Iambic - "Try to remember it's not how good you are compaired to others, but how you personally progress"... this is very true and I'd add that the true fealing of success comes out of how much you enjoy playing... loving it is most important of all...

dont flame me for interfering... I truely have the best interests of both of you at heart...

Theory Posse – it looks as though I missed the little fake triangle [^] for the major 7 chords after the last post…and I wrote G7 add 9 instead of G add 9 [because G7 add 9 and G9 are the same chord Clarky you dope..!!… doh!!] so here is the correct list of chords [how I should have posted them] and the answers…..

G^7 add 13, A^9, F^11, Em9, Am7 add 11, Dm add 9, Am11, G add 9, C11, A7 add 13

G^7 add 13 – from the key of G major – G, B, D, F#, E

A^9 – from the key of A major – A, C#, E, G, B

F^11 from the key of F – F, A, C, E, G, Bb

Em9 – from the key of Em – E, G, B, D, F#

Am7 add 11 – from the key of Am – A, C, E, G, D

Dm add 9 – from the key of Dm – D, F, A, E

Am11 – from the key of Am – A, C, E, G, B, D

G add 9 – from the key of C major – G, B, D, A

C11 – from the key of F major – C, E, G, Bb, D, F

ovation - exactly bro ... exactly... 'dirty washing in public'...

On the EOC tour, I chatted with Eric for quite some time back-stage in Ghent, Belgium ['cos we're both lefties and had common guitar ground to bitch about... lol]... I found him very pleasent, bright, interesting to talk to and a really nice guy...

I respect him greatly as a musician and a person...

Somehow that orange post and my recollections of Eric don't match very... that post and Eric don't seem to be the same person - unless of course he is very seriously upset.... [in which case... having a pissing contest with the fans is pretty unprofessional]

anyways... none of my bizniz anyhow....

Choco - congrats on the Sharonth 100... [I'm easily confused]

r6r - yeah the G7 add 9 confused me too..... lol no apple for teacher.. 'cos he thinks it's a pear... doh!!!... lol

Talking to Stone... simple.. not flash but it still makes me shiver... I think because it is 'where' it was writen from inside... it makes me sad but very proud to have writen it...

Xm7 is always calculated from the key of Xm....
X^7 [and beyond] comes from X major
Xm7 [and beyond] comes from Xm
X7 [and beyond] comes from what ever major key that X is the 5th of.

Remember that this is only for working out the notes that make the chord... this does not mean that Xm7 does not exist in other keys...

dont forget that Am7 not only appears in Am, C major but also Em, G major.... and many others too...

r6r - think of it as banging... lol the banging together of two bodies... lol... so if I'm lucky, I'll get to do some percussion later...

M - I've never yet encountered a problem where a solution cannot be found..... so we can work on this one....

appart from that is Grand Unification Theory... but I'm sure there's a solution for that too...me Steve H and the boys at CERN just have not found it yet.....

crippler - try to undo it with pliers but put some cloth between the jaws to ensure that you dont scratch the metal [if you havn't done that already. You may have to take the bridge off and grip it in a vice... if you still can't get it sorted take it to a luthier....

As for cases.. I use very nice gig bags, only cases when the guitar flies in cargo - US trips...

Theory posse – ok folks… the part that many of you have been waiting for…. Modes..
modes are scales just like any other, therefore they simply provide a template of intervals carving up an octave.. nothing more, nothing less… think back to how the natural minor and how it was calculated from its relative major scale to generate a new scale [based upon a new series of intervals]… so modes are calculated in exactly the same way but with one small difference.. they each use a different starting note from its relative major [which I’ll call the centre key].
So, if there are seven notes in a diatonic major scale, then there can be only seven diatonic modes…
The main point to note is that the major scale is used only calculate the modes… the similarity ends there as each mode is a scale in its own right…
The scale of G major is composed of the following [familiar by now] series of intervals:
Tonic, major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th.
The major scale also has a name in modal terms…. Ionian… therefore G major = G Ionian.
I you look from the 2nd degree of the major scale, rename it from being the 2nd of the major scale to the tonic of a new scale you’ll see a completely new series of intervals emerge. We’ll do this using G major…

Starting from the 2nd we get the following series of note values… A, B, C, D, E, F#, G, the Dorian mode…. and calculating the intervals with respect to this new tonic [in this case ‘A’] you get:
tonic, major 2nd, minor 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, minor 7th. [which is essentially a minor scale with a major 6th]…. So this example is A Dorian

All of the chords that we calculated from the centre key [in this case G major] still apply but they are rotated in the same way as the notes themselves… we get I = Am, II = Bm, III = C, IV = D, V = Em, VI = F#mb5, VII = G

Note that A Dorian is like being in a ‘key’ in its own right… the progression I, IV, V would be Am, D, Em…. and when creating melodies it has a minor tonality but the major 6th makes it sound less ‘dark’ than a natural minor [with its minor 6th]… also… although the mode is calculated from G major… you are never in the key of G because you are in A Dorian…

When you are in the key of G major and the Am chord is sounding, you are still in G major – not in A dorian.
When you are in A Dorian and the G chord is sounding, you are still in A Dorian – not in G Ionian.

What we’ve just seen applies to all modes…. They are calculated from a parent major scale – the centre key – they adopt all of the available chords from the centre key – they have a new series of intervals – they are essentially keys in their own right…… and of course the G-everywhere thing provides the fingerings for all modes derived from G major all over the neck…

Theory posse - also, what helps to see the modes for what they are is to calculate them based around the same tonic… I’ll use G.
G Ionian is from the Tonic of a major scale [in this case G major G, A, B, C, D, E, F#]
G Dorian is from the 2nd of a major scale [in this case F major F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E]
G Phrygian is from the 3rd of a major scale [in this case Eb Major Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D]
G Lydian is from the 4th of a major scale [in this case D major D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#]
G Mixolydian is from the 5th of a major scale [in this case C major C, D, E, F, G, A, B]
G Aeolian is from the 6th of a major scale [in this case Bb major Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A]
G Locrian is from the 7th of a major scale [in this case Ab major Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G]

The very cool part is; if you know the mode and the tonic, you can work out the centre from which it was derived… you then shift the G-everywhere thing accordingly – e.g. centre key of A major means the whole thing moves 2 frets up the neck – you can now play in any major, natural minor and diatonic mode in any key from the nut to the top fret…. Now ain’t that something……. And all from learning a little math and 7 fingerings…… not too much pain for such a huge gain…

Ovation / Phryg Dom - all of the stuff on my IUMA site was recorded the same way....

minidiskman-->zoom 9002 PRO--> minidiskman

the backing track are of two types

1/ from guitar magz / books etc...

2/ made myself....
programmed on Cubase 3.0 [Atari] which plays my keyboard modules and sampler
played back onto minidiskman
use the setup above to add all guitars.

very crude indeed....

these days I use Cubase VST32 but only as a sequencer
record onto Yamaha 4-track MD porta-studio

not as crude as before [because I can at least drop-in] but I still have to do a crazy amount of 'bouncing'...

I like the recording at this level to be pretty crude so I dont get distracted with all the production stuff.... I'm most concerned at this level with the writing

I use nice pro studios to get the production down and I'll train my playing to peak technique wise for the studio sessions.

In the future I'll upgrade my home recording to an 8-track hard-disk porta-studio to reduce the amount of time lost with the bounces.... still a basic system though....

I'm not a big fan of recording onto a PC... reliability issues, not robust enough hardware and not very portable... [which is why I'm a fan of 'purpose built' kit...]

Crippler - San Francisco [California] is in a big bay... if I'm correct in my understanding [correct me if I'm mistaken guys] but the Bay Area is SF and the surrounding cities / towns that are located around the Bay [like Concorde].... like in the UK where we have areas like the 'home counties', Tyne Side, Strath Clyde, the 'West Country' etc... large 'known' areas but not explicit counties/ districts....

mr nick - without going back and learning / transcribing the entire section, it was based upon this basic patern [on the B-string]

12[tap]-0-5-7-12[tap]-7-5-0

if you want it completely tab'd out it'll take a while... [it's a matter of time more than anything - 'cos I'm desperately trying to get my album written and each track takes a few months to write

tapper5 - " if G,ionian is from the tonic Gmaj. GABCDEF# Why dosent the following appear like this? G-DORIAN - START ON THE A, 2ND NOTE? G-PHRYGIAN - START ON THE B , 3RD NOTE? G-LYDIAN - START ON THE C , 4TH NOTE? G-MIXOLYDIAN - START ON THE D , 5TH NOTE? G-AEOLIAN - START ON THE E ,6TH NOTE? G-LOCRIAN - START ON THE F#, 7TH NOTE?"

this is all correct... what I'l trying to get across is not 'start playing' it is 'start calculating the notes' using the notes from G major

One of the most difficult parts about modes is not actually working them out... that is very simple [e.g. Aeolian is the 6th mode... using a centre key of C you get A Aeolian A, B, C, E, E, F, G].... the tricky part is that:

1/ you are no longer in the same key as the centre key - the keys of G major and E minor share the same notes but the similarity ends there ... exactly the same applies to modes.. - [play a 'I - IV' progression in each key / mode over and over... record it and solo over it and listen carefully...].. better still... do this for each mode but keep the tonic the same - E major... Eminor... E Mixolydian etc... the result should stare you in the face..

2/ if you are soloing over a chorgression you are not playing modally.... I - IV - V in G = G - C - D... when you are soloing you are not playing G Ionian - C Lydian - D Mixolydian [this is guitar-mag junk theory]... you are playing in the key of G major throughout....

3/ the only time you should describe how to solo in terms of using different keys, scale types and mode types is when the chord progression does not completely belong to a single key [especially with jazz because often, each chord comes from a different key or uses very different scale types - this gets complex.. I'll describe this stuff later]..

When working out the centre key of a mode, note what the mode type is... eg.. Phrygian [which determines the degree of the major scale that generated that mode]... and what the tonic is eg 'E'... you can then find the centre key..
Phrygian is derived from the 3rd degree of a major scale - so count back a major 3rd interval from the tonic of the mode to find the tonic of the centre key... E is the major 3rd of C therefore C major is the centre key for E Phrygian - D is the centre key for F# Phrygian.... it's a math thing....

did this answer your question or did I go off on the wrong tack??

local person - get a loaf is right... simultaneously striking the rim and the skin is a rim-shot... a very loud and distinctive sound....

striking a drum twice where the two beats are very close together is called a flam...

using the stick held in reverse where the tip lays on the skin and the back of the stick hits the rim [as in ballads, jazz and reggae] is called side sticking.... however, you'll see it in many keyboard, sequencer and sampler drum maps as 'rim' [but not rim-shot]... so I guess that this is where the confusion could come from...

XCPX - Images and Words is my fave... the track Pull Me Under is great... the solo is jaw dropping... I learned to play it and it took ages to work out.... very very tricky solo but beautifully writen...

the name of the CD that followed escapes me right now but it's also very good... Erotomania on that one... and again here's a track that tacks quite a while to learn and is a real handfull from start to finish.......

tapper - based upon our e-mail exchanges I could see that you was so very close to getting this... now that you have you'll note that the 'math' is really not such a big deal... the big deal is the act of creation that all of this stuff makes available.

Knowing more than you can play is not such a strange thing...
work from the 'top' down...
train the mind - learn what is available and how it works so you can explore the options by putting pen to paper... this gets you thinking and understanding...
train the hands - go find this stuff on the neck... explore the options and listen to the results... this is where all that you understand becomes applied...
exploit with the soul - you know how and why things work... you can find it on the neck... it is now time to turn all of this over to your imagination and creative element... this is where studying the theories and studying the neck pay you back... your creative paint box now contains all kind of new textures and colours.......

time to enjoy....lol

All your sheep are bah bah bah to us... lol

Matt- in one sense congrats bro... in another sense - another one bites the dust..... lol

Peter Hamill was a guest on the last David Cross album so I got to meet him in the studio... very talented guy...

I don't know about the white bycicle thing... no idea...

ovation san - last night I picked up the RG7470... wax on.... wax off.... wax on.... wax off...lol lol.... the only thing that was missing was the cherry blossom tree......

the lastest on me cusom is that the neck is being rebuilt... this has been a pretty painful experience... I hope it proves to be worth while