Improv Track: "Alaska"

This was recorded on the spot in my friends (Tyler Aucoin) room. Let me know what you think!

Jake.

My Recent Vinyl Finds!

It's been a really long time since I've posted on here, and that's going to stop. I have been writing non stop, and now my thoughts need to hit this very neglected blog! Also, for the past few months I've been spending my Sunday mornings at the "Dudley Doo Right Flea Market" in my town of Dudley. It's a very interesting place, packed with vintage goodies. It has everything from World War 2 memorabilia to vintage toys to $2 DVDs etc etc. But the main thing I was focused on everytime I do to the flea market, is picking up incredibly old records. Lately I've been striking gold with such albums by "Weather Report", "Stanley Clarke", "Chick Corea", "Al Di Meola", and many many more. Last weekend, I hit the mother load of pure jazz-fusion and rock gold. The vinyls I ended up finding were:

Chick Corea - "The Mad Hatter"

Stanley Clarke - "Journey To Love" and "Modern Man"

Rush - "Fly By Night"

Al Di Meola - "Cielo e Terra"

and last but not least, my favorite out of last Sundays finds: Weather Report - "Heavy Weather"

And all I spent was just $11. Not bad! These albums are truly incredible, and I can't believe I found them right here in my own town. Truly amazing.

I'll be posting many upcoming Music/Movie/Art purchases, so please, Stay Tuned!

Jake.

"In a relationship with: Music"

I really wish I can be in a relationship with Music on facebook, it would just make so much sense. I'm constantly playing listening and playing music, and I'm literally surrounded by tunes 24/7. At Work, the Gym, at Home, in my Sleep, I always hear music. Although I am doomed to be single until I find the right girl, I still have Music by my side to keep me happy and sane. Trust me, I get lonely from time to time, thinking how awesome it would be to be with some great chick, cuddling on the couch and watching a movie, but I forget all about being lonely when I pick up my bass, or when I put pandora, or a CD on. Music has always been there for me (well besides my friends and family), and Music will never tell me that I'm boring, or my taste in movies or music sucks. Music will also never lie or cheat on me, or tell me I'm worthless. I do love having the company of a woman but whenever they leave... Music is there.

I don't mean to get all gooey on you. I just felt like writing down my thoughts.

Jake Ryan.

Conflicting with my Self.

My life is at a stand still at the moment. I've quit my band, as much as I didn't want to, to save money. Still looking for a job, had a couple interviews but nothing definite yet. Losing my interest in going back to school, but that's probably the best option. Slowly losing my mind as I spend most days sitting in my dark room listening to slow jazz and some jazz fusion. I haven't touched my bass in weeks, it's been sitting in it's gig bag since then. Ever since I quit Naegleria my ex-band members haven't talked to me since, and it's a shame that I had to lose those guys as friends. They may dislike me but I don't dislike them, I wish the best for Naegleria.

Ever since I quit I'm afraid of losing my interest in music. I've been really un-motivated to even play my bass lately, and I've been turned off my Death Metal (still a few bands I'll never stop enjoying). I've always said that music is my life but what's the point when nothing in my life is going well at all. The band was the only thing that truly made me happy and now its gone. I'm a broke, jobless, high-school grad and life is shitting me. Some days I can wake up happy and take life by the balls, take the bus apply to jobs all around Dudley, Oxford, Auburn, and call up those places several times each and get nothing... it's really hard. I feel like a loser cause I live with my grandparents, and I don't pay for anything. Back when I had a job I payed my bills, and had a little extra to have fun once in awhile, but that's gone.

If I could just work full time, be able to pay my bills, get a car, and then eventually get my own place with a friend and take night classes... I'd be the happiest person alive. This is where I slap my self and tell myself to stop being a mopey little bitch, but that could change tomorrow, and the next day. I'll never stop conflicting with myself about life, it's always on my mind.

WELP, I need to get back on Job Quest (if it actually works this time) and keep looking for jobs. Until next time.

Jacob Ryan.

MP: Mark King

Mark Friggin' King, the mastermind behind the band Level 42.

Mr. King was a true pioneer in the slap/pop style, especially adding the style to pop music in the 80's. At the age of 19 he moved to London and ended up forming Level 42 (as a drummer) with Mike Lindup, and brothers Phil and Rowland Charles Gould in 1979. Mark then switched to the bass guitar cause he felt that Phil was a way better drummer than he was, and when the band started, Phil already had a kit, and Mark didn't. Also, at the music shop that Mark worked at, they didn't sell drum kits, so he had no way of practicing in the mean time. Nevertheless King's natural rhythmic intuition probably contributed to his distinctive bass playing style, along with the popularity of jazz funk in Britain at the time.

"At one of their first gigs, at the La Babalu club in Ryde, Level 42 were spotted by Andy Sojka, the head of small independent record label Elite and signed. The next year they were signed to Polydor and King spent the next nine years recording and touring with the band. The first Top 40 single, "Love Games", was released in 1981, heralding the band's first appearance on Top of the Pops. The big breakthrough came with the release of "The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)" in 1983. While in Level 42, King found his bass-playing services in some demand. He was invited by Nik Kershaw to play on his second album The Riddle (1984) and by Midge Ure to play on his albums The Gift (1985) and Answers to Nothing (1988). Level 42 supported The Police in 1981, followed by tours with Steve Winwood in 1986 and Madonna in 1987. In 1986, King and Lindup performed alongside Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Mark Knopfler and Elton John at a Prince's Trust charity concert. They released the album Retroglide in 2006 and a European tour followed." - From wikipedia

TECHNICAL FACTS: Mark King helped to develop and popularize the slap and pop style of playing the bass guitar in the 1980s. The slapping and popping style was developed in the 1970s by funk bassists such as Larry Graham and further developed by jazz fusion bassists such as Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller. King developed a rapid playing speed using this technique, and introduced technical elements that enabled him to produce a mix of percussive effects while still playing a bass line. Mark's bass playing style is largely based on continuous 16th notes (aka semiquavers), sometimes described as "machine-gun" style. This "machine-gun" style consists of playing rapidly using a combination of thumb slaps, pops, hammer-ons, and fretting hand slaps.

INSTRUMENTS: Thumb Jaydee Mark King Signature, Alembic Mark King Signature, Status Graphite "The KingBass" Mark King Signature

At the ripe age of 53, Mark is still touring with Level 42, does his own solo gigs, and performs clinics all over the world, and he doesn't plan on stopping soon. Check out this video of Mark with Level 42 in 1983, THAT THUMB IS GOING NUTS.

Thanks for reading! Jake Ryan.

Bass Lessons!

Hey Everyone!

For a while now I've been trying to make a few extra bucks giving bass lessons. So far I've been doing them out of the Slamatorium (Naegleria headquarters) but now I am set to do video lessons via Skype and I have linked my personal email, jakeryanplaysbass@gmail.com, to pay pal. Now since I have all of the technical stuff out of the way let's talk about my lessons!

Lessons are $15 an hour, plus $5 after each extra half an hour. I can teach Beginners how to change strings, tune (showing you how to use a chromatic tuner, harmonic tuning, 5th fret technique, etc etc), finger placement, bass placement while sitting/standing, The Economy of Motion (the use of all of your fingers on the right hand whether if it's just chromatic playing or scales). I'll also get into Music Theory and that includes Scales, Modes, Chords and Chord Progressions, Arpeggios, and more!

Techniques I'll display will start by getting your finger strength up to par, both right and left hand, then we can get into the good stuff, and that includes 2 handed tapping techniques, slapping techniques, sweeping, different right hand picking techniques including the 3 finger gallop and the rapid Alex Webster 3 finger tremelo technique. If you're also interested we can get into more exotic scales including The Hungarian Minor, Pelog, Kumoi, and many many more.

I'll have tabs/sheet music, charts, powertabs, and some mp3 examples that I can send you during these lesson.

Anyone taking lessons must have their own bass (that should be obvious, haha), tuner, and metronome. If needed I can supply cables and a small peavy practice amp, and a tuner. All lessons are done at my bands practice space (email for address if interested) and for skype users you obviously need a webcam, and your own gear. For skype lessons you can email me and we can negotiate on a day we can do a lessons and it can be payed via paypal.

If you would want to know info you can email me at jakeryanplaysbass@gmail.com and maybe we can set up a lesson!

Have a great day :)

Jake Ryan.

Here's My Top 5 Favorite CD's

These 5 CD's I'm going to present you with have been played back and forth for the past couple months. I guess once I start buying more CD's I'll do this "Top 5" thing more often, but for now, here is my Top 5 Favorite CD's (right now).

1. Michael Manring - THONK



THONK is a jazz fusion masterpiece in my opinion. The CD includes a lot of MM's classics including Monkey Businessman, My Three Moons, and The Enormous Room, but in my opinion, they are all truly fantastic songs. On some of the tracks, MM has various guitarists, drummers, and a pianist play on the tracks. These Musicians include Steve Morse and Alex Sklonick on Guitar, Tim "Herb" Alexander and Steve Morse on Drums, and Philip Aaberg on Piano. I wish MM still put out material like this, even though everything he comes out with today is still just as incredible as THONK.

2. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black



I really wish I was exposed to Amy sooner... I really would of loved to of seen her live after listening to this CD (I also have Frank, and her last release, Lioness). This CD is just beautiful. Amy has such a brilliant voice, which can be comparable to vocalists such as Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald, and her sound was very 50's and 60's doo wop and r&b. Every song on here just brings you on this crazy emotional rollercoaster. You go from one song being happy, the next song is a bit more pissy, then next is sad... she was really a genius when it came to incorporating emotion into her music, which I thing is rare nowadays with a lot of the pop trash coming in. When Amy Winehouse died I think we lost another 30 to 35 years of great music. I think if she was still alive she would become one of the greats. RIP

3. Esperanza Spalding - Chamber Music Society



I think Esperanza Spalding really changed how people see jazz today. A lot of people find jazz boring, just these typical jazz standards, running through scales like a madman type playing sometimes (although of love old school jazz), but Esperanza does a lot of different things on this CD, "Chamber Music Society". The CD has the jazz roots, but she expands from that, adding in a lot of r&b influence and South American influences. After listening to this CD you'll know why she won a grammy for best new artist last year.

4. Cephalic Carnage - Misled by Certainty



This CD really releases the bass nerd in me because Nick Schendzielos is such a fantastic bass player. CC as a whole rules, but lately I've been having a bass crush on Nick. Before I bought the CD I listened to the song "OHRWURM" and I think my head exploded. The tracks begins with Nick doing a very "Wooten" sounding double thump progression, and I think that's where my head exploded... then the song still remains to be awesome, just like this whole CD.

5. Dying Fetus - Descend into Depravity



Dying Fetus really gets my Death Metal loins in a bunge. This CD is not only their most technical CD, it grooves harder than 95% of all the death metal out there. Before I bought this CD I watched the video for "Shepherds Commandment" and immediately started to throw my head back and forth... it was fucking brutal. I then bought it, and listened tot he whole thing and fell in love with it, but I think my favorite track on the whole CD is the last song, "Ethos of Coercion". The whole album punches you in the face, every riff, every slam, every cookie monster growl... it's such a killer CD.

Thanks for Reading,
Jake Ryan.