Skype/Gmail/Facetime video guitar lessons now available. FREE INTRO LESSON! PAYPAL now accepted. International customers welcome.
EMAIL KARLSTRAUB@HOTMAIL.COM FOR DETAILS.
Guitarist Karl Straub ("a world class original on electric guitar"-- CD BABY) can now do SKYPE lessons in various styles-- COUNTRY, FLATPICKING, WESTERN SWING, BLUES, ROCKABILLY, ETC.
Without belaboring the point, I'll admit upfront that Steve Lukather is not one of my favorite guitarists. Regardless, in his role here asking Glen Campbell questions about guitar and sessions in the old days, he acquits himself adequately. He's obviously a serious player.
I haven't watched this in depth yet, but it's essential viewing for me because of Glen's comments about his work on Beach Boys sessions. It's only really a minute or less of valuable material on that topic, but I'm always fascinated to learn even a tidbit about who played which guitar part on those records.
A few other highlights from me skimming it--
1. Glen Campbell couldn't remember the name of the instrumental "Raunchy," although he could play the sax part from it. Steve Lukather had evidently not heard it before.
2. Lukather asked about the rumor that Glen had played the McGuinn 12-string intro on "Mr. Tambourine Man." I had never heard this rumor. The other parts were played by session guys, I believe. Campbell played great 12-string elsewhere, but according to him the Roger McGuinn part was played by McGuinn.
3. Early in the clip, Glen plays some burning solos on a country progression. It's a little sloppy, maybe, but it's a quick little lesson on how Glen can tear it up in one position. Then he has some flashy position shifting licks. (It's good to be able to work in both of those ways. Basically, you play hot in one position, then play hot while you're shifting to another, then play hot in the next position. It really is that simple!)
4. Glen plays some of the chord voicings from "Lovin' Feeling."
Here's a bonus, a TV clip with Jerry Reed and Glen playing "Guitar Man." Now, that is hot.
John Lennon once said that if you wanted to give rock and roll another name, you could just call it "Chuck Berry." I'll make a similarly uncontroversial statement-- Duane Eddy is synonymous with "twang," as well as "melody."
I picked this clip because it has good coverage of Duane's picking hand, but virtually any Eddy cut will illustrate his basic philosophy of how to make a guitar instrumental "memorable" (his word). Play the melody!
I'll confess to rarely following Duane's sage advice. I've been spending the last few years feverishly trying to get my chops up (a phrase I first heard from Tom Heyman years ago), but of late I've started wondering if maybe I should be focusing more on melody playing. Maybe it's the tiny sideman voice in my head, saying things like, "Maybe you should play the melody more." I have found this statement cryptic in the past, but hearing Duane play, I feel that the mists are dissipating in front of my eyes.
Get ready for the upcoming box set, "The Birth of a Guitar Legend - The Jamie Singles Sessions 1957-1962". Along with his early singles, the set includes alternate takes, unissued material and session chat. Here's a link to an online debate about echo, reverb, stereo, mono, etc. I'm torn, because I care about sound when I hear it, but sometimes these kinds of debates strike me as pedantic. You be the judge. Regardless of my feelings about this, I thank online fanatics for making information available-- they are providing a valuable service.
If I haven't dropped enough guitarist names already, here's the substance of a conversation I had a while back with my friend and colleague Alex McCullough, following a Duane recording session Alex was lucky enough to be part of.
"How did Duane Eddy get his sound in the studio?"
"He plugged his Gretsch into a Fender amp and played the melody."
Alex, please correct me if there's anything substantively wrong with this transcription of our discussion.
(MORE)
The recent Tommy Tedesco post had Laurindo in the background, and it whetted my appetite for some upfront Almeida.
Laurindo Almeida is one of those names I've heard a million times, but I've never really made much effort to hear his work. Well, that just means one more reason why growing older doesn't have to be a bad thing-- it presents an opportunity to dig deeply into the music of this great master. There's additional Almeida available online, including some hip "bossa nova" arrangements of Debussy et al. Let me know if you need more, and I'll take care of it.
(MORE)
GEORGE BARNES, complete transcription "CHICKEN IN THE ROUGH."
This is Barnes's jazz version of the fiddle tune Chicken Reel, a traditional piece heard in many cartoons and movies, Foghorn Leghorn, etc. It's three minutes of Barnes soloing, from his rare-as-hen's-teeth "COUNTRY JAZZ" album. It's pretty much a guitar lesson in every bar. D.C picker Jim Stephanson told me that Danny Gatton learned every lick on this record years ago. I sell this transcription for $15.00. Email me for info, karlstraub@hotmail.com.
SKYPE/GMAIL/FACETIME VIDEO LESSONS AND TRANSCRIPTIONS. INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME.
"Cool Blues," by Charlie Parker. live Combo with Jim Stephanson.
"In a Mellow Tone," by Duke Ellington. live Chicken Fried Swing, with Ira Gitlin.
"Stone's Rag," traditional fiddle tune, solo acoustic demo.
Karl Straub teaches guitar privately in Arlington, Virginia. For information about lessons, go to guitarteacherkarlstraub.blogspot.com You can email Karl for additional information at karlstraub@hotmail.com. For those who live elsewhere, Karl can also do "virtual lessons", where he answers questions and provides transcriptions and guitar exercises tailored to the individual player. If there's a guitar lick, solo, fill, chord, etc. that you can't figure out, email Karl and he can help. It's now possible for Karl to record a video of himself playing and explaining musical examples. These can be sent to the student in email, and even put on an Ipod/Iphone. If you are interested in doing a lesson this way, please email Karl with an explanation of what music you want to work on, and he can give you a cost estimate.
I encourage people to print out the musical notation examples as a single copy for personal use. Other use is forbidden without written permission of Karl Straub. Feel free to link to my material.
HOW TO USE THESE LESSONS
Transcribing has its limitations, and even to get an incomplete representation of what someone played can take tons of time. I've noticed that when I make transcriptions for my students, they often ignore a lot of the articulation suggestions I put in, because they are struggling just to read the notes. For these reasons, I've decided to streamline my transcriptions, leaving out some of the fussier and more obsessive details. In spite of this, I still feel they are among the more accurate ones you'll find on the net. Please feel free to email me (karlstraub@hotmail.com) or post comments about any mistakes you find, along with questions or suggestions. I suggest you use the transcriptions as a rough guide to the recordings, and do plenty of listening to the originals. Sometimes I'll record my versions, usually I suggest you listen to the originals.
USING THE LESSON MATERIAL in some cases, I offer specific suggestions about how to use the material in a lesson. In the absence of anything specific to a particular lesson, here are my general recommendations.
1. If it's at all possible, work through an entire lesson. When your schedule makes it impossible for you to do this, there's a lot of value in taking small pieces (even just a couple bars) and practicing them repetitively. I recommend practicing things in sets of ten. This means picking out some amount of material that you can play correctly ten times in a row. In some cases, you'll get a technique exercise. In others, you may hear an idea that you can use to expand your vocabulary. 2. If reading is frustrating for you, even tablature-- keep these ideas in mind. Even a good reader is going to fumble reading some parts; reading is just plain hard sometimes. Try to use your reading skills in conjunction with listening-- reading becomes more fun when you can look at notation and hear it in your head. When necessary, use the notation more as a doublecheck reference than your primary source. Just make sure that you doublecheck to make sure you're playing something as written. No doubt most of what I've come up with can be improved upon, but the key is to clarify your musical thought by forcing yourself to play what is written. When you can do that, feel free to embellish what I have here. It's fun playing what another great guitarist played-- but it's only an interim step.
My name is Karl Straub. My training is in music education, but I am also a member of that most admired of all categories, the self-appointed Internet pundit and radio host. If you need someone to play Telecaster, or to bloviate, or both, I'm your man!