Podcasts and Show Notes
September 2011
Episode 050 ~ Genius
Septmenber 18, 2011
I had a great experience last Thursday.
I met Charles Carerra, at the Mahwah Museum.
He gave me a "pre" preview of the fabulous Les Paul exhibit that will open on Sunday.
When I say pre preview, I mean no velvet ropes, no barriers,
some displays were exposed and not enclosed
and the staging of the exhibit was still under construction.
I made the appointment to interview Mr. Carerra,
not even allowing myself to think about sneaking a peek
before the media, donors or the public.
When he graciously offered, I was exceedingly appreciative.
He spent quite a while with me,
walking me through the priceless treasure of the guitar icon
and telling me some things I already knew, but many I had never heard
.
To see the octopus (the original sound on sound recorder)
which was really the forerunner of Garage Band,
was just beyond what I can express.
I also saw the legendary "log" and "lathe."
The actual workshop that was in Les Paul's home, is there.
There is even a piece of the wall he constructed in his recording studio.
There are electric pickups that he created himself.
His old tube amp and an assortment of guitars are on display.
Charles brought a "log" out of the back of the museum,
opened the case and showed it to me. It was utterly amazing.
If you don't know about Les Paul's "log,"
it was the very 1st attempt he made at creating
a non-acoustically amplified guitar.
It was a beam of wood with a pre-fretted neck, bridge and pickup.
A pickup he made himself, because there weren't any up until that time.
Les Paul was not just a guitarist but a sound engineer,
inventor and probably the most significant 20th century figure
in terms of his concurrent contributions to the sound engineering,
the recording industry, contemporary music and guitar technology.
This was a man who didn't graduate from high school.
He had a brilliant mind and had the personality and perseverance
to not rest until what he imagined was perfected.
Often that required his own craftsmanship.
He even made some of his own guitar picks.
He moved to the town of Mahwah, NJ in 1952
and lived there until his death in 2009.
I think the Mahwah Museum has created a beautiful exhibit for guitarists,
other musicians and non-musicians who can appreciate genius when they see it.
On today's show, I will play the interview with Charles Carrera
that was recorded on Thursday, September 15th.
Don't forget that the Mahwah Museum, in Mahwah, NJ
will be hosting this exhibit from September 25th through the end of June 2012.
Wednesday, September 21, Michael Cochran (mentioned in the interview)
will give a lecture, "Les Paul: The Man Who Changed the Music"
at 3 PM at Ramapo College, Sharp Theater. The lecture is free.
Thursday, September 22, Michael Cochran will give a lecture,
"Les Paul: An American Music Genius" at 7:30 PM
at Ramapo Reformed Church, 100 Island Road, Mahwah, NJ. Admission is $3
Thursday there will also be an article in the Record newspaper,
here in Bergen County, NJ.
Saturday, September 24, Bucky Pizzarelli an Lou Pallo,
good friends of Les Paul and extraordinary musicians in their own right,
will play in a tribute concert at 8 PM at Ramapo College, Sharp Theater.
Tickets must be purchased in advance and at the time I'm recording,
Sunday night, the 18th, just a few tickets remain available.
They must be purchased in advance and are available online
at the Berrie Center Sharp Theatre tickets page. Prices are $27 and $24.
I have my ticket - in fact I purchased the last orchestra section seat,
and it's not a bad location.
f you're within a reasonable trip to northern NJ,
you must mark your calendar for the lectures, concert and exhibit.
I plan to have a follow up on the concert
and on tomorrow's Media Day at the Museum
. I have to admit that I'm thrilled to have already seen
what the media people will only get a glimpse of tomorrow.
Links:
Mahwah Museum, Mahwah, NJ
Ramapo College Berrie Center Sharp TheatreTickets
Directions to Mahwah Reformed Church for the Lecture
Les Paul Foundation
Google Les Paul Doodle
Don't forget to keep humidifying unless your environment is continuously over 50% humidity.
You can follow me on Twitter, where I'm GuitarTechnique.
If you're seeking expert competent guitar instruction
in the Bergen and Rockland County towns
in which I teach, such as
Airmont, Allendale, Fair Lawn, Franklin Lakes,
Glen Rock, Hawthorne, HoHoKus, Hillburn,
Mahwah, Midland Park, Montebello, Montvale,
Oakland, Oradell, Paramus, Park Ridge,
Ramsey, Ridgewood, River Edge, Saddle River,
Suffern, Tallman, Teaneck, Upper Saddle River,
Waldwick, Washington Township, Westwood,
Woodcliff Lake or Wyckoff
please contact me.
For lesson inquires, calling is best and
my number is on the web site.
If we can coordinate our schedules
and you're a good candidate
to learn to play the guitar,
perhaps we can work together.
Subscribe to this podcast or the show notes or both.
Yes, there are some lesson times available in my schecule.
Contact me if you're in the towns where I teach and your schedule is flexible.
Spread the excellence and suggest other guitarists listen!
recorded September 18, 2011
Email Me if you'd like to submit a Question of the Week or suggest an additional segment topic
Episode 049 ~ Remarkable Guitar Playing
Septmenber 12, 2011
Yesterday was a tough day. Condolences to anyone missing a
loved one that was lost 10 years ago.
My student, Hugo, is infamous in this episode,
for the fabulous duo he turned me on to
and for asking the question of the week.
There are 2 students in the spotlight this week.
News is about a Les Paul tribute concert and museum exhibit.
Take Note begs the question, are you getting your desired results?
Intro
No guitar shops in my area have an Epiphone EL-00 that I can play!
Lots of sellers have these available online,
but I really wanted to hold and play this niche guitar.
I'll keep you posted if I find one to review.
A while ago, II was telling my student Hugo about
a Brazilian guitar duo who often play a 4 hands on 1 guitar.
He went to YouTube to take a look for himself.
Well, when I saw him last week,
he had a YouTube video for me to see,
of another pair of Brazilians the Duo Siquiera Lima.
If you haven't seen this video of them playing Tico Tico
4 hands on 1 guitar, you have to take a look.
It's WONDERFUL!!!
Hey! What's all this about our government
bothering the iconic Gibson guitar company?
They are synonymous with great American instruments.
Let there be beautiful music.
Leave our friends at Gibson alone
as well as all the other guitar builders who use rosewood.
My schedule is taking shape and in another week.
I will probably have a few openings, so if you are interested,
please contact me ASAP.
Calling is always best and my phone number is on the web site.
Links
Epiphone EL-00
Duo Siquiera Lima playing Tico Tico
Student Spotlight
Congrats and kudos to Arno and Julia. You 2 excelled last week.
Question of the Week
The Question of the Week is from my student Hugo a few weeks ago.
He said he was going to put nylon strings on his Taylor acoustic,
the guitar I usually play when I teach him.
I told him he can't do that. His question was, "Why not?"
Because there is so much tension on the strings of a steel string guitar,
the strings vibrate far less than more loose tension nylon strings.
Therefore a steel string guitar bridge is much lower than the bridge
of a nylon string guitar (if both bridges are made by competent guitar makers.)
The distance between the string and the neck of any guitar is called, "action."
Low action is the most desirable for playability,if the degree of "lowness"
doesn't cause buzzing when a string is played properly.
Well made steel string and electric guitars have very low action
if the guitar neck isn't warped or otherwise compromised.
Well made nylon string guitars have much higher action
because their strings are much wider than steel strings,
have much less tension on them and therefore require
more clearance room from the neck.
So, the "low action" on a nylon string guitar
is considerably higher than the "low action" on a steel string guitar.
If one puts nylon strings on a steel string guitar,
the strings will buzz from hitting the bridge while vibrating.
Thanks for asking, Hugo.
You'd have been an unhappy dude if you put nylon strings on that Taylor.
Email Me if you'd like to submit
a Question of the Week or
suggest an additional segment topic.
If I use one you submit,
I'll send you an official
Guitar Technique Tutor Podcast pick.
News
The news this week is a local event - a Les Paul tribute concert.
Les Paul was a long-time Mahwah resident. That's the next town from me.
The concert will be on September 24th,
at the Berrie Center of Ramapo College.
Les Paul's friends Lou Pallo of the Les Paul Trio and
Bucky Pizzarrelli will be some of the artists performing.
Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Ramapo College
music program and the Mahwah Museum,
which will open a Les Paul exhibit the following day, September 25th.
There is a raffle for a signed Les Paul guitar for people
who live in towns in which a raffle is legal.
Links:
Les Paul Tribute Concert Tickets
Triple Signed Les Paul Guitar Raffle
Les Paul in His Own Words
Take Note
My take note topic this week is a general comment,
rather than a pin point topic.
The comment is about getting the desired result when you play.
Sounds like a simple thing.
If it were a simple thing, everyone would be a great guitarist.
It isn't a simple thing, but it is worth pursuing.
I hope your desired result is coming closer and closer
to consistent excellence, whether you play
rhythm guitar, chicken picking country, blues, jazz, classical,
flamenco or any other genre.
If that's the case, I want to mention a few plaguing issues
I observe with my students as well as the general guitar playing public.
They fall into 3 general categories: form, technique and time.
Form is the overall way you play. Posture, hand position, general quality of tone.
Technique is the finer points of your playing such as attack,
picking technique, endurance, speed etc.
Time is ... elusive. You need to find enough of it and use it.
Outro
Thanks so much for joining me.
If you are no longer receiving the Gutiar Technique Tutor Podcast
or Show Notes into your iTunes podcasts or FeedBurner feeds,
and you used to, please re-subscribe.
I changed servers and that's probably the reason.
I got through the 10th anniversary of the worst day I have ever lived through.
Each anniversary is harder, not easier for me.
There's still no EL-00 for me to review for you.
I'll try to play one for a review.
Check out the Siquiera Lima duo playing Tico Tico
if you want a simply sublime experience.
Congratulations Arno and Julia for playing excellently this past week.
I hope you'll have more company in the glow of the student spotlight next week.
Neither you nor Hugo should not put nylon strings
on your steel string guitar and vice versa.
Guitarists and Les Paul admirers in the Northern NJ area,
get your tickets for the Les Paul tribute concert
at Ramapo College on September 24
and enter to win a Les Paul signed by each member of the trio.
Proceeds will go to the Mahwah Museum
which will open its Les Paul Exhibit the following day.
If you think your progress is at a stand still or hampered,
maybe it's an issue of form, technique or time.
Don't forget to keep humidifying unless your environment is continuously over 50% humidity.
Some listeners asked me for a little more detailed show notes,
so I plan to herein accommodate that request.
I hope you who receive the show notes as a feed like the info increase.
You can follow me on Twitter, where I'm GuitarTechnique.
If you're seeking expert competent guitar instruction
in the Bergen and Rockland County towns
in which I teach, such as
Airmont, Allendale, Fair Lawn, Franklin Lakes,
Glen Rock, Hawthorne, HoHoKus, Hillburn,
Mahwah, Midland Park, Montebello, Montvale,
Oakland, Oradell, Paramus, Park Ridge,
Ramsey, Ridgewood, River Edge, Saddle River,
Suffern, Tallman, Teaneck, Upper Saddle River,
Waldwick, Washington Township, Westwood,
Woodcliff Lake or Wyckoff
please contact me.
For lesson inquires, calling is best and
my number is on the web site.
If we can coordinate our schedules
and you're a good candidate
to learn to play the guitar,
perhaps we can work together.
Subscribe to this podcast or the show notes or both.
Yes, there are some lesson times available in my schecule.
Contact me if you're in the towns where I teach and your schedule is flexible.
Spread the excellence and suggest other guitarists listen!
recorded September 12, 2011
Email Me if you'd like to submit a Question of the Week or suggest an additional segment topic
Episode 048 ~ Getting Back
Septmenber 7, 2011
Thank you for listening or downloading show notes!
First, I want to bid a student, Tommy, a great year at school. Keep practicing.
How was your week?
Did you pick up a guitar at a Labor Day sale price anywhere?
There were some appealing promotions in my area.
Intro
A couple weeks ago, I put new strings on my student Julia's guitar.
DR's of course. In my opinion, the best guitar strings money can buy.
Check them out on your next string change.
They are hand made right here in NJ.
My week was productive - finally!
If you haven't visited the GuitarTechniqueTutor.Com web site for a while,
check out its new look.
I will be doing some more work on it, but it's fully viewable.
The text is displayed in very short lines so those viewing from a tablet
or a netback will not see copy running into the left side navigation menu.
I'll see if I can create a container element that floats in the center,
into which I can put justified copy.
If I can do it successfully on a test page, I will modify all the site pages.
Don't look for that improvement until October or later.
All the podcasts are being picked up by FeedBurner and iTunes.
The show notes are being picked up by FeedBurner.
Because I moved my feed,
iTunes is only listing episodes 046 through this current one.
I doubt that I will recreate all the other 45 enclosures
for them to go up on iTunes, but if you're interested in earlier shows,
they are all available here on the podcast page.
My schedule is taking shape and in another week.
I will probably have a few openings, so if you are interested,
please contact me ASAP.
Calling is always best and my phone number is on the web site.
For the past couple weeks I had just a handful of students, so no Student Spotlight this week.
The Question of the Week involves an naughty pinky.
News is about the Epiphone EL-00 and the amazing DR DDTs.
Take Note is about what you need to think about if you
or a student in your household are thinking about beginning guitar lessons.
Links
DR Strings
Question of the Week
"Why does it matter if my pinky rests on my guitar or not?"
I have to say this inquiry was made with frustration.
The majority of sound you hear when you're listening to an acoustic guitar,
comes from the vibration of the entire top surface of the guitar,
you know, the surface with the whole in it, (called the sound board) vibrating.
A lot of people , say that the sound comes out of the sound hole.
Not so.
Basically, the vibration of the strings,
moves the air to create barely audible sound
that goes into the sound hole which is then amplified in the body,
which guitarists call the box.
So, the big deal about resting your pinky or any other body part,
on the soundboard while you're playing,
is that you're inhibiting the free vibration of it
and thereby you're inhibiting the quality of the sound.
So keep your pinky or side of your right hand off the soundboard!
Email Me if you'd like to submit
a Question of the Week or
suggest an additional segment topic.
If I use one you submit,
I'll send you an official
Guitar Technique Tutor Podcast pick.
News
The news this week I have 2 bits.
The first is about the EL-00 from our friends at Epiphone.
This is a re-issue of a guitar model that was discontinued in 1945.
This is a parlor size acoustic, which I'm always interested in,
for young students or petite women students.
This beauty has the small profile and shorter scale length that so many players favor.
It also comes in at an affordable price point.
This is one to consider if you're in the market for a totally acoustic
smaller body guitar. If I can, I'll play one and review it next week
The second bit of news is from my beloved DR Strings.
If you are plagued by crummy intonation becuase
you drop tune your guitar, these deserve a test drive.
They're constructed in a new way that allows the strings
to tune faster, and to use DR's word, "lock," into tune.
They've got to be played if you're forever tuning your electric guitar.
DR claims they're stable at or below standard pitch.
Check them out.
Links:
Epiphone EL-00
Epiphone EL-00 You Tube Demo
Epiphone EL-00 in action
DR DDTs
Take Note
My take note topic this week is about who is a candidate for guitar lessons.
It's the beginning of another school year and this is when I construct a new schedule.
I don't think I'm alone in that practice.
The biggest consideration for anyone
planning to embark upon learning to play any instrument,
aside from having the financial wherewithal to buy a guitar,
the accessories required and to pay for lessons, is time.
Adults, do you come home from work and not stop to relax until 11 PM?
Students, are you in sports,
clubs, and do you have a heavy homework load?
Do you stay up until midnight doing homework more than once a month?
All of these scenarios could be a death nell to your aspirations.
Be ruthlessly realistic as you consider this big question.
If you're thinking about starting yourself or
your school aged student on guitar lessons.
Let the operative word be THINK.
Consider everything and the true feasibility
before you call a potential instructor.
On behalf of all the competent instructors out there,
I thank you.
Outro
Thanks so much for joining me.
If you are no longer receiving the Gutiar Technique Tutor Podcast
or Show Notes into your iTunes podcasts or FeedBurner feeds,
and you used to, please re-subscribe.
I changed servers and that's probably the reason.
Keep those pinkies and hand sides
OFF YOUR SOUNDBOARD if you play acoustic!
If you play electric, you're not affecting the sound of your guitar
but you are limiting the freedom of your right hand's movement.
Check out the Epiphone EL-00 if you're not comfortable holding a dreadnaught
and you want a straight acoustic guitar, not an acoustic electric.
I'll try to play one and give you a review next week.
If you have any challenges keeping your electric strings or electric bass in tune,
you have to check out DR DDTs. They are a marvel.
Think about your time and your life schedule
before you engage an instructor to learn guitar.
If you can't keep a weekly appointment
or if you don't have the time to practice at least 5 times a week.
Don't forget to keep humidifying unless your environment is continuously over 50% humidity.
Some listeners asked me for a little more detailed show notes,
so I plan to herein accommodate that request.
I hope you who receive the show notes as a feed like the info increase.
You can follow me on Twitter, where I'm GuitarTechnique.
If you're seeking expert competent guitar instruction
in the Bergen and Rockland County towns
in which I teach, such as
Airmont, Allendale, Fair Lawn, Franklin Lakes,
Glen Rock, Hawthorne, HoHoKus, Hillburn,
Mahwah, Midland Park, Montebello, Montvale,
Oakland, Oradell, Paramus, Park Ridge,
Ramsey, Ridgewood, River Edge, Saddle River,
Suffern, Tallman, Teaneck, Upper Saddle River,
Waldwick, Washington Township, Westwood,
Woodcliff Lake or Wyckoff
please contact me.
For lesson inquires, calling is best and
my number is on the web site.
If we can coordinate our schedules
and you're a good candidate
to learn to play the guitar,
perhaps we can work together.
recorded September 7, 2011
Email Me if you'd like to submit a Question of the Week or suggest an additional segment topic
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