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We now have three monthly guest columns! --Guitar luthier Chip Wilson from New Orleans --Harmonica virtuoso Richard Hunter in Connecticut --Ed Roseman on the coast of Maine handles music theory. For other musical tips regarding guitar, percussion, keyboards, PA, recording, and much more, see SOUNDADVICE, our archive of FAQ at www.guitarsam.com/soad/soundadvice.htm Do you have a special tip or trick? Email it to us! We'll publish our favorites, and give you credit for submitting it! kevin@guitarsam.com www.guitarsam.com/interviews/artie_traum.htm
His new CD "Meetings with Remarkable Friends" is a musical testimonial of Artie's diverse guitar styles and his ability to stay current in a world that leaves others behind. Artie spent some time with us answering some musical questions to which only he knows the answer! We hope you enjoy this very special Artie Traum interview at: www.guitarsam.com/interviews/artie_traum.htm For more information about Artie, also see the official Artie Traum website at www.artietraum.com/
We share our favorite music manufacturers, musical artists, music interest, and other sites.
This question is provided courtesy of Edly's website http://www.edly.com/ --Dear Edly: Are there any memory "tricks" to memorizing the scale chords of each key or do you just "get it" after a while? It's pretty important to know, for example, that F is the IV chord in C major, right? It's just a jumble in my brain right now. For some reason, I'm really having trouble getting this information to stick in my mind. Any suggestions you might have will be greatly appreciated. It's amazing that I've played music for so long and yet with so little understanding. It frustrates me that I wasn't taught these things as I was learning to play the harp and piano. Maybe my teachers just thought that I already knew why I needed to learn scales and key signatures. I catch myself starting a new piece without even looking at the key signature or trying to figure out what chords to expect! Is there hope for me? --Edly answers: Given what you said in your second paragraph, it sounds like you could perhaps benefit from getting away from your instrument(s) for a bit. Here's why: if you know how to construct a scale, chord, or key's diatonic chords AWAY from your instrument, you could translate that knowledge superquick to your instrument-and then you just play it, because you know how to play your instrument. Perhaps you don't play it WELL on your instrument (yet), but that's okay, because that's what practice is for. (That's one possible approach. You'll have to find out what works well for you, knowing yourself as you do, better than anyone else. A contrasting approach, below, is hands-on.) It's cozy for technique and understanding to grow side by side in a musician. Anyway, it's "important" to me "to know, for example, that F is the IV chord in C major." (I can't say for sure if it'll be important to you.) I use it all the time, but if I ever spaced it for some reason, I'd figure it out without missing a beat. It's a question of HOW you know it. Do you "know" it because you memorized it because you were told you had to, or knew you'd get a bad grade, or your wrists would get beaten if you didn't? Hands-on: one can learn keys, their signatures, and their diatonic chords either of two ways. The first is by hard-core memorization. Some people prefer this, but I prefer the second way, which is through use. Start with a simple folk song or two, harmonize it using I, IV, and IV; as few chord changes as possible-just enough to make it sound basically right- and try playing it in a couple of different keys. Then try adding in some iim, iiim, and vim where your ear likes 'em, and then try that in a couple of keys. It will all, over time, leak into your brain, hopefully without your hitting your head on the wall much, if at all. Sure there's hope for you! Many instrumental teachers are, well, mostly instrumental teachers! Their focus is (am I repeating myself yet?) mostly on the instrument, and secondarily on the other aspects of music. The very fact that you are now wanting to become more fluent on the musical, rather than instrumental, aspects is a great first step. The next steps will take you where you want to go with patience and practice. Take your time, and go easy on yourself.
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Richard
Hunter...Harmonica
Q+A
If you have questions about harmonica playing technique, use of different keys, bending, blowing, maintaining and so on, send them to us at sam@guitarsam.com, and we'll have harmonica virtuoso Richard Hunter provide an expert answer for you. --A reader asks: Hi, I'm new at playing the harp. I want to learn to play background harp in our church gospel band, somewhat like when you hear the Gaither's play. Is there a secret to doing this? At this point I'm not interested in soloing, but only providing soulful gospel background. --Richard answers: There are really two questions here. One is about playing the harmonica--i.e., about technique--and the other is about playing a specific style. In terms of Gospel harmonica technique, blues technique is the closest thing, and there are lots of good books on blues harmonica available, including Tony Glover's classic "Blues Harp" on Oak Publications and Jon Gindick's and David Harp's books for beginners. "Soulful" usually means that there's a lot of expression in the playing, and this implies using plenty of sound-shaping techniques such as vibrato (throat, hand, tongue, etc.), hand articulations, and so on. Once you learn the techniques, this is really a question of personal taste and style. "Style" is about what's appropriate for a given musical genre, and it's something you pick up by listening to lots of players who are playing the kinds of music you want to play. Check Jack's Gospel Harmonica Page at http://www.volcano.net/~jackmearl/ for more information on Gospel harmonica style; you'll also find lots of hymns notated for diatonic harmonica there. Thanks.
Chip
Wilson...Guitar
Tech-Talk
Musician/luthier Chip Wilson lives in New Orleans, LA. Chip worked with Borys Guitars when master archtop builder James L. D'Aquisto served as a consultant, before opening his own business, Better Guitars. Better Guitars served as an authorized repair shop for most of the top US guitar manufacturers. Chip recently wrote a book review for Guitarmaker, the quarterly publication of ASIA. Chip is now primarily a performer in New Orleans, typically playing 25 to 30 gigs per month, as a soloist, sideman, and with his own band A Jumpin' Somethin'. His 1999 release "A Jumpin' Somethin" was nominated for Best Traditional Jazz CD By A Louisiana Artist by Offbeat Magazine, the most widely distrbuted Louisiana music publication. Chip is currently working on a new CD for release in 2000. "A Jumpin' Somethin" can be obtained online at www.louisianamusicfactory.com, or by contacting Chip at jumpinsomethin@aol.com --A reader asks: I'm really curious to know how math is used to build guitars. If you can give me any info at all, I would greatly appreciate it. It's for a project at school. --Chip answers: As a student, I always had trouble with math. Ironically, I chose a career in music and guitar making, where math is of the utmost importance. Guitar bodies are made in several dimensions for varying reasons. A typical electric, small bodied archtop, such as the Borys B120 that I used to help build, is a comfortable 16 inches across. My current gig guitars, both in my Nouvelle design class, measure 17 3/8ths inches. The larger body, with deeper sides (3 3/8ths as opposed to the B120s 3 inch depth, allows for a greater acoustic projection, but makes the guitars more prone to feedback when amplified. The same general rule applies to flat top designs, as well. Math figures into guitar neck design in several areas. Fingerstyle players often prefer a wider fingerboard, as the greater distance allowed between the strings enables easier right hand technique. However, the left hand stretches across the strings are somewhat greater. Typical measurements that I have used for a “wide fingerboard” are 1 3/4s inches at the nut, and 2 3/16ths at fret 12. In contrast, the Les Paul Custom sitting on my workbench at present features 1 5/8ths inches at the nut, and 2 inches at fret 12. Most luthiers will probably agree that the most crucial mathematical considerations occur in the scale length (the singing or vibrating length of the string) and the fret intervals of the fingerboard. The formula for this (my source is Irving Sloane’s Steel String Guitar Construction) is: the singing string length is divided by 17.835 to find the precise location of the first fret. The remaining string length is then again divided by the same figure to locate fret 2, and the process is repeated until you have your complete fretboard of 20, 22 or 24 frets (the most common number of frets in current use). To take this information one step further, a longer string length, such as 25 ½ inches, can make an acoustic guitar louder, due to the greater tension of the strings and the longer singing string length. A shorter scale length, such as the commonly use 24 3/4s inches of the Les Paul Custom, allows for easier playability as the left hand stretches up and down the neck are less: the frets are proportionately closer together. Math figures in a many other ways in guitar design, and here is just one more challenge that luthiers face: some of us use metric measurements, and some of us use standard measurements in inches. Some of us measure in inches, but in metric inch divisions. In other words, 12 3/4ths inches can also be written 12.750 inches. We often have to translate one numerical language into another. Aaahhhh!?!?! I wish I had studied math harder in sixth grade… Quick tip from Chip: Guitarists often use pencil lead (graphite) to lubricate nut slots to reduce string friction at the nut, a common tuning problem. Dave Malone from the New Orleans band The Radiators told me about the Archer Precision Lubricator (available from Radio Shack, catalogue number 64-2301A), a light lubricant with suspended Teflon particles that works beautifully, with no messy black nut slots.
Monthly
Giveaway! Please note: This contest is over! The answer was, of course Happy Traum. If you're the first to email us with the correct answer to this musical question, you'll win a copy of Artie Traum's new CD "Meetings with Remarkable Friends". The question is: Artie Traum once had a musical duo with his brother. What is Artie's brother's name? Send your correct answer to us at kevin@guitarsam.com Congratulations to Robyn Wright of MO, for quickly providing the first correct answer to our question, which was:
Robyn won a set of Fretboard Flash Cards, courtesy of Mike at 12 Tone Music www.12tonemusic.com/, the Internet home of free guitar lessons.
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Since
the days of the Greenwich Village '60s folk scene to the
year 2000, Artie Traum's career has covered nearly every
aspect of the music business. From his work as a performer,
writer, studio musician, producer, video instructor and
clinician, the list of artists with whom Artie Traum has
worked with reads like a "Who's Who" of the music industry.
For
more theory than you can shake a 12-stave manuscript book
at, see 
Richard
Hunter is the author of "Jazz Harp", from Oak Publications.
Richard's recorded works include "The Act of Being Free in
One Act", which is the first full-length CD of works for
unaccompanied harmonica ever recorded, and "The Second Act
of Free Being", a CD that takes solo harmonica to a new
level. Check 
Our
newest feature is Guitar TechTalk, with
Chip Wilson in New Orleans. If you have
a question about guitar building, repair, or maintenance,
send it to us at Play It Again Sam...66 Main St...Montpelier VT 05602...Phone (802) 229-0295...Fax (802) 229-0755