Feb. 25 - Happy birthday, George Harrison.
George Harrison's career has so many high points, I have two playlists on my iPod for him: Beatles and post-Beatles. Great guitar work abounds at every point. When I was a young guitarist, it was hard rock and intense technique that captured my attention, but as years have gone by, I have developed a much greater appreciation for George's skills, stylistic diversity, his sheer professionalism. I have always admired his ability to express, through music, his honest and humble pursuit of higher meaning and purpose in life. And most of all, I love his dedication to making great songs, and always placing the guitar in service to making every song the best possible piece of music it can be.
Here's a trailer for the fantastic documentary, "Living In The Material World," essential for understanding this deep and complex man:
I always come back to "Something." It is a magnificent song, and the performance and production as heard on the Abbey Road album show the level of absolute mastery the Beatles had achieved at this point, their final album together. The solo epitomizes George's best qualities. Every guitarist who has tried to play it knows that it is tricky, because it is completely devoid of cliches or typical guitar tricks. George's confidence and skill on the guitar allowed him to go past technique to create a gorgeous solo melody of timeless, haunting beauty. A true classic.
His solo catalog is full of songs that are enriched by such great guitar riffs and solos, including some masterful slide work. For example, check out some of my personal favorites: "Here Comes The Moon," Give Me Love," "Blow Away," "My Sweet Lord," and the wonderful "I'd Have You Any Time:"
And that's just from the "post-Beatles" playlist. This is music to return to over and over, because it comes from the heart, and touches the heart. http://georgeharrison.com/
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Influences and Inspirations: Terry Kath
From Wikipedia:
"Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978), born in Chicago, Illinois, was the original guitarist and founding member of the rock band Chicago. He died in early 1978, eight days before his 32nd birthday, from an unintentional self-inflicted gunshot wound."
Terry Kath was an amazing guitarist and singer in what was once an amazing band. He died tragically, much too young. His praises have never been sung enough and he deserves far more tribute than he's ever got. Kath was a huge inspiration for me in my formative guitar playing years. Like the band itself at the time, he was so full of creative energy, musicianship and soul that it still takes my breath away.
Kath is well known for the blazing guitars that permeate the early Chicago hit, "25 or 6 to 4."
That performance left no doubt that he could hang with the best guitarists of the time, and considering the competition in the late 60's-early 70's, that is saying quite a lot. And he did so while retaining a very personal and unique approach that made him unmistakable. Even more to his credit, he did so without acquiring the "guitar hero" ego, preferring instead to make brilliant and heartfelt contributions to the powerful group he was a part of.
Here is my favorite live version of one of my all-time favorite Chicago songs, "Introduction," written and sung by Terry, which encapsulates everything I've tried to describe about him into one awesome performance:
"In The Country" is another Chicago tune I always loved; surprise, it's written by Terry Kath. As usual, Chicago packed more musical content into one song than most groups today have in a whole album. And they did it with style, fire and soul. Here's a great live version:
And here's an excellent 20 minute documentary about the band, from 1970:
His daughter Michelle has created a wonderful website tribute, http://www.terrykath.com/ ,
and is producing a full documentary about Terry. Hopefully it will raise awareness of his talents and contribution, and give him the wider recognition he truly deserves.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Skype Guitar Lessons - the Video
The more people that watch it, the more likely it is that other people will find Ben Sherman when they search for this topic. This will help me to reach lots more people who want to take lessons via Skype.
If you are really motivated and want to do a little more, here's what you can do:
1. Watch the video all the way through.
2. Click the thumbs up icon to give it a Like.
3. Leave a nice comment.
4. Add the video to your YouTube favorites.
5. Share it with your friends by email or on your Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
6. Put up a link to the video or embed it, if you have any place it would be practical to do so. Please let me know if you do this, so I can be sure to return the favor!
Here's the direct link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgx3V4CZRCo
If you need any help with any of that, just get in touch with me. And thanks so much for your support!
Skype Guitar Lessons with Ben Sherman
If you have wanted guitar lessons with Ben Sherman but couldn't get to Coffey Music in Westminster MD, there's good news: I am open for business again with live one-on-one guitar lessons via Skype! Any level, any style. 30-minute or 60-minute sessions available. No long term commitment required.
SKYPE
Skype is a free, live webcam communication service. To use it, you will need:
1. A good internet connection
2. A webcam, a computer and an e-mail address.
3. Skype (free internet video calling software). Go to http://www.skype.com/ and click on "Downloads."
4. A credit card or PayPal account.
If you need help with any of the technical issues, contact me, I'll help.
Here's what to do:
1. Contact me (see below) - we'll work out all the details: day and time, lesson plan, etc.
2. I'll send you an invoice and you can pay for your lesson - via credit card or PayPal.
3. Be ready at the scheduled time.
4. Have fun!
GUITAR LESSONS
I offer lessons for beginners to advanced, age 10 and up, providing instruction in:
acoustic, electric, rock, jazz, classical, advanced techniques, improvisation,
and specializing in teaching music theory in a practical, easy to understand way.
With Skype and me, there's nothing stopping you from accomplishing what you always wanted to do with the guitar. Contact me to get started!
Email: ben@benshermanguitar.com
Message me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Sherman-Guitar/76856808647
Or use the contact form on my website: http://www.benshermanguitar.com/classical/contact.html
Thanks for your support and your interest in the guitar! - Ben
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
First Light - Track By Track
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| 1990's promo pic |
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of my first CD, First Light, I'm going to go track by track with my recollections about the songs, the gear and the people that made this project a reality.
Track 1: You Ain't Right - This song features the album's core rhythm section of Angelo Cammarata on bass and Carl Hupp on drums. The three of us had a group together in the mid 1990's called XYZ, and had the rare good fortune to get a regular gig in which we were given carte blanche to play all our favorite instrumental rock and jazz fusion covers.
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| Ben, Carl and Angelo in the studio, 1996. |
"You Ain't Right," CD clip:
Later on, I played on a track from Carl's solo CD, Hyper Statue. To check it out click here.
Track 2: Three Wishes - Three Wishes is a completely different story. This track is a fairly faithful re-creation of one of my earliest recordings from the 1980's, back in the day when I had first got my home studio equipment and started making demos in the tiny living room of my first apartment.
Excerpt from home demo, 1987:
For the version on First Light, I called Barre Lankford, the bass player in my first band Spectrum and a good friend since high school, to play bass. Frank Young was recommended to me to do some drum tracks. Both guys were wonderful because they were able to remain true to the content of the original demo while adding tons of personal style and flair. The guitar parts are great examples of the crisp clear tones of my 1974 Fender Stratocaster.
Here's a clip from the final CD version with Frank and Barre:
Track 3: Chickenfish - This song goes back to the line-up of the first track. Written with XYZ in mind, it started with another Angelo bass riff. I joined that up with a melody from another very old demo of mine, and it evolved from there.
Excerpt from "Streets of the City," home demo 1985:
I was feeling a lot of creative freedom, which included being willing to deconstruct my old songs and integrate some of the ideas with new ones. It was exciting, and the finished track has a feeling I really like, a mingling of relaxed sophistication and playfulness.
Clip from "Chickenfish," final version from the CD, with Carl and Angelo:
I played my 1996 PRS Custom (practically brand new at the time) on this one, for that super thick lead tone, and whammy bar goofiness.
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| Hectic Red 1990's promo pic |
"The Shadow," CD clip with Such, Rich and Danny from Hectic Red:
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| Barre |
"Horizons," CD clip with Barre:
Track 6: Hour Of The Wolf - This song was in an unfinished state until near the start of recording. I wanted to take this one in a slightly jazzier direction, and adding piano and percussion to the mix really helped to give it the right vibe. Brian Comotto played the keys and Hoppy Hopkins added the percussion. Another fine drummer, Brett Hayes, played on this track, and Angelo was on bass.
"Hour Of The Wolf," CD clip with Angelo, Brett, Hoppy and Brian:
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| Brian, Brett, Angelo, me |
Early demo from 1987 with basic parts worked out:
Final CD version, new parts added:
Track 8: Nightmare on Church Street - This track was another one I had fully developed at home in the late 1980's, long before this album was conceived. I basically did it as an experiment in multi-track guitar overdubbing, which was a challenge back in the day when recordings were made onto physical pieces of tape. I had my Tascam Porta Two cassette recorder, a drum machine, a bass and a few other items like reverb and EQ. I went to work piling on the guitar tracks. I also was working with the timed echo concept to create the very mechanical sounding guitar parts that percolate through the song. I used super distorted tones, super clean tones. It was everything I could think of. Underlying it all, I had a very simple bass line and a repetitive drum machine part, just trying to keep out of the way of the mushrooming population of guitars going crazy.
 |
| Frank |
1987 demo excerpt:
clip from final CD version with Frank on drums:
Track 9: Last Best Hope - Now back again to collaborating with Carl and Angelo. Both guys took solos on this song, and really put all their skills and their hearts into it. You can really hear the intensity and emotion we all were expressing.
"Last Best Hope," CD clip:
Track 10: First Light - a solo acoustic instrumental in an alternate guitar tuning I had recently discovered: C G D G A D, or "C-Gad" as I like to call it. I have always pursued many aspects of guitar, because I simply love the diversity of sounds and expressive possibilities offered by different styles. Playing quiet finger-style on a steel string acoustic is a unique timbre, related yet very different from classical finger-style on a nylon string, as in Horizons. The unusual tuning further helped me drop into a very meditative, even spiritual zone. It took a while to get this track done, because I wanted the phrasing and articulation to be just right.
"First Light," CD clip:
In order to get going with this CD project, I had to get over the fact that several of the songs I planned to do were not finished. There is a saying: "leap and the net will appear." For a very long time, I just couldn't believe it, and so I remained stuck in a very frustrated state of wanting to do something, but not being able to get over a writer's block that was nothing more than useless insecurities and self-criticism. Thank goodness I finally found the courage to take the leap into the unknown. Once I committed to going forward, I found myself meeting and interacting with new musicians, all wonderfully talented, enthusiastic and creative people. They helped me find the inspiration to develop and finish those old unfinished songs, and their performances took the songs to new heights I never would have imagined possible. This was one of the greatest joys of making this CD.
Another stumbling block was the worry that my songs sounded too much like the artists I was influenced by. I was paralyzed by the fear that I was not original at all, but merely a good imitator. Again, I had to overcome what were really irrational fears and baseless self-doubt. Once I got the nerve to let go of worrying about it and allow my influences to show, I started to notice that actually, I did have a style and sound of my own after all. Well, what do you know...
Pick up a copy of First Light, or download MP3s on iTunes and from CD Baby.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
The Road to First Light
UPDATED, Feb. 2017:
Twenty years ago I created and released my first CD project, First Light. Following that, I formed a new three piece group which eventually created a followup CD, One Mind. Doing those albums was possibly the most challenging yet satisfying work I have ever done. I think after all these years, it's time for a retrospective. How did those CDs come about? Who were the players? What were my inspirations and influences? All this and more...
Once I had acquired the Tascam, plus a drum machine (a Yamaha RX-15, the best I could afford), and a cheap electric bass, I was in business. I was excited about making demos and creating my own music.
On the other hand there were numerous tracks that were clearly intended to have vocals, but almost none of them did. Evidently I wanted very much to write sophisticated pop music. Listening back today, some of those tracks sound like I was trying to do Mr. Mister as if interpreted by Steve Morse. For example:
But the songs never got lyrics, and the instrumentals never got completed. I like to say that life got in the way, but I was simply experiencing a big fat creative block, and didn't know why. It took a lot of soul searching and self-analysis to finally shake loose from layers of self-doubt and self-criticism, insecurity and lots of other mental/emotional baggage. Almost ten years passed before I finally realized what should have been blindingly obvious - that what I really wanted to do was make an all-instrumental album. I simply woke up to the reality that I could do it and I should do it right away. OK!
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At that point in the mid-1990's, I was lucky enough to be in a group, XYZ, that was providing me a chance to play my favorite instrumental rock and jazz-fusion covers. We had a regular Thursday night gig at the Ritz in Baltimore for a long time, and we were pretty tight. Angelo Cammarata on bass and Carl Hupp on drums were (and still are) first rate musicians, and we were having a ball. We had started writing, and I anticipated this group would become the vehicle to fulfill my ambition to do a CD. But it was not to be. Angelo and Carl got sidetracked by other personal and professional commitments, and things fell apart. The signs were all pointing to the fact that if I wanted to do a CD, I would simply have to take the leadership role and do it as a solo project. Once I saw that was how it must be, I pushed forward and things started to fall into place.
Enter John Suchy and Such Sound studio. Such and I had already been playing together in Hectic Red. That band was (and still is) very fun and musically satisfying, but I wanted to go in a different direction. Nevertheless, Such was definitely the guy to record my stuff. He had already been in business with his studio for several years and was doing great work recording, mixing and producing for many local artists. We got along really well, and he was incredibly generous about letting me into the studio whenever I had time.
I realized that as a leader, I could ask whoever I wanted to play on the songs. So Carl and Angelo from XYZ could play on some songs; the Hectic Red guys could play on some, and from there I let the door open to meet and work with some other incredible players. It turned into an all-star project, and on top of that, Such was willing and patient as I indulged myself with sometimes massive amounts of overdubbing, as I attempted to recreate the multiple layers and textures I had come up with through endless tinkering in my home studio. We put in many months of intensive work.
And in 1997, ten years after originally coming up with at least half the songs, I finally released First Light.
Continue to the next post: "First Light - Track by Track," which talks about the songwriting, the musicians, the guitars - and everything else that went into making an album at the dawn of the digital age.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Hendrix at 70
Yes, that's what the cover of a recent issue of Guitar Player magazine said - Jimi would be 70 this year. My first reaction was, "why did they have to remind me that it's been that long?" Then I got over it and read the article. Here's a link to the online version:
http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/hendrix-at-70/148549
They made a point of getting appreciations and anecdotes from people like Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Mike Kenneally, Reeves Gabrels, Nels Cline, Phil Keaggy and many others - a diverse assemblage of brilliant guitar players who are known to be highly talented, adventurous and individualistic - in other words, musicians that have some things in common with Hendrix. Yet they all consider him one of their greatest influences and inspirations. Why? Why is he still relevant today? Read on as I put in my two cents worth.
Jimi's imagination was always going full blast. He was one of that rare breed of artist who was naturally creative and highly motivated to constantly push forward into unknown and innovative directions. This applied to the way he played guitar, the songs he wrote, the sounds he created, and the equipment he used.
I have read that his wild imagination may have been his personal way of dealing with a lot of painful and hard circumstances in his childhood. He was known to love science fiction, and his lyrics often have fantasy and sci-fi elements to them. That all makes sense to me. What I like is that his music conveyed the sense that it was fun to be imaginative, fun to be intensely creative, fun to rock out and go wild. There is a joy and enthusiasm in his music that needs no words to be understood. This is a valuable lesson for anybody in the arts.
Jimi was evidently fearless in his willingness to try new and different things, to explore the unknown. I think that is directly related to how much joy it gave him, but it also shows strength of character, inner confidence and trust in his own intuition. I think it sends the message that if you love what you do and it brings you joy, it strengthens your resolve to plunge onward into the unavoidable uncertainty you experience on the path to manifesting a creative vision. And the more you do it, the easier it gets.
There's an abundance of eloquent tributes to Hendrix, and there's a reason for that. Hendrix was a powerful, innovative talented musician; combining flash, finesse, groove, soul, wit and spaciness into a new thing totally his own. His work has withstood the test of time and his influence looms large over each new generation. If he was alive today, he'd still be kicking our ass.
Here's one of my favorites - Hendrix live, with a totally crushing version of Johnny B. Goode:
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