Now that we are comfortable finding and keeping our place in an 8 measure chord progression, the next step is to vary the lengths of our rhythm/lead intervals. In Part II of this exercise, we are going to start with…
Read moreThe Lab
Welcome to the Lab! This is a place where I post about some of my quasi-academic explorations into music and gear.
Music Lesson - Improv Interval Training - Part I
If you are anything like me, you may have a tendency to noodle around when playing improvised guitar solos. By “noodle around,” I mean playing lines that seemingly have no beginning and no ending. On the surface this sounds…
Read more
A Battery of Tests : Part I - Fuzz Face
picture from http://www.ericwrobbel.com
I like to build guitar effects pedals. Maybe 'like' is a strong word. I'm not really sure what the word is for the emotional space between not finding exaclty what you are looking for, and being too…Read more
Music Lesson - Make Your Own Free iPod Ear Trainer - Part II : Chordal Ear Training
So here is a continuation of the single-note ear training exercise that I previously posted.
This time, instead of testing our ability to (relatively) identify a single note, we are trying to identify chords.
Just like in the other version…Read more
Music Lesson - Make Your Own Free iPod Ear Trainer! (not the iPod part...you'd have to buy that)
A few years ago I was reading an interview with someone famous who had studied with the late Charlie Banacos. He was a very well known jazz educator who taught both from his own studio in Massachusetts, and also…Read more
Testing Different IC's in a Rat Distortion Pedal
I do love the Rat pedal. I don't actually own an "official" one, but rather a clone made from a ready-to-solder circuit board from General Guitar Gadgets. I tend to switch it on and off my board every so…Read more
Testing Different IC's in a Tube Screamer
For a long time I've been wondering what effect, if any, the IC has on a simple overdrive pedal like the Tube Screamer. I decided to wire an IC socket into my TS clone so that I could easily swap…Read more
Comparison of Different Cables - Part II
So here is my second attempt at descerning the effect of instrument cables on guitar tone. I received some feedback on my first experiment that my experiment may have been compromised by placing the test cable after the looper. Apparently…Read more
Comparison of Different Cables - Part I
Among internet gear enthusiasts, a topic that is often hotly debated is whether or not there is any appreciable difference between cables (often times of greatly different costs). I decided to go looking around to see if I could find…Read more