The Clinic

So I got to attend the two hour clinic that Petrucci held before the show. As John walked right by me to take the “stage” I immediately noticed that he’s built! He looks like he benches 300 lbs. In a rock world of drug-’n-alcohol-emaciated skank-males with wispy gangly limbs this is a welcome departure. John actually made several gym references and workout analogies during the clinic.

The next thing I noticed was that he really knew his music theory… (what did I expect?!) …which is what happens when you come out of Berklee and not your cousin’s garage. And he also spoke with authority, yet with a relaxed down-to-earth tone… like a police officer speaking at a school. It was great, and completely unexpected.

Needless to say the small performance illustrations he did during the clinic blew everyone away. This guy is insanely good. He is easily one of the top, top rock guitarists in the world. He covered a lot of ground in a short time, but here are some of them:

• Inversions - 1 note per string, 2 notes-per-string (with alternating finger assignments)
• Practicing - EVERY day… even if only for short periods, and getting in the habit of practicing through whole songs or sequences (as if playing live)
• Strength Exercises - 4 sets of 10 repetitions of tight, fast licks (just like working out)
• Endurance Exercises - Performing fretboard exercises like doing wind sprints (SPRINT JOG SPRINT JOG)
• Skill Exercises - Pure repetition of difficult phrases… over and over and over on top of one another
• Polish Exercises - Custom made repetition exercises to fine tune difficult phrases, hard to hit notes, and hard to form chord changes
• Sweep Picking - 2, 3, and 4-note sweeping (the right-hand tempo and consistency is the key)

And before I forget, Patty Womer needs to know that during the clinic he used the verb, “noodle”.

The Concert

This was my first concert at Albany’s Washington Avenue Armory… a cute little basketball arena that serves the purpose, I guess. We showed up in time to catch the last half of the third (and final) opening band (Opeth, who growled and gurgled a lot).

Once Dream Theater took the stage the place was electric. Despite the muddy sound mix (the low end really muddied both the vocals and the more treble-y moments) the band sounded other-worldly, each performing his craft to mind-numbing levels of accuracy and precision. At several points Petrucci has me just shaking my head… there was nothing else I could do but watch his effortless sweeps and runs (legato and alt-picked) up and down the neck. *sigh*

Here’s the setlist, compliments of Krazy Ken:

1. Constant Motion
2. Panic Attack
3. Strange Deja-Vu
4. Through My Words
5. Fatal Tragedy
6. Surrounded (extended)
7. The Dark Eternal Night
8. Take The Time
------------------------------------
9. Shmedley Wilcox:
      I.Trial Of Tears
      II. Finally Free
      III. Learning To Live
      IV. In The Name Of God
      V. Octavarium (Razor's Edge)

It was a great show. This was my first time seeing them. My only real complaint? They didn’t play Pull Me Under!? Holy smokes… how can you go to a Dream Theater show and not hear Pull Me Under? Oh well… just another reason to see them again.

The clinic will be at Trick Shot Billiards [map] - right behind Parkway Music - on Sunday, May 18, from 3-5pm. Tickets are $5 at the door and space is limited so plan accordingly. Dream Theater’s concert starts at 7pm that same night at the Armory.

Now, I don’t put much faith in the so-called Academy Awards - mostly because the “Academy” is elitist Hollywood lack-of-intelligencia who feed on their own self-stimulation. For Walk the Line, I think the attention it got was deserved, and I wish I had seen it long before now. The story felt sincere and was well screen-played.

However, the biggest plus was that these famous actors did their own music! Witherspoon and Phoenix earned MAJOR street cred with me by putting their musical chops to the test. They performed wonderfully and several of their performances can be found on the movie soundtrack.

By the way, when buying music tracks I have been thoroughly pleased with Amazon’s newish MP3 service. It’s usually cheaper than iTunes… but most importantly, it’s DRM-free!

I think the movie is one of the best independent flicks I’ve seen. I watched it with my wife - we found it full of passion and sincerity. Particularly, it was refreshing to see professional musicians acting in lead roles with such engaging realism… probably so engaging precisely because they aren’t actors, and therefore their acting was much more believable, if that makes any sense.

Without giving anything away, the movie is about two amateur musicians each struggling in their own way. They by chance embark on a week-long musical collaboration that culminates with them recording their songs over a weekend. Throughout the movie each of them shares songs that find their way into the storyline (and ultimately onto their recorded CD).

Mere hours passed after watching Once before I bought the soundtrack… which was filled (pleasingly) with all the songs from the movie. For fellow musicians especially, I highly recommend this movie and its soundtrack.

From wikipedia…
Once is an Academy Award winning 2007 Irish musical film written and directed by John Carney. Set in Dublin, this naturalistic drama stars musicians Glen Hansard (of popular Irish rock band The Frames) and Markéta Irglová as struggling musicians. Collaborators prior to making the film, Hansard and/or Irglová composed and performed all but one of the original songs in the movie.

Shot for only €130,000 ($160,000), the film was very successful, earning substantial per-screen box office averages in the United States. It received extremely enthusiastic reviews and awards such as the 2008 Independent Spirit Award for best foreign film. Hansard and Irglová’s song “Falling Slowly” received a 2008 Academy Award and a 2008 Grammy nomination, and the soundtrack as a whole also received a Grammy nomination.

As always, the show was a mind-blowing hard-rockin’ Christmas spectacular. Alex Skolnick and Chris Caffery were monsters on their guitars. Vocals, strings, keys, lights, lasers, smoke, fog, fire, flame… everything was as good as any other year I’ve seen these guys.

One amusing note - the previous two years Chris Caffery plugged TSO’s “upcoming” non-Christmas CD release called Night Castle. But the CD still hasn’t been released (much the chagrin of hungry TSO fans like myself). This year, Chris both plugged and joked about the Night Castle release in what would be the quote of the evening:

Albany, let me ask you a question. What will be more likely to see in our lifetimes: a McDonalds on Mars, or the release of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Night Castle album?

They put on a great show. I was glad to go for the fifth year in a row. Next year I will go again. In a few months I’ll start looking forward to it.

I regularly read Worship Leader Magazine (WLM) and have always been a bit disappointed at the lack of articles on the importance of skill in worship music (an aspect that my worship hero Paul Baloche emphasizes in every one of his instructional videos). Not only importance… but if you read your Bible right - necessity.

I always thought WLM “intentionally” skimped on the “skill” thing merely because it was intuitively obvious… because it was considered a given in any serious worship circles. But recently, they did indeed include an article on skill in worship - amply titled “Play Skillfully” - which just might have revealed an alternate motive for their sparse coverage of skill in music… political correctness. You see, the author Mark Roberts openly admits in the article that pointing out the Bible’s call to skillful performance of worship may upset a lot of people. What? Why? It shouldn’t. Really, it shouldn’t.

When you are putting someone in a position (like in front of a church leading them in the worship of an all-powerful deity) you really should be using appropriate people. For leading worship music - appropriate people probably are those who have three things: some threshold of talent, the right attitude about the responsibility of leading others in worship, and spiritually a right heart. [for the non-churchy folk I apologize for not explaining the "right heart" thing here]

However, common sense applies always. Common sense tells us that kids in a church Christmas program (short of Joseph fist-fighting with the wise men) are afforded much leeway and may not have any of the three things listed above, and that’s okay. Common sense tells us that smaller churches need to play the cards they’re dealt, even if it’s just Queen high. And I’m sure everyone can think of real-life, sincere, and appropriate exemptions to my skill manifesto. But I do know that even the most modestly-skilled musicians and singers can work on their craft to pursue excellence. Indeed, the pursuit of excellence is sometimes more telling to me about worship music ministry than the act of already being excellent.

Anyways, to show my support of pro-skill articles I wrote a letter to the WLM editor voicing my approval, and as “always” my letter was delicate in a chiropractic sort of way.

Thank you for Dr. Mark Roberts’ article titled “Play Skillfully”. I found it quite refreshing to have some emphasis placed on this vital, yet seemingly ignored aspect of an excellent worship ministry. I’ve long felt that even enlightened worship resources like Worship Leader Magazine softball this issue too often.

Today’s churches, despite the modern infusion of quality worship music, seemingly regard “a servant’s heart” and “a humble walk” as the only true prerequisites for music ministry. This is simply wrong, un-Biblical, and could even be sinful if practiced negligently (whether intentionally or not). For the same reason that musical ability alone - without a desire for a Christ-likeness - would be insufficient for ministry, a lack of pursuit of musical excellence in a team member or worship leader, and an apathetic stance by church leadership, is a dereliction of our duty to worship the Lord as if he REALLY IS the creator of all things.

Now of course we have to use some common sense in application. Not all churches have the same selection of talent within their congregations - and in any team environment there are times when the “second-stringers” need to be put in the game to gain the skill and experience they need. But nothing changes the fact that pursuit of excellence in music ministry - or in any aspect of our worship - is part of the local church’s pursuit of Christ.

We wouldn’t settle for merely “a great prayer life” as qualification for a brain surgeon. We wouldn’t settle for just “a solid spiritual walk” as sufficient training for an electrician. So why compromise in our worship music ministry?

Right now, according to iTunes, my 17 most played songs are as follows (artist / track):

Hoobastank / Let It Out
Alanis Morissette / Crazy
Celtic Woman / She Moved Thru’ the Fair
Chris Cornell / You Know My Name
Train / Ordinary
Brandi Carlile / The Story
Damn Yankees / Coming of Age
Sunclub / Boomboom Good Time
Dokken / Walk Away
Alice Cooper / Disgraceland
Def Leppard / White Lightning
Dream Theater / Burning My Soul
James LaBrie / Pretender
Delerium / After All
Evanescence / Sweet Sacrifice
Dave Matthews Band / The Last Stop
Stryper / 10,000 Years

I could post an entire blog entry about almost every one of these songs… but we’ll save that for another time.

WHAT :: concert coffeehouse featuring electric guitar wizardry

WHEN :: Friday, February 2, 7:30pm

WHERE :: Grace Fellowship Coffehouse, Latham, NY - for directions go here or call 518.785.4595

WHY :: Because you love me and I play guitar in the band… and hey, free coffee and snacks!

WHAT :: Concert and CD release party for our new CD Blunder

WHEN :: Friday, November 3rd, 7:00pm

WHERE :: Grace Fellowship Coffehouse, ; Latham, NY - for directions go here or call 518.785.4595

WHY :: Because you love me and I play guitar in the band and write songs and you want to be part of the excitement and it’s the right thing to do and there’ll be free coffee and snacks.

HOW :: By all means possible!

This will be a great night of energetic music including originals, covers, and new arrangements of old favorites. I can guarantee you that we’ll rock, so don’t miss the show!

Release Party
7:30pm November 3, 2006
Grace Fellowship Coffehouse, Latham, NY
Free Admission - Free Coffee - Free Snacks

The music on the CD is sharp and heavily loop-based (perfect for casual listening), and Steve McClaine’s vocals are tight. We’ll be playing several live shows coming up (see my guitar dates on my homepage) but the date to remember most is November 3, the official release party. We’ll be playing a full two sets of music including almost all of the CD songs. Our live music is less electronic-based than the CD… it’s much more straight-ahead melodic rock (perfect for live shows).

If you’re anywhere near Albany, NY that day stop on in and say hey!

AllOfMP3.com [wikipedia] is a Moscow based MP3 online store that sells songs for about 1/10th of what other “normal” services (like iTunes) charges. Yes, that is one tenth… a factor of zero point one. So if you were to take 99 cents and multiply it by 0.1 you’d get about 9 cents. For one song. Not bad! Albums for about $1.50 USD or maybe $2.50 if it’s a double-CD compilation.

Unfortunately the RIAA (a terrorist organization of litigious sorts) and other recording industry cells are trying to crack down on them. Word on the street is that you need to download all you can by September… so start heating up those cable modems.

Usually these type of gigs are purely acoustic because of the smaller intimate settings, but this one will be electric, with myself on electric guitar and Dave, our drummer, on a full drum kit. If you come and check us out you’ll hear new originals, time-tested originals, and some familiar covers. I hope to see you locals there.

The band :: McClaine Tribe. The mission :: to boldly go where no 37-year-old-male-fronted band has gone before. No, I’m not 37, but Steve McClaine is, and his group of audio marauders now go by “McClaine Tribe”. And yes, I would be his crazy electric guitar player. Check out our website.

I do break away from my electric axe to tickle an acoustic guitar every now and then. Case in point, the video clip in this post is from our recent June 2 coffeehouse. The song is I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe. The crazy thing about us doing this song is that it was supposed to be just Steve singing to an accompaniment track, but he brought the wrong disc to the gig. When he found out he had no backing track he was going to scrap the song… until his trusty electric guitar player volunteered the fact that he knew the song on acoustic by heart. *pats self on back* Add an able and alert Zach Kenyon on djembe drums and we were all good.

Here’s the best part… since we only decided to go ahead with the song four minutes before we physically started the playing we had no time to rehearse and had never rehearsed it together prior. That’s right… what you see in the clip is the very first time we had ever played that song!

The show will be different from the Hundred Monkey Theory gigs you may have heard me play before at the coffee house. Steve McClaine’s style is heavier with electronic loop-based influences. We’ll be doing about half originals and half worship covers… but the covers will be vamped up to our intensity.

Well, in the meantime, I love to fill my head with sundry and sometimes excruciating concepts of the physical world. Here’s a few links to some migraines waiting to happen.

John Baez (not to be confused with Joan) from the University of California at Riverside Math Department has compiled a plotted graph of all the roots of all polynomials of degree greater than or equal to 5 with integer coefficients ranging from -4 to 4. [Link here] It’s intriguing to see the patterns that the computed roots follow when graphed. There’s is definitely inherent order and even art in the mathematics involved.

More directly related to art is a blog entry I was reading on Mahndisa’s blog. She was talking about a favorite music artist that composes and records music using the Just Intonation scale. [the what?] It is an alternate scale tuning in which the notes’ frequencies are related to one another with whole integer fractions. [what?] One reason this really hasn’t been successfully used since the Middle Ages (except in modern ethereal New Age music) is because of the terribly dissonant wolf intervals it can create. [the what?] Here’s a little tutorial (with a lot of math) explaining why we have a 12-tone diatonic note set and how standard tuning (Equal Temperament) differs from just intonation. So remember, when playing very old music a G# might be different from an Ab. [huh?!]

And if your head hasn’t spun off, just read up on the uncertainty principle found in quantum mechanics. Try grasping the implications of the EPR paradox on Einstein’s theory of special relativity, especially the implications caused by quantum entanglement where information is transmitted between distant particles instantaneously (read: greater than the speed of light).

Good stuff.

I learned that bands of elves, half-lings, dwarves, wizards, rangers, and warriors aren’t just for Dungeons & Dragons (a role-playing game despised by Christians). Rather, my fellow faith-lings are quite fond of Mr. Tolkien’s mystical epic of magical creatures and mystical characters… and of Mr. Lewis, who wrote quite a fantasy tale of his own filled with much of the same. Of course, the magic and wizardry in their tales are very acceptable to my dear and righteous faith-lings. BUT… don’t you dare go see Harry Potter and his band of demonic Satan-worshiping ne’er-do-wells. For some reason a good dose of Rings or Narnia will deftly craft an allegory in a child’s mind to help shape their moral compass rightly… but a brush with Harry Potter will plunge them deep into the dark downward spiral of witchcraft, demon-possession, and premarital sex.

I also learned that it’s not a bad thing to enjoy some good pipe-weed or ale. Just about every good guy in Rings was either smoking or drinking (or both) at some point during the story. I already knew about the ale, but pipe-weed was always something I rather more enjoyed smelling than partaking of myself. But hey, if I ever get a hold of some Old Toby I just may see what all the fuss is about. You know you gotta love Tolkien… and Lewis… for they are master craftsmen true… and, should there be any chance of a kingdom to come, I’ll bet they’re tilting back ales right now laughing at all of us.

In place of a Dark Lord you shall have a Queen! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn, treacherous as the sea, stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!
-Galadriel

I also learned that evil witch sorceresses are peculiarly enchanting! Check the wallpaper… it’s Galadriel when she was being tempted and freaking out. There’s something about a Dark Queen. Hmm… like the Ice Queen from Narnia…. icy, yet hot. It’s a paradox… the powerful and evil woman figure, who maintains an aura of femininity and grace.

Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.
- Gandolf

I also learned that Gandolf knows more than anybody else. If anything… I should listen to him. When it was time to give an encouraging word he was right there. When it was time to mourn he was there. When it was time to lead he was there. When it was time to dress somebody down for their stupidity (even an ally) he was right there, and his rebukes had a wonderful sting. And most important… when it was time to kick a little arse… he always brought his own whoopin’ stick!

And I learned that the elves have some enchantingly spellbinding songs… filled with rich Celtic melodies and ethereal drones. I was inspired by the Fellowship extended version scene where Sam and Frodo lament the elves’ departure to the ships leaving Middle Earth. The elves in the scene had a simple, yet haunting song that I sought to imitate on the guitar… so I wrote an extended sequence of Celtic song with chords that layer over one another in a very elvish style. I have included a few of the cool chords I use below. Note the open A string throughout acting as the drone.

x o       x       x o       x       x o       x
-----------       -----------       -----------
| | | | | | <9    | | | | | | <9    | | 1 | | | <5
-----------       -----------       -----------
| | 1 1 1 |       | | | | 1 |       | | | | | |
-----------       -----------       -----------
| | | | | |       | | | | | |       | | | 3 | |
-----------       -----------       -----------
| | | | | |       | | 2 3 | |       | | | | 4 |
-----------       -----------       -----------

   F/A               Dsus/A            G5/A

And, the last thing I learned… was how to properly bid people farewell.

I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
- Bilbo Baggins

Now, there is actually quite a controversy as to whether or not smooth jazz is even jazz. Purists will state that it is an over-commercialized aberration more suited for an elevator. I think purists in general are idiotic, and this is no exception. Sure, smooth jazz tends to be evenly dynamic with mellow rythms… hence the label smoooootthhh. Have you ever tried setting a mood with some free jazz? Here’s part of Wikipedia’s definition:

Free jazz normally retains a general pulsation and often swings but without regular metre, and often with frequent accelerando and ritardando, giving an impression of the rhythm moving in waves. Often players in an ensemble adopt different tempi.

This is all a musical pet peeve of mine. Maybe it’s my engineering roots, or my military ones, but the whole thing with players adopting different tempos and doing their own chaotic thing has always been a cacophony to me… I never, EVER liked free jazz. I’ll walk out of Borders before listening to it for long.

You may also hear smooth jazz smeared as “white jazz”… an implication that it is de-souled “real” jazz made to be more palatable for the rhythmically-challenged middle-to-upper-class white suburbanites. This is just Chocolate City nonsense, as radio demographics reveal middle-to-upper-class blacks make up just as large a percentage of smooth jazz listeners. Of course, this makes perfect sense to me, as I’ve always believed that classy people enjoy classy music… and that skin color was NOT a factor in determining classiness.

Smooth jazz is just so classy and sets such an ambiance… you can’t help but slip into a setting feeling a bit of style. Ask a DJ and they’ll tell you that smooth jazz (and a few of its cousins) is some of the best music to play for banquets not requiring dancing… because the rock and dance-type music is too beat-y for conversation. Some people think classical music fits the bill for conversation-heavy get togethers… but they would be horribly wrong… because the huge dynamic range of most classical pieces produces music that is either way too soft or WAY TOO LOUD! The only classical exception is Baroque… but eating to that would feel too much like a Renaissance festival [insert wench joke here].

Enough talk… let’s create a little jazz on our own. Let’s take the cool chord from my post here, and combine it with a few other quasi-cool chords.

  x               x                 x
-----------       -----------       -----------
1 | 2 | | | <5    | 1 | 1 | 1 <5    | 1 | | | 1 <3
-----------       -----------       -----------
| | | 3 4 4       | | | | 2 |       | | | 2 | |
-----------       -----------       -----------
| | | | | |       | | 3 | | |       | | 3 | 4 |
-----------       -----------       -----------
| | | | | |       | | | | | |       | | | | | |
-----------       -----------       -----------

 A7(#5b9)             Dm7              Cmaj7

Now keep in mind all of these are “movable” chords, meaning you can play them anywhere on the neck. The only one we’ll be moving is the first one, which we’ll play as shown at fret 5, but also move down to fret 3 for a G7(#5b9). Are you ready? Okay… the progression is shown below. You can play this fast and rhythmic for some up-tempo jazz, or you can play it slower in a mellow arpeggio style for some (you guessed it) smooth jazz.

║:  Dm7  |  G7(#5b9)  |  Cmaj7  |  A7(#5b9)  :║

Kris over at ShutUpMilo.com (who is very talented behind a lens) snapped the shots of the gig you see below. You can see these and others in Kris’ gallery or in my gallery. I’d recommend meandering over to ShutUpMilo.com to check out all his galleries.