Another schmaltzy effort by Musso with his trademark jaw-dropper twist (I won't spoil it but, um, try to imagine a cross between The Sixth Sense and The Matrix and you'll be on the right track... actually, I guess I have spoiled it). Still, it was an enjoyable read and good fodder for francophiles looking to maintain their reading chops.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Dirt Music, by Tim Winton
Tim Winton is to Western Australia what Charles Dickens was to industrial revolution London, and this is another very enjoyable read. I didn't find it as memorable as his epic Cloudstreet, but that's by no means something to hold against it.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The Guitar Diaries #12 (Season Finale)
Last week's lesson was a return to form after the below-par session of the previous week (more on that below). We reviewed the use of the diminished scale and went into it in a bit more detail. We also discussed sweep-picking and went over a couple of cool exercises, before finishing up with another jazz standard, "All Of Me".
The application in which the diminished scale appeared was in the song "(Up A) Lazy River", in a part where the chord progression goes from E flat major to E diminished. The suggested scales for improvising over these chords were E flat Lydian followed by E diminished. It works well because the two scales share a number of important common tones.
Like the diminished seventh chord, the diminished scale has a nice symmetry to it. The diminished scale is formed by alternating tone, semi-tone intervals, resulting in a scale with eight notes. You can think of it as a diminished seventh chord with an extra note added a semi-tone below each chord tone. Or, as I realised during the lesson, you can look at it as two diminished seventh chords a tone (or semi-tone) apart. This idea forms the basis of a cool arpeggio lick that the teacher showed me (and which prompted the interlude on sweep-picking technique).
By the way, sweep-picking, for the heathens, is a technique for picking single notes across successive strings in which you "sweep" across the strings, in a kind of controlled strumming motion. It's distinct from the usual "alternate" picking, in which you alternate between up and down strokes between successive notes. Sweep-picking is usually considered as a kind of "advanced" technique (it's the kind of thing you read about in Vinnie Moore or Paul Gilbert columns in Guitar World magazine). When mastered, it allows you to play the kind of blistering 3 octave arpeggios that make you wanna reach for some hair spray and spandex (or so I'm told..).
On that note, Steve came off with a classic quote during the sweep-picking discussion. I jokingly commented that I wasn't aware that sweep-picking was commonly used in jazz playing. He jumped on that remark, saying "Aw yeah! Jazz players were sweep picking way before bloody Frank Gambale -- he just went and made a pig of himself with it!"
Anyhow, this lesson brought to a close the initial 12 week run of "The Guitar Diaries". I had decided during the week to take a break and then cast around for another teacher. There were a number of reasons for this. Firstly, after three months of weekly lessons I've amassed a fair amount of material but have been steadily falling behind; a few weeks off will provide a much-needed breather in which to review and assimilate this stuff. I've also stumbled on another rich seam of learning material in the form of the Musician's Institute series of books. There are a few things there that will give me plenty to chew on for a while (in particular, I'm loving Ross Bolton's "Funk Rhythm Guitar Essentials"). Of course, learning from books is no substitute for regular interaction with a teacher, but I figure a kind of "study break" is a good idea (and probably will be at regular intervals going forward).
Another issue that came to the fore last week was the slightly erratic personality of the teacher. While there's no doubts about his ability as a player, there are times when I've found his attitude a little negative (a hint of jaded bitterness) and his personality a bit overbearing. In last week's lesson this was exacerbated by the fact that he'd obviously had a couple of drinks before the lesson. Now, while he was by no stretch of the imagination intoxicated, there was a noticeable edge to his mood that kind of soured the lesson and left me feeling a bit disgruntled. So, I figure a break is a good idea. As I say, I'm thinking of trying out another teacher and see how that goes. I won't rule out going back to Steve, but for now I think it would be good to get a fresh perspective.
Stay tuned for TGD Season Two...
The application in which the diminished scale appeared was in the song "(Up A) Lazy River", in a part where the chord progression goes from E flat major to E diminished. The suggested scales for improvising over these chords were E flat Lydian followed by E diminished. It works well because the two scales share a number of important common tones.
Like the diminished seventh chord, the diminished scale has a nice symmetry to it. The diminished scale is formed by alternating tone, semi-tone intervals, resulting in a scale with eight notes. You can think of it as a diminished seventh chord with an extra note added a semi-tone below each chord tone. Or, as I realised during the lesson, you can look at it as two diminished seventh chords a tone (or semi-tone) apart. This idea forms the basis of a cool arpeggio lick that the teacher showed me (and which prompted the interlude on sweep-picking technique).
By the way, sweep-picking, for the heathens, is a technique for picking single notes across successive strings in which you "sweep" across the strings, in a kind of controlled strumming motion. It's distinct from the usual "alternate" picking, in which you alternate between up and down strokes between successive notes. Sweep-picking is usually considered as a kind of "advanced" technique (it's the kind of thing you read about in Vinnie Moore or Paul Gilbert columns in Guitar World magazine). When mastered, it allows you to play the kind of blistering 3 octave arpeggios that make you wanna reach for some hair spray and spandex (or so I'm told..).
On that note, Steve came off with a classic quote during the sweep-picking discussion. I jokingly commented that I wasn't aware that sweep-picking was commonly used in jazz playing. He jumped on that remark, saying "Aw yeah! Jazz players were sweep picking way before bloody Frank Gambale -- he just went and made a pig of himself with it!"
Anyhow, this lesson brought to a close the initial 12 week run of "The Guitar Diaries". I had decided during the week to take a break and then cast around for another teacher. There were a number of reasons for this. Firstly, after three months of weekly lessons I've amassed a fair amount of material but have been steadily falling behind; a few weeks off will provide a much-needed breather in which to review and assimilate this stuff. I've also stumbled on another rich seam of learning material in the form of the Musician's Institute series of books. There are a few things there that will give me plenty to chew on for a while (in particular, I'm loving Ross Bolton's "Funk Rhythm Guitar Essentials"). Of course, learning from books is no substitute for regular interaction with a teacher, but I figure a kind of "study break" is a good idea (and probably will be at regular intervals going forward).
Another issue that came to the fore last week was the slightly erratic personality of the teacher. While there's no doubts about his ability as a player, there are times when I've found his attitude a little negative (a hint of jaded bitterness) and his personality a bit overbearing. In last week's lesson this was exacerbated by the fact that he'd obviously had a couple of drinks before the lesson. Now, while he was by no stretch of the imagination intoxicated, there was a noticeable edge to his mood that kind of soured the lesson and left me feeling a bit disgruntled. So, I figure a break is a good idea. As I say, I'm thinking of trying out another teacher and see how that goes. I won't rule out going back to Steve, but for now I think it would be good to get a fresh perspective.
Stay tuned for TGD Season Two...
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Steve Vai - Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
Watching Iron Maiden's "Flight 666" recently has put me into the mood for checking out music videos by some of my old favourite guitarists/bands. Cue Steve Vai's 2009 dvd/live album "Where The Wild Things Are".
It's a typically impressive effort that brings back some memories from the two live shows I was lucky enough to catch in Perth (1996 and 2005 IIRC). A lot of the material is, understandably, from his more recent albums and thus not really familiar to me (I kind of zoned out after "Fire Garden"). He has once again surrounded himself with a band of high calibre musicians, and he gives each one of them ample opportunity to show off their talents during the show.
Highlights are many, but for me probably the single most enjoyable track was the searing rendition of "The Audience Is Listening". It's the track that, if you had to pick just one, best sums up what Vai is all about and what's he capable of.
Gripes?
Well, I find some (okay, most) of his dialog to be a bit on the cheesy side -- it's like he's trying too hard to sound like a normal rock'n'roll kind of guy (I still remember his cringeable anecdote about Britney Spears from the 2006 show). While I'm at it, the same problem also afflicts his lyrics -- e.g. the song "firewall". On such occasions he'd be better off sticking to the percussive scat singing that he does quite well.
Another minor peeve was his hair style -- it seemed to be at that "awkward" length and he was constantly wiping it out of his face in a vaguely effeminate way.
But overall, it's a good watch and sure to please fans of top shelf guitar shred.
It's a typically impressive effort that brings back some memories from the two live shows I was lucky enough to catch in Perth (1996 and 2005 IIRC). A lot of the material is, understandably, from his more recent albums and thus not really familiar to me (I kind of zoned out after "Fire Garden"). He has once again surrounded himself with a band of high calibre musicians, and he gives each one of them ample opportunity to show off their talents during the show.
Highlights are many, but for me probably the single most enjoyable track was the searing rendition of "The Audience Is Listening". It's the track that, if you had to pick just one, best sums up what Vai is all about and what's he capable of.
Gripes?
Well, I find some (okay, most) of his dialog to be a bit on the cheesy side -- it's like he's trying too hard to sound like a normal rock'n'roll kind of guy (I still remember his cringeable anecdote about Britney Spears from the 2006 show). While I'm at it, the same problem also afflicts his lyrics -- e.g. the song "firewall". On such occasions he'd be better off sticking to the percussive scat singing that he does quite well.
Another minor peeve was his hair style -- it seemed to be at that "awkward" length and he was constantly wiping it out of his face in a vaguely effeminate way.
But overall, it's a good watch and sure to please fans of top shelf guitar shred.
The Guitar Diaries #11
Last week we looked at a jazz standard called "(Up A) Lazy Rizer" by Hoagy Carmichael. It's a lovely tune with some really interesting "chromaticisms" (in particular, the flat 9 over the opening G major chord). We worked on a basic comping rhythm using the 3-note "freddie green" chords from the previous week.
We also got into improvising over the changes. This is pretty hairy due to flat 9 mentioned above, and requires basically focussing on a new mode for each chord. (e.g. over the G major, play C harmonic minor, as this gives the G major with flat 9; over the C7 play C mixolydian; over the F play F lydian and then at one point E diminished.)
I found this improvisation fairly tough and, to be honest, it seems a little premature. I am working on getting my scale fingerings down -- and it's coming along, albeit slowly -- but it seems a bit soon to be leaping into improvising within the diminished scale! And it's pretty hard to get a feel for improvising when you've only got 4 beats before you need to leap into a new scale/mode. But I guess it's good to get some idea for "where it's going" -- even if I currently can't improvise worth a damn, at least I'll have a vague notion for how the scale patterns I'm learning are going to come in useful..
We also got into improvising over the changes. This is pretty hairy due to flat 9 mentioned above, and requires basically focussing on a new mode for each chord. (e.g. over the G major, play C harmonic minor, as this gives the G major with flat 9; over the C7 play C mixolydian; over the F play F lydian and then at one point E diminished.)
I found this improvisation fairly tough and, to be honest, it seems a little premature. I am working on getting my scale fingerings down -- and it's coming along, albeit slowly -- but it seems a bit soon to be leaping into improvising within the diminished scale! And it's pretty hard to get a feel for improvising when you've only got 4 beats before you need to leap into a new scale/mode. But I guess it's good to get some idea for "where it's going" -- even if I currently can't improvise worth a damn, at least I'll have a vague notion for how the scale patterns I'm learning are going to come in useful..
Thursday, September 9, 2010
"A Demon of Our Own Design", by Richard Bookstaber
A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation by Richard Bookstaberwell written and very relevant. has particularly good description the blossoming and subsequent tailing off of statistical arbitrage -- with insight you won't find in some of the other recent, dime-a-dozen journalist books ("The Quants" springs to mind).
The author also makes a cogent argument for a simpler financial marketplace and against yet more layers of regulations. His point is that extra regulation merely adds more complexity, thereby increasing rather than decreasing the chances of a future crisis. The examples of Three Mile Island and the ValuJet crash are particularly illuminating here.
One gripe was when he discussed the economic service rendered by so-called "liquidity providers" (market makers). While I agree that someone providing a two-way market, and thus exposing themselves to risk from price movements, I do not see how the argument applies to trend-following "high frequency" traders, who essentially front-run genuine orders and profit from the resulting price "momentum". In reality, these operators are mere parasites, profiting from their privileged access to the market (through expensive "co-location" agreements with the market operators and sophisticated IT infrastructure). Far from providing liquidity, these guys are sapping it -- "liquidity vampires" wouldn't be an inapt appellation. It's an important distinction and one that could have implications for market stability (witness the recent May 6 "flash crash" in the NYSE).
It puts the lotion on its skin...
A little gem from a few years back that I just rediscovered (well, M- rediscovered it and mentioned it to me, but as we're all anonymous here I may as well claim credit...): the song "Lotion" by The Greenskeepers.
It's well worth checking out on YouTube. The song is a tongue-in-cheek homage to the character Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs and is very funny. I love the chorus near the end alluding to the scene where BB starts to lose his temper: "oh put the lotion in the f**king basket, bitch, put the lotion in the basket..."
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The Guitar Diaries #10
The main "takeaway" from my latest lesson was the idea of comping using minimal-istic three note chord voicings on strings 6, 4 and 3. The archetype for this style is Freddie Green who apparently played pretty much nothing but this type of comping during his 40 years with Count Basie's orchestra.
We covered a few different progressions to get familiar with the idea, including an old Guitar Player lesson by Lenny Breau.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Iron Maiden: Flight 666
I watched this documentary/concert film the other night. It tells the story of the "Somewhere Back In Time" world tour (which I was lucky enough to catch at Twickenham in July 2008).
The tour was quite an achievement: flying on their own plane (Ed Force One), with vocalist Bruce Dickinson as pilot, they covered 50,000 miles in 45 days, performing 23 shows on 5 continents. (This doesn't count the European leg of the tour which they did later in the year.)
It's an interesting and very enjoyable watch -- definitely a must-see for nostalgic Maiden fans. What stood out above all is how the guys have basically stayed close to their roots and are very down to earth about it all -- a stark contrast to the self-absorbed, prima donna antics of Metallica as seen in Some Kind Of Monster.
Garden Pics
(1) Potato patch:
(2) Planter boxes: the tall plants in the background are snowpeas (L) and broad beans (R). In the foreground are parsnips, swedes, spinach, rocket and a bunch of other things I can't remember..
(3) In the rockery at the back there is a lime tree. In the foreground is the recently-completed stormwater drain in front of the retaining wall. The two lengths of drain are joined under the cement by 90mm plastic pipe, and at the far end another pipe joins up to the pit at the back corner of the house. It seems to be doing its job so far based on a couple of recent downpours -- but only time, and a few really decent inundations, will tell.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Jump Back: New Apple iPod Shuffle Restores Fanboy Faith
A while back I ranted at length about my disgust at the 3rd incarnation of the iPod Shuffle (you know, the one with no buttons and the required apple-branded headphones blah blah blah).
Well, it looks as though Steve Jobs may just be an Interim Solutions reader, because the latest iPod Shuffle has just been announced, and guess what: the buttons (and basic design of the third generation model) are back, baby! With the important addition of playlist capability -- allowing you to go beyond a single amorphous 2GB randomized list and cater for different moods.
At 69 aussie big ones, this is once again looking like pretty good value. The simple, robust design really is ideal for jogging or the gym.
For now I'm still persevering with my 3g model, but it may soon be time for this fanboy to upgrade...
P.S. Another major upgrade is the new nano, which has an all-touch screen face. I'm less impressed by this since it represents (a) more power needed and thus shorter battery life, (b) a bigger area to get scratched, and (c) harder to change songs/volume with the iPod in your pocket. I do like the fact that it includes a radio (something that is standard with most other brands but which Apple have obstinately refused to include in most of the iPod family).
The Guitar Diaries #9
Last week's lesson was another mixture of revising previous material and introducing a bit of new stuff. The new stuff included jazzing up the Mr PC progression by adding more passing chords, some basic improvisation based on simple motifs starting from each chord root note, and a few more arpeggio ideas in the harmonic minor scale.
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