I checked out the Mute TX series 10 foot instrument cable. The cable itself is 20 AWG Oxygen-free copper build around a heavy duty PVC casting. At each end you’ll notice metal springs to cut back on excess wear and tear of the ends of your cable. I’ve seen this before, but this is quite an uncommon upgrade to a standard guitar cable. Next you’ll notice at one end a “hold and release button”

The Hold And Release Button is new to me and I absolutely love it. You’ve probably seen cables with on/off switches, but then how do you remember if the cable is actually on or off? You’ll either suffer a mild heart attack thinking your amp died or deal with that annoying pop because you thought your cable was off. The Hold and Release Button takes away the guessing game and only mutes the cable while your finger is pressing down on it. That way you know for certain your cable works and you’ll be pop free while switching instruments in a hurry.

The springs, the Hold and Release Button all in a heavy duty cable, lets not overlook the small things here, also included with your cable purchase is a Velcro cable tie. I know, I know it’s only a cable tie, but hey most manufacturers don’t include them so I was excited to see that included.

How does it perform? Well I A/B’d the cable against a few other cables and I didn’t notice any distinct coloring of my tone or change in volume. This is a good thing, you’ve got 900 other knobs in your setup to do that!

Bottom line this is a cut above, well made cable at an affordable price. Santo Angelo offers 30-day Money Back Returns and a 5-year warranty. I don’t have experience with either, since my cable showed up in perfect working condition and it has held up as it should in the month’s worth of gigging I have put on it.

Web: santoangelocables.com
Street Price: $43.20 for the Mute TX 10ft cable.

Knowing a lot of chords is key. Being able to switch between them all is a necessity. Great timing and rhythmic dexterity is music. The player that plays all the right notes and all the correct chords with sloppy rhythm will sound amateur. Playing “wrong” notes and even incorrect chords with strong, confident rhythms can still sound pretty musical.

Different types of rhythms, time signatures, rhythmic pulse, accents, nuances, etc., can be studied for life. It’s what makes learning music intriguing. There’s no end to what you can learn. Without exception, I find that students’ first ideas of how to strum rhythms is counter productive to actually playing in time and with good sense of groove. Playing consistently in time is dependant on consistent pick/strum hand movement. This will translate to controlled up/down strums. We’ll focus on eighth note grooves in this lesson.

First, make sure to tap your foot with the groove. This may seem to be complicating things, as we’re adding more movement and activity for you to keep track of while playing, but tapping your foot defines the pulse of the tune, so it’s important. Tap your foot!

Your strum hand will follow your foot, playing quarter notes, on beats 1, 2, 3, and 4 (assuming 4/4 time). I call this the “string” concept, as if you’ve got a string attached from the tapping foot to the strum hand. Strum down for each downbeat, or on the 1, 2, 3, and 4. What’s going to make for the interesting rhythm will be the down-up movement, where we will be hitting the strings on the up strum as well as the downstrum. Let’s start with all eighth notes, hitting the strings on down and upstrums.

To familiarize yourself with different chord changes, try the above chord progression using different combinations of the E form, A form, C form, and G form barre chords. Work out the fingering changes without rhythm first, and once you’ve got the chord change fingerings down, then strum the chords on all eighth notes. This will be strumming the strings on all up and down strums.

Next, let’s try leaving out one strum. What we’ll do is keep the hand moving in the familiar “down/up” pattern, but on one of the strums, we’ll miss the strings. “Air strum”, if you like:

Notice that if you “miss” the strings, this gives you an extra half beat to change one chord to the next. This also keeps the hand moving in a consistent “down/up” motion, but a different rhythm sound. You might put a little more emphasis on downbeat 4, which will be in sync with a drummer’s snare drum hit in a rock/pop/country beat.
Let’s move the “missing” strum forward by an eighth note. This will mean that we’ll be missing the strings on the downstroke at beat 4:

Here we are putting more emphasis on the upstroke on the “&” after beat 3 and the “&” after beat 4. Later, you may want to try changing the chord earlier, on the upstroke before the new measure.
Moving the “air strum” forward by another half beat, we’ll now be emphasizing beat 3:

Move forward another half beat, emphasizing the “&” after beat 2:

Try these same activities on the first two beats of each measure, and we’ll do a number of rhythmic formulas in future lessons. Keep practicing, tap your foot, and have fun!

Before the boom of YouTube and guitar mags, many of us learned the guitar by going to our local music shop’s backroom and plunking out Mary Had a Little Lamb. This labor of love was some serious dues paying. In the back of your mind you really just wanted to learn AC/DC’s Back in Black or Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, but hey, had to start somewhere!

Hal Leonard’s new book with CD meets you halfway. It gives you all the basics you need to get started like;

The parts of a guitar
How to hold a guitar
How to hold a pick
How to tune with a tuner
How to fret notes

And those are just the first two pages! Once you get deeper in the 32 page booklet you’ll have a chance to learn tons of cool riffs from The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, U2, Nirvana, Tom Petty, Yes, Metallica, U2, Santana, Bob Dylan and dozens more.

The book teaches you to play through via Tab. Tablature replaces standard musical notation by giving each fretted noted a number. The book does explain rhythms and rests along with strum patterns and essential guitar accents like vibrato, hammer-ons, palm muting and slides.

This book certainly won’t give you the ability to steal Al Di Meola’s gigs, but I feel it takes songs you are already familiar with and gets them under your fingers to inspire you to take guitar learning to the next level. If I could add one thing it would be more attention to chords, while the book touches on chords briefly, I feel chord knowledge is a massive chunk of understanding the guitar. There is a Book 2 available, but I was only able to checkout Book 1.

Web: halleonard.com
Street Price: $12.99

In the annals of Rock & Roll music there are countless guitar riffs, lyrics, hooks, and even drum parts that every musician should know. Whether it’s the introduction to this song, the bridge to that song, or the drum break that leads to a chorus, it’s memorable and sticks in the minds of musicians, and non-musicians alike. For example, every time I hear the drum break that Kenny Aronoff plays in John Cougar Mellencamp’s song “Jack And Diane”, I can’t help but to sing along. These musical statements stay with us and form some of the basis of our own compositional language as we develop. It’s with that in mind, and the fact that I make my living as a drum instructor, that I decided to put together this video and article showcasing some of what I call “Must-Know Grooves” that every drummer should spend time with. It’s just a small taste of the material out there that should be on this list, but you have to start somewhere. So without further ado, let me introduce to you the songs I’m covering in this article.

The first groove in the video, which begins at :32 seconds, is the main part to Led Zeppelin’s song “Fool In The Rain”. It’s a half time shuffle groove that undoubtedly influenced may shuffles that followed. What makes it a half time groove is that it’s snare resolution is on beat 3, and thus it feels like it’s slower than it is. As you practice this pattern, please try to keep the middle portion of the triplet played on the snare as quiet as possible. Those notes should be felt more than heard. If you watch closely, you’ll notice that my fingers on my left hand are gently moving, and that my hand hovers above the snare head as opposed to my entire arm lifting away. These are called “Ghost Notes” and are meant to be as quiet as you see and hear them. These notes are usually written in parentheses to highlight the importance of their volume. They make a huge difference in this pattern, and the groove just wouldn’t be the same without that volume.

The second groove in the video, which begins at 1:21, is the verse pattern to the Red Hot Chili Peppers song “We Believe”. It too is a half time time groove, but in this case the main snare note resolves on beat 4 instead of beat 3. Also like Fool In The Rain, you must play ghost notes on the snare drum until you finally get to beat 4, in which you’ll accent that note to provide resolution. The accent is written with the > symbol above the snare note. I can’t speak for Chad Smith, the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, when I say this, but it sounds like he was influenced by the great drumming of David Garibaldi during his time with Tower Of Power. The groove here is slick, and filled with ghost notes. During my demonstration I play a few different open hihat patterns. Some of the open hats are longer in duration than others, and sometimes I play two open hats instead of 3. I did that because Chad did that as well on the recording.

The third groove in the video, which begins at 2:24, is the verse pattern to Paul Simon’s song “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”. This is a completely linear groove – which means that there are no stacked notes. For example, you wouldn’t play a bass drum and a hihat at the same time. It’s all one note at a time – like a line if you will. (For those of you who wish to learn more about Linear drumming, please refer to my other video here on Musician You with the title “Linear Drumming”) The wonderful and amazing Steve Gadd played drums on this track. After listening back to my video, I noticed that I play a natural accent on the snare on the + of beat 2. I’d like you to take notice that Steve doesn’t play any accented snare notes. I also noted that accent in the written page as well – I did so because I played it that way on the video. However, all of the snare notes are ghosted as well in this groove. This is a must know groove for every drummer.

The final grooves in the video, which begin at 3:31, are the patterns to the verse and pre-chorus of Maroon 5′s song “If I Never See Your Face Again V & PC”. This is more of a straight forward rock and pop groove. Personally, I don’t really consider this to be a must-know groove, but I included it is because I like how the drummer embellishes the pre-chorus groove, which is exactly the same groove that he played for the verse, but with a different hihat pattern. (For more demonstrations on this kind of embellishing, please refer to my other video here on Musician You titled “Variation On Pickering”) He changes what was a straight 8th note pattern for the verse to a broken 16th note pattern for the pre-chorus, but he keeps the bass and snare exactly as they were. This creates the sensation of moving forward, but doesn’t completely change the feel of the song. The casual listener will notice that something changed, but might not be aware of exactly what it was that changed. Yet they’ll feel forward motion, as if it’s leading you somewhere.

So spend some time with these songs, and get to know the grooves that helped to shape them. I think you’ll find that they may influence you as well. Perhaps the next time you’re in the situation to write a drum part with your band mates, you’ll recall these patterns, and this advice, and you might just come up with the next “Must-Know” groove. Enjoy, and thanks for tuning in.

I had the pleasure recently of interviewing Berklee College of Music Bass professor Joe Santerre at his home in Massachusetts. Anytime I am in the presence of Joe and his bass, I immediately want to dust off my 6 string bass and hope that after much practice I could gain even a small percentage of his mastery. Whether it be chords, grooves, solos, flashy techniques or advanced scale work, I have yet to see Joe stumped.

Among his playing and/or recording credits are Jon Finn, Bruce Bartlett, Tiffany Jo Allen, Sal Difusco, Don Lappin, Shaun England, Chad Wackerman, Mike Mangini, Guthrie Govan, Steve Hunt, George Garzone, Steve Morse, John Petrucci, Ross Ramsay, Tom Coster and Mark Walker among many others.

As an educator Joe’s lengthy teaching career has found him at Berklee College of Music for 28 years, among his most notable students are Brian Bellar (Dweezil Zappa), Chris Chaney (Alanis Morrissette, Robben Ford), Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith) and John “J.D.” DeServio (Black Label Society, Vinnie Moore, Lita Ford).

Also in his list of accomplishments are 3 lesson books, Rock Bass Lines, Slap Bass Lines and Finger style Funk Bass Lines for Hal Leonard/Berklee Press.

Recently released by a leading music publishing company in Taiwan are 2 of Joe’s latest instructional DVDs, How to Play Bass Lines & Fusion Bass.

Joe was my Bass professor at Berklee and therefore I can attest to what an avid soul player and great teacher he truly is. Please read further to get to know this wonderful credit to our instrument.

What brought you to the bass?

I started playing bass when I was 13 or 14 but I had been playing alto sax since like 10 or 11 and then I switched to bass. I switched to bass because I grew up in a small town and a kid had moved up from the city that played electric. We were doing a concert that night and when I went into the concert, the good band was playing, you know the older kids, and this kid was playing bass and I had never heard an electric bass in a room with a band before. I had recordings and stuff but never knew what it was. And the boominess, the low end captured me immediately, I was like, what is that sound? That’s what made me want to start playing bass, hearing that kid.

I found another guy that taught lessons around town, his name is Moon Maggue by the way, I want to give a shout out to Moon mague. What an amazing guy, when the guitar player in his band left, he let me play rhythm guitar parts high up on the bass neck, cuz’ I couldn’t play guitar, the strings are too small but he let me play rhythm guitar up on the bass. It was a 2 bass band, he played bass and did vocals, drums, sometimes a keyboard player. To me it was very helpful because I really started to know the fretboard because I’d have to think about 3, 4 note chords, I’d have to figure out a guitar part that was in a rock song. Being a bass player you just find out what the bass line is.

You do a lot of chordal playing, I wonder if that’s where it started?

Yeah, absolutely. Then I came to Berklee, I studied with Charlie Banacos for a while, took a couple lessons with Jeff Berlin, way back in the 80′s.

Was he at Berklee?

He wasn’t at Berklee, he moved to Boston I can’t remember why but I know at the time he was doing a lot of gigs with Mike Stern. At that time, Mike Stern was still in Boston before he moved to New York. I think that’s why he was in the area.

It was interesting, I remember going to one of his lessons, he had auditioned for Frank Zappa and he had a Frank Zappa part up on the piano. As you can imagine, it was craziness, I just looked at it in awe. It was cool though, because he said, you know, people they say I’m a good reader, they think I can just look at something like this and just site read it right, first time, boom ready go. But he said, no, I’ve got to stop and think, ok, they’ve got a bar of 7/16 here and then I’m going to a bar of ¾. I’ve got to find out where the pulse is and take my time with it, then I can read it. So that was interesting to hear, that he couldn’t just you know, site read read anything ever written.

It makes it seem like it’s possible to do it too.

Yes, exactly

Is that what you guys worked on during your lessons?

No, at that time I might have been able to do one measure out of the whole part, it was just craziness from what I remember. He had me writing bass lines out and working on soloing through changes. I told him I was into funky R&B and Motown kinds of basslines and he would say ok, write like 5 or 10 for the next lesson. Then he would have me do a tune out of the Real Book, working on improvistaion.

I remember the stuff you used to have me do in our lessons, going through the chord changes. Go up the neck for 8 measures and then go down the neck for 8 measures but I had to hit the chord tone that was always the next closest one, not necessarily the root.

Yeah, I still do that. It’s a good exercise.

When did you start teaching at Berklee?

It was a couple years after I graduated. I was going back and forth between New York and here. I was working with an original pop/rock band here.

Jon Finn, he and were working with each other back then, not doing the original stuff yet, but he mentioned he had applied in the guitar department and he said he had heard they were looking for someone in the bass department too.

When I left Berklee, I had left Rich Appleman my resume just for the heck of it, I figured no way are they going to ask me to teach. I called Rich and he said drop off another resume. I dropped off another resume and about a month later he called and asked if I would be interested in doing a few hours of private lessons and that’s how it all started.

Did you and Jon Finn [Berklee Guitar Professor, Guitarist Boston Pops] meet at Berklee?

We didn’t actually meet at Berklee but we both had gone to Berklee. I answered an ad in the Boston Phoenix, at the time that’s how everybody got gigs, for a fusion/funk band looking for a bass player. I went and Jon was the guitar player in the band and that’s how we met, seems like yesterday.

How long does it take you guys to work these tunes out, they’re pretty intricate pieces.

It varies, sometimes we would not necessarily plan, we would get together and have general ideas and a tune would be born out of that or there would be other times where Jon would say I’ve got this outline of these changes, the bridge is going to go to this riff. Let’s just play it and see what happens.

There is a tune in there, Who is This man, that Ross Ramsey wrote……it’s sick! It’s interesting because Ross wrote the bassline in a phrase of 11/16 and then 13/16. So, 11 and 13 equals 24. The drums go back and forth between doing a shuffle because you’ve got the 3, which goes into the 24 so you can do a shuffle or straight. It’s the most interesting sounding thing because the bassline is doing the 11 and 13 phrase on top of that, so your ear kind of goes wait a minute, something is not quite right.

Who are your influences?

When I first started it was the classic rock bands I loved, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Aerosmith. I loved early ZZ Top, I liked that there was blues but there was funkiness in it too. Then I heard Stanley Clarke and Jaco and was like, What is this? How can people do this on the bass? It got me more to the fusion/funk side of things. I love Victor Wooten’s playing, Pattitucci, Oteil Burbridge, so many great bass players.

I can remember being a kid in my parents car going on the classic Sunday drive to get all 4 kids out of the house so we weren’t driving my parents nuts. I can remember they would let us have the radio on and hearing old R&B/Motown tunes. I never listened to the words, I couldn’t tell you what all these songs were about, if they were singing about love or depression, I would always listen to the drums and the bass. I didn’t realize it at the time but now that I’ve gotten older I remember being in the car going, whoa that is a cool feeling, what is that , that is cool. The groove is what I focused in on.

What styles do you prefer playing now?

That’s a tough question, I think I prefer something on the funkier side of things, like James Brown, repetitive, pocket grooves. I still love Jazz and Fusion where it has different elements of different styles, I love the challenge of that. But, there’s something about playing a hypnotic groove with a drummer while you’ve got vocals or a guitar or sax on top. I just love gettin’ in that pocket, just staying there. Where I feel I am at home and my heart is, is just a 2 bar riff with the drums going over and over, I could do that all night long.

Can you tell me some of your best musical experiences, whether it be a huge stage or garage? What’s sticks out in the grey matter?

My initiation into club gigs was playing with my teacher Moon Mague in upstate New York, I don’t know what it is now but at that time the club scene was 9-2. We would do 5 sets, and being a young kid [aged 17 at the time] sometimes the gigs seemed like they went on forever and ever. It was a good learning experience in pacing yourself.

There are so many great experiences. With the Jon Finn group opening up for Steve Morse, Tribal Tech, The Dixie Dregs, Dream Theater.

A recent thing that was exciting was, playing on Don Lappin’s cd. He’s got Chad Wackerman from Allan Holdsworth’s band playing drums and Steve hunt, he used to do the road gigs with Stanley Clarke, on keyboards.

I have also recently played bass on 3 cd’s that I would like to make note of, Jon Finn’s Bull in a China Shop, singer/songwriter and teenage yodeling sensation Tiffany Jo-Allen and guitarist Don Lappin.

There are so many experiences, I could probably sit here for an hour naming them.

Do you have those aspirations as a player, where you say, I just want to reach that one thing, that one moment, that solo, that something that just clicks.

That’s a funny thing because I think you build that up in your head and in some ways it makes it unattainable in your mind. You think that thing is going to be the perfect thing. But once you get to that point, there’s always something else, you say, “Oh, now I want to be able to do this.” So, now I try and be in the moment more than I used to instead of thinking, Oh I wish I had that gig or wish I was playing with that person. Now, whatever I am doing, I try to be there. Like last night playing with Bruce Bartlett. I just try to be right there.

We go on to discuss Joe’s shows and clinics more and he shared about a recent trip to Taiwan playing for guitarist Sal Difusco.

We were so wiped out, it’s like a 20 hour flight and it some respects that’s a good thing. I was on the verge of fatigue and my mind didn’t have the energy to make myself worry about things. There’s one thing I will say about that, this is another thing I am learning the older I get, preparation is really key. That whole thing, although it was improvised, I did have a general map of what I wanted to do. I had that drum loop in 3 underneath so I knew that was going to be there. I had a bassline underneath it too that was playing with it, just a repetitive thing and then I had little areas that I knew I wanted to go to, even though it wasn’t a verbatim solo.

I especially liked the part where you take it out a bit.

I’ve really been experimenting with that. It goes back to my lessons with Charlie Banacos where he would say to stay in for a while, establish the tonality and let the listeners ears hear it and then go somewhere else and then all of the sudden things perk up. It’s all about resolution.

You have been teaching now for a while and I was wondering if you have noticed any trends in ability with students over the past few years with the introduction of the internet, thus allowing more access to information?

I think the access part definitely, there is so much more music available. I think everything in general like programs such as the amazing slow downer for transcribing, where you can slow down a song without changing the key. That makes it a lot easier for a student to figure out something complicated. Whereas in the old days you just have to listen to the thing over and over just to try and get the first note and then the second note. Now you can slow it down and it stays in the same key.

The whole sequencing thing, being able to put loops together. The younger kids now, they can do that second nature.

I have noticed myself in some of my newer students that they have done a lot of work prior to even the first lesson. Where I see them lacking is technique or position playing because they never had that back and forth rapport with a face to face teacher. They are advanced in some ways and not in others.

What I notcied myself gravitating towards most of the time with all my students is making them learn the fretboard. Some kids may be able to play Victor Wooten’s tunes but they may not necessarily know what is happening like with tonality or chord outlining.

Usually I see a lot of holes in the playing and I think it all comes back to being able to know the fretboard. So I think my teaching leans a lot towards that and then the other stuff, they can just go in the direction they want. My feeling is once you know that fretboard enough then you’re free to go wherever you want because then you’re not bound by thinking Oh, I can only do that thing in that position, I can’t even think about how I am going to get up here. Or, you’ve got some riff in 1st position and at the end of the riff you’ve got to be up on the 14th fret of your G string. You don’t want to be jumping or climbing the G string if you’re doing a quarter note equals 180, you want to get up there a little earlier I think.

The bass seems to have gained popularity over the past decade. Have you noticed an increase in enrollment in the Bass department at Berklee?

Definitely, I don’t know what the numbers are but there’s definitely a few more teachers there. I think there’s probably 20 to 25 bass teachers.

How many were there when you started?

8 or 10. The overall enrollment has gone up, it’s up to about 4000 students right now at the school. When you were there, I’m going to say there were about 2500.

How long have you been at Berklee?

I’ve been there since 1984.

Who was there and who is still there since you’ve been there? Rich Appleman , Bruce Gertz, John Repucci?

Whit Brown, John Neves (passed away in 1988) Greg Mooter.

When I first started [in the whole school] I’m going to say there was about 150 to 175 teachers, now there are 500 teachers.

Are there any challenges facing musicians today?

Making a living. I think for a couple of reasons, definitely the economy and it feels like there’s more and maybe it’s because I’m older but it feels like there’s more really good musicians now fighting for the same space for the same income.

Things in general too like I know in the Boston area when I was a student the hotels all around still had top 40 bands playing 3, 4, 5 or 6 nights a week and that’s what I did when I was a student. All the Sheraton’s, The Hilton’s, they would all have bands in their clubs 4 or 5 nights a week. Now there isn’t that element where students could have gained experience playing all the time, there isn’t that. They might do a Friday or Saturday somewhere if you’re lucky.

What do you think of the internet as a tool to reach people.

It’s great in a sense that you can broadcast your creativity to the whole world. That is very cool.

I’m now getting set up to do recording at home. They can send me the tracks and I can record my parts here and send them back to them. As a matter of fact, that’s how Chad Wackermann did his drum parts for Don Lappin’s latest CD.

Which program was used?

The one he used was Digtal Performer I think and Don lappin had used Logic, somehow they’re compatible. Essentially they are different versions of the same thing.

Tell me about the method books you have written?

I did Rock Bass Lines, Slap Bass Lines and Finger style Funk Bass Lines for Hal Leonard/Berklee Press.

Who do you endorse?

D’Addario strings, the XL Pro Steel set of 6, Laney amplifiers and Ibanez Guitars and the gig FX sub wah pedal, it’s wah-wah pedal and flanger for bass specifically. I like the envelope filter part of it, the wah is cool too because you can control it yourself.

What are you working on currently as a “student” of the bass?

I’m working on improving my time and improvisation.

How do you work on that?

I’ll set a metronome and sequence a pattern and play along with it or I’ll do little exercises where I’ll have a click going and play on the different 16th notes. Just keeping it fresh. Working on longer lines too, 2,3, 4 octave stuff with the 6 string bass.

Are you working out of any books? What kind of improv?

Just tunes, you know, old jazz standards to a 2 chord groove. Just trying to play interesting lines using more chromatic stuff, trying to go out and resolve back in. I’m trying to make myself come up with my own ideas with that, coming up with my own thing, not necessarily trying to copy. Which I think all comes down to the ear, if you hear it coming, that’s what you should play.

Who are you playing steadily with these days?

I’m pretty steady with Sal Difusco’s original project. I’m with Jon Finn and just also did a concert with Don Lappin. With Jon, we did a couple gigs last year with Guthrie Govan. Bruce Bartlett, I’m with him pretty steadily. Recording projects seem to be popping up every month too.

Is this where you hoped you would be?

I am very grateful for everything I have experienced so far but if there’s more, I would be even more grateful. If something comes along, I’m ready for it.

Is there something you’re hoping to do yet that you haven’t done yet, either writing or playing?

I’d love to do another cd of my fusion stuff, I’d like to be able to do that. I’d like to be able to do a tour with that kind of stuff, with somebody or my own material and just continue to grow as a player, I think that’s my main thing. Keep maturing to the next level whatever that is.

Enjoy your BASS!!!

Why a high end cable? All cables sound the same, right? That is the exact question that intrigued the engineer, founder and CEO of the company Jurg Vogt. Don’t think I’m going to let the guy off easy just because he’s also a bass player and his last name is spelled so close to mine! But seriously, you can hear his story for yourself here:

While the company makes dozens of varieties of pro audio, home audio, power and other assorted hifi cables, I stuck to what I know; instrument, patch and speaker cables. I tried out the Protect A instrument cable with matching patch cable and a Drive series speaker cable.

The Protect A instrument is what I used most during this trial run. It comes with a velcro gig bag, which well isn’t a reason to run out instantly and buy the cable, it’s nice because it forces you to nicely coil your cable vs. the spaghetti “I’ll get to it later” cable bag setup.

The cable comes in many different lengths and is available with either right angle or straight ends, but I chose the basic 11.5 foot or 3.5 meter length with straight ends. The cable is coated in a thick braided fabric. My only concern was the cable was sort of slick on hardwood floor and I almost took one for the team at a show, but alas the rock gods above were looking out for me!

The Protect A patch cable is basically the same as the instrument cable, just in a shorter 1ft/0.03m variety. It is also available in the right angle or straight end variety. Here I will explain a little more about the design of both the instrument and patch cables.

Your average cable’s conductor is most likely made out of many thin wires wrapped together. This is not the case with Vovox, you’re looking at one thick single conductor made out of high grade copper coated in silver. The hot and the ground conductors are isolated from each other, where on your current cable may be in close quarters. The capacitance is a super low 75pf/m.

As far as performance of the patch cable, my only suggestion is if your pedalboard is tight for space, I’d go with right angled connectors to allow a little more flex.

Last, but not least I tried out the 3.3 ft./1m. Drive series speaker cable. It also features the same silver plated copper core conductor as the Protect series cables. Now speaker cables often get neglected, but you spent all that $ into the front end of your gear, why mess it up now with a cheap speaker cable? If you’re playing a gig in the Swiss Alps, I have no doubt in my mind you could climb a mountain with this speaker cable, then play the gig with it…just look at those ends! It was a nice tight fit when plugging the cable into my bass cab, which hey, you’re sending a couple hundred watts of thunder to a speaker cab, you want a solid connection.

Is a high end cable for you? I’m not the judge. The cables are marketed as high end durable cables, which I feel is completely accurate. I a/b’d the cables back and forth with a variety of other cables, while the Vovox will not save you money on your car insurance or make you breakfast in the morning, I am certain I can hear a difference. The difference was tough in a quiet in home side by side, but out and about when you can really move some air, you’ll hear it, it’s there!

Web: vovox.ch
Street Price: $140 for the Protect A instrument cable, $65 for the Protect Patch cable, $65 for the Drive Speaker cable.

Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to MusicianYou Magazine again – this month I’d like to examine Afro-Cuban drumming for drum-set. It’s fairly new for set players, as Afro-Cuban drumming used to be relegated to hand percussion, but it’s becoming far more commonplace in today’s music. Therefore, it behooves every drum-set player to spend some time checking out this style of drumming. If for no other reason than to at least have a different voice within the music that you’re passionate about.

Back in the day when I was a student at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and I mean that sincerely, as there’s no other music school that rivals Berklee in my opinion, I remember taking a lab that had a short focus on Afro-Cuban drumming. Here’s one of the actual pages from that lab. (although, please keep in mind that I do not present these actual exercises in the video) The patterns in this section of the lab were eye opening for me, as prior to that I had only experienced what I call simple Latin drumming such as bossa nova’s and samba – which are still considered within the style, but perhaps a bit less spicy.

I call this article “Latin 101”. I do so because this is a basic introduction to Afro-Cuban and Afro-Cuban influenced patterns. Some of these patterns are either directly from, or influenced by the grooves found in these two books – which I highly recommend that you purchase. 1) Afro-Cuban Coordination For Drumset by Maria Martinez, and 2) Groovin’ In Clave by Ignacio Berroa. You’ll find excerpts from both of these books here in this article, so you can get a feel for the layout. In addition to the grooves, both books offer a little bit of history on the styles covered, which is great for both the advanced player, and the novice.

After you get past the introduction playing, the first demonstrated groove that I play is called Mozambique, which is traditionally a form of carnival music from Cuba. I found these grooves both in the Berklee lab, and in Maria’s book. Although, she refers to it as New York Mozambique. As a teacher, I often try to find applications for ethnic styles like this. When young students are given a style of drumming that’s unfamiliar, it helps to apply it to a style of music that is familiar. One suggestion would be to try playing these grooves in the bridge section of the famous Led Zeppelin song “Fool In The Rain”.

The next demonstrated groove is called Nanigo, which is often played at religious ceremonies in Cuba. I found this pattern in Maria’s book, and just loved it because it works so well in a Jazz / Latin setting. Try playing this groove in John Coltrane’s famous song “Afro Blue”, or any 6/8 Latin section of a jazz tune.

The next example is a “Songo” pattern, which is often times considered the jazz of Cuban drumming because it has elements of folkloric and contemporary Cuban, as well as jazz and funk. I’ve found myself using this style quite often, and in many situations – be it jazz or funk, and even in rock settings. In addition, I’ve heard this style played on many recordings by The Chick Corea Electrik Band, and Michel Camilo. It’s usually a hybrid version of Songo, but with this style of music it should be improvised.

The next example is the groove that I refer to as the “Unknown Pattern”. I’m confident of where I picked up the groove, but not confident of where it came from originally. So, I don’t want to label it. But I can say that it’s a great pattern, and it should give you the flavor of Latin drumming – especially in a Jazz / Latin setting. I often times have my students play this pattern, or variations of this pattern, in the bridge section of Pat Metheny’s song “Bright Size Life”. It works very well during this section of the tune, and it reinforces students knowledge of the form, as I’ll know if they miss the pattern that they might not know where they are in the music.

The final example is a mix of a couple traditional rhythms – the Cascara Rhythm with my lead hand, and 3/2 Rumba Clave with my left foot. Cascara is the word for Sea Shell, and the name of the rhythm played on the shell was adopted as a result. The Clave rhythm is considered to be the foundation of most Cuban music. It’s the rhythm in which melodic phrases and improvisation revolve around. I learned to play these grooves by studying the book Groovin’ In Clave mentioned above. The patterns included here are basic examples. However, as you can see and hear in the video, I’ve embellished them with improvisation. Here’s what you need to know to get started with the included page. It’s written for Bass, Snare, and Clave. I add to this the Cascara rhythm with my lead hand, and I play the Clave with my left foot.

In conclusion, I hope this article provides you with some insight into Afro-Cuban drumming, and spurs your desire to explore the style. I can certainly say that I’m a much better drummer and musician for having spent time learning this stuff, and I strongly believe that you will be too.

As always, enjoy and be creative. Thanks.

The Effect Rack was built with simplicity in mind. It holds on tightly to one rack space units so you don’t lose your item, nor need to bring out a big ol’ rack case for one thing. Some examples are; lightweight bass heads, wireless receivers, rack tuners, preamps, multi-effects units etc.

The genius I see here is for micro bass cabs. I lurk the bass forums, I’ll admit and I’ve seen quite a few, “help I stepped on my cable and totalled my lighter than a pair of sneakers bass head.” Perfect example is the setup I’m demonstrating here; an Ampeg SVT 2x10AV cabinet with a GK MB-500 amplifier.

First order of business, slide the Effect Rack under the handle on your speaker cabinet or combo amp;

Next pull up on the Effect Rack to get a little slack while sliding in whatever you’ll be holding, in my case the GK MB-500;

Give everything a look and wonder, “Why didn’t I think of this?” The amp now has a nice snug fit and isn’t going anywhere, well unless I decide to karate kick the whole speaker cab to the floor, but I don’t think I’ll be gigging with David Lee Roth anytime soon. Here’s a side profile shot;

The Effect Rack has a stainless steel core that will never rust. The exterior has a smooth coating that won’t scrape whatever you’re holding with it. Since as musicians we’re the most creative of the bunch I was able to finagle ways to use the Effect Rack as a music stand and a tablet/laptop holder etc.

Web: theeffectrack.com
Street Price: $29.95/shipped.

Using 6th intervals is a staple of classic R&B/Soul music, as well as in Blues music. An example might be a Robben Ford-type lick that could use the open 6th interval or the major 6th chord voicing:

Steve Cropper, most famous for being a member of Booker T. & The MGs, played on a myriad of R&B hits behind Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, and Sam & Dave. On their hit, “Soul Man,” Cropper’s guitar immediately identifies the song, similar to the example below.

Leo Nocentelli, of the pioneer New Orleans funk group The Meters, would use 6th intervals to outline 7th chord by also adding the root note of the chord with the first finger, similar to the example below.

Leo might use this type of example in his funk tunes such as Looka-Py-Py and Little Old Moneymaker. In this example, he would use his 3rd and 4th fingers for the 6th interval, on strings 2 and 4, while extending his first finger to grab the root of the chord on string 1, after which he slides the 6th interval down two frets to chord tones 7 and 5 (F and D notes, in this case).

Eric Clapton has been known to use 6th intervals in an unusual way, where he anticipates the coming chord change. In the example shown, he outlines the relative major/minor function of the Em and GMaj chords in a crafty way, using the same 6th intervals for both chords.

B.B. King used a 6th interval guitar riff for his Rock Me Baby, similar to this example:

The 6th interval used in this B.B. example is a minor 6th. It’s the interval between the Major 3rd of the chord and the root of the chord. This is the inversion of the Major 3rd interval. All of the other examples in this lesson use the Major 6th interval, which is the inversion of the Minor 3rd interval. The rule of thumb for inverting intervals is to use the number 9. Whenever we invert an interval, adding up the original interval with the resulting interval will result in the number 9.

In reference to the B.B. King example, the interval from A up to C# is a Major 3rd. If we raise the A up an octave, as in the example, we end up with a minor 6th. 6+3=9. When we invert a major interval, it inverts to a minor interval. Major 6th inverts to minor 3rd, and vice versa. Another example would be the interval between the A and G notes on beat 2 of the same example. A down to G is a Major 2nd. If we lower the A down an octave, the interval from G down to A is a 7th, which is a minor 7th. More 6th rhythms to come.

Keep practicing and have fun!

The Fretfunk Guitar Dust Mop is genius. I mainly play Fenders and right under the strings where the pickups meet the pickguard there is always the unreachable plethora of dirt, dust and dead skin. It’s there doing no harm other than mocking you, repeating “Haha you can’t get me!” Welp dust, the jokes now on you! The Guitar Dust Mop easily reaches where your fingers or standard polishing cloth can’t. It also works great up top on your headstock. No more poking your fingers on the ends of the strings trying to wedge a cloth or paper towel under there. Here are some shots of the Guitar Dust Mop in action;

Next up is the Guitar Strap Pick Holder and well you guessed it, it does exactly what it says it does! It can load up to 6 picks in the holder and then you can clip the holder right onto any normal guitar strap. Defining normal, I tried it out on thick leather straps and a cheaper budget 2” nylon guitar strap and either worked just fine. I prefered only loading 5 picks at once on the holder, because well it was much easier that way. I also want to add your picks should be similar thicknesses. I ran into some problems when loading thin and extra heavy picks together, but odds are you have a pick of choice and this doesn’t matter.

Once I was locked and loaded I performed the, using highly scientific terms; Shake Test, where I attached the Guitar Strap Pick Holder onto the strap and then played the guitar while awkwardly trying to shake the holder or picks off. Like a champion bull rider, the Guitar Strap Pick Holder earned its title. A great accessory that unlike mic stand pick holders, this puts your picks right at your side.

Web: fretfunkmusic.co.uk
Price: Approx. $5