Margaritaville Troubadour, Jimmy Buffett, Dies at 76

Jimmy Buffett, was a renowned songwriter and singer best known for his laid-back island-inspired music. Born on December 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Buffett had a passion for music from a young age. He began his musical journey by learning to play the guitar and ultimately formed his first band, The Upstairs Alliance, during his high school years.

Sadly, Jimmy Buffett passed away on September 1, 2023, leaving behind a rich musical legacy that continues to be celebrated by fans and fellow musicians alike.

Throughout his career, Buffett, along with his supporting band called, The Coral Reefers, has been known for his laid-back and carefree lifestyle, often referred to as “Margaritaville.” His music often revolves around themes of escapism, beach culture, and living life to the fullest. Some of his most popular songs include “Margaritaville,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” and “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.”

In addition to his musical pursuits, Buffett has also delved into various other ventures, including writing books, opening restaurants, and launching his own brand of tequila. He was also an ardent environmentalist and philanthropist, actively supporting causes related to marine conservation and disaster relief efforts. An avid sailor, he additionally held numerous aviation flight certifications.

Jimmy Buffett’s musical journey is a testament to his ability to capture the essence of an island lifestyle through his music. With his distinctive blend of country, folk, and tropical rock, he has created a unique and enduring legacy in the music industry. Whether it’s the laid-back vibes of “Margaritaville” or the infectious energy of his live performances.

Jimmy admitted to not being a great singer or guitar player, but as an entertainer who resonated with fans worldwide while transporting them to their carefree paradise.

Sail On, Jimmy!
Music Dials

Guitar Virtuoso Jeff Beck Dies at 78

Jeff Beck playing guitar In my humble opinion, one of the best post-60s onward rock guitar players of all time passed away.

Jeff Beck had a technique that stood out, to say the least. He had the ability to play any music style with expertise, yet his signature playing was hard to duplicate by other great players. It made him a stand-alone giant!

In his later concert days, it was beautiful how he introduced many bass players on tour, especially outstanding women bass players… Tal Wilkenson as one example comes to mind.

Beck died Tuesday, January 10, 2023, at the age of 78.

Jeff will be missed by a ton of fans. Yet, we’ve been privileged enough to have many of his recordings and videos to enjoy for the rest of the time we each remain on this planet.

Enjoy Your Music!
Best!
-Ron Greene

Credit is given: Rolling Stone .com article: Hall of Fame musician and former Yardbird guitarist [Jeff Beck] dies following a short bout with bacterial meningitis… By: Daniel Kreps, Kory Grow

As noted in this RS press release…

“Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Beck’s Yardbirds bandmate who inducted the guitarist into the Rock Hall in 2009, wrote on social media Wednesday, “The six stringed Warrior is no longer here for us to admire the spell he could weave around our mortal emotions. Jeff could channel music from the ethereal. His technique unique. His imaginations apparently limitless. Jeff I will miss you along with your millions of fans. Jeff Beck Rest in Peace.”

It further mentioned…

In 2009, 17 years after Beck was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, he delivered one of the greatest induction speeches of all time when he reentered the Rock Hall for his solo work. “Someone told me I should be proud tonight. But I’m not, because they kicked me out. They did. Fuck them,” he quipped at the 1992 ceremony. “I couldn’t believe I was even nominated,” Beck told Rolling Stone at the time. “I thought the Yardbirds was as close as I’d get to getting in. I’ve gone on long after that and gone through different musical changes. It’s very nice to hear that people have been listening.”

Learn more insights about Jeff Beck in the Rolling Stone article, here…
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jeff-beck-dead-at-78-obit-1234659559/

Basic Music Theory

Hey fellow musicians… Ron Greene here,

There are a lot of decent basic music theory books, tapes etc. on the market these days, and many of them provide good technical content. However, most of the information in them seems to lack specific details that otherwise, really never get you to the point of playing your instrument.

For example, this free music theory publication does a good job of explaining Key Signatures and the history of music, yet, this subject might not interest you as much as getting your instrument out and actually getting down to the matter at hand… playing it! Continue reading Basic Music Theory →

Using Guitar Chord Charts

Guitar chord charts…

Guitar chord charts are a systematic way to learn how to play chords on a guitar. To be able to read the charts, you must first know the different types of chords- major, minor, and dominant seventh. It is important to know what type of chord you are playing when reading the chart so that you can choose which finger numbers your will use in order from index (1) through pinky (4). For example, if you see a “C” on the chart and it says “3 3 3 4,” this means that your index (1), ring finger (2), middle finger (3), and pinky finger (4) will be used in order from left to right.

Guitar Chord Reference Dial…

The guitar chord reference dial is a device that is used to help guitar players learn chords and songs. The device displays the name of each chord, as well as its fingering and the strings that should be played. The beginner can also move their fingers around on the dial for quick reference to different chords.

A guitar chord reference dial helps many guitar players learn chords and songs in a more efficient way than trying to memorize every song note by note. Just by looking at it, you will know which string needs to be strummed, what string should be your ring finger, which one should be your middle finger, and so on.

Front shows 12 charts, each showing all the chord forms and positions for each major & minor chord. Back shows 12 charts, each showing all the chord forms and positions for each augmented & diminished chord. Also shown are the notes for 7th chords.

Forget those big fat cumbersome chord books. Take a look at a complete guitar chord reference on a simple easy to use 2-sided movable dial. Fits into your instrument case.

Jam On!
Ron Greene
Founder of the Music Dials Charts

Transposing Music Using Charts

Transposition Music Charts

Consider an example of a C major chord. The root note, C can be transposed to other keys by moving it up or down the scale. For example, the same chord in D major would be followed by the notes D-E-F-G-A. If we wanted to play this chord in A minor, it would go A-C#-E (or E as a sharp).

When musicians want to play music that has been written for a different key than they are playing it at, they will often transpose it. This is done either by playing an instrument in a different key or singing or performing with different instruments and voices that are tuned to match the notes of the song being played.

You might consider using a transposing chart…

– Like the Music Dials Transposition Chart

A single piece of sheet music could be used for many songs in different keys because all of these songs have at least one note which is common between them (i.e., they share at least one note with each other).

When sheet music is transposed into another key, not only do all of these common notes change but also some unexpected ones may change too! Often times there will be two options: one which uses sharps and another which uses flats.

Jam On!
Ron Greene
Founder of the Music Dials Charts

Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones Died

Wow, usually the drummer is the individual that out-lasts the rest of the band (generally) till death. Not that it matters and especially in this instance… Yet, every instance counts!

Here we go… Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones has passed this day Tuesday, August 24th 2021, ‘He was just fu*kn 80 fsg!.’

Damn!

Figuring that Charlie joined the Rolling Stones in 1963 we might as well consider him as the/our most original ‘rock drummer’ icon! (eh?)

Anyway, wow, a wacky day in the life of seeing an original rock ‘n Roll r’ absorbed into the ether.

Hopefully we hold on to rock for many, many, generations to come!

Jam On!

-Ron
Music Dials .com

Credit is given: rollingsonte.com and journalist, Joe Gross @ https://www.npr.org/people/2100615/jon-hamilton

As noted in this article…

“He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier [Tuesday] surrounded by his family.” The statement referred to Watts as “one of the greatest drummers of his generation!”

It continues…

Watts’ death comes several weeks after it was announced that the drummer would not be able to perform on the Rolling Stones’ No Filter Tour of U.S. stadiums. “Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation,” a rep for the band said in a statement at the time. “With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks, it’s very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming.”

What Are Chord Progressions in Music?…

According to Wikipedia… “In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice era of Classical music to the 21st century. Chord progressions are the foundation of Western popular music styles and traditional music. In these genres, chord progressions are the defining feature on which melody and rhythm are built.”

The sponsor of this Musician’s Blog is the Music Dials, which are effective at-a-glance visual reference guides for showing you the best sounding musical scale notes for playing solos and chords for accompaniment in every key.

Enjoy playing your instrument by watching and learning more here…

The Music Dials Charts Working Example

Your brain uses left side to make sense of lyrics and the right side for a song’s melody…

As a musician, you might be interested in knowing how you can separate melody from lyrics within your own brain.

We found this article of interest, as it also helps the song-writer as well as the musician playing tunes, to discover some insights on how it all comes together in the brain.

Since there’s evidence that a song is separated into two paths through the brain, it’s interesting to note (pun intended – hehe) how the musician combines the essence of both into one pleasurable listening experience.

Take a look-see yourself to understand how this might assist with your music experiences.

Jam On!

-Ron
Music Dials .com

Credit is given: npr.org and journalist, Jon Hamilton @ https://www.npr.org/people/2100615/jon-hamilton

As noted in this article…

“A song fuses words and music. Yet the human brain can instantly separate a song’s lyrics from its melody.

And now scientists think they know how this happens.

A team led by researchers at McGill University reported in Science Thursday that song sounds are processed simultaneously by two separate brain areas – one in the left hemisphere and one in the right.

“On the left side you can decode the speech content but not the melodic content, and on the right side you can decode the melodic content but not the speech content,” says Robert Zatorre, a professor at McGill University’s Montreal Neurological Institute.”

Duane Allman’s 1957 Gibson Les Paul Played On “Layla” Sells for Big Buck$

Collecting guitars can not only be fun but profitable. Case in point, in early August 2019 Duane Allman’s ’57 Les Paul Goldtop that was used to track parts of “Layla” sold for one and a quarter ($1.25) million dollars.

Greg’s Gibson SG played on the band’s, At Fillmore East live album, sold for almost $600k. Yet to date the top auction seller for collectable classic rock nostalgia instrument played by rockers is still, Jerry Garcia’s, ‘Wolf’ guitar.

In this article you’ll discover a list of other famous musician guitars that sold for some big bucks.

Keep on collecting and jamming!

-Ron

The 1957 Goldtop was Duane’s main guitar during the first two years of the Allman Brothers Band, and was used to play on recordings included on the famous rock band’s first two studio albums. Most notably, it was the guitar used by Duane to play on the famous outro solo of Eric Clapton and Derek and the Dominos’ 1970 anthem, “Layla”.

In more recent years, the guitar has been used by notable players including… >Learn more here<

Credit given: Tom Shackleford via:liveforlivemusic.com

Tapping on Guitar… who started it?

Mid 70’s Eddie Van Halen. Stanley Jordan, “Eleanor Rigby” Newport Jazz Festival 1986… Mmmmm, whom really came up with the guitar tapping concept?

Still out for discussion but I’ve located a (French) gent that provides a few taps in the mid 60’s that might shed (and shred) some light on this matter… and he ‘rips it’ !

No dis-respect to Eddie and Stanley, yet this fellow just might had inspired such. (?)

You have any ‘earlier’ references?

Jam On!
-Ron

credit given via (https://youtu.be/d09pnxTSnT4)

Guitar chord charts…

Guitar Chord Reference Dial…

Jam On! Ron Greene Founder of the Music Dials Charts

Transposition Music Charts

You might consider using a transposing chart…

– Like the Music Dials Transposition Chart

Jam On! Ron Greene Founder of the Music Dials Charts

Jam On!
Ron Greene
Founder of the Music Dials Charts

Jam On!
Ron Greene
Founder of the Music Dials Charts