Posts
DecemberDec 22 Saturday 07
Spanish Gypsy Lick
Been workin' out this really sweet sounding Spanish-Gypsy scale and the chords that go along with it. (G, G#, F-minor, D-dim)
As I often do, I got into a zone while practicing, and by the time i was done, i was like - damn, wish I recorded this. And guess what? I did!
DecemberDec 3 Monday 07
Myron Guest Spot on Bang Barstal
My buddy William G. is just about finished with his epic webcomic Bang Barstal. Myron Makere gets a guest spot in the final scene, playing a banjo, no less. Go check it out; read it from the beginning, even! http://www.graphicsmash.com/comics/bang_grsm.php
Music and Stuff
First off, something creative - Neal (
nvonflue) e-mailed me about collaborating on one of the songs he wrote called "Pick me up." As with many of his songs, I wonder just how much of what he writes is based on experience. He thought it'd be fun to have me add some …
NovemberNov 27 Tuesday 07
Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines (19th Century English Traditional)
Changed the key from E to E-minor and the time to 4/4. Also starting to really appreciate the awesomeness of 7th chords. I actually recorded a very elaborate mix with accordion and banjo, but lost it all when puter crashed. Today, I just played it live and ended up …
Video Fabricari, Episode 1-11
I've uploaded the first season of time-lapse videos I started recording back in '05. Back then, you-tube really wasn't what it is today. But now it's all on there. I'll upload season 2 someday soon.
NovemberNov 18 Sunday 07
4-String Blues
Busted string ain't gonna stop me from playin' them blues.
http://fabricari.com/music/4-string-blues.mp3
NovemberNov 15 Thursday 07
30 Second Sketch in C-Minor
Screwin' around with accordion/banjo in C-minor. Funny thing about frailing in c-minor without tuning up the drone sting from G is that it ends up sounding like them olde timey tenor banjos. Kinda works here - but I'll opt for the tuning when my new machine heads get …
NovemberNov 11 Sunday 07
Banjo Sketch: Stepping Stones
williamgeorge threw down a challenge to learn/record this song. It's a Monkey's classic, but I'm proud of the fact that I can butcher even the simplest of songs. Timing's all outta wack, but it's fun:
http://fabricari.com/music/stepping-stone.mp3
Lyrics:
I I I I I'm
Not …
NovemberNov 8 Thursday 07
Banjo Sketch: Hesitation Blues
Workin' on a lesson out of "A Book of Five Strings." (Page 33) The focus was on transposing music to fit any key. I tried quite a few, A-minor was cool, but ended up recording in the key of G (the easy one). Song's called Hesitation Blues, my first attempt to sing some …
NovemberNov 4 Sunday 07
A Little Banjo Frailing on You Tube: Cripple Creek
Man, oh man, I had a lot of fun learning this one.
Lyrics:
I got a gal at the head of the creek,
Goin' up to see her the middle of the week,
Kiss her on the mouth just as sweet as any wine,
She wraps herself around me like a sweet potato vine.
Goin' up to Cripple Creek, goin' …
20 Seconds of Cripple Creek
I finally got good enough with the banjo to jam with a friend at work. For the most part, I kept up and added my share of embellishment. Also, found that I raised a few eyebrows at Guitar Center when I started frailing on the one Goodtimes banjo they had in stock. I …
NovemberNov 1 Thursday 07
Banjo Sketch: Boil Them Cabbage Down
Still workin' through The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo. Made a quicky recording of that song Boil Them Cabbage Down.
http://fabricari.com/music/boil-them-cabbage-down.mp3
Halloween was nice. Jeremy was Harry Potter, and I got to steal candy from his bag afterwards - …
Sea Shanty (Accordion and Banjo)
I was told that if I call this a sea shanty, it'll sound better.
http://fabricari.com/music/first-waltz.mp3
OctoberOct 31 Wednesday 07
Banjo Practice
More Banjo Practice:
http://fabricari.com/music/banjo-practice-20071030.mp3
OctoberOct 29 Monday 07
Basic Accordion Video
I made a video of me playin' some accordion. I'm far from qualified to say I can actually play the thing. So far, I've only recorded the left hand and right hand parts separate. Playing it live is a different matter.
I tried to work on a few lessons to day - it's a …
OctoberOct 22 Monday 07
40 Seconds of Frailing
http://fabricari.com/music/october-2007.mp3
I spent a LOT of time this weekend workin' on banjo technique, learning songs, licks, riffs, stuff. Here's a 40 second snippet of what I ended the with.
I tuned the drone back down to A and played in A-minor. I wanted to apply …
OctoberOct 15 Monday 07
Red River Valley
http://fabricari.com/music/red-river-valley.mp3
My eyes are still swimming with a head-cold. Hard to think straight. So I've been frailin' away some more on banjo. With tissue stuffed into each nostril, I went back to the basics and practiced some old folk songs from …
OctoberOct 12 Friday 07
Some French sounding music...
So, as I mentioned, I picked up an accordion last week. I'm still getting the feel for it. I recorded this one in D-Minor - another easy enough key. Dorian, I think they call it. Anther 1-4-5 chord progression. This was an exercize in mixing guitar, banjo, accordion …
OctoberOct 9 Tuesday 07
Some Sketches
I've been focusing more on The Mystic pages, so these sketches really amount to warm-ups. I spent the better part of last evening laying out the text on the page. There's quite a bit of dialog on this one. If I'd have laid it out using my old method of "draw first", …