DeRamos Music

Chord du Jour Coffee Table Book, Week Five

DeRamos Music — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:26:10 +0000

Week Five is apparently a guitar-lite week, with three days of keyboard-related images, as well as a rare percussion day — the most basic of drum rudiments. The second day has some cool higher-fret chord voicings, though.

Chord du Jour Coffee Table Book, Week Four

DeRamos Music — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:59:35 +0000

On the fourth day of the fourth week, we temporarily break the fretboard-keyboard cycle with a percussion-related infographic: A drum pattern in 4/4 time and another drum pattern in 6/8 time.

Chord du Jour Coffee Table Book, Week Three

DeRamos Music — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:31:37 +0000

The “book” (if it is ever compiled as such) is divided in 18 weeks, which we think is the length of a high school semester. Each week has five work days, so that might fit nicely into school periods. Basically, this “coffee table book” really wants to be a “textbook,” without being so wordy.

Chord du Jour Coffee Table Book, Week Two

DeRamos Music — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:07:14 +0000

In the second “work” week of this “book,” we’re in A Minor territory for the first four days, with the fifth day showing one-sharp modes, to bridge with next week’s G stuff. So far, we’re alternating between guitar and piano/keyboard charts.

Chord du Jour Coffee Table Book, Week One

DeRamos Music — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:37:58 +0000

In making this “coffee table book,” we established some limits and expectations. Each two-page spread could only contain four colors, usually black, white, and two other colors. Ideally, one image would be enough to learn some rudimentary music — four chords and the truth — but perhaps two or three images combined could have that effect on a beginning musician or a hobbyist. In any case, the “lessons” were partly random, and partly based on the circle of fifths. The “book” contains 90 images, divided into 18 five-day weeks. This is the first five days:

Here’s to All Who Love (Arrangement)

DeRamos Music — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:03:42 +0000

“Here’s to All Who Love” is fantastic song by Marsha Hunt. Last week, it was brilliantly performed by Carol McArthur at a fundraiser for the documentary film Marsha Hunt’s Sweet Adversity. It was a pleasure and an honor to have a small role in the process (we transposed the key and set the chords for this arrangement). Please watch the video below:

Child in the Manger

DeRamos Music — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 04:10:12 +0000

It’s that time of year again!…when Ryan DeRamos records public domain Christmas carol. This time it’s “Child in the Manger,” which has the familiar melody of “Morning Has Broken.”

Child in the Manger (2:39)

Ryan says: This is the fourth year I’ve contributed to the LibriVox Christmas Carol Collection (in mono). We’ve posted the stereo master, which isn’t much different than the mono, here at the DeRamos Music website. Back in October or November, I was reading about Cat Stevens’ rendition of “Morning Has Broken” on Wikipedia, which led me to researching “Child in the Manger,” which has the same traditional Gaelic melody “Bunessan.” I wanted to keep the arrangement as simple as possible, so after figuring out a sparse chord progression of simple triads, I reduced the triads by one note — so the guitar part is only playing root-fifth power chords and root-thirds. A photo of our ever-growing puppy Kate graces the “album cover” for this track.

Check out Ryan’s recordings from Christmases past:

2011

We Three Kings (1:54)

2010

O Christmas Tree (2:22)

2009

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (2:02)

O Holy Night (4:29)

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1:21)

The One Horse Open Sleigh (Jingle Bells) (4:41)

We at DeRamos Music wish you some very Happy Holidays, whichever one(s) you choose to celebrate! After assuredly averting the Apocalypse, the brothers DeRamos also hope to release some non-holiday music soon!

‘Falling Up’ Documentary at the Downtown Film Festival, 7/11/2012

DeRamos Music — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 02:36:12 +0000

One week ago, brothers Jonathan and Ryan DeRamos attended the Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles premiere of the documentary film Falling Up. They composed the score for most of the film. The current season of screenings and premieres is the culmination of about eight years of documenting the life and world of Johnny Popp, a formerly homeless Vietnam War veteran. A question-and-answer session, which included Skid Row advocate General Jeff, filmmaker Stephon Litwinczuk, and documentary subjects Popp and Lorraine Marquez, followed the screening.

Jon at the Downtown Film Festival.

Earlier this year, Litwinczuk asked Ryan to write some music for Falling Up. Not only did the DeRamos brothers score the film, they put in some finishing touches (noise cleaning, panning, and mixing) to the film’s audio tracks.

Ryan at the Downtown Film Festival.

Here’s to the film Falling Up (currently available for rental at YouTube, and soon to be available in other places, too)! Here’s a sampling of the DeRamos Music score, a mini-trilogy spread throughout the film, called “Popp Life”:

We Three Kings

DeRamos Music — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:11:09 +0000

We Three Kings (1:54)

Ryan says: For the third year in a row, I’ve released some holiday music. This time, I’ve recorded a very upbeat rendition of “We Three Kings (of Orient Are).” I used a few new toys in the production of this track: An obscure 1980s guitar with some spicy humbucking pickups, a used BOSS overdrive pedal, a Little Big Muff Pi distortion pedal, and a personalized DeRamos Music pick by Clayton Custom Picks — 1.0 mm, white delrin, fantastic! This stereo mix is quite different than last week’s mono mix (for the LibriVox Christmas Carol Collection).

Anyhow, this past year, I’ve also joined a band called Seven Minute Silence. I’m their latest bass player, and I’m producing the next EP by the band. It should be recorded, mixed, and mastered by the end of the winter season. Combine that with hopefully some new Society of Gloves, Chord du Jour, solo work, etc., 2012 will hopefully a great time for DeRamos Music!

Here’s to averting the 2012 Apocalypse!

Chord du Jour Jam Sessions 307-312

DeRamos Music — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 08:00:06 +0000

Check out the second half of Chord du Jour Jam Sessions, “Season 3,” with Jon and Ryan:

Jam Session 307 (5:44)

Jam Session 308 (5:30)

Jam Session 309 (8:24)

Jam Session 310 (6:48)

Jam Session 311 (6:14)

Jam Session 312 (7:36)

For more information, please visit Chord du Jour.