New stuff coming soon.

I've been neglecting my YouTube channel a little and admittedly part of it is laziness. However another problem is that recently my tablet and phone both broke and since my wife is in America with my camera I can't record anything. When she returns I should finally be able to make more videos. I'm planning on adding some guitar lessons as well as a few other things. I'm going to try to be more consistent with my content. Also I plan on launching a new channel dedicated to my life in Japan and various things that happen here. Be on the look out for all of that and more. I also have more planned for this blog in the next few weeks, so subscribe to get make sure you don't miss any of the articles that will be coming soon.

Rhythmic arranging

I thought I'd talk about rhythm in this post. Luckily rhythm is much easier to deal with and there are less ways to mess it up, but if you aren't careful it can still happen. One simple thing that can cause problems is flams. If you're a drummer I'm sure you know what a flam is, but if not I'll explain. A flam is when one note(usually percussion) is played quickly before another and with a lower volume. You can check it out below.

On drums this is cool, when it happens by accident with 2 different instruments it's not. The one of the worst places this can happen is between a kick drum and a bass. If your kick drum and bass guitar aren't playing complimentary rhythms, you can get flaming that can sound like mistakes. The bass and kick don't have to play the exact same thing, they shouldn't be fighting each other. Of course this can happen with any instrument, but with instruments it seems to cause more problems for whatever reason. Here is an example.

Here is another one with piano that sounds a bit strange and definitely lacks a groove.

Luckily there are some simple fixes. One thing you can try is having everything play the same rhythm or at least similar rhythms. In this example nothing sounds wrong or out of place and I don't think it would sound terrible in a song. However there are some improvments that could be made to make it groove a bit harder.

 Now listen to the 2nd example. In the 2nd example the kick drum, bass and clavinet are playing similar rhythms, which gives this example more power.

Some people might like the 1st example better, but in certain situations and songs the 2nd idea works better. By having multiple instruments playing at the same time, you give those rhythms power.

Another thing that works well is what I call trading off. What I mean by that is when one instrument is holding a note another plays a lots of notes and vice versa. This is a fundamental arranging trick and you can hear it everywhere from pop to classical music. Here are some examples

Now here is a song I wrote a while back that uses the exact same technique through out.

I hope that gave you some ideas on how to go about putting together rhythms. Most of it is intuitive, but there are some techniques that help when you're at a lost. Also keep in mind that sometimes you might want things to sound chaotic and you can do the opposite of what I've suggested above. Below are some songs I believe are examples of good rhythmic arranging.

Listen to how all the instruments compliment each other and don't fight each other. Listen to the percussion on the left and right sides. Also take note of how at the end of each phrase he sings you can hear a guitar lick, horn stab or a string riff. During the keyboard solo listen to how all the instruments play together to create a powerful rhythm for the keyboard to solo over. This creates an interesting contrast to the light funky feel of the rest of the song.

I've been getting into Kill Paris recently. Here is an example of funkstep/glitch-hop which is simple but effective. If you listen to the bass during the drop it's playing a simple line that is locked in with the kick drum. Later another lead synth part comes in the plays the exact same thing as the bass just higher. On top of all of this notice how the synths drop out when the vocal sample come in which only makes their reappearance seem to hit even harder(which doesn't seem possible). The genius of this song is they found a good rhythm, had all the instruments follow it and then took it away before you got too tired of it. A simple idea, but when it comes together like this you can turn it into a whiplash inducing groove.

Listen to how the bass, kick, piano and guitar all lock in together into the same rhythm. This makes for a powerful arrangement and is present in most hard rock and heavy metal songs.

As always check out some of my songs and arrangements on the side of this page or at productiontrax and leave a comment below. I'll be back with more on arranging in a week or 2.

Part 1 - Thoughts on Arranging
Part 2 - Timbre
Part 4 - Harmonic clarity
Part 5 - Seeing the big picture

Joyo British Sound demo

Here is another video of a joyo product. This time it's the British Sound. This thing gets great Marshall tones.

10 hours to a better something or other

I thought I'd talk about something that I've been doing for the last few years and has helped me. Everyone has goals and things they want to achieve/change about themselves. I also believe almost everyone has more failures and regrets than memories/feelings of accomplishment about their lives. Although I can't really give you advice about how to get rid of all the regrets in your life I might be able to help you accomplish more.

Anyway I'm sure some of you have heard of the 10,000 hour rule from the book Outliers. Also I'm sure some of you have seen this TED talk about 1 month challenges.

Although I like both of these ideas, for me there are a few problems. The 10,000 rule is great, but 10,000 hrs is way to long and not many people will have 10,000 hrs of motivation. The 30 day challenge is great for experiences, but for trying to learn or increase skills it's a problem. For example if your goal was to go jogging for 30 days, the 1st day you might run for 45 min, but I know if it were me, by the 15th day I'd be doing 20 min jogs. Another problem I have with them is that you can't control the speed of your progress. A day takes 24 hours and there is nothing you can do to make it go faster or slower.

Instead of these I prefer 10 hour challenges. They avoid some of the problems above, by being attainable and by allowing you to choose your own pace. I set a goal, set a deadline and then come up with a prize. The goal is usually to do something for 10 hours, although you could set a different goal, such as write 8 songs in 10 hours or finish reading a book in 10 hours. The reason I usually choose "do something for 10 hours" is that it's impossible to know how long it takes to reach a goal if you haven't reached it yet. I usually set the deadline for 2 weeks, but really it all depends on how much time you have. I like to practice things in 1 hour blocks, so 2 weeks gives me 4 days to forget/be to busy to practice. You can do 1 week also, but of course you'll have to do more hours a day. IMO doing a lot of hours in a one day is less efficient (read about it here) and time for sleep between practice is important. Instead of rushing through many 10 hour challenges I think it's better to do 2 or 3 concurrently. Finally, prizes are important. After all your hard word reward yourself with something nice. It will help keep you motivated and sometimes it's the only thing that will push you from hour 7 to hour 10.

Some tips that might help you are

• Choose something specific- Be a better guitar player is too vague, but practice alternate picking with a metronome, isn't.
• Use a timer to keep track of your practice- Make sure you use something to time yourself while practicing.
• Don't feel like you have to practice for a long time- 10 or 15 min sessions are fine and in fact they are sometimes better than 1 or 2 hour sessions. Just make sure you have a timer to record it.

I hope that gave you some ideas on how to increase your skills and learn new things. Also you can apply the same concept to things that aren't usually timed. An example would be a 10 song challenge, were you write 10 songs. After you finish your challenge it's always good to look back to where you were when you started and compare it to where you are now. It's amazing the type of growth you can make in 10 hours. Good luck.

Joyo California Sound demo

Here is a demo I did a while back of the joyo California Sound. It's a great pedal and for the price it can make a great backup if your main rig blows up. It's very bass heavy, but the tone is pretty good and there is a lot of variation to be had. With a few tweaks of a knob you can go from a harsh, biting distortion to a smooth woman tone. Check it out.