Carl, Zoltan and Joe: These Three Studs Shoulda Had A Rock Band ! (…do you wanna be a better guitar teacher?)

Posted on September 9, 2016 by karlaranjo

Guitar Teachers And Students

Most come to teaching guitar as a supplement to a performing and writing career, in fact I would warrant a guess that many turn to guitar tutoring as a profession because doing real music, actually breaking into the music business as a writer and or performer is an extraordinarily difficult process.

No Room For Musical Snobbery

In my career I have had many teachers who were not university or formally educated but we’re still excellent players, good performers and amazingly competent educators such as the legendary Ted Green author of Chord Chemistry and a virtuoso musician, whose education came from listening, studying and other great teachers. I was a guitar student of his after I had graduated from Berkee College of Music and I was in awe of how much he knew, what he could play -I had never, seen anything like it. Believe me, I am no snob when it comes to college degrees and other pedigrees. The proof is in the pudding!

Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene

Having And Being The Right Guitar Teacher

The Legendary Bill Leavitt

There are many people like me however, who actually really want to be guitar teachers and had teaching as a career goal. I decided this while under the mentor-ship and tutelage of William G. Leavitt, author of the Berklee method and one of the finest musicians to have ever lived. There were innumerable amazing lessons and experiences with him but the one thing that really struck me was that anyone can excel when shown the type of teaching, education, respect and mentorship that I saw from him, very quickly into that 6 year relationship I decided to dedicate myself to this art, the art of teaching the guitar. To follow in his footsteps as a guitar teacher.

The Three Mak Daddy Studs Of Music Education

Joe

I have based my work as a professional instructor on three of the world’s great theories of music education -the first one of course is the Berkee method, which was adapted from the work of Joseph Schillinger (1895-1943) a truly remarkable and gifted Renaissance man whose work and importance is sadly obscured by time. Schillinger’s mathematical system of music analysis was embraced by all the top musical minds and luminaries of the day like Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. Schillinger was actually a teacher of the great genius George Gershwin and quite interestingly, he worked with Leon Theremin and was deeply involved with the ‘rhythmicon’ a primitive electronic drum machine.

Joseph Schillinger And The Rhythmicon

It’s a highly mathematical system that see music as movement but I think it bridges the gap between classical European theory and modern jazz music theory courses. Popularized just after World War II the Schillinger system is a work of pure brilliance like the world is seldom seen. Although there are many wonderful things about this system I would like you, the reader to have one takeaway or salient quote for immediate use.

In terms of chord to chord motion the principles of the Berklee/Schillinger method states chords most commonly (root motion) move by fourth, fifth, half step or whole step.

Of course, that is in over generalization but you will find it to be an extraordinarily accurate and useful construct for giving music theory and songwriting lessons. I also find this idea useful in memorizing or transposing songs -test it out.

Carl

Our next stud is Carl Orff the author of Carmina Burana (which many people state as their favorite opera or favorite piece of classical music), and developer of an amazing system of musical education called ‘Kindermusik’ that is still in use today and provides one of the core standards for early musical educational at institutions throughout the world. Although the work of Carl Orff is deep and unbelievably complex, and takes years of study to truly understand, let’s find some great take aways from his work for application today.

Carl Orff- A Beautiful Mind.

One most Orff’s most beautiful and interesting idea is this: music lessons should resemble a child’s normal state of play. I absolutely love that and I always think of that when teaching: creating a comfortable play like environment for the student.

For me ‘play’ means jamming so for beginners I say, “learn to be a guitar player by making one chord sound good with picking or strumming”. The student and I begin to play that one chord vamp, with or without a rhythm track, and we start to enjoy some question and answer jamming. For experienced students, find something easy for them, and play with them, using small bites sized ideas to share and exchange. The people who really know the Orff method are able to weave threads of fun, joy and musicality throughout their lessons.

The second takeaway for is Carl Orff is that many lesson plans and or exercises actually involve the idea of dramatizing music, putting little skits to existing music or conversely putting music to existing skits or dances, it’s an amazingly insightful idea.

The application for us as guitar teachers (or music teachers in general) is I simply this: when working with a solo piece, ask the student to imagine a scene from a play or movie –imagining the scene in your head while performing the song. The student is learning to concentrate their musical efforts on the artistic and not the technical aspects.

Zoltan

Zoltan Kodaly: Respected Pedagogue

My third cornerstone theory of musical education, another widely excepted industry-standard in the teaching business is the work of Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967), the Kodaly Method. Kodaly began music instruction in his homeland of Hungary because he once heard Hungarian children singing folk tunes horribly out of key and decided then to dedicate himself to the art of music education. The Kodaly Method relies heavily on solfege and sight singing of rhythms. You have probably seen his system of hand signals to represent the notes of the major scale.

Kodaly Hand Signals For Major Scale Notes

Kodály’s musical compositions are influenced by Hungarian folk songs (nationalism) and the impressionistic movement and most notably Debussy. Accordingly, the study material is drawn from common knowledge, native language folk songs.

These “mother tongue songs”, the students national music, are the perfect material for study, performance and analysis.

The take away for us guitar teachers ( and music teachers) is that the Kodaly Method stresses children learn songs of their homeland and understand the folk songs and nationalistic pieces of music that come from where they were born, the music that came before them, the music that educated the people they learn from and listen to.

For Implementation of this concept, I always include fiddle tunes, bluegrass melodies, or pieces of traditional American (or world) instrumental music, common knowledge songs we all have in our ears.

By introducing a traditional music component into your guitar lessons you are actually honoring and practicing the Kodaly Method. If you don’t believe me just look at the repertoires of people like Chet Atkins, Roy Clark, or Danny Gatton who take instrumental music folk music and rural music to new heights by making something really special out of those well-known melodies. The example below shows Roy Clark playing a few easy Spanish flavored licks and weaving them into an amazing performance. Encourage any 4^th or 5th year player to copy this whole thing by ear, because it’s doable, simple and sounds amazing.

Joe, Carl and Zoltan

Hopefully, now is the time when a few readers will start Googling these cats and make a few Amazon purchases. Hope you like my three friends.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

The One Guitar Lesson You Have Got To Give …( Or Take!)

Posted on August 29, 2016 by karlaranjo

A Most Important Standard Blues Guitar Song

In the annals of modern and popular music there are certain songs that for one reason or another become standards, the common knowledge tunes that musicians play, study and teach. Although many songs have achieved such a stature, in guitar playing one song you’re going to have to play, teach and understand is the 1947 blues classic Stormy Monday, credited to T-Bone Walker entitled Stormy Monday. Its the song that inspired BB King to play the blues and in 1983, the song was inducted into the Blues Foundation Blues Hall of Fame. There is no blues song which is more definitive or important to a guitarist.

I’m Actually Going To Say 3 Definitive Versions (?!)

1947 T-Bone Walker

Surprisingly the chord progression associated with version credited to the author is not what most people think of when working with the tune. The original version is very close to a basic 12 bar blues with 2 notable exceptions:

Walkers use of chromatic passing chords around the I chord is masterful.
In bar 7 there is a subV of V (Ab7) producing the smoothness only ½ steps provide.

1961 Bobby Bland

This arrangement is considered by the cognoscenti to be “the” recording of Stormy Monday and these changes represent the standard approach of most musicians when playing or teaching the song. Plan felt as though he needed something different so he employed a series of chords that I have heard referred to as the “Chicago Changes” where bars 7 & 8 break the feeling of the blues tonality by employing the root motion associated with the first three chords from the key of G major: (again lots and lots of chromatic passing chords which usually are not notated)

G – A minor- B minor

I Maj – II minor – III minor

Brightening up the sound of the progression with strong to the major scale and its harmonies continues in bars 9 & 10 with the inclusion of a good old II –V cadence. Interestingly these are essentially changes for another T-Bone Walker song called ‘Perfume Girl’.

The rhythm guitar on this iconic track is playing passing chords like crazy, often there are too many of them and to my year they obscure the essence of a wonderful chord progression. It’s just my opinion, but so many passing chords make this song very difficult to teach and to replicate. For listening pleasure it’s on the top of my list, you be the judge:

1971 The Allman Brothers

This is the “other definitive” versions of the song for those are Allman Brothers fans or classic rock fans who have not explored blues in great depth. Most musicians do not consider their twist on the chord progression to be the ‘player’s version’ of the song but the twist and turns are very nice.

The important part about this version is the use of IV minor in bar 10, giving that section an amazing, jazzy or almost modal quality –it’s a very sophisticated and jazz like concept. I would explain this as being borrowed from the key of G minor, whose IV chord is indeed C minor. At Berklee this falls under the heading of ‘modal interchange’.

The Strumming Lesson

Although there are a seemingly endless number of sold approaches to playing blues changes,my lesson plan appears below. The suggested rhythmic figure is practically the most simple possible but it encourage the student to accent on 2 and 4, playing with a nice sense of groove and getting the best perspective on the changes and form. (To drive home the basic blues progression my first lesson for the song omits the Ab7 sub V).

Reprinted Form My Book, ” A Blueprint For Hot Guitar”

The Soloing Lesson

If you want a nice sounding solo to Stormy Monday, you have to play the changes. Call it a key of the moment or what have you, one long blues scale is not going to cut it. I often say and write: “a solo is a stream of single notes that imitates the sound of the chord changes”. Below are a few ideas for using Stormy Monday as a vehicle for an improvisation lesson.

Three Big Time Reasons Guitar Lessons Must Include The Blues

Posted on August 22, 2016 by karlaranjo

Young, Sharp Guitar Guys And The New And Improved Way(! ?)

Teaching in the same facility for a long time has afforded me the opportunity to see how lots of other teachers work, the self-taught, the highly educated and all points in between. Among the new crop of musical school guys there seems to be a disregard for the importance and necessity of a basic understanding of the blues, discarding the innumerable and indispensable benefits and insights that the genre offers to guitarists in their formative years. Relegating the style to the status of a useless old shoe, an artifact from the past that has no bearing on the new modern way to play is a big mistake. Nothing could be more wrong.

1.)Theory And Songwriting Chops Are Developed Through The Study Of Blues Music

I – IV- V Harmony is the most obvious and important reason to teach guitar students blues, learning solid, traditional 12 bar blues rhythm parts in particular, is what gives students familiarity and experience with the most important chords in modern American musical harmony,

The Tonic (or the one chord)
The Sub Dominant (the four chord)
and The Dominant (the five chord).

It’s true that the harmonic settings of rock, blues and jazz music are very often a 12 bar blues or an interesting derivative or variation of the I – IV- V harmony. In a traditional blues, like the one I have outlined below, the functions of the I -IV& V chords are very clearly explained and easily understood, easily heard with a few guided repetitions of the chart that I have reprinted from my book, Blueprint For Hot Guitar. As I have said before, all lesson plans must be neatly copied and professionally prepared, hopefully with software like Finale or Sibelius, this is my habit of constantly prosecuting the case for musical literacy.

Of particular use to a guitar student is the fact that the IV chord in the traditional 12 bar blues form almost always goes back to the I, the tonic, which makes students question traditional music theory where the IV chord is called the sub dominant and often taught strictly as a predecessor to the dominant chord. In rock, pop, jazz and blues music this simply isn’t true, the blues teaches the flavor and meaning if the all-important I –IV cadence. In this and many other regards, blues is an education in basic songwriting, harmonic ear training and repertoire development, as many famous songs are nothing more than 12 bar blues progressions -especially early rock, funk, electric blues and jazz.

Studying and analyzing the harmonic progressions of the simplest to the most complicated of blues songs is absolutely necessary to anyone who wants to understand modern music.

A recommended book is Modern Blues Guitar By Ken Chipkin

Great Blues Book By Kenn Chipkin

2.) Blues Always Seems To Be A Part Of The Current Musical Landscape

Blues music has morphed into an industry and a lifestyle. In the modern world of guitar playing, precious few musical genres have ascended to the lofty ranks of the blues. It’s the common ground that guitar players use to play with each other, form groups and bands and most importantly, have meaningful jam sessions. Any pro jam session in any stage around the world centers its activity around blues progressions, there’s just no two ways about it. Understanding and being able to play the blues even a little bit give your students an easy entrance into the larger world of guitar playing, working and improvising with others and helps them to become firmly rooted in the most important traditional American musical style, -giving them the same knowledge base that many of their musical heroes have.

3.)Becoming Active Guitar Players

Being active in the local blues scene is a good way to jam, have fun, get out and meet people and share ideas and moments with other musicians, eventually developing the skills needed to make money the third and final reason for starting the blues is because it’s like a history lesson the syntax vernacular and vocabulary of modern American music is based in large part on the blues, there is no other style or genre that is as influential in the formation of modern American music as blues and any serious course of study and electric guitar should treat blues with the utmost and highest regard and importance. In many great musical education systems such as kindred music and the code I’m historical perspectives and repertoire development are serious and integral part of the method I say and blues guitar playing hold equally as important a place in the study of modern guitar.

Sequencers: The Secret Sauce of Music Instruction

Posted on August 15, 2016 by karlaranjo

The Three Types Of Sequencers

Sequencers are music playback machines which can create a fun, often completely novel and real world environment for music students. A very common type of sequencer can be found in consumer level keyboards, like the ones in department stores that automatically play MIDI files for well-known songs. A sequencer does not play sound recording or an audio file, it essentially plays on-board or external synthesizers(s) to re-create the song anew with each press of the play button.

Sequencing Keyboards

My Old Sequencing Keyboard, A Roland D20, I loved it!

In the old days of sequencers I brought pro level synthesizers which always had some sequencer on board and usually loaded with lots of loops and drum tracks. This setup enables someone to record a bass line or rudimentary set of chord changes with a good solid grove and use these recordings (MIDI files) for purposes of practice, instruction or performance. The big problems were the user interface – the cryptic little screens on the devices and a steep learning curve. In retrospect, it really wasn’t very much capability, and didn’t really sound good by today’s standards, but at the time it was a home run.

Dedicated Sequencing Machines

My Old School Sequencers Made A Lot Of Gigs And Lessons Possible -note the small screens and scary interface

Later, companies began to make small boxes that combined a sequencer, drum machine, synthesizer and all kinds of pre-made, pre-loaded songs that could be sequenced (played anew by an internal computer) and played back through an amplifier or PA system. Again, for purposes of practice, instruction or performance it was as if a new day had dawned because every year these things began to sound better and better. Unfortunately however, the cryptic little user interface screens and difficulties in learning the machines were still there or getting worse and even more confusing.

Sequencing Software

BAND IN A BOX -non compensated endorsement

Software makers also created options for using a separate synthesizer, synthesizer module or small internal synthesizer found in your computer to enable you to use that computer and its speakers as a sequencer. For my money, the only choice in this area is a program called Band in a Box published by PG music.

In my studio, my computer is hooked up to a nice little PA system that I use to simulate real-world playing situations for my students using Band in a Box. Having a realistic and convincing virtual band to practice improvising, rhythm guitar and even songwriting and theory with makes teaching music very experiential and more meaningful and memorable.

The great thing about Band in a Box is that you can type a set of chord changes into a virtual lead sheet and the software will play those chord changes back with the sound of a full band in just about any style you could think of. If the parts generated or a little busy, funny, or too MIDI file sounding, strip a few of them away like the strings, or the fake guitar and you will almost always get a convincing accompaniment track.

The virtual lead sheet you created has a cursor that moves in real time across the chords as they are being sounded. This is great for jazz guitar students who are trying to learn not get lost in the changes and to play to play with the chord, playing more meaningful solos instead of simply buzzing one scale.

Finally when writing songs with band in a box you can explore different options, new keys, different cadences, different harmonic rhythms and a variety of other options simply with a mouse click. All of these changes are reflected on your computer screen in a form of virtual lead sheet. To me this means I can get more involved in the act of, in the art of instruction and encourage good musical thinking as opposed to having to play everything on the keyboard or piano and provide instruction over that very same playing. Using sequencers modernizes and streamlines my workflow by creating a real world and convincing musical environment whenever I need one. Below is a Band in a Box file i made and turned into a YouTube video (for home study, after the lesson), the animated play along screen is not the normal Band in a Box environment, but a special one used in the video.

Teaching Guitar Improvisation Through The Use Of Hot Stuff

Posted on June 26, 2016 by karlaranjo

Blue Bossa Lessons

Inevitably, a guitar instructor will encounter standard tunes associated with studying improvisation such as Watermelon Man, Stormy Monday and the Latin jazz classic blue bossa. I’m sure by now you know the drill: “It’s a 16 bar song, the first eight bars are in C minor, then there is a four bar section in D flat major, then song concludes with for more bars in the key of C minor. As we analyze the song we see that after a I minor to IV minor cadence, the rest of the song is comprised of either major or minor II –V – I progressions in the respective keys. The diagram below not only analyzes the progression but also gives you the scale choices. Of course you can forgo scales at any time and chord tones, tensions and chromatic approach notes.”

Jazz Lesson Plan: The normal “company line” concerning Blue Bossa

Great lesson plan right? Wrong. It’s a terrible lesson plan but unfortunately it’s the one that most of us had received in one form or another and unfortunately the one we continue to repeat in one form or another. This approach, in addition to being similar to pushing someone who cannot swim into the deep water of the pool in the hopes that in order to save his life will figure out some type of swimming when he hits the water is a terrible oversimplification.

Other oversimplifications that are of no use.

The Beauty of the Contrived Solo.

In the jazz era, musicians would call an improvised solo a ride and were often instruct the musician on the bench than to take a ride -play a solo. This term is very telling, when you are playing a quality solo, hitting all the right notes, nailing your hottest licks and firing on all cylinders you may experience a feeling of confidently and purposefully moving forward or something slightly transcendental. That is the feeling of the “ride”, and that is what you were looking for that is what you are teaching.

Before student can create these types of solo in the musical moments that accompany them he must experience a ride first hand, he must be shown the way. That’s where the contrived are planned out solo comes into play. The first step in this type of teaching is of course insisting that your students confidently and strongly play melodies to standard tunes and famous pop songs. Serious music students must study books of solos, such as the Charlie Parker Omni Book (or other artist collections of transcribed solos that have meaning to them) and compilations of licks and shorter solos.

Guitar Improv Studies: Charlie Parker Omni Book & David Baker Improvisation

The student gains first-hand experience and competency in making real and meaningful music out of passages of single notes, they’re experiencing the transcendental feeling of the ride, the feeling of strong and serious playing. That is the beauty of the contrived solo.

Whenever I Get in a Fix I Reach Right into My Bag of Tricks

Below is a music improvisation lesson plan for the beautiful minor key song Blue Bossa. I’ve recorded and transcribed two choruses of single line soloing over the basic chord changes to the song which can be heard below:

In the first chorus the melodic analysis (appearing in red) shows a fairly straightforward approach of using chord tones and chromatic approach notes. In the first two bars on emphasizing the natural 9 note because I feel this note is kind of an unsung hero when it comes to a minor chord sound -most students automatically default flat third and completely ignore this note. For the modulation to D flat major I am taking the Wes Montgomery approach and using some basic jazz guitar voicings and substitutions as a means of creating a solo. The last four bars of the solo are playing triads resident in the key of C minor, a somewhat pedestrian homage to “the sheets of sound” approach.

Blue Bossa; Contrived Solo

The first four bars of the second chorus of the song enables me to discuss upper structure triads. In this case the key change is addressed by using melodic motion by thirds on a plain old D flat major scale and the common knowledge D flat major seven arpeggio found on the top four strings.

Blue Bossa Soloing Lesson

The Takeaway

I first discovered the power of the contrived solo by collecting books about jazz guitar improvisation and copying the licks and solos I found them. I found that by analyzing them and playing them over and over I was gaining strength and power as a musician, experiencing for myself the joy of taking one sweet ride after.

Karl Aranjo

My blog about teaching guitar and my guitar life.

Tag Archives: music theory lesson

Carl, Zoltan and Joe: These Three Studs Shoulda Had A Rock Band ! (…do you wanna be a better guitar teacher?)

The One Guitar Lesson You Have Got To Give …( Or Take!)

Three Big Time Reasons Guitar Lessons Must Include The Blues

Sequencers: The Secret Sauce of Music Instruction

Teaching Guitar Improvisation Through The Use Of Hot Stuff