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Robert Johnson On Speed?

By Steve “Red” Lasner

Much controversy has arisen about whether or not the recordings of Robert Johnson we have been listening to for years were speed altered. Some musicologists are convinced Johnson’s released recordings are 20% faster than those he performed in two solo sessions in 1936 and 1937, and they wonder how this happened, when it happened, and why it happened.

Many blame advances in technology, some claim it to be a conscious decision made during the mastering process, and others claim that there actually is no speed alteration. If the recordings indeed were sped up by 20%, slowing them down would result in a significant change in pitch and tempo that would have a serious impact on the history of the blues and all of the music and musicians influenced by Johnson. Is it possible that we have never heard what this very influential singer-guitarist truly sounded like?

You be the judge:

“Crossroad Blues” – Fast (original):

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“Crossroad Blues” – Slow (revised):

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Steve “Red” Lasner has rubbed elbows and performed with many great and famous musicians including Buddy Miles, John Sebastian, Derek Trucks, Robben Ford and many more. In 2009 TrueFire released Red’s first instructional guitar course Blues Expose. Red continues to perform locally, nationally and internationally and continues to produce instructional material.

Tagged: blues, buddies, combinations, fame, ford, greatness, guitar, guitarist, guitarists, guitars, listener, live, master, mastering, music, musician, musicians, performance, phrase, phrases, phrasing, producer, producers, producing, recording, rock, sessions, songwriter, songwriting, talents, technology, tempos, truefire

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November 18th 2011

Jude Gold’s Full-Contact “Funky Town” Performance

A long-time friend of the ‘Fire, the sweetest cat on the planet, and one bad-ass guitar innovator, Jude Gold shows off his signature full contact guitar style in this new video. Pass it on!

Tagged: guitar, jude gold, performance, video

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August 23rd 2011

7 Deadly Sins of Playing a Live Gig

1. Noodling Between Tunes
There’s no good reason to be playing little licks and riffs between songs. It’s unprofessional and annoys bandmates who are ready to go. Plus, you steal the thunder from a song when you reveal part of it beforehand. The audience shouldn’t even have to hear you tune.

2. Not Pacing The Set List
Like a full-length CD (remember CD’s?), a good set is sequenced carefully. Consider how song order will affect the flow of mood and energy in your performance, and work out a few segues so you won’t have to interrupt that flow. Be ready to make changes as you read the audience, too — but don’t pull out the big guns early if you want to go out with a bang.

3. Bad Banter
Think ahead of time about what you might say when you address the audience, and keep it brief. You can get the momentum going at the top of a set by not talking at all until you’re two or three songs in. If you don’t have anything interesting or funny to say, please, just shut up ’n play yer guitar.

4. Gear Malfunction
Part of being prepared is having all of your gear is in working order before you leave the last rehearsal. There will be times when bad luck throws you a curve, but 99% of onstage gear malfunctions are avoidable. Give everything the once-over ahead of time and be ready to field any emergencies with extra strings, spare cables, fuses, AC adapters and duct tape. Good lord, don’t forget the duct tape.

5. Frowns All Around
Smile, for chrissakes. The audience gets its cue about whether or not this is fun from you. Unless you’re playing in a death metal band, where smiling could reveal you to be a total wuss, let them see that you’re enjoying yourself.

6. No Thanks
Want to endear yourself to bar owners, waitresses, and the guy behind the board? Meet them before you play and throw out a thanks from the stage before you wrap up your set.

7. Slow To Strike
You were dying to get onstage to play, right? So think of the next band on the bill. Don’t start chatting up fans or ordering drinks before you strike your gear. Get the hell off the stage and give the next act a chance to play their full set.

— RM

The Punch-In is edited by Rich Maloof, who has a long history with TrueFire as artist, educator, and producer. Rich’s body of work as a published author and Editor in Chief of Guitar magazine has been distributed and translated internationally.

Tagged: concert, gig, guitar, live, music biz, performance, playing, Sevens

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August 8th 2011

The Best Solo Acoustic Performance You Will See Today

Here is an excellent solo acoustic performance that we had to share with you. Antoine Dufour is the performer, and we found this video on the Candy Rat Records YouTube channel.

According to the video description, Antoine’s CD is available on Candy Rat’s website, and on Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify.

Here’s Antoine’s bio, from his website: With now six albums of original material released to critical acclaim, two live performance DVDs, and more than 25 million views on YouTube, Antoine Dufour has emerged as a young star of fingerstyle acoustic guitar, building a worldwide reputation for innovation and creativity.

Antoine has toured across Canada and the UK and toured several times in USA with other artists such as Don Ross and Andy McKee. In addition, Antoine has performed at major festivals such as The Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Antoine won the first place at the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Championships, placed third at the internatonal fingerpicking championships at Winfield (USA), has held seminars, workshops and masterclasses as part of his tour schedule.

His fans have recorded countless covers of his music on YouTube and his fan base is as loyal and ravenous to see him perform as any artist out there today.

Tagged: Antoine Dufour, performance

Sevens

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July 18th 2011

7 Deadly Sins of Rehearsing

by Rich Maloof

1. No agenda
Make the most of the band’s time together by knowing what you plan to accomplish. Is it a writing session or a performance rehearsal? Do you need to tighten up a few tunes that were sloppy at the last gig? Plan it out in advance. If the group has vocal harmonies or dual guitar parts to work out, you might want to set up separate rehearsal times for just those band members.

2. Inviting friends and fans
Don’t invite anyone to your rehearsal other than bandmates. It’s fine if you need a manager or other business associate to hear what you’re doing, but keep your legions of fans out. Most musicians just don’t tend to work as productively, or even act normally, when there are other eyes and ears on them. If that many people are dying to hear you play, here’s a crazy idea: book a gig.

3. Free-for-all
It’s one thing to take a moment to adjust your tone or get a new riff under your fingers; it’s another to run a dozen lead lines when everyone else is ready to start working. If your band is populated with aimless, endless noodlers, try setting a new rule for rehearsal: Each player signals that he/she is ready to rehearse by not playing.