This is the third and final entry in a series examining a song from four different dimensions: songwriting, arrangement, performance, and production. This post examines the latter two. So what do you do when you have such great material that don’t require a lot of decoration? You get out of the …
This is the second in a series examining a song from four different dimensions: songwriting, arrangement, performance, and production. This post focuses on the oft-overlooked aspect of music: arrangement. In the previous post we examined how John Lennon wrote an efficient little pop gem using two well-matched chord progressions and repetitive …
This is a first in a series examining a song from four different dimensions: songwriting, arrangement, performance, and production. “Nowhere Man” from Rubber Soul is a brilliant little pop gem with biting commentary on humanity’s tendency to to stick to her/his comfort zones. The impactfulness of the song is perfectly orchestrated by …
The other day there was a question asked in a group for musicians. What’s the higher purpose of your music? Someone like Elizabeth Gilbert, whose book Big Magic I adore, would take issues with that statement. She encourages creatives to do it simply for the fun of it. Don’t overburden yourself …
If you study jazz, you start with the standards. But in my opinion standards also exist in the rock guitar lexicon as well — and this Jimi Hendrix gem is definitely one of them. It’s a seemingly simple tune which repeats just one verse progression over and over. Where does its …