hey Bruce, Great job! It's funny, solo acoustic blues like that can be like a playing a classical piece in a way with all the arrangement involved.You played it very well.Part of developing a style is realizing your limitations and making something of your own out of it. I bet you're very close the the original though! .Duke   

you sound great Harvey, good work. Duke

Hi Richy, That's a nicely put together blues jam, good ideas and I really like the bass solo also and the main guitar theme! duke

Hi Mtathew, Nice progression and execution there.Good tone also.I've never tried that style for some reason. I guess you'd call that a samba I believe.Duke   

Thanks, Duke! And thanks also Mike for the kind words. It really is like learning a classical piece. It's not really ever been my thing to learn pieces note-for-note like classical music, but I think there's a lot to learn from doing it. I've been working on another thing by Bert Jansch called Blackwater Side; it's short but very intricate. And Bert was such a great player.  I'd hate to tell you how long I've been working on it and still don't have it down! ;-)  But it's still getting better all the time, and as long as I'm improving, I guess I can't complain.

Thanks again, Duke. Your lessons have had an incredible impact in my musical life. And thanks again to Mike for making all this happen here at Sonic Junction! 

Hi Roger, Nice tune and it's cool hearing a shool band playing with you. I enjoyed it very much. Duke

Thanks duke too for your comments. It means a lot to get  a thumbs up from a guitar great like yourself. Thanks 

Hi Kevin, Nice song, band and vocalist. I'm really enjoying all the performances I'm hearing here today! Ya all making me proud! Duke   

Hey - Harvey and Paul! Both of you guys really did an excellent job of learning that shuffle! I'm real impressed - both of you really put in some time learning those verses! One thing I might suggest thinking about and focusing on would be the concept contained in a favorite Thelonious Monk quote of mine...it's something like: "When you're really swingin' - swing harder!" In other words, really feel that groove with your body and keep the pulse of that groove going in your head at all times - something like developing your own subconscious, organic mental click-track. Also, you may want to listen to the piece again and try to detect where I'm using 3 blow as opposed to 2 draw. Having that note as either a blow or draw at your disposal and working them off each other can really be useful when you're trying to achieve buoyancy in your groove. Overall, I gotta say, both of you guys make me feel like maybe I'm doing some good here at Sonic Junction.

Hello everyone, it's been a long time since my last post here. I thought Open mic would be the right time to say hy to Mike, Peter, JD, Vinny, Corey and Duke and all the friends here, playin one of my fav song of one of my fav bluesmen...please continue support this fantastic website and its teachers

Alex (Italy)

This is something that was inspired by Rick Estrin's Chicago Shuffle and the other Chicago Shuffle videos posted on this open mic.

Alex - beautiful job man - you really captured that haunting rythm and articulation in your playing. But what I really like is what you have done with your voice.  Not only have you neutralized the accent, you have really got a very cool groove going on in your vocals, including the little falsetto section there.  You took a bold step, and have turned what you thought was your biggest liability into a big asset.  That voice is extremely pleasant to listen to and very expressive.  I know you have been working hard on that.  You have really accomplished something.  I must say you have stolen my thunder though, because I was going to post that song too.  Something about italians and Robert Johnson. 

So cool to see more videos being posted! Great stuff everyone!

Here's another short thing. It's not a blues number, but the guitar part to Bert Jansch's great arrangement of a traditional Irish tune called Blackwater Side, which was stolen by Jimmy Page (without any credit, which I'll always hold against him) for a Led Zep album and he called it "Black Mountain Side". After mentioning to Duke this morning in my reply that I was working on it, I decided to "go for it" and make a video. Not perfect, but not bad. I've been working on it for almost two years!!

Ok not be left out, i thought i'd try my hand at At the Lake Shore by Los Indios Tabajaras. My fingers are very raw as i had to do this a couple of time since my interface wasn't interfacing. Hope you enjoy.

Steve 

Very nice stuff, Steve! That vibrato of yours is really something. 

Thanks Bruce. Must be the Canadian freezin temps. Or the beer.

Hey Harvey, Thanks for the comments and I'm working on Dennis' "Boxed Up",  about 75% through and want to get the last of it.  I'm a fellow New Englander in MA, so equally interested in making good use of the long winter!

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the tips and the great teaching!  I'll work on getting my swingin' groove on...

thanks Vinny..I'm glad you like it..:)) about singin, Corey did a very interesting and usefull series of lessons. This lessons helped me a lot in developing above all my ear on singing...capture rythm, accent...In this months I didn't even had enough time to work on it as I started a new job and you know how is in the beginning...so I'm playing less and less the guitar and about singing it's the same....but I understood that if you put enough rythm even in the singin line, it's not so bad...plus just a little more of vocal technique...and it's a lot of fun, first of all...and I didn't even have much time to practice as I have to organize an important event as you could see in my left hand! :DDD

Please post your version of love in vain...:)) But are you of italian origins?!?? I didn't remember this!

Rick,

Thanks for the detailed comments and for making your knowledge of the blues harmonica available to learn from. So cool!

Alex - yes it was simple, but you hit the groove and got the feeling, and that's what's important.  You definitely communicated the song  Oh yes I'm of Italian descent.  I have actually recently discovered that I may actually be able to acquire dual citizenship because I do not believe my great grand father naturalized. This is subsequent to Italian law I think in the 80's.  I wish I had known it before.  I can't find any record of his naturalization, but you have to acquire a lot of verified documents to do it and I don't have the money right now.  Would be handy to visit Italy and do some travelling as an Italian citizen. 

THANK you I think the above will be enough for the time being. I appreciate the showcase all in the name of fun and having a good time.. Dieter Hornemann  a.k.a. Startrekker 007

I have finally got a webcam, and am trying to get the hang of it. Unfortunately, I find my computer is a little loud fan wise to use this but I'm trying to position it so it's passable.  In this motorhome I am meandering about it, I can't get too loud.  This cold damp weather has all my guitars making strange sounds and my voice too.  Sound quality on this webcam is not good, and I have to keep my vocal volume in a limited range or it breaks up. Good practice I guess, but I'm not staying pitch consistently.  I might get the hang of it with a few tries here.

This is a song, "Beefsteak Blues", by James "Son" Thomas whose prime was in an era when blues was not very popular mainstream so he's not widely known.  I think he only made one recording.  This is a groove I'm trying to capture here, not an elaborate arrangement.  This is an interesting song, as the lyrics start on the IV and has a bit of a different feel.  I think you also get to hear the Wolf having a snack too, he decided to brunch in the middle of my recording.

I consider these my "pawn shop" videos.  Could not do anything over the weekend as it was raining so hard this rig sounded like it was being strafed with a gatling gun.