the johnnyGizmo Blog

My New Blog

2011-03-29T22:31:00.000-05:00

I just started a new blog to talk specifically about music and being a musician. Check it out at http://ds-al-coda.blogspot.com/ I called it DS al Coda, because in music the DS as Coda gives us direction where to go next. Not surprisingly, where to go next is something that faces a lot of us who aspire to be the best musician we can be. So stop on by and check it out. Subscribe with your rss

Pedalboard Planner Blog Now Up

2009-10-10T07:44:00.003-05:00

The Pedalboard planner blog is now up athttp://pedalboardplanner.com/blogI'll be moving some of my gear related posts over there and adding reviews of gear there too. Hope to see you there!

Pedalboard Planner Sponsor

2009-09-25T12:31:00.002-05:00

Pedalboard Planner now has an official sponsor. WE are proudly brought to you by Pedaltrain. Pedaltrain makes some great pedalboards, and now you can use pedalboard planner to see how your effects will fit on a Pedaltrain pedalboard.

Thirtysomething pre-med

2009-09-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

My wife has a new blog that she just started to chronicle her journey to becoming a doctor. The only difference is that she is starting in her 30's rather than her teens. So if you want some light hearted commentary on her new journey of education as well as some great stories of what it's like going back to the same college you graduated from a decade earlier, check it out at thirtysomething

Pedalboard Planner

2009-09-12T07:38:00.003-05:00

In trying to figure out exactly how to set up my pedalboard and figure out what size board I could use (and still have room to grow) I wanted a program that would let me pull in the pedals I use, and move them around on the screen. So I've begun a little project called Pedalboard Planner. It uses HTML canvas (no Internet Explorer at the moment, but I'm working on that.) Check it outPedalboard

Riff of the Week

2009-08-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

I came across a great resource for all you guitarists out there. It's called Riff of the Week. It is a weekly vidcast by a guy named Dave Weiner. Dave is the 'other' guitarist for Steve Vai's band. Dave takes a few minutes each week to show a cool riff, technique or tonal idea. He also has put up a section on his website with a bunch of background tracks for practicing improvisation. They range

Tech Tools for Musicians - Lilypond

2009-07-29T19:11:00.006-05:00

Musical scoring is a much needed evil. From trying to put together a lead sheet to a full up score, if you want to communicate with musicians, it is the best way. But my handwriting is terrible! You do not want to see a handwritten piece of music from me. So that is where software comes in. The full version of Finale (one of the premier notation software tools) is $450. Sometimes I just want to

Pizza Night

2009-07-24T17:26:00.010-05:00

Recently a co-worker of mine wrote about making pizza, and I was inspired to do the same.If there is one food I love in most of it's forms, it's pizza. My family loves it as well. With 7 of us (including grandpa) we can go through a couple of large pizzas without too much trouble and at $10-$15 a pizza, ordering in is expensive. I enjoy cooking a good meal and so about 6 months ago I started

Learning Modes - Some formulas

2009-01-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

Once you start getting the idea of modes, one of the easiest ways to deal with them is knowing how they are spelled relative to their ionian version. We can Use the key of C as a great example.C Ionian C D E F G A B C MajorC Dorian C D Eb F G A Bb Bb MajorC Phrygian C Db Eb F G Ab Bb Ab MajorC Lydian C D E F# G A B G MajorC Mixolydian C D E F G A

Learning Modes - Extending the Chords

2009-01-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Now that we have a list of the triads that are diatonic to the modes of our key, we can extend them to include the diatonic 7th chords of the modes. We now have an even wider canvas to paint with. You may just thing that this is just slapping 7ths on each chord type. For Diminished and Minor, it pretty much is. But for the major 7ths you have to be careful. Because 2 will be major 7th and 1 will

Learning Modes - Another Step

2009-01-13T13:30:00.004-06:00

In my last post, we looked at a very simple chord progression with a couple of chords. Most likely you will be playing music that is much more complicated. So what happens when a Cm shows up in your song in G major? There is a note in that chord that is not in your key! Well there are a couple things you can do here.Do not play an E during this chordSwitch to C MinorFind some other mode that

Learning Modes - Putting Something Together

2009-01-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

Now that we can find a major scale that is equivalent to a mode we need to be able to know how to choose which modes to play. Here is one method that can yield some good results. For starters lets look at a very simple chord progression in the key of G:|: G | C | G | D7 :|We need to determine what modes work with which chords. To do this of course, we need to be able to spell our chords. First

Learning Modes - Finding the Relative Major

2009-01-05T12:00:00.001-06:00

In my last article on modes we discussed how you can find a given mode by playing a major scale at a given interval from the original note.First take a look at this slightly confusing table.ModeTonalitySteps Down1/2 Steps DownInterval Down1/2 Steps UpInterval UpIonian (Major)Major0/12Unison/Octave12/0Unison/OctaveDorianMinorW2Major 2nd10Minor 7thPhrygianMinorWW4Major 3rd8Minor

Learning Modes - The Relative Major Way

2009-01-03T11:14:00.002-06:00

Ok so I did not invent this, but I did come up with it out of my own studies (as my college theory prof told me...the hard way). But I like many others learned early on 3 things about modesThe seven modes were just "starting" on the 7 notes of the scale. So If you were playing a C major scale and went from D to D it was D dorian, E to E was E Phrygian, etc.Modes could sound really cool.Modes were

Guitar Gear for Beginners - Part 8 - Pitch Effects

2008-12-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

There are a couple of effects that will effect the pitch of your instrument. OctaverThe octave pedal does what it's name says, it shifts the pitch of your instrument by octaves. Some have options as to what octave you want to add. One octave up, one down, 2 down, etc. Then levels of how much original signal and shifted signal to have. The Boss OC-3 Super Octave is an example of a octave

Guitar Gear for Beginners - Part 7 - Time Effects

2008-12-30T08:00:00.001-06:00

Time based effects are those that elongate, or repeat our sounds. Here are 3 types of effects that fall into this category.DelayDelay is an echo effect. Depending on the unit we are using, we will set a delay time (how fast does it echo) and a regeneration factor (how quickly does it get quieter with each echo) and a count of how many echos we want. Some examples of delay effects are the Boss DD

Guitar Gear for Beginners - Part 6 - Modulation Effects

2008-12-29T08:00:00.001-06:00

Phaser, Flanger, Chorus are several of the more popular modulation effects. The difference between them can be a little difficult to explain, but I'll give it a go. ChorusChorus works by playing a copy of the sound coming in again just slightly later than the original (like 100ms later) and lightly altering it's pitch. This makes it sound like 2 or more instruments are playing the same thing at

Guitar Gear for Beginners - Part 5 - Volume Effects

2008-12-28T08:00:00.001-06:00

CompressorThe compressor is a tough effect to explain if you have not worked it it before. The basic idea is this: As you play louder, it turns you down. So that way you can turn up the quiet stuff without blowing out the doors with the loud stuff. Depending on how fast your effect is set, it can create a very "punchy" tone due to the compressor kicking in. The MXR Dyna Comp is a popular

Guitar Gear for Beginners - Part 4 - Filter Effects

2008-12-27T08:00:00.001-06:00

Filter effects are basically effects that take your sounds and either cut or boost certain frequecies. EqualizerAn EQ pedal does the exact same thing the EQ on a stereo does. It lets you pick a frequency and cut or boost it. Having it in a pedal means you can turn it on or off at a whim and it is within your reach if you need to make a change. The MXR M-108 or the Boss GE-7 are examples of EQ

Guitar Gear for Beginners - Part 3 - Distortion Effects

2008-12-26T16:00:00.001-06:00

It seems like at the beginning of every gear based email that I write, I start with a disclaimer that xyz is a little complicated, and effects are no different. One of the things that makes effects such a wide subject is that there are so many different types that do drastically different things. There are really 2 ways to acquire effects (that can be combined), first is the "Stomp Box", the

Christmas in IT

2008-12-24T22:24:00.003-06:00

How do a group of a dozen IT people celebrate Christmas? With a day of food (really good food) and video games, namely Rock Band. If you have never heard your boss sing Alanis Morriset's "You Oughta Know" you haven't lived...or at least laughed really hard. Thanks Paul!

Guitar Gear for Beginners - Part 2 - The Amp

2008-12-24T08:00:00.001-06:00

Nothing strikes fear into the guitar students parent when they realize that little Timmy is gonna need an amplifier to go along with that electric guitar. They have visions of the first scene in "Back to the Future" with a 6 foot speaker mounted into the wall. Amplifiers can be a tricky deal and can really make or break your sound.Practice AmpsFor starters, there is what we call the practice amp.

Guitar Gear for Beginners - Part 1 - The Guitar

2008-12-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

I have been teaching guitar lessons for about 10 years. I have had students ranging in age from 7 to mid 40's. But usually, most of the kids are 10 to 18. Generally speaking they have a hand-me-down guitar or something that was picked up at a yard sale. Occasionally they have a nicer used instrument or something that a parent went out and picked up so their kid could check it out. It has

Quick Note - Gear Reviews and Such Coming

2008-12-22T18:53:00.003-06:00

I have a series of installments coming up that hopefully will be helpful to those of you looking to buy some musical gear, as well as some thoughts on good gear for beginners. So stay tuned! P.S. If you are checking out my blog for XNA stuff only, here is a great suggestion, when you are not coding you should pick up a guitar and play!

Guitar Article Index

2008-12-01T14:36:00.006-06:00

Music / Guitar ArticlesWhile there has been a rise in popularity in games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, there has been a secondary effect of having a renewed interest in music as a whole. The past year has a marked a dramatic increase in the amount of people either asking for guitar lessons or for advice on what new guitar gear they should get for themselves or their child. So in response to