Exploding Fingers Guitar Dojo

That being said I do very much appreciate what I think John is trying to say here. Literal, but visceral, commentary can be very, very effective. I am assuming it may be the most effective way to connect with a listener. That’s probably why that damn phrase “I love you” is so goddamn over used. But I do recall Stevie Nicks in an interview saying that her grandfather had told her at an early age that you will always be able to sing if you mean what you say. And I have always appreciated many of Don Henley's lyrics because they make such genuine, lucid and profound statements. I think of the chorus from co-dependency ballad “Bell Bottom Blues” by Derek and there Dominos. “Do you wanna see me crawl across the floor to you? Do you wanna hear beg you to take me back? I’d gladly do it ‘cuz I don’t want to fade away. Give me one more chance, babe.” Even the raw, straight forward brutality of the lyrics for the song “Angel of Death” by Slayer are effective and horrible; as to be intended. So I suppose one could come up with a clever effect by intertwining the two styles together for a more emotionally dynamic song, right? Provoking emotional response = good.

That’s enough for now.  Oh, yeah. I play guitar. Hehe. - Arpmandude

So I am thinking about vocals and lyrical composition. I was listening to Halsey earlier. And I was thinking about how, while clever and very enjoyable, even inspiring, her lyrics use general stanza structure as to be expected in pop songs; as well as her use of rhyming words. Which is great. But I wanted to explore a diversified way to look at lyrical structures so to perhaps make my writing more dynamic. A Perfect Circle’s album Mer De Noms is in my top albums of all time. Outside of their unique and precise use of orchestration within a very general rock instrumentation, and very dynamic conscious use of arrangement, Maynard’s lyrical delivery and compositional strategies are very inspiring. On a simply analytical level you’ll notice Maynard seldom if ever uses rhyming words to accent connections from line to line. He does a great job of holding out notes creating a strong emotional connotation in combination with the music; at least they do to me. :o) It seems that the general rhythmic flow and the melodic path of his lyrics being repeated seems to keep the lyrics related more than just having a free flow of lyrics over the music; kind of like Mrvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” You’ll notice he may repeat syllable for syllable a lyrical line that might run over four or eight measures over the next four or eight measures. And I think it works really well. Speaking of Marvin Gaye ... the guy is a goddamn genius. More on that later...

Okay. Today I am thinking about what I read in this book yesterday. The book is called Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot: Unleashing Your Brain’s Potential. They were discussing concepts that can help you develop your motor skills. They were saying that when you practice a new manual skill your using your brain’s motor cortex and prefrontal cortex. And these two parts of your brain remain active for the first forty minutes of working on these skill. Here I am assuming this would apply to any technical facility you are trying to develop: alternate picking, sweep picking patterns, tapping coordination, etc. For these forty minutes “the prefrontal cortex is drawing up the plan of action and the motor cortex is practicing it.” But after you have done this exercise it is necessary for your brain to “consolidate the memory” of what you were just working on. Apparently this takes several hours and can not be hurried. It says, “Before you try your hand at a second activity, you should wait for the brain to consolidate the skill acquisition memory from the first activity. If you ignore this time requirement and try to learn a second motor skill, you will create an interference effect ...” Apparently as your brain is trying to store good records of what is required to work on the first skill the other skill you are aiming to work on will actually interfere with your brain’s ability to do a good job encoding the first skill. “So keep in mind that your brain takes a certain amount of time to encode new experiences and information.” So with this I am going to try working on a technique or two for forty minutes, and then take a two hour brake, maybe? And see how that goes. I am kind of intimidated by not being able to work on a multitude of different techniques. That is what I have done most of my life, and I get the impression that is the same for other musicians I look up to. So I suppose I will look into this some more as well. But I am assuming this should be useful information. Ha! We’ll see. - Arpmandude

I also have been trying to digest qawwali music and their “Elvis Presley”, the late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I have also been learning as much as I can about northern (Hindustani) and southern (Carnatic) Indian classical music. There is SO much to pick up there. Not only have I been trying to digest the nuances of their melodic embellishments, I have also came to appreciate how music is such a subjective abstraction to each culture and how simple ideas like time signatures, harmonies, or just general themes and intentions ,can be so incorrectly assumed to be universal amongst different cultures. This is not the case. And with that it makes exploration of these subjects even more rewarding. Well, my ten minutes are up ... on to vocal exercises, voicing exercises on the guitar, and alternate picking through arpeggios. Stay classy! - Arpmandude

All right. Here I am. I have had this idea in my head to start up my own Exploding Fingers Guitar Dojo YouTube channel for some time. I have purchased the cameras, the stands, the lights, and all of the other relevant gear that I plan on using. My video editing chops are down and I have a basic idea of what I want to do: explore creativity and philosophy behind music composition. Now I just need to come up with some good relatable topics. There is a fair amount of ideas going on inside my mind but these ideas are far from polished or organized, nor am I as prolific as I hope I will soon be. Soooo, I figured I would just start journaling ANYTHING I wanted to regarding music, composition, guitar playing, my mission statement, so on and so forth. By doing this it is my hopes that I will warm up all of those old neural pathways I laid out while being an active recording artist. It is also my hopes that this might help develop the direction and density of what are TO BE my NEXT MUSICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!! Ha! So I suppose I will expect myself to write here for at least ten minutes every day regardless to the quality, or rather lack of inspiration. Hehe. So many times I have told my students when confronted with writers block to JUST START WRITING. The first two or three ideas you come up with may be less than inspiring, or perhaps they will be, but it has been my experience that usually somewhere around the forth or fifth idea you stumble upon something you weren’t expecting and you are usually pretty happy with you find. I really need to take my advice more often. So I am going to close this introduction, set my egg timer (really just my iPhone), and start to jog my mind. - Arpmandude