What Makes a Guitarist Special?

On my way to the blues jam at Des Moines' Copa Cavana last night my good friend Kyle brought an interesting question to my mind. As we were driving I naturally had in my favorite Stevie Ray Vaughan CD to get psyched up to play some greasy blues when he asked me what makes Stevie Ray Vaughan so special? Why do I consider him to be better than a lot of guitar players?



Stevie Ray Vaughan



Well what makes any guitar player "special"? Is the fact that they can play a barrage of notes in a matter of seconds? Is it simply that their tone is just remarkable and unlike anybody else's? Is it the fact that they are such a musical genius that they just come up with the most interesting phrasing and take a song to astronomical heights that make people go wow? Or is it simply that they are such a great performer that they captivate audiences through any circumstance or situation?

All of these things are true in my eyes. But what makes a guitar player special is a combination of all or most of these things. Take someone like Stevie Ray Vaughan for instance. In rock, blues, r&b, funk, and soul circles he is widely viewed as a guitar phenom. The guys had incredible tone, downright scary phrasing and technique, and he was also an amazing live performer.

Guitar players are a dime a dozen these days. Anybody and everybody wants to be the next Hendrix or Page or Clapton or Vaughan but the reality is only a small few will ever have a shot at reaching this level. Its a matter of not only having the skills mentioned above but also being in the right place at the right time. There are many phenomenal guitarists out there that never make it because they just don't get noticed.

Instead these guys stick to the bar and festival scene around their general area of the country, relishing off the moments they have at different shows that make people go wow. I personally think I had one of these last night because for only the second time in seven years of playing I busted a string on stage in the middle of a solo. With no backup guitar to switch to right away I instead used my knowledge of guitar and my ear to finish the solo and another two minutes of the song with only five strings. Afterwards I got a rousing ovation.

Its moments like that which make guitar players a special breed. Each and every player has his/her own skill set, tone, technique, etc that makes he/she who they are as a musician. However to be I guess what you would say "super special" is having all of these qualities in a form that captivates people and makes them go wow when they see that guitarist play.

The question I have is where is the next Hendrix or Vaughan? They only way he/she will be found in my opinion is for the public to find them a create a following for them or join an existing one. So if you don't already, get out on your local music scene and find that special guitar player waiting in the wings looking for your help as a fan to recognize their god given abilities.

Until next time keep on rocking away music lovers,

JAS

Photo courtesy of Joe Bielawa, Flickr/Creative Commons

New Music Thursday



Billboard at the Hammersmith Apollo
on December 18, 2009.



I decided to try out an idea where every Thursday I will feature a new artist that people may or may not have heard much about.  This may include national, regional, or local acts. For my first installment of this I chose the band Them Crooked Vultures.

Formed in 2009, the band consists of three very accomplished musicians. Drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), bassist John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and guitarist/vocalist Josh Homme (Oueens of the Stone Age).

The band is a very interesting mix. According to their official website, the band:

"sounds like the guy from Queens of the Stone Age singing and playing guitar with the bass player from Led Zeppelin and the drummer from Nirvana."

This is very much true. The music is very much hard rock with a tinge of an indie feel to it. The band's self titled debut album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 when it was released in late 2009. The more I listen to the music it definitely becomes more intriguing. Even if you are not a fan of hard rock one can definitely appreciate the musicality on this record.

Songs like "No One Loves Me and Neither Do I", "Elephants", "Scumbag Blues" are very much a treat to listen to and just the tip of the iceberg. I honestly feel like I'm listening to an evolved version of Led Zeppelin if they were around today. Not that I mean this lineup is better than Zeppelin, no lineup can ever really duplicate that band's style, delivery, and songwriting. However Them Crooked Vultures does a very good job taking elements from that hard rock sound that Zeppelin made famous and make it their own. I mean when you have an ex-Zeppelin in your band its bound to happen right?

So anyway if you are looking for something new to listen to while you are sitting around doing nothing, look up Them Crooked Vultures and take a listen. You could definitely do a lot worse with some of the garbage that is out there today.

Until next time keep on rocking away music lovers,
JAS

Photo courtesy of p_a_h, Flickr

A Bad Day=A Good Day for Songwriting

So I've been having a bad day since I woke up this morning. Nothing has been going good and things are falling apart around me. I've had these days before and I'm sure I'll have them again. But out of all the shit that goes wrong there is one good thing that comes out of it every time and that is a great song.

Songwriters all over the world are fueled by emotion. Emotions can be good, bad, whatever it may be. Many of the greatest songs are written when someone feels like they have been kicked in the gut twenty times and left there to wallow in their own sorrow.

"You get kicked in the heart by someone who's aware of it or not,
and you get sent alone into a room, and if you have a little bit of
intellect, a little bit of talent and a lot of loneliness, you'll probably
make it."- John Mayer

Mayer really said it best with this one. Mayer is one of my favorite musician/songwriters out there today and I'm sure many others feel the same. I'm not the most talented singer, or guitar player, or songwriter in the world but I know that I do have some talent otherwise I would have quit playing a long time ago. It funny though how when I have a particularly bad day, creativity begins to flow out of me like water over a dam in a flood.

Songwriting is an art form and relating to people is the biggest key in writing something that is meaningful and not a piece of garbage like some of the crap out there today. Whether or not I ever get famous, at least I know that what I am writing is meaningful to at least somebody out there and it helps me vent my frustration so I can move forward.

Many songwriters are like that. We tend to write things about personal experience that hopefully somebody will relate to. Maybe in the next few hours, I might have another song like that to add to my catalog. If anything I do know this, my creativity is flowing like a mother fucker right now so I better end here.

Until next time keep on rocking away music lovers,
JAS

What Is Country Music Anymore?

The guitar pick sign in the picture reads
"Nashville: Live Music Venue."
Nashville is the home of country music but
what is country music anymore?

Last night myself and a good friend of mine had a discussion about country music. Basically I tried to explain to him that I thought country music has some great musicality to it while he tried to tell me that it was essentially meaningless music where artists sing about stuff that is not relevant and essentially there is no point to country music.

Now we are most definitely not going to agree and honestly I don't like his opinion but I respect it. I grew up on country music and therefore I will always have a draw to it as a musician. However out of our discussion I began thinking about what is country music anymore? Because honestly the country music I grew up on does not exist anymore.

When I was growing up artists like George Strait, Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Little Texas, Sawyer Brown, John Michael Montgomery, Reba McEntire, Collin Raye, Alabama, and many more dominated the country charts. These artists leaned more to the traditional side of country from earlier artists like Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Sr, Willie Nelson, Hank Snow, Roy Acuff, Buck Owens, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and so on.

Then something interesting happened. After Garth Brooks began selling millions of album copies and raising the bar for everyone else, country music seemed to turn away from what it had been doing in search of that always precious thing, record sales. The only way it seemed that could be done was to make country more mainstream.

Soon elements of rock and pop entered into country to make it more appealing to younger audiences. Louder, more amplified guitars emerged, song structures became more pop like, true country elements were still there but there were essentially put on steroids.

To help start this new artists came along that had more of a look sometimes than down right talent. Now that's not to say that there are not any good country artists out there because there are quite a few; Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, and Dierks Bentley just to name a few. But it is in my opinion that some are more of a face than great talent which is more of a tool used in pop and rock music. My example of that is Taylor Swift. She may have the look and everybody loves her but I honestly think she is not that talented as a musician. Hate me for it if you want, it doesn't hurt my feelings.

Honestly the record companies stopped looking for that traditional Nashville sound and looked more for what would sell them records which meant leaning toward pop and rock styles. Not all of this is bad. There are many great songs that have come out since this movement began but more times than none I hear the same damn song packaged up by a different artist with some different words. What happened to originality? Apparently selling records and making millions of dollars is more important than the music itself.

I just wish, and this goes for the entire music industry, that some originality would come back to music. Let artists play with their creative side, don't just feed them ten songs for an album that are all pop sounding garbage. I want to hear true music about something that I can relate to.

Fortunately I think that is coming back ever so slowly. Everything has a fad or its time and I think the time of country/pop is coming to end. We've seen it before, disco in the 70's, hair metal in the 80's, grunge and boy bands of the 90's, everything came and then went. I just hope for the sake of music that true country begins to come back in some form because it is an art form that is truly great and meaningful to many people.

Until next time keep on rocking away music lovers,

JAS

Photo courtesy of Flickr, jbcurio

Songwriters: The Forgotten Musicians

Over the weekend as I was messing around on YouTube I happened to find out something interesting. Upon listening to different music I came across an artist named Brantley Gilbert. Now what intrigued me at first was to see that he had a song called "My Kinda Party". I thought it was a coincidence to see that because current country superstar Jason Aldean also has a song titled that on his new album.

So I clicked on the song intrigued to see if it was the same song. Low and behold it was the exact same song that is on the radio. Naturally I assumed this was a cover but I decided to investigate Gilbert more in order to see what else he has done.

Then I was stunned to find out that Gilbert is actually the original writer of the song My Kinda Party!

To here the original version by Brantley Gilbert click this link.
To here the version cut by Jason Aldean click this link.

Now Gilbert is a very talented musician in his own right. Many of the songs I listened to on YouTube are very good. The question I have is why is this guy not famous yet? It could be a combination of many things. Not in the right place at the right time, not enough exposure to the right people, there are many factors that a aspiring musician goes through in his or her quest to stardom.

One thing that is tough for some musicians is the situation you see here with Gilbert and Aldean. Gilbert wrote the song and all the songwriting credit goes to him. However his version did not get much exposure because he is not a national superstar. Once Jason Aldean heard the song, he liked it and made a cut/cover of the song and is taking it to the top of the charts.

Its not a matter of which version is better but rather who gets the right exposure for the song. Obviously Jason Aldean is going to have more exposure right now and therefore he is benefiting greatly from a great song. Its not a slap in the face to Gilbert, its more paying him a compliment and he even acknowledges that here.

Aldean also cut the song "Dirt Road Anthem" that Gilbert co-wrote with Colt Ford. (Original version here.) That is just another case of the same situation. It is nothing more than a cut, or cover whichever you wish to call it. The only reason the original writers do not make it as big with a song is because they are not as big as the person who takes their song and cuts it.

This is something that happens all the time in the music business. I just wish more people would know about the actual writers of many of the great songs that superstars take to the top. These people are the forgotten musicians in the music world sometimes. I'm glad I found this out because now I have a new artist that I enjoy in Brantley Gilbert, and I'm sure there are many more out there.

Until next time keep on rocking away music lovers,
JAS