Rick Jones' Music 'blog
acoustic guitar
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Posted on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 3:23 AM
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Posted on Wednesday, August 03, 2011 6:16 PM
Don't worry.....
.....I haven't become a flowery shirted, sensitive 'new age' man just yet, but this sentimental little two and a half minute ray of sunshine was written for my own little ray of sunshine, Abbi, my eldest daughter and biggest critic!!!
The challenge with writing something for her, and she's seven now, so I've had plenty of time to do it, is that everything was coming out too saccharin and not really saying what I meant despite having a ton of words.
I sat down, and told myself 'write her something simple that feels like her energy '.
So I wrote 'Simple', and here it is, recorded in one take straight through at Jono's place in St. Ouens in a session that took half an hour including set up!! Not often things like that happen, good vibes today!!
Lyrics;
I'm of the mind that a man is but a creature flawed by nature, Dumb by design, I won't exclude my own self from this picture, I know I'm the worst of my kind,
This rule of thumb was born of careful observation of the world,
Nothing's ever changed my mind..... ....until you.
Oh, it's simple Yeah but it's true Nothing I can ever do will ever make me smile like you.
And here is the song;
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Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 2:01 AM
Musicians Together.....
......I like the sound of that already. When a group of people who love to make music get together, and it's about the music, I mean truly, and not about trying to impress anyone or be 'cool' (impossible for me anyway some would say!).....this is when the real magic can happen. You may think this is odd coming from a seemingly 'loner' solo performer like myself, but the thing is, since I picked up a guitar, anywhere I have ever been, regardless of language or cultural differences or even differences in musical taste.....I have found something in common with someone. Something powerful.
Well this magazine couldn't be more aptly named, as it is pretty much what I described above set to type and published on the internet. It's more than that though....it's a video sharing site with the opportunity to gain constructive criticism from other musicians without an endless tirade of "dOOd tHiS is T3H SuX" from 13 y/o 'internet bad ass'' types.
The mission of it's creator was seemingly to support the unsupported musician, and give them an audience, some advice and something to read that isn't just idolising the famous or advertising products surreptitiously with overly glowing false reviews.
It's pretty cool, if I hadn't implied that already.
 Check it out here, and become a member, I am one, and will be adding whatever videos and articles I can (and the editor will have), as I think the concept, and the atmosphere there is exactly what is needed.
<<<<< Click the logo to go there.
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Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 9:52 AM
 .........in most of the usual places. You can buy Eden on iTunes, click the logo below, but it should be popping up in Amazon, Deezer, Tesco Mp3 and all those kind of places any day now.
Keep watching the stores (if you actually like what I do!), because I have the intention of being much more prolific with song production, and adding a lot more tracks for download only at these stores.
As a musician, it's a double edged sword....this kind of distribution will never allow someone like me to make a living from music sales, but at the end of the day, no-one makes music unless they want at least someone to hear it. This seems like the best way to get heard further afield than my back yard.
By the way, if anyone wants to add a review to iTunes, good or bad, as long as it's fair(!), please carry on.....I would appreciate your time!
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Posted on Thursday, June 23, 2011 1:10 PM
I have been listening to a lot of the amazing folk guitar player, Nic Jones, and I found a recording of his version of this, I like it better than the North-Eastern version about drinking etc....it seems positive. It reminded me of my two young sons, so I thought I'd try and play it myself! Learned it as I went really!
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Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 3:17 AM
For some strange reason....
...lately, I have had the overwhelming urge to draw ravens.....it probably means something, and with my luck, I'd sooner not know!!
But honestly, I've been thinking of concepts for my next recording....I tried to think of what ties each song to it's brethren, lyrically or otherwise on this next session, and there really aren't any fictional stories, it's all thoughts and memories set to music.
Thought and Memory. There, a title.
"What's that got to do with Ravens?", well, the Norse Deity Odin, in the stories and sagas, particularly
Grimnismál, was described as having two ravens, who flew all over the human realm of Midgard, and reported back to the shoulders and ears of the Allfather.
These birds were named HUGIN (meaning thought) and MUNIN (meaning mind).
Here, read wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huginn_and_Muninn
Thus, in my feeble thinky place was spawned a concept that appealed to me, in that most people won't see the link without further investigating, or reading this blog...which is probably boring enough to render info here well hidden!
I wanted to draw my own cover, so I started to practice pencil drawing Ravens. Here are a few of my early attempts! Click on the pics to see bigger versions and detail;
 None of these are like what I want to use, but I'm getting the hand of drawing them, so by the time I have the tracks done, I should have some art. Of course by then I might have completely changed my mind and got someone else to do them!
Let me know what you think of the concept...good?...lame?....too esoteric?.....to VIKING for ya? Not flowery enough?
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Posted on Friday, June 17, 2011 10:08 PM
Writers block, or building block?
Earlier today I caught up with a friend of mine.She is a music loving, guitar playing girl who I've watched grow in confidence and performing ability solidly over the years I've known her.
I hadn't seen her in a while, as she's been off living on the mainland whilst getting edu-ma-cated in one of those University type places I hear a lot about. As it's been a while since I've seen or heard her play, I asked her if she fancied coming along to the open mic I run at Chambers on Sunday, and playing us a few songs. Her answer was "Not until I have a new set!", and she went on to explain how she was really suffering from writers block, and was tired of her own material, but felt like she couldn't come up with anything 'better'. She also asked me if I had ever had writers block.
This got me thinking, which is no mean feat in itself, well, unless it's about guitars or any of the other stuff I get a bit geeky about (but can get away with 'cos I don't look like your typical nerd.....please say it's true...!).....
Ok, so, yes I have had writers block. More than once. The thing is, I view it as a sign of progress.....if you bear with me, I'll explain why/how I feel this way, but it might get long winded. Shock!
I'm going to use music and singer/songwriting as the subject here, because that's largely what I'm familiar with, but I suppose it could equally apply to other creative outputs. I think.
I imagine, by using myself and a few other musicians I have watched in ascension as a template, that when we start out and have acquired a basic level of competence on an instrument we then look to our favorite musicians as 'the way to go'. This is us 'having influences', and, with each of us being unique and not, I presume, some kind of cell for cell clone of our idols, we tend not to sound identical. This can be frustrating, but it's a blessing really. Singers especially seem to start out trying to emulate other singers they admire. When you don't sound like that person exactly, and realise you probably never will, you start to realise your approximation of them is really just you.
The other thing that happens, is say you learn the chords G, C and D, as most of us do early on....they are bread and butter for us acoustic players and a good starting point. When you start off, you take these chords, and you write a song. You love it, because you wrote a song. It's the best thing ever, 'cos it's your first song.
Then, you write some more. Maybe you learn another chord, and you throw that in there too. This goes on for a while generally, and if you are blessed with a great capacity for writing lyrics, or a wonderful unique and spell binding voice, or even something odd about you that makes you different somehow, this might be all you ever need.
Someone like me however, is not really remarkable in any of those fields, and had to develop at least one if not all aspects of my playing/writing/singing further if I was to ever take it further than my bedroom.
So you're driven to write something with that something extra.....something special....at this point you could easily write something that's identical to what you have done before, but that isn't enough. Now you bang your head metaphorically on what you already have, rejecting things that may be similar to what you know you can do already, and trying to make it better, trying to make it as good as it could possibly be. Often, when nothing you think of as 'special enough' is coming you start this viscious circle of being too frustrated to think differently...and you deem it as 'writers block'.
I imagine this is the time that those who use drugs or whatever turn to those for a way to think outside the box, if I may steal the cliché......but this is something I know nothing about, as I have stayed completely away from drugs,drink and anything more mind altering than caffeine so far in my life.
But my point is, it would seem 'writers block' is nothing more than setting yourself a new standard to attain. Looking for progress. Whereas in the beginnings of your journey, G, C and D chords and lyrics about "Feeling fine 'cos she's mine, Love from above" and all those kind of things would 'do', and you never got stuck for those things, because they are obvious to you. Exponentially, the more involved you get, the more things seem obvious.....chord progressions, melodies, lyrics and so on. So you either draw a line, and use what is obvious, or you progress past the obvious, sometimes into the surreal as happens to many great musicians who get so good at playing they go off into things that to the average person don't make sense to listen to any more. They are getting away from the obvious, but are at the point where the obvious to themselves includes other peoples 'next level'. These are your Zappas and Vais and to some extent your hardcore bebop jazz guys. The music gets more niche as it gets further away from the obvious. The lines are always moving though, look at how the next generations music is always noise to the generation before.
It's all about finding a balance, knowing what you want, and accepting what you are and aren't in pursuing your own voice creatively.
So when you are 'blocked', view it as a sign that you have progressed, and build on what you know so you can get to the next 'block'. Sooner or later you'll be stood on enough 'blocks' to see your path clearly.
Don't give up.
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Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 3:26 AM
A couple of Raw Demo versions;
I decided to make use of the little recording device I've been carrying around for interviewing people for the last few months, and catalog some 'work in progress' songs /ideas I've had. I uploaded some rough demos, these are literally; Guitar-recording device-computer-uploaded.....no effects or mixing of any kind, just one take into the mic and chucked up on line. I figured it's good to bare yourself every now and then, keeps you real!
Please excuse the 'singing', I was just half assed because I was tracking ideas, the thought of posting them up came later....
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Posted on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 7:48 PM
......where I went on abit about having an interview online, here is the link! |
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Posted on Thursday, November 25, 2010 9:26 PM
As I mentioned in my previous post, Kev from Stage2 productions kindly recorded my second set at the Home-life Expo show, and handed me a disk at the end! I have been having some trouble uploading it to this sites music player, as it is a hefty file....so here are two tracks from it,uploaded to youtube, audio only, and I'll put a link underneath in case you want to download the whole 40 minutes afterwards. You're getting very much the dry signal off the desk....the sound of my pickups, without the room sound, but I think the sentiment comes across ok....let me know what you think? So here's my song Sunsets in the West, ......and here is a cover of "Hallelujah"; ....and here is the link for most of the set,if it doesn't work anymore, as the site sometimes deletes older inactive files, let me know in comments and I'll reupload it for you. Cheers all, Rick |
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Posted on Thursday, November 25, 2010 8:57 PM
To anyone who may have been following this 'blog, I offer sincere apologies for the lack of updates in the last 6 weeks....true to the cliché of the starving,penniless musician I haven't been able to pay the bill for a little while, and was blocked from editing,updating and generally messing with my site. Don't be thinking that I've had nothing to tell though, as things have been happening my end...oddly enough, as here where I live musicians tend to be busy in the summer, and winter is quiet all round for everyone, but I've been busily gigging and playing, and had alot of cool messages from folks who caught me live at various times over the past few months. So, a couple of weeks ago I had the chance to play in support of Headway, a local charity that have strong connections into the islands music scene, at the "Home-life show", a kind of trade show that takes over Jerseys Fort Regent leisure centre. It's pretty huge with many UK businesses and service providers showing their wares and such, and many visitors over the weekend....parking was a nightmare!! They had a stage in a theatre type room, off the side of the main building, and although not many people knew I was there, I had a few people in who were really listening, and coupled with a great sound guy, Kev from Stage2 productions, who also kindly recorded my set (I'm trying to upload it to a music player at the moment!)....I had a nice, chilled out set and really felt the music. I had the fortune of meeting a few lads from my homeland of Wales at the gig, who picked up a copy of my Eden EP, and got a copy of the set recorded by Kev, and I've had a few nice emails from them since, so cheers for the encouragement guys if you are reading this, it was really nice of you, and I hope to get across and play near you soon!  My son Zac decided to invade the stage a few times.....I think he wanted to sing backing vocals...but I wasn't doing "wheels on the bus" that day, sorry little man................................................Also, I did a little set for BBC radio Jerseys "Introducing" show, with DJ Ryan Morrison, who is a great guy, had a great chat and did "Monster" and a new, as yet untitled song, and he played "rut" from my EP to close the show. I would have linked you to the Iplayer so you guys could listen, but given my recent lack of website access, the Iplayer has moved onto the next weeks programme, and my wee set is lost, vanished into the ether.....still, maybe a recording will pop up sometime, and I'll post 'er up for you guys! I also did a couple of songs live @the Art Centre in Jersey, for BBC radio Jersey again, and in aid of Children in need.....also got to listen to the lovely "Flower singer" Michelle, who sang amazingly, with backing from Paul Vane on drums, and wowed everyone who heard them. This was on the Iplayer too.....but I'm afraid the same as above applies.... ho hum... A few other things have happened, but they warrant a post of their own I feel, so they will appear above in short order, hopefully! Cheers, Rick |
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Posted on Monday, September 20, 2010 8:18 PM
A local school teacher I know from seeing at gigs and such came over to me today, as I was dismantling my cobbled together Jeep for the hundredth time at St/ Catherine, and had just had a mishap. He had with him a bunch of kids, and told them all I was a great guitarist, he then asked me, "so what would your top tip be for becoming a guitar player like yourself?".... ...on the spot, and after being forced to suppress the sailor langauge that was racing through my subconcious due to the appearance of the aforementioned kids, I replied, and honestly; "Don't jam your fingers in a rivet gun". He looked bemused. |
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Posted on Thursday, September 16, 2010 8:48 PM
Richard Thompson is my favourite guitarist, I may have said that before.... I'm not a fan of all the music he's put out, I think his songwriting though, has the unfortunate burden of having to live up to a few songs he's written that are simply unabashed modern classics. I have marvelled at the depth of the writing in his song Beeswing (click that to hear the man himself playing it), not only for the lyrics,imagery and storytelling prowess of it, but also the rustic sound of the melody and arrangement....it kind of lends a timeless "trad" quality to the song, like you are hearing something ancestral, not a modern ballad with a story that begins in the 1970's, which it is. He has written alot more incredible songs too, a quick look at his recently released songbook here , shows a massive three volume epic, and remember, this is only his more popular songs.....he has had an incredible output over the years, and if you go to his website Beesweb you'll find a content packed,informative and personal site, that is a world apart from record company controlled pop idols and their autonomous,cold info and "where to send your hard earned cash". He has several pages of Q&A with fans up there, and he has opined on his massive songwriting output on there, several times saying himself that he has created alot of songs that aren't quite the jems that have formed at other points in the process. But all this is a digression from his guitar playing, I just wanted to mention his songwriting, because it adds another dimension to him than other virtuoso guitar types such as Tommy Emmanuel or Andy McKee...both of whom write nice melodies, but neither has a Beeswing or Vincent Black Lightning or the like in their back catalogue. Legendary American music producer Joe Boyd said of him; "He can imitate almost any style, and often does, but is instantly identifiable. In his playing you can hear the evocation of the Scottish piper's drone and the melody of the chanter as well as echoes of Barney Kessell's and James Burton's guitars and Jerry Lee Lewis's piano. But no blues clichés." .....and it's hard to explain it any better than that really, but as a guitarist myself, and one who would aspire to Mr. Thompsons ability on the instrument myself, I can break it down somewhat and tell you what makes it for me. He has a hybrid picking style, meaning he uses his fingers and a pick simultaneously... this in itself is not that unusual, a myriad of country players, and even I myself do this. But Richard has a seemingly separate brain for each part of his hand...he can run counterpoint melodies seemingly all over the instrument, with seamless musical results. He uses open tunings alot, but the striking thing about his hybrid picking is the rythymic independence of each part...it's truly like two or more people playing together at times, which inspired me to attempt similar things in the first place. He doesn't seem confined to scales, patterns or even genres in any one part of any piece of music.....other people do this and it sounds disjointed, but not RT, he pins it together by sheer virtue of it being Richard Thompson who's playing it. And lastly, but to me one of the biggest things; Much like another favourite guitar player of mine Jeff Lang (himself influenced admittedly by Richard), RT has had a decades long viable career in music, playing gigs all over the world and selling CDs and touching the lives of many, all without the fancy clothes, projected image and fame chasing marketing strategies that so many musicians feel they need to employ. It's all about the music. If ever I had any hopes for my "career" in music, it would be that someone would oneday feel similarly about me.....a tall order, but worth trying to achieve,don't you think? So click these links for some live youtube RT moments that I feel show some sides of the man himself; The stinging acid lyrics and jarring dark melody of Crawl back with incredible playing. A band version of Crawl back with RT playing some incredible electric guitar. A whacked out, crazy guitar solo with Fairport convention here. RJ |
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Rick: Posted on Wednesday, September 08, 2010 4:59 AM
Eventually I intend to use my guitar page for some instructional, technical and performance related info, I want to archive some of the arcane knowledge I've picked up over the years of being my obsessive self when it comes to sound and music. I truly love acoustic guitars, they resonate against you and a good one imparts the frequeny of each note into your chest cavity as you play, what other instrument could go straight to your heart? That's why I like to play sitting down. I have owned many, never had the money to own anything without complications, so I know the upper end of more accesible models well, as I research anything I do like some kind of anally retentive anorak....I can get away with that, as I'm a big hairy biker looking dude....can't I? I'm not a geek...surely..... But I digress, I have tried,tweaked, re tried, fitted, combined and recombined every kind of acoustic guitar pickup you could imagine. I have traded,bought, borrowed.... not actually stole I'm glad to say, and tested all manner of ways of transferring that acoustic sound to the air around the crowd, and I may be able to save some folks the endless search....that said it's all subjective,sound, and I can go into the reasons for that as well (yawn). So, if you have any ideas where I should start, please feel free to mention it beneath this here blog post. RJ |
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Posted on Tuesday, September 07, 2010 9:38 PM
This will be cool, you should head down at about 8 to make sure you don't miss the start. Tom is the most natural, laid back purveyor of reggae and soul music in the island, in my considered opinion.  I don't play reggae, and there's a reason why, and it's not because I don't like it either.........to be authentic and get the feel for this music, you need a kind of rhythm and demeanor that very few people possess, myself included. Tom has it. In spades. When the whole Jack Johnson beach vibe thing was huge over here, lots of people began playing at that style, and if I'm honest, alot of people turned the soft easy rhythm of many of the songs into a nerve riddled punk workout. Tom is like a breath of fresh air on the scene here, as he was immune to the changing trends, and when all the others have fallen by the wayside, Tom is wearing his dreads for the right reason and playing what he loves. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of old school soul music and funk, a true feel for rhythm, a right hand from Jah himself and a voice that's smooth and so natural that it's easy to miss how technically bang on his singing is. He's been gigging in Barbados, and picked up some Bajan flavour, you won't hear that in anyone else over here. So you're missing out if you don't get down there.....I am going to try to crawl out of my sickbed and make it down. Myself I'm knocked down with some kind of lergy, which is proving pretty rough, and as well as missing Jersey live it now looks like my annual trip to the lovely Island of Sark,to play the Festival of the sea, could be a no go as well, and that's mildly heartbreaking if I'm truthful, as I love that place and the people there. Science,pathogens and my immune system willing....I WILL SEE YOU AT TANGUYS...or if not, I will see you in the pics, digging Toms vibes, else I'll set my germs on you....... RJ |
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