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DianeB

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Posts posted by DianeB

  1. Simple drop D leaves the other five strings in standard tuning. It permits an open D5 on the three low strings (DAD). On the page you show, it seems nothing is otherwise affected except the notes on the 6th string (open D; fret 5 G). The chords (Bb2, C2, Dm, Gm7) are all the usual 4 or 5 sting barres. (Good luck with a Csus 22.)

    Double drop D (DADGBD), however, is a bit more, ahem, complexicated, and above my pay grade.

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  2. image.jpeg.6afb1a424317143ae8c90668dc24192f.jpegWatch Live Lessons on the Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE.  7:00 pm Central Time US 

    2022 LIVE LESSON DATES

    JANUARY

    11th – How to Play Fresh Ideas from Stale Chords

    25th – Playing Thirds

    26th – Playing Thirds (Workout)

    FEBRUARY

    1st – Song Lesson: "Brown Eyed Girl"

    8th – How to Play Drop D Tuning

    9th – How to Play Drop D Tuning (Workout)

    22nd – The Three Types of Blues You Need to Know

    MARCH

    1st – Beyond Traditional Guitars

    8th - Song Lesson: “Dust in the Wind”

    22nd – Special Guest: Pierre Bensusan

    APRIL

    5th - Creating Open String Runs

    19th - Pro Tips for Jazz Guitar; Q & A

    MAY

    17th - Create Your Own Acoustic Blues

    24th - Soloing with Small Ideas

    31st - Chord Inversions

    JUNE

    JULY

    5th - Chord Inversions, Part 2

    12th - Chord Inversions, Part 3

    AUGUST

    9th - Jazz Soloing with the Jazz Deck

    SEPTEMBER

    13th - Jazz Soloing with the Jazz Deck, Part 2

    20th - How to Play Double Stops

    27th - Guitar Success Q & A

    OCTOBER

    4th - Using a Metronome for Maximum Results

    11th - Easy Chord Moves of the Pros

    18th - Shape Chords

    NOVEMBER

    8th - Belmont Guitar Ensemble

    15th - How to Play Harmonics

    29th - Greg Voros: Guitar Care, Coffee, and Hope

    DECEMBER

    6th - Guitar Q & A

    13th - The Ultimate Arpeggio Workout

    20th - Learn How to Play "Silent Night"

    27th - Topic to be announced

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  3. It’s hard to say which is more impressive, the man’s musicianship or his hair retention. I saw Pat again last night (7th time around) and he is just ageless. He’s touring now with keyboardist James Francies and drummer Joe Dyson.  Remarkably, they have Lyle Mays and Antonio Sanchez covered note for note and beat for beat. This current "Side-Eye" trio will be performing steadily in the US through February of 2022 before heading to Europe in the spring. Pat left his omnipresent striped shirts on the bus in lieu of a black tee, apparently in subtle solidarity with his bandmates.

    They performed two hours to a virtually full house at the Keswick Theater in Glenside, a town northwest of Philadelphia. He has devoted fans around Philly. For the encore, Pat played a solo acoustic medley, then they said goodnight with the crowd pleaser “Are You Going With Me” from Offramp. The Pikasso and Orchestrion had their moments. So did a misbehaving pedal — I’m guessing a tuner was left switched on — when Pat switched out guitars, but you would have never known it from their sound. Pure professional artistry.

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  4. The technique has been around for decades, but languished in obscurity until perhaps most significantly the late Michael Hedges brought it to a wider audience in the eighties. Acoustic virtuosos like Christie Lenee, Tommy Emmanuel, and Ian Ethan Case cite Hedges as an influence. As Fretless observes, it crossed over to rock with EVH, who amusingly attempted to keep the technique a trade secret at first by turning away from his audience.

  5. Just one more: this might take the prize. It’s been staring at me for weeks in, of all places, Steely Dan’s “Peg” — what appears to be a quinary dominant.

       Peg         it will come back to you

       CM7 G/B                    A7sus   Esus      

    G:  IV      I                           II        VI

        Then       the shutter falls           you see it all       in three D        it’s your fav'rite foreign movie

         A/C#  C                      G       F#7              Bm7      E7#9            Am7             D7                CM7  Gadd9

    G:     II     IV                      I   V/V/V/V/V      V/V/V/V   V/V/V            V/V               V                    IV         I

                                                     (VII)              (iii)         (VI)               (ii)

    I'm puzzled about how to analyze the A-E-A; it doesn't seem to qualify as a tonicization as the chords (notwithstanding the C#) are diatonic. The boys used a “Hendrix chord” (E7#9) to create an extension of Michael McDonald’s tonsils. More augmented trivia: Jay Graydon, who played the solo, was the inspiration behind “Wah Wah” in Doonesbury — not that I’m old enough to remember. Go forth, grok those dominants and mu majors.

  6. @duck There are some with TrueFire. But I strongly encourage your daughter to meet with an instructor in person. Shyness and awkwardness come with being 14 years old. Avoiding personal interaction is a sure route to poor technique and bad habits, especially in the young. She will miss out on encouragement and direction. Look for a community music school near you, if possible, where you are likely to find an instructor with experience with young people. She can always work with recorded lessons as well.

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  7. Folded into the memories of those who knew World War II, or at least anyone who recalls the final sequence of "Dr. Strangelove", is the 40s standby “We’ll Meet Again”. Written in 1939 by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles and best known as performed by Vera Lynn, its signature harmonic climb reveals a rare but unmistakable sequence of extended dominant function. Illustrated here in D, following the sheet music I have (a couple of passing chords omitted):

         We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when,  

         D6               F#7                       B6                           C7   B7   

    D :  I              V/V/V/V                  V/V/V                        bc  V/V/V                 

         but I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.              Keep…

                  E7                                                       Em7  A7b9  D6

                 V/V                                                                  V        I

    That’s a dominant (A7), preceded by a secondary dominant (E7), preceded by a tertiary dominant (B6 and B7), preceded by a quaternary dominant (F#7). The C is a borrowed chord.

    As I was culling some charts of songs I don’t play anymore, I was about to toss this one in the recycling, when I paused to study the progression. It came from my former neighbor Don. He played banjo, and invited me to his house a few times to play some of the classic tunes. Don was a Korean War veteran. We enjoyed some pleasant afternoons together until his health began to fail. He’s been gone a few years now, but he’d be pleased to know he still had something to show me.

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  8. Epilog

    I’m back home after my usual extra week of stops in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Lately it’s the only significant traveling I do. I see friends and family, decompress, and ease myself back into the real world.

    Ironically, the two weeks carve a hole in my practice and playing, but it’s a healthy break. I don’t feel guilty, only blessed that I have the chance. A theme of several of my conversations with my guitar pals was: enjoy this to the fullest — in time this, too, will pass. I’ve come to know many of our gang like family. I am grateful for your kind words and constant encouragement. I’m just trying to pay it forward where I can.

    This gathering felt especially intimate after skipping a year. It was my sixth, and counting two retreats, my eighth event with Steve. There’s nowhere else I could stumble through a song in front of sixty people with every face looking my way. That’s a memory to cling to —  when it all goes crazy and the thrill is gone.

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  9. On to the finish line. It’s Showcase Day, which means I wear my heart necklace with the music note on it. Steve’s workout was a short pentatonic lick in various keys. To my dismay, I noticed that even after some warming up, my fingers were not cooperating. Wake up, little Susies, I muttered, we gotta get to work in a few minutes.

    We scattered the chairs and music stands and clambered around the stage for Chuck Thompson to take the group photo. A dozen exposures and twice that number of wisecracks later, it was snack time.

    Now, for any teacher’s favorite moment: seeing his students go for it. The Student Showcase hour featured a dozen first timers and old hands alike. One could sense everyone in the room silently rooting for their friends on stage. I like to watch Steve watching us. He simply glows with pride. When I leaned into the microphone for my first line, it sounded like someone else singing, someone better than me. My fingers were still sleep deprived, but as I looked out on the faces before me, including Steve’s, that didn’t matter.

    Applause and cheers for all. The heartfelt hugs. Once more, the clang of chairs stacking, the snaps of cases closing, the calls for just one more picture. The cars and trucks coming to life, ferrying away the guitars and the memories.

    Later, Greg, Pat, and I rendezvoused back in the parking lot — my usual tactic — for a night at the Opry. We scored center seats near the front for Ricky Skaggs, Sara Evans, Vince Gill and others on Bill Anderson’s 60th anniversary with the Opry. The house was packed and appreciative for the occasion.

    Finally, even we three die hards had to part. One last check to ensure the lights were off, and no stray picks were left on the sidewalk. Then our triad arpeggiated into the Nashville night.

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  10. Down the backstretch hard, and turning for home. Does Pat Lindgren ever sleep? She had a jam going at 8:30 am when I walked in the door. Eventually they had to stop to give Steve a chance to run his show. We started with a lesson from Steve and Dino on solo improvising. Joe Robinson returned for a masterclass on fingerpicking, for which I afterwards heard only praise for his skill as a teacher. Check out JoeRobinson.com to see for yourself.

    My noon expedition with Greg in search of the Hattie B’s on 8th street, only 12 minutes away, devolved into a 45 minute loop of central city, two crossings of the Cumberland, an encounter with a funeral procession, and a near collision with an idiot who cut in front of us. He promised to have the GPS app humanely euthanized.

    Back to theory land with Steve for me. He responds to the phrase “tritone substitution” the way most most people respond to “free dessert”. Enough said.

    Another new guest artist this year was Scott Bernard, side man to Kenny Loggins. Scott walked us through his pedalboard as he explained how he gets the tone he wants. The gearhounds among us couldn’t get enough.

    We wrapped with singers Debi Shelby and Peter Penrose demonstrating how guitarists can be proper accompanists. They closed with soaring harmony on a hymn that brought a tear to my eye and the whole gang to their feet.

    After a short break at my hotel to panic about tomorrow’s song and where to find dinner tonight, I scooped up Liz at Trevecca and executed Operation Tell Greg Where to Go. He was already waiting at the LongHorn when Liz and I pulled up. We toasted our teacher and cheerfully took the rap for each other for Liz’s benefit. Then off to Franklin.

    On Main Street I had to wait for some tourists to cross in front of me. They looked a lot like David, Keith, and Mark. We parked and strolled towards towards the Franklin Theatre as Greg rolled by, shouting out his window: “Diane! Where did you park?” Operation TGWTG still nominal.

    The Franklin Theatre is a little gem within a diamond of a town. Poor Liz, sitting to my right: I had not been sitting next to the gentleman on my left for more than five minutes before we were into George Gruhn’s albino snake, Carter guitars, and David Grier. Tonight a full house welcomed the return of Larry Carlton to the stage after a year’s absence for the shutdown. Drums, sax, trombone, keys, bass, and everything of Steely Dan except Donald and Walter. They bid us goodnight; we clapped for an encore. I turned to Liz and shouted, “Well, he has to come back for ‘Peg’”.

    He did. Liz and I looked at each other and grinned.

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