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