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first-ever guitar lesson
Nov. 21st, 2002 02:42 amToday I had my first-ever guitar lesson. I caught the teacher after he was done with my brother.
He was very good. We basically went over:
* different chord voicings, and why the base note should usually be the tonic.
* how to tell an A-minor melody from a C-major melody without using the third.
* some advanced harmony theory: modulation between different minor keys. The example was "Hotel California", which supposedly has a solo featuring all 3 minors in only 4 "tempo"s (a "tempo" is a 1/4 of a beat in 4/4 time).
Basically, he knows his shit.
Then I decided to take a walk along the beach. I fortunately saw this band playing Choro in the beach. It was awesome... I'm beginning to wonder if Choro officially counts as Jazz (and NO, not *EVERYTHING* is jazz). For those who don't know it, a Choro band usually consists of: mandolin, cavaquinho (a steel-string ukelele, built more like a guitar, in open tuning), sometimes a clarinet (which often plays the melody), and percussion: pandeiro (skinned tambourine), hand drum, and a ganzá (a sandy pipe thing, as I learned).
I had a shot at the mandolin and cavaquinho. I think I can make a good accompanist on the cavaquinho.
Choro has its share of dissonant chords, and a little bit of tight improvisation. So I got their number, and I'll try to make the jam session on Saturday. It's going to be the first time they see a violin play Choro.
He was very good. We basically went over:
* different chord voicings, and why the base note should usually be the tonic.
* how to tell an A-minor melody from a C-major melody without using the third.
* some advanced harmony theory: modulation between different minor keys. The example was "Hotel California", which supposedly has a solo featuring all 3 minors in only 4 "tempo"s (a "tempo" is a 1/4 of a beat in 4/4 time).
Basically, he knows his shit.
Then I decided to take a walk along the beach. I fortunately saw this band playing Choro in the beach. It was awesome... I'm beginning to wonder if Choro officially counts as Jazz (and NO, not *EVERYTHING* is jazz). For those who don't know it, a Choro band usually consists of: mandolin, cavaquinho (a steel-string ukelele, built more like a guitar, in open tuning), sometimes a clarinet (which often plays the melody), and percussion: pandeiro (skinned tambourine), hand drum, and a ganzá (a sandy pipe thing, as I learned).
I had a shot at the mandolin and cavaquinho. I think I can make a good accompanist on the cavaquinho.
Choro has its share of dissonant chords, and a little bit of tight improvisation. So I got their number, and I'll try to make the jam session on Saturday. It's going to be the first time they see a violin play Choro.