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Briana's Music Room
Hi, and welcome to my music room. First I would like to thank one of my sisters, Chrissy Charland for making this possible. Hugs girl. I got my first guitar in Mexico when I was around six, I played with my moms before that. I didn't get serious about playing until I was a teenager and played with my best friend who was killed in an accident when we were twenty. I am self taught, the only music training I have had was playing sax in grade school band. My teacher talked me into playing baritone sax and he liked to have the band play current popular music like Santana. I was always given bass guitar parts to play on my baritone sax, maybe that's where I got interested in the bass. I used to say if it has strings, I can play it. Then one day I got my hands on a violin. I am here to tell you that the violin is the devils work and anyone that can play one has sold his or her soul to make that sweet sound. I have a lot of influences but with the bass, there is really only one, Geddy Lee. My plan is to post one song a week until I run out of finished material, after that, who knows. And now, let's get to the music. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for visiting my music room.
6/1/11 "Lee"
This song was done about a year ago. It is the first blues piece I have ever done. I wrote it for my sweetie and it is named for her. It had to be the first piece that I posted here. Love You. There are two versions of this song, this is the first version. There are mistakes in all of my pieces but I am very happy with the way this came out. I guess it's all about what you can live with.
Instruments - three
Guitar - one track, BC Rich "Warlock"
Bass - one track, Ibenez fretless
Drums - micro BR electronic drum machine
click here
6/7/11
Live in concert
"Ridicule"
I have a friend at work that is learning to play the guitar. I help him with things and have gone to his place to give him lessons. Whenever I am recording a new piece, I bring my recorder in to work and let him listen to it during each step of the recording. He gets to hear the piece in layers until it is finally finished with all the instruments. Sometimes I will tell him, "I'm not happy with this part, or that part. I'm going to rerecord this or that." He always tells me, "You're crazy, I don't hear anything wrong with that. You should put a band together and I have the perfect name, RIDICULE, cause you always pick apart everything you do." Like i said in the notes for "Lee", there are mistakes in all of my pieces, but they have to be acceptable to me before I will call a piece done. I have a standard for the level of quality, only once have I lowered my standard on a piece. Which brings us to
Song # 2
"The Spirit of the Great White North"
The names from my songs come from a lot of different places. I am a big fan of progressive rock. Styx, Kansas, and of course, Rush. I wanted to do something in that style, the style of Rush. Heavy bass, guitar arpeggios, hard crunchy guitar, and some keyboards. Rush is from Canada so, The Spirit of the Great White North. The production side of this one was, well I could say difficult but then I would be lying. It was insane and I'm suprised that I finished it. Because of that, my tolerence level for imperfections dropped considerably. Don't get me wrong, it came out pretty good, but there are more improfections in this one than any other piece I have done. "Live in concert, RIDICULE."
Instruments - five
Guitar - Two tracts in the intro, one through the rest of the song. All done with a fender electric acoustic run through various effects boxes. ( I didn't have my Warlock yet)
Bass - Ibenez fretless
Keyboards - Roland SH09 and RS09 synthesizers
Drums - micro br electronic drum machine
click here
Spirit Of The Great White North.wav
Song Three
6/14/11
"Monsoon Rain"
I live in the desert, we get about half of our anual rain in a one month period from mid July, to mid August. The storm pattern is called monsoon. One August afternoon I was sitting on a rock at a popular mountain overlook, picking on my acoustic. Almost every August afternoon our skies turn black and a storm rolls in. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it rains on the house across the street and you don't get a drop. But we love the rain here. In the desert, water is life, and the desert explodes with the color of wild flowers. Anyway, I was sitting on my rock, working on something new, and this storm was rolling in, It was an incredible experience, seeing the downpoors drifting across the desert floor. Smelling the wet creosote, which smells so good. This is the song that came to be that afternoon. It is a guitar oriented song that is comparable to, maybe the early Ginn Blossoms. Hope you enjoy.
Instruments - five
Guitar - there are three playing continuously through the song, all were done with my Fender electric acoustic
Bass - as always, Ibanez fretless
Drums - Micro BR elctronic drum machine
Cick here
Song four
6/23/11
Marvin Martian's March
This song is one of my older pieces. I did it when I was in my mid twenties, and I recorded it the first time using multiple cassette tape recorders. That version had bass, keyboards, and a drum machine. I recorded it again about four years ago with my digital four track. In fact it was the first song I recorded when I bought my recorder. The bass line is the same as the original version. It is a bass piece but it is very different than any of my other bass pieces. The entire song is slap, hammers, and pulls. There isn't a single plucked note in the entire piece. The background music was changed a little. The main backing is now rhythm guitar and ther is very faint keyboards in the background to give it a little more depth. I am very happy with the way it came out except for one thing. I hadn't found the sound I wanted to get out of my bass through the recorder until my third song I recorded. I wish it sounded a little more "tinney" and had a little more punch to it. It was a hard song to name. It has a serious sound to it, yet a silly sound to it. When I listen to it I can sort of picture that old Warner Brothers cartoon charater Marvin Martian. He tried to be so serious yet was kind of goofy. Anyway, that's where the name came from, if you don't know Marvin, I'm sure you could google him.
Instruments - four
Bass - one track, as always, Ibenez fretless
Guitar - one track, fender electric acoustic
Keyboards - Roland RS 09 synth
Drums - micro br electronic drum machine
Click Here
Song five
6/29/11
The Axe Handler
Well, I would say that this next song is the last of the new styles for my music, at least at this point. Don't get me wrong, there is more music coming, and I am playing again so there is even more new stuff coming. I think I have six more finished after this one, and I am working on two more new ones. I don't have as much time to devote to playing as I would like, I am also working on a garden which I hope to share through pictures when it is done. Anyway, back to the music. The Axe Handler is my atempt at 80s big hair rock. The kind of music that the last band I was in played. The kind of music I grew up on. Most of the bass players of that era were what I would call sell outs. Stand in the back by the drums and hammer 1/8 notes all night, for the most part, the same 1/8 note. Sometimes only three or four notes in the whole song, that's just wrong. I always tried to put a little more into the songs we did with the bass. I tried to do a little with this one but this is a guitar oriented song. I had a hard time with the name on this one. I tried to come up with something to reflect the attitude of the time and era, I know it's lame but it's the best I could come up with.
Instruments - four
Guitar - two tracks, both were done with my B.C. Rich Warlock
Bass - Duh !! Ibanez Fretless
Drums - micro br electronic drum machine
Click here
Song six
7/4/11
Crusty's Demize
Crusty's Demize was actually the first song I did for Lee. I know that already sounds bad so let me back up a bit. She really likes the song, I think it came out pretty good too, but it is a bit dark. She likes all of my music, but likes it most when I am just picking arpeggios on the acoustic. Ok, that's where I should start this one. Lets make it different, unusual........... I know, how about an odd time signature, I went with 3/4. I'm not sure what posessed me to put a minor chord in there but there it is. When I'm working on something new, I spend some time laying out the main track/instrument. The rest of them are semi improvised. I am not someone that can just jump into something new and improvise a part. When I do make something new though, I play the first track and it ........ inspires the other tracks. Ok, lets do the math.
Odd time signature + minor chord + guitar riffs that end in decending pitch = dark sounding piece. Not exactly something you write for someone you love. The name, at this point what else could I do. The lead guitar is highly compressed and almost sounds like some kind of evil circus music to me, and the most famous clown I know is Crusty from the Simpsons so ...... Crusty's Demize. This is the slowest piece I have ever done, it's not my favorite but I like it. It's definitely an example of what happens when you put to much thought into art. Hope you enjoy.
Instruments - four
Guitars - Two tracks, melody - fender electric acoustic, Lead B.C. Rich Warlock
Bass - Ibanez fretless
Drums - On this one I used my Boss DR 220 electronic drum machine. The whole thing was programmed beat by beat so the drums match the acoustic guiter.
Cick here
7/8/11
Song seven
Lead Rain
So where do you go the week after posting the slowest song you have done, to the land of whiplash of course. Full speed ahead, or as Danusha would probably say, warp factor nine. My guitar songs come from me trying different things, just looking for things that sound good to me. Most of my bass pieces start off as an excercise to improve on one thing or another. This song is the most true example of that out of all of my material. The excercise, improving right hand finger speed. Can I get to a point where I can rattle off an entire measure of 1/16 notes on my bass. A lot of people would say on a bass, why would you want to ? And of course my answer would be, cause Geddy does it, and then some. I think I would have to say I think I nailed it on this one. This is the Lamborghini of my bass pieces, if it doesn't make it go fast, we don't need it. The verse.......... not much to it. The chorus.............not much there either. But the bridge that connects them together, 5 measures of continuous 1/16 notes. That's EIGHTY consecutive 1/16 notes................. in about 9 seconds................on a bass. This is my biggest acomplishment as far as my bass pieces go. There are no key boards in this song, some people think there are. There is guitar run through a flanger behind the bass. The name, well it sounds like it's raining lead.
Instruments - four
Bass - Ibanez fretless
Guitars - two tracks, both done with my fender electric acoustic run through various effects. (I didn't have my Warlock yet)
Drums - Micro br electronic drum machine.
Click here
7/15/11
Song eight
Lee - Distortion Version
Not much to write on this one that I haven't already written. It is the same song as the first on the blog with two changes. I used hard rock drums and very heavy distortion on the guitar. Instruments - three
Guitar - B.C. Rich Warlock
Bass - Ibanez fretless
Drums - Micro br electronic drum machine
Click here
7/21/11
Song nine
To much caffeine
This is another old song of mine. I did it in my twenties, around the same time as Marvin Martians March. The difference is "Marvin" was recorded back then using cassette decks, then changed slightly and recorded again on my digital equipment. This song was recorded for the first time on my digital equipment twenty something years after it was conceived. The only regret I have with the recording is that it was the second song I recorded with this equipment, and like "Marvin", I hadn't got the sound down on the bass yet. I wish it was more tinney and had more punch to it. On this type of song it gets a little muddy on the low end. The name............................... yeah, I don't think there will be much need for explanation after you hear it. It's a boat load of....... ......... "almost" unfocused energy. Like drinking a keg of red bull and picking up your bass. Put on your seat belt, hope you enjoy.
Instruments - four
Bass - Ibanez fretless
Guitar - two tracks, both done with my fender electric acoustic, (I didn't have the Warlock yet)
Drums - micro br electronic drum machine
Click Here
7/29/11
song ten
Boom 101
This is the first guitar bassed song that I recorded. It is built around arpeggios played on the acoustic. I have always played guitars but always considered myself first, a bassist. When I did this song I knew that the bass had to "back" the guitar, not overtake it. At the time, this was a first for me and though it probably sounds strange, felt almost .........uncomfortable, after all, I'm a bassist, not a guitarist. If you have been following the blog you can see that I have obviously gotten past this, but at the time, it just seemed wrong because............................I'M A BASSIST. I had no clue what to name this song and was still dealing with the fact that................I'M A BASSIST. I was going to school when I did this song, and in college, almost every "beginning" course in a subject is numbered "101". At the time I considered the bass in this piece to be very lame, or simple. So, Boom = bass, 101 = lame or simple. Probably pretty lame way to come up with a name but like I said way back, they are instrumentals so the names come from a feeling or thought about the piece in most cases. If you have been following the blog, this one would be in the same class as "Monsoon Rain". Hope you enjoy.
Instuments - three
Guitar - two tracks, both done with Fender acoustic
Bass - Ibanez fretless
Drums - micro br electronic drum machines
Click here
Song eleven
8/25/11
Drive it like you stole it
Well, this is the last finished song to post. Most of you that follow the blog have already heard it as it is the first song that made it to GS thanks to Chrissy posting it in the musicians cafe after I had emailed it to her, but you might want to give it another spin and you probably haven't heard the story behind it. This was another hard one to name. Then one day, it just hit me. "Drive it like you stole it", a phrase that means push it as hard as you can. I can't take complete credit for writing this, well, it's about 99% me, 1% ..............stolen. The chord progression is not mine, but if you heard the song it came from you could say nothing but WTF. I am a fan of Stained, I love their lyrics and I love the way they use the music to set the mood of the song. The original song that the progression came from is by Stained, and it's called "Outside". If you haven't heard it google it and listen to it. It's just an acoustic guitar and it's played at about 60 beats per minute where mine is played at 150 beats per minute if I remember correctly. So, I stole it (sort of), and I'm pounding the sh*t out of it. So Drive it like you stole it.
Instruments - Four
Guitar - Two tracks, both done with my Fender electric acoustic. (again, before the Warlock)
Bass - Ibanez fretless
Drums -Micro br electronic drum machine
Click here
Drive It Like You Stole It.wav
Song that the Chord progression came from, "Outside" by Stained
http://vodpod.com/watch/102409-stained-ft-fred-durst-outside
6/12/12
Live and unplugged.......sort of
My hope is to post some........ video diary's. Clips with some music, and me talking about the piece a little. If you visit this portion of the blog my hope is that you will be able to get to know me more as a person. Enjoy.
It's been a very long time since i have been here to post new things. This is another first here. It's just me, and my acoustic, and it's the closest thing to live that I could post. It's video of me playing one of my pieces. No drums, no bass, just me, and one guitar. It's also a first in that it gives my friends all over the world a chance to, sort of meet me, and in talking on the video this rush of feelings came over me as I realized I was no longer a picture and words on a screen, or the sound of my music. It's me, the real me. I have an incredible friend here that lives in the UK. We joined GS at about the same time, met, and have been emailing for over two years. I call her "Chica". I live in a part of the US that is very heavily influenced by the Spanish culture. About a hundred and fifty years ago, I believe, where I live was part of Mexico. My name is spelled and pronounced the Latina way, and Chica is a .........Spanish slur?........ that is used by the latina's, it's like saying girlfriend. She is very special to me and knows more about my life than anyone at GS. I was fighting crying when I talked about her and knew that her, and all of you would be meeting me for the first time, I wish I could meet all of you too.
The music isn't perfect, I lost it going into the first change, almost scrapped the whole thing and started over, but decided to step back and start again. There are also some audio problems from a short that I couldn't hear because I am plugged directly into the computer and only hear the guitar itself while playing. But, I am happy, it's real, it's me, and I would like to dedicate this video to Chica. It's for you.
Changing times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMhv5vpE-k8
7/8/12
First cover
"Save all your love" by Great White
Another first for my blog, My first cover. This is a song by Great White. They are the band that I learned about blues from. They are not a blues band, but a blues rock band. Some of their stuff is flat out blues and some is rock. I have always loved blues but never really understood how to play them. About three years ago I studied another one of their songs, a full on blues piece called "The House of Broken Love". I learned to play it and actually recorded it. It's how I learned blues and without it, I couldn't have written "Lee". They are both done in the key of A. I haven't done any blues in any other key so far. LOL, guess I'm kind of lazy, that would require learning scales on different parts of the neck. Anyway, this is about Save all Your Love. Their music is from the 80s and this song has such pretty arpeggio's. I love picking that kind of stuff on the acoustic. I only ran through the intro, a verse, and a chorus and ended it. Without vocals I didn't want to drag it out, and I totally screwed up and stopped the first time through. It's a little rough on one change but that's life when it's live. I hope you enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evoi_ItYPAA
7/23/12
Some Finger picking
This is actually a remake of a video that I already posted and pulled down. It is some slow finger picking and it came out well. I am getting a little less nervous with each video and the sound problems have been worked out. As an extra added bonus, lol, you get to meet Cujo, the man eating pomeranian. He hates being touched and I picked him up. He let me know by saying "Grrrrr", I think the rough translation is "put me down biatch", then he showed his award winning smile. He's one of my babies, maybe I will get the other one in another video. I hope to do a few more but not sure when I will have the time as summer is almost over and I won't have the freedom I have now. We'll see. I hope you like the video.
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