Hey all, I just wanted to say I'm still in shock after meeting Joe in back of the Crest Theater after the show! It was an awesome show, I was in front the whole time just groovin to the beats.

Heh, I'm 21 and I've got into Joe right when Crystal Planet came out. I got so into his stuff its all I played for a long time, and my style and skill became more defined. The only problem now was, everybody just wants to hear Papa Roach, Chevelle, Disturbed etc etc... And I wat to actually PLAY my instrument for a living cuz its so much fun. So following advice from my high school music teacher (mr. Abigana your a stud!) He told me to find an audience first, then bring the music to them...I thought long and hard on this one, hhhmmm...

Ok, I'm gonna admit it, I'm a huge video gamer... I love to game. My girl loves to game, she works a game store, so games are a huge part of my life, and I've loved the music from them for years. So, I now play video game music, and distribute it on the web, I now work for Project Majestic mix, run by a really cool dude, who is looking at the possibility of a huge grant to fund a massive project. For those of you who might care even just a little bit, I'm going to record all the tracks from a game called Final Fantasy IV composed by Nobuo Uematsu (another huge stud) all on guitar, bass and drums, exactly how the music was written. I ebow all the string instruments, play all the crazy arrpeggios kick out all the fat grooves and melodies. Its 44 tracks of great music.

Sorry for the book, but I was first in line to meet Joe after the show, and all I could say was blah blah blah my project blah blah blah, (I just thought It'd be cool to tell Joe, one of my idols what I had goin on!) By the way, for those of you who've never met Joe, he is a super cool dude, shook my hand twice, and told me good luck with my project! After all that, I was bummed, I just watched Joe shred me on stage for like 2 hours! I'm in a bad woodshed period now, (thanks alot Joe!) Just kiddin :P. So I'm working towards my goal, of shredding and composing music for video games, but I'm in need of guidance I feel like I'm losing my mojo... But! When this project is done, I'm hoping it will be a cool guitar landmark! Thanks for listenin y'all, Joe your a stud, a short little stud, but a stud none the less hehe. Thanks for the wish of luck!

Whats up y'all? The Nobuo wannabe here. Check it out.... if you want to hear all 44 tracks to Final Fantasy IV (yes I'm a dork:) done on all live guitar bass and drums, exactly as the music was written by Nobuo himself, drop this guy a line: Producer@kfssstudios.com

and let him you know, you'd be down to check this album out. Hey JOE! I told you about this project in jan. at the crest theater, gimme a hand here and drop this guy a line telling him, your the daddy of all daddy's, and you wanna help one of your homies out!!

Thanks!

Oh man, getting geared up for G3 in concord baby!

Joe, you have to play "The Snake"!! "Belly Dancer" would be cool too! We got great seats, and the 3 of us will see you there!

Hey Joe the new site looks great!! I can't wait for the new album dude....CAN'T FREAKIN' WAIT!! When can we hear some samples man I'm dying to get my groove on! Please please please! Kick down some track samples pronto!

-Mikey

Don't know if this has been answered or not but:

Hey there Joe!

Long time fan rare poster.... but I have a question. I've been teaching guitar at a music store for about 3 years now and I'm having trouble getting students to break free from evenly divided rhythm groups like, 8th notes and triplets and quarter notes etc etc I've noticed how a lot of great players seem to, really be quite random in their solos/melodies in a rhythmic sense. I know this all adds up to the whole "feeling" thing but my question I'm hoping you could help me out with is:

How do you practice/teach that? The only success I've had with it is moving them into the legato style phrases you play by starting with scales played legato and chromatic patterns but that takes (I'm sure you know) a long time to really develop fluently. I'm hoping to get them out of the boxed in rhythmic realm and onto some good "tasty" phrasing that is all their own, be it bluesy or jazzy or whatever.

I have a few students who would really benefit from this, 3 or so really good ones who I KNOW will do something good with music someday is they stick with it.

Thanks for the response Joe!

What's funny is singing, is THE hardest thing to get my students to do lol. Maybe American Idol has gotten them a little shook up at the thought of singing in front of someone hehe. I'll definately give it a shot though. I discussed this "out of time" phrasing once with a colleague and he goes: "Oh thats easy, you just don't pay attention to whats going on underneath!" We had a good laugh... but then I thought hhhmmm maybe thats a clue? I even find myself a bit scared to step into that realm, I mean it can be scary when you aren't used to it, so I can't imagine what my poor students must think...

I try to get them to play licks like the couple bars of solo in "New Last Jam" right before the key change to C# minor. It's a relatively simple lick but its played with some cool pick attacks and phrasing, in an effort to show them you don't need to go nuts to be cool.

Sigh kids these days... I must be getting old! 24 isn't old is it?! IS IT?

Hey does anyone know of a place to go and discuss the nuts and bolts of music as it applies to artists like Joe? So many things you read that are published are so candy coated with things not really being explained from a... compositional point of view. I have alot of questions that I'd love to discuss with other like minded musicians, since you never hear about it from the artist in a candid way Things like:

Take the Chorus to "Crystal Planet" for example. The key is Bm and the chorus jumps up a half step does what is basically the Neopolitan Chord but in this case does a sus2b5 version of it and every two measures the keyboard plays that same chord form (sus2b5) with the melody cleverly ascending each time landing on that b5 for that eerie "other worldly" sound and finally landing on the dominant but with the same chord form, before resolving the suspension of the b5 up to the fifth and the sus2 resolving to the third (V Chord) and going back to the "i" chord in Bm...

Now thats a cool little segment that will beat the traditional I-V-I cadence anyday of the week in coolness. Sure it still hits the dominant, it'll always hit it sometime, but how it got there was just really neat... but how and why and when was it constructed? Of course analysis is just speculation and all, thats why its called "Theory" but it sure is fun to guys like me. This kinda stuff interest anybody?

SLANSHROOM - Haha the minute I detune the guitar to something I lose all my relative pitch! It's just that I bought the book to the Crystal Planet album when I was 16 and there is a quote from Joe in there:

"Music is the language of heart, the sound of the soul. The more we understand it, the deeper the listening experience becomes"

I thought that was a good way of explaining what music can be. It basically says it's still just as magical even if you know all about it. I think there is too much of the myth that, learning things about music somehow, degrades on magical-ness of it. It in fact enhances it. In this sense I tend to lean more towards the views of Igor Stravinsky on the way he looked at music...

But you're right, somethings are just "random" occurences, but I bet we'd all be suprised to find out which bits were, and which bits were'nt.

Thanks Joe! I make it my business to understand the progressions the idea behind them... why they work, why it doesnt work etc etc... That way when we all get that feeling of wanting to create something within a certain concept, we already know the chord types and all the colors we need to paint the picture we want to see.

COMIC_APE - I couldn't agree more about "Time" Knowing the workings of songs like that makes them sound way cooler then ever before. I can barely recall what it was like to hear these things without the ears I have now... I remember thinking.. oh man, thats way to complex for me to grasp but it sounds ssssooo damn cool! It was like looking up to a huge mountain, not being able to see the summit with clouds in the way. Now its more like looking down on the valley from the summit. Which is a better view ya know? Sure thats subjective, one might prefer the other view.

We should pick a song and break it down. I'm really interested in the key changes made during the solos and how they lead (or don't lead) back to the songs original key. My music teacher once spoke to me using the language "DIstant Keys" and how some just don't relate to eachother... This always bugged me cuz I was listening to Joe's music (and others) that were full off, on the fly funky key changes. This lead me to come up with my little theory about all keys just being one movement up or down the circle of 5ths (I'm sure others have thought of this) with all sorts parallel modulations happening behind the scenes.

Stevee - I've noticed that when your playing a fat run of legato muting the strings slightly is essential to getting it nice and clean. I never knew he did it with his fingers though thats kinda cool. That would explain the kinda "fist" shaped pick hand he uses most of the time. I've always used my palm.

Stevee - Lol ya of course holding the strings with your right hand is the best "sounding" way to mute the strings when you play legato licks but its just too impractical to do everytime and if you want to end your phrase with a different lick requiring some picking it just isn't practical. It's a crowd pleaser though!

Hey Joe,

So I starting to impliment a lesson plan for my more advance students to get them into playing some "cooler" phrased licks by doing what you suggested. So I totally ripped you off and had a little "Crowd Chant" session hehe, I said, I'm gonna play a lick for a measure, and you're gonna sing it back to me. A couple of em looked at me like I was crazy. I got one more load of students tonight to try it on, and I know my protege' will be able to do it just fine, just not sure if he'll actually try for some new phrasing as a result. All in all a pretty creative kid, plays with his pick angled upwards like Marty Friedman does... he does it very well though and I've explained to him the only guy I know of who is good with that angle is Marty... a couple of guys I actually know who pick like that are just way too sloppy, but since my student does well with it, I just leave it alone!

WASP - Ah thats what I was lookin' for! A theory bro! Lets see here... "Lords of Karma" huh? Indeed a weird progression in that song. Sounds like its based in some weird harmonic minor mode. But under closer examination I'd say its kinda like his other song "With Jupiter In MInd" where you have to seperate modes based offa one pitch (pitch axis theory) inside of four measures. The first chord implies A Lydian, or it could be the 4th mode of E harmonic minor I think some people call the 4th mode Ukranian minor? Anyways... I'd say when the bass and the guitar enter it pretty much says it's A Lydian cuz of the G# in the bass register. Then the next chord would be A mixolydian the book says the chord is: A13sus4, I'd say it could also be a Dadd4/A an inverted chord... but whatever. The dominant implication of this chord implies Mixolydian.

So, in short, the verse section rhythm is A lydian two bars, A Mixolydian 2 bars.

Now the verse melody, purposefully exploits the obvious interval structure of the modes in question. In the lydian he goes right into that #4 (The 11th fret note sliding down to the 9) to a C# which is the major third, making its case for lydian very strong then in the next two bars slides down from the A root note a m7 to G natural, the one big difference between the two scales,,, You might even be able to make a could argument by saying the whole thing is based on A Lydian b7 a mode of Melodic minor, if it were'nt for that pesky M7 G# in the bass register lol.

The Section with all the bar dips I'd say is definately the 4th mode of E harmonic minor, the first 8 bars anyways.. but Mikey! there is no "E's" in that part! Well, if you look at the harmony teeeeeechnically A5 contains an E :P The next 8 bars transpose virually the same thing but in the 4th mode of F# harmonic minor (basically modulating up a whole step) The following six bars hhmmm I could be wrong here but I'd say its damn close to the 4th mode of B harmonic minor... just that pesky C5 chord that pops in every other measure, maybe its a neopolitan? Sounds like one, but that m7 on top of it (Bb) with its #4 brings to mind the score of "Jaws" when they finally see Jaws near the films finale, also like the score from the movie "The Mummy" has that similar chord/interval structure....

In short for this section I'm gonna say its 4th mode of E harmonic minor, to 4th mode of F# harmonic minor, followed by the 4th mode of B harmonic minor. I believe the reason for this sequence of modulations is to get him back on an "E" tonality since E is A's dominant, he can safely return home to the songs "A" tonality, it does so by hitting an E5 chord while the fifth moves chromatically up a "D" which makes it sound a slightly dominant-ish even without a G# to clash and push to A.

Now that little sitar breakdown... hehe let me sleep on it. But I thinks its got more to with, adding a bunch of 2nds to add to the Ethereal chord sounds he was looking for... the reasons for exactly which chords, more importantly the bass notes, kinda eludes me... it seems to be Am with the exception of a chromatic chord in the third measure of the section... perhaps he was just looking for chromatic movement? I see another neopolitan chord in the 11th measure of the section the finally ending with a classic "Phrygian" Cadence to an E7 which takes us safely from our long journey through the east and back home to well... A.

Hey there!

Actually they call that scale "Bebop Dorian" Its basically a dorian scale with an additional chromatic note in it (a b5) Think "Satch Boogie" for a Bebop Dorian mode.

4th mode of "Harmonic" minor actually, 4th mode of Melodic minor is something pretty different. People call alot of the "Altered" Modes by a few different names, Lydian b7 can also be called Lydian Dominant. Some of them have multiple names like, the 5th mode of Harmonic minor is called: "Phrygian Dominant" or "Phrygian Major" basically tomatoe, tomatoe if ya catch my drift....

Ah the Neopolitan chord. Pay no attention to the, "Classical" version of the chord, they call it a Neopolitan 6th chord cuz it's typically done in first inversion but enough chat! Basically, its a chromatic chord (an out of key chord) you can throw in to spice things up a bit and how you do it is, say we're in A minor. You build a major chord off of the flatted 2nd degree of the scale... Thats called a "Neopolitan" chord thats it really. So the flatted 2nd degree in A minor would be?.... any guesses? Bb! so the Neopolitan chord in A minor would be Bb Major. You can then go right back into an A minor chord progression. Typically, the melody has to compensate for the new note being introduced when you flat the 2nd, so it sounds like a really quick key change, and whats cool about it is, if you keep all the other notes natural (cept for the b2nd...) it'll sound like something in Lydian. That Lydian sound is always so pretty to me, so the Neopolitan is a cool way to add some Lydian color to your song without doing the typical minor progression: i - bVII - bVI progression which is always a cool progression but it sure gets over used...

Ned Evett? I remember seeing him open for Joe at the Crest Theater in Sacramento, that fretless glass sounded trippy! Lol the only thing I remember from that show was "Circus Liquor" hehe.

Hey Joe! See you at NAMM this year! I'll be there representing the guitar instructors of Watermelon Music in Davis, CA. Hope it'll be fun I've never been to a NAMM show before. I look forward to seeing you and a TON of other cool people there!

JOE - Hey! I missed you at NAMM! I was in line, and when there was about 10 people left, you had to bail! That was a bummer... My buddy and I did talk to Jeff Campitelli for a while he was a cool dude. Oh well, maybe next year :( Heard Eddie Van Halen signed a deal with Fender... intresting. Soooo many cool people were there... I'm sure you're used to it though hehe.