Tag Archives: guitar

Robert Johnson

Posted on December 10, 2019 by

It was in… popular juke joints — segregated stores or private houses that doubled, after hours, as recreational places — that his now legendary music career began… The young musician had trained on a diddley bow — one or more … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — Triad Tirade

Posted on June 18, 2019 by

“A triad is a simultaneous combination of three notes.” (Ralph Denyer, “The Guitar Handbook,” Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2006) The introductory sentence to the “Triads” section of this useful guide distracts me from triads. I’m drawn off the mark … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — More Inconvenience

Posted on June 6, 2019 by

“It seems I am choosing words that will stand, and you are in them, but if I blunder, it doesn’t matter — I must persist in my errors. (Boris Pasternak, “For Anna Akmatova,” translated by Robert Lowell in “Imitations”) The … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — No Money Shot

Posted on June 3, 2019 by

An old advertising tag-line for an investment firm was voiced by the British-American actor John Houseman: “We make music the old fashioned way; we earn it.” Houseman, of course, said “money,” not “music.” In my effort to show with strong, … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — Mind Over Method

Posted on May 24, 2019 by

Pinterest thinks I’m interested in quick-and-dirty guitar: “This article will show you the best method ever of how to efficiently learn and memorize the notes on a guitar neck in the shortest amount of time.” I’ve seen the exact number … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed: NODS & Buck-Effing

Posted on May 20, 2019 by

I’m not a rocker or blues man on a Gibson. I can make a long-fingered foray into the twelfth-fret region, but it’s not fruitful. When I mention “buck-effing” around the fretboard, therefore, only one B-C and E-F pair obtains per … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — Crossed Eyes, Dotted Tees

Posted on May 16, 2019 by

Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the cloud of unknowing, I shall fear no malaise, for thy clef and thy stave, they comfort me. I pause from the demented abstraction of this serialized soliloquy, this goofy guide, to … Continue reading →

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