Sunday, March 30, 2008

Color Bloom


Aloha,

Writers try to be as colorful as possible, but sometimes it is just a matter of "timing." It is very important to keep a journal and write EVERYDAY so you can continually surprise yourself with little "discoveries." Then you will be pleasantly surprised when a piece of your writing comes into a full "color bloom," like a Bird of Paradise. I made my "discovery" of this little guy at just the right "time."         Enjoy!


                 
Genre: Nouveau Hawaiian


                       The Heart of the View

The moment you soared you were one of the few
With a joy so contagious your smile into view
Clearly outrageous so much life left to do
You blast and you jump into the heart of the view

Restless hearts talk and promises before sailing the blue 
So questless a start for a passionate few
Set sail keeping only uncharted water in view
Confiding in someone special like you

Out there in the heart of the view 
Do your part see your way through 
Wide worlds may wonder as you sail on the blue 
Of heart's little thunder in the heart of the view  

Down deep inside is your heart of a dream
That's the part of your story it's what makes you scream
It's the heart of the matter it's what makes you "you"
As you blast and you jump into the heart of the view
 


Genre: Jazz Blues

                         Just Now

A little lateral thinking, collateral drain
Couldn't we endure just a little more pain
Would you please leap, just a little sideways
A little outside of your, ingrained byways
As you pattern my image, spatter my spinach
Hey buddy does it really matter, my vintage?

Oh please don't simplify
I like those, complicated eyes
Someday I'll realize, how you...
Looked at me just now

There it is again, never knew where or when
But until then, I will endure and abide, somehow
Forever and a day, how you...
Looked at me just now

Surrealistic realism, bridges the schism
As you start to continue, you chisel my heart
I'll remember forever, and from now
When my last breath takes a bow, how you...
Looked at me just now

Hey buddy can you spare a dime?
Well OK maybe next time
Can you chime in later with some chow?
And then only then I may know, I'll make that show
On how you... looked at me, Just Now
   


Genre: Environmental Poetry

                           Charm Yourself 

So warm in your way, so charming your day
Are we really talking global?
No harm to say yes, they swarm I must confess
I must say, we do pay, day in and day out
What's that you say, expect and convey, a drought
Charm yourself out

Something out there, holds this thing together
So slight and fluffy, just like a feather
How is your father's father? And, what did Mother say?
Sooner or later, there's gonna' be love to pay
Nature will have her say, in this there can be no doubt, so
Charm yourself out

Comes a new day, let's all get together in our own way
By the way, how's the weather? Sonny, what's that you say? 
Sunny and warm, that's what they say
The upcoming trend, just around the bend
Brings a new day, more on its way
Hey! I figured it out, here's what it's all about
Charm yourself out

Guitar Lesson #3


Aloha!
                   Welcome to Beginning Jazz Guitar Lesson #3. As you have seen in Lesson #1 and #2, the left hand has been holding steady on the Fmajor7 (Fmaj7) chord. In this lesson we activate the little finger (pinky) of the left hand. By FRETTING the 3rd fret(D note) of the 2nd string (B string) with the little finger (pinky) of the left hand, we add a D note to our our Fmaj7 chord. This new chord also has another name: D minor with an added E note (with the "open" first string ringing). If you don't play the open E string (and on the video I'm not), you have simply a D minor(Dm) chord. Just by adding the left-hand little finger  pinky), you have added a new chord (Dm) to your repertoire! 

Watch and listen to the video.    



       As usual, I'm playing the guitar with my 5-finger right-hand style. As you listen, notice the light jazzy sound of the Fmaj7 chord for 4 beats (with the high open E note ringing). The next 4 beats, I place my pinky on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string (I don't strike the E string during these 4 beats), and play the new Dm chord with 4 fingers of my right hand. Notice on the video the dark TEXTURE of the Dm chord. This repeats back to 4 beats of light-textured Fmaj7 chord then  then back to 4 beats of dark-textured Dm chord in a cycle. 

       As guitarists, we want to change chords as seamlessly and painlessly as possible. Arriving at a new chord by simply altering one guitar note allows us to more easily play our SONG.

       By the way, did you hear Roswell singing on the video? If... you look closely, you can see the little guy.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                   Enjoy!   

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Dreams of Blue


Aloha,
Here are 3 examples of different genres in lyric writing 
for your song. 
Enjoy!


Genre: eFuture Poetry
Flash Bolero

Above the rising sea below the canopy
We seek the safety of our sentiment
Nature drums and motherhood comes
To rise above the sediment

Savage bang an ocean rang
Came the dance of the flash bolero
Fire words hearts stirred 
The dark horse of twilight ground zero

Dreams of blue the beauty of green too
Inspire in the cold and the dark
Muses merge museums emerge
Still the darkhorse of twilight sought its mark

A new canopy the blue sky would be
Above the dance of the flash bolero 
Below raging swells a calm ocean will dwell
Here motherhood awaits her hero




Genre: Blues 

                         What Happens Next

You warm your mind, as her heart grows cold,  
then worry grabs hold, down to your soul
A wise man will tell you, get it out of your head,  
sorry is a word that can end you' up dead
What's your hurry baby? Please tell me, or send me a text
Won't you tell me now baby, What Happens Next?

You manage your way. You say, " Come what may!"
But you can't stop the day, got dues to pay
day in and day out can't you can hear my heart shout?
There's got to be some, kind of way out..
Jimi and Dylan would shout, would say,  
Hey, What Happens Next?

What is going, to happen next?
Somebody tell me or send me a text
Baby won't you please,  don't stack the deck  
Just tell me honey, What Happens Next?

You say step up, drink from the cup, 
then talk to me like some kind of pup
You tell me remember, then you forget.  
Won't somebody tell me, What Happens Next?




Genre: Jazz Swing

                           Hunger the Night

You characterize, so strong
Up to the moment of your momentous little song
You guy wire your tension
Did I mention? This guy is wired for you?

You lead me through. Or is this just
Another little journey to find you, yourself, and you?
I gladly follow with no disguise, baby it's you, you..
Hot wire me wise

Intrigued, never fatigued, surely you must know
When you invite me, excite me, the exits are closed
So close you are, bringing that feeling of home from afar
Can I ride in your car in overdrive? It's true you hot wire me wise

The way I feel when you say you deal right from the heart
It's like we were, when we were right from the start
When we were younger we'd hunger the night, and listen to its cries
Then you would, hot wire me wise

You bring your story, on a stage of glory
In motion, with that look in your eyes, no one denies
Baby it you. You hot wire me wise








Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Flower Beach Song

Aloha! 
 I shot this on my way home.... the inspiration for today's lyric.


Genre: Jazz Pop

          Flower Beach Song

   
Though some light may
Naturally darken the view
When feelings have their say   
Life remains true

Out now in the bright lights
The glitz the glamor the fame
Mothers and love still remain
Back home from where you came

Do the best tell the world
Your heartfelt little songs
Embrace the human race
Sing the world belongs

And now as the summer goes 
So goes collective souls
Only the winter knows
How long yet thunder rolls

Eyes see clear into view 
Desert sands ocean blue
Stars shine on the morning cool
Warm memories be the jewel
 
Wake those hearts
To a beautiful sway
Start up ramparts
Let dreams have their say

Distant streams float magic boats
Where dreams can honestly say 
Together we made it 
Nothing will fade it
Our little history along the way



 



Monday, March 24, 2008

Paradise Flower

Aloha!
                   Here's a photo I shot a couple weeks ago. It's the inspiration for today's story.


                                 The Event Horizon

      The signature of normalcy that night never arrived. A lone officer dug through the rubble. Near the front of the building, Sgt Annie Anders closed her eyes as if to calm herself. When she opened her eyes she saw it. Her heart pulsed as she approached with her flashlight.
      "Well, I guess this answers one question ," she whispered with a sense of scientific discovery. 
       Her chest rose with deeper breaths now. Her boots left watery impressions as she scanned the remaining rubble through the night wetness with her flashlight, looking for another body. The shear wind was gone, but the drizzle remained.
         "Oh god!" she screamed silently, looking down.
      She imagined that the report would have to say there was no identification, but she knew better. 
     "He has a wedding band," she said softly. "and somewhere a wife and a ..." 
       She thought, a loving man.
       The rain pulsed as Annie's eyes followed her flashlight beam across the darkness over mounds of more rubble. She tried to calm herself, but nothing here gave her any comfort. 
       
       The only standing structure left was on the corner, down at the end of the block, an old Starbucks. Annie eased herself down the street to try to see something. 
       On a normal day, people would be safe inside there, she thought.
       "The weather station will call it a tornado, a night tornado." She looked up and noticed the street lights redden. 
       This was no windstorm, she thought. A tornado doesn't strike the heart of the city. No, this thing had all the earmarks of a gravity event. And this one had a non-random target cycle.

        Annie  went back to the man's body and waited for a response on her radio. She looked straight ahead, once in a while forcing herself to follow the beam of her flashlight. The force had sent things in a direction nobody expected. She looked down again at what she considered to be the body's only form of identification.
          "A gold band around his finger, that's all," she said aloud. "What a funny  thought." 
           This pile of rubble was once some kind of store. The remainder of the building, still standing, had been rented by a local church.
          "Another male seeking shelter." Annie's gaze turned gentle. "The force just crushed its will on him, had its way."
          A slight glimmer of sympathy began a slow melt within Annie. She thought about that golden ring on his hand and those cold hard bricks individually tightening their grip on his lifeless body.                            
           Gravity still having it's say, she thought, indenturing his body with creases like a newly minted jigsaw puzzle. 

           Annie tried her radio again.
           "Doesn't this thing ever work?" she said aloud. The radio remained silent.
           She looked down again, as if to offer a prayer. "... last moments locked in a battle with a pulsed force, until in the end, there was no more pulse for either."
            "Base.....come in base," Annie tried again. Still no answer.
            
 
           
           

   



Review Guitar lessons #1 and #2 from Waikiki


Aloha!
               Let's talk a little about the 1st two lessons of Beginning Jazz Guitar from beautiful Waikiki! 

As you may have noticed, the left hand continues to hold the Fmajor7 (Fmaj7) chord. The form I'm showing you has three "open" strings ringing and three "fretted" strings ringing. It is very important that you use the exact "fingering" I have shown on the videos. This is because we are soon going to want to go to another chord in the SIMPLEST and most PAINLESS way we can, so...make sure your left hand is exactly as I' ve shown you. Remember, a musician's goal is to learn a SONG and PERFORM.

                             Looking at the right hand, you may have noticed I'm using ALL 5 FINGERS of my right hand to play the guitar. This style is a little rare among guitarists, but you may hear the nice TEXTURE this style creates.
                            
                             Remember, the idea is basically simple: Guitar playing requires a "left hand machine" and a "right hand machine." Together these two "machines" will eventually give you MUSIC. As a beginning guitarist, you must work on and PRACTICE each one separately.
Have fun and...see you soon!


   

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Guitar Lesson #2

Aloha!     This is a continuation of last month's beginning jazz lesson. If you have questions about the left hand chord form, please read Lesson #1 BLOG. For those of you who already know guitar chord names you can see this is a Fmajor7 (Fmaj7) chord. In this lesson we'll hold the Fmaj7 and look at a  5-finger right hand style. Later we will talk about why I feel this Fmaj7
form is one of the most important chord forms on the guitar. 
  
              Listen and watch the video below. You will hear 2 beats of "chord rhythm" and 2 beats of pattern picking, then the cycle repeats. The left hand Fmaj7 chord gives us the "jazzy" sound and the smooth right hand gives us a tap-your-foot clap-your hand feel. In other words, the right hand gives us the RHYTHM. Some theorists claim that without steady rhythm, nobody will listen to you....for very long anyway. So rhythm is the key(no pun intended) to holding your audience. 
        
               What exactly is "CHORD RHYTHM?"  Well a chord is 2 or more notes played at the same time. Rhythm is the pulse you feel. So 2 or more notes played at the same time to a pulse is a CHORD RHYTHM. The pattern picking on my right hand is thumb(A note)-pinky(E note)-index finger(F note)- ring finger(C note). 

                Just a reminder: This Fmaj7 chord form on the guitar  is.....Low E open
                                                                                                 Low A open 
                                                                                   F note 3rd fret on the D string
                                                        A note 2nd fret on the G string
                                   C note 1st fret on the B string
       High E open string 

Have fun and....see you soon!