tag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:/blogs/the-laboratoryThe Laboratory2017-08-21T15:48:28-04:00Andrew Martinfalsetag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/42593892016-07-01T12:47:17-04:002017-01-13T19:32:04-05:00Music Lesson - Improv Interval Training - Part II<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/95002c2fc51ccc1ac652ed1fc405fb00ebad0349/medium/130-5601.jpeg?1467390999" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></strong></span>Now that we are comfortable finding and keeping our place in an 8 measure chord progression, the next step is to vary the lengths of our rhythm/lead intervals. In Part II of this exercise, we are going to start with playing 8 measures of rhythm. In the next repetition of 8 measures we are going to play rhythm in the first 7 measures and the last measure will be improv. The next 8 measures will be 6 measures of rhythm followed by 2 measures of solo. The pattern continues all the way to all 8 measures of improv. At this point we start the exercise all over again. </p>
<p>Just to be clear… </p>
<p><strong>II:</strong> 8 measures rhythm <br>7 measures rhythm, 1 measure solo <br>6 measures rhythm, 2 measures solo <br>5 measures rhythm, 3 measures solo <br>4 measures rhythm, 4 measures solo <br>3 measures rhythm, 5 measures solo <br>2 measures rhythm, 6 measures solo <br>1 measure rhythm, 7 measures solo <br>8 measures solo <strong> :II </strong></p>
<p>A benefit of this exercise is that it forces us to improvise in various durations. Sometimes our guitar practice devolves into turning on some backing tracks and unleashing one continuous string of uninterrupted guitar cheese until our fingers get tired. Don’t get me wrong, this can certainly be fun but it doesn’t really simulate a real-life musical scenario. When we improvise in the heat of live music, we are more often either playing short fills around a singer, or playing 8 or 16 measure solos. It’s crucial that we learn to deliver short and concise musical statements. Even if we are taking a longer solo, just like a great story is written with paragraphs composed of concise and discrete sentences, strengthening our ability to play short, medium and long phrases can help us tell a very thoughtful story with our solo rather than just blow can cheese all over those poor people in the audience. </p>
<p>Counting is still very important in this exercise, especially when you are playing rhythm guitar. If you aren’t counting out loud, you can quickly loose your place in the chord progression. Since keeping track of which repeat we are on inside the exercise is also tricky, it can also be very helpful at the start of each repetition to remind yourself which measure you are going to start your improv in. </p>
<p>Just like in Part I of this exercise, our ultimate goal is to play more expressively and creatively and with more control over our improvised lines, but we are going to be achieving this indirectly. The counting may seem unnecessarily bothersome, but a large part of music is mental awareness. Awareness of the music happening around us as well as knowing and keeping our place in the music is a fundamental skill that will give us the freedom and control to play better guitar. By practicing counting we are focusing our attention on the chords and our place in the music, and strengthening this mental muscle will pay dividends by helping our improvised lines sound like they were composed. </p>
<p>Finally, and most importantly, this exercise helps us practice musical concentration. Keeping our place as the rhythm/lead intervals are constantly shifting, and quickly switching between rhythm and lead requires a lot of concentration. Concentration is a skill, and just like any other skill, it gets better with practice. Transcendent musical performers all have extraordinary powers of concentration, and to be honest, no matter how hard we work and practice, a lack of concentration will limit how far we are able to grow our own musical abilities and expertise. </p>
<p>Give it a shot and remember to have fun! This exercise also works great over 4 measure progressions as well as over a 12 bar blues. If you are really brave, it is also a great way to work out a 32 measure AABA jazz standard! </p>
<p>Please let me know what you think by leaving a note in the comments section. <br><br><br>///////<br><br>Demo of Improv. Interval Training Part II over "Merit Badge," one of my original tunes.<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="C7pIckR181M" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/C7pIckR181M/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C7pIckR181M?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/41387022016-04-15T18:34:56-04:002017-01-13T19:32:04-05:00Music Lesson - Improv Interval Training - Part I<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/95002c2fc51ccc1ac652ed1fc405fb00ebad0349/medium/130-5601.jpeg?1467390999" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>If you are anything like me, you may have a tendency to noodle around when playing improvised guitar solos. By “noodle around,” I mean playing lines that seemingly have no beginning and no ending. On the surface this sounds epically awesome and biblical, but in practice, solos composed of lines that noodle and meander around without intention or resolution are boring and monotonous to listen to. It would be a little bit like meeting someone at a party and then listening to them tell a story where all of their sentences and ideas are either truncated incomplete fragments or rambling run-ons. It probably wouldn’t be long until you politely excused yourself to go use the bathroom just to escape the mental anguish of trying to find order in something so thoroughly disordered. Likewise, if at your recent gigs you’ve noticed a strangely disproportionate number of people getting up to use the bathroom at the exact moment you step forward to take a solo, then you too might be guilty of this as well! But take heart, there is hope for us yet! </p>
<p>I think solos, no matter how short or long, should be similar to a well-written paragraph, or in longer solos, maybe even a short story. By this I mean that solos should be comprised of a series of phrases that all work really well individually while also building together towards a definitive and resolute ending. In the same way, a well-written paragraph is comprised of a series of distinct and thoughtful sentences that work together to help convey an idea or ideas. </p>
<p>There are many skills that contribute to crafting a solo constructed like a great piece of prose, and this two part exercise is going to help us move away from serving up oodles of noodles at our next gig and instead focus us on playing concisely constructed ideas. </p>
<p>The idea for this exercise is based loosely on the exercise concept of interval training, which involves alternating between short bursts of a high energy activity followed by intervals of lower intensity. We aren’t going to be alternating between high and low intensity playing per se, but we are going to be using the idea of alternating intervals of two different guitar activities. </p>
<p>In Part I of this exercise, we are going to alternate between 8 measures of rhythm guitar (playing the changes), and 8 measures of unaccompanied improvisation. Not so hard, right? The rub is that we are going to be playing along with a metronome set to quarter notes, and strictly counting all 8 measures during both intervals. While the goal of this exercise is to develop better improvised lines, we are going to accomplish this through indirect means. When practicing this exercise, our direct focus should be on the counting. For now, don’t worry as much about the actual melodic content of your solos. It may sound easy, but continuously counting measures while playing a set of chord changes is probably a new and difficult thing for many of us to do, let alone counting measures while simultaneously improvising a solo. When I first started working with this exercise I found this to be very challenging. </p>
<p>In this exercise, the benefits of counting are deceptively simple yet powerful. Part of the reason why noodling through solos sounds so bad is because our ideas are divorced and unrelated from the music and chords that are happening underneath them. By counting we are forcing our attention away from ourselves and putting it back on the music. This is analogous to riding a bike while staring at the pedals. If you spend all of your attention watching your feet you’d just be riding around in circles and crashing into nearby objects. When we are only concentrating on the sound and content of our own solos, we are likewise riding around in circles. When we have our heads up, aware of the music happening around us, we can then navigate our solos with ideas and lines that have purpose, cohesion and sophistication. </p>
<p>If you are like me, you probably learned to solo by wanking around in the scale that fit the key of the chords you were soloing over. This can sound good in certain situations, but the problem with learning to solo like this is that not every note of the scale is going to sound great over every chord in the key. Also, great melodies work both horizontally (as a stand-alone independent line) as well as vertically (fitting harmonically with the chords). When we are only thinking in terms of scales, we overemphasize our horizontal thinking to the detriment of vertical thinking. This exercise will help us focus on the chord of the moment and play lines that fit melodically and harmonically. The goal is to move away from “what key am I soloing in” to “what chord am I soloing over?” </p>
<p>Another important benefit of counting 8’s is that we are starting to program ourselves to feel the cadence of 8 measures. After we’ve become accustomed to counting in sets of 8, we will always be able to “feel” where we are in an 8 measure sequence even when we aren’t counting. This is important because music is most often built in 4 and 8 measure patterns, and the ability to feel those 4 and 8 measure blocks internally helps us to play ideas that fit together seamlessly into the cadences of the music. </p>
<p>There are many other benefits of counting while playing, but one final benefit is that counting the measures while we are improvising also brings our attention to the time (metronome) which helps to sharpen both our groove and our time-keeping. When we are inwardly-focused and noodling away, it’s no surprise that sometimes our time can get rushed, behind or just otherwise funky (and not in a James Brown kinda way). Putting our awareness on the metronome helps to ground our improvised lines back to the time happening under our solos. </p>
<p>Since we will be looping the same 8 measures, I encourage you to pick 8 measures from a solo that is a part of your regular set or repertoire. You are going to be repeating these 8 measures over and over, and a nice payoff for all of this work is that when you take this solo at your next gig, you will definitely know the chords inside and out. It’s also fine if you are taking a 4 measure pattern and playing it twice to make 8 measures. It’s also fine if you do this exercise with 4 measure blocks instead of 8 for slower tempos (<80 BPM). </p>
<p>Some closing thoughts… </p>
<p>It’s important that you do this exercise with <strong>only</strong> yourself and a metronome. Playing along with any kind of background track will deprive you of the burden/joy of time and measure keeping. The whole point of this exercise is the act of keeping track of measures, and just like a baby eagle flying around in their mother’s beak, you can’t work on soaring to new and majestic heights unless you are flapping your own wings. </p>
<p>The concept of counting and playing at the same time might be horrifically new and foreign for some. If you don’t get it at first, don’t give up!! It doesn’t mean that you will never get it, or that there is something wrong with you. I know from working with many students that it just takes perseverance and patience and you will get there, I promise!! </p>
<p>Most importantly, try and have fun challenging yourself with this exercise!! <br><br>//////////<br><br>Here is a demonstration of me playing Improv Interval Training Part I over the chords to one of my original songs, 'Talking to Myself.'<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="6dMLeDXpWv8" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/6dMLeDXpWv8/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6dMLeDXpWv8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe><br><br>Demonstration of 12 bar blues. <br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="1QZKhtlREMM" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/1QZKhtlREMM/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1QZKhtlREMM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/21021502013-11-23T13:34:43-05:002024-01-01T05:57:38-05:00A Battery of Tests : Part II - Tubescreamer <div><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/e4945fa5755426e0a60ee441988ac84ca23405f1/large/800px-button-cells-and-9v-cells-3.png?1385226873" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br> </div>
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<br><em>This is an addenedum to my last experiment, A Battery of Tests Part I, where I tested different battery types in a Fuzz Face pedal. Click <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://andrewmartinmusic.net/the-lab/blog/a-battery-of-tests-part-i-fuzz-face" target="_blank">here</a> to see that experiment.</em>
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<p> </p>
<p><br>Just for giggles, I decided to run the same experiment again, this time with my all-time favorite dirt box, the Fulltone Fulldrive 2. The Fulldrive is esentially an Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS9) with some very useful mods. The Tube Screamer circuit is more complex and significantly different from the extremely simple Fuzz Face circuit. The TS derives it's distortion from back to back diodes in the negative feedback loop of an op-amp, while a fuzz face uses two transistors to fuzz up your signal. (Truthfully, I don't have the knowledge or expertise to describe the circuits in detail, but if you are interested in learning more about the technical design of these two pedals I highly recommend these two fantastic internet articles by R.G. Keen)<br><br><a contents="The Technology of the Tube Screamer" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/tstech/tsxtech.htm" target="_blank">The Technology of the Tube Screamer </a><br><br><a contents="The Technology of the Fuzz Face" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm" target="_blank">The Technology of the Fuzz Face</a><br><br><br>Even though the TS and the Fuzz Face are worlds apart in their tone and techncal methods for distoriting a guitar signal, they do share some of the same battery mythology. While I have never heard or read a preference for battery type or an aversion to ac power, I have heard it said that a Tube Screamer can sound it's best with a battery that is "about to die." I've heard tell on the internet that Stevie Ray Vaughan preferred his Tube Screamer with a drained battery. <br><br>Since I had already gone through the bother of setting up all the recording gear to test out my fuzz, I decided to test out this urban legend as well. The signal path is the same as it was for the fuzz test.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/715f48f3988a7899cb5e7dfed5bbb215184c7015/original/pedals-battery-test-1-fotor.jpg?1385231621" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Stratocaster --> TC Electronic Ditto Looper --> Guitar Pickup Sim --> Fulltone Fulldrive 2 --> vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb mic'd with an old SM57 and a Michael Jolly moded ribbon mic. The audio recordings are slightly panned stereo recordings of the two mics. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/f64854ef58778922dd20faa1e4b0752d88860a74/original/batteries-1.jpg?1383958099" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>I tested all three batteries (the alkaline Duracell and Energizer as well as the Carbon-Zinc Sunbeam) and the Pedal Power 2 at both 9 volts and 6 volts, and just like in the Fuzz Face experiment, I also recorded a second set of clips where I am playing straight into the Fulldrive, and just like with the fuzz clips that don't use a looper, these clips need to be taken with a grain of salt. In an attempt at consistency, I recorded these clips to a click, and I was very careful to pick over the same part of the strings, but it's impossible to give the exact same performance every time.<br><br>I normalized the final clips, because 90% of the time people will equate something that sounds louder as something that sounds better (and by "90% of the time" I mean an arbitrary number that I pulled out of my butt that is meant to convey the illusion of certainty).<br><br>Hopefully these two battery experiments will help shed a little light on small dark corner of guitar lore that is sometimes discussed but rarely critically analyzed. I had fun recording these experiments and I hope you enjoy them and find them usefull!<br><br> </p>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>///WITH LOOPER///</b></div>
<p> <iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/13959945%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-yHRd7" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br><br><b>///WITHOUT LOOPER///</b><br> </div>
<p><iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/15313698%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-LFWgp" width="100%"></iframe><br> </p>Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/20163892013-11-08T20:31:23-05:002024-01-01T05:57:38-05:00A Battery of Tests : Part I - Fuzz Face<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/630e30da547907f6b9a79616f2e11f6f73decb94/large/batteries-e.jpg?1383958247" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><div style="text-align: center;"><em>picture from <a contents="http://www.ericwrobbel.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/" target="_blank">http://www.ericwrobbel.com</a></em></div><br><br>I like to build guitar effects pedals. Maybe 'like' is a strong word. I'm not really sure what the word is for the emotional space between not finding exaclty what you are looking for, and being too poor/cheap to buy it even if you could. That's how I ended up building some of my own guitar fx pedals. In the end, I'm not really sure I'm saving myself any money, but when they actually light up after hours (and sometimes hours and hours <em>and hours</em>) of work, it's a very satisfying feeling. <br><br><strong>///////</strong><br><br>Once upon a time, I heard local guitar player <a contents="Julien Kasper" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.julienkasper.com" target="_blank">Julien Kasper</a> ripping trough a boutique silicon Fuzz Face clone. It sounded kinda like <a contents="this" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50CdzipbVOI#t=161" target="_blank">this</a> (fuzz comes in at solo). The tone was so outrageously gorgeous that I had to have it for myself. So after patiently waiting, I went out and bought the exact same Fuzz Face clone on Craigslist. After making the exchange at the obligatory Dunkin' Donuts rendezvous, I rushed home to plug the pedal in. And the pedal sounded... awful. I was crushed to discover that the fuzz pedal sounded like a rain-soaked cardboard box of lukewarm farts. <br><br>Still, I was undeterred in my quest for fuzz. With the aid of the internets, I moded the pedal to death. Literally. When I fried the circuit board, I started from scratch with a whole new DIY fuzz kit that I got from the fantastic <a contents="General Guitar Gadgets" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com" target="_blank">General Guitar Gadgets</a>. This was my very first guitar pedal build. Suprisingly it worked, and in the end, I was able to get something that sounded pretty good. <br><br>Along the way, I researched everything that I could about Fuzz Face tone, and I came across quite a few axioms/myths/old guitarist's tales. Many of them pertain specifically to batteries, and that is what I am going to be focusing on for this experiment. These are the fuzz commandments that I am going to be testing. <br><br>1. A Battery Sounds Better Than an AC Adapter With A Fuzz <br>2. A Vintage Style Carbon Zinc Battery is Better Than a Modern Alkaline Type<br>3. A Fuzz Sounds Best When the Battery Is Just About to Die<br>4. DIfferent Brands of Batteries Sound Different.<br><br>Commandment number 1 is widely accepted. I myself never use an AC adapter with my fuzzes. This is party because the fuzz is always the first pedal in my chain, and while I leave all the other pedals plugged in on my board, I always unplug the guitar from the first pedal before putting the pedal board away. Thus, I don't have to worry about draining the battery on the pedal. Also, fuzz pedals don't seem to need alot of battery sauce; they last a really long time. <br><br>Commandment number 2 is also pretty widely accepted. Initially, I used only carbon zinc batteries in my fuzz pedals until I got lazy and just started throwing whatever I had around into the pedal. One nice advantage to carbon zinc batteries is that they are extremely cheap. Often times you can buy them 2 for $1 at the dollar store. <br><br>Commandment number 3 is a slightly less common than the others, but still traded around quite a bit. I've heard that Duane Allman liked to use 'mostly dead' batteries in his fuzz pedals (There's a big difference between mostly dead and <font size="2">all dead)</font>. I've heard people say he liked them around 6 volts. I'm slightly skeptical about this because, while I'm not by any means an Allman Brothers expert, I don't recall ever hearing a fuzz on any AB recording, and furthermore, I have trouble imagining Duane Allman working a multimeter, unless he was using the probes to pick food out of his mustache. <br><br>Commandment 4 is an urban legend. In an interview, Eric Johnson allegedely stated a preference for Duracell batteries. Although I am an EJ fan, I've never read this interview and I don't know for sure if this statement was ever truly made. However, people on the internet still tell of this tale, so why not test it out!<br><br><strong>///THE EXPERIMENT////</strong><br><br>I recorded a guitar lick into my TC Electronic DItto looper with my Stratocaster. Originally, I ran the looper straight into a germanium Fuzz Face clone bulit with the "Mike Fuller Mods". The idea behind using the looper was that I wanted to eliminate any variations whatsoever in the signal chain and performance except for the battery swaps. However, anyone who's ever experimented with a Fuzz Face knows that it can be pretty finicky about any pedals that appear between it and the guitar, and it's standard practice to plug your guitar into the fuzz first in your pedal chain. A fuzz performs best when it's delivered a high impedance signal straight from the guitar, and the output impedance of the TC Looper, while to complicated for me to measure, is most definitely a low impedance signal just like most guitar pedals. So the effect of running the Ditto Looper straight into the fuzz where disapointing.<br><br>However, some great folks over at <a contents="diystompboxes.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.diystompboxes.com" target="_blank">diystompboxes.com</a> (thanks induction, psychedelicfish and gus!) turned me onto a cool 'Guitar Pickup Simulation' circuit designed by Jack Orman which uses a transformer (and a few other passive components) to impersonate the correct impedance and response of a guitar pickup, volume and tone control circuit. You can read about it <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.muzique.com/lab/pickups.htm" target="_blank">here.</a> It definitely helps bring the experiment very close to what it sounds like when you plug a guitar straight into a fuzz.<br><br>So I re-ran the experiment with my fancy new guitar pickup sim. Here was the signal chain.<br><br>Guitar --> TC Ditto Looper --> Guitar Pickup Sim --> Fuzz Face --> vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb mic'd with an old SM57 and a Michael Jolly moded ribbon mic. The audio recordings are slightly panned stereo recordings of the two mics. <br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/f64854ef58778922dd20faa1e4b0752d88860a74/original/batteries-1.jpg?1383958099" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Here are the batteries/power sources being tested.<br><br>1. Sunbeam - I purchased this at the Dollar Store for 2/$1. While it doesn't say "Carbon Zinc" it is most definitely a carbon zinc battery.<br>2. Duracell - EJ's "favorite"<br>3. Energizer<br>4. Pedal Power 2 - This is an AC unit capable of powering mulitple pedals. I used the battery clip cable to plug it right onto the battery clip of the fuzz.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/dbee2f2cd4a0efe79639255aa3dea42b2286b4f5/original/batteries.jpg?1383958134" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Using my multimeter, I measured the output of the Pedal Power 2 to be 9.07v. Using the DMM and my car keys, I measured and discharged all the batteries until they were pretty close to 9.07v.<br><br>(Note: I'm not sure that this is a very safe or responsible way to handle batteries. One time in college, I put a fully charged 9 volt battery in my pants pocket along with a whole bunch of coins, and I almost torched my brown corduroy pants on fire. This an embarrassing and cautionary tale) <br><br>One at a time, I changed out the power source, and recorded the looper playing the guitar lick into the fuzz. I also recorded a "control" recording of the looper without the pickup simulator so that you can hear that effect that the pickup simulator is having on the experiment. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/51c7c319ef47aaf4a70b73a5ec6dafd691f6c469/original/pedals-battery-test-2-fotor.jpg?1385231770" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Next, on remembering the corduroy pants incident, I placed a bunch of quarters on the batteries and I discharged them down to around 6 volts (thanks Skydog!), and used the 'sag' feature on my Pedal Power 2 to lower the voltage to around 6 volts. <br><br>So here are the results! There is no signal proccessing with the exception of normalization. The clips with the weaker batteries are noticeably lower in volume, and I know that most people hear louder = better, and I wanted everything to be on the same footing. I'm very confident that the normalization didn't effect the integrity of the clips. <br><br>As a bonus, I recorded a second set of files <em><strong>without </strong></em>the looper, where I am performing the guitar lick with every battery type. I was curious to hear what it would sound like to go straight into the fuzz. Obviously, there is going to be a ton of variations with that part of the experiment, and the results need to be taken with a grain of salt. In an attempt at consistency, I did record these clips to a click, and I was very careful to pick over the same part of the strings, but it's impossible to give the exact same performance every time. <br><br>Hopefully, by triangulating these recordings with the looper recordings you will be able to decipher a clearer picture of how a battery effects a fuzz circuit, and also the veracity of the "Four Fuzz Commandments" that have been chiseled out before us! <br><br>I had fun running this experiment and I hope you find it helpful in your own quest for the perfect fuzz tone!<br><br> <div style="text-align: center;"><strong><span class="font_regular">///WITH THE LOOPER///</span></strong></div> <iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/13961144%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-k3WwF" width="100%"></iframe><br> <div style="text-align: center;"><strong>///WITHOUT THE LOOPER///</strong></div> <iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/15312618%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-8qG6K" width="100%"></iframe>Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/8488682013-05-30T00:00:00-04:002022-05-01T02:42:05-04:00Music Lesson - Make Your Own Free iPod Ear Trainer - Part II : Chordal Ear Training<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/fa6c91fca514c9b023b6d68817e07be748976748/medium/talking-to-myself-large.jpg?1383962992" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>So here is a continuation of the single-note ear training exercise that I previously posted. <br><br>This time, instead of testing our ability to (relatively) identify a single note, we are trying to identify chords.<br><br>Just like in the other version, the exercise is made up of a bunch (57 to be exact) of short mp3 audio files. Each example features a II- V I on a piano, and then a mystery chord. After a few seconds pause, you can hear my goofy voice announcing what the mystery chord was. The idea is that you would drop all of these exercises into a playlist on your music player/phone/iTunes and then shuffle through them. That way, you won't know what is coming up next, and you will have to use your relative pitch skills to identify those mystery chords in the progression.<br><br>I originally tried using all triads as well as maj7, min7, dom7, and -7(b5) built off of every chromatic note, but I found that this was a bit too much. Some of those chords just don't really occur at all in practical situations, so I went back and tried to use all the chords that you would reasonably see in a pop tune or a classic jazz standard. In the end I picked 57 different chords. So, it's similar to a bottle of Heinz ketchup in that both contain 57 varieties, yet dissimilar in that repeated Heinz usage will not help you solo over 'Stella By Starlight,' or become 'The Burt Bacharach of Your Generation.'<br><br>I've been enjoying this exercise when I'm stuck in the car, and I think it has definitely helped my ear. I hope someone else can use and enjoy them as well!<br><br>You can download a zip file of the exercise <a href="/files/95439/Chordal%20Ear%20Training.zip">here.</a><br> Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/2839522013-01-18T16:40:00-05:002017-01-13T19:32:03-05:00Music Lesson - Make Your Own Free iPod Ear Trainer! (not the iPod part...you'd have to buy that)<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/fa6c91fca514c9b023b6d68817e07be748976748/medium/talking-to-myself-large.jpg?1383962992" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br> <br>A few years ago I was reading an interview with someone famous who had studied with the late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Banacos" target="_new">Charlie Banacos</a>. He was a very well known jazz educator who taught both from his own studio in Massachusetts, and also as a faculty member at NEC and other wicked presitgious places. Anyway, this person was describing an ear training excercise that Charlie was having him/her practice as part of their lessons. Basically (so far as I remember) the exercise was this; the student was to play a ii-V-I cadence (Dm7 G7 Cmaj7) on the piano, then close their eyes and play a random note on the piano with the eraser end of a pencil. <br><br>So what's happening is that the cadence establishes the key in your ear, and then you are training your ear to hear the "penciled" note relative to that key. The reason for the pencil is that if you simply close your eyes and use a finger, it's pretty easy to tell if you've struck a white key or a black key, and then... that isn't quite as much fun. Once you've mastered one pencil, you can add another pencil and then you have to figure out two notes. Allegedly, Michael Brecker could do this excercise wtih 10 pencils or something. If you've ever heard Michael Brecker shred on an EWI, you would not doubt this. If you have not heard Michael Brecker shred on an EWI, click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOEF7f2HGoE" target="_new">here.</a> <br><br>Anyway, this excercise is pretty cool. As I spend alot of time driving around in my car, I often think about things that I can accomplish with all these surplus hours spent in my Subaru. You know, I'm basically streamling my life. I realized that 'hey I can do my ear training too!" What I've done is record a short example of the ii-V-I cadence and then a note. There is a short space where one can think about what you've just heard, and then deduce the correct answer. After a few seconds, you hear my not-so-sexy baritone anounce the correct note. Easy. I did this in five octaves for all 12 notes for a total of 60 audio clips. I put those 60 "songs" on a CD, and then I would play it on random in my car so that I wouldn't know what was coming next. <br><br>For those of you that don't have cars, or CD players for that matter, you can just shuffle theses songs in a playlist in iTunes or your iPhone or your GuyPhone or whatever you use. I might someday follow this up with a two-notes-at-a-time or a three-notes-at-a-time exercise, but it seems like it might be a bit of an ordeal because I think having two or three notes means that all the iterations make for exponentially or logarhythmical more examples? I really don't know because I'm not a mathmetician. I'm a musican. Barely.<br><br>Enjoy!! <br><br><a href="/files/81648/Single%20Note%20Ear%20Training.zip" target="_new">download ear training files here</a><br> Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/1147422011-09-16T15:55:00-04:002022-01-03T06:11:46-05:00Testing Different IC's in a Rat Distortion Pedal<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/c3412964cd9f40eeff472ca8c67ea081faff40a1/medium/64413single-1.jpg?1383962246" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>I do love the Rat pedal. I don't actually own an "official" one, but rather a clone made from a ready-to-solder circuit board from <a href="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/" target="_new">General Guitar Gadgets</a>. I tend to switch it on and off my board every so often, and from time to time I dream of making my Rat clone even more awesome. Recently, in that spirit, I was looking at Jack Orman's wonderfully informative page about his moded version of the Rat called the <a href="http://www.muzique.com/fx/fat-rat.htm">Fat Gnat</a>. He mentions that there are some alternatives available for IC selection. This makes sense because althought the LM308 is the orginal chip and "holy grail" that most people use when builidng their own DIY Rat, I have heard that some versions of the Rat use the TL071 or other chips. Jack recomended trying the TL071 as well as his favorite the NE5534, in addition to the LM308. So I did, and I recorded the results. As in the other IC tests, I recorded a clip into my Boss looper, and then ran that same loop into my Rat clone 3 times, each time through a different chip. <br><br>Check them out. Which one do you like? <br><br><br> <object height="225" width="100%"><param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1120846">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="225" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1120846" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed></object> <span><a href="https://soundcloud.com/afrogoose/sets/testing-ics-in-a-rat">Testing Different IC's in a Rat</a> by <a href="https://soundcloud.com/afrogoose">afrogoose</a></span>Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/985202011-04-28T09:45:00-04:002020-12-13T11:42:09-05:00Testing Different IC's in a Tube Screamer<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/be1d165007a4e54960e0b3a925e64a87b60c25f4/medium/kgrhqn-lke5ynr1s-bboeembic-w-35.jpg?1383963293" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>For a long time I've been wondering what effect, if any, the IC has on a simple overdrive pedal like the Tube Screamer. I decided to wire an IC socket into my TS clone so that I could easily swap them in and out. I recorded a loop into my Boss RC-2 so that I could keep everything but the IC swaps consistent. I tested out 7 different IC's, and I think that list includes mostly all of the IC's that are usually deployed in basic guitar effects. <br><br>What do you think, can you hear a difference? <br><br>Signal Chain = Stratocaster --> Cable --> Boss RC2 --> Cable --> TS Clone --> Cable --> 66 Deluxe Reverb --> SM57 --> FMR Audio RNP --> Digital Performer.<br><br>There was no signal processing at all.<br><br>OPA2227P<br>JRC4558D<br>LM1458<br>NE5532<br>RC4558P<br>RC4559P<br>TL072CP<br><br><br><object height="225" width="100%"><param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1120979">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="225" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1120979" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed></object> <span><a href="https://soundcloud.com/afrogoose/sets/testing-different-ics-in-a">Testing Different IC's in a Tube Screamer</a> by <a href="https://soundcloud.com/afrogoose">afrogoose</a></span><br><br><br> Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/990682010-06-11T07:20:00-04:002017-02-01T15:49:05-05:00Comparison of Different Cables - Part II<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/2b51432708d4b049352c0b025891aabc7c147a7f/medium/lava-retro-coil-red-20ft-guitar-cable-2-2048x2048.jpg?1469914920" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>So here is my second attempt at descerning the effect of instrument cables on guitar tone. I received some feedback on my first experiment that my experiment may have been compromised by placing the test cable <i>after</i> the looper. Apparently, the buffer in the looper might neutralize any inherent difference in the cables by changing the standard guitar/amp impedance. I needed to think of a way that I could conduct the experiment again with just guitar --> cable --> amp. Since I'm no longer using the looper, I was faced with the problem of having an identical perfomance recorded each time. I'm wary of recording four different performances through four different cables. Even if I was blind to the cable being tested, I was worried that the variation in my guitar performances might be greater than what is a potentially subtle difference in cable performance. My solution to this problem was to use an Ebow. I placed my guitar flat on the floor, and taped the Ebow to the pickguard to make sure that it didn't move during the cable swaps. I then recorded the open D string through the four different cables. I then removed the Ebow and repeated the same proccess on the open G string. Finally, I repeated the process one last time but this time I used a capo on the 4th fret of the G string and recorded a B note. I edited the audio clips so that you will hear the D, G, and B notes, and then I stacked the same three performances in my DAW so they can be heard as a chord. I was hoping to give a few different perspectives on the sonics to determine any difference (or again, lack thereof). <br><br>Used in this manner, the Ebow would give the same "performance" to each cable, so that we can assume any differences (or the lack thereof) in the recordings is a result of the different cables. <br><br>I have received some feedback on this experiment that the recordings don't sound very "guitaristic." As anyone who as ever wielded an Ebow knows, an Ebowed guitar doesn't sound exactly like a guitar, which is the reason for it its useful charm. However, I think this should actually make it easier to hear any differences in the cables as we are able to compare what amounts to one pure, sustained tone to another, regardless to it sounding like a guitar or not. <br><br>The cables I tested (in no particular order) are:<br><br>-Cable I found in my closet labeled "Conquest."<br>-George L, pre assembled<br>-10 year old Hosa cable. I went into Guitar Center and bought the cheapest cable they had.<br>- Lava cable labeled Sommer "Stratos"<br><br>It is Guitar -> Cable A/B/C/D -> Deluxe Reverb -> LDC -> FMR Audio RNP -> Motu 828 -> Digital Performer.<br><br>Listen for yourself and decide!<br><br><br><object height="225" width="100%"><param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1121073">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="225" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1121073" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed></object> <span><a href="https://soundcloud.com/afrogoose-gmail/sets/cable-test-2">Cable Test 2</a> by <a href="https://soundcloud.com/afrogoose-gmail">afrogoose@gmail</a></span>Andrew Martintag:andrewmartinmusic.net,2005:Post/990622010-06-10T06:10:00-04:002021-08-22T04:04:36-04:00Comparison of Different Cables - Part I<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/52692/2b51432708d4b049352c0b025891aabc7c147a7f/medium/lava-retro-coil-red-20ft-guitar-cable-2-2048x2048.jpg?1469914920" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>Among internet gear enthusiasts, a topic that is often hotly debated is whether or not there is any appreciable difference between cables (often times of greatly different costs). I decided to go looking around to see if I could find any audio clips online of cable comparisons, and I was mildly surprised that I couldn't find anything.<br><br>So I figured I'd give it a shot. Here's my experiment.<br><br><br><br>The signal path was Strat -> George L Cable -> Boss RC2 Looper -> Cable A/B/C/D -> Deluxe Reverb Amp -> LD Condenser -> FMR Preamp -> Digital Performer.<br><br>I recorded a phrase into the looper, and than played it out of the looper through four different cables.<br>The cables were (in no particular order):<br><br>- George L (pre-assembled)<br>- Hosa instrument cable (the cheapest one I could find at GC)<br>- a random instrument cable I found labeled "Conquest."<br>- Lava instrument cable Sommer "The Stratos" <br><br>Needless to say, there is nothing else variable between the four sound clips besides the the cable switches. Also, there was no normalization or signal processing at all.<br><br>The cable names and order have been anonymized. Listen for yourself and decide if there is a difference or not!<br><br><br><object height="225" width="100%"><param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1121046">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="225" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1121046" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed></object> <span><a href="https://soundcloud.com/afrogoose/sets/guitar-cable-test-1">Guitar Cable Test 1</a> by <a href="https://soundcloud.com/afrogoose">afrogoose</a></span>Andrew Martin