Grandfather’s Clock Rock Version

The real Rock arrangement version was made by Japanese Guitarist named Sakata.

I couldn’t play exactly like Sakata so I trimmed down and changed several parts of the arrangement into easier note in order for me to play it.

Sakata’s arangements consists of advanced scaling, picking and tapping techniques that currently still out of my reach.

ps : the original song is a very slow song.

Deepening music theory

Deepening music theory

Background
It’s been more than 10 years after I decided to choose guitar as my musical instrument. I’ve been playing intermittently for these years learning by myself without any strong foundation of music theory.

In the past 2 years here in Japan, I’ve done around 10 shows (including guitar solo and with the band). Suddenly I’m not only play for myself but for the audience too, And suddenly I felt that I need to deepen my musical theory comprehension, hence I wrote this article.

Modern Music Scale Modes

To make things simple I will use C major scale as an example, so the note will go like this

c  d  e  f   g  a  b

or

do re mi fa sol la ti

if you remember the basic music class then you will know that the major interval is

w w h w w w h

and the minor is

w h w w h w w

(w is whole step and h is half step)

so here we go

1.Ionian mode A.K.A Major scale
c d e f g a b

2.Dorian mode

d e f g a b c

3.Phrygian mode
e f g a b c d

4.Lydian mode
f g a b c d e

5.Mixolydian mode
g a b c d e f

6.Aeolian mode A.K.A Minor scale
a b c d e f g

7.Locrian mode
b c d e f g a

can you see the pattern here ?

1. c d e f g a b
2. d e f g a b c
3. e f g a b c d
4. f g a b c d e
5. g a b c d e f
6. a b c d e f g
7. b c d e f g a

for the interval it will go like this

1. w w h w w w h
2. w h w w w h w
3. h w w w h w w
4. w w w h w w h
5. w w h w w h w
6. w h w w h w w
7. h w w h w w w

(note that from b to c and e to f are always half step)

now let’s call 1 as 1st degree and so on

interesting observation

1st degree is major scale and 6th degree is minor scale so every major note from 1st degree will resonance with minor note from 6th degree

for example C major will resonance with A minor because A is the 6th degree in C major

c d e f g a b
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

since we know 1st and 6th degree are important, let’s see more, 3rd and 7th degree mode is the only mode that start with half step, so if you combine them together.

1 6 3 7 –> this is the most used verse pattern ever in pop and or rock song

my music teacher once said that you only need to know C F and G to make a song. I finally understand what he want to said because F and G are 4th and 5th degree of C major

I found out that every 4th and 5th degree from a note will make a wonderful chorus chord.

since we know that 1 3 4 5 6 7 are important note. where is the 2nd ? well it turned out that the second degree note of every scale is the most unimportant note.

There is alot more to cover but for now I will end this article at this point.

Mid October entry 10th to 12th

10th October

Got an offering as a guest speaker in halloween party in early November. Last month I got an offering to do some guitar show on other party at December, starting in October suddenly I get so busy ^_^

Had some BBQ party later at night

11th October

Second time as Indonesian language teacher, this time I felt more confidence and could handle and control the class better than last time. Some people expressing that they wanted private lesson too ^_^

12th October

Good bye party for one of my first japanese friend when I got here in Aichi prefecture.  We ate at Italian restaurant

BADAIIIIII

8 oktober 2009

jam 2.40 pagi

terbangun gara2 ada suara2 aneh dekat jendela eh ga taunya suara angin. berhubung uda kebangun akhirnya online deh abis ga bisa tidur juga

3.40 pagi

anginnya makin menggila. padahal ramalannya gedenya kan jam 6 , wah kepagian ni si angin datangnya

5.30 pagi

lampu uda mule tunjukin tanda2 ga bener eh ga lama kemudian beneran mati lampu (yang ternyata 1 desa ini semua mati lampu). untung kemaren laptop gue pasang batere jadi mati lampu masi bisa nyala. padahal ga biasanya gue pasang batere

6.00

pas jam 6 tapi kenapa angin smua berenti. wah gue rasa ternyata uda berakhir.

6.05

5 menit kemudian angin dan hujannya menggila. ini yang terkencang yang perna gue alamin selama di jepang sini. padahal angin biasa jg kuencengnya minta ampun. beneran ramalannya badai kali ini gede, yang tergede dalam 10 tahun terakhir. dan bener ramalannya kalo peaknya jam 6 pagi)

7.15

gara2 jam 5 mati lampu, air ledeng pun ga nyala, kulkas mati, microwave ga bisa pake, lift pun mati. oh iya gue baru sadar tempat tinggal gue keren jg jadi pas mati lampu . langsung emergency lite di seluruh lantai nyala. jadi ga gelap2an.

karena lift mati turun tangga de, mana gue tinggal di lantai paling atas lagi. terus turun ke jalan eh ternyata lampu mera juga mati. wah berarti 1 desa ini smua mati lampu. terus mampir ke stasiun semua kereta berenti total. hmm karena lapar dan ga bisa masak gara2 di tempat gue kan kompornya bukan gas tapi listrik (di jepang walo namanya desa tapi kompornya listrik heheheh, kayaknya se 60% dari rumah di desa ini uda ga pake kompor gas). jadinya mampir ke toko 24 jam deh.

wah toko 24 jam jg mati lampu, kasir ga nyala. mereka pake tulis di kertas gitu untuk itung pembelian. terus barang2 yang ada di kulkas langsung dilarang utk dibeli. jepang emang gelo, gara2 kalo barang yang ada di kulkas ato pendingin gitu gara2 kulkas mati trus takut masa berlakunya jadi habis lebi cepet makanya dia ga brani jual. padahal gue pengen onigirinya grrr.

akhirnya beli roti2 aja. tapi kerennya jepang, walo banyak orang datang antri beli roti dll gitu tapi ga ada yang namanya kalang kabut. kalo di indonesia gue bayangin uda pada rebutan kali ya. disini bener2 teratur sekale.

akhirnya balik ke rumah di tenga jalan gue liat banyak ranting2, bekas2 pepohonan, baliho2 kecil pada berserakan di tengah jalan. hmmm bener2 badai yang keren.

anyway pas sampe rumah telp kantor bilang gue ga bisa pergi akhirnya ambil cuti de 1 hari

mo maen game ga bisa akhirnya ngegitar de. gitar listrik loh hehehe kan efeknya bisa pake batere

8.45 lampu nyala kembali. tapi tanggung lagi maen gitarnya jadi diterusin dulu ampe puas

10.30 skarang ini lagi tulis blog hahahah

Indonesia’s presentation

2nd october 2009

Right after work, I got presentation in town’s library. Well the city’s international exchange group is located in library.

So the promoter picked me up at station and there we went.

In the first part of presentation I presented the good thing about Indonesia. I don’t know but no one seem to find it interesting enough, infact 1 of the participant left and didn’t come back again, probably because my english is bad huh . Yes of course they are some question here and there but overall the atmosphere is somekind awkward.

Well anyway at the second part of the presentation, I beginning to talk about some dark side of Indonesia like it’s corruption and crime rate, and suddenly the participant kicked in with a lot of question and the atmosphere became lively. Not like the first half where I almost think I was talking to the wall.

People say that if you talk the bad after the good then the one that remembered is the bad only. That’s probably true and I feel sorry for it but at least I ended my presentation with good and lively atmosphere =D.

3rd october 2009

went to see optician today but when I arrived it’s crowded and the receptionist told me to came back in afternoon shift which is another 2 hour. so I went back home . There go my 500 yen for nothing (the train’s fee)

2 hour later I went there again. Actually I want to consult the optician about getting the new glasses but the optician said I don’t need one.

4th October 2009

Again in library, this time not the presentation about indonesia but instead it’s about teaching basic indonesian language. I was told that the participant has almost zero knowledge about indonesian language so I just prepared some basic stuff like greetings and how to pronounce indonesian alphabet.

But to my surprise is like 40% of the participant actually possesed a good indonesian basic already so it’s kinda hard for me to divide which to topic to cover because I don’t want the participant that has zero knowledge feel alienated. well I will cover the class for 3 times. so 2 more next

addicted to cs again

I have been addicted to play counter strike online recently so I don’t even have time to update this blog .

I have always been addicted to cs while I was in Indonesia. Since I came here I stopped playing it until recently I found out that Korean game distributor make CS available in Japanese server so I thought to give it a try. Alas I become addicted again.

My activity since last entry

• Watching Domannaka Matsuri in nagoya
• Went into several small events in Okazaki
• Get myself a new cellphone (it’s CA830). The cellphone is the low end of casio cellphone so at first I didn’t expect much but I was so surprised that it could easily beat a lot of higher end series. So I’m so satisfied with my choice.
• went to immigration office to get my re-entry permit because I want to go back to jakarta at december

Soon it will be october and in october I’ll be quite busy with these activities

• Presenting about Indonesia at local event
• Teaching basic Indonesian language at local event
• Company’s Annual meeting
• Company’s new examination

konser with band

Senin 24 Agustus

Hari ini manggung ke 3 kali tahun ini dengan band kantor. Dan pertama kalinya gue join dengan gitar listrik baru gue. akhirnya minimal gue bisa maen sedikit lead kale ini.

well mungkin ini manggung terakhir kali ama mereka soalnya jadwal manggung berikutnya pas akhir taun dan kalo gue jadi balik jkt gue ga bakal manggung ama mereka.

lumayan nekat pas manggung hari ini, pasalnya gue baru latian dan mikirin mo maenin nada apa pas hari sabtu dan latian cuma 2 jam untuk 3 lagu. terus hari ini langsung manggung beneran. tapi untungnya ga sejelek dugaan terjelek gue tapi ga sebagus dugaan terbagus gue juga hehehe.

berikutnya manggung hari minggu. tinggal bbrp hari ini. kali ini konser tunggal kalo yang hari minggu. tapi kalo gue ga siap bisa dicancel seh. well liat aja de mood gue segimana nanti.

oh iya pas pulang hari ini deket stasiun keknya ketemu orang terkenal tapi gue ga kenal. soalnya banyak nenek2 minta difoto bareng ama dia. brarti tu co terkenal di kalangan nenek2.

sibuk sibuk

jarang2 ni sibuk bisa ampe 4 hari berturut2. tapi seperti biasa ga ada hub ama kantor. well ada se hub ama kantor tapi ga ada hub ama kerjaan sama sekale

Jumat 21 Agustus

• acara nomikai ama temen2 kantor. berhubung gue ga bisa minum alkohol jadi gue cuma banyak makan doang. untungnya terakhir2nya gue ga usa bayar sebanyak mereka2 yang pada minum ^_^, balik2 ruma uda tengah malam

Sabtu 22 Agustus

• Laptop gue biarin nyala pas bobo terus tiba2 ada bunyi aneh2 tapi pas liat layar ga da apa2. dibiarin bbrp jam kemudian ada bunyi lagi wah2 ada apa ne hmmm. sepertinya kena overheat laptopnya. jadi harus hati2 ni
• pagi2 bangun latian lagu buat live hari senin. gilaaa live hari senin tapi baru latian hari sabtu. baru mulai lagi. ada 3 lagu. sebenernya kalo cuma asal maen chord se bisa2 aja tapi kan gue uda beli gitar baru. elektrik pula. mo cobain di stage maen lead dong sekale2 . jadinya abisin 2 jam pagi2 buat mikirin mo metik nada apa.
• berangkat bantu2 siapin stage
• rehearsal di stage(rada kaco se gue. wong nadanya baru dipikirin bbrp jam lalu >.<)
• balik ke ruma uda jam 7, istirahat bentar terus ke seiyu buat blanja sayur. biasanya ke domy seh tapi entah kenapa hari ini mo ke seiyu

Minggu 23 Agustus

• pagi2 latian bentar kira2 30menit buat ingetin nada yang dimaenin kemaren. soalnya tampil perform livenya besok neh.
• jam 10-an berangkat ke rumah temen orang cina. tujuannya buat nitip parkir sepeda se. kan mo ke travel agent. tapi di travel agent tempat gue mo pergi ga ada tempat parkir dan letaknya itu di daerah strict, jadi kalo ada sepeda diparkir sembarangan langsung kena stiker patroli.
• makan siang ama temen itu terus pas gue bilang mo ke travel agent neh. titip sepeda ya. eh dia jg tertarik jadi ikut de.
• ke travel agent tanya2 tiket balik jkt, ternyata harganya blon kluar tapi seat bole dibooking. katanya kalo seat ga booking skarang ga bakal dapat nanti. jadi gue booking seat tanpa tau harga. tapi gpp katanya soalnya cancel pun ga kena charge kan gue bener2 early bird.
• misah ama temen cina soalnya dia mo ke belanja sayur terus gue ke temple deket okazaki castle
• pas gue ke tokyo, tepatnya chiba daerah shibamata, ga terima ah pas omikuji dapatnya (kyou) yang peringkat fortunenya paling jelek no 2, jadinya kali ini  ke jinja(shrine) yang deket okazaki castle dan kali ini dapatnya (shoukichi) alias paling beruntung no 3 dari atas. lumayan de ^_^
• ke library kasi oleh2 buat staff2 sono yang uda bae ke gue selama ini. terus sekalian mo urusin bbrp hal jg. bbrp hal itu kalo ditulis jadi panjang jadi skip aja deh.
• pas balik mo beli external speaker jadi mampir eiden (comtown). tadinya mo ke k’s denki tapi pas ditenga jalan inget di daera sekitar ada comtown jadinya mampir sono dulu.
• pas di comtown liat ada travel agent dan toko hp jg jadinya mala ga gitu cari speaker (tapi cari jg se dikit) mala abisin waktu banyak di travel agent dan toko hp. terus pas mo balik eh sempet liat toko baju murah jadi mampir juga. hari ini mampir lama di comtown tapi ga beli apa2. well anyway enak cuci matanya dapat liat barang2 bagus dan murah. next time beli ah.
• ke k’s denki tapi di tengah jalan keingat lagi ada toko barang bekas jadi mampir dulu kesono.
• akhirnya bener2 ke k’s denki. pas mo beli speaker liat ada toko baju lagi sale soalnya mo penutupan jadi mampir lagi. seperti biasa gue cuma mampir dan ga beli apa2.  lumayan hari ini banyak mampir toko.
• akhirnya sampe jg di k’s denki terus beli de external speaker yang gue cari. tapi akhirnya gue putisin belinya passive type. ga tau bakal nyesel ga ya ga beli yang active type. sebenernya ada se model yang support passive dan active type tapi gue ga suka bentuknya.
• balik ke rumah da jam 7 lwat , masak dinner, makan.
• update ini blog

besok 24 agustus bakal live setelah jam kantor. jadi kalo diitung dari jumat jadwal gue bener2 padat banget utk kegiatan non kerja dan diluar rumah. livenya bakal pake baju baru yang dibeli khusus buat ngeband nih. pake kaos obama yang tulisannya “yes we can”.

well semoga gue ga gitu messed up banget deh.

btw baru tau hari ini juga kalo gue ada kesempatan manggung lagi hari sabtu tgl 30 agustus. tapi kali ini solo performance, dan ga ada hubungan ama band yang skarang. jadinya hari ini pergi beli external speaker buat background music utk gitar electric gue. hmmm mana lagu yang mo gue maenin blon latian 1 kali pun lagi. besok live ampe malam. jadi waktu buat latian cuma 4 hari dan itu pun kalo tiap hari. mana 1 hari max waktu maen gitar paling cuma 2 jam lagi. ga tau de tgl 30 bisa manggung ato engga. tapi dipikir2 mo manggung besok aja baru latiannya kemaren 1 kali doang.

summer holiday 2009

Di jepang sini lagi summer holiday, well kebanyakan dari tanggal 12 agustus sampe 14 agustus. Nah berhubung paspor gue juga bakal abis pas akhir taun, jadi rencananya sekalian ke kbri di tokyo untuk urus paspor dan jalan2 kunjungin teman2.

tanggal 10 dan 11 sebenernya ga libur jadi gue ambil cuti di 2 hari itu. jadi libur summer gue taun ini diitung2 (termasuk hari sabtu dan minggu) itu dari tanggal 8 sampe 16 agustus.

8 Agustus

• packing siap2 pergi ke tokyo pake bus malam

9 Agustus

• sampe tokyo station sekitar jam 5.45 pagi
• liat2 tokyo station terus pergi ke chiba di tempat kenalan yang daerah nishi funabashi
• makan pagi di McD dan ketemu kenalan di tempat gue bakal nginep
• bareng2 jalan2 pergi ke shibamata (disini ada 2 hal menarik, but ceritanya di laen kesempatan aja)
• trus balik nah malam2 pas sendirian di kamar jam 8-an gitu tiba2 gempa lumayan gede

10 Agustus

• pagi2 hujan dan angin besar, tapi tetep tegar jalan menuju KBRI buat urus perpanjang paspor
• balik ke chiba packing barang buat pindah ke tempat temen lagi di shinjuku
• pindah ke shinjuku malam2

11 Agustus

• lagi bobo jam 5 tiba2 gempa. berhubung kali ini tempat tinggal nya di lantai 15, bener2 parah banget kerasa gempanya.
• ke odaiba liat gundam 1/1 yeeey
• sore2nya jalan ke pusat gitar terbesar jepang di ochanomizu

12 Agustus

• ketemu temen jalan ke ibaraki ken kunjungin temen

13 Agustus

• pagi2 gempa lagi boooo
• ke akihabara ketemu temen lagi
• balik ke KBRI ambil paspor
• malamnya ke shinjuku obervatorium
• terus balik ke okazaki pake bus

14 Agustus

• sampe okazaki hampir jam  5 pagi
• tadinya diajak temen ke outlet (tempat jual baju murah) tapi badan lagi cape jadinya ga pergi
• sore2nya buang2 1/3 dari baju2 yang uda ga bisa pake soalnya kegedean

15 Agustus

• tadinya diajakin nonton konser tapi ga ada kabar kelanjutan jadinya pergi camping ama temen laen lagi
• nari2 keliling fire camp
• bbq

16 Agustus

• ini lagi tulis blog ini, ga tau abis ini mo ngapain ya

foto2 perjalanan di tokyo bisa diliat di SINI

Holy Orders Overture

Holy Orders – Guilty Gear 2 Overture version.

Heavy Metal Symphony Orchestra Version