tag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:/blogs/blog?p=2Blog2021-11-24T11:06:33-08:00Raphael McGregorfalsetag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/68203422021-11-24T11:06:33-08:002023-10-16T07:55:32-07:00Steel Guitar Worker's Union T-Shirts!<p>Hi all, I've got a limited number of T shirts available for the holidays, which I designed. It's a play on vintage Union logo t shirts. Join the (fictional) Steel Guitar Worker's Union and support your local steel guitar worker: </p>
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<p><a contents="https://steelguitarunconvention.com/store" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://steelguitarunconvention.com/store" target="_blank">https://steelguitarunconvention.com/store</a></p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/395666/f1d851bfba63d220abe71b3f4d4605c99ce54f6d/original/guitarunionbadge-01.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735742019-11-11T16:00:00-08:002023-12-10T10:06:16-08:00Playing the very first Bigsby!
<p dir="ltr">Instrumentalists--especially guitarists-- and instrument collectors do not always get along. We tend to be annoyed at collectors driving up the prices of the things we need to use to do our jobs, and there is a general feeling of irritation at seeing guitars that should be being played locked up behind glass. But earlier today, I got the chance to play an amazing, truly unique instrument, and that would not have been possible without the man who purchased it, Gary Hustwit. </p>
<p dir="ltr">This instrument was the very first instrument made by Paul Bigsby, and, if that wasn’t enough, it was played by the legendary steel guitarist Joaquin Murphey. To make a long story short, Bigsby asked Murphey to play it on a concert (ie, some weirdo comes up to one of the best steel players in California and tries to get him to play his homemade steel guitar) and Murphey loved it so much he played it all night and then asked for a custom-made double 8, the success of which turned Bigsby from a motorcycle builder for Crocker into one of the world’s best-known and most inventive luthiers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And what is this instrument like? Well, it’s not like any other Bigsby I’ve ever seen or played; it was actually made as an imitation or a Rickenbacker frying pan, a popular lap steel model that was unavailable at the time (1942) due to a war-time aluminum shortage. Bigsby’s lap steel teacher apparently played one, and the sound of it inspired him to use some of the extra motorcycle aluminum he had at his disposal to make himself a steel. </p>
<p dir="ltr">This is not an instrument that you would look at and say, “wow, not bad for a first try.” The main body is technically impeccable and gorgeously designed. The frets, fret markers, and initials on the headstock are all part of the same piece of aluminum that the body is cast from, so they look and feel really solid and substantial. The paint job (starting to peel after 75 years) is a nice brown purple which Gary told me was used for the motorcycles he made for Crocker. The pickup is a horseshoe shape; another direct imitation of the Rickenbacker he admired, and--here’s where it becomes thrillingly homemade-- the volume control seems to be a potentiometer borrowed from a TV or some piece of stereo equipment. It clicks on and off, and the screws holding it to the body look to me like the screws you would use on an outlet cover. Bigsby also added a leg rest out of a nicely-varnished wood (not bird’s-eye maple, though) which makes the steel lie perfectly straight across your lap. Amazingly, for someone who was at that time neither a professional player nor a luthier, Bigsby made a genuinely pro instrument. Admittedly, lap steels are a relatively simple thing to make, but you can definitely get them wrong, and little touches like the leg rest show that even from the very beginning he was concerned with making things that would be a help to players rather than a hindrance. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The electronics are also remarkably good; you would never guess the pickups were hand-wound on, I believe, a sowing machine. There is a lot of sound and even through a (decent) Blues Jr., the pickup is bright and crisp. It really imposed its sound on the amp; even with the amp EQ in drastically different positions it was still basically the same sound--very dry, bright, and with absolutely nowhere to hide. I could imagine it being a frustrating instrument to learn on for this reason; every mistake would have been jarringly loud and abrasive. But that exact quality would have been very appealing to a pro like Joaquin Murphey who would have wanted to have every nuance of his playing faithfully represented. </p>
<p dir="ltr">In preparing for this incredible opportunity, I did a lot of listening to Joaquin and transcribed two melody choruses of standards that I felt exemplified the best elements of his playing: his elegance, his creativity, and his ability to use the limitations of the instrument to his advantage. The lap steel, even in the hands of a master like Murphey, is an instrument with limited capabilities. When you get right down to it, it’s basically a guitar that you play with one finger, and any arrangement of strings that you choose to put on it will create as many obstacles as it does possibilities.</p>
<p dir="ltr">For example, steel players frequently comment on his single-string work-- and it is incredible. I’ve frequently had the distressing experience of listening to one of his recordings and being convinced that it’s a guitar solo before I hear something that is unquestionably a steel. Heart-dropping moments like that are what send Joaquin fans over the moon (and send me to the woodshed). When you listen closely and transcribe, you realize that most of the really quick licks he plays happen over one fret--instead of moving the bar up and down he moves horizontally across the steel, which is must faster and cleaner than any kind of bar movement. A single-string passage of his will generally include a few of these fast runs--always beautifully-phrased, harmonically interesting, and rhythmically perfect--and then other passages of slower notes. His playing on these kind of passages is reminiscent of Bix Beiderbecke, and the overall impression is of a virtuosic player, even though there are really only a small percentage of what he plays. </p>
<p dir="ltr">And of course, instrumental virtuosity isn’t measured by the amount of notes crammed into a measure, but in a player’s ability to sound interesting and musical. By that yardstick, Murphey, even with the limited palate of the steel guitar, is a virtuoso’s virtuoso. His phrasing is as sophisticated as Django Reinhart’s or Charlie Parker’s and his use of extended harmonies makes it clear that he was absorbing the innovations of the bebop era that were happening around him. For an example, look at measures 10-11 of his melody chorus of “Honeysuckle Rose” for an astounding chromatic passage which, incidentally, is very easy to play on the steel--again he uses the nature of the instrument to its full advantage to create exciting and interesting music. Another example is his superimposition of a C diminished chord over the F#7 chord in measure 22; this is a classic way to build tension in jazz improvisation that, again, in Murphey’s tuning is relatively simple to play--straight across the neck. Murphey here has combined the most sophisticated of harmonies and rhythms with one of the simplest steel techniques, to remarkable effect.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After his brief time playing this instrument, Murphey would go on to make some of his best-known recordings on his custom-made Bigsby double eight. His reputation and quality of playing would quickly inspire other steel players such as Bud Isaacs and Speedy West to order custom steels from Bigsby, including ones with a few pedals that changed the tuning of the strings on the fly (ironically, the pedal steel which Bigsby helped to innovate would essentially put lap players like Joaquin Murphey and Speedy West out of business). Bigsby too would eventually give up the guitar-making business, leaving behind a remarkably unique collection of instruments and, perhaps more famously, the Bigsby vibrato bridge system for electric guitars. This guitar was never sold, nor was it really ever played that much--I might have been one of about five people to play it in its entire history. What an amazing privilege to be one of those lucky few, especially considering that two of the others were Paul Bigsby and Joaquin Murphey! Thank you so much for this opportunity, Gary! </p>
<p> <a href="/files/541751/i-cant-give-you-anything-but-love.pdf" data-imported="1">I_Cant_Give_You_Anything_But_Love.pdf</a></p>
Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735732017-03-17T17:00:00-07:002023-12-10T08:48:38-08:00Book Theft with Schoenberg
<p dir="ltr">Right before I graduated from college, I helped myself to a copy of Schoenberg’s Theory of Harmony from the library. (Yes, I feel bad about it) The section entitled “Chords with six or more tones,” contains some fascinating examples of very complicated polychords and some thoughts about why they sound so rich and harmonious, even consonant, when on paper they would appear to be harshly dissonant. Schoenberg identifies a few aspects of this phenomenon such as the voicing, instrumentation, and method of resolution. But then he goes on to say, “Why it is that way and why it is correct, I cannot yet explain in any detail...but that it is correct, I firmly believe, and a number of others believe it too.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">I’m sure I looked at this section before in the almost 20 years since I liberated it from its shelf, but it has definitely been some time since I did. Even if I had, I would have had no clue what he was talking about, or how to hear those remarkable harmonies. Now, after years of experience performing, writing, and listening to music, I absolutely agree--those harmonies sound amazing, though I don’t know why. In addition, it’s absolutely true, that, “there is...also an instinctive(possibly exaggerated) aversion to recalling even remotely the traditional chords...they would sound too cold, too dry, expressionless.” This has also become clear to me in my writing and playing experience: it’s incongruous to mix these lush harmonies with simple tonal chords, they lack, as Schoenberg says, “perspective, depth.” Even a “consonant” interval like an octave can sound jarring and out of place when these kinds of harmonies are present. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Theory of Harmony is probably most famous for the way Schoenberg provides an explanation for the almost physical pull of a dominant chord towards its tonic; it has to do with the overtone series, subliminal frequencies that occur every time a tone is sounded. His explanation for how this series of overtones influences our hearing is so well thought out that I wonder if he also thought to use it to explain why these polychords sound consonant? Do they also mirror the subtler gravitational attractions of the higher overtones of notes? Their voicing certainly does; wider intervals between lower notes, smaller ones between upper notes.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Schoenberg also writes about the effect of tone color on harmony, which is especially fascinating, as we now know that timbre is actually just a result of the differences in amplitude of the subliminal frequencies of a fundamental pitch. When a violin and a clarinet play an Eb, the fundamental pitch is the same, but the uniqueness of each instrument and its player elicits varying amounts of the higher overtones, thus changing the timbre between one instrument and another. This is how synthesized instruments used to work: generate a fundamental wave at a certain pitch, generate waves at as many of the higher partials as you can, then vary their amplitude to match the sound profile of the instrument you are trying to emulate. Schoenberg (as far as I can tell) didn’t know any of this, yet he seems to predict that further study would eventually lead to an understanding of tone color akin to our modern understanding of harmony: “...if it is possible to create patterns...that are differentiated according to pitch...it must also be possible to make such progressions out of the tone colors...whose relations with one another work with a kind of logic entirely equivalent to that logic which satisfies us in the melody of pitches.” Schoenberg here appears to not only have presaged the development of his own serial methods but also understood that further analytical investigation of the physical nature of pitch and timbre was inevitable. </p>
<p dir="ltr">He was wrong, however, in one respect: “Tone color is...the main topic, pitch a subdivision.” We know today that pitch is the “main topic”, that in fact tone color or timbre is the result of pitch. The further analysis into the inner workings of tone color which Schoenberg predicted actually resulted in a deeper understanding of the role of the higher partials in producing specific timbres. Knowing this, can we now convincingly extend his theory of how the overtone series influences the tonic dominant relationship to these more complicated chords? </p>
<p dir="ltr">As we have pointed out, these harmonies function well when properly voiced and orchestrated. First of all, the voicings are clearly spaced in a manner at least superficially reminiscent of the overtone series. Second, given that timbre is a by-product of pitch, the fact that a complex harmony works well with a certain combination of instruments and not with others indicates that it is the subliminal frequencies created by these specific instruments that make the harmonies coalesce into a pleasing sound. Orchestrating an eight-note chord for bassoon, oboe, reeds, and trumpet may produce an unpleasant sound, but the same notes played on bass, french horn, and clarinet may sound beautiful. What appears as a change in tone color on the surface is in fact a shift in the subliminal harmonies being created by the instruments, and it is these unheard pitches that determine the quality of the sound. There is no need, then, for a theory of tone color progression; the theory already exists, and was in fact created by Schoenberg himself in the very first chapters of <span style="text-decoration:underline">Theory of Harmony</span>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Most likely this has already been realized by everyone else but me, but in my defense, allow me to quote from Schoenberg himself: “Perhaps I have invented much that was already given; but I invented it and did not learn it from reading. I found it out for myself...because I experienced it.” If there is anything of benefit to anybody else in these ramblings, I’d be pleased, but I’m most pleased with the fact that I finally perceive a tiny bit of what Schoenberg had discovered. Maybe the twenty odd years it took was punishment for my larceny. Fair enough. </p>
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Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735722017-03-14T17:00:00-07:002023-12-10T08:32:40-08:00Napping with Schoenberg
<p dir="ltr">I love to nap. If I get a chance to nap, you can bet I’ll take it. A big part of my napping ritual is choosing the right music by which to fall asleep. This is an absurd endeavor because I inevitably take about five minutes painstakingly choosing the right piece, and then generally fall asleep within thirty seconds. Most of the time, I don’t hear or remember a note of what I chose. But every once in a while, I’ll sort of half wake up and be still asleep but also listening to the music. I don’t know what it is that provokes this, but when it does happen, I always hear the music in a very different way than I do when fully conscious. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Recently, I chose the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ukPsvh51hI" data-imported="1">Schoenberg Violin Concerto, Op. 36</a> to fall asleep to. This was probably not a good choice in terms of restfulness, as those who have heard it will agree. But it did lead to an interesting observation, which I’ve since tested fully conscious, and still seems pretty sound to me. It came to me, I think, because I have also been listening a lot to an Egyptian piece, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3_1xUu2n3w" data-imported="1">Alif Leila Wa Leila</a>, written for orchestra and sung in Arabic by the great Umm Koulthoum. It’s a great piece, and what stands out to me is that even though it is written for a whole orchestra--strings, percussion, accordion, reeds-- there is no harmony. To be precise, there is virtually no vertical, stacked harmony anywhere in the piece--no chords. I’m no expert on Arabic music, but from what I’ve listened to, this is one of its standard features. The harmony is expressed by the pitches of the melodic line, and undergoes a series of transformations in a fairly structured way. The whole piece is based off of a seven note mode which is revealed a few notes at a time. The tension and excitement come from the linear movement of the harmony, the dynamics, the use of call and response, and the orchestration. </p>
<p dir="ltr">So, while listening to Schoenberg in my strange sleep/wake state of mind, I suddenly heard it in the same way as Alif Leila Wa Leila. It’s basically monody: one single melodic line with very few moments of counterpoint. Any counterpoint that occurs sounds more like the melodic line double backing on itself, or sometimes predicting itself. It’s as if the melody was a bunch of strings of differing lengths, shapes, textures,and colors, laid out in a row, sometimes with space in between them, sometimes just touching, and occasionally overlapping. These overlaps are brief; at no point does the piece feel like it is an orchestra accompanying a soloist, in the way a traditional concerto would. Everything is on the surface, there are no background voices or underlying parts. Rather, like Alif Leila Wa Leila, it is a continuous unraveling of a single melody. If one were to play all the orchestrated parts on the same instrument, this would become immediately clear. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I’ve listened to Op. 36 fully awake a number of times since then and the monodic nature of it continues to strike me. I also realize that the internal harmonic structure of the concerto is not unlike the one I described above for Alif Leila: Schoenberg’s piece, like the Egyptian one, is based on a series of pitches (12 instead of 7) that are deployed in the melody according to a set of rules. The rules, of course, are different, but the governing principle is definitely similar. </p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6e6f3fbd-d513-726c-4cf8-efa544678230">I don’t know what merit, if any, this insight has to anyone besides me. Personally, I’ve been listening to music like the Schoenberg concerto for a long time now, and it was thrilling to experience it in such a different way.It’s also interesting that Schoenberg, in his complete dismantling of the tonal,vertical,foreground and background structure of Western classical music ended up creating something that--perhaps unconsciously--evokes much older structures, like those used to compose Alif Leila Wa Leila. By its nature, music tends to create itself: once you give it a few nudges in a certain direction, the rest is to a large extent out of your conscious control, whether you realize it or not. Maybe Schoenberg was a fan of naps too. </span></p>
Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735712017-03-14T17:00:00-07:002022-01-26T17:35:14-08:00Some ideas for interesting comping with Lap Steel
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<p dir="ltr"><strong>Chord Superimposition: The Vertical Version</strong></p>
<p><a href="/files/541749/chordsuperimposition.pdf" data-imported="1"> </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">One of the greatest things about the lap steel guitar is how difficult it is to play. Not only does it force you to be creative in your choices when playing solo, it also forces you to learn to “play nice” with other musicians. This post is about being clever with the limited choices you have on the steel, and using these ideas in collaboration with other musicians. We’ll be focusing on chords and rhythm playing.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Let’s say you’re playing a D7 (D F# A C). Between the guitar and bass, those notes will be covered--no need for me to play them too. This creates an opportunity--I can add notes to the chord that will give it even more color and depth. These notes are called extensions--notes that are not actually members of the chord, but which fit harmonically with what’s happening in the melody, harmony, or the solo. In this case, I’ll add an E, making the chord D F# A C E (D9). </p>
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<p dir="ltr">This isn’t a new idea in the slightest, but what makes it cool is how we can use the lap steel to generate these extensions. We can’t just add them--we can barely play that chord in the first place! What do we do? Add strings, levers, capos, retune in the middle of a song? Nope. All we need to do is be smart, be knowledgeable about harmony and our instrument, and be aware of what’s happening in the moment. </p>
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<p dir="ltr">Think about that D9--we can’t possibly play that whole chord. And just playing one note, the E, doesn’t work; it will sound like we’re soloing and be very distracting to the actual soloist. So let’s just play a few notes. How about A C E? We can do that easily (in C6 tuning). And look--that’s an A minor chord. So now we have not only a solution, but also an idea: when someone plays a dominant 7th chord, we can play the minor triad starting on the third note of the chord. </p>
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<p dir="ltr">But that solo is going on forever, and this D7 chord turns up every four bars! We can’t just keep doing the same thing every time, it becomes repetitive and distracting. Well, here are some more choices you can make. One: keep doing the same notes (A C E) but vary the order: (C E A, E A C). This is great because, as I said earlier, you can move in and out of the guitar’s voicings, sometimes creating really dense, complicated textures, and other times making wide open orchestral sounding chords. </p>
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<p dir="ltr">Two: find different extensions that continue to build excitement while the soloist plays. See below for a few that you can play with. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Some of them are very subtle, others should be used with caution. (Those are marked in red.)</p>
<p><a href="/files/541749/chordsuperimposition.pdf" data-imported="1"><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/395666/28d6a3f8d5e015e9702cf98e1f65770cafecde42/original/screen-shot-2017-03-15-at-9-20-35-pm.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDIxeDM3NCJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="374" width="421" /><br><br><br><br><br><br><br></a></p>
<p><br>A final note: First of all, none of these work if you’re not listening very carefully to everyone else. Secondly, they don’t work if you don’t play them perfectly in tune.The register and inversion you choose (pretty much all of these can be inverted easily in C6 tuning) have a lot to do with whether these sound right or not also. And lastly if you don’t play these like you mean it, they will just sound wrong. <a href="/files/541749/chordsuperimposition.pdf" data-imported="1"><br><br></a></p>
<p><a href="/files/541749/chordsuperimposition.pdf" data-imported="1"><br><br></a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Next: Chord Superimposition: Horizontal Version</strong></p>
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<p><a href="/files/541749/chordsuperimposition.pdf" data-imported="1"> </a></p>
Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735702015-01-26T16:00:00-08:002022-08-11T02:45:06-07:00Videos with Grant Gordy
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<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3J0T9OyfyZ4" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J8QJYMKLA50" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f92Zex5aI0Y" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735692014-12-25T16:00:00-08:002022-01-26T17:36:35-08:00Another Video from Retrofret
<p>I had a video-heavy couple of weeks right before the holidays. Stay tuned for a music video, live show recording and live video from the Brain Cloud, New York's finest Western Swing band. And here's a little promo video that we shot at Retrofret, NY's best guitar store (in my humble opinion...and that of many others who know way more than I do). </p>
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<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4ujmOm1n7kg" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
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Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735682014-11-11T16:00:00-08:002023-12-10T08:56:33-08:00Live in Central Park
<p>Recently I had the opportunity to play in Central Park at the beautiful Naumburg Bandshell with my trio; myself on lap steel, Jim Whitney on bass, and Larry Eagle on drums. It felt great to play for such a huge open space on such a lovely fall evening. I've posted a few of the tracks <a href="https://soundcloud.com/raphael-mcgregor/sets/live-in-central-park-october" data-imported="1">here</a> and I may put up a few more as they get ready. Feel free to download and share with your friends! </p>
Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735672014-05-31T17:00:00-07:002022-02-03T18:55:10-08:00Video at Retrofret Guitars
<p>Had a fantastic time the other day playing at Retrofret Guitars, that place is incredible! Hopefully they'll let me come in and do this again soon:</p>
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<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GNxsk7Yqdlk" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735662014-05-14T17:00:00-07:002022-05-24T10:29:17-07:00Gig Alert!
<p>It was nice to be the gig alert on WNYC this morning:</p>
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<p><a href="http://soundcheck.wnyc.org/story/gig-alert-raphael-mcgregor/" data-imported="1">http://soundcheck.wnyc.org/story/gig-alert-raphael-mcgregor/</a></p>
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<p>I'll be at Freddy's every third Thursday of the month at 8 pm. We had our first one just now with Larry Eagle and Jim Whitney. Man, those guys are unbelievable to play with. After every gig is done I just find myself wishing we could play more!</p>
Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735652014-01-03T16:00:00-08:002022-05-11T02:06:55-07:00Trumpet transcriptions for lap steel
<p><em>Originally Published on Mike Neer's "Lap Steelin'" Blog: <a href="http://www.mikeneer.com/lapsteelin/2014/01/04/playing-the-part-transcribing-music-from-other-instruments-on-the-steel-raphael-mcgregor/" data-imported="1">http://www.mikeneer.com/lapsteelin</a></em></p>
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<p><em>This month, I am very pleased to present a contribution from friend and fellow steel guitarist, Raphael McGregor, of NYC. Raphael has been busy cutting new trails with his steel guitar for years, and his first CD as leader, Fretless, is an excellent introduction to what is sure to be productive and creative career. Raphael has also played with some excellent bands, including Brazilian-infused Nation Beat, who toured the world and played at Farm Aid.<br></em><br>To learn more about Raphael and hear some of his music, visit <a title="Raphael's website" href="http://www.raphaelmcgregor.com/index/" data-imported="1"><strong>Raphael’s website</strong></a>.</p>
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<p><strong>Playing the Part: transcribing music from other instruments on the steel</strong></p>
<p>Certain things lie perfectly on the steel; mostly the songs written by steel guitarists that are intended to be played on the steel guitar. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you want to inject some new ideas into your playing and expand your repertoire, try transcribing music from other instruments and putting them on the steel. Doing this really pushes you to develop other aspects of your technique that you might otherwise not have had a reason to. Music written for piano, for example, is going to require you to do some things that might be quite simple on the keyboard but that require you to be extremely creative in terms of how you play them on the steel. Then you can take the techniques you learned from your transcriptions and apply them to your own improvisations, compositions, and interpretations of melodies.</p>
<p>To that end, here are two transcriptions of trumpet solos: first, Louis Armstrong’s melody chorus on his 1926 recording of “Big Butter and Egg Man,” a traditional jazz staple, and second, Bix Beiderbecke’s solo chorus on “Singin’ the Blues,” from 1927, another important recording in jazz history. Both are moderately difficult, and there are a few riffs in the Beiderbecke that are quite challenging. The Louis Armstrong is definitely the simpler of the two so I would recommend starting with that.</p>
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<p>You might be thinking, “I never have any intention of playing either of these two songs, so why is this useful to me?” Well first of all, both performers transcribed here are acknowledged as two of the greatest instrumentalists of all time, so even if you don’t enjoy or intend to play the music, there are numerous lessons to be learned by listening to and performing these pieces, both in terms of lap steel technique and general musicianship. Second, you can play these pieces using my tablature and when you get to spots you find technically challenging, focus on those. You can even develop exercises that are based off of specific phrases in the music. For instance, measure 20 in the Bix is scalar motion using two strings only. Why not take that idea and see if you can effectively play a major scale on only two strings? Or, take that idea and write a sequence of it through the Eb major scale, using only two strings, then take that sequence and play it in all keys, still on two strings. Doing this type of thing gives you more possibilities when you improvise, compose, or make embellishments to melodies and makes it less likely that you will be stuck playing the same thing over and over. (E.G: Well, I’m in Eb, guess I’ll play on the 15th fret for a while).</p>
<p>Also, even if you don’t play these, there is still a lot to learn just by looking at the transcriptions. In Bix’s solo, for example, he cleverly develops an idea over a few bars, never repeating it exactly but always making reference to the original idea. Notice also that he frequently uses the upper extensions of the triads–such as bars 10-11 he plays a B-7b5 arpeggio over the G7 and then lands on the D natural, the 9th of the C7 chord. So maybe you want to practice playing the chords that start from the 3rd or 5th of the chord you are on instead of the root. (So, in this case: G7=G B D F, and Bix is using B D F A, which is just extending the pattern of the chord one tone further) Or notice the broken Eb-7 arpeggio in bar 32 of Armstrong’s that ends on an A natural over a Gb major chord, adding a sense of drama and tension that pulls you into the next chorus. Maybe this will lead you to practice arpeggios in different inversions and arrangements. And with both players, listen closely and try to emulate the bends, swoops, and various articulations that they use to approach notes, particularly in bar 10 of the Bix and beat four of bar 24 of the Armstrong. Both solos are filled with musical moments that should help you generate ideas when you are in similar playing circumstances.</p>
<p>Lastly, a note on feel–being that this is jazz music, many of the written rhythms do not correspond exactly to the way you will hear them played in the recordings. This is not to say it is inaccurately written; it just means there are subtleties for which written music cannot account. Listen closely to the performances and make an exercise out of trying to capture their swing and their rhythmic placement. Sometimes they will be behind or ahead of the beat; try and hear where they are and do your best to replicate it.</p>
<p>Thanks very much, hope you find this helpful! Please feel free to contact me via my website with any questions!</p>
<p>–Raphael McGregor</p>
<p><strong><a title="raphaelmcgregor.com" href="http://www.raphaelmcgregor.com/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">http://www.raphaelmcgregor.com</a><br></strong><br>Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five: Big Butter and Egg Man</p>
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<p>Frankie Trumbauer Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke: Singin the Blues</p>
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Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735642013-08-18T17:00:00-07:002022-05-13T23:46:08-07:00New Videos of the New tunes
<p>Well, in my last post I promised new tunes. Truth to tell, I hadn't really started them yet, but writing that post and also telling everyone I could that I was writing new tunes made me actually sit and write new tunes. Whatever it takes. Anyway, I don't have a whole album's worth yet, but I have a good solid start. Click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlsm4HimQhhGbv4rLpVgMXFbqhWe519F7" target="_blank" data-imported="1">here</a> for some vides of new and old tunes being played at Barbes last week, Aug. 12, with Ian Riggs and Harvey Wirht. </p>
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Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735632013-06-21T17:00:00-07:002022-05-06T06:23:12-07:00What's Next
<p>I just felt compelled to write as I looked at my calendar page and thought, "Hmm, I don't seem busy this summer...." Well, I'm not! Not particularly, anyway; some wedding and party gigs, a few public shows, but mostly I intend to spend this summer hanging out with my wife and new baby (Leila Violet) and working on material for a new album which I plan on recording in the fall. It's going to focus less on improvisation than my current one, Fretless, and more on composition and arranging. And while I will use a core rhythm section for most tracks, I will incorporate other instruments as well, which I didn't do on my first disc. I've already gotten some really good ideas down and I have been listening to a ton of all different kinds of music--Cuban son, Trad Jazz, Modern Jazz, Alt. Rock, Late Romantic/Early Modern Classical, and even Mexican Narcocorridos (full disclosure--my wife and I started watching Breaking Bad so that is actually what I'll probably spend most of my summer doing. But even that is inspiring to me--the way the episodes are structured, the way the plot unfolds from season to season in this drawn-out but gripping way is very much like the way some of my favorite albums are created, where each song has a unique character but also a relationship to the album as a whole). </p>
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<p>So in summation, if you want to see me this summer, come to Barbes every Monday, come to Bar 4 on August 15th, or come to my house and watch my write songs/change diapers/knock out episodes of Breaking Bad! And stay tuned for updates on my new project!</p>
Raphael McGregortag:raphaelmcgregor.com,2005:Post/60735622013-04-12T17:00:00-07:002023-12-10T08:33:05-08:00Lap Steel Technique
<p>For any curious steel players out there, here's how you can do one of the more impressive lap steel techniques...</p>
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Raphael McGregor