White Ripple Community Band May 23rd, 2016

Housekeeping note: There will be no class on Monday because of the Memorial Day holiday. We will meet up to make music again on June 6th.

Last Monday we went around the Circle of Fifths and did two very different songs with the same chord progression.



Song 1: I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

     Am                             Dm                              G                                              C

At first I was afraid I was petrified Kept thinking I could never live Without you by my side

                 F                                               Dm                                                 E
But then I spent so many nights Thinking how you did me wrong And I grew strong

                      E                                                                                              

And I learned how to get along... Annnnd repeat as needed! Now try the same chords and swap out the disco beat with something a bit more swingy.


Song 2: Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra.

Am                Dm                     G                       C

Fly me to the moon     Let me play among the stars

F                          Dm                          E                Am
Let me see what spring is like  On a, Jupiter and Mars


Am, Dm, G, C, F, Dm, E. Amazing. We talked a little bit about music theory (not enough to hurt) about why those chords sound good together, and why is it that those same chords in the same order sound very different from one song to another.



 

P.S. Sarita totally rocked Frank on the sax. 

                                        

White Ripple Community Band May 16th, 2016

A big thanks to WRCB for coming out and playing for the opening of Rick Therrio and Brabant Lenting's new exhibit, "Subconscious Symmetry." Check out the exhibit at the White Ripple Gallery when you get a chance-- it'll be up for another few weeks.


We were small but mighty last night, cranking through a whole bunch of good stuff. Linda, Sherry, Tom and I warmed up with The Plain White T's before settling in to our songs of the evening:


Song 1: Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran. We played with sliding from A-flat to A, then that classic riff: A, A, A, D...E, E, E, A... A, A, A, D... E, E, E, A. You can find those notes anywhere on your instrument, but I find I like them on the higher strings because the higher pitch carries better.

Song 2: Starfish and Coffee by Prince. Something cool happened on this song. I didn't have a B-flat chart for Linda, so I was just going to introduce it to the guitar players and pick it up more fully next week when Rich got back, but she got right on with it while Sherry and Tom kept up an effortless syncopated beat, and that left me no choice but to start singing. It's like we're an actual band or something!

This is the Old Town School of Folk Music's 'Song of the Session' for the next couple of months, so be sure to download a free chart while it's available.

Quickie video: hammer-ons

Hi folks, here's a quick video demonstrating how to "hammer on" your guitar strings to get two notes for the price of one:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ssdmb6qd24ai1e/20160515_124210.mp4?dl=0

White Ripple Community Band May 9th, 2016

White Ripple Community Band will be playing this Saturday as part of the gallery's Second Saturday event on the 14th. Rick Therrio and Brabant Lenting have a new show, the artists will have their studios open to all comers, we'll be making a nice noise, and did I mention that Kathy Los Rathburn will have snacks? Good times. It's from 7-10 p.m. this Saturday.



Now, on to last Monday: We've been Plain White T's crazy! This week we went over Hey There Delilah for our warm-up, then on to our two songs for the evening:


Song 1: I'm On Fire by Bruce Springsteen. Not to be confused with Fire, the other Springsteen song we did a couple of weeks ago. I chose to go with a mashup of Bruce plus Johnny Cash's cover of the song because it has a punchier ending-- it's hard for a live band to fade out, after all...

Song 2: Margaritaville. ("Salt! Salt! Salt!") Do I even need to include a YouTube clip? I will anyway. It's my own damn fault.



White Ripple Community Band May 2nd, 2016

I thought I'd do a little something different this week with the songs. I'm going to send out the YouTube clips as usual to get the songs in your head, but this time I'm adding a couple of videos to demonstrate techniques talked about in class. (Pink fluffy bathrobe warning.)

First off, a quick video about guitar strings:

 

 

Song 1: Hey There Delilah by The Plain White T's

Here's how you can transition from the G to the C chord:

And here's a quick video demonstrating that string pinchy-thing (that's the technical term) you hear on the Plain White T's recording:

Song 2: Fire by Bruce Springsteen. I'm not sure what I can say that won't get me teased mercilessly by the rest of the band, so here he is, in all his hunky breathy gorgeous glory:

Well, that's all for now-- if you need me I'll be in my bunk. Have a nice weekend!