Been Away But Im Back

Had to temporarily choose life's important and somewhat inevitable responsibilities over playing recently, but now I'm back. (Rusty chops and all.) The biggest part of improving you'll find is to play often. Biggest part of playing often is to be inspired. Biggest part of finding and maintaining inspiration is through your sensitivity to new sounds that excite you. If you engage in that process often enough not playing will be too painful to bear.

Playin' Slide

Been fooling w/ my slide guitar playing recently in Open G. Just going' for that "dusty ol pick up truck" vibe. My playing is pretty bad right now but no worries. Inspiration is everywhere. The slow bluesy slide reminds me of how much sadness there is in the world. But it also reminds you that with hope and love better times are just around the way. The power is in your hands.

Dirty or Spiritual?

Its been a while since my last post, but here’s a nice progression taken from a gospel/blues standard. Variations are many. Gives a great opportunity to experiment w/ chord embellishments and substitutions to make it as dirty or spiritual as you are. Sub a Domionant 7 for the iii and gets real dirty. Sub the vi & iii w/ Minor 7ths and it gets jazzy. I think you got the point. Now go get some!

I iii IV iv I vi ii V7 I IV I V
A C#mi /D Dmi/A F#mi/ Bmi D9/A D7/A E/

Bosco on Stage 

Moving the Bassline

Make your rhythm playing more interesting by adding a moving bass line. Joe Pass is a master of combining chords and moving bass notes to create melody and movement w/in a rhythm line. But it works for any genre. Red Hot Chilly Peppers guitar rhythm in under the bridge is a love letter to Jimi's approach to this style. Speaking of Jimi: Castles Made of Sand. And Stevie Ray did Lenny, which is also Hendrix-esque but pure SRV soul. A rule of thumb i use is if a bass players lines and guitarists chords can be combined creatively and smartly w/in a given space of a rhythm then you can add a moving bass line. Not going to work in all cases but when you’re able to make it work, them its a really nice effect. I’d tell you to ask Jimi or Stevie but alas they were taken from us way too soon.

Consitency in Playing Schedule

Trying to keep the practice streak going? Me too. How do you consistently follow your playing schedule w/ all of the other important things going on your life? The answer...Try hard to do it. You have school, a job, and kids...? a lot is going on. Initially its a real effort maintaining the schedule you set up. if you don’t try old habits drift back in. If you try hard new habits take hold. ....Try it. I will to.

Remember Londoners Lost on 7 July 2005

Remember Londoners Lost on 7 July 2005
Here in NY we know terrorism's horror.
I hope that the families and friends of those lost in the 7/7 bombings of London can find peace and that their deaths will not be in vain.

Major Scales

Spend time w/ your major scales up and down the neck. The seven distinct patterns which if you memorize them, (uggh...hate that word.) will really be a great jumping off point to do almost anything. Modes : The Aeolian mode (natural minor scale) is probably the most useful scale in rock there as it meshes perfectly w/ blues patterns. The Mixolydian's funky and the Phrygian's spooky. It’s all there.
So bust out the metronome and choose one day a week to learn them. DONT front on the major scales!

Dixie Bosco @ Lions Den NYC 

My "Practice" Schedule

My "Practice" Schedule
When you want to improve quickly you'll need to set up a practicing schedule and stick to it. Here's my "Practice" Schedule. This helps me stay on track and fills each day w/ an area I want to improve in.
Sunday : Scale Work : Memorize & practice w/ metronome
Monday : Lean A Cover Song/Write a chord chart for it
Tuesday : Sight Reading
Wednesday : Chord work : Memorize & practice w/ metronome
Thursday : Pick fretting and tone development
Friday : Write Music
Saturday: Record Music

Dixie Bosco's Guitar Blog

Dixie Bosco's Guitar Blog

Inspiration

Inspiration is that X factor that you cannot practice play or schedule. It’s an elusive passion, which makes or breaks a player. Listeners always know when they are hearing an "uninspired" performance don’t they. And many descriptions of great performances center around a difficult to quantify energy that came across no doubt as a result of the player’s inspiration. It cannot be bottled or switched on or off. W/o it you drift on dead calm waters writing w/ no wind in sight. With it you’re writing & singing and doing it all. I seek it in everything around me. But mostly i try to be curious and as passionate in life as i can be and i hope it finds me. I’m looking REAL hard for something to pull the music out of me.

Dixie in Seattle w/ Jimi's Gear 

SCC CGI Session Initializer

SCC CGI Session Initializer

Acoustic or Electric....?
My approach for playing acoustic is very different from how i play electric. Some might say; "Um, Ah duh, dude!" Even so, many players don't apply this knowledge in a musical way.

Re. Practice : "Practice" mostly on an acoustic. That's formal practice of scales chords, those muscular bends, fretting notes for tone etc. Then go to the electric to work out your ideas there.

Re Developing Tone: Working out solos out on acoustic will surely help your tone on the electric. Vintage guitars and amps are great but true tone come from your hands. Developing a dynamic feel to the way you pick and fret notes is as important as developing your chops. You should be able to play the same note w/ multiple "feels" to add color and your personality to your tone.

Filling an Empty Cup

Want to write songs like the Beatles? The stones? ...Abba? Its easy..
...Learn their songs, steal the parts you like for your songs. A man once said immature artists imitate. Mature artists, steal. But seriously this is a legit and time honored way to open up your writing vocabulary and filling your empty cup w/ new ideas.

Learning Beatles songs allows the study and analysis of the blueprint of pop writing. The stones will teach (force) you to explore a different tuning of your guitar. (open g) Abba? Well im not sure what you'll learn from them per se, but hey you'll increase your stock w/ indie chicks.

I hate practicing but I love having practiced.

I hate practicing but I love having practiced. Nothing will get you to where you want to be faster than practicing. Not to be confused w/ "playing", practicing is a focusing on spending 5-10-30 minutes...on one thing & one thing only. Wynton Marsalis's simple practice advice works for your guitar as well as his trumpet.
http://abel.hive.no/trumpet/practice/WYNTON_MARSALIS_RULES.html

I get great results when i practice one thing at a time using a metronome.
I know your thinking " Dude If I asked Keith Richards if he used a metronome he's say something like "Oh Yhea, metronome, that's what I used to kick Heroin with..." ". Lousy Joke…
But seriously, nothing will tell you faster, if you’re in or our or where your chops are like that annoying little click.

Dixie Bosco at your service. 

Big Hello from Dixie Bosco

A Big Hi from New York
I am starting the Blog to discuss rock, blues funk roots and jazz guitar. If im not playing guitar i'm thinking about playing. If youre like me I'd love to talk all things guitars.

Respect to All, Dixie Bosco