So on Friday I had my first ever music lesson, I've never before had a teacher. It was interesting how I could understand him and how much effort I put into it, I has always been the guy in back of the classroom surfing on stupid websites instead of listening to the teacher. I do believe that I have found my path!
I am impressed with my drum teacher, he had a very good teaching style and was very positive and encouraging. I've been playing drums a lot lately and I really enjoy it. Although the bass suffers a little more than it should.
all in all, good.
PS. My blogging feels really lame.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The meetings and the greetings.
If you have an attitude, a drive, a flame in you good things will happen!
with attitude I'm not saying that you should kick some ones teeth in, I mean that you should be confident in yourself and be self-loving. A positive view on life will change you forever.
I've been on the other side, negative and I just didn't care about anything. I spun that around and life started giving me things, it was a battle to go from "everything sucks!" to "everything is great" BUT the rewards of a little thing like changing your attitude has given me so much. Lately I found my goal, i want to become a teacher, and with my new attitude and my goal I find a drive, a flame inside of me that wont falter. Now things are really starting to go my way because I have decided that nothing is going to stop me.
A great example of life giving you things happened to me today. I asked this guy who I dont really know that well who is a drummer if he wanted to give me a lesson, He kindly said yes. By chance I jammed with him today and he had a bass with him, so i said: "hey man, if you give me drumming lessons I give you bass lessons" and so i got a new student and a new teacher at the same time. We had a great jam, lots of fun with funk and other stuff. Hopefully we're gonna start a funk band soon!
LIFE IS GOOD.
with attitude I'm not saying that you should kick some ones teeth in, I mean that you should be confident in yourself and be self-loving. A positive view on life will change you forever.
I've been on the other side, negative and I just didn't care about anything. I spun that around and life started giving me things, it was a battle to go from "everything sucks!" to "everything is great" BUT the rewards of a little thing like changing your attitude has given me so much. Lately I found my goal, i want to become a teacher, and with my new attitude and my goal I find a drive, a flame inside of me that wont falter. Now things are really starting to go my way because I have decided that nothing is going to stop me.
A great example of life giving you things happened to me today. I asked this guy who I dont really know that well who is a drummer if he wanted to give me a lesson, He kindly said yes. By chance I jammed with him today and he had a bass with him, so i said: "hey man, if you give me drumming lessons I give you bass lessons" and so i got a new student and a new teacher at the same time. We had a great jam, lots of fun with funk and other stuff. Hopefully we're gonna start a funk band soon!
LIFE IS GOOD.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Its been a while!
Hello kids, i bet you've missed me!
A lot has happened over the few weeks so i have not had much time to write, Sadly. Im going to try to become better at this now.
Im also partial to switching the blog into swedish instead. I dont know why but it feels like it would have a more serious look then.
People have often told me "never write in any language then your own" I might not be great with English but, im even worse with swedish! Im having trouble finding a flow in the text to make it feel personal.
Anywayyy...
The News:
Musikteori.se is going reaaally slowly. im stuck at chap 7. The reason for this is that I've decided to start school. Although, to get the loans i need to study some subjects before hand. That causes a problem, I'm currently living on "wellfare" or "soc" as we call it. Its not glamorous but I get by. In order to successfully finish my "pre-studies" and get the loans I'm gonna have to study a whole lot, but if i do that I might lose my soc. My study counsellor fixed me up to get "praktik" a sort of try-out job with this music teacher at one of the bigger schools here in Sundsvall, for three days only. If I manage to fix everything so that i can go with this guy 50% of the time and study the remaining 50% soc is still going to give me money. This is a far off hope though, its seems a little to good to actually be happening.
I've decided that i want to teach music, For the first time in my life i have an actual goal. It gives me a driving force to study.
It feels really, really good. Although, after being with Fredrik from school today I've started to feel like it might be to hard, I might not be able to make it. That the time wont be enough, That Im just not good enough. These are dangerous thoughts because i feel that saying your not gonna make it is the first step towards failing. I need to get myself together in order to make this happen. I've got a lot of support from my friends, parts of my family doesn't seem to be on the same page though, that messes with me.
Pale had a gig in the south of Sweden, 9 hour car ride, i drove all the way there and all the way home, Bassist as i am. (Bassist is music terms for "Driver") It went fairly well, I did not perform my best, not even close but over all it went quite good. Staffans guitar went out off tune on the last song, but hey watchagonnado!? We'll be posting a vblog sometime soon.. hopefully.
I've played drums a couple of times, my body is starting to get adjusted. Still Im having trouble finding the 1 in each beat. I have to practice that. oh, i wish i was 14 again! I've also realised that I have to practice WAY WAY WAY more bass, and also give the guitar a real crack!
I was given a soild guitar bridge today, so now im finally going to be able to get my guitar together. I ripped the floyd rose bridge from it the other week in pure frustration.
Thats all for now! Take care kids.
A lot has happened over the few weeks so i have not had much time to write, Sadly. Im going to try to become better at this now.
Im also partial to switching the blog into swedish instead. I dont know why but it feels like it would have a more serious look then.
People have often told me "never write in any language then your own" I might not be great with English but, im even worse with swedish! Im having trouble finding a flow in the text to make it feel personal.
Anywayyy...
The News:
Musikteori.se is going reaaally slowly. im stuck at chap 7. The reason for this is that I've decided to start school. Although, to get the loans i need to study some subjects before hand. That causes a problem, I'm currently living on "wellfare" or "soc" as we call it. Its not glamorous but I get by. In order to successfully finish my "pre-studies" and get the loans I'm gonna have to study a whole lot, but if i do that I might lose my soc. My study counsellor fixed me up to get "praktik" a sort of try-out job with this music teacher at one of the bigger schools here in Sundsvall, for three days only. If I manage to fix everything so that i can go with this guy 50% of the time and study the remaining 50% soc is still going to give me money. This is a far off hope though, its seems a little to good to actually be happening.
I've decided that i want to teach music, For the first time in my life i have an actual goal. It gives me a driving force to study.
It feels really, really good. Although, after being with Fredrik from school today I've started to feel like it might be to hard, I might not be able to make it. That the time wont be enough, That Im just not good enough. These are dangerous thoughts because i feel that saying your not gonna make it is the first step towards failing. I need to get myself together in order to make this happen. I've got a lot of support from my friends, parts of my family doesn't seem to be on the same page though, that messes with me.
Pale had a gig in the south of Sweden, 9 hour car ride, i drove all the way there and all the way home, Bassist as i am. (Bassist is music terms for "Driver") It went fairly well, I did not perform my best, not even close but over all it went quite good. Staffans guitar went out off tune on the last song, but hey watchagonnado!? We'll be posting a vblog sometime soon.. hopefully.
I've played drums a couple of times, my body is starting to get adjusted. Still Im having trouble finding the 1 in each beat. I have to practice that. oh, i wish i was 14 again! I've also realised that I have to practice WAY WAY WAY more bass, and also give the guitar a real crack!
I was given a soild guitar bridge today, so now im finally going to be able to get my guitar together. I ripped the floyd rose bridge from it the other week in pure frustration.
Thats all for now! Take care kids.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Lögdö Music Expo
This weekend i was at Lögdö Music Expo, A great event with lots of people in the music business holding seminaries about what they do for a living and discuss how to make your music into your living. At night there where live performances from local bands.
One thing that i really took with me was when i record label guy told us "I never listen to more then 10 sec of the songs on demos that we get" I wanted to try this, so what i did when came home was to open up Spotify and listen for 15 sec (10 sec is too short.) of all the songs in the top lists. I copied every song that i liked after 15 sec into this playlist:
http://open.spotify.com/user/frejtlejs/playlist/7wQi7l9d4RWtotkSrxbFqU
Its all good songs! they really are pop-hits, or at-least mainstream hits. This bothers me a bit, the man told us that he never gave it more then 10 sec. Which means that the music i listen to should never have been picked up at a label, cuz it usually takes more then a few listenings to get the idea and start liking it. anyway.....
Chapters 4 and 5 are done. Chapter 4 I managed to score a VG+ (18/20) and 5 i got MVG (19/20)
Its been stressful to do two chapters in a week and I fear that I will forget everything much sooner this way. Next week I'll have to do two more chapters to come up to speed. hopefully it will go well and I wont forget to much. I noticed that there is a Quiz for all chapters, thats really nice, It can act as my final exam.
I recovered a book from my parents storage today, "Bass Guitar for Dummies" I'm going to try and use it when I teach. not figured out in what way yet thou. More on that later.
Cheers!
One thing that i really took with me was when i record label guy told us "I never listen to more then 10 sec of the songs on demos that we get" I wanted to try this, so what i did when came home was to open up Spotify and listen for 15 sec (10 sec is too short.) of all the songs in the top lists. I copied every song that i liked after 15 sec into this playlist:
http://open.spotify.com/user/frejtlejs/playlist/7wQi7l9d4RWtotkSrxbFqU
Its all good songs! they really are pop-hits, or at-least mainstream hits. This bothers me a bit, the man told us that he never gave it more then 10 sec. Which means that the music i listen to should never have been picked up at a label, cuz it usually takes more then a few listenings to get the idea and start liking it. anyway.....
Chapters 4 and 5 are done. Chapter 4 I managed to score a VG+ (18/20) and 5 i got MVG (19/20)
Its been stressful to do two chapters in a week and I fear that I will forget everything much sooner this way. Next week I'll have to do two more chapters to come up to speed. hopefully it will go well and I wont forget to much. I noticed that there is a Quiz for all chapters, thats really nice, It can act as my final exam.
I recovered a book from my parents storage today, "Bass Guitar for Dummies" I'm going to try and use it when I teach. not figured out in what way yet thou. More on that later.
Cheers!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Between angels and insects.
So, my proud student wants to learn Between angels and insects by Papa Roach. its a cool song! not really great for a first song but, he needs to know it for his band situation so I started to learn it, so i could help him with it. I've learned the first four bars of the solo now and Im really starting to like Papa Roach, funny how music gets better when you can play along with it!
The music theory goes kind of well too, Im having some problems with what we call "kvint cirkeln" in swedish, i dont know the english term for it, (more homework!) All in all a good week for music!
Cheers.
The music theory goes kind of well too, Im having some problems with what we call "kvint cirkeln" in swedish, i dont know the english term for it, (more homework!) All in all a good week for music!
Cheers.
Monday, September 20, 2010
First lesson as a bass teacher held.
Today I tried my wings as a teacher for the first time.
Oh, I was not prepared enough! I talked a lot about myself and my life. It's good as an introduction I guess. The lessons are one on one and the student is a friend of mine. We also talked about the different parts of the bass, discussed some finger exercises and slapping. He has to lern a few songs for his band, so next time we're gonna takle that. All in all I'm fairly pleased with my first lesson, although I know that I have quite a large mountain to climb.
Also I'm now three chapters behind on musikteori.se so I have to study hard this week in order to catch up.
Pale has started the pre-production on our up coming EP. I'm not as involved in the creative procses as I would like but, I'm learning a great deal.
/cheers!
Oh, I was not prepared enough! I talked a lot about myself and my life. It's good as an introduction I guess. The lessons are one on one and the student is a friend of mine. We also talked about the different parts of the bass, discussed some finger exercises and slapping. He has to lern a few songs for his band, so next time we're gonna takle that. All in all I'm fairly pleased with my first lesson, although I know that I have quite a large mountain to climb.
Also I'm now three chapters behind on musikteori.se so I have to study hard this week in order to catch up.
Pale has started the pre-production on our up coming EP. I'm not as involved in the creative procses as I would like but, I'm learning a great deal.
/cheers!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
soooo lazy...
I've done nothing since the first of September.. so i have to cover two chapter this week, i read trough them both and did the quizes today, MVG on both. 19/20 and 18/20.
ive learned that a Major scale are built up in two whole steps then a half step followed by three whole steps and finally a half. example: F G A Bb C D E F. im very pleased with that. It takes me forever to figure out which notes goes in a scale thou, Practice makes perfect.
ive learned that a Major scale are built up in two whole steps then a half step followed by three whole steps and finally a half. example: F G A Bb C D E F. im very pleased with that. It takes me forever to figure out which notes goes in a scale thou, Practice makes perfect.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Stopped smoking
Today at 15:30 i stopped smoking.
it have not affected my musical talent I'm happy to say. Chapter 3 MVG 20/20.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Scattered thoughts.
Its been an interesting day today. I've gotten some aid in my job-hunting and recorded some pre-production stuff for Pale.
Recently I discovered that Tommy Emmanuel has been added to the Spotify library (http://open.spotify.com/user/frejtlejs/playlist/4sBjF8fWQMYOHbuT9Rp6If)
Tommy made me think, People that are determined and got the right attitude seems to be able to anything. I've know this for a while, thats why I start projects like this one.
I start off determined, filled with joy and hoping for glory every time. Although..
I always seem to stray off the path, find something else to occupy my mind with, never finishing what i started. Now, why is this?
I cant really put my finger on the issue here, somewhere in the back of my head it echos "insecurity." I refuse to accept that thou, this project will be finished.
I'm sticking to the schedule, here I go, Chapter 3. (3:12 am)
Recently I discovered that Tommy Emmanuel has been added to the Spotify library (http://open.spotify.com/user/frejtlejs/playlist/4sBjF8fWQMYOHbuT9Rp6If)
Tommy made me think, People that are determined and got the right attitude seems to be able to anything. I've know this for a while, thats why I start projects like this one.
I start off determined, filled with joy and hoping for glory every time. Although..
I always seem to stray off the path, find something else to occupy my mind with, never finishing what i started. Now, why is this?
I cant really put my finger on the issue here, somewhere in the back of my head it echos "insecurity." I refuse to accept that thou, this project will be finished.
I'm sticking to the schedule, here I go, Chapter 3. (3:12 am)
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Oh.. I forgot.
I did the Quiz for real on sunday night for chapter 1, 19/20 MVG. Im very pleased with myself.
Chapter 2
19/20 MVG. Yea baby! The second week is going well theory-wise. Much, much worse on the practical side. i havent played one single second. I just cant find the time to play. What I mean with that I dont take the time to play. I really should. I need to find a sulotion.
Friday, August 20, 2010
VG...
I usually read the chapter before I do the quiz. This morning I did'nt, I woke up and just did the quiz. missed 4 questions. With two days to go thats not good.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Backbeat killing me...
chapter 1 done again, full score. I think I got it now!
played 1 hour of bass, practicing 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and, also 1 e an a 2... etc. Im going to stick with the backbeat for a while (is it actually called backbeat?) cuz i really need to practice it!
all in all a good day for music. =)
played 1 hour of bass, practicing 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and, also 1 e an a 2... etc. Im going to stick with the backbeat for a while (is it actually called backbeat?) cuz i really need to practice it!
all in all a good day for music. =)
More more more!!
The first week is slowly facing its end and i feel quite good from what ive acomplished. althou i havent played as much as i wanted i still have played alot more then i did last week. Next week i'll hopefully play even more!
I've once again scored full marks on the first chapter of musikteori.se and i cant wait to get started with the next one!
18th of august: Bass - 40 min.
I didnt manage do get trough the whole of Victor Wootens - Groove Workshop but i saw half of it, marked my place and going to pick it up again next week.
They talked about the duration of notes and showed an exerice where you played a scale, any scale, the first note long the second one short. Then the first two long and every third short. I tried this yesterday and amazingly it lead me to write a new song, a beggining of it anyway.
I've always wanted to write a song for Pale (www.myspace.com/paletheband for you who dont know, i play bass in Pale.) but i never come up with something good in the right grene. Lately thou I've started to find some cool grooves, that sound alittle bit like stonerrock merging with RATM to me. Should i peruse this songwriting or should I just try harder to write songs for Pale? I just dont know.
this weekend Im not going to be able to play, I'll make it up next week.
Song of the day: http://open.spotify.com/track/6JNSQ5afRdRapZke67IkM8
I've once again scored full marks on the first chapter of musikteori.se and i cant wait to get started with the next one!
18th of august: Bass - 40 min.
I didnt manage do get trough the whole of Victor Wootens - Groove Workshop but i saw half of it, marked my place and going to pick it up again next week.
They talked about the duration of notes and showed an exerice where you played a scale, any scale, the first note long the second one short. Then the first two long and every third short. I tried this yesterday and amazingly it lead me to write a new song, a beggining of it anyway.
I've always wanted to write a song for Pale (www.myspace.com/paletheband for you who dont know, i play bass in Pale.) but i never come up with something good in the right grene. Lately thou I've started to find some cool grooves, that sound alittle bit like stonerrock merging with RATM to me. Should i peruse this songwriting or should I just try harder to write songs for Pale? I just dont know.
this weekend Im not going to be able to play, I'll make it up next week.
Song of the day: http://open.spotify.com/track/6JNSQ5afRdRapZke67IkM8
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Victor Wooten - Groove workshop.
This is the best video i have ever seen about bass playing, its so good that I think that everybody who plays music should watch it. It makes me want to play, to learn and actually above all: Listen.
So i've been watching about half of it now and i guess i should count this in with my "time with the instrument a day" time. its like 3 hours long! crazy. interesting form start to finish.
One thing that i took from it the last time was this list:
1. Notes
2. Articulation / Duration
3. Technique
4. Emotions / Feel
5. Dynamics
6. Tone
7. Rhythm / tempo
8. Phrasing
9. Space
10. Listening
This give me a list of things that i can practice. Although I'm going to focus on the musikteori.se until that is finished. Its good to keep in mind thou.
Good quotes from "Groove Workshop."
“Your never more then a half-step away from a right note”
“Music is a language.”
“The music tells you everything.”
“if you have to search for the root, groove while your finding it.”
“listening is the most important part of music”
“Chasing notes”
“Breath with your notes”
"Play music, not techniques"
"People want to feel music"
If someone had shown me this video 10 years ago when i first started playing it would have made my whole life so much brighter. When i started playing i was afraid of everything that had something to do with music, because i didn't know anything about anything. i still feel the same way about almost everything new i try. If i could leave one advice to anyone who'd listen it would be: Dont be afraid, take space, listen, learn and have fun.
So i've been watching about half of it now and i guess i should count this in with my "time with the instrument a day" time. its like 3 hours long! crazy. interesting form start to finish.
One thing that i took from it the last time was this list:
1. Notes
2. Articulation / Duration
3. Technique
4. Emotions / Feel
5. Dynamics
6. Tone
7. Rhythm / tempo
8. Phrasing
9. Space
10. Listening
This give me a list of things that i can practice. Although I'm going to focus on the musikteori.se until that is finished. Its good to keep in mind thou.
Good quotes from "Groove Workshop."
“Your never more then a half-step away from a right note”
“Music is a language.”
“The music tells you everything.”
“if you have to search for the root, groove while your finding it.”
“listening is the most important part of music”
“Chasing notes”
“Breath with your notes”
"Play music, not techniques"
"People want to feel music"
If someone had shown me this video 10 years ago when i first started playing it would have made my whole life so much brighter. When i started playing i was afraid of everything that had something to do with music, because i didn't know anything about anything. i still feel the same way about almost everything new i try. If i could leave one advice to anyone who'd listen it would be: Dont be afraid, take space, listen, learn and have fun.
Monday, August 16, 2010
15 Minutes of bass.
A quick session playing bass lines from a couple of new pale songs. 15 minutes played. 45 to go.
www.myspace.com/paletheband
www.myspace.com/paletheband
MVG!
I did the first chapter of musikteori.se again today, got full score! MVG!
now that's a good way to start the day.
I have to get at least an hour of bass playing too and then I'm set!
now that's a good way to start the day.
I have to get at least an hour of bass playing too and then I'm set!
So, once again, I begin.
Tonight i had an idea, I'm going to track my progress in music. try to collect as many hours of playing as possible and also I've found this: www.musikteori.se this is a Swedish site which claims to be a perfect "online-schoolbook" for Swedish students on the most basic level. Its contains chapters, 1 - 10 and a quiz at the end of every chapter.
I've set up a schedule to complete one of these chapters a week. trying to get the maximum score on each one. The scores are set in G VG and MVG, its the same as Swedish schools use. it also show how many wrongs/rights you've gotten. 0-20 if i remember correctly.
Minutes played today:
Drums - 20 min.
Guitar - 40 min.
I just did Chapter one from musikteori.se and got VG+ (18/20) I'm going to do this once a day until Sunday.
When I start projects like this i usually stray off the path and never finish. Lets hope this time is different. You're welcome to follow me on the way. (and correct my grammar and spelling i bet ;))
Cheers!
I've set up a schedule to complete one of these chapters a week. trying to get the maximum score on each one. The scores are set in G VG and MVG, its the same as Swedish schools use. it also show how many wrongs/rights you've gotten. 0-20 if i remember correctly.
Minutes played today:
Drums - 20 min.
Guitar - 40 min.
I just did Chapter one from musikteori.se and got VG+ (18/20) I'm going to do this once a day until Sunday.
When I start projects like this i usually stray off the path and never finish. Lets hope this time is different. You're welcome to follow me on the way. (and correct my grammar and spelling i bet ;))
Cheers!
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