Ready Fret GO!

A few weeks ago I was tweeting about the new ABC reality-talent competition "Rising Star" and a very enthusiastic woman from California sent me some links of her very talented daughters playing music on YouTube. Ever the new music discovery hunter, I was pleasantly surprised by the soulful and natural talents of musiccatholic's (Vicki Lyford) two lovely daughters, Shaina and Selah. Selah Ford will be featured in an upcoming post.

First Impressions: "Back Home"

Shaina is a gifted young singer/songwriter with the comforting vocal delivery and organic musicianship of somebody like Laura Marling. Her acoustic guitar skills employ both clean fingerpicking and solid strumming to propel her pure and effortless folk-tinged vocals.

Here's another recently posted clip of a delightful and groovy, hook-laden pop song that has a very strong Jason Mraz vibe to it. This gem quickly nods to Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" in a clever manner without being gimmicky or contrived.

There has been much hullabaloo this week in various media outlets regarding the alleged pilfering of one of the most iconic guitar riffs in the history of classic rock, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”.

The band Spirit is now alleging that Jimmy Page stole the main guitar riff from their obscure 1968 instrumental nugget “Taurus”. While Spirit and Zeppelin DID play some shows together in the late 60’s, a few years before “Stairway” was recorded in 1971 on the “Led Zeppelin IV” album (ZoSo), THE SONG IS NOT THE SAME.

As somebody who has studied and learned Zeppelin guitar parts now very dutifully for over two decades, my conclusion is that while these songs are similar, they are in no way identical enough to justify a winnable plagiarism claim. I think the main differentiation between the two parts in question is that the “Stairway” riff ascends and descends (more like an “Escalator to Heaven”) rather than just having a descending chromatic bass line over the arpeggiated minor chord.

If anything, Spirit were ripped off at the 0:18 second mark of “Taurus” by veteran San Diego newscaster and jazz-flute enthusiast Ron Burgundy…

Nashville singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Benjamin A. Harper (Comfies, Feable Weiner, The Nobility, Magnolia Sons) is a power-pop GENIUS and melody master who is on par with the best of the best including Elliott Smith, Neil Finn, Glenn Tilbrook, Elvis Costello, Rob Pollard, Ray Davies, Pete Townsend, Paul McCartney, and Ben Folds.

If you love quality rock tunes created by real musicians, please support this hardworking Nashville cat who has been fighting the good fight for over a decade in Music City.

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#NRBQOTSA: Feel Good Hit of the Wild Weekend!

The fact of the matter is, good guitar tone comes from your heart and your hands. Case in point, here are five quick clips of the masterful Alain Johannes (Eleven, Chris Cornell, QOTSA, Spinnerette, Them Crooked Vultures, Arthur Channell, and more things awesome) not playing his signature Jazzmaster but a guitar and amplifier from Line 6.

Application is key to really understanding and getting a physical grip on modality.

The beauty of jazz guitar is that a skilled guitarist can take ANY song regardless of genre and make it their own with the right amount of chordal and modal knowledge, but STILL keep things authentically jazzy.

If you were to say, know how to do Joe Pass / Lenny Breau / John Pizzarelli chord melody stuff, you could take an epic rock BEAST of a metal song like Mastodon's "Colony of Birchman" or Corrosion of Conformity's "Albatross" and work them up into wonderful jazz arrangements!

Here we have famed Bay Area thrash metal icon Alex Skolnick (from Testament) taking a couple of Ozzy classics and making them his own through the magic of jazz guitar and a swinging rhythm section.

This clip gets a Huell Howser level "THAT'S AMAAAAAZING!"

Credits:

Les Paul - Guitar / "Les Paulverizer"

Chet Atkins - Guitar

Gene Shalit - Moustache and nose jokes

OMG!!!

I have no words at the moment. Thoughtful text to be added later. Just watch and be AMAZED.

Todd Rundgren (first album “Runt”, released in 1970)

All three of these acts should be first ballot admissions into the RRHOF, but Todd Rundgren is the Leonardo DiCaprio of Classic Rock. As Jay-Z said on The Black Album, “I’m supposed to be number one on everybody’s list.”

What has this great man NOT done in music? Todd’s accomplishments are far too many to list. Go to his comprehensive Wiki to get a bigger picture on the man and his music.

Todd is as much of a genius as there has ever been in the history of Rock & Roll music.

Todd is an Inimitable Guitar God

Virtuoso Multi-Instrumentalist

Prodigious Singer / Songwriter / SOULMAN

Studio Wiz Visionary (multi-platinum producer/engineer)

Music business pioneer who saw the iceberg coming.

Todd’s indelible fingerprints are all over 40 plus years of hit-making contributions across the musical landscape. Rundgren is right up there with the greatest including Prince, Zappa, and The Beatles. Even if you think you’ve never heard him, you’ve probably heard his work in some form or fashion countless times before. If Todd Rundgren is not a first time ballot inductee, I don’t know who is worthy of that honor.

Watch Todd burn on the soulful minor blues of “The Last Ride”.

Los Lobos (first album “Si Si Puede”, released in 1976) 

Formed by high-school friends David Hidalgo and Louis Perez in East L.A. in 1973, Los Lobos is the Chicano Led Zeppelin, a Mestizo monolith flying strong now for forty years. Their Latin-Rock “Jam Band” fusion covers all music forms rooted in blues, rock, and soul. As with the greatest bands, each members is exceptional at what they do, but when they assemble, they form a badass “Vato Voltron” of SOULPOWER.

They are a hard-working, influential, versatile, critically-acclaimed, Grammy winning band of musical brothers that among their many accomplishments helped resurrect the music and cultural awareness of Richie Valens for the 1980’s biopic, La Bamba.

This wolf pack deserves to be in the RRHOF.

Watch this extended live jam of “Just a Man” from their classic album “Kiko”. David’s solo begins at the 3:01 mark.

*NOTE: The BEST version of this (which has David playing one of the most beautiful guitar solos I’ve ever heard) is from an Austin City Limits appearance back in the 90’s that I sadly can not find on YouTube :(

NRBQ: (first album “NRBQ”, released in 1969)

"The music business today is Taco Bell."

Al Anderson 1989, quote from Saturday Night with Connie Chung

If the music business is one big Taco Bell, NRBQ is Taco Cabana, an exponentially better product but not nearly as mainstream or popular.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve become an rabid evangelist for NRBQ (and Rundgren) through the magic of Spotify. I am not a historian on the band, but I know good music. Also known as “The New Rhythm & Blues Quartet”, NRBQ is larger than their legend. Many say they were the best live band ever. After hearing as much music of their’s I could get my ears on, I was struck by how very Phish-like they were in their versatility, virtuosity, and sensibility. If you like tight live bands (Phish, Mule, Dead, Spread, Allmans, etc.) with great songs and musicianship, please give NRBQ a try.

The classic lineup (1974-1994) of guitarist/vocalist Al Anderson, bassist/vocalist Joey Spampinato, and keyboard iconoclast Terry Adams (whom I refer to as the Theolonius Monk of Rock & Roll), and the late, great drummer Tommy Ardolino created some of the most cheerful and infectious grooves ever laid to wax.

Their is no bouncier music in rock & roll than NRBQ. Ardolino and Spampinato laid down a rhythmic trampoline of groove that made everything SOAR.

Watch: “I Got a Rocket in My Pocket” from 1980

ALSO: Fascinating profile piece for newbies on NRBQ from 1989

Riley “Blues Boy” King is a LEGEND. Whether you respect him or not, if you play any kind of music that is influenced by blues, you have likely been influenced by him. The man is now 88 years old and he continues to tour.

As somebody who has studied his playing on various TV appearances over the years (especially his signature vibrato), he is clearly missing a step technique and performance wise, BUT HE’S ALMOST 90 YEARS OLD and has a myriad of health ailments…

"Slowed by age and infirmity, including diabetes, King continues to tour — with sometimes painful results. In St. Louis, some fans are singing the blues after an erratic weekend performance led to a stream of audience catcalls and early departures."

QUESTION: Would YOU heckle a legendary performer like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, or Buddy Guy if you paid good money to see their performance and it was being mangled by technical problems or health issues which were beyond their control?

"Is he a living legend? Absolutely. Do I love his music? You bet," said digital marketing executive Larry Goldstein, who paid $150 for a pair of tickets plus parking. "But when you’re paying that type of money, you expect to see a show."

Yes Larry, you paid $150, but did you also not expect to see said “show” being performed by an 88 YEAR OLD MAN who is also a TV pitchman for diabetic testing equipment?

Daryl Kellie does it again with his masterful approach to fingerstyle acoustic guitar by WOWING the guitar realm with this beautiful take on the epic theme song for GAME OF THRONES!