Monster Cables

A couple years ago, I needed a new guitar cable with a 90° jack. I went to Guitar Center to pick one out. The cable I liked was an 18-foot Monster Cable (Performer 500 Instrument Cable). It was big, large-gage wire. There was one problem: the jacks are molded.

If the jack breaks, I won't be able to repair it (by re-soldering the connection or something). In the past, I've had really bad luck with 90° jacks. So, I ask the sales guy about it (hoping he'd point me to the cable that I wanted). He said, "I'll make you a better offer: If it ever breaks, just bring in both pieces and we'll give you a new one. It comes with a lifetime warranty." I said, "Cool." I was sold.

I bought the cable, but I didn't quite believe them. After opening the package, the Limited Lifetime Warranty read a little different. So, I made sure to save my receipt in case I ever needed it.

And recently, I needed it. The 90° jack failed me. If you moved the cable while playing, it would short circuit. And I though, "Oh, great! Now I get to find out that I've been had." So I took the cable back to Guitar Center today. I prepared my story and everything.

However, it was pretty painless. They asked what was wrong with it and said, "Yeah... broken jack. We replace them for that." And they gave me a new cable. Pretty cool.

So, the whole sales pitch about being "optimally engineered for the best instrument performance possible" — that's just guitar player talk. Don't pay attention to it. But it's a good cable with a lifetime warranty — and do pay attention to that.

I like my Monster Cable. :-)

Art Rock (What's that song about?)

Sometimes when I listen to music I get too cought up in the meaning of the song. I spend time analyzing the lyrics to try and figure out what they are saying. I try and figure out what they are getting at. Sometimes I'll refuse to like a song until I understand it. Or sometimes I'll like a song until I find out what it's about. Do you do this? It gets even worse when you characterize yourself as a Christian artist. Now you have the implied responsibility of communicating some truth or encouragement to the listener.

There are two secular albums that are changing my attitude in this regard: Radiohead's In Rainbows and The Killers' Sam's Town. (Warning to parents: Sam's Town has some mildly offensive material.) Many of the songs on these albums actuall have no real meaning. Rather, they are trying to convey emotions and situational feelings.

One great example is Radiohead's Wierd Fishes. There's not a real story or a situation. It's more like something we encounter all the time. At the beginning of the song it's like we're following something exciting. Chasing a dream maybe. And the more we go after it, the more exciting it becomes. We chase it faster. Then all of the sudden: we're stranded. And things become very akward and uncertain. You will probably experience the song a little differently. You might think of it as a person rather than a dream. Or a journey. Or you might think of fishes. But chances are that the emotions will be similar.

At the end of Sam's Town is a song called "Exitlude" that starts like this:

Agressively
We all defend the role we play
Regrettably
Times come to send you on your way

We've seen it all
Bonfires of trust
Flash floods of pain

It doesn't really matter
Don't you worry it'll all work out
No, it doesn't even matter
Don't you worry that ain't what it's all about

So... when listening to music... sometimes you need to chill out and just experience it. And for Christian artists... sometimes we need to write a few pieces that convey something of the emotion and maybe a little less logic. Even in a worship piece. Now, that's not to say that we should be cavalier about truth... and allow untrue things into our worship songs. No, instead I'm giving you permission to write worship songs that aren't exactly clear in what they are talking about or what they are getting at. Pieces that are getting at the experience of God and the oly rather than the truth of God.

Chord Charts (Guitar)

My kids wanted some chord charts for the guitar. Heres a few good ones:

1. For beginners (1 pg., G/C/D/etc.)
   
2. For advanced players (7 pages, HTML/PDF/Postscript)
3. Both

When I get a chance, I'll make my own charts and place them in the public domain. In the meantime, enjoy these links. :-)

Counting past 4

Know of any good praise and worship music in odd meters? The answer is probably no. The conventional wisdom is "it's hard for people to worship God if they can't find the beat." But the problem is hardly ever with the listener finding the beat, it's the musicians who are dying! To prove my point, here are several "odd meter" songs that are very popular and people hardly ever lose the beat:

• Pink Floyd's "Money." The song is basically in 7/4... but some measures are in 6/4 and some measures are in 8/4. You never lose the beat... but as a casual, non-7/4 listener... there's something mysterious about the song that you can't quite grasp.
• Dave Brubeck's "Take Five." The whole song is 5/4. You don't get lost as long as you don't keep track.
• One reason Mat Kearney's song "Nothing Left to Lose" got so popular is the cadence at the end of the chorus when he sings, "...Push the pedal down / Watch the world around fly by us." He inserts a 2/4 measure in the 4/4 song to give the funny cadence. (Thanks, Courtney, for pointing that out to me!)
• Charlie Hall's "All We Need" is about as close as we get in praise and worship music. (Yes, I know there's a non sequitur 5/8 measure in Chris Tomlin's "Famous One.") The whole song is 4/4, but he sings the verses in 7-bar phrases to keep the song moving... giving you a slightly funny feeling when it happens. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
  

So why do it? It all comes down to your melody. What suits your melody well? Chances are, though... having been fed 4/4, 3/4, and 6/8 since you were a baby (for 3 square meals a day)... you brain just plain works in 4/4. Even worse: did you start with a beat/chord progression and use that to inspire a melody?

So, that's why I've been intentional about odd meters for the past few months. Recording 5/4 and 7/4 rhythms and improvising over them. Trying to get a feel for where the stresses can/could/should happen. Trying to write a song in 5/4 or 7/4 without it sounding like it's 5/4 or 7/4. One morning, I even woke up with a melody in my head. After I recorded it, I realized it was in 7/4.

What I've been finding is that you can evoke some different moods and funny feelings by doing this. Generally, it ends up working a little like "All We Need" where you've created a little extra anticipation because of the "dropped" beat. Nobody really notices it, but they get sort of a sense of yearning or desire.

So, what are you experimenting with these days?

Feeling Like a Dweeb

I'm odd and I don't fit in. That's one reason why I like music. Everyone else wants to dance and sing and party, and I want to play my guitar while they dance and sing and party. It works out. Bonus points if you look cool doing it.

Today I had to play the shaker.


There's not a lot to the shaker. You stand there and shake it rhythmically. OK. Actually it's the hardest instrument (besides French Horn) that I've ever played. Shaking it seamlessly is harder than it looks. Little glitches in your motion can be heard loud and clear. Plus, the sand has a slight delay to the motion, so you have to shake it a little ahead of the beat.

So, here I am... a little more than a tad over-weight... I'm standing in the middle of the stage right behind the singer and shaking my shaker. I closed my eyes so that I could concentrate, so that it might look like I'm worshipping, and so that nobody would think I was looking at the singer's butt. My wife said I looked like a dweeb.

*sigh*

When we go to watch a music performance... we really hope that they dig what they do. But when it comes down to it... we really don't care what they do or don't dig. We want them to play their music in a way that will draw us in to what they are doing. That means that we sometimes have to practice looking rockish. (I am tragically un-cool, so that's always been hard for me.)

But when I watch a band that does it... it really makes the performance come alive. Even a worship band.

Is it fake? Yes and no. On some level, we're like actors. We're portraying the song.

So... do you have to practice looking cool? How do you go about it?

Naming your Band

I have some friends forming a new band (see Greg's blog). Later that day, when I saw Greg and his brother Graham, Greg mentioned something about new name ideas. Graham said something like, "I don't care. I don't want to hear it. I just want to pick a name, and move on!"

Naming a band is fun, and it sucks. You have lots of opportunity to be creative and to cast your vision. The problem is that your best idea is "stupid" to the singer, or "doesn't make sense" to the drummer, or the bass player informs you that it's actually a slang term for a female body part. (This actually happened to me... I had no idea.)

Names are important in general. But in a band, the name is important for one and only one reason: You want to be remembered. It's OK if the name has a cool tie-in with your musical vision, or communicates something about who you are or where you're coming from — but really it comes down to the audience's memory. If they can't remember it, or spell it, or they couldn't hear it clearly when you said it... then the name hurts you.

Often times, though, the best names come from your life. Somewhat random occurances in your life that that you can encapsulate in a couple words.

When U2 was 'The Hype,' they wrestled with getting a new name. Bono walked in and was insistent that the band be called U2. I think he got the idea from the U2 spy plane. Everybody hated the name. It was stupid. (It really is a dumb name, "You, too??") Somehow, Bono got his way. And it was a good move. I remember when I was about 11, listening on the phone for upcoming concerts in the Houston area. U2 came up on the list. I had never heard of them. But the name was so silly, so dumb, that I never forgot it. It was about 3 years later that I became a huge fan of theirs.

Switchfoot - Easy to remember. Comes from a surfing term for doing an about face on the board. Relates to who the band is (surfers) and what their vision is (switchfoot ties in to repentance).

Jimmy Eat World - One of their brothers draw a picture of one of their other brothers eating the world and wrote 'JIMMY EAT WORLD' underneath. It struck them funny. It's easy to remember.

The Beatles - Why would you name a band after a bug? But it was sure easy to remember.

Radiohead - They got the name from a Talking Heads song. It's hard to forget this name. Before I ever really heard their music, I had heard of them.

A good resource after you find a few you like is to look it up and see if anyone else has used that name. You don't want to have to change your name later. That will be bad business. Good places to search:

• The US Patent and Trademark Office (search for trademarks)
  
• Google
• Myspace

Chances are, someone will be using the name somewhere. The deal-breaker is if someone in the music industry (especially a "musical performing group") is using the same name.

Good luck!

First Post

I was blogging about things related to being a rock musician and a Christian on myspace, but I've decided to move it here.... 'cos.... well.... let's just say that myspace isn't ideal. :-)

More to come........