 5th, 7th and 9th frets)
P.1
|------------------
|------------------
|------------------ and so on up to the high e string.
|------------5-7-9-
|------5-7-9-------
|5-7-9-------------
Use same fingering when descending:
|5-7-9-------------
|------5-7-9-------
|------------5-7-9- and so on down to the low E string.
|------------------
|------------------
|------------------
Now apply the fingering permutation principle.
P1. 579 P2. 597 P3. 759 P4. 795 P5. 957 P6. 975
Semitone Tone Permutation Exercise
(use first, second and fourth finger to cover 5th, 6th and 8th frets respectively)
Do the same as the above exercise with the following permutations.
P1. 568 P2. 586 P3. 658 P4. 685 P5. 856 P6. 865
Tone Semitone Permutation Exercise
(use first, third and fourth fingers to cover 5th, 7th and 8th frets respectively)
P1. 578 P2. 587 P3. 758 P4. 785 P5. 857 P6. 875
The tone semitone exercise can also be played using first, second and third fingers to cover 5th, 7th, and 8th frets respectively. This is a useful stretching exercise.
Arpegiated Exercises
The above chromatic and diatonic scale exercises can be spread across adjacent string to create arpegiated exercises. As with the major scale, most arpeggios contain basic elements which appear in the following examples.
Arpegiated Tone Exercise
(use same fingering as scale exercise)
P1. Ascending
|----------------------------------------9-5-----|
|----------------------------9-5-------7-----7---|
|----------------9-5-------7-----7---5---------9-|
|----9-5-------7-----7---5---------9-------------|
|--7-----7---5---------9-------------------------|
|5---------9-------------------------------------|
P1. Descending
|5---------9-------------------------------------|
|--7-----7---5---------9-------------------------|
|----9-5-------7-----7---5---------9-------------|
|----------------9-5-------7-----7---5---------9-|
|----------------------------9-5-------7-----7---|
|----------------------------------------9-5-----|
Now apply the arpegiated principle to ALL the previously described scale exercises.
Why This Is A Very Useful Exercise
If we arpegiate P6 of the tone semitone scale fragment (note the bracketed section)
|----------------------------------------5-8-----|
|----------------------------5-8-------7-----7---|
|-----------(----5)8-------7-----7---8---------5-|
|----5-8----(--7--)--7---8---------5-------------|
|--7-----7--(8----)----5-------------------------|
|8---------5-------------------------------------|
Now arpegiate P6 of the semitone tone scale fragment (note the bracketed section)
|-------------------------------------(--5-8)----|
|----------------------------5-8------(6----)6---|
|----------------5-8-------6-----6---8---------5-|
|----5-8-------6-----6---8---------5-------------|
|--6-----6---8---------5-------------------------|
|8---------5-------------------------------------|
Now put them together and we get a C shaped major arpeggio (F major triad):
|----------5-8-|
|--------6-----|
|------5-------|
|----7---------|
|--8-----------|
|--------------|
Now let?s take out the bracketed section of the P6 semitone tone arpeggio:
|----------------------------------------5-8-----|
|----------------------------5-8-------6-----6---|
|-----------(----5)8-------6-----6---8---------5-|
|----5-8----(--6--)--6---8---------5-------------|
|--6-----6--(8----)----5-------------------------|
|8---------5-------------------------------------|
And the bracketed section of P6 of the tone tone arpeggio:
|-------------------------------------(--5-9)----|
|----------------------------5-9------(7----)7---|
|----------------5-9-------7-----7---9---------5-|
|----5-9-------7-----7---9---------5-------------|
|--7-----7---9---------5-------------------------|
|9---------5-------------------------------------|
Now put them together and we get the C shaped minor arpeggio (F minor triad):
Note: the second fragment has been moved down a semitone but it?s the same pattern.
|----------4-8-|
|--------6-----|
|------5-------|
|----6---------|
|--8-----------|
|--------------|
There are thousands of arpeggios all over the freeboard but they all use a lot of the same shapes that are found in these exercises. That?s the beauty of boiling everything down into it?s basic elements and then just practicing those elements at the mid-point of the freeboard. It will stand you in great stead when you come to play scales and arpeggios anywhere on the guitar. Again, this is about getting shape! You can of course arpegiate the chromatic fragments using the same system as described for the diatonic scale. But be aware that doing so will create a much longer and more challenging set of exercises.
Rolling Technique
Some arpeggios will contain elements that wont appear in any of the previously described exercises.
Example of E shaped arpeggio at 5th fret (A major triad)
|---------(--5)9-|
|---------(5--)--|
|--------6-------|
|---(--7)--------|
|---(7--)--------|
|5-9-------------|
The bracketed elements are not covered by either the chromatic or diatonic exercises as they have two notes played consecutively on the same fret. To play these sections at speed requires a technique known as "rolling". Justin Sandercoe explains this technique far better than I could on a well-known video site.
After you?ve found out how to "roll", here?s an exercise designed to develop the technique:
Example 1:
|---------------------------------
|-------------------------------- and so on up to high e string.
|------------------------8-7-6-5-
|----------------5-6-7-8---------
|--------8-7-6-5----------------
|5-6-7-8-------------------------
Descending use same fingering:
|8-7-6-5--------------------------
|--------5-6-7-8----------------- and so on down to low E string.
|----------------8-7-6-5---------
|------------------------5-6-7-8-
|-------------------------------
|--------------------------------
Example 2:
|---------------------------------
|-------------------------------- and so on up to high e string.
|------------------------7-8-5-6-
|----------------6-5-8-7---------
|--------7-8-5-6----------------
|6-5-8-7-------------------------
Descending:
|7-8-5-6--------------------------
|--------6-5-8-7----------------- and so on down to low E string.
|----------------7-8-5-6---------
|------------------------6-5-8-7-
|-------------------------------
|--------------------------------
Motivation
Don?t expect too much too soon. Stay focused. Will you still be playing guitar in 10 years time? If so then why not set yourself a goal of 10,000 hours of disciplined technical development. That way if you have done 2 hours a day for a few weeks and you don?t see any notable results you can remind yourself that you have only covered about 50 or so hours out of 10.000! Stick at it. Work real hard to get through that initial pain barrier. Go to bed with a dull ache in your arm. But if you experience any bright, sharp shooting pain then STOP and rest up for a day or two. Use stretching and massaging before during and after exercising. If you don?t feel the benefit of stretching then you?re not pushing yourself hard enough! You should have a day off now and again anyway just to recuperate. If after a month or so you try some old tunes and you haven?t improved at all (in fact you may feel you?ve gone backwards) don"t panic! This is because these old tunes used old weak technique. A technique that you wont have been using for these exercises. Namely playing at an angle with your thumb resting on the top of the neck" comfortable but it wont developed true strength half as well as correct hand position over a prolonged period of time. Create your own exercises. When you find a weakness, analyze it and developed an exercise that homes in on it and turns it into a strength.
Work hard! Work smart!
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : tone scale string exercises exercise semitone major fingering elements permutation chromatic best guitar lessons
JASON BECKER
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
"Dewa gitar paling berbakat yang ditimpa musibah"
Click for larger version Nama Lengkap: Jason Becker
Website Resmi: JasonBecker.com
Group Band Sebelumnya: David Lee Roth & Cacophony
Gitar: Hurricane & Carvin.
Tempat/Tgl Lahir: 22 July
Pengaruh: W.A. Mozart, Marty Friedman, Eddie Van Halen, Bob Dylan, Andreas Segovia dan Niccolo Paganini.
Keahlian: Classical, Sweep Arpeggio, Japanese Scale, Blues, Whammy Bar, dll.
Jason Becker adalah seorang anak ajaib yang mampu menguasai permainan gitar dengan sangat baik dalam waktu yang pendek (4 tahun) dan pada umur yang muda sekali: 16 tahun (1987). Jika Anda mendengar hasil karya besar Jason, Anda akan merasakan seolah-olah Mozart dan Bach hidup kembali dengan usia muda tersebut. Jason dapat dengan mudah menciptakan komposisi klasik yang sangat rumit (lebih rumit daripada karya Yngwie atau gitaris lainnya) dan memainkannya dengan sangat cepat dan bersih baik di electric guitar maupun gitar klasik (gitar bolong). Dari sekian banyak gitaris shredder, Jason Becker-lah yang terbaik dalam komposisi klasiknya.
Sayang sekali Tuhan tidak mengizinkan Jason bermain gitar lebih lama lagi, Jason harus kehilangan seluruh kemampuannya pada usia 19 tahun (1990) berhubung terjangkit penyakit ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis atau Lou Gehrig) yang menyebabkan Jason lumpuh total. Organ tubuh Jason mati tahun demi tahun, sampai kini Jason hanya sanggup menggerakkan matanya. Padahal beberapa tahun sebelumnya Jason masih mampu mengerakkan jari kirinya dan menulis lagu melalui komputer dan menghasilkan album "Perspective".
Rencananya Jason akan menulis lagu lagi dengan menggunakan teknologi komputer Macintosh, di mana Jason dapat menggerakkan mouse komputer dengan gerakan matanya. Mungkin inilah sejarahnya di mana seorang gitaris dapat menulis lagu dengan gerakan matanya. Dapat Anda bayangkan betapa berbakatnya Jason dan betapa tingginya semangat Jason dalam menulis karya musiknya!
Dari awal karirnya sampai saat ini keluarga Jason bukanlah dari keluarga yang mampu, sehingga sang ayah harus melukis dan menjual karya lukisannya untuk menanggung biaya perawatan Jason. Bagi Anda yang gemar akan permainan Jason, dapat menyumbangkan dana di JasonBecker.com.
Sejak Jason kecil, ayahnya adalah seorang penggemar Bob Dylan yang sangat mempengaruhi musik Jason. Ayah Jason dan paman Jason juga seorang pemain gitar klasik yang baik, sehingga Jason menguasai permainan klasik Segovia. Jason selalu bermain musik klasik, Jason memiliki buku 24 Caprice Niccolo Paganini dan selalu menggunakannya sebagai latihan.
Jason menerima acoustic/electric guitar Takamine pertama dari ayahnya pada usia 12 tahun, tampil untuk sekolah dia dan sekolah lainnya. Pada usia 13 tahun, guru sekolah Jason sangat kagum dengan permainan dan bakat Jason, kemudian memintanya untuk mempimpin sebuah Jazz Ensemble.
Tepat pada usia 14 tahun Jason menghabis semua waktunya untuk berlatih dan meramu komposisi musik dia sendiri. Waktu itu Jason juga sempat belajar teknik arpeggio yang dalam dengan Dave Creamer.
Pada usia 16 tahun, permainan dan teknik Jason telah mencapai tingkat yang sangat tinggi. Akhirnya Jason mencoba mengirim demo rekaman 45 menitnya ke produser Mike Varney (bos Shrapnel Records. Jason memainkan 2 karya Niccolo Paganini (klasik) dan 2 lagu blues. Sebagian besar dari rekaman tersebut hanyalah improvisasi di chord yang sederhana, tetapi Jason memainkan teknik counterpoint dengan menggunakan volume gitarnya. Menurut Jason teknik ini adalah ide yang konyol, tetapi justru Mike Varney menganggap itu adalah ide yang cemerlang.
Tidak lama setelah Mike Varney menemukan Marty Friedman di bar, Jason disuruh menghubungi Marty. Akhirnya Jason datang ke rumah Marty di San Fransisco dan bermain (nge-jam) setiap harinya. Mereka sangat banyak memainkan blues dan selalu memainkan harmoni yang manyatukan musik mereka berdua. Marty & Jason saling belajar satu sama lainnya.
Pada tahun itu juga Marty Friedman dan Jason Becker membentuk group band pertama mereka: "Cacophony" yang mengegerkan dunia gitaris shredder. Album pertama mereka adalah ?Speed Metal Symphony? dan album keduanya adalah ?Go Off!?. Anda dapat melihat betapa hebat kemampuan mereka memadukan kedua warna musik yang mereka miliki, Marty & Jason masih dapat saling mengiringi dan menjaga harmoni permainannya dalam kecepatan yang tinggi. Cacophony sendiri banyak membuat konser terutama di negara Jepang, Jason bahkan sempat mendemonstrasikan permainan dalam lagu "Eruption" (Van Halen) yang cukup sulit dengan menggunakan 1 tangan kiri dan tangan lainnya sambil memainkan yoyo!
Marty & Jason memang kompak, sebelum album ?Go Off!? diluncurkan, mereka juga merelease sepasang album solo: Jason Becker dengan solo album ?Perpetual Burn? dan Marty dengan solo album "Dragon"s Kiss?. Setelah menyelesaikan tour ?Go Off!?, Marty & Jason memutuskan untuk solo karir dan mencari band yang mangangkat nama mereka. Ketika ?David Lee Roth? (ex-Van Halen) memilih gitaris barunya, Jason memainkan sekian banyak lagu Van Halen dengan gaya dia sendiri seperti Hot For Teacher, Yankee Rose dan Skycraper (rekaman dapat didenger di website resmi JasonBacker.com).
Akhirnya Marty berhasil terpilih sebagai gitaris group band thrash yang bergengsi: "Megadeth" dan Jason sendiri berhasil terpilih sebagai gitaris ?David Lee Roth? (ex-Van Halen) menggantikan posisi gitaris besar: Steve Vai dan Eddie Van Halen. Mulai sejak itu nama Marty & Jason menjadi besar, berbagai majalah gitar terkemuka di USA seperti Guitar World, Guitar Practising Musician, Guitar Player dan lainnya memuji kemampuan bermain mereka.
Bersama David Lee Roth, Jason mengisi seluruh gitar utama di album ?A Little Ain?t Enough?. Jason semakin menjadi sorotan di dunia gitar dan mulai tour bersama group bandnya David Lee Roth. Pada saat berusia 19 tahun, Jason merekam lagu blues Bob Dylan ?Meet Me In The Morning?, tiba-tiba Jason merasakan tangan kanannya semakin melemah dan nyaris tidak dapat digerakkan. Akhirnya lagu blues ini dimainkan dengan whammy barnya tanpa menggunakan vibrato bending sama sekali.
Lemahnya tangan kanan Jason bahkan menyebabkan dia tidak dapat meneruskan tour bersama group bandnya David Lee Roth. Tidak disangkanya setelah dicheck, Jason terkena penyakit lumpuh ALS yang menyebabkan semua urat syaraf Jason berhenti berfungsi. Selama 6 tahun lebih Jason lumpuh sehingga tidak dapat memainkan gitarnya lagi, hanya jari kirinya yang dapat digerakkan. Jason tidak dapat berjalan, makan maupun berbicara.
Ternyata keajaiban Tuhan hadir, Jason yang sudah hampir lumpuh total tersebut berhasil menulis lagu berkat tangan kirinya yang masih dapat menggerakkan mouse komputer. Itu berarti Jason menulis lagu dengan pikirannya tanpa menyentuh gitar kesayangannya! Tak lama kemudian Jason mengeluarkan album solonya yang kedua berjudul "Perspective". Berhubung Jason sendiri tidak dapat memainkan gitarnya di album "Perspective" ini, maka permainan gitar Jason diganti oleh gitaris country rock yang cukup terkenal bernama ?Michael Lee Firkins? dibantu oleh teman-teman lainnya.
Walaupun pada album ini Jason hanya menulis dengan pikirannya bukan berarti hasil karyanya tidak berkualitas lagi. Anda bisa simak sendiri karya Jason yang sangat rumit di album ini dengan judul "Seranna" dan ?End Of The Beginning?. Setiap lagunya mencerminkan semangat (innerfire) Jason Becker untuk hidup/sembuh kembali. Dengan tegasnya Jason menuliskan di cover album keduanya "Perspective", bahwa penyakit ALS hanya dapat melumpuhkan organ tubuh dan suaranya tetapi tidak dapat melumpuhkan pikiran dan musiknya.
Tahun demi tahun telah berlalu, penyakit Jason semakin parah dan kini Jason hanya dapat menggerakkan bola matanya. Jason masih belum putus asa, ayah Jason memutuskan untuk menggunakan teknologi komputer Macintosh yang didesign khusus untuk orang cacat. Dengan menggunakan perangkat Macintosh ini, Jason dapat menggerakkan mouse komputer dengan gerakan matanya! Direncanakan album ketiganya akan ditulis dengan gerakan mata Jason.
Dapat Anda bayangkan betapa tingginya semangat Jason memperjuangkan musiknya. Banyak sekali gitaris terkenal seperti Eddie Van Halen, Marty Friedman, Paul Gilbert, Vinnie Moore, dll yang salut terhadap perjuangan Jason dan mengunjungi rumahnya. Akhirnya salah fans Jason mengajukan ide kepada Amy Becker (kakak ipar Jason) untuk membuat sebuah album tribute untuk Jason Becker. Ide ini ternyata berjalan dengan baik, keluarga Jason menghubungi perusahaan-perusahaan rekaman yang bersedia men-sponsorin rekaman ini dan gitaris-gitaris yang bersedia membantu project album tribute ini.
Dalam waktu 3 bulan, perusahaan rekaman ""Lion Music" menyetujuinya. Marty Friedman sebagai sahabat dan pasangan Jason dalam group band Cacophony menjadi gitaris pertama yang menyetujui ide album tribute ini.
Ternyata hasilnya di luar dugaan, artis-artis terkenal berikut ini bersedia membantu rekaman tribute ini secara sukarela: Eddie Van Halen, Marty Friedman, Paul Gilbert (ex-Mr.Big), Vinnie Moore, Kee Marcello (ex-Europe), Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Deep Purple), Neil Zaza, Anders Johansson (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen), Chris Poland (ex-Megadeth), Jeff Watson (ex-Night Ranger), Stephen Ross, James Byrd, Matt Bissonette, Mark Boals, Ron Thal, Joy Basu, Alex Masi, Lars Eric Mattsson, James Kottak, Ron Keel, Ted Poley, Stevie Salas, Jeff Pilson, ,Phantom Blue, dll.
Album tribute ini telah selesai dan akan diluncurkan pada hari ulang tahun Jason tgl 22 July 2001 ini. Album ini dapat diorder di website: ""Lion Music" dan video pembuatan album ini dapat ditonton di http://www.angelfire.com/hi4/overandover/Jason.html
Semua keuntungan yang diperoleh dari album tribute ini akan disumbangkan kepada keluarga Jason untuk biaya pengobatannya. Jason Becker memang sebuah legenda gitaris dan inspirasi murni untuk semua gitaris!
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : jason yang dengan dapat album tahun marty gitaris untuk gitar lagu best guitar lessons
The home page with a difference
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Estate agents fed up with the cost of listing houses for sale and rent on the major property websites have joined together to launch a rival service to challenge the dominance of Rightmove and Prime
PropertyLive.co.uk has been set up by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and carries details of more than 200,000 properties for sale and rent. The site has been running in a test mode since the end of October and has just gone fully live.
It claims its unique selling point is that it is "the only property search site that's regulated, protected and run by a professional body of fully accredited agents", which means it can provide buyers and renters with "complete peace of mind".
You probably haven't heard of PropertyLive because the estate agents' trade body did not want to start shouting about it until the site had a decent number of properties listed. But if the NAEA succeeds in making it a force to be reckoned with, it may end up being one of the search websites we all turn to when hunting for a new place to live.
Those behind the site reckon the potential is there for it to have 700,000-800,000 properties listed, which would put it ahead of biggies such as FindaProperty.com, with 650,000, and Prime.com, with more than 500,000, and take it close to Rightmove.co.uk, the self-proclaimed number one site claiming to carry details of more than a million properties.
Some might say this is a pretty odd time to launch a property website. House prices have been in freefall, many estate agents have shut down, and people have put their home-buying and moving plans on ice.
But the difficult climate could prove to be the reason why PropertyLive flourishes. Many agents are desperately keen to cut their costs because they are spending hundreds, or even thousands, of pounds a month to advertise on search websites - the big plus-point of the new site is that it is free for the association's members to use.
It doesn't sound as if the association will be spending much money on marketing the site, though. An NAEA spokesman says it hopes "members will promote it for us".
Building a successful brand can swallow up a lot of cash and take a long time. "It took us eight years to get where we are," says a spokesman for Rightmove, which still gets 30m visits a month and accounts for half of all property pages viewed in the UK. It charges estate agents an average monthly subscription of "under £400".
However, the NAEA adds: "If the agents really get behind PropertyLive, it can be a great success."
It says all the firms on it belong to one or more of the following associations: the NAEA; the Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla); the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers; or the Institution of Commercial & Business Agents, all of which come under the umbrella of the National Federation of Property Professionals. Many of the best-known estate agency firms aren't on the site, yet; those that are include Knight Frank, Winkworth and Your Move. "No one has said they don't want to be part of it," adds the spokesman.
The site works like any other search website: key in what you are looking for, and it throws up details of relevant properties, with photos, floorplans and so on. If you see something you like, contact the agent directly.
So, if you're a punter, which is the best site to go for? Guardian Money put them to the test by looking at how many properties each had for sale and to let in two s: London SE24 and Bath in Somerset. We found wide variations in the number of properties thrown up by each search. The evidence suggests that Rightmove and Prime/FindaProperty (both part of the same company) remain a long way ahead of the other sites, returning as many as 10 times as many results as PropertyLive.
As with price comparison sites for financial products, different property websites throw up different results, and no one site will probably provide every suitable property in a particular area.
Your best bet" If you can face it, it is probably to visit all the main sites.
Must be viewed: how the top five sites shape up
Number of users: 1.9m
Who they are: UK's biggest site. It says more than 90% of estate agents advertise properties with it.
On test: In London SE24, it found 143 properties for sale from £99,950 to £4.375m, and 117 to let. In Bath, it found 680 properties from £105,000 to £2.25m, and 502 to let.
Bells and whistles: Sale prices, holiday lettings, overseas property, buying and selling guides - and a chance to be in a property TV show.
Number of users: 1.4m (all Digital Property Group sites)
Who they are: Owned by Daily Mail group; sister site to Prime and Homesandproperty.co.uk
On test: In London SE24, it found 136 properties for sale from £99,950 to £2.65m, and 145 to let; in Bath, 622 from £109,500 to £3.5m and 381 to let.
Bells and whistles: Offers sale prices, overseas property and area information on council tax, school performances and crime statistics.
Number of users: 1.4m (all Digital Property Group sites)
Who they are: Owned by Daily Mail group, specialising in mid- to high-price properties.
On test: In London SE24, 201 properties for sale from £99,950 to £2.95m, and 132 to let; in Bath, 862 from £75,000 to £4m, and 425 to let.
Bells and whistles: Extensive international section, buying guides, etc. On test, it found the most properties for sale.
Number of users: 1.29m (all Propertyfinder Network sites)
Who they are: Properties from 4,000 agents. Claims to be UK's fastest growing property site. Group includes Ukpropertyshop.co.uk and Hotproperty.co.uk
On test: In London SE24, 93 properties for sale from £99,950
to £4.375m, and 92 to let; in Bath, 241 from £139.950 to £2m, and 219 to let.
Bells and whistles: Resources part of site offers buying guides, mortgages, moving services etc.
PropertyLive
Number of users: N/A (new launch)
Who they are: Formed by National Association of Estate Agents, with properties from 13,000 agents.
On test: In London SE24, 67 properties for sale from £172,500 to £1.5m, and 66 to let; in Bath, 58 from £119,000 to £1m, and 12 to let.
Bells and whistles: Promises free valuations and moving guides.
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : best guitar lessons
A bridge over troubled waters
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
While the recession has galvanised many Britons into trying to pay off their debts, it has also left many short of money.
Taking out a personal loan is one of the most common ways of bridging the gap, and can also prove a useful way to reduce interest payments for those with large credit card debts.
But unlike the Bank of England base rate, now at 1%, personal loan rates have moved in the other direction, with cash-strapped banks fearful of lending to consumers during an economic downturn.
What you will pay
Personal loan interest rates have increased by almost 3.5% in the past year and a half and the days of borrowing at sub-6% rates are unlikely to be seen again for some considerable time.
Currently the best loan rates are available from Alliance & Leicester, Sainsbury's, Tesco, the AA, Abbey and Lloyds.
Your credit history
The heavily advertised low rates are only available to those with unblemished credit histories - and you may not get the best rate, even if you are accepted as a customer.
For example, Platinum Loans quotes a rate as low as 7.8%, but says "typically" it is 11.4%.
This may seem confusing, as many people assume that the advertised rate is the one they will pay.
Most lenders now price for risk, in other words they examine your credit history - which gives details of your other debts and payment history - before offering you a deal.
The advertised rate must be offered to at least two thirds of those accepted by the bank or loan company.
Got a poor credit record?
People with poor credit histories can still get loans in some cases, but the interest rates they pay are much higher.
The best deal available to someone with a "fair" credit history through moneysupermarket.com, for example, is a Creditplus Car Finance loan with a typical rate of 17.9%. The bad news is that lenders have become increasingly choosy in the wake of the credit crunch.
Tim Moss of moneysupermarket.com says: "To get one of the leading deals, you will need to have a super-clean credit record without any defaults. Even being late with a £20 mobile phone bill will count against you now."
If you are unsure what is on your credit file, it may be worth sending off for a copy of your report from a credit reference agency such as Experian before applying for a loan - especially as denied applications are noted on your file and can count against you.
Experian and Equifax allow you to order a paper copy online and pay with a card. You will need to provide some information about yourself and they will post it to your current address. Go to experian.co.uk or equifax.co.uk. Callcredit has a form on callcredit.co.uk which you can print, fill in and send with a £2 cheque or postal order.
Secured or unsecured"
The interest rate is not the only deciding factor when choosing a loan, though. You must also think about what type of loan best suits your needs.
Most personal loans are unsecured, but homeowners can also borrow against the equity in their property.
Banks and other lenders are often more willing to give you a loan if it is asset-backed - especially if the amount you want to borrow is more than £25,000 - but beware.
As the adverts warn, your home could be at risk if you miss payments on a secured loan.
Paying off loans early
It sounds like a prudent thing to do - but look out for the sting in the tail. Early repayment charges, or ERCs, are the fees imposed if you want to terminate the agreement by paying off the debt before the end of a period agreed at the outset.
ERCs vary from lender to lender, but can be hefty. So it is worth checking the penalties imposed for early repayment before signing up as a result.
If, for example, you opt for a flexible deal, the lender may permit over-payments and lump-sum payments, both of which allow you to clear the debt over a shorter time period than first agreed.
But ERCs are not the only charges to check. While many lenders will penalise you for paying off a debt more quickly than first agreed, they will also charge you if you fall behind with your payments.
Missed payments will be noted on your credit file, making it more difficult to borrow from banks and other lenders in the future, so it is vital to only borrow as much as you know you can afford to pay off.
Payment protection
If you are concerned about the possibility of being unable to make the payments because of, say, losing your job, you can take out payment protection insurance (PPI). But beware: there are many circumstances in which PPI will not pay out. To successfully make a
PPI claim, for example, you must be in permanent employment when you take it out. It is useless for retired people as a result, and most PPI policies will not cover you if you are self-employed and become unable to work.
Other instances in which most lenders and insurers will refuse claims, include if you have to stop work due to stress, a bad back or a pre-existing condition that you failed to mention when taking out the cover.
If, despite this, you are still keen to protect your repayments, shop around before you buy. The vast majority of the UK's 12 million-plus PPI policies are sold alongside a loan or other form of credit, but it is almost always cheaper to take out a standalone policy that covers all your debts.
On a typical personal loan of £7,500 over three years, for example, the monthly repayments with NatWest are £284.93 with PPI or £243.45 without - meaning the PPI alone costs £41.48 per month. But if you take out the Post Office's standalone Lifestyle Protection cover the monthly cost falls to £10.95, giving a saving of £366.36 a year.
The Competition Commission recently found that many consumers are unaware that they can buy PPI from other providers, rarely shop around to compare prices and terms and conditions of PPI policies and rarely switch PPI providers.
It is now introducing measures to stimulate competition. These include a ban on banks selling PPI when selling loans or other forms of credit, and the prohibition of single premium PPI, which is paid in full at the outset.
Where to look for deals
Our website guardian.co.uk/money/debt carries a regularly updated personal loans best-buy table, and in partnership with moneysupermarket.com allows you to compare 500 loan providers. It's also worth looking at moneyfacts.co.uk for the latest deals.
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : best guitar lessons
A new 'ism'
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
As this recession threatens to tumble into depression and more businesses go to the wall - company liquidations have increased by 50% since this time last year, according to the Office for National Statistics - you could be forgiven for thinking the phrase "work-life balance" is quaint at best, indulgent at worst.
Surely the thing to do now is just focus on keeping a job, any job, at any price rather than worrying about the niceties of actually enjoying your job? It's a fair enough argument at one level. I have run my own small businesses for 15 years and when times have been tough I have had to put all hands - including my own - to the pump, even if that has meant missing umpteen bedtimes, school runs or generally running myself ragged. If it's either that or not paying the mortgage and the wages, there's no choice. But permanent crisis mode is not sustainable.
These days there is open talk of a return to the three-day week as a cost-cutting measure. Employers such as Honda are already temporarily mothballing production and employees. Who knows, we might even see Britain emulate President Hoover's commission for work sharing from the 1930s - where a three-day week was encouraged across the board - as a means of keeping people employed in a collapsing marketplace.
But setting aside for one moment the doom, gloom and unemployment - currently 6.3% and rising - we must also remember that 93.7% of the working population in this country (some 29 million of us) is still working, albeit under straightened circumstances.
For those who remain employed and employing, getting an increase in productivity, focus, energy, creativity and results is paramount. Flexible working, in the majority of cases, is a huge motivator and accelerates, rather than limits, growth.
Britain remains a laggard in the league table of productivity. Corporate Britain has known for nearly a decade about the benefits of flexible working. Five years ago the Work Foundation published a study, Productivity, Performance & People, which concluded that a motivated workforce working flexibly to suit employee and employer alike would deliver more for Britain's businesses than a century of old-style, rigid hours.
Big employers, from Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's to PWC and Lloyds TSB, have pioneered a variety of ways to allow workers more choice in their hours and place of work. And earlier this month, even workaholic public figures lined up to say how much they enjoyed the "snow day" - a rare respite from the usual grind which still characterises much of our working culture.
This culture needs changing. I grew up with feminism as a given. Let's have a new "ism" beginning with "f" which is much more relevant to working women and men today - "flexibilism". By that I mean an attitude towards work which has trust at its centre - a trust that people will deliver if they are encouraged to work out what suits both their needs and their employers' needs alike.
And yes, trust can work - take the US chemical plant that told its workers to increase productivity but let them decide how to achieve the new targets, or the London restaurant which recently saw sales jump by offering customers the chance to set their own prices.
If flexibilism was the norm, command and control management would be replaced by partnership.
When I began to explore whether I, as a worker, employer, mother and stepmother, could even begin to find balance, it was a painstaking process to figure out a very complicated and highly personal set of needs that can appear to compete with each other.
And I'm one of the lucky ones: I employ myself. My husband works from home and provides "wraparound" childcare for the school runs and bedtimes I can't do, and we were able to afford preschool childcare.
If attitudes are the enemy to achieving flexibilism then the parlous state of childcare availability and funding is another. For instance, it costs a minimum of £5,000 per annum per preschool child if you are not working with any kind of state benefit.
The provision of childcare, from nurseries to schools, can be infuriatingly rigid. After-school clubs are beginning to emerge, but there is more choice and fluidity in choosing a mobile phone and tariff on the high street than finding suitable education and childcare for your children. This kind of frustration can turn any employee into the very thing employers dread: a distracted, frazzled worker.
The law is changing, but too slowly and by too little. Small employers are left to accommodate maternity and paternity leave requests with no greater assistance than big organisations, which can cushion the impact using workers from other departments.
From April more than 40% of the workforce with children under 16 or caring duties will be eligible to "request" to work flexibly. This emphasis on the word "request" belies a sense that anything other than office-based nine-to-five working is a perk rather than beneficial to the bottom line. And, astonishingly, there are no plans to extend this right to anyone else. If you are childless, you might have different needs to attend to other than family, and that should be encouraged too, given that everyone pays taxes for children who will pay taxes as adults.
So how about this for an idea? The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) expects its caseload to increase as workers sue their employers for denying them this "request". Let's give Acas the power to nip this problem in the bud by setting up consultations with human resources teams around the country, helping them bridge the gap between what employers and employees want.
Of course, not all jobs are flexible. But we ought to list the ones that really aren't - and remunerate accordingly. After all, oil rig workers who literally can't leave work receive very good salaries. Flexibilism isn't a right - it's about both sides being realistic and sensible. So why not invite people to design their own working patterns on a trial basis with clear goals as a partnership, rather than a conflict"
Here's another idea: instead of offering 90% of salary for maternity leave for six weeks, then dropping it back to virtually nothing until the end, offer instead working women the chance to return to work on 90% pay, a mutual acknowledgement that 10% of their time is always going to be messy, last minute and ill-defined - for the school play, the household chores and the unforeseen.
And let's extend those rights to everyone so that those without children can maybe help those with children - or just to use the time to live and work rather than work to live.
A healthy economy needs people living balanced lives. A sick economy needs workers who are motivated, focused, and able to commit their energy fully to the task at hand. Flexibilism isn't for cissies. It is the real deal.
" Julia Hobsbawm runs media company Editorial Intelligence and is the author of The See-Saw: 100 Ideas for Work-Life Balance.
On Guardian.co.uk/money/careerstalk
Want to know more about achieving "flexibilism" in your workplace" In our follow-up interview, Laura-Jane Filotrani talks to Julia Hobsbawm about the ideas underpinning her book, The See-Saw. And on Thursday 19 February, Hobsbawm will be available to answer your questions on work-life balance in our live forum, again at Guardian.co.uk/money/careerstalk.
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : best guitar lessons
Bryan and his fascination with the Cello
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Bryan loves the cello. He has wanted to play the cello for a few years, but the logistics of renting a cello and getting him to lessons was just something I was not able to orchestrate. So, for now, he is channelling his musical energy and phenomenal talent into the piano with an equal amount of energy left over for the bagpipes. I know that at some point in his life, Bryan will in fact acquire a cello and take a few lessons, even if it is to learn the rudiments of performance and enough to play by ear and impress us all.
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra has a program designed to put young people into the audience. They make the cost of the ticket way more affordable and make allowances for the young person to bring an older person (me) along with him for the same price. With affordable tickets, I know we will attend more regular performances given by the CPO.
A few weeks ago, we heard that Shauna Rolston was playing in the concert tipped as `The Passion of the Cello`. Shauna was born in Alberta, trained at the Banff Centre, which is about an hour away from Calgary and played her first concerto at the age of only 8. She is a most accomplished cellist who performs all over the world and has certainly made her mark in the music world today. In addition to performance, she is a passionate educator, much in demand as a guest master class instructor. She is Professor of Cello and Co-Head of the String Department at the University of Toronto and a Visiting Artist for the Music and Sound Programs at The Banff Centre.
Before I go any further, I should call upon you to conjure up in your mind"s eye, if you will an image of a cello. Conventional wisdom holds that the finest string instruments are the wooden ones made by early Italian masters of the 16th and 17th centuries, names like Amati, Guarneri, Stradivari. The secret, it's said, was in the miraculous varnish. Obviously, a great instrument had to be made of wood.
So it was with a certain amount of intrigue that we anticipated hearing Shauna`s much beloved 1824 French Chanot cello, the instrument she used since she was 12. Instead, she brought out her jet-black, sinister-looking, guitar-shaped carbon-fibre instrument that could have come out of a David Lynch flick: dark, weird, and a touch disconcerting; affectionately known as, the "Black Beauty.?
Bryan and I were ever so excited to see that our seats were right up in front of the auditorium and right in front of the soloist. Now we could closely watch the musicians in action, particularly Shauna Rolston.
Shauna took the stage holding her Black Beauty by the neck, bow in the other hand, and smiled the biggest smile. She was not dressed as I would have imagined a cellist would be, but at this point, with the Chanot back in Toronto, nothing was as we expected it. She wore tight form fitting yoga type pants with a white, gothic-style pattern inching up her thighs from the circumference of her pants and a long black strapless top that she kept hiking up to ensure that it did not slip down over her rather flat chest. Her jet black hair was austerely pulled back and braided and her outfit was completed with 6? high heels. The makeup she wore was as extreme as everything else so far so with black outlined eyes and red lipstick. In short, she looked like the bad girl your parents warned you about, but she bowed to the audience, smiled at the conductor and proceeded to settle herself on the chair.
It took some time for her to become comfortable, starting with her placement of the black beauty between her legs ensuring that it was stable and not going to slide on the floor. The bow was tightened, stray horse hairs were plucked from it and then she started to tune her instrument to concert A, and finally, she looked at the conductor to signal that she was finally ready to start, gave him a big smile and held her bow over the strings in readiness.
I believe the evening started with pieces by Mozart and a Saint-Saens and as soon as the orchestra played, Shauna?s demeanour changed from the beaming, smiling performer to something akin to a demon. Her face changed and became quite scary. Her mouth took on a contorted shape; her eyes were sometimes closed or slightly open revealing the whites while she and her ?Black Beauty? made music.
At the end of those two pieces, she left the stage with the sounds of an appreciative audience indicating how much they enjoyed her performances. Bryan and I looked at each other, and raised our eyebrows. We knew we were sitting in a crowd of Rolston supporters and while she is a phenomenal performer, she is so weird to watch that we mentioned how it would be a little more enjoyable to go and buy her CD?s and listen to them at home than it was sitting underneath her. But, we were there to get as much from the performances as we could.
Shauna came back to her seat, went through the same settling procedure as before and was to play a piece composed by a local composer specifically for her. All it took for Bryan and I to once again look at each other and raise our eye brows was just one long slow draw of her bow across the strings. This was music that we typically avoid but those first few bards gave us a good idea of the journey we were on. The music was so weirdly different and certainly not what we were expecting but when you allowed yourself to be swept up in the disharmony of it all, it was interestingly enjoyable. However, the weirdness of the music just seemed to bring out and exaggerate Shauna?s oddities. She seemed to alternate between sinking into herself as she played and then rising up high above the seat and then she would lift one leg off the floor as she drew the bow over the strings and all the while, she grunted and made loud noises as she breathed in and out. It was difficult to concentrate on the music because her behaviour was so bizarre.
At the end of this piece, the audience took to their feet and gave her a standing ovation. She stood up to take a bow, bow in one hand, the ?Black Beauty" in the other and revealed to the unfortunate few who stood directly beneath her, the outline of her nether region as seen through her tight, form-fitting pants. It occurred to me at that point that Shauna Rolston, puts the "ho" back in Cellho.
Great performer, but better enjoyed on CD"s
Best Guitar Lessons - Become Fantastic Guitarist Using Jamorama...
Get Jamorama Instant Download by Clicking Here Now!
Technorati Tags : shauna black cello music took beauty bryan audience instrument back rolston best guitar lessons
Visitor Rating: 5 (1) (Rate)
 |
|
Story Clicks: 0
Feed Views: 80
Lenses (Add|?)
Comments (Log in to add)
Feed Details
Date Approved: 05/10/2010
By: Anonymous
Search FeedAgg.com
3600 mp2929 serv 2.7084 seconds to generate.