Archive
Rhythm guitar – a bad habit?
This article originally appeared in Total Guitar magazine issue 220, November 2011. Reproduced by permission. Words: Joe Bennett. Illustration: Noami Hocking. Click the image to download a pdf of the article.
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This is a songwriting column, and we’re all guitarists. So it stands to reason that we’re writing songs on guitar, doesn’t it? But much as we love our instrument, it may be quietly restricting our creativity.
We all want to write songs that are original, interesting and unusual, and that’s not easy with such a popular instrument. Looking for a new and inspiring chord? Every combination of four fingers and six strings across four frets (or five if you’re feeling athletic) has already been tried. Need a new chord sequence? Every variation of the basic open major and minor chords already appears in a song somewhere. Read more…
Rockschool new syllabus
After several years of planning, research, pitching, composing, transcribing and recording, the new Rockschool syllabus was released on 1st May 2012. Here’s one of my contributions – a Led Zeppelin-style rock track, co-written with the estimable Noam Lederman, who also played all the drum parts.
Live blogging Eurovision 2012
22:16 – Live blog now complete. If you’re reading this there’s no need to hit refresh now. If you’re not reading this, the current sentence may not be available to you.
[This is a live blog - hit 'refresh' in your browser throughout the evening. Each song will be scored as we hear it. Geeky musicological commentary will be added wherever possible. As always I'm going to try (and, as always, fail) to pick a winner. I never listen to the songs before the show, so these are all first impressions.]
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22:06 – voting about to begin
OK I’m going to predict my top 3. I promise not to change these as the voting patterns become clear – you can check the post dates! So as last year, I’m going to commit, and then leave my inevitable wrongness online for the world to see forever!
EUROVISION WINNER PREDICTIONS 2012
- Sweden – Euphoria
- Germany – Standing Still
- Russia – Party for Everybody
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[edit] ACTUAL EUROVISION WINNERS 2012
- Sweden – Euphoria
- Russia – Party for Everybody
- Serbia – Nije ljubav Stvar
[end of edit]
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21:59 – Moldova – Lautar – 51%
Finally, a song with a gratuitous forced key change at the end. Lots of fun, this, but I’m not sure the lyric phrase ‘this trumpet makes you mine girl’ will enter the European zeitgeist anytime soon. There are some great melodies on the fiddles. I enjoyed singing along to this, but it’s not sophisticated or contemporary enough, even for Eurovision. Read more…
Song vs Track – the Picture and the Frame
This article originally appeared in Total Guitar magazine issue 219, October 2011. Reproduced by permission. Words: Joe Bennett. Illustration: Christian Ward. Click the image to download a pdf of the article.
Do you have a favourite song? Do you know why you like it? We all have favourite tracks, of course, but if someone asks us why we like a particular song – that is, the words, melody and chords – we find it difficult to give an answer. Often we’ll talk about where we were when we heard the track: going to school, falling in love, going on holiday, passing an exam or getting a new job. And tracks are great for evoking these memories. But tracks and songs are not the same thing. Read more…
