A lyricists Gordian knot

Writing has pretty much been my strong suit as a musician. It's not writing notation, or clever chordal turnarounds, it's been words. I like words. Now I don't use "I like words" as the "I like chocolate milk" meme, I truly do like words. I collect them believe it or not. I have a list of my favorites from whillikers to blatherskite, bullhonkey to whoswhatsit. I rarely get to use them in songs, but it's nice to have one of these in your back pocket. Ever since I wrote a song "Bare Trees" when I was 16, I think it impressed my friends so much that I've been the go to lyric guy ever since. My other friends have written lyrics just as invocative and clever as I have over the years, but the lyricists stuck and so I've embraced it. I've never written something so awesome as:

She was working in a topless place

And I stopped in for a beer

I just kept looking at the side of her face

In the spotlight so clear

And later on, when the crowd thinned out

I was just about to do the same

She was standing there, in the back of my chair

Said to me, "Tell me, don't I know your name?"

I muttered something underneath my breath

She studied the lines on my face

I must admit, I felt a little uneasy

When she bend down to tied the laces of my shoes

But then story telling is an art in and of itself and who better to write something so poetic and poignant as a Dylan or a Springsteen? My writing tends to be more enigmatic and surreal. Such as:

Watch where you go

Cellophane is the color

We walk on the trail tomorrow

The dogs are digging

In holes that lead to China

Far from the eyes of the unseen

We can run but not walk

Away from the light of reality

To make our way home

So far home, so far home, so far home

Cellophane generally has no color although Glad I recall came out with different colored cellophane in the 90's. Compared to Dylan, my lyrics suck. His has a pure plot with a step by step story and an point to it - Tangled up in blue, meaning blue as a feeling, an emotion. My lyrics have a roundabout meandering way of telling a tale of one getting lost, that panicky feeling of blundering around in a dream and seeing things that just don't make sense yet wanting to get home, to something familiar. And that's what it's trying to convey, a fever dream where you're sweating under the covers yet chilled to the bone and lost in a dream trying to get home.

It's always been more interesting to me to hear what others take away from songs, what they think the meaning is and many people have different ideas and feelings about songs than what and how I wanted to convey them. That's the beauty of music though - it can mean so many different things to different people yet still be part of the soundtrack of their life at a point in time.

Happy Music Appreciation Day!!

It's not actually music appreciation day, or, maybe every day is music appreciation day? Sure why not. There are times, where musicians really just blow you away. Non musicians can be blown away easier. "Oh you can play Sweet Home Alabama? Wow!" And that makes people like me who write and play music feel good. Appreciation of one's craft by others is partly why we do it in the first place. For me, watching amazing players is one of my past times. I'm not a very good player - probably the best instrument I've ever played was a saxophone when I was young. I sucked at sight reading, cold reading or simply just reading music in general but I got by. Yet I felt connected to the sax where I could solo over jazz progressions with relative ease (for my age). I never felt that connection to a guitar, keys, bass or any other instrument. Even now when I play guitar my brain reverts back to sax. When I see amazing players play, it's alien to me - knowing that I can never and will never acquire that level of mastery. Yet I fancy myself more of a lyricist / songwriter than a player these days, so I don't get too depressed when I fall off the wagon on a relatively easy part that most would find unchallenging to play and I have difficulty. For example, something like Oscar Peterson's Etude from 1975 just blows me away. When I play this piece I don't want to watch the video - my eyes are not going to interpret what's going on so I turn up the volume and try to let my ear decipher what's going on, where the melody, where the percussiveness is going and try to hear where he's going. I listen for the accents, the glissando's, the patterns of the music and how it ripples through the air painting a picture in music. That's what I find amazing.

Who's Oscar Peterson? Pardon me. Oscar is probably one of a hand full of masters of jazz piano of the 20th century. I'd be lucky to find middle C on the keys, but I can certainly appreciate Oscars playing. As you watch the video, he switches between many different styles, his face shows where his brain is taking him. This is a purely improvised piece. The reactions of his trio in the background show exactly how amazing this performance is.

Next, Snarky Puppy. I've listened to them for about 7 years now. Probably their most insane and masterful piece of improvisation is Lingus. A mashup of funk, jazz, and fusion I can appreciate first how much time and masterful work goes into that level of play. The percussion is off the hook, in 5/4 and a dirty, dirty groove that permeates throughout the song. I'll never be one of those guys, but damn if it's not fun to watch them have fun! Other songs like "G0" and "What about me?" are staples in my Spotify playlist "Instrumental Soup" along with other classics from Weather Report, Octive Cat, and Gypsy Jazz masters "La Doigts de l'homme" and the Dave Weckl Band. (h/t to Martin Pitcherello. - I know he used to be a huge Dave Weckl guy!)

I know what you're thinking. "What's up with all this jazz garbage? Jazz is dead!" No, jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny (as the saying goes). Every genre has those who excel, who are the masters of their craft. Some country guys are as technical and fast playing as Rock guitar God of any era. Some jazz cats can play and amaze, and that goes for rock, jazz, blues, it doesn't matter. Musicians appreciate greatness regardless of where it is, regardless of genre, regardless of the year, the century, the country of origin, color or creed. Music transcends all of these things and whether you're a music lover, novice, writer - it doesn't matter. There are things that each of us loves about each others creations, things that we in our worlds know we can't do, could never do that others can and we love that music.

Size is everything, or is it??

Size means a lot of things to a lot of people. A six foot five woman and a five foot three man may look a little odd in pictures, but as long as they're happy together who cares. Car size was always a euphemism about compensating for a certain naughty bit, and feet and noses were an old wives tale also about the naughty bit. But when it comes to guitar string gauges, the rule of thumb was always, the bigger the better. Bigger gauges mean bigger sound, more projection, more sustain especially on acoustic instruments. One of the most famous musicians was SRV - it was told he used 13's on his Stratocaster and just listen to that tone! Imagine playing 13's and bending those strings on "Couldn't Stand the Weather" or "Scuttle Buttin' ? That's crazy! Yes during his last few years he went to using 11's as he was having issues with his hands and didn't have the dexterity to pull off that demanding playing on 13's any more.

Still the myth persists, bigger is better right? Not always. As guitar players we're always in search of the magical and mythical tone. Be that in strings, a bridge or nut, fret types (tall, jumbo's, flats), the 1/4 inch patch chords (gold plate anyone?), tube amps, solid state amps, the types of tubes used in the amps, the amp bias settings, the dial settings for tone, presence, the pedal board, the pedals and in what order they are plugged in. Guitarists are more superstitious than baseball players and that's saying a lot. Guitarists will spend hundreds or thousands if they thought a "thing" will help get them one step closer to the tone they hear in their heads. Strings are one of them. A $4 pack of Ernie Ball's or a $22 pack of custom gauge Stringjoy's? How about gold plated strings? But I've gone off on a tangent. I wanted to discuss string gauges.

Lots of players play heavy gauges and many play light. Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is famous for playing 7's. That's right, .007 – .009 – .011 – .020w – .030 – .038 is what he plays and gets some of the dirtiest Texas blues riffs out on those strings. By comparison, a Pete Townshend or Malcom Young would use 12's back in the day. It wasn't always just about tone, sometimes it was about how the guitar played and felt as well as what was being played. The 1970's and 1980's really had a thing for bigger is better. Still today, Joe Bonamassa is purported to use 11's as is Slash from GNR, Keith Richards and James Hetfield also using 11's. I myself use 9's on nearly all my electrics, as well, 9's on some of my older acoustics, and 10's on a few depending on the guitar. My style of play is mostly rhythm as I don't solo much at all, so bending strings I mostly do when practicing or working out riffs. Whereas Scott the other part of Karma Factory generally uses 10's or 11's on his acoustics and 10's on electric.

I tend to ascribe to the "less is more" when it comes to string gauge. I like lighter easier to play 9's. I feel they have just as heavy bottom ends with .46 or .48 low E strings and they tend to be punchier and tighter. The heavier 10's and 11's get muddy and especially in recordings, they tend to lose clarity regardless of the type of guitar they are on. I like Newtone strings as my first option, especially their round core strings. For some reason round core round wound strings feel more comfortable and they tend to sound clearer. Both Masterclass and Heritage are excellent in 9's and 10's. For electric I normally go with D'Addario XL 9's but I have been known to splurge with Stringjoy on a custom set of 9's (09 - 12 - 16 - 26 - 38 - 46) or go with GHS sub zero Boomers if all else fails. For years I played acoustic Blue Steel strings live as I loved the longevity of those strings. Again, the tight bottom end with clear and sometimes twangy treble side strings always sound amazing. I've also gone and tried D'Addario XL half rounds (EHR320) on my Gretsch for a less noisy string on a hollow body guitar.

Here's another take on string gauges by one of my favorite people to watch on Youtube, Rick Beato. It really puts things into perspective and for me, verifies my light string bias!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGXj_NQONYM