For this article a short article on how to start-and develop your lyrics.

It helps to have a clear idea what it is you want to write about. Once you have your topic what you want to write about, you can brainstorm about the subject: Think about as many things as you can associated with the subject you want to write about. Write all the idea down which come up during your brainstorm session. Do not be too critical as these ideas are only there as ideas. You will end up with a lot of ideas which you may not find useful, but for now just write down anything which comes into your head.

Once you have gathered enough brainstorm ideas look at your list and choose the ones you like most of all.
The next stage is to develop the ideas you like. Develop your loose, brainstorm ideas by turning them into a short story: simply write a few lines which expand the single brainstorm idea, do it in such a manner that each brainstorm idea becomes a little story. How long should this story be? Not too long, a few lines will do. It is not about the lenght, it is  about what you say and how the story sounds like.

Now that you have written your short stories around your loose brainstorm ideas, see if you can connect some of the stories you have made up. You do not have to take all the ideas you used in your stories, connecting some of the stories is enough. Once you have connected a few stories, you may want to rewrite the whole idea again to make it fit better for the purporse of your song.

Be creative with your writing: You story does not have to be chronological in order, it also does not have to be logical, you may want to use nonsense words, words which simply sound good. Think of your writing as a song and not poetry or a short story. The endresult of your writing will end up as words which will be sung and therefore they need to sound good. A good lyric is one which makes sense logically and sonically. For now you goal is to make it work.

                           Style and Tradition:

If you work with traditional styles such as blues and folk music your lyrics may need to reflect this and you may want to stick to the  wirtings and traditions of these styles. You can still be creative with your writing but you also may want to observe the cliches of these styles for your writing to sound natural and clear.

Your writing will get better overtime and you will also understand better what it takes to create better lyrics. Over time you will write better lyrics, all you need to do is stick to it and not to give up. Once you have finished a lyric do not edit and rewrite it too often. If you are still not happy with the original idea it may be better to start with a new lyric instead of rewriting an old one.

Enjoy your writing and hope to catch you soon again.
Eddie

You may have heard about the term “Musical Alphabeth” it works similar as the normal alphabeth we use for everyday speech and written communication. The Musical Alphabeth usually starts with a C and the order is like: C-D-EF-G-A-BC.

Why is it useful to be aware of the order of the notes? Because it helps you seeing where you are on the fretboard, it will also help you with moving chordshapes along the fretboard: Play a D chord and move it up two frets and you will get an E chord for the simple fact that E is the next note after D.

When you look at the oder of the notes I gave you earlier on you notice that I put a – inbetween the C and D,  F and G and G and A.  The – means you can raise the note to get a #: Play a C anywhere on the fretboard and go up one fret and you will get a C#. You are able to do this with any note where you see the –

Being aware of the order of the notes gives you the ability to name notes anywhere on the fretboard. Have a look at the following example: Think of the low E string and play the first fret on this string, this note is an F because it is fretted on the first fret and we use the E string, go one note up after E and you get an F. If you were to play the second fret on the E string you will get an F#, but let us forget the sharps for now. Let us play the fifth fret on the low E: The fifth fret gives you the A note——2nd fret would be F#, 3rd fret would be G, 4th fret would be G# and the fifth will give us the note of A. Keep refering back to the order of the notes and start from the notename of the string which you use and count up whereever you are on the fretboard.

Getting to know the names of your notes on the fretboard is very usefull for all kind of playing situations, it may be an idea to learn the notes of the low E and A string. After a while you will not longer need to think about the notenames, the fretmarkers (the white dots or block on the fretboard) will help you to navigate your way around the fretboard.

Happy playing and hope to catch you soon again.
Eddie

For this article a tip on how you can use major 7th chords in your songs.

Major 7th chords are triads with an extra note thrown in which give the chord a different colour. The major 7th sounds a bit dreamy and open. They are great chords for resolving into another chord.

Let us have a look at the following example of how you can use a major 7th to great effect in a very simple two chord sequence:

          Gmaj7             C

    E —-2———–0—————-

    B—-3————5—————-

    G —4————5—————–

    D —5————5—————–

    A ———————————–

    E ———————————– 

The notes in Gmaj7 are G,B, D and F#.  The F# is the maj 7th of the chord.

The notes in a C chord are C,E and G.

In the given example the F# is the maj7th of the G chord. It can be found on the high E string. The note falls down to the open E of the C chord.
The D of the G chord is on the B string and this note moves up the  E of the C chord on the 5th fret of the B string. The B of the G chord, found on the 4th fret on the G string moves up to the C on the 5th fret of the G string. Notice how the Root of the G chord, found on the 5th fret of the D string of this chord shape, remains the same when the G move to the C chord.

You can be creative with your chordshapes. Look at the next example what I use for my C chord.  I Kept the G maj7 the same as in the previous example.

             C

     E —–0————–

     B —–1————–

     G —–0————–

     D- —-2—————-

     A ———————

    E ———————- 

The effect of the different chordshape for the C chord is now that three notes have moved down instead of up, use both versions of the C chord to hear the difference in sound between the two of them. Keep the G maj 7 the same all the way throughout.
The low E on the C chord, which is the 2nd fret on the D string is very noticable, it gives the chord a low boost.

Experiment for yourself using maj7th chords and try to resolve the chord to another chord which is close to the maj.7th you played before to get the best effect out of the chord.

Hope to catch you soon again.
Eddie 

For this article a bookreview for a book about Metallica  simply called: Metallica  Justice for all — The Truth About Metallica– by Joel McIver. The book came out in 2004 and covers the years in between the albums: Kill em All from 1983 up and till the St. Anger album from 2003.  Here a link to the wiki page of the author: http:///en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_McIver
The author is a diehard fan from the first hour but he remains critical about the band their progress and their music.
The book contains pictures of the different line-ups of the band throughout the years, there is even a picture of the horrific coach crash which claimed Cliff Burton’s life on the 27th of Sept. 1986.

    Layout of the Book:

The book starts off with a foreword and introduction which explains the motives for writing the book. After the introduction the book is simply lay-out in chronological order starting with the years before 1980 and finishing with 2003. The book is build up around truth statements which the author explains, analyses and answers in the pages in between these several statements. The statements are: The Truth about Trash Metal, the Truth about Cliff Burton, the Truth about Master of Puppets, the Truth about the Black Album, the Truth about Load and Reload, the Truth about Napster and finally the Truth about Metallica.

Like any book of this content there is a lot of filler, detailed information about tours, a break down of each song for each studio album the band ever recorded, a breakdown for each year with info what each individual bandmember was up to. All this may be interesting for the die hard fan but may not be for everyone.

For most music fans around the world the names Metallica and Napster will sound familiar, the section in the book about this episode may shed some light on the fine workings of the machine called Metallica. It certainly is an interesting read how one band started off a debate about free downloads and the sharing of music on the net.

Personally I find the early chapters of the book the most interesting, which contains the sections about the struggles of the band, the change of bandmembers and the detailed info of American Trash Metal bands in the early 1980s in comparision to the early Britsish bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene. All of this gave us the roots of Trash Metal and all the other sub genres of Metal we know these days.
Anyone who is a casual fan of Metallica and enjoys intense, heavy guitarbands will enjoy reading these early pages of the book as it gives you a snapshot of the early 1980s history of Heavy Metal bands..

The last few chapters of the book read very much like the contents of the documentary Some Kind of Monster dealing with the new bassplayer Robert Trujillo, the crisis the band found itself in at around 2001-2002 and the release of the St. Anger album and the fans response to the album.

About the music of Metallica I have to say that I find it interesting that some people claim the earlier songs are so much better than what came after the Black Album. Just an opinion I guess. Personally I enjoy all of their work, the songs from the later period may be less heavy and intense, but some of the trade mark riffs and sounds and solos are still there.
If you do have an interest in Metallica give this book a try as you may come across some information you have not heard or seen before.

Enjoy reading and hope to catch you soon again for more.
Cheers,
Eddie

 

Both the Boss OD-1 and OD-3 have a very clear and distinctive sound. The OD-1 is based on the sound of Marshall JMP amp from around the mid to late 70s. Its sound can be heard on countless classic rock albums of that time. When you try the pedal for the first time you will hear it straight away regardless of settings pedal and the amp you will play through.

The OD-3 is based on the sound of Marshall JCM 900. These amps were being made during the 1990s. The big difference between the OD-3 and OD-1 is: OD-3 does have more bass, more clarity, more treble, more volume and gain.
Both OD-1 and OD-3 do have a slight hint of mid-range. Maybe a characteristic of Marshall amps?

 

 

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Eddie

For this article a few tips on how to explore the sounds of your guitar (or bass) amp.

If you have just bought a new amplifier you may wonder what the possibilities of your amp are. If you are one of those people who do not change the settings of your amp you may be interested in exploring the sounds your  amp has to offer.
First and formost keep the controls of your instrument (bass or guitar) fully open. In a closed position you can never explore what your amp has to offer since your instrument does not give a full signal to your amp. You may find this an obvious comment but you be surprised in how many people try to work with their amp and getting the right sound while the volume of their guitar (or bass) is half way down! You can back off on volume once you feel you have the right sound of your amp, but start dialing in your tone while your volume controls are fully open!

Plug in your instrument and play an open chord, just hold this chord while you dial in all your tone settings, keep repeating the process as you dial in all the various controls. Play a bit, as an open chord responds differently compared to playing further up on the fretboard.
It does help if you already have an idea what kind of sound you are looking for. If you are new to the amp just keep on playing with controls until you find what you like.

                Active Controls:

Some guitar-and bass amps do have active tone controls: put all tone controls on zero and you do not get a sound. In case your amp does have active controls put all of them at 12.oo o’clock and treat this sound as your starting point, adjust treble and bass according to how you like the sound to be.

              Pre-and Power amp controls:

Approach them in the same way as what I mentioned above: Just play an open chord and dial in the controls until you find what you like.

              Equalizer Settings:

Some amps do have on-board EQ settings, this usually relates to bass amps. To set them up, use same approach as before. Usually the EQ will add (or cut) some of the basic sound of your amp.  Before you use the EQ, set up amp without using the EQ then start adding tones with the EQ until you like it. Adding too much EQ will create distortion, cutting too much with the EQ will take away from your basic tone. Balance the sound until you feel you have the right tone. Sometimes an EQ can be what you need when you play with a band: You may be able to boost  the low end a little bit which will make the bass more audiable compared to drums and guitar.

Happy exploring and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

For this article a few highlights what you can do for yourself before you take up guitar lessons.

Most people who take up guitar lessons need the lessons as a motivation which is understandable. Once the motivation is in place you should use the ideas you get from your lessons to use in a constructive way for your own practise time.

You can prepare yourself a little before you make a start with your guitar lessons, here a check list of things you can do without the help of any other person:

   ~ Learn a handful of basic chords

   ~ Learn to pick a few strings

   ~ Use a tutor book which will  explain you the  basics of music and also show you how to read notes on the guitar

   ~ Have a look at tablature, find out how it works and try to apply it to songs you want to play

Apart from any of the mentioned above it may help to talk to a friend or anyone you know who does play guitar and find out what they have done to improve their guitar playing. You may want to ask about how long it took them before they got to grips with the basics or anything along the lines of that.

Stay tuned and hope to catch you soon for any more updates.
Eddie

Are you one of those guitar players who leave the controls of your guitar amp in the same place regardless of what you play?
This article may be for you as I will guide you quickly through how you can explore the tones of your amplifier effectively.

Dialing in a good tone on your amp is not difficult. You will need to use your guitar while you change the controls of your amp to see what the changes you have made sound like. Simply changing a control without playing will not let you know what sound you are dialing in. Play a bit while you change the control, then adjust afterwards until you feel the sound is right to your taste.

                           Bass ‘n’ Treble:

Typically you can strum and open chord ( chord of A will usually do), hold this chord while you listen to the sound of your amp. You can set all the tone controls mid way (12.0’clock or anything near to give you a “neutral” sound) from here you can go to a more brighter tone, or bassy, depending on what you like.
When you dial in more treble on your amp it is easy to get a more bassy sound by turning the tone controls of your guitar down. Not so easy if your amp is already set up for more bass than treble.

                          What About the Mid?:

You can adjust the controls for the middle to whatever you like. You may have an amplifier which does have a lot more controls than just Bass, Treble and Middle. It may be an idea first to get a basic sound by setting up Treble, Middle and Bass and then adjust all the other controls which will affect your tone.

                        Distortion or Clean?:

What I mentioned before relates to clean and distorted sound. The distortion channel of your amp may have more controls related to Pre Amp and Gain. Use them to adjust the rigtht tone and the level of the distortion. As far as actual tone of the sound, use the same guide as what I mentioned before to get the best results.

Happy Playing and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

No they are not, but they can sound close depending on the settings of both pedals.

Let me talk you through how they are:

The TS 808 is good for creating mild overdrive to your amp, even when the pedal itself is not being pushed into overdrive.
The TS 808 is not able to give you a clean boost, no matter what you do. Maybe modded versions are, but I am talking about the stock, reissue version from 2004. No clean boost.

The OD-1 can give you a clean boost, the pedal does not have that much volume, but it will be able to get your amp to sound louder even when the overdrive control is all the way down.
The OD-1 does have a slight mid range sound, characteristic of Marshall amps. You will not be able to get rid of this sound, no matter how you set the controls. All it all, use the OD-1 and your amp starts to sound like a Marshall.

The TS 808 does have more volume compared to the OD-1, it also has more bass compared to the OD-1, which may surprise some people. The mid-range boost, a lot of people mention about the TS 808, is of a very different nature as that compared the the OD-1: OD-1’s mid range is really the Marshall sound, TS 808’s midrange is neutral, hence the pedal being so good to give that smooth push towards your amp. (It works best with Valve amps, not so great with Transistor amps!)

The overdrive of the TS 808 is smoother compared to the OD-1, it is also neutral, the OD-1’s overdrive is Marshall: Keep overdrive down and the sound is mild, open up the overdrive and the OD-1 will give you a very thick sound.

You are able to get both pedals to sound somewhat the same depending on the settings of the controls, but remember, they can also sound very different.

There are some videos on You Tube where people compare both pedals, some of those do not really show the differences between both pedals. It really depends on what the creater of the video has in mind and what he/she feels is important to show in the video.

Stay tuned for more pedal talk for next few articles.
Eddie