MLSD

In future posts on this blog I will be adding lists of composers and performers of importance for drum set/percussion and guitar/bass. I’ll include multiple lists for different styles of music as well.

The first two lists, below, consist of the “classical” genre for guitar. I may revise the lists in the future. I may also use some genre terms loosely (classical, romantic; modern, contemporary) with some composers. Composers are sorted mostly chronologically by period, then alphabetically. Performers are sorted by individuals and by groups, then alphabetically.

Classical Guitar Composers.

Renaissance:
John Dowland (works for lute, transcribed works)
Luis Milan (works for vihuela)
Alonso Mudarra (works for vihuela)
Luis de Narvaez (works for vihuela)

Baroque:
J.S. Bach (transcribed works, such as lute suites, and more)
Gaspar Sanz (works for baroque guitar)
Robert de Visee (works for baroque guitar)
Antonio Vivaldi (works for lute, mandolin, and others, other works transcribed)
Leopold Silvus Weiss (works for lute, transcribed)

Baroque/Classical:
Domenico Scarlatti (transcribed works)

Classical/Romantic:
Dioniso Aguado
Mateo Carcassi
Ferdinando Carulli
Anton Diabelli
Mauro Giuliani
Luigi Legnani
Niccolo Paganini

Romantic:
Isaac Albeniz (transcribed works)
Jan Bobrowicz
Napolean Coste
Jose Ferrer
Enrique Granados (transcribed works)
Antonio Lauro
Agustin Barrios Mangore
Johann Kasper Mertz
Emili Pujol
Guilio Regondi
Joaquin Rodrigo
Fernando Sor
Francisco Tarrega
Federico Moreno Torroba
Heitor Villa-Lobos

Romantic/Modern:
Manuel de Falla (one work for guitar, other works transcribed)
Joaquin Turina

Modern:
Reginald Smith Brindle
Leo Brouwer
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
John Duarte
Manuel Ponce
Toru Takemitsu
Alexandre Tansman
William Walton
Yukihiro Yoko

Contemporary:
Carlo Domeniconi
Andrew York

Classical Guitar Performers.

Individuals:

Odair Assad
Segio Assad
Carlos Barbosa-Lima
Manuel Barrueco
Dusan Bogdanovic
Liona Boyd
David Brandon
Julian Bream
Eduardo Fernandez
Eliot Fisk
Nicola Hall
Sharon Isbin
William Kanengiser
Alexandre Lagoya
Christopher Parkening
Ida Presti
Manuel Lopez Ramos
Jose Rey de la Torre
Angel Romero
Celedonio Romero
Celin Romero
Pepe Romero
David Russel
Andres Segovia
David Starobin
David Tanenbaum
John Williams
Narcisco Yepes
Andrew York

Ensembles:

Andriaccio & Castellani
The Amsterdam Guitar Trio
The Buffalo Quartet
The Falla Trio
Hill & Wiltchinsky
The L.A. Guitar Quartet
The Omega Quartet
Pearl & Gray
il Trio Italiano

Want to jam?

Let us know on the message board, here’s a direct link to this particular discussion topic:

http://mpec.net/smf/index.php?topic=134.0

If you don’t have a log-in you’ll need to create one.

Jam sessions are open to anybody and everybody. You are welcome to play any instrument of your choice. Previous jams have consisted of a variety of instruments. We’ll go with either 3 or 4 people per jam session. If several people are interested we’ll arrange multiple sessions.

Feel free to call or email if you have any questions, would like to know what the jam sessions might include, or if there is any music that you’d like to jam to.

Jamming is tons of fun! If you’d like to participate let us know on the forums link mentioned above.

Prior to this past Fall, we had jam sessions – same location as lessons – about once a month on Sunday afternoons. We will resume jam sessions this summer if enough students share an interest.

One jam session will consist of 3 to 4 people. It can include any combination of guitar, bass, drum set, percussion, and pretty much anything else if you know how to play any other instruments. Jams are completely optional, they are not a part of lessons, and they are for any students who would like to have fun simply… jamming.

If we schedule these jams, they can occur once a month – at least for the time being, unless students are interested in more frequent jams – and each jam session can last anywhere up to 2 hours. If several students are interested, we can set up multiple jams in one day, each having 3 to 4 people.

Jams can consist of pretty much any music of your choice. Our jams most commonly include basic patterns and progressions, such as the 12-bar blues or a simple 4-chord progression (any style), which are fairly easy to jam to.

We can consider this as a potential day/time: (more…)

Before getting into the meat of this entry, I’d like to note that, while the chords discussed in here are geared toward the guitar, the idea of learning the chords discussed are not only essential to the guitar but to all instruments. Although I’ll be placing this entry in the “Guitar” category of this blog, it will include information that can be incorporated into other instruments.

A file containing guitar chords, originally provided in a past entry entitled “A condensed library of guitar chords.“,  has recently received a minor face-lift. All of the same chords are still in the packet, though I have rearranged all of the pages to allow for a more logical and easier chord memorization process. Although the (more…)

When having a jam session, for those in the beginning stages of jamming, perhaps the easiest or most comfortable type of music to jam to is either blues or rock, mostly for the simplistic chord progressions, scales, and rhythm patterns used.

The 12-bar blues is a good example of this.

The guitarist can play just three different chords in the rhythm part and only has to know one scale (pentatonic or blues) for playing a lead part.

The bassist can outline the chord tones in just three chords and also only has to know one scale (pentatonic or blues) for playing a lead part.

The drummer only has to know a swing or shuffle pattern and have a couple fills down, which can be incorporated into playing a lead part.

When you’re comfortable with (more…)

Practicing music is an important part of playing an instrument that is often neglected. Here are some paraphrased ideas that I found online on practicing that might come in handy.

The concept of “practice” is not always the same as “playing”. “Practice” can consist of thinking through things in a more methodical way. “Playing” can consist of a kind of thinking that is perhaps somewhat detached from certain thought processes that would occur in practice. Playing the music can include overlooking any of that “nagging self-awareness” that may or may not consume your practice. What you include in your practice, be it very basic or advanced, should eventually mastered. When practicing (rehearsing) with others, you are incorporating more of the concept of “playing”, where you might make mistakes but you keep going regardless. You take note of those mistakes and work on them later in individual “practice”, and the process cycles onto itself, which also helps you improve your ability to listen for certain things within the music.

In practice, you maintain an awareness of the finer details, notes, rhythms, timing, and other elements that help prepare you for playing with others. After practicing, you present those elements with others who are doing the same, all within a playing environment that is non-intimidating and therefore constructive. Jam sessions are great outlets for this.

Practice consists of (more…)

A while back I came across a website that covers some basic music theory. I’ll include the link here to the original source and to alternate versions in case the original page isn’t online.

musictheory.net (by Ricci Adams)

musictheory.net (on mpec.net)

If you are unable to view the animated music examples, try this:

musictheory.net (previous version)

And… we’re done transferring old entries over from the old blog to this one.

Below are some images/PDFs of the basic rhythms that we learn early on in music.

The last page can serve as a type of “cheat sheet” for reference in deciphering the counting of the various rhythms throughout the first couple pages. (We can fill in the blanks in the cheat sheet with the actual counting in lessons.)

Here they are… (more…)

The following is an exercise that goes through the C Major scale then all of the intervals that are contained within that scale.

The treble clef version can be played on guitar or any other treble clef instrument.

The bass clef version can be played on bass guitar or any other bass clef instrument.

Here they are… (more…)

The discussion in this post – from the previous MLSD Blog – included some music examples, though I’m omitting them here for the time being. As time allows, I’ll add them back in.

Here’s the discussion… (I’ve modified it to incorporate multiple instruments) (more…)

Regarding a more detailed approach towards what should actually be covered each day on the practice routine, without further music lessons, individual research will be required. (more…)

One thing that will help in the motivation factor of practicing is seeing what the long-term outcome of these goals include. If you follow through with the above sample routine, then after 6 months:

(more…)

Practice Routine (2 Hour Increments per Night)

(If practice is less duration, adjust accordingly.)

(more…)

Practice

2 basic options:

(more…)

The Self-Improved Musician:

Practice Routine, Goals, & Motivation for Guitar, Bass, & Pitched Percussion

Here is a very basic outline of various tasks you can practice in order to become a better guitarist, bassist, percussionist, and over all musician. Included is a possible practice routine as it pertains to 6 month and 1 year goals – several details are omitted as they would require lessons.

(more…)

A while back I compiled a list of several basic guitar chords and arranged them in an order that would help in memorization.

You can download either the “.doc”, “.rtf”, or access the “.html” file in your web browser to view the chords.

Guitar Chord Library (Condensed) (Microsoft Word document)

Guitar Chord Library (Condensed) (RTF Rich Text Format)

Guitar Chord Library (Condensed) (HTML format)

UPDATE:

The layout of the chords in the variuos formats above might have some odd spacing with an occasional chord showing up on the next page (in the wrong group of chords). It might vary from computer to computer, I’m not sure. To play it safe, I went ahead and converted the file to a PDF, you can view it with Adobe Reader or similar programs.

If you are printing the chords out, you may want to print this version:

Guitar Chord Library (Condensed) (PDF format)

Another update…
Here’s the most recent revision of the file:

Essential Guitar Chords (July 27, 2008 revision)

The main difference in this and previous versions is page order. There is now a more logical arrangement of the chords within this packet, which will help in speeding up the memorization process.

There’s no longer a need to save or print any version prior to the July 27, 2008 file, so I’ll go ahead and write a new blog entry.

I recently came across some excellent sources of info for guitar and the material can really come in handy for almost any age/level on the instrument.

Guitar chords, lots of them:
http://guitar.about.com/library/blchordlibrary.htm

Online guitar tuner:
http://www.hohohu.com/music/gtf.swf

Learning games:
http://www.flashmusicgames.com

More “out with the old” and “in with the new”. The mpec.net forums are once again online, now new and improved. Once registered you’ll be given access to additional forums and categories. One of the main sections is the “Q & A”, which has several music-related posts.

http://mpec.net/smf/

After going to the main forums page, click on the “Register” link at the top right of the screen to gain access to the main forums.