Weird Instruments For Creative Sampling

As anyone who has paid attention to mainstream hip hop will know, sampling is getting more and more obscure.

Big-shot producers have taken instruments from the east, west, north, south and occasionally what sounds like the depths of space to create their tracks.   So I figured it would be helpful to see some of the more obscure instruments you could sample!

Here are 10 interesting instruments to sample for your next production to really stand out!

1. Koto – A traditional Japanese instrument with a distinctly oriental flavour to the sound.   The pitch bends are brilliant and the tone lends itself to minor keys brilliantly.

2. Saw – Not just for DIY – the saw can be used both as a rugged cutting tool and a delicate, beautiful musical instrument.   A haunting, echo-y sound emanates from it when bent and played with a bow.   Definitely an obscure instrument!

3. Aeolian Wind Harp –

Sometimes called Harmonic Harps, wind harps originated in ancient Greece (circa 6 BC) and flourised throughout the Renaissance era. Aeolian Harps are rare, beautiful instruments designed to be played by the wind; free of the touch of human hands. Harmonic wind harps transpose the spirit of the wind into spontaneous, multi-layered music in time to nature's rhythms. Their vibrant voices sing pure harmonic tones that range from deep, pulsing bases to soaring sopranos. A variety of winds, harps, and string tunings combine on these selected recordings to produce an eclectic repertoire of definitive music.

4. Cimbalo – An interesting instrument from Hungary, with sticks similar to that of a drum kit, but strings to hit instead of toms and cymbals – a different pitch for each.   This combines percussive playing technique with melodic runs to create an instrument that, when played by someone adept at it, can make some seriously fast, intricate melodies.

5. Uilleann pipes – Very similar to the bagpipes, however this instrument hails from Ireland.   It produces a sweeter timbre and has 2 octaves of notes available.   This instrument is capable of playing chords and it’s drone means that it always has that distinctive pipe undertone.

6. H20rgan – Here’s a weird and wonderful one; Also known as a hydraulophone, it’s a wind instrument with water churning out of the holes instead of wind, meaning when the player places his hands over the holes, different notes come out!

7. Beer bottle organ - Ever blown over the top of a bottle when you’re sitting at a bar and heard that breathy tone?   Think of an entire instrument based on that sound.   A bunch of guiness bottles filled with varying amounts of glycerine (I’m assuming the creator was pretty wasted during the product’s development) provide the multi-octave spread.

8. Theremin – An early electronic instrument that makes a sound without actually being touched.   Depending on the distance of the player’s hand from the main rod, a different pitch is produced, making it a difficult instrument to master.   It’s been used in Sci-Fi films for decades, giving that spooky, retro-futuristic sound.

9. Singing Tesla Coil - Woah.   Using high voltage sparks to generate notes of music, it sounds kind of like a sawtooth wave, but with a considerably more distorted tone.   And it looks spectacular.

10. Jew’s Harp – Despite the implicating name, it is not the namesake of Judaism.   This obscure instrument is played by placing it in the mouth and flicking a piece of metal.   It gives a funny little percussive sound – you may have heard it in country music.   It’s thought to be one of the oldest instruments in the world.

Top Songs In The Last 60 Years

A fair share of publications have created lists of the best songs in rock history, and to celebrate 60 years in print NME has announced its own list.

So who took the #1 spot: The Beatles? Led Zeppelin? Elvis Presley? Bob Dylan? No, NME chose Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” as their list-topper. #2 is Pulp’s “Common People” and #3 is David Bowie’s “Heroes.”

Quite surprising, perhaps, is that the Fab Four don’t enter the conversation until #15, with “A Day in the Life” and that Elvis Presley didn’t crack the top 20. 

However, The Stone Roses have two entries in the upper echelon.

Check out NME’s Top 20 entries below:

1. Joy Division – “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
2. Pulp – “Common People”
3. David Bowie – “Heroes”
4. The Beach Boys – “Good Vibratons”
5. New Order – “Blue Monday”
6. The Stone Roses – “She Bangs the Drums”
7. The Smiths – “There is a Light That Never Goes Out”
8. The Specials – “Ghost Town”
9. Dizzee Rascal – “Fix Up, Look Sharp”
10. Oasis – “Wonderwall”
11. The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy For the Devil”
12. The Ronettes – “Be My Baby”
13. Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean”
14. Sex Pistols – “God Save the Queen”
15. The Beatles – “A Day in the Life”
16. The Cure – “Boys Don’t Cry”
17. Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone”
18. The Beach Boys – “God Only Knows”
19. Madonna – “Like a Prayer”
20. The Stone Roses – “I am the Resurrection”

Thanks for the report to Bryan Wawzenek, Gibson.com

Interactive T-shirts

I love novelty t-shirts, and nothing is wittier in my eyes than well thought out t-shirt slogan. The problem is, there are loads about these days and its hard to find one that hasn't been done to death.

So you can imagine my delight when i stumbled upon INTERACTIVE T-SHIRTS!!!, now these may have been out for ages and i may just be on the last bus, but i thought i would share the awesomeness that is T-SHIRTS THAT DO STUFF!!

Why have a boring run of the mill upper torso covering when you can shine like a beacon of hope among the lesser folk too afraid to don such a splendid coating of flashy lights, sound or that light up when a wi-fi connection is in range?


The cool folk over at ThinkGeek have got some interactive t-shirts that i am eager to try out, here are some of the cool stuff:



Tony Stark Light

Wi-Fi Network Detector

Noise Activated Equalizer

Electric Guitar

Do you already own an interactive t-shirt? Have you found ones cooler than this? Post a comment and let me know.

The Prequel To Prometheus

Lets face it, the crew of Prometheus were pretty badly trained, they took their helmets off, they touched stuff without knowing what it was, and fatally tried to play coochie coo with their first alien encounter.

You would have thought that for a mega trillion dollar expedition that someone would have given this lot a set of basic rules. Well look no further than this gem, its the prequel to Prometheus to answer that exact question, How were the crew trained?

Prometheus Explained: Unraveling The Unanswered Questions

This is a very interesting read, obviously spoiler riddled, so do not read if you haven't seen Prometheus already.



Prometheus Explained: Unraveling The Unanswered Questions - CinemaBlend.com

Fingerstyle Guitar Practice Update

Spent some time this weekend practicing my fingerstyle guitar some more, check it out and let me know what you think in the comments below. If you like it, share it.

Someone Call The Rozzers - Police Fun

After watching so many Life On Mars episodes, it got me wondering how close these old police shows were to the reality of yesteryear policing. Is Gene Hunt's brutality, backhand dealings, racism and sexism the image of the average policeman from back in the day?

I found this on the tinterweb, even though this show aired four years ago and i didn't see it myself, the review goes like this, which I found interesting:

Even by television's self-referential and indeed self-reverential standards, a TV programme about a TV programme inspired by a TV programme is stretching things a little, and I duly approached The Real Life on Mars with caution, as a police officer in 1973 might have approached an abandoned Aer Lingus rucksack in a London street, or as a Rastafarian in a London street might have approached a police officer in 1973.
As it turned out, my apprehension was groundless. The Real Life on Mars was an intelligent and enlightening documentary about the ways in which cop dramas down the years have reflected, and on occasion influenced, developments in policing. This was the opening salvo in BBC4's new Brit Cop season, and as one of those invited to a working men's club in the East End of London a couple of months ago, and asked to talk coherently in front of a camera about Z Cars and The Sweeney, I suppose I should declare some sort of interest. Not that I spotted myself on last night's programme. Maybe I wasn't coherent enough, or maybe my clunky aperçus have been stored for later in the season.
Most of the talking heads here were retired detectives, wheeled out to offer their thoughts on the authenticity of 1970s policing as interpreted by Life on Mars and before it, The Sweeney. Their views varied. For former Detective Chief Inspector Steve Crimmins, an adviser on Life on Mars, the brutal techniques of the 1970s, not to mention the sexism, racism and homophobia rampant in most police stations at the time, were actually toned down in the form of Philip Glenister's DCI Gene Hunt and his colleagues. Crimmins had an unlikely ally in Paddy Hill, one of the six people wrongfully convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974. Hill's only quibble with Life on Mars was that "it doesn't go far enough in respect of the brutality and the violence".
On the other hand, Bob Thorogood, who served in the Northamptonshire constabulary in the 1970s, reckoned that The Sweeney, which Life on Mars evoked with such unsubtle brilliance, harmed the police immeasurably and was one of the reasons why public respect for the police, pretty watertight at the end of the 1960s, had sprung so many leaks by the start of the 1980s. He insisted that the gun-toting, punch-throwing methods of detectives Regan and Carter in The Sweeney gave people a skewed and damaging view of the police, and even ex-DCI Jackie Malton, the Flying Squad officer who was the model for Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, observed that she never saw her colleagues beating anyone up. Which, I suppose, is not to say that they didn't.
Nobody claimed that prejudices weren't rife in the police force in the 1970s. Maybe they still are, but these days they cannot be so casually expressed. A couple of retired female Metropolitan Police officers recalled how they were initiated into the CID by having their underwear torn down and their bottoms rubber-stamped. Outnumbered by men 25 to 1 in 1975, they couldn't walk up the stairs in the police station but had to use the lift, to prevent male colleagues from looking up their skirts. And David Michael, who in 1972 had been one of only 11 black officers out of 28,000, explained how he simply used to smile whether comments aimed at him were innocuous or offensive, so that nobody could see when he was smarting. Times have changed, but perhaps not as much as we like to congratulate ourselves that they have. Michael assured the programme that the Met is still bedevilled by the Life on Mars mindset, as represented by the Hunt acolyte who on being assigned a black colleague said, "First women, now a coloured, what's going to be next... dwarfs?" - Independant 2008

Strange Justice

In July 1981, a tortoise was sentenced to death for murder. Tribal leaders in an eastern Kenyan village formally condemned the tortoise because they suspected it of causing the deaths of six people by magic. However, because none of the villagers was prepared to face the tortoise's wrath by carrying out the execution, it was chained to a tree instead. The tortoise was later freed after the government promised an inquiry into the six deaths. 

Harmless Fun - Police Are Human Too

Seems a shame these guys got reprimanded for this, assuming they didn't skive the whole afternoon off to do this, just seems like harmless fun to me, nice to see the police with an outward sense of fun, it can't all be serious work all the time.

So that was my fairly random thoughts around police stuff, if you like this post, please leave a comment and share the blog using the links below.

Life On Mars

This weekend we are working through a full re-watch of Life On Mars. Gene Hunt and Sam Tyler do nothing short of being awesome every episode, full of memorable lines and things I never noticed before. I could watch this over and over and always find something new that I hadn't spotted before.

That made me start looking at the Gene's top ten quotes:

1. Hunt: They reckon you've got concussion – but personally, I couldn't give a tart's furry cup if half your brains are falling out. Don't ever waltz into my kingdom playing king of the jungle.

Tyler: Who the hell are you?
Hunt: I'm Gene Hunt. Your DCI. And it's 1973. Nearly dinner time. I'm 'aving hoops

2. Hunt: You're nicked for the murder of Delphine Parks, the rape and attempted murder of Nina Akiboa. Anything you say will be taken down, ripped up and shoved down your scrawny little throat until you've choked to death. Gene Hunt chapter 1 verse 2.

3. Hunt to Alex Drake: Shall we go back to some proper policing? A bit of admin? I need to stamp your arse
Drake: I beg your pardon?
Hunt: It's tradition when the woman joins the Met, skirt up, stamp your bum with the days date and down the pub.

4. Hunt to Alex Drake: Stop moaning. What’s up with you this morning! You haven’t got the decorators in again have we?

5. Suspect: I want a lawyer.Hunt: I want to hump Britt Ekland, what are we gonna do?

6. Hunt: Now is not the time to have a one-night stand with your conscience.

7. Hunt to female police officer: Listen luv, how about you detect me some Garibaldi biscuits to go with this cuppa

8. Hunt: What I call a dream involves Diana Doors and a bottle of chip oil.

9. Hunt: Gene Hunt smashes doors down he does not pick girlie locks.

10. Hunt: Take that seat belt off! You're a police officer, not a bloody vicar.

If you have any Life On Mars or Gene Hunt related goodness to share, please post a comment.

Google Education Wins Again

Let me start by saying that this may be obvious to a lot of people, I am a bit simple when it comes to cars, I am in my early 30's and have only been driving for a little over a year, I know a lot about certain bus routes, bus and train times, how to get a bus pass and have it automatically renewed but car stuff is like witchcraft to me.

Learnt something new today in my quest to 'understand my car', so I thought I would share.

I had a car service earlier in the week and realised that the garage hadn't reset my service indicator, which beeps at me ever time I start the car.

I spoke to the garage today who said they do not have a method of resetting the indicator, as their engine management tool only finds fault codes but doesn't do anything else.

Their recommendation was to go to a larger garage that should be able to do it for me, but he warned me that as with everything there would be a cost attached. Not particularly happy about this outcome I reached out to my search engine friend and tried the first thing it said, which worked a treat.

I should probably add at this stage that Google is not my master and I do not always follow what it says, this is clarification for all those people who still would come out with the line 'if google told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it', to which the obvious answer is of course 'probably, as long as doing so makes the google screen animate in a way that blows my tiny mind'..

So if anyone cares how I did it, here's the science bit:

1. Press and hold the button on the instrument panel next to the fuel gauge.

2. With the button still pressed, turn the ignition key, not to start it, just the first click.

3. A ten second countdown appears on the screen, when this stops (mine stopped at -1) your service indicator will have reset.

This worked for me and apparently also works for Picasso's too.

Thank you Google!!

Fingerstyle Practice

My guitar teacher has recently introduced fingerpicking/fingerstyle guitar into my lessons to add more variety to the usual strum-a-long. There isn't a great deal I can say about it yet as i am still trying to make my fingers work as they should, but once fluidity comes it should start to sound pretty decent.

My biggest issue with it at the moment and is more noticeable when attempting fingerstyle is how scratchy the chord changes sound when i am sliding up a few frets with the same chord shape, i assume i just need to fully lift off from one to another, and make that lift off-move-put down fast enough to keep up with the feel of whatever I am playing? I will ask that this at this weeks lesson and see what he says.

Last week I was shown how to play Charlie Simpson's song Down Down Down, which we played 99% of fingerstyle with the crashing ending strummed out. I have been trying to nail the intro for the last few days, but   practicing time hasn't been available this week, such is life, so it's been a lot of this....

 

In a moment of dreaming this afternoon, i stumbled onto this which made me want to really improve my fingerstyle guitar playing, this guy is awesome!!

My Guitar

I bought a cheapy start up electro acoustic guitar to begin with, one of those bundle sets with the amp, bag, strap etc which has been recently upgraded and has now been destined to attend every camping/holiday I go on.

My new baby is a Yamaha APX500ii which is also electro acoustic, she (thats right... she) sounds beautiful when played acoustically and provides the appropriate whumph when amped up as all ladies should.

She is a shiny sunburst red and looks stunning, if you haven't guessed it yet... I love my new guitar!

Guitar Lessons

Guitar Lessons

So to put you in the loop, I am learning to play guitar, I started off  flicking around on the internet, YouTube and some of the other million sites that show you the basics of guitar chord shapes, basic rhythm and the such like.

I found some real gems along the way such as justinguitar.com who has a great structured free course, practice guidance and dexterity exercises, i highly reccomend donating to his sight or buying some of his stuff just to keep the things he does free. I also found a couple of cool guys on YouTube who broke down some songs and lessons into idiot proof videos that also added to my playing knowledge. I tend to only focus on a couple of YouTube teachers.


First one I came across was Marty Schwartz, he just seems to be a really chilled guy that is rather surprised he made it big on YouTube but his lessons are informative and fun and he is a very cool guitar player, he likes to encourage adding extra embellishments to funk things up which I like, he also does some really easy to learn songs for beginners which I have poured over..does every new guitar player just wanna play a song straight out the box?...."what I've gotta learn chords and stuff and my hands will hurt?????....."Anyway go here to find Marty's Lessons and Marty's Songs. 


My second YouTube teacher is Erich Andreas, I came across this dude whilst looking for songs to play on my Ukulele and he was, and still is, known as yourukesage, he is a really funny guy who talks about guitar  ninjas and knows heaps about playing the uke (more on my uke prowess in a later blog). Anyhoo I found out that Erich also has a heap of videos on YouTube as yourguitarsage and teaches you loads whilst being laugh out loud funny. He he is as YourGuitarSage.

I finally decided that as much as there are some great online teachers out there, I was strugging with it being a one way exercise. The whole process lacked feedback, and there was too much room for bad habits. I then noticed that one of my twitter followers was having an experiment with online tuition via skype which sounded like a cool idea, lessons in my own home in front of a webcam with some actual real guitarist feedback.

we sat and had an initial skype chat for and went through some basics and although the skype idea was a cool concept, and even having super fast internet speeds here, the strumming wasn't clear and the finger placements where not that clear. I decided I needed a local guitar teacher.

After much scouring of the internet for teachers, i ended up on the RGT website, and after popping in my postcode found one close by for a reasonable price who taught acoustic guitar lessons, he is a registered tutor, and used to be a RGT examiner so kinda knows his stuff. There is nothing like face to face tuition for me and it forms one of the best parts of my week.

Find a guitar teacher here

Getting My Blog On

Welcome to my blog, this is the first time I have attempted a blog, so here goes....I hope to be talking about the trials and tribulations of me learning to play the guitar, outings, travel, cool stuff I found, lets see where we end up huh