Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Mel Bay, Ozzy and A Dog Named Blue
Often I’m asked what kind of music I play. “Folk Rock Groove,” I usually respond - then I offer further explanation, responding to the oft-puzzled looks I get! What’s Folk Rock Groove? I’ll start at the beginning of things – sorta . . . uh, let’s start with rock.
ROCK
I started playing guitar when I was eighteen. I’d landed a job at a grocery store and I finally hand a little money - and a lotta time on my hands! Having listened to tons of Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, and Quiet Riot, I was well groomed to join the ranks of heavy metal guitar slingers! I bought an amp and used electric guitar and I started taking a few lessons. I was on my way to rock the world! Mmmm, so I thought . . .
FOLK
My first guitar lesson was with a Mel Bay’s Modern Guitar Method workbook – a very slow and arduous text for an anxiously aspiring rocker! After a few lessons, my instructor, Kenny, suggested I pick up on acoustic guitar. I was playing around on his acoustic one day and he told me I seemed to have a knack for it. Seeing that I wouldn’t be shredding on guitar anytime soon, I took his advice . . . but stopped taking his lessons. I wanted to rock and roll man! Kenny and the Mel Bay were a little too slow for me.
NOTE TO FUTURE GUITARISTS: YOU WILL NOT SHRED ON GUITAR OVERNIGHT! STICK WITH THE LESSONS – THEY WILL PAY OFF SOON ENOUGH!
FOLK continued . . .
Having forsaken Mel Bay’s Method, I opted for something more my speed and bought a little book that promised the ability to play guitar in twenty minutes. Great! I would be wailing away before I knew it!
The book - true to its promise - showed finger patterns to play two chords – C and G. Consequently, the first song I learned to play was not Crazy Train ala Ozzy and Randy Rhoads! Rather, it was Had A Dog And His Name Was Blue ala Peter, Paul and Mary! Add to this a few more chords and also my experience with summer camp bands, and you’ve got the major reason for my folk infusion – practicality! I wasn’t shredding . . . but I was playing guitar!
GROOVE
Okay, I was, confessedly, the odd kid on my New Orleanian block! Though I was a rock guitar slingin’ wannabe, Jazz, Funk, Soul, Rap and R&B permeated the atmosphere where I grew up. Groove is a prenatal, cultural inheritance that forms the very foundations of my musical inclinations. Stevie Wonder, Professor Longhair, War, Chuck Mangione, Dr. John and a host of other groove purveyors inform who I am as a musician and songwriter - It’s in my musical DNA!
Enclosed is a FREE DOWNLOAD of a Folk Rock Groove sample, Day In The Life of a Girl. Check it out, share it with your friends and let me know your thoughts! Better yet, buy the entire album (only $5 for digital download) . . . and help me make an honest living!
Well, that’s my brief history in Folk Rock Groove - Thanks for delving in!
Peace, Love . . . and lots of Groove to you,
Joey K
ROCK
I started playing guitar when I was eighteen. I’d landed a job at a grocery store and I finally hand a little money - and a lotta time on my hands! Having listened to tons of Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, and Quiet Riot, I was well groomed to join the ranks of heavy metal guitar slingers! I bought an amp and used electric guitar and I started taking a few lessons. I was on my way to rock the world! Mmmm, so I thought . . .
FOLK
My first guitar lesson was with a Mel Bay’s Modern Guitar Method workbook – a very slow and arduous text for an anxiously aspiring rocker! After a few lessons, my instructor, Kenny, suggested I pick up on acoustic guitar. I was playing around on his acoustic one day and he told me I seemed to have a knack for it. Seeing that I wouldn’t be shredding on guitar anytime soon, I took his advice . . . but stopped taking his lessons. I wanted to rock and roll man! Kenny and the Mel Bay were a little too slow for me.
NOTE TO FUTURE GUITARISTS: YOU WILL NOT SHRED ON GUITAR OVERNIGHT! STICK WITH THE LESSONS – THEY WILL PAY OFF SOON ENOUGH!
FOLK continued . . .
Having forsaken Mel Bay’s Method, I opted for something more my speed and bought a little book that promised the ability to play guitar in twenty minutes. Great! I would be wailing away before I knew it!
The book - true to its promise - showed finger patterns to play two chords – C and G. Consequently, the first song I learned to play was not Crazy Train ala Ozzy and Randy Rhoads! Rather, it was Had A Dog And His Name Was Blue ala Peter, Paul and Mary! Add to this a few more chords and also my experience with summer camp bands, and you’ve got the major reason for my folk infusion – practicality! I wasn’t shredding . . . but I was playing guitar!
GROOVE
Okay, I was, confessedly, the odd kid on my New Orleanian block! Though I was a rock guitar slingin’ wannabe, Jazz, Funk, Soul, Rap and R&B permeated the atmosphere where I grew up. Groove is a prenatal, cultural inheritance that forms the very foundations of my musical inclinations. Stevie Wonder, Professor Longhair, War, Chuck Mangione, Dr. John and a host of other groove purveyors inform who I am as a musician and songwriter - It’s in my musical DNA!
Enclosed is a FREE DOWNLOAD of a Folk Rock Groove sample, Day In The Life of a Girl. Check it out, share it with your friends and let me know your thoughts! Better yet, buy the entire album (only $5 for digital download) . . . and help me make an honest living!
Well, that’s my brief history in Folk Rock Groove - Thanks for delving in!
Peace, Love . . . and lots of Groove to you,
Joey K
Monday, April 4, 2011
Laugh Today
I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter: it has made the world human and lovable, despite all its pain and wrong. -- W.E.B. DuBoisThis is one of my most favorite quotes and I woke up with it on the mind . . . thought I'd share it with ya!
Be encouraged!
Hope this day finds you with something to smile about!
Love and Peace,
Joey K
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Alien Jive Live @ The Frame Gallery
Soooo . . . One day I woke up with this idea in my head: a guy was having a conversation with this dude at a coffee shop who spoke this weird lingo: alien jive. I tried to explain the concept to my wife . . . and she has since banned me from staying up late and drinking coffee 'til the wee hours of the night!
I tried to tell her: Hey - caffeine doesn't have an effect on me! Okay, well . . . maybe it does . . . just a little . . .
Here's a live performance with a jazz trio of the song that came from that wild idea; I would LOVE to know your thoughts!
I tried to tell her: Hey - caffeine doesn't have an effect on me! Okay, well . . . maybe it does . . . just a little . . .
Here's a live performance with a jazz trio of the song that came from that wild idea; I would LOVE to know your thoughts!
Have a caffeinated kinda day!
Love and Peace,
Joey
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Sittin' Around With My Guitar ...
It's been a little over a month since I left my day job to pursue music full time. I've been asked on occasion, "Sooooo - are you bored yet?" I answer that with a resolute smile - NOOOOOOOOOO! Man, I am busy! Meeting people, cleaning up contact lists, getting ready for taxes - there's a whole lot more to being a musician than just playing guitar and singing!
BUT...having my time freed up does afford me moments when I can just sit around for hours with my guitar . . .
Okay . . . I was modeling for an art session at The Frame Gallery, but still ...
Hope your day has good moments filled with laughter!
Love and Peace,
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
The Arena
Per my previous Super Bowl post, here is one of my favorite thoughts to ponder. This is from former US President Theodore Roosevelt.
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the Arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the Arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. --Theordore Roosevelt
Man, that's compelling.
Love and Peace,
Joey K
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