I’ve updated the course syllabus for students studying with me at the University of Rio Grande. I may eventually start a page dedicated to Rio activities, but for now I’ll just post things as they come up.
iTunes Power Tips on lifehacker.com
I’ll bet you didn’t know you could organzie PDF’s with iTunes!
Marty Ashby on the Future of Jazz
Producer of MCG Jazz (and my former teacher) discusses the business of jazz.
Guitarist Tony Roubleclef on YouTube
Fantastic solo arrangements of pop and Brazilian standards.
Fan Asks Hard Questions About Rap Music
Questioning the content in rap music. Check out the promo on youtube.
Wolfgang’s Concert Vault
Listen to streaming audio of vintage live recordings from 1970’s era rock artists.
Pitcher Sidelined by Guitar Hero
Too funny.
Freddie Green Official Website
A comprehensive site dedicated to Basie’s guitarist with lessons and transcriptions.
Until recently, I’ve never bothered to learn a respectable arrangement of “Happy Birthday.” Here’s a song that I never plan on performing, and yet receive more requests for than any other. When you consider that most folks go out to a bar or restaurant with friends and family to celebrate their special day, I guess it should come as no surprise that there’s a birthday in the room almost every night. So after faking my way through a few times, I finally sat down to create a solo guitar arrangement for myself.
Continue reading 'Happy Birthday for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar'...
In part 2 of this series I outlined four methods for using the metronome to build speed. There’s nothing wrong with giving your technique a workout, but the metronome is much more than a musical speedometer! I’ve often heard students brag about how fast they could play their scales or a particularly challenging lick. To which I might reply: “That’s great! But can you play it in time?”
Continue reading 'Metronome Techniques Part 3'...
Freeware application SmartClose automatically closes all of your running Windows programs with the click of a button, and can restore them at a later time.
If you don’t have a computer that’s dedicated only to recording and/or live performance, you can close all of your applications and kill all of those pesky background services in one fell swoop using this little tool. Once it’s run it’s course (which may take a minute or two) you’ll be ready to record or play knowing that you have 99% of your CPU’s power available for music making. Note that you’ll need to shutdown your firewall program manually. (Firewall programs are protected against remote programs turning them off.)
